Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 12: Mission Settlement and Advanced Skills

For the residents of Mist City, this was a day worth celebrating.

The vicious Courtesan Killer had been shot dead, and the nights of Mist City once again returned to peace and tranquility (at least on the surface).

Sitting on the sofa, Levi set down the newspaper in his hands and let out a long breath.

The news did not mention Emilia.

It only said that because Doctor Doolittle’s daughter had died in an accident, his extreme faith had twisted into malicious thoughts, and in the end, he murdered those courtesans.

But Levi knew that was not the truth.

After that, he and Inspector Lestrade searched the entire locked room, and at the same time, Levi had a question.

That was———Emilia’s accidental death had already happened months ago.

Why had Doctor Doolittle chosen to act only now?

What was he doing all this time?

Doctor Doolittle’s diary recorded the whole story.

What was sigh-inducing was that Emilia’s death was indeed an accident, but also not entirely unexpected.

According to the diary, Emilia had wanted to secretly use that machine to conduct an independent surgery without telling her father.

But her actions were discovered by Doctor Doolittle.

He tried to stop her.

During the quarrel, Doctor Doolittle accidentally touched a certain switch on the machine.

As a result, the machine suddenly activated and pierced Emilia through the heart.

If one called it an accident, it was indeed an accident.

After that, Doctor Doolittle sank into deep despair.

However, just a few weeks ago, when he went to church for service, he met a fellow believer there.

That person expressed great sympathy for his misfortune and gave him a magic book, claiming that it contained a way to resurrect his daughter.

At first, Doctor Doolittle dismissed it.

After all, as a doctor, he had never heard of such a thing.

But his love for his daughter eventually overcame reason.

He secretly snuck into the cemetery at night, opened his daughter’s grave, carried her corpse back, and performed a ritual on the operating table———the bizarre magic array that Levi and Inspector Lestrade had seen was the result of that moment.

The outcome needed no explanation.

Emilia transformed into that monster.

And according to the book’s records, as long as she killed sinners and obtained their hearts, livers, lungs, stomachs, kidneys and other organs for sacrifice, she would be able to resurrect herself.

It was like something that could only appear in a B-grade gore horror movie.

If it had appeared in a film, it would have been cliché.

But when it appeared in reality, Levi could not laugh.

He had thought this world was simply an ordinary age, or rather a somewhat interesting age of steam technology explosion.

But now………hmm………those monster corpses could not be faked.

In solving the Courtesan Killer case, Inspector Lestrade also received commendation.

To speak of who was the most unfortunate, it was actually Officer Fletcher.

Although he also participated in the entire operation, because of his negligence, everyone nearly failed at the last moment———according to Fletcher, while he was guarding Doctor Doolittle, the latter suddenly appeared to be in great pain, as if he was having an attack.

So Fletcher reached into his pockets for his medicine as instructed, only to have Doctor Doolittle take the chance to pull out a gun………fortunately, everything ended smoothly in the end.

Had Doctor Doolittle escaped, Fletcher likely would have lost his uniform.

As for how Emilia’s corpse and that magic book were dealt with, Levi did not know.

But he knew the authorities took this matter very seriously.

That was obvious from the reward they gave him.

The bounty issued by the City Council had stated that anyone who provided intelligence or clues on the Courtesan Killer, or captured them, would receive a hefty reward.

Now Levi finally knew how much money that was.

Five thousand pounds!

At first glance it might not seem like much, but this was already a huge sum!

In the Empire, 1 gold pound = 20 silver shillings, and 1 silver shilling = 12 copper pennies.

In terms of class division, the annual income of an ordinary person was about 5—15 pounds, which was just a few dozen shillings per week.

The poor fared worse, with weekly wages of less than 10 pennies.

As for the middle class, their annual income ranged from 30—100 pounds.

The nobles had the highest incomes.

Their minimum annual income was around 700 pounds.

Hereditary nobles had annual incomes of 8000——10000 pounds.

Hmm………the wealth gap was visible at a glance.

By the way, in terms of prices, eggs in this world were rather expensive.

A single egg cost 1 penny.

By comparison, in cheap restaurants serving the poor, a basic meal also cost 1 penny.

As for poultry like chicken, duck, and goose, prices ranged between 5—10 shillings.

Although the Empire seemed similar to a certain country in Levi’s original world, there was a big difference.

The Empire’s territory was vast.

It was not a small island nation, but instead occupied nearly one-fifth of the continent.

Therefore, resources were abundant and prices relatively lower.

For example, a coachman’s weekly salary was about 20 shillings.

To feed his wife and daughters, he had to spend 10 shillings on food each week.

For comparison, when Levi dined in a restaurant, a meal he considered passable—tea, fries, a plate of meat, vegetables, dessert—equivalent to a burger combo without the burger, cost 1 shilling 10 pennies.

In other words, Levi’s one meal equaled an entire day’s wage for some people.

For Levi, these 5000 pounds were a fortune, enough to let him live a worry-free middle-class or even upper-class life in this world.

Incidentally, Levi had originally planned to split the money with Katie.

But she seemed very busy.

After leaving the pharmacy, Katie bid farewell to Levi and Inspector Lestrade, then dashed off in a hurry.

No one knew where she went.

Later, Levi went back to the warehouse to look, but could not find Katie or her two lackeys.

The girl seemed to have completely vanished.

Truly strange.

So Levi temporarily stored her share of the money, planning to hand it to her once she reappeared.

But compared to the money, what Levi valued more was the current content.

【Mission 《Mist City Mystery》 Complete】

【Time Spent: S】

【Investigation Efficiency: S】

【Influence: S】

【Overall Rating: SSS】

“So that’s how it is.”

Staring at the evaluation report that appeared before him, Levi raised an eyebrow.

Now he understood how the system determined mission ratings—by the time spent on investigation, the efficiency, and the role one played in the mission.

That meant, the more proactive he was in investigating and the more firmly he seized the initiative, the higher his rating would be.

Conversely, if he was passive, the rating would drop.

This time, he had taken only three days to identify and expose the culprit. That was clearly considered fast.

Of course, high ratings naturally brought high rewards.

【Reward Obtained】

【Lifespan +30, Extra Reward +15】

【Random Skill Card Unlocked +1】

【Advanced Skills +2】

【Additional Skill Options Available——Diagnosis / Dissection / Treatment】

These should be the skills of Doctor Doolittle and Emilia.

In other words, since he had taken down the culprits, he had a chance to obtain their skills? That was indeed a good choice.

In any case, first………

Levi reached out his hand and tapped lightly in the void.

Soon, three cards appeared before him.

They looked the same as the ones he had seen before, pitch-black background with golden skulls, appearing particularly eerie.

Levi circled around the three cards, trying to see if there were any hints on their backs.

But———both sides of the cards seemed identical.

Alright, no secret to be found here.

Then he would just pick one at random.

Levi fixed his gaze on the three cards, thought for a moment, then reached out and chose the one in the middle.

As before, the card burst into fierce flames before him and then vanished completely.

At the same time, a line of system prompt appeared before Levi’s eyes.

【Investigation increased to 80 (Advanced Skill Unlocked———Soul Sight / Proficiency 0%)】

【Soul Sight: When activated, can sense resonating soul fluctuations and traces, consumes lifespan 5 minutes/second】

“………………………”

Alright, for a detective, this was a rather useful skill.

Muttering a silent complaint, Levi once again looked at the system status bar before him.

There was already another prompt.

【Shooting: 90 (Advanced Skill Unlocked———Eye of the Reaper / Proficiency 5%)】

【Eye of the Reaper: When aiming at a target, can slow the flow of time, consumes lifespan 10 minutes/second】

This really was incredible.

Looking at the prompt before him, Levi recalled the scene at that time.

Indeed, he had felt as though everything before his eyes had slowed to half-speed.

But the backlash afterward was also quite strong.

When he returned, his head had split in agony, and he had lain in bed for an entire day before recovering.

Still, this move was excellent for saving his life.

It was just that one second of Eye of the Reaper cost ten minutes of lifespan………somehow it felt like a bit of a loss.

Then came the extra reward.

As three more cards appeared before him, Levi fell into silence.

Diagnosis / Dissection / Treatment?

All three seemed useful………could he not have them all?

In the end, Levi chose Diagnosis.

The reason was simple———if one did not even know what illness it was, how could one dissect?

How could one treat?

One could not just cut randomly.

【Skill Acquired: Diagnosis 50 (Your medical skills are average, but you have quite some expertise in gynecology)】

“………………………”

Seeing this line, Levi blinked speechlessly.

I’m such a fool, really.

Why didn’t I think of that?

Wasn’t this exactly what Doctor Doolittle had been skilled in?

Otherwise, why would he have prescribed medicine for those courtesans?

Had I known earlier, I might as well have chosen Dissection………

Levi felt a little helpless, but he did not dwell on it.

He lifted his head and looked around the room.

In principle, with this money, Levi could have sold this clock tower and bought a luxurious, comfortable apartment to enjoy life.

But he did not do that.

Instead, he paid to have this place repaired and also restored the elevator.

After all, the view here was quite good, and this kind of building was rather unique in its own right.

Muttering a small self-consolation, Levi once again picked up the book in his hands.

Since he wanted to be a detective, he naturally had to study knowledge of this world.

He could not keep waiting until the last moment to cram, could he?

So Levi had bought a pile of books from the bookstore about geography, history, and other subjects of this world, and began to study them diligently.

It had to be said, the history of this world was rather interesting.

According to the books, this world so far had three historical periods: the Age of Gold, the Age of Silver, and the Age of Bronze.

The Age of Gold felt like an ancient mythical era.

Levi noticed the descriptions were things like Kuafu chasing the sun or Nüwa mending the sky, exaggerated myths and legends.

Therefore, the Age of Gold was also called the Mythical Age.

After all, so far these remained only myths, full of appearances by deities and powerful beings, without any chance for mortals to appear, and no proof that such gods truly existed.

Until the Age of Silver, history became less exaggerated and more verifiable.

At the end of the Age of Gold, the gods broke out in a war, and all perished.

The world collapsed, and mortals finally stepped onto the stage of history.

At that time, there was a tribal leader named Arthur.

He led his warriors in campaigns north and south, and ultimately unified the continent, founding the Macaron Empire.

He was honored as Emperor Arthur, and the founding of the Macaron Empire marked the beginning of the Age of Silver.

Like all dynasties, the Macaron Empire experienced glory and decline.

After a thousand years of trials, it completely collapsed.

Its core territory became the Empire where Levi now lived.

The rest became several other nations.

With division and disintegration, the Empire was gravely weakened, clinging on to survival.

By the late Age of Silver, it could barely hold its territory, and even had to guard against the covetous invasions of surrounding nations.

This situation lasted until the year 997 of the Age of Silver, when a great inventor named James appeared.

He created the steam engine, ushering in the dawn of the steam civilization!

With the steam engine’s appearance, the Empire immediately began a fervent transformation.

Countless scientists and inventors plunged headlong into the field, even wanting the steam engine to dominate everything like that steam-powered operating table invention, which to Levi as a modern man was utterly inconceivable, but to the people of this world, such reformative inventions were only natural.

Soon after, another invention just as great as the steam engine was born.

It was the difference engine, researched and manufactured by Sir Babbage, driven by steam power!

For an Empire long humiliated, they had enough motivation to push forward with these reforms.

Soon, with the dual force of the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution, the once tottering Empire was completely transformed.

From an ancient, backward country, it was reborn with fresh vitality.

This marked the beginning of the Age of Bronze.

It had to be said, it was indeed quite fascinating.

Levi flipped through the history book with great interest.

There was an absurd feeling to it.

For example, some names here also appeared in his original world.

But in Levi’s world, there had never been a difference engine. And the information revolution had only come much later.

But looking at it now, no matter the design, it seemed people used them for nearly the same purposes.

“Ding-dong!”

Just as Levi was enjoying the pleasure of reading, he heard a soft sound from downstairs, and then the elevator began to operate.

This made Levi curiously set down the newspaper and look toward the elevator doors.

This time, the Courtesan Killer case reports had naturally mentioned Levi’s name.

Could it be that so soon, someone had already come knocking with a commission?