Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 432 The Digging Deeper

Chapter 432 The Digging Deeper
"How about it?"

Looking at Olivia, Levi asked a question, but she shook her head.

“I asked the bishops of the Delicat region, and they had not heard of any similar crackdown on cultists.”

"This is going to be interesting."

Upon hearing Olivia's answer, Levi's eyes shone even brighter with excitement.

There are actually only two possibilities when this happens.

First, the old lady is old and has a bad memory; she's confused and doesn't understand anything. There's no such thing at all.

Secondly, the bishop concealed this experience for some reason.

Li Wei is a detective, and detectives and police officers value evidence. The mysterious and strange stone gate discovered at the bottom of the lake clearly does not fit the first possibility. Since it exists, we must find an explanation for its existence.

To put it simply, why is this thing here?

Just like in detective movies, when the deceased appears at the crime scene, the police and detectives will wonder, why did he die here?
You need to provide an explanation.

Some people say this man likes the girls here and comes to visit every few days, which seems quite believable.

Some people say they don't know anything about this place, that they didn't even know there were dead people here, which makes the credibility of their claims very low.

Especially since this case happened on the other party's territory.

According to the Holy Bishop's policy, when such a thing happens, it should at least be publicized extensively, such as "I, the Holy Bishop, rid the people of harm, eradicate the cult, and protect the peace of the region," and then a story should be made up and put into some classic, so that it can be sung in the local area for decades, hundreds of years or even longer.

Logically speaking, this wasn't fabricated; there were witnesses and physical evidence, which would have been very helpful in spreading the Holy Bishop's message among the people of Delicat. For both reason and emotion, the Church had no reason to conceal it.

But it deliberately kept it a secret.

As a detective, Li Wei immediately began to wonder why it was keeping it a secret.

Although the lake was almost empty, Li Wei didn't immediately go in to search. The reason was simple: according to the little mermaid, the stone door was clearly locked, and whatever was inside couldn't get out. Since that was the case, Li Wei wasn't in a hurry to go in. Although the information from the black cat was vague, the consequences were very clear.

If it really involves something like a plague, then Li Wei would naturally be cautious, unlike those fools in horror movies who see a sealed door and can't wait to open it and destroy the world.

You should at least figure out what's inside the door, right?

In fact, Li Wei also suspected that what was inside the door might be related to Curly's mission.

He still remembered what Olivia had told him; in fact, the motive was hidden in the information Olivia had provided.

Olivia said that Curly-haired Boy's father committed suicide last winter because of debt.

Then this year, Curly-haired guy went back to China.

Moreover, the curly-haired family are devout followers of the Holy Episcopal Church.

But there was one thing Olivia didn't say, and she probably hadn't thought of it either.

But Li Wei remembers it very clearly.

Last year, he resolved the Imperial Bridge case himself, and then, following the clues, the Queen used this as an excuse to expel all the Holy Bishops' influence in the Empire, which was then taken over by the Puritan Church, effectively parting ways with the Holy Episcopal Church.

The Holy Bishop's headquarters were in Francis, the curly-haired boy was studying in Francis, and his whole family were devout Catholics... His father, after the empire split from the Holy Bishop, committed suicide due to debt.

Of course, most people wouldn't connect these two things. After all, it wasn't the Queen who forced Curly's father to commit suicide. He himself failed in his investments, committed suicide due to debt, and what does it have to do with someone else having a penny?

Yes, that's normal logic, but not the logic of religious believers.

The religious believer's logic is that the empire betrayed the Holy Episcopal Court, and since his father was an imperial citizen, he was punished by the Holy Lord, which is why he failed in his investment and committed suicide.

Ultimately, it's all the empire's fault.

As a devout Christian, the thought at this moment is how to obtain God's forgiveness.

So how does one obtain the Lord's forgiveness, and who decides?

It must be the Holy Sepulchre.

So what will the Holy See say?

Oh dear, this is so hard to guess!

Of course, this was just Levi's reasoning, or to put it bluntly, a guess, without any evidence. So he didn't tell Olivia. But in fact, in Levi's mind, the curly-haired guy was already a prime suspect. The only problem now was, he didn't know what the guy was broadcasting on the radio so late at night.

Li Wei listened to the radio all night, but apart from the midnight "goodnight" message, he couldn't receive any other sound. He asked Qi Ya, who said that the radio could only receive certain frequencies, not all frequencies. However, she said she would help convert the radio to a full-band receiver, which might allow him to receive what Curly Hair posted that night.

According to Qi Ya, since she had nothing else to do, she decided to do some crafts. She used to make these kinds of things at home all the time.

But I digress. Let's get back to the main topic.

That's the cause of the victim's death—cough, no, why did the Holy Bishop conceal the situation here?
Li Wei tends to believe that they may have actually gone to exterminate the cultists at first, but something happened along the way. According to the old lady, the priest initially led a large group of knights in and rushed in. If they knew what was going on there, they probably carried out a covert operation like secret agents.

Their grand-scale campaign was clearly aimed at propaganda, just as Li Wei had planned. After the deed was done, they would publicize the Holy Bishop's exploits in Delicat to win over the lesbians.

The outcome was likely due to unforeseen circumstances; the knights were probably all killed, with only the priest escaping and learning a secret. At the very least, those people were more than just cultists.

The problem was that he couldn't possibly kill everyone in the area to silence them; he had the idea but not the ability, so he simply ran away. He also didn't tell his colleagues at the local church about it.

Li Wei intuitively felt that this secret might be related to the all-knowing eye on the stone gate.

Unlike ordinary people, Li Wei, who had been in the Dream Realm, knew some little-known secrets.

Yes, for example, the fact that the All-Seeing Eye was once a symbol shared by all the gods on the continent.

So who can prove that those "cultists" here don't worship the Holy Lord?
Thinking even deeper, what if the people of the Holy Bishop discovered that the cultists here who readily sacrifice children worship the same Holy Lord as they themselves...? Tsk tsk tsk, I don't even want to think about it.

Li Wei had no fondness for religious believers, a trait he shared with the Queen. After the Rune Mine incident, the Queen promoted but demoted all the clergy who had produced the useful holy water, removing them from their actual positions and replacing them with clergy who were unable to produce the holy water or whose faith was not very devout. Li Wei strongly agreed with this decision.

Even in a world with a God, people don't necessarily have to listen to Him.

The Queen's reason for transferring those clergy members was simple—if the Holy Lord wanted them to oppose the Empire and the Queen, would they listen to the Queen or to the Holy Lord?
There can't be two suns in the sky, or two rulers in a country; everyone understands this principle.

Moreover, based on Li Wei's experience, he has always believed that people with religious beliefs tend to have lower moral standards and less self-control.

Yes, lower yourself.

In Li Wei's view, people with religious beliefs are essentially children who haven't grown up. To put it bluntly, their sense of right and wrong is entirely dependent on the deity they believe in. They do what God tells them is right, and they don't do what God tells them is wrong.

To put it bluntly, it's equivalent to saying, "That's what my mom said."

The main point is to shirk all responsibility, placing all the blame on the gods. In today's terms, anyone who uses religious beliefs to restrain their morality is a mama's boy.

Whatever my mom says goes. If she says go east, we go east; if she says go west, we go west; if she says we're not compatible, we're not compatible; if she says someone deserves to die, they deserve to die.

Conversely, those who are not fanatical believers or have no religious beliefs at least know that they are responsible for their own actions.

At least they won't say nonsense like, "I did it because my mom told me to."

Besides, Li Wei had read the Necronomicon and knew what kind of gods they were. When the flames were about to die out, they simply left, abandoning humanity. Humanity's later reunification was achieved by Emperor Arthur and his forces, and had absolutely nothing to do with the gods.

Therefore, it is clear that if such a thing were to happen again, these gods would still run away faster than anyone else. If humans fawn over them like lapdogs all day long, they will definitely not have a good ending.

After all, as the old saying goes, "A simp never dies a good death." These are lessons learned through the blood and tears of our ancestors.

The water was pumped all day, and most of it was pumped out. The rest would be pumped out tomorrow. Li Wei didn't send anyone to guard it; he just sent a puppet bird to keep watch, and then he went home.

Because it was late, Alice and Sophia had already gone to bed, only Qiya was still sitting on the sofa. When she saw Li Wei come back, she excitedly waved to him.

"Brother Li Wei, you're back."

"Huh? You're still awake?"

"Just got it done."

Qi Ya gave Li Wei a thumbs up, looking very proud.

"Now radios can receive broadcasts on all frequency bands!"

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Li Wei immediately became interested and went to the radio. This radio looked similar to the one in Li Wei's house, except that the front panel was open, and several wires came out from inside and were connected to a control panel.

It looks very technical.

"Should I open it now?"

"Ah."

Li Wei nodded and sat down next to Qi Ya. The latter turned on the knob and turned it a few times. Soon, a clear evening broadcast came from the radio.

"What should we do now?"

"Wait."

Li Wei glanced at his watch; it was only ten o'clock. The children were already in bed, but the evening radio program wouldn't end until midnight. He'd have two more hours; he'd just listen to the program and relax.

Evening radio broadcasts in this era weren't particularly interesting. After all, communication devices weren't widespread, unlike in Li Wei's time when people could use telephones or mobile phones to make hotlines and chat about relationship issues. Evening radio broadcasts in this era mainly consisted of bedtime stories.

No wonder Curly Hair could handle it all by himself; after all, he didn't have much else to do besides telling stories.

Qi Ya got sleepy as she listened to the bedtime story. She had been up all day and was exhausted. She drifted off to sleep as she listened to the story…

It's unclear how much time passed before Qi Ya was finally awakened.

"Hey, wake up, Qi Ya?"

"Um……………"

Qi Ya opened her eyes, glanced around groggily, and then saw Li Wei's face.

Upon seeing this, Qi Ya instantly woke up, or rather, was awakened by his handsome appearance.

After all, there are no men this handsome in dreams!
"Hey? Brother Li Wei?"

"It's almost time."

Li Wei wasn't surprised by Qi Ya's dazed look. Ever since junior high, many girls had liked to lean on him. Some bumped into him because they had bad eyesight, some leaned on him in a daze, and some even suddenly had an epileptic seizure and hugged him. It was all like that.

So much so that Li Wei often had no choice but to either avoid it or not avoid it.

However, he gradually mastered some skills, though of course, he didn't need to use them on a little girl like Qi Ya.

"Ah, um..."

Qi Ya patted her face hard to calm her wildly beating heart. When she focused her attention on the control panel in front of her, she quickly calmed down.

Just then, Curly-haired Man's voice came from the radio.

"That concludes today's broadcast. Sweet dreams, everyone. Goodnight."

Then, the radio went silent.

"Start now?"

"let's start."

Hearing Li Wei's words, Qi Ya nodded, and then she began to carefully manipulate the knobs on the control panel.

Then, a crackling noise came from the radio, similar to the sound Li Wei remembered hearing when changing radio stations.

Qi Ya kept changing the frequency, and the noise level fluctuated.

Li Wei listened to the noise with his eyes closed, while simultaneously monitoring the situation on the other side of the lake through the puppet bird. Li Wei could see that the heavy stone door was trembling incessantly, as if something was trying to break free.

All of this happened shortly after the evening broadcast ended.

Well, as things stand, there is at least a causal relationship.

“……………！……………！”

Gradually, the noise began to fluctuate, and it was obvious that there was some kind of sound.

Upon hearing this, Li Wei opened his eyes.

"Did you hear that?"

"heard it."

Qi Ya nodded, then glanced at her control panel.

"It's a longwave band, this frequency band is generally not used..."

Can you figure this out a little?

"Let me try."

As Qi Ya spoke, she adjusted the knob next to her again, and gradually the noise began to decrease, making the sound clearer.