As a military doctor, Song Jin had undergone plenty of survival training in the army, so she naturally knew how to survive in the wilderness.
But after walking five or six li and crossing several hills, only to find endless barren land stretching before her without even a blade of grass, she could not help developing a headache.
In her original world, wilderness survival at least meant forests or islands. As long as there was moisture somewhere, water could usually be found.
But the current situation was practically no different from searching for water in a desert.
“Water! I need water!”
Song Jin screamed silently inside her heart. Her mind focused entirely on how to find water—because where there was water, there would naturally be food as well.
Then, in the next moment, she thought she was hallucinating.
Because a mirage had appeared before her.
No… not a mirage.
It was an enormous mountain covered in lush ancient trees and flourishing greenery!
From the mountain cascaded a spiritual spring waterfall hanging upside down like silver silk, crashing down from the heights into a cloud of mist and drifting vapor.
The crisp sound of flowing water striking the rocks resembled heavenly music descending from the skies.
At the bottom of the waterfall lay a shallow crystal-clear pool where countless wild fish swam joyfully.
Beside the pool stretched nearly ten mu of fertile spiritual farmland filled with exotic flowers, herbs, wild vegetables, and wild sweet potatoes.
Colorful butterflies fluttered among the flowers while hardworking bees buzzed happily as they gathered nectar.
The sight shocked Song Jin so badly that she rubbed her eyes furiously.
But when she opened them again, the mountain still stood there.
The mountain, the spiritual spring waterfall, and the farmland were all real.
This was no illusion.
Nor was it a dream.
Could it be…
A flash of realization struck Song Jin’s mind.
Her heartbeat accelerated instantly, and every pore on her body seemed to burst open with excitement.
As a devoted reader thoroughly poisoned by countless web novels featuring cheat abilities, she naturally was not stupid enough to ask idiotic questions like where this place was or where the mountain came from.
This was obviously not just transmigration—
She had also been gifted a spatial dimension!
And not just any ordinary space. It came with an entire mountain, ten mu of spiritual farmland, and an endless spiritual spring waterfall.
Song Jin nearly wanted to throw her head back and laugh wildly at the heavens.
Fate had treated her generously indeed!
With these resources, no matter how terrible the outside world became, she would never starve or die of thirst.
The spiritual farmland contained all kinds of wild vegetables and sweet potatoes. The mountain itself was overflowing with game, mountain delicacies, and medicinal herbs.
After thinking it over, Song Jin decided to first collect the spiritual spring water, then gather some vegetables and dig up a few sweet potatoes to bring back.
Carrying the water skins to the pool, she crouched down to fill them—and finally got a clear look at her own reflection.
“This ugly woman is me?”
Song Jin stared at the face in the water with complete disgust.
Although no refugee woman looked attractive after fleeing famine for so long, the woman before her was especially ugly. Once her face was washed clean, dense freckles covering her skin were revealed so clearly they nearly blinded her.
In her previous life, even a single pimple could upset her for half a day. Right now, she found it difficult to accept this shockingly ugly face.
“Thankfully, my features are still good.”
After staring at herself for a long while, Song Jin finally noticed that her facial features were actually rather delicate. Especially with her jade-white complexion, her appearance resembled about eighty percent of her former self.
She finally let out a relieved sigh.
As long as the features were good, then the face could still be saved.
Patting her freckled face comfortingly, Song Jin pulled herself together and began working.
First, she drank an entire water skin full of spiritual spring water, replenishing all the moisture and strength her body lacked. Only then did she refill the four water skins completely.
Once the skins could hold no more, she picked up the sack and went to gather wild vegetables.
The spiritual farmland seemed to contain almost every variety imaginable.
Song Jin only picked five kinds: malantou, jīròucài, fiddlehead ferns, water celery, and purslane.
She gathered one bundle of each until the sack was half full.
Considering that wild vegetables alone were not filling enough, she stuffed them into the sack and then went to dig up wild sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes were filling. A bowl of vegetable soup plus one sweet potato could sustain someone for an entire day.
“Wow! These sweet potatoes are huge!”
Using her hands to scrape away the dirt beneath a sweet potato vine, Song Jin gasped in delight upon discovering a cluster of enormous sweet potatoes underneath.
As expected of produce grown inside a magical space.
From just one plant, she harvested twenty-five sweet potatoes, each roughly the size of a bowl, weighing about thirty jin in total.
With twenty-five sweet potatoes and half a sack of vegetables, their family of six could survive five or six days without starving.
Song Jin did not dare dig up too many sweet potatoes.
Obtaining too much food in a single day would easily invite disaster upon herself.
After washing the sweet potatoes clean in the spring water and placing them into the sack, she noticed an elm tree beside the waterfall and promptly gathered half a sack of elm seeds as well.
There were two reasons for collecting them.
First, elm seeds could serve as famine food. They could be eaten raw, tasted sweet, and even functioned somewhat like fruit.
Second, because they resembled leaves, they could help conceal the vegetables and sweet potatoes.
Outside, corpses littered the land and starving refugees were everywhere chewing on bark and leaves. If she returned carrying only vegetables and sweet potatoes, it would attract far too much attention.
Only when the sack could hold no more did Song Jin finally feel satisfied.
She temporarily stored the sack and the four water skins inside the space. Then, with a silent thought of “leave,” she exited.
Outside, the world had already become pitch black, as though the heavens had been drenched in thick ink.
Fortunately, the darkness ensured no one saw Song Jin suddenly appear out of thin air.
Since she had left markers along the way earlier, Song Jin followed them back.
On the journey back, she encountered many refugees returning after searching for food, but she ran into no danger.
In fact, most of the refugees had found something. Some even carried water in their skins.
The moment they saw Song Jin alone and empty-handed, they became even more nervous than she was.
All of them feared that robbers might suddenly appear behind her and steal their water, so they hurriedly kept their distance.
Though puzzled by their reactions, Song Jin did not care in the slightest. If anything, she welcomed it.
Before returning to camp, she still needed to take the sack and water skins out of her space. Naturally, she could not allow anyone to discover her secret.
Thanks to drinking the spiritual spring water, her strength had recovered significantly. The return journey was much faster than before.
After roughly half an hour, Song Jin finally crossed the last hill.
Looking down from above, she saw the familiar campfire below.
After glancing around to confirm no refugees were nearby, she quickly removed the sack and water skins from the space.
Then she hoisted the sack onto her right shoulder, hung the four water skins over her left, and strode briskly toward her family’s campfire.
Jin, Mu, Shui, and Huo had waited and waited.
Two full hours had passed, yet Song Jin still had not returned. Anxiety had already reddened their eyes.
Taking advantage of the moment Xiao Yanzhi closed his eyes to rest, the four children huddled together and whispered quietly.
“That evil woman really ran away! She’s not coming back! Searching for food was just another lie!”
Mu was furious. She had known this wicked foster mother was a liar and a skilled actress.
“Keep your voice down. Don’t wake Father,” Jin whispered with a frown.
He also suspected their foster mother had run away, but unlike Mu, he had always been calm and steady despite being a child.
“Could it be because it’s too dark? Maybe Mother just can’t find her way back for now?” Shui suggested softly.
Though also a girl, Shui was thoughtful and composed, never panicking when problems arose.
“When is Mother coming back? I’m so hungry!”
Huo’s mind was much simpler than the others’. He did not think about complicated things.
He only knew his stomach was starving and his throat terribly thirsty.