Sherlock Holmes

"Moved here?"

Catherine was a little confused. She seemed to feel that something was not right, but she didn't think much about it. After all, it was just a sofa, so she frowned and said, "Okay, let's leave quickly."

In this way, the two of them got on the motorcycle heading to the laboratory. Along the way, the not-so-pleasant young lady remained silent, looking through the window at the complex pipelines and buildings outside, which Sherlock didn't understand. He wondered what it was like to live in the Institute of Life, but from the eyes of the woman next to him, he could feel a kind of calmness and sadness that was difficult to express in words.

She was still wearing the same outfit as yesterday, and just like yesterday, she was not wearing the sunflower pendant.

In the Holy See, the identity of a nun comes from a certain religion before the beginning of the Holy Calendar. At that time, nuns had to wear thick robes and headscarves to wrap themselves every day, and wear a cross on their chest. This was very important. Because it represents one's devotion to one's faith.

Judging from Catherine's past performance, she is undoubtedly a very devout believer in the Holy See.

But these days, she has not been wearing the sunflower pendant.

Not on purpose, but because I forgot.

It is undoubtedly very strange that a devout clergy would forget to wear a pendant that symbolizes his faith. In fact, Catherine's change in mentality is indeed very strange, because she ran away from home and was extremely devoted to the Holy See. They all seem to come from his father.

A girl who has not been able to get the care she deserves at home since she was a child; a child who stands alone in an empty room, expecting a knock on the door, and then her father comes home with a smile and gives her a hug; uses a brush to draw the picture on paper The family was enjoying themselves, dreaming of companionship and laughter in the sun, but in the end they could never wait for the child at that moment.

She has too many emotions that she needs to put on, but she has nowhere to put them, so she can only put all her expectations on other things, such as a belief that may not be so sacred to her.

but now

Her father died, and she became a lonely person in this world, a weed in the endless desert that had not had time to die.

Then it seemed that she could no longer find the meaning of supporting that belief in her heart.

She didn't even realize this. She was just calm and looking out the window expressionlessly. There were thousands of thoughts in her heart, but in the end they just blended into an unknown blank. She didn't laugh, let alone cry.

In silence along the way, the car finally arrived in front of a huge experimental building.

Sherlock got out of the car, raised his head and visually measured the height of the building. He compared it with the London he was familiar with and found that even the municipal building did not seem to be as huge as the building in front of him.

Of course, the municipal building is full of idiots, and every intern in this building is probably someone with real talent.

Following Catherine into the building, he shuttled between several corridors and elevators. Along the way, he noticed that many people would look at Catherine when they passed by, and most of them had extremely complicated expressions.

Soon, the two came to a laboratory.

Two people in security uniforms stood in front of the heavy metal door. When they saw Catherine's arrival, they did not get out of the way, but looked at each other, looking very embarrassed.

Catherine frowned and whispered: "Open the door."

The two of them still didn't move. After a few seconds, one of the security guards walked over with great caution and said, "Miss Catherine, I'm so sorry. Yesterday, the vice-dean ordered that this laboratory be temporarily closed." ”

"What's the meaning?"

"That is, no one else is allowed to enter casually." The security guard said, but he felt that his context might not be polite, so he quickly added: "The deputy director said that the instruments here are very sophisticated and can be easily damaged. This is also to protect the scientific research results of the old dean.”

After explaining, the security guard felt a little relieved. He felt that what he said was very appropriate. However, Catherine's expression did not change, and she just repeated lightly: "Open the door."

The security guard's face looked as ugly as if he had married a second-hand wife. On one side was the deputy dean, who now had the most say in the entire Academy of Life Sciences; on the other side was the old dean's daughter, who held 51% of the shares of the entire Academy of Sciences. , and he himself is just a gatekeeper and can't afford to offend anyone. What should he do?

at this time

"He is just a security guard, there is no need to make things difficult for him." Sherlock said.

The security guard was startled, and turned to look at the man next to Catherine. Although he didn't know his identity, he still thanked him from the bottom of his heart. He thought to himself, this is the right thing. You big guys are fighting, so what's the point of making it difficult for me, a part-time worker? Something happened.

The next second, he saw the man looking at him with a smile: "But out of humanitarianism, I still want to remind you that Miss Catherine is not only the daughter of the old dean, she is also a member of the Holy See. Fighting clergy.

He's the kind of person who, if he doesn't like someone on the street, will just poke out the other person's arms and legs, and then just write a random report to get rid of the problem. "

The security guard's heart skipped a beat and his face turned a little pale.

"Although I don't know the deputy dean you're talking about, I guess if you make him angry, then all he can do is to expel you.

Judging from your appearance, you should be considered a smart person who can quickly weigh the pros and cons, right? "

Sherlock said lightly, but a drop of sweat broke out from the forehead of the security guard in front of him. After a few seconds, he seemed to realize his situation, so he forced a smile, turned sideways obediently, and made a Inviting gesture.

Sherlock nodded with satisfaction, while another security guard opened the door of the laboratory for them more sensibly.

"Look, I said there's no need to make things difficult for them. Many times, people just can't see their situation clearly, so as long as we help them analyze it a little, they will soon know what they should do."

Catherine glanced at him: "Please don't make the threat so high-sounding."

"As you wish, beautiful lady." Sherlock responded unconcernedly: "By the way, they just mentioned...the vice-dean?"

"Well, a troublesome person." When Catherine mentioned this person, her face showed an expression of displeasure and helplessness: "If we follow the normal process, after my father's death, he should be the one to take over the position of dean. , but the matter has been suppressed by me and has not been made public, which has resulted in him still holding the title of vice president. In fact, he is now the person with the most say in the entire Academy of Sciences, but those who engage in research are always concerned about reputation. It’s very serious.”

"That's it." Sherlock said, and walked into the laboratory with the other party.

After passing a five-meter-long corridor, there was some kind of dust removal device on the ceiling. The fan was whirring, and there was a strong smell of alcohol in the air. It was probably able to be disinfected by the way.

At the end of the corridor, there was a similar door, and Sherlock pushed it open.

The wind in the corridor rushed in through the crack of the door with the air in the room, lifting the corners of his clothes slightly. He looked at the huge space in front of him and the complex machines that were so huge that they almost filled the entire space. He couldn't help but faint. Taking a breath, I felt as if I had seen the huge steam engines surrounding the city for the first time decades ago.

Of course, those steam engines only have the simplest structure, which is to use huge pressure to force the steaming river water into the underground furnace. All the parts are a large iron can with a three-meter-thick piston on top.

As for the machine in front of him, Sherlock didn't even know if it was a type of steam machinery.

Incomparably complex parts are piled up like a mountain in the center of the laboratory, with countless densely packed pipes connected to each other, like intertwined blood vessels, attached to a mass of steel polymer that makes people dizzy just looking at it. Sherlock's powers of observation are much better than those of ordinary people, so during this encounter, he was almost overwhelmed by the huge amount of details that came to him.

Catherine was also looking at the soul visual device in front of her with a similar expression. Although it was not the first time, she still felt a sense of awe.

But in her opinion, her father spent countless efforts to successfully develop it, so it should be so shocking.

So she quickly calmed down, then walked towards the huge machine and motioned for Sherlock to follow her. When the two came closer, Catherine picked up something that looked like a helmet.

"This is..." Sherlock took it and asked.

"I don't know what it should be called, but I know how to use it." Catherine said, "Just put on this helmet and stick those patches on a demon."

Sherlock looked at the long row of neat patches on the side. Some were large and some were small. It could be seen that they were different models made to adapt to the body shapes of different demons.

"Then what?"

"Then..." Catherine organized her words: "It's hard to describe, but I have tried it, and there are no side effects such as nausea and vomiting. You can try it yourself."

"Now?" Sherlock fiddled with the helmet in his hand without raising his head.

Catherine looked at the very happy expression of the man in front of her, and realized with some sadness that she might never be able to see through his mind. She thought back to the time when she first met him, promising him money, rights, the opportunity to enter the Holy See, etc. There are many things that ordinary people dream of, but he only reflects mediocrely.

But now, he is as happy as a child.

"Haha, you're welcome then." Sherlock's tone was as if there was a table of sumptuous food in front of him. He waved his hand impatiently, and a crack in the void appeared.

Then, a tentacle poked its head out from inside, and found that besides Sherlock, there was also a strange woman, who seemed a little embarrassed.

"Come out quickly!" Sherlock said angrily.

The tentacle twisted a few times, but finally reluctantly crawled out of the crack.

The location of the crack this time is not too high, and the tentacle is about 20 centimeters long, so it won't fall to the ground with a bang, which would be embarrassing.

Catherine looked at the thing at her feet. Her expression was confused at first, then turned to confusion and surprise. Finally, she raised her head and looked at Sherlock in disbelief. She hesitated for a long time:

"Is this your contracted devil?"

"Um, yes," Sherlock responded.

In fact, he also wanted to summon a carrion dog, but this was not London, and the domain had not been spread here yet. As a result, he was unable to summon the demon parasitized by the tentacles, and could only summon a part of the body.

"This" Catherine didn't know what to say for a moment, because in her opinion, this thing seemed to have no combat effectiveness at all, and was even a bit nondescript and funny.

Can this kind of contract devil really work?

She even doubted whether this thing could be used as a soul observation device. Otherwise, she could summon her contracted demon.

But as soon as she thought of this, Catherine suddenly felt her heart tightening, and a feeling of extreme panic instantly filled her body. In this laboratory with almost no exposure to sunlight, she actually broke out in a cold sweat.

She was confused.

Because you shouldn't panic. There's nothing in this room that can cause you to panic.

So, is it the feedback given to me by the demon of my contract who is afraid of it?

But why is it afraid?

Suddenly, Kesselly seemed to have thought of something. She lowered her head and looked at the paralyzed tentacles on the ground that did not like to move. An incredible look gradually appeared in her eyes.

Could it be that my contracted creature is afraid of this thing? ?

Sherlock didn't care how much shock Catherine's heart was aroused at this moment. He had already buckled the helmet, and at the same time, his tentacles had crawled under the long row of patches, and he picked for a while, reluctantly finding them. I found a set that suited me, rolled up the tail end and attached it to my body.

“Buzz——buzz————”

The huge machine behind him began to roar, and countless wheels and gas dials began to rotate crazily. It could be felt that the inside of this machine must be more complicated and incredible.

A moment passed like this.

A small piece of paper about 10 centimeters wide was slowly spit out from the machine, and then grew longer and longer.

Sherlock stepped forward, picked up the note and looked at it carefully, and found that there were four extremely simple groups of lines on the paper.

At this moment, Catherine also calmed down the shock a little bit, walked over slowly and said:

"This is the soul line. The blue represents yours, and the red represents the demon you summoned. The two sets of lines are intertwined with each other, and what is shown is the contractor's."

At this point, she had already walked to Sherlock's side.

And the next second, he was stunned, and what he wanted to say was interrupted. He just frowned and looked at the note in the other person's hand, and hesitated for a while:

"Why are your lines like this?"