Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 527 The Smoke of War Ignites
After reading the book, Li Wei decided to go and ask Helen about the situation first.

Perhaps they don't like this book?
"Unforgivable love?"

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, Helen's eyes lit up, a stark contrast to her usual calm and composed demeanor.

"Will Matilda allow me to adapt this novel?"

"………………………"

Ruined.

"Hmm...it seems you quite like this book?"

"Of course, Sir Levy! The entangled love and hate between the two main characters, and the poor woman caught in the middle—did she ultimately get the love she wanted? When this book was published, it caused quite a stir because of its bold premise! It was hailed as a groundbreaking romance novel!"

It's more like a horror novel.

"You and Miss Matilda can discuss the specifics yourselves. Don't forget, you need to draw the character designs and show them to Miss Matilda first."

"No problem, please leave it to me!"

Seeing Helen's confident expression, Li Wei sighed inwardly.

Is that correct?
But then I thought, thriller and horror comics are just a major category of comics, so what's so strange about them? There are even comics that combine comedy and horror elements.

"However, you should be careful about one thing."

Li Wei decided to say a few more words to Helen.

"This magazine is aimed at an audience of all ages, including children. So some parts should not be too extreme, such as the intimate and violent parts, and should not be too detailed, so as not to cause trouble."

"I'll consider it."

Well, I hope she'll actually consider it.

While everything was going smoothly at Li Wei's comic studio, the Empire's military reforms were also in full swing. Li Wei even attended a briefing during his free time. Currently, the Empire's First Expeditionary Force of 300,000 men had been equipped with brand-new, improved power armor, and as for mechs, the first batch of 500 mechs had also been fitted with jet engines similar to those on Li Wei's Night Raven.

Some people ask, "If we already have missiles, why bother modifying these things?"
Are you kidding? Missiles are for breaking down defenses, not for urban warfare. What good would it do the Empire to blow a city to smithereens?

The Queen wanted to keep large cities like Deburg running as smoothly as possible, so that the Empire could govern them more easily after taking over.

Of course, there's a way to fix it if it gets damaged; it just happens to generate orders for the empire's construction companies.

The next thing to pay attention to is the black fog emanating from Huadu.

After leaving Huadu, the black fog slowed down; or rather, some of it dissipated in the sunlight, only to spread again at night. Then, during the day, the relatively thinner fog dissipated again in the sunlight, only to spread once more at night.

Simply put, the black fog is currently in a state of taking three steps forward and one step back.

The Krant army also investigated the matter, but unfortunately, almost everyone in the city had died. They could only rely on the testimonies of some surviving soldiers and civilians to conclude that this might have been a secret attack launched by the Holy Bishop against Krant.

Hmm...that's fine, let's just think of it that way.

Krant is currently considering how to deal with the black mist, but they clearly don't have any particularly good solutions. Krant's chimeras twist and turn into monsters whenever they enter the mist. Not only that, but the demons roam freely at night, attacking human villages and strongholds, and wreaking havoc. Even Krant's military camps and fortresses have been attacked by these demons, suffering heavy losses.

According to information relayed by spies from Krant's side, Krant also seems to be hesitant about abandoning Francis. On one hand, they seem to have no way to deal with this strange black mist. But on the other hand, having finally and completely absorbed Francis, it would be quite a pity to just throw it away now…

In fact, Krant's envoy also came to the City of Fog, requesting Her Majesty the Queen to join forces against these strange creatures. However, Her Majesty the Queen did not respond. Everyone understood Her Majesty's intentions. If the Empire and Krant joined forces against these monsters, it would be tantamount to the Empire acknowledging Krant as an equal, which, from a political perspective, would not benefit the Empire.

From a military perspective, the Empire doesn't believe Krant would be so kind. What if they take the opportunity to sabotage the Empire from behind? Who knows?
The upcoming battle between the Empire and Krant will determine who is the true ruler of this continent. How could the Empire possibly give up this opportunity to fight the demons alongside Krant?
Because of the establishment of the studio, the comics for "Betty the Puppy" and "Steel Legion" were progressing rapidly, but Levi kept them from being released. He only published another issue of the comics in the Exploration Newspaper, and at the end, he wrote that the next issue of "Betty the Puppy" and "Steel Legion" would be published in "Empire Comics" magazine, a magazine that specializes in publishing comics, and asked everyone to subscribe.

As for pricing, Liwei naturally follows the path of low profit and high volume, making it affordable for most people.

As for the staff of Empire Comics magazine, they were basically all transferred from the Discovery Newspaper.

Judging from the feedback from the old manager, the number of subscribers is quite considerable, and it's definitely enough to support the entire magazine.

Well, that's enough for Li Wei.

After handing the drafts to the studio staff and confirming that both "Betty the Dog" and "The Iron Legion" could be serialized for several months, Levi packed up and left to do his job as an Imperial Knight.

After all, war was just around the corner.

"To be honest, the transformation of the Cyclops into this state was truly beyond my expectations..."

When Livy arrived aboard the Cyclops, the first thing he heard was General Hao's complaints.

Li Wei wasn't surprised by this; he had already seen the entire Cyclops before arriving. The Cyclops was essentially an upside-down ship, and its weapon system, like that of sailing warships from the Age of Exploration, consisted of cannons mounted on both sides of the hull for attack.

But now, the gun barrels on the ship are gone, leaving only dark launch ports, inside which lie missiles.

In Li Wei's view, it did have a bit of a sci-fi feel, but for General Hao, who was used to seeing the original appearance of warships, it just didn't look right to him.

"Didn't we reserve the upper-level gun emplacements for you?"

"What can this little bit of firepower do? It's just for scaring people."

General Hao said, then looked at Li Wei and shook his head.

"Let me say something: one of your shells costs more than the Cyclops's ammunition for a year, and you're going to fire four at once, four times in a row..."

"That depends on whether you care more about the soldiers or about the money."

Li Wei didn't respond. War is inherently expensive; if you don't want people to die and don't want to spend money, where can you find such a good deal? Introduce it to me instead.

"What are you saying? Of course I feel sorry for the soldiers, but it's not my money that's being spent, so why should I feel sorry?"

General Hao glared and puffed out his beard, looking utterly speechless.

"Has a test firing been conducted?"

"Of course, it was you. If it were me, I would never dare to fire such an expensive shell so casually. But it was a great success. According to the test team, as long as the weather is clear, hitting the target is not a problem."

General Hao spoke with a smile, looking confident of victory.

Li Wei raised his eyes slightly to look at him.

"Don't make any promises you can't keep."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It means that good things don't come true, but bad things do." Fortunately, General Hao wasn't a jinx.

Ten days later, at 5 a.m., at the front line in Port Deloitte.

sunny.

Li Wei looked down at the earth through the observation mirror.

From the sky, the meadow doesn't seem particularly strange, because it's already November, and the once green grass has turned yellow. From above, it looks like a desolate wilderness.

However, in Li Wei's [Soul Vision], one can see a vast, crisscrossing network of tunnels beneath this wilderness. It's like a person's blood vessels, spreading throughout the entire wasteland. The shimmering soul light within is like the blood flowing through those vessels.

However, it's white.

"Krant really went all out, digging through the entire wilderness."

Levi drew the entire tunnel network in detail on the topographic map, then shook his head and sighed. It had to be said, Krant's defenses were truly formidable. Through the underground network, they could deploy soldiers and troops to any location in the entire wilderness at lightning speed.

Moreover, these tunnels are not very deep below the surface, which means that the operation plan to seal off the entire tunnel network by destroying one or two entrances is not feasible.

Fortunately, Li Wei didn't intend to do that anyway.

He has a better way.

If we completely destroy the entire tunnel network, then there will be no problem.

"The frontline defense forces have assembled, and operations are underway in the rear..."

Li Wei shifted his observation scope, carefully searching his surroundings. Five hours earlier, the Imperial army had begun assembling at the front lines of Port Dre, and upon learning this news, the Krant army naturally sprang into action, placing all its troops on high alert, with the main defensive forces already deployed into the tunnel network.

However, that's not the point.

Li Wei had already seen that, behind the wilderness, in the enemy's rear, the army was rapidly assembling.

And that is his goal.

This is normal. The main force is not all stationed at the front line, but is on standby in the rear. Unless the front line is lost, they will naturally not be mobilized.

These troops were naturally positioned outside the range of artillery shells. In fact, in addition to the tunnel network, there were two more lines of defense from the front lines to the rear. Moreover, flocks of firebirds were constantly circling and flying around, clearly indicating that the Krant army was trying to avoid repeating the mistakes they made in the Duchy of Tiris.

Unfortunately, while their response was swift, the Empire's tactics evolved even faster.

"Lieutenant Horn, have the target's relative coordinates been determined?"

"Yes, sir."

Upon hearing Li Wei's question, Lieutenant Horn hurriedly answered.

"The five army camps behind Krant's forces have been discovered and their relative coordinates marked."

Hearing Lieutenant Horn's reply, Li Wei nodded, then looked again at the observation scope in front of him. At this moment, the Eye of the Sky was located at an altitude of 20,000 meters. In Li Wei's field of vision, he could clearly see the tunnel defense line below, as well as the vast array of soul radiance forming the position behind it.

It must be said that the Krant army is quite capable. The layout of these positions is very ingenious, enabling them to support each other in the fastest possible time and also blocking the advance of the Imperial army.

If the Imperial army were to charge straight in, it would inevitably suffer heavy losses. Even if it eventually broke through these defenses and captured Fort Detrick, it would take a considerable amount of time and result in the loss of many soldiers.

But now…

"General Hao is ready and can launch an attack at any time."

Li Wei nodded, gazing at the map before him. The overall commander of this battle was General Haig, but the frontline commander was Li Wei. Once he determined that an attack could be launched, then—the war between the Empire and the Krant would officially begin.

It's not a simple offense and defense like before, but a real war.

I never imagined that such an order would come from my own mouth.

Thinking about this, Li Wei felt a little dazed. How long had it been? He actually had the power to ignite a world war?
"Sir?"

"I know."

Li Wei raised a hand, signaling Lieutenant Horn to be quiet, then looked again at the observation scope in front of him.

Today the sky is clear and the waves are high; the rise and fall of the empire hinges on this battle… *cough cough*, I've gone off-topic.

Li Wei collected his thoughts and spoke.

"Notify the Cyclops: Attack initiated."

"Attack begins."

Upon hearing the orders brought by the messenger, General Hao felt a surge of excitement. Standing on the bridge, he looked at the blue sky and white clouds before him—here, there was no battlefield in sight, nor any enemy. But he knew exactly what he had to do, what he had to accomplish.

"Launch team, prepare for missile launch!"

As soon as General Hao gave the order, a rapid alarm sounded. A messenger quickly arrived at the launch site, handing a slip of paper to a bespectacled man standing behind the missile launcher. The man looked more like a researcher than a soldier. The man solemnly took the paper, opened it, then turned and opened the missile bay door, inputting the location coordinates and other information.

The launch site was then quickly cleared.

"Beep—beep—beep—!"

Accompanied by a piercing alarm, the hatch of the Cyclops' outer launch port slowly rose. The next moment, with a deafening roar, several missiles, trailing long plumes of white smoke, roared out of the launch port and disappeared into the distant blue sky.

General Hao stood on the bridge, his hands behind his back, watching the missiles file out in front of him. He could even feel the tremors and heat emanating from the steel floor beneath his feet.

A moment later, news came from the front.

"First wave of firing over."

"Prepare for the second wave of missile loading."

General Hao quickly issued the order, then frowned and looked ahead.

Are these missiles really as useful as Li Wei claims?
He was here, and couldn't see what was happening ahead at all.

We can only hope that it really works.

(End of this chapter)