“Oh right, the captains questioned me when I went to pick up the crackers. I answered them truthfully and they seemed to be interested in you guys. They have your files and records; did you trade with them before? This is not the first or second time you’ve had meat. They asked me to inform you that they sincerely hope that you can join the army and teach the soldiers the methods of hunting.” Yi Xuan put the chicken meat in a black plastic bag unhurriedly and continued, “They also said that if any one of you had an encephalon mutation—funny that they called these people abiliters—they can send you to the province capital. Our base had contacted the central army in the capital in the last two days and they seemed to interested in those abiliters particularly. They said the central army will provide safe shelter and sufficient food if you are an abiliter.”
Yi Xuan said so as if it was a routine. He waved to Chang, “This is all they asked me to tell you, but don’t take it too seriously. I know people that who had encephalon mutation are extremely rare, and we only have one in our base. Therefore, focus more on improving your efficiency on hunting instead of this irrelevant information.”
Yi Xuan didn’t seem to want to stay in the kitchen any longer. He turned away with the chicken and left them standing thoughtfully.
Encephalon mutation?
Chang searched for the term quietly in his mind and glanced at Jing and Qing Shui. Jing could sense the aura of living organisms in the external world and transform it into an index; Qing Shui had powerful memorization and analyzing abilities. In that sense, they definitely had encephalon mutations.
So…
“We should prepare dinner now; let’s forget about what he just said!” Qing Shui interrupted everybody with a high, clear voice. “We should celebrate every meal with meat. The moment is precious and no one should ruin the vibe.”
“Yes! Yes!” Pang Zi laughed. “We should be glad that we are still alive, and we are living better than most of the people here. Since the news has nothing to do with us, why bother thinking?”
Pang Zi glimpsed at Jing while he was speaking.
And Jing noticed his glance, she murmured to Chang, “I don’t want to go to anywhere else.” Then, she tugged at Chang’s shirt and kept silent.
Only Lin looked at Qing Shui, and then at Jing, but she didn’t say anything either.
Fortunately, it was just a brief silence. The five became active again when Pang Zi shouted, “Food is ready!” It seemed like the fragrance of the meat distracted everyone. Chang smiled and patted on Jing’s head. They had a big pot of chicken stew.
After a full meal, Chang looked up at the ceiling, enjoying the aftertaste of the chicken stew. Qing Shui hunkered down to the small box of hardtacks and was checking the packaging of the crackers.
“Indeed, it seems like they won’t last for long.” Qing Shui threw a pack of hardtack to Chang while he spoke, “You have a sensitive nose; tell me, does it smell like mold? Even just a bit.”
Chapter 42: First cycle
“Sure.” Chang caught the cracker in the air and sniffed it. “It’s not musty, but the smell of the cracker has faded. It won’t last for long.”
“It seems like we have no other choice.” Qing Shui looked at the small pile of crackers. “The military has already noticed us and their food reserve will soon run out. The trade of meat and crackers is going to be cut off.”
“But recently, I heard someone was trying to grow crops.” Hearing the bad news, Pang Zi anxiously joined the conversation. “The plants outside of the base are lush and someone suggested to grow grains and wheat. If the plant has adapted to the environment, the food production cycle should be able to be shortened to 10 days!”
“It is not as simple as you think. A lot of plants that were edible before the red fog had evolved. Some of them smell and taste really bad whereas some of them have even become poisonous, so how can you guarantee they are still edible by then? You need to understand all these varieties of crops are part of the plant family, they are evolving and mutating as well.” Qing Shui explained unhurriedly, “Even though they are edible by the time of harvest, what about during the ten days of waiting? Are we going to eat grass and roots like the other people do in our base?”
“Then what should we do? The meat we get is easily perishable; we could have a ton of meat, but it would be wasted in the end!” Pang Zi almost yelled.
However, his words only garnered silence.
“Do you remember the preservation method we were talking about a few days ago?” Chang broke the depressing silence. He glanced at Lin and said, “Formalin, we need it to preserve meat.”
“You mean…” Qing Shui immediately thought of Lin’s suggestion when he was reminded by Chang. “You mean the same formalin that is used to preserve corpses and organs?”
“Exactly, we can dilute the formalin; and even now, the meat should be able to last for two or three days. If the meat can be stored, then our effort will not be wasted; the chance of running out of food will be much lower,” Chang slightly squinted his eyes and said.
“But where can we find formalin?” Pang Zi asked again.
“In the hospital, there is an abundance of it.” Chang couldn’t help thinking of the first time he went to the hospital for medication. “It’s funny just how scary the word hospital sounds to me.”
“This approach is feasible.” Qing Shui stood up from the stool and said, “Let’s go back to our room, it’s pretty late now, we can talk as we walk.”
Chang and the others followed him, and they cleaned up the kitchen as they discussed. In a short while, the kitchen returned to what it looked like before they came.
Their dorm room looked wider and more comfortable compared to the day they first stayed there. A lot of people died in the “Deadly evolution” period, so the crowded barracks had become spacious again.
The room they had was for eight people originally, but 12 people squeezed into this room in the beginning, leaving 4 of them to sleep on the floor. However, after only 15 days, no one needed to fight for a bed anymore – this was because the other families had lost half or more than half of their family.
In the family of four, the older brother was torn apart by the mysterious tentacle on the second day and during the “Deadly evolution” period. The father couldn’t withstand the invasion of the bacterial infection; now, it was only the mother and the younger brother.
As for the miserable family of three, the only survivor was the quiet young woman long before the “Deadly evolution” came. Her parent’s death almost made her collapse mentally. She relied on eating roots and barks every day and looked tortured, but surprisingly she withstood all the difficulties.
“Humans are tenacious,” Qing Shui lamented.
At the same time, since four people had passed away, the number of beds finally matched the number of people. However, Jing was too scared to sleep by herself; she usually stayed on Chang’s bed – there was even one extra bed in this room, however, no one needed that extra bed anymore.
Although disputes and fighting were fewer these days, the tension had not reduced as people passed away. It turned out to be more depressing – death and hunger had made the air heavier. The strange atmosphere made this room lifeless as if it was a morgue. If someone had not been through the apocalypse and entered this room by accident, the atmosphere could cause that person to get chest pain and nausea.
Therefore, when they walked into the room, they remained silent to blend in, so that their mood wouldn’t upset others.
The five would do their own thing tacitly once they climbed on their bed, and they would sleep at the same time when darkness enveloped the city completely.
……
Another night without speaking and talking.
The next morning, everyone opened their eyes at the same time when the first ray of sunshine lit up the red fog, and they immediately sat up as if they were programmed.
Chang and Jing always went out for hunting and Pang Zi and Ling alway
s went after Qing Shui to look for edible plants – these were the food that would ensure their life when Chang and Jing didn’t come back with meat. As well, they were side dishes if they only had hardtack for dinner – these plants were as important as meat.
Therefore, the clear division made the two groups depart in different directions in the gentle sunshine early every morning. They lived like their ancient ancestors now, struggling for food and survival every day.
“I wish you luck, Chang.” Qing Shui patted Chang on the shoulder and grinned, “Get us another chicken!”
“Finger crossed buddy.” Hearing Qing Shui’s blessing, Chang laughed spontaneously. He squatted down to let Jing climb on his back and after waving to Qing Shuis group, Chang and Jing disappeared in the red fog completely.
Walking through the lush grass bush, even if he carried Jing, he could still walk steadily at a relatively fast pace – the evolution during this period made him a stronger person physically, and he could see further now. Within 15 meters, the world had not been this clear to him.
“Jing, did your perception range expand as well?” Chang asked while he sneaked through the grass with his long crossbow.
“Yes, it is about 130 meters now, but the expanding rate has slowed down gradually.”
“Just as he said, Mr. Li told me that the first large-scale human evolution and mutation period has passed, and we don’t know when the next one will come. By the way, what is my danger index now?”
Chapter 43: Bullfrog
“Roughly between three and four,” Jing said. “The survivors in our base are about 2 now, meaning they are about two times stronger than they used to be. Some individuals have reached 8. Their physical conditions are even better than the huge wolfhound that we ran into.”
“I am wondering if those people have special abilities.” Chang said while he casually rubbed the tangy grass paste onto his exposed skin.
“I don’t think so. Mr. Li was talking about this few days ago; he said the correlation between physical strength improvement and acquiring special abilities is almost nonexistent. Some of the people significantly improved their physical strength, but did not acquire special abilities like what I have. For example, me and Mr. Li have special abilities, but our physical strength is pretty average.” Jing smiled, “You are lucky that not only your physical strength improved but you also acquired a special ability.”
“True, maybe that’s why it was easier for me to get food. Alright, cheer up! Let’s get something new today.” Chang chuckled and stopped the discussion, Jing closed her eyes and started to probe the surroundings.
When Chang entered his hunting mode, his mind was highly concentrated and the sound of his footsteps became unnoticeable. The pores on his skin were closed through involuntary contraction, helping him to hide his scent. The experience these days had allowed him to adapt to rhythm of hunting, and his body also responded to such adaptation by enhancing the strength of certain muscles.
“The reason why giraffes have long necks is because its ancestors wanted to reach to the leaves on tall trees; individuals with long necks survived in the difficult times and such genes were passed onto their offspring.” This was a Lamarckism explanation before Darwin’s evolutionary theory.
Before the red fog, if a species wanted to change their trait or physical structure, they needed to go through several generations of eliminations before the effect could be shown; it was an extremely slow process. However, the red fog seemed to be a catalyst for evolution. If an individual wanted to reach the “leaves on a tall tree”, genetically, the barrier of evolution had to be broken. An individual could not evolve on its own. In this era, the speed of evolution was incredibly and unbelievably fast – this was truly a splendid era for living organisms on this planet.
Chang sneaked between the gaps of the grass bush almost soundlessly; he was like a ghost hunter wandering in for food and prey.
The morning had passed before they realized; there were 7 times that they almost initiated the hunt, but the prey was either too powerful for them or it was a large group of gregarious insects. They were not ideal targets—until the last time.
“Chang, there is a level 5 lone animal, about 110 meters to our 2 o’clock.”
“5?” Chang stopped searching, “We can give it a try.”
“If you can sneak attack it, we’ll have a chance.” Jing nodded. “But you have to be careful, you are not an equal match for it if you directly confront with it.”
“Don’t worry.” The two had been hunting together for more than a week, Jing learned how cautious Chang was, she no longer discouraged him very often like she used to do.
Upon detecting this living organism, her job was done, she jumped off from Chang’s back and hid herself in the lush grass – in terms of lurking and fighting, she was not helpful at all.
Therefore, Jing would ensure her own safety before Chang left for the prey – not getting into trouble was the most helpful thing she could do for Chang in this stage.
Jing curled up in the grass and wrapped her tiny body with two pieces of giant leaves, she slowed down her breath and watched Chang remove his shoes before he slowly moved forward.
From downwind, Chang lurked like a cat. His bare feet made no sounds while he moved, and he leaned forward to ensure the direction of the wind was correct as he entered his hunting zone.
While he marched forward, he locked a bolt into his crossbow, and adjusted his position so that he was at the downwind direction all the way to the front of the prey. Without Jing, he took a while to find the organism that she was talking about, after a few hundred meters of finding and keeping up with the wind direction; he crouched in the grass and finally, saw the prey he had been looking for – a bullfrog.
Yes, a bullfrog.
It was not a normal bullfrog in his understanding, it was a bullfrog the size of a bull. The skin was grayish green and it had a pair of huge eyes. The bullfrog kept puffing its cheek and blew out the air with a steady rhythm. It looked like a frog he knew but somehow it was different.
Except for its size, there were also rhino-horn-like keratin tissue sprouting from its back. They were distributed evenly as if it was wearing a suit of armour; it appeared to have a strong resistance to external attacks.
“This is going to be thorny…” Chang clenched the crossbow and calculated the chance he could succeed. “I have a weapon and I may be able to make a sneak attack, but its index is one level higher than me. That is to say, if my first attack cannot cause significant harm to it, I will fail the hunt.”
Facing one that was slightly stronger than him, he needed to make sure the first attempt was his best shot, otherwise the bullfrog could swallow him with ease, or even worse, the bullfrog might just jump away before he even tried. Therefore, Chang was more attentive and alert than usual.
He carefully searched for the weak spot on the bullfrog but there weren’t any obvious ones – the keratin tissue covered its whole body, and the thickness of the tissue made it hard to penetrate even if he had a crossbow.
It seemed like only the mandible and the eyes were the spots where a bolt could cause useful harm. Chang stared at its watery eyes and he made up his mind.
“Should I try shooting bolt into it eye? It could be a fatal attack!” Chang moved forward with light footsteps while he was thinking. “Its static vision is not as perfect as dynamic vision, and frogs can’t smell; if I approach it slow enough, it won’t notice me.”
Step by step, Chang was confident about his plan, he spent quite a while aiming at its eye. After double checking, he pulled the trigger. The long bolt turned into a black shadow, flying through the fog and going straight to that moist and bright spot.
Whoosh!
The bolt was so fast that Chang’ dynamic vision only captured a touch of black light, and the red fog merged together again.
And because the bolt was so fast, within a blink of an eye, it flew right to the giant frog eye. While Chang was delighted by hi
s accurate aiming, the giant frog opened its mouth suddenly and the tongue popped out swiftly, it precisely slapped on the black shadow.
Chang was petrified.
He didn’t know how fast the bolt was, nor the speed of its tongue. The one thing he could conclude was that the scarlet tongue had successfully intercepted the flying bolt; although the bolt was powerful enough for the tongue to knock it, the direction of the bolt had changed.
Puff!
The tilted bolt made a deep slice on the giant frog’s tongue and then deeply stuck into the keratin tissue on its forehead, causing the bullfrog to croak painfully.
Chapter 44: Burn
Seeing this, Chang loaded another bolt, preparing his next attack. He didn’t run away after the first attack because the scarlet tongue had showed him how good the bullfrog’s dynamic vision was – it could even intercept the flying bolt. No matter how fast he could run away, he couldn’t escape anyways.
Plus, from what he had known, frogs had good dynamic vision but not static vision. Therefore, Chang was quietly and calmly changing the bolt.
However, he was wrong.
His information was outdated. The idea that frogs had poor static vision was an old notion; they evolved a lot after the red fog.
Therefore, just when he was pulling the string, a scarlet tongue swept towards him from outside the grass bush in just a blink of an eye.
Chang didn’t have time to dodge at all, the horrifying long tongue wrapped around his waist and he felt an enormous force coming from it, pulling him upward. Chang was 60 kilograms but instantly, he was caged in its tongue as if he was a mosquito. While the tongue was retracting, Chang made efforts to maintain balance of his body, and while he was nearing the big bloody mouth, he was silently calculating the rapidly narrowing distance between him and the bullfrog.
3 meters, 2 meters, 1 meter…
Bang!
Finally, Chang hit the edge of its mouth, but he was well prepared for this scenario; He stretched out his body widely so that his limbs could hold the mouth open. It was a tough battle between the biting force of the bullfrog and the power that Chang was using to prevent the bullfrog’s mouth from closing.
Global Evolution Page 18