Ye Li was certain that these people meant him no harm; otherwise, he wouldn't have called them out.

With a single sword strike, just one strike, several people, along with the bushes where they had hidden and the trees nearby, were cleaved in two.

For him, it was not a problem at all.

"Please have a seat. Where are you from? Your voices sound a little unfamiliar."

Ye Li knew very well that if he wanted to change this chaotic world, he had to understand what the situation was like.

Perfectly, these people's accents were completely different from the local dialect; they sounded quite unfamiliar.

Were they refugees who fled from elsewhere?

“Hero, we come from the south. We can’t make a living in our hometown, so we have to leave our homes and find a place to survive on the road.”

The one who spoke was an old man who was in charge. Seeing that Ye Li really didn't have the urge to attack them, he instructed the others to find a place near the campfire to sit down.

Of course, try to stay away from Ye Li and don't get too close to avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings.

"From the south? Came here looking for a place to live?"

Ye Li listened without expression, but felt a rather subtle feeling inside.

Here, bandits and soldiers appear every few days. Those defeated troops burn, kill, and loot along the way. Don't even mention that you're a refugee; at least refugees have some meat on them.

He encountered a group of less than ten people on his way, but they didn't dare to rob him because they saw that Ye Li was walking alone on the main road.

Also, the northern barbarians who have entered the pass, who knows when they will appear here.

Most importantly, the drought to their north is even more severe; in some places, rivers have dried up, and there isn't even enough grass to go around.

Those who flee here are essentially going from one hell to another.

Ye Li's words silenced the others. He watched the old man repeatedly rub his fingers, but in the end, all that remained was a sigh.

"Good sir, we have no other choice. If we can't survive here, we can survive back in our hometown."

You wouldn't believe it, but our local landlord, Mei Tianliang, the great philanthropist, would exchange a sack of grain for three acres of our land.

To survive, they had no choice but to exchange land; but without it, they either had to flee or become his tenants.

At this point, he couldn't stop shaking his head.

“Being a tenant farmer is not something anyone can do. According to that Master Mei’s idea, even if we work hard for him for a year, we will still owe him several bushels of grain.”

Ye Li understood. These were all dead ends. Rather than working for the landlords and rich people, he might as well come out and take a gamble. Maybe he could see a glimmer of hope.

Why is the world like this? Who and what caused it?

If he wants to change the world, what should he do?

Perhaps the old man before him could offer an answer that Ye Li could refer to.

"Old man, tell me, we were living a good life before, why did it turn out like this?"

"Why? Is that even a question? Mei Tianliang is a heartless, despicable landlord."

Magistrate Wang, who colluded with him and took all our grain, was also a genuine corrupt official.

If you ask me, the biggest dog in the whole world is that dog emperor in the capital, the worst of the worst beasts.

He spoke and cried at the same time, seemingly trying to vent all the injustices he had suffered these past few days through this shouting and cursing.

Finally, he was too weak to continue, and other villagers gave him a bowl of river water to help him catch his breath.

"My poor child, he went into the mountains to find food for us, but he ran into a tiger."

"I'm just an old man left all alone; there's no hope for the future."