Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 85 Steel and Giants

If this were a game, this would be a cutscene where Charlie throws a chair, everyone scrambles to avoid it, then Charlie transforms into a giant werewolf, and the boss battle begins.

However, Levi did not give Charlie that chance.

After activating the Eye of Death to slow down the passage of time by four weeks, he aimed at Charlie without hesitation and pulled the trigger.

"Boom!"

Gunshots rang out, and time returned to normal.

Li Wei dodged the chair that was thrown at him, but the village chief behind him couldn't dodge in time and was hit squarely by the chair, falling to the ground with a scream.

But the most unlucky one was naturally Charlie.

In reality, there's no such thing as becoming invincible through transformation. At this moment, Charlie's body had only just begun to swell, tearing his clothes apart, and he hadn't even finished preparing. An armor-piercing bullet struck him directly in the chest and exploded, cruelly turning Charlie's chest into a huge basin of blood and flesh.

Then a second mercury bullet was fired, using the same technique, into Charlie's wound.

"Ugh!"

The latter coughed up blood, collapsed to his knees, and his massive body slammed onto the ground with a dull thud. However, Levi did not let his guard down. On the contrary, after dodging the chair Charlie threw, he flashed into the shadows by the wall. Almost simultaneously, a thick, sharp claw reached out from behind, grazing Levi's body as it swept across the wall in front of him, tearing a long gash in the thick, log-built wall.

"Pastor Cornelius!?"

The village chief, lying on the ground, stared wide-eyed at the giant wolf before him—just moments ago, it had been a calm and collected priest, but now it had transformed into a gigantic black wolf.

“I’m not like you, Charlie.”

The priest, now transformed into a werewolf, raised his arms and stared at his enormous hands, which were covered in sharp claws.

“I don’t believe this is a curse. It’s a power bestowed upon us by the Holy Lord. We passed the test and eliminated the evil that plagued this village, so the Holy Lord granted us this powerful strength! Why, why are you unwilling to accept it?”

"So there's another way to say it."

Li Wei emerged from the shadows once more, staring intently at the priest before him. He hadn't forgotten that four people had been injured, the priest being one of them. Since everyone else had turned into werewolves, the priest would naturally be no exception.

The others seemed unaware, but in fact, the puppet bird controlled by Levi had been acting as a drone, circling overhead. Therefore, Levi had already noticed when the priest transformed.

"Nonsense...nonsense..."

Charlie collapsed to the ground, the mercury poison rapidly eroding his blood vessels and nerves. Perhaps because his transformation wasn't complete, Charlie's muscles were still twitching, as if futilely trying to heal his blasted wounds. However, the more he did this, the faster the mercury poison eroded his body… Unexpectedly, this stuff was so effective against monsters with a body-regenerating ability.

I can write another entry for Benjamin when I get back.

“This…this ugly…thing…how could it be…a blessing from God…”

"How stupid."

The pastor shook his head, then spread his arms wide, assuming a gesture as if giving a speech.

"Fear is the whip that God uses to shepherd the lambs! Only the devil reveals himself through temptation! The more fearful and ugly one is, the more sacred one becomes!"

That does seem to be true.

Hearing the priest's answer, Li Wei recalled Elizabeth's explanation that within the clergy of the Holy Episcopal Church, the less human-like someone was, the more sacred they were; conversely, the more human-like someone was, the more evil they were. This was because demons needed to act like humans to tempt people, while angels did not… Come to think of it, Bishop Raphael's feathered monster appearance back then wasn't much better than the werewolf before him.

If the pastor is telling the truth, it wouldn't be too surprising.

“I am the Holy Lord’s sharp blade, a dagger pointed at evil! But you not only disregard the Holy Lord’s grace, but have even committed such a treacherous act! You will surely be judged and punished!”

As the pastor spoke, he glanced at Charlie, then turned to look at Levi and the village chief.

"It's a real pity that you shouldn't have known all this. Perhaps this was your destiny."

"You don't think we'll just surrender willingly, do you?"

Li Wei chuckled and stared at the priest, who then flexed his hands.

“I admit you are indeed very capable, an outsider, but I…”

Levi could no longer guess what the pastor was trying to say.

At that moment, a thick, wolf-fur-covered arm pierced through the priest's chest, and on that enormous hand, a bloody heart was clearly visible, still beating violently.

"How could this be...?"

The pastor stared in disbelief at his own heart. What was going on?

Could there be another werewolf?
But who could it be?

Clearly, only a few people in this village, including myself, received this blessing…

However, he no longer had the chance to get the answer to that question. Because at that moment, the hand holding the priest's heart clenched tightly, and with a "plop," the beating heart turned into a pile of rotten flesh like a tomato. Without his heart, the priest collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

And that's why the shadow behind him appeared in front of Li Wei.

"I'm so sorry, Detective."

The bright moonlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the previously dark scene. Behind the priest, a petite figure emerged, wearing a bright red cloak and a white dress, everything as always, except that the girl's right hand was now long and thick, stained with scarlet blood and covered in thick, black wolf fur.

Little Red Riding Hood looked up at Li Wei and smiled happily.

"Actually, I didn't want to take action, but if it were you, you would definitely kill him, right? In that case, wouldn't I be unable to avenge my father with my own hands?"

"Father?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wei raised his eyebrows in slight surprise.

"You're not trying to say that you're the wolf cub that ran away back then, are you?"

"Yes."

Little Red Riding Hood smiled.

"They weren't wrong, you know. I did come back, and I came back for revenge. First, the murderers who killed my father, then the people of this village—they all have to die. I initially had a pretty good impression of you, Detective, and was planning to wait until you left before making my move. But I didn't expect you to be even more capable than I imagined, uncovering so many interesting things… So, I had no choice but to act now." "Are you so sure you can kill me? I'm very capable."

“I know that very well, but please don’t compare me to these pieces of trash.”

As Little Red Riding Hood spoke, she looked contemptuously at the priest in front of her and Charlie, who was lying beside her struggling in pain.

"In the end, they are nothing more than inferior beings infected by Father."

"So your identity is fake too?"

The girl in front of him was only a teenager, while the wolf god had been dead for thirty years. If the girl in front of him was the cub, their ages wouldn't match up, would they?
"of course."

Little Red Riding Hood smiled gently.

"Ah, but she does exist. I wasn't lying. That child was indeed thinking of her grandmother and wanted to come back to see her. But unfortunately, she met me, so I ate her and turned into her—I can perfectly simulate everything about the person I eat. That's one of my abilities. How about it, Detective? Now you understand that I'm completely different from those lowly beings who can only transform and solve problems with brute force."

"So, the Big Bad Wolf still ate Little Red Riding Hood."

Li Wei sighed and silently raised his gun.

"As a fairy tale, this ending is not popular."

"I like you very much too, Detective."

Little Red Riding Hood looked at Li Wei with shining eyes.

"You're both smart and beautiful. If I eat you, it will be much easier for me to hunt in the human world. I'm sure a male like you will have no shortage of female attention. That would make both hunting and reproduction much easier."

"Uh... should I say, thank you for the compliment?"

"Huff huff..."

The two chatted as if nothing had happened. But the next moment, Little Red Riding Hood chuckled softly.

Then, she disappeared.

Like a hurricane.

When Levi looked up, his vision was filled with darkness. It was a giant wolf, not like Charlie and the others, who looked like a hybrid of gorilla and wolf, but a real, well-proportioned giant black wolf. Its body stretched out in the night sky, the bright moonlight illuminating its glossy fur, its open maw seeming to devour the heavens and earth.

Then, Li Wei also disappeared.

Instead, there is the same black steel.

A steel body, a roaring engine, and... dazzling lights!

"————!"

A blinding light suddenly shone on the black wolf, who instinctively squinted and rolled to the ground—a natural reaction for any creature to bright light.

As the black wolf landed, the Phantom, which had switched positions with Li Wei, roared over and crashed into the black wolf.

If this steel behemoth could talk, it would surely shout, "Eat my seventy yards!"

"Boom!"

Although the black wolf was as big as a horse, it clearly had no special abilities to deal with the power of modern technology. The Phantom sped past and crashed heavily into the black wolf, which howled in pain as it tried to dodge.

However, time began to slow down at this moment.

Reappearing once more on the surrounding tree branches using [Phantom Transformation], Li Wei raised his transformed cane gun, aimed at the black wolf's head, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Flames erupted, igniting the fur on the black wolf's head. Before it could even howl, a spinning armor-piercing bullet tore through its flesh and shattered its hard skull. A mercury bullet followed closely behind, shooting directly into the black wolf's brain through the blasted opening.

Then, time returned to normal.

"Boom!!"

The Phantom crashed into the Black Wolf, sending him flying. The Black Wolf slid for dozens of meters before finally coming to a stop.

It blinked, opened its mouth as if to say something, but in the end it only let out a weak wolf howl.

When Li Wei reappeared in front of the black wolf, it had already closed its eyes completely.

"…………………call……………"

A cold wind blew.

Li Wei stood on the ground, staring silently at the completely dead black wolf before him. It was clear that everything that had happened in Wolf Head Village stemmed from the black wolf's father. But unfortunately… he lacked the ability to capture and interrogate him.

"Detective, Mr. Detective..."

The village chief's trembling voice came from behind him. Li Wei turned around and saw the latter standing up with a pale face, looking around.

"What...what should I do now? How am I going to explain this to the villagers?"

"…………………"

Hearing the village chief's words, Levi blinked and looked around. Inside the hut, Charlie was dead, and Tommy, lying on the bed, was also silent. The priest, pierced through the heart, was still lying on the ground, and with the giant wolf's corpse beside him, it looked like a bizarre scene from a monster movie.

"...How about we fill their bellies with stones and then sink them into the lake?"

"Hey?"

"I'm just kidding."

Li Wei glanced at the black wolf again and sighed silently.

"Burn them."

(End of this chapter)