That Damn Moriarty

"How did the tests go?" He didn't care in the slightest whether the girl was crazy. All he cared about was where those strange stirrings inside him came from. If he couldn't figure it out, he would deal with it at the source.

"We took blood and saliva samples while she was at rest. Her baseline hormone levels were all normal, as were her vital signs. We haven't had time to conduct a psychological assessment yet."

Moriarty leaned closer to Sitangna inside the glass room and asked the person in charge, "Forget all that for now. Tell me, how did you feel when you first saw her? What was your first impression of her?"

"First impression... friendly and gentle." Well, of course she was gentle when she was unconscious. The person in charge tried hard to remember. "Her appearance doesn't actually match my tastes at all, but objectively speaking, she is unquestionably beautiful."

"Her looks and demeanor have an inherently gentle, nonthreatening quality, but her gaze is sharp, which indicates strong powers of observation and a rich inner world."

"Our behavioral analysts studied the samples of her daily-life data that you provided. This lady is not only perceptive and complex, but her friends also describe her in remarkably consistent terms: reliable and resilient."

"She's a very-" "I asked you to summarize, not praise her." Moriarty rolled his eyes at the person in charge in annoyance.

"Sorry, my mistake. Are you going to meet her in person now? Our analysis report isn't ready yet. It should take another three hours or so," the person in charge said, checking the instrument's electronic display.

"You're awfully slow. Never mind, straight to the operating table. You drew her blood while she was unconscious. What if the data isn't accurate?" Moriarty casually grabbed a protective suit and headed for the operating table.

"Uh..." The person in charge had never heard that he could perform surgery. If something went wrong... oh well, it wouldn't be their problem anyway.

"Well, well~" Moriarty had come alone.

"Long time no see, dear Miss Sitangna. Do you remember me?" He deliberately stood beside Sitangna as he put on his gloves, and the sound of rubber rubbing made her a little nervous.

"Moriarty, what are you going to do to me?" Sitangna knew she wouldn't die. She still had a life-saving skill she hadn't used, but getting cut up a couple of times would still hurt quite a bit.

The surgical instruments on the little table beside her gleamed coldly. She forced herself to stay calm, but her body's instincts made her tremble slightly.

"Mm-hmm, relax. You only need to cooperate with me on a tiny experiment. I absolutely won't hurt you." Moriarty was about to inject her with anesthetic when he looked down and met her eyes. Another plan surfaced in his mind.

There was a hint of moisture in the girl's eyes, along with some anger and fear, though not much of either. Her pretense of calm displeased him greatly.

"Do you know what's going to happen next? Why aren't you afraid? Could someone I haven't anticipated be coming to save you?" Moriarty's gloved fingers brushed Sitangna's arm, sliding down her forearm to the back of her clenched hand. "You seem very confident."

"Are you waiting for Sherlock to rescue you? Uh... that might take a while. He should have only just woken up, and besides, your other little friend is probably in much worse shape than you." Moriarty applied a little force and pried her fist open. "Tell me, who will the great detective save first?"

Wow, her palm really was drenched in sweat.

"So you are afraid. You gave me a scare there. I really thought you had an iron will and a heart of stone." Moriarty laughed as he poured iodophor into an instrument tray to disinfect it.

"Where did you take John?" Sitangna discreetly wiped her sweaty palm on the sheet. Given her current situation, she was going to get cut one way or another; she just hoped they wouldn't kill her.

She could be brought back, but Watson couldn't! The shop items hadn't been upgraded to the level where she could buy a life-saving card yet.

"To be honest, I'm not sure either. But it should be somewhere fun. I heard you went near there not long ago."

Near the manor. Could Eurus have gotten involved? Sitangna considered how to get the news out as soon as possible.

Moriarty held a disinfected scalpel over her, moving it this way and that. He hadn't even made an opening in her surgical gown, so she had no idea where he intended to cut.

"Come on! You haven't given me any anesthetic yet. You can't do this!" Sitangna felt the cold blade through the surgical gown, and now she really panicked. "Didn't you just say you wouldn't hurt me?!"

She had undergone a minor procedure with local anesthesia before. Once the anesthetic took effect, she hadn't felt any pain for half an hour to an hour. That was why she had been so confident just now.

But this guy had picked up the anesthetic syringe and put it back down without injecting her at all.

"Oh-ho-ho! You're scared!" Moriarty was so excited that his voice changed. As he watched the fear and panic deepen in Sitangna's eyes, inexplicable stirrings surged through him.

"That's the feeling, that's the feeling," Moriarty murmured. Ignoring Sitangna, he quickly took out medical supplies and drew several tubes of his own blood, stopping only when the sensation of stimulation in his cerebral cortex subsided.

Sitangna: This looks so familiar... Some guy's report said he did this too, I think.

"I won't take much, just a small piece of tissue. Maybe only a few skin flakes." After disinfecting himself, Moriarty turned his attention back to her.

"I believe you, Brother Mo. You're my own dear brother. I'd be very happy to give you a teeny-tiny bit of skin tissue, but could you give me a shot first? I'm really afraid of pain! Terrified!"

Sitangna's voice was on the verge of tears, and fear sent the hormones in her brain surging. Candy didn't have permission to adjust the tasker's perception of pain and could only pin her hopes on an item, but the pain blocker was still one row away from unlocking.

The only thing available was a powerful painkiller. Candy hurriedly gave her one, but there was a problem: it wouldn't take effect for half an hour.

Could she stall Moriarty and make him wait half an hour before cutting?

"My goal isn't to abuse you. I just want to investigate what causes certain miraculous hormones to be produced." He picked up a cotton ball soaked in iodophor with tweezers and leisurely disinfected Sitangna's arm.

"If I gave you anesthetic, how could I get the most accurate data? So I'll have to ask you to bear with it. I swear, I'll absolutely, absolutely take only a tiny piece."

Moriarty's soft voice had now shed its gentle veneer entirely, making him seem like a demon.

The cool sensation from the disinfected patch of her arm made Sitangna shudder uncontrollably. She clenched her back teeth tight.

It's okay, she reassured herself. I've cut myself slicing fruit before. As long as he doesn't cut too deep, it won't hurt at-

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!!!" Sitangna cried out in pain as the blade cut into her. Veins bulged at her temples, and she sucked in a great breath of cold air.

That damn Moriarty. Every time he opens his mouth, all that comes out is lies and bullshit.

"Sorry about that~ Actually, I'm better at making bombs and traps. This is my first time operating on a human body." Moriarty picked up some gauze and gently wiped the cold sweat that had broken out on Sitangna's forehead from the pain.

Unfortunately, the sight of her face contorted in pain didn't stimulate his dopamine as he had imagined. Instead, a faint, dull ache spread through his own heart.