Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 477 Underground Ruins
Along the way, the three of them encountered no further danger.

Although bloodstains were frequently found, and often looked extremely dangerous, the underground area was eerily silent. Apart from the sound of their footsteps, there was nothing nearby. This, however, only heightened Levi and Katie's vigilance; after all, caution was paramount, especially in situations like these.

There were some labs here, but they were all a mess, and it was impossible to tell what they were researching. Annie checked the research records, but they only described the studies on samples; Levi couldn't understand the specific formulas and records. However, after carefully reading them, Annie frowned, as if she had thought of something troublesome.

Gradually, the passage in front of them began to change.

The once relatively "modern" passageways and floors have disappeared, replaced by hard stone floors, and the walls on both sides have been transformed into a somewhat ancient, hand-carved style. Only the swarms of fireflies, emitting a white glow, continue to spread unchecked, growing like weeds all around.

Then, Li Wei stopped walking.

Before him was an open stone door. Through it, Li Wei could see the scene inside: an open space. In the center stood a small, pyramid-shaped platform. The top of the platform was completely broken open, with fragments scattered around it, and a stone chair lying on the ground not far away.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this thing somewhere before.”

“Me too, Mr. Li Wei.”

Katie nodded as well, and the two exchanged a glance, clearly recognizing the familiar scene—it was back in the initial case of the socialite killer, when, in order to investigate a suspected lady, the two infiltrated the tavern and discovered a similar altar in the secret underground chamber of her room.

The altar there was relatively small, while this one was more like a deluxe version. For example, it had four stone pillars and torches around it, which were burning brightly at the moment, and you could vaguely see what looked like carved murals on the walls. None of these were present in the secret room below the tavern.

To put it simply, it's the difference between a bare-bones apartment and a fully furnished one.

Li Wei gripped the persuader's hand tightly and cautiously walked inside—he wasn't making a fuss over nothing, after all, the trailing bloodstains were also heading in this direction.

Just then, Katie's voice rang in Levi's ear.

"Oh my god..."

Katie's eyes widened in surprise as she looked ahead. Beneath the altar, several stone beds were laid out, and on each bed lay a person. Judging from their clothing, these people must have been the researchers here—or rather, they used to be.

Now they are just corpses.

Li Wei pulled himself out of his thoughts, approached the corpses, and gave them a quick look. These bodies were severely decomposed, frankly more disgusting than the bones outside. They were all disemboweled, their internal organs spilling out like rotten food. But surprisingly, Li Wei didn't see any insects on the corpses. Logically, in this underground environment, insects shouldn't have missed such fertile ground…

"Miss Anne, don't these fireflies eat meat?"

"That's how we set it up when we synthesized it."

Anne clearly understood what Levi was going to ask.

"You wouldn't want your own light bulb to suddenly get hungry, fly down, and take a bite out of you, would you?"

That's true, that's way too dangerous.

Li Wei turned his head to look, and the swarm of fireflies only extended to the doorway leading into the room; there wasn't a single firefly in the entire room.

Besides that, he didn't see any other insects here, which was obviously not normal, or rather... quite normal.

Li Wei lowered his head and looked at his feet, where, amidst a sea of ​​crimson, there was a black void.

Inside the gap in that pyramid-shaped altar, there was only darkness.

“Mr. Li Wei, I found the log here.”

Just then, Annie's voice rang out. Levi looked at her and saw that she was standing in front of a wooden table not far away. The wooden table was clearly not from this room, as it was covered with many blueprints and some books, which looked like things used by researchers here.

Anne had already lit the oil lamp on the table. As Levi walked over, she handed him an open hardcover notebook, which was clearly what Anne had been looking at.

Li Wei took the notebook and began to read it.

That's what it says above.

[On [Date], the investigation of the N-2 ruins confirmed the existence of a hidden space beneath the altar; the secret we seek may lie within. However, the risks of dismantling the ruins are unknown. We have submitted a report to our superiors requesting action.]

On [Date], conventional breaching methods proved ineffective. Our first attempt was to use chimeras to open the altar as completely as possible. However, the chimeras refused to enter the ruins, even attacking our personnel instead. It seems they have a deep-seated fear and aversion to entering this place, which they cannot comprehend. This also means the initial swarm of fireflies failed to reproduce here; we are now forced to rely on oil lamps…

[On [Month] N, the use of the Zoanoids also failed. Even after transforming, the Zoanoids resisted entering the room, claiming it contained a dangerous, evil, and repulsive entity. Even if forced inside, they would go berserk, lose their reason, and attack anyone indiscriminately. Dr. Lott believes there might be some kind of magnetic field or odor here that causes the chimeras and Zoanoids to feel aversion, but I think things are not that simple.]

On [Month] K, we finally decided to demolish it by explosives. To be honest, I thought it was terrifying. If we accidentally blew it up, we'd be dead. But they said that as long as we were careful, everything would be fine. In short, everyone had to be prepared. If we could blow up that altar, we might be able to find the secrets hidden in this ruin.

That concludes the record.

The rest is self-explanatory; judging from the current situation, these idiots blew up the altar, released something sealed beneath it, and then the enemy launched an attack. Clearly, everyone here has been wiped out.

It's a very cliché way to die in horror movies.

After reading the record, Li Wei remained calm. After all, they had already warned them not to dig, and insisting on digging would only lead to certain death. But now the question was, what exactly was in that room? Based on the logbook, Li Wei suspected it might be the giant snail they had encountered before.

Because its soul radiance is dark green, and based on Li Wei's experience, a green soul radiance is generally something that only extraterrestrial visitors possess.

Their defining characteristic is that they are unwelcome by native creatures, who will instinctively avoid them, or harbor inexplicable hostility towards them, and may even launch attacks.

Although the chimeras are artificially created, they still use the lifelines of native organisms, and the underlying logic of aversion to invasive species may have been inherited as well.

However, this still doesn't explain the problem, or rather, it only brings more problems.

With that in mind, Li Wei made a decision.

"Miss Anne."

Li Wei turned his head and looked at Anne.

"Could you go to the archives here and check what kind of experiments were being conducted here back then? It's the place where Dr. Fleming did his experiments."

"I'll go look for it. This kind of information is usually kept very secure, but it's a little difficult to open."

"Katie, you go with Miss Anne to look for her."

For Katie, prying open doors and picking locks is no problem at all.

"understand!"

Katie gave Li Wei a rather awkward military salute with a grin, then asked curiously.

"And what about you, Mr. Li Wei?"

"Me......"

Upon hearing Katie's question, Levi looked down at the dark hole below.

"I'll go downstairs and take a look."

Then he spoke.

Soon, Katie accompanied Annie to the archives, while Levi arrived at the gap in the altar. He casually tossed a twin-tailed fairy to place an eye nearby before raising his gun and pulling the trigger into the dark void.

"boom!"

As the gunshot rang out, a flare flew out, emitting a blinding white light that illuminated the previously pitch-black void.

With the help of the flare, Li Wei could see that the walls were covered with veins.

That's right, blood vessels.

Vibrant blood vessels clung to the wall, intertwining like vines and extending in all directions. They resembled the interior of some creature, but now they seemed utterly lifeless, drooping listlessly.

Li Wei threw in another twin-tailed sprite, waited a moment, and then snapped his fingers.

The next moment, Li Wei's feet were on this evil, cold, cursed land.

Not far from him, the signal flare was still burning, bringing a few slivers of light into the surrounding darkness. Li Wei looked around and noticed something interesting: at his feet was something like a magic circle, and at its edge, he could see some withered, broken fragments of blood vessels. They were charred black and inconspicuous, as if they had been burned by something.

In addition, Livy could also see murals and ancient scripts carved on the surrounding walls.

The writing system is very ancient, but fortunately, for Livy, who possesses the "wisdom of Solomon" buff, understanding it is not difficult.

So Li Wei carefully examined the paintings and writings on the wall.

Then, his expression gradually became serious.

(End of this chapter)