บท 16: Incident at the supermaket (1)
The next day, I turned on my phone and saw 12 missed phone calls from first brother.
Nice, it's a lucky number.
I read some online novels for at least an hour before getting up and heading to the fridge.
Then, I looked at what I could eat.
"…"
There were no yogurts since I didn't bother buying new ones. Moreover, I had ran out of snacks since a long time ago. In other words, apart from the bottles of soda, it was empty.
I considered only drinking soda as a meal for a while but decided against it.
Sighing at the idea of having to cook something, I checked if there were any vegetables left in the freezer but there were none.
…Maybe it's been a bit too long since I last bought food. I really have to go to the supermarket this time.
However, I don't have to do it immediately.
I lied down on the sofa and read online novels.
Procrastinating is an author's chronic illness.
After procrastinating for a while, I finally decided to get dressed, took a backpack, my wallet, and went out.
I arrived after a while and recalled what I needed.
Coffee with the taste of hot chocolate, sodas, snacks, yogurts, frozen vegetables…
I headed to the corresponding places while thinking of something else when someone greeted me.
"Good afternoon."
Yep, I woke up at noon. Got anything to say?
I glanced to the side and saw a person staring at me.
It was a man with a cold vibe but a friendly attitude.
"Miss Watts, you live around here too?"
Norwood?
I recognized him and retorted:
"Do you realize how much information you revealed in this sentence?"
I thought you were a profiler, aren't you supposed to hide your intentions?
Since I got a good impression of him when I learnt that he was a fan of one of my novels, I decided to give him advice instead of continuing the previous psychological war.
"What information?"
Grabbing a bottle of soda and putting it in the backpack held in my arms, I organized my thoughts out loud.
"Hmm… 'Miss Watts, you live around here too?' 'Too' implies that you live here and I told you to call me casually but you didn't."
Norwood nodded with a smile on his face.
"It's not because of respect since there isn't a wide age gap between us, which means that you're keeping a distance either because you're on guard against me or because in your eyes our only interaction was related to business, which would mean that you were only trying to guess if I was a player all along…"
I turned my gaze to him.
"So don't call me that, it hurts my ears and I'm still young."
It's nice to see him in casual clothes, by the way.
Norwood chuckled.
"What if I said 'too' on purpose to make you think so? I could also be used to speaking formally."
Good point.
I shrugged my shoulders.
"So, do you live around here?"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
When I was about to answer him, the sound of gunshots was heard behind us.
I turned back and saw a group of masked men armed with firearms.
Oh.
The man who shot lowered his gun and paused.
"Hmm… Hey, what was I supposed to say already?"
He awkwardly looked back at another guy behind him, who sighed deeply.
"Let me speak, I'll take care of it."
The second man's expression turned serious as he addressed us.
"Don't try to resist and give us this store's money right now or we'll kill you all."
Someone here watched too many movies.
With a blank face, I stealthily put my hand in my pocket and pressed the buttons on the side of my phone to activate the SOS option. I don't really know how the SOS works, but I hope that will do.
Norwood glanced at me as I scanned the people in front, a sharp contrast with the others backing away in fear, then took his phone to call the police.
I can't really take these guys seriously when the way they're struggling to act as robbers is almost comical.
Bang!
"If you try to call the police, I'll shoot."
Someone's body fell to the ground with a bullet in their head, their phone falling from their hand.
…But the deaths are real.
I turned to Norwood and saw him discreetly put his phone back to his pocket before looking back at me.
He should have called for help as well.
After this staring contest that lasted a second too long than it should have, I averted my gaze first while he continued to stare at me.
He is suspicious of me.
I heard the panicked whispers of people around us, trying to reassure others while not being reassured themselves, and realized what my mistake was.
I was in danger, a group of armed men were threatening us and—above all—some had been killed before our eyes.
I probably appear too calm in this situation.
I hope he won't pull out a sword all of a sudden and tell me that I'm a threat and should be eliminated. No, his personality is different from DHB's, maybe he'll call the police and report me instead…
Now that I think about it, he was a profiler. From the point of view of criminology, does not reacting right now make me look like a psychopath?
As I seriously considered what Norwood thought of me, some employees began moving to gather the money.
Now, you probably think that people randomly robbing the supermarket I am in is not realistic. There shouldn't even be a one in a million chance of that happening and it seems like a trope coming straight out of an action novel.
While I was indeed unlucky to be here when they attacked, let me remind you of a few facts.
First of all, although it is forbidden to possess firearms in this country, guns were put at everyone's disposition in the 1st scenario. Thus, it isn't strange for these people to have guns now; there is even a high probability that they are players.
Then, imagine the following situation.
A strange game of life and death occurred. People killed each other. Then, after surviving that situation and murdering someone, they were called 'players' and received a 'skill'—in other words, a superpower. Moreover, there are more scenarios to come in the future; it's probably the end of the world.
Players have already broken the law and even possess superpowers compared to ordinary people. They aren't afraid to commit another crime and even feel superior to civilians because they are stronger.
They are superior and don't feel restricted by the law. Some even have guns now in their possession.
Their morals and values changed from only one scenario and they are many in this situation, players can thus convince one another to act upon their whims.
One mental barrier was lifted by committing murder, so why can't they remove another?
Chaos ensues. Properties belong to people because of the law, but players don't consider the law. For many players, they even openly entered others' empty houses during the second scenario.
That's why, there are also a lot of players taking control of apartment lots or big stores. I don't know if it's for future scenarios or because of greed.
The sense of superiority, of invincibility brought about by superpowers make the rules seem to disappear for them.
Of course, I'm not saying that everyone is like that.
A small fraction of players are wreaking havoc and the criminality rate is steadily growing. It isn't for nothing that the police considers players dangerous and searched for them.
Then, there's a snowball effect caused by people's panic. This rise in criminality turns into a vicious cycle that makes others anxious and cause some to also become criminals.
'It's the end of the world. We have to enjoy life while we still can.'
'We are all powerful. We can do anything.'
What a nice world we live in, huh?
Soon, the government will be overwhelmed and its executives assassinated one by one, the country turning into a dictatorship with the strongest ruling over everyone.
Pulling me out of my thoughts, I noticed some familiar figures out of the corner of my eyes.
"We won't be able to buy the cheese…"
Aren't they teenagers A, B and C?
As they whispered among each other, I approached them.
"Why would you buy it?" I asked.
Now that I think about it, I never really talked to them before. It should be the first time they see me.
I glanced behind me to check if Mr. Profiler wasn't looking so that I wasn't caught inciting teenagers to steal food.
He was looking.
Oh well.
"What do you mean, Madam?"
Ignoring the way I was called, I explained.
"The police will come soon and you won't be able to buy anything, but why would you need to buy it? Right now, others are distracted because of the chaos. They won't notice if you slip through them and get the cheese. Nobody will know."
Their eyes widened in realization.
"You can even eat the cheese on the spot. You'll be the first ones to taste it! There's no need to pay or wait, and you won't be caught. Moreover, if it's discovered, the robbers will be accused instead of you."
Totally illegal.
I watched the teenagers disappear in the back of the crowd in a hurry to probably steal the cheese.
Wee-woo, wee-woo-!
I heard the sound of police sirens becoming increasingly louder while the robbers hurried to pack up the money they were given in panic.
"Come out, you are encircled."
A voice coming from a loudspeaker resounded.
"What do we do now?!" A robber inquired.
Robber n°2 solemnly raised his weapon.
"Let's kill everyone here."
Hey, hey! Aren't you panicking too much? You're going too far!
As the other robbers nodded in agreement, I couldn't help but intervene.
I told you I don't work well under pressure.
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