The alley Shard turned into was a passage between two houses, with a very narrow area. Thus, apart from garbage and filth, nothing else was piled up in the alley.
His heart was pounding wildly. Shard knew this decision was risky, but the voice in his mind was right. If he wanted to pursue the extraordinary, he had to accept the risks. Maybe channels through a psychologist and the church were safer, but since he knew nothing, every path was a risk for him.
To gain, one must give. He was willing to take the risk, even a small one.
“If there’s any problem, I’ll leave immediately.”
Shard gripped his cane tightly and tiptoed forward as silently as possible. At the end of the alley were some wooden crates, with nearly illegible wanted posters of a serial killer who seemed to have fled to Tobesk City posted on them.
The alley could either turn left or right, leading directly into the slums of Tobesk City’s lower district. Shard hid behind the wooden crates and looked through a gap towards the direction the man had turned.
It was another alley, and the young man with the cobblestone ring was there. He was now standing in the middle of the alley, cautiously observing his surroundings. He even squinted at the sky for a long while before placing the black suitcase on the ground and carefully kissing the cobblestone ring on his right index finger, to Shard’s amazement.
The young man seemed to say something with his head lowered, but Shard couldn’t hear it. The wind and space blocked his hearing.
After kissing the ring, the young man seemed slightly more relaxed.
He put the ring back on his right index finger, and thick smoke, as if from a fire, began to emanate from his clothes. The smoke quickly enveloped the young man completely.
Shard heard whispers in his ears, but they were not the elegant woman’s voice inside his mind. These whispers were entirely unintelligible, sounding like chewing or perhaps some sort of cursing.
His head felt uncomfortable, as if he had spun in place for a while and then tried to walk a straight line. The mad whispers grew more intense, and for a moment, Shard even thought he saw evil spirits lunging at him.
Fortunately, the hallucination ended quickly, but as Shard gradually recovered, he still doubted his eyes. As the black smoke dissipated, a person wearing a white cobblestone ring emerged, lightly brushed their skirt, and then bent down to pick up the suitcase.
Madame Lassoia turned her head to cautiously look around, seemingly smiling at the corners of her mouth. After confirming that no one had seen this scene, she finally walked to the other side of the alley with the suitcase.
Shard covered his mouth and leaned against the wall, hiding in the gap between the crates and the wall, not daring to move for a long time.
Earlier, Shard was puzzled about the church investigator handing out flyers as a side job. Now he understood; the person, like the incompetent detective Shard, was probably trying to monitor Madame Lassoia at the club entrance.
By the time Shard walked out of the alley again, the silver, yellow, and red moons had all hung together in the sky. The yellow moon was whiter and brighter. The night here was as calm as in his old world.
This street was a bit secluded, so there were no street lamps. In the dim light, Shard didn’t even know what expression he wore. It took a while before he looked at his pocket watch, realizing it was already near 8 PM. He had stood in the wall gap for two hours before daring to leave, not even knowing his physical endurance was this good.
“Forget the relief food.”
He shook his head somewhat dejectedly, with an indescribable bad mood. Walking along the street towards home, even if he had to starve, at least he still had a house to live in, so things weren’t too bad.
The key issue now was that the lucrative task of investigating the mistress seemed unachievable.
It was clear that Madame Lassoia had the ability to transform into a man using the ring, or the young man had the ability to transform into Madame Lassoia using the ring. Shard certainly couldn’t report this information to the employer, nor did he wish to submit the dead detective’s report. He’d just pretend nothing had happened.
Once the report was submitted, Mrs. Lawrence would inevitably inform Madame Lassoia about a detective following her without her knowledge, due to conflicts with Mr. Lawrence. Even if the report didn’t involve any secrets, Shard couldn’t guarantee what Madame Lassoia might do.
“This world is really more troublesome than I imagined. Does Mr. Lawrence love a man or a woman?”
Maybe Madame Lassoia was a good person, and transforming into a man wasn’t harmful to others. But having encountered such things within twenty-four hours of arriving in this world gave Shard a considerable sense of crisis.
“Maybe the supernatural in this world follows a rule: the extraordinary attracts the extraordinary.”
Feeling a bit tired, he walked along the street, worrying about getting mugged or harassed by drunken men or running into some illegal transaction in the dark. With just a cane and a fruit knife, Shard dared not take shortcuts through alleys to get home.
“Today is really unlucky.”
Turning left at Old John’s pawnshop on the corner, he felt worse thinking about sleeping in a house where someone had just died.
“If the extraordinary exists, there might also be ghosts. Don’t scare yourself… Wait, where did I just turn?”
He stopped, tilted his head, and stepped back a bit, seeing the sign of “Old John’s Pawnshop” again and the gas-lighted shop interior.
“Well, I didn’t think of such a trick. In fact, it’s not that unlucky. Things will get better.”
With a slight sigh, he squeezed his pocket watch and pushed open the pawnshop door.
In the end, he did not pawn the pocket watch but instead pawned the cane. The pocket watch was an essential daily item, but the cane was not. More importantly, the pocket watch wasn’t worth much. The shop owner, an old man self-styled as John Jones, only offered 10 shillings, citing many scratches on the watch’s surface, possibly from being kept with a keychain.
But for the cane, he was willing to offer 1 pound and 12 shillings.
“Do you know what this is? It’s the heartwood of a natural cedar from the Delado Mountains. Look at this grain, look at this craftsmanship. If you can provide the craftsman’s information, I might offer more.”
The old man complained about Shard’s ignorance. After confirming his intent to pawn the cane, he reminded that if the cane wasn’t redeemed within half a month, it belonged to the pawnshop.
Shard knew the cane’s value far exceeded 1 pound and 12 shillings. But he had no mood for bargaining, so he just took the two 1-pound notes and signed the contract before leaving.
Based on the living costs, this money was enough for Shard to live quite comfortably for two weeks, even a month and a half if he was frugal and excluding possible rent. It was even enough to dig up Sparrow Hamilton, post an obituary, and hold a shabby funeral for the detective.
Of course, he didn’t plan to do that for the time being.
“But after solving the immediate issue of food, what should I do about the supernatural and the mysterious?”
After having dinner at a nearby restaurant and experiencing the taste of soup and meat pie together, he walked home.
When he returned to No. 6 Saint Derain Square, it was close to 10 PM.
Checking the hair he’d placed earlier, it was still in the same position, so he entered the room. Cautiously lighting the gas lamp on the living room wall, he let the light gradually appear, then tiredly threw himself onto the sofa. From the open master bedroom door, he could see the bed that Sparrow Hamilton had lied on.
Shard decided to engage with the supernatural soon instead of living in ignorance. Although he hadn’t encountered any definite dangers yet, this world was complicated, and he didn’t plan to wait until danger struck to find a solution.
Currently, he had three possible ways to approach the supernatural.
First was Mr. Bill Schneider, the psychologist who’d given Shard his business card; second was one of the five godly churches in the city, visiting a church might yield something; lastly, Madame Lassoia herself, who undoubtedly knew about the supernatural, and contacting her was also a way.
Each option had its pros and cons, but ultimately, Shard’s understanding of this world was too limited, and he had no other channels to learn more. Before going out today, he had checked the map, and there were no public libraries in this city for him to gain free knowledge.
There were some private libraries, but they required introductions from acquaintances and substantial fees to become a member. Shard clearly didn’t have the money now.
He could only rely on the information left by Sparrow Hamilton, though Mr. Hamilton had no habit of collecting books and was evidently just an ordinary person.
Investigating Sparrow Hamilton’s death to approach the supernatural was also dangerous, and Shard’s rational mind rejected this approach.
“Can you give some advice?”
He patted his head but only heard the woman’s light laughter. The voice in his head had guided him through the entire “investigation of Mr. Lawrence’s mistress,” without which he’d never have discovered the ring’s secret.
He hoped the voice would offer advice again, but there was no response.
“One must rely on oneself.”
He murmured to himself, tilting his head to gaze at the unprecedented sight of the three moonlets in the night sky. It was so splendid, so mysterious, so mesmerizing. Especially the silver moon among the three, a gaze at it always lifted his spirits.
“No matter what, I can’t wait. While I haven’t encountered any danger yet, I must have the power to protect myself if I plan to live as a detective. I must understand this world’s complexity. Otherwise, I might end up like Detective Sparrow Hamilton.”
With money in his pocket temporarily, he set aside other investigations and aimed to engage with the supernatural.
“Church, psychologist, Madame Lassoia.”
He wasn’t optimistic about the last option, as the presence of the church and police today overlapped somewhat with Madame Lassoia. Intuitively, he felt she might not be a good person. He was more inclined toward the first option, believing the godly churches in this world were relatively enlightened based on his limited understanding.
However, that was only his understanding. He couldn’t plan based on such a simplistic idea. Moreover, he wasn’t a believer of any deity, having never visited a church as a wanderer. It was uncertain if the churches’ enlightenment applied to people like him.
“Maybe I can investigate for a few more days. I don’t have to worry about starving for now, and pawning some more heritage could support a long time. As long as possible rent collectors don’t appear, I have ample time to investigate. Focusing on these three options will eventually lead me to the best one.”
With this thought, he fell asleep in Shard’s original bedroom, spending his first night in the new world.
Faintly, he seemed to hear the woman’s laughter in his mind again. The laughter surprisingly reassured him, and that night, he had a very relaxing dream, sitting on a field ridge, gazing at the silver moon.
Unexpected events always disrupt existing plans, and Shard’s three-way plan was interrupted the next morning.
