Chapter 424: Agent Shirou's Thrilling Adventure
The space was completely sealed, the door was double-locked, the window looked out over a height of more than twenty stories, and standing before him was an aggressive woman and a paralyzed, stunned Shirou.
Creak, creak. Creak, creak.
The harsh, grating sound occurred with a rhythmic pattern. But to Shirou's ears, it sounded like the pendulum of death or the blade of a guillotine swinging back and forth, ready at any moment to claim something particularly important to him as a human.
Even though he kept using the mental techniques from Daoist classics to remind himself to "remain as clear and calm as ice, unperturbed even if the heavens fall," Shirou's expression shifted. Even with a heart of steel, he felt a chill, especially hearing that discordant, screeching scrape. His earlier sense of foreboding had clearly proven true.
"Alright, what are you standing there for? Let's get straight to the point!" The executive pulled down the zipper of her tight leather outfit. Two snowy peaks immediately popped out, but it wasn't this that left Shirou dumbfounded—it was the extreme attire underneath.
The woman wore nothing else beneath the leather; she was exposed, skin smooth and bare. What she wore to cover herself wasn't standard lingerie, but black latex, bound with tight, constricting straps. It was a specialized set for someone with a specific fetish, and combined with the items from earlier, the implication was obvious.
Before he had even had a chance to ask what was going on, the woman was already acting as if she couldn't wait. He had originally planned to pass the interview and use verbal sparring to extract useful information from her, but he hadn't expected her to be the type to act without speaking!
Shirou panicked internally: 'I must quickly find a way to change the subject. The more this happens, the less I can panic. Think back! How would Merlin handle this situation?!'
Shirou struck a handsome pose, combed his bangs back with his hand, and, acting with the ease of a seasoned player, smiled and said, "Sister, since this is a company office, don't you think it's a bit inconvenient? Why don't we do the interview first? After you finish work, then we can..."
"No need for such trouble! My office is meant for this anyway!" As she spoke, the executive bent down, grabbed the bottom of the sofa, and pulled it out with force. It was a convertible sofa-bed; the bottom cushion unfolded into three layers, and the backrest flattened down, instantly becoming a large bed before Shirou.
The executive licked her lips, staring at Shirou with the ravenous gaze of a hungry wolf, and commanded: "Come on, lie down here!"
"Eh?" Shirou looked at the executive in surprise. Did she really have to be this direct!?
"What are you stalling for? Isn't this why you came here? Strip! As long as I'm satisfied, your interview will naturally pass!" the executive said coldly. Her previous pleasant demeanor was entirely gone.
'It's here! A "PY" trade!!? As expected, this kind of dark place is a breeding ground for such terrible things!'
Generally speaking, if this were a movie, this would be the moment for the protagonist to sacrifice their self-interest. However, when Shirou saw the cucumber and steel wool in the executive's hands, he recalled stories he'd heard at the club—about women who, having been manipulated by men in the past, suffered psychological trauma. Once they achieved success, they would return the resentment they had suffered onto men tenfold.
"What's wrong, Shirou-kun? Come over here, quickly!" the executive urged, her tone heavily threatening. She applied a little pressure with her hand, and the steel wool left a long, deep scratch on the cucumber.
'No! Absolutely not! Even if James Bond were here, he couldn't possibly do this,' Shirou roared in internal agony.
"Alright, but, Sister~! Before that, could you please close your eyes first?" Having made up his mind, Shirou stepped forward and proposed.
"What? Want to flirt? Actually, I prefer things to be rough and direct," the executive frowned, looking impatient. If she had to say, she preferred the "dry" route, without lubricant.
"Please," Shirou said, leaning in and flashing his most brilliant, handsome, and friendly "next-door-boy" smile.
The executive's brow softened completely. She felt somewhat dazzled. Although she had played with many men—some for show, some for transactions—she had truly never seen such a clean and warm smile. For a split second, a warmth bloomed in her heart, and she couldn't help but remember a beautiful first love from her student days.
"Well... Sister will play with you for a little bit then." The executive gave a doting, crooked smile, closed her eyes, and pursed her deep-red lips, waiting for the man to act.
"Sorry." Shirou swung his hand, striking the woman's neck.
The executive felt a sharp pain in her neck, as if she had been stung by something. She vaguely heard the boy's voice. The moment she closed her eyes, her fate was sealed.
Every part of Shirou's outfit was a modified Noble Phantasm. The object pressed into the executive's neck was a metal button from his cuff—a poisonous blade with paralytic effects, shrunk and modified to look like a button. Its efficacy was still at the Noble Phantasm level, no less lethal than Matou Zouken's poisonous insects. Until the medicine wore off, she would never open her eyes or wake up.
Shirou moved the woman onto the sofa bed, laid her down properly, picked up her leather coat to cover her, and then placed his finger on her forehead.
In a vast, white space, the scene shifted: the executive opened the door and entered her private office—her playground of indulgence. But now she was alone. What did she come here to do? A voice guided her to look at the computer.
'Right, I was going to check the notification from above.' In the dream, the woman walked to the desk, opened the computer, and entered a password. The interface changed, entering the main homepage.
This was a magic Merlin had taught him, developed from the properties of incubi, which could extract corresponding information from a person's dreams.
"Got it!" Shirou whispered. He withdrew his hand, stood up, walked to the desk, opened the computer, entered the password the woman had used in the dream, and began searching for useful data.
Inside the hard drive, there were many folders. Among them, a folder labeled "Learning Materials" was particularly eye-catching, and its usage frequency seemed very high.
Shirou opened it and saw it was full of video files. He clicked on one at random. He saw a somewhat familiar young man—it appeared to be a host from another club who had recently jumped ship to the Asteroid Group. In the video, the young man had none of his usual radiance, as he was kneeling on the floor on all fours. The executive, wearing her restraint gear, acted like a queen, sitting on the man's back, sneering as she whipped his buttocks repeatedly, while holding a candle in her other hand.
"Thank you, thank you for your favor, Master," the man cried out as if he were enjoying it.
"Pig! Who told you to talk like a human!" The executive gave a cruel laugh, raised the candle, and tilted it over the man's head.
"Pffft—!"
Shirou shivered in horror and quickly closed the video. If he hadn't acted decisively, it seemed this was the disaster he had almost encountered.
What he didn't expect was that the executive wasn't just dangerous—she also kept cameras... Shirou turned his head to look at the angle of the video and locked his gaze on a folder. There, he saw a decorative item—a black, shiny object. Shirou threw a throwing knife, piercing the dark, reflective camera lens and destroying the entire unit.
Shirou regained his focus and continued to rummage through the files. Finally, he found the "black file" regarding the Asteroid Company. Fortunately, the executive had ordered her subordinates not to disturb her tonight so she could be alone with Shirou, giving him ample time to investigate.
A dark giant of the criminal world like Moriarty would certainly not be content to just occupy a small corner; he must have a larger conspiracy. Facing such a high-IQ criminal, it was precisely because of his mysterious and unknown nature that he was so terrifying.
If there were a master of deduction like Sherlock Holmes to dismantle his tricks one by one, then Shirou and the Knights would only need to handle the direct combat, with the powerful knights acting as the offense and Merlin providing support. That wouldn't be too difficult. But if they were kept in the dark from start to finish, they would be slowly trapped and killed by Moriarty's linked schemes.
It was a pity that Holmes wasn't there this time. Even without a Demon Pillar causing trouble, the opponent was still the "Napoleon of Crime," a man who could evade the police investigation of every country in the world just by using his intellect. To deal with such a powerful, evil villain, since there was no detective to see through everything, Shirou had to rely on himself—risking infiltration to investigate all the information himself, like an ace agent!
The files showed that Moriarty was collecting various magical artifacts. There were indeed three golden Holy Grails inside. However, because there was no assistance from a Demon Pillar, his Saint Graph had already been fixed. Even with enhancements from the Holy Grails, there was a ceiling. It was the same principle as a magus's magic circuits: although there were many ways to store mana for a single explosive burst, due to the limitation of the magic circuits, a magus could not unleash mana exceeding the count of their own circuits.
For a Servant, one Holy Grail was enough; he couldn't utilize any more than that. A task that couldn't be accomplished with one Holy Grail wouldn't change if he had two more. In fact, it wasn't more terrifying than the Singularity of Shinjuku.
Although he would stand on the side of humanity regarding the preservation of Human Order, he remained a great villain at his core; after all, that was his original design. As the opponent of the righteous great detective Holmes, like all great villains in detective stories, he was bound to be an insidious, cunning, and high-IQ criminal.
Especially this current Moriarty: he had obtained technology from somewhere to use the Holy Grail to create a physical body. He might now be at a state closest to his "true self," making him even more dangerous and cunning.
If he were a normal Servant, his personality would fluctuate based on the age of his manifestation and his circumstances in life. But as a "Phantom," he had transitioned through both good and evil aspects before fusing again. Therefore, when he became a Heroic Spirit, he retained a "good" side, and because of the bond he formed with Gudako, he was willing to help her.
Usually, villains of this type with strong desires, if they got the Holy Grail, wouldn't waste it on something as impractical as creating a human body. Even without a physical body, one could utilize the Holy Grail's mana. On the contrary, once they became human, their bodies would
be limited, and they would become timid in battle because injuries would be difficult to recover from.
However, in a world influenced by the "White God," the situation was different. The moment the god dissolved, all worlds were set to restore their original states by default. Because of the god's final mercy, the humans in the created worlds were able to survive. As for other mysteries and incidents, while they were no longer excluded, those that hadn't vanished were all pushed back into the sequence of time to start over.
A genius criminal professor as witty as him naturally calculated the pros and cons early on: if he didn't have a human body, he would disappear. Thus, the correct choice was the only one left.
The files showed the distribution of the criminal group headed by Moriarty. He was constantly deploying, exchanging stolen treasures for funds, and attempting to acquire and merge with other industries. His sphere of influence was expanding, covering all of Tokyo and beginning to infiltrate both government and commercial circles.
"Seriously, his shadow is everywhere!" Shirou frowned, unable to help but complain. In the memories he had obtained earlier, that giant robot, Elizabeth, was technology he had circulated, and now he was trying to do it again here.
In the previous world, another version of him had been wiped out along with the Servants under the rampaging attack of that "Universe Emperor." According to Merlin, that timeline was severed. After all, his body was projected by mental power; its destruction meant that path was no longer viable. If his main body—currently sleeping—chose to walk that path of possibility, he would very likely meet that same end, so naturally, it had to be prevented.
But then again, while the previous world was naturally dangerous, the situation he faced now was definitely no easier. If he were killed here, the outcome would likely be the same.
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