Global Evolution

by Steffen Schmidt

Although he was at his last gasp, Chang and Qing Shui cheered. As long as he was still alive, the hadn’t wasted time coming on this trip back into the jungle.

  “Hurry up.” Qing Shui lit up the “torch” as he had done with Chang and slowly roasted the spider web that wrapped Pangzi. Chang pulled him out as soon as the spider web loosened.

  “Hmm….” What Chang did had apparently hurt Pangzi, but the duo could only stare at the horror scene on Pangzi’s body.

  Pangzi’s body looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. There were small openings all over Pangzi’s body, and to put the severity of his injuries into perspective, there were around 100 of them.

  The big ones were as large as a palm while the small ones were as small as fingernails. The good news was that the openings were not fatal, but they were so closely-spaced that it could give anyone goosebumps. [ED Note: I’m imagining something like trypophobia… search it up]

  It exceeded any kind of disgust that they had ever seen in their lives. In and on those openings, there were spider eggs coated with mucus. The eggs were green and the size of beans. They were buried all over Pangzi’s body, as if his only use was to provide warmth for the eggs.

  “Damn, these spiders are cruel! They treated him as a hatchery, while they could have just killed him!’ Chang was awfully upset after seeing the collection of spider eggs.

  “They are not human, they don’t care if it is cruel or not. They do this to survive, like us.” Qing Shui checked out Pangzi’s pulse and cuts. He then picked up a spider egg curiously and carefully observed it.

  “But why would they do that?”

  “For hatching and feeding their offspring I guess… If they had killed Pangzi, the body could have only been preserved for two hours before rotting. Therefore, if he is alive, the freshness can last for a few days!” Qing Shui exclaimed. “They have become much smarter now.”

  “Oh please, shut up! Pangzi is our friend, and we just need to get him out first.” Chang leaned over and patted on Pangzi’s face. “Hey, can you hear me?”

  “Hmm….” Pangzi mumbled weakly. He seemed to be conscious, but not able to speak.

  “He is paralyzed by the venom… I am putting him on your back, Chang.” Qing Shui lifted Pangzi on his shoulder, and slid him on Chang’s back.

  At the same time, a millipede shrieked as an announcement of its own death.

  “We are running out of time! They are coming back.”

  Chang jumped off the branches, while Pangzi and him were bathed in the light from Qing Shui’s flashlight. They looked all around them at the same time as they re-coordinated. As if they had done it a million times, they ran forward without any second thoughts.

  The route they chose was different from how they got in. They went by a strange place that wasn’t too far away from where they found Pangzi. The area was enclosed by 3 stout trees, and was inter-connected with numerous webs. It was some sort of residence for the spiders. The space was about 50 cubic meters. There were “decorations” within the webs, and it looked like a grain reserve for the spiders.

  Judging from the scale of the reserve, it had been in operation for quite a while. It stored a variety of spider food, voles, insects, birds, and a human.

  A woman.

  She was locked in the center of the cylinder reserve. In order to see more clealy, Chang directed the light onto her. Her fate was no different than Pangzi’s. However, the condition of the eggs were different to Pangzi’s. Some of them had already broken and the transparent, infant spiders the size of fingernails covered her whole body like an expensive and sophisticated couture. But the beauty of the “cloth” was violated by the brutal act of the spiders. Some were gnawing at her flesh while some had just come out from underneath her breasts and abdomen as if her skin was welcoming the spiders’ newborn with a perfect feast.

  Essentially, the woman trapped inside the web was covered with spiders while slowly being eaten to death. The scene looked worse than Naraka (ED Note: Buddhist Hell).

  However, the woman was kept alive for purposely. The duo was tortured mentally by witnessing the inhumane cruelty she was suffering. Her eyes were wide open and it looked like they were going to pop out from her eye sockets. The effect of the venom seemed to be diminishing as time passed, and she couldn’t do anything but stand the pain.

  “We should help.” Chang noticed the woman begging him when she realized there were survivors in the jungle.

  “How?” Qing Shui pulled Chang’s arm, “The spider webs are too dense, we can’t get in without touching the strings. And don’t forget the spiders will soon be back!”

  “At least we can help with the pain, even if we can’t do anything else.” Chang put Pangzi down and picked up his crossbow that was tucked on his belt. The tip of the bolt was pointed right at her heart as Chang pulled the trigger.

  The bolt pierced through the spider webs and penetrated her chest. The blood oozed out from the hole. The poor woman had her final wish fulfilled with this long-awaited fatal injury.

  She died with gratefulness.

  “We are done.” Chang put Pangzi on his back again and he no longer paid attention to the woman, and fled out of the jungle with Qing Shui.

  Thanks to the spiders, which did a good job cleaning this area, they didn’t encounter anything else and walked out safely.

  “Let’s get Jing.”

  They re-entered the human world. In here, they didn’t need the compass anymore as any collapsed building were the obvious signs for direction.

  Three men, one unconscious.

  In this dark world, they swiftly walked toward the unknown future.

  Chapter 74: The ecology of Zhengzhou

  North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power was where Chang and Ming Yi agreed to meet. It was located near to Zheng Kai Avenue and was not far away from the welcome sign where they had a brief meeting.

  The trek was about to end as they trudged on the street. Although the concrete had not yet been broken through by the plants, there were cracks here and there that showed the vitality gifted by the red fog of some plants. The ever-bustling campus was now dilapidated and rusted. The plants seemed less aggressive here compared to the jungle, where they ruled.

  “The gate is locked, and someone must have used the lock recently.” Qing Shui paid attention to the manmade details, opposed to how he had behaved in the jungle. “If it’s locked, that means there are human activities. It is also a sign that there might’ve been humans hiding here before Ming Yi came.”

  “How do you come to that conclusion? What if the lock was placed by Ming Yi?”

  “They were only a group of three, locking the gate is meaningless.” Qing Shui rubbed his chin. “Only if there are large amount of people staying in here would locking the door be effective to prevent an attack on the people. Otherwise, they can just hide anywhere convenient. It makes no sense to lock the door. Do you know what this suggests?”

  “What does it suggest?” Chang shook his head with chagrin. “Just tell me the conclusion next time. I am not smart as you, and I can barely answer your questions.”

  “I too was actually asking myself when I was asking you.” Qing Shui climbed the wall, and continued to talk to himself, “If there are more than 100 people living in here, it means it is easier to survive in Zhengzhou than in Kaifeng. You just can’t find a big group of people living in a school in Kaifeng. In fact, the environment is too harsh for any human to survive, except under the shelter of the military base. I am pretty sure the ecology of Zhengzhou is more beneficial to humans than to other species.”

  “Well, that sounds like a good news.” Said Chang. “Rare good news.”

  “Indeed.”

  While they were talking, Qing Shui had climbed to the top of the wall. As he found a stable position, Chang handed over Pangzi’s body to Qing Shui so that they could go behind the wall altogether.

  “I got him.” Qing Shui jumped off the wall with Pangzi on his back.


  Chang’s climb looked effortless as he climbed and jumped over like a cat.

  “How do we find them though?” The campus seemed empty. Perhaps it was because it was dark, but they had found no trace of life.

  “The grass! Someone walked here before, if they weren’t Ming Yi’s, then it must be someone else’s.” Qing Shui asked Chang to carry Pangzi again. He then pointed at a spot under the light as he said, “As long as we can find a human, that means we are one step closer. We just need to follow these foot tracks.”

  “There is a trace? Are you sure?” Chang looked down at the grass, but he couldn’t spot any differences.

  “You probably can’t tell, just follow me.”

  “Hmm..” Chang caught up with Qing Shui and tried to crack a joke. “If you had such a keen ability of observation before the red fog, then I think you would have made a good private detective.”

  “I don’t think so. Even if I had this ability, I would still be a teacher. I like teaching.” Qing Shui picked up the topic as he said, “But you all would never be able to cheat. I would have caught you right away. Hahahaha.”

  “Uh…” Chang sunk back into silence, “I don’t know what to say about your joke…”

  Qing Shui nodded expressionlessly to end the conversation and continued to be the guide.

  They soon approached a building, and Chang and Qing Shui worked together to find an entrance. Not long after, they found a modified room with windows sealed by wood. The door was reinforced to resist any potential attack. It was obvious that these could have only been modified by a human.

  “Here it is.” Qing Shui’s knuckles drummed on the door insistently.

  “Who is that?” A voice of vigilance sneaked through the door immediately.

  “We’re just passing by here. Can we stay for a night? We are looking for someone.” Qing Shui shouted.

  His words caused a burst of disturbance in the room, soon after, a familiar voice asked, “Mr. Li? is that you?”

  It was Ming Yi who spoke. The door was opened from the inside, asMing Yi revealed himself from the dark.

  “Chang! Mr. Li! Come on in.”

  “This is our day, isn’t it?” The flashlight in Qing Shui’s hand illuminated the room.

  Other than Ming Yi, there were another 7 or 8 figures lying on the ground, covered by blankets. All of them were so thin that they seemed emaciated with sallow faces. They looked like refugees in a famine. Chang glanced at them one by one. It was easy enough to tell that they were students. The sudden arrival of the red fog probably blocked their way back home. Loneliness and fear kept them together, but it seemed like they would soon starve to death.

  “How did you get in?” Although they were grasping for their last breath, their mental guards were never put down.

  “Wasn’t too hard. I shared some of my food with them, and they let me in for exchange.” Ming Yi walked to the other end of the classroom to keep some distance with the students. “Of course, we had disputes and they are still unfriendly. But that shouldn’t be bothering us as we will be leaving tomorrow. Let’s not talk about them, I am just so happy to see you back. You guys did it, you rescued Pangzi!” Ming Yi smiled with joy.

  “It’s true that we rescued him, but the openings on his body with the spider eggs could kill him. I don’t know how to deal with them.” Chang placed Pangzi on the table and asked, “How is Jing?”

  “She is over there.” Jing lay on one of the desks. “She is better, but still in coma.”

  “Good to hear that. Alright, let’s think about how we can get rid of these spider eggs.” Chang made sure Pangzi was lying comfortably. He tried to gently squeeze out some green spider eggs from Pangzi’s arm. The stickiness felt awful in his hand. Chang felt slightly desperate as he turned to Qing Shui and said, “How are we going to clean out the spider eggs? There are so many!”

  Chapter 75: Goodbye

  “I have no idea either.” Qing Shui examined all the openings on Pangzi. “The spiders have laid eggs on him one by one, which means that, at this moment, we can only do the same - clean them one after the other. It could be done faster if we had equipment but we don’t have anything on hand now.”

  “But there are so many… and we don’t even have alcohol for sanitizing.” Chang gripped the edge of a table as powerlessness and hopelessness surged within him. “If we rinse the openings by water, he’ll get infected, and we can’t use our fingernails to dig them out either.”

  “I guess the only thing we can do today is to clean out those that are on the surface; we’ll have to figure out how to deal with the rest tomorrow.” Qing Shui pinched a pile of spider eggs and threw them on the ground.

  “Don’t throw them on the ground! What if they hatch?” the students immediately spoke out against Qing Shui.

  “Don’t worry, they can’t hatch successfully without proper temperature.” Qing Shui kept working without taking the students’ concerns into mind.

  There were more than a hundred of openings on Pangzi, and the size of the spider eggs were as little as red beans. It was already challenging to clean the surface. Chang and Qing Shui were very cautious, making sure that no openings were torn further. But at the same time, they also needed to be careful that their fingers didn’t touch the openings directly. All of this resulted in the task of cleaning out the spider eggs being very time consuming.

  Later, Ming Yi and the other soldier joined. Together the four of them spent more than two hours to roughly clean the surface. By the end, their eyes were drooping and they were on the verge of collapsing. It had been such a long day.

  The trek through the jungle had been full of danger. From the moment they stepped in, their nerves had never loosened. Countless times they barely slipped away from the sickle of death; the pressure they took on would have crushed anyone’s mind before the red fog.

  They had fought to come to this place, 80 kilometers away from Kai Feng, and finally upon relaxing, the last stream of strength slipped away.

  “Hey bro, I am sorry, this is the best I can do today… I am just too tired now.” Chang leaned against the desk. “I can’t even hold my eyes open now… Are you feeling better?”

  “Uh…uh…” Pangzi struggled to utter some sound. His tongue was still stiff even if his condition had improved compared to two hours ago.

  “I am glad to hear that.” Chang grinned feebly.

  “Uh…uh…” Pangzi once again tried to say something but only his eyes talked with turbid tears.

  “Man… What are you talking about?” Qing Shui teased Pangzi. “Can’t even tell what you are talking from your lip movements, so just sleep now. We’ll figure something out tomorrow, okay?”

  “Tomorrow…” Like a computer running out of power, Chang fell asleep while still sitting.

  Qing Shui was quick to follow Chang’s example when he sat down beside him.

  The classroom was extremely comfortable compared to the places they had gone through, and the two soldiers’ heads drooped as well. They went lower and lower, then completely collapsed onto the ground.

  The students gradually relaxed as they saw the four threats lose their consciousness.

  The air cooled down as the time approached midnight.

  Chang slept so deeply that he relaxed his guard completely. Still, at one point he became aware of some vague movement nearby. His body told him to lift his eyelids, but the drowsiness knocked him back to the dreamworld. As far as he knew, the noise he heard didn’t move closer to him, so he gave up this meaningless struggle and returned to the state of deep sleep.

  He didn’t wake up until the sun turned the black world to scarlet.

  “Qing Shui…” The first person he noticed when he regained conscious was his teacher, then Pangzi who was lying in a pool of blood.

  “Pangzi is dead.” Standing in front of the corpse, Qing Shui murmured, “It was all my fault. I didn’t notice anything about him changing his mind.”

  “What are you talking abo
ut?” Heart sinking, Chang stood up in a haste. “He was doing good yesterday, he can’t be dead!”

  “It was suicide.” Qing Shui stood aside to reveal the tragedy. There was a deep cut in the throat that had caused excessive blood loss. And there was a knife clenched in Pangzi’s hand.

  “Why? Why would he do that?” Chang was on the verge of having a mental breakdown, his hands shook uncontrollably.

  “He left a letter to us.” Qing Shui handed Chang a piece of blood-stained paper.

  The piece of paper was ripped off a textbook. The handwritten characters were mostly squiggles; apparently, Pangzi had not recovered by the time he wrote this letter. Chang flattened the wrinkled paper and read with mixed emotions.

  “Brother Chang, Mr. Li, this is my letter to you. By the time you will be reading this, I would probably have died already. I want to tell you so much but I’m no good at expressing my feelings on paper. Therefore, I think, ‘Thank you’ are the words that I want to say the most. I made this decision on my own and, please, don’t feel bad for me. To be honest, I have been thinking about leaving you guys; after all, I was always a burden along the way, taken care of and protected. Thank you. Without you, I would have died alone somewhere at the very beginning. I knew I was such a useless person but I was too afraid to be left behind at the same time.”

  “I wanted to gain some sort of ability to help out but we all know it is a rare event. We can’t just have all the luck that we pray for. So, I blamed myself for being a coward.”

  “The moment I saw you come back, I was in tears already; I have prepared to die when I was caught in the spider web. When I think about putting myself in your shoes, I would probably have made a different decision. Therefore, thank you, and I will never forget what you have done for me. Taking this into considerion, I am braver than before. Thus, I decided that the burden, I, must be dropped.”

  “I am not sublime nor altruistic, the reason behind my decision is simple fear. When you were getting me out from the spider webs, I saw how the other victim had suffered. I don’t want to be like her; it was so painful to look at. I would rather die with a sleek slice of a knife. Please, please, don’t feel sorry for me! I know it better than anyone, I cannot be saved. Some of the eggs are in my bloodstream; the slightest itchiness constantly reminds me of how close I am to becoming her.”