It took only about three minutes before One left the door of the surveillance archive room and signaled that they could go.
Alex pressed, “Did you copy it?”
One nodded. “I compared the surveillance footage from the night of the fire. There’s a suspicious person whose movements are dubious. It should be him.”
Back at the inn, after comparing it with the inn’s surveillance, they indeed spotted the “suspicious individual” One had mentioned.
Alex watched the copied surveillance footage, his expression flickering between dark and stormy.
The footage showed someone slowly walking out after almost all the guests had left the inn. He stood at the door, provocatively glancing back at the still-burning inn, even chatting a few words with the staff guarding the entrance.
Ordinary guests were anxiously asking how they would get through the night.
Yet he, clearly a guest staying at the inn, strolled out leisurely with a clear destination in mind.
—What destination could a guest woken up in the middle of the night possibly have?
Xie Jianxun leaned in, frowned as he looked, and nodded confidently. “That’s him.”
The other three turned to him. Basero said, “Little Rose, you saw him?”
Xie Jianxun recalled, “When I went upstairs to find Alex, he passed right by me going down.”
The young inn boss’s fists were already clenched with a creaking sound.
He took a deep breath and said sinisterly, “So it was premeditated… Just wait. Once we catch him, he’ll regret it.”
Basero squeezed his shoulder soothingly. “Don’t get mad, don’t get mad. Getting sick won’t help anyone… So, where did he go in the end?”
One pulled up the final segment of footage.
It stated flatly, pointing to the room number on the door the man had entered, “He didn’t avoid the cameras. This might just be a temporary stop for him, or perhaps…”
“He’s waiting for us to find him,” Alex said with certainty.
With such a major incident at the inn, they had no choice but to suspend business.
Alex gave all the other employees time off and fetched the “closed” wooden sign from the warehouse—the same one used last time—hanging it on the door once more.
They had no intention of alerting the enemy prematurely. Even if the man was deliberately luring them, they needed to proceed cautiously.
Basero volunteered to track the arsonist’s trail, just in case, and One went with him.
Alex was settling the accounts from the past few days. After a while, he looked up and saw Xie Jianxun emerging from the storage room, holding a shiny silver weapon.
He raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
Xie Jianxun: “Nail gun.”
He gripped the nail gun’s lower handle with both hands and scanned around, finding nothing suitable to test it on. He reluctantly set the weapon down.
Alex frowned, walked into the warehouse with a look of disdain, and dragged out an abandoned wooden table missing a leg. “What kind of weird shape is that? Does this thing even do damage?”
Xie Jianxun’s eyes lit up. He flashed a sweet smile at him. “Alex, you’re the best.”
“Uh, cut that out.” Alex got goosebumps and quickly waved him off with a frown.
Xie Jianxun raised the gun and aimed at the wooden table.
He pulled the trigger. A sharp nail head connected to a long tether shot out with a whoosh, embedding straight into the table.
With a hard yank, it dragged the table right under Xie Jianxun’s nose.
Wood chips flew everywhere. The young inn boss stumbled back two big steps in shock.
He exclaimed in surprise, “You made this?”
Xie Jianxun admitted honestly, “I assembled it from parts bought at cost from the shop. I’ve studied some weapons knowledge. Since we’re tracking a dangerous arsonist, we can’t go without a self-defense weapon, right?”
Alex thought for a moment and said hesitantly, “They were planning not to let you come.”
Xie Jianxun: “…What!”
Alex cupped his hands and said gravely, “The other side might be Allen’s remnants, and there could be more than one. Rashly pursuing them might lead to an ambush. It’s safer if you stay at the inn.”
Seeing Xie Jianxun glaring at him unhappily, Alex pretended not to notice and looked away.
Truth be told, that’s what he thought too. After all, the opponent was a fire-starting lunatic.
And Xie Jianxun was the youngest among them. As adults, they ought to consider that.
That was what the eighteen-year-old inn boss believed.
Xie Jianxun calmly pointed out, “What if they wait until you’re all gone and then rush in to grab me?”
The young inn boss: “…”
He muttered, “Take that up with your family head. Fine, just promise to stay safe.”
The arsonist hadn’t covered his tracks at all.
He left his room and strode openly onto the street, exposing himself to Golden City’s glaring sunlight.
Basero rubbed his chin.
He and One had kept watch all night and were now visibly distracted.
But for a caravan captain, staying up one night was nothing.
There were always times when the whole caravan was asleep, and he had to stay alert to guard against desert bugs suddenly biting holes in someone’s arm.
Looking at One’s unchanging face, he couldn’t help but marvel that mechanical puppets were born warriors.
They weren’t afraid of keeling over from exhaustion and could stay up all night until their energy ran out.
The man headed straight out the city gate, leaving Golden City far behind.
Without the protection of the towering walls, the windswept sands of the outskirts suddenly intensified.
The wild sun exposed everything in the desert too harshly, glaring white and reflective. Even the yellow sands could sting the eyes to tears.
It took Xie Jianxun a while to adjust, but he still had to shield his eyes with his hand, creating a thin shadow over his eyelids.
Delin was right—venturing deep into the desert was indeed a challenge.
Not to mention anything else, just the desert’s ecosystem alone was enough to give adventurers a hard time, let alone the other disasters lurking within.
A water bottle was handed over, its thin body pressing coolly against Xie Jianxun’s arm.
In this scorching heat, the chilled bottle felt like a lifeline, making Xie Jianxun shiver as if plunged into a summer ice bath.
He quickly took it and pressed his flushed face against the bottle, drawing a gentle tease from the caravan captain. “Little Rose, look at that red face of yours. Why not head back first and wait for our good news?”
Xie Jianxun unscrewed it and took a sip, feeling alive again.
“No way,” he said, touching the light brain on his wrist and feeling a bit reassured by the nail gun. “What if you lose? Someone’s got to collect the bodies.”
Basero: “Hey!”
He looked aggrieved. “That’s the same line as Asa. Little Rose, you’ve really picked up his bad habits.”
One, who had handed him the water, asked, “Want more?”
Alex stood atop a dune, ignoring them as he focused on observing every shift in the wind and sand.
Like a geologist surveying terrain or a hunter, he missed no detail. Every trace on the sprawling sands and withered grass opened a new vista.
Soon, he had a new discovery. “He went this way.”
Alex said with certainty.
The other three followed behind him. Basero whispered, “Asa is a natural hunter, but he just holes up in that little inn his mom left him. Such a waste of talent. I’ve invited him to join my caravan multiple times, but he always refuses. Sigh… that stubborn little sun.”
Alex’s voice drifted over faintly: “Keep nicknaming me, and watch your mouth.”
Basero obediently shut up and flashed a sly grin at Xie Jianxun and the others.
Once everyone crested a larger dune, they saw the man they were tracking standing on the shaded side of a slope.
The surroundings were stone-pile caves, scattered yellow stones and red earth like a barren desert gobi.
They halted, warily watching the man until he turned with a smile. Sand whipped up to half a person’s height, making him flicker in and out of view.
Alex stared at him coldly.
He recognized this man. He’d checked in to the inn’s fourth floor the afternoon before last, silent upon arrival, staring at Alex for a good while and barely responding to questions.
“…So it was you.”
“Alex, pity you didn’t burn to death in that room. Wasted all the info I worked hard to dig up.”
The arsonist said indifferently, “You’re always in that room on Thursday nights at that time, right? They say it’s the bedroom your mom used to stay in, with her mementos inside.”
“Oh, I saw it—the poor child, still attached to a portrait. If you hadn’t lingered in that room, maybe you’d have escaped faster and avoided the burns.”
Alex took a deep breath and stepped forward, but Basero grabbed him to prevent him from charging in agitation.
Basero’s first reaction: “You got burned?”
Alex coldly brushed him off.
He wore a rare long-sleeved shirt, covering almost all exposed skin. Perhaps his left arm trembled slightly.
But he hadn’t mentioned it at all, not in all this time.
Xie Jianxun also realized why, when he went out, the guests had nearly all reached the first-floor lobby.
Alex had run down from the fourth floor, waking people along the way, then doubled back to salvage his mother’s belongings.
Unfortunately, he’d only saved that portrait in the end.
“This is just the beginning, Alex, you unforgivable heretic!”
His tone turned sinister, like emerging from a quagmire—reciting, cursing.
By the end, he was almost hysterical, pointing at Alex’s nose and yelling.
“…If the god deigns to protect you, you should be grateful, not scheming to overthrow It!”
The moment his words fell, a swarm of bugs poured out from the stone caves.
He stepped back, his ankle sinking into the yellow sand.
Like prey caught in a trap, yet he showed no panic—calm and composed, arms spread, waiting for the quicksand to swallow him whole!
Facing the onslaught of bugs, Xie Jianxun startled back a step.
They were tracking a person, not expecting this many bugs!
Someone behind him reached out, a solid, hot palm pressing his waist, steadying him so he wouldn’t stumble into the sand.
A long knife was drawn, shredding the bugs lunging at Xie Jianxun.
Basero: “Holy shit! Bugs!”
A black cuff covered Xie Jianxun’s mouth and nose, shielding him from bug blood splatter. But One couldn’t avoid it entirely; two thin blood streaks grazed the side of its pale cheek as it turned its face slightly.
Alex was a bit panicked too. “What are you yelling for? The Research Society’s! You know this stuff well, don’t you?”
One: “Are you alright?”
Xie Jianxun quickly pulled the cuff off his face. One lowered its arm accordingly.
He touched the light brain on his wrist, feeling its reassuring weight.
Basero: “I know—these lunatics!”
“No worries, go help them. I can handle myself!”
Xie Jianxun said firmly, yanking back his arm to ready the nail gun.
The man was already half-buried in quicksand, seemingly unaware he’d suffocate soon, eyes closed with a blissful smile.
The bugs parted around him like divided waters.
The sight aligned on him through the nail gun’s scope.
Xie Jianxun had never fired at a target before, his finger trembling slightly.
Yes, he’d handled them countless times—from parts to assembly, half-finished products all featured in his studies.
He’d casually mentioned interest in weapons, so the butler brought rare books and materials, teaching him hands-on.
Never fired? No problem.
The weight, the feel—they were etched in his mind. There might have been hesitation before pulling the trigger, but he pressed it firmly.
He believed the weapon in his hands had a soul, that it would connect with him at the critical moment.
A shiny silver nail shot out, piercing the arsonist’s thigh and yanking him flat on the ground, dragging him from the quicksand!
It was that nail gun!
Shiny silver, bursting with power—
“…”
“Wrong shot!!!”
Alex shouted, “Didn’t we say leg yesterday? The thigh bleeds too much— what if he dies?”
Xie Jianxun yelled back, “The calf’s too thin; I couldn’t aim! You do it if you can!”
Basero: “…”
One: “…”
If he’d never even fired a toy gun before, perhaps, maybe, possibly… it might have made a difference.
