Apocaly Utopi apocaly utop

Chapter 7 New World

Under Emma’s guidance, Shirley drove the car to the base of the 38th-floor apartment building, finding a secluded spot to stop and rest.

After all, it was a top-tier community, and compared to the outside, there were far fewer people here. Even in this unrecognizable world, the garden still appeared serene and elegant.

Hesitating for a moment, Emma covered the shattered car window and turned on the air conditioning. Now that Sophie was gone… saving fuel and electricity no longer mattered. The cool environment would not only help her recover faster but also prevent her neck wound from becoming inflamed or infected in the heat… Even though she understood the logic, when the cold breeze hit her, she still felt a pang of sadness.

Jack glanced at her expression and sighed. “Big sis, don’t be too heartbroken. Your friend… at least she didn’t die at the hands of the Fallen Ones…”

Having gone through a life-and-death situation together, the bond between them had unconsciously grown stronger—Emma sensed Jack’s kindness and smiled. After a moment, she said, “Could you not call me ‘big sis’? I’m really not that much older than you… By the way, I haven’t had the chance to introduce myself yet. My name is Emma. I… just evolved.”

“Inspired by ‘Three Cups of Wine in the Vast World of Mortals’?” Jack immediately pursed his lips. “I lose when it comes to names. I’ll call you Emma then… By the way, why do you have a towel wrapped around your neck?”

“Oh!” Emma was reminded and quickly removed the damp, hot towel, revealing the bloody wound underneath.

Jack gasped at the sight, and Shirley raised an eyebrow, looking at her with curiosity. Emma opened a bottle of purified water, cleaning the wound as she recounted the whole story about Buck—perhaps because these two had saved her in a moment of crisis, she felt willing to trust them now.

Unlike Jack, who was left gaping, Shirley remained silent, frowning. Suddenly, she pointed at the bottle of purified water and said to Emma, who was momentarily stunned, “Let me handle it. I had been studying medicine for a few years, after all.” She then pulled out a roll of bandages and some antibiotics from her waist pouch.

… Did a split personality also come with a complete life experience? Emma glanced at Jack in confusion but said nothing, obediently swallowing two antibiotic pills. With Shirley’s skills, her neck wound was properly treated in no time.

After hearing the story, Jack was still in a daze. “I’ve heard about this kind of cannibalistic ability before… but Shirley and I have never encountered it. We always thought it was just an urban legend. I never imagined it could be real. Buck must have only evolved recently, which is why you were able to take him down so easily. Given time, who knows how powerful he could have become!”

“It’s a good thing we’ve never met someone like that,” Shirley said quietly.

After spending half the night together, Emma had started to get a sense of their personalities. Shirley, though not a fighter, was agile, calm, and seemed more experienced (?)—she actually felt more reliable than Jack.

“Can you explain this world to me… What’s going on? How many worlds are there?” Emma couldn’t help but ask Shirley.

“Why are you asking Shirley and not me…” Jack protested from the side. Shirley, as if she hadn’t heard, instead asked Emma a question: “Have you heard of the multiverse theory?”

Emma let out an “Ah” and said, “Beyond our universe, there are countless parallel universes—every act of measurement, even every different choice a person makes, could split, no, create a new parallel universe?”

She had read plenty of science fiction, so she was familiar with the concept.

Shirley nodded calmly. “I should clarify, this is just a hypothesis—some evolved individuals agree with it, others don’t. As for me? I agree.”

“I don’t know how many people there are in your world, but in ours, there are 4.3 billion people. Every choice a person makes in their life splits off a new universe. If you chose to take the left path this morning, then in another universe, you chose the right path… and every person in that new universe continues to create more universes. So, how many ‘worlds’ are there? No one knows—the number is infinite.”

“Originally, we all lived peacefully in our own universes, never encountering people from other universes. But for some reason, some parallel universes started to mutate… like this one.”

Taking advantage of Shirley’s pause, Emma quickly asked, “Do they all become high-temperature environments like this one?”

Jack, with an unusually grave expression, answered, “Not necessarily. In our world, it was due to an experimental virus leak… more than half the population died from the resulting plague.”

Emma suddenly realized that he must have lost loved ones in his world.

The car fell silent for a few seconds before Shirley broke the silence, continuing, “No one knows exactly how many parallel universes have mutated, but one thing is certain: the number is definitely not small. After we survived the virus and evolved, we thought all we had to do was focus on survival. But—”

Shirley paused, as if searching for the right words.

“On the 14th month, Jack and I had already adapted to that new world filled with plague and the Fallen Ones. The change happened on an ordinary night.”

“Jack and I woke up to find ourselves lying on a battlefield. Can you imagine? We had just opened our eyes, still unsure of where we were, when a bomb was dropped just fifty meters away…” Shirley added at the right moment.

“Though we didn’t understand what was happening at the time, we quickly realized one thing: we were no longer in our original world. We asked around and eventually learned that the world was called ‘The Land Stained Black with Blood.’ In that war-torn world, we struggled to survive for another 14 months. Then, on the final day of the 14th month, the same thing happened again…” Jack’s voice sounded distant.

In the cool air-conditioned car, a bead of sweat rolled down Emma’s forehead.

She understood. Before Jack could speak, she said softly, “… You ended up here.”

Jack sighed and nodded. “The Inferno of Extreme Heat.”

The Inferno of Extreme Heat!

Emma opened her mouth to speak, but Jack seemed to have anticipated her question: “It’s not just me. In both worlds, almost every evolved human I’ve met is sent away on the 14th month. And… it seems like everyone goes to a different place each time.”

Emma’s heart pounded. “So, in 14 months, I’ll also…”

“Be sent to another ‘new world,’” Shirley said with certainty. “Since I’m a split personality, I just follow Jack—but the others, they’ve all been scattered.”

One unimaginable revelation after another filled Emma’s mind. It took her a while to process before she suddenly realized, “Wait… you said every evolved human goes to a different place. That means we’re being randomly thrown into an endless number of apocalyptic worlds—”

Which meant that once she left, she might never return to the world that had raised her?

No, it was more than that—it also meant that when the 14th month arrived, Jack and Shirley would be sent to who-knows-which world, and they might never meet again.

Having just found two people she could trust, only to be told they would soon be separated, left her with a strange feeling.

The car windows were already covered in a fine layer of condensation—clearly, the temperature outside had risen again in the short time they had been talking. Emma turned the air conditioning down a notch and, in the silence, suddenly realized another possibility. “Wait, in the multiverse theory, there are countless versions of ‘me.’ So, does that mean I might encounter another version of myself in another world?”

Unexpectedly, Shirley shook her head firmly.

“Just like Darwin’s theory of evolution, the multiverse theory is just the best explanation we currently have for these apocalyptic worlds—it’s not absolute truth. But what you just mentioned is actually a flaw in the multiverse theory; because in another new world, there is no other version of you.”

Emma felt dazed—the amount of information she had received tonight was overwhelming. She leaned back in her seat, her mind filled with thoughts about the new world, momentarily speechless.

Suddenly, a soft swish sound came from the car. She looked up to see Shirley’s fingernail had transformed into a long steel claw. Shirley looked at her, her eyes gleaming with anticipation: “… Now, can I take your blood?”