Leaving the doctor's psychological clinic, the sun was already setting outside. The setting sun shone through the misty City, giving Xia De a feeling of being in a different era.
Just half a day ago, he was an ordinary person, but now he could light a piece of paper with just his mind...
“Actually, it’s not that different.”
Thinking about it carefully, he had gained everything he had now with almost no effort, which seemed a bit too lucky.
“But listening to the doctor, in addition to the compulsory credits obtained through study, I also need to complete the academy’s practical tasks each academic year to earn practical credits, otherwise, even if I advance to the Second Ring, I will be held back.”
Life seemed to have truly gotten on track, giving the Outsider, who had been considering collecting relief food yesterday, a slight sense of unreality. His plans could be further updated; with power, the work of a Detective agency could continue.
Xia De had already decided to complete the former Detective’s three-month tasks, of course, on the premise that he must complete at least one formal commission to see if he was truly suitable.
Because he needed to save money, he still walked home, but to celebrate, he had dinner at a restaurant.
It was already seven in the evening when he returned home. After a brief study of the doctor’s notes, he learned that Miracles and spells actually had formal courses taught at the academy. However, corresponding to Ling Runes, everyone had different explorations, from which personal Miracles could be born. These could be exchanged or kept for personal study.
From this perspective, instead of researching Miracles on his own, it would be better to wait for textbooks and learn some common Miracles first. But Xia De still couldn't resist his curiosity and spent the entire night exploring Ling Runes.
Thought affects matter, and mind interferes with reality. By the time he went to bed, the power of 【Time-Space】 could not be activated at all, and Xia De could only make his fingertips emit a faint Silver Moon glow, which was the Miracle of the Silver Moon Rune.
That light was very tranquil, and gazing at it could make Xia De feel at peace.
“It’s useless... at least it can save some gas money... Speaking of which, do I also need to pay for the water, gas, and steam for this house?”
With such a terrible thought, he fell asleep in exhaustion.
Outside the window, the march moon hung high in the night sky. The brightest moon phase of the Silver Moon had passed, but the Silver Moon still shone on him.
Although both the doctor and the Writer believed that the influence brought by becoming a Ring術士 was not so easy to ignore, the Detective would probably need three days of bed rest.
But when Xia De woke up punctually at 6:30 the next morning, he didn’t feel any different from yesterday.
He lay in bed for a while, contemplating the relationship between the world and life, and then his thoughts were pulled to a lower, more realistic level by his dire financial situation.
Only then did he extend his finger to his face and see the faint Silver Moon glow at his fingertip. He stared at the light for a long time before letting out a slight sigh of relief, and his bad mood, caused by thinking about his empty wallet, immediately improved, not even considering the gas bill he had thought about before going to sleep yesterday.
He got up, washed, and waited punctually at the door for the newspaper and milk at around seven o'clock. He hadn't seen the newspaper yesterday because he got up too early; in fact, when he returned home last night, he saw the Tobesk City Morning Post and the Kingdom Morning Post lying on the doormat.
Of course, starting next month, he would have to pay for the newspaper himself.
After drinking two bottles of milk, he put the empty milk bottles into the milk box by the door when he went out for breakfast. Although Doctor Schneider told Xia De to rest well for three days, Xia De didn't feel anything abnormal and believed this was a characteristic of the Outsider's strong soul.
Therefore, he still planned to try the commission left by the former Detective today.
If the commission didn't go smoothly, he would then consider pawning the Detective's legacy to repay his debts.
He temporarily decided not to interfere with Mr. Lawrence's mistress investigation. After three days, he would ask the doctor and others about the pebble ring before making further plans.
Among the remaining three commissions, finding Miss White’s missing sister and inquiring about a doctor who could treat eye diseases were still somewhat difficult. So, today’s task was to find the lost orange cat for Miss Mia Gaode.
In fact, the former Hamilton Detective had already found the cat but had not handed it over to leave a simple task for Xia De. So Xia De only needed to pick it up and return it to the client.
He had breakfast at a restaurant near Saint Delan Square, rolled up the newspaper, tucked it under his arm, and walked east along Charide Avenue. He waited a moment at the next intersection, watching the crowds preparing for work in the Monday morning mist.
Then he turned left into the somewhat narrow Violet Iris Lane, glanced at the unusually lush weeds at the corner of the wall due to the arrival of Summer, and carefully avoided the barefoot children running wildly in the alley. According to the Detective’s notes, he stopped downstairs at the building with the sign “Good Man Peter’s Pet Shop.”
His nose had already caught the smell of fermenting animal feces, but just as he was about to knock, the pet shop door opened by itself. A young woman with long brown hair walked out, holding a red lady's handbag. She was startled when she saw Xia De, then nodded politely, walked around Xia De, and headed east along Violet Iris Lane.
Xia De’s gaze followed her, watching the brown-haired girl merge into the crowd at the alley's entrance.
“She...”
This was certainly not love at first sight; the moment he saw her, Xia De suddenly had a strange feeling.
“It was as if, at that moment, the surrounding light suddenly dimmed, and only a spotlight shone on her; she was the protagonist of the stage...”
“That’s someone from the Sun Church, young man, you’d best not entertain any unnecessary ideas.”
Only then did he notice a middle-aged man with a large, red nose standing in front of the pet shop door behind him, looking at Xia De, who had turned around.
The middle-aged man had an even stronger smell of fermenting animal feces mixed with food. He was wearing blue work overalls with an outer garment of an indiscernible original color and black boots stained with mud.
“Is there something I can help you with?”
The middle-aged man asked.
“Hello, I’m from the Hamilton Detective Agency, I’m here to pick up... please wait.”
Xia De reined in his momentary strange feeling and looked at the note in the former Detective’s notebook:
“An orange cat, about half a year old, with a pure white tail, orange markings on its left front leg, and all other legs pure white. Its name is Mia.”
He described the characteristics of the orange cat, and unexpectedly, the man inside the door’s expression suddenly changed dramatically.
“You’re not going to tell me that cat is lost, are you?”
Xia De’s expression also changed dramatically, and he pressed against the doorframe, asking in a low voice. The former Detective had paid to board that cat here, and the client, described as a “generous lady,” had offered two pounds and three shillings to find the cat, even allowing reimbursement for reasonable expenses incurred during the search.
This offer was extremely unreasonable but also indicated the cat owner’s anxiety. For such a high reward, if “Good Man Peter’s Pet Shop” hadn’t been closed on the weekend, the first commission Xia De would have chosen would absolutely not have been Mr. Lawrence’s mistress.
