Chapter 49: Sign of the Four VI (Formulate)

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A/N: After a one-day break, we're back!

A/N: After a one-day break, we're back!

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LORELEI

"I shall become the next Moriarty."

LUTHOR'S REVELATION left my mouth hanging open and my eyes blinking. He had spoken only six words, but it took me more than a minute to process everything. Iniisip ko kung nagkamali ba ako ng dinig o nagbibiro ba siya—which was something he wouldn't do given how serious he is most of the time. Even Loki had to stare at him in silence for a moment.

Whether to be amazed or afraid, I wasn't sure. Magkahalong emosyon ang naramdaman ko. On one hand, his plan sounded noble to me. He knew that the notorious M's organization couldn't be taken down by simply removing its leader. Someone who has genuinely good intention needs to take control and dismantle the group from the inside. And he's willing to carry that burden because he thought he's the right person for the job.

On the other hand, his plan involves a huge risk. Maraming factors ang kailangan kasing i-consider. If he's not careful enough, Stein might sense his betrayal and have him eliminated before he could make any move. And should he succeed in taking over, assuming everything goes according to his plans, he couldn't dissolve the group with a snap of his fingers. Baka may ma-encounter siyang resistance mula sa loob. Someone might try to challenge him for that position.

What can go wrong will go wrong. That's Murphy's law. In this intricate case, there are several angles where the whole M mystery might end in the way that he or we did not anticipate. We can't expect everything to go smoothsailing.

But Luthor sounded like he could successfully pull it off. I absolutely had no idea what's going on in his calculating mind, pero malamang na may pinanghuhugutan ang kanyang confidence. He doesn't strike me as a person who would say something if he wasn't sure he could do it.

It's all coming together now. This must be the reason why he asked me—or us—to remove Augustus from play. Kung nandito pa ang editor-in-chief, mahihirapan siyang isakatuparan ang kanyang plano. As one of the group's senior members, Augustus could have been Luthor's fiercest rival to be the next Moriarty. Therefore, he had to be removed out of the equation. Well, I have to thank my uncle for that.

With the editor-in-chief gone—or the black bishop, as how Luthor called him—no one stood between him and the title of Moriarty, except the current holder himself. Jaime died in a car accident and was succeeded by Stein. Bastien killed himself while in police custody. Augustus was poisoned by my uncle. Rosetta turned out to be on the good side.

In retrospect, I should have seen this scenario coming. When I confronted Luthor about his connection to M, he had already mentioned that he's only waiting for the time to strike. He would bring down the group from the inside while Loki would attack from the outside. As he kindly put it, a two-pronged offensive.

Maybe I had already considered the possibility that he might take this path, but I quickly dismissed it because of the risks that came with it? Remember when I asked him what would happen if the current black king falls? He refused to answer the question. Either he didn't want to spoil me with his plan or he hasn't decided whether to proceed with it or not.

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