Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Chapter 329: (Extra 3)

Outside the door, Yu Jun was still rambling on about something, but whether it was because of Yu Xi’s wrist-lock or the kick, he didn’t dare to bang on the door anymore.

Since he refused to leave, Yu Xi directly called building management. A short while later, someone from the property office arrived, and voices of persuasion could be heard in the hallway. Perhaps because an outsider was now involved and he wanted to save face, Yu Jun finally left.

Before he left, he sent another message to Yu Zhenzhen, saying he’d thought things through and that he really loved her. He didn’t want a divorce. They had been each other’s first love, had been together for so many years, and now had a lovely daughter. He didn’t want to tear this family apart. He asked her to think it over carefully, saying that even if not for him, then for the sake of their daughter, she shouldn’t act on impulse. He insisted he had never done anything to betray her, and asked how she could bear to let their daughter face the cruel reality of her parents splitting up at such a young age?

When Yu Xi walked into the room, Yu Zhenzhen was holding a towel in one hand and her phone in the other, eyes downcast as she read the message, her expression heavy.

She looked up when she saw Yu Xi come in, set the phone aside, and continued wiping Tianbao’s face. The little one had cried herself into a tear-streaked mess, eyelashes still damp. Now, watching cartoons, she kept glancing nervously at Yu Zhenzhen’s face, her eyes filled with unease and caution. In her soft baby voice, she asked if Mommy and Daddy had been fighting, and when they would be going back home.

Children are the most sensitive. Even if they don’t understand what divorce means, they know when they’re not in their own home. And to her, Daddy was still Daddy. If possible, she wanted her parents to never fight again.

Yu Zhenzhen’s eyes dimmed. She stroked Tianbao’s head in silence.

Yu Xi glanced at the phone Yu Zhenzhen had just put down, then stepped forward to pick Tianbao up, gently kissing her clean little face. “Tianbao doesn’t like living with Auntie? This is also home — for you and Mommy. Auntie is Mommy’s little sister. Didn’t you say you wanted a little brother? Auntie and Mommy were born from the same mommy, and we grew up together. We’re family too!”

If this had happened before, and if Yu Zhenzhen had decided to give Yu Jun another chance and take Tianbao back to S City, Yu Xi wouldn’t have stopped her. Yu Zhenzhen wasn’t the type to be soft. She was strong, smart, and always knew what she wanted — Yu Xi would absolutely respect her decision.

But now, everything was different. Too many sudden changes had happened to Yu Xi. That unexplained sense of unease, the constant downpours… To others, it might all seem like normal weather — typhoon season, several days of heavy rain, even floods in a few cities — all natural events. But Yu Xi no longer believed it was that simple.

She couldn’t say for sure that something would happen, but she knew it was necessary to prepare.

Over the past few days, she had been spinning the prize wheel on the app embedded in her digital watch every time it reset. So far, her rewards had included: one item, one piece of wisdom, and one piece of advice.

The item, a third-place prize, was an automatically inflating rubber boat with a built-in waterproof and windproof triangular tent.

The boat’s exterior looked like a small white diesel barrel — about half a meter long and forty centimeters wide. In an emergency, you just had to yank the outer cord, and it would fully inflate within fifteen seconds into a safety raft that could hold around eight people.

Along with the boat, she also received two manually attachable boat engines, two 200L fuel barrels filled with gasoline, ten 50L portable fuel tanks, four life jackets, four oars, and various repair tools and spare parts.

This whole collection had appeared in her space out of nowhere and had truly shocked her.

After all, she had just been worrying about how to get gasoline for the generator she bought — and now she’d drawn gasoline directly, seemingly as a “bonus” with the boat. But a full 900L of gasoline? That was one heck of a “bonus.”

For reference, Yu Zhenzhen’s car had a 60L fuel tank. Under normal use, it needed to be refueled twice a month. That meant 900L could fully refuel the car 15 times — enough for 7 to 8 months of use.

And yet, all of this was still just considered a third-place reward. Even the ten gold bars worth 400,000 yuan she had drawn earlier had only been marked as a third-place prize. So what kind of items could possibly come with a second- or first-place prize?

As for the “words of wisdom” and “advice,” they had been second- and third-place level respectively:

— “Fitness training is always worth it”

— “Low-floor housing comes with hidden dangers”

After multiple spins, she had begun to understand: “words of wisdom” were more like helpful tips — useful but not mandatory. But “advice” was a clear warning. Even if it wasn’t immediately obvious, it was best to follow it.

And as luck would have it, Yu Zhenzhen’s house in S City was indeed a low-floor unit. She had bought it early after getting married — one of those four-story walk-ups, five floors if you counted the garage level.

Yu Zhenzhen’s house was located just one floor above the garage — less than two meters from the ground, making it a true ground-level residence.

Meanwhile, Yu Xi’s small apartment, counting from the garage level, was a full nine stories high. After receiving that “advice,” there was no way she’d let Yu Zhenzhen take Tianbao back to live there.

Their parents and older relatives were no longer around. On their mother’s side, there were a few cousins — their maternal uncles — but because their grandparents had passed away early, there hadn’t been much contact. When they were young, they would still visit during the New Year, but after their mother’s passing, they had essentially lost touch.

Their father’s side had a few siblings — cousins and uncles — but after their parents died in an accident, although they all claimed they would take care of the sisters, they were clearly eyeing the family’s house, savings, and compensation money behind the scenes.

Luckily, Yu Zhenzhen had already turned eighteen at the time. She was strong-willed and managed to block all the nonsense outside their lives.

She refused any help from relatives, saying she could take care of herself and Yu Xi, and that their family’s assets didn’t need “guardianship” or “protection.”

To Yu Xi, Yu Zhenzhen and Tianbao were her most important — and only — family. There was no way she’d let them just return to that place.

**

Fortunately, Yu Zhenzhen had only been momentarily swayed by a few words from Tianbao.

As for Tianbao, under Yu Xi’s full-out attack of a complete doll set + dollhouse + doll clothing, she quickly forgot about Yu Jun suddenly showing up.

She might miss her father, but only when she saw him. Back in S City, Yu Jun was mostly busy working or doing overtime. It was always Yu Zhenzhen who stayed home, juggling work and raising her. She had long adapted to a life where it was just her and her mom — and now she had a little aunt who doted on her too.

“But even if the divorce is finalized, I can’t stay at your place forever. Tianbao has to go back to kindergarten too.”

Of course, Yu Zhenzhen didn’t plan to return to the home she shared with Yu Jun. Her intention was to move back into their parents’ old house.

That place was small and dated. After Yu Xi moved to H City, it had been left empty. There was nothing valuable inside — the personal belongings of their parents had already been packed away by the sisters. When Yu Zhenzhen came to H City this time, she brought those keepsakes with her.

The old house held their childhood memories with their parents. Plus, it wouldn’t sell for much, so they’d just left it as it was.

Yu Zhenzhen’s original plan was to move back there temporarily with Tianbao after the divorce was finalized. Once the house shared with Yu Jun was sold and she got her share, she’d decide whether to renovate the old home or buy a new one.

But it would be impossible to handle all that while staying in H City.

What made things even more frustrating was that, for some reason, Yu Jun seemed dead set on patching things up this time. After Yu Xi kicked him out that day, he didn’t go back to S City. Instead, he checked into a hotel near their neighborhood and stayed.

Every day, like clockwork, he sent Yu Zhenzhen messages — sometimes reminiscing about the past, other times begging her to reconcile.

Back when he first pursued Yu Zhenzhen, it had been the same. She was focused on her studies and working part-time, and she rejected him multiple times. But he was relentless, hanging around her all day, trying to get noticed, buying her food, fetching water, bringing snacks… and eventually, he won her over.

He always said what he liked most was Yu Zhenzhen’s proud and independent spirit. But after they married and had a child, their biggest arguments were because of that very trait. He accused her of being too strong, too much of a perfectionist — exhausting to live with.

If you asked Yu Xi, that was textbook scumbag talk. When he liked her, it was “pride.” When he didn’t, it became “too intense and hard to live with.” Why didn’t he ever talk about how he ran around working all day yet still made less than Yu Zhenzhen, who worked from home?

Useless men always love blaming others.

Yu Zhenzhen thought Yu Jun would stay at most two days in H City — his company in S City deducted pay heavily for time off, and he was usually reluctant to lose money.

But to her surprise, he stayed three, four days.

During those three or four days, it kept raining. Sometimes the rain came with strong winds. The temperature dropped from over 30°C down to around 18 or 19. Yu Xi’s military training at school was completely called off.

Her classmates were overjoyed. The school’s military training was famously intense, lasting 30 whole days. Now they were getting time off every day. Even if they could only lounge in the dorms, play games, and eat snacks, it was a blessing.

The instructors, of course, didn’t want to give up. Occasionally, they still gathered students indoors for some limited training, but with so many people and not enough space, everyone had to take turns. Getting just one or two hours of activity a day was already pushing it.

What was supposed to be a hellish month-long military camp had turned into a daily festival. Rain-soaked and soggy as they were, everyone was still thrilled.

Yu Jun not only messaged every day, he even braved the rain to bring gifts for Tianbao.

Annoyed, Yu Zhenzhen originally wanted to leave Tianbao with Yu Xi while she went back with him to finalize the divorce and get the house sale started — to cut things clean and never be bothered again.

But Yu Jun refused, saying he’d rather die than get a divorce. If she didn’t forgive him, he’d stay in H City forever.

Yu Zhenzhen: …

She was already overwhelmed juggling work and childcare every day. Since he wanted to drag things out, she couldn’t be bothered to rush him. Besides, Yu Xi was firmly against her traveling back to S City in the middle of all this rain, so for now, everything was put on hold.

But Yu Xi was even more fed up than Yu Zhenzhen with Yu Jun showing up every single day. She had to spend time every day running errands, picking up deliveries, and stocking up supplies. With Yu Jun constantly appearing, not only did she feel uneasy, it wasn’t good for Tianbao either.

So she decided to pay a personal visit to the hotel he was staying at, intending to have a “talk” with him. But what she saw instead was Yu Jun entering the hotel with a young woman hanging all over him.

The woman clearly liked Yu Jun. As they passed through the lobby, she clung to his waist, not letting go for even a second.

Yu Jun muttered something about being careful, that they were in H City and couldn’t let Yu Zhenzhen see them, but his hands were honest — gliding over the woman’s waist, clearly enjoying her tenderness and attention, his eyes full of himself.

It was the first time Yu Xi appreciated her enhanced physical abilities. Even though she was seated far away in a corner of the hotel lobby, as long as she focused, she could clearly hear every word of their conversation.

She even pulled out her phone and took several photos and video clips of their lovey-dovey behavior.

So this woman was the colleague from Yu Jun’s company he had been flirting with. Judging from their interaction, they had definitely gone far past first base — probably all the way, and more than once.

Yu Jun hadn’t come to reconcile sincerely — he was there because of the mistress’s suggestion, purely for the house.

Because the property was registered in both Yu Jun’s and Yu Zhenzhen’s names, a divorce meant it would be split evenly.

After divorce, Yu Jun would either have to sell the house or buy out Zhenzhen’s half. He didn’t want to do either, and neither did the mistress.

But Yu Jun had stayed in H City for several days without going back. The mistress was likely getting anxious, afraid he might actually reconcile with Yu Zhenzhen, so she came after him and stayed at the hotel with him.

Yu Jun knew Zhenzhen would never stoop to checking on him, so he got bold — cheating right under her nose.

Yu Xi recorded the evidence and instantly scrapped the idea of “talking” with him. Now that she had solid proof of his infidelity during the marriage, she had a hundred ways to deal with him.

She quickly drove home. On the way, she passed an outdoor gear store and went in to buy two tents, some camping stoves, and two survival backpacks.

The survival backpacks were fully equipped — from candles and lighters to heated blankets and climbing ropes.

Lately, her luck at the app’s lottery spins had been great. All her prizes had been items — wide-ranging and ridiculous, easing her anxiety about not having enough supplies stocked up.

One time she got a “100-cup milk tea set.”

This milk tea wasn’t the kind you brew at home. It looked freshly made from a bubble tea shop — half were hot, half cold, ranging from classic brown sugar boba to fancier flavors like cheese-Oreo matcha. About a dozen varieties, each cup neatly boxed, with straws included. It was jaw-dropping.

Another spin gave her a “medical supplies kit” — a portable medicine box packed with all kinds of essentials for both adults and children, enough to last them for the next two years.

The third time, she got a second-place prize — an item that truly shocked her: a small bottle of pink “perfume” that turned out to be a flamethrower.

It came with a detailed manual explaining how to adjust flame size, duration of use, maximum temperature, and so on…

Holding that bottle of “perfume” that day, she couldn’t explain it — though it was such a deadly weapon, it somehow gave her a strange sense of warmth and security.

That day, when Yu Xi stepped out of the elevator, she noticed things were lively again on their floor. From a distance, she could hear Tianbao’s sweet little voice. She wasn’t crying this time — it sounded like she was chatting with someone, full of curiosity, and even asked if she could touch their eyes.

…Eyes?

Yu Xi had barely walked a few steps when she saw Tianbao and Yu Zhenzhen standing outside the door of the first apartment on the hallway. That unit had always been unoccupied until now, but today there were several people inside, seemingly arranging boxes.

Yu Xi thought of the moving truck she had seen earlier on the main road of the complex. Could it have been for this apartment?

Still, moving in weather like this — pouring rain — wasn’t that a bit much?

Just as she was thinking that, the tall man who had been chatting with Tianbao turned around — and revealed a face that could only be described as stunning.

But what caught Yu Xi’s attention the most were his eyes.

His features were sharply defined — still within the realm of an East Asian face — but his eyes were a striking, clear water-blue, like a deep, pure mountain lake glowing under summer sunlight.

When he saw her, his eyes lit up with a smile, and his voice was gentle as he spoke:

“Hello, I’m your new neighbor.”