The Return of Cambrian Period Volume 1 Chapter 19 13 Feb 29, 2020

After a brief startled and stunned moment, the young soldier quickly responded.

"Are there any credentials? Let me have a look."

Cheng Tianbi took out the soldier ID and handed it to the soldier. However, the soldier ID showed that he was just an ordinary soldier of an infantry company. His real position was the state secret.

The soldier looked at Cheng Tianbi more than once. Overall, he always felt that this man's manner was not like that of an ordinary soldier, but he didn't ask much. He gave the document back to him and said.

"Kunming city is under the command of the general chief of staff of the XXth military region, chief Zhao. What did you ask this for?"

"I came to Yunnan for a special mission. I have the specially approved documents of the Xth military region. I have been in touch with your deputy commander Shen Wanjia before. Now I need to see chief Zhao."

"The document..."

"I can't let you see it."

Cheng Tian said with no expression on his face. The soldier hesitated for a little while and said.

"You wait for us here, I will report your name to the higher ups."

After the soldier left, Cong Xia sighed.

"Fortunately, our army hasn't become a mess."

Cheng Tianbi said.

"The army is the armed force of mankind that is the most organized, disciplined and has the ability to resist. It must not fall."

Cong Xia stared at his soldier ID.

"May I see it?"

Cheng Tianbi threw the ID to him. Cong Xia looked at it twice and said.

"This is not true."

Cheng Tianbi glanced at him.

"How do you know?"

"Based on the weapon that you brought, how could you be just an ordinary infantry? If you really were one, you might not even have the chance to touch these things, such as your type 95 rifle. I also saw that you had two flash grenades. Although I don't know much about weapons, I probably still know which one is the good stuff."

Cheng Tianbi refused to leave any comment. Cong Xia continued.

"Yet you said that you came to Yunnan for a special mission. I actually believe it must be a very confidential mission. Was it possibly related to the global evolution?"

Cheng Tianbi looked at him coldly.

"Shut up."

Cong Xia sighed, there was a bit loss in his eyes.

"Tianbi, we have been through life and death situations all the way to here. I thought there should be some trust between us, but you still hide so many things from me."

Cheng Tianbi said.

"If you want to know, ask Professor Cong in person."

Cong Xia thought about his second uncle and then thought about the whole thing before and after, he suddenly came up with an idea that made him feel chilled. He clenched his teeth and said.

"At least this one question, you should be able to answer me."

"Speak."

"I have always thought that the helicopter that you said was sent by my uncle to pick me up. Now when I think about it again, it must be my misunderstanding, the one that the helicopter is waiting for is you. I'm just a hitchhiker. You only accepted the request that my second uncle entrusted to you out of convenience, didn't you?"

[Note: In previous chapters, the author kept using the word "飛機" which means airplane. She only mentioned the word "直升機" which means helicopter in this chapter. I'm just gonna use the exact translation of the words that she used...]

Cheng Tianbi looked at him calmly, his lips softly touched and he spit out a 'yes' word. Cong Xia instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

As expected, he had misunderstood the whole time. Only Cheng Tianbi was the important person that Beijing needed. He just happened to benefit from it. This could not help but make him even more curious about what tasks Cheng Tianbi had executed and what secrets he was carrying after all.

For some reason, the fact that Cheng Tianbi concealed this from him made him really uncomfortable. Only he regarded Cheng Tianbi as his friend, Cheng Tianbi always kept a distance from him. Cong Xia originally thought that he was Cheng Tianbi's target as a soldier, but in the end, he found out that he was only a thing that was entrusted to him to take back out of convenience.

It turned out that to Cheng Tianbi, he was basically dispensable. Cheng Tianbi could leave him at any time. As soon as he thought about it, Cong Xia once again felt panic and devastated.

Cheng Tianbi looked at Cong Xia's pale face, he could guess what he was thinking almost instantly. He whispered.

"I will take you back to Beijing."

Cong Xia lifted his head in surprise. This was the first time that he had heard "comfort words" coming from his mouth since he first knew Cheng Tianbi. It didn't matter if what Cheng Tianbi said could be done or not, this mere sentence of Cheng Tianbi could already made Cong Xia moved. After all, right now it was obvious that he was just a burden, but Cheng Tianbi did not give up on him. He already felt very content. He said excitedly.

"Thank you."

Cheng Tianbi was about to say something. Suddenly, a loud noise that came from the distance was approaching and the earth shook violently.

"Earthquake! Earthquake!"

"Oh my god, there's another earthquake!"

Cheng Tianbi pulled Cong Xia and rushed to the fountain. Cong Xia looked back and found that the place where they were originally standing was already packed with panic crowd. The square completely flared up. Everyone was agitated, but they didn't know where to go. From time to time, someone would be pushed to the ground and could no longer stand up. The scene was chaotic. Since they stood at the fountain, they were a little safer. At least there was no danger of being trampled.

The ground vibration quickly stopped. The people in the square also stiffened. No one knew what had happened. On the contrary, there were several people lying on the ground, who were trampled to death, reminding them of what had just happened was not an illusion.

"Don't take! Don't take it!"

An angry roar came from the center of the square.

"Someone is taking the food! Don't push! Fuck!"

It seemed that after the disturbance just now, all the panic, anger, grief and despair in everyone's heart were released all together along with the violent vibration. The square was chaotic again. Some people robbed the food from others, some were insanely roaring and attacking other people. The distributing food trucks were instantly surrounded by the crazy citizens. Waves of people were trying to climb up the truck to grab the food.

Someone took the megaphone to loudly advise the citizens to calm down. Another stood on the car roof and fired shots at the sky, but the scene was still out of control. Like a plague, the agitated emotion quickly spread across this square where tens of thousands of people gathered.

Cheng Tianbi dragged Cong Xia to squat down at the fountain. The two men clung tightly to the pillar in the middle of the fountain. Cheng Tianbi whispered.

"You must not move, don't stand up."

Cong Xia's forehead was sweating cold sweat, but after experiencing several life and death situations, he was much calmer. He nodded heavily and stayed closely next to Cheng Tianbi. He inhaled in the pure smell of masculinity from him in an attempt to calm himself down.

The rioting citizens ran back and forth around them from time to time. The crowd was agitated. The fountain became a natural barrier for them instead. The two of them did not have to endure the pain of being squeezed into a can.

[Note: This could refer to the term "擁擠不堪" which means 'packed like sardines']

They could no longer see what was going on in the middle of the square, but based on the wailing noise that was constantly coming from over there, they could guess that the army had released the tear gas.

Cheng Tianbi observed the situation, he quickly opened his bag, ripped off his cotton clothes, pulled out the cotton inside and stuffed it into Cong Xia's hand. Cong Xia asked.

"What is this for?"

"Stuff it into your ears, with so many people like this, the tear gas won't hold them off. Quickly stuff it, as much as possible."

After that, he himself also stuff cotton into his ears desperately. Cong Xia followed him and desperately took out the cotton and stuffed it into his ears.

When he was almost unable to stuff anymore, a strange and unusually harsh sound suddenly came from the center of the square, immediately followed by a strong light burst, which made the square at dusk as bright as daylight. Fortunately, the crowd blocked the light, so they hadn't felt their eyes irritated, but the sound directly pierced through the two men's bodies. Cong Xia desperately covered his ears but was still so shocked that he felt dizzied and almost vomited.

He knew what it was. It was a shock bomb. The people who were near it must have been straightforwardly paralyzed, even the people who were far away from the source, within 10 meter range, there were still many people lying on their stomachs .

The two of them were the luckiest because they had prepared in advance. They only slightly wanted to vomit.

The shock bomb worked, but the price was heavy. The shock bomb should have been a long-range fired weapon, otherwise it would hurt the users as well. In order to control the worsening situation, the military even went that far and released the shock bomb within such a close distance. It was estimated that the soldiers who were near were also badly injured.

But at least the scene was under control and no one around was able to get up and grab the food.

Groups of soldiers in military vehicles approached from the distance, they caught up with the citizens at the square and gathered them to form a group.

For those who could still stand, all of them accepted their fate and continued to line up. As for those who could not stand up, in the apocalypse when everyone felt unrest, no one cared about them at all.

The two men dodged a bullet. They both let out a sigh of relief.

After this riot, they did not count on the young soldier to be able to come back to find them. They simply carried their bags and walked to the military vehicles outside the square.

They pushed through the crowd who was just as congested as before. After all the trouble, they reached the periphery of the square. There were already people guarding the place that was more than twenty meters away from the military vehicles. They would not let anyone approach.

When Cheng Tianbi and Cong Xia were considering how to approach, they saw the previous soldier leading two people and walking towards their direction from far away. When those people arrived, the soldier formed a military salute to Cheng Tianbi.

"Comrade, this is the battalion commander Wang Lian and instructor Du Fei of our 5th battalion. Battalion commander, this is the person that I have mentioned, he's from Xth military region of Beijing."

"Hello comrade Cheng."

The person who arrived exchanged military salutes, then reached out his hand for a handshake.

"I heard that you had been in contact with deputy commander Shen before, but he is not here at the moment. You can talk to me first and explain the situation."

The two men followed the battalion commander towards the military vehicles. They had moved the temporary headquarter to an office building near the square. The office building was heavily guarded. Even the weeds were completely wiped out.

The two men were taken to the front of an office, Wang Lian told Cheng Tianbi.

"Comrade Cheng, I want to talk to you alone."

Cong Xia glanced at Cheng Tianbi, but saw that Cheng Tianbi didn't look at him at all. He directly entered the building with the battalion commander Wang Lian. Cong Xia sighed in disappointment. A soldier said to him.

"Comrade, sit here. I'll pour you a glass of water."

Cong Xia had no choice but wait outside of the office. He was waiting for not even ten minutes when a shabbily dressed PLA dashed towards him.

"Where is the battalion commander?!"

Someone stopped him.

"What are you doing, Zhao Qian? You look so flustered. The battalion commander is busy. He's in the meeting."

"I need to see the battalion commander right away. Something very bad has happened!"

"What happened?"

"The big pine tree is gone!"

Cong Xia suddenly looked up.

Gone? What's gone?

The one who stopped him was also stunned.

"Gone? Are you dreaming?"

"It's really gone! There is a huge pit left on the ground. Even a single piece of leaf is nowhere to be seen! It has disappeared into the thin air!"

At this time, Cong Xia completely forgot who he was, it only took him two steps to cover the distance that normally took three steps.

"How can it be gone? Isn't it more than twenty-story high? How can it vanish into the thin air?"

If what Zhao Qian said was true, it would be indeed a terrifying fact. A big pine tree was said to have disappeared and it indeed had disappeared. How did it disappear? How many more unpredictable forces were there in this world after all! Bad feeling filled Cong Xia's heart. The two men looked at him suspiciously.

"Who are you? Who let you in?"

The soldier who waited on him hurriedly rushed here.

"He is the companion of the person the battalion commander needs to meet. I'll inform the battalion commander now."

Cong Xia reluctantly restrained his turbulent emotions and said politely.

"Big brother, if the tree is really gone, it can't be kept as a secret, please just tell me."

This was indeed no secret. People in the city would soon know that the huge evil pine tree had evaporated. He said.

"When the earthquake occurred, they detected that the source of the vibration came from where the pine tree took root. So I took my men to go there and have a look. There is a deep pit with a diameter of more than 100 meters left on the ground. There's no way that I misindentified. I have lived here for more than 30 years, that was where the root system of the pine tree was, but it's just gone, completely gone!"

There was fear on Zhao Qian's face. The battalion commander Wang Lian and Cheng Tianbi heard the noise and responded.

"Zhao Qian, what are you talking about? The big pine tree is gone?"

Cheng Tianbi and Cong Xia briefly glanced at each other. Both of them saw deep anxiety in each other's eyes. Wang Lian said.

"Let's go and have a look."

Cheng Tianbi said.

"Commader, take me with you."

Wang Lian looked at him and Cong Xia.

"Let's go."

They exited the gate and got on a military jeep. The road was covered with overgrown weeds. No one knew what was in those weeds, only by using sturdy military vehicles that they dared to drive.

The group quickly arrived at the city center. Just like Zhao Qian said, a huge pit appeared on the ground. The pit was at least 30 to 40 meters deep. At a glance, many broken roots of the pine tree could still be seen.

This explained that the pine tree did not evaporate. On the contrary, it seemed like it was uprooted by a large hand. Regardless of what the reason might be, the disappearance of the pine tree was already beyond human imagination.

"Move. Go and have a look over there."

Wang Lian took the lead and headed towards another direction. The pit was shallower over there, maybe they could go down.

After walking around the pit for half of the small circle, the group suddenly smelled a strong stench in the air. The stench was similar to decomposition, which was exceptionally unpleasant. The group covered their noses one after another.

Cheng Tianbi frowned, he quietly controlled the wind direction and blew the stench to the other side. Thanks to this, they could breathe a little bit better.

"What's going on, why is it suddenly so stinky?"

Cong Xia said.

"Unusual circumstances must be caused by unusual causes. Let's follow the odor and have a look."

"So stinky, we won't be able to endure it."

Wang Lian said.

"Cover your nose. You're not going to die because of the smell."

After he was done talking, he took a deep breath, squeezed his nose tightly and ran towards the place that had the strongest stench. Other people followed him closely and suddenly heard Wang Lian shouting out loud.

"There's someone."

Sure enough, they found a naked man on the ground behind a chunk of smashed building material. Cong Xia squeezed through them. As soon as he saw the man, he suddenly opened his eyes widely.

Isn't this Liu Fengyu? Why is he unconscious at this place? There are also a lot of pine needles on his body.

"Hey, I know this guy, isn't he the movie star?"

"Indeed... Fuck! It smells so bad, I can't take it anymore!"

Zhao Qian squatted down to the ground and threw up. As soon as he vomited, the others also couldn't stand it and one after another, they started to vomit. Wang Lian's face turned pale.

"Quick, just endure and take him away, he is still alive, presumably he fainted because of the stench."

Cheng Tianbi was the only one at this place who didn't need to pinch his nose. He formed a small wind vortex at the tip of his nose which swirled away all the odor. Even though he could still smell a little bit, it was tolerable. He walked forward, carried Liu Fengyu on his back and headed towards the distant direction.

Other people followed him and ran away from the smelly place. Strangely, they didn't spotted anything smelly, but it might be because they didn't look for it and no one wanted to go back to look for it either.

They ran for dozens of meters in one breath before they dared to inhale.

Cheng Tianbi put Liu Fengyu on the ground. Some heavy odor was attached to the movie star, but it was blown away by the wind so the smell was much better. Cong Xia squatted down next to him, opened his eyelids and had a look.

"He just fainted, except for the pine needles on his body, it seems that there is no other injuries."

A soldier asked Wang Lian.

"Battalion commander, what do we do with this man?"

"Take him back. He may know something about the disappearance of the big pine tree. He was obviously attacked by the pine tree before he lost conscious."

Cong Xia glanced at Liu Fengyu sympathetically. How could this big star who was so laid back just a few hours ago become this miserable? He was not only naked and pierced by a whole buch of pine needles, he also fainted at such a stinky place. Cong Xia thought about the fact that previously, he was covered in perfume and spotlessly clean clothes, he then felt that Liu Fengyu was a little pitiful.

Cheng Tianbi had been watching all this time when Cong Xia was staring at Liu Fengyu, he didn't feel very comfortable. He frowned.

"Don't tell me that you're an idolater too?"

Cong Xia turned his head around awkwardly.

"No, I'm not, it's just a surprise. He looked so well off before, who would have known..."

Cheng Tianbi snorted coldly, he turned around and got in the car.