Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 218 Goodbye
At King Solomon's command, several soldiers dragged the unconscious guard in like a dead dog.

Tsk tsk tsk, so there are advantages to an era of low human rights.

Seeing this, Li Wei's lips twitched. After realizing something was wrong with the guy, Li Wei signaled the prince to knock him unconscious and arrest him. In the imperial era, most people wouldn't dare to do such a thing. But in this era, it didn't matter. After all, guards were just the royal family's watchdogs, and they could do whatever they wanted with them.

It now seems that although the prince is not very bright, he is still capable of carrying out orders.

Li Wei looked at the guard and waved his hand.

"Search him and strip him naked."

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, the prince immediately stepped forward and began to search the guard carefully. Soon, he found a bottle of pills in the guard's pocket. The pills looked about the size of small snails that usually crawl on the ground, and they were tiny clumps on his finger, quite inconspicuous.

If this stuff gets mixed into syrup, it's really hard to tell the difference.

"Is it this one?"

The prince showed Livy his pocket, and Livy just pursed his lips.

"How would I know? I've never eaten it."

"Find a dog!"

King Solomon gave the order, and soon someone brought a dog. He then took the pill, looked at it, grabbed the dog, opened its mouth, and threw the pill inside.

"Woof woof woof—!"

The poor little dog barked incessantly as King Solomon opened its mouth, and then several small pills fell into its mouth.

The puppy barked a few more times, then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and then its entire body went paralyzed on the ground, motionless.

At this point, the matter is quite obvious.

King Solomon stared grimly at the dead dog, then turned and gave his orders.

"Wake him up!"

At King Solomon's command, soldiers quickly stepped forward, raised their earthenware jars, and splashed all the water inside onto the guard's head. The guard shook his head and finally raised it. He opened his eyes, looked at King Solomon in front of him, then glanced at the princess lying on the ground not far away, still chuckling foolishly. He then looked away and stared at King Solomon with a smile.

"Give me a reason."

King Solomon raised the pill in his hand and glared angrily at the guards.

"The reason I haven't torn you to pieces right now is because I want to hear the truth from you myself. Who are you, and why are you doing this!"

"Huff huff..."

Faced with King Solomon's furious roar, everyone around was terrified and fell silent. However, the guard was completely oblivious, looking at King Solomon with a mocking gaze and letting out a laugh that was clearly provocative.

“…………………!”

King Solomon's expression darkened. He raised his hand, and a gust of wind spun and shot out, striking the guard in the chest and sending him flying. The guard was blown away by the powerful airflow, crashing into a wall. Even his armor couldn't withstand the impact, shattering into pieces.

Good heavens, has this guy somehow ended up in a fantasy world? And this Solomon is an elemental mage?
Li Wei stood silently to the side, inwardly grumbling. He also noticed Anne staring intently at King Solomon with shining eyes, probably trying to figure out how one person could control and create whirlwinds.

As for Olivia and Katie, they stood there dumbfounded, like country bumpkins entering a movie theater for the first time, their mouths agape, speechless at the scene before them.

Although the others were also afraid, they did not question King Solomon's power, as if such things were commonplace in their eyes.

Looking at the scene before him, Li Wei's thoughts wandered uncontrollably. He remembered that there was a similar description in the cultivation novels he had read online, saying that in the past, spiritual energy was abundant, so all kinds of gods and immortals roamed around. The myths of that time were not myths, but records describing the reality of that time.

However, later on, spiritual energy became scarce, and all kinds of spiritual creatures and monsters disappeared. Therefore, later generations regarded all of this as myths and legends.

The scene right now is quite similar.

Just like in modern urban fantasy novels, everyone thinks that the protagonist's fortune-telling, divination, and demon-catching are superstitions and deceptive tricks.

But what if there really was a war between the Chan and Jie sects in ancient times?
In the myths and legends of the empire, there are often powerful beings similar to those in ancient Chinese tales, who can stir up monstrous waves, fill the sky with dust, and send sandstorms raging. However, in the empire, most people simply regard them as mythical figures, after all—no one in this era can do that, can they?
Even for Li Wei, with his system cheat, the only abilities he gets are speed boosts, teleportation, and X-ray vision; he doesn't get anything like Five Thunderbolts or Sunfire Explosion.

In cultivation novels, thunder spells are clearly the most suitable for exorcising demons and monsters.

Li Wei didn't find Olivia and the others' reaction surprising. If a modern person traveled back to ancient times and saw a monk leading a monkey and a pig on a pilgrimage to the West, he would probably question the meaning of life.

Just then, the guard's armor was also torn to shreds, and his body was covered in blood. It was clear that King Solomon's attack had almost broken all of his ribs.

However, at that moment, Li Wei suddenly saw something.

On the guard's chest was a tattoo, one he had seen before.

Within the triangle is an all-seeing eye, like the pupil of a wild beast, while outside the triangle are twisted, ray-like lines. Li Wei had seen this mark before in the Rune Mine.

"A mark of disaster? Are you a follower of the god of disaster?"

"------!"

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, the guard paused for a moment, looked at Li Wei in surprise, and then smiled.

“I never expected that anyone would still remember my lord…”

"The God of Disaster? What's that? An evil god?"

The prince asked in confusion, looking around at the other people, who seemed to know nothing about the God of Disaster.

But at this moment, Li Wei had completely figured it all out!
"An evil god? No, the god of disaster is the true protector of humanity."

It was not Livy who answered him; instead, the guard stood up, raised his head, and looked at King Solomon with a smug smile.

"Humanity can only have a future by overcoming suffering and enduring sorrow! And you—you are unqualified! King Solomon!"

"What did you say……………"

"You loved your people like your own children, and governed your territory with utmost care, making it prosperous and flourishing. However, your mind was so fragile! So wretched! Just because your wife died, you lost your reason and let anger consume you! You destroyed everything you had created, and this is your end!"

"My ending..."

King Solomon stared at his guards, his teeth clenched. At the same time, the earth around them began to tremble, the once magnificent palace collapsed and dissipated, and the figures of those standing nearby began to scatter.

"Yes, you imprisoned all our souls, trying time and again to find the answer! But unfortunately, it was too late! In the end, you were no match for Arthur. Only he was qualified to lead humanity to a brighter future. And you, you could not pass this test!"

The guards' voices grew increasingly fervent, and the surrounding darkness grew ever deeper.

Good guy, really good guy.

Hearing this, Li Wei remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he was furious. He finally understood what had happened to King Solomon.

It's clear that King Solomon originally intended to conquer this continent alongside Emperor Arthur, and because of Solomon's immense popularity, many considered him the true ruler of the land. But at this very moment, the followers of the God of Calamity intervened.

Their motive was simple: we'll take control of your daughter, then kill your wife, and see if you can pull yourself together after all this suffering.

If King Solomon could pull himself together, it would mean he had the qualities of a hero.

If Solomon becomes completely demoralized, then it means he's no good.

This is why the followers of the god of disaster targeted King Solomon's queen.

Good heavens, they're a bunch of lunatics!
When Elizabeth talked about the God of Calamity and his followers before, Levi thought these people were crazy. Now it seems that they really are crazy!

Look at this guard. He was the one who killed her, he was the one who did it all, yet he's so self-righteous, like an examiner in an exam hall telling King Solomon, "I killed your wife to test you, but you failed the test. You are not qualified to be the king who unifies this continent!"
"…………………"

Faced with the guards' accusations, King Solomon remained silent, then raised his head again.

"Indeed, perhaps you are right. Maybe I am not qualified to be the ruler of this continent. However, there is at least one thing I can do, and that is..."

As he spoke, King Solomon raised his hands, and at the same time, a fierce wind and flames appeared on his body.

"Avenge my wife and children, and my people! Die!"

King Solomon roared and raised his hands, pointing forward. Then, the flames and whirlwinds wrapped around his arms merged together, becoming a raging fire tornado that rushed straight toward the guard!

"madness!"

However, faced with King Solomon's terrifying offensive that could instill despair, the guard snorted coldly. In the next moment, his body began to expand rapidly, colliding heavily with the fiery tornado that King Solomon had unleashed!
"boom-----!!"

A scorching wave of heat rushed towards them, and Li Wei and the others instinctively lay down on the ground. They felt a howling wind and raging flames, but then a chilling, bone-deep cold, like the coldest winter, appeared and dispelled the heat wave that could almost burn even the soul.

When Li Wei looked up, he saw that the guards in front of King Solomon had disappeared, and in their place was a giant monster with three pairs of arms, like a snake!
At the same time, the system information in front of Li Wei also changed.

[Phase 1 of the quest "Sweet Poison" completed]

[Phase Two Mission Begins: Eliminate the Disaster Messenger!]

Damn, what's the point of hitting a hammer here?
Li Wei glanced at the giant before him, gritted his teeth, and stood up.

"Let's go! Let's take down this freak!"

(End of this chapter)