At Byrne's words, every eye in the room snapped toward him. Georgia, looking completely bewildered, spoke first.
"If it's not Lei, then who could it be? Out of the four of you, his timeline is the fuzziest, and he doesn't even have a witness. Just now, when Tyrone questioned him, he was hesitating and silent for the longest time."
Although Alex and Georgia usually didn't get along, Alex shared the exact same judgment regarding the identity of the arsonist.
"Exactly. Byrne, didn't you say before that time is a critical clue? Right now, except for him, the three of us have no window to commit the crime. Unless... are you trying to confess that you are the arsonist yourself?"
At this point, Lei also raised his head, looking at Byrne with considerable surprise.
Byrne ignored Alex's remark. His gaze swept over the group before finally resting on Lei. "Lei hesitated when questioned not because he was lying, but because he didn't want to recall the experience of his career failing."
Hearing this, Tyrone challenged him. "Byrne, you can't just overturn all suspicion against him based on a simple 'he didn't want to remember.'"
Byrne nodded. "Correct. As it happens, I was actually a reader of The Ember Maze. I followed that book all the way until its paid launch."
"I remember very clearly: the launch chapters were published only three minutes before the fire started. In that amount of time, there is no way Lei could have made it to the Red Maple Theater."
"Oh... wait..." Georgia opened her mouth, but no words came out for a long while. She clearly hadn't expected Byrne to be the witness who would clear Lei's name.
Larry frowned and asked, "Byrne, are you sure you're not misremembering? This is critical evidence."
Byrne spoke with certainty. "At that time, I had just become obsessed with mystery novels. I happened upon his The Ember Maze and thought the writing was decent and the character designs suited my taste, so I kept up with the updates. On the day of the fire, I was revising drafts at the office. I was a bit tired, so I wanted to read some web fiction to relax. It happened to be the day his new book launched, so I went ahead and subscribed. I remember the time vividly: it was 6:47 PM."
Having said this, Byrne looked at Baron Blackmist, as if seeking confirmation or making a declaration.
"The Baron said the actual time the fire started was 6:50 PM. From the publication of the web novel at 6:47 to the start of the fire at 6:50, there were only three minutes. Although the community where Lei lives is in the Old District, it is at least a ten-minute drive from the Red Maple Theater. Even if he left the house the second he published the chapter and caught every green light, he couldn't have made it, let alone set a fire."
Byrne's statement was like a precise surgical knife, instantly excising the suspicion surrounding Lei. Lei stared blankly at Byrne, a spark of light igniting within the dead ash of his eyes. His lips trembled, and after a long moment, he managed to squeeze out: "Thank... thank you, David."
Lei was incredibly moved. He never could have dreamed that his failed book from three years ago would become the life-saving straw that cleared his name.
But then, Tyrone spoke up.
"Wait a minute. Everyone, don't be misled by Byrne's one-sided account. While I'm not a web writer and don't usually read web fiction, I have a friend who writes. I remember him mentioning that chapters can be uploaded and scheduled for automatic release in advance."
As soon as Tyrone said this, everyone's gaze—except Byrne—shifted back to Lei. The clouds of doubt that had just dispersed came rolling back. Lei's face turned pale as he hurriedly defended himself.
"Scheduled releases do exist, but that was my first book. For the very first chapter of the launch, I published it manually."
Tyrone let out a cold laugh. "Heh. Talk is cheap. What if you deliberately staged this act? You scheduled the time in advance, but in reality, you had already left for the theater."
"Stop talking nonsense! I did no such thing!" Lei stood up abruptly, his chair legs scraping against the floor tiles with a piercing sound.
Tyrone struck again. "Fine, even if you did it manually, it doesn't mean you didn't have time to commit the crime. After all, this is web fiction; the act of publishing isn't restricted by location."
Byrne looked at Lei, remembering a specific comment in the section while he was following the book: 'Pulling an all-nighter to burst out updates, manually launching.'
He spoke up again. "Tyrone, you aren't familiar with the web novel circle. When a new book launches, most authors choose to publish manually and leave comments in the review section. I remember Lei replying to several readers' comments in the review section at the time—the timestamp was around 6:48, less than two minutes before the fire. He couldn't have been setting a fire at the theater while replying to comments, could he?"
Byrne's words were like a heavy hammer, completely shattering Tyrone's doubts. Real-time interaction in the review section was ironclad evidence, far harder to fake than a chapter release.
Lei nodded repeatedly. "That's right! I even told the readers, 'New book launch, please support, adding two extra chapters tonight.' Those comments might not be searchable now, but they were real."
"Fine," Tyrone said with a confident smile, as if he had finally found Lei's fatal flaw. "Even if the manual publication and the comments were all real, it doesn't mean you definitely lacked the time. After all, this is web fiction. As long as there's internet, these things can be done on a mobile phone. Lei, do you have anything to say now?"
This point hit the mark. Modern web novel backends allow for publishing and commenting via mobile apps. Lei's real-time interaction couldn't prove he was at his computer, nor could it prove he hadn't gone out.
"I..."
Before Lei could respond to Tyrone's latest challenge, Byrne interrupted.
"Tyrone, your thinking is good, but unfortunately, you've overlooked the timeline. The fire happened three years ago. At that time, the platform Lei wrote for didn't have a mobile upload feature yet."
The smile on Tyrone's face froze. The pupils behind his lenses contracted slightly; he clearly hadn't expected this situation.
Lei nodded. "That's... that's right. Back then, the mobile version of the platform could only be used to read and comment. It was impossible to upload chapters."
Byrne added one more thing. "Furthermore, mobile comments displayed differently than computer ones; they were tagged with 'Sent from Mobile Device.' Lei's reply did not have that tag."
With this, every doubt was finally overturned. Georgia looked on blankly.
"If it's not Lei, then who is it? Among the remaining three, Alex was in his hometown for a birthday, Juan was at her convenience store, and Byrne was at his office revising drafts. None of you have a clear motive or window to commit the crime."
Larry rubbed his brow, his gaze scanning back and forth between the three of them.
Byrne turned his head to look at Juan.
"No, the answer is already quite obvious. Am I right... the real arsonist?"