After following the man, Ye Jiao found out that he was the owner of a small restaurant. He gave her some food to eat, which she finished in mere minutes. She didn't rest in her journey at all, so her stomach protested a lot.
"It's rare to see a kid around," the middle-aged man commented.
Ye Jiao scratched her head. "I got separated from my parents."
"They're travelling in the forest?"
"Yes."
Seeing the disbelief look of the middle-aged man, Ye Jiao just smiled wryly. In truth, she was the one who traveled alone in the forest. But hearing that would surely be harder to believe compared with telling him that she got separated from her parents.
Internally, she sighed to herself as she realized that she had started to learn lying.
"They must be very strong to travel in the forest," the middle-aged man continued. He crossed his arm.
"Yes! They're really strong!" Ye Jiao recalled her parents as a proud yet sad expression emerged on her face. In her eyes, no one could be stronger than her parents.
The middle-aged man nodded his head. "I'm sure they'll find you soon enough, but for now, you should just stay here. It's dangerous outside."
"Dangerous?"
"Yes," the middle-aged man scrutinized Ye Jiao. This girl should be only nine or so years old, so it would be strange that people willingly let someone this young alone. "There are some bad people outside. Also, there's a thief that roams around lately."
Ye Jiao's eyes blinked in astonishment. "Can't you catch that thief?"
"It's impossible."
"Why?"
"That thief is Eon Energy Master rank 1," the middle-aged man shrugged. "I'm also rank 1, but I don't have any combat skill. At best, I have greater strength than most people."
"Eon Energy Master rank 1!" Ye Jiao pretended to be surprised. "If he's that great, why don't he work?"
"I don't know myself and I'm not interested in that person's business. Well, many of us here are Eon Energy Masters, but we don't have any combat skills that will allow us to fight. Thankfully, the one who fought him before is a guard, so we realize that he's Eon Energy Master rank 1."
"I see."
Ye Jiao took the information to her heart as she pondered about that thief. She knew that he must do his operation at night because it was the most suitable time. Unfortunately, she didn't know where he would appear or who his target would be. Besides, killing him wouldn't be easy.
"Just stay inside and you'll be safe," the middle-aged man smiled. "I'll be sleeping now. You should go and sleep too, little girl."
"Ah, before that," Ye Jiao pretended to pick out something from her pocket while in truth it was from the bracelet. A bronze coin appeared on her hand as she showed it to the middle-aged man. "For the food."
The middle-aged man looked at the coin for a few seconds before laughing. "Most of us live here by exchanging goods. I don't really need your money, little girl."
"But I can't eat freely."
"Fine," the middle-aged man sighed and took the bronze coin. "Now, sleep little lass."
Ye Jiao smiled brightly. "Yes!"
With that, she scrambled down the chair and headed to the room that the middle-aged man had provided. He shook his head lightly and returned to his own room, not caring for the little girl anymore.
As time passed, Ye Jiao slipped out from her room and scanned the surroundings. She made sure to always stand under the shadow to hide her body from the view. Even though there was no one around her, she still stayed outside and roamed in the village to search for that thief.
'There's really nothing special in this place.'
The village itself was not too big, so it didn't take long for Ye Jiao to cover the entire place. However, the thief didn't show his nose, so Ye Jiao returned back to the restaurant and slept when it was nearing dawn.
As people started to work, Ye Jiao only woke up after several hours. She got out of the room, cleaned up a bit and headed down the stairs.
"You have woken up, Brat?" the middle-aged man asked with a laugh.
"Yes," Ye Jiao smiled embarrassedly. "Shall I help out?"
"If you want, sure."
"Ok!"
Ye Jiao spent the day helping out the middle-aged man in the restaurant. There were not many people who come, but it was pretty lively. They also seemed to take interest to the little girl that appeared that day.
By the time it was night, Ye Jiao resumed her previous day work and roamed around the street.
'I never know this work is going to be this hard.'
She sighed internally. Normally, she should have known the face of her target because it would make things easier. However, this was just a small an unimportant mission to train the newly trained children.
As the result, the details of the mission were lacking.
'I really want to know if they really intend on raising the children or not,' Ye Jiao thought to herself as she moved to the next place. Her movements were swift without any sound at all. It was the movements that she had practiced for a long time in the forest to avoid the wolf's detection.
Ye Jiao was about to return back when she heard a scream coming from a place not far from her.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Thief!"
In just a moment, Ye Jiao dashed from her position to the location. She came right to see a shadow coming out of the room with a man throwing a chair to the shadow. The shadow, which was actually the thief, evaded the chair and rushed to the nearby alley.
Ye Jiao's mind spun hard as she dashed to a different alley, intending to catch the thief at the intersection.