Transmigrating into a Wasteland Cannon Fodder Slag A [GL Yuri] - Chapter 16

Yan An rifled through the car she’d found. A single black backpack sat inside.

She unzipped it.

Inside: a pen, a notebook, a phone, and a laptop.

A charger?

There was actually a charger in the backpack. Good news. So long as she had a cable, she could use the laptop to charge her phone.

That meant at least two full charges for her phones. No need to go hunting for a power bank anymore.

But since Gu Xia was inside, she still had to go in and she had to think like Gu Xia, figure out what she’d be after in a mall.

Food wasn’t a problem. Weapons weren’t a problem. Most likely, Gu Xia was here to find a place to spend the night and recharge her phone.

With navigation’s advanced permissions unlocked, the “Eagle Eye” view let you see the ground situation from above, helping avoid danger and chart routes through areas with fewer zombies.

But using Eagle Eye drained power fast. It wasn’t as simple as just opening a map.

On her way here, Yan An had only used it once, saving the memory of the terrain, and then relied on that to drive all the way.

Gu Xia, on the other hand, hadn’t saved any maps. Portable power banks would be a must for her.

Yan An glanced around. Most of the cars here had already been searched, their useful supplies taken. She was lucky to have found that black backpack.

Maybe whoever searched this one didn’t think chargers were worth anything.

As for who had done the scavenging, there were at least a dozen people inside the mall. And that might not even be all of them.

After all, the navigation system only showed heat sources from devices. It wasn’t guaranteed to detect everyone.

Still, Yan An couldn’t help but wonder. Were there ability users among them? For a group to survive this long inside a city-center mall… odds were at least some had powers.

But if they had awakened abilities, why hadn’t they headed for the military base? Had they tried and failed?

Logically, getting out from here shouldn’t be that difficult.

Unless… they didn’t even know about the rescue on Pingzhou City?

Yan An connected her phone to the laptop with the cable, letting it charge. Then she climbed out of the car, her mind circling one question: why hadn’t those people in the mall escaped yet?

Sure, maybe those deeper in the city center couldn’t break through but this mall wasn’t that far from the outskirts.

She herself had just come in from outside. She knew it was easier to make it to Pingzhou City from the perimeter.

Keeping one eye on the movement of zombies not far away, she hurried toward the emergency stairwell.

The deeper she went, the more surprised she became. The mall was remarkably clean and there are hardly any zombies left at all.

Every now and then she spotted one or two, but so long as she didn’t disturb them, they posed no real problem.

It wasn’t until she tried heading up to the fifth floor that she realized the stairs were blocked. The doors to the upper levels had all been locked and barricaded. Anyone from below would have a hard time forcing their way up.

So where had Gu Xia gone?

If she was after power banks, Yan An had already seen on her map that there were at least ten shops here with shared charging stations. She’d have to check them one by one.

Really, the two of them splitting up had been a mistake. She should’ve gotten a way to contact her. A single phone call and this whole chase would’ve been unnecessary.

Yan An pulled up Eagle Eye again, but none of the mall’s cameras responded.

Of course, they were privately installed, with their own network. If the Wi-Fi was down, it made sense they couldn’t be accessed.

Even the street cameras outside were mostly dead now.

Network maintenance was critical. Without it, the survivors of Pingzhou were all but blind.

Yan An had memorized the mall’s floor directory when she came in. If not the fifth floor, where else could Gu Xia have gone that was safe to stay overnight?

The basement was no good. The second and third floors were clothing stores. The fourth floor was all restaurants. The fifth was a cinema.

No power banks in clothing shops. That left the fourth floor.

Now it was just a matter of narrowing it down to the right restaurant.

Every eatery on the fourth floor had rental power banks. Where was she supposed to start?

Just as she decided she’d have to check them one by one, a furtive whisper reached her ears.

“Big sis, someone just came in.”

“So what if they did? Why are you panicking?”

“No, think about it. With that many zombies outside, anyone who can just walk in here isn’t ordinary.”

“What’s so unusual? Probably just another awakened.”

“Exactly because they’re awakened, we should be careful.”

“Careful of what? If anything, it’s them who should be careful of us.”

A man and woman were whispering back and forth. The woman spoke again: “Where did they go? Did you see?”

“Into that country-style diner. Probably looking for a kitchen knife.”

“What kitchen knife? Even the table knives are long gone.”

The intruder had gone into a diner? Yan An’s brows lifted. Could that be Gu Xia?

Some of the mall’s lights were still on, but many areas were cloaked in shadow. Yan An kept herself hidden in the dark as she always did.

From the moment she’d entered, she made it a point to stay unseen. Gu Xia probably didn’t have the same habit and that’s why she’d been spotted.

“Big sis, hide. Fang Qiang’s men are coming down.”

“Mm. They must be here for the newcomer.”

“Big sis, we should really take our chance to get out. If we stay, we’ll be trapped sooner or later.”

“I know. But Fang Qiang (Xiao Qiang) has Xiao Hua in his hands. He’s forcing us to stick with him.”

“That bastard’s been promising to ‘get ready’ forever. When the hell is he actually going to be ready?”

Hearing this, Yan An began piecing things together. Looked like there were at least two ability users here, locked in some kind of standoff.

And Fang Qiang’s people were heading down for Gu Xia.

Yan An slipped back into the stairwell, recalling the mall’s floor plan she’d seen earlier. It hadn’t been detailed, but enough for her to get the gist.

Every restaurant had a back employee passage. Trash went out through there, down the service elevator.

Those back doors were usually fire doors, plain and functional, right next to the freight elevators.

From the stairwell, she changed doors, stepping out near the elevator.

She had barely taken a step when a bald man with a watermelon knife hacked down a zombie in a chef’s coat.

The mall had been cleared, but sometimes stragglers wandered in, or ones that had hidden deep inside surfaced.

Still, to clear an entire mall of zombies spoke volumes about the strength of the squad upstairs.

Yan An studied the bald man. No awakened powers but from the ease and precision of his strike, he was no amateur either.

Muscles rippled over his frame. Before the outbreak, his line of work must’ve been something demanding.

Two others trailed him, one gripping an iron rod, the other a kitchen knife. Compared to Chen Hao’s men, their gear was far better.

Not that it was hard to find weapons in factories. The metal bars, wrenches, anything could be useful.

Chen Hao had just been too afraid of losing control, so he had never armed his people.

This mall’s leader, though, clearly had plenty of confidence.

From her hiding place, Yan An overheard the bald man ordering his companions: “They say it’s a girl. Grab her and bring her to Brother Qiang.”

The two men immediately slipped into the restaurant.

Through the glass wall, Yan An finally caught sight of Gu Xia again.

But seriously, was this woman fearless or just reckless? Knowing people were after her, she didn’t even bother to block the door, just stood there waiting for them to come to her.

Yan An didn’t stop to think. She slipped in through the back door of the diner. There was no way she could just stand by and let Gu Xia get taken.

She really did owe this woman. Fine. For the sake of that pretty face, she’d save her one more time.