Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 81 Please close your eyes when it gets dark

The church in Wolf's Head Village was a small chapel, about the size of a warehouse. When Li Wei and Little Red Riding Hood arrived, it was already packed with people.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Little Red Riding Hood approached the other villagers and asked in a low voice. Upon seeing Little Red Riding Hood, the villagers hurriedly answered.

"The wolf's head is gone!"

"Oh?"

Hearing the villagers' reply, Li Wei looked ahead and, sure enough, saw that the platform in front of the church was empty, completely bare. He remembered that there had clearly been a wolf's head there before…

"He stole it!"

Just as Li Wei was pondering, a villager suddenly pointed at him and shouted loudly.

"It was this outsider who did it! There's no mistake, I saw him come to the church before!"

Hearing the villagers' shouts, the others immediately turned around, glaring at him angrily. But Li Wei remained calm in the face of such glares from the villagers.

“Mr. Hunter brought me here. I just glanced at the wolf's head and left. After that, I went to the bar and the blacksmith to investigate Mr. Frazier's death and had no idea what was going on here.”

At this point, Li Wei looked up and stared at the villager.

"Besides, what use would I have for your wolf head? To cook and eat it?"

"No, who else could it be but you!?"

Faced with Li Wei's answer, the villager was clearly a little flustered, but seeing that everyone around him was one of his own, he immediately mustered up his courage.

"This wolf head was perfectly fine here before, but it disappeared after you came. If you didn't steal it, who else could have?"

"you."

"Me, I……………?"

Faced with Li Wei's counterattack without even a cooldown, the villagers were completely dumbfounded.

"Why me? I'm from this village..."

"That's exactly why. You're from this village, so if something goes missing in the village, people will only suspect an insider. Now that I'm here, aren't I the perfect scapegoat? You can take the opportunity to steal the wolf's head, then turn around and say I stole it. That way, everyone will only suspect me, not you."

"No, I, I didn't..."

The latter was completely taken aback when Li Wei quickly put the hat back on him. He was dumbfounded, and many people around him were looking at him with suspicion. After all, this guy didn't have a good reputation in the village, and he might actually do what Li Wei said.

"All right."

Fortunately, the pastor intervened and calmed the villagers down. Then he turned and looked at Levi.

"Detective, could you please investigate who stole the wolf's head?"

"If you hadn't gathered everyone here, I might have been able to manage..."

Li Wei stared speechlessly at the chaotic mess around the exhibition stand. Clearly, after discovering the wolf's head was missing, many villagers had gathered to look. Their fingerprints and footprints were everywhere. Li Wei suspected that even Sherlock Holmes would be stumped by this scene.

Even if he could tell us the ID numbers of the people gathered in front of the booth, so what?
"It's that wolf cub!"

Just then, a frail voice suddenly rang out. Everyone turned to look and saw an old man leaning on a cane, his face pale.

"It's it! It's back! It took its own father's head; it's here for revenge! It killed Frazier, and it will kill us all!"

Upon hearing the old man's shouts, the villagers erupted in commotion, filled with fear and unease. The younger people reacted somewhat better, but the older men and women all paled, anxiously looking around as if a giant wolf might suddenly leap out from somewhere.

"Everyone calm down, everyone calm down!"

The pastor shouted again, and it took him a lot of effort to stop the villagers from making a fuss.

"We believe that someone took the wolf head for some reason."

The pastor was in a difficult position, but he still gritted his teeth and continued speaking.

"The church is a sacred place, and wolves cannot violate it. However, I hope you remember this: the all-seeing eye is watching you. There is still time. I hope to see the wolf's head return here by tomorrow morning. Alright. Everyone, please return..."

Hearing the pastor's words, the villagers dispersed in twos and threes. After they left, Li Wei walked up to the pastor.

Why didn't you notify me first?

"it a accident."

The pastor wiped the sweat from his brow.

“When Mick and I entered the church, he said he had something to confess to me, so I planned to take him to the confessional. Then we discovered the wolf's head was missing, and Mick said it must have been you who stole it, and he wanted to arrest you immediately. Before I could stop him, he ran upstairs and rang the bell…”

"Mick?"

"It's the one who just accused you..."

“If I had a search warrant, I would definitely search his house thoroughly; the wolf head might be right there in his house.”

"He has no home."

The pastor shook his head.

“Mick’s house burned down several years ago, and he’s been wandering ever since, mostly staying in the woods or at churches. He’ll have plenty of opportunities if he wants to take the wolf’s head.”

"But outsiders like me don't get many opportunities to come here."

“That’s true… but taking the wolf’s head is useless to him, it’s not some kind of sacred object…”

"Then why put it in a church?"

"Because the Holy Land can suppress the wolves' resentment." The priest sighed as he said this.

“I could feel that the wolf’s head was filled with hatred and resentment. Clearly, it had no good feelings towards the villagers.”

"That's right. From my perspective, I don't think I'd have any good feelings towards someone who cuts off their own head."

Just now, at the wolf head, Li Wei didn't sense anything; it was just an ordinary specimen.

If you ask him, he'd probably say... this pastor is overthinking it.

However, it cannot be said that there are no problems at all.

Li Wei withdrew his gaze and looked in front of him, where the system notification was clearly visible.

[Triggering the quest "Exploration"]

[Mission Objective: Investigate the hidden secrets of Wolf Head Village]

This is going to be interesting.

Upon seeing the task before him, Li Wei raised an eyebrow, a look of keen interest appearing in his eyes.

Since his transmigration, Li Wei has largely accepted his current situation and is not particularly resistant to investigation and solving cases.

Strictly speaking, Li Wei was even a little excited.

However, this excitement is not like that of detectives in many detective novels, stemming from a simple sense of justice, or from a desire to comfort the dead or to eliminate evil—it's more personal.

Simply put, it means... I like to gossip.

Just like in a sandbox game, when a player triggers a quest, they will be very curious: What does this quest represent? What will the process be like? What is the story behind it? What will the final ending be?

Li Wei is now taking on tasks with a similar intention.

What secrets or stories lie behind this case? What was the process of your investigation, and what was the outcome?

Many things are matters of love, hate, and grudges for the parties involved, but for Li Wei... they are simply fodder for gossip.

As long as it's fun.

Just like those TV programs that often mediate family disputes, where the parties involved cry and wail in agony, the audience just watches for the excitement and to satisfy their curiosity. That's exactly what's happening with Li Wei right now.

And now... this village is quite interesting.

However, the werewolves in this village are not quite what I imagined.

When Li Wei talks about werewolves, he usually thinks of the kind of monsters from legends, who are human in normal times but turn into wolves on the night of a full moon and kill without thinking.

But the wolf god mentioned in the village gave Li Wei the feeling that it was more like a mythical creature that had become a spirit. The wolf could walk on two legs like a human and could even wear clothes—was it planning to cultivate immortality?

Could this be some kind of collaboration where both sides can achieve success?
Perhaps we should ask the villagers who went to hunt the wolf god back then.

Let's talk about it tomorrow.

It was already late, so Li Wei declined Little Red Riding Hood's invitation to have dinner at his grandmother's house. He went to the tavern, ate some bread, and then returned to his room.

As Little Red Riding Hood said, the rooms here aren't exactly luxurious, but they're at least clean. The sheets are new, so they're fairly comfortable.

Li Wei returned to his room, closed the door, and then stood at the window, looking outside.

The entire village was silent, with only a few flickering lights—in a place like this, where there wasn't even electricity, it looked exactly like a medieval village.

Fortunately, my car was still parked quietly in the open space not far away, without any problems.

Li Wei raised his head and glanced at the moon in the night sky.

Under the pitch-black night sky, a dim, yellowish moon hung high in the air, staring down at the earth like a cold eye.

Li Wei closed the window, got into bed, and closed his eyes.

Soon, the night passed.

"Dong dong dong! Dong dong dong!"

The urgent knocking woke Li Wei from his sleep. He opened his eyes and rolled over to get out of bed.

"who is it?"

"It's me, Detective."

Soon, Little Red Riding Hood's voice came from outside the door.

"So early? Is something the matter?"

"Something's wrong, Detective!"

Little Red Riding Hood sounded very anxious, and in fact, the message she brought was also very urgent.

"Uncle Roger and Aunt Dubill are dead!"

Roger was Frazier's brother, who died yesterday, and Dabir was Frazier's wife. Levi had seen her yesterday; she was crying her eyes out by Frazier's body, heartbroken.

Right now, the two of them are lying on a bed, completely naked, torn to shreds.

Ok.

Upon seeing this, Li Wei immediately felt a headache coming on.

Things are getting more and more complicated now.

(End of this chapter)