Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 292

With two more people in the treehouse, space became a bit crowded again.
As Yu Xi took Ya Tong and Yu Zhenzhen to freshen up and change in the restroom, Xing Min and Lin Wu sat outside on the glass terrace of the treehouse kitchen, looking out at the dark space beyond the pale golden shield. They sipped the coconut drinks Yu Xi had given them, occasionally exchanging a few words.
People tended to develop camaraderie through mutual survival in dangerous situations.
This was true for Lin Wu, and for Ya Tong and Yu Zhenzhen as well. Though it was their first time meeting Xing Min, having his shield protect them during battle immediately left a good impression.
It wasn’t a romantic feeling, but rather the sense of trust and recognition that came from becoming teammates through Yu Xi.
Inside the restroom, however, was an entirely different conversation.
“You can adjust your appearance when you enter the Endless Train, right?” Yu Zhenzhen had already guessed as much, but she was still curious. “Did Xing Min originally look like this? He’s way too good-looking. Or did he deliberately make himself this handsome?”
Yu Xi recalled what Xing Min had mentioned before—his current appearance was about 70-80% similar to his real form. Some species-specific features had been removed, making him look much more “plain and ordinary.” Her expression turned slightly complicated. “He used to look even better. Probably adjusted his appearance to look more ordinary when he entered the Endless Train world.”
“…” Yu Zhenzhen frowned and gave her a classic
囧
face. “Mom, you wouldn’t happen to—”
like him
—was what she wanted to say, but Yu Xi cut her off with a confused look.
Ya Tong pinched Yu Zhenzhen’s cheek. “When a girl compliments a guy’s looks, it’s a sign of respect. Didn’t you hear what your mom said? Xing Min spent a long time looking for her after entering this world—his intentions and dedication are commendable. Besides, men like to look good for the ones they care about. It’s understandable that he’d tweak his appearance a bit in a world where he can adjust it. Just be understanding and don’t call him out on it.”
Yu Xi turned to look at Ya Tong. “…Huh?”
Yu Zhenzhen nodded in realization. “Oh~ So when my mom said that, she was acknowledging what he did while also subtly maintaining his dignity in front of us.”
Ya Tong smiled. “Exactly. You get it now. Just don’t bring it up when we go back out. He seems like the quiet type, not as thick-skinned as Xi Yuan. You can’t use the same tactics on him.”
“Still, I’m totally on Xing Min’s side. Xi Yuan is way too childish—he’s not a good match for my mom!”
Yu Xi turned to Yu Zhenzhen. “…What?”
Ya Tong didn’t comment on the whole
picking sides
thing. Personally, she had always been more inclined toward Lin Wu, but she still offered some advice. “No need to rush. Your mom is still young. Besides, a girl should meet more people, broaden her horizons. As long as the guys don’t mind, a little variety isn’t bad.”
Yu Zhenzhen nodded enthusiastically. “I completely agree!”
Yu Xi: “…”
With Ya Tong’s arrival, that also meant the
chef
had arrived.
Back in their previous time-layer, things were manageable during the daytime—they could move around freely. However, since the resident students and teachers were terrified of the eerie occurrences at night, they often stayed indoors in fear, making the entire academy feel lifeless. The cafeteria and small shops were temporarily closed as a result.
Their daily diet had consisted mostly of simple outdoor meals like sandwiches and burgers. Indoors, the school’s facilities were limited, so even if Ya Tong was willing to cook, there wasn’t much she could do.
Not to mention, there were always other travelers lurking about, waiting for an opportunity to ambush.
At night, strange things would sometimes appear outside their rooms—grotesque, shadowy figures outside the windows, distorted laughter, crying, and the sound of scratching at the doors…
Fortunately, as long as they stayed inside a fully enclosed space, those things couldn’t get in. The difficulty of their situation didn’t compare to what Yu Xi had been facing.
But after stepping into this time-layer and seeing what Yu Xi had been dealing with, both Ya Tong and Yu Zhenzhen felt as though they had
ascended
—yes, wraiths and ghosts were terrifying, but clearly, they were more terrified of Yu Xi…
Inside the treehouse kitchen, Ya Tong plated two medium-rare steaks on wooden boards, cutting them into easy-to-pick-up strips before grinding some black pepper sea salt over them.
Meanwhile, Yu Xi and Yu Zhenzhen prepared the hotpot.
That was simple—just taking out pre-cut meat and vegetables, arranging them neatly, and making the broth. They sautéed garlic, green onions, and hotpot spices until fragrant before adding pre-prepared bone broth from Yu Xi’s storage and bringing it to a boil.
The bar counter was too narrow for everyone to sit comfortably, so Lin Wu took out two camping tables and five chairs, setting them up in the only open space near the elevator. He placed the drinks and utensils on top.
As for Xing Min…
It was his first time being in a room with so many people, and he wasn’t sure what to do to help. So, Yu Xi handed him a pile of unwashed fruit and sent him to clean them in the restroom.
Four of them liked spicy food. One didn’t. The small, non-spicy white broth was placed directly in front of Xing Min.
Before dinner, Yu Zhenzhen took several photos—Ya Tong cooking the steaks, Lin Wu setting the table, Yu Xi preparing the broth, and, of course, a variety of food pictures. She sent them all to the team chat.
Then, she sneakily took a blurry side profile of Xing Min and sent it
only
to Xi Yuan.
Over in his time-layer, Xi Yuan had yet to reach nightfall and was still busy investigating the hidden station. His phone vibrated once, then again, and then a third time. Finally, he received a blurry photo of an unfamiliar man.
It was obvious what Yu Zhenzhen was doing.
Xi Yuan: “Childish! If you have the guts, don’t ever come to my time-layer.”
Yu Zhenzhen: “Hehe. My mom and this guy seem pretty close…”
Xi Yuan: “…”
Yu Zhenzhen: “She specially prepared a non-spicy broth for him, gave him a ton of vegetables and fruit, and they keep whispering to each other.”
Xi Yuan: “…”
After successfully annoying Xi Yuan, Yu Zhenzhen was in high spirits. With her appetite sharpened, she happily joined the competition for the best meat with Yu Xi, Ya Tong, and Lin Wu.
“Wow, I was only gone for a few messages, and the fatty beef is already gone?!”
“I only had a few slices.”
“Me too, just a few!”
“Good thing I have plenty in storage,” Yu
ate half a box of beef
Xi said as she took out two more packs of marbled wagyu slices from her inventory.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass, a particularly forgetful wraith smacked against the surface with a loud
thud.
It opened its gaping, black void of a mouth and extended a meter-long tongue, licking the glass aggressively.
The pale golden shield shimmered, crackling with tiny sparks of energy. The wraith convulsed as if electrocuted and flopped lifelessly to the ground.
Lin Wu, who had watched the entire sequence, glanced toward Xing Min—who was calmly eating his vegetables—and had to admit…
With him around, their team’s safety had
definitely
gone up a notch.
In Lin Wu’s view, Xing Min was quite mysterious. Ever since they had met up with Yu Xi, he had never seen him take out a bound weapon.
His defense and attacks all seemed to rely on that pale golden light. Even Yu Zhenzhen’s absurdly powerful shield couldn’t block non-physical attacks, yet Xing Min could easily do so.
And then there was that large-scale attack he had unleashed earlier—the sheer burst of energy in that moment seemed excessively strong.
A bound weapon that could reach the extreme in both offense and defense… that was almost illogical. Lin Wu had never even heard of such a thing.
Was it possible that Xing Min wasn’t using a weapon at all?
Yu Xi had said he had entered this world with her. Lin Wu already knew that Yu Xi’s bound system wasn’t part of the System Tower, so it was highly likely that Xing Min came from the same world as her.
But he had never seen Xing Min use any of the same tools Yu Xi had before…
Who exactly was he?
**
After a relaxed and enjoyable hotpot dinner that night, the five-person team resumed their routine—hunting monsters, collecting rewards, waiting for the time reset, and then repeating the process.
The dark library, which had devoured and claimed the lives of countless travelers, was now facing the biggest bottleneck since its existence. Even the few unlucky travelers who later stumbled into this time-layer alone managed to survive and move on to other layers thanks to Yu Xi’s team.
Perhaps the wraiths had been beaten into submission because, in the following days, their rewards started dropping more and more clues related to the hidden station. They ed all these clues to Xi Yuan, who eventually narrowed down three potential locations for the station. However, he only had one chance to verify the correct one, meaning they had to go there and confirm it.
That day, as the time vortex on the library wall reopened and the group prepared to leave, something strange happened—the wraiths, who would normally riot at moments like this, were nowhere to be seen.
But if one looked carefully, they would notice that the darkness clinging to the ceiling and corners of the walls was
filled
with wraiths. They crouched silently, as if frozen, and not only did they refrain from attacking, but they also actively stopped any of their own who tried to approach the time vortex.
For the first time, the dark library was witnessing an internal brawl:
Not-so-bright Wraith #1:
Hehehe… where are you trying to go? Stay and play with me—AAHH!
With a distorted wail, its sagging head was yanked off by several other wraiths. Seven or eight grotesque hands lunged forward, beating it mercilessly.
Not-so-bright Wraith #2:
Hisss… hissss—AAAH!
The spider-like wraith that had been dangling from the ceiling suddenly had its spindly limbs grabbed. With a sharp rip, it was torn into four pieces.
Yu Xi, who was the second-to-last to step into the time vortex, turned around just in time to see this scene. She instinctively clapped her hands and then waved at the wraiths before disappearing.
—
“She waved at me! AHHH, bad luck!”
—
“Tch! Who wants to say goodbye to you?!”
—
“Just go! And don’t come back!”
—
Time-layer: Light 2032.5.22.
This was sixteen years before Yu Xi’s original time-layer, marking the beginning of the Light Academy tragedy.
According to their previous clues, the first student disappearance had occurred in this very year.
It was in this year that the
Illuminati
discovered the method to unseal the buried malevolent spirit beneath the academy. They secretly inscribed an irreversible ritual array and set it into motion.
Many people participated in this ritual—students, teachers, parents, and other academy staff.
For the next ten years, they guarded this secret and spread propaganda worldwide, continuously recruiting new students.
The students of the
Illuminati
who had grown up during these ten years went on to establish companies, open galleries, become celebrities, doctors, police officers, lawyers, and professors—many of whom returned to the academy to teach new students.
These people, scattered within and beyond the academy, wove an inescapable web that ensnared all who fell into its trap.
On the surface, they seemed unconnected. In reality, they shielded one another, disguising every calculated sacrifice as an unfortunate accident.
Many students, due to financial difficulties, had only been able to attend the academy after receiving its generous scholarships. These students had no social standing or background, meaning that once they were sacrificed, no one would notice their disappearance. They vanished silently, their fates unknown.
—
Inside a small library lounge, Xi Yuan leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, watching the swirling time vortex on the opposite wall.
The truth they had uncovered over the past few days weighed heavily on him.
Even though this was just a station in the Endless Train world—perhaps even just a simulated reality—for the students trapped in this academy, it was all too real.
They had arrived here full of hope, only to unknowingly step onto a path of no return.
And when they died, they became wraiths haunting the academy, unintentionally becoming accomplices of the
Illuminati
and leading more innocent students to their deaths. The cycle repeated itself endlessly, until the overwhelming resentment fused with the ritual array, severing the academy from the outside world and trapping all the students and staff within.
Light Academy had become a death trap where no one could leave.
Those inside had gone from fear to chaos, from chaos to despair, and then to madness. No one knew what had happened in those final years…
The vortex rippled, pulling Xi Yuan from his thoughts.
The first to step out was Lin Wu, followed by Ya Tong and Yu Zhenzhen.
Lin Wu and Ya Tong remained calm, but the moment Yu Zhenzhen saw Xi Yuan, she grinned mischievously.
Xi Yuan and Yu Zhenzhen frequently bickered, but he had always treated her like a little sister. He had never truly been angry with her.
Now was no different.
He had never wanted to monopolize Yu Xi.
He knew very well that they were from different worlds.
He could never go to her world.
And once all of this was over, she would never return to the apocalyptic world of the System Tower.
This would be their last journey together.
Every journey had an end. Sooner or later, they would say goodbye.
This was merely the final spark before the end of the road—a fleeting firework before the darkness.
But whether in the present moment or in the future when they would part, what he wanted to leave her with was always a smile.
Yu Xi stepped out of the time vortex after Yu Zhenzhen. As soon as she steadied herself and looked up, she saw Xi Yuan standing not far away.
Leaning casually against the doorway, he gave her a bright smile.
“Xiao Xi.”