The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Seeing that Leo didn't speak, the rat said very displeasedly: "Hey! Big guy, are you dumb and don't know how to answer other people's inquiries?"

"It's really interesting!" Leo was surprised, and soon returned to normal. After all, in the universe of the Earth Federation, the form of intelligent creatures has never been fixed in the humanoid form. In terms of strength, it is not a big deal for this mouse-like creature to have intelligence.

"Hello!" Leo said to the rat as if greeting an ordinary person.

Although Leo just simply said hello, the red eyes of the big white mouse lit up, and some satisfied smiles could be clearly seen on the mouse's face.

"Greetings from the Duke of White Boots of the Kingdom of Elf Rats!" The rat saluted Leo like a nobleman.

"Businessman Leo Dodd." Leo, who felt very interesting, also briefly introduced himself, and then asked with a smile: "Want to come out to greet me, Your Excellency, Duke of White Boots, not just to introduce yourself Bar?"

"Yes, I am not just here to introduce myself, I have other purposes," the Duke of White Boots did not deny, saying: "You have what I want in your backpack, and I hope to be able to trade with you like a businessman."

"Backpack?" Leo froze for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Have you followed me for a long time?"

The Duke of White Boots nodded frankly and said: "Yes, I noticed you from the moment you stepped into the 23rd district, and followed you to the horror house. After waiting outside the house all night, I followed you and that Mr. Chief to the security station again, and I didn’t show up to say hello to you until now. This kind of behavior of following others is really rude, and I can’t justify my behavior, I can only beg for your forgiveness.”

The Duke of White Boots' way of speaking like an aristocratic court, coupled with the fact that the person who said this was a big white rat, made Leo feel an inexplicable sense of joy, but he didn't show it on his face, but asked curiously : "Since you have been following me and are unwilling to show up, you must have some concerns, so why are you coming out to see me now?"

"My concern is the attitude of human beings." The Duke of White Boots said solemnly: "I have appeared in front of you humans more than once in the past. Those humans either screamed and hit me with things, or wanted to catch me Looking up, it is obvious that an intelligent elf mouse is a very rare thing for them, and no one will regard me as an equally intelligent species." After speaking, it looked at Leo with relief, and said : "But Mr. Dodd, you are different. You just saw those elf mice walking upright and talking to each other very calmly. They didn't want to capture us or kill us like ordinary people, so I will decided to appear in front of you and talk to you."

Leo asked curiously: "Are there many smart elf mice like you?"

With a hint of concern on his face, the Duke of White Boots replied vaguely, "No more, no less."

Although it was only a short answer, it was enough for Leo, who is proficient in lie detection, to get the answer he wanted, so he said bluntly: "It seems that you are the only one."

Hearing Leo's voice, the Duke of White Boots seemed to be frightened, and quickly jumped away, keeping a safe distance from Leo, but after seeing that Leo didn't make any dangerous moves, he moved a little closer One point, curiously asked: "How do you know?"

Leo did not tell the truth, but pointed to the elf mice walking through the alley, and made up a set of rhetoric casually, saying: "Although these elf mice seem to have their own language and can talk like intelligent species, but In fact, there is no language pattern in their sounds, just a simple cry. In addition, they look awkward walking on their hind legs, and they themselves feel awkward, so they change to walking on all fours from time to time. Obviously, their hind legs The way of walking does not conform to their habits, it should be the result of your training them, right?"

"Is it so obvious?" Hearing Leo's explanation, the Duke of White Boots couldn't help but look at the other elf mice. Don't be so awkward when you get up.

The Duke of White Boots had already believed Leo's words, and he couldn't hide a hint of frustration and disappointment in his eyes. He yelled at the elf mice a few times, and those elf mice that walked upright like humans immediately lowered their forelimbs and returned to a normal walking state. The garbage that was useful to them in the alley was moved faster than before.

The somewhat frustrated Duke of White Boots walked up to Leo, jumped onto an empty wooden barrel next to him, and said to Leo, "I hope you don't mind, I didn't mean to lie to you, it's just because..."

"It's okay, I can understand." Leo didn't let the Duke of White Boots continue, and then changed the subject, saying: "Since what you want is in my backpack, why don't you just go and get it when I'm not around? "

The Duke of White Boots replied honestly: "I also thought about it, but the place where you live is a horror house, and the elf mice that have been in it before have never come out again, so I dare not go in."

"What do you want?" Leo asked again.

"The wreckage of the fog monster," replied the Duke of Whiteboots.

Leo quickly thought of the high-energy substances left by the dream spirits killed with sacrificial knives in his backpack. He originally planned to find a way to make special bullets, and use these high-energy substances to make special bullets.

Now the Duke of White Boots appeared in front of him at the risk of this non-absorbable high-energy substance, which made him curious. Even though he knew that there was no answer, he still asked, "What are you going to use it for?"

"Sorry, we can't talk about this matter." The Duke of White Boots shook his head as Leo expected.

Leo thought for a while and said, "That thing is also useful to me, but I can trade it to you. What are you going to exchange for it?"

"I don't know what to exchange." The Duke of White Boots hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'll bring you all the valuable things later, and you can choose them yourself."

"That's fine." Leo nodded in agreement.

Seeing that Leo agreed, the Duke of White Boots flipped over the barrel excitedly, then jumped off the barrel, and quickly burrowed into a rat hole in a corner, as if he was going to move something.

Seeing that the Duke of White Boots had left, Leo didn't stay here anymore, and continued to walk back, his pace quickened a lot.

Although the Duke of White Boots did not enter the house to take what he wanted from Leo's backpack, but chose to trade with Leo normally, this incident undoubtedly reminded Leo and made him understand that he was interested in the backpack. Our security vigilance is not redundant, or even insufficient.

If his backpack hadn't been placed in Peter Alcott's mechanical hut, if the elf rats of the Duke of White Boots hadn't died under the mechanism of the house, maybe when he returned to the house now, he would find him The backpack in the study has been emptied.

So this also made him decide that no matter where he went in the future, he must bring a backpack containing important items with him.

The appearance of the Duke of White Boots is very helpful to Leo. He doesn't value the unknown items collected by the Duke of White Boots. Maybe there is something valuable in it, but he won't have too much attention until he sees the real thing. Looking forward to it, in fact, he valued the kingdom of elves and rats that the Duke of White Boots said more.

If Leo's guess is correct, this elf rat kingdom doesn't actually exist, it's just a future fantasy of the Duke of White Boots for the elf rat group he ruled.

But this is not important to Leo. What he values ​​is the group of elf rats that spread throughout Ten Towns underground. These are the best eyes and ears. If this group can be controlled, then the entire Ten Towns and even Silvermoon City will be destroyed will be under his supervision. At that time, it will be easier for him to find the animal skin fragments of those Omega-level creatures, at least it will be much easier than searching for them by himself now.

Although Leo didn't ask too much about the Duke of White Boots, he has learned a lot of secrets about this super-intelligent elf mouse from some clues.

For example, the Duke of White Boots must have been a product of accident, otherwise, it would be impossible for only one of the elf rats to have such a high level of intelligence, and judging from its matching equipment, this accident is likely to be man-made. In other words, the Duke of White Boots had an owner in the past, and this owner was likely to be a wizard who was proficient in species mutation.

For another example, the Duke of White Boots has the ability similar to the spirit of the dream outside the city. It can avoid Leo's spiritual net. Otherwise, Leo would have been able to find it outside the temporary residence yesterday.

Although Leo was curious about the various secrets hidden in the Duke of White Boots, the Duke of White Boots has the natural timidity and vigilance of rats, so it followed Leo for so long, and asked his own kind to come out to test and confirm that Leo After not posing a threat to himself, he decided to show up in front of Leo.

If Leo doesn't grasp his sense of proportion and is too keen on studying the secrets of the Duke of White Boots, he will only scare away this unexpected helper in the end, so keep the current transaction status for the time being, and gradually draw closer to each other until they trust each other Finally, it is the most correct way to consider inquiring about the secret of the Duke of White Boots.

On the next road, Leo didn't encounter any other interesting things, but encountered a few robberies that had no effect on him. In addition, although those elf mice are well hidden, Leo can still find some elf mice following him and observing him through the spirit network. It seems that the Duke of White Boots still maintains some distrust of Leo.

Half the time it took to go to the security station, Leo returned to the temporary residence. When he opened the door with the key, Sophie, who had re-cut her hair and put on a little makeup, came out of the kitchen and saw Leo walking in. He hurried forward to take the suitcase from Leo.

"You don't need to take this!" Leo backed off, and then looked at Sophie, who looked more and more like his first love, feeling an inexplicable agitation in his heart. Sophie said, "When the food and drinks come up later, prepare some desserts. If you don't have time to make them, go outside and buy some. There are guests coming."

"Okay, sir." Sophie nodded timidly, turned around and walked quickly back to the servant's room, changed into a coat, and went out to buy food.

Leo went upstairs and returned to the room where the medicine books were stored, put the suitcase aside, then picked up his backpack, found the small leather bag that stored the remains of the dream spirits, and picked out five The largest one was placed on the table.

Not long after, Sophie put the food, drinks and snacks on the tray and took them to the room. When she was about to ask Leo what else he needed, Leo asked first: "What happened recently Do you know about the murder in District 23?"

Sophie was stunned. Although she didn't understand why Leo would ask her about it, she nodded and said, "I know. Melinda who had the accident lives in my house... No, it's near my previous home."

Leo asked again: "Is this Melinda killed, or..."

"Missing, she is one of the four missing people." Sophie replied.

Leo asked: "Is there anything strange about her before the accident?"

"No!" Sophie shook her head, but soon she seemed to remember something, and added: "By the way, there was one incident before her accident, I don't know if it's a strange thing?"

"Tell me." Leo nodded encouragingly to Sophie.

Seeing that Leo's expression seemed a little serious, Sophie couldn't help feeling a little nervous, so she sorted out her speech and said slowly: "I remember the day before Melinda's accident, when she came home, she was carrying a It is said that it is a necklace made of silver shells unique to Silvermoon City. Someone asked Melinda how this necklace came from, but Melinda did not say, but another person who worked with Melinda said it was beautiful. Linda was spotted by a certain nobleman and was going to take her to the noble district. So after Melinda disappeared, her family thought she was taken away by that nobleman and didn't care. No, the guards were found. It’s just that it’s useless to find the guards, because the nobles are involved, and those guards can’t do anything.” After speaking, she asked timidly: “Sir, is the information I provided useful?”

"Useful, very useful." Leo nodded and praised Sophie. He didn't know whether it was because of sincerity or because of the abnormal emotion in the main body's character. Then he asked: "About other missing and dead people, What else do you know?"

Sophie thought about it seriously, shook her head, and said, "I don't know much about those people. They don't live in the same area as me."

Seeing that there was no new news, Leo waved his hand and said, "It's okay, you go down! I didn't call you, so don't come up."

"Okay, sir." Sophie bowed and retreated when she heard the words, but when she reached the door, she stopped again, hesitated for a moment, turned to Leo and said, "Yes, sir! After the accident, someone The news about the murder has been circulating in the streets, and I don't know if it's true or not?"

"Tell me." Leo gestured.

As Sophie thought about it, she said, "Some people say that these murders were actually all done by flower shops in District 27."

"Flower shop in District 27?" Leo was a little taken aback, because if he remembered correctly, he and Wizmir met at the flower shop in District 27 to discuss cooperation, so he asked, "Why?" Would you say that?"

Sophie explained: "Because the people involved in the accident used to work in the flower shop in the twenty-seventh district, and they were kicked out for unknown reasons, because the flower shop also has some influence in the twenty-third district. Those shops in the third district are also unwilling to accept these seven people, so they can only solicit customers on the street, and they will encounter danger in the end."