The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

In the urban area of ​​Cape West Port, a rather eye-catching white building stands in the middle of the city hall and the parliament building, which is particularly abrupt.

When the civil servants of the municipal government who came and went in the vicinity walked past this building, they couldn't help but look at the golden door, dreaming in their hearts that one day they would be able to enter inside and become a member.

This building is called Snow Palace. Its builder is from the northern part of the mainland. It is said that he is an exile who wandered in the source continent for a long time. When he was old, he settled in Cape Xiwangyang Port. Under the influence of emotions, he spent huge sums of money to build the palace.

Later, the palace was sold by his descendants to Pixarant, a big merchant in Cape West Port, who refurbished the interior and converted it into a private club. It is the top private club in Cape West, and its members are basically the most prestigious, knowledgeable, wealthy and powerful people in Cape West and its surrounding areas.

Someone once jokingly claimed that the City Council and the City Hall are not the official institutions that control the Cape West Port, but the Snow Palace Clubhouse. To put it bluntly, there is nothing wrong with this sentence, because the municipal organization only controls the political power of Cape West, while the Snow Palace Club controls not only the political power, but also the economy, military, and even ideology.

When Staff got off the carriage, he couldn't help but look up at the badge that looked like a decorative pattern on the top of the main entrance of the Snow Palace. Deep in his heart, he really didn't like this kind of high-profile behavior.

It's just that when he climbed the steps and walked towards the gate of the Snow Palace, he couldn't help feeling satisfied when he felt the envious, jealous and eager eyes of the civil servants passing by on the street behind him.

When the guard at the side door saw Stave approaching, he immediately turned around and opened the door. At the same time, he rang the bell hanging at the door. A servant came out from the inner waiting hall upon hearing the sound, and stood by the door.

After Stave entered the clubhouse, he handed over his cane and hat to the attendant who was waiting at the side, and then, under the guidance of the attendant, went directly to the clubhouse on the top floor from the large spiral staircase on the side of the hall.

"Have they all come yet?" Stav asked the squire as they climbed the stairs.

"You are the last person." The attendant replied immediately.

Staff couldn't help snorting coldly, and said to himself: "Hmph! I'm in a hurry now. Two days ago, I was still saying that I am troublesome. It is my misfortune to work with such a group of short-sighted idiots. What do you think?"

The attendant didn't dare to answer, but smiled awkwardly.

The two soon arrived at the clubhouse on the top floor. The personal butler of the clubhouse who had been waiting here for a long time saluted Stave, then took Stave's cane and hat from the attendants, opened the door and led him in.

When Stave entered the lobby of the clubhouse, there were already more than a dozen people waiting here. After hearing the sound of the door opening, they all looked towards this side in unison. After seeing Stave walk in, , and shifted his gaze to other places with some embarrassment.

If there are people here who are very familiar with the political economy of Cape West, they will definitely be able to recognize that the dozen or so people waiting in this room almost include the most powerful, wealthy, and prestigious figures in the entire area. Every move of the big men will affect the situation in Cape West Port and the surrounding areas, and it is no exaggeration to say that they are the real rulers of Cape West Port.

"What are you asking me for now? Two days, a full two days, they may have already left Cape West Port, who is the martial law for now, me? Or the inner circle?" After Tafu entered the door, he couldn't help but questioned those waiting people loudly.

Most of these people in the room have never been questioned like this before. Although they know that they are in the wrong, they are still dissatisfied with Stave's accusation.

"Okay, now is not the time to talk about this," said an old man who looked very dignified: "We know that the previous judgment was wrong. Now is not the time to accuse who is right and who is wrong, but how to remedy this matter. The matter is no longer a stronghold being destroyed, but a more serious accident."

While talking, he signaled a young man beside him to hand over a document on the table to Staff.

After showing a little doubt on Stave's face, he took the document and looked at it carefully. The expression on his face was replaced by shock, and he said in surprise, "Master Senior is missing?"

The old man nodded and continued: "According to the information I got, Master Senior disappeared in the Holy Land, and the time of disappearance was exactly the same as the time when the incident occurred in the shantytown station. It is almost certain that the person who caused the massacre in the station The one who took Lord Senior away."

Staff still had an unbelievable look on his face, and said, "How is this possible? Lord Senior is in the Holy Land, how could he be taken away?"

The old man continued: "This is what the inner circle wants to know. According to the inspection report of the inner circle, all the passage nodes leading to the Holy Land have no record of opening, and the node in the shanty town is the same, but people are really in The disappearance of the Holy Land made the inner circle feel confused and uneasy, so this order was sent through a secret channel, asking us to thoroughly investigate this matter and find the whereabouts of Master Senior."

Someone in the room seemed to be dissatisfied with this instruction and spoke. "Why must there be a problem with us here, just because the time of Master Senior's accident coincides with the time when the upper station was massacred?"

The old man glared at the person who asked the question, and said in a deep voice, "Because the organization used a holy object to locate that Master Senior is now in the Cape of the Sea."

The man didn't seem to care about the attitude of the old man, and still questioned: "Since the holy object can locate the Lord Senior, then use the holy object to find him directly? One day of martial law, we businessmen will have a lot of losses. We don’t have other industries to fill this big hole like you. Every loss is enough to hurt us. Is the organization willing to compensate us for this loss? "

This person's words obviously won the approval of several wealthy businessmen present. The martial law order issued by the city government through the organization not only restricted commercial activities in the Cape West Port, even the ocean shipping was temporarily suspended. This will undoubtedly make the Their careers have suffered huge losses, which is why they strongly opposed when Stave proposed martial law across the city two days ago and thoroughly investigated the murder case at the shoe upper station.

In addition, several other high-ranking politicians in the room were also dissatisfied with the martial law order, even though they issued the martial law order, but they were not affected as much as these wealthy businessmen, so they chose to be silent for the time being. After the situation changes, make a decision.

"Compensation for the loss?" The old man stood up from the chair, walked up to the big businessman who asked the question, stared at him with a cold face, and said, "Who helped you grasp most of the interests of a route, and was respected as a ship?" Wang, don't you think that you can do it with your own ability? When you got help from the organization and got a lot of wealth, you didn't think about compensating the organization's contribution, but now you want the organization to compensate you The loss of the businessman is clearly revealed in you."

Faced with the old man's merciless accusation, the wealthy businessman wanted to refute and defend himself, but the cold gaze of the old man made him swallow the words that came to his lips, and lowered his head slightly, not daring to talk to him. Look at each other.

The old man did not continue to blame the other party, but looked at other people around him, and said: "I know that the martial law has made many of you feel uncomfortable, but I want to remind you that everything you have now comes from the support of the organization." , the organization needs you to do things now, so no matter how uncomfortable you are, even if you have to pay everything you have now, you have to give it to me without complaint. I don’t want to hear any more complaints from you. If someone feels that they If you have enough ability not to rely on the organization, then you can leave this room now, and I will definitely not stop you."

After the old man's voice fell, the room immediately became quiet, even the sound of breathing became much quieter, and no one dared to say anything more, even the ship king who spoke just now shut up and sat back on the chair.

The old man looked at the people around him, then looked at Staff, and said, "Stop questioning and accusing me any more. Now our problem is to find Lord Senior as soon as possible and ensure his safety. If If Master Senior has an accident with us, we will not be able to escape responsibility. You are the first person to discover the abnormality of the resident, and you should understand the situation at that time better than the rest of us, and you can think of better countermeasures."

Stave didn't respond to the old man immediately, but looked at the documents in his hand carefully again, pondered for a moment, and then said: "Although the disappearance of Lord Senior may be related to the murder at the shoe upper station, I still believe that the murder Those who went to the shoe upper, just because of some reasons we don't know, triggered the node in the station, pulled Mr. Senior out of the Holy Land, and then kidnapped Mr. Senior, so Senior The disappearance of your lord should be an accident, if we want to investigate the whereabouts of lord Senior, we should start with the murder."

The old man nodded slightly after hearing this, and agreed with Stav, and then he asked the person with a strong political temperament beside him, "How is the investigation going on at the police station?"

"Investigating in the shantytown." The man put down the wine glass in his hand and replied: "The judgment is to seek revenge. That person should have a great hatred with the shoe upper, and has mastered some extraordinary power. According to the investigation, the enemies of the shoe upper are all in the shanty town area, so the police station and port guard are investigating the people in the shanty town.”

"That person? Is there only one person who caused the murder?" Someone asked.

"Judging from the method of the corpse, it should be one person," the high-ranking government official continued after taking a sip of wine, "However, the number of corpses found at the scene is wrong. At least two hundred people from the shoe uppers are missing. His disappearance should also be related to the assailant, so it is judged that there are at least two people." He hesitated for a moment, and asked several people dressed as scholars: "Is there anything in this world that can make a person's corpse change from muscle to muscle?" Did all the bones melt into water?"

"Why do you ask that?" A scholar asked puzzled.

The high-level government said in a deep voice: "Because a large amount of unknown liquid was found in the shoe upper station, the police station could not test what the liquid was made of, and handed it over to the college, and the college also couldn't find out. Some people suspect that these liquids It's the missing upper members."

The scholar shook his head and said: "There is no such thing. It is true that some corrosive liquids can completely corrode a human body, but it takes a long time to completely corrode the body. The liquid is also corrosive. The liquid is also very recognizable, not to mention the academics of the academy, even those in the police station should be able to recognize it easily."

"If you can't do this kind of thing under normal circumstances, what about abnormal circumstances?" The only clergyman in the room wearing the robe of the Spirit of Knowledge said, "There are countless heretical forces in this world, and these forces can often Do things that cannot be deduced by common sense."

"Did you think of something?" Facing the clergyman, the old man didn't dare to show arrogance, and asked in a much lower tone.

"Do you still remember the filth disaster that happened in Timer City? I remember that the whole city was melted into slime by the followers of the Lord of Filth." The priest said with a serious face.

The clergyman's words awakened the memory of everyone present, and they all gasped involuntarily, and their faces became more flustered and nervous.

The filthy disaster that took place in Timmer City in the central part of the mainland can be said to be the most serious heresy event in the entire continent. Not one of them, until hundreds of years have passed, it is still firmly in people's minds.

At that time, the Principality of Timer was holding an annual celebration, and the people of the entire Principality gathered in the capital city of Timer. A group of heretics from the Lord of Filth Church suddenly attacked the city of Timer, and launched a heresy magic, killing the entire city. All living creatures melted into slime, and the entire Duchy of Timer was destroyed overnight. So far, the land has been designated as a forbidden area by the church because of the power of heresy, and it is blocked with a high wall.

So when everyone's related memories were awakened, they all thought about whether the Xiwangyangjiao port where they were located was also being targeted by the followers of the Lord of Filth, and they planned to make another city-wide sacrifice here.

"No, this matter must be investigated immediately! Not only in the shantytowns, but also in other urban areas."

All of a sudden, those who were still a little disgusted with the martial law order all strongly supported the decision of martial law, and strongly demanded that the scope of the investigation be expanded to the whole city, and they also expressed that they would contribute money and efforts to the investigation.

For them now, finding the missing Senior has become a secondary matter. Finding out the filthy priests hidden in the city is the most important thing. They don't want to become the second Timer City.