Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 408 Tying on the Collar
"Based on the current investigation, these guys have already developed their own procedures."

Facing the Queen, Li Wei spoke.

"First, they'll invite the nobles they've targeted to a banquet. Once there, it will appear to be an extremely lavish feast, which will lower the invited nobles' guard. Then, they'll spread a mist that can manipulate emotions, immersing these people in the pleasure. Meanwhile, while these people are oblivious to the world around them, those insects will burrow into their bodies... um..."

As he spoke, Li Wei paused and shrugged.

"Of course, even if they feel something foreign, they probably wouldn't be able to tell. Then, their thoughts... oh, actually, it's not really their thoughts, it's more like those insects control their thoughts and make them agree with everything the other party says, and then they become those guys' accomplices. Of course, they'll also secretly take some photos."

"Can't they already control people with those insects? Why do they need photos?"

Princess Louise, who was sitting next to her, asked in confusion upon hearing this.

"Oh, I guess that's for us."

"Give it to us?"

"That's right. If these photos were published in the newspapers and made the front page with headlines like 'Soldiers are bleeding on the front lines while nobles in the rear are indulging in luxury,' that would be enough to ignite public anger."

Li Wei shrugged.

"Believe me, the public won't care too much about the names of the nobles in these photos; they just need to know that these people are nobles."

Li Wei is far more familiar with the war of public opinion than people of this era.

Upon hearing Li Wei's answer, both the Queen and Princess Louise fell silent. Then the Queen asked a question.

"I'm curious, Sir Levi, if they have this ability, why don't they just manipulate the entire population of Fog City?"

"Ah, I thought so too, but I guess that for now, these insects might be... limited in number."

Li Wei understood Her Majesty's meaning, or rather, as expected of Her Majesty, she saw the problem at a glance. The entire Fog City has tens of millions of people; even if only a small fraction of them are infected and manipulated by these insects, it would be enough to cause unimaginable turmoil throughout the entire Fog City.

"Unfortunately, although I can expel those bugs from these people's brains, once the bugs leave their brains, the latter have no memory of the time they were manipulated by the bugs."

This is the part that Li Wei finds particularly troublesome: he can't get any information from the people controlled by the insects because they didn't even have their own consciousness at the time. But even after expelling the insects, he still can't find out what these people did or where they were; at least, they themselves are completely unaware of it.

Just like Lord Klopp.

"From the current perspective, those invited are mostly heirs or direct descendants of nobles."

Li Wei continued speaking, picking up the list.

"Of course, there are also some nobles... how should I put it, they do support the ideas they put forward."

Upon hearing this, Her Majesty the Queen remained calm, while Princess Louise frowned slightly.

"However, these guys really can't get close to the palace. I've tried before, and just getting them close to the palace terrifies them. Oh, and they're also very afraid of Katie."

Li Wei casually mentioned it, while the Queen and Princess Louise exchanged a glance but said nothing more.

Just as Levi said, those insects scurried away from Katie like mice seeing a cat. The mere sight of Katie would send them sprawling on the ground, clutching their heads and screaming. And if she got any closer, the insects would even crawl out of their heads…

If Annie were here, she might even try to figure out the underlying principles, but Levi wasn't too concerned about that, since he'd known about Katie's special identity for a long time.

"So, when does Sir Levy think they will begin their operation?"

"They'll take action as soon as they suffer a defeat at the front."

"Defeated?"

Princess Louise frowned slightly.

"I've also seen the battle reports. At present, there shouldn't be any problems at the front lines, right?"

"Not at the moment, but they can find a way to cause trouble at the front."

Li Wei spread his hands.

"There are countless methods available. For example, they could secretly leak intelligence to enemy countries, or tamper with supplies being shipped to the front lines, such as putting expired food in the shipment, poisoning it, or replacing good materials with inferior ones. Trade is what these capitalists excel at, and we can't possibly inspect every single item. Even if we could, they could easily bribe the officers who conduct the inspections, couldn't they?"

"But aren't they afraid of taking risks by doing this?"

Princess Louise looked puzzled.

"They should know that once this happens, their family and everything they have will be severely impacted."

"hehe………"

Upon hearing Princess Louise's question, Li Wei chuckled.

“Your Highness, you are viewing capitalists through the eyes of a politician. Indeed, in political struggles, stability and survival are more important. However, capitalists are not like that.”

"is that so?"

Princess Louise was somewhat surprised by Li Wei's answer, while Her Majesty the Queen blinked but remained silent. In truth, her thoughts were the same as Princess Louise's, a difference between politicians and capitalists. Especially for established aristocratic royal families, the prevailing belief is to have backup plans, rather than going all in like a gambler.

But... capitalists...

"Capitalists are the personification of capital, just as royalty is the highest symbol of power in a country. Capitalists primarily represent capital, and capital's sole objective is to pursue profit. When profits are substantial enough, they don't hesitate to take actions that harm their long-term interests. To give an analogy, a capitalist might sell the very rope that will hang him... He knows that this rope might one day strangle him, but not now, not immediately, only possibly. However, compared to this future risk, the money he has in his hands now is the real and tangible thing."

At this point, Li Wei snorted coldly.

"And this is the inherent contradiction of the logic of capital. When short-term profits far outweigh long-term risks, capital may choose to sacrifice system stability. This is not a problem of people, but a defect caused by their inherent characteristics. No matter what kind of person becomes a capitalist, he can only do this. It's like those who are turned into vampires. No matter if they were good or bad people before, saints or villains, after they are turned into vampires, they can only survive by sucking human blood."

Upon hearing Li Wei's answer, Her Majesty the Queen and Princess Louise fell into deep thought. Clearly, Li Wei's statement was quite novel to them as well.

"So, what Your Highness is worried about is not what they are actually worried about. Even if they fail and are discovered, so what? You can certainly eliminate a capitalist, or a group of capitalists, but new capitalists will soon appear and take their place. Then, as their wealth expands, they will begin to crave power and status."

"Can't we solve this problem once and for all?"

Upon hearing this, Princess Louise frowned deeply.

"For example, could we announce that all large corporations would be nationalized and subject only to the orders of the royal family?"

"………………………"

Li Wei glanced silently at Princess Louise. "Your Highness, you've taken a rather large step."

"The idea is good, but impractical."

Her Majesty the Queen shook her head.

"But Mother..."

"People are driven by self-interest, Louise."

The Queen looked at her daughter and spoke.

"If they knew that everything they were doing wouldn't bring them any more benefit, they wouldn't be so motivated. In fact, that's why the empire is so prosperous now."

"But Mother, as you've seen, even with all that wealth, they're still not satisfied, and even want to share power..."

Hearing their discussion, Li Wei remained outwardly expressionless, but inwardly he chuckled. He didn't directly apply the theories of Das Kapital; after all, he was dealing with a queen and a princess. Talking to them about exploitation and being exploited would be including them in the criticism.

However, this does not mean that there are no conflicts between the ruling class and the capitalist class. Every emperor or king hopes that his family can rule the country for thousands of generations, so if they hear that someone wants to take power from them, they will definitely jump up in anger.

Especially now that the Queen is determined to centralize power and has even weakened the power of the lords, how dare you capitalists come out and demand the decentralization of power? Aren't you courting death?

"Sir Levy, what are your thoughts on this?"

The Queen then looked at Levi again and asked a question.

Li Wei pondered for a moment.

"Of course, there are ways. In my opinion, the best way is to check and balance."

"Checks and balances?"

“That’s right. As I said before, capitalists are ultimately just parasites. They can only survive by sucking blood from their hosts. So the best way to control capitalists is to control their food.”

"food?"

"Worker."

Li Wei further explained.

"Capitalists don't work themselves. Their factories and shops rely on workers to produce goods and create wealth for them. So to put it simply, capitalists are actually sucking the blood of workers. If we can control the workers, then we can find a way to check and balance the capitalists."

"But the workers are all members of those capitalists' company associations, so we have no way to get involved, right?"

Princess Louise asked in confusion.

"Of course there are. Indeed, as Your Highness said, those workers are subordinates of capitalists, but they are still citizens of the empire, aren't they? If that's the case, then what's wrong with the royal family managing and protecting its own citizens?"

"Oh? From what you're saying, you already have an idea?"

At this moment, Her Majesty the Queen looked at Li Wei with great interest and asked a question, to which Li Wei nodded.

“That’s right. I think we can set up an organization specifically to serve ordinary workers. Perhaps you two are unaware of this, but right now, in many parts of Chongqing, the living conditions of workers are not very good. Some capitalists even live lavishly and travel around every day, while their workers are owed wages and can’t get paid at all… I think you two should understand what this means.”

As expected, both Her Majesty the Queen and Princess Louise frowned slightly upon hearing this. This is also a difference between politicians and capitalists.

Capitalists think, "If you don't want to do this job, there are plenty of others who can. Take it or leave it." That's all they think about. For capitalists, every penny saved is a penny earned, and every penny made is a penny made. They'd rather hire someone who only takes a penny than someone who only takes two.

But politicians are different. They think that if workers lose their jobs, they won't have work. So how will they live? How will they support their wives and children? Will they commit crimes? Furthermore, crime will cause social unrest, increase the overall governance costs of society, and might even lead to the instability of the entire country... And all of this stems from capitalists' unwillingness to pay workers' wages?
If you don't pay the workers' wages, will I take the blame?
So you got all the good stuff? I didn't get any benefits and ended up with a lot of trouble?

From the ruler's perspective, nothing could be more disgusting.

"Therefore, if we can establish an organization that fairly mediates disputes between workers and capitalists, we can win people's hearts. As long as we can win over the workers, the capitalists will have some reservations."

Li Wei also shared his thoughts.

"Of course, I suggest that we should also protect the rights of legitimate capitalists, instead of simply suppressing them. If those capitalists are willing to abide by the laws of the Empire and be honest, upright, and reliable citizens of the Empire, we should not suppress them without reason. But those capitalists who violate the laws of the Empire and cruelly exploit workers like slave owners... we should teach them a lesson. Let them know who is in charge of this Empire."

In truth, Li Wei's suggestion was a calculated move to please her. He knew the Queen had been trying to deal with those It capitalists, especially now that this incident had directly put these idiots in the Queen's line of fire. Of course, Li Wei would handle matters of the mysterious realm, but political issues wouldn't change just because he eliminated a few insects.

So Livy handed the Queen a knife.

So what if they're capitalists? As long as the loyalty of the imperial people can be firmly maintained and they know that the royal family is on their side, then these capitalists can only be tamed like grandsons.
Li Wei wasn't worried that the Queen wouldn't be interested in this, since Her Majesty's goal was to strengthen central authority. Although she hadn't gone to the extremes of Princess Louise's desire to nationalize all businesses, she clearly wouldn't allow anyone to challenge the authority of the royal family.

"But wouldn't this actually encourage capitalists to leave the empire and seek opportunities in other countries?"

Princess Louise clearly had her own concerns.

"Then let them go. The empire is vast and rich in resources, with a market of hundreds of millions of people. If he leaves, he can forget about coming back."

Li Wei's answer was firm, and it was indeed true. This world's empire was the most populous country in the world, and also the largest market. Those capitalists could leave if they wanted, but once they left, they could forget about coming back to make money.

The world doesn't have a WTO yet, so waging a tariff war is a breeze. If they leave, so be it; we can just find a new one, how hard is that?
Population and market are also a trump card.

"Well, that makes sense."

The Queen nodded, her eyes narrowing, a glint of shrewdness flashing within them.

"If those ungrateful bastards really intend to leave, then they can forget about making money off the Empire again!"

At this point, the Queen looked at Livy.

"Your suggestion is excellent. I will have someone follow up on it. As for the case here... I'll leave it to you to continue handling it."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Regarding politics, Li Wei's position only allows him to offer some advice; after all, his primary job is solving cases.

They had already figured out how to steam or deep-fry these capitalists, and Li Wei, having accomplished his mission, gracefully withdrew, dusted himself off, and continued with his work.

That is to trace the origin of these insects.

(End of this chapter)