The Whispering Verses Chapter 6: Correspondence education

Only when you leave the house and go to the street can you truly enter the world. Compared to 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 rarely spoke and just walked towards his destination "Lark Club". Walk and listen along the way to learn about the world, the city, and everything around you.

To put it simply, this world is somewhat like the past during the steam revolution of the 19th century. However, compared to the past world, the steam industry here has developed more prosperously, and there are many opportunities to move forward along the road of steam. The feeling of not turning corners.

While harmful black mist spewed out from factory chimneys, all kinds of weird inventions were created, and the economy took off with the development of productivity.

Just as Shade guessed, the city he is in now is Tobesk City, the capital of the northern kingdom of humankind, the Kingdom of Delarian. This is the pearl of the northern continent, the gathering point of human civilization, and the cradle of the times. Out of the essence.

Big cities naturally have to look like big cities. Although limited by the shackles of the times, if you leave the streets and enter the alleys, you will inevitably encounter feces and garbage dumps, but the appearance of a big city is still in the short time of an hour. During the journey, Shade's eyes caught his eye.

Fortunately, the "Lark Club" is not far from the city center. If it spans the entire city, Shade may not be able to walk until midnight. The key point is that Shade has no money to ride in a carriage.

Along the way, he also gained 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, where 1 pound = 20 shillings and 1 shilling = 12 pence.

Of course, this name is very similar to British currency. It is not that they are exactly similar, but that Shade translated three different currency names from foreign languages ​​into familiar names. After all, the conversion methods of numerical values ​​are really similar.

The unfortunate fact is that the note with the number "10" that Shade found was worth 10 pence. With his current purchasing power, this is not even enough for him to take a carriage from his home to the club.

But if he was frugal and used 10 pennies to go to the bakery that was about to close in the evening and compete with the children and housewives in the slums to buy the cheapest bread crumbs, he could at least guarantee that he would not starve to death within three days.

"At least it is now a peaceful era. As one of the largest kingdoms in mankind, our own Kingdom of Delarian has some local frictions with another powerful kingdom in the south, the United Kingdom of Carsonlik, but relatively speaking, this is peaceful and harmonious. The era of development is the era of progress...luck is pretty good."

Xia De is very good at comforting himself.

The world is temporarily at peace. The Kingdom of Delarian in the north of the Old Continent and the United Kingdom of Kasenric occupying the south have almost divided the world. Total war ended decades ago, and although there are still undercurrents, it at least represents peace.

Club culture seems to be a special culture of this era. Shade learned from the investigation report that the mistress under investigation, Mrs. Lasoya, would visit the "Lark Club" every weekend and would stay here. At least three hours.

The Hamilton detective's report speculated that this was the place where Mrs. La Zoya and Mr. Lawrence had a tryst, because every time Mrs. La Zoya appeared in the club, Mr. Lawrence would also enter.

This is a private club for members. Shade did not have an entry permit, so he walked at the intersection and turned into Valente Pedestrian Street. According to the records in the investigation report, he stopped at the door of the newspaper office opposite the club to observe.

That is a newspaper owned by the "Tobesk City Evening News", and it is said that the royal family has a stake in it. Saturday is the busiest time for the newspaper office, because Saturday is the customary time for the King's Speech and the Parliament's report.

A group of people will gather at the door of the newspaper office at this time, waiting for new news to be delivered. Of course, the full-time reporters have already set off, and those staying at the door of the newspaper office are all people waiting to try their luck.

Shad's plan was to get involved. Although it was already noon, the mistress La Zoya usually did not appear in the club in the morning. So if he's lucky, he'll soon find his target appearing.

As long as the woman's appearance and departure time are recorded, the report is complete.

Completing this matter so easily gave Shade an unreal feeling. But after all, Hamilton has accomplished almost everything, so this is actually one of the "legacies" left by the dead gentleman.

Shadow was holding the pocket watch that was one of Mr. Hamilton's legacies, so when he stood by the mailbox at the door of the newspaper office, pretending to be waiting for someone and looking around for a long time, he finally saw the target appearing, and immediately got together with the folder. The black and white photos in the report were compared repeatedly. It was confirmed and recorded that one twenty-three was the time when the mistress Lasoya appeared.

The lady was dressed fashionably, and the lace decoration on the skirt and the gemstone hair accessories in her hair were obviously expensive. She arrived directly at the door of the club by riding a carriage, holding a cloth umbrella even though the weather was gloomy.

She seems to be about thirty years old, with average height but plump body. Although the powder on her face is a bit thick, she can still be seen as a beauty.

Because he was worried about being discovered, Shade also knew that he had no tracking experience, so after confirming that he was the target, he immediately looked away.

[Observe her ring. 】

"What?"

The murmuring voice of a woman in his mind appeared again. Although Shade didn't know what she was, he still turned his attention to Mrs. Lasoya.

At this time, the doorman of the club was already saying hello. When the woman turned around, Shade saw the ring clearly. It's strange that the ring is not set with gems or diamonds, but instead looks like a small pebble.

Of course, since he was observing from across the street, and pedestrians on the street occasionally blocked his view, he was not sure whether he had made a mistake. Mrs. Lasoya also quickly entered the club and did not give Shade many opportunities to observe.

"What do you mean? Why do you want me to pay attention to that ring?"

He asked the voice in his head again, but the murmur did not actively sound because of his inquiry. This made Shade a little annoyed, but he knew to control his emotions. He was not the kind of person who gets angry easily.

"Sir, what time is it now?"

I was thinking about something when I suddenly heard someone talking next to me. Shade was startled, thinking that he was standing by the mailbox and looking at the door of the club on the other side of the street too conspicuously, but when he heard the sound, he realized that someone was asking for the time.

"Sorry, I forgot my pocket watch."

The person who explained his rash questioning was a middle-aged gentleman in his forties who looked quite elegant and easy-going. He was wearing a black silk hat, a formal suit for a party, and a white shirt. His face is somewhat broad, with a neat mustache on his chin, and his blue eyes are very attractive.

The middle-aged man smiled at Shade. Shade hesitated and took out the pocket watch that he had just put into the right pocket of his coat.

"One thirty."

He said, and was a little curious about the reason why the middle-aged man appeared here. This outfit did not look like a reporter waiting for news at all, but Shade's outfit with a notebook under his arm did.

As if he heard Xia De’s thoughts, the middle-aged gentleman smiled and said:

"Thank you for your time. I have an appointment with the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. I didn't bring my pocket watch. I thought I would be late, but now it seems just right."

As he said that, he handed over his business card. Xia De took it politely and also handed over his business card. In fact, it was the dead Mr. Hamilton's business card. It had the address and business scope of the detective agency, and the name only read "Detective Hamilton" without adding a prefix.

Since Shade chose his last name as "Hamilton", of course he can also use these business cards. He is glad that there is no household registration system here and he does not even need to forge identity documents.

The middle-aged man named Bill Schneider runs a private psychological clinic. Unlike Shade, whose career is not yet stable, the Schneider Psychological Clinic is quite formal, and the income from the psychological clinic is obviously more than that of a detective like Shade, who relied on his inheritance to conduct his first investigation. The evidence is that Shade's business card is shabby compared to the doctor's business card. The other party's business card is much better in terms of paper and printing quality.

"If you have anything, you can come to me here."

Mr. Schneider said very kindly, pointing to the clinic address on the business card, which is the address in the East District of Tobesk City:

"My treatment range is broad."

He looked at Shade. Shade, inexplicably, had a creepy illusion that he was going to be seen through those blue eyes.

"Including schizophrenia."

The psychiatrist said very kindly that he is very good at communicating with strangers.

"What?"

Shad's heart suddenly suddenly changed, but before asking, Mr. Bill Schneider quickly changed the topic:

"Speaking of which, Mr. Detective, have you ever considered taking adult education? Correspondence education."

"Correspondence adult education?"

The topic changed too quickly, and Shade failed to follow the train of thought:

"I have no plans to study psychology for the time being."

He regarded the other party as an enthusiastic graduate of a certain psychology college.

But Xia De refused, and the doctor didn’t bother:

"Okay then, see you later."

The doctor nodded to the detective, put the detective's business card into his pocket, and then turned and walked towards the courtyard of the newspaper office.

"Correspondence education... Speaking of which, what did Dr. Schneider mean by specifically mentioning schizophrenia?"

Xia De stood there and thought silently, and then realized that he heard a 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 laughter is very nice and charming. You are definitely not the product of my schizophrenia."

Shad said to the voice in his head.

Although I am sure that my situation is due to exposure to a mystery, and it is definitely not schizophrenia. But what he was not sure about was what the psychiatrist he met by chance saw.

"I just went out and met someone like this who may be involved in extraordinary powers. Is it bad luck? Or is the density of extraordinary people in this world greater than I thought? Or maybe this psychiatrist just casually said Mention, am I thinking too much?"

Xia De thought to himself and carefully put away Dr. Schneider's business card. Regardless, delegation is most important right now. Now that I know the psychiatrist’s address, I can go there anytime.

At least judging from the brief exchange just now, Dr. Schneider does not seem to have any hostility. However, his true thoughts could not be revealed in a short exchange. Shade still wanted to know a little about the world before communicating with others in depth.