The northern wind wrapped around the blowing sand, whipping against the canvas of the military tents like sharp arrows. The leather tents thundered in the gale with muffled, popping sounds, as if they might be torn apart by the fierce storm at any moment. The oil lamp flickered violently in the draft, casting the distorted shadows of Shen Mingyue and Gu Jinghong onto the spread-out leather map. Their shadows wavered with the light, mirroring the uneasy turmoil in their hearts. After the initial clash, the two of them knew all too well that the enemy forces were far from simple, and those seemingly panicked retreats actually concealed deadly traps.
"Standard reconnaissance cannot penetrate the core encampment at all." Gu Jinghong's fingertips slowly traced the enemy stronghold marked on the map, densely dotted in red like a suffocating web. As he spoke, his arm—wrapped in a blood-seeping bandage from a wound sustained in battle the day before—trembled slightly without his control. It was a scar left behind from protecting Shen Mingyue, and every tremor pulled at the wound, sending piercing pain through his body, yet he remained entirely oblivious to it. "They've screened even the woodcutters and hunters so thoroughly that the slightest carelessness will expose us." His words were heavy with anxiety, his brows furrowed so tightly they seemed capable of crushing a fly.
Shen Mingyue gazed into the leaping candlelight, the flame casting a bright, luminous glow in her pupils like…
Chapter 136