Of course, Shade didn't run away in the end. The three-month mission left by Mr. Hamilton, no matter how you think about it, you know something is wrong, and Shade, who has been involved in it, since he did not leave before Hamilton's death, it is even more impossible to leave now.
But investigating that mission, and probing Hamilton's secrets, was a matter for the future. The key now is to get enough money to survive for a week before making other plans.
Take the survey report and map, and don't forget the compass and pocket watch in the drawer of the desk. For safety reasons, although no firearms were found, a cane can also be used as a weapon. Of course, don't forget to bring a fruit knife.
For clothes, I chose a humble black button-up coat and trousers, which is very in line with the dressing habits of Tobesk, which has just entered summer.
Room 1 on the second floor has a total of two bedrooms, and Shade found clothes suitable for his current figure in the other room. It's a pity that the room suspected to belong to the original owner Shade didn't have a diary or anything like that, nor did he have any hints written by Shade with his pathetic literacy, otherwise life would be easier.
After doing all this, the clock in the corner of the living room is almost eleven o'clock in the morning.
Shade found the keys to the door and the downstairs door 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. Lie down on the floor between the door and the stairs, put the hair in the crack under the door, squint your left eye, and confirm that the hair is facing the bulge on the left corner of the bedroom door facing the room.
The windows in the stairwell are closed, and the first floor is also blocked. All the windows in the room are closed, so you don't have to worry about your hair being moved by the wind. As long as Shade came back, don't stride at the door, and be careful when opening the door on the first floor. The position of the hair will indicate whether someone passes by or enters the room.
He wanted to stand up, but he looked at the locked door of room "2" on the second floor next door. So after thinking about it, he reluctantly pulled out another hair and pinned it in the crack of the door, parallel to the position of the lock.
Because Mr. Hamilton has left too many secrets, it is always good to be cautious.
Circling down the stairs, the sound of trampling in the quiet space made Shade panic for some reason.
There was no dust on the banisters and the decorative oil paintings on the walls looked like they had been wiped down frequently. The closer he got downstairs, the more Shade felt his heart beating faster.
He understands that there is nothing to be nervous about, but after all, this is the first step to step here, to truly step into this world.
Standing in front of the door, he changed his boots, then grabbed the black round hat on the vertical coat hanger and put it on his head. It took him a long time to hold the doorknob and push the door open.
The heartbeat became faster the moment the door was opened. This feeling of completely entering a strange environment and accepting the fact that I have traveled through it is really uncomfortable.
Stepped over the threshold, he did not look out immediately, but quickly walked out with his head down, then turned around and turned the key to lock the door.
Closing his eyes, he slowly turned to face the street, leaned back against the door, and pressed his head against the cold metal door plate "No. 6".
"There's nothing to be nervous about, just stepping into a different world."
He said to himself, trying to suppress the desire to take a big breath, 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 a bit gloomy compared to the morning. But the noisy square is still full of people, gentlemen in formal suits and top hats, ladies in skirts with powder on their faces, porters carrying wooden boxes, newsboys shouting loudly with bare feet, shy solicitors Flower girls, carriages hurrying past, bloated housewives with paper bags and lace hats...
There was a smell of burning in the air, people of all kinds mixed in the streets on the edge of the smoky square, the cries and shouts almost completely overlapped. On the other side of the square in the distance, there are three-story houses like those behind you. Dense metal pipes cling to the walls, like vines or 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 patrolling policeman wearing a police badge sitting by the fountain looked at Shade curiously. The middle-aged man asked him if he needed help, and Shade hurriedly looked away.
The newspaper boy passed by, and the sound of the soles of his feet rubbing against the gravel-covered ground made his hairs stand on end; the jingling bells of the four-wheeled carriage passing by the door, and the probing sight from the carriage window , let Shade's heart pump blood faster together.
Feeling the beating of the heart, he opened his hands and pressed against the door behind him, and instinctively leaned back, terrified by everything that was real in front of him. The blood pressure surged, the heartbeat accelerated, and the sudden sound of a bell in the distance, almost like a bomb exploding in his head, made Shade almost faint.
So real, so unbelievable, so contrary to the common sense of the past twenty years. This is a different world. He really left his hometown and came to a different world, a completely strange world.
"Don't panic! Don't panic!"
Shade kept repeating in his heart, but the instinct of the body could not be suppressed like this.
"It doesn't matter, I will be familiar with all this, and I will blend in here somehow!"
He kept telling himself desperately, but his body still involuntarily leaned back against the door, his back was already wet.
Suddenly, the woman's murmured voice sounded again, although it was also a voice from another world, it seemed to bring Shade back to reality and let him face all this. The whispering voice declared like reciting a poem:
[You have obtained 'enlightenment'. ]
The beating speed of the heart slowed down because of the sound, and the high blood pressure gradually returned to normal because of the whisper, the sound echoed in the heart.
"What enlightenment?"
It's not that he didn't hear clearly, it's just that he didn't understand the meaning of this sentence. [Enlightenment] also belonged to the four elements of the transcendent that the detective vaguely mentioned before his death, but Shade needed further explanation. He is now fully sure that what is in his head is definitely not a system, and that voice is very likely to be a part of the world's mysterious powers.
[You are me, I am you. Stranger, you manipulate the direction of fate in front of the screen, and fate unfolds because of you; I touch the reality of the world behind the screen, and you are strong because of me. Even if you are suspicious, we are one, we are not different. ]
The woman's voice answered irrelevant questions, but Shade was not angry, but rather happy.
His guess was right. In the extraordinary powers of this world, the voice in his head is most likely to be a part of contacting and using the mysterious power. Extraordinary and mysteries have power, and their existence itself will affect mortals, so another power is needed to help mortals get in touch with those weird and dangerous things.
"You are me, and I am you. Although I say this, you are definitely different from ordinary."
He wanted to verify his thoughts with the whispering voice in his head, but all he got was the woman's chuckle.
In any case, he has at least come into contact with the extraordinary elements of this world, even if he doesn't understand anything, but at least he stands here and has his own goals.
The panic just now subsided gradually, as if he was getting closer to this era of steam filled with smoke. The down-to-earth feeling made Shade more calm, and he told himself to gradually accept all of this instead of useless panic:
"Earn a commission, investigate Hamilton's story, gather the four elements, study the voice in your head... Go forward, don't panic."
Repeating this in his heart, he finally let his back leave the door. Giving up the idea of going back to change clothes, Shade carefully walked down the three steps at the door, came to the street on the edge of the square, stood still, and looked up at the world with his eyes wide open in the crowd. And let the world reflect in his eyes:
"Anyway, lets move onwards."
After a short pause, as planned earlier, he walked along the circular street around the square, and walked towards the entrance of the street on the other side.