Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 58 Delving Deeper
The ability to pass through walls is a very useful cheat.

Leaving aside FPS games, even in large-scale RPGs, this often happens: players see the target location right in front of them, but just can't find the entrance. After wandering around for ages without figuring out where to start, they get frustrated and simply open the console and type in the wallhack code, which allows them to instantly pass through to the target location.

The advantage is that it allows you to reach your destination directly.

The downside is... sometimes players get really confused.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?
Li Wei is starting to feel that way now.

What is this place?
Looking at the scene before him, Li Wei, who was controlling the black cat, was completely bewildered and puzzled.

If he found a cellar, then Li Wei wouldn't be surprised.

If they found a cemetery, Li Wei wouldn't be surprised.

But what if we find some ruins?

Looking at the huge hole in front of him, Li Wei felt a bit like he had accidentally dug up the First Emperor's mausoleum while digging a pit.

In fact, they are quite similar.

After using Shadow Movement to pass through walls several times and close the distance between himself and the point of light, he passed through the wall again. Then, Li Wei saw that the area in front of him suddenly became open. The black cat was not prepared at all. Like a person going down the stairs and suddenly missing a step, it fell down with a "plop" and landed on the ground.

Thank goodness it wasn't a live cat, otherwise it would probably have turned into a cat pancake.

Li Wei manipulated the black cat to raise its head and scan its surroundings. Then…

What the hell is this place?

Li Wei was completely stunned by the scene before him.

The cavern before them was roughly the size of half a football field, resembling a natural stalactite cave. Stalactites hung down from the ceiling, densely packed like spears used to set traps. Beneath the black cat's feet, however, were spiraling stone steps leading to the bottom of the cavern.

The surrounding stone pillars are carved with strange patterns, resembling palace pillars. Below, an altar and several stone-carved seats can be seen.

The whole environment reminded Li Wei of the round dining table in a hotel private room; it was pretty much like that—a round table in the center with several chairs around it. And right now, the little girl was lying in the middle of the round table, as if she were being served a dish.

This is clearly not a good sign.

This is not going to be easy.

Li Wei frowned, manipulated the black cat puppet to leap up again, landing on a nearby high place, and once again activated [Soul Vision] to scan the surroundings.

There was nothing there except the little girl, nor were there any of the souls we had seen before.

Let's go down and take a look.

Li Wei sighed and once again manipulated the black cat to leap forward... and stopped.

It's reached the limit.

Feeling the taut threads between his fingers, Li Wei sighed inwardly, then stood up, left the room, and headed downstairs. Although he still didn't know where the entrance to that underground world was, getting even a little closer was better than nothing.

Just as Levi was walking down the stairs, he saw the restaurant door next door suddenly open, and Inspector Lestrade came out. Looking at Levi, he also had a solemn expression and made a gesture to him.

"what happened?"

Li Wei had no choice but to put down the "Black Cat Simulator" he was playing halfway through, walk over to Inspector Lestrade, and ask in a low voice.

“I just asked around and found something strange.”

Inspector Lestrade spoke up, explaining that as a police officer, interrogation was second nature to him. While Levi was playing with the cat upstairs, he hadn't been idle either, taking the opportunity to interrogate everyone else. In fact, Inspector Lestrade had managed to extract some information from them.

“I asked the two maids, and they are the ones who usually take care of things here. The manager only comes once a week, and he always performs some strange rituals. The old woman who is a medium doesn’t seem suspicious. She said she works as a medium in Chongqing and was hired by the manager to be in charge of this medium game.”

Inspector Lestrade's words were perfectly reasonable, and Levi didn't object. Unlike in modern times when psychics are simply seen as frauds, in this era, psychics were considered "professionals" by many, performing similar tasks to fortune tellers in ancient times. For an event like this, hiring a professional psychic for protection was considered quite normal in this era.

"Then there was that family of three."

At this point, Inspector Lestrade immediately perked up.

“I asked them separately, and the wife said she was visiting relatives nearby, while the husband said he was on vacation. Their stories didn’t match up, which aroused my suspicion. I tried to trick them a little, and in the end, they told the truth.”

"What did they say?"

"They said they were there to wait for someone."

"Waiting for someone?"

"Yes, the couple said that someone had come to them before, claiming to be a lawyer representing them, and that they had a sum of money to inherit."

"When did this happen?"

Li Wei once again manipulated the black cat to scan the altar, confirming that everything was alright, before turning his attention back to it.

“At the end of last year.”

"Something that was supposed to happen at the end of the year is only coming up now?"

"They all felt the other party was untrustworthy at the time, and thought he was a bit of a conman. After all, if someone suddenly appeared at your house and said you had a large fortune to inherit, and you had never heard of him before, wouldn't you be suspicious too?"

"Then why are they here again?"

“My husband lost a lot of money in his business, and remembering this incident, he came here hoping for a lifeline. The other party had left them their business card and address before leaving, telling them to come here if they changed their minds.” “So that’s why they came… Who is the lawyer representing them? Did you ask?”

"That's the most interesting part."

Inspector Lestrade chuckled.

"It's that hotel manager."

"Good guy."

Upon hearing Inspector Lestrade's reply, Levi's expression darkened.

"I never expected this person to hold multiple positions..."

“I’ve searched him, there’s nothing there. He’s as clean as a dead man, even though he’s dead now.”

Inspector Lestrade's expression was also grim. These days, most people carry a wallet containing their citizen number, various identification documents, money, and bank cards. But during the body examination, Inspector Lestrade had searched the man thoroughly and found nothing—not even a watch or ring.

"Where is his room? As the manager, he should have an office here."

"Yes, it is, but I don't have time to go see it, you..."

"I don't have time right now."

Levi understood Inspector Lestrade's meaning, but with lives at stake, he glanced at the situation again. The little girl was still asleep, but Levi didn't believe she was there just to sleep.

"You found the child?"

"We've made some progress and are about to go look for it. We'll talk about the rest when we get back."

As Li Wei spoke, he patted his pockets and then took out a box of silver bullets and handed it over.

"This is?"

Inspector Lestrade curiously took the bullet and examined it, looking puzzled.

"Silver bullets, I've heard that silver weapons can destroy evil spirits. If you encounter something you can't handle, you can give it a try—of course, I can't guarantee it will work."

"Whether it's useful or not, it's good to have some psychological comfort."

Inspector Lestrade didn't stand on ceremony and simply grabbed it.

Anyway, be careful.

"You too, be careful."

Levi felt that Inspector Lestrade's side was actually in more danger than he was. He had to watch over a large group of people, and if they were attacked, they might really start rioting... But oh well, there's no point in thinking about that now. In short, he just needed to get through this night first.

After exchanging a few more words, Inspector Lestrade returned to the restaurant, while Levi came to the corner on the first floor from the other side. It was a warehouse, seemingly unremarkable, and indeed it was. But what Levi wanted to see wasn't the warehouse itself, but rather what lay beneath it…

Li Wei silently manipulated the black cat to take a few steps and arrive at the wall. Under the bright light of the blazing torch, the black cat's shadow was stretched out—so the question is, why is there a lit torch in this place that looks like no one has been here for hundreds of years?

This is also why Li Wei didn't want to wait any longer. Of course, he could first manipulate the black cat to explore around and find the passage connecting to this underground cavern, and then go down from there. But the problem is that it might not be in time. Since he can directly use his cheat code to pass through walls, he should first rescue the little girl. As for who kidnapped her and what they want, those questions can be dealt with later.

If he could, Li Wei would also like to remain behind the scenes and use the black cat to rescue the little girl. Unfortunately, [Shadow Movement] is a single-target skill, and Li Wei cannot bring others into the process, so he still has to go himself.

With that thought in mind, Li Wei made up his mind, took a step forward, and hid in the shadows deep in the corridor.

The dark shadows transformed into a frigid swamp, silently engulfing Li Wei completely and gradually sinking him downwards. In this pitch blackness, Li Wei felt as if he were a deep-sea fish, swimming in the lightless shadows, relying on the ripples of the water to determine his direction—then, he took a step forward.

At that moment, Li Wei felt as if he were emerging from the icy waters of the Arctic. The shadows writhed and twisted, and then Li Wei stepped out. He reached out and pressed down on the brim of his hat, while warily scanning his surroundings—although he had already surveyed the area with the black cat before coming out, just to be on the safe side, he still needed to see for himself.

Stepping out of the shadows, Li Wei collected his thoughts and scanned his surroundings once more. Using [Soul Vision] and [Shadow Shift] consecutively had indeed been very taxing, but considering the child in front of him, Li Wei didn't feel it was a waste.

Conversely, when the hotel manager jumped up, Li Wei didn't even bother to activate [Death Eye]... Why waste his life on such a lunatic? He could have just closed his eyes and emptied the magazine.

Li Wei manipulated the black cat to scan the surroundings, making sure no one was hiding in the shadows, before hurriedly walking to the round table.

The round table was large and round, even larger than the 24-person table in the restaurant's private room, and the entire table was carved from stone. The chairs next to it were also carved from stone, a total of twelve chairs.

If there's anything strange about it, it's that the round table and chairs are a bit too big. Li Wei estimated that if he were to sit on them, it would be like a four or five-year-old child sitting in an adult chair; he probably wouldn't even be able to touch the ground with his legs.

Never mind, we'll talk about that later.

Li Wei climbed onto the table and went to the little girl's side. The girl was curled up with her eyes closed, looking like she was fast asleep.

Breathing is steady, there are no external injuries, and everything appears normal.

Seeing this, Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief and then wanted to wake the little girl and ask her what was going on.

However, at that moment, he suddenly felt a burning sensation in his fingers.

Li Wei looked down and realized that the ruby ​​ring on his right index finger had somehow started to shine brightly.

Then he saw the little girl, who had been sleeping, tremble and open her eyes.

Those once lovely blue eyes were now blood red, staring coldly at him!

The next moment, Li Wei felt a strong gust of air rushing towards him!

(End of this chapter)