Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 394 Secret Infiltration
General Aug was clearly not satisfied with the outcome of the attack.

He had originally hoped that these firebirds could destroy the Empire's airships and force them to retreat, but unfortunately, the firebirds did not achieve their expected goal. Although they destroyed several airships, in General Aug's view, these were minor matters. As long as the airships were not eliminated, they would remain a huge obstacle in Krant's path of advance.

The only fortunate thing was that, according to the scouts, the airship remained motionless in the air, and it appeared to have suffered considerable damage as well…

With this in mind, General Aug made a decision.

"Send a telegram to the rear, requesting support from the Leviathan!"

Since the Empire invented radio and broadcasting, other countries have followed suit and established their own radio systems, and Krant was no exception.

And coincidentally, Levi's Sky Eye was specifically designed to deal with this kind of situation.

So when Lieutenant Horn woke Levi from his dream, the latter was clearly speechless.

"Sorry to bother you, sir, we have received an encrypted message from the Krant Army."

"Was that sent just now?"

Li Wei yawned and asked.

"Yes, sir."

"So these guys aren't going to just stay here and get bombed, what are they planning to do?"

Levi grumbled, then stood up, left the room, and followed Lieutenant Horn to the bridge. At that moment, Ensign Marianne was working at the control panel. Seeing Levi arrive, she quickly stood up and saluted him.

"Sir."

"Hmm, what's going on? Krant's encrypted message?"

"Yes, it was just sent out."

"Can you untie it?"

"I'm trying to decipher it, but it's quite difficult."

"Um……………"

Li Wei thought for a moment, then, based on what he had seen in movies, looked at Lieutenant Horn.

"I remember encrypted messages need to be deciphered using a codebook?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is Krant's the same?"

Logically speaking, I think they are all the same.

Do we have them too?

"Of course, sir."

Faced with Li Wei's obviously amateurish question, Lieutenant Mariana was speechless.

"What does it look like? Let me see."

"Ok."

Lieutenant Mariana took out a codebook and handed it to Li Wei, who took it and flipped through it.

"Oh, this is it... I understand."

With that, Levi returned the codebook to Lieutenant Mariana and then stretched.

"Then get ready, I'm going out for a walk."

"Sir?"

It must be said that Li Wei's decision surprised everyone.

"What is this...?"

"I'm going to take a walk at the Kingdom of Krant's camp and bring back their codebook while I'm at it."

"Sir? Are you serious?"

It has to be said that even Lieutenant Horn became serious now.

"But……………"

"As the leader of the Thistle Knights, I still have the right to make my own decisions, don't I?"

Li Wei was not intimidated. Indeed, generally speaking, battlefield officers are required to obey the commands of senior generals. Although Li Wei was only an earl, he was the commander of the Thistle Knights. In other words, Li Wei was actually leading the Thistle Knights (although they only had one airship) in this operation in conjunction with the Royal Navy's Third Fleet, which was nominally a joint operation of two legions (although one of the legions had less than a hundred men).

Therefore, Li Wei had the autonomy to choose his battle plan.

If you really have to say, his only superior is Her Majesty the Queen. As long as Her Majesty the Queen doesn't give any orders, Li Wei can do whatever he wants.

Furthermore, Li Wei admitted that Lieutenant Horn had a point. Indeed, anyone with eyes could see that their Sky Eye was the biggest contributor to the victory in this battle, but there were also many who were blind to it. After all, the concept of information warfare was clearly not something everyone in the world could understand. However, conversely, if they could steal the codebook from the enemy camp, it would obviously be enough to shut up those incessantly babbling idiots.

If you're so capable, why don't you go and steal one yourselves?

Yes, that's what 007's job is all about: infiltrating secretly, carrying out missions, then encountering some beautiful women, followed by a thrilling battle, and then blowing the enemy to smithereens. A real man doesn't even watch the explosions and just turns around and walks away. Aren't those classic movie scenes?

However, Li Wei obviously didn't need to do that; he had a simpler way.

A tiny black elf with twin tails wiggled its six legs and darted into the heavily guarded military camp of the Kingdom of Krant. The patrolling soldiers and their hounds didn't notice the adorable elf, who quickly slipped into a nearby tent and glanced around.

The twin-tailed sprite vanished instantly, and then Levi reappeared in the camp.

"What a pity, I wish I had X-ray vision."

Li Wei muttered to himself, then took out another matchbox from his pocket and opened it. Ever since he unlocked the Appearance Disguise skill in the Puppeteer class, Li Wei had been keeping these cockroach puppets in matchboxes.

This is better than reaching into your pocket and finding a cockroach.

It would be even more terrifying if the cockroach wasn't something you created yourself.

Perhaps I should have listened to Eileen's advice and not built this thing...

The thought in Li Wei's mind vanished in an instant. He then took out another little elf and threw it on the ground. The elf quickly crawled forward and disappeared outside the tent in the blink of an eye.

I remember Marianne saying that the codebooks were usually in the communications room, um... communications room, communications room...

Actually, birds would be more convenient for observation, but it would be too dangerous for a bird to suddenly appear over an enemy camp. Besides, carrier pigeons are not uncommon in this era, and ordinary birds do not fly over human settlements at will.

Besides, what if someone suddenly gets the urge to hunt birds?

Twin-tailed Pokémon are safer. Communication room… Communication room… Oh, found it.

Fortunately, Li Wei knew a little Krant, so he found the communications room without much trouble. There, he saw a communications officer sitting at the transmitter, focused on his work. Just then, an officer in a military overcoat walked past the guards and into the communications room.

"Sir."

Upon seeing the officer, the communications officer quickly stood up and saluted.

"No news from headquarters yet?"

"Yes, sir."

"Great, send me any news immediately."

"Yes, sir."

Soon, the officer turned and left, while Li Wei manipulated his twin tails to carefully observe the surroundings. He quickly spotted the codebook, a brown leather notebook. Perhaps because it was at headquarters, it was simply placed aside and unattended.

Nobody wants it, right? I figured if nobody wanted it, I'd just pick it up.

Li Wei glanced at the communications room. There were three people in the room. The communications officer sat there, intently watching the transceiver in front of him. The other two were mainly collecting, organizing, and recording information. They were currently engrossed in writing down the orders that the officer had just given.

The codebook was placed next to a communications officer. Hmm, how do I get it?

Have it.

Looking at the coffee cup placed next to the communications officer, Li Wei's heart stirred.

A moment later, a twin-tailed sprite swiftly climbed onto the table and, while the communicator was focused on sending a telegram, slipped into the coffee cup next to him.

A moment later, the communications officer finished sending the telegram, breathed a sigh of relief, and then casually picked up the coffee cup next to him and took a sip…

"puff!"

The next moment, the communications officer spat out all the coffee in his mouth, and turned away in disgust, gagging repeatedly.

"Hello? What's wrong?"

"A cockroach! There's a cockroach in my cup!"

"what?"

The other two were also taken aback when they heard the communicator's words, and instinctively checked their cups.

Just then, Li Wei's eyes flashed.

It's now!

【Shape Change】

The sprite that crawled out of the sprayed coffee vanished instantly, replaced by Levi. Logically, the sudden appearance of someone in the communications room would attract the attention of others, but for Levi, the moment he appeared, he naturally activated another ability.

Death Eyes!
Time seemed to slow down instantly.

Li Wei strode forward, passing two soldiers who were staring at their coffee cups, and arrived at the communications officer who was retching in the corner. He then reached out, grabbed the codebook that hadn't been organized on the table, and stuffed it into his pocket. At the same time, he poured the remaining coffee from his cup onto the transceiver. The next moment, Li Wei's figure disappeared again.

Meanwhile, the flow of time returned to normal.

"Damn it..."

The retching communications officer grumbled as he turned around. Who would have thought that while he was happily drinking his coffee, he would suddenly see a cockroach poking its head out at him?! If he could find that cockroach, he would definitely tear it to pieces!

Thinking of this, the communications officer suddenly remembered something and hurriedly looked again at the table in front of him and the transceiver that had been soaked with coffee, which was now crackling and sparking.

Did I... break the transceiver just now?
Compared to the Krant soldiers who were still unaware of what had happened, the people inside the Eye of the Sky were even more astonished.

"You... you actually brought back the Krant army's codebook?"

Lieutenant Horn was completely bewildered when he saw the brown codebook handed to him by Li Wei.

"How did you do it?"

Li Wei simply shrugged at this.

"I picked it up."

"Hey?"

“I figured this thing was unwanted and no one would want it, so I picked it up.”

"Uh...excuse me, sir?"

Faced with Li Wei's strange remarks, Lieutenant Horn didn't know how to react.

"Okay, just kidding."

Li Wei chuckled and waved his hand.

"Anyway, I just took it back secretly when they weren't looking, to see if it works well."

"Ah, yes."

Mariana hurriedly took the codebook and began to decrypt it, referring to the encrypted messages she had previously obtained.

"Yes, this is indeed Krant's codebook... Please wait a moment..."

It took Mariana quite a while to decipher the message, which she then passed to Levi.

"This is the result of the decryption."

"What? Let me see... Severely damaged enemy airships and requesting support from the Leviathan? What kind of thing is the Leviathan?"

Li Wei glanced at the contents and looked at Lieutenant Horn with a puzzled expression, while Lieutenant Horn shook his head.

"I'm sorry, sir, I'm not quite sure either."

"Hmm... Requesting support from the Leviathan. Does the Krant army think they severely damaged the Cyclops last night? If they need support, it should be for air... Leviathan... Hmm... Could this thing be a Krant army air warship?"

Thinking of this, Li Wei frowned and looked at Marianne.

"Pass this message on to the Cyclops immediately."

"Yes, sir."

(End of this chapter)