Global Evolution

2:00 A.M

His eyes sprang open. Supporting his body with his arms, Chang sat up and leaned his back against the wall. He rubbed his temple to relieve the growing headache.

Jing was woken up by Chang’s movement as he sat up.

“Chang, are you leaving for the handgun?”

“I am. It’s critical for us since it’s the only effective tool in defending against the gene-altered soldiers.” He dusted off the mud from his pants, then saw a slip of a note pinned under a table leg.

The note was so close to him that he could retrieve it by reaching out his arm. It was obvious that someone had purposefuly left it for him. He lifted the table and drew that piece of paper inked with a graceful script.

The content was a simple line “The gang resides in the townhouses near our community”. There was a simplified line map drawing below the sentence. Its every stroke disclosed the details he needed.

Chang ripped the note twice and threw it in the garbage can. He said, “I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Jing queried.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to the jungle but a townhouse nearby. There aren’t many dangers there that I can’t handle. I‘m just taking my handgun back, I’ve no plan on killing them.”

“But... don’t you think your goal is too obvious to expose you?” Jing was baffled.

“I will make a robbery scene. Although I’ve never done this before, I can mimic what I saw on TV. Nothing you need to worry about.” Chang patted Jing on her back before he left the room.

Chang didn’t leave for the townhouse right away, instead, he returned to the apartment where Jing and he first hid in. His crossbow was untouched and was still placed behind the sofa. Picking it up, he then removed his shirt and put on the silk vest. He found a long-sleeved black t-shirt in a forsaken wardrobe and wrapped his head with a navy scarf that left only his eyes exposed. The daggers were secured to his belt, and the crossbow was loaded. After double-checking everything, he was now fully prepared for his stealthy trespass.

Returning outside, Chang realized that one thing that never changed was the stridulation of insects. Their song used to accompany his innocent childhood, but the good old days were already gone. The same old song that the insects were performing would now become a paean for his imminent triumph.

Without having Jing around him, he was able to run at full speed. Upon nightfall, the darkness flooded the city, and Chang weaved through the overwhelming fog. He was very quick, his every step being the most energy efficient possible. The balls of his feet always avoided debris and deadwood that might reduce his speed.

As if he was a born runner, sprinting had become as effortless and instinctive as breathing. Even though he didn’t gain much strength, his feet pounded the street in such a natural way that was akin to a cheetah racing through verdant meadows. The improvement on analytic skills and perception had turned him into an astute runner. Both his endurance and speed were enhanced by efficiency.

Chang relished at the silent calculations in his mind. In less than two minutes, the area that had neatly organized townhouses was in front of him. He stopped as he had a feeling that his destination was close-by.

Tracing the map in his mind, he found the particular townhouse with ease. It stood out from the rest, which seemed lifeless in comparison.

Except for the institute, none of the residential areas had electricity supply. Regardless of what kind of housing it was, a mansion or a hut, electricity was not provided to citizens.

Chang approached the townhouse with agility. Dirty shoes messily laid outside the door, and the stink of excretion that infected the air, affirmed him that this townhouse was his target.

All of these unmistakable hints gave Chang a direction, and he lurked under a window like a civet cat.

The window on the second floor was blocked by a locked cage-like security fence, and the burglar proof door below was tightly shut.

It was common for people to lock entrances to their houses before going to sleep. As a gang, these people even had thugs sleep in the living room as night guards—they were ready for reprisal from other gangs at any time.

Climbing up the fence to the second floor, Chang hung himself upside down as he reached out to pull apart the thinnest two bars in one breath. He squeezed into the iron cage and slammed against the window with his greatest force. He rolled on the ground to protect his head as he entered the townhouse.

Bang!

The glass shattered, and Chang stood up among the broken shards.

Of course, the break-in awoke everyone inside.

The townhouse was quite big, divided into three floors. The first contained the living room where most of the thugs slept in. This was also a reason why Chang decided to infiltrate through the second floor. He crashed into a bedroom with only four men and one woman snoring on a king-sized bed. All of them were shirtless.

The woman screamed immediately upon seeing a black shadow. The rest were shocked as well, but they were more experienced in combat. Out of instinct, they reached for their weapons.

Leaping with light feet, Chang landed in the center of the bed. He swiftly pulled out a dagger and swung it with the suddenness of a thunder bolt. The tip of the dagger made an elegant curve which slid through these men’s air tubes and arteries. The action itself was dexterous yet aesthetic.

As the blade left the last man’s neck, blood gushed out from the arteries as if four fountains were installed on the bed. However, not even a single drop of blood sprinkled on Chang, the culprit of this bloody scene.

The woman was showered in blood, the red liquid soaking into her hair and coating her naked body. She shrieked louder with tears in her eyes, the sudden death of others stiffening her body. She even lost control of her bladder, the excretion staining the bed sheet immediately.

“I’ll give you three seconds to stop crying, otherwise you’ll be the same as them.” Brows knitted, Chang clogged her tears by screaming out that one sentence. He spoke again after two seconds. “Three questions, how many people do they have in the gang? How many guns do they own? And where is the gangleader?”

“The leader is on... on the third floor. I don’t know how many guns they have, but they have sixty to seventy members, I guess...” she uttered, her hands laced around her head. “Please, please don’t kill me, I was forced to be here, I didn’t do anything bad...”

The woman didn’t even dare to look at Chang, keeping her head low and pleading for her life in a loud voice. But when she raised her head again, the man in black was already gone.

Unlocking the bedroom door, Chang ran up the stairs like the wind. In his mind, his true enemies were those who had guns. Therefore, after confirming the gang leader’s location from the woman, he didn’t waste time on purging the hooligans since his goal was his handgun that was taken away by the leader.

The uproar lit up the townhouse when the window was shattered and the woman shrieked. He heard rustling sounds of doors opening and footsteps on their way to the third floor. The sounds of metal reminded Chang that some of the hooligans were equipped with knifes.

However, the chaos didn’t hold him back. Because in this darkness filled with red fog, those “Blinds”, who could only see two meters ahead of themselves, were not a threat to him.