CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 60: ARREST

The second crossbow arrow flew again, targeting the same box as before. With a thud, the arrow grazed Aiven’s body and nailed into the wooden box, vaguely overlapping with the position of the first arrow.

Aiven, having already predicted the arrow’s trajectory, didn’t even bother to dodge.

However, he wondered if he could remain so calm if he knew that "Zorro" had already discovered his true identity...

But at this moment, Aiven wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Staring at the second crossbow arrow, he made a guess in his heart: "One arrow could be a coincidence, but two arrows hitting the same spot surely indicates a problem! The person in the dark may not necessarily be an enemy."

Without hesitation, he issued an order:

"Open that box!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of Navy soldiers led by Gary had already pushed past the obstructing gang of Lionhead Barry and pried open the box in no time.

Among the densely packed and soft hay lay fireworks larger than a fist. Perhaps to enhance the festive atmosphere, the fireworks were meticulously adorned with colorful paper, looking carefully crafted.

"Bang!"

Crash——

The entire box was kicked over, and tens of fireworks rolled onto the ground.

Aiven’s eyes swept over everyone present, his own men without question, the First Mate and crew of the merchant ship in charge of unloading, and those loading goods onto the wheelbarrow mostly looked clueless, not knowing what the problem was.

Only the curly-haired man, Lionhead, and his followers were hiding a hint of urgency amidst their agitation.

"What’s going on, Captain? These are just fireworks, there’s definitely nothing else!" Lionhead wanted to step forward to explain but was stopped by Gary, only able to insist that there was absolutely nothing wrong with his goods, tears almost welling up in his eyes from anxiety.

With thirty percent anxiety, fifty percent innocence, and twenty percent barely hidden dissatisfaction and indignation, he vividly embodied the image of an honest merchant being bullied by a tyrannical officer.

But Aiven was unmoved.

Data Visualization had clearly informed Aiven through monitoring his heart rate, pupils, blood flow, and even some mental fluctuations that this guy was desperately hiding something, definitely not as simple as he appeared.

"Don’t get excited, whether there’s a problem or not, we’ll know by lighting a few fireworks. We’re doing this for the safety of the ceremony, please understand."

Before Lionhead Barry could react, Aiven, having already randomly pointed at a few fireworks on the ground, had several sailors eagerly pick them up to light.

Bang——

Bang——

The fireworks shot straight into the sky and exploded in succession, the fire displays were spectacular.

In the reflection of the firelight, the expression on Aiven’s face alternated between light and dark.

"No problem? Not much different from regular fireworks, just fewer colors... only two kinds?"

His peripheral vision again swept over Lionhead Barry, secretly tagging his expression at that moment: "Fearless!"

There’s a problem!

But it’s not here.

The splendid fireworks flashed and disappeared, the sailors and the secretly observing "Zorro" were both somewhat surprised, their attention turning to Aiven, awaiting his final decision.

Even the instigator "Zorro," seeing this perfectly ordinary scene, was somewhat undecided. Could it be that he really was overthinking it? These people just seemed fierce in appearance or spoke unrestrainedly?

However, as a Prophetic School Wizard, his keen Spiritual Sense had already subtly warned him when he saw those fireworks. Although he had also performed divination, limited by his abilities, he couldn’t uncover the cause and effect, but seeing the real thing inevitably gave him some perception.

He had a premonition that if this matter was handled poorly, though not as serious as the incident required for his promotion ceremony, it would definitely become a big trouble!

In fact, Aiven wasn’t as clueless as "Zorro" worried.

Through Data Visualization’s monitoring, it was already determined that the leader, Lionhead Barry, definitely had a problem. Directly having the conclusion and then finding the evidence was naturally much easier.

Furthermore, even if evidence couldn’t be found, what are we here for?

The mighty Kingdom Navy, a veritable forceful institution, just take them into custody on the spot, at least no one on this island would dare say a word against it. Hmm, that’s how domineering it is! Simple, direct, and efficient!

But out of responsibility and legal procedures, Aiven still wanted to find out the problem, truly sever the source of the tumult, and make them genuinely concede.

He picked up two fireworks, carefully observing, the black shell, the long fuse all identical, just... just the colorful paper on these fireworks’ shells had differences.

Inspecting each piece of colorful paper on the shell, they, like the fireworks colors, also divided into two kinds, resembling a complete Tulip pattern split into two halves, respectively adhered to two different kinds of fireworks.

For Aiven, if these fireworks were important tools for causing trouble, it was nothing more than leveraging the explosive power of the fireworks. Either to create chaos or directly harm the masses participating in the ceremony.

But fireworks are still fireworks; no matter how powerful, how lethal can they be?

"Wait a minute!"

Two kinds of fireworks... split stickers...

A flash of insight crossed Aiven’s mind.

Turning, he precisely slashed open two different colored fireworks, "Shasha..." the shell cracked, releasing black powder from within, one silver-gray, the other orange-red.

Though not a science student in his past life, Aiven knew some basic chemistry knowledge. The differences in firework colors are due to the addition of different metal powders, which cause magical flame color reactions when burned.

Different colors of gunpowder aren’t odd, but the fact that the Tulip sticker could form a complete pattern gave Aiven a richer association.

He hadn’t forgotten the middle school Aluminum Thermite experiment, astounding for how seemingly harmless and ubiquitous materials could release immense energy when mixed in a certain proportion.

In this world with witchcraft, perhaps there might be similar miraculous recipes.

Most importantly, Aiven himself didn’t know where the issue lay, but Lionhead certainly did. Once the gunpowder was exposed, Lionhead Barry’s reaction clearly told Aiven he was very close to the truth.

"Standing there in the wet, cold sea wind for so long and still breaking into a cold sweat, face pale, showing your psychological quality isn’t up to scratch, buddy!"

Aiven personally took action, taking half of each pile of gunpowder and mixing it in the simplest imagined ratio, fifty-fifty. Since the final step was given to these seemingly not too bright guys to handle, it couldn’t possibly be too complicated.

For safety’s sake, Aiven lit a fuse slowly and swiftly retreated.

Boom——

The mixed gunpowder instantly underwent a rapid combustion, an orange-yellow flame shooting up two stories high. Among it, were white-glowing sparkling particles, crackling as they fell onto the pier’s stone ground, quickly burning a blackened hole.

From a distance, the scorching heat burned the crowd’s face painfully.

Additionally, as the gunpowder burned, sparks constantly scattered, covering an area over ten meters wide. Imagine if this thing was ignited on the day of the ceremony, what consequences it would bring.

Stone could be burned through, bones naturally too.

Aiven broke out in a cold sweat!

The crowd, initially standing afar, backed away in a flurry again, highlighting the stunned Lionhead and his deputy standing in place.

A loud shout:

"Arrest them!"