Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 170 The time has come
"Click, click, click."

The gears are turning.

Kate looked up at the gears in front of her, her eyes filled with anger and fanaticism.

He once hated all of this intensely, but he endured it, burying his vengeful rage deep within his heart. Every day, he was here, doing the work he hated most: cleaning the gears, oiling their bearings, changing the paper, and checking the drive belts.

He had wanted countless times to smash these things to pieces with the tools in his hand, to tear those evil papers to shreds, but...

A voice told him.

The time has not come yet.

That's right, the time isn't right yet.

Until now.

Kate turned her head and looked at the researchers who were being guarded and tied up by her men, and sneered.

"Look at the state you all are in now, everyone."

Kate walked toward his prisoner. Although he was dressed in the ordinary uniform of a janitor in the data tower, Kate felt as if he were wearing a nobleman's robe, filled with pride and self-satisfaction. He looked up at his captor, whose face was filled with fear and anger, but unfortunately, there was nothing they could do now.

"How ridiculous, how tragic, how helpless. Now you finally understand that no force can compare to the power of humanity itself!"

Kate raised her hands and shouted loudly.

"Look! You think you're the kings of the world, that you can rule the entire city, the entire country, even the entire world just by hiding in this little iron tower! But what about now? You're nothing but a bunch of pathetic prisoners! What does this show? It shows that no matter how powerful your so-called machines are, they can't withstand the power of humanity itself! In the end, humanity will prevail!"

"Despicable!"

"You damned Luddite!"

Upon hearing Kate's speech, the researchers immediately roared in anger. Faced with their rebukes and shouts, Kate's expression remained unchanged. She simply made a gesture, and then the workers surrounding the researchers swarmed forward, instantly beating those who were shouting and cursing until they were screaming in agony.

Even so, some people still offered their opinions.

“I still don’t understand, Kate.”

An elderly researcher stood there, staring at Kate with a complex expression.

“You were among the first employees recruited to the Central Data Tower. You’ve worked here as long as we have, and on many occasions, you’ve even improved the Central Data Tower’s cleaning process, making it more efficient… If you’re truly a Luddite, why would you do that?”

"Because only in this way can we infiltrate your ranks."

Kate stared at the old man. He was quite familiar with the man and they had once been friends.

But that was only in the past.

“You might think that Luddites are a bunch of naked barbarians, right? No, we are not. We simply hope that humanity can return to its rightful place. We are not fighting for ourselves, we are fighting for the future of all humanity!”

At this point, Kate roared loudly and righteously.

"This is our belief, and for it, we are even willing to join you, become one of you, and gain your trust. All of this is to achieve our goal: for the future of humanity, steam-powered machinery must be utterly destroyed! For this purpose, we are even willing to don these filthy clothes and act for your dirty cause!"

"But you should have seen it too!"

The veteran researcher did not give up because of this.

"Because of the Central Data Tower, people's lives have become better and more convenient! We are also able to combat more disasters..."

"Insanity!"

Kate interrupted the old researcher's rebuttal with a shout.

"Thunder and rain are all gifts from the Holy Lord! The Holy Lord created us, gave us life, and guides us! Those disasters and thunder are the Holy Lord's punishments for humanity! We must bear them! We must obey! Look at you! You only possess some power, yet you dare to rebel against the Holy Lord! You even refuse to follow his teachings! How evil this is! How blasphemous!"

Kate stood in front of the central control console, like a priest standing on a pulpit, devout, fervent, and resolute.

"Now, your actions will finally be punished by the Holy Lord, and this blasphemous, filthy, and evil steel city will inevitably be utterly destroyed. And the one who will destroy all of this is yourselves. Look, this is what you call power, you revel in it, believing you can grasp and control everything in this world. But now?"

Kate suddenly opened her eyes, raised her hands high, and pointed upwards.

"Did you hear the explosions outside? Did you hear the cries of those people? This is the end! This is the consequence! This is the fate! You have disobeyed the Holy Lord, attempted to taint God's authority, disobeyed His teachings, and even defied His will. This is the day of your destruction!"

As she spoke, Kate looked up at the countless gears and bearings before her, and couldn't help but recall the heyday of the Luddite movement. Back then, she was just a worker, a poor worker, where a penny could buy twenty. They had gathered around Ludd, listening to his passionate speeches.

He had promised them that everything would return to normal, the evil mechanists would be overthrown, and the empire would regain its former lush greenery and tranquility, where they could live a wonderful, aristocratic life...

Sadly, a mere rope rendered their spiritual leader speechless, but this did not mean his beliefs, ideals, or principles had been abandoned. On the contrary, the burning flame within them continued to burn, awaiting its moment of eruption!
Until now!

The time has come!

"Clang clang clang—!"

The harsh knocking interrupted Kate's thoughts. He frowned in annoyance, glanced at a metal pipe not far away, walked over, and opened the brass cap with a rubber seal. It was the internal communication pipe of the central data tower. Of course, the researchers had better equipment, but these ordinary cleaning workers could only use this relatively primitive and ancient method of communication.

Kate liked it, though; at least it was practical and wouldn't break as easily as those evil industrial gadgets…

"I'm Kate!"

"Lady Kate!"

The sound coming from the copper pipe was somewhat muffled and distorted, sounding as if it came from the depths of hell.

"This is the third calculation room, and we've been attacked—!"

"An attack? The troops have stormed in!?"

"No, it's a monster, a monster, a monster! Aaaaaaahh ...

With a piercing scream, the sound disappeared from the communication tube.

Monster? Kate froze, unsure of what to say.

He wasn't surprised that the military or police might break through the blockade. Although they had prepared for this for a long time, they were ultimately outnumbered and outgunned, with only some smuggled weapons and engineering mechs available. However, according to Kate's calculations, this was enough to plunge the Steel City into utter chaos.

But this is not enough.

Kate sighed. If it weren't for the fact that the men he sent to find the fourth card hadn't returned in so long, making him uneasy, he wouldn't have launched the operation so hastily. But Kate also knew he had no choice; once the police arrested his men and extracted information about their plan, everything would be for naught.

At least for now... the plan is going very smoothly.

But what does "monster" refer to? Did those damned mechanists create some strange machine creations again?

"Thump thump thump thump thump thump—"

As Kate was thinking, he suddenly felt the ground tremble slightly. He lay down and pressed his ear to the ground.

Then Kate heard it.

"Thump, thump, thump—"

The sound was like the galloping of warhorses, but… horses? In the Steel City? Perhaps before, but now, you couldn't find a single horse's tail in the entire Steel City…

"Boom!!"

Before Kate could even look up, the tightly closed door was smashed open, the heavy metal panel scraping against the ground with a grating sound. Then, a huge, terrifying dark shadow burst forth, howling angrily as it lunged at the thugs before it.

"Whoa!"

"What is this!?"

Clearly, the thugs who were originally guarding the prisoners had not expected to see such a monster. They scattered and fled in all directions, screaming. As for the prisoners who were tied up, they could only watch helplessly as the three-headed monster opened its blood-red maw and pounced on them—then turned around and shielded them behind it.

"?"

Upon seeing this, the prisoners were stunned for a moment, and then they heard a voice.

"The prisoners have been confirmed safe, Mr. Levy."

“Well done, Miss Olivia.”

As the voices rang out, the prisoners noticed a man and a woman jumping off the three-headed monster, and naturally, Kate saw them too.

"Who are you!?"

"I am Detective Li Wei."

Li Wei smiled and nodded at the burly, middle-aged man in front of him, who was wearing a sanitation worker's uniform.

“This is Lady Olivia Baskerville, the lord of Delicat… I suppose you are the leader of these thugs? Unfortunately, your plans are ruined. I expect you to lay down your weapons and surrender immediately.”

As Li Wei spoke, a series of hurried footsteps approached, and then everyone saw dozens of armed police officers rush into the room. They raised their weapons and aimed at the thugs. Although the thugs outnumbered the thugs, the three-headed dog standing behind Li Wei and Olivia alone was enough to shift the balance of power to an uncontrollable level.

"………………………"

Kate stared at Levi, clenching her teeth, and remained silent.

"I think you've already realized that your men have been completely annihilated, and your resistance is pointless."

Li Wei held the persuader's hand in one hand, appearing very sincere.

"Therefore, I personally suggest that, for your safety, you should immediately lay down your weapons and surrender."

"surrender……………?"

Kate shuddered.

"No, we will never surrender!"

As she shouted, Kate raised the weapon in her hand.

"Attention everyone!!"

"boom!"

Gunfire rang out.

The bullet shot out from the persuader's gun and went straight into Kate's barrel. Immediately afterward, the gun that Kate was holding in her right hand exploded. She screamed and knelt on the ground, clutching her bloodied and mangled right hand.

"………………………"

Upon witnessing this scene, both sides were stunned and speechless.

"Final warning."

Li Wei shook the persuader in his hand.

"Put down your weapons and surrender immediately."

“……………………………”

The rioters looked at Kate, who was clutching her right hand, groaning softly, and kneeling on the ground; then they looked at the police officers standing guard opposite them, and the menacing three-headed dog…

Finally, they raised their hands.

"Bang, bang."

Weapons were thrown from the hands of the rioters. Seeing this, Li Wei smiled slightly and withdrew his persuasive words.

It seems that this is quite useful.

(End of this chapter)