Chapter 129 Detective Case Files

"The fighting is fierce everywhere." Holmes twirled his deerstalker hat, watching the entire battlefield through drones and monitors. "Balzac has the upper hand, Fabre has the lower hand, Zhou Shuren has the upper hand, Wan Jiabao has the lower hand, Xu Zhimo is tied, Hemingway is tied, Asimov is tied... And the port has diverted some of the UN's attention, which is really lucky."

Holmes put his deerstalker hat back on, and the monitors in front of him filled the entire wall. But he could still clearly see the images on each screen.

Many people believe this is a special ability of Sherlock Holmes, who is a creation of supernatural powers. However, Holmes himself insists that this level of observational ability is something that "ordinary people" can acquire through training.

Almost everyone gave Holmes a look that said, "You're kidding me," except for Christie, who agreed.

Then rumors spread among the Clock Tower Servants that Christie was actually a creation of supernatural powers, and even reached the Clock Tower Servants Legend series.

Now, Holmes stares intently at a screen showing the closest corner to the target building, the closest Defoe could reach without being detected.

However, there was nothing unusual on the screen; there was only a blank street.

Time passed slowly, and then the screen suddenly flickered. After a rapid flash of scenery, Defoe, using his supernatural abilities, appeared on screen with Christie.

Holmes wasn't particularly excited about predicting his opponent's whereabouts, as if it were a perfectly normal thing.

“As I expected, my friend.” Holmes chuckled, even though he was completely alone. Yet, he murmured to himself as if speaking to someone, “More than that, isn’t it?”

— Keep in mind that Romain Rolland, a full-time employee of the UN, hasn't even made an appearance yet.

Holmes caught a glimpse of Defoe disappearing from the corner of his eye once more. He then turned his gaze to another screen and waited calmly for a while.

Then, with another flash, Defoe appeared on the second screen with another "Christie".

One is Christie herself, and the other is clearly a copy created by Romain Rolland using "Lives of Great Men".

Holmes watched Christie walk toward the building from different directions on the screen and tapped the table: "Hmm, I was found out after all. I did try to cover it up, after all."

The building where Atsushi Nakajima was located was equipped with unmanned weapons specially designed to prevent the "no one survives" instant death effect of Christie. All of them were remotely controlled and did not require human intervention.

The problem is that these unmanned weapons are not part of the regular stockpile; very few were prepared during the short preparation period, certainly not enough to cover the entire building.

To mitigate this problem as much as possible, the weapons are all mobile, so blocking an entrance at once is not a problem.

But now...

Dividing into two waves is impossible. If one side is Romain Rolland, even with all the firepower, we can only say that we can "barely suppress" them. With only half the firepower, Romain Rolland would probably break through the defense line directly.

That means we need to direct most of our firepower to Romain Rolland's side, and only a small portion to Christie's.

The question is, which one is the real Romain Rolland, and which one is Christie?

Holmes stared at the screen, lost in thought.

First, it is necessary to determine whether there is a gap between the two.

Holmes glanced at the two images of Christy on the screens and found them indistinguishable at first glance. However, a "slightly closer" look (by non-human standards) revealed subtle unnaturalness in their movements.

The person on the left appears somewhat "restrained," as if they are deliberately holding back their strength.

The one on the right, however, gives off a sense of urgency—though the pace, slower than a normal person's walking speed, doesn't seem particularly urgent. But Holmes, who knows Christy well, is certain that it indicates Christy is in a hurry to get going.

Upon noticing this, Holmes recalled Romain Rolland, who had repeatedly come to their headquarters to steal intelligence, and his keen skills that had exposed him more than once.

Romain Rolland moved with restraint, while Christie was in a hurry. Was it because of a "minor problem" with Romain Rolland's abilities?

Is the answer really that simple?

While these clues and signs might seem too scattered and insignificant to the average person, to him, these "details" were as striking as lights in the night sky.

Christie couldn't possibly be unaware of this, so looking at it from another perspective, it seems somewhat deliberate to specifically send Romain Rolland over.

So, is it the other way around? Romain Rolland was eager while Christie was reserved; were they both deliberately imitating each other to create a deception?

Holmes frowned slightly, almost instinctively.

The problem now is that there are two possibilities:

Secondly, the one who was "reserved" was Christie. After revealing the shortcomings of Romain Rolland's imitation to Holmes, she had Romain Rolland imitate her again, and had Romain Rolland deliberately create the illusion of "urgency" in an attempt to use this shortcoming to deceive Holmes.

Secondly, the one who seemed "urgent" was Christie. After deliberately revealing the flaws in the "biography" to Holmes, she used reverse thinking to make Holmes believe that these obvious flaws were a trap. Instead, Holmes thought that the one deliberately slowing down the pace was the real Christie.

The most fatal flaw is that these two lines of thought can be reversed indefinitely. Because Holmes lacks "decisive evidence," he is unable to arrive at an accurate answer.

Moreover, apart from these deliberately displayed "restraint" and "urgency," the two are virtually indistinguishable.

Leaning back in his chair, Holmes continued to stare at the screen, letting out a long sigh.

Since we can't get the answer from this perspective, we might as well just ignore it.

When you're stuck in a puzzle, the most fatal problem is getting bogged down by the "obvious clues" the puzzle setter has given you, thus losing any possibility of finding a solution.

If this clue is a deliberately thrown-out bait, then it should be completely ignored, and solving the problem from a different angle that wasn't designed as a puzzle will be much easier.

Gently twirling a pipe in his hand, Holmes ignored the overly obvious clues. Instead, he began to meticulously observe the subtle differences between the two images on the screen.

Suddenly, Holmes's gaze paused for a moment on one of them, and then he smiled.

"Found it."