Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 78 Old and Haggard
"Can we delay it?"

"It's unlikely, unless we can capture them all."

Lu Ran remained silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

"Someone is behind this, and your bloody crackdown may be exactly what they want."

Edwin raised an eyebrow, sensing something amiss.

"what have you found?"

Lu Ran pondered for a moment and said, "When I came here just now, I ran into that person. He was mixed in with the workers blocking the entrance, stirring up trouble and encouraging them, and in the end, he got away unscathed."

Edwin asked curiously, "You followed them?"

"Hmm." Lu Ran nodded, then changed the subject under Edwin's expectant gaze: "But we lost them."

"What?" Edwin was stunned, looking somewhat incredulous. No one knew Sherlock's abilities better than him; even someone as capable as him had made a mistake.

Or perhaps it wasn't an accident, but rather that the person who egged them on really had a problem.

After the initial surprise, all that could be done was sigh.

"Even if we know there are people behind this, there is no better way. If this trend is not suppressed immediately, everyone will think that they can do it once. If it happens a few more times, no one can stand what happened that night in Manchester. After all, my officers do not have that kind of magical healing magic."

Police officers are ordinary people too.

Lu Ran remained silent for a long time before softly saying, "I'll try to see if I can help. Please give me a little more time."

"Unfortunately, I don't have control over the military. I don't know when they'll make their move, or even if it happens immediately..."

Edwin took the last drag of his cigarette and was about to look up to reply when he was completely gone.

"They always appear and then disappear like this."

Edwin shook his head helplessly, put his hands in his coat pockets, and walked back to the police station.

……

As for Lu Ran, he had no choice but to find a corner to rest for a while. Once his energy had recovered a bit, he headed towards Copper Wire Street—Wright's house.

It was nearing dusk, and the sky was getting dark.

Hopefully, we can find some clues there.

Because Bella wasn't brought along, the silly dog ​​was left to play with the mice in the factory by itself. The little mice were calling it "Brother Bella" all the time, which it was really enjoying.

Now he happily helps transport soil in the open space behind the workshop every day.

Then a bunch of mice shouted in unison, "Bella is so amazing!" "Dog is so amazing!", they were so happy they were practically snotting through their noses.

Lu Ran himself skillfully took different modes of transportation to head towards Tongxian Street.

Turning into a steam-powered car at the fork in the road, Lu Ran leaned back and sat there. The wind whistled in his ears, the tall buildings gradually thinned out, and the familiar, pungent smell mixed with coal smoke, engine oil, and dust gradually wafted towards him.

We've arrived at the industrial zone.

Unfortunately, the steam car suddenly turned a corner when it was almost there. Seeing that it was going the wrong way, Lu Ran quickly got off and had to run the rest of the way by himself.

Fortunately, I am in good physical condition now and can run fast. I soon arrived at the familiar Copper Wire Street.

The atmosphere this time was even more oppressive than the last time I came. There were few pedestrians on the street, and everyone had a gloomy face and a wary, indifferent look in their eyes.

The remaining poster fragments clung to the dark walls, as if they had just been torn apart. Small groups of workers gathered by the roadside or in front of pubs, no longer complaining loudly, but silently smoking, coughing, or numbing their senses with cheap liquor.

Because Lu Ran wasn't riding Bella this time, and without the striking snow-white color, a single gray mouse wasn't so conspicuous in a world of dark tones.

Before long, they arrived at the Wright house.

There was no arguing inside this time; instead, it was unusually quiet.

Having learned his lesson from last time, Lu Ran had no intention of knocking and entering obediently. Instead, he went in first in his gray rat form to scout out the situation.

He remembered telling his brother Jacob that seeing a gray squirrel meant he wanted to see him. He wondered if the guy still remembered after all this time.

As soon as they entered, the boy's sobbing voice came through the door.

"Dad, can we not go?"

A dim light filtered through the greasy windowpanes, casting dappled shadows in the Wright family's modest room. Scattered on the table were a few rough crumbs of black bread and half a glass of murky water.

Lu Ran's petite figure lurked in the shadows of the corner, her two beady eyes warily observing the three people inside. Her youngest son, Garcia, had a flushed face.

The father, sitting on the wooden stool, took a deep drag on his hand-rolled cigarette. The thick smoke seemed to aggravate the reaction in his throat. A sudden, heart-wrenching cough erupted, shaking his entire hunched body.

Lu Ran wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the man in front of him, Wright's father, seemed older and more haggard than the last time he saw him.

I remember last time, although he had a bit of a cough, he was still quite strong. When we first met, I even aggressively tried to chase after him and beat him up. But now…

Jacob, the eldest son, instinctively tried to help him up, but his father rudely pushed him away.

The coughing finally subsided, and Wright's father wiped his mouth roughly with his soot-covered sleeve, revealing a weak, bitter smile. His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping: "Not going? Ha... cough cough... not going?"

His eyes swept over his two young sons, a look of exhaustion in them, but his voice suddenly rose: "If I don't go, if I don't risk my life, those big bosses will devour you two until there's nothing left! You'll end up like me, rotting away on this dark street!"

He pounded his chest hard, followed by another bout of suppressed coughing.

Garcia's tears finally welled up: "But Dad...didn't you have a way to cure your illness a few days ago...and you don't feel as bad as before...right?"

Wright's father shook his head, his eyes holding an ambiguous expression: "That's not like treating an illness..."

Jacob stood to the side, his lips pressed tightly together. He opened his mouth several times as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. Suddenly, he heard a faint squeak. Jacob, who was about to speak, was startled and subconsciously turned around to look.

A cute gray mouse was staring at him intently, and he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he actually saw the gray mouse tilt its head and then gesture for him to follow.

Whoosh.

The gray rat darted out.

Jacob paused, then suddenly realized something. He glanced at his father, then at the door, hesitated for a moment, and then winked at his younger brother.

"Let Dad rest for a while first, he's too tired."

Then she grabbed her younger brother and hurriedly ran out.

The main reason was that the younger brother hadn't met the mysterious detective before, so he was incredulous at the promise of 300 pounds that the detective later conveyed.

He even blurted out, "Brother, how did you manage to fool that sucker?"

So this time, they had to drag their younger brother to meet that handsome detective. They still thought their father was just angry because he was unemployed.

Soon, Lu Ran saw the two brothers coming out one after the other. Seeing that there were two of them, Lu Ran was stunned for a moment, but after thinking about it, he still braced himself and went up to them.

He was still wearing his signature trench coat and wide-brimmed hat, the shadow under the brim perfectly concealing part of his face.

“Detective!” Jacob exclaimed with delight.

Lu Ran smiled and nodded, but to avoid beating around the bush, he went straight to the point. His calm voice was particularly clear in the narrow alley filled with coal dust and a depressing atmosphere.

"Before we begin, I'd like to ask if any of you were involved in the operation in Manchester."

"You're here to investigate...I thought..."

Jacob was taken aback, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared: "Detective, if you're here to investigate a case, then you'd better leave. I don't know anything."

"that is!"

Even his younger brother Garcia, who had been quite excited, immediately glared at him.

Lu Ran wasn't about to get angry with two clueless teenagers; he simply shook his head and said, "But you won't help your father like this."

Jacob pulled his brother back a few steps, demonstrating his understanding through his actions.

Lu Ran paused, then said helplessly.

"You don't need to be so cautious."

His response was still silence, perhaps out of fear that saying too much in front of a detective would lead to making a mistake.

Lu Ran hesitated for a moment, just about to say that if he regretted it, he could come to the machinery factory to find him again, but unexpectedly, the ground began to tremble slightly the next moment.

The two boys asked, somewhat surprised, "What happened?"

Lu Ran suddenly realized what was happening, quickly walked out of the alley, and fixed his gaze on the end of the street, past the stunned crowd.

Tap tap tap tap—the sound of orderly and dull footsteps.

(End of this chapter)