“You always have a plan B,” Chang noted, taking the white vest and folding it the way Qing Shui had. He then placed it into his pocket.
“I like to give myself some leeway, and there is nothing wrong with it, right?” Qing Shui sank to his knees and gently combed Jing’s hair. “After all, you are the last two family members I have on this planet. I’d do anything to make sure you are safe.”
“Don’t worry, we are stronger than you think. I don’t understand the political struggle but I’ve had a bitter taste of the cruelty of it. So remember, I want to see a living Qing Shui when I come back.” Chang grabbed Jing’s small hand in his palm. “Once the revolution is over, we’ll come back to here regardless of whether you’re dead or alive.”
Qing Shui looked fixedly at Chang, as if this was the last time he would see him, He spoke confidently, “When you’re away, you don’t need to think of me too much. I won’t surrender to anyone. Neither the government nor the military can waste any gifted. The worst case scenario for me is to become a puppet for one of them. They simply can’t afford to lose me.
“And I am positive that no one can scotch me easily, at least not in Zhengzhou.” His eyes were filled with pride. He added, “I’m not easy to be eliminated. To be honest, I’m more concerned about your safety. Part of the reason why I wanted to see you today is because Zhuo has realised you two’s importance to me. So in order to gain control over me, this fox might cage you or something to threaten me. You need to leave, now. I am 100% sure that he will search for you tomorrow. He even has a troop of gene-altered soldiers that no hand-held weapons can do damage to. They are swifter than machines and more deadly than any assassins. The scales on their skin are both genius and evil creation… And hence, I got this handgun from Colonel Xie against a rainy day.”
“Gene-altered soldiers?” Chang frowned, he didn’t know the human subject experiment had gone this far.
“Just as you heard, they are assassins made by Zhuo. Their intelligence is defected, but they’re obedient killing machines.”
“And if we were to quantify how dangerous they are using Jing’s index, what number are they? Can you even cause injury with this handgun?” Knowing that he might be chased after, Chang was extremely alarmed.
“I‘d say they are at least at 25, but how high they are depends on what kind of enhancement they had. Zhuo didn’t show me the full set of their skills. I only know that they have excellent vision and every muscle on their body is designed for grappling. They probably don’t know how to survive in the wild but they will make the most of themselves to fight with medium sized opponents such as humans.”
Qing Shui recalled what he saw the other day in the experimental field, and his finger pointed at Chang’s altered handgun. “The handgun you have here is custom made. It is made specifically to kill these men. It is so powerful among its kind, you may call it the most lethal handgun in the world!
“It was altered by my fellows in Group Beta. Its name was Pfeifer Zeliska Revolver, originating in Austria. The altered version can be held with a single hand. Previously, it wasn’t common to have this handgun used in a battle field because it was too big, and the recoil was too strong to handle. Not many people could use this gun with ease.”
“You said it didn’t prevail in the army? Why?” Chang rubbed the gun’s barrel.
“Because humans were simply too weak before the red fog. The intense recoil could even damage the user’s wrist! Not many soldiers were skilled and strong enough to handle it. However, you don’t need to worry about it now as you are at least six times stronger than an average adult. Firing this gun should be easy enough for you.”
“How powerful is this handgun?” Chang asked, gently touching every inch of this half a meter long gun.
“The instant shooting energy at the muzzle is 6230 joule,” Qing Shui answered.
“What does that mean?” Chang raised the handgun and tried to aim randomly.
“It is more powerful than any handgun you have known. Even Desert Eagle is much weaker compared to this deadly beast.”
“Do you mean the Desert Eagle we used to play in CS? I remember I always used it for a one-shot kill.”
“Yes… the instant shooting energy at the muzzle of Desert Eagle is 1570 joules. That means Pfeifer Zeliska Revolver is four times more powerful.”
“You’re not kidding, are you?” Chang pulled the cylinder latch to open the cylinder, looking at the giant bullet resting in there. “Since it is such a powerful gun, it should be able to kill those soldiers, right?”
“Even if you fail to kill them, you will cause severe injury with this handgun. If it is a good shot. However, keep this in mind: they are much, much faster than you, and they can see beyond ten meters. In other words, they are stronger than you in all ways except for intelligence. If you were to face them in an unfavorable situation, it’ll be hard for you to hit your target.”
“But with this gun, I’m more confident about surviving out there. Otherwise I won’t even have a chance to escape,” Chang said and slid the handgun into its holster and carried that on his right shoulder. “Fingers crossed for my aim...”
Qing Shui nodded at them and drew the curtain apart, saying “The Sun is about to rise, you have to go now.”
Chang picked up Jing as he responded, “Qing Shui, take care.”
“So should you.” Qing Shui patted Chang’s shoulder and tilted his head as he teased Jing, laughing. “ Are you still mad at me? You don’t seem like you want to say goodbye to me.”
“I don’t want to speak with you! You have changed!” Jing buried her face in Chang’s shoulder.
“Forgive her, she’s still young. I’ll see you around.” The atmosphere was quite awkward at the farewell, and Chang didn’t know how he could sooth it. Therefore, he headed out the door to run away from the heavy atmosphere.
Jing and Chang returned to their suite to pack up some essentials. He also took the wooden box that contained the white worms, as well as his old friend - the crossbow. One last thing he took with was a water bottle. After that, they swiftly and quietly left the room.
Guided by Jing’s detection, they effortlessly found a spot where no one guarded the enclosing wall. Chang looked around again to ensure the route was clear, and then as fast as a flash, he helped Jing to escape first before jumping off the wall himself. Bathed in the red fog and the darkness, they finally left the center of the storm and headed to their new lives.
Standing on the street, although he carried two heavy weapons on the back and had Jing in his right arm, as well as a small suitcase in the left, he smelled freedom in the air.
“Do you also have a feeling as if we just broke out of jail?” Chang asked Jing.
“I know what you mean, it was depressing in there. Everyone is a schemer.” Jing looked into his eyes. “You don’t belong in there, it was more dangerous for you than living in the jungle.”
“I am aware of that. I’d be a dead ant in there without Qing Shui’s protection.”
“Speaking of him, do you think he is changed?” Jing put her arms around his neck, saying, “I feel strange just being in the same room with him. It wasn’t like this before.”
“I don’t know. I guess it was because we stayed in the institute for too long.” Chang heaved a sigh. “People change, and I am certainly different from the person I was two months ago. Jing, don’t think about this too much. Even if he has changed, he did it for survival. He won’t harm us, just like I will never harm you.”
Jing only closed her arms tightly, nodding.
To ensure their safety, they left the institute, striding away without rest. Zhengzhou was as sincere and calm as a sleeping baby except for some rasping sounds from unnamed insects and birds. There was not a single human to be seen at night.
The night was always more intimidating—the limited vision and circadian rhythm refrained humans from being active at night.
They didn’t encounter anyone while walking on the pavem
ent covered by various plants. Chang wasn’t familiar with Zhengzhou either. He only knew that he should stay as far away from the institute as possible. Therefore, he headed to the south, then to the east.
The institute was at the north of Zhengzhou, and there was a residential area at the east side. Aided by Jing’s powers, they bypassed major predators without getting their attention.
When the sun was about to show its bright face, they arrived at the east side.
“Let’s find a place around here.” Chang had a feeling that if they continued to head east, they would enter the jungle before they knew it. Besides, Jing also reminded him that the concentration of living organisms decreased ahead. Thus, Chang walked around the two blocks until he found a suitable empty condo building. He opened a room to the first floor and went inside with Jing.
“We’ll stay in here today. I’ll find a better place when we have time to...”
The trace of human living was gone from the room. Only the furniture was left covered by dust.
Chang removed all his luggage, and then sat down on a sofa bed. “I just need some rest...” he murmured feebly and fell on the side. He wasn’t exhausted but his mind was fatigued from the farewell and the operation.
Jing stood up and walked across the living room to lock the door. She then returned and quietly laid down beside him.
They slept peacefully until a few hours later a series of sharp noises woke Chang up from dreaming.
Someone was drumming against a frying pan with a metal ladle. The sound was grating on the ears and it was especially unbearable for Chang due to his hearing being made more sensitive by the operation. He almost bounced up from the sofa bed, and his movements woke Jing up.
“What is going on?”
The world was dyed in bright red already. His watch indicated the time - 10:43 AM.
Chapter 87: Someone From The Past
“All people in the residential area come here!” came a middle-aged woman’s loud voice after the drumming’s echo died down.
Chang bent over the window, looking down. He vaguely saw the situation—countless shadows were converging, rallied by the woman.
“What is happening, Chang?” Jing also leaned beside Chang and looked at the situation. However, she couldn’t see anything except for the red fog that was clouding her vision.
“It must be a gathering or something. We’ve seen autonomic groups spreading around the city, so I guess they’re giving a speech over there.” Chang opened the window widely and carefully listened to the hubbub.
As expected, a voice of a man spoke up when the woman was done gathering the inhabitants in this area.
The speech was hard to hear as the gathering spot was far away from his shelter. However, from the faint syllables that reached him, he understood that it was a talk of work distribution. Everyone in this community was in charge of some task; some focused on cultivating plants while the others were occupied with collecting. It seemed like no one was living independent to this group.
Chang didn’t gather any information that he found interesting through all his listening. Besides, he was eluding the institute at this moment, so the less exposure he got, the better. Thinking that, he closed the window.
Having done so, the two of them rested on the sofa. Later, when Chang took the wooden box, planning to go out to feed the worms, a series of clear footsteps echoed through the corridor.
“Someone’s coming,’ he whispered and hinted for Jing to hide behind the sofa. Chang placed the wooden box at the other end of it, then removed the crossbow from his back. In the static silence, he loaded the crossbow and pointed it at the door.
A man with an officer’s baton opened the door when Chang just finished his preparations.
“Hello? I’ve heard something just now,” the man shouted out warily upon opening the door. But he didn’t enter.
Hiding behind the sofa, Chang glanced at the nervous man whose armband was labelled “Shunhe Garden Community Guards”. The title was easy to identify with his outstanding vision.
Chang loosened his guard when he saw those words. “Shunhe Garden” was the name of the community he was located in now. He’d seen the sign when he entered the residential area. The guard who stood at the door should be the armed force of this autonomic group.
Carefully putting down the crossbow on the back of the sofa, Chang stood up from his hiding spot.
“I am here, but I just happened to pass by this community.”
The guard’s grip on the baton tightened when his uncertainty was confirmed. He raised his arm so that the baton was placed at a position, which made attacking the easiest, and walked into the room with hesitation.
“Relax. I have no bad intentions.” Chang raised both of his hands in the air. “I am just passing through here.”
“I see.” The man came closer to Chang, whose gesture slightly loosened the guard’s nerves. He then asked, “Where did you come from? I hope you will answer this question honestly. The world is chaotic as many menacing groups are actively stealing resources from other communities. Ours is harmonic and self-sufficient, and we’d like to keep it this way.”
“I understand what you mean.” Chang pulled up Jing from behind the sofa, saying, “We came from the Jin Shui district to look for our relatives. This is my younger sister here.”
“I see.” The guard relaxed from his tensed state after seeing Jing. After all, a person intending to do harm would never have a girl who looked to be about 10-years-old come along with him, as a young kid was likely to be a burden along the way.
“So you’re just passing by here, huh? Are you planning to leave today, or are you going to stay for awhile?”
“We wanted to stay here for sometime to look for our relatives,” Chang said in consideration. “It doesn’t mean we want anything from you. We just want to settle down in here temporarily since I heard that our relatives live around here. This way, we may eventually find them.”
“Okay… If you want to stay here for longer than a few days, you have to come with me to register your information. We’ll also need to confirm your identity.” The guard still had the baton in hand, saying, “We don’t usually expel peaceful outsiders from our community, instead, we like to have them stay as absorbing newcomers strengthens the community bond. But first, I need you to register with us, and I’ll introduce to you some core members.”
“I understand, this is what should be done,” Chang agreed, holding Jing’s hand, and slowly approached the guard.
“All right, come with me. But we’ll need to walk for a bit.” The guard turned around as now he was sure that Chang was harmless.
They left the building and came onto the street.
The guard led them to the community’s Property Management office, and pointed at the building with his baton. “Here we are.”
“I see.” Chang nodded while tilting his head to the back to see the whole building.
The three entered it and soon saw a stout middle-aged woman and a thin woman who was busy with the paperwork.
Chang was stunned when he saw the thin woman. “Dr. Huang...” The name slipped out from his lips without him consciously saying it.
The woman looked up in surprise when the familiar voice broke the air. She was dazed by seeing the two familiar faces in front of her.
“It is you!” Doctor Huang was confused when she raised her head. “Why are you here?”
“Just came here by accident.” Dr. Hunag was someone that he had known from Kaifeng, and Chang was overwhelmed with emotion. “You managed to escape from the jungle! Everybody thought you must have died!”
“I am lucky to still be alive. Since I was separated from the troop, I ran disorientedly. A millipede was chasing after me and another soldier before we took our own way. The millipede seemed to have more interest in him than me, and that’s how I fled and ended up in here.” Dr. Huang was soaked in cold sweat when she recalled that day in jungle.
While they were speak
ing, the guard and the stout woman looked to Dr. Huang at the same time.
“Yin, do you know him?”
“Yes.” She nodded.
“Who is he?”
“He is a relative of mine to some extent.” Doctor Huang looked at Chang.
“Okay. I have no other concerns now. I didn’t truly trust him when he said he came down here to look for his relatives.” The guard put away the weapon as he received the confirmation from Dr. Huang. “Now that I know you guys are acquaintances, I shall leave you some free time for the reunion. I’ll be patrolling on the street.”
“This sounds like a good news.” The stout woman nodded, ready to leave as well. “I am leaving the room to you, good to see you have someone from your family come. Take your time.”
The room was left to the three as the guard and the woman left the office.
“Have a seat.” Dr. Huang pointed at the stools beside her and stood up. “I’ll get you a glass of water.”
“Thank you.” Chang sat on the stool with Jing sat on his knees. He asked, “How did you get here? We waited for a long time when we went out of the jungle, but we didn’t see you escaping.”
“Yeah, I went the other way. Plus, I didn’t want to go with you guys, either. Therefore, when I fled from the jungle, I came here by simply going along one of the avenues.” Dr. Huang placed the glass in front of Chang. “I just didn’t expect that Qing Shui wouldn’t let go of me even if I hid in here. Have you come to take me away?”
“No, not at all. We ended up here by accident,” Chang explained, waving away Dr. Huang’s misunderstanding. “We were just separated from him and happened to settle down in here.”
“Are you kidding me? It doesn’t make sense. Although I’ve never been to the Jinshui District, the rumors have been flying around, and from them I’ve got a sense of how powerful the research institute is. Qing Shui is smart, and I don’t think he’d be treated badly, nor would you. Why? What makes you run from all the comfort to a slum like here?”
Global Evolution Page 38
