Yan Qing glanced at the only exit in the hall outside: "Sooner or later, you'll open the cell door. I will definitely escape by then, and you won't be able to stop me."
"Escape? Outside is An Guo Temple, how will you escape?" The Martial Monk sat down, continuing to eat peanuts and drink wine: "Even if you manage to leave this cell, I just need to press a bell and An Guo Temple will immediately seal and block the exits. How will you escape? We don't even need to lift a finger, just block the way, and you won't get through!"
"I advise you people to listen and behave. Really push me, and..." The Martial Monk's expression turned cold: "There are more than a dozen cans of kerosene here, enough to burn you all to ashes."
Yan Qing feigned a rebellious look and probed a bit further, basically grasping the rough layout here.
This underground cell interconnects with An Guo Temple and Ciji Institute, where Ciji Institute only offers a slide passage downward, making it nearly impossible to climb up; the passage to An Guo Temple is quite narrow, two Martial Monks are enough to block the stairway entrance, plus right above is the main hall of An Guo Temple, so these bald monks naturally won't let victims just run away.
Actually, this was really Yan Qing's fault for switching identities. Had he posed as a robust guy with 13 Qi Blood, he wouldn't have been fooled into this trap, but a short youth with 13 dexterity happens to fit the secular notion of a pretty boy, matching the monks' hunting criteria.
However, even though the people at An Guo Temple could have easily hunted for people outside Chang'an using force, why go through all the trouble to set a trap within Chang'an City to capture people? No matter the risk or time cost, it's far higher than outside Chang'an.
Yan Qing asked several times but the Martial Monk was reluctant to respond. It wasn't until the monk grew impatient that he revealed a bit: "Eventually, you'll understand—don't think gods and buddhas will protect you. Even in Chang'an City, people like you can only obediently be a dog!"
Chang'an City!
Looking around the cell at these young masters and ladies from noble families, Yan Qing vaguely caught onto the truth. If it weren't Chang'an City, would these powerless individuals dare go out alone? Fall for such a simple trap with no way to call for help?
No!
Precisely because they trust in Chang'an City's protection, these people who can't protect themselves ended up here. Conversely, for some who 'can protect themselves', isn't Chang'an City similar to a cell?
They could have acted with impunity, but were bound by the rules of the safe zone, unable to even punish others.
No wonder Chang'an County is much more prosperous than Chang'an City; probably many powerful people would rather live outside than be restricted within the main city.
Since rules exist, breaking them naturally becomes a kind of pleasure, like bathing on the ground versus bathing on a plane—both are baths, but the latter is obviously more luxurious and enviable.
Human trafficking is just a facade; what An Guo Temple truly sells is the thrill of 'breaking the rules'. In simpler gaming terms, it's using cheats—you cannot violate the rules to hurt me, but I can exploit loopholes to hurt you. As long as there's a PVP element in a game, someone will pursue this one-sided crushing pleasure.
The higher the prey's status, the better. After all, their customers outside surely have many servants and are long bored of bullying the lower classes; only noble prey can spark the customers' interest.
After understanding the truth, what can Yan Qing do now?
After a brief contemplation, Yan Qing set some evolution instructions for 'An Wu', then logged out and switched accounts to 'An Liu'.
In a small alley, one of the four youths resting on the ground slowly stood up. He twisted his neck, turning his head towards the direction of Ciji Institute.
Game revenge, from dawn till dusk.
First step, deal with that Ben Zhi who dared to deceive me.