[WP] Chapter 5 The Real World

[WP] Chapter 5: The Real World

Of course, Shade didn't run away in the end. The three-month mission left by Mr. Hamilton was wrong no matter how you think about it, and Shade, who was already involved in it, didn't leave before he died, and it's even more impossible for him to leave now.

But investigating that mission and finding out Hamilton's secrets are all things for the future. The key now is to get enough money to survive for a week before making other plans.

Bring the investigation report and map, and don't forget the compass and pocket watch in the desk drawer. For safety reasons, although no firearms were found, the cane can also be used as a weapon, and of course, don't forget to bring a fruit knife.

For clothes, choose an inconspicuous black button-down coat and pants, which is in line with the dressing habits of Tobesk City just entering summer.

There are two bedrooms in Room 1 on the second floor. Shade found clothes suitable for his current body in the other one. Unfortunately, the room suspected to belong to the original owner Shade did not have diaries or any small tips written by Shade with his pathetic literacy; otherwise, life would be simpler.

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

Shade found the keys to the door and the door downstairs in the bowl in the cupboard at the door of the room. Carefully locked the door, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and pulled a hair from his head. Lying on the floor between the door and the stairs, he put the hair in the crack under the door, squinted his left eye, and made sure that the hair was facing the room, facing the bulge on the left corner of the bedroom door.

The windows in the stairwell were closed, the first floor was also blocked, and all the windows inside the room were closed, so there was no need to worry about the hair being moved by the wind. As long as Shade did not stride at the door when he came back and was careful when opening the door on the first floor, the position of the hair would indicate whether someone passed by or entered the room.

He wanted to stand up, but then he looked at the locked door of Room 2 on the second floor next door. So he thought about it and reluctantly pulled off a strand of hair and clamped it in the crack of the door, parallel to the position of the lock.

Because Mr. Hamilton left too many secrets, it is always better to be cautious.

Spiraling down the stairs, the sound of footsteps in the quiet space made Shade nervous again for some reason.

There was no dust on the handrails of the stairs, and the decorative paintings on the walls seemed to be wiped frequently. The closer he got to the downstairs, the more Shade felt his heartbeat speeding up.

He knew there was nothing to panic about, but this was the first step to step into this place and this world.

Standing in front of the door, he changed his boots, grabbed the black dome hat on the standing hanger, and put it on his head, it took him a long time to hold the door handle and push the door open.

His heartbeat became faster the moment he opened the door. This feeling of entering a completely unfamiliar environment and accepting the fact that he had traveled through time was uncomfortable.

He stepped over the threshold but did not look out immediately. Instead, he quickly lowered his head and walked out, then turned and turned the key to lock the door.

He closed his eyes, then slowly turned to face the street, backed up, and leaned his back against the door, his head against the cold metal doorplate "No. 6.".

"There's nothing to be nervous about. It's just that I've entered a different world, and there's a high probability that I can't go back."

He said to himself, trying 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—

There was some smoke in the air, and the weather was gloomier than in the morning. But the noisy square was still crowded with people: gentlemen in formal suits and top hats, ladies in skirts and powdered faces, porters carrying wooden boxes, barefoot newsboys shouting, shy flower girls soliciting customers, four-wheeled carriages passing by in a hurry, and bloated housewives holding paper bags and wearing lace hats. There was a burnt smell in the air, and people of all kinds were mixed in the streets at the edge of the smoky square, with hawking and shouting almost completely overlapping. On the other side of the square in the distance, there was a three-story house like the one behind him, with dense metal pipes clinging to the walls, like vines and spider webs, shining in the weak midday sun. In the center of the square stood a fountain with a girl holding a water bottle. The fountain did not spray water, but the statue had turned yellow. The patrol officer wearing a police badge sitting next to the fountain looked at Shade curiously. The middle-aged man asked him with his eyes if he needed help, and Shade hurriedly shifted his gaze. The newspaper boy passed by, and the sound of his feet rubbing against the gravel ground made his hair stand on end; the jingling sound of the horse bells of the four-wheeled carriage passing by the door, together with the inquiring sight of the carriage window, made Shade's heart pump blood faster.

Feeling the beating of his heart, he opened his hands and pressed them on the door behind him, instinctively leaning back, frightened by the reality in front of him. His blood pressure surged, his heartbeat accelerated, and the sudden sound of the bell in the distance was almost like a bomb exploding in his head, making Shade almost faint.

So real, so incredible, so contrary to the common sense of the past twenty years. This is another world; he left his hometown and came to another world, a completely unfamiliar world.

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

Shade kept repeating in his heart, but his body's instinct could not be suppressed like this.

"It's okay, I will get familiar with it all; I will fit in here!"

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

Suddenly, the woman's murmured voice sounded again. Although it was also the voice of another world, it seemed to bring Shade back to reality and let him face it all. The murmured voice announced, like reciting a poem:

[You have gained 'enlightenment'.]

The heartbeat became slower because of this voice, and the high blood pressure gradually returned to normal because of the murmured whisper, and the voice echoed in his heart.

"What enlightenment?"

It's not that he didn't hear it clearly, but he didn't understand the meaning of this sentence. [Enlightenment] is also one of the four mysterious elements vaguely mentioned by the detective before his death, but Shade needs further explanation. He is now fully certain that the brain is not a system, and that voice is very likely a part of the mysterious system of this world.

[You are me, and I am you. Stranger, you manipulate the direction of fate in front of the scenes, and fate unfolds because of you; I touch the reality of the world behind the scenes, and you become stronger because of me. Even if you are suspicious, we are one, and there is no difference between us.]

The woman's voice answered irrelevantly, but Shade was not angry but a little happy.

His guess was right. In the mystical system of this world, the voice in the mind is most likely a link to contact and use mystery. The worldview of this world seems to be somewhat close to Cthulhu and agnosticism. The extraordinary and mysterious have power, and existence itself will affect ordinary things, so there is a need for another power to help ordinary people contact those strange and dangerous things.

"You are me, and I am you. Although I say this, you are different from ordinary situations."

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

Anyway, he has at least touched the mysterious elements of this world. Even if he doesn't understand anything, at least he is standing here and has his own goals.

The panic just now gradually subsided, as if he were closer to this era of steam surrounded by smoke. The feeling of being down-to-earth made Shade more calm. He told himself to gradually accept all this instead of useless panic:

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

He kept repeating in his heart and finally let his back leave the door. Giving up the idea of going back to change clothes, Shade carefully and very carefully walked down the three steps at the door, came to the street at the edge of the square, and stood still. He opened his eyes wide and looked up at the world in the crowd and let the world be reflected in his eyes.

"No matter what, move forward."

He said in his heart that, after a pause, according to the plan in the house, he walked along the circular street around the square and walked towards the direction of the main street entrance, leaving the square on the other side.

(End of this chapter)