Chapter 59 Disguise
Of course, those carnivorous mosquitoes wouldn’t be only interested in birds; those larger organisms – humans, were included as their targets. Therefore, some mosquitoes were tempted to attack immediately.
However, the amount of mosquitoes that were interested in humans were a minority, and most of their attention was still on the birds in the sky; they were certainly more eager to get those birds that were their favorite prey than human that they had not seen before. The attack of these curious mosquitoes didn’t give the troop too much pressure – instead, the troop finally got a chance to escape from the flock.
“Move, move! Let’s go before they notice us.” Zhao, as an experienced captain, knew that this precious opportunity wouldn’t likely come twice; he shouted loudly to the troop and waved the flashlight in his hand at the same time, hoping that the flashlight could signal the troop to move forward.
Chang grabbed Jing’s hand and ran to the halo as soon as he saw it. They re-gathered with the troop thanks to Zhao’s cue; the troop steadily and orderly went around the mosquitoes and the flock. While they were retreating from the chaos, only one mosquito attempted to pierce Chang with its needle-like mouth; however, this poor mosquito was not threatening at all once it left its group.
Chang pulled out a knife that he stole from the kitchen in the base and patiently waited until the mosquito got in front of him. Chang tilted back his body to avoid the crash and sliced down its head following the momentum. They left the “war zone” quietly and hastily.
They trotted along the broken pavement until they were few kilometers away, and then Zhao halted the troop and started counting the remaining number of people.
“One, two, third, four…” Zhao scanned around the troop one by one, and for each person he shined with the light, he counted one until the end of the line.
“….29, we are missing two.” Zhao found out two soldiers had been lost somewhere – including Chang and his friends, there were 22 soldiers and 4 officers that had followed along. Including Doctor Huang, there should have been 31 people in total; they hadn’t gone very far from Kaifeng, yet 2 had already went missing, causing Zhao to be both worried and angry.
“Could it be the case that they are still following up?” The vision of an ordinary person was limited to 3 meters, so unless they stayed close to each other, getting lost could happen in a few seconds. The double shock from the flock of birds and the mosquitoes made them flee in different directions, and the circumstances they were facing now was unavoidable.
“We should wait,” Someone suggested.
“What if they never come back?”
“Should we separate to find them?” Someone advised again.
The unrealistic proposal was rejected immediately.
“Separate?” Someone yelled “Are you crazy? We’ll never get together again if we ever go in different directions, and the fog could make you wander around in the jungle forever. If we didn’t have this broken pavement, we would’ve likely stayed in this freaking jungle for the rest of our lives, which would probably be less than 2 days.”
His words were cruel, but real. The troop seemed to be stuck in a strange cycle of deciding whether they should wait or leave.
“How about…I go find them?” Chang broke the chaotic train of thoughts, “I can follow along the trace of rubble, and I have better vision than most of you, perhaps I can find them.”
In this moment of desperation, Chang no longer intended to hide his ability. He knew from the bottom of his heart that they were on the same boat no matter what, so one person being lost meant that the chance they would survive through this journey was also reduced – if the troop only had 2 or 3 people left, then even a tiny danger could put them at the point of no return.
“You have better vision than us?” Zhao stared at Chang in seriousness.
“Yes, this is the ability I gained from mutation, I can go look for them.”
“Great, since you asked for it, let Ming Yi be your companion. He has a strong physique and you have good vision; if you were to go together, the chance of death is a lot smaller for both of you.” As Zhao spoke, he pushed Ming Yi forward from the back. “You can put her down, Ming Yi. She was already awake when we fired our guns.”
“Yes sir.” He put down the woman without even looking at her frightened face. He borrowed a machete from one of the soldiers and stood by Chang.
“Come back in half an hour….” Qing shui joined the conversation, “If you still don’t see a trace of them in half an hour, just give up; we don’t have much time to waste, and you know that Chang.”
“I know.” Chang nodded and turned away. He also carried Jing with him and waved to Ming Yi as they both returned to the path they came from.
They slowly walked back on the track that they fled from, they neither wanted to get too close to that “War zone”, nor did they want to go off the rubble track too far. The three looked back and forth and a while after, Jing sensed something strange.
“Chang, there are three living organisms in front of us, and they are on your left side; two are level 4, one is level 2.5.” Jing whispered to Chang; her voice was so low that she couldn’t even hear herself clearly, but she knew Chang already understood what she had said.
“2.5?” Chang tilted his head.
2.5 was the exact index of those elite warriors, and the spot they were standing at was not far from either the “War zone” or the troop. If it was 2.5 for sure, it was worthy to check out. As for those level 4 organisms… Chang believed they could handle them with ease as Ming Yi was a level 9 soldier.
“Ming Yi, let’s head over there.” Chang pointed at the direction where Jing told him.
“Should we? We will stray from the route if you insist.” As Ming Yi followed along, he became more uncertain as he went further.
“Trust me, we won’t be far away, it is just 100 meters.” Chang insisted. “Don’t worry, I can find our way back.”
“Oh, okay.” Ming Yi clenched his machete and followed the figure in front of him to the other end of the jungle.
The jungle ahead of them was significantly denser after they went off from the Zhengkai Avenue. Chang kindly asked Jing to jump down from his back so that he could keep his head low while moving forward. Relying on his superior vision, he saw one of the soldiers at the other end.
A middle-aged soldier was looking around with the gun held in his hands. Worry and anxiousness were displayed through his gestures and face; it was clear that he had gotten lost for a while.
Chang was delighted when he saw him, but he didn’t call out. Those level 4 organisms were still invisible to him, and that had concerned him quite a lot. Therefore, he placed a bolt on the string without making much noise; he then walked backward and squatted in the bushes to observe any signs of disturbance. However, he didn’t get anything out of the whole observation; it got to the point where even Ming Yi had lost his patience.
“Where are the level 4 organisms you were talking about?” Chang pulled Jing over, as he spoke in an extremely low voice. “How could I not see any?”
“They are right in front of you! Just right beside the level 2.5.” Although Jing couldn’t see the soldier, she could sense his existence. It was all crisp and clear in her brain.
“There is one.” She pointed at the direction of the soldier, but Chang only saw a bunch of green ferns; while he was puzzled, Jing pointed at another direction that was close to the last one, and it was the same kind of fern. “There is another one,” Jing added.
“Another plant hunter, hah?” Chang subconsciously squinted his eyes to try to look more carefully, but he still failed to find any traces of life.
“They should not be plants…I am not very sensitive to plants in this mass jungle.” Jing blinked her eyes. “If I can perceive them from that far, they must be some kind of animal, or at least insects.”
“Animals…insects…” Chang moved forward again for 3 meters, and he was now 10 meters away from the ferns. Finally, he found traces of active life forms – eyes.
Chapter 59 Disguise
Of course, those carnivorous mosquitoes wouldn’t be only interested in birds; those larger organisms – humans, were included as their targets. Therefore, some mosquitoes were tempted to attack immediately.
However, the amount of mosquitoes that were interested in humans were a minority, and most of their attention was still on the birds in the sky; they were certainly more eager to get those birds that were their favorite prey than human that they had not seen before. The attack of these curious mosquitoes didn’t give the troop too much pressure – instead, the troop finally got a chance to escape from the flock.
“Move, move! Let’s go before they notice us.” Zhao, as an experienced captain, knew that this precious opportunity wouldn’t likely come twice; he shouted loudly to the troop and waved the flashlight in his hand at the same time, hoping that the flashlight could signal the troop to move forward.
Chang grabbed Jing’s hand and ran to the halo as soon as he saw it. They re-gathered with the troop thanks to Zhao’s cue; the troop steadily and orderly went around the mosquitoes and the flock. While they were retreating from the chaos, only one mosquito attempted to pierce Chang with its needle-like mouth; however, this poor mosquito was not threatening at all once it left its group.
Chang pulled out a knife that he stole from the kitchen in the base and patiently waited until the mosquito got in front of him. Chang tilted back his body to avoid the crash and sliced down its head following the momentum. They left the “war zone” quietly and hastily.
They trotted along the broken pavement until they were few kilometers away, and then Zhao halted the troop and started counting the remaining number of people.
“One, two, third, four…” Zhao scanned around the troop one by one, and for each person he shined with the light, he counted one until the end of the line.
“….29, we are missing two.” Zhao found out two soldiers had been lost somewhere – including Chang and his friends, there were 22 soldiers and 4 officers that had followed along. Including Doctor Huang, there should have been 31 people in total; they hadn’t gone very far from Kaifeng, yet 2 had already went missing, causing Zhao to be both worried and angry.
“Could it be the case that they are still following up?” The vision of an ordinary person was limited to 3 meters, so unless they stayed close to each other, getting lost could happen in a few seconds. The double shock from the flock of birds and the mosquitoes made them flee in different directions, and the circumstances they were facing now was unavoidable.
“We should wait,” Someone suggested.
“What if they never come back?”
“Should we separate to find them?” Someone advised again.
The unrealistic proposal was rejected immediately.
“Separate?” Someone yelled “Are you crazy? We’ll never get together again if we ever go in different directions, and the fog could make you wander around in the jungle forever. If we didn’t have this broken pavement, we would’ve likely stayed in this freaking jungle for the rest of our lives, which would probably be less than 2 days.”
His words were cruel, but real. The troop seemed to be stuck in a strange cycle of deciding whether they should wait or leave.
“How about…I go find them?” Chang broke the chaotic train of thoughts, “I can follow along the trace of rubble, and I have better vision than most of you, perhaps I can find them.”
In this moment of desperation, Chang no longer intended to hide his ability. He knew from the bottom of his heart that they were on the same boat no matter what, so one person being lost meant that the chance they would survive through this journey was also reduced – if the troop only had 2 or 3 people left, then even a tiny danger could put them at the point of no return.
“You have better vision than us?” Zhao stared at Chang in seriousness.
“Yes, this is the ability I gained from mutation, I can go look for them.”
“Great, since you asked for it, let Ming Yi be your companion. He has a strong physique and you have good vision; if you were to go together, the chance of death is a lot smaller for both of you.” As Zhao spoke, he pushed Ming Yi forward from the back. “You can put her down, Ming Yi. She was already awake when we fired our guns.”
“Yes sir.” He put down the woman without even looking at her frightened face. He borrowed a machete from one of the soldiers and stood by Chang.
“Come back in half an hour….” Qing shui joined the conversation, “If you still don’t see a trace of them in half an hour, just give up; we don’t have much time to waste, and you know that Chang.”
“I know.” Chang nodded and turned away. He also carried Jing with him and waved to Ming Yi as they both returned to the path they came from.
They slowly walked back on the track that they fled from, they neither wanted to get too close to that “War zone”, nor did they want to go off the rubble track too far. The three looked back and forth and a while after, Jing sensed something strange.
“Chang, there are three living organisms in front of us, and they are on your left side; two are level 4, one is level 2.5.” Jing whispered to Chang; her voice was so low that she couldn’t even hear herself clearly, but she knew Chang already understood what she had said.
“2.5?” Chang tilted his head.
2.5 was the exact index of those elite warriors, and the spot they were standing at was not far from either the “War zone” or the troop. If it was 2.5 for sure, it was worthy to check out. As for those level 4 organisms… Chang believed they could handle them with ease as Ming Yi was a level 9 soldier.
“Ming Yi, let’s head over there.” Chang pointed at the direction where Jing told him.
“Should we? We will stray from the route if you insist.” As Ming Yi followed along, he became more uncertain as he went further.
“Trust me, we won’t be far away, it is just 100 meters.” Chang insisted. “Don’t worry, I can find our way back.”
“Oh, okay.” Ming Yi clenched his machete and followed the figure in front of him to the other end of the jungle.
The jungle ahead of them was significantly denser after they went off from the Zhengkai Avenue. Chang kindly asked Jing to jump down from his back so that he could keep his head low while moving forward. Relying on his superior vision, he saw one of the soldiers at the other end.
A middle-aged soldier was looking around with the gun held in his hands. Worry and anxiousness were displayed through his gestures and face; it was clear that he had gotten lost for a while.
Chang was delighted when he saw him, but he didn’t call out. Those level 4 organisms were still invisible to him, and that had concerned him quite a lot. Therefore, he placed a bolt on the string without making much noise; he then walked backward and squatted in the bushes to observe any signs of disturbance. However, he didn’t get anything out of the whole observation; it got to the point where even Ming Yi had lost his patience.
“Where are the level 4 organisms you were talking about?” Chang pulled Jing over, as he spoke in an extremely low voice. “How could I not see any?”
“They are right in front of you! Just right beside the level 2.5.” Although Jing couldn’t see the soldier, she could sense his existence. It was all crisp and clear in her brain.
“There is one.” She pointed at the direction of the soldier, but Chang only saw a bunch of green ferns; while he was puzzled, Jing pointed at another direction that was close to the last one, and it was the same kind of fern. “There is another one,” Jing added.
“Another plant hunter, hah?” Chang subconsciously squinted his eyes to try to look more carefully, but he still failed to find any traces of life.
“They should not be plants…I am not very sensitive to plants in this mass jungle.” Jing blinked her eyes. “If I can perceive them from that far, they must be some kind of animal, or at least insects.”
“Animals…insects…” Chang moved forward again for 3 meters, and he was now 10 meters away from the ferns. Finally, he found traces of active life forms – eyes.
