Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 164 Unstable Whirlpool

At the beginning, the rioters were determined to succeed in this operation. Although there were some minor setbacks along the way, they still managed to block the enemy in time. All they had to do now was complete their mission.

As for this pretty boy, the thugs considered him utterly useless, just a weak imperial man who could be easily taken down with a few threats.

But... that's not the case.

The thugs drew their weapons, raised their guns, and then—gunshots rang out.

"boom!"

The ricocheting bullets flew through the crowd, accompanied by cries of agony. The weapons in the hands of the rioters fell to the ground as they cried out in pain, clutching their right hands and staring wide-eyed at Li Wei in disbelief. He remained standing there, leaning on his cane with his left hand and holding a gun in his right.

"Damn it, let's get together!"

Before Li Wei could even think about how he did it, the leader of the thugs roared, and the men rushed towards Li Wei from all directions.

Something is wrong!

Seeing this, Li Wei raised an eyebrow. At first, he thought these people were just simple kidnappers. But now, their fearless attitude made Li Wei immediately realize that he seemed to have been drawn into a rather troublesome situation. Just from their reckless manner, it was clear that they were definitely not people who could be easily intimidated.

Since that's the case, there's nothing we can do about it.

With that thought in mind, Li Wei made up his mind. He stepped forward and blocked Anna's view. Then, time began to slow down at that moment.

Li Wei released his cane with his left hand, reached into his waistband, and pulled out another Punisher. He then raised the muzzle and aimed at the enemy.

Li Wei spread his arms and spun around as if dancing, the muzzle flashes of the Persuaders and Punishers' guns flying out, bullets mercilessly striking the thugs who pounced on him. When he landed again, the two guns were back in their places, and the cane that Li Wei had released hadn't even fallen to the ground before it was back in his hands.

Then, time returned to normal.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!!"

The rioters had no idea what was happening. They only felt that in that instant, they were not facing one person, but an entire heavily armed squad. Their bodies, suspended in mid-air, had no way to dodge; they could only watch helplessly as bullets struck them, bringing them to the ground.

"Whoa!"

The thug leader landed heavily on the ground, clenching his teeth and clutching his chest. The bullet that had pierced his body was of unknown material, making him feel as if most of his body was frozen solid. He clenched his teeth, feeling even the air he exhaled was icy cold.

But none of that matters, as long as someone successfully subdues that man and takes the target away…

The mob leader looked up, gazing ahead, hoping to see the man fall to the ground and his target taken away. But alas, he only saw the young imperial man still leisurely leaning on his cane, standing there motionless. His own men hadn't even managed to get within a meter of him…

"Beep beep beep—!"

At the same time, the piercing sound of police sirens rang out. Li Wei shifted his gaze from the struggling rioters and saw that the police officers in charge of security had just arrived... Well, it wasn't surprising, really.

The Empire would not let such an attack at the Expo go unpunished. Levi and the girl were quickly taken to the police station for investigation and questioning, while the attackers were rushed to the hospital.

Since Li Wei revealed his identity, the police did not make things difficult for him, but simply let the two of them stay in the rest room.

Anna was clearly very uneasy about this and didn't leave Li Wei's side the whole time. Even when sitting on the sofa, she kept reaching out and clutching the hem of Li Wei's clothes. Obviously, for Anna, even at the police station, only Li Wei could make her feel at ease.

Compared to Anna, Li Wei was much calmer. After all, this wasn't his fault to begin with, and Li Wei believed that he would be released soon.

However, things developed much faster than Li Wei had anticipated.

Just as Li Wei and Anna were in the lounge, and he hadn't even finished his cup of tea, the lounge door suddenly opened. Li Wei then saw a middle-aged man in a nobleman's suit with a small mustache and a woman wearing a sun hat and dressed very elegantly walk in, looking extremely anxious.

"Anna? Anna? My darling!"

"Dad, Mom!"

Upon seeing the two, the girl who had been leaning against Li Wei smiled, jumped up, and ran over, throwing herself into the woman's arms. The woman hugged her tightly, tears of joy streaming down her face.

"Oh, God bless me! I was so worried about my child... I'm so glad you're alright!"

The man watched the two of them with a smile on his face. Then he turned to Li Wei, walked over, and extended his hand to him.

"You must be the famous Imperial Detective, Mr. Levi."

"I don't deserve such praise. I'm just an ordinary detective."

Li Wei also stood up and extended his hand to shake hands with the other person. Although this person seemed to have a certain status, he was not an imperial citizen after all, so it was enough to give him some face.

“Anna is our precious daughter. You probably can’t believe how frantic we were when we found out she was missing…”

"To be honest, I was quite surprised too."

As Li Wei spoke, he glanced at the little girl who was hugging her mother.

"After all, you can't always find a lovely lady on the street anytime, anywhere."

"Found her?" "Yes, she was all alone at the time, which I found strange, so I went up to talk to her, although I don't know exactly what happened..."

Li Wei didn't finish speaking, but the man clearly understood what he meant and nodded solemnly.

“I understand, Mr. Levi. Thank you again for your help. You may not know what this means for my wife and me…”

The man wanted to say something more, but soon a person who looked like a secretary leaned close to his ear and whispered a few words to him. The latter looked troubled, but in the end, he had no choice but to nod to Li Wei.

"We're sorry, we have urgent business to attend to and must leave. We will definitely express our gratitude to you when we have some free time in a few days, so please don't refuse."

After saying this, the man shook hands with Li Wei again, then hurriedly turned and left. Li Wei waved to Anna, watching her leave with her mother.

Well, that concludes the matter.

For Li Wei, it was just a small favor, and he didn't care whether the other party thanked him or not. Besides, judging from the identities of those people, they probably weren't short of money. As for what kind of reward he would receive... well, that would have to wait and see.

After that, Li Wei also left the police station, and as soon as he stepped out, he saw Anthony approaching from the side.

"Boss, you truly live up to your reputation! You're incredibly capable! Absolutely brilliant!"

As he spoke, Anthony gave Levi a thumbs-up.

"What's going on? What are you talking about?"

Li Wei glanced at Anthony, who chuckled.

"I think you are not aware of the identity of that gentleman just now."

"I'm not sure, but it should be some foreign nobleman?"

“He is no ordinary nobleman.”

Anthony shook his head.

"That is Grand Duke Franz Fernando, Crown Prince of the Sasha Alliance!"

"Oh? It's him..."

Upon hearing Anthony's mention, Li Wei finally retrieved the information about the other party from his memory.

Grand Duke Fernando was the King of the United Kingdom of Sascha, the nephew of Franz I. The original heir, the Crown Prince, committed suicide due to mental illness, so he became the new Crown Prince.

Of course, Li Wei had no interest in such royal gossip. The reason why Grand Duke Fernando was famous was mainly because of his marriage—his marriage could be described as a fairy tale version of the prince and Cinderella. Grand Duke Fernando's wife was a commoner, which was highly controversial when he first got married.

Later, when Grand Duke Fernando became Crown Prince, rumors persisted about him divorcing his commoner wife and installing a new queen. However, Grand Duke Fernando remained unmoved and treated his wife with great affection.

"So, that little girl is the princess?"

"Haha, she's called a princess, but she has no right to inherit the throne."

Anthony chuckled. This was also mentioned in the news reports, because Grand Duke Fernando's wife was a commoner, so their descendants had no right to inherit the throne.

"Furthermore, I've inquired and found that the people who attacked you are from the Principality of Seth."

"The Principality of Seth?"

“That’s right. I heard that the Sasha Alliance United Kingdom seems to be planning to take action against the Principality of Seth recently. They might be planning to kidnap this little princess and use her as a bargaining chip to coerce Grand Duke Fernando into submission… It’s all thanks to you, boss.”

As he spoke, Anthony patted Levi on the shoulder.

"If the little princess of the Sasha Alliance United Kingdom were kidnapped by the people of the Principality of Seth on Imperial territory, the Empire would lose all face!"

"I see."

Hearing this, Li Wei nodded, finally understanding the cause and effect of the matter. No wonder those attackers acted as if they were ready to die for their country; it turned out they were truly willing to sacrifice themselves for their country... They were indeed not like ordinary thugs.

However, despite knowing this, Li Wei didn't care much about it. After all, he was an imperial citizen, and the Duchy of Seth wouldn't dare to provoke the Empire. At most, he would just stop going to Seth in the future.

But then again…

"You came to me not just to say nice things, right?"

Li Wei squinted at Anthony. Based on his understanding of Anthony, he wasn't exactly a very enthusiastic person.

"As expected of the boss, you really know me!"

As he spoke, Anthony looked at Levi, and then—he almost knelt down.

"Boss, help me! Something terrible has happened!"

(End of this chapter)