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As the Lord of Parasites, Shiraishi Wataru could use his Parasite's ability to avoid its negative effects. In other words, he could enter Firework Knight mode whenever he wanted. However, the state took a tremendous toll, and he couldn't sustain it for long. An Ultraman lasted three minutes; he was probably worth twenty Ultramen.

Shiraishi Wataru was quite satisfied with these two abilities. So although Ito's "lack of ambition" displeased him a little, he wasn't in a hurry to step in and guide him.

He simply gave him the [Conceal] ability, letting him lie low for the time being.

In that respect, Shiraishi Wataru was still a fairly kind soul, even if only a little.

He turned his attention away from Ito. He still had to work on multitasking, controlling two or even three parasites at once. He figured the skill would come in handy sooner or later. He couldn't just run away because it was difficult!

"This is unlikely to be a normal natural gas explosion. Look: the flames first appeared on the sixth floor, in these few frames. Then, in less than a second, they shot up to the seventh floor. Three seconds later, they reached the twelfth, then rose past the roof. Overall, it looked like a column of flame, reaching a height of seventy or eighty meters. Even a flamethrower's flames spread out over a long distance. This footage looks as if some inexplicable force was keeping the flames tightly contained in the center. I'm more inclined to believe it's a movie effect."

After listening to the expert's analysis, William nodded and patted him on the shoulder. "Thank you for explaining. This has been a great help to us."

"I'm glad I could help."

After seeing the expert off, William called Noguchi Yuji, told him what they had found, and shared his suspicions.

"You think it might be connected to supernatural powers?"

"Yeah. There isn't much footage, but we've confirmed it's all genuine. Which department is handling the case? I'd like to request that our investigation team be allowed to join the investigation."

"The First Investigation Division. Cases like this usually go to Koizumi from Special Crimes Investigation Division 3. I'll give him a heads-up. You can join the investigation, but it'd be best not to interfere with their investigative direction."

"All right. Since he's one of your former subordinates, that'll make things easier."

"If you need help, I can have Toyokawa Jousei come over at any time."

"If I do, I won't hesitate to ask."

Not long afterward, while William was still studying the footage, Koizumi from Special Crimes Investigation Division 3 sent him several files through the internal communications system.

[These are the current scene assessment report, the suspect files, and the witness statements.]

[Thanks!]

William had his subordinates print out the files, planning to give a copy to each of them so they could pool their ideas.

"The only suspect whose whereabouts are still unknown is Ito Seigo."

"Ito Seigo!"

The landlord, who was temporarily staying at a hotel because of the fire, came out of his reverie and abruptly slapped the edge of the bed. No wonder things had seemed more and more wrong the longer he thought about them.

On the night of the fire, Ito had acted furtively. He'd been unreachable for days, and the police had asked all sorts of questions about him. Most importantly, the fire had started in his apartment and spread from there!

A frightening suspicion gradually took shape in the landlord's mind. He quickly opened Weibo and found the trending topic about the fire. Clutching his chest and thinking of his newly renovated building, he posted his angry conclusion.

[White Dragon of the Fire? Arsonist on the loose!]

[Ito Seigo—I'm sure this name won't mean much to most people, but if you're often online, you've probably seen this picture. That's right, he's the "White Dragon of the Fire" who went viral six months ago! He was discharged from the hospital a few days ago. I liked him so much that I rented my six-story apartment building to him against my family's wishes. That's Kamizakura Apartment, the building that caught fire two days ago. What a coincidence, right? Anyone who's seen the fire videos knows the flames first started on the sixth floor.

That night, I ran into Ito hurrying downstairs. I was relieved he hadn't been caught in the fire, but he said he was injured and had to go to the hospital. He didn't even look like his clothes were dirty, but I didn't have time to think much about it then. It was only later, when I watched the videos, that I realized the first explosion had happened in his apartment. So how did he make it downstairs without a scratch? Even his mask was still white! And here's the strangest part: I haven't been able to contact him at all since that night, and then the police asked me all sorts of questions about him. On top of that, he lost both his parents and was disfigured in a fire. What do you think? Is it possible that Ito Seigo is taking revenge on society?! (Photo of his disfigured face attached)]

As time passed, the post began to gain traction.

The story had started to die down, but now it was attracting attention again.

Journalists saw the perfect sensational headline: a former fire-fighting hero turned arsonist. That kind of shocking contrast never went out of style.

The story began to spread. By evening, many victims' families and sympathizers had gathered at the Metropolitan Police Department, demanding that Ito Seigo be put on the wanted list and arrested as soon as possible.

The Metropolitan Police Department issued a statement confirming that Ito Seigo was currently the only suspect who had not been apprehended. A warrant had been issued, and they urged him to turn himself in as soon as possible.

The next day, the situation grew even more heated.

Ito Seigo's ex-girlfriend was doxxed by online influencers. She was harassed and threatened so badly that she didn't dare go to work. A post she made on Weibo saying, "The person I knew wasn't like this," drew countless insults, forcing her to turn off the comments.

The landlord was also flamed online, with people accusing him of indirectly causing the deaths of the other residents in the apartment building.

Even the cemetery where Ito Seigo's parents were buried was exposed. Within half a day, one of the victims' relatives posted a video of them splashing ink over the graves and writing on the headstones. The comments were divided.

Some said the attackers had gone too far. How was this any different from punishing an entire family? And in this case, they were punishing the dead.

Others said, "Don't tell people to be kind if you haven't suffered what they have. If my family were on the list of the dead, I'd go even further. I'd smash the headstone and dig up the ashes to scatter them. If we still had burials, I'd dig up the grave and whip the corpse three hundred times."

Someone was deeply inspired and announced that they were heading out to do just that.

"Send someone to keep an eye on the person in that video. And put the cemetery under surveillance, too. Don't let anyone get near it or damage anything." William rubbed his temples, unsure what to make of it.

He'd looked into Ito's background in depth and suspected he wasn't the sort of person who would deliberately set a fire. It was more likely that an accident had caused the flames to get out of control. Of course, people's minds were complicated, and he'd adjust his theory as new information came in.

"Major, we checked all the surveillance cameras near the park. Only the one at this convenience store was useful."

His subordinate started the video. It showed a person in a hood and mask entering the convenience store.

As the door chime rang, William frowned and watched those two seconds of footage again.

"Someone came in, but she didn't even look over."

As the footage continued, William began to suspect what was going on. When Ito entered the convenience store a second time, glanced at the camera, and then left, he became even more certain.

"Find this clerk and confirm a few things with her."

After giving his subordinate the instructions, he raised his hand and clenched his fist.

Hopefully, it won't come to a fight.