Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 57 Missing
Li Wei never expected that a single act of spiritual communication would cause so much trouble.

It didn't matter if people died; he was somewhat prepared for that. But the fact that it was that mentally challenged manager who died made Li Wei even less concerned. Everyone has their own way of choosing death, and he had tried to stop him before, but the other party refused to listen, and Li Wei couldn't do anything about it.

But disappearing... disappearing is a different matter altogether.

Li Wei walked around the guest room inside and out, and finally had to admit that he had finally encountered a case that was most suitable for a detective but least suitable for him.

A locked-room mystery!
If this were a real master detective, they would probably stand up instantly, more excited than if they were on drugs.

But Li Wei, a detective who came to the profession later in life, hates locked-room mysteries the most.

The couple's guest room was laid out the same as Inspector Lestrade's: a small room with a bed, wardrobe, bookcase, and chair. There was no balcony, and the windows and door were locked. The wife had only one key, and she said that after taking the child back to the room, she locked the door from the inside, so no one outside with the key could open it.

Li Wei carefully scanned the room using the [Reconnaissance] tool, but couldn't find any footprints or anything belonging to the girl at the door. It was as if she had vanished into thin air from the room.

"Go down."

Li Wei frowned as he looked at the guest room, which he had searched thoroughly. What bothered him wasn't the girl's disappearance, but rather the couple's frantic wailing and shouting. Even if he wanted to thoroughly search the room, their frantic yelling and wailing made things very difficult for him.

Therefore, Li Wei made a decisive decision.

"Go downstairs first, and we'll continue the search later."

"How can this be done!"

Upon hearing Li Wei's words, the middle-aged man immediately became unwilling.

"If we can't find the person..."

"You've practically dismantled this guest room, but you still haven't found it."

Li Wei interrupted the middle-aged man's rebuttal.

"What we need to do right now is stay calm, gather clues, sort out the situation, and then find the child... Arguing and screaming here won't solve the problem."

"Can……………"

Before the middle-aged man could say anything, his wife was the first to come to her senses, grabbed her husband, and nodded to Li Wei.

"Let's go down first."

It seems there are still some sensible and obedient ones.

When the group returned downstairs, they found the recreation room door locked, and Inspector Lestrade was watching the maid lock it. He paused for a moment upon seeing Levi, then simply waved without saying anything.

"Everyone, go to the restaurant."

As the others entered the restaurant, Inspector Lestrade slowed down, watching Levi follow before asking in a low voice.

"what happened?"

"This is bad, the little girl has gone missing."

"disappeared?"

Hearing this, Inspector Lestrade was also startled, looking at Levi with surprise. Levi nodded and recounted his previous experience. After listening to Levi's account, Inspector Lestrade frowned, his expression grave.

"This is going to be troublesome."

"Who says it isn't?"

Li Wei certainly understood Inspector Lestrade's meaning. To be honest, when the hotel manager initially died, neither he nor Inspector Lestrade took it too seriously. At least based on the diagnosis, the hotel manager didn't die from poisoning or external injuries. So, the more likely explanations were a sudden illness or the work of a ghost.

Including a common plot in mystery novels, the poison is taken at dinner and then takes effect during a psychic encounter.

But regardless, the person is already dead, and there are no facilities for an autopsy here. All that's left is to send a telegram to the police station and wait for them to come and collect the body the next day. In the meantime, as long as Inspector Lestrade and Levy keep an eye on the others, everything will be fine.

But now that the little girl has disappeared, things have suddenly become complicated.

Putting aside the pointless question of whether the murderer is among us, based on what Li Wei has seen so far, it is very likely that a ghost is at work.

Then the problem is coming.

You can ignore someone who is dead, but you can't ignore someone who is missing.

In addition, it was raining heavily outside. What if something happened to a four or five-year-old girl?
Or was she taken away by a ghost?

Should we send people to search for it?
But spreading out manpower—as anyone who's watched a horror movie knows, that's a big no-no.

You divide them into pairs, three or four groups, and they search for the little girl everywhere. Then, while they're searching, everyone else dies. This is practically the standard plot of a horror movie.

"I'll find it."

Li Wei pondered for a while between "acting according to the horror movie formula" and "not acting according to the horror movie formula," and now he gave his answer. "I'll trouble you to keep a close eye on them."

"Okay, leave it to me."

Inspector Lestrade, at his age, should have no problem keeping these ordinary people in check, and he also trusted Levi's abilities. Now that Levi had proposed investigating himself, Lestrade guessed it might just be some kind of supernatural or mystical thing, and letting those ordinary people search would probably just result in a few more corpses.

Levi chatted with Inspector Lestrade for a few more minutes, then turned and went back upstairs. He didn't go back to the guest room to look for clues, but returned to his own room. Then, he tossed the briefcase in his hand and placed it on the floor.

The next moment, the rectangular briefcase suddenly twisted and deformed, and in a short while, it transformed from a briefcase into a black cat.

Or, to put it another way, felines.

It was entirely black, without a single glint of light. It was slightly larger than a fat orange cat but slightly smaller than a leopard, with well-proportioned limbs, exuding the imposing presence of a feline.

"Hmm, very good, not bad."

Looking at the black cat sitting upright at his feet, Li Wei nodded in satisfaction.

This world doesn't possess particularly advanced robotics skills, so naturally, it can't create anything like the Terminator. Normally, something like that simply couldn't be built.

In fact, it is indeed impossible to manufacture.

Li Wei was able to create it entirely through cheating.

To put it simply, it was only by using the ability of the [Puppeteer] that it was achieved.

The Puppeteer's ability is quite simple: Li Wei can control the things he creates using threads called "spirit threads." It's similar to how puppeteers in puppet shows or anime use threads to move their puppets.

However, this technique is much more convenient than simple pulling movements; Li Wei only needs to change his mind. So even a pile of blocks, as long as it was created by Li Wei, can be transformed at will, and can be made to do a backflip at will. Basically, whatever Li Wei thinks of, it will change.

When Li Wei was initially making the doll, he considered creating one, but then changed his mind. He thought, "What would it look like if a grown man were to hold a doll? Besides, what would it look like if I threw the doll away in an emergency? Is this some kind of little girl playing house?"
After much deliberation, Li Wei finally decided to draw inspiration from the transformation robot animations of his own world and create something like this.

The reason for choosing a cat was a decision made by Li Wei after considering the skill of [Puppeteer].

The Puppeteer's skills involve connecting to puppets via spirit threads and manipulating their movements. Simultaneously, Li Wei can share his abilities with the puppets. Skills like [Soul Vision], [Death Eye], and [Shadow Movement] can be used not only by Li Wei but also by the puppets.

This means that Li Wei can rely on puppets to conduct investigations. There are places that he is not suitable to go to or cannot go to, but he can manipulate the puppets to go there.

Therefore, it's natural that we can't use a human form, otherwise it would give us away.
But cats are much more convenient. Given their mobility and range, they can easily roam the streets and are less likely to arouse suspicion. Being slightly larger, they also possess fighting ability.

Of course, it's not without its drawbacks. It only moves when Li Wei concentrates fully; otherwise, it's like a dead cat, completely unresponsive. That's why Li Wei usually keeps it like a briefcase—after all, he can't possibly devote all his attention to it 24/7, can he?
Li Wei had the idea and the skills of a puppeteer, and in three days he created this prototype—incidentally, Eileen also helped him a lot. Her family used to sell these kinds of mechanical equipment and also handled repairs, and Eileen had been exposed to this kind of work by her parents since she was young, so she was quite skilled in this area as well. Many of the deformable joints, parts, and designs were completed with her help.

However, without Li Wei's "Puppeteer" skill, this would just be a handmade transforming toy that can switch between a suitcase and a cat.

Only by adding the skill "Puppeteer" can this large toy be transformed into a deadly weapon.

Like the sharp blade hidden in this cat's paw, Li Wei was confident that if he encountered any monster again, he could tear it to shreds with a single swipe. Even with that giant bat, he was confident he could leave a few scars on its face. In short, if he encountered anything that lunged at him, Li Wei could simply smash the box over its head, then distance himself and kite it.

Moreover, this is currently the only skill that Li Wei possesses that doesn't cost him his life. Apart from the fact that the skill level is low, the range of movement is small, and the size of the puppet he can control is limited, it can be said to have no drawbacks.

As the [Puppeteer] skill was activated, the scene before Li Wei's eyes instantly changed, as if a computer screen had suddenly appeared out of thin air. The black cat on the screen was running and jumping around, and the visuals resembled a third-person action game perspective, rather than the black cat's perspective—which was to be expected, since Li Wei controlled the puppet through spirit threads, so his spirit was actually connected to the spirit threads, not the puppet.

So strictly speaking, he can seamlessly switch between first-person and third-person perspectives, just like in many games. However, Li Wei obviously wouldn't use the first-person perspective to control the puppet, since the third-person perspective has a wider field of view, and he could see anything unusual behind him, whereas in first-person he'd just be left vulnerable to being ambushed.

This isn't a game, so why talk about immersion and a sense of presence? If you can cheat, why not use it? That would be stupid.
Li Wei, controlling the puppet cat, familiarized himself with the controls using WASD and spacebar to speed things up, then opened the window. The next moment, the black cat leaped out and easily ran onto the roof in a few quick movements.

Then, Li Wei activated [Soul Vision].

In that instant, the black cat lowered its head and took in the entire house.

The black cat is starting to resemble a satellite, but unfortunately, Li Wei's [Puppet Master] level is not high, limiting his control range. If he could control a range of several kilometers, he could simply build an eagle as a drone, which, combined with [Soul Vision], would be even more useful than infrared.

For now, I'll just make do with the cat.

The better days are yet to come.

Perched on the rooftop, Li Wei controlled the black cat to activate [Soul Vision] and peer down. Soon, he saw moving white dots of light.

Most of the lights were concentrated in one spot, with a few moving around; these were clearly Inspector Lestrade and the others. My own light was in the room on the other side, so the remaining light—that must be the child.

Li Wei still hoped to see the light spot, since seeing the light spot meant that the person was still alive.

The real problem would be if there were no light spots.

Fortunately, hard work pays off.

Just as Li Wei manipulated the black cat to a corner of the roof, he keenly noticed a faint little light below!
The point of light was small, even fainter than the stars in the sky. But for Li Wei, finding it was a victory!

So there's only one thing he needs to do next!
Li Wei's mind raced, and then he saw the cat suddenly leap and disappear into the dark shadows.

[Shadow Movement]!
With X-ray vision and the ability to walk through walls, I refuse to believe I can't handle it!
(End of this chapter)