Chapter 108: 108, Sneak into the barrier (Second update)

The night grew deeper, and since Ren Xiaosu had secretly harbored the intention to enter the 109th Barrier through muddy water fishing, he began to scheme in this regard, calling everyone over to whisper: "Do you think it's feasible for us to blend in with those Barrier people and infiltrate the 109th Barrier?"

"No," Wang Fugui shook his head and said: "Barrier people all use identity cards. We don't have those."

"Can't I just say I lost mine when fleeing?" Ren Xiaosu asked curiously: "On a journey of over a hundred miles fleeing, and encountering such a major disaster, it's normal to lose things."

Wang Fugui said: "This is hard to say, because information between Barriers isn't shared. If you claim to be from the 113th Barrier, they can't verify it. Previously, traveling between Barriers required letters with the manager's seal to pass. But now the 113th Barrier is gone, and the former manager, Lao Liu, was supposedly sent to the northern frontier by the Qing family consortium. No one knows who holds the seal now..."

Ren Xiaosu rubbed his chin: "Maybe he would have died in the Barrier if he hadn't gone to the northern frontier. Such is life, who can tell fortune from misfortune..."

"You make it sound like the Qing family consortium saved him," Wang Fugui said helplessly: "But if you want to infiltrate the 109th Barrier, you have to consider other factors. There are over six hundred refugees here who recognize you. And what if no one in the 109th Barrier is willing to let them in? Then the big shots from the 113th Barrier would become refugees, not to mention us."

"That's very possible," Ren Xiaosu said: "The 109th Barrier might not let anyone in."

There was no precedent for this. No Barrier had ever collapsed before, so they had no reference to go by and could only take it one step at a time.

Entering a Barrier was, of course, a good thing.

If they couldn't enter a Barrier, Ren Xiaosu and his group could still live well.

It was just that the big shots who had escaped from the Barriers would have a hard time. The distance to the 109th Barrier was at least a hundred miles away, and walking there would exhaust them.

Then, after finally reaching the 109th Barrier, if they were refused entry, many would probably collapse then and there.

Ren Xiaosu and the others found a sheltered spot to rest for a while. Even if Ren Xiaosu could endure it, Wang Fugui and Xiao Yu Jie couldn't hold out much longer.

When the escaped refugees approached and saw that Ren Xiaosu and his group weren't leaving, they were surprised: "Why aren't you going?"

Ren Xiaosu looked up at them: "We can't walk anymore."

After speaking, the seated Ren Xiaosu lowered his head again to massage his leg muscles.

The refugees, seeing Ren Xiaosu ignoring them, said nothing and continued walking forward.

"Are they really unable to walk or just pretending?" someone curiously asked after they had gone far.

"Didn't you see him rubbing his legs? We rested for a while. They probably didn't rest. This is what happens when cleverness backfires."

"I think he was too far away to hear the wolves' howls. If he had, he'd have run faster than us," someone sneered.

The group whispered among themselves as they walked away, not even bothering to warn Ren Xiaosu about the wolves behind them.

Yet Ren Xiaosu, of course, knew there were wolves behind them—not just wolves, but even more terrifying experimental subjects!

At this moment, after they had walked far, Ren Xiaosu whispered: "I have a bottle of water here. Everyone take a cloth and wipe your faces. The people inside the Barrier have clean faces. We refugees are too dark; they'd recognize us at a glance. If we could change into better clothes and dress like Barrier people, that would help."

Refugees lacked water, and even families like Wang Fugui's, who had a share of water resources, were no exception.

This bottle of water was taken from the palace's storage space. Even when collecting gold back then, Ren Xiaosu had kept two bottles of water there, because clean water in the wilderness was too precious.

Of course, the water inside had been refilled later; the original supply had long been drunk.

The refugees were used to not washing their faces, but now, to blend in with the Barrier people, they had to disguise themselves properly. Otherwise, even if they had a chance to infiltrate the 109th Barrier, a small detail at this moment could ruin everything.

In fact, Ren Xiaosu could have found water to wash his face in the wilderness, but his current appearance—black and grimy—was itself a form of protection.

If now Xu Xianchu and Yang Xiaojin saw Ren Xiaosu with a washed face, they might not recognize him without a close look.

His previous face was black to a certain extent...

When the refugees passed by earlier, Ren Xiaosu had deliberately lowered Yan Liyuan's head, because among them, only Yan Liyuan's face was clean and easily remembered.

Now that everyone had wiped their faces and changed clothes to blend into the Barrier crowd, perhaps many wouldn't recognize them. After all, there were thousands of people behind them, a dense crowd like a sea of people.

A few people patted the dust off their bodies and wiped their faces a bit cleaner. At this time, the large group of people who had escaped from the Barrier finally arrived here.

But Ren Xiaosu was stunned when he saw them. Their faces—how the hell were they even blacker than his...

Damn it!

He had underestimated the situation!

He had assumed that Barrier people all had fair faces, and since Yan Liyuan's face had remained fair all the way, he hadn't realized that others fleeing for their lives weren't as relaxed as Yan Liyuan.

The people before them looked more and more disheveled, their faces black and grimy as if they had just experienced a battle.

The dust from the collapsing houses during the earthquake had settled on their faces, and as they ran, sweat made their faces blotchy and dark!

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu and his group had clean, dry faces, as if they were the big shots from the Barrier, while those before them were the refugees fleeing for their lives...

The first Barrier people to arrive stared at Ren Xiaosu and his group for a moment, but no one said anything. Everyone was fleeing for their lives; who cared about others' faces being fair or not.

Xiao Yu Jie laughed beside him, and Ren Xiaosu remained expressionless: "Cough, let's smear some more dirt on our faces..."

It was a pity about the half bottle of water; Ren Xiaosu felt a bit regretful.

When the large group of Barrier people passed by, Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liyuan successfully blended into the crowd. At this time, everyone's hearts were in a state of confusion and uncertainty, and no one noticed them.

"We're blending into this crowd," Ren Xiaosu whispered: "Try to avoid contact with refugees as much as possible."

Wang Fugui worried: "Will this really work? There must be refugees who recognize us."

"Don't worry," Ren Xiaosu said nonchalantly: "This is just an attempt. Think about it—if all those refugees die, no one will know our identities..."

Wang Fugui stared at Ren Xiaosu in shock. Could he really think that way?

But at this moment, it seemed a conflict had erupted ahead in the fleeing crowd. Ren Xiaosu jumped up to take a look, as if the refugees and the Barrier people ahead were arguing about something, and the quarry site manager Wang Yihang was holding a gun to someone's forehead.