Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 142 The Shadow of the Temple
The group hurried towards the depths of the temple, encountering no obstacles along the way. In fact, the temple's design was quite strange; apart from a stone statue erected directly opposite the entrance, there was a long, seemingly endless corridor beyond that.

The corridor was deathly silent, with towering stone statues standing against the walls on both sides. The only sounds were the footsteps of the people.

Li Wei could see those radiant souls speeding away, as if they were screaming and running, but he couldn't hear their cries or see what was going on with them. Apart from some rapidly moving points of soul light, Li Wei couldn't confirm the current situation.

"Stop!"

When everyone finally reached the end of the corridor, Li Wei signaled for the others to stop, and then he carefully walked forward, looking ahead.

At the end of the corridor was a gigantic underground cavern, which also looked like part of a temple. However, compared to the outside, the scene here was much more dilapidated, with cracked ground, collapsed buildings all around, and even stone heads the size of buses smashed on the ground, staring blankly at them.

Like a dead corpse.

Near the entrance of the hall, a campfire was burning, with several tents and backpacks nearby.

"It seems this is where the teachers are stationed."

Joe knew these things best, after all, that's what he did in the archaeological team. He walked to the edge of the camp and carefully examined it.

"Yes, that's right. This is how the teacher taught us to set up camp: choose a high spot against a wall, well-ventilated, and away from the light... After all, we often have to deal with tomb raiders, so we have to decide on the location of our campsite. We've encountered tomb raiders several times, and those weren't pleasant memories."

As he spoke, Qiao shook his head, while Li Wei merely glanced at him without saying a word.

From Li Wei's perspective, the tomb owner saw the archaeological team and the tomb raiders as no different.

"There's blood here."

Just then, Anne suddenly pointed to the side of the camp. Levi turned his head and looked, and sure enough, he saw a pool of blood clearly visible on the ground.

"They were probably attacked while setting up camp."

Li Wei carefully examined the bloodstains and quickly used his [Detective] [Trace Analysis] skills to reconstruct the scene.

"The archaeological team has arrived here and plans to set up camp. Judging from the footprints, the professor may have gone over there to examine the stone statues..."

Li Wei pointed to the stone head that had fallen to the ground.

"The others were setting up tents and other things here, and then someone was attacked... well, he was attacked from behind, and there didn't seem to be any signs of struggle. The others realized something was wrong and ran away in panic."

"…………………"

Li Wei looked up and saw that everyone else was staring at him in surprise.

"Mr. Li Wei, you are amazing."

Miss Goddaughter clasped her hands together, her face filled with adoration.

"You can see so much just by looking at it!"

"After all, I'm a detective; that's how I make a living."

Li Wei smiled and then stood up again, while Annie quietly stared at the scene before speaking after a moment.

"But why are they running inside instead of towards the gate? It's much closer to the gate from here."

"Perhaps something blocked their escape route, or perhaps they were desperate and ran away without thinking."

Li Wei shrugged.

"In any case, we can only find out the answer by moving forward."

No one had any objection to this.

After realizing the danger, everyone took out their weapons. Levi had a gun, and so did the others. Joe and Godney were both members of the archaeological team, and Joe had mentioned that they often encountered tomb raiders. Tomb raiders were usually desperate criminals, so it was impossible to fight them bare-handed.

In fact, both Joe and Miss Goldie had firearms for self-defense, and even Anne pulled out a small pepper spray pistol from her pocket—a uniquely styled multi-barreled pistol. Simply put, it looks similar to a revolver, except that it doesn't have a barrel at the front; instead, the entire cylinder is elongated to become the barrel.

That is to say, it has six barrels.

This means the gun consists of only two parts: the grip and the cylinder. Once the trigger is pressed, the cylinder will automatically rotate and fire six bullets at once, making it one of the earliest pistols with continuous firing capability.

In fact, the revolver evolved from it, but the pepper spray gun has not been eliminated.

Even Li Wei had to admit that the intimidation of being pointed at by one gun barrel is completely different from being pointed at by six gun barrels.

As for its power, the pepper spray pistol is naturally less lethal than a revolver, but its small and compact size and simple and convenient use still make it very popular.

Wow, this era of everyone being armed is really interesting.

Seeing that Annie had even pulled out a gun, Levi could only sigh and say that maintaining order in this era was really difficult.

Miss Godney was carrying an ordinary handgun, while Joe was carrying a double-barreled shotgun with its barrel sawed off. Combined with the latter's size, it was quite intimidating.

Well, just by looking at them, you can imagine what it would be like if these gentle and refined archaeologists encountered tomb raiders in the wild—a scene of gunfire and bullets flying everywhere.

So the question is, what made the members of this archaeological team flee in panic before they could even fight back?

Li Wei scanned his surroundings and saw only human footprints; he saw nothing else.

But this is not reality, but a dream. Who knows what the professor saw in his dream?

Or rather, what he wants to see.

"let's go."

Li Wei pulled himself out of his thoughts and continued walking forward following the footprints.

The footprints along the way were very messy, showing that these people were being chased so desperately that they were almost running in a panic. They even split up at the fork in the road. If it weren't for Li Wei's [Trace Detection] which helped him capture the old professor's footprints, he might not even have a problem finding where to look for him now.

The road ahead grew increasingly rugged and narrow, and the group stumbled and staggered along. However, just as they reached another fork in the road, suddenly, a hand reached out from the shadows and grabbed Li Wei. "Whoa!"

This sudden scene startled everyone else, and Joe almost pointed his gun at the person in the shot. Li Wei, on the other hand, remained calm, as he had known all along that someone was hiding there.

"Shut up, you bunch of idiots!"

Just then, the old professor peeked out from the shadows and glared angrily at them.

"Do you want to be killed by those monsters? Hide now and turn off the lights!"

Although no one knew what was going on, they still turned off the gas lamps as the old professor had instructed, and then hid in a corner.

"Teacher, what exactly happened?"

Miss Godney asked in confusion, while the old professor glared at her.

"Didn't you see them? Those monsters! Damn monsters! How dare you all swagger around outside like that! Once those monsters catch you, you'll be torn to shreds just like everyone else!"

“…………………?”

Faced with the old professor's answer, both Joe and Miss Godney were somewhat taken aback. After all, logically speaking, they hadn't been there at all, nor had they been with the old professor. But judging from the old professor's expression, he seemed to have already considered them as part of this archaeological team?
"Remember, this is a dream."

Li Wei quietly offered a reminder from the side.

"In the dream, your appearance is taken for granted by the dream's owner, so he considers you to be his companions, and that is you."

"Ah, um..."

The two quickly accepted this explanation.

After all, it's just a dream... that's how it is.

Li Wei whispered an explanation to the two of them, then looked at the old professor.

"Professor, what kind of monster attacked us?"

"I do not know I do not know."

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, the old professor suddenly looked dejected. He sat down against the corner of the wall, his face filled with dejection.

“They shouldn’t exist, at least not here. No, that’s just a legend, it’s not true…”

"…………………"

Hearing the old professor muttering to himself, the others exchanged puzzled glances. Li Wei, however, simply stared at the old professor, his mind racing with thoughts.

He hadn't forgotten; this was the old professor's nightmare, his deepest fear. If Joe's information was correct, then this must be an archaeological expedition the old professor had undertaken years ago. This expedition had remained buried deep within the professor's heart, manifesting as a nightmare.

However, what worried Li Wei wasn't that, but rather the temple itself—it seemed to be the temple of the goddess of night, and unfortunately, Li Wei had met this goddess more than once. This instinctively made him uneasy, after all, there's a saying...

There are no coincidences in this world, only inevitabilities.

Of course, for Li Wei, this was just a pretentious platitude, but he still didn't like this rather unpleasant coincidence.

"Clap, clap."

Just then, a flapping sound came from the passageway, and upon hearing this sound, the old professor tensed up again.

"Quick, be careful, don't look!"

But it's clear that Li Wei doesn't intend to do that.

"If we don't look, we'll never know what it is."

As Li Wei spoke, he stepped out of his hiding place and turned on the gas lamp again by rotating the knob.

"———————!"

The lights came on, illuminating the pitch-black darkness and revealing the strange figure not far from the passageway—Li Wei could even see a glimmer of eerie red light. Then, a piercing scream rang out.

"Gahh ...

At the same time, under the light, Li Wei finally saw clearly what it was.

It looks like a giant bat, except it has no hair, the membrane between its arms is pitch black, and its limbs are covered with sharp claw marks, making it look eerie and terrifying.

What draws the most attention is the monster's head—it has only one eye on its forehead, which is now staring intently at Li Wei.

Looking at that eye, Li Wei was also stunned—for some reason, this eye reminded Li Wei of the All-Knowing Eye!

To put it simply, they are very similar!

"Gahh ...

The monster shrieked again and suddenly flapped its wings, swooping down on Li Wei. Its speed was almost comparable to a falcon; in the blink of an eye, Li Wei saw it appear right in front of him.

At this moment, time seems to slow down.

Li Wei could see the monster arch its body, its two claws stabbing at his eyes. If it were to grab him, Li Wei could imagine that his head would be completely pierced through by the monster.

However, Li Wei certainly wouldn't let it succeed.

He raised the Persuader, aiming the gun at the single eye in the center of the monster's forehead.

Then, he pulled the trigger.

(End of this chapter)