The Return of Cambrian Period Volume 1 Chapter 4 10 Dec 26, 2019

When turning around the corner, Cong Xia suddenly said.

"Do you think that pine tree... will attack other people?"

"I'm not sure."

"So... Shouldn't we give other people a warning sign? There are still people on the road."

Cheng Tianbi stopped and looked down at him condescendingly.

"You are still not in your right mind, are you?"

Cong Xia was stunned. Cheng Tianbi approached him one step closer.

"It has been 18 hours since the earthquake. The size of the pine tree has enlarged by more than four hundred times, and it has not stopped. Do you know what it means?"

This sentence was the longest one that this soldier had said since the two men first met each other. Cong Xia once thought that he suffered from language impairment, however, this interrupting sentence had already revealed their situation.

Cong Xia knew that his thinking had not been adjusted from the mindset of a world of peace and prosperity. He still felt that everything that happened was a nightmare. He even held onto a fantasy that after a period of time, the crisis would pass, and the society would gradually return to normal. After all, in the history of humanity, there were countless catastrophic disasters. How could the status of human beings, as someone who occupied and dominated the planet, fall to pieces by just an earthquake?

However, even he knew in his heart that based on the speed of evolution of these animals and plants, as long as this phenomenon did not stop, took the pine tree as an example, at this time tomorrow, the entire building would not be able to hold its body, its root system would plant nearly 100 meters deep, the pine needles that it shook off could pierce and turn any living things near it into a sieve.

This is the reality.

This is the reality!

The act of him wanting to establish a warning sign to prevent pedestrians from coming near the tree was completely meaningless. As long as evolution did not stop, human beings would soon have little space to survive in this city. He couldn't help anyone, he couldn't even guarantee his own safety. Cong Xia clenched his fist.

"You're right. I also want to be clear as soon as possible, and you must help me. You obviously know much more than me, nevertheless, you refuse to tell me. Why? I don't want to go without knowing anything. I intended to stay here for a lifetime anyway! You tell me what you know, or you will have to knock me out. I can see that you can talk just fine, but still want to keep me uneasy."

Cheng Tianbi squinted his eyes and looked at him.

"I can just leave you here, you won't live pass three days."

"There must be some reasons why you have to take me with you, or else you wouldn't have come."

The more information he got, the greater the chance he could survive, even if this Mr. Soldier might beat him, he would still took a gamble.

Cheng Tianbi looked at him coldly. He put the backpack on the ground, opened the zipper, and Cong Xia looked down, what's a badass! The military travel bag was full of weapons. Cheng Tianbi took out a pistol and a dagger and handed to Cong Xia.

Cong Xia hesitated for a moment, and he took it. It was the first time he touched a real gun. It felt very heavy in his hand. He was a little nervous. He was afraid that others would see it. He wanted to quickly put it into his clothes, but found that there was no suitable place to put it into. In the summer, he only wore a T-shirt and jeans. He couldn't put it directly into his trouser pocket, the gun grip would just be exposed. Cheng Tianbi frowned and took the pistol back.

"Can you use it?"

"I know the operating method, but I have never practiced."

"This is the safety. When you want to use the gun, the safety has to be off."

After Cheng Tianbi switched offed the safety, he pulled the fire bolt, and then switched on the safety again.

"The gun has been loaded, when you use it, switch off the safety."

Cong Xia said.

"I... I know the steps."

He took the gun again and shyly said.

"Where to put it, my clothes are too thin."

"In the crotch."

Cheng Tianbi briefly said.

Cong Xia could not help but look down at his crotch. Cheng Tianbi pushed his head and asked him to look at the holster he was wearing around his waist.

Cong Xia smiled shyly.

"Then give me a holster."

"You think that I'm joking? Stuff it into the crotch, it's convenient for putting in as well as pulling out."

"But... Storing at that place... influences walking."

Cheng Tianbi impatiently took the gun, grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, then pulled up his clothes and stuffed the gun into his lower back. The cold barrel harshly slid along Cong Xia's skin, and it hurt a little. Cong Xia's body was stiff. Cheng Tianbi pushed him.

"Go."

The GPS was used to relocate the exact location once again, and the two headed to the airport together. Cong Xia was hastily following closely behind him.

"Mr. Soldier, you just said you would tell me when we were on the road, can you tell me what you know now?"

"Ask."

"What actually happened? The mutation happens among all the creatures, or the theory of crazy evolution, what is going on?"

Cheng Tianbi said.

"I don't know a lot more than you. The evolution of the creatures is related to the earthquake. After the earthquake, some kind of energy was radiated from the Golmud area, spread to the whole country and even globally, and it will not be weakened because of the distance. If this tendency doesn't stop, the spreading to the entire world is only a matter of time."

"What kind of energy is this energy? How can there be energy that does not dissipate during transmission? Most importantly, why does it cause species to mutate?"

Cheng Tianbi shook his head.

"I don't know."

Cong Xia pondered for a while.

"This sort of evolution of species reminds me of the Cambrian Explosion that happened more than 500 million years ago. If merely compare the results, the Cambrian Period was very alike with what we are going through now. New creatures are born. The rapid evolution and the rise of species, the species of the Earth have been greatly enriched, but in fact, the so-called 'rapid evolution' at that time, in terms of the geological history, still took quite a few million years. Moreover, it was divided into several stages, but the evolutionary speed that we are experiencing now is not just a million times faster than the Cambrian Period. From any human scientific point of views, this does not make any sense, but it is really happening. The energy emitted from the earthquake must not be a small matter. Don't tell me that it is related to hormones..."

Cheng Tianbi looked at him and was quite surprised. Cong Xia was the target of his uncritical task. He was a burden to him. He did not expect this person to be not stupid. He said.

"There was also a person in Beijing suggested a theory of the second Cambrian Period."

"The second Cambrian Period?"

Cheng Tianbi nodded.

"When did you contact Beijing? What did they say? Did you talk to my second uncle? He is a paleontologist. He considers the study of Cambrian Period as his lifelong pursuit. He must know a lot."

"Three hours ago. Then I got the task of taking you back to Beijing."

"Is there anything else? What did you say?"

"It was said that eight hours after the earthquake happened, Golmud city of Qinghai was already in an uncontrollable state, the hardware system is paralyzed, most of the communication is blocked, and all last communication was distress signal."

"It was caused by the earthquake, or..."

"It is not very clear. The main highway leading to Golmud was destroyed by the earthquake. The helicopters flew there and could not land because all the roads were covered by weeds. Only one helicopter landed on the top floor of a building but soon its signal was completely lost. The people outside can't get in, and the people inside can't come out."

Cong Xia's body was shaking.

"The people inside..."

"Mostly dead."

Cheng Tianbi, with an emotionless expression, said.

"Evolution needs to eat."

Cong Xia clenched his fists tightly, the summer sun was bright, and yet he still felt cold. He knew that Cheng Tianbi was right, his compatriots would not only face the food crisis, but also face the crisis of becoming the food of other species. Golmud was the center of the earthquake and the first affected area, followed by the entire Qinghai province, then spread to the Northwest and Yun Gui Chuan, and then spread to the whole country, and eventually...

[Note: Yun Gui Chuan consists of three words, each taken from the full names of the three provinces in Southwest China, which includes Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.]

With the current growth, human living space would soon be occupied by evolutionary species. Human beings would not only lose the dominating status, but also become the most vulnerable species, and they would become extinct.

How horrifying, humans spent millions of years to climb to the top of the food chain, and it took less than a day for an earthquake to overturn everything!

Cong Xia already could not think of any other words to describe this other than Heavenly Tribulation. Cong Xia said with his trembling voice.

[Note: Tian Jie (天劫) or HEAVENLY TRIBULATION, is a trial that typically takes the form of a lightning storm, with extraordinarily powerful bolts of lightning raining down from the Heaven to strike at the person who is practicing the art to become immortal. This concept is very common in Xianxia, which is a type of Chinese novel that is inspired heavily by Taoism/Daoism. In this case, it can be considered, with a pinch of salt, like The Great Tribulation of Christianity.]

"Can we escape from Yunnan?"

Cheng Tian sounded very calm.

"I don't know."

Cong Xia remained silent. Inside his brain, he recalled the discussion about the speed of the food spoilage phenomenon spreading to the entire nation that he had with other netizens in the hacker forums this early morning. At that time, he did not take the future changes into consideration and concluded that the food spoilage phenomenon would spread throughout the country in about fifty-five hours or so.

The rate of the spreading of the food spoilage was actually also the rate of the spreading of the energy that Cheng Tianbi talked about. He assumed that if Golmud was the center, and from Golmud, drew a circle with a radius of 55 to Fuyuan county, which was in the border of Heilongjiang province. If Golmud was 1 and Fuyuan was 55, then Kunming was between 10 and 15. If Golmud entered the 'S.O.S state' 8 hours after the earthquake happened, which meant as Golmud was 1 and became uncontrollable 8 hours after the earthquake, then Kunming, which was 10 to 15, would take 80 to 120 hours, or 3 to within 5 days, would also fall!

Cong Xia's eyes widened and he grabbed Cheng Tianbi. Cheng Tianbi frowned and looked at him. He repeated the thoughts he just had. His voice was shaking when he said it. His heart was now extremely uncertain. He always felt that they would be able to fly the plane off smoothly, because most of the flights today were either delayed or cancelled. That energy, if could spread on land, was very likely to affect the sky as well.

In addition, even if they arrived at Beijing, what happened after that? If the situation had not changed, Beijing would sooner or later... Cheng Tianbi nodded.

"The analysis of 3 to 5 days is correct. They also gave me this amount of time."

Cong Xia only felt like his legs went soft. He smiled bitterly.

"I can't even imagine what the place where I am standing right now will become in a few days."

Cheng Tianbi did not answer this question. In fact, no one could answer, what the world would become, no one could answer. Cong Xia sighed deeply.

"Let's talk about something else, like... let's talk about you, did you talk to my uncle? Is he okay?"

"No, I received the order directly."

"What kind of military division are you in? Which unit do you belong to?"

Cheng Tianbi ignored him. Cong Xia also felt like discussing all by himself was such a boring thing to do. In his heart, he felt a little upset and annoyed.

"Hey, Mr. Soldier, just say a few more words to me, maybe in a few days, we won't even be alive. Before you die, isn't it good to chit chat and become friends?"

[Note: Cong Xia called Cheng Tianbi in the above sentence Dai Bing Ge (大兵哥), it's a little bit different than in chapter 3 as he added the word '大' which means BIG before '兵哥' which means an older brother who is a soldier. However, the meaning is pretty much the same, I guess adding BIG before to make it sound even more grandeur?]

Cheng Tianbi glanced at him and said.

"You want to die?"

Cong Xia was stunned.

"I don't want to, but you think the end of the world is really coming, and I also won't be able to survive."

"It's true."

Cong Xia was mournful and sullen.

"Compare to me, you probably can live a little longer. Hey, can you feel that it's getting colder and colder?"

Cheng Tianbi stopped his footsteps and carefully sensed a little bit. It was indeed getting colder and colder. Right now, it was in hot season, how could the temperature suddenly drop?

There were three people coming from the distance. It seemed to be a family of three. Everyone of them was in a hurry. They all carried their luggage. When they saw Cong Xia's group, they said.

"Are you also planning to go south?"

Cong Xia nodded.

"More or less, where are you going?"

"To the coast, I heard that the sea was all right, the food, if is not eaten, will be spoiled in a few hours, even being stored in the refrigerator, it still goes bad. Soon, people will become starved, the smart ones are now going outward, regardless, we need to take shelter first, talk to you later."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he rubbed his arm.

"Weird, why is it suddenly so cold?"

"But many planes have been cancelled. How do you get there?"

"Originally, we intended to drive, turns out the road is blocked. We plan to go to the train station to try our luck. There are not many people going outward for now. If I wait for a few days and only leave after the food becomes so rotten to the point that cannot be eaten, at that time, that will be the big famine flee, by then, you won't be able to get on any kind of transportation. Little brother, just leave quickly."

[Note: Xiao Xiong Di (小兄弟), or LITTLE BROTHER. (小) means SMALL, and while (兄) stands alone has the meaning of OLDER BROTHER, and (弟) stands alone has the meaning of YOUNGER BROTHER, the combination of the two words means BROTHER in general. I'm really not a fan of the Chinese system of addressing people... My mother tongue has the addressing system that is quite similar to Chinese, so there is no big deal, but explaining these in English is such a hassle...]

After the family of three had left, Cheng Tianbi looked at the thermometer on the watch.

"There is something wrong, the temperature has dropped by 8 degrees."

"As expected! Let's go back and get the clothes. God knows to what extend it will drop. I'm not even surprised if it immediately goes from summer to winter."

Cheng Tianbi grabbed his arm and dragged him into a residential building.

"It's a waste of time, and it's already too late."

He held his wrist and moved it in front of Cong Xia's face. Cong Xia was surprised to find that during the time they talked, the temperature decreased by two degrees. Now, it was nineteen degrees. From twenty-nine degrees to nineteen degrees, he was afraid that it was not even ten minutes!

"Where are we going?"

"Look for clothes."

He grabbed and dragged him while rushing upstairs. He knocked on the door whenever he saw one. As soon as someone answered him, he went to the next floor. The two men went up until the seventh floor and finally knocked on an unanswered door. Cheng Tianbi took out the pistol, Cong Xia only heard the tiny sound of the silencer, the door lock was already opened by Cheng Tianbi. Cong Xia whispered.

"What are you doing? What if there is someone inside!"

"Shut up."

Cong Xia was so cold he shivered all over, he pulled the wrist of Cheng Tianbi and looked at it, fifteen degrees!

As soon as the door opened, he rushed into the house with Cheng Tianbi. The warm air in the room was really tempting.

After Cheng Tianbi entered the house, he deliberately kicked a vase and made a loud noise, but there was no reaction in the house.

Cong Xia breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed like there was really no one. With the guilt of breaking into a private residence, he carefully took off his shoes and went on to close the window. It was getting colder and colder, this was so weird ! Cheng Tianbi said.

"Turn on the air conditioner, find clothes."

The temperature in the house was still above 20 degrees. The two felt a lot more relaxed. In order to alleviate the tension, Cong Xia even boldly drank a glass of water, he then planned to go to the bedroom to find a few thick clothes, and then made some plans.

He had just walked a few steps inside, and so sudden, he heard a sound coming from the bedroom like something that was very heavy was dragging on the ground. Cong Xia stopped his footsteps, and Cheng Tianbi also walked lightly towards this way, without a single noise, he took the gun out. Cheng Tianbi then coldly said.

"Who is inside? Come out."

The dragging sound stopped, but in the next second, the sound suddenly became faster. Cong Xia's scalp felt numb as he looked at the door of the bedroom. He then saw a brown reddish long haired creature rushing out of the door. Its body was huge, nearly two meters!

Cheng Tianbi did not hesitate to fire a shot at that thing. The thing screamed and fell to the ground. After a roll, it retreated to the back of the sofa. Only at this time that Cong Xia and Cheng Tianbi could clearly saw. It was a monkey.

However, this monster, with a red face, fangs, fierce eyes, long fur that reached the ground, the body was two meters tall and extremely fast, was far too different from the monkeys that they knew.

Cong Xia was too scared he didn't dare to move. His legs trembled continuously. Cold sweats appeared on the forehead of Cheng Tianbi, his eyes stared tenaciously at the monkey hiding behind the sofa.

None of them moved.

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Please kindly give me your opinions by leaving comments to let me know if I should include more notes in later chapters (as regard of the way Chinese people addressing each other, or cultural related notes, or anything else). I feel like sometimes the context will be difficult to understand if I don't add notes to explain, but then I also feel like you guys may not think it's necessary. Personally, I think adding notes creates a sense of culture and helps set the atmosphere and the theme of the novel, but it's also time consuming to do the research to give the correct information... Yeah... I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, so... ¯_(ツ)_/¯