Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 501 A Test?

In fantasy worlds, the profession of alchemist is equivalent to that of a mad scientist in science fiction—capable of both intellectual and physical prowess, capable of both modification and creation. If a mad scientist in science fiction can create an entire army of robots to conquer the world, then it doesn't seem so strange that an alchemist in a fantasy world could create an entire army of puppets.

Looking at the fragment in his hand, Li Wei suddenly realized that it was all because of his trip to another parallel world that he always tried to think about things from a biotechnology perspective. Clones and the like took a long time to develop and consumed a lot of resources; they were nothing like dolls, which were so convenient. As long as you had the materials, you could make as many as you wanted, and make whatever you wanted.

If this company also has a mobile production line for dolls, then the soldiers might be mass-produced.

In this way, the concept of an immortal army becomes easier to understand—whether it's robots or puppets, they are not afraid of death and cannot die. If they break, they can be brought back for repairs or simply rebuilt.

Thinking of this, Li Wei looked at Jeanne and raised his armor.

Do you remember this?

"Have."

This time, Jeanne nodded with certainty.

“Sometimes I dream that this is how I command an army. I stand on high ground, and these soldiers are below me. Under my command, they are unwavering and resolute… It’s like an invincible and powerful army. I don’t even think the Krant army is a match for them.”

That's true. At least a chimera is alive, while this thing is completely inanimate, the kind that you wouldn't care how many die.

No wonder the biography of Emperor Arthur says that the saintess was the emperor's vanguard. What could be more suitable as a vanguard than a puppet army that is not chaotic, fearless of death, and unafraid of losses? They wouldn't even care if they were all wiped out, at most it would just take time to rebuild.

Unfortunately, Li Wei chose a different path from the Saintess, which is understandable given the changing times. Emperor Arthur was expanding his territory, and those who stood in his way died. The Saintess was his vanguard general. However, modern warfare is different from that of the past, and Li Wei's methods differed from the Saintess's.

The former prefers to lead the charge, while Li Wei prefers firepower superiority... This is why he ultimately chose distance over range.

If you can strike the enemy from a thousand kilometers away, why bother facing them face to face?

Times have changed.

"Alright, now it seems the situation is basically clear."

Li Wei looked around and made a summary.

"These... let's call them demons. This army of demons fought a great battle with the saintess's army here. In the end, the demons were defeated, or perhaps they were all wiped out. But what about the saintess? And where did these demons come from?"

Jeanne shook her head and remained silent in response to Li Wei's question, offering no answer.

"We have no choice but to keep moving forward."

Li Wei looked ahead, and to be honest, the questions in his heart had not lessened, but rather increased. The biography of Emperor Arthur certainly didn't describe the saint's final fate; the book only stated that she was bestowed a title by Emperor Arthur and then returned to Francis.

What happened after that?

Why would these demons come here? If this truly is the Saintess's castle, then it's practically her headquarters. The enemy has already invaded her home base; doesn't that mean the battle situation was extremely dangerous?
The two continued forward along the passage, their path littered with the remains of demons and puppets. The demons were either nailed to the walls or lay piled high with bones. The puppets varied in size, the largest being about the size of Li Wei's newly built mech, while the smallest was over two meters tall. They all wielded sharp blades and spears, and even after a thousand years, their armor remained smooth and sturdy, showing no signs of rust or corrosion.

Li Wei felt that even if they didn't find anything on this trip, just bringing these dolls back and studying them properly would greatly improve the Empire's materials science.

This is metal that has been preserved intact for thousands of years; I have no idea how it was made.

The two continued forward.

The castle was even larger than Levi had imagined, with a labyrinth of interconnected passageways—it was simply outrageous. Levi even came across a room the size of two football fields. In the center of this room stood a massive stone pillar, and above it, a dense network of bridges connected the surrounding area like a spiderweb.

To Li Wei, this didn't feel like a castle at all, but rather more like a fully automated manufacturing plant—only a fantastical version.

In addition, Levi discovered another problem: the castle seemed to be completely sealed off.

Li Wei had visited many underground ruins and relics. Generally speaking, underground structures are rarely completely enclosed. For example, when digging a passage in the mountains, the most that happens is that the stone walls on both sides are polished to make them smooth and flat.

For underground structures, this is usually sufficient, and there would be no need to go to the trouble of laying another layer of stone slabs on the stone wall.

However, this castle was completely different; not only the ground and walls, but even the ceiling were entirely covered with stone slabs. This made Li Wei curious about the purpose of the saintess building this castle. After all, in his view, since this saintess was an alchemist, and now seemed to be clearly inclined towards engineering and manufacturing, she shouldn't be making things that were merely decorative and useless.

She went to such great lengths to seal off the entire underground castle; she definitely had something in mind.

Li Wei followed Jeanne, observing and contemplating as he went. Jeanne had fallen silent; her expression was blank, as if controlled by something, and she walked forward on her own. Li Wei didn't intend to pull her out of her daze and continued onward with her.

In any case, without Jeanne leading the way, Levi alone would never have been able to find the core of this castle.

However, Li Wei also discovered some problems.

That is to say, strictly speaking, this castle is not yet fully operational.

There was evidence, of course. In some of the rooms he walked through, he could see piles of furniture wreckage. It wasn't that someone had placed the furniture to block the way; rather, it had been stacked in a corner. It felt a bit like someone was moving house, bringing in new furniture but not yet arranging it properly.

The same goes for those jewel lights; some channels have them, while others don't have them, or only half of them are installed.

After looking around, Li Wei felt that the saintess seemed to have been attacked while renovating her new home, and after that, she showed no intention of continuing the renovation.

I don't know if it's because I'm not in the mood or... I'm dead?
Jeanne stepped inside one of the stone pillars, and Li Wei hurriedly followed. Jeanne reached out and gently pressed a stone on the wall. Soon, with a rumbling sound, the stone slab began to rise slowly.

"Going up and down, doesn't this saintess find it troublesome?"

Watching the stone slab rise again, Li Wei shook his head and scoffed. He listened intently to the sounds coming from beneath the slab, trying to figure out what power source this castle used. In most treasure hunting movies and games, the mechanisms in ancient tombs are powered by flowing water, but the power source of this castle shouldn't be that simple.

After all, everything here is so big. Even the stone slab that Li Wei is standing on now, although smaller than before, is big enough for an elevator.

Water power alone is absolutely insufficient to move something so large and heavy.

Just then, Jeanne's voice suddenly rang out.

"For a fortress, depth is very important." "Miss Jeanne?"

Li Wei turned his head and looked at Jeanne. She was still looking at him quietly, seemingly still indifferent and lost in thought. However, Li Wei noticed that her eyes and expression seemed to have changed—specifically, she seemed to have become more serious, calmer, and more composed.

Before this, Jeanne, unaware of her origins, appeared calm on the surface but harbored some unease deep down. Now, however, she seemed to have calmed down considerably to Levi.

"You've regained your memories?"

"………………………"

Jeanne glanced at Li Wei, then looked away, ignoring him. Li Wei shrugged and remained silent. He was certain that Jeanne's reaction was abnormal; perhaps she herself didn't realize it, but she had spoken in Imperial language just now.

Previously, this young lady had always spoken Franciscan.

After a few more minutes, the stone slab slowly came to a stop. Jeanne stepped off the slab and onto another passage, while Levi could only helplessly follow behind her.

When they reached an intersection, Jeanne stopped and turned to look at Levi.

"Next, we'll split up."

"Um...you don't mind if I ask why, do you?"

Levi felt that Jeanne's sudden whim wasn't necessarily for the sake of making their adventure more dramatic. After all, this wasn't a movie where they had to be picked off one by one to kill the boss.

"You need to prove that you are qualified to enter this castle."

After saying this, Jeanne took a step back, and instantly, a thick stone wall suddenly fell down, separating the two of them.

"…………………"

Looking at the stone wall in front of him, Li Wei scratched his head speechlessly and sighed.

"Is Miss Saint testing me?"

Now Li Wei is certain that the Jeanne who spoke earlier is no longer just Jeanne, but may also be that saint.

This is troublesome.

Li Wei frowned, deep in thought. If it were simply a trap, he wouldn't be afraid; he could just blow it up. But the Holy Maiden had already appeared and said it was a test, and blowing up someone else's house... seemed rather impolite to do this while the main character was watching?
Could it be that Miss Saint was unhappy with his earlier remarks and was deliberately trying to mess with him?

This can be considered a case of "loose lips sink ships." I should have known better than to make such a careless remark. There must be a reason why they built it this way... But Miss Saintess, you're online and you haven't said a word.

Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it now.

Li Wei shook his head and turned to look at the passageway on the other side.

"Fine, I'll see what kind of test Miss Saintess has prepared."

With that, Li Wei turned and walked towards the other side of the passage that was not blocked.

“Da…Da…Da…”

In the deathly silent passage, only Li Wei's footsteps echoed. At first, everything was normal, but gradually, Li Wei felt a chilling aura. It swirled and blew from the front, even condensing a layer of frost on the ground and walls.

Please, definitely avoid obstacle courses or similar challenge shows.

Li Wei recalled the entertainment programs he had seen on TV, where participants had to speed up, overcome numerous obstacles, reach the finish line, and win prizes like refrigerators and color TVs. He hoped that this saintly lady wouldn't be so cliché and give him something like that.

Lost in thought, Li Wei walked to the end of the corridor, then looked ahead... and suddenly froze on the spot.

Before him was a huge room that looked like a cold storage room. The door of the cold storage room was wide open, and the icy cold wind was blowing out from inside.

Inside the "cold storage" were not just ice and snow; Li Wei even saw frozen monsters with red skin, wielding sharp spears, and with horns on their heads—Li Wei instantly recalled the horned skulls he had seen before.

Now it seems that at least we don't have to guess what these things look like by looking at skeletons.

Wait, is this gate always open?

Just as this thought crossed Li Wei's mind, a crisp "crack" sound rang out. Then, Li Wei saw cracks appear on the surface of the ice that had frozen the demons inside, and at the same time, in [Soul Vision], Li Wei also saw streaks of red light gradually emerging from the bodies of these monsters that had previously shown no reaction.

"Okay, now I think obstacle course shows are a good option."

Li Wei drew the Persuader and the Punisher, looked at the demon gradually thawing in front of him, and made a sarcastic remark.

Unfortunately, he had no choice.

"Splash!"

The ice shattered, and the demons shook their bodies, flinging the ice shards aside. Then, they turned their heads, their scarlet eyes fixed on Li Wei, filled with uncontrollable murderous intent.

Then, these demons opened their mouths, revealing their sharp teeth, and let out a terrifying roar and howl.

There's nothing we can do.

Li Wei sighed, raised his two pistols, and aimed at the enemy in front of him.

Let's see which is more powerful: the monster from a thousand years ago or the weapon from a thousand years later.

(End of this chapter)