Abandoned by the World

South of Mingwen Girls' School stood a once-thriving shopping plaza.

At this hour on any ordinary day, the square would have been claimed by a crowd of middle-aged women, their group dancing to the beat of "Little Apple" turning it into something like a block party.

Today it was deserted. Those women, who had never let rain or wind stop them before, had apparently lost their nerve at last — because just last night, mid-dance, they had watched a pack of demon wolves swallow their companions alive.

The rain had washed away the blood. What remained scattered across the vast plaza were fragments of human remains — enough to turn the stomach at more than a glance.

Low growls and snarls drifted in from all around without pause. Every so often, a scream sliced through the leaden quiet, and anyone who heard it knew another person had just been found by a Demon-Beast.

The shopping mall occupied nearly a third of the plaza. Brand new before all of this, it had been reduced to wreckage — shattered glass underfoot, walls and doors smashed open, floors strewn with debris wherever you looked.

One floor below the plaza sat a Walmart supermarket. Human food held little attraction for Demon-Beasts — fortunate, because otherwise it would have become a gathering point for them in no time.

The supermarket had been lucky. Accessible only by elevator, it had not yet been discovered.

The people sheltering inside sat on the floor in helpless clusters, able to do nothing but pray that the Demon-Beasts would never find this place.

"Have we just... been abandoned?" a girl huddled in a corner asked in a small voice, arms wrapped around her knees as she wept.

"Most of the people outside are probably dead," the store manager said flatly, slumped against a shelf with a hollow look on his face. "It's only a matter of time before they find us too."

"No," said the man who handled store deliveries. "Sitting here is waiting to die. We need to move — there's still a chance if we get out."

"I'm a plumber," said a lean, middle-aged man in a blue work uniform. "I've spent decades in these pipes. Follow me through the drainage tunnels and we won't run into any Demon-Beasts."

Eyes lit up around the room.

A young man who had fled here from above had said the streets were crawling with Demon-Beasts — setting foot outside meant death in an instant. But through the drainage tunnels, they could pass beneath the Mingwen District and reach the Safety Barrier. With someone who knew the city's underground system leading the way, at least they wouldn't get lost.

"Let's go — now. I'm not spending another minute in this hellhole."

"Exactly. Under Scarlet Alert, if you haven't made it to the Safety Barrier, there's basically no hope..."

"Come on, move. They'll find this place sooner or later."

There were around fifteen people sheltering in the supermarket. The moment they heard a plumber could lead them out, a flicker of hope came back into their eyes.

The supermarket had a direct access point to the drainage tunnels — which meant they actually had a chance.

Everyone gathered what little they had and fell in behind the plumber, moving as one toward the underground passage.

"Wait — please wait!" A slight girl rushed toward the departing group. "Someone help — there's a girl in a wheelchair over here, she can't walk..."

"Seriously? We're all just trying to survive."

"Wheelchairs don't work in the drainage tunnels," the heavyset store manager added. "If you're coming, come now."

The plumber was already moving. The others fell in behind him, doing their best to pretend they hadn't heard.

"Then will someone carry her — please, just carry her, don't leave her behind!" The slight girl was close to tears, watching the group pull farther away, unsure what to do.

A few people glanced back. Something pained crossed their faces as their eyes landed on the girl in the wheelchair — but they turned away all the same.

They could barely protect themselves as it was. If they ran into a Demon-Beast in the tunnels while carrying someone, they'd have no chance of escape.

"This doesn't feel right," one of the women murmured. "That poor girl..."

"What do you mean it doesn't feel right?" the plumber snapped. "She can't walk — that's not our fault. If you feel so sorry for her, you carry her yourself. And don't say I didn't warn you: half those tunnels mean crawling through pipes and scaling ladders that'll turn your legs to jelly. Bring her along and it'll take us a day or two just to reach the Quarantine Safe Zone."

"The supermarket might not even get discovered. She can wait here for rescue."

At the word "rescue," more than a few mouths twitched involuntarily.

Under Scarlet Alert, rescue simply wasn't coming. Every available Mage would be concentrated at the Safety Barrier, protecting the maximum number of lives. Anyone still out here was on their own.

Which meant the girl in the wheelchair could only pray the supermarket would never be found.

The supermarket emptied quickly. The slight girl who had spoken up was still standing beside the wheelchair, watching the last of the retreating figures disappear, her lip nearly bitten through.

"Go with them," the girl in the wheelchair said, managing a faint smile at the stranger beside her.

"I'm sorry..." The slight girl's voice was agonized. "I really wanted to bring you with us."

"It's all right. Go, catch up with them."

"Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?"

The wheelchair girl seemed to think of something. She quickly unclasped her bracelet and held it out. "If you make it to the Safety Barrier, give this to my family..."

The slight girl committed the details to memory and nodded gravely. "Don't worry. I'll find them — I'll make sure they come for you."

The wheelchair girl shook her head. "Please just tell him... that I didn't make it."

The slight girl's mouth opened, but no words came.

In the end, she turned and walked away. Several times she nearly looked back — each time, she forced herself not to.

Cold fluorescent light fell across that corner of the store. Jia Qian, a white-collar worker who worked in the building, felt genuinely sick inside. She had honestly expected one of those men to step up and offer to carry the girl out — but they had all hurried past without a word.

The callousness left her cold.

But what could she do? Her leg was still injured. Limping along well enough to keep up with the group was already a stretch — carrying the wheelchair girl was beyond her.

The girl in the wheelchair — whose name Jia Qian didn't even know — looked completely calm. When everyone had decided to leave her behind, she hadn't begged once. There was no panic in her eyes. No despair.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

Jia Qian had bitten through her own lip. In the end, all she could do was keep apologizing, then break into a limping run to catch up with the others.

And just like that, the supermarket was empty — nothing left but a battered, cheap wheelchair and a girl in a pale green dress.

Everyone was gone. Ye Xinxia slowly lowered her head, her hair falling forward to veil her face, her pale hands folded quietly in her lap.

However still she kept herself, the unease spread outward regardless — her fingers tightening without thought around the hem of her skirt was proof enough of that.

She didn't blame them. Just as no one could be blamed for her inability to walk, no one could be blamed for this.

Everyone had the right to live.

But when the silence grew frightening — when you had no way of knowing when death would come — that helplessness, like being abandoned by the entire world, crept through every cell in your body, until you could no longer tell which was worse: to keep waiting like this, suffering and helpless; or to end it cleanly, rather than dragging out an existence the world had already released its hold on.

As though she had made up her mind, she slowly wheeled herself toward the kitchenware section.

She pushed herself up from the wheelchair with effort and took a sharp fruit knife from the display. She could stand. She could manage a few stumbling steps. But her legs had so little strength that even this left her spent.

She settled back into the wheelchair and slowly wheeled herself back to where she had been.

The sight caught Jia Qian's eye. She was still near the exit, about to leave, and a fresh wave of guilt moved through her.

Perhaps the moment Demon-Beasts broke through, the girl in the wheelchair would end her own life.

Jia Qian drew a long, slow breath — and closed the door behind her.