Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 15

After transporting the barrels to the boat, Lin Wu signaled Yuan Ning to start the speedboat and prepare to leave, while he and Simon planned to return and rescue Yuxi. Although she was using the fire to threaten their pursuers, she would lose that advantage once she turned to leave.
However, just as they jumped down to the speedboat, they saw Yuxi walking briskly towards them, struggling to drag a barrel of fuel.
“I threatened them into throwing the spear gun into the water. They’re circling around the side now. Let’s go quickly!”
“Got it!” Lin Wu took the portable barrel from her and pushed her onto the speedboat. Though there were still three barrels left on the roof, the priority was to leave safely with the majority of the fuel.
Once everyone was on board, Yuan Ning turned the boat around and sped away from the gas station.
Behind them, another spear gun was fired, grazing the back of the speedboat and landing in the water. It turned out that the other wooden boat also had a spear gun and, having retreated earlier, was now able to chase after them more quickly.
Lin Wu was relieved that he hadn’t hesitated over the remaining diesel barrels.
The two wooden boats pursued from either side, but being rowboats, they were too slow. In no time, the speedboat had left them far behind.
On the way back, Yuxi’s heart was still pounding, and Simon, sitting in the upper cockpit, remained silent, partly from nerves and partly because he was still cold from his time in the water.
“Drink some hot water,” Yuxi said, handing him the thermos Yuan Qi had prepared. She didn’t mind sharing her supplies, especially with someone in need.
Simon took a few sips of hot water, warming up slightly. “Were those people Sea view mountain survivors?”
“Probably not. They came by wooden boats. Sea view mountain is too far for them to risk rowing all the way.”
Yuan Ning navigated carefully through the buildings. “L Island is large, and there must be other survivors. Now that everyone knows there won’t be immediate rescue, they’ll become more ruthless for supplies.”
Yuxi nodded. “It’s not safe to keep this much fuel on the speedboat.”
Hearing this, Lin Wu said, “Then let’s not wait. We’ll leave today.”
Lin Wu and Simon had brought their backpacks with essential supplies, knowing their rooms weren’t safe. They could bypass the hotel district and head directly to the mountains near the guesthouse to pick up Yuan Qi.
Yuxi mentioned she didn’t leave anything important in her room, as she carried everything vital in her backpack. They decided that Yuxi and Yuan Ning would stay on the speedboat while Lin Wu and Simon went to fetch Yuan Qi and her son.
“There are many branches in the room. Bring as many as you can. We need to make fires to stay warm in this cold. Also, don’t forget the plastic sheeting we traded for,” Yuan Ning reminded them.
The return journey was smooth. Following Simon’s directions, they stopped at a slope near the guesthouse area, where the water was shallow.
Lin Wu inflated the rubber dinghy and, with two paddles, he and Simon rowed to the shore.
No one had cleared the snow, so they made makeshift snow shoes using branches for better traction and used the paddles to clear the snow as they climbed.
Yuan Ning used the walkie-talkie to contact Yuan Qi, instructing her to pack and prepare Yuan Yuan for warmth while Lin Wu and Simon came to get them.
Meanwhile, she and Yuxi checked the fuel. They had eleven 30-liter barrels and twenty-two 50-liter barrels, having used one 50-liter barrel to fill the speedboat’s fuel tank, leaving twenty-one.
They took another 30-liter and 50-liter barrel to refill the tank, securing the empty barrels to the sides of the boat with ropes.
The fuel should be enough, and even if they ran out before reaching the mainland, they could use the rubber dinghy to row the rest of the way, ensuring they wouldn’t be stranded at sea.
Their main concern was the weather, hoping to avoid another severe storm like the one a few days ago.
Two hours later, Lin Wu and Simon returned with Yuan Qi and her son. Yuan Ning adjusted the course, heading north.
The upper semi-open cockpit was now shielded with plastic sheeting tied with ropes, providing some wind protection. The rear ladder was also covered with thick plastic, which could be tied and untied as needed for entry, significantly improving warmth.
They also brought all the branches Yuan Ning had collected, neatly bundled and stacked on the left side of the cockpit.
They brought along the cooking pot as well, trading more food with the guesthouse owner for two large pots.
One pot was kept as a backup, while the other two were placed in the cockpit and the cabin below, ready to burn branches for warmth in the extreme cold.
To keep the cabin warm, most of the thirty barrels of diesel were moved to the open rear section of the speedboat, with a few moved to the front railing area. These were first secured with ropes and then covered with thick plastic sheeting, which was also tightly fastened.
The cabin wasn’t large, with two rows of seats on either side, a row of cabinets and portholes at the front, and a spacious central aisle. When Lin Wu went to pick up Yuan Qi, he packed all the blankets and quilts from their room to bring along, making it possible to sleep on the floor at night.
Yuan Ning’s wound hadn’t fully healed, making long hours of driving impossible. She taught Yuxi and Simon how to operate the speedboat and read the instrument panel. However, Yuan Ning remained responsible for navigation and direction.
Yuan Qi and her son stayed in the cabin below. She laid out plastic sheeting and blankets on one side of the aisle for her son to draw on, while she used a solid alcohol stove on the cabinet to cook simple meals like noodles or hot porridge. The noodles were instant, and the porridge included chopped carrots and ham, accompanied by biscuits and vacuum-packed bread. The goal was simply to keep warm and full, as they could temporarily endure less appetizing meals while at sea.
Initially, Yuxi worried about the water supply. Lin Wu opened the cabinet doors in the cabin, revealing a neatly arranged stock of seven or eight 5-liter bottles of mineral water, a box of instant noodles, a 50-kilogram bag of rice, a box of canned luncheon meat, a box of canned fruit, a box of chocolates, and a small box of solid fuel. They had enough food and water to last everyone for more than a week.
Yuxi realized why Lin Wu hadn’t returned with Yuan Qi and Simon from the supermarket that day. He had planned from the beginning to secretly stockpile supplies on the speedboat. In such a large mall, there was likely more than one staircase, and Lin Wu must have learned about a faster route from Simon. The unopened boxes of food likely came from the warehouse.
Apologetically, Lin Wu explained that the secret stockpile on the speedboat had been a contingency plan he discussed with Yuan Ning and Simon, never expecting to actually use it. Going to sea was too risky, and only the deteriorating situation had pushed him to take such a bold step.
Yuxi didn’t mind. It was normal to have secrets among newfound companions, especially in a disaster. As long as they had no harmful intentions and weren’t delusional about saving everyone, they were allies in her eyes.
If everything went well, they would see land in three days, assuming ten hours of travel per day at 400 nautical miles.
They set off at noon, traveling north for five hours until the vast sea began to show floating debris and ship remnants. After stopping for dinner, Yuxi took over the helm.
By now, it was past six in the evening, and the sky was dark and gloomy with low visibility. Simon and Yuan Ning stayed by her side to help navigate.
After another hour of sailing, the sea became increasingly littered with debris. Yuan Ning directed Yuxi to adjust their course slightly to the one o’clock direction to bypass the area.
Soon, dark silhouettes appeared at the ten o’clock direction, some with flickering lights among them.
“What’s ahead?”
“The Capital Island, or what’s left above water,” Simon said, looking somberly at the once-thriving island.
The Capital Island had no high mountains like Wanghaishan and mostly high-rise buildings. It faced a much greater impact during the tsunami.
Simon felt a deep sadness, realizing that almost the entire island nation had been destroyed.
Not long after passing the Capital Island, the Star House system notified Yuxi in her mind.
【World Task 1: Escape L Island completed. Host earns 10 star coins. Total star coins: 10】
At eight in the evening, they stopped in a relatively calm sea area to rest for the night.
This was Yuxi’s first night at sea. Feeling nervous and worried, she couldn’t sleep and took the first watch, mainly staying at the upper cockpit to monitor the weather.
Bored during her watch, she took out a sketchbook and pencil, drawing the remnants of the Capital Island and their small speedboat on the vast ocean.
The night grew colder, so Yuxi lit a brazier, opened the plastic curtain a bit to ventilate, stuck two warming pads inside her clothes, and wrapped herself in a blanket. Only then did she feel somewhat warmer. She checked the thermometer next to the helm: minus 20 degrees Celsius. Though it was just a typical low temperature, considering they were in tropical waters, it was hard to imagine how cold it would get as the speedboat traveled north into subtropical and temperate zones.
After Yuxi, Simon and Lin Wu each took their turns on night watch.
At five in the morning, while Yuxi was catching up on sleep in the cabin, Yuan Ning, who had rested all night, continued steering the boat north by dawn’s early light. The weather had been stable since they set off, but she didn’t know how long this calm would last. Naturally, the sooner they reached land, the better.
For the next two days, the speedboat alternated between running and resting. They ensured ten hours of travel each day while allowing the engine to rest appropriately. Lin Wu, who understood mechanics, diligently checked the speedboat daily, never letting his guard down.
They passed by several scattered islands, all showing signs of tsunami devastation. Occasionally, they spotted other boats or dinghies when they navigated close to the islands. However, they remained cautious, steering clear at the first sight of other vessels. With their limited manpower and abundant supplies, they couldn’t risk encountering people like the spear gun man again.
On the third night, they faced a significant issue: they were running out of fuel.
“We have less than one tank left, enough for only two more hours of travel. But we are still far from land, needing at least four to five more hours, maybe even more,” Yuan Ning explained during dinner, detailing their current situation. “Additionally, this speedboat isn’t equipped with a satellite phone, and our cell phones have no signal.”
“Understood,” Lin Wu nodded. “We’ll keep going as much as we can. If we can’t make it, we’ll use the rubber dinghy to row the rest of the way. The closer we get to the coast, the more likely we’ll encounter other ships. As long as we maintain the correct direction, we will make it.”
“Yes, let’s stay positive. We’ve managed two and a half days; we just have half a day left. We can do this!” Simon encouraged everyone.
Yuan Qi brought out some canned fruit and chocolates, asking everyone to help open the cans. “It’s already dark. Let’s rest well tonight and check the fuel barrels again tomorrow morning to see if any aren’t completely empty.”
Yuxi remained silent, knowing that abandoning the speedboat for the dinghy was highly risky. The speedboat’s radar had a maximum range of 20 nautical miles. If they didn’t spot the coastline on the radar before running out of fuel, they could easily lose direction on the vast ocean, even with the physical strength to row over 20 nautical miles.
That night, when it was her turn to keep watch, Yuxi quietly went to the front of the speedboat for a moment. The portable fuel barrels, which had been placed at both ends of the boat and refueled earlier, were still neatly arranged. They hadn’t been discarded because they could weigh down the boat during rough seas and because the crew wasn’t in the habit of throwing trash into the ocean.
She untied the secured ropes, paused briefly, and then retied them.
The next day, Simon, who had the first watch, got up early to inspect all the fuel barrels, hoping to scrounge up any remaining fuel. When he moved from the rear to the front of the speedboat, he made a surprising discovery and exclaimed with joy, “There’s fuel! This barrel in the corner is full! Oh my God! A whole barrel! Wait—this one is full too… Three barrels! We have three barrels of diesel! We must have missed them during the previous checks!”
Yuxi, resting in the cabin during her official off-duty sleep, listened to the joyous shouts outside and lightly curled her lips.
Knowing the importance of fuel, how could she have overlooked any?
The spear gun man’s group had seen the barrels, but it didn’t matter. They wouldn’t be meeting again, and she just needed to ensure Lin Wu and the others didn’t see her actions.
As for the three barrels of diesel, Simon and Yuan Qi might be easily fooled, but Lin Wu and Yuan Ning would surely have some suspicions. However, without direct evidence, even if they found it hard to explain and had their doubts, they wouldn’t jump to conclusions.
Besides, she had already planned to use the “disguise lipstick” once they reached the mainland. It was better to remain in single-player mode for the remainder of the mission.
She was growing increasingly frustrated with the monotonous meals of instant noodles, plain porridge, and canned fruit. She had only scratched the surface of the diverse and delectable dishes stored in her Star House storage: pizza, crispy roast duck, Sichuan and Hunan cuisine, Northeastern dishes, various braised duck wings and feet, fried chicken—she hadn’t had any of these.
She was willing to share, but she couldn’t take them out. In the end, she could only retrieve some coconut cakes, vacuum-sealed meats, pork jerky, instant coffee packets, small cans of potato chips, and spicy sticks from her backpack to share and alleviate her frustration.
Around eight in the morning, while Yuxi was having breakfast in the cabin, she felt the speedboat gradually slow down. A moment later, Simon came down from the upper deck: “Come quickly and take a look.”
Yuxi and Yuan Qi, along with her son, bundled up in down jackets, put on their hoods, and fully armed themselves before stepping out of the cabin. The temperature had dropped further; it was already below minus 30 degrees Celsius in the early morning. It had slightly warmed up, but only by three or four degrees. Yuan Yuan now had to be wrapped in a blanket whenever he went outside.
Fortunately, apart from the cold, they hadn’t encountered any other extreme weather. The sea remained calm, like a vast mirror.
Yuxi thought Simon was in a hurry because they had spotted land. However, when she stood by the railing and looked through the plastic sheeting, she saw the sea ahead was covered with dense floating ice.
The ice was thin and irregularly shaped, translucent with a shallow white color. The pieces varied in size but generally had a diameter of less than ten centimeters, with some smaller pieces sticking together.
The speedboat’s bow easily broke through the clusters of stuck-together ice pieces.
“It’s sea ice,” Yuxi noted. She had researched sea ice before. Sea ice is frozen seawater, considered a natural hazard. Judging by the state of the ice around them, it was likely newborn ice, formed in calm, cold seawater, easily crushed by the boat’s forward motion.
However, as they approached the continental shelf, the sea ice would become more solid, with thicknesses increasing from the current thin sheets to 10 to 30 centimeters, sometimes even reaching one to three meters. The diameter of the ice could grow from ten centimeters to one meter, or even three to four meters.
Such ice could halt any vessel that wasn’t an icebreaker.
Sea ice was originally a phenomenon unique to polar and high-latitude seas. It was unexpected to encounter it in the subtropical zone.
“What should we do now? Can we still move forward?” Yuan Qi asked anxiously.
“We have no choice but to move forward,” Yuan Ning said, pushing the throttle. “Let’s hope the situation ahead isn’t too bad.”
After more than half an hour, the surrounding sea ice visibly grew larger and thicker, changing color from translucent white to gray. As the bow collided with the ice, they could clearly hear the sound of the ice cracking.
When the ice turned grayish-white, the speedboat stopped again, this time forced to halt.
“We can’t go any further. The ice is too thick for the speedboat to break through, and there’s no gap to navigate through,” Yuan Ning said, pounding the helm in frustration. They were so close to the mainland, only to be trapped here?
“How much diesel do we have left?” Lin Wu asked Simon.
“We added a barrel to the tank this morning, and there are two barrels left,” Simon replied, realizing Lin Wu’s plan. “You want to use fire to melt the ice? But with so much ice, using diesel to melt it might leave us without enough fuel to reach the mainland.”
Fire?
Simon’s words reminded Yuxi. She looked at the silent group and said, “If we just need fire to melt the ice, I might have a solution.”
A few minutes later, they were all standing at the front of the speedboat, staring in silence at the object in Yuxi’s hand. The crystal glass bottle was beautiful, about ten centimeters long, with an arched body made of translucent pink glass. There was even a crystal bow on the upper part of the bottle. In her slender fingers, it looked exactly like… a bottle of perfume!
Everyone: …??
The “High-Temperature Perfume” had five different levels, adjustable by rotating the crystal bow. The last time she used it, the settings were at levels 1 and 2, which produced flame lengths of about 5 and 20 centimeters, respectively. This time, she set it to level three, then unlocked the safety, and pressed the nozzle toward the ice.
This time, unlike the previous two uses, an insulating protective film automatically activated as Yuxi pressed the nozzle. She felt a layer of invisible and colorless isolation film securely enveloping her hand, arm, and the entire front of her body. Instantly, accompanied by a faint perfume scent, a nearly one-meter-long blue flame appeared in the air, cutting through the thick ice like a laser beam.
Yuxi: …?
Everyone: …!!
By the time all the diesel on the boat had been consumed, the land of Jing Country was faintly visible. Between the speedboat and the land lay a nearly solid sheet of ice. This type of sea ice was thicker, extending from the coast and completely white. In the distance, amidst the white expanse of fixed ice, various shipwrecks could be seen—remnants left by the tsunami, indicating that the coastal land had not been spared.
“Do we have any signal on the phones?” Lin Wu asked Yuan Ning.
“Yes, but it’s unstable, cutting in and out,” Yuan Ning said, trying to call her parents but ultimately giving up due to the poor signal.
Yuxi stood at the bow of the boat, looking through binoculars at the coastline: “There doesn’t seem to be any movement on the coast at the moment.”
“Let’s disembark and load our food and water supplies onto the inflatable raft. We’ll drag it across the ice,” Lin Wu instructed, as he and Simon began inflating the raft.
With the diesel depleted, their remaining supplies consisted only of food and water, which weren’t too heavy. They dismantled the plastic sheeting from the speedboat, using it and some ropes to create makeshift waterproof bags to hold their remaining supplies and blankets. The insulating items were wrapped around them, with Yuan Qi tying the blankets securely around Yuan Yuan to prevent them from slipping off.
In the past few days, both the sea and the sight of sea ice had been novel to Yuan Yuan. Under Yuan Qi’s instructions, he sat still, bundled up in blankets, with only his wide eyes peeking out, curiously observing the frozen world outside the raft—much like the Antarctic continent he had seen on television.
The group disembarked from the speedboat, with Simon and Lin Wu dragging the raft from the front while Yuxi and the others helped guide it from the back to prevent it from falling into the ice crevices. However, their concerns were unfounded; the solid ice was as hard as the ground, and apart from some uneven surfaces, there was no risk of it cracking.
The low temperature and rough ice surface made the journey slow. After more than two hours, they had not even covered half the distance, and the mainland still seemed far off.
“Let’s take a break,” Lin Wu said, pulling down his collar to let Yuan Ning try making another phone call.
“What’s that noise?” Simon, about to sit down in the raft, suddenly heard a faint but familiar sound.
Yuxi and the others soon heard it too. They listened intently for a few seconds before simultaneously looking up at the sky. The overcast sky hid the sun, leaving only a pale white expanse above them. The familiar sound grew louder and clearer.
Then, they saw something approaching from the distance.
It was a military helicopter.