Alice knew that although Strange had a sharp tongue, it was for everyone's own good.
He was using his own way to warn everyone never to drink raw water on the island, as that would be courting death.
"Rest assured, I know how to find clean water sources, and I know how to filter it."
Alice pointed to the edge of the jungle in the distance.
"The vegetation over there is darker in color than the surrounding area, and there are some moisture-loving ferns growing. My intuition tells me that if we head that way, about a kilometer out, we'll encounter a mountain spring or water seeping from rocks."
"Intuition?" Strange raised an eyebrow, looking at the rolling, bottomless green mountains with quite a bit of skepticism. "Are you sure we'll find water in this direction, and not a nest of venomous snakes?"
Fresh water resources on the island were not lacking; this was a conclusion Alice had reached after measuring it with her own two feet over the past month.
Relying on Kato Megumi's super weak presence, she had explored over a dozen water sources like a ghost.
Indeed, most water sources were frequented by wild beasts.
They were the social plazas and hunting grounds of the jungle.
Without sharp claws or fangs, and without strong muscles or bones, trying to go there for water was basically delivering takeout to the beasts.
However, heaven rewards the diligent; she later found two very, very small, hidden mountain springs.
One was deep in the jungle; that was her secret Base.
The other was not far from the beach and seeped out from the crevices of the rocks. Although the volume wasn't large, it had the advantage of being in a hidden location and relatively safe.
"Don't tell me you're a magical girl who knows how to divine?" Strange couldn't help but retort, looking at Alice's confident appearance. "Or are you saying your eyes can see water molecules through the leaves?"
"Actually, I'm a prophet." Alice winked mysteriously. "Besides, the magical girl setting isn't bad either."
"Fine, Miss Prophet." Strange turned off his music. "Then I'll go with you. As a Doctor, I have an obligation to verify the safety of the water source."
"No need."
Alice refused decisively, pointing to Barton lying on the ground.
"Strange, you are the only Doctor here. Barton just finished surgery and could develop complications or go into shock at any moment. You must stay behind to take care of him and monitor his vital signs. Dr. Banner and I can go."
Banner was stunned for a moment, pointing at himself: "Me?"
"Yes, Mr. Banner, you need to help me carry the water containers." Alice said with a smile. "Besides, do you think this long-faced Doctor looks like someone with the strength to do manual labor?"
Strange looked at his own hands, which were impeccably maintained for surgery, and then at Banner's shoulders, which, while a bit pudgy, were still broad. He wisely shut his mouth.
"Fine, that sounds like a reasonable division of labor." Strange sat back down beside Barton and put his headphones back on. "I'll just stay here and act as a bodyguard for our wounded. Go quickly and come back soon; remember to bring me back some local specialties."
Strange always felt that the real reason Alice made him stay wasn't to take care of Barton, but because she didn't want to bring him, someone who could only talk, along to be a burden.
"Could it be that because I'm too handsome, she's afraid that if she's alone with me in the jungle, she won't be able to control herself and will fall in love with me?"
Sitting on the scorching sand, a bored Strange watched their retreating figures and began to let his thoughts wander aimlessly to alleviate his inner anxiety.
"No, she's too young and not suitable for me. Besides, I'm not some evil lolicon. But the way she was commanding earlier was quite like that career woman, Christine."
In the jungle.
Alice walked with Banner, stepping unsteadily.
"Mr. Banner, watch your step. Those things that look like dead branches might be venomous snakes."
"Oh, right, thanks for the reminder." Banner jumped in fright, his movements endearingly clumsy.
The two soon arrived at a place filled with giant bamboo.
"Where's the water?" Banner looked around.
"The water is right here."
Alice walked up to a bamboo stalk as thick as a bowl and tapped the bamboo node with a stone.
"Thump, thump."
It was a dull echo, indicating it was full of liquid.
"Nature's gift, bamboo tube water."
Under Banner's surprised gaze, Alice skillfully used a sharp stone to chisel a small hole above the bamboo node. Clear liquid immediately flowed out, and Alice dipped her finger in to taste it; it was sweet and refreshing.
"These bamboo stalks grow in places rich in groundwater. The bamboo cavities store large amounts of rainwater and groundwater, and after being filtered layer by layer through the bamboo fibers, it's cleaner than any bottled water."
Alice explained, then instructed Banner.
"Mr. Banner, use your strength to help me break off a few bamboo stalks. We need to take them back; they are both the water and the container to hold it."
Half an hour later.
"Water's here."
Hearing the voice, Strange turned around to look.
He saw that Alice had somehow acquired a straw hat woven from wide leaves, which looked playful and cute.
And Dr. Banner, usually so timid, was now covered in green bamboo tubes tied with tough grass vines, hanging from his body, his shoulders, and even his neck.
Along the way, the bamboo tubes clattered non-stop, like a walking percussion band.
He couldn't help but ask curiously: "Weren't you going to find water? Did you switch careers to selling bamboo?"
"Nature's gift, original ecological bamboo tube water, rich in minerals."
Alice smiled, took a wide leaf she had washed beforehand from her straw hat, rolled it into a funnel-shaped cup with a pointed bottom, removed a bamboo tube from Banner, pulled out the stopper, and poured a cup of cold, crisp spring water.
The water was crystal clear and emitted a faint fragrance of bamboo nodes.
She carefully fed it to Barton, who was lying on the ground.
Barton swallowed greedily, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, as if it were the most delicious nectar in the World.
After finishing the water, Barton let out a long sigh, feeling as if his whole person had come back to life: "Thanks, this taste is even better than the best wine I've ever had in Budapest."
This scene made Strange exclaim in wonder, and his throat moved involuntarily.
"Alice is like a spirit of the jungle, so astute it's admirable." Banner, having unloaded his heavy burden, wiped his sweat and exclaimed sincerely. "If she hadn't known there was water in the bamboo, we might still be running around like headless flies."
The over ten liters of bamboo tube water that Alice and Banner brought back relieved the urgent needs of all the plane crash survivors.
The crowd, originally restless due to the lack of water, calmed down slightly.
But new problems followed one after another.
The Sun rose higher and higher; it was already noon, and the sunlight became increasingly fierce and scorching. The beach was baked like a giant teppanyaki grill.
Waves of heat rolled in, making people dizzy.
Strange poured the water from the bamboo tube into the empty vodka bottle and gave it a shake.
Unfortunately, after the residual alcohol in the bottle had been rinsed out several times, it was now too faint to be tasted at all.
He took a sip, and it tasted bland.
Rubbing his flat, even slightly sunken abdomen, he looked at Alice: "Our magical girl, now that we have the source of life, shouldn't you wave your wand and conjure up something to eat?"
There were a total of more than ten survivors of the plane crash.
After overcoming the initial panic of the plane crash, the adrenaline faded for these lucky ones, and their most primitive instincts began to take over their brains.
Hunger.
That burning sensation of stomach walls rubbing against each other made people flustered.
When he was still sitting in the first-class cabin of the plane, Strange had disliked the airline meal steak the flight attendant brought, complaining that it was too tough and the sauce tasted too bad, so he only drank a glass of pre-meal dessert wine and had them take it away.
As it turned out, retribution came too quickly; the plane crashed, and those airline meals he had despised turned to dust.
Thinking back on it now, that slightly tough steak was practically a three-star Michelin delicacy.
Strange regretted not taking a bite back then; even if he had just eaten one more piece of bread, he wouldn't be so hungry now that his stomach was sticking to his back.
So, after the joke, he sighed again, his eyes somewhat dim: "I was lucky to survive the plane crash without dying from the fall. However, following that, it's very unfortunate that I might have to die painfully from hunger. Sigh, no matter how brilliant medical skills are, they cannot cure the terminal illness that is hunger."
"The fresh water Alice found can keep us from starving to death for the time being." Banner sat to one side, holding a piece of bamboo and drawing some formulas in the sand, saying calmly, "People can live for more than seven days, or even longer, just by drinking water."
"Without food, fresh water will only make us die a slow death; that is a more cruel torture." Strange retorted, "You will watch your muscles atrophy, your brain stop functioning due to hypoglycemia, and eventually, you will turn into a dried corpse."
"No, I think fresh water can allow us to wait for rescue to arrive." Having drunk water and feeling a bit better, Barton cheered up and said. As an Agent, he was accustomed to looking for hope in desperate situations.
Three men, three attitudes.
"Mr. Long-face, there's no need to be so pessimistic."
Alice stood up, clapped her hands, and pointed to the lush forest behind her, full of life and murderous intent.
"Although this island is dangerous, it is also a huge treasure trove. It is richer in produce than you can imagine. As long as you have good luck and aren't afraid of death, you definitely won't starve to death."
Strange's eyes lit up, and he sat up straight abruptly, straightened his suit tie, and replied resolutely with an air of martyrdom: "Courage? Ha, in order to fill my stomach, and so that my genius hands don't shake from hunger, hunger makes me forge ahead."