Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 452 Team Formation by Lottery
As Li Wei walked into the lounge and looked at everyone around him, he couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.

It's been over a year since MI7 was established, but he hasn't actually seen many people from the other investigation teams within MI7. This is mainly because the Empire is too vast, and the number of investigation teams is too small. Everyone is already overwhelmed with managing their own area, so there's hardly any time for them to gather and hold meetings.

It must be said that after this meeting, Li Wei also had to marvel at how vast and rich the empire was, with its biodiversity at its peak.

Upon arriving at the lounge, he activated [Soul Vision] and scanned everyone. It must be said, there were all sorts of mysterious creatures inside.

There were eight people present, five men and three women, of varying ages.

Li Wei had already reviewed their information before he arrived.

Lydia Derek, seventeen years old, was born in the southern countryside of the Empire. When her family was troubled by mysterious events, she acquired a familiar, the white cat Lily. After that, she was invited to join the local exploration team. The captain reported that she was highly praised and very cute. If Levi were to describe her, she would probably be the kind of heroine from an RPG.

The white cat fairy in her arms was classified as an auxiliary in the report, meaning it could sense whether the other side was dangerous or evil beforehand. In Li Wei's opinion, this was already very helpful.

The soul is blue, and it is safe.

Next to her is Polk Bandri—twenty-three years old. His situation is different from Lydia's. He was originally an intelligence officer for the investigation team. During an investigation into a mysterious event, he was trapped in a forest and met the fairy Pixie, thus becoming the mysterious creature's partner.

His fairy Pixie is also a support character, mainly because of her small size, which makes her suitable for scouting and exploration, and she also knows some healing spells.

Basically, the two of them represent the two sources of people with mysterious creatures currently on the investigation team.

One possibility is that they are drawn into a mysterious event and, by chance, gain the favor and power of a mysterious creature.

Another possibility is that while investigating a mysterious event, you accidentally unlock an SSR character and receive a valuable reward.

However, the former is overwhelmingly more common. Among the eight people this time, only Polk and Henry—the strong man carrying the coffin—were able to obtain SSRs after becoming members of the investigation team and investigating mysterious events.

Everyone else went down this path because they or their families were involved in mysterious events.

The simplest case involved the portly Mrs. Castine, who was sitting on the sofa smiling. According to the report, her problem was that things were frequently stolen from her home, and they were all things she considered important. Although she reported the thefts to the police, they were unable to catch the culprit.

The lady then suspected it might be the work of a mischievous sprite, so she wrote to the Discovery Times, and a local investigation team went to investigate. Their method was quite simple: they waited for the creature to come to them, set a trap, and that's how they caught the treasure-sniffing monster.

The survey team originally intended to bring it back for disposal, but Mrs. Castin felt sorry for the Treasure Sniffer and decided to keep it. The Treasure Sniffer also liked Mrs. Castin, so under the guise of protection and observation, Mrs. Castin was recruited into the survey team as well.

What makes the Treasure Sniffer Monster so amazing is that it can find what's most important to someone's heart, and even if it can't get it, it can still point out its location.

Although this treasure-sniffing monster doesn't possess any mysterious fighting abilities, Mrs. Castin's investigation team has still managed to solve several cases thanks to it.

Of course, there were bound to be some mishaps. Once, a family lost their child and asked the Treasure-Sniffing Monster to find it. However, the Monster led them to the neighbor's child instead. Later, an investigation revealed that the man of the house had been having an affair with the newlywed neighbor and had a child. As for his wife's child, it wasn't his at all; it belonged to Old Wang next door!
The investigation focused on the male homeowner's most important possessions, and this is the result.

Later, by focusing their investigation on his wife, they finally found the missing child.

Of course, the two families were also broken up as a result—I must say, Li Wei found this report quite interesting.

If it were Li Wei, he would definitely dig into the secrets behind this, such as who cheated first, whether the latter did it for revenge or there was another reason... Hehehe, isn't that the fun of gossiping?
Overall, Mrs. Castin's cases are not too dangerous; after all, even the Treasure Sniffer Monster couldn't handle anything too dangerous.

It only digs for treasure, it can't fight. If it encounters a hellhound, it'll just swallow it whole and make it a snack.

As for the two-meter-tall, scarred man who looked like the Terminator, his name was Henry Morales. He was one of MI7's rare specialists in eliminating the undead. The coffin behind him also had a story. Levi had read the report; Henry had a wife, a devout believer, and the couple had a very good relationship.

However, a cult appeared in Henry's area, operating under the name of the Holy Lord, and that's when the problem arose.

Henry's wife has disappeared.

Henry believed the cult had taken his wife, so he tried to break into the church but was driven out. He then called the police, but the cult colluded with the local authorities, so no one paid attention. Just then, Henry learned of the existence of the "Explorer's Daily" newspaper, so he wrote to it for help. An investigation team then arrived and, together with Henry, forcibly broke into the church.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Henry's wife had already been killed and sacrificed by the cult, summoning a terrible evil spirit.

As the investigation team battled the evil spirit, Henry wept bitterly while holding his wife's remains. Then, a miraculous scene unfolded. His wife's spirit reappeared and, together with Henry, defeated the evil spirit. Afterward, the investigation team initially planned to bury his wife, but Henry expressed his unwillingness to be separated from her again. Therefore, he placed her remains in a coffin and carried them around.

This husband-and-wife team specializes in dealing with evil spirits and is quite adept at it.

However, no one could explain why Henry's wife was in this situation. Elizabeth said that there was a saying that saints became holy spirits after death, but Henry's wife was just an ordinary person in life, and she wasn't even that famous... It didn't seem like the characteristics of a holy spirit at all.

However, under Li Wei's [Soul Vision], he did see the truth about that wife.

Pink... This color is quite rare, perhaps because the wife was used as a sacrifice to an evil spirit?
Unfortunately, Li Wei wasn't present at the time, and the investigation team didn't conduct further investigation into the evil spirit sacrifice ritual. Now it's clear they've found no clues. But that's not the worst part; the worst part is…

Li Wei glanced silently at the fortune teller, who was dressed in a black robe and wrapped up like a dumpling. In Li Wei's [Soul Vision], her body looked strange; her entire soul seemed to have been split in two, one half red and the other half white.

Actually, they are sisters. Her name is Carly Ruth, which is actually the name of two people: the older sister is named Carly, and the younger sister is named Ruth. And now, they share one body and one name. Hmm… a bit like schizophrenia, isn't it?
Of course, there is also a rather bloody story that is not suitable to be told while eating.

"Hello."

Li Wei didn't dwell on it. He simply glanced around, checked the report and the people, then gathered his thoughts, looked at everyone, and nodded.

Then, Li Wei spoke.

"Hello everyone, although I should say something welcoming now, I think it's better to skip the formalities. You've all come all this way here, not to listen to my ramblings, so let's get straight to the point."

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, everyone looked up at him, wondering what he was going to say.

Li Wei simply shrugged in response to the stares of the crowd.

"Don't get excited or nervous. We won't ask you to do anything strange. Your only task is to solve the case."

"Solved the case?"

Polk shouted it out.

"Are they going to transfer us to Chongqing?"

Li Wei glanced at Polk, said nothing, and continued speaking.

"First of all, I hope you all understand that there are many people in this world who possess mysterious powers, both within and outside the Empire. Just as our MI7 would ask you all to solve mysterious cases, other countries would do similar things, and naturally, they would not limit this to their own territory."

At this point, Li Wei's expression turned serious.

"In fact, according to MI7's investigation, some strange and mysterious events have been frequently occurring around the Fog City in recent days. According to preliminary investigations, this is very likely an operation carried out by spies from other countries against the Empire, and it is a mysterious one at that."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions immediately turned serious, and Li Wei continued speaking.

"This is why we have summoned you all here. Currently, there are not many people within the Empire who can fight against the mysterious force, and all of you here are important combat forces for us. Now is the time when we need you to serve the Empire."

Li Wei's tone was calm, not at all impassioned, as if he were just talking about today's dinner arrangements.

After a moment of silence, the burly man spoke.

"Have the cases been assigned? When will they begin?"

"You can rest here for the night and set off the next day. But before that, there is one more thing to do."

As Li Wei spoke, he snapped his fingers, and then a maid pushed a food cart in. But instead of food and afternoon tea, the cart contained a box.

"This is?"

"Draw lots."

Li Wei smiled slightly at the burly man's question.

"The situation is unclear this time, and the opponent seems to be very difficult to deal with. Of course, we can't let you fight alone. So what you need to do is draw lots to form teams."

"Draw lots to form teams?"

"Luck is also very important, and I believe you all would agree with that."

Li Wei glanced at the crowd around him. He believed that no one would object, after all, most of the people present were lucky—otherwise, they would have died long ago.

No one spoke, but they quickly stood up and answered with their actions.

(End of this chapter)