Global Evolution

“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 speaking, 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?”

“To be honest, I don’t know how to explain the reason to you. I can only tell you that there is an intense political struggle in the research institute, and I think staying in there won’t be safe anymore.” Chang smirked, saying, “Please, don’t denounce us again.”

“Hahaha, I don’t see a point for doing that again. I didn’t know you guys that well when I was in Kaifeng. Looking back, I was terrified and hence made that regretful decision.” Dr. Huang’s face revealed a sense of relief as she smiled. “I thought Qing Shui planned to murder me when he got me into the jungle. So I was astounded when he actually took care of me, and that’s when I started to sense that he had a good heart. Now I understand that he wanted me to be safe when he forced me to leave the military base in Kaifeng.”

“You would know he isn’t a conspiracist at all if you were willing to leave behind your prejudices about him and get to know him earlier. He is kind but he protects himself with cold-heartedness. And it is the only personality you will perceive if you keep on not letting yourself to know him.” Chang made a quick nod. “Let’s talk about you now. You seem to have a decent life here, you even got a job in the management office.”

“Everybody is nice to me here.” Dr. Huang seemed much happier than when she was in Kaifeng. She even became talkative. Chang thought that the stable life provided by the community must have made her return to her natural state.

“When I got out of the jungle, I didn’t run far away from it but stayed here under an alias. I happened to treat a patient’s injury using my skills, and that’s how they accepted me.

“And because I am a doctor, I am needed on a daily basis. Even though I don’t have medical equipment with me, I am still able to treat some common diseases. As you’ve seen already, getting injured or poisoned is not rare anymore. Evreyone treats me well because I can save lives. And when I’m not on medical duty, I work as a receptionist and bookkeeper. In this way, I utilize all my skills to keep the community running.”

“That sounds great. Can Jing and I stay here for sometime? I can be a security guard,” Chang said. “You know my abilities already.”

“Of course! I will let them know later. The only thing you need to do is to register your name on the list.” Dr. Huang pulled out a binder from the shelf. “You are lucky that I work here, otherwise they will need to examine your background thoroughly.”

“Is it that disordered around here?” Chang was curious from Dr. Huang’s tone.

“It is not only disorder but also violence. It can be seen wherever you go. Without law enforcement, scuffles, homicide and rape are happening under the sunlight all the time. A lot of groups are fighting for the Crystal Pea seeds periodically distributed by the military. Remember how we used to have the military force to discipline the citizens back in Zhengzhou?

“The situation is completely different here since the military ran out of food reserves long time ago. No one listened to them when they stopped handing out food, and now the only thing the military does is to distribute the seeds on a daily basis. They leave the distribution station as soon as the seeds run out. They just don’t care about us anymore. Every single inhabitant here is fighting over the tiniest issue, and the nature keeps on bringing new pressure, straining everyone’s conscience with every new immoral thing they have to do to survive. You probably don’t feel it at this moment, but you will know what I am talking about after staying for a bit longer... ”