Global Evolution

by Steffen Schmidt

  “I can’t wait for the morning. In fact, there must already be spiders hatched in my body.”

  “I really appreciate that you didn’t leave me behind in the jungle, but now, allow me do die in peace. It was my pleasure, to meet you, Chang and Mr. Li. I have no regrets now. Thank you.”

  “By the way, brother Chang.”

  “Do you remember teasing me before, saying that you’d make my finger bone into a pendant if I died? It is about the time you made it real; give me a chance to stay with you, become your lifelong brother. Please, whenever you want to give up, think of me. The least you can do is live for me.”

  The paper wasn’t large enough to contain words that Pangzi wanted to tell, and at the corner of the wrinkled paper Chang found the last sentence skewed.

  “Lastly… If Jing asks where I went, I beg of you, please don’t tell her I suicided. I don’t want her to be sad for me. Just tell her I found my family.”

  His signature was right beside the sentence: Shiyu Li (Pangzi), September 14th, 2014.

  Chang repressed his sobs. He closed his eyes but they trembled rapidly under his eyelids. The corpse had begun to perish, so he sliced off its index finger and placed it into his pocket.

  “How selfish of him to commit suicide… How could he do that?”

  “He didn’t want to be a burden to us.” Qing Shui was expressionless, but the corners of his eyes had become watery.

  “Let’s fulfill his last wish, the cremation. He will be free from these torture filled days.”

  Chang picked up Jing with one hand and dragged Pangzi with the other. He tottered out of the classroom.

  Qing Shui stared at Chang’s back and silently wiped off the tear that was about to fall.

  He woke Ming Yi and the other soldier.

  “Wake up! We should be leaving.”

  “Leaving for where?”

  “The research institute.”

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Pangzi (Shiyu Li) - Pangzi is often a nickname for those who are chubby, it is named after a person’s physical appearance. It is a common practice to name after a chubby person in a Chinese novel as Pangzi as Chubbiness is their most noticeable feature. Pangzi’s real name Shiyu, means rain that comes in time.

  Chapter 76: Department of Biology and Genetic Engineering

  Chang dragged Pangzi’s body to the street, wandering around until he found an abandoned vehicle from which he snapped a section of a tube. He then siphoned the gasoline from the gas tank and poured the liquid onto Pangzi’s broken body.

  While Pangzi was gradually covered by the gasoline, Qing Shui finally woke the soldiers up, and they walked out from the classroom together.

  “He is dead?” askedMing Yi, gazing at Pangzi’s body and heaving a sigh.

  Chang quietly asked for a lighter from Qing Shui, and a small flame was lit on the tip of the lighter. It then quickly fell onto Pangzi’s body.

  The raging flame melted his body and burned the alien lives lurking in him.

  “Let’s go,” Qing Shui said, after patiently waiting until the last bit of flame transformed into a stream of dark smoke. “Fortunately, he didn’t die in suffering.”

  “You are right, this is the last thing I could feel happy about for him.” Chang turned away from the ashes of his dead friend. “Where is our next stop?”

  “The research institute.” Qing Shui gazed toward the northwest. “I am really curious what human science and technology can do in this new world.”

  “Where is the research institute?” asked Chang.

  “There was a small village within Zhengzhou, called Xu Zhai. It was completely rebuilt seven years ago during an urban transformation project, and then they decided to use the land for the huge research institute.” Ming Yi tried hard to recall what he had heard from the captain. “It was for biology and genetic engineering. I had also heard that for the last seven years the government had built a lot of these research institutes in the suburbs. It started when they recorded the red fog for the first time. I think they must have known a lot about its secrets.”

  “But they never foresaw that it would become a global phenomenon,” Qing Shui said, looking fixedly at the red sky. “Let’s see what they have in there!”

  The sorrowful emotions were deeply buried and covered in Chang’s heart. He gently pinched the finger bone in his pocket before picking Jing up and putting her on his back. With Ming Yi’s guidance, they headed toward the northwest of the city.

  As they went further, the change along the path became clearer. And it was quite different from what was in downtown Kaifeng.

  The ecology around Xu Zhai was highly impacted by human activities; the plants seemed sluggish, and the grass was much shorter. Mutated animals were barely seen in this area; they even saw people wandering on the street to look for food. Apparently, it was much easier to survive in here than anywhere else, and wanderers didn’t seem to be worried about not having military protection.

  “What a peaceful place!” Chang couldn’t help but exclaim.

  “It is just different from Kaifeng, though, I feel the harmony here.” Qing Shui also kept observing the surroundings and the wanderers. “But I don’t know what they are living on; if they rely on the plants, malnutrition would soon become a big problem. If I were one of the researchers in the institute, I would propose the food problem as the very first thing”

  “Well, you will soon become one of them,” Chang said, turning his head.

  “I don’t think they will listen to a newbie, though.” Qing Shui lightly shook his head. “More importantly, I don’t know how many EMs they have in there.”

  “You’ll know that when you get there.” Chang also added, “In my opinion, I don’t think there will be many like you. If everyone there was an EM like you, then I would be fearless in this apocalypse. The science and technology would soon overcome the struggle we are having now. Getting back to the top of the food chain would be easy.”

  As he spoke, he noticed a human-sized cat walking toward them, but it fled at its fastest speed as soon as it felt danger. “A clever little cat, perhaps you are an EM as well?” Chang praised the cat.

  “What did you just say?“ asked Ming Yi. He hadn’t seen the cat but only heard Chang talking to himself.

  “Nothing, just keep going.”

  They were faster than yesterday as they were well-rested now. It took them only one and a half hours to cross the city of Zheng Zhou, and they finally arrived at the research institute that Ming Yi kept talking about.

  The institute was enclosed by high walls, the plaque on top of the gate implying its great vitality. The place was heavily guarded by layers of armed soldiers since several military camps surrounded the building.

  It took a while for Ming Yi to negotiate with the guard at the gate until the soldier finally loosened his guard and allowed him into the institute. The soldier entered with a quick and steady trot. Soon, a person came out from the red fog, accompanied by Ming Yi; the three stars on the stranger’s epaulet hinted at his rank in the military – he was a colonel.

  “You must be Qing Shui Li!” The Colonel immediately came closer to Qing Shui to confirm the person he was greeting; his face was painted with ardor. “Welcome! Welcome!”

  “I heard from Ming Yi that you came from Kaifeng. Are you an EM?” the forty-year-old colonel asked, while stepping forward to shake hands with Qing Shui.

  “As you said, I am from Kaifeng.” Qing Shui smiled.

  “You have come a long way; the journey must have been hard for you!” The colonel made a pitying expression. “Unfortunately, we have lost connection with the cities around Zheng Zhou. Otherwise, we would have sent troops to pick you up.”

  “I understand the situation with the connection issues, don’t worry,” Qing Shui said, nodding politely.

  “All right, make yourselves at home as we will be working together soon; don’t hesitate to ask for anything yo
u ever need help with. But by the way… I don’t think I mentioned that I used to serve in Kaifeng when I was younger, so we are fellows from the same place! My name is Hang Xie, you can just call me Xie.” The colonel warmly introduced himself. “They are your friends, right? There weren’t many outsiders coming here before, so this is rather exciting for us!”

  Lead by Xie, Chang and his company entered the institute. The inside was not as fancy and futuristic as they had imagined. It was just ordinary. But what they saw was just the offices, they didn’t know what was going on in the laboratories.

  “It cost five billion to build this place, it is almost as expensive as the National Stadium in Beijing.” Xie continued on touring Qing Shui and the company. “Surprisingly, the government was quite efficient in using the invested money; as far as I know, they have quite a lot of ongoing cutting edge research projects in biology and genetic engineering. Though, our institute is small if compared to the ones in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.”

  “It sounds like our country has prepared for the arrival of the apocalypse from a long time ago.”

  Qing Shui and the company were led into a meeting room.

  Xie put a smile on his face before leaving. “Please have a seat. Dr. Chen will be meeting you in a minute, he is one of the person in charge of this institute. He has been looking forward to meeting you since he heard of you!”

  “Thank you, Xie!” Qing Shui thanked him for his kindness and gazed at his retreating back.

  Chang leaned on the couch and relaxed. “Seems like they value you a lot.”

  Qing Shui also nodded with relief as he saw the colonel leave the room. “Their attitude assured me of their professionalism, we just need to see how they will arrange us…” He finished off the sentence with his brows knotted.

  A moment after, the door was opened again. A fifty-year-old man with strangely dark hair entered the room. Chang spotted his name tag before anyone else - “Xu Dong Chen, Biology research group.”

  The clothes of this person were different from Chang’s impression of a researcher’s dress code. Instead of a white lab coat, this man wore a regimental uniform. His rank was even higher than Xie; he was a major general.

  This was the highest rank that a researcher could attain in the Chinese military. Anyone ranked above major general represented not only honor, but also military power.

  As Dr. Chen walked into the room, Xie quietly turned around and closed the door. “Chen, this is Qing Shui, don’t forget that I brought him to you.”

  “You can count on me,” Chen said, patting Xie’s shoulder before sending him out of the room.

  Chen’s eagle eyes landed on Qing Shui.

  “You are Qing Shui Li?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Come with me.”

  Their first conversation was very brief. Qing Shui and Chang went out of the meeting room and travelled through the building until finally stopping in front of a room with a strange looking door.

  “This is our testing room, which is equipped with instruments and ancillary apparatus. We will test how far you have gone on encephalon mutation before we talk.”

  The door opened silently, and Chang carefully peeked from behind Qing Shui’s back. For the first time, he sensed a taste of futuristic from the equipment that he had not seen before in his life.

  “The young man with the kid, you shall wait here,” Chen spoke to Chang in a polite manner.

  “No problem.”

  Chang followed them with longing eyes. The door seamlessly closed without giving out any clues of what was behind it. The only bit of information he could get was the buzzing sound of the equipment and Qing Shui’s calm voice when answering questions.

  15 minutes later, the two came out from the room; the calmnesspreviously seen on Chen was completely transformed into astonishment and ecstasy. Even Chang was aware of something unexpected having happened.

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Zhuo Zhao - Zhuo usually means excellent.

  Chapter 77: The Creator’s Waters

  The tense lines on Chen’s face loosened up as he recovered from the shock. He was a renowned scholar, after all. He quickly absorbed the information from the test result, and a straight face was soon put back on.

  “Welcome, you can join my group as a researcher; mine is the third group, Gemma, in this institute, you will meet the rest when you start working in here. I will grant you access to facilities and rooms as soon as possible.” Chen casually glanced over Chang and Jing in his arms “Are they your family?”

  “Yes, they’re my family,” Qing Shui affirmed.

  “Sounds good, we do offer suites for researchers who work in the institute. Therefore, your family can live with you.” Chen made a pause and articulated carefully with his next words. “Now that you are part of the institute, you will be exposed to all sorts of research that we have done; although your encephalon mutation puts you at a position where you can acquire knowledge by just one glance, you are still lacking relevant knowledge. For now, it would be good for you to come to my class and run experiments as my research assistant. You would gain more knowledge as you go further in the field of Biology and Genetics.”

  “I’ll do as you say,” Qing Shui agreed with a nod.

  A burst of sonorous footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

  The footsteps belonged to three men: one was in a military uniform and the other two in lab coats.

  The one in the middle was middle-aged. His facial features weren’t outstanding, and neither was he sharp-eyed. Chang saw him coming from far but didn’t pay much attention to his appearance. He was more interested in the epaulet. It signalled that the man was a Lieutenant General.

  This was the top power in a secondary city like Zhengzhou.

  The lab coats beside him seemed to be in high positions as well; the three walked side by side, and it was hard to tell if either one was superior to the others. What was more jaw-dropping was the fact that one of them was in his twenties, just like Qing Shui.

  “Dr. Chen,” the Lieutenant General greeted before he arrived. This man was not haughty. Instead, there was an affable aura surrounding him. Only the epaulet revealed his rank.

  Chen forced himself to squeeze out a smile when he saw the person coming, making it obvious that he was acquainted with the Lieutenant General.

  “General Zhang.”

  “Chen! Haven’t seen you for a while. I heard from my subordinate that an EM just arrived. I just came to give my congratulations in person since we don’t have many EMs coming from outside of Zhengzhou. What category is he in?”

  “Well… He is just an ordinary EM in cognitive and analytic categories, nothing too special for General to concern about.” Chen gently patted Qing Shui’s shoulder. “Here he is, a young man as you see.”

  Apparently, Zhang wasn’t too impressed by Chen’s introduction. He shifted his eyes and stared at Qing Shui. “A spirited young man! Our institute needs fresh blood like you!”

  “Thank you for your kind words, General,” Qing Shui answered, bowing.

  “Treat us as your friends and family!” Zhang hinted for the young man at his side to come closer. “Let me introduce you, this is Zhuo Zhao. He is just as young as you are and is the only local in the institute who underwent encephalon mutation. This precious gem was the only EM in cognitive category in here before you arrived. I have learned how smart he is during his stay, so you should talk with him more.”

  Following Zhang’s introduction, the young man was the first to reach out in a friendly manner. “Nice to meet you, I am Zhuo Zhao, just call me Zhuo please,” he said.

  “Nice to meet you too, I am Qing Shui Li,” Qing Shui said, holding out his hand in reply. He smiled, and the two shook their hands. It looked perfectly neutral and normal, but there was an undercurrent of tension as they looked each other in the eyes, judging, evaluating.

  Not sensing any
thing out of the norm, Zhang stepped aside to introduce the other person. “This is Dr. Xilin Zhang, one of the best scientists in conducting research on Biology and Genetics in China; you will surely learn a lot by having him as your supervisor.”

  “Nice meeting you, Dr. Zhang,” Qing Shui greeted him, polite as he always were.

  “Hello, Qing Shui.”

  Dr. Zhang was in his sixties, but despite his wrinkles, his dashing and upward eyebrows made him as charming as a young man. He looked neither soft nor tough and was very charismatic.

  General Zhang spoke again once he ensured Dr. Zhang greeted Qing Shui. “Great, now that we know each other, if you have any questions, you can ask Dr. Zhang. And please, make sure you’ll talk to Zhuo more often.”

  “General Zhang, are you trying to steal Qing Shui from me?” Chen asked, stepping in to cut off Zhang’s chattering. “Our group found him first, and he will work for me as I found him in the first place. This is the rule that you set before you found Zhuo, or did you forget about that?”

  “Hahaha… Look at how nervous you’ve become.” Instead of feeling intimidated, Zhang simply sidetracked. “I was only concerned about his welfare as he is a newcomer; I never thought about taking him anywhere. To avoid arousing suspicions, I will be leaving now.”

  Zhang’s chatter was ceaseless. He patted Qing Shui on the shoulder before leaving. “Group Alpha will always welcome you to visit and study. Although our five groups share the resources equally, labor is always shared differently within divisions in socialism.”

  Zhang seemed to have a mask of being amiable. His facial expressions always made others feel like he was approachable.

  After finishing his speech, he turned around and slowly disappeared down the other end of the corridor with the lab coats.