The Main City's Loophole

Standing before An Wu was a monk.

He looked fairly young and handsome. His monk's robes were covered in patches of all sorts of colors, and he wore straw sandals. When he spoke, he kept his palms pressed together in a proper manner. He looked just like an innocent little novice who had lived in the temple since childhood.

"Charity House?"

"It's right over there." The young monk pointed behind Anguo Temple. "I'm heading back now. Do you want to come with me? There's only room left in the communal dormitory, though, so you'll have to stay with the others."

"Are there any private rooms?"

"There are, of course. Women and certain patients aren't always suited to staying with others... Are you hungry? If you haven't eaten yet, there might still be some leftovers if we go now."

Yan Qing followed the monk without much caution. For one thing, this was just a small account. For another, he didn't think anyone in Chang'an City could hurt him. The monk was very talkative and introduced himself. "My dharma name is Ben Zhi. I practice in the Miscellaneous Service Courtyard of Anguo Temple—basically, I do odd jobs... But doing odd jobs at Anguo Temple is a good thing. Unlike the Martial Monk Courtyard, we don't have to practice martial arts from morning to night, so it isn't as tiring..."

"Besides, people from the Miscellaneous Service Courtyard can take shifts at the Charity House. We can come out for three days every ten-day cycle... By the way, what's your name, benefactor?"

"An Wu."

"An Wu, this is the Charity House. See? It's very close."

Ben Zhi led An Wu to a large residence. The plaque over the entrance read "Charity House." The moment they entered, a strong medicinal smell filled the air. Dozens of medicine pots were simmering, while several dozen patients lay in the large room beside them.

"This is the patient ward. If you feel unwell, you can come here during the day. The senior and junior brothers from the Medicine Dispensing Courtyard come over from the county to provide free consultations."

"The county?"

"Anguo Temple has an even larger temple in the county outside. Land in the city is precious, after all, and aside from the main hall, Anguo Temple doesn't have much room to house its monks. Do you want something to eat?"

"No." Yan Qing thought, I still have dozens of Roasted Lamb Legs in my storage.

"This Charity House was built with donations from many benevolent gentlemen in Chang'an. Anguo Temple is only responsible for managing it. Although we don't charge money, unless someone is seriously ill or in a special situation, we'll advise them to leave after seven days at most. If they have nowhere to go, people will also come to the Charity House during the day to recruit tenant farmers and casual laborers. We don't support idlers here..."

"Although the Buddha protects the city, ordinary people can't be harmed by blades or swords and aren't threatened by Water and Fire, bumps and collisions are still allowed. You'd better sleep with your backside facing the wall... Ah, sometimes even we monks can't avoid running into those louts."

The Buddha protects the city? Fair enough. Still, it made sense. Even dungeon monsters were called demons and devils. Naturally, a safe zone where people couldn't harm one another would be considered a miracle of the various gods and Buddhas.

As they walked, Ben Zhi opened a side door. Inside were numerous cleaning tools, clearly making it a storeroom. At the very back stood a large water barrel. Ben Zhi walked over and called out, "Come give me a hand, benefactor. Help me carry this barrel to the well. I nearly forgot the task Uncle-Master Cheng Yin gave me."

An Wu had no reason to refuse such a small favor. He went to the other side of the barrel and prepared to lift it together.

"Stand firm."

When the little novice Ben Zhi said this, he didn't lift the barrel. Instead, he reached out and grabbed a hemp rope hanging nearby.

Snap.

The wooden plank beneath An Wu suddenly sank, revealing a hole. Yan Qing had no time—and no way—to stop An Wu from falling. An Wu slid downward like he was on a playground slide, and after nearly twenty seconds, he landed with a slap on a pile of straw.

Although there were cushioning slopes along the way, An Wu's health still inevitably dropped by a tenth. Yan Qing understood something. Chang'an City could prevent people from harming one another, but it didn't forbid fall damage. By the same logic, jumping from a building in Chang'an City would definitely still result in death.

"Heh, a newcomer this late at night?"

An Wu had fallen into an underground prison. Candlelight was the only source of illumination, and pitch-black iron bars stood on hard bluestone. Two tall, powerfully built bald monks sat outside the cell. Their features were fairly respectable, but there wasn't the slightest trace of compassion in their eyes. They looked at An Wu the way farmers looked at the chickens and ducks they raised.

"Amitabha. Red lips, white teeth, fair skin, nimble hands and feet. A fine prospect indeed."

"He looks like he comes from a poor family, though. He'll need to be trained for a while first. Country bumpkins don't sell for much."

"That won't be difficult. In the end, it all comes down to appearance. What does it matter if an ugly woman is the prime minister's daughter? If she's beautiful, people will believe she's a young master from an influential family."

Apart from An Wu, the newcomer, there were more than a dozen people in the cell, including men, women, and children. Without exception, they were all good-looking. Quite a few wore luxurious clothing and clearly came from wealthy families, but every one of them lay listlessly on the ground. Several chamber pots sat in the corner, while the floor was littered with filth. Fortunately, the Game Console couldn't detect smells, or Yan Qing definitely wouldn't have been able to eat a late-night snack tonight.

Yet with so many people in the cell, the two martial monks outside openly discussed how to sell them for the highest price. Clearly, they were utterly confident in this prison and the entire trafficking chain. Even if these people got out someday, there was no possibility whatsoever of them taking revenge.

Still, Yan Qing had many details he didn't understand.

"Is the Charity House where you specifically abduct people? Are the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled inside the Charity House fake too?"

The martial monk pressed his palms together and revealed a solemn, dignified smile.

"My Buddha is compassionate. It is only right that those who have left the secular world aid the people. The Charity House is naturally genuine. If the elderly, weak, women, or children come to the Charity House, Anguo Temple will do its utmost to care for them. As for distributing porridge and coal, repairing bridges and roads, Anguo Temple never fails to do its part year after year. Its charitable reputation has spread in every direction."

"Precisely because of this, if someone slanders us by claiming that a family member vanished after going to Anguo Temple to burn incense, no one from the common people to the government would tolerate such a rebellious person slandering Anguo Temple's century-old reputation."

The martial monk wasn't saying this only for An Wu to hear. He was saying it for the others as well. If things really were as he claimed, then the victims in the cell could never expect outside help.

Perhaps sensing that An Wu was unexpectedly calm, the martial monk looked at him several times before warning him, "Stay put. No matter what you say, you'll have to go hungry here for a few days. But if you cause us trouble, don't blame us for making you suffer."

So it really is starvation.

Seeing the people in the cell, who were too weak even to sit up, their cheeks gaunt from hunger, Yan Qing guessed how they harmed people under the safe zone's restrictions. First, they lured people into a place they couldn't escape, such as this prison. Then they starved them until they had no strength to resist. Naturally, the victims became meat on the chopping block.

Yan Qing had assumed this place merely starved people. The true "training" site should have been in a temple outside Chang'an City, where all sorts of methods could be used without the safe zone. But judging from the martial monk's words, could they harm people even inside the safe zone?

So Yan Qing put on an extremely arrogant expression. "Come on, then. Let's see what you bastards can do to your grandpa. Chang'an City is protected by the heavenly gods. What can you do to me?"

The martial monks exchanged glances. One of them sneered, walked over, and opened a black jar on the ground. He ladled out a spoonful of oil into a bowl, then brought it close to a candle. The black oil in the bowl immediately erupted into roaring flames.

Fire attack?

"Come on! You think playing with fire can scare your grandpa?" Yan Qing wasn't afraid in the slightest. He even controlled An Wu to walk up to the bars and extend his hand. "If you've got the nerve, burn your grandpa."

Yan Qing didn't believe the safe zone could have such a huge loophole. If it did, what kind of safe zone would it be? If people could harm one another simply by playing with fire, wouldn't a single Flame Messenger be able to wipe out the entire main city? Besides, it was An Wu inside the cell. If Yan Qing guessed wrong... then so be it.

The martial monk, however, began explaining at an unhurried pace. "Normally, fire cannot burn other people. It will even go out the moment it's poured out."

The martial monk splashed the burning oil into the cell. It went out the instant it hit the floor, leaving behind only a patch of black, greasy stains.

"Under the Buddha's protection, Chang'an's flames cannot burn foreign objects or other people. Only those with great enlightenment, great wisdom, and perfect attainment can understand the Buddha's true intent and know what flames mean to the people—"

The martial monk casually picked up a piece of clothing from the clutter nearby, apparently an old garment someone had left behind. He wrapped it around his hand like a strip of cloth, then poured the entire bowl of burning black oil over it!

Whoosh!

"Blazing Sacred Fire, burn my mortal body!"

The martial monk raised his burning right hand and rushed over to seize An Wu's hand, which was extended through the bars. Even though An Wu immediately pulled back, several drops of health were still burned away. A few drops of black oil even stuck to his hand and continued burning. He had to roll around on the ground to extinguish them!

"Brat, still feeling tough?"

The martial monk sneered and tossed the strip of cloth onto the ground. It continued burning instead of going out like the bowl of black oil had.

Yan Qing immediately understood the principle. Burning other people or burning buildings triggered the safe zone's rules. The result was either ineffectiveness or extinguished flames.

There was only one exception—burning oneself.

The safe zone only prohibited harming others. It didn't prohibit people from harming themselves. Once someone caught fire, the safe zone's judgment of the flames became invalid, allowing them to harm other people and the environment normally.

They had actually managed to find such a loophole.

But this alone wasn't enough to make Yan Qing back down. He retreated onto the straw and waved. "Come on. Let's see if you dare burn this whole place down."

"You think you can threaten us with that? We have plenty of ways to deal with a cheap bastard like you."

The martial monk took a large candle from the wall. He patiently waited for a moment, and when the melted wax was about to drip, he swung it hard. A drop of candle wax flew toward An Wu.

Yan Qing naturally wasn't foolish enough to stand there without moving. After dodging several times, he suddenly heard a scream behind him. He turned his head and saw that a drop of wax had landed on a little girl nearby. The pain made her curl up completely, trying to reduce her presence as much as possible.

Precisely because he turned around, An Wu was struck by several drops of wax. But he suffered no damage whatsoever, and his health didn't decrease by even a single point.

"Oh? You can endure even that?"

The martial monk seemed a little surprised and lowered the candle. "Then I'll let you act arrogant for a few days. Once you're too hungry to move, I'll cover your entire body in candle wax and see whether you're really this tough."

The candle wax couldn't cause damage, but it could still make people feel pain?

It was probably because candle wax was a falling projectile rather than direct damage inflicted by another person. Thus, the Game Console likely identified candle wax as an "environmental interaction"—in short, it was on the safe zone's "whitelist." That was why it could scald people without injuring them. It was a minor loophole.

There probably weren't many loopholes like this. The conditions of "no damage, slight pain" and "projectile" were so restrictive that only candle wax qualified.

But with just the two tricks of "self-immolation fire attacks," which could cause damage, and "splashing candle wax," which could only cause pain, it was clear that Anguo Temple—or rather, the people here—had thoroughly studied every loophole in the safe zone.

Yan Qing glanced at the only exit from the hall outside. "You'll open the cell door sooner or later. I'll definitely escape then, and you won't be able to stop me."

"Escape? Anguo Temple is right outside. How will you escape?" The martial monk sat down and continued eating peanuts and drinking wine. "Even if you can leave this cell, I only need to ring a bell and Anguo Temple outside will immediately seal off the place and block the exits. How will you escape? We don't even need to lay a hand on you. We only need to block the path, and you won't be able to get through!"

"I advise all of you to behave and obey. But if you force us..." The martial monk's expression turned cold. "There are more than a dozen jars of Fire Oil here. They're enough to burn all of you to ashes."

Yan Qing pretended to be a troublemaker and tested them with a few more questions, basically learning the general layout of the place.

This underground prison was connected to Anguo Temple and the Charity House. The Charity House only had a single slide leading downward, making it basically impossible to climb back up. The passage leading to Anguo Temple was relatively narrow, allowing two martial monks to block the staircase. The main hall of Anguo Temple was directly above it, so those bald bastards naturally wouldn't obediently let the victims escape.

Actually, this really was the fault of Yan Qing's character customization. If he had made a burly man with 13 Vitality, he wouldn't have been lured into the trap at all. It was only because a short young man with 13 Dexterity happened to be a beautiful young man by worldly standards that he matched the monks' hunting criteria.

But if the people from Anguo Temple could use force to hunt people outside Chang'an, why had they gone to such lengths to set traps and capture people inside Chang'an City? Both the risks and the time cost were far higher than outside Chang'an.

Yan Qing asked the martial monk several times, but he couldn't be bothered to answer. Only when the martial monk grew impatient did he reveal a hint. "You'll know when the time comes. Don't think the gods and Buddhas will protect you. Even in Chang'an City, someone like you can only obediently be a dog!"

Chang'an City!

Looking at the young ladies from prestigious families and the young masters from famous clans in the cell, Yan Qing faintly grasped the truth. If not for Chang'an City, would these powerless people have dared to go out alone? Would they have fallen into such a simple trap and found themselves abandoned by both Heaven and Earth?

No!

It was precisely because they trusted Chang'an City's protection that these people, who couldn't protect themselves, had ended up here. Then, conversely, for certain people who "could protect themselves," was Chang'an City much the same as a prison?

They could have acted as they pleased, yet they were bound by the safe zone's rules and were even unable to punish others.

No wonder Chang'an County was so much more prosperous than Chang'an City. Perhaps many powerful and influential people would rather live outside than stay in the heavily restricted main city.

And since rules existed, breaking through them would naturally become a source of pleasure. It was like bathing on the ground versus bathing on an airplane. Although both involved bathing, the latter was obviously more extravagant and enviable.

Human trafficking was only the surface. What Anguo Temple truly sold was the pleasure of "trampling on the rules." In more easily understood gaming terminology, it was cheating. You couldn't violate the rules to harm me, but I could exploit loopholes to harm you. In any game with PvP, there would always be people who sought the thrill of one-sided domination.

Moreover, the higher the prey's status, the better. Their customers surely had countless servants outside and had long grown tired of bullying commoners. Only prey of noble birth could arouse their interest.

Now that he understood the truth, what could Yan Qing do?

After a brief moment of thought, Yan Qing gave An Wu several evolution commands, then logged out and logged into An Liu.

In the alley, one of the four young men sitting on the ground resting slowly stood up. He twisted his neck and turned to look toward the Charity House.

Revenge in the game, from morning to night.

Step one: deal with Ben Zhi, who had actually dared to trick him.