Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 158 Lost in the Forest
The dimly lit rest room felt like a prison to the train crew.

No, or rather, it's a prison.

"Why……………"

Sitting in his chair, the train conductor sighed helplessly.

How could I be so unlucky?

He regrets it now, he regrets it very much.

Whether he regretted his greed or his actions on the train with the famous detective present, only the train conductor knew.

“Da da da da da…”

The large raindrops pounded against the window, their noise irritating him. At the next station, he knew he would be handed over to the police, then tried…and executed… Thinking this, the train conductor suddenly stood up.

No, he couldn't just die like this; he had to live!

As he thought this through, the train conductor walked to the window and tried to open it. He had made up his mind: he could sneak off the train now and leave when no one was looking. Maybe he would be caught later, maybe not. But at least there was still a chance! Either way, it was better than staying here and waiting to die!

"hey-hey!"

Thinking of this, the train conductor started to open the window, but unfortunately, the window in this rest room was fixed and very narrow. No matter how hard the conductor tried, he couldn't move it even an inch.

If all else fails, then smash it open!
At that moment, the train conductor no longer cared whether the noise would attract other passengers. He looked around, then grabbed the chair he was sitting on and held it high up towards the window!
"Click, click, click."

Suddenly, at that moment, the lights in the room flickered, and a dark figure appeared behind the train conductor as the lights flickered.

"Who?"

The train conductor turned around and looked behind him, but there was nothing there except a locked door.

Am I just imagining things?

The train conductor turned around again, picked up a chair, and smashed it forcefully against the window.

"Boom!"

The chair slammed heavily against the window, cracking it.

It must be said that the glassmaking process is surprisingly good.

"Come again!"

The train conductor picked up the chair again and smashed it against the glass a second time.

"Boom!"

The glass trembled violently, then shattered. Seeing this only fueled the train conductor's excitement; he picked up the chair again, and then—suddenly turned and slammed it down!
"Clap!"

The chair slammed heavily onto the dark figure standing behind the train conductor. For an ordinary person, this blow would have been enough to knock them to the ground. However, the latter remained standing upright, motionless. Instead, the chair in the conductor's hands shattered with a crack, with only one chair leg still clutched in his grasp.

"You, who are you?"

Looking at the shadowy figure, the train conductor asked in a trembling voice. Then the flashing lights came on again, and he could see clearly the person standing in front of him—a man wearing somewhat dirty and disheveled clothes, with messy hair, and staring blankly at the conductor. The conductor knew who he was, because it was this man who had put him in this predicament.

But... he should be dead already!

"You, you should already be dead! Don't come any closer!"

The train conductor stared in horror at the man before him—no, strictly speaking, he was indeed dead. The man's eyes, fixed on the conductor, held no trace of life, but were like two cloudy glass beads. He opened his mouth, uttering a muffled cry, and then the conductor saw something emerge from the man's open mouth…

"Noooooooo!!"

A bloodcurdling scream echoed throughout the carriage, startling Levi and Olivia, who were talking.

"what happened?"

"It's definitely not going to be anything good!"

As Li Wei spoke, he turned and ran towards the direction the sound came from. Olivia followed closely behind him, holding Little Black tightly in her arms. The little puppy curled up in Olivia's arms, glaring fiercely at the corridor in front of it, letting out a low, threatening growl.

At that moment, the train conductor also ran over.

"What happened, Mr. Levi?"

"I don't know either! Let's go check it out!"

It was already late at night, and neither the salon car nor the dining car was occupied. Li Wei led Olivia and the train conductor through two empty sections of the car and then into the ordinary baggage car.

"Click."

The train conductor used a master key to open the door of the ordinary baggage car, and everyone looked inside, only to be greatly surprised.

The standard baggage car, as the name suggests, is used to store the luggage of ordinary passengers. In theory, there should be nothing in it except suitcases.

but it is not the truth.

At this moment, in the ordinary baggage car, vines resembling giant snakes are spreading outwards. They are pouring out from the previously locked train crew rest room and are spreading outwards at a speed that is visible to the naked eye and almost unimaginable.

"Holy Lord, what is this?"

Seeing this bizarre scene, the train conductor shouted loudly, and as if hearing his scream, the vines that were originally extending in all directions suddenly changed direction, aimed at the three people standing at the train door, and pounced on them!

"Wang Wang!"

In the blink of an eye, just as the vines launched their attack, the little puppy that had been nestled in Olivia's arms leaped forward and slashed forward with its paws—Levi heard a "whoosh" sound, and several sharp claw marks appeared on the carriage floor. The vines were cut into pieces as if attacked by invisible claws, then fell to the ground and quickly turned into withered branches.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

After destroying the vines that attacked them, Xiao Hei turned and barked wildly to the side. Li Wei looked in the direction Xiao Hei was staring at and saw that it was looking at the train conductor's rest room, which had been tightly closed before but was now broken open by the vines. So he quickly pulled out his Persuader, went to the front of the rest room, and looked inside.

What appeared inside took Li Wei by surprise.

Inside the room, the train conductor and the man he had killed were embracing, with countless vines and branches emerging from their mouths, eyes, ears, nostrils, and any other possible opening. Their skin was now as hard as that of ancient trees, making them look like two humanoid wooden sculptures.

Holy crap, what is this thing?

Looking at the monstrous thing before him, Li Wei gasped in shock. At that moment, the vines that had sprouted from the two corpses like giant snakes accelerated again, shooting towards Li Wei! Damn it!

Li Wei cursed under his breath, then quickly rolled to the side. He activated [Death Eye], aimed at the two corpses in front of him, and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

The incendiary bomb exploded instantly, and the scorching flames ignited the vines and the two corpses in the blink of an eye. In an instant, the entire train crew's rest room was filled with flames, and the vines, as if coated in oil, were rapidly consumed by the fire.

at the same time………

"—————————!"

A roar, almost like thunder, came from outside, seemingly from all directions, as if the entire forest itself was roaring. Then, Levi felt the train begin to tremble slightly, like the prelude to an impending earthquake.

However, he didn't know that this wasn't an earthquake, because at that moment, a mission prompt appeared in front of Li Wei.

Activate the mission "Escape from Hell"

Mission Objective: Escaping this forest with as many people as possible!

Is it that dangerous?

Looking at the mission objective, Li Wei's expression remained unchanged, but he was secretly shocked. All along, the missions given by the system had been to eliminate or find something, and this was the first time he had been asked to escape... In other words, the beings in this forest were still not someone he could afford to offend?
Even if the system ordered Li Wei to act, he wouldn't. Right now, the enemy was in the dark while he was in the light; he didn't even know what existed in this forest. He'd been busy solving the case and forgot to ask Anthony about the legends surrounding this forest. Even if he did know, he couldn't act in the current situation.

It would be better to just run away first and then ask MI7 for reinforcements later.

Ideally, we should get an airship and bomb this entire forest into a complete mess from the air!

Of course, we'll have to wait until I'm alive to leave this world!

Fortunately, although the system's requirements were rather outrageous, Li Wei wasn't entirely without options.

"Train conductor!"

Li Wei withdrew his gaze and looked at the pale-faced train conductor beside him.

"I demand that you start the train immediately, now!"

"Now?"

"That's right! Do you want us all to stay here and die without knowing why?"

"No, of course I'm not, but it's a mudslide..."

"That's no problem, go quickly! It's better than staying here to die!"

"Okay, okay!"

The train conductor didn't know what was going on, but he had seen the vines moving like giant pythons and knew that staying there wouldn't end well. So, the conductor quickly led Levi and Olivia back to the front carriage. Levi told Olivia to wake everyone up and gather them, while he followed the conductor to the front of the train.

"Depart immediately!?"

"Now?"

The train driver was also taken aback by the train conductor's order.

"That's right, now, immediately!"

"But the situation outside is terrible!"

The driver pointed outside the train and shouted loudly at the train conductor.

"The floodwaters are so high that they have even submerged the railway tracks. It would be extremely dangerous to proceed under these circumstances!"

"what?"

The train conductor leaned out and looked outside. Sure enough, under the lights, the tracks beneath the train were almost completely submerged, and even part of the wheels were underwater.

"We have to leave, unless you want to die here."

However, Li Wei's decision did not change.

"……………But……………"

Before the train conductor could say anything more, suddenly, several vines shot out from the darkness ahead, like giant tentacles, and wrapped around the front of the train!
Li Wei fired his gun almost simultaneously.

"Boom!"

Soon, the flames erupted again, accompanied by eerie wails, and the vines retreated once more.

"What, what is this!?"

The driver also witnessed this scene and was stunned, even wondering if he was dreaming.

"Hurry! It'll be too late if we don't leave now!"

This time, faced with Li Wei's order, the driver did not hesitate. Although he didn't know what had happened, he was certain it was nothing good. Fortunately, to maintain the train's internal needs, the locomotive was still running. The driver quickly started the engine, and with a long whistle, the train began to move forward.

"Train conductor, you and Olivia go and check on the other carriages."

"Okay, and what about you, Mr. Li Wei?"

"I'll get ready and be there soon."

"Yes."

The train conductor and Olivia quickly turned and left, while Levi circled around after they left to make sure no one had noticed him before reaching out his hand—and with that movement, a black skull appeared in his palm.

That's right, Li Wei didn't make this decision lightly. The reason he was confident in escaping this forest was because of the Ghost Ship Core in his hand!

Then Li Wei opened his palm and slammed it hard onto the carriage!
Then, a system prompt appeared.

[Should I attach the Ghost Ship Core?]

"Attach!"

Is there any law that says a ghost ship can only be one ship?
(End of this chapter)