Chapter 396: She's Gone (1)

Chapter 396: She's Gone (1)

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“Where is she?!” The leader of the group hadn’t expected to see his comrades’ corpses upon entering the tent. He kicked the owner to the ground.

The owner was scared silly. His whole body trembled as he knelt.

There were dead bodies in that tent! Bodies of people, not livestock!

The leader stared at the corpses with a grave expression. He immediately summoned his subordinates. “Ten, Thirteen, chase after her! The rest of you, follow me back to Su City.”

Meanwhile, He Changdi was trudging his way back with the supply group. Even with the snowboat, they couldn’t go any faster.

The horses needed to rest and the snow hadn’t stopped. The weather in the north was actively trying to kill them.

Xiao Hongyu jumped into the warm pen of the snowboat. He frantically rubbed his numb body all over, warming himself at the brazier for a long time before he finally managed to come back to life.

Xiao Hongyu flattened his hands over his reddened, frozen ears and complained, “It’s so cold outside. Brother He, how many more days before we reach our camp?”

He Changdi had slid his gloves back on upon seeing Xiao Hongyu enter the pen. “Hongyu, rest here with Brother Zhang. I’ll go take a look outside. If my guess is right, we should be able to reach camp in two days at most if we maintain this speed.”

Xiao Hongyu heaved a sigh of relief. He never wanted to do this again. It was like he was passing his days as a popsicle out here!

Zhang Mai was grilling some beef slices over the fire. While cooking the meat, he shook his head with regret. “Although we used the same beef, how is it that the ones I grilled are so different from Sister-in-Law’s?”

He Changdi had been about to step out of the warm pen. When he heard Zhang Mai’s mumbling, he froze stiff for an instant.

Xiao Hongyu shot a disdainful look at the beef slices that Zhang Mai was grilling. When he saw that half of every slice was already completely charred black, he rolled his eyes.

He would rather starve to death than eat Brother Zhang’s cooking. It was too scary.

He Sanlang sat on his horse’s back and stared out into the pure white horizon that stretched as far as the eye could see. There was a black veil attached to his hood that slightly obscured his vision.

When travelling over a snow-covered surface, if a person continued to look at the blank white expanse of snow for too long, the ultraviolet rays reflecting off the snow would hurt their eyes. This was the cause of snow blindness, and those living in the grasslands of the north were particularly prone to it, as everything turned white the moment it snowed. The thin black veil He Changdi was wearing acted as a rather effective shield for his eyes so he wouldn’t become snow-blind.

The veil was similar to the modern protective snow goggles.

Ever since he had given each soldier in his group a single piece of black muslin, not a single one of them had suffered from snow blindness.

This simple solution had been something that Chu Lian had mentioned to him offhandedly.

He Changdi tightly gripped his horse’s reins and felt the tension from the leather gloves covering his hands. These gloves were different from the standard gloves issued by the army.

Each finger was sewn separately, and there was an extra tough layer of leather added to the palm. The whole glove was not only waterproof, it was also extra warm inside thanks to a thin layer of fleece. Compared to the simple gloves given by the army, which only had two parts for the thumb and four fingers, it was much more convenient and practical for use. Xiao Hongyu had been drooling over his gloves for a long time.

He Changdi looked down at them and recalled what Chu Lian had told him when she had given them to him. “Keep these,” she had said. “They’re better than what they issue in the army.”

They weren’t just better. He didn’t even have to take them off when he was fighting in close quarters.

He Changdi stiffened at the memory.

He shut his eyes, as if trying to pull himself out of this sweet dreamscape.

What was going on? Why was Chu Lian like a constant shadow by his side?

The most disgraceful part of it was that he didn’t hate that kind of feeling at all. He even continuously replayed memories in his mind as if he was addicted to them. For some reason, he still remembered every single word that the Chu Lian of this lifetime had said to him, down to the simplest greeting.

He Sanlang’s thin lips pressed together as the depths of his eyes turned into a fathomless sea. His emotions crashed against the walls of his heart like the fierce waves of the azure ocean.

A crack appeared in his blank mask. He Changdi smiled bitterly. He had really been ‘poisoned’ by Chu Lian’s drug.

That woman must be happily eating and drinking in the main camp while he was out fighting for the lives of the fifty thousand border troops. That seemed to be Chu Lian’s superpower; somehow, no matter where she ended up, she would always manage to live well.

He Changdi felt a swell of dissatisfaction at the thought. It was almost like he had completely fallen for her tricks and had half of his heart stolen away as a result.

Just as his thoughts were about to meander back into daydreams, a few black dots appeared on the horizon.

As the dots grew bigger and bigger, He Sanlang’s brows drew together slightly. He waved at the troops behind him and a small group broke off to scope out their incoming company.

Soon enough, they returned, toting three additional people with them.

Once the newcomers had drawn close enough, He Changdi recognised the leader straight away. He was one of the guards that Princess Wei had sent to keep Chu Lian safe.

For no reason at all, He Sanlang felt his heart sink. He had a bad feeling about this.

Li Xing ran up to He Changdi and immediately raised his hands in a cupped first greeting. Without giving himself time to catch his breath, he panted as he reported, “Third Young Master He, Honoured Lady has an urgent message for you. One day ago, the Tuhuns launched a major offensive against the northern army.”

What?!

He Changdi’s expression turned stormy. He quickly took the message from Li Xing’s hands and opened it up.

Chu Lian’s letter was short, but it explained all the necessary details he had to know about the situation in a concise and succinct manner.

She told He Changdi to return as fast as he could to the main camp once he read the letter. The stores of the northern army had already run empty. The Tuhuns might really defeat them if the supplies didn’t reach in time.

Although both of them knew what was going to happen from their previous lives, there had been too many changes in this world. Neither of them could guarantee that events would happen exactly the same as they had in the past life. They weren’t as silly as to leave the decision up to fate. That would be completely brainless.

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