“Water? Where?” Fu Miaoxue immediately perked up, looking left and right. “Where’s the water? I don’t see any water!”

Ahead was a row of dense bamboo, and beyond that only some unidentifiable shrubs — weeds growing wild, wet and dense, as if even the insects would be suffocated in this sweltering humid environment.

Du Lai set her down and walked straight to the bamboo grove ahead. He pulled out the flat stone he’d used earlier, pressed its sharpest edge against a bamboo stalk, and struck it again and again with force.

“What are you doing? Why are you cutting bamboo?” The young miss pressed in behind him, complaining nonstop. “Weren’t we supposed to find a water source? If we don’t drink soon I’ll really die of thirst. Look at me — I’m so parched I’m not even sweating anymore. I’m about to suffer heatstroke, you know. And here you are cutting bamboo instead of walking — are we still going or not——”

Bamboo was tough and solid. Du Lai struck with the stone several times and only cut out a thin, shallow groove.

Stamina was depleting and replenishment was nowhere in sight. Du Lai was deeply irritated inside. With Fu Miaoxue going on and on incessantly at him, he just wanted her to be quiet. Unable to hold it in, he let out a low, sharp: “Enough!”

The young miss: “……”

Du Lai: “……”

Alright, he’d lost control of his temper for a moment.

The volume wasn’t particularly loud, but compared to his previous fawning and flattery, this attitude was clearly insubordinate.

Fu Miaoxue’s face instantly went cold. She stared at Du Lai and asked: “That one hundred million — you don’t want it anymore?”

“……” Du Lai swallowed his frustration. “…… I want it.”

Money meant nothing at this point, but Fu Lisheng — he was genuinely afraid of him.

Fu Miaoxue said: “Cross me, and even if you survive this place, my grandfather will drag you out eventually and make sure you die badly. Do you believe that?”

Du Lai took a deep breath, nodded. “…… I do.”

The young miss let out a cold snort, glaring at him icily, as if deliberating how to punish him for his impertinence.

Du Lai closed his eyes briefly, adjusted his tone, and explained: “Bamboo is hollow in the middle and retains some water inside — it’s very clean. Collected, it can be drunk directly. That’s why I’m cutting the bamboo.”

Fu Miaoxue blinked, her gaze shifting to the bamboo stalks, and asked in surprise: “Is that true? You’re not tricking me?”

“It’s true,” Du Lai said. “But without proper tools, just using this stone, it’s very hard to break through bamboo.”

“You should have said so sooner!” Fu Miaoxue gave him a look and bent down to untie her shoelaces.

Du Lai watched her in puzzlement, and then he saw her remove her small leather shoe, flip the sole over, and run her fingers along the edge — and from inside the sole she slowly drew out a folding blade——

Unfolded, it was a short dagger!

“Here, take it,” Fu Miaoxue handed him the dagger. “Hurry up and get the bamboo open — I’m dying of thirst.”

Du Lai: “……”

As if compelled by some unseen force, he looked at Fu Miaoxue’s other shoe.

Fu Miaoxue: “……”

The young miss furrowed her brow irritably, muttering a string of curses: “Fine — I’ll give you everything!”

She took off her other shoe as well. This shoe sole, however, didn’t hold a dagger — instead, it concealed an extremely thin steel wire chain.

“This one is very impressive!” the young miss said proudly. “Grandfather said if I ever got kidnapped, I could use this to saw through iron shackles — and it can also be used to strangle someone!”

Du Lai silently accepted the chain, thinking to himself: children of the wealthy don’t have easy lives either.

The steel wire chain was both hard and flexible in material and could be used as a wire saw. Du Lai positioned it against one side of a bamboo stalk, gripped both ends tightly in his hands, and worked it back and forth in a sawing motion. The bamboo made a rasping sound as a gap was sawed open.

Fu Miaoxue watched eagerly from the side. When the liquid began flowing out in streams, she broke into a radiant smile and nearly jumped on the spot!

“Water! We have water!!!”