Global Evolution

by Steffen Schmidt

  "Leave your valuables on the table, you heard what I said. Ten thousand State Yuan per person for armed fights." Chang put on a lopsided smile. "The consequences won't be like now if you don't pay."

  "..."

  The mercenaries stood gazing at one another, as well as checking out the door for a chance of escape. But then they thought twice about it, remembering how they were disarmed. They touched the hot spots on their cheeks and made a wise decision to give in.

  Men who suited their actions to the situation were wise. The mercenaries emptied their pockets.

  There were guns, knifes, money, daggers, and bug samples they had captured in the jungle today.

  "You guys are destitute! Using all this inferior stuff, except for those bug samples, none of it is worth a penny. I can even get a brand new pistol at the black market for two thousand State Yuan." Chang laughed, banging on the table. "How dare you drink the most expensive liquors at my bar being like this? I'll take in all of these for thirty thousand State Yuan, and besides them, one of you must stay stay as a hostage. He'll be released when you pay me back."

  Chang pulled up Sanpang, the chubbiest one off the floor, and expelled the rest from the bar.

  Later, Chang's staff cleaned up the bar and greeted him before leaving.

  The people remained in the bar.

  "Name?"

  Chang scanned the face of this remaining mercenary.

  "Sanpang Mo," the person answered honestly.

  "Are you sure this isn't your nickname?"

  "No... this is my real name."

  "Alright, Sanpang." Chang nodded, patting his shoulder. "Don't be afraid, do you know the reason why I'm keeping you?"

  "I don't know." The man shook his head. "Wasn't it because of the debt we owe you?"

  "That was one of the reasons. Besides that, I usually have a good impression of fatties like you. I used to have a good pal, we called him Pangzi." Chang lightly pressed the bone pendant under his shirt. "Unfortunately, I couldn't save him from his fate. Besides my personal reason, fatties are rarities these days, I was hoping to keep one as a souvenir. But I'm a man who keeps my own word, once your pals pay the ransom, I'll release you immediately. My one last warning is - don't even think about escaping from me, the price for that is a hundred thousand State Yuan for every attempt."

  Chapter 115: Jing After Four Years

  Chang turned to the one-armed woman, saying, "Zhizhi, I'll leave him to you. Please make sure he doesn't escape from the bar. Today was a long day for both of us, so when you're done, you should get some rest. By the way, Jing didn't go out today, did she?"

  "Nope, I locked her in her room," Zhizhi replied.

  "Great..." Chang nodded. "Thinking about Jing four years ago, she was so cute and quiet back then. But when the puberty hit, she changed..."

  Chang opened a door that lead to a suite, shaking his head. The layout of the bar was designed for both living and operating the business. He took out a chain of keys and picked one of them to unlock the room in front of him. The person who sat inside the room was a teen girl, her hair bleached to platinum blonde.

  "I'm back," Chang said to the girl sitting on the bed cross-legged. Her fingers were busy with typing on the keyboard, the pale light reflecting on her pupils.

  "I know. I knew you're back before you even came into the bar."

  The girl glanced at Chang, rolling her round eyes.

  "Can you dye your hair back to black tomorrow? And wear more clothes, can you?" Chang stood in front of the girl, staring at her pink gauze dress. A stream of blue rose in his heart, his brows tying together. "You should wear decent clothes that suit your age. Can't you at least wear something casual at home? Or at least change into a pajama or something that covers your skin?"

  "I don't care what you think, you aren't even my dad."

  The girl kept tapping on the keyboard.

  "I'm your brother!" The girl's attitude finally irritated Chang, but he took a deep breath instead, repressing the growing rage that swept across his mind. "Are you still mad at me interfering with your relationship?"

  "Oh yeah!" The girl put aside the computer upon hearing Chang bringing up the topic. She changed her posture to lean on the bed's board more comfortably. "Who are you to interfere my life?"

  "I'm your brother!" Chang exclaimed again. "And it doesn't really even matter who I am to interfere with your relationship. You just can't date that guy! He is merely a ruffian fooling around on the street. He' a human disaster that has been hurting girls over these blocks! If you were to find him again, I promise you, I'll shoot him in the face."

  "Whatever, you can shoot as many people as you like. Do I look like I give a sh*t about it?"

  The girl rolled her eyes again, pouring scorn on his threat.

  "Then why are you dating him? Is there something wrong with your mind?" The rage was lit up completely with the girl's careless attitude. He pointed his finger at her. "Look at you! What have you become? With all this heavy make-up, what do you want with it? And your hair! You're the same as those hipsters back in 2000. Jing, what do you want? Can't you just be more mature after the bad days we'd gone through?"

  "So, you like mature types?"

  The girl leaned aside, making a seductive posture upon hearing Chang.

  "Can you just listen to my words?" Chang pulled her ankle so that her posture was adjusted. "Jing, return to the normal you, please."

  "I'm perfectly normal, the one who is strange is you. You can't even face your own feelings." Suddenly, the girl was peaved by Chang's request. She kicked at his stomach with great force, then stood up on the bed, overlooking Chang. "What has gone wrong with me? Why are you nagging about all this bullsh*t everyday after coming back? Do you even care about me?

  "Did I even ask you for anything? Why are you restricting me so much? Just tell me you're disgusted by me or something, what are you doing all this for? Are you trying to forsake me?" Jing curled her lips. "I think your life will be pretty much the same without me! Now that you've evolved even more, your nose is more sensitive than Zhizhi's, and I just became useless since you're capable of resolving any kind of difficulties. I know that I'm no longer useful to you. You can say it if you want me to leave!"

  "Go ahead!" Chang shouted. "Go ahead and live your own life then!"

  "Right, right! Finally you say it!" The girl burst into tears when Chang yelled. "You really want to drive me out from here!"

  "F*ck! We can't talk on this, we'll never come to an agreement." Her crying eased his anger, but he was even more troubled now. "Whatever, you can do whatever you want to. But I'm telling you, if you don't get back into normal clothes and remove all that make-up as well as agree to stop dating that guy, you won't get out of this room."

  "I can be 'normal' in your sense, I can dump him as well. However," the girl spoke while sobbing, "you have to be normal as well. We'll share the same bed as how we always did back in the days, and you'll take me around wherever you go. Otherwise, don't expect me to change!"

  "How can we... You're sixteen now! You're almost an adult, how can we share the same bed again?" His headache came with Jing's repeated request. "Have you seen any sixteen-year-old girl sharing s bed with her dad?"

  "You aren't my dad, and I don't even know who my father is!"

  "Indeed I'm not your dad, but I'm your brother! Alright, alright, I don't care about what you want to be but you won't leave this room tomorrow either."

  Chang banged the door closed as he left, and immediately, a vase smashed on the other side.

  The shattering sound caused Chang's headache to become more severe; his temples ached in a rhythm. He could do nothing for the situation, so he returned to his own room with a heavy sigh.

  When he entered his own room, Zhizhi knocked on the door before coming in.

  "What's wrong? You argued with Jing again?" she asked, sitting down next to him.

  "Life is too peaceful for her now, and she is causing trouble to get my attention. Loo
k at her makeup and everything, she isn't Jing anymore." Chang inhaled deeply to release the stress put on his mind. "She used to be a good sister to me, and she is a girl with strong mentality. What changed her?"

  "I think she has her own desires." Zhizhi made a lopsided smile. "Did you not feel her affection to you?"

  "I knew about it since a long time ago, and I do like her, in the way of a brother." Chang pressed on his temple, attempting to reduce the pain. "The most important thing is that, if I were to fall in love with her, the relationship will constantly remind me of incest. And this notion keeps me away from her."

  "Then why are you interfering with her relationships with other guys though? You should let her go."

  Zhizhi laughed wholeheartedly.

  "I'm just easily triggered when I see that guy; he's a pure ruffian. I'll be fine if she finds someone that treats her well, as long as the guy isn't a gangster... Ugh! I should stop talking about this, it's making me angrier." Chang picked up his gun on the table, saying, "I need some air."

  "You aren't going to find that guy, are you?"

  "We'll see."

  Chang shut the door as he left. Zhizhi didn't stop him neither with action nor verbally. She smiled to his back and removed her jacket. She fell onto the soft bed, closing her eyes.

  Chang wandered around on the street at midnight, aimlessly roaming among the buildings that were constructed in new era style.

  Most of these buildings were reconstructed from the buildings from four years ago, but the appearance was greatly different. The architecture lost its vividness as they all were in different shades of gray. All the cuboids in the city had some sort of add-ons on them, transforming establishments to what they called the post-apocalypticism style.

  The city was free of wild plants but for fields saved for cultivation. The crops grown there were of all shapes and colors that hadn't been seen before the apocalypse. The residents in downtown areas even began to have nightlife since most of the threats—except for the sewage, which remained unexplored—were eliminated.

  Four years ago, the purge of plants made urban greenery go extinct. Those insects and animals who lurked within lost their homes. To survive, they fled into the jungle for a new place to stay.

  Now, humans had regained autonomy of this land.

  After undergoing four years of development, the social structure had completely rebuilt as well.

  The currency system survived but the currency itself had changed. Without economic, the society couldn't prosper. Bartering was strictly forbidden even though it was practiced for a few months, so money was still the value symbol for trade.

  The political structure remained city-state, and the military was controlled by the reseach institute. The power was centralized in the institute instead of a formal government. And the person who played as a puppet on the surface was a man called "Hang Xie". He seemed to the head of the military.

  However, what was disguised beneath was the fact that except for Hang, the other man who was on the top of the heriarchy, was the person who had his head portrait printed on the money bills - Qing Shui Li.

  Drunk men and women were tottering and staggering home on the street of Zhengzhou state.

  If seemed like drinking became the sole entertainment for everyone after the apocalypse—as long as they still had a few bills in their pockets, as long as they wouldn't starve.

  In this new world, planning ahead was no longer a habit. Mortgage, education, marriage, all of them became less important. Living in the moment was the trend that everyone chased. After all, urban life and disipline was still not a solid guarantee for living through the apocalypse.

  The pressure of surviving was the driving force for getting drunk. This way, those who survived opened their hearts to talk over their lost loved ones.

  Chang was the same, he always talked about his parents and grandma when he was drunk.

  Four years was neither long nor short, yet Qing Shui no longer sent him news about his family anymore. Those who passed away became history, and Chang lost a big part in his heart that took away his smile.

  "Sweetheart, do you need some service?" While Chang was cherishing the memory of the deceased, a woman came up to him. "I'm only asking for 70 State Yuan, which is the price for one kilogram of Crystal Pea. How is it? It isn't expensive, right?"

  "It's not, but I'm not in that mood." Chang edged away from the woman to keep on walking. But his shirt was pulled from behind. "Please, life is hard for as single women... If I can't earn anything today, I will run out of food tomorrow."

  "Well then, would you mind having a talk with me while we walk?"

  Chang took out a hundred State Yuan bill and handed it to the woman.

  Chapter 116: Pangzi

  "Sure!"

  The woman swiftly took the bill, her spirit uplifted.

  A woman and a man walked together shoulder by shoulder on a street lightly illuminated by the street light.

  "You have something on your mind, don't you?" The woman took the initiative to start a conversation with Chang as she felt bad for taking the money but doing nothing. "Since you asked me to take a walk with you, do you want to talk?"

  "Yeah, sure." Chang nodded. He noticed the appearance of the woman as he turned his head to her. She seemed to be in her thirties, neither magnificently beautiful nor ugly. Her eyes shined and she was curvy. She hadn't lost weight due to starvation. "Do you have kids?"

  "I had one two years ago, but she passed away of sickness." The woman lowered her head when she talked about her child, but she quickly shook it off. "Do you have kids as well?"

  "No, I don't. But I have a younger sister. She used to be a good kid but now that she's grown up, she became a rebel... Every day I go home, she would have a fight with me. She even deliberately dates a gangster to take revenge on me." Chang made a wry smile. "Every day she picks a quarrel with me, and if I let her out, she causes even more trouble. I know that I shouldn't lock her up every day, but I get worried if she leaves me and lives independently. You know what it takes for a girl to live by herself."

  "You seem prosperous."

  The dangerous environment pressured the citizens into learning about weapons, even this woman could tell that the handgun that Chang used was one of the best in town.

  "Not too bad. For the moment, I'm not worried about my own living. But I'm always on guard, as you know, these days mutations are common enough that perhaps one day humans will go extinct after being massacred by some other species. However, to be honest, my life isn't too bad right now."

  "Well, the pressure comes in many forms, and since you've gotten over the pressure of mere survival, you have to deal with the pressure of living now. Humans always causes trouble for themselves." The woman smiled and the wrinkles around her eye deepened. "I don't think you need to worry too much. When the pressure of survival returns, your sister will be the same as before."

  "Thanks, I think your words are worth a hundred State Yuan." Chang's rigid face muscles kept him from making an expression.

  "Words worth money, that's what you rich people think of. To me, things that are worth a hundred State Yuan are only food." The woman's smile was miserable. "A woman like me gradually loses youth... I don't have any survival skills, either, not to mention hunting in the jungle to collect samples. Even the gangs despise me. Since the military stopped distributing Crystal Pea seeds, it has become a market product. I have nothing, it's even a trouble for me to feed myself."

  "I am sorry."

  Chang closed his eyes.

  "Well then, sweetheart, can you give me more then?"

  The woman landed a hand on Chang's shoulder.

  "It sounds like I should. "Chang took out another hundred for her. "This is the last time I would do something like this, I won't give more."

  "I know where the line is." The woman's face showed the glaze of prudence. "Tell me more about your sister, I may help."

  "I've been thinking about what can I do to handle h
er rebelliousness... Any ideas?"

  "The main reason for her to do so is to get your attention. If you think you can't handle this anymore, then divert her attention," the woman said. "For example, get her a peer friend to hang out with... I think that's the best way of handling it."

  "I see..."

  The streetlights were turned off one by one as the night grew late. It was their first meeting, and they walked far down the district. Then they ended their conversation.

  "Let's call it a day, I still have another thorny affair to deal with, so I'll be going this way, good night." They stopped in front of a tall building. "Thank you for the night."

  "It was a pleasure hearing your story, and the money. I hope we can meet again."

  The woman smiled briefly, turning away from Chang, and her figure slowly dissipated in the red fog.

  Now, Chang faced the building. His sensitive nose informed him of the location of Jing's date. The scent that flooded the room hinted that the man had just had sex with a woman.

  "Qing Shui told me that I shouldn't repress my feelings."

  Chagn's anger built up rapidly. He prepared so that he could climb on the wall like a gecko. The micro bristles on his palms aided with his adherance to the wall, and he supported his lower body by having his feet push off the balcony. He sneaked into the house without making a noticeable sound.

  The lock of the door was destroyed, and the man who had just fallen asleep was dragged out. Chang jumped off the balcony of the second floor with the man's neck wrapped in his arm.

  He dragged the man while sprinting to an area with no residents, after reaching which he threw the man into a dark corner.