Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 152 The Passengers

Just as Li Wei and Anthony were chatting, another passenger entered the carriage.

"I thought this train would be luxurious, but now it looks nothing special."

As soon as the lady at the head of the group entered, she began to loudly criticize in a shrill voice, which quickly attracted the attention of the other guests.

"Mother……………"

Following beside the lady was what appeared to be her daughter. She had a beautiful figure, wore a white silk dress, and had bright, lively eyes. She was clearly uneasy about her mother making her the center of attention at this time.

However, the latter didn't seem to care about her daughter's feelings. She raised her head and looked around the salon carriage like a goose surveying its territory. Then she saw Li Wei and her eyes lit up.

"Damn it, I'm outta here, boss."

Anthony muttered something under his breath, then stood up and left his seat. Just then, the lady walked over, nodded casually at Anthony as if it were his due, and then looked directly at Levi.

"May we sit here?"

"Of course, please do."

Li Wei didn't care. The salon carriage was originally set up for travelers to meet on long journeys. If you didn't want to meet people, there was no need to come here at all.

“I am Joanna Bedric, and this is my daughter Lisa. Please forgive my intrusion, but you must be the nationally renowned detective, Mr. Levi.”

"I wouldn't dare call myself a famous detective, I'm just Li Wei."

Li Wei nodded to the two of them and smiled slightly. The girl sitting next to him blushed and lowered her head. Madame Bedric, meanwhile, was looking at Li Wei with shining eyes.

“I read your report about Melesia in the newspaper. Well done, lad. Those barbarians of Melesia should be taught a lesson so they'll learn how to respect the Empire and the Queen!”

Mrs. Bedric's voice was loud and shrill, as if she wanted to attract everyone's attention. Her daughter, on the other hand, kept her head down, wishing no one would notice her.

That's truly tragic.

Li Wei silently felt sympathy for the girl. He could completely understand the feeling of parents showing off in broad daylight while their children felt so embarrassed they wanted to disappear into the ground.

"But I'm still very curious."

Mrs. Bedric seemed completely unconcerned about manners. She stared at Levi and asked directly.

“I saw in the newspaper that you just walked in when the Continental Congress was being held and arrested the rebel leader in front of those people…Aren’t you worried that others will rebel?”

At this moment, Li Wei noticed that other people were also focusing their attention in their direction; they clearly seemed quite interested in the topic. Of the couple who had come in earlier, the wife seemed interested in moving to a seat closer to her, but her husband pulled her back. They argued for a few moments, and then the wife, clearly unhappy, sat back down in her seat.

"Oh, actually I'm not that worried, madam."

Li Wei took a sip of tea and began to speak. Unlike Madame Bedric's piercing scream, Li Wei's voice was remarkably calm, elegant, and clear.

"As you said, perhaps those Melistians are all barbarians, but they are not ordinary barbarians. They have status, position, and wealth. That is why they gathered together and exposed their foolish and ignorant ambitions. Conversely, they obviously wouldn't want everything they've accumulated over half a lifetime to be destroyed in an instant by a single bullet."

At this point, Li Wei stared at Madame Bedric and smiled slightly.

"In fact, someone foolishly proved this to me."

"Ah, I know, Clyburn, that murderer who tried to escape imperial punishment just because he was in the wilderness!"

At this point, Mrs. Bedric also showed an expression of great indignation.

"Personally, I would have preferred him to be hanged rather than simply killed by a bullet. But it would still be a good ending, at least proving that justice has not been absent."

Mrs. Bedric's reaction surprised Levi. He had thought she just wanted to find a topic to chat about, but when talking about Clyburn, Mrs. Bedric's reaction was quite intense, far exceeding her previous pretentiousness. However, Mrs. Bedric quickly gave her answer.

“To tell you the truth, Mr. Levy, my brother was a victim of Clyburn. He foolishly listened to those nonsense stories about going to Melesia to pan for gold and left home against our advice. He told us he would return home in glory with a fortune, but in the end, all we got was a box of ashes. I heard his body was found in that devil's manor in Clyburn, and I wanted to strangle him!”

“I have deep sympathy for your brother’s plight.”

Now Li Wei understood why Mrs. Bedric had come to him specifically to talk about this.

But this is just the beginning.

Next, Madame Bedric recounted with deep emotion the story of her younger brother, his erratic adventures from childhood, his untimely spirit of adventure, and even a shameful incident at school. From being caught peeping at the maids bathing and being beaten half to death by his father, to secretly releasing horses from the stables to learn riding skills, only to fall and nearly die…

Well, it's a good thing this younger brother is already dead, otherwise, after Mrs. Bedric's rounds of talking, he would have been dead even if he wasn't.

In a social sense.

At least when Mrs. Bedric finally stopped talking until her throat was dry, everyone in the carriage probably knew more about her brother than he did.

Although this is completely useless.

After speaking, Mrs. Bedric left with her daughter, who hurried away, her steps so hurried that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as a hasty retreat.

Well, this is really unlucky for this young lady.

Li Wei glanced around. At that moment, Anthony was chatting with a lady with a glass of wine. He didn't notice when the lady had come in; it was probably when his attention was drawn to Mrs. Bedric.

Judging from her attire, she should be an older single woman, but... personal preferences are none of Li Wei's concern. Perhaps some people do prefer women older than themselves?
Just then, Olivia and her maid entered the salon carriage and naturally sat down next to Levi. At this moment, the young lady was remarkably calm and composed; it seemed she had regained her composure regardless.

"If only you had come a little earlier, Miss Olivia."

Li Wei raised his teacup to Olivia and chuckled.

"That way you will be able to hear about the life and deeds of Mr. Bugster Doras."

"Who is that?"

"Mrs. Bedric's brother, but that's not important."

In fact, it doesn't matter.

Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a rather sumptuous dinner before returning to their rooms to rest. Li Wei was no exception; he went back to his room, picked up the day's newspaper, and quickly skimmed through it. The railway newspaper didn't contain any unusual news, and it was, after all, a peaceful day.

After reading the newspaper, Li Wei turned off the light and lay down on the bed to rest.

At least he slept well that night.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. Levi simply read in his room and chatted with the other passengers, including Olivia. Of course, the most lively of them all was Mrs. Bedric. For her, chatting with others seemed to be an interesting thing in itself. Of course, what the passengers she had captured thought was another matter entirely.

Fortunately, everyone got along fairly well, except for that man who seemed utterly out of place in the first-class carriage. After visiting the salon carriage on the first day, he probably realized he didn't fit in with such high-society social activities, and had stayed in his room ever since.

Besides, the couple never came to the salon again. Levi saw them go to the dining car a few times, and it was clear that the atmosphere between them wasn't very good. Instead, an Iberian man in a plaid coat became a regular at the salon. He was quite enthusiastic and greeted everyone. He was said to be a very famous businessman, and he was indeed very good at socializing.

In just one more day, we should be almost at our destination.

Unfortunately, it was not a smooth journey.

When Li Wei woke up on the third morning, he found that the train was neither shaking nor moving. The entire train was very quiet, with only the sound of raindrops pattering against the windows.

"what happened?"

Li Wei muttered as he sat up and looked out the window. Through the rain-shrouded window, he realized the train wasn't stopped on the platform, but rather in the middle of a track that seemed neither ahead nor behind, neither up nor down. All around him were dense forests and dark clouds.

Li Wei changed his clothes and walked out of the room, whereupon he saw the train conductor running around in a hurry.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

“Oh, Mr. Levi.”

Hearing Li Wei's shout, the train conductor who was running stopped and sighed helplessly.

"I'm sorry, did I disturb your rest?"

"No, I slept very well, but what's going on? Why has the train stopped?"

"Please rest assured, things are not as serious as you think."

"Ah."

"We just received a message from the station ahead; it seems there's been a minor incident, you know, rocks, mud, trees, and stuff... blocking the road. They can only start dealing with it after the rain stops..."

"What!?"

The piercing scream, of course, did not come from Levy, but from Mrs. Bedric. She peeked out of the room wearing a nightgown whose taste was hard to judge, her eyes wide open as she stared at the train conductor.

"You mean we're going to stay here for several days?"

"I'm so sorry, Madam..."

The train conductor, wiping away sweat, spoke as he did so.

"We can't turn back now, we can only wait for the track ahead to be cleared... Believe me, it's not difficult, please be patient, everything will be alright."

"only these?"

"what do you mean?"

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, the train conductor looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"I mean, nothing else happened in the car, right?"

"Please don't worry, everything is normal at the moment."

"Ah That's good."

Li Wei felt relieved and stopped paying attention to these trivial matters.

"I need to go to the dining car... Shouldn't breakfast be served now?"

"Of course, sir."

(End of this chapter)