Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 150

On the plane… there was a “skinned person”? But before boarding, Yu Xi had carefully observed every passenger and crew member!

Her brows furrowed deeply, and any trace of sleepiness vanished.

She leaned forward slightly, her gaze sweeping over the nearby seats. Most passengers were asleep.

The faint scent of blood wasn’t as overwhelming as the one emanating from the “skinned person” who had fallen from the Ferris wheel. With the confined space and close proximity of the passengers, even Yu Xi couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the smell was coming from.

Based on the information she had gathered about “skinned people” earlier, these infected individuals displayed extreme aggression and wouldn’t simply remain quietly hidden.

This led her to infer that the individual on the plane was likely in the very early stages of mutation, possibly still retaining some degree of rationality. That would also explain why she hadn’t noticed anything unusual before boarding.

Updated analysis:

The blood mutation shares similarities with zombies, including an undetectable incubation period in the early stages. This factor significantly increases the danger of this apocalypse.

At this moment, they were 30,000 feet in the air. Considering the terrifying appearance and strength of a “skinned person,” any sudden disturbance could lead to chaos—possibly even the destruction of the plane. Yu Xi knew she had to remain calm and think through her every move.

Yu Xi bent down silently, retrieving her backpack from under her seat and placing it on her lap. Concealed by the bag, she pulled out a basic protective suit, two packs of masks, and a stack of soft gel gloves. In such a confined space, there was no escape—she could only face the situation head-on.

Without turning on the overhead light, she quickly and quietly donned the protective suit and mask in the dim cabin light. She then wrote two lines of text on a piece of paper and fixed it onto a pack of masks.

She gently shook Kong Lin awake. Before he could speak, she gestured for silence and held the mask pack with the note in front of him.

The text, written in bold red ink, was clearly visible even in the dim light.

After reading it, Kong Lin looked visibly startled, his wide eyes meeting Yu Xi’s calm nod. She then motioned toward their classmates seated ahead of them.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Kong Lin exhaled slowly, seemingly to quell his nervousness. Yu Xi waited patiently without rushing him.

Moments later, Kong Lin put on a pair of gloves and a mask himself. Following Yu Xi’s earlier example, he turned slightly and reached through the gap between the seats and cabin wall, gently waking their classmate in the row ahead. He signaled for silence before handing them a mask and gloves along with the note.

The masks and gloves were passed along silently, one person to the next.

Yu Xi didn’t expect her classmates to intervene directly but aimed to give them an extra layer of protection and heightened awareness.

While the masks were still being passed around, the passenger who had gone to the rear restroom earlier was now complaining in a low voice. They were frustrated that whoever was inside had been taking too long.

Yu Xi caught the words, as did Kong Lin.

When he saw Yu Xi stand up, he instinctively reached out to stop her but missed.

With her slim and agile frame, Yu Xi moved swiftly down the dim aisle. In no time, she arrived at the rear of the cabin.

At the back, there was only one restroom. Across from it was the crew’s storage area. The waiting passenger, growing increasingly impatient, finally decided to head to the mid-cabin restroom instead.

Yu Xi stepped aside, letting them pass. They glanced at her white protective suit and visibly flinched before taking a few steps forward, glancing back repeatedly. When they encountered a flight attendant, they gestured toward the rear and said a few words.

The flight attendant reassured them before making her way toward the back of the cabin.

At the same time, Kong Lin arrived beside Yu Xi.

Yu Xi tested the restroom door and then pressed her ear against it to listen. Through the metal door, she could clearly hear labored breathing—muffled, heavy, and raspy.

She stopped Kong Lin from stepping closer and motioned toward the aisle. “Go intercept the flight attendant.”

“But you—”

“Kong Lin.” Yu Xi signaled toward the long knife in her hand. “Do it.”

He stared at her for a couple of seconds, his eyes flickering with mixed emotions, before turning and leaving.

As Kong Lin walked away, Yu Xi felt a surge of relief. If he hadn’t cooperated, she would’ve had to deal with both him and the flight attendant herself.

She knew Kong Lin was likely questioning her: her newfound decisiveness, her boldness, and the presence of a long knife on the plane.

Yet, due to their past relationship, he chose to trust her and follow her instructions. This not only showed his trust but also his intelligence and ability to make the right decisions under pressure.

Wasting no time, Yu Xi used the tip of the knife to forcefully pry at the restroom’s red “occupied” sign.

The restroom door was locked from the inside, with the “Occupied” sign showing red. Normally, unless the latch was released from the inside, the door couldn’t be opened.

But that was under normal circumstances.

Yu Xi applied a little force, prying the latch mechanism from the outside with the tip of her knife. With a click, the lock was disengaged.

She took a step back and gently pulled the door open. As soon as it cracked, a strong, metallic smell of blood wafted out.

Inside, a woman sitting on the closed toilet lid clearly hadn’t expected anyone to open the door from the outside. She screamed, her blood-soaked hand lunging directly toward Yu Xi.

Yu Xi didn’t step closer. She raised her leg, its protective layer shielding her, and pressed it against the woman’s chest, forcing her back into the restroom.

“What are you doing?! Let me go!” The young woman, wearing a beige short-sleeved shirt, had uninjured arms exposed, but her hands were drenched in blood.

Under the restroom’s light, Yu Xi scrutinized her closely. Her sclera showed no signs of redness, her strength seemed normal, and although the air was thick with the smell of blood, it lacked the putrid, decaying undertones she’d encountered earlier.

“What were you doing in here?” Yu Xi asked cautiously.

“What business is it of yours? Let me go!” The woman struggled, her movements growing louder. Kong Lin, who was trying to hold off the flight attendant, began losing ground. Meanwhile, a few of their classmates, previously alerted to the situation, stood up from their seats, watching nervously.

Yu Xi didn’t waste more time questioning her. Swiftly, she pulled out a rope and tied the woman’s arms together.

She wasn’t sure about the entire process of blood mutation—from infection to outbreak—so she couldn’t confirm if this woman was infected or not. The best course of action was to restrain her for the time being and reassess once the plane safely landed.

After binding the woman’s arms, Yu Xi taped her mouth shut.

By then, the flight attendant had managed to bypass Kong Lin. Upon seeing the bound and bloodied woman, along with the knife in Yu Xi’s hand, the attendant recoiled in shock. Assuming Yu Xi to be a threat, she began trying to calm her down.

Kong Lin stood not far behind, while Yu Xi, knowing that her Translation Gum wouldn’t work in this situation, wordlessly opened her phone and played the video she had taken of the “skinned person.”

“There’s one on this plane too,” Yu Xi stated in simple international language, pointing to the restrained woman. “Avoid contact with her blood. For everyone’s safety, check thoroughly after landing before releasing her.”

She then pulled the woman out of the restroom and tied her securely to a crew seat at the rear. Finally, Yu Xi covered the woman’s bleeding hand with plastic wrap and whispered softly so only she could hear, “I hope you’re not infected. I’m sorry.”

The flight attendant held the phone, unsure what to do. Another attendant approached, her face pale after watching the video.

Yu Xi noticed the second attendant’s expression and asked, “You remembered something, didn’t you?”

“Is there really one on the plane?” Kong Lin, unable to hold back, asked. Until now, they had been relying solely on Yu Xi’s deductions, and he couldn’t help but wonder how she was so certain.

Yu Xi suddenly turned her gaze toward the front of the plane.

“What is it?” Kong Lin immediately picked up on her unease.

Without answering, Yu Xi retrieved her phone from the attendant and began walking quickly toward the cockpit.

She had heard faint, suppressed growls—muffled as if through a door—and a cut-off cry for help.

Moving swiftly through the aisle, Yu Xi passed passengers who had started noticing something unusual but remained clueless about the situation. The air carried a subtle tension that even the uninformed could sense.

Yu Xi paused near the middle of the plane to check the restrooms. Both were empty. She continued forward, checking the first-class cabin’s restrooms as well, only to find them vacant.

She had ruled out all the restrooms. If the sounds were coming through a door, the only place left was—

Her eyes lifted toward the cockpit.

A first-class attendant approached her, asking if something was wrong and urging her to return to her seat. Yu Xi brushed past her and hurried to the cockpit door, pressing her ear against it.

This time, alongside the low growls, she heard the distinct sound of something hitting the door.

The pale-faced flight attendant had arrived by then, pulling the first-class attendant aside to explain. In this part of the plane, her Translation Gum finally proved effective.

“How many crew members are in the cockpit? Besides the pilots, who else is in there?”

“There are two pilots… and Luke. He’s a flight attendant who went in to deliver drinks.”

“How long has he been in there?”

“Quite a while now,” the attendant replied before adding something that made Yu Xi’s face pale. “I saw scratches all over his chest when he was changing clothes earlier. Some of them were deep enough to break the skin. I assumed it was from his girlfriend… but now that I think about it, the scratch angles are all wrong—they must have been self-inflicted!”

Yu Xi didn’t waste time asking further questions. She handed several masks to the flight attendants and asked, “How can the cockpit door be opened?”

“I can initiate a call,” one of them said and immediately attempted to contact the cockpit.

However, there was no response, and the door didn’t open.

“No response… Something’s wrong inside…” The flight attendant hung up the intercom with trembling hands.

On large commercial planes like this, Yu Xi knew the cockpit doors were bulletproof and explosion-resistant. Even an AK-47 firing five or six consecutive rounds at the same spot wouldn’t penetrate them.

Using her High-Temperature Perfume at maximum intensity could theoretically breach the door, but the level five flames would likely incinerate everything in the vicinity—a dangerous move in such a confined space.

“Is there any way to open it externally besides calling?” Yu Xi pressed.

“There’s a keypad. If no one answers after inputting a specific sequence, the door will unlock after a delay. However, someone inside can override and relock it… unless the pilots are conscious and willing to open it immediately,” the attendant explained, forcing herself to focus.

“How long is the delay?”

“Two minutes… but if the mutated person inside still has the intelligence to reject the sequence, they could lock it again.”

With no time to lose, the attendant began entering the emergency access code on the keypad. However, another attendant, skeptical of the situation, tried to stop her.

This attendant had neither seen the “skinned person” video nor witnessed Luke’s strange behavior earlier. From her perspective, Yu Xi and the other attendant were highly suspicious for insisting on opening the cockpit door.

As the two flight attendants argued, the plane suddenly jolted downward, causing passengers to cry out in alarm.

The turbulence was severe enough to wake previously sleeping passengers. The cabin shook violently, and confused passengers rushed to fasten their seatbelts.

One flight attendant quickly grabbed a microphone to reassure passengers that the plane had encountered turbulence and urged everyone to remain calm.

Using this distraction, the first attendant successfully entered two sets of emergency codes. The cockpit door entered the delay phase, but the turbulence intensified. Moments later, red warning lights illuminated the cabin, alarms blared, and oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.

The attendants struggled to secure themselves to fixed objects, barely managing to strap into their seats.

Yu Xi, however, stood firm, gripping a support beam, her focus unwavering as she stared at the cockpit door. Her entire body was poised for action.

Whether due to the noise of the shaking plane masking the cockpit’s alarm or the mutation impairing the intruder’s judgment, the emergency delay expired without interference. With a sharp mechanical click, the door unlocked and opened.

A rush of wind surged out as the door swung open.

The cockpit was in complete disarray. One side of the glass windshield had a large, gaping hole, blood pooled on the floor, and two pilots lay unmoving—one near the door, the other slumped between the pilot’s seat and the cockpit wall.

As the door opened, the second pilot forced his eyes open, struggling to speak. In a faint voice, he warned, “Be… careful…”

Before Yu Xi could step in, a bloody figure lunged at her from the side. Prepared for the attack, she sidestepped deftly, her long knife plunging into the assailant’s weak spot.

The figure let out a guttural roar, staggering back a step amidst the turbulence. Yu Xi finally got a clear look.

The attacker was wearing a flight attendant’s uniform—Luke. His shirt was partially unbuttoned, exposing a chest and neck covered in festering wounds. Over half his skin had sloughed off, leaving raw, red flesh.

One of his eyes was bloodshot red, and his growling was interspersed with garbled sounds, almost as if he was trying to curse in rage.

Grabbing the knife embedded in his side, he yanked it out and tossed it to the floor before charging at Yu Xi again.

Yu Xi summoned a new weapon—a military-grade triangular bayonet. This time, she aimed directly for his heart.

The blade plunged deep. As blood sprayed out, Yu Xi spun to avoid contact with the infectious fluid.

The mutated Luke howled in pain and grabbed a nearby metal object, swinging it at her with full force.

Yu Xi’s speed allowed her to evade easily, but Luke’s attack went astray, smashing into the already broken cockpit window. The hole widened instantly, and with the rush of air, both Luke and the metal object were sucked out into the open sky.

As high-altitude wind roared through the cabin, the pressure imbalance caused the plane to tilt dangerously. On the left wing, an engine emitted a loud bang, spewing black smoke. The aircraft plummeted rapidly.

Without hesitation, Yu Xi retrieved several bottles of water, splashing them onto the broken window. Concentrating intently, she instantly froze the water into thick layers of ice, sealing the breach securely.

The cabin pressure stabilized immediately, but the aircraft continued its steep descent.