"Does that mean no one can leave?" I asked, turning to the welcoming rock.

"Not exactly!" the dwarf shook his head. "Normal tourists or local residents can enter freely. The chances of something happening are very slim. Wu Xing specifically investigated this, and there's definitely no problem in that regard."

"Only sorcerers and those invited by the Tiewa Temple can't leave."

"Before we came, the hall master told us that even if we couldn't get out, we had to bring the information we saw back! That's how we'd complete our mission."

I immediately noticed the flaw in the dwarf's words. "Are you saying that no one invited by the Tiewa Temple has ever left either?"

"No one!" the dwarf replied. "The Tiewa Temple never seems to want to grant anyone's wishes; they just want to kill people."

"Just want to kill people?" I couldn't believe the dwarf's claim.

Even demons and monsters in this world kill with a purpose, even if it's just to satisfy their hunger.

Even irrational vengeful spirits kill because the victim entered their territory or inadvertently violated some taboo, making the spirit feel offended. They then vent their anger on innocent people.

Would the Tiewa Temple kill indiscriminately? Why wouldn't they kill the nearby residents or tourists? Why would they go to the trouble of luring people to Taiqu Mountain to kill them?

Seeing my disbelief, the dwarf quickly explained, "I'm telling the truth! Wu Xing's first few batches of secret agents entered the mountain with those people."

"The information they sent back said that the people's belongings weren't missing after they died, nor were their bodies incomplete. They didn't find any signs of essence or blood being drained. That's why they couldn't figure out the Tiewa Temple's motive for killing."

"That's strange!" Lin Zhao suddenly asked, "What about their ghosts? Where did they go?"

"Their ghosts were taken away," the dwarf said. "Isn't that normal? Besides, the Tiewa Temple isn't a soul-refining sect. They wouldn't have any use for ghosts."

Lin Zhao pressed again, "How did those people die?"

The dwarf, as if remembering something, quickly replied, "Right, the way those people died was different. The deeper into the mountains they went, the more gruesome their deaths were. Some were even tortured for days before they died."

"People who entered the mountain could still hear the victims' screams from far away."

"The previous secret agents even thought that the people from Tiewa Temple were deliberately dragging the victims along with them."

I couldn't figure out the Tiewa Temple's purpose for a while, so I changed the subject. "Why didn't you go with the tour group?"

The dwarf replied, "That was Lao Yan's idea."

"Before we left, Lao Yan carefully calculated the success rate of this mission. He said that if we went with the tour group, we definitely wouldn't survive. Only by splitting up could we find a chance to live."

Lin Zhao said in a deep voice, "You knew it was dangerous, but you still came? Do you have anything on you to protect yourselves?"

"We don't have anything!" the dwarf said with a sob. "We didn't want to take this mission either! But we had no choice! Among the secret agents specially trained by Wu Xing, Lao Yan is ranked at the top. He's the only one suitable for this mission."

"If we dared not to come, our families wouldn't survive."

"That's how Wu Xing's rules are. Except for secret agents, no one else is allowed to marry or have children. But secret agents must have families. If they don't complete their mission, their entire family will be wiped out."

Hearing this, I asked calmly, "Who did Lao Yan Dai learn his tricks from to scheme against me?"

"The strategist taught him," the dwarf said. "Elite secret agents are actually disciples personally trained by the strategist. There aren't many of them, and they don't act easily. Only when Wu Xing has a major operation will they send out Jia-level secret agents."

"Jia-level secret agents are good at scheming against their opponents and calculating routes. Sometimes, their calculations are more accurate than a fate master's."

"I see!" I said lightly. "Who is your strategist?"

"I don't know!" the dwarf said. "I don't have access to the strategist or the leader."

"Mm!" I said, with my hands behind my back. "You can go! You don't need me to teach you how to make up lies to fool people when you get back, right?"

The dwarf didn't react for a moment. "You're just letting me go like that?"

"Or what? Should I kill you?" When I looked at him with a smile that wasn't a smile, the dwarf's expression suddenly changed. "No, you never intended to let me go. You want me to go towards the Two Worlds Stone, you want to see if I can get out?"

"Think what you want!" I waved to Lin Zhao. "Let's go, ignore him."

Lin Zhao followed me for a distance before saying, "You just let him go like that? What if he's still holding something back?"

I laughed. "I told you, the dwarf is afraid of death."

"A person who is afraid of death will definitely cling to a secret. He knows that clinging to that secret is the only way he can survive. Even if I cut off his fingers, he wouldn't tell the final truth."

"But what are people who are afraid of death really afraid of? It's the process of waiting for death. If the dwarf can't get out, he'll start overthinking things. After a while, he'll have a mental breakdown. Then, he'll take the initiative to come back and confess his secret."

"Let's wait for him for a while."