Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 492 What a coincidence
The bullet spun as it shot from the muzzle, whistling through the air as it flew straight toward its target—the enormous bald head.

Almost at the same time, the guard standing next to the general suddenly reached out his hand. His arm swelled up in an instant, becoming huge and thick. Then he reached out his palm and grabbed at the bullet!
However, he was not able to succeed.

Just as the bullet approached the hand, it suddenly turned downwards at an impossible speed, circled the beastman's arm, and continued forward, mercilessly piercing the bald head.

This was an unimaginable moment for everyone.

Francis's acting president, still smiling, extended his right hand. Then, right in front of him, the left half of General von Käthemann's head exploded completely. His eyeballs darted and flew through the air, and fragments of his skull, mixed with brain matter and flesh, scattered everywhere.

Then, a dark shadow appeared and swiftly shot into the acting president's slightly open mouth, then out of the back of his head. Only then did the bullet seem to have exhausted its momentum and fall to the ground.

But by the time it landed, the bullet had quietly turned into a bomb.

And the countdown above has also come to an end.

"boom-------!!"

A blinding flash of fire and a violent explosion mercilessly engulfed the entire gate of the royal palace, billowing smoke rising into the sky and shattering all the surrounding glass. Li Wei saw soldiers lying on the ground in terror, anxiously looking around. The pack animals pulling the wagons also let out loud roars, amplified by the explosion.

Soon, Li Wei saw several Krant soldiers turn to look in his direction, their bodies rapidly transforming into wild, furry monsters. Then, they leaped forward and charged towards Li Wei at incredible speed.

If it were an ordinary sniper, they would be considering running away at this point.

But Li Wei did not leave. He simply took out a bullet, put it back into the magazine, pulled the bolt, aimed forward, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang-----!"

The bullet fired again, but instead of following a straight line, it arced through the air, piercing the ear of one of the Zoan soldiers from the side, and then exiting from the other side. It then abruptly changed direction, striking another Zoan soldier's eye with lightning speed.

This bullet seemed to possess some kind of terrifying magic; it repeatedly pierced through the crowd from different angles, bringing only death wherever it went.

Soon, the beastmen fell to the ground one by one, turning into corpses.

At this point, Li Wei had already begun loading the third bullet.

He stood on the balcony, arrogantly looking down at the street below and the soldiers charging towards him—some of them Krant's men, others of Francis's—shouting and raising their guns. But to Levi, this posed no threat.

But this is not the case for others.

"Splash—!"

Just then, suddenly, the roof of a house not far in front of Li Wei burst open, and Li Wei saw a figure emerge from it. The figure seemed to fly out of the smoke and happened to come face to face with Li Wei.

They saw each other.

Li Wei saw a young girl with golden hair, fair skin, and delicate, beautiful features. Sunlight shone on her, as if forming a pair of wings woven from light behind her. She looked at Li Wei with a surprised and astonished expression, while Li Wei simply glanced at the girl quietly, then raised his gun again and aimed forward.

Then he pulled the trigger for the third time.

"Bang-----!"

The soldiers fell to the ground like fallen ears of wheat, as if they were being mercilessly harvested by heavy machine guns. In an instant, the soldiers behind them instinctively stopped in their tracks, hiding in the corners of the carriages or walls, cowering in fear and unease.

However, this is not over yet.

"Bang-----!"

With the sound of gunfire, bullets were fired again, striking the soldiers hiding behind cover at the most unexpected angles and in the most treacherous directions.

But this time, it failed.

A shield suddenly appeared before him, so fast that even Li Wei only saw a blur before he saw a fully armed knight wielding a massive tower shield. He wore heavy armor, the kind worn by mounted heavy cavalry, and carried a shield and longsword even taller than himself.

He stood on the street, raised his helmet and looked at Li Wei, a flash of red light appearing within it.

In the blink of an eye, the knight's figure disappeared.

Then, he appeared before Li Wei. The knight raised his shield and slammed it, shield and all, into Li Wei, crashing headfirst into the apartment building in front of him.

"Splash!!"

The walls were smashed down, the doors were torn apart, and a knight wielding a massive shield charged into the china shop like an enraged bull. He then stopped, looking around in confusion. There was no sign of the assassin in the Krant uniform; instead, everywhere the knight could see—corners, floors, tables—explosives were piled up everywhere.

They were like tied-up sausages, scattered randomly everywhere, making a "drip-drip" sound.

Seeing the scene before him clearly, the knight suddenly recoiled, trying to escape the area. However, at that moment, his movements suddenly slowed down!

Just moments ago, he was an incredibly strong knight, capable of leaping three stories high while wearing heavy armor and wielding a shield.

But now, the mysterious and powerful force within him seemed to have completely left him. He swayed, released his hands, and threw the tower shield and longsword to the ground. Then, as if he could no longer bear the weight of the heavy armor, he knelt on the ground.

At the same time, the clicking sounds throughout the room stopped.

"boom---------!!"

Standing atop the church bell tower, Li Wei, holding binoculars, watched the flames and smoke rise into the sky once again in the distance, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Great, just as I thought."

Li Wei didn't leave immediately after the assassination because he wanted to verify his suspicion that the Holy Church and the capitalists might be involved in some way. In fact, he got what he wanted; the Holy Bishop's paladins arrived far too quickly.

Even if they were wearing magical equipment, they couldn't have arrived at the scene so quickly under Levi's surveillance, which means they had been here all along.

This is quite interesting... after all, this isn't the time for the Holy Lord Church to make its appearance.

But their paladins are here.

Now that his mission here was complete, Li Wei was confident that the Krant army would thoroughly search the entire city, which would be enough to delay their journey. Of course, if they weren't delayed, Li Wei could also kill a few more lackey nobles, which would force them to kneel down and beg the Krant army for protection.

This would be enough to delay the Krant army's assembly for some time.

Next up is that interesting lady from earlier…

Li Wei put down his binoculars and thought for a moment.

It seems there are others here today, like myself, intending to assassinate someone. This isn't surprising, given that the other party is a representative of the Kingdom of Krant; opportunities to assassinate him are rare. It's just a pity, though; it seems that young lady was a step too late, and I beat her to it.

Moreover…her skills…seem to be extraordinary…

Li Wei was certain that the girl did not possess any bright red aura, but the speed and power she displayed were in no way inferior to the fully armed paladin who had attacked him earlier.

Then her identity becomes obvious—after all, someone who can lead a rabble against the Krant beastmen can't be as common as cabbage on the street.

That's good, it saves me from having to make two trips.

Li Wei turned his head and looked towards a corner of the flower city.

Then he disappeared into the shadows of the church. The girl ran across the rooftops.

Like a falcon about to take flight, she crouched low, gliding effortlessly across the rooftops. She leaped up, jumping more than ten meters before landing steadily on the ground. She looked around, then went into a nearby alley and rhythmically knocked on doors.

A moment later, the door opened, and the girl quickly slipped inside.

"What happened? Jeanne?"

Inside the room, several young people crowded around, their faces tense as they asked questions.

"I heard gunshots and explosions. Why did you make such a big fuss?"

"not me."

The blonde girl shook her head.

"Someone beat me to it."

"Someone cut in front of you? Are you sure?"

"Yes, he killed General von Kleinmann, and also the acting president, and even detonated a bomb. The welcoming motorcade likely suffered heavy casualties..."

"he?"

One person astutely grasped the blonde girl's words.

"You saw him?"

"That's right, a man, wearing Krant's uniform, holding a strange gun. After the attack, the soldiers all came over to search this way. I realized I had been discovered, so I had to retreat in a hurry. It turned out that he was on the balcony of an apartment building not far behind me."

Do you know what kind of man he is?

"Um……………"

Faced with the old man's question, the blonde girl began to think.

"Black hair, very handsome. He didn't seem surprised by my appearance; in fact, he didn't even intend to run away..."

"You have no intention of running away?"

"Yes, he was still attacking those soldiers. When I left, I could still hear gunfire and explosions..."

As she spoke, the blonde girl sighed with some regret.

"I don't know who he is. Perhaps he is a righteous man willing to fight for Francis. It seems that not everyone in this city is willing to submit to Krant's iron heel."

"Oh, I see. That's really..."

Hearing the blonde girl's remark, the young men exchanged complicated glances, then suddenly drew their guns and pointed them at her.

"...This is terrible!"

Before the words were even finished, several young men pulled the trigger on the blonde girl! However, what happened next was completely unexpected.

The weapons in the hands of the young men suddenly exploded, and the latter cried out in pain, lying on the ground clutching his hands.

"This, this is...?"

The blonde girl was stunned by the bizarre scene before her, and just then, a voice rang out.

“If I were you, I would choose my companions carefully, miss.”

Who is it!?

The blonde girl turned around, watching the source of the sound warily. Then, she saw a dark-haired man in a tuxedo, holding a cane, gracefully emerge from the corner of the wall.

Although her appearance was completely different from before, the girl remembered that face very clearly.

That was the man who assassinated the general!
"It's you? What are you doing here?"

"I was just passing by."

Li Wei smiled slightly and spread his hands in response to the girl's wary gaze.

"But I think that's not the question you want to ask right now."

"…………………"

Looking at Li Wei, the blonde girl remained silent for a moment, then turned around and glared angrily at her companions who were clutching their mangled right hands and howling in agony.

"What do you mean by this? Have you betrayed me?"

"I...we did not betray each other..."

"enough!"

One of them tried to answer, but the other young man quickly interrupted his wailing. He clutched his bleeding right hand, forced himself to stand up, and glared at the blonde girl.

“That’s right, we betrayed you, we sold you out! We’ve had enough of war! We’ve had enough of your nonsense about being a savior! If you had just obediently been killed during the assassination, none of this would have happened! We could never have defeated Krant! We just wanted to live, not die for your nonsense!”

"I………"

The blonde girl looked at the young man in front of her with a shocked expression. Then she lowered her eyes and looked at the others.

"Is that what you think too?"

When the blonde girl asked her a question, the others either turned away from her, remained silent, or glared at her fiercely.

“We’ve had enough. You’re beautiful, but so what? We’ve done so much to win your favor, and you haven’t even given us a second glance! I’m not going to continue this childish game! Instead, if we sell you to Krant, we can get enough money and status… then we can have any woman we want!”

Hearing this, the blonde girl didn't say anything more, but turned around and left the room.

Li Wei looked at them and sneered.

"So without a woman as leader, you don't even dare to resist? Typical Franciscan..."

"you-----!"

Upon hearing Li Wei's mockery, the young man's eyes widened, and he roared as if he wanted to say something.

Immediately afterwards, gunshots rang out, drowning out everything else.

(End of this chapter)