Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 215 Who is it!

The banquet hall was deathly silent.

Everyone stood there like puppets, stunned, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"Lülana! Lülana! Go find a doctor quickly!"

King Solomon roared, and only then did the servants react, scattering in all directions. King Solomon, however, grabbed his wife, stared into her wide eyes, and burst into tears.

A moment later, an old man arrived. He walked to the victim's side, reached out to examine him, and then lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, her soul has already departed from us."

"No-----!"

Upon hearing the old man's reply, King Solomon roared angrily. With his roar, a violent gust of air erupted from King Solomon's body, blowing everyone around him away!
I rely on!

Li Wei hid behind a pillar and was stunned by what he saw.

Is this some kind of fantasy drama?! They're even showing things like qi transforming into horses!
"who is it!"

King Solomon stood up. His smile was gone, his eyes were bloodshot and filled with anger as he glared fiercely at the crowd.

"Who killed my wife! Who did it!"

Faced with King Solomon's roar, the guests present were speechless, while King Solomon became even angrier.

“Fine, you won’t talk? No problem, I know what you’re thinking! You damned bastards… I’ve shown you more than enough mercy, yet you dare treat my wife like this!”

At this moment, King Solomon was surrounded by a dazzling light, and upon seeing this, many people knelt down.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

"Your Majesty, we really didn't do it!"

"It must have been Arthur! He poisoned the drink, that must be it!"

“Arthur…”

Upon hearing this, the forces surrounding King Solomon seemed to calm down somewhat, and he turned his head to stare at the wine barrel.

"Arthur... Arthur... did you really do it? Were all those grand words just meant to deceive me?"

"King Solomon."

Seeing this, Li Wei knew he couldn't watch any longer. King Solomon's emotions were very unstable, and if he didn't do something, he might become the center of attention.

So he came out from behind the pillar, took off his hat, and bowed to King Solomon.

"Please forgive my intrusion, but if it's possible, I'd be willing to help you find the murderer who poisoned your wife."

"who are you?"

King Solomon turned his head and stared coldly at Li Wei, a terrifying pressure emanating from him. However, Li Wei simply lowered his head and bowed to him again.

"My name is Li Wei, and I'm a detective."

What is a detective?

"A person who specializes in solving all kinds of difficult cases."

"So, you mean you can find the murderer who killed my wife?"

"Yes, but I have a few requirements."

"any request?"

"First, seal off the scene and don't allow anyone to leave. Second, I need to question some people."

"no problem."

King Solomon nodded.

“As king, I issue this order: everyone must answer your question, including myself.”

"Thank you."

"But you only have one night!"

King Solomon stared at Livy.

"If you haven't found the murderer by tomorrow's sunrise, or if you can't convince me who the murderer is, then all of you will be executed along with my wife! Now, guards, listen to my command: seal off the entire palace! Anyone who dares to leave will be killed without mercy!"

After saying this, King Solomon could no longer bear to look at his wife's body and turned to leave the banquet hall.

"…………………"

Watching King Solomon's departing figure, Li Wei sighed helplessly.

Now we're in big trouble.

After King Solomon left, the other three also came before Livy.

"It really surprised me; I never expected King Solomon to be so ruthless."

Olivia also looked quite shocked.

"History books clearly say that King Solomon loved his people like his own children and was extremely kind..."

"I don't find it strange at all."

Li Wei shrugged, disagreeing with Olivia's opinion.

"is it?"

“That’s right. Judging from his interaction with the Queen just now, King Solomon is a very emotional and easily agitated person. Once such a person is provoked, he can easily sway to the other side. Besides, no matter how much he loves his people and how kind he is, it was his wife who was killed. If you don’t get angry when your wife is killed, you’re not a good person, you’re a coward.”

"So, what should we do now?"

Katie asked curiously.

"In short, let's do the autopsy first... Annie, come with me."

Looking at the victim's body lying on the floor not far away, Li Wei sighed helplessly and walked over with Annie.

The guards had already surrounded the victim. As Li Wei and Annie approached, the head guard glanced at them and then made way. Li Wei and Annie then stepped into the crowd and began to carefully examine the victim's body.

The victim was clearly a beautiful woman, but that was in the past. Now, her face was black, she was spitting blood, and her eyes were wide open, making her look like a vengeful ghost.

"It is highly toxic."

Anne stared at the corpse for a moment before speaking.

"He died almost immediately after the attack."

"It certainly couldn't be the beverage that's the problem."

Livy also gave his conclusion, and upon hearing his answer, the son of Solomon, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but speak up.

"Why? Everyone saw that Mother vomited blood after drinking that cup of wine..."

“Because we all drank from that barrel of wine.” Li Wei looked at the young man as if he were a fool.

"If that barrel of wine had contained such a potent poison, this hall would have been littered with corpses long ago, with hardly any survivors left."

"…………………"

The young man turned pale and fell silent. Li Wei ignored him and picked up the golden cup from the ground.

"Let's reconstruct what happened back then. Are the servants still around?"

"Go and fetch him!"

At the prince's command, guards quickly went to find the servant from that time. Livy, meanwhile, opened the library in his mind and began to recall the events of that day.

"First, King Solomon and his relatives entered, and then King Solomon gave a speech. He broke the lid of the barrel and scooped out a cup of wine. We used a stone cup, and finally, a gold cup, which was reserved for royalty, was served... Then, King Solomon scooped out three cups of wine and placed them on a tray."

As Li Wei spoke, he looked at the prince.

"Then, you stepped forward and picked up the wine glasses, right?"

"Yes, Mother took it first, then I took it, and then my younger sister."

"Then King Solomon poured himself a cup of wine, raised it, and they all drank it down. Afterward, King Solomon and his wife sat on the throne—and at that moment, Her Majesty the Queen died of poison."

As Li Wei spoke, he picked up the wine glass and examined it carefully, then ran his finger along the rim of the glass.

Then, he took the wine glass, put it in the barrel, scooped out another glass of wine, and drank it down in one gulp!
“——————!!!”

Everyone present was shocked to see this, but what surprised them even more was that Li Wei did not react at all after drinking the wine!

"Hmm, it seems there's nothing wrong with the glass and the wine now..."

Staring at the wine glass in his hand, Li Wei frowned. Generally speaking, there are only a few ways to poison someone: either by applying poison to the glass, by putting poison in the wine, or by poisoning them while pouring the wine.

Now that it appears there was no poison on the glass or in the wine, the most likely explanation is that the poison was added when the wine was being poured.

It was King Solomon who scooped the wine from the barrel… Besides, even if he poisoned it, what was his motive? And how could he be sure that his wife would actually drink the wine?

Is it a one-in-three chance?
Or is it that any of these three people can die? Whoever gets involved will be the one who suffers?

"What do you think, Miss Anne?"

Li Wei looked at Annie, who was still carefully searching for clues beside the victim. Hearing Li Wei's question, Annie looked up.

"I believe that the poisoning and alcohol are not directly related; it is more of a coincidence."

"coincide?"

"Yes."

As Anne spoke, she pointed to the blood on the carpet next to the victim, the same pool of blood the Queen had vomited earlier.

“Look closely, this pool of blood is filled with undigested residue, so I deduce that the poison took effect just as the Queen drank this cup of wine, which is why she vomited blood.”

"So you mean that regardless of whether the Queen drank this cup of wine or not, she would still vomit blood and die."

Li Wei understood what Annie meant.

"It's just a coincidence that the poison took effect right after she finished drinking? What a coincidence! Is that even possible? Didn't you say the poison was very potent and took effect very quickly?"

"Yes, but there are ways to delay the onset of toxicity."

"Oh?"

“I once investigated the carcasses of some animals that died from poisoning and found that some of them died from eating poisonous plant fruits. These fruits all had poisonous seeds but not flesh. Therefore, if the fruit is swallowed directly, the poisoning will not take effect immediately. It will only take effect after the stomach has digested the flesh.”

"I see."

Hearing this, Li Wei nodded.

"So you mean the Queen also ate something like something containing a deadly poison, hmm... there shouldn't be capsules in this era, right? It was a pill?"

"We'll probably only know what it is by dissecting it; it could also be some kind of poisonous fruit."

"you sure?"

"This is the most direct and effective method."

"Uh... I'll go ask."

Li Wei turned around helplessly and found the prince, then asked him questions, and the result was…

"What? You want to cut open the Empress Dowager's body? This is utterly outrageous!"

"This is the most direct way to investigate the Queen's cause of death. Perhaps you could ask King Solomon for his opinion?"

Faced with Li Wei's suggestion, the prince's expression was uncertain, but he eventually turned and left.

A moment later, a tremendous sound, like thunder, came from the end of the passage.

"No one is allowed to defile her body!"

Well, actually, Li Wei wasn't surprised by this result.

"What should we do now?"

Katie shrank back, staring uneasily at Levi, while Levi shrugged.

"Now the situation has become much more complicated."

"is it?"

“That’s right, because we don’t know what she ate or when she ate it, so we can only investigate one by one, and we don’t have much time.”

"You mean until dawn?"

Olivia frowned.

"But this is just a dream, right? What if we don't find the killer before dawn, and he really kills us?"

"They might turn us into those winged monsters, who knows? Otherwise, where do you think those monsters came from?"

Li Wei's words made Olivia's expression change instantly.

Indeed, how did those people turn into monsters?
Perhaps they have found the answer now.

"In short, all we can do now is investigate the case and find out who the murderer is, just like before."

As Li Wei spoke, he glanced ahead.

Just then, the system automatically displayed a task prompt.

[Activate the quest "Sweet Poison"]

Mission Objective: Find the murderer who poisoned Queen Lurana.

(End of this chapter)