Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 45 The battle begins

After reaching the second phase of this dungeon battle, Li Wei immediately relaxed a lot.

The most terrifying thing is not knowing where you come from. It's like being alone in a dark ocean. When you look at the seabed, you feel fear, not because of what's there, but because you don't know what's there.

But once the monster hidden in the sea reveals its true form, it becomes less frightening.

Because at that time you only had two choices: fight or run.

Just like now.

Previously, people were afraid of those dolls because they didn't know what these dolls were going to do to them, whether it was good or bad. But now, when these seemingly newly completed, crudely made dolls attack them, the choice is obvious.

Kill them!

Unfortunately, although Li Wei spoke of bravery, his current actions had nothing to do with bravery at all.

Because the main force fighting against the puppet army was not Levi, but Katie and Henry.

The former, with his small fists, smashed all the attacking puppets to pieces with each punch. Henry, relying on his strong build, picked up an axe he found in the basement and chopped the puppets into pieces like firewood.

Li Wei, meanwhile, stayed behind them, occasionally firing a few shots to take down any stragglers, completely playing a bystander role.

Fortunately, he wasn't at the bottom; that position belonged to Anthony. This playboy wasn't incapable of fighting, but he seemed to be better at using a knife—and clearly, even if he could silently slit an enemy's throat with a dagger, he couldn't kill a puppet; at most, he could only scratch it.

So he was put at the very back to keep watch and provide refueling.

"boom!"

Li Wei raised his hand again and shot the head of a puppet, blowing it off. At the same time, he glanced around. These puppets were completely different from the ones they had encountered before. Although those puppets were also strange, at least you could sense that they had human-like thoughts and actions.

However, these puppets were completely different; they were more like wild beasts cloaked in human skin—no, residing in the bodies of puppets. They used all four limbs to crawl around on the floor, walls, and ceiling, opening their mouths and making clicking sounds, wielding kitchen knives, frying pans, and the like as they lunged at the crowd.

They themselves were not a great threat, but the group of puppets' fearless actions caused a lot of trouble for everyone.

"Hey-----!"

Katie punched a doll that was lunging at them, smashing it to pieces. But at that moment, two dolls, each the size of a porcelain doll, suddenly appeared from below and reached out to grab Katie's legs.

"Wait... let me go!"

Katie had clearly never experienced anything like this before, being begged by a powerful figure to "cling to their coattails," and was momentarily taken aback, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, the two puppets made clicking noises as they clung tightly to Katie's legs, restricting her movements.

Although Katie desperately wanted to grab the two dolls and throw them away, the enemies rushing around her left her no time to spare. Fortunately, two gunshots rang out at that moment, and the heads of the two dolls were instantly blown off. Feeling the force holding her legs disappear, Katie quickly flung the remains of the two dolls aside and smiled slightly at Levi.

"Thank you, Detective!"

Li Wei waved his hand, then looked around again. He was completely unaware that the way Henry and Anthony were looking at him had changed somewhat.

Neither of them are stupid; the fact that two of them are representing the team speaks volumes about their abilities. This is the basis of their pride, but ultimately, they do understand the technology.

Li Wei's gun technique just now was enough to impress the two of them.

Just now, those two puppets had pounced on Katie's legs, clinging to her tightly. In that situation, most people wouldn't risk using a gun; they could easily have accidentally hit Katie!

Putting aside the young lady's identity, it's important to know that she is a key member of the fighting force in the current battle. If she gets injured, it won't be a good thing for the others!
So anyone who dares to do that to Katie is either extremely reckless and never considers the consequences, or extremely confident in their skills.

Li Wei's ability to instantly raise his hand and fire two shots, simultaneously blowing the heads off the two puppets without harming Katie in the slightest, speaks volumes about his skill.

If they encountered such an enemy on the battlefield, they would definitely try to get as far away from him as possible.

But as a companion... that makes me feel very reassured.

The team itself lacked cohesion. Apart from Levi and Katie, who had partnered a few times, the others were meeting for the first time, so their trust was based solely on skill. If they had previously thought Levi was just a pretty boy who relied on his looks, he had at least proven himself with his marksmanship.

After defeating the dolls' attack once again, the group arrived at the door at the end of the west corridor on the second floor. According to the old laundry lady, the strange young master's room was located here.

"I'll go first, you guys follow!"

Henry was reliable enough; he gripped the axe and said something to the others. Levi, Katie, and Anthony nodded, then Henry stared at the door, yelled, and kicked it open.

At that moment, Li Wei felt as if he were hallucinating hearing the roar of "FBI! OPEN THE DOOR!"

"Boom!"

The tightly closed door was kicked open, and Henry, holding an axe, walked into the room. Levi followed closely behind, becoming the second person to enter the room, while using Henry's body as cover and vigilantly watching his surroundings.

Li Wei's first impression of this room was that it was too stereotypical.

The room was filled with all sorts of dolls, some large, some almost life-size, others like little girls' sleeping dolls. They were also made of different materials—some were made of cloth, some of wood, and Levi even saw one made of metal… This thing should probably be called a robot!

"What the hell is this thing?"

Henry stared wide-eyed at the room before him, muttering in amazement. Levi nodded in agreement; there were simply too many puppets. Anything in such an abundance becomes eerie rather than absurd. If a boy who plays with puppets might seem effeminate, then living in a room almost entirely surrounded by hundreds of puppets only made one wonder, "Is this even human?"

Just then, a deep voice rang out. "I told you, no one is allowed in my room."

Upon hearing this voice, everyone looked up and saw a boy who looked to be about ten years old sitting at a desk.

He looked a bit chubby, wore round glasses, and gave the impression of being so well-behaved at school that he might be bullied. The boy was sitting in a chair with two life-sized puppets beside him, and his hands were outstretched, seemingly inserted into the puppets from behind—a common way puppeteers manipulate puppets.

They were two dolls dressed as maids. Their appearance... well, for dolls, appearance is meaningless. All Li Wei could see were two wooden dolls with paint applied to their faces to outline their features. The latter was intently bent over, fiddling with something on the desk.

"What are you doing!?"

Henry stared at the boy, gripping the axe tightly in his hand.

The latter just stared at the desk and muttered to himself.

"Why, why are you all so hateful? That's why I hate you, I hate humans. Everyone is the same; they don't care about me at all, they only care about themselves. I told you to leave me alone and not to come in. But you insisted on coming in, saying it was for my own good. If it were really for my own good, then you should listen to me, not do whatever you want!"

The boy's hysterical anger left everyone somewhat bewildered, but at that moment, he raised his head and looked at them.

"Puppets are better. They will obediently follow my commands. I can make them do whatever I want."

While the boy was speaking, the maids were still busy, and it was only then that everyone's eyes adjusted to the dim light and they could see clearly what was on the desk.

That's a person!

Li Wei didn't recognize him, but judging from his uniform, the man was from the same unit as the squad Li Wei had seen outside the house earlier. In other words…

"Carter!"

Upon seeing the soldier, Henry roared, gripping his axe tightly and glaring angrily at the boy.

"You scum! What did you do to him!?"

"He's too loud."

The boy lowered his head, not even glancing at Henry.

"So I told him he would never make a sound again."

"You beast—!"

Henry's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the corpse on the desk. The soldier had been ripped open, his internal organs and blood brutally ripped from his body. Although Henry didn't know what his soldier had suffered before his death, the sight of his contorted face filled with pain told him that the soldier's end had been terrible.

"Waaah..."

Katie covered her mouth, her face pale, and even Anthony's carefree smile vanished. Only Levi seemed oblivious, hiding behind Henry's tall frame, glancing around nervously. In Levi's experience, these cursed creatures were usually "mechanical monsters"—you couldn't kill them no matter how many times you tried, unless you found their weakness.

Henry's outburst of rage was enough to make an ordinary person tremble, but the boy remained unchanged. He simply stared at the dissected corpse on the desk and then manipulated the two maids to carefully stuff pieces of wood into it.

"I told you to stop! You bastard!"

Henry clearly didn't want to see his soldiers suffer such cruelty, so he strode toward the boy, while the others were at a loss, unsure whether they should follow.

However, Li Wei didn't care about any of that. He was still observing his surroundings. With his [Soul Vision] activated, the room he saw was completely different from the others. Every doll here was filled with bright red soul energy, so much so that in a world where he could only see black and white, Li Wei's vision was now as if shrouded in a layer of mist.

He could vaguely see something behind the mist, but Li Wei could only make out a general outline.

At the same time, Levi saw Henry walk into the depths of the mist, and simultaneously, the entire crimson mist began to surge…

"careful!"

Levi suddenly lunged forward and rammed his head into Henry's waist, shoving him to the ground. At the same time, accompanied by a gunshot, a bullet whistled past and struck the ground behind the two men.

Then, a figure appeared in front of everyone.

That was also a soldier.

He was dressed in a uniform, similar in appearance to the one lying on the desk, except that his abdomen was now wide open, revealing some kind of mechanical device made of wood and gears supporting his body. It was as if a doll had been ripped open, exposing the internal mechanisms, with the skin not even sewn back up—the crowd could even see a compressor opening and closing at the "doll's" throat…

"Waaah..."

Katie covered her mouth. It wasn't that she hadn't seen monsters before; she had personally defeated the socialite assassin and the vampire. But to Katie, those monsters were at most enemies who "looked a bit strange."

However, this thing that skins and dismembers people alive and turns them into dolls... is too much of a challenge to the limits of human reason.

However, this is clearly not the end.

Soon, one soldier after another stepped forward, gripping their weapons tightly, like guards protecting their master, and raising their guns at the crowd.

"run!"

At that moment, Li Wei made his decision without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)