Transmigrating into a Wasteland Cannon Fodder Slag A [GL Yuri] - Chapter 28

Yan An and Gu Xia lay on the narrow folding bed. It was so small they couldn’t even lie flat, forced to sleep on their sides.

After a while, the discomfort became too much. Even though both of them were thin, the one-meter-wide bed was simply not made for two people.

“Gu Xia, are you asleep?” Yan An’s name for her changed with her mood. When she wanted to tease her, she’d use nicknames like “Sister Gu” or “Sister Xia,” but in serious moments, she’d just use her name.

“No.” It was still early. They were just resting their eyes and couldn’t sleep yet, taking a moment to recharge in case something happened and they had to stay awake all night. Yan An turned her head and carefully tried to shift her body.

Feeling her movement, Gu Xia’s back stiffened, thinking Yan An was about to do something. After suggesting they share the same bed, Gu Xia felt she had made a mistake. Even though they were both women, one was an alpha and the other an omega. Lying together was just not appropriate.

The scent that filled her nose was like a refreshing sea breeze in the morning, with a hint of cool mint. It was soft yet invigorating, making her want to be surrounded by it. Even on a hot day, no matter how agitated she was, it would soothe her. Now that Yan An was clean, her pheromone scent was even more pronounced. With them lying so close together, it was hard for Gu Xia not to notice it. In the tense environment of the apocalypse, she really liked the scent and wanted to be closer to Yan An.

Gu Xia’s own pheromones had a cool, subtle scent, with a delicate, fresh floral aroma, like that of a white magnolia. The two scents seemed to balance each other out, making Gu Xia feel a little less cold and more gentle. The combination was breathtaking. Yan An’s gentle freshness and Gu Xia’s light elegance seemed perfectly in sync. As they lay there, the two scents blended in the air, complementing each other and filling the small office with a light, pleasant fragrance.

But as Yan An shifted to face Gu Xia’s back, the scent in the air grew more intense, and the atmosphere in the office became intimate. After turning over, Yan An politely folded her hands on her legs. She shuffled backward, doing her best not to touch Gu Xia, and once she was settled, she spoke. “Hei Ye said they’ll drive out at six tomorrow morning. What do you think the two people next door might do if we don’t take them with us?”

Hearing this, Gu Xia lay flat on her back, staring at the office ceiling. Fortunately, they were both thin enough that they could lie side by side on the one-meter-wide bed. Yan An’s words made Gu Xia fall into a deep thought before she finally said, “Do you want to take them?”

Yan An saw that she was now lying flat, so she did the same. Their hands brushed against each other, and both instinctively pulled away. But the bed was too small, so they had nowhere to go. Finally, Yan An placed her hands on her stomach, crossing them in a well-behaved sleeping position.

She tilted her head and looked at Gu Xia’s profile in the dim light. “I’m thinking, if they believe they have no way out, will it awaken their vicious side?” A person’s will to survive is infinite, and so is their capacity for evil. Once that side is triggered, there’s no telling what they might do.

Gu Xia raised an eyebrow. “Is that why you brought me to this office?”

“Yes.” It was better to be in separate rooms. It would also give the two women time to calm down. If they really did try something, they would have the door as a barrier. She didn’t want to kill people unless they posed a threat to her. Yan An had wedged a chair behind the door and placed a glass on top. If anyone tried to open the door, the glass would fall and wake them up instantly.

Gu Xia turned her head and asked, “If it turns out you’re right, what will you do?”

Yan An smiled, and then her face turned cold. “I’ll kill them.” It was better to kill than to be killed. She had never been a soft-hearted person.

Gu Xia opened her eyes wide, then closed them. “Okay.”

That was her answer. After killing so many zombies, their hearts had long since stopped being so soft.

Speaking of killing zombies, Yan An had found yet another crystal today. It had dropped from a frenzied zombie she killed. She noticed that no one else could see the crystal. The moment her hand touched it, the crystal turned into a streak of light and entered her body. She had been too busy until now to check what the crystal had given her.

After checking her basic stats, she discovered that her Physical Quality had increased to 110 (a physical constitution that surpasses ordinary people). In other words, her body had become stronger. Her restoration ability hadn’t changed, but her spatial ability had actually leveled up.

F+ Grade Space (can grow, six cubic meters of space). 

It had upgraded by half a level. Six cubic meters was about the same as a small van’s cargo space, easing the awkwardness of not having enough room. To store those thousands of bullets, she had to take out a lot of the food she had inside just to make it fit. Now, she could even fit a whole car, not that she would. She’d rather use the space to hoard more supplies.

Yan An now had a better idea of how her abilities leveled up. The white crystals were like experience points, which could be used to upgrade her abilities. She had found two crystals so far. The first, which she got from Chen Hao, had given her a better understanding of how to use her space. This second one had directly upgraded her spatial ability by half a level. She had killed hundreds of zombies so far, and only one crystal had dropped. The chance was not very high. However, she figured that abilities didn’t just level up by finding crystals. Killing zombies was one way, like killing monsters in a game.

She had noticed that every time she killed a zombie, a wisp of energy would enter her body. She had also specifically observed Gu Xia. Every time Gu Xia killed a zombie, a wisp of energy would float into her body, too. She figured this energy was the “experience.”

The fact that Gu Xia’s ability hadn’t leveled up yet likely meant the zombies’ level was too low. Killing one might only give her +1 experience, and she needed to kill many more to see a change. Luckily, Yan An’s random loot skill allowed her to find crystals, which accelerated her ability’s growth. The white crystals represented raw experience. She just didn’t know how many zombies one crystal was worth. Her physical stats had increased, her spatial ability had grown by half a level, and her restoration ability probably also needed more experience to upgrade since its level was so high.

Yan An was excited to see how powerful her restoration and spatial abilities would become when they reached their full potential. She closed her eyes and let her consciousness sink into her space, where she discovered a new use for it. 

Spatial Concealment. 

She felt that she could enter her space and hide herself for a short time. She just didn’t know how long she could stay in there or if she could take others with her.

With that thought, she used her spatial ability to pull herself, Gu Xia, and the bed they were on into the space. But she didn’t wait for her energy to drain. She came back to the office after just two seconds. After all, they weren’t in a safe place, and she couldn’t risk running out of energy. But this new discovery excited Yan An. After finding Spatial Transfer, she had now discovered a new use: Spatial Concealment. She could hide herself and others inside her space. How many people or things she could hide depended on the size of her space. The most important thing was how long she could stay hidden.

If she could use Spatial Concealment followed by Spatial Transfer, would that mean they could teleport away even if they were surrounded by zombies? Wait, wasn’t that just teleportation? She figured how far she could teleport would depend on her ability level. With her current F+ level, she probably couldn’t achieve what she was thinking of, but moving bullets or other things wouldn’t drain her energy anymore. And the combination of the two abilities could achieve so much more, which she would have to discover through practice.

After a quick test of her abilities, Yan An was in a great mood. 

In the apocalypse, the more survival skills you had, the better. She turned her head and looked at Gu Xia’s basic stats. Her Physical Quality had already risen to 120, but nothing else had changed. The human physical ceiling was 100, which meant they were no longer ordinary. Gu Xia was the female lead, so her strength would likely grow quickly, which was a good thing. The stronger Gu Xia was, the safer they would be.

Just then, she noticed Gu Xia’s eyelashes fluttering. A mischievous smile crossed Yan An’s face. She nonchalantly lowered her hand, and their hands touched. She let out a soft sigh on purpose.

 “A beauty by my side, zombies outside… what a shame!” It was obvious what she was regretting. Gu Xia slapped her thigh. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re not asleep? I thought you were.” It seemed Gu Xia had been pretending to sleep, worried Yan An would try something. It was a shame she didn’t get to see them both get teleported into the space. If the space were bigger and she could stay in it for longer, it would be like having a portable room. In the future, she could even make it a three-bedroom apartment, no problem. Of course, she was just dreaming. She didn’t know what level her ability would have to be to do that. But if she really could have a three-bedroom apartment, she and Gu Xia could have their own rooms. That would be perfect. She wondered why Gu Xia was ignoring her again.

So bored. She guessed she’d just have to sleep through the long night. With a sigh of regret, Yan An closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

*******

In the middle of the night, Yan An suddenly woke up. With her wilderness survival experience, she didn’t open her eyes immediately. If she encountered something like a bear, she could pretend to be dead. Since she didn’t feel any immediate danger, it meant whatever was out there couldn’t threaten her, at least not yet. A gun appeared in her hand. The moment whatever it was came through the door, she would shoot.

After a moment, the door didn’t open. Yan An opened her eyes and saw that someone was carefully turning the doorknob. The next second, the glass cup fell to the floor. It didn’t break, but the sound was enough to wake someone up. Gu Xia also opened her eyes. Seeing Yan An aiming her gun at the door, she slowly got up and walked to the window. She opened the blinds, pressed her face against the glass, and looked towards the door, just in time to see a figure quickly slip back into the office next door.

Yan An didn’t need to get up. She knew exactly what Gu Xia saw. “The room next door?”

“Yes.” Gu Xia walked to the door, picked up the cup, and put it back on the chair. The cup was on the very edge of the chair, so a slight touch to the door would make it fall, let alone someone trying to break in. The door was also locked from the inside, so without a special skill, how could anyone have gotten in?

Yan An’s eyes turned cold. Sure enough, the apocalypse had brought out the evil in people’s hearts. Coming over uninvited in the middle of the night was clearly not a good sign. She raised her wrist. It was four in the morning. She had already replaced her old watch with a mechanical one she found at Gu Xia’s house. Gu Xia’s house had all kinds of luxury watches and new phones. It was a shame her space wasn’t bigger then, or she would have taken more. All of the Gu family’s items were high-quality, including a small, palm-sized generator that used solar power to run small appliances, like a phone. They also had a mobile wireless network that connected directly to a satellite, like a small cell tower. But it required a subscription. Gu Xia had tried to pay for it on her phone, but she couldn’t even access the payment page.

Basically, they had to find a place with a good network to pay for it before they could use it. And these two items weren’t light. They looked a little bigger than a hand, but they were heavier than a laptop. The small generator, especially, weighed as much as a gaming laptop. Carrying two laptops on your back was a huge liability when escaping. Since the mobile wireless couldn’t connect and the small generator was useless for now, she had put them in her space. She only kept the watch on her wrist. As for a phone that connected directly to a satellite, it had to be a custom-made one. Gu Xia’s phone had been lost, and there weren’t any extra ones at the house, or they wouldn’t have to worry about the network.

Regular phones with satellite calling and communication were useless. The fees were so expensive that the phone would become a useless brick after less than a minute. In theory, as long as you were on Planet U7, you could make calls anywhere, but the signal was terrible. Even a communication truck couldn’t guarantee a signal, so a satellite phone was even worse. It was so bad it was better to use Pingzhou City’s almost-destroyed network. A truly useful satellite phone that could be used like a normal one was so expensive that even a wealthy family like Gu’s wouldn’t have many new ones lying around. And since the models were constantly being updated, the Gu family wouldn’t have a million-dollar phone as a spare. Plus, to use the direct satellite mode, the data and call fees were tens of thousands a day. To prevent crime, satellite phones had restrictions. It was harder to get a satellite phone than a machine gun. 

With all these restrictions, it was easier to get a walkie-talkie. A walkie-talkie could work up to a few kilometers away, and a police one could work across the entire city. But in today’s society, a good walkie-talkie would only be found in a large electronics store. A toy one, on the other hand, was easy to find in a toy store. It would work fine for a kilometer or so. There was a toy store in the mall, but it was a shame Yan An hadn’t looked for a walkie-talkie more carefully.

No wonder so many apocalypse movies used walkie-talkies. She definitely needed to get her hands on two of them, one for her and one for Gu Xia. Although she never wanted to be separated from Gu Xia, if they ever got lost or were forced apart, a walkie-talkie would allow them to stay in touch.

Yan An fiddled with her phone for a long time, but it didn’t even have a single bar of signal. Many apps were inaccessible, and she couldn’t see anything from the federation. She couldn’t even send a text message to Hei Ye. Pingzhou City’s signal was completely dead. Left with no other options, she tried the satellite phone function to call Hei Ye’s number, but it wouldn’t connect. A regular phone’s satellite feature was useless. But what about the federal emergency line?

She looked at Gu Xia and asked, “Are you going back to sleep?”

“No.” They had slept long enough. To restore their energy, they had been resting for hours. It was now only two hours until six o’clock, and they needed to get ready.

Yan An pointed at the phone. “Do you think we can call the federal emergency line?” A regular phone couldn’t make calls, but maybe the emergency line would be an exception.

Gu Xia’s eyes lit up. “It’s worth a try.”

They were being naive. The emergency line was constantly busy. It was impossible to get through. Of course, with so many cities infected by the zombie virus, countless people were trying to call the federation for help. So, they had to rely on themselves. Even if they got through, a rescue was unlikely. At most, they would ask a few questions.

Yan An shrugged. “With the network completely gone, the federation will know less and less about what’s happening in Pingzhou City. It probably won’t be long before they start a zombie purge.” With so many zombies in the city, the military wouldn’t be sent in directly. They would first flatten the city with missiles, then bomb it for a few days before sending in troops to clean up what was left. Although nothing official had been said, everyone had this same suspicion. Yan An had seen a lot of rumors on online forums. She had collected all the useful information she could, worried the network would crash, and she knew Gu Xia’s guess wasn’t an exaggeration. They had to get to a safe zone as quickly as possible. With the network down, every decision the federation made was a mystery, and what would happen in Pingzhou City was completely unknown.

Yan An got up and stood by the window facing the mall. The zombies were still there. As long as the zombies from Building A weren’t drawn out, they could handle the ones that remained. Just then, she felt something flashing in her eyes. She looked closer and saw someone on the second floor of the mall shining a flashlight at her. Yan An took out her high-precision sniper rifle and aimed at the light. It was Hei Ye. She was stunned. Had Hei Ye been waiting for her? Was this how she was trying to communicate? Yan An took out her own flashlight and flashed it back. Seeing her reply, Hei Ye turned her light off.

A moment later, a drone flew over. Thankfully, it was quiet, or it would have attracted the zombies. The drone had a walkie-talkie attached to it. She brought the drone in and took the walkie-talkie off. Then, she heard Hei Ye’s voice. “Yan An?”

“It’s me.” Yan An spoke into the walkie-talkie, feeling very good about her soon-to-be teammate. She had just been thinking about how useful walkie-talkies would be, and one was sent right to her. The importance of a good teammate in a crisis was immeasurable.

Yan An and Gu Xia exchanged a look. To be honest, they had only come back for Hei Ye and Xiao Hua. Fang Qiang was an afterthought. Hei Ye was an earth-element user, a natural tank. And Xiao Hua had a healing ability. Yan An didn’t know if it was the same type as hers. She hadn’t seen the little girl yet, or she could have checked her basic stats.

Hearing Yan An’s voice, Hei Ye’s tone was excited. “We’ll leave the mall on time at six. Fang Qiang is driving an armored car, and I’m driving an RV. Once we get to Building B, I’ll stop and open the door. You have to get in quickly.”

“By the way, I saw two people in the room next to you. Are they your teammates? When I shined my flashlight at you, they flashed back, but they didn’t have flashlights.” Hei Ye knew Yan An and her group had flashlights, and from fifty meters away, she could see Yan An’s figure clearly, so she wouldn’t have mistaken them.

Thinking of the two people next door, Yan An pressed the walkie-talkie button and said, “Those two are survivors from this building. You can decide whether to bring them or not.” Gu Xia gave them bread, and they tried to emotionally blackmail her and even tried to open their door while they were asleep. No one would believe they were just curious and didn’t have ulterior motives. If they had managed to get the guns, would they have used them against Yan An and Gu Xia? Yan An wouldn’t take that gamble. She wouldn’t risk her life, so after they tried to emotionally blackmail Gu Xia, she had a bad feeling about them. It was a kindness that she was even mentioning them to Hei Ye without speaking ill of them. After all, she didn’t feel like she owed them anything.

It was clear that Hei Ye couldn’t make the decision alone. “The cars belong to Fang Qiang. He has to agree.” Fang Qiang had seven or eight people on his team. The armored car had just enough space for them, and the RV could also fit seven or eight, maybe more if they squeezed. The question was whether they were willing to let the two beta women in. Fang Qiang, who had a walkie-talkie, had been listening to the whole conversation. He laughed and scoffed. “Seriously? What’s the matter with you two? Still trying to be kind?”

“They can get in the car, but they’ll have to run behind you. If they make it, they make it. If they don’t, it’s their bad luck.” Fang Qiang’s tone was full of malice.

Yan An “tsked.” 

“You’re all heart, Mr. Fang.” She hadn’t expected Fang Qiang to be willing to give them a chance, even if it was a cruel one.

After the conversation ended, Yan An clipped the walkie-talkie to the pocket on her chest and rubbed her temples. “Sister, get the ropes ready. We’re going to jump from the second floor.” The first floor had the most zombies, and jumping from the second would save them a fight.

Gu Xia’s face was unreadable, her eyes just as cold as ever. “Fang Qiang is basically the same as Chen Hao. When they get to the team, they’ll find that it would have been better to die.” She had seen how Chen Hao treated the female betas at the factory.

“Everyone wants different things. Maybe all they want is to live?” Yan An shook her head. She wouldn’t judge other people’s choices. But Gu Xia looked at her and asked, “What about you? What do you want?”

“You,” 

Yan An answered without hesitation, causing Gu Xia’s ears to turn red. But Yan An’s expression was so nonchalant that it was impossible to take her seriously.