Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 411 Inside the Botanical Garden
Li Wei had to admit that these guys did indeed have some ideas.

They hid it in the botanical garden built with investment from the Calent family, so that if the secret came to light, the Calent family would be suspected, and the royalists would lose an important and reliable ally.

However, this plan is not without a solution.

For example, they never imagined that Levi would go directly to the Marquis of Calent to complain.

When Livy and the Marquis of Calent arrived at the Garden of Rare Plants, the latter was already furious. The Marquis of Calent wasn't a fool either; after a moment's thought, he immediately understood the intentions of these traitors, and he too was enraged. "You want to rebel, that's not all, but you want to drag me into it too?"

This is really unreasonable!

The entire botanical garden was closed even in broad daylight, with a sign that read "No Entry Without Permission," which infuriated Marquis Calent. He strode forward and knocked on the door.

"Dong dong dong."

Soon, the botanical garden gate opened, and an old man poked his head out, looking over with a disgruntled gaze.

"What are you doing? This is a private club. No one is allowed to enter without permission."

"terribly sorry."

Before Marquis Calent could get angry, Li Wei walked over with a grin and said to the old man.

"We're here on a trip, and we saw this botanical garden... It's so beautiful, may we have a look around?"

"Of course not."

Looking at Li Wei, the old man's tone softened somewhat.

"This is Marquis Karent's private club. Unless you have Marquis Karent's permission..."

"You idiot!"

At this moment, Marquis Calent finally lost his temper and roared angrily at the old man.

“I am the Marquis of Calent! When did I ever say I wanted to turn the botanical garden into my private club?”

Li Wei watched this scene with great interest, remaining silent. This reminded him of historical dramas he had watched before, where servants or relatives of ministers would impersonate ministers to swindle and commit crimes, only to be exposed by the ministers themselves. He never imagined that he would actually see it happening in real life.

Hearing Marquis Carrent's roar, the old man was taken aback. He stared blankly at the Marquis, speechless for a moment. Li Wei waved his hand, and soon two agents stepped forward and quickly subdued the old man.

“I assure you, Sir Levi.”

At this moment, Marquis Calent, his face ashen, turned to look at Levi and began to explain. Although Marquis Calent was of higher rank than Levi, the problem was that Levi was not only an earl, but also a Knight of the Thistles—and historically, Knights of the Thistles were always earls. Therefore, in terms of historical status and identity, Levi's earldom was not much lower than Marquis Calent's.

“I never intended to use a botanical garden as my private club…”

"Please don't get agitated, Marquis Calent."

Li Wei comforted Marquis Calent, then looked at the old man. He could see the worms parasitizing the old man's brain. The worms were glowing intermittently, as if transmitting some kind of information. This made Li Wei wonder: if these worms were all transmitting information to a single host, how much did that host know about them?
At least it should know of Levi's existence, and now it also knows of the Marquis of Calent...

Li Wei withdrew his gaze and then looked at Marquis Calent.

"Alright, Your Excellency, let's go in and take a look."

"Yes, I also want to see what they've done to my botanical garden!"

Marquis Calent was furious, which was understandable. Although it was a public facility, it was still funded and built by Marquis Calent, and yet he, the investor, was being barred from entering... Anyone would be enraged in that situation.

Levi and the Marquis of Calent entered the botanical garden, followed by the others. The old man, handcuffed, followed behind them. Levi didn't immediately expel the worm from the old man's brain, for he had another idea.

Upon entering the botanical garden, the first thing that hit him was a wave of stuffy, humid air. Completely different from the dry, cool climate outside, this made Li Wei frown. But that's how botanical gardens are; they're like giant greenhouses, and the temperature naturally needs to be different from outside to allow plants from other places to grow.

However, Li Wei really didn't like tropical climates; he preferred temperate climates.

The botanical garden contained a wide variety of plants, mostly flowers, and some rather unusual trees. Clearly, it was designed to attract attention. Li Wei glanced around and thought the plants and trees would be perfect topics of conversation for ordinary people.

“I remember attending the ceremony when the botanical garden was completed. There were also quite a few media outlets and newspapers present.”

Walking among these plants, the Marquis of Calent seemed to gradually recall things about this botanical garden.

"However, I haven't paid any attention to the situation here since then, but the Carente family foundation gives the botanical garden a large sum of money every year as maintenance expenses."

Botanical gardens are, after all, public facilities and not for profit, so they would have gone out of business long ago if they didn't have the funds to maintain them.

It seems that the Marquis of Calent did indeed put his heart and soul into the botanical garden, but he clearly did not expect that the money he spent would be swallowed up by a bunch of damned anti-imperial elements.

However, the Marquis of Calent did not fully reveal his displeasure. He simply walked around, looking at the plants, and muttering to himself about the botanical garden he had once visited.

Li Wei followed beside him, scanning the surroundings. The plants were indeed peculiar in appearance, but they posed no danger.

Or rather... the dangerous thing isn't here.

Just then, Li Wei saw several more staff members rushing from the depths of the botanical garden. They, too, had their brains controlled by the insects. Upon seeing Li Wei and Marquis Calent, these staff members hurriedly stepped forward.

"Lord Karent, I had no idea you had come to the botanical garden..."

“I heard this place isn’t open to the public, so I came to take a look,” Marquis Calent said, glancing at Levi, who nodded slightly. On the way here, Levi had already discussed it with Marquis Calent, saying that the Marquis was unhappy to hear the botanical garden wasn’t open to the public, which was why he came to inquire.

The Marquis of Calent did not object to this; he had also served in the military and knew the importance of deceiving the enemy. And—indeed, he had come for this very reason.

"What's going on here? I came here, but this person won't let me in, saying that the botanical garden is my private club? This is outrageous! I remember when this botanical garden was built, it was announced that it would be open to all citizens free of charge. Where is the director? Can someone explain this to me? What's going on?"

Marquis Calent's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an imposing and authoritative air.

The staff members exchanged glances, and Li Wei keenly noticed the relief in their eyes.

"My lord, I am very sorry, this was actually a mistake."

Soon, one of the older staff members came out and spoke.

"There are some problems with the pipes in the botanical garden right now, and we are repairing them, so we have to keep the botanical garden closed to the public temporarily."

"So, the botanical garden will be open to the public after the repairs are completed?"

"Yes, my lord."

"So, explain what he meant when he said this is my private club."

Marquis Calent pointed to the old man, and Levi noticed that the worm on the old man's head began to glow again. At the same time, as if in response, the worms in the heads of the other staff members also began to flash, as if conveying some kind of information.

Then, the staff member spoke up.

"This is to... prevent any accidents, because there are always some young noble members who come here to join in the fun. To avoid trouble, we borrowed your name. We are very sorry that this was done without your permission."

"Hmm... I hope this kind of thing never happens again."

Marquis Calent nodded silently, seemingly satisfied with the staff's explanation, and then continued walking forward.

Several staff members were somewhat surprised to see this.

"Sir? Where are you planning to go?"

“I rarely come to the botanical garden, so of course I want to see how it is now.”

As he spoke, Marquis Calent looked at the staff in front of him.

"What? Is there a problem?"

"This... some places might be dangerous..."

However, this time Marquis Calent ignored the staff's words and continued walking forward. The staff exchanged glances and followed helplessly behind.

The group wandered around the botanical garden, and before they knew it, they arrived at a gate inside the garden.

"There's nothing interesting inside, Lord Karent."

Seeing that the Marquis of Calent was about to open the door, the older staff member hurriedly stopped him.

"That was just a storage room leading underground; it was not only filthy but also stinky..."

Don't underestimate me!

Marquis Calent raised his eyebrows.

“I used to be a soldier and I repaired ordnance. The environment on the battlefield is much harsher than this. I’d like to see if this place can intimidate me!”

With that, Marquis Calent pushed open the door and went inside.

It wasn't a storage room, but more like a cultivation room. On the flowerpots on both sides grew strange and bizarre plants. They resembled cucumbers in shape, but lacked the color of plants, instead looking like congealed flesh and blood. These strange fruits were connected to vines that looked like blood vessels, which climbed the walls and extended upwards, converging at the ceiling into a thick, vein-like trunk.

"Holy Lord, what the hell is this thing?"

Marquis Calent was startled by what he saw, and even Levi raised an eyebrow.

He never expected this thing to look like this... well, it has that horror movie vibe.

“Oh, sir, this is a brand new plant species that we just brought back from abroad…”

"You guys don't intend to put this stuff all over the botanical garden, do you? I don't want my botanical garden full of these things!"

"————————!"

Just as Marquis Calent finished speaking, suddenly, these strange fruits began to glow continuously. Rays of light spread upwards along the vines, then disappeared into the depths of the corridor like flowing water.

Upon seeing this, Marquis Calent frowned.

"I'd like to see what kind of weird plant this is!"

　I'm going out of town tomorrow to handle some things, so updates will be a bit irregular for the next week. There might be one update, or even none at all. I'm letting everyone know in advance. It would be best if I could finish everything by the end of the month.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)