The crowd was outraged, constantly cras.h.i.+ng against the fragile blockage.

"Everyone, please calm down." Hang wiped off the bean sized drop of sweat drooping from his temple. "You are all welcome to tell us your grievances, but no violence..."

Hang continued in explaining, but a bullet deprived him of the opportunity to continue.

The gunshot was sharp and clear. Hang fell on his back with his palm pressing on his chest.

"For justice!"

That gunshot triggered a riot. The crowd raged, howled, and soon the violence level rose for the military started shooting...

Things were little better in the area Chang stood.

Though he was less capable when compared to those super lives he'd met, sneaking through these average humans wasn't a hard task for him at all. Before the crowd completely lost control, he broke through like a bullet and made his way to the research inst.i.tute.

Those who were guarding the door recognized Chang's face and so the next bullet didn't fly toward him but the guy who came after him, an unlucky fellow.

The citizens generally had bad vision, and the street were packed with these kind of people. Most of the gunshots harmed the other rioters, and those who got injured were stomped beneath others' feet.　

Chang only noticed that the riot had lost control when he turned his head after he entered the inst.i.tute.

He had no trouble accessing zones of the inst.i.tute with his ident.i.ty. Soon, he found his way to Qing Shui's lab, where the man was mixing the reagents, still with a cool head.　

"Everyone's on edge, I don't think the riot is going to stop." Without mentioning anything about the amphibia, Chang put his focus on the protest.

"It's... it's not a big deal, let them be." Qing Shui sighed. "If this didn't happen today, it would have happened on some other day anyway."

"Then what are you going to do about it? I think you still have a storage full of hard tacks, can't you just hand them out to calm them?"

"It's not going to work, those are for soothing the conflicts within the military. We don't have any spare to calm the people." Qing Shui shook his head. "So let them be. Once they tire themselves out, they'll just dismiss themselves on their own."

"I don't think it'll go the way you plan." The scene was still vivid in Chang's mind.

"I'll make another announcement if they don't stop by tomorrow. Except the military who has the antidote, my bacteria bomb will kill everyone in the city." The man's lips twitched. "I think that will solve the problem once and for all."

"Wait, you don't really need to do this." His words put Chang in shock.　

"I'm just trying to prioritize issues to be solved. Compared to the Evil Moss, the citizens are doing no harm at all." Qing Shui finally put down the testing tube in the rack and withdrew his hands from the rubber gloves of the enclosed testing box. "Tell me, what happened to you?"

"I was... I was okay. As soon as your message was delivered, the ancestor of the amphibia, or we should call him Liu, he released me on the spot," Chang said. "You are a living deterrent."

"Really?" Qing Shui picked up Chang's arm, his tone full of excitement. "See, not only did he send you back, but he also owes you a favor for bringing this gift to me."

"What gift?" Chang looked around his body.

"Stop moving." Qing Shui removed a s.h.i.+ny stain of mucus from Chang's arm. "This is it."

The mucus came off like a thin layer of cells. Qing Shui placed it on microscope slide. "Amphibia's DNA."

"He must have left this piece deliberately," Qing Shui said, flipping the mucus over.

"Why though?"　

"To demonstrate his good intentions," Qing Shui said. "He must be want to tell me that even though amphibias are stronger in nature, but with the gene modification technology, we humans will still be able to catch up with their evolution pace. No, what he really wants to say is...

"It seems like it isn't completely impossible for us to cooperate." Qing Shui put down the microscope slide. "I can tell he is putting every bit of his effort in reproduction."

"That is very true. Without the reproduction ability, they will never prosper as a species that will potentially be a threat to humanity. Unless they are similar to the Willow, otherwise I think the limitation for their species can be antic.i.p.ated," Chang said, sharing his own thoughts.

"Speaking of that, how about you? Did you get hurt?" Qing Shui changed the topic.

"No, but one thing did indeed get trapped in my mind for a while. They said it was you that deliberately sent me to them, is this true?" Chang gazed into Qing Shui's eyes. "I didn't mind it, but I need an answer from you. After all, if that was you true intention, you would have known that they won't kill me, wouldn't you?"

His blazing eyes silenced Qing Shui.

"In fact, I didn't know they would catch you." After a long silence, Qing Shui avoided Chang's eyes, but soon he resumed the eye contact. "He was bluffing for sure."

"Ha... Alright, sure." Chang almost mapped Qing Shui's eyes by just looking at them, as if he could see through them right into his mind. "In fact, there's no point to talk about this now, because both you and the amphibia are much smarter than me. I won't know if you guys are bluffing or not, am I right?"

"Chang, if I were to trick you into anything, you would have noticed." Qing Shui heaved a long sigh.

"So, what's next?" Chang was tired of staring at Qing Shui, trying to puzzle him out, and just waved his hand. "You want to study the gene structure of the amphibia and then confront the Willow barehanded?"

"Well, here is my plan, I'll try to dupe a weaker version of those amphibia, then we'll leave here," Qing Shui said. "The Willow, it's on its way to Zhengzhou."

"Wait, how can it be this fast?" Shocked by the fact, Chang almost jumped up. "Please, don't lie to me. It's impossible! I thought it was still in Wuhan a few days ago."

"Apparently it's growth rate is beyond any species. It'll reach Zhengzhou sooner than we thought. That's why I was saying the riot isn't a matter to be worried about, they'll die no matter what." Qing Shui shook his head.

"No way this is going to happen! You should announce this to the people!" Chang shouted out. "Everyone counts!"

"The timing hasn't come yet. Although Zhengzhou isn't far from Wuhan geographically, it'll take some time for the Willow to reach here. If I announce this news today, the riot will spread to the whole city, meaning more deaths."

"But you need to hurry!" Chang almost cried. "In estimation, when will the Willow reach Zhengzhou?"

"One to three months, depends on where it wants to go first," Qing Shui said. "I suspect its goal is to stretch his branches and roots over the whole planet. If it's going north first, then yes, in a month we'll all die. But if it wants to head south or east first, we'll have more time to prepare. No matter what, the clock is ticking and the day will come soon." Qing Shui inhaled deeply. "Therefore, I want to complete my research here first, then we'll leave this city forever. Before that, I'll announce the news. What do you think?"