As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers who were busy with their own tasks inside the cave all turned to look at him, their faces clouded with gloom.

Harris ignored him and continued, "Once the explosives arrive, we need to move on immediately and set them up in the same places as before."

As he spoke, he suddenly sighed, "Snowing would be troublesome..."

"Do you think it will snow?" he asked the soldiers.

The soldiers snapped out of their reverie, and one of them stammered, "It's hard to say, it might snow. It's very cold today."

The fire, fueled by more firewood, burned ever brighter. In the flickering flames, the soldier beside Harris suddenly whispered, "Sir, you'll have to go down tomorrow."

Harris frowned slightly: "Why are you still saying things like that?"

“This is General Dylan’s order, sir. He specifically instructed me to do so before I came up here.”

"Leave this to us." The soldier lowered his eyes, his voice growing softer.

Hearing this, Harris slowly stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and said as he walked out, "There are many people down there. One more or one less won't make a difference."

"What if something goes wrong if I leave you all here? I'm not comfortable with that. Let's do it this way."

“But… this is disobeying orders…” The soldier turned to look at Harris as he walked away.

Harris didn't answer the question. He had already walked out of the cave. The cold wind howled and swirled in the air, cutting his face like a knife. He looked around, his gaze spreading from the mountains to the distance.

The vast Bocamia Plain stretched out before us, a verdant expanse that would be a sight to behold in spring. But in the depths of winter, all that met our eyes was a greyish-white expanse, much like the sky today.

Harris took a deep breath, but the cold air rushing into his chest made him cough repeatedly. Amid the coughing, a soldier walked up behind him and said hesitantly:

"Sir...do you...have anything to take down with you? We probably won't be going down the mountain again for a while."

A dozen seconds later, Harris, who had gradually stopped coughing, sat up slowly, panting, and said, "No."

Upon hearing this, a complex expression appeared on the soldier's face. He cautiously asked again, "Sir? Perhaps..."

Before he could finish speaking, Harris raised his hand to interrupt: "No."

The soldier stared blankly at Harris's profile; his expression was solemn and resolute, his every word written on his face.

“Alright, sir, we all…” The soldier started to say, but then swallowed the rest of his sentence and said instead, “Sir, I’ll go back now. It’s windy outside, so please don’t go near the cliff.”

"Do I need you to remind me, kid?" Harris turned and glared at him.

The soldier chuckled, scratched his head, and turned to enter the shelter, while Harris slowly walked towards the edge of the cliff.

Strong gusts of wind made him sway from side to side, and the steep terrain made the ground uneven. He carefully climbed over the rocks and gradually approached the cliff.

Then, he slowly squatted down, then lay on his side on the ground, slowly unbuttoned a button on his military uniform, and reached into his coat to take out a few pieces of dried meat from the inner pocket.

It wasn't until several minutes later that he managed to remove the jerky and slowly climb to the edge of the cliff.

He threw the jerky down the cliff, into a crevic in the rock face where a bird's nest was located.

Two pieces of dried meat were blown away by the wind, but three pieces still fell into the nest. However, the two chicks in the nest just kept chirping after being startled, and didn't go near the dried meat at all.

Harris watched quietly without making a sound. After several minutes, the two chicks finally approached the jerky and began to peck at it with their already sharp beaks.

Harris pursed his lips and a rare smile appeared on his face, but soon, the two fledglings, whose wings were already growing fully, suddenly began to fight over each other. As the fight intensified, their cries became increasingly shrill.

"Damn it!" Harris suddenly exclaimed.

However, during the struggle, one of the fledglings was kicked away by another bird and fell off the nest, heading towards the cliffs and ravines. If it hit the ground, it would surely be smashed to pieces.

Harris broke out in a cold sweat and couldn't help but shout, "Fly!"

Both birds had fairly full plumage and sharp, hook-like feet. Harris believed that if they were to take flight, they would have been able to forage for food on their own long ago.

At that moment, a mournful cry echoed in the air. The bird that had been kicked off the nest was still falling, while the one inside the nest was swallowing a piece of jerky. The jerky was too big for it to swallow, and it couldn't tear it apart in a short time. It could only anxiously tilt its long neck back and force it to swallow.

Harris, however, had no time to look at it. He clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on the ground below, and roared anxiously.

"Fly up, you bastard! You have wings, don't you?!"

Just then, a high-pitched and clear eagle cry suddenly rang out, its long tone even drowning out the sound of the wind, as if it were ringing right next to Harris's ear.

Harris looked up and saw a fully grown Gothic eagle circling in the sky.

A dozen seconds later, Harris fell backward to the ground. The Gothic eagle was still circling high in the sky, but it was trending downwards. The fledgling that had fallen into the nest never flew back up.

Harris sighed and slowly sat up from the ground. As he turned his head, he saw a dark shadow flash past his eyes. He quickly lay down on the ground and looked down.

However, what he saw was a great disappointment. Another adult Gothic eagle had fallen into the nest with the carcass of a rodent he did not recognize. The one in the sky was already circling low. Clearly, they were the parents of the chicks.

But now, only one orphan remains.

Meanwhile, the lone chick was already pecking at the rodent carcass. In just a dozen seconds, it had disemboweled the carcass and was tearing off pieces of flesh and blood to eat. It seemed that fresh flesh and blood were more delicious than the dried meat brought by humans.

"Why would I need to intervene in the survival of the Gothic eagles? The strong live and the weak die; it is the natural selection."

“I did something unnecessary and ended up killing one…sigh.” Harris muttered dejectedly as he stood up and walked towards the shelter.

At that moment, a soldier standing outside the shelter shouted, "Sir, General Dylan's men have set off ahead of schedule, and some of them have already brought up some explosives!"

Harris, panting heavily as he climbed over the rocks, replied:

"Okay, the faster the better, the more the better. If we really have to use them, we'll kill those bastards!"