Chapter 9

"Very good, since the direction and time are suitable, then pursue. If I can't catch up, then go directly to the church. Anyway, I can't starve on the first day in the new world... Can't think like this, otherwise I feel a bit pitiful myself."

Xia De, holding such "simple" thoughts, brought his things and set off along the low wall by the street, chasing the man forward.

To prevent being discovered, although with the arrival of evening, the fog in the city was thicker, Xia De still didn't dare to follow too closely. He had self-knowledge and knew that he had no skills in tracking others.

So it was a matter of course that ten minutes later, when they turned around the back wall of a milk delivery company and drilled into an alley, Xia De completely lost the man's trail.

"Ha~ should I say, sure enough, I lost him."

Standing in the alley and looking around blankly, confirming that he had really lost the target, he shook his head and gave up continuing to search. He didn't continue to dwell on this matter. Since he lost him, then go to receive "relief food," but—

"Where is this?"

In a completely strange city, while preventing being discovered while tracking others, Xia De had no time to remember his action route, only knowing that he was now in a narrow alley with a very bad smell.

On the left was the outer wall of the milk delivery company, and on the right was the side wall of a three-story apartment building. On the walls on both sides, besides rusted pipes clinging and connecting in different directions, there were messy filthy words and graffiti layered on top of each other, and there were garbage and feces everywhere under the walls.

Only near the alley entrance were two or three thick-caliber steam pipes that had already rusted, not knowing who had abandoned them here.

"Go and see the name of the milk delivery company, and then find the current location from the map."

Xia De had an idea, so he didn't care about the person he wanted to track anymore.

Turning around and returning along the alley, he carefully avoided stepping on the indescribable filthy things in the alley. When he was about to walk out of the alley entrance, he also carefully avoided it, because a team of police officers wearing police uniforms ran past him on the street in front of him.

Among them, the tall middle-aged man with stubble on his face at the end of the team even looked at Xia De. Xia De also looked at the man with innocent eyes, so the police officer didn't pay attention to Xia De.

"Did something happen over there?"

Xia De stood at the alley entrance and looked toward the direction the police were running. Because he didn't know which street this was, he couldn't identify what was in that direction of the street.

"None of my business."

He said in a low voice, holding the notebook and walking toward the door of the milk delivery company. This was not a factory, just the office building of the delivery department. The courtyard surrounded a two-story yellow small building, and an old dog that looked a bit old was lying at the door.

That dog even looked at Xia De who was approaching here. Seeing that Xia De just stopped at the door and didn't enter, it lazily stood up and changed to a position where the sunset could shine.

The name of the milk delivery company was "Silver Parrot," a very strange name, but it was indeed on the map, and the previous detective had even annotated that a murder case happened here three years ago.

The murder case naturally had nothing to do with Xia De. He walked forward while holding the map unfolded by a quarter, constantly confirming that his location was not wrong.

There were not many pedestrians on the street, and walking with his head down wouldn't bump into people. Unknowingly, in the evening glow and thick fog, he walked along the wall to the end of this street in the direction of the pipes emitting white steam. In front was a five-way intersection. According to the map, walking from the road with the dessert shop diagonally to the left, the distance would probably be closer.

But the intersection had been almost blocked by the crowded crowd at this time. Near the mailbox on the east side was a silver shop. The signboard was wiped very clean, but something seemed to have happened there. The team of police officers Xia De saw at the alley entrance just now was maintaining order, preventing people from approaching.

While observing, more four-wheeled carriages came from behind Xia De and other intersections. In just a few minutes, more police appeared here. There were even some people who looked like school scholars who walked out of the carriage, not knowing what they were going to do.

Xia De didn't want to join in the fun, now the matter of relief food was the most important. But because there were really too many people joining in the fun, he was unknowingly squeezed to the front of the crowd while trying to pass through the intersection.

He wanted to retreat, but the people behind wouldn't agree. The police in front kept shouting for people to disperse, saying there was nothing worth seeing here.

Probably seeing Xia De who was squeezed over, not having the intention to approach, the young police officer with a pen in his chest pocket even kindly reminded him to be careful of thieves.

This made Xia De a bit nervous, subconsciously touching the 10-penny banknote in his pocket. After confirming it was still there, his peripheral vision swept to another team of armed police, escorting three men in plain clothes into the silver shop.

Among them, the tallest man was exceptionally sturdy, and the young man walking in the middle had the temperament of a scholar. The last man made Xia De feel familiar; that seemed to be the missionary who handed him a flyer in the afternoon.

"Do the missionaries in this world do part-time jobs in the police?"

He thought about the conclusion he didn't believe, gripped the coins and pocket watch in his pocket, and intended to leave here quickly, otherwise he would be late.

The moment he turned around and wanted to squeeze backward, a strange warning came from his heart. Before he understood the reason for this feeling, he heard a sound—

Boom!

The explosion exceeded everyone's expectations, and the sound that almost tore the eardrum caused screams in the crowd. Although he couldn't see the fire, the glass window of the silver shop immediately shattered, and the wall seemed to tilt, making the metal pipes on the wall emit a harsh metal twisting sound.

But fortunately, the police didn't let the crowd surround the shop door, so when the panicked shouting sounded, no one was injured because of this.

The crowd immediately dispersed like a flood. Xia De, who was standing at the front of the crowd, kept calm and also wanted to leave, but saw a middle-aged man with brown hair running toward the door of the silver shop:

"I'm a reporter! I'm a reporter! What happened here?"

He grabbed the notebook with one hand and shook the certificate with the other, rushing toward this side more excitedly than anyone else, and then was nimbly pulled by the young police officer:

"Gas pipe explosion, sir, please don't approach."

Xia De, who heard this conclusion, didn't believe it at all. How could a gas pipe explosion—

Boom!

Another explosion that almost made his heart stop rang out in the silver shop, and the vibrating air almost produced the power to push people.

This time even the glass on the second floor of the silver shop was shattered, and the falling glass slag made the police maintaining order have to escape temporarily. Xia De retreated while looking through the window, seeing that on the second floor of the explosion, two people seemed to be fighting in a piece of white fog, and one of them's fist seemed to have light.

The distance was a bit too far, and with the fog coming with the evening glow, the vision was also reducing, so Xia De didn't see it very clearly.

"Supernatural?"

He thought in his heart.

【Yes.】

The woman's voice startled Xia De, but knowing that the other party wouldn't explain much, he didn't ask, but left here quickly.

"The three people just now were definitely from the church, and this kind of thing happened after they entered... Sure enough, the church in this world is very likely a supernatural force, and it looks like it's closely combined with the kingdom's order... In this way, the probability that the Zhengshen Sect can be trusted is greatly increased. I don't know if I have a chance, through the church's channel..."

This was equivalent to having two choices, not only the psychologist's side, but the five churches in the city also had opportunities for Xia De to contact the supernatural and figure out the voice in his head.

"However, how come I bumped into this kind of thing so coincidentally?"

He walked toward the originally scheduled direction with the dispersing crowd, and the woman's voice in his mind said the sentence that had already been said:

【Observe his ring.】

Although he didn't know what the woman's voice in his head was until now, Xia De at least knew that the other party didn't have obvious malice. He immediately listened to the voice and looked around, and actually saw the young man carrying a suitcase wearing a pebble ring not far in front again.

"So coincidental... no matter how I think about it, I know it's impossible to be so coincidental. Wait, the explosion just now, wouldn't it have something to do with him? How could I have such a thought? Now there is no evidence at all."

Having this thought, Xia De didn't want to track anymore. If the other party was someone who could create an explosion with bare hands like the two in the silver shop, following him was almost equivalent to wanting to copy the tragic end of the previous detective.

"No, no."

Xia De slowed down his pace, wanting to let the other party naturally disappear in the distance of his vision. But he didn't expect the young man to stop as well, looking at the map like Xia De just now, and then entered the alley next to him with the suitcase.

"Follow or not follow?"

The woman's voice in his head hinted at the ring three times, so it shouldn't be bored and talking nonsense. But Xia De, who knew almost nothing about the world, also had to ensure necessary caution.

He walked forward according to his original plan. When passing the alley entrance where the young man turned, he naturally glanced inside and saw the man turn the corner in front and disappear.

"Follow or not follow."

He asked himself again, and suddenly realized that the next decision would affect his life for a long time to come.

"Follow or not follow?"

He was asking the woman in his mind, and he heard laughter, heard the whispering answer:

【The road of fate unfolds before you, outsider. Are you content with being ordinary, or do you crave immortality? The world is like the ocean. Do you have the courage to explore the terror beyond the island of peace? The road of fate unfolds before you, one leading to the supernatural, one...】

"Pursue!"

Xia De bit his teeth and also entered the alley against the wall.