Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 212

[The mission for the eighth post-apocalyptic world has been completed. Star Coin balance: 2735.]

[The next mission will begin at midnight on the 7th of next month. Please retrieve world details by midnight on May 6th.]

When Yu Xi woke up, it was almost noon. She had slept for nearly twelve hours, waking up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

Wrapped in a light, soft summer quilt, she rubbed her cheek against her pillow, savoring the cozy, homey scent. She gazed at the swirling snowflakes outside the window.

Before going to bed at dawn, she had deliberately left one side of the curtains open so that when she woke up, the first thing she would see from her bed would be the snowy scene outside.

Inside, the temperature was a comfortable twenty-something degrees—the perfect human comfort zone. Outside, heavy snow fell endlessly, accompanied by howling winds. The sky was gray, and thick snow blanketed the entire city.

This feeling reminded her of her childhood.

During a sweltering summer, when her parents were at work and she was home alone, a sudden thunderstorm interrupted the bright day. She had closed all the windows, turned the air conditioner to a low setting, wrapped herself in a light blanket, and knelt on the sofa near the window. While watching the raging storm outside, she nibbled on snacks, watched TV, and basked in an odd sense of safety.

Now, the climate outside was far worse—filled with dangers—but her current safe house was also exponentially more secure than her childhood home. No matter how perilous the world outside, it could not breach the sanctuary of this place. It was a haven for her family.

No matter how many dangers she faced in mission worlds, returning here enveloped her in a profound sense of security. Her mind and body could fully relax, allowing her to enjoy a rare and peaceful break. Rolling on the bed, Yu Xi sighed contentedly. “Xing Min, you’re such a treasure. Anyone lucky enough to find you would have to praise their good fortune.”

[…]

Sensing his speechlessness, Yu Xi chuckled a few times, stretched lazily, and got out of bed.

This last mission had been particularly fruitful.

“Yin Yin” was the first to leave. Before departing, she told Yu Xi and Xing Min that her body might fall ill due to its inability to adapt. Everything that had happened might feel like a blurry movie to her. However, with proper rest, both her body and consciousness would fully recover.

The second to leave was Xing Min. Thinking about Zhou Zhitong’s future after his departure, Yu Xi felt a pang of sympathy.

In the final few months, their safe and comfortable environment had been made possible by the airship, which owed its existence to Zhou and his father.

Before integrating into the new world, Yu Xi had stored the airship in her transportation warehouse. She moved the low-altitude hovercar originally in the warehouse into her Star House, freeing up space.

With this, she now had land, sea, and air transportation.

Sympathizing with Zhou Zhitong’s critical condition, Yu Xi decided to use the Star House’s third upgrade—a healing function (for external injuries)—after Xing Min left.

This function utilized a cocoon-like space that could accommodate a person. Whether in her original world or mission worlds, this space could be used.

Each use cost between 200 and 400 Star Coins, depending on the severity of the injuries, and it could only be used once a month.

Anyone placed in the cocoon with injuries would automatically enter a state of hibernation, while the space would diagnose and repair their body. Once fully healed, the system would deduct the required amount of Star Coins and release them.

In other words, the cost ranged from a minimum of 200 to a maximum of 400 Star Coins, but it was strictly for external injuries.

Although Yu Xi could also use it, if she had no injuries, she wouldn’t enter hibernation and would be released immediately—still incurring a deduction of 200 Star Coins. This meant the space couldn’t serve as a sanctuary in mission worlds; healthy individuals couldn’t stay inside for more than a few seconds.

Yu Xi rarely suffered injuries under normal circumstances, and even when she did, they were rarely limited to external wounds. For Xing Min, as long as he inhabited Zhou Zhitong’s near-death body to avoid detection, a full recovery wasn’t possible.

But once Xing Min left, everything changed. Yu Xi could place Zhou Zhitong into the healing cocoon, repairing all his external injuries—crushed limbs, broken ribs, and head trauma.

For the rest, she could rely on the advanced medical technology of the refreshed world to gradually complete his recovery. This would pull him back from the brink of death, reduce treatment difficulty, and shorten recovery time.

Given Zhou Zhitong’s severe injuries, the cost would likely approach the maximum of 400 Star Coins. Still, Yu Xi saw this expense as fair, considering it as payment for the airship and crystal fuel.

Xing Min didn’t comment on her decision, but after his departure, Yu Xi received a new random mission:

Mission Objective: Treat Zhou Zhitong.

Mission Reward: 500 Star Coins.

Yu Xi: …

She could tangibly feel the perks of having “connections.” The healing cost was capped at 400 Star Coins, so they deliberately added an extra 100 as her reward?

[Accept the mission.]

She could sense the joy in the other person’s voice.

She was quite happy too. After all, what she thought would cost her 400 Star Coins ended up earning her 100 instead. This pleasant surprise accompanied her all the way back to her original world.

Although half of her Star House warehouse had been emptied during her mission, much of the supplies she moved to the apartment in the mission world couldn’t fit back into the warehouse after her return. The items stored in the simulated apartment, including the silver camper van, were simply too much for the Star House.

In the end, she had no choice but to upgrade the Star House immediately, hoping the warehouse space would expand again.

During the upgrade, she once again witnessed the illusion of the universe. The imagery seemed to connect to the previous visions, leading her to a colossal spaceship.

“Colossal” wasn’t enough to describe the sheer enormity of the vessel.

This time, she saw more details—the dull, aged exterior of the ship, its silent, dim portholes. She was awestruck, yet also overcome by an immense loneliness.

She noticed a stream of pale golden energy flowing from her palm, merging with the ship. Her vision seemed to pierce through its hull and layers of bulkheads, settling on a bright, empty cabin.

Unlike other areas, this cabin appeared much brighter. A peculiar light emanated from one part of the room, but that part seemed to dissolve into the air, creating a blurry region that appeared to blend with another dimension.

This glowing region was the sole source of light in the cabin.

The pale golden energy from her palm gradually flowed into this region. The light flickered slightly, and time seemed to both drag on and pass in an instant.

Suddenly, she sensed another part of the massive ship slowly coming to life.

It wasn’t the brightness of a light source but the awakening of a dormant mechanism. Machinery that had been stagnant for countless years began operating again—slowly and arduously. Compared to the immense ship, it was just a tiny section, yet its reactivation was significant.

In a flash of understanding, Yu Xi realized what the Star House upgrades truly were.

A voice reached her ears—deep, unfamiliar, yet gently familiar:

“You’ll like it…”

Before her consciousness returned to her body, she tried to look back but only saw the empty cabin. Nothing else was there.

[Star House Fourth Upgrade Completed. Star Coin balance: 1135.]

[Star House Storage has expanded to 1,314 cubic meters.]

[A new automated planting area has been added to the Star House. It will be available in 12 hours.]

Yu Xi: !!!

Planting!?

When Fan Qi and Yu Feng woke up in the morning, they noticed a narrow metallic staircase with a handrail near the second-floor railing of the simulated apartment. The staircase, made of shiny silver metal, felt identical in texture to the Star House’s walls and floors.

The stairs led up to the ceiling, where a small square opening was covered by a matching metal plate.

The sudden appearance of the staircase was startling, and with the opening blocked, the two decided to wait for their daughter to wake up before exploring it.

Meanwhile, Yu Xi had slept until noon. Upon waking, she lay in bed for a while, staring blankly at the snowy scene outside her window.

When she finally opened her bedroom door, she found her father standing in front of the new staircase, craning his neck and cautiously peering upward without stepping onto it.

“Dad, what are you doing?”

“Oh, you’re awake, Xi Xi! Quick, come look at what’s at the top of this staircase!”

“It’s the new area added to the Star House—an automated planting space,” Yu Xi replied, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was already past noon, meaning the space was ready for use.

Her curiosity was piqued as well. Ignoring the fact that she hadn’t brushed her teeth or washed her face yet, she quickly climbed the stairs and touched the metal plate at the top.

Sensing her touch, the plate emitted a pleasant chime and slid away automatically.

Yu Xi peeked her head through the opening and gasped in amazement.

Above was a sealed rooftop terrace with glass ceilings and walls!

The terrace was large, roughly 100 square meters, circular in shape, and about three to four meters high. The staircase opening was situated on one side of the circle.

As soon as she poked her head out, her gaze was drawn to the snowy scenery outside the glass wall on the right.

Like the simulated apartment below, this newly added space offered an external view despite being part of an enclosed structure.

Since the Star House had materialized this time on the rooftop kitchen of an abandoned restaurant with collapsed exterior walls, the entire glass terrace provided an unobstructed external view.

Yu Xi, wearing slippers, stepped onto the terrace. The floor was a light wooden color, and at the center stood a circular multi-level planting wall.

The planting wall was a double-layered glass structure with grids arranged in both vertical and horizontal directions. Each grid was about 40 centimeters square and 30 centimeters deep.

[Fully Automated Planting Area: Ten levels in total. Each outer ring has 19 grids per level, and each inner ring has 9 grids per level, totaling 280 planting grids. Simply place the seeds you wish to plant into the seed input zone, and the planting wall will handle everything—sowing, temperature and humidity control, lighting, and nutrient distribution.]

[You can grow vegetables, grains, cereals, fruits, and more. The planting wall will automatically adjust for different crop requirements. Larger fruits may yield fewer harvests, but there will always be some.]

[When the crops are ready, the corresponding grid will light up green, indicating they can be harvested. Simply select the grid number on the planting wall’s control screen, and the wall will automatically harvest, clean, and process the crops before transferring them to the extraction box.]

[The planting wall’s resource consumption—temperature, light, nutrients, and humidity—depends on how many grids are in use. For full capacity, it will deduct 5 Star Coins per month; for partial usage, the cost will decrease proportionally.]

Yu Xi walked through the space between the two layers of the circular planting wall, her fingers lightly brushing the glass. Looking at the currently empty planting grids, she couldn’t help but marvel, “No wonder this upgrade only expanded the Star House warehouse from 888 to 1,314 cubic meters without other changes. The real highlight is here!”

With this fully automated planting wall, there was no longer any need to stockpile massive amounts of vegetables and fruits when visiting mission worlds. All she needed to do was gather the seeds, significantly saving space and time.

Meanwhile, the terrace itself remained part of the Star House, well within its protective boundaries. The spacious area around the planting wall could be used for various purposes.

For example, she could place beach loungers, a standing coffee bar, a telescope, or even set up a dining table. If her parents, Fan Qi and Yu Feng, ever felt bored downstairs, they could come up with a cup of tea and relax here.

The terrace offered stunning views—perfect for sunbathing on sunny days, enjoying the rain when it poured, or, like now, marveling at the snow in peaceful solitude above the ruined city.

Of all the Yu family members, Fan Qi was undoubtedly the happiest about the addition of the planting area.

Back in the early days of the apocalypse, when her daughter had stockpiled supplies, Fan Qi had considered setting up planting boxes in their simulated apartment. It would have been something to occupy her time and provide fresh vegetables for meals.

However, the constant need to move and conflicts with others in Xu Yan’s team left her little opportunity to implement the idea.

Yu Xi could have brought her the planting boxes from the mission worlds, but knowing her daughter was risking her life on missions, Fan Qi could never bring herself to add such trivial burdens.

Now, things were different. The planting wall was fully automated. All she had to do was select seeds to plant and wait for the harvest. With the seeds Yu Xi had accumulated, the possibilities were endless.

After lunch, Fan Qi tossed the dishes to Yu Feng to wash and dragged her daughter up to the glass terrace.

Yu Xi brought out bags of seeds, labeled and sorted by type—grains, vegetables, fruits, and more. She left the task of seed selection to Fan Qi while she set up a leisure area around the planting wall.

Beach loungers, soft beanbag chairs, storage racks—everything was arranged neatly.

When Yu Xi finished her setup, Fan Qi had also completed her seed selection. Yu Xi resealed the unused seed bags and stored them away.

Fan Qi placed the seeds into the planting wall’s input zone and pressed the automatic planting button. The towering four-meter planting wall sprang to life. Grids lit up one by one as nutrients were distributed, seeds sown, and water sprayed.

With all 280 planting grids working simultaneously, the scene was spectacular.

Fan Qi turned to her daughter with a smile. “Sweetheart, what should we eat tonight? Let’s have dinner on the terrace!”

Yu Xi instinctively wanted to suggest hot pot but remembered they had just had it the night before. Instead, she recalled the M12 Wagyu beef she had stockpiled from her mission in the Seven Layers of Hell world.

“Let’s have a full beef feast tonight!” she decided.

They planned an extravagant menu: oxtail radish soup, roasted snowflake beef, lobster (sashimi from the body, congee from the head and tail), served with fresh fruits, cucumbers, and sweet carrots, all paired with wine.

Mother and daughter returned to the kitchen to prepare the meal, Yu Xi pulling out ingredients one by one.

Amid their bustling, a sudden sound of crying reached their ears.

The wailing, like a young girl’s voice, came from the stairwell. It wasn’t soft sobbing but loud, grief-stricken cries filled with immense sorrow.

Amidst the crying, another girl’s voice could be heard, speaking in broken phrases as though trembling, possibly from the cold or something else entirely.

“Mom, I’ll go check it out.”

Yu Xi casually threw on a down jacket over her short sleeves, pulled on a hat and mask to cover her face completely, sprayed herself with sunscreen spray, and slipped on her shoes before heading out.