Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 455 Post-Investigation
After breaking through the paladins' armor, Li Wei had no difficulty dealing with them.

In fact, if the Queen hadn't demanded that he be captured alive, he could have saved himself even more trouble.

Fortunately, Li Wei had made preparations in advance and used tranquilizer darts on those who resisted fiercely.

Of course, tranquilizer darts in this era were mainly used to capture animals alive. As for the dosage, don't expect it to be very precise. It was one dart for small animals and two darts for large animals. Whether they survived depended on luck.

Anyway, there are no animal protection organizations in this era, and people have no awareness of animal protection. It's best to catch them alive. If that's not possible, just cut off their heads and skin them to use as decorations in your room.

Li Wei didn't care about that. Two tranquilizer darts each, and whether they lived or died depended on luck.

but………

"To be honest, if I hadn't seen them blown up like this with my own eyes, I would have thought it was a switcheroo."

Looking at the paladin before him, Li Wei also showed a surprised expression.

Li Wei and Morales each took down two, then paralyzed the remaining two. Only then did Li Wei feel relieved and begin to carefully examine the group of paladins. What he saw was astonishing. After removing their armor, the paladins' appearance was truly… shocking.

Just look at Lydia's reaction and you'll know.

"Lord Li Wei, could it be that we attacked some kind of demon?"

It's no wonder Lydia asked this question, because after taking off their armor, everyone realized that these knights wearing armor didn't look like normal people at all!
Or rather, they don't seem human at all!
They were all around two meters tall, tall and strong, with eight-pack abs, and covered in scars—most of which were old injuries.

But that's where the human characteristics end; what remains are the abnormal parts.

First of all, these people are bright red all over; even rednecks aren't this red.

Secondly, their chests and backs were covered with dense scales. After a quick inspection, Li Wei realized that they seemed to grow directly from the flesh, and they were not fish scales, but more like reptile scales.

Finally, these people's teeth were all sharp, triangular, more like those of wild animals than humans.

Furthermore, their skulls don't look very human, which explains why Lydia thinks they are some kind of demon.

"If this really is a demon, then things will get interesting."

Li Wei chuckled. He did indeed think this person didn't look like an ordinary person, but if it was a demon...

"you."

Li Wei beckoned to the squad leader beside him and gave the order.

"Go and collect all of these people's belongings, including their identification documents and passports, and see which port they entered through."

"Yes."

This time, the people accompanying Li Wei weren't special agents, but soldiers. They weren't very professional in searching for evidence, and Li Wei had to remind them. After giving the order, Li Wei picked up a piece of armor and handed it to the white cat fairy.

"Look, can you figure out anything?"

"Is this their armor?"

The white cat glanced at the blood-stained armor Li Wei offered, flinched, and looked away with a hint of disgust. However, it still examined the armor fragments closely, focusing on the inside—where it could see numerous red characters.

Whether it was written in blood or not is not important.

"Human blood?"

The white cat fairy twitched its nose, nestled in Lydia's arms, and looked at the armor suspiciously, while Levi shrugged.

"Whether or not we can only know after testing, what are your thoughts on this?"

"If you want me to say something, I really don't have any ideas right now."

The white cat fairy was a little puzzled, but Li Wei didn't seem to care.

"I just want to know, is there a way to create powerful magical items through sacrifice or similar means?"

"Generally speaking, those are called cursed items."

The white cat fairy corrected Li Wei's choice of words.

"If you ask me if I have it or not, I remember it, but I don't know the specifics."

"So do you think these people became like this because of a curse?"

Upon hearing the white cat fairy's answer, Li Wei looked again at the several corpses that were neither human nor ghost, and the white cat fairy was also taken aback by Li Wei's unconventional question.

"There are indeed curses that can change a person's physical appearance..."

"Um……………"

Levi nodded thoughtfully, while Lydia looked at the text inside the armor with some unease.

"This, this really is the work of the Holy Bishop? This is too much..."

"It was indeed done by the Holy Bishop."

Just then, Morales, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"Hey?"

“When they killed my wife, the runes on the altar were the same as these words.”

Morales stared at the inscriptions embedded in the armor in Li Wei's hand, his expression extremely complex.

"I remember it very clearly, there's no mistake."

"Hmm, it seems there might be some unknown inside story in your case."

Li Wei made a comment and then looked away.

"Let's go take a look over there."

"Hey?"

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, Lydia and Morales exchanged a puzzled look before following him. At the same time, Lydia asked him in confusion.

"Lord Li Wei, is there anything else that hasn't been done? Hasn't the enemy already been captured?"

"This is just the beginning."

Li Wei smiled in response to Lydia's question.

"What we need to do next is to find evidence, figure out the identities and origins of these people, and what they are here for."

"Huh? Is that so?"

"This is my habit."

As Li Wei spoke, he continued walking forward. Each agent had a different approach. Some people were used to finishing their work and not caring about the rest. But Li Wei was the type who wanted to watch the show afterwards, especially now. Even though these people had been eliminated, the system hadn't popped up a mission, indicating that the system had determined that this wasn't yet a mysterious event.

So it would be a huge loss if there were no gossip to hear.

The monastery had been ravaged by a mortar attack, and the priests were lying scattered on the ground. Li Wei went over to take a look, then frowned.

"All dead."

"Yes, sir, they were already dead when we arrived."

"Suicide by poison, quite a high level of awareness." Li Wei wasn't surprised by those killed by mortar fire, but he was surprised by those whose faces were black, clearly indicating suicide by poison. In other words, those priests who weren't killed immediately by the bombs committed suicide by poison immediately.

He was decisive, like a seasoned spy.

But... it would be better if he were dead.

Looking at the corpse before him, Li Wei rubbed his hands together. He didn't really like interrogating the living, because the living lied too much. The dead, though silent, at least told the truth and wouldn't lie.

Li Wei, with his hands behind his back, circled the scene before turning his gaze to the strange gem. Interestingly, although it was located directly in the center of the explosion, its surface was smooth and undamaged. Moreover, after the priests died, Li Wei noticed that the red aura that had surrounded the gem had vanished, and the golden aura within it had dimmed slightly.

Li Wei asked the white cat fairy if she knew what it was, but the white cat fairy said she had never seen it before, and that the gem smelled strange, but not evil.

As long as it's not evil, then it can be left aside for the time being.

"report!"

Just then, a scout soldier returned.

"An uninhabited campsite was discovered nearby."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wei immediately turned his gaze to the soldiers.

"Take me over there and have a look."

"Yes!"

Led by the soldiers, Li Wei arrived at the back of the hillside on the other side of the monastery, where he indeed found a camp built against the mountainside. Judging from the tents and supplies there, it should have belonged to this group of people.

This made Li Wei even more curious.

"Lord Li Wei, what are you doing?"

Lydia stood a short distance away, watching Levi circle the camp repeatedly, muttering to himself, and was quite surprised. She was also a member of the investigation team. Generally, after eliminating the monsters, Lydia and the others' mission was considered complete. The rest was just cleanup work, usually handled by the backup personnel from Division Seven.

But judging from Li Wei's expression, he seemed more interested in these "clean-up tasks".

"I've discovered something interesting."

Li Wei inspected the camp in detail again, and then spoke.

"Interesting things?"

"That's right, very interesting. So why are they causing trouble on the ruins of the monastery? The monastery has been in disrepair for years, and judging from the fact that this group has set up camp in this sheltered spot, they are obviously worried that if they sleep in those ruins, they might wake up one night to find themselves buried underneath. So, if that's the case, what exactly are they doing here at the monastery?"

"this……………"

Lydia and Morales were both surprised by Levi's words. Indeed, neither of them had thought of this question before Levi raised it.

But upon closer reflection, it becomes clear that this is indeed the case.

If they weren't planning to stay here, then setting up camp could have happened anywhere, right? Why choose ruins?

"I suspect they came here looking for something."

Li Wei quickly provided an answer.

"Looking for something?"

"That's the gem."

Li Wei looked around again.

“When I came here, I carefully examined the markings, and there were no markings indicating where the gem was placed. That means they didn’t bring the gem here with them. Instead, they took it out of the ruins of the monastery after arriving here… Hmm… I’ll find out when I ask.”

As he spoke, Li Wei turned on the radio.

"Calling the Eye of the Sky, this is Li Wei."

Soon, Katie's voice came through the radio.

"Ah, Mr. Li Wei, what is it?"

"I've got this sorted out. How are things at the other two locations?"

"The battle at point A is nearing completion, while there seems to have been some mishap at point B, but the enemy has still been successfully defeated."

"very good."

Upon hearing her report, Li Wei nodded.

"Ask them if they found anything strange at the scene, like a huge gemstone or something?"

"etc……………"

Katie's voice disappeared, then rang out again after a moment.

"Ah, yes, they all reported that gems were found during the attack, and there was a priest praying around the gems."

"very good."

Upon hearing Katie's report, Levi raised an eyebrow.

"Have them bring all the gems here."

“Yes, Mr. Li Wei.”

"Bring it here?"

After listening to Levi and Katie's conversation, Lydia couldn't help but ask again.

"Shouldn't we take the jewels back to Mist City, Lord Livy?"

"Those of us in this line of work have to be careful about everything."

As Li Wei spoke, he glanced at Lydia.

"What if these three gems come together and cause a reaction? What if they suddenly explode? Since these guys from the Holy Bishops have chosen to use it to cause trouble in Fog City, it means that this thing may have some kind of magical or dangerous power, and it is enough to affect the entire Fog City. Just to be on the safe side, it is best not to act rashly before we figure out what this thing is."

"Ah, yes, I'm sorry... I didn't think it through."

"It's okay, you'll get used to it after a while."

Levi waved his hand and then looked at the information he had collected from the camp, while Lydia looked at Levi, bit her lip slightly, and spoke in her mind.

Lily, I think Sir Levi is really amazing.

That's right, mysterious forces are very dangerous, so you need to be extra careful.

I'm thinking...maybe I could learn from Sir Levi?

Lydia held the white cat fairy tightly in her arms, the thought replaying in her mind. Everyone in the team was very nice, but when carrying out missions, they all seemed rather rough around the edges, lacking someone as observant and thoughtful as Sir Levi.

Is it because he's a detective?
So... could I also develop in this direction? Maybe in this way, I could help everyone, instead of just being Lily's accessory?
Thinking about this, Lydia couldn't help but feel tempted.

(End of this chapter)