Who hid my body?

Chapter 361 Lifting of the Restriction
Diana was startled by this sudden idea.

No matter how you look at it, it's highly unlikely that Isaiah would harm her and Rocky because he couldn't find his hands and eyes.

After all, putting aside Loki, she is from the Land of Contracts, and the ring finger is passed down through generations in the Land of Contracts. Isaiah should not possibly lay a hand on her.

and many more.

Diana suddenly thought of a crucial question: Did Isaiah really know the origin of the ring finger?
Thinking about it carefully, Diana doesn't seem to have ever revealed her identity in Paradise. Although everyone else could guess that she came from the Land of Contracts, they obviously didn't know her more detailed identity. And the ability of a Contractor is also a top secret in the Land of Contracts; apart from the Warden and the Contracted Ones, even some of the less senior Guardians are unaware of it.

Given this, it's entirely possible that Diana could become a target in the eyes of Isaiah, who was unaware of the situation.

After all, compared to Hand and Eye, she and Loki seemed to be easier to deal with. As long as he dealt with her and Loki first, Isaiah would also be able to obtain four pieces of the body, and then contend with Hand and Eye.

Thinking of this, Diana felt a strong sense of crisis.

The source of the crisis wasn't entirely that Isaiah targeted her, since her true form was in the Abyss Prison, and Isaiah couldn't possibly have tracked her down there to attack her.

What truly troubled Diana was that if Isaiah targeted her and dragged her into the water, the warden might discover the existence of Paradise. Diana's involvement in Paradise would then be exposed.

And if things continue to escalate, and everything she did in Peach Blossom Spring, such as using the information about the Contract Land as leverage to sell to other holders of body parts...

In that instant, the warden's abyss-like eyes flashed into Diana's mind, and she felt a chill run through her. Only then did she realize the extent of the trouble she had unknowingly found herself in.

...Too careless.

Diana pinched her thigh hard.

They should have thought of these things before they even came to the land of the contract. How could they be so slow to realize them?
Diana felt a wave of annoyance, partly because she had considered herself a safe enough outsider for most of the time, only to realize at this moment that she was already in the water.

Diana knew perfectly well that the warden didn't care about power or status, nor did he concern himself with the Covenant Land's connections with the black market. The only thing he truly cared about was the Covenant Land itself, or rather, the mission entrusted to him by the gods. And if he found out that Diana had betrayed the Covenant Land in Paradise, he would absolutely not let her go.

After all, there have been countless contractors who have wielded the ring finger over the past thousand years, but there has only been one warden.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Diana took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

It's not too late for her to realize the crisis now; she still has plenty of time to make amends.

So how should we do it?
He had previously sent his servants to contact Isaiah, to inform him of his identity, and to warn him not to have any evil intentions.
Impossible. Even Rocky wouldn't do something as foolish as exposing the enemy's weakness.

So, what if you cooperate with Isaiah, offering to help him find Hand and Eye as a bargaining chip, so that he would eliminate Hand and Eye and you would get two pieces of Hand and Eye's body? That way, you would have six pieces of body, and handing over three more wouldn't be a problem. He shouldn't refuse, and you might even get a piece for yourself.

But that would be far too dangerous. Leaving aside the question of whether she could even find the hand and eye, just getting close to Isaiah in person was risky enough. Who knows what Isaiah, with so many pieces of his body, could possibly do?

Even assuming Isaiah didn't intend to harm her, the two of them successfully eliminated the hand and eye together. So what happened next, when Isaiah was given the choice of which body parts to take?
Everyone knew what Isaiah wanted most from the body. In fact, Diana believed Isaiah would be willing to give up all the remaining body parts if he could just collect the eyes, since the warden hadn't forced him to hand over the other eye.

But what if he manages to gather both eyes and successfully escape this calamity...?

Diana couldn't even imagine how terrifying a person with eyes and the knowledge of everyone else could be.

So this won't work either.

Therefore, cooperating with Isaiah seems almost impossible.

So, what if we cooperated with our hands and eyes to directly eliminate Isaiah?
Diana pondered for a moment and realized that this was even more impossible. Because to cooperate with Hand and Eye here required a prerequisite: that Isaiah's words were true, that Hand, Eye, and Tongue were one person. Otherwise, Hand and Eye should still be in the small town where he made the agreement with Isaiah, and would never have come here.

If he were to arrive here, he would be an even more formidable enemy than Isaiah, and Diana would naturally not be willing to help him.

Thinking about it this way, Diana didn't really have many choices at all; cooperating with anyone would have been too dangerous for her.

So Diana had to do it herself, and if she did it herself, what situation would be most advantageous for her?

Diana narrowed her eyes slightly.

There is only one answer: they must both die.

Using the Voice of Heaven twice is the safest approach. Of course, if the Hand and Eye are telling the truth and Isaiah is lying, then the first Voice of Heaven will take Isaiah's life, and they will recover four pieces of his body, making a second Voice of Heaven unnecessary. However, if Isaiah is telling the truth and the Hand and Eye are lying, then after killing Isaiah, the second Voice of Heaven can be used to eliminate the Hand and Eye.

Although the cost is somewhat high, it is indeed the safest option.

On this point, Diana and the warden shared the same view.

The difference lies in the fact that the warden gave Isaiah a chance to "save himself," while Diana wanted to execute it immediately, regardless of whether Isaiah was innocent or not, she couldn't allow him to have any possibility of self-destruction in his desperate situation.

Yes, Diana had realized that things had progressed to this point, and regardless of whether Isaiah was innocent or not, he was now facing certain death.

The dead are the best at keeping secrets.

That leaves only one last question.

How can we get Isaiah to skip the "self-rescue" phase and go straight to execution?

Diana pondered.

Suddenly, she thought of something and slowly raised her head.

The prison, which led straight into the abyss, was right before her eyes.

She gazed into the abyss for a long time, then whispered.

"It really is the only way."

Immediately afterwards, hurried footsteps sounded behind Diana.

"Contractor, the warden is looking for you."

……

What the hell is going on tonight?
Back at his lodgings, Rocky was restless.

To be honest, he still can't be sure what happened and is completely confused.

That idiot warden was murdered, but not completely, and managed to come back to life. Not only did he come back to life, but he also claims to remember who the murderer was, though he doesn't remember everything except for one eye.

What good is your mother's one eye? She can't even tell if it's her left or right eye.

Someone with this level of skill can be a warden?! In our Rhineland, he'd be at most a low-ranking old priest like Uru!
Rocky cursed inwardly.

It's understandable that he was irritable; after all, even he could see that the warden's actions had pushed Isaiah to the brink, and who knew what Isaiah would do next.

Isaiah knows Loki's identity! He wouldn't be so stumped by not being able to gather all the body parts, and then turn around and kill him, would he?!
Rocky thought about it more and more and it seemed very possible. He was never afraid of jumping off a cliff; what he was afraid of was that he would be standing at the bottom of the cliff when the other person jumped.

If you want to die, then die, but don't drag me down with you. So what should I do now? Should I just go and tell the warden everything, tell him about my body parts, and then have him warn Isaiah not to have any designs on me?

What if the warden says, "How would he know you have body parts?"
Are we going to reveal the story of Peach Blossom Village together?
To be honest, Rocky really didn't want to do this unless absolutely necessary. After all, he had twice given that guy Hand and Eye a handy (referring to the rules of losing) in Peach Blossom Village. If His Majesty Rango thought that this was the reason for Figg's defeat... no, not just if, that old Bden would definitely make a big deal out of this. Rocky knew him too well.

From this perspective, he's already covered in mud; even if it's not excrement, it's still excrement.

Rocky scratched his head in distress, already regretting why he hadn't reported Rango directly after entering Paradise the first time. If he had, he wouldn't be in this situation now.

Looking back on his series of experiences in Peach Blossom Village, it can be said that he did a lot of hard work but got nothing in return. He not only gained nothing, but also lost four fingers.

Losing four fingers is bad enough, but he also has to risk betraying his religion.

Who can I talk to to reason with this?
Where's that damn ring finger? Weren't we supposed to be working together? Why is he nowhere to be seen?
I'm all alone now, what the hell am I supposed to do?!
Rocky's hair was almost completely pulled out.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Didn't I tell you already?" Rocky roared impatiently, "I don't need anyone to sleep with me tonight, get out!"

“Uh, Bishop Rocky, you’ve misunderstood.” The chief knight’s slightly embarrassed voice came from outside the door. “A lady just came looking for you…”

"A lady? I'm even less interested... Huh? A lady?" Rocky realized what he meant and immediately rushed to open the door. "What kind of lady? Tell me!"

The chief knight looked at Rocky, who was suddenly interested in the lady, with some surprise, but he didn't complain about it. Instead, he honestly said, "She covered her face and used a fake voice, but she asked me to give this to you, saying that you definitely know who she is."

When Rocky heard the word "lady," all he could think of was the ring finger.

But isn't the ring finger used for men's bodies during the day? Why does it use for women at night? What kind of weird fetish is this?

Although Rocky was somewhat puzzled, he still accepted the envelope, then warned the chief knight not to talk nonsense before returning to his room.

After opening the envelope and reading the contents, his pupils gradually dilated.

This is indeed the letter from the ring finger.

The letter also addressed cooperation, inviting him to join forces against Isaiah.

This is indeed the kind of collaboration Rocky wanted, but the method of collaboration was simply... far too risky.

Once discovered, the consequences would be unimaginable.

but……

Rocky narrowed his eyes slightly.

After a while, he conjured a ball of flame with his hand and burned the letter.

After it had completely burned out, Rocky went out again and spoke to the chief knight outside the door.

"Call down a few trusted men; I have something to tell you."

……

Outside the Rhine camp, Ina breathed a slight sigh of relief after watching the chief knight deliver the letter to Loki, and then returned to her quarters.

Not long after he returned, his subordinates sent him a report.

“Miss Ina, someone from the Land of Contracts said that the restrictions here will be lifted tomorrow morning, and they told us to be careful.”

Ina nodded: "I understand."

She understood the meaning of the Land of Contracts.

Lifting the restrictions means lifting the surveillance on Vessas's power.

This allows Isaiah to act without any restrictions, to find and eliminate the "Uru" he mentioned.

Found it, everyone's happy.

If they can't find it... No one can predict the final outcome of the desperate gamble of the number one person under the gods.

"So what preparations should we make?" the subordinate asked with great concern. "Won't we be affected?"

“No need.” Ina shook her head, then said firmly, “This conflict has nothing to do with us. Our war is over. This is their war.”

……

The sky is slightly bright.

The dawn light fell upon the obedience of the heavenly voices, the sacred statues and twisted tentacles, giving off an incredibly eerie and strange feeling.

In the morning light, one restrictive device after another slowly closed, announcing the lifting of the restrictions.

This scene, witnessed by Mina, made her even more anxious.

Although she knew that her teacher was the number one person under God, the most powerful human in the world, and that there was nothing he couldn't do in the past.

But now, facing the hands that are pushing him step by step into a dead end, does the teacher really still have a chance to turn the tide?

Mina didn't know either, but she still remembered how haggard her teacher looked last night, as if she had aged countless years in an instant. She had never seen her teacher behave like that before.

So... is it really possible to turn things around?
But just then, she heard the door behind her open, and she instinctively turned around: "Teacher..."

He stopped halfway through his sentence.

Because she saw Isaiah as he is now.

There was no anxiety, no unease, only peace and ease, just like his right eye that sealed the starry sea.

Her expression was exactly like when Mina first met Isaiah in class more than ten years ago.

“Teacher…” The huge change left Mina at a loss for words.

"lets go."

"Where...are we going?"

“Follow the stars,” Isaiah said with a light laugh. “Explore the truth.”

(End of this chapter)