I let out the loudest roar I could muster in this lifetime, not just from the pain, but also from the anger at the fat guy’s concealment. Once my hand was reattached, the intense pain that radiated from deep within my flesh slowly dissipated; the unbearable soreness vanished, leaving only a throbbing pain that seemed bearable. I moved my arm slightly; the pain was still excruciating, but it was no longer the kind of pain that rendered my mind blank and made it impossible to think.

“The ligaments and muscles are strained, and the cartilage is seriously injured. You should avoid using this hand as much as possible. I’ll get you a bandage to hang around your neck,” the fat guy said. “First, let’s see if it’s installed correctly. If it’s the wrong way, I’ll take it apart and do it again. If you end up disabled, I can’t afford to compensate for that.”

I lay down to catch my breath and asked the fat guy, “What did he say to you?”

“Who said what?” The fat guy replied ambiguously, also lying down to rest. The king of hell was still crawling around, and we both chose to selectively ignore it.

“Not enough brotherhood here. Is playing dumb useful at a time like this?” I said. “You have a hundred things to say, yet you choose to say this one. It clearly means it’s true, and you really want to say it; you’re about to go crazy. Come on, why make it hard on yourself?”

The fat guy shot me a glare. “You’ve become quite the hotshot lately, huh? Speaking so eloquently. If you say it like that, I’m not convinced. Let me tell you, I’m holding it in—”

From his expression, I could tell I was right. However, if the fat guy was going to act stubborn, he could indeed hold it in for a few more days. The problem was, he was used to holding things in, but I couldn’t.

I thought for a moment and came up with a method that, while not ideal, was the only convenient option I had left. I said, “There’s something about the cloud I haven’t told you.” I glanced at my nails under the torchlight. “I can hold it in too.”

I saw the fat guy crawl over. “You’re talking nonsense.”

“I want to exchange information with you. You know how much I value this; I wouldn’t just make something up about it.”

The fat guy thought for a moment and immediately believed me. “Who taught you to be so bad? You used to be different; you know this is wrong.”

“You go first, then I’ll go,” I said, looking at my nails, not in a hurry. After so much time, I knew that to obtain my own information, I needed a certain mindset. Moreover, I was confident in my analysis; the fat guy couldn’t possibly keep secrets in his heart. He had long since held it in to the point of numbness and had wanted to tell me for ages.

The fat guy lay back down. “He told me you might come to Tibet. He said if you encounter three things in Tibet, I’ll have to hand something over to you.”

“What three things?” I felt surprisingly calm inside. The fat guy spoke very peacefully, without any hesitation in his voice; he was definitely not lying. Meanwhile, I had already told myself that I would never let any information disrupt my thoughts again.

“The first thing is that you found his statue,” the fat guy said. “This proves you found the place where he began to lose connection with this world. This statue was made by the best craftsman in the temple at the time, helping him complete it. It is his only projection in this world.”

My palms were a bit sweaty, definitely not from nervousness, but because the cold sweat from the pain was still trickling out.

“What about the second thing?” I asked.

The chubby guy said, “As for the second thing, you haven’t reached it yet, so I can’t tell you.”

“If you tell me, I can reach it faster, right?” I inquired.

“If I tell you, with your stubborn temperament, you would surely spend your whole life searching for that thing. Not only is that guy your friend, but I’m your friend too. I have principles when it comes to friends; nobody wants to see you waste your life chasing a goal.” The chubby guy continued, “I’ll stick with you and believe we can meet the second condition.”

“So the thing he wants you to give me is with you?” I was planning to steal it, using whatever means necessary, since the chubby guy wouldn’t kill me.

“No, that thing is at the place you will eventually reach,” he replied. “There are many things there, and you won’t know which one it is. I’ll tell you which one he wants you to look at.”

I inhaled sharply, feeling strangely inside. I tried hard to suppress all other emotions, but different feelings still surfaced inexplicably, and I had to suppress them immediately; otherwise, my heart would race. Anxiety would drive me insane.

“Can you stop being so mushy? Come over and help me; I found something strange.” Just as I was trying to control my emotions, the short guy Feng called from the back of the gap. “It seems to be a stone door.”