Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 351 Before Dinner—The Fox's Tail (The Next Day)
When Levi followed the old butler into the hall, he saw a group of people gathered around the stairs on the other side. There were servants, as well as the Richard and Gladys brothers. From Levi's vantage point, he could see a person lying below, his head submerged in a pool of blood. Judging from the amount of bleeding… it was most likely hopeless. Well, or rather, there was no hope at all.

Levi glanced at the corpse, then looked at Bianca beside him.

"I think it's best if you don't look at these things, Miss Bianca."

"Ah, um, I think so too..."

Bianca nodded in response to Li Wei's words, then took out a handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose, turned around and hid behind the crowd.

Upon seeing Levi's arrival, the crowd hurriedly parted. Levi walked to the body and examined it closely. It was clear that he was one of the three servants Levi had questioned earlier. Levi remembered him as the one responsible for delivering the goods to the cellar, and he thought his name was… Charlie?

But why him?
Li Wei remembered carefully observing the expressions of the three men when he questioned them. The two servants responsible for unloading the goods were more or less hiding something, but Charlie looked puzzled at the time. It was obvious that he really didn't hide anything, or that he genuinely didn't think there was anything strange about it.

In this situation, it wouldn't be surprising if it were two other people who died.

But it was Charlie who died…

Levi squinted, not wanting to think any further. He reached out and carefully examined Charlie's condition.

The man was clearly dead, judging from Charlie's drooping neck, which didn't seem to be able to contort at an angle typical of humans. If he wasn't dead, then Levi would likely have experienced a completely different kind of ordeal. Besides this, Levi could also see a deep wound on the back of Charlie's head, as if he had been struck by something.

"Can anyone tell me what happened?"

After examining Charlie's body, Li Wei stood up and looked at the crowd. They stared at each other for a moment, and then a maidservant timidly stepped forward.

"I...I saw it..."

"What exactly happened?"

"Well, I'm sorry, Lord Li Wei, I'm not quite sure."

The maid spoke in utter terror.

“I was cleaning the hall when I heard a 'thud,' which startled me. When I turned around, I saw Charlie lying there… I was terrified, and I screamed. The others rushed over…”

Li Wei looked at the crowd, and soon Gladys stepped forward.

“My brother and I were drinking at the salon when we heard screams outside. We came out out of curiosity to see what was going on, and then we saw this woman collapsed on the ground—and that’s when I saw this poor person.”

“Have a little less to drink, it’s not dinner time yet, Mr. Gladys.”

Seeing Gladys's slightly flushed face, Levi sighed, and the latter smiled sheepishly.

"Drinking alcohol before meals can help stimulate the appetite."

"I don't think so."

Li Wei shook his head, then looked away and gazed at the stairs above him.

"Furthermore, I don't believe he fell down the stairs; he fell down."

"It fell down?"

"Yes."

As Li Wei spoke, he pointed to Charlie's body, who was wearing a servant's uniform that looked rather tattered.

"This was caused by a collision and tearing; his neck was broken in the same way. In my opinion..."

As Li Wei spoke, he walked up the stairs and arrived at the third-floor stairwell, where there was a bucket and a rag lying next to it.

Not far away, there is a luxurious crystal chandelier that looks like an upside-down mountain hanging down from the middle of the staircase.

Seeing this, Li Wei got down again.

"I saw a bucket and a rag at the bottom of the stairs on the third floor. They must be for wiping the chandelier?"

"Ah, this is indeed the work of the servants."

Upon hearing this, the old butler also stepped forward and spoke up.

“We will have the servants clean the chandelier regularly, especially when a banquet is about to be held…”

"But the banquet has been cancelled for some reason, hasn't it?"

Li Wei gave the old steward a hint, and the latter nodded.

"But Mr. Richard and Young Master Isaac came to me and said they still planned to hold a birthday party for Miss Sophie, just not on such a large scale."

Upon hearing the old butler's reply, Gladys paused for a moment. Levi noticed that he stared at his elder brother with surprise, then frowned, but said nothing.

"Did you ask Charlie to clean the chandelier?"

“What? No, of course not, sir. This kind of work is usually done by whoever has time. I only care about the result.”

Indeed, as a butler, his job is to issue orders, not to meticulously arrange everything for everyone like in a management simulation game.

The same applies to games. If a player finds something dirty, they can click on it and have a cleaner clean it, or they can simply drag a cleaner over and throw it in front of the object.

"Where are Rhodes and Poker?"

“We are here, sir.”

Hearing Li Wei call their names, the two hurriedly stepped out from the crowd. Although their expressions remained serious, their eyes were filled with fear and grief as they looked at the corpses.

"Didn't you go with Charlie when he went to clean the chandelier?"

“We…had other jobs at the time.”

"Yes, my lord."

Poker nodded.

“We originally planned to go as a group of three, but then Young Master Isaac suddenly approached us and asked us to help move and organize the supplies needed for tomorrow’s banquet, so Charlie went alone.”

"oh……………"

Li Wei nodded thoughtfully, then glanced at the corpse again.

"Alright, let's move the body away."

"Yes, my lord."

At Levi's command, other servants quickly came forward, carefully lifted Charlie's body onto a stretcher, and carried it away. The others then left as well, while Levi stood there, staring silently at the floor stained with brains and blood.

Levi wasn't a fool; he noticed something amiss when he saw the body. While everyone might instinctively assume Charlie's head injury was from falling and hitting the stairs, Levi immediately recognized that the injury was caused by something hitting him on the back of the head.

In other words, while Charlie was cleaning the chandelier, someone approached from behind and struck Charlie hard on the head with a weapon. Charlie, who then lost consciousness or died on the spot, fell from the chandelier and crashed onto the first-floor floor, breaking his neck.

Therefore, this is clearly a murder case.

However, Li Wei didn't declare this on the spot like the clueless detective in the animation. First of all, the culprit used this method of disguise because he wanted to hide his existence. If Li Wei were to reveal this on the spot but couldn't clearly identify the murderer, it would only cause panic among everyone.

Moreover, some people might even take the risk and use the murderer's cover to commit murder—this kind of thing often appears in detective novels and also in real cases, the so-called "copycat criminals".

Not only will it mislead the investigation, but it could also let the real criminal go unpunished. This kind of thing is the most disgusting.

"Lord Li Wei, is there a problem?"

At that moment, Bianca walked over and asked.

"No, it's nothing, I just feel... pretty unlucky, don't I?" "Yeah..."

Bianca nodded in agreement upon hearing Li Wei's answer.

"I never expected so many things to happen in such a short time."

"However, the investigations that need to be conducted should still be conducted."

As Li Wei spoke, he went to the west wing on the first floor again. Most of the servants were preparing dinner. Li Wei looked around and quickly found the person he was looking for.

"Rhodes, Poker, come here for a second."

"Yes, my lord."

Upon hearing Levi's order, Rhodes and Poker hurriedly came out of the kitchen.

"What can I do for you?"

"Regarding the unloading that day, Charlie was in charge of moving the goods to the cellar, right?"

"Yes."

"Which route did he take that day? Do you remember?"

"Ah, that's very simple, sir."

Poker quickly answered, pointing to the hall door.

"It's from over there, then follow the corridor all the way here, then turn around here and walk all the way to the end, and you'll get there."

"Ok?"

However, after listening to Poker's account, Levi frowned.

"But we went this way when we went to the cellar before, didn't we?"

As Li Wei spoke, he pointed to the end. According to Li Wei's memory, when the old butler led them to the cellar, they turned right at the main gate, walked along the wall to the end, where there was a staircase leading to the second floor, and below that was a staircase leading to the cellar.

But what Poker said was to turn right at the main gate, walk straight ahead, turn left at the first intersection after the kitchen, and then walk straight to the end.

"Ah, because this is the kitchen-only passageway. If we want to get ingredients, it's faster to go through this passageway."

It turned out to be the case.

Li Wei nodded. Indeed, from the guest's perspective, turning right directly after entering the main gate and walking to the end is the fastest way. In comparison, turning left next to the kitchen takes a bit longer.

But that's just walking. Considering the kitchen needs to move food from the cellar from time to time, it's naturally most convenient to put the things you need in the cellar near the kitchen. Otherwise, even if you're lazy and carry them from the stairs to the cellar, you'll still have to run from one end of the cellar to the other when the kitchen needs something.

So it's better to just move it all at once to the exit near the kitchen, so it's easier to find when you need it.

Levi nodded, and following Poker's instructions, walked back from the hall. He then turned towards the kitchen and headed inside. At the far end, Levi indeed saw a staircase leading to the cellar, with an open door beside it. Steam rose from inside, and maids occasionally went in and out, clearly retrieving ingredients from the cellar.

Oh, so it was delivered from here...

Li Wei nodded, then turned around and noticed another passage to his right, with a door at the end.

"Where does this passage lead?"

"To the garden, sir."

Rhodes answered hastily.

"There's a storage room next door. We usually go through this door when we go to tidy up the garden. But it's been raining a lot lately, so no one goes to the garden."

"oh……………"

Li Wei nodded thoughtfully, then smiled slightly at the two male servants.

"Thank you, you can go back now."

"Yes, my lord."

Although they didn't know what Li Wei meant by asking these questions, the two male servants bowed respectfully and then turned to leave.

At this moment, Bianca came over and asked curiously.

"Lord Li Wei, what do you mean by asking them these questions? Are you saying that Mr. Charlie didn't die in an accident?"

"Hmm, that's hard to say..."

As Li Wei spoke, he turned and walked towards the path leading to the garden.

The passageway was relatively narrow, perhaps because it was used by servants; there were some wooden crates along the way, and the lighting was dim. Li Wei walked forward, looking at the floor. He then stopped in front of one of the crates, examined the ground carefully, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.

"Uh... Lord Li Wei? What are you laughing at?"

Seeing Levi's expression, Bianca asked curiously. Levi's smile was rather unusual, even carrying a hint of meaning. Bianca had never seen Levi show such an expression before, hence her curiosity.

In response to Bianca's question, Levi stretched out his hand and pointed to the ground next to the wooden box.

"see it?"

"?"

Following the direction Levi pointed, Bianca saw only a jumble of footprints on the ground.

"These are... footprints, right?"

“That’s right, Miss Bianca. In fact, many times we can guess what happened here just by looking at footprints. For example…”

As Li Wei spoke, he pointed to where he was standing.

“There’s a man standing here, and then…”

He moved his finger, pointing to the corner next to the wooden crate.

“There is a woman here, and she is squatting down facing the man.”

"A woman? Kneeling down facing a man?"

Bianca still looked puzzled when she heard what Li Wei said.

"What's going on? What are they doing?"

"hehe."

Seeing Bianca's questioning expression, Levi chuckled and reached out to pat Bianca's head.

"It's too early for you."

"???"

"Okay, let's go."

With that, Levi turned and left, while Bianca looked at the corner of the wooden crate again with a puzzled expression, but in the end, she could only turn and leave with Levi.

"Wait, Lord Li Wei, what are you doing? Can't you just tell me?"

(End of this chapter)