Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 225: In the Woods
After sending Anthony to investigate the southern border, Levi drove away from the Fog City early the next morning and arrived at the forest where the body had been found.

In Chongqing, Li Wei was quite famous. When the forestry manager saw Li Wei, he was as excited as if he had seen a movie star.

"I never expected Sir Levi to come! It's a great honor!"

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

Holding the hand of the forestry manager, Li Wei silently looked at the pile of exploration reports beside him—hmm, it seems these loggers pass the time with their "gossip" when they're bored.

"So you came here because of that corpse, right? Was it done by some kind of monster? I knew the condition of that corpse was a bit strange..."

"I just came to check the situation and investigate some clues. I don't have any ideas yet."

Li Wei quickly interrupted the other person, who also seemed to be a fervent paranormal enthusiast.

"Tell me about the circumstances when you first discovered this body."

"Oh, no problem."

The forestry manager, a burly, rough-looking man, chuckled, sat down, gathered his thoughts, and began to explain the situation to Li Wei.

Although this forest is a forest farm, its output is actually not large, because although this world follows the path of steam technology, it burns coal. The trees in the forest farm are mainly used for making furniture, so the output is not large, and the work intensity is not very high.

This was their third routine patrol of the forest farm since the beginning of spring, mainly to check for fires and see if they could hunt some game to improve their meals. Following the patrol route, the forest farm workers divided into groups of three and began their search from both the north and south sides.

The patrol team to the north found nothing unusual, but the situation was different to the south. Halfway there, their dogs suddenly started barking loudly. The workers initially thought the dogs had spotted some prey and excitedly looked around, but they couldn't see any animal in sight.

Then they noticed the dog staring intently at a spot, so they went over to check it out. But their dog wouldn't move an inch. No matter how the workers pulled and kicked it, it kept trying to back away, as if it wanted to escape.

The dog's unusual behavior alerted the workers. Soon, they decided to leave one person to watch the dog while the other two took weapons and went to check in the direction the dog was staring at. At the time, they thought they might encounter something like a bear that had just come out of its cave after hibernation, but unexpectedly... they found a corpse.

"She was lying in the ditch, face up, eyes wide open. We thought an elderly person had accidentally fallen in, since the path here is very difficult to walk on; even men like us sometimes stumble, so it's even more normal for elderly people with mobility issues to fall. So my companion and I rushed over, calling out to her and trying to help her up, but..."

Recalling that scene, the man's face turned pale.

"When we finally found her, we discovered she was already dead! It was terrifying. Even though she was dead, her eyes were still wide open and her mouth was slightly agape, as if she were staring at you and calling out... It's terrifying just thinking about it."

Were she injured at the time?

"No."

The man shook his head.

"We also suspected that she might have hit her head after falling, but there were no marks on her head at all."

"Could you describe in detail the expression you saw on her face at that time?"

"Waaah..."

Seeing the man frown, Li Wei chuckled, then reached into his pocket, took out a handful of shillings, and stuffed them into the man's hand.

"Consider this a small token of my appreciation, and I'll buy some wine for everyone at the forest farm."

"Oh dear, I can't accept this..."

Seeing the shilling in Li Wei's hand, the person in charge hesitated for a moment, but eventually accepted it.

"...Actually, it's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's just that I don't really want to recall what she looked like...Do you know why we thought she was still alive at the time? It's because at that time, her expression and appearance were like someone who had fallen into a ditch and was injured, with a bit of bewilderment and surprise. You see, when you see an old lady lying in a ditch with her eyes wide open and her mouth agape, your first reaction is that she has accidentally fallen in and is trying to call for help."

"Well, that's true."

"...It's not nice to say it like this, but to be honest, I think I can understand why the dog didn't want to go near that corpse."

At this point, the person in charge of the forest farm lowered his voice.

"Looking at that corpse, I felt a chill run down my spine; it just made me feel uneasy no matter how I looked at it..."

"Um……………"

Li Wei stared at the person in charge, carefully observing his expression, before looking away.

"I understand. Could you please take me to the place where the body was found?"

"Of course, please follow me."

For ordinary people, wandering aimlessly through a dense forest is extremely dangerous; they could easily get lost. However, for the workers at the forest farm, it was much simpler. Led by the supervisor, Li Wei quickly arrived at the location where the body had been found.

Just as the person in charge had described, at first glance there was nothing special about the place, except for a half-meter-deep ditch in front and shady trees on the side. Li Wei looked around, but the dense trees blocked his view, and he couldn't see anything.

"How far is it from here to the roadside?" "Not really far..."

"Take me there."

The location of the body was indeed not far from the roadside, but it was not easy to get there. The ground was uneven and full of tree roots, making it difficult for Li Wei to walk with his cane. One can imagine how much effort it would take to dispose of a body here.

Li Wei came to the roadside, looked at the empty road in front of him, and then returned to the place where he found the body.

Even without carrying the corpse, he was exhausted after this round.

Have any bodies been found here before?

"this……………"

The person in charge was taken aback when Li Wei asked the question.

“I’ve never heard of it before, nor have I ever seen it. Of course, this forest is so vast, and we’re only familiar with this part. We wouldn’t dare go to any more remote places…”

"Um……………"

Li Wei rested for a while, then went down to the bottom of the ditch and stared at the spot.

There was no remaining evidence at this location, only some trampled grass and footprints, indicating that a number of police officers had been here before. They stood around, carried the body up, and then left…

So how did the body get here?
Li Wei stood up and walked around, examining each area.

This is muddy ground, and the corpse is very heavy. No matter how many people are carrying a corpse, they will inevitably leave footprints in the mud.

However, Li Wei circled the area several times but couldn't find any footprints indicating someone was carrying a heavy load.

She couldn't have fallen from the sky, could she?

Li Wei raised his head and looked up at the sky. Through the gaps in the trees, he could only see the sky, and...

"Ok?"

Li Wei's eyes narrowed, as if he had seen something. He then raised his cane, hooked it onto a branch in front of him, and leaped up, flipping and jumping onto a nearby tree. He quickly reached a high point in the tree in a few more swift movements. Then, Li Wei carefully reached out, grabbed a branch, and pulled himself down.

The branch was broken in half, and it looked like it had been hit by a heavy object. Li Wei stared at the broken part of the branch and could vaguely see a few threads still wrapped around it.

Well, it's obvious that unless the tree can weave yarn, this thing definitely shouldn't grow on a tree.

Li Wei looked at the tree branches, then looked up at the sky, then at the ground, and then a scene appeared in his mind.

In the air, a corpse fell from the sky and crashed to the ground. Her body struck a tree branch, breaking it in two. Some of the threads of her clothes got caught on the broken ends, and the corpse landed on the ground.

Hmm? But the autopsy report didn't mention any injuries caused by a fall from a height.

However, considering that this body wouldn't even show signs of rigor mortis or stiffness after death, it's hard to say whether a reaction to a fall from a great height could be detected.

To be honest, Li Wei felt that this corpse was more like a soft plastic doll than a human being, and that it wouldn't hurt if you hit it.

However, this makes finding the culprit even more difficult, and it also confirms that this is indeed a mysterious case.

After all, ordinary prisoners can't just throw bodies down from the air, can they?
Of course, you can exclude the kind of martial arts novels where characters can leap across rooftops and have superb light-body skills.

Thinking of this, Li Wei withdrew his gaze, then took out three pieces of folded paper from his chest pocket—they looked like paper cranes folded from paper. Li Wei reached out, took them out, and then tossed them into the air.

The next moment, the three paper cranes instantly swelled and grew larger, transforming in the blink of an eye into three bird puppets the size of eagles, which flew away in different directions.

This is precisely Li Wei's ability to "compress and store" his dolls; he can compress them into something resembling paper crafts and carry them on his person. This is convenient, doesn't take up much space, and no one will suspect anything—after all, origami is considered a refined hobby.

Now that it's confirmed the body was thrown from the air, there must be more than one. So Li Wei wants to send his puppets flying around to see if they can find any other bodies.

After releasing the three bird puppets, Li Wei flipped over and steadily climbed down from the tree, landing on the ground.

"Sir Levy, what have you discovered?"

"Yes, that's quite an interesting discovery."

"Gaa—!"

However, before Li Wei could finish speaking, a bird's cry suddenly rang out from the sky, and Li Wei was immediately taken aback upon hearing it.

Discovered so quickly?
This is too fast!

(End of this chapter)