Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 69 Fireworks
"Goodness, they've started fighting. That makes things easier."

On the rooftop opposite the church, Levi, holding a cane gun, stared at his target and couldn't help but sigh.

Li Wei certainly knew the main purpose of this operation: to force the Holy Lord Church in the Fog City to reveal its true colors. The advantage of doing so was that if they didn't resist, they would thoroughly investigate the entire church.

If you're going to resist, well, that's even better. Whether there's a problem or not, there's a problem now.

However, this is something Levi cannot do; only the Queen or the old butler can do it. In any case, he cannot and will not do it.

This is another reason why Li Wei did not directly attack Bishop Raphael.

As a cog in the machine, he just needs to do his job and doesn't need to overstep his bounds. As the saying goes, the true wisdom of a civil servant is: the more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make; and if you do nothing, you make no mistakes.

You can certainly say that attacking the bishop of the Church of Christ is an act of loyalty. Since Her Majesty the Queen wants to deal with the Church of Christ, then I will do what the leader is anxious about and think what the leader thinks.

But your boss didn't ask you to do it.

Furthermore, it's not up to you to decide what the leader wants to do. If you think the leader should act the way you want, then who is actually in charge, you or the leader?
Therefore, Li Wei made a decisive decision to go back, report, and then let his superiors make the decision directly.

He's just a scout. He's given you the map, he's given you the intelligence; how to fight is the commander-in-chief's responsibility. It's not his place to decide when the battle starts or how to fight it.

Of course, if Bishop Raphael and his men had tied someone up and were about to disembowel them, Livy might have tried to stop them.

But they were just singing and dancing around a model, and Li Wei couldn't be bothered to care. He still cherished his hard-won second life.

In retrospect, I think my decision was the right one.

"This guy is actually quite capable."

Looking through the scope at the church, Levi gasped. After Bishop Raphael launched his attack, the Royal Guard soldiers swiftly returned fire, but then something unexpected happened. The bullets that struck Bishop Raphael didn't bring up blood, but rather a shower of feathers.

It felt like a feather pillow had been smashed.

However, the real problem comes next!

The feathers on Bishop Raphael fluttered down, first settling on the attendants and guards closest to him. Immediately, those men contorted in agony, screaming as they collapsed to the ground. Then, feathers, seemingly soft yet sharp, emerged from their skin's pores, replacing hair as the new rulers of their skin's surface.

In a short while, accompanied by shrill screams, those who were touched by the feathers had all turned into feather monsters just like Bishop Raphael!

Seeing this, Li Wei was also shocked. At the same time, he was secretly glad that he hadn't been stupid enough to go up and fight this guy. Otherwise, who could withstand such a blow!
But that wasn't the end of it, because then, those people infected and wrapped in feathers stood up one by one. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they opened their mouths, roaring at the enemy in front of them like savages.

Then these infected people leaped and ran forward.

"Damn it! Get out of here right now, quick!"

The captain of the Royal Guard shouted orders for his men to leave the church immediately. He wasn't an idiot; he had seen the horrific state of the infected who had been touched by the feathers. So, while shouting orders for the others to retreat, the captain raised his gun, aimed at the feathered monsters, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang bang bang bang!!"

However, these bullets, capable of piercing even stone walls, did not kill the feathered monster before them. On the contrary, upon hitting their target, even more feathers flew out, filling the entire church with a flurry of feathers. These light, floating feathers drifted and swayed in the air currents, creating a beautiful scene—yet, to the captain at that moment, they were more terrifying than any demon!
But that wasn't the end of it. Just as the captain was about to retreat, a priest suddenly pounced over and grabbed the captain around the waist!
"Let go of me, you bastard! What are you doing?!"

The captain struggled desperately, but the priest refused to let go. Instead, his eyes shone, and his face was filled with devout fanaticism as he stared at the captain.

"This is God's blessing! Accept it! Purify your sins! Become God's apostle!"

"Get out of here, you lunatics!"

The captain raised his gun high and smashed the priest's face with the butt. To his horror, even though the priest's face was covered in blood, the priest still clung to him tightly and refused to let go.

"let go!"

At this moment, the feathered monsters had already passed through the church and were almost in front of them. At this moment, the captain even felt a trace of despair.

Then... gunshots rang out.

"Bang bang bang!!"

Amidst the continuous gunfire, the captain saw the three feathered monsters at the front suddenly burst into flames as if they had been set ablaze. The intense flames exploded from their bodies like fireworks, quickly igniting the surrounding feathers. In the blink of an eye, a vast expanse of dazzling, firework-like flames filled the church.

You know what, the church was filled with twinkling lights, it was actually quite romantic.

Unfortunately, those present couldn't enjoy this romance. The captain gritted his teeth again and smashed the priest's face with the butt of his rifle, causing the priest to fall to the ground without a sound. Then he kicked the priest away and stumbled out of the church.

The moment the captain stepped out of the church, he even felt like he had returned from hell to earth.

But before he could even savor the feeling of escaping death, a voice came through the walkie-talkie into his ear.

"Now is not the time to relax. Do you have incendiary bombs or flamethrowers?" "Yes!"

The captain wasn't familiar with the voice, but it wasn't unfamiliar either. He knew it must be the investigator sent by MI7 to assist him; the investigator had said they would provide support from the rear. So it seemed that the one who had just made the move was that investigator.

"Seal off the exits and windows! We absolutely cannot let Bishop Raphael escape! Anything that crawls out from inside, set it on fire!"

As Li Wei issued orders through the walkie-talkie, he squinted, staring intently at the church before him. Through the black and white vision of his [Soul's Vision], Li Wei could clearly see that Bishop Raphael was pacing back and forth in the church like a trapped beast.

He had initially worried that Bishop Raphael might take the opportunity to hide underground, but now it seemed that Bishop Raphael, in this state, had completely lost his human reason and consciousness, becoming a monster that acted on instinct.

However, moving targets are difficult to hit.

Watching the soul of Bishop Raphael leaping and bounding around like a monkey in springtime, Li Wei silently loaded another bullet, pulled the bolt, and aimed at the target.

Forget it, if the precision isn't enough, we can make up for it with quantity.

Li Wei consoled himself for a moment, then aimed at his target.

Then, the world before my eyes suddenly slowed down.

Death Eyes!
Livy aimed at the spot of light on Bishop Raphael and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

The spent cartridge case flew out slowly, like a video playing at 1/4 speed, while Li Wei had already taken out the second bullet, loaded it, aimed, and fired.

"boom!"

Next, the third one!
"boom!"

Li Wei fired five bullets in one go before catching his breath.

Then, the passage of time returned to normal.

"—————————!"

What happened next took only a few seconds.

The lead bomb shattered the stained glass windows at the top of the church into pieces, and another bomb followed closely behind, hitting Bishop Raphael's hairy body and exploding.

For a moment, feathers filled the air, creating a rather romantic scene. Bishop Raphael's chest was blasted open with a hole the size of a washbasin, but inside were still feathers, feathers, and more feathers, as if he were a human-shaped pillow stuffed with feathers. The scattered feathers flew in all directions, like a shower of celestial flowers.

Then, three incendiary bombs flew in a triangular formation, hitting Bishop Raphael's head and both sides of his chest almost simultaneously.

Flames erupted instantly.

The burst of flames first ignited the feathers scattered by the explosion, and in moments, the ignited feathers themselves formed a massive wall of fire, completely enveloping the Raphael Bishopric. These easily combustible feathers, in turn, attracted the still-smoldering flames suspended in the air.

The end result is...

"boom-----!!"

Like a bomb exploding, a blinding flash of light erupted throughout the church, shattering all the glass windows. Flames poured from the broken windows, turning the entire church into a giant oven. The royal guards who had been positioned nearby quickly retreated, glancing nervously overhead, fearing some white speck might drift down…

"Done, call it a day."

Looking at the church that had been completely turned into an oven, Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief and put down the gun in his hand.

Then I looked at my task list.

Yes, nothing has changed.

It's like working for nothing—although that's to be expected.

Because the task is...

[Activate the quest "The Pursuit of Secrets"]

[Mission Objective: Locate the hidden danger on the Imperial Bridge and eliminate it.]

【mission rewards:? ? ? 】

It now appears that Bishop Raphael is clearly not among the hidden dangers of the Imperial Bridge.

(End of this chapter)