Apocalypse Supermarket: My Four Overpowered Husbands Wontstop Hoarding

Chapter 90: Chapter 90 A new world.

Luna didn’t like the way she was being convinced. Not because Astrid’s words sounded impossible, but because they sounded far too possible. She had lived through one apocalypse already. She knew better than anyone that humans could be more terrifying than the monsters crawling outside. Governments, powerful organizations, desperate survivors—when the world began collapsing, morality was always one of the first things to disappear.

Still, she wasn’t going to force the information out of him. Not yet.

"You have ten minutes to decide what you’re going to tell us, young guy," Luna said calmly, her eyes returning to the system panel before her. "After that, I won’t be so kind."

Astrid swallowed. There was something about the way she said it that made him believe her.

Meanwhile, Miles, tired of standing around and doing nothing, returned to the kitchen. At least cooking would keep his mind occupied. He stirred the food slowly, occasionally glancing toward the others. The day had taken a turn none of them had expected. Their supposedly secure base had already been discovered, helicopters had arrived, awakened soldiers had attacked, and monstrous creatures had followed them straight to their doorstep.

A safe location didn’t seem so safe anymore. They couldn’t stay hidden forever. Sooner or later, the government would realize that the people they had sent here hadn’t returned. And when that happened, there would be another search. Then another. Eventually, Luna and her group would have to deal with them directly. A battle between the survivors and the government was beginning to feel inevitable.

Astrid sat quietly, his mind racing. Everyone was waiting for him to speak. But how could he explain what he had just discovered? How could he tell them that he might have been an experimental subject? That something could have been injected into his body without his knowledge? That his sudden awakening to an SSS-rank ability might not have been natural? What if Blood Sovereign wasn’t a blessing at all? What if it was something the government had created?

Astrid’s fingers curled tightly against his clothes. And then there was the oath. Every awakened under government command had been forced to swear secrecy. They were warned never to reveal what happened inside the inner circles of the headquarters. Certain facilities were completely off-limits, even to high-ranking awakened. Anyone who talked about what they saw could be punished severely. Astrid had never been one of the top officials. He wasn’t important enough to enter the deepest facilities or know everything happening behind those doors. But he had still seen enough. He had witnessed things he wasn’t supposed to see. And every single time, they had been reminded of one thing: silence meant survival, speaking meant death.

That was how Astrid had lived for years. He kept his mouth shut. He followed orders. He pretended not to notice the strange things happening around him. But now everything had changed. He wasn’t under the government’s protection anymore. He wasn’t even sure they considered him alive. His friends were dead. His squad was gone. And if the government believed everyone from the helicopter had been killed, then perhaps they wouldn’t immediately come searching for him.

Unless... Astrid’s face tightened. What if there was a tracking device inside him? If he truly was one of their experiments, there was no telling what they had done to his body.

"Damn it." He rubbed his forehead. His head was beginning to hurt from thinking too much.

He could simply tell Luna what he knew. At least the surface information. They already knew the government was planning something with the new planet. He could tell them the rest without revealing everything about himself. Maybe they could protect him. They hated him. Well, most of them did. But Kai had helped him. Ethan had healed him. Even Luna, despite her terrifying personality, had allowed him to survive.

Maybe... maybe these people weren’t as bad as he thought.

"That’s absurd," Astrid muttered. He immediately rejected the thought. He wasn’t thinking about them because he trusted them. He was only thinking about surviving. That was all.

"Okay." Astrid finally lifted his head. "One question, Kai."

Kai immediately turned toward him. "What’s up?"

"Promise me you’re not going to let anything happen to me. No matter what."

Kai blinked, then nodded without hesitation. "Are you being chased by something?"

Astrid hesitated.

"If it’s the government, don’t worry about them. As long as you’re officially inside this house, you’re part of the team." Kai smiled. "Don’t mind Luna. She’s like that with strangers. Give her time and she’ll get used to you."

Luna’s eyebrow twitched. Astrid glanced at her. He wasn’t entirely convinced. Still, Kai’s words gave him enough courage.

"Fine." He took a deep breath. "I’ll tell you."

He had barely opened his mouth when Luna groaned. "For fuck’s sake. Just say what you want to say."

Kai turned toward her. "Don’t you know what privacy is?" Luna stared at him. "Stop spying on us through your system and let the guy speak comfortably. You’re being creepy."

Astrid almost smiled. Almost. Kai turned back toward him. "I’m all ears."

Astrid stood. He had initially planned to tell only Kai, but now he realized that wasn’t enough. Whatever he was about to reveal concerned everyone in this room.

"You all know about the government’s plan to move humanity to another planet." Ethan, Adrian, and Kai nodded. Rowan remained quiet. Luna had already dismissed the system panel completely and was now giving Astrid her full attention.

"We all know that," Rowan said. "It was announced everywhere. Every major news station reported it."

Astrid nodded. His fingers fiddled nervously with the hem of his clothes. "They’re changing their plans."

The room immediately became quiet. "What do you mean?" Ethan asked.

Astrid looked around at all of them. "The government is considering another possibility." He swallowed. "They believe Earth might still be repaired."

Miles stopped stirring his food. Even he turned around.

Astrid continued, "The disaster might be reversible. The corruption, the mutations, the dungeons... they believe there’s a way to eliminate all of it."

Kai frowned. "That’s impossible."

Astrid didn’t respond. Luna’s gaze sharpened. "How?"

Astrid took a breath. "Experiments."

Silence.

"They want to test whether humans can survive on Earth after the corruption reaches its worst stage. They believe that if they can develop humans capable of surviving the environment, then Earth doesn’t need to be abandoned."

Kai’s expression slowly changed. "Wait." He shook his head. "Are you saying they’re experimenting on people?"

Astrid remained silent. Luna answered for him. "You are."

Astrid finally nodded. "There are many of them. Awakened and ordinary people."

Kai’s face twisted in disgust. "They’re creating test subjects?"

"That’s what it looks like."

"Why?" Kai’s voice rose. "Why the hell would they do that?"

Astrid’s hands tightened against his chest. "Because Earth is the only planet humans can naturally inhabit."

Everyone went silent again.

"There are rumors that more dungeons are opening," Astrid continued. "The energy coming from them is causing mutations in animals and plants. It’s spreading the corruption and making the environment even more dangerous." He looked toward the window. "The government believes that if they can’t find a way to stabilize Earth, humanity won’t have anywhere left to go."

Luna’s expression hardened. "So they’re desperate."

"Yes." Astrid nodded. "The original awakened are being sent out to locate and clear dungeons. They’re being used to prepare the land before the next stage begins."

Rowan’s eyes narrowed. "Next stage?"

Astrid nodded slowly. "They’re preparing a new world."

Kai and Rowan looked at each other. "A new world," they repeated almost simultaneously.

Astrid continued, "In a few days, the government plans to release a weapon."

Luna’s eyes immediately narrowed. "What kind of weapon?"

"I don’t know everything about it. But from what I’ve heard, it’s designed to wipe out the creatures surrounding the affected areas." Astrid’s voice became quieter. "It will also weaken the dungeon passages and reduce the energy coming from them."

Ethan stared at him. "And then?"

"The test subjects will be placed back onto Earth."

Adrian’s expression fell. "They’re going to release people into a ruined world just to see if they survive?"

"Yes." Astrid looked at his hands. "They’ll monitor them. They’ll record their reactions. They’ll see which mutations they develop, which abilities awaken, how their bodies adapt, and how long they can survive."

Kai’s stomach churned. "That’s not research." His voice was barely above a whisper. "That’s using humans as lab rats."

Astrid nodded. "That’s exactly what it is."

A heavy silence filled the panic room. Luna stared at Astrid. "And the helicopters?"

Astrid looked toward her. "I suspect we were part of the second batch."

"Second batch?"

"More powerful awakened were being sent to survey areas where the government believed there might be dungeons." His eyes shifted toward the monitors. "That’s why they came here."

Luna’s expression became colder. "They’re either looking for a dungeon—"

"Or something else," Astrid finished. "And I believe it’s the latter."

Luna stared at him. "What makes you think that?"

"Their behavior." Astrid swallowed. "They weren’t acting like a normal dungeon-clearing squad. They were searching. They were looking for something." His gaze moved around the room. "I don’t know what."

Luna’s mind immediately began working. If Astrid was telling the truth, then the situation had just become much worse. The government wasn’t merely trying to evacuate survivors anymore. They were preparing to alter the entire course of the apocalypse. And once that weapon was released, millions of survivors could die.

Luna slowly rose from her seat. "That changes everything." Everyone looked at her. She walked toward the window. The red sunlight outside made the entire landscape look as though it had been drenched in blood. "That aircraft isn’t leaving this island."

Kai frowned. "What are you thinking?"

"We destroy it." Luna’s voice was calm. "But before that, we’re resting." She turned toward them. "We were supposed to spend tomorrow preparing for the next hoarding trip anyway." Her eyes hardened. "Now we’re going."

Adrian stared at her. "Tomorrow?"

Her expression became frighteningly determined. "Tomorrow we raid that supermarket." She looked toward the aircraft visible in the distance. "Then we deal with whatever the government is planning."

Nobody spoke. The silence that followed felt heavier than anything before. They had thought the apocalypse was about monsters. But now they knew the truth. The monsters weren’t the only ones changing. Humanity itself was being reshaped. People were going to become experiments—more of them. Awakened were going to become weapons. And Earth was about to become the largest laboratory humanity had ever created.

Luna looked outside again. "What a fucking nightmare."

"Now Miles bring in the food let’s eat as much as we can before we do this."