"Very good. Since the direction and time are right, let's catch up. If we can't catch up, we can go directly to the church. Anyway, we can't go hungry on the first day in the new world... We can't think like this, otherwise I will feel a little pitiful."
With such a "simple" idea in mind, Xia De packed his things and started walking along the low wall on the side of the street, chasing the man.
In order to avoid being discovered, Xia De still did not dare to follow closely, even though the fog in the city became thicker as the evening approached. He was very self-aware and knew that he did not have the skills to follow others.
So of course, a dozen minutes later, when they turned the back wall of a milk distribution company and went into the alley, Shad completely lost track of the man.
"Ha~ Should I say, I lost him after all."
Standing in the alley, he looked around blankly, and only after confirming that he had really lost the target did he shake his head and give up the search. He did not dwell on this matter any longer. Since he had lost the target, he would go get the "relief food", but -
"Where is this place?"
In a completely unfamiliar city, Xia De had no time to remember his route while trying to avoid being discovered and follow others. He only knew that he was now in a narrow alley with a very bad smell.
On the left was the outer wall of a milk distribution company, and on the right was the side wall of a three-story apartment building. On the walls on both sides, in addition to rusty pipes climbing up and connecting different directions, there were layers of obscene words and graffiti, and under the walls there was garbage and feces everywhere.
There were only two or three rusty, large-diameter steam pipes piled up near the alley entrance. No one knew who had abandoned them here.
“Look up the name of the milk delivery company and find its current location on a map.”
Xia De had an idea and no longer cared about the person he wanted to follow.
He turned around and walked back along the alley, being careful not to step on the filthy and indescribable things in the alley. When he was about to walk out of the alley, he carefully avoided it because a team of police officers in police uniforms hurriedly ran on the street in front of him.
Among them, the tall middle-aged man with stubble on his face at the end of the team glanced at Xia De. Xia De also looked at the man with innocent eyes, so the police officer ignored Xia De.
"What happened over there?"
Xia De stood at the entrance of the alley, looking in the direction the police were running. Because he didn't know which street this was, he had no way of identifying what was in that direction of the street.
"It's none of my business."
He said in a low voice, holding a notebook and walking towards the door of the milk distribution company. This is not a factory, but just the office building of the distribution department. There is a two-story yellow building surrounded by the yard, and an old dog that looks quite old is lying at the door.
The dog also glanced at Xia De who was approaching here. Seeing that Xia De just stopped at the door and didn't come in, it stood up lazily and lay down in a position where it could be illuminated by the setting sun.
The name of the milk distribution company is "Silver Parrot", which is a strange name, but it is indeed on the map, and the previous detective also marked that a murder occurred here three years ago.
The murder case naturally had nothing to do with Xia De. He walked forward with a quarter-unfolded map, constantly confirming that his position was correct.
There weren't many pedestrians on the street, so if you walked with your head down you wouldn't bump into anyone. Before I knew it, I had walked to the end of the street in the sunset and thick fog, following the direction of the pipe with white steam coming out of the wall. There was a five-way intersection ahead, and according to the map, I would take the road diagonally to the left with the dessert shop, which would probably be a shorter distance.
But the intersection was almost blocked by the crowd. There was a silver shop near the mailbox on the east side. The sign was clean, but something seemed to have happened there. The team of police officers that Xia De had seen at the alley entrance were maintaining order and preventing people from approaching.
While he was standing there observing, more carriages came from behind Shade and from other intersections. In just a few minutes, more police officers appeared here. There were even some people who looked like scholars from the school who came out of the carriages. It was unknown what they were doing.
Xia De had no intention of joining in the fun, as the most important thing now was to get the food relief. But because there were so many people joining in the fun, he was unknowingly pushed to the front of the crowd while trying to pass the intersection.
I wanted to retreat, but the people behind me wouldn't let me. The police in front kept yelling at people to disperse, saying there was nothing worth seeing here.
Perhaps seeing Xia De being squeezed over, he had no intention of getting closer. The young police officer who was maintaining order and had a pen in his chest pocket kindly reminded him to be careful of thieves.
This made Shade a little nervous, and he subconsciously touched the ten-pence note in his pocket. After confirming that it was still there, he saw another team of armed policemen escorting three men in plain clothes into the silver shop.
The tallest man was unusually strong, the young man in the middle looked like a scholar, and the last man looked familiar to Xia De, as if he was the missionary who handed him the flyers in the afternoon.
“Are the missionaries of this world still working part-time as police officers?”
He thought about the conclusion that he didn't believe in, and tightly grasped the coins and pocket watch in his pocket, intending to leave here quickly, otherwise he would be late.
The moment I turned around and tried to squeeze back, I suddenly felt a strange warning in my heart. Before I could figure out why I felt this way, I heard a voice—
boom!
The explosion was beyond everyone's expectations, and the sound that almost tore the eardrums caused screams from the crowd. Although no fire could be seen, the glass window of the silver shop shattered immediately, and the wall seemed to tilt, causing the metal pipes on the wall to make a harsh metallic twisting sound.
But thankfully, the police did not allow the crowd to gather at the store entrance, so no one was injured when the panicked shouting was heard.
The crowd immediately dispersed like a flood. Xia De, who was standing in front of the crowd, remained calm and wanted to leave. He saw a middle-aged man with brown hair running towards the door of the silver shop:
"I'm a reporter! I'm a reporter! What's going on here?"
He held a notebook in one hand and waved his ID in the other, rushing over here more excitedly than anyone else, and was quickly grabbed by the young police officer:
"The gas pipe exploded, sir, please stay away."
Xia De didn't believe this conclusion at all. How could a gas pipeline explode
boom!
Another heart-stopping explosion rang out in the silver shop, and the vibrating air almost had the power to push people.
Now even the glass on the second floor of the silver shop was shattered, and the falling glass fragments forced the police who were maintaining order to temporarily flee. As Xia De retreated, he saw through the window that on the second floor where the explosion occurred, there seemed to be two people fighting in a white fog, and there seemed to be light on the fist of one of them.
The distance was a bit too far, and the fog that came with the sunset was also reducing the field of vision, so Xia De couldn't see very clearly.
"Extraordinary?"
He thought to himself.
Yes.
Xia De was startled by the woman's voice, but knowing that the other party would not explain further, he did not ask, but left quickly.
"The three people just now are definitely from the church, and this happened after they entered... As expected, the church in this world is most likely a supernatural force, and it seems to be closely integrated with the kingdom's order... In this way, the probability that the Orthodox Church can be trusted has greatly increased. I wonder if I have a chance to get through the church's channels..."
This means there are two choices. Not only the psychiatrist, but also the five churches in this city provide opportunities for Shad to come into contact with the supernatural and figure out the voice in his head.
"But how come I happened to see this kind of thing?"
He followed the dispersing crowd and walked in the original direction, while the woman's voice in his mind said the sentence he had already said:
Observe his ring.
Although he still didn't know what the woman's voice in his head was, Xia De at least knew that the other party had no obvious ill intentions. He immediately followed the voice and looked around. He actually saw the young man wearing a pebble ring and carrying a suitcase again, walking not far ahead.
"What a coincidence... I know it can't be such a coincidence. Wait, the explosion just now, could it be related to him? Why would I have such an idea? There is no evidence at all."
With this thought in mind, Xia De didn't want to follow him anymore. If the other party was able to create an explosion with bare hands like the two people in the silver shop, following him would be almost like wanting to replicate the tragic end of the previous detective.
"No, no."
Xia De slowed down his pace, wanting the other person to disappear naturally from his sight. Unexpectedly, the young man also stopped, took out the map to check it like Xia De just now, and then carried the box into the alley next to him.
"To follow or not to follow?"
The female voice in his head reminded him of the ring three times, so it shouldn't be because she was bored. But Xia De, who knew almost nothing about the world, had to be cautious.
He walked forward according to his original plan. When he passed the alley where the young man turned, he naturally glanced inside and saw the man disappear around the corner ahead.
"To follow or not to follow."
He asked himself again, and suddenly realized that the next decision would affect his life for a long time to come.
"To follow or not to follow?"
He asked the woman in his mind, and he heard laughter and a murmured answer:
The road of destiny unfolds before you. A guest in a foreign land, are you willing to be ordinary, or do you desire immortality? The world is like an ocean. Do you have the courage to explore the horrors beyond the peaceful island? The road of destiny unfolds before you, one leading to the extraordinary, the other leading to... ...
"Chase!"
Xia De gritted his teeth and entered the alley along the wall.