Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 296 Secret Investigation
"...That concludes Count Levy's report."

The old butler bowed his head before the queen.

Before her old steward, Queen Victoria II remained in full military attire, seated silently on her throne. Although Her Majesty's expression was impassive, her imposing presence still emanated from her.

After a long while, the Queen finally let out a soft hum.

"It seems that place is still as bad as ever. I had thought they would be more obedient."

"…………………"

The old butler remained silent, and Her Majesty the Queen fell into deep thought once more, her fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.

For the younger generation like Levi, the situation in Caesarblanca was not yet fully understood, but for the Queen and the old butler, the place was indeed very troublesome.

Caisablanca is the old capital.

What does this mean? It means a large number of buildings, houses, and secret passages.

In fact, Her Majesty the Queen had considered carrying out a major purge in Cairo before, but the problem was that it would be very difficult to do.

Unlike Melicia, which was a rebellious province, Caizablanca was not like Melicia. They could simply send an air fortress there and bomb it without consequence.

Cairoblanca was once the capital of the empire, and the Queen certainly wouldn't easily allow it to be destroyed. Destroying the capital is something only rebels would do, and a large-scale attack on Cairoblanca could potentially have negative consequences for other territories.

Moreover, Her Majesty the Queen was too lazy to spend her energy on this, since improving the strength of the Empire was the main thing, and in Victoria II's view, a cesspool was not worth paying special attention to at all.

It's a complete waste of time.

But now, the situation is different.

Mysterious events began to emerge, and the empire needed further integration. Not to mention, according to Levi's report, there was evidence that Caesarblanca was colluding with extraterrestrial beings... Well, the Queen thought even deeper. She had no concept of aliens, but through the previous report on the Great Salt Lake incident, the Queen already knew that so-called aliens were beings from beyond the sky, whose appearance, abilities, and views on good and evil were all different from humans.

So, what if the other side takes advantage of our inattention and transforms Caesarblanca into a frontline base for alien creatures to invade humanity?
If Li Wei knew what Her Majesty the Queen was thinking, he might think she was also from another time, perhaps having watched too many science fiction movies. But in reality, it's quite normal for a leader of a country to be wary of unknown alien creatures.

Just like in science fiction movies about alien invasions, the protagonists usually advocate for peaceful coexistence with the aliens, while the ruling class generally sees them as a dangerous force. This is actually quite normal, since the primary task of a country's leader is to protect the nation.

Your protagonist is alone, so there's no harm in guessing wrong.

I am the head of state. If I guess wrong, the entire country will be buried with me. Can you afford to pay for that?
If you're so capable, let's switch places. You be the leader, and I'll be just an ordinary citizen. I'll still promote friendly relations with aliens. Anyway, there's no harm in guessing wrong. Do you dare?
Therefore, it is perfectly normal for the Queen, as the supreme ruler of the empire, to be wary of these so-called alien creatures.

Not to mention, judging from previous cases involving extraterrestrial beings, this thing... isn't exactly friendly either.

So after receiving Levi's report, the Queen made a decision—to eliminate this threat.

As the empire's queen, she knew more than Li Wei. In the queen's view, a war would break out on the continent soon.

From the empire's perspective, they didn't want to get involved. It was better to stand by, watch others fight to the death, sit back and observe, and then reap the rewards when both sides were exhausted.

But the Queen also knew that dreams are beautiful, but reality is harsh.

Given the size of the empire, it would be difficult for them to remain unscathed once a major war breaks out. Currently, all nations have begun preparing for this war, which seems almost inevitable, and the empire is no exception. Although it is unknown when or how this war will erupt.

But everyone knows that war is inevitable.

Therefore, eliminating potential threats and problems within the empire as much as possible before the outbreak of war has become the Queen's top priority. The previous suppression of Melisia was based on this political consideration—this time, the Queen will absolutely not allow Melisia to fight for the empire while selling goods to the enemy.

Now, it's Kaisablanca's turn.

However, Caizablanca is really tough to beat.

To attack Caisablanca, ground troops must be deployed for urban warfare, and urban warfare has always been a major challenge. The Queen, having led troops in battle, is well aware of this.

This is not as simple as just bombing an aerial fortress and calling it a day.

Not to mention that Caesarblanca was the former capital, and to prepare for similar situations, it had long ago built city walls and towers, making it heavily guarded. Therefore, when the Queen took action, she chose to launch a surprise attack from within the palace, seizing key strongholds and intersections before beginning her operation.

If she does it from the outside, it will only make things more complicated.

After all, the Queen was the culprit who caused the bloodshed in Caesarblanca, and no one knew better than her how troublesome that city was.

Thinking of this, the Queen raised her head again and looked at the old butler.

What is the status of the formation of the special response force?

The special response unit the Queen mentioned is the same unit that the old butler told Li Wei about before, which is specifically designed to fight against mysterious entities. They took over the Great Salt Lake to use it as a base to train this unit.

"It's in the preparation stage, and a partial list has already been selected."

"No need to go to such trouble."

The Queen waved her hand.

"Move these troops to Croto, ostensibly for a defense exercise, and have the local defense forces cooperate."

"Yes."

The old steward naturally understood the Queen's meaning. Claude was right next to Caesarblanca, mainly in a plain area, which was very suitable for the movement of highly mobile troops. In other words, the Queen no longer intended to simply select people from the list, but planned to use actual combat directly. Clearly, this exercise was a feint; once Li Wei's side was ready, they would march in with a large army and attack Caesarblanca.

"Tell Count Levi that while he is investigating over there, he should see if he can win over any forces that are inclined towards the Empire. He can report any needs he may have at any time."

"Yes."

No power is monolithic, and the Queen is well aware of this. The reason why Melisia hasn't caused any major trouble after the crackdown is because the Queen has reinstated members of those pro-imperial factions from Melisia. And now, she clearly intends to use a similar tactic in Caesarblanca.

The Queen refused to believe that a city where officials and bandits colluded could be a monolithic entity. Did she think there were no dissatisfactions among its people?
This is simply not possible.

"Also, have him investigate what this so-called Royal Court is. I want to see who dares to call themselves a Royal Court in the Empire." At this point, the Queen's expression became serious and cold. Someone in the Empire actually called themselves a Royal Court? Were they planning a rebellion?
"Yes."

The old butler lowered his head again. He knew that the Queen would never let this matter go. The reason was simple: Caesarblanca was the old capital, and now someone was claiming to be the royal court there—it was easy to think of those corrupt royal family members who had been wiped out by Her Majesty the Queen.

Could there be some who slipped through the net?

"By the way, what has Katie been up to these past few days?"

After giving her instructions, the Queen casually asked a question.

"These past two days, after finishing her studies, the young lady has basically been going to the tower to play with the puppy."

"That's good, as long as she doesn't throw a tantrum. After all, that's a place like Caesarblanca..."

At this point, Her Majesty the Queen shook her head.

"If she can avoid going back, it's better if she doesn't."

The old butler offered no comment, as it wasn't his place to do so. The Queen merely remarked briefly before changing the subject.

"She said that the puppy looks exactly like Betty, the puppy in the painting?"

"I haven't seen it either, but it should be similar."

"That's quite interesting."

Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on the Queen's face.

"When Earl Levi returns this time, I'll have him bring that little dog to the palace. I also want to see what Betty, the little dog, looks like in real life."

Li Wei, of course, had no idea that Her Majesty the Queen was thinking about her little dog, or rather, even if he knew, it wouldn't make any difference.

After all, Li Wei is currently busy with his investigation.

The next morning, after having breakfast at the hotel, Li Wei left the hotel and once again swaggered to the editorial office of the "Exploration News".

Unlike last night, the editorial office was now locked up, sealed off, and the bodies around had obviously been cleared away long ago.

Putting everything else aside, the police station here is quite professional at cleaning the streets. Li Wei thinks they could open a cleaning company or something and definitely make money.

Li Wei didn't bring an automatic lock pick with him on this trip, but there was no need for it; he had already made preparations.

He glanced behind him, then turned and walked towards the alley on the other side of the editorial office. After turning the corner and entering the alley, Li Wei snapped his fingers.

【Teleportation】!
The next moment, Li Wei's figure disappeared without a trace, leaving only an ordinary origami paper on the ground.

A moment later, a furtive figure peeked out from behind. Seeing that the alley was empty, the figure was terrified and quickened its pace, rushing into the depths of the alley.

"What an idiot."

Through the puppet bird, Li Wei watched the idiot who was tailing him disappear into the depths of the alley before letting out a cold snort. With a puppet monitoring him, he had naturally noticed those watching him all along. These guys thought they were being foolproof, but thinking they could hide it from Li Wei was simply wishful thinking.

As for where they were looking for people, Li Wei didn't care; he wanted to deal with the situation at hand first.

The entire editorial department was still in a mess. It was clear that the people who came later simply carried the body out and did not touch anything else.

This is also a good thing for Li Wei.

He looked around and then went to a storage room inside the editorial department. The door wasn't locked, but Li Wei didn't open it. Instead, he extended his right hand, inserted a ring on his right middle finger into the lock's small hole, and then gently turned it.

"Click."

The next moment, the door next to them didn't move, but the wall next to them slid open silently, revealing a secret room.

This is also a little secret of MI7. In each MI7 branch, there is a similar secret room, which is mainly located near the storeroom. The door to the storeroom is connected to the door of the storeroom, but it can only be opened with a special key.

Each secret door key is unique to the branch manager and cannot be used interchangeably. Only Li Wei and the old butler possess the master key that can open all the secret rooms.

In other words, the two of them have the highest level of authority.

If it weren't for the police interfering last night, Li Wei would have already come in to check the documents. Unfortunately, the sudden arrival of the police forced Li Wei to change his mind.

The police have clearly searched the entire editorial office, but haven't found anything useful.

Actually, Li Wei would have preferred that someone survived in the secret room, but unfortunately, he had already scanned the place with [Soul Vision] last night and found that there wasn't a single living person left.

I guess I was just unlucky.

Entering the secret room, Li Wei turned on the light, and rows of neatly arranged filing cabinets came into view. He found the most recent file and began to read it.

Li Wei wasn't sure why the branch was attacked, but in his opinion, the least likely reason was the leak of MI7's identity. However, considering the nature of MI7 and the obvious signs of a battle involving mysterious creatures at the scene, he was more inclined to believe that the branch was discovered while investigating the mysterious incident, and then attacked to silence them.

So the branch must have discovered something, but there's no concrete evidence.

To be honest, MI7 has only been established for a little over a year, and it's severely understaffed. Moreover, because it involves mysterious events, it's not a matter of just recruiting anyone. It's not some ordinary military or police department where a simple vetting process is sufficient. So, it's always been short-staffed. This kind of branch is basically like a small intelligence station; after discovering a problem, it reports to headquarters, and then headquarters sends people to investigate.

If we can take him down, great; if not, we'll call in a big shot—and then it's Li Wei's turn to make a move.

The Caizablanca branch has not reported the mysterious case to headquarters, meaning it is still under investigation, so they should have a record of the investigation.

What Li Wei needs to do now is to look for clues in these records to see which deity they offended, which led to this disaster.

(End of this chapter)