“Alright.”
Chang’s words had hardly finished before the antennae of the mantises jiggled around on their head. They seemed to have determined the source of sound in the air; they then made a great jump to where Chang was hiding.
“They are coming!” Seeing the monster turn their heads, Chang pushed away Jing and rolled over to the other side of the bush.
Ming Yi was only able to see them once they entered his sight, therefore he was one second slower than Chang. A tibia waved at his neck directly.
“Sh*t!” The first thing Ming Yi saw was the sickle-like tibia swinging to him. He bawled out and quickly dodged; he was almost twice as fast as the mantis. He flipped over the machete that he held in his right hand and gashed its abdomen that had no armor covering it, causing the abdomen to be sliced open widely from the bottom up.
As Ming Yi made a deep cut, he performed a spinning kick at the mantis, breaking off its body like a twig. Tons of green mucus spewed out from the wound he inflicted.
“What a powerful and brisk kick!” Chang praised as he saw from the far.
Chang didn’t forget to refill the crossbow as he praised Ming Yi. He shot a second bolt to stop the sneak attack from the other mantis.
The extra time that Chang stalled the mantis for gave Ming Yi long enough to behead the other mantis with his backhand attack – he seemed as effortless as Chang beheaded that mosquito.
The winner of a deadly conflict was usually determined in a flash. There wasn't any so-called final attack in this survival game. It was all about who caught the right timing.
“It was a powerful fight! I thought it was going to be uneasy.” Chang put away the crossbow and showed himself to Ming Yi from the thick fog. He pulled out the bolts on the mantises’ dead body and tried to shake away the sticky green mucus.
“It was nothing; I reacted a lot faster than them and I was stronger. Also, you helped me distract the other one, so this result was expected.” Ming Yi gazed at the mantis corpses expressionlessly and said, “They aren’t good at attacking at all. Instead, it was their camouflage skills that helped their success. Look at them, they are just saplings to me! I have known that mantises were good at disguising themselves in bushes; they just blended into the surrounding with ease. But now I realize they are even better than before! I still have a hard time telling them apart from the saplings. If I didn’t know that they were aiming at me, I would have been dead even though I am stronger.”
“Exactly…being stronger doesn't mean you can win a battle sometimes.” Chang recalled how the soldier was decapitated by the mantis at such a small distance, and even Ming Yi nor Chang wouldn’t be able to dodge it.
“Where is he?” Ming Yi asked.
“He is dead, the body is over there.” Chang pointed in a direction in the fog; he didn’t even know the name of that poor man.
“I need to check him out. There aren’t any mantises around us, are there?”
“No.”
“Thanks.” Ming Yi strode to the location that Chang referred to. The bloodiness and the head were the first things that entered his sight.
Perhaps Ming Yi had seen quite amount of death and different corpses, but he didn’t react much when he saw the scene. He hunkered down to collect food and clips from the headless body, and then returned to Chang.
“Do you know him?” Chang was a bit surprised that Ming Yi did not display any emotional fluctuations as he pointed at the dead soldier.
“Not really, he wasn't in my company, but I met him a few times before. I only knew that his family name was Cao.”
Chapter 61: Flower Shrub
“I see.” Chang nodded with sorrow – the soldier was dead, without anyone having known his name. A life vanished in this lush jungle, without the accompaniment of friends and family.
“God…” Chang turned away from the corpse and found Jing, who was pushed to the other side of the bush. He picked her up and held her tightly and silently as if he feared that Jing would pass from his sight before he could notice. Chang loosened his arms after a second or two, and started to repack his backpack, he said to Mingyi without looking at him, “Let’s go, we still have others to look for.”
“Sure.” Mingyi’s voice came from the fog, he again followed Chang to return to the Zheng Kai Avenue.
The subsequent 15-minute walk was filled with the intermittent joy of discovery, but unfortunately, none of these traces of life belonged to humans. To avoid potential trouble and danger, they did not really look into them. Chang was always aware of the timeframe that Qing Shui set to them, and a few minutes later, they decided to return as they didn’t find any human.
“We should go back now. It has been almost half an hour. We’ll be delaying the expedition if we don’t leave now.”
“Okay.”
They returned with a shade of blue, after about 15 minutes, they re-joined the troop.
“You didn’t find anyone?” A look of disappointment passed over Zhao’s face when he noticed the number of people did not increase as they came back.
“We actually found one, but a mantis attacked him…” Mingyi turned in the clips and food he found on the corpse to Zhao.
“These belonged to Cao Wei…what a pity.” Zhao was sentimental over the soldier’s death.
Although Zhao was upset about the loss of soldiers in his troop, he didn’t let the emotion keep him in place. “I guess the other one has gone missing already. In consideration of the majority, we should leave now.” Zhao waved the military flashlight in his right hand while announcing his decision of abandoning the other soldier.
Zhao didn’t command Chang to do more for the troop even when he knew of Chang’s capability. Chang was still placed in the middle of the troop to look out for losing soldiers, however, even without Zhao’s orders, he was already wary of the surroundings.
The journey kept on going for nearly three hours straight. The Sun radiated over their scalps, and the red fog was lit up into its most saturated color. They, fortunately, did not encounter any danger but the physical exertion was so intense that the troop had to rest for a few minutes to hydrate and snack.
The military prepared crackers for the troops but they were almost inedible. Chang unzipped his backpack with both his hands, he took out a plastic bag with frog meat and unwrapped it. They made a small circle when sitting on the ground.
The military had their own circle while Chang and his friends had their own. There was only one person isolated from the groups – Dr. Huang.
“You should have some of our meat, we brought enough for all of us.” Qing Shui politely invited Dr. Huang to join as he noticed she was excluded.
“Pretentious.” Dr. Huang glanced at Qing Shui but she was not at all interested – she still resented Qing Shui, the person who forced her to join this journey.
“You are a doctor, so you should be more aware than me of the consequence of lacking water and food after tramping for hours in this hot weather.”
As Qing Shui talked, he ripped a small piece of frog meat and wrapped it with leaves, and placed a cup of water in front of her.
Qing Shui turned his head again as he finished doing so. He didn't look at her expression nor did he speak more to comfort her.
“Just eat your food... Being alive is more important than anything.” Pangzi also turned his head, but he had lost a significant amount of weight since the start of the red fog, he was not that chubby teen anymore. His shriveled face made a smile, “We are probably not good people in your mind, but we are not as bad as you have imagined us either.”
“But, who cares about how you would see us now.” Pangzi shrugged, “Isn’t able to survive more important than anything else for now?”
The doctor didn’t expect what Pangzi just said. She was frozen in place for a moment but she then picked up the meat and water and almost swallowed the piece of meat whole.
The troop was ready to depart again as they were well rested – lost two soldiers this morning
but one-third of the trip had been completed; it was an acceptable rate of death for this journey so far. The atmosphere in the troop was relatively light-hearted.
The group of 20 moved within the jungle for another hour – until someone in the front stopped.
“What happened?” As soon as one stopped after the other, few of the alarmed people held up their rifle right away – they looked at all directions, “Is something wrong?”
“Not at all, put down your firearms.” Zhao’s voice came from the front.
“Why did you pause then?” Chang didn’t see anything either, he quickly made his way to Zhao.
He soon learned the reason why Zhao was suspicious – he saw a scene of a bright and splendid flower shrub.
The flower shrub was bright red. The color was so vibrant and saturated that it even stood out from the thick fog. It was a type of red that made the flowers look on fire.
The shrub was wide and tall, even wider than Chang was able to see. It lay on the gravel path absurdly, it planted a seed of hesitation and fear of the unknown in everyone’s mind.
“The color gives goosebumps…” Qing Shui caught up with Chang, he noticed the unusual color of the flowers as Chang did.
“Do you think they are poisonous?” Zhao asked with deep worry.
“I can’t tell. But considering their strange appearance, we should at least avoid them.” Qing Shui pointed at the shrub, “And you know what makes them weird? There are no other plants growing around them at all, this is not common.”
“You are right.” Chang squinted his eyes to look further, he didn’t even see one grass shoot under the flower shrub. It was strange compared to elsewhere, where a great variety of plants grew on each other, and, as if they were competing, tried harder than the others to reach higher for more sunlight.
“They are definitely special in some way, otherwise they wouldn't be able to dominate this area with all other competition eliminated.” Qing Shui sighed, “My one and only advice is, regardless of their abilities, do not touch them under any circumstances.”
“Do you think they are carnivorous?” Zhao stretched his imagination to picture what nature could create in this world.
“Could be. Let’s test that then.” Qing Shui took out a piece of frog meat from his backpack and threw it right in front of the flower shrub. However, the flowers didn’t even move an inch, they were completely calm, they didn't have a row of teeth poke out from the stamens to reach the meat.
“They are not interested?” Zhao clenched his fist.
“Nevermind, let’s pass around them.” Qing Shui didn’t put down his guard even though the shrub showed absolutely no interest in protein.
“Passing around them? But we will be deviating from the original path, which is right in front of us. What if we get lost?”
“Tell me what you would choose then? That we should wade through them without considering any potential hazard?” Qing Shui was slightly annoyed.
Gazing at Qing Shui for a few seconds, Zhao again turned to the bloody flower shrub, and he gave up eventually. “Let’s pass around them.”
Zhao took out his compass from the pocket in front of his chest, recalibrated the direction, and then asked Chang to come to the front of the troop.
“Please stay at the front when we pass around, you can look further than any of us, and with the compass, I have more confidence that we won't get lost.”
“Sure!” Chang nodded, “I don't have much experience walking through the jungle, though, I will listen to you as long as I can.”
“Let’s not stray too far from the flower shrub, just inform me as soon as possible when you see anything.”
Chapter 62: Bloody Flowers
“Sounds great.” Chang nodded, then he moved aside with Jing and Qing shui. Zhao quickly made a command to rest of the soldiers and then they went around the flower bush.
Although the captain was well equipped with the compass and a high powered flashlight and had Chang to walk with him, he still stayed closely to the edge of the flower bush. On one hand, he was worried about getting off track but was also concerned about the suspicious flowers. Zhao kept on coordinating their direction once in a while, the troop was slowed down significantly by this cautious adjustments.
“It is such a tremendous flower bush…if we keep our current pace, I don't think we can make it to Zhengzhou before sunset.” Chang was sweating out as he noticed how scrupulous Zhao became, “We should go faster, Captain.”
“Indeed, I didn’t expect the size of the flower bush to be this tremendous.” Zhao nodded as he re-calibrated the direction, the troop accelerated again.
At the same moment, a gentle breeze blew from the bush, the soft touch of the wind was fragrant with the unknown blossom.
“How aromatic!” The pleasant scent brought excitement to the troop, someone behind Chang marveled, “I have never smelled something like this before, it is so sincere and calming like a perfectly mixed perfume. I’d say it outcompetes every flower before the red fog, not to mention its vivid and vibrant petals. If we ever had flowers like this before, It’d be the queen among all.”
“Unfortunately, the nice aroma could be deadly.” Qing shui showed impatient on his face, “In any way, flower and its scent never had any artistic purposes in nature. The reason why flowers had scents before the red fog was to attract pollination, but now, this could be a trap for attracting prey.”
“Moreover, a flower is just a reproductive structure of a plant. I don’t see the reason why humans appraise it be such a great deal.” Qing shui frowned.
“Ha ha ha.” Someone behind Qing shui was apparently entertained by Qing shui's lack of taste. The troop sped up again as they became more light-hearted.
After another half hour going around the flower bush, they finally got back on to the Zheng Kai Avenue.
It was truly a relief that they didn’t encounter any strangers, they thought.
“Ah-----------” a heartrending cry pierced through the red fog.
It was an absurdly shrill scream as if a person’s enjoyment was broken by a hard stab to the stomach, unexpectedly and painfully.
“What’s wrong?” Zhao immediately turned around. The beam of light in his hand flashed right onto the screaming soldier.
“An attacker?” The face of the soldier became hideously disfigured, the artery on his neck bloated up and his face blushed. Apparently, he was undergoing great torture. His weapon dropped and his fingers became rigid and stiff like claws. His condition worsened at a rate that everyone could notice – a gradual development of convulsions.
The company around this soldier held up their rifles vigilantly, however, no matter how hard they tried, they saw no suspicious objects in the air or on the ground.
“Will it be something similar to the dodder?” Someone shouted.
“Possibly.” Some other soldiers kept the struggling soldier down and ripped open his shirt. Although his skin had turned red, his skin was still smooth without any obvious injury or infection.
“He looks like he was poisoned.” Came a woman’s voice – It was Dr. Huang. She looked at the soldier from afar “Looks like he got Dysautonomia; excessive sweating and sialorrhea…It must be some sort of neurotoxin.”
“He was poisoned? But he didn’t eat anything!” Zhao looked up and down on the soldier, “Is it possible that he was scratched by a toxic plant?”
As he spoke, he checked the soldier’s forearm and ankle, where he would mostly like get scratched, but he didn’t even find a small cut.
“Then what caused his symptoms?”
“The flower bush, was it the fragrance?” A visible constriction of Qing shui’s pupil, he seemed to realize something.
“No way… None of us had symptoms as him, how did he….” Zhao was rattling on the strangeness, and, all of a sudden, he choked and the rest of his words became muttered. His face turned red and he seemed to be suffering from extreme pain. It all happened so fast that even Chang couldn�
�t react to the change.
Zhao lost his sanity completely as the soldier had before. His skin reddened and he sweat excessively. Veins became visible on his eyeballs, followed by a painful roar.
“It was the fragrance!” Chang immediately grabbed Jing and they ran away from the flower bush.
Some of the troop followed Chang as they realized the effect of the fragrance, they turned around and followed Chang’s footsteps hastily. A few of the soldiers, who were close to and were direct subordinates of the captain attempted to pull the captain with them before they fled. But Zhao had already lost his mind, no one was capable of grabbing him. They all ran away after a few tries.
Then, something horrifying was seen beside the flower bush.
At the moment they all ran far enough from the flower bush, Zhao and the soldier rushed into the flower bush accompanied with heart-piercing roaring. As if their bodies were burned with fire painfully, they ripped off their clothes and scratched their skin as they ran. They both went through slight evolutions before as everyone else in the troop, therefore, they were strong enough to tear their uniforms into pieces of cloth. They didn’t seem satisfied after ripping off their shirt, their hands kept scratching on their arms and chests.
It was hard to believe that humans were able to hurt themselves to such extent – their fingers didn’t stop even when they got into their muscle. There wasn’t much blood but their pain was known from their wails. As if maggots were growing in their body to cause itchiness, they continuously scraped their flesh vigorously.
Their faces were not a spot of fortune either. Their fingers dug off the skin off their faces, exposing their bones. However, as if it was a brutal spell, their fingers moved to their belly and invaded their organs… It was so painful, but they couldn't stop doing it. They struggled, they twisted and they finally teared up. Blood and flesh were splashed onto those gorgeous flowers – it made the flowers more enchanting than ever.
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