Chapter 5

Of course, in the end, Xia De didn't run. Mr. Hamilton's three-month task, no matter how he thought about it, he knew something was wrong, and Xia De, who had already been involved, since he didn't leave before he died, it was even more impossible to leave now.

But investigating that task and investigating Hamilton's secrets were things for the future. The key now was to get enough money to survive for a week before making other plans.

With the investigation report and map, the compass and pocket watch in the desk drawer couldn't be forgotten. For safety reasons, although no firearms were found, a walking stick could also be used as a weapon, and of course, he didn't forget to bring a fruit knife.

For clothes, he chose an inconspicuous black buttoned coat and trousers, which was very consistent with the dressing habits of Tobesk City at the beginning of summer.

There were two bedrooms in the No. 1 room on the second floor. Xia De found clothes suitable for his current figure in the other one. Unfortunately, there were no things like diaries in that room suspected to belong to the original Shade, nor were there any small hints written by the original Shade with a pathetic literacy level, otherwise life would be simpler.

After doing all this, the grandfather clock in the corner of the living room was approaching eleven o'clock in the morning.

Xia De found the keys to the room door and the door downstairs in the bowl of the cabinet at the entrance of the room. Carefully locking the door, he took a deep breath and bit his teeth to pull a hair from his head. Lying on the floor between the door and the stairs, he placed the hair in the door crack under the door, squinting his left eye to confirm that the hair was directly facing the room, facing the protrusion on the left corner of the bedroom door.

The window in the stairwell was closed, the first floor was also blocked, and the windows inside the room were all closed, so there was no need to worry about the hair being moved by the wind. As long as Xia De didn't stride at the door when he returned and was careful when opening the door downstairs, the position of the hair would indicate whether anyone had passed by or entered the room here.

He wanted to stand up, but looked at the locked door of the "No. 2" room on the second floor next door. So he thought about it, endured the pain and pulled out another hair, and clipped the hair in the door crack, parallel to the lock.

Because there were too many secrets left by Mr. Hamilton, being cautious was always good.

Spiraling down along the stairs, the sound of stepping in the quiet space made Xia De feel nervous again for no reason.

There was no dust on the stair railing, and the decorative oil painting on the wall looked like it was often wiped. The closer he got to downstairs, the more Xia De felt his heartbeat accelerating.

He understood that there was nothing to panic about, but this was, after all, the first step into here, truly stepping into this world.

Changing his boots in front of the door, and grabbing the black bowler hat on the standing coat rack to wear on his head, it took a long time before he gripped the doorknob and pushed open the door.

His heartbeat became faster the moment he opened the door. This feeling of completely entering a strange environment and accepting the fact that he had transmigrated was really quite uncomfortable.

Stepping over the threshold, he didn't look out immediately, but walked out quickly with his head down, then turned around and rotated the key to lock the door.

Closing his eyes, he then slowly turned to face the street, backing up to lean his back against the door, his head against the cold metal doorplate "No. 6".

"Nothing to be nervous about, just stepping into another world, and probably can't go back."

He said to himself, trying hard to suppress the desire to breathe deeply, raised his head, opened his eyes, leaned against the door, and looked at everything in front of him—

Smoke lingered in the air, and compared to the morning, the weather was even gloomier. But the noisy square was still full of people, gentlemen wearing formal clothes and top hats, ladies wearing dresses and powder on their faces, porters carrying wooden boxes, newsboys shouting barefoot, shy flower girls soliciting customers, four-wheeled carriages passing by in a hurry, bloated housewives holding paper bags and wearing lace hats...

There was a burnt smell in the air, and people of all kinds were mixed on the edge of the square shrouded in smoke, the sound of hawking and noise almost completely overlapping. On the other side of the square in the distance, there were three-story houses like the one behind him, and dense metal pipes clung to the walls, like vines, and like spider webs, shining in the faint midday sun.

In the center of the square stood a fountain of a girl holding up a water bottle. The fountain was not spraying water, but the statue had already yellowed somewhat. The patrolling police officer wearing a police badge sitting by the fountain looked at Xia De curiously, the middle-aged man asking him with his eyes if he needed help, and Xia De hurriedly shifted his gaze.

The newsboy passed by in front of his eyes, the sound of the soles of his feet rubbing against the gravel-covered ground made his hair stand on end; the clanging sound of the horse bells of the four-wheeled carriage passing by the door rang out, and together with the inquisitive gaze from the carriage window, Xia De's heart pumped blood faster.

Feeling the heartbeat, his hands spread out and pressed against the door behind him, instinctively leaning back, terrified by everything real in front of him. Blood pressure rose, heartbeat accelerated, and the sudden bell ringing in the distance was almost like a bomb exploding in his head, making Xia De almost faint.

So real, so incredible, so contrary to the common sense of the past twenty-odd years. This was another world, he had really left his hometown, came to another world, came to a completely strange world.

"Don't panic! Don't panic!"

Xia De repeated constantly in his heart, but the body's instinct couldn't be suppressed just like that.

"It's okay, I will get familiar with all this, I will integrate into here!"

He desperately told himself constantly, but his body still leaned back against the door involuntarily, and his back was already wet.

Suddenly, the woman's whispering voice sounded again. Although this was also a voice from another world, it seemed to pull Xia De back to reality, making him face all this. The whispering voice, like reciting poetry, declared:

【You have obtained 'Enlightenment'.】

The speed of his heartbeat decreased because of this voice, and the high blood pressure also gradually returned to normal because of the whispering, and the voice echoed in his heart.

"What enlightenment?"

He didn't hear it clearly, he just didn't understand the meaning of this sentence. 【Enlightenment】 also belonged to one of the four elements of mystery mentioned vaguely before the detective died, but Xia De needed further explanation. He was now fully certain that the thing in his head was absolutely not a system; that voice was very likely a link in the mysterious system of this world.

【I am you, you are me. Outsider, you are manipulating the direction of fate in front of the curtain, and fate unfolds because of you; I am contacting the reality of the world behind the curtain, and you are strong because of me. Even if you are suspicious, we are one, we are no different.】

The woman's voice didn't answer the question, but Xia De was not angry, but rather a bit happy.

His guess was right. In the occult system of this world, the voice in his mind was very likely a link to contacting and using mystery. The worldview of this world seemed to be somewhat close to Cthulhu and agnosticism. The supernatural and mystery have power, and their existence itself will affect mortal things, so it is necessary to have another kind of power to help mortals contact those weird and dangerous things.

"You are me, I am you. Although you say so, you are definitely different from the normal situation."

He wanted to verify his thoughts to the whispering voice in his mind, but all he got was the woman's chuckle.

Anyway, he had at least contacted the mysterious elements of this world. Even if he didn't understand anything, at least he stood here and had his own goals.

The panic just now gradually subsided, as if he were closer to this steam era shrouded in smoke. The feeling of having his feet on the ground made Xia De more steady. He told himself to gradually accept all this, instead of useless panic:

"Earn the money for a commission, investigate Hamilton's story, gather the four elements, study the voice in my head... Move forward, don't panic."

Repeating constantly in his heart, he finally let his back leave the door. Giving up the idea of going back to change clothes, Xia De carefully, very carefully walked down from the three steps at the door, came to the street on the edge of the square and stood still, opened his eyes wide in the crowd and looked at this world, and let the world reflect in his eyes:

"Anyway, move forward."

He said in his heart, paused slightly, and according to the plan in the house, walked along the circular ring square street toward the direction of the street entrance leaving the square on the other side.