Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 289

The fifth-floor lounge was spacious. Yu Xi was in one corner, while the other person was at the far end.

The faint golden light had a small radius, enveloping only his hand and legs, leaving the rest of him swallowed in the darkness. His hurried footsteps echoed, and the vigilance she hadn’t fully put down surged back up.

Who was it?

Lin Wu?

But the wariness faded just as quickly. Before her eyes could fully make out the figure, she heard his voice.

【Yu Xi, it’s me.】

Her heart pounded violently. In this world, there was only one person who could communicate with her in this way.

Yu Xi unsealed the crystal bubble and bent down to climb out.

Not far ahead, the pale golden light in his hand scattered into tiny, firefly-like specks, illuminating the figure within the darkness.

Yu Xi saw a man walking toward her—tall, cold in appearance, with lake-blue eyes beneath his black bangs. His strides were fast, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of her, pulling her into his arms before she could even react.

Yu Xi spoke in her mind: Xing Min?

【Yes, it’s me.】

He repeated it again, tightening his embrace as he spoke aloud, “I finally found you…”

His voice was low, and his spoken words weren’t as fluid as his transmitted ones, as if he still wasn’t fully accustomed to this language.

Yu Xi could feel the slight tremor in his voice and his hold. He was trying hard to suppress it, but he couldn’t completely hide it.

Only then did she truly understand the weight of his finally.

Since waking up in this world, she had completely lost contact with him. She had already gone through six stations—nearly seven or eight months.

At the same time, Xing Min had lost all news of her. Had he been searching for her this entire time?

She had been propelled forward by the station tasks, unable to stop, but fortunately, she had met one companion after another. So, despite losing Xing Min’s presence, she hadn’t felt lonely. Instead, she had been busy and fulfilled.

But for him, it wasn’t the same. He had worried for her. He had been looking for her every single day.

She had never seen this side of Xing Min—one who would lose composure over something, one who would tremble with relief and lingering fear.

Something softened inside her. She reached out and wrapped her arms around him, gently patting his back in reassurance. “You found me.”

The embrace lasted a long time. He didn’t let go, so she simply let him hold on.

In this cold and eerie darkness, his arms were incredibly warm. Even though she wasn’t weak, she didn’t reject the sense of security he gave her.

He came from a universe beyond her imagination. To this day, she didn’t even know what kind of life form he truly was.

Yet, throughout all this time, across unimaginable distances, he was the one who had been with her through everything. The only one.

Through the endless apocalyptic worlds, through every hardship and triumph, she had slowly grown stronger. He had remained silent most of the time, but he had always been there. She had become accustomed to his presence. When he disappeared, she had felt a strange sense of incompleteness.

If she had never lost him, she wouldn’t have realized just how important he was.

Somewhere along the way, he had become an irreplaceable part of her.

It was a feeling far deeper than simple affection, concern, or fondness. It shook her heart, made it race.

She patted his back and lifted onto her toes, pressing her cheek against his shoulder.

**

A little while later, in the open space on the first floor of the library building, Yu Xi released her glass treehouse.

Clearly, Xing Min’s light arcs could ward off non-physical threats. Now that they had reunited, she wanted to stay somewhere comfortable with him.

After entering the treehouse via the elevator, Xing Min immediately released a layer of pale golden light, forming a thin protective shield around the entire tree and structure.

Seeing this, Yu Xi couldn’t help but remind him, “Why are you activating the shield now? Isn’t that a waste of energy? You should save it for when something actually happens.”

“It’s different now. This doesn’t consume much energy, and this body has no weakness period,” Xing Min replied, glancing around the treehouse. “You’ve been to the Fairy Tale Amusement Park station?”

“Yes. You’ve been there too?” With both the treehouse and Xing Min’s defenses, the cold seemed to dissipate. Yu Xi put away her down jacket, set up a camping lantern on the bar counter, and took out two cups of hot lattes. “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”

“I’m not hungry for now. I went there too, but I think we missed each other in time.” Xing Min sat down beside her at the bar and briefly recounted his experiences over the past months.

He had indeed been searching for her for a long time, but it wasn’t exactly as she had imagined—because now, his identity was the same as hers. He was also a traveler on the Endless Train.

Like her, he had regained consciousness inside a train carriage. He had ten inventory slots, one skill, a train ticket, a phone… The starting items were nearly identical to hers.

Unlike the past, where he could only enter apocalyptic worlds by attaching himself to dying people, this time, he found himself with a completely healthy body.

At first, he thought it belonged to someone else. But when he caught his reflection in the train window, he realized this face looked about seventy to eighty percent similar to his true form.

Especially the eyes—the color and shape were so familiar that they unsettled him.

He hadn’t seen his true body in countless years. That fleeting glance had shaken him. For a moment, he thought his body had actually been reconstructed. But later, after examining himself in a mirror, he noticed the differences.

Some of his species’ distinct features were missing, making him look much more ordinary. The remaining traits were those that closely resembled Yu Xi’s species.

Xing Min had never told Yu Xi before, but his species was also carbon-based. That was why his appearance had certain similarities to hers.

“So, these are your real eyes?” Yu Xi asked, intrigued. She reached out and lightly touched the corner of his eye with her fingertip.

His eyes were strikingly beautiful, the outer corners carrying a subtle upward tilt. They held a cool detachment, yet they weren’t cold. When he looked at her, his gaze was incredibly gentle.

“Mm.” Xing Min responded softly, not dodging her touch. The pink tinge that had barely faded from his ears after she pressed her cheek against his neck reappeared once again.

“This face is supposed to be plain and ordinary?” Yu Xi stared at him in disbelief. “Then what are your species’ unique physical traits?” Surely, he didn’t have six arms or something?

【……】

The familiar silence filled her mind. Yu Xi was speechless for a moment—right, she had been apart from him for so long that she had forgotten he could directly read her thoughts.

She rubbed her forehead. “Can I spend 30 star coins to temporarily block you from reading my thoughts?”

“Star coins and Star Gear functions are currently disabled.” Xing Min’s tone carried a slight note of apology. “Right now, my situation is similar to yours—I can only offer limited assistance.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. Didn’t you just save me?”

“You would’ve been able to handle that thing even without me.” After all, he had spent so much time just to find her, yet she had managed to keep herself safe all along. “As for your thoughts, things are different now. If we’re separated by a certain distance, my ability to sense them weakens. When we’re close, I’ll try not to listen unless it’s an emergency or you actively call for me.”

Yu Xi understood now. When she woke up in the Endless Train world, so had Xing Min. The reason she had been unable to contact him was that they both had physical bodies and traveler identities. They had been on different trains or in different stations, too far apart to sense each other’s thoughts.

What had happened to Xing Min also indirectly confirmed her previous hypothesis about the Endless Train world based on her fragmented memories.

They had likely entered a virtual world linked to the apocalyptic reality of the train. Xing Min, who used to attach himself to dying individuals, had appeared in this world as a resident-turned-traveler, just like many other original inhabitants.

This was why, for the first time, his body was free from its usual periods of weakness.

In this virtual world, everyone started at roughly the same baseline.

“So do you get mission prompts too? Do you also have to find train tickets?”

“Yes, that part works the same for me—” Before Xing Min could finish speaking, he saw Yu Xi pulling out her phone.

“What username did you use? Let’s add each other as friends first, and then I’ll invite you to the team. You took so long to find me; I don’t want us getting separated again!”

“My name hasn’t changed.” As he said this, something occurred to him. “You have a team?”

Yu Xi quickly added him as a friend and a teammate. Just as she was about to explain how she had met past companions and what Cold Cotton had been scheming, the team chat erupted because of her unexpected midnight addition.

Xi Yuan: “!! What’s going on? Why are you adding teammates in the middle of the night? Xing Min? Who is this? Xiao Xi, don’t scare me—wasn’t your place supposed to be completely empty? Is this a person or a ghost?!”

Yu Zhenzhen: “Ugh, so noisy. It’s nighttime for you, but it’s morning here, okay? Stop forgetting about time differences! Mom, who is this guy? A past companion from another apocalypse? Do I know him?”

Ya Tong: “Xing Min? Doesn’t ring a bell. He’s probably not from my original world…”

Yu Zhenzhen: “Wait… why is Wu-ge still missing? Where the hell is he?”

Xi Yuan: “Hold on, Xiao Xi, answer first—are you okay?”

Yu Xi sighed.

All she did was add one teammate, and now all her friends were up in arms.

Yu Xi: “…I’m fine. Xing Min is one of us, don’t worry.”

Yu Zhenzhen: “Xing. Min.—Judging by the name, our new teammate is a handsome guy, right? Hello, I’m my mom’s daughter! You’re in the same time-layer world as my mom now, right? What’s your skill? Defense or combat?”

Ya Tong: “Zhenzhen… Can you wait until you’re done in the bathroom before texting? I’ve been holding it in for ages…”

Xi Yuan: “A male teammate, huh…”

Yu Xi: “…”

Her teammates were way too enthusiastic. So enthusiastic, in fact, that she didn’t even know how to respond.

Yu Xi: “Let’s all focus on our tasks for now. Finding a way to cross the time-layer boundary should be our priority. I’ll reach out to Lin Wu again. He’s smart—I suspect he’s already figured out a way to cross the layers but just hasn’t been able to contact us.”

Her guess was spot on. A few hours later, when she tried reaching out to Lin Wu again, he finally responded.

**

Lin Wu sent a private message to her phone.

Lin Wu: “Sorry, I triggered an event earlier. I got pulled into a memory fragment of a station resident and experienced the original incident firsthand… It’s a bit complicated, so I’ll explain when we meet. For now, tell me—what time-layer world are you in?”

Seeing his message, Yu Xi felt relieved that he was okay. However, his brief words carried a lot of implications, especially the last sentence. She didn’t fully understand it.

Yu Xi: “We can determine what time-layer world we’re in?”

Lin Wu: “Yes, there are clues. Each of our locations is a time-stagnant world, with each world looping within a fixed 24-hour period. Some places still have electricity, working digital clocks, or regular clocks—you can find the time directly from those. Xi Yuan’s world is even easier; he can just ask the resident students what year, month, and day it is.

“But for you, it’s trickier. You’re in a completely sealed-off library, meaning you’re in a dark world. Based on the timeline, it should be many years after the disaster—one of the later time-layer worlds.”

Following Lin Wu’s guidance, Yu Xi packed away the treehouse and started moving with Xing Min.

This time, with Xing Min’s light shield, she had far fewer concerns while exploring. By cross-referencing the library’s borrowing records and old receipts from the drink station, she quickly discovered the time-layer she was in—February 18, 2048.

Lin Wu: “Lucky. That’s a critical time-layer. The rewards dropped here should help piece together the ‘key.’”

Yu Xi: “The key? The key to crossing time layers? What exactly is it?”

Lin Wu: “Have you received any puzzle-piece rewards?”

Yu Xi: “Yes, I have two—wait, don’t tell me…?!”

The moment she sent her message, she realized the truth.

Yes—on the white side of the puzzle pieces, there were words like “Light” and “Dark,” followed by numbers. Those numbers… did they represent different time-layer years, months, and days?

Lin Wu: “Mm, you’ve got it. The puzzle pieces are the key to crossing layers. Pieces from the same time-layer can be combined into a complete puzzle, which serves as the key.”

A moment later, Lin Wu sent another message.

Lin Wu: “Dark 2048.2.18—It’s assembled. I’m coming over now. Wait for me!”