Global Evolution

It was a short trip for Chang to run up one set of stairs. The top floor of this townhouse was more spacious compared to the lower levels, and Chang assumed this was the gang leader’s hideout.

Awakened by the sudden turmoil, the people who were sleeping on commodious leather sofas sat up. They already had weapons in their hands, and one of them was even struggling with turning on a flashlight.

There were eight gangsters residing in this lounge, two of them equipped with pistols. The flashlight they had was nothing special. It was a household type. Seeing the whole situation, Chang swiftly sneaked into a corner without a second thought. A bolt ejected quietly from the crossbow, aimed at its fated destination. It effortlessly penetrated through the chest of the man who was fumbling with flicking on the flashlight’s switch.

At this moment, Chang was deaf to any screams. The flashlight dropped from an enfeebled hand and rolled in a short curve before stopping. A faint and lonely light illuminated the surrounding red fog.

The rest of the gangsters recoiled out of instinct. They then moved to stand back to back, forming a circle to defend against the unseen threat.

“What gang are you...” one man shouted to the air.

The poor man wasn’t given a chance to finish his sentence. Chang was stingy with time. He just wanted to get his handgun back as soon as possible. Therefore, the second bolt he fired perforated the man’s throat, bringing him and his question to the grave. The man’ s handgun dropped as he kneeled to the ground.

Chang’s first unexpected attack didn’t leave the gangsters too much time to attack, but from the second one, the mechanic sound of the trigger left them an auditory hint. The only man in the room who held a firearm hastily turned to the source of the sound and without hesitation fired four or five times. The muzzle gave out lights from the combustion yet the dark corner only returned the noise of bullets hitting against the wall, mocking him that he was off target.

“I didn’t get him.” The shooting person was agitated by his own failure. He was only able to look around in terror.

A coldness of the blade informed the man about his fate.

The dagger performed just as well as when Chang had killed the four men. The process was as smooth as a hot blade sliding into butter. Chang ran to the other man once the one before him collapsed.

Clearing out the path didn’t take long. He made a ninety degree turn to the door before the bodies even stopped twitching. He knew his final destination, the master bedroom.

Perhaps because Chang wasn’t challenged at all in killing all these hooligans, he was overconfident and carelessly kicked the door open, only for a series of maliciouss bullets to be shot from an assault rifle to welcome his arrival.

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The wily gang leader had awaited Chang for a long time. He hid behind the door so that his prey would come to him. As soon as the door opened, he pulled the trigger to release the raging bullets.

At the same time, as Chang kicked open the fragile door, he noticed the firing muzzle. His brain performed automatic calculations before he was even aware of it.

Although he didn’t see the trajectory of the bullets, his brain mapped out an imagery simulation based on the sparks he saw from the rifle. He predicted that there will be seventeen bullets fired before he could dodge to the side. He also judged from the frequency of the gang leader’s arm shaking that six out of seventeen bullets would hit him, and their exact location on his body.

Thus, he made a dodge before it was too late.

His thigh muscles contracted, and he lowered his head, bending down. He then took a leap to get away from the door. Five out of six bullets continued on their journey to the far end but he barely had time to evade the last one. It edged by the side of his waist, the abrasion emitting a blazing heat.

Just as the eighteenth bullet left the muzzle, Chang rolled to the side so that he was out of the shooting range. His palm covered the bleeding wound, which was burning painfully.

“I was too careless...” Chang was soaked in cold sweat when he managed to hide beside the door. He clearly understood that a man who might be ten times weaker than him could still easily kill him.

In this moment, he was reminded of the millipede which was blown up by the bazooka. It was possible for a level one human to slay a formidable organism with fine calculations and enough luck. Without the protection of the spider silk bulletproof vest, the last gunshot could have been a fatal wound.

Upon realising the cruel fact, Chang became more lucid and careful about the situation he was confronted with.

It all happened in a flash, the holligan guards from the first floor arrived in a fluster. Before the gangsters noticed him, Chang sprang up and gripped onto the lighting crown molding and rested his feet against the wall as if he was a gecko.

“Who is it? Who attacked us?” The hooligans had nothing but flashlights and wooden rods in their hands. The light restlessly swung around, illuminating the red fog.

Chang carefully moved along the lighting crown molding, backed by the fine calculations in hismind. None of the light beams spotted him.

Lurking in the corner, Chang hung himself upside down to free his hands so that he could reload the crossbow.

“Stay alert! I don’t know how many intruders there are, but I get the feeling that there aren’t many. They must have gone through an advanced evolu...” The gang leader spoke again, but he failed to give the complete warning to his followers.

Chang loosened one foot and kicked against the wall, landing with a nice backflip. He dashed across the hooligans in the route he’d planned, reaching the bedroom door in two seconds. At the same time as he entered the bedroom, he pulled the trigger to release the arched bowstring. Before the gang leader even knew what had happened, the bolt had already punctured his shoulder blade. As the result of damaging the bone and nerves, the assault rifle dropped.

Chang was fast enough the catch it before it touched the ground. The magazine of the assault rifle was already replaced by the gang leader, so Chang made a 180 degree turn and scoured the hooligans.

Bratata!

The power of the assault rifle was fully utilized in Chang’s hands. The bullets were discharged like fearless soldiers, chasing and slaughtering the gangsters.

Those people ditched their leader immediately to flee from the firearm. All of them had their hands covering their heads as they hurried to the staircase. Nobody dared to risk their life to come back again.

A stream of smoke rose from the muzzle. Chang discarded the heated assault rifle, staring at the man who was nailed to the wardrobe by the bolt.

There was no else except for the gang leader in this bedroom.

Chang didn’t kill him immediately. It wasn’t because he was merciful, but he was concerned that he might not find his handgun since the gang leader might have buried it somewhere.

“Where is my handgun?” Chang searched the muscular man, but the handgun wasn’t on him.

“You are...” The gang leader gazed at Chang’s exposed eyes, baffled. “Aren’t you the one I met today...”

“My question is, where is my handgun?” Chang exhibited impatience.

“Will you spare my life if I tell you that?” the muscular man begged.

“Either way you are a dead man today. You are only choosing how you want to be executed, with or without torture,” Chang ruthlessly replied. He searched the bedroom, worrying that the gang leader might have traded his handgun to another gang.

Fortunately, the gang’s collection time was late. By the time they received their “protection fee”, the sky had painted its canvas black. It was unlikely that any trading occurred after sunset. Sure enough, his fingers encountered the handgun under the nightstand. He also found a few grenades in the drawer.

“Perfect! That’s my handgun and none of the bullets are missing. This is my reward to you.” Chang was delighted, loading the bullets to the handgun. He pointed the handgun to the face of the muscular man, one eye closed. “By the way, I wanted to test out this beast for a long time but couldn’t find a target. Thank you for being one today.”

Bang!

The gang leader’s last word to the world was an inaudible cry, his face contorted and body seized with terror. His head was blown up by a sizable bullet.

The head exploded.

Like a fish tank shattered, the head of the gang leader was blasted into indistinguishable pieces. His brain strewed on the wall, dripping like ice cream melting under the hot sun.

Not only had the head exploded, but the shockwave had also blown a big hole behind it through the wardrobe. Chang was impressed by the damage that this handgun could ditch out. The force of it was comparable to a hand cannon, or even stronger.

Upon confirming its power of destruction, Chang unloaded its bullets and placed the handgun back into the hostler. He carried the crossbow and the handgun on each of his shoulders. On his way out, he left two grenades in the townhouse—at the bedroom he first entered through. He left by the entrance he made.

Boom!

The grenades roared, and for a brief moment, Chang was deafened. A pillar of smoke and dust blasted out from the shattered windows. Then a wave of orange flame gushed out, thirstily shooting its tongues to the sky. Chang didn’t linger around. The townhouse behind him slowly collapsed, dust hovering over the rubble, concealing the merciless annihilation.

He backtracked to the community he resided and changed back into his original clothing. He burned the navy scarf and the black outfit. When the last sparkling flame rose and then died down, he spread the ashes with his right foot and returned to the dining room, where he found Jing still waiting.

She hadn’t fallen asleep for a moment after Chang’s departure. Her fervent wish was fulfilled when she saw him open the door. She moved aside, leaving the soft rug to Chang so that he could rest.

“Chang, was it dangerous? Are you scared?”

Chang laid down beside her, and his eyes closed. She wiped off the sweat from his forehead with her sleeve.

“I wasn’t scared...” Chang shook his head.

“But I feel like you always become unhappy after killing someone.” Jing made an effort to wrap her arm around his neck in a half hug like an adult, but her short and skinny arm made it difficult for her.

“I didn’t feel anything in particular, perhaps it was because I killed bad people...” Chang stared at the ceiling feebly, disguising his true feelings that would worry Jing.

“But... Do you remember the time you saved me on the street? You killed bad guys then, too, but I could sense your emotions, you felt terrible,” Jing murmured. Her facial expression softened as she was reminded of how they met. “If I hadn’t been kidnapped by them, I would have never met you.”

“True...” Chang avoided her bright eyes. His heartbeat had resumed its original pace long before he came into the dining room. “But I don’t feel anything, neither sadness nor joy. I am just calm, why?”

“Perhaps you’ve got used to it?” Jing seemed to only have a vague idea of what Chang was talking about.

“I don’t think I’ve gotten used to it. I’m just emotionally numb...” His eyelids closed gently, isolating his mind from reality.

Jing didn’t reply. She only sat beside Chang, pondering his words.

Next morning, when Chang was awakened by the warmth of the sunlight, a hook-nosed woman woke up in the research institute.

“Madam, the higher ups have ordered us to depart as soon as possible. We don’t have much time left!”

The soldier was agitated, but he didn’t dare to wake up his immediate superior while she was still sleeping.