Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 474 Tracking and Finding Clues
Today is just another ordinary day.

Hannah Miller sat at the counter, idly flipping through the documents in her hands. As the custodian of the archives at the Biological Research Institute of the Kingdom of Krant, her daily work was extremely leisurely. For Hannah, each day consisted almost entirely of dozing off behind the counter, occasionally helping researchers look up some information; the work was easy and the pay was excellent.

Older women might enjoy this job; they could easily sit here, knitting and gossiping to pass the time. But Hannah is young, and she doesn't want to waste her youth just sitting here. If possible, she hopes for a romantic encounter, to meet a man she likes.

Unfortunately, the researchers at the institute were all clueless. Of course, some researchers did try to woo Hannah, but their bald heads made her lose interest in them.

Perhaps she should change jobs. This one pays well, but it doesn't allow her to interact with outsiders. After all, the biological research institute is a very important place, and Hannah hardly sees any outsiders here. And the researchers in the institute are all rather uninteresting.

But if she told her father she wanted to change jobs...

"Hello, miss."

Just then, a voice rang in Hannah's ear, and she instinctively looked up in the direction of the voice.

Then, Hannah felt as if the previously dim world before her eyes had suddenly become bright.

A young, handsome man in a white coat stood in front of the counter, smiling as he looked at her. His eyes were captivatingly charming; just being looked at by him made Hannah's heart pound uncontrollably. She stared at the man before her, speechless for a long time.

"Miss? Are you alright?"

"I……………"

With her last shred of reason, Hannah swallowed the words "marry me," blinked, and then immediately spoke in the softest, gentlest, and most adorable voice she had ever used since birth.

"Excuse me, sir, what do you need?"

"Ah, is that so?"

The man smiled as he looked at Hannah.

"I just reported to the research institute today, but perhaps because I arrived earlier than scheduled, there were some problems with the procedures, and my identity wasn't recorded. They said it would take a little longer, so I decided to check the archives first to prepare for my upcoming research project. Perhaps you could help me?"

"Of course!"

Hannah jumped up. Before that, she was indignantly complaining to herself that her colleague, who was supposed to be her partner, had taken leave, leaving her alone in this godforsaken place with no one to talk to.

Now she was silently thanking that colleague.

Thank you, Amy. I'll definitely make sure you're my bridesmaid at my wedding!
She jumped up excitedly, then quickly remembered her duties.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir, I don't know your name yet... Please sign here."

"of course."

The man took the pen and elegantly signed his name on it. Hannah stared at his long, beautiful, and fair fingers, feeling as if she had a fever and was dizzy.

"Mr. Li... Wei?"

"Yes."

"So, your identity... ah..."

Halfway through her sentence, Hannah suddenly remembered that there was a problem with Levi's identification; it hadn't been processed yet. However…

Hannah carefully examined Levi, who stood there smiling, and didn't seem like a suspicious person. Besides, this was the inner area of ​​the biological research institute; he must have crossed all the previous security lines to get here. Since everyone else had already confirmed his identity, there was no need for her to go through any more trouble.

“Then, I’ll take you inside, Mr. Li Wei.”

"Of course, I would be very grateful."

Hannah came out from behind the counter and went to the closed door. She placed her palm on something that looked like a leaf, and soon the vines that had been entwined and completely blocked the door spread out to both sides. Then Hannah pushed the door open.

"Please come in, Mr. Li Wei."

"Thank you."

The vault was deathly silent. Instead of ordinary light bulbs, there were firefly-like insects on the ceiling. Hannah took out her flute and blew a few notes. Then, as if receiving some kind of signal, the insects on the ceiling gradually flickered and brightened, illuminating the vault in front of her.

Fortunately, the bookshelves here are all man-made.

Walking through the warehouse, Hannah felt light on her feet, as if she were about to leap up. She had fantasized about romantic dates many times, but walking through the monotonous warehouse was definitely not one of them. But now Hannah realized that the important romance wasn't where you went, but who you were with.

At least for now... she feels quite romantic.

What documents do you need to view?

However, Hannah felt she still needed to do her job well, at least not let this gentleman think she was neglecting her duties. Perhaps he would like her because of it; in this research institute full of old men, a young person might find it boring, and he might often come to chat with her, then she could invite him out for coffee or something…

"Records regarding the modification time and stability of the Zoanoids."

Li Wei replied, then added another sentence.

"It would be better if we had earlier research data."

"Over here."

As a custodian, Hannah was quite responsible. She led Levi to the shelf closest to the back of the vault, took out a box, opened it, and found it filled with densely packed papers with all sorts of data written on them.

"Thank you so much."

Li Wei took the box and looked at its contents.

"This is very helpful, thank you."

As he spoke, he smiled at Hannah again, who felt her heart pounding in her throat. Even so, Hannah maintained her last shred of composure and whispered...

“It is my duty, sir.”

Levi didn't speak; he simply stood there, looking through the records one by one. Hannah stood beside him, inhaling the scent emanating from him. It was a scent completely different from the old men in the research institute, captivating and mesmerizing, as if one's very being was immersed in it…

"Miss Hannah?"

"Huh? Yes, what's up?"

After an unknown amount of time, Levi's voice rang out again. Hannah snapped out of her daze and found Levi looking at her, handing her the box.

"Thank you for your help."

"No, you're welcome."

Hannah took the box, feeling that its weight was about the same as before, and put it back. At the same time, she sighed inwardly; soon, her time with this gentleman would be coming to an end.

This disappointed Hannah somewhat. Perhaps he would come again, but next time, she wouldn't have him all to herself.

"But I'd like to see something else. Hmm... there should be the initial experimental records of the beastmen here, right? May I take a look?"

"this……………"

Hannah hesitated somewhat.

"The initial recordings were strictly restricted from viewing; even I didn't have permission. Only Dr. Fleming himself had authorization..."

However, before Hannah could finish speaking, a finger was placed to her lips, stopping her from saying anything more. Hannah looked up and saw that Levi's face was now close to hers, looking directly at her.

"As long as no one knows, it won't be discovered, right? It's a secret between the two of us."

"The secret between the two of us..."

Upon hearing these words, Hannah felt as if her heart had sprouted wings and begun to soar. She gazed at Levi, and gradually, Hannah felt her mind begin to boil, becoming a blur. It was as if she were dreaming… “Hannah? Hannah?”

Hannah snapped out of her daze and realized that her colleague Amy was looking at her curiously.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you sitting here in a daze?"

"Huh? Amy? What's wrong with you...?"

"I finished my business and came to work, only to find you sitting here, staring blankly and smiling like you're dreaming."

Am I...am I smiling like an idiot?

Hearing Amy's words, Hannah felt her face flush and quickly covered it.

"I don't think so?"

"Yes, there is. I don't know what you're thinking."

Amy joked, then went behind the counter and sat down next to Hannah.

Did anything happen this morning?

"Someone came to the archives to check the documents; he was a very handsome gentleman."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Upon hearing this, Amy's eyes lit up. Although she was already a woman in her fifties, she was still very interested in this kind of thing.

"What is your name?"

"I remember it was called..."

As she spoke, Hannah picked up the roster and flipped through it.

"Huh? No name?"

Looking at the blank roster in front of her, Hannah was puzzled. She clearly remembered that the gentleman had signed his name in front of her, and she also remembered that his name was... what was it again?

Strange, why does my brain feel a bit foggy? I can't remember anything?

"Are you dreaming?"

Looking at the blank roster, Amy sighed helplessly.

"As a young woman, it's really not suitable for you to waste your youth in a place like this. Perhaps you should change jobs instead of sitting here every day, bored and clocking in and out. Look at you, you're even daydreaming, dreaming about a handsome man accompanying you through the vault? That's definitely not healthy!"

"Ah, um, maybe I should go see a doctor..."

Faced with her colleague's concern, Hannah nodded hesitantly.

Perhaps, I really was just having a dream.

However, for Li Wei, this was clearly not a dream.

What did you learn?

Sitting in his chair, looking at Annie, Levi asked a question. The latter, however, was intently studying the documents in her hands, and shook her head helplessly.

"I never imagined that you could actually infiltrate the biological research institute's data repository and steal their original reports."

"So there's a problem with this report?"

There's a problem.

Annie nodded in response to Li Wei's question.

"This is verification data."

"You mean this isn't the original report?"

Li Wei raised his eyebrows.

“I brought all the documents from that little room back with me.”

"No, strictly speaking, this is indeed the original report. But it was used to verify something, and well, it seems to be more complicated than I thought."

"So you mean that the Zoanoid technology wasn't invented by Professor Fleming, but rather discovered by him through research on something?"

"I think that's probably why he's unwilling to show me the original report."

As she spoke, Annie frowned.

"But I still don't understand. Even if he didn't want me to see the original report, he didn't go so far as to have the Kingdom of Krant issue an arrest warrant for me... Even if he discovered the technology through something, would I say anything about it?"

"A person with a guilty conscience is like this: he will always worry for no reason whether others have seen through what he is trying to hide."

Compared to Annie, Levi was quite calm. Many criminals are like this. Especially murderers, who are terrified that others will find out they killed someone. If someone mentions it casually, even if the other person doesn't know the details, he might suspect that the other person knows something and try to kill them to silence them.

The stronger Dr. Fleming's reaction, the more it proves that there is some unspeakable secret hidden in the research on the Zoanoids.

"So, is there any useful intelligence in this report?"

"At this point, the only useful information in this original report is probably the location."

As Annie spoke, she handed over a set of data.

"It says the location of this research, the Fraunhofer Institute in Ittelden. Hmm, that's interesting."

"interesting?"

Yes, I remember this place.

Anne spoke up.

"Two years ago, this research institute experienced a Level 3 disaster and was completely shut down. Although a Level 3 disaster is not a minor incident, it is the only research institute that has been completely shut down as a result."

"Was there no notification? Shouldn't this kind of accident generally be reported internally?"

"The report only stated that the experiment at the Mont Fraunhofer Institute went out of control at the time, and the director did not report it immediately but chose to suppress it, which led to an irreparable disaster. Therefore, the authorities had no choice but to abandon the Mont Fraunhofer Institute and completely seal it off. At the same time, they asked us to do a good job in the management and communication of various research institutes to prevent similar incidents from happening."

Anne said, letting out a soft hum.

"Now it seems there's more to the story."

"So it's quite clear that our next goal is very specific."

Li Wei quickly made a decision; he felt that the closure of the research institute was not simply due to the disaster.

There might be some unknown secret hidden inside.

So, is this secret related to the beastmen?

In short, we can only find out by investigating.

(End of this chapter)