Mr. Thumb, Don't Look Back

Luo Qi stared at Isaiah, who was leisurely drinking tea in front of him, his lips pressed tightly together, and he remained silent.

"Bishop Luo Qi," Isaiah said slowly, setting down his teacup, "You seem quite nervous?"

"Nervous? What a joke, why should I be nervous?" Luo Qi was like a cat whose fur had stood on end after being stressed. "Who do you think you are? I am the Eastern Bishop of the Rhine, why should I be afraid of you?"

"I meant nervous, not afraid." Isaiah smiled and looked down. "I know my question was a bit offensive, but your reaction was just too obvious."

Luo Qi subconsciously lowered his head, only to find that his legs under the table were shaking involuntarily, causing the tea on the table to sway uncontrollably.

He paused for a moment, then forcefully tried to save face. "I'm not nervous, I'm just a little... hyperactive."

"Oh, I understand, I understand." Isaiah nodded with a smile.

If anyone else had shown Luo Qi that expression, Luo Qi would have slapped them across the face long ago. But since it was Isaiah, Luo Qi's anger immediately vanished when he thought of the world-destroying scene from last night.

Luo Qi really didn't want to deal with Isaiah, especially after guessing that Isaiah already knew his identity. He really wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

So when Isaiah first sent Mina to invite Luo Qi for "tea," Luo Qi's immediate reaction was, "This old guy is going to make a move on me," and he refused without a second thought. But he didn't expect that just a few minutes after refusing, Isaiah himself would arrive.

With representatives from various churches watching in broad daylight, if Luo Qi continued to hide, it would be detrimental to Rhine's reputation and would make him appear guilty.

So Luo Qi had no choice but to reluctantly agree, but he chose a very open location where he could see the Obedience of Heavenly Voice just by looking up. The surrounding area was also filled with the eyes and ears of various churches and the Contract Land, highlighting his clear conscience and safety.

"Mr. Isaiah, what do you want with me?" Luo Qi decided to take the initiative and asked firmly, "If not, please excuse me... I have many things to do."

"Don't rush, Bishop Luo Qi," Isaiah said with a smile. "It's just a cup of tea."

"Then why don't you drink with someone else? Why do you have to drink with me?"

"Because we are the same kind of people." Isaiah looked at Luo Qi meaningfully. "Don't you think so?"

Luo Qi's eyelids twitched.

Faced with such a blatant threat, Luo Qi could no longer keep shouting and left, lest Isaiah expose him as well.

"What do you want?" Now that he'd already laid his cards on the table, Luo Qi stopped pretending. He lowered his voice and said coldly, "Do you also want to attack me here?"

"I never intended to lay a hand on you. In fact, the only part of the body that could interest me in the entire Peach Blossom Paradise was the other eye."

"So you already have Three Corpse Pieces, but you still want that eye?" Luo Qi said. "You're being far too greedy."

"That's the crux of the matter," Isaiah said. "In fact, I never got those Three Corpse Pieces."

Isaiah remained calm even as Luo Qi gave him a "you're fucking kidding me" look.

"I know you don't believe me, and I will tell you the truth, but before that, can you tell me one thing?"

"What?"

Isaiah looked into Luo Qi's eyes and asked, word by word, "After that, did the Hand Eye open up Peach Blossom Paradise?"

Luo Qi frowned slightly. "Why should I tell you?"

But in Isaiah's eyes, this performance was already an answer.

"He really is alive." Isaiah said softly, then, under Luo Qi's suspicious gaze, slowly raised his left hand. "If I told you that I only got this one finger that night, would you believe me?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Qi's brows furrowed even more, clearly not understanding what Isaiah was. But after regaining his senses, his eyes gradually widened.

Luo Qi's changing expression was naturally noticed by Bai Wei, who was watching from a distance.

Bai Wei was not surprised that Isaiah approached Luo Qi, after all, Luo Qi was the only Corpse Friends in Isaiah's eyes.

If possible, Bai Wei believed that Isaiah would prefer to approach him or Diana directly rather than Luo Qi.

But Isaiah had no choice; he was now surrounded by enemies, with Luo Qi being his only potential ally.

Now it remains to be seen how he will convince Luo Qi to believe in him.

Bai Wei wasn't in a hurry and watched leisurely.

After listening to Isaiah's story, Luo Qi's expression was quite complicated.

He felt the argument was a bit too far-fetched, with claims that the tongue, Hand Eye were one and the whole thing was the result of the Hand Eye's calculations, which seemed like an attempt to fool his intelligence.

But it was precisely because this claim was so outrageous that Luo Qi couldn't help but wonder if it could actually be true.

The only way to prove it is...

Luo Qi lowered his head and looked at Isaiah's left middle finger.

"Prove it to me," Luo Qi said. "I'll believe you if you can prove that this finger is real."

"I will prove it, but not now," Isaiah said calmly. "You should know that there are devices everywhere here to test Visas's power. As soon as I use the rules, I will be detected immediately."

Luo Qi then remembered where they were.

The Contract Land is the most sensitive area in the world to the power of Visas, after all, it was built to seal Visas's corpse, and as Isaiah said, if they use the rules here, they will be detected instantly.

Especially with countless eyes watching them at this moment, snapping their fingers at this time would indeed be like walking into a trap.

But...

"If you can't prove it, how can I believe you?" Luo Qi said in a deep voice. "I have reason to suspect that you deliberately chose such an unprovable method. Otherwise, why didn't you prove it to me when you were far away from the Contract Land?"

"In fact, I had planned to prove it to you this morning," Isaiah said calmly. "This morning we were still in Nameless Town, and we were supposed to have a long time together, during which we could talk at our leisure. But I didn't expect you to leave that very night, without giving me that opportunity at all."

Upon hearing this, Luo Qi blushed, but quickly regained his composure.

"In the end, this is just your side of the story, and I have absolutely no reason to believe you."

"If you really want to prove it, it's not impossible." Isaiah looked into Luo Qi's eyes. "I have a way to evade the surveillance of the Contract Land. When that time comes, I can show you whether this finger is real or fake."

"Avoid the surveillance of the Contract Land?" Luo Qi said. "You don't mean to tell me to find a blind spot so I can get past you without telling anyone?"

"It seems you still think I would harm you."

"Only a fool would place their hope and trust in someone who can take their life at any moment," Luo Qi said, emphasizing each word. "Don't try to fool me, Isaiah. I saw you kill Tongue with my own eyes..."

"Was it really with my own eyes?"

"...Okay, I didn't see it with my own eyes, but it was definitely you who did it," Luo Qi said. "Otherwise, where did the tongue go?"

"Are you sure the person you met in Della Town was Tongue?"

"Certainly."

"Did he use the rules of the tongue?"

"Certainly..."

"Think it through before you speak," Isaiah said calmly. "There's no point in hiding it in a place like this; it will only hurt you."

Luo Qi was momentarily speechless.

"Then think about it again. If the person I killed was Tongue, then where did that Forbidden Scholar go?" Isaiah said. "Did he vanish into thin air? Don't say that I killed him too. Nameless Town wasn't without survivors. There were enough people who saw that the one I fought that night was just one person."

Luo Qi was speechless for a moment. He hadn't really thought about these questions. After all, after "witnessing" Isaiah kill Tongue, his focus was entirely on Isaiah, and he naturally stopped paying attention to the dead Tongue.

"To be honest, I really don't want you to be the only person I can contact right now." Isaiah's eyes gradually turned cold. "You have such crucial information, yet you have no doubts or actions, letting your Hand Eye exploit such huge loopholes to scheme. You believe whatever he says. And you still consider him your mortal enemy? Wake up. With his methods, even if he killed you, you would doubt whether you committed suicide."

Isaiah's direct mockery caught Luo Qi off guard at first. When he finally reacted, he wanted to slam his fist on the table and yell, "You fucking..."

Luo Qi was halfway through uttering the swear word when he met Isaiah's gaze.

In an instant, a huge panic surged into Luo Qi's heart, engulfing all other emotions and giving him an involuntary urge to submit.

"You..." The pride of the Rhine Bishop prevented Luo Qi from bending over, and he stared intently at Isaiah. "Do you want to make a move here?"

Luo Qi's right hand, which was under the table, slowly rose up, his remaining thumb gradually pointing upwards.

Your rules are powerful, but mine are not to be underestimated!

At worst, we'll just explode together!

Luo Qi hardened his heart.

But just as the [disturbance] was about to be activated, the pressure that surged like a tide receded instantly, just like a tide.

"Don't be nervous, Mr. Thumb." The coldness in Isaiah's eyes disappeared, and he returned to his usual calm. "We are not enemies. Only Hand Eye are happy to see our conflict."

Luo Qi was still staring intently at Isaiah: "Isn't it a little late for you to say all this now?"

"I mean no harm, I just want you to feel the pressure I'm under right now," Isaiah said calmly. "But your pressure shouldn't be less than mine, because right now, the only two people in Peach Blossom Paradise whose identities have been exposed are you and me, so we should be natural allies. Especially... now we're both under the watchful Hand Eye of the authorities."

Luo Qi frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Literally, his Hand Eye are here, I can feel his presence. Or rather, he hasn't hidden his presence from me," Isaiah said. "He's like a cunning Hunter who has set this trap himself, and after the prey falls into it, he waits quietly to reap the rewards... Yes, he is watching you and me right now."

Isaiah's words were somewhat frightening, Luo Qi raised his head with a hint of disbelief, looking around.

However, as mentioned before, there are countless eyes watching this place right now. Luo Qi has no way of knowing who the Hand Eye are, but the more he looks, the more uneasy he becomes.

Luo Qi looked away and said stiffly, "I think you're fucking lying to me again."

"A clever prey will start to save itself the moment it falls into a trap," Isaiah said. "A foolish prey, even when it is already wounded, will still think that it was just an unfortunate slip. Ah, don't look at me like that, Mr. Thumb, I'm talking about you. I have no intention of saving such a prey. You can go."

"You called me here just to belittle me?" Luo Qi said. "Who do you think I am? Do you think I'll obey you just because you insult me?"

"I'm not interested in your strange fetishes, nor do I expect you to help me," Isaiah said. "I'm just reminding you that you and I are both in a trap. If I die, you'll be next, and it will be easier for him to deal with you than with me."

After saying this, Isaiah took one last sip of tea, then got up and left, leaving Luo Qi standing there, his face alternating between red and white.

At this moment, Mina, who had been waiting not far away, came to greet them.

"Teacher," Mina glanced at Luo Qi, "Do you think this Rhine Bishop will believe you?"

"Whether he believes me or not is irrelevant," Isaiah said calmly. "I have never placed my hopes on him."

"So what do you mean?"

Why do you think I agreed to meet Luo Qi in such a public setting?

"This... the student doesn't know."

"It's for someone else to see." Isaiah faced the countless pairs of eyes watching him with composure and said in a voice that only Mina could hear, "I believe there are more than just the three of us here."

Luo Qi returned to his lodgings, feeling utterly frustrated.

I got scolded for no reason!

That damn guy, he's already on the verge of death, yet he's still putting on an act. He's definitely trying to drag me down with him.

But he wasn't a fool. Even if his misdeeds were exposed and his identity in Peach Blossom Paradise was revealed, it wouldn't be a capital offense. The worst outcome would be dismissal from his post, certainly not death.

So this damned Isaiah was probably lying to him!

But...

What if what this guy is saying is true?

Luo Qi hesitated again.

Just then, a deep male voice rang out behind him.

"Mr. Thumb, don't turn around, I am the Ring Finger."

Luo Qi got goosebumps instantly.

Thank you "Young." for being the leader of the boss! Thank you!

I've been pressured by my family to go on blind dates so much these past two days that I'm practically delirious. I just saw this.