Not long after.
Gepard led a group of Silvermane Guards in searching various locations throughout Belobog's Overworld district.
After Zeig and the others returned, Gepard and his team received the news and immediately rushed back.
As for that so-called mysterious enemy.
Sorry, but no one messing with their rice bowl was more important.
Even if one showed up, a certain someone and Dan Heng had already declared they'd take care of him.
"My god, it's really gone."
Sampo stood outside the museum ruins, eyes wide.
In front of him stretched a long police cordon, with Silvermane Guards constantly walking back and forth, strictly prohibiting any unauthorized personnel from entering.
Sampo felt deeply regretful about this.
"Now it's great—nobody gets to play anymore."
Just as he hung his head and sighed, suddenly a hand landed on his shoulder.
Sampo didn't turn around—instead, he immediately gritted his teeth and threw a punch backward.
In an instant.
The air itself produced a sonic boom from the strike.
This punch carried overwhelming momentum!
From a bystander's perspective, it could absolutely send a person straight to the ICU sipping millet porridge.
Yet the person behind Sampo simply extended a palm and casually caught the punch with effortless ease.
Pa-chi—
Upon seeing who it was, Sampo immediately broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly apologized:
"Holy crap, big big big… big bro? I thought it was that beast!"
"Which beast?"
A certain someone raised an eyebrow, then pushed Sampo's fist back, asking curiously:
"The artifact thing definitely has something to do with you, right? Nice one—you even dared to burn my private property. I see you're really brave!"
"No no no… it's not like that!"
Facing Zeig's accusation, Sampo quickly retreated a few steps, his face full of panic:
"Big bro, you've gotta believe me! This is your turf—give me the biggest guts in the world, I still wouldn't dare act arrogant here!"
"Besides…"
Sampo sighed:
"Why would I burn the museum for no reason? There's no money in it."
A certain someone gave a slight smile, leaned in closer, and said in a low tone:
"Friend, I don't believe you have no interest in the artifacts. Dare you say those previously missing ones have nothing to do with you? Pela needs evidence to arrest people, but when I fight, I never need any evidence at all."
Seeing Zeig step closer and closer, Sampo was so scared he retreated several more steps:
"No, big bro! You know me—before you arrived, I admit the batch of artifacts that went missing from the museum had a little…"
He held his thumb and index finger close together, giving an awkward laugh: "…a tiny bit of connection with me."
"But ever since you came, I've done everything I could to return the most important ones! There haven't been any more losses since, right? Later when they tried to work with me again, I ghosted them all!"
He laughed:
"I also knew big bro would definitely tamper with the artifacts. If some idiot really dared to take them, steal today and tomorrow they'd be in the ICU sipping millet!"
Seeing Sampo in front of him being so honest.
Instinct told a certain someone this didn't seem fake.
So he tossed aside the brick he'd just picked up and patted the dust off his hands:
"Then do you have any leads on the arsonist? Who were the people you cooperated with before—the ones stealing artifacts? Rat them out and I won't torture you."
Hearing that he had to sell out his partners, Sampo seemed to have anticipated it and quickly said:
"Big bro, they're just a few guys after money. I can guarantee the burning of your turf has absolutely nothing to do with them!"
"Hey, you're refusing to hand over your partners' info, huh?"
"Big bro! If I sold them out so easily, who'd dare work with me in the future?"
"You're pretty loyal, aren't you?"
"Of course!"
"But… if you could give me a little tip to test my loyalty, maybe I'd…"
"Alright, I'm not interested in them anymore."
"…"
A certain someone turned around, looking at the ruins and rubble.
Not long ago, it had been a magnificent and grand sight.
But turning such a grand building into ruins—could a few barrels of oil really do that?
Although Belobog no longer had the Stellaron, the climate was still cold, with occasional light snowfalls.
There were still tourists and some legitimate Silvermane Guards in the museum, plus Pela was there, and coincidentally Bronya had passed by at the time.
In such an extreme environment.
Just a few disguised Silvermane Guards and a few barrels of oil managed to solo the entire massive museum?
"Damn ruthless—burned it to this sorry state."
A certain someone stepped right past the on-duty Silvermane Guards and entered the ruins behind the cordon.
He bent down, picked up a charred black fragment, and gently squeezed it in his hand.
The fragment turned into fine sand that slowly trickled from between Zeig's fingers.
"Big bro, wait for me!!"
From behind, Sampo also wanted to follow in.
But several Silvermane Guards immediately blocked him.
"This is a restricted area—ahead is off-limits to unauthorized personnel!"
"Damn!" Looking at the Silvermane Guards blocking him, Sampo suddenly felt a headache:
"But my big bro went in too!!"
"You still know he's your big bro? The Executive Officer gets free passage—don't you understand the logic?"
"…"
Sampo had no choice but to watch the ruins from outside. As he watched, his eyes suddenly lit up:
"Wait, big bro! We were only in the snowfield for such a short time—how could this large building burn to this extent in so little time? There's definitely something big wrong here!"
From inside the cordon, Zeig exclaimed in admiration:
"You're so smart you don't care about your life!"
"…"
Sampo touched his nose: "Damn, so big bro already thought of that."
A certain someone silently squatted down, staring at the ruins before him, constantly recalling the scene he'd seen while piloting Heavenly Father earlier.
That overwhelming blaze had actually been slowly suppressed by the ice arrows March 7th released.
Before that, a certain someone had actually teleported a large amount of accumulated snow into the fire scene.
But it seemed to have had little effect.
"This fire… was probably ignited using Path powers, right?" a certain someone murmured.
As a Pathstrider, in Belobog… on this entire planet, they were highly sought-after existences.
If that person's Path power could create such a blaze, even if they joined the Silvermane Guards they wouldn't reach Gepard's level, but they'd definitely be stronger than ordinary officers.
Such a valuable person—why burn the museum?
"Big bro, you squatting there—are you taking a shit?"
"…"
A certain someone silently stood up, paced around a few more times, then left the museum ruins.
As he walked, he said to Sampo beside him:
"Why are you following me? Planning to turn yourself in? Then put on these silver cuffs."
Sampo dazedly caught the silver handcuffs Zeig tossed over, speechless:
"How could I turn myself in? This museum burning really has nothing to do with me—I'm just panicking right now!"
"…"
"You sure? What are you panicking about?"
"Something this big—it concerns my future development direction! If the museum can't be rebuilt, the price of that batch of ancient relics I have on hand can go up again!"
"I'm just following you to see if there's still a chance for them to reopen for business."
"Friend, what's yours is mine, isn't it?"
"?"
…