The Return of Cambrian Period Volume 1 Chapter 1 30 Dec 26, 2019

"At 4:27 pm, Beijing time, an 8.3-magnitude earthquake struck in Golmud of Qinghai province, China. The waves of the earthquake spread hundreds of kilometers..."

"This afternoon, an 8.3-magnitude earthquake occurred in Golmud of Qinghai province. Currently, the impact of the earthquake is still immeasurable. Hundred miles of surrounding area of the epicenter of the earthquake, which has an altitude of more than 4,000 meters above the sea level, has no one residing in. At present, there has been no report of casualties..."

Cong Xia quickly browsed through the news about the earthquake that had been constantly emerging, even those gamers in the game that he was playing also posted comments to discuss about the earthquake, his fingers were quickly moving on the keyboard.

(So it really was an earthquake, I could still feel it although it was so far away. I was even waken up by it!)

(Fortunately, it happened in a no-man's land in Golmud. The earthquake was 8.3-magnitude. If it occurred in other cities then there must be many casualties. How scary!)

(Yeah, fortunately that's a no-man's land, I could even feel it in Yunnan.)

(Psst, Yunnan was nothing. I could feel it even in Beijing.)

(I also felt it in Henan...)

[Note: Yunnan and Henan are provinces of China, and Beijing is the capital of China... Compared to Yunnan, Henan and Beijing are quite far away from Qinghai.]

Seeing those gamers discussing the topic excitedly, Cong Xia found it hard to join in the conversation. He looked at the watch. It was already past 6 pm. Yesterday was his day-off, so he stayed up late to play DOTA, only until four in the morning that he went to sleep. He was in his sleep when he was wakened up by the earthquake. Because the vibration was weak, he even thought that it was just his imagination. However, when he got up and surfed the internet, it turned out that there really was an earthquake.

[Note: DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) is a multiplayer online battle arena mod for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.]

However, this earthquake seemed to have nothing to do with him, so he just stop paying any attention to it.

Cong Xia ruffled his messy hair, took a shower in the bathroom, then quickly made two dishes and one soup for himself and enjoyed his meal while watching cartoon.

As he was just halfway through his meal, his cell phone rang. When he picked it up and had a look at the screen, he suddenly lost his appetite. It was his female boss. Whenever she called during these times, then it was definitely not good thing. He sighed and received the call.

"Hello, Chief Jiang."

"Xiao Cong, are you at home?"

[Note: Xiao (小), which literally means SMALL, is added before someone's surname regardless of their genders when Chinese want to address someone who is younger than them in an informal and casual way. The formula is XIAO + SURNAME. You will know this fact if you watched Karate Kid featuring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith...]

"No, I'm hanging out with a group of friends outside."

"Don't lie, my ears are very good, just by listening to the sound of your surroundings and I have already known that you are at home. You have no girlfriend, why would you go with a group of friends to such a quiet place?"

Cong Xia wryly smiled and said.

"Chief Jiang, I surrender. I am heading to the company now."

"I'm sorry for taking away your day-off, but be hurry, the customer just told me that there were some loopholes in the website. You quickly come here and fix it."

What can I do with your 'sorry'? Just give me overtime pay, sister!

Cong Xia thought.

He had no choice but to hang up the phone and change his clothes to go to the company.

Before he left, he thought that he would not be the only one who had to work overtime, so he took out some steamed buns from the refrigerator that he made last night, heated up and brought them with him.

The apartment that he rented was very close to the company. It only took him ten minutes to get there by bicycle.

He was listening to the song while going upstairs. The lights in their office were on, but only the office area was lit. The entrance of the company was quite dark, but it didn't affect his steps. Even if he walked with his eyes closed in this area, he would never hit the wall, but today, for some reason, when he passed by a potted plant, he suddenly tripped and his body uncontrollably fell forward. He couldn't care less if he just tripped himself up, but both the heat preservation box in his hand and the phone in his pocket also flew out.

A loud bang caused the people in the office to go outside.

"Who is that?"

Cong Xia said while lying on the ground.

"It's me."

When two older male coworkers in the company saw him, they laughed out loud.

"What happened to you, Xiao Cong? You could even trip on a flat tile."

Cong Xia was getting up from the ground.

"There was something on my way..."

He did not even finish his sentence yet and one of his seniors turned on the light, and the three of them looked at the direction behind of Cong Xia.

"Hm?"

They all exclaimed in surprise.

The thick branches of the company's bonsai pine, which was placed at the reception desk, had extended out of the flower pot. Even one branch had reached the ground, it was this branch that Cong Xia tripped on. Cong Xia asked doubtfully.

"How... how could it grow so fast?"

The company's potted plants were regularly trimmed, so it made no sense when a plant grew this much and there was no one taking care of it. More importantly, Cong Xia remembered that there were no abnormalities with this bonsai pine when he left work yesterday, if it grew up this much all of sudden, there was no way that no one in the company could not notice, don't tell him that no one was able to see it?

The senior who turned on the light also muttered.

"Yeah, it grew quite big. Why didn't I have any impression at all? Just a while ago, I also didn't notice anything when I walked pass it."

"I didn't pay attention too, probably because it is here all year round, so everyone just doesn't pay attention to it. Let's call someone here to trim it on Monday, Xiao Cong, are you okay? Here... your mobile phone."

"I'm OK. I'm OK."

Cong Xia took the phone and fixed his clothes. He had a look at the bonsai pine again. There was always this strange feeling in his heart.

"What is this?"

The senior picked up the heat preservation box from the ground. Cong Xia laughed and said.

"Oh, I made some buns yesterday. We probably will be hungry after busy work."

"Haha, you are really the most caring person in the whole company, even the girls can't compare with you."

One senior patted him on the shoulder. The other also said.

"That's right, last time I went to Xiao Cong's house, the room was so clean that I didn't dare to step in it."

Cong Xia smiled sheepishly.

"Let's finish our job quickly and get back home to have some sleep."

The three of them turned on the computers and got busy. Cong Xia was a network engineer. After graduation, he had been working for this company for almost three years. Although the salary was not high, he even had to work overtime quite often. But he was the type person who could adapt to any situation, he was too lazy to make any change if he could already make a living and have a calm life.

The three people were busy until past 11 pm and finally fixed the loopholes. After contacting the customer, they were ready to go home.

One senior suddenly remembered the buns that Cong Xia brought.

"Hey, let's eat the buns that Xiao Cong made. I am starving."

"Yeah."

The heat preservation box was opened, the buns were still warm, one senior picked up one bun and took a bite. He just made 2 chews and already slightly frowned.

"Xiao Cong, when did you make these buns?"

"Last night."

"Were they refrigerated?"

"Of course, how could I not put them in the refrigerator on such a hot day like this? I just took them out of the refrigerator and thawed them before I left home. What's wrong?"

"They don't taste too fresh."

"Impossible..."

Cong Xia took a bun and had a bite. The bun did taste a bit off, although it was not stale yet, but it also tasted like it had been cooked for three days and was not very fresh. Cong Xia said in surprise.

"How could this be like this? I just made them last night and put them in the refrigerator right away..."

The senior quickly said.

"Maybe because the weather is too hot, it's OK, in fact, it is still not spoiled, I can still eat it. We shouldn't waste it."

Cong Xia hurriedly said.

"Liu Ge, don't eat."

[Note: Ge (哥) is a Chinese suffix which is used to call a man who is older than you and you know him, because the word Ge means OLDER BROTHER. The formula is SURNAME + GE. In case you don't know the name of the man, but he appears to be older than you, then you can call that person Da Ge (大哥), which literally means BIG BROTHER...]

He was a little embarrassed.

"They probably became spoiled during these few hours. Don't eat them, I don't want you to have diarrhea."

Cong Xia looked at a few remaining buns. It was quite a pity.

He took the steamed buns out of the refrigerator and put them directly into the microwave oven. Then he put them in the heat preservation box. The heat preservation box was used to keep the temperature stable. Only three or four hours had passed, they really shouldn't become this bad. It was really weird.

Cong Xia threw the steamed buns into the trash can. The three of them were talking while walking downstairs together. They were still hungry, so they decided to go to the nearby food stalls to have some night snacks.

A large stall was surrounded by a lot of people. It seemed like someone was arguing. They also heard an angry scream even from afar.

They all wanted to see what was going on, so they headed to that direction. Only when they reached the big food stall that they knew it was the guests from one table and the owner of the stall were quarreling.

The customers said that the seafood that the food stall provided was not fresh. The owner insisted that it just arrived this morning. It was frozen all the time, so it was impossible for it to not be fresh, so the more they argued, the more intense it became. Suddenly, one of them, who was a hot-tempered female customer, approached the owner and pushed him. In front of everybody's eyes, the owner was pushed two or three meters back, and fell directly on the road. He almost hit Cong Xia.

The owner was not just forced to step back two or three meters, both of his feet lifted off the ground, and he flew back two or three meters and fell on the ground.

Not only was Cong Xia shocked, everyone around him was also stunned.

The owner was a big fat man with a height of over 1.8 m, and the female guest who pushed him was only less than 1.6 m. She looked really fragile and should not be able to push the owner back. However, she was not only able to do it, but also pushed him back far away. It was very unlikely even for a specially trained person to push a 160-170 pounds man, who could subconsciously steady his own body and create resistance to the person who pushed him, this far!

At this time, the noisy food stall suddenly became as silent as a tomb.

The female guest was also stunned and looked at her hand in shock.

"WOW!!! So strong!!"

Someone in the crowd exclaimed and the people around him exploded. They all asked the female guest if she had ever practiced.

The female guest's face was flushed. She looked even more panicked than the owner. She hurriedly pulled her friends to flee from the scene.

The owner didn't fall very badly, it was mainly because he was just shocked. When he finally came back to his sense, she had already gone, he was so angry that he stomped his feet.

After this event, the three men chose a food stall and enjoyed their night snacks. When they were eating, they couldn't help but talk about the earthquake in Qinghai. Cong Xia, who normally liked to talk, yet showed that he was not very interested in this topic. He always felt that everything around him had changed. Many details had made him wonder, but he did not know what direction to think.

He was really curious since he was a child, and he was very passionate about research. His interest was extremely wide. Whenever he was interested in something, he would spent a lot of effort to study about it thoroughly. He once spent 2 months on researching on rosewood thoroughly because he was helping his friend with choosing rosewood furniture. There was also one time that he accidentally visited a mechanical processing plant and took an interest in the assembly line machine, he ended up spending half a year, trying to design a more energy-efficient machine. The semi-finished product's design plan was still in his drawer now. In short, he was a careful and sensitive person who liked to take detailed observation of the things around him. Since the time that he woke up in the afternoon until now, there were many things happened that he couldn't explain. These things would definitely be overlooked by other people, but he had a feeling that something was different, and his presentiment was unusually strong, which made him feel really uncomfortable.

It was the fear of the unknown.

He worriedly returned home. Only after he turned on the computer and watched the movie for a while that he could calm down. He thought that it must be because he stayed up late and slept in the morning yesterday, that made him exhausted, he did not have enough rest and was also called to work overtime, that was why he had these negative emotions. A good sleep would make him better.

The weather was hot, so he quickly took a shower again and went to bed.

He was sleeping when he was suddenly wakened up by a scream in the middle of the night. The voice was extremely piercing and it was just downstairs.

The apartment that Cong Xia rented was right next to the street and on the third floor. The rent was quite cheap. Fortunately, he was a heavy sleeper, so passing cars did not affect his rest at all, but this piercing scream sounded as if it was so close to him. He jumped up from the bed and drew the curtain to look downstairs.

Under the dim street light, he saw a woman lying on the ground, struggling with a cat-like thing. Cong Xia rubbed his eyes to have a better look. It was indeed a cat, the hair on its whole body was standing up, and the woman were crawling backwards in horror, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

Cong Xia was very surprised, there was no way an adult couldn't fight a cat. And it seemed like the woman also had lost a lot of blood.

He put on his clothes, ran downstairs in his slippers, as he was running down, he heard another scream.

Cong Xia was terrified deep inside, he quickly rushed towards the street, and the scene in front of him gave him goosebumps.

It was 3 or 4 am at this time, there was not a single pedestrian on the street, otherwise everyone would also be scared by this scene.

A gray-black wild cat pounced on the woman's face, hysterically biting her face and neck, the woman was struggling as if her life depended on it, but she could not break free. All she could do was screaming while lying on the ground.

Cong Xia didn't think much. He approached the wild cat and gave it a kick. The wild cat screamed out loud and was kicked to the side, but the cat quickly got back on its feet from the ground, it looked at Cong Xia fiercely and its eyes were flickering with abnormally green light.

Cong Xia was not a courageous person, but based on common sense, he really did not think that an adult should be afraid of a cat. In his mind, this woman was too drunk, so her whole body was weak, and this cat was obviously rabid.

The wild cat arched his back, his mouth was opened and he was making some unpleasant hisses at Cong Xia. Even so, after a few hisses, he still didn't dare to approach. Cong Xia stomped his foot and the wild cat turned around and ran away.

Cong Xia gave out a sigh of relief, although he was not afraid of this cat, but a bite from a cat was already unbearable, not to mention that this cat was a sick one.

He quickly squatted down to check the woman's injury. Both the skin and the flesh of the woman's face were bitten. The wound was not deep, but her face was definitely ruined. However, the injury that was more serious was on her neck. The cat scratched her and left a long and deep wound on her neck, and it was still bleeding nonstop. Cong Xia also had some knowledge about medical science. This injury did not hurt the artery. With the bite force of a cat, it was also unlikely to damage the aorta, but the blood coming out of the wound was still shocking enough.

Cong Xia quickly rushed back upstairs, took the phone and called 120, then grabbed some money and went downstairs. He waited for the ambulance to come and took the woman to the hospital.

[Note: 120 is the first-aid ambulance number in China.]

He used the woman's mobile phone to call her family and then paid more than two hundred yuan for the medical expense. He was really sleepy. He just wanted to go back to sleep. He felt like today he was really unlucky and got into a bunch of troubles that he couldn't understand at all.

He couldn't sleep after he was back home. It was more than an hour away until sunrise. As he was on bed, Cong Xia thought about what happened today again and again. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Was he too sensitive? Or were there really some changes around him?

He flipped over and suddenly remembered that today he was in a rush to go to the company and forgot to clean dishes that he used for dinner in the kitchen. After all, he couldn't sleep, so he got up to clean up the kitchen.

When he saw the remaining of the food that he had today in the kitchen, he felt a chill rushing from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.

He left home at about 7 pm, now it was 4 o'clock in the morning of the next day, just nine hours and his dinner actually began to become moldy!

The weather was hot and if the food was left outside, it would go stale, so it was understandable. However, the normal phenomenon should be fermentation, how could the bacterium multiply so quickly? This really defied the laws of science.

He rushed to the cupboard and opened the can of yogurt that he bought yesterday. An unusual acidic rotten smell reached his nose. He was like a crazy person and took out all the dried fruit and dried goods that could be preserved for a long time at room temperature that he had hoarded at home. He found that there was no exception as all of them were spoiled.

Cong Xia was dumbfounded.

He rushed back to the bedroom, turned on the computer, and quickly typed the keywords 'food spoils too fast' into the search engine. There was a lot of breaking news about this matter. The netizens from all over the country claimed that their food was spoiled at an abnormal speed. Cong Xia extracted the IP addresses of the news and input them in the statistical software. He realized that most IP addresses were from the Midwest. And those who disagreed and said that there was nothing abnormal about the food, were all from the Southeast.

[Note: The Midwest consists of several provinces such as Hubei, Hunan, Henan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shanxi, Gansu, Qinghai etc. while the Southeast consists of provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu etc.]

This result made Cong Xia really surprised. He thought for a minute and suddenly remembered the earthquake in the afternoon.

He further analyzed the results. According to the IP addresses of the news, he concluded that the closer to the Golmud area of Qinghai province, the more serious the speed at which the food spoiled, and the farther away from Golmud, the less severe the phenomenon was. There was no abnormality in the three Eastern provinces and the Southeast Coast at all.

[Note: Three Eastern provinces are Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning. The Southeast Coast consists some provinces that... well... are located in the southeast side of China and near the ocean such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang etc.]

The phenomenon of food's accelerating spoiling speed was like the aftershock of the earthquake. With Golmud as the center, it continued to spread across the country.

There must be something wrong with that earthquake!

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I included the full map of China that I modified to help you understand better what was going on...

- The province with red color is Qinghai, the center of the earthquake.

- Provinces with orange color are in danger zone.

- Provinces with blue color are less affected or not affected at all by the earthquake.

- Provinces with green color are completely not affected by the earthquake yet.

- Cong Xia is currently residing in Kunming - the capital city of Yunnan province.

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Don't ask me about those gray areas... I'm not sure what the condition of those areas is, so I just colored them gray...