Natural disaster at the beginning: I will lead the system to build a safe zone

Shi Anan took the snack and gave one portion to Xiao Yi. She watched the boss serving the next customer and wanted to ask something, but she didn't know how to.

The two walked and talked. Shi Anan was not as sensitive to military matters as Xiao Yi. She asked, "Do you have any guesses about the King of the North mentioned by the stall owner just now?"

Xiao Yi pondered for a while and shook his head. "Although I went to the border with my father to guard it for a while when I was a child, the people I knew were basically people who were good friends with my father. After my father was imprisoned, some of those people were exiled, some resigned and returned home, and some defected to other factions. The relationship is too complicated, and I can't guess it based on just a title."

"Moreover, I heard from the stall owner that the King of the North is extremely cruel, even worse than the barbarians outside the border. Even if the people I know have some small thoughts, they would not become like this. Such people must have been abused as children and are hostile to the entire Apocalypse Dynasty and the entire society. Those vicious villains in the Land of Exile are possible."

After listening to his analysis, Shi Anan nodded in agreement. This so-called King of the North must have a serious antisocial personality!

"So what do you think? Will the King of the Northern Territory come to Lingnan? Or will he only go as far as Jiangnan as the stall owner said?"

"We can't rule out this possibility. We don't know what the current situation in Jiangnan is. The north is dry and the south has plenty of water. The King of the Northern Territory will go south even for water. If Jiangnan can't stop him, it's only a matter of time before he wants to continue the unification and go to Lingnan."

Xiao Yi was obviously not as optimistic as the stall owner, because judging from the title of the King of the North, his ambitions were definitely more than just that. If he wanted to reunify the Apocalypse Dynasty, he would not be safe anywhere.

Shi Anan sighed with a headache. Not only did she have to face natural disasters, but she also had to face man-made disasters. She couldn't just calm down.

Seeing her worried face, Xiao Yi comforted her, "Don't worry too much now. Didn't the stall owner say that the King of the Northern Territory has just arrived in Liangzhou and is still far away from here? We still have time to prepare."

Xiao Yi has great confidence in the development of Guangming Town and Qinghe County. If there are enough people, with their military strength, resisting a Northern King will be no problem.

After hearing Xiao Yi's comfort, Shi Anan regained her good mood. Yes, she was a person with a system. How could a small King of the Northern Territory fight against her who had used cheats!

"Let's set out to look for sulfur mines tomorrow!" The sooner we find them, the sooner we can go back to develop gunpowder. If the King of the North comes, she will blow him up on the spot!

After that, the two of them were not in the mood to continue shopping, so they just sat in a teahouse for a while, inquired about some information, and then returned to the inn to rest.

In this way, Shi Anan once again passed by Shi Zhengde and Shi Wanqing, father and daughter.

***

Early the next morning, Shi Anan and Xiao Yi set out on the journey to look for sulfur mines.

The map shows that the sulfur mine is not far from Cangwu City. The only difficulty is that it has to cross a large forest.

Because the road in the forest was bumpy, Shi Anan and Xiao Yi could only walk up the mountain. Due to Shi Anan's physical condition, the two of them did not walk very fast.

"Huh! Let's take a break. Let me see if I'm going in the right direction." Shi Anan stood there with her hands on her hips, catching her breath.

Although this young lady has been exercising for so long, her physical fitness is still not as good as before. She could climb a mountain for a whole day without resting. Thinking back to the past, she couldn't help but glance at Xiao Yi's face, which was not even sweating. If she wasn't old, she would also like to learn martial arts!

Feeling her gaze, Xiao Yi looked over in confusion: "Are you tired? How about I carry you on my back?"

Shi Anan waved her hand: "No, no, you just recovered from your injury, I just need to rest for a while."

After resting for a while, Shi Anan found a tree to sit against and took out some snacks and water from the system backpack to replenish the two of them.

After resting for about a quarter of an hour, she was about to set off again, but the moment Shi Anan stood up, she felt as if her clothes were stuck to the tree. Her legs were already a little sore, and the pull made her lose her balance. She stumbled and fell backwards, and Shi Anan exclaimed: "Ouch!"

Xiao Yi quickly caught her falling body and said, "Be careful!"

Shi Anan steadied herself and signaled Xiao Yi to let go: "I'm fine. What's stuck to my back? Why is it so sticky?"

As she was about to take off her coat, Xiao Yi looked at the tree behind her and saw some white sap on it: "It should be the sap of this tree that is a bit sticky."

Shi Anan then noticed that there was some liquid flowing down from the tree she was leaning against. After observing it for a while, she said in surprise: "This, this looks like a rubber tree!"

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for finding a rubber tree. Reward: rubber production method and derivative production method*1]

The waiter's voice that followed also confirmed Shi Anan's words. She didn't expect that there would be rubber trees here. The resource map provided by the system did not specifically mark this forest. This was purely a pleasant surprise.

Xiao Yi didn't know what rubber was: "Rubber tree? What's the use of it?"

Shi Anan explained to him: "This thing has many uses. For example, the wheels of our carriage are made of wood and are not shockproof at all. If we can make tires with rubber, we won't have to travel so bumpy in the future!"

Xiao Yi knew about rubber tires. He had been very interested in the wheels of the bus and asked Shi Anan what they were made of. However, that wheel was high-tech. Although it contained rubber, he didn't know what other technology was used to achieve the ultimate in shock absorption and anti-slip. With their level, they couldn't make it even if they had rubber. But this didn't prevent Xiao Yi from knowing that rubber was a good thing.

But… "How do you get the rubber out?"

Shi Anan quickly answered him. Although Shi Anan had never taken rubber herself, she had watched many documentaries about it. She took out a container from her backpack and fixed it on the tree trunk. Then she used a small carving knife to gently cut a small hole in the bark of the rubber tree. Her movements were extremely gentle, as if she was treating a precious work of art.

While cutting, he said to Xiao Yi: "When tapping the rubber, you must control the strength and depth. Don't cut too deep to avoid damaging the internal tissue of the tree."

As the knife moved, white liquid began to slowly seep out from the small hole in the bark and slowly flowed into the container in the direction of Shi Anan's cutting.

After seeing that almost all the samples were collected, Shi Anan stopped and continued to explain: "This juice is very easy to solidify. If too much water evaporates, it will affect the yield and quality of latex. We still need to find sulfur mines. Let's just take this much today."

"In addition, the best time to tap rubber is in the early morning, when the temperature is low and the air is more humid, so the latex concentration will be better. The rubber needs to be harvested within two hours, otherwise it will dry out."

"In order to ensure the health of the rubber trees, we usually tap the rubber every 1 to 2 days. If we tap the rubber too frequently, the trees will be destroyed. So if we want to extract the rubber later, we have to arrange for special people to come."

Nothing is inexhaustible, and if we want sustainable development, we must exercise moderation.