Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 358 What is supposed to come will always come

Li Wei was somewhat vengeful.

The only time he had ever been chased and fled since he came into this world was when he was traveling on the Orient Express to the steel city of Bismarck, through that forest.

Afterwards, Li Wei also inquired about the handling of the situation there. According to the old butler, the railway to Bisparu was interrupted because the tracks were damaged. It should have been repaired as soon as possible, but because it was almost winter, the repair of the railway could only be temporarily suspended until the snow melted in the spring.

Before this, the only way to get to Bisubaru was to bypass this route and take a train or airship from other directions.

The reason Li Wei acted so quickly was that he had heard from the old butler that after the spring, a construction team had gone to repair the railway but had disappeared without a trace. Afterwards, the police also sent people to search, but they too had vanished.

When MI7 learned of this, they immediately blocked the news, and the missing persons were presumed to have died in the mountains.

Therefore, after learning that the airship was completely completed, Li Wei didn't even bother with an opening ceremony and immediately took action. After all, nearly thirty people, including the construction team and the search team, had gone missing, and if more people went missing, it would be difficult to continue concealing the truth.

Levi sat on the bridge chair, staring at the sky ahead, pondering how to deal with that damned thing. The others, of course, had no idea what he was thinking; they were simply carrying out their duties according to orders. They didn't know why Levi was going to the Forest of Death, but Levi was the captain, and he had given the order; the others had no choice but to obey.

After speaking with the other members for a while, Lieutenant Horn approached Levi.

"Sir, we have successfully reached an altitude of 8000 meters."

"Um……………"

Upon hearing Lieutenant Horn's report, Li Wei nodded.

"I remember designer Howard saying that this airship could reach a maximum altitude of 20000 meters?"

"That's the theoretical altitude, sir. During the previous test voyages, our cruising altitude was maintained at 12000 meters."

"Ordinary airships don't seem capable of flying that high?"

"Yes, the airships I serve can only fly to a height of about 1000 meters at most, because if they go any higher, we can't see things below clearly, and the bombing accuracy will also decrease."

"Um……………"

Li Wei nodded, then asked.

Regarding the weapon system, can firing accuracy be guaranteed at high altitudes?

"If the weather conditions are good, there will be no problem, but we have not yet conducted tests in bad weather. The differential engine can assist in aiming and calculating the trajectory and impact point."

As long as it's not too extreme, it's acceptable.

"Then, proceed at the cruising altitude."

"Yes."

Lieutenant Horn received his orders and immediately turned to leave, at which point Katie approached him.

"Mr. Li Wei, are you going to that man-eating forest?"

"Yes."

Li Wei nodded. He hadn't taken Katie with him when he went to Steel City aboard the Orient. He only told Katie about it later when they returned.

"Huh? So now we're going to go over there and burn that forest down?"

"It's still unclear what the situation is over there, but burning the forest is certainly an option."

Li Wei still doesn't know what that forest is all about, because it's so vast, covering almost half of the mountainous area. Back then, Li Wei was too busy escaping to figure out what was going on. Now that he has his own airship, he can finally find out what's going on in this damned place.

"It seems like there's no room for me to make a difference this time."

Hearing Levi's answer, Katie sighed helplessly, while Levi smiled slightly.

"Isn't this better? I actually prefer being able to solve all problems in a relaxed and carefree way."

"It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's not very fun."

"Perhaps you could try out the comfort of the cabins here? And get a good night's sleep?"

As Levi's flagship, the airship's cabins are quite luxurious; at least, designer Howard assured Levi that his captain's cabin was designed to hotel room standards.

However, Li Wei planned to enjoy it after he had dealt with that damned forest.

"I'll just wander around here and enjoy the scenery. It's quite interesting. I've never been this high up before."

As she spoke, Katie ran to the side to admire the scenery outside the porthole.

It must be said that the new airship was indeed fast. Before long, Li Wei saw it appear on the horizon not far away in a dark forest.

At the same time, Lieutenant Horn came to him again.

"Sir, we have arrived at the designated location."

"Hmm, let me see first..."

Li Wei sat in a chair. The entire bridge was divided into two levels. Li Wei's captain's seat was on the upper level, where he could take in the entire view through the observation window in front of him.

So Li Wei stared at the ground below, and then... activated [Soul Vision].

The next moment, the world before my eyes instantly changed color.

"hiss……………!"

Looking down at the forest, Li Wei couldn't help but gasp. What had appeared lush and verdant from the air was now, under the [Soul Vision], a shocking red. It looked as if countless capillaries had spread across the earth, a truly horrifying sight.

Holy crap, what the hell is this thing?!
Li Wei stared at the ground, cursing inwardly. Apart from the disaster messenger he had encountered in the dream world, this was almost the biggest mysterious entity Li Wei had ever seen. It occupied almost half of the forest!

No wonder he could only run on the Orient Express back then; Li Wei couldn't even fight that damn thing back then.

It was definitely the right decision to wait until we had an airship... Hmm?

However, at that moment, Li Wei suddenly saw a group of white light spots flash by in the group of "capillaries".

"…………………"

I must have misread it. Surely no one is seeing things?

Li Wei squinted and looked in that direction again. The world before him rapidly expanded; in a short time, what had appeared as tiny dots on the ground transformed into human figures before him. They seemed to be running, running forward. Behind them, a group of bright red, tentacle-like things followed closely.

“……………………” Li Wei sighed silently.

Could these guys be the missing persons reported earlier?

They're still alive?

Such good luck? Or such bad luck?

"Sir?"

Seeing that Lieutenant Horn seemed lost in thought, he quickly called out to him. Lieutenant Horn was also puzzled by Lieutenant Horn's actions, but fortunately, this wasn't a life-or-death battle, so he didn't mind Lieutenant Horn's strange behavior. However, as the first mate, Lieutenant Horn still hoped that Lieutenant Horn could tell him what to do next.

"Hmm...it seems we've run into a bit of a tricky problem..."

Li Wei sighed silently, then reached out and tapped on the flight path map next to him.

"Send the airship here, slow down, prepare for battle... Do you have incendiary bombs?"

"Yes, sir."

"Load incendiary bombs, await my order, and prepare to fire."

"Fire? But sir..."

Lieutenant Horn found Li Wei's order utterly absurd; it was like a child wanting to play with toys when he had nothing better to do. In his view, firing indiscriminately in this place was clearly an irresponsible act.

"Sir, if you want to experience the power of the attack, we can go to the firing range..."

“That’s an order, Lieutenant Horn. You’ll find out why in a moment. Oh, and prepare to descend the airship, but remember to stay away from those trees.”

"Okay, I understand. Then lower the airship to a height of 300 meters."

"Oh, right, have Henry and his steam engine crew prepare for battle and get the landing craft ready."

"Landing module? Okay."

Lieutenant Horn nodded and quickly went to carry out Levi's orders. Then they saw the airship begin to turn and gradually descend. Levi reached out and grasped the strange device in front of him—it looked like a periscope on a submarine, except that submarine periscopes are mounted overhead. This machine, however, was mounted on the floor.

In fact, this observation mirror works on a similar principle to a periscope; both are used for observation. The only difference is that one is for observing the water surface, and the other is for observing the land.

Observation scopes are standard equipment on reconnaissance airships. Li Wei has used them on other reconnaissance airships as well, but generally speaking, they are not installed in front of the captain's seat.

But since Li Wei wanted to use it, it was naturally made according to his needs.

"What's wrong, Mr. Li Wei?"

Katie realized something was wrong and quickly came over.

"Someone."

"Is anyone there? In the forest?"

"That's right, it seems to be one of the previous missing persons. This is really troublesome, but it's fine this way. Let's just consider it a rehearsal."

Li Wei originally designed the airship this way so that it could be used in combat. Now that he has this opportunity, he might as well give it a try.

So we're going to take action?

Hearing this, Katie's eyes lit up, while Levi nodded helplessly. He had originally planned to eat hotpot and sing songs high in the sky while wiping out this ghostly forest, but he hadn't expected to encounter survivors... Well, there was nothing he could do then.

Gradually, the airship descended, and under Li Wei's [Soul Vision], everything before his eyes became clearer and clearer—he could see that the bright red light was like blood vessels buried underground, connecting with trees, and even many of the animals in the forest were shimmering with red light.

It looks as terrifying as viral contamination. What the hell is this thing?
Li Wei stared at the ground, watching as the people struggled to escape the pursuit of the red waves once again, and then gave the order.

"Confirm coordinates, attack!"

"Bang—Bang—Bang—!"

With Li Wei's command, a muffled cannon shot rang out, causing even the airship itself to tremble slightly. The next moment, a series of massive flames erupted from the forest, completely engulfing the surrounding trees.

However, what happened next was something unimaginable.

"—————————!"

In the firelight, vines intertwined, raising their heads like startled snakes, reaching out from the forest and gazing into the sky! Then, the front of this giant vine suddenly opened, and a huge eye emerged from it, staring intently at the Eye of the Sky high above!
"What it is!?"

Upon seeing the enormous vines, the people on the bridge were in an uproar. They had no idea what Li Wei's inexplicable order meant, nor did they know who he intended to attack.

But now, they finally saw it, something completely unimaginable…

Just then, Li Wei's calm voice rang out again.

"Keep attacking! Destroy this thing completely!"

"Yes! Target locked, attack!"

Lieutenant Horn, a veteran of countless battles, quickly regained his composure and immediately issued the order. Then, a barrage of shells shot out, transforming into bursts of flame that completely engulfed the monster formed from the massive vines, which stood tens of meters tall.

Sure enough, it's still the most satisfying to strike from the air.

Li Wei watched as the thing gradually collapsed and disappeared in the flames, and nodded in satisfaction.

So you see, all fear stems from insufficient firepower. As long as I have sufficient firepower, then these problems are no longer problems at all.

As the strange tentacle was destroyed, through [Soul Vision], Li Wei also saw that the crimson that originally covered the earth quickly dimmed and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Huh? What's this? This thing even has a signal node? Does it lose signal after I hit it?

As Li Wei read on, he found it increasingly interesting.

Just then, a small point of light suddenly appeared on the ground, flashing incessantly. Li Wei could tell that this was a light signal, just like flag signals, a method used when two sides could not communicate with each other. It was sometimes used on airships, and now it seemed that the other side had obviously seen Li Wei and his group, which was why they were sending this signal.

Soon, a soldier walked over quickly and handed a note to Lieutenant Horn, who glanced at it and then spoke to Li Wei.

"Sir, we have received a message from below requesting assistance."

"Okay, give them a reply and tell them the designated location. I'll go down and see what's going on with this group of people."

(End of this chapter)