Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 123 Gunshot
The night was dark.

Li Wei leaned back silently in his chair, feeling the vibrations of the engine behind him, and closed his eyes to rest. In fact, at this moment, the puppet bird that Li Wei was controlling was circling above the team, and under the [Soul Vision], everything around him was clearly visible.

If someone is watching or lying in ambush around, Li Wei will be able to detect it immediately.

Just like that, time passed by minute by minute.

Then, Li Wei opened his eyes.

Just then, the line stopped.

"what happened?"

Lieutenant Colonel Smith frowned and asked a question. Soon, soldiers came over.

"Report! There are militia ahead!"

"militia?"

Upon hearing the soldier's report, Lieutenant Colonel Smith's expression darkened slightly. It was the dead of night; everyone here should have been asleep by now. This was precisely why Governor Geller had chosen to have them operate at night, yet these men were actually out in the dark, blocking the road?
"…………………"

Lieutenant Colonel Smith and Levi exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.

The information was leaked!
But the problem is, what do we do now?
Faced with the current situation, Lieutenant Colonel Smith was somewhat troubled. Governor Geller's secret order instructed him to maintain discipline among the soldiers and prevent them from clashing with the local population, but now…

"Lieutenant Colonel Smith."

Just as Lieutenant Colonel Smith was in a dilemma, Levi spoke up.

"If you don't mind, I'll take care of this."

"Mr. Li Wei?"

Upon hearing Levi's suggestion, Lieutenant Colonel Smith hesitated for a moment. Although he felt it wasn't a good thing, he considered that the Governor had also said that Levi, as an advisor, could act on behalf of the General, and that as a soldier, there wasn't much he could do. So, after thinking for a moment, Lieutenant Colonel Smith nodded.

"Then I'll leave it to you to handle, Mr. Li Wei."

"Ok."

Li Wei put on his hat and stepped out of the command vehicle. He walked past the soldiers and headed forward. At that moment, Li Wei could sense that the atmosphere among the soldiers was extremely tense and strained. Clearly, the consequences of having dozens of fully armed militiamen blocking their way were self-evident for these soldiers.

The battle is about to break out.

Leaning on his cane and wearing a top hat, Li Wei, like a gentleman, walked past the soldiers to the Hound-class mechs leading the way and looked across. Not far in front of him, at the village entrance, more than twenty militiamen, armed with rifles and cannons, stood in a tense line, watching him intently.

Ahead of them stood an elderly man with white hair and beard. He, too, was holding a rifle and shouting loudly.

"Hold your ground! Don't fire first! But if they want a war, let it start here!"

"Oh ho..."

Seeing this scene, Li Wei narrowed his eyes, snorted softly, and then walked forward with a smile.

Perhaps because Li Wei wasn't wearing a military uniform and looked harmless, the militiamen opposite him didn't fire; they just held their guns and stared at him.

Until Li Wei walked up to them.

Good evening, gentlemen.

Li Wei bowed slightly, greeted them, and then looked up at the night sky.

"It's a nice day today."

"…………………"

"It's so late, why aren't you all home sleeping? What are you planning to do here?"

Li Wei raised his head, stared at the militiamen in front of him, and asked with a smile.

It has to be said that Li Wei's question left the other side speechless.

At this point, both sides know what the other is planning to do; logically speaking, it should be an unspoken understanding.

But Li Wei insisted on pretending to be confused even though he knew the truth…

"Leave here! This is our home!"

Soon, militiamen began to shout.

"But this is imperial territory."

Li Wei clearly didn't care about the other party's barking.

“We are on a mission, and according to imperial law, imperial troops have priority passage when carrying out missions on imperial territory. Therefore, I advise you to make way immediately.”

"We absolutely will not move!"

Although the militiamen were very uneasy looking at the steel mechs, they still mustered their courage and shouted loudly.

"That's right, we absolutely will not give way!"

"Go ahead and shoot if you dare!"

Don't think we don't know what you're up to!

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wei suddenly turned his head and looked at the last militiaman who had spoken.

"What do you mean? Do you know what we want to do?"

"Of course!"

The militiaman was clearly quite young, and when Li Wei asked him, he immediately answered in a very casual manner.

“We all know you went to Concord to destroy the weapons depot…”

"Shut up!"

Upon hearing the militiaman's reply, the elderly man at the head of the group's expression changed drastically, but it was too late.

"In that case, please come with us."

"...Huh?"

The militiamen were taken aback when they heard Li Wei's words.

"We are carrying out a secret mission, but mission information has been leaked, which is a clear violation of the law. Therefore, please lay down your weapons immediately, raise your hands in surrender, and cooperate with our investigation."

"………………………"

Faced with Li Wei's request, the militiamen were stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha, what nonsense is this idiot spouting?"

"Put down your weapons and surrender? Are you kidding me..."

"Where did this young master come from? Do you even know...?"

However, Li Wei did not listen to their taunts, or rather, he did not need to.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

Gunshots rang out. No one knew what had happened, because the next moment, accompanied by cries of agony, the weapons in the hands of the more than twenty militiamen were knocked out and fell to the ground with a clatter.

Only then did Li Wei put down the persuader amidst the smoke of gunpowder, and at the same time, he made a gesture to the soldiers behind him.

"Go, arrest them!"

"Yes!"

The soldiers were already resentful of the rebels, and now that they had been disarmed, they responded loudly to Li Wei's order and swarmed forward. The twenty-odd militiamen were no match for the regular army. Even if they wanted to resist, their guns had already been knocked away by Li Wei. Faced with the menacing Hound mechs and regular army, they had no choice but to surrender.

"How can it still be like this?"

Lieutenant Colonel Smith was stunned by what he saw.

In fact, according to Lieutenant Colonel Smith's thinking, a conflict was almost inevitable. After all, these men were standing there fully armed, blocking their way in the middle of the night, precisely to thwart their plans. And military orders are absolute; they had to carry them out, which would inevitably lead to a conflict.

So, as a soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Smith's only thought was to order the other side to lay down their weapons and disperse. If they didn't listen, then he would have no choice but to open fire to suppress them.

But to his surprise, Li Wei found another reason from a legal perspective!
That means military intelligence was leaked, and these militia members are being asked to undergo investigation!

Most people thought Li Wei was just making a pointless, unnecessary effort. After all, everyone knew what was going on, but that was exactly the trick Li Wei was playing.

Even if everyone knows the truth, as long as you don't say it, I can pretend not to know.

This is similar to the current situation in Melesia. Both sides are secretly confronting each other, but neither has directly declared war. Even though everyone knows that a war between Melesia and the Empire is inevitable, as long as Melesia does not declare independence and the Empire does not announce suppression, on the surface, everyone remains on good terms and acts like a close-knit family.

But if you dare to break through this barrier... well, don't blame me for dealing with you then.

Just like now, everyone knows that the militia is here to hinder the Imperial army from carrying out its mission.

Is this the right thing to do?
This is similar to the conflict between Melesia and the Empire; it's a matter of both sides having their own reasons, and if you were to debate it, you could go on for ten days and ten nights without getting a clear answer.

Therefore, Li Wei did not explain from this angle at all, but instead went directly to another angle.

Military intelligence leaked!

I won't say whether you're right or wrong to oppose the empire, I'm just asking if you've broken the law!

You broke the law, so I'm taking you back for investigation. It's perfectly reasonable and no one can say a word against it!
As citizens of the Empire, it is only natural to obey Imperial laws. What's wrong with you Melicians? Or are you planning to declare independence? You don't even respect Imperial laws anymore?
After figuring it out, Lieutenant Colonel Smith looked at Levi, who had returned to the command vehicle, and couldn't help but sigh.

"As expected of Mr. Li Wei, I never thought you could solve the problem from this angle."

“You are soldiers, and I am a detective. We have different perspectives on things, so our approaches will naturally be different. I simply chose a simpler approach that is less likely to cause conflict.”

In response to Lieutenant Colonel Smith's words, Levi chuckled and replied.

"Of course... By the way, how exactly did you do that just now?"

If there was anything about the whole process that Lieutenant Colonel Smith couldn't understand, it was why those people suddenly dropped their guns, and what was with the gunshot?

"Oh, it's really not a big deal."

Li Wei smiled slightly.

“My marksmanship is pretty good. In order to intimidate them and prevent these suspects from resorting to desperate measures, I shot the guns out of their hands. The others were also frightened and threw away their guns.”

"Your marksmanship is truly amazing..."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith had no idea how Levi had done it. In the pitch black, he had managed to easily shoot the guns out of the militiamen's hands; that was no ordinary marksmanship. Even Lieutenant Colonel Smith had only heard of people being able to do such a thing, but this was the first time he had witnessed it firsthand.

"Okay, let's move on."

As Li Wei spoke, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes again.

"However, if my guess is correct, then Concord's arsenal should be empty."

Just as Levy had predicted, when Lieutenant Colonel Smith's troops arrived at Concord's armory, it was completely empty; nothing was left. However, they weren't entirely empty-handed. After confirming that the armory had been emptied, Lieutenant Colonel Smith ordered all soldiers to return the way they came.

Just as Lieutenant Colonel Smith's troops began to withdraw, hundreds of militiamen were lying in ambush in the forest near Concord.

"Reinforcements have arrived, Captain Parker, let's prepare to move in!"

A militia leader leaned close to Captain Parker and whispered something, while the latter, with a cigarette dangling from his lips and his teeth clenched, watched the Imperial troops retreating along the main road without uttering a word.

Upon learning that the Imperial army intended to destroy the Concord armory, the Melesian militia immediately began coordinating their efforts, and militia units poured into the area surrounding Concord. Their plan was simple: to deliver a crushing blow to the Imperial forces and show them the might of the Melesians!

However, any war needs a just cause.

Captain Pike's plan was that once the Imperial Army and the militia clashed, and the Imperial Army had a pretext to massacre the militia, then the ensuing battle would be a natural consequence.

However, to his surprise, instead of killing the Clayshington militia, the other side arrested them all on the grounds of violating the law!
This situation was completely unexpected by Captain Parker.

If they were to attack this imperial army now, even setting aside the fact that the enemy was holding hostages, the act itself would be tantamount to a prison break. At that point, the empire would have a perfectly legitimate reason to launch a major crackdown on the militias of Melisia.

You've already broken into the prison, so you're definitely in the wrong. The empire will surely take this opportunity to beat you when you're down.

After all, avenging one's fellow militiamen slaughtered by the Empire and attacking an Imperial army escorting prisoners are two different things.

But are we just going to let them go back like that?
Given the Empire's track record, simply interrogating these militiamen would likely expose the entire underground network of Melisia, with equally disastrous consequences. After all, this time the Empire acted stealthily, but next time, they probably wouldn't be so secretive about their operations!
Captain Parker pondered the matter, unable to make a decision for the time being, while the other militia leaders stood beside him.

"We should rescue our comrades!"

"Are you kidding me? What if they're taken hostage by the Imperial army?"

"But what if they get taken back for questioning..."

"Captain Parker, what is your decision?"

"…………………"

Captain Parker paused for a moment, then looked at everyone again.

How many people do we have now?

"Four thousand men, fully armed."

"Um…………………"

Upon hearing this, Captain Parker fell into deep thought once again.

The enemy has four Hound-class mechs, two Knight-class mechs, one Rhino command vehicle, and seven hundred infantry. While our side has no mechs, it has four thousand fully armed soldiers.

Four thousand against seven hundred, the advantage is in my hands!

As long as they are all wiped out, the empire will have no way of knowing who did it, and then there will be no way to prove it!

Captain Parker made his decision at that moment.

"Prepare for action! We must completely annihilate this imperial army!"

At that very moment, Li Wei opened his eyes.

"Lieutenant Colonel Smith."

"Yes, Mr. Li Wei, what's wrong?"

"Order everyone to stay put and be on guard; we are about to be attacked."

(End of this chapter)