Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

To avoid being spotted, though the fog in the city grew thicker as evening approached, Shard still didn\'t dare to follow too closely. He was well aware that he lacked the skills to tail someone.

So, it was no surprise that, after about fifteen minutes, when they turned past the back wall of a milk delivery company and entered an alley, Shard completely lost track of the man.

"Ha~ Should I say I knew I would lose him?"

Standing bewildered in the alley and confirming that he had indeed lost his target, he shook his head and gave up the search. Without dwelling on the matter, since he had lost the trail, he decided to go get the "Relief Food." But—

"Where is this place?"

In a completely unfamiliar city, while trying to avoid detection and follow someone, Shard had no time to memorize his own route; all he knew was that he was now in a narrow alley with a very unpleasant smell.

On the left was the outer wall of the milk delivery company, and on the right was the side wall of a three-story apartment building. On both walls, apart from the rusty pipes scaling and connecting in various directions, there were also layers upon layers of filthy words and graffiti. Underneath the walls lay trash and feces everywhere.

Only near the entrance of the alley, two or three thick rusty steam pipes were piled up, abandoned by someone.

"Let\'s check the name of the milk delivery company and then find our current location on the map."

With a plan in mind, Shard no longer cared about the person he intended to follow.

He turned and retraced his steps along the alley, being careful not to step on any of the unspeakable filth. As he was about to leave the alley, he also carefully made way, because a team of police officers in uniform hurried past him on the street ahead.

The big, middle-aged man with a stubbly face at the back of the group even cast a glance at Shard, who in turn looked back at the man with an innocent gaze, so the officer did not bother with him.

"Did something happen over there?"

Shard stood at the entrance of the alley, looking in the direction where the police officers had run. Because he didn\'t know which street this was, he also couldn\'t identify what was in that direction.

"It\'s none of my business."

He murmured softly as he walked toward the entrance of the milk delivery company, carrying his notebook. This wasn\'t a factory but just the office building for the delivery department, surrounded by a two-story yellow house with a yard where an old dog, looking quite aged, lay at the door.

The dog glanced at Shard as he approached, but seeing that he only stopped at the door without entering, she lazily stood up and moved to a spot where the sunset could reach and lay down again.

The name of the milk delivery company was "Silver Parrot," a strange name, but indeed it was on the map. The former detective had even noted that a murder had occurred here three years ago.

The murder case naturally had nothing to do with Shard; while holding a quarter of the unfolded map, he continued walking, constantly making sure he hadn\'t taken a wrong turn.

There weren\'t many pedestrians on the street, and walking with his head down didn\'t result in bumping into anyone. Unconsciously, he reached the end of the street in the evening glow and heavy fog, following the direction of the wall beside the pipes spewing white steam.

Ahead was a five-forked road, and according to the map, taking the road diagonally to the left with a dessert shop on it would probably be a shorter journey.

But the intersection was already almost blocked by the crowded masses. Closer to the eastern side, near the mailbox, was a silversmith\'s store with a very clean sign, but something seemed to have happened there. The group of police officers Shard had seen at the alley entrance was maintaining order and preventing people from getting closer.

As he stopped to observe, more four-wheeled carriages came from behind him and other intersections, and within a few minutes, even more police had appeared. Even some individuals who looked like scholars from a school alighted from the carriages, seemingly with some purpose.

Shard originally had no intention of joining the crowd; getting the relief food was most important. But because there were just too many onlookers, as he tried to pass through the intersection, he was inadvertently squeezed to the front of the crowd.

He wanted to retreat, but the people behind him wouldn\'t allow it. The police in front kept shouting for people to disperse, that there was nothing worth seeing here.

It seemed that seeing Shard being pushed forward without intending to get closer, a young police officer with a fountain pen in his breast pocket kindly reminded him to be careful of pickpockets.

This made Shard slightly nervous, and he instinctively touched the ten-banknote in his pocket. After making sure it was still there, his gaze inadvertently caught sight of another group of armed police escorting three plainclothes men into the silversmith\'s store.

The tallest man among them was exceptionally muscular, the young man in the middle had the air of a scholar, while the last man looked familiar to Shard—it seemed to be the missionary who had handed him the leaflet that afternoon.

"Do missionaries in this world also work part-time for the police?"

Thinking of this conclusion, which even he found hard to believe, he clenched the banknote and pocket watch in his pocket, planning to quickly leave the place or he would be late.

As he turned to squeeze back through the crowd, a strange premonition suddenly surged in his heart. Before he understood the reason for this feeling, he heard the sound—

Boom!

An explosion took everyone by surprise. The nearly eardrum-splitting sound caused screams to erupt from the crowd. Although no flames were visible, the silversmith\'s store\'s glass showcase windows immediately shattered, and the walls seemed to tilt momentarily, causing the metal pipes clinging to them to emit a piercing sound of twisting metal.

But fortunately, the police had not allowed the crowd to gather at the store\'s entrance, so when panicked shouts rang out, no one was injured as a result.

The crowd dispersed like floodwaters in an instant, and Shard, who stood at the front, also wanted to leave when he saw a middle-aged man with brown hair running toward the silverware shop\'s entrance:

"I\'m a journalist! I\'m a journalist! What happened here?"

He was clutching a notebook in one hand and waving his credentials with the other, more excited than anyone as he rushed over, only to be briskly stopped by a young officer:

"Gas pipeline explosion, sir, please do not approach."

Shard didn\'t believe this conclusion for a second; how could it be a gas pipeline explosion——

Boom!

Another heart-stopping explosion erupted within the silverware shop, with the vibrating air nearly generating enough force to push people away.

This time, even the second-floor windows of the silverware shop shattered, and the falling glass shards forced the police maintaining order to temporarily flee. As Shard backed away, he saw through the window two individuals fighting amidst a white haze on the second floor, and it seemed that one of them had a glimmering light on their fist.

The distance was too great, and the evening mist that rolled in with the twilight was obscuring his vision, so Shard couldn\'t see very clearly.

"Transcendents?"

He thought to himself.

[Yes.]

The woman\'s voice startled Shard, but knowing she would not offer further explanation, he didn\'t ask and quickly left the area.

"The three individuals just now must be from the Church, and this incident occurred right after they entered... Indeed, this world\'s Church is most likely a transcendent force, closely intertwined with the Kingdom\'s order... With this, the likelihood that I can trust the True God Church drastically increases. I wonder if I have the chance to, through the Church\'s channels..."

Now, he faced two choices: not only the psychiatrist\'s office but also the five churches in the city presented opportunities for Shard to make contact with transcendents and unravel the mystery behind the voice in his head.

"But how come I stumbled upon such an incident?"

As he walked in the direction he had originally planned, along with the dispersing crowd, the woman\'s voice in his mind repeated a sentence she had said before:

[Observe his ring.]

Although he still had no idea what the woman\'s voice in his head was, Shard at least knew that she bore no ill will. He promptly heeded the voice and started to look around, only to see once more the young man with the pebble ring and carrying a briefcase who was walking not far ahead.

"Such a coincidence... It\'s impossible to believe it\'s just a coincidence. Wait, the explosion just now, could it be related to him? Why would I think that, when there\'s no evidence whatsoever."

With this thought, Shard hesitated to follow. If the man was able to produce explosions with his bare hands like the two individuals in the silverware shop, following him would be almost like asking to replicate the tragic fate of the previous detective.

"No, no."

Shard slowed his pace, aiming to let the man naturally disappear into the distance of his field of vision. However, to his surprise, the young man also stopped, like Shard earlier, to check a map and then entered a side alley with his briefcase.

"To follow or not to follow?"

The woman\'s voice in his head had highlighted the ring three times; it couldn\'t just be out of boredom. But Shard, who knew almost nothing of the world, had to ensure necessary caution.

He continued walking according to his original plan. As he passed the entrance to the alley the young man had turned into, he casually glanced inside and saw the man turning a corner and disappearing ahead.

"To follow or not to follow."

He asked himself again and suddenly realized that the decision he was about to make would affect his life for a long time to come.

"To follow or not to follow?"

He was questioning the woman in his mind when he heard laughter, a whispering answer:

[Fate unfolds before you, stranger in a foreign land, are you content with the ordinary, or do you thirst for immortality? The world is like the ocean; do you have the courage to seek beyond the tranquil island to the terrors beyond? Fate unfolds before you, one path leads to transcendence, another...]

"Chase!"

Shard clenched his teeth and hugged the wall as he too entered the alley.