The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 374 Another Extraordinary Steam Engine
On the small steamboat heading to the south bank of the Hills River, Ravington introduced the textile area on the south bank to Wu Chang.

The South Bank Textile District is the largest textile factory cluster in Grimland and the second largest in the whole of Styland.

According to official records, there are more than five hundred textile factories concentrated on the South Bank.

If we conduct a sneak investigation in each factory one by one, not to mention whether we might alert the enemy during the investigation, we don't know how long the investigation will take.

If you want to find the abnormality, you must be quick and accurate without any delay.

The concentration of textile factories attracted a large number of textile workers to gather around. Just like the mining villages around Songshu Coal Mine, a factory area was also formed around the textile area.

The vast majority of residents in the factory area are families of textile workers. When talking about the textile factory area, we have to mention the composition of the Stian Empire.

Apart from the large number of colonies of Stellan spread all over the world, the native area of ​​Stellan is not large, it is just an island country.

The first king of Stellan annexed the three surrounding kingdoms to form the Stellan of today.

Geographically, Stirling is divided into two parts, Stirling Island and Gale Island.

Due to historical issues, Gale Island is very closed and its economy is far inferior to that of Stylan Island. As Stylan became the most powerful empire in the world, the gap between the two islands increased.

Many Gaels immigrated to Stirling Island in order to make money. These Gaels were willing to accept lower wages and worse working conditions and were the favorite workers in textile factories.

But their appearance has affected the local wage prices in Stirling, making the already competitive market even more competitive.

This made the locals of Stirling very hostile to these country bumpkins from Gaelic Island and they called them "wage destroyers".

In Stirland, it would be hard to find a more insulting curse word than "your parents are Gaelic Islanders."

This caused the Gaelic people to become particularly xenophobic while being discriminated against, especially in the textile factory areas where most of the Gaels lived.

Raventon cleared his throat and opened his mouth again. When he spoke, he swallowed more and rolled his tongue more obviously, and his tone rose slightly.

"If you want to enter Gaelic territory, first you have to have a Gaelic accent."

Then he gently tugged at the chest of the police officer's uniform and said, "Secondly, you need to have the right skin that they will be afraid of."

"The guys from the Bright Light clearly don't know enough about the Gaels. I bet more than half of the reporters they sent out were killed by the Gaelic gangs before they even started investigating."

Wu Chang shrugged and asked, "Is this also your detective skill?"

Ravington said proudly: "Of course, as a detective, you must learn to interact with all kinds of people."

As the steamship docked, Ravington took Wu Chang and walked towards the textile factory area.

"I went to the police station yesterday and found two reports of mysterious deaths of neighbors in this area."

"Remember when you go in, I am the sheriff and you are my subordinate. You must follow my instructions."

Two strangers in police uniforms entered the textile industrial area and quickly attracted the attention of the residents here.

In Stirling, it is no exaggeration to say that the police are the natural enemies of the workers.

This is Stellan, after all, Stellan in the Age of Steam.

The police exist not to maintain peace and justice, but to help the nobles and factory owners get out of trouble.

Especially now that the workers' movement is on the rise, the police's attitude towards workers has become increasingly brutal.

As long as you dare to offend the police, they will arrest you for participating in a violent assembly, or suspect you of participating in theft or crime, and they will take the workers away and give you a 24-hour silky little meal at the police station.

There is even a saying among the workers: "When the police come, trouble comes."

Although the residents of the factory area were afraid of the two men, they could not allow two strangers to act recklessly in their territory.

Four or five young men dressed like standard porters, wearing worn cotton coats and with faces covered in dust and sawdust, stood in front of the two men with unfriendly looks.

"Hey, I'm the person in charge here, you can call me Jimmy, what are you guys doing here?"

Jimmy's accent is very heavy, and many people in the city of Stellan may not understand what he is saying.

Ravington adjusted his hat, squinted his eyes and looked around, then said in the same accent:

"Damn it, am I hallucinating? Why do I hear a voice saying that there is someone in charge here?"

He turned around and asked Wu Chang, "Do you see anyone in charge here?"

Wu Chang shook his head expressionlessly.

Ravington tilted his head slightly, "It seems that this is not my problem."

When Jimmy heard that the other party was also a Gael, he was unable to use the methods he had used to deal with the foreign police. After all, if he had a conflict with his own people, he could not rely on his identity to gain help from other residents.

The ruthlessness on his face subsided, and he said again: "I am Jimmy, two officers are here, is there anything I can help you with?"

Ravington wrinkled his nose and said:
"Damn lazy bastard, why are you standing in front of me and giving me orders while I'm working?"

"While I'm in a good mood, take those scumbags with you and get out of here. If you continue to interfere with official duties, I'll take you all back to the bureau."

Jimmy pursed his lips and clenched his fists, but he didn't dare to say anything. He could only lead a few people to retreat to both sides.

"Feel sorry."

When Wu Chang and Raventon passed by, a gang member muttered:

"Which idiot summoned these guard dogs?"

Raventon, who was walking, stopped, turned around and kicked the talking gangster away.

"If you say another word of nonsense, I'll break all your teeth. How does Charlie manage the newcomers? They are becoming more and more unruly."

Looking at the cursing Raventon, Jimmy and others avoided their gazes. It was a familiar smell and a familiar feeling.

Stellan society severely discriminates against the Gaels. It is not easy for a Gael to become a police officer, but once they become a police officer, in order to gain recognition from other police officers, they are often more strict with the Gaels, for fear that others will say behind their backs that a country bumpkin is still a country bumpkin even if he puts on a police uniform.

They hated such Gaelic police officers, but only through them could they get in touch with the police department, do some shady business, or rescue some people who were imprisoned.

Jimmy and the others didn't dare to say a word. They watched Wu Chang and Raventon enter the factory area, and then followed them from a distance.

Raventon, who was walking in front, whispered:

"This group of gangs is like this. If you show them even a little kindness, they will become suspicious of you and think you have bad intentions."

"The more violent you act, the more you act like a low-level police officer, and the more reassured they will be. They won't worry about us finding anything."

The textile factory area is full of spies of various factory owners, including these gangsters.

If we don't take the initiative to approach them and dispel their vigilance, their actions will be known to the target within five minutes. If the other party destroys the evidence, it will be too late.

After turning left and right in the alley and confirming the result with the note several times, the two came to a small house.

The house was gray-black in color, and from the outside it was a little better than Thomas's cottage, but only to a limited extent.

Ravington knocked on the door. After a few seconds, the door opened. A little boy about eight or nine years old opened the door and looked at the two of them awkwardly.

Ravington frowned and said in an impatient tone:
"Green?"

The little boy nodded.

"It was you who went to the police station last night to report that someone in your family had died mysteriously?" Raventon confirmed.

The little boy opened the door and said in a crying voice:

"Mr. Officer, my mother looked energetic when she came back from her night shift yesterday morning. After she had dinner and took a nap, she stopped breathing."

"I went to see the old weirdo on the corner and he said my mother was dead, of natural causes."

"I don't believe it. There must be something wrong."

Ravington said coldly: "Shut up and leave the room. We will come to a conclusion whether it is a natural death or not."

Green shuddered, held back his tears, and stood obediently outside the door.

Not long after, Wu Chang heard someone through the door asking Green what happened. Judging from the voice, it should be the gangster who was kicked away just now.

Raventon spread his hands and said, "There's nothing we can do. We must follow the 'procedures' and do things in an aboveboard manner."

"Believe me, if we show any abnormality, you won't be able to stay here anymore."

As he spoke, Ravington lifted the white cloth covering the bed and observed the dead body on the bed.

It was winter now, and the temperature at night had dropped below zero. Since the Green family's house was not warm, the body was well preserved and there were not many signs of decay.

Following standard procedure, Ravington first examined the body.

"The body has completely cooled down, and the cornea is grayish white, proving that the deceased has been dead for nearly 24 hours."

"From the corpse spots on his body, there are no signs of human movement. There are no obvious scars or signs of being tied up. His expression is peaceful and he is not in any pain. He must have died in his sleep."

"The color of the lips is normal, there is no abnormal bleeding, and it does not look like poisoning for the time being."

He continued to study for a while, then shook his head and said:

"From the current situation, she died of natural causes. I can tell from her hands that she had experienced heavy labor during her lifetime. If it is handed over to the forensic doctor to determine, her cause of death should be common overwork." Ravington took out his commonly used hand-operated duster and wanted to squeeze it, but stopped, worried about leaving traces at the scene.

He looked at Wu Chang and said, "It's your turn now. See if you can find some different information with your inspiration flow investigation."

Wu Chang held Raventon's shoulders and pushed him aside, standing in front of the dead man.

From the moment he entered the room, he saw a light red resentment on the body of the deceased, and he was actually able to find the abnormality.

He looked towards the light red resentment, and in the fine light red mist, his perspective gradually withdrew, and from a third-person perspective, he saw the woman in front of him when she was alive.

It can be seen that it was in a textile workshop, and two men were pulling a woman and urging her to leave.

The woman begged: "Please, let me work for a while longer, I really need to work."

One man said, "No, you've already worked eighteen hours today, which is over the limit. Leave now!"

The woman said, "Just one hour, just one hour!"

Another supervisor with a whip on his waist shouted, "Get out of here! Your children are waiting for you to come home. If you continue to act unreasonably, you'll be whipped!"

The woman's resentment came to an abrupt end here. It seemed that what she couldn't let go of before her death was the fact that she couldn't continue working, not anything else.

Wu Chang’s consciousness left his resentment and his expression became strange.

Judging from the conversation between the three people, it seems that the mother is forced to live a hard life and is in urgent need of money, so she wants to earn some more overtime pay by working.

But judging from the woman's resentful tone and expression, she seemed to be high.

This is the first time that I can see resentment but fail to find the cause of death from it.

Resentment is ineffective, but fortunately he still has other means besides resentment and inspiration.

He put his hand at an angle where Raventon couldn't see, took out the All-Knowing Crystal from his personal space, and asked it about the cause of death of the woman in front of it.

In the wilderness, when it comes to inferring intelligence through existing information, nothing is more powerful than the Omniscient Crystal.

The omniscient crystal simply flashed once before drawing a conclusion.

The cause of death of the woman in front of him was that she overdrew her soul and vitality in a short period of time.

The Omniscient Crystal also thoughtfully gave an explanation that the soul and vitality of ordinary people can be overdrawn to a certain extent. Small overdrafts can be compensated through self-cultivation, and the only cost is a shortened lifespan and poor health.

However, if you overdraw your vitality in a short period of time and exceed the upper limit of natural recovery, there is a certain probability that your vitality will be cut off and you will die prematurely.

The woman in front of him was already weaker than an average person, suffering from long-term lack of sleep and malnutrition. She had even just recovered from a mild case of malaria.

At this moment, she wouldn't fall down if the wind blew, but she would definitely catch a cold and have a fever if the wind was strong enough.

In this situation, she worked for eighteen hours, overdrawing her vitality, and felt like she was dying.

He looked up at Ravington and told him everything he had discovered.

Raventon had gotten used to Wu Chang's overly detailed inspirations, but it still gave him mixed feelings every time he saw them.

Because he observed various clues, Wu Chang could see clearly with his "inspiration" just by taking a glance, even clues that could not be discovered through a lot of logical reasoning.

It was like the same exam. He tried his best and used various deduction processes, but could only answer the first half of the question. However, when he looked to the side, he found that the answer was printed directly on Wu Chang's paper.

This gap undoubtedly made him feel frustrated.

Fortunately, there are few monsters like Wu Chang, otherwise the profession of detective would lose its necessity.

After a brief silence, he said:
"In other words, she was influenced by some reason and worked herself to death without sleep?"

Wu Chang nodded and said, "There is definitely something wrong with her state while working. Let's go check on the other dead first to determine whether this situation came from the textile factory, special drugs, or mental control methods."

Ravington nodded, he covered the woman with the white cloth again, pushed the door open and walked out.

Because they were moving so fast, the gang members who were questioning Green outside the house did not have time to leave.

Ravington pointed his finger at the gang member and said, "Stand still. If you run, I'll shoot you to death."

The gang member looked miserable and stood still, not daring to move.

Ravington patted his clothes, as if to shake off the bad luck of the dead man on his body, and then said to Green:
"There are no abnormal signs on the deceased, but she died of exhaustion. You can go to the union with this scumbag and register to ask for compensation from the factory."

"As for you." Ravington looked at the gang member.

"Are you really not afraid of death? Tell me, do you want me to smash all your teeth, or take you back for questioning as a murder suspect?"

The gang member was so scared that he knelt down on the spot because he saw Ravington actually took out a pistol and started loading bullets.

Seeing the gangster's legs trembling, Ravington laughed and kicked him to the ground, calling him a waste, then waved and left with Wu Chang.

On the way, Wu Chang whispered:

"I feel like you play the police officer more smoothly than the rickshaw driver. It doesn't even seem like you're acting, it feels more like your true nature is revealed."

Ravington said dissatisfiedly: "I looked very similar when I played the driver."

Wu Chang was surprised and said, "You are not refuting the fact that your true nature was exposed."

Raventon snorted and said:

"It doesn't give me a sense of accomplishment to cause trouble to weaklings like this. I only feel pleasure when I expose the tricks of those self-righteous guys and reveal the dark secrets that those big shots deliberately hide."

Wu Chang sighed, "It seems that your personality is even worse than what you showed just now, but what a coincidence, I also like it this way."

They soon arrived at the home of the second person who reported the case. This family had already reported the case three days ago, and the body had already begun to rot even in winter.

Someone had already registered the cause of death as malaria, but the reporter did not believe it. He insisted that the deceased's malaria had improved and should not have caused death.

After examination by Wu Chang and Raventon, it was determined that the second victim died in the same way as the previous one, both died from excessive loss of vitality.

Before leaving, they asked a few questions and learned that the two deceased worked at Sloan Textile Factory, the largest textile factory on the South Shore.

From an investigative perspective, the two cases are most likely coincidences and cannot prove that there is definitely a problem with the Sloan Textile Mill.

But Wu Chang and Raventon are neither police officers nor judges. They do not need solid evidence to suspect that there is something wrong with their target.

For them, two targets were enough for them to lock on to Sloan Mills.

But the two did not act in a hurry. Instead, they used their extraordinary abilities to sneak behind Jimmy and his group who saw them to see if they would find someone to tip off.

If we find their contact, we might be able to capture the management of the textile factory.

Unfortunately, whether it was because Raventon’s acting skills were too superb, or because Jimmy and the others had too weak a sense of crisis, they did not notice the abnormality of their identities. They just treated it as two ordinary policemen and did not take any action.

The two waited until the early morning, when the night shift workers had already gone to the textile factory and the workers who worked normal shifts had already eaten dinner and fallen asleep.

When people's spirits were at their weakest, the two men lurked outside the Sloan Textile Mill, ready to investigate the situation inside.

Wu Chang did not rashly sneak in with his social phobia on. Instead, he used the Condensation of the Void to create a micro drone, just like he did in the Doomed copy, and controlled the drone to sneak into the Sloan Textile Mill.

Raventon looked at Wu Chang who suddenly stopped moving and closed his eyes, and asked in confusion: "What are you doing?"

Wu Chang made a "hush" gesture and said, "I am using my inspiration to remotely sense what is happening inside."

Raventon: ...

Don't you have too much inspiration?
The drone flew into the Sloan Textile Mill, and he soon saw the scene inside. The textile workshop located outside was no different from other textile mills.

All he saw were the numb weavers and the fierce supervisors who patrolled everywhere.

He continued to move inward, and he remembered that the place where Green's mother worked in resentment was a workshop that produced high-end fabrics.

As the drone approached the core of the textile mill, the atmosphere inside the mill began to change.

The further inward you go, the faster the textile workers work and the heavier their workload becomes, but the numbness on their faces becomes less and less, and they even reveal a morbid smile on their faces.

Even looking inside through the crack in the door of the high-end fabric workshop, the faces of the textile workers inside revealed joy and enjoyment, without a trace of sadness.

Just when he wanted to control the energy drone and enter the high-end fabric workshop, the picture transmitted by the energy drone was instantly cut off, and along with it, his connection with the energy drone disappeared.

The disappearance of the energy drone was not due to it being discovered and shot down by other extraordinary beings.

It felt more like his abilities had suddenly failed.

Recalling the last image transmitted by the energy drone, he saw the root power spreading like steam in the air.

That root power blocks all supernatural powers from entering.

Wu Chang opened his eyes, and there was a gleam in his eyes.

Only the extraordinary steam engine, or the creation of the extraordinary steam engine, can release this root power.

The anomaly hidden in the textile factory has found you!

(End of this chapter)