After speaking with Domitius, he returns to Chan's residence, that is by now also his, and tells him about the exploration team and the fact they are setting off tomorrow.
He makes sure that Chan goes to sleep early, wakes him up at a ridiculous early time, forces him to have a nutritious breakfast and then sends him to go to wait for a couple of hours for the actual time for them to leave the palace.

He and Xiao continue to investigate the burnt farm case, but they didn't manage to get much. The farmers nearby are innocent and all that they could get from them is that one saw a "tall silhouette" rushing away in the darkness, shortly before the fire started to spread.
Of the people who left the city from the gate, none seem to make sense. The main suspect would have been Aventurine, but there is no sort of connection between him and Garan. Plus, he was reported returning inside the city much before the time of the fire. Not to mention the witnesses said it was someone "tall". XD

He tries to go to speak to Garan again and this time, he manages to get the location of the village where he lived before. Those people seem to be the main suspects, for now.
He is in the garden of the palace and when he is done interrogating, Garan flees at the speed of light, leaving him alone there, with his thoughts.

When they are back to Xianyun's abode, he goes to take a very long shower, trying to process his thoughts and feelings after all that happened. It's not that he wanted to lie or keep things from Zhongli, he just wants that story to end there and never have to think about it anymore, for himself, because he is too scared to face all that.
The memory fragment he acquired can't just disappear on its own, of course, so it's there in his mind and he simply has to accept it and learn to overcome that fact, with the help of his family. Though, he retained full control of his mind and identity, the fact he thought to be Deshret was because his mind got momentarily overwhelmed with all the new information.

When he is done with the shower, he walks out of the bathroom in his night clothes — which are terrestrial shabby clothes, Chan corrupted him — and walks towards the kitchen to see where rhe others are.

The next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast that Cloud Retainer prepared with her culinary device, they prepare to depart for the desert, under Cyno's instructions and recommendations.

When everything is ready, Cyno teleports Chan first, as he is very insecure with teleportation and doesn't dare to take more than one person. Upon reaching Aaru village, Chan comes back to Mt Aocang to teleport the rest. They appear by the other end of the bridge that leads to the village.
The heat is dazing, but at least there is not a sandstorm ongoing.
First of all, Cyno takes them to the small house he owns in the village and unlocks the door. Done that, he gives a tour that lasts approximately 5 minutes, since there is pretty much nothing to see beside the small market and Candace.

While Cyno shows the place, an old man from the Akademiya recognises him and promptly approaches. He tells Cyno that the sage has forbidden researches and scholars from going to the desert to investigate ruins and pretty much begs Cyno to go photograph something for him.
Cyno is reluctant and tries to reject the proposal, but both Chan and Cloud Retainer convince him to accept: after all, he promised Xianyun to show her the technologies of the ancient desert people, he sure can't do that in that small village of peasants.
But there the problem arises: regardless of how light hearted they might be on the task and how confident of their own skills, they simply can't bring two such small children where there might be to fight. Not without Zhongli's shields to protect them.

Thus, Xiao is forced to stay in Aaru village with the children while the others depart for the open desert.

After interrogating everyone, collecting information and stories from everyone even remotely involved with them, they came up with the following suspects.

• An unknown individual or group with the purpose of destabilising Lianxi for unknown reasons.
Backing:
- A very similar attack happened to the previous king of Lianxi.
- The culprits were never caught.
- They were organized to the point of killing the intermediaries before they could be caught.
Weakness:
- The King is new and different.
- The current king is believed to be a god.
- Both kings were/are very beloved by the people and any usurper taking the throne after them would encounter the rage of the people.
- After the first failed attempt to the previous King's life, no further known attacks happened in over 17 years.
- The throne hall didn't seem to be targeted, or something went wrong.

• MianBao's haters.
Backing:
- He is extremely hated and by a wide number of people.
- His haters set fire on the apartment in which he was living, back in Guiji.
- The brothel, where he previously worked and lived, was set on fire.
- The fires occurred the next morning from when he moved to work and live in the palace.
Weakness:
- Both the fires at Jingyuan's old apartment and the brothel were normal fires.
- If someone was spying him to the point of knowing exactly when he would enter the palace, they would have also known that he has been living by himself in a simple apartment for over two weeks. Attacking him there would have been much easier, draw less attention and increase the success rate comparing to set multiple fires in a huge palace with separate buildings.
- Another prostitute seemed the target of the brothel fire.

• Furina.
Backing:
- She came to Nortrig for unknown reasons.
- She still served as an Archon of Teyvat.
- Liyue Qixing weren't happy about her presence at the harbour.
- Furina was outside in the city alone, shortly before the fires occurred and was the first to notice the smoke. (Hudie can easy debunk it,.since he was following her at the time.)
Weakness:
- She would have no known reason to attack Zhongli and his family.
- Her element, supposedly, is water so she would likely not use fire for that kind of attack.
- She is, supposedly, the God of Justice and such deed would be against her very nature.
- It would have been impossible for her to set foot in the palace without being noticed by Zhongli. (Cyno still unaware that she is just a human.)
- If she causes the attack, she shouldn't have reported the smell of smoke, as that sent Cyno and Hudie to help.

• Elton.
Backing:
- If he is in possession of dangerous artefacts, the fires could have been accidentally caused by him.
- Same if he performed some dangerous ritual.
- His reasons to be in the palace are quite unclear. (To Cyno.)
- He is mentally unstable.
Weakness:
- He would never risk to endanger WooPil and his family.
- He has been away from the palace for several days.
- Chan low-key keeps an eye on him.

• Kafka. Johan. Blade. Miko. WonPil.
Backing:
- Kafka has a grudge against Jing Yuan and might want to have revenge on him for his attempt to trick her.
- Kafka proved that she can easily access the palace without permission.
- Kafka can control people.
- Blade is known to hate Elton to the point of losing his mind just at the sight of him.
- Kafka has a strong grip on Blade.
- Blade could lose control and act under the effect of the mara.
- Blade is friend with Jing Yuan and LianSul and lived in the palace, so his presence could pass unnoticed to the staff.
- Johan and Miko are known to have a strong grudge towards the royal family.
- Johan possesses skills that would make it easy for him to access the palace without permission.
- WonPil, having worked and lived there, knows the palace well.
- WonPil main element is Chaos and he is the son of the demigod. Even if fire is not strictly the element of Chaos, lava is closely related and he has a known tendency to destruction.
- Kafka, Blade, Johan, Miko and WonPil mysteriously left the city in a hurry, without warning anyone, the exact day before the attack. Nobody knows where they went and why.
- Kafka, Blade, Johan and Miko would have the means to obtain dangerous weapons and technologies from other planets, including some remotely controlled explosives.
- Johan's home was messed and burnt, as if something exploded inside. It could have been an accident while storing or creating something dangerous in there.
- The brothel had a fire accident and it was later discovered that Kafka had been working and living there after leaving the palace. Similar reasoning as with Johan's home.
- WonPil and Miko were seen by guards with a man that they most obviously had captured and killed. Several proofs of this fact were recovered on the scene, including bullets from guns WonPil usually carries.
(HaiTien is not suspected because Cyno didn't get to speak with people outside Lianxi and doesn't find it strange that he would skip training without warning, if he doesn't feel like it.)
Weakness:
- Kafka had what she wanted, in the end and the act to take revenge on Jing Yuan that way would seem a little extreme.
- WonPil should have no reason to hate the royal family, as they have all helped him. Plus, he is known to fear the King, as he believes him to be a God.
- Miko would never endanger WooPil.
- Blade could have simply attacked Elton any time, if he had wanted him dead.
- Miko lost her memories. (They don't know she regained them.)

• SulBang.
Backing:
- He and Zhongli had some very bad exchanges on Earth.
- SulBang often threatened Zhongli during the time in Seoul.
- SulBang would have reasons to want revenge on Zhongli.
Weakness:
- He has a strong alibi, since he was in the hospital the whole day before and the day of the attack.
- His room and whole LianSul's home was searched but nothing even remotely suspicious was found.

• Granny Ruoxin.
Backing:
- She probably hates Zhongli for sealing her beloved evil gods.
- She has a grudge on Zhongli for stopping the Chi, after she managed to trick Chan and the Traveler into releasing it.
- She has a crush on Childe.
Weakness:
- She has never left her position as the leader of Qingce village and never would.