Apocaly Utopi apocaly utop

Chapter 11 Girl

"What’s going on? I thought there was no one in the supermarket?" Shirley’s voice was low and tense, her body rigid.

"There really wasn’t anyone earlier. Who knows where they came from…" Jack muttered under his breath.

The three of them each held a kitchen knife, with Jack leading the way, while Emma and Shirley guarded the sides, slowly moving toward the direction where the sound of a collision had come from.

The kitchen knives were something Emma had thought of earlier, grabbing them from the deli section. They were probably used for cutting braised meats, so they likely weren’t very sharp—even after being wiped clean, they still carried a faint, unpleasant smell of braised food. Still, having knives in hand gave the three of them a bit more confidence.

"Thud." Another muffled sound reverberated through the air.

This time, the three of them immediately pinpointed the direction and quickly moved toward the front right—"Over here!" Shirley pointed.

Not far away, under the dim light of a candle, a door with a sign that read "Employees Only" stood quietly.

The three exchanged glances, and Emma nodded before speaking. No matter who was inside, a young woman’s voice would likely make the other person lower their guard: "Who’s in there? Come out now!"

The air was silent for a few seconds.

After a moment, just as Emma was about to impatiently ask again, a loud sob suddenly came from behind the door. Then, a clear, timid voice asked, "... Who are you?"

The three of them looked at each other in surprise, slightly relieved, and lowered their knives. Not only did the voice clearly belong to a girl, but it also carried a strong childlike tone—the person behind the door couldn’t be older than fourteen.

"... Little girl? How old are you? We’re not bad people…" Emma asked cautiously, "Are you alone behind the door?"

The little girl’s tearful voice responded with a soft "Mm," followed by, "I’m eleven."

At this, the three of them completely lowered their knives. Shirley even casually covered her knife with a towel from a nearby shelf, as if afraid of scaring the little girl, and asked gently, "Why are you here alone? Where are your parents?"

The little girl’s voice grew even more tearful: "My... my dad works here. Last night he brought me here... then a lot of people rushed in, stealing things. My dad locked me in there and told me not to go out no matter what..."

The three of them exchanged pained looks. It was clear that the little girl’s father had likely become one of the corpses—perhaps even one of the bodies they had moved earlier.

"Little girl, what’s your name? Can you open the door?" Shirley gently knocked on the door.

"My name is Mary Wang. My dad said not to open the door unless he came back…" The little girl sobbed again, "But he hasn’t come back yet…"

The three of them were visibly moved. Such a young child, and she had somehow managed to survive the night… Jack whispered to Emma, "Say something to comfort her."

Emma immediately looked uneasy. Seeing Shirley encouraging her with a look while continuing to speak to the girl, Emma cleared her throat and reluctantly said, "Mary Wang, be strong!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the other two looked at her as if she were an alien.

Emma gave them a helpless look, signaling that she was out of her depth—even though she was a girl, she had been raised with a more independent and resilient mindset and had no idea how to handle children. Especially a child who was clearly traumatized and fragile—her attempt at comfort might just end up causing more harm.

Mary Wang, hit by Emma’s blunt words, immediately fell silent.

Shirley shot Emma a glare and whispered to the other two, "This child has probably already developed a high-temperature adaptation ability… Staying locked in there isn’t good for her." She then raised her voice and said, "Mary, your dad told you not to come out because it wasn’t safe outside. But now it’s safe. Come out, and we’ll wait for your dad together, okay?"

Mary Wang behind the door seemed hesitant, humming softly, unable to make up her mind.

Shirley, her maternal instincts fully activated, melted at the sound of the little girl’s hum and quickly stepped closer to the door, continuing in a gentle voice, "... You’ve been in there since last night, you must be hungry, right? Auntie has a lot of food here. What do you like to eat?"

"Mm, I’m so hungry… I like the fish my mom makes…" Mary Wang said timidly. "And chocolate bars…"

Shirley’s eyes glistened with what might have been tears, and she wiped the corner of her eye, saying quickly, "Okay, okay, let’s open the door, and Auntie will take you to get something to eat, alright?"

Seeing that Shirley had the situation under control, the other two started whispering to each other.

Jack said softly, "Shirley once mentioned that she was married before, but they couldn’t have children, so they ended up divorcing…"

No wonder! Emma felt a bit dizzy: it seemed that the personalities that had split off indeed had their own complete life experiences…

As the two of them chatted, Mary Wang, after much coaxing from Shirley, finally agreed to go out.

"Auntie, I’ll come out now…" Mary Wang said timidly. Then, there was a soft "click" as the lock turned, and the door handle twisted.

But the door didn’t budge.

"Huh?" Shirley looked down in surprise, examining the door closely, and asked through the crack, "Mary, did your dad lock the door from the outside before he left?"

The little girl’s voice immediately panicked: "I... I think so, I don’t remember!"

At this, the three of them frowned. This supermarket catered to high-end customers, so every inch of the place was meticulously designed, including the heavy-duty doors in the employee area. Shirley, looking at the keyhole, unwilling to give up, called out, "Mary, step back, Auntie’s going to kick the door!" Before the other two could stop her, she had already kicked the door with all her might—

Shirley immediately gasped in pain and sat down on the floor, clutching her foot—the door hadn’t even budged.

"What do we do?" For the first time, she looked at the other two with a hint of helplessness.

Emma opened her mouth but then closed it. She might be able to make the door disappear—if her earlier act of making the iron door disappear didn’t count. But that would mean she’d only have one chance left for the day, and it was only 7:30 in the morning… Besides, she wasn’t even sure if she still had that one chance… Emma hesitated for a while but ultimately said nothing.

After all, there were other ways to open the door, and this chance—if it still existed—might be better saved for everyone’s sake.

"When we were moving the bodies earlier, we saw a few employees from this supermarket, still in their uniforms," Jack thought for a moment and spoke first—making Emma secretly relieved and easing her guilt—Jack glanced toward the door, hinting to the other two, "Maybe the person with the key is lying there…"

That’s right—Mary Wang’s father had locked the door, so he must have had the key. His daughter was in the supermarket, so he couldn’t have gone far. He must have died inside the supermarket, and they had probably already moved his body upstairs—

With this in mind, the three of them immediately perked up and huddled together to discuss.

Since it was already broad daylight outside, the temperature was likely unbearable, so Emma, the only one without enhanced physical strength, was left behind to guard the employee's room door. Shirley seemed very concerned and even reminded her before leaving, "Don’t say anything unnecessary. Don’t scare the child!"

Emma nodded awkwardly.

Once the two of them left, the supermarket fell into silence again. Mary Wang seemed to realize that only the stiff "strong sister" was left on the other side of the door, so aside from the occasional sob, she said nothing.

Emma sat on the ground, bored, and absentmindedly played with the kitchen knife in her hand.

Come to think of it, now that Jack and Shirley were gone, this was the best time to test whether she still had one last chance for the day. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it: aside from the faintly smelly kitchen knife in her hand, there was nothing else worth making disappear—if she wasted her last chance, she’d really have nothing to cry about.

She had no idea how long she had been hesitating when she suddenly heard footsteps coming from the direction of the elevator—Emma stood up and saw that it was Jack and Shirley.

"That was quick?" she asked in confusion.

Jack grinned, showing his rabbit-like teeth, and said, "We got lucky. The first woman we checked was the manager of this supermarket. I found a set of keys in her pocket…" He held up a jingling set of keys for Emma to see. "Thankfully, the manager labeled the keys, so it was easy for us."

Emma was momentarily stunned, her eyes darting toward the door, "Mary... her dad? Weren’t you…" She lowered her voice, "Did you find the keys on her dad’s body?"

"Cough, having the keys is enough. We didn’t find… that person, and maybe that’s not a bad thing," Jack said casually, handing the keys to Shirley.

"Mary, Auntie’s back, I’m going to open the door now—" Shirley said as she crouched down.

Just as the key in her hand entered the lock, Emma’s heart suddenly skipped a beat—before she even realized what she was doing, a flash of white light passed through her palm, and the kitchen knife in her hand turned into a card, which she tightly gripped.

Emma looked at the card in her hand in surprise, but before she could regret her impulsive action, the sound of metal turning in the lock echoed from the employee's room door. Then, Shirley gently pushed the door open: "Mary, Auntie’s opened the door…"

As Shirley stepped forward, Emma suddenly lunged at her, shoving her to the ground.