Chapter 106
He tilted his head and coughed up a mouthful of sand stuck in his throat, his vocal cords vibrating and tearing with pain.
“Jiang Ji…”
His voice was extremely hoarse, but he himself couldn't hear it.
After calling out several names, Xie Chengnan was unsure if he received a response.
Sand got into my eyes, and my vision became blurry.
In the endless darkness, the moon was the only source of light.
Xie Chengnan got up and stumbled along in the direction of the moonlight.
Until he tripped over something.
Xie Chengnan reached out and touched a stiff, cold finger.
The outstretched hand paused for a moment before finally rustling along the wrist guard and climbing up to the face of its owner.
It was ice-cold to the touch. Xie Chengnan first touched his nose and checked it; there was no breath.
He exhaled a breath of cold air and continued downwards, touching the man's stiff stubble.
With a thick beard—a familiar yet unfamiliar face came to mind. Xie Chengnan had seen him a few times, but couldn't remember his name.
Xie Chengnan paused for a moment, then continued groping in the darkness and unfastened the dagger from the man's waist.
The spot where he usually wore his goose-feather saber was now empty. Perhaps it fell off accidentally when he was knocked down in the yellow sand, or perhaps it was swept away by the sandstorm, or perhaps it was still there at the time, and he lost it while struggling to regain consciousness.
It was already late autumn in Mingzhou City; the leaves had not yet fallen, and people probably hadn't put on their winter clothes yet.
But it's different here. The vegetation is extremely sparse, and the night wind is like a knife, cutting into your cheeks, the backs of your hands, and everything that is exposed.
Xie Chengnan's hands and feet were already numb, and he couldn't feel any pain, but the chill clung to his bones like maggots. His body had been hypothermic for far too long.
"Feel sorry."
Xie Chengnan stripped the man's shirt off and put it on himself.
He is already dead, but he wants to live.
All around was deathly silent, with only the cold, silvery moonlight pouring down. By that dim light, Xie Chengnan could vaguely make out the massive, collapsed object not far away.
It was a horse, which appeared even larger in the darkness.
He groped his way forward with difficulty and finally reached the warhorse.
Xie Chengnan couldn't tell if this was the same horse he was riding.
He touched the horse's head, bent down, and pressed his forehead against it. He remained silent for a moment, then suddenly struck out and plunged the dagger into the horse's neck.
He could no longer hear it, yet he seemed to hear the sound of flesh being torn apart by a knife, accompanied by a strong smell of blood that made him want to vomit.
Xie Chengnan closed his eyes and told himself that all of these perceptions were just his imagination.
Then, with the tip of the knife, he picked up the piece of flesh and swallowed it.
To pierce, to pick out, to chew, to swallow.
This mechanical action was repeated many times until he felt his stomach was full of sour horse meat.
He felt terrible about himself. He could chew and swallow such disgusting food without any expression.
The meat is coarse and dry, like chewing a piece of raw leather, accompanied by the bitter taste of yellow sand, as if thousands of needles are pricking your taste buds.
Isn't he devouring flesh and blood? Like a man-eating demon.
So what? He just wants to live.
We might encounter patrolling An soldiers, or we might run into the Xili people first.
Perhaps Gu Shuan has already led the An army to choose another location to set up camp, who knows?
He needs to survive, and in order to survive, he must eat and conserve his strength.
Gu Shuan was very troubled.
The woman had followed him all day, and only after a few hours of coaxing and cajoling last night was she allowed to briefly return to her own tent to rest. This morning, at the crack of dawn, she was already waiting before his tent again.
"The fourth team has already gone to search."
Lin Yi had heard similar words many times yesterday. She hadn't slept all night, her eyes were dark with heavy circles, and accompanied by tinnitus, she heard her own hoarse voice: "Did you find it?"
"...He hasn't come back yet."
She knew that Gu Shuan had done his best; yesterday's sandstorm had caused considerable losses to the three armies.
But as the head coach, he's the first to know if any news gets reported.
"Can I stay silent and wait a little longer?"
The woman's voice remained calm, without trembling, as if she were not on the verge of collapse due to someone's disappearance.
But the tone of inquiry...
Gu Shuan put down the book she had been holding but hadn't been able to read. Her gaze, filled with pity, swept from the woman's disheveled hair to her dirty shoes. When it landed on her face, which looked noticeably more haggard than two days ago, she sighed softly.
This person is nowhere near the same as when he relentlessly pursued him.
Have you eaten?
Lin Yi frowned in confusion. "No." He couldn't understand how this had anything to do with Xie Chengnan's whereabouts.
In fact, the sleepless night left her brain a complete mess, with countless thoughts flashing through her mind, but only one thing was magnified infinitely, occupying her entire mental space like a boulder, making it impossible for anything else to happen at the same time.
"Go find Zhan Xian; she's having breakfast at the cavalry archery camp. She wants to talk to you."
The words "let's chat" finally struck a nerve with her. Lin Yi bit her chapped lower lip and said, "I'm fine, don't worry."
Gu Shuan narrowed her eyes, seemingly considering how credible her words were. Ultimately, she concluded that the person was merely putting on a brave face.
"The person who's most worried about you isn't here. You need to eat something so he can come back." He wasn't good at comforting people, and this was the most soothing thing he could say to Qiu Qingye.
Waiting for him to come back...
Lin Yi blinked blankly.
Yes, Xie Chengnan will come back; he'll definitely be back soon. He's been gone so long, he's probably injured. I need to get myself ready before I can help him apply medicine.
"You're right." Lin Yi wiped his face. "I'll come find you after I've had breakfast."
Gu Shu'an wanted to say, "You don't need to come looking for me anymore. I'll let you know as soon as I have news," but for her, waiting was perhaps the only thing she could do for him right now. To take even that away would be too cruel. So Gu Shu'an remained silent, tacitly agreeing to her request.
The cavalry archery battalion was especially lively at dawn. Soldiers of all ranks sat around a table with the entire battalion's breakfast laid out on it, which consisted of nothing more than two bowls of thin rice porridge and a basket of dry biscuits. Seating at the table was limited, so most of the soldiers either squatted or stood to one side.
Zhan Xian was among them, without any airs, squatting by the table in a very down-to-earth and unrestrained manner, sipping the rice soup in her bowl.
On the contrary, Lin Yi, who came uninvited, was out of place here, and Zhan Xian spotted her at a glance.
Perhaps it was because Zhan Xian had set rules for them, or perhaps it was because the news of the General of the Cavalry's squad getting lost in the storm was already widely known. When the soldiers of the cavalry archery battalion saw her, they were not particularly surprised, nor did they make any teasing remarks. They just glanced at her a few more times before continuing to eat or practice their archery.
Zhan Xian pulled over a straw mat for her, then ladled out a bowl of thicker rice porridge and pushed it in front of her.
"How are you?"
The rice porridge was still warm, and Lin Yi sniffed. "It's alright." After saying that, he picked up the bowl and, without caring whether it was too hot to drink, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.
Zhan Xian broke off another half of the pancake for her, which Lin Yi quickly finished and said, "I'm done eating, I'm going back now."
"..." Zhan Xian reached out to stop her, but finally gave up. Some things are beyond the control of others. It was already good enough that she was willing to eat something.
After a quick breakfast, Lin Yi continued to stand guard in the commander's tent. Having learned from the previous day's experience, the generals who came to discuss military matters and the scouts who came to deliver messages were no longer surprised to see her.
Lin Yi could even nod and greet everyone gently.
But the atmosphere in the entire camp was strangely eerie.
Deputy General Xiao loved excitement and would go anywhere except his own tent. Even the tent of the cold-faced commander Gu Shuan would only allow him to leave when the host personally urged him to.
I left in a hurry after giving my report today.
Throughout the morning, a total of five groups of people came to see Gu Shuan. Three of them were concerned about the losses and reconstruction of the various camps after the sandstorm, two were discussing follow-up combat plans, and the last one was a group of troops sent out to search for the whereabouts of the ambush team, who returned empty-handed.
The commander-in-chief, exhausted from working all day, turned around and remembered that there was someone else in the tent.
Before he could speak, Lin Yi stood up and said, "It's lunchtime, right? I'll go find Zhan Xian for lunch and come back after I've eaten."
As she lifted the curtain to step out, a messenger hurriedly entered and glanced at her.
Lin Yi suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Logically, the fourth group sent out should have already delivered a message, and the fifth group hadn't even set off yet; it was impossible for them to find the whereabouts so quickly. The messenger was in a hurry, so he must have urgent military intelligence to report. She shouldn't have listened.
But Lin Yi had a feeling that this person carried the information she wanted.
The man was in a hurry and spoke before he even reached Gu Shuan, "Reporting to the commander-in-chief—it's General Xie, he's back!"
"It's Xie Chengnan?!"
"Yes, he came back on his own."
Gu Shuan walked quickly outside. "Where?"
The messenger followed behind, saying, "They're at the sentry post!"
Someone was faster than Gu Shuan.
Sentry post... Sentry post...
Lin Yi is running.
Xie Chengnan is back, right at the sentry post!
That one sentence filled her mind. She didn't care how he got back or why he was alone. At that moment, she had only one thought: Xie Chengnan was at the outpost, and she had to bring him back.
The sentry post was far away; at Lin Yi's pace, it would take at least 15 minutes to run there.
But she didn't run that long.
Because the person she was so eager to reach wasn't waiting there.
It really is him!
Lin Yi saw the person from afar. His entire body, from head to toe, was covered in layers of yellow sand and bloodstains, making it almost impossible to recognize his clothes or his face.
But Lin Yi knew that this was Xie Chengnan. It really was him…
He paused briefly, then picked up his footing again and ran towards the person without any hesitation.
Seeing Lin Yi, Xie Chengnan finally relaxed. His limbs went weak, but he still knew to hug the person running towards him.
His body temperature was so high that Lin Yi could feel it the moment they touched, even through the thick clothes and mud.
Along with this comes the system's diligent and helpful prompts.
“I lost Jiang Ji… I left them behind…”
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