Apocalypse Star House Hoarding-Chapter 342: (Extra 16)

Just as Yu Xi had predicted, once all the real information and data were released, reactions varied greatly between different countries and people.
Some countries were fortunate — though they also experienced heavy rain and hurricanes, most of their territory was not affected by the Long Night, and the number of people infected in the first wave was very small.
Most of the citizens who suddenly developed strange and unknown illnesses were already in hospitals. When the true cause of these illnesses was revealed, there was a brief period of chaos. But the doctors in the hospitals were seasoned veterans — what kind of disease haven’t they seen?
As long as the infected didn’t turn into terrifying monsters like in bio-horror films, spreading viruses with gruesome faces, then what did it matter if this was an invisible microorganism that couldn’t be detected by the naked eye or standard instruments?
The characteristics and weaknesses of the microorganism spores had been made perfectly clear. At most, they considered it a bacterial virus. And the treatment was surprisingly simple.
Despite the floods, it wasn’t difficult to set up a few high-temperature saunas.
Their only worry was whether all of this was real. Could it be that some anti-human organization had taken advantage of the global disaster and enlisted hackers to spread fake news at the same time, aiming to incite panic and chaos?
After all, after a month of continuous rainfall, most nations were suffering from floods and low temperatures. People’s lives were in disarray, and social order was a mess. Schools, factories, companies, and shops — anything non-essentia l— had completely shut down.
Right now, the only things still operating were hospitals, and even they were barely holding on, heavily propped up by national emergency resources. If hospitals fell into disarray due to these messages, what would happen to the state of the nation?
Whether to believe or not, leaders at the top were still in emergency meetings, while hospitals and citizens on the ground were already reacting based on their own judgment.
Some, after weighing the options, figured that the treatment method was too simple to be part of a deliberate scheme. If it were a true conspiracy by some anti-human group, wouldn’t the cure be far more difficult and costly?
So, with a mindset of “better safe than sorry,” they gave it a try. And the result? Patients who had been on the brink of death, unresponsive to any medication, began to slowly recover.
Some had been showing symptoms for days, their organs already severely damaged — they still needed continued treatment in hospitals. But others, who had just started showing symptoms, fully recovered after four hours in a sauna and half a day of rest.
No matter what, as long as they followed the method online to deal with the microbial spores, they quickly realized the information was true.
These people no longer hesitated and immediately began broader extermination efforts.
In essence, the spores couldn’t be permanently destroyed. In low temperatures, they became dormant and stopped moving, but once the cold disappeared, they would reawaken and look for a host again—making cleanup a bit tricky.
Two methods were provided online:
First, liquid nitrogen — an ultra-low-temperature liquid (-196°C), often used for flash freezing or culinary purposes. If applied to the sauna room, it could instantly freeze the spores, rendering them inactive.
What happened next depended on resources: ideally, the sauna should be dismantled, the debris sealed and transported in cold storage, and then launched into space — returning the spores to where they came from.
Of course, this method was extremely costly. Even the first step — handling liquid nitrogen — required trained personnel in full protective suits. Transport and storage under sustained cold conditions posed additional challenges.
Second, high-temperature incineration. Use flamethrowers from inside the sauna to burn everything down until all the interior was ash.
This method also had downsides. There was no way to guarantee that every single spore was destroyed, and if the ash wasn’t properly handled afterward, it could still cause problems.
People might get repeatedly infected. While curable, it wouldn’t be eradicated — and for weaker bodies, lasting side effects could remain.
There were also countries that had suffered immensely from the beginning: rainstorms, hurricanes, giant hail, the Long Night, floods — none of it spared them.
When large numbers of people fell ill with strange, never-before-seen symptoms, these nations initially believed it to be a new kind of plague.
After the information about microbial spores appeared online, some treated it as gospel and immediately followed all procedures, sparing no expense to eliminate the parasitic threat.
Others saw it as a conspiracy; believing the entire situation was a scheme orchestrated by hostile foreign powers. That the pathogen was planted by them, and now even the so-called cure was part of the same plan — to sow chaos and exploit the weakened national system.
Countries that thought this way had usually considered or attempted similar tactics themselves. As one might say in Chinese: judging others by oneself.
So when they saw this information, their first reaction was to reject it.
And in these countries already in a terrible state, infected individuals — either already dead or on the brink of death — began appearing in hospitals and the flooded streets of various cities, with numbers growing daily.
After a long incubation period, bizarre symptoms hit suddenly and violently. Even though the cure was simple, they were never given a chance to receive it.
In just two days, the microbial spores had drained their lives away.
With a massive accumulation of corpses, the large-scale outbreak of spore-related infections truly began…
**
No matter how the nations or people of this planet responded — whether they believed it or not, whether they used the methods or not — it was no longer something Yu Xi or Xing Min could control.
As always, she would save people, but she couldn’t save everyone. What she truly aimed to save was the apocalyptic world itself.
As long as the world still existed, not yet destroyed, then step by step, through steady effort, every disaster could one day pass.
Their country, Huaguo, was vast and densely populated, and many people had fallen ill following the Long Night.
Once this information exploded online, the scientists and medical professionals who had been tirelessly researching and investigating the strange illness immediately tested the methods described — and found that the treatment actually worked!
Which begged the question — were the rest of the details in the leaked information also true?
Given the current level of technology on the planet, there was no way to distinguish microbial spores from ordinary bacteria or viruses. The previous official explanation that the substance was extraterrestrial metallic dust was just that — an official line, designed to avoid mass panic.
In reality, when authorities investigated the cause of the Long Night, they had already discovered bacteria-like spores in the cloud layers.
They too suspected hostile nations and held endless meetings debating various conspiracy and warfare theories …
But once the first wave of infected citizens began to appear, everything else became secondary.
The illnesses were abrupt and fast-acting, worsening by the day. Despite trying countless treatments, none worked — and people began dying one after another …
So regardless of whether there was a conspiracy behind it, to the authorities, saving lives had become the top priority.
As long as the cure worked, they would set aside all other concerns and focus everything on treating patients.
The person who released the information also provided detailed blueprints and diagrams for a kind of standalone treatment chamber.
This treatment unit resembled a portable sauna room, divided into multiple layers. The outermost layer was an isolation shell with a hollow wall that could maintain near-zero temperatures to prevent spore leakage. The first internal layer housed an oxygen generator, a heater, and a humidifier necessary for the sauna.
The core layer was the treatment room, which could accommodate up to eight patients at a time.
After treatment was complete and the room vacated, liquid nitrogen could be sprayed inside to rapidly freeze the chamber to ultra-low temperatures.
Once fully frozen, the treatment room could be detached from the unit and transported as a sealed, frozen block to an isolated storage facility.
Clearly, if treatment followed this design, microbial spores could be fully contained and prevented from escaping.
However, the manpower, materials, and financial resources required for this were enormous.
Across the globe, only Huaguo was likely to seriously consider mass-producing these mobile treatment units.
Beyond that, due to the transmission route — via blood and saliva — nationwide protective measures became essential. Masks and medical protective gear would need to be mass-produced by local governments.
But the country was already flooded. Land transportation was virtually paralyzed, making logistics a major hurdle. In most places, local governments and citizens had no choice but to rely on themselves.
Still, this was vital — only by improving protection and reducing infection rates could the spread of spore parasitism be controlled quickly.
**
Outside, whether in chaos or in a frenzy of anti-parasitic efforts, inside the ice dome was like a paradise cut off from the world.
Rain continued to pour outside, but the ground within the ice dome was already dry. Though there was no sunlight and no one could leave the dome, the people inside were genuinely happy.
Some had gotten the news online and spread it by word of mouth. Soon, everyone knew what was going on.
And so, they realized that the ice dome truly had been created to protect them.
It had been raining non-stop outside — who knew if the rain itself was carrying those terrifying microbial spores?
They didn’t know what mysterious force had created such a massive, weather-blocking dome of ice, but after suffering so long from the torrential floods, finally getting dry and normal days again — who wouldn’t be grateful?
At the A-Frame homestay resort, after Pang Yufu and Pang Yuqing had reviewed some of the official bulletins posted online that day, Pang Yufu rummaged through their supplies and dug out several hundred masks, then handed some out to the others.
It was a sensitive time — no one could be sure if the person next to them or their neighbor had become a host. Better to play it safe.
Pang Yuqing, carrying two large bags of masks given to him by his father, knocked on the glass door of Yu Xi’s A-Frame villa, feeling reluctant deep down. After all, they had just broken up — wasn’t it awkward to meet again so soon?
The one who answered wasn’t Yu Xi, but that incredibly striking man. He didn’t open the door. Instead, he pulled back the dark curtain inside the glass, and after understanding Pang Yuqing’s intent, he politely declined the masks.
“We have our own, thank you.”
Looking at the man’s face, Pang Yuqing suddenly found himself thinking about something he’d never considered before.
Was this guy actually Yu Zhenzhen’s “friend,” or … Yu Xi’s?
He’d gone and made a whole speech about breaking up — was it all just wishful thinking on his part?
Pang Yuqing felt a little embarrassed. He turned to leave, but Xing Min suddenly stopped him.
“If anyone inside the ice dome suddenly falls ill, make sure to say something in the A-Frame Villa group chat and leave their name.”
Although Pang Yuqing didn’t understand the reason behind the request, Xing Min’s presence was too commanding — he nodded instinctively in agreement.
Inside the A-Frame villa, Yu Xi and Yu Zhenzhen were helping Tianbao skewer lamb for kebabs on the large dining table Yu Xi had set up.
The indoor space was limited. Back in their old apartment complex, they could open the blinds and watch the street from up high. But now in the mountains, not even near a cliff, the view outside was just trees and barren rock walls.
With nowhere to go for ten days, Yu Xi thought of ways to keep them occupied.
Her Starhouse warehouse now had 10,000 cubic meters of space — of course, it could be even larger, but there was no need. Its material reserves were so rich that Yu Zhenzhen could never imagine the extent of it.
Of course, she had ready-made lamb skewers in storage — raw and cooked — but this was about keeping busy. So she pulled out the tenderest lamb leg meat and had them prepare it from scratch.
They used a skewer-making gadget designed for children, a rectangular box that made four skewers at a time.
Yu Zhenzhen cut the lamb into small cubes, Tianbao carefully placed them into the box — one lean, one fatty, all in neat rows as instructed.
Once all the meat was in place, she passed the box to Yu Xi, who closed the lid, picked up a sharp bamboo skewer, and stabbed it through the meat channels — one, two, three, four, all perfectly aligned.
When Tianbao lifted the lid again, the cubes she’d placed were now obediently lined up on skewers.
Her next job was to pull them out and arrange them neatly on a plate for grilling later.
There’s no kid who doesn’t love lamb skewers — juicy, tender meat releasing savory oils over the fire, dusted with salt and cumin, crackling as the fat hits the charcoal. The sound alone made mouths water.
After filling a big plate with lamb, they moved on to other items.
Springy, fresh squid tentacles, sliced potatoes and eggplant, cleaned yellow croaker, thinly sliced pork belly, and soft, chewy rice cakes.
Scallops and oysters only needed a good rinse and could go straight on the grill.
Cleaned chives and enoki mushrooms were spread in foil trays, topped with black pepper and salt. Once on the grill, they’d get a dollop of homemade garlic sauce.
Soon night fell. Up on the villa’s elevated clearing, many people couldn’t bear to stay indoors. Even though they had to wear masks and keep their distance, they set up long tables and chairs on the viewing platforms, lit candles, and savored the rare outdoor moment.
Of course, Yu Xi’s group of four wouldn’t eat outside under current circumstances. To create a cozy dinner atmosphere, she brought out a few strands of soft, warm fairy lights and stuck them along the walls.
Once the indoor lights dimmed and the stars lit up, the whole room took on a magical glow.
“Wow!” Tianbao was thrilled. Not only did she get to help make dinner and eat all her favorite foods, even the house had become beautiful.
Yu Xi connected her phone to the TV and played a downloaded animated movie. “Just for tonight, Tianbao gets to eat and watch a cartoon at the same time!”
“Yay!” Tianbao clapped excitedly. It felt like a holiday to her.
She ran two excited laps around the living room and finally dove into Xing Min’s arms, twisting and shouting, “Pretty big bro, hug hug!”
“Uncle,” Xing Min corrected her as always. Only when Tianbao used the right term would he pick her up. Sometimes he even tossed her gently into the air, making her squeal with joy.
After dinner, the group quickly cleaned up the dishes and gathered around the coffee table in the living room to play a paper version of Monopoly.
Tianbao was in charge of rolling the dice — whoever wanted to move forward or build houses had to rely on her, which gave her a huge sense of accomplishment.
By 10 PM, after game time was over, Yu Zhenzhen took a freshly washed Tianbao to bed. The two of them lay peacefully in a soft, clean bed, with Yu Zhenzhen holding her most beloved daughter tightly as they drifted off to sleep.
**
Downstairs, in the lower room, Xing Min had Yu Xi pressed onto the soft couch, kissing her deeply and endlessly.
“I need to go upstairs … and rest,” Yu Xi murmured during a breath between his kisses, half teasing him.
He didn’t respond — just clasped her wrist and once again pressed his lips to hers, entering her mouth with silent insistence.
It had been a long time since he last had a physical body. In her native world, the more he couldn’t touch her, the more his longing built up. He was used to suppressing his emotions, used to restraint.
But when something is held back for too long, the moment it’s triggered, it becomes impossible to contain.
What started as a gentle kiss soon grew heated. His fingers moved slightly, and a pale golden arc of light appeared in the room, completely sealing the two of them within. No matter how intense things got inside, no one outside the shield could detect a thing.
When his warm, slender fingers gripped her waist, Yu Xi immediately sensed what he wanted to do next.
She reached up and stroked his delicate, handsome features. She had thought, based on his personality, that he might never even think about these things — but to her surprise, it only took a brief lapse in memory for him to lose control.
“Xing Min …” Her fingertips slid past his straight nose and came to rest on his sensual Adam’s apple. Then she tugged at his collar. “Did I ever tell you?”
She leaned in and whispered against his ear, “When I first saw your face, I wondered what kind of expression it would have when you lost control …”
That one soft sentence sent a tidal wave crashing through him.
That night, Xing Min used the most real, unrestrained way to show her everything she had wanted to know.
…
Yu Xi didn’t get any sleep that night. Though Xing Min had a human body now, he clearly retained the physical stamina of a Taien star native.
Thankfully, her own body wasn’t weak — she just barely managed to keep up…
Sometimes curiosity got the better of her, and during the process, she’d start asking questions.
Like — what differences existed in structure and function between Taien star people and G Blue star humans?
Did many Taien star people really have mental powers like in sci-fi stories? Was it true that they could use only that to — ? How much did he know?
…
Yu Xi loved asking all kinds of weird and curious things. Xing Min usually stayed silent and, more often than not, quietly blushed.
Back in his own world, he was busy every day safeguarding star systems. There were some things he knew about, but had never experienced — how could he possibly explain them clearly to her?
Sometimes, when she pushed him too far, he’d switch to “communicating” with her in the way of G Blue Star people.
Aside from the first time, he usually held back, never losing control for an entire night.
But when she asked those strange questions, he would enter another mode entirely — until she was left limp, waving her hand weakly and saying she’d never ask again — only then would he calm down and return to being gentle.
Yu Xi was honestly pretty satisfied. It felt like she had discovered the password to a secret switch…
**
The days of being stuck indoors quickly passed.
During those ten days, several people inside the ice dome began to show different symptoms of illness. Thanks to Pang Yuqing posting in the group each time, Yu Xi would disguise herself and Xing Min using the [Camouflage Lipstick], swiftly arrive, take out the mobile treatment room, and throw the patient in for immediate care.
They weren’t afraid of showing their real faces, but since they had to keep Yu Zhenzhen and Tianbao safe, they chose to stay hidden from start to finish.
With the help of her ice manipulation, Yu Xi didn’t need to expend too much effort sealing up the used treatment rooms. She simply froze the water mist and droplets inside, extracted them, and used the same technique from the reverse hailstorm to send them into space—thorough and clean.
After ten days, all those who were going to fall ill had already done so. The ones left were safe.
Once the final patient had recovered, Yu Zhenzhen brought Tianbao out of the A-Frame villa they had been stuck in for days. Standing on the viewing platform out front, she took a long, deep breath as she looked at the green mountains and trees outside.
The air was full of the scent of grass and trees. There was no endless rain, no stinking, trash-filled water. Only now did they realize — this was what their world was supposed to be like. So beautiful.
Outside the ice dome, the rain still hadn’t stopped, but as temperatures dropped rapidly across the regions, it soon turned to heavy snow.
The microbial spore crisis wasn’t over yet, and now this multi-day snowstorm brought a new threat.
What the people of this world didn’t know, however, was that along with the new disaster came a new wave of taskers from alternate timelines.
This time, Yu Xi deployed ten thousand taskers in one go, with missions primarily focused on survival and rescue. All mission files came with complete data on the microbial spores.
These spores were hard for regular taskers to detect at first. They could be infected during the incubation period without any symptoms, and by the time they felt something was wrong, it was already too late. Death came silently in just two to five days, and most taskers failed right at this point.
But now, with the warning provided, things became much easier.
Taskers had all kinds of tools and support cards. Masks and protective suits could be traded for just a few points. Even drinking water could come from their own storage or be exchanged with points.
As long as they stayed vigilant, the risk of infection could be completely avoided.
All ten thousand tasks were successfully completed. After about half of them exited the world, Yu Xi deployed another ten thousand. This time their missions focused on survival, rescue, and a small portion on repair and rebuilding.
As for herself, she stayed with Yu Zhenzhen, Tianbao, and Xing Min at the A-Frame villa on the highland.
She reached out to Father Pang, who then contacted the other residents from inns that had once been protected by the ice dome. They began planning to reconstruct and cultivate the area, expanding their team in the process.
This zone remained a mysterious place. Ever since the original ice dome vanished, it had reappeared during extreme weather — violent rainstorms, hurricanes, massive hail, and blizzards. As though created to shield the people inside, it would appear for a few days at a time before vanishing again.
Other outsiders had tried to claim the land, but each time, two unfamiliar figures would appear and drive them out with overwhelming strength and strange weapons.
Over time, the locals came to understand that only these two people were protecting the area. Yet somehow, they always appeared in different forms.
Those who once eyed the land no longer dared to cause trouble. Even the military had investigated — visiting households and questioning people — but got nothing.
The locals weren’t fools. They knew they were being protected, and wouldn’t say a word.
Because the zone wasn’t very large and the population was small, and since its protection was purely for the safety of those inside, it was allowed by the authorities. Slowly, people stopped questioning the oddities there.
The cities were beyond saving. After more than a month of continuous rain, sea levels had risen, and cities built on flatlands were submerged by two to three storeys.
Cold waves and snowstorms followed. Then came unending violent winds and rain. Cities without power or gas became dark and frozen, forcing wave after wave of evacuations.
Those with the means fled west and southwest to the highlands, planning to settle there permanently.
Others chose nearby mountain shelters and started their new lives from scratch, building everything with their own hands.
Once things stabilized, the “Divine Shelter” zone began recruiting newcomers — people with practical skills. For example: farming, carpentry, defense setup, or even cooking…
In the third year of the apocalypse, Yu Zhenzhen met a good man who deeply loved her and also cared for Tianbao and Yu Xi.
He had once been a furniture designer. After joining, he took charge of designing and building furniture for the region.
Yu Xi reinforced the A-Frame villa and moved into a nearby cottage with Xing Min. The two houses were close but gave each other space.
By the fifth year, with the help of taskers, the disasters calmed, and the people of the planet gradually adapted to their new way of life.
At last, Yu Xi’s mission in this world was fully complete. Xing Min, knowing they would soon leave, couldn’t help but feel a bit down.
That night, as they sat by the fireplace watching snow fall outside the window, Yu Xi suddenly spoke.
“We could get married in this world. Live out a whole life here before we go back …”
“You would really want that?” he looked at her, stunned, unsure of what to say.
“Why not? Even if we can’t have kids in this world, spending a lifetime together is still beautiful…” Before she could finish, she was already pulled tightly into his embrace.
To live a full life with her — to have a complete set of memories — had always been a dream in his heart.
He knew even after they returned to their original world, he could still stay by her side. But to live quietly in one place together, to grow old side by side in a real body… that was something else entirely.
She knew what he was thinking and gently patted his back. “And not just this world. If you want, we can live through a whole life together in every world.”
“Okay.” He hugged her even tighter. “We’ll go to every world. And spend every lifetime together.”
(End of the extra mini-arc)