Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 468 Different Worlds
Katie stared wide-eyed in surprise at the man before her, while Levi raised an eyebrow.

"Are you the King of the Empire?"

"Yes."

King George V carefully examined Levi, then glanced at Kitty behind him. As king, he naturally possessed discerning eyes; he could tell that the two were dressed quite elegantly, in the style of the Imperial court. This meant they were citizens of the Empire, and…

King George V's gaze narrowed slightly as he looked at the coat of arms on Livy's clothes.

A nobleman who possesses a family crest must be a prominent member of the empire, but I have neither seen nor heard of this person.

This is very strange.

"Greetings, Your Majesty."

Livy removed his hat and bowed to George V.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Li Wei, the Thistle Knight. Nice to meet you."

"The Thistle Knight?"

It must be said that both King George V and General Haig were quite surprised to hear Livy's self-introduction. They naturally knew what a Knight of the Thistle was, but... a Knight of the Thistle hadn't been conferred the title for many years!

"That's impossible! The empire has never conferred the title of Thistle Knight in all these years!"

General Haig immediately retorted, while King George V remained silent. He merely frowned slightly, looking at the emblem on Levi's chest—indeed, as General Haig had said, King George V also remembered clearly that he had never personally awarded the Thistle Medal to this young man, much less conferred upon him the title of Knight of the Thistle.

However, he also realized that the other person's demeanor and clothing were not fake. And the emblem on the airship behind him—a skull surrounded by roses, with a dragon biting its jaws—was not something any noble could use casually.

None of these elements are things that can be easily given away.

"I don't know you."

King George V looked at Livy and spoke, to which the latter smiled slightly.

"Of course, if you knew me, that would be a problem."

"What exactly did you call us here for?"

“I saved you, so I think it’s a reasonable choice to ask for compensation.”

"Reward? If you want money..."

"We're not talking about money right now."

Li Wei waved his hand.

“Talking about money can hurt feelings, and I hope to receive more sincere compensation.”

"what do you mean?"

"Information about the Kingdom of Krant."

Looking at King George V and General Haig, Livy finally stated his request.

"Simply put, tell me everything you know about the Kingdom of Krant, including the details of this war."

“…………………?”

It must be said that Livy's request really surprised George V and General Haig. They exchanged a surprised glance and then looked at Livy again.

"Information about the Kingdom of Krant?"

“That’s right, some information that only people in your positions would know.”

Li Wei smiled as he looked at the two. He had already inquired about general information about this world before coming, and had a fairly good understanding of its background.

This world differs from Livy's world in two ways: first, they did not invent the difference engine; second, they did not have jet.

This is why the world today largely follows the path of internal combustion engines. However, even so, the technological and mechanical revolution in this world has not flourished; instead, they have chosen the path of synthetic beasts. In this world, a biologist named Darwin discovered something called "lifelines." Not only that, he also invented a technology that could fuse lifelines, combining the lifelines of different organisms to create entirely new life forms.

It is precisely because of this technology that biotechnology has surpassed the power of steel to become the dominant force in this world. People can cultivate entirely new synthetic organisms for use in various fields.

Of course, initially, many protested this blasphemous act, arguing that the power to manipulate and transform life did not belong to humanity, but rather to the creator gods. Humans should not, and could not, use this power to consider themselves creators. However, just as the steam revolution swept through Li Wei's world, the lifeline's transformative technology ignored the weak resistance of those who opposed it, becoming the mainstream of this world.

Ironically, the Empire did not benefit much from this. Although biotechnology originated in the Empire, protests and opposition from religious figures made it difficult for the Empire to promote the widespread application and dissemination of biotechnology.

But other countries don't have this concern.

For example, the Kingdom of Krant.

They fully embraced the concept of biotechnology and unhesitatingly promoted it. While the Empire was still debating whether using synthetic beasts constituted blasphemy against the Holy Lord and violated doctrine, the Kingdom of Krant had already created biosynthetic devices that coexisted with humans.

They called it the "beast species".

These "seeds" are buried under human skin and coexist with humans. When activated, they transform into a beast-like form.

And those people will thus gain immense power, far exceeding that of ordinary people.

The Kingdom of Krant planted these seeds in its soldiers, thus creating the Beast Soldiers.

A soldier with superhuman strength like a beast, while still retaining human thought, is terrifying. But an army is more than just terrifying; it's terrifying! They can easily jump and land from a height of three to five meters, tear a person's body apart with their bare hands, silently evade human perception, and even run at speeds far exceeding those of humans.

Such an army is enough to sweep across the entire world!

After witnessing the power of the terrifying legion created by the Kingdom of Krant, other nations followed suit, beginning to manufacture beastmen. The Empire also wanted to jump on this bandwagon, but unfortunately, the Empire was too vast, and various factions within it were deeply entrenched, especially the stubborn religious forces, who resolutely opposed such unimaginable modifications to humanity.

In their eyes, this is not human at all, but some kind of demon!

It must be said that although these religious figures were rigid and conservative, it was precisely because of their protests that the empire was saved!
Like Li Wei's world, this world also erupted into war due to a conflict between the Sasha Alliance and the Duchy of Seth. However, this time, Grand Duke Fernando and his wife weren't assassinated during a parade, but rather poisoned at a banquet. Of course, the outcome was the same: the Sasha Alliance used this as a pretext to invade the Duchy of Seth, igniting the flames of war.

Meanwhile, Francis and the Western European Empire were also eager to take action against the Kingdom of Krant.

Although Francis in this world also built a defensive line against the Kingdom of Krant, the Kingdom of Krant in this world did not choose to bypass the Duchy of Tiris, but instead charged directly at Francis!

Initially, Francis also believed that with this strong defensive line and his own modified beastman army, it would be enough to resist the attack of the Kingdom of Krant.

But something unexpected happened.

On the battlefield, the Francis Beast Soldiers who were supposed to fight the Kingdom of Krant instead turned around and attacked their comrades!
Because he never expected his comrades to betray him on the battlefield, Francis's defenses collapsed instantly, and the beastmen that Francis had carefully crafted became Krant's henchmen!
Francis was completely baffled by this. Later, they discovered that the Kingdom of Krant had secretly created an entity even more powerful than the Beast Soldiers. Not only did it possess greater strength than the Beast Soldiers, it could also control other Beast Soldiers through thought, and those Beast Soldiers had to obey its commands unconditionally!
The Kingdom of Krant calls this enhanced version of the beast-transformed soldier a beast-transformed general, which is the general of the beast-transformed soldiers.

Other countries were completely unaware of this; the technology they used to create beastmen was, in fact, deliberately leaked by the Kingdom of Krant. Generally, such technology is best kept hidden, but the Kingdom of Krant clearly had a ulterior motive. By directly revealing its beastman creation technology, it ensured that other countries would readily adopt a proven and effective method.

This means that they have all unknowingly become helpers in training soldiers for the Kingdom of Krant!
As a result, when faced with Krant's army of beastmen, the nations planned to use their own beastmen legions to fight back, only to find that their own legions had directly become the enemy's!

The Kingdom of Krant thus advanced swiftly and easily defeated Francis and the Western European Empire. Francis has now surrendered, and most of the Western European Empire's territory has been occupied by the Kingdom of Krant.

Their goal, naturally, was the empire!

As mentioned before, because religious figures within the empire strongly opposed the development of beast-like soldiers, the empire made little progress in this area, and instead, by a twist of fate, became the main force resisting the Kingdom of Krant.

However, even so, the Empire still struggled against the Krant army.

The empire in this world is rather weak. Biotechnology is not developing well due to opposition from religious figures within the country. As for steam technology, it has lost its ecological niche to biotechnology because of the lack of coal. As a result, the empire now only has some of the most basic weapons of war, such as howitzers, tanks, and rifles.

However, these things are not very effective against beast-like soldiers who possess both human-like thinking and the powerful strength of wild beasts.

Not to mention that the beastmen can infiltrate as humans and then transform into monsters to launch attacks, which is even more troublesome.

Upon learning this, Levi immediately understood why his Sky Eye could only receive radio signals from the Empire but not from the Krant army. It seemed the Krant army had clearly abandoned the "outdated" method of communication, radio, and upgraded directly to telepathy.

This is the beginning of physical ascension!

The technology tree in this world is pretty crazy.

Of course, as far as Li Wei is concerned, he still prefers the technology tree of his own world empire. After all, more steamed steel is more romantic, while flesh and blood... put aside everything else, it looks disgusting.

However, this is only the information that most ordinary people know. What Li Wei wants to know is top-secret information that only those in power are qualified to know.

"Do you know what the Kingdom of Krant is currently researching?"

Li Wei looked at King George V and General Haig and asked.

"The Kingdom of Krant now?"

King George V thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"I have not received any information on this."

As he spoke, George V looked at General Haig, who was also deep in thought, and then shook his head.

"Well then, this is the homework I'm leaving for you two. I hope you can find this information and then tell me."

Li Wei nodded to the two of them.

"The specific contact method is the same as before, so I'll take my leave now."

“Wait, Sir Levi.”

Just then, King George V suddenly spoke up and called out to Livy, who stopped and looked at him.

"Is there anything else, Your Majesty?"

"Will you fight alongside us against the Kingdom of Krant?"

“If that’s your intention, I’m certainly willing to assist.”

When asked by King George V, Livy smiled slightly.

"Of course, I will do it my own way."

"That's enough."

Li Wei nodded, then led Katie back to the Eye of the Sky. Afterward, the airship slowly rose and disappeared into the night.

Once the airship had completely disappeared, George V looked away, then put his helmet back on and returned to the group of soldiers.

"Alright, let's go back."

(End of this chapter)