Lan Jin's card was just a blank card. There was no information on it at all. She figured anyone holding this card should be able to enter the Capital city base.
But as mentioned before, the invitation was just a ticket. Without enough strength or the right supplies, no matter who held it, the next level would be impossible to enter. So whether the card had a name or not didn't matter.
In short, the Capital city base offered everything, but it would never tolerate useless people or idlers. Either you had connections, or you had strength. If you wanted to go there, both were necessary.
A week stretched long and difficult. Besides burning charcoal, they spent the time preparing cooked food. During this week, a light but persistent freezing rain fell, pressing down all the snow that had been floating on the ice, making it solid.
Lao Gao looked at the ice outside and muttered, "I thought last time the road was already packed by cars. Next time we could just wear ice skates, but seems we still need the car."
Lan Jin said, "Then drive. It's not that far. We drove so many times carrying supplies before."
"I'm just trying to save gas. I didn't know this car and gas belonged to you, or I'd feel terrible about it."
Lan Jin laughed. "There are no traffic lights on the way. Driving back and forth doesn't use much fuel. Besides, I have some gas in my space. You've seen it before. No need to worry."
Lao Gao asked curiously, "Sister Lan, how did you get all that gas? If you bought it, it would be impossible to get so much, right?" He knew enough about Lan Jin to know she likely couldn't buy all that before the end of the world.
Lan Jin said, "I needed that much. Who would sell it? I stole it during the poisonous fog."
Mentioning stealing, memories flashed back for everyone. Reports had spread long ago that several nearby gas stations had completely vanished supplies. Authorities searched for a long time but found nothing. So it had all been Lan Jin stealing them.
Lao Gao twitched and asked, "Sister Lan, how did you manage to steal them?"
Lan Jin said, "I prepared an old phone with offline maps. I drove my solar-powered classic car and went to steal it."
Lao Gao asked immediately, "During the poisonous fog, how did you even go out? What did you use to carry it?"
"I had a lot of supplies. The protective suits and gas masks were part of it. Not a huge amount, but enough at the time. I bought many large barrels from my space. I had some money and figured I'd buy them anyway. At first, I didn't know what I'd use them for. Later I decided to store gasoline. There was so much, the barrels in my space weren't enough. I even used large trash bins for vegetables to hold gasoline."
Lao Gao rubbed his forehead and asked, "Sister Lan, do you know cars' gasoline evaporates?"
Lan Jin didn't care. "My space preserves it. What goes in stays the same. As long as I don't take it out, it's exactly like when I first put it in."
Originally, Lao Gao had wanted to lecture her, but now it was impossible. Meanwhile, a frightening thought crossed their minds.
Along with the gasoline, there were supplies from three supermarkets.
Ling Jiang's eyes went wide. "Those three supermarkets… that couldn't also be you, right?"
Lan Jin looked at them without embarrassment and nodded. "Yes, I did it. I spent two days stealing from them."
The three of them gasped. Stealing is wrong, and morally it's questionable, but in the end times, with no food, morals hardly matter. If they didn't steal, they'd starve.
Lao Gao looked at her meaningfully. "Sister Lan, you're hiding something. We're close now. What can't you tell us?"
She couldn't tell them about her previous life, so she lied casually. "The space… mainly because I suddenly got this space.
The space appeared suddenly, and any space is unusual. We've all read novels. If you have a space, it's either a crossing (transmigrating) or the end times. If it's a crossing, that's fine. My supplies from my previous life would be enough anywhere. But I stored everything and the crossing didn't happen. The poisonous fog came instead. It's obviously the end times. If the end times came, wouldn't I go out and collect supplies? Then I set my sights on the nearest supermarkets. Who would complain about extra supplies?"
Lan Jin's explanation was similar to her previous one. Reasonable enough. She was greedy, but who could predict the future? Better to be safe.
Ling Jiang nodded. "If it were me, I'd probably do the same." She also would have taken the whole 90 percent, leaving nothing behind. By comparison, Lan Jin had been relatively generous, leaving a little extra. Ling Jiang felt a bit of pain at that.
Lan Jin tried to suppress a smile.
Lao Gao muttered, "Is that the question right now?"
But it didn't matter. He wasn't there to settle accounts. Being around Lan Jin seemed to make dangerous things less likely, which put everyone at ease.
Lao Gao glanced at Huang Jinghe.
Huang Jinghe twitched his mouth and laughed. "Why look at me? Sister Lan reminds me of a lot of things, but that's all."
Honestly, if Lan Jin hadn't been cautious and made him download extra novels, reminding him of things, he might have done many foolish things. He might not even still be alive.
Lan Jin was smart, but not unusually so. She had simply lived an extra life and was cautious. Some of her foresight came from combining causes and effects, but her IQ wasn't extraordinary.
Ling Jiang asked curiously, "When you went out to get the supplies, did it go smoothly?"
===
Because my babies have been clamoring for me to pick up another yuri novel, I decided to do it right now (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡ Since I already finished translating "The Invincible Money-Grubbing Fairy," that freed up one slot. This new project will be a modern setting yuri, and just like "My Cold-Hearted Boss Wants to Marry Me," it's another short novel.
That said, I should be honest with you: yuri isn't my main focus. I'll still translate yuri, but the frequency won't be that high. If you'd like me to add more yuri projects, I'll definitely consider it—but only if the requests reach my "minimum slot." How many requests do I need? That's a secret of course (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
On another note, I'm also starting a new apocalypse-themed project, since "Mom's Apocalypse Survival Log" is almost fully translated. The difference this time is that the new novel is one of my personal favorites. I've literally reread it 5–6 times already, and it has over 1000 chapters serialized!
Both of these newly picked projects are still going through the book vetting process. I'll update you all once they're approved and available on my profile. Please look forward to it~ (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ