"This... this can't be possible, can it?"
Seeing Chen Fan's certain expression, Isa stammered, "I, I specifically..."
"Specifically avoided the other church members?"
Chen Fan raised his hand and pointed toward the tightly shut door. "When you came in just now, didn't you notice the statue was right beside it?"
Isa: "..."
She fell silent.
When she entered, she had been far too flustered to observe where the statue was.
So, just as Chen Fan said, everything she had done had already been completely exposed to the church's eyes?!
Then what awaited her next...
Thinking of those inhuman punishments, the last traces of color drained completely from Isa's face.
Before her, Chen Fan sighed softly.
Now he was certain:
His earlier intuition had been right. This Mechanical Little Potato really was quite dumb.
He truly had no idea how she had become a priest...
"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Chen Fan reached out and gently rubbed the Mechanical Little Potato's head. "That Wallis Bishop you mentioned probably deliberately sent you to find me."
"More precisely, he was testing me."
Isa: "?"
Gao Yuan: "O.o?"
Chen Fan clasped his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in the not-so-spacious room. "Isa, you just told me to run quickly, right?"
When Isa nodded, Chen Fan smiled instead. "That's it."
"That's exactly what Wallis Bishop wanted to see."
"Why would I run? Nothing more than a guilty conscience."
"And why would I have a guilty conscience?"
"The answer is obvious. I must be hiding something."
"As soon as I run, Wallis Bishop will immediately order that my status as a God Chosen be revoked."
Isa's pretty face was full of shock. She swallowed hard. "I... I didn't think that far ahead. I just felt that a good person like you shouldn't die so unjustly..."
As for Gao Yuan beside her...
He was currently completely bewildered. He probably would not be able to sort out all these twists and turns anytime soon.
Chen Fan walked to the window, narrowed his eyes, and glanced downstairs.
More than a dozen Black Robe Priests were approaching from afar, their target clear: the residential building he was in.
"They're already here..."
Chen Fan murmured softly, then turned to Isa. "Remember, no matter what happens later, just say what you originally thought."
"As for Gao Yuan..."
Gao Yuan looked at Chen Fan with a blank expression. "Huh?"
"...Forget it. Just stay like you are now. It's pretty good."
"Just remember to listen to my orders later."
Gao Yuan: "?"
He felt somewhat insulted.
"What about you?" A hint of worry showed in Isa's eyes. "When Wallis Bishop..."
"Me?"
Chen Fan curled his lips. "Of course, I'll start acting."
But then again, if things really were as he had guessed, then the church's threat level had to be raised another notch—those bastards actually knew how to play tactics!
And it was a straightforward open scheme at that!
Damn it, the hearts of people who played tactics were all dirty. He had to watch out for them!
Except himself.
With that thought, Chen Fan swiped a hand across the dust-covered windowsill, then vigorously rubbed his eyes with his dust-covered hands.
Irritated by the dust, his tear glands began secreting tears, while the skin around his eyes quickly reddened and swelled.
Chen Fan painfully opened his eyes, blurred with tears, and bared his teeth at the Mechanical Little Potato before him.
"Watch closely. Learn well."
Outside the room.
As a dull sound of the door opening rang out, his mother's startled cry followed.
"B-Bishop?!"
"You..."
"Stop talking nonsense." A heavily mechanical synthesized voice echoed through the living room. "Where is the Sinner Chen Fan now?!"
"S-Sinner?!"
His mother's face turned deathly pale, and her body collapsed weakly onto the cold concrete floor. "Xiao Fan, Xiao Fan is a God Chosen, isn't he? How did he suddenly become..."
Her lips trembled, but she could never say those two words that meant death.
"Hmph."
A cold snort came from the shadows beneath the purple robes. "He secretly consulted forbidden books. The Archbishop suspects that he harbors disloyal intentions toward the Lord!"
"Speak. Where is the Sinner Chen Fan?"
"Church law, Article Eleven: Those who shelter Sinners share the same guilt!"
His mother watched Black Robe Priests and guards clad in bright silver armor file into the house, despair showing in her eyes.
"Creak..."
The sound of a door opening rang through the living room.
A petite priest dressed in a black robe slowly walked out.
Under the gazes of the priests and guards, she bent at the waist and gave the Bishop a proper salute. "Lord Wallis, greetings to you."
"Priest Isha?"
Wallis, dressed in purple divine robes, paused. His voice was full of astonishment. "Didn't you go to announce the Divine Descent Ceremony?"
"Why are you here?"
As he spoke, Wallis "belatedly" realized a problem, and several traces of fury entered his mechanical synthesized voice. "Where is Chen Fan? Could it be that you..."
At that moment, Chen Fan, who was still hiding in the room, revealed a faint sneer.
Keep pretending. Go on, keep pretending.
An Oscar should be awarded to an actor like you!
You're really something!
You actually got it right!
One's voice sounded in his mind. To be fair, how about reconsidering this machine's proposal?
This machine is serious. You absolutely have the potential to become an investigator for the Dangerous Technology Administration!
When the time comes, the two of us can partner up. Wouldn't those achievements be ours for the taking?
Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly.
Ever since he had analyzed the church's intentions from superficial to deeper levels and devised the corresponding countermeasures, One had begun vigorously introducing the so-called Dangerous Technology Administration and Dangerous Technology Investigators in his mind, trying to persuade him to join the Human Federation.
To be fair, becoming an employee of an advanced civilization sounded rather tempting.
But!
Those four words, Dangerous Technology, gave Chen Fan a slight sense of unease just from hearing them.
With the mindset that it was better to live badly than die well, he decisively rejected One's proposal.
Thus...
One activated nagging persuasion mode in his mind.
Shut up. Chen Fan lightly tapped the Intelligent Terminal wrapped around his right hand. The good show is about to begin. If you keep babbling, I'll throw you away.
...Oh.
The atmosphere in the living room was incomparably tense.
Wallis Bishop stared directly at Isa before him with his red-glowing Mechanical Eye. Though it was a Mechanical Eye, Isa still sensed a dangerous aura from it.
"Priest Isha, why did you betray the church?"
Wallis chose a question that concealed a trap.
"I didn't betray the church." Having received Chen Fan's guidance, Isa swallowed hard and answered in a trembling voice, "Chen Fan... Lord Chen Fan is still a God Chosen!"
"The Archbishop has not issued an explicit order."
"Bishop, why are you falsely accusing a God Chosen on your own authority?"
Not only had Wallis gained nothing, he had even been countered in return. He could not help falling silent.
Before you continue