Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 307 The storm is coming
"Splash splash splash splash..."

The river water churned, and the little mermaid poked her head out, curiously looking this way. When she saw Li Wei, she immediately smiled happily.

"Hey, little guy, how's it going?"

Li Wei raised his hand and greeted the little mermaid, who nodded with a grin.

Upon seeing this, the old butler's eyes widened in surprise.

"How amazing—is this a daffodil?"

The old steward was old and had heard all sorts of stories, including about Narcissus, but this was the first time he had ever seen a real Narcissus.

As for what this little guy was all about, Li Wei had already told the old butler on the way here. The latter was quite surprised after hearing it, not expecting that these gangsters would be able to get their hands on such a mysterious creature.

Upon seeing the old butler, the little mermaid appeared somewhat nervous, hiding behind Li Wei and peeking out cautiously. The old butler also looked at the little mermaid with a complex expression, then sighed.

"I remember hearing a long time ago that daffodils are water spirits, and that there is a water spirit in every river and every lake... I never thought I would actually meet one."

"I don't know the specifics of her situation right now, because she doesn't speak our language, and she doesn't look very old."

Li Wei reached out and touched the little mermaid's hair. It was strange, really. Normally, after being soaked in water, a person's hair would feel clumped and tangled when exposed to air. But the little mermaid's hair, like in a shampoo commercial, was smooth and light to the touch, even after being soaked in water, without clumping at all.

But I have to say, it feels really good.

"If she really is Narcissus, then it doesn't seem like there's anything wrong with her."

The old butler nodded.

"The water fairy is a water spirit; wherever she is, there will be the protection of water..."

"There probably aren't any daffodils in that river in Chongqing. When are you going to clean up the sewage discharge there too...?"

"Haha, I will report to Her Majesty the Queen when I get back."

The old butler also squatted down, looking at the little mermaid with a kind smile. The little mermaid cautiously stared at the old butler, and then slowly peeked out from behind Li Wei.

"Hello, miss."

The old butler bowed to the little mermaid, who nodded in return. A smile appeared on her previously tense face.

Seeing this, the old butler sighed deeply, then smiled at the little mermaid again before standing up and looking at Li Wei.

Will similar situations become more and more common in the future?

"You're asking me this? Who am I supposed to ask...?"

Li Wei was speechless when faced with the old butler's question. He was just a detective, responsible for solving cases.

"I think that perhaps the way of life for humans will change drastically in the future."

The old steward looked at the little mermaid splashing in the river and sighed.

Li Wei understood what the old butler meant. In any case, in recent years, there have been more and more mysterious creatures, such as sea monsters, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, nightmares, alien demons, and now even daffodils.

Some of these things you've heard of in myths and legends, while others you're seeing for the first time.

Previously, these were simply stories to humans.

But now, they seem to be gradually appearing in reality.

Li Wei understood why the old steward sighed. Just think, if monsters from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, or mythological creatures like dragons, demons, angels, devils, the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Black Tortoise, and the Vermilion Bird suddenly appeared in the modern world, modern people would scratch their heads.

Because these mythical creatures, some are good, and some are bad. Vampires are troublesome, while water nymphs are somewhat better. So what about the future?

What if a forest fairy appears, or a witch who snatches children and eats them at night?
In short, we'll deal with whatever comes our way.

Li Wei patted the old butler on the shoulder. He was actually quite curious about how this world would develop. A world that was originally just a simple steam-powered technology had suddenly seen the reappearance of mythical creatures. How would humanity coexist with these beings in the future?
It must be said that this is indeed a problem.

But for Li Wei, it's not a big problem.

Professions like detectives and police officers actually have very low expectations of reality. The reason is simple: they are constantly facing an uncertain environment.

Unlike doctors or firefighters who can eliminate potential hazards through preventative inspections, you can effectively reduce the probability of fire or infection by conducting more frequent inspections or disinfecting more often.

But cases are different. Relationships between people are very complex. Who wants to kill whom is uncertain, and sometimes conflicts may arise from trivial matters that seem insignificant to others, leading to all sorts of problems.

This isn't something that can be solved simply by increasing the number of patrols. Even in modern times, with police patrolling the streets and cameras everywhere, some people still dare to commit acts in broad daylight. The solution is still to investigate and arrest those who need to be arrested.

After all, human conflicts are subjective and won't shift due to objective reality. While the Skynet system can deter most criminals, it's ineffective against those who are brazen enough to take action.

So the old steward might worry about what changes people's lives would undergo, but for Li Wei, it was all the same anyway; it was all about how humanity adapted. He'd deal with whatever came his way, and he just needed to do his job; he couldn't worry about much else.

"Oh, right, little guy, give me that thing from before."

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, the little mermaid flipped over and dived back into the river. A moment later, she floated back to the surface, still clutching the jar.

"This is it?"

"It's this unlucky guy."

Seeing the old butler's curious gaze, Li Wei chuckled. "Didn't expect that, did you?"

"I really didn't expect that. Judging by his age, he should be older than me."

The old butler had spoken to Jar-Head before, but at that time he didn't know much about Jar-Head's identity. Now that he knows the other party's true identity, looking at that brain of his is like a modern person looking at the head of a Qing Dynasty emperor.

Li Wei examined the jar's head to make sure there was nothing wrong with it before putting it away and looking at the little mermaid again.

"Alright, I'll be going now..."

However, before Li Wei could finish speaking, he saw the little mermaid reach out and tug at his sleeve, looking reluctant to part. Li Wei then reached out again and patted the little mermaid's head.

"Don't worry, I'll come back to you after I've finished taking care of things."

"………………………"

The little mermaid stared wide-eyed at Li Wei, as if trying to confirm whether he was lying. After a while, she nodded and then dived back into the river.

Afterwards, Li Wei took the jar and left the riverbank with the old steward.

"You're taking her to the Fog City?"

The old butler looked at Li Wei and asked.

"I thought you were going to leave her here."

"She's too young. Leaving her here isn't a good option. Taking her back will allow us to try out how to make contact with the fantasy species."

"Fantasy species?"

"This is something I invented, specifically to refer to these mythical creatures."

Li Wei plagiarized the modern concept without the slightest hesitation.

“Aren’t sea monsters, vampires, werewolves, and daffodils all products of people’s fantasy stories? So calling them fantasy species isn’t wrong, is it?”

"That's true."

Li Wei plans to categorize them. For example, those appearing in mythology will be called mythological species, those appearing in legends will be called fantasy species, and alien creatures not from this world will be called alien species... Hmm, who knows, Li Wei might even be able to publish a paper on this in the future and open up a new world in the field of biology.

However, that is all for the future.

Now, they still have to do what they're supposed to do.

Night falls.

Standing on the airship, Li Wei looked down through the porthole and saw the city of Cairoblanca ablaze with lights, the entire city illuminated. Even the lights on every street in the inner city were lit, making it seem like a city that never sleeps, reflecting the sky.

But Li Wei saw a completely different picture.

"Wow, there are quite a lot of people."

Activating his [Soul Vision], Li Wei stared at the opera house, muttering to himself. At this moment, in his eyes, the opera house was practically overflowing with people, countless points of soul light surging towards it. If he were to simply use [Soul Vision], it would remind Li Wei of a highway at night in modern society, where car headlights resembled tiny starlight, converging together, moving from here to there, from there to here…

Well, no traffic jams are a good thing.

"Captain, we are in position."

Just then, Henry's voice came from beside Levi's ear. Levi turned his head and looked in another direction. He saw hundreds of soul points of light lined up in a straight line and moving forward outside the city of Caesarblanca. Although Levi did not have the ability to see through things, he could guess from the formation of these points of light that they had entered the secret passage.

"Yes, the targets are entering. You can begin your operation now."

Li Wei blinked. Under his [Soul Vision], he could see that the former Royal Art Museum, which had served as the old capital's palace, was completely dark, with hardly any soul points of light. Clearly, no one knew that there was a secret passage leading out of the city from here.

On the other side of the castle, the two bright red dots remained in place, motionless.

If radar had self-awareness, it would probably look like this.

Li Wei stared at the city of Caesarblanca below, but his mind was elsewhere. He didn't need to worry about the capture; the Empire had gone all out this time. Although they hadn't brought any airships, Her Majesty the Queen had sent an Ark-class airship—a large transport vessel primarily responsible for transporting and deploying soldiers and mechs.

That's right, this thing can airdrop mechs.

Of course, as a military transport airship, this thing has no defensive capabilities and is easily shot down by anti-aircraft equipment.

The problem is that Caizablanca has no air defense equipment, nor should it have any.

If they dare to bring out their anti-aircraft equipment, then the Cyclops will be coming next.

At that time, it will truly be a bombardment of the land.

Outnumbered and outgunned—that's impossible. This situation is clearly one of the strong bullying the weak, the many attacking the few. Moreover, Li Wei has left behind the knight puppets he used in the Great Salt Lake Castle, mainly to deal with the leaders of the three major families. As for the others, Li Wei believes that with the firepower of the Imperial steam infantry and mechs, dealing with them will be no problem at all.

So you see, proper operations should be conducted in this way to be comfortable, so that you can stay comfortably and leisurely in the sky and command the overall situation. Why would you have to risk your life to die?
Li Wei sat on the sofa, and soon a soldier came forward and brought him tea. Li Wei took the teacup, took a leisurely sip, and then looked out the window again through the panoramic window.

Tonight, only one of us will be able to have a good dream.

(End of this chapter)