Time to Cooperate in Good Faith

The moment those words were spoken, Peach Blossom Paradise fell into deathly silence.

Bai Wei's gaze lingered between Diana and Luo Qi, while Diana and Luo Qi looked directly at Bai Wei. But since they were all phantoms, none of them could see the others' expressions, much less guess what they were thinking... Well, Luo Qi was an exception.

Even without seeing his face, Bai Wei and Diana could sense his... shock from every tiny movement he made. This left Diana deeply puzzled. In her view, Luo Qi should have been one of tonight's witnesses. How could he still react like this?

Was he pretending to be incompetent? But his act was far too clumsy.

Yet Luo Qi was genuinely not putting on an act. There were two things that shocked him.

First, Tongue had been killed only tonight—less than two hours ago, even. It was understandable for him, a witness at the scene, to learn about it immediately, but how had that old asshole Ulu found out?

Luo Qi had originally been considering using this firsthand information to trade for something from Ulu. In the end, the bastard already knew. Could he have been at the scene too?

But Ulu had that eye. Even if he had not been there, it was not particularly surprising that he could know.

But what did it mean that Right Eye had killed Tongue? Hadn't Isaiah killed Tongue?

What had he missed?

Luo Qi glanced at Bai Wei several times before barely stopping himself from saying, "Why don't you make yourself clearer?"

"Neither of you questioned the authenticity of this information." As though he had not noticed Luo Qi's odd behavior, Bai Wei smiled and nodded. "That also proves your abilities. If either of you had really said, 'Why don't you make yourself clearer?' I would only think of ways to stay farther away from him... because I heard stupidity is contagious."

Luo Qi's mouth twitched.

"Mr. Hand Eye, you do not seem worried at all." Under normal circumstances, Ring Finger would have enjoyed watching Luo Qi's reaction, but she truly had no mood to waste time on an idiot now. After Right Eye killed Tongue and obtained four corpse pieces, he had clearly become the most troublesome enemy. At a time like this, the rest of Peach Blossom Paradise would naturally form an alliance, and between Hand Eye and Mr. Thumb, Hand Eye was clearly the more suitable ally. "May I take that to mean everything is within your expectations?"

"Miss Ring Finger thinks too highly of me." Bai Wei said, "If I truly had the ability to control everything, Tongue's corpse pieces would not have fallen into Right Eye's hands. You should know which corpse piece Right Eye wants most in Peach Blossom Paradise, right?"

Naturally, it was Left Eye. Even Luo Qi knew that.

And Luo Qi was not stupid either. At least, not completely stupid. By now, he had also realized it.

Fuck, Right Eye was Isaiah!

No wonder he could kill Tongue. No wonder he could wield that kind of power beneath a not particularly bright night sky. No wonder he had hidden the Three Corpse Pieces.

Because he was Right Eye!

Now everything made sense.

In an instant, Luo Qi felt the blissful clarity of suddenly understanding everything, like finally getting manually unclogged after being constipated for ages. But once the relief passed came lingering fear.

Fuck, that guy already had four corpse pieces?!

And he had been so close to him tonight?! If Isaiah knew he was Mr. Thumb, wouldn't he become Isaiah's next corpse piece?

Although sweating was impossible within Peach Blossom Paradise, Luo Qi still felt chilled to the bone, as though he had been unclogged a little too thoroughly.

"What Right Eye desires most is indeed the other eye." Diana nodded slightly. "But you have two corpse pieces and can reject Peach Blossom Paradise's summons, so you do not need to worry too much about Right Eye immediately coming for you, do you?"

"If anyone else had obtained those Three Corpse Pieces, I might still have had room to negotiate." Bai Wei shrugged. "But Right Eye happened to be the one who got them. All I can say is that I am not far from death either."

Diana frowned. Recalling their "transaction" in Peach Blossom Paradise half a month ago, she immediately pressed, "What did you give him?!"

"My current location," Bai Wei said. "And I made the promise to Peach Blossom Paradise itself. I cannot leave that place within one month."

Even someone as steady as Diana's expression turned ugly at that moment.

Right Eye devouring Tongue's Three Corpse Pieces had already made him virtually unbeatable, and he even knew Hand Eye's location.

In other words, if he wished, he could devour Hand Eye at any time!

Four corpse pieces against two, and the side with four corpse pieces was Isaiah, the strongest beneath the gods. Diana could not imagine how Hand Eye could possibly resist.

She could practically see Hand Eye's two corpse pieces being added to Isaiah.

Luo Qi caught up with their train of thought at this point and suddenly widened his eyes. "Then why the fuck aren't you running?!"

"Bound by Peach Blossom Paradise, how am I supposed to run?" Bai Wei said. "Do you think I am Visas?"

"But what are you supposed to do if you don't run?!"

"That depends on what you do."

"Us?"

"Yes." Bai Wei spread his hands. "What I envisioned was the three of you fighting Tongue, then turning on each other over an uneven division of the spoils, allowing me to pick up the leftovers. I never imagined Right Eye could kill Tongue by himself. Now, this is the worst possible situation for me. If he comes looking for me, I will have no ability to fight back."

"Then how can you still be so relaxed?"

"Because if I die, none of you can escape either." Bai Wei smiled. "Even if I go to hell before you, I will soon see you coming down to accompany me. Since I cannot change my own fate, watching you fail just like me will at least make me feel a little better."

Luo Qi froze for a long moment, then slapped the table and rose. "You fucking—"

"Enough." Diana stopped Luo Qi from exploding, then looked at Bai Wei. "Mr. Hand Eye, since things have reached this point, there is no need to keep testing each other. Only the combined number of corpse pieces between the three of us can match Right Eye's. If we still refuse to cooperate sincerely now, none of us will escape death. So stop saying meaningless things."

"Tsk, I'm just worried about someone stabbing me in the back." Bai Wei smiled. "If everyone here were as sensible as Miss Ring Finger, I would not need to give such roundabout reminders."

Who the fuck were you taking a jab at?!

Luo Qi truly wanted to explode, but he still forced himself to endure it.

With things laid out this plainly, Luo Qi also understood why Hand Eye had convened the Corpse Friends meeting in Peach Blossom Paradise immediately. After all, if he waited any longer, he would become a corpse himself.

Although Luo Qi really wanted to see that old asshole Ulu suffer, even he had to hold his nose and pray that Ulu would not die at a time like this.

"The first thing we need to ensure is your survival, Mr. Hand Eye." Diana asked as she thought, "What level of restriction does Peach Blossom Paradise impose? Is there really no way for you to leave the place you promised to remain in? Is it based on subjective intent, or actual actions?"

"Subjective intent," Bai Wei answered. "As long as the thought, 'I have broken my promise to Peach Blossom Paradise,' arises in my mind, then I have breached the agreement. Peach Blossom Paradise's punishment will follow immediately."

Diana frowned slightly.

From that perspective, Peach Blossom Paradise's restrictions were very similar to those of Contract Land. Of course, the latter might very well have been derived from the former.

Luo Qi asked, "What if we get someone to knock you out, then carry you away? Would that work? Then you would not be leaving voluntarily, right?"

"Mr. Thumb always manages to offer suggestions that make one's vision go dark."

"Stop with the fucking sarcasm! If it works, say it works. If it doesn't, just say so!" Luo Qi lost his temper as well.

"It will not work." Before Bai Wei could answer, Diana shook her head first. "As long as he believes in his heart that this is an act of breaking the contract, he cannot escape it."

Luo Qi instinctively said, "Then he just needs not to think that way, doesn't he?"

Diana began to regret acknowledging Luo Qi at all.

"In short, I cannot leave this place." Bai Wei said. "I also do not want to experience what Peach Blossom Paradise's punishment is, so let us think of another way."

"Then should I send someone to protect you?" Luo Qi asked again. Seeing the two look at him, he immediately realized there was something wrong with that statement and hurried to patch it up. "I have a friend with a bit of influence. It's not me. I do not have any influence..."

Was that really the important part?

Diana could not help sighing, already feeling a headache at having such an ally.

"Thank you very much for your kindness, Mr. Thumb." Bai Wei smiled. "But I do not wish to reveal my location for now. After all, whether the person who comes for me is Right Eye or someone else makes no difference to me, does it?"

"You actually think I want to take your corpse pieces for myself?!"

"One must take precautions."

Damn it, he saw right through him.

Luo Qi said without changing his expression, "You are so narrow-minded. There is nothing I can do about that."

"If there is nothing you can do, then forget it." Bai Wei spoke slowly. "Anyway, if I am killed, you will not escape either."

Luo Qi gritted his teeth, cursing inwardly. How could Rhine have produced such an awful bastard as Ulu?!

"Unable to leave, and unable to receive protection." Diana said softly, "Then there is only one option... Hold Right Eye back so he has no time to find you."

Luo Qi looked at Diana in confusion. "Who has the ability to hold Right Eye back? He has four corpse pieces!"

"Not by fighting him." Diana said calmly. "By other means. Right Eye's identity is out in the open now, and he does not dare reveal that he has four corpse pieces. In that case, we still have plenty of room to maneuver."

Luo Qi understood Diana's meaning as well.

"Leave this matter to me." Diana said to Bai Wei. "I can make it impossible for him to come looking for you."

Bai Wei asked, "Can you really do that?"

Diana answered briefly, "No problem."

That answer made Luo Qi glance at Diana again, wondering what her real-world identity actually was.

By now, although no one had fully revealed their hand, they could all roughly guess one another's identities. After all, they had all learned immediately that Isaiah killed Tongue. There was no point pretending to be innocent passersby anymore. They might as well display the usefulness they should have.

Having figured that out, Luo Qi cleared his throat. "Ahem, I will also try to stop him."

Diana glanced at Luo Qi without saying anything more.

Bai Wei merely smiled. "Then I will leave it to you two."

"We are simply sticking together as we should." Diana looked at Bai Wei again. "And this will not come without a price. Like a transaction, if I help you, you should help us too."

"Yes, yes." Luo Qi hurriedly followed up. "You cannot just stand by, then pat your ass and leave when the time comes, abandoning those of us with only one corpse piece."

"Don't worry. We are all grasshoppers tied to the same rope now. None of us can run." Bai Wei smiled. "If we do not work together to deal with him, all of us will die."

"You too?"

"Of course, me too." Bai Wei said. "Of course, you may think I can reject Peach Blossom Paradise because I have two corpse pieces, but he has four. Do you know what four corpse pieces can do?"

Luo Qi immediately became nervous. "What can they do?"

"I don't know either."

Luo Qi froze, then got angry again. "You fucking—"

"I do not have four corpse pieces, so how would I know? But people are alive. Things we do not know can still be inferred from patterns." Bai Wei directly cut off Luo Qi before he could curse. "Just use Tongue as an example. Tongue had three corpse pieces."

"So what?"

"Let me make it clearer." Bai Wei crossed his hands beneath his chin and swept his gaze over the two of them. "You have both dealt with Tongue before, right? Then have you ever considered how he found you?"

The two instantly became serious.

Yes, they seemed to have overlooked something all along.

Tongue seemed to have been the only person present who had crossed paths with every person in Peach Blossom Paradise in the real world.

He had fought Hand Eye to the death, battled Luo Qi, and was finally killed by Right Eye.

And during that time, he had also made a transaction with Diana.

In other words, Tongue knew everyone's identities.

...Could that really have been a coincidence?

"It seems you understand what I mean." Bai Wei said. "Tongue dealt with all of us in the real world. Could that be understood as a result of possessing three corpse pieces? Two corpse pieces can open Peach Blossom Paradise, so could three corpse pieces still only open Peach Blossom Paradise?"

"You believe three corpse pieces gave Tongue a new ability from Peach Blossom Paradise, one that exceeded the rules of the corpse pieces?" Diana said. "And he used that ability to contact every one of us in the real world?"

"Do you not think that possibility is highly likely?"

"Then why did he still lose to Right Eye?"

"Perhaps because that ability could only be used to find people." Bai Wei shrugged. "Whether he could defeat them after finding them was another matter."

Bai Wei's words weighed heavily on Diana and Luo Qi's hearts.

If Tongue could use three corpse pieces to find Right Eye, then Right Eye could naturally use four corpse pieces to find them.

"Is that really possible?"

"Why would it be impossible?" Bai Wei said. "Have you not noticed that Right Eye has not summoned either of you through Peach Blossom Paradise even now?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It is only a guess. It may not be correct." Bai Wei said slowly. "Tongue had three corpse pieces, and those three corpse pieces allowed him to more easily contact or sense other corpse piece holders. But he did not know exactly what the other person possessed, so he still needed Peach Blossom Paradise to gather intelligence for himself and evade my pursuit. But Right Eye is different. Four corpse pieces have given him higher authority, so is it possible that..."

Bai Wei paused.

"He no longer needs Peach Blossom Paradise to find every one of us?"