“If you really ran into it, it would have been impossible for you to come back alive!” Chang gazed at Qing Shui’s back thoughtfully. Qing Shui was weighed down by the woven bag on the shoulder, and his footsteps were heavy.
Chapter 49: Share
Observing Qing Shui from the back, this was the first time Chang had ever seen Qing Shui stooped. Although Qing Shui had a skinny figure, he had always been exceedingly shrewd. Chang remembered a quote that he read in a book – “if a person who usually stood upright began to bend his back, it was because he had something heavy either on his shoulders or in his mind.”
The bag wasn’t that heavy for Qing Shui, since he had also become stronger after the “Deadly Evolution” period; hence, there was only one cause – the pressure in his mind.
“What does the Willow really look like?” Chang tried hard to uncover the myth – what kind of life could give Qing Shui this amount of unbearable pressure?
“A gigantic tree, it spoke…and it has seven brains…” Jing walked slowly as she recalled the details, and she told everything she saw to Chang.
The expression on Chang’s face became more astonished as Jing told the story. Chang seemed to be unable to process their unbelievable experience with the Willow as his mouth opened unconsciously.
Chang was lost in thought like Qing Shui after hearing the whole story. His lips pressed together tightly.
None of them talked afterward, and Chang followed the group to the base and went straight back to their dorm room.
Qing Shui pushed the door with his left shoulder, causing it to creak open. They entered the room one by one; Qing Shui, Pang Zi and Ling put down the weight on their back in a corner of the room before they had a chance to catch their breath.
“Pang Zi, put aside the formalin; we still need to go to find some barrels. Time waits for no one and the longer we wait, the harder it will be for us to treat the meat.” Qing Shui wiped off the sweat on his forehead and pulled Pang Zi to go out with him.
A moment later, they came back and forth four times in total, and each time they went back, either Qing Shui or Pang Zi would carry a big dark green iron barrel filled with water. After four trips, they had the barrels aligned tidily under the window. Then, Qing Shui poured the same amount of formalin into three of the barrels, letting the chemical mix well with the water.
“The formalin I brought from the hospital was 40% formaldehyde. The concentration is way too high for us even now, so I’m diluting it.” Qing Shui explained his intentions while mixing the chemical with Chang’s iron spear.
After Qing Shui did this, he untied the woven bags and carefully placed chunks of frog meat into the formalin solution.
“What are these?!” Noticing Qing Shui unfastening the bags, the mother from the family of four could no longer hold herself back. She stood up from the bed weakly and pointed at Qing Shui’s face, “That is meat; you have MEAT!!” she shouted.
“Stop yelling for god’s sake.” Pang Zi interrupted her immediately as if her shouting had caught the attention of the entire building. This was a special and sensitive period; they couldn’t let other people know that they had food, especially protein! Otherwise, their room would be swarmed with starving people within 5 minutes.
“How is it possible that you have so much meat!” The mother stared at Qing Shui eagerly, and desire was obviously showing on her face. “No wonder none of you died these days, not even that skinny little girl! I see…I see! You have food! You have meat!”
“Shut up, whatever we had and have is none of your business!” Pang Zi’s face became ferocious as the woman kept being annoyed.
At the exact same moment, the door opened again. IIt was the younger son, whose older brother was torn by the tentacle, that walked into the room. His appearance intensified the atmosphere; he only had a small trunk of root in his hand – without a doubt, that was their only food today.
“What’s wrong, mom?” the son was alerted as he saw Pang Zi confronting his mother.
“Meat?” the son turned his head and sure enough, he saw the meat bathing in the barrels. Like his mother, his expression changed, his hand loosened and the root dropped. The son wanted to get closer to the barrels out of instinct.
However, he didn’t even step forward two steps before being stopped by Chang.
“We do have meat, but why you do you think it’s any of your business?” Chang clenched the crossbow tightly; even though he looked severely injured, he was not chicken at all! Chang’s charred and scarred chest scared the son into taking a step back.
“How can we not get involved, we live together, with you! Cheapskate!” Seeing her son withdraw, the woman was hot with emotion. “It was said in our Kaifeng idiom, the witness gets a share; if you are not going to do as I say, you won’t get to have that meat either.”
“Look at my body, old b*tch! I even got half of my face burned, I almost exchanged my life for this food. I am not going to give anything to you, not even a single slice!” Chang pointed at his chin angrily, his eyes filled with rage.
“Well, guess what, I DON’T CARE! if you aren’t sharing, I guarantee that you won’t have a slice either. I will call everyone in the building and, if I were to shout loudly, the whole building… and the people in the next building would rush here. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to handle the inflow of people, would you?” The mother crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’re welcome to try.”
“Witch…” Her gesture made Chang so furious that his finger started trembling, and Pang Zi stepped forward to hinder the shameless pair.
“What! You wanna fight?’ The mother revealed her domineering nature as she felt intimidated by Chang and Pang Zi. She raised her chin up high, “a few days ago, the military had published the
“And the consequence of leaving here… the nightmare of being torn apart by some random monsters while you are sleeping will come true.”
“Like your son, huh?” Chang sneered.
“You!” the woman was shocked, and the atmosphere was extremely intense.
At this moment, it was Qing Shui who broke the tension; he seemed relax and walked to the window.
“Save some energy, both of you. I can give you some meat, but there are rules.” Qing Shui paced in front of the mother. “Two points: one, don’t tell anyone about the food. Of course, I believe you can keep this rule, because if you break it, both of us will starve, and I know you are clear about this.”
“And second, we will be eating raw meat; roasting or boiling it will give off an aroma, and that will attract our neighbors for sure. Therefore, we can only eat raw meat. Is that a deal?”
Chapter 50: Ruthless
“Of course, of course we won’t say anything.” After confirming that they would have meat for dinner, the mother and son looked at each other and their eyes were filled with elation. They then returned to their own bed silently, showing that they were keeping their promise.
As the mother and son no longer disturbed them, Qing Shui lightly pulled the back of Chang’s shirt and said, “come with me.”
Qing Shui and Chang walked along the corridor and sat on the stairs. Chang was perplexed as he asked, “Are you really going to give them our meat?”
“Did the acid burn your brain?” Qing Shui looked at Chang.
“No.”
“It didn’t burn my mind, either.” The expression in Qing Shui’s eyes had changed; it conveyed a hint of resoluteness.
“You…” Looking into Qing Shui’s bright eyes, Chang sat there in a brief numbed daze. Then, he seemed to understand Qing Shui’s purpose, and he sighed heavily. “I see what you mean, so when?”
“At midnight; it’s easier to do it when everyone is asleep.”
“What about the military? What if they discover us?
”
“I was concerned about this too. The military is very sensitive about conflicts in the base. They are afraid of riots and their negative impact, considering how contagious emotions can be.” As Qing Shui spoke, he took out a self-made cigarette and lit it up; the fire on the tip flickered, “Although they are concerned about the impact, it’s also the only concern they have.”
“As for missing personnel… they won't care about that much.”
“Indeed,” Chang nodded.
“You need to do it neatly; it’ll be too easy with your skills.” Qing Shui passed the cigarette to Chang and said, “Try it. I made it with leaves from a strange plant I saw a few days ago. It tastes pretty good and helps reduce pressure.”
Taking the cigarette, Chang inhaled deeply. It was fragrant and fruity like Qing Shui described.
“You can do it, can’t you? And, this should be your first time killing someone that’s unable to defend themselves.” Qing Shui stared at Chang, who was smoking non-stop. “It’s always stressful to kill someone, but we have no other choice when dealing with thugs and rascals.”
“These people will thank you for giving them food at first, but eventually they will become greedier. If one day we can’t get sufficient meat to feed all of us, they will break their promise easily. And why do we have to share our food with them anyways? You knew better than me what kind of sacrifice we had made; you almost died from kidney failure from the burns, while Jing and I almost got caught by the Willow. We exchange our life for this food, so why can they just sit in the room and wait for us to serve them? This isn’t just about the meat, but also the lives of us three. I won’t share our meat with anyone. You can say I’m selfish, but if they didn’t contribute, they will never get a share either, at least not from me.”
“If they act like thugs, so be it. They should think about the consequence before being one!”
“I understand… thank you for your explanation. It’s brought me inner peace and it will be easier for me now. I understand what you mean.” The corner of Chang’s mouth curved into a wry smile. He finished the last bit of the cigarette and threw it on the floor before the flame caught his lips.
“Let’s talk about something else. I’ve heard about the Willow, but Jing is still too young to explain to thoroughly. I want to know more about it.”
“It’s a super life; I don't know how to explain it well either. Its evolution speed is a lot faster than other species, and it’s very special.” Thinking of the Willow, Qing Shui’s back bent unnaturally again, “It can control a human brain. It reads human memories and knowledge. It was even able to make connections among the brains and utilize each of their strengths, but it hadn't been able to acquire intelligence of its own.”
“It’s already aware of itself, so becoming intelligent won’t be far away.”
“And thinking of humans, we have gone through numerous generations to become intelligent; within 20 days, it was plundered by other species. How sad is that! I really would like to know how many of these special species exist on this planet.” Chang felt depressed as he heard Qing Shui’s comment. He took a deep breath and asked, “The world is huge and Kaifeng is merely a small city in Northern China. If a super life like the Willow was born here, I doubt that there will be anymore around here.”
“I’m not sure about this, but I can assure you that there won’t be many of these super lives.” Qing Shui said, “We just happened to encounter one; the Willow is a rare example of an evolutionary miracle. Even though there might be other super lives, the ability of acquiring human brains is even rarer. If the Willow isn't capable of thinking, it will just be a powerful and robust individual; in that case, we won’t even need to be concerned of its existence as it causes no harm to us.”
“It was a flawless coincidence; the Willow must be one of a kind.” Qing Shui made a summary, “I am not sure about the presence of super lives in other places on Earth, but there won’t be anything like the Willow.”
“I disagree, it was only 20 days, and our landscape is unimaginably wide and our oceans are so deep that humans haven’t gotten to discover it all! How could you be sure that there aren’t any other similar ones? And even though there isn’t any right now, what about in the future? In this global evolution, everything is possible.” Chang stood up and pulled Qing Shui up with him. “Shall we go back? It’s quite useless to think about it too much, especially since it’s not helping us right now, so we’ll just do whatever we’re capable of.”
“As for other problems, we’ll have to leave it up to destiny.”
“Of course, let fate have its way.” Qing Shui patted on Chang’s back, and they walked along the dark corridor to their dorm room.
The thirst of the mother and son was obvious. They got up from the bed immediately as they saw Chang and Qing Shui come back to the room.
“Let’s have dinner now, the meat won’t taste as good later.”
“Great, make yourselves comfortable then.” Qing Shui snatched a glance at at the two, and then warned them expressionlessly, “Don't forget about the promise you have made.”
“Of course, we’ll keep our mouths shut.” The mother made a noisy assurance.
“Are you seriously giving out our meat to them?” Pang Zi impatiently asked as he noticed that Qing Shui wasn’t going to change his mind. “We exchanged this meat with our life, so why would you do this?”
“Forget it; as long as we still live in this room, we need to maintain the harmony in here.” Chang patted on Pang Zi’s shoulder as he tried to comfort him.
Chapter 51: Soft and gentle
“Damn it, I really don't understand what you’re thinking.” Pang Zi mouth twitched as he unhappily said, “Since you got us all the food, I can’t say anything about who you share it with. If you want to share with them, go ahead.”
“Well,” Chang sighed as well, he shot a strange glance at the two and realized that since the time he had decided to kill them, they seemed less unsightly.
Therefore, Chang waved at them and his mouth forced a smile, “Let’s eat together.”
“There we go; Chang is much more reasonable than you kids!” The mother expressed the elation of winning a bargain. She pulled up her son from the bed and spoke arrogantly to Pang Zi, “It’s not a big deal. We are living together anyways, so why shouldn't we help each other out?”
“Pooh, stop giving us that insincere flattery. If you were this reasonable before, why I didn’t get any help from you in the previous days. Not only had you not been helpful, but you also disturbed us. Don’t talk to me, I don’t care for your presence.” Pang Zi turned away his head, and apparently, his attitude provoked the mother and son. But fortunately, Chang broke this awkward atmosphere in a timely manner.
“Come on, I guess you’re already hungry, since I am too.” Chang sat on his own bed and took a deep breath, “Jing, can you lock the door?”
“Sure,” Jing nodded and fastened the latch.
On the other side, Qing Shui took out the frog meat from the formalin barrels and rinsed off the chemical thoroughly in the last barrel that filled with clear water. He tried his best to dilute the chemical residue on the meat and distributed one piece to each person in the room.
The piece was quite heavy even though the mother and son received it with both hands. Their dissatisfaction vanished immediately as they no longer complained. As if they were primitives, they chomped on the meat messily.
This was also Chang’s first time eating raw meat, but it didn’t taste bad and the texture was chewier than cooked meat. Although the pungent smell of formalin persisted on the meat, it was still much better than the vegetable ‘soup’ he had on the first day in the base.
Also, from observing from the gluttonous manner of the mother and son, Chang learned that the meat was much tastier than roots and grass.
Perhaps the discomfort from the burning made Chang lose his appetite, but he only finished half of his portion before he felt full. Chang stood up and
placed his piece into the formalin solution again, and then he returned to his bed and stared at the air feebly, with unfocused eyes.
“Are you feeling unwell?” Pang Zi asked Chang with concern. “Are you sure your burn has healed? Why it still so bloody? Do you want me to ask Dr. Huang to come over? Do you want some antibiotics as well?”
“Don't worry, I feel pretty good except for the pain. It should be fine after a few days; I’ll take the medication on time.” Chang turned away his head so that he could avoid seeing everybody gnawing on the bloody raw meat.
“We’re finished; do you have more?” The mother’s voice was still there.
“Are you serious? We gave a pound of meat to each of you and you still want more?” It was Pang Zi’s voice.
“Let them, they have been starving since the beginning, it must be not easy for them.” The last voice was Qing Shui’s. The sound of dripping and rinsing came after his words.
All these sounds upset Chang out of sudden, and Pang Zi’s words snuck into his chaotic mind. It reminded him of that doctor, so he turned to look at that dull figure.
“Dr. Huang, thank you for taking care of me today, do you want some as well?” Chang shouted to the person who was facing the wall.
“I am not hungry,” The young woman turned and glanced at Chang warily as if there was something strange.
The emotion in her eyes stopped Chang from inviting her.
The silence caught into Chang’s mind. Before the night arrived completely, his mind was full of the sounds of the mother and son chomping. He leaned his back on the wall as if he was pondering, but his mind gradually became blank. The light disappeared at the horizon bit by bit.
“Jing, we can’t stay on the same bed as my chest and abdomen were burned. It hurts even though I only stroked it softly.” The darkness came very soon as time passed in silence, and the air cooled down. Chang helped Jing climb on the empty upper bunk bed, and he smiled with difficulty, “Are you afraid of sleeping on your own?”
Global Evolution Page 21