Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 231 A Different Mystery

Although this task is difficult to investigate, it is not particularly challenging in itself.

Li Wei knew this from the rewards given by the system—using system rewards to determine the difficulty of a task has become one of Li Wei's habits.

[Quest "Eternal Death" Completed]

[Time consumed: s]

Survey efficiency: S

[Impact/Effect: S]

Overall Rating: SSS

[Gain lifespan +100, plus an additional +50]

See? It's not that difficult after all.

Looking at the reward before him, Li Wei curled his lip. Actually, it was also related to the fact that he arrived relatively early. When Li Wei and Katie arrived at the basement, it was obvious that the old man was performing a ritual to summon some kind of "great being" that he mentioned. Li Wei interrupted the ritual, preventing the final boss from appearing, which made dealing with the old man much easier.

They're just not dead, how hard can they be to fight?

If Li Wei wants to obtain a better reward, the best way is to wait for the other party to summon that great being, and then fight them face to face in a real battle.

Li Wei responded to this by saying... "I'd rather not."

He had no idea what kind of thing the other party would summon, but judging from the fact that even an incomplete summon could absorb other people's lifespan and even grant them immortality, if this great being were to truly descend, Li Wei might not be able to defeat him.

Therefore, the best way is to prevent it from happening in the first place.

The reward may be a bit small, but it's safe.

If things really go wrong, who knows what we'll do next.

[Gained bonus skill — Mind Stabilization: Fear Resistance (You are well-read and knowledgeable, and witnessing most alien creatures will not cause you much emotional fluctuation)]

This ability… well, it's useful in some ways, and useless in others. Actually, Li Wei can understand why he is like this. Ultimately, it's all thanks to the horror novels, movies, and games in his world, where all sorts of bizarre, bloody, disgusting, and strange monsters appear one after another.

Having seen so much, Li Wei naturally developed a higher level of resistance. Of course, he wasn't completely without fear. However, what Li Wei feared wasn't the appearance of the other party, but rather the fact that he himself would be in danger.

Like in the Rune Mine, Li Wei didn't care what the zombie aggregator looked like, but he certainly wouldn't want it to absorb him into its ranks as a companion.

So when that thing tried to chase him, Li Wei ran away very fast.

It's somewhat useful, at least I won't panic when I see monsters again.

Compared to other missions, the rewards for this one weren't particularly good, but Levi didn't care. After all, he had originally come to solve the case at Inspector Lestrade's invitation. Rewards were certainly nice to have, but not essential. He wasn't expecting any great rewards or skills from such a minor case.

After killing the old man, Li Wei notified MI7 to send someone to clean up the mess. Incidentally, the nursing home director was indeed dead, and it was suicide. According to the report from the team that arrested her, she initially tried to resist, but somehow sensed something and ultimately shot herself in the head.

Perhaps they realized that the old man had been killed by Li Wei?

As for the others, the situation is not so good—no one knows what those two people did in the nursing home. Just as Li Wei and others saw during their investigation, most people's mental state is not good, and some even have obvious symptoms of schizophrenia.

Therefore, MI7 planned to send most of the normal people to other nursing homes, while those who were severely traumatized and developed mental symptoms would be sent to MI7's own treatment center.

Remember the Red Moon Inn where Levi and the Ghost Rider first fought? After that, MI7 took it over and used it as a special treatment center to house and observe people traumatized by mysterious events. After all, for MI7, observing the psychological trauma and aftereffects of mysterious events on ordinary people is also a form of research.

As for the victims?
Of course, it will be studied by others.

Incidentally, the eight corpses that Li Wei had discovered earlier also vanished afterward. It seems that the reason those corpses didn't decompose was related to the Book of Dijan, and not because they were truly immune to decay.

I heard that the doctors at MI7 were heartbroken and cried out in despair, but it was all in vain—no matter how much they cried, it was no use.

Although the case wasn't particularly serious, it revealed another side of the world to Li Wei.

That is the existence of God.

Since Li Wei came to this world, he has been fighting against all sorts of mysterious phenomena, so he has categorized and broken them down.

In Li Wei's view, there are generally several types of mysterious existences.

One type is a mysterious being who was originally an ordinary person but later ascended to become a kind of "concept". Jack the Ripper is a good example. The Jack the Ripper that Levi encountered in his dream was completely different from the one he encountered in reality.

Another method involves imitating a legend and merging it with oneself, thereby transforming a mortal into a mystical being.

For example, the protagonist in the vampire case was just an ordinary girl, but she was later given the "concept" of a vampire and thus became one. Li Wei's rumors about a certain unfortunate archbishop also fall into this category. He spread rumors that the mastermind behind the murder possessed various diseases, and as a result, the unfortunate mastermind actually contracted those diseases under the influence of these ideas.

If the concept of vampires is like giving a buff to an entity, then Li Wei's fabrication is like giving a debuff to that entity.

However, all of these are based on the existence of physical entities.

There is no Jack the Ripper without someone.

A monster that sucks blood is a vampire.

Only sunken ships are ghost ships.

The mastermind behind it all really exists—that's why he got those diseases.

Sea monsters really exist—emphasized based on people's fantasies and legends.

People are indeed being murdered inexplicably—the Phantom Killer really exists.

All of these are basically physical entities that, after being exaggerated through rumors and hearsay, have acquired a mysterious status, either as a buff or a debuff.

Of course, there are also monsters that are born entirely from rumors, such as the Imperial Bridge, which originated from a nursery rhyme.

But besides these, there is another kind: mysterious creatures that can exist without relying on rumors or hearsay.

Disaster messengers don't count, and things in dreams are all fake. Li Wei can conjure up little monsters out of thin air, but that doesn't mean he can summon them in reality.

Among the mysterious monsters that don't rely on rumors and exist on their own, the ones Li Wei has seen the most are ghosts and phantoms—these are things that can exist on their own without relying on rumors.

The Big Head Doll, Ghost Rider, and Skeleton Rider belong to this category. They themselves have no rumors or gossip, and are unknown to most people, but that does not prevent these mysterious beings from killing people more ruthlessly than anyone else.

And now, there's a newcomer in this category.

That is—a great being.

Li Wei was certain that whatever the old man wanted to summon through the *Book of Dijan*, it wasn't what was commonly believed, meaning it lacked the added weight of rumors or gossip. Even so, the fact that the old man only partially manifested was enough to grant mortals immortality, instantly turn young people into old men, and simultaneously preserve corpses from decay… hmm…

Luckily, he acted early; otherwise, if that old wizard had succeeded in summoning it, Li Wei wouldn't have known how to fight such a being.

And then there are those winged monsters; they don't look like creatures of this world at all, more like alien beings. But anyway, at least they can be killed, so it's not a serious problem.

After adding another entry to his list of mysterious monsters, Levi dragged his tired body back to Fog City. Of course, he didn't forget to meet with Inspector Lestrade and tell him about the case.

"I never expected it to turn out like this..."

After hearing Levi's account, Inspector Lestrade was also astonished.

Is immortality really possible?

"Yes, it does have weaknesses, but it's not without them. Take that old wizard, for example. He lived for over a hundred years and couldn't be killed by bullets. He seemed very capable, but he was still bound up and forced to watch me burn that magic book."

Li Wei picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea.

"To be immortal without strength is simply courting death. Even if he knows some witchcraft that can summon monsters, it's useless. This is no longer the era where you could just pretend to be a god and do whatever you want."

Otherwise, the old wizard wouldn't have had to hide in a nursing home.

"What a pity, the book of immortality... But then again, if you hadn't burned it, who knows what trouble it might have caused."

"hehe."

Hearing Inspector Lestrade's remark, Levi chuckled; the old butler had asked the same question. Clearly, the grimoire of immortality held a deep allure for most. That was precisely why Levi hadn't hesitated to destroy it. Although the old butler had suggested sealing and hiding the grimoire, Levi knew the strength of humanity's desire for immortality; if the news leaked, someone might risk everything to steal it.

It would be better to just burn it all down to save trouble.

But... that great being... made Li Wei quite worried.

Because he remembered that the empire had not mentioned such a deity in its records of the gods.

So what exactly is that great being called the Great Old Ones?

The thought of all the monsters and demons in this world made Li Wei feel—the task ahead is arduous and the road is long…

(End of this chapter)