Before he knew it, five months had passed since Zhang Heng arrived in Victorian London.
He had gotten used to the fog on the Thames, the noise of the underground boxing ring, and the barren imagination of the British when it came to food.
On the other hand, he was making rapid progress. His criminal investigation skill had reached Lv.1 three months ago, and although he learned makeup a little later, he managed to reach Lv.1 last month. Besides, since he spent a lot of time with Irene, and under the influence of the female singer, he learned a lot about 19th-century music, literature, and painting.
He also acquired the Art Appreciation skill, but it was only at Lv.0 for now.
During the oil painting case, Irene had helped him a lot. However, she never asked for anything in return. It was as if she had forgotten about the matter. She only interacted with Zhang Heng like a friend, but with her intelligence and cunning, Zhang Heng didn't think that she had forgotten about it.
Zhang Heng only hoped that her final request wouldn't be too troublesome. For now, the two were getting along quite well.
As for Sherlock Holmes, he was at a loss for words.
When they first met, Holmes was still very gentlemanly. Although he would occasionally do some deviant things, he basically did not affect others. However, as time went by, the two were like a couple who had passed their honeymoon period, gradually revealing their true colors.
Holmes would often conduct messy experiments in his bedroom. Other than sneaking corpses home, he once almost set the entire house on fire. Mrs. Hudson complained about it. Other than that, Zhang Heng was lucky enough to hear the legendary sound of a violin in the wee hours of the morning …
Every time he 'caused trouble,' Holmes would come to apologize to him in person. His attitude was sincere. Of course, it didn't stop him from committing the same mistake again.
Fortunately, aside from these small conflicts, life on Baker Street was quite pleasant.
Zhang Heng learned a lot from Holmes. It wasn't just his reasoning method, but he also learned a variety of obscure but practical tips. Of course, methods like identifying where the target had been based on the mud on their boots might only be useful in the 19th century. In the reinforced concrete city of the 21st century, it would be limited. Even so, the learning process itself was very interesting, not to mention the cases the two had worked on together.
Zhang Heng was already mentally prepared. The main quest of this quest was to solve the case, and he had to find the criminal before Sherlock Holmes did. If the plot developed according to the original novel, a hundred Sherlock Holmes would be no match for a single player who knew the answer in advance.
In fact, Zhang Heng hadn't encountered any cases from the original novel so far. Logically speaking, Holmes and Watson should have completed their research on the scarlet letters by now. However, they didn't appear in this quest either. Zhang Heng wasn't too surprised. This was normal. Otherwise, this quest would only test the players' familiarity with the original novel.
Of course, there were still worries. If Irene Adler had appeared, would the other person known as Sherlock Holmes' lifelong enemy also appear in this quest?
Professor Moriarty was once praised by Holmes as the Napoleon of the criminal world. He was the most powerful criminal king in all of Europe, having established a huge criminal empire in London. Half of the crimes in London were related to him. There weren't many descriptions of Professor Moriarty in the original novel, which made him extremely mysterious.
However, his identity was relatively clear on the surface.
In the original novel, Professor Moriarty was a mathematics professor at a small college in England. At the same time, he was quite famous in the academic world. However, when Zhang Heng asked a few teachers in the mathematics department, everyone unanimously said that they had never heard of the name. In addition, Professor Moriarty's academic book, Asteroid Mechanics, was nowhere to be found in the bookstore.
Of course, this evidence alone didn't completely prove that Professor Moriarty didn't appear in this quest. Zhang Heng still had to be wary of this criminal magnate.
What he and Holmes did not know was that another case was creeping up on them at the same time.
That afternoon, Zhang Heng and Holmes were sitting on a bench in the park, eating sandwiches and playing the little game they had been playing recently.
Zhang Heng looked at a lady walking a puppy in front of him. "Married, no doubt. Had at least two husbands. Had children. Her current living conditions aren't as good as they seem. Loves jewelry, is stingy with her maids, and doesn't really like animals. She keeps a dog because everyone does. She also wants to find something for the maids she doesn't like to do. Smokes, drinks occasionally, and recently attended a ball."
"Also, the child she gave birth to died," Holmes said.
"Hmm?"
"I'm glad you noticed. She took out candy from her pocket and gave it to the children on the side of the road. Under normal circumstances, only those with children would carry candy with them at all times. But if you pay attention to the way she looks at those children, you will see that aside from doting, there is also a hint of jealousy. Besides, she basically comes to the park every week to give out candy to the children nearby. If you have children and they are still alive, believe me, you will not care so much for other people's children."
"You must be cheating. You've seen the target in advance." Zhang Heng was speechless.
"No, this is experience," Holmes shook his head. "I used to come to this park often, so I have the relevant experience. You must know that all reasoning is based on experience. You can't make me abandon all my experience to complete my reasoning, my Eastern friend."
"Okay, next."
Holmes pointed to a man not far away. "Typist, wife, member of the Freemasons, been to China, and the pipe in his hand is of special significance to him. He knows how to play football, and he should have been in the navy in his early years."
"There's nothing wrong with the first part. I can see that from my time in the navy. He knows how to play football because he watched a group of children play football on the side of the road for a while."
"More than that. When the ball rolled to him, he bounced a couple of times, and it looked good. But you were busy dividing the sandwiches at that time, so you probably didn't see it."
"What about the pipe? Why do you say that the pipe is of special significance to him?"
"It's obvious, my friend," Holmes said with a smile. "The original price of the pipe is only six or seven shillings, but the silver hoop is used to repair it. It's more expensive than the pipe. Most people would buy a new one if they had the money."
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