Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 457 The Detective's Path
The old butler left with the belongings, while Li Wei led the others back to the second attack site, which was in a forest. Li Wei stepped off the airship, took a flashlight, examined the marks on the ground, circled around, and then returned.

Then, he looked at the three of them.

"I noticed that you lingered here for a long time after leaving the airship. What were you doing?"

"Huh? You can tell that, Sir Levi?"

Lydia was quite surprised, and the others were also taken aback, because they hadn't told Levi what had happened there, only giving a brief account. But unexpectedly, Levi, after just coming down for a look, knew exactly what they were doing?

"You can tell from the footprints."

Li Wei pointed to the footprints on the ground.

"Especially on this kind of muddy ground, footprints are still quite easy to distinguish. Tell me, what happened?"

Polk glanced at the other two and decided it would be better for him to answer.

"We were discussing the attack plan at the time."

"Offensive plan?"

"Yes, Mr. Carter said we should split into two groups, one to distract them while the other flanks them from behind. Then, while he was explaining the route... Miss Ruth suddenly rushed out."

"Is this the way?"

Levi turned and walked towards the other side of the forest, and the others hurriedly followed. They looked at Levi with considerable surprise, completely unable to understand how he had discovered all this.

Just by looking at footprints? Is that even possible?

"Yes, I think... I don't remember very clearly either."

Polk looked somewhat disheveled, while Carter maintained his serious and dissatisfied expression.

Finally, Levi stopped in an open space, a place marked by signs of battle; broken branches lined the surrounding trees, giving it a brutal appearance. Levi looked around, then glanced at Ruth.

"Miss Ruth, why did you decide to act on your own?"

"I do not know either."

When facing Li Wei, Ruth's voice became somber and uneasy once again.

"At the time, I just felt it was very dangerous..."

"Your feeling is correct."

Levi nodded, then looked at Polk and Carter.

“You’ve wasted too much time. They’ve already spotted you and were surrounding you. If it weren’t for Miss Ruth’s decisive action, you would have all perished.”

"how is this possible?"

Mr. Carter couldn't help but speak up soon after.

“Sir Levy, you have absolutely no evidence to support your claim. I know you're trying to exonerate this madwoman…”

"Of course I have evidence."

Levi interrupted Carter.

"You'll see when you come over."

This time, driven by curiosity, everyone came to Li Wei's side, whereupon he raised his lantern and illuminated the footprints on the ground.

“Here, here, and here, five knights were already prepared to ambush from here. I think you can tell, after all, their feet are much bigger than ordinary people’s.”

"So, they're standing here?"

Following Levi's instructions, Lydia carefully examined the footprints and discovered that they were all standing behind trees, which sent a chill down her spine.

“That’s right. Miss Ruth clearly sensed the danger instinctively, and she reacted according to her intuition, which saved all of your lives.”

As Li Wei spoke, he looked at Ruth.

"However, Miss Ruth herself also has a problem. She can't explain what exactly happened. She just said she felt it was dangerous, so she did it. But often, this is easily misunderstood. If you can't explain it clearly, then others will naturally have different opinions."

"so what?"

Ruth clearly dismissed this.

"I do not care!"

"But your sister should care."

Li Wei delivered a precise blow, forcing Ruth to remain silent.

Then, Levi looked at Carter.

"And Mr. Foster Carter... I think you should understand where your problem lies?"

"…………………"

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, Mr. Carter, who was squatting beside the footprints carefully examining them, stood up and nodded somewhat reluctantly.

"Yes, Sir Levy. But I can't understand how they were able to detect our presence when we were still some distance from our target?"

“These knights are not ordinary people; their senses should be more acute than those of ordinary people.”

Li Wei recalled that when he was controlling the twin-tailed sprite before, he was also discovered by the knight. Logically speaking, an ordinary person would obviously not notice a twin-tailed sprite darting around in the rubble.

"So, both of you had problems with this operation, but fortunately, the outcome was not bad."

Li Wei said, glancing at them.

"Writing a letter of repentance, no problem, right?"

"Yes, Sir Levi."

Mr. Carter adjusted his glasses again and nodded in agreement, while Ruth nodded without saying a word.

"……………" "Miss Ruth, please do not have your sister write this for you."

"ok, I get it."

Perhaps her little scheme had been seen through, Ruth turned her head away unhappily and spat.

Next, Li Wei used the same method to have the Treasure Sniffer search in both churches, but this time, the Treasure Sniffer did not find any other scrolls; it seemed that the scroll only existed in the monastery.

After that, everyone went back to rest.

After that, everyone returned to their rooms at the Red Moon Inn. Lydia lay on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep.

What's wrong, Lydia?

The voice of the white cat fairy echoed in Lydia's mind, which gave her some ideas.

Lily, I think Sir Levi is amazing.

I know you've said it many times already, he's a dragon slayer.

No, that's not what I meant.

Lydia thought for a moment, as if she were trying to figure out how to explain it.

[I mean... Sir Levi is an incredibly skilled detective. You see, he can see through so many things. Especially things we haven't noticed before. Isn't that amazing?]

That's indeed the case.

This time, the white cat fairy agreed with Lydia's sentiments.

There are plenty of smart people, but few are as observant as this. You call this a detective?

[That's right, Sir Levi is the Empire's famous detective; he has solved many cases for the Empire!]

At this point, Lydia became excited.

I read in the newspaper that Sir Levy could deduce the situation at a crime scene from the slightest clues, even deducing a person's height, weight, age, and gender from footprints. In many cases, he could even reconstruct a crime scene as if he had witnessed it firsthand; that is, if he walked into a murder scene, he could immediately tell what had happened there.

Ah, I have indeed witnessed that.

The white cat fairy nodded in deep agreement.

We animals usually identify things by smell, but humans can actually identify things by footprints. I have to say, I'm quite interested in this; people in the past wouldn't have done this.

【so……………】

At this point, Lydia suddenly became a little hesitant.

Do you think I can do what Sir Levi did?

Are you interested in this?

【Um】

Lydia nodded.

[I've discovered that we can actually use these skills too. Like what happened to Team B today, if Sir Levy hadn't discovered the truth, Miss Rose and Mr. Carter would probably have had a huge argument, and maybe even developed misunderstandings and conflicts. I think we could easily encounter similar situations. If I could learn some of these skills from Sir Levy, then…maybe…I could help everyone too.]

I believe you can do it, Lydia.

【Really? 】

"Of course, as I said, you're very capable; you just haven't realized it yet. Besides, I'm also very interested in the practices of people in this era. You said they can know what happened from footprints and traces? If people in the past had such abilities, many bad people wouldn't have escaped punishment."

When this topic came up, the white cat fairy seemed a little melancholy.

Moreover, I am also very interested in this.

But before that, I need to finish writing the report.

However, at this moment, Lydia's mood immediately became much more depressed.

[The Seventh Bureau issued a document requiring each agent to record in detail the circumstances of every incident they participated in, and to provide a detailed explanation...]

[It wasn't this strict before, was it?]

[I read the announcement. It seems one team made a mistake during their investigation and was completely wiped out. Their investigation report was vague and violated the rules. Therefore, it's now mandatory for every team to submit a complete report.]

At this point, Lydia yawned.

In short, I'll write the report tomorrow.

Then she fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, after Lydia got up, washed, and ate breakfast, she returned to her room to write a report—generally, a squad only needs to submit one report. However, since she was participating in a joint operation, she also needed to write an individual report. But because Lydia hadn't done much—most of the time she was just holding the white cat fairy and watching from behind—there wasn't much to write.

During lunch, Lydia finished writing her report and handed it over to the seven investigators who remained there.

“Yes, your report has been received, Miss Derek.”

After reviewing the report, the investigator stamped it and then smiled slightly at Lydia.

"no problem."

"That's good... May I ask what I can do next?"

"There's nothing special about it right now. You can go to Chongqing for a stroll; we have a shuttle service."

"Ah, then..."

Lydia's eyes lit up when she heard what the investigators said.

"May I see Sir Levi?"

(End of this chapter)