Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 10

“Miss Yu, aren’t you coming with us?” Simon walked over, his face clearly showing disappointment and concern.
She glanced at Fang Zichen and Meng Lu hurrying towards them from a distance, then took a baseball cap from her backpack and put it on, pulling the brim low to cover half her face. “No, there are too many people here. I’m going to check out the northern part of the mountain.”
“But living together, we can look out for each other—”
Simon wanted to say more, but Lin Wu patted him on the shoulder. He glanced at Fang Zichen in the distance and then looked at Yuxi. “We’ve all been assigned to the same hotel for now. If you need anything, you can come find us.”
“Thank you.” Yuxi felt that Lin Wu had probably misunderstood something, but this misunderstanding conveniently explained her desire to stay apart from them, so she didn’t mind.
Yuan Qi, holding her son’s hand and carrying a large travel bag, watched Yuxi leave. Yuan Ning, clutching her wound, sighed, “Let’s go.”
It took Yuxi about forty minutes to reach the northern part of the mountain. At first, there were many people around, but as she turned onto smaller paths, the crowd thinned out. Though people were anxious due to the disaster, order was still maintained, and those who saw her walking alone with a backpack and a large travel bag didn’t give her strange looks, just a passing glance.
After turning a few more paths, she reached a flat area with a well-paved road. Small buildings began to appear on both sides, mostly five or six stories tall, some seven or eight stories. Near the cliff on the north side, she found a small guesthouse. Its location was a bit secluded, but rooms facing north had balconies with a view of the distant scenery.
Originally, these were sea view rooms, but after the tsunami, the city was submerged up to the fourth floor. Now, the view was of a sea of floating debris, with taller buildings standing isolated like islands.
The guesthouse was still in business, and prices hadn’t risen, but breakfast and meal services were no longer available. The island’s industry was weak, relying heavily on shipments for daily supplies, and with supply routes cut off, the limited stock had to be reserved for their own use.
The guesthouse was cheap. Yuxi paid for five days and chose a room on the westernmost side of the fifth floor. The room wasn’t as clean or tidy as a hotel, but it was spacious, about forty square meters, with a wooden interior. To the left of the entrance was the bathroom, to the right a simple coffee bar. Inside were the bed, wardrobe, and sofa. The balcony had floor-to-ceiling sliding doors, was large, and furnished with a round table and two chairs. Since the room was at the west end, the view to the west and north was clear.
There was water and electricity in the room, but both were limited. Service was available from eight to nine in the morning and seven to eight in the evening, with water flow reduced to a quarter of its normal pressure. However, this was still sufficient.
After locking the door, Yuxi took off her shoes and lay on the bed, letting out a long sigh of relief.
In the evening, after a brief nap, Yuxi got up and used hot water stored in her storage to wash her hands and face. She then changed into clean clothes: a soft cotton t-shirt and loose sweatpants. She also took out a pair of slippers for indoor use, leaving her travel shoes by the door.
Feeling settled and satisfied with her room, Yuxi decided to cook dinner herself instead of eating takeout. She started by boiling a liter of bottled mineral water with a solid alcohol stove and a stainless steel kettle. She made a cup of drip coffee, poured the remaining hot water into a thermos, and put it back in her storage. The aroma of the coffee filled the room, making her feel as if she were back in her small apartment.
After enjoying the coffee with a small piece of cheesecake, she began preparing dinner. The guesthouse had a communal kitchen on the first floor, which she had checked out earlier. It was large, but the gas stoves were unusable due to a gas outage. There were two primitive stoves that could burn charcoal or wood, likely meant for guests to experience traditional cooking methods, which suited the current situation well.
However, Yuxi preferred a simpler method and didn’t want to draw attention. She moved the round table from the balcony into the room, cleaned it, and set up a windproof solid alcohol stove, a grill pan, a self-heating pot, and camping utensils. She took out 500 grams of sliced pork belly, a head of lettuce, a cucumber, a few scallions, salt, pepper, cumin seasoning, and three or four cloves of garlic. She also filled a disposable cup with barbecue sauce.
First, she added an appropriate amount of rice to the self-heating pot, washed it with stored water, then added bottled mineral water and heated it with the alcohol stove. Once it reached a certain temperature, she removed it from the stove and let it cook on its own.
She temporarily extinguished the solid alcohol in the alcohol stove, then quickly washed the pork belly, lettuce, cucumber, and scallions. She drained the lettuce, cut the cucumber into strips, the scallions into sections, and sliced the garlic. She also patted the pork belly dry with a paper towel.
With all the preparations done, she re-lit the solid alcohol and placed the grill pan on top. Using chopsticks, she placed the pork belly on the grill pan. It wasn’t long before the pork belly started to sizzle and release oil as the temperature increased, emitting an irresistible aroma. Watching the cooking process, she waited until one side turned a slightly charred golden color before flipping the pork belly.
The solid alcohol provided sufficient heat, and the supermarket-sliced pork belly was just the right thickness. It cooked quickly and needed no additional seasoning. Once both sides were a slightly charred golden color, she cut the meat into small pieces with scissors, sprinkled a little salt and black pepper, and left it on the grill pan to keep warm.
The rice was ready as well. She took a piece of lettuce, added a bit of the soft, sticky rice, dipped a piece of pork belly in barbecue sauce, and placed it on the rice. Then she added a cucumber strip, two sections of scallion, a slice of garlic, and sprinkled some cumin barbecue powder on top. Wrapping everything in the lettuce, it was ready to eat.
The crisp sweetness of the lettuce and cucumber, the flavorful pork belly, the savory barbecue sauce, and the fragrant rice combined to create a dish so delicious it felt like having the whole world in her hands. Each lettuce wrap was perfectly sized for two bites, delivering a satisfying experience with each one.
She paired her meal with a cup of coconut jelly drink. Unfortunately, these lettuce wraps were quite filling, and she felt full after just two. Changing her approach, she started eating the pork belly with garlic slices, dipping them in barbecue sauce and cumin powder, and occasionally munching on cucumber or lettuce.
Afterward, much of the rice remained, but the pork belly, cucumber, and lettuce were all gone. She transferred the remaining rice into a soup bowl and placed it in her storage to keep warm. It would be ready to eat next time without needing to be reheated.
With few dishes to clean, tidying up was quick. In just five minutes, everything was washed and put away. She washed her face and hands again, then relaxed on the sofa with her dessert—sweet, chewy, cold, and refreshing coconut jelly drink, her favorite from the milk tea shop.
Feeling satisfied and grateful after dinner, she reflected on how a homebody’s greatest joy was waiting for takeout and enjoying delicious food in the comfort of home. Watching TV shows or movies while eating would make it even better.
“Next time, I’ll have to put my 256GB tablet in the storage,” she thought. However, she wasn’t sure if the next apocalyptic world would have such peaceful moments.
xxx
Yuxi had been staying at the guesthouse for three days. Each day, she spent an hour or two doing some physical training on the small balcony, then about half an hour sketching. At mealtimes, she would lock the doors and windows and use her solid alcohol stove to cook simple meals.
There was no need to eat instant noodles for every meal. Some delicious dishes were quite easy to prepare. For instance, hot pot could be made by frying ginger, garlic, and hotpot seasoning with cooking oil in a camping pot, then adding water. She could then cook the beef and lamb slices, tripe, vegetables, duck blood, konjac, and various meatballs she had bought from the supermarket, enjoying the hot pot with rice.
Similarly, spicy stir-fry could be made by frying ginger, garlic, cooking oil, and hotpot seasoning without adding water, then adding shrimp, luncheon meat, beef and lamb slices, vegetables, mushrooms, and meatballs. Served with rice, each bite was filled with happiness and satisfaction.
Every day, she went out to check the situation and looked for a way to leave L Island. The number of people in the hotel area on Sea view mountain was increasing daily as more survivors and injured were rescued, but there was still no news of external rescue.
Her earlier speculation was correct—the tsunami’s impact was extensive. After all, it was an apocalyptic world. If the disaster were limited to a small area, it wouldn’t be called an apocalypse.
The tsunami struck suddenly, and apart from those lucky enough to be in tall buildings, most people lost their belongings in the flood. Thus, there were few self-paying guests. The guesthouse owner and his wife had posted room prices in multiple languages on the glass door but spent most of their time in a first-floor room.
Three days passed, and while the water level didn’t recede, it also didn’t rise further. The temperature, however, dropped significantly. One morning, when Yuxi opened the balcony door, a cold wind hit her, making her shiver.
The long-sleeve shirt she wore was insufficient against the cold. She quickly closed the door, fetched a lightweight down jacket from her storage, and put it on. She also added thermal pants under her sweatpants before reopening the balcony door.
The outdoor temperature was about seven or eight degrees Celsius. L Island’s temperature usually ranged between twenty-five and thirty-five degrees. Dropping below twenty degrees was already unusual, but it had fallen another ten degrees overnight.
She zipped up her down jacket, feeling the warmth but still sensing a chill inside. Suddenly, she realized that another disaster had quietly begun.
There was no waiting to escape L Island and return to S City for the cold disaster to start. Both disasters were happening simultaneously!