Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 422 Deep Behind Enemy Lines (Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!)
When Lieutenant General von Lean learned of the defeat of the Giants, he felt as if the sky had fallen.

Sure enough, I was right; it was a trap!
"Retreat immediately! Retreat!"

At this moment, Lieutenant General von Lane no longer hesitated and decisively issued the order to retreat. The underground front had made no progress, and the Giant Legion had been destroyed; clearly, this was all a trap set by the Empire! His current priority was not how to achieve victory, but to preserve the fighting strength of his legion!
Soon, the order was given, and Krant's army began to retreat. The Empire did not pursue their victory; in fact, they too had suffered heavy losses. By not pursuing, they would avoid giving away their position, but once they did, it was uncertain who would emerge victorious.

When Commander French emerged from the fortress, he saw a city ravaged by war, a few surviving mechs, and exhausted soldiers. He watched as a gaunt soldier ran towards him and saluted.

"Sir, the enemy has retreated. And... Sir Levy has a message for you."

"Sir Levi? Is he alright?"

Upon hearing this, French immediately tensed up. He knew that Levi was piloting the mech and leading everyone at the forefront. Seeing that he hadn't come, his heart skipped a beat.

Could you be injured? Are you receiving treatment? How serious is the injury?

"Sir Levi is fine. He asked me to tell you that he has to go on with his business and will leave things here to you."

"and then?"

"Then Sir Levi left without telling us where he was going."

"this……………"

Commander French was completely dumbfounded when he heard the soldier's answer.

Where did Li Wei go? He wanted to celebrate this hard-won victory with him.

In fact, Li Wei thought the same thing.

He now longed to return to the Eye of the Sky, take a good bath, get some sleep, and then wake up to have tea and snacks. Not like now, surrounded by a group of dejected, demoralized remnants of his army, riding in a rickety, speeding carriage across uneven roads.

Incidentally, although it's a carriage, it's not pulled by horses, but by enhanced beasts similar to rhinoceroses. And the carriage isn't made up of four wheels; instead, it has tracks on both sides—well, Levi couldn't figure out which direction the Kingdom of Krant was planning to veer off course with its technology tree.

That's right, right now Li Wei is wearing Krant's military uniform, mingling with a group of defeated soldiers as he heads towards Deburg.

The reason he did this was very simple.

Someone has to be held accountable for what happened in Port Dreyfus, and the Rothfield family is naturally the first to be held responsible. However, Levi cannot accuse the Rothfield family based on mere conjecture; he needs evidence.

And coincidentally, Li Wei knew who might have such evidence.

Krant Army.

Assuming Rothfeld did indeed have secret dealings with the Krant military leadership, the Krant would certainly have preserved evidence of their correspondence. After all, relying on such intelligence to make war decisions, if they fail, will inevitably lead to someone being blamed—a common human failing.

If the intelligence was incorrect, then the person who provided the intelligence would definitely be blamed. Therefore, Krant must have kept records of Rosefield's intelligence provision.

Similarly, Rosefield would also keep copies of replies from high-ranking Krant military officials in case they turned their backs on him after using him.

Such a massive operation to retake Port Der Lai involved an entire legion of troops, and then you tell me, "This intelligence came from so-and-so, there's no evidence," and the next second you're sent to a military court, okay?

So Li Wei found a Crant soldier's uniform to wear and blend into the group.

If we can find evidence that Rosefield contacted Krant, they'll be dead for good this time.

And so, Li Wei, mixed in with the soldiers, fled back to Deburg, the second largest city in Cront, in a sorry state.

As the second largest city in Krante, Deburg is naturally quite prosperous, with a total population of nearly five million, making it a large city. Located at the mouth of the Delin River, it boasts a natural harbor, which is why Deburg is Krante's second largest financial and trading city.

This is also why Krant is so nervous right now. After the Imperial Army occupies Port Drey, they can simultaneously launch a two-pronged attack on Deburg from both the far north sea and Port Drey. At that time, this megacity of five million people will become an unimaginable battlefield of terror.

Not to mention the countless losses Krant will suffer as a result.

It's no wonder that Krant was so eager to retake Port Drey. After all, as long as Port Drey wasn't taken back, the people of Deburg would live in fear, dreading that Imperial shells might fall on their heads one night.

The legion's crushing defeat was certainly not a good thing. The wounded were sent to the hospital immediately, and the others went back to rest.

But Lieutenant General von Lane wasn't so lucky; he still had to report to the corps commander in person… So he got out of the car and dragged his tired body toward the building on the other side. Just as he reached the corner, a soldier with his head down hurriedly walked over and bumped into Lieutenant General von Lane.

"Hey, watch out!"

Lieutenant General von Lane glared angrily at the soldier and complained, to which the soldier simply nodded. However, Lieutenant General von Lane was in no mood to care about that at the moment. He withdrew his gaze and dragged his heavy steps into the command post.

"call-----"

After turning the corner, Li Wei stretched and sat down in a chair. Then, he closed his eyes, and in the next moment, his gaze quickly shifted to the twin-tailed sprite in Lieutenant General von Lane's pocket.

He could see a sliver of light passing through his pocket, hear footsteps and voices. Lieutenant General von Lean walked forward, the atmosphere awkwardly silent. Levi could imagine the treatment he would receive when a defeated army returned to command in such a disheveled state. Well, at least he wasn't the one who was defeated.

Li Wei silently shed a few crocodile tears for this unfortunate lieutenant general, then felt the other party stop walking and then step back.

"Reporting to the Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Laurent von Lein is here to report."

"I have already heard the reports from the front, Lieutenant General."

Then, a calm and collected voice rang out. Clearly, he had arrived at his destination, so Li Wei immediately manipulated the twin-tailed sprite to climb out of the vice admiral's pocket, land on the ground, and quickly burrow under the sofa cushions.

Then, he began to leisurely eavesdrop on the other person's conversation.

"According to your opinion, the intelligence our army received this time was incorrect?"

"Yes, sir, that's what I think."

"Oh? Why do you see it?"

"Initially, I sent flying scouts to investigate, and they reported smoke and the ruins of houses in Port Dlai, which made me believe the intelligence was correct. So I gave the order to attack, but when the underground troops entered the tunnel network of Port Dlai as planned, they were ambushed and attacked by Imperial soldiers."

"Is there such a thing?"

"That's right, and they also planted landmines and bombs in the tunnels, killing many of the burrowing beasts. If they hadn't anticipated this beforehand, it would have been impossible for them to have made such preparations. Moreover, the Imperial soldiers who attacked us were in high spirits, even fearless of death..."

Hearing this, Li Wei couldn't help but laugh out loud. Clearly, this lieutenant general was also trying to embellish his own image. What high morale? Those people had already turned into monsters! Oh well, for Krant, this was a good opportunity to distort the other party's views.

"Furthermore, they also planted bombs above the tunnels and detonated them during our raid, causing considerable losses to the underground forces. I believe that the Empire would never have done this if they hadn't known in advance that we were going to launch an attack."

Lieutenant General von Lane was right; in fact, Li Wei did know in advance—but whether that advance was a few days or a few hours in advance is not worth correcting.

"Did the ground forces suffer heavy losses this time?"

"It was extremely serious. The Sixth Army suffered more than half its casualties, and the Giant Legion was completely wiped out. In fact, it was precisely because of this that I ultimately chose to retreat."

"The entire giants were wiped out?"

Upon hearing this, the old voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"Is it true, Lieutenant General?"

"Yes, I can assure you, many soldiers on the front lines witnessed the heavy casualties suffered by those giants against the Empire's mechs. Although they did destroy some Imperial mechs... in the end, they were no match for the Imperial mechs' onslaught..."

How did they lose?

"According to soldiers on the front lines, the Empire laid mines and bombs at key locations, which detonated when the giants passed through, causing them to lose their balance or be forced to slow down, and then suffer heavy damage from the Imperial mechs..."

"Huff huff..."

Just then, a soft laugh rang out. The voice sounded very young, like that of a young man in his twenties.

"Just as I thought, that's why I said we shouldn't waste resources on Project Giant. These bulky, incompetent things are simply no match for the Imperial mechs. Indeed, it should be our beast-armored units that are deployed!"

Beast-like armored forces?

Upon hearing this, Li Wei's heart stirred, and he silently wrote it down. Clearly, there seemed to be different opinions within the Kingdom of Krant regarding how to pursue biotechnology; the previous giant route and this beast-armor route were both branches of this.

Levi the Giant has already seen it, but what is this beast armor?
It seems I must investigate this thoroughly when I have the chance.

"Please watch your words, Lieutenant."

The legion commander spoke again.

"You've worked hard, Lieutenant General. You can go and rest now. It seems the responsibility lies entirely with me this time. I will explain the situation to the General Staff. You don't need to worry."

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, you go down."

As the legion commander spoke, footsteps soon sounded, and a few moments later, several people walked out of the room. Li Wei manipulated the twin-tailed sprite to peek out from the gap in the sofa, and saw an old man with white hair and beard sitting at a desk not far away. He squinted, remained silent for a moment, and then picked up the microphone of the communicator on the table.

"Connect me to Rosefield Bank."

Then, the old man spoke.

　Happy New Year everyone! Happy New Year's Day! Happy New Year! By the way, please vote for me in the new year!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)