Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 143 Deep in the Abyss
For Li Wei, this battle was no different from any other.

He aimed at the target, pulled the trigger, and fired the bullet.

Logically, his bullet should have pierced the monster's head and turned it into a corpse.

This is how it should be.

Until a beam of light appeared.

"Whoosh—!"

The monster's eye suddenly shot out a beam of light, which struck the bullet fired by Li Wei. As time slowly passed, Li Wei could even clearly see the beam of light vaporize the bullet before grazing past him.

"???"

Are you kidding me? Is this a monster? This is more like a demon beast!
Although Li Wei had seen bat monsters that emitted ultrasonic waves during the vampire incident, at least that had some scientific basis. After all, bats are creatures, so it's not unusual for them to be able to emit ultrasonic waves.

But what kind of monster shoots beams from its eyes? You dare bring out a Godzilla if you dare?

Damn, they just threw me into a fantasy world, what?

Li Wei mentally complained, but his actions didn't stop. He quickly stepped forward and, taking advantage of the time when the [Eye of Death] was still active, shoved the gun muzzle into the monster's open mouth.

He then pulled the trigger again and abruptly withdrew.

"boom!"

Time resumed its normal flow, and Li Wei quickly dodged to the side. He then saw the lifeless monster charge forward, crashing into the wall and falling to the ground. It then struggled violently, startling the old professor and his group who were hiding nearby, who quickly moved aside. After struggling for a while, the monster finally came to a standstill.

Only then did the group cautiously step forward and begin to examine the monster's corpse before them.

"This thing is huge."

Looking at the monster in front of him, Joe couldn't help but sigh. This thing looked as big as an adult monkey, and in terms of size, it was indeed not small.

"Did I just see things? It looked like it was shooting light from its eyes?"

Miss Goddini looked puzzled and uneasy, which clearly surprised her.

Even Annie stared at the monster's head and whispered.

"Its eyes are strange."

"Eye?"

"Yes, these are human eyes."

"Oh?"

Hearing Annie's words, Levi stepped forward, picked up a gas lamp, and waved it in front of the monster. He'd been too busy fighting to pay attention earlier. Now, hearing Annie's words, Levi indeed noticed that while the monster was strange all over, its strangest feature was its eye.

In fact, there are animals in nature that look very similar to humans, but even monkeys or apes have eyes that are different from humans.

"No wonder I always had a strange feeling about this thing."

Li Wei muttered to himself that he had felt uneasy when he first saw the thing, and now he finally understood why.

To be honest, no matter how ugly the monster looks, Li Wei probably wouldn't care much. After all, it's a monster, so it's normal for it to look anything. And even if it has compound eyes or fish eyes, it wouldn't seem strange.

But the human eye is different.

The monster's eyes look like they've been fused together and sewn onto a human's left and right eyes—look, they're even double eyelids!

You wouldn't guess she's quite vain.

Such an eye might look good on a human face, but it looks bizarre on a head that resembles a dog's.

"This is... Night Demon..."

At that moment, an old voice rang out, and everyone turned around to see the old professor staring at the monster in front of him, his face pale.

"Legend has it that the Night Demons are the messengers and guardians of the Goddess of Night, protecting her palace and sacred grounds. Any sinner who violates the sacred grounds will be mercilessly hunted down by the Night Demons..."

"…………"

Upon hearing the old professor's words, Miss Goddney's expression changed slightly, but she still hurriedly spoke up.

"But, but that's just a legend, right? As it stands, the Night Demon is probably something we haven't discovered yet. Maybe it's some kind of beast that only lives underground, isn't it, teacher?"

"Whatever it is, at least it can be killed."

Joe stepped forward, gripped his shotgun, and poked at the Night Demon's corpse.

"Since we can be killed, then there shouldn't be any problem. Teacher, let's leave here."

"No, we can't leave."

"Hey?"

It must be said that the old professor's answer surprised everyone.

"Why? Teacher? It's so dangerous here..."

"I said it before."

The old professor steadied himself and stared ahead.

"Night demons only appear in the temples and holy sites of the Goddess of Night. Since there are night demons here, it means that there must be some secret in this temple that the night demons are guarding! We must find it! This is our mission and duty!"

Upon hearing the old professor's words, Joe and Miss Godney were momentarily speechless, while Levi coughed lightly.

"Actually, I think if you want a comprehensive survey, it would be better to cooperate with the military. Wouldn't that make it easier to deal with these monsters?"

"Heh, we don't have that kind of ability. Besides, even if we contacted the military, they wouldn't care what secrets this place holds. They'd just blow it up and be done with it. That won't do!"

That's true... If Li Wei were to say that this temple was really some kind of monster's lair, he would definitely blow it up immediately.

After all, Li Wei was a detective, not an archaeologist, and there was no need for him to risk his life to verify some unrealistic rumor.

Of course, it's perfectly fine to just sit around and watch the drama unfold with the archaeologists.

"Then let's go and see what secrets this temple holds."

Li Wei did not object to this, since it was the old professor's dream, and as things stand, he also had a deep attachment to this place.

Moreover, he could take this opportunity to ask the old professor some questions about the Goddess of the Night.

Li Wei felt it would be better to learn more about the goddess who had appeared in front of him twice in a row.

"The origin of the goddess of night?"

Walking down the silent corridor, the old professor's voice was low and hoarse.

"No one knows where the gods originated. By the time we know, they were already there—humans know them, worship them, and believe in them. But that's all. Creation myths have many ambiguities and even contradictions. It's said that the creator gods created the world we know today and created humankind. But if that's the case, then there's a problem..."

At this point, the old professor took a breath.

"If the Creator God created humankind, then why are there so many different groups? Why are some human groups tall and some short? Why do some have fair skin and some have dark skin? Even if the environment shapes and changes humankind, it shouldn't be this drastic..."

The old professor said this, glancing at Li Wei and chuckling.

"Therefore, in addition to the orthodox legend, there is another kind of folk legend."

"Oh? I'd like to hear the details."

"That is, different human races are formed from the flesh and blood of different gods, which is why they are different." As he spoke, the old professor stared at Li Wei.

"For example, the descendants of the goddess of night inherited her characteristics, having hair and eyes as black as the night."

"…………………"

"The descendants of the God of Light have hair that shines like gold and eyes that are like the rippling blue sea."

"The offspring of the god of nature have emerald green, vibrant hair, and eyes as pure as a stream..."

"The child of the Earth God has a strong body and eyes like rocks, and a personality as resilient as the mountains."

As he spoke, the old professor coughed.

"Initially, the children of various gods gathered together and formed different nations, worshipping different gods. Until the appearance of Emperor Arthur, who unified the entire continent..."

"Teacher, it would be better if you didn't continue saying these things outside."

Qiao quickly tried to comfort him.

“Criticizing Emperor Arthur can get you into trouble.”

Just as Joe said, Emperor Arthur, as the first person to unify the continent, was naturally revered by the empire. In any case, he unified the empire in every aspect, whether it was culture or currency. Countries that once worshipped different gods and had different cultural backgrounds were defeated and annihilated. The entire continent adopted Emperor Arthur's imperial system, calendar and units.

Therefore, within the empire, there was only worship for Emperor Arthur.

Such a statement by an old professor, who spoke recklessly and angrily accused Emperor Arthur of destroying diverse civilizations in order to unify the continent, is quite politically incorrect.

"I know, I was just saying."

The old professor snorted and stopped talking about it, while Li Wei fell into deep thought.

When the old professor said that, he knew the other person was implying something. After all, wasn't he just like that himself?
Logically speaking, I shouldn't have any connection with the Goddess of Night, since I'm a transmigrator—but that's what I'm saying, yet I've already encountered the Goddess of Night twice in a row!
Why not some other deity, but the goddess of night? Does the goddess of night also consider me her descendant?

Surely not, sister. You're a deity, after all. Even without DNA testing, a deity should be able to tell from something like bloodlines that we're not related.

Of course, this was just Li Wei's internal monologue. He didn't know why the Goddess of Night had appeared in front of him twice... He hoped there wouldn't be a third time.

After that, the group continued on their way.

Strangely, the number of Night Demons they encountered decreased after that. At first, Li Wei and his group would encounter a few at a time, but later they couldn't see any at all. This clearly surprised Li Wei, since according to the rules of monster movies, there are usually more monsters the closer you get to the core area. Why were there fewer and fewer here?

In contrast, the old professor's pace quickened, to the point that even the others struggled to keep up.

“(*&(……&*!)

Just as the group was passing through another tunnel, a scream suddenly rang out, startling them. They turned to look and saw a man dressed like a local running towards them from the other side, carrying a little boy in his arms.

"*#&Y^*@*(@!！"

Upon seeing the old professor, the local seemed even more excited. He hurriedly approached the professor, gesturing wildly and saying something to him. The old professor, with a solemn expression, nodded at the local.

"Professor, who is he? What is he saying?"

Li Wei couldn't understand the local's speech either, so he decisively asked.

“He’s a local, and he’s the guide we hired.”

The old professor sighed and spoke to Li Wei.

"This child is his child..."

"Teacher, you brought such young children to an archaeological excavation?"

Miss Godney was clearly speechless upon hearing this.

“I didn’t want it either, but this temple was discovered by his child. If it weren’t for him leading the way, we wouldn’t have been able to get in here at all.”

"this……………"

When Li Wei and the others rushed into the dream, the archaeological team had already entered the temple, so they didn't know how the team had gotten to this underground temple. Now it seems that it must be related to this child.

"So what did he say?"

He said the demon was about to awaken and that we should leave immediately.

"A demon? What demon?"

Li Wei felt that these Night Demons were actually quite demonic.

"*@67（……@W&！"

The old professor asked again, and the latter whispered to his son, only to see the little devil staring at them and gesturing as he said something.

"##&）#*（）#？

"What? How is that possible?"

Upon hearing the child's answer, the old professor once again displayed an extremely shocked and dumbfounded expression, as if he had just caught his wife cheating on him with three burly men.

"No, how is this possible? Why..."

As he spoke, the old professor suddenly took off running and rushed inside! Almost at the same time, the surrounding earth began to tremble violently, and then... the ground beneath Li Wei and the others' feet cracked open!

"Wow!"

Everyone only had time to let out a scream before they were instantly swallowed up by the dark abyss below.

"Waaah..."

After an unknown amount of time, Levi finally opened his eyes and stood up. Not far from him, Joe, Miss Godney, and Annie also gradually awoke. Incredibly, despite falling from a great height, none of them were injured; there wasn't even a visible wound…

This is only natural, since it's just a dream, not reality.

"How is this going?"

"where is this place?"

At this moment, the others also got up and looked around in confusion, but only Annie calmly stretched out her hand and pointed forward.

"The professor is there."

"Hey?"

Hearing Anne's words, everyone turned to look and were shocked—not far in front of them was a huge stone coffin, and in front of the coffin, the old professor who had disappeared earlier was now bound by chains and hanging in the air.

Moreover, these chains did not come from anywhere else, but from that coffin!

The lid of the stone coffin slid open to the side, revealing a crack. Then, bright red chains, as if stained with blood, emerged from deep within, binding the old professor and suspending him in the air.

"teacher!"

Upon seeing this, Joe shouted and tried to rush over to help, but the next moment, accompanied by strange cries, several Night Demons descended from the sky and blocked their way.

At the same time, a voice rang out.

"I advise you not to act rashly, Joe, otherwise I can't guarantee your safety."

Upon hearing the voice, everyone turned to look and saw a blond man with glasses, who looked quite scholarly, walk out from behind Night Demon.

And he was the last member of the old professor's archaeological team—Creed Johnson.

(End of this chapter)