Transmigrating into a Wasteland Cannon Fodder Slag A [GL Yuri] - Chapter 7

Yan An opened the cabinet of supplies and, while Gu Xia’s attention was elsewhere. She slipped a first-aid kit into her space.

She still didn’t know how far her healing could reach old-fashioned medical gear felt more dependable for now. She simply hadn’t adapted to her abilities yet.

Next came food that filled stomachs without taking much room, one-third of the cube and water, another third.

The remaining third she filled with what she thought might be useful: rope, maps, flashlights, a large cleaver, raincoats, a fresh set of work clothes, a tent, helmets.

There were even a notebook and a phone; whether they worked or not didn’t matter. It’s better to take them than leave them behind.

By the time she finished, the one-cubic-meter space was packed to the brim.

Gu Xia felt as if something were missing, an odd emptiness she couldn’t quite name. There was simply so much here; a cubic meter of goods could hide a lot.

“Done?” Yan An asked, swinging an axe by her side solid, a comfortable weight in her hand. She seemed content to carry just that.

Gu Xia blinked. “You’re not taking any supplies?”

“You’re the one with the pack,” Yan An replied as if it were obvious.

Her tone made Gu Xia laugh despite herself. “How much can I carry?”

Yan An tugged the backpack from Gu Xia’s hand, hung it around her neck and shoulders, and gave it a reassuring pat. “Enough. Get out first. If we can’t, all this will be dead weight anyway.”

“Good luck. You can do it.”

Gu Xia drew a long breath and, stifling the urge to throttle her, found herself increasingly convinced Yan An’s meek act had been a performance all along, that the ruthless streak was the real person beneath.

Yan An ignored whatever thoughts flickered across Gu Xia’s face and stepped out of Chen Hao’s room first.

They had only been in there a minute or two; Chen Hao had no time to react.

Neither of them dawdled. They raced back to the inspection building and, per plan, prepared to descend from the third floor.

But when Gu Xia peered over the railing, her breath caught. Below, the horde pressed in. It was thick as a sea of bodies. Even if not ten thousand, there were easily eight thousand.

“Your plan’s about to fail,” she said, oddly composed rather than panicked.

She had been following Yan An’s scheme step by step, planning and executing without control over the big picture. That lack of control gnawed at her. Now, seeing an obvious flaw, a small measure of relief replaced some of her anxiety.

Yan An smiled, then suddenly tipped the bed up on one side, shoved the foot against the wall, and used the axe to slice through the tape binding the burly man.

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll wake and raise the alarm?” Gu Xia asked, puzzled by this sudden compassion.

“We don’t know when he’ll stir,” Yan An said. “Even if he yells now, it’ll be too late.”

She yanked at the rope, tied the other end to the axe, and readied it like a counterweight.

Gu Xia thought Yan An was about to hurl the axe down when, instead, the girl sprang lightly out the window.

Gu Xia rushed over and looked down, only to find Yan An clinging to the sill with one hand, hauling herself up with ease. The axe, still tied to her, swung securely at her waist.

“Big Sister Gu~ can you come out?” Yan An called, lips quirking in a teasing smile.

Gu Xia’s chest tightened with exasperation. She dragged a chair over to the window.

Yan An chuckled and kept climbing, not down, but up. The rooftop was her destination. Going down into that horde of corpses would’ve been suicide.

She’d never told Gu Xia the full plan from the start.

Seeing her climb upward, Gu Xia realized her intent, though she knew she could never move with that kind of agility. She’d struggled just getting out the window. How was she supposed to scale walls?

Yan An was quick. In barely ten seconds she was already on the rooftop. She untied the rope from the axe and tossed it down.

The rope brushed past Gu Xia’s ear. For a moment she thought Yan An meant for her to climb it herself but no, the meaning became clear in the next instant.

Yan An pulled another rope from her space, secured it around a rooftop pipe, gave it a few strong tugs to test its hold, then slipped on a pair of rough cotton gloves.

She wound the rope around her waist, looped a coil around her hand, and leapt backward.

In less than a second, she landed beside Gu Xia, light as descending thunder.

Gu Xia stared, stunned. What kind of move was that?

For any survivalist, the key lesson was: make tools, use tools.

Yan An stretched out a hand to her. “Sister, do you want a lift?”

Gu Xia had no words. Exasperated, but left with no alternative, she reached out.

Yan An didn’t pull her up—she wrapped an arm around Gu Xia’s waist instead. “On my back. Hold tight. We’re going up.”

Suppressing the ticklish tremor at her waist, Gu Xia wrapped her arms around Yan An’s neck.

“Your legs,” Yan An reminded.

Gu Xia hooked her thighs around Yan An’s waist, clutching hard, terrified of falling.

“Hold on,” Yan An murmured. She secured Gu Xia’s legs with both hands and began to climb, each step heavy and deliberate.

With a whole person on her back, it took her more than a minute to cover a single story. At last she hauled them onto the rooftop, released Gu Xia, and sat down, panting hard.

“Thanks,” Gu Xia said softly, watching the sweat bead along her forehead.

Yan An must have used this same method to escape the monitoring room earlier without running into Chen Hao. She could have easily slipped away alone but she hadn’t. She’d brought Gu Xia along.

Doubt stirred in Gu Xia’s chest. Was the woman who once shoved her toward zombies the same one who had just saved her? Has someone swapped her out?

Before she could puzzle it out, Yan An stiffened, hearing movement below. She hurried to the ledge, peering down only to see a man’s head already craning up toward her.

They’d woken the men in the monitoring room and figured out who had struck them.

Gu Xia sensed it too. She held her breath, silent.

When Yan An rejoined her, Gu Xia finally asked, “You did this on purpose?”

“What?” Yan An blinked, playing dumb.

“Letting them think you were the one who triggered the alarm. Cutting that man’s tape. You wanted Chen Hao to believe we ran off the third floor, didn’t you?”

The rope still dangled from the third-floor window. Chen Hao’s men would leap to that conclusion first.

“And even if they realize we’re still in the compound, once the zombies pour in, they won’t have time to worry about us.”

Yan An flashed her a thumbs-up. “Smart.”

Gu Xia wasn’t finished. “But what if they head up to the roof?”

If she were Chen Hao, she’d drive his men to hold the third floor, then retreat to the rooftop. Once the zombies were inside, he could escape down a rope.

That was Yan An’s plan too, wait until the horde flooded in, then slip away from above.

“The door’s locked.” Yan An pointed to the rooftop entrance. “Chen Hao needs either the key or an axe to hack it open.”

The door was iron. If an axe could break it, she wouldn’t have bothered climbing. And if Chen Hao tried to climb up from outside well, what was the axe in her hand for?

“You had this mapped out from the start?” Gu Xia asked, impressed despite herself.

“Mhm.” Yan An’s tone held a smug lilt. The first rule in any new environment: understand the terrain, then make a survival plan.

“Yan An,” Gu Xia said quietly, “you played the fool well.”

Yan An tilted her head, eyes glinting. “So which do you prefer, the stupid me, or the smart me?”

Gu Xia: “…”

Yan An chuckled and, as if by sleight of hand, pulled a phone from her pocket.

Gu Xia blinked. When did she pick that up?

Yan An tapped the screen and grinned. “No password.”

The locked ones Chen Hao had tossed. These were the ones left unlocked.

“And there’s still signal.” Her voice carried a note of wonder.

Gu Xia dug a phone out of her own pack. “This one works too.”

“Use one at a time. No point draining both batteries,” Yan An said, and opened the social app.

The posts there contained far more than the ten-odd chapters of plot in her head.

[Citizens of Pingzhou City: an unknown virus outbreak has occurred. Please proceed to the city’s military base immediately to await rescue.]

It had been posted a month ago, but replies were still coming in.

【Damn it, don’t bother coming. More and more people were here already—when will it be our turn to leave Pingzhou?】
【Apocalypse shows people’s true colors. The guy above is an idiot.】

Yan An’s eyes lit up. “This means Pingzhou’s military base hasn’t fallen. The Dongzhou Federation is still running rescues. Everyone’s gathering there.”

This world’s humans lived on U7 Planet, split into three continents and two seas: East, Central, West, plus the South and North Seas.

The three continents formed the three federations. Beneath each were countless cities, each ruled by a city lord and guarded by a federal commander.

The lords handled administration, the commanders, the armies.

Their own location was a first-tier city of Dongzhou that had a dense population and strong defenses. It made sense the military base here hadn’t been breached.

And the Federation’s special-grade capital cities? Their defenses must be even stronger. Maybe the outbreak there had been crushed at the start.

If the Dongzhou Federation still had the strength to mount rescues, it meant they were secure.

Relief loosened the knot in Yan An’s chest. Finally—a destination.

“You’re heading for the military base?” Gu Xia asked. She didn’t argue, but doubt flickered in her eyes.

“Of course.” Yan An raised a brow.

What was there to hesitate over? Better a safe zone than dodging zombies day after day. The road there might be dangerous, but at least it held hope.

Why was Gu Xia hesitating?

Not that it mattered. Once they left the compound, they’d be going their separate ways.