176: Chapter 176 Heroes Appear

Silence. Deathly silence.

Inside the luxurious office at the top of the Gun Tower, only the nauseating sound of Demon God Pillar Baal's flesh squirming remained, along with the "tick-tock" of blood dripping from Sherlock Holmes's chest onto the floor.

PD stood rooted to the spot, pupils contracting violently, his brain completely shutting down in that instant.

"Old man... what the hell are you doing?!"

Then, PD snapped back to reality, his eyes instantly bloodshot, and he let out an incredulous roar.

Meanwhile, in the Shark Stream Room, the barrage comments that had been densely filled with discussions on how to take down the Demon God Pillar, after a cliff-like pause of a full five seconds... ushered in an unprecedented explosion!

"Holy crap!!! A backstab?!"

"Is this old man a traitor?! Didn't he separate his evil attributes?!"

"I'm stunned! Is he actually the true mastermind?! Then what was the thing that accompanied us all this way?!"

"Old Thief Gu, you have no heart! You just sent the Wolf King away not long ago and tricked me out of a wave of tears, and now you're sacrificing the Great Detective?!"

Amidst the overwhelming exclamations in the barrage, James Moriarty looked down from on high at Sherlock Holmes, who was kneeling on one knee, his life force rapidly draining away.

That originally kind old face was now crawling with pathological fanaticism and pleasure.

"Are you surprised, my dear Sherlock?"

James Moriarty spread his hands, like an actor taking a bow after completing a perfect performance.

"This is a stage I tailored specifically for you. To deceive those eyes of yours that can see through all the lies and disguises in the world, I went to great lengths."

Sherlock Holmes clutched the fatal hole in his chest, his spirit origin already beginning to dissipate into blue particles of light.

He raised his head, those eyes that still maintained absolute rationality, staring fixedly at his nemesis.

"It was memory manipulation, wasn't it..."

Sherlock Holmes's voice was hoarse, but his tone carried a hint of sudden realization and self-mockery.

"Hahaha, as expected of you!"

James Moriarty clapped his hands excitedly and took a step forward, leaning on his cane.

"That's right! As long as I am still that 'Napoleon of Crime,' as long as I still harbor schemes in my heart..."

"Even if I acted like an innocent old man with amnesia, micro-expressions, heart rate, subconscious muscle reactions... these trivial details would never escape your eyes!"

"The only way to deceive a brilliant detective is to turn myself into a true 'good person'!"

James Moriarty pointed to the towering, twisted Demon God Pillar Baal behind him.

"I had Baal use the authority of the Demon God Pillar to excise all the memories in my mind!"

"Turning me into a completely, cowardly, kind James Moriarty!"

"Then, I saved the Master with a clear conscience, fought side-by-side with you all, and racked my brains to destroy this Phantom Demon Alliance..."

"Even I didn't know I was a criminal! There was no falsehood, no flaw!"

The old man's voice gradually rose, carrying a pride that was twisted to the extreme.

"Until I stepped into this office, until the moment my main body re-established contact with this 'core stronghold'..."

"Only then was the magecraft pre-set by Baal triggered, and my true memories completely awakened!"

The tens of thousands of players in the stream room all gasped after hearing this long-winded "modus operandi."

It made their scalps tingle!

What kind of god-tier plot twist is this?!

To kill the detective, he first brainwashed himself into a good person!

He even went so far as to help the protagonist's team kill all his own subordinates, just for this final killing blow?!

Old Thief Gu's script has simply written the words "villain IQ" to the ceiling level!

"You lunatic..."

PD gritted his teeth, his whole body trembling.

"You created such a massive spectacle, even dragging the entire Earth to its grave, just to verify a so-called mathematical conjecture?!"

"Mathematical conjecture? Destroying the planet?"

Hearing PD's questioning, James Moriarty was stunned for a moment, then burst into hysterical laughter.

"Hahahaha! Master of Chaldea, you actually believed in such a boring goal?"

He turned around abruptly and spread his arms.

Behind him, Demon God Pillar Baal let out a deafening roar, as if accompanying this ultimate feast of crime.

"Whether the Earth is destroyed, whether humanity's future exists—these things are not even worth as much as a piece of toilet paper to me!"

James Moriarty's eyes became incredibly fanatical at this moment, staring intently at Sherlock Holmes, who was barely able to maintain his form.

"My true goal, from beginning to end, has only been one!"

"That is—in this absolutely fair, absolutely extreme battle of wits, to completely and perfectly defeat you, Sherlock Holmes!"

"I want you to taste the flavor of defeat amidst your most confident deduction; I want to watch this arrogant head bow before my conspiracy!"

"Destroying the Earth? That was merely an optional firework to set the stage for this grand victory!"

This twisted sense of destiny and pathological obsession made everyone feel a chill down their spines.

Only Sherlock Holmes still maintained that elegance belonging to the Great Detective.

"So that's how it is..."

Sherlock Holmes sighed deeply, a faint smile actually curling at the corners of his mouth.

"Using yourself as a pawn, erasing your memories just to set this final death trap. James, as a criminal, you have indeed accomplished an unprecedented feat."

"This round, I have lost."

Along with this calm admission of defeat, Sherlock Holmes's body began to collapse on a large scale.

"No!! Old Holmes!!"

PD tried to rush forward, but was firmly blocked by the terrifying magical barrier emitted by the Demon God Pillar.

"Accept your defeat, Detective! And then, become the final nourishment for me to destroy this planet!"

James Moriarty raised the cane in his hand.

Then, he precisely stabbed it into Sherlock Holmes's dissipating spirit origin!

"Boom—!"

Under normal circumstances, a Heroic Spirit would return to the Throne of Heroes upon death.

But at this moment, Sherlock Holmes's spirit origin magical energy was forcibly drained by James Moriarty, and like an IV drip, it was continuously injected into James Moriarty's body!

[Warning! Enemy spirit origin reaction detected rising exponentially!]

Having absorbed his nemesis's spirit origin, James Moriarty, wearing a cloak wreathed in eerie blue light, hovered in mid-air.

"Next, it is time to clean up the trash."

James Moriarty looked down at PD from on high, as if looking at an ant.

At this moment, the battle situation had become dire to the extreme.

"Click, click..."

The sound of Defender armor colliding rang out.

Saber Alter did not retreat a single step.

She gripped the pitch-black holy sword tightly with both hands, her dark golden eyes devoid of even a hint of fear.

"Master, stand back."

A cold and majestic voice came.

Violent black magical energy burned on her armor like materialized flames.

Even when facing the King of Crime who had absorbed the detective's spirit origin, the pride belonging to the King of Britain would never allow her to retreat even a single bit.

"Oh? A black dragon with broken wings also wants to stop my grand cause?"

James Moriarty sneered, and Baal behind him suddenly opened hundreds of scarlet eyeballs!

"Die!"

Boom!!!

Hundreds of high-concentration beams of destructive magical energy, like a watertight net of death, with terrifying power capable of tearing through space, bombarded down upon Saber Alter and PD, covering the sky and earth!

Unsolvable!

Cold despair gripped PD's throat tightly, and the hearts of the tens of thousands of viewers in the stream room also skipped a beat at this moment.

Just at this critical moment, when everyone thought death was certain.

In this dead end shrouded in despair, a low gunshot suddenly rang out.