"Our people burned your temple?"
"Nothing of the sort! Do you have any evidence? Any proof that he burned it?!"
"Video? Surveillance footage? Detection of energy fluctuations? Even fingerprints or footprints left at the scene? Nothing? You have nothing, and yet you say he burned it, so that means he burned it?"
"I could just as well say your own people burned it! It's not like they haven't done it before! Your own left wing destroyed the Guanyin Statue in that temple—it wasn't the first time!"
"Maybe lightning struck it down directly! If you ask me, that goddamned shrine that harms heaven and reason should have been struck down long ago!"
They argued, argued with all their might, argued with everything they had.
After all, this was a private meeting, not a public setting under reporters' cameras and livestream lenses.
The consulate officials no longer cared about appearances either. Slamming their hands on the table, they argued to their hearts' content:
"Our people were attacked by the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons that night, and then disappeared! Your country has an obligation to protect our citizens who are legally traveling in your country!"
"What? You say he checked out normally the next morning? That doesn't erase the fact that he was attacked! That was the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons! The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!!!"
"Your own people released the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons! To kill him, you didn't even care about the lives of your own people! If he hadn't fought with everything he had, the guests and staff at that inn could never have made it out safely!"
"What? That temple? What temple? He was unfamiliar with the place, and it was pitch-black outside. Why would he go to some strange temple?"