Chapter 105 Boring Preparations

UN accepted the invitation but didn't react much. Only Christie silently stared at the Yokohama map, seemingly lost in thought, occasionally giving instructions to the other UN members.

In the current situation, the absence of a clear refusal is already a signal of acceptance of the invitation.

Holmes, on the other hand, wasn't as relaxed as Christie. Once he confirmed Christie hadn't refused the invitation, Holmes immediately perked up. He pulled a map of Yokohama from under the table, but unlike Christie, he wasn't lost in thought. Instead, while staring at the map, he was also busy negotiating a whole host of miscellaneous matters with the Special Abilities Division, the military, and the local government.

Although Balzac had helped Holmes handle a significant portion of the situation, Holmes was still visibly unhappy.

One day, Holmes couldn't help but complain to Balzac: "If they were more efficient, we could crush anyone with our advantages. But they would rather waste resources on internal strife than provide more assistance."

Balzac remained neutral: "They have cooperated very well. Any more would lead to deeper problems, and no one would back down."

Holmes, who understood the logic but was simply annoyed, remained noncommittal but didn't say anything more.

Holmes rejected the suggestion to mobilize the surrounding military and police forces. Knowing all too well the scale of a battle fought by these superhumans, he knew that the evacuation of some residents in advance made the tense atmosphere seem less like the crackdown on a criminal organization and more like the command of a local war.

However, if judged by the damage caused during wartime, Holmes's actions do indeed resemble those of someone directing a war.

After all, the UN alone blew up an entire city block last time, and now with the addition of the Joint Major Crimes Unit, which is practically a group of superhumans who are self-propelled siege weapons, calling it an urban war doesn't seem like a big deal.

So Holmes is probably quite nervous... really nervous... well, maybe.

At least in theory, Holmes should be very nervous right now, even though he is still lazy and listless every day.

When Lewis and Fabre were sent to help Holmes, they asked him this question directly.

“Being nervous does absolutely nothing to help your thinking, and there’s no need to be too nervous right now.”

Lewis and Fabre: →_→

Whatever. I don't know why there's no need to be nervous about this, but you're the advisor, so you decide.

"Excuse me." At that moment, an employee passed by and knocked cautiously on the door. "The staff from the academy would like to request their action plan."

"Oh, you can take it yourself here."

The employee glanced at the three people with superpowers in the office, then quickly ran to Holmes's desk, intending to pick up a plan that was on the corner of the desk and leave as fast as possible.

Seeing out of the corner of his eye that the employee's hand had reached onto the table, Holmes swiftly flung his hand out from under the table, his hand and the handcuffs in it almost leaving afterimages.

Holmes's goal was clear: to find the clerk's hand.

The timing and execution of the sneak attack were perfect. However, the "ordinary employee" withdrew his hand with superhuman speed and uttered a curse word in French at lightning speed.

Lewis and Fabre, realizing what was happening, slammed their fists on the table and stood up, raising their hands to unleash their abilities.

However, the employee, Romain Rolland, reacted much faster than the two men. After withdrawing his hand, he immediately pounded his chest. A huge roar once again emanated from Romain Rolland, startling the two men who were completely focused on the sound, causing them to freeze in place.

The sand off Romain Rolland fell away and condensed back into Defoe's likeness. He dodged Holmes's Barton attack by leaping back, his eyes never leaving the documents on the table.

In the blink of an eye, Romain Rolland's appearance completely transformed into that of Defoe, and his body rapidly faded and disappeared.

Romain Rolland used Defoe's "Cruise" to teleport away.

"I, I, I, I..." Lewis stammered for a long time without being able to utter a complete sentence. Only after pausing and catching his breath did he manage to utter a complete sentence: "So arrogant!?"

Although Fabre didn't stutter, he wasn't much better than Lewis: "Isn't this a bit too arrogant?!"

We're almost at full-scale war, and to take information out of the three ASAs right in front of them is like welding a dagger and sawing off a light bulb.

Holmes, without looking up, continued organizing the documents: "Neither of you recognized me."

The implication is that Romain Rolland would have succeeded if Sherlock Holmes hadn't been there.

The two of them instantly fell silent in awkward silence.

Fabre asked, "Well, Mr. Holmes, how did you figure that out?"

"When he came over, his pace was indeed that of an ordinary person running at a brisk pace. But judging from his movements, it was definitely a suppressed speed, so it was quite obvious."

As he spoke, Holmes seemed to be deep in thought.

"When he transformed into Daniel Defoe just now, judging from his backward jump reaction, his physical abilities were clearly his own, but slightly lower..."

Fabre: "Could this be a weakness of his special ability?"

Holmes shook his head: "It's hard to say whether it's real or intentional; there aren't enough clues."

While chatting casually with Fabre and Lewis, Holmes quickly picked up the few sheets of paper on the top layer, folded them, and tossed them into the wastebasket.

Lewis: ...

Fabre: ...

"Mr. Holmes, do you no longer need these plans?"

"These?"

Holmes didn't even glance at her: "These few on the top are all fake intelligence I prepared. Once you use Hundred Faces, you'll definitely remember them all, so they're useless now."

Um... so you had prepared fake information all along?

This suggests that Holmes's initial action of pulling out the handcuffs was clearly pre-planned and deliberate. Therefore, he knew Romain Rolland was coming.

To this question, Holmes responded with a sarcastic remark that was as polite as possible: "I think anyone familiar with the UN's style of doing things would have thought of that."

After all, as one of the three leaders and a distinctive feature of the UN, when opposing the UN, we should definitely be prepared for Romain Rolland to return and steal intelligence.

Lewis & Fabre: ...

Well, that makes perfect sense.

The two of them felt that their reactions that day were remarkably similar—because they were both equally speechless.

Then, watching Holmes enthusiastically preparing false intelligence and meticulously adjusting the placement of intelligence and warning equipment, the two who had finished their work shook their heads and left.

I always felt that Holmes didn't treat this intelligence theft as a security incident, but rather as a rare opportunity for entertainment.

I'm really starting to understand playwrights' and entertainment interests more and more.