Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 224 The Strange Corpse

Levi's first step was definitely to examine the body again, so he and Inspector Lestrade went to the police station's morgue.

Then, Li Wei saw the corpse.

The other person had white hair and a face full of wrinkles like an old tree. Even if Li Wei examined him carefully, he would only come to the conclusion that he was a very old man.

Well, there were no visible external injuries or signs of poisoning. The internal organs had been removed, but according to the previous forensic report, there was no sudden illness or internal organ rupture. In short, it was organ failure and death due to old age.

"Ok?"

As he looked around, Li Wei suddenly noticed a problem.

"You found the body in the forest?"

"Yes, it's in the forest outside the city."

"Isn't this corpse a bit too intact?"

Li Wei stared at the corpse, his brow furrowed. He wasn't just making this up; generally speaking, forests and woodlands are teeming with animals. While a human corpse might be important to humans, to animals it's simply another form of food. Whether it's wild wolves, wild dogs, foxes, or rats, none of them would pass up such a meal.

But there wasn't a single wound on its body, meaning even a mouse wouldn't bite it?
Do animals also care about expiration dates? Would they stop eating something if it's not fresh? Even so, what about flies and maggots? These are our regular customers.

"Actually, we also find this a bit strange."

Lestrade understood what Livy meant and nodded.

"Not only that, look, this body has been here for so long, but it looks almost exactly the same as when it was first discovered... There are no signs of livor mortis, no rigor mortis, we can't even determine how long she's been dead..."

This is probably another reason why Lestrade called Levi over; after all, this doesn't look like an ordinary corpse at all. Generally, the police have criteria for determining the time of death, but this corpse has always looked like it was just killed, making it impossible to even determine the time of death.

God knows exactly when this body was dumped here.

"And there's something else that's strange."

"what's up?"

"When we first discovered the body, we wanted to investigate her movements, so we brought in police dogs. But... the police dogs really disliked the body and refused to go near it. No matter what we said, they wouldn't approach it and would bark at it, as if it were something that these police dogs loathed."

"You mean, she didn't come here by herself?"

"Judging from the scene, I'm inclined to believe it was a body dumping, because the body was found on the edge of the forest, close to the road. If someone wanted to dump a body, they could simply drive over here, take the body a short distance, and throw it in. Given the environment of the forest, an elderly woman couldn't possibly walk that far. That's why I wanted to use police dogs to pinpoint exactly where they got out of the car, but..."

As he spoke, Inspector Lestrade shook his head. The police dog simply wouldn't cooperate, and there was nothing he could do, was there? He couldn't very well threaten to deduct bonuses or salaries, and the police dog wouldn't fall for that.

"What are you saying to the public right now?"

"My theory is that the old lady might be in cahoots with that woman, and they managed to forge their fingerprints when going through customs."

"So, the old lady helped the woman press her fingerprint, but the woman didn't press it herself. Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? Is that possible?"

"The possibility is low, after all, fingerprint collection is done in front of customs officers. Of course, you can't rule out the possibility that a customs officer might have neglected their duties... after all, it involves illegal immigration and smuggling..."

Lestrade's deduction is quite popular within the police force. After all, they're all police officers and know that anyone can commit a crime. It's not that customs officials would collude with illegal immigrants; they might actually do something like that if bribed.

The rules are good, but often the problem lies with the people who enforce them.

If everyone were meticulous and followed the rules strictly, the world would be at peace and there would be no problems.

"Currently, the police have closed the case as an accident. That's the end of our investigation; we can't investigate any further."

Lestrade stared at Levi and said in a low voice, "This case has been suspicious from beginning to end. The police station is supposed to solve normal cases, but right now, because of the requirements for fingerprint-based investigations, they can't even catch enough people for normal cases. Let's leave the unusual cases to the experts."

"Alright, write a report for Division Seven, I'll take the case."

Li Wei nodded and made his decision.

As for why Lestrade was asked to write the report, it was simply because Levy was too lazy to write one!
He even had Eileen type out the reports he gave to the old housekeeper, and then he would just sign them and hand them in. Expecting him to write reports... that was absolutely impossible.

After that, Li Wei took the case file back to his home and began to carefully examine it.

The case file didn't actually contain much information because Lestrade had intentionally obscured the victim's identity, so the police initially started their investigation with the woman.

Regarding this matter, there aren't many clues. Fingerprint data indicates the woman is from Bersok and entered the country through the southern border crossing last November on a tourist visa; she hasn't left since. There are various ways to reach Wu from the southern border crossing: by airship, train, and boat. Because a large number of personnel are needed for the investigation, and the police currently cannot allocate more officers, the investigation into the woman has stalled.

As for the elderly man, there were almost no clues, but the only thing the two had in common was that they were both from Bersok, at least this was confirmed by the forensic doctor.

Located in the southern part of the Empire, Bersok is one of the largest sources of illegal immigrants to the Empire. It was most rampant before the Queen's accession to the throne, when the Bersok people formed a large number of gangs in the Empire, engaged in various illegal transactions, and bloody conflicts occurred frequently.

After the Queen ascended the throne, she issued a decree to carry out a bloody purge and ruthless suppression of the Bersok gangs within the empire. All the Bersok gang members who had once been tyrannical were hanged, and their bodies were displayed in the streets outside towns as a deterrent.

The wealth of the large number of illegally arrived Bersoks was confiscated, and they were all expelled. Several bloody clashes ensued, but the Empire ultimately prevailed.

If the Meresians are the Imperials that the Imperials hate the most, then the Bersoks are second only to the Franciscans among the foreigners they hate the most.

Moreover, following that bloody purge, the Queen issued the strictest immigration laws in the Empire's history. Currently, the Empire is one of the countries with the most stringent immigration bans on the entire continent.

After reading the intelligence, Li Wei pondered for a moment, then picked up his communicator and dialed a number.

After a while, a cynical voice came through the microphone.

"Wow, boss, I didn't expect you to call me! That's rare! Are you planning to invite me out for drinks? Oh, we're all friends, no need to be so polite..."

"I don't intend to be polite with you."

Li Wei directly interrupted Anthony's polite remarks.

"There's something I need you to look into for me."

"Uh... the case from the Seventh Division?"

"more or less."

As Li Wei spoke, he picked up a piece of paper.

"I need you to go to Cologne in the south to investigate a woman named Julia Gabriel. She must have come to the Fog City by some kind of transportation. Find out when she left and what she took to get here. This lady entered the country last November. You can come to me in a little while to get the specific information."

"Uh... Boss, you just start assigning tasks without even asking if I'm busy."

"Are you busy?"

"This isn't busy at all... hahaha..."

"Don't forget you still owe me a favor, Steel City. Hurry up and get back to work!"

"Yes!"

Anthony was quick too; only half an hour after Li Wei put down the microphone, he appeared in front of Li Wei, panting heavily.

"Boss, Anthony reporting for duty!"

Looking at Anthony, who was panting heavily, Li Wei rolled his eyes. He knew that Anthony was doing this on purpose, but Li Wei was too lazy to care.

After gesturing for Eileen to serve Anthony tea, Levi handed Anthony the information about Julia Gabriel and briefly explained the case to him.

"Uh, so boss, you mean the lady in this photo has turned into a ninety-year-old woman, and she's dead?"

Looking at Julia Gabriel's photo, Anthony was completely dumbfounded.

"I hope I don't turn into some kind of old man after this!"

"Then it depends on your skills. Don't alert them. You still have a good chance of coming back alive."

"Uh... well, I'll do my best..."

In Levi's squad, Kitty and Henry were the fighting force, while Elizabeth and Anthony were purely support roles. Elizabeth was mainly responsible for intelligence related to religious institutions, and Anthony, a professional spy... well, when else would we use him?
They couldn't expect him to fight for Levi, could they? This kind of exhausting and time-consuming investigative work was best left to Anthony. Besides, Steel City owed Levi a favor, and Levi wasn't worried about him refusing.

Even though Anthony looks worried and distressed in front of him, as if Levi is forcing him to jump into the sea, Levi knows from Anthony's unequivocal agreement that Anthony definitely has a way to find out Julia's whereabouts.

Of course, Li Wei wouldn't be idle either. He planned to go back to the scene of the body to check the situation, hoping to find some clues that the police had overlooked or that ordinary people simply couldn't find.

(End of this chapter)