Detective Guide to the Steam World

Chapter 17 Coincidence

For ordinary people, the term "superhuman" is undoubtedly a deadly and terrifying concept.

Although Kent's stigmata are not offensive, the guards of the Sicilian Company are unaware of this.

All they knew was that this unshaven man could get back up no matter how many times he was shot; he was practically an immortal demon.

Meanwhile, their companions were falling one after another into pools of blood.

Fear took hold, and the guards, no longer as fierce as before, began to flee.

What these people didn't know was that if they had had the courage to hold on a little longer, Kent himself would have given up first.

"Quick! Let's get out of here! If we wait for these bastards to realize what's happening, we're finished!"

Kent watched the guards retreat, and his face lit up with joy. He had just stood up excitedly when he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him, and his vision blurred.

At this moment, countless bloody streaks were spreading from the diamond-shaped holy mark on the back of his hand, climbing up his arm and face, looking extremely eerie and unsettling.

The power of the Stigmata is not limitless, and it comes at a high price.

And this price is precisely the life force of the extraordinary.

"Be careful, Kent."

Just as Kent lost his balance and was about to fall, Rean smiled, grabbed his arm, and steadied him.

The moment his right hand touched Kent's body, the eerie blood-red patterns that had covered Kent's entire body began to fade rapidly.

In the time it takes to breathe, it has vanished completely.

"...I'm fine."

Kent shook his head vigorously, and after regaining his senses, he quickly looked down at the back of his hand. Seeing that the stigmata were no different from usual, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since everything is alright, we should be going now."

Rean withdrew his hand, turned around and looked behind him. Seeing that the guards had already disappeared, he regretfully turned his gaze away and walked back the way he came.

"Aren't we going to leave these corpses behind?"

Kent stared at the corpses scattered on the ground, a worried look on his face. "If those vampires at the police station find out, they'll definitely trace it back to us!"

"Don't worry, someone will handle it for us."

Rean kept walking. "Moreover, all these guards are armed, and this place is involved in human trafficking. Unless the boss of the Sicilian Company has lost his mind, he would choose to call the police."

"That's true," Kent said, suddenly realizing, "They're not clean themselves."

But soon, he worried, "What if the Mississippi Company sends people to retaliate against us afterwards?"

"You overestimate them, Kent."

As Rean walked, he said, "The guards employed by the Sissippi Company are just ordinary people. They wouldn't dare to lay a hand on someone as extraordinary as you."

"Even if orders come down from above, these ordinary people will at most just go through the motions and not put in any real effort. After all, everyone is afraid of death and everyone is afraid of the unknown."

As they spoke, the two arrived at the wall leading into the warehouse.

They successfully scaled the wall and continued walking for a long time until they completely left the port area and arrived at the adjacent factory area, where they finally stopped.

Looking at the sign that read "Iron Shell Street" and the pedestrians coming and going on the road, Kent's tense nerves finally relaxed completely.

"We're finally safe!"

He let out a long sigh of relief and turned to look at Rean: "Where do we go now?"

Rean did not respond, but stared intently at something, his brows slightly furrowed.

Seeing this, Kent looked in the direction of his gaze with a puzzled expression. His face first froze for a moment, and then his eyes widened suddenly.

Not far away, a noble lady with elegant features, dressed in a light green dress, walked out of a shop by the roadside. She looked around as if she was getting her bearings, then turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

Kent recognized the other person at a glance.

It was Cyril's fiancée, Willow Carter, a superhuman hidden within the Fletcher family.

But why is she here?

Kent frowned.

Yesterday he investigated Miss Willow's background. This lady, who came from a commoner family, originally lived in the South District, but moved to the Fletcher family mansion after getting engaged to Cyril.

In other words, Miss Willow had absolutely no reason to come to the factory district.

The air here was filled with a pungent, strange smell, and the environment was dirty and chaotic, with almost nothing that could be related to Willow's current identity.

"Rean, should we follow them and see?"

Holding the belief that something unusual must be amiss, Kent took the initiative to inquire.

Rean pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Have you noticed that all of this is just too much of a coincidence?"

"A coincidence?" Kent was taken aback. "What coincidence?"

"I just thought about it carefully."

Rean looked in the direction Willow had left. "When we first arrived at the Fletcher family, this young lady deliberately showed herself in front of me and then left in a hurry."

"Later, even knowing that Baron Jesper had hired a detective and that you were staying at the mansion, you still chose to leave the mansion in the early hours of the morning."

"Finally... now."

"Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit too coincidental."

Kent nodded, a vague unease rising within him. "Should we still go with them?"

"Of course we should follow them and see."

Rean smiled. "Since she's deliberately trying to get our attention, wouldn't it be a waste of her effort if we didn't follow her?"

"Let's go see what kind of surprise this lady has prepared for us."

After saying that, he walked in the direction Willow had left.

"I don't think there will be any surprises, more like shocks."

Kent muttered something to himself before reluctantly following along.

When it comes to tracking, the two of them are true professionals.

They lingered far behind Willow, keeping the distance at its absolute limit, just enough to lock onto her without entering her alert range.

The workers coming and going on Iron Shell Street provided them with natural cover.

Willow walked slowly, even seeming somewhat careless, stopping every now and then, as if she wasn't in good physical condition.

Seeing this, Kent, who already knew she was a superhuman, couldn't help but curl his lip.

"The acting was really terrible."

How could a body enhanced by the Stigmata be so weak?

The only possibility is that Miss Willow did this on purpose, fearing that the two of them would lose track of her.

And so, they continued their journey, stopping and starting along the way.

Twenty minutes later, Willow walked into a factory and disappeared from their sight.

Rean looked up at the rusty iron plaque above the factory and softly read the words on it:

"Fletcher Textile Factory..."