[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-whispers-of-the-nether":3,"chapter-whispers-of-the-nether-whispers-of-the-nether-chapter-4":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Whispers of the Nether",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2233602,4233,"Chapter 4: The Detective's Commission","whispers-of-the-nether-chapter-4",4,"\u003Cp>\"Since I now have a short-term goal, the current plan is to inspect the room in greater detail, search for currency, look for a city map, and rummage through the books. By reading, I will understand this world, investigate its historical background and religious customs, and adapt to this place with caution. Whether to stay for three months to help the detective complete that matter, I shall decide only after understanding everything.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia De summarized the current situation, accepting the fact that the detective was dead. The worst scenario currently was not the existence of mysteries in this world, but the complete lack of the original owner's memories, leaving him utterly ignorant of this world; aside from that, the present circumstances were still quite acceptable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing up, Xia De walked toward the washroom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gas lamp in the washroom had some issues; even adjusted to maximum power, it could only emit a faint light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this light, he looked at the person in the mirror: dull golden hair, brown pupils darkened to near black, the distinctly Western face of a male, apparently around twenty years of age, with an expression that seemed somewhat nervous, and a height nearing one meter eighty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, he had been a vagrant before, so his appearance was not particularly outstanding, but by Xia De's own aesthetic standards, it could still be considered quite good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is me now; from now on, don't let the stranger in the mirror frighten you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He cautiously admonished himself in his heart, but did not immediately leave the mirror's front; instead, after cautiously scanning the surroundings, he whispered softly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hey, hello, are you still there?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He attempted to communicate once more with that whispering woman's voice to determine exactly what she was, but after a long while with no result, he could only accept reality and temporarily give up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next came the search for currency; having found no food while searching the kitchen earlier, and since this body was clearly hungry, he needed to temporarily forget other troubles, get money, and eat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But an accident occurred once again; about half an hour later, Xia De sat back on the sofa bathed in warm yellow light, his face bearing an indescribable panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his hand, he held a banknote marked with the number 10; the note bore many creases and stains and was even smaller than the cards inside the diary. The front featured a portrait of a person, while the reverse displayed the royal coat of arms of the Delrion Kingdom, where he currently resided.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having searched the entire house, rummaged through all books and documents, and emptied every pocket in the wardrobe, Xia De had surprisingly found only this single banknote, which seemed to have accidentally slipped into a crack behind the bookshelf.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Could it be that prices in this world are peculiar, and this single banknote could sustain me for three months?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even while comforting himself with such a joke, he knew deep down that it was impossible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is terrible.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He leaned back slightly, resting against the sofa's backrest, closed his eyes, tilted his head upward, and gazed at the white ceiling:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mr. Hamilton, where exactly did you hide the money? I agreed to stay; you wouldn't leave me without a single penny, would you...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though he felt terrified, at this moment he truly wished he could chase after that carriage pulling the coffin, wake the corpse inside, and demand an answer from it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If languages were incompatible, one could survive by being clever; if the body were disabled, survival was still possible as long as one lived bravely. But having no money was utterly impossible to overcome.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mr. Spike Hamilton clearly did not cook at home in the past; there was not even a single vegetable leaf in the kitchen, let alone a dead rat. Xia De did not know when this body had last eaten, but he clearly needed food now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Considering human limits, Xia De had to immediately find a way to get money or a method to earn it; otherwise, after sunset, he would likely be forced to consult a map to find a restaurant, only to end up rummaging through trash cans in the alley outside the restaurant on a gamble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, it won't happen.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stared at the sole banknote in his hand with a terrifying expression, his gloomy face mirroring the sky outside:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Although I don't know its denomination, it is at least money. Plus the [Sun 3] card in the diary; these things will allow me to survive. However, since I cannot find money for now, I must consider a long-term source of income.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A transmigrator's knowledge might be valuable, but monetizing knowledge in a strange place is not only troublesome but dangerous, not to mention that this world itself possesses mysterious powers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He realized this was a detective agency, and before his death, Mr. Hamilton seemed to have said he had left some relatively safe tasks, allowing \"not-so-bright\" Xia De to maintain his identity as a detective and keep the agency running.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since he had not yet found the deceased detective's money, he had to prepare for the worst and plan his future means of livelihood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Speaking of which, Mr. Hamilton knew that Xia De—the original Xia De—was not very intelligent, so the tasks he left must be simple, intended to maintain the agency's operations. Therefore, perhaps he has already solved those cases, and all I need to do is go collect the money! Although mysteries exist in this world, at least the lives of ordinary people remain the mainstream.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly inspired, Xia De stood up, retrieved the diary from the shadows atop the bedside table in the master bedroom, and fetched the ledger, memorandum, and work log left as the detective's effects from the study. Although he had not found money earlier, he had found these items.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Detective Sparrow Hamilton was a very organized and rigorous man; even though Xia De had never studied accounting or business administration, he felt the detective's operational records for the agency were movingly detailed. Of course, it was mainly Xia De who was moved, because the unsolved cases currently at the agency were indeed very simple, and most of them were already largely completed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Find Miss White's younger sister who ran away from home, follow Mr. Lawrence's mistress, locate the lost orange cat named Miya, inquire about a doctor capable of treating eye diseases... all seem very simple and not particularly dangerous. Oh, Mr. Hamilton has already handled most of them. If I stay to run this place, completely resolving one case every two or three weeks would be enough to keep things running.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While flipping through Mr. Hamilton's handwritten reports, Xia De summarized thus. But what he needed now was not the long-term operation of the detective agency, but simply to obtain a sum of money first to sustain his short-term livelihood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Comparing the remaining difficulty, payment methods, and reward amounts of the four cases, Xia De decided to first resolve the commission to \"follow Mr. Lawrence's mistress.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the case report, Detective Hamilton had been following the target for several months, only stopping recently due to poor health. In fact, the current report could perfectly be submitted to the employer to settle the remaining balance. However, Mr. Hamilton had left a note in the report specifically catering to Xia De's limited literacy, using only simple words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The note stated that if one intended to complete this commission, it would be best to submit it with recent records; this way, the reward might be slightly higher, and it would avoid arousing the employer's suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, Xia De only needed to conduct one more surveillance operation to complete the commission. Although this would not constitute a perfect completion, it would at least satisfy the requirements of the employer, namely Mr. Lawrence's wife, and be sufficient to claim the remaining balance of the commission fee marked as \"1 pound 7 shillings,\" which amounted to 1 pound 4 shillings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judging by the tone of the detective's notes, this was a considerable reward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides the reward, another reason for choosing this commission was that Detective Hamilton had handled many such cases of wives catching mistresses; it was the simplest type of commission and unlikely to encounter any glitches during the final handover. Sparrow Hamilton was no famous great detective, but he was highly proficient in investigating extramarital affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia De did not wish to remain in this terrifying house where someone had just died, drinking cold water and eating paper pages to fill his stomach, so he prepared to set out for the investigation, striving to submit the report to the employer before dusk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It will be fine; first, complete this commission to get the first sum of money, then slowly explore the secrets of the deceased detective and figure out the source of the voice in my head; everything will get better!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Encouraging himself in his heart, he first located the city map; based on Detective Hamilton's effects report and combined with the calendar on the wall, he deduced the possible locations where the mistress named \"Madame Lasoya\" might appear. These were simple tasks, while the most difficult step was to locate his current position on that \"Tobesk City Map.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Tobesk City map in the agency contained many annotations left by the former detective, even marking the taverns he frequently used to gather information and the locations of black markets for trading \"sensitive goods.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, the original detective gentleman did not have the habit of marking his own home on the map. Fortunately, while rummaging through the materials, Xia De discovered a past surveillance record containing the route of that operation, thereby confirming that this apartment was located at Number 6, Saint Derlan Square, in the city center of Tobesk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thanks to Detective Sparrow Hamilton for his meticulous records... this is... a house right beside the square in the city center. Hmm? How much should the property value of such a house be?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia De exclaimed in surprise, and at the same time, he discovered a palace complex known as \"Yodel Palace\" merely two streets away from Saint Derlan Square.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore, according to that crumpled newspaper, on the second page situated between the front-page news about \"City-wide Third Round Steam Pipeline Renovation\" and the third-page \"Investigation Report on the Collapse of the Ancient Tower on Kalas Mountain,\" it mentioned that \"Yodel Palace\" was the residence of the royal family of the Delrion Kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Xia De, who had owned no house in his original world, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated; the panic and tension were instantly dispersed by a surge of joy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the documents in his hand, he murmured to himself:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In other words, my current location is in the capital city of one of the world's two major kingdoms, presumably the Delrion Kingdom, specifically in an apartment beside the central square... I actually possess such a house, yet I was worrying about starving to death?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The suppressed mood from earlier suddenly relaxed, but the house could not be liquidated immediately, and Xia De had no intention of truly abandoning Mr. Hamilton's three-month commission. At least he had established a foothold; other considerations could wait.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at least a very sincere smile appeared on his face, replacing the nervous expression. With a house in such a location, there was no need to worry about the future... Gradually, the smile faded from his face as Xia De realized that although he had even found the will earlier, he had not found any title deeds or property contracts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Could this apartment be rented?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed; if one could afford to buy a house in such a location, why would one need to run a detective agency? Collecting rent would be enough to sustain oneself. Even if the detective's original business was not solely for profit, judging by the interior decoration, this did not look like a house belonging to Detective Hamilton himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In other words, it is highly probable that I still have to pay an unknown amount of rent every month?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia De arrived at this incredible conclusion, while once again looking at the calendar hanging on the living room wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was currently the third week of the Month of Sun, 1853, specifically a Saturday in June. If rent truly needed to be paid, the likelihood of payment being due at the beginning of each month was extremely high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This world also uses a twelve-month system, and the dates of each month are very similar to before... Otherwise, I should just run; pack my clothes, drag my suitcase, carry my water bucket, and flee, starting this journey through the mysterious world with the identity of a vagrant... Staying here not only yields no income, but Mr. Hamilton might have even left me debts I know nothing about.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",2160,"2026-06-18T07:21:54.551Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","ce0adc8b9fd131741e4806c4362c8ec98a7058dd7895b9dd4f13da237a13d689","whispers-of-the-nether-chapter-5","whispers-of-the-nether-chapter-3",8,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwhispers-of-the-nether-cover.jpg"]