Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 304 Handover Point

"Well, how should I put it... it's really like finding something you've been searching for without even looking for it, only to have it come to you effortlessly."

Standing on the rooftop, looking at the castle not far away, Li Wei couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

He never expected that he would solve two problems just by listening to a whistle.

That's right, two.

First, the strongholds of these gangs.

Second, the address that the guy in the can mentioned.

Yes, Li Wei certainly hadn't forgotten the case of the canned food, but to be honest, at this point, the importance of that case had been downgraded in Li Wei's mind.

Li Wei's original plan was to use the local intelligence branch to investigate the alien's exact location and detailed information about the canister-headed creature. However, due to the branch's destruction, Li Wei had to shift his focus to avenging the branch's members, and thus the canister-headed creature was left aside.

Well, physically speaking, this thing is actually currently on the roof of the hotel building, watched over by his puppet cat; it's just a can of food anyway…

"It's a castle-like building with a stone statue in the courtyard; this is pretty much it."

Li Wei used the puppet bird to scan the entire castle and quickly found what he needed, then fell into deep thought.

In other words, the canned brain is related to the three major families? And the people sent to steal the canned brain were also members of the three major families?

Li Wei thought about it for a moment. Indeed, from the perspective of this case, the other party was clearly familiar with gangster methods, and it wouldn't be surprising if they were a member of the three major families. In other words, the whole case started when the three major families sent people to Fog City to try and retrieve this "canned head"... um...

Then the identity of this person with the canned brain is highly questionable.

However, according to Benjamin, if the name of this "canned brain" is correct, he should be a person from more than a hundred years ago. Even if the three major families were still around then, they probably wouldn't have acted so recklessly.

But that was also the most chaotic time in the old capital... After all, the queen hadn't even been born yet.

Li Wei only read from records that the old capital was a place of extravagance and debauchery, where the rich feasted while the poor froze to death on the streets. He couldn't imagine it, but he could at least guess that, given the social conditions of the old capital at that time, the public security must have been terrible. Benjamin had said that when the villagers came to his door, they found more than a hundred corpses in the basement of Guantou's house. Even now, that would be considered a major case.

Even in the Fog City before Li Wei's transmigration, there were very few people who could kill a hundred people in one go. The socialite assassin only killed a few socialites, and the council officials immediately put a bounty on his head.

Ultimately, Chongqing is, after all, the imperial capital. For a national capital to have such a case, it would be a laughing stock if it weren't solved quickly. And this queen is not someone to be trifled with. If you don't solve it soon, you'll lose your head and your official position.

So the city council made a very high-profile statement and offered a large reward, acting as if they had plenty of money to spare.

However, they initially thought they were just expressing a stance to the Queen, never expecting that someone would actually be able to break through...

From this perspective, it can be inferred that the old capital more than a hundred years ago must have had a terrible security situation, perhaps even worse than present-day Caesarblanca.

Li Wei stared at the ancient castle. Under the [Soul Vision], he could see nearly a hundred white soul points, and several soul points mixed with red.

And two bright red soul lights.

[Soul Vision] couldn't discern the distance, but based on his experience, Li Wei deduced that the two points of light should be located deep within the ancient castle.

Hmm, an old castle, red light.

In this era, Li Wei's first thought was—vampires.

In the foggy city of Levi, a vampire case was solved, but strictly speaking, that vampire was man-made, not naturally occurring.

But it's hard to say for here.

Hmm... Thinking of this, Li Wei's expression became somewhat strange.

Assuming that the canned-headed creature is indeed referring to this place, and assuming that the canned-headed creature is also a vampire, then this case becomes very interesting…

A vampire was researching dark magic, and then his research led him to aliens. He went to find the aliens, only to have his brain ripped out by them…

However, if that's the case, it makes sense that the vampire went alone. After all, he's a vampire with immense strength, and he probably wouldn't even care about the schemes and tricks of ordinary people.

Unexpectedly, the one lying in ambush was an alien...

In the battle between fantasy and science fiction, at least for now, science fiction has the upper hand.

Aliens are still more powerful than vampires.

It has to be said that if that's really the case, this would be quite a spectacle. Unfortunately, only a time traveler like Li Wei could understand this kind of humor. Even if you told it as a joke to the old butler or Katie, they would probably just think they were all monsters and not much different... which would be a bit boring.

But how exactly...?

After a moment's thought, Li Wei made a decision.

We'll have to go inside and see for ourselves to find out.

A covert search was no challenge for Li Wei, especially since his [Puppeteer] skill had reached LV7, allowing him to influence an area of ​​700 meters, which was no small distance. Although Li Wei could infiltrate the castle on his own like he had done at the zoo, he decided to be more cautious this time, considering that there were two red dots instead of blue dots deep within the castle.

Just like in a game, you can relax when you encounter a neutral opponent, but it's a different story when you encounter a hostile one.

“Vines climbed all over the count’s tomb… The castle was desolate, covered in weeds and mud…”

Li Wei hummed a song, while his mind wandered.

The next moment, the man-shaped bird flying in the air suddenly plummeted downwards, then it opened its claws and slammed into the window of the castle with a "bang".

Upon hearing the commotion, the people patrolling inside the castle sprang into action. Soon, several men in black suits, armed with hunting rifles, burst out of the castle through the doors.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Several guards rushed out, and then they saw a bird suddenly take flight in front of them and disappear into the air, startling the guards.

"Damn it, it's a bird, it scared the crap out of me."

Watching the bird disappear into the night sky, the guard spat and turned back, cursing under his breath.

However, they did not notice that just as the guards rushed out, a dark figure silently slipped through the crack in the door.

Okay, let's start searching now.

Controlling the puppet cat, Levi wandered around the castle. Castles are generally quite complex environments. After all, fortresses in the past weren't primarily decorative like they are now. They served as war fortresses, resulting in intricate layouts and designs. However, Levi had also explored similar castles at the Great Salt Lake, and the designs were all quite similar.

The main problem is, where to go for a walk?

Logically, one should search upwards in the castle, as the second and third floors are the main ones. However, the red dot Li Wei saw was below, so he ran down.

Yes, people generally prefer to hide their shady dealings underground; it seems this is indeed a common mentality.

The doors leading underground were locked, of course. Fortunately, these doors all had iron bars, making it impossible for a person to squeeze through, but it was easy for a cat to do so. Li Wei manipulated the cat puppet as if it had a cheat code, passing through several doors in one go.

It felt so good.

If this were a game, it would probably take players half a day just to find the key to open the door. Li Wei, on the other hand, went straight to the basement, feeling like he had activated a wall-penetrating cheat, which was incredibly satisfying, without needing to do anything.

It seems I really need to prepare more dolls in the future.

Thinking about this, Li Wei couldn't help but ponder it further. Now that his [Puppeteer] abilities were expanding, it meant he could pass through more and more walls. If humans couldn't, cats could; if cats couldn't, mice could; and if mice couldn't, cockroaches, moths, flies, and the like could…

Given the architecture of this era, it would have been too easy for Li Wei to make it ubiquitous.

If it succeeds, at the very least, surveillance and wiretapping will no longer be a problem.

Well, I just don't know if Eileen would be willing to make it for me.

After all, most girls wouldn't want to make these insect-themed dolls—well, there aren't any such dolls anyway. *Snap*

The doll-like cat landed quietly, and then Li Wei looked around.

In most ancient castles, the underground is a family cemetery, and this place was no exception. There were burial chambers on both sides, each containing a coffin. Li Wei glanced around, confirming there were no signs of spirits in the coffins, and then continued forward. Passing through the corridor and down the stairs, Li Wei cautiously approached. The red color of the object indicated it was some kind of supernatural being.

Li Wei didn't know what abilities this creature possessed, so he could only walk while activating [Soul Vision], so that if the creature made any move, at least Li Wei would have time to react.

“Da da da da da…”

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from behind. Hearing the footsteps, Li Wei also stopped in a hurry, and then quickly manipulated the puppet cat to dart to the side and hide in the corner of the tomb chamber—it was impossible to hide a person here, but it was still possible to hide a cat.

Then he saw three men walk over, carrying gas lamps. The leader was a burly man, followed by a man in a suit, and a guy wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

Li Wei's [Soul Vision] also noticed that the souls of these three people also had parts that were corrupted by red, or rather, they had a lot of red parts, at least more than fifty percent.

What Li Wei saw before was only about 20% to 30%.

Are they heading for those two red dots below?

Thinking of this, Li Wei had an idea. He manipulated the puppet cat to follow the three at a distance, watching them arrive at a stone door at the end of the underground tomb. Then, the burly man in the lead reached out and placed a stone plate on the groove of the stone door, turning it a few times.

"Rumble rumble rumble..."

Then, the stone door slowly opened.

Wow, that's quite a ritualistic thing to do.

Li Wei, manipulating the puppet cat to lie behind, couldn't help but inwardly scoff at the scene. But thankfully, these three came; otherwise… well, he wasn't entirely without options.

As the stone door opened, the three entered. Then the stone door slowly closed again, and Li Wei took the opportunity to leap in and slip through the gap before the stone door was completely closed, then hid in the shadows in the corner.

"Ok?"

Just then, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses turned around and glanced suspiciously in the direction of the stone gate, but unfortunately, he was too late. By the time the bespectacled man turned around, Li Wei had already manipulated the puppet cat to hide in the shadows and slip away to the side.

However, at the same time, Li Wei was also secretly shocked. This guy could actually sense the movements of the puppet cat. It seems that these guys are no longer ordinary people.

The bespectacled man glanced at it, found nothing, and then looked away. The three of them walked forward, and Li Wei looked up and saw two ancient stone coffins in front of them.

The two red dots of light were inside the two coffins respectively.

Could it really be a vampire?

Li Wei was also somewhat surprised. He had previously thought the other person was a vampire and was just making a joke, but he hadn't expected that the world's stereotypes about vampires were actually true...

Then, Li Wei saw the burly man and the bespectacled man standing on either side. Then the man in the suit walked forward, came to the two stone coffins, and bowed his head.

"My lord."

“………………………Rumble rumble…”

As the man in the suit shouted, a moment later, the lid of one of the coffins opened automatically, and Li Wei saw a woman rise from it like a zombie. She looked to be around thirty or forty years old, with pale skin and blood-red lips, and possessed a certain charm.

She stood there, staring at the man in the suit, without saying a word. The man in the suit, however, kept his head down and continued his report.

"The detective will leave Cairoblanca tomorrow morning, and the destabilizing factor in our plans can be eliminated."

"Hmm, very good..."

The woman spoke, her voice cold and filled with intimidation.

"This plan is very important. You should know what to do. Anyone who gets in the way of the plan must be dealt with."

"Yes."

"Is there anything else?"

"………………………"

The man in the suit hesitated for a moment.

"We have started the search as you instructed, but... so far, we haven't found it..."

Before he could finish speaking, the man in the suit stopped as if an invisible hand had grabbed his throat. His eyes widened, and he floated up. Then, in the next moment, his body flashed and he crashed into the wall behind him like a cannonball.

"boom!"

"I can feel him nearby!"

This time, the woman's voice was filled with hysterical fervor.

“He’s here! Right here in this city! My love! My beloved! He’s back! I can feel his soul! His breath! Find him! At all costs! Do you understand?”

"...Yes, we will mobilize all our resources to find that person as you requested."

The man in the suit got up, caught his breath, and came back to the woman, bowing his head as he spoke.

“Great, find him, bring him back, and then we can live together again like before.”

At this point, the woman seemed to remember something, and her tone softened considerably.

"When that time comes, we'll take the entire empire into our hands, and it will all be ours..."

The woman was talking in her sleep, and the three people below remained silent, clearly indicating that this woman had been dreaming for quite some time.

After imagining her wonderful future as queen for a while, the woman finally regained her senses and looked at the three of them again.

"I want to see him, to find him. If you can't find him, don't come back!"

After saying this, the woman suddenly waved her hand, and the next moment, an invisible force blasted open the stone door, blowing the three of them away!

After the three were blown out of the tomb, the stone door closed again, and the woman lay back in the stone coffin.

All of this was observed by Li Wei, who was hiding in the shadows.

really interesting.

Watching the woman return to the stone coffin, Li Wei also pulled himself out of his thoughts. He first manipulated the puppet cat to teleport out of the secret room in a shadowy manner, and then began to think about what he had gained this time.

There's a 90% chance that the woman is a vampire, so the person next to her should also be a vampire, and they should be husband and wife.

After all, the two of them were lying in the same tomb.

So now the question is, is the person the woman is looking for the one with the can?

Indeed, Li Wei brought the canned brain with him, but he didn't expect that the other party was actually a vampire—what kind of survival state would a vampire have after having their brain cut off?
This is quite an academic question.

However, getting the answer to this question is quite simple.

Li Wei thought for a moment, then looked up at the sky—it was already dawn, and a glimmer of light gradually appeared in the pale sky.

Yeah, when I get back, I'll smash this brain first.

(End of this chapter)