Main City

"According to my investigation, Anguo Temple was not only a temple but also Chang'an's largest bank."

Yaoshi Yuan had only just spoken when Yan Qing could not help asking, "A temple is a bank?"

"What's so strange about that? Anguo Temple itself has the Longevity Vault, which lends money. It's perfectly normal for the Great Noble Families to deposit their money in temples and entrust those baldies with lending it out. Otherwise, why do you think temples have such thriving incense offerings? Both poor and rich people like to worship Buddha."

Shang Xin Lei blew on her teacup and rubbed her fingers together in a vulgar gesture.

"Because it brings in money."

Bang!

Yaoshi Yuan slammed her fist heavily onto the stone table and said calmly, "If you have questions or want to say something, wait until I'm finished—or would you like to lead the meeting?"

Everyone immediately shook their heads. Ying Ru Shi took out a notebook and graphite pen and pretended to take notes, but in reality she wrote down a record only she could understand: Black Wolf values rules. Once he says something, he never goes back on it. Even if his true identity isn't that of a military general, he's definitely someone with real authority over a violent institution.

Yaoshi Yuan said, "Because Anguo Temple serves both as a temple and a bank, many people usually go there to worship Buddha. The mission requires us to arrive at the third quarter of noon. There may not be many worshippers burning incense then, but the area around Anguo Temple is a restaurant and commercial district. There will certainly be plenty of people nearby, just as this Sand Table shows."

Everyone looked down at the Sand Table's real-time display. Sure enough, the area around Anguo Temple was bustling with traffic, with both street vendors and restaurant owners doing business.

"To steal something without anyone noticing is basically impossible. I suggest we go in head-on and seize it by force. What do you think?"

The three of them exchanged glances and unanimously approved the plan.

Yaoshi Yuan continued, "If we use force, we need to solve three problems—Closing the Hall Doors, Opening the Golden Cabinet, and escaping pursuit."

"Escaping pursuit is the simplest. Since Chang'an City is a Main City, both the imperial palace guards and the Divine Strategy Army outside place very little importance on internal security. The only force in Chang'an that can be dispatched quickly is the Wu Hou Garrison, which is responsible for putting out fires."

"Besides, we don't need to leave the city. We only need to stay on Vermillion Bird Avenue for half a quarter of an hour before returning to the Thieves' Den."

"We don't need to worry about Anguo Temple's defenses either. Since Chang'an City is a Main City, no one has ever dared to rob a temple. At most, there will be martial monks in the temple whose job is to pressure commoners into repaying their debts."

"As long as the Thieves' Den removes the Main City's restrictions for us, we can control the situation as soon as we enter Anguo Temple. A few strikes should be enough to make those fat, big-eared baldies open the door leading to the vault."

Yan Qing felt that something was off.

Why did "Chang'an City is a Main City" mean that "the army would neglect the city's security" and "the temples would never fear being robbed"?

Could Chang'an be the legendary best-governed place in the world, where everyone was a good person?

However, Ying Ru Shi immediately revealed the truth.

"You can rest assured about this, Black Wolf," Ying Ru Shi said. "The last place where the Thieves' Den carried out a mission was Evernight Sky fifty years ago. At that time, Evernight Sky was still the capital and Main City of the Wei Kingdom. That group of thieves had the imperial palace as their target, and they actually charged in through the palace's main gate. The palace guards had long since grown accustomed to the rule that no one could be harmed within a Main City. Even when people hacked at their heads, they did not dodge or retaliate. It was only after dozens of them had been killed that they realized they needed to fight back."

"Whenever the Thieves' Den carries out a mission, it will definitely allow the thieves to kill within a Main City—of course, anyone who encounters the thieves will also have the restriction removed."

Yan Qing suddenly understood.

He remembered the game's Three Main Cities—Jiangnan, Chang'an, and Evernight Sky—and finally understood that the Main Cities they were talking about really were the Main Cities in the game's terminology!

They were absolutely safe zones where players could not harm NPCs, much less other players!

Yan Qing remembered. The dungeon he had designed, "Thieves' Den," really did involve stealing from Main Cities in the main world. More precisely, stealing within a safe zone was one of the dungeon's selling points.

He had simply overlooked the concept of safe zones from the start. After all, this was reality, not a game. He had never expected this world to be so thoroughly "gamified." Not only had it implemented dungeons, it had even implemented safe zones!

"Now for the second problem: Opening the Golden Cabinet."

Yaoshi Yuan pointed at the enormous golden cabinet inside Anguo Temple. "Anguo Temple has four large golden cabinets. Each one is one zhang tall, one zhang wide, and one zhang deep, which is why they're called 'One-Zhang Cabinets.' The doors and walls are two chi thick. They were cast from several tons of pure gold by a third-rank Fire Control Herald."

"The mission lasts only two quarters of an hour. That includes the round trip between Vermillion Bird Avenue and Anguo Temple, as well as the half-quarter-hour wait required during our retreat. In other words, we have at most one quarter of an hour to deal with this cabinet."

"There are only three ways to deal with it—take the whole thing, break it open by force, or unlock it. The least feasible is probably unlocking it."

"Why is unlocking it infeasible?"

Shang Xin Lei opened the small pouch she carried with her and took out some pastries. She ate a bite of pastry and drank a sip of tea, as though she were enjoying dessert after a meal. Yan Qing thought she had quite a nerve. She was the only one eating and drinking here, yet she could do it so peacefully—and she wasn't even sharing any with him.

But Shang Xin Lei obviously could not hear Yan Qing's complaint. She said seriously, "I have the Invisible Hand. So far, I haven't encountered a lock that could stop me."

As though afraid they would not believe her, she took a glove as thin as cicada wings from the pouch. The cuff was originally slightly loose, but the moment she put it on, it fit perfectly without a single wrinkle.

If Yan Qing had logged onto a secondary account, he would have been able to see the item's detailed information. Unfortunately, he was merely a three-dimensional creature without a game system. Shang Xin Lei did not introduce the Invisible Hand's detailed information, but she still gave them a brief demonstration of the item's miraculous properties—

Her fingertips lightly skimmed across the horseshoe cake on the table. It was jelly-like, and the water chestnuts inside were clearly visible in the light. As her fingers stirred randomly, the inside of the horseshoe cake was churned into a mess, and she even crushed the square water chestnuts with her fingertips.

Yet when Shang Xin Lei withdrew her fingers, everyone could see that although the inside of the horseshoe cake was riddled with holes, its exterior remained completely unharmed!

"As expected of the Invisible Hand." Ying Ru Shi praised it. "With this item, Red Snake, you don't need a key to unlock anything. Or rather, your hand itself is a master key capable of cracking any lock core."

"I don't doubt your ability," Yaoshi Yuan said. "But the golden cabinet's lock is more troublesome than you imagine. Come closer and take a look..."

When she saw them stand and bend over to examine the small section of Anguo Temple on the Sand Table, Yan Qing was reluctant to approach. Although he carried the White Iron Straight Blade item with him, he was still an unclassed mortal. The more closely he interacted with them, the easier it would be for them to discover his flaws.

Besides, this was far too unintelligent. When you wanted to examine a local area, you should have been able to zoom in...

Almost by muscle memory, Yan Qing instinctively held out three fingers and swiped across the Sand Table.

The Sand Table rapidly transformed. The other regions vanished, leaving only the transparent section of Anguo Temple, which expanded to its maximum size. Even the number of bricks inside and roof tiles on top could be seen clearly.

The Thieves' Den fell silent. Everyone stared intently at the Sand Table and Yan Qing. After a moment, Shang Xin Lei asked, "Can you change it back?"

Using the same muscle memory, Yan Qing drew his three fingers inward, and the Sand Table returned to its original state.

That was strange. Why did the operating logic of phones and tablets work here too? Could the "Heralds" have developed a mobile game version after he transmigrated?

"How did you enlarge Anguo Temple?" Shang Xin Lei paused, seemingly realizing that she was asking him for a favor. Then she pleaded in a coquettish voice, "Could you tell me?"

Red Snake really was a woman!

Yan Qing, Ying Ru Shi, and Yaoshi Yuan had the same thought.

In fact, Red Snake had barely concealed it. Although her clothes were designed for ease of movement and did not reveal the shape of her figure, both the objects she used and the pastries she ate were extremely refined. Her exposed hands were so slender and fair that everyone could easily judge her to be an aristocratic woman who was very particular about her quality of life.

Yan Qing naturally would not lose his head over Red Snake's pleasant voice. Instead, he realized that this was an opportunity to reinforce his persona.

"You don't know how?" There seemed to be a hint of surprise in his voice. Then the corners of his lips rose, and he chuckled softly. "Watch closely, then. If you don't know how, I can demonstrate it a few more times."

The gesture for zooming in and out was extremely simple. Shang Xin Lei and the others learned it after seeing it once, but they were all rather displeased. Anyone could hear the superiority in Yan Qing's words. He sounded just like a city dweller teaching country bumpkins some trivial common knowledge.

Displeased as they were, they silently raised their estimation of Yellow Dog. He actually knew such obscure knowledge. Yellow Dog was not as simple as he appeared.

They zoomed in and out on Anguo Temple, quickly learning by analogy how to enlarge an area for closer examination. But Ying Ru Shi noticed that whenever they enlarged sensitive places such as the imperial palace, military camps, or the Six Ministries, Yaoshi Yuan would immediately shrink the Sand Table and enlarge another area, as though she were preventing them from observing Zhou Kingdom's secrets.

Black Wolf must be from the Zhou Kingdom, and he must be extremely loyal to it, Ying Ru Shi silently recorded.

After playing around for a while, Yaoshi Yuan indicated that they should continue the meeting. She enlarged Anguo Temple, allowing everyone to see the four golden cabinets inside the vault. "Although the golden cabinets have locks, they have no keys."

"The cabinet doors have eighteen embedded steel locks that seal the doors shut. To undo these eighteen locks, you can only turn this wheel on the cabinet door."

There was a wheel in the center of the golden cabinet door with only one handle. According to the proportions, the handle was just large enough for an ordinary person to grip with one hand.

"As you can see, this wheel has only one handle, and the handle is especially short," Yaoshi Yuan said. "But even if you lengthened the handle, it wouldn't save much effort."

Ying Ru Shi stared at the door, which had a wheel but no keyhole, and realized a possibility.

"The way to open the cabinet door is to turn the wheel?"

"That's right. There's an extremely complex gear mechanism inside the cabinet door. You need to turn it eighty-one times to undo a single embedded lock."

"So you need to turn it one thousand four hundred and fifty-eight times."

Shang Xin Lei immediately calculated the result.

"Incidentally, the person responsible for opening the cabinet door at Anguo Temple is a martial monk who has spent his entire life tempering his qi and blood. His strength is roughly three times that of an ordinary Martial Dao Herald. Even he needs one breath to turn the wheel once, and opening the cabinet door takes at least half an hour each time."

Yaoshi Yuan paused. "These are all messages Anguo Temple deliberately spread, so the nobles of Chang'an would know how secure their golden cabinets were—secure enough that even if a noble's property were sealed by the authorities, Anguo Temple could delay matters for at least half an hour."

Only then did Yan Qing and the others understand why Black Wolf had said unlocking it was impossible. Opening this lock required no skill at all. It required strength and time.

Even if they had enough strength, they did not have enough time.

The Thieves' Den gave them only two quarters of an hour, roughly half an hour.

They had only two choices left: take the golden cabinet away or assault it by force.

Shang Xin Lei said, "I can borrow the Cosmos Sleeve, but even a third-rank Cosmos Sleeve couldn't contain a golden cabinet this large."

"The Midas Touch item can absorb and store gold during normal times, then enhance its gold-transmuting effect in battle," Ying Ru Shi said. "I don't have the Midas Touch, but we can search for items based on this principle—ones that can absorb and melt gold."

Everyone proposed various ideas, but either they required extremely precious items or their effects could not be guaranteed. A thickness of one chi was enough to offset the destructive power of most items.

While discussing, Ying Ru Shi did not forget to keep an eye on things. She noticed that Yan Qing had been staring at the four golden cabinets in the vault, so she asked casually, "Yellow Dog, do you have an idea? Tell us, and we can discuss it together."

"I have a way to destroy these four golden cabinets."

The moment Yan Qing spoke, he stunned them all. "And I don't need an item. I only need some very simple tools."