Of course, Xia De ultimately did not run.
The three-month task left by Mr. Hamilton was clearly suspicious, and since Xia De was already involved and didn't leave before his death, it was even less likely for him to leave now.
However, investigating that task and exploring Hamilton's secrets were matters for later.
The immediate priority was to first secure enough money to survive for a week before making any other plans.
He packed the investigation report and map, and didn't forget the compass and pocket watch from the desk drawer.
For safety, although no firearms were found, his cane could serve as a weapon, and of course, he didn't forget to bring a fruit knife.
For clothes, he chose an unassuming black button-down overcoat and trousers, which suited the dressing habits of Tobesk City as summer was just beginning.
Room 1 on the second floor had two bedrooms, and Xia De found clothes suitable for his current build in the other room.
Unfortunately, that room, which was likely the original Xia De's, contained no diary or any small notes written by the original Xia De with his pitiful literacy, otherwise, life would have been simpler.
Having done all this, the grandfather clock in the corner of the living room was approaching eleven in the morning.
Xia De found the keys to the room and the downstairs door in a bowl on the cabinet by the room's entrance.
He carefully locked the door, took a deep breath, and gritted his teeth as he pulled a strand of hair from his head.
He knelt on the floor between the door and the stairs, placed the hair in the gap under the door, and with his left eye squinted, confirmed that the hair was directly facing into the room, aligned with the protrusion on the left corner of the bedroom door.
The staircase window was closed, the first floor was also sealed off, and all windows inside the room were closed, so there was no need to worry about the hair being moved by the wind.
As long as Xia De didn't stride heavily when he returned to the door, and was careful when opening the first-floor door, the hair's position would indicate whether anyone had passed by or entered the room.
He tried to stand up but then looked at the locked door of the adjacent second-floor Room '2'.
After a moment's thought, he painfully pulled out another strand of hair and wedged it in the door gap, parallel to the lock.
Because Mr. Hamilton had left behind far too many secrets, it was always good to be cautious.
As he spiraled down the stairs, the thudding footsteps in the quiet space made Xia De inexplicably nervous again.
There was no dust on the stair railing, and the decorative oil paintings on the wall also appeared to be regularly wiped.
The closer he got to downstairs, the more Xia De felt his heart rate accelerating.
He understood there was nothing to panic about, but this was, after all, his first step into this place, truly stepping into this world.
He stood at the front door, put on his boots, then grabbed the black bowler hat from the coat rack and placed it on his head, taking a long moment before grasping the doorknob and pushing open the front door.
His heart pounded even faster the moment the door opened; this feeling of completely entering an unfamiliar environment and accepting the fact of his transmigration was truly quite unpleasant.
He stepped over the threshold but did not immediately look out, instead quickly walking out with his head down, then turning to rotate the key and lock the door.
He closed his eyes, then slowly turned to face the street, backing up until his back rested against the front door, his head against the cold metal doorplate 'No. 6'.
"There's nothing to be nervous about; it's just stepping into another world, and it's highly probable I can't go back."
He told himself, trying to suppress the desire to breathe deeply, then lifted his head, opened his eyes, leaned against the door, and looked at everything before him—
The air was filled with some smoke, and the weather was even gloomier than in the morning.
But the bustling square was still teeming with people: gentlemen in formal wear and top hats, ladies in dresses with powdered faces, porters with wooden boxes on their backs, barefoot newsboys shouting loudly, shy flower girls soliciting customers, four-wheeled carriages rushing by, plump housewives carrying paper bags and wearing lace caps...
There was a smell of something burnt in the air, and various people mingled on the smoke-filled streets at the edge of the square, their hawking and clamoring almost completely overlapping.
On the other side of the distant square were three-story houses just like the one behind him, with dense metal pipes clinging to their walls like vines or spiderwebs, glinting in the faint midday sun.
In the center of the square stood a fountain with a girl holding a water bottle, but the fountain wasn't spraying water, and the statue was already somewhat yellowed.
A patrol officer with a badge, sitting by the fountain, looked curiously at Xia De, the middle-aged man asking with his eyes if he needed help, and Xia De hastily averted his gaze.
A newsboy passed by, the sound of his feet scuffing against the gravelly ground made his hair stand on end; the jingling of horse bells from a four-wheeled carriage passing by the door, along with the inquisitive gaze from the carriage window, made Xia De's heart pump blood faster.
Feeling his heart pound, he spread his hands and pressed them against the door behind him, instinctively leaning back, terrified by the reality before him.
Blood rushed to his head, his heart quickened, and a sudden distant chime of a bell exploded in his head like a bomb, almost causing Xia De to faint.
So real, so incredible, so contrary to the common sense of his past twenty-plus years.
This was an otherworld; he had truly left his homeland and arrived in an otherworld, a completely strange world.
"Don't panic! Don't panic!"
Xia De repeated in his mind, but his body's instincts could not be suppressed just like that.
"It's okay, I'll get used to all this, I'll blend in here!"
He desperately kept telling himself, but his body still involuntarily leaned back against the door, his back already soaked with sweat.
Suddenly, the woman's whisper sounded again; although this was also a sound from the otherworld, it seemed to pull Xia De back to reality, making him face everything.
The whisper, like a recited poem, declared:
You have gained 'inspiration'.
His heart's pounding speed decreased because of this sound, and his elevated blood pressure gradually returned to normal due to the whispering whisper, the sound echoing in his heart.
"What inspiration?"
He hadn't misheard, he just didn't understand the meaning of the sentence.
inspiration was also one of the mysterious four elements vaguely mentioned by the Detective before his death, but Xia De needed further explanation.
He was now fully certain that what was in his mind was absolutely not a system; that voice was very likely a part of this world's mysterious system.
You are me, and I am you.
Stranger, you manipulate the direction of fate from behind the scenes; fate unfolds because of you; I touch the truth of the world from behind the scenes; you become powerful because of me.
Even if you are suspicious, we are one; we are no different.
The woman's voice did not answer his question, but Xia De was not angry; instead, he felt a bit happy.
His guess was correct; in this world's system of mysticism, the voice in his mind was most likely a part of contacting and using the mysterious.
This world's worldview seemed somewhat close to Cthulhu and agnosticism; the extraordinary and the mysterious possessed power, and their very existence could affect mortals, which is why another power was needed to help mortals contact those bizarre and dangerous things.
"You are me, and I am you.
Although you say that, you are definitely not like ordinary situations."
He wanted to confirm his thoughts with the whispering voice in his mind, but all he got was the woman's soft laughter.
Regardless, he had at least come into contact with this world's mysterious elements; even if he understood nothing, at least he stood here with his own goals.
The panic gradually subsided, as if he was a little closer to this smoke-filled steam age.
The feeling of solid ground made Xia De more composed; he told himself to gradually accept all this, rather than uselessly panicking:
"Earn money from a commission, investigate Hamilton's story, gather the four elements, study the voice in my head... Move forward, don't panic."
He repeated it in his heart, finally allowing his back to leave the door.
Giving up the idea of going back to change clothes, Xia De carefully, very carefully, walked down the three steps from the doorway and stood on the street at the edge of the square, opening his eyes wide amidst the crowd and looking up at this world, allowing the world to reflect in his eyes:
"No matter what, move forward."
He said to himself, and after a brief pause, according to the plan he made in the house, he stepped out along the circular street around the square, walking in the direction of the entrance to the main street that led away from the square.
