Among the five paranoid male protagonists, who do you want me to choose?

Three different voices were noisy and chattering, making it difficult for the ears to rest. Yu Zhaosheng was so frustrated that he quickly called for a stop.

"Find out something. If I'm satisfied, I'll let you go."

"About that little secret place."

Hearing the words "small secret realm", the other three people's expressions became a little solemn. Xiao Sang glanced around and saw San Ya blinking. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and said cautiously.

"This is not the place to talk. If you trust me, please follow me."

The three of them had little fighting power and could not cause any trouble. Yu Zhao hesitated for a moment and quickly put away the knife in his hand.

Xiao Sang stepped forward to comfort the two crying little ones, and then walked into the depths of the jungle with one in each hand.

Yu Zhao followed closely behind, passing through dense forests and a small river, and finally found a dilapidated temple. The gold powder on the plaque had long faded, the rotting door panels emitted a unique smell, and a few brightly colored mushrooms grew in the soil under the door.

Erya's eyes lit up and she patted Xiaosang's shoulder. Xiaosang also noticed the mushroom and leaned over to let Erya pick it and hold it in her hand.

Xiao Sang did not push the door open directly. Instead, he put down the two children, knocked three short and two long signals on the door panel, and then pushed the door open.

After Yu Zhao entered, she stuck her head out and looked around, making sure that no one was following her before she closed the door tightly.

The desolate courtyard seemed to be set up in a formation, with weeds taller than a person growing everywhere. Xiao Sang's steps were somewhat strange, and his trajectory was also somewhat different.

The four of them walked into the house in the night. As soon as they entered the door, they could see the Buddha statue in the center. The half-destroyed Buddha statue still had its eyes lowered, showing compassion for all living beings.

Xiao Sang walked straight forward, squatted down, tapped lightly on the faded chopping board under the Buddha statue, and asked in a gentle voice.

"What's in Mayfly's house?"

The childish voice replied muffledly, "There's rice, vegetables, and mushrooms."

Cheers were immediately heard from inside.

"Grandma Rice Wine, Sister Xiaosang is back!"

"Quick, open the door!"

"Crack—"

It seemed like the sound of a mechanism turning. After a while, a small door appeared on the chopping board. It was so narrow that only one person could enter and exit. A furry little head popped out. It was a little tabby cat.

It was the first to stick its head out, and then some children came out one after another. They were all children with childish faces, very thin, and their hands and feet were like sticks, and they were red from the cold night air.

The last one was an old woman with gray hair, she moved slowly and her hands and feet trembled.

Sensing the presence of a stranger, Grandma Rice Wine was stunned for a moment, and then a kind smile appeared on her face.

"Yeah, Xiaosan finally made some friends out there?"

Friends made by stealing storage bags?

"Mother-in-law, don't talk nonsense. I'm not very familiar with her." Xiao Sang looked a little embarrassed. She hurriedly looked at Yu Zhao beside her. Seeing that her eyes were normal and there was no anger in them, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The children ran outside, brought the firewood inside and gathered them together, and the fire burned brightly.

Xiao Sang and Grandma Mijiu took out sweet potatoes and potatoes from the storage bag and carefully put them into the fire to roast.

San Ya, who was standing by, took out a small pot from the corner, carefully washed the mushrooms she had picked at the door, threw them into the pot, covered it with a lid and simmered them.

Steam spread in the small space.

Yu Zhao sat on the ground, looking at the room full of children surrounding her curiously, feeling a little overwhelmed.

These children all had innocent smiles on their faces. Some of them hid timidly behind the older children, staring at her with their dark eyes.

Several small voices were heard.

"Why is this sister wearing a mask?"

“It feels cool.”

"Is she a sword cultivator? She has a sword on her back."

There were also brave children who came forward and sat beside Yu Zhao. They looked at the Jinghong Sword behind her with burning eyes and asked sincerely, "Big sister, can I touch your sword?"

For a sword cultivator, the sword is his second life. Yu Zhao looked at the skinny child and couldn't bear to refuse. He pursed his lips and took off the blade wrapped in cloth from behind him.

"can."

Just when the child was about to touch the Jinghong Sword, Yu Zhao suddenly took it away and gave him careful instructions.

"You can only touch it once, understand?"

She is a sword cultivator with a bottom line.

The child was slightly stunned, but his face was still filled with a satisfied smile.

"Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a swordsman, to travel the world and slay all evil."

The little boy on the right raised his cloudy eyes, grinned, and patted the small wooden sword at his waist while speaking.

Everywhere I looked, I saw that these children were missing something: eyeballs, hands, feet, ears...

Yu Zhao saw it, but didn't ask any more questions. Just when he was thinking about whether he should ask Xiao Sang about the secret realm, the rice wine grandma opposite him touched the sleeping little Lihua in her arms and spoke.

She asked Xiao Sang, "Xiao Sang, what's your friend's name?"

After hearing this, Xiao Sang, who was fiddling with the firewood, felt a tightness in his heart. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, quietly raised his eyelids to look at Yu Zhao, and stammered.

"Her...her name is..."

After a long while of not being able to explain, Grandma Mijiu's face was solemn. "Xiao Sang, is this how you treat your friends? You don't even remember their names?"

Xiao Sang turned to Yu Zhao for help, with an earnest look in her eyes, hoping that she would not sabotage them, or at least not openly tear their faces apart.

Receiving her gaze, Yu Zhao was silent for a moment, then came to his senses in time, "My name is Yu Zhao."

It seems that Xiao Sang is going to support the dozens of people in this dilapidated temple.

Hearing this, Granny Rice Wine's expression softened slightly as she stroked the little tabby cat. "Yu Zhao, your surname is Yu. Are you a cultivator from the Yu family in Tianyun City?"

"No." Yu Zhao's tone paused, and he raised his hand to take the roasted sweet potato handed to him by San Ya, and rubbed her hair. The little girl seemed to be blind and was particularly quiet.

It was late at night and Yu Zhao didn't want to stay too long. She wanted to know some news about the secret realm, so she looked at Xiao Sang.

"Can I tell you about the little secret realm?"

I don’t know if it was an illusion, but when everyone heard the words “small secret realm”, they all shrank for a moment.

Grandma Rice Wine looked normal, but she stopped stroking the kitten and turned to advise her, "Miss Yu, it's better not to go."

"That's not the place for you."

As expected, there was something behind this. Yu Zhao felt relieved that she had found the right person. San Ya beside her handed her a palm-sized baked potato. She took it, broke it in half, cooled it down with her spiritual power, and gave one portion to San Ya.

Seeing her like this, more children gathered around her, and came over to ask Yu Zhao to cool down the roasted potatoes.

A bit busy for a while.

Xiao Sang chewed the sweet potato silently. When he burned the tip of his tongue, he let out a wow. Then he frowned slightly and said, "The small secret realm is actually a cover for those monks to recruit other monks to serve as human shields."

Yu Zhao sat upright, lowered his eyes and listened patiently.