Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 333 The Mystery
Once is never enough. Li Wei silently packed his things and boarded the airship again, where Anthony and Katie were already waiting for him.

Even the old butler personally took charge.

"what's the situation?"

Li Wei nodded to everyone and then asked a question. The old steward, with a serious expression, replied.

"Today, Princess Louise is traveling to the Torchlight to attend a charity auction."

A charity auction?

"The theme is to contribute to the empire's education cause, and all proceeds from the auction will be used for the funding of the empire's educational institutions."

"Why not on land, but in the sea?"

"It's kind of a...tradition."

The old butler sighed as he spoke.

"Initially, this charity auction was hosted by the Queen. She invited nobles and wealthy merchants to a banquet on the cruise ship. During the banquet, the Queen expressed her hope that everyone would contribute to the Empire's education. Everyone present was moved by the Queen's dedication to the Empire and generously donated..."

"…………………"

Li Wei looked at the old butler with an extremely strange expression.

What kind of people are capitalists, that they'd all be so generous? This isn't the era where you can get tax breaks for doing charity. Do you think I don't understand what the Queen means? She's lured everyone onto the ship, and she'll talk to them after it sets sail. Once they've paid, they won't be able to get back!

And you're so generous... It's like you're on a cruise ship at sea and you can't just sit there without spending money.

This isn't like land; you have nowhere to run...

The old butler chuckled as he looked at Li Wei.

it is more than words.

"In short, since then, every charity auction has been held at sea and presided over by representatives of the royal family; it has become a tradition."

Charity auction (crossed out) is legal robbery.

Anyway, it has nothing to do with me.

Li Wei rolled his eyes.

"Go on."

“The Torchlight is a royal passenger liner, and during this auction, it will be escorted by a Royal Navy warship. They will provide updates every hour to maintain contact.”

"And then you lost contact?"

"Yes."

The old butler's expression immediately turned serious.

"Two hours ago, Torchlight failed to report on time. Not only that, but the escorting Aegis has also been completely silent. No matter how we try to contact them, there has been no response."

"This is indeed...quite strange."

Hearing this, Li Wei frowned. If it were just a passenger ship attacked, it was indeed possible that it would be destroyed before it could even call for help. However, the fact that both sides remained silent despite having warships escorting it made the situation rather strange.

"By the way, are their flight paths okay?"

"No, it follows a fixed route. Hundreds of ships travel back and forth on this route every day, so it's very safe."

Then there wouldn't be a place like the Bermuda Triangle.

Li Wei had once read those ghost stories and UFO magazines at the train station. One of them mentioned places like the Bermuda Triangle, where there was no signal and hundreds of ships and planes mysteriously disappeared. Of course, this was just gossip from the era before widespread internet access. In the internet age, with so much live streaming, nobody goes to the legendary Bermuda Triangle anymore.

Just like the Loch Ness Monster, it seems to have disappeared as camera and mobile phone resolutions have improved.

But then again...

"With so many ships on this route, how are we supposed to keep track?"

Li Wei's [Soul Vision] is, after all, just a skill; it can only perceive the radiance of souls. Unlike in a game, it doesn't use gold or red to mark the target.

Do we have to check them one by one?
"We have already ordered all ships in ports to cease operations and ships on the shipping route to return to port as soon as possible. At the same time, the Starship and the Swordship have begun operations to cooperate with us in the search and find the Torchlight as soon as possible."

"Have you asked any other ships if they've seen the Torchlight?"

Li Wei asked, as a detective, he preferred to investigate before taking action.

“We have questioned all the ships and learned that some ships had seen Torchlight and Aegis. Because it is rare for passenger ships to be escorted by warships, they had a deep impression of them. According to the captain, Torchlight was about one-third of the way on the course and looked perfectly normal. When they saw the warships escorting them, they didn’t go over to investigate and instead went around them from a distance.”

"By the way, just asking a question."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei raised another question.

"A charity auction, it's still an auction, right? What kind of things are usually auctioned?" "Not really, mostly antiques, paintings, jewelry, and things like that that Her Majesty the Queen acquired from the families of nobles who were exterminated..."

"…………………"

Good heavens, this is truly a case of the wool coming from the sheep's back. They plunder the homes of nobles, sell their possessions to other nobles, and then find another opportunity to plunder them back later. It's like getting something for nothing, making a fortune without spending a single penny themselves.

Her Majesty the Queen is so dark-skinned...

As for why he wasn't invited to the charity auction, Li Wei understood. Frankly, this auction was just the royal family taking money from the nobility. Although he was an earl, the money still came from the royal family; they couldn't possibly take it from him. Otherwise, what difference would it make from him robbing himself?
As for the other nobles, they all had their own territories and incomes, so the royal family naturally... wouldn't be polite.

Of course, for these nobles, it wasn't simply a matter of being a sucker; whoever contributed the most would be on good terms with the royal family. Besides, Princess Louise would definitely inherit the throne, so cultivating a good relationship with the future Queen wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?

However, if it's antique jewelry, there might actually be some danger. Moreover, the old butler also said that these were all obtained by the Queen from other nobles' homes in the past, and the Queen herself might not even know what these things are.

It's not impossible that something might go wrong with these things.

However, there is another possibility... The Kingdom of Krant is enraged by the alliance between the Empire and the Duchy of Tiris and plans to take advantage of the situation to retaliate against the Empire.

However, the specifics are still unclear, and in short, we can only take it one step at a time.

As they spoke, the airship arrived at the port. It was already evening, and a setting sun cast a brilliant red glow on the horizon, painting the entire sea a vibrant crimson. The port was filled with ships of all sizes, clearly unable to leave due to the unexpected incident.

The airship passed the port and headed forward. After a while, it saw two warships sailing at sea.

Clearly, that was the warship that had been sent out to search for the Torchlight.

The two sides exchanged greetings, and then the airship continued forward. After all, among land, sea, and air, the air force is the fastest, and airships have the widest field of vision, so they are the main force for the search. As for the two warships, they are more like lifeboats. For example, if the ship sinks, they can be responsible for rescuing people.

According to the old steward, the Empire deployed a total of six airships to search the entire sea area simultaneously from two directions.

Whoever can find the Torchlight and the princess will have accomplished a great feat!
Li Wei took the nautical chart and studied the route carefully.

It must be said that this flight path is actually quite safe, and it's within the Empire's territory, close to land. Logically speaking, even if something happened, there should be at least some signal.

Did we take the wrong turn?

That's not impossible, considering the times we live in, and it's easy to lose your way at sea. But even if one ship carelessly takes the wrong turn, there's a warship nearby; it's impossible for both ships to lose their way.

It would be more reasonable to say they went to Bermuda.

Li Wei sighed silently, put down the nautical chart, and stared at the sea in front of him.

He really didn't want to use [Soul Vision]. What if he saw a soul reaction bigger than a football field underwater? What was he supposed to do then?

That's why I said I have thalassophobia.

Time passed by minute by minute.

As the sun gradually set, the sea grew increasingly dark and deep. Li Wei stood at his observation window, staring intently at the surface. He did see some fish, or perhaps a group of fish, exhibiting signs of life, but this was clearly of little use. Of course, Li Wei wasn't alone; the other staff members were also carefully observing the sea on either side from their respective observation windows.

Soon, it became completely dark.

Just as Li Wei was staring out the window, he felt someone tug at his sleeve.

"Mr. Li Wei?"

"What's wrong, Katie?"

Li Wei turned his head and saw Katie looking at him with concern.

"You'll be able to find Sister Louise, won't you?"

"Uh... all I can say is, I'll do my best."

Even the most powerful Soul Vision can only detect living people. If the other person is already dead, then... no matter how powerful Li Wei is, he can't possibly resurrect you.

"Mr. Li Wei, keep going! I believe you'll find it! I'll help you too!"

Katie clenched her little fists and stared at Li Wei as she spoke. Li Wei simply patted her head and looked ahead again.

In the distance, the sky and earth were pitch black, seemingly merging into one. Li Wei couldn't even tell whether he was in the air or in the sea. Only the fish swimming in the waters below offered him some solace.

time flies.

Still no results, and the atmosphere inside the airship grew increasingly tense. Logically, this kind of night was not suitable for a search. But now, no one could afford to worry about that; after all, the missing person was the Imperial Princess, the next Queen!

We must find her no matter what!
"call……………"

Li Wei couldn't help but yawn and blink. But at that moment, his vision suddenly caught sight of a bright red color appearing in the corner!
"————!"

Upon seeing the red light, Li Wei was immediately startled.

This is not a good sign!

(End of this chapter)