48 Hours a Day - Chapter 488

Chapter 488: 488

Chapter 488 Mr . Watson

Holmes swirled the red wine around his glass . “The way this gentleman holds the knife shows that he has had medical training, yet, he has the bearing of a soldier . So, it is clear that he was a military doctor . His face is dark, yet the rest of him fair-so he must have spent a good amount of time in the tropics . His complexion is poor, his face haggard, and he has obviously been wounded on his left arm because it looks a little stiff . So, the question is, where in the tropics can a military doctor get wounded? Clearly, only in Afghanistan . ”

“Impeccable inference . It looks like I would have to concede the bet,” Zhang Heng announced .

“Don’t be so quick to give up,” encouraged Holmes . “If you win, I will show you my collection of newspaper clippings . You can always come to me if there’s anything you don’t understand . ”

“Really?” Zhang Heng’s eyebrows rose in intrigue .

“Yes,” Holmes answered . “If you lose… Erm… you will have to help me with my experiments whenever you’re available . ”

“Agreed . ” Zhang Heng then began, “His name is John H . Watson, a graduate of King’s College, London, and he served in the 66th Infantry Brigade . ”

Holmes was speechless for a minute . “Are you cheating? You didn’t even see anything . How could you have guessed that? Don’t fib, I happen to know the people he’s with . ”

Zhang Heng made a gesture .

Curious, Holmes put down the wine glass in his hand and made his way to the doctor’s table . After a while, he returned to his seat .

“Incredible . Mr . Watson claims he doesn’t know you . ” “Actually, I learned about him from a friend . A military doctor who just returned from Afghanistan to London with an injury on his left arm is not a common sight, no?” Zhang Heng deducted .

Watson was the infamous second protagonist and the first-person narrator of all ‘Sherlock Holmes’ novels, so of course, Zhang Heng knew him better than Holmes did . According to events told in the books, Watson had supposedly spoken to someone that he was unable to find a suitable room for rent in this restaurant . Through a mutual friend, he was then introduced to Holmes, who happened to be also searching for a flatmate . Though it appeared that Watson would now have to find another place to rent .

“You win,” Holmes conceded with good graces . “I’ll hand you the newspaper clippings when we get back . ”

“You mentioned that you are writing a journal on the effects of hand shapes based on professions . Can you show it to me when you’re done?” asked Zhang Heng .

“You’re quite studious, my Oriental friend,” Holmes raised his glass . “But for now, let’s set everything aside and enjoy dinner . ”

On the way back, Zhang Heng leaned back in the carriage, closed his eyes for a while, and checked his character panel like he always did .

Name: Zhang Heng

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Player ID: 07958

Games played: 6

Current game points: 1005

Items in possession:

Pestilence Bonebow (B), Infinite Block (B), Filter Lens (D), Paris’ Arrow (D), Evil Wall (D), Shadow Key (E), Lucky Rabbit Foot (E), Betty’s Shell (E), Hunter’s Blessing (F), Water-soluble Metal (F), Oath Ring (F)

Skills:

Sailing Lv . 3, Swordsmanship Lv . 3, Language Proficiency Lv . 2 (Eight languages at daily communication level), Lego Assembly Lv . 3, Archery Lv . 2, Wilderness Survival Lv . 2, Driving Lv . 2, Car Tuning and Maintenance Lv . 2, Shooting Lv . 2, Space Travel Lv . 2, Hacking Lv . 2, Piano Lv . 1, Skiing Lv . 1, Rock Climbing Lv . 1

Evaluation:

Player is a Lego Master, is slightly luckier than most and has higher chances of encountering enemies . He is protected from shadows, storms, evil thoughts, and plagues . This player is also an experienced sailor, skilled at knife-fighting, archery, shooting, knows how to drive a car, fly an airplane, spacecraft, and various other vehicles . The player is also highly adaptable to the wilderness, has a rich reserve of skills, combat skills included . He is also a trustworthy and noteworthy player .

Yeah, that’s right . In the Whistleblower quest, in addition to his Level 2 Hacking skills, Zhang Heng’s biggest gain was the 382 points he bagged, 300 of which the Tetris game contributed—the biggest easter egg he had found in the game so far .

Of course, the most prominent item was still the second B-Grade game item, the Pestilence Bonebow, that he had taken from the horseman . It was an extremely powerful weapon that could inflict its target with a range of two to five plagues, as long as the arrow released from the bow drew blood .

On the other hand, Zhang Heng was still trying to figure out the C-Grade game item White Horse Crown . The description attached to the item was simple and not very informative . All it said was that it could be used to summon the horseman’s white horse and had a lifespan of three usages that would last up to an hour each . But because of how modern it looked, Zhang Heng didn’t carry it into this quest .

Truth be told, the Pestilence Bonebow was also somewhat overly-conspicuous, especially the material it was made of . Carrying it around in full view on the streets would prompt his arrest, so Zhang Heng was careful to wrap it in a white cloth . On top of that, he replaced the less versatile Weather Marble with the Oath Ring

Another matter to remark on was that Evil Wall only had one more last use .

Thus, the above was Zhang Heng’s status update in the new quest .

Back at the apartment, Holmes invited Zhang Heng into his living quarters . It wasn’t exactly what Zhang Heng had in mind at all . The private detective’s bedroom was spick and span, with everything organized in the most systematic of manner . Of course, this was when Holmes was his a model-flatmate disposition .

If the quest did not stray from the original writing, where Holmes still endured intermittent phases of melancholy . He would hide in his room the entire day, completely apathetic and uninterested in anything at all, relying on small pills and syringes to keep himself functioning, like a fish out of water whenever there was no cases to solve, no adventures and nothing exciting for him to dissect .

He, or more accurately, most of us, had two such contradictory sides to our personalities .

Holmes pulled out two boxes from under the cabinet, blew off the dust and said to Zhang Heng, “Here, I’m lending this to you . I don’t have much use of it anyway-most of the cases are already stored in my head . ”

“Thank you . ”

Zhang Heng opened the box and did a quick study of its contents . There were all kinds of newspaper cuttings and notes from various time periods; even articles from the time before Holmes was born . He made deductions based on the articles and jotted his hypothesis on the blank spaces around them .

These things were all that Zhang Heng needed .

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc . . ), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible .

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters .