Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 193 Demonic Shadow
"Bang-----!"

Gunshots rang out, startling everyone sitting in the lounge.

"What, what's going on?"

A plump, middle-aged woman stood up uneasily, nervously looking around.

"Wait, that was a gunshot, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was definitely gunfire."

The butler remained serious and calm, as if it were no big deal. However, he still stood up and warily surveyed his surroundings.

"Has something happened to the detectives?"

The maid also tensed up, gripping her skirt tightly, her face turning pale.

"Everyone calm down!"

At this moment, Katie also stood up, looked at the three of them, and spoke to comfort them.

"With Mr. Li Wei here, everything will be alright!"

"But, but the gunshots..."

"It's alright, there was only one shot, wasn't there? In a real battle, there wouldn't be just one shot."

“Miss Katie is right.”

The butler nodded as well.

"If it were an enemy, it wouldn't just be one shot. I think it's possible that some unexpected situation has occurred."

"Uncle, do you know a lot about these things?"

Hearing the butler's answer, Katie looked at him curiously. The butler remained ramrod straight and smiled slightly at Katie.

“I used to serve in the military, so I have some understanding of these things.”

"I see..."

"Boom!"

However, just as the two were talking, the door to the lounge suddenly slammed shut with a loud bang, interrupting their conversation.

"Boom!"

That didn't sound like knocking; it sounded more like someone was banging on the door. Fortunately, the doors here were all from the prison era, and they were quite sturdy and heavy to prevent prisoner riots—after all, the people locked up here weren't ordinary prisoners, but death row inmates, who might do anything to survive.

To prevent the prisoners from uniting and rioting, the prison was designed with strict security measures. If it could be easily breached, the prison would have been stormed long ago.

"Boom!"

The third sound, this time, caused the entire gate to shake.

"W-what on earth is going on?"

The freckled maid had already stood up and, pale-faced, hid behind the sofa. It wasn't very helpful, but at least it offered some psychological comfort.

Fortunately, the windows here are all tall and small, so whatever was banging on the door could not possibly get in through the window.

"Please be careful, everyone."

The butler stepped forward, casually picked up the fire hook from the fireplace, and stared at the door.

Katie took out a pair of shimmering silver gloves from her pocket, put them on, and clenched her little fists.

The maid and her daughter stepped back, leaning against the wall, staring at the door with fear and unease.

"Boom!"

On the fourth strike, the hinges connecting the door and the wall emitted a piercing scream, and the entire door tilted to one side.

"I never expected the problem to be at the connection point. It must have been neglected for years. I should have checked it again."

The butler glanced at the cracked wall and muttered to himself.

Of course, it's too late to do repairs now.

"Boom!!"

This time, the heavy door finally gave way and collapsed with a crash, and at the same time, the two maids screamed in unison.

"Aiya ya ya ya—!"

With a piercing scream, a strange figure suddenly darted in, using both hands and feet like a fast-running wild dog, pouncing towards the butler and Katie.

"drink-----!"

Facing the approaching shadow, the butler roared and slammed down the fire hook in his hand. Clearly, judging from his nimble movements, the butler was not lying when he said he had served in the military.

The butler's speed and angle were perfectly timed; as the shadowy figure rushed over, the fire hook in his hand struck the figure heavily.

"boom!"

The loud thud of the whip was clearly heard by everyone present; such a blow would have been enough to tear a person's skin and render them incapacitated. But what no one expected was that even after the butler had landed a blow, the shadow did not stop. Instead, the butler's face twitched slightly, and he immediately lost his balance, staggering backward.

At that moment, the dark figure leaped up and pounced on the butler.

"Hey---!"

Just then, Katie shouted and appeared in front of the butler. At the same time, she threw a punch with her right hand, which, accompanied by a "whoosh" sound of air tearing, struck the dark figure directly!

"Boom!"

Katie's fist collided with the shadowy figure, producing a dull thud. The shadowy figure was sent flying backward, crashing heavily to the ground and sliding a short distance before coming to a stop.

Then, the shadowy figure raised its head, and at that moment, the others could see its true form.

That was… “A lawyer?!”

Indeed, before them lay the lawyer who had recently died. Her face was devoid of skin, only her muscles twitching incessantly. Her eyes bulged from their sockets, staring at them like a frog's. At the same time, she lay sprawled on the ground, like a human mimicking a frog.

She glared fiercely at the stunned crowd, then crawled backwards out of the room. The crowd watched in disbelief as her terrifying and eerie face disappeared into the darkness outside the door.

A moment later, accompanied by hurried footsteps, Li Wei and the others appeared.

"What happened!"

The three detectives, returning to the lounge, were equally astonished by the scene before them. The mother and daughter were deathly pale, trembling uncontrollably, and speechless. Katie and the butler, on the other hand, were much calmer, especially Katie, who gestured wildly as she described the situation to Levi in ​​detail—it seemed that this young lady truly had no fear of ghosts.

"The lawyer has come back to life? And turned into a monster?"

Even Li Wei was completely bewildered when he heard Katie's report.

Is this even possible?

Of course, that's not to say there aren't any; for example, zombies are quite easy to understand.

But turning into a monster? Why?

And how is it that the lawyer, who has turned into a monster, is still able to break down this door?
This is a heavy wooden door that opens on both sides.

"It's really baffling."

The tall, thin detective limped over, his hand on his waist—although Li Wei had saved him in time during the attack, the latter had fallen flat on his backside and was still limping unsteadily.

"what is going on?"

"By the way, Mr. Li Wei, how's the situation on your end? What was that gunshot just now?"

After Katie finished explaining her situation, she looked at Levi and asked him a question, to which Levi simply shrugged.

“We were attacked, but the other side was scared off.”

"Is it a monster too?"

"more or less."

Those arms were longer than two people combined; they were the kind of arms that could dunk from the three-point line without even jumping. Li Wei thought that even an average person's arms weren't that long.

"Anyway, let's go check the room where the lawyer's body is first."

Li Wei thought for a moment, then turned and left. The others hurriedly followed, and even the servants showed no intention of staying—the heavy door to the lounge had already been broken open, and locking themselves away now would obviously be useless. It was better to be together; there's strength in numbers.

Soon, the group returned to the room where the lawyer's body was located. Li Wei reached out and pulled open the door.

"The door is unlocked."

Li Wei glanced at the door lock, then turned to look at the crowd.

"I remember we locked the door when we left."

"I locked it, I'm absolutely sure."

The tall, thin detective nodded.

"There are no signs of impact on the door, which means that someone opened the door and let the lawyer, who had turned into a monster, out."

As he spoke, Li Wei glanced at the trembling freckled maid.

"You have the key, don't you, Miss Maid?"

"Yes, yes, sir. But I've been in the lounge the whole time, I haven't left!"

“I can assure you, Mr. Li Wei, that she has always been with us.”

Katie quickly spoke up to testify, while Levi thought for a moment.

"Then, who else has the key to this place?"

“Master, the master has…we only have spare keys…”

"You mean, Mr. George Rogers has the key?"

"………………………"

The maid nodded.

At present, George Rogers is clearly the prime suspect.

Li Wei began to think.

The excessively generous reward and the servants hired by the intermediary now seemed to indicate that they were being lured here to be sacrificed. Since none of those present knew Mr. George Rogers, they had no way of leaving behind any information or clues, even if they wanted to.

Not to mention that, unlike Jim Rogers, this person didn't publicize the matter. If they were really dead, it's possible that no one would discover it for ten days or half a month.

Of course, if no one else said so, Levi and Katie definitely wouldn't die. But that's because they were already experienced with these supernatural things. If it hadn't been Levi and Katie who came, but some other unsuspecting person, they might have been tricked and killed in this awful place.

"Alright, now it seems the situation is getting rather complicated."

The short, stout detective sighed.

"At least we can be sure that there are two monsters in this place who have ill intentions towards us, and it's raining outside, so there's no way to leave this island..."

"—————————!"

However, before the short, stout detective could finish speaking, suddenly, the lights that had been on all around went out, plunging the entire space into complete darkness.

"...And the other party also knows how to cut off the power switch."

Li Wei turned on the gas lamp and silently added that sentence.

(End of this chapter)