They crouched down and hid behind half a section of the wall, their footsteps getting closer and closer, sounding like more than one person.

Song Shiyin tilted his head slightly, revealing one eye, and looked in the direction of the sound.

It was a group of guards, and they were walking in the direction of the city gates.

"Go faster! There is something else to be done after the gate is closed, and the king has decreed that the gates and walls should be strengthened to-night." The guard at the head turned his head and admonished the people behind him.

"Yes!" Everyone replied in unison.

After the guards left, Wen Zhao waved to the group, and then they sneakily followed.

Sure enough, the guards closed the gates and arranged for materials to be brought in from all over the city to begin to strengthen and raise the walls.

As night fell, the guards came out of the palace, and the group speculated that the people might also come out to try their luck.

Song Shiyin was still a little worried about the group of children before, so he proposed to go back and have a look.

When they arrived at the house, they found that the door was closed, and Song Shiyin stepped forward and gently pushed it open, and there was a constant sound of footsteps inside.

After entering, Song Shiyin saw that the utensils that had fallen on the ground before in the room had been placed neatly one by one.

The entrance to the cave under the water tank was wide open at this time, as if the people inside had not had time to finish in a hurry.

Song Shiyin finally breathed a sigh of relief, her tense nerves relaxed at this time, it seemed that that group of children were still alive, otherwise she would not have been able to forgive herself.

She led the team down to the cave together, there were many strangers, and the children were so frightened that they shrunk into a ball.

Song Shiyin smiled and introduced them one by one in a soft tone: "Don't be afraid, these brothers and sisters are my companions, and they are all very good people."

"We'll fight and burn people together, we'll protect you from harm, take it easy."

The children, who were skeptical, raised their heads and stared at their big eyes, filled with curiosity and doubt.

But they didn't run away anymore, they just stayed where they were, watching them from afar.

Song Shiyin's eyes were on the little sister before, and she beckoned to the little sister to come over.

The little sister hesitated for a while, but still walked over, she took the little sister in her arms, and continued to ask her questions.

"It was already dark when we came, so why were all the burners in the city gone?" Song Shiyin asked.

"Sister, there is no fire at night, they only appear during the day." The little sister is word by word, and the words are clear.

A little boy from the children's pile opened his mouth and said in a loud voice, "At night, the king will send his guards out."

Therefore, as long as the people of the city were able to survive the day, the guards would close the gates of the city walls, and they would spend the night in peace, and every night the king would send his guards out to strengthen the gates again.

It was because of this initiative that they were able to hold out until the fifth day, and fewer and fewer people were able to come in, and only a few came in yesterday.

Song Shiyin continued to ask, "Did the king show up after the fire came out?"

The little sister said no.

At the same time, he asked, "How can I meet the king?"

The little sister shook her head, perhaps because the little boy had started before, and the other children were willing to tell what they knew.

Another little girl answered the question.

She said that she would not see the king, but the king would come out every three months to make an inspection, and if there was anything to report, she could tell him directly, that the king should have come out yesterday, but because there was a fire burning people, the king did not come out.

It is equivalent to the current clue broken again.

There was a gurgling sound, and Song Shiyin remembered that the children hadn't eaten for too long and were already hungry.

Song Shiyin beckoned the team to take out the vegetables they had dug up earlier from the storage bag.

Then he turned around and asked the children if they could cook.

"Sister, we all eat this dish directly." The little sister's eyes lit up, longing, and she stared at the green vegetables in Song Shiyin's hand for a moment.

Several members of the team divided the greens into a part and distributed three to each child.

As soon as she got the greens, the little sister couldn't wait to send them into her mouth, her mouth bulged high, and she chewed with difficulty, and Song Shiyin was worried about whether she would choke.

She took a few steps forward, gently patted her little sister on the back, and said, "Eat slowly, eat slowly, be careful not to choke for a while."

After the little sister finished eating this bite, she looked up at Song Shiyin and asked, "Sister, are you the gods who have come to save us?"

Song Shiyin was stunned and didn't know how to answer.

She could only sigh, touch her little sister's hair, and then said, "Let's eat first."

After eating, Song Shiyin asked the children to rest under the cave first, and she and the rest of the team found some bedding from the room and spread it on the ground for the children to rest.

"You can sleep in peace for a while, relax and relax, you don't need to worry about anything, we are here, we will watch over you." Song Shiyin admonished.

A few members of the team went up and talked about the next action again.

This time, on the surface, they seemed to have gained more information, but in fact it did not help them much in the direction of the future.

After a few conversations, it was decided to extinguish all the burners first, and then see if the king would be willing to come out.

The next day, there was no fire in the city, the gates were so thick that the whole sand and dust were impassable, and the guards began to patrol the streets, and some of the remaining citizens occasionally came out to check on the situation.

It was also at this time that Song Shiyin and the others met the other residents of Shacheng.

Their current appearance can no longer be called a person, with yellow and thin faces, blank eyes, pale lips, and dry bones.

They didn't seem to notice Song Shiyin and the other strangers, maybe they noticed it, but they didn't care.

Suddenly, the wind howled, and the yellow sand was rolled up and floated in the sky, like a cluster of brown clouds, which was carried by the wind into the city.

As soon as Song Shiyin didn't pay attention, she was blinded by the wind and sand, she closed her eyes with difficulty, her eyes were full of foreign body grain, and it was not comfortable.

It seems that this is the wind and sand that the people have been tired of.

The people all ran to their homes and slammed the door shut.

Song Shiyin and the others also retreated to the residence where they were before, waiting for the wind and sand to pass.

This time the wind and sand lasted for three days and three nights, the wind blew the windows thumping, and the wind outside was like a ghost crying wolf, which disturbed people's hearts quite unpeacefully.

The wind and sand broke the last line of defense in the hearts of the people, and they all spontaneously walked to the gate of the palace, praying that the king would save them.

"Help us, Your Majesty!"

"Please! It's been a long, long time since I've eaten, and the wind and sand are constantly blowing, and the fire hasn't exterminated, so what are we going to do?"

"Your Majesty, please look at me! Look at the people of Sand City!"

The people fell to their knees and bowed in the direction of the palace, and they wept and wailed.

The guards were a little overwhelmed, and they kept running inside, passing the news, and then they stood straight and straight with their faces tense, without saying a word.

After about half an hour, when the crowd felt hopeless, the king came out.

He contrasted sharply with the populace, all of whom were sallow-complexion and very haggard, but the king was ruddy, fair-skinned, and appeared to be in good spirits.

The king smiled kindly, looked at the people, and then said, "Don't be anxious, don't worry, I have sent my guards out to clean up the burners, as long as all the burners are killed, we can return to normal life."

"But it will take time, please be patient, and I will definitely give you an explanation."

This passage did indeed soothe the populace, and hope reignited in their eyes until it was shattered by a voice.

"You're lying!" A shrill male voice sounded, he was roaring, just four words with quite strong emotions.

The king frowned, a little displeased, and was about to speak, when he was interrupted again by this man.

He said that he did not see the guards go out at all, that all the guards were in the city, and that they only came out at night to strengthen the walls, and that nothing else was done.

The people were furious when they heard this, and they looked at the king in shock.

More and more people questioned and demanded evidence from the king.

"Your Majesty, why do you deceive your people?"

"Your Majesty! Please show up the evidence! Is what you're saying true?"

The king was speechless when asked, and although he was in a hurry, he could only stand there.

For it is true that he did not send the guards out, and no guards dared to go out, and besides, he expected the guards to protect his safety.

When the people saw the king like this, they felt a chill in their hearts, and they wailed, "Your Majesty! Why do you deceive us?"

"Your Majesty, is it true that our Sand City is going to end?"

The male voice that had questioned the king sounded again: "Your Majesty! We want food!"

One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and all the people also reacted, and now the priority is to get food, if they don't eat again, there is a high risk that they will starve to death.

The public opinion was here, and the king could not refuse at all, so he took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat that kept rising from his forehead, and stretched out his hand to summon the captain of the guard behind him.

The king relented, but he didn't offer much food, and he argued that there was not much food left in the palace, and that the guards would need it, otherwise they would not be able to protect the safety of Sand City.

The food was distributed to the people, and they devoured it, and the little food was enough for them to eat two or three quarters.

They prayed, they wanted the king to give more, they roared, they screamed, they threatened, it was useless, they prayed, they cried, they bowed down, it was useless.

In the end, the king only said that he would keep his promise and send his guards to clear the fire and calm the people.

After that, he hurried away and returned to his palace. Leave a big mess for the remaining guards.

The king did see it, but there was still no progress on the clues of the secret realm, and at this time, Song Shiyin and their actions were still very passive.

The king was gone, and it was useless for the people to stay, so they took their families and returned to their homes.

This time, the actions of the people were huge, not only Song Shiyin and them came to watch, but all the monks in the secret realm came to the scene.

This also happened to let Song Shiyin and the others learn about the other monks in the same secret realm, not counting the six people in the team, there happened to be fourteen people, but I don't know if the number of twenty people is a coincidence or a fixed number.

The fourteen people were divided into four teams, three scattered cultivators, and the remaining three teams belonged to different sects, one or two. The remaining three are all three people, and from this point of view, Song Shiyin has the largest number of people here.

The monks did not stay long, and when the people had dispersed, they also departed.

Song Shiyin and the others were thinking about where to go next, and at this time, monks from other sects came to the door to seek cooperation.

It is a person from two sects, a total of six.

According to them, after collecting certain clues, they decided that the current secret realm needed everyone to work together.

So this three-person team found another team, and after some discussion on both sides, they agreed to cooperate.

Song Shiyin understood in his heart why they would come to the door at this time.