When you leave the house and come to the street, you really enter the world. Compared with the hustle and bustle of the city, Xia De, who walked into it, was as inconspicuous as a drop of water flowing into the sea.
He seldom spoke, just walked towards the destination "Lark Club". Walk and listen along the way, learn about the world, the city, and everything around you.
To put it simply, this world is a bit like the steam revolution of the 19th century in the past world, but compared with the past world, the steam industry here is more prosperous, and there is a lot of people who follow the road of steam without turning. Feel.
While harmful black mist is sprayed from the chimneys of factories, all kinds of weird inventions are also created, and the economy is taking off with the development of productivity.
Just as Xia De guessed, the city he is currently in is Tobesk City, the capital of the northern kingdom of Delarion. This is the pearl of the northern part of the continent, the gathering point of human civilization, and the essence of the times. .
A big city naturally has to look like a big city. Although limited by the shackles of the times, when you leave the street and enter the alley, you will inevitably encounter feces and garbage dumps, but the appearance of a big city is still reflected in the short journey of one hour. into Shad's eyes.
Fortunately, the "Lark Club" is not far from the city center. If it spans the entire city, Xia De might not be able to reach it in the middle of the night. The key point is that Xia De has no money to ride in a carriage.
Along the way, he also obtained more information about the world from the perspective of a bystander. The most important thing is to know the currency system. At least in the current country, the common currency is divided into gold pounds, shillings and pence, of which 1 pound = 20 shillings, and 1 shilling = 12 pence.
Of course, this kind of name is very similar to British currency, not because it is exactly similar, but because Shade translated the names of three different currencies from foreign languages into familiar names. After all, the conversion method of values is really similar.
The unfortunate fact is that the note with the number "10" on it that Shard found was worth 10p. With the current purchasing power, this is not even enough for him to take a carriage from his own door to the club's door.
But if he lived frugally and used 10 pence to buy the cheapest bread crumbs at the bakery that was about to close in the evening, competing with the children and housewives in the slums, he could at least guarantee that he would not starve to death within three days.
"At least now is an era of peace. As one of the largest kingdoms of human beings, the Kingdom of Delarion has local conflicts with another powerful kingdom in the south, the United Kingdom of Carsonrick, but relatively speaking, this is an era of peace and development. , is the era of progress...the luck is not bad."
Xia De is very good at comforting himself.
The world is temporarily peaceful, and the Kingdom of Delarion in the north of the Old Continent and the United Kingdom of Carsonrick in the south have almost divided the world. Total war ended decades ago, and while the tide is still simmering, it is at least a sign of peace.
The club culture seems to be a special culture of this era. Shade learned from the investigation report that the investigated mistress, Mrs. La Soya, would visit the "Lark Club" every weekend and would stay here for at least three Hour.
Detective Hamilton's report guessed that this was the place where Mrs. La Soya had a tryst with Mr. Lawrence, because every time Mrs. La Soya appeared in the club, Mr. Lawrence would definitely enter.
This is a private club with members. Shade did not have a permit to enter, so after turning into Valente Pedestrian Street at the intersection of the street, he stopped and observed at the entrance of the newspaper office opposite the club according to the records in the investigation report.
That was the newspaper office to which the "Tobesk City Evening News" belonged, and it was said that the royal family also had a shareholding. Saturday is the busiest time for newspapers, because Saturday is the usual time for the king's speech and parliamentary reports.
At this time, a group of people would gather at the gate of the newspaper office, waiting for the delivery of new news. Of course, the full-time reporters had already set off, and those who stayed at the gate of the newspaper office were all people waiting to try their luck.
Xia De's plan was to get mixed up in it. Although it was already noon, that mistress, La Soya, usually wouldn't show up at the club in the morning. So if he is lucky, he will soon find the target appearing.
As long as the woman's appearance time and departure time are recorded, the report is complete.
To complete this matter so easily made Xia De feel unreal. But after all, Hamilton has almost completed everything, so this is actually one of the "legacy" left by the dead gentleman.
Xia De was holding a pocket watch belonging to one of Mr. Hamilton's estates, so when he stood by the mailbox at the entrance of the newspaper office, pretending to be waiting for someone to look around for a long time, he finally saw the target appear, and immediately caught up with him in the report The black and white photos were compared repeatedly. Confirmed and recorded one twenty-three, which was the time when Mistress La Soya appeared.
The lady was stylishly dressed, with lace trim on the skirt and jeweled hair accessories that were clearly expensive. She arrived directly at the entrance of the club by taking a carriage, even though the weather was gloomy, she still held a cloth umbrella.
The age is about thirty years old, the height is average but the figure is plump. Although the powder on the face is a bit thick, it can be seen that she is also a beauty.
Because he was worried about being discovered, Xia De also knew that he had no tracking experience, so after confirming that he was the target, he immediately looked away.
[Look at her ring. 】
"What?"
The murmuring voice of a woman in his mind reappeared. Although Xia De didn't know what she was, he still turned his attention to Mrs. La Soya.
At this time, the doorman of the club was already greeting, and when the woman turned around, Xia De clearly saw the ring. Strangely enough, the ring was set with neither a gemstone nor a diamond, but instead looked like a small pebble.
Of course, since he was observing from across the street, pedestrians on the street would occasionally block his view, so he wasn't sure if he had lost his sight. Madam La Soya also quickly entered the club, and did not give Xia De many opportunities to observe.
"What do you mean? Why did you draw my attention to that ring?"
He asked the voice in his head again, but the murmur did not actively sound because of his inquiry. This annoyed Xia De a little, but he knew to control his emotions, he was not the kind of person who gets angry easily.
"Sir, what time is it?"
"Sorry, I forgot my pocket watch."
The one who explained his rash asking behavior was a middle-aged gentleman in his forties who seemed quite elegant and easy-going. He was wearing a black silk hat, a formal suit and a white shirt that looked like he was going to a party. The face is a bit broad, with a neat mustache on the chin, and the blue eyes are very attractive.
The middle-aged man smiled at Xia De, who hesitated for a moment, and took out the pocket watch that had just been put in the right pocket of his jacket.
"One thirty."
He said, and he was a little curious about the reason why the middle-aged man appeared here. This attire did not look like a reporter waiting for news at all, but Xia De's attire with a notebook between his hands.
As if hearing Xia De's heart, the middle-aged gentleman said with a smile:
"Thank you for your time. I have an appointment with the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. I didn't bring a pocket watch. I thought I was going to be late. Now it seems just right."
As he spoke, he handed out his business card, Xia De took it politely, and handed out his own business card as well. In fact, it was the business card of the dead Mr. Hamilton, with the address and business scope of the detective agency on it, and the name only read "Detective Hamilton" without a prefix.
Since Shard had chosen "Hamilton" as his surname, he could of course use these business cards. He is glad that there is no household registration system at all, and he doesn't even need to forge identity documents.
A middle-aged man named Bill Schneider runs a private psychological clinic. Different from Xia De's current occupation which is not yet stable, Schneider's psychological clinic is quite formal, and the income of the psychological clinic is obviously more than that of detectives like Xia De who rely on inheritance to conduct the first investigation. The evidence is that Xia De's business card is shabby compared to the doctor's business card, and the other party's business card is much better in terms of paper and printing.
"If you need anything, you can find me here."
Mr. Schneider said very kindly, and he pointed to the address of the clinic on the business card, which was the address in the eastern district of Tobesk:
"My treatment is broad."
He looked at Xia De, Xia De was inexplicably, actually had a creepy illusion of being seen through by those blue eyes.
"Including schizophrenia."
The psychiatrist said kindly that he was good at communicating with strangers.
"What?"
Xia De was stunned, but before asking, Mr. Bill Schneider quickly changed the subject:
"Speaking of which, Mr. Detective, have you ever considered receiving adult education? Correspondence. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com"
"Adult education by correspondence?"
The topic changed too quickly, and Xia De didn't keep up with his train of thought:
"I have no plans to study psychology for the time being."
He took the other party as an enthusiastic graduate of a certain psychology specialist school.
But Xia De refused, and the doctor didn't bother:
"Well then, goodbye."
The doctor nodded to the detective, put the detective's business card in his pocket, and then turned and walked towards the courtyard of the newspaper office.
"Correspondence... Speaking of which, what does that Doctor Schneider mean by mentioning schizophrenia?"
Xia De stood there thinking silently, and then realized that he heard the voice in his head, which seemed to be very similar to the so-called "schizophrenia".
"You don't have to laugh in my head. I admit that your laugh is very nice and charming. You are definitely not a product of my schizophrenia."
Shad said to the voice in his head.
Although I am sure, my situation belongs to contact with mystery, and it is definitely not schizophrenia. But what he wasn't sure about was what the psychiatrist he met by chance saw.
"I just went out, and I met this kind of person who may be involved in extraordinary power. Is it too bad luck? Or is the density of extraordinary people in this world higher than I thought? Or, this psychiatrist just mentioned it casually. Thinking too much?"
Thinking in his heart, Xia De carefully put away Dr. Schneider's business card. In any case, the entrustment is the most important right now. Now that I know the address of the psychiatrist, I can go there anytime.
At least from the brief exchange just now, Dr. Schneider doesn't seem to be hostile. However, the short-term communication did not reveal the real thoughts, and Xia De still wanted to understand the world a little bit, and then communicate with people in depth.