Global Evolution

by Steffen Schmidt

  “Let’s get back.” Chang took Qing shui's arm and placed it around his neck to help him to stand up.

  “Wait.” Qing shui didn’t want to wipe off his tears because his hands might have had contact with the pollen when he was in the bush. He shook his head instead as if he could shake off the emotional side of him in this way. “We still have one more thing to do.”

  “What? We have had the compass already, let’s move.”

  “Let’s get his high powered flashlight too, I remembered he dropped it beside the flower bush.” Qing shui let down his arm from Chang’s shoulder and returned to the place where the blood first splashed. He moved forward on his knees. Apparently, he had not recovered from the terror. A minute after, his fingers felt the flashlight, but it seemed to have stopped working. Qing shui sighed and fixed the flashlight using the most primitive but perhaps the easiest way. He pounded it on the ground twice and the light went back on within 3 seconds.

  He turned off the flashlight and hung it on his belt. Qing shui walked again to the edge of the flower bush as if he was possessed.

  “What are you doing?” Chang squatted beside him and frowned. His heart almost stopped when he saw what Qing shui had just done: Qing shui ripped off 2 flowers in a flash of light. There were a handful of petals in his hands now.

  “Are you kidding me?!”

  “Don't worry, it has no teeth so it doesn't bite.” Qing shui showed the petals to Chang calmly, convincing Chang that those bloody flowers were danger free. He then carefully placed them into an iron box that he hid in his pocket. Obviously, it wasn't a spontaneous decision. He prepared all this when he changed his clothes.

  “You are nuts! How can it be possible that those monster flowers eat you!?” Chang forced Qing shui to leave with him. He needed to stop Qing shui's crazy act.

  “They didn’t because they have not yet evolved far enough.” Qing shui chuckled “As I thought, they only gain the sensory system at this time, but mouth pieces and digesting system are still far off reach for them.”

  “It was pure luck! If we were a few days later, they could have jumped up and digested you somehow.” Chang’s brows still knotted together as he couldn’t understand why Qing shui just did that. “I just don't get why you are taking a meaningless risk.”

  “Was it meaningless? I don't do things meaninglessly.” Qing shui secured the box and got his arm out from Chang’s hand. “I am studying this newborn ecosystem.”

  “But we almost died! Why do you still have the spare attention to study all this?” Chang was irritated.

  “Well, I am making hay while the sun shines. Who knows what will happen in the future? Humans are no better than other species until they know forethought.”

  “But aren’t you planning too far ahead?” Chang said, “After all, we are still stuck in the middle of nowhere. If we were still in the base, I understand why you would do it, because that’s you.”

  “No no no, don't get me wrong. I am not a great person that is concerned about the future of humanity. I am merely thinking about what will happen tomorrow. Chang, where do you think we will go to when we get to Zhengzhou?”

  “The research institute that they have been talking about.”

  “You are right. My second question for you is, why do you think I am able to survive in that so-called institute? Let me put it in a different way. If I am merely a human with higher intelligence without matching scientific value, will I be treated as a lab rat could potentially be sliced into pieces for studying?”

  “So…” Chang’s brows untied, he began to understand Qing shui's intention.

  “Therefore, I wanted to know more and research more before I get there. In this way, they will know I am far beyond a lab rat.” Qing shui explained as he walked, “Even if the politics there is better than I thought, I need to demonstrate my skills and value so that I can seek greater benefit for us.”

  “I see what you mean.” Chang understood thoroughly, “You found anything yet?”

  “Yes, but they are only parts and pieces. Based on what I have seen and known these days, I have come up with a theory of this new ecosystem. And of course, never underestimate the power of theory, it is fundamental. I believe this will be a great help for research.”

  “Well… can you tell me something about your theory?”

  “Just keep in mind that my reasoning is not perfect as I only reasoned this newborn food chain.” Qing shui smiled as he talked about his theory, “I call it the preliminary theory of food web.”

  “Food web?”

  “Exactly, I said preliminary because it is yet to be completed, but let me explain.” Qing shui said. “You still remember the food chain we talked about back in the days right?”

  “Of course. It starts with producer, then predator, and then decomposer.” Chang answered.

  “The whole of nature was linked altogether in a hierarchy.” Qing shui drew a circle in the sky with his finger “But now, can you see the traces of the food chain? At least, I am lost.”

  “It seems….” Chang looked at varieties of plants in front of him, “It seems like it is gone.”

  “Like I said, after the red fog, the original food chain in the biological system collapsed. Plants are producers, but they are also predators now. Who says frogs must be preyed upon by bigger animals like snakes? Even mosquitos are carnivores.” Qing shui explained what he had seen in these days.

  Chang took a few minutes to take in the information and shook his head “You are right. All these species no longer act like what we used to know. Graminivores prey on animals now and the carnivores that I knew… They seemed okay with grass too. Not to mention trees and plants, we have to keep an eye on them.”

  “As you said, the newborn system is no longer a hierarchic structure, it has become a web, a complicated one. It blurred out the three roles in the food chain that we know.”

  “The concept of producers and predators got mixed up, giving us trees that prey on animals. However, what is more astonishing to me is that they don't lose the ability to utilize the chemical energy of getting nutrients from the soil. When the line between graminivore and carnivore blurs, everything is transforming into an omnivore. It even eliminates the idea of the apex predator, as long as they are in bigger size, rats can prey on cats, and sadly, cats can prey on humans too.”

  “The ecosystem I have known so far is a chaotic fight for resources.”

  “Chaotic fight…” Chang looked around as if he just witnessed blood gushing form the sky from a deadly fight.

  Qing shui paused for a second, as he added, “Let's talk about the flower. I didn’t pick them for research purposes only.”

  “What if we were lucky enough to get to Zhengzhou and we need to have some sort of weapon that can protect us. As long as there are humans, arguments and fighting are inevitable. To be honest, I have been thinking about this for the whole time. If we had these flowers when you killed that family, it would have been easier for not only you but also us too.”

  Qing shui's word was like an alarming bell, it woke Chang up from thinking about the food web. His astounded eyes only captured the last bit of Qing shui's wicked smile.

  Chapter 66: The most important person

  "Seems like I have gotten a preview of the death of our future enemy." Chang stared at Qing shui, "No wonder my parents always told me don't provoke someone that is smart…"

  "Come on, I am no conspirator. I only do this for survival; there is never too many ways to protect ourselves." Qing shui lightly pressed the iron box in his pocket, asked "How far are they?"

  "We are getting there; it isn’t too far."

  "Let’s take off the outer layer, there is too much pollen on it."

  "I agree." Chang and Qing shui stopped and peeled down the uniform with caution.

  "Do you think we can get to Zheng zhou today?" As Chang was removing the cloth, he asked "I am just thinking of the theory of Food Web that you just told me, the aggressiveness of every
species around us is on a whole new level that we didn’t foresee."

  "You are right, especially those are evolving to bigger size, they need to obtain tremendous amount of nutrient; and the best and the most convenient way to do so is to predate others. Therefore…we should at least expect the rest of the journey is going to be tougher than before."

  "Regardless its toughness, we will endure it like we always did." Chang took off the outer layer of pants, then he followed Qing shui to rejoin the troop.

  "Did you find the compass?" One of the soldiers noticed their return and shouted with rejoice.

  "Here it is." Qing shui took the compass out from his pocket and waved to the troop. He immediately looked for Dr. Huang and asked "How is everyone?"

  "There are 2 serious injured persons, but the rest are fine." Dr.Huang pointed at a wounded soldier, as well as Jing.

  "How is Jing?" Chang carefully hunkered down to Jing and gently stroked on her forehead. He had a bad feeling that Jing had hurt herself severely before he left with Qing shui. Otherwise, she would have been following him around.

  "Well… She is too young, even she had similar condition to others, she just got worse faster than others."

  "Chang…" Jing tried to mumble with her pale lips but only one word slipped through.

  "Don’t worried about me. Stay still and avoid talking, you just lost quite amount of blood, you’ll get better when you wake up." Chang touched Jing’s hair and smiled grudgingly.

  "I…" She still replied to him with one word. Apparently, she had been fighting to keep awake, but her will consumed all her strength in weakness. Therefore, after ensuring Chang’s safety, she fell into deep coma for excessive blood loss.

  "Ah…" Chang again emitted a long sigh – Without Jing’s ability, the road ahead was more difficult.

  Unusually, Qing shui groaned with frustration. He looked aside, said "Ming Yi, can you carry the other guy?" He referred to the soldier that had become immobile.

  "Of course." Ming Yi took the order, he pulled up the soldier and dragged him onto his back with ease.

  "Alright, we are all well rested, I assume. Let’s move! We can’t afford any delays, so throw away things that you don’t need. Now, stay in line!" Qing shui naturally became the leader of the troop after Zhao passed away. "Chang, stay with Ming Yi at the front, and Pangzi, please carry Jing with you. Everyone else, pick up your rifle and we are leaving, now!"

  "Roger that!" The size of the troop was significantly reduced, they tightly followed Qing shui as how they followed Zhao before.

  This time, they abandoned most of their backpacks and they had drunk up their water. Although everyone was injured in different extent, they didn’t slow down at all.

  "Getting to Zheng zhou before sunset…it sounds impossible for me if we can’t speed up." Qing shui recalibrated the compass with his brows knotted "And this is under the assumption that we don’t run into trouble…"

  "Ah!!" Qing shui’s voice was cut off by a scream from the back. When everyone realized what happened, that person’s face had already turned pale and green. At the same time, a bug that was in size of fingernail flew out from his neck.

  "He is dead." Dr. Huang went forward and pressed on the dead man’s neck with 2 fingers, announced.

  "Go, go, go!" Qing shui stopped the soldiers from coming forward – they only processed with few steps and they lost one already.

  There were only 10 of them now.

  The whole troop marched in the jungle, where it had become denser and lusher as they went further. Varieties of plants crowded together and competed for living space; some places became so narrow that the gap is as small as half a human. Therefore, Qing shui purposely appointed Ming Yi to go in the front so he could break down those thick branches with a machete. Although his posture looked extreme weird with a wounded soldier on his back.

  "To be honest, if we let go of that wounded one, we could have gone faster." Chang whispered to Qing shui as he noticed Ming Yi’s difficulty.

  "I wish I could, but I have no power on deciding other people’s life." Qing shui replied with the lowest volume of his voice, while he looked back to the other soldiers. "I can’t even say this out loud; this troop won’t be following us if I ever give up that person, I am not trying to say I wanted to buy people over, but that is also my bottom line. I can’t leave anyone behind."

  "True…Without him, they will feel unsafe for coming with us." While Chang was talking, something caused a sharp sting on his ankle. He cried out simultaneously as he fell on the back when he lost balance.

  "Ah!"

  "What was that?" Qing shui turned back and bowed to check if Chang was alright.

  "Little bastard! It got a slice of muscle on me!" Chang clutched his ankle when he saw a dark shadow in size of fist quickly disappeared in a tree hole with his flesh, it was so swift that he didn’t even see what attacked him.

  "Is it serious?"

  "Not too bad I guess…It didn’t get my sinew though, otherwise I can’t even walk." Another piece of cloth was teared off from his tattered shirt, he used that to cover and tighten the wound to prevent further bleeding. "It is too dangerous in here without Jing, I had no idea there was attacker until it bite on me!"

  "With Jing, we can bypass most of the danger." Qing shui held Chang to stand up by his arm. "In this vast, borderless jungle, Ming Yi, You and I are much powerless compare to Jing. She is the most important person in the troop."

  Chapter 67: Warnings from the Voles

  “You are right…those beasts don’t care what are you as long as you seem edible. We can’t do anything to defend against them if we don’t know where they are.” Chang turned around his ankle to check if he was still able to move. Luckily, it didn’t affect the ligament, it’s only pain.

  His facial expression relaxed as he confirmed that the wound wouldn’t slow him down, he continued, “Ming Yi and I were the last weapons in defending the troop against the unknown species. It is such a big loss that the only person who can detect danger is now in coma…”

  Chang carefully placed his toes on the ground, then his heels. He tested out the severity of the bite by walking back and forth, but the wound didn’t affect him much as he said, “Let’s go.”

  “Alright.” Qing Shui put down his arm from Chang’s shoulder, “Did you see what just bit you?”

  “I didn’t, it was too fast, I only saw it disappear into the tree hole.” Chang said bitterly. “ I hope it is not venomous.”

  The troop continued on its long journey. In the next hour, the troop finally bypassed the brilliant flower bush and returned to Zheng Kai Avenue. Of course, they didn’t get out without any mishap, but the attacks were not as deadly as they were before. The plants and animals in the jungle didn’t just act on their thirst for food, instead, they evaluated the chance of success before they moved. Therefore, some smaller groups of animals avoided the troop when they noticed them from afar, otherwise, they’d be making suicidal attacks.

  “There is a small group of voles behind us, I feel like they have been following us since we left.” Chang looked back in apprehension when the troop returned to the Zheng Kai Avenue. The scarlet eyes hidden in the jungle stressed him out.

  “How many are they? Their size?” Qing Shui asked.

  “Not sure, about 7 or 8. I can only see 4 or 5 of them, but there should be more” Chang stared at Qing Shui “Can’t tell their size either since they are lurking. My estimation… they should be the size of a wolfhound.”

  “Well then, just leave them alone. We have 10 people and are equipped with rifles. I guess the smell of blood lured them, but, for now, they don’t have the guts to attack.” Qing Shui paced up, “As long as they are not calling additional ones, we are safe.”

  “Are you sure? Should we just fire few warning shots?” Chang was deeply worried.

  “We can. After all, there is nowhere to hide since the smell of blood on us is heavy, it might turn out fine.” Qing Shui commanded a soldier
, “Fire your rifle to the bush behind us, something is stalking us.”

  “Yes, sir.” The soldier placed the assault rifle against his shoulder and fired. The bullets shot out in the humid air along with the sound of rapid gunfire. A series of squeaks informed the troop that the voles were scared away.

  “Good job! Let’s move now!” Qing Shui again marched with the troop steadily.

  However, in less than a kilometer, Chang noticed that the familiar squeaking had come back.

  “They came back again! What do we do?” Chang kept his ear open.

  “Just ignore them, there is nothing we can do.” Qing Shui pursed his lips, “They are merely acting on their instincts. I understand that we as a group are a tempting lunch for them. No matter how many times we warn them, they will come back.”

  “We should do something!” Chang hated the feeling of being stalked. The trip was already depressing without them, and now that these bloodthirsty yet timid animals tailed them made Chang almost freak out.

  “What can we do? Are you thinking about fighting them?” Qing Shui consoled him, “Come on, even if you wanted to fight them back, they’d be long gone before you see their faces. Believe it or not, when we set off again, by that time, they will be back.”

  “Ahhh! This is so annoying!” Chang clenched his fists and stopped complaining.

  The troop kept trotting forward as fast as they could. For another half an hour walking with the uncomfortable squeaking, Chang felt relieved suddenly.

  “They left!” Chang smiled as he noticed the squeaking faded in the air “Literally like they fled! Perhaps we just left their territory.”

  “Maybe, after all, voles are territorial.” Qing Shui heaved a sigh of relief as well, but he choked in halfway “Did they leave one by one slowly or spread out all of a sudden?”

  “It was all of a sudden.” Chang noticed that Qing Shui walked like he was on pins and needles, “Any problem with that?”

  “It just doesn’t feel right…their response didn’t show the unwillingness of giving up food, it sounded like they were escaping in a flurry to me.” Qing Shui waved his hand in the air to stop the troop. “Do you remember the time I told you rodents have better sense of smell than dogs?”