Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 453 Midnight Operation
The empire is certainly not some kind of kind little lamb.

Other countries send spies to the Empire, and the Empire will naturally send spies to other countries in return—it's a matter of reciprocity.

This time, the information obtained by MI7 was also related to Li Wei.

While on vacation, Li Wei casually apprehended a spy in Delictory who was trying to awaken the Plague Child. The guy had gone to study in Francis, where he'd been turned. Anthony interrogated him, but didn't get much information out of this incompetent fool.

However, one clue caught Anthony's attention: according to the spy's confession, his training was not in some spies' classroom disguised as a training ground, nor in some dark basement or abandoned warehouse, but in Francis's Cathedral.

This made Anthony suspicious. Usually, when training spies, they would find a place to train them, and he had never heard of taking them directly to their own headquarters.

With the idea of ​​taking a chance, even if there's no guarantee of success, Anthony also activated his informant to find out what was going on with the cathedral.

As it turned out, these spies actually managed to uncover some intelligence.

According to intelligence from spies in the City of Flowers, the Holy Bishop seems to be making a big move in Fog City recently, and has already sent people to the surrounding areas of Fog City—well, they don't dare to enter Fog City.

However, the intelligence information sent by the spies was incomplete. He only heard the priests and bishops in the cathedral occasionally talk about this topic, saying that they had arrived around Fog City and were ready to take action at any time... But what exactly the operation was and what they were going to do to Fog City was something the spies could not find out.

Or rather, you could inquire, but that would risk being exposed.

Li Wei felt that it was not easy to plant a spy, and he was heartbroken to lose one, so he came up with a clumsy method.

With [Soul Vision] activated, take the Eye of the Sky and circle around the Fog City! Observe what's amiss, and you'll be able to pinpoint the other party's location!
When rescuing Sophia, Li Wei secretly observed the fighting style of the Holy Bishop and the Holy Knights. Their armor was clearly defective, and their soul radiance was red. Based on this deduction, the possibility of the Holy Bishop attempting to attack Fog City, and outside of Fog City at that, is virtually zero without the aid of mysterious forces.

Therefore, Li Wei deduced that they were likely brought to the Empire with some mysterious power and had hidden themselves there.

And just as Li Wei had predicted, he rode the Eye of the Sky around Fog City and indeed found three places where the amount of red spiritual light was unusually large.

After that, Li Wei investigated the three locations and found that they were all abandoned churches and monasteries, built by the holy bishop a long time ago.

Yeah, I bet it's these guys.

Once the location was pinpointed, the question of how to attack became. Li Wei's plan was indiscriminate bombardment, blasting the enemy into a stupor, rendering them oblivious to the world. Unfortunately, the Queen wanted to capture them alive, hoping to extract information about the Holy Bishops through interrogation. Even if they died, at least some intelligence and clues could be gleaned from their remains.

Li Wei had no objection to this. After all, he was paid by the government, so he would just do whatever his superiors said.

However, there is a problem with this.

The problem is that these three locations have been abandoned for a long time and are all in remote mountains. They can be bombed without any problem, but if a large army were to move in, it would be easy for the enemy to discover them.

In such situations, a small number of elite troops would naturally be deployed.

However, ordinary special agents like elite soldiers would be powerless against mysterious forces; the best option would be someone capable of confronting them.

Since the old steward was going to summon the others who brought mysterious creatures to Fog City, Li Wei might as well let them go.

As for holding a banquet, Li Wei felt it was perfectly acceptable to wait until the matter was resolved before holding a victory celebration. At least then everyone would have fought side-by-side, and the relationship wouldn't be too strained. Holding a banquet right away, even if it's supposed to be for communication, what if the other party doesn't want to communicate with you? Wouldn't that be a bad thing?
After all, not everyone enjoys these kinds of social gatherings, and it's not like it's something you have to risk your life for.

But on the battlefield, you really have to risk your life.

Katie did not participate in this battle; Levi needed her to serve in the task force, just in case.

After all, in games, there are often scenes where the protagonist painstakingly destroys all three magic circles of the BOSS, only to have the BOSS suddenly jump out, laugh, and say, "You've been tricked! These are all illusions. Actually, I was prepared all along!"... It makes the protagonist who gets tricked seem rather dim-witted.

Although Levi did not find any other gathering places of mysterious forces, he left Katie behind just in case.

There were three locations to be investigated, so Li Wei divided the people into groups of three, with the remaining two forming a team with himself, making a total of three teams. Of course, each team was accompanied by a platoon of heavily armed soldiers.

Li Wei has always believed in the principle of firepower superiority. Mysterious forces should be dealt with by mysterious forces, but ordinary firepower is also indispensable.

Players who fight bosses and minions will understand this all too well. You want to concentrate on the boss, but the minions keep coming by, scratching and clawing at you. Even if their damage isn't high, disrupting your attack rhythm and concentration is deadly. Therefore, bosses with minions are generally more difficult to deal with in the game.

Li Wei doesn't mind being the boss, since the opponent won't use save/load techniques anyway.

The three locations are in a valley, a mountaintop, and a forest, respectively. They are definitely not easy to reach by walking, and the enemy may also have ambushes and sentries.

So Li Wei naturally used his Sky Eye to send the people to be dropped off nearby, and finally his own group.

The first and second groups were through river valleys and forests. Only the mountaintop was difficult to climb, so Li Wei thought it was better to go by himself. Otherwise, it would take half a day to climb the mountain, so what was the fun in that?

But when Lydia's feet touched the ground, her legs went weak.

"I...I thought I was going to fall to my death..."

Lydia slumped to the ground, cradling the white cat fairy in her arms. The fairy looked at her speechlessly and patted its face. "Honestly, can't you be any braver? You're not afraid of anyone else."

"I've never tried this before..."

Lydia complained to the white cat fairy in a low voice, then stood up. In front of her were Levi and Morales—the latter still carrying the large coffin on his back and holding a shotgun in his hand.

Behind her was a squad of fully armed soldiers.

"Lord Li Wei, is such an exaggeration necessary?"

Looking at the soldiers around her armed with mortars, heavy machine guns, and other weapons, Lydia's face turned deathly pale. When she and her squad went out, they mostly saw pistols and rifles; machine guns were a rare sight…

"MI7 has the authority to mobilize local troops to carry out its mission."

Li Wei gripped his cane and looked down at the dilapidated monastery not far away. Compared to the previous monastery where demons had dwelled, this monastery looked much more dilapidated, with many parts broken and missing.

Among them, there were five or six figures moving about. In addition, there was a group of white figures circling around, seemingly praying.

In terms of firepower, our side has an absolute advantage, but looking at the red armor on the enemy's body, that's a different story.

Li Wei hadn't forgotten how, when he rescued Sophia, a team of paladins had wiped out dozens of fully armed soldiers without suffering any harm themselves.

"There was a strange, bloody smell in the air."

At this moment, the white cat fairy poked its head out, sniffed the air, and then whispered.

"How strange, this is the first time I've ever smelled this. The smell of metal and blood mixed together, a strange rusty smell... the wails of souls..."

At this point, the white cat fairy turned to look at Lydia.

"Be careful, Lydia, the enemy we're facing this time is no ordinary one."

"What should we do next, sir?"

Morales gripped his shotgun and asked in a low voice, while Levi pondered for a moment.

"It seems they haven't noticed us. Let's close the distance first, then go in and catch them off guard."

"Shouldn't we lure them out?"

"I don't think the other party is that stupid. In short, we should adapt to the situation."

If it weren't for the Queen's order to capture them alive, Livy could have solved everything with a single shot from the sky, and there wouldn't have been any problems.

Unfortunately, that's not possible now.

However, Li Wei also wanted to know what these Franciscans were planning to do in the middle of the night, running to the outskirts of the foggy city.

A group of people stealthily descended the cliff, closing the distance to the monastery. Levi raised his binoculars and peered into the monastery. Under the moonlight, he saw that the ceiling had collapsed, revealing a dilapidated floorboard. Within the monastery, a group of men dressed in robes, resembling priests, were forming a circle, praying quietly.

Around them stood several knights, dressed in clothing that was basically the same as what Li Wei had seen in the Sasha Alliance.

"Be careful of those knights, they are difficult to deal with."

Levi whispered to Morales, who nodded, while Lydia looked at Levi uneasily.

"Lord Li Wei, what should I do?"

"You stay here with your white cat and watch the battlefield."

As Li Wei spoke, he handed over a radio.

"If you find anything wrong, notify me immediately, understand?"

"Ah, yes! I understand!"

This was similar to Lydia's usual work, so she nodded vigorously, while Levi turned to look at the soldier leader beside him.

"Mores and I will go down first, wait for my signal, then open fire with mortars, directly targeting that group of priests in the center. No matter what those guys are doing, it's definitely not a good thing."

"Understood, my lord."

(End of this chapter)