Apocalypse Supermarket: My Four Overpowered Husbands Wontstop Hoarding

Chapter 86: Chapter 86 Experiments

Astrid’s throat felt more and more itchy and scratchy, the dryness becoming almost unbearable. He was craving water so badly that even swallowing had become uncomfortable, yet after what he had done to the people in this place, he felt too embarrassed to ask for anything. In his mind, these people were already struggling to survive the apocalypse—they were living through the end of the world, protecting their resources and trying to stay alive. How could he possibly expect them to spare food or water for a complete stranger who had nearly attacked them?

He lowered his head, his thoughts becoming heavier by the second. Then a shadow fell over him. Astrid immediately stiffened, his body tensing as fear rushed through him. After everything that had happened, perhaps they had finally decided to punish him. Maybe the moment had come for them to kill him and throw his body outside. But no violent attack came—instead, he felt a gentle hand settle on his shoulder.

"Hey, are you hungry or thirsty?"

Astrid looked up. At that moment, he honestly thought the guy standing before him might have been an angel sent straight from heaven. It was exactly what he needed. "I don’t think I need—"

Kai immediately shoved a folded piece of paper against his mouth, cutting him off. "As I asked, do you want food and water?" Astrid stared at him for a moment before shamelessly nodding.

Kai grinned. "That’s more like it. Don’t be embarrassed, dude. And despite the catastrophe your powers almost caused, I thought they were pretty damn cool." He lowered his voice when he said the last part, glancing over his shoulder—he certainly didn’t want the others hearing him compliment the same person who had nearly crushed Rowan and Ethan with his blood.

Astrid managed a small smile. "Thanks. But... I didn’t even know how I got them."

Kai’s smile disappeared. "You didn’t?" Astrid shook his head. "Weren’t you among the people in those helicopters? The awakened? How can you not know you had powers? You couldn’t have come all the way here unless you were on some kind of government mission."

The shock that flashed across Astrid’s face told Kai immediately that he had hit the mark. Kai might have talked like an idiot half the time, but that didn’t mean his brain didn’t work.

"How did you know?" Astrid asked. "Were you once a government official?"

Kai shook his head as he slowly unlocked the chains around Astrid’s wrists. "Nope. Never worked for them. I awakened as an F-rank, so there was no chance I’d ever make it into one of their squads." He released the final chain. "I just figured it out because of the broadcast that came out not too long ago. They talked about evacuation and the government sending awakened teams around different locations. Seeing you guys arrive here made sense."

Astrid stared at him for a moment. So this seemingly childish guy had actually been paying attention. "I saw the computers and monitors," Astrid said quietly. "Those were CCTV cameras, weren’t they?" Kai nodded. "You were watching us the entire time?" There was something different in Astrid’s voice now—it wasn’t anger, it was disappointment. "You watched everything?"

Kai remained silent for a moment. Astrid’s gaze dropped. "You knew we were out there." The words came out slowly. "You knew we were fighting those things. You watched us getting slaughtered, and you still didn’t help."

Kai sighed. "You work for the government, Astrid." He crouched slightly so they were closer to eye level. "You should already know what the government is like. They don’t care about everyone. They care about whatever benefits them." Astrid didn’t respond. Kai continued, "This whole thing about everyone being united? It’s probably just an act. Especially if that thing about the new planet is actually true."

Astrid’s brows furrowed. Kai pointed toward the ceiling. "If they’re really planning to move people somewhere else, do you honestly think everyone gets to go?" His expression became unusually serious. "I don’t." Astrid’s eyes narrowed. "The rich and powerful will get priority. The people with useful abilities will probably be selected next. Everyone else?" Kai shrugged. "Left behind." His voice carried a bitter edge. "It’s like putting fish in a tank and deciding which ones are worth keeping. The rest don’t get a choice."

Astrid swallowed. Kai continued, "The government keeps telling everyone we’re united, but we’re not. The rich get more protection. The powerful get more resources. The poor are left to suffer when everything collapses." He looked toward the monitors where the corpses of the soldiers were still visible. "So wherever the government goes, don’t expect peace to follow. Sometimes all that follows is suffering."

Astrid looked away. Those words hurt because they sounded true. He had spent years believing that being an awakened meant something—that he was special, that having abilities meant he could make a difference. "I really thought I was going to be special because I had powers," Astrid admitted. "It was telekinesis. I thought it was amazing. I felt... important." His voice weakened. "But what if we’re just experiments?"

Kai stopped. Astrid looked at him. "What if they’re using awakened people to test things? What if they’re sending us into dangerous places just to see what happens?"

Kai’s expression changed. "That... actually makes sense." He finally unclasped the last restraint. Astrid rubbed his wrists. "Okay," Kai said. "I need something from you." "What?" "Tell me where you came from. And tell me how the awakened are brought out."

Astrid frowned. His brain was exhausted—he was starving, dehydrated, injured, and emotionally drained. Thinking clearly was becoming difficult. "I want to eat first." Kai blinked. "I’m too exhausted to think properly. Maybe after I eat, I can answer your questions."

Kai nodded. "Fair enough." He helped Astrid to his feet and guided him toward a high round table nearby. Astrid sat down heavily. Only then did Kai notice something—his feet were bleeding. Not just scratched—they were covered with wounds, and Astrid was limping badly.

"Dude..." Kai stared at his feet. "That’s going to get infected." Astrid looked down. "I didn’t notice." "How the hell did you not notice?" Kai shook his head. "I’ll get food and Ethan. He can heal you." He started walking away before turning back. "Stay here. Give me a minute."

Astrid nodded. Once Kai disappeared, the room became quieter, and that gave Astrid time to think. He had lied—not intentionally, but he had avoided telling Kai the whole truth. Because now that Kai had mentioned the awakened, Astrid remembered something. Something strange. Something he had noticed long before the apocalypse completely collapsed.

The awakened who came from the government facilities were different. At first, Astrid hadn’t thought much about it—they were always introduced as newly awakened individuals, kept indoors most of the time, and rarely interacted with the original awakened like him. That had always seemed strange. But there had been more—the original awakened had started disappearing, one by one. They would be there one day and gone the next, then someone from the facility would replace them.

Astrid had assumed they were transferred. Maybe promoted. Maybe assigned to another location. But now... he remembered something. The marks. There had been strange punctures around the necks of some of those people—small, deep, almost perfectly circular. At the time, he hadn’t cared enough to question them. Now his stomach twisted.

"What if...?" Astrid’s hands trembled. What if the government really was experimenting on awakened? What if those people weren’t being transferred? What if they were being used?

His thoughts raced faster. Then another realization hit him—his own power. Before coming here, he had been an ordinary awakened. His ability had been classified as telekinesis, nothing extraordinary, certainly nowhere near an SSS-rank. Yet somehow, in the middle of that battle, his blood had responded to him. It had moved. It had obeyed him. It had become a weapon. Blood Sovereign. That was an SSS-rank ability. How could a normal D-rank awakened suddenly awaken something like that?

Unless... His face went pale. "Unless they did something to me." Astrid’s breathing became shallow. He immediately remembered the strange meals. The government had always provided food to the awakened at specific times—morning, afternoon, evening—and everyone received the same thing. He had never questioned it. Why would he? They were soldiers. They trusted the people responsible for supplying them. But now his mind returned to the possibility that those meals weren’t simply meals. What if there had been something inside them? A drug? A sedative? Something designed to alter their abilities?

Astrid’s heartbeat accelerated. "No..." He touched his neck. His fingers brushed against the skin—nothing. But then he remembered the glass table. Astrid looked down. The table was transparent enough for him to see the reflection of his neck. His eyes widened. There—right at the back of his neck—a small red puncture. Deep. Round. Almost hollow. And fresh.

Astrid froze. His entire face drained of color. He touched the mark again, his fingers trembling. "When did this happen?" He couldn’t remember being injured there—not during the battle, not when the creatures attacked, not when he had fallen. Nothing. His eyes widened further. Unless he had been unconscious. Unless someone had done it while he wasn’t aware.

His thoughts immediately returned to the government facility—the food, the missing awakened, the strange marks, the experiments, his sudden change in power. Everything connected. A horrible possibility formed inside his head: the monsters weren’t the only thing they needed to fear. The government might have been preparing something long before the apocalypse reached this stage.

"Astrid?" Kai’s voice suddenly came from behind him. Astrid jerked around. Kai was returning with food and water, completely unaware of what had just happened. Astrid quickly lowered his hand from his neck, but his mind was already somewhere else. He stared at Kai. For the first time, he understood something that terrified him more than the creatures outside. The monsters were simply hunting them because they were hungry. The government? They might have been creating the monsters of their own. And if Astrid was right, then the apocalypse wasn’t merely something that happened to humanity—someone might have been preparing for it. Someone might have been experimenting on awakened people long before anyone realized the world was ending.

Astrid’s stomach churned. He suddenly wasn’t sure who he should fear more—the creatures outside, or the people who were supposed to protect them.