Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 340 An Invitation

And so, Qi Ya also moved into Li Wei's tower.

Of course, Li Wei also introduced Qi Ya, Alice, and the little mermaid to him. Li Wei didn't say much about Alice, only that he took her in after investigating a case. As for the little mermaid... well, that surprised Qi Ya a lot.

However, it wasn't like Qi Ya hadn't seen Olivia's three-headed dog before, or those alien monsters. Compared to them, the little mermaid was much cuter.

However, Li Wei was quite troubled about arranging accommodation for Qi Ya. Although Qi Ya was just a child, she was no ordinary child.

The reason lies in the luggage that Qi Ya brought when she arrived in the Fog City.

She brought a difference engine with her!

And it's the latest model!
According to Qi Ya, she wanted to use these difference engines for her research project. However, setting aside their computing power, the difference engines of that era were truly terrifying in size. The constantly rotating bearings and gears alone took up an entire wall, not to mention the need to construct steam power pipes, connect electrical wires, and assemble components…

Li Wei didn't care about this; he had already bought and converted all the houses near the tower into warehouses. He wasn't bothered by Qi Ya's plan to turn them into a mechanical workshop. The little mermaid and Alice, however, were particularly interested in the difference engine Qi Ya had brought, and came to see it whenever they had free time.

This is understandable. Not to mention them, even Li Wei found this amazing mechanical creation fascinating. Especially when he saw Qi Ya typing away on the keyboard with a serious expression, staring intently at the screen in front of her.

The screen on this differential engine wasn't the kind of CRT or plasma display that Li Wei was familiar with; instead, it was a large box filled with signal lights.

To be honest, this reminded Li Wei of the dot-matrix diagrams used in traffic lights or elevators, but he had no idea what the underlying principle was. According to Qi Ya, this screen contained a large number of signal lights that would sense corresponding signals based on the calculations of the differential machine and then display them.

Hmm... I didn't understand. Li Wei said that he couldn't even understand modern computers, so he probably understood this thing even less. In short, it just looked very impressive.

As for what project Kia is working on, according to her, it's a completely new design. The cause stems from the virus incident in Steel City. Although Kia and Dr. Franco solved the problem afterward, it was merely a patch and didn't change the core functionality.

Ultimately, the biggest problem lies in the fact that the current differential amplifier format is universal; regardless of the country of origin, a differential amplifier can be read by inserting a punch card. This is a good thing, but it also brings hidden dangers. Just like with virus incidents, the differential amplifier can still automatically read data that is clearly faulty, leading to errors and corruption.

Therefore, Qi Ya came up with a solution: to create a brand-new encrypted punch reading mode that could filter out problematic data without affecting existing data reading records.

Hmm… Li Wei felt he understood what Qi Ya was saying, but whether she could actually do it, he didn't know. Anyway, he was a complete novice when it came to computer programming, so since Qi Ya thought it was feasible, Li Wei had no reason to object, right?
Aside from arranging accommodations for Qi Ya, Li Wei was quite relaxed and slacking off. Perhaps because he had saved Princess Louise, Li Wei had been very free during this period, and MI7 hadn't assigned him any more tasks, so he was clearly taking it as a vacation.

Li Wei naturally wouldn't refuse. He was getting tired of putting out fires everywhere lately. First, Dr. Franco was attacked by alien creatures, and then Princess Louise almost lost her life because of a mysterious item. He wasn't really 007, so why was he running around like this?

Speaking of 007, he has a "stick girl" (a term used to describe someone who is very attractive and influential), but where is his own "stick girl"?

Time passed day by day, and Levi mostly stayed home slacking off, occasionally going to the club. Incidentally, Joan had told him that the stage play of *Moonflower* had been a resounding success. After that, the lead actor, Corent, also kept his promise and surrendered to the police, revealing that he was the murderer of Mobis.

However, after the investigation, the police questioned Mobis, who was also greatly surprised that it was Corent who wanted to kill him. But perhaps because of his near-death experience, Mobis's temper had changed somewhat, and he ultimately decided not to pursue Corent's responsibility. Corent, after posting bail, went straight home.

So you see, that's why Li Wei didn't want to get involved in this case—there was really nothing worth it. Matilda, on the other hand, was incredibly incredulous when she learned of it. She excitedly told Li Wei that the case had given her new inspiration, and she planned to write a love story between a male and female actor in her next book. The story would involve them rehearsing a love play, and the male lead, who secretly loved the female lead, saw this as a perfect opportunity to get closer to her.

However, the female lead is an actress who has dedicated almost her entire life to her acting career and has no interest in anything outside of acting. So he approaches her under the pretext of experiencing the storyline and begins to build a relationship between them.

Just as the male lead had hoped, he and the female lead grew closer, and after the performance, they found perfect love.

The night after the male protagonist walked down the aisle, when he woke up next to the female protagonist, he heard her silently reciting the words they had spoken at their wedding the day before. Hearing this, the male protagonist was shocked, as he knew that the female protagonist had a habit of reciting lines in her dreams.

Could it be that, for her, her love for him and being with him were nothing more than a drama? Is she still just an actress in this drama? Does the female lead truly love him, or is it merely part of the performance?

"This story is going to be very interesting. Who's acting, and who's truly in love? I think it'll be very interesting!"

"Hmm, that's really impressive..."

Looking at the overjoyed Matilda, Levi clicked his tongue in amazement, thinking, "When it comes to being freakish, you're the real freak..."

One can imagine that this author's next book will be another story of a neurotic and obsessive love affair, no less captivating than the previous two...

Sigh, I hope she doesn't end up with a few more mentally unstable criminals because of this, and then after hearing their stories of crimes, Matilda gets a new inspiration and writes another novel about mentally unstable romance novels—goodness, she's producing and selling her own stuff.

Now Li Wei is glad that Matilda writes romance novels, not crime thrillers... In fact, the twists and turns in her romance novels are almost comparable to those in mystery novels.

Overall, Li Wei's life was still very peaceful, and the season was gradually approaching summer.

On that very day, when Levi returned from the club, the butler Kane handed him a letter.

"Sir, this is a letter addressed to you."

"letter?"

Li Wei took the envelope, looked at it, then opened it and took out a piece of paper.

Li Wei looked at the contents of the letter with curiosity and raised an eyebrow.

The reason was simple: it was an invitation to Li Wei to attend a banquet.

Li Wei had only one thought about this...

Inviting yourself to the banquet? Who's that reckless?
(End of this chapter)