Falsifying history is good business

Chapter 368: The Immortality of Sherlock Holmes

For the writer, inviting the accountant from Red Dead Redemption to join his team was both a coincidence and a stroke of genius.

It was purely accidental that they met the Van der Linde gang and the accountant; however, the accountant's special abilities and hobbies are indeed an excellent way to monitor "unknown" factors.

He likes to observe the fate of special characters, especially those who are directly affected by the power outside the fourth wall - such as Arthur Morgan and John Marston; if the power outside the fourth wall is replaced by the interference of gods, the nature of the power is different, but the effect is similar.

Compared to other true gods, even those of higher levels, accountants may be more sensitive to the changes in the fate of the weak.

"Perhaps, I can give it a try. I know two friends who have similar hobbies to me. I can try to invite them to join." The accountant said, but shook his head, as if he had no confidence. "It's hard to say whether they will join. After all, the pressure from the True God is too great. Besides, it's only a few decades, and it will be over in a short time..."

Lin You frowned as he listened. He was very worried that the other party would be persuaded in the opposite way in the end. Instead of persuading his friends, he would withdraw first.

Fortunately, the accountant did not say anything like "I quit" until the very end, which was barely a consolation.

"I have to go check out the next Thunderbird colony. It's my last stop in North America. Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, it's in the southwest, across the border between the United States and Mexico, there is a vast desert. I met a few Indian wizards there, and they treated me as a wizard and received me very warmly; but they are somewhat hostile to people other than wizards - the people they call No-Maj." The accountant pointed the way for Lin You and stood there watching him leave.

The accountant didn't look away until Lin You and his horse disappeared from his sight. He turned to look at the location of the Van der Linde gang. At the same time, his clothes and appearance changed silently; his face was split in half, the right half was still full of flesh and blood, but the left half was rotten and withered, like a skeleton.

As the face changed, a female face vaguely appeared and disappeared.

Lin You was unaware of the changes that had taken place behind him. He ended his "wandering" career in North America with a certain degree of good mood, and finally returned to Europe at the end of spring 1892.

From winter to spring, in more than four months, Irene Adler achieved remarkable results; this woman's criminal experience in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa brought great convenience to her work.

As a temporary civilian intelligence agency, Lin You did not demand high moral standards from its members, but only required quality and ability; therefore, all kinds of people were recruited by Ms. Irene, and as long as they did not intend to cause trouble, almost everyone was accepted - with one exception.

"Sherlock Holmes?" Lin You had doubts when he saw the famous detective at the headquarters of the intelligence agency; he even suspected that Irene had abused her power for personal gain and directly recruited Holmes into the intelligence agency.

However, looking at Ms. Irene's speechless expression, it doesn't seem like that.

"How did you find this place? And let me remind you, this is not 221 Baker Street."

Holmes was half lying on the sofa, as relaxed as if he were at home; he even took a bottle of the most expensive red wine from the small bar in Irene's office without asking and poured himself a drink.

"As long as I want, I can always find this woman." The detective looked a little tipsy, but both Lin You and Irene could tell that he was pretending. "Not to mention that you have made such a big move, almost taking over all the fixed assets left by Moriarty. The most annoying thing is that your headquarters is actually located in the UK, less than 20 miles from Baker Street."

It sounded like drunken talk and there were no details at all, but coming from Holmes's mouth, the answer seemed very convincing.

"When did he find you?" Lin You turned to ask his partner without getting a definite answer. He knew very well that Holmes probably didn't know that Irene was still alive.

"Yesterday." Irene rolled her eyes. "He found our headquarters yesterday. As for when he discovered that I was still alive, I'm not sure. He never told the truth."

"Oh, it hurts me to say that," grumbled Holmes, in a discontented tone, and with great care in his distinctive tongue-tied voice.

"Really? Then tell me, why do you keep my photo?" Irene asked coldly.

The detective decisively played dumb: "Wha...what? Oh, this wine is really strong."

Lin You just found the interaction between the two people funny: "I thought you two had already expressed your feelings to each other last time?"

"And because of you, everything is in vain." Irene felt her teeth itching; the man who said with joy on the top of the snowy mountain, "Seeing you is the best good news I have ever received in my life", had been wiped out by his employer with magic.

What was that magic called? Something like "Forgetfulness"?
"I'm sorry... But the good memories are best kept in our hearts, aren't they?" Lin You said irresponsibly.

Irene gritted her teeth and glared at the two equally unreliable men. She suddenly reached out to snatch the wine bottle from Holmes' hand and poured herself a full glass. When she was about to drink it, she suddenly remembered something, put down the glass, turned around and picked up a letter opener.

The blade scratched at the fingertips, and a bright blood color was smeared on the gold coins in the palm of the hand; then the gold coins fell into a box behind the desk, making a crisp metal collision sound.

Only after she had done all this did Irene come back again, ignoring Holmes's astonished expression, whose eyes were almost popping out of their sockets, and poured a full glass of wine into her mouth with "Ton ton ton".

"My dear, what kind of ritual is that? Have you joined some damn cult? I thought you were setting up an intelligence agency. The worst thing I could imagine is that you took over Moriarty's criminal empire." Holmes's speech suddenly returned to normal and he no longer cared to pretend to be drunk.

Irene rolled her eyes and turned her face away deliberately without saying anything.

"Don't worry, it's just a protective magic. Because it has a slight side effect, we always try to eliminate it when we return to the headquarters." Lin You took over the conversation and explained, kindly helping the proud couple to communicate.

"Magic?" Holmes had an expression of "Are you kidding me?" and took small steps around Irene and moved behind the desk. Although it was an open and aboveboard action in front of everyone, for some reason it gave him a sneaky feeling.

I walked to the desk and looked over. I saw a large box behind it with its lid open. Inside was a box full of gold coins, all of the same specifications and with the same carvings.

Holmes took a peek and found that neither of them had any intention of stopping him, so he boldly took out a gold coin from the box and played with it between his fingertips.

"South American Indian style; from the degree of wear and tear, it seems that it has not been circulated, at least not on a large scale, and the condition is very perfect. Aztec hieroglyphics, there are several words used exclusively by their priests... I don't remember any records of similar discoveries."

"In people's stereotypes, Holmes is just a detective who is good at investigating cases; few people probably know that you are also a naturalist." Lin You nodded slightly, affirming the detective's knowledge. "It's not that easy to be a detective; if an ignorant detective doesn't understand what he sees, how can he find clues to solve the case?" Holmes felt a little smug, and his eyes kept drifting towards Irene Adler; like a peacock in heat, constantly spreading its tail in front of the female peacock.

The result was just a roll of the eyes from Ms. Irene. To Irene, I have seen your bare butt, so what is the use of opening the screen beautifully? Can it cover the bare butt behind?
Not getting the response he expected, Mr. Detective said angrily: "So, your main business is actually archaeology?"

"No, of course not. Didn't I say it? It was just a magic used to protect Ms. Irene's life, a security measure with some side effects." Lin You was vague and deliberately poured himself a glass of wine, pretending to raise his glass to the famous detective.

Holmes was completely unaware of the trap and drank from the glass, asking, "What security measures? Don't try to fool people with magic."

Then… “Pfft—what the hell is this?”

Lin You put down his wine glass with a smile, picked up the letter opener that Irene had used before, and stabbed Holmes in the chest. The two-inch-long blade accurately passed through the gap between the ribs, pierced into the heart, and went all the way to the handle.

Holmes stared at the handle of the knife on his chest. It was a long time before he reached out and pulled the knife out.

I flicked the blade and it was real; solid and sharp.

I felt the location of the knife wound and found that it was indeed the heart. Even if the most professional surgeon came, he would not be able to find the location more accurately.

But there was not a drop of blood on the chest, and the wound even healed quickly and could no longer be felt in the blink of an eye.

Holmes was unconvinced and used a knife to cut his hand. The result made him stunned. Although the whole finger was cut off, he did not feel any pain and there was no blood. The finger also bent and stretched according to his will and crawled back to the broken part.

He picked it up and connected it to the broken end, and soon his palm was whole again.

"This is……"

"Security measures, protection magic." Lin You casually threw an apple from the table over, "Try it."

Holmes bit the morsel and spat it out with a "Pah!" "It's just like sand."

"Yes, this is the side effect of magic. While you won't be fatally harmed by external forces, you will also no longer be able to enjoy all the sensory stimulations of being a human, including but not limited to food and alcohol."

Holmes looked at the gold coin in his hand with a complicated look, and asked with lingering fear: "Permanent?"

"Of course not." Lin You took the gold coin and handed it to Irene, "But it's not that easy to remove it, because the only way to remove the curse is Ms. Irene's blood. Only she can bleed while the protective magic is in effect."

This box of Aztec gold coins comes from the story of "Pirates of the Caribbean", and it is the source of the curse that brought more than ten years of suffering to the crew of the Black Pearl. However, when it fell into Lin You's hands along with other treasures, the curse was forcibly modified by divine power and turned into a kind of "security measure" controlled by Irene Adler.

If you go out with the gold coins, you will never be in mortal danger unless you encounter a powerful god. Irene can even use this effect as a benefit to protect those subordinates who are trustworthy and have important tasks.

Setting the key to lift the curse as Irene's blood is naturally to ensure that the gold coins are not abused, and at the same time to give Irene more capital to control her subordinates.

Watching Irene angrily cut a new wound on her fingertips and smeared the gold coin with blood to lift the curse, Holmes muttered to himself: "So, there really is magic in this world?"

"Welcome to the real side of this world." Lin You raised his glass again, "Give it a try?"

"Very good, I feel my tongue is alive again." Holmes sighed, and took a few more sips of wine to taste the lost taste. "Come on, tell me about magic in detail."

Lin You shook his head. "In fact, I can't tell you anything about magic. I've already violated the law. Friendly advice, don't talk about magic outside, or someone will come to deal with insiders like you. Believe me, this secret is too important, even Mr. McCov can't protect you."

Holmes was a person who never believed in superstition. He stared at me and said, "You have succeeded in arousing my interest, old man. I... I am... certainly... not the kind of person... who can't... keep a secret..."

As he was talking, the detective started to talk nonsense again, but this time he was not pretending, he was really drunk. He staggered, staggered and fell backwards, right into the arms of Irene who came to support him.

"My dear...you look...even more beautiful...this way." After muttering the last sentence, Holmes closed his eyes and fell asleep in Irene's broad arms.

"What did you do to him?" Irene was shocked.

"It's nothing. I just concentrated a quarter of the wine in the wine cabinet and poured it into his glass at once." Lin You said nonchalantly.

"You let him drink a quarter of the wine cabinet in one go?" Irene was horrified; with so much wine, even a big man would be drunk, let alone one person.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Lin You comforted him, "Given Mr. Holmes's alcohol tolerance, he should be able to sleep until tomorrow morning, and he should still be in time for breakfast."

Lin You shamelessly continued to boast about himself: "Cheer up, Irene; do you feel that Holmes' last words before he passed out drunkenly made up for your regrets on the snowy mountain?"

Irene rolled her eyes and threw Holmes onto the sofa like a dead pig.

"Well, now that there are no uninvited guests to interrupt us, let's get back to business." Lin You said angrily, "How has the progress been in the past few months? To what extent can our intelligence agency start to operate?"

As Irene put a pillow behind Holmes' head, she replied, "Before answering this question, let me correct one statement. This is not our intelligence agency, but Moriarty's intelligence agency."

(End of this chapter)