Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 286 An Unexpected Discovery!

"Alright, now it's time to verify the results."

Upon arriving at the training room, Li Wei mustered his energy, stared intently at the puppet in front of him, and rubbed his hands together.

He then pointed to one of the dolls.

[Actor Selection]!
"Wow."

The next moment, the doll placed next to him was suddenly enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Then, Li Wei saw a cute white puppy emerge from it. It opened its mouth, stuck out its tongue and smiled, wagging its tail at Li Wei.

"Wang Wang Wang!"

"Hmm... well... how should I put it..."

Looking at the little white dog in front of him, Li Wei's expression was somewhat subtle.

Perhaps because it's a comic book, the puppy's image is more detailed than the previous socialite killer. The socialite killer was always a bit vague, perhaps because people's impressions of him weren't clear enough, so he didn't seem very real.

But the image of the puppy right now is very clear, just like the image in the extreme color ultra-high definition mode that appears on an 8K display.

But it's not entirely without problems.

"Come here, little one."

Li Wei waved to the puppy, which quickly ran to his side. Li Wei then reached out and scratched its chin, and the puppy closed its eyes and made a >_< expression.

This is not a metaphor or an exaggeration; the puppy's eyes really do look like > and < when they are closed.

In Li Wei's world, there is a 3D animation rendering technology, which simply means rendering 2D into 3D. This technology was already quite mature before Li Wei traveled to this world.

Right now, that's how Li Wei feels about this little dog.

It's as if a 2D creature rendered in 3D animation has appeared in the real world.

However, it does feel fluffy to the touch, not unlike a real dog, and you can feel its body temperature and heartbeat. This isn't Li Wei's design; it's just a basic human instinct. After all, when you think of a dog, you naturally assume it's alive and has a beating heart. It's common sense.

Or rather, most of the time, this puppy looks much like an ordinary puppy, but it makes some anime-like expressions, like turning into beady eyes or having a question mark appear above its head. Perhaps this is because comics leave a more lasting visual impression on most people compared to simple text.

After all, words can only rely on imagination, while comics already have sufficient visual expressive power.

By the way, try using [Soul Vision] to take a look.

Looking at the puppy in front of him, Li Wei suddenly had an idea. Then he stared at the puppy and activated [Soul Vision].

Then, the dog's spirit appeared in Li Wei's eyes.

"…………………"

Well, it was both unexpected and somewhat reasonable.

blue.

It's the same color as Alice.

However, unlike Alice, a golden dot of light can be clearly seen inside the puppy's body.

Yes, it's the same core that Li Wei saw before.

The core of the evil spirit is red, the core seen at the Great Salt Lake is green, and now a golden core has appeared.

Different colors might represent different characteristics. But then again... Alice doesn't have such a core in her body.

It seems that neither ordinary humans nor animals also have this problem.

In other words, the core is not the same as the heart?
There are more and more mysteries.

Li Wei sighed silently. The Necronomicon only presented the process, without providing details. Simply put, it was like investigating a murder case; what everyone saw was the process of someone killing someone else. But the motive, the causes and consequences, remained completely unknown.

So, where did this core come from?
Let's investigate slowly.

Li Wei snapped his fingers, and then saw the puppy wagging its tail at him, barking twice, before disappearing without a trace.

Then, a golden radiance emerged from it and fell into Li Wei's body.

At the same time, a system notification appeared.

[Obtain the Soul Core—Betty the Puppy]

The core of the soul?

Upon seeing this word, Li Wei was immediately startled, and then he immediately thought of something else.

The [Ghost Ship] I obtained earlier is also a soul core!

Wait, I see! I get it now!
Li Wei clapped his hands excitedly. He remembered that on the North Star, the Luddites had planned to create a sea monster attack, turning the entire North Star into a ghost ship. The reason they did this was that these Luddites didn't have the ability to directly turn their fantasies into reality like Li Wei did; they had to "attach" them to something to use them.

In fact, the core of Li Wei's [Ghost Ship] is the same; it must be attached to something that exists in reality in order to be used.

Upon closer examination, the same applies to other things, including vampires, werewolves, haunted house dolls, and even statues in mines. They all require a real entity to "attach" to them in order to manifest their power.

The only exception was the Ghost Rider, but even the Ghost Rider only manifested by using that girl as the core vessel.

Hmm? Does this mean...? Thinking of this, Li Wei no longer hesitated and turned to leave.

"Sir? Where are you going?"

Seeing that Li Wei was about to leave home, the butler Kane hurriedly asked him what was going on.

"I have to go out for a bit, don't tell Alice!"

After leaving those words, Li Wei hurriedly left home.

"Next, I need to find a puppy. A puppy... Hmm, I heard the pet stores are out of stock? No problem, I have a better way."

Li Wei quickly summoned the puppet bird, then activated [Soul Vision] to explore the surroundings.

Not long after...

"found it."

Looking at the little dog trembling in the corner, Li Wei smiled smugly.

This appears to be a puppy that got separated from its mother. It has yellow fur and looks to be just over a month old. Perhaps because it hasn't eaten for a long time, the puppy is now skin and bones and is barely alive.

Okay, let's give it a try.

Li Wei looked at the puppy in front of him, then he reached out his hand. As Li Wei moved, a golden light appeared in his palm.

[Core Empowerment]!
Then, Li Wei saw the core of "Betty the puppy" float into the body of the stray puppy.

The latter changed rapidly in the next moment.

Its original brownish-yellow fur turned white rapidly and visibly, and its once skinny and somewhat thin body became chubby and very cute, like the puppy Betty.

Then, the puppy opened its eyes, looked at Li Wei, and ran over to lick Li Wei's fingers.

"Wang Wang!"

Haha, it worked!
At this moment, Li Wei really wanted to be like those bosses in animations who had succeeded in their schemes, putting their hands on their hips, looking up at the sky and laughing three times to celebrate!

This was inspired by a vampire case he had worked on before, where a young girl was given the core of a vampire and then transformed into one.

However, there's a problem: the person endowed with the core obviously won't consume their lifespan like Li Wei's "Actor's Entrance." This means that once a creature is endowed with a core and acquires its characteristics, as long as it lives, it can keep the soul core alive!
To put it bluntly, if Li Wei were to use the "Actor's Appearance" technique to materialize Betty the puppy, he would have to expend a lot of time and energy.

However, if he were to bestow Betty's soul core upon another living being, he would not have to expend his life!
Furthermore, while beings endowed with a soul core may also exhibit comic-book-like behaviors, they at least won't have their eyes turn into >_< or a question mark inexplicably appear above their heads. In short, after being endowed with a soul core, their behavior seems more in line with the characteristics of this world.

I finally figured out how to use this ability!

At this moment, Li Wei had a completely clear understanding of how to use this ability!

As for the little dog...

Looking at the little dog circling around him, wagging its tail, Li Wei smiled slightly.

Isn't this just right?
"Dad, you're back!"

When Li Wei returned to the tower, Alice, who had finished her class, ran over. Upon seeing Li Wei, Alice immediately showed an endearing and adorable smile, threw herself at him, and hugged him tightly.

Li Wei also reached out and patted Alice's head.

"Yes, I'm back, Alice. You look great too."

"Alice is fine. Is Daddy alright? Is he hurt?"

"It's nothing, I also brought you a gift."

"Gift?"

Upon hearing Li Wei's answer, Alice tilted her head in confusion, while Li Wei smiled slightly and then took out a basket covered with a cloth from behind him.

"Hey? Hey?"

Alice was somewhat surprised to see the basket, and she looked at it curiously.

"Can I open it, Dad?"

"of course."

With Li Wei's permission, Alice also reached out and lifted the cloth.

Then she saw a cute white puppy lying inside, looking at her with a smile, sticking out its tongue, and wagging its tail.

“…………………Betty?”

Alice stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the puppy in the basket. She knew this scene; in the comic book, the very first scene depicted Betty the puppy meeting her owner in a basket. Alice never imagined she would actually witness it firsthand, and that the puppy looked exactly like the one in the comic!
"How is it? Do you like it?"

"Ok!"

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, Alice happily hugged him again.

"Thank you, Dad! I love it!"

(End of this chapter)