Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 8 Unraveling the Mystery

Royal Academy.

In Li Wei's words, this is more like a public school with a high school-university system, funded and managed by the royal family, and without tuition or other expenses. However, conversely, those qualified to study here are the nation's future elite talents, regardless of status or position; only those with talent are eligible for admission.

Of course, as a price for receiving royal assistance, they all have to work for the royal family after graduation, without the right to choose freely—which is quite normal.

Standing at the entrance of the Royal Academy, Li Wei reminisced about his youth for a long time. The atmosphere here was just like that of a university, with that vibrant feeling of young people. It was wonderful.

only……………

Li Wei silently looked at the girl beside him. The girl was none other than the "boss" who had worn a mask and cloak the night before. This time, her attire was much more normal. She was wearing a relatively ordinary coat and a baseball cap with her hair tucked inside, pulling the brim down low. She looked like a young person who hadn't quite grown up yet, and it wouldn't be surprising if she were hanging out at school.

Actually, Li Wei didn't want her to come, but she insisted, and Li Wei didn't want to cause too much trouble, so he simply agreed to her request and took her with him on the next part of the investigation.

"What do we do now?"

The girl's voice was deliberately lowered, but it sounded very cheerful. Hmm, I hope she won't get in the way.

"Take this."

Li Wei handed over his briefcase, gesturing for the other person to take it.

"Just stand behind me, don't say anything, just follow me, understand?"

"…………………All right."

The girl's tone was clearly reluctant, but after glancing at Li Wei, she obediently nodded.

Hopefully she'll really listen, Li Wei glanced at the girl but didn't say anything more. Most of the time, the girls would obediently do as he asked.

Of course, there are also some girls who, for reasons unknown, insist on doing things that aren't asked of them, and always say with teary eyes, "I'm doing this all for you..."

Sigh, just thinking about Li Wei makes me feel exhausted.

Forget it, let's deal with the immediate problem first.

Li Wei shook his head, then looked at the gate of the Master's Academy in front of him. He saw several female students who had appeared together, smiled, and then walked up to them.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but I have some questions I'd like to ask you..."

It didn't take much time for Li Wei to quickly find "Amelia's boyfriend." The reason was simple: such an elite school wouldn't have a large student body to begin with. And based on Li Wei's experience, when he asked for help, even if the person couldn't help him themselves, they would usually be very enthusiastic in introducing him to others.

Just like now, Li Wei was asking a student at the entrance of the Master's School, and the student enthusiastically led him to a second-year female student, who in turn enthusiastically called over "Amelia's boyfriend" for Li Wei.

"can I help you?"

Sitting across from Li Wei was an ordinary-looking young man with thick-rimmed glasses, who seemed rather unremarkable. His gaze towards Li Wei clearly held no goodwill and carried a hint of wariness.

"Hello, Mr. Edwards, I'm sorry to bother you."

Li Wei smiled and nodded to the young man.

"Actually, I'm an investigator for Atlantic Insurance Company..."

"Insurance company?"

"Yes, Miss Emilia had purchased personal accident insurance from us before her death."

Li Wei made up a lie on the spot, since no one could expose him anyway.

"But I never expected her to pass away so soon..."

"So what do you want from me?"

The young man frowned, looking impatient, while Li Wei stared at him.

"Because you are the emergency contact person listed on the policy."

"Huh? Me?"

"Yes, that's why I've come to investigate... Miss Emilia's unexpected death. How much do you know about it?"

"I do not know anything!"

The man stood up and stared at Li Wei with a surprised expression.

"I had no idea she had done all this... Really, I knew nothing about it!"

"If this is your final answer, then there is no problem."

Li Wei closed his notebook, adopting a businesslike demeanor. He noticed the young man's hands were tightly gripping the hem of his shirt, his eyes wide with a hint of fear. However, he firmly stated that he had nothing to do with the matter.

"But we suspect this involves insurance fraud..."

"Hey?"

"I hope you will stand by your testimony in court."

After saying this, Li Wei turned around and gestured for the girl to leave with him.

One step, two steps, three steps.

"………………………"

Four steps, five steps, six steps...

"Wait, wait a minute."

Li Wei stopped and turned to look at the pale-faced young man, smiling slightly.

"Is there anything else?"

"I, I'll talk..."

The young man was completely deflated, like a wilted eggplant.

Li Wei wasn't surprised. The students of the Royal Academy of Sciences were of high status and valued their reputation highly; they would absolutely not want to get involved with the courts. Li Wei's earlier statement was just a ploy to put pressure on him. After all, if a Royal Academy of Sciences student were sued for insurance fraud, regardless of the truth, his days at the school would be numbered.

That was truly an accident.

After making up his mind, the young man quickly told Li Wei the truth.

“I warned her at the time that it was risky, but Emilia…”

"Please start from the beginning."

Li Wei tapped his notebook, adopting a businesslike demeanor. This made the young man even more nervous and uneasy, but he still began to explain.

"My research group is currently developing a new type of steam-powered surgical device. You see, previously, surgery required the assistance of several people, right? We're trying to develop a fully automated operating table that can be powered by steam to assist the surgeon. This way, only one doctor is needed to perform a full surgical procedure using these mechanical components..."

Goodness, you guys really have wild ideas!

Hearing the young man's answer, Li Wei remained outwardly unmoved, but inwardly he was in turmoil.

Even in the age of artificial intelligence, no one dares to build something like this. People in this era are really going all out!
"...But there's a problem. The device has been created, but it needs to be tested. However, live human experimentation is illegal and very risky..."

The young man swallowed hard and continued speaking.

"I was just fretting about it when I talked to Emilia about it, and she told me that she could help with the experiment."

"Oh?"

"She said... her father is a doctor who often performs surgeries on poor people, so she wanted to test the new equipment there. She said those poor people don't have much money, so if something went wrong, it wouldn't cause any trouble..."

"…………………"

"I, of course I think that's wrong!"

The man noticed Li Wei staring at him and quickly waved his hand.

"But she assured me that she would only use the device for simple surgeries! It wouldn't endanger anyone's life! That's what she assured me! We were just there to install the device for her; we didn't use it! Really!"

"Dr. Dolittle claims she died in an accident."

Li Wei stared coldly at the young man, perfectly playing the role of a cold-blooded and ruthless capitalist lackey.

"Is this real? Or did you all collude to forge it?"

"I, I really didn't!"

Upon hearing this, the man shouted again, waving his hands frantically.

"Believe me, by the time I arrive, Emilia will already be dead...!"

"Oh?"

"………………………"

Realizing he had let something slip, the man quickly shut his mouth, but Li Wei just stared at him calmly.

“I expect an explanation from you, sir, or else… why don’t you go and explain to the police?”

"No, I'll talk, I'll talk...!"

Young students are the easiest to intimidate and deceive. This kind of insurance fraud is most effective against innocent and naive college students who haven't even entered the workforce yet. Not to mention that this is the Royal Academy of Sciences, a top-tier institution even in China. If students like this were summoned by the police or even taken to court, it would be quite a big news story.

Judging from the bespectacled man's demeanor, Li Wei felt he wouldn't want to be the center of social media attention. Although his interaction with the student was brief, Li Wei had already discerned his characteristics: intelligent but inflexible, somewhat bookish, honest but unfamiliar with society. Judging from his clothing, his family likely had some money, but not immensely wealthy—a typical lower-middle-class individual. He was obedient, docile, and easily swayed, the kind who would readily be tricked into counting money. He was also quite weak; a little intimidation would leave him completely bewildered.

It's just that there are no phone scams in this world yet, otherwise this person would definitely have been swindled out of everything.

"What exactly happened? I hope you can tell me the situation clearly so that I can determine whether you are involved."

"Of course... let me think about it..."

The bespectacled man's face turned ashen. He frowned and pondered for a moment.

“That was… about six months ago. I lent that machine to Amelia, and she was responsible for reporting the data to me weekly. Most of the time, the data was going well. She also followed her instructions, only performing small-scale local surgeries on patients. But later, she felt that this wouldn't work, since it didn't demonstrate the machine's full potential, so she wanted to do something like…”

"Standard surgery."

Li Wei asked the question while searching for the knowledge that surfaced in his mind.

"But you are just students, you don't have a medical license, do you?"

"…………………"

“If you’re not willing to explain to me, then please explain to the police.”

"I, I'll talk...!"

Seeing Li Wei turn to leave again, the bespectacled man was so frightened that he almost knelt down and hugged his leg.

“That’s what I said at the time. Her father is a doctor, so it was fine for her to do the local bandaging, disinfection, suturing, and so on as an assistant. But being the main surgeon is a different story. Of course, I was against her doing it that way, but she insisted that this was the best way to maximize the value of the machine… If students like her can complete a surgery independently with the help of that machine, then the value of our invention will be demonstrated!”

As expected of a naive and foolish college student.

Li Wei rolled his eyes inwardly. Actually, he was like that back then... but not to this extreme.

"and then?"

“I… I don’t think it’s appropriate… and even if it were to be done, I think it should be done by a licensed physician… but… she wants to do it herself, after all, she’s a top student at school, and she’s indeed excellent in this area… she’s also very skilled in human anatomy and physiology…”

"go on."

"We had a fight later, but I still felt uneasy the next day, so I decided to go check on it. I went to the operating room downstairs from the clinic... and then, I went into the operating room and saw..."

Recalling the scene, the bespectacled man turned pale.

“Oh, God help me, it was horrible! I saw Emilia lying by the operating table, covered in blood, with scalpels stuck in her body. And Dr. Dolittle was screaming as he pulled the surgical instruments out of Emilia's body with his hands. When he saw me, he immediately yelled for me to turn off that damn thing. I was so terrified, I was like a wooden doll…”

"So, you mean... you don't know what happened back then, and you don't even know what Emilia was doing?"

"Yes, yes... I think she was trying to perform surgery on a patient, because I saw a patient lying on the operating table..."

"Male and female?"

"It should be a woman..."

"and then?"

“I turned off the machine and put Emilia down, but by then she was already… Oh my god…”

At this point, the bespectacled man covered his face with his hands, digging his ten fingers deep into his messy, curly hair, looking quite pitiful. However, Li Wei remained unmoved, at least outwardly.

What do you think caused the accident?

"This... I'm not quite sure. It could be that there was some error in the machine's setup, or it could just be an accident..."

"And what about the patient?"

"Okay, it seems she's dead too... I was stunned. After I turned off the machine, I just stood there watching Mr. Dolittle try to save Emilia, but... but it was no use. When I came to my senses, Dr. Dolittle was staring at me with his face covered in blood, telling me not to tell anyone about this, not to tell the police, because we were practicing medicine illegally, and everyone would go to jail..."

"In other words, Miss Emilia died accidentally due to her own negligence while committing an illegal act. Well, thank you, sir. Your testimony is very useful. In this case, the insurance company will not pay out."

Li Wei convincingly portrayed a ruthless capitalist vampire, while simultaneously finishing the last stroke in his notebook.

"Please sign."

“I… this… okay.”

The bespectacled man hesitated for a moment, then picked up a pen and wrote his name at the end of the statement. Although he wasn't very willing, if it would save him more trouble, then he had to admit it, right?
"One last question."

"what is the problem?"

"According to you, that device must be very large."

As Li Wei spoke, he recalled the narrow wooden door of the pharmacy. He didn't know what operating tables were like in this era, but he at least remembered that in his world, operating tables weren't some foldable, disassembled sun loungers.

"How was it transported in? Were there any witnesses?"

"I... I don't think so. Because we were transported in through the sewers..."

"sewer?"

"Yes, Dr. Dolittle's underground operating room was connected to the sewers. We transported the equipment into the sewers by small boat, and then moved it to the underground operating room for assembly..."

"Location?"

"The outlet of the fifth canal in the lower city area."

"…………………"

"Excuse me... may I leave now?"

"please."

Upon receiving Li Wei's reply, the bespectacled man almost immediately turned and left. Li Wei, however, stared at his retreating figure, lost in thought.

sewer.

Li Wei recalled the footprints he had followed earlier, which disappeared along the riverbank. He remembered that stinking riverbed, piled high with garbage. He then looked down at his crisp, clean suit and sighed silently.

"You lied."

As the girl walked out of the school gate, she stared at Li Wei and said seriously.

"You're not an insurance agent at all."

"of course."

"But isn't that illegal?"

"If I defrauded him of his money, that would be illegal."

Li Wei spread his hands, looked at the girl, and smiled slightly.

“But I only concealed my identity and asked him a few questions. As long as he doesn’t need to appear in court to testify, then there’s no problem.”

"That's just sophistry!"

I have no objection.

Li Wei did not respond to this, but just smiled and brushed it off. Fortunately, the girl quickly changed the subject.

"So, you believe Dr. Dolittle is the murderer?"

"What do you think?"

“I don’t know, I’ve never been to Dr. Dolittle’s clinic.”

The girl shook her head.

"But I've heard many people talk about him. He's a good person who treats patients for free or at very low fees, so I don't think it could be him. Besides, he has no reason to kill anyone, right? There shouldn't be any connection between his daughter's death and those socialites, right?"

"Indeed not."

Li Wei nodded. Emilia's death was an accident, a coincidence, and had nothing to do with the socialites. Even if the patient Emilia wanted to operate on was a socialite, Dr. Dolittle could have settled the score on the spot; there was no need for him to do it again and again.

"However, it's not entirely unrelated."

"How to say?"

“I had previously tracked down that killer, but his footprints disappeared by the river.”

Li Wei explained something to the girl.

"According to this young man's testimony, Dr. Dolittle's underground chamber was connected to the sewers, and its exit was located at the spot where the assassin disappeared. Therefore, it is highly likely that the assassin escaped to Dr. Dolittle's underground chamber through the sewers... at least that's a possibility."

"But...why would Dr. Dolittle do that?"

The girl's voice sounded incredibly unbelievable.

"Perhaps once we catch him, we can just ask him directly and we'll find out."

Li Wei looked at the notes in his hand again and sighed helplessly.

This doesn't look like a detective at all.

(End of this chapter)