Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 440 The Land of Mist
After making further preparations, Li Wei boarded the Eye of the Sky and flew towards the monastery.

Before going to the monastery, Li Wei made a point of examining the three bodies. After all, based on his experience, in horror movies of this type, the dead usually have some marks left on their bodies. Especially in those involving religion, evil spirits and the like like to leave marks on the corpses such as "The killer is Wu Song, the tiger slayer" to indicate "XX was here".

In criminal investigation terms, such evil spirits belong to serial killers, who are mostly driven by a desire for self-expression.

Those who enjoy drawing might tattoo an inverted cross or a pentagram on the victim.

Those with an artistic flair might write biblical quotes on the victims' bodies.

To put it bluntly, they're afraid others won't know they did it.

Unfortunately, this "prisoner" didn't seem to have such a strong desire for self-expression. Li Wei searched the body thoroughly but found nothing useful.

Of course, considering that the other party might also have words carved inside their internal organs—which would be pure madness—Li Wei still handed over the dissection to others, telling them to contact him if they found anything.

As for Li Wei, he began to review the haunted monastery case that Gamma's team had previously investigated.

The person who initially sought help from MI7 was not from the monastery, but a resident of a small town near the monastery. He claimed that his friend was a nun at the monastery, but when he visited her, he was told that she had left the monastery and gone elsewhere.

The resident became suspicious, especially since the monastery had a bad reputation in the area, and her friend had previously hinted in a letter that something bad had happened at the monastery. So the letter writer believed that something had happened to her friend at the monastery.

But calling the police was useless, so they had no choice but to write to the editorial department of MI7 for help.

"According to the letter, the monastery was isolated from the world and had almost no contact with the outside world. Only the groom would go to the monastery in the mountains every quarter to deliver some supplies. Also, every ten years, the nuns of the monastery would go down the mountain once. They would go to the orphanage in the town and select girls aged 14 to 18 to take to the monastery."

As Li Wei read this, he looked at Katie beside him, who was resting her chin on her hands, leaning on the desk and looking at him.

"What do you think?"

"I don't see anything particularly strange about it?"

Katie clearly didn't see anything wrong with it. Convents are indeed places where many orphans go. Adele was one of them; she was educated in a convent, grew up there, and then went out to work after becoming an adult.

Of course, some nuns also decide to stay in the convent for life and dedicate themselves to God.

In Katie's opinion, nothing of this was strange.

"Indeed, that's true, but it's different when you look at the report."

Li Wei once again produced the investigation report from the Gamma Squad.

"The report only said that, according to the investigation, a nun went missing from the convent, and this was caused by an evil spirit. They purified the spirit based on the clues in the investigation, but Susie unfortunately died during the process."

As he spoke, Li Wei shook his head.

"Can't you see the problem with this report?"

"It seems...very simple?"

"Yes."

Li Wei nodded.

"They didn't explain what the evil spirit was, what happened to the monastery, what rituals they used for purification, or where the missing nun went—even if she was nowhere to be found, there should at least be some guess. Moreover, Susie's body wasn't brought back either. Was she cremated on the spot? Or did something happen to her? They didn't write that down clearly either."

"It's not on there?"

At this moment, Katie also curiously came over, and Levi directly showed her the report. She took the report and looked at it carefully.

"It is indeed quite strange. Is this kind of report... acceptable?"

Katie was also surprised after reading the report. After all, when she went out with Levi to solve cases, Levi would always investigate the situation at the scene, at least to find out the background information, and then deduce what had happened there based on the clues and the scene. However, this report was vague and unclear. It didn't explain the important points clearly, or just glossed over them.

"I don't know how the Seventh Division reviews things. Let's clean up the workplace later."

Li Wei silently rolled his eyes, deciding that the first thing he would do in his report upon returning was to improve the document review process. He had also read the Gamma Squad's previous reports, and could only say that some were detailed, some were not, and there was no fixed standard. It had a kind of arbitrary feel to it—writing more when they wanted to, and less when they didn't.

If these kinds of reports can be approved, then Eileen is just wasting all those words she types every time.

"In short, this report is completely useless."

Li Wei leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"So our trip there means we have to start the investigation all over again, sigh... what a hassle."

Moreover, in Li Wei's opinion, reinvestigating is more troublesome than the initial investigation. With the initial investigation, the other party might not have even realized what was happening, allowing for a surprise attack. However, with a reinvestigation, the other party is clearly experienced and prepared, making it a completely different matter.

It could easily turn from a sneak attack into a full-scale assault, which would be disastrous.

"Moreover, something's not right about this monastery."

"Something's wrong?"

“That’s right, I checked, and there is no record of this monastery in the Holy Lord Church.”

Li Wei frowned slightly, his expression grave.

It seems this situation is more complicated than I thought. Generally, religious facilities like monasteries leave notes with the bishop and local authorities. However, after investigating before coming here, Li Wei discovered that neither the local Catholic Church nor government agencies had any information about this monastery.

"Oh, so you're bringing Miss Elizabeth along this time?"

Upon hearing this, Katie suddenly realized what was going on, while Levi shrugged.

“That’s right, she’s more knowledgeable about religion than we are.” And if it’s a ghost story, she’s more professional at exorcising demons.

Of course, there's no need to tell Katie this.

"Sir."

Just then, Lieutenant Horn's voice came through the intercom in the room.

"Eye of the Sky is about to arrive at its designated location."

"Okay, we'll be there soon."

Li Wei stood up, tidied himself up, and then led Katie away from the captain's cabin to the bridge.

"right here?"

"Yes, sir."

Li Wei walked to the porthole and looked outside.

The first thing that came into view was a range of undulating mountains, shrouded in thick clouds, with only faint outlines visible. Only one mountain broke through the clouds, and on its summit, Li Wei could see a castle-like building appearing and disappearing amidst the swirling mist.

What is our current altitude?

"Eight hundred meters, sir."

"Eight hundred meters? That doesn't make sense."

Li Wei looked at the sea of ​​clouds outside the porthole with a puzzled expression. If this were at an altitude of 8,000 meters, it would be understandable, but now you're telling me this is only 800 meters? What are those clouds below?
"It should be fog down there, sir. This happens occasionally."

"That depends on the location. In places like this, it might not be the usual situation."

Li Wei narrowed his eyes, his expression grave.

The report didn't even mention whether the weather here is like this all year round, or whether it wasn't like this before.

It's only because these people died that Li Wei went back and definitely put them in solitary confinement.

What a terrible report! It's so careless, like you're on vacation.
People who travel will even write "Today the sky is clear and the waves are high" in their travelogues.

When I get back, I'll definitely publish this case report as a counterexample throughout the entire system, and see who dares to write it like this again!

"Can you confirm the location of the town?"

In this weather, a normal landing is practically impossible. Li Wei was more inclined to blow that dilapidated monastery to smithereens with a single shot, but then he thought that since they were out killing people, bombing the monastery probably wouldn't work. He figured it would be better to see if he could find any clues.

"Yes, sir."

"Very good, find a relatively safe place and drop us down."

Li Wei looked around; the monastery was almost entirely shrouded in thick fog, making a landing under these conditions a complete pipe dream. Even with a landing craft, you couldn't see what was below; if you were thrown into the lake, that would be a disaster.

There was no other way but to go back the way we came.

Thinking of this, Li Wei sighed silently.

Oh dear, what a bad start.

We've already encountered so many problems at the beginning; who knows what troubles we'll run into next?

The Eye of the Sky circled in the air and, following the map, finally landed in front of a mountain path not far from the town.

"Then, the heavens are in your hands. Be ready to provide reinforcements at any time."

Levi led Kitty and Sister Elizabeth out of the airship, then gave Lieutenant Horn a few words of advice. Just before landing, Levi had used [Soul Vision] to carefully examine the location of the town, but to his dismay, he saw nothing.

Has everyone in the town died? Or is there not a single living creature left?

Li Wei had a feeling that something was wrong with the fog, as if it was even blocking his [Soul Vision], which made him increasingly vigilant and uneasy.

If it were just that everyone in the town died, it would only be a minor problem.

However, if there are living things in the town, but you can't see them with your [Soul Vision], that would be a big problem.

"Pay attention to my signal. Do not fire without a signal."

Levi didn't bring too many people. He left Henry and his steam-powered troops on the airship. If it were a biohazard or similar problem, firepower would naturally be the best policy. But this thing didn't seem like something that could be dealt with simply by numbers, so it was better to be cautious and avoid making things worse if there were too many people.

One squad has already died; I can't afford to lose another one.

"Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Horn saluted Li Weijing, then closed the hatch. Soon, the Eye of the Sky slowly rose again and flew back into the sky.

Li Wei then withdrew his gaze, looked at Kitty, then at Sister Elizabeth, and finally looked at the path shrouded in mist.

"Okay, let's go."

(End of this chapter)