Global Evolution

“Sounds great.” Chang nodded, then he moved aside with Jing and Qing shui. Zhao quickly made a command to rest of the soldiers and then they went around the flower bush.

Although the captain was well equipped with the compass and a high powered flashlight and had Chang to walk with him, he still stayed closely to the edge of the flower bush. On one hand, he was worried about getting off track but was also concerned about the suspicious flowers. Zhao kept on coordinating their direction once in a while, the troop was slowed down significantly by this cautious adjustments.

“It is such a tremendous flower bush...if we keep our current pace, I don’t think we can make it to Zhengzhou before sunset.” Chang was sweating out as he noticed how scrupulous Zhao became, “We should go faster, Captain.”

“Indeed, I didn’t expect the size of the flower bush to be this tremendous.” Zhao nodded as he re-calibrated the direction, the troop accelerated again.

At the same moment, a gentle breeze blew from the bush, the soft touch of the wind was fragrant with the unknown blossom.

“How aromatic!” The pleasant scent brought excitement to the troop, someone behind Chang marveled, “I have never smelled something like this before, it is so sincere and calming like a perfectly mixed perfume. I’d say it outcompetes every flower before the red fog, not to mention its vivid and vibrant petals. If we ever had flowers like this before, It’d be the queen among all.”

“Unfortunately, the nice aroma could be deadly.” Qing shui showed impatient on his face, “In any way, flower and its scent never had any artistic purposes in nature. The reason why flowers had scents before the red fog was to attract pollination, but now, this could be a trap for attracting prey.”

“Moreover, a flower is just a reproductive structure of a plant. I don’t see the reason why humans appraise it be such a great deal.” Qing shui frowned.

“Ha ha ha.” Someone behind Qing shui was apparently entertained by Qing shui’s lack of taste. The troop sped up again as they became more light-hearted.

After another half hour going around the flower bush, they finally got back on to the Zheng Kai Avenue.

It was truly a relief that they didn’t encounter any strangers, they thought.

“Ah-----------” a heartrending cry pierced through the red fog.

It was an absurdly shrill scream as if a person’s enjoyment was broken by a hard stab to the stomach, unexpectedly and painfully.

“What’s wrong?” Zhao immediately turned around. The beam of light in his hand flashed right onto the screaming soldier.

“An attacker?” The face of the soldier became hideously disfigured, the artery on his neck bloated up and his face blushed. Apparently, he was undergoing great torture. His weapon dropped and his fingers became rigid and stiff like claws. His condition worsened at a rate that everyone could notice – a gradual development of convulsions.

The company around this soldier held up their rifles vigilantly, however, no matter how hard they tried, they saw no suspicious objects in the air or on the ground.

“Will it be something similar to the dodder?” Someone shouted.

“Possibly.” Some other soldiers kept the struggling soldier down and ripped open his shirt. Although his skin had turned red, his skin was still smooth without any obvious injury or infection.

“He looks like he was poisoned.” Came a woman’s voice – It was Dr. Huang. She looked at the soldier from afar “Looks like he got Dysautonomia; excessive sweating and sialorrhea...It must be some sort of neurotoxin.”

“He was poisoned? But he didn’t eat anything!” Zhao looked up and down on the soldier, “Is it possible that he was scratched by a toxic plant?”

As he spoke, he checked the soldier’s forearm and ankle, where he would mostly like get scratched, but he didn’t even find a small cut.

“Then what caused his symptoms?”

“The flower bush, was it the fragrance?” A visible constriction of Qing shui’s pupil, he seemed to realize something.

“No way... None of us had symptoms as him, how did he....” Zhao was rattling on the strangeness, and, all of a sudden, he choked and the rest of his words became muttered. His face turned red and he seemed to be suffering from extreme pain. It all happened so fast that even Chang couldn’t react to the change.

Zhao lost his sanity completely as the soldier had before. His skin reddened and he sweat excessively. Veins became visible on his eyeballs, followed by a painful roar.

“It was the fragrance!” Chang immediately grabbed Jing and they ran away from the flower bush.

Some of the troop followed Chang as they realized the effect of the fragrance, they turned around and followed Chang’s footsteps hastily. A few of the soldiers, who were close to and were direct subordinates of the captain attempted to pull the captain with them before they fled. But Zhao had already lost his mind, no one was capable of grabbing him. They all ran away after a few tries.

Then, something horrifying was seen beside the flower bush.

At the moment they all ran far enough from the flower bush, Zhao and the soldier rushed into the flower bush accompanied with heart-piercing roaring. As if their bodies were burned with fire painfully, they ripped off their clothes and scratched their skin as they ran. They both went through slight evolutions before as everyone else in the troop, therefore, they were strong enough to tear their uniforms into pieces of cloth. They didn’t seem satisfied after ripping off their shirt, their hands kept scratching on their arms and chests.

It was hard to believe that humans were able to hurt themselves to such extent – their fingers didn’t stop even when they got into their muscle. There wasn’t much blood but their pain was known from their wails. As if maggots were growing in their body to cause itchiness, they continuously scraped their flesh vigorously.

Their faces were not a spot of fortune either. Their fingers dug off the skin off their faces, exposing their bones. However, as if it was a brutal spell, their fingers moved to their belly and invaded their organs... It was so painful, but they couldn’t stop doing it. They struggled, they twisted and they finally teared up. Blood and flesh were splashed onto those gorgeous flowers – it made the flowers more enchanting than ever.

Chang was the first witness to this horror, he kept running until the fragrance was no longer noticeable.

“What do we do? Was everyone poisoned?” The troop re-gathered, fear was the only emotion within them.

Only Qing shui was able to maintain a relative calmness.

“Dr. Huang, how can we treat neurotoxins? ” Qing shui frowned and put his last hope onto the only doctor in the troop.

“There were numerous amount of neurotoxins as far as I knew. But this is the first time I ever encounter this type. To be honest, I don’t know.” Dr. Huang covered her face with her palms. “We don’t even have any medication, there is no way we can escape.”