Global Evolution

by Steffen Schmidt

  “Sh*t, that was such a shock.” Chang ripped off the dodder on his leg and trampled this ghost-like plant, and then shouted, “Check if you have dodder on your body, it will drain your blood before you even know it!”

  With his shout, the troop knew what had happened, so they all hurriedly removed their camouflage to check if there were any dodder on their bodies – about three or four soldiers discovered these horrifying tassels.

  “Mr. Li, do you think this plant is venomous?” Asked a soldier who had suffered the most from this misfortune. His cheeks were sunken due to excessive loss of blood. He apparently was the most frightened – if this plant was venomous, he could have been dead.

  “I don't know…but it shouldn't be venomous.” Qing Shui carefully observed the prickles on the tassel and asked, “Do you feel nauseous or have any muscle spasms?”

  “No, I am just dizzy.” That man shook his head.

  “Then that’s fine. You just lost too much blood; that’s likely the cause of your dizziness.” Qing Shui threw away the dodder from his palm, and he shouted to the whole troop, “From now on, we need to pay extra attention to the surroundings. There are too many lurkers in the jungle, so you need to check if you are attacked once in a while.”

  “Got it.”

  “Understood.”

  There were sporadic answers from the back and sounds from soldiers removing their uniforms. A moment later, all soldiers had finished checking their condition and the surrounding quieted down again.

  “Jing, why you were not aware of these dodders?” After re-packing their bags, Chang carefully whispered to Jing. He even thought before entering the jungle – as long as Jing was with him, he would be well-prepared in advance even if he was to receive attacks. However, these lurkers soundlessly educated him with what a real sneak attack was. An attack that could drain you slowly, without ever knowing about it until you die.

  “I didn’t know…I thought it was just grass, since they have the same kind of life features to me; and I only had a weak sensation of them…” Jing’s eyes were full of grievance. “I am sorry…if you didn’t notice that soon enough, you and that soldier would have been dead already…”

  “Don't apologize, I am not blaming you. I guess the dodder came from underground, and it would be hard for you to detect anything.” Chang rolled up his pants to make his ankles exposed within his sight, so that he could find out earlier when a similar attack found him next time.

  “Hurry up, the smell of blood is too heavy in here, and I am afraid that carnivores will find us.” Qing Shui took a glance at the blood stain and asked the soldier who was injured the most, “Can you still walk?”

  “Yes, I can. Don't worry.” That man shook his head hard, as if that could drive away some dizziness.

  “Alright folks, let’s move!” The jungle was so bizarrely dangerous that Zhao realized the troop was at risk at any time. He waved his hands and raised the flashlight higher to gesture the soldiers to move forward with him.

  However, the jungle appeared to not treat them nicely. When Zhao had just raised the flashlight, Jing whispered to Chang warily.

  “Chang, there is a big group of 0.2 organism coming from 100 meters away; they are fast.” As Jing spoke, a burst of flapping sounds came from a far end. Chang hadn’t had a chance to warn the troop as the cause of the sound had already appeared in front of them.

  It was a group of morphologically strange birds that flew over their head. Their beaks were sharp like perfect cones and the size of their heads were as big as humans. As soon as they noticed a group of humans on the ground, they swooped down towards the troop and their eyes were scarlet red and oddly small. Apparently, they didn’t come with good intention.

  “Folks! There is something in the air!” By the time Chang had just dropped his words, a big bird sped up and aimed at his head, but it was knocked out heavily by Chang’s crossbow swing in the air.

  “F*ck!” The big bird lost consciousness temporarily, but Chang wanted to stamp on its head to make sure it was dead. However, the group of birds didn’t leave him a chance to do so, and instead, they all swooped down at the same time. Judging from this situation, Chang was forced to dodge behind a tree and cover Jing with his back.

  “Fire your weapons to the sky, everyone!” Zhao’s voice went through the fog. “Be careful of your angle, do not hurt anyone around you!”

  A wave of gunshots blasted in the air as the captain commanded. The strategy was effective and the birds withdrew immediately, but they were still hovering in the air – anyone could tell they did not intend to leave yet.

  “They have not yet left!” The echo of the gunshot got soaked up by the fog, yet Chang’s voice again resounded. “They are hovering over us; they probably won’t leave until they get something out of us!”

  Chang knew that none of the soldiers would be capable at this moment to impact the flock, therefore he squinted his left eye and aimed the crossbow at the leader of these birds.

  “Whoosh!”

  The bolt was ejected by the force of the mechanical spring in the crossbow. It was so fast that the bird hadn’t had a moment to realize a bolt had penetrated through its torso; a flower of blood and feathers blasted in the air that looked like a bloodily aesthetic illustration.

  Chang almost screamed blissfully, but the birds had made their move already. The blood smell stimulated their brain intensively, and the beautiful illustration was torn apart by their sharp beaks in the air. Countless pieces that came from the dead body were soon swallowed, leaving the only one in the troop who could see the war, Chang, speechless.

  The reality was cruel enough just as Chang was once again warned by Jing in an even tenser tone.

  “There…there is another group. They are more aggressive! 0.5!”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me… we can’t even escape from them…” His heart sunk. A wave of buzzing sounds gradually became clearer.

  A group of mosquito-like insects came in Chang’s line of sight, but with slightly different stingers – they were all equipped with sword-like stingers. The flock fled in all directions as if they were freaked out. Some slower ones were firmly captured by the legs of these giant insects, and later became their ample breakfast.

  Chapter 59: Disguise

  Of course, those carnivorous mosquitoes wouldn’t be only interested in birds; those larger organisms – humans, were included as their targets. Therefore, some mosquitoes were tempted to attack immediately.

  However, the amount of mosquitoes that were interested in humans were a minority, and most of their attention was still on the birds in the sky; they were certainly more eager to get those birds that were their favorite prey than human that they had not seen before. The attack of these curious mosquitoes didn’t give the troop too much pressure – instead, the troop finally got a chance to escape from the flock.

  “Move, move! Let’s go before they notice us.” Zhao, as an experienced captain, knew that this precious opportunity wouldn’t likely come twice; he shouted loudly to the troop and waved the flashlight in his hand at the same time, hoping that the flashlight could signal the troop to move forward.

  Chang grabbed Jing’s hand and ran to the halo as soon as he saw it. They re-gathered with the troop thanks to Zhao’s cue; the troop steadily and orderly went around the mosquitoes and the flock. While they were retreating from the chaos, only one mosquito attempted to pierce Chang with its needle-like mouth; however, this poor mosquito was not threatening at all once it left its group.

  Chang pulled out a knife that he stole from the kitchen in the base and patiently waited until the mosquito got in front of him. Chang tilted back his body to avoid the crash and sliced down its head following the momentum. They left the “war zone” quietly and hastily.

  They trotted along the broken pavement until they were few kilometers away, and then Zhao halted the troop and started counting the remaining number of people.

  “One, two, third, four…” Zhao scanned
around the troop one by one, and for each person he shined with the light, he counted one until the end of the line.

  “….29, we are missing two.” Zhao found out two soldiers had been lost somewhere – including Chang and his friends, there were 22 soldiers and 4 officers that had followed along. Including Doctor Huang, there should have been 31 people in total; they hadn’t gone very far from Kaifeng, yet 2 had already went missing, causing Zhao to be both worried and angry.

  “Could it be the case that they are still following up?” The vision of an ordinary person was limited to 3 meters, so unless they stayed close to each other, getting lost could happen in a few seconds. The double shock from the flock of birds and the mosquitoes made them flee in different directions, and the circumstances they were facing now was unavoidable.

  “We should wait,” Someone suggested.

  “What if they never come back?”

  “Should we separate to find them?” Someone advised again.

  The unrealistic proposal was rejected immediately.

  “Separate?” Someone yelled “Are you crazy? We’ll never get together again if we ever go in different directions, and the fog could make you wander around in the jungle forever. If we didn't have this broken pavement, we would’ve likely stayed in this freaking jungle for the rest of our lives, which would probably be less than 2 days.”

  His words were cruel, but real. The troop seemed to be stuck in a strange cycle of deciding whether they should wait or leave.

  “How about…I go find them?” Chang broke the chaotic train of thoughts, “I can follow along the trace of rubble, and I have better vision than most of you, perhaps I can find them.”

  In this moment of desperation, Chang no longer intended to hide his ability. He knew from the bottom of his heart that they were on the same boat no matter what, so one person being lost meant that the chance they would survive through this journey was also reduced – if the troop only had 2 or 3 people left, then even a tiny danger could put them at the point of no return.

  “You have better vision than us?” Zhao stared at Chang in seriousness.

  “Yes, this is the ability I gained from mutation, I can go look for them.”

  “Great, since you asked for it, let Ming Yi be your companion. He has a strong physique and you have good vision; if you were to go together, the chance of death is a lot smaller for both of you.” As Zhao spoke, he pushed Ming Yi forward from the back. “You can put her down, Ming Yi. She was already awake when we fired our guns.”

  “Yes sir.” He put down the woman without even looking at her frightened face. He borrowed a machete from one of the soldiers and stood by Chang.

  “Come back in half an hour….” Qing Shui joined the conversation, “If you still don't see a trace of them in half an hour, just give up; we don't have much time to waste, and you know that Chang.”

  “I know.” Chang nodded and turned away. He also carried Jing with him and waved to Ming Yi as they both returned to the path they came from.

  They slowly walked back on the track that they fled from, they neither wanted to get too close to that “War zone”, nor did they want to go off the rubble track too far. The three looked back and forth and a while after, Jing sensed something strange.

  “Chang, there are three living organisms in front of us, and they are on your left side; two are level 4, one is level 2.5.” Jing whispered to Chang; her voice was so low that she couldn't even hear herself clearly, but she knew Chang already understood what she had said.

  “2.5?” Chang tilted his head.

  2.5 was the exact index of those elite warriors, and the spot they were standing at was not far from either the “War zone” or the troop. If it was 2.5 for sure, it was worthy to check out. As for those level 4 organisms… Chang believed they could handle them with ease as Ming Yi was a level 9 soldier.

  “Ming Yi, let’s head over there.” Chang pointed at the direction where Jing told him.

  “Should we? We will stray from the route if you insist.” As Ming Yi followed along, he became more uncertain as he went further.

  “Trust me, we won’t be far away, it is just 100 meters.” Chang insisted. “Don't worry, I can find our way back.”

  “Oh, okay.” Ming Yi clenched his machete and followed the figure in front of him to the other end of the jungle.

  The jungle ahead of them was significantly denser after they went off from the Zhengkai Avenue. Chang kindly asked Jing to jump down from his back so that he could keep his head low while moving forward. Relying on his superior vision, he saw one of the soldiers at the other end.

  A middle-aged soldier was looking around with the gun held in his hands. Worry and anxiousness were displayed through his gestures and face; it was clear that he had gotten lost for a while.

  Chang was delighted when he saw him, but he didn’t call out. Those level 4 organisms were still invisible to him, and that had concerned him quite a lot. Therefore, he placed a bolt on the string without making much noise; he then walked backward and squatted in the bushes to observe any signs of disturbance. However, he didn’t get anything out of the whole observation; it got to the point where even Ming Yi had lost his patience.

  “Where are the level 4 organisms you were talking about?” Chang pulled Jing over, as he spoke in an extremely low voice. “How could I not see any?”

  “They are right in front of you! Just right beside the level 2.5.” Although Jing couldn't see the soldier, she could sense his existence. It was all crisp and clear in her brain.

  “There is one.” She pointed at the direction of the soldier, but Chang only saw a bunch of green ferns; while he was puzzled, Jing pointed at another direction that was close to the last one, and it was the same kind of fern. “There is another one,” Jing added.

  “Another plant hunter, hah?” Chang subconsciously squinted his eyes to try to look more carefully, but he still failed to find any traces of life.

  “They should not be plants…I am not very sensitive to plants in this mass jungle.” Jing blinked her eyes. “If I can perceive them from that far, they must be some kind of animal, or at least insects.”

  “Animals…insects…” Chang moved forward again for 3 meters, and he was now 10 meters away from the ferns. Finally, he found traces of active life forms – eyes.

  Chapter 60: Mantis

  Those pairs of eyes were well hidden; they were as green as the ferns around them, and what made them more strange was that they didn’t even have pupils. They blended so well with their body that if Chang didn’t know their presence beforehand, he would’ve walked pass the fern without knowing he was under surveillance. This plant–like organism was an excellent hidden attacker.

  Obviously, if anyone were to bypass them without noticing their existence, then there would be only one consequence – death. Regardless of what level they were, even though they were much weaker than him, as long as he was unprepared, his fate would be death in this jungle.

  However, since Chang had learned that there were 2 lurkers, he was no longer concerned about them. As those eyes got closer and closer to the soldier, Chang hastily shouted out to remind him.

  “Hey! Be careful!” Chang jumped out from the bush, “Something is behind your back!”

  “What?” That soldier seemed relieved as he heard a human voice, and he quickly walked towards to the source of the sound.

  “There is something behind your back!” Chang reminded him again.

  “Something behind me?” The soldier looked back, but he noticed nothing except for some bushes and saplings. “What are you talking about? Where are you? Are you alone too?”

  The man kept asking in a high volume, but what he didn’t know was that a “sapling” behind him straightened its body, and it moved as swift as wind but silently.

  The “plant” bided his time well; it was so unnoticeable that no one would ever be aware of its presence. The next second, it had become a killer. As it moved, only a flash of green light was seen,
but the soldier who was alive a second ago, now had his head disconnected from his body permanently – a brisk wave chopped off his head like a sickle. Perhaps he was decapitated too fast, so the flying head was not instantly dead in the air. For a moment, he was even able to make an expression.

  From surprise to terror!

  The terror was seized forever on that face – “bang” – the head landed on the ground and rolled forward, and thus a lively body had completely lost the breath of life.

  “F*ck!” Accompanying a curse was a bolt ejected from the crossbow.

  Whoosh!

  10 meters was not a far distance for that bolt to travel as it firmly stabbed into that monster’s body.

  The sharp spine penetrated the green armor, causing mild damage.

  The monster turned around as it received an unexpected attack. It swung back and forth as if it was looking for the attacker. However, it lost its disguise as it changed its position, and finally Chang knew the identity of these creatures.

  They were two mantises. They weren’t huge in particular, but the lines of their figure were smooth and sophisticated, like well-built architecture. They stood with four limbs and their “sickles” were wide open. Although they stood up completely, they still looked like saplings. They looked extremely vigorous even though they were only as high as two-thirds of a human adult.

  “What’s going on?” Ming Yi stood beside Chang the whole time. but he didn’t see the tragedy in the fog. He first saw Chang and Jing whispering to each other, and then he heard Chang communicate with a person that he didn’t see. When he thought they finally found the soldier, Chang shouted “monsters” and shot a bolt. It was rather confusing to him how Chang acted.

  “Two monsters attacked the soldier.” Chang pointed to the murky fog and described it to Ming Yi, “They seem like mantises, and they are smaller than us, but they are hard to deal with. Be prepared.”