Upon hearing this, the soldier couldn't help but sneer, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

He glanced sideways at Li Yu, his face full of mockery, and replied:

"You think you have a pass? Hmph, that's wishful thinking!"

The soldier glanced at the large group of people behind Li Yu, many of whom were Awakened, and paused, his arrogant expression fading as he continued:

"If it weren't for the fact that you can lead so many people and have some strength, I wouldn't even bother explaining to you."

“These days, if even refugees like you could have passes, there would probably be no one outside this defense line by now.”

The soldier clearly didn't believe Li Yu had a pass. He slowly extended his right hand, his tone carrying a barely perceptible hint of sarcasm, and said:

"Where's your pass? Show it to me right now."

Li Yu glanced down at the other person, and without saying a word, took out the pass and handed it to the soldier.

The soldiers were taken aback when they saw this.

Then, with some doubt, he stepped forward and took the card from Li Yu's hand.

His expression changed drastically after just a casual glance.

The exquisite card prominently displays the green flag of Zhongzhou on the front, while the back features Li Yu's portrait.

He compared the photos repeatedly and confirmed that the person on the card was indeed Li Yu.

What surprised the soldiers even more was that it was a city-level pass, which meant that a large number of people could be led through the defense line at once.

Even though the pass was genuine, the soldier was still muttering to himself:

"Wow, it really is a Central Plains Pass."

"You should have shown me your pass earlier. I misunderstood you for no reason."

"It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding."

Although he said it was a misunderstanding, the soldier's tone still showed no remorse.

The soldier continued to follow the rules, taking a strangely shaped device from his waist and skillfully operating it to scan the pass.

A striking green light flashed by.

"Beep,"

A crisp beep sounded from the device, indicating that the pass had been successfully verified.

Despite repeated confirmation that the pass was genuine, the soldier's attitude remained unchanged, and his face still wore that arrogant expression.

The soldier casually handed the pass back to Li Yu.

The four awakened individuals from Zhongzhou standing beside the entrance showed no intention of stepping forward from beginning to end.

For them, it was just a pass; with this soldier, they could handle the whole thing.

"Can we go over now?" Li Yu's voice sounded unusually calm, but Ma Yuanbai's heart skipped a beat. Clearly, if the other party continued to cause trouble, Li Yu would have to distance herself.

"That's fine," the soldier replied, head held high.

Then he stepped aside, making way, and called out in a drawn-out tone:

"Open the door!"

"Boom..."

With a deep sound, the massive city gate standing at the pass began to slowly open to both sides.

Seeing this, Li Yu didn't say another word. He simply put away the pass and led the entire group through the city gate.

As the procession passed by, the soldiers at the gate still looked at the refugees with disdain.

At this moment, only those who had been clamoring to watch the spectacle remained outside the defensive line; their faces instantly turned extremely ugly.

Who would have thought that this seemingly insignificant group of refugees would actually be able to produce a pass to Zhongzhou? They were incredibly lucky!

Many people secretly regretted their decision. If they had known earlier that these refugees had passes, they should have joined the group of refugees much earlier, just like Wang Qinshui, and they would have gone in with them now.

Given the limited knowledge of these refugees, they would probably jump for joy if given even a little bit of supplies, and might even beg to join them.

But it's too late to say anything now. They can only watch helplessly as Li Yu leads the Wang family's safe zone into the pass of the Central Plains defense line.

As the procession continued forward, they finally all passed through the city gate.

As soon as he entered the city gate, Ma Yuanbai sensed something was wrong.

He subconsciously looked up, and all he could see were towering city walls, like an impregnable fortress, tightly surrounding the area. It was as if everyone had suddenly fallen into a carefully laid trap.

"It's a barbican!"

Ma Yuanbai's expression changed drastically. He suddenly realized something and hurriedly turned around, only to find that the door behind him was slowly closing, completely cutting off their escape route.

At this moment, Ma Yuanbai's only hope deep down was that this place really was Zhongzhou, because only in this way could they avoid dying in this walled city.

But he was also very certain that if all of this was fake, then these people impersonating soldiers from Zhongzhou would certainly be dead.

Zhongzhou will not allow anyone to impersonate him, and with Zhongzhou's strength, it is impossible for them to escape.

Seeing Ma Yuanbai suddenly become panicked, Li Yu and Fu Xiyao exchanged a glance almost simultaneously.

A hint of guilt flickered in their eyes, clearly indicating that they hadn't told Ma Yuanbai about the situation beforehand.

Could it be... that this really is a trap?

Thinking of this, Li Yu dared not be negligent in the slightest and immediately began to carefully observe the surrounding environment.

On the walls of the barbican stood several soldiers holding heavy machine guns, their dark muzzles pointed directly in their direction.

Li Yu roughly estimated that there weren't too many soldiers on the city wall, and after a volley of fire killed them, they should be able to buy a lot of time.

At this moment, Ma Yuanbai felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his throat, and he secretly groaned in despair:

'Ma Yuanbai! Ma Yuanbai! You actually walked into the barbican without any precautions! Isn't that just walking right into a trap?'

In contrast, Wang Qinshui in the crowd was much calmer and more composed.

He firmly believed that the army on the Central Plains defense line could not possibly be fake, and he did not believe that the Central Plains would do such a thing as besieging civilians, unless the Central Plains had completely disappeared from this land.

However, judging from the soldiers yawning on the city wall, Li Yu felt that this was not a trap, but more like a checkpoint that had to be passed through.

Fu Xiyao had already told him that there weren't many soldiers on the city wall, and they looked rather lazy, not at all like there was an ambush.

"Go to the back of the line, don't push!"

Suddenly, the sound of soldiers talking came from ahead. Only then did Li Yu and the others notice that there was a group of people in front of the barbican.