Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 268 Warm welcome
In Li Wei's world, some people call cities that have declined and become deserted for various reasons ghost towns. And right now, in Li Wei's view, this town is undoubtedly one of them.

They strolled through the desolate streets, the empty houses, the tightly closed doors, the dim streetlights that seemed to shine eternally on the place, and the surroundings exuded a unique emptiness characteristic of abandoned human creations.

"Ugh... This feeling is so strange..."

Walking behind Levi, Katie shrank back and whispered.

"I've never seen such a quiet city before... Will the Fog City ever become like this?"

"I don't think so."

Of course, if it's the end of the world, that's a different story. Li Wei remembers watching an interesting documentary before, which talked about how long the buildings and power plants they left behind would last if humanity suddenly disappeared from the earth, and what they would become afterward.

I must say, that documentary was quite interesting.

"I still prefer lively places; it's a bit too quiet here."

"Well, that's... but..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Wei raised an eyebrow. Just now, through the puppet bird in the air, which was acting as an unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, Li Wei had discovered something interesting.

"You won't have to complain for long."

"Ok?"

Just then, the two saw flickering lights appear at the once-dark alleyway not far away. Then they saw several raggedly dressed people carrying pitchforks and clubs walking out from the other side of the alley. They were carrying torches, and some of them were carrying hunting rifles—well, they looked to be very old-fashioned models.

"Patrol?"

"I don't know what's going on, be careful."

Li Wei gave Katie a word of instruction and then walked up. At that moment, the people opposite him also saw Li Wei and stopped in their tracks.

"I am Li Wei, an Imperial Knight and Detective! I wish to speak with your representative!"

Li Wei stepped forward, looked at the group of people before him, and began to speak. He didn't mention his titles, as the people here probably wouldn't know what they meant. So Li Wei simply used two titles that they should be able to understand to introduce himself. At the same time, he used the firelight to carefully observe the group of people.

Li Wei's first impression of these guys was that they weren't normal people. They were all dressed in tattered clothes, as if they hadn't changed their clothes in a long time. They were also wrapped up tightly in gauze. Only their wildly growing hair peeked out from the gaps in the gauze. Their eyes had a strange madness and distortion in them, staring fiercely at Li Wei.

"Did you hear me?"

Seeing the reactions of these guys, Li Wei frowned and spoke again.

"I want to speak to your leader!"

"…………"

The other party remained silent, but Li Wei had already seen that behind this group of people, two men holding shotguns were slowly raising their weapons and aiming at him... At the same time, Li Wei drew his gun and fired.

"boom!"

Bullets flew through the crowd, accurately striking the shotguns in the hands of two men behind, sending them flying. Li Wei, gripping his persuader tightly, stared intently at the crowd.

"Put down your weapons immediately! This is the last warning!"

Li Wei had used this tactic before, and it worked very well against those country bumpkins. Often, those villagers would first try to intimidate you, attempting to scare you. And at that moment, a well-timed move could change the tide. Hmm… however, it turns out this tactic doesn't always work.

Li Wei's warning did not deter these people; on the contrary, they stared intently at him, baring their teeth and making gurgling sounds in their throats.

Then, they gripped their pitchforks tightly.

"Outsider, outsider, a stranger from out of town..."

“Damn it…outsider…kill him…”

"Kill him...!"

The next moment, the group of people charged towards Li Wei like mad dogs that had broken free of their leashes!

"Tsk!"

Seeing these crazy-looking guys rushing towards him, Li Wei smacked his lips and then raised the Persuader.

"—!!"

Bullets flew from the muzzle, colliding and ricocheting through the narrow alley. Li Wei didn't intend to kill them outright, but rather to incapacitate them first. However, to Li Wei's surprise, even after being hit by bullets, these guys showed no sign of slowing down or begging for mercy. On the contrary, they behaved like zombies in a video game, seemingly unaffected by non-lethal attacks!
no solution anymore!

Seeing the enemy's frenzy, Li Wei decisively changed his mind. He reloaded his gun and moved it—just then, the crazed attackers rushed through the alley and stood before Li Wei. They raised their pitchforks and machetes high, attempting to strike him down.

Unfortunately, that's where it ends.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

A barrage of gunfire erupted, bullets raining down on the alley. The heads of the attackers exploded with each shot, and they fell to the ground, motionless.

Moments later, all that remained in the alley were corpses.

"Whoa... What's going on with these people?"

At this moment, Katie, who had been waiting on the side, came over and looked at the corpse on the ground in surprise.

"They clearly said that just now... Have they gone mad?"

"Whether it's crazy or not, it's really hard to say."

Li Wei holstered his gun, staring at the corpse with a frown. Indeed, these people's reactions were quite bizarre. If they had lost their minds, why did they know how to patrol? If they hadn't lost their minds, why did this group seem completely incapable of communication, only desperately trying to kill him, even at the cost of their own lives?

Li Wei believed that this was the first time he had met these people, and there was no deep-seated hatred between them that warranted a life-or-death struggle.

In addition to that, there is another issue: the color of their souls.

The ordinary ones are white, the dangerous ones are red, and the ones that are hard to tell are blue.

Now Li Wei has seen a completely new color of soul.

green.

It wasn't the vibrant green of life; if I had to describe it, it was more like the nauseating dark green that appears in stagnant pools, as if sewage had filled the souls of these people.

This is the first time I've ever seen a soul color like this.

It seems this place is indeed extraordinary.

Li Wei withdrew his gaze and looked at Katie.

"Alright, let's keep going. Since there are people here, the gunshots we just heard likely caught their attention. We might end up surrounded by a bunch of troublesome lunatics in no time."

If it were someone he could contact, Li Wei would like to have a good chat with them, but he'd rather not talk to someone as dangerous as this.

"------!"

But at that moment, a light suddenly shone from a window that was originally dark not far from Li Wei. Then, a hoarse old man's voice came from it.

"Ah... I thought I heard some kind of sound. How interesting, two strangers?"

"Huh? Someone's here?"

Hearing the sound, Katie looked over excitedly, while Levi turned to look at the window beside them. However, the entire window was covered by curtains, and the only thing they could see was the shadow of a person reflected on the curtains by the candlelight.

"I am Li Wei, an Imperial Knight and Detective, here to investigate the Great Salt Lake."

Li Wei announced his identity again.

Are you a resident here? Can you tell me what happened?

"hehe……………"

The old man chuckled.

“I wish I could be of help to you, young people, but unfortunately, I am an outsider just like you.”

"Hey?"

Hearing the old man's answer, Katie's eyes widened in surprise.

"But, but, don't you live here?"

"I can only live here... This is the cursed land, the city of eternal night. I don't know what you've come here for, little girl, but unfortunately, now that you're here, you can never leave. Just like me..."

"If you don't mind, could you tell me your story?"

Li Wei stared at the figure and asked his question.

"There's not much to say. I was just a greedy little thief, blinded by desire. When I heard about this abandoned city, I wanted to make a quick buck. But I never imagined it was actually a prison, and I became its prisoner, unable to leave."

What was wrong with those lunatics just now?

“They’re locals… I guess so. These guys patrol every day and kill any outsiders they see. My companion was killed by them… They caught him, cut open his stomach, took out his internal organs, and then threw his body into the campfire…”

“Ugh…” Hearing this, Katie couldn’t help but shudder.

"Looking back now, it might have been a good ending, at least... much better than what happened to me."

"What do you know about this city?"

"Hehe, I don't know much either, because I'm terrified of dying, so I only dare to linger on the outskirts. But I do know that the further you go into this city, the more dangerous it becomes..."

"roar-------!"

Before the old man could finish speaking, a wild beast roared from afar, and upon hearing this sound, the old man's voice trailed off.

"You've all heard it, haven't you? This city is teeming with terrifying monsters. Even the people seem to be under some kind of curse, becoming neither human nor ghost. The deeper you go, the more dangerous it becomes..."

"Grandpa, haven't you ever thought about leaving here?"

"Haha, of course I've tried it."

Hearing Katie's curious question, the old man chuckled.

"I've wanted to leave more than once. I've walked out of the city and run forward. I don't look in the direction I want, I just keep going forward, forward, forward... and then I find myself back here, back in this city. So I know I can't get out, and neither can you. I don't even know how long I've been here. At first I was keeping track, but later... haha, what use is time to me?"

"Well……………"

"Do you have any other comments?"

"If you ask me, you could easily find a place here and settle down. There are two of you, including a beautiful young lady, so you have plenty of time to enjoy yourselves. At least you won't be as lonely as I am before you die..."

"Woo..."

Upon hearing the old man's words, Katie blushed and turned her head away, while Levi remained unmoved.

"Did you know that a horse-drawn carriage drove into this city earlier?"

"Ah...I know."

"Where did they go?"

"All I know is that they headed towards the inner city, but whether they arrived or died, I have no idea."

"Thank you for your advice."

Li Wei nodded, then turned and left.

"Alright, let's go, Katie."

"Huh? Mr. Li Wei? We're just leaving like this?"

Katie was somewhat surprised to see Levi about to leave.

"if not?"

"Um... that old gentleman also helped us, right? He said he's been here the whole time and probably hasn't tried any snacks from outside. I happened to bring some snacks with me, how about we share some with him as a gift?"

“I don’t really care, but…”

As Li Wei spoke, he turned his head and saw that the candle in the window had gone out again, plunging the entire window into darkness once more.

I don't think he needs it.

"Hey? Just ask around and you'll find out."

Katie excitedly returned to the window and began to speak.

"Grandpa, I brought some snacks. Would you like to try one?"

“……………………………”

However, there was complete silence inside the window; not a sound could be heard.

"Grandpa?"

"Perhaps you can go in and give it to him directly."

Li Wei looked at Katie and spoke.

"Huh? But it's not really appropriate to just barge into someone else's house like this."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he won't have any objections."

"?"

Katie tilted her head in confusion, then went to the door and knocked.

"Dong dong dong."

There was complete silence inside. Li Wei reached out and grasped the doorknob, turned it gently, and the door opened.

"Huh? The door wasn't locked. Grandpa is so careless. This place is very dangerous."

"Perhaps he doesn't need to lock the door."

Li Wei turned on the gas lamp at his waist and then went into the house.

The whole house was also in disrepair, and you could hear the creaking of the wooden floorboards when you walked on it. The room on the right was where the old man and Li Wei had just talked, so Katie also came over.

"Grandpa, excuse me, are you there...?"

Levi followed Katie into the room, where the glow of the gas lamp dispelled the darkness and illuminated the surroundings.

Under the gas lamp, a skeleton could be seen sitting on the sofa by the window, dressed in tattered clothes, its left hand hanging limply, and a rusty pistol lying on the floor. A pipe sat on the table beside it.

If you look closely, you'll find that the walls of this room are covered with countless vertical lines.

"Alas! Mr. Li Wei! Corpse, remains...!"

Upon seeing the skeleton, Katie immediately shrank behind Levi in ​​fright, while he glanced at her.

"What are you afraid of? Weren't you just talking to him?"

"Huh? Mr. Li Wei, you mean, the old man who was talking to us just now was... a ghost?"

"Is it strange? This isn't the first time we've encountered ghosts, but of course, this is the first time we've seen one so friendly and willing to communicate with us."

Li Wei's [Soul Vision] can of course tell whether the other person is alive or dead, so he already knew.

"That, that's true..."

Katie cautiously peeked out and glanced at the skeleton sitting on the sofa.

"You go? Or should I go?"

Li Wei didn't mind expressing his gratitude, after all, the other party had pointed out the direction for them, otherwise, where would they have gone to find someone in such a big town?

"I...I'll do it..."

Katie hesitated for a moment, then put down her suitcase, took out a small bag from her pocket, took out a biscuit, put it on a tissue, and slowly walked to the skeleton.

"Thank you, thank you, grandpa. We will try our best to break this curse..."

After saying that, Katie put down the cookie and then darted back behind Levi.

No, why are you doing this?

Seeing Katie's terrified expression, Levi remained speechless. With Katie's strength, she could easily demolish this house, so why is she afraid of something like this?
Is this the type of female character in anime who can kill a dragon with a single sword strike, but then yells at a cockroach?

After that, Levi was practically "pushed" out of the house by Katie.

Incidentally, after they left the house, the door slammed shut automatically, startling Katie so much she nearly jumped three meters high.

Hmm, it was probably blown by the wind.

"I say, is this really okay with you?"

Looking at Katie, Levi was speechless, while the latter clenched her little fists.

"Of course, no problem! Didn't that old man say it's full of monsters? Don't worry, there are absolutely no monsters inside!"

The monster is fine, the ghost is the problem.

What a strange standard.

Li Wei shook his head and sighed.

"Alright, let's head to the inner city next."

(End of this chapter)