Chapter 75 075 Contingency Plans
The UN attack officially ended the moment Romain Rolland burst through the glass of the refuge.
While the fact that Romain Rolland ultimately failed to capture anyone and even helped the Joint Major Crimes Unit treat half a room full of wounded people certainly made the ending of the operation seem absurd and comical, it doesn't change the fact that the Joint Major Crimes Unit was successfully attacked by the UN and suffered heavy losses.
The building was half destroyed by Vladimir's bomb. Even the intact part suffered heavy losses for various reasons—such as the aftershocks of the explosion, the rampaging Barry and Exupéry, or the other half of the building that was basically destroyed by Zhou Shuren, Balzac, and Xu Zhimo using their supernatural abilities (no mistake).
Nearly a third of the people were attacked by "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," and more than half of the remaining people suffered some minor injuries, not to mention psychological damage and other issues.
There were also some miscellaneous financial losses, which Balzac didn't even care about.
—The long list of names alone was enough to give him a terrible headache.
But now, standing behind Holmes amidst the still-smoky ruins, Balzac is watching Holmes "waste" his last bit of money.
Holmes paid no attention to Balzac, who was behind him with mixed feelings. He studied a map of the surrounding area of Yokohama for a long time, and after a moment of contemplation, he picked up the communicator.
“These things aren’t cheap.” Seeing that Holmes seemed about to inform someone somewhere, Balzac couldn’t help but speak up first, “Are you sure?”
Upon hearing this, Holmes glanced at Balzac briefly, and then... without hesitation, opened the communication device and reported a series of coordinates.
Balzac: "Why don't you even react?"
Holmes' expression brightened considerably after putting down the communicator, as if he had finally released a pent-up frustration and felt refreshed.
"This time, we were really close to being checkmated. I really didn't expect a backup plan." Holmes reached into his pocket and rummaged around for something, speaking to Balzac in a cheerful tone.
"However, fortunately, I also have a backup plan."
Holmes leisurely took out his pipe, while Balzac rubbed his neck in annoyance and sat down in the seat next to Holmes.
"No matter what you say, I'll remind you again that this is a one-time measure—you should know that being able to apply for it once is already proof that the government has reached its limit of tolerance for the UN, and you will not be able to get a second permission."
"Don't worry, I've studied the data I got from the joint research institute and carefully observed the surrounding terrain..."
Holmes held the lit match close to ignite the tobacco, but instead of rushing, he first took the lit pipe in his hand and began to caress it.
"The Nautilus was bound to pass through there, and then... like a poor fish desperate to get back to the sea, it would crash headfirst into the 'fishing net.'"
He took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled. Balzac's gaze toward Holmes was obscured by the faint smoke, making it impossible to see anything more. He could only hear a sentence filled with complex emotions.
"As long as Christie hasn't discovered it yet."
Meanwhile, inside the Nautilus on the UN side, Christie, sitting in the cockpit and playing with a small soldier puppet, seemed lost in thought.
Verne, piloting the Nautilus using his supernatural abilities, glanced at Christie in a moment.
"Christie, are you alright? You don't look too good."
"Hmm? It's nothing." Christie grasped the soldier puppet. "Wait..." Christie seemed to understand something, and suddenly looked up. "Verne, stop the ship immediately!"
"ah?"
Upon hearing Christie's urgent words, Verne's rational mind had not yet reacted, but his nerves, having fully grasped the accuracy of Christie's prediction, had already reacted.
With "Deep Sea Roaming" at its maximum, controlling the air, which is essentially a fluid, the Nautilus suddenly changed from acceleration to extreme deceleration, barely moving forward with the help of inertia, accompanied by a piercing friction sound.
Just as Verne had finished processing these matters and was about to ask Christie for the reason, the "fishing net" rose.
It was a dense, real net of explosives and shells.
Verne's expression instantly turned grim, and he steered the Nautilus backward to avoid it. However, he hadn't moved far when a terrifying explosion came crashing down on him.
Even with some evasive maneuvers, the Nautilus was still engulfed by the explosive force.
"Damn it." Caught off guard, Verne scrambled to his feet and stared at the suburbs that had been reduced to scorched earth. His expression twitched uncontrollably.
"One or two of you are like this... Do you guys really enjoy causing big explosions?"
Verne began to wonder if this was retribution for the bombing of a large number of buildings in Yokohama.
Ignoring Verne's complaints, Christie regained her balance. With the numerous alarms blaring in the cockpit and the chilling sounds of twisting and explosions emanating from all over the Nautilus, Christie smiled with relief.
"Then the answer is also correct for me."
Sure enough, Holmes would never agree to such a simple and boring ending. Holmes listened to his subordinates' report on the mission, while Christy listened to the Nautilus's self-inspection report, closing her eyes in deep thought, pondering the gains and losses of this operation, and reviewing the victory and defeat of this encounter.
The same words, the same judgment, were uttered simultaneously by the detective and the criminal in different locations at the same time.
"A draw."
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