Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 185

This planet, being twice the size of her original world and with a significantly low birth rate and population decline, even after the creation of Subordinates, remained sparsely populated. Compared to the “Blood Ghoul” world, this one had vast stretches of mountains and open plains between cities.

Here, land prices varied greatly. In bustling city centers, skyscrapers stood on land worth its weight in gold. However, in peripheral areas—like the hillside where Yu Xi’s villa was built—large plots of land cost less than a quarter of her city apartment’s price.

Outside city limits, land became even cheaper, prompting most large companies to establish their warehouses in these outlying areas. Yu Xi’s company did the same, with an expansive warehouse district.

When the low-hovering vehicle arrived at the warehouse district just past midnight, most of the area was dark and silent. High walls and heavily secured checkpoints surrounded the district, but neither could stop a low-hovering vehicle. Unlike helicopters, which were noisy and conspicuous, these vehicles could silently glide over the guards’ heads.

The personnel below likely never imagined that their company’s vice president, piloting an exclusive, unobtainable low-hovering vehicle, would engage in “internal theft.”

The warehouse district was massive, and Yu Xi, having visited only once before, could not locate the fuel warehouse even after circling above. She finally instructed Jian Shou to “ask” someone for directions.

Night-shift personnel in the warehouses included both Subordinates and natural humans, but Jian Shou, loyal only to Yu Xi, would carry out her orders regardless of who he had to “ask.”

He parked the low-hovering vehicle on a warehouse roof and deftly jumped out. Moments later, he returned with the exact location of the fuel warehouse.

The vehicle resumed its silent journey, gliding over the warehouses below until stopping atop a rectangular, flat-roofed building. Yu Xi had some insider knowledge about her company’s warehouses, which gave her an advantage.

For instance, while there were no guards inside at this hour, both the entrance and the interior were monitored. Moreover, while the entrance cameras streamed live footage to the control center, the interior cameras only recorded footage to be reviewed later, likely not until the next day. Donning a black mask, a baseball cap, and a men’s black down jacket with double hoods, Yu Xi concealed herself completely. Now, not even her gender could be discerned.

“You stay here. I’ll go down alone,” she ordered Jian Shou.

“Yu—” He began, then corrected himself, “President, are you sure?”

“Yes.” After her confirmation, he said no more, assisting her in locating a ladder leading down from the roof. He then crouched in the shadows, waiting.

Yu Xi positioned herself out of the cameras’ sightlines and conjured a block of ice in her hand, which shattered into fine crystals. She directed them to coat the camera lenses, forming an opaque, frosty layer. This method was preferable to cutting power lines, as it would be dismissed as a malfunction.

Once all entrance cameras were neutralized, she swiftly melted the door lock using High-Temperature Perfume and slipped inside.

The warehouse had two levels, each with a high ceiling. The top floor housed automated machinery processing special ores into low-hovering vehicle fuel. The process involved high-temperature melting, cooling, and extraction, with the finished fuel being packed into crates and transported via conveyor belts to the lower floor for storage.

Since raw ore was significantly cheaper than fuel extracts, the company had invested in two automated processing machines for efficiency.

The processed fuel extract crystallized into amber-colored, fist-sized chunks. Each crate contained 100 such pieces. In practical terms, one crate could power a low-hovering vehicle for 100 days if used for 12 hours daily—about three months.

The lower floor held approximately 35 crates, sufficient for nine years at that usage rate. However, Yu Xi knew she wouldn’t need to fly for 12 hours every day, making this supply more than adequate.

She stored 20 crates in her Starhouse warehouse and moved the remaining 15 into her secondary fuel storage space, which was limited to 10 cubic meters but could only hold fuel-related items. This left her satisfied with a total equivalent of 36 crates, factoring in the partially filled ones she found upstairs.

Just as she prepared to leave, the ground began to tremble violently. The warehouse floor cracked beneath her feet, and the walls and ceiling groaned ominously. She instantly recognized the signs—an earthquake or, more likely, ground fissures!

Her instincts took over before her thoughts could catch up. She bolted down from the upper floor and raced toward the exit.

She moved at full speed, dodging falling debris from the ceiling as she called Jian Shou on the rooftop, instructing him to elevate the low-hovering vehicle. Their escape depended on keeping the vehicle secure.

The call barely connected when she reached the warehouse entrance. Outside, chaos reigned. A towering lamppost swayed precariously before crashing down in her direction.

Just as she prepared to dodge, someone who had noticed the danger earlier moved faster, grabbing her tightly and pulling her aside. The person’s speed and strength were inferior to hers, so while they shielded her, they were unable to fully avoid the falling post.

She heard the sharp crack of breaking bones followed by a suppressed grunt. The person gritted their teeth, stifling cries of pain, and spoke in a calm voice: “President, are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” she replied, guiding them to a nearby clearing.

The tremors seemed to have lessened, though the surrounding buildings creaked under stress. However, the ground they stood on remained intact. Her gaze shifted to his arm, noticing he was deliberately hiding his injury by angling his body. Despite the clear agony, he feigned composure. With the immediate crisis in mind, she asked, “Where’s the vehicle?”

“Before I came down, I activated its auto-elevation mode. You can control it using your phone,” he explained, gesturing upwards. Sure enough, the low-hovering vehicle was suspended midair above the warehouse.

The surrounding area echoed with crashing and crumbling sounds. One section of the warehouse wall had completely collapsed. From other directions, voices could be heard—some people cautiously calling others to safety, while others stood frozen, staring through the broken wall at the unfolding scene outside.

Beyond the collapsed wall lay vast barren plains with no structures or trees, offering an unobstructed view. A massive chasm had opened in the ground, with rocks and soil continually falling into it. The sound of tumbling debris echoed ominously.

Under the moonlight, the exposed earth seemed to take on a horrifying blood-red hue. The red appeared alive, originating from a small spot at the chasm’s center but slowly spreading outward. No—rather than spreading, it seemed to be rising, emerging bit by bit from the depths in tandem with the falling debris.

The blood-red presence grew to fill the chasm’s vast size, making it impossible to discern its full form from the side.

A loud “slap” echoed, followed by a strange noise, as if something massive and soft had struck the ground. The first sound was distant, the second slightly closer, and by the third, they felt the ground tremble and a gust of wind blew gritty sand into their faces. A massive blood-red appendage slapped against the remaining warehouse wall, reducing the crumbled fragments into finer debris.

“What is that?” Jian Shou exclaimed, his gaze fixed on the writhing red appendage near the wall. His expression mirrored the shock of others witnessing the scene.

Meanwhile, Yu Xi was manipulating her phone’s extended screen, directing the vehicle to descend. Despite her efforts to remain calm, her trembling fingers betrayed her tension.

Memories from “Yu Xi” warned her that even with her current physical capabilities, she wouldn’t withstand the initial “blooming” of the Red Lotus. They were far too close to escape its reach.

“Jian Shou!” she called, managing to maneuver the hovering vehicle directly overhead. She leapt upward, grabbing the vehicle’s elliptical undercarriage. With a pull-up and a kick, she swiftly climbed inside.

Opening the door, she leaned out and extended a hand to Jian Shou. The vehicle’s height was beyond a normal person’s reach, but Jian Shou only hesitated a moment before jumping. They clasped wrists, and despite his broken arm, Yu Xi used her strength to haul him inside.

“This place is too dangerous! Get us out of here! You drive—just tell me how to navigate!” she ordered.

“Master, I can drive with one hand. It’ll be faster,” he replied.

“Fine.” Without hesitation, Yu Xi slid into the passenger seat, leaving the driver’s seat to him.

Below, the slapping sounds grew more frequent. Blood-red appendages battered the ground, kicking up dust and reducing visibility. Many onlookers near the warehouses were blinded by the flying debris.

“Head away from the Red Lotus! Full speed!” Yu Xi directed.

As they accelerated, a deafening roar erupted below, like a colossal creature exhaling. Violent winds surged, pushing against them as if trying to drag them back into the chasm.

“Ascend!” Yu Xi shouted.

Following her command, the vehicle rose rapidly. The higher they climbed, the weaker the winds became. At 200 meters, the maximum allowable height for the vehicle, the pull lessened but soon intensified again, as if trying to draw them back.

“Not high enough! Keep ascending! Push forward at full speed!” she commanded.

“250 meters! Speed increasing… 350 meters! Speed stabilizing!” Jian Shou reported.

“Hold this altitude and slow down!” Yu Xi instructed, moving to the back of the vehicle to look at the scene behind them.

At 350 meters above ground, the view was crystal clear, and she finally saw the full form of the “Red Lotus.” At its core were two concentric rings of yellow “fangs,” spinning and generating an enormous suction force. Everything caught in its range—people, vehicles, steel, and concrete—was shredded and pulverized before being devoured.

Surrounding the “fangs” were 30 to 40 blood-red appendages resembling petals. These appendages, far longer than flower petals, flailed violently against the ground, smashing buildings into rubble before the suction consumed the debris.

Even a month into the apocalypse, no one knew what this entity truly was or what lay beneath those spinning yellow “fangs.” Despite swallowing countless objects, it remained insatiable, and not even missiles could destroy it. If not for the limited time it spent “blooming,” this monstrosity could easily consume an entire city.

The sinkhole in this area was far larger than those in the city, with an estimated diameter of 350 meters. Consequently, the “Red Lotus” that emerged here was enormous, with suction power magnified exponentially. Without the low-hovering vehicle, they wouldn’t have been able to escape in time on foot.

In her memories, the city’s “Red Lotuses” were only half this size and emerged two to five days after the sinkholes appeared. The longer it took for a “Red Lotus” to emerge, the smaller it tended to be.

Although the warehouse zone was outside the sinkhole’s range, the buildings near the “Red Lotus” were already smashed, some catching fire due to electrical short circuits. All debris, fiery or not, was sucked into the “fangs,” shredded, and vanished into the black void between them—a bottomless abyss.

Yu Xi stared at the “Red Lotus,” attempting to sense something, but there was nothing to sense. Whatever this entity was, it was certainly not a plant.

“President Yu?” Jian Shou, watching the scene through the vehicle’s rear camera, asked cautiously. “Do you know what that is?”

Yu Xi observed the slowing rotation of the “fangs,” signaling the end of its initial “blooming.” During this resting phase, the blood-red “petals” would remain in a defensive state, smashing anything that approached. Some of the “petals” would fold inward, seemingly protecting the core until the next activation, when the “fangs” would spin again, generating their horrifying suction.

Because the opening and closing of the “petals” resembled a flower blooming, people called the process “blooming.” Human weapons were powerless against it, leaving avoidance as the only option.

Yu Xi frowned slightly. “I don’t know what it is, but if you need a name, call it ‘Red Lotus.’ Next time you see its ‘petals’ opening, run as fast as you can.”

Two hours later, they descended into the city.

From this distance, the city’s residents were unaware of the disaster outside. It was nearing 4 a.m., the darkest hour of the night. While the city’s nightlife still buzzed with drunken revelry, rescue operations at the sinkhole sites continued.

This stark contrast—between indulgence and crisis—highlighted the irony of this world, much like the divide between natural humans and Subordinates.

Yu Xi initially planned to take Jian Shou to a hospital to treat his broken arm, but every hospital was overwhelmed. Ultimately, she located an exclusive private clinic for the wealthy.

The doctor initially refused to treat Jian Shou because he was a Subordinate—until Yu Xi offered ten times the price. Even then, the doctor treated it casually, holding a cigarette while preparing his tools.

“Set the bone properly. If there are any complications, this clinic will never operate again,” Yu Xi warned, her tone calm but cold as she stood with arms crossed.

The doctor hesitated, intimidated by her gaze and recalling the luxury vehicle she had parked outside. He took her warning seriously and performed the procedure meticulously.

Jian Shou endured the entire process without a sound. Once the treatment was complete, Yu Xi drove him back to the apartment.

As they passed the nearby sinkhole, Jian Shou’s eyes remained vigilant, watching the illuminated rescue efforts below. Since the initial collapse, the site had been under continuous search and rescue operations during the golden window to save lives.

This sinkhole appeared normal for now—no “fangs” or blood-red petal-like appendages. But Jian Shou now understood that a “Red Lotus” would inevitably emerge. The only variable was timing.

Fortunately, the apartment building was far from the sinkhole, and its diameter wasn’t large. Even if a “Red Lotus” appeared, it wouldn’t immediately threaten the apartment, giving them time to escape.

Jian Shou absorbed all this information from Yu Xi. He didn’t know how she came by this knowledge, nor did he ask.

The vehicle’s rear camera had captured the devastation of the “Red Lotus blooming.” Yu Xi instructed Jian Shou to extract a segment of the footage and annotate it with explanatory text. Disguised in her mask and heavy coat, she visited an automated internet café at the city’s edge and uploaded the video to major platforms.

This was primarily for the rescue workers. These people worked tirelessly to save lives during the golden hour and didn’t deserve to become the first casualties of a “Red Lotus” attack.

The sinkholes preceding “Red Lotus” appearances had caused mass casualties among first responders, leading to the rapid collapse of medical and rescue systems.

Yu Xi didn’t know if any survivors from the warehouse zone had captured footage and shared it online. To ensure awareness, she added details about the “Red Lotus’s” characteristics to her upload. If even a few people saw, downloaded, or believed it, the message would spread, potentially saving lives.

She believed in doing what she could and leaving the rest to fate.

The low-hovering vehicle returned to her apartment’s aerial platform. The balcony doors were ajar, and the lights inside were still on. From the platform, she could see the living room clearly.

Despite her absence through the night, her three Subordinates hadn’t gone to their rooms. Each occupied a corner of the living room, waiting.

Hei Mu was leaning back in a lounge chair, reading a book.

Yan Shang had changed into a round-necked long-sleeved loungewear set and wore earphones. He seemed to have fallen asleep against the corner of the sofa, perhaps from exhaustion.

Xi Yuan sat cross-legged on the carpet in front of the coffee table, playing a game on a computer with a retractable screen. However, he wasn’t very focused, occasionally glancing back at Yan Shang as if lost in thought.

When the low-hovering vehicle came to a stop, Hei Mu, being closest to the balcony, was the first to notice. He put his book down, got up, and walked to the balcony. “Master, you’re back. The bedding has been changed, and the bathtub is filled with hot water at a constant temperature with your favorite essential oil added. Please take a bath first.”

“Thank you. Jian Shou is injured—make sure his hand doesn’t touch water for now.”

“Yes, Master.”

Yan Shang followed closely behind, seeing her holding a food container and coffee. He immediately stepped forward to take them. “There have been many sinkholes outside. I was so worried about you…”

Xi Yuan also stood up, but he neither moved nor spoke, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on her as if waiting for her to enter on her own.

Yu Xi: …

After a sleepless night of frantic shopping and a harrowing escape, Yu Xi hadn’t felt exhausted—until now. For some reason, the scene before her made her feel a sudden wave of fatigue.

She massaged her temples and walked past Xi Yuan into the hallway, heading directly to her room.

Before getting out of the vehicle, she had already instructed Jian Shou to briefly explain the sinkholes and “Red Lotus” to the other three, mainly to warn them to avoid those areas and not get caught by the sudden emergence of a “Red Lotus.”

Without further instructions, the four men outside didn’t dare follow her into the room.

Yu Xi soaked comfortably in the bath, changed into a fresh cotton long T-shirt as sleepwear, and went straight to bed.

By the time she woke up, it was already noon. The sky outside was overcast.

Half an hour later, freshly washed and dressed, Yu Xi sat on the living room sofa, sipping the rock sugar bird’s nest soup Heimu had prepared while watching current affairs news.

The 24-hour news channel operated in live broadcast mode, with reporters rushing to the front lines of breaking events to deliver firsthand footage directly to viewers.

After over ten hours of fermentation, the video she had uploaded yesterday had been widely viewed and downloaded. Comments flooded the official pages, with citizens asking about the warehouse district sinkhole and the strange creature that had emerged from the ground.

Many were now worried about the city’s sinkholes, fearing that the blood-red entity might suddenly appear. Others questioned why such a major event occurring after midnight hadn’t been immediately covered by the news, while an unknown individual had instead uploaded footage online with explanatory text. Was it real or fake?

Perhaps realizing they couldn’t keep it under wraps, the current affairs channel finally began broadcasting live footage of the warehouse district by midday.

By now, Yu Xi could guess why “Yu Xi” had no memory of the warehouse sinkhole and the simultaneous emergence of a “Red Lotus.”

This was the first appearance of a “Red Lotus” in the area—a sudden, terrifying event involving a massive, unknown organism. Initially, news outlets wouldn’t have dared report it.

Now, however, with public speculation and fear mounting, they had no choice but to reveal the truth.

The live footage was taken from the air. A cautious pilot flew a low-hovering vehicle high above the sinkhole’s edge, careful not to get too close to the massive blood-red appendages or the central “fangs” partially shielded by them.

The creature in the footage was identical to the one in the video uploaded online yesterday. In the better daylight, its blood-red form appeared even more horrifying.

What exactly was this thing!?

Except for Jian Shou, the other three Subordinates were seeing the “Red Lotus” in full detail for the first time.

From above, it indeed resembled a lotus flower. But while lotus flowers symbolized purity, this one looked like a harbinger from hell.

After a moment, Yu Xi turned down the TV volume, signaling that she had something to say.

“You’ve seen the situation outside. Things will only get worse. In a scenario like this, it doesn’t matter if someone is a natural human or a Subordinate. Encountering that thing means certain death. So, if you want, I can sign the release documents now, remove your immunity devices, and grant you your freedom. From now on, you’ll be free citizens…”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t take care of them. With the supplies she’d purchased yesterday and those already stored in the floating villa, it was more than enough to keep them safe.

But she wanted to give them the freedom to choose.

In her opinion, if given the choice, no one would willingly remain subservient.

Hei Mu’s expression remained calm. Jian Shou furrowed his brows. The four men stared at her, none of them speaking.

After a moment, Yan Shang spoke, his voice trembling slightly with restrained emotion. “Are you… planning to abandon us?”

Yu Xi: … ???