Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 499 Unexpected
Night falls.

Levi lay prone on the hill, peering through his scope at the brightly lit camp below. Unlike the Krant of the other world, the Krant of this world, apart from the chimeras, were still mechanized in every other aspect.

Actually, the Krant in another world also has a power generation device. Levi heard Delint mention it; it's called a bio-battery. It serves both as a generator and a storage device for electrical energy. The only problem is that it requires a large amount of food for energy conversion.

In Li Wei's view, this is where biotechnology falls short of mechanical technology. Humans cannot eat coal, so using coal to boil water is fine. However, humans need to eat, and if a natural disaster causes a food shortage, not only will people have no food, but they will also have to compete with the "biological machines" of that world for food.

That would be a real problem.

Fortunately, it's not a problem within my own world.

Looking down at the camp, Levi saw that Jeanne had already silently made her way to the perimeter of the camp. She avoided the searchlights and hid herself in the shadows.

He looked like a well-trained, battle-hardened warrior.

Well, considering her age, this is indeed an interesting thing.

Li Wei aimed at the target and then pulled the trigger.

"—!!"

The silenced cane gun wasn't very loud. Benjamin had told Li Wei that it could reduce the sound to within 150 meters. Li Wei was at least 300 meters away from the military camp, and he was quite certain that the military camp couldn't hear his gunshots at all.

In the blink of an eye, the searchlights near the camp went out completely, and soon the entire camp was plunged into darkness. Through [Soul Vision], Li Wei could see the soldiers running out of the camp, holding flashlights and looking around.

But this obviously didn't help.

Li Wei aimed at one of the figures and pulled the trigger.

"…………!"

The bullet flew, tracing a deadly path through the air like a venomous snake, whistling through the heads of soldier after soldier, who fell to the ground without even a cry. This terrified the other soldiers, and the officers tried to calm them down, but the next moment, they too fell to the ground.

"Oh my god, this is a curse!"

Finally, one of the soldiers couldn't help but shout.

"We've disturbed the ghosts here! We're going to die!"

Hearing the shouts, the soldiers became increasingly agitated. They all knew what they had been sent here to find: the legendary castle of the saintess. Such a thing sounded very strange, not to mention that this was not a modern era where science prevailed and superstition was abandoned. Even soldiers were still deeply convinced of various curses and ghosts.

They came here, they disturbed the ghosts here, and they are going to die!
That's a good excuse.

Jeanne hid behind the wooden crate. She heard the shouts and gripped the short sword at her waist—guns were the norm in this era, but for some reason, Jeanne felt more at ease with the sword. This sword was the one she had found on the body of an officer when she fought against the Crant army to protect the villagers in that village.

She loved the sword; it felt like an extension of her own body. She could also use a gun, but it never felt as comfortable as using a sword.

Now is an opportunity.

Thinking of this, Jeanne suddenly had an idea, and then she opened her mouth wide and shouted.

"Intruders! You shouldn't have come here!"

Jeanne spoke in Français, which most of the Crant soldiers couldn't understand, but they could tell it was the voice of an angry, hateful woman, which made them even more terrified. They clearly believed it was the ghost of the saint appearing to punish them.

Of course, if Miller Schneider were here, he might be able to spot the contradiction—it is true that the Saintess's fief is Francis, but she does not speak Franciscan, because Franciscan is a local dialect and original vocabulary that Francis developed after independence in order to break free from imperial influence. The Saintess is the lord of the empire, so it is reasonable for her to use the imperial language.

However, it was obvious that these Krant soldiers would not notice this "obvious" contradiction. They gripped their weapons in fear, hid behind cover, and looked around anxiously.

"And now, you will pay the price for your foolish actions with your lives!"

Jeanne shouted, then raised her longsword and charged forward, heading towards the direction where the soldiers were gathered!

In the pitch-black night, no one could clearly see the attacker's appearance; even the soldiers could only make out a blurry figure, which fueled their growing panic. Some raised their flashlights, trying to make out the enemy before them, but the moment they raised their hands, bullets flying from afar easily claimed their lives.

At the same time, Jeanne had already rushed into the soldiers and launched an attack wielding her short sword!
To Krant's soldiers, it was a nightmare. The entire camp was pitch black, and a terrifying, eerie figure wielded a longsword, mercilessly slaughtering his comrades. Those soldiers who raised their flashlights to illuminate the shadowy figure fell silently to the ground.

This is a curse!
"Damn evil spirit, get out of here!"

Finally, one of the soldiers could no longer contain himself. He roared, raised his gun, aimed it in the direction of the screams, and pulled the trigger.

"Da da da da da!!!"

Gunshots rang out, and Jeanne quickly rolled away to hide behind one of the soldiers. The next moment, she heard screams coming from the crowd around her.

"Damn it, is this the way?"

The soldiers were clearly panicked and began firing incessantly towards the source of the sound. Meanwhile, the others reacted.

"Who's firing?! Stop it!"

However, in the chaotic military camp at this moment, no one was obeying orders anymore, so another officer raised his gun and pulled the trigger in the direction of the gunshot.

"Da da da da da—!!"

The soldiers who were launching the attack were attacked, and they were naturally even more terrified. They instinctively raised their guns and began to fight back.

Gunfire erupted throughout the camp, plunging it into chaos.

"Forehead……………"

Jeanne, hiding behind the wooden crate, witnessed this scene and was momentarily at a loss for what to do. She knew that this situation was extremely dangerous in the military camp, and now, perhaps due to fear and anger, the soldiers around her had begun to kill each other.

In fact, Jeanne felt this was more dangerous than previous battles because, even in the chaos, soldiers used to fight with swords at relatively close range, making it easier to see things clearly. But now everyone was using firearms, and attacks could be launched without even getting close.

In this situation, it's impossible to tell who you killed or who killed you. Especially since there's no moon tonight, the entire camp is practically pitch black, and Li Wei has already destroyed the searchlights…

Thinking of this, Jeanne took out her walkie-talkie.

"Mr. Li Wei, the situation here..."

"Just wait and see."

Li Wei's tone was quite calm.

"It's much more convenient for them to kill each other."

"Ah, um..." Just as Li Wei had said, the soldiers, caught in the chaos, killed each other at a speed even faster than Li Wei and Jeanne could attack the camp together. In less than an hour, there was not a single living person left in the entire camp except for Jeanne.

Of course, some soldiers tried to escape the camp, but Li Wei sent them to their doom before they even stepped out of the camp.

"I have to say, this really does look like the work of an evil spirit."

Li Wei arrived at the camp at this moment. Looking at the corpses on the ground and the camp burning fiercely in front of him, he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Overnight, all the soldiers in the entire camp were wiped out, and they even killed each other. If this situation hadn't been caused by Li Wei and Jeanne, he probably would have just thought it was some kind of evil curse.

"I think the exploration teams in other places must have already heard the gunshots."

Jeanne looked around at the pitch-black forest. Although she couldn't see anything here, the soldiers' guns were obviously not equipped with silencers like Li Wei's gun. Not only were there loud gunshots, but they had also detonated explosives. If Jeanne hadn't run fast, she probably would have been swept away.

In this situation, other search teams must have also discovered that there was a problem with the camp.

"However, no matter how anxious they are, they can't possibly travel overnight."

Levi shrugged and then took out his radio.

"But you're right, we don't have much time to waste."

As it turns out, there is strength in numbers.

After the crew of the Sky Eye and the steam engine soldiers joined in, they spent several hours clearing out the target location. The pattern, which had been hidden beneath the soil for thousands of years, finally reappeared.

It was a huge, round stone slab, about fifty meters in diameter, carved with patterns of lilies and phoenixes.

In the center of this stone slab, there was a slight protrusion. Li Wei could easily guess that this was the part that needed to be pressed down to activate the mechanism.

"Then, you two go back to the airship first, and we'll leave this to you."

"Captain, I think it would be safer to have a few more people."

Henry objected to Levi's order, but Levi shook his head.

"We're just going to scout, not to attack. Besides, you're wearing steam-powered mechs, which are too slow. If you encounter any traps or anything like that, you won't be able to escape."

It's like in the movies; ruins like these often have traps, like giant stone spheres, spikes under the floorboards, or secret chambers that can trap people inside. If Katie were here, Levi wouldn't be worried. She's all about brute force; any trap could be easily dismantled by her.

Unfortunately, these steam-powered soldiers were clearly no match for Katie's abilities.

"Okay, Captain."

Since Levi had made his decision, Henry could only nod and lead the others to the side. Then Levi squatted down, reached out and pressed his hand on the central circle, pressing down hard.

"Snap—!"

Immediately afterward, the circular pattern sank into it, and then the ground began to tremble uncontrollably. The others raised their lanterns, nervously watching their surroundings.

"Boom boom boom boom—!"

A thunderous roar came from underground, echoing through the valley. Hearing this, Li Wei couldn't help but feel grateful for his experience; he had first wiped out the group of Krant soldiers nearby. Otherwise, with a sound like that, it would have been strange if those Krant soldiers hadn't come running over to see what was going on.

A moment later, the circular stone slab trembled slightly, then began to slowly descend like an elevator. Henry and the others hurriedly stepped back, watching this astonishing scene in astonishment. Levi raised his flashlight and carefully shone it around, but apart from the smooth walls, there was nothing there.

If the stone slab hadn't been descending, he would have thought he was standing on it without moving at all.

However, the truth is that the large circular hole above Li Wei's head was getting farther and farther away from him, getting smaller and smaller, and then—as if it were being covered by something, it completely disappeared.

"What do you think this is used for?"

Li Wei withdrew his gaze, looked at Jeanne standing beside him, and asked.

The latter pondered for a moment.

"It must have been used to transport supplies and soldiers, right?"

"That's right, that's what I think too."

Li Wei nodded.

"But the problem is, we're going downhill now."

Then, he pointed out the suspicious points.

As Li Wei said, they were halfway up the mountain before. If this "elevator" went up, that would be fine, but it went down? Doesn't that mean they went straight down to the foot of the mountain? Could it be that the legend is wrong, and that the saintess didn't build the castle on the mountain, but built it underground?

"Forget it, we'll see what happens."

Although he was somewhat surprised, Li Wei wasn't particularly bothered. In any case, they had finally found the entrance to the location of the Holy Maiden.

As for what's inside... we'll only know once we're inside.

Just then, the stone slab trembled slightly and then stopped. Afterwards, Li Wei heard a rumbling grinding sound coming from the walls on both sides. He turned his head and saw that the wall in front of him was slowly sliding open like a door, revealing an extremely dark passage.

But in an instant, a glow appeared on both sides of the passage. It looked like some kind of gemstone, embedded in the wall like wall lamps, emitting a cool, white light that illuminated the previously dark passage.

And everything in the passageway.

"Good heavens..."

Seeing this scene, Li Wei couldn't help but gasp, and even Jeanne stared in surprise, covering her mouth with her hands, speechless.

Although Li Wei had imagined that something must be hidden in such a ruin, he did not expect that this thing would hit him directly in the face as soon as he came down!
Under the glow of the jewel lamps, the entire passageway was littered with skeletons. They were scattered everywhere, many with rusty weapons stuck in their places. Standing here, the passageway seemed like a graveyard built entirely of bones.

What happened here back then?

Li Wei narrowed his eyes and silently took out the Persuader.

Now it seems this adventure may not be so simple.

(End of this chapter)