North of the provincial highway entrance lay a relatively flat snowfield.
At that moment, Black Snake's thousand-man force was slowly marching across that snowfield.
Although he had failed to persuade Black Snake to make a more cautious strategic choice, they were in the same boat after all, so Vedes had still planned their marching route carefully.
He chose to head straight south, bypassing the vast forests and steep slopes to the west, then enter the provincial highway and travel westward, cutting off the connection between Long-Term Farm and the northern outskirts of Clear Spring City.
The actual distance of this route would be slightly longer.
But it was also more practical.
In the back seat of an armored pickup.
A map lay spread across Vedes's knees. His index finger moved over it, tracing an arc around the area directly ahead of their marching route.
"...Directly west of us is the forest where Winter Willow Camp used to be. Unless something unexpected happened, the survivors there should have evacuated over a month ago."
"Our target is the provincial highway directly south. Once we reach it, the road ahead will be completely open."
"If the intelligence is correct, there should be a survivor settlement there."
"Even if they have most likely already evacuated, we can still find some useful things there."
"It will get dark in roughly two hours. We can rest there for the night before continuing west. If things go well, we should reach Long-Term Farm by noon tomorrow. If they haven't blown it up, we should be able to seize a fortress in the northern outskirts of Clear Spring City—and, just as you wished, get there before your allies."
Black Snake stroked his chin, a satisfied expression on his face.
He trusted his staff officer's professional capabilities.
Still, he