I Hoard Supplies and Raise a Child in the Wasteland World by Drawing Cards (GL) - Chapter 18
Lin Ran’s veins were bulging. She had an adult man, heavier than her own body, hanging from her. If it weren’t for her profession in her past life, Lin Ran would be dead by now.
She desperately kicked the back of the hand on her right ankle with her left leg until the zombie’s hand was deformed. Only then did the male zombie’s grip on her ankle completely loosen.
Lin Ran’s palms were on fire and almost numb. The movements she was making were a pure, instinctual reaction from years of living on the edge.
Lin Ran desperately did a pull-up, trying to hook her left leg onto the iron railing. The first time, she missed by a little and almost let go. She endured the pain in her hands and, with all her might, did another pull-up. This time, her right leg finally hooked onto the iron railing. Lin Ran pulled herself up with her wrist and, with a clumsy flip, finally stood on the iron staircase.
But Lin Ran had no time to catch her breath. The zombies had already opened their gaping mouths at Mo Shuyu, and some of their mucus had even dripped onto Mo Shuyu’s face. The Tang Dao reappeared in Lin Ran’s right hand. She kicked the zombie’s face to the side while desperately slashing at the male zombie’s neck.
After one slash, before the zombie could react, Lin Ran squatted on the stairs, her leg stomping on the male zombie’s face. With all her might, she pulled Mo Shuyu out from under the male zombie. “Hurry up!”
After giving the order, Lin Ran held the Tang Dao with both hands and slashed desperately at the male zombie’s neck. The close call had ignited all of Lin Ran’s anger. She wanted to fight these monsters with everything she had. With a surge of adrenaline, Lin Ran used all her strength to kick and slash at the zombies in front of her. It worked unexpectedly well, and she managed to kick five or six zombies down.
Mo Shuyu also knew this was no time to be afraid. She couldn’t be a burden to Lin Ran. Mo Shuyu held onto the iron railing and obediently ran upward.
After dealing with five or six zombies, Lin Ran was able to break free and ran up the stairs. She had almost fallen from the seventh floor just now, and the thought of it still made her palms sweat. If her neighbor hadn’t used her body to block the zombie, she would probably have been bitten by the zombies behind her. She would have either died from the fall or become a zombie. Either way, it wouldn’t have been a good outcome.
With that thought, Lin Ran looked at Mo Shuyu in front of her. It seemed that having a teammate was somewhat useful.
When Mo Shuyu saw Lin Ran catch up, her eyes lit up, but this was no time to talk. The two of them ran up desperately. Lin Ran was, of course, listening to where the music was coming from. The two of them made it to the 13th floor, but the music was still coming from above, seeming to originate from the rooftop.
Lin Ran and Mo Shuyu didn’t dare to delay. The zombies were still chasing them, but they were five or six meters away, which gave them a chance to catch their breath.
When they reached the end of the iron staircase, Mo Shuyu anxiously shook an iron door. The fire escape leading to the 14th-floor rooftop also had an iron door.
Lin Ran saw it, pushed Mo Shuyu to the side, and said, “I’ll do it.”
With that, she took the Tang Dao and desperately slashed at the iron lock. After four or five hits, the lock finally loosened, and the zombies behind them were about to catch up.
Lin Ran used both hands to finally chop the iron lock off the door. She kicked the door open and shouted at Mo Shuyu, “Hurry up!”
Mo Shuyu’s reaction was also very quick. Knowing she couldn’t be a burden to Lin Ran, she rushed through the iron door and onto the rooftop. But once on the rooftop, Mo Shuyu became more worried. The two building doors leading to the top floor had also been broken open by the zombies inside. There were a lot of zombies on the rooftop now, but for some reason, they weren’t rushing toward her and Lin Ran.
The rooftop was very large, but the view was also very open, with almost nowhere to hide. Now that she and Lin Ran were on the rooftop, didn’t that mean they had no other way out?
As she was thinking this, the music on the rooftop suddenly stopped. Mo Shuyu turned to look at where the music had been coming from. It was a rectangular, desktop-like object. Mo Shuyu couldn’t understand why it would make a sound.
On Lin Ran’s side, the zombies behind her had already lunged at her. Lin Ran used all her strength to kick a zombie and then desperately ran onto the rooftop. She remembered the system saying that within a 10-meter radius of the card-drawing machine, zombies couldn’t enter.
She had already seen the card-drawing machine right at the door of the equipment room. Lin Ran rushed forward a few more steps and then collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.
Mo Shuyu looked at the zombies not far behind her and quickly ran over to help Lin Ran. She thought Lin Ran was out of energy and was giving up.
Lin Ran grabbed Mo Shuyu’s wrist and shook her head. “They can’t get past.”
Mo Shuyu was so anxious she could barely stand it. Hearing Lin Ran say that, she didn’t quite believe it, but when she turned to look back, she saw a spot about five or six steps away where there was no wall, but a transparent wall seemed to have appeared out of thin air. The zombies were crowded against the transparent wall, but no matter how they tried to lunge, they couldn’t get inside.
Mo Shuyu was stunned. She stared at the ferocious zombies. “What’s going on?”
Lin Ran was exhausted and just wanted to lie down and rest for a while. Although she had been splattered with some zombie bl00d, it was not as bad as when she was in the complex. She lay on the ground and took a few breaths before saying, “It’s hard to explain in a short time. Anyway, we’re safe for now. Let’s rest.”
Mo Shuyu saw that she wasn’t saying anything and didn’t ask further. She looked at the nearly hundred zombies at the building doors and the zombies not far away. Mo Shuyu still sat down next to Lin Ran. With Lin Ran there, she felt a little more at ease.
Lin Ran, lying on the ground, didn’t care what Mo Shuyu was thinking. She just felt like her body was falling apart. Her hands and arms were shaking slightly. She had used up too much energy today, especially on the fire escape, where she had almost fallen from the seventh floor. Lin Ran was now reviewing the situation and still felt a sense of lingering fear.
She lay on the ground and rested for about ten minutes before propping herself up. Since the music had stopped, the rooftop had lost its appeal to the zombies. However, low-level zombies had no intelligence, so some of them still wanted to rush onto the rooftop, while others were being pushed by the zombies behind them. In any case, these zombies were still crowding the rooftop, but thanks to the card-drawing machine, Lin Ran and Mo Shuyu were temporarily safe.
As if thinking of something, Lin Ran’s expression became serious. The card-drawing machine would only stay in one location for three hours. That meant that after three hours, the card-drawing machine would disappear, and the area within a 10-meter radius would no longer be safe. At that point, the zombies would swarm in, and she and Mo Shuyu would be in a dangerous situation.
Not to mention, the two building doors were covered in zombies, so escaping through them was impossible. The fire escape they had just climbed up was also completely filled with zombies. Going there would be like willingly feeding themselves to the zombies.
Lin Ran’s brows furrowed. She stood up and quickly looked around, but there were only the three routes she had thought of. She looked at the outside of the building. Unless they could get down without using the stairs, she and Mo Shuyu were dead.
Mo Shuyu saw Lin Ran’s troubled expression and quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lin Ran pursed her lips and shook her head. She had a rope in her backpack. It might be feasible to descend a few floors from the outside of the building and break into a room on the 10th or 9th floor. All the zombies were piled up on the upper floors, so escaping from the 10th floor would be a good possibility. But her energy was low right now. Lin Ran had to question whether she could successfully land on the 10th floor with the rope, let alone with Mo Shuyu.
Before, as just a normal neighbor, Lin Ran could have chosen to ignore Mo Shuyu. But just now on the fire escape, she had almost fallen. If Mo Shuyu hadn’t held off the zombies for her, she would be dead by now. Lin Ran couldn’t just abandon someone who had saved her life.
Her eyes fell on the card-drawing machine. Now she could only hope for the card-drawing machine. If she could draw some kind of useful item, she and Mo Shuyu might have a way out.
Lin Ran walked toward the card-drawing machine, with Mo Shuyu following beside her.
The screen of the card-drawing machine was lit up, with several options. Lin Ran clicked the “load zombie cores” button. The card-drawing machine automatically ejected a drawer-like device, and the screen displayed “Please place 100 Grade 1 zombie cores.”
Lin Ran was afraid that her materializing cores out of thin air would be too unbelievable, especially with Mo Shuyu there. She put her hands in her baseball jacket pockets, pretending the cores were in there. With a thought, Lin Ran continuously placed the cores into the small drawer, and the card-drawing machine’s electronic screen automatically counted them.
When Lin Ran saw the number 100 appear on the screen, she stopped grabbing cores. At the same time, the screen of the card-drawing machine displayed 10 items, arranged in two columns.
Lin Ran’s eyes scanned the items. There were three bottles of drinking water, one blocking item (for single use only), one hammer, one gene-enhancing serum, one packet of Rainbow candies, one pack of Wahaha milk, one pair of scissors, one speed-enhancing item (for single use only), one bento box, and one watermelon.
Lin Ran pursed her lips, staring at the ten items on the screen. Her heart was pounding. Why were there so many food and drink items?
Lin Ran felt that these things were unreliable. The only useful items seemed to be the two single-use items and the gene-enhancing serum. The probability of getting one of these was three out of ten. But when Lin Ran thought about her past luck, she couldn’t help but hold her head. She was a complete and utter jinx.
When she was a bodyguard, she only had two options, a 50/50 chance, and she would still run into the villain head-on. Lin Ran couldn’t imagine what she would get later.