Pang Zi was still silent; his eyes were red. Glasses-man and his family had left, but the biology teacher Li Qing Shui was still here.
“Chang, you managed to come back!” Qing Shui was surprised how quickly Chang had recovered, especially because of his previous state. Then, he looked behind Chang and asked, “Where’s Tao?”
“Here,” Chang sorrowfully ran his fingers over the necklace without explaining anything.
“Oh…” Qing Shui glanced at the necklace and didn’t ask more.
“Where are Glasses-man and the rest of the people?” Chang looked around and shut the door after he made sure he and the little girl weren’t followed by anything.
“They left; they planned to go somewhere else…” Qing Shui waved his hand. “It seems like his father knows someone in the army, so they went to the military base in the city for shelter.”
“The military?” Chang repeated with curiosity.
“Yes… Although tanks and cannons aren’t useful in the dense fog, the military is still a safer place since they are an armed force. At least they don’t need to worry about mutated organisms for now.” Qing Shui calmly analyzed, “Plus, they should have sufficient supplies in the camp. Food and water shouldn’t be any concern for them.”
“That might not be true.” Chang shook his head after listening to Qing shui. “The visibility for humans is about three meters, so if the army fires into the fog, it could cause a great amount of death to both humans and animals…But if they don't use firearms, they’ll only be able to barely defend themselves in front of a large mutated animal… I guess you’re right. Either way, the military is still a lot stronger than us.”
“As for food supplies, bacteria has become even fiercer than when I left. If a human body can rot in 2 or 3 hours, there’s no doubt that it would be the same case for food. Unless food has been preserved, it probably won’t last longer than a day. I think that even if food supplies were sufficient, a big portion of them might’ve already rotted.”
“You have a good point, the bread and fruits here have become moldy. Aside from vacuum packed and preserved foods, we don't have much left.” Qing Shui said.
“It seems like a food shortage will happen in only a few days.”
"Yes, the military will face the same situation soon, so I don't think they’ll still accept civilians into their shelter.”
“But at least… let’s just go there and see if there’s a spot. It’s too hard to survive in the fog by ourselves. This time, the military is our last hope.” Chang looked at the ‘refugees’ in the convenience store.
“I agree… even though they most likely won’t accept us, at least we’ll be able to get some information about the future of this country and the world. We can get an idea of how to survive.” While Qing Shui was speaking, he suddenly lowered his voice, “I feel like the government knows more than we do.”
“You mean…?” Chang also lowered his voice, making the conversation only audible between the three of them.
“I’m just guessing, and there’s no evidence to confirm my suspicions, but I’ve always had a feeling that the government had foreseen the red fog.”
“They foresaw it?”
“Think about it. Starting from the beginning of 2002, the red fog had appeared intermittently. Though it was very thin, the composition of it should be identical to the red fog that we’re seeing now.” Qing Shui gestured with his finger – it was a character of a teacher; he always spoke using body language.
“Think of all those mornings with the thin pink fog. They were kind of the same as the red fog, weren’t they?”
Chapter 17: Giant Maggot
Qing Shui’s words caused Chang to recall his memories of the intermittent fog in the recent years. It was true that the phenomenon had lasted for a good decade, but it wasn’t until the last two years that the strange fog constantly recurred.
However, the red fog was much less dense, and no organisms had mutated. But thinking carefully, the composition of the fog back then should’ve been the same as the red fog.
“If I’m right, the red fog is just a condensed version of the fog that we’ve been seeing for years.” Chang sniffed the air discerningly while talking. “Even the smell is the same.”
“Exactly… I was wondering why the government made biology such an important subject in the college entrance exam; everything is connected now. Apparently, it was all related to the red fog.”
“So, are you saying the government knew about the properties of the red fog?” Chang frowned.
“They probably only discovered some of its properties, but they probably had no idea that the red fog would become so dense and cover such a large area of land,” Qing Shui analyzed. “But what I’m sure about is that some of the national research institutes must have known about the fog’s properties.”
“However, they definitely failed to anticipate that it could block radio signals, as well as all these other changes to the world.”
“Yes, the world is changing too fast. After only a day in the red fog, all the plants and animals have become such fierce creatures. I wouldn’t be surprised if a stray dog came to rob me with a revolver few days later,” Qing Shui cracked a small joke.
“What do we do now?” Chang held the girl’s hand tighter, then beckoned her to stand closer to him.
“We should go to the military.”
“Okay, I am going with you.” Chang looked at the girl and said, “But we’ll be taking her as well.”
“Is she your relative?” Qing Shui glanced at the girl.
“Kind of,” Chang nodded.
“Hi, what’s your name?” Qing Shui hunkered down.
“Jing, my last name is Ji.” She answered. “What about your family, sir?”
“I’m not from here; my family lives on the other side of the country. I hope they’re fine.” Qing Shui sighed heavily. “Especially my parents…I don’t know whether they managed to survive or not.”
“No one can guarantee their lives right now. Don’t think too much about it.” While Chang was speaking, he subconsciously touched his bone necklace.
“When are we going?”
“As soon as possible. We can’t wait because the environment will become unpredictable once it gets dark,” The two talked in a whisper.
“When we go, I suggest not to take too many people with us.” Chang patted the girl beside her. “She can sense dangerous creatures, but only within a certain range. If the group is too big, we’d become easy targets.”
“Her ability…” Qing Shui looked at the girl with amazement. “So human are mutating too? Why didn’t I feel anything?”
“Hmmm, although the growth of plants has significantly improved, it was only the result of evolution. Mutated individuals are still a minority; if every individual were to mutate, there’d be many more species that were born in the Cambrian Explosion.” It was a rare occurrence for Chang to discuss biology in front of his biology teacher.
"You're right… though I didn’t feel any changes inside of me, if this girl really has a special power, it would greatly increase our chance of surviving.” Then, Qing Shui lowered his voice and asked, “How many people do you think we’ll go with?”
“Five or six; I’ll go ask Pang Zi. You can bring one or two.”
“Got it,” Qing Shui nodded.
He was a young teacher and had just graduated from college, so the way he spoke and handled things was energetic.
Qing Shui pulled another young girl over as he responded. Chang knew that girl as well; her name was Lin, a classmate of his. She had high ponytails and pale skin, and her grades were as good as Tao’s. She was here all by herself and wasn’t the type of person that spoke a lot.
“She’s a very distant relative of mine, and even though I rarely get in touch with her family, we might as well just bring her along since she’s here all by herself. Can we?”
“Fine.” Even though Chang wanted to bring someone who could hold their own
, he didn’t mention it in front of everybody. Plus, she was the only one in the store without any company or family. If he were to choose someone else, their family would come along for sure. Surprisingly, she was the only choice they had.
“Wait a second, I’ll go ask Pang Zi.” Chang looked into the girl’s eyes steadily and nodded, then he went to the corner where Pang Zi was sitting at.
Chang saw where Pang Zi was as he entered the convenience store since he had improved vision. However, Pang Zi was huddled up motionlessly in the corner and Chang didn’t have time to talk to him yet.
When Chang got closer to Pang Zi, he noticed that though Pang Zi was calmer than yesterday, there was still anger and tenaciousness written over his face. His red eyes seemed sorrowful, but he had lost the craziness in his expression.
Chang gently patted on Pang Zi’s shoulder and waited for him to speak first.
“You came back?” Pang Zi looked up at Chang as he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Then, he stood up and said, “Where’s Tao?”
“Here,” Chang pointed at one of his pendant, indicated Tao’s position. “Don’t worry, if you die before me, you’ll be hung on here too,” Chang made a joke that wasn’t funny at all.
“I won’t; how could I die?” Pang Zi laughed desolately and returned Chang another bad joke, “I still need to carry on my family line. I’d feel deeply sorry to my parents if I wasn’t able to.”
“If we’re going to survive, it shouldn’t be hard for us to find someone to give birth to our kids.” Chang followed along with Pang Zi’s joke, then his face became very serious, “Do you know what exactly attacked your mother?”
This question was the one that bothered Chang the most, though he didn't have the heart to ask when he previously saw Pang Zi grieving.
“It was something that lived in the sewage and it sprang up from the toilet. I think it attacked my mom when she walked into one of the rooms. I only saw a vague shadow when I got there; it actually got frightened by me and shrank its upper body back into the sewage from the toilet.” Pang Zi’s voice was shaking when he was talking. It seemed like his emotions were about to go out of control, “That thing looked pretty much like a maggot, but it was larger and longer. Somehow it reminded me of earthworms, except that it was much more flexible and leathery. Its skin was thick and it was about 2 or 3 meters long, and there were sharp teeth on its mouth…”
“That’s disgusting!” Chang felt slightly nauseous as Pang Zi finished his description, “It seems like those who live in the sewage also evolved and mutated.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Jing - Jing means quiet and stable.
Chapter 18: Hemmed
“The world is changing; how could they not change?” Pang Zi took a deep breath and re-stabilized his emotions, “So, what’s your plan?”
“Umm… I want to go to the military base with Qing Shui. If possible, we will follow the patrolling troops because it would be much safer.” Chang whispered, “But it can only be the five of us, since it will be too noticeable if more people go. Are you coming?”
“Yes,” Pang Zi nodded. “I don’t have any other options since I don’t know everyone else in the room. I’m going with you guys.”
“Good then, stay low key. Pack some food and weapons. For the food, don’t take anything perishable. I have medication in my backpack.”
“Sure.” Pang Zi was a chubby man, so his backpack was also bigger than others. He threw away some daily necessities and stuffed in some canned food. Then, he met up with Chang and Qing Shui.
“Are you guys ready?” Qing Shui picked up a slicing knife, Pang Zi held onto an iron bar and Chang held a scalpel. They checked each other’s weapons and backpacks and confirmed that they didn’t miss anything.
Although the two girls didn’t have any weapons, they carried backpacks filled with food and some over-the-counter medication.
They merged into the dark and dense red fog as they walked out of the convenience store.
Just when they stepped onto the street, Jing who was closely following Chang whispered, “There are four level 5 organisms fifty meters away.”
“Level 5?” The others showed a confused look when they heard her. Only Chang spoke softly and anxiously, “I don’t have time to explain. We need to get around this place, and if they’re aware of us, we will only barely be able to fight against the four level 5 organisms with these knives and bars.”
As he said so, he led the group to a narrow valley and hastened towards the military base that was at the edge of the city.
“What does level 5 mean?” Trotting quietly through the valley, Qing Shui asked again curiously.
“It means that the creature’s vitality is 5 times stronger than an average human.” Chang replied.
“Does that mean they’re mutated?” Pang Zi asked.
“Maybe.” Chang said, “It’d be wise to not get into fights with these creatures. After all, we’re not playing a reality game where we kill others to level up. Fighting against them isn’t beneficial to our survival in any way. Even if we can beat them, I still don’t want to get into fights that might injure us, especially knowing that any injury could be fatal to us now.”
“I see,” Qing Shui nodded. “It’s very likely that for wounds that become infected, even if we’re lucky enough to have antibiotics, the smell of blood would give away our location to other organisms. Though I didn’t expect this kind of ability from her, we’ll have a greater chance of surviving as long as she’s alive…”
As Qing Shui continued talking, Jing interrupted him abruptly.
“A large group of level 0.5 organisms is coming toward us. Should I report this kind of information as well?”
“0.5?” Pang Zi frowned, “Are they a group of kids?”
“No, it’s something flying in the sky; they’re extremely fast.”
“Flying in the sky…” Chang tiptoed and looked as far as he could. Seven or eight meters away, a massive black lump of insects rapidly approached them. “F*ck! Get down! Get down! Hornets!”
Chang shouted as soon as he saw them without shouting too loudly. He then swiftly crouched into the grass. The others reacted immediately and crouched uniformly into the grass as they saw Chang’s actions.
Subsequently, an ear-piercing buzz made everyone’s scalp tingle. A group of hornets as dense as a dark cloud flew over them.
They raised their heads and peeked at the situation; what they saw stunned them completely – level 0.5 meant a hornet the size of an infant, and there was a group of them.
These hornets were equipped with dark and shiny poisonous stingers that were a bit longer than a dagger. If someone were to get stung–more accurately, poked by the stingers–even if the victim was a level 10 creature, it still would have a high risk of death.
“It seems like this danger index only tells a part of the story.” Only after the buzzing of the hornets had completely disappeared to the far end of the fog did they stand up with ashen faces.
“Jing, please remind me if any large group approaches us, even if their individual danger index is 0.1, okay?” Chang still had the jitters.
“Sure,” the little girl nodded seriously, and then asked, “What about 0.01? There is a huge group of them though.”
“0.01?” Chang frowned.
“Yes, there’s an extremely large group of organisms rushing from the west side of the valley. If we don’t move away now, we will get in their way.”
“0.01? What could that be?” Pang Zi stood there in place for a moment.
“Whatever they are, let’s just move away first. Our priority is to be cautious,” Chang ran aside with Jing.
Jing’s perception range was 100 meters, so the moment they left, the level 0.1 group passed where they stood.
It was a group of black ants, and each of them was the size of a human palm. Their body armor was shiny and black, and their mandibles were sharp; anyone who saw this
group could easily imagine how much damage they could do.
“That’s 0.01?” Pang Zi’s face was covered with cold sweat when he stared at the ants that were three meters away.
“Each of them is about a pound, if you dare try to catch one,” Jing stubbornly said so.
“Hmm… well, regardless of what their danger level is, as long as they’re in a large group, just tell me about it.” Chang rubbed his head and sighed, “The world is too dangerous.”
“I will,” Jing nodded gently.
“We should move quickly; don’t you remember that ants are omnivores? We could’ve been their prey if they were starving.” Qing Shui pulled Lin over, “We were lucky that they weren’t aggressive towards us, otherwise we would’ve been chewed up. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.” Chang also noticed that their antennae pointed towards them; apparently, the ants knew of their existence. However, these ants seemed to have something more important to do than hunting, so they only stayed alert as they passed by Chang’s group.
“Well, let’s just not mess with them. I don’t want to be gnawed and become a skeleton.” Chang held Jing’s hand again and with Pang Zi, they followed Qing Shui.
They resumed their journey, with danger constantly looming over them.
Chapter 19: To Stay or To Go
With Jing’s help, they managed to avoid countless dangerous creatures, as well as some gangs, until they finally reached the south end of Kaifeng.
A regiment was stationed here, which meant that there were about 1500 soldiers in this military base – Since Kaifeng was close to the capital of the province, the size of the military base was relatively large.
Unlike other places in Kaifeng, it was crowded with people in front of the wired fence – It seemed like no matter what the circumstance was, only fools made up the minorities. If Chang could think of obtaining shelter in the military base, tons of others obviously had the same idea. The world was facing food shortages and it was impossible to drive – the grass was a meter tall, vision was limited within three meters, and the ground was filled with potholes. These were all conditions that limited mobility. The military base was still a reassuring location despite being surrounded by all kinds of monsters and suffering from food shortages.
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