"What do you want our help with?" Mei Ling was the first one to jump forward with an excited expression while slowly caressing the soft fur on the ground beneath her. This was the first time she had touched something so soft. Till now, she had never imagined that there was something in this world as soft as the fur under her feet.

Yang Ze didn't give an immediate reply but sat there in silence for a while. Letting the five girls take a good look around.

While the four girls were somewhat reserved, Qing Cao was already jumping from one place to another. She would sometimes look at the soft bed, gently poking it, then sometimes run around to look at the various styles of clothes. And then she would stand in front of various paintings from time to time. There were all kinds of paintings on the walls, which were filled with scenes of nature. There were forests, meadows, the sea, and fireflies. Everything was so lifelike that she felt like she was looking out of her window instead of looking at the paintings. Every single painting filled her with a longing… a longing to get out of this place and explore the world outside, so that she could see these beautiful things with her own eyes.

The rest of the four girls, on the other hand, were even afraid to move… Afraid that they might dirty the novel things around them.

Yang Ze saw through their awkwardness at one glance and patted the fur underneath him.

"Come sit."

The girls looked at each other before sitting down cross-legged with restraint, not even daring to move. A person who could create such a room out of nothingness had exceeded their imagination. They no longer dared to be as presumptuous as before.

"Hmm…" If not for the fact that he couldn't manifest food and drinks, Yang Ze would have definitely manifested a feast for the children. His manifested items looked real, felt real and in a sense were real, but they all came from his mental energy. They can not be converted from one state to another. He could manifest a sword, but he could not melt that sword to make another thing. This was the biggest limitation of the Mystic Nether Art and the reason why he couldn't manifest a table full of food and drinks.

"Are you guys hungry?" Yang Ze asked with a smile to ease the tension between the girls as well as their nervousness.

The girl's eyes flashed for a moment, but before any of them could reply, Yang-er immediately gave Yang Ze a respectful bow before shaking her head in response.

"Senior…" She addressed him the same way her grandma addressed the first outsider.

"You already gave us once. We can not cause you any more problems."

"...." Yang Ze looked at her firm expression before nodding in response. Though he still had some fasting pills, they didn't exceed ten. Even if he were to give all of them to these girls, it would be just a temporary solution.

"In that case, how about I help you catch some animals?" Yang Ze had a feeling that she was refusing because she didn't want a charity. In that case, he could help them catch different animals to make their life a bit better. For someone like him, it would be akin to child's play.

"No… we are…" Before Yan-er could even refuse him again, Xiao Lian and Mei Ling immediately pulled her back while A-zhu closed her mouth with her hands.

After doing that, Mei Ling spoke up in a hurry.

"YES. PLEASE."

The three of them were already displeased after Yan-er refused his offer of help once. But now that she wanted to refuse another offer… how could they let it happen? She might be their leader, but they could decide for themselves if they needed his help or not.

Looking at the three girls tightly holding Yan-er down while nodding to him furiously, Yang Ze was left speechless. For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

In the end, he merely let out a gentle smile before nodding in response.

"In that case, I will follow you guys today to see what you all do." Because of the fact that he still needs to sign in for nine more days to upgrade his golden talent, Withering Year Mark, he wasn't in a hurry to explore this place. He was going to take his time first getting to know these girls and then about this village before taking any action, and what better way to get to know them than by helping them in their desperate needs?

Yang Ze's words immediately made the three girls beam with smiles as they finally released Yan-er, who, in return, was looking at them with a face full of anger. If looks could kill, the three of them would have died a thousand times over.

Now that it was a done deed, there was nothing she could do other than grit her teeth in anger.

"Let's go." Noticing how things were turning awkward between the girls, Yang Ze patted his hands slightly.

It was only then that the girls came back to their senses and nodded in response before standing up with reluctance. The soft feeling of the fur beneath them was something that they didn't want to part ways with.

Yang Ze glanced at them and then at their worn-out, awkwardly stitched clothes before thinking for a moment and slightly raising his hand,

"Huh!?" Before the girls could even react, he simply waved his hand, as five new sets of clothing appeared out of thin air on the table.

"Wear them." With a smile, Yang Ze stood up and walked out of the house before shutting the door, leaving behind the figure of five stunned girls whose eyes would glance between the door and the new clothes in front of them.

Yang Ze stood outside for almost an hour. He would occasionally hear the gasps of surprise and heated discussions. The topic of the discussion was all about who was going to wear which clothes. Although all five pairs of clothes were relatively simple and grey in colour to blend better with the environment, the smooth texture of the cloth, as well as the fact that they were exquisitely stitched together, was something that the girls were seeing for the first time.

It was normal for them to have small fights about who was going to wear which dress.

After an hour, when their discussion finally came to a stop and silence filled the air, the door to the house opened, and with it, five girls stepped out, each wearing a finely crafted grey dress with a long outer robe that draped over their bodies.

If not for their malnourished bodies that made them look like skeletons, they would have looked like exquisite dolls.

Yang Ze gently smiled at them before asking in a soft voice.

"So… what do we do now?"

His question stumped the girls, who were lost for words for a while.

Finally, it was Yan-er who stepped forward before speaking in a firm voice.

"Now we go out and look for animals to hunt."

The other four girls nodded in response as the group of six slowly made their way out of the village towards the forest.

During the entire time, Yang Ze was walking rather leisurely while the five girls were constantly on alert. Qing Cao would run around from time to time, sniffing the ground, then closing her eyes and then repeating the process over and over again.

It wasn't until they were far away from the village that Yang Ze broke the uncomfortable silence.

"By the way… why doesn't anyone leave the room?" This was what puzzled him the most. By now, he had been living in the small village for two days and had yet meet another child besides these five girls.

His sudden question caught the girls by surprise, who, after some hesitation, gave him the answer.

"It's the rules."

"Huh!?" Yang Ze couldn't help but lift his brows in response. "Whose rules? Who made the rules?"

He didn't think it would be the girls who made the rules to keep all the children in the houses. On the contrary, it would make sense for them to have as many people out there looking for food.

"....." This time, the girls finally went silent for a long time. Even the usual chatty Qing Cao, who was constantly admiring her new clothes, couldn't help but avert her eyes, afraid of answering.

"It's…" And just when she was about to answer, Yan-er stopped her before turning to look at Yang Ze, speaking in a soft voice.

"It's the priest."

"HUH!?" This reply immediately made Yang Ze narrow his eyes. He had explored the entire village but hadn't seen the so-called priest. This was the first time he heard this being mentioned.

"There is a priest in the village?" Yang Ze's mind was working at a rapid pace, thinking about all kinds of possibilities.

"Yes." Yan-er's reply was simple but short.

"The priest was the one responsible for worshipping the gods, and when the outsider angered our gods, all adults were dragged in by the fog except for the priest."

Her words instantly made Yang Ze's breathing ragged. If he could find this so-called priest, he would be able to find out what was actually going on. While the girls were telling him everything they knew, it was clear that their knowledge was insufficient.

"What happened after that?" Yang Ze asked in a soft voice.

"After that…" The girls looked at each other before answering him.

"The priest laid out a new set of rules for everyone."

"She made us smash every single house in the village first and then forced us to create these new houses."

"And then she told us that we need to sacrifice living beings to the cave in order to get the ration, and if we fail to provide the sacrifices, one of us will be dragged into the cave."

"Is that why you didn't eat the rabbit?" Yang Ze finally understood why they threw the rabbit into the cave.

"Mmm…" Yan-er simply nodded in response before adding further. "The bigger the sacrifice is, the more rations we get."

"Aah! So that's why you attacked me." Though Yang Ze had his own suspicions as to why they attacked him, now that he heard it from their leader herself, he finally understood things a bit more clearly.

The moment Yang Ze mentioned that they were attacking him, the girls' faces went pale with fright as they stopped in their tracks. Feeling their fear and hesitation, Yang Ze simply patted her on the head before shaking his head.

"Don't worry. I can understand." With a smile, he looked around before changing the topic.

"I tried to explore this place before, but the only thing I saw were these trees."

"Are you the only people who live in this land?"

"We…" Yan-er thought for a while before answering in a hesitant tone. "We don't know."

"I see." Yang Ze nodded in response as he looked around, hoping to see something different, but other than the crooked trees without leaves, there wasn't anything else.

"Do you think that maybe I can meet the priest?" Since he couldn't find the priest by himself, it was no harm asking the girls for their help. He had a feeling that the so-called priest wasn't as simple as the girls might think.

'Probably a cultivator!"

As Yang Ze thought about it, the girls looked at each other while shaking their heads simultaneously.

"Don't be afraid… I just want to see what the priest looks like." With his system, he could easily look at the priest's personal panel before making a decision.

The girls hesitated for a while before Mei Ling spoke up.

"The priest lives in the temple and would only come out once every week."

"It's still five more days before he comes out."

"I see." Yang Ze merely nodded in response before focusing on his surroundings and changing the subject.

"So, what do we do now?"

Listening to Yang Ze's question, all the girls' eyes darted towards Qing Cao, who was kneeling with her nose to the ground. After sniffing a few times, she shook her head.

"Now we wait for Qing Cao to catch a living being's scent."

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