Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 148 Dimensionality Reduction Strike
Fire all over the place.

The once pitch-black Breezes was instantly illuminated, with several incredibly vibrant sparks blooming on the mountain. The dazzling flames lit up the dark forest, and the deafening explosions echoed through the sky.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The guard shouted and tried to sound the horn, but George grabbed him with lightning speed.

"Stop! This is just a trap! Didn't you notice that these shells didn't land in our camp?"

Hearing George's shout, everyone snapped out of their panic from the attack. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed as George had said: although the airship had been bombarding the ground, the shells had all flown over their own camp, making it seem like they were just firing indiscriminately.

"Order everyone to be on high alert and not to panic!"

George gave the order and then returned to the command tent, where the other officers had already assembled, looking at the commander-in-chief and awaiting his further orders.

"You absolutely must stay calm."

George gave the order with great confidence.

"It's obvious that the enemy is trying to use this tactic to demoralize our troops, forcing them to panic and lose their composure while hiding in the Blaise Mountains. Once they escape from the Blaise Mountains, they will be immediately annihilated by the Imperial army surrounding them..."

However, before George could finish speaking, a shout came from outside.

"Report---!"

Before the words were even finished, everyone saw a soldier covered in blood rush in.

"Sir, the 36th Battalion's position has been completely destroyed!"

"destroy?"

"Yes, the sudden artillery barrage covered the entire position, and no one escaped except me!"

"this……………"

Hearing this, George frowned.

They just said the Empire was fighting recklessly, and now their camps have been destroyed?
"report!"

Soon someone shouted loudly again, and then another soldier was carried into the tent.

"Reporting to the commander... The positions of the 15th, 18th, and 27th battalions have been destroyed... Heavy losses..."

"How can this be!?"

Hearing this, George could no longer remain seated. He stepped out of the tent and looked around again. The bombardment continued unabated; the steel warships hovering in the air, like impregnable fortresses, relentlessly unleashed their firepower. Indeed, the Imperial army possessed formidable firepower, but even so, it couldn't possibly turn the entire Breezes Mountains upside down! The current barrage also revealed that the Imperial airships weren't indiscriminately bombarding the entire Breezes Mountains. What on earth was going on…?

“Da da da da da——!”

The sound of rapid hoofbeats rang out, and George turned his head to see a warhorse carrying a soldier covered in blood rushing in. The soldier rode straight up to George and, without even having time to dismount, fell headfirst into George's arms.

"Warren? What's wrong with you?"

George was horrified when he saw his comrade-in-arms. This was no ordinary soldier, but a comrade-in-arms who had fought alongside George and whom he trusted implicitly. Yet now, George had lost a leg and half an arm, and his body looked as if he had been pulled out of a pool of blood.

“George…”

Upon seeing George, Warren reached out his other good hand and grabbed him.

"Evacuate immediately...!"

"Evacuate?"

"Our positions... have been discovered by the Imperial Army! All our positions have been destroyed!"

"This is impossible!"

George was stunned when he heard Warren's words.

"I admit that the Empire used a saturation attack this time, but there's no way they could know the location of every single one of our positions!"

"I don't know how they did it, but they really did it..."

Warren gripped George tightly, glaring at him.

"At the start of the first attack, just to be safe, I ordered all soldiers to evacuate their positions immediately. In fact, shortly after I gave the order, the position I was responsible for was shelled... Not only that, I had just led the remaining soldiers out of danger when the second round of shelling came straight at us! It was as if, as if the Imperial Army knew which direction we were retreating in! Our position has been completely exposed, George, get out of here, or we won't be able to leave..."

Before Warren could finish speaking, he grabbed George's arm, stared at him, opened his mouth, and a mixture of blood and froth gushed from his throat. Then, Warren collapsed into George's arms, his eyes still wide open, filled with confusion and despair, staring into the void before him.

At this moment, George was completely oblivious to everything else; he just stared blankly at Warren's corpse, his mind a complete void.

All the positions had been leaked? How could that be? Absolutely impossible! George had worried about spies, so he always gave orders to other commanders individually, designating their positions and battle zones. Within the entire National Army, only George himself knew the locations of all the positions, and he was absolutely certain he had never revealed them to anyone!
Moreover, even if we concede that our own position information has been leaked, how was the location where Warren led his men to evacuate exposed?
George was completely baffled by this.

For Li Wei at this moment, this was not a problem at all.

Beneath the immense shadow of the steel fortress, a small reconnaissance boat hovered in the air. Li Wei peered through the searchlight at the ground—to him, the earth was shrouded in darkness. Even the bombardment of the Imperial warships was shrouded in darkness; only the radiant light of the struggling souls within that darkness was so vivid and dazzling. Ah, those people are running this way.

Li Wei stared at the rebels who had abandoned their positions and were beginning to retreat south. He stretched out his hand and drew a circle and an arrow on the map beside him. Immediately, a messenger standing next to Li Wei picked up his communicator, looked at the map, and reported.

"The enemy in area A12 is retreating towards area A14!"

"very good."

Upon hearing the report, General Hao nodded.

"Initiate a blanket bombardment of area A14!"

"Yes!"

“轰轰轰———！”

Three shells roared out from the airship's cannons, flying south towards the Blaise Mountains. Then, streaks of fire appeared, accompanied by a huge roar, and billowing smoke and swirling dust covered everything.

Great, all done.

Seeing that the dozens of points of light that had appeared in his eyes had completely disappeared, Li Wei nodded and drew an X in area A14. Then he turned his gaze again to the other battlefields.

Indeed, under Li Wei's [Soul Vision], the location of the rebels on the entire Blaise Hill was almost completely visible. Even if the first wave of attacks did not completely wipe them out, Li Wei could directly determine the direction of their retreat and then draw it on the corresponding part of the map.

Then, specialized soldiers were responsible for reporting the location, and the Cyclops then carried out a bombardment of the target area.

As the Empire's main air warship, the Cyclops was equipped with eight 380mm main naval guns for ground suppression, and its power was self-evident.

Once the right position is found, a single artillery barrage is enough to send the enemy to their doom.

As long as you find the right spot.

"Prepare to evacuate."

George, of course, had no idea what was happening up there, but his dying companion had sent him a message, and he knew he couldn't stay any longer. Regardless of how the Imperial army found out, it seemed the rebels' plan had completely failed. The only option now was to immediately retreat into Noyok and join the citizens in resisting the Empire's tyranny.

"Whoosh—!!"

However, before George could give the order, a strange whooshing sound suddenly came from the air, followed by a series of clanging sounds. Then, several anchor-like objects fell from the sky and crashed heavily into the ground around the camp.

That is…

Upon seeing the "anchor" connected to the steel cable, George paused for a moment, then seemed to realize something.

"Everyone, evacuate immediately!"

"boom!"

The drop pod, hurtling down the steel cable, crashed heavily onto the camp, the shockwave scattering the surrounding soldiers and officers. As the hatch opened, warriors in steel armor, steam machine guns in hand, strode out!
They are the Empire's steam engine soldiers!

At that moment, George finally understood.

These are all traps set by the empire!

And indeed, things turned out exactly as George had predicted.

Levi's [Soul Vision] is indeed useful, but it's just a simple skill, unlike in games where you can distinguish the importance of targets by color (gold or red). Therefore, even if Levi could locate all the rebel positions on Mount Blaise, he wouldn't know which one was the command post.

At this moment, General Hao made his move.

Taking advantage of the negotiation opportunity, he once again raised the demand for peace talks with the rebels and presented them with a letter. General Howe knew very well that, regardless of whether the deal went through or not, the other side would definitely deliver his letter to the rebel commander-in-chief. Therefore, after the negotiator left the city with General Howe's letter, Li Wei kept a close watch on him until the messenger arrived at his destination and confirmed the location of the command post.

That makes things easier. The Empire will annihilate the other positions directly, while the command post will be left until last, to be completely suppressed by airborne steam-powered troops.

After all, as the leader of the rebels, he was to be taken back for a public trial and sentencing.

Killing someone with a single shot is convenient, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future.

Once the steam-powered soldiers landed, the remaining problems naturally ceased to be problems.

Soon, Li Wei received a report from the Cyclops.

"The rebel positions have been completely suppressed, and all rebel officers and their leaders have been captured!"

"call……………"

Upon hearing this, Li Wei put down his pen and breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, I can go home for the Chinese New Year.

(End of this chapter)