Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 26: Angle and Position

Interesting.

Watching the old man leave, Levi smiled slightly, a trace of contemplation appearing in his eyes.

The reason Levi did this was very simple—he wanted to see the Empire’s high-level attitude toward these supernatural creations.

The reason he had this thought also came from discussions Levi had seen before on the forum.

In quite a few games there was such a plot———the player, as the protagonist, joined a secret squad dedicated to eliminating supernatural threats.

However, these squads always had one principle, that was not to let rulers or the high-ranking authorities know about these supernatural secrets.

The NPCs’ explanation for this was that once those in high positions learned about these secrets, they would attempt to exploit them, gain powerful strength, and then dominate the country or even the world.

Of course, in such games, by the end it usually turned out like that: those high-ranking officials led armies, attempting to seize the mysteries hidden by the protagonists, to satisfy their ambitions.

Most players felt this was reasonable and had no issue.

Yet some players scoffed at it, saying this was nothing but the poor man’s delusion, the emperor’s golden spade, utterly illogical!

A few players with identities they could not easily disclose said this:

At the high level, what they needed first was stability, not violent change.

Indeed, mysterious traits looked good, beautiful, fantastical—but they had one huge problem.

The unknown!

In high-level interactions, what mattered was balance, similar to nuclear deterrence.

I knew what you were doing, you knew what I was doing, you knew what consequences my actions would bring, and I knew what consequences yours would.

Precisely because of this, everyone could sit down to negotiate, trade, and maintain stability and balance.

But these mysterious things were different.

For example, it was like one country acquiring a UFO.

If no one knew, fine.

But once others found out, the balance would be broken.

Especially between great powers———I didn’t know what you might get from it, didn’t know what you might do, and didn’t even know what that thing was.

Would I obediently let you succeed?

Of course not.

Either hand it over for everyone to share, or———no one gets it!

And unlike what ordinary people thought, most of those in power leaned toward the latter!

For ordinary people, or those excluded and marginalized, the changes brought by such things might grant them greater benefits.

Put bluntly, they had nothing to lose—they were already at the bottom, how much worse could it get?

With some change, perhaps they might turn their fate around.

But for those holding power, already at the top—what good would changing the status quo bring them?

Indeed, the mysterious was powerful, perhaps it might let them rule the world, gain immortality, control everything———but that was only a possibility!

Anyone who climbed to the top was no gambler!

No one would willingly stake all of their own, their family’s, their faction’s possessions on something they themselves did not even know what it was!

Of course, they would not.

But those desperate, cornered people—perhaps they might take the gamble.

And so, those players gave their answer.

That was———upon encountering such a thing, destroy it directly!

I don’t know what it is, I don’t want to know what it is, and I certainly don’t want it to fall into the hands of desperate people who might overturn the order.

Therefore, immediate destruction was the best choice.

Of course, those players’ remarks did not gain the approval of most others, who believed they were just whitewashing themselves.

Yet those players responded, they had no need to whitewash.

After all, even without superpowers, they could still eat well, drink well, and sleep with women.

Unlike those losers who couldn’t even get a girlfriend without fantasizing about mysterious powers—they had no common ground!

When things were said to that extent, what followed naturally was only personal attacks.

Levi did not exactly agree with those players’ points, but through the Empire’s high-level actions, he could at least glean some of their intentions.

Levi had already guessed that Katie’s true identity was surely some noble daughter of the Empire’s high ranks.

Moreover, seeing how she happily ran around playing all over Mist City, her family’s influence must not be small—definitely not one in decline or marginalized.

Knowing this meant that Katie’s family’s stance represented the Empire’s high-level stance.

And their stance had just been made very clear.

Find the culprit behind this case, and destroy it!

Good, that was what I wanted too.

If their demand had been to find the culprit and capture it, then Levi would have immediately taken the first chance to run far away.

After all, this world did not only have this one country.

Also, from the old man’s words it could be known that they were indeed aware Katie had been following him everywhere, but………why didn’t they intervene?

Levi still had some doubts about this.

Even if it could be explained by family indulgence, today they had seen those zombies that could only be killed with fire, and they knew what they were tracking was definitely no easy opponent.

Did they not worry that one day Katie might also turn into a zombie?

Moreover, judging from those soldiers’ reactions just now, they did not seem to be a unit specialized for dealing with such special monsters.

Otherwise, they would not have panicked at the sight of an unkillable zombie.

But what was going on? Could it be that in this world, there really was no official organization like a Dragon Squad to deal with the mysterious?

Of course, if Levi were to speculate, from the novels he had read, he could also find a similar template.

That was the so-called “Spiritual Energy Revival” of urban novels.

It was set that once upon a time, spiritual energy was abundant.

Later, spiritual energy declined, and so exorcism, feng shui, and the like lost effect.

Then in modern times, spiritual energy revived, and the protagonist gained wondrous powers, etc……………Could this world also follow that trope?

So the reason there hadn’t been such things before was because of the exhaustion of spiritual energy, and all monsters disappeared.

But now that spiritual energy revived, all monsters came back?

If so, it would not be unreasonable.

But then—what was spiritual energy in this world? It couldn’t possibly be steam………

Oh, and Katie………

Levi did not know Katie’s true identity, and he had never asked.

Though he believed if he did, Katie would definitely tell him.

But that would not be delightful———at present, Levi and the power behind Katie had reached a tacit understanding.

I didn’t know who you were, and I didn’t need to know who you were.

We were merely brought together through Katie, doing some like-minded things, nothing more.

Once that tacit understanding disappeared, it would no longer be fun.

Like an emperor traveling incognito—you only needed to know he was of noble status, but not that he was the emperor himself, otherwise it would be hard to get along for either side.

Of course, Katie could not be the queen.

Levi knew that the Empire’s queen was already over fifty—there was no way she could pretend to be a teenage girl.

She wasn’t the Old Granny of Heavenly Mountain.

But regardless, Levi now held an official “Imperial Edict Sword,” at least making his actions much easier.

Since it was already late, by the time everything was done it was midnight.

Levi also bade farewell to Inspector Lestrade and went home to sleep.

The reason he called Lestrade here was more as a witness.

After all, this was Inspector Lestrade’s jurisdiction—he could not keep everything from him.

And facing such a monster, Inspector Lestrade was helpless as well—likely he too would not sleep well tonight.

As for Katie, she had long since left with that old butler.

After returning home, Irene had already gone back to her own room to rest, just as Levi had instructed.

Levi casually shut off the elevator, yawned, and flopped onto the bed, intending to have a comfortable sleep.

Whatever the matter, tomorrow then!

That was what Levi thought, but……………

“……Ah………again………”

When he awoke the next morning, Levi only felt exhausted and speechless.

The reason was simple—he had that dream again!

Still the full moon, still the clock tower, still the deserted Mist City, the girl screaming and running in the streets, and chasing her, the masked lunatic with blade in hand.

Now Levi didn’t even need to run.

As soon as he heard the screams, he would be instantly transferred to the girl’s side, then kill that strange lunatic.

The process was much like with Betty that time, but there was one problem.

That was—the dream was not just once!

Every time Levi killed the monster, screams from another place would sound, and then he would be instantly transported there, encountering another girl being hunted, and another masked monster………

What made Levi even more speechless was that he did not know any of these girls!

Some looked of noble birth, some very ordinary, even impoverished.

And their ages varied greatly—the youngest only seven or eight, the oldest appeared in her twenties.

And Levi could guarantee, he had never seen them before.

Yet now he kept appearing in their dreams, helping them deal with the masked fiend!

What on earth was that thing?

Though Levi had thought about trying to communicate, the masked monster was more like a hard-coded NPC, only repeating a few lines.

And even if Levi tried to ask the girls, before he could speak, he would be “dragged away” by another scream from elsewhere.

The result was that after a night of this, Levi felt even more tired than during the day’s investigations.

It was as if he had run a marathon.

What was going on?

Levi was completely puzzled.

If it had been just one dream, fine.

But this had gone on for several days in a row—always the same dream, and each night more troublesome than the last.

At first, Levi only had to help Betty, but now he had lost count of how many hundreds of girls he had saved.

Though Levi had considered standing by to see what would happen if the girls were killed by the fiend, he still couldn’t bring himself to just ignore it.

After all, the terror of those girls’ desperate screams was genuine, and as a human being, he found it unconscionable to just watch.

Levi also suspected whether it was that underground temple they had visited that caused this, since it was afterward that he began having these strange dreams.

But what puzzled Levi was, if that was so, then Katie had gone there too—why didn’t she have these dreams?

Levi had probed indirectly, but Katie said she was perfectly healthy, eating well, sleeping soundly, and had never had any strange dreams.

He had even gone back to the small chapel beneath the Pink Lady, but still found nothing.

Out of curiosity, he even sat in the chair………hmm, nothing happened.

Truly strange………

With such back-to-back exhaustion from both reality and dreams, Levi was quite fatigued.

Even at breakfast, he was listless.

“Sir, have you been very tired recently?”

Seeing Levi’s state, Irene asked uneasily.

After all, she was a maid, and needed to watch over her master’s health.

“Should we go see a doctor?”

“No need.”

Levi waved his hand.

“I’ve just been a bit tired from dreaming lately……….”

“Tired from dreaming?”

“That’s right.”

As Levi ate bread, he glanced at Irene, suddenly thought of something, and asked:

“By the way, Irene, have you ever heard the story of a masked monster who chases girls in the streets at night?”

Since all in his dreams were young girls, Levi thought perhaps Irene might know some clue.

“Eh?”

Hearing Levi’s question, Irene was taken aback.

Then she looked at Levi and said:

“Isn’t that the Courtesan Killer?”