Global Evolution

by Steffen Schmidt

  His eyes were filled with joy.

  “Ah.” The pale man dully nodded.

  “On top of that, he can’t evolve further, can he?” Qing Shui continued. “His genes are broken in some way so mutation will be hard.”

  “True, it can’t reproduce either, besides having low intelligence and being unable to evolve,” Zhuo said. “Those are the defects but they mean nothing to me. I would say those are even good news - because all I want is a force that is obedient. I can manage to improve their genes and soon we will have the second generation.

  “As to natural evolution, although it is faster than before, it is still much slower than my technique.” Zhuo reveled in his madness. “I can always extract the best DNA sequences out of the most aggressive species in the nature and insert them into my super soldier prototypes. The natural evolution is way too slow. Humans are atop the other species and this fact will not change. How dare they to challenge the thousands of years of human history and technology?

  “I am glad that the red fog, this gift from the god, awarded such a brilliant era for scientists like myself. An era of global evolution, an era of chaos. I’ve even executed experiments that I never thought I could conduct in my life! Are there times that are better than we have right now? Join me...” Zhuo reached out his hand to Qing Shui. “Join my research group. I need you, and you are the only person who would be truly helpful to me. Neither of us is superior to the other, and so we will only conduct the research we love with the time on our side.”

  “Humankind will prosper with elites like you and me. Those other stupid pigs don’t deserve to pass on their genes.” Zhuo kept on proposing his great plan, his eyes revealing his bloodthirstiness. “What do you think, Mr. Li? If you’ve made up your mind already, just tell me your decision right now!”

  “Sure.” Qing Shui nodded, he grinned as he spoke. “My answer is positive, even if I wanted to turn down your offer, I simply cannot turn my back to the temptation of science.”

  “I need your answer to be more clear.”

  “I am joining.” Qing Shui glanced at Zhuo and the pale man beside him, laughed. “And I just don’t think I have a chance to say no in here.”

  “Hahaha, well, I never meant to threaten you! My invitation is sincere.” Zhuo waved his left hand in the air for the pale man to go away and he reached out his right arm to Qing Shui. “Welcome to Alpha, the team of elites.”

  “My pleasure.”

  The hands of two young men were held tightly together.

  ....

  16 days later

  At the training field of special forces.

  “Mr. Li left us two weeks ago with only a memo stick on the table saying, ‘I am off to research’. I haven’t seen him since then,” Chang complained to Ming Yi while exercising in the temporary training field beside the institute building.“I am worried about him, what if he is in trouble?”

  “Mr. Li is much smarter than any of us, what trouble could he run into?” Ming Yi was dressed in a uniform and kept his hands busy by cleaning his pistol. “Now that we have sufficient food, and it is peaceful living in here, everybody is preparing to reconstruct the city! What could possibly happen? What's more, he even used his new connections to get you access to this place.”

  “Indeed, but I just feel perturbed since I don’t see his face.” Chang got familiar with his pistol fairly quickly. “Although he is kind enough to arrange this, he never showed up to say something but only had someone tell me to learn to use weapons. There are so many! How can I master all of them in such a short period of time?”

  “He didn’t ask you to master them all but to know how to use them. Isn’t that simple?” Ming Yi laughed. “I know it’s hard to aim accurately, but it is easy to pull a trigger.”

  “I can’t disagree.” Chang lowered his head.

  He stopped talking and put all his strength in training. He didn’t leave the field until sunset. The sun slowly lost its brightness and it was time for Chang to drag his body back to the suite. Jing, as always, was there, waiting for him as he opened the door.

  “I am back,” Chang said, leaning heavily against the door and seamlessly shutting out the light from the hallway.

  “You are back,” Jing replied in delight but she seemed to have something on her mind.

  “Mr. Li just came,” she whispered to Chang. “He seemed flustered as if he was hiding from something. He was here only for less than a minute before leaving a message and disappearing again.”

  “What did he say?” Chang felt the tension in the air.

  “He asked you to go to his lab, the one you’ve been to, tonight at midnight.”

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “No but he asked you to hide all traces of yourself so no one would be able to find you,” Jing said. “But you have me with you, I won’t let anyone get close to you.”

  “Great.” Chang patted Jing’s soft hair, and they sat together in silence, waiting for the midnight to come.

  Their concern made them unsettled. They constantly checked the watch for time -- it was 11:50 PM the last time they looked at the watch.

  “Let’s go,” Chang said, opening the door with Jing on his back.

  Aided by her, he bypassed groups of patrolling soldiers and arrived in front of the lab at 12:00 AM. Qing Shui was sitting behind the table, apparently, having been waiting for long.

  Chang entered the room with uneasiness, it was his first time seeing Qing Shui in person in the last 16 days.

  “You look like you haven’t slept in at least three or four days,” Chang stated, staring at Qing Shui’s tired face. He was still the same person but drained, his eyeballs bloodshot.

  “Maybe it is for that long, but that is not important… I just want to ask you one thing today.” Qing Shui gazed at him with his red eyes. “Are you willing to become me? Wait, allow me to put it into different words, do you want to own my best part?”

  “Becoming you? What do you mean by owning your best part?” Chang was confused.

  “To own my DNA segments.” Qing Shui took out two tiny bottles from his lab coat: one was red and the other green. He raised the red one in front of Chang’s eyes. “Here, it contains my DNA segment, and of course, it is the best of me.”

  “And this, you might be wondering.” Qing Shui pointed to the green bottle, “This is what I separated from the red fog, a composition that makes a strong promoter. Even Zhuo hasn’t find it. It significantly improves the success rate of transgene construction. But with all these good things I have talked about, there come risks. The promoter created by this composition can only be used once. That means everyone only has one chance. And the chance of failure… it exists.”

  “What if it fails?” Chang asked.

  “Death,” Qing Shui answered quietly. “That’s why I thought to ask you if you wanted to own the best part of me.”

  “How positive are you of this construction?”

  “70% - 90%, I can’t give you the exact percentage,” Qing Shui’s said in a soft voice.

  Chapter 85: Observation

  “70% to 90%?” Chang was cautious about the operation as well. After all, the fatality rate wasn’t neglectable.

  “How did you get the number? Do you know its side effects?”

  “The number was from my rigorous estimation. As for side effects...” Qing Shui raised his left forearm and rolled up the sleeve, a fresh stitched scar lay on his skin. “You are not my first subject.”

  “You did it to yourself?” Chang grabbed Qing Shui’s hand, gazing at the terrible stitch.

  “Yes, I tested it on myself.” Qing Shui freed his wrist from Chang’s palm and rolled down his sleeve. “It didn’t feel too bad. And I haven’t find any side effect, temporarily.”

  “What about in the future?”

  “I don’t feel anything strange now, and I believe that it is unlikely that the procedure will have complications later on. The green liquid you saw is a promoter that is strong enough
to place the imported DNA sequence in the correct location in my genome and make sure the imported DNA connects with mine seamlessly.”

  “Therefore, you wanted to test it on me. Did you run into some trouble?” Chang asked, sensing Qing Shui’s implication. “If it wasn’t a big trouble, I don’t think you would only test it on you and me.”

  “You got me, indeed, I need your help.”

  “Even so, you should not risk Chang’s life for your experiment!” Jing burst out, letting out her repressed emotions. With her skinny arms raised, she stood in front of Chang, blocking him from Qing Shui. She shouted to him, “Why can’t you use someone else? You can even test it on me! I am an EM already, and that should allow the procedure to go smoothly. I don’t care what kind of considerations you’re taking, I will not let you perform the operation on Chang. Not in front of me!”

  “Jing… I guess Mr. Li has his own difficulties. He can’t trust anyone in the institute. We are a family, right? You are too young, and I just happen to fit his criteria.” Chang hugged Jing tenderly.

  However, for the first time Jing refused to accept Chang’s explanation. She didn’t hug back but raised her head, staring at Qing Shui obstinately. She even started to hate him. “You weren’t like this before, you’ve changed! I thought you were against radical procedures, why are you insisting on this now?”

  “I had a difficult time learning that being conservative benefits development, but being radical can eliminate your competition.” Qing Shui heaved an unnoticeable sigh. “Aggressiveness will make you more competitive, especially in short term.”

  “That’s your reason for harming people around you?” Jing continued to interrogate Qing Shui desperately. “You are no different from Zhuo if you insist on doing so!”

  Qing Shui’s pupil lost focus for a second. He was dazed by her question. The ponderous silence filled the void in the room, but no one dared to lift it away. Until Qing Shui took a deep breath. His voice was soft when he said, “Perhaps I was never different from him.”

  ...

  “Hey… As I said, the biggest difference between Mr. Li and Zhuo is humanity.” Chang’s fingers combed through Jing’s hair. “We went through everything and endure great pain together. If Mr. Li wasn’t compelled by the circumstances, he wouldn’t ask that of me. Do you understand?”

  “But...” Jing wasn’t persuaded yet.

  “Qing Shui, I’ll take the operation. As long as you don’t make me into a monster, that is.” Chang grinned to Qing Shui. “Do you use anesthetics?”

  “For sure, it is a fine operation and I hope you will stay stable.” Qing Shui once again took control of his emotions. “Are you sure? I have told you the consequences.”

  “I’ve made up my mind. Without you, I would have died a long time ago, and I am not ready to witness your death while I am alive,” Chang spoke with determination. He lied down on the operating table and unbuttoned his shirt. “Do it, I hope I can help you.”

  “Thank you… Thank you, Chang.” Qing Shui grieved with his eyes closed, his eyeballs trembling behind the thin lids. He took a minute to calm his mind. Then, he turned away to change into scrubs. Sliding his hands into a pair of medical gloves, he came back with a syringe that contained anesthetic.

  On the other side, Jing was already tearing up with her eyes as red as a rabbit’s.

  “May I leave you some last words?” Fear gradually occupied Chang’s heart as the needle slowly approached to his arm.

  “Sure.”

  “If… If I don’t make it to the end, please take care of Jing for me. And… my father’s name is Hui Liu, my mother is Hua Wu. If you see them some day, can you take care of them for me as well?” Chang looked to Jing. “Jing… it’s all good, there’s a 70% - 90% success rate, I may come back alive.”

  “But...” Jing wiped off her tears, sobbing. Her voice was almost a scream when she said, “I still don’t think you should accept this.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s a short operation. Think of the good side, I’ll be as smart as Mr. Li by the time I wake up!” Chang tried to comfort Jing.

  “But you will not be the same.”

  Jing’s words silenced Chang. Speechless, he decided to close his eyes to avoid answering her.

  “Let’s begin, please.” He quit thinking about the changes after the operation and laid on the table quietly. The anesthetic slowly streamed through his veins. The shadowless lamp above him became dimmer and dimmer…

  Chang didn’t feel much different after the operation except that he was dizzy.

  “”Can you hear me?” Qing Shui sprang up from his chair as he saw Chang’s eyes open shakily.

  “...” Chang tried to say something but the effect of the anesthetic dulled his vocal chords.

  “Chang!” Qing Shui shouted out his name in excitement.

  “What.. time… is it now?”

  “3:43 AM, about three and a half hours have passed.” Qing Shui held Chang’s hand with concern. “Do you feel any changes about this world?”

  “Changes?” His vision became clearer, the multiple shadows recentering to one. The dizziness vanished as Chang slowly sat up from the table. He saw Jing’s eyes were swollen from crying.

  “The sense of distance… it’s so clear to me.” Chang gazed into Jing’s pupils. “I can tell the distance between me and her in millimeters.”

  When his feet touched the cold ground, he said, “Every movement I take, it’s more accurate and precise than ever.”

  “Your observation and perception has improved,” Qing Shui replied, yet he was hoping for something else. “What else? What else did you feel?”

  “What else?” Chang flipped his palm over.

  A moment after, he answered, “Nothing else, except for being able to precisely perceive distance.”

  “Nothing else? It doesn’t make sense.” Qing Shui frowned, then he took a book from the shelf and rapidly flipped its pages in front of Chang’s eyes, asking, “Do you remember anything?”

  “Nope, not even a single word,” Chang answered honestly. “I didn’t even see a single word clearly.”

  “You didn’t acquire the ability of information collection and analytical skills from my DNA… except for the perception,” Qing Shui murmured to himself. “It’s impossible… is intelligence that unreachable?”

  “Was I a failure to your experiment?” Chag leaned against the table to support his weak body.

  “Well, as least not a 100% success.” While Qing Shui was glad for Chang’s quick recovery, he still felt it was a pity. “I don’t understand why it failed, maybe the brain is just too complicated to understand everything about it.

  “I intended to transform you into an EM in the same cognitive category as mine. In this way you could help me defend against Zhuo… But I think the attempt failed.” He then added, “Therefore, I think you guys need to leave here as soon as possible.”

  “Why?” Chang was surprised. “Is the conflict already this serious?”

  “Yes, it is too dangerous here.” He explained it more by saying, “The structure of the society we live in is facing a rapid revolution, and a revolution simply means massacre.”

  “Why? I don’t see why it has anything to do with us.”

  “You can name many reasons for this revolution but the main force is the isolation.” Qing Shui avoided Chang’s bright eyes. “As far as I can predict, the communication between cities won’t resume for at least a few years. The transportation is completely blocked due to the red fog. And once the central has lost control over the cities for too long, the social structure will transform eventually.

  “The military and the governments are tempted to take over the control, and besides the authorities, the research institute is also a huge concern. The conflict among the three is endless,” Qing Shui said in calmly. “I am surprised that the society could run smoothly this long. The food shortage was resolved while transportation and communications remained blocked. Eventually, the structure of the
society will return to city-state.”

  “City-state?” Chang wasn’t too knowledgeable about social structures.

  “Yes, a new form of city-state. If not restrained by the central government, a city can be an independent country,” Qing Shui patiently elaborated his thoughts. “The military, the government in each city, and the research institute - they all want to be the kings of a new country. And that’s why Zhuo took control of the food supply by making the Crystal Pea impossible to reproduce for the habitants.

  “In the near future, the authorities in this city will combat each other more aggressively than before. It will be more cruel than what happened in the jungle. I was hoping that you could help me if you become the same EM as me, but you didn’t gain the intellectual abilities… Therefore, I am hoping that you’ll withdraw from this war.

  “This will be a harsh and brutal combat, and sadly, you aren’t smart enough to compete with those sly old foxes. You are not valuable for any party and this, of course, leaves unprotected. And they would even use you to threaten me… That’s the last thing I want to see. Since the experiment failed, it’d be safer for you to live on your own...”

  Apparently Qing Shui had a plan B for everything. He took out an altered handgun from a drawer of his desk.

  “Until the revolution settles down, stay away from here. If I am not dead by then, the institute will always be your shelter...” Qing Shui handed the handgun to Chang and hugged him and Jing. “Stay alive, please. Don’t let any of Zhuo’s men find you.”

  “...” Chang held Qing Shui tightly. “Stay alive, Qing Shui. But can’t you just leave with us?” he asked one last question.

  “If I were to go, none of us could leave this institute with our heads attached to our necks.” Qing Shui smiled wryly, but at the same time, Chang saw how cold-blooded he could be. “Despite everything, I’m also really curious as to who will become the center of power in Zhengzhou.”

  Chapter 86: The Handgun

  “Here are some bullets for the handgun.” Qing Shui handed three boxes of bullets to Chang and then took out and unfolded a silk-like vest from his lab coat. “And this, this is the bulletproof vest fabricated from Group Beta. They utilized those tenacious spider silk we had troubled with and knitted them into this vest. It is the best protection I can offer to you at this moment. It doesn’t affect your flexibility at all and is as lightweight as a T-shirt.”