Global Evolution

by Steffen Schmidt

  Therefore, he helplessly watched as the giant white cat ran off with the dog dangling from the corner of its mouth. It jumped on a townhouse and soon disappeared into the red fog.

  The iron law in the nature – the stronger one gets prey; Chang finally tasted the bitterness himself.

  Chapter 27: Wound

  “Son of a b*tch…” Seeing the danger from the prey in its mouth, Chang roared the sky to release the rage and unwillingness in his heart.

  Chang lighted up quite a bit after he shouted; his mind slightly relaxed. But now, the pain that was suppressed by his nerves had become sharp and obvious.

  He looked down to his left chest – there were three long bloody scratches inflicted by the stray dog.

  Fortunately, although the scratches were long, they weren’t deep. They were painful as if a fire was lit on his chest, but they weren’t fatal wounds.

  Chang stood in the grass bush feebly. He felt like his body was completely drained. The intense hunt and that brief tension between the cat and him while facing extreme hunger made him feel particularly weak right now.

  “Why…” He sat down as if he had lost all of his strength. Chang noticed small puddles of blood on the ground around him. “These might attract other predators…” He rested for a bit and immediately went back to look for Jing.

  Chang found Jing still standing where she was.

  “Are you okay?” She smiled when Chang showed himself from the bushy grass.

  “I’m fine, but the dog was taken by another animal.” His face looked frustrated.

  “Thank god, at least you’re still alive. We should head out from here as soon as possible.” Jing held his hand and trotted back towards the camp.

  “Are some other monsters approaching?” Chang followed her and asked.

  “I won’t say they’re monsters; there’s a massive amount of level 0.003 organisms coming. They might be small bugs.” Jing replied, “We should be careful anyways.”

  “Okay.” They walked out from the bloody scene where they hunted the dog. The two found a small abandoned house. He found a basin to rinse off the blood on his hands. Then, in the other room he sprayed some strong scented perfume and hair spray to cover the smell of blood on his body.

  Chang finally felt a slight relief after he did this.

  “Should we keep going?” Jing dropped down beside Chang, with her weary little body curled up on the couch as she asked. “You were scratched by the dog; we should go back to the base to disinfect your wound.”

  “These things happen all the time, don’t worry. Human resistance to bacteria and viruses is an evenly matched competition. If one prevails but doesn’t destroy the other completely, any subsequent infections would be less intense. Since I didn't die from the last infection, I won’t die from this infection either,” Chang said determinedly. “Just to be safe, I’ll still take some antibiotics, but there’s no rush for it. I’ll take them once we go back.”

  “So we will keep on hunting?” Jing rubbed at her ankle, then asked the question again.

  “Yes, both of us are in a fairly good condition right now, if we don’t get anything today, it will be even more difficult tomorrow.” Chang looked up to the ceiling, “I’m a little bit dizzy from hunger. If we go back to the base right now and only get that half pack of biscuit, it’ll definitely not be enough. My reaction speed and fighting ability will be significantly reduced by tomorrow; it will be almost impossible for us to get anything.”

  “I though Mr. Li and Pang Zi went out to find some edible plants.” Jing removed her shoes and socks while she spoke. She stretched out her ankle so that she could keep up with Chang in the next hunt. However, blisters and blood covered the bottom and sides of her feet. Seeing this made Chang upset.

  Continuously walking for six or seven hours wasn’t something a skinny and thin teen girl could bear, not to mention that the path she walked didn’t have flat roads at all. The world returned to its natural state; the ground was filled with cracks, and it resembled a dense forest. Luckily though, there weren’t any rocks, concrete blocks, nails of any kind or industrial waste along the pathway. The roads in the city were completely shattered, and the ground was covered with all these obstacles. Even Chang himself had a hard time walking on it, while Jing was just a small girl.

  “You can go back first, you must be tired. I can look for small animals by myself around here.” Chang sighed as he glanced over her blistered feet.

  “I can’t go back now; it’ll be hard for you to find a prey without me. Plus, what if you run into any serious danger…” She carefully put on her socks and lightly tuck her feet into her shoes. She offered a generous smile to Chang, “Let’s go, I’m fine, they aren’t hurting that much.”

  “Okay! Then we’ll walk around for a while and see what happens.” Chang nodded, lifted Jing with his hands and put her on his back. “Hold tight and tell me when you think there’s a good prey.”

  “I will.” Jing first struggled instinctively, but then she tightly held onto his back.

  Chang opened the tattered door that was torn by the flourishing plants, and then their figures merged in the red fog bit by bit.

  However, this afternoon wasn't like the things written in novels or screenplays; they walked around the area until they were fatigued. It was a fruitless afternoon.

  As the sky was slowly getting dark, Chang dragged his exhausted body back to the military base, with Jing lying on his back. He slowly walked to the familiar room.

  “We’re back.” When he reached the door, Chang put down Jing. When her feet touched the ground, her body was startled – it was a natural reaction from the pain of the blisters being pressed on.

  Chang was relieved quite a bit as he put down Jing –he gained a stronger physique since he evolved and wasn’t as powerless as he used to be. Jing was light, about 50 pounds. But in the end, he was currently weak, so letting her go reduced quite a large amount of pressure on him.

  When they opened the door, Qing Shui, Pang Zi and Lin were sorting the cleaned plants.

  “We’re back.” The sound of the door alerted the three in the room and they turned their heads towards Chang and Jing at the same time. Chang gave them a brief strained smile and threw up his empty hands. “Sorry…I didn't get anything.”

  “It’s okay, actually, Mr. Li was talking about how difficult it would be for you guys to hunt… Wait, you were wounded?” Pang Zi stopped sorting the plants when he saw the long scratches on Chang’s chest. He stood up and took out some rubbing alcohol and cotton pads.

  “They aren’t deep, don't worry.” Chang took the rubbing alcohol and cotton pad and poured it directly onto his wound, immediately causing him to feel a burning sensation. He clenched his teeth to reduce the pain and waited until the burning went down. Then, he used the cotton pads to absorb the blood gently. After doing all that, he pulled Jing over.

  “I’ll be taking off your shoes, okay?” He let Jing sit on the bed. He saw a pair of blood soaked and hardened socks on her feet after he removed her shoes.

  “The bloody blisters might have ruptured, causing her feet and socks to stick together.” Looking at her socks, Chang turned his head to Qing Shui. “Mr. Li, how should I handle wounds like this?”

  “We should soak her feet in saline so that the clothes will separate from her feet.” Qing Shui stood behind Chang and handed a small plastic bowl to Lin who was still sorting the plants. “Please get some water for us. We don’t have saline, but we can make our own with table salt.”

  “Sure.” Lin looked up at Qing Shui and took the plastic bowl. She left the room without looking at Jing’s blood-soaked feet.

  “Don't get it on the first floor!” Qing Shui was worried, “Get it from the higher floors where the monster’s tentacle can’t reach.”

  “I know.” A response came from the hallway.

  Shortly after, Lin returned with a full bowl of water. Qing Shui added a small amount of table salt to the water and stirred. Chang hel
d Jing’s feet carefully and put them into the bowl.

  “Hiss!” Her whole body shivered the moment her feet touched the salt water. She kept hissing and instinctively wanted to withdraw her feet from the salt water, but Chang pressed down her trembling ankles tightly.

  Chapter 28: Stench

  “I’m sorry, but this is the only way we can separate your socks from your feet,” Chang sighed.

  He knew just how much it would hurt to rub salt on a wound, not to mention soaking her feet in salt water. Moreover, because there were more sensory nerves at the bottom of the feet, the pain that she was enduring was amplified even more than if this were a normal wound on her limbs.

  In less than a moment, Jing’s face paled. However, Chang didn’t look at her face; instead, he paid attention to the socks on her feet.

  The hardened blood on the sock slowly softened in the salt water, and the adhesion between the sock and the wounds on her feet began to loosen up. After a while, Chang lifted her feet and carefully peeled off her socks.

  “Pour some alcohol onto her feet. We don't need to wrap her feet in bandages, since those blisters need some fresh air to dry up.” Qing Shui continued to guide Chang behind him.

  “I see.” He nodded and gently put her leg on the bedpost so that her feet wouldn't touch the bed. Chang then took out some antibiotics from his backpack. He gave Jing a pill, and then he took another one.

  “I’m really sorry you had to experience this…” Chang dropped himself on to the bed and covered his eyes with his arms after he disinfected Jing’s feet.

  “How was it today?” Qing Shui returned to the pile of plants to sort them.

  “It was hard; hunting was extremely difficult.” Chang stared at the base of the upper bunk bed and said. “The animals were too vigilant. I didn’t even get close to them before I was discovered.”

  “If hunting was that easy, there wouldn't have been a large number of human hunters that starved to death in ancient times.” Qing Shui chuckled and said, “If hunters were able to get a large prey, the money they could get from trading its fur and meat would be sufficient to cover their living expenses for a month or more. They could’ve been millionaires if every hunt was successful.”

  “In fact, the hunter occupation isn’t stable in the least; they often face hunger, and many die from starvation.” Qing Shui kept his hands busy and continued to explain. “It’s not only human hunters; the top predators on this planet also face these difficulties. For example, of all land animals, leopards have the highest chances of acquiring prey, yet they only have a success rate of less than 1 in 7. Moreover, after each hunt, regardless of whether it’s successful or not, they have a period of time where they can’t consume any food because they burn out, which creates a significant burden for their body.”

  “Therefore, even if they have the highest success rate in hunting, they often get robbed of their food.” Qing Shui picked out a strange grass from the pile of plants, sniffed it a few times and said, “What I was trying to say is, it’ll be hard to find food in nature even if you are a good hunter or a top predator. Animals lacking escape abilities or survival mechanisms have long been eliminated by the cruelty of nature. The ones who’ve survived are skillful and as you said, extremely vigilant. I’m going to hunt with you tomorrow. Anyways, I think the plants we picked today are enough to last for a few days.”

  “Sure, that’s good,” Chang rolled over in his bed and happened to see Qing Shui sniff at the plant. He asked, “Mr. Li, are you sure they’re edible?”

  “I don’t know, they should be.” Qing Shui’s eyes revealed a look of skepticism. “These plants were definitely edible before the red fog, but now they seem to have developed some unique abilities.”

  “What unique abilities?” Chang frowned.

  “The ability to prevent themselves from being eaten by other organisms.” Qing Shui walked in front of Chang and squeeze some juice from the stem of the plant and smiled, “smell it.”

  “Ahh! Get it away from me please.” The juice from the stem spurt on Chang’s face and made him feel nauseous. “What is this? It smells worse than shit, are you really sure this is edible?”

  “I’m sure of it.” The choking smell caused Qing Shui to sneeze a few times. “The composition of these plants should be the same as before the red fog, but they’ve just become stinky. We’ll boil them for longer, so at least we have something to eat.”

  Qing Shui picked up a pile of plants and stood up straight, “I’m going to the army kitchen to cook them. Does anyone want to come with me?”

  "......"

  No one answered him; they didn’t want to go to the kitchen.

  “I’ll be going by myself then.” Qing Shui wasn’t disappointed by the silence. He smiled and left the dorm room.

  An hour later.

  Qing Shui held a pot of vegetable soup and carefully pushed open the door with his back as he walked in.

  “Oh god, it smells like the sewer.” All of them, including the other two families covered their noses as Qing Shui walked in.

  “To be honest, I think the sewer smells way better than this.” Pang Zi walked up to Qing Shui with his nose covered. “Mr. Li, are you really sure this is edible?”

  “Hahaha, of course it is edible, I’ll tested it out myself first.” Qing Shui put the pot on a stool and picked a “vegetable” from the pot. He swallowed it without chewing evening chewing it. A bitter smile covered his face as he said, “It tastes just like it!”

  “Really?” Chang got up from the bed and took a spoonful of the soup. The soup was warm, but a sudden taste of cooked feces filled his entire mouth and activated all of his taste buds in less than a second. He gagged several times because of the stench. Until he felt his gastric juices rise to the throat, he swallowed the soup using a great deal of effort while squeezing his nose tightly to reduce the horrible odor as much as possible. Chang choked when he smelled the stench, and tears and snot burst out, causing him to choke.

  “It tastes just like the sewer!” Chang gave a thumbs-up to Pang Zi while he was tearing up.

  “All of you should have some, you know we don’t have any other choices. This is better than starving. I know it smells really bad, and the textures horrible too, but in the end, it’s just vegetable soup.” Qing Shui distributed bowls to Chang and the others while he spoke and filled each bowl with the soup.

  “Eat it all and don’t leave any leftovers. How many days has it been since we had a full meal? If we don’t endure the smell and eat it right now, within three days, someone will die.”

  “Is it that serious?” Chang held his nose and drank a mouthful of the soup. With a mouth full of the stench, he asked “I don't think somebody would die from starving for three days… If someone were to take that half pack of hardtack and lay on a bed, I think they’d be able to survive for more than ten days.”

  “They wouldn’t die from starvation, but rather from other diseases caused by extreme hunger.” Qing Shui fed himself big chunk of vegetables, but he still swallowed them without chewing too much. “What do you think our world has turned into? It’s rapidly changing, but for the past millions of years, bacteria and human’s resistance to them had been at an equal level. But now, they evolve much faster than we do. While they’ve been evolving, we haven’t, so our immune system has gradually become weaker and weaker from hunger. The result is obvious: we’ll get sick easily, and by that time, every breath we take could cause a serious bacterial infection.”

  “So, according to what you’re saying, there will be people dying in the next few days?” Chang scooped up another spoonful of vegetables and looked around.

  “Not only will people die, but it’ll also be on a very large scale!” Qing Shui sighed as he handed Lin a bowl of soup. “Eat it. The plants are evolving too; while it might taste like shit right now, in a few days, we won’t even have shit to taste.”

  Chapter 29: Human desires

  “I can’t imagine what the world would tur
n to if plants tasted worse than feces.” Chang reached for an empty bowl after he heard Qing Shui and filled it with the vegetable soup.

  “Cheers for the sh*tty vegetable soup!”

  “That was a vulgar joke.” Pang Zi who was standing beside Chang, furrowed his brows, and then went to get himself a bowl of soup.

  Pang Zi, Lin and Jing each took their own bowl. When they first smelled the soup, they simultaneously frowned with a disgusted face.

  After a while, Jing braced herself for the first sip. As the soup stimulated her taste bud, her pale face turned white, but she managed to swallow the soup as her cheek went up and down. The first taste came strongly and swiftly, so Jing immediately held her nose as if she was drinking bitter traditional Chinese medicine. She didn’t chew on any vegetables in the soup so that she could finished her dinner as fast as possible.

  Lin wanted to imitate Jing’s way of drinking, so she first held her nose and then took a deep breath. She gulped a mouthful of soup, but as the liquid flowed down to her esophagus, she dropped the bowl. What followed was intense vomiting.

  “Blarghhhh..” the vegetable soup gushed out from her mouth and nose along with gastric juices, making the room smell even worse.

  “I’m sorry.” Lin basically threw up everything in her stomach. She wiped her mouth roughly and gave an apologetic look to the other four. She then picked up the broom and cleaned up her mess while her left hand lightly pressed on her stomach.

  “Well…” Pang Zi had just witnessed Jing and Lin attempt to gulp down their dinner. He tried to muster up his courage to eat it, but he eventually gave up after only a sip.

  “No…I can’t chug it.” Pang Zi put away his bowl, indicating that he wouldn’t touch the soup again.