Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 431 Signs of Plague
This wasn't the first time Li Wei had encountered the mark of the All-Seeing Eye, but each time he saw it, he still felt quite excited.

Especially since this thing is at the bottom of the lake, it would have been almost impossible to get in if Li Wei hadn't drained the water. So, just imagining what might be inside is quite an interesting thing.

"Are there any legends here related to the Holy Bishop?"

"I've never heard of that before."

When Li Wei asked her, Olivia shook her head.

"However, I can have someone ask people in the nearby villages; they might be more familiar with this place."

As she spoke, Olivia beckoned to a policeman, gave him a few instructions, and he nodded and left. Then, Olivia turned around and looked at the stone door in front of her.

What do you think is in there?

Olivia's tone wasn't exactly cheerful; rather, it was somewhat helpless. But thinking about it, it made sense. Levi remembered the monastery on the snowy mountain they'd discovered that housed a bunch of monsters. Anne was quite excited, but as the lord of Delicat, the thought of such a group of monsters flying around her territory made it impossible for her to sleep soundly.

And now they've dug up another one... still underwater.

Olivia didn't even dare to imagine what was inside.

"It's definitely not a good thing."

Li Wei stared at the stone door before him. Through his [Soul Vision], he could see a red aura behind the door, but this aura was still some distance away from the door, likely located beneath it…

Little Black was pacing back and forth by the pond, its eyes fixed intently on the stone gate. Seeing Little Black, Li Wei suddenly remembered something. He beckoned to someone, said a few words, and the person quickly left.

Then a while later…

"Mr. Levi, have you discovered something interesting?"

Katie ran over excitedly, looking very pleased, a stark contrast to Olivia's worried expression.

Sure enough, it's much more enjoyable when the excitement isn't happening to your own family.

Did you bring what I asked you to bring?

“I brought it; it’s here.”

As she spoke, Katie raised her hands, holding Betty the puppy in one hand and Buck the black cat in the other. The two little guys stayed still and obediently in Katie's hands.
"Okay, give me the little guy."

As Li Wei spoke, he grabbed the black cat Buck. Buck struggled for a moment, but when it saw that it was Li Wei who grabbed it, it immediately became obedient and stopped moving.

Betty had already been put on the ground by Katie, and was now sitting there obediently, wagging her tail at Levi like a trained military dog.

Yes, the differential treatment is clearly visible.

"Any ideas?"

Li Wei stared at the black cat Buck and asked. He only remembered it after seeing Little Black. Olivia had started using Little Black as a mount. He also had two fantasy creatures on his side. He had to develop their talents. He couldn't just let them do nothing.

Of course, Betty ate it, and Betty earned enough for Levi to buy dog ​​food for a hundred years.

But this black cat...

If you don't have any skills, don't blame me for throwing you into the water.

"...Meow."

The black cat meowed, turned its head away, and gave me a look that said, "I don't care about you."

So Li Wei didn't hold back and simply carried it to the lakeside, then reached out and lifted Buck onto the lake surface.

The lake water hadn't been completely pumped out yet, but it had already exposed mud and a huge pile of garbage. Fortunately, there weren't any plastic bags or anything like that at the bottom of the lake in this era; at most, there were some miscellaneous items like wine bottles and fishing rods, followed by water plants and skeletons. A stench wafted over, and the poor kitten struggled desperately to escape, but Li Wei had its grip on the scruff of the neck, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get away.

"Tell me your thoughts."

Levi knew Buck could understand human speech, so he didn't beat around the bush. He knew Buck was different from the little mermaid who looked like it had only been born a short time. Don't underestimate this little cat; it had definitely lived a long time. At least judging from the radiance of its soul, this thing was quite powerful.

Li Wei can now judge an enemy's strength by their soul aura. In his experience, the brighter the soul aura, the more powerful the enemy. This applies regardless of whether the aura is red, green, or white. A normal aura is clear but not dazzling, similar to an incandescent light bulb. The stronger the aura, the more dazzling it is, while the weaker the aura, the dimmer it is.

Alice and the Little Mermaid's soul glows with a soft light, while Buck's soul glow is brighter than theirs, but not as bright as Betty and the two dogs, Blackie.

So I was constantly being attacked by two mixed doubles teams.

Of course, in Li Wei's opinion, this dog deserved it all, always picking on Betty and Blackie. It seemed to think those two dogs were just brutes and that it could win by using its intelligence.

The result was that every time he sneaked off to cause trouble, he would get caught and beaten up.

After beating them up, they showed no remorse and instead tried another method...

I'm just bored.

Now it's time to see if this kitten is sensible or not. If it isn't, Li Wei wouldn't mind throwing it into the mud to crawl like a dog.

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, the black cat meowed in dissatisfaction, then turned its head and stared at Li Wei.

The next moment, an image appeared out of thin air in Li Wei's mind.

In the dim pool, ripples rippled incessantly, and then, one by one, dark shadows emerged. They looked like swollen corpses soaking in the water, their bodies swarming with flies and other creatures. Wherever these corpses went, the grass and trees withered, and animals would fall ill, their bodies covered in pustules, before dying in agony.

Then, these animals will get up and rejoin the group, continuing forward...

However, at that moment, a tiger's roar suddenly rose from the ground, and then a tiger as big as a bus suddenly leaped out. It puffed out its chest, raised its head, and looked at the corpses with a majestic air, before suddenly raising its head and roaring.

"—————————!"

In an instant, the earth shook violently, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and the ground gradually cracked open, as if a giant maw had appeared, swallowing all the zombies and everything around them underground.

Having done all this, the tiger turned around and then suddenly glared at Li Wei…

"If you were really that powerful, you wouldn't have been chased around by a few aliens."

Li Wei casually tossed the black cat to the ground, and the cat only meowed at him before turning and running away, probably crying as it went home to tell Qi Ya on the matter.

However, that wasn't what Li Wei was concerned about right now. He stared at the stone door, carefully recalling the information Buck had given him earlier.

The zombies weren't the main problem; what Li Wei was concerned about was the aura emanating from the zombies in the video. That aura was like a plague, capable of infecting all living things. Then the plants would wither, and the animals would blister all over their bodies, die in agony, and then turn into new zombies.

He had only mentioned chicken plague and swine fever to Olivia casually before, but now it has come true.

No, not this.

Li Wei narrowed his eyes. In the image Buck had just given him, many parts seemed to be deliberately misleading him. It only told Li Wei the result, but didn't explain how these things became like that. Fortunately, Li Wei had the ability of [photographic memory], so he wasn't afraid of being fooled by this sly little cat.

He quickly went through it in his mind and soon found a clue.

Could it be that…

"Report."

Just then, the policeman Olivia had sent to investigate earlier came running back, panting, and reported to Levi and Olivia.

“We found an old man who knew a little about the situation here. The old man said that when he was young, he had heard that there was a sect that worshipped an evil god near this lake, which was later wiped out by the Holy Bishop’s men.”

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wei's eyes lit up.

"Take me to see that old man."

Soon, led by the police, Li Wei arrived at a nearby village, where he met an elderly woman.

"These are all stories I heard when I was a child, and I don't know if they are true or false."

The old man was quite old, but his memory was still very good. He quickly started talking and began to tell Levi and Olivia about what happened back then.

“I also learned from my parents that there was a sect in the Lake of the Dead who claimed to worship the Holy Lord. They also demanded that the villagers provide them with offerings.”

"Sacrifice?"

“It was mainly children. They demanded that people from nearby villages provide a child as a sacrifice every year, otherwise the Holy Lord would bring down disaster and destroy everything there… I don’t know if anyone actually did this, but it was clear that everyone was terrified of them, so they obediently did as they were told. My parents were also very worried that I would be chosen as a sacrifice.”

"What happened next?"

"What happened next... I'm not entirely sure. It seems a priest from a holy bishop came here, heard about what had happened, and then led a fully armed group into the Lake of the Dead. He reappeared a day and a night later and told us that the heretics who worshipped demons had been cleansed, and we no longer needed to worry about them. The villagers went to check and came back to tell everyone that there was indeed no trace of those cultists left..."

"Did anything else happen at the time?"

"Um……………"

Faced with Li Wei's question, the old man frowned and pondered deeply.

"Oh right, I remember that priest brought a group of knights up the mountain, but when he came down, he was all alone, and he looked rather strange..."

"I see..."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei frowned.

It seems that all of this is indeed related to the Holy Bishop.

So, is it related to that curly hair?

(End of this chapter)