Transmigrating into a Wasteland Cannon Fodder Slag A [GL Yuri] - Chapter 6

At five to eight, Yan An carried Gu Xia in a princess carry toward Chen Hao’s room.

The inspection building had four floors; Chen Hao lived on the third. That he’d placed them on the third floor made it clear he’d had designs on Gu Xia for some time, perhaps testing Yan An’s strength, perhaps cultivating a gentlemanly image.

A month in, Chen Hao could no longer restrain his lecherous thoughts and had been trying to make Gu Xia loathe the original Yan An so he pressured her into drugging  Gu Xia. As he’d expected, the Original had agreed and did it. Though Gu Xia hadn’t been affected, her hatred for the original Yan An had been stirred, enough for Gu Xia to kill the original Yan An to be killed without hesitation.

*******

Yan An was relieved she’d come at this point in the timeline. Earlier would have been better. She would have had more time to prepare, less of this reactive scramble.

She held Gu Xia steadily, walking forward. The faint, woody cool scent that clung to Gu Xia trailed into her nostrils.

In the original memories, Gu Xia had always worn thin silver-rimmed glasses and carried the air of a bookish beauty, one of those white-moonlight figures people pined for. Now the glasses were gone, and without that frame, her face seemed even brighter and more striking. No wonder Gu Xia had so many admirers in the school—what a waste the predecessor had been.

While the original Yan An had been cowardly and cruel within: a mismatch between appearance and character.

“Stay protected,” Yan An murmured as they neared Chen Hao’s door.

The monitoring room was on the fourth floor; she would be running up and down. She estimated five minutes for the whole thing. If anything went wrong, she hoped Gu Xia could keep herself safe.

Gu Xia closed her eyes and lay in her arms, comforted by the steady rhythm. Someone who could walk that steadily while carrying another person clearly had strength.

Yan An’s warning barely moved her. She slipped a hand toward the fruit knife tucked away, because only the edge of metal made her feel secure.

They reached Chen Hao’s door. The guard glanced at Yan An, then took in Gu Xia in her arms. His expression shifted from lustful leer to scorn, the sight of an Alpha delivering his girlfriend onto another man’s bed drew his contempt.

Yan An asked without a flicker, “Where’s Hao-ge?”

“He and Xiao Qiang left. Put her in and go.” The guard sounded bored.

She nodded with a practiced, conciliatory smile. “Yes, yes. I’ll leave right after.”

She walked in without looking around and laid Gu Xia on the bed with no wasted motion.

Supplies were obvious. There are cabinets lined the room, full of the goods. As she bent to stand, she leaned close to Gu Xia’s ear and said, “Everything’s in the cabinets.”

Her face played reluctant sorrow, and she reached out as if to touch Gu Xia’s cheek.

“Move it! Go on, get out of here!” one of the guards barked.

She had to put on a show, put on the loss, the resignation and leave the room looking broken-hearted.

The guards only sneered. “Wait and see. You’re pretty. Hao-ge won’t let you go.”

A sharp, mocking laugh came from the other guard.

Yan An pressed her lips together and walked out in feigned grief, saying nothing.

A normal reaction. But the instant she rounded the corner, she quickened her pace upstairs toward the fourth floor.

Near the stairwell her heart began to thud. Palpitations spiked and she ducked into a shadow to hide.

Not five seconds later two men came down the stairs dragging someone half-alive between them.

“They’re helpless idiots,” one snapped. “Hao-ge’s in a bad mood. Someone actually had the gall to bother him when Yan An was bringing the girl in.”

“Bother? He talked back to Hao-ge—reckless! Asking for death.”

Another voice piped up, doubtful.
“You think it’s true? He said Yan An killed Yuanzi.”

“Impossible. Yan An’s a useless piece of trash. With Yuanzi’s all muscle, he could’ve taken on three of her without breaking a sweat.”

“Then where’d Yuanzi go?”

“Maybe this brat killed him and tried to pin it on Yan An.”

“Enough. Don’t dwell on it. Dump this one on the first floor dead or alive, that’s his fate.”

“Boss went to get his meds, right?” Their voices dropped, suddenly conspiratorial.

“Yeah. He’s at Xiao Zhang’s on the second floor, picking up heart pills.”

“Tch—”

The two of them snickered in their greasy way. Their footsteps faded down the stairs.

Yan An frowned. She had a rough idea of what Chen Hao was planning. Disgusting man. She cursed him silently and darted toward the fourth floor.

That exchange had already cost her two minutes. Thankfully, Chen Hao had gone downstairs for his medicine. By the time he returned, she might already have the monitoring room handled.

All she could hope was that Gu Xia stayed sharp. Once the alarm blared, she had to grab the supplies and get out. The guards at the door would almost certainly be drawn upstairs to check the disturbance.

Yan An wasted no time. Guided by the layout she carried in her head, she found the monitoring room and kicked the door open.

The people inside stared, stunned.

Before the world fell apart, such behavior might have cost a job. Now it could cost a life.

The male Alpha recovered first, shouting at her, “Are you crazy, kicking down the monitoring room door?”

So he recognized her. Not surprising, her looks alone stood out, and paired with her pretty girlfriend, she was hard to forget.

The thickset brute still had his hands all over a female Beta.

Disgusting.

Yan An didn’t waste words. She lashed out with a kick, lightning fast. He didn’t even react before her boot left a print on his face.

The female Beta scrambled for the alarm button.

Yan An let her. She turned and planted another kick squarely into the man’s skull, dropping him unconscious.

“You want to pass out on your own, or should I help?” she asked the Beta pleasantly.

“I—”

The girl hadn’t answered when another voice, languid and yawning, drifted out. “What’s going on? Who hit the alarm?”

Another Beta.

She blinked when she saw Yan An, stunned for a moment by her looks, before her face twisted into disdain.

“So it’s you, that useless—”

She didn’t finish. Yan An pressed a hand to the console, vaulted upward, flipped behind her, and slammed a palm into the back of her neck.

Another one down.

“Which switch is the master alarm?  show me, or should I remind you?” Yan An flexed her wrist as she stalked toward the last Beta in the room.

She was young, heavy makeup painted across her terrified face. Anyone who still bothered with makeup in this hellscape clearly had lived comfortably in the compound.

Yan An closed in step by step, menace in her gaze.

Knowing she couldn’t win, the girl still spat out defiance. “I’m not pressing it.” Her voice trembled. “The alarm’s already been triggered. Hao-ge’s on his way up. You… you’ll die.”

“The main alarm will draw every zombie in earshot. None of us will escape.”

Defiant, she refused.

Yan An only smiled. She strode past, flipped two switches, and a piercing siren shrieked through the compound.

“Next time, just answer me. Don’t dart your eyes everywhere.”

Besides, sticky notes labeled the controls. Even if the Beta hadn’t looked, Yan An would have figured it out given time.

She knocked the girl out in passing, but a prickle of danger crawled up her spine as her eyes flicked to the door.

No way she’d make it out through there.

She darted to the window and peered outside. The zombies, whipped into frenzy by the alarm, were surging toward the factory.

They tracked sound and scent with precision.

Yan An guessed that once the survivors outside had been mostly picked clean, the smell of those within the factory had drawn the horde in.

She prayed no pack leader showed up. A chaotic swarm was bad enough; a coordinated one was worse.

She didn’t hesitate. Clambering onto the window ledge, she glanced at the monitors one last time.

No wonder the compound hadn’t noticed, the zombies didn’t show on the feed until they were nearly at the gates.

Now the masses below were clustering thick, enough to keep Chen Hao busy for a while.

Yan An launched herself toward the next window ledge. Her hand clamped onto the sill just as her body dropped into freefall.

She released, caught the second-floor ledge, hauled herself up like a pull-up, and slid through the open window.

No one inside. She exhaled once, hard, and kept moving.

Already the zombies were pounding on the doors and windows below. The rolling shutter gate, even reinforced, wouldn’t last long.

Gu Xia was waiting.

Yan An raced down the hall, vaulted the stair rail, and landed back on the third floor, just in time to see the guards abandoning their posts to rush upstairs after Chen Hao.

Everyone knew what the main alarm meant. Who cared about Gu Xia when the dead were at the gates?

Yan An’s lips curled. She ran straight to Chen Hao’s room.

Inside, the moment the alarm had blared, Gu Xia had grabbed a pack and started cramming supplies inside.

She’d heard Chen Hao outside the door, but before he could come in, the sirens had pulled him away.

Her thoughts whirred: Yan An moved fast.

Reckless, even. That kind of self-sacrifice was admirable.

Hopefully she escaped. If Chen Hao caught her, she’d die here for sure.

That last part was her true feeling. She didn’t care about Yan An’s fate. It’s her own life mattered more.

Yan An hadn’t told her everything anyway. She had calculated the timing of the horde, kept her true strength hidden.

Who could have imagined she’d pull a Spider-Man act, scaling the building?

Then again, for a rock-climbing pro, walls were nothing.

Yan An burst into the room, making Gu Xia jump. When she recognized her, relief flickered across her face.

Seeing that lingering fear in her eyes, Yan An couldn’t resist a tease. “What’s this? Worried about me?”

Gu Xia: “…”