Detective

The palm-sized boiler, made of copper, was so blackened by soot that its original color was no longer visible. A pipe extending from the boiler connected to a miniature cylinder. The piston of the cylinder slowly extended and retracted with changes in pressure, emitting a rhythmic hissing sound.

In one corner of the room stood a bed piled high with clothes, and another wall was made of cracked wooden planks with black linoleum filling the gaps. The ceiling was so blackened that the wood grain was barely visible.

Su Luo looked down at herself; it was arguably the most presentable thing she owned in the room.

A brown trench coat with a slightly frayed collar and rough repair marks under the armpits; the pants had a small hole on the inside, any bigger and they'd be open-crotch pants.

Luckily, the trench coat covered it. The leather boots on her feet were quite sturdy, with no signs of damage.

Is the Fortune fake? Last time I was randomly assigned Wildman, and now after all this Fortune is still going to have a disastrous start?!

Based on the headline of what appeared to be a newspaper on his desk—"The Empire's Second Quarter Financial Report to be Revealed Soon"—and a pipe in his pocket, he confirmed his identity: a down-on-his-luck detective.

The newspaper had been turned over many times, the edges were curled, and the ink had faded, but there were no markings on it. The pipe, on the other hand, was well-maintained; the mouthpiece had teeth marks from being chewed, and there was a uniform layer of carbonization on the inside of the bowl, indicating that it was smoked and cleaned frequently.

Su Luo didn't sense any extraordinary elements in the environment, nor did she see any trace of electricity. Combined with the quality of the everyday products she saw—rough pottery, inferior glass, and hand-sewn clothing—she found a clear indication of the environment.

Su Luo instantly deduced that this was likely an old society with relatively advanced Steam technology and a high level of unification.

After rummaging around, I found a stack of crumpled business cards under the table, with "Luosu Detective" printed on them in cursive script.

"My real name is... Luosu. So you're using my old alias, right?"

Su Luo stuffed it into her pocket, then continued searching the surroundings. Instead of going out to inspect, she picked up the documents on the table and began to read them.

"Detective's Handbook, Financial Report, Church News, Petition Registration Form, Gossip Magazine... What's this one without a cover?"

Just as Su Luo picked up the last, blank, low-quality book, the dilapidated door to the room was suddenly flung open, letting in murky light.

It wasn't really "opening" that made sense; someone just kicked the door open with all their might, and the cheap lock couldn't withstand it. The door slammed against the wall with a deafening roar, and dust fell from the door frame.

Hello! Mr. Luosu! How's business lately?

The newcomer was a burly man wearing an oil-stained work jacket, who greeted Su Luo menacingly with a shovel in hand.

"Not bad."

Based on his clothes, tone of voice, and demeanor, Su Luo judged that this person was her landlord.

"Really? When are you going to pay your rent?" The man raised the shovel slightly, his gaze fixed on Su Luo's face.

For some reason, this usually inhuman, useless detective is speaking calmly today, and he even exudes a strange aura.

"If all goes well, I will pay you the rent before Sun, and then I'll prepare to look at the commission."

"You have a ridiculous request." Jerome scoffed, the shovel head slamming against the ground with a dull thud. "I've been observing for a month, and not a single person has come to your grand palace. Because your detective sign hanging outside the alley was blown down by the wind a month and a half ago."

He raised his chin and gestured towards the window. "That sign is still growing mold on the ground at the alley entrance. Didn't you see it when you passed by?"

"Really? That's all within my expectations. I'm just waiting for customers to come to me; it all depends on fate."

Su Luo hadn't expected her original self to be so carefree.

Jerome tightened his grip on the shovel, wanting to smash it across the face of the lazy man spouting nonsense in front of him, but he hesitated because of the man's inexplicable aura today. Instead, he put down the shovel and grabbed the blank book that Su Luo was about to open.

"My God! If you spent even a tenth of the energy you spend on adult magazines on your career, you wouldn't be behind on rent for the most dilapidated apartment!"

Jerome flipped the magazine over with the blank cover and said loudly.

Su Luo glanced at it. "Aren't all the people in this magazine minors? How can you call it an adult magazine?"

After they finished speaking, the two looked at each other in silence.

Three minutes later, Su Luo walked down the street with a bag of identification documents and a roll of bedding.

Weren't we here to participate in Large Dungeon and clash with the cheaters? How come we got kicked out by the landlord at the start?

Su Luo looked up at the world.

The streets are now very bloated. The buildings on both sides are uneven yet tightly packed together, with windows densely packed like a honeycomb, and most of the exterior walls are blackened and shiny with coal smoke.

There were many pedestrians, mostly dressed in dark colors; almost no one wore bright colors. The men wore baseball caps or bowler hats, and woolen coats with open collars, revealing white shirt collars stained black with coal dust. The women wore strangely styled skirts, the edges of which were soaked with mud and water. Many children, some barefoot and some not even dressed, ran around...

This perfectly matched Su Luo's guess about this era. He looked up at the horizon.

It was a pipe, thicker than a person's waist, completely black, and covered with rivets. It looked like a giant python emerging from the building's wall, making a turn in mid-air, and then disappearing into the basement of the building opposite.

White Steam billowed from each joint, hissing as it passed. Looking further into the distance, more pipes appeared. Some were thick, some thin, some horizontal, some vertical; some ran close to the wall, while others were mounted on iron frames and passed overhead.

They spread densely above the entire street like blood vessels, cutting the heavily Contamination sky into countless fragments.

At the far end of the street, Su Luo saw a building. The main body was a huge boiler, thirty meters in diameter. The boiler's outer shell was peeling Shedding, revealing the rusty iron plates underneath. Pipes extending from the boiler, like octopus tentacles, stretched in all directions, connecting to the surrounding taller chimneys, condensing towers, and gas storage tanks.

White Steam connected this world without electricity; Su Luo hadn't seen such a backward world in a long time.

After searching her entire body, Su Luo found three pence in her boots and a shilling in the bedding.

In this city, one shilling costs about twelve pence, and four pence can buy a lunch; prices are relatively high.

"There's still money left, what a pleasant surprise!"

This was truly beyond Su Luo's expectations.