"Bang!"
A slender streak of fire shot through the restless crowd. A bullet imbued with the power of the Pyro element whistled through the air, faster and more powerful than an ordinary bow and arrow.
"Clang!"
The bullet struck Ember's breastplate, only sparking a few embers before falling silent. It was as if the bullet hadn't hit a metal plate, but rather the thick steel wall of a shooting range.
"Hmm?" After snatching Electrohammer's weapon and then hammering him into the sand, Ember touched his chest. Did something just ding him?
Then he saw the Firearm user reloading.
"Tsk tsk tsk, is the elemental leakage from this gun really that severe? Don't you Fatui know how to improve your weapons?"
Ember's sudden appearance behind the Firearm user froze the latter's reloading motion.
The Firearm user's movements stopped, but Ember's did not. He swung the massive Electrohammer he held down fiercely, hitting the Firearm user squarely on the crown of his head.
"Thud!"
A crisp sound rang out, and another dazed "mole" appeared on the beach.
"I hear you!"
The Mirror Maiden in the distance twitched her ear. A figure appeared in her dark vision. She hadn't seen it; she had heard it.
The Mirror Maiden turned to face Ember and extended her hands.
Numerous sharply angled, azure water mirrors appeared around Ember. As the water rippled, his reflection appeared within them.
Ember didn't dodge. Instead, he looked into the mirrors with interest. It had been a long time since he'd paid attention to his appearance, and he wondered if he had become more handsome.
Unfortunately, the Ember in the mirror was still the same; he hadn't become more handsome or uglier.
The water mirrors not only reflected Ember's figure but also the surrounding light. The light twisted around the water mirrors, forming strange frequencies.
Amidst the flickering light, the Mirror Maiden's faint whispers became audible.
"Let me see..., ah—"
"You're truly impressive, daring to use an illusion on me. Are you trying to replace my eyes with a Fire Keeper's?"
Ember reacted. Had that Mirror Maiden just tried to use an illusion on him?
Without time to think, Ember clenched his hand, and everything around the Mirror Maiden came to a standstill. At this moment, she was like a beautiful statue behind a barrier; everything in this world had no relation to her.
Of course, everything about her also had no relation to this world.
"Take this."
Another "Thud" sounded, and the "moles" on the beach became three.
With Electrohammer resting on his shoulder, Ember wiped away non-existent sweat from his forehead. That was close. Fortunately, he reacted quickly, otherwise, something unspeakable would have appeared on Watatsumi Island.
After wiping his sweat, Ember began to stare at the Fatui. Whomever his gaze landed on, that Fatui would involuntarily take a few steps back.
Are you kidding? The Mirror Maiden's strength was considered significant in their camp. Now, she had been easily dealt with by this strange guy. If it were them, it would only be faster.
Not to mention the Mirror Maiden's bizarre state at the end.
"Are you coming?" Ember asked, growing a bit impatient as he swung the massive Electrohammer with one hand.
The surrounding Fatui exchanged glances. They all nodded in unison, then turned around and rushed towards Shikanoin Heizou.
...
"Ember, are you dead? If not, make a sound! Why are there so many people now?!"
Soon, Shikanoin Heizou's angry roar came from the crowd. He probably hadn't expected so many people to surround him in an instant!
"Not dead! Wait!"
Ember responded from afar, then completely transformed into an afterimage, kicking up large clouds of dust on the beach.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Loud thudding sounds echoed in the sandy smoke, like a symphony, guaranteed to give listeners goosebumps.
As the only listener here, Shikanoin Heizou naturally felt it even more. With each "thud," he felt his scalp tingle a bit.
By the time the raised dust settled, numerous heads had appeared on the once pristine white beach.
Now, even without hearing, goosebumps would appear.
"Does it sound good? If it sounds good, it's a good head," Ember's figure appeared. He thrust the massive hammerhead into the ground, clapped his hands, and said.
Shikanoin Heizou shrank his head upon hearing this, offering no comment.
What could he comment on? That the Fatui's skulls were hard?
"Alright, everyone's been cleared!" Ember looked around. Besides him and Shikanoin Heizou, everyone else was half-buried in the sand.
Even the enemies Shikanoin Heizou had defeated were no exception. Since they were comrades, they should share both good fortune and hardship!
So Ember decisively hammered the few people lying on the ground into the sand as well.
"This really is... hard to say, hard to say." Shikanoin Heizou looked at the dense array of heads on the beach and felt that he needed to wash his eyes when he returned this time.
Such a peculiar sight was truly an eyesore.
Rubbing his eyes, Shikanoin Heizou prepared to get down to business.
He cleared his throat and said in a clear voice, "Shikanoin Heizou, Tenryou Commission detective, now suspects your organization of colluding with the resistance. We need to thoroughly investigate your camp. Does anyone have any objections?"
...
The Fatui on the beach didn't respond, as they had all been dazed by Ember's hammering. With their eyes rolling, of course, no one had any objections.
"Good, thank you for your cooperation," Shikanoin Heizou said with a soft laugh, seeing that none of the Fatui responded.
Then he began to rummage through everything.
"Let me see..., the ledger..., where's the ledger?"
Inside the military tent, Shikanoin Heizou was rummaging for something as if no one else was there. The solemn and intricate Fatui emblem on the tent, which inspired awe at first glance, seemed to transform into invisible eyes, watching all disrespectful actions towards the Fatui.
Unfortunately, they watched for a long time, but they didn't slow Shikanoin Heizou's movements in the slightest.
By the time he emerged from the tent again, he had turned the entire camp upside down.
However, Shikanoin Heizou's face showed no joy; instead, his worry deepened.
"Judging by your expression, you didn't find anything, did you?" Ember saw Shikanoin Heizou's tightly furrowed brows and knew there was no valuable information inside.
"Hmph..., truly worthy of the Fatui. They're really clean." Shikanoin Heizou rubbed his short hair in annoyance upon hearing this.
This was much harder to deal with than ordinary petty thieves.
But after the annoyance, a strange sense of excitement rose in Shikanoin Heizou's heart.
Piecing together the truth like a shattered collage through layers of mist—isn't this what a detective should do?
"Do you think you can stump me just because there's no ledger? Don't underestimate a detective, hey!"
With uncontrollable excitement, Shikanoin Heizou drew three interconnected circles of varying sizes on the ground.
"Alchemy runes? Are you going to make a truth serum?" Ember raised an eyebrow when he saw the symbols on the ground.
Aren't these the runes from an alchemy table? Is Shikanoin Heizou trying to conjure a bottle of truth serum out of thin air here?
"Truth serum? Does that sound like something a detective would use? Besides, I don't think there's such a strange thing in alchemy!"
Hearing Ember's words, Shikanoin Heizou couldn't help but retort. And does such a thing as truth serum really exist?
"Then what are you going to do?" Ember squatted down with Shikanoin Heizou. He looked at the crude alchemy runes on the ground, crooked and clearly drawn by an amateur.
At this level of alchemy runes, not to mention how much elemental flow they could withstand, it was questionable whether they could even allow elemental flow.
"Nothing. Since I can't get any clues from people, I'll ask the objects."
As he spoke, Shikanoin Heizou pulled out a damp piece of wood covered in iron. He had just pried it from a pillar in the Fatui's military tent.
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