Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 500 Unexpected Development
What happened here?

Jeanne was clearly surprised as well, and Li Wei glanced at her.

"You don't recall it? You didn't react either?"

"No."

Jeanne shook her head. Logically, if this were a game or a movie, she should be showing signs of a splitting headache or recalling some kind of clue. But Jeanne remained calm; although somewhat surprised, she didn't show the reaction Levi expected.

"But this should be a war... or a rebellion?"

I don't think so.

Li Wei crouched down and rummaged through the skeletons for a while before picking up a skull.

"Although we don't know who these guys are, we can at least be sure they are not human."

Li Wei raised the skull in his hand, squinted, and examined it carefully.

It has a long and narrow shape, resembling a dog, with a long jaw full of sharp teeth and two sharp horns on its forehead.

Although he didn't know what this thing looked like when it was alive, Li Wei was certain that it was definitely not a human skull.

Moreover, there was more than one such skull.

Li Wei quickly searched and found that the skulls here were roughly divided into three categories: one resembling a dog, one resembling a cow, and one resembling a human—the reason it was described as resembling a human rather than a human was because this skull was much larger than Li Wei and Jeanne's heads. If these skulls had any common feature, it was that they all had horns.

During this process, Li Wei also deduced what had happened here by observing the movements of these corpses.

"They are retreating, they are running away."

Li Wei looked around carefully along the corridor and then gave his answer.

"The kobolds ran in front, followed by the minotaurs, and then the humanoids at the very end. They seemed to be in a hurry, as if they were desperate to escape some terrible danger. The kobolds blocked the way, which enraged the minotaurs and humanoids. You see, there are many wounds on the backs of the corpses here, meaning they attacked these kobolds from behind, killing most of them. Then the humanoids and minotaurs fought each other, and as for the final result... it's certain that they all died here."

"Just like what happened in the military camp before."

Jeanne frowned as she recalled the bloody fighting among the soldiers in the Krant camp.

"Pretty much, but why would they do that? They want to escape, but from whom? And more importantly, what are these things?"

Levi looked at the skull in his hand with a puzzled expression, tossing it back and forth. If Anne or her other self, Delint, were here, perhaps they could provide an answer. But unfortunately, Levi's knowledge of skulls was limited to humans, and it wasn't as accurate when dealing with non-humans.

Besides, scientists have been drawing dinosaur skeletons for so many years, but they still haven't been able to draw what it originally looked like.

Just then, Jeanne spoke up.

"I think it's quite like a demon."

"demon?"

Upon hearing Jeanne's answer, Li Wei paused for a moment and turned to look at her.

You know this?

“I’ve seen it in the murals.”

Jeanne shook her head.

"Aren't all the demons in the murals of the Holy Church horned?"

Now that you mention it, it does seem to be true.

Hearing Jeanne say this, Levi also remembered that the demons in the church murals all had horns. However, since demons, like angels, are legendary beings, Levi didn't think about it in that way when he first saw the skull.

He doesn't want to think about that now. Why? The reason is simple.

There are hundreds or even thousands of skeletons in the entire corridor. Is this saintess so powerful that she can force so many demons to flee in panic, even at the cost of killing each other to escape?

Not to mention that he didn't even manage to escape in the end?

If this is true, the wars of that era were absolutely incredible.

Li Wei felt a sense of absurdity, like a modern person viewing the battlefield of the Investiture of the Gods; the two sides were simply not on the same level. You know, these days, a holy bishop performing an exorcism is incredibly proud, wanting the whole world to know.

As a result, in the era of the Holy Maiden, she was able to directly force hundreds or even thousands of demons to their deaths.
Okay, let's assume this really is a demon.

After all, Li Wei knew that within the Holy Bishops, the so-called demons referred to heretical beliefs defeated by the Holy Lord. However, after learning the truth about the All-Seeing Eye from the Goddess of Night, Li Wei began to have some doubts about the beliefs within the Holy Bishops. What exactly did they believe in?
Who exactly is their enemy?
Many questions have no answers.

Same as here.

"Let's move on."

Li Wei threw away the skull in his hand and looked ahead.

"Although there shouldn't be anything alive here in theory, we still have to be careful. There might be a hibernating bear inside."

Although Li Wei's [Soul Vision] didn't see anything, that doesn't mean there wasn't danger inside. Strictly speaking, the danger wasn't great, since none of the monsters had escaped.

But who knows?

Li Wei didn't want to walk along and suddenly come face to face with a dragon.

Even once is too many experiences like this.

The two walked through a corridor strewn with skeletons and continued forward until they came to a relatively empty space. There was nothing of any use left here after thousands of years, not to mention the excellent ventilation system, which meant that all traces of the past had disappeared.

Only a very few things remained.

However, Li Wei could at least confirm the structure of this place. Clearly, his guess was right. This was a transportation channel. Materials and personnel would ride down that stone slab and put the goods here—this should be the warehouse. Then, these supplies would be transported from this warehouse to other places.

Livy and Jeanne continued forward, passing through the skeletons, and then Livy finally saw something other than the skeletons.

Or rather, what's buried beneath these skeletons.

He stepped forward, moved the skeleton aside, and took out a silver-white suit of armor. It wasn't made of iron; it was likely some kind of alloy, since it hadn't rusted after all these years, which was quite remarkable. It also felt very light in Li Wei's hands, certainly not as heavy as he had expected.

"This should be the armor worn by the saint's soldiers."

Li Wei carefully examined the armor.

"There are lily and phoenix markings on it, quite clearly. The fatal blow came from the shoulder, it looks like something smashed down directly from the shoulder, even denting the armor. The person inside is probably... um?"

As he spoke, Li Wei paused, looking around at the ground with a puzzled expression, and then at the armor in his hand.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Levi?"

"That's strange."

Li Wei put down his armor, picked up the gloves and helmet beside him, and then curiously peered inside.

"It's empty inside."

"empty?"

“That’s right, I was hoping to find human bones in here, but this armor is empty…”

"Could it be one of those armored knight figures placed against the wall for decoration?"

Jeanne was referring to decorations found in many noble castles, but Levi shook his head.

“There are many suits of armor here, and they don’t look like decorations, and…”

Li Wei examined the armor more closely. He noticed several steel-like rods clinging to the inside of the armor, spreading out like blood vessels. He looked at the helmet and saw that it also had a similar joint, though it had been roughly broken off.

An army that never dies.

At that moment, Li Wei suddenly remembered this sentence.

At the same time, he had a peculiar idea.

Could it be that this saintess... is in the same profession as me?
Li Wei suddenly remembered that when he reached the maximum level of [Puppeteer], the system gave him two choices: one was to be able to control an unlimited number of puppets within a certain range, and the other was to be able to control puppets at an unlimited distance.

Li Wei ultimately chose the latter.

But... what if he chose the former?

Li Wei looked around at the fragments of armor scattered on the ground, and seemed to have found the answer.

(End of this chapter)