Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 4: Information Hidden in the Details

When Li Wei walked out of the police station, twenty minutes had passed. He carefully reviewed the case file on the "socialite killer," which included all the information from the first case to the present, totaling four cases. The four victims shared very similar characteristics: they were all young women, roughly between 20 and 25 years old; all were socialites; and their bodies were all found in secluded alleyways.

The cause of death was the same: the throat was cut and the body was cut open. The only difference was that the missing internal organs varied from person to person.

To date, the four victims have been found to be missing four organs: heart, liver, spleen, and kidney. Furthermore, according to forensic examination, these organs were surgically removed, not torn apart by a wild animal.

This reminded Li Wei of a mystery novel he had read before, which used this method to kill people and then take out different internal organs to do some kind of astrological black magic... Hmm, I'm getting off-topic.

According to the case file, in addition to this, another thing these victims had in common was that they had all had abortions, or at least that traces of such abortions could be found in their examinations.

Although Li Wei had read some mystery novels, they weren't helpful in completing his current task. All he could do now was take it one step at a time. Indeed, the mysterious system might have granted him some kind of ability, but Li Wei also discovered that it hadn't activated itself.

For example, when Li Wei wants to observe someone, if he doesn't have that intention, then he sees that person no differently than he sees an ordinary person. Only when Li Wei has the idea of ​​observing someone carefully will he unconsciously notice those things that he would never notice normally, or that are ignored—like the shadowy figure last night. If Li Wei hadn't been concentrating on examining the corpse, he would never have been able to capture that distorted reflection in the other person's pupils.

In the past, Li Wei wouldn't have been able to do that either; he didn't have that particular interest in observing others closely. But yesterday was different… well, considering his current situation, it doesn't seem surprising.

Li Wei stood on the street, clenched his fist, and tapped his chest. This would be an easy action for anyone, but not for Li Wei. Not to mention doing this action, just clenching his fist was enough to make him feel an indescribable pain all over his body.

But now, he can do it all again, without any pain, just like an ordinary person.

Whether this is a dream or reality, at least for now, Li Wei doesn't want to wake up.

How to do?
Li Wei summoned the system again and carefully examined his attributes and skills.

[Shooting: 90 (It's not an exaggeration to say that you're a crack shot)]

Disguise: 55 (You must disguise yourself to eliminate your presence)

[Reconnaissance: 70 (You can see in all directions and hear in all directions)]

[Psychology: 70 (For someone as perceptive as you, there are almost no secrets in this world)]

[Allure: 85 (Few can resist your charm, which is adorned with a gentle whisper and a stunning appearance)]

Of these skills, the highest stat is [Shooting], but Li Wei feels it's useless for solving cases unless he can make the bullets actively find the murderer. But thinking about it, that's obviously impossible.

Next are [charm] and [psychology], which Li Wei is no stranger to. From a young age, he was always surrounded by people, both boys and girls, who would gather around him. Often, Li Wei didn't do anything; he simply became a leader. He also knew the thoughts of most of those who approached him, but they were generally quite simple-minded and didn't overthink things.

In fact, Li Wei rarely tries to guess what other people are thinking, because he feels it's unnecessary. After all, people are different, and it's pointless to spend so much time trying to figure out what someone completely different from you is thinking.

However, Li Wei now regrets it somewhat. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to this aspect back then, but... well, it's too late to say that now.

In any case, these are the only skills I can use to track down the killer for now, so what's next...?

Li Wei decided on his next goal.

According to the rules of detective novels, the murderer often returns to the crime scene.

When Li Wei returned to the alley, it was unchanged from the previous night, except that the victim's body had been removed. A "No Entry" sign was posted at the alley entrance, but this didn't stop Li Wei; he stepped over it and returned to the crime scene.

During the day, everything here looked even more horrifying than at night, after all, the pitch-black night concealed everything around. However, in the daytime, Li Wei could clearly see the radiating, splattered bloodstains. The blood flowing on the ground had long since congealed, and there was a rough outline drawn with white chalk on the ground, marking the victim's final appearance.

Li Wei stood there, recalling what had happened the night before. Everything had happened so suddenly that there was almost no time to react.

I stood here, then saw the shadow, turned my head, and it realized I'd seen it, so it attacked… Levi recalled what had happened yesterday, turning his gaze forward again. He remembered firing his gun and hitting the shadow. Unfortunately, it was useless; there was no DNA testing technology in this era, and even with bloodstains, no useful results could be obtained.

Then, the dark figure escaped.

Li Wei turned to look at the other wall. It had been too dark last night, and he wasn't sure how the shadow had escaped. Now it seemed it must have climbed the wall—after all, the bricks of these old houses were always uneven, and there were windows and windowsills… Well then, he'd give it a try.

Climbing up the wall to the roof was more difficult than Li Wei had imagined. The houses here were mostly three stories high, neither too tall nor too short. But climbing up was not easy either, because the walls were covered with slippery moss. Li Wei used both his hands and feet, and it took him a lot of effort to finally climb up to the roof, looking quite disheveled.

"No matter who the murderer is, they must be an expert at climbing walls."

Li Wei dusted himself off, muttering as he looked around. The rooftop was covered in dust, which made the footprints clearly visible. But…

"What the hell is this thing?"

Staring at the footprints in front of him, Li Wei frowned.

He originally thought he could obtain some information by relying on footprints. You see, that's how detectives in novels are; they can easily determine a person's height, weight, gender, and even occupation just by looking at footprints.

but……………

"I think even Sherlock Holmes would be stumped by this thing."

Staring at the footprints, Li Wei muttered to himself. It was because these footprints didn't look like something out of a detective novel; they looked more like something out of science fiction.

The footprint wasn't large or small, it was medium-sized. However, the problem wasn't there; in front of the toes were several sharp claw marks. These resembled cat claws—which is why Levi said even Sherlock Holmes would be stumped. Because it didn't look like a human footprint at all. Even if someone was unkempt and never trimmed their toenails, their toenails wouldn't be hooked like an animal's.

Now Li Wei understood why that dark figure was so good at climbing walls.

At the same time, he also knew that this was not an ordinary detective game.

Okay, let's move on.

Li Wei sighed, then reached for the gun handle at his waist. He didn't know what he was about to face, but he was certain it wasn't human... or rather, it wasn't an ordinary person.

Following the footprints, Li Wei ran across the rooftops, somewhat like parkour. Luckily, he had done similar things when he was a streamer. Or rather, Li Wei's streams were quite diverse; he did everything. He exposed counterfeits, explored restaurants, cooked food, played games, did science popularization livestreams, did parkour and extreme sports, travel and documented various topics.

I never thought I'd actually be able to use it now.

If he could, Li Wei would have liked to follow the footprints all the way to the enemy's lair, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. After crossing the third street, the footprints returned to the ground from the rooftops and then disappeared completely.

"call……………"

Li Wei, who had climbed back down from the roof, stared speechlessly at the footprints hidden in the messy mud. He looked around; they were near the edge of Fog City, with dilapidated buildings, muddy roads, chaotic and stinking waterways piled high with all sorts of garbage.

Li Wei's knowledge told him that this should be the lower city, the most dilapidated and filthy part of Fog City.

But that's fine, since I'm already here...

Li Wei recalled the contents of the case file, which happened to be the place he had originally planned to come to question a witness.

Let's just do it all at once.

When Inspector Lestrade returned to his office, it was empty.

"I still don't approve of you doing this."

Officer Fletcher stood next to Inspector Lestrade, grumbling under his breath.

"Unauthorized disclosure of internal police documents is a violation of regulations."

"I didn't leak the document; I just forgot to archive it."

Inspector Lestrade picked up the case file from his desk, put it back in the filing cabinet, and locked it again.

"See, now there's no problem."

"...I still don't understand."

Seeing Inspector Lestrade's almost cheating reaction, Officer Fletcher was speechless.

Why do you believe that young man?

"An intuition."

Inspector Lestrade sat back down in his chair and squinted.

He had taken a liking to the young man, Levi, from the start; he was polite and quite pleasing to the eye. Of course, Fletcher might have found it somewhat distasteful, but Lestrade was well past that age. He remembered everything that had happened the previous night; the young man had remained remarkably calm and composed.

and………

"I don't think it's a bad thing to be on good terms with a descendant of a nobleman, right?"

"Is he a nobleman?"

“Not yet.”

As he spoke, Inspector Lestrade recalled the information about Levi that he had previously obtained from the Difference Engine. According to that information, he was born into a very ancient family, which made sense, especially given his rare black hair and black eyes. If Inspector Lestrade's memory was correct, family histories with similar characteristics could even be traced back to the First Dynasty.

Although Inspector Lestrade was unaware of Levi's specific background, it was clear from his speech and demeanor that he was no ordinary person.

And this case is no ordinary case.

Perhaps he can bring me some surprises?

(End of this chapter)