“That isn’t too accurate though...” Chang knew that he could fight more than two or three people given the sensitivity and perception of his body he currently had.
“But that’s exactly how much danger I can sense from you.” The girl carefully calculated again and nodded with determination.
“Really?” Chang thought again and realized that vitality didn't necessarily represent how good someone or something could fight. It definitely had some impact, but couldn’t fully determine how dangerous one was. For example, his vision and hearing had significantly improved, so his vitality had also increased. However, no one could predict how much these sensory improvements would benefit him in a fight.
“Tell me, what’s the danger level inside the hospital?”
“I’d say about 129…oh, no, it’s 130 now and it’s still increasing.” The little girl quickly peeked to the direction of the hospital, and her eyes revealed a trace of fear.
“Oh, that’s certainly a horrifying monster.” Chang nodded calmly and turned away as he said, “Let’s go.”
The little girl also nodded. Though she didn’t know where Chang was going, she still followed him closely.
“About how far away can you sense danger?” Chang asked the girl as he was walking.
“About 100 meters…beyond that, the feeling becomes very blurry.”
“Is your face is still hurting?”
“Yes…but I can bear with it.”
“You’re a brave girl.” Chang kept pulling the grass aside. As long light from the Sun hit the Earth – even just the smallest amount – the plants could manage to thrive in it.
“How old are you?”
“12.”
“You must be kidding me.” Chang looked at the girl in surprise, “You look like you’re 7 or 8! Don’t lie to me!”
“I’m not lying to you! I’m just short… Although I’m 12, I’m only 4’4’’ tall…But don’t worry, you don’t need to take care of me that much; my physical strength is much better than an average kid. I promise I won’t weigh you down!” She anxiously said.
“Ah… Don’t worry, just stay with me. I won’t abandon you for any reason.” Chang turned away to avoid her bright eyes, “Let’s go to a convenience store, someone I know is there.”
The girl didn’t say anything after hearing his promise, and followed Chang even closer.
They both stopped talking after the short conversation. With help from the girl, they avoided a level 35 organism far away. After walking two blocks, they finally returned to the front of the convenience store.
Chang knocked the door gently, then someone in the store carefully opened it.
About half of the people who stayed at the store yesterday had left, but luckily there were still people here that he knew.
Pang Zi was still silent; his eyes were red. Glasses-man and his family had left, but the biology teacher Li Qing Shui was still here.
“Chang, you managed to come back!” Qing Shui was surprised how quickly Chang had recovered, especially because of his previous state. Then, he looked behind Chang and asked, “Where’s Tao?”
“Here,” Chang sorrowfully ran his fingers over the necklace without explaining anything.
“Oh…” Qing Shui glanced at the necklace and didn’t ask more.
“Where are Glasses-man and the rest of the people?” Chang looked around and shut the door after he made sure he and the little girl weren’t followed by anything.
“They left; they planned to go somewhere else…” Qing Shui waved his hand. “It seems like his father knows someone in the army, so they went to the military base in the city for shelter.”
“The military?” Chang repeated with curiosity.
“Yes… Although tanks and cannons aren’t useful in the dense fog, the military is still a safer place since they are an armed force. At least they don’t need to worry about mutated organisms for now.” Qing Shui calmly analyzed, “Plus, they should have sufficient supplies in the camp. Food and water shouldn’t be any concern for them.”
“That might not be true.” Chang shook his head after listening to Qing shui. “The visibility for humans is about three meters, so if the army fires into the fog, it could cause a great amount of death to both humans and animals…But if they don't use firearms, they’ll only be able to barely defend themselves in front of a large mutated animal… I guess you’re right. Either way, the military is still a lot stronger than us.”
“As for food supplies, bacteria has become even fiercer than when I left. If a human body can rot in 2 or 3 hours, there’s no doubt that it would be the same case for food. Unless food has been preserved, it probably won’t last longer than a day. I think that even if food supplies were sufficient, a big portion of them might’ve already rotted.”
“You have a good point, the bread and fruits here have become moldy. Aside from vacuum packed and preserved foods, we don't have much left.” Qing Shui said.
“It seems like a food shortage will happen in only a few days.”
"Yes, the military will face the same situation soon, so I don't think they’ll still accept civilians into their shelter.”
“But at least… let’s just go there and see if there’s a spot. It’s too hard to survive in the fog by ourselves. This time, the military is our last hope.” Chang looked at the ‘refugees’ in the convenience store.
“I agree… even though they most likely won’t accept us, at least we’ll be able to get some information about the future of this country and the world. We can get an idea of how to survive.” While Qing Shui was speaking, he suddenly lowered his voice, “I feel like the government knows more than we do.”
“You mean…?” Chang also lowered his voice, making the conversation only audible between the three of them.
“I’m just guessing, and there’s no evidence to confirm my suspicions, but I’ve always had a feeling that the government had foreseen the red fog.”
“They foresaw it?”
“Think about it. Starting from the beginning of 2002, the red fog had appeared intermittently. Though it was very thin, the composition of it should be identical to the red fog that we’re seeing now.” Qing Shui gestured with his finger – it was a character of a teacher; he always spoke using body language.
“Think of all those mornings with the thin pink fog. They were kind of the same as the red fog, weren’t they?”