Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 318 The Day Before Yesterday (I spent all my money on Xi Lian 6+5 in one go, now I'm broke)
Two days ago, in Huangye Mountain area.

Qi Ya slowly opened her eyes. She dressed, stepped out of the tent, and was immediately met with a blast of cold air, causing her to shiver involuntarily.

The camp was now bustling with activity, with soldiers cooking over a fire and members of the expedition team surveying the surrounding terrain.

"Ah, Miss Qiya, good morning."

A soldier saw Qi Ya and greeted her.

Good morning, have you seen Grandpa?

“Dr. Franco? He should be over there fiddling with that strange instrument.”

"Thank you."

Qi Ya thanked the soldiers and then walked towards one side of the camp. There she saw a strangely shaped device, about the size of a refrigerator, with a tall antenna on it. If the governor of Steel City hadn't sent mech guards, it probably wouldn't have been so easy for them to bring this device into the mountains.

But without this instrument, they probably wouldn't have gone into the mountains...

"Why……………"

Thinking of this, Qi Ya sighed silently. This instrument was recently created by her grandfather. It was originally commissioned by the Empire, mainly for the improvement of radio equipment. Her grandfather designed the theory and equipment of the instrument, while Qi Ya was responsible for programming the operating system.

The "radio wave sensing device" that Grandpa made was based on this requirement. To put it simply, the authorities wanted to create a portable device, similar to a signal tower. This way, even in the wild or remote, uninhabited areas, as long as it could be turned on, it could capture surrounding radio signals to facilitate communication within the area.

Okay, that's all for the details. So how does this relate to the current inspection?

Actually, when this device was built and put into operation, it captured very unique radio wave signals.

At first, Qi Ya thought there was a problem with the program she designed, so the grandfather and granddaughter conducted several experiments, but the results remained the same. This immediately piqued Dr. Franco's interest, and he wanted to figure out what the mysterious radio signal was.

However, due to the great distance and the obstruction of the radio signals, it took a considerable amount of time to pinpoint the location. Finally, Grandpa determined that the radio waves originated from deep within Huangye Mountain.

This was strange. The radio waves were clearly man-made, but Huang Yeshan Qiya also knew that the surrounding area was completely deserted, and the fluctuations of this radio wave signal were completely different from those currently used by the Empire. After discovering this, Dr. Franco became excited and wanted to find out the source of these radio waves.

So he quickly went to the governor of the Steel City, who naturally tried to dissuade him.

“The deep mountains are very dangerous. Perhaps I should send a survey team to search first…”

"You guys have no idea how to use this instrument!"

"But...it's really dangerous there. We've had several reports of earthquakes in the mountains recently..."

"Isn't that just right?"

"Hey?"

"Perhaps the earthquake in the mountains is related to this mysterious radio wave. Why don't I help you investigate?"

"No, oh, this..."

Looking at the sweat-drenched governor of the Steel City, Qi Ya silently apologized to him. She knew that once her grandfather made up his mind, nothing could stop him. If the governor didn't allow him to go, he would go alone. The only way to stop him was to lock him up… but that was obviously impossible.

Finally, the governor had no choice but to grant his grandfather's request and assigned him a platoon of soldiers for protection. Although his grandfather was angry and said it wasn't necessary to go to such lengths, Qi Ya breathed a sigh of relief. After all, her grandfather was old, and although he was still quite healthy, it was indeed dangerous for him to be in the deep mountains. Although she felt sorry for the soldiers, Qi Ya also felt reassured having them around.

After passing through the camp, Qi Ya arrived at the radio wave sensor and saw her grandfather excitedly turning the handle in his hand, staring at the instrument, looking like he was panting heavily.

"Um... Grandpa, good morning?"

"Oh, Qiya, come quick, come and take a look at this data!"

Hearing Qi Ya's voice, Dr. Franco turned around and waved excitedly at her. Qi Ya stepped forward and looked at the printed data in front of her.

"How was it? Pretty impressive, right?"

"Ah, um...it was indeed a bit unexpected..."

Qi Ya stared at the data in front of her and gradually fell into deep thought.

Although she was indeed reluctant to let her grandfather come here, Qi Ya herself was actually quite interested in this mysterious radio wave.

Although the radio waves couldn't be deciphered yet, based on what was sensed, it was indeed a regular, intermittently repeating signal. Naturally, Qi Ya wanted to figure out what this signal meant and what was emitting it.

"The signal density has increased, so the amount of information should have increased too, but it's completely undecipherable..."

Looking at the data in her hand, Qi Ya complained in a low voice, dissatisfied. This signal... to be honest, in Qi Ya's opinion, it didn't even seem like a signal transmission mode used by humans. Of course, it could also be that her strength was insufficient, but she had already tried several signal decryption methods, all of which ended in failure.

If we can find any clues at the location where the signal was sent, perhaps we can…

"Waaah..."

Thinking of this, Qi Ya blushed and then put down the data in her hand.

"Ah, Grandpa, I'll be right back."

"Oh."

Dr. Franco was busy checking the records and only gave a casual reply, while Qiya quickly left the camp and squatted down in a bush.

"Drip drip drip..."

"Waaah..." Hearing the sound of water beside her ear, Qi Ya blushed a little. It was so hard to find a place to be outside.

It's not nice to say, but Qi Ya has lived in the Steel City since birth and is a complete city kid. Exploring in the wild is a first for Qi Ya, not to mention that she is the only girl in the whole team... even though she is only a ten-year-old girl.

"Thorn."

Just as Qi Ya finished relaxing and was about to get up, she suddenly heard a shaking sound coming from the bushes next to her.

"Hey?"

Hearing the sound, Qi Ya paused for a moment, then turned her head uneasily to look at the bushes. At that moment, Qi Ya remembered what the adults had said during their previous camping trip.

"Don't stray too far from the campsite. There are many dangerous animals in the mountains, including poisonous snakes. If you get bitten, you could die instantly!"

No, no way...

Staring at the swaying bushes, Qi Ya felt her whole body stiffen. She wanted to get up, but even her legs felt weak.

Just then, a shadow suddenly darted out of the bushes and pounced on Qi Ya!

"Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!"

Then, Qi Ya's screams echoed through the sky.

After a short while, the commotion subsided as soldiers arrived.

"Really, that gave us quite a fright, Miss Qiya."

The leading soldier looked at Qi Ya, speechless.

"Didn't I tell you not to stray too far from the camp?"

"I'm so sorry..."

Qi Ya blushed and kept bowing her head to apologize, while the soldier next to her patted her on the shoulder.

"Alright, Miss Qiya is a girl, she must have things to deal with, not some big man like you. But speaking of which..."

The soldier turned his head and looked at the animal lying in Qi Ya's arms.

"This is... a stray cat, right? There are stray cats in the forest?"

That's right, what rushed out of the bushes wasn't a wild beast, but a small wildcat. It looked very thin and was currently curled up in Qi Ya's arms, looking around anxiously.

"Who knows? I've never seen it in the forest. Maybe it's a lost cat."

"It looks like she was just born and got separated from her mother?"

Seeing the cat, the soldiers around them started discussing it amongst themselves, while Qi Ya held the kitten in her arms, feeling its warm, trembling body.

So thin, so small…

"Uh...it seems very hungry, should we feed it something?"

"Is there anything we brought that kittens can eat?"

"How about nutritional powder? Sometimes I don't have time to cook for my cat, so I make that for him."

"Whoa, you gave your cat that stuff to drink? Didn't your cat scratch you to death?"

Upon hearing the soldier's words, the surrounding crowd showed expressions of disgust. The so-called nutritional powder was a powder that soldiers carried when they went out, which could be eaten after being mixed with water. Because it was easy to carry and rich in calories, it served as emergency rations in the military.

Of course, since this stuff becomes sticky after being soaked in water, it looks a bit like snot, so...

"Just use less water! Cats aren't people!"

The soldier was clearly unwilling to accept his colleague's questioning, so he quickly grabbed a small bowl, added some nutritional powder, dissolved it in hot water, and then brought it to the kitten.

The latter turned his head, glanced at the sticky powder in the bowl—and decisively turned his head away, as if to say, "Even if I starve to death or jump off this cliff, I will never eat a single bite!"

"See, you really don't know how to eat, do you? I have some dried meat here, come on, have a taste."

Another soldier took out a piece of jerky and placed it near the kitten's mouth. Upon seeing this, the soldier who had been feeding the kitten with nutritional powder earlier showed a disdainful expression.

"Don't you understand? This kitten is so small, its teeth haven't even grown in yet, you're telling me you can feed it meat... You must be kidding me!?"

However, to the cat-loving soldier's surprise, the kitten, which had just been half-dead, suddenly opened its mouth and bit off a piece of the jerky, then began to chew it in large mouthfuls.

This surprised the cat-loving soldier, because jerky is a very hard food, and it takes a person several bites to bite through it, but this little cat bit through it in one go.
Is this a normal kitten?
"See, cats really do need to eat meat."

Seeing his jerky being devoured by the kitten, the other soldier burst into laughter.

Just then, a whistle blew.

"Okay, keep going!"

(End of this chapter)