In a chaotic world of infrastructure development, a woman's path to survival after being reborn

Dinner time passed quickly, and the two tacitly avoided mentioning what had just happened. At this moment, Su Li was preparing dry rations for Zhao Zexuan.

"You'll be gone for a few days at most, so we can't make too much dry food, or it won't taste good," Su Li asked.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zexuan pondered for a moment before replying, "Five days at most, or three days if all goes well."

Upon hearing this, Su Li understood and said, "Then I understand. I'll prepare five days' worth of rations for you."

Seeing Su Li's calm demeanor, Zhao Zexuan couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you curious why I'm leaving for a few days?"

Su Li was puzzled by Zhao Zexuan's question, so she asked, "If I ask you, will you tell me?"

Zhao Zexuan was silent for a moment, then said, "There are some things I will still say..."

Upon hearing this, Su Li's emotions did not fluctuate much. Instead, she said, "That's why I need to know my limits."

The conversation ended without Zhao Zexuan revealing what he was planning to do, and Su Li didn't seem to need to know.

……

The next day passed in the blink of an eye. When Su Li woke up early in the morning, she heard the people in the group talking about setting up camp here in the next few days. It seemed that Zhao Zexuan and the others had already set off overnight.

Although they were worried about what Zhao Zexuan had said, life had to go on. During their few days of camping, the team encountered a major problem: they didn't have enough water.

It has been half a month since we came down the mountain. It is already very difficult for everyone to keep the water for so long. Even if we are more frugal, we have already run out of supplies. Indeed, we are almost out of drinking water.

Along the way, whenever they stopped to rest, everyone would look for water, but there was no good news along the way.

Three years of drought have left this land parched, and water has become an extremely scarce resource. Everyone is putting in their best efforts to find water, but they still can't find a single source of drinkable water. How can this not drive people to despair?

The team had been stationed here for the past two days, giving them more time to search for water. However, their efforts over the past two days had been fruitless, leaving everyone present somewhat disheartened.

Su Li has spring water in her space, plus her usual storage, so she is not short of water, but she cannot show it, because in everyone's eyes, she is also without water.

Seeing the group organizing to go up the mountain to find water again early in the morning, Su Li finally couldn't help but ask, "Can I come up the mountain with them?"

Mo Bei was left behind to protect everyone's safety, so he was also the leader of this search for water. After hearing Su Li say this, Mo Bei hesitated for a moment and then said, "Madam, are you going up the mountain with me? It's very hard to go up the mountain."

Hearing Mo Bei call her "Madam," Su Li was surprised, but she still said firmly, "The team will probably stay here today. My oxcart won't cause any major problems if I leave it here. I'll go up the mountain with you to take a look. Don't worry, I won't hold you back."

Since Su Li had already said so, Mo Bei naturally had no further objections. Besides, the general had specifically instructed him not to restrain Su Li before leaving, so Mo Bei did not raise any objections. Instead, he arranged for her to be placed in the middle of the group, subtly showing a protective stance.

Su Li could sense Mo Bei's intentions, so she tried even harder to keep up with the group and avoid causing trouble for others.

There are three paths up the mountain, and today they took the rightmost one. Su Li didn't ask anything when she saw it, but Mo Bei kindly explained, "We checked the other two paths a couple of days ago and there was no water source. Today we'll check this last one."

Hearing Mo Bei say this, before Su Li could express her opinion, she heard a villager sigh, "Yes, we haven't found a water source on either of those two roads. If we can't find a water source on this road today, then we're destined to never find one."

These words expressed the sentiments of everyone present. At this moment, they were already inclined to believe that they could not find a water source, so their moods were somewhat heavy.

Faced with the villagers' sighs, Su Li remained silent with great tact. She secretly decided to search carefully. If she couldn't find any, she might be able to get some water from her spatial storage to at least prevent people from dying of thirst. Of course, this was the worst-case scenario, since the appearance of a water source out of nowhere was highly suspicious.

The journey up the mountain was smooth, and there were no animals around. Perhaps it was because of the drought, or perhaps because the group of people were too large to approach. In any case, it was extremely quiet.

Without water, even the vegetation in the mountains would struggle to survive. As we climbed the mountain, all we could see were withered yellow weeds and trees; not a single patch of green could be seen.

The idea that "there might be no water source in the mountains" grew stronger in everyone's mind, and no one dared to think about what to do if they still couldn't find a water source.

Mo Bei looked at the withered vegetation around him, and his expression became heavy.

They had already reached the mountainside, and going further up the mountain wouldn't yield much. So, after thinking for a long time, Mo Bei stopped and said to the group, "We've already gone quite far, and going any further probably won't yield much. Let's search around here for today. If we can't find water, at least we can find some food, so we won't come back empty-handed."

Everyone agreed with this arrangement, since it was the same thing the previous two days; if they couldn't find water, they would look for food, and they couldn't just leave empty-handed.

The group dispersed, and Su Li silently followed, walking around in all directions, hoping to find even a trace of water.

"Madam," Mo Bei's voice sounded from behind, and Su Li turned around to look.

"What's wrong?" Su Li asked.

“Although the water problem has almost wiped out the animals in the mountains, it doesn’t mean they are gone. Madam, you still need to be careful on the mountain and stay close to someone,” Mo Bei said frankly.

Hearing this, Su Li also said seriously, "Don't worry, I know what's important. I'll just look around and won't run around. Besides, how could someone as valuing of life as me do something that endangers lives?"

Mo Bei listened to Su Li's words and nodded silently. Then he looked around, probably wanting to see if there was any water source.

Before arriving in this era, Su Li was a renowned agronomy PhD. She wouldn't say she understood farming 100%, but she certainly knew 70-80%. So, on her way up the mountain, she observed the surrounding soil and became quite certain that there was no water source on the mountain, or rather, no exposed water source at all. If there was, it would be deep underground and would have to be dug out by someone.

I wonder if Mo Bei and the others noticed that the vegetation on the mountainside was more lush than that at the foot of the mountain. Although it was still withered and yellow, it was more vibrant.

Based on this understanding, Su Li wanted to go and see if she could find the existence of the underwater water!

It's normal that Mo Bei and the others couldn't find a water source, since the mountain was indeed severely arid. If Su Li hadn't been so observant, she probably wouldn't have been able to find the water source either.

The trees in the mountains were severely withered and yellow, except for this one place where the trees were relatively lush. Looking at the large trees with withered leaves but thick roots, Su Li paid close attention, and sure enough, she gained something from it.

Logically, since it hadn't rained for three years, the soil should have been dry. However, the soil where the trees were growing was slightly damp, which convinced Su Li that there was groundwater passing through the area, though she wasn't sure of its exact location or depth.

Su Li had always worked with the land, so she was very skilled at finding water sources. Now, seeing everyone searching for food, she also started searching around, except that while everyone else was looking for food, she was looking for groundwater.

Without sophisticated instruments for exploration, determining the location of groundwater is obviously very difficult. Su Li understood this, so she observed very carefully, striving not to miss a single detail.

This area wasn't particularly large, but it wasn't small either. It took Su Li a full half hour to roughly pinpoint a location and estimate where the groundwater would pass through.

Touching the soil in front of her, Su Li frowned, then used a nearby stone to dig into the ground and examine it carefully.

Meanwhile, Mo Bei led his men to search for food nearby, and only then did he have a moment to spare some attention to Su Li. He was surprised to find that after searching for an hour, Su Li had not found a single piece of food.

That won't do. Everyone else has gained something, more or less. If Su Li doesn't find anything at all, people will talk about her. It wouldn't look good for a general's wife to be talked about.

Thinking that Su Li might not recognize the food in the mountains, Mo Bei stepped forward, intending to tell her about the common mountain foods, in order to at least save face for their general.

However, as soon as Mo Bei approached, Su Li turned to look at him, her eyes revealing a barely perceptible excitement.

Su Li's expression puzzled Mo Bei, who stepped forward and asked, "Madam, what are your orders?"

Su Li was completely oblivious to Mo Bei's confusion and excitedly pointed to a small pit she had dug, saying, "Come and take a look at the soil here."

Hearing this, Mo Bei looked at the small pit that had obviously just been dug with a puzzled expression, then stepped forward to examine the soil carefully, and said, "Is there something wrong with the soil here?"

Hearing Mo Bei's words, Su Li knew that he didn't understand her meaning at all, so she continued, "Touch the soil around here again and compare it carefully. See what the difference is between the two."

Upon hearing this, Mo Bei became skeptical. He reached out and did as instructed, carefully comparing the soil in the two places. After pondering for a while, he said, "The soil in this small pit seems to be more moist than the soil in other places, not as dry."

Su Li nodded, indicating that the answer was correct.

Seeing Su Li like this, Mo Bei became even more puzzled and said with a puzzled look, "But what does this mean? Maybe the soil underground is wetter."

Without witnessing it firsthand, Mo Bei would likely find it difficult to react, so Su Li resigned herself to digging a small pit of the same depth in another spot, then placed the soil from both pits in front of Mo Bei, gesturing for him to examine them closely.

Seeing that Su Li was so serious, Mo Bei naturally didn't dare to be perfunctory and quickly began to compare carefully.

After looking for a while, perhaps his mind finally clicked, Mo Bei suddenly looked up at Su Li in shock, and then asked incredulously, "Does Madam mean—there is a water source here!"

Seeing that Mo Bei finally understood her meaning, Su Li stopped beating around the bush and said, "The trees here are obviously more lush than in other places, and the soil is also more moist, so I suspect that there may be groundwater here, that is, water sources hidden underground."

Mo Bei naturally understood the concept of "groundwater," and he became excited, seemingly already believing that there was groundwater in the area.

Seeing the joy on Mo Bei's face, Su Li couldn't help but remind him, "This is just my guess. We don't know if there is any groundwater. Don't be too happy yet."

Hearing Su Li's reminder, Mo Bei became serious and said, "Don't worry, Madam. We all understand this principle. Since we have made this discovery, we must try it no matter what. If there is water, then the team's crisis will be resolved."

Upon hearing this, Su Li stopped speaking and silently stood aside watching Mo Bei call over some people to start digging into the small pit she had dug.

Mo Bei called for strong and sturdy soldiers, so their work speed was undoubtedly fast. However, Su Li didn't think they would find water quickly, so after watching for a while, she walked around. It was impossible to go up the mountain and come up empty-handed.

Mo Bei and his group made quite a commotion, so some villagers who had already made a profit were no longer in such a hurry and rushed over to check the situation—in other words, to join in the fun.

With fewer people around, it was naturally more convenient for Su Li, giving her time to look around carefully. As she looked around, a familiar tree came into view.

At first, Su Li was a little incredulous, but as she got closer, she was certain that she had not made a mistake. The tree in front of her was the familiar Milk Tree. What surprised her even more was that many similar trees of the same type were growing around it.

This discovery delighted Su Li. Putting aside their current water shortage, the nutritional value of the milk flowing from the tree was already incredibly appealing.

Eager to confirm her guess, Su Li secretly made a cut on the tree trunk. Soon after, fresh milk flowed from the tree, which was quite astonishing.

Su Li glanced at the surrounding trees and couldn't help but feel relieved that no one had come to peel off the bark of these trees to eat, otherwise the milk in these trees might have been wasted due to ignorance.

The trees all around were of the same type. A mature tree could produce about 3-4 liters of milk. The milk production of this tree was not low, which meant that the trip was not in vain and Su Li had gained a lot.

She didn't know if there was groundwater, but the milk trees were real, so Su Li decided not to continue exploring. She planned to go back and call people to collect the milk!

Following the sound, Su Li quickly returned to the place she had just been. She saw everyone gathered around Mo Bei and the others. The small pit had become a large pit, and the people who dug it had been replaced.

Upon closer inspection, Su Li noticed the eager gazes of those around her. She refrained from interrupting and waited patiently, eager to find out if there was any groundwater beneath the earth.