[WP] Chapter 10: Confused Men and Women

[WP] Chapter 10: Confused Men and Women

The alley they turned into was just a corridor between two houses, and the area was very small, so there was nothing else piled up in the alley except garbage and filth.

His heart was beating wildly, and Shade knew that this decision was a risk, but the voice in his head was right. If you want to be extraordinary, you have to accept risks. Maybe the channels with psychiatrists and the church are safe, but he doesn't know anything. Which path is a risk for him? and he is willing to take risks, small risks.

"If there is any problem, I will leave immediately."

Shade clenched his cane and walked forward on tiptoe, trying not to make any sound. At the end of the alley, there were some wooden boxes with wanted posters with almost indistinct words on them. They seemed to be serial killers who had fled to Tobesk.

You can turn left or right at the entrance of the alley and directly enter the slums in the lower city of Tobesk. 

Shade hid behind the wooden boxes and looked in the direction the man had just turned through the gap between the wooden boxes.

It was also an alley, with only the young man wearing a pebble ring. He was now standing in the middle of the alley, looking around cautiously. He even squinted his eyes and looked at the sky. After a long time, he put the black suitcase on the ground, then took off the pebble ring on his right index finger and kissed it carefully in Shade's surprised eyes.

The young man seemed to say something with his head down, but Shade didn't hear it. The wind and space blocked his hearing.

After kissing the ring, the young man seemed to relax a little.

He put the ring back on his right index finger, and immediately smoke like fire came out of his body. The smoke came out of the gap in his clothes and soon wrapped the young man in it.

Shade heard whispers in his ears, but it was not the elegant woman's voice in his head. The whispers were not clear at all, like chewing and like something cursing.

He felt uncomfortable in his head, as if he had turned several circles in place and then walked in a straight line. The crazy whispers became stronger and stronger. At a certain moment, Shade even thought he saw evil spirits rushing towards him.

Fortunately, the hallucination ended quickly, but Shade, who gradually recovered, still suspected that there was something wrong with his eyes. He saw that as the black smoke disappeared, the person wearing a white pebble ring in the smoke walked out, gently patted the edge of her skirt, and then bent down to pick up the suitcase.

Mrs. Lasoya turned her head and looked around cautiously again, and the corners of her mouth seemed to be smiling. After confirming that no one saw this scene, she finally walked to the other side of the alley with the box.

Shade covered his mouth and leaned against the wall, hiding in the gap between the wooden box and the wall, and did not dare to move for a long time.

Just now, Shade was still puzzled by the church investigators who were part-time flyers. Now he understood that the other party might be like the poor detective Shade, trying to monitor Mrs. Lasoya at the door of the club.

When Shade walked out of the alley again, three moons, silver, yellow, and red, were already hanging in the sky. Among them, the silver moon was white in color and the brightest. The night here was as peaceful as the world in the past.

This street is a bit remote, so there are no street lights. In the dim light, Shade didn't know what his expression was at the moment. It took a long time to take out the pocket watch. It was almost eight o'clock in the evening. He stood in the crack of the wall for two hours before he dared to leave. He didn't know that his physical fitness was so good.

"Don't even think about the relief food."

He shook his head dejectedly, feeling indescribably bad. Walking along the street towards home. Even if he was going to starve, at least he had a house to live in, so the situation wasn't too bad.

The key now was that the commission to investigate the mistress, which was a lucrative one, seemed to be unsuccessful.

It was obvious that Mrs. Lasoya could turn into a man with the ring or that a young man could turn into Mrs. Lasoya with the ring. Shade certainly couldn't report this information to his employer, and he also didn't want to hand in the report of the dead detective, as if nothing had happened.

Once the report was submitted, Mrs. Lawrence would inevitably let Mrs. Lasoya know that a detective had followed her without her knowledge because of the conflict with Mr. Lawrence. Even if the report didn't involve any secrets, Shade couldn't guarantee what Mrs. Lasoya would do.

"This world is more troublesome than I imagined. Is Mr. Lawrence in love with a man or a woman?"

Maybe Mrs. Lasoya is a good person, and becoming a man is not harmful to others. But after only being in this world for less than 24 hours, Shade has come into contact with such things. He feels a sense of crisis.

"Maybe the extraordinary in this world also follows the law that the extraordinary will attract the extraordinary."

He thought a little tiredly and walked forward along the street. Because he was worried about being robbed by people in the dark, or being harassed by drunkards, or even running into some illegal transactions, Shade, who only had a cane and a fruit knife, didn't even dare to take a shortcut home through the alley.

"Today is unlucky."

Turning left at the Old John Pawn Shop at the corner of the street, thinking that he would sleep in a house where someone had just died, he felt even worse.

"Since there are extraordinary things, there may be ghosts too. I don't have to scare myself. Wait, where did I turn just now?"

He stopped, tilted his head, and stepped back, and saw the sign of "Old John's Pawn Shop" again, as well as the interior of the shop with gas lights still on.

"Well, I didn't expect there was such a trick. It's not bad luck. It will get better."

With a slight sigh, he held the pocket watch and pushed open the door of the pawn shop.

In the end, he didn't pawn the pocket watch, but the cane. The pocket watch is an important daily necessity, while the cane is dispensable. More importantly, the pocket watch is not worth much. The owner of the shop, an old man who calls himself John Jones, is only willing to pay 10 shillings, because there are many scratches on the surface of the pocket watch, and it may be often put together with the keychain.

But for the cane, he is willing to pay 1 pound, 12 shillings.

"Do you know anything about it? This is the heart of natural cedar from the Drado Mountains. Look at the texture and the workmanship. If you can provide information about the craftsman who made it, I might be able to pay you more."

The old man seemed to be complaining that Shade didn't know anything. After confirming that he wanted to pawn the cane, he also told him that if he didn't come to redeem it within half a month, the cane would belong to the pawnshop.

Shade certainly knew that the price of the cane was more than 1 pound, 12 shillings. But he didn't have the mood to bargain now. In the end, he just took two 1-pound notes, signed the contract, and left.

According to the price of goods, this money was enough for Shade to live quite well for two weeks. If he lived frugally, excluding the possible rent, it was possible to support his life for one and a half months. This money was even enough for him to dig out Sparrow Hamilton, publish an obituary in the advertising section of the newspaper, and hold a shabby funeral for the detective again.

Of course, he didn't have this idea for the time being.

"But after solving the short-term food and clothing problem, what should I do about the extraordinary and the mysterious?"

After having dinner at a restaurant close to the pawnshop, he tasted the flavor of thick soup with steak and then walked back home.

It was almost ten o'clock in the evening when he returned to No. 6 Saint Teresa's Square.

After checking that the hair he left when he left was still in its original position, he entered the room. Carefully rotate the gas lamp on the wall of the living room, letting the light gradually appear, and then throw myself on the sofa tiredly. From the open door of the master bedroom, you can see the bed where Sparrow Hamilton lay.

Shade is determined to contact the extraordinary shortly, rather than living in ignorance. Although there is no definite danger yet, this world is not simple, and Shade does not intend to find a solution when he encounters danger.

And he currently has three methods that may help him contact the extraordinary.

First, there is Mr. Bill Schneider, the psychiatrist who gave Shade his business card; second, there are the five Orthodox churches in the city. Visiting the churches may be rewarding; finally, there is Mrs. Lasoya herself. She must know about the extraordinary, and contacting her is also a way.

Each of the three has its pros and cons, but in the final analysis, Shade knows too little about this world, and he has no channels to learn about it. Before going out today, he checked the map. There is not even a public library in this city for him to get free knowledge.

There are some private libraries in the city, but you must be introduced by an acquaintance and pay a considerable fee to become a member of the library, and Shade does not have this money now.

The only thing he can rely on is the information left by Sparrow Hamilton, but this gentleman has no habit of collecting books, and this gentleman is just an ordinary person.

Through Sparrow Hamilton's death, to trace his cause of death, he may also be able to contact the extraordinary, but this is undoubtedly a very dangerous approach and Shade's reason refuses to do so.

"Can you give me some advice?"

He patted his head but only heard the woman's chuckle. It was the voice in his head that made him complete the entire task of "investigating Mr. Lawrence's mistress." Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to discover the secret of the ring.

He hoped that the voice would give another hint, but there was no response.

"People still have to rely on themselves."

He whispered to himself, tilted his head, and looked out the window, looking at the night sky with three moons that he had never seen before. So magnificent, so mysterious, so intoxicating. Especially the silver moon among the three moons; every time he looked at it, he could feel a little better from the depression.

"In any case, I can't wait. Although I haven't encountered any danger yet, since I have made a preliminary plan to survive as a detective, I must have the ability to protect myself and know how complicated this world is. Otherwise, Detective Sparrow Hamilton will be my fate."

With money in his pocket for the time being, he put aside the idea of continuing other investigations and shifted his current main goal to contacting the extraordinary.

"Church, psychologist, Mrs. Lasoya."

He was not very optimistic about the last option because the other party's appearance today seemed to overlap with the investigation of the church and the police, so he instinctively thought that the other party did not seem to be a good person. He was somewhat tempted by the first option. According to a simple understanding, the Orthodox Church in this world is relatively open-minded.

But that was just his understanding, and he couldn't make plans based on such a simple idea. Moreover, he was not a believer in any god, and as a homeless man, he had never been to the church. It was hard to say whether the church's openness was aimed at people like him.

"Maybe. I can investigate for a few more days. I don't have to worry about starving to death for now. Pawning some inheritance can support me for a long time. As long as the possible rent collector doesn't show up, I have plenty of time to investigate. Around these three options, we can always find the most suitable one."

With this thought in mind, he fell asleep in the bedroom of the original owner, Shade, in the apartment and spent his first night in the new world.

In the haze, he seemed to hear the woman's laughter in his mind again. That laughter made Shade feel unexpectedly relieved. That night, he had a very relaxing dream, sitting on the ridge of the field and looking at the silver moon in the sky.

Accidents always disrupt existing plans, and Shade's plan of choosing one out of three was disrupted in the early morning of the next day.

(End of this chapter)