“If this business goes smoothly, perhaps I can truly try to stay here as a Detective. After my life stabilizes, I can then delve into the extraordinary and try to find hope of returning home.”
During his leisure time monitoring the club entrance, the Outsider thought of his distant homeland, and Xia De couldn't help but sigh.
He estimated the time again. Since Lawrence had also entered the club, it was impossible for the two of them to come out within an hour.
“They have things to do. Should I find a place to rest?”
He thought to himself, looking around, and then successfully spotted a pub called “Screaming Hound” at the street corner.
Pubs like this, located on main roads and open during the day, usually aren't too chaotic, especially since it was only two in the afternoon. Xia De pinched the ten-pence note in his pocket, licked his somewhat chapped lips, confirmed the current time, hesitated for a moment, then walked over.
Pushing open the pub door, the first thing he saw was a row of gas lamps on the wall, illuminating the somewhat dim interior. The air was filled with a mix of alcohol and fermented food smells, making him, still hungry, a little uncomfortable.
Xia De now knew that the lighting fixtures used in this era were all gas lamps. And climbing on the walls, besides gas pipes, there were usually also steam pipes. Gas pipes were the thinner ones, and steam pipes would be wrapped in insulation.
The round wooden tables in the pub were all empty. There weren't many people at the moment, only three customers, sitting around a wooden table against the wall, far from the bar, gambling with rhode cards. On the wall next to the table hung an oil painting of a snowy mountain landscape.
They were three men who didn't seem wealthy. Although their clothes had no patches, their dark garments were faded from washing, and the hats on the table had clearly been used for a long time, crumpled and piled together.
Perhaps they just wanted to rest during this leisurely summer afternoon. Xia De didn't disturb them, walking towards the bar where the bartender stood, intending to just buy a glass of ice water. But then he heard a cheer from one of the men playing rhode cards:
“I win again this time!”
The middle-aged man with a messy beard stood up and proudly threw the rhode cards in his hand onto the table:
“Look, exactly 21 points.”
He said, looking around smugly, but unfortunately, there were only him and his friends here. Seeing Xia De, who had just walked in, his eyes lit up:
“Treat this gentleman to a glass of rye!”
The man who won the game but wasn't wealthy said to the bartender. Xia De turned around to look at him with some surprise, then, after a moment of stunned, nodded slightly in thanks:
“Thank you for the kind offer, but I think a glass of ice water will suffice.”
He wasn't good at drinking alcohol, nor did he know the alcohol content of “rye.” Furthermore, he was still on a Detective mission, so there was no need to consume alcohol.
And obviously, the price of a glass of water was much lower than that of a glass of alcohol. The three men thought Xia De was saving them money, and immediately took a liking to him. Seeing that Xia De had no companion, they invited him to play rhode cards with them.
But Xia De didn't know how, so he could only watch them play. The men were also very enthusiastic about teaching Xia De “rhode cards” techniques.
The rhode cards in this world were very similar to poker cards from his previous life, also having four suits and a total of 54 cards, except the four suits were sun, moon, stars, and flowers.
The mainstream way of playing rhode cards was similar to “21 points,” called “rhode cards.” Other rules like solitaire, crazy eights, and high-low also existed, but the rhode cards game was popular worldwide, and it was said that the inventor of this game was named Rhode.
rhode cards were generally made with pictures on the front and suits and numbers marked in the upper left and upper right corners. Therefore, special series of rhode cards with unique patterns issued during certain eras were particularly valuable.
The most recent set of special series rhode cards issued only 1000 sets, named “Fairy Tale Series.”
The three men playing rhode cards were not wealthy and didn't know much about the so-called special series rhode cards, only being able to give a general idea.
They only knew that some nobles were obsessed with collecting those rare rhode cards. In particular, some rhode cards not only had special card patterns but also contained special game rules.
Those rhode cards were priceless. There was a rumor that last year, at the Biford Auction House, a special rhode card was sold for twelve thousand pounds.
Xia De quietly calculated the prices and thought about the “sun 3” tucked in his diary. He didn't want to laugh, but he deeply suspected whether the rhode card he inherited was genuine.
But if that rhode card, with the image of a woman sitting sideways holding up a silver moon, was genuine, his last bit of worry about his future life would disappear.
After chatting with the three men playing rhode cards in the pub for an hour, Xia De got up to leave. When he returned to the newspaper office entrance, the spot next to the mailbox was occupied by a young man wearing a brown waistcoat and glasses.
This was probably a real reporter, so the young Detective moved to stand next to the cast-iron lamppost.
The lamppost was generally cylindrical and also used gas as energy. Xia De was originally standing leisurely next to it, but his eyes inadvertently caught sight of the nameplate. The nameplate clearly stated, “Never smoke under the lamppost, or you will be responsible for the consequences.”
Xia De imagined what might happen and subconsciously moved away from this dangerous place.
The sun gradually set, and Xia De waited patiently. After the feeling of hunger reached its limit and disappeared in the afternoon, his body felt much better. He planned to wait until around five o'clock. If Mrs. Lasoya still didn't appear, then he would head to the War and Peace Church to collect relief food.
He could also take a look at what the Church in this world was like and confirm whether the Church possessed extraordinary power.
“However, I have that voice in my head. Will I be arrested as soon as I go in? And the secret of the Outsider...”
He was also a little worried about this, but without knowing anything, Xia De actually had few choices.
Perhaps noticing that Xia De thought of her again, the woman's voice in his mind sounded again:
“Observe his ring.”
This sentence had appeared at noon, but at that time the pronoun was feminine, and this time it was masculine.
Xia De immediately looked up at the club entrance and indeed saw a young man carrying a briefcase walking out. On his right-hand finger, there was unmistakably the white pebble ring he had seen on Mrs. Lasoya's finger at noon.
Because of its unique design, Xia De was sure he wouldn't mistake it.
Both of them wore the ring on the middle finger of their right hand, and the voice in his mind gave no further hints.
“How interesting. Why did the owner of the ring change?”
Xia De thought to himself. After seeing the man with the ring leave the club, he didn't look for an empty carriage but blended into the evening crowd, following a hurried, stout man carrying a briefcase, walking along the street towards the east.
The fog of the steam city blurred his figure. If he didn't pursue, Xia De would quickly lose track of the man.
“Should I chase him? The voice in my head definitely isn't speaking idly.”
He thought to himself, turning around to avoid the direction of the club entrance, and unfolded an eighth of the map tucked in his notebook, looking for the direction of the War and Peace Church. The church distributing relief food was to the east of his current location, and it was already very close to five o'clock.