Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 84 Revealing the Secret
Although I had already seen another corpse, the sense of oppression was indeed not to be underestimated when this monster actually started moving.

In the light of the campfire, the giant black wolf charging toward Li Wei looked as big as a bear, its paws slamming into the ground with a dull thud.

Little Red Riding Hood stood stiffly beside Levi. If it were Katie, she might have clenched her little fists and rushed forward, eager to challenge him. But Little Red Riding Hood was, after all, just an ordinary farm girl. Even if she had some strength, she certainly didn't have Katie's ability to wrestle with an elephant.

However, Li Wei didn't mind.

He raised the muzzle of his gun, cocked the hammer, and aimed at the target.

The giant wolf leaped up.

At the same time, Li Wei pulled the trigger.

twice.

"Bang bang!!"

The giant wolf, suspended in mid-air, was completely unaffected by the gunfire. Its thick fur and tough hide rendered ordinary bullets utterly ineffective against it.

But coincidentally, Li Wei was never dealing with ordinary things.

The sprayed flames almost engulfed the giant wolf head-on, causing it to let out a shrill scream. It even forgot how it landed and slammed heavily onto the ground. Then, the giant wolf rolled around frantically, leaped up, and quickly turned away with its rear on fire (not a metaphor).

In the blink of an eye, the flickering lights disappeared into the dark night.

After a while, the villagers who had run away returned, but this time, the joy they had felt at the feast was gone, replaced by panic and unease. The monster's second attack was secondary; the real reason for their terror was that there really was a second one…

"How could this be...? Why is there another giant wolf?"

"Wasn't there only one?"

The villagers looked around blankly, anxiously asking questions, hoping someone could answer them. But unfortunately, no one could answer their questions.

"Detective, are you alright?"

Little Red Riding Hood looked at Li Wei cautiously and asked a question, to which he nodded.

"fine."

"But you're really amazing! I heard from the hunting team that this monster is very difficult to deal with!"

At this moment, Little Red Riding Hood's eyes were filled with admiration as she looked at Li Wei. After all, she had heard from the villagers in the hunting team about the monster during the hunt. They said that the monster was not only fast, but also had thick hide that was difficult to penetrate with bullets, and it was also very strong. As a result, the hunting team had to go through a lot of trouble.

However, Li Wei only needed two shots to drive the monster away!
"well enough."

Li Wei stared at the direction the monster had fled, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Do me a favor, go find the village chief and ask him to gather the whole village together."

"Huh? Does this mean we have to go out and hunt down monsters tonight?"

"Do not."

Li Wei shook his head.

"I just intend to call out names."

“…………………?”

Although they didn't know what Li Wei wanted to do, given the strength he had shown when facing the monster, everyone obediently followed his orders—many people hadn't even had time to escape the square and had witnessed almost the entire process of how Li Wei drove the monster away with a single shot.

I have to say, it's really impressive.

Soon, at the village chief's call, about a hundred villagers obediently came to the square, even the little red-hatted grandma came to line up, trembling.

Many people thought that Li Wei intended to take this opportunity to hunt down the giant wolf, and they were all somewhat uneasy.

However, Li Wei only glanced at the crowd before looking at the village chief.

"Who didn't come?"

"Who didn't come?!"

The village chief looked at the villagers and shouted at the top of his lungs. There were more than a hundred people, and everyone knew each other. They might not have cared about who came and who didn't usually, but now that everyone was here, it was easy to tell.

The villagers looked at each other, whispered among themselves for a while, and then someone shouted.

Mick didn't come!

"That's rare, where did he go?"

"Who else isn't here?"

"Charlie and Tommy! They were just dancing a moment ago, where did they go?"

"Did you go home to get your gun?"

Soon, after everyone finished taking stock, they discovered that only three people were missing.

Mick, along with brothers Charlie and Tommy.

When Li Wei heard the news, he didn't seem very surprised. He simply nodded and then asked the village chief and the pastor to take him to the house of Charlie and Tommy, while the others stayed behind.

Normally, the villagers wouldn't have listened to a stranger bossing them around, but now they didn't dare utter a sound. After all, there was still one monster left, and they wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. At the same time, another question was gradually spreading in the villagers' minds.

Why are there two?
Li Wei had no time to explain to the villagers; he simply followed the village chief and the pastor to the home of the Charlie brothers, located on a hillside at the edge of the village. It was relatively high up, and the brothers usually chopped wood and gathered firewood nearby. The pastor went up and knocked on the door, but there was no response.

"They don't seem to be back yet."

"I don't think so."

Li Wei shook his head, then stepped forward and knocked on the door again. This time, the door opened, and Charlie appeared before them with a displeased expression. Seeing Li Wei, his face darkened, and he asked in a low voice.

"what's up?"

Good evening, Mr. Charlie.

Levi stared at Charlie, pressed his hat brim, and nodded slightly to him.

"I have something I'd like to discuss with you two brothers. Where's your younger brother?"

"He's injured."

"Injuried?"

"That's right, he was nearby when that monster appeared, but he got injured, and it took me a lot of effort to bring him back..."

"Shouldn't you take him to see a doctor?"

"That's none of your business!"

Charlie glared angrily at Levi and roared. His menacing appearance frightened everyone else, causing them to involuntarily step back. Only Levi remained standing, smiling as he stared at Charlie. Completely unconcerned by the other's fierce aura, he instead reached out and tugged at the gloves on his hands.

Then he spoke.

"I just fired two shots."

"???"

Everyone was surprised when Li Wei suddenly brought up this topic.

"One of the shots was an incendiary bomb made of white phosphorus, which is very flammable and can burn even in water."

"Huh? It can burn in water?"

Hearing this, everyone was quite surprised. After all, in the simple mindset of the country folk, water was used to put out fires, and they had never seen a fire that could burn in water before.

Charlie gritted his teeth, staring intently at Levi, his fists clenched. Levi, however, remained unfazed and continued speaking.

"The second bullet is interesting; it's a mercury bullet, which is simply a bullet containing mercury. When it explodes inside the body, the mercury contaminates the inside, causing poisoning, coma, shock, or even death. So..." Levi tilted his head curiously, looking behind Charlie.

"How is Mr. Tommy now? If he were awake, he could howl, but I guess he probably can't do that now."

"you-----!"

Charlie angrily raised his fist—but Levi's gun was faster than him.

The latter, seeing the gun pointed at his forehead, could only retreat step by step into the room under Li Wei's pressure. Li Wei also went in, and the others, having heard their conversation, were even more astonished. They reached the doorway and looked inside, only to see Tommy lying on the bed, his face ashen and devoid of color.

"Sure enough."

Levi glanced at Tommy lying on the bed, quickly made a judgment, and then looked at Charlie again.

"Tell me, who killed Frazier? Was it you brothers? Or Roger?"

"Hey?!"

It must be said that the village chief and the others were quite surprised when they heard Li Wei's question. They did not expect that the whole thing would turn around and end up on them!
Charlie showed a hint of surprise when asked by Levi, then he gritted his teeth.

"It's Roger."

"Because Frazier's wife is pregnant with his child?"

"Yes!"

Charlie, having given up all hope, answered directly.

“That idiot, he says that's his son and he has to raise him himself, not let Frazier raise him. We've tried to persuade him, but this guy's still out of his mind!”

"So you were the ones who killed Roger and Frazier's wives?"

"I did it."

Charlie nodded.

“Because you came, and we were worried that you might find out something… so I stole Roger’s key, followed him at night, and after he and that woman went into the bedroom, I sneaked in and killed them.”

"And then you thought you could pin all this on some wolf god's son, and that's why you incited the villagers to go hunting?"

"…………………"

"I'm curious, why don't you just kill me already?"

"Because...aren't you that special advisor for the police department?"

Charlie frowned and stared at Levi.

“We’re worried that killing you might attract a police investigation and manhunt…”

"Hmm, that's a good idea."

Li Wei nodded.

"And then? How did you trick Mick into becoming a scapegoat?"

"………………………"

At this moment, Charlie's expression towards Levi had become one of utter terror.

"How did you know...?"

"Of those who hunted the Wolf God, four were injured: Roger, Mick, and your father."

Li Wei shook the muzzle of his gun.

"And coincidentally, I heard a rumor that people bitten by werewolves would also turn into werewolves. That's probably why their wives died one after another in the following years."

"That's right, the curse of the wolf god...!"

Charlie resigned himself to his fate, nodded, and continued speaking.

"They killed the wolf god and were cursed by him. After that, every full moon night, or when their emotions became uncontrollable, they would transform into werewolves. Our father was the same. My brother and I witnessed firsthand how he turned into that terrifying, ferocious, and repulsive beast! Moreover, he told us that we also have his blood and would become monsters like him!"

"…………………"

“We couldn’t stand it, so we killed him.”

"and many more."

Upon hearing this, the village chief was taken aback.

"So, he didn't die of illness?"

"No, we killed him and then lied and said he died of illness. Although he was a werewolf, when he was human, his strength was no different from that of an ordinary person. My brother and I poisoned him and then killed him... But, this isn't the end of it!"

Charlie said, clenching his fists.

"That old bastard, he told everyone else about us! He said 'because we're comrades,' but I don't want to be comrades with these damn monsters!"

"Is this why you guys often drink together?"

"We didn't want to go at first, but Roger threatened us to help his brother, and he wouldn't reveal our true identities until we did, so we had no choice but to help. It's just drinking with a drunkard anyway..."

"But you're still very worried, afraid that your identities will be exposed. So when Roger killed his brother and caused trouble, you thought it was a good opportunity to silence him... So Mick felt the same way?"

"Yes."

Charlie relaxed at this point.

“We found Mick and said we’d put on a show. As long as everyone knew the giant wolf had been killed, everything would be fine. Mick thought it was a good idea, so we put on a show in front of the other villagers. The plan was that at the last moment, I just had to point the gun at Mick and pretend to shoot him. But I took the opportunity to shove the gun barrel into his mouth and blow his head off before he could react.”

At this point, Charlie's gaze toward Levi grew increasingly furious.

“Originally, this would have been the end of it all. The monster would have been eliminated, and everyone could have returned to their peaceful lives. But you actually offered a hundred pounds to capture it alive! Now everyone will be watching us! Even if we only leave a footprint, they'll be excited to report us for the money, so…”

"So you're planning to kill me."

Levi looked at Charlie in front of him, showing absolutely no sympathy for them.

“And that’s exactly what I wanted. I’ve noticed for a while that something was off about all of this.”

"So that's why you deliberately posted the bounty?"

“That’s right. You killed the giant wolf so quickly and were so eager to bring its carcass back because you wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. But if I kept this going, you would definitely take action. Now it seems I was right.”

"………………………"

Charlie stared at Levi, and Levi stared back at Charlie.

Both of them knew that there was no room for further communication.

There is only one thing to do.

"Die! I'm going to kill you all!"

Charlie suddenly reached out and grabbed the chair next to him, slamming it down on Levi. At the same time, his body suddenly began to swell and deform.

Faced with the chair that was thrown at him, Li Wei neither dodged nor flinched; he simply stared wide-eyed ahead.

Time seemed to slow down incredibly at that moment.

Then, Li Wei pulled the trigger.

(End of this chapter)