Super Soldier in the City
Chapter 1055 - 1098: Persevering Through Hardship

Chapter 1055: Chapter 1098: Persevering Through Hardship

After eating, the three prepared to set out. Li Yifei packed blankets and clothes into the backpack, but from the plane wreckage, he only kept a few small pieces, leaving the larger ones behind.

The three had eaten something in the morning and felt much more spirited, ready to depart. However, before setting off, Li Yifei carved a few words into one of the large pieces of wreckage: "Three survivors, Li Yifei, Xu Shanshan, Yanzi, heading north."

This was a signal left behind. If the rescue team were to come, they could follow this direction to find them. Moreover, it was also a message for their families, to ease their worries somewhat.

But now Li Yifei had to lead the two on their way. Food was momentarily solvable, but water was a critical issue. Staying here wouldn’t resolve it. He had managed to gather only seven bottles of mineral water. Normally, a person would need two bottles per day. In the past two days, even conserving as much as they could, they were down to three bottles. Staying any longer meant they’d soon run out of water, and if rescue didn’t arrive in time, they would die of thirst.

So he had to take both of them in search of a water source. Only by solving the water issue could they survive.

Choosing to head north was because to reach the cities of Australia, they would need to travel north through the desert, whereas south lay the sea. Li Yifei wasn’t sure where exactly they were in the Grand Desert, but there was a road somewhere in it. Therefore, by traveling north, they would either reach a city or find the road, either of which would increase their chances.

After walking for over an hour, Xu Shanshan was already finding it tough, despite her decent physical condition from dancing. Xu Yingying, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t have lasted even half an hour.

The main issue was the soft sand underfoot in the desert, making walking extremely difficult. Moreover, Xu Shanshan was wearing high heels, which made the journey even harder. Walking barefoot might have been easier, but the scorching sand would have burnt their feet in no time.

The Sacred Lady was also wearing high heels, but with her martial skills, she moved much more effortlessly.

Finally, they found a sand dune and rested in the shade, away from the sun. Xu Shanshan asked with a pained expression, "Brother-in-law, how far have we walked?"

"Just over a kilometer."

"Only a kilometer..." Xu Shanshan’s eyes widened in dismay.

Li Yifei gave a wry smile and said, "Yeah, we’re moving so slow, did you think we had covered more distance?"

"Oh my God, the desert is so vast, if we only manage a little over a kilometer per hour, how long would it take us to get out?"

Li Yifei didn’t want Xu Shanshan to lose hope, so he reassured her, "Shanshan, don’t worry, I will definitely lead you out."

"Mm!" Xu Shanshan leaned on Li Yifei’s shoulder, trusting him completely. Having survived such a severe plane crash, a desert could surely not defeat her brother-in-law.

That day, they made several stops and covered around fifteen kilometers. Li Yifei and the Sacred Lady were still fine, but Xu Shanshan was already complaining endlessly. At night, they took shelter at the base of a dune and finished off what little food they had left. Only one bottle of water remained, and that was after Li Yifei had strictly managed their water use. Otherwise, they would have had none left.

Large blisters had formed on Xu Shanshan’s feet, which hurt terribly when she took her shoes off. She had persevered the whole day and walked on her own.

Li Yifei lanced the blisters on Xu Shanshan’s feet so they would heal faster. Seeing her like this pained him, and he said, "Shanshan, I’ll carry you tomorrow."

"No need, I can keep up," Xu Shanshan immediately shook her head, realizing just how grueling their situation was. Being pampered at this time would only cause immense trouble.

"Rest assured, my strength is good, carrying you for a day is absolutely no issue," he insisted. "Your feet will almost be healed in a day, and you can walk on your own then. But if you insist on walking tomorrow, you definitely won’t be able to continue for the following days."

"If that’s the case... well, okay, you can carry me tomorrow, brother-in-law... I feel like such a burden now."

"What are you saying, silly? Carrying you, you can hold an umbrella for shade, and I’ll be a bit more comfortable too."

"Mm-hmm!" Xu Shanshan leaned on Li Yifei’s shoulder, finding her brother-in-law truly considerate. Even in such moments, he remained kind to her.

After chatting for a while, the three lay down to rest, conserving their energy as much as possible. The night was noticeably colder without their small nest from the previous two nights, and Xu Shanshan curled up in Li Yifei’s arms, shivering from time to time.

Li Yifei turned to the holy woman and said, "Let’s sleep together, the three of us. That way we can maintain our body temperature and avoid unnecessary energy consumption." At this point, Li Yifei had to account for everything, even a slight excess of physical exertion was unnecessary.

The holy woman agreed and moved over. The three of them reorganized the blankets, laying one beneath them and covering themselves with two more. Xu Shanshan was in the middle, with Li Yifei and the holy woman on either side, hugging each other tightly. This was to keep their body heat and avoid wasteful expenditure of energy.

In such a situation, there was no arousal of sexual desire between the men and women, everything was just for the sake of surviving, so there was no need for any sort of evasion.

The next morning, as soon as a glimmer of light showed on the horizon, both Li Yifei and the holy woman woke up. The holy woman said, "Let’s search for food together today. That way, we can gather more too."

Li Yifei nodded. The strength of two people was definitely stronger than one. Xu Shanshan was still asleep, so the two set off immediately, catching lizards and scorpions in the vicinity around Xu Shanshan.

After a while, Li Yifei had caught quite a few, whereas the holy woman had only caught a few, chuckling sadly, "I am still a bit scared, so I don’t dare to do it much."

Li Yifei smiled faintly and said, "You’ve caught some without fail; that’s already quite good."

Today, when Li Yifei was processing the lizards, he was even more careful. Water was scarce, and he tried to give most of it to Xu Shanshan and the holy woman to drink. But if he didn’t replenish his own fluids, he simply couldn’t last much longer either. There was some blood in the lizards, which, despite the lizards being small and their blood even less, few drops squeezed out was still beneficial. Moreover, drinking blood was also necessary to replenish salts.

The holy woman saw this and immediately turned her head with her mouth twisted, but she understood why Li Yifei was doing this. Even though she couldn’t bear to watch, she didn’t speak up to stop him.

The day’s haul was a bit more than the day before, and there was also plenty of dry grass near the sand dune, so there was no problem in roasting the lizards and scorpions.

Xu Shanshan woke up smelling the aroma. Today, both she and the holy woman declined to let Li Yifei tear the meat. In harsh environments, people quickly adapt, or else there is only one path left—that of death.

After they had eaten, they neatly packed up the blankets and other things. Li Yifei left one piece of clothing behind and said to the holy woman, "Take off your shoes."

The holy woman was a bit puzzled but still sat down and slipped off her high heels, while Li Yifei had already torn the piece of clothing in two, saying, "Wrap the clothes around your feet to use as shoes."

The holy woman gave Li Yifei a sweet smile and said, "That’s a good idea."

Although it was already the fourth day in the desert, the holy woman still maintained an elegant demeanor. Although she had no water to wash her face, her face was still clean. On the other hand, Xu Shanshan looked somewhat disheveled, her face covered in dust. With sweat streaking through, it looked like a heavily painted face.

While these might not seem impressive skills, they could bring about an extra bit of hope for survival in such harsh conditions. If the holy woman had been left alone in this desert, she knew well that she would have already faced a dire situation, causing her to admire Li Yifei all the more.

The three of them set off again, with Li Yifei carrying Xu Shanshan and the holy woman carrying the backpack. They moved much faster now, walking for nearly three hours and covering roughly ten kilometers before they rested.

But looking out, all they could see was the endless yellow sand, as if they would never reach the end.

"Shanshan, are you thirsty? Have some water," Li Yifei said as he gently placed Xu Shanshan down and noticed her cracked lips, taking out the half-full bottle of water.

Xu Shanshan pursed her lips and shook her head, "I’m not thirsty. Brother-in-law, you’ve been carrying me for so long, you drink."

Li Yifei smiled faintly, patted Xu Shanshan’s head and said, "Brother-in-law isn’t thirsty. I drank some lizard blood this morning."

Xu Shanshan grinned but still shook her head, "Then I won’t drink either. This water is lifesaving for us now. To run out would mean we have no hope left."

The holy woman added, "That’s right, let’s endure as long as we can. If we had been more sparing with it the past two days, it would have been better."

Li Yifei also felt somewhat helpless, the water consumption had indeed been a bit too much the previous days, but now it was too late, they had to confront the issue.

After resting for half an hour, they continued on their way. This day they walked the furthest yet, covering more than thirty kilometers. Moreover, Li Yifei’s sense of direction was quite accurate, and they didn’t get lost.

They’d covered about fifty kilometers by now. Considering the Grand Desert’s total area of almost four hundred thousand square kilometers and a north-south depth of about four hundred kilometers, they had traveled about one-eighth of the way. If Li Yifei’s judgment was correct, under good conditions, they should reach the highway in three more days. However, whether they could endure these next three days was difficult to say.