Global Evolution

The tense lines on Chen’s face loosened up as he recovered from the shock. He was a renowned scholar, after all. He quickly absorbed the information from the test result, and a straight face was soon put back on.

“Welcome, you can join my group as a researcher; mine is the third group, Gemma, in this institute, you will meet the rest when you start working in here. I will grant you access to facilities and rooms as soon as possible.” Chen casually glanced over Chang and Jing in his arms “Are they your family?”

“Yes, they’re my family,” Qing Shui affirmed.

“Sounds good, we do offer suites for researchers who work in the institute. Therefore, your family can live with you.” Chen made a pause and articulated carefully with his next words. “Now that you are part of the institute, you will be exposed to all sorts of research that we have done; although your encephalon mutation puts you at a position where you can acquire knowledge by just one glance, you are still lacking relevant knowledge. For now, it would be good for you to come to my class and run experiments as my research assistant. You would gain more knowledge as you go further in the field of Biology and Genetics.”

“I’ll do as you say,” Qing Shui agreed with a nod.

A burst of sonorous footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

The footsteps belonged to three men: one was in a military uniform and the other two in lab coats.

The one in the middle was middle-aged. His facial features weren’t outstanding, and neither was he sharp-eyed. Chang saw him coming from far but didn’t pay much attention to his appearance. He was more interested in the epaulet. It signalled that the man was a Lieutenant General.

This was the top power in a secondary city like Zhengzhou.

The lab coats beside him seemed to be in high positions as well; the three walked side by side, and it was hard to tell if either one was superior to the others. What was more jaw-dropping was the fact that one of them was in his twenties, just like Qing Shui.

“Dr. Chen,” the Lieutenant General greeted before he arrived. This man was not haughty. Instead, there was an affable aura surrounding him. Only the epaulet revealed his rank.

Chen forced himself to squeeze out a smile when he saw the person coming, making it obvious that he was acquainted with the Lieutenant General.

“General Zhang.”

“Chen! Haven’t seen you for a while. I heard from my subordinate that an EM just arrived. I just came to give my congratulations in person since we don’t have many EMs coming from outside of Zhengzhou. What category is he in?”

“Well... He is just an ordinary EM in cognitive and analytic categories, nothing too special for General to concern about.” Chen gently patted Qing Shui’s shoulder. “Here he is, a young man as you see.”

Apparently, Zhang wasn’t too impressed by Chen’s introduction. He shifted his eyes and stared at Qing Shui. “A spirited young man! Our institute needs fresh blood like you!”

“Thank you for your kind words, General,” Qing Shui answered, bowing.

“Treat us as your friends and family!” Zhang hinted for the young man at his side to come closer. “Let me introduce you, this is Zhuo Zhao. He is just as young as you are and is the only local in the institute who underwent encephalon mutation. This precious gem was the only EM in cognitive category in here before you arrived. I have learned how smart he is during his stay, so you should talk with him more.”

Following Zhang’s introduction, the young man was the first to reach out in a friendly manner. “Nice to meet you, I am Zhuo Zhao, just call me Zhuo please,” he said.

“Nice to meet you too, I am Qing Shui Li,” Qing Shui said, holding out his hand in reply. He smiled, and the two shook their hands. It looked perfectly neutral and normal, but there was an undercurrent of tension as they looked each other in the eyes, judging, evaluating.

Not sensing anything out of the norm, Zhang stepped aside to introduce the other person. “This is Dr. Xilin Zhang, one of the best scientists in conducting research on Biology and Genetics in China; you will surely learn a lot by having him as your supervisor.”

“Nice meeting you, Dr. Zhang,” Qing Shui greeted him, polite as he always were.

“Hello, Qing Shui.”

Dr. Zhang was in his sixties, but despite his wrinkles, his dashing and upward eyebrows made him as charming as a young man. He looked neither soft nor tough and was very charismatic.

General Zhang spoke again once he ensured Dr. Zhang greeted Qing Shui. “Great, now that we know each other, if you have any questions, you can ask Dr. Zhang. And please, make sure you’ll talk to Zhuo more often.”

“General Zhang, are you trying to steal Qing Shui from me?” Chen asked, stepping in to cut off Zhang’s chattering. “Our group found him first, and he will work for me as I found him in the first place. This is the rule that you set before you found Zhuo, or did you forget about that?”

“Hahaha... Look at how nervous you’ve become.” Instead of feeling intimidated, Zhang simply sidetracked. “I was only concerned about his welfare as he is a newcomer; I never thought about taking him anywhere. To avoid arousing suspicions, I will be leaving now.”

Zhang’s chatter was ceaseless. He patted Qing Shui on the shoulder before leaving. “Group Alpha will always welcome you to visit and study. Although our five groups share the resources equally, labor is always shared differently within divisions in socialism.”

Zhang seemed to have a mask of being amiable. His facial expressions always made others feel like he was approachable.

After finishing his speech, he turned around and slowly disappeared down the other end of the corridor with the lab coats.

“How does research relate to socialism? His speech was so weird!” Chang was lost in their conversation.

“He was trying to say his group is superior to others; and he wanted me to consider hopping to their group,” said Qing Shui, expressionlessly.

“Then what is your decision?” Chen asked, looking sideways at Qing Shui’s face.

“I am already at your side by what I’ve just said,” Qing Shui implied.

“If you don’t mind, can I ask for your reason behind the desicion?”

“It was intuition that told me to do so,” Qing Shui said, gazing at Chen. “By any chance, can you tell me the number of the EM index test that you just performed on me?”

“167.”

“What about Zhuo, the young researcher?”

“134, his was slightly lower than yours.”

“Understood. He’s been here for a few days, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, eight days to be exact. He impressed me with his learning skills as he had a thorough grasp of genetic engineering which takes decades to establish. He even joined the research group which studies the red fog today.” He drew a USB key from his pocket as he spoke. “This is what he learned from; it contains more than a gigabyte of research papers. I hope you can read them in a week.”

“I really appreciate this, Dr. Chen.” Qing Shui bowed again to show gratitude.

“Let’s call it a day then. You must be tired from the arduous travelling. I’ll ask someone to arrange a suite for you and your family.” Chen directed his attention to Chang and Jing “You are all wounded, and the little girl seems too pale... it must be shock from an excessive blood loss. We have military doctors stationed in the institute, I’ll get one of them to take care of you guys. We’ll talk more if you have any other inquiries, but for now, just rest.”

Chen turned around and left to make the arrangements for Qing Shui.

The rest of the day went by quickly. The doctor that Chen asked for arrived before they got to their suite. They received proper treatment and then went to have a good rest in their beds.

At dusk, Chang woke up and saw Qing Shui buried in the blue light of the computer. The room became darker as the clock ticked by, but Qing Shui didn’t turn on the light in considerion of Jing who was still asleep.

“Electricity! This makes me feel like I am back in the civilized world,” Chang said. His finger hovered over the sensor of the desk lamp, the yellow light shedding warmth on Qing Shui’s face. The calm atmosphere in the suite made him feel like the apocalypse had never happened.

Nailed to the desk, Qing Shui commented without turning his head, “Sad to say, civilized world is not necessarily any safer than the jungle.” Every page he read stayed less than three seconds on his retina, such pace of page turning made his eyes seem like they were flickering.

“I don’t really understand the political stir in here. I thought humans would be united at this moment to fight the crisis ahead, instead of fighting with each other.” Chang slowly sunk into the sofa beside Qing Shui’s desk, sighing in comfort. “They are so smart yet so dumb at the same time.”

“Politicking doesn’t mean they are dumb, but they may just be arguing over beliefs.” Multitasking was well-handled by Qing Shui, he kept the pace of reading while talking with Chang. “To elaborate, all of us are facing the same world sunk into the red fog, but how everyone approaches it could be very different. Some might be extremists who would advocate to transform the nature using nuclear power and biochemicals, so as to defend the inherent dominance of humanity. Others might be much softer, holding an idea of immersing civilization in nature without changing it. You can’t really say which side is right or wrong, and it doesn’t mean one is more evil than the other. They are simply factions which strive for the future of humanity with different approaches.”

“Therefore, you declined the invitation from Group Alpha. Does that mean you do not agree with their ideas and approach?” Chang asked, standing up and coming to stand behind Qing Shui.

“You are correct. They are aggressive enough for me to know they are the left wing. The three of them are immersed in the fantasy of invincibility of mankind. They also view nature with contempt shown by their arrogant attitude. Their values and beliefs conflict with mine.” Qing Shui heaved a sigh, and his fingers stopped pressing on the mouse. His index finger fumbled over the screen. “Just as the person who discovered the red fog said in this comment, ‘Humanity cannot simply outcompete nature, like humanity cannot defeat its Creator. I never believed in theology, but I do believe this magical red fog is the waters of the Creator.’”

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NOTE:

Hello,

To allow better understanding of the novel, the translator and the editor have worked together and decided to address the meaning of MCs’ Chinese names as many of you may not have a chance to see the link between MCs’ personalities and implication from their names. We hope this explanation can make your reading experience more enjoyable. ;)

Best,

Letty & Monika

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Chang Liu - Chang means fast, fluent, carefree.

Qing Shui Li - Qing Shui is his first name although it was often typed separately, it means clear and pure water. The name resembles how resilient, calm and unperturbed Qing Shui is.

Zhuo Zhao - Zhuo usually means excellent.

Jing - Jing means quiet and stable.

Ming Yi Shen - Ming Yi is his first name that typed separately. It is a kind of names that often associated with the political environment when he was borned. It fits his background if you recall that he was borned and raised in a small village, which is usually isolated from big cities like Beijing, Shanghai. The impact of Mao, the 1st Chairman of PRC isn’t completely vanished in this small town and newborn babies are usually named patriotically. Therefore, Ming usually means bright, honesty, integrity and Yi can mean “be the number one” or just simply because he is the first kid in the family.

Pangzi (Shiyu Li) - Pangzi is often a nickname for those who are chubby, it is named after a person’s physical appearance. It is a common practice to name after a chubby person in a Chinese novel as Pangzi as Chubbiness is their most noticeable feature. Pangzi’s real name Shiyu, means rain that comes in time.