A battle of the souls - in Contrad's Victory

Gun found in first act must go off in third act - and you can be sure Conrad will follow that dictum, as we learn that the mysterious Chinese servant, Wang, has apparently lifted Heyst's revolver - Heyst has no idea why Wang may have taken it - he doesn't tell Lena what the missing item is; she assumed it was money, and thought he was accusing her of lifting the cash. But he's worried - suspecting that Wang, with his silent ways, could do them in at any time. But we know more than he does: while he's suspecting Wang the three thugs who showed up on the his dock nearly dead from dehydration are now plotting how to kill him, or at least how to rob him of what they think is a stashed fortune - but they can't act too precipitously, as first they have to get him to tell them where he's hidden the treasure. They, too, are concerned about Wang; only one of the 3 even knows about Lena - that they're an even match, 3 against 3 - depending of course on whose side Wang chooses. As long as they don't know W has a gun, Wang and Heyst may have the advantage. But you have to expect - despite the title of the novel (Victory), that no good will come of this: there's no treasure, and whoever ends up w/ the gun will kill the wrong person, or people: it's a battle of the souls, or of beliefs - Heyst's idea that life is without purpose, that we can do no good in the world but just pass through as best we can - v. the unspoken ideals, that we can do good, that we can help one another, that there is more to life that accumulating wealth. Heyst, despite his amorality, has already "rescued" 5 people - he is in a way like a benevolent god himself, a strange moral and ethical position for an avowed atheist.