[Comprehensive] Baker Street Survival Guide

Summary: After the wedding, comes Joanna's funeral.

Joanna prepared a treasure hunting game for Mycroft in Rome. After some struggles, Mycroft decided to stick to the game...

Traveling can sometimes bring a very special power.

After Joanna's funeral, Mrs. Holmes, who witnessed the widowhood of her eldest son, insisted that Mycroft follow the original honeymoon route and fly to Rome once.

"I don't think there's much point in that. In fact, I could be more useful in London."

"Traveling doesn't relieve grief, but work does..." Mycroft could think of a thousand reasons to shirk the offer of the ticket, but he couldn't escape his mother's insistence.

All the people looked at Mycroft at the funeral with a kind of mourning and pity.

Mycroft, on the other hand, stared closely at Joanna's coffin, watching it slowly fall vertically to less than six feet, a handful of soil gradually covered the coffin, and the lilies placed on the coffin were covered by the soil. The fragrance of flowers, and then the outline of the coffin slowly disappeared from the field of vision.

The priest babbled and recited some mourning poems, and the kind and beautiful person in the speech did not represent the Joanna in Mycroft's memory.

Those who attended the funeral were all dressed in crisp black clothes, the dark black thick as if it was going to stick to the retina.When the mourning music sounded, Mycroft's eye sockets were a little swollen, and he quickly adjusted the sudden emotion, just like before making every decision, turning off the switch that manages emotions.

And these are all his memories of the funeral day.

Mycroft knew that for many years to come, Joanna would stay alone in the dark underground, no one could repair the scar on her abdomen, the gorgeous shroud would be eroded one day, the trace of a person who once existed It will gradually be forgotten.

And Mycroft still had too many things to do, he had to cheer up, stay in the world, and continue the responsibilities he had to complete.

"Work doesn't relieve grief, it's just a temporary numbness."

At the end of the stalemate, Mycroft still accepted the wrinkled ticket, which seemed to relieve the worries of those around him.

When Joanna was still there, they set the destination of the trip to Rome together.

Joanna will like Maiden Spring, the fountain at the intersection of three streets, and those images about the Four Seasons Boy and Poseidon.The Pantheon during the Empire is the burial place of Raphael.There is also the Mouth of Truth mentioned in Roman Holiday... He is not sure if Joanna likes Audrey Hepburn, and he has no chance to know now.

When Mycroft set foot on this land, his heart was inevitably covered with a layer of sadness.The Joanna who has never left London, the Joanna who wants to play the world one after another, the Joanna who is always tossing around—she is really gone.

A selection of postcards from a souvenir shop near Mycroft.Before coming, the purpose and obligations of this trip have been very clear.Grief is your own, but before that, at least make sure that the people around you are at ease.

"Sir, your package."

He was the first stranger to talk to Mycroft after arriving in Rome. He searched for the source of the sound, but after a round to no avail, Mycroft lowered his head and saw the half-grown child.The child anxiously held a small box and a photo in his hand.

Mycroft crouched down to be at eye level with the child.Italian is not difficult to learn, and Mycroft can indeed understand this Latin-based language, and can be regarded as proficient.

There is a child in a foreign country with a box, and he still has your photo in his hand.Mycroft vaguely saw someone's mischief in these actions.

"Thank you." He reached out for the small red box.

The child took two steps back in dissatisfaction, and the eyes with well-developed tear glands turned into a circle of water color. It can be seen that this is not really about to cry, but it seems to be deliberately pretending to achieve a certain purpose.

"She said you'd give me money."

Mycroft frowned slightly at the word 'she'.He took out a euro from his pocket, and the large denomination bill made the child smile happily.

"Have a nice trip!" The child dropped the words intentionally or unintentionally, put the box on the ground, and left with the tip.

Mycroft was left alone. He carefully untied the ribbon on the box, opened the lid, and saw a crystal ball with snowflakes fluttering inside.

A note with familiar handwriting was pressed under the crystal ball.

——Please arrive at the Colosseum before [-]:[-] am and look for your second clue there.

Mycroft glanced at the time, the time was a little rushed, but it was still in time.

So the shopkeeper could see that the customer who was picking postcards in the gift shop suddenly dragged his suitcase and pushed the door out in a hurry.He casually called a taxi on the side of the road, and when he reported his destination to the driver, the driver gave him different glances.The driver wanted to tell the passenger that the fare was expensive, but he was immediately silenced by a stack of euros.

Mycroft, who was sitting in the back row, looked at this somewhat strange crystal ball.There is a static 'Mouth of Truth' inside, the shrunken Mouth of Truth looks a little cute, and there are stereotyped snowflakes in the crystal ball, shake it, and there will be a winter.

Mycroft looked down and played with the small toy in his hand for a while.

He already knew it was from Joanna's scavenger hunt.Now, he began to struggle with whether to continue the game.

All games end in nothing but heartbreak.Joanna was gone, and her game undoubtedly lost its meaning.

The driver secretly observed the haggard man with the rearview mirror.His expression was cold and untouched by his dead blood. Sadness and loss of love are commonplace in Rome.These two emotions are always conserved, and people are constantly losing and looking for them.

As for a driver, all he can do is step on the accelerator more to help this man reach his destination faster.

At eleven o'clock, the outline of the Colosseum gradually appeared in the rear window, and Mycroft put away the crystal ball. ——he wanted to see the game that Joanna had prepared again, just to see it.

The largest amphitheater in the Roman period, a cage of blood and struggle in the past, eventually became an amazing architectural monument over time.

The flowing crowd seemed unmistakable in Mycroft's eyes, and he saw the faded poster of Audrey Hepburn on an ice cream truck at first sight.Looking at it from a distance, it looks like a star on the wrong set, revealing a Joanna-style prank for no reason.

"Two scoops of ice cream, thanks." The line took time, and it was an activity Mycroft hadn't experienced in a long time.

He paid the money and took a cone from the vendor.The half-melted ice cream makes people can't help but lick it first after receiving it.

He just carried a suitcase, wore a three-piece suit, and sat on the side of the road like an ordinary tourist, seriously dealing with the two ice cream balls in his hand.

On the last sip, my lips seemed to touch a piece of plastic.When Mycroft ate the whole lot, he was rather dumbfounded.

The fortune cookie method is applied to ice cream.Joanna's ideas are still wild.

He was distracted reading the line in Italian in the sun.

—Let's play a game.I allow you to settle yourself in the hotel and wait for my arrangements.

The handwriting wrapped in plastic paper will not turn yellow or get wet. Mycroft really doesn't know when Joanna prepared these things.But he knew very well how Joanna achieved these arrangements.

Among those present at the wedding was a Roman.Joanna's friends are inversely proportional to her limited mileage.A sincere friend in Rome, coupled with Joanna's own careful layout, there will be no obstacles in this small game.

Mycroft knew he was always in control.Find Joanna's friends and get all the clues, which is not difficult for him.

But the control was not entirely in his hands. Mycroft found a public drinking water facility. He washed off the cream and vanilla on the note, carefully flattened the note, and put it in his wallet.

Oddly enough, Mycroft decided—go back to the hotel and wait for the next news.

Five-star hotel senior suite, caring petal service, but there is no popularity in the empty room.While waiting, Mycroft invited a homeless man to dinner, who enjoyed the meal so much that he didn't realize that the guest sitting opposite him didn't eat a bite.

When checking out, the restaurant manager of the hotel delivered the bill himself.Mycroft had received this treatment at many venues, but this time, there was a note in the bill, again in Joanna's handwriting.

——The man-made hot spring behind the hotel, the next clue is in the model.

The paper of the note was different again, and Joanna's use of different paper could not hide the fact that she wrote it all on the same day.Mycroft put the note in his wallet... he remembered that there were bathrobes in the hotel wardrobe, and it was time to get ready.