Ch 191: Apocalypse Star House Hoarding

Even through the glass, Yu Xi felt disgusted by the sight of the creature writhing outside.

The object, about the size of a palm, looked shapeless, without a discernible head or tail. Upon closer inspection, its unevenly distributed colors revealed deep crimson streaked with faint patterns, resembling some kind of internal organ or raw flesh. Yet it moved, clinging to the glass as though suctioning itself to avoid falling.

Was it alive?

But where had it come from? The car was currently suspended mid-air, making its appearance all the more perplexing. Could it be related to the thick gray fog surrounding them?

“President Yu, we’re near the villa, but visibility is so poor we can’t see the parking platform,” the driver, Jian Shou, said. The platform was already small, and landing the vehicle accurately under such conditions was almost impossible.

“Let me take a look.” Yu Xi stared at the car’s glass, concentrating deeply.

The dense fog had an almost tangible quality, resembling water vapor. Yu Xi considered freezing it into ice and moving the fragments to clear a path home. However, after a brief moment of focus, she stared in astonishment. The gray fog resisted freezing!

As her shock deepened, several more blood-red organisms fell onto the car’s glass. They seemed to target specific spots: one near her and another near Jian Shou’s windshield. These creatures appeared drawn to their proximity to the glass, as if sensing their presence. Meanwhile, a few landed on the car roof, possibly attracted to the unconscious man lying in the middle, closest to that area.

The more Yu Xi observed, the more repulsed she felt, especially realizing they were drawn to her and the others inside. Yet, with the mysterious fog outside and its unknown danger, she couldn’t risk opening the car door mid-air.

Then she remembered the villa’s high-intensity floodlights and quickly used her wristwatch to call Hei Mu. Unfortunately, the call didn’t go through. Whether it was her signal or Hei Mu’s, she wasn’t sure. Recalling recent posts online about worsening reception, she began to suspect the gray fog might also be to blame.

While hesitating, a faint golden light suddenly shimmered within the fog ahead, scattering the dense gray mist. Though the light was dim, it created a clear path from the hovering vehicle to the villa’s platform.

Yu Xi was startled for only a moment before decisively commanding, “Jian Shou, head for the platform immediately!”

The car sped forward, and Yu Xi felt a sudden coolness on her wrist. Turning, she saw the man lying unconscious in the seat stir awake. He appeared incredibly weak, unable to speak, barely managing to move his fingers to lightly grasp her wrist.

His familiar frailty and the way he looked at her confirmed her suspicions.

As expected, she soon heard a familiar voice in her mind.

“It’s me.”

Yu Xi sighed inwardly. I knew it was you…

**
Jian Shou exceeded expectations, parking the hovering vehicle in just one-third of the usual time.

Once again, faint golden light emanated from the man, clearing the fog around the platform and connecting it to the villa’s window area. However, as soon as he finished, the man slipped back into unconsciousness.

Jian Shou didn’t understand why the fog had cleared but knew this was their only chance to reach the villa. He swiftly moved to the door to assist Yu Xi in carrying the man.

“I’ve got him. Your hand hasn’t healed yet,” Yu Xi said, leaping out of the car with practiced ease and turning back to carry the man from the seat.

Jian Shou, armed with the long dagger Yu Xi had given him earlier, knocked down several of the blood-red organisms clinging to the car’s glass, then guarded her side as she closed the door behind them.

The creatures landed on the platform, where the absence of fog caused them to writhe and twist violently. If these things had vocal cords, Yu Xi suspected they’d be screaming. By the time they reached the staircase leading to the villa, the organisms had shriveled and turned into dried, scorched husks, ceasing all movement.

Were these creatures dependent on the fog to survive?

“President Yu!” Jian Shou’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

Quickening her pace, Yu Xi hurried down the stairs. At the villa’s window, Yan Shang and Xi Yuan had already opened it, anxiously waiting. Seeing her carrying the man, Xi Yuan climbed onto the windowsill, extending his arms to assist her.

At that moment, a blood-red organism fell from the area above the window frame still shrouded in gray fog, landing squarely on Xi Yuan’s neck.

He gasped, feeling a sharp pain at the spot, and instinctively reached to touch it.

“Don’t touch it!” Yu Xi barked, immediately handing the unconscious man she was carrying to Yan Shang inside the window. “Take him to my room and be careful—he’s seriously injured!”

Yan Shang nodded, his gaze flicking briefly to the man before returning to Yu Xi. He noticed the bloodstains on her clothes and wanted to ask if she was injured, but she had already turned toward Xi Yuan.

Without hesitation, Yu Xi grabbed the long dagger from Jian Shou, pulled Xi Yuan’s neck down with one arm, and swiftly scraped off the blood-red organism with precision.

The creature clinging to flesh was much harder to remove than those on the glass, as though it had suctioned itself more firmly. Once dislodged, it fell to the ground and began writhing violently before shriveling and drying up in the fog-free area.

Yu Xi climbed through the window, and Jian Shou immediately shut and locked it. The cleared area outside quickly filled again with thick gray fog, obscuring the view entirely.

At the same time, a mechanical voice rang in Yu Xi’s mind:

[Random Mission: Retrieve the critically injured, unconscious patient from Bed 5 at the temporary medical center in Cabin 3 at the base of the mountain within one hour. Mission complete. Star Coins earned: 735.]

Yu Xi barely registered the surge in Star Coins. She stepped back cautiously, keeping her eyes fixed on the window.

Hei Mu, who had been waiting in the hallway, seemed to know her concern. “Master, rest assured. As long as the windows are tightly sealed, the gray fog won’t seep indoors. The indoor air filtration system is also activated, so there shouldn’t be any issues.”

“Good,” Yu Xi replied, though she noticed that as she moved closer to the window, more of the blood-red organisms began falling onto the glass outside, pressing themselves against it.

When she stepped back about a meter, the creatures seemed to lose their target and slid off the glass, disappearing below the windowsill.

She was now almost certain these organisms were drawn to humans. Worried about Xi Yuan, who had been directly affected, she grabbed him and tilted his chin to one side, standing on tiptoe to examine his neck.

As expected, his slender, pale neck bore several red marks. On closer inspection, the marks weren’t just discoloration but seemed to be extensions of the organism—tiny tendrils embedded in his skin.

The tendrils, now drying out and shriveling due to the fog-free environment, dangled weakly from his skin while some had burrowed deeper into his flesh.

Yu Xi turned to Xi Yuan. “Does it hurt?”

He looked down at her in a daze, her face inches from his. Her fingers firmly held his chin while her other hand rested on the back of his neck. His throat bobbed nervously, and his cheeks flushed hot.

After a moment, he shook his head lightly.

“Hei Mu, go to the storage room downstairs and get a medical kit with surgical tweezers and a scalpel. Disinfect them and bring them to me—quickly!”

“Yes!” Hei Mu, efficient as always, returned moments later with the supplies.

Yu Xi led Xi Yuan into the suite’s bathroom, where Jian Shou had placed a chair by the sink. She pressed Xi Yuan into the seat and tilted his neck toward the sink. Jian Shou switched on all the bathroom lights and used the flashlight on his wrist device to illuminate Xi Yuan’s neck.

It was only then that Xi Yuan began to realize something was wrong. For some reason, his thoughts and reactions felt unusually sluggish.

As he moved slightly, the hand on his neck tightened.

“Don’t move,” Yu Xi instructed, taking the sterilized scalpel from Hei Mu. “Do you trust me?”

At such close proximity, he could feel her faint breath. He nodded slightly without speaking.

“Good.” Yu Xi gave a reassuring smile before swiftly and precisely cutting around the red marks on his neck.

Blood gushed out immediately, but Xi Yuan didn’t seem to feel any pain.

Yu Xi focused intently, carefully avoiding the major arteries in his neck as she cut through the tissue around the marks. Once done, she discarded the scalpel into the sink and took the tweezers from Hei Mu. Gently, she extracted a 1-centimeter-long blood-red filament from each of the five marks.

The filaments, discarded into the sink, dried up quickly in the absence of human flesh, turning into brittle husks.

Yu Xi inspected the area again to ensure no remnants were left before disinfecting the wounds and applying gauze.

She had done all she could. The rest depended on whether the strange organisms had any lingering effects.

From what she could tell, the organisms injected tendrils into the skin, causing the initial pain Xi Yuan had felt. However, they seemed to secrete a substance resembling an anesthetic once embedded, which explained why he later felt no discomfort.

Yu Xi felt as though she was piecing together a puzzle, yet the most critical information still eluded her.

By the time she finished dressing his wounds, Xi Yuan still appeared dazed. He turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of his blood-stained collar in the mirror and the blood pooling in the sink.

After staring blankly for a moment, he abruptly slumped back in his chair, unconscious.

Yu Xi: …

“Sorry, he seems to faint at the sight of blood…” Yan Shang quickly steadied Xi Yuan and explained.

“It might not just be blood. That thing could have other unknown effects,” Yu Xi said, pointing to the sink.

With swift precision, Yu Xi ordered Hei Mu to photograph the blood-red organism in the sink before cleaning up. She wanted Jian Shou to upload the images and all known information about the organisms online. This was an unknown danger, and sharing information could benefit everyone.

Before leaving, Hei Mu asked if the man Yu Xi brought back should be temporarily moved to another room. Although there was one room per person at the villa, the night shifts meant space was limited but manageable.

“No need. Let him stay in my room for now. Also, bring a few new sets of men’s clothing,” Yu Xi replied.

Hei Mu glanced at the unconscious man on the sofa before nodding and leaving.

---

The thick gray fog outside began to dissipate before dusk. During this period, the villa’s network and signal were intermittent, and news broadcasts turned into static.

The situation at the mountain resort shelter was grim. The fog had arrived suddenly, catching many people outside buildings. Some, alarmed by the dense and eerie mist, instinctively ran indoors and shut the windows, avoiding harm through caution. However, others who couldn’t or didn’t find shelter in time became completely lost once the fog spread. Wandering blindly, they unknowingly encountered other dangers lurking within the mist.

Once the fog cleared, the restored network was flooded with messages about the “Red Lotus.” Shaky, blurry videos and hastily written posts circulated rapidly from relatively safe zones near the deadly plants.

• “The ‘Red Lotus’ is dead! Really!”
• “Usually at this hour, you’d see those terrifying, massive ‘petals’ swaying outside the window. But today, all those long, blood-red appendages are drooping! Look closely—do you see it? Not moving at all!”
• “Same here! The fog was so dense earlier, and we were terrified because people said those who went out during the fog disappeared. We locked all the windows and stayed far away. But when the fog cleared, the nearby ‘Red Lotus’ was completely still! Even its ‘fangs’ are exposed, which usually only happens when it’s creating suction to pull things in…”

The news spread quickly across the planet. Not all areas with “Red Lotus” experienced abnormalities since the gray fog wasn’t a global phenomenon. However, in fog-affected regions, visibility dropped to nearly zero, and after the fog dissipated, all the “Red Lotus” plants in those areas lost their vitality. Their “petals” drooped, and their “fangs” were exposed, unmoving.

Had the “Red Lotus” truly died?

The military, stirred by the news, sent unmanned drones from safe zones toward the Red Lotus death zones. The drones advanced cautiously: 20 meters, 10 meters, 5 meters… just 1 meter away.

The drones entered the previously impenetrable death zones without triggering the usual violent reactions. The massive organisms, which typically lashed out and struck nearby ground with their appendages, remained lifeless. Some of the appendages were shriveled or even broken.

The drones smoothly approached the tops of the Red Lotus plants. The camera feeds revealed what online posts had described—the exposed “fangs” were unprotected by the “petals” and completely still.

Moments later, a test missile was launched from a nearby military base. It struck the “fangs” directly, exploding in a burst of fire and smoke. When the dust settled, part of the previously indestructible “fangs” was shattered, yet the organism remained lifeless and inert.

The “Red Lotus” was truly dead!

This revelation ignited celebrations across all shelters. Civilians spread the news like wildfire, and news stations broadcast footage from death zones worldwide. Without exception, every previously menacing “Red Lotus” had lost its vitality and defensive capabilities.

The gray fog was the key to suppressing the “Red Lotus”!

Some people quickly grasped this, rushing to share their newfound understanding online. Having endured endless fear and loss during the disaster, the prospect of its end brought uncontainable joy. People confirmed the news repeatedly, browsed posts and videos, shouted in joy amidst ruined cities, or hugged their loved ones, laughing and crying at once.

Online, “Red Lotus” news dominated every platform. In fog-affected areas, people cheered the plant’s death, while those outside the fog eagerly awaited its arrival.

Amid the fervor, Yu Xi’s cautious warnings about the gray fog and the blood-red organisms were quickly drowned out.

A few observant individuals noted the strange organisms clinging to windows and raised concerns about loved ones who had been outside during the fog but hadn’t returned. Yet their voices were small and easily ignored.

It wasn’t until late that night, as the public celebrated, that the military began noticing something was amiss.

The rising number of missing person reports revealed a troubling pattern. Disappearances during the fog, while initially considered accidental, were too frequent and widespread to be mere coincidences.

Reports also included information about the small blood-red organisms. These creatures dried up and turned black immediately upon leaving the gray fog. While wounds caused by them showed localized numbness, testing confirmed they were non-toxic and posed minimal threat for now.

Since the fog wasn’t a constant phenomenon, authorities believed they could manage the risk by notifying the public to immediately seek shelter indoors, close windows and doors, and remain inside during future fog events.

---

Xing Min woke up briefly at dusk.

Yu Xi was doing planks on a yoga mat nearby when she noticed movement from the sofa. She walked over, only for him to utter three words before passing out again.

Yu Xi: …

What he said was: “Take them off.”

By his limp arm hanging over the sofa, she realized he meant the splints on his arm and leg. Yu Xi carefully removed the splints and checked his injuries, discovering that both fractures had fully healed.

She deduced that this body, originally critically injured and near death, had been stabilized by Xing Min’s energy. He had appeared near the resort, where rescue workers had brought him to the medical center. However, due to the energy he expended, he had fallen into a coma, necessitating the random mission that required her to bring him back personally.

For now, he remained in recovery and unlikely to regain full consciousness soon.

Yu Xi removed the remaining splints, covered him with a light blanket, dimmed the room lights, and headed downstairs for dinner.

By then, the gray fog had completely cleared, and the surrounding mountains and the resort at the foot of the hill were once again visible.

However, due to their earlier encounter with the blood-red organisms, everyone in the villa remained cautious. No one opened the windows, and they collectively decided to stay indoors until the situation became clearer.

Yu Xi went to check the hovering car parked on the platform outside the second-floor window. The organisms, uninterested in anything non-human, had vanished completely after the fog dissipated. The ones clinging to the car’s glass were gone without a trace. The dried, blackened organism on the platform remained in the same state, unchanged.

Looking down from the window, the ground surrounding the villa was clean and free of any residual blood-red organisms.

---

At dinner, Hei Mu asked about the man Yu Xi had rescued.

“He’s a very important friend,” Yu Xi replied. “He’ll be staying with us from now on. When I’m not around, his orders take precedence.”

The weight of her words made it clear their relationship was far from ordinary. Everyone was visibly surprised but refrained from questioning her, nodding in agreement.

Xi Yuan, who had fainted earlier from the sight of blood, turned red at the memory of what happened. He didn’t know if it was embarrassment over fainting or something else, but his cheeks flushed bright red whenever Yu Xi looked at him.

Yu Xi: …

Am I that intimidating?

After dinner, Xi Yuan stopped her to apologize for the trouble he caused. First, he acknowledged his recklessness, which had burdened her. Second, he admitted feeling useless for fainting at the sight of his own blood.

Although Yu Xi had reassured him before that he could stay even if he contributed nothing, he didn’t want to remain a burden. He resolved to train harder, not only improving his physical fitness but also learning combat techniques from Jian Shou.

“Jian Shou’s hand hasn’t fully healed,” Yu Xi reminded him. “Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you combat personally.”

His eyes widened in shock, and she added, “Be prepared—I’ll be much stricter than Jian Shou.”

“I’m not afraid! I’ll work really hard!”

“Good luck.” She smiled and headed upstairs.

---

The next day, there was no sunlight.

Everyone who opened their curtains or approached their windows was shocked to find the outside engulfed in dense gray fog once again.

This wasn’t the gentle white mist of peacetime, but the same oppressive, impenetrable gray fog seen in yesterday’s videos and photos.

The fog blanketed everything—sky, trees, buildings—as though the world had vanished.

At this point, most people still felt hopeful, believing the fog would kill the nearby “Red Lotus,” end the disaster, and allow them to rebuild their homes.

What they didn’t realize was that the true disaster was just beginning.

From this moment on, the gray fog would gradually spread, eventually covering the entire planet.

Years later, records from this day would bear a chilling inscription:
“The Second Layer of Hell: Gray Fog has begun.”