Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 223 Different Dead People

After confirming the details of his future airship with the designer, Levi returned home. He had to admit he wasn't entirely familiar with the house, mainly due to the servants he'd hired. Although there weren't many servants, Levi still felt a little out of place. He'd grown accustomed to living with Eileen alone, and the sudden presence of so many people made him somewhat uncomfortable.

I don't know why so many nobles like to hire a lot of servants to serve them. Don't they feel uncomfortable?
Fortunately, my room remained the same as always, with only Eileen coming to disturb me. Of course, the butler Kane would occasionally come to report on things.

Eileen currently spends most of her time creating dolls according to Levi's requirements, but she still steadfastly performs her duties as a maid during breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. Levi has also grown accustomed to Eileen serving him, so he has no intention of changing it.

In his spare time, Li Wei would listen to the radio in his room, and much of the news was not good. This was especially true of international news, with tensions between various countries and alliances escalating daily. Li Wei even heard some news that was somewhat related to him: Grand Duke Fernando of the Sasha Alliance was recently putting pressure on the Duchy of Seth, which was clearly connected to the princess's kidnapping at the previous exposition.

To Li Wei's dismay, the Duchy of Seth actually sent people to the Empire to request mediation. Li Wei didn't know what the Queen was thinking, but he was speechless.

Anyone with a brain could guess that the Duchy of Seth sent people to cause trouble at the Empire's Steam Expo in order to drag the Empire into it as well.

After all, if Princess Sasha of the Sasha Alliance were captured by the Empire, the relationship between the Empire and the Sasha Alliance would certainly break down.

From the Empire's perspective, I have no past grudges or recent enmity with your Duchy of Seth. Are you out of your mind trying to drag me down with you? And after failing, you still have the audacity to ask for mediation?

Even if I know that the Principality of Seth is currently under great pressure from the Sasha Alliance, that's no reason for you to drag me into this mess!

So a bunch of political platitudes were released, urging both sides to remain calm and exercise restraint, and then nothing happened.

Anyway, I've made an appeal, whether you listen or not is your own business, what does it have to do with me?
Levi didn't have a good impression of the Principality of Seth either. After all, they had once pointed a gun at him, and the Sasha Alliance had annexed it without him caring.

You deserve to suffer misfortune because you're a dishonest person.

"Ding dong."

Just as Li Wei was listening to international news and complaining about the Principality of Seth, the elevator bell rang. Li Wei looked up and saw the elevator doors slowly open, and then a fat figure walked in.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Levi. Oh no, I should address you as Sir now."

The person who walked in was none other than the chubby Inspector Lestrade. He entered with a smile and looked around.

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's been a while, and your place has changed a lot."

As he spoke, Inspector Lestrade chuckled and pulled out a jar.

"A tin of tea, from the south. I know you don't like drinking, so I specially asked someone to get it for you. It's a very fragrant black tea. Consider it a congratulatory gift for your investiture."

"Thank you so much. By the way, how are you feeling?"

Li Wei also stood up, went to Inspector Lestrade, took the tea leaves, and asked him to sit down. The latter laughed.

"Not bad, quite impressive, interesting, and quite fitting for your profession."

As he spoke, Inspector Lestrade sat down on the sofa next to him, and Eileen poured him a cup of tea.

"It's that skull..."

"Uh, that's an emblem, an emblem."

"That's it, then it's okay."

Inspector Lestrade took a sip of tea and patted his stomach. Levi, sitting in a chair, watched him curiously.

"You didn't come here today to have dinner with me, did you? Is there a case?"

"Hahaha, this isn't... I really can't hide it from you, there is a case."

Inspector Lestrade coughed and smiled somewhat sheepishly.

"You're not busy these days, are you?"

"Whether I'm busy or not, these are the next few days. Anyway, I'm still a special consultant for the police department. Any interesting cases coming up?"

"Hey, I don't know if this case is interesting or not, but it's pretty weird."

At this point, Inspector Lestrade's expression turned serious.

"You remember the fingerprint collection campaign that started in Chongqing a while ago, right?"

"Yes, I remember, it took quite a while."

Li Wei nodded. Since the Wudu Police Department introduced fingerprints into its crime-solving process, it had indeed solved many cases. Seeing the results, someone proposed a bold idea: to collect fingerprints from everyone in Wudu and store them in a differential scanner. Then, if another case occurred, fingerprints could be extracted from the scene and compared to identify the perpetrator.

In this era of low human rights, child labor is not considered a crime, so what's the big deal about collecting fingerprints? It doesn't even count as an invasion of personal privacy.

Let alone Chongqing, anyone entering the country from abroad, regardless of their purpose, will have their fingerprints taken. Li Wei heard on the news that if Chongqing were successfully managed, the plan was to roll it out nationwide and completely eradicate crime from the empire!

Yes, that's well said, but Li Wei knows that even if everyone has fingerprints, it won't eliminate crime.

Even in the DNA era, let alone fingerprints, people who deserve to be killed will still be killed without hesitation.

In fact, the Chongqing police station has been busy since the end of the year because they first need to collect fingerprints from currently detained prisoners and then compare them with fingerprints collected from unsolved cases. As a result, they have solved many cold cases, and then, by pulling up one radish, they have uncovered many others, and by following the clues, they have arrested a whole bunch of people.

Lestrade was also extremely busy. He said that the detention centers and prisons were full, and if Levi hadn't blown up the prison island, they would have wanted to reopen it.

After the New Year, those who should be sentenced were sentenced, and those who should be executed were executed, and things calmed down for a while.

But cold cases need to be solved, and existing cases also need to be solved. It's not like you can solve cold cases and then the criminals will stop making moves until you've solved all the cases.

Where can you find such considerate criminals?

Not long ago, Inspector Lestrade encountered a case.

The crime scene was on the outskirts of Chongqing. Forestry workers went to patrol the forest and then discovered a body.

"According to the autopsy results, the body was an elderly person, around 90 years old. No signs of homicide or poisoning were found. Of course, the forensic doctor determined that the person died of old age. As for why the body was in the forest, we thought at the time that it was very likely that the person was old and demented, got lost, and died in the mountains."

Well, that's a fairly normal assumption. In Livy's time, there were some elderly people who suffered from Alzheimer's disease and would just wander off into some forest or ravine without anyone knowing.

"The only problem at the time was that the elderly woman had no identification, so we couldn't confirm her identity. Fortunately, we had already collected fingerprints beforehand, so our idea was to take her fingerprints and compare them to find out her true identity. But unexpectedly, this investigation uncovered a major problem!"

"No fingerprints found?"

Seeing Lestrade's dejected look, Levi asked curiously, and Lestrade sighed helplessly.

"It would be great if we hadn't found it! At most, it would just mean that the fingerprints weren't all collected. But the problem is, we've already compared the fingerprints using a differential scanner! But... but these fingerprints... they're not right!"

"What's wrong with it?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wei immediately became interested.

Inspector Lestrade reached into his pocket, took out a document, and handed it to Levi. Levi opened it and saw a person's personal information. The photograph was of a woman named Julia Gabrielle, 20 years old, from the southern country of Bersok, who had entered the country last November on a tourist visa.

"This is?"

"This is the object of that fingerprint."

"…………"

Upon hearing this, Li Wei immediately understood.

"So you mean you followed the fingerprints of a ninety-year-old woman and ended up finding a twenty-year-old?"

"That's right, this is a serious problem!"

Inspector Lestrade clapped his hands anxiously, and Levi understood what he meant. The reason the judge had previously accepted the legal validity of fingerprint comparison in court was because fingerprints are almost unique to each person and virtually impossible to replicate. But now, they had found a matching fingerprint—that was a serious matter!

If those criminals found out, they might be able to collude with lawyers and use that as grounds to overturn their cases!
"And what about this young lady?"

"Her whereabouts are unknown. We suspect that she may have used this as an excuse to hide within the empire."

Li Wei wasn't surprised by this; it's not uncommon for people to go to other countries under the guise of tourism and then stay illegally, and it had happened many times during his time.

Moreover, the Empire is now one of the richest and most developed countries on the continent, so there are naturally many illegal immigrants.

"But the fact that you came to me means you believe this isn't just a simple resemblance, but rather that this twenty-year-old lady has somehow turned into a ninety-year-old woman?"

Now that things have come to this, Li Wei understands Lestrade's purpose in coming to him.

Indeed, if someone suddenly goes from twenty to ninety years old for no apparent reason, then that is definitely not normal.

“That’s right. I asked the fingerprint experts hired by the police station, and they said they’ve never seen anything like this before. The problem now is that we can’t find the woman. So I think it’s very likely the work of some kind of mysterious force… uh, do you think that’s possible?”

Seeing Lestrade looking at him pitifully, Levi was speechless.

"I don't know either. Anyway, let's check the body first."

It must be said that Li Wei was somewhat interested in this case.

(End of this chapter)