16 Sherlock Moriarty (2)

Should he pull out some angels? Or would a bomb be better?

While he seriously considered the option, monsters were approaching.

"Miss Sharron, what is your sequence?"

She glanced at him.

"Sequence 3."

Zhou Mingrui nodded.

Sequence 9 Prisoner, Sequence 8 Lunatic, Sequence 7 Werewolf, Sequence 6 Zombie, Sequence 5 Wraith, Sequence 4 Puppet and Sequence 3 Disciple of Silence.

He formulated a plan in his head.

Judging from the evolution of the sequence's names and the need to repress one's desires, Zhou Mingrui had a rough grasp of how the people of this pathway should act.

For example, the 'Werewolf' became a 'Zombie', a dead human; then the 'Zombie' became a 'Wraith', making the Beyonder less human; and the 'Wraith' became a 'Puppet', like a sealed artifact, the Beyonder even became an object; until the Sequence 0 'Chained God' who was bound and couldn't move.

This Pathway represented temperance as the Beyonders were deprived of their freedom (Sequence 9 Prisoner) then their sanity (Sequence 8 Lunatic); they had to repress their desires and were slowly dehumanized, unable to do have their own will.

The Sequence 3 'Disciple of Silence' should represent the need to stay silent, complementing the previous Sequence 4 'Puppet'. Moreover, the madness of this pathway became stronger as the beyonders' sequence increased.

The Beyonders of the Chained Pathway even sacrificed their sanity to go beserk and be able to use stronger abilities; back then, Maric also had to take sedatives to suppress his desires at the full moon.

In short, he didn't want to let Sharron fight this insignificant battle and use her Beyonder abilities for 8 hours, in case it drained her spirituality and put her in danger of losing control. After all, his sequence was far higher than hers but he still had a high risk of losing control if he didn't pay attention.

Sharron's pathway was particularly dangerous for her and even though Sequence 3 beyonders were strong, they weren't supposed to fight for 8 hours. Normally, people at this sequence didn't have much problem since they were strong enough to kill most enemies in a matter of seconds.

Zhou Mingrui pulled out a doll from the pores of history and told her:

"Stick to this, you don't need to fight."

Sharron stared at Sherlock without answering and did as she was told.

After that, Zhou Mingrui put the doll on his shoulder and looked around.

Grrrr!

A few trolls ran and bit some of the alliance members while people were shouting.

Zhou Mingrui threw some matches (also gotten from the pores of history) around and lit them, nonchalantly jumping through flames and shooting air bullets at the nearby monsters to kill them, saving a few people at the same time.

He glanced at the protagonist and saw him leaning on a wall upstairs, with the staircases being broken, protected by a high school girl (Lee Jihye) who slayed the people trying to take revenge against her master while Yoo Jonghyuk didn't pay attention to it and observed the massacre downstairs.

After the mess he caused, the man didn't even intend to help.

Zhou Mingrui put his attention back to the matter at hand and swiftly evaded the incoming attack. However, he was still careful so as to not let the doll (Sharron) on his shoulder fall and constantly stabilized himself with the clown's agility.

Should he pull out angels now?

He thought about it and recalled that the protagonist was watching everything from upstairs.

Zhou Mingrui decided to keep a low profile and jumped through another flame.

Before he completely appeared in the flame, he pulled out a grenade and threw it into the tunnel where monsters came from.

Boom!

The explosion created a lot of smoke, hiding his actions. He could finally pull out an angel without the protagonist knowing he was the culprit.

Zhou Mingrui tried to pull Azik but failed to establish a connection.

Unless he was dead, it wasn't possible…

He tried to pull Miss Messenger, Arianna and all the angels he knew without success. It wasn't an issue with his beyonder ability, and they couldn't all be dead either, so it should be because they were in different worlds.

Understanding the problem, Zhou Mingrui turned the nearby monsters into his secret puppets to fight the other monsters.

Anyway, the ability to manipulate others' spiritual lines wasn't visible so Yoo Jonghyuk shouldn't know he was the one controlling them.

However, he was wrong. The regressor knew that he was the only variable who didn't appear in his previous lives present there and concluded that what was happening now was caused by Zhou Mingrui. In truth, destroying the green zones was a test to check the extent of Zhou Mingrui's powers.

Keeping a low profile: Failed.

Zhou Mingrui: 1 — Yoo Jonghyuk: 1.

Zhou Mingrui turned hundreds of monsters into secret puppets in a matter of seconds and used the Error Pathway's abilities to steal the distance between the people still fighting and upstairs, successfully rescuing everyone.

Then, he realized that he could have used the Door Pathway's beyonder abilities to teleport in the first scenario instead of using Creeping Hunger.

"…"

He wasn't used to being a Great Old One yet.

Zhou Mingrui also stole the distance for himself, arrived upstairs with the others, made his secret puppets fight the other monsters and acted surprised.

Through the crowd, Yoo Jonghyuk eyed him suspiciously.

Zhou Mingrui had shown far more power than he should possess at the beginning of the scenarios.

As expected, he was dangerous. He should kill him.

Not minding the monsters dying downstairs, Yoo Jonghyuk pointed his sword at Zhou Mingrui while people backed away from him.

Zhou Mingrui also backed away and questioned his life's choices, recalling what he did until now.

However, the protagonist was clearly heading to him.

'What did I do wrong…?'

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' scoffs.]

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' says that's why you should have divined Yoo Jonghyuk's secret with Dream Divination instead of blindly trying to guess it.]

Ah, right. There was also this matter.

'But wasn't the protagonist's secret related to his gender?' Zhou Mingrui lampooned.

If he began to call Yoo Jonghyuk by the pronoun 'them' now, would the latter be confused?

'Sorry, Madam, I don't like warm welcomes…'

His clown's instincts were taking control.

While Sherlock pondered over an existential question, Yoo Jonghyuk noticed the doll on his shoulder calmly watching the show, her hand supporting her cheek.

Sharron: I am a doll.

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' is glad that incarnation 'Sharron' seems to enjoy the drama.]

Sharron: ?

Yoo Jonghyuk glared at Zhou Mingrui with a murderous gaze and unsheathed his sword to assassinate the suspicious individual.

Zhou Mingrui blinked, not believing his eyes.

'Are you serious?'

Now came another question, should he let himself be sliced in half, fake his death, end the matter and start over with a new identity, or should he avoid the blow?

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' sighs.]

Zhou Mingrui chose to follow his doubtful spiritual intuition and dodged. He didn't like pain.

He continuously teleported around, evading Yoo Jonghyuk's attacks as the protagonist ran after him at an astonishing speed without caring about his surroundings.

However, Zhou Mingrui couldn't risk killing Yoo Jonghyuk. After all, he didn't know what the protagonist would achieve in the future. He was a psychopathic serial killer now, but maybe he would save the world in a few years.

Xin Jian: Yoo Jonghyuk dying a few more times doesn't matter. Anyway, he won't save the world anytime soon-

The Oldest Dream stopped her from instigating Yoo Jonghyuk's death. Pouting, she half-heartedly sent a message.

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' tells you to not kill incarnation 'Yoo Jonghyuk' since someone very strong doesn't want his death.]

Zhou Mingrui continued to only defend while Yoo Jonghyuk analyzed the situation.

Strangely, even though he was trying to murder him, the man didn't fight back.

Moreover, he didn't stop Yoo Jonghyuk from destroying the green zones before. The last time he saw someone acting so calmly, it was Kim Dokja.

Maybe Zhou Mingrui also knew something about this world.

Yoo Jonghyuk stopped attacking, his blade pointing at the suspicious man's neck.

"Who are you?"

Even though Zhou Mingrui didn't seem to know much and hadn't shown any special knowledge he wasn't supposed to have, he may be aware of something about him. For example, the fact that he was a regressor. He had also seemed strangely friendly before.

Yoo Jonghyuk's gaze sharpened.

Meanwhile, Zhou Mingrui was at a loss for words. The corners of his lips twitched as he innocently said:

"What do you mean, who am I? I am Zhou Mingrui."

Had he found out that he was the pillar of the universe? No, it shouldn't be the case.

Was he suspicious about his existence?

Er, now that he thought about it, it was reasonable to suspect him…

Yoo Jonghyuk continued to glare at Zhou Mingrui, apparently not satisfied with the man's response.

In the flying train, the Oldest Dream told Yoo Jonghyuk's current thoughts to Xin Jian. The latter nodded and resumed it to Zhou Mingrui.

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' warns you that incarnation 'Yoo Jonghyuk' is having paranoid thoughts.]

However, Zhou Mingrui didn't pay attention to the message and stared at the regressor coldly glaring at him.

The Oldest Dream clicked his tongue.

"How can that sunfish bastard be so handsome even while threatening people…"

Xin Jian: …

She squinted her eyes.

"And you dare say you don't like him?"

The Oldest Dream deadpanned.

"No, I am merely appreciating beauty,"

Xin Jian tried to retort but recalled something.

She was suddenly in a dilemma. After all, she also knew someone who liked to 'appreciate beauty' by reading women's magazines.

If appreciating beauty was being gay, didn't that mean that Klein was also gay…?

'I can't believe Klein was gay and I never knew…!'

She paused.

'No, wait, at least Klein appreciated women's beauty. At worst, he's only a pervert who crossdresses.'

She nodded to herself.

Right, that was it. Klein wasn't gay.

Xin Jian was reassured.

Zhou Mingrui stepped back and hit the wall behind him.

"What do you know?" Yoo Jonghyuk insisted.

Zhou Mingrui was stunned.

What did this question even mean? What was he supposed to answer? Did Yoo Jonghyuk learn that he was divining things about him before?

How did he know?

He had failed to keep a low profile.

Yoo Jonghyuk continued:

"What do you know about me?"

Why wasn't he attacking him?

However, contrary to his expectations, Zhou Mingrui paused and had a subtle expression on his face.

The Lord of Mysteries gave him a complicated look.

'I'm not sure you really want to know…'

As expected, the man really knew something about him. Yoo Jonghyuk activated Lie Detection.

[The character 'Yoo Jonghyuk' has used the 'Lie Detection' skill.]

"Don't try to lie."

Zhou Mingrui stared at the protagonist glaring at him with an even stronger killing intent and pursed his lips.

'You're the one who insisted…'

He opened his mouth and recited the facts he had learnt about the man and divined one by one.

"I know that you can detect lies; you are a skilled swordsman; you are trying to get revenge…"

As expected, this man was dangerou-

"You are the protagonist; you are single so you aren't trying to get revenge because someone stole your girlfriend…"

Yoo Jonghyuk: ?

He looked at the man saying absurd things in bewilderment.

"You aren't a human who has spent 1000 years in reclusion; you didn't recover the memories of your previous life where you were a genius swordsman but something similar should have happened; you aren't a powerful demon king who comes from hell…"

Zhou Mingrui recalled his previous divinations.

Yoo Jonghyuk: …

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' is laughing.]

"You weren't reincarnated as the child of a star with a twin before trying to enter the entertainment industry to avenge your mother who died in your childhood…"

What bullshi-

"You don't possess a portable grandpa; this world isn't a novel that you have read, written, or edited; you don't come from another world; you aren't a Saiyan nor an alien…"

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' stares at the scene in amazement.]

[The constellation 'General of the Golden Headband' is amused.]

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' wonders how he can be so sure that these facts aren't true.]

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' laughs louder.]

Yoo Jonghyuk: …

Lee Jihye turned her gaze to her master and looked at the two weirdly.

"You aren't living your second life and you aren't a princess disguised as a man who ran away from her kingdom. However, whether you aren't a girl is unknown…"

Yoo Jonghyuk: …

Lee Jihye narrowed her eyes, her thoughts unreadable.

"Finally, you are very handsome and also a psychopathic murderer who often wants to kill me. That's all I know, I promise!"

[Lie Detection has confirmed that your words are the truth.]

Yoo Jonghyuk: ???

As expected, he should just kill him.

Meanwhile, Sharron who was diligently digesting her potion while pretending to be a doll on the shoulder of a pillar of the universe silently watched the drama.