Chapter 58

In the messy corridor, where the door used to be.

As if under some pressure from behind, the door panel, which had remained intact after the explosion, suddenly flew out of the door frame as if it had been smashed open and crashed into the opposite wall.

Before the door panel even hit the ground, the door frame flew out as well, followed by the stones that originally belonged to the wall.

What's peculiar is that these debris pieces didn't contain the steel plates that should have been embedded in the wall.

The conference room originally had steel plates; it wasn't a temporary addition. Therefore, the steel plates were embedded in the wall rather than being roughly nailed to it.

Because of the subtle time difference caused by the splashing debris, these fragments, which were originally from walls and doors, collided together, forming a pile of wreckage.

The corridor, which was originally relatively clean except for being dusty, was instantly turned into a ruin.

A large mass of metal, like a living organism, surged out from the conference room, and after most of it reached the corridor, it began to surge again, peeling off from the direction away from the conference room.

Amidst the metal, the people who had been inside the conference room quickly jumped out, and the pile of steel once again gathered on the outer wall of the conference room, forming a steel protective wall.

Standing in the corridor, Hemingway, whose face practically screamed displeasure, patted Kasimov beside him and said, "Hard work."

Kasimov, his hands embedded in steel, remained expressionless: "Captain, I don't think performing duties within the bounds of responsibility should be categorized as 'hard work'."

Hemingway: "I'll let it go since you did a good job."

Balzac had no interest in the differences between American and British crosstalk. Instead, he raised both hands, his twisted bodies forming a battering ram-like structure on his sides, and calmly looked at the steel wall that Kasimov had created.

"Can you detect what's happening outside?"

Balzac said this to Kasimov.

However, before Kasimov could speak, Zhou Shuren answered first.

"They've already retreated." Holding the small book in his hand, he gently bounced it. Beside Zhou Shuren's feet, an unidentified creature that resembled a dog but wasn't quite one was watching the group warily. "They retreated immediately after confirming the explosion."

Balzac glanced at the unidentified creature at Zhou Shuren's feet and nodded to indicate that he understood.

Hemingway glanced at the unidentified creature at Zhou Shuren's feet and said, "You just released a creature with supernatural abilities in the midst of your busy schedule?"

Zhou Shuren didn't even turn his head: "You took a moment out of your busy schedule to bring out a cup of tea?"

Hemingway shrugged, picked up his full teacup, and took a sip.

He hasn't even had a sip yet, so of course we have to take it out.

Wan Jiabao, who was the least alert of them all and had rolled twice on the ground, shook his still dizzy head and looked up at the iron wall in front of him.

"Their reaction this time was way too much..."

Holmes, who also seemed completely unaffected, was organizing all the documents he had just taken out and trying to place them on Balzac's battering ram, which seemed to be made entirely of bones, and casually replied, "This is the opening ceremony."

Wan Jiabao covered his face.

Holmes did not continue his explanation. Instead, he arranged the last document in the correct order, made sure there was no confusion, and placed it side by side with the previous ones on Balzac's arm. Then he took two steps back away from Balzac.

The next moment, Balzac slammed his fist into the ground, and his arm expanded and mutated once again, like the roots of a giant tree, digging into the ground.

—Incidentally, Balzac used the hand that wasn't holding the documents.

Now, not only Sherlock Holmes, but even the usually composed Hemingway, who was calmly sipping his tea, instinctively jumped back: "Be careful you don't demolish the building!"

The UN didn't blow up the building, but they demolished it, which is a joke.

It will remain a staple at headquarters for a long time.

Holmes, who had initially stepped back, walked back to Balzac's side and took back the documents he had just placed on Balzac's arm.

"Don't worry, it won't collapse."

Seemingly knowing that this one sentence alone wasn't convincing enough, Holmes added, "I've seen the blueprints for this building; the part that Balzac attacked doesn't have a main load-bearing structure."

Everyone nodded in agreement with this explanation, and no one wanted to ask how he knew so much detail after only looking at the design drawings once.

Based on their experience of spending time together, it's more appropriate to automatically translate Holmes's "seen" as "knows by heart".

Balzac, who was more familiar with Holmes, had no desire to even hear Holmes' explanation. He calmly withdrew his hand and pointed to the large hole in the ground that had pierced through four floors.

"The one who just infiltrated has also run away."

Zhou Shuren, who was a bit far away, walked over and glanced at the large hole.

As luck would have it, a blur flew past from about the third floor, then quickly returned, paused briefly, and rushed through the hole to the fifth floor where everyone was, crashing straight into the roof.

The impact created a huge crack in the roof. Xu Zhimo nimbly jumped down from the ceiling, landing right next to Zhou Shuren.

"It was Romain Rolland. When I was chasing him just now, he suddenly darted out of the wall. I didn't see him outside."

As he spoke, Xu Zhimo rubbed the ground with the tip of his shoe, as if trying to shake something off.

"He accidentally got stuck in a deceleration field and was held back, which allowed him to escape—I have to say his prediction was pretty good."

Hemingway stroked his chin and pointed to Kasimov's steel wall.

"Weren't those two prisoners hanging in front of the conference room before?"

Xu Zhimo shrugged, indicating that he was neither able to confirm nor deny it: "Anyway, I guess he was rescued by Daniel Defoe, otherwise he couldn't have disappeared so quickly."

Ignoring Xu Zhimo, who had jumped up, Zhou Shuren looked down at the large hole and suddenly spoke.

"What was the opening ceremony you mentioned earlier?"

Holmes smiled. "Someone has to extend the invitation so the other party knows they've 'started the game.'"

"Playing chess" is a different level from "crime" and "reasoning".

Therefore, someone needs to give the signal that "I have already set up the chess pieces" before one can sit down and play chess with peace of mind.

It's a simple and easy-to-understand principle, isn't it?