Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 74 Fairy Tales and Reality

In animation, anthropomorphizing objects is very cute.

Of course, this anthropomorphism doesn't mean turning your phone into a cute girl with a keyboard on her chest, requiring the protagonist to charge it via a plug. Nor does it mean a white-haired, refrigerator-like older sister feeding you drinks and cooking for you on the side.

While this is entertaining, it is not suitable for children.

But those teacups, teapots, chairs, tables, and the like that have eyes, mouths, can talk, and can walk, when they appear in animation, are always full of childlike innocence and fun.

But in reality...

"Hey—ya!"

Katie threw a punch, smashing the oncoming chair to pieces, and simultaneously rammed her head forward, crashing open the tightly closed door. Meanwhile, Levi casually swung his wooden stick like a baseball bat, shattering a cup that flew from behind him.

The latter let out a mournful wail, and then fell completely silent.

Well, in the animation, Levi and Katie are practically like two terrifying killers, mercilessly smashing those cute, soulful objects into pieces.

However, Li Wei is also having a major headache right now.

These guys are so noisy!

Anyone with kids knows that when children get noisy, even just one can be incredibly disruptive. If there are two or three, their screams are deafening, and if there's a whole group, it becomes a sonic weapon—the kind that could be deadly. Even now, Levi's ears are ringing, and he can't hear what Katie is yelling.

Perhaps because this monster was formed from children's rhymes, the objects inside behave almost exactly like children. When they see strangers, they jump and leap, desperately trying to stop Levi and Katie from moving forward. Whether they are being hit or seeing their companions being hit, they let out ear-piercing screams.

But even without attacking, they will still scream...

Some objects even start making noise when they hear others making noise...

If sound could kill, then Levi and Katie would probably be dead by now. But right now, just listening to the screams of these objects, Levi already felt as if his brain was being slowly tortured.

"call……………"

Levi followed behind Katie, panting heavily. His stamina wasn't great to begin with, and since Katie had blocked most of the attacks from those objects, Levi should have had it relatively easy. But the constant, relentless screams from those objects had already worn him down considerably.

"Detective, how much further?"

"It's right up there!"

Hearing Katie's question, Levi gritted his teeth and used [Soul Vision] again to scan the area, confirming the location of the red light. Then he lifted his leg and continued running upwards.

What's on it?
As Li Wei climbed the tower, he recalled the days when they conducted a thorough search using the puppets. This bridge tower was fifteen stories high, and they were currently on the twelfth floor. The thirteenth floor was next, but what lay on it? Right, I remember the engineer saying that, for safety and defense…

"careful!"

The two had already stepped onto the thirteenth step. Just as Katie was about to rush out, Levi reached out and grabbed Katie's collar, pulling her back.

Almost simultaneously, accompanied by the "rat-a-tat-tat-tat" of gunfire, several streaks of fire struck the wall directly, turning the hard wall black.

If Levi hadn't quickly reached out and grabbed her, Katie might have been turned into mincemeat!
"Intruder! Don't come any closer!"

Li Wei leaned against the wall, cautiously peering across the corridor. At the end of the corridor, a heavy machine gun stood proudly, its chest puffed out, aiming menacingly at them.

"Why are there guns here?!"

Katie screamed in alarm. Although she could punch through a wall, it didn't mean she could take a bullet with her bare hands.

If that hit Katie, she'd be dead!
"It's said to be designed and installed as an anti-aircraft weapon... Of course, you should ask the designer why it's here."

At this point, Li Wei saw the machine gun arch its back, reload its bullets, and then aim forward.

"Get out of here, intruders! No, or I'll smash you all to pieces!"

"…………………"

This thing can even reload itself; it's even more outrageous than artificial intelligence.

It seems this is the final barrier.

Li Wei silently took out his revolver and then compared the distance.

"Katie."

"Huh? What's the matter?"

"If you could get close to that machine gun, could you throw it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"……………sure……………"

Li Wei only caught a quick glimpse, but he could tell that the thing looked much like an ordinary cannon: two huge wheels, front armor, and a cannon barrel.

This thing must weigh at least tens or hundreds of kilograms...

"I'll find a way to rush over and take control of it, then you can come over while I'm at it, understand?"

"Understood, Detective. Be careful."

Katie nodded, while also giving Levi a reminder. After all, the passage in front of them was extremely narrow, and if that machine gun opened fire, Levi would have nowhere to hide and would simply be torn to pieces.

"I will work hard."

Li Wei stared at the corridor in front of him and took a deep breath.

The problem now is that he has to rush through this nearly 100-meter-long corridor without being hit by machine gun fire, and the corridor is very narrow, only allowing one person to pass at a time, with nowhere to even hide...

Moreover, the other side is used for air defense, so the power of the bullets... Although this thing looks as cute as a character from a Disney cartoon, one thing is certain: when you get hit by its bullets, you will definitely not become as cute as a cartoon character.

Li Wei took a deep breath and then dashed out.

"Intruder! Repel him!"

At the same time, the boyish voice from the other side rang out again, sounding like a child playing a gun game.

However, the gunshots that followed were not from a game.

Death Eyes!
Time seemed to slow down before Li Wei's eyes. He could clearly see bullets raining down on him. Whether these bullets were personified like other things was a question Li Wei didn't bother to discuss. He simply took a step forward and rushed into the swaying shadows before him!

The cold, dark shadow engulfed Li Wei's body like a tide. When Li Wei reappeared, he was already at the edge of the shadow. Bullets whistled past him, and he could even feel a burning pain in his arm.

Then, Li Wei was once again plunged into the shadows.

Once…twice…when Levi emerged from the shadows for the third time, he was already beside the machine gun, and then he reached out and grabbed it!

"Whoosh—!"

The moment he gripped the barrel, Li Wei felt a scorching heat surge through him. He practically gritted his teeth and frantically spun the machine gun, which, like a disobedient husky, struggled desperately to break free from Li Wei's control.

"Let me go, you bad person! You big bad guy! Let me go!"

"Katie!"

As Li Wei maneuvered the machine gun, directing its muzzle away from the corridor, he shouted loudly. At that moment, Katie rushed out, quickly reaching Li Wei, grabbing the machine gun's wheel, and lifting it high into the air!
"Smash it this way!" Li Wei pointed to a wall beside him. This wall seemed inconspicuous in the room, no different from the others. However, Li Wei's [Soul Vision] could see that something within this wall was shimmering with a crimson light!
"Hey ya—!!"

Katie yelled and slammed the machine gun in her hand against the wall. The sturdy, heavy weapon transformed into a hammer in Katie's hands, smashing a huge hole in the wall in front of her. The machine gun, along with Katie's blow, was completely twisted and deformed, turning into a pile of silent, motionless scrap metal.

At the same time, Li Wei observed that the red light that was originally in the wall had also disappeared without a trace.

"—————————!"

The atmosphere around them suddenly became completely silent.

Those objects that were originally noisy and seemed to have souls all fell silent at this moment, as if they had never been able to move in the first place.

"it's over?"

"No, there's one more."

Li Wei stared out the window. Across the street, another tower also noticed what was happening, and two brightly lit eyes turned directly towards them.

"Should we do it again?"

Even Katie felt exhausted and could barely run anymore.

"no need."

Li Wei flexed his wrists.

"Give me the model."

"Ok."

Katie took out the model again, and Levi reached out, placed his hand on it, and stared at the person opposite him. Then, he raised his hand.

As Li Wei moved, the tower they were in also began to move again, with the two auxiliary bridges acting as arms raised high and clenched into fists.

"You're bullying me—!"

Just as the tower opposite screamed, Li Wei stretched out his right hand, and the heavy auxiliary bridge crashed directly into the tower, completely piercing through it.

The screams stopped abruptly.

"Rumble rumble rumble..."

The tower began to tremble, and with the "death" of the two bridge towers, something seemed to have changed. The river surged and roared, and the tower, like the final boss's home in many movies, began to crumble.

"Huh? Huh? What should we do now?"

"you still need to ask?"

Li Wei opened the window, glanced at the roaring river outside, and gritted his teeth.

"Jump down!"

As he spoke, Levi grabbed Katie, and the two of them leaped up and jumped out of the window.

The whistling wind rushed past their ears, followed by a tremendous impact from below, as the icy river water instantly swallowed them both. Li Wei felt as if he were sinking and floating at the same time; he couldn't tell which way was up or down, north or south. He simply kept his eyes closed, letting the current carry him and Katie up and down in the river.

The surrounding river water grew colder and colder, more oppressive and more suffocating—finally, the end was reached.

"Pfft!"

Li Wei burst out of the water, panting as he looked around.

The dazzling Imperial Bridge, the clamorous shouts, and the clear background all told Levi—they were back.

When Levi and Katie, soaking wet, returned to the bridge control room, it was still in complete chaos.

"How could this be? Why are there no results? This is impossible, something must have gone wrong!"

The burly engineer, furious and red-faced, shouted, his veins bulging. Only when he saw Li Wei did he come to his senses and speak to him.

"Thank you, Mr. Levi. If it weren't for your suggestion, we wouldn't have realized that this Tower Bridge had such a big problem. We must find the source of the problem immediately and then solve it!"

"Then come with me."

Li Wei beckoned to the burly engineer with his finger, and the latter was taken aback.

"Mr. Li Wei?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to find the root of the problem? Just come with me."

If anyone else had said these things, the burly engineer would have scoffed. However, considering that it was Li Wei who spoke, and that he had just personally demonstrated the defects and dangers of the Imperial Bridge, the burly engineer, though puzzled, followed Li Wei out of the control room and took the elevator to the thirteenth floor.

Li Wei led the group through the corridor to a room in the center of the tower, then pointed to a wall against the inner side of the tower.

"Smash it open."

"Huh? But..."

"Smash it open."

The burly engineer hesitated, but Henry, unable to contain himself any longer, swung his hammer and smashed it against the wall.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Soon, other workers joined in the demolition, while Levi and Katie stood silently beside Anthony, watching.

"Detective, what do you think is inside this wall?"

Wrapped in a warm coat, Katie stared wide-eyed at the wall. On the Tower Bridge "over there," she had only smashed a hole with her machine gun; there was nothing inside. At least, to Katie's eyes, there was nothing.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Li Wei's expression was very serious. The nursery rhyme, the anthropomorphism of the tower, and the objects all acted like children—he could now guess what was hidden inside the wall.

"boom!"

Henry swung his hammer again, smashing it into the wall and creating a large hole. To everyone's horror, several skulls rolled out of the hole like water.

"Alas-----!"

Upon seeing this, Katie couldn't help but scream, while Levi walked over to the skulls and examined them carefully.

The child is rather small overall, and judging by appearance, should be between three and five years old…

After finding his answer in his heart, Li Wei stood up, sighed silently, and then looked at Anthony.

"Find someone to smash down the wall at the same location on the opposite tower bridge, then bury these remains, and our mission will be complete."

Then, he spoke.

(End of this chapter)