Whispering Poems

Whispering Poems Chapter 371

2021-10-02

Chapter 370 The Darkness of the Heart

The height of the man is about the same as Shade, but the figure under the clothes is very emaciated. He lowered his head slightly so that the hat could cover his face, and Shade couldn't see his appearance at all.

"Is there any trace of the element?"

[No. ]

"Is it a ring warlock?"

[You need to get closer. ]

Shade puts down the newspaper in his hand and looks across the road. He took a look at the pocket watch that was broken in Coldwater Harbor from his pocket, then shook his head and sighed, as if complaining about the unpunctuality of the waiter. Then he folded the newspaper in his hand and walked to the other side of the street.

He brushed past the lady Swan in the red shirt, who was only attracted by Shade's appearance, but didn't stop after a glance.

Shade went straight to the antique shop on the side of the alley, and the voice in his head also gave the answer:
[It's not a ring warlock. ]

Ms. Swan had left the peeping range of the alley, and when Shade turned into the alley from the door of the antique shop, the peeping was gone.

He took two quick steps to catch up. The alley with the sign "Black Horn Lane" was a fairly narrow straight, and there was no obstruction in the alley. Shade was only a few seconds slower, and there was no silhouette in the alley.

Since the other party is not a ring warlock, the only possibility is that the other party is hiding in other places in the alley.

Black Horn Lane is flanked by three-storey apartment buildings of the same style. Moss is everywhere under the mottled walls, and the original color of the walls has long been lost. arrest warrant and various flyer coverages. Clotheslines were pulled in the middle of the buildings facing each other, and the clothes that were not dry were swaying in the mist like gray flags.

"I just delayed a few seconds before the other party disappeared, indicating that the other party entered the building near the alley."

Shade stood there thinking:

"Furthermore, when Miss Swan appeared, I kept paying attention to the alley, but I didn't see the house closest to the alley opening its doors, which means that the possible buildings were the two closest to the alley."

Shade looked at the houses on either side:

"He appears every time Miss Swan happens to show up, indicating that this person is in a building that can directly see the far side of the street"

The second two buildings near the alley have no windows on the street, but the attic of these houses is higher than the nearby buildings, and Shade notices that the attic of the house on the left has a windows, and the attic window on the right hand side was completely sealed with wooden boards.

“This room.”

Shade laughed, turning and walking up the steps in front of the house on the left. The stone steps are uneven, and the door in front of it looks like it has been splashed with excrement.

The hand he stretched out to knock on the door stopped, and after thinking for a moment, he raised his foot and kicked the door rudely.

It took a long time to hear the footsteps coming from behind the door, and the man's voice was very nervous and asked:
"Who is it?"

"Sir, I'm here. Check the gas meter.”

The mechanical gas and steam meters at St. Teresa Square are outside the house, and the gas company checks it monthly and bills the residents directly. Most of the gas meters in this old-fashioned building are in the house, and Shade observed in advance that there is no meter box outside the door.

"Okay, why did it come so early this time? It's only the beginning of the month."

The door opened a gap, and Shade immediately inserted his hand into it to prevent it from closing, and then slammed into it. Pull the door open all the way.

Behind the door, it was the strange man dressed in black clothed. It's just that he's not wearing a hat now, so he's showing his face.

Shade was also taken aback when he saw that face. The face of the other party was swollen, red and white, and the upper and lower eye sockets were almost covered by the swelling.

In addition to his face, Shade saw his hands. Similar to the skin on the face, it is also the terrifying look. This should be a trace of scald or burn, and the man in front of him has probably suffered a very terrifying accident.

"What are you doing? Oh, you're not checking the gas meter!"

Seeing Shade's outfit, the man immediately panicked.

"Of course not, I have other things, but I'm definitely not a bad guy."

Shade pulled the door frame with his left hand to keep the person inside the door from closing, and stretched his right hand out in a handshake gesture :
"Good noon, sir."

Although the other person's face and skin looked terrifying, it wasn't a contagion, and it wasn't dirty, so Shade didn't mind shaking his hand.

Shade's gesture of reaching out gave the people inside the door a good impression. He awkwardly extended the hand to Shade and shook it, then pulled it back immediately, but the touch was enough for Shade to come to a conclusion.

[It is indeed an ordinary person. ]

"I'm here for Miss Swan's business."

Shade pulled the door frame, intending to stand at the door and talk about things, but the man asked suspiciously:
"Sorry, Miss Swan is... oh, so her last name is Swan! That's a really good name."

Some terrifying faces can be seen faintly of sudden realization.

The corner of Shade's mouth trembled, he already understood that this matter had nothing to do with transcendence at all, and as expected, it was impossible to encounter relics continuously. But now that things have been figured out, he doesn't mind wasting a few minutes to wrap things up:
"Sir, you've been spying on her every noon at the alley for the past few weeks. Miss Swan was very worried, so she turned to the security company. Asked for help, and then the security company called me, a detective. Excuse me, what are you trying to do?"

The man blushed, of course, because of the skin, it was difficult to tell .

He hesitated:

"Hello, detective. I just want to see her. You know, I look like this, impossible. Just want to see Look. I didn't do anything bad, I just."

His voice gradually dropped, Shade waited for a while before saying:

"I'm just here to investigate this After that, the conversation between me and you will be known to the client as it is. She may change jobs."

"no! I won't peek at her anymore, please don't disturb her her life."

The man suddenly became excited:

"Don't affect her life because of me!"

"Sorry, I don't have the right to help others Making a decision, it's a commission, and I must honestly hand over the findings to the commissioner."

Shade shrugs.

He didn't know whether the man in front of him would keep peeking quietly, or what would he suddenly do one day. So, of course, Shade won't pretend that he didn't find out anything because he believes in love.

Fortunately, it is not necessary for him to judge the quality of the man in front of him, because he is just to investigate this matter clearly:
"Sir, the decisions each of us make will be irreversible. The impact on the people around you has already appeared since you decided to see her in the alley at noon every day. I won't comment on what purpose you did, I just hope you can understand."

Shade paused, considering what he was going to say:
"Never be swallowed by the darkness within yourself. When you stick your head out of the shadows, maybe you think it's love, but when Love for further fermentation, what will be the final result?"

To put it bluntly, Shade is warning to be honest with Old Feng. But he doesn't know whether the other party is good or bad, so he doesn't want to hurt others' self-esteem, so he expresses it in a very euphemistic way.

"You should know better than me the darkness of the human heart, even if you believe that you are a good person, can you be sure that when a certain idea takes shape, the tiny seed of darkness will consume you in the future heart?"

Shade shook his head and decided to add some more powerful means of persuasion to the persuasion of words.

So he lifted his clothes so that the man inside the door could see the gun in his waist, the latter took a small step back in horror:

"What are you doing? "

"Don't worry, I just wanted you to see if my revolver is beautiful. Oh, sir, if you have a crush on that lady, you can actually get a chance to deliver her a letter, but never Use this method to show your love."

"But she would reject me, the way I am."

The man was whispered, a native of Tobesque, with an accent Very heavy:
". She will be like this because of me."

"She rejects you, so please stay away from her, isn't this normal?"

Shade said, and opened the door to leave, he waved:
"I already know your identity. If you try to do something to Miss Swan, the police will come here to visit you as soon as possible."

"No, I won't, I won't bother her anymore."

The man lowered his head and whispered.

Shade nods and sighed turns away from Black Horn Lane. Not sighing for this, but sighing for myself, the second thing is still a waste of time.

[But at least interesting enough. ]

"You think so?"

Without getting a reply from the voice in her ear, Shade thought about it:
"It's really interesting."

Outsiders like to witness different stories, even if it's just an ordinary person's story.

Back on Lewis Street, Shade first found a restaurant to settle his lunch, and then decided to take the carriage to the tax office in Tobesque North to settle his taxes. The jurisdiction of the Northern District Tax Office includes St. Teresa Square, and Swan Castle Street, where the office is located, is also where the Blackstone Security Company is located. Shade should tell Iluna what happened just now, and let the Blackstone Security Company notify the client Swan. Miss.

If Shade's actions today really had other consequences, he would feel guilty.

"Only death and tax reporting are inevitable". In this complicated steam age, death is governed by gods and natural laws, and tax reporting is naturally governed by the tax department of the city hall.

There are three tax bureaus in the whole of Tobesque, located in three directions of the city, and the three tax bureaus are jointly responsible to the financial department of the city hall. Tax evasion is almost impossible. Even if this world is behind Shade's hometown, a detective agency that is operating must have a license. With the license, someone will check the tax.

PS: When the author was a child, someone really went to the house to check the reading of the gas meter every month. It should have been in the early 2000s, and it was still in the city.