Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 270

During those seven days, they wouldn’t be able to leave the spaceship, which wasn’t necessarily a problem. The real concern was the risk of the station reaching its threshold and shutting down unexpectedly. If that happened while they were in transit, the three of them would be in serious danger.

However, if they chose to continue searching for the station on their respective planets, they would still have to participate in Nightmare Amusement Park every night to piece together the clues for the hidden station’s location. The projects in Nightmare Amusement Park were far from safe, meaning they would be teetering on the edge of life and death every night, with no guarantee that they would find the station within seven days.

If one of them was particularly unlucky and took even longer to locate the station, they would still have to take a spaceship in the end to meet up with a teammate who had already found a hidden station.

Right now, Yu Xi’s station was already confirmed. If they chose to travel directly to her, then for those seven days, aside from Yu Xi participating in the Nightmare Amusement Park projects each night, the other three could stay safely aboard the spaceship.

As long as they could reach her successfully, the entire team would be together for the rest of their time in this station. If something went wrong, they could always leave immediately.

From a strategic standpoint, choosing the latter option was more efficient.

Xi Yuan, who had been sitting nearby and watching them discuss, suddenly spoke up, seemingly bored. “Actually, there’s a third option. It’s more roundabout, but it’s the safest.”

The three teammates, who had been deep in analysis and discussion, all paused.

“Who just spoke?” Ya Tong’s voice became wary.

“What’s going on?! Mom, are you okay?” Yu Zhenzhen’s mind instantly filled with a thousand bad possibilities. “Are you being controlled? Are you being kidnapped? Mom—” Yu Xi: …

Lin Wu suddenly thought of something, checked his phone again, and then said, “There’s a new person in our team?”

On Yu Xi’s end, she quickly said, “Hold on a second,” before muting the call. Then, she turned and grabbed Xi Yuan’s fluffy wolf ears. “You have a more roundabout but safer method? And you just didn’t say it earlier?”

“You didn’t ask,” Xi Yuan glanced at her, hesitated for a moment, then couldn’t hold back anymore. “Wait—you… you got married?”

Yu Xi: ???

Thinking that she didn’t want to share her personal affairs with him, the big wolf head pressed against her neck with a grievance. “Your daughter is already that old… Who did you marry?”

“…” Yu Xi was speechless. “She’s from a post-apocalyptic world, just like you.”

“But there still had to be a step where you got married before you had a daughter, right…”

“Shut up.” Yu Xi pinched his babbling wolf mouth. “Now tell me, is there really a third option?”

“Mmhm…” Muzzled, Xi Yuan nodded.

**

The third option was actually quite simple.

Because the hidden station that Xi Yuan knew about wasn’t just this one.

The hidden station in the Frog Prince amusement district was just the station for the gjgw sector. Aside from this one, he also knew the locations of hidden stations on two other sector planets.

The Fairy Tale Amusement Park star system had a total of seven amusement planets open to visitors. Currently, he didn’t know where Yu Xi’s three teammates were exactly, nor how many of them were on the planets he had marked.

However, gjgw was the farthest from the other planets. The travel distance between the other planets was relatively shorter. Even if the stations he marked weren’t on the planets where her teammates currently were, they would still be much closer than coming all the way to gjgw. They could simply take a spaceship to the nearest station and board the train there when the countdown ended.

Once they boarded the train, they would all end up in the same departure hall.

Xi Yuan then opened the theme park’s star system map on his wristband and highlighted the two hidden stations he knew.

Unfortunately, both of those planets had been missed by Lin Wu’s group. But, as Xi Yuan pointed out, if they traveled by spaceship to those stations, it would still be significantly closer than coming directly to gjgw. At most, it would take three to four days to reach them.

After confirming the details with Xi Yuan, Yu Xi unmuted the voice call and rejoined the discussion with her teammates. However, the three of them no longer seemed very interested in her new information.

In fact, while she and Xi Yuan were talking about the station locations, the three of them had already held a small meeting and made their decision.

Ya Tong: “We’ve already decided. We’re taking the spaceship today and heading straight to you. See you in seven days!”

Yu Zhenzhen: “Mom, wait for me. I’m already on my way to the spaceship station. Be careful.”

Lin Wu: “Since we’re a team, it’s better to regroup as soon as possible. It’s more reassuring that way.”

Yu Xi: …

Although none of the three mentioned the unexpected addition to their team, “Xi Yuan,” it was clear that they were all wary of him. Based on Yu Xi’s explanation, they had only encountered him because he had first appeared as an NPC.

He clearly knew about the hidden stations on other planets but didn’t say anything earlier. Only when they decided to come did he bring it up. If things had gone according to his plan, Yu Xi would have spent the rest of the countdown alone with him.

Everyone was smart enough to sense his deliberate intentions.

It wasn’t that they doubted Yu Xi’s ability, but distance made them worry. Especially Yu Zhenzhen—regardless of the other two’s choices, she would have immediately taken a spaceship to find her mother.

Whether it was a three-to-four-day journey or a seven-day one, the difference wasn’t too drastic. It was better to just go together.

**

After ending the call, Yu Xi turned to look at Xi Yuan. He was leaning against the back of the bench, staring blankly at the pink sky above.

If even her teammates had sensed something off, how could Yu Xi not?

However, she could also tell that Xi Yuan had no ill intentions. He simply looked slightly dejected at the moment, muttering about how there were only seven days left and how sad that was…

Yu Xi called his name, saying she was heading to the marketplace in this district. He didn’t respond, still maintaining his lonely, abandoned demeanor.

For someone with a wolf’s head, it was impressive how well he could make such a pitiful expression. Yu Xi stood up, opening her wristband map. “Alright then, you rest. I’ll go take care of some things. See you later.”

She had barely taken two steps when she heard footsteps behind her. The “big husky” pressed his furry ears against her cheek again. “I don’t want to rest. Wherever you go, I’m going with you.”

Expressionless, Yu Xi rubbed his ears, then pushed his wolf head away. “Let’s go.”

For the next seven days, while waiting for her teammates to arrive, she continued shopping during the day and participating in Nightmare Amusement Park at night.

To avoid unnecessary complications, she stayed within the Frog Prince

district the entire time, even rejecting Xi Yuan’s enticing suggestion of taking a spaceship to tour the outer parts of gjgw.During the day, Xi Yuan accompanied her as she went through all the amusement facilities, while also explaining how their night-mode versions worked. This helped Yu Xi better prepare for Nightmare Amusement Park.

Since he hadn’t worked in the daytime recently, he wasn’t selected for the nighttime games. Even if he had been, they likely wouldn’t have been assigned to the same game again. So instead of being able to help her directly, he spent his time detailing all the nighttime facility mechanics to ensure she had a smoother experience.

The fact that he knew the night-mode mechanics of every facility so well meant that he had been in this district for at least half a month.

Compared to the entire amusement park, this was just a small district. Yu Xi couldn’t help but be curious. “Why have you stayed in the Frog Prince district for so long?”

They were currently in a supermarket in a neighboring district, picking up supplies. Xi Yuan placed a large box of candy into the auto-follow shopping cart, hesitated for a moment, then replied, “I just like this story…”

He was waiting for her to ask more, but instead, she simply nodded and continued browsing the shelves.

He quickly caught up to her, lowering his head to look at her face, his gaze settling on her lips. “Aren’t you going to ask why I like this story? Why don’t you care about me at all? Aren’t you even a little curious—”

His giant, chattering wolf mouth was suddenly clamped shut by Yu Xi’s hand. She gave his fluffy ears a quick rub before reaching for items on the shelf. “Stop fooling around. Let’s hurry up. After we’re done here, we’ll take the shuttle to the spaceship station. My teammates are arriving this afternoon.”

“That soon…” Xi Yuan muttered, but still followed after her.

**

On gjgw, since the air fortress covered only one-tenth of the planet, there was only one spaceship station, located near the fortress’s outer edge. The planetary sightseeing ships also departed from there.

Taking the shuttle to the station from their current location would take about an hour and a half.

Yu Xi had only been exploring the Frog Prince district, meaning all seven of her Nightmare Amusement Park experiences took place there. She even had two repeats of the same game, and by now, she was getting sick of it. She had long grown tired of the district’s sights and restaurants. So today, since her teammates were finally arriving, she decided to go pick them up—just as an excuse to get out.

After half an hour of travel, the shuttle began passing through areas outside the amusement districts.

“That’s the farming zone,” Xi Yuan explained as he leaned closer to Yu Xi, seeing her glance outside. “All the fruit, vegetables, and staple grains are produced there. Because of the air fortress, every planet has the same gravity, oxygen levels, and rainfall conditions. Plus, with fully automated mechanical farming, most food and daily necessities here are free.”

“You know, food and supplies are free here, but is it the same outside Fairy Tale Amusement Park?”

“I haven’t been to other star systems. Just like you, my activities are limited to this star system, which has a natural barrier. When receiving the background setting for my NPC identity, it was explained to me in text. Pet Planet was a miraculous world discovered by humans during space exploration. The humanoid beings there developed distinct animal traits over multiple growth stages. It was originally a simple and free world, but due to its technological disadvantage, it was colonized once humans arrived.

At first, humans came for the rare energy minerals. But you know how greed works. Once people have all their basic needs met, they start craving more.

Slowly, smuggling of beastmen from Pet Planet began, initially through underground channels, but it gradually became an open trade.

Now, the entire planet has turned into humanity’s ‘pet garden’… Humans deliberately suppress its technological advancement, control food production and imports. Eventually, beastmen on the planet began willingly selling themselves in exchange for a better life—giving up their freedom and lives to traffickers, or working abroad like me…”

In some ways, Pet Planet was eerily similar to the Subordinate Manufacturing Plant in Xi Yuan’s original world.

These were all living beings, with flesh, blood, and independent thought, yet from birth, they were labeled, given price tags. When he saw his NPC background this time, memories of a distant past resurfaced.

Back then, he had only ever wanted to please his master, hoping not to be discarded. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined a future like this.

He had survived the catastrophe, gained the power to protect himself, and now had the freedom to explore the world.

Fortunately, he had met her.

She had given him the right to choose, treated him like a real human, and taught him that if he wanted something, he had to fight for it himself.

She had saved him, never abandoning him just because he lacked skills, patiently teaching him how to defend himself.

She had believed in him, told him that if someone bullied him, he should fight back—because he was just as real, just as equal as any other natural-born human. He deserved all the same rights.

More importantly, she never acted superior for doing these things. To her, it was just common sense, nothing special.

But she didn’t realize what she meant to people like him.

He and Leng Mian—when they were still weak, she had never ignored or looked down on them. Even when helping, she always did it in the gentlest way possible, ensuring they could accept it—though she never acknowledged this kindness herself.

He and Leng Mian had only met a few times, but he understood him. He also understood why he had spent so many years tirelessly growing stronger, searching for something.

What did Yu Xi mean to them?

To others, she might just be an exceptionally strong individual. But to them, she was their very faith.

Xi Yuan gazed at the woman beside him, his eyes filled with warmth and devotion. To be able to stay with her every moment of every day, just like this, felt like a dream.

There were so many nights when he had dreamed of her, those dreams filled with happiness and warmth. But every time he woke up, they shattered into nothing.

He knew she didn’t belong in this world. One day, when the System Tower’s disasters were finally over, she would leave forever.

So before that day came, he wanted to stay by her side like this—watching her, accompanying her.

At this moment, Xi Yuan, feeling completely satisfied, had no idea what awaited him once her teammates arrived…

**

“Mom—!”

Yu Zhenzhen ran over like a gust of wind, throwing herself into Yu Xi’s arms, clinging to her like an octopus.

Xi Yuan: …

His wolf head trembled. So envious. He wanted to hug Yu Xi like that too, even if he’d be pushed away the next second.

“Good girl.” Instead of pushing her away, Yu Xi hugged her back, gently patting her on the back. “Aren’t you a little too old to be acting spoiled…”

“Uwu…”

The wolf head trembled harder. He was going to die of jealousy!

Hearing the whimpering sound, Yu Zhenzhen finally noticed the source. She turned her head—and froze.

“Holy—!”

At the spaceship station’s exit, lagging slightly behind Yu Zhenzhen, Ya Tong and Lin Wu walked out. But the moment they caught up, they, too, came to a halt.

Lin Wu took one look at the man standing next to Yu Xi—tall, lean, exactly the kind of male teammate he had wanted.

But—why the hell was his head a wolf’s?!