Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 225

When Yu Xi woke up, she found her mother standing in front of the south-facing floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, watching the outside with intense focus.

Bean Sprout was also standing on the floor beside her, its entire stem and leaves pressed against the glass as if equally captivated by the mysterious scene outside.

The sky was overcast, covered in a dull gray haze. Standing on the second-floor railing, Yu Xi could see the buildings outside Star House—very Western-style architecture, with red-tiled roofs, white walls, and tall, varying towers.

Had Star House reset to a Western country on the other side of the planet this time?

The thought flashed through her mind for only a moment before she dismissed it. No, if they were in a Western country, there should be a six-to-eight-hour time difference with Hua Nation. No matter how she calculated it, it should be the middle of the night there. But outside, it was clearly daylight.

Yu Xi examined the surroundings more carefully and felt that the buildings resembled those in a themed tourist area, deliberately designed to imitate Western-style scenery.

Fan Qi was so absorbed in looking outside that Yu Xi couldn’t help but head downstairs to join her.

Outside was a narrow cobblestone street, only wide enough for a single car to pass through. Star House had reset inside a building at the entrance of this alleyway. Based on her estimate, it was about two stories high, limiting their view. She couldn’t tell if it was the same as the buildings across the alley.

At the alley’s entrance, a lively commotion was taking place. Around ten people were wielding various weapons and tools, surrounding a chicken.

But this wasn’t an ordinary hen—it was a mutated one, nearly the size of a goat, with six flapping wings struggling to escape. However, it remained trapped within the group’s encirclement. With each person taking swings with sticks and axes, feathers scattered everywhere. Finally, they managed to take down the mutated chicken. Yet, no sooner had the fight ended than another dispute arose—how to divide the spoils.

It was obvious that the group consisted of two separate teams—one with four people, the other with seven. Logically, the larger group should get a bigger share. However, within the seven-person team, two were just teenagers, barely in their teens. They had mostly stayed at the back during the fight, avoiding direct combat.

Meanwhile, the four-person team consisted of sturdy, well-built men who had been the primary force in bringing the mutated chicken down. Naturally, they refused to take the smaller portion and insisted on claiming half the chicken along with five wings.

On the other hand, one of the members of the seven-person team had been injured during the battle, his arm still bleeding from a sharp peck by the mutated chicken. Because of this, they refused to give up five wings and insisted on taking half the chicken along with four wings instead.

Just like that, the brief alliance shattered instantly, turning into a heated argument, with tensions high enough that a physical altercation seemed imminent.

“Damn, that’s a big chicken!” Yu Feng had woken up at some point. Seeing his wife, daughter, and Bean Sprout all gathered by the window, he stepped forward to take a look as well.

Back when their family was staying at the mountain lodge during the initial wave of plant and animal mutations, the chickens there had only grown an extra pair of wings. Their bodies hadn’t become this massive.

“Yeah, just one of those wings alone would take a whole pot to fry.” Yu Xi responded. No wonder the two teams were about to fight over who got more chicken wings. One wing from this thing was enough to feed an entire family for a meal.

“There’s no way a chicken wing that big would fry evenly! That mid-joint wing is almost as big as my elbow!” Yu Feng even extended his arm for comparison.

“You could chop it into smaller pieces, about an inch long. Marinate each piece with the skin, bone, and meat, coat them in flour and egg batter, fry them until golden brown, then sprinkle some cumin powder…”

Yu Feng, likely because he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, felt his stomach grumble audibly as his daughter described the process.

Fan Qi sighed and turned to glance at the father-daughter duo. “It’s barely morning, and you’re already thinking about fried chicken? Fried food isn’t healthy. How about I make roasted chicken wings for lunch instead? I’ll use the air fryer—that’s at least a little healthier.”

“Okay.” Yu Xi nodded.

Fan Qi affectionately stroked her daughter’s cheek.

“Works for me,” Yu Feng added.

Fan Qi shot him a glare. “All you ever think about is food. You woke up and didn’t even bother asking where Star House has reset this time. What kind of father are you?”

Yu Feng: …

Yu Xi knew that Fan Qi’s temper would be a bit worse today because it was a task day. However, this mood was usually only directed at Yu Feng. Toward her, it was always care, love, and reluctance to part.

She knew that, at most, Fan Qi would just grumble a little. Stepping forward, she hugged her mother before saying she would go up to the terrace to check out the surroundings. The terrace was at a higher vantage point, offering a full 360-degree view without obstruction.

Just as she was about to step away, she noticed something on her slippers. Looking down, she saw that Bean Sprout had climbed onto them at some point, rubbing itself against her as if asking for a hug.

Yu Xi bent down and extended her palm toward it. It immediately stepped onto her hand, wrapping its tiny tendrils tightly around her wrist with delight.

She lightly tapped its small flower bud and, as she walked toward the terrace, infused it with a little growth-stimulating energy. “When are you finally going to bloom? … You want to come with me later? Right now, you can barely even sprout rose thorns properly—what can you do if I take you outside? … How about this, I’ll bring you along once you bloom? At the very least, you’ll look nice…”

Her murmuring stopped the moment she stepped onto the terrace.

The apartment simulation had windows only on the southeast side, and since Star House had reset in a relatively low two-story building this time, she hadn’t been able to see what lay beyond the northwest side. She had assumed it would be similar to the southeast—more imitation Western-style buildings.

But now, standing on the terrace and taking in the unobstructed 360-degree view, she realized the building was located on an elevated plateau.

To the northwest, not far from them—was a cliff.

Beyond the cliff lay a vast, sloping valley, immense in size. The slopes and valley floor were blanketed in a seemingly endless sea of bamboo. The bamboo forest stretched as far as the eye could see, and when the wind blew, it rippled like waves.

This plateau was the highest point in the vicinity, with a drop of about 2,000 meters to the valley below. The surrounding terrain was made up of jagged, sheer cliffs—small, steep peaks that were nearly impossible to climb.

However, between these peaks, several cable car lines stretched across the landscape, connecting mountaintop to mountaintop and extending far into the distance.

The endpoint of one of these cable car lines was located right on this plateau. The area was relatively flat and scenic, clearly developed into a large cloud-top park. Nearby, there were alleys of imitation Western-style buildings and a number of vacation cabins built along the cliffs.

Most likely, this place also featured natural lakes, farms with free-range animals, fish ponds, ranches for cows and sheep, fruit and vegetable plantations, and various accommodations and restaurants.

Yu Xi speculated that the vast bamboo sea in the valley below was also part of this scenic area.

Had their apartment reset inside an enormous ecological resort? Judging from the layout, the edges of this plateau were all sheer cliffs, meaning the only way down was via the cable cars.

If this area had remained relatively unaffected by plant and animal mutations during the early outbreak due to its ecosystem, it would have made for an excellent refuge. After all, the only way up or down was through the cable cars.

As long as the cable cars weren’t in operation, no one from below could get up here—including any massive, mutated land creatures.

However, such a refuge also had its drawbacks—namely, supply shortages. Eventually, resources would run out.

Half an hour later, Yu Xi provided a brief overview of the newly reset location.

She noted that judging by the attire of the two groups of people from earlier, the outside world was still in a relatively decent state. None of them were wearing heavy protective gear—though that could also be due to a lack of protective materials on the plateau.

Still, the fact that they were willing to risk injury to take down the chicken at least suggested that there were no highly toxic plants or an overwhelming presence of dangerous insects. Otherwise, having an open wound like that would have been a serious risk.

Moreover, the fact that they still had the energy to argue over who got more chicken wings after being injured meant that wounds were not immediately life-threatening.

“How about we go out and take a look?”

“Not today—there’s no rush. Let’s wait until after tomorrow, then we can explore together,” Fan Qi paused before correcting herself, “or we can just stay in like before. Don’t worry about your dad and me—we won’t be bored.”

Yu Xi recalled the special nature of this mission and nodded.

**

As midnight approached, she went up to the terrace and cleared out a batch of supplies from the Star House warehouse. She also placed the silver RV on the terrace, while the flying car, being small and convenient to use, remained stored inside the Star House warehouse.

At this moment, her transport warehouse was fully equipped with high-defense vehicles for land, sea, and air. Both of her 10-cubic-meter fuel storage units were more than half full.

She also brought along the entire box of nutrient solution that Jinshu Bing and Lin Wu had previously given her, as it took up little space.

Additionally, she left most of her weapons, gold, silver, jade items, protective gear, and medical supplies untouched. Instead, she unloaded a large amount of food in the terrace area and the first-floor living room.

After finishing her inventory and organization, Bean Sprout rubbed against her foot, seemingly sensing something.

Yu Xi didn’t stop it. Even though she couldn’t bring it into the mission world, the time difference between the two worlds meant that no matter how many years she spent there, only a minute or less would pass here. Just like Fan Qi and Yu Feng, Bean Sprout wouldn’t even perceive her absence.

Before leaving, she purchased one last advanced strength pill, boosting her physical capabilities by another 1.5 times.

Although Xing Min had assured her that he would immediately force-disconnect the mission world upon her entry, she knew that nothing was ever a 100% certainty. Even if there was just a 1% chance of failure, she had to prepare for that possibility with everything she had.

Later, when Yu Xi looked back on this moment, she was immensely grateful that she had made preparations for that 1% chance of unexpected failure.

**

A rhythmic rumbling echoed in her ears.

She recognized this sound—it was the noise of a train speeding down its tracks.

Yu Xi opened her eyes.

Outside the train window, there was nothing but impenetrable darkness—so thick that even with her enhanced vision, she couldn’t make out anything beyond the glass.

She was seated by the window in a single-row seating arrangement, similar to a high-speed train. Each row had three seats, split into left and right sections.

She quickly assessed her surroundings.

Her seat was located at the very front of this train car. She was sitting in seat 1A, by the window, in an ordinary second-class cabin. The two seats to her right—1B and 1C—were both empty.

From her angle, she could see across the aisle to the two seats on the opposite side—they were empty as well.

She had entered the mission.

But she hadn’t been instantly pulled out of it.

Which meant Xing Min’s plan to forcefully disconnect her from the mission world had failed?

Yu Xi tried calling out to Xing Min in her mind.

But after waiting for a moment—

There was no response.

What’s going on!?

This had never happened before.

No matter how fragmented a world was, or how incomplete the information provided, Xing Min had always been present. Even if he didn’t answer, she could always sense his existence.

But now—

She couldn’t feel anything from Xing Min or the system.

It was as if something had completely severed their connection.