171: Chapter 171 Return

The Great Detective's "absolutely rational" suspicion was like a basin of ice water, poured directly over the heads of the viewers in the livestream.

The viewers, who had just been thinking the old man was pitiful and that despite his nonsense, he was kind-hearted, all gasped in shock.

"Holy sh*t... The Great Detective makes sense!"

"Moriarty is the ceiling of villains, how could he possibly have something like benevolence?"

"It's over, it's over. This old schemer is definitely acting! His amnesia must be faked!"

"In other words, not only was PD schemed against by the real Moriarty just now, but he's also been used as a pawn by this old man pretending to be kind?!"

However, Sherlock Holmes's brow furrowed deeper and deeper, and he relit his pipe.

"This is the part that troubles me the most."

Sherlock Holmes took a deep drag of his pipe, his tone revealing a rare sense of irritation.

"From what I have observed in secret, the desperate stance the old man displayed while protecting you and fighting against the Phantasms, as well as the compassion he showed when saving that puppet youth who was about to be stuffed with a bomb..."

"Those reactions were too real. Those are emotions that can never be faked by acting alone."

The Great Detective looked at the blue smoke he exhaled, his eyes becoming deep and complex.

"James Moriarty is by no means an ally of justice, and that so-called 'benevolence' is definitely plotting some unspeakable, earth-shattering conspiracy."

"But that protective desire he has for you all seems so real."

"This sense of contradiction that defies basic logic, this feeling of being firmly grasped in the psychological blind spot by a nemesis..."

Sherlock Holmes bit down on his pipe stem and said, word by word, "It really is quite annoying."

Watching this detective, who sits at the intelligence ceiling of Type-Moon, actually fall into a dead end of reasoning because of the old man's series of actions...

PD and the viewers in the livestream finally fully understood what the oppressive feeling of "everyone is a villain" meant.

Chu He was rapidly recording these key lines in front of his screen, his eyes shining frighteningly bright.

"Truth and lies, reality and illusion intertwined."

Chu He tapped on the table and gave a highly incisive summary, "Gu Yi has reached the pinnacle in shaping the character of Moriarty. He not only deceived the players, but even a detective like Sherlock Holmes, who possesses a god's-eye view, has been played right into his hands!"

In the game, Sherlock Holmes took a deep breath, suppressed those complicated thoughts, and regained his calm, gentlemanly demeanor.

"No matter what that old fox is calculating, since he has forced me to step onto the stage, I cannot keep watching the show from the shadows."

The Great Detective put his pipe into his trench coat pocket and turned to look at PD, "Let's go, Master of Chaldea. We need to return to that abandoned subway station now to meet with that 'old man of benevolence with amnesia'."

"Since he wants to borrow my power, I will go along with it and enter the game."

Sharp light flickered in Sherlock Holmes's blue-grey eyes.

"Next, let's take it one step at a time. Let's personally tear open the curtain of the perfect crime behind this Phantasm comedy."

...

"Click."

The heavy iron door of the abandoned subway station base was pushed open from the outside.

Accompanied by the sound of the door hinges rubbing, PD brought that gentleman, who was wearing an English suit and leisurely smoking a pipe, back into this relatively safe underground space.

Saber Alter was sitting on the sofa chewing a hamburger; hearing the commotion, she lifted her golden eyes and swept a glance over.

Upon seeing the stranger following behind PD, she stopped chewing, her brows furrowed slightly, and her fingers gripping the wrapper tightened subconsciously.

The intuition of a top-tier Servant told her that this man smoking a pipe exuded a terrifying insight capable of seeing through all the illusions of the world.

Meanwhile, Mash, who had been staying in the Chaldea control room and responsible for rear communication support, had a completely different reaction after seeing the man's face on the holographic screen.

"Se-Senpai!"

Mash's voice suddenly went up an octave, her originally crisp voice carrying a hint of uncontrollable trembling. She covered her mouth with both hands, her clear eyes instantly widening, and her whole body almost pressed against the holographic screen.

"Could this gentleman... could it be... could it be Mr. Sherlock Holmes?!"

Watching his kouhai in the screen who was so excited she couldn't even speak properly, PD paused for a moment, then nodded with a smile: "Yeah, just dropped the disguise outside."

"Mr. Holmes!"

A flush of excitement rose on Mash's fair cheeks, as if she were a fanatical fan who had just met a peerless idol, "In the Chaldea library, I have read the complete original set of 'Sherlock Holmes' written by Mr. Conan Doyle at least ten times! Your deductions where you peel the silk from the cocoon, and the legendary stories at 221B Baker Street, I can recite them backwards!"

Facing the rapid-fire praise from the pink-haired girl, the Great Detective took the pipe from his mouth and bowed slightly to Mash in the holographic screen.

"It is truly my honor to receive such high praise from an excellent junior at Chaldea."

Sherlock Holmes's eyes were very gentle, his lips carrying a calm smile, "Those stories were somewhat embellished with artistic processing by John (Watson), so please forgive me, Miss Mash."

Tens of thousands of viewers in the livestream watched this scene and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"LMAO, Sherlock Holmes's fanatical fan is here!"

"A successful fan-meeting scene! Mash's reaction is too real; it's exactly the same as when I see my favorite character get released!"

"The Great Detective's demeanor is amazing; no wonder he could captivate thousands of girls in London."

However, this heartwarming atmosphere of an idol meeting only lasted for a short half-minute.

Sherlock Holmes put the pipe back in his mouth, and his originally gentle eyes instantly became sharp as knives.

He did not continue to exchange pleasantries with Mash, but turned his head, his gaze piercing straight into a shadow in the corner of the base.

There, the "Shinjuku Archer," wearing a tailcoat and holding a cane in his hand, was trying to lower his presence, sneaking towards the safety exit at the back of the base.

"In such a hurry to leave, my old friend?"

Sherlock Holmes exhaled a puff of blue smoke, his voice not loud, but carrying an oppressive feeling that made one unable to escape, "Or should I call you... Professor 'Moriarty of Benevolence' who has been stripped away?"

The old man's movements suddenly stiffened.

He stopped helplessly, turned around, and put on that ingratiating, slightly innocent wry smile on his face again.

"Oh my, nothing can really be hidden from your eyes, Great Detective."

Moriarty sighed, tapped the ground lightly with his cane, "I was hoping to keep it hidden for a bit longer. After all, in this city full of villains, an old man like me who has lost his power and memory always needs a little insignificant disguise to protect himself."

"Disguise?"

Sherlock Holmes let out a cold snort, strode up to the old man, and locked his deep eyes onto him, "James Moriarty, even if you cut away all your evil thoughts, the cunning in your bones remains undiminished."

"You knew that the assassin was disguised as Yan Qing, and you knew he was going to take away the Master of Chaldea."

Sherlock Holmes's tone became exceptionally cold, each word sounding like a heavy hammer blow.

"Not only did you not stop it, you even fanned the flames in secret, letting the Master be taken into that madman's lair! You used humanity's last Master as bait, just to force me, a ghost hiding in the shadows, to appear and save them!"

"Please give us a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, this room will be your burial ground."