Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 281

Lu Yong deeply regretted accepting this team mission.
Their squad had already been in Fran City for over twenty days. During this time, the station’s ranking had increased from B to A, and what used to be simple individual tasks released once every day or two had escalated into a dense stream of high-risk rescue missions.
However, rewards were always proportional to effort. The earlier solo missions primarily involved tracking down clues, posing little danger, so the rewards were equally modest—mostly food, water, and supplies. Occasionally, they would receive protective gear or disinfectants, but it was rare to obtain valuable items or skill cards.
But after the first infected corpse exploded at the ranch and Ordo Town initiated its full-scale cleanup and disinfection, mission numbers skyrocketed.
The risks of completing missions outside increased dramatically, but the rewards became far more lucrative—protective equipment, tools, and skill cards became the standard, with the occasional drop of firearms, space expansions, or even unlimited currency vouchers.
Despite the exhaustion, their motivation to complete missions remained high. After all, these straightforward task-based missions were much easier than those requiring critical thinking and piecing together scattered clues.
Looking back, they had likely been blinded by the generous rewards. Plus, their previous solo rescue targets had all been cooperative, making them forget that in times of disaster, human nature was tested in unpredictable ways.
This was a team mission—due to the large number of rescue targets and the long execution time, the entire squad needed to work together to complete it.
The mission’s objective was at a university campus located in the southern part of the city, near the east district. The primary targets were two professors, with four students listed as secondary objectives.
Not only did they need to escort these individuals out of the campus safely, but they also had to infiltrate a designated research facility on campus, retrieve samples and research data, and finally deliver both the professors and their materials to the military’s temporary shelter in the southern outskirts of Fran City.
The reward was a hidden prize, which, based on previous experiences, was highly likely to include a train ticket, valuable skill cards, or information about the hidden train station.
At first, everything went smoothly—they found the professors and students trapped in the gymnasium.
The chaos had erupted while everyone was in class. Several infected hosts had appeared out of nowhere, chasing people down and self-destructing, leading to a rapid chain infection.
Students fled in all directions, some running through blood and flesh, only to get infected a short distance away.
These students had been in the professors’ office when the outbreak began. One of the professors had been studying an unidentified fever and hemorrhaging illness before the explosion, and he reacted quickly upon noticing the chaos outside. He immediately retrieved N95 masks from his office and had everyone put them on.
They had fled the main academic building and found the main entrance blocked by infected hosts. Originally, they had planned to escape through the rear exit, but by then, the infection had spread everywhere. In the end, they couldn’t make it and were forced to hide inside the gym’s underground facility.
The gym was a semi-basement with no windows and a sturdy entrance. That’s how they managed to survive the night.
Among the six people trapped inside, only two students had their phones. They initially tried making frantic calls but couldn’t get through. Due to being underground, their signals were weak and intermittent.
Soon after, emergency notifications started coming in, giving them a general idea of the situation outside.
While the gym itself was safe, they had neither food nor water. Staying inside would only lead to death.
The professors were more concerned about their research facility—inside were crucial samples and data related to their work. Given the scale of the outbreak, they believed their research might be key to understanding the disease.
But with the situation outside so dire, how could they even reach the research lab, retrieve the samples, and escape?
As night fell, their phone batteries ran out, and they lost all contact with the outside world.
Lu Yong’s team arrived the next morning. The school was surrounded by large open spaces with few buildings. The local residents had long since locked themselves indoors.
Occasionally, they spotted infected hosts wandering outside the campus. These infected were most similar to zombies in one key aspect—if no living person was present and they couldn’t detect human breath, they wouldn’t self-destruct. Instead, they aimlessly roamed the area, dragging along their grotesque fungal growths and tendrils, like landmines waiting to be triggered.
The team donned protective suits, equipped flamethrowers, and entered the campus by scaling a wall at the nearest route.
The protective suits could shield them, but they couldn’t conceal the presence of living humans. Every infected host they encountered exploded on sight.
The infected hosts’ blood and pus were highly corrosive, gradually wearing down the protective suits’ effectiveness while contaminating the air.
Additionally, they discovered that the infection didn’t just affect humans—it spread to animals as well. Cats, dogs, birds, cattle, sheep… as far as they could tell, any warm-blooded creature was susceptible.
They didn’t know if the infection could eventually spread to plants, but they couldn’t afford to leave the infected flesh and remnants lying around. So, they incinerated everything as they advanced.
Most of their flamethrowers were standard models that could only fire four to six times before running out of fuel. Once depleted, they were useless.
The only exception was a special flamethrower, similar to the one Lin Wu had acquired—it could use regular fuel and function indefinitely. However, because of fuel storage and consumption concerns, they couldn’t use it as recklessly as Yu Xi.
They had to ration their supplies carefully. Even so, by the time they reached the gym, rescued the targets, and escorted them to the research lab, they had already exhausted most of their protective gear and flamethrowers.
Still, as long as they successfully retrieved the research samples, they could escort their targets out using the cleared route. Once out of the university, they could find a vehicle and drive to the southern outskirts instead of wasting more resources traveling on foot.
More importantly, several members of their team didn’t have valid train tickets. Compared to securing a ticket, the losses from this mission were insignificant.
They still had more than twenty days left before departure. If they successfully completed this mission, obtained their tickets, and confirmed the hidden train station’s location, they could find a place to hide and wait out the remaining time.
The plan was solid, but plans never accounted for unexpected changes.
**
While retrieving the samples, one of the professors found three additional students hiding in the cold storage room. He insisted on taking them along.
Adding extra people meant consuming extra protective suits. They had underestimated the sheer number of infected at the university, and their continuous clearing efforts had pushed their suits to their limits—they needed replacements.
Moreover, one of the three new students had a fever.
Everyone knew that fever was one of the early-stage symptoms of the infection. After deliberating, Lu Yong’s team agreed to take the other two students but not the feverish one.
Among the three, two were a couple. The feverish student was the boyfriend. Upon hearing that they were going to leave him behind, his girlfriend burst into tears, pleading desperately. She insisted he wasn’t infected, just running a normal fever, and if they abandoned him, he would die.
One of the professors personally knew these students and couldn’t bear to leave them. He immediately accused Lu Yong’s team of being heartless, of disregarding human lives. He even declared that if they abandoned the student, he wouldn’t leave either! As for the research samples, he wouldn’t retrieve them—if they wanted them, they could find them on their own.
Lu Yong: …
The other students had no strong opinions about the situation. They only wanted to escape as soon as possible.
The second professor suggested that the feverish student could wear a protective suit, just like them. The suits isolated both external and internal contact, so as long as he was suited up, he wouldn’t pose a threat. Surely the team had extra protective suits, right?
Lu Yong: …
Finally, the members of Lu Yong’s team took out three protective suits. They inspected their own suits and prioritized replacing the ones that had sustained the most damage, while those who didn’t switch stayed in the middle of the group.
If everything had ended there and they had successfully evacuated, it would have been fine.
But during the evacuation, the feverish student lost consciousness. His girlfriend and the professor supported him on either side, trying to help him walk. However, a team member noticed something was off, and after some back-and-forth in the research building, they ended up dragging things out long enough for the feverish student to mutate.
He began coughing up pus while tearing off his protective suit, then turned and spat directly onto his girlfriend’s face. The front-facing attack of infectious fluids overwhelmed even the protective suit, let alone the fact that people in panic often do irrational things.
The girl recoiled in terror, desperately trying to wipe the red pus off her face shield. In her frantic retreat, she accidentally crashed into a closed laboratory door along the corridor. The impact forced the door open, and inside, more than ten previously dormant fungal hosts were instantly activated.
They were like mobile landmines, charging toward the team—boom, boom, boom, boom!—each one exploding into a downpour of infected flesh, pus, and corrosive liquid, raining down like a grotesque blizzard.
Some of Lu Yong’s team members had not managed to switch to new protective suits due to limited supplies, and they didn’t dare get close. Other team members, attempting to cover their comrades, unleashed a desperate round of attacks, using up all their flamethrowers. The only remaining one was a special flamethrower that allowed fuel refills, but even with that, they still couldn’t eliminate all the hosts.
The commotion inside the corridor attracted more fungal hosts from elsewhere in the building, as well as those lurking outside. With enemies both in front and behind, their escape was completely cut off, leaving them with no choice but to retreat down the stairwell into the abandoned basement of the research building. Only by barricading the two heavy iron doors behind them did they finally manage to hold off the horde.
The unfortunate part? They were now trapped.
The basement had no other exits, and there was nothing useful inside.
Lu Yong had considered abandoning the mission. After all, he could always get another train ticket somehow, but his teammates’ lives couldn’t be replaced.
But at this moment, it wasn’t a matter of wanting to leave—it was that they physically couldn’t.
The entire city of Fran was in chaos, the rescue hotline was impossible to get through, and the two professors weren’t even officially important researchers. Their work was completely independent, and the samples they had gathered were only “potentially useful.” The truly crucial scientists had already been escorted to the base under strict military protection.
Lu Yong’s team had plenty of firearms, from submachine guns to grenades, but against fungal hosts, these weapons were utterly useless—they only shredded the infected flesh into smaller, equally dangerous pieces.
By the time evening fell, Lu Yong suddenly remembered that back at White Bird Lake, he had once pulled a Mission Reinforcement Card from a rare treasure chest.
Half an hour after using the card, Lu Yong’s anxious heart pounded as his phone lit up with a message.
Notification: The distress mission has been accepted. Traveler ‘Chen An’ has temporarily joined your team and will assist in completing your task.
Just as he finished reading the notification, another message popped up from his temporary teammate “Chen An.”
Chen An: I’m on my way. What’s your situation? Give me a quick rundown.
Lu Yong immediately tapped into his past gaming skills and typed at lightning speed:
— There are fungal hosts wandering around the research building and campus…
— The feverish student, the professor insisting on bringing him along…
— The sudden mutation, the panicked girlfriend who accidentally released a horde of fungal hosts…
— The corridors covered in exploded flesh, pus, and infected blood…
— They were now trapped in the abandoned basement, with no windows and no idea how many more fungal hosts were still lurking outside…
The more Lu Yong typed, the more uneasy he felt. Under these circumstances, would the other person really still come to rescue them? Would they just abandon the mission? After all, the person outside was still safe. They had every reason to stay out of this mess.
But he had to be honest. If someone was willing to take the mission and come to save them, he couldn’t afford to lie and put them at risk.
Then, after he sent everything, the other party responded with just two words.
Chen An: Heh.
Lu Yong:
?
Chen An: Alright, I’m already outside the school. Figuring out how to get in. Get your disinfectant ready, and tell those teammates with damaged suits to stay further back.
Lu Yong: Huh? Oh! Okay! Thank you for coming to save us! Be careful!
Chen An: By the way, were you at the White Bird Lake station before?
Lu Yong: ? How do you know?
Chen An: Still craving fried chicken and hot pot?
Lu Yong:
!!!???
—
When Lu Yong finished explaining the situation to his team, everyone became visibly excited.
When he first used the Mission Reinforcement Card, there had been all kinds of worries—what if no one accepted? What if someone accepted but couldn’t get inside? But now that they knew
who
had taken the mission, all of their concerns vanished.
This was a pro.
Since the pro had told them to wait, all they had to do was sit tight.
No one felt the need to panic anymore. They found spots to sit and rest, preparing to charge out with the pro when the time came.
The students, however, grew even more anxious at the sight. They paced back and forth, pestering the team, asking what was next and if they had given up on them.
The team members, exhausted, ignored them.
So the students turned their frustration onto someone else—specifically, the one student who had originally been trapped in the research lab.
Of the three who had been there, one had mutated, another had been infected and ran off, leaving only this last survivor.
The other students lashed out, blaming him, then shifted their anger toward the professors. After all, it was their insistence that got them into this mess. And now this last remaining student—who still seemed normal—might already be infected. They wanted to throw him out.
Meanwhile, the two professors were more concerned about another student. In the chaos earlier, one of the four students they were originally with had gotten separated from them—the most intelligent and well-behaved one.
They wanted to bring it up to Lu Yong, but with the other students arguing so loudly, they couldn’t find the right moment.
Lu Yong’s team members, however, ignored all of it. Instead, they quietly checked their gear, disinfected themselves, and simply waited.
At this moment, the boss herself—Yu Xi—was rolling forward with determination.
The mission had to be completed, but safety was also a priority.
Although she had high physical endurance, she would still get infected upon contact with the pus. Since she was alone, charging into the school with a flamethrower would inevitably get her covered in blood, flesh, and pus. She couldn’t be sure if a single protective suit would be enough under such conditions, so in the end, she took out the Crystal Bubble.
Luckily, with the high-defense Crystal Bubble, the parasitic fungi along the way could barely sense the biological presence inside. As long as she didn’t run straight into them, they would remain in a wandering state.
While keeping an eye on the navigation route on her phone, she moved inside the Crystal Bubble like a hamster, using her feet to steer it forward along her planned path.
Just like that, Yu Xi rolled her way into the laboratory building, rolled down into the basement, and finally rolled into the open underground room.
Several team members holding disinfectant sprayers: …………
What a unique way to make an entrance.
It wasn’t until Lu Yong reminded them that the team members moved forward and aggressively sprayed the Crystal Bubble with disinfectant.
The disinfectant killed off the fungal strains in the pus on the bubble’s exterior. Once Yu Xi stepped out, she began counting heads. Then, she took out three new protective suits and handed them to Lu Yong so that his teammates whose suits were failing could change into fresh ones.
She also brought out three standard flamethrowers for them. Now, with five flamethrowers in total, they should be able to hold their ground when they made their way out.
“It’ll be dark soon. Let’s get out of here and finish the handover.” She preferred swift, decisive actions and had no patience for unnecessary chatter.
However, some people simply loved to talk.
The professor, driven by his deep sense of responsibility, quickly realized that the newcomer was far more capable than the rest. So, he took the opportunity to explain—once again—that one of his students had been separated from the group.
He insisted that he couldn’t just abandon the student. He had to save him! That student was his most outstanding pupil and had the potential to become a brilliant researcher in the future…
While the professor droned on, Yu Xi pulled Lu Yong aside to confirm their mission objectives. Once she confirmed that their real task was to extract two professors and the research samples, she nodded.
“…So I absolutely cannot leave him behind! I refuse—”
Yu Xi shot him a glance and cut him off directly: “Do you seriously believe that person is still alive? It’s been an entire day. The entire passageway is covered with exploded parasitic remains. The fungal colonies and mycelium are still growing and expanding, even on the ceiling. Do you really think he could survive with nothing but a protective suit and no flamethrower?”
“So you’re saying you’re one hundred percent certain he’s already dead? As long as there’s a one percent chance, we have to try! That’s a human life! If we don’t go save him, he’ll definitely die—”
“And that’s on you. You’re the one who chose to bring a sick person along, slowing down the entire team. I’m not going to gamble everyone’s lives on your hypothetical one percent hope. His life matters, sure, but so do my teammates’ lives. If you’re so concerned about him, go out there and rescue him yourself. I’m not doing something that stupid. Get over it.”
Behind her, Lu Yong’s team members looked at her with admiration. Now
this
was the kind of sharp tongue they needed!
The professor had not expected the young newcomer to be so cold and ruthless. He wanted to use the same tactic as before—threatening to stay put unless they went to find the student—but before he could even finish a sentence, Yu Xi impatiently knocked him out.
After checking his protective suit and confirming that his breathing apparatus was still functioning, she threw him into the Crystal Bubble.
The Crystal Bubble could only hold two people. After tossing the first professor in, she turned to the other one. “Well? Do you want me to knock you out and throw you in too, or will you climb in yourself?”
The second professor: …
**
The research samples were secured in Lu Yong’s spatial storage. The two high-priority extraction targets were now inside the Crystal Bubble. Lu Yong’s teammates had changed into new protective suits and picked up the flamethrowers Yu Xi provided. With the remaining four students in the center, they began their breakout.
Five flamethrowers. Only the ones in Yu Xi’s and Lu Yong’s hands had unlimited fuel, so the two of them took charge of clearing the most critical areas—Yu Xi covering the front and Lu Yong taking care of any threats from above. The remaining three members positioned themselves at the sides and rear to prevent any parasites from self-destructing upon detecting movement.
Yu Xi turned her flamethrower to full blast, leading the way as fire swept through the walls and floor, burning away most of the infected flesh and fungal masses.
Fuel was being consumed rapidly, but she replenished it just as fast. She was the only one capable of sustaining this position because the others didn’t have nearly as much fuel stockpiled.
Fortunately, she had raided several gas stations earlier in the day. With no one around, she had managed to fill up all 30 cubic meters of her fuel storage and even grabbed a large number of portable fuel canisters. Now, she could use the fuel freely without hesitation.
The team remained highly alert as they finally emerged from the worst part of the laboratory building.
The situation outside was much better. They no longer had to constantly spray fire—just burning the parasites before they could get close and self-destruct was enough.
Yu Xi stepped aside, letting the teammates push the Crystal Bubble forward. Once it was positioned, she aimed and kicked it.
With the combined weight of the professors inside, it usually required a team effort to move. But with just one kick from Yu Xi, the Crystal Bubble happily rolled forward, saving both time and effort.
And so, Yu Xi kicked the bubble forward while the others protected the students. Together, they quickly evacuated from the school.
By the time Lu Yong’s team found an abandoned bus by the roadside and called everyone on board, the two professors inside the Crystal Bubble were already vomiting uncontrollably inside their protective suits.
Even the one who had been knocked out had woken up the moment Yu Xi’s first kick landed, only to experience endless tumbling and nausea, rolling and vomiting…
When the two professors staggered out of the Crystal Bubble, holding onto each other as they continued retching, Lu Yong glanced at Yu Xi, strongly suspecting she had done this on purpose. But for some reason, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly satisfied.
There were no spare protective suits left, so the two professors had no choice but to sit in the bus wearing their vomit-stained suits.
Once the Crystal Bubble was activated, it couldn’t be retracted. Yu Xi, disgusted by the fact that it had rolled through so much infected flesh, originally planned to discard it. However, Lu Yong’s team picked it up, disinfected it, and strapped it to the roof of the bus.
Yu Xi got into the bus as well, accompanying them to the southern outskirts of the city, where the professors, students, and research samples were handed over to the military.
With the mission complete, Yu Xi checked her phone. She had four reward options and could choose two:
A one-time-use travel pass.
An additional 50 cubic meters of spatial storage.
An item: Self-Cleaning Protective Suit (automatic disinfection, ten uses).
A team bunk upgrade ticket.