Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 262

So far, only Ya Tong had obtained an Easter Egg Fragment—Memory Fragment from opening a rare treasure box. They noticed that as the number of treasure boxes found increased, the probability of obtaining better items from them gradually decreased.

On the first day, Ya Tong had opened two rare treasure boxes and received a Team Sleeping Compartment Upgrade Ticket and an Easter Egg Fragment.

But after that, when she continued opening rare treasure boxes, the best item she obtained was a Single-Station Unlimited Currency Activation Ticket.

As for Yu Xi, she had initially thought her luck had run out after obtaining a train ticket from a rare treasure box on the first day. In the days that followed, she hadn’t managed to get anything particularly valuable—especially the Easter Egg Fragment she had been hoping for.

But now, she realized her luck hadn’t run out just yet.

She had actually dug up a legendary treasure box.

It was obvious that these legendary treasure boxes were limited across the entire station. She didn’t know the exact number, but based on the number of days the Snowfield Treasure Hunt had been active, the probability of obtaining a legendary box, and the remaining count displayed across the entire station, there were likely no more than ten in total—possibly even fewer.

Before Yu Xi claimed it, Lin Wu also noticed the uniquely colored box, and his first reaction was to be on guard, scanning the surroundings.

Fortunately, they were always cautious. Even though they had little chance of losing in a fight against other travelers, they still preferred to dig in more secluded areas. After all, snow was everywhere—there was no need to dig in high-traffic locations.

“It’s almost six. Let’s head back first,” Lin Wu said. He was also curious about what the legendary treasure box would contain, so he packed up his multi-tool shovel and walked back to the camp with Yu Xi. Opening a treasure box meant facing a challenge.

For ordinary treasure boxes, an ice or snow-based creature would typically appear nearby. Their appearances and abilities varied—some were fast, some had high endurance—but overall, they weren’t difficult to deal with.

For rare treasure boxes, the person who opened the box would be transported to a subspace, where they would face a challenge. These challenges were diverse, often involving physical endurance or wordplay traps. As long as they cleared the challenge, the method didn’t matter.

Yu Xi and her team usually relied on brute force to push through the challenges directly. Occasionally, they encountered trickier situations where raw strength wasn’t enough. Fortunately, as long as they were opening their own treasure boxes, failing a challenge did not result in any penalties—only a loss of the potential reward.

Of course, injuries could still happen during the challenge. Some travelers, unwilling to give up even after getting hurt, ended up dying in the process.

These people, just like those who tried to steal treasure boxes from others, would turn into trees and remain in the station forever.

So now that Yu Xi was about to open a legendary treasure box, the only advice from her teammates was simple: if she couldn’t pass the challenge, she should give up. Losing a reward was far better than risking her life.

“Understood,” Yu Xi nodded and confirmed the box opening.

—

This was her forty-fifth day at White Bird Lake Station. She had spent every day obsessed with digging up and opening treasure boxes, and the hidden station still hadn’t been found. She was stuck.

The entire White Bird Lake Park was now completely buried under ice and snow. Daytime temperatures hovered around minus fifty degrees, while at night, they sometimes dropped below minus sixty. The fire could never be allowed to go out, and they were running out of food and water.

Some, having nothing left to burn, went outside to chop trees—only to have their axes strike wood and send blood splattering. The trees let out haunting cries that made their scalps go numb.

By the fifty-fifth day, there was still no sign of the train station. She and the other travelers had lost all hope.

When the countdown ended, they turned into trees amidst the raging blizzard, forever trapped in White Bird Lake.

She didn’t know when, but when she regained consciousness, she found herself standing as part of the plant wall on the platform. It was as if she had lost the part of her that made her human. Her mind was filled with nothing but malice.

She stared at the travelers stepping off the train, watching their expressions shift between panic and fear. All she wanted was to trap them here too.

All around her were others like her—tree people.

The maze game had begun.

They had finally escaped being played with and had instead become part of the game itself, toying with the travelers. They watched as their victims wandered aimlessly, growing more desperate with each step, until at last, the tree people reached out their branches and dragged them into the plant wall, absorbing them as nourishment.

Deep within the plant wall, skeletal remains were entwined everywhere.

A voice echoed in her mind, repeating over and over:

“Hurry up and replenish your nutrients, or you’ll wither away. If that happens, you’ll truly die.”

She felt the malice in her mind swell, expanding endlessly like a parasitic infection, consuming the last remnants of her consciousness.

She heard herself speak, but she didn’t know who she was talking to.

“Does it really mean anything to keep living like this?”

“…Human beings are human not just because they survive.”

“Death isn’t the most terrifying thing. What’s terrifying is dragging out an existence that’s no different from death…”

“Having to feed on others just to sustain yourself—it’s meaningless.”

—So, are you saying you’d rather give up on killing others to help them live? Are you choosing death? Do you truly want to die? Are you willing to die?

That voice kept repeating the same questions in her mind, trying to completely crush her thoughts.

“Death? Why would I choose that? Someone else’s life belongs to them—I have no right to take it.

“And my life belongs to me—nothing else can decide my choice.”

“My life is mine alone to decide—who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right?”

The malice still pressed against her, but it didn’t drive her to madness in the face of impending destruction.

Instead, it only made her angrier. It sharpened her awareness, making her see clearly who had truly put her in this position.

It wasn’t the other travelers. It wasn’t the people like her—humans with heartbeats, emotions, and desires.

The real culprit was the game itself.

It turned innocent people into mere pieces within its system, feeding them fear while dangling temptations before them, drawing out their darkness, pushing them to fight each other.

Her fury blazed like an uncontrollable fire, something inside her igniting. The flames wrapped around her, then spread, consuming the entire plant maze, engulfing the platform, and even reaching beyond—into the abyss.

She would never accept a life dictated by someone else.

If it refused to let her live, if it forced her to choose between death and becoming a monster, then she would drag it down with her. That was her answer.

She heard a piercing, agonized scream, as if coming from an infinite void. The voice that had been whispering to her before now sounded panicked.

“What did you do!? Stop, stop, stop! You have to stop—”

Yu Xi ignored it.

“Didn’t you hear me? Stop! Are you insane—?”

“Come on… please, it’s just a challenge level… it’s all fake…”

“You could have passed no matter what choice you made—as long as it was your truest decision…”

“Only the weak, the hesitant, the hypocritical—only they fail…”

“If you keep burning me, I’ll be gone for good—”

With those words, the burning platform shattered like a broken mirror and disappeared.

Yu Xi felt herself falling.

Her hand was still tightly gripping the high-temperature perfume, flames pouring from it.

She looked down—she was standing on top of a massive snow beast, half of its body already melted into water from the heat.

Then, she remembered.

She hadn’t been trapped at White Bird Lake.

She hadn’t turned into a tree person.

She had simply dug up a legendary treasure box and opened it.

This was the challenge world.

But unlike the trials of rare treasure boxes, this one belonged to the Nightmare Beast. It used ice and snow to create illusions, to toy with the human mind.

“That’s it? I passed just like that?” Yu Xi still couldn’t believe it. She raised her hand, about to finish the job and burn the creature into nothing—just as she had done in every other challenge before.

The Nightmare Beast shrieked, its half-melted body trembling. It kicked her out of its world in a panic.

“You’re too brutal! I already said you passed! Here, take your damn reward—just take it!”

An unseen force grabbed her, forcibly dragging her out of the frozen illusion.

As she was flung away, a radiant gemstone followed, rising into the air alongside her.

She reached out and caught it.

The moment the gem touched her palm, it burst into blinding light. She instinctively closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, three familiar faces were hovering over her.

The sky was already dark. Outside the semi-transparent barrier, snow was still falling steadily. Within the shielded camp, the temperature had been maintained at around minus five degrees.

After nearly fifty days in the freezing illusion, this felt almost warm.

“Are you okay?” Yu Zhenzhen’s face was filled with concern. “You were unconscious for over two hours—you scared me to death!”

“I’m fine,” Yu Xi said as she slowly sat up, realizing she had been lying on a reclined chair, carefully covered with a thick fleece blanket.

The windproof lantern hanging outside the tent cast a warm orange glow. The camp stove on the nearby table was releasing steam, filling the small campsite with the rich aroma of bone broth.

The tension in Yu Xi’s chest slowly eased.

She wasn’t alone.

Her family and friends were here.

They had enough supplies.

Their goals were aligned.

Their resolve was the same.

No one—nothing—had the right to force them to choose between murder and death.

“I spent fifty days in that illusion, but only two hours passed in reality?” As soon as she said it, Yu Xi suddenly hesitated.

Illusion and reality?

She had just woken up from an illusion—but was she really sure that this was reality?

It was like waking up from one dream.

But how could she be certain that she hadn’t simply entered another?

For a brief moment, she felt like she had glimpsed the truth of this world.

But the feeling was too faint. It slipped away before she could grasp it.

“Did you clear the challenge?” Ya Tong asked.

Then, she noticed something in Yu Xi’s hand.

Yu Xi nodded, following Ya Tong’s gaze.

There was no glowing gemstone in her palm.

Only her phone.

Her phone vibrated.

“Congratulations on passing the Rare Treasure Box challenge!”

“Congratulations on obtaining the Rare Treasure Box reward: Station Reset Ticket (one-time use).”

The explanation for the reward was too vague. Even after an entire day of discussion, they still couldn’t figure out exactly what the “Station Reset Ticket” reset.

Did it reset the countdown?

Or did it reset the entire station?

And what exactly counted as resetting a station?

If it only reset the countdown on her phone, would the days that had already passed be erased and start over, or would it just extend the time?

Moreover, if it was just a countdown reset, would it apply only to her or to the entire team?

There were too many unknowns, making it impossible for Yu Xi to use the “Station Reset Ticket” carelessly.

For now, she decided to store the reward as a last resort. If they ever encountered an irreversible disaster in the Infinite Train world, this might be their last-ditch solution.

The blizzards continued on and off, while temperatures kept dropping.

Most of the ordinary tourists at White Bird Lake Ecological Park had already been evacuated. Those who remained were mainly park staff. White Bird Peak experienced two more avalanches, though they weren’t as severe as the first. Still, the entire area was now officially designated a restricted zone.

With most of the tourists gone, the park’s villas had been largely vacated. The scattered travelers, who had initially chosen to remain cautious and spread out across the park, found themselves unable to endure the extreme cold. One by one, they moved into the villas.

The staff found this strange—most of the tourists had already left, so where had these people come from?

They tried persuading them to evacuate, but some ignored them entirely, while others drove them away with open hostility.

As the blizzards worsened, the park’s heating system began to fail. The heat would turn on and off unpredictably, and even after multiple repairs, the issue wasn’t fully resolved. This situation filled the remaining staff with unease and fear.

Then, on a day when the temperature suddenly dropped significantly—plunging below minus forty degrees during the day—the staff simply couldn’t hold out any longer. They were human too. They had families. And in such conditions, survival was the priority.

The mountain roads had been blocked once again, so rescue teams took advantage of a temporary lull in the storm and sent in large helicopters. They dropped off a final batch of supplies before evacuating the last remaining staff members.

Conditions outside the park weren’t any better. Cities across the northern region were being battered by extreme cold and blizzards, with disasters occurring frequently. Rescue teams were stretched thin. The fact that they were even able to leave supplies for the remaining travelers was already generous.

With the departure of the helicopters and the last of the original inhabitants, White Bird Lake Station was now completely cut off from the outside world.

That day, as Yu Xi’s team packed up their small campsite, preparing to move into a villa, their phones updated with new information.

“Alert: Current station ‘White Bird Lake’ has been upgraded from B-level to A-level.”

Station Countdown: 38 days, 10 hours, 12 minutes, 24 seconds.

White Bird Mountain experienced another avalanche.

But this time, in addition to the snow collapse, tremors rippled through the entire mountain.

Soon, people discovered changes in the terrain at the mountain’s base. When Yu Xi and Ya Tong went to explore the area, they found a cave that hadn’t been there before. Steam rose from within, carrying the distinct scent of sulfur—it was the smell of hot springs.

The moment Yu Xi stepped into the cave, something happened.

Her long-dormant Easter Egg Fragment lit up with a new prompt.

Deep inside the cave, she discovered a blooming white snow lotus—and with it, successfully obtained her second Memory Fragment.

The vision unfolded before her.

She saw herself sitting inside a vehicle, suspended atop a towering building. Several people were in the vehicle with her. When the doors opened, she followed the others as they stepped out.

A team of what looked like security personnel escorted them inside the building. They took an elevator up to a high-tech-looking floor.

Along the hallway, on the left, adult-sized metal beds were lined up against the walls. Each bed was equipped with a 3D holographic screen. Some were already occupied, while others remained empty.

Someone reached out and took her hand, leading her past the hallway and into another room.

The room was small, windowless, containing only a single bed. A set of white clothing was neatly placed on top.

The style was identical to what the people lying in the metal beds had been wearing.

The vision ended there.

Yu Xi had a feeling that this memory fragment was crucial.

Ya Tong frowned. “So, do you think this is a memory of what happened before you entered the Infinite Train world?”

“No,” Yu Xi shook her head. “That scene also took place within the Infinite Train world.”

She continued, “Every world we’ve visited has been a mission world, and the Infinite Train world is no different. That means there must be a reason why this world became a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

What if we’re in the place that caused it?”

Ya Tong’s brows knitted together. “Are you saying… consciousness invasion?”

“It’s possible,” Yu Xi replied. “But from the looks of it, I willingly entered that place. So I can’t be certain yet.”

They didn’t have enough clues.

The discussion came to a halt once again.

..

Before leaving the hot spring cave, Ya Tong suggested checking if this location was the hidden station. Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful.

Even though the hot spring wasn’t the hidden station, its discovery still excited many travelers. As Yu Xi and Ya Tong were leaving the cave, several groups of travelers who had received the news were already heading toward it.

By now, daytime temperatures in the White Bird Lake area were nearing minus fifty degrees. Even some travelers who had enhanced their physical abilities found it unbearable to step outside. The sudden appearance of a space that was warm as spring (between zero and five degrees) and provided shelter from the blizzard was nothing short of a miracle in their eyes.

A place like this was bound to become a hotspot for conflict. Knowing this, Yu Xi and her team stayed as far away as possible.

The villa they had chosen was far from the lake and the forest, situated near the leisure district.

The shops in the leisure district didn’t have heating as effective as the villas, and it had long been cut off. Additionally, shops weren’t as comfortable as villas for living. Because of this, the area was mostly deserted—except for Lu Yong’s team.

Since their campsites had been close during the outdoor camping period, Lu Yong’s team had interacted with Yu Xi’s group a few times.

The first time was when they couldn’t resist temptation and awkwardly brought over a box of instant noodles, hesitantly asking if they could trade for some fried chicken.

Yu Xi saw the eager young men in their camp craning their necks with hopeful expressions. She accepted the instant noodles and, instead of just giving them a portion of fried chicken, she handed over an entire family meal bucket.

That night, Lu Yong’s camp felt like they were celebrating a festival. They huddled around the fire, happily roasting and heating up the fried chicken while sharing the family meal.

Later, Lu Yong seemed to feel a bit guilty about taking the extra bucket. To make up for it, he sent over two large packs of beef jerky, saying that they had plenty of dried food and could trade again in the future if needed.

Yu Xi and her group always reciprocated, so a few days later, when they made spicy hot pot, they sent a portion to Lu Yong’s team as well.

Despite the exchange of food, Lu Yong’s team didn’t assume they had formed a close friendship. They maintained a respectful distance, which in some ways made both sides feel more at ease.

When Yu Xi’s group decided to relocate to a villa, they informed Lu Yong’s team out of courtesy.

A day later, Lu Yong’s team also quietly moved into a small villa with a fireplace that provided warmth. As before, they kept a safe distance—not too close, not too far.

**

The villa Yu Xi’s team had chosen had long lost central heating, but thanks to Yu Zhenzhen’s bound weapon and Yu Xi’s gasoline generator, the shield was kept up nearly twenty-four hours a day, completely covering the small villa and making it an almost game-breaking advantage.

The villa itself was small, with two floors. The ground floor had a dining area connected to the kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. Upstairs was an open-concept bedroom, a glass terrace, and a large bathroom with separate wet and dry areas.

Because of this layout, the three women stayed upstairs while Lin Wu slept on the couch downstairs.

Yu Xi placed the gasoline generator near the staircase so both floors could use electricity freely. The indoor temperature was maintained between five and ten degrees, thanks not only to the shield but also to several electric heaters.

Another reason they chose this villa was the large indoor electric water heater in the upstairs bathroom, which had a 100-liter capacity.

With the outside world completely frozen and water pipes long frozen over, other travelers had to melt snow for water, making daily life primitive. But Yu Xi could release warm purified water directly into the heater, setting its temperature to 37 degrees. This way, they always had a steady supply of warm running water, making life in the villa much more convenient than camping.

The only real inconvenience was maintaining the shield. With the external temperatures so low, they had to keep the shield running at all times. When Yu Zhenzhen was at the villa, it wasn’t a problem, but whenever she left, Lin Wu and Ya Tong had to take turns maintaining it.

However, unlike Yu Zhenzhen’s bound weapon, their shields consumed durability over time. Although the daily loss wasn’t severe, over time, Yu Xi couldn’t help but feel it was a waste.

So, under the current conditions, Yu Zhenzhen spent most of her time at the villa except when she went out to dig for treasure chests. When she did go out, she worked as quickly as possible to minimize the burden on the others.

At first, their shielded villa went unnoticed, but over time, some travelers began to realize something was off. The shield emitted a faint glow that was barely noticeable during the day but became obvious at night.

Soon, troublemakers started coming by. Some tried using a soft approach, politely proposing an arrangement where they could “help each other out”—offering resources in exchange for permission to stay inside the shielded villa.

When their offer was rejected, they immediately turned hostile and started a fight.

Some didn’t even bother negotiating and attacked outright.

For close-range attackers, Yu Zhenzhen simply activated the shield’s external electric defense—if they ran, fine; if not, they got mowed down by Ya Tong’s MP5.

For long-range attackers, Ya Tong took care of them with her gun. With unlimited ammo and an indestructible shield, their defense system was practically a cheat.

Of course, this “tower defense” setup had its drawbacks. For several days, constant harassment from other travelers meant they couldn’t go out to dig for treasure chests.

Fortunately, they remained patient and prioritized their safety. Besides, thanks to their early efforts, every member of their team had already obtained a train ticket from the treasure chests. They didn’t feel desperate about missing a few days of digging.

As more treasure hunting modes were triggered and more travelers gained the ability to dig for chests, the attention on their villa gradually faded. People became too busy digging, fighting monsters, and collecting resources to bother them anymore.

**

Station Countdown: 29 days, 17 hours, 33 minutes, 25 seconds

Lu Yong visited again, bringing important news—his team had confirmed the location of the hidden station.