Ebony raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't come to Europe to be an underground emperor." Mycroft said calmly.

"Everything I do is for Britannia, for the people of that land, not for any right.

I'm not interested in Europe, and I'm even less interested in Asia. I'm bothered by tens of millions of square kilometers of Britannia, so why should I be your leader and wipe your ass for you incompetent guys? ”

Ebony narrowed his eyes slightly, "Incompetent? ”

"Isn't it?" "How many years has that man been dead?" Is there a decade? ”

"Pretty much." Eboni said.

"For at least ten years, you haven't even chosen a decent leader, isn't it incompetence?" McCroft asked, "You professed to be messengers of righteousness, walking in darkness and serving the light. But they can't even take a step back and choose a person who is really capable. Isn't this incompetence? ”

"Even if none of you are convinced, then it is difficult to choose a leader who the majority trusts in the most democratic way, through public voting?

You were behind the collapse of the three empires, and you were behind the democratization process.

But the inability to achieve democracy within your organization only means that you have violated your tenets and are only bent on fighting for power. ”

Mycroft said it mercilessly, and even Sherlock was worried that he would be stabbed in the throat by Ebony with a Hidden Arrow in the next moment.

But apparently his concerns were unnecessary.

As a student of Heilang, Ebony was never the kind of person who would be stirred up by a few words. As a qualified Assassin, controlling your emotions is necessary.

He sighed softly, "In order to deal with the Nightmare Order, we chose to let some people enter the upper echelons of Europe, get in touch with politics and business. But in retrospect, this was undoubtedly the most wrong choice. Power and wealth have corrupted their hearts and led them to the point of no return. ”

"It's up to non-staff people to do this, not core personnel." "You're oversimplifying," McCroft said. ”

"At that time, there weren't many people in the brotherhood." Mycroft muttered softly.

But he still said unwillingly, "Don't you really think about it?" ”

"Don't ask." Sherlock stared at Char's statue and said, "We have regarded each other as rivals for more than ten years."

"It's just you." Mycroft interrupted.

Unaffected by him, Sherlock continued, "I'm the most knowledgeable person in the world. The decisions he makes are generally not easily changed, and for him, rights are indeed the least interesting thing for him. ”

"I can send you an idiom from Beichen." Mycroft spoke. "It's called not breaking and not standing. Disorderly expansion inevitably leads to unnecessary bloating. If you want to keep this tissue pure, then you have to cut out the excess. ”

His eyes were sharp, "Otherwise, they will inevitably become the source of turmoil in this world." ”

"It's not an easy thing to do." "And we have an enemy that has been entangled with us for hundreds of years, and once we get tired, they will lie on us and bite us like crazy."

"I don't mind helping at this point." There was a faint glint in Mycroft's eyes.

Eboni fell silent, his face visibly struggling. He might have no hesitation in killing the enemies of the Brotherhood, but it would be much more difficult for him to face his former colleagues and comrades.

Mycroft obviously didn't continue to persuade him, but just raised his head and continued to look at the Char statue in front of him.

"How much do you know about him?"

Hearing this, Eboni slowly raised his head and looked at it, then shook his head, "We don't know much, we only know that he saved Heilang Monique, and all the knowledge and martial arts of the mentor were taught by him." Other than that, nothing is known. ”

"Some of the elders in the past seem to know his name, but the mentor clearly has a heart to keep his existence secret, so nothing has been handed down except this creed.

However, "

He paused, "I know something else. ”

Hearing this, both Sherlock and McCroft turned their heads to look at him.

"In the imperial palace of Tsarist Russia, I have seen a portrait of him." Eboni said seriously, "It is a portrait painted by Catherine the Great herself." ”

Hearing this, Mycroft seemed to think of something, and his pupils contracted slightly.

He was not shocked that the imperial palace of Tsarist Russia would have a portrait of him.

Instead, he suddenly remembered the mysterious woman he had seen in Sissi's villa and was called the Dragon Slayer by the rest of the magicians.

She is also powerful and mysterious.

It hasn't been seen since.

Her name also seems to be called. Catherine.

Mycroft thinks this shouldn't be a coincidence.

But if not by coincidence.

Some of the more frightening conjectures crossed his mind.

A chill that came from excitement or shivering rushed from the tail vertebrae to the door of the brain.

When the middle-aged man was chatting alone with Tesla, Ebony was actually there.

He didn't leave, just silently hid in the shadows and watched over them.

So he heard something too.

"In the Hermitage, of course, it is now part of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and in the exhibition gallery there is a painting." "It was a painting by an anonymous man, and it has been regarded as a national treasure by many painters and cultural and historical researchers in Northern Russia, and it is known as a painting worthy of the Mona Lisa's smile." ”

Mycroft seemed to be aware of the painting, too, and spoke. "Statue of Catherine. When I was younger, I visited there with President Su Yatingen, and I also saw the painting. I stood under that painting for a long time. ”

As he said this, he froze again.

All the details of the painting he had seen came to his mind.

He has a good memory, not much worse than Sherlock.

As a famous painting boasted by many Russians, there is no doubt about the details, and it must be the result of careful consideration by the painter.

What impressed him the most was undoubtedly the blue eyes, sharp, bright, undisguised ambition and pride.

Standing under that painting, the legendary Empress seemed to be standing right in front of them.

When he first saw the mysterious magician named Catherine, he had an inexplicable sense of familiarity in his heart.

Now, he finally knows where that familiarity comes from.

The magical eye named Catherine was almost identical to the eye of Catherine the Great in the portrait.

"According to Nicholas II at that time." Ebony's words continued, he looked at the statue in front of him and said, "That painting is what he painted." ”

Sherlock was keenly grasping something strange, "Two people drawing each other's portraits?" ”

"So there was a rumor circulating in the royal family at the time that Paul I was not a child of Peter III, but"

Both Sherlock and McCroft raised their eyebrows.

"That's exciting news." Mycroft said with an eyebrow raised, and said with a strange expression.

Ebony shrugged, "But my mentor always thought it was a rumor. But what is certain is that he must have met Catherine the Great. Even Catherine the Great always remembered him, and it is said that until her death, his portrait still hung in her bedchamber. ”

"I've seen Catherine." Sherlock stared at Char's statue, "Then he must be at least one hundred and fifty years old." ”

"Perhaps, much more than you think." Ebony murmured with a hint of deep meaning.

"Why didn't they show that painting?" Mycrof said suspiciously, "After all, it was painted by Catherine herself, although it may not be good, but it also has some historical commemorative significance, right?" ”

"That gentleman, even Tesla, actually saw him." "He even saved Tesla's life." ”

There was a flash of light in McCroft's eyes, "How did they see that?" ”

Ebony recalled, "A tavern, they all met there. ”

"Where?"

"Anywhere." Eboni said.

Mycroft's eyes widened.

"The gentleman entered the tavern in Switzerland to hide from the rain. Tesla, on the other hand, entered in Moscow, when he was chased by the tsar and entered by mistake.

But interestingly, they met in the same tavern. ”

"A mysterious tavern that could have an entrance anywhere," Mycroft whispered thoughtfully.

"Catherine the Great, the gentleman who overthrew Tsarist rule, and Tesla." Sherlock touched his chin and said thoughtfully, "The people he's seen are all people who can leave their names in history." ”

"It's interesting to see if they had this success after they met him, or before that." McCroft's eyes lit up with excitement.

Sherlock seemed to realize this, his pupils twitched slightly, and then he couldn't help but turn his head to look at the statue of Char again.

The original dead thing seemed to be more alive at this moment.

This time, those eyes full of wisdom were completely different in Sherlock's eyes.

The mysterious white-robed magician seemed to be standing outside the world, condescendingly overlooking everything, and the river formed by the entire history of mankind rushed forward in his eyes.

And he stood still, watching the waves of this world swell, the tide ebbed and flowed. (End of chapter)