Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 480 Tricky Trouble
It's the end of the world.

Upon seeing this scene, only one thought came to Li Wei's mind.

Such plots often appear in movies or games, where alien creatures silently infiltrate humanity, gradually turning humans into their own kind, and attempting to rule the world.

Of course, these things will be accidentally discovered by the protagonist, and then he will be chased and killed. Generally speaking, the ending is that the whole town or city is destroyed by bombs or nuclear bombs.

And naturally, after the credits roll, some will slip through the net and jump out to prepare for filming a sequel.

But for Li Wei now, the problem is that he can't even handle this episode, let alone a sequel!
Because this world doesn't have weapons of mass destruction like nuclear bombs!

If he had one, Li Wei would have thrown it down without saying a word!
But there isn't any!
This is truly hopeless.

How can he possibly fight a city with a population of one million? Even the Eye in the Sky doesn't have that capability.
"Haa..."

Li Wei sat back down in his chair, reached out and pressed his hand to his forehead, and sighed softly.

Seeing Li Wei's appearance, the officers on the bridge were somewhat surprised. Although they hadn't known Li Wei for very long, in their experience, Li Wei usually came up with a plan for the next action as soon as they arrived at their destination, instead of looking troubled like he did now.

Is there something wrong with this city?
For a moment, the bridge was silent; apart from the occasional hum of machinery, nothing could be heard.

"call……………"

Li Wei seemed to sense that something was wrong. Although he was speechless inside, he forced himself to stay awake, opened his eyes, sat up straight, picked up the observation scope again, and looked down.

Even though I was already desperate, I still had to observe carefully. Just like those giant bosses in games, some are even bigger than mountains, but once you find their weakness, they're still cleaved into pieces by the dual-wielding bald guy, right? Maybe this thing has a similar weakness?

There's always hope. As the old saying goes, as long as you don't give up, there's always a way to overcome difficulties.

With this in mind, Li Wei began to carefully observe the entire city. However, the results were quite frustrating. Even after meticulously examining every street, he saw almost nothing but dark green specks of light. Of course, without using [Soul Vision], it simply appeared to be an ordinary human city. On the streets, he could see people returning home after work, young couples on romantic dates, and children chasing and playing in the parks.

However, once you switch to [Soul Vision], what you see are dark green soul dots... that's terrifying.

For a fleeting moment, Li Wei even began to doubt whether he was using [Soul Vision] incorrectly. Perhaps that color wasn't soul radiance, but something else entirely? After all, the system hadn't provided detailed instructions; it was all based on Li Wei's experience gained through use. What if he was wrong?
It's impossible that this entire city has become alien lackeys, right?

But if that's the case, what can I do?

Li Wei surveyed the city before him, almost numb with a sense of unease. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack, or finding a hidden tree in a forest. Previously, Li Wei could quickly pinpoint problematic areas using his [Soul Vision] and devise solutions. But now, the entire city was embroiled in issues, making finding the root cause far more difficult and troublesome.

Fortunately, perseverance pays off. When Li Wei rotated the observation scope again, he keenly noticed that the "image" in one place suddenly jumped.

For people in this world, this might be a difficult problem to observe, but it's different for Li Wei—or rather, for any computer gamer, when you open and enter a game and find that the screen is shaking or tearing, it will be quite sensitive.

Next, open the settings and adjust the vertical sync... cough cough, I'm getting off-topic.

In Li Wei's view, the observation mirror in front of him was similar to a computer screen, so when a similar problem appeared on the "screen," he would naturally and subconsciously focus his attention immediately.

It's impossible that a viewing mirror would also have a problem with incompatible graphics card drivers, right?

Li Wei quickly moved the observation lens and then magnified it. Soon, he saw a large building located in the city.

It looked like a palace, quite magnificent and heavily guarded, clearly a place not to be trifled with.

"Lieutenant Horn, proceed to the vicinity of that palace."

"Yes, sir."

Soon, the Eye of the Sky began to move forward again, while Li Wei carefully stared at the observation mirror, locking onto that point of distortion.

But at that moment, something unexpected happened.

Just as the Eye of the Sky approached the palace, Li Wei felt a blur before his eyes. The next moment, the large patches of dark green light that he had seen throughout the city disappeared without a trace, replaced by a field of white light!

Before Li Wei could figure out what had happened, something even more surprising occurred.

He felt his connection with the doll in the Fog City Tower restored!

Since Li Wei's [Puppeteer] skill reached its maximum level and gained the [Infinite Distance] buff, Li Wei placed a ward in his base to make it easy for him to Hearthstone back to town with invincibility at any time. However, after arriving in this world, Li Wei could no longer connect with the puppet he had placed in the tower, nor could he [Paranormal Activity]. This was normal, since his puppet and he were in different worlds, so it was only natural that they couldn't connect.

But now, Li Wei has connected!
This was actually a coincidence. After discovering that the soul's radiance had changed color, Li Wei originally intended to connect with the puppet birds to see what was happening below. However, to his surprise, the two puppet birds he had placed above the palace could no longer be connected; instead, they connected with the puppets far away in the tower.

This means—they have returned to their original world!
Wait, what's going on here?

Li Wei recalled a previous incident where he inexplicably traveled to another world without any warning—well, not exactly without warning. Li Wei remembered that during that time, he went to Baron Hanklis's house, and there was something "distorted" about the place.

This palace also has a certain "distortion".

But if this distortion was the cause, then why didn't I time travel the first time I went to Baron Hanklis's house, but instead time traveled the second time? Was it because I brought back the corpses of Baron Hanklis's family from a parallel world?
Or perhaps—Li Wei seemed to have thought of something, and reached out to feel the hard object in his pocket.

Is it related to this surface?

But why can't I see anything with my own "soul vision"?

"Lieutenant Horn."

At that very moment, a bold idea flashed into Li Wei's mind.

"Raise the height of the Eye in the Sky."

"Understood, sir. What's the exact altitude?"

"Extreme height".

"Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Horn, without saying much, immediately relayed Livy's instructions. Then, the Eye of the Sky began to gradually rise in height. Livy stared intently below, his eyes unblinking. Gradually, the Eye of the Sky rose higher and higher, until even the city of Münnek, once a large city, appeared as a small halo.

"Current altitude is 20,000 meters, sir."

“Hmm…” Li Wei frowned and stared at the ground. He concentrated and activated his Soul Vision, but he couldn’t see anything. Everything seemed the same as before.

“…Go and rest. We’ll take another look when it’s light.”

For Li Wei, solving this puzzle now seems like a really difficult task.

After a night of turmoil, Li Wei was exhausted. He returned to his room, washed up, and then lay down on the bed, quickly falling asleep.

Time passed second by second.

No one noticed that the pitch-black shadows silently seeped into the airship, turning the deck a dull black, and the brass-colored hatches began to warp before silently opening.

At that moment, time seemed to stand still.

Li Wei opened his eyes and looked towards the cabin door.

There, a person stood.

a woman.

She stood in the darkness, her face as bright as the silver moon, the darkness spreading out like her hair, her eyes radiating dazzling starlight.

Li Wei had only ever met one person like that.

"I never expected to see you again, Miss Goddess."

Looking at the goddess of the night before him, Li Wei was quite surprised. Ever since his failed attempt to win her over in the Dream Realm, he had thought he had parted ways with this goddess.

"I think you need my help."

"I don't have the habit of praying to gods. You're not following me, are you?"

Li Wei sat up in bed, looking at the Goddess of Night with a puzzled expression. While many gods claimed to be omniscient and omnipotent, the existence of truly omniscient and omnipotent gods was still debatable. However, he was more curious now about why the Goddess of Night had come to see him.
They can't possibly be trying to win me over again, can they?

"You have discovered a very dangerous entity that must be eliminated."

I agree with that.

Li Wei nodded. This thing was truly terrifying. Thankfully, his world's biotechnology hadn't advanced enough, and the Krant Empire's use of beast-like armor seemed to be still in its early stages. Otherwise, if it were like this world, it would be horrifying. Just imagine, after the Krant Empire unified the world, all the beast-like soldier legions suddenly bared their fangs, becoming accomplices of alien creatures…

"So, what kind of help can you give me?"

Li Wei looked at the Goddess of the Night and asked her curiously, and the latter was taken aback by Li Wei's attitude.

"Don't you want my help? I think you should show some sincerity, shouldn't you?"

“Now it’s your turn to ask me for a favor, Miss Goddess.”

Li Wei wasn't going to tolerate the Goddess of the Night. As he said, he didn't have the habit of praying to gods, but this Goddess of the Night had eagerly offered to help. This meant that this alien creature also posed a threat to her, and she clearly couldn't find a suitable person to solve the problem, which was why she came to Li Wei.

Judging from her actions, it's clear that this Goddess of the Night still wants to make Li Wei her follower, which is why Li Wei won't accept her so easily. A win-win situation is one where everyone benefits; I won't allow you to win twice.

"If you want me to help you solve this problem, then please show some sincerity."

Do you think you can solve this problem on your own?

The Goddess of the Night was clearly a little angry, but the way she spoke made Li Wei feel like she was being coquettish—but let's not worry about that, it's not good to see a big shot being coquettish.

"How do you know if you don't try? Nothing is impossible for a willing heart. Only by trying will you know if it's feasible or not, right?"

With the "reality anchor" in his hands, Li Wei naturally speaks with more confidence now.

"How about this, in return, I won't pursue the matter of you spying on me. Violating other people's privacy is illegal."

"I wasn't spying on you."

Faced with Li Wei's shamelessness, the Goddess of Night let out a soft snort.

So what exactly are you trying to say?

Even though it was a dream, Li Wei didn't intend to waste time with the Goddess of the Night.

"...I just want to know if you're confident you can solve this problem?"

"There is still some control over it."

Li Wei wasn't bluffing. He felt that as long as he spent a little time figuring out how to travel between the two worlds, the rest would be easy.

In short, go back and tell the Queen about the parallel world. If the Queen is interested, send troops to attack Krant. After conquering Krant in this world, use a space portal to conquer the Kingdom of Krant in the other world, and then conquer the empire or even other countries in the other world.

If Li Wei were to lead an army of steel to attack Munneke, then the alien creatures there would be nothing to fear.

Just because the empires of this world are failing doesn't mean that the empires of my own world are failing too.

So Li Wei actually does have a solution, provided he figures out exactly how he travels between the two parallel worlds.

However, the Goddess of the Night was clearly not omniscient or omnipotent; she was somewhat surprised by Li Wei's confident demeanor. She stared at Li Wei in silence for a moment before finally speaking.

"Since you have made preparations and demonstrated your determination, I am willing to offer you some assistance for the sake of this world."

"Please speak, I am all ears."

Li Wei made a gesture while silently complaining in his mind.

This goddess of the night seems quite gullible.

(End of this chapter)