Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 230

With the sound of shattering glass, the entire window broke into pieces and scattered onto the floor.
Yu Xi didn’t stop. Stepping onto a seat, she leaped over the chaotic crowd and methodically smashed every window in the subway car. The darkness outside remained, but it was different from before—no longer an impenetrable black void. Now, faint yellowish light flickered in the distance.
At some point, the subway had already stopped in the middle of the tunnel. Everything around them was eerily quiet. She couldn’t hear any movement from the other cars.
Inside the subway car, the frenzied attackers were still lashing out at people, but the surrounding passengers, who had been panicking moments ago, seemed to have regained some composure. That inexplicable, suffocating pressure that had been driving their emotions into a frenzy had suddenly dissipated.
Those who were injured retreated to the corners for safety, while others, still capable of movement, cooperated with Yu Xi to subdue the remaining frenzied individuals. They tied them up against the handrails and stuffed cloth into their mouths to prevent them from continuing their crazed screams and curses.
Once all the mirrors in the subway car were shattered, restraining these violent individuals became noticeably easier.
As the chaos subsided, someone finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Another person fumbled for their phone and called the police.
“Do we have a signal?” someone asked nervously.
“Yes, don’t worry! It’s connected—” The person immediately began explaining the situation to the authorities.
Meanwhile, someone else pried open the door leading to the next car to check inside, only to find it completely empty.
“Where did everyone go?” Another individual, who was more agile, leaned out of a broken window to get a better look down the tunnel. A nearby person hastily grabbed them, trying to stop them. But the first person suddenly waved and shouted toward a distant light in the tunnel.
Yu Xi immediately pulled them back, her tone sharp. “Haven’t you ever read horror stories about subway tunnels? Don’t just stick your head out and start shouting in places like this.”
The man’s face turned pale as he realized the implications. He immediately shut his mouth.
Fortunately, the light wasn’t anything ominous—it was a group of subway maintenance workers approaching to inspect the stalled train.
Ten minutes earlier, the subway had encountered a malfunction, forcing it to stop midway inside the tunnel. The train operator had immediately called for assistance, and the entire subway line was temporarily suspended. Rescue teams had quickly arrived and evacuated passengers from the other cars.
The maintenance workers seemed puzzled. They had been told by the rescue team that the subway was completely empty, assuming that everyone had already been evacuated. They had no idea why this particular car was still occupied—and even more bizarre, why all the windows had been shattered and several people were tied up.
One of the workers quickly radioed the rescue team. After explaining the situation, additional responders arrived.
One of the newly arrived rescue personnel glanced at the maintenance workers and frowned. “Where’s Lao Zhong and the others?”
“They’re at the platform managing the situation,” the lead rescuer replied before stepping into the subway car to assess the situation.
Upon inspecting the bound individuals, he looked genuinely surprised. “Did you all restrain them yourselves? And who broke the windows?”
Some passengers nodded, while others shook their heads.
Finally, someone spoke up. “We tied them up together… Oh, and there was one person—she was amazing… She’s the one who smashed the windows.”
The person turned to look for the young woman who had played the key role in handling the crisis, but after scanning the crowd twice, they couldn’t find her.
“Who else?” the rescue team leader asked.
Several others also turned their heads to search, but the girl had been wearing a hat and a mask. No one knew her name, nor had they even gotten a clear look at her face. They didn’t even remember her voice—only that she had been wearing a thin, dark-colored down jacket…
Most of the passengers were still shaken, with many sustaining injuries. A few severely wounded individuals were groaning in pain. Between the fear and the physical toll, all they wanted was to get out of the subway car as soon as possible.
The crowded group pushed and jostled, gradually falling into disorder once again.
Seeing this, the rescue team leader signaled to his team. His subordinates immediately began organizing an evacuation plan, prioritizing the severely injured first, followed by those with lighter injuries, then women and children, and finally, the men who were in better condition.
The rescue team split into multiple groups. One led the way, securing the restrained individuals by sedating them and tying them firmly to stretchers before carrying them out.
Another group assisted the critically injured, either helping them walk or carrying them on their backs. Several more groups positioned themselves throughout the line of evacuees, providing light and occasionally lending a hand when someone struggled to navigate the uneven tunnel.
Meanwhile, the rescue team leader remained at the rear.
Or rather, as Yu Xi observed from a distance, he wasn’t just ensuring the evacuation went smoothly—he was carefully keeping every single remaining passenger within his line of sight.
At some point, without a sound, Yu Xi crouched atop the subway train, silently watching the departing group.
Time was tight, and she hadn’t had a chance to think things through earlier, but there were a few conclusions she could be certain of.
First, the problem wasn’t with the subway itself. The same phenomenon had occurred in the hotel bathroom, which meant the issue lay with mirrors or reflective surfaces. However, reflective surfaces were everywhere in the city, yet not everyone who saw their reflection was affected. This suggested that specific conditions had to be met to trigger the effect.
Second, this was a C-level world, meaning the difficulty wasn’t high. There were many novice travelers besides her, most of whom had little combat ability. It was impossible for an unsolvable, high-difficulty event to occur—at least, not one beyond their capabilities.
What she had done earlier was simply the only thing a typical new traveler could do when trapped: maintain a sliver of clarity amidst the compulsion and destroy the source of the influence.
Fortunately, it had worked.
The moment she shattered the subway window, the voice that had been whispering temptations in her mind weakened by half. That was why she went on to break all the windows.
Below the subway, as the technicians entered the train car to begin their repairs, Yu Xi swiftly removed her down jacket, replacing it with a cropped black fleece hoodie. She also took off her baseball cap, swapping it for a thick woolen beanie, and changed her mask to a black one.
Earlier, in the urgency of the situation, no one would have paid much attention, but once the rescued passengers calmed down, they would start recalling how she had displayed strength far beyond a normal human’s. This was only her second day in Wukong City—she had no intention of attracting trouble this soon. The best approach was to disappear.
Observing the rescue team now, she was glad she had.
There was something off about them. They hadn’t asked why the passengers hadn’t been evacuated earlier. When they saw the broken windows, they didn’t ask why they had been smashed—only who had done it. They weren’t shocked by the frenzied attackers, but they were surprised to find that someone had subdued them.
Compared to the bloodied, injured passengers and the violent individuals, their team leader seemed far more concerned with identifying the person who had restrained the attackers.
Yu Xi eyed the distant rescue team and passengers. She stored her backpack, crouched low, and moved cautiously, pausing intermittently to observe before moving again.
Fortunately, Wu Kong City’s subway stations were old, with dim waiting areas and even darker tunnels. Staying at the end of the train, she remained entirely out of sight while tracking the rescue team from a safe distance.
When they reached the next platform, they found a crowd of stranded travelers waiting. The entire Line 2 service had been suspended due to the subway malfunction, leading to a buildup of frustrated commuters. Many people stood around, gossiping—a testament to the public’s endless curiosity.
With so many people and staff moving up and down, Yu Xi blended in easily. Moving deftly, she climbed up onto the waiting area and, within a few quick steps, disappeared into the crowd.
Outside the subway station, the remaining passengers from the abandoned car were assigned to different vehicles. Stretcher-bound victims were placed into white ambulances, while those with minor injuries boarded another. The uninjured were put onto a police transport bus, supposedly to record their statements.
Yu Xi’s gaze swept over these vehicles and caught sight of a particular marking on the rear of each one—a vertical rhombus with a sideways number 8. Or rather, the infinity symbol.
Her phone, tucked into her inner pocket, vibrated—it was the phone from the Endless Train world.
She pulled it out and checked the screen. A new message had appeared:
Congratulations on escaping the influence of the ‘Mirror World.’
Reward acquired: ‘Mirror World’ Immunity.
Clue obtained: Mirror World, Darkness, ‘Symbol’
The final symbol in the clue was the exact same rhombus-and-infinity symbol she had just seen on the vehicles.
Yu Xi parked her car in a lot outside a café, positioned diagonally across an intersection from the tall, tower-like light gray building she had previously noted—Nuo’ai Corporation Headquarters.
The previous day, she had hired a driver and had him follow the vehicles transporting the subway passengers. Instead of heading to a hospital, they had driven to an unknown facility’s underground parking lot.
Those were not ambulances. Nor were they police vehicles.
This area wasn’t a commercial district. There were few pedestrians, and several dilapidated, abandoned buildings stood nearby. Yu Xi picked one, a structure full of construction debris, and settled into a spot on the second floor. She retrieved a foldable camping chair and a pair of binoculars, then settled in to observe.
She waited until nightfall.
As night fell, Yu Xi finally spotted a familiar face inside a large bus pulling out of the underground parking lot. It was the rescue team captain she had seen earlier, now dressed in a different outfit and seated in the driver’s seat.
The bus interior was unlit, and with the darkness outside, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to see inside. But Yu Xi could. She saw that everyone from her subway car—including those who had gone into a frenzied state and had been restrained—was on that bus.
At the back of the bus, she noticed the same faint rhombus-and-infinity symbol marking. Silently, she followed, managing to rent a shared bicycle at an intersection and keeping a significant distance while tailing the vehicle.
Eventually, the bus entered the underground parking lot of Nuo’ai Corporation.
Since the symbol was one of the clues she had received, she was certain that her next destination was the Nuo’ai Corporation.
It was lunchtime, so Yu Xi ordered a simple meal at a nearby café, pairing it with a latte and a fruit platter. She then retrieved a newly purchased laptop from her backpack (spatial storage).
Earlier that morning, she had gone to a shopping mall near her hotel and bought two laptops and ten high-capacity power banks. Anticipating future power supply issues, she also made a stop at a store that sold generators, purchasing two 8,000W gasoline-powered home generators. Each was about the size of two fruit crates and operated on gasoline with minimal noise.
However, she had yet to start stockpiling gasoline, something she would need to figure out soon.
She applied a privacy screen filter to the laptop and found a job posting from Nuo’ai Corporation, then submitted her pre-prepared electronic resume.
Afterward, she searched online for discussion threads related to the company. Many posts mentioned that Nuo’ai had a continuous, large-scale demand for security personnel, with high wages and quick response times to job applications. Strangely, there were no complaints online from former security staff about unfair treatment or termination conditions.
Many experienced security workers wanted to join the company, but the selection process was rumored to be extremely rigorous. Those without real combat skills had no chance, and the job was edly quite demanding due to the many restricted areas within the company that required constant monitoring and patrols.
Yu Xi skimmed through the posts while sipping her coffee.
The security job seemed to have strict skill requirements but no gender restrictions.
After reviewing the information, she continued her lunch while reflecting on the reward and clues she had received the day before.
She had already tested the reward, conducting two separate trials based on the clue “dark”—once last night and once this morning in her hotel bathroom. She had locked the door and waited to see if her reflection in the mirror would change.
However, neither at night nor during the day did anything abnormal happen in the mirror.
She wasn’t sure if this meant she hadn’t triggered the right conditions for the mirror world to appear, or if her “immunity” now prevented her from ever seeing such anomalies again.
She leaned toward the former explanation because “immunity” only meant she wouldn’t be affected or manipulated emotionally—it didn’t mean the mirror world had ceased to exist. As long as the right conditions were met, it should still appear.
From this, she deduced that the clue “dark” did not simply refer to nighttime or dimly lit places.
Yu Xi analyzed each clue meticulously, occasionally glancing toward the Nuo’ai Corporation building in the distance.
The company was unusually busy today. During her meal alone, four different luxury cars had pulled up outside, each time carrying well-dressed individuals who were then escorted inside by security personnel.
When the fourth car arrived, her attention shifted back to someone she had previously glanced over.
One of the security guards, walking out of the building with the others to escort another important visitor inside, caught her eye.
Though he was dressed in the same uniform as the other guards and had removed his cap, Yu Xi recognized him instantly. He was one of the passengers who had arrived in Wu Kong City on the same train as her—the sharp-featured man in his thirties who had briefly observed her in the subway car.
She distinctly remembered that he had disembarked from the same door as her.
Given his demeanor and actions, he was clearly another experienced traveler.
His presence here was no coincidence. He must have followed some kind of lead, just as she had. And judging by the situation, he was ahead of her.