Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 248 A Suspicious Ending

Chapter 248 A Suspicious Ending
"Oh oh oh oh oh—!"

The roar echoed in the void, and the idol's massive body tilted back, its face completely ripped open, revealing the hollow inside.

Inside the hollow, a blonde girl in a blue dress was curled up and fast asleep.

Katie rolled over and grabbed the girl, yelling as she did so.

"I've got her, Mr. Levi!"

"it is good!"

Hearing Katie's shout, Levi gripped the whip blade tightly and lashed it at Katie again, wrapping it around her arm. Katie also grabbed the whip blade in return, and then Levi pulled them out of the hole. Katie, clutching the whip blade and holding Alice, leaped down and landed beside Levi.

"let's go!"

The notification sound of mission success rang in his ears, but Li Wei didn't have time to look at the prompt. The two enormous creatures were wreaking havoc in the mine, making the entire mine unstable. Just moments ago, only small stones were falling, but now large chunks of rock were raining down with a clattering sound—a situation Li Wei frequently witnessed in games and movies.

It's obvious this place is about to collapse!

Li Wei, along with Katie and Alice, quickly disembarked from the mech and reunited with the old man who had been waiting behind them. At that moment, more and more rocks tumbled down, smashing everything around them into a mess. Simultaneously, the voice rang out again.

"Don't think this is the end... Your lives will be the price for destroying the stage!"

Before the words were even finished, the statue that had been suppressed by the mecha suddenly raised its hand, clenched its fist, and then slammed it against the wall next to it.

"boom!"

The earth shook violently. The moment the statue's fist struck the stone wall, the entire mine seemed to experience an earthquake, shaking incessantly, and even cracks appeared in the ground!

"go!"

Li Wei couldn't care less about anything else at this moment. He took out another piece of origami from his pocket and threw it forward. The origami quickly turned into a two-wheeled motorcycle—this was also something Li Wei had made to deal with the current emergency.

As for why it was a motorcycle instead of a car, the reason is simple: the larger the volume, the longer the decompression time. Li Wei originally built this thing to get away as quickly as possible; he didn't have time to wait for decompression! It was all about speed!

"Katie, keep an eye on them!"

Levi mounted his motorcycle and shouted, while Katie quickly reached out and grabbed Alice and the old man, one in each hand. He then leaped onto the motorcycle, and with a thought, the motorcycle sped off, racing forward.

Of course, motorcycles don't exist in this world. Although there are small steam-powered two-wheeled vehicles, Li Wei obviously couldn't use those slow contraptions, which were as slow as tractors, to escape. Fortunately, as a [Puppeteer], he could drive them directly without any power assistance.

Just like the Road Rash motorcycle in the game, all that's missing is a baseball bat in his hand.

"Rumble rumble rumble..."

The entire tunnel trembled uncontrollably. Levi steered his motorcycle forward with all his might, creating a scene straight out of a movie—a classic escape from death, of course. If Levi had a choice, he'd rather not have that scene. Who would enjoy the dramatic effect of escaping a life-or-death situation?

It's all that damn bastard's fault!

Thinking of this, Li Wei's eyes narrowed slightly. He then glanced behind him and snapped his fingers lightly with his right hand.

"boom-----!"

There was an explosion.

The mech that had been firmly holding down the statue exploded at this moment—that's right, just in case, Li Wei had specifically ordered someone to plant a bomb inside the mech's body.

After all, self-destruction is a man's romance!

Just because I haven't shown my teeth doesn't mean I'm a pushover. I don't know what kind of deity you are, but have a good taste of this! Times have changed, old man! Before the séance ends, let's experience the romance of modern technology!

A wave of scorching heat rushed in from behind, and the light was almost in sight. Li Wei leaped onto his motorcycle and sprang out of the mine. A few seconds later, flames and intense heat erupted from the mine entrance. Li Wei then drove forward for a few more moments before turning around and stopping, turning back to look at the mine behind him.

"Rumble rumble rumble —————"

At that moment, the mountain above the mine was completely blasted and collapsed, and countless rubble rolled down, burying the entire mine in the blink of an eye.

Katie also put the old man she was holding aside and stared ahead.

Gradually, the fog dissipated.

The mist that had covered the entire Death Valley began to dissipate gradually, and even the dark clouds in the sky quietly left. Golden rays of sunlight fell from the sky, shining on the abandoned valley.

"Phew, it's finally done."

Li Wei sighed. He finally understood why the system's task was to "rescue Alice" instead of "destroy the evil god." From beginning to end, Li Wei could not find the true form of that god. Even when he used [Soul Vision], he could only see the bright red color wrapped around the statue.

In other words, at this point, Levi can't even find a way to kill the god, let alone locate its existence. Although he inflicted some damage on it with the Persuader, it seems that this was more due to the buff given to the Persuader by the Goddess of Night, rather than Levi's own power.

If we can't find it, we can't destroy it. Isn't that what many novels say? Lower-dimensional beings can't observe higher-dimensional existences, but higher-dimensional beings can... Of course, Li Wei doesn't know the exact nature of the gods in this world, but at least for now, it seems that their interference in this world is also limited.

After all, according to the old man, the god only started causing trouble after they unearthed the church hidden in the silver mine.

"By the way, how is Alice?"

"She seems to still be unconscious."

Katie looked at Alice beside her, who was being held by Katie like a big cat, though her eyes remained tightly closed. Levi stared at Alice, then activated [Soul Vision].

"Ok?"

However, as Li Wei gazed at Alice with [Soul Vision], he suddenly noticed that Alice's soul was not white, but a sea-like blue. Moreover, within this blue soul, there was a hint of dark red.

Dark red?

Li Wei frowned and stared at Alice, but just then, he suddenly felt that familiar burning sensation on the fingers of his right hand again.

Li Wei raised his hand and looked at the red ring on his finger. Sure enough, it was now flashing and shining, as if it had a consciousness of its own—of course, Li Wei had no idea what it meant.

However, Li Wei knew that now that the ring had become like this, he only needed to do one thing.

So Livy reached out his hand to Alice.

Then, Li Wei saw that, under the [Soul Vision], the dark red wisp floating within Alice's azure soul was forcibly pulled away like trash being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, and then fell into the ring. At the same time, as expected, the notification reappeared before Li Wei's eyes.

[Soul Fragment +1]

Hmm, this is it again...

Li Wei shook his head, lowered his right hand, and then turned to look at the old man beside him, who was just staring blankly at the mine shaft, silent.

"Sir, we should go back now."

"Oh."

Hearing Li Wei's reminder, the old man paused for a moment before coming to his senses. Then he looked at Li Wei and shook his head.

"You all go back, I'll stay here."

"Stay here?"

"That's right, I wanted to come back, and thanks to you all, I'm finally back now."

As he spoke, the old man looked again at the houses not far away.

"I want to go home, clean it up and fix it up properly first. After all, it's been a long time since I've been back, and I don't even know if the things I left there are still there..."

Muttering to himself, the old man walked down the slope, while Levi and Katie watched his hunched figure disappear into the distance before exchanging a glance.

"What should we do, Mr. Levi?"

"Let him be. Maybe he's already made up his mind."

As he spoke, Li Wei glanced at Alice, who was still unconscious.

"We're also very concerned about her condition. Anyway, let's go back first..."

"Waaah..."

However, before Li Wei could finish speaking, Alice suddenly let out a soft moan and then slowly opened her eyes.

"Mr. Li Wei, look, she's awake!"

Seeing Alice wake up, Katie hurriedly and curiously approached her, while Alice looked at them blankly, as if she had just woken up.

After a moment, she turned her gaze to Li Wei and blinked.

"dad?"

"……………? I'm not your father. Do you even remember who you are?"

Li Wei looked at Alice and asked her a question, to which Alice nodded.

"Alice... call her Alice."

"So who are your parents?"

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, Alice reached out her hand and looked at Li Wei.

"dad."

"Um... Mr. Li Wei, what's wrong with her?"

Listening to their conversation, Katie looked puzzled, while Levi sighed helplessly.

"How should I know? Anyway, let's take her back first."

Li Wei believed that Alice was probably just confused and would be fine after resting. So he and Katie took Alice out of Death Valley and returned to the town.

When the three returned to the town, it was already evening. The town's inn was still deserted, with only the rider sitting at the table drinking coffee. When he saw Li Wei and the others walk in, he hurriedly stood up to greet them.

"Oh dear, Sir Levi, are you alright? It sounded like an earthquake! We were terrified. The boss said there's never been an earthquake here before... Are you all alright?"

"We're fine."

As he spoke, Li Wei patted Alice beside him.

"The child is alright."

"………………………"

The rider glanced at Alice, then looked at Levi with a puzzled expression.

"Sir Levy, where did you bring this child from?"

"Hey?"

Katie was taken aback when she heard the rider's question.

"She is Alice, Mr. Easter!"

But the rider's reaction was completely unexpected by Levi and Katie.

"Alice?"

The rider looked at the girl with suspicion, then glanced at the two of them.