Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 476 Is this even possible?

Anne was completely unprepared for this sudden attack; after all, she was just an ordinary researcher. However, Levi reacted very quickly.

He reached out and grabbed Annie's collar, pulling her back—at the same time, Levi pushed forward with his left hand, shoving Katie directly towards the tentacles!

"Hey?"

It has to be said that Annie was completely dumbfounded by Li Wei's bizarre actions; she had never seen anyone betray their teammates so decisively and smoothly.

Katie's reaction was completely unexpected by Annie. Instead of showing surprise or betrayal, she smiled and reached out to meet the other side. Immediately afterward, the tentacles that emerged from the darkness wrapped around Katie's arm.

Then, Katie grabbed the tentacle with her other hand and pulled it back forcefully!
"———————!"

In an instant, the tentacle stretched taut, and Annie stood there dumbfounded, her eyes wide, unable to believe what she was seeing.

She was certain that whatever was on the other side of the tentacles was incredibly strong. And even if Katie was incredibly strong, her size was a factor—such a petite girl couldn't possibly weigh much, so how could she possibly grab such long tentacles and withstand their pulling?

For a moment, Annie subconsciously looked at Katie's feet. The girl was wearing a pair of black leather boots, which were now firmly planted on the floor.

But isn't that wrong?

"Hey ya—!"

However, Katie was clearly unaware of Anne's thoughts. At this moment, she clearly had the upper hand in this "tug-of-war." The girl let out an excited shout and forcefully pulled the tentacle backward. With her movement, everyone felt a violent tremor emanating from the distant passage, and even the ground began to shake slightly.

Then, Anne saw something strange being dragged out of the shadows of the passageway.

It looks like a giant snail, translucent and gelatinous. What's even more unexpected is that inside this gelatinous mass is an incredibly clear brain!

Although it's unclear whether that's a human brain or not, it's at least clear that it is a brain!
And on this brain, there are countless nerves connected to the skin, and on it you can see eyes that are constantly turning and watching the surroundings. Not to mention, next to these eyes, there is a mouth that keeps opening and closing!

Inside her mouth, the tongues extended out and coalesced into a tentacle, wrapping around Katie's arm!

What kind of monster is this?!

When Annie saw the monster, she was also shocked. Although she had seen many different kinds of chimeras, and it is no exaggeration to say that many chimeras were ugly, especially the failed ones, whose appearance was often enough to give people nightmares.

But the monster in front of her was on another level. It had no logic whatsoever. It gave Annie the feeling of someone forcibly stuffing two completely unrelated things together and forcing them to merge. It was a strange and abnormal feeling.

She stared intently at the monster, her heart pounding, even her breathing becoming labored. The mouths kept making repeated sounds, as if whispering some indescribable language…

"boom!"

Suddenly, the gunshots rang out close by, jolting Annie out of her eerie daze. Accompanied by the acrid smell of gunpowder, Annie saw the gelatinous monster suddenly burst into flames. It screamed desperately, struggling incessantly to escape.

Its tentacles released Katie and tried to retract. But now, it was Katie's turn to hold onto its tentacles tightly, preventing it from escaping. Levi raised his gun again, and with a series of gunshots, bursts of fire appeared on the monster's body, which let out a shrill, eerie scream.

Anne reached out and covered her ears, but even so, the sound seemed to pierce her brain, making her drowsy. Even the world before her eyes began to blur, with double images everywhere. She couldn't see the monster clearly, nor Katie, nor her surroundings.

But she could see Li Wei—his figure was the only clear presence in this blurry, double-image world. He stood there, upright, holding a gun, aiming ahead.

Then pull the trigger again.

"Bang-----!"

This time, the gunshots were like thunder. For a moment, Annie even felt as if countless gunshots were ringing out at the same time, forming a deafening roar comparable to thunder. She involuntarily covered her ears, closed her eyes, and collapsed to the ground.

After a moment, all sound disappeared, and Annie opened her eyes and looked ahead. The monster lay sprawled on the ground like a lump of mud. Flames burned incessantly on its body, emitting a pungent stench.

Her alarm lizard gripped Anne's wrist, curling itself into a tight ball.

Katie casually tossed the now motionless, rope-like tentacles back into the fire, and stretched.

Levi put away his gun, looked at Anne, and reached out his hand.

"Are you alright, Miss Anne?"

"I'm fine..."

Anne seemed to realize what was happening at that moment. She blinked, took Levi's outstretched hand, and stood up.

"That was just now..."

"Looks like that's the disaster these guys caused."

Li Wei snorted coldly. When he used [Soul Vision] to look at it just now, he discovered that the monster's soul radiance was not red, but dark green.

"Have the chimeras created here gone out of control?"

"To be honest, I don't think that was a chimera, but it does explain why all the bones we've seen along the way are so clean." "…………………"

Hearing Li Wei's answer, Annie was speechless for a moment. In fact, Annie had been wondering about this ever since they entered the base. After all, it had only been a few years, but the bones in the base looked so clean that there wasn't even a trace of meat on them, which was obviously a very strange thing.

But now, well… there is indeed an answer.

"You don't seem surprised?"

Annie glanced at Levi and Katie, who appeared remarkably calm, even composed. It's worth noting that even Annie, who had studied chimeras since childhood, wouldn't remain so calm and collected when facing such a terrifying monster for the first time. Yet, these two seemed to be acting as if it were nothing of concern.

"We've encountered similar things many times, so we're used to it."

“That’s true…”

Recalling how Levi dealt with the monster, Annie nodded. Biotechnology has a major weakness: most of it is afraid of fire. Therefore, in the Kingdom of Krant, the control over fuel and similar flammable materials is very strict, but Levi's first reaction was to use fire… Clearly, they are truly experienced in this area.

"It seems the problem here is beyond our expectations, but... could this thing be related to the beastmen?"

Annie pondered the matter; no matter how she looked at it, the monster didn't seem like a beastman. However, Levi frowned, having a different opinion.

"Whatever it is, we still have to keep moving forward... As long as we know what they are researching here, perhaps we can find the answer to this question."

That makes sense.

Annie snapped out of her thoughts and walked up the elevator next to the minecart, a rare steel structure in the base. Since this base was converted from a mine, the minecart and elevator had been preserved and modified to serve as a passageway connecting this place to the internal research institute.

It was quite simple to get this thing moving. Annie pulled the lever, and the elevator began to slowly descend. After all, only a few years had passed, and the things here hadn't decayed to the point of being unusable.

Annie blew her whistle again, waking the swarm of fireflies inside. In their white light, the passageway was a scene of utter chaos, with rubble scattered across the walls. Clearly, the monster had been clinging to the nearby cliff face; had it not acted so hastily to attack Annie, their situation might be far worse.

However... that's just a hypothetical situation.

Anne turned her head and looked out the window at the burning remains of the monster. Strangely enough, as a biologist, Anne should have collected some of its remains, extracted its lifeline, and seen if there was anything she could use it for.

Anne had never thought this way before; she was drawn to insects and animals, no matter how ugly or strange they were.

But just seeing the monster filled her with disgust, and she felt no excitement whatsoever, nor any urge to go up and collect some of its remains to extract its lifeline.

It's really strange that I have this feeling.

Anne didn't know why. Could it be that her time hiding from the Kingdom of Krant had caused her to lose interest in biology? And that she no longer intended to do similar research?
Just as Anne was thinking this, the pile of wreckage had already disappeared into the darkness. Anne then turned her gaze back to what was ahead.

"Rumble rumble rumble —————"

Li Wei surveyed his surroundings, and as he approached the bottom of the mine, his [Soul Vision] allowed him to see more.

Red, green, green wrapped in red.

It seems the idiots at this research institute have really done something extraordinary.

A minute or two later, the elevator stopped, and then the doors opened with a whoosh, revealing the interior to the three of them.

The situation on the lower level is much more difficult than on the upper level; you can tell just by looking at the environment here.

The floor and walls were covered with bloodstains and handprints, as well as drag marks, overturned cabinets, and broken tables and chairs.

But there was no body.

To be honest, it couldn't be worse than this.

"Mr. Li Wei, where do you think the bodies went?"

Katie clenched her little fists and waved them twice in the air. It seemed that as long as it wasn't a ghost, this young lady wasn't worried at all.

"I don't know. To be honest, I think we'd know even if we didn't want to."

"How to say?"

"It's very simple."

Li Wei silently changed his bullets, raised the gun in his hand, lifted his chin, and touched the bloodstains on the ground.

"You'll know once you follow the trail of blood."

(End of this chapter)