Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 163

The passengers in the truck looked out at the pitch-black sky, a sense of foreboding weighing heavily on their hearts.
Zhou city was not a rainy city, especially in the dry month of November. Since the outbreak of the “blood ghoul” infection, this was the first time it had rained.
At first, most people didn’t associate the rain with the infected. They were merely startled by the deafening thunder and oppressive darkness of the sky.
Meanwhile, they noticed the truck’s speed had doubled. Previously, all vehicles in the convoy had maintained a steady pace of around 40 km/h to ensure coordination. Now, they were suddenly accelerating to 80 km/h.
Some military trucks seemed slow to react, continuing at their original speed and quickly being overtaken by others. The once-uniform convoy became fragmented and disorganized.
Through the intercoms, orders to “proceed at full speed” were given in an urgent tone, leaving no time for explanations. The troops, trained to follow commands without question, immediately complied, and the entire convoy sped up.
However, the torrential rain soon reduced visibility, forcing speeds to drop again. Worse still, faint growls began echoing in the distance.
Those guttural sounds were the stuff of nightmares, reminding the survivors of countless harrowing nights they had endured.
How could this be!?
It was only midday—well outside the usual activity hours of the blood ghouls. Yet, crimson shadows began to appear behind the convoy.
The thunder had roused them from their hiding places, and they cautiously emerged from the buildings. Realizing the sunlight that once kept them at bay was gone, they charged into the rain, exhilarated by the scent of prey.
The cold downpour didn’t hinder them in the slightest as they sprinted after the convoy, relentless and tireless.
At this moment, it felt as if the entire world belonged to them. This was the blood ghouls’ time of revelry, their grand hunt for humankind.
“It’s the infected! The rain’s brought them out—no sunlight, they’re everywhere!” someone shouted in panic.
“What!? Infected?”
“Oh no, it’s the blood ghouls! My god, there are so many! They’re coming after us! Drive faster, faster!”
Soon, the passengers realized the ghouls weren’t just behind them. Crimson figures were also closing in from the left and right, sprinting across fields and through trees, growling with excitement as they chased the convoy.
The blood ghouls on the left were closer, quickly reaching the vehicles.
“Prepare to engage! Stay calm!” several team leaders shouted, steadying their squads.
An attack by blood ghouls at noon in an open field was unprecedented, leaving even the most experienced soldiers momentarily shaken.
They were scared too, but as leaders, they couldn’t afford to panic. If they lost control, their teams would descend into chaos, leaving the unarmed civilians defenseless.
“Leave one person in each truck for coordination; everyone else, get on the roofs and shoot!”
“Don’t panic! Aim before you shoot! Target the head and heart!”
“Be careful! The rain’s making everything slippery—don’t fall off!”
“Keep driving! Don’t stop!”
“Captain! The front trucks are slowing down!”
“Not good! There are ghouls ahead too!”
“Ram through them!”
“Where’s the gunner? We need support—now!”
The convoy was instantly plunged into battle. On Yu Xi’s truck, several soldiers followed orders, leaning out of the truck to fire. But the heavy rain obscured their vision, and the bumpy ride made accurate shooting nearly impossible.
Two agile soldiers climbed onto the roof, securing their feet in the tarp ropes, and began shooting at the ghouls closing in.
Inside the truck, the passengers were pale with terror. Wu You held his head, sobbing uncontrollably. Min Min gripped her mother’s and brother’s hands tightly, biting her lip to the point of drawing blood. Xiao Min and her family huddled together, trembling violently.
No one had expected to encounter blood ghouls in broad daylight. They had thought that after this transfer, they would reach a safer place and finally live peacefully with their families.
Instead, they were being chased and surrounded by ghouls in the middle of an open field, with not even a single weapon at their disposal.
The growls outside, mixed with frantic gunfire, felt like the harbinger of death, closing in step by step to drag them all into a bloody hell.
“I can’t take it anymore! I just can’t!” Wu You collapsed again, his negative emotions spilling over as he cried and screamed like a madman.
But the next moment, a blood-red hand—or rather, a claw with just the finger bones left—tore through the canvas of the truck, reaching straight for him.
“Watch out!” Xiao Nan, with sharp eyes, saw the movement and quickly yanked Wu You away. Wu You stumbled and fell in a heap inside the truck.
The “blood ghoul” missed its grasp and let out a low growl, its face emerging under the truck’s cover. As it saw the group huddled together inside, it grinned widely, its blood-red mouth splitting into a horrifying smile.
Chaos erupted inside the truck. Everyone scrambled to the other side, shouting for help.
But the soldiers stationed at the edge of the truck were equally overwhelmed. One soldier kicked a “blood ghoul” trying to climb up the rear of the truck, only to be grabbed by another ghoul’s ankle. He grabbed onto the truck’s rope to stabilize himself, then shot at the ghoul holding his ankle.
The young soldier, having only joined the military a year ago, lacked combat experience. Despite firing several rounds, he failed to kill the blood ghoul. Panicked, he shot wildly, quickly running out of ammunition. But he was too frantic to reload in time.
The hole in the truck’s canvas continued to expand, and the ghoul was now reaching halfway into the vehicle. Its clawed hand stretched out toward Min Cong.
Min Min’s face turned pale. She quickly shielded her brother, turning her body to protect him.
“Sis—don’t!”
Suddenly,
bang
—a gunshot rang out, and the blood ghoul’s forehead exploded, causing it to stagger and slide back out of the truck.
Min Min turned, trembling, and saw Yu Xi, who had fired the shot. In one swift motion, she ran to the rear of the truck, crushed the ghoul’s wrist that had been grabbing the soldier’s ankle, and kicked it away. As the ghoul attempted to climb back onto the truck, she fired again, blowing its head off.
The young soldier, still in shock, looked at her with wide eyes. Yu Xi handed him some ammo. “Stay in the truck and protect the people behind you.”
“Yu Xi—” The man beside her tried to stop her as she made a move to jump out of the truck.
He frowned at her. “Don’t forget your mission.”
“I’ll gauge the situation.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“You stay here. I can’t focus on protecting the people in the truck if I’m distracted by you.”
“My responsibility is to keep you alive.”
“You’re better suited for ranged combat. From inside the truck, you can still help me, but once you’re out there, in this chaotic battlefield, I won’t be able to protect you.” Yu Xi patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. The weather’s in my favor.”
He paused for a second, then reluctantly released her. “Be careful.”
“Mm.” She smiled at him, then swiftly grabbed the truck’s cover and climbed up, quickly applying a
disguise lipstick
as she did.
By the time she reached the roof, she had transformed into a completely different person—a tall, curvy, stunning woman.
Yu Xi focused her mind, and the rain that landed on her instantly turned to ice, forming a transparent icy armor that clung to her body. She gripped her rifle with her right hand and summoned a frozen Tang sword in her left.
Without hesitation, she struck, cutting off the wrist of a ghoul that had climbed halfway onto the roof, then shot and killed another ghoul trying to grab the driver.
The soldiers on the roof froze, staring at her in confusion.
“Stop staring! Keep shooting!”
Her command snapped them back into action, and they quickly resumed the fight.
The convoy continued moving, but at a much slower pace. Everyone knew that the number of infected around them was increasing, and the louder the fighting got, the stronger the scent of blood that attracted more blood ghouls.
The more blood ghouls there were, the slower their convoy became.
They knew stopping would make it easier to fight, but they couldn’t afford to stop. If any vehicle halted, the nearby blood ghouls would immediately swarm. They would break the windows, tear apart the canvas, and drag the occupants out, laughing as they slaughtered them.
The two armored vehicles in the convoy were moving along the sides, firing at the dense waves of infected.
But the convoy was too long, the number of civilians too high, and there were too few soldiers to engage in battle. Ammunition was running low, and the number of blood ghouls continued to rise.
Suddenly, a massive roar echoed, and a giant, physically evolved blood ghoul emerged from the trees. It sprinted toward the convoy, crashing into one of the armored vehicles, sending it tumbling before colliding with a silver-gray armored RV.
It seemed crazed, relentlessly tearing at the vehicle, trying to rip it apart.
Fortunately, the RV was equipped with armor-piercing rounds designed for dealing with evolved mutations. The rounds hit the blood ghoul’s shoulder, causing large chunks of flesh to fall away, revealing human limbs—arms and legs—stuck together in a gruesome, nauseating mess.
Because this RV was the convoy’s primary protection, another armored vehicle, previously engaged in firing at the ghouls, quickly made its way over. The vehicle that had been rammed turned around, and the two armored vehicles opened fire, bombarding the downed giant mutation.
Enraged, the blood ghoul abandoned the RV and charged at the incoming armored vehicles.
Finally, after losing one of the armored vehicles, the evolved blood ghoul was completely killed.
At the same time, all the armor-piercing rounds were used up, and the convoy had no way to deal with the second evolved blood ghoul.
Unfortunately, in the distance behind them, another enormous, guttural roar echoed. This roar was even more despairing than the usual infected sounds.
“Second evolved blood ghoul! Retreat!”
“Hurry, get out of here! Move fast!”
“Get out, quickly!”
Many people screamed with all their might, but a third of the vehicles in the convoy were caught in the encirclement of infected, unable to break free.
Yu Xi killed one infected, then jumped from the roof of this truck to the roof of another. Moving with precision, she quickly reached the center of the blood ghoul’s encirclement.
Looking at the dense blood-colored figures around her, she focused. Her ability surged within her body at unprecedented speed, and in the next moment, the heavy downpour around her solidified into sharp ice spikes and blades. Her immense control made them freeze in midair.
Everyone watching this miraculous scene was stunned.
A second later, Yu Xi clenched her fists, and all the suspended ice spikes and blades shot down at the blood-colored figures below with incredible speed.
Pff pff pff pff
—The ice spikes and blades mercilessly pierced through the infected bodies, shredding them into bloody chunks.
This was Yu Xi’s first time using her ability beyond its limits. After the ice spikes and blades disappeared, her body slid weakly from the truck roof. In a brief moment where no one saw, she shakily wiped the lipstick off her lips.
When she landed, her appearance returned to normal. She leaned on the truck and struggled to move toward her military truck.
The rain continued to pour, obscuring the surrounding scene.
Most of the blood ghouls blocking the convoy were cleared, and after the shock wore off, several team leaders finally realized that no matter who this person was or what ability she used, she was there to help them! They couldn’t waste this opportunity!
Immediately, the survivors called for the convoy to move quickly. Those who had been fighting on the ground started to move. Some quickly cleared the remaining blood ghouls, others helped injured comrades onto trucks, and some moved the bodies of blood ghouls blocking the wheels.
Seeing hope for survival, everyone became busy. Among the bustling crowd, Yu Xi’s slender figure seemed ordinary and small.
Her body could no longer release any ability, and even the protective ice layer couldn’t form. Everywhere she stepped was soaked in blood and severed limbs. No matter where she placed her foot, it seemed impossible to avoid contamination. Furthermore, there were still several uncleared infected between her and the truck.
Just as she was about to take out her
air hairdryer
, a faint golden halo appeared around her body.
The halo was so thin it was nearly invisible, but she could feel it.
Yu Xi looked up, and not far ahead, a tall figure was walking toward her. He was releasing tiny golden light particles from his fingers, clearing the infected on the road one by one.
He quickened his pace and extended his hand toward her. Yu Xi dragged her weary legs forward and finally reached his hand.
Leaning against his arm, she allowed herself to rest against him. In this blood-soaked apocalyptic world, he was the one person she trusted most, and she could safely leave her back to him.
Yu Xi closed her eyes, letting him lift her up. “…Do you ever think I’m doing something futile? Knowing that this world might just be a book, a story, a piece of footage… but now, I can’t just turn a blind eye like I used to…”
“No, you’re doing great.”
“Next time, I’ll control my abilities more precisely… I won’t be so reckless…”
He carried her toward the truck, the golden halo shielding them from the cold rain and the blood on the ground.
Because using energy and the body being so weak, he walked very slowly, each step a struggle.
But the hand holding her remained steady.
After a moment, he spoke. “…ζ‖╓〤.”
Yu Xi: …?
He repeated the sound and then whispered, “That’s the pronunciation of my name.”
In the distance, at the far end of the convoy, a tall, dark figure stood behind a large tree.
Not long ago, he had escaped from the silver-gray armored RV during the chaos, but upon seeing her, he didn’t leave immediately.
Around him, scattered infected were drawn to the convoy’s bloodshed and sounds. They passed by him, heading toward the chaos.
The infected saw him but ignored him entirely.
“Yu Xi…” The dark figure muttered her name, his voice hoarse and broken.
He glanced at her one last time, then quickly disappeared into the rain.