Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 61 Post-Investigation
MI7 arrived quickly, perhaps because this was MI7's first field mission since its establishment, and they were quite excited. All three experts were present, and the other staff members were also dressed in police uniforms, searching and taking pictures everywhere.

Incidentally, after that, Li Wei also found the exit of this underground ruin—behind the bookshelf in the first-floor office.

It's rather unoriginal, yet a fairly standard operation. Similar to the secret passage in "Pink Lady," only slightly more sophisticated. At least judging from the architectural features, it's not the kind of thing that was discovered last; it seems like it had always been there.

Ms. Windsor went to question the couple and the little girl to see if she could find any clues, while Levi mainly brought Benjamin to inspect the battle site.

"Good heavens..."

Benjamin's eyes lit up as he looked at the marks before him.

"This thing is even more powerful than a grenade explosion. Was it really done by that ghost?"

"Indeed, you know what, these guys are really annoying."

Li Wei looked at the ground in front of him and curled his lip. He now understood why those famous generals of ancient times were so annoying.

They're really hard to kill!

This knight was so powerful that even with a gun, Li Wei couldn't take it down. Not only could it block bullets, but its various close-combat skills were also terrifyingly powerful. If it weren't for Li Wei having the [Death Eye] and [Shadow Shift], plus Benjamin's cane gun being powerful enough, it would have been really difficult for Li Wei to kill this ghost knight.

More likely, Li Wei would stand still, fire a spear, and the opponent would raise their shield to block it, then charge forward and cut Li Wei down with a single sword strike.

"How about increasing the power a bit more? Or adding another magazine?"

After listening to Li Wei's complaints, Benjamin began to think. He had initially designed it as a bolt-action rifle for camouflage, the kind that fires one bullet at a time, but even Benjamin found it troublesome against such an opponent. He couldn't read people, but the battle marks on the ground didn't lie.

Benjamin was a weapons expert, the kind who could deduce a weapon's power from ground marks. Hearing Li Wei's explanation, and comparing the battle traces before him with the type of enemy, he felt a bit uneasy about how to handle the situation.

"Let's increase the power a bit more; we don't need to worry about the quantity."

Li Wei can cheat by using the "Eye of Death" to attack three times in one turn, but the power is different. Unlike novel protagonists who have innate sword energy or other combat skills, Li Wei's attack power comes entirely from modern weapons, making Benjamin his grandfather.

"Okay, I'll go back and take a look, and then think about how to proceed. But the power of the silver bullets has been confirmed, so we can replace them all when we get back. That way, the other teams will have some combat capability too."

After exchanging a few words, Benjamin picked up his notebook and went back to his work, while Levi wandered around for a bit before coming to Richard, who was studying the altar.

"What's the catch?"

Upon seeing Li Wei arrive, Richard straightened up his short, fat body with a smile and greeted him.

"There were some gains, and it was very interesting."

"interesting?"

"Yes, judging from the altar, the surrounding architecture and patterns, this should be a relic from the first era."

"So sure?"

"of course."

Richard nodded again.

Do you know why the first era of the Silver Calendar is called the Golden Age?

Li Wei thought for a moment and then answered.

"I remember it was because Emperor Arthur claimed to be a member of the Golden Clan, descendants of gods?"

He'd seen this trick many times before; it all boils down to the emperor's old ways.

"Yes."

Richard nodded again.

"Emperor Arthur and his tribe were known as the Golden People, and the dynasty they established was also called the Golden Age. A major characteristic of the ruins of the Golden Age is that the buildings and objects are enormous, far exceeding the size of ordinary people. You mentioned that the Ghost Rider you encountered was two or three meters tall. If you can catch it, you might be able to solve a historical mystery."

"A historical mystery?"

"Yes."

Richard patted the stone bench next to him and sighed.

"In fact, there are several theories in the historical community regarding the tall buildings of the Golden Age, but unfortunately they are all speculations. However, many historians tend to believe that this was a form of mega-object worship by the Golden Age people, rather than the fact that they were actually that tall. It is more likely that because the myths and legends of the Golden Age describe the gods as being tall, the Golden Age people, who called themselves the children of the gods, used these mega-objects as vessels for the gods to worship in the first era. Therefore, the mainstream academic view does not believe that these mega-buildings were used by the Golden Age people."

"why?"

Richard spread his hands.

"We cannot find the remains of the Golden People, and the Golden City, the former capital of the empire built by the Golden People, has also disappeared. Therefore, these are all just legends."

"Um……………"

Li Wei understood this to some extent. The empire created by Emperor Arthur was indeed magnificent, but it ultimately vanished without a trace, somewhat like the Qin Dynasty's short-lived existence. No one knew the specifics, but folklore said that Emperor Arthur was the son of the gods, a golden being with divine blood flowing through his veins. After guiding his people to unify the continent, he completed his mission and ascended to heaven with his capital—that's roughly the gist of it.

Since then, nearly several thousand years have passed, and the empire has weathered countless storms, relocating its capital three times. Tracing the history of Emperor Arthur is an almost impossible task, no less difficult than finding the Queen Mother of the West's celestial palace at Tianchi Lake.

If the Golden Calendar represents the mythical era of Nuwa mending the sky, Houyi shooting down the suns, and rampant demonic chaos, then the first era of the Silver Calendar, the Golden Age, is like the legendary era of Yao, Shun, and Yu. It has some plausibility, but not much, and is more heavily influenced by mythology. The lack of skeletal remains is a fatal flaw. Therefore, legends will always remain legends and cannot be considered history.

Conversely, if modern archaeologists were to unearth the skulls of Pangu or Kuafu, their entire historical perspective would likely need to be reshaped.

So if a skeleton over three meters tall could be unearthed, it might just turn the legend of the Golden Race into reality. Unfortunately, Li Wei encountered a ghost, not a skeleton, so naturally no evidence could be left behind.

"So, what about this ruin?"

"From what I can see now, it's a typical first-generation temple."

"typical?"

“That’s right, we’ve found similar buildings all over the empire before.”

As Richard spoke, he became more enthusiastic and began to teach Levi.

"We all know the story of Emperor Arthur and his twelve knights. Of course, there are many versions of these stories, and many of them contradict each other. But at least the core part is correct: Emperor Arthur led his twelve knights to conquer the continent and unify the empire. So most scholars believe that this is a way of paying tribute to Emperor Arthur and his twelve knights."

Richard pointed to the round table, and then to the throne.

"The twelve knights, and Emperor Arthur. After all, as you can see, these tables and chairs are extremely large, far exceeding the height standard of ordinary people. It would be impossible for ordinary people to sit on them. Perhaps because of the commandment against idol worship and the creation of idols, people in the past chose to worship them in this way."

"I see……………"

"Of course, some ruins do not have a round table, but only an altar and a throne. We believe that they are for the worship of Emperor Arthur or a certain knight."

"Um……………"

Hearing this, Li Wei recalled the small shrine he had discovered beneath the Pink Lady Tavern, which contained only an altar and a chair…

"But the markings on this are the markings of the Holy Lord Church, aren't they?"

Li Wei pointed to the mark on the throne in front of him, just like the one he had seen in the small temple before. The chair here was also engraved with the mark of the All-Knowing Eye.

"Indeed, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also regarded Emperor Arthur as a descendant of God, and Emperor Arthur also needed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help him pacify various regions and maintain his rule... at least that's what the records say."

"So, what's not written in the records?"

Li Wei, of course, guessed the hidden meaning in Richard's words.

"Some suspect that the Holy Lord Church once attempted to assassinate Emperor Arthur, resulting in a great battle between the two sides, which led to the destruction of the Golden City."

Richard chuckled as he finished speaking.

"Of course, this is just one idea. After all, the idea that Emperor Arthur wanted to return to the gods was said by the priests of the Holy Lord Church. And since everyone said the same thing, it would be hard not to have some particular thoughts about it now."

Li Wei was not surprised by this. The struggle between divine right and royal power has always been like this. Just look at the current status of the Holy Lord Church in the empire. The Puritan sect is regarded as heretical within the Holy Lord Church, but with the support of the empire, it has almost completely destroyed the Holy Bishops' orthodoxy.

From the empire's perspective, promoting the Puritan Church did indeed benefit it, because the Puritan Church did not encourage church prayers or various public events. This made it difficult for the Holy Catholic Church to profit from its followers, and without this, they had to rely on government funding. And relying on government funding meant they were forced to be subservient to whoever provided the funding.

If the Queen were a little bolder, she might already have a plan for who the next pope will be.

"Any other discoveries?"

"No."

Richard shook his head.

"If we found any antiques or gold and silver treasures, that would be interesting. But right now, we can probably only do the Master's program a favor for the History Department."

"That's good too. We feel at ease leaving it to professionals."

Li Wei didn't take it to heart. Archaeological excavations are definitely professional work, and these people only need to look at the report at the end.

After circling the ruins, Levi returned to the manor via the tunnel, just in time to see Lady Windsor walking out of the dining room with a kind expression. Upon seeing Levi, Lady Windsor smiled slightly at him.

"how is the situation?"

"The little girl was a bit frightened and has little memory of it. Her parents have also been questioned, and it is basically true."

As she spoke, Mrs. Windsor looked out the window.

"You know what, I've sometimes thought about buying a manor in a place like this and living a quiet life."

"now what?"

"The Master's program is quite peaceful. If you die here, no one will know for three to five years."

Ms. Windsor made a casual remark before turning her gaze away; she was essentially serving as an interrogation expert for MI7.

"The other people's testimonies were fine, and their reactions were all normal. Nothing seemed amiss. The only odd thing was the manager himself, but he's already dead. The two maids were hired from a nearby village to manage the estate. Besides them, there were two gardeners and a groom. However, they all left work late and didn't stay at the estate."

"Inspector Lestrade has gone back to investigate the manager's identity; hopefully, he'll find something."

Levi sighed. It seemed that the manager was definitely the most problematic one, but unfortunately, Levi found no clues in his office. To borrow Inspector Lestrade's words, he was as clean as a dead man.

Li Wei chatted for a few more minutes, then turned and left, returning to his room. He then sat on the sofa and opened the system.

Next up is the reward time...

(End of this chapter)