Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 469 Intelligence Gathering
"I never imagined the world had become so big."

Back at the Eye of the Sky, Katie couldn't help but complain.

"They're not queens anymore, they're kings! I really don't know what went wrong!"

"This is, after all, a parallel world."

Li Wei, on the other hand, remained quite calm.

Even if everyone you know is in this world, they may not be the same as you, and may even have completely different identities.

"Ugh... I can't believe something like this actually happened..."

Katie pouted in disappointment. She had initially thought that people in parallel worlds might not be different, or perhaps only have different personalities. But in reality, even the same people would make different decisions in different social environments.

Their identities may also differ, such as that of His Majesty the King.

"In short, the current situation of the empire here is not very good."

Before meeting George V, Li Wei had already visited their military camp and looked at the Empire's military equipment. It was mostly very ordinary equipment, including the main heavy firepower, which consisted of artillery and tanks, but they were powered by internal combustion engines, not steam.

Frankly speaking, from Li Wei's perspective, in terms of pure technological strength, this empire would basically be crushed by his own.

Fortunately, the Sky Eye brought enough fuel, enough coal to last them a year; otherwise, it would have been terrible if they hadn't even had fuel to use here.

However, Li Wei didn't want to stay here for a year, which was why he wanted to meet with the other party. Often, a meeting helps deepen each other's impressions. Moreover, for Li Wei, he was completely clueless in this world and couldn't possibly start intelligence work from scratch, so the simplest way was to ask the Empire for intelligence.

Li Wei believed that even if the empire here was weak, as an old empire, it should at least have done a good job in intelligence work!
This is also a problem that General Haig needs to consider.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Your Majesty?"

Looking at his emperor, General Hague felt a bit of a headache, while the latter sat in his chair and nodded.

"Of course, General Haig, he saved our lives and it's only fair that he asks for compensation."

"But his identity is unknown... and what would he need this information for?"

"I don't know about that, but I think he wouldn't do anything to harm the empire."

King George V paused for a moment as he spoke.

"After all, he was a knight."

"Do you really believe he is a nobleman?"

“When I addressed him as ‘Sir,’ his reaction was natural, without any particular tension or unease, which shows that he is very familiar with his identity.”

“But Your Majesty, this could also be a madman. You know, madmen might even believe they are the emperor and act like one…”

Upon hearing General Haig's rebuttal, George V looked at him.

"So, General Haig, you think a madman saved us, a madman attacked the Krant army, and a madman owns an airship?"

“…Well, that doesn’t make sense, but…Your Majesty, he calls himself the Knight of Thistle…”

"General Haig, go and do it."

King George V ignored General Haig's words, shook his head, and made his decision.

"This is an order."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

General Haig did not dwell on the matter. His continued suspicion stemmed primarily from his duty as a subject, which was to provide His Majesty with different perspectives. Since His Majesty deemed it acceptable, he saw no need to say anything further.

So he turned and left to deliver the order.

The Empire certainly has intelligence agents in the Kingdom of Krant. In fact, since the start of the war, there has been a considerable amount of intelligence of all kinds. However, the Empire is currently preoccupied with its own problems, so the analysis of intelligence has lagged behind. But since the King has issued an order to find out the currently useful intelligence about the Kingdom of Krant, the intelligence department can only work overtime.

It took the intelligence department three days to compile what appeared to be usable intelligence, which was then delivered to General Haig. He took the intelligence, examined it carefully, and then turned on the communications radio, transmitting a signal on the pre-arranged channel.

"The goods are ready and you can come and pick them up."

After General Haig finished speaking, he stared at the transmitter in front of him, waiting for a reply.

However, a moment later, there was a knock on the door.

"Please come in."

Hearing the knock on the door, General Hague was somewhat annoyed, but he thought that His Majesty might have sent someone to see him, so he spoke up.

Then the door opened, and General Haig glanced over instinctively, then widened his eyes in surprise—he saw Li Wei wearing a top hat, holding a cane, pushing open the door, walking in with a smile, and nodding slightly to General Haig.

"Hello, General Haig, I'm here to pick up the goods."

"How could you..."

General Haig stared in disbelief at Li Wei. Forgetting all formalities, he rushed to Li Wei's side and opened the door again to look outside. At the end of the corridor stood two guards, carrying long spears and standing ramrod straight.

Hearing the door open, the two turned around and looked at General Hager.

"General, is there anything I can help you with?"

"…No, it's nothing."

General Haig glanced silently at Li Wei behind him, then closed the door again, frowned, and glared at him with displeasure.

How did you get in?

"That's how we walked in."

"Are all the guards blind?"

“Of course not, but it won’t be easy for them to see me.” Li Wei said, nodding to General Haig again.

"Then, could you give me what I need?"

"...Right here."

General Haig took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his inner turmoil, and then handed over the file folder. Li Wei took the folder, glanced at it, and then said, "Excuse me," before sitting down on the sofa, opening the folder, and beginning to read the documents inside.

"........."

Seeing Li Wei acting so casually, General Haig was speechless for a moment. He walked to the cabinet, opened it, and took out a bottle of brandy.

Would you like a drink?

"I appreciate your kind offer, but I don't drink alcohol. If you have tea, could I have a cup?"

"Perfect timing, it's almost afternoon tea time. I'll have someone bring some afternoon tea. What would you like to eat?"

"Anything is fine, as long as it's not too sweet. I don't like things that are too sweet."

You really don't consider yourself an outsider.

General Haig rolled his eyes silently, then went to the door and told the guards to prepare afternoon tea.

Li Wei, while flipping through the intelligence, casually asked a question.

"So, General Haig, what are your current plans?"

"What we want to do now is to drive out the Krant army that has invaded the Empire as soon as possible, but this is not easy. To be honest, Francis's surrender was a heavy blow to us. Our focus was on the Eastern Front, and we never expected Francis to fall. We are now gathering reserve forces, but it will take some time."

"Do you have any ideas on how to deal with those beast soldiers?"

"this……………"

General Haig's expression changed, but he finally had no choice but to admit it.

"The Empire started late in this regard because those religious people always thought it was something that violated ethics and morality... I have to say, although these guys are annoying, they saved the Empire this time. If they hadn't tried their best to stop it, the Empire would probably have fallen like Francis long ago."

After all, given the Empire's number of soldiers, once they are transformed into beastmen, there will definitely be more than Francis. If they all become Krant's subordinates, then that would be truly the end.

"But we know very little about this kind of biotechnology called Zoanoids. To be honest, at least for me personally, I really can't think of any other way to deal with them besides using guns and cannons."

"Um……………"

Faced with General Haig's reply, Li Wei nodded silently, then continued to peruse the intelligence reports without speaking. At that moment, the knocking sounded again. General Haig opened the door and saw a maid carrying a tea tray containing fragrant and delicious pastries and a pot of tea.

The maid placed the items on the table, then blushed slightly and glanced curiously at Li Wei, clearly wondering who he was. Seeing this, General Haig breathed a sigh of relief—at least it proved that what appeared before him wasn't some ghost or ghostly thing.

Logically speaking, ghosts shouldn't travel by airship.

The maid quickly withdrew, and Li Wei then picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and began to speak.

"So, as of now, you don't have a good way to deal with the beastmen?"

That's right.

"That is indeed a problem."

Li Wei continued flipping through the intelligence in his hand. He didn't really know what he was looking for, but in his opinion, the Empire had no chance of defeating the Beast Soldiers on the front lines without resorting to cheating. The problem was, even if he wanted to cheat, Li Wei didn't know how.

Assassinate the beast general who can command beast soldiers? That's one way, but who knows how many beast generals there are?
Ok?
Just then, Li Wei saw a piece of intelligence, pulled it out, and looked at it carefully.

The intelligence report was simple: according to the agents, the Kingdom of Krant was hunting a biologist, suspecting that the biologist might have some academic value to the Kingdom…

Biologist, biotechnology.

Li Wei decided to start here.

Thinking of this, Li Wei stood up and tidied up the documents in his hand.

"I saw something interesting and I plan to go back and investigate it."

"Something interesting?"

"That's right. Intelligence indicates that the Kingdom of Krant is sending people to hunt down a biologist."

"Issuing a warrant for the arrest of a biologist?"

General Haig also became curious. He took the intelligence report and examined it carefully.

"why?"

“I don’t know, but I think it could be very important. After all, given the current state of the Kingdom of Krant, they’re not even afraid of the Empire, so logically they shouldn’t be afraid of a biologist.”

Li Wei put on his hat, put away the documents, and nodded to General Haig.

"Then, I shall take my leave."

"I will tell His Majesty about this."

"Please go ahead. By the way, the scones are still too sweet."

After saying this, Li Wei turned and left the room. General Haig hurriedly followed, then reached out and opened the door—there was not a soul in the corridor except for two guards.

Seeing this, General Haig felt a chill run down his spine.

This is truly bizarre!

(End of this chapter)