"In short, this whole thing is hard to explain. You're under house arrest here, yet people can approach you freely. Either they're stupid enough to let you have contact with others, or they want you to have contact with outsiders."
"Therefore, I hope you can understand that, based on the information I currently have, it's impossible for me to simply agree to your... strange request."
As Isaac voiced his speculation, Halperin remained silent for a long while without reacting.
Isaac wrapped the severed hand back in the cloth. "Even if you really want me to kill you, I have no idea what will happen after I kill you, or whether I can leave here safely. I can hardly not doubt the weight of a promise made by an elder who can't even control his own situation."
Halperin's eyes closed briefly, then opened again. He opened his mouth, and again spoke in a breathy, halting voice, "I can... come back to life..."
A resurrection? Isaac frowned.
This gave him an answer and two questions.
The answer is that if Halperin could be resurrected, then it makes perfect sense that he had Isaac kill him at this moment; perhaps by killing Halperin here, Halperin could be resurrected in a better state elsewhere.
The questions, of course, are how they did it, and whether Glen and his team were aware of and concerned about this.
Leaving aside how he did it, if Glen and the others knew that Halperin could be resurrected, they should have been even more careful to prevent outsiders from contacting Halperin, especially given the "internal strife." What if someone actually killed Halperin with a single blow, Halperin returned to settle scores with them?
"You said you could come back to life, how did you do that?"
Halperin's lips moved again, and a word was squeezed out between his teeth.
"Lich."
Isaac stayed there.
It is said that through a certain ritual, one can transform into a special being. By anchoring the soul to an object, even if the physical body is destroyed, the soul can be preserved, seeking a new vessel or reconstructing itself in some way. Such beings are called liches.
Isaac heard the word from his adoptive father, Edward, Edward said he initially thought it was just a folk belief about the afterlife, like those stories of mummies crawling out of cellars... until he actually met a lich.
Edward didn't explain the details of their encounter, but rather said in a self-deprecating tone that it was quite clever of someone who studied folklore to personally verify the authenticity of the folklore.
Now, Halperin responds to the possibility of "resurrection" with the term "lich," implying that Halperin is a lich.
Isaac scrutinized Halperin. If this was true, then Halperin might indeed have the possibility of "seeking death" voluntarily. After all, his current body was already difficult to move, and if he were killed, he could indeed be resurrected elsewhere in a better form.
But this brings us back to Isaac's earlier concern: why weren't Glen and the others worried about this?
"Are you a lich?"
[yes.]
"Then it makes no sense that they let me get close to you, especially if they knew you could come back from the dead..."
Halperin tapped his fingers twice on the armrest.
"No?" Isaac paused to understand. "They didn't know you could come back from the dead?"
[yes.]
"However, even if Glen didn't know you were a lich, his actions still don't make sense, unless..." Isaac paused, "... he wasn't worried about you being killed."
Halperin's hand rested on the armrest.
"He even said he wanted you killed, but didn't want them to do it themselves."
The room was quiet for a while.
"If he wants you dead but doesn't act on it, then killing you might have both benefits and costs. The benefits go to him, and the costs go to the one who does it." Isaac, not waiting for a response to the knocking, continued, "If I were in Glen's position, his situation might be like this."
"He and his accomplices couldn't kill you themselves because they didn't dare to bear the consequences of your death. So they needed an outsider to do it, and you just happened to need an outsider to kill you, so they sent that outsider to your next-door neighbor."
"From your perspective, your situation is equally delicate. You want to leave this body, but you can't do it yourself; you need someone else to do it, and Glen just happens to deliver someone to you."
Having said all that, Isaac concluded. "In short, it seems that killing you might be good for both you and him, but for me it's only risky."
"Therefore, I will not kill you until you provide a more convincing explanation."
Upon hearing this, Halperin's withered face showed no change in excitement or disappointment, like a living, breathing mummified specimen.
Isaac stepped back two paces and picked up the candle. "If you have anything else to say, have your men... send another hand over?"
After he finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the door.
Isaac stopped and turned his head. Halperin's face was half in shadow, his cloudy eyes staring at him.
Is there anything else you'd like to say?
Halperin didn't tap the armrest or make a sound; he just stared at him for a long time. Finally, seemingly judging that he didn't have enough negotiating terms to persuade Isaac, he lowered his eyelids and resumed his still posture, deeply slumped in the recliner.
Isaac confirmed that the other party was no longer responding, he took the candle, pushed open the door, and walked into the hallway.
The candle had burned down to almost nothing, the flame flickering. He looked up and saw a figure standing in the shadows at the top of the stairs.
Glen leaned against the wall, as if he had been there all along, watching Isaac walk out of Halperin's room.
His gaze lingered on his face for a moment, then he turned his head and glanced towards the door.
Isaac also stopped walking, not in a hurry to speak.
Glen spoke first, "Is Mr. Halperin alright?"
He can still breathe.
"It seems you didn't lay a hand on Mr. Halperin."
Why would I lay a hand on him?
Glen took two steps closer to Isaac: "What did you talk about with him?"
"Are you worried that I might harm Mr. Halperin?" Isaac asked, avoiding a specific explanation of the conversation that had just taken place.
Did he ask you to kill him?
He did mention it.
You didn't agree?
"No."
Upon hearing this, Glen slowly exhaled, tilted his head slightly towards Isaac, and gestured for him to come over and speak.
As the two reached the top of the stairs, Glen asked, "What else did he say to you?"
He said he could come back to life.
Glen sneered, "You believe that?"
"I don't believe it." Isaac said, glancing at Glen. It's understandable that most people wouldn't believe in the dead coming back to life, but it felt a bit strange coming from someone from the Ghoul Cult.
"Of course you can't trust him."
Isaac looked at him, Glen seemed to be considering how to speak as well, remaining silent for a moment before saying, "I did have some intention of using you when I let you stay here."