Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 29 Relapse
That night, Li Wei had another dream.

It's still the same foggy city, with night, strange people, and a blood moon.

He was still exhausted, running around trying to save people. Li Wei was quite wary because things were too strange. He didn't want to fail once and then wake up the next morning to find someone had been disemboweled.

Could this be part of the mastermind's plan to work me to death?

Of course, Li Wei knew this was impossible. In his dream, he was practically invincible; several times, he even shielded the girls from the monsters. The monsters' blades struck him without even penetrating his defenses, giving Li Wei a real taste of being a superhero.

Of course, in reality, that one stab would have sent him sprawling to the ground.

Fortunately, even after a busy night, Li Wei was only a little tired when he woke up the next morning, like someone who had dreamed of running a 10,000-meter marathon, and he recovered after a while.

Just as Li Wei changed his clothes and arrived at the restaurant, Eileen had already set out breakfast and brought today's newspaper.

However, Eileen looked somewhat uneasy.

"gentlemen………"

"What's wrong, Eileen?"

Seeing Eileen's expression, Li Wei was somewhat surprised, while Eileen hesitated for a moment before handing over the newspaper.

"Please look..."

"Ok?"

Li Wei took the newspaper and then saw the headline on the front page of the Daily Mail.

Vampires Return! The Second Victim!

"……………………"

Just as Li Wei was staring at the newspaper in silence, the intercom on the wall started shouting at the top of its lungs.

Without even guessing, Li Wei knew who was calling.

An hour later, Li Wei arrived at the crime scene in a horse-drawn carriage.

"I never expected that reporters would be faster than the police these days. I don't think I'll need to come to the scene anymore; I can just read the newspaper."

As soon as he got off the carriage, Levi immediately began to complain to Inspector Lestrade, who was also helpless.

“I can’t help it, Mr. Li Wei. This case isn’t in my jurisdiction. The police station here was a bit slow to react; it was only transferred to me after it was reported.”

"Never mind... it's not important."

Li Wei sighed silently.

"I've read the newspaper for details. Are there any discrepancies between what's said there and what's actually said?"

“Basically the same.”

Inspector Lestrade was also helpless. The police had to rely on newspapers to get information about the case. They weren't politicians. This was a huge loss of face for them.

"…………………"

Li Wei stopped complaining, turned his head and stared at the room in front of him, his expression solemn.

Li Wei had already seen the details in the newspaper. The victim's name was Rogers Blanco, a relatively unknown painter. Of course, that was a nice way of putting it; to put it bluntly, he was an incompetent rich second-generation who used his artist status to seduce women.

He lived with his parents. This morning, the maid woke him up, but he didn't respond. Then the maid opened the door and found Rogers dead in bed, naked and pale.

They first called the local police station, which then sent officers to search the area. However, they quickly realized the situation was complicated and reported the case to higher authorities.

It was only at this point that Inspector Lestrade learned of the case, while the freshly printed morning paper had already spread to every household through the pipes…

Looking at the crowd of onlookers and reporters with cameras outside the police cordon, Levi's lips twitched slightly. He said nothing and strode over with Inspector Lestrade. Upon seeing Levi's arrival, the reporters swarmed around him like sharks smelling blood.

"Mr. Li Wei, is the perpetrator this time still a vampire?"

"When will you be able to catch this vicious criminal?"

"Are there any leads yet?"

"The public is deeply disturbed by these rumors. What would you like to say about this?"

I'm not the mayor, what do I have to say?

Li Wei rolled his eyes inwardly, said nothing, and simply followed Inspector Lestrade through the crowd with a serious expression, then entered the small house.

Inside the room, Li Wei saw a middle-aged couple. The wife was sitting on the sofa sobbing, while the husband comforted her. There were also two maids, a man and a woman, both pale-faced. Police officers were already investigating and collecting evidence at the scene, and they bowed to Inspector Lestrade upon his arrival.

"Tell me, what's going on?"

"Yes, the specific situation is..."

The officer's report was largely consistent with what was in the newspaper. After listening to his report, Li Wei nodded and then looked at the two servants.

"Who went to wake Mr. Rogers up?"

"it's me."

An elderly woman who looked to be nearly sixty years old came out and said in a low voice.

"I never imagined that the young master would die such a tragic death..."

"Could you tell me what happened this morning? I'd like to verify this further."

Li Wei walked up to the old woman and asked in a low voice, looking at her kindly. Under Li Wei's gaze, the old woman's expression gradually calmed down. She was silent for a moment, and then spoke.

"Actually, it's nothing much, just like always, my husband..."

At this point, she glanced at the old man standing beside her. “We get up together, then I prepare breakfast, while my husband trims the garden. After breakfast is ready, I wake the master and mistress, and then I wake the young master. I knocked on his door, but he didn't respond. I initially thought he was drunk and hadn't gotten up, so I wanted to check on him, but I never expected… oh my god…”

The old woman covered her face with her hands, trembling uncontrollably.

"He just lay there, so miserably on the bed, Almighty Lord, it was truly terrifying!"

Li Wei didn't speak, but stood beside the old woman and quietly comforted her for a moment. Then, the old woman continued speaking.

"Then I yelled, and when I heard the yelling, the master came upstairs. He was also very surprised and hurriedly told me to find someone to report the incident... I ran to the door and happened to see the postman, so I asked him for help..."

No wonder the case was leaked so quickly; I thought there was a mole in the police department.

Li Wei grumbled, actually knowing it didn't really matter whether there was a mole or not, because newspapers in this era had offices within the police station, living, eating, and working alongside the police. Therefore, if the police got a case, it was essentially the same as these media reporters getting the case.

However, Fog City is quite large, with a population of several million, so it's impossible for it to have only one police station. Information gathering and intelligence gathering aren't as readily available as they are in later times, so such an incident isn't entirely impossible… After all, a reporter only needs to publish a report, but the police have much more to consider.

"Has Mr. Rogers shown any unusual behavior before?"

"Young Master seems fine..."

"So, what did he do yesterday?"

The old woman pondered for a moment when Li Wei asked her question.

"Young Master was out all day yesterday and didn't return until evening. He was very excited, saying he had seen an unparalleled beauty and wanted to create a masterpiece for her. He was very excited at the time, reeking of alcohol, and seemed to have drunk a lot..."

Did he come back alone?

"He came back alone."

Do you know which bar he frequents?

"Gold Coins and Elephant Bar"

"Thank you."

Li Wei asked a few more questions, then ended the inquiry. He then went to a room on the second floor to conduct his investigation.

It must be said that an artist's room is truly unique. The entire room is filled with canvases and oil paintings, along with a large bed and an easel placed not far away opposite the bed.

Isn't this just the routine of modern photographers?

Li Wei was used to this; these days, isn't that how photographers shoot cosplay? They'll end up taking pictures of you in bed.

This rich kid is probably the same; he might be drawing something and end up in bed with you. Just look at the paintings on the canvases next to him. Isn't that the same in movies? In "How Are You, My Wife?", Jack is a poor painter who's sketching Rose, and then he ends up in a car.

Although he's a rich kid, he still has some skills. Li Wei looked at the oil paintings; he didn't know much about appreciating art, but he could tell from looking that the technique was quite good.

That makes sense; how can you pick up girls without some skills?
Turning his gaze away, Li Wei then examined the corpse lying on the bed.

Edwards's body wasn't very presentable because he had fallen from an upper floor. But this painter's body was different. To be honest, at first glance, Levi thought it was some kind of wax figure. He was lying naked on the bed, his body spread wide, with the corners of his mouth turned up, revealing a blissful and intoxicated smile.

However, when this smile appears on a dead person, it becomes nothing short of eerie.

Li Wei stepped forward, put on gloves, and turned his neck. Sure enough, he found two small holes in the neck.

Apart from that, nothing was found on the bed, not even bloodstains.

"What did you find?"

Li Wei looked at the police officer in charge of the investigation, who shook his head.

"No, we didn't find anything special. The hair and footprints all belonged to the victim; there were no other people's."

"………………………"

Li Wei walked around the scene, and just as the officers had said, there was nothing particularly noteworthy in the room.

There was no other way but to go back and continue the investigation.

After that, Li Wei went to the bar to inquire and was told that Rogers did not go home alone last night, but left with a woman.

However, neither the bar staff nor his cronies could give a clear answer about the woman's specifics, only saying that she was "very beautiful."

That's tricky.

After a long day of running around, Li Wei returned home with a furrowed brow, completely baffled. He had even investigated the painter's connections, but this good-for-nothing rich kid had no connection with the Royal Academy or Edwards; they weren't from the same circle and didn't know each other.

The only thing they had in common was that they all had a "very beautiful" woman in their lives.

"Sir, this is your letter."

When Li Wei returned home and stepped out of the elevator, he saw Eileen greet him, taking his coat and handing him a letter. Li Wei glanced at the letter; the sender was none other than Betty—just as Li Wei had mentioned before, Betty would always write to him after school to report on her day.

This letter was no exception.

Li Wei opened the envelope, took out the letter, and began to read it.

[...Today I heard at school that another case happened, and there's a rumor going around that both cases were committed by a female vampire. She lurks in the dead of night, using her beauty to lure handsome men and then sucking their blood. I don't know where this rumor came from, but everyone's talking about it with great interest... You must be careful, Detective.]

"…………………"

Upon seeing this, Li Wei narrowed his eyes.

A female vampire? Sucking the blood of handsome men?

Is this targeting me?

(End of this chapter)