He felt a fever coming.
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Qing Shui Li - Qing Shui is his first name although it was often typed separately, it means clear and pure water. The name resembles how resilient, calm and unperturbed Qing Shui is.
Chapter 9: First Night
It was common knowledge that wound infections often led to fevers. In fact, most organisms died of diseases regardless of whether they were human or animal. Even carnivores who lived in the jungle—unless they were starving—seldom picked aggressive animals as their prey, even if they were much weaker than them. This was because they feared being injured. An injury meant a high chance of a wound becoming infected, and the infection could take their life. Hence, having a wound was basically equivalent to death, since they didn’t have antibiotics to fight off bacteria and microbes.
This was what Chang was facing.
Although he took anti-inflammatory pills, it seemed to be ineffective in controlling the mutated bacteria. He felt himself getting colder, and his headache became worse; everything in the room became blurry.
Another hour passed, and the people in the room started to look for food for themselves. Chang gritted his teeth and scrambled up to a shelf to take some canned beef, forcing himself to eat it.
Chang knew that no one in this world would be willing to take care of him. If he wanted to survive, he had to eat something, even if he had no appetite at all.
Chang curled himself up against the wall after he finished the canned food, but he still felt coldness surrounding him.
“Bro, are you okay?” Seeing Chang crouched in a corner, Pang Zi and the others hunched over.
“Ah! Your foot stinks!” Tao also came over with his nose covered.
"Hey, you know people rarely die from diseases in the apocalypse, right?” Glasses-man said jokingly, hoping that his joke would ease the tension.
“Come on…most people die of diseases regardless of what circumstance is.” Chang leaned against the wall and sighed.
"You have a fever?" They finally noticed Chang’s pale complexion when they sat right beside him.
"Don’t worry."
“Have some Advil.” Pang Zi took out the pills from his backpack and handed them to Chang.
Gurgle.
Chang took the bitter pills along with some bottled water, then he frailly nodded to show his appreciation to his friends.
Just as Chang was about to rest, a sudden shriek came from the direction of the washroom. The person’s scream sounded like she was in anguish, as if her vocal cords was torn and she was choking on viscous blood.
“Mom!” Pang Zi’s face immediately turned pale as he heard the cry. His round body bounced up from the ground as agile as an elk and he rushed to the washroom.
Some other people followed Pang Zi out of curiosity.
Chang managed to stand up with some effort, and following the others, he staggered towards the washroom.
Someone had lit a candle in the corridor already.
Under the candlelight, Chang smelled a strong odor of blood as soon as he stepped into the washroom corridor. Some people in the front started to throw up against the wall; the smell of gastric juices and digested food filled the air in the corridor immediately.
Through the gaps between the onlookers, Chang saw something extremely unpleasant that made him nauseous.
A broken body.
The torso and limbs were severely damaged while the head remained intact. She died lying on her stomach, and an adult fist-sized hole on her lower back indicated a brutal penetration. Her organs flowed out from the hole and coated the floor of the washroom. Despite this opening, there was another smaller one on the chest, but not as wide as the previous one.
Perhaps it was because Pang Zi’s mother was too obese, but it was even more disgusting since there was a large amount of fat mixed with the flesh. Anyone who saw this mixture of yellow fat, blood and organs would seriously feel unwell.
Fortunately, Chang was too weak and his senses had dulled, so he somehow managed to suppress the nauseating feeling.
Chang turned his head away to avoid seeing the bloody scene, and then his gaze drifted onto Pang Zi’s face–distraught and hideously angry.
He knew that any comforting words at this moment would be useless.
Therefore, he took a few steps back and leaned back against the wall.
"Whew!" Chang sighed heavily and slowly slid onto the ground.
However, at this time, no one cared enough to pay attention to him. Their attention was attracted to the bloodier scene; except for Pang Zi, everyone was in serious fear and trepidation.
“WHAT attacked her?” Someone in the crowd whispered.
However, there was no response to that person’s question. The only person who might’ve seen the attacker was Pang Zi, but obviously, he wasn’t going to talk to anyone about it right now.
Even so, people still paid attention to that question. When someone in the crowd asked, people in the room began to pay attention to everything around them.
However, the surrounding was too dark, and under the flickers of the candle flame they could only hazily observe their surroundings. If the corridor wasn’t dim enough, there’d probably be even more people vomiting right now.
They carefully moved back to the store; no one wanted to die tragically in the corridor. Some smarter individuals had already pulled their families away and quietly left the place. They were afraid that the smell of blood would attract more strange organisms.
For a while, the situation was growing increasingly tenser.
It seemed like no one would ever notice Chang huddled in the corner.
Chang felt his body temperature continuously rising and he was gradually losing consciousness. He went into a semi-comatose state.
The situation continued until someone found him at midnight–he was once again discovered by the biology teacher, Li Qing Shui.
He saw Chang crouched against the wall, then he touched Chang’s forehead.
“It must be more than 40 degrees Celsius!” Qing Shui lightly exclaimed.
He put a thermometer that he found somewhere into Chang’s mouth.
Five minutes later, Qing Shui removed the thermometer, placed it in front of the candlelight and carefully read the temperature. The highest temperature that the thermometer could detect was 42 degrees Celsius, which was exactly Chang’s reading.
"How hasn’t he died already?" To be honest, there were almost no thermometers that read temperatures above 42 degrees Celsius. This was because humans could easily die from heart failure if their body temperature ever reached 42 degrees Celsius.
And obviously, Chang’s body temperature might’ve exceeded this number already.
“How is he?” Chang vaguely heard another voice approach; it was probably Tao.
“I don’t know, he should be dead, but he’s still alive for now.” He once again heard Qing Shui’s voice.
“Is there any chance that we can save him?”
“If his fever continues, he’ll be dead for sure. The infection caused the severe fever, so if we can’t subdue the festering wound, even if he’s in a relatively stable stage, he will still die from this fever.”
“What can we do?”
“If we can find antibiotics, then there’s hope!”
Chapter 10: Medication
“Antibiotics are prescription drugs! It’s impossible to find it in convenience stores or someone’s house,” Glasses-man exclaimed.
“Then go to a pharmacy or a hospital. Otherwise, he’ll die before sunrise!” Qing Shui touched Chang’s forehead again and said, “it’s a miracle for him to still be alive now.”
“Who would go out in this darkness…” Glasses-man’s voice went quieter as he said apprehensively.
“I’ll go…” Chang heard their conversation and slowly opened his eyes. “I’ll be dead if I stay here anyways; at least there’s hope if I go look
for antibiotics. There were quite a few pharmacies and small family hospitals on the street, and I remember there’s one on the corner of the street. Don’t worry, I’ll come back safely.”
As he spoke, Chang scrambled against the wall and stood up. His lips were chapped, “Do you guys have a flashlight?”
“I’ve got one here.” Glasses-man took out a flashlight from his backpack. “The battery is full, and it should last for a few hours.”
“Thanks,” While Chang was speaking, he handed his backpack to Glasses-man. “There’s some food and medicine in my backpack, if...If I never come back, you can have them all.”
Finishing his sentence, Chang grabbed the crowbar in his right hand, with the flashlight in his left hand and pistol tucked on his waist. He then hobbled to the entrance of the store.
“Wait,” A familiar voice came from behind Chang’s back. “I’m going with you.”
Tao caught up.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were so heroic,” Chang said without making a stop. He unlocked the door and uncovered himself to the dark world.
Chang merged into the darkness and cautiously crept forward within the range of his flashlight.
Grass, moss and bushes were everywhere, and some were almost as tall as an adult. Moreover, the dense fog made Chang feel like he was digging for treasure in a miserable dungeon only illuminated by fireflies.
There were no stars and no moon; there was only an eerie and smothering silence.
Due to the fog dampening sounds within a certain range, sinking into this darkness felt like being thrown in another universe.
“Are you scared walking by yourself? I asked you to wait for me.” Another "firefly" chased over; it was Tao.
“Haha, why are you treating me so well? If you were a girl, I’d probably have fallen in love with you at this moment.” Chang tried his best to hold back the dizziness, then cracked a joke, “You’re good at studying and your face is pretty…you also helped me all along this journey, what a pity that you weren’t a girl…”
“You ass, unfortunately I’m 100% a dude. If you were a girl, you would have fallen for me. Stop bullshitting, we need to get to the hospital as soon as possible.” Tao said as he shoved Chang lightly.
The vibe between them settled again. Under the light, they kept their pace towards the hospital.
Their destination wasn’t far; it was only one kilometer away, and they were both familiar with the area. If they were going there before the red fog, it would’ve been 10 minutes on foot.
However, things were different now. Not only was the world dark, but standing in the middle of the road, the buildings on each sides couldn’t even be seen. The pavement was shattered and hard to walk on. Rubble, soil and the stems of plants mixed together, making it difficult to judge whether they were on the right track.
Moreover, the two needed to be constantly on guard against any dangers that might come from any direction.
The 20-minute travel wasn’t very tranquil.
Fortunately, they still managed to reach the hospital by relying on their familiarity of the area.
Though the journey was dangerous, they didn’t run into danger, making them pretty lucky considering all the misfortune they had.
“Do you want to know why I came here with you?” Walking into the hospital entrance, Tao abruptly asked.
“There had to be a reason other than to help me. Your mind was pretty clear and I still don’t think you were being heroic.” Chang pushed the tall grass aside.
“Yeah, it’s because I had a wound too, and it’s infected.” Tao raise his feet from the grass, revealing an injury on his ankle.
Under the light, Chang saw two small circular wounds. The injured area wasn’t wide, but was pretty deep. It had already festered, and although it was less terrifying compared to Chang’s, pus and blood were oozing from the inside.
"How did you…?" Liu Chang raised his eyebrows.
“Bitten. I was bitten when you went home, but it wasn’t by a snake. It was painful in the beginning, but the discomfort went away so I didn’t care much. Until I noticed that I had a fever and heard of your symptoms, I realized that we were in the same boat.”
“Well,” Chang moved forward unsteadily, “you didn’t look as sick as me.”
“Yeah, my body temperature was still lower than 38 degrees Celsius, but it’s been increasing.” Tao said. “I can’t just leave it until I get weaker. I don’t want to wait until morning comes, so it’s better to plan in advance before I become immobile.”
Chang didn’t answer back as he used all his strength to maintain his last piece of consciousness.
He felt everything around him spinning and twisting, and his brain got even dizzier. He squeezed the crowbar so hard that his hand turned pale–the pain from his hand kept his mind conscious.
“Stay with me! We’re almost there.” Seeing Chang’s face, Tao stepped forward and pulled Chang’s arm over his shoulder.”
The two lurched into the building.
“The pharmacy is right there.” Tao pointed ahead.
“Hey, do you think there’ll be monsters waiting for us? In horror movies, hospitals are always dangerous to go into, right?” Chang was still joking weakly as if it could divert some of his attention away.
"That's hard to say, but even if there are monsters, we still need to go. Otherwise, we’ll die here.”
Dragging Chang, Tao opened the pharmacy door and heard a series of noises immediately.
Tao pointed his flashlight forward. There weren’t any monsters there; there were only human sprawled out on the floor.
"What…?" Tao exclaimed, but obviously no one responded.
The people on the ground looked very weak.
“In this broken world, you didn’t think we’d be the only two that had infections, did you? If bacteria had mutations, then there’s no surprise that common diseases would become fatal.” Chang said in a faint and dull tone, “Leave them alone, it’s more important to get ourselves some antibiotics.”
After his last sentence, he found himself an empty corner and sat down.
Tao rushed to the counter and got the antibiotics he needed from the piles of medication. He took his dose first, then he fed another dose to Chang.
"I don’t know if I can hang on until tomorrow." Chang spilled some rubbing alcohol on his ankle. He struggled to not fall asleep–he was afraid that he would never open his eyes again.
“You should be able to,” Tao glanced at his friend, then gave him some words of encouragement.
“Thank you.” Chang’s black pupils drifted onto Tao. Chang grinned, but because of his chapped lips, a hint of blood appeared between his lips.
"You're welcome. I’m not here for you, I just happened to help you.” Tao found a clean spot beside Chang and sat down.
“Why has every other organism mutated aside from us humans? If the red fog is some sort of catalyst, reasonably speaking, at least some of the human population should’ve mutated too!” Chang curled up and looked again at his frightening wound.
“We talked about this in biology class, don’t you remember? The more complex the organism is, the more difficult it is to mutate. Since humans are one of the most sophisticated creatures on earth, it wouldn’t be a surprise that we’re the last in queue.”
"So that’s the reason...” Chang grinned again. He had finally lost the battle against his dizziness, even though he had put all his strength in preventing his eyelids from closing. He fell asleep peacefully.
Chapter 11: Microbes
With his eyes closed, Chang had a long dream. He dreamed of hovering in the universe, looking down at the red fog-covered Earth. From this god-like perspective, he gave off the impression of being the creator of Earth.
Standing over the azure sphere, Chang saw the desolate Earth. There seemed to be nothing but microscopic single-celled life dividing at a snail’s pace.
If the evolution speed was that slow, even until the destruction of Earth i
n five billion years, the planet would still without a doubt be desolate.
While Chang was praying, the azure planet suddenly became shrouded by the red fog, turning it into an oxblood globe.
Inside the red fog, the monotonous unicellular organisms rapidly evolved and branched into countless species. In the blink of an eye, the world turned into a green paradise full of life.
“How did that happen?” Chang muttered.
As he asked the question, the red fog quickly dissipated. Time accelerated, the Earth was once again in harmony. He saw the proliferation of these marvelous creatures as they thrived on the greenness.
The planet was full of life, and every life was full of vigor–however, the sudden emergence of another life changed everything, humans.
Human had only appeared on Earth for a few million years, but they radically changed the past billions of years of history on Earth.
Humans had unceasingly altered nature, resulting in the rapid decay of other species.
In a way, humans were similar to the infection on his wound; they inflamed and festered the Earth. Soon, Earth’s decay would occur if no one took any action. While the Earth was dying, the red fog–as if it was an antibiotic, timely appeared to curb the growth of the pathogen.
No… rather than being an antibiotic, the red fog acted as catalyst – it gave the decayed species a chance to face the human pathogen.
The red fog was not directed against humans.
At the end of his dream, the red fog dissipated after a long period of time, and the “pathogen” on this planet was eliminated. The green world had recovered and once again became a habitat for those marvelous creatures. The paradise had returned.
It was a long, uncanny and inexplicable dream.
Sometime the next day, Chang woke up from his dream. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head so that he could return to reality. From the light coming through the window, he knew it was daytime.
Chang pulled out his almost dead phone – 9:40 AM.
“It’s morning already.” He stretched out his body – he was no longer dizzy. Chang also checked his ankle wound; a scab had formed on the wound already. His body recovered and became almost as energized as he used to be.
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