I Hoard Supplies and Raise a Child in the Wasteland World by Drawing Cards (GL) - Chapter 21.1
The green liquid had no taste when she drank it. Lin Ran just felt a coolness in her mouth. After swallowing it, she didn’t feel anything wrong with her body.
The system’s voice in her mind spoke at the right time: “Darling, you have taken the gene-enhancing serum. Strength +1, speed +1, agility +1, and endurance +1. The serum is now fusing with your cells. The specific fusion time depends on your physical condition. Please wait patiently.”
About five minutes later, the gene-enhancing serum must have started to take effect. Lin Ran felt her cheeks and neck start to get hot, sweat dripped from her forehead, and her heart began to beat faster and faster.
Lin Ran was a little uncomfortable, but she adjusted her breathing, inhaling and exhaling continuously. This made her feel a little better. In just a short time, Lin Ran was already sweating profusely.
She took a wet wipe from her backpack and wiped the sweat from time to time. This sweating continued for half an hour before Lin Ran gradually felt her heart rate stabilize and the cold sweat stopped.
She took a bottle of water from her backpack and drank the entire bottle of mineral water in one go. Only then did Lin Ran feel a little more comfortable, and her strength also returned a bit.
Seeing Mo Shuyu sitting two or three steps away, Lin Ran took out two chocolate bars and a bottle of purified water from her backpack and handed them to her. “Eat something to replenish your energy. We’ll figure out a way to leave later.”
Mo Shuyu was a little hungry. Thinking about her close calls with death, she still felt a sense of panic. She took the items Lin Ran handed her and thanked her politely. “Thank you. Are you feeling better?”
Lin Ran nodded at her. “Much better. I just need to lie down and rest for a bit.”
With that, Lin Ran lay down again, wanting to relax her whole body.
Mo Shuyu, on the other hand, tore open the chocolate bar and started eating. She and Lin Ran were in a dangerous situation. She had to eat and replenish her energy, or she didn’t know if she could make it home.
Mo Shuyu finished the two chocolate bars and drank half a bottle of water. She then sat there quietly, not disturbing Lin Ran’s rest.
Lin Ran set an alarm. At 6:30, the alarm went off. Lin Ran turned off the alarm and sat up, propping herself up with her arms.
She stood up and stretched. She found that her energy had almost recovered, and she felt incredibly light and comfortable, even better than when she first woke up that morning.
The gene-enhancing serum had the effect of strengthening the body’s four basic genes. Lin Ran thought that the serum must have taken effect. But besides feeling her energy return, Lin Ran didn’t notice anything else special about herself yet.
But this was not the time to think about such things. Lin Ran felt her energy had recovered, and was even a little better than before. She decisively took out the rope from her backpack.
Lin Ran found two iron railings on the rooftop and secured one end of the rope. She was going to make a simple descent device.
This was the 14th-floor rooftop, after all. To be safe, Lin Ran used a double rope. This way, if one rope broke in an accident, at least there would be another one for support.
Lin Ran knew this was a very risky method, but at least it was under her control. It was better for her life to be in her own hands.
With that thought, she sped up her knot-tying. Due to the length of the rope, the double rope could only help her descend to the 9th floor at most. Of course, this was assuming Lin Ran’s own physical strength could hold up. If she ran out of strength halfway, she and Mo Shuyu would likely fall from a great height.
But Lin Ran still made some safety precautions. The card-drawing system was already bizarre enough, and Mo Shuyu had seen it. In such a critical moment, Lin Ran didn’t need to hide anymore. With a thought, she took out another large bundle of rope from her space and secured it tightly to the iron railing. Lin Ran planned to use these two ropes as a lifeline for her and Mo Shuyu.
After doing all this, Lin Ran desperately pulled and tugged at the ropes to test their safety. When she was sure the ropes were fine, Lin Ran waved to Mo Shuyu.
Mo Shuyu was already nervous when she saw Lin Ran setting up the ropes. Was Lin Ran going to climb down from the rooftop with a rope? What about her? She had no experience at all. This building was 13 stories high, and their current location was the 14th-floor rooftop. It was impossible for her to climb down with a rope from here.
Mo Shuyu walked up to Lin Ran. She looked up at Lin Ran and said, “I have no climbing experience. Even with a rope, there’s no way I can survive climbing down. You should go by yourself.”
Mo Shuyu wanted to go home, but there was no other way now. This was a sure way for her to die, and she didn’t want to be a burden to Lin Ran anymore. She took out her phone, planning to call her mother and daughter again.
Lin Ran, of course, knew that it would be a tall tale for someone without training to descend with a rope from here. But she didn’t expect Mo Shuyu to climb by herself. When she saw Mo Shuyu take out her phone, Lin Ran frowned. “Come here first. What are you doing with your phone?”
Seeing Lin Ran’s frown, Mo Shuyu had to put her phone away and walked up to Lin Ran.
Lin Ran looked at her backpack. Because she had taken the ropes from her space and used 50 of the 100 arrows, she had cleared out some room in her space.
She had to take Mo Shuyu down with a rope later, so the lighter she was, the better. Anyway, she had already materialized ropes out of thin air, so making the backpack disappear wouldn’t be a big deal.
With that thought, Lin Ran packed up her other belongings, zipped up her backpack, and the next moment, the backpack disappeared in front of Lin Ran.
Lin Ran saw Mo Shuyu looking at her and said, “It’s best if you pretend you didn’t see any of this. Understand?”
Lin Ran’s eyes were full of aggression, as if she were looking at prey. It was as if Lin Ran would kill Mo Shuyu directly if she dared to reveal any of this.
Mo Shuyu was scared by Lin Ran’s eyes and quickly nodded. “I know. I didn’t see anything.”
Only after hearing Mo Shuyu say that did Lin Ran withdraw her gaze and nod. She liked dealing with smart people. Surviving in the apocalypse was already difficult. If Mo Shuyu hadn’t saved her once and helped her draw the gene-enhancing serum, even if Mo Shuyu was an emergency room doctor and was somewhat useful to her, Lin Ran probably wouldn’t have bothered with her now. After all, what she was about to do was too risky.
Lin Ran looked at the time, took a few deep breaths, and saw that there were only fifteen minutes left until 7 p.m. They had to go.
Lin Ran used her Tang Dao to cut off some of the remaining rope, tied her jacket around her waist, and then looked at Mo Shuyu. “Come here.”
Mo Shuyu was a little afraid of Lin Ran when she was like this, but she remembered how Lin Ran had said cruel things a few times before but still ended up saving her. Mo Shuyu wasn’t as afraid anymore. She obediently walked up to Lin Ran. She had also looked at the time. It was almost 7 o’clock. If they kept wasting time, Lin Ran wouldn’t be able to leave either.
“You should just go without me. It’s almost 7 o’clock. You can go down with the rope, so hurry up and leave,” Mo Shuyu said, gritting her teeth. She wanted to live, but she didn’t know how to climb. No matter how capable Lin Ran was, she couldn’t save her. There was no need to waste any more time on her.
“Since you know it’s almost 7 o’clock, be quiet and do as I say later,” Lin Ran said, starting to tie the rope around Mo Shuyu.
Lin Ran breathed and sped up her movements. After tying a few knots on Mo Shuyu, Lin Ran leaned in and wrapped her arms around Mo Shuyu’s waist. “Hold onto my back with your arms and wrap your legs around my waist. Hurry.”
Mo Shuyu’s ears turned red at what Lin Ran said. But she also knew this was no time for her to think about foolish things. Lin Ran must have a reason for asking her to do this. Holding onto Lin Ran’s back with her arms was easy, but how was she supposed to wrap her legs around Lin Ran’s waist? She couldn’t reach.
As Mo Shuyu was thinking this, she found herself being lifted by Lin Ran. She quickly went with Lin Ran’s force, wrapped her legs around Lin Ran’s waist, and pressed her body tightly against Lin Ran’s face-to-face.
Although Mo Shuyu’s body had been uncontrollably involved with several betas before, all she had done with them was have meals and watch movies. She had never even held hands with them. This was the first time she had been so close to an Alpha.
Mo Shuyu didn’t know if it was because of fear or shyness, but her heart was beating incredibly fast.
Lin Ran, on the other hand, had no idea what Mo Shuyu was thinking. She quickly used a rope to tie Mo Shuyu to her. It was literally a literal tie, securing Mo Shuyu to her body face-to-face.
The reason she had Mo Shuyu wrap her legs around her waist was to make it easier for her to move her legs later. Mo Shuyu’s hands also couldn’t hold onto her neck, or it would be difficult for Lin Ran to exert force when they descended.
Lin Ran let go of the hand that was holding Mo Shuyu’s waist and walked a few steps on the empty ground. The gene-enhancing serum must have had some effect. Mo Shuyu must have weighed around 100 pounds, but Lin Ran was carrying her with relative ease.
Lin Ran made sure the rope was secure and then tied a safety rope around her own waist. After that, she wrapped the two descent ropes around her waist twice. Lin Ran had wrapped her jacket around her waist earlier to prevent the ropes from chafing her too much and to reduce friction.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Ran checked the time again. 6:55 p.m. It was time for them to go.
She lowered her gaze to Mo Shuyu in her arms and instructed her, “You can only hold onto my back with your hands. Remember not to hold onto the back of my neck.”
Mo Shuyu nodded. “Mhm, I got it.”
She looked up at Lin Ran, still feeling like she was a burden to Lin Ran. “But is this really okay? It must be too heavy for you to carry me.”
Lin Ran didn’t answer her question. Instead, she continued, “There’s no time. We have to go. If you’re scared, just close your eyes. It’ll be over before you know it. Also, don’t yell later. It’s easy to cause other problems. Don’t worry, I’ll get you home safely.”
After saying that, Lin Ran walked to the edge of the rooftop. She tightened her grip on the two descent ropes and moved to the edge of the 14-story rooftop. Even in the summer, Lin Ran could feel the wind blowing on her.
Because of her profession in her previous life, Lin Ran knew how to parachute and fly a helicopter. They had also done training for descending with ropes like this, but at that time, the building was only five stories high, and she only had to descend safely by herself. This was the first time Lin Ran was descending with another person.
She gritted her teeth, pulled the rope, and looked down. It was a height of several dozen meters. The cars and zombies below looked like miniature toys from this height.
Lin Ran didn’t wait any longer. The longer she stood here, the more her resolve would waver. She had to go down without hesitation!
With that thought, Lin Ran turned, pulled the rope, and took a step. Her body was facing the building. This way, as she slowly descended with the rope, her legs could support her on the wall, which would take some of the pressure off her hands.
Lin Ran held the rope above with one hand, carefully letting out the rope wrapped around her waist with the other, and used her legs to support herself against the building wall, descending little by little.
While she had felt a little uncertain standing on the edge of the rooftop, Lin Ran’s heart was now completely at ease. Aside from the burning pain in her hands from pulling the rope, Lin Ran felt that everything was going smoothly.
She could even feel Mo Shuyu in her arms, trembling.
A small smile appeared on Lin Ran’s lips. For an ordinary person, Mo Shuyu’s performance today was actually very good. She had saved her life once, helped her draw a card, didn’t scream and make things worse the whole time, and even now, being this scared, she was just quietly trembling in her arms.
“Don’t be afraid. We’ll be there soon,” Lin Ran said to comfort her, and continued to descend with Mo Shuyu.
Mo Shuyu was so nervous she could die. She could feel the wind from all directions and knew that she and Lin Ran were swinging from a tall building. So she just listened to Lin Ran and closed her eyes, not looking. She was going to die anyway if she stayed up there. With Lin Ran, at least they had each other. If they were really going to die, it didn’t seem so scary anymore.
When she heard Lin Ran say “don’t be afraid,” Mo Shuyu felt her heart, which had been hanging in her throat, drop a little. Lin Ran even had time to comfort her, so did that mean the situation was better than she thought?
Lin Ran had already slowly descended to the 12th floor. But there were a lot of zombies in the room she was facing. Lin Ran glanced inside and saw at least thirty of them.
But it was much fewer than on the 13th floor. When they passed the 13th floor, the room they faced was packed with zombies. Some of the zombies had even noticed them, their distorted, deformed faces pressed tightly against the glass, as if they were trying to get out and bite her and Mo Shuyu.
Lin Ran took a deep breath. Her palms were burning with pain, and she could feel a warm liquid flowing out. Her palms must have been worn raw by the rope, but there was no time to worry about that now.