Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 23 Mysterious Figure

For Li Wei, this case was quite troublesome.

Based on interviews with the victim's classmates and teachers, Li Wei learned that the victim had been in a good mood recently, especially after the case of the socialite killer was solved. His mood improved a lot—well, maybe before this guy was also afraid that Emilia would crawl out of her grave to seek revenge on him?
After all, he was the one who provided the surgical equipment.

Moreover, Edwards was currently writing his graduation thesis and had even decided on his post-graduation career path. Under these circumstances, he certainly had no reason or motive to commit suicide.

Then comes the cause of death.

It's almost certain that Edwards died of ischemia—after all, during the autopsy, almost no blood was found in his body. In the words of the forensic pathologist in charge of the autopsy, he was "like a pig that had been thoroughly washed." So the question is, where did Edwards' blood go?
This doesn't mean you can just create a wound and the blood will flow out on its own; that's simply not possible.

Therefore, there are two possibilities.

First, there really was a vampire who attacked the victim and drained his blood.

Secondly, someone used some kind of invented instrument to drain the blood from the victim's body—don't say it's impossible. After the socialite killer incident, Li Wei felt that people in this world had almost no limit to their fervor for technological inventions.

What's worse, moral standards aren't high in this era either.

At least if you were to conduct experiments on a death row inmate, no one would object, and there would be no national shock, astonishment from friendly nations, or cries of human rights violations.

Yes, the newspaper Li Wei read today even had a front-page headline about the latest scientific method for curing violent mental patients: cutting off their prefrontal cortex to turn them into obedient and well-behaved people. It even showed the "experimental results"—two patients who underwent prefrontal cortex surgery and became obedient.

In a world like this, discussing scientific ethics is likely to be... hard to say.

Who knows what other crazy scientists with no scruples might come up with?

However, Li Wei did not believe that this was just an ordinary case.

Putting aside the bizarre phenomenon of the victim's blood disappearing from his body, there are several aspects that Li Wei found very familiar, giving him a strong sense of similarity to the socialite killer case.

Both cases have one thing in common: the other party seems to desperately want others to see what they are doing.

Both the murder of the socialite and the murder of Edwards demonstrate this point. The other party could have easily killed them secretly, without anyone noticing, and then hidden the body. In this world without surveillance cameras or particularly high technology, you could hide it for a year or two without anyone finding out.

Or you could just throw it into the river; the viscous, filthy water would swallow the body like a bottomless swamp, and probably no one would be willing to go in and retrieve it.

Therefore, in Li Wei's view, the commonality between these two cases is more like a demonstration!
If Li Wei's guess is correct, then it's very likely that before long, another vampire-like case will occur!

He was somewhat certain that this case was related to the organization behind Mrs. Clarty.

The reason is simple: Li Wei has not received any tasks related to this case from the system so far.

Either I haven't found any useful clues yet, or—this case is part of the mission itself.

After all, the objective of that mission was to investigate Madame Clarty's true motives. Although she was dead, and Levi didn't understand psychic arts, he couldn't possibly revive a dead person for questioning. However, considering the similarities between this case and the courtesan killer case, he was somewhat suspicious that Madame Clarty's true motives might be related to this.

And that girl... how strange.

After considering the case, Li Wei thought of the girl named Betty again. She looked exactly like the girl he had seen in his dream, but after finishing his dream, he turned around and bumped into the real Betty?

What the hell is this?
That dream was also very strange, but unfortunately, Li Wei couldn't find Freud to interpret it for him here.

Hmm...it seems the trouble is yet to come.

"Dong dong."

There was a knock on the door. Levi looked up and saw Officer Fletcher walk in with a stack of documents.

"Here's what you wanted: detailed information about Mrs. Durex's account."

"Um... thank you."

Levi snapped out of his thoughts, opened the document to examine it, and remarked on how wonderful it was that the difference engine existed, allowing this industrial revolution era to enjoy the conveniences of the information age. He had previously gone to submit a report investigating Mrs. Clarty's accounts and real estate information. Although Levi wasn't sure if she would have any records of this, he was determined to leave a trace; he refused to believe he wouldn't find a single clue.

Hmm, the accounts and transaction details above are very clear, thanks to the Difference Engine being widely used in the Empire many years ago... Hmm?

Li Wei started from the beginning and flipped to the end, only then discovering some problems.

After the deaths of her two sons, Mrs. Clyde's account balances showed several significant changes. According to the records, these transactions were used by Mrs. Clyde to invest in several properties, one of which was the Pink Lady.

Of course, back then it wasn't called Pink Lady, but rather [Property No. A392, Baihua Street].

Besides this, Mrs. Clarty had also purchased several other properties. Levi glanced at them and saw a warehouse, a factory, and an apartment building. He wasn't sure if it was a smokescreen or if there were problems with these places, so he planned to investigate them one by one over the next few days before making a decision.

But for now, let's focus on this vampire case.

Ignoring the supernatural elements of the case, Li Wei focused on the more conventional ones. Whether it was a vampire or murder, it required proximity to the victim. So, he first visited the victim's classmates and friends to inquire about the victim's situation during that time.

"What's Edwards' condition?"

Faced with Li Wei's question, the man in Edwards' research group frowned and pondered. "Well, he hasn't acted strangely lately. He's graduating soon, and he's busy writing his thesis. Actually, we're all pretty much the same. After all, it concerns our future career paths, so everyone's busy..."

The Royal College of Graduate Studies is a place that provides the government with elite talent. Although it waives many tuition fees, the trade-off is that after graduation, you can only take jobs assigned by the college. Your graduation grade is closely linked to the department you will work in. If your evaluation is high, you will be assigned to an important and promising department. However, if your evaluation is low, you will be "exiled" to poor and remote areas.

Incidentally, because of the contract, even if you are reassigned, you cannot resign, otherwise you will have to go to jail.

Have you seen anyone else around him lately?

"There is something to say. She's a pretty young lady, probably his classmate."

When this topic came up, the man couldn't help but show a look of envy, jealousy, and resentment.

"I really don't know what's so good about that guy, there are always beautiful ladies around him... Sigh..."

"Oh? Is it pretty?"

"Yes, that lady is just as beautiful and charming as an angel in a painting."

"Could you describe her appearance in detail? Like her hair color or something?"

"Yes, of course..."

At this point, the man paused for a moment, a look of confusion on his face.

"I can't remember..."

"Didn't you say she's very pretty?"

"Ah, um..."

The man looked surprised when Li Wei asked him the question.

"It's strange. I clearly remember that she was very beautiful, but to be honest, I can't recall exactly what she looked like... Sorry, maybe it's because I've been busy preparing my thesis lately and I'm a bit mentally exhausted. But you can ask Edwards' classmates; I think such a beautiful lady couldn't be unknown."

"…………………"

Li Wei stared at him, remained silent for a moment, and then asked another question.

"So, around when did that young lady appear next to Mr. Edwards? Do you remember?"

"Hmm, let me think... Ah, it should have been shortly after the courtesan killer case was solved, because I remember Edwards relaxed a lot after that case was solved. Before, he seemed a bit fearful and uneasy, maybe because he was worried about a courtesan's lover."

"Oh well."

Li Wei nodded, closed his notebook, and stood up.

"Thank you for your help."

After that, Li Wei went to Edwards' class and asked his classmates.

"How's Edwards doing? He's been busy writing his thesis lately, practically never on his feet, either in the library or the lab. We rarely see him. But then again..."

At this point, the student showed a thoughtful expression.

"I remember a few times when I went to the library, a very pretty lady sat next to him, and they seemed quite intimate. She was probably Edwards's colleague in the research group. That guy is really lucky."

A beautiful young lady.

Li Wei glanced at the other person without showing any emotion, and then asked again.

"Is she pretty? Can you describe what she looks like? Like her hair color or something?"

"Of course, she..."

The student opened his mouth, and after a long pause, scratched his head sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, all I have left is a pretty impression of her. Maybe it's because we didn't have much contact, but I don't have any recollection of her. But such a beautiful lady must be a rare sight in the research group."

"…………………"

Li Wei glanced at the notes in his notebook, then stood up.

"Thank you for your help."

Now it seems the problem has been found.

(End of this chapter)