Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 29

The glass doors of the small supermarket were covered with various magazines and papers, crudely blocking the horrifying scene outside. Yu Xi quickly understood that there must be people inside the small supermarket, enough to attract so many zombies.
“Hey—” the woman holding a baseball bat shouted to Yu Xi, “Are you here for gas? Help us out!”
Yu Xi jumped down from the roof of the van and warned the woman, “There are still a dozen more inside.”
“Our car’s out of gas. We’ll die faster if we can’t drive. Don’t worry, my brother and the others know martial arts. They’re strong!”
The girl, swinging her bat, knocked a zombie off balance that was trying to sneak up on her brother. “These zombies aren’t like the ones in movies that mutate. Their combat power is similar to that of ordinary people. Don’t be afraid. Stand back and attack from a distance like me!”
The girl was brave, fighting while also giving Yu Xi a practical lesson.
Yu Xi also wanted to get more gas. Seeing that there were many zombies inside, it meant no one had taken gas from here yet, so there should be plenty left. She stopped speaking, gripped her metal stick tightly, and aimed for the zombies’ eyes.
With her enhanced physical abilities, all the self-defense, aikido, and martial arts she had learned in the past became even more powerful. She was much faster than the zombies. After each successful strike, she quickly stepped back and then aimed and struck again, always targeting the eyes with precise, efficient movements.
Luo Xiang noticed that the number of zombies around them was rapidly decreasing and exclaimed with delight, “Wow, you’re amazing!”
The three men fighting the zombies finished off the last one and turned to look at Yu Xi. The tallest one nodded at her. “Thank you!”
“There are still about a dozen more inside, and there seem to be people in the supermarket… If you’re just after gas, you can siphon it from the cars on the road.”
“We don’t have the tools, and some cars have already been siphoned.”
Luo Xiang wiped her sweat and loosened her grip on the baseball bat. “This weather is killing me! I’m Luo Xiang. What’s your name?”
“Yu Xi.”
“Aren’t you hot in that hat, mask, and long sleeves?”
Clearly a chatterbox and naturally drawn to strength, Luo Xiang’s family practiced martial arts. Seeing Yu Xi’s calm and efficient handling of zombies made her feel a strong sense of camaraderie.
Yu Xi did feel a bit hot in her long sleeves and mask, but it wasn’t unbearable. The [Powerful Anti-Glycation Pill] improved her physical condition, including her heat tolerance.
“Stop bothering her. Didn’t she say there were a dozen more inside? Let’s finish cleaning up and get the gas.”
Luo Rui, with a chiseled and handsome face, knocked on his car window. The person in the driver’s seat immediately started the car and drove it to a gas pump. The noise attracted the remaining zombies outside the supermarket, which started moving toward them.
With about a dozen zombies coming at once, even though Luo Rui and his team were strong, they were still outnumbered. The middle-aged woman in the driver’s seat got out with a black baton to help.
Yu Xi parked her van near another gas pump close to the exit, locked the door, and joined the fight. She used the metal stick with the knife tied to it, aiming for the eyes of the zombies. However, her strength was too much for the ordinary kitchen knife, and after stabbing three zombies, the knife handle loosened and got stuck in a zombie’s head.
With her movement hindered, two zombies lunged at her. She kicked one away and quickly dodged the other. Luo Rui and the others were also struggling, and more zombies were being attracted by the noise, coming from outside the gas station.
“Get on top of the cars!” Luo Rui instructed, leading the group to climb onto the tops of the abandoned cars, using the height advantage to deal with the increasing number of zombies.
Yu Xi leaped onto the car roof, preparing to use the metal stick to see if she could decapitate a zombie with full force. Just then, the middle-aged woman who had been helping ran to her car and grabbed a long, black object from the back seat, throwing it to Yu Xi. “Hey, girl with the mask! Catch!”
Yu Xi instinctively caught the object. It felt cold and had a black matte stainless steel finish. One end looked like a handle. She gripped it and pulled, revealing a Tang sword.
Surprised, Yu Xi drew the sword, seeing its blade glinting blue with two blood grooves, already sharpened. She swung it at the zombie reaching up to grab her ankle, slicing through its neck with a single, powerful stroke.
With one full-strength swing, the zombie’s head was cleanly decapitated.
“Holy crap!” Luo Xiang glanced over, startled by the impressive decapitation.
Yu Xi jumped down from the car roof and quickly moved towards the entrance of the gas station, brandishing the Tang sword.
A few minutes later, Luo Rui plunged his triangular bayonet into the last zombie still snapping its teeth on the ground, finally ending its threat.
After a fierce battle, the six of them had killed over twenty zombies. Each of them was panting heavily and drenched in sweat.
Yu Xi noticed the others’ exhausted state and also took a few deep breaths to blend in and not seem too different.
“Yu Xi, you’re amazing!” Luo Xiang, holding her baseball bat, slung an arm over Yu Xi’s shoulder. “This sword is totally different in your hands! My mom is always afraid I’ll hurt myself with it, so she only lets me use the bat!”
Yu Xi opened her car door and took out a towel (from the Star House storage), cleaning the blade of the Tang sword before sheathing it and handing it back to Luo Xiang. “Here, you can hold it.”
Luo Xiang was speechless.
Yu Xi glanced at the small supermarket, where a corner of the paper covering the glass door had been lifted, revealing a dirty face peeking out at the situation outside.
She reminded Luo Xiang, “Let’s refuel first and get the main task done before more zombies show up.”
“Okay!”
For Luo Xiang, Yu Xi’s words now carried more weight than even her own family.
The six of them began searching through the piles of dead zombies for anyone in employee uniforms, eventually finding two employee cards. They each returned to their respective cars, opened the gas tanks, grabbed the fuel nozzles, and started refueling.
Yu Xi’s car already had a full tank, so she pretended to refuel to see if she could transfer the fuel into the two empty diesel barrels in her space by merely touching the nozzle.
She got lucky. It seemed that anything in a container she could touch was recognized by the Star House storage as transferable.
Pretending to refuel for a while, she then went to the fuel dispenser to see if touching it would also work.
When her fingers touched the fuel dispenser, the fuel started filling the diesel barrels in the Star House storage, without needing to be drawn through the nozzle.
Having discovered this simple method, she leaned against the fuel dispenser, appearing to rest while her palm was actually quickly filling the diesel barrels in the Star House storage.
Each diesel barrel was 200 liters. Filling these three barrels, plus the 6 barrels of 30 liters each she had purchased from her original world and the 5 barrels of 50 liters each (with half a barrel already used) she found at the car dealership, gave her plenty of fuel for a while.
While she was refueling, Luo Xiang’s family was also busy, pulling out various portable fuel containers from under the waterproof cover of their pickup truck and filling them at several pumps.
“Make sure to fill up the car too, and don’t mix up the fuel types!” Luo Rui, not entirely trusting, checked on the older woman.
Luo Lili knocked on his head. “Do you think your old mother is an idiot?”
While they were busily refueling, the people inside the small supermarket couldn’t stay put any longer.
There were six people inside: a couple with a fourteen or fifteen-year-old son, a young man in his twenties, and two young women of similar age.
Trapped in the small supermarket since the outbreak six or seven days ago, they had been living in close quarters, eating, drinking, and doing everything else within that confined space.
The 15-square-meter space, fortunately divided into two rooms, allowed them to use one as a makeshift toilet. During the day, they huddled in their corners, and at night they used clothes and cardboard to make beds between the shelves. The cramped quarters forced them to stay close together. Unable to bathe in the sweltering heat, they could only subsist on biscuits, sausages, instant noodles, and bread. They were nearly driven mad by the confinement.
They dared not leave. Initially, there were only six or seven zombies outside, all former employees or customers at the gas station. On the second day of their entrapment, the zombies around the gas station disappeared. The group planned to escape together, but as they were discussing, a car arrived with four or five people. While refueling, they were ambushed by zombies. Initially, the group handled the few zombies well, but soon more zombies arrived, drawn by the noise, leading to the group’s demise.
The six trapped in the store witnessed the entire event, shivering with fear, and none dared to suggest leaving again. When Luo Lili’s group arrived in their pickup today, the six survivors inside initially thought they would meet the same fate. However, to their surprise, the newcomers swiftly dealt with all the zombies.
A young man, unable to contain himself, was the first to move the barricade and rush out the door. Luo Rui, holding a bayonet, positioned himself protectively in front of Luo Lili and Luo Xiang, eyeing the newcomer warily.
“I’m not a zombie; I’m human. We’ve been trapped in there. Thank you for killing the zombies,” he stammered, then immediately ran to check the cars parked nearby. The first car’s door was open but had no keys. The second car had keys but wouldn’t start due to a damaged front end.
The rest of the supermarket group emerged, squinting against the bright midday sun after being confined for days. As both cars at the gas station were inoperable, they looked to Luo Lili and Yu Xi for help. One side had a sturdy pickup with three strong men and two women; the other side had a slender girl and a large jeep. It wasn’t hard to decide which vehicle to choose.
“Please, take us with you. Is the place you came from free of these monsters? We can bring the food from the supermarket. Please, help us leave!”
“There are plenty of cars on the road outside,” Yu Xi replied, eyeing them. “And we’ve cleared the zombies nearby. You can fend for yourselves.”
The couple, desperate as Yu Xi prepared to leave, rushed to her car window. “Wait! You can’t just leave us here to die!”
Yu Xi locked her door, intending to drive off, but the young man suddenly mustered the courage to run in front of her car, lying on the hood, declaring she might as well kill him if she didn’t take him along.
Yu Xi sneered, opening her door to drag him off. Meanwhile, Luo Lili tapped her baton on the pickup’s bed. “Stop bothering the young lady. Get on this truck. I’ll take you.”
The pickup bed, though open, was spacious enough. Even with the fuel barrels, they could squeeze in the six people.
Luo Lili’s offer made Luo Rui frown in disagreement. He wanted to protest but was stopped by her stern look. She directed Luo Xiang to secure the barrels and organized the group to climb into the pickup. She then instructed Luo Rui and his two companions to find a working car on the road, fill it up, and load the supermarket supplies.
“Let’s be clear,” she said. “I’ll take you, but I won’t individually drop you off. You’ll go where we go. Once we arrive, how you settle is your problem. After loading the supermarket goods, I’ll give each of you about four to five days’ worth of food and water. If you have any objections, get off now. Don’t regret it later.”
Luo Lili was still holding her staff knife. The trapped people were desperate to leave and hearing that they could go to a safe place and get some food and water—though it wouldn’t be much—was enough for them. They all remained silent, accepting the offer.
The young man, seeing that Luo Rui’s group was busy with the cars, suddenly shoved the girl next to him aside, rushed into the convenience store, and grabbed two large bags of food and water before sprinting toward the road. He took advantage of Luo Rui and the others’ distraction, jumped into the car they had just checked and left running, and sped away.
“Brother Rui!” One of the men standing by the car nearly got his foot run over by the tires. He was furious. “What kind of person is this? We saved him, and he can’t even find a car on his own, yet he steals ours?”
Luo Rui, who was inspecting another car, looked over with a complicated expression. “The car he took—did you remove the little zombie stuck under the driver’s seat?”
“No, it was stuck too tightly. I was going to try opening the back door and pulling it out from behind… but then that guy just…”
The three of them watched the car that had been driving steadily suddenly begin to swerve erratically. It didn’t take long before it crashed into a bridge pillar with a loud bang. From a distance, they could see the driver’s side window shatter and a hand tremblingly reaching out from the broken glass, struggling to escape. After a few moments of struggle, the hand went limp and fell silent. Moments later, when the hand moved again, it had turned completely gray-black.
The man who almost got his foot run over sighed, “This must be the quickest karma I’ve ever seen…”
Nearby, Luo Rui’s face was grim as he heard a voice in his head: {Passive skill ‘Karma’ has automatically activated. Remaining uses: 2.}
He wanted to drag the system out and question it: Did that really count? He hadn’t even touched the young man! Was one-third of the skill’s uses really gone just like that? But he knew no matter what he asked, the system never responded to anything except mission summaries and a few fixed broadcasts.
Back at the gas station, the couple and one of the girls who had left the truck bed to check out the commotion quickly scrambled back, found their spots, and sat quietly, no longer feeling jealous or complaining due to their fear.
Of all the people there, Luo Lili remained the calmest. She retrieved the Tang knife from the car and walked over to Yu Xi. “You used it well. Keep it.”
Yu Xi was surprised. She accepted the Tang knife, feeling the cold, black matte finish of the sheath. She genuinely liked it. “I don’t have anything of equal value to give you.”
“I said it’s a gift, young lady. The world is like this now; don’t be so formal.”
“Thank you.” The Tang knife fit well and was sharp—exactly what Yu Xi needed. She thought for a moment and then asked, “Do you know about XX Wetland Park?”
Luo Lili was initially taken aback but then nodded. The wetland park was well-known in S City.
“They’ve set up a refugee camp there. The military built it. I don’t know the specifics, but the city will eventually fall. If you want to evacuate, do it early.”
Yu Xi spoke softly, only loud enough for Luo Lili to hear. Although Yu Xi’s words were cautious, Luo Lili knew she wouldn’t give a suggestion without reason. She had also been thinking of leaving the city, so she nodded, accepting the advice.
“See you around.”
“See you around.”
Yu Xi got into her car, waved at Luo Lili, and drove away.
Luo Xiang, who had been helping to load the food and water, ran over, grumbling about how the other girl left without even saying goodbye to her.
“Stop nagging. If you have fate, you’ll meet again. Hurry up, finish loading, and let’s go home.”
On the way back, Yu Xi encountered a traffic jam, seeing a large number of zombies crowding the area from afar. At a glance, she estimated there were at least fifty of them.
She immediately slowed down, swiped her finger across the navigation route on her phone, and turned onto another road ahead of time. This road wasn’t familiar to the character she was inhabiting in this world, so she could only rely on the phone’s navigation.
Perhaps because the zombies had gathered at the traffic jam, the detour route had only a few scattered zombies. This area was close to the suburban industrial zone, mostly empty buildings with no signs of life.
After bypassing an intersection, the car turned onto a two-lane road. This road originally had no parking allowed, and since it was a one-way street, it was inconvenient for cars to get through, so there were no cars blocking the way. All that could be seen were some fallen electric scooters and a few wandering zombies.
The road was lined with shallow storefronts, mostly small supermarkets, noodle shops, clothing stores, water stations, hardware stores, and convenience vegetable and fruit shops. Almost all the store doors were wide open, with scattered, trampled food, vegetables, and fruits everywhere. There was no sign of any living person along the entire stretch of road, indicating a complete wipeout.
Yu Xi stopped in front of a vegetable and fruit shop, took her Tang knife, got out of the car, and locked the door. The previously aimless zombies, sensing a human presence, immediately turned and lunged towards her. With the Tang knife unsheathed, she aimed for their eyes, swiftly clearing out the zombies.
Yu Xi didn’t know that this road had originally been full of zombies. Two hours earlier, a group of people had come with three cars to search for supplies and water. They inadvertently disturbed the zombies hidden in a small restaurant. Although the restaurant was not large, spanning three floors, it housed a surprisingly large number of zombies.
The group of people tried to leave but were reluctant to abandon the water they had just secured. As they were loading and transporting, they got entangled with the zombies. Two zombies got caught under the car wheels, slowing down their escape. As a result, they fled while drawing most of the zombies from this road away.
The small horde of zombies Yu Xi saw before changing lanes was the very group drawn away from here. If she had driven further ahead, she would have discovered, amid the zombie horde, overturned cars and a person inside one of the cars. The person, with broken legs and a wounded arm, was barely alive, serving as bait deliberately left behind by the group to attract zombies for their own escape.
That person’s name was Wu Di.