John Morgan understood that Samuel Harris only cared about Matthew Cooper, and didn’t care about the lives of the others. He wanted to snatch the water pouch back but wasn’t confident he could do it. He knew that without water on the wasteland, death was certain. Helpless, he could only struggle to carry George Baker and follow behind Samuel Harris.

They walked like this for an entire night without stopping. During the night, they narrowly escaped several groups of Xiongnu cavalry, only managing to avoid pursuit at dawn.

The closer they got to Dai Commandery, the more the scenery changed. The original desert was replaced by grasslands, and the terrain was no longer flat plains. This area had many hills, with groves of trees usually at the foot of the slopes. Sometimes, they could even find streams, which allowed them to finally quench their thirst. Along the way, George Baker also woke up, but Matthew Cooper remained unconscious.

Samuel Harris filled the water pouch to the brim, squatted by the stream, and did a quick mental calculation. They had fled northeast for more than ten li, and there were still nearly a hundred li to go before reaching the Dai Commandery that John Morgan mentioned. They didn’t dare to travel during the day, so relying on John Morgan’s familiarity with the terrain, they found a patch of wild forest to hide in.

They kept moving until they reached the heart of the wild forest. With Samuel Harris present, they left no obvious traces along the way. They finally found a clearing a few square meters wide, and by then, it was already broad daylight. Samuel Harris helped Matthew Cooper remove the arrow from her left arm, cleaned the wound, did a simple disinfection, and bandaged it. Of course, now that there was light, he also made sure to re-clean the wound on his own left rib.

John Morgan was very curious about Samuel Harris. He often saw Samuel Harris take out all sorts of strange little things from that odd piece of clothing—like very white gauze and a small, long iron canister. He couldn’t understand how that small bundle could produce such a long strip of white cloth, and the structure of the cloth was very peculiar, almost net-like and very easy to tear. He was even more curious about the bottle that could spray a misty liquid. He didn’t know that after checking his belongings, Samuel Harris had sighed countless times.

After inexplicably arriving here, most of Samuel Harris’s belongings were lost. All he had left was a large first-aid kit in the inner pocket of his jacket, a small first-aid kit in the right chest pocket, a few oral disinfectant tablets, a bottle of skin disinfectant (calcium hypochlorite tablets, used for cleaning skin contaminated by chemical weapons), a military dagger, and of course, the military boots on his feet and the camouflage uniform he was wearing. Other than these, he had nothing left.

He often thought that if only his backpack and individual combat gear were still with him, he would have the Republic’s most advanced semi-automatic sniper rifle and nearly a hundred rounds of ammunition, not to mention some weapons of mass destruction like grenades. The supplies in his backpack would have been enough for him to survive a month in the harshest environment.

But sighing was useless now. At this point, Samuel Harris felt a bit lost. What he most wanted to know was what kind of world this unfamiliar place was. Through his conversations with John Morgan, he finally understood that it was the third year after Emperor Jing (Liu Qi) ascended the throne. However, this information wasn’t of much use to him. The most useful thing he learned was that the northern frontier of Han in this era was extremely unsafe. Every year, the Xiongnu would raid south, and the area around Yanmen was the first to bear the brunt. This reminded Samuel Harris of everything that had happened in the past half month, especially the large-scale massacre of Han people by the Xiongnu after they broke through Yanmen Pass.

“Why do you think it will be safe once we reach Dai Commandery?”

“The Xiongnu have always used the Heshuo region as a forward supply base for attacking our Han. This time, their main target is the imperial capital, Chang’an. Yanmen Commandery and other counties are just collateral damage. Dai Commandery is different from Yanmen. This time, His Majesty transferred the garrison from Yanmen but did not withdraw the troops from Dai. In my judgment, Dai Commandery has sufficient military strength, and the Xiongnu will not attack it as fiercely as they did Yanmen. Therefore, most of Dai Commandery should still be under our Han’s control!”

“Collateral damage... So many people died just because of this so-called collateral damage.” Samuel Harris’s face was extremely somber. “How long do we need to hide here?”

“Not long. The Xiongnu have already retreated. For safety’s sake, we shouldn’t stay here too long. We’ll leave when it gets dark. Otherwise, if a large group of Xiongnu passes through here, they might set fire to the forest, and then we’ll be in real danger.”

Samuel Harris turned to look at the unconscious Matthew Cooper, then at the silent George Baker beside him, feeling a bit hesitant. Right now, Matthew Cooper was extremely weak, and another long journey could very well cost her life.

“Did the Xiongnu always set fire to the forest when passing through before?”

“Not always. But this time, over ten thousand Han people have fled, and this is the first time something like this has happened in the past three years. The Xiongnu are very likely to set fire to the forest out of spite. Better safe than sorry. If you don’t leave, George Baker and I will go.”

At this moment, George Baker finally spoke up, “I am willing to travel only with Harris the Warrior.”

John Morgan’s expression froze, his lips trembled twice. “Fine, I’ll go alone. But please, Harris... Harris the Warrior, promise me one thing.” He paused for a moment. “Give me the water pouch, and a little of the Xiongnu’s dried meat to stave off hunger on the road. If I find help, I will definitely bring people back to assist you.” After speaking, he looked at Samuel Harris with hopeful eyes.