When he approached the front line of the position, he didn't need binoculars to see the appearance of the group of refugees.

There were men and women, of various ages, ragged, slow-moving, and weak—they seemed less like the Judgment Army and more like ordinary militiamen.

Dingzi was even more certain of his judgment.

However, he also knew that the church had a secret medicine that could instantly increase strength. Considering the possibility that they might use berserk pills, he had his teammates set up the machine gun within its suppression range, and he shouted loudly alone, "This is the border defense line of the Kingdom of Graycastle, and no one is allowed to enter! Stop right now, stay where you are, or we will shoot!"

The group of people obviously saw him too, and their faces showed excitement. Not only did they not stop, but they even quickened their pace.

Dingzi fired two shots into the sky and repeated the warning, but it was useless.

"Dingtou, come back!" the old soldier shouted from behind, "They don't even know what a firearm is. You can shout until you're hoarse, and they won't stop!"

Dingzi's heart stirred, and he quickly changed the shouting to shooting arrows. This time, the newcomers finally reacted—but they only hesitated for a moment before continuing to advance towards the position. And this time, they waved their hands at the First Army, shouting something as they ran.

The shouts were very noisy, and he could only vaguely make out that they were asking for help.

"No, stop!" Dingzi made a last attempt until he was dragged back to the defense line by his teammates—when the group crossed the first row of wooden stakes, two bunkers almost simultaneously spat out flames. Bullets whistled over Dingzi's head, landing around the wooden stakes, stirring up snow pillars, and completely drowning out their shouts.

A cloud of blood mist immediately rose from the front of the crowd.

This time, they finally stopped advancing.

Dingzi saw that, except for the refugees who had been swept down, the rest of them knelt down one after another, prostrating themselves on the snow, and despite the fear on their faces, they did not flee backwards, as if something more terrible was waiting for them behind.

"Stop! Stop! Don't shoot!" Dingzi took off his coat, braving the risk of being hit by stray bullets, and got up to wave in the direction of the bunker, finally getting the machine gun team to release the trigger. Probably noticing his strange behavior, two more squads left the bunker area and surrounded the front line.

Passing through the position that was still filled with the smell of gunpowder, a five-person squad held their rifles level, following Dingzi slowly approaching the group of strangers, who were trembling, and even though the accumulated snow was piercingly cold, they did not dare to move at all.

"Where did you all come from?"

No one answered.

"Didn't you hear the squad leader's question!" the old soldier shouted, "If you don't answer, we'll hang you all as spies!"

"S-s-s-sir," this time someone finally spoke, "W-we are all from Hermes."

"So you are church believers?" Dingzi frowned.

"Yes... no, no, we are not," the man kowtowed repeatedly, "We were deceived by the church before, but now we have realized our mistake! The gods did not bless the church at all, we were wrong, please give us some food!"

After this sentence was spoken, it immediately caused an uproar in the crowd, "Sir, please, a mouthful of wheat porridge is fine, my child is about to die!"

"The church's army is chasing us from behind, and we had to abandon our baggage."

"Sir, I haven't eaten anything for three days."

So they would rather be swept by machine guns than run away? Looking at the other party's gaunt faces and more than a dozen corpses flowing with hot blood, a hint of pity flashed in Dingzi's heart. After escaping from the Holy City, going to Graycastle was probably their only way to survive. He took out the dry food from his waist pocket, and was about to throw it to the group, but was grabbed by the old soldier's wrist.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving them food."

"Are you sure? These guys are from the church," the old soldier lowered his voice to emphasize, "They are our enemies."

"But they aren't anymore—didn't you hear? They admitted that they were deceived."

"Tch, deceived?" the old soldier sneered, "When they can't survive, they will even worship demons as true gods. Compared to the Judgment Army rushing forward, these guys are just weathervanes."

"Captain, Uncle Sang is right, maybe the weapons and armor used by the church's army were made by them."

"Who knows if their hands have been stained with the blood of the First Army."

"It's their own fault that they've come to this point. Who told them to oppose His Majesty? I don't want to give them food."

Dingzi took a deep breath and gestured for silence to his teammates, "Listen to me, you should all know what the situation was in Border Town before His Majesty came. Didn't everyone more or less get deceived by the church at that time? But His Majesty didn't give up on us, and he didn't treat us as weathervanes. Should we despise them now? Of course, I'm not saying to let go of those who have committed crimes. Give them food first, and then take them back for questioning is the right way to do it."

"Uh, this..."

"Moreover, Roland said in the book that the Kingdom of Graycastle is a whole. As long as they are innocent and willing to submit to Graycastle, they should be regarded as the king's people, not discriminated against." Dingzi said in one breath, "If there are innocents among them, and we stand by and watch them die, wouldn't we be violating His Majesty's will?"

The scene was silent for a moment, and then the old soldier grinned, "Dingtou, now I know why Blair chose you as the captain. You have a different way of thinking. Before, you were someone who couldn't speak smoothly at a critical moment. Tietou would definitely cheer for you if he knew."

It was obvious that he didn't quite agree with the statement that "those who join Graycastle are all the king's people," but everyone in the First Army had respect for Roland Wimbledon, so naturally they didn't want to resist Dingzi's actions. "But we can't just throw the food to them directly. That would only cause a stampede. Pick out a few who are about to collapse and have them line up to receive it."

...

As more and more soldiers gathered, the deputy battalion commander of the Northern Garrison, "Eagle Face," also arrived at the front line—this tall man with a round-eyed, pointed-mouthed face, resembling a gray eagle of the Western Region, was, like Iron Axe, one of the outstanding hunters who joined the militia in the first batch. "Who can explain what's going on here?"

Dingzi stepped forward and gave a military salute, briefly recounting what had happened.

"Escaped from the Holy City?" Eagle Face showed a thoughtful expression after listening, and then ordered his men to bring a refugee to him, "What happened in Hermes? If you can tell me the situation in detail, I can let you fill your stomachs."

"S-s-sir..." the refugee swallowed, "The cathedral in the New Holy City... collapsed..."

"What?" Dingzi couldn't help but be stunned. Even he had heard that the Hermes Cathedral was an immortal symbol of the church. Before His Majesty's "Miracle Building" was completed, the Tower of Heaven was the tallest building built by mankind. At the beginning of the Coldwind Ridge blockade, he had also fantasized about following His Majesty to break into the Hermes Plateau and occupy this legendary tower that could reach the clouds. But this magnificent building... was gone?

"I heard that a big pit appeared under the church, and the entire tower sank into it..." the refugee said intermittently, "The Judgment Army sealed off the scene, but such a large building disappeared without a trace, plus the earth-shattering noise, everyone knew what had happened. The church is finished, sir, the gods no longer favor it. Residents on the outside began to flee secretly. We left a little late and were chased by the Judgment Army. Only a few of us escaped out of hundreds of people..."

"So, the Holy City is in chaos?"

"Chaos, chaos..." the man nodded repeatedly, "Not only the West Gate, but the South Gate and the East Gate are also unguarded. They are so wide open that it is obvious that the guards have all run away. I heard that the situation in the Old Holy City is even worse than in the New Holy City, and I haven't seen merchants from outside enter the city for a long time."

"I see, you can go now."

After his men took the person away, Eagle Face showed an excited expression, "This is an unexpected good news. Maybe we can take Hermes before the main force arrives."

Dingzi naturally knew what the deputy battalion commander was happy about. If he could become the first commander of the First Army to step into the Holy City, it would undoubtedly add a heavy mark to his resume. However, he didn't care about getting more achievements at the moment. What he cared about were the suffering refugees.

After expressing his concerns, Eagle Face looked at him deeply, and hesitated for a moment before answering, "The camp cannot accommodate these outsiders. Give them some tents and food, and let them camp in a place where the machine guns can see them."

"In this unobstructed wilderness?" Dingzi's heart sank, "If the weather changes and it starts to snow heavily or a storm comes, they probably won't last one night."

"I am the person in charge of the Northern Garrison, and I must put the safety of the First Army first." Eagle Face was unmoved, "I will notify Duke Kant to take them in. Before the helpers from Yougu Town arrive, how many of these people survive will depend on their own luck."