Chapter 126 (1/2)
Chapter 126: Chapter 126 - Utopia
”Oh come on, this can't be true.” Liu Xin's pale mouth curved into a frown; it was obvious that he didn't believe Chang.
”It's as mighty as I have just described to you.” Chang laughed. ”It's okay that you don't believe me, but I did warn you about its existence. When it decides to come back to Zhengzhou, don't blame me that I didn't tell you in advance.”
”Stop talking nonsense, Chang. You would have died by my hand before, since I run so much faster than you.”
”Hmm, you aren't wrong.” Chang was left speechless for a second. ”Never mind, let's eat the crab first.”
”Wait, let me ask the chef out.” Liu Xin's smile was full of childish delight when food was mentioned. He bounced into the sand hole and soon returned while holding on the collar of a middle-aged man as well as a big pot.
”He is one of the chefs that Papa brought here. He knows his stuff well, I love his dishes.” Liu Xin placed the pot and the chef on the ground, grinning. ”His name is Haiyong Li, you can tell he was born by the water from his name, which I adore.”
”Hi, I am Chang Liu, just another captive here.” Chang smiled to the other human.
”Haiyong Li, I am just a chef that cooks.”
The middle-aged man smiled wryly. He then dug out a dry hole to set up firewood for the pot, which was too huge for his size. The chef returned to the sand hole for cookware, and he filled the pot with water before attempting to make a fire.
The chef did everything in a routine-like procedure, and Chang wasn't entertained, so he pulled Liu Xin's hand to take him down to the water again.
He was intrigued by the organisms that he saw in the river and wanted to take a closer look at what those behemoths and fish had evolved into. The reason behind it was that it might help him deduct the ecology of this area.
The river was lightly tinted a pale red. Chang followed after Liu Xin, then soon tilted his head to look up ahead.
He saw clearer under the water, and in most cases the depth of the Yellow River didn't reach seventy meters. Though it got dimmer when going deeper. When Chang was one meter below the water, he could see as far as seventy meters before himself, but when he stepped on the river bed, he was buried in edgeless darkness.
The water gra.s.s swayed around him, but there was nothing he could do down there.
Without a source of light, the organisms who resided on the river bed had evolved to eyeless animals. Chang tried imagining what would the ecology be in the ocean.
He held his breath firmly as he hadn't gained gills due to evolution. He saved up energy by constraining himself from any vigorous movement. He browsed around instead, and got trapped by a strand of water gra.s.s in a few steps.
The water gra.s.s was tenacious. Chang wasn't able to break it without putting in a good effort. The ripped water gra.s.s feebly flew about when he walked away from it.
Liu Xin followed after Chang at all time.
Liu Xin and Chang developed some sort of tacit understanding along the way. While they were exploring the river bed, Liu Xin would point out dangerous objects that he recognized. One of them looked like a rock but turned out to be a mutated turtle with perfect disguise; one had saturated skin color, which was both their lure and a warning sign for predators; some fish seemed harmless and as ordinary as gra.s.s carps, but when Chang grabbed one for a closer observation, the fish curved its lips to reveal two layers of spiky teeth.
Liu Xin waved his hand to Chang in a hurry when he noticed what Chang was clutching in his hand out of curiosity.
Because the communication between them was voiceless, Chang didn't get his message immediately. The same moment, the ordinary looking scales on the carp straightened and countless barbs poked out from beneath them. The carp changed into a sea urchin like object, and the barb
s penetrated through Chang's palms.
PUFF!
It seemed like the barbs weren't meant to be a weapon but a defense mechanism as they retracted immediately.
Chang lost hold of his breath from the sharp pain. A stream of bubbles escaped from his mouth, and as a result, he felt the desire for oxygen growing stronger exponentially. He waved his hands and legs so that he could reach the water surface as soon as possible.
The blood on his palms spread out instantly from his struggles, and the water was dyed b.l.o.o.d.y-red.
”Ah!” Chang slowed down once he rose above the water and took a deep breath. He raised his hand in front of his face. ”Holy sh*t, what is that fis.h.!.+ It's despicable!”
”We nicknamed them Spookies, they're extremely hard to deal with and they just love to call out to their friends. I'm not scared of them at all, but it's better that you go ash.o.r.e since the blood will attract their attention for sure. Let's get your hands wrapped first.” The blood was filtered through Liu Xin's gills when he pa.s.sed by that area. ”When the Spookies come, they'll gnaw you, flesh and bones.”
”They sound like piranhas.” Chang laughed. ”Except the fact that they're more intimidating 'cause they equipped themselves with all those barbs.”
”Well, seldom organisms are willing to bother them.” Liu Xin smiled. ”Even if it's me, if there is a big flock of them, I would choose to avoid instead of encountering them directly. Their bites are surely too weak to injure me, and they are slow, too, but it's always unpleasant to see this kind of fish around. They are just annoying.”
The two went ash.o.r.e and laid down flat on the beach for a brief rest.
”You are living a quality life in the jungle.”
”That's because we are strong enough for this terrible yet brilliant era. The red fog, it brought us a second Cambrian period, and we were given a chance to better adapt the nature.” Liu Xin raised his head, staring the sky.
”I am sick of this era, it took away my family, and almost all my friends. They died because everything changed in one night, and no one protected them.”