ã€ŠThe Great Merchant in the Cataclysmã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1: Stealing

    -Luo Yang City-

    An unkempt young man was curled up under the shade of the bridge. He gazed dully at his filthy hands, his thoughts unknown.

    Many people passed by him. Most just took a nce at him before ignoring him and continuing on their way.

    A middle-aged woman thought that the young man was too poor, so she threw a few coins at him. However, no gratitude was expressed. Sheined a bit about the rudeness of the young man then turned around to leave.

    As if the crisp sound of the coins had woken him up, the young man¡¯s eyes began to recover and gradually brightened.

    The young man blinked at the continuous streams of people in surprise. He seemed to not believe what was in front of his eyes.

    ¡°This¡­ ce¡­ ten years ago? Interesting. That ¡®thing¡¯ they had thought to be useless¡­ but it actually had this function! Hehe, I really want to let those fools see this and look at their expressions.¡±

    The young man seemed very optimistic. He didn¡¯t look unperturbed after having realised that he had leapt through time, instead he wasughing like a crazy man. The passers-by rolled their eyes and shook their heads as they sped up their pace. They were not willing to stay even one second longer around the young man.

    After a while, the young man¡¯sughter died down as he began to regain his calm. His eyes turned frighteningly still as if he had changed into apletely different person.

    He quietly peered at the digital clock on the opposite wall, whispering, ¡°18:29. There¡¯s still an hour and thirty-seven minutes before that ¡®thing¡¯ happens.¡±

    The youth man quickly did a few calctions in his head. All of a sudden, his eyes became ruthless and tyrannical as he whispered to himself in a chilling tone, ¡°That ¡®thing¡¯ should be a BUG of ¡®Paradise¡¯. Otherwise, it can¡¯t undermine the rules.¡±

    My power wasn¡¯t enough to touch the world¡¯s truth. This time, I, Zhang Mu, will try my best to find out what pitiful presence is hiding behind the rules!

    Zhang Mu¡¯s face was ferocious at this moment, but he knew that there wasn¡¯t much time left. Now wasn¡¯t the right time for resentment.

    Ignoring the surprised gazes the others casted on him, Zhang Mu got on his feet and looked around.

    He was 1.83 meters tall. His face was slightly gaunt and there were also a few scars on his arms and legs. From his appearance, he looked like a delinquent.

    However, his body was straight and his piercing eyes gave him an entirely new look. Standing inside the zombie-like crowd, he looked more like an alien than a human.

    His powerful calctive ability could help him plot the safest ns. This was his most powerful ability that allowed him to survive as an ordinary person in the future.

    In a few minutes, a simple schedule was formed in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind after dozens of calctions.

    Gunpowder weapons would be useless metal scraps the moment the new era arrived. By that time, only well-made cold weapons would help him survive.

    Of course, knives weren¡¯t one of his options and a fire axe was also a bad choice. As for where he could obtain well-made cold weapons¡­ Zhang Mu recalled the location of a famous hand-forged sword shop. Coincidentally, its location was not far away from where he currently was.

    The first step of his n was to find a good weapon to help him survive.

    Even in the future, he had no guts nor power to confront danger unarmed. At present, choices were scarce. A handmade sword was the best weapon he could obtain.

    However, even in the modern world, the costly price of a hand-forged sword was already unaffordable to many people.

    Although Zhang Mu knew that the business was poor, it being in a remote location and the goods being very cheap, they were still hand-forged swords, not some wholesale fruit knives. The cost was still very high.

    How could he get the money?

    He couldn¡¯t even afford decent clothes.

    Oh, right!

    Zhang Mu patted his forehead. A strange smile formed on his lips.

    Ten years ago, which also meant now, he had just left the Thieves Sect and drifted along aimlessly. In other words, he was a thief. There was a simple method for him to quickly obtain money.

    However, the Thieves Sect wasn¡¯t your ordinary thieves¡¯ guild. It had centuries of history and strict rules.

    The disciples of the Thieves Sect could only steal from officials, local ruffians, unscrupulous viins, and dishonest traders. They could never steal from students, women, children, old men, and poor men.

    However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have a chance to steal from those rich and cruel people. Most of the people he saw everyday were ordinary people and most of them had their own troubles. It was not easy to find suitable targets.

    It was also the main reason Zhang Mu lost his interest in theft. After his master¡¯s death, Zhang Mu had left the Thieves Sect to make a living. Just after a month, he was already in such dismal conditions.

    Zhang Mu leaned against a column, scanning the crowd on the tform bridge as he searched for his prey.

    Around the same time, a fat and bald man slowly ambled onto the tform bridge. He wore an ill-fitted oversized coat, a pair of expensive sunsses, and a dazzling gold ne. In a word, his every characteristic showed that he was an upstart.

    All right, I choose him, Zhang Mu whispered in his heart.

    After returning to ten years ago, Zhang Mu felt that he had also be luckier. Although it¡¯s wrong to judge a person from his or her appearance, sorry dude! I really need your money!

    The street was filled with old people or poor people, only the fat bald man looked like a rich man.

    I really need money. If I have the opportunity, I will return it to you.

    Zhang Mu apologised in his heart, then walked into the stream of people. He lowered his head, slowly approaching the fat man.

    Seeing that a shabby and smelly beggar was nearing them, the people around Zhang Mu subconsciously kept a distance from him.

    Coincidentally, it was off time from work now. The tform bridge was really crammed. The people near Zhang Mu tried to avoid him, but the crowd jostled them back, causing them to push Zhang Mu out of the crowd.

    Zhang Mu looked like an innocent person that was feebly pushed out by the crowd. However, he secretly moved closer and closer to his target as he neared the gap.

    Finally, they were close enough. Zhang Mu would soon pass by his prey.

    His body subtly bumped against the crowd, and the crowd gave an immediate response, pushing him back towards the fat and bald man like a spring.

    ¡°Who? Don¡¯t crowd!¡±

    ¡°Yes, the space is so narrow. Stop pushing!¡±

    The people around Zhang Muined. Zhang Mu pretended that he was fighting against the crowd, cing both his hands on the bald man¡¯s coat without exerting any strength.

    Other people did not think as much of him. Some people had even directly hit the bald man.

    As Zhang Mu had expected, the bald man slightly frowned. He raised his right hand to push back a scrawny man.

    As the bald man raised his right arm and nced towards his right side, Zhang Mu started moving. His right hand slid into the bald man¡¯s coat like a nimble fish. His fingertip lightly pressed against the inner pocket of the coat, as he picked out the wallet.

    He picked up the wallet with his index finger and middle finger, then drew back his hand.

    Everything waspleted in a sh without the realisation of anyone.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t done this in a long time. It¡¯s really hard.¡± Zhang Mu muttered.

    Although he had exaggerated, he did feel somewhat dissatisfied. He knew that when he stole the wallet, his movements were a little stiff.

    Although it was his body, he had just returned from ten years in the future. He was unfamiliar with this youthful body.

    Zhang Mu walked forward with a straight face. The texture of the crocodile leather in his hand gave him a kind of weird feeling in his heart.

    His ten years of business experience told him that the wallet was made of the best abdominal skin of an estuarine crocodile. Furthermore, the wallet was bulging.

    ¡°Yo! The fat man was really rich! This should be enough. It will save me from looking for another target.¡±

    Zhang Mu walked along the crowd with satisfaction. He deliberately adjusted his direction, moving further and further away. When his figurepletely vanished from the tform bridge, the bald man slowly turned his head and looked towards the direction Zhang Xiang had left. A grin was hanging on his face as he was smiling from ear to ear.

    ¡°Incredible. That was the old Thieves Sect¡¯s stealing technique. If it wasn¡¯t because that kid¡¯s moves were a little stiff, I wouldn¡¯t have even noticed. Thest time I witnessed this stealing technique was ten years ago. I thought it waspletely lost.

    Crap, is my appearance really like a scumbag? Nah, forget it. For your master¡¯s sake, I¡¯ll lend you my money this time, but kid, I¡¯ve remembered you!¡±

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2: Qi Fang (Weapon Shop)

    ¡°So much money¡­ that fat man¡­ interesting.¡±

    Looking at the wallet in his hands, Zhang Mu was shocked. He checked the wallet again and again, then sighed with emotion.

    The wallet actually only had money in it; it was stuffed with three thousand RMB.

    Zhang Mu felt like something was wrong. The man didn¡¯t even put any identification or credit cards in his wallet. Zhang Mu remembered the fat man¡¯s nonchnt performance, then slightly frowned.

    That man wasn¡¯t a nobody.

    However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have the time to think over it. He was really running out of time. Anyway, he had obtained enough money, which meant that he could go ahead with his n.

    As the passers-by looked at Zhang Mu with surprise, he ran towards a certain direction. If one didn¡¯t know the reason, they would probably think that he was a robber. It wasn¡¯t because Zhang Mu was reluctant to take a taxi, but because his clothes were too ragged. None of the drivers were willing to take him.

    After about ten minutes, Zhang Mu swiftly ran into an alley. He bent forward, put his hands on his knees and gasped for air. Although he had a robust and youthful body, he had been running at full speed after all. He had almost used up his strength.

    Zhang Mu rested for a while, then raised his eyes, carefully looking at the shop sign.

    Qi Fang (Weapon Shop).

    That¡¯s right. It should be here.

    Fortunately, the shop was famous in the future. When he talked about Luoyang City with the merchants he knew, they often mentioned a man called ¡°Soldier King¡±. Hence, Zhang Mu remembered that there was such a powerful character in the city where he lived.

    Zhang Mu adjusted his breathing and arranged his messy hair and clothes. He was about to see a legendary person, even Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t stop himself from feeling nervous.

    Zhang Mu walked through the old wooden threshold. Due to his curiosity and longing, he looked around the room.

    There were a few ount books and a lunch box randomly ced on the desk and several empty bottles of Tsingtao beer on the ground.

    The whole shop was empty and there were no weapons on disy. It was a little bit different from Zhang Mu¡¯s imagination. He was a little disappointed.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t see anyone in the room. He walked a few steps, then saw a door with a light blue curtain in the corner. He thought that the shopkeeper should be in the room, so he shouted towards the door.

    ¡°Hey, is the shopkeeper there?¡±

    The shopkeeper should have heard his voice. After a while, with a rustling sound and the sound of a few heavy footsteps, a thick, ck arm suddenly lifted the curtain.

    What a tall and muscr middle-aged man! The shopkeeper was taller than Zhang Mu by about half a head. His eyes stared at Zhang Mu, giving him a very piercing feeling. However, after taking a careful look, Zhang Mu found that the shopkeeper hadn¡¯t shaved for a long time and looked unkept.

    The middle-aged shopkeeper looked at Zhang Mu up and down. He saw Zhang Mu¡¯s ragged clothes, then his bright eyes dimmed, but it was not very obvious.

    He asked Zhang Mu in a heavy voice, ¡°Little brother, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Zhang Mu caught the change in the middle-aged shopkeeper¡¯s eyes, but he didn¡¯t mind it. He knew his current appearance. It was already very lucky that the shopkeeper didn¡¯t treat him as a beggar and drive him out.

    He raised his eyebrows, looked up at the shopkeeper and said with a smile, ¡°Hey, I want to buy a sword.¡±

    ¡°Sword?¡±

    The middle-aged shopkeeper showed a yful look, gazing at Zhang Mu in silence.

    The shopkeeper realized that Zhang Mu was serious. Although Zhang Mu was ragged, he didn¡¯t fear to look at him eye to eye. Therefore, the shopkeeper changed his attitude and began to face him seriously.

    ¡°Anyone whoes to buy my swords is my guest. I¡¯m Xue Liang, the shopkeeper of this handmade sword shop. What sword style do you like?¡±

    After hearing Shopkeeper Xue¡¯s question, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t answer him immediately but asked him a new question which he had been wanting to ask the shopkeeper ever since he entered the shop.

    ¡°Boss Xue, my friend told me that I could buy high-quality swords from you. Why isn¡¯t there any swords in your shop? Have they all been sold out?¡±

    Shopkeeper Xue showed an embarrassed look on his face. He smiled bitterly and said, ¡°Little brother, don¡¯t make fun of me. These days, fewer and fewer people like collect swords. Even if some young people wanted to buy some swords to decorate their houses, they wouldn¡¯t buy my handmade swords but order machine-made swords from the Inte.

    To be honest, my shop hasn¡¯t received any orders for a whole month. I have taken back all the swords to the basement because of that, plus I wouldn¡¯t have to close the shop even if I was resting in my room. After all, who knows when I will have new guests?¡±

    Zhang Mu sighed with emotion in his heart. Unlike what he had imagined, the shopkeeper wasn¡¯t domineering like what his friends told him, but was very honest and amiable. He didn¡¯t aggrandize but instead mocked himself.

    However, that wasn¡¯t a surprising thing. The people who could survive in the catastrophic future had all experienced a lot. It wasn¡¯t surprising to know that the shopkeeper had been twisted into a different person in that environment. The people who struggled at the bottom of society, but still remained positive were extremely rare.

    Of course, Zhang Mu knew that some machine-made swords were really good, but they were also terribly expensive. Besides, he didn¡¯t know where he could buy them.

    As for the machine-made swords that were cheaper than the handmade swords¡­ They only had a beautiful exterior. Their shapes and strength were far inferior to the shopkeeper¡¯s handmade swords.

    After all, merchants always ttered each other.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t try to take the opportunity to cut the price, but said with a smile, ¡°Boss Xue, don¡¯t be modest. I was introduced by one of my friends. I trust your craftsmanship.

    Besides, handmade sword did not pursue appearances, but practicality. Although I don¡¯t need it to have high anti-personnel force in the modern world, it is a tradition. Personally, I admire you for keeping this craft faithfully.¡±

    After listening to Zhang Mu¡¯s words, Boss Xue¡¯s eyes brightened up. Zhang Mu¡¯s words directly hit his heart, making him feel like he suddenly met a bosom friend.

    ¡°Little brother, thank you for yourforting words. I feel much better now. Oh right, little brother, I forgot to ask your name.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Mu. My name is Zhang Mu.¡±

    ¡°Zhang Mu, Zhang Mu¡­ good name!¡±

    Boss Xue whispered, then made a heartyugh, ¡°Brother Zhang, let¡¯s get straight to the point. What kind of sword do you want? A ready-made sword or a tailor-made sword? If you want me to tailor a sword for you, I don¡¯t have any orders now, so I only need three days to make it for you.¡±

    Zhang Mu frowned, ¡°Three days¡­ I¡¯m in a hurry, so I can¡¯t wait that long. Please sell me a ready-made sword.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Come with me,¡± Xue Liang turned around and walked to the back room. Zhang Mu immediately followed him.

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3: Tailored Tang Sword

    After walking into the back room, Zhang Mu saw Xue Liang holding a metal handle on the ground. When the handle was lifted, it revealed a deep hole with a woodendder. He didn¡¯t hesitate and climbed into the hole. Zhang Mu followed him down.

    It was a basement. As the wind blew from inside the hole, an incandescentmp swayed in the room, emitting a dazzling light. After a while, Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes adapted to the light and barely managed to open them.

    The basement wasn¡¯t big. He could see everything with a nce. There was a very conspicuous work table in the middle that upied most of the space in the room. It was cluttered with a variety of semi-finished products and tools.

    Zhang Mu looked up and saw various knives and swords hanging on the wall.

    Zhang Mu was speechless. He quietly looked around and spotted dozens of straw rice bags and other heaps of food in the deepest corner.

    So this was how Xue Liang had survived through the most difficult time after the catastrophe. When it happened, many people had starved to death in their rooms because they were too scared to leave their houses.

    Xue Liang showed a confident smile on his mouth after he saw the surprise on Zhang Mu¡¯s face. In this room, he was the king of his territory.

    His degenerate look disappeared, speaking to Zhang Mu with a smile, ¡°Brother Zhang, which knife or sword do you like? They are not tailor-made tools, so maybe you will feel a little ufortable using them. Anyway, you don¡¯t look like an expert in the use of the knife. In that case, it should not be a problem to you.¡±

    Zhang Mu looked around but didn¡¯t find a suitable one. Finally, he moved his eyes to a long sword hanging in a corner of the wall.

    The sword de was slim and narrow and had a sharp tip. The most important thing was that it was about 1.2 m long with a cold light shing through its de.

    Zhang Mu felt an itch in his heart. He pointed at the sword and immediately said, ¡°This one. I want this lengthened Tang sword.¡±

    However, Xue Liang showed an embarrassed look on his face.

    ¡°Well, Brother Zhang, you have a pair of sharp eyes. This Tang sword is indeed one of the best weapons I have made. However, it was customized for someone else. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t have been twenty centimetres longer than your average Tang sword. It has been edged ording to that person¡¯s habit. It isn¡¯t right for you. Not that I¡¯m unwilling to sell it to you, however, it has been put in the corner of the basement for half a year, for that person only paid me two thousand RMB for the deposit and never came here after that. You should listen to my advice. It¡¯s too long. You won¡¯t feelfortable when using it.¡±

    Zhang Mu knew that Xue Liang¡¯s words were sincere, and he was slightly touched in his heart. However, he still waved his hand and said, ¡°Since the person had breached his promise, it¡¯s better to sell it to me than to just putting it there. Besides, it has been edged. That saves me a lot of time.¡±

    Xue Liang didn¡¯t know what this young man was thinking. From the way Zhang Mu¡¯s spoke, he knew that he wasn¡¯t ayman. However, why didn¡¯t he know this general knowledge of the sword?

    ¡°I honestly think that you should think it over.¡±

    ¡°No, thanks. How much is this sword? Tell me the price and I will buy it.¡±

    Xue Liang knew that Zhang Mu had made his decision and wasn¡¯t ready to change it.

    He told him the price, ¡°Since it isn¡¯t a reserved sword anymore and it¡¯s really been pleasant talking with you, I can consider this earnest request of yours. Give me two thousand and five RMB and it will be yours.¡±

    Two thousand and five RMB. That sure was a cheap price. In other cases, he wouldn¡¯t be able to buy it at that price.

    Zhang Mu was d about his luck. The 3000 RMB was just enough. He appreciated the unlucky man whose money was just stolen by him.

    Even though Zhang Mu¡¯s instinct as a merchant was wriggling in his heart, he still didn¡¯t negotiate the price. He knew the meaning of ¡°enough is enough¡±. He couldn¡¯t take the risk of breaking their friendship which they just built. Besides, if Xue Liang was annoyed due to that and refused to sell him the sword, that would be his loss.

    Zhang Mu immediately gave Xue Liang the money.

    ¡°Very well. You¡¯re big-hearted. Little brother, the sword belongs to you now. As for me, I will go to write a receipt for you.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and waved his hand.

    ¡°No, thanks. I don¡¯t need any receipt.¡±

    He walked to the wall and took the Tang sword, holding it in his hands.

    He gently stroked the cold de. For the first time after returning to the past, his heart felt at ease.

    ¡°Well, since you don¡¯t need me to write the receipt¡­ I can return you a hundred RMB.¡±

    Xue Liang felt strange in his heart, but he didn¡¯t think too much. He gave Zhang Mu a hundred RMB.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t refuse him. He did need the money right now.

    Zhang Mu wanted to check the Tang sword more carefully but suddenly saw the clock on the wall. He frowned, then sheathed the sword and held it in his hand.

    ¡°Boss Xue, I have something else nned. Goodbye!¡±

    After that, Zhang Mu hurriedly climbed up thedder and ran out of the shop.

    Before Xue Liang realized it, Zhang Mu had run away. This big guy stood at the same spot and whispered, ¡°Well, Brother Zhang is really¡­ unusual.¡±

    After leaving the alley, Zhang Mu ran holding the long sword in his hand. He ignored other people¡¯s surprised eyes and ran into a second-hand market.

    The second-hand market was pretty famous in the people who were in the bottom of the society of Luo Yang City.

    Although the stuff sold here were second-hand goods, most of them were authentic. Besides, they were really cheap. Zhang Mu searched his pocket and only found six hundred RMB. He must spend them it carefully.

    Zhang Mu had a deep impression of this ce. Although it was just an unremarkable ce now, in the future, due to the practical goods and the several grain stores in the market, it was quite the treasure in the eyes of the several forces in Luo Yang City.

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4: Bloody Massacre

    Zhang Mu strolled around the streets and bought a lot of things. He walked to a secluded ce and checked the quartz watch he just bought from a second-hand watch shop.

    The watch was old fashioned, but also very cheap. Besides, it looked very durable. After bargaining with the shopkeeper, he only spent 100 RMB to buy it.

    ¡°19: 34. There are about half an hour and two minutes left. There is still time. I have bought fifteen packets ofpressed biscuits, five bottles of mineral water, twenty ham sausages, two candles and two lighters. If I don¡¯t waste them, they are enough for three days.¡±

    Zhang Mu also bought a pair offortable sports shoes, a lot of cheap clothes, and a king-size backpack. They had almost cost him all his money.

    The pair of shoes was the most expensive item he had bought, but it was well-spent. He didn¡¯t mind if the food tasted bad, but he couldn¡¯t take the risk of hurting his feet. If he couldn¡¯t run fast enough, he may die before he fulfilled his ambitions.

    Zhang Mu felt a little aplished as he looked at the filled backpack.

    Although time was running out, in order to keep himself in good condition, Zhang Mu sat against the wall to take a rest.

    After ten minutes, Zhang Mu¡¯s strength slightly recovered. He stood up and stored the sheathed part of the Tang sword into the backpack. Only the sword handle was exposed.

    He ran about wildly and finally came to thest station of his shopping spree: a small food market.

    It was about the closing time. Many shopkeepers had begun to clean their shops. Zhang Mu ran into the market. After ten minutes, he had a ck rubbish bag in his hand, walking out of the market with satisfaction in his heart.

    Zhang Mu lowered his head and looked at the watch again. There was still fifteen minutes. He let out a solid breath and his facial expression gradually returned to normal.

    After knowing that there was still time, he slowly walked to hisst destination: The People¡¯s Square.

    Zhang Mu passed by the crowd and directly walked to the top of a small hill. He shook his shoulders and flung off the heavy backpack. Leaning against a big, old locust tree, he directly sat down on thewn.

    He stayed there quietly with a stalk of grass dangling from his mouth, gazing at the crowd passing through the busy road and the setting sun. Zhang Mu understood that there were only five minutes left of peace, but now, his heart hadpletely calmed down.

    He had done everything he could do, and now, he only needed to wait for the cataclysm¡¯s arrival.

    ¡°Zi¡­ Zi¡­ Zi¡­¡±

    The quartz watch on his hand started to vibrate. Time was up.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s pupils contracted. He instantly raised his head, gazing at the sky which had suddenly changed.

    As he had expected, it started at the same time. A clearly visible wave suddenly appeared in the sky and spread towards every directions.

    The wave meant¡­ the evolution was staring!

    ¡°Ding!¡±

    After hearing the strange, but familiar sound, Zhang Mu¡¯s blood was boiling with enthusiasm.

    While the wave swept through the whole, Zhang Mu froze, as well as the crowd on the streets. They still kept their postures of the previous second. In front of Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes, a bird was opening its wings, keeping its pose of flying to the sky.

    Time seemed to have stopped at this moment.

    As the wave swept through Zhang Mu¡¯s body, he smiled bitterly in his heart.

    He didn¡¯t feel any change happening to his body. He didn¡¯t feel the feeling of which the evolvers had told him in his past life.

    It looks like I expected too much. It seems that I have to keep going in the direction of my old career.

    After half a year in cataclysm, people finally knew that the wave was the turning point of evolution. The people who had potential would feel that their souls were burning at this moment.

    Although Zhang Mu felt a little depressed, he quickly adjusted his mentality and waited for the next thing that he knew would happen.

    Three secondster, the cold, mechanical voice appeared in everyone¡¯s brain, shaking their souls just like what Zhang Mu had expected.

    ¡°Testing Field Number Forty-Seven opens. For the next three days, it¡¯s the debugging period of the new testing field. The danger coefficient is raised to three times more dangerous than normal. The code of the new era: Paradise.¡±

    The mechanical voice paused for a while, then suddenly changed its tone, bing a little sarcastic.

    ¡°Ten secondster, we will start to randomly select the first guinea pigs. We don¡¯t need people who have bad luck. Remember, don¡¯t leave your houses during the debugging time¡­ Although I don¡¯t think that any of you will have this idea. Ha ha ha ha¡­¡±

    With the creepyugh, the crowd found that they could control their bodies again. Unlike the people who looked at each other with disbelief, fear, and shock, Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes were only filled with sadness.

    He wasn¡¯t any better than these people when he first experienced this scene. After all, it was too shocking to suddenly lose control of your own body and hear an unknown voice in your brain.

    However, this was his second experience.

    ¡°Guinea pigs¡±, ¡°Testing Field Number Forty-Seven¡±, and ¡°Debugging time¡±. These words banged on Zhang Mu¡¯s heart like hammers.

    In his past life, he, fortunately, became thest Era Merchant in Luoyang City. He struggled for his life working under other people and survived for ten years by relying on his discretion and hisrgeworking.

    However, when ¡°Paradise¡± came to its end, the people who were thousands of times stronger than him were also as weak as an ant in the storm.

    Could it be their fate to be shoved about by ¡°that presence¡±?

    That thing¡­ it wasn¡¯t something he could obtain now, but it must be a bug of the system.

    I will show you that I, Zhang Mu, won¡¯t be your guinea pig again!

    Finally, Zhang Mu overcame his anger and calmed down.

    This time, a girl suddenly screamed loud in the crowd as if she saw the most horrible thing in the world.

    People looked back and looked at the girl in green. She covered her mouth with both hands and her legs were shaking. Her bags had dropped on the ground and the vegetables she just bought scattered all around the ground.

    A middle-aged man who was cursing about the whole event suddenly pounced on a slender teenager. The man¡¯s face looked very ferocious with blood red veins spreading on his skin.

    The middle-aged man held the teenager to the ground and his teeth sunk into the teenager¡¯s neck, tearing off his flesh one piece after another.

    The teenager¡¯s aorta had ruptured and his eyes were opened wide. Obviously, he had died. His blood stained the middle-aged man¡¯s shirt red, but he didn¡¯t mind it at all and bit at the teenager¡¯s flesh ferociously.

    No, it wasn¡¯t biting. It was eating.

    The man heard the girl in green¡¯s scream. He, or it, looked back at the girl with his vicious eyes, terrifying her out of her wits and made her copse to the ground. The middle-aged man seemed to be reluctant to give up the flesh in his mouth. He turned back and bit the corpse again.

    However, people found that they didn¡¯t have time to pay attention to her because the same scene was happening everywhere. About 30% of the people had be bloodthirsty monsters and attacked the ones around them.

    ¡°Run!¡±

    Someone suddenly shouted and that woke up the crowd. They didn¡¯t care how many people were blocking in front of them or how many had been attacked. They just scrambled for their lives without a care for others.

    The new era announced itsing with blood and death.

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5: Let the n Begin

    Zhang Mu gazed at the crowd in silence. He had seen too many simr things happening in the future and he knew that this was just the beginning. If it wasn¡¯t because these lower level zombie only focused on the preys they had caught, none of these people would be able to escape alive.

    Zhang Mu remembered the mechanical voice¡¯sst words with a contemptuous look.

    The so-called debugging period was his best opportunity to strengthen himself, he won¡¯t just let it go. However, it was indeed very dangerous.

    After the new era started, every big city would have an era merchant. The first five people who traded with the era merchant in their city became his sub-merchant and helped the merchant trade with other cities.

    In Zhang Mu¡¯s past life, because he was too hungry and found that the zombie suddenly became sluggish after three days, he had run out of his hiding ce.

    Fortunately, he came to the People¡¯s Square and saw the mysterious era merchant. That meeting eventually changed his whole life. Even though he was just an ordinary person who didn¡¯t have any potential to evolve, he still survived ten years into the future.

    At that time, Zhang Mu used five first-rank zombies¡¯ crystals to trade with the era merchant. After that, he became thest sub-merchant of Luo Yang city.

    However, after a year, he finally understood what he had missed when he chatted with other sub-merchants.

    To be the first sub-merchant, one had to make the first transaction and to trade with an era merchant during the debugging period. Every point he had missed had diminished his chances of bing one of the top sub-merchants.

    Zhang Mu licked his chapped lips, slowly drawing out his tailored Tang sword, then putting the sheath and the backpack on the ground.

    His right hand held the Tang sword and his left hand carried the ck rubbish bag. He nimbly walked to the square.

    At this time, body parts were strewed all over the square and blood stained the originally white ground red.

    Although Zhang Mu had rich experience, he didn¡¯t dare to let down his guard. After all, his current body was weak. Right now, he was just a thief who was forced to train his hands by his master. He knew that his body was nimble, but if he were to be surrounded by these zombies, there wouldn¡¯t be any chance for him to survive.

    Zhang Mu had made a n in his heart. He lowered his body and observed the zombies on the square, searching for the appropriate targets.

    Got it. That zombie looks suitable.

    It was a female zombie who once was a young, slender girl. However, it¡¯s eating speed wasn¡¯t inferior to other zombies. Zhang Mu saw that she had almost hollowed out the male corpse under her and was still tirelessly putting bloody flesh into its mouth with her sharp ws.

    Compared to other zombies, this female zombie should be the weakest one. After all, a zombie¡¯s abilities were based on their original physical qualities. This zombie was a very thin girl and she was wearing a pair of high-heeled shoes. It shouldn¡¯t be difficult to kill.

    The most important thing was that there weren¡¯t any other zombie near her and she had almost finished eating the ¡°food¡± in front of her.

    ¡°They often boasted that the zombie in the first three days are incredibly strong. It¡¯s time to verify it by myself now.¡±

    Zhang Mu stared at the female zombie not far away with excitement. He had taken the zombie as the best object for him to adapt to his new body and to test his Tang sword.

    Zhang Mu saw that the female zombie had finished eating. He drew out a thing from the ck rubbish bag and threw it towards the zombie.

    It was a little bit of coagted chicken blood.

    The female zombie sniffed. It smelled the blood and turned around, seeing the broken chicken blood on the ground. It immediately gave up the remaining meat in front of it and rushed toward the coagted chicken blood.

    Peng!

    It was another bit of coagted chicken blood, but this time, it was put closer to Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu quietly calcted the distance between them.

    The female zombie¡¯s speed was about 2.5 times that of an ordinary person¡¯s. He should be able to dodge its first attack. After that, he didn¡¯t need to worry about its second attack because its high-heeled shoes would be its obstacle.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know how powerful its explosive force would be, but he thought that it wouldn¡¯t be more than three times stronger than an average adult man.

    Zhang Mu thought through his n again, then moved out. He dashed toward the female zombie, immediately drawing close the distance between them as he threw a stone he just picked up from the ground at the female zombie¡¯s head.

    Bang!

    It missed. The stone slid past the female zombie¡¯s hair.

    Zhang Mu blushed. He embarrassedly said to the female zombie, who had stood up from the ground, ¡°Oops!¡±

    This kind of low-level monsters didn¡¯t have any intelligence or self-consciousness. Besides, in order to not eliminate too many people at the beginning, they given a certain attack range. When a zombie was eating and you were standing outside its attack range, it wouldn¡¯t actively attack you, unless you foolishly provoked it.

    Unfortunately, Zhang Mu was that fool.

    Zhang Mu valued time highly. If these zombies all finished eating, the attack range would naturally disappear. If they found him then, he wouldn¡¯t have any better choice than running away.

    However, before they finished eating, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t need to worry about anything. Even though the stone he threw made a loud noise, the zombies didn¡¯t even nce at him.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s behavior provoked the female zombie. Within a second, the female zombie had rushed at Zhang Mu and reached out its ws, scratching Zhang Mu¡¯s chest.

    It was faster than Zhang Mu¡¯s expectation!

    Zhang Mu was scared. He immediately bent his body and narrowly dodged its w.

    He underestimated it. Even though it was just a zombie that transformed from a thin girl, its speed was still three times faster than an ordinary person¡¯s.

    The debugging time was really difficult.

    Fortunately, Zhang Mu¡¯s body was about two times faster than an ordinary person¡¯s. Although there was still a huge gap between the zombie and himself, it was enough for him to dodge its attack.

    Crack!

    As he had expected, as the female zombie tried tounch its second attack, one of its high-heeled shoes broke. She lost her bnce and fell to the ground. Taking this opportunity, Zhang Mu brutally stepped on its neck, making it lose its strength.

    Well, Zhang Mu was really good at selecting his enemy, but that was because he had no choice. He was too weak and had to use tricks.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t waste time. He quickly drew back his foot and brandished the sword.

    The Tang sword deserved to be the Soldier King¡¯s masterpiece. It easily chopped down the zombie¡¯s head. Zhang Mu expertly stabbed the sword de into the zombie¡¯s neck, picking out a white pentagonal crystal.

    In contrast to the dirty zombie, the crystal was incredibly transparent and pure. Zhang Mu carefully looked at it, which could be used as ordinary people¡¯s cultivating material and merchants¡¯ currency.

    ¡°Long time no see, my old friend.¡±

    Soon afterwards, Zhang Mu frowned.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pentagonal crystal? Shouldn¡¯t it be hexagonal? Are the first-rank zombies in the debugging time equivalent to the second-rank zombies in the future? If so, it¡¯s ten times better than a normal first-rank zombie! After all, a second-rank zombie wasn¡¯t just two times stronger than a first-rank zombie. They were more dangerous.¡±

    It should be a bug that only appeared in the debugging time.

    Zhang Mu immediately realized it. He showed a vicious smile at the corners of his mouth.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna be rich now!¡±

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6: Fish in Troubled Waters

    ¡°The seventh.¡±

    Zhang Mu quickly put the second-ranked crystal into his pocket. Although his sweat had blurred his sight, it didn¡¯t affect his excited smile.

    Ten minutes had passed and he had obtained seven second-ranked crystals. ording to Zhang Mu¡¯s memory, they were equal to seventy first-ranked crystals and that was enough for him to buy a lot of necessary goods from the era merchant of Luoyang City.

    However, that wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy him. Zhang Mu continued looking for his next prey.

    Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t much coagted chicken blood left in the ck rubbish bag.

    If he didn¡¯t use the coagted chicken blood as bait and went straight to the square to look for a new prey¡­

    It seemed that this behavior wouldn¡¯t put himself into danger immediately, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid walking dead who had finished eating. If he was to be surrounded by them, that would put himself in danger.

    However, he had almost trapped and killed all the single walking dead. Now, most of the walking dead were gathering on the square, but he didn¡¯t dare to go there.

    What should he do?

    Every second now was very valuable, because he didn¡¯t know when these walking dead would finish eating.

    Should he take a risk?

    After all, this was a pretty rare opportunity.

    At first, Zhang Mu only wanted to save his life, but now, his mind gradually changed. He thought for a while, aiming at the three walking dead who were eating together at the south gate of the square.

    He threw a piece of chicken blood to them. This time, he used more strength. The chicken blood was directly thrown in a fat walking dead¡¯s body, breaking into pieces.

    The fate walking dead put out its tongue and licked its face. It found Zhang Mu, who was standing at the ce ten meters away and gazed at it with a serious look, then straightly pounced at Zhang Mu.

    Fortunately, the other two walking dead were still eating the corpses in front of them and didn¡¯t even take a nce at Zhang Mu.

    Good.

    Zhang Mu was slightly rxed. He held the tailored Tang sword in his hand and straightly walked to the fat walking dead.

    Boom!

    When the fat walking dead ran, its fat flesh shook and looked prettyughable. But when it sped up, Zhang Mu couldn¡¯tugh anymore.

    When it started to run, the earth shook due to its weight. It came at Zhang Mu like a human tank.

    Zhang Mu was surprised. He tried to step back, but the fat walking dead was faster than him. It waved its fat palm and pped at Zhang Mu¡¯s head.

    No! That¡¯s too fast! I can¡¯t dodge it! There is no other choice, but to try and withstand it.

    Zhang Mu immediately held the Tang sword in his left hand and raised his right hand. When his hand touched the fat walking dead¡¯s hand, he immediately felt its powerful strength. That should be three times stronger than anything he had encountered before.

    What is its limit?!

    Zhang Mu thought in his heart, but didn¡¯t have the guts to try it. His five fingers nimbly dodged the walking dead¡¯s sharp w and pointed at the center of its fat palm. His hand suddenly built strength and pressed on the part between the walking dead¡¯s thumb and index finger, then forced it back.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s hand was too fast. This was his most important talent as a disciple of The Thieves Sect.

    Taking the opportunity when the fat walking dead¡¯s body was drawn to its side, Zhang Mu kicked on its leg, making its lumbering body fall forward. Due to inertia, the fat walking dead couldn¡¯t stop itself.

    Boom!

    As Zhang Mu puffed and blew, the fat walking dead fell to the ground and exposed its fat belly. Its hand was pressed under its fat body. Its palm should have broken, because Zhang Mu could see its ck bones poking out from the wounds on its arm.

    In the future, Zhang Mu had dealt with this kind of fat walking dead many times. He knew its weak point: mediocre physical bnce. He didn¡¯t want to waste his time on the fat walking dead, so he directly chopped his sword on its neck.

    However, he didn¡¯t hear the familiar ¡°crack¡± sound.

    The fat walking dead¡¯s fat flesh mixed together with its newborn cuticleyer. Zhang Mu¡¯s Tang sword was struck in the cuticlesyer. No matter how Zhang Mu forced, it didn¡¯t move a bit. Besides, as time went by, the sword was wrapped by more and more newborn cuticles.

    He didn¡¯t expect that!

    Shuffle! Shuffle!

    As Zhang Mu stepped on the fat walking dead¡¯s belly, trying to draw out his sword, he heard two strange sounds behind him.

    Zhang Mu sensed the danger. He didn¡¯t have time to look back, but immediately kicked his right leg on the fat walking dead¡¯s belly and jumped over its body.

    Zhang Mu released the sword handle in the air and rolled to thewn.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t hear any sound chasing after him, so he turned back his head. As he had expected, they were the other two walking dead.

    Why were they so fast?

    Zhang Mu intently gazed at the two thin walking dead squatting on the fat walking dead¡¯s belly. His cold sweat soaked his back because he knew that he couldn¡¯t deal with two walking dead together.

    He could only try to find a chance to kill one of the walking dead, then solve the remaining one.

    They stood facing each other. The two walking dead opened their mouths and hung their bloody tongues out. They looked like they would pounce at Zhang Mu at any time, but didn¡¯t move a bit.

    Three secondter, Zhang Mu found that something was wrong. The first-ranked walking dead shouldn¡¯t have any thinking ability. Why were they still observing him?

    Zhang Mu carefully looked them up and down, themughed out loud.

    The two walking dead shook their shoulders, but couldn¡¯t move a bit.

    When they pounced at Zhang Mu, they missed him but struck their ws into the fat walking dead¡¯s belly. Their ws were trapped by the cuticleyer and couldn¡¯t move a bit. The cuticleyer could even trap the sharp Tang sword, not to mention their ws.

    Beside, the more strength they used, the faster the cuticleyer would grow and the tighter they would be bound .

    Looking at the three ovepped walking dead, Zhang Mu felt that he had seen three sparkling second-ranked crystals waving their hands to him.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu felt that the goddess of luck really liked him.

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7: Run Away

    That was really a pleasant surprise. Even the ugly walking dead became a bit cuter in Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes.

    Zhang Mu slowly moved closer to them. The three walking dead were tightly tangled together and couldn¡¯t move a step. Seeing this, Zhang Mu grew more guts and quickly walked towards them.

    Zhang Mu walked to the fat walking dead and found that his Tang sword had almost been wrapped in its body. However, the fat walking dead had stopped generating more cuticles because its energy had reached its limit. Its body naturally stopped.

    How could he draw his Tang sword out?

    Zhang Mu observed the sword and tried several times. He failed. Even though he stepped on the fat walking dead¡¯s neck and forcibly pulled the sword, it didn¡¯t move a bit.

    That mutated walking dead¡¯s fat was really too thick.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu had an idea.

    If he killed the fat walking dead, it would lose its regenerative capacity and its cuticleyer would be fragile.

    Zhang Mu wanted to use his fist, but was worried about being hurt. That would put him in unnecessary trouble. Thinking, he put down his hand and looked around. He picked up a brick from the ground and smashed it on the fat walking dead¡¯s head as hard as he could.

    Peng! Peng! Peng!

    The fat walking dead¡¯s survival instinct made it twitch on the ground, but its struggle was doomed to futility.

    One, two¡­ Zhang My knocked the brick at the same ce dozens of time. Its face had been smashed into a chunk of minced meat. Finally, the fat walking dead lost its life and its cuticleyer stopped repairing itself.

    Zhang Mu puffed. He didn¡¯t dare to be careless because there were still two other walking deads.

    The brick had been dyed ck by the blood. Zhang Mu threw it away and wiped his hands on his pants, then held the Tang sword¡¯s handle in his hands, trying his best to draw it out. The sword gradually loosened.

    He broke out a loud yell, drawing out the Tang sword.

    Fortunately, first-ranked walking dead¡¯s¡¯ blood wasn¡¯t corrosive. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve lost the sword forever and there would be nowhere for him to cry to.

    The two walking dead were still struggling. The cuticleyer which bounded their ws had started loosening.

    As Zhang Mu drew out his sword, one of the walking dead also drew its ws out.

    Walking deads don¡¯t feel tired. Since Zhang Mu was standing in front of it, it immediately pounced at him, trying to tear at his flesh.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have time to take a rest. He immediately held the sword in his hand and turned to face his assant. At this time, the tailored Tang sword¡¯s additional 20 cm finally showed its use.

    Before the walking dead reached him, Zhang Mu had sidestepped its ws and swung at its arm. He lifted his leg and kicked at its body. The walking dead lost its bnce and was forced to step back.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t follow up the small victory with hot pursuit however. He knew that the another walking dead would get rid of its constraints at any time. Taking the opportunity that its ws were still struck, his sword cut through its neck.

    The only hidden trouble had been solved. The remaining walking dead was already not a threat to Zhang Mu. As if it didn¡¯t know that Zhang Mu had cut off its ws, it still rushed at Zhang Mu, waving its broken arms fiercely.

    Zhang Mu casually brandished his sword, finishing the battle.

    Zhang Mu found that the fat walking dead was too heavy to move. He had to chop off its head along the wound on its neck to searching for its crystal.

    After taking out the three crystals from the three walking dead¡¯s, Zhang Mu felt very tired. He staggered and leaned on the sword.

    As he gasped for air, the ground suddenly shook. He looked up, then cursed with helplessness.

    The walking dead on the square were all running towards him.

    Are you kidding me? How it possible that they all finished eating at the same time!

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8: Break Through the Heavy Encirclement

    Zhang Muced his hands together behind his head and closed his eyes, reclining on a red sofa to take a rest.

    Remembering what had happened two hours ago, the fear still lingered in his heart.

    At that time, he had ran to the old locust tree and picked up his backpack. He didn¡¯t dare to slow down and ran at full speed.

    It was really a horrible scene to be chased by hundreds of walking dead.

    When Zhang Mu was exhausted and almost caught by the ones running at the front, he finally saw a narrow alley and immediately rushed into it. After several twists and turns, the walking dead numbers dwindled down and they finally lost his trace.

    After that, Zhang Mu sneaked into amon residential district. He found a house and climbed up to its balcony. After making sure that no one was in the room, he closed the door and slept till now.

    Zhang Mu carefully chewed a piece ofpressed biscuit. Is was his habit to not waste any bit of food.

    His other hand reached into the backpack, picking up the several second-ranked crystals and observing them with interest.

    ¡°Ding!¡±

    ¡°Ding!¡±

    Zhang Mu was intoxicated with the sound of crystals¡¯ knocking each other.

    In the future, crystals were precious cultivating materials to other people. To him, they were his most intimate old friends.

    Era merchants didn¡¯t dare have any friends. They were too rich, but also too weak, so they didn¡¯t trust anyone.

    Every time when Zhang Mu felt lonely, he often drew out several crystals and listened to their tinkling sounds. That could effectively calm down his impulsive heart.

    This time wasn¡¯t any different. Zhang Mu¡¯s heart gradually calmed down and considered what should he do next.

    Tonight, at 12 o¡¯clock, Luoyang City¡¯s era merchant woulde to this city and stay for an hour at People¡¯s Square where Zhang Mu just escaped from.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t worry about if anybody would be the first agent before he reached there. He didn¡¯t think that anyone would go out in the dark night within the first three days. If there were no ident, the identity of the first sub-merchant was firmly grasped in his hand.

    The only problem was: how would he get there?

    There were hundreds of walking dead wandering on the square. Zhang Mu felt worried when he thought of it.

    It was impossible to break through their blockade line. In that case, there was only one choice, which was very popr in the future.

    Although it could only be used to solve the first-ranked walking dead, but it was very effective when faced with these mindless monsters.

    Zhang Mu thought the n again and again, making sure that he didn¡¯t miss anything. Finally, he felt sleepy again.

    He set up the watch rm and fell in sleep with holding the Tang sword in his arms. At this time, only the sword could provide him a sense of security.

    ¡°Zii¡­zii¡­zii¡­¡±

    The hours passed so quickly. The quartz watch started chiming.

    Zhang Mu fiercely opened his eyes, jumping up from the bed.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t have such a good sleep for a long time.¡±

    Zhang Mu stretched himself. In the future, he didn¡¯t have any chance to have such a sweet sleep like now. If he didn¡¯t find a concealed ce and set traps, he didn¡¯t even have the guts to sleep. He had heard too many stories about being killed during one¡¯s sleep.

    As time went by, the evolvers in the future excavated more and more of their potential. He didn¡¯t only need to avoid being found by the evolving monsters, but also need to avoid other humans.

    Even though it was a very sad truth, but Zhang Mu had been used to it, because he knew that people were always selfish. He wouldn¡¯t harm strangers intentionally, but he also wouldn¡¯t lend a helping hand to others.

    Zhang Mu looked at his watch. It was already 11 o¡¯clock now. It was about time to leave.

    Zhang Mu found some cookies in the room. He put them into his backpack, then held the sword in his hand and walked to the balcony.

    He inserted the Tang sword into the backpack, then threw it down to the ground. After that, he also jumped off.

    It wasn¡¯t a high building, but he still rolled on the ground to relieve the force. His body must be kept in the best state, because the things he was going to do was too important to make any mistakes.

    ¡­Boom! Boom! Boom!

    Zhang Mu put the earth wire and the live wire together, then immediately separated them. He rapidly repeated this action several times and finallyunched the pickup truck he just found. Zhang Mu curled his mouth with dissatisfaction, but he didn¡¯t have any other choice. This was the only sturdy car he could find. Besides, higher-end cars couldn¡¯t be hijacked this way.

    The car¡¯s roaring was particrly lound in the strange silence. It instantly provoked the walking dead around this street, making them run towards his location.

    ¡°Go go go! Ha ha ha ha!¡±

    Zhang Mu franticallyughed. He opened the dazzling car lights, rampaging in the narrow street. Hepletely ignored the walking dead that were running after him.

    The walking dead¡¯s vicious faces and the soaring speed made adrenaline flow in Zhang Mu¡¯s veins. His heart slightly found back his passion.

    Soon afterwards, he reached his destination. The bright car lights illuminated the People¡¯s Square not far away.

    Although he knew that it wouldn¡¯t be a nice trip, but the situation on the square still took his breath away.

    Most of the walking dead had left the square, however, there were still hundreds of walking dead wandering around.

    Fortunately, he was driving a pickup truck. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t even have the smallest possibility to pass through them.

    It was about the time. Zhang Mu turned up the volume of the car¡¯s speakers and started driving the pickup truck in circles around the square.

    ¡°Fluorescent lights, chandeliers and spotlights continue to shine, stroboscopicsers continue to be announced tonight.¡±

    Zhang Mu took a nce at the car audio. He remembered the song¡¯s name: Color of Night.

    He used to hum this song in the past. Although he had almost forgotten it as time went by, but when the song came to the climax, he still shouted with the rhythm.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s dance! Let¡¯s be happy and crazy! Give up, let¡¯s dance! Let¡¯s scream! Hi! Hi! Hi!¡±

    Over a hundred walking dead turned around and stared at the truck. However, Zhang Mu had seen enough simr scenes in the future. His only response was raising his voice.

    At the same time, the walking dead chasing after his truck also reached this ce. They joined the walking dead on the square, forming a pretty horrible army of the dead.

    If people were to see this scene of an old pickup car followed by a crowd of walking dead, they would be struck dumb.

    ¡°Zi!¡±

    It was 0:00 A.M. now.

    A silver light column was instantly projected down from the sky. The walking dead in the light column were all blown away instantly. The ten huge columns, which were originally on the square, vanished, as if they had never existed.

    Zhang Mu squinted his eyes, waiting for the era merchant¡¯sing. Just like the rumours he once heard, the living beings were blown away and themon objects were pulverized to dust.

    Zhang Mu put his head out of the car window and looked back. The walking dead after him regarded the light column as nothing and was still chasing after him.

    As he had expected, walking dead don¡¯t realize the existence of era merchants.

    It was about the time.

    Zhang Mu made a turn. He stepped on the gas, driving the truck rushing towards the walking dead.

    The truck¡¯s brake was broken, so he immediately opened the car door and jumped off the truck. When his hands and legs touched the ground, he supported himself andnded smoothly.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    After smashing down a dozen of walking dead, the pickup car gradually stopped.

    As Zhang Mu stood up and watched the pickup truck, the walking dead had turned around and rushed towards him. He could even some of their ugly faces.

    He really hoped that he had a time bomb at this time. In his eyes, these walking dead were simply a lot of walking crystals.

    He thought so, but didn¡¯t stop his footsteps. He ran at full speed towards the light column.

    The light column was only about hundreds of meters away, but Zhang Mu felt that he was racing with death itself.

    A few walking dead should be mutants. Their speed was way faster than other walking dead. The distance amongst Zhang Mu and them was quickly reduced.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t dare to look back. He was so worried that he would be caught by these walking dead.

    Shuffle!

    Dozens of secondster, Zhang Mu finally reached the light column. He immediately jumped into it without hesitation.

    Zhang Mu finally had time to look back. He gasped for air and watched the light column bounce off the walking deads.

    At this time, azy, but maic voice suddenly appeared behind him.

    ¡°Hello. Wee to the Shop number 37.¡±

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9: No. 37

    It was so casual a voice, but Zhang Mu shuddered when he heard it. He slowly turned around, looking at the strange, but familiar person.

    The master of the voice wore a blue robe made of countless feathers that reflected bright lights.

    Zhang Mu looked up, gazing at the person¡¯s face.

    It was a man who had high nose bridge with long golden hair covering his shoulders. To be honest, he looked naturally noble.

    Zhang Mu clearly remembered his name: No. 37.

    Although Zhang Mu was No. 37¡¯sst sub-merchant, apart from the first time they met, he normally couldn¡¯t see No. 37 even when he came to trade.

    However, when Zhang Mu saw No. 37¡¯s face, he remembered their first meeting in hisst life. That was a pretty memorable experience.

    Wait¡­ Something was wrong!

    When Zhang Mu was thinking, the golden-haired man also gazed at him in interest. He said with a faint smile on his face, ¡°Human, you don¡¯t look surprised. Besides, I think the emotion in your eyes is¡­ loss? Have you seen me before?¡±

    Zhang Mu got a fright. Why were No. 37¡¯s senses so sharp? Had he found something?

    However, Zhang Mu was not a young man anymore. He had ten years experience. After a second, he calmed down. It was time to act now.

    He didn¡¯t intentionally hide his feelings of loss, but exposed it more.

    ¡°Oh, it was really dangerous when the walking dead chased after me. I suddenly saw a light column here and saw it rejecting the walking dead. I was already driven into a corner, I had no choice but came here to try my luck,¡± Zhang Mu said.

    He paused for a moment, then kept his lie, ¡°As for you¡­ I thought that you looked like one of my old friends. I don¡¯t know if he is still safe now. Maybe he had been killed by these monsters.¡±

    Zhang Mu pretended to be sincere and sad. The golden-haired man thought for a while, then decided to put Zhang Mu¡¯s strange emotion aside.

    He changed hiszy expression and slowly said with a robot-like voice, ¡°You can call me No. 37. I¡¯m the thirty-seventh era merchant of the Third Era Caravan. This is Testing Field Number Forty-Seven and I¡¯m responsible for our branch in Luoyang City. We, era merchants,e here to collect the Spirit Qi that aggregates in different areas in this nt. However, we don¡¯t belong to this world, so the world¡¯s rules don¡¯t support us travelling beyond time and space. Each era merchant can only control a small area. For example, I¡¯m only responsible for this branch in Luoyang City.¡±

    No. 37 paused for a while, then continued, ¡°The way to judge we era merchants¡¯ achievements is in ordance with the local aggregates¡¯ number and products they have collected and our conventional method is to recruit aborigines as our sub-merchants.¡±

    ¡°Our sub-merchants could trade freely in the ny-nine cities of the whole testing field and the goods we ept are those of the current era and the era¡¯s local goods.¡±

    ¡°The price of the era goods won¡¯t change between the different era merchant branches. However, as time goes by, their prices will be gradually readjusted. Their main use is to help you humans cultivate.¡±

    ¡°As for the local goods, they are the several spirit qi coag that are found in different areas. Naturally, they have different prices.¡±

    ¡°We will offer a fixed amount of the two goods every month. However, the local goods will be rtively rare.¡±

    ¡°Of course, you can buy Luoyang City¡¯s goods from me, then sell them to the era merchants in other cities. You can make a margin of profit this way, then bring back a great amount of goods from other ces.¡±

    ¡°However, I can¡¯t promise that you will definitely earn money from that. It depends on if you can meet different era merchants¡¯ demands. You can only explore the rules by yourself.¡±

    ¡°The only currency our Era Trade Caravan epts are crystals. You have to obtain them from the walking dead.¡±

    ¡°The trading currency of local goods, on the other hand, are golden leave, a currency that is only used in our caravan. I can give you a few golden leaves in advance, with which you can buy goods from other ces. I will offer you an equivalent amount of crystals or some special goods ording to the value of the local goods you bring back. The goods and golden leaves will be saved in your Merchant¡¯s Ring. You can find crystals from the abandoned people¡¯s necks. As for golden leaf¡­ Look, it is this little thing.¡±

    The era merchant¡¯s speaking speed was very fast, but the sentences were clearly imprinted in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind, as if by magical. This was one of era merchants¡¯ abilities.

    Suddenly, No. 37¡¯s expression returned back to normal. Well, to be exact, he looked like a human again. He snapped. A dark gold leaf appeared between his two fingers.

    ¡°Money is a good thing no matter where you are!¡±

    The golden-haired man closed his eyes and said with an intoxicated look. Looking at his expression, Zhang Mu¡¯s heart wasn¡¯t as peaceful as what he showed on the surface.

    Zhang Mu knew what crystal and gold leaf was; he remembered the trading method clearly in his mind. However, his memories did not including the era merchant¡¯s current behavior. The era merchant wasn¡¯t as indifferent as what he remembered at all.

    He always thought that the era merchant was just an automatic system, but he was wrong. Apparently, the era merchant had his own thinking.

    Was it because he was the first sub-merchant? Could he contact more secrets now?

    After a while, No. 37 thought that Zhang Mu should have understood his words. He opened his eyes, then gazed at Zhang Mu and said, ¡°So, do you want to be my first sub-merchant?¡±

    Zhang Mu suppressed his strong desire to trade with the era merchant immediately. He pretended that he had many questions to ask, purposely making himself look like an ordinary person and shouted at No. 37 with anger, ¡°What the hell is going on? What is the ¡®Paradise¡¯ the voice mentioned at dusk? Who are these people exactly?¡±

    No. 37 didn¡¯t interrupt Zhang Mu. He just looked at him as he listened to his questions. After Zhang Mu finished, No. 37 exposed a weird smile on his face, as if he had expected that, then said slowly, ¡°The code of the new era is ¡®Paradise¡¯. ording to the rules, I can¡¯t tell you more. After all, the Era Trade Caravan is just one of their partners.¡±

    He paused for a while, then continued, ¡°However, you¡¯re the first aboriginal who hase to see me in the debugging time from the dozens of testing fields I have recently visited. You had the luck to escape from hundreds of abandoned people and had the guts to run into this unknown light column¡­ You mind, courage and ability must be unusual. I¡¯m very interested in how far you can go. Therefore, I will give you a piece of advice.¡±

    No. 37¡¯s gaze sharpened. He continued, ¡°You don¡¯t have the power to change the world, so you can only try you best to survive in this world. You must stay alive and keep evolving. Remember, you can never stop!¡±

    Suddenly, No. 37 changed the subject. He said with a smile, ¡°Well, that¡¯s all I can tell you. It¡¯s your turn now. Tell me, do you want to be my sub-merchant?¡±

    No. 37¡¯s words made Zhang Mu¡¯s heart boil again. One question after another kept appearing in his mind.

    So, era trade caravan was just one of the partners of the presences hiding behind ¡°Paradise¡±. Then who were they?

    There were dozens of testing fields¡­ So, was earth not the only testing field?

    And ¡°abandoned people¡±¡­ was this how era merchant called the walking dead?

    So many thoughts all appeared in one second. The next second, Zhang Mu gazed at No. 37. He decisively nodded and answered, ¡°It looks like I don¡¯t have other choice. Ok, I will.¡±

    No. 37 looked very satisfied to Zhang Mu¡¯s answer. He lightly whipped his golden hair, then smiled, ¡°I know you are a clever man. Therefore, the contract established. This is your Merchant¡¯s Ring, No. 1. It¡¯ll record your information into Era Trade Caravan¡¯s archives.¡±

    As No. 37 spoke, a ck, old ring suddenly appeared on Zhang Mu¡¯s ring finger. Before he took a few more looks at it to see the difference between this ring and his ring in the past, he heard No. 37¡¯s voice again.

    ¡°Boot up, Era Magical Cube!¡±

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10: Sub-merchant¡¯s Task

    No. 37 pped his blue robe. A small magic cube flew out from his sleeve, hanging in the air and emitting magical lights.

    After a second, the lights disappeared. The white column suddenly contracted, pouring all its energy into the magical cube. In the blink of an eye, the magical cube bright lights recovered with a higher intensity, covering both of Zhang Mu and No. 37.

    The magical cube was hollow and transparent. Zhang Mu felt as if he had been wrapped up in a fantasy bubble.

    Everything around Zhang Mu had disappeared, reced by a messy sky map.

    Above his head, beneath his feet, and in all directions, the space turned into a vast sea of stars. The distant stars were obviously far away from him, but Zhang Mu could clearly perceive their unique auras.

    What a miracle!

    Zhang Mu was really shocked.

    This was the first time he enjoyed this treatment. For all ten years in hisst life he had been a sub-merchant, he could only trade from a product list on a light screen or with No. 37, who always looked at him indifferently. However, he had heard from others of the difference in attitude when No. 37 traded with other sub-merchants. He was skeptical at that time, but he thought that their description was too conservative now.

    A faint smile appeared on No. 37¡¯s face. He had seen too many simr expression on other aborigines. He didn¡¯t say anything, but swung his sleeves, quietly stretching out both hands and gently grasped in the air. A burst of rumbling sound came from in front of him.

    Zhang Mu looked at the direction the sound came from. He suddenly found that the stars in the surroundings started flying towards them all at once.

    Looking at dozens of stars flying to them, Zhang Mu subconsciously tried to get out of their way, but found that they all suddenly disappeared.

    He looked back and found that the stars had turned into a stream of tinys, lining up between them.

    ¡°This is the first day of the new era and I don¡¯t think that you know what the crystals are exactly and how to collect them. You can only buy era local goods from me right now. Let me give you a brief introduction. All the sub-merchants will receive four golden leaves as their starting capital. You are my first sub-merchants, so you can buy my goods at a 20% discount this time¡­ Oh, you are also the first era-merchant of the whole Testing Field Number Forty-seven! So the goods for your first trade are all 50% off!¡±

    Zhang Mu finally understood why the first few sun-merchants could dominate the market so easily. He hadn¡¯t started at the same starting line as them. The era merchant didn¡¯t say it clearly, but Zhang Mu knew he could barely lose in his first trade.

    No. 37 casually picked up two purples amongst these stars, then said to Zhang Mu, ¡°This is Luoyang Peony Bud, a bundle of peony bud is equal to one gold leaf. I have a total of ten peony buds. And this is Yellow River Carp, one carp is worth half a gold leaf. The total number is twenty. You can spend all your gold leaves or leave some as backup. After all, you should know that you won¡¯t always earn money from trading. Your task is to ensure that after selling my goods to other era merchants, you can earn at least ten golden leaves and you must return to my shop within half a year.¡±

    No. 37 stopped and waited Zhang Mu to think on his words, but Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t suppress his happiness any longer and eagerly said, ¡°I don¡¯t need to save any golden leaf! Give me eight Luoyang Peony Buds!¡±

    Zhang Mu really worked hard in his past life. He survived in the chaotic world only relying on his analytical ability and his rich experience. Because he often regretted for his wrong choice in his past life and even thought of kinds of goods he should¡¯ve sold in the beginning of the new era, he already had a n in his heart since a long time ago.

    In his past life, when he became No. 37¡¯s sub-merchant, there were only two bouquets of Luoyang Peony Buds left. He only dared to buy a bundle of buds and two Yellow River Carps, saving a gold leaf as a backup because he had been frightened by No. 37¡¯s cold voice. He didn¡¯t have guts to run out of all his gold leaves.

    In fact, other sub-merchants also made the same choice like him. However, when Zhang Mu took the great risk of going to a nearby city and saw the price of Luoyang Peony Bud there, it was already toote for him to repent.

    Although at the beginning of the new era, he didn¡¯t need to worry about the possibility of loss, butpared to the Yellow River Carp, whose selling price was only slightly higher than its purchasing price, only around 20% more, the Luoyang Peony Bud¡¯s selling price was twice its purchasing price.

    So this time, he bought No. 37¡¯s Luoyang Peony Buds without hesitation. If the following four sub-merchants knew what he did and the profits of Luoyang Peony Buds, they would definitely curse him in anger.

    Although No. 37 wondered why Zhang Mu was so decisive, after all, he didn¡¯t tell Zhang Mu that he wouldn¡¯t lose in the first trade, he didn¡¯t ask anything. He was always conscientious in trading.

    ¡°Ok, your gold leaves have been deducted automatically. You can find the eight bunches of Luoyang Peony Buds in your Merchant¡¯s Ring. You can view them by concentrating your mind on the ring. However, you can¡¯t take the local goods out unless you are in an era merchant¡¯s shop. As for other goods¡­ including the era goods, you can take out of them or store them two times per day. This is your welfare as a sub-merchant.¡±

    Zhang Yang cocked his head, trying to check inside the ring. As expected, his mind immediately immersed in the ring. The space inside it was several times bigger than his original one.

    In the central of the ring, there were eight elegant Luoyang Peony Buds inside a golden cage, but Zhang Mu knew that they were not real buds. They were just the coag of Luoyang City¡¯s Spirit Qi.

    ¡°Well, you should understand your task. As for the era goods¡­ you should not be able to exchange it now, so you don¡¯t need to think about them. I will keep opening my era shop till I have five sub-merchants. Afterwards, every sub-merchant can only visit my shop once per month. You can try to collect as much crystals as you can during this period of time, thene to trade with me.¡±

    Zhang Mu quietly listened to No. 37¡¯s words. After a while, Zhang Mu cleared his throat, staring at No. 37 and asked, ¡°Do you mean¡­ If I have crystals, I can buy your era general goods now?¡±

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11: The First Reinforcement

    After No. 37 heard Zhang Mu¡¯s words, he looked at Zhang Mu seriously and asked him with uncertainty, ¡°How do you know of the existence of crystals?¡±

    Of course, Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t tell him the truth.

    He just nodded and answered, ¡°I was chased by several walking dead. Fortunately, I was carrying a sword at that time, which I just bought for my collection, so I used it to kill them all. identally, I cut off one of the walking dead¡¯s neck and found this thing you call ¡®crystal¡¯ in its nape. I kept an eye on the crystals because I found simr pentagonal crystals in all of the walking dead¡¯s necks. I thought that maybe I could use them in some way so I took off all of them and put them in my backpack.¡±

    A faint surprise surface on No. 37¡¯s face, but his expression immediately returned to normal.

    He shook his head andughed, ¡°An idental discovery? Your luck and courage are far beyond my imagination. The low prices on the first day of the new era plus the discount you get¡­ Thinking that I have to give you such a low price, my heart hurts! However, the rules are the rules. You deserve it. Well, you can look the list of goods and choose some now.¡±

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    No. 37 put his hands together, then the little stars between himself and Zhang Mu began to rearranged themselves and emit dazzling rays that rapidly scanned Zhang Mu¡¯s body.

    Once these strange rays stopped moving, Zhang Mu saw the familiar list of goods again.

    The familiar sound of system lightly, but clearly appeared in Zhang Mu¡¯s ears.

    ¡°Drip! Drop! Drop!¡±

    ¡°Verifying the merchant¡¯s authority: Trainee Sub-merchant No. 1.¡±

    ¡°Trade Date: The first day of Paradise Era.¡±

    ¡°Discount: All the goods bought today will be 50% off.¡±

    ¡°The prices of the goods have been automatically generated.¡±

    The serie of voices echoed in Zhang Mu¡¯s ears like the most beautiful music in the world. He quickly nced over the list carefully.

    None of the goods nor the introduction had changed, but their lowered prices made Zhang Mu¡¯s heart pound with joy.

    ¡°Five thousand grams of dry food and a kilogram of water. 1 crystal for a hundred units. Ten thousand units are exchangeable.¡±

    ¡°First-rank agility potion: It can increases 20% of an adult user¡¯s speed and flexibility. The exchange limit is 10 units at a time. One crystal for one unit. Ten units are exchangeable.¡±

    ¡°First-rank strength potion: It can increases 20% of an adult user¡¯s strength and explosive power. The exchange limit is 10 units at a time. One crystal for one unit. Ten units are exchangeable.¡±

    ¡°First-rank steel weapon: The merchant can choose the type. The exchange limit is 10 units at a time. One crystal for ten units. Ten units are exchangeable.¡±

    In Zhang Mu¡¯s past life, when he saw this list, the prices were ten times higher than now. For example. Zhang Mu had saved fifty first-ranked crystal at that time, but could only buy five units of agile potions. Now, there was only one voice in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart.

    He wanted them all!

    However, he knew that he hadn¡¯t seen the most important thing yet. If he could buy it with the current discount¡­ he would buy it at any cost! If he could buy it, he wouldn¡¯t waste his crystals to buy foods and weapons, because he knew he could find them somewhere else with a little effort.

    His eyes scanned through the list of good. As he thought, that ¡°thing¡± was still there!

    Seeing the object¡¯s simple description on the list, Zhang Mu¡¯s breath began to elerate. As if it was a Pandora¡¯s box, it deeply attracted his eyes with irresistible temptation.

    ¡°Second-rank evolution potion. It can help a first-ranked human increase his probability to evolve to the second rank. Eighty first-ranked crystals for a unit. One unit is exchangeable.¡±

    In Zhang Mu¡¯s past life, he was scared by its price: 800 first-ranked crystals for a unit. At that time, he thought that the era merchant must be insane, because only that could exin that why it had such a high price.

    However, several monthster, after knowing that an ordinary person had evolved to the second rank and swept away all the forces in his city, all the sub-merchants, including Zhang Mu, immediately realized the value of evolution potions. However, their price had increased immeasurably by that time.

    No. 37 noticed Zhang Mu¡¯s expression. He thought that Zhang Mu was scared by the price, so he exined, ¡°Don¡¯t think that it¡¯s too expensive. Its actual value is far beyond your imagination. You¡­¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes suddenly brightened up. Under No. 37¡¯s surprised gaze, he drew out a bag from his backpack, poured out all the crystals he had collected and said, ¡°I want it! Just take my crystals!¡±

    After a few seconds, No. 37 finally realized what just happened. He couldn¡¯t keep his noble temperament and asked Zhang Mi with surprised, ¡°Ten second-rank crystals? The debugging period had just started and you have killed ten second-rank walking dead within the first few hours?¡±

    ¡°Yes, there are many monsters around my house, so I solved them together,¡± Zhang Mu said with an innocent look.

    ¡°Since the evolving potion is the most expensive good, it must be unusual. Well, after purchasing it, No. 37, I will use the remaining crystals to buy 10 units of agility potions. It will be very exciting to be two times faster than anyone. Here are the ten second-ranked crystals. Please count them.¡±

    Zhang Mu said with a straight face and handed over the crystals to No. 37. He really wanted to have these goods as soon as possible.

    No. 37 smiled as if he was deeply impressed by Zhang Mu¡¯s luck. He waved his sleeve, drawing a graceful arc in the air, then Zhang Mu¡¯s crystals disappeared instantly.

    At the same time, the sizes of the two stars in front of Zhang Mu reduced again. They turned into two lights and flew into Zhang Mu¡¯s ring.

    ¡°Check your ring. If there¡¯s nothing wrong, I¡¯m going to send you out.¡±

    No. 37 said with a reluctant look. It seemed that he really didn¡¯t want to see Zhang Mu again, after saying that, he turned around and didn¡¯t look at him.

    Seeing this, Zhang Mu hurriedly concentrated his mind to the ring¡¯s surface, visualizing its inner space. As he imagined, he saw that ten small ss tube filled with light red liquid and a big ss tube of blue liquid had been put in a corner of the ring, just beside the local goods Zhang Mu just bought.

    Zhang Mu ordered the ring to take out the big ss tube and it instantly appeared in his right hand. His whole body trembled with excitement.

    Finally, he got his hands on this thing! However, the second-rank evolution potion could only disy its full effect when the user had reached the limit of the first rank. Zhang Mu was still an ordinary person that hadn¡¯t even reached the first rank, so he couldn¡¯t drink it now.

    He carefully put the second-rank evolution potion back to the ring, then took out the ten first-rank agility potion, asking No. 37, ¡°Can I use them first then go out here? Let me try the effect, otherwise, it won¡¯t be easy for me to run away. Your shop has been surrounded by walking dead.¡±

    ¡°Well, in fact, it¡¯s not allowed, but¡­ it¡¯s your first trade¡­ Ok, you can drink them here.¡±

    No. 37 turned back and motioned Zhang Mu to be quick. After seeing this, Zhang Mu immediately unscrewed the caps and poured the liquids into his mouth. Each tube of liquid was about 50 ml. Zhang Mu drank them all at once.

    One secondter, Zhang Mu clearly felt that a warm stream was continuously melting in his stomach. The hot feeling gradually spread to all his limbs and bones. Five secondster, A familiar, long-lost feeling of rxation was released all over his body.

    They deserved to be called ¡°agility potions¡±! Zhang Mu¡¯s speed was two times faster than ordinary adults now!

    Zhang Mu was too excited and only wanted to test his current physical quality as soon as possible, but No. 37 suddenly opened his mouth. His words were as cold as a basin of cold water in the winter.

    ¡°Number 001, remember your trainee sub-merchant¡¯s task. You have to strive to earn ten gold leaves within half a year. If not, your gold leaves will be taken back and there will not be any reward for you. I promise you wouldn¡¯t want to know how many crystals you will have tp pay topensate the gold leaves you can¡¯t earn at that time. Oh, and if your crystals aren¡¯t enough topensate your lose, your Merchant¡¯s Ring will automatically drain your life. So, don¡¯t try to escape. Also, after failing for three times, your identity as a sub-merchant will be automatically lost¡­ Of course, on the premise that you¡¯re still alive at that time. Remember, no one can owe Era Trade Caravan even a single piece of crystal!¡±

    After No. 37 finished, the space disappeared together with him. Dazzling lights suddenly appeared and forced Zhang Mu to close his eyes. After that, a moderate power firmly pushed Zhang Mu¡¯s whole body away.

    After Zhang Mu opened his eyes, he found that he was standing about five meters away from the white light column.

    Zhang Mu shook his head and smiled, trying to check his ring again, but he suddenly felt that he just forgot something.

    Owooooah! Owooooah! Owooooah!

    Hearing the familiar voices, Zhang Mu finally remembered what he just forgot. The walking dead were still around the era shop!

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12: A Pure Girl

    Zhang Mu looked around. As he thought, he had been surrounded by over 200 walking dead. The closest walking dead was only about thirty meters away.

    If there was nothing out of the norm, these walking dead should¡¯ve already pounced at him to tear him to pieces without any hesitation. However, they only stared at Zhang Mu viciously, but none of them took a step forward. Zhang Mu thought that it was because the white light column behind him was gradually stabilizing. Being bound by the rules, they couldn¡¯t cross the border.

    Over 200 walking dead whose strength were about three times stronger thanmon first-ranked walking dead¡­ Even though Zhang Mu had strengthened himself using the potions, he didn¡¯t dare to look down on them. He rapidly analysed the best escape route in his mind.

    Sigh. If he could hide in the Era shop till the end of the debugging period, that would be great.

    But Zhang Mu immediately gave up this idea. The Era Trade Caravan didn¡¯t need waste, whether it was of time or of ressources. You must show your own potential of evolution or business ability to them, so that you wouldn¡¯t be eliminated by their rules.

    Zhang Mu had a feeling in his heart that No. 37 was rted to this. Perhaps he had made No. 37 lose too much profit, so No. 37 decided to let these walking dead teach him a lesson.

    Well, I did take away your most expensive goods, but why are you being so stingy? Zhang Mu remembered that in his previous life, No. 37 normally would clean up the nearby area, creating a security zone for him after each trade.

    Zhang Mu scolded No. 37 in his heart, but now, he did not have a second choice.

    Suddenly, the white light column behind Zhang Mu narrowed the range and reduced a little of the pressure it put on the walking dead. With that, the walking dead immediately came closer. Zhang Mu could clearly see several walking dead¡¯s bloody faces and their dark yellow sharp teeth.

    Oh, shit. It was really No. 37¡¯s trick! Zhang Mu shouted all the filthy words he could remember in his heart.

    Are you trying to kill me?!

    Staring at the swarm of walking dead, Zhang Mu looked back from time to time. The white column behind him shed again. Taking this chance, Zhang Mu drew out the tailored Tang sword from his back and tightly held it in one of his hands. The cold sword handle let his impetuous heart quickly calm down. His eyes nced around quickly.

    Got it!

    Zhang Mu had an idea. He moved while holding the sword ant, the tip was close to the ground, but did not touch it. He ran with a normal speed towards the southwest, where it looked easy to break through the walking dead¡¯s encirclement.

    Although the walking dead didn¡¯t dare to step forward due to the white column, since the delicious food was walking to them by himself, they naturally wouldn¡¯t waste this opportunity. They opened their bloody mouths wide and waited Zhang Mu to fall into their snare.

    At the same time, the walking dead at other ces also saw this. They didn¡¯t want their food run away, so they all flocked to this direction.

    Zhang Mu was getting closer and closer to the walking dead.

    Under three seconds, the distance between Zhang Mu and the walking dead was already less than ten meters. If the other walking dead also reached here and surrounded him, his escape n would be totally failed.

    I hope this idea can be sessful.

    Zhang Mu whispered in his heart.

    Fortunately, the situation went exactly ording to Zhang¡¯s guess.

    In walking dead¡¯s atrophic brains, they didn¡¯t understand what ¡°same kind¡± was. In their eyes, there were only two things in the world: food and obstacle. Other walking dead were obviously obstacles in their eyes. The walking dead in the southwest didn¡¯t move. They were waiting for Zhang Mu toe into their mouths by himself. However, the other walking dead just wouldn¡¯t let it be true. They pushed away the walking dead in the southwest. Some walking dead had even been pushed to the ground and were crushed by others.

    The walking dead in the southwest were lesser in number, but they naturally refused to be robbed of their food. They immediately stood up and pushed away all the other walking dead they could see. Everything became a mess. In addition, the walking dead also feared getting closer to the white column and this finally allowed a great opportunity for Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu suddenly sped up. He increased his speed four times instantly, then ran towards the side of the encirclement.

    The walking dead were provoked by his actions. They formed a mighty torrent and flowed to Zhang Mu. Some walking dead had been crushed by the flow even before they realized what was happening.

    Zhang Mu ran full speed along the circle of walking dead, chopping down one walking dead¡¯s head after another. However, even though there were no walking dead that could stop him, his speed was still slowed down due to that. The walking dead were going to surround him again.

    Two secondster, Zhang Mu finally ran to the weakest point of the siege. There were only twoyers of walking dead in front of him now. He brandished his sword, chopping down one of the monster¡¯s head, then stamped and jumped on the headless body, kicking backward at his full strength. With the force he gained from the push, he leapt through thest circle of walking dead and easily escaped from the circle.

    The walking dead immediately turned around and pounced at Zhang Mu. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t get caught by them. He increased his speed several times again. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

    ¡°Huff¡­ huff¡­¡±

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t run at his full speed too long. He found a direction that looked free of potential pursuers and kept running. On when Zhang Mu rushed into an alley, did he finally stop. His face was slightly red due to the strenuous activity. He gasped for air for a while, then gradually adjusted his breathing.

    Zhang Mu walked through the alley and didn¡¯t see any walking dead. It seems that this was really a remote ce.

    Right now, Zhang Mu was standing in front of an old, dpidated bungalow. It should be a warehouse. The doors had been opened and looked that it had been searched by wandering walking dead before. Zhang Mu hesitated for a while, considering whether or not he should go in and take a rest.

    Zhang Mu looked around and sighed. It seemed that there were no better choice than this warehouse. He held his sword in front of his chest, then pushed the broken wooden door open, stepping into the warehouse.

    Once he walked into the house, the lights from the street werepletely drowned by the darkness. In the gloom, Zhang Mu carefully tried to identify any sound that may be around.

    Suddenly, with his approach, he heard faint breathing sound.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s footsteps were steady. He walked forward step by step, listening to the breathing gradually bing hard.

    It¡¯s a human!

    Zhang Mu immediately stopped. He drew out a lighter from his backpack and lighted a white candle, observing his surroundings with the candle¡¯s leaping mes.

    There was another door!

    It was thickened with ayer of aluminum alloy. There were only a few scratch marks on the door. No wonder the person behind the door could escape from the walking dead¡¯s hunting.

    He said in a gentle voice, ¡°My friend, I¡¯m not a monster. I¡¯m just passing by here and will rest for a few hours.¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s voice, the people on the other side of the door seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. With the sound of the door utching, a girl that was about at the same age as him appeared and immediately hid behind the door. She left open a little crack between the door and its frame for Zhang Mu. She said to Zhang Mu in an anxious tone, ¡°Be quick! The monsters will eat you!¡±

    At the beginning of the new era, humans still had the thing called ¡°humanity¡± in their hearts, which Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t seen for a long time. In his previous life, if Zhang Mu walked so close to other people¡¯s residence, it would be his luck if they didn¡¯t try to murder him.

    Zhang Mu sighed in his heart, then squeezed past the door through the crack.

    With the light of the white candle, Zhang Mu carefully looked at the girl, who was chewing carefully and slowly swallowing the food he gave her.

    She had long eyshes and a delicate oval face under her fringe. The different parts of her face weren¡¯t very attractive on their own, but when put together, her face looked pure and clean.

    The girl felt embarrassed from Zhang Mu¡¯s observing gaze. Her body subconsciously slipped back and asked in a cautious tone, ¡°What do you want to do?¡±¡±

    Zhang Muughed out, thinking that his behavior was indeed a bit improper. He shouldn¡¯t stare at a girl like that.

    He hurriedly asked, trying to change the topic, ¡°I saw that there were a few scratch marks and traces of collision on the door. Did some walking deade here before?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Oh, walking dead? Do you mean these monsters? They really looked like what I saw in the movie, but they were faster. I almost couldn¡¯t escape back then. There was a walking dead that kept knocking on the door for a long time. I was terrified by the pounding and it was terrible. Even though it had gone, I still didn¡¯t dare to go to sleep.¡±

    The girl was very easy to be distracted. She hadpletely forgotten Zhang Mu¡¯s impolite behavior and just patted her chest with fear.

    She finally met a human who wasn¡¯t going to bite her. The joy made her open her mind to Zhang Mu without any alert.

    ¡°Did youe from the outside? Are there any other monsters out there? And what exactly was that sound this evening? Was the voice telling the truth?¡± The girl blinked her eyes and asked Zhang Mu quickly.

    In the girl¡¯s eyes, Zhang Mu was a guy who could return from the horrible outside world. Besides, he had a cool long sword. The girl felt very curious in her heart.

    Although Zhang Mu was tired, but when it was such a simple, inexperienced girl, Zhang Mu had to resist his fatigue and answer her questions.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu stopped. He looked at the girl and asked, ¡°My name is Zhang Mu. What¡¯s your name? Oh, and is this your home?¡±

    ¡°Oh, my name is Yuan Rui. I just graduated from college and opened an online shop. This is my warehouse, and I live here too. I purchased goods, answered customers¡¯ questions and mailed my products all by myself. I tell you, I¡¯m super awesome!¡±

    The girl named Yuan Rui showed a trace of pride on her face. Zhang couldn¡¯t help admiring her. Indeed, it was not easy for a girl who had just graduated from college to earn money all by herself.

    ¡°Uncle, what about you?¡±¡±

    ¡­What?! Uncle?! I?! Zhang Mu¡¯s admiration immediately disappeared. His current body was just eighteen years old! Even if in the past life, he was only twenty-eight years old, only a few years older than this girl. How could he be an uncle?!

    In fact, he shouldn¡¯t me the girl. Although he had changed his clothes, but his stubble and long hair were still unclean, plus his hoarse voice and the vicissitudes in his eyes, he looked actually like an uncle to the girl.

    Zhang Mu coughed with embarrassment. He looked around the house and thought for a while, then walked to a corner and sat down. He closed his eyes, then said slowly, ¡°Yuan Rui, thank you for your trust. I will sit here and rest for a while. I have something to do tomorrow, so I will have a rest first. You¡¯d better to go to sleep too. Don¡¯t worry, I will only stay here.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡±

    Yuan Rui still had plenty of questions in her heart, but Zhang Mu had closed his eyes. The little girl pouted, covering herself up, then turned around.

    ¡°What a bad man!¡±

    The girl¡¯s whisper was still heard by Zhang Mu. The corners of his mouth tilted slightly upwards.

    Yeah, you¡¯re right. I¡¯m a bad man. Zhang Mu silently repeated in his heart.

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13: A Critical Situation

    The second day, in the morning at seven, Zhang Mu suddenly opened his eyes, waking up on time.

    Zhang Mu had curled up in the corner and slept for several hours. He suddenly shivered from the cold. Well, he regretted in his heart that he had yed coolst night. At least, he should¡¯ve ask Yuan Rui to give him a quilted cover. He pressed his stiff neck and twisted it for several times. Crackle, crackle.

    ¡°Are you awake?¡±

    He heard a timid voice from the bed. Zhang Mu looked back and found that Yuan Rui had also also woken up. She was holding a quilted cover in her arms, looking at him with a tired look.

    The girl had two dark patches beneath her eyes. Apparently, she didn¡¯t have a good sleepst night. After all, she was still a little girl. She must¡¯ve felt terrified to see the world¡¯s cruel change. Of course, there is the other possibility that she was afraid of Zhang Mu, fearing that this ¡°strange uncle¡± do something to her in the night.

    Zhang Mu turned around and looked at the girl. He smiled and said, ¡°Thank you for taking me in atst night. Well, I don¡¯t have too much food and I don¡¯t think that you will like their taste. Wait here. I will go out to look for some food for you.¡±

    ¡°Are you going out? No, No, I¡¯m not hungry. Don¡¯t go out!¡± Yuan Rui immediately shook her head like a rattle after she heard Zhang Mu¡¯s words, ¡°It¡¯s dangerous out there. Don¡¯t go out. We can stay here and wait for the army to rescue us.¡±

    ¡°Army? They can¡¯t even save themselves now. How will they go to save us?¡±

    Zhang Mu said in a calm tone, telling her the cruel truth. He continued to wipe his Tang sword with a straight face.

    After hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words, Yuan Rui¡¯s face was as pale as paper. She swallowed and asked, ¡°Uncle Zhang, you must be joking. Even though the monsters are very strong, but the army has countless weapons! How can¡¯t they get rid these monsters? Aren¡¯t I right?¡±

    Zhang Mu finally finished wiping his sword. He stood up and shrugged, turning his back to Yuan Rui then said, ¡°Of course, if the army still has weapons, these stupid walking dead won¡¯t be a threat to them. Unfortunately, after the wave shed in the air yesterday, I saw that a group of police¡¯s firearms immediately lost their efficacy and they were torn apart by those monsters. I think that the army is perhaps facing the same situation. Therefore, I¡¯m afraid that we have to rely on ourselves now.¡±

    After that, Zhang Mu paused for a while. He didn¡¯t turn around, but continued, ¡°Don¡¯t open the door if you don¡¯t hear my voice. Don¡¯t underestimate the ugliness of human nature.¡±

    Zhang Mu put his ear on the door to listen for sounds outside the door. After making sure that there was no danger, he opened the door and walked out.

    ¡­

    On the roof of a house, Zhang Mu watched the situation around a convenience store across the street. He didn¡¯t move, but put himself in the sun for a while, waiting for his cold body to be warmer.

    Zhang Mu was always meticulous in doing anything.

    After his body function returned to normal, Zhang Mu narrowed his eyes.

    This was a remote street, and there were only seven walking dead wandering around on the road from his location to the convenience store.

    Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t worrying about them. With his burst speed, he could calcte the walking dead¡¯s attack range, kill the walking dead in front of the door of the convenience store, then rush into the convenience store.

    The key were the walking dead inside the convenience store. What should he do with them? Draw them out or directly rush into the store and kill them all?

    Looking through the convenience store¡¯s window, Zhang Mu could see that there were three walking dead in the building. They should be the shop manager and two customers. Zhang Mu¡¯s body was still not strengthened and he couldn¡¯t y his full strength in such a narrow space. He could only deal with one walking dead at a time.

    If he drew them out¡­ Well, the convenience store wasn¡¯t the only store on the street. If he stayed on the street too long, the walking dead on the street and in other stores may hear noise ande to swarm him. If that happened, it would be very difficult for him to sneak into the convenience store again.

    After a while, Zhang Mu had an idea.

    He sheathed his Tang sword into the backpack, then climbed down the roof along the eaves. ording to the roadmap he had drafted in his heart, he cautiously walked around the street, then walked to the convenience store without any noise.

    Zhang Mu sneaked into an alley next to the convenience store, looked at the walking dead who was fifteen meters away with its back to him, then drew out his sword and rushed to it without hesitation.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want there to be any ident, so he rushed at his fully enhanced speed, chopping down the walking dead¡¯s head before it had realized anything. After that, he immediately caught the walking dead¡¯s head in case that it¡¯s fall made any noise.

    After picking out the walking dead¡¯s crystal, Zhang Mu sheathed his sword. He held the walking dead¡¯s head in one of his hand and held its headless body with his other hand, then quickly returned to the alley and threw them to the ground.

    His movement was quick and quiet. The other walking dead hadn¡¯t felt anything and were still wandering on the street.

    However, Zhang Mu knew that there was not much time left for him, because the smell of blood would soon spread in the air.

    He observed the surrounding circumstances again, then sneaked into the convenience store.

    As Zhang Mu had expected, he felt something pouncing at him the moment he entered the door. He had to brandish his sword before he could see anything. Zhang Mu felt a strong tremble from his weapon and involuntarily lifted it. Before he could take a firm stand, he heard another sound breaking the air.

    Zhang Mu barely dodged the attack, finally seeing the two attackers in front of him.

    One was a walking dead wearing tattered clothes and the other walking dead looked like a young man. They blocked Zhang Mu¡¯s way from his both sides and approached to him.

    Something was wrong. Where was the third walking dead?

    In desperation, Zhang Mu jumped up, squatting on the empty goods shelf. He nced around the convenience store, but still didn¡¯t find the third walking dead. His face changed, because he didn¡¯t like to have any unpredictable factor in his n.

    The two walking dead under the goods shelf looked at Zhang Mu. They screamed and knocked into the shelf. Zhang Mu could not find a good opportunity to kill them so he was forced to jump to the goods shelf behind the previous shelf.

    Roar!

    While Zhang Mu was still in the air, a walking dead suddenly came out from underneath the shelf. It opened its bloody mouth wide, trying to bite Zhang Mu.

    Thest walking dead was hiding underneath the shelf! That was the reason why Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t find it.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s face turned pale. He didn¡¯t have too many choices, but had to helplessly wave his sword at the walking dead with his all strength. The sword directly cut the walking dead into two pieces. However, the exerted force made him lose bnce. Although Zhang Mu had tried his best to avoid hitting his head, he still fell heavily to the ground.

    ck!

    Zhang Mu felt a terrible pain rising along his right arm.

    Damn. My arm has dislocated! Zhang Mu groaned in his heart.

    At this time, the other two walking dead had pushed down the shelf in front of them, slowly walking to Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu had given up his n to kill them all. He wasn¡¯t even going to pick up the crystal from the walking dead he just killed. He picked up his Tang sword with his left hand and imagined in his heart, ordering his Merchant¡¯s Ring to put all the things on the shelves around him into itself.

    In the blink of an eye, most of the stuffs on the shelves had been put into the ring. Zhang Mu¡¯s Merchant¡¯s Ring was filled with various goods now.

    After ying ¡°hide and seek¡± with the two walking dead for a while, Zhang Mu caught an opportunity. He pushed over a shelf to block the two walking dead¡¯s way, then quickly ran out of the convenience store.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t look back. He knew that before long, the walking dead on the street and in other shops woulde here following the sound he made and the smell of blood.

    Zhang Mu sighed for his bad luck on the way back. He bared his teeth and set a fracture for his broken arm, but his right arm still hung down beside his body. He probably won¡¯t be able to use his right arm for a period of time.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to waste his time trying to exin his Merchant¡¯s Ring to Yuan Rui, so he took out some bread and milk from the ring and put them into his backpack. He thought that the little girl would like them.

    Finally, Zhang Mu returned the warehouse. He stopped, because he suddenly found that the door of the warehouse was broken. He had a really bad feeling. Thinking of his current condition, Zhang Mu put a small ¡°thing¡± into his sleeve and quickly walked inside.

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14: Instant Kill

    Zhang Mu slowly walked into the warehouse. Because the door had been broken, he could see the situation inside the building under the feeble, scattered sunlight.

    The aluminum alloy door was half open. Zhang Mu felt worried in his heart.

    Someone had entered the inner room. Was it a human or a walking dead?

    Was I toote?

    When Zhang was going to enter the inner room, a vicious, male voice came from the room and warned Zhang Mu, ¡°Raise your hand and walk backwards.¡±

    Was it a man? Thank god, it was not the worst situation.

    Zhang Mu slowly raised up his left hand, pretending to obey the man¡¯s order. He slowly stepped backwards looking in the direction the voice came from.

    ¡°Uncle, run! Run away!¡±

    Suddenly, he heard Yuan Rui¡¯s scream, but her mouth was immediately covered. He could only vaguely hear her groan.

    Yuan Rui!

    Fortunately, she was still alive.

    Zhang Mu let out a sigh of relief.

    From Yuan Rui¡¯s voice, the man in the room shouldn¡¯t have done anything to her. At the beginning of the new era, the bad men still worried about the punishment by thews.

    However, after the evolvers became stronger and stronger and that firearms had lost efficacy, they gradually becamewless.

    After Zhang Mu stepped back around ten meters, the man in the room scragged Yuan Rui¡¯s neck and walked out of the house.

    Finally, Zhang Mu saw the man¡¯s face. It was a pudgy, bald man that was about thirty years old. He looked Zhang Mu up and down.

    When he saw Zhang Mu¡¯s Tang Sword, an emotion named greed shed through his eyes. He stared at Zhang Mu and threatened him, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to see this girl¡¯s death, give me your sword! Put the sword down on the ground and kick it to me! Kid, don¡¯t try to do anything else! Do it now! Immediately! Be quick!¡±

    The man found that Zhang Mu didn¡¯t look very panicked, so he increased his strength on Yuan Rui¡¯s neck, making her face turn to purple due to hypoxia.

    Zhang Mu immediately pretended to panic. He said in a scared tone, ¡°I¡¯ll give it to you! I¡¯ll give it! Don¡¯t hurt her! She is still a little girl!¡±

    Zhang Mu slowly squatted down and put the Tang sword on the ground. He kicked the sword handle, making it slip to the man.

    The pudgy man picked up the Tang sword, which really mismatched with his body shape. He watched the sword¡¯s sharp de with an undisguised smile on his face.

    ¡°The sword is yours now. Can you let go of her?¡±

    Zhang Mu purposely entreated the man in an imploring tone.

    ¡°Ha ha, is the girl really that important to you? Is she your secret admirer or girlfriend?¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s craven behavior made the man be more presumptuous.

    ¡°Since so, kid, is your backpack full of foods? Open it! Or you want to see me killing this chick?¡±

    Zhang Mu immediately removed the backpack from his back. Because his right hand was broken, he had to use his left hand to take off the backpack.

    He heard the pudgy man¡¯sugh, ¡°Ha ha, a disabled man! Ha ha!¡±

    Looking at Zhang Mu¡¯s feeble look, the pudgy man nced at Yuan Rui with desire. His eyes looked Yuan Rui up and down imagining dirty things in his mind.

    ¡°Open your backpack, you disabled waste! Let me see what good things have you found!¡±

    Zhang Mu opened the backpack and showed the man the cans and bread in it. The pudgy man swallowed. He had been starving himself for a whole night. He immediately became impatient after seeing the foods.

    ¡°Give me your backpack, waste! Be quick!¡±

    Zhang Mu lowered his head with sneer and disdain in his eyes. When he raised his head, his expression immediately switched to nervousness.

    ¡°Ok, ok, don¡¯t hurt her. I give the bag to you!!¡±

    Yuan Rui struggled. She cried as she looked at her ¡°uncle¡± strenuously walking to her.

    He was still energetic when he walked out of the door this morning. In order to get these foods, what cruel battle had he experienced and how much had he paid?!

    They just encountered each other yesterday. Why would the ¡°uncle¡± use his foods to exchange for her life?

    ¡°Stop crying! Stop now! If you don¡¯t want me to break your neck!¡±

    The pudgy man only felt impatient when he saw Yuan Rui¡¯s cry. He urged Zhang Mu, ¡°Be quick! If you attract the human-eating monsters, I will throw both of you to them!¡±

    Zhang Mu quickened his pace. Suddenly, he stumbled and fell to the ground. The backpack was thrown out to the front, slipping to the pudgy man on the ground.

    The pudgy man subconsciously loosened his grip. He stretched out his hand and grasped the backpack.

    In the blink of an eye, Zhang Mu stopped his y and increased his speed to an incredible extent in an instant. His left fist punched at the pudgy man¡¯s face.

    ¡°Hey hey, kid, you want to sneak attack me! Let me show you the reason why I dare to walk around the city!¡±

    The pudgy man felt surprised to see Zhang Mu¡¯s behavior, but he just sneered at him, then pulled Yuan Rui away and punched towards Zhang Mu¡¯s fist.

    The pudgy man¡¯s speed¡­ He was an agility-type evolver!

    How could he have awoken his ability so early?!

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have time to feel surprised. Their fists had pounded together.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s face turned pale instantly.

    No! The pudgy man¡¯s strength¡­ How could it be possible?!

    The pudgy man was not only an agility-type evolver. He was a strength-type evolver, too!

    The pudgy man¡¯s talent and brutal character¡­ If he could survive until ten yearster, he would undoubtedly be super strong. Maybe he had been a famous big shot in Zhang Mu¡¯s past life.

    However¡­ Well, too bad for you to meet me now. You just obtained your evolved abilities. Even if you are a super genius, you couldn¡¯t have mastered even 50% of your true power.

    Besides, you¡¯re facing me, Zhang Mu!

    Zhang Mu¡¯s fist shot out again, a sharp gleam shing between his clenched fingers.

    The pudgy man opened his eyes wide, staring in surprise and fear. It was a de Zhang Mu had hid in his sleeve before he walked into the room.

    The sharp de easily cut open the man¡¯s throat. Blood instantly burst out.

    At the same time, the pudgy man¡¯s right hand punched at Zhang Mu¡¯s right chest with his full strength.

    The pudgy man covered his throat with both hands, trying to stop the blood spraying out of his wound. Several secondster, he fell to the ground with an unreconciled, unbelievable look on his face.

    Zhang Mu was blown away by the man¡¯s punch. He hadn¡¯t strengthened his body, so he wasn¡¯t tougher than any other ordinary people. This was also the reason why he had always avoided openbat with the walking dead.

    After the heavy blow, his fragile heart suddenly stopped. He gradually lost his consciousness.

    Vaguely, he heard Yuan Rui¡¯s scream and cry. The poor girl was strenuously shaking his body.

    Before Zhang Mu dropped into deep sleep, he scolded in his heart. What a f*****g new era!! If one didn¡¯t have great evolving potential, one could only struggle to survive like a sick dog.

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15 Yuan Rui¡¯s Awakening

    Vaguely, Zhang Mu watched his past life as if he was a stranger, quickly scanning through the recordings of his original life.

    He had encountered the walking dead and ran away. Then he became an era merchant due to luck, wandered around different cities and traded with various people, luckily ascending to join the high society and finally, participated that mission and obtained ¡°that thing¡±.

    A ck, cone shaped crystal.

    It was so real and so beautiful, appearing vividly in front of Zhang Mu again, as if it was close at hand.

    However, as Zhang Mu was going to touched it, the crystal suddenly shed with weird lights. It opened its bloody mouth and engulfed Zhang Mu into it.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s body was falling and falling, surrounded by endless darkness.

    However, there was a faint glimmer of light in the abyss.

    The faint ray was so eye-catching. Zhang Mu desperately stretched out his hand, trying to catch it.

    ¡°Oh shit! It ate me again?!¡±

    Zhang Mu suddenly woke and sat up. He abruptly turned around, seeing Rui Yuan staring at him with tears in her eyes.

    He wanted to ask her what had happened, but he saw that his right hand was grabbing the girl¡¯s arm vigorously.

    He quickly loosened his grip. After seeing the bruise on Yuan Rui¡¯s arm, he apologized, ¡°Sorry, I just had a nightmare. Did I hurt you?¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have too much experience in dealing with girls. He had always lived in fear in his past life and when he had finally adapted to the new world, the women in this wastnd had be sophisticated and impure. They could do everything as long as you could provide them with what they wished for. The more you gave them, the better they would serve you. They regarded themselves as bargaining chips and even if you wanted to fall in love with them, they would onlyugh at you.

    Looking at Zhang Mu¡¯s regretful expression, Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t help, butugh out.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I just didn¡¯t expect that you were so strong.¡±

    Zhang Muughed from embarrassment, but suddenly remembered what had happened. He looked at himself in confusion and murmured, ¡°Why did my injury recover so fast? The wounds on my right arm and my chest have all been restored. No, something¡¯s wrong. My first-ranked body shouldn¡¯t have such strong regenerative capabilities.¡±

    Zhang Mu nervously analyzed. Yuan Rui didn¡¯t understand his words. She looked at him with strangely, then said, ¡°Uncle, was it because of me?¡±

    ¡°You?¡±

    Zhang Mu looked at her with an unbelievable look.

    ¡°Yes, you fainted and was seriously hurt. I hoped that you could recover as soon as possible, then suddenly, a gust of white light poured out of my hand. It touched your body and instantly disappeared. I was really scared, but your expression rxed after that. Soon afterwards, you woke up. Uncle, that was too weird. Will I be a monster? Just like the walking dead outside?¡±

    Zhang Mu opened his eyes wide, gazing at Yuan Rui as if he was gazing at a monster, which really scared Yuan Rui.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to that! The white light emerged from my hand by itself! Uncle, will I die?¡±

    Zhang Mu swallowed, then said with a bitter smile, ¡°Sigh. The world is so unfair.¡°

    Was he really that lucky? He had seen two evolvers within the first days of the new era! One was an dual-evolver and the other was a healing-type evolver. In his past life, a healing-type evolver would be even regarded as a national treasure!

    Were top-ss evolvers really thatmon? He didn¡¯t remember that!

    Zhang Mu wanted to cry. Compared to them, why didn¡¯t the fate let him obtain even the mostmon of evolving ability?

    Yuan Rui was still crying, but Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know how tofort her. He could face the walking dead with no fear, but he really didn¡¯t know how to deal with little girls.

    He tried tofort her, ¡°You won¡¯t be a monster. You should have obtained a rare evolving ability. Look, do you know why I¡¯m so strong? It¡¯s because I have obtained an evolving ability, too, just like you!¡±

    In order tofort the little girl, Zhang Mu had to boast himself.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true!¡±

    Yuan Rui heard Zhang Mu¡¯s ims and remembered his previous performances, then gradually stopped crying.

    Zhang Mu let out a sigh of relief.

    Why was it so hard tofort a girl? It was even harder than escape from a crowd of walking dead!

    ¡°Can you concentrate your thoughts and call on the power again? I want to see it.¡±

    Zhang Mu grasped Yuan Rui¡¯s hands and asked eagerly, ¡°Come on, try it again!¡±

    Yuan Rui blushed and whispered, ¡°Ok¡­¡±

    After a while, a faint white light spread out from Yuan Rui¡¯s palm, but immediately disappeared. Zhang Mu¡¯s arm lightly came in contact before it disappeared. The cool andfortable feeling told him that he was right.

    Yuan Rui had awakened her healing-type power! She was a healing-type evolver!

    He had found a real treasure!

    Yuan Rui exined in an aggrieved tone, because she saw the excitement in Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes and she didn¡¯t want to disappoint him, ¡°It was way brighter and a lot stronger before, but now, that¡¯s all I can release.¡±

    Zhang Mu felt puzzled to see Yuan Rui¡¯s nervous expression. He said, ¡°I know. It must be because your healing energy has been depleted. How can it possible to use it all the time! You just need to rest for a period of time. You have done very well.¡±

    Yuan Rui smiled again after hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words.

    Were all girls so moody?

    Zhang Mu shook his head. It was already been a long time since hest saw an ordinary girl like Yuan Rui.

    He suddenly missed the women in his past life. After all, they only wanted his money, and wouldn¡¯t trouble him for more.

    But soon, Zhang Mu¡¯s face became serious. He said to Yuan Rui, ¡°Remember, don¡¯t let others see your ability. Healing abilities must be very rare in the world. If some bad guys see it, they will very likely to imprison you and force you to serve them for a lifetime.¡±

    Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t just threatening her. In his past life, healing-type evolvers who didn¡¯t have the strength to protect themselves were imprisoned by the great powers.

    Looking at Zhang Mu¡¯s serious look, Yuan Rui nodded.

    She didn¡¯t know why, but she trusted this man she just met a day ago. Her subconscious told her that he would not hurt himself.

    After a while, she smiled and said, ¡°But uncle, you are with me, right? Won¡¯t you protect me?¡±

    Zhang Mu felt that she still hadn¡¯t realized how serious the problem was, but she was right. As long as he was with her, no one could hurt her. If someday, they had to separate, the little girl should have known about the cruelty of the new world. He could remind her again at that time.

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16: Clear the Street

    ¡°Why did you open the door for the man? Hadn¡¯t I told you not to open the door for anyone except me? You see the result now? Fortunately, the man was still afraid of being punished byw. If he wasn¡¯t, didn¡¯t you know what he would do to you?¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s facial expression was as cold as ice. Yuan Rui answered in an injured tone, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do that, but that man knocked on the door and said that a monster was chasing after him. If I didn¡¯t open the door, he would be eaten! I couldn¡¯t stand his suffering so I opened the door. I didn¡¯t expect that it was a lie. Fortunately, you returned in time.¡±

    Yuan Rui acted as if she was a child who just made a mistake, sticking out her tongue towards Zhang Mu.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Don¡¯t scold me!¡±

    So that exined it. The man took advantage of her kind heart. He must¡¯ve been corrupt even before the catastrophe happened.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to me Yuan Rui¡¯s good heartedness. After all, the catastrophe had just happened and many people still had a kind heart in face of all the cruelty. Yuan Rui was still an inexperienced little girl. He shouldn¡¯t me her.

    Zhang Mu had to speak to her in a soft tone, ¡°The new era just started and as time goes by, the dark side of human nature will surface more and more till nothing can hide it anymore. Perhaps they can¡¯t even be called ¡®human¡¯ at that time,¡± Zhang Mu said and remembered.

    Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu confusedly, then nodded her head.

    Zhang Mu felt his heart warm as he looked at Yuan Rui eating the bread and milk.

    Did he have a crush on her?

    After seeing so many misfortunes, he was afraid to lose his love again?

    Zhang Mu quickly shook his head, trying to forget this silly thought. His future was still undetermined. He shouldn¡¯t involve her into his trouble.

    Zhang Mu felt gloomy in his heart. He thought that it was easy to find foods in the city after obtaining the agility potions, but he still underestimated the debugging period. After all, he didn¡¯t experience this period in his past and only heard of its ruthlessness from others.

    However, this was his only opportunity to collect as much treasures as possible!

    Remembering the intoxicating crystals, Zhang Mu plucked up his courage again.

    It was worth taking a risk!

    Even if he would be hurt seriously, he wouldn¡¯t give up. After all, he had Yuan Rui who could heal him.

    ¡°I will go to collect more materials this afternoon. You just stay here and wait for my good news.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t tell Yuan Rui what he was going to do. He was afraid that she would think that he was a freak.

    ¡°I also want to go! I can help you!¡±

    Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu with a serious look.

    Zhang Muughed, ¡°Help me? Well, with your help, I¡¯m afraid that both of us will be eaten by walking dead. Don¡¯t worry, I know how to protect myself. You just rest here and try to recover your energy. Maybe I will need your help after I get back.¡±

    ¡°¡­Ok. Uncle, be careful!¡±

    ¡­

    In the daytime, the walking dead¡¯s strength and speed were slightly reduced, but they were still a nightmare to ordinary people.

    Zhang Mu nned to eliminate them starting from the street around the warehouse, so that he and Yuan Rui could avoid unnecessary troubles in the future.

    Zhang Mu had noticed that the shops on the street were so small, no walking dead stayed in them.

    In that case, he could perform his n.

    He slowly walked on the deserted street and dragged his long sword on the ground, making ear-piercing noises.

    Roar!

    Three walking dead staggered along the street, roaring and pouncing at Zhang Mu.

    Let¡¯s start ying!

    Zhang Muughed. He didn¡¯t restrain himself, but made more noises, stimting these walking dead.

    Tut-tut.

    Too slow!

    Zhang Mu estimated the range and slowly raised his sword.

    Closer. Come closer!

    Yes, this was the right distance!

    At this moment, Zhang Mu increased his speed four times. His clothes rustled in the wind.

    The walking dead didn¡¯t have brains, so they only knew to stretch out their ws, trying to tear Zhang Mu up, then put his blood and flesh into their mouths.

    They increased their speeds at the same time. Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t going to stop and the walking dead didn¡¯t have the brains to think about ¡°stop¡±.

    In the blink of an eye, they collided with each other. Three ws scratched Zhang Mu¡¯s neck at once, but his smile didn¡¯t falter. He just held the sword in his both hands and kept dashing.

    Before they past each other, Zhang Mu had quietly raised his sword in front of him. At this speed, the walking dead didn¡¯t have time to react.

    Shuffle! Shuffle!

    Two walking dead¡¯s head flew to the sky and the sword¡¯s long de had protected Zhang Mu from the walking dead¡¯s attacks.

    It was all thanks to the sword¡¯s long de! The additional 20 cm really helped Zhang Mu a lot.

    Zhang Mu sighed in his heart and stopped moving. He turned back, looking at thest walking dead.

    The thin walking dead was still running after its goal left its sight.

    What a waste of time!

    Zhang Mu spat and chased after the walking dead. The walking dead heard the noise and suddenly twisted its neck to look back, which looked really creepy.

    However, it found nothing behind it. The walking dead looked confused, but instantly, Zhang Mu appeared and jumped up from its side.

    ¡°What are you looking at? Fool!¡±

    Before the walking dead opened its bloody mouth, he had chopped its head off.

    ¡°Three crystals? That¡¯s not enough.¡±

    As if the world heard Zhang Mu¡¯s whisper, six walking dead appeared from both sides of the street and surrounded Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Yes, this is what I want! Only this kind of challenge is worthy after my rebirth!¡±

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17: Mutated Beetle

    Which side was easier to deal with?

    It was hard to make a decision. If he attacked one side, then his speed would be slowed down. If he was surrounded by them, he didn¡¯t have confidence to escape from them easily.

    While he was thinking, the six walking dead rushed towards him.

    Zhang Mu shrugged. He raised his eyebrows, acting as if he was in an action movie.

    He stamped his foot, jumping up into the air. It was toote for the walking dead to stop. They collided with each other forcefully and toppled back.

    Even though the walking dead¡¯s ws came close to Zhang Mu¡¯s face, he was unfazed. He shook his wrist, whirling his sword in a circle.

    Before the walking dead could get back up andunch new attacks, their heads had been chopped down, harvested like wheat.

    This was the reason why Zhang Mu chose the agility potion, but not the strength potion. To Zhang Mu who was rich in experience, high speed was the sharpest knife in his hand.

    Now, these walking dead were just some sparkling crystals in Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes. His calm state had let him dig out of 80% of his potential. Even in the future, ordinary people could only release 50% of their potential, which was far inferior to him.

    A walking dead that had escaped from his de lunged at him.

    However, its luck has ended. Before the walking dead did something, Zhang Mu had jumped on it and forced it to kiss the ground again.

    Zhang Mu was too excited. He wasn¡¯t even going to use his sword and held the walking dead¡¯s head in his hands, then twisted its neck. Crack! The walking dead stopped struggling.

    With this walking dead¡¯s crystal, he had had nine crystals now.

    However, Zhang Mu was still dissatisfied with this killing speed.

    Should he use that ¡°skill¡±? However, he wasn¡¯t sure if it was useful in the debugging period.

    As Zhang Mu was hesitating, he suddenly felt danger. He systematically rolled forward on the ground, pushing the walking dead backward as a shield.

    Zhang Mu heard a creepy noise. He carefully turned around, then froze.

    Was¡­ it a first-ranked Obsidian Beetle?

    It was a ck beetle as tall as an adult human with a pair of small wings on its back. Its shell was engraved withplicated patterns on it. It opened its mouth wide, showing its hundreds of small, sharp teeth.

    It was eating the walking dead Zhang Mu pushed towards it.

    The scene lookedical, but Zhang Mu didn¡¯t dare tough. In fact, he didn¡¯t dare to make any noise.

    How could it be possible? It was a first-ranked zerg! They should appear in the world in another six month, absolutely not now!

    As Zhang Mu looked at the Obsidian Beetle in shock and disbelief. The walking dead had almost been eatenpletely, only a skeleton was left on the ground. This scene looked so creepy even in the daytime.

    Zhang Mu had given up on getting the walking dead¡¯s crystal. He liked crystals, but he was more appreciative of his life. A single Obsidian Beetle couldn¡¯t make him feel worried, but they were social beings! There must be more of them nearby!

    Zhang Mu stared at the Obsidian Beetle and slowly moved backwards, because he didn¡¯t know if it would suddenly give up the corpses and attack him instead.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was bleeding as he looked at the Obsidian Beetle eating the walking dead¡¯s crystal.

    However, there was nothing he could do. He had tofort himself with the thought that he just exchanged the crystals for his life. He worried would the Obsidian Beetle notice him, but it seemed that he still had time to run away.

    However, the moment Zhang Mu turned around, the creepy chewing sound stopped.

    Zhang Mu froze. He turned around, looking at the Obsidian Beetle again.

    Are you kidding me? I was so careful, why did you still notice me?

    The Obsidian Beetle had released the walking dead¡¯s skull, looking at Zhang Mu up and down. It thought that Zhang Mu¡¯s flesh and blood should be more delicious.

    Its small wings started pping at high speed. Zhang Mu knew that it was going to attack.

    What should he do now?

    Run!

    Zhang Mu immediately ran away.

    However, the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s speed wasn¡¯t inferior to Zhang Mu¡¯s. Running through one street after another, it still chased after Zhang Mu. Some walking dead were attracted by them, but quickly lost their trails.

    Why don¡¯t you give up?

    Why are you still chasing after me?

    Why don¡¯t you eat these walking dead? You just want to eat me? You¡¯re too picky you bastard!

    He must stop, otherwise, he would copse sooner orter. He turned around and saw that the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s teeth were close to his face. He immediately stopped and rolled on the ground. The Obsidian Beetle¡¯s sharp ws scraped at Zhang Mu¡¯s face, cutting of a strand of his hair.

    Zhang Muy on the ground and touched his face. He let out a sigh of relief after realizing that he wasn¡¯t hurt.

    You bastard. If I¡¯m disfigured, I will tear you to pieces!

    Before Zhang Mu spoke out more curses, the Obsidian Beetle had turned back and flew to him again.

    ¡­Wait. Why didn¡¯t I see other Obsidian Beetles?

    There is only one Obsidian Beetle?

    If so, why have I had to run away?! Beetle, you are dead! I will kill you!

    Zhang Mu felt like he was tricked. He, Zhang Mu, was just chased by a first-ranked little bug and almost disfigured? What a humiliating shame!

    The Obsidian Beetle stopped three metres away from Zhang Mu, staring at Zhang Mu with itspound eyes. This prey¡­ it felt something unusual from Zhang Mu.

    It knew what level it was at. No matter whether it was human or walking dead, they were all its food, However, this prey¡¯s speed wasn¡¯t inferior to it. It hesitated and didn¡¯tunch an attack immediately.

    They stood facing each other.

    Zhang Mu felt nervous in his heart.

    What did he see? He saw an emotion named ¡°confusion¡± in the beetle¡¯s eyes. Even if it was a first-ranked zerg, it was still a lower-level monster. It shouldn¡¯t have intellect!

    What was the beetle?!

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18: Bing the Beetle¡¯s master

    Zhang Mu still felt confusion and hesitation, but the Obsidian Beetle became impatient. It pped its wings at a high speed, about tounch a new round of attack.

    Zhang Mu was speechless. The beetle actually dared to face him alone!

    However, he wasn¡¯t going to attack the beetle first. He had run for a long time and felt very tired. Under such circumstances, his explosive speed wouldn¡¯t be faster than the beetle.

    His best tactic was to counter attack when the beetle approaches.

    Finally, the beetle raised its body and flew towards Zhang Mu at an incredible speed.

    Zhang Mu squinted. Did the beetle finally give up on ying ¡°Cat and Mouse¡±?

    However, the beetle didn¡¯t have anypanions now. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t think that he was the mouse. He was the cat and the beetle was the mouse!

    Zhang Mu quickly stepped back, enticing the beetle to follow him.

    As he had expected, the beetle let down its guard after seeing him trying to escape. Its flying speed slightly declined.

    Now! Zhang Mu leant to one side and jumped up, leaping over the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s andnding on its head, riding on its body.

    The Obsidian Beetle was truly resilient. Even though Zhang Mu put his whole weight on its back, it hadn¡¯t fallen to the ground and zigzagged at a low altitude, trying to shake Zhang Mu off. However, Zhang Mu tightly gasped its shell, making the beetle¡¯s effortspletely useless.

    Zhang Mu held onto the beetle¡¯s shell with one hand, clenched his other hand into a fist and punched at the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s head.

    The Obsidian Beetle screeched painfully. Its head was its weak point, but normally, ordinary people wouldn¡¯t be able to approach it since it was so nimble. Zhang Mu¡¯s punch really hurt it.

    In his past life, Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t dare to do this, since Obsidian Beetles lived in groups. However, for some reason, this one moved alone.

    Zhang Mu sneered, looking at the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s useless struggle. He increased his strength.

    Weren¡¯t you very aggressive? Do you realize who the prey is now?

    One punch after another, they were as quick as the wildest wind and as violent as the strongest storm. The Obsidian Beetle tried to swing him off, but Zhang Mu stayed on its back persistently and didn¡¯t give it any chance to escape from his fists. Finally, the Obsidian Beetle was bruised and exhausted, falling straightly from the sky to the ground with dusts rising in clouds.

    ¡°What a tough beetle. Damn dusts, I choked.¡±

    Zhang Mu coughed and jumped down from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s back.

    As Zhang Mu lifted his Tang sword and was going to chop off the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s head, its body suddenly jumped up, trying to run away.

    Zhang Mu was bbergasted. The beetle was ying dead?

    How could a first-ranked Zerg have the brain to y dead?!

    Zhang Mu subconsciously rubbed his eyes and followed the Obsidian Beetle. The Obsidian Beetle¡¯s speed wasn¡¯t fast. Soon afterwards, Zhang Mu had caught up with it. He aimed at the Obsidian Beetle, throwing his Tang sword. The sword pierced through one of the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s wings and pinned it to the ground.

    This time, Zhang Mu observed the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s head with interest.

    Interesting. The Obsidian Beetle was different from the ones he saw in his past life. It had dark gold lines on its head. He didn¡¯t notice these lines because there were too few and so thin you could barely see them.

    Zhang Mu patted the beetle¡¯s head. This made the beetle tremble like a leaf in the wind.

    No matter how special it was, it was still a Zerg. Undue dy may bring trouble, I should just kill it. Zhang Mu thought, then lifted his sword.

    The beetle realized something. It suddenly struggled and knocked its head on the ground, scraping the ground with its two paws.

    ¡°Are you going to surrender?¡± Zhang Mu asked.

    The Obsidian Beetle immediately kowtowed at a higher speed after hearing him.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know if he should feel amused or annoyed.

    This insect could understand his words and knew to surrender to him?

    Unbelievable! He knew that some evolvers could control mutated animals in his past life, but he wasn¡¯t one of the. Moreover, the Obsidian Beetle was surrendering to him on its own initiative.

    How could it be possible?!

    ¡°How can you prove that you really want to surrender to me?¡±

    Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle.

    The Obsidian Beetle raised its head after hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words. It spat out a mouthful of golden blood, sttering Zhang Mu¡¯s arm. Zhang Mu was scared, but the golden blood didn¡¯t corrode his skin like he worried. Instead, it transformed into a golden, lightning-like scar on his arm.

    Instantly, the Obsidian Beetle wearily lowered its head. A circles of light suddenly appeared around its body and slowly spread in the air.

    Dong!

    Zhang Mu felt his mind link with the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s mind and naturally understood that he could control the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s and even controlled its life and death.

    That wasn¡¯t the end. What happened next made Zhang Mu freeze in surprise.

    The Obsidian Beetle shrunk, turning into a small beetle that wasn¡¯t any bigger than Zhang Mu¡¯s palm, flew to Zhang Mu and rested on his shoulder.

    ¡°Master.¡±

    Zhang Mu was frozen from what he just saw and heard. He answered the beetle subconsciously, ¡°Are you the Obsidian Beetle?¡±

    ¡°Yes, my master.¡±

    ¡°Are you a Zerg?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Where are you from?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Ok, it knew nothing.

    Zhang Mu shrugged his shoulders. He looked at the beetle on his shoulder and asked, ¡°How do you know how to surrender? And what is this golden scar?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle hesitated for a while, then answered, ¡°Because I saw some humans doing this before I ate them. I thought that it meant ¡®surrender¡¯ so I did that. As for the scar, I don¡¯t know what it is, but my instinct told me that I should do that. Besides, something on your body attracted me.¡±

    Zhang Mu felt more confused after hearing its words.

    ¡°Nah. You don¡¯t have a name, don¡¯t you? Then I will call you ¡®Little ck¡¯.¡±

    ¡°No, master. I have had a name. My name is Golden Scale!¡± The beetle answered.

    Zhang Mu waved his hand with disdain. ¡°Golden Scale? Which part of your ck body is golden? Your name is Little ck!¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle thought for a while, then yielded to Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Ok. My name is Little ck now, but master, I need to refuel my energy.¡±

    Zhang Mu said casually, ¡°No problem. There are still a lot of food in my backpack. Eat what you like.¡±

    Little ck immediately flew inside the bag.

    Zhang Mu immediately regretted after hearing the ¡°Crack! Crack!¡± from his backpack. He screamed, ¡°Oh, no! Little ck, get out of my backpack! Stop eating my crystals!¡±

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19: Squeeze Upon the Poor Beetle

    Zhang Mu was so sad he could cry. He touched his backpack and felt like going crazy. The eight crystals had all been eaten by the Obsidian Beetle.

    However, when he looked at the Obsidian Beetle whose wings had recovered after eating the crystals, he very reluctantly bore the loss because it was his fault. If he knew that the Obsidian Beetle would surrender to him, he wouldn¡¯t have hurt its wings.

    Moreover, with the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s help, he would finally be able to put his n into motion.

    After the Obsidian Beetle surrendered to him, his instinct as a merchant immediately started analysing the benefits he could obtain from it and soon afterwards, he had made a n with the Obsidian Beetle as the core.

    ¡­

    Looking at the empty gas station, Zhang Mu stretched himself and yawned. He said slowly, ¡°Finally, we are here. We can start now.¡±

    Looking at the oil tanks, which were half buried into the ground, Zhang Mu shrugged his shoulders. The Obsidian Beetle immediately flew up into the air.

    Dong!

    Waves of light appeared around the Obsidian Beetle again. It turned back into its original size in the air, looked back and tried to act cute in front of Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu was disgusted, which made Little ck feel very aggrieved. It turned around and flew to the oil tanks. Itnded on the nearest oil tank and started to gnaw on the iron sheet.

    Zhang Mu thought that amongst all first-ranked monsters, the Obsidian Beetle should be the one who had the sharpest teeth for his Little ck could even eat his crystals with ease.

    Actually, crystals were a currency that was known for its hardness. Most of mutated animals could only assimte crystals with their special digestive juices.

    Thus, it could be seen how sharp the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s teeth were.

    Chomp! Chomp!

    The Obsidian Beetle gnawed, chewed and swallowed, repeating the three steps again and again.

    After five minutes, the oil tank had been broken. Zhang Mu could smell thick scent of diesel from it.

    So the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s teeth could open the oil tank. If there was only himself, stupidly trying to do it with his Tang sword, who knows till when he would be at it.

    Zhang Mu got excited smelling the pungent vor. He rejoiced in his luck of having Little ck.

    ¡°Go on. Make the diesel oil flow out.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle increased its speed after hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words, because Zhang Mu had promised that after it got the substance in the big cylinder out, he would reward it with enough crystals to fill its belly.

    Evolution! Evolution! Evolution!

    Its instinct urged it to obtain more and more energy. For crystals, Little ck tried his best to open the oil tank.

    Gradually, the oil tank¡¯s thick shieldyer was gnawed through.

    Bang!

    Diesel oil flowed out from the crack like waterfall, pushing the Obsidian Beetle a few metres back.

    The Obsidian Beetle scratched its head with its paws, trying to wipe off the disgusting liquid from its body, but to no avail.

    As a mutated animal who was just born in the world, it had learned something from Zhang Mu.

    Eww, the diesel oil is too disgusting. I deserve more energy from my master!

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know what the Obsidian Beetle was thinking. He just watched the diesel oil with excitement. After the diesel oil had covered half of the gas station, he urged the Obsidian Beetle to gnaw open the remaining five oil tanks.

    Combining threats with incentive, Little ck finally flew up and started to gnaw on the other oil tanks.

    ¡°I¡¯m counting on you, my friend.¡± Zhang Mu held a stereo in his hands as he ran towards the city center.

    He ignored the walking dead near him and stood in the center of the street. He grinned, then turned the stereo on and started to run again.

    A loud sound echoed on the streets nearby the oil station.

    ¡°Go go go, move on! Go fast rush B! My friends rush B with me! Take P90 blyat! Fast go B, don¡¯t stop! If you stop, I¡¯ll sh you!¡±

    His voice was like a stick that stirred up a ho¡¯s nest. Instantly, the whole area became noisy.

    Dong! Dong! Dong!

    Some people quietly opened the windows of their houses, then saw an unforgettable scene.

    A man in ck was running on the street with thousands of walking dead on his trail. Due to the rules in the debugging period, walking dead couldn¡¯t search for prey by themselves. They had already been starving for half a day. Finally seeing a human, they naturally chased after him striving to fill their hungry stomachs.

    Of course, their intelligence was roughly zero. They wouldn¡¯t doubt why the food in front of them always kept the same speed and distance with them.

    When the walking dead nearly reached Zhang Mu, he would increase his speed; when the walking dead were stopped by debris, he would stop and wait for them in case they lost their goal.

    If one looked down from the sky, one would see the thrilling scene of a man running away from innumerable walking dead.

    When Zhang Mu finally reached the oil station, he smiled, looking at the diesel oil on the ground.

    Well, the Obsidian Beetle sure can be of some use.

    He stopped, turned back and threw a coat soaked in diesel oil at the monsters chasing him, then turned back and kept running. After a few seconds, he took out a candle, ignited it, and threw it backwards.

    Shuffle!

    mes licked the walking dead running at the front of the army. They were set ame, but they didn¡¯t know pain. They just roared and chased after Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu immediately elerated to his full speed. Soon afterwards, he had thrown the walking dead away, but the loudspeaker on his waist was still guiding the way for them.

    After a while, Zhang Mu saw Little ck listlesslyying on one of the oil tanks. He ordered it to put the loudspeaker in the middle of the oil station, then hid behind a wall well away from the oil station together.

    Even the Obsidian Beetle was slightly scared after seeing the undead army. It did treat them as foods, but they were too much!

    The walking dead frantically rushed to the middle of the oil station, where the sound wasing from the loudspeaker.

    ¡°Amazing!¡±

    Zhang Mu smacked his lips, then stroked Little ck¡¯s head and said, ¡°Look, we are going to be rich!¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle nodded, not fully understanding. It quietly shrunk and stood on Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder, looking at the walking dead in the distance together with Zhang Mu.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20: Wipe Out the Walking Dead

    The scent of diesel oil spread in the air, but the walking dead only heard the sound from the loudspeaker. They ignoring the repulsive smell, still rushing forward with no fear.

    There were no humans on the streets. All the survivors were hiding in their homes now, waiting for the never-arriving help from the army or the police. Due to the rules during the debugging period, these walking dead couldn¡¯t go after the humans who weren¡¯t within their hunting range, so they had been starving for half a day. Zhang Mu was the only living human they¡¯ve encountered, so they were all chasing after him frantically without any other thought.

    Therefore, as Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle watched them quietly and calmly from a distance, the walking dead had rushed into the oil station which had been covered with ayer of diesel oil.

    Three!

    Two!

    One!

    Explode!

    Zhang Mu counted the time ording to the walking dead¡¯s speed.

    Boom!

    The walking dead in the first row had been ignited by Zhang Mu before. As Zhang Mu had expected, the mes on their bodies ignited the gases in the air. A streak of firelight suddenly rose into the sky with a loud bang. The walking dead in the first row were instantly consumed by mes, but this wasn¡¯t the end.

    The mes moved along the diesel oil on the ground, flowing to the walking dead in the back row.

    Boom! Boom! Boom! In several ces, the density of diesel oil in the air had also reached the point of explosion. The loudspeaker should have been sted to pieces because the music had stopped. There was only the sounds of fire and explosion.

    Although the loudspeaker had been broken, the explosive sound still stimted the walking dead¡¯s ears. They had no fear towards the fire and still rushed into the sea of fire like a cloud of flying moths.

    Their simple instinct told them that their prey was hiding behind the sea of fire. As long as they rushed out the ze, they could enjoy a big meal.

    At the same time, Zhang Mu was taking liberties with his small beetle.

    ¡°Too bad that I can¡¯t find more loudspeakers. They are very effective! With more loudspeaker, I can design traps to kill as many walking dead as I want! Lower-level monsters don¡¯t know what fear is. Ha ha, this is why I love their dumb brains! Oh, some of them have broken through the sea of fire? Too bad for you because I have expected this! There is no way out for you all!¡±

    Even though the tongues of fire had almost touched Zhang Mu¡¯s face, he stillughed impudently. The Obsidian Beetle looked at him on his shoulder with curiosity. It also pped its small wings with excitement, because Zhang Mu had promised to it that he would give it a lot of crystals after eliminating the walking dead.

    The Obsidian Beetle had been influenced by Zhang Mu. It was gradually bing a small money grubber. At this moment, it only hoped that there were more and more walking dead rushing into the sea of fire.

    About half of the walking dead had crowded into the oil station. The walking dead¡¯s flesh and blood had almost extinguished the fire.

    The Obsidian Beetle felt anxious. Itputed and found that there would be hundreds of walking dead breaking through the sea of fire if this continued. It knew clearly that Zhang Mu and itself couldn¡¯t fight against so many walking dead. If so, they had to give up on killing them and obtaining their crystals.

    Zhang Mu felt its mood through the mental bond between them. He stroked its head and grinned, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, none of them can escape from my hands! I, Zhang Mu, never run a losing business! Look, the game is just beginning!¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words, Little ck¡¯¡¯s calm was gradually restored.

    Yes, everything was still under control.

    Bang!

    A loud bang abruptly echoed inside the oil station. The whole oil station copsed, raising airflows that swept through the entire walking dead army like a demon¡¯s bloody mouth that swallowed all its preys.

    The explosion stirred the air tempestuously. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t dare to keep observing. He hid behind the wall, from fear of being injured by the fragments in the air billows.

    Why would the oil station explode? It¡¯s because Zhang Mu had ordered the Obsidian Beetle to gnaw open the oil tanks from the middle so that only half of the diesel oil flowed out. The mes had ignited the oil that remained in the tanks and finally made them explode.

    It was really a big st. All the walking dead had been swallowed by the waves.

    Five minutester, Zhang Mu leisurely stuck his head out from the back of the wall. The air was still hot, but looking at the oil station, he couldn¡¯t stop the joy in his heart and the smile on his face.

    The oil station had be a total ruin. Walking dead¡¯s broken arms and legs littered all over the ground, ck and burnt like used cokes.

    Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t anyone else that witnessed Zhang Mu¡¯s great sess.

    Zhang Mu started to prepare his evening meal, waiting for the fire to extinguish and the air to cool down.

    To kill time, he tried to feed the Obsidian Beetle bread and milk, but Little ck vomited them all immediately. It felt very aggrieved in its heart. The foods called ¡°bread¡± and ¡°milk¡± were too disgusting! Why did Zhang Mu eat them with appetite? Isn¡¯t only meat eatable in the world?

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21: Getting Robbed

    Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle waited for a whole hour. He didn¡¯t dare rush into the sea of fire now, therefore, he just teased the Obsidian Beetle with a sausage, killing time this way.

    The sky was gradually getting dark.

    Zhang Mu stood up, observing the oil station from a distance. He ate thest piece of bread in his hand.

    His physique had been strengthened, so the energy he consumed every day had also increased greatly. Fortunately, he had his Merchant¡¯s Ring, so he could save his food in it. Otherwise, even if he filled his backpack with foods, he would eat them all up in a meal.

    It¡¯s time to go.

    The Obsidian Beetle was ying by itself on the ground. Zhang Mu picked up it and put it on his shoulder, then looked at the oil station. It had be a heap of rubble now.

    He would obtain his first tremendous heap of wealth after his rebirth!

    They slowly advanced towards the oil station, then increased in speeds after making sure that the fire had extinguished.

    ¡°Look, you can go to this area and eat as many crystals as you can.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s finger pointed to an area, telling the Obsidian Beetle to look for crystals by itself.

    In fact, Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was bleeding with reluctance while saying that. He was reluctant to give up even a crystal. However, he knew that the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s life had been bound with his, so its power was also a part of his power. Thinking about this, his mind finally restrained his greed for crystals.

    Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t give up any opportunity to enhance his strength.

    He didn¡¯t have a mutated animal in his past life because only tamer-type evolvers could tame mutated animals.

    However, he had heard from other merchants that tamer-type evolvers needed an extensive range of materials to cultivate their mutated animals. To them, sub-merchants were a stable source from which they bought materials and crystals.

    When he heard the number of crystals tamer-type evolvers needed to cultivate their mutated animals, he was shocked. However, mutated animals were also very expensive. All in all, it was a lucrative business.

    Zhang Mu was just an unknown sub-merchant in his past life. Naturally, no tamer-type evolver came to buy goods from him, so he didn¡¯t know the details. However, now, he finally knew the meaning of ¡°spending money like water¡±.

    After Zhang Mu told the Little ck to eat as many crystals as it could, it instantly flew to the area like a shell leaving a rifle. Even the air around it rippled and corrugated.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s surprised gape, the Obsidian Beetle nimbly reached out its legs, picking out crystals one after another one from walking dead¡¯s necks. Five minutester, the Obsidian Beetle had eaten over fifty crystals.

    Zhang Mu was scared. The fifty crystals weren¡¯tmon first-ranked crystals, but second-ranked crystals! What a monster it was!

    Compared to the Obsidian Beetle, he had only picked out two crystals in the five minutes. Zhang Mu stopped picking out more crystals and just watched the Obsidian Beetle.

    Ten minutester, the Obsidian Beetle finally stopped eating. Under Zhang Mu¡¯s gloomy gaze, it staggered flying back to Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu looked at it up and down. He found that its body had be bigger and its legs had also grown two centimeters. The most prominent change was the dark gold lines on its head. They had be more clear.

    ¡°How many crystals have you eaten?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle was too excited. It didn¡¯t realize that Zhang Mu wasining and answered, ¡°A hundred crystals! Master, I can¡¯t eat anymore. I need to take a rest.¡±

    Zhang Mu sneered, ¡°No way. Did you get enough? Then go to work! Go to pick out all the remaining crystals! Be quick. Do you need I to spur you on?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle finally noticed Zhang Mu¡¯s gloomy face. It realized that it just ate too much. It immediately flew back to work, for fear of being scolded by Zhang Mu. Because it only needed to pick out crystals from walking dead¡¯s necks, its working efficiency was very high. Zhang Mu could barely keep up with its pace.

    One crystal, two crystals¡­ ten crystals¡­ a hundred crystals¡­ Little ck and Zhang Mu cooperated with each other. Soon afterward, they had picked out more than half of the crystals from the walking dead lying around the gas station.

    Zhang Mu had five hundred crystals in his backpack now. Zhang Mu found that the Obsidian Beetle stealthily ate several crystals as it worked, but he just turned a blind eye to its little tricks.

    Suddenly, the Obsidian Beetle stopped and pped its wings at a high frequency. Its eyes stared at a ce behind the ruins and sent its uneasy and nervous emotions to Zhang Mu through the mental bond between them.

    What were the green lights there?

    Zhang Mu looked along the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s sight. Gradually, the green lights increased. Zhang Mu gasped after realizing what they were.

    The green lights¡­ there were from hundreds of mutated rats¡¯ eyes!

    Zhang Mu subconsciously wanted to run away, but these rats didn¡¯t pounce on him. They ran to the burned walking dead and started to gnaw them. The ce they passed didn¡¯t even leave a bone.

    ¡°No! My crystals!¡± Zhang Mu cried after realizing the painful reality. His voice attracted these mutated rats¡¯ attraction.

    It was too creepy to be stared by hundreds of mutated rats.

    ¡°Shit! Retreat, Little ck. Retreat!¡± Zhang Mu turned around and ran away without hesitation. Little ck was even faster than him. It immediately transformed back to its small form and flew to Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder.

    The rat swarm didn¡¯t chase after them. The temptation of the walking dead¡¯s flesh and crystals was too big. Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle weren¡¯t worth it for them to chase.

    ¡°The debugging period is too difficult! No wonder no one dares to walk around during this period of time!¡± Zhang Mu cursed.

    However, this was in line with his what he knew. This was the survival method of lower-level mutated animals he knew: Group Hunting. Zhang Mu¡¯s Obsidian Beetle was really an exception.

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22: Butterfly Effect

    ¡°Uncle, you are back! Are things outside still very bad? Uncle, did you get hurt? Don¡¯t worry, my healing energy has been recovered. I can heal you!¡±

    After Zhang Mu returned, Yuan Rui checked his body but found no wound. His clothes weren¡¯t even wrinkled. She pouted andined, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get hurt? Did you just look for a hidden ce and sleep for a day? If you didn¡¯t do that, what have you found? Haha.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t tease me. Do you want me to get hurt? The things I found are all in the backpack. See for yourself.¡±

    Yuan Rui stuck out her tongue. She took over Zhang Mu¡¯s backpack and threw it to the bed without a second nce, then asked Zhang Mu about his condition like a twittering little bird. Zhang Mu felt his heart warm. He wasn¡¯t an outgoing man, but he wouldn¡¯t refuse a girl¡¯s concern.

    What¡¯s wrong with me?

    In Zhang Mu¡¯s past life, his heart had be as hard as iron and as cold as ice, because he had seen too many betrayals, too much hatred. He seemed free and easygoing, but it was just the surface of his character, a method he used to deal with loneliness.

    Now, Zhang Mu could feel the cold ice in his heart melt. He felt as if he was still an ordinary man and the cataclysm hadn¡¯t happened yet.

    ¡°Look, it is my biggest gain today.¡±

    Zhang Mu drew out the Obsidian Beetle from his pocket and showed it to Yuan Rui.

    ¡°Whoa! It¡¯s cute! Uncle, I didn¡¯t expect that you would have such a hobby!¡±

    Yuan Rui looked at the Obsidian Beetle in surprise. She extended her hand. However, when her hand almost touched Little ck¡¯s shell, it suddenly turned around and vibrated its wings. If Zhang Mu didn¡¯t stop it in time, its sharp teeth would have bitten off Yuan Rui¡¯s fingers.

    In the light of candles, Yuan Rui saw the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s fearsome head. She quickly drew back her hand as her face turned pale in fear.

    Zhang Mu pped the Obsidian Beetle and scolded it mercilessly, ¡°You didn¡¯t dare to face the mutated rat swarm, but dare to scare the little girl? I tell you, if you dare to bite her finger, you can¡¯t eat anything from now on! Be good, let her touch you.¡±

    After hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s threat, The Obsidian Beetlepromised. It lowered its head and pped its wings listlessly.

    ¡°Oh, the beetle understands your words! Uncle, you are awesome!¡±

    Yuan Rui smiled through her tears.

    Zhang Mu boosted himself, ¡°Haha, I told you that in the new era, all kinds of evolution abilities would appear in the world. My ability is to tame mutated animals like Little ck. Don¡¯t be surprised by it, because it looks small and cute now, but it can be as big as a horse.¡±

    Of course, Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t a tamer-type evolver, but he didn¡¯t want to tell her that he didn¡¯t have any evolution ability. And as her ¡°uncle¡±, he didn¡¯t want to disappoint her.

    ¡°Its name is ¡®Little ck¡¯? It¡¯s so cute, how can it scare me? You must be teasing me, uncle.¡±

    Yuan Rui pulled up her socks to touch the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s back. Seeing that the beetle didn¡¯t refuse her, she stroked its back along the lines on its shell.

    The Obsidian Beetle didn¡¯t like to be touched by a human. However, after realizing that Zhang Mu was looking at it and Yuan Rui meant it no harm, it gradually let its guard down and started to enjoy Yuan Rui¡¯s petting.

    Zhang Mu was suddenly in a bad mood looking at the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s enjoying Yuan Rui`s attention.

    ¡°Let it alone. It¡¯s dinner time now.¡±

    Yuan Rui touched her empty stomach and realized that she was already hungry. She blushed, then took out food from Zhang Mu¡¯s backpack and divided it in half. Zhang Mu shook his hand and told her that he had eaten. Seeing that, she ate the food alone.

    ¡­

    On the second day, Zhang Mu woke up from a good sleep.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t wake Yuan Rui from her sweet dream. He left the room alone and found a tall building, climbed up to the rooftop and waited for the sunrise.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu squinted his eyes. He saw three groups of human teams at three different directions.

    Zhang Mu was sure that they were humans, but what were they doing?

    He patted his head. Right, he had almost eliminated the walking dead in this areast night. If the survivors were smart, they would naturallye out of their houses to search for necessities.

    In his memory, only very few people walked out of their hiding ces during the debugging time in his past life, but now, he saw three groups wondering out. Was it the butterfly effect?

    The butterfly effect is a concept that states that ¡°small causes can haverger effects¡±. His existence and the things he had done had changed the world. What would the world be?

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know if it was a good thing for these people. He had only eliminated the walking dead nearby, if they thought that the walking dead in the city had all been killed, they would experience the ruthlessness of the world with their own flesh and blood.

    Zhang Mu quietly sat on the top of the building and ate his bread. He watched them, observing how they broke the door of shops and looted the foods.

    He wanted to observe how many evolvers were hiding amongst these people. If they had great potentials, he would go to help them, because he wanted them to owe him a debt. Maybe this action would save his own life someday.

    As for ordinary people, Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t going to waste his energy to save them. In his past life, everyone needed to show their worth, so that they could linger on with theirst breath of life in this cruel world. Wastes and losers would be eliminated by ¡°natural selection¡±. No one could save them.

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23: The Dark Side of Human Nature

    Zhang Mu looked at the people with no emotion. Looking at the people who were quarrelling and scrambling for foods, he suddenly felt doubt in his heart. Were the presences who dragged the earth into this catastrophe watching the humans, observing how these ¡°small bugs¡± struggled for their lives?

    This was a game for the higher beings. And now, the game just began.

    When Zhang Mu was thinking, a loud noise on the street interrupted his thoughts.

    Bang! Peng!

    The people had crashed the ss doors of several stores on the street.

    The street wasn¡¯t long. Inevitably, two teams met each other.

    ¡°Kid, we found this convenience store first. Go find yourself another one!¡± A gangster-like blond man said scornfully. He carried a baseball bat and blocked the entrance of the convenience store, squinting at the people standing in the front of him.

    Judging from their suits and shirts, they were a team of office workers. They were frightened by the blond man¡¯s words and none of them dared to move forward. However, a man wearing sses who looked like the leader of the group spoke up, ¡°My friend, we still don¡¯t know what danger there is. I think that ¡®cooperating with each other¡¯ is better than ¡®refusing to share profit with others¡¯. Don¡¯t you agree?¡±

    ¡°Shut up, you fool. There are no walking dead around right now, but no one knows when these human-eating monsters will return. Of course, I will take away all the foods. Otherwise, my little brothers and I will have to drink the northwest wind on empty stomachs!¡±

    The waved his baseball bat and ordered his subordinates to be quicker.

    The man with sses was pissed off. He said angrily, ¡°You are just a few people. You don¡¯t need that much food! We have been starving for a whole day. If you don¡¯t share some foods with us, we will¡­ don¡¯t me me for not warning you!¡±

    His opponent was amused, ¡°Ha? What will you do? Shut up and get out of my sight! Hey, hey, if you are good, maybe we will leave some for you after we leave.¡±

    Looking at the goods his little brothers were carrying away, the blond gangsterughed rudely.

    ¡°Be quiet! Don¡¯t attract the human-eating monsters! You¡­ if you don¡¯t get out of our way, we¡­ we will teach you a lesson!¡±

    The gangsterughed to tears after hearing the man¡¯s words. After a while, he calmed down and said with a cold tone, ¡°Teach me a lesson? You? Hehe, can you?¡± He lifted his baseball bat and pointed it at the man¡¯s head, ¡°I change my mind. We won¡¯t leave anything for you. Leave immediately or let me break your legs, you can make a choice now.¡±

    A woman in business suit scolded him, ¡°Do you want to kill him? If you do that, I will call the police!¡±

    He nced at her and sneered contemptuously, ¡°Stupid woman, you can call the police now, but no one wille to help you! If you don¡¯t shut your mouth up, we will rape you on the street!¡±

    The woman was scared by his greedy eyes. She immediately hid amongst her group and didn¡¯t dare to look at the blond guy.

    However, unlike other people, the man with sses wasn¡¯t frightened. Instead, he gazed at his opponent and said slowly, ¡°You are right. The world has changed. Thews and morality we have used are longer practicable now.¡±

    The gangster thought that he was admitting defeat. Heughed and went over tomand his little brothers, so he didn¡¯t see that the man with sses stared at his back and said coldly, ¡°Thank you for teaching me this. So, you can die now.¡±

    The blond man thought he had misheard things, but the sudden pain in his chest interrupted his thoughts. He didn¡¯t understand what happened and he didn¡¯t know what was wrong with his body because the pain stopped him from thinking. His sight became blurred and finally, he lost his strength. The baseball bat fell to the ground.

    A stout thorn suddenly dug out the ground, piercing through his body like a venomous snake. He struggled in a pool of his own blood and five secondster, he died.

    His subordinates were really scared. They cried and fled in all directions; they didn¡¯t even dare to carry any food away.

    The man with sses reached for his sses habitually. His face was pale, but he still forced a smile and said, ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s go to take some food.¡±

    The people behind him immediately ran towards the convenience store. They excitedly searched the store and stole a nce at the man with sses in fear. Most of them were taking the goods off the shelves and putting foods into their mouths at the same time.

    ¡°He is an earth-type evolver! This is just the second day of the new era. He is really something.¡±

    Zhang Mu teased the Obsidian Beetle and observed these people.

    He didn¡¯t really care about these people¡¯s fates. Even though the man with sses was an earth-type evolver, he wasn¡¯t very important in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart, because earth-type evolvers were verymon in his past life.

    ¡°What will they do next? He is still too impulsive. He shouldn¡¯t have killed the blond guy.¡±

    As Zhang Mu had expected, he heard several roars from the other side of the street. Some walking dead were attracted by the smell of blood and the noise they had made. The hunters wereing!

    The group also heard the roars. They desperately looked at the man with sses, hoping that he could find a solution again. The man with sses smiled bitterly. This time, he really couldn¡¯t help them. He shouted ¡°Run!¡± and ran away.

    Other people looked at him with open-mouthed incredulity. Finally, they reacted and chased after their leader.

    This time, the differences amongst the people were exposed. Some people were smart because they threw down all the foods they held and ran away without hesitation. Some people couldn¡¯t bear leaving the foods they had gotten and this killed them. They were immediately caught up by walking dead and died painfully.

    Other people heard their cries. They were scared and ran with all their strengths. However, the walking dead¡¯s speed was about two times faster than them. It was just a matter of time before they werepletely annihted.

    At this time, the dark side of human nature exposed. A man in white shirt suddenly pulled down the man beside him, then ran away without looking back. Instantly, walking dead surrounded the man who had fallen and pounced on him.

    Why?!

    The man cried in his heart.

    We are colleagues! Weren¡¯t you the person who told me to help each other and survive together in the world just now?

    Until his death, the man¡¯s eyes were full of confusion and anger.

    ¡°Don¡¯t me me. Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost. I don¡¯t need to run faster than the walking dead. Running faster than you is enough,¡± the man in white shirt thought.

    His behaviour was a bad model for others. Other people also started to abandon their partners. Finally, four people were sacrificed before the walking dead stopped chasing after them.

    They gradually stopped running and gasped for air. They were all celebrating having finally escaped from the monster and felt no guilt for the people who were abandoned by them.

    Zhang Mu watched them from the beginning to the end. He sighed, ¡°Yes, this is the ¡®eschaton¡¯ I know. This is human nature!¡±

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24: Zhang Mu¡¯s Help

    Everyone gasped for air. Some of them copsed on the ground and began to cry.

    ¡°Where do the monsterse from? How will we survive from now on?¡± A man in ck suit cried. The pressure got to him after seeing his five friends getting torn to rags by the walking dead.

    ¡°These zombies were too fast. We will all die.¡±

    Two girls also cried with hollowed eyes. Their friends¡¯ blood had stained their white dresses.

    The woman who had scolded the yellow-haired man was lucky. She escaped from the walking dead and joined the team of survivors.

    Unfortunately, her intelligence wasn¡¯t in proportion to her luck.

    She walked to the man who pushed down his coworker and scolded him, ¡°Do you know you just murdered someone? Why is your blood so cold? You will be punished by thew!¡±

    The sses guy looked at her as if she was an idiot, but the man she just pushed wasn¡¯t as kind as the man with sses. He jumped up and pped the woman¡¯s face, ¡°Shut up! If you didn¡¯t provoke the yellow-haired rogue, why would Brother Liang kill him? If we had waited till they left, how would the monsters have found us?! Stupid woman. Rather than to be eaten by these monsters, I prefer to be punished byws and stay in jail for a lifetime!¡± the man said mercilessly.

    He looked at her face and suddenly felt hot desire rising up. He pulled her over and tried to strip her clothes. She resisted, but he pped her face without mercy.

    She started crying, but this didn¡¯t stop him. The people around just looked at them indifferently and no one came to stop the man. Some of them even started to discuss the woman¡¯s body.

    At this moment, the dark side of human nature was finally shown.

    The man realized that no one was going to stop him. This made him be more unscrupulous. He excitedly took off his belt in front of other people without any sense of shame.

    The people around them looked on with enthusiasm. They smiled, but their smiles were so ugly.

    Suddenly, the man with sses stopped the man.

    ¡°Enough! Guang Zi, you think that we are safe now? If the walking deade now, you think that you can run away with your pants down? I promise that I won¡¯t save you if it happens.¡±

    The man¡¯s sexual passion immediately disappeared. He calmed down and looked at the man with sses in fear.

    ¡°Brother Liang, I¡¯m wrong. Please forgive me.¡±

    After saying that, he turned around and pushed the woman to the ground, ¡°Did you hear what Brother Liang said? Now get away. If you dare to say anything again, you know what I will do!¡±

    The woman copsed on the ground in silence. Her outlook on the world had broken at this moment. She had lost her faith and guts.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back to ourpany. At least, it is more secure than on the street.¡±

    The man with sses said, then walked away without a word.

    The other people looked at each other. Thinking that it would be safer to stay with their leader, they also stood up and followed him.

    Suddenly, the man with sses stopped. He stared at the three walking dead on the street in the front of theirpany.

    He calcted in his heart. He could only release his super ability he named ¡°Earth de¡± once, then his energy would be exhausted. If he was lucky, the Earth de could kill two walking dead at once, but the remaining walking dead would be able to ughter them all.

    He waved his hands and guided the people to step back slowly, for fear of attracting the three walking dead.

    Suddenly, a girl¡¯s ear-splitting shriek broke the silence. Everyone turned back and stared at her with anger. If eyes could kill, then she would¡¯ve already been killed a thousand times over. However, when they looked over, no one was in the mood to scold her.

    There were five walking dead on the other side of the street!

    The man with sses was in despair. After all, he was just an office worker who suddenly got a super ability. He knew his limits. If they were surrounded by the eight walking dead, none of them would survive!

    However, some people¡¯s hearts had been twisted. They calcted in their hearts: if I push the people beside me to the walking dead, will I have an opportunity to run away?

    They quietly moved. Those people who were scared stiff didn¡¯t even realize that their partners had prepared to push them to hell.

    Zhang Mu stealthily approached them. He sneered looking at what they were nning to do.

    However, he didn¡¯t want to help them. They had abandoned their partners once, so it was their fate to be abandoned, too. It was karma.

    The five walking dead up front had noticed them and started running towards them. They cried in fear and drew back step by step. Some people had closed their eyes and waited for their deaths.

    Unlike Zhang Mu¡¯s expectation, the man with sses suddenly rushed towards the five walking dead as if he couldn¡¯t wait for his death. He ground his teeth and calcted the distance. When they were just a few feet away, he waved his arms, releasing a dozen of Earth des on the ground. They were far shorter than the Earth de he released before, but they still pierced through the walking dead¡¯s feet and pinned them to the ground.

    What a bold and smart man! Zhang Mu praised the man in his heart.

    However, the man¡¯s face suddenly turned pale. He feebly knelt on the ground and shouted with hisst strength, ¡°I have pinned them. Kill them! Hit their heads!¡±

    However, the people didn¡¯t listen to his order. Taking this opportunity, they all ran away. Several girls wanted to lend a hand to support him, but they were stopped and dragged away by their friends.

    Looking at their backs, the man with sses forced a smile and mocked himself hopelessly, ¡°Wang Liang, Wang Liang, you are really an idiot. Why would you believe these people?!¡±

    Soon afterwards, they had run out of Wang Liang¡¯s sight. Without Wang Liang¡¯s earth-type energy, the Earth des gradually disappeared and the walking dead gradually struggled free. Wang Liang saw no way out of the hopeless situation and closed his eyes, waiting for death toe get him. Suddenly, he heard consecutive sounds of objects hitting the ground. Before he opened his eyes, he heard a hoarse voice, ¡°What? Do you regret your choice just now?¡±

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25: Role y

    In the end, he didn¡¯t feel the pain of being torn up. He had prepared to be killed, but after hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words, he opened his eyes as quickly as if he was a drowner who just caught a life buoy.

    After realizing that he was still alive, Wang Liang rxed. He gasped on the ground and gazed at the five headless walking dead, aplex feeling brewing in his heart.

    A few secondster, he finally realized that Zhang Mu was still looking at him. He turned back and looked at the man, the man who smiled with a small beetle on his shoulder, the man who just killed the five walking dead.

    He quickly calmed down, adjusted his sses and asked, ¡°Thank you for saving my life. May I know your name?¡±

    ¡°My name isn¡¯t important. I want to know your answer first. Tell me, do you regret your choice?¡±

    He was frightened by Zhang Mu¡¯s tone and expression. Zhang Mu realized it and immediately eased the pressure.

    Wang Liang thought for a while, then answered Zhang Mu slowly, ¡°No, since it was my own choice. It was not for saving their lives, but mine. I had bet that I could trap the five walking dead together and I won. I just didn¡¯t expect that these wastes wouldn¡¯t even dare to attack the immobilized monsters. They are fools. Without my help, they were nothing, but food of these monsters. Yes, if I abandoned them, I could run away alone, but¡­ if we don¡¯t help each other, how long can we survive in the world? Unfortunately, I teamed up with a group of idiots. Hehe.¡± Wang Liangughed sarcastically. It seemed like he had recovered a bit of his energy, as he slowly stood up.

    He is a smart man. Zhang Mu thought and looked into Wang Liang¡¯s eyes. The man had a clever brain and was also an earth-type evolver. He should be qualified to help him do ¡°that thing¡±.

    Right at this time, the three walking dead in the front of thepany had followed the noise to this ce and found them. After seeing Zhang Mu and Wang Liang, they immediately roared and rushed to them.

    Without any more words, Zhang Mu sped to the three walking dead.

    Drawing out his sword, he brandished it and then sheathed it. Zhang Mu finished the three steps in a second.

    Thud! Thud! Thud!

    The next second, three heads fell down to the ground.

    Zhang Mu did it on purpose. It looked very easy, but in fact, Zhang Mu had tried his best to behead the three walking dead at the same time.

    Of course, his efforts were effective. Zhang Mu became more mysterious in the man¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°If I was as strong as you, I wouldn¡¯t be put in that tight spot!¡± Wang Liang gazed at Zhang Mu¡¯s Tang sword eagerly.

    Zhang Mu lifted his sword and smiled, ¡°What? You want my weapon and power?¡±

    ¡°Of course!¡± he answered subconsciously and immediately added, ¡°And what, sir, must I give in return?¡±

    There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world. The man with sses knew the proverb very well.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Let me introduce myself first.¡±

    Zhang Mu deliberately said in a solemn tone, ¡°I¡¯m a merchant from Era Trade Caravan, not a human belonging to this world. Your world had been chosen as a testing field. After the test started, I came to this world.¡±

    ¡°You are not a human?¡±

    Wang Liang looked at Zhang Mu up and down. He found no difference between Zhang Mu¡¯s appearance and a normal human¡¯s, but he didn¡¯t mind if Zhang Mu was lying. He only wanted power.

    ¡°My name is Wang Liang. Tell me, what is the price I have to pay to be as strong as you?¡±

    Wang Liang was eager for power. He knew that the world had been changed. Only people with power could survive.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t answer his question. Instead, he picked out a crystal from a walking dead¡¯s neck and showed it to Wang Liang, ¡°Look, you can find crystals like this from the walking dead¡¯s necks. It is our currency. If you can gather one thousand crystals in a month for me, I will grant you my speed in exchange for them.¡±

    Wang Liang looked at the crystal with curiosity. He wanted to observe it more closely, but Zhang Mu had already put it back into his own pocket. Wang Liang smiled embarrassedly.

    Zhang Mu loved crystals as much as his life. Even though Wang Liang was useful to him, he wouldn¡¯t give him even a crystal for free.

    Wang Liang threw up his hands and forced a smile, ¡°I don¡¯t know why I suddenly obtained my super ability, but it isn¡¯t very powerful. I can only kill one or two walking dead at once. As you have seen, it is impossible for me to collect one thousand crystals within a month. I want power, but¡­ sorry, it is far beyond my capabilities.¡±

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t helpughing. He said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. By tomorrow, these monsters will only retain 30% of their current power. They will only be slightly stronger than ordinary people.¡±

    A me of hope ignited in Wang Liang¡¯s eyes again. He said to himself, ¡°30%¡­ Yes, it isn¡¯t too difficult.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and said slowly, ¡°Not only power. I can provide you with a lot of other things including food and weapon and they are very cheap. Don¡¯t hesitate, go to look for crystals! You will be able to get whatever you want!¡±

    At the same time, Zhang Mu snapped his fingers. A bag of bread suddenly appeared on his hand. In order to fool Wang Liang, he must use his Merchant¡¯s Ring.

    Wang Liang was shocked. He was sure there was nothing in Zhang Mu¡¯s hand a moment ago.

    Zhang Mu threw the bread to him.

    ¡°Remember, you can use crystals to exchange for power from me. A monthter, I will wait for you here. I hope that you won¡¯t disappoint me.¡±

    After he finished speaking, he walked away without looking back.

    Wang Liang grasped the bag of bread in his hand and looked at Zhang Mu¡¯s back in silence.

    After walking out of Wang Liang¡¯s sight, Zhang Muughed.

    He knew that his lie wouldn¡¯t get exposed. Even if Wang Liang met other merchants in the future, they wouldn¡¯t be able to expose his lie because they were just newbies. They would just think that he was a special era merchant.

    Even if some idiot went and told Wang Liang the real price of the agility potions, it didn¡¯t matter.

    After all, he had bought all of them. This month, no one would have agility potions except for him! As for next month¡­ don¡¯t forget that he was the first sub-merchant! He would dominate the market of the whole Luoyang City! He would monopolize resources all to himself!

    ¡°A monthter, I will buy ten agility potions. As sub-merchant no. 1, the price will only be eighty-one crystals. And I will sell them to Wang Liang for one thousand crystals. Ha ha ha ha! Wang Liang, don¡¯t disappoint me!¡±

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26: Ready to Go

    On the road returning to the warehouse, Zhang Mu saw the group of people who just abandoned Wang Liang. They had been hunted down by walking dead and only a few people escaped.

    It was toote to save them. Moreover, he didn¡¯t want to save them.

    There had been over a dozen people, but now, only two were left. Zhang Mu shook his head in disdain.

    They were too stupid. If they had stayed with Wang Liang, with his help, they would be able to survive in this world more easily.

    A kind and virtuous evolver wanted to help them, but they actually abandoned him. How stupid were they!

    When they had abandoned their friends, they should¡¯ve known that they would be abandoned as well someday!

    Most people in Zhang Mu¡¯s past life had acted like this, but Zhang Mu refused to be one of them. As a merchant, he liked crystals, but there was something more important than crystals. In his past life, even though finishing his quests alone was dangerous, he still refused to join any force. He didn¡¯t believe in other humans. Monsters were straightforward; they never hid their will to eat him. However, he couldn¡¯t see through humans¡¯ smiling faces. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising to be stabbed by someone who just dered that you were his friend.

    When Zhang Mu returned to the warehouse, it was already lunchtime.

    He knocked at the door. Yuan Rui excitedly opened it and pulled him into the room. She smiled at him, thenined, ¡°Uncle, why didn¡¯t you tell me that you would go outside? I thought that you had abandoned me! If you didn¡¯te back, I would¡¯ve gone on the street to look for you!¡±

    Yuan Rui¡¯s tone became mournful.

    Zhang Mu immediately took out the Obsidian Beetle to draw her attention and apologized, ¡°I didn¡¯t want to disturb your sleep, so I went out for a walk. I saw some people who were looking for food and I talked with them for a while. If I was going to leave, I would tell you!¡±

    At this time, the Obsidian Beetle felt that its self-esteem take a blow.

    As a monster, no, as an Obsidian Beetle and a first-ranked mutated animal, it was used as a toy by his owner to ingratiate to a little girl!

    It looked at Zhang Mu with bitterness, but Zhang Mu just ignored itsint. Instead, he threatened it through the mental bond between them and bribed it, ¡°Be good and I will give you a crystal!¡±

    ¡°No! Give me two crystals!¡±

    Zhang Mu ground his teeth, ¡°Deal!¡±

    When did the little beetle be such a miser?! Zhang Mu cursed in his heart.

    After getting Zhang Mu¡¯s promise, the Obsidian Beetle started to y. It slowly flew to Yuan Rui and danced in the air. Its wings pped and its ass shook, which looked prettyical. Yuan Rui smiled through her tears.

    Zhang Mu let out a sigh of relief and thumbed up Little ck.

    It was worth his two crystals!

    Yuan Rui choked on her sobs and asked, ¡°Uncle, you saw other people? Were there still a lot of monsters? Why did these people leave their houses? Was it because they were all as strong as you?¡±

    Zhang Mu touched his nose and smiled, ¡°How could there be anyone as strong as me? Perhaps it was because they were too hungry. They had to go to the street to look for food. I saw over a dozen of people, but only one man had powers just like me. However, he wasn¡¯t very strong. They were surrounded by walking dead and only two people survived.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, why didn¡¯t you save them?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a god. I can¡¯t save everyone!¡± Zhang Mu shrugged his shoulders. He was lying. He could save them, but he just didn¡¯t want to. However, he didn¡¯t want to let Yuan Rui know the truth.

    ¡°Oh,¡± Yuan Rui said, then fell in silence. Zhang Mu knew that she was a kind girl, but he must let her know the brutal nature of the world. He told her the thing that had happened, of course, it didn¡¯t including his talk with Wang Liang.

    ¡°How could they do that! They dropped a stone on the man who has fallen into a well! Do they have any heart?¡±

    ¡°Humans are selfish. In order to stay alive, they can do anything. So, do you understand the importance of staying alert and keep your eyes open? Don¡¯t pity these people. They deserve their deaths.¡±

    ¡°Yes, they were all bad people. Uncle, you are a good man. Aren¡¯t I very lucky?¡± Yuan Rui suddenly winked at Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu coughed in embarrassment. He looked at Yuan Rui and said in a serious tone, ¡°I will leave Luoyang City tomorrow. What is your n? Do you want to leave with me or stay here? I will leave sufficient foods and water for you. The ce where I¡¯m going is very dangerous. Don¡¯t risk your life.¡±

    Zhang Mu knew that after tomorrow, the debugging time would end. At that time, all the walking dead¡¯s physiques would return to normal. However, they would also be released from the rule of ¡°Walking dead can¡¯t hunt the humans outside of its hunting range¡±. Therefore, houses wouldn¡¯t be safe anymore. All the survivors would have to live more agonizingly.

    Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t worried about them. However, it would be troublesome if this area was surrounded by them. He preferred to go to some remote ce before this happened. Maybe he would have to battle some mutated animals on the road, but it was still a better choice.

    As for the low-level walking dead in the city... Zhang Mu would leave them to Wang Liang and the other evolvers. It was not a good choice anymore to keep hunting walking dead in the city. He¡¯d better reach the next era merchant¡¯s shop within a month.

    Yuan Rui was surprised by his words. She froze for a while, then asked him in a confused tone, ¡°Uncle, why do you want to leave? Isn¡¯t it very safe here?¡±

    ¡°I know, but... I want to find out that who caused the whole disaster. Don¡¯t you think that this catastrophe is very strange? There must be someone who is controlling it!¡±

    Zhang Mu said in a solemn tone.

    He hid a part of the truth, but it was indeed the most important reason why Zhang Mu did all this.

    Now, he was waiting for Yuan Rui¡¯s answer.

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27: Determine the Goal

    ¡°Ok, I go with you. My power can heal you. I won¡¯t be a burden.¡±

    Different from Zhang Mu¡¯s expectation, Yuan Rui gave him a positive answer after thinking for a while. He thought that the little girl would be afraid of walking dead and wouldn¡¯t dare to leave the safe warehouse, but she actually agreed to leave with him.

    He asked in curiosity, ¡°Why? Aren¡¯t you afraid of the walking dead?¡±

    Yuan Rui still smiled. After a while, she teased Little ck in her hands and answered Zhang Mu in a nonchnt tone, ¡°Uncle, I know you are strong and you will protect me. I¡¯m not afraid. Haha.¡±

    Listening to Yuan Rui¡¯s words, Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was relieved. He smiled at Yuan Rui, ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go. Maybe I will need you to save my life someday.¡±

    Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu with a smile and answered, ¡°Yes, I¡¯m strong. I can help you!¡±

    I want to see her pure smile, a smile all the people had before the cataclysm started.

    Zhang Mu shook his head and stopped to think about it. Beauty needed to be protected by power. No gardeners, no beautiful flowers. But now, the thing Zhang Mucked most was power.

    He wanted to set out as soon as possible.

    Zhang Mu asked Yuan Rui, ¡°Where do you want to go?¡±

    Yuan Rui gazed at Zhang Mu in surprise, ¡°I thought that you had already decided on the destination! If you haven¡¯t, then you must hurry. You said that we should leave tomorrow.¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded. In fact, he had had an idea when he was in the era merchant¡¯s shop because he knew the era merchant in Xian City would buy his Luoyang Peony Bud at the highest price. With his maximum speed, he could reach Xian within two days and two nights. Of course, it was if he encountered the best circumstances. Considering that he may encounter mutated animals or walking dead on the way, six days was going to be more than enough.

    Therefore, for the rest of the month, Zhang Mu had nned to visit other cities. If so, he could finish his quest far beyond the requirements.

    However, now, there was a variable in his n: Yuan Rui. He could run all day without resting, but Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t. She was just a healing-type evolver, and her physique wasn¡¯t any better than ordinary people. She would dy his travel speed and the trip to and fro would take around 20 days. In this case, he would only have ten days of free time left during this period of time. Now, he was thinking that where he should go within the ten days.

    Sigh, since the time wasn¡¯t sufficient for him to visit other cities, he could only go hunt walking dead and mutated animals. Walking dead had crystals in their necks and simrly, mutated animals had beast-cores in their bodies. ording to his memory, a beast-core could be exchanged for five crystals, because beast-cores contained two times more energy than crystals. It was more effective for evolvers.

    Zhang Mu also remembered that some era merchants were fond of beast-cores. If he was lucky enough to meet one of these era merchants, he would earn a lot from selling the beast-cores to them. In his past life, he umted his wealth like this.

    Normally, mutated animals lived in suburbs or mountains. Of course, he could also find them in cities, however, most of the mutated animals in cities were low-level monsters just like the mutated rat swarm he saw before. It would just be a waste of his time and energy if he went to kill them, and it was also very dangerous.

    A n was gradually forming in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart. He was still adjusting his route while counting the dangers he may meet in his heart.

    No, not this way. I remember someone had said that there was a second-ranked mutated wolfhound and its pack of mutated dogs there. If I encountered them, I won¡¯t be able to defeat them.

    Change the route!

    I remember that there was arge wave of walking dead on this street. Not a good choice.

    Change the route!

    Zhang Mu cudgelled his brains for ideas and finally, he remembered something.

    ¡°Right! This way!¡± Zhang Mu shouted excitedly.

    ¡°Uncle, you scared me!¡± Yuan Ruiined and patted her chest.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes brightened up. He shouted, ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Longmen Grottoes!¡±

    ¡°The Longmen Grottoes? Aren¡¯t you a native? Haven¡¯t you gone there before? There aren¡¯t many beautiful scenes. I don¡¯t suggest you visit there.¡± Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu in confusion.

    ¡°No, we¡¯re not visiting there. There is a big surprise waiting for us! You will know it after we reach there.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled but refused to tell Yuan Rui more details. Yuan Rui felt annoyed. She left Zhang Mu alone and yed with Little ck.

    Zhang Mu knew what the ¡°thing¡± he just remembered was. He remembered what a mess it caused in his past life.

    If he could find it in advance¡­ it would be one of his strongest weapons!

 Chapter 28

    Trantor: WuWang

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 28: Across the Highway

    After a wonderful sleep, Zhang Mu woke up feeling energetic.

    However, when he saw the scene on the bed, he suddenly felt intense indignation. Little ck had actually abandoned him and slept on Yuan Rui¡¯s bed. It curled up in Yuan Rui¡¯s arms and unconsciously clutched its paws at the air. Maybe it was dreaming that it was eating crystals.

    Zhang Mu wanted to p it awake, but he worried it would wake up Yuan Rui, so he only stared at the Obsidian Beetle mercilessly and did nothing else.

    Weren¡¯t they partners? Shouldn¡¯t partners share their joys and sorrows together? Why can the Obsidian Beetle sleep in a girl¡¯s arms while he had to sleep on the ground? Zhang Mu felt jealousy. He decided he would reduce its foods in the future as a punishment.

    It seemed that the Obsidian Beetle felt the ill will. It turned around on the bed. Zhang Mu thought that it had woken up, but it actually turned around and fell asleep again!

    It fell asleep again!

    Zhang Mu had sentenced the Obsidian Beetle to death in his heart. He silently wiped his Tang sword, then started to pack his backpack.

    After a while, Yuan Rui woke up. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and said, ¡°Oh, uncle, you are awake!¡±

    She didn¡¯t know that Little ck was sleeping in her arms. As she sat up, Little ck fell to the ground. Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t help butugh out.

    ¡°Little ck! Why are you here?¡± Yuan Rui looked at the Obsidian Beetle in surprise. It fell backwards with its four paws in the air, looking prettyical.

    Zhang Mu picked it up and threw it at the wall. Heughed, ¡°Don¡¯t mind it, it had iting!¡±

    Yuan Rui guessed the reason. She covered her mouth and giggled.

    At this time, the Obsidian Beetle flew to them. It knew that it was wrong and looked at Zhang Mu tteringly.

    ¡°Hum, you deserve it. I fed you so many crystals and this is how you repaid me? Today¡¯s food will be reduced by half!¡±

    Zhang Mu said and waved his hands.

    Little ck was scared by Zhang Mu¡¯s words. The food will be reduced by half... no! It flew forth and back in front of Zhang Mu, but Zhang Mu pretended that it didn¡¯t exist.

    Humph. Do you know now? When your master is sleeping on the ground, you can¡¯t sleep on the bed!

    Yuan Rui smiled looked at Zhang Mu¡¯s childish behaviour. She persuaded him, ¡°Uncle, don¡¯t me Little ck. Look, it knows that it was wrong!¡±

    After hearing Yuan Rui¡¯s words, Little ck immediately nodded its head in the air.

    ¡°Ok, ok, I¡¯ll forgive you. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Zhang Mu was just teasing it. After seeing that it had admitted its mistakes, he forgave Little ck.

    ¡°We should be quick. We can eat our breakfast on the way.¡±

    Yuan Rui looked around the room and felt a bit of reluctant. After all, this was her home, and there were a lot of things she didn¡¯t want to give up. However, she also knew that the world had changed. If she carried too many things, it would be a burden. Finally, she only put a pocket watch into her bag.

    Zhang Mu looked at her with relief. The girl finally realized the right thing she should do in the crisis-ridden world. In fact, he wouldn¡¯t have said anything if she did take along a lot of things. After all, it was Little ck who would carry their luggage.

    They left the warehouse. Zhang Mu squinted his eyes and looked at the rising sun, then said to himself, ¡°Are you ready?¡±

    Of course, no one responded him. He shook his head and said decisively, ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle immediately flew on the street. With a circle of airwave, it transformed into a big beetle that was as tall as a man.

    ¡°Ah!¡± Yuan Rui hadn¡¯t seen Little ck¡¯s big form before. She was scared and took a few steps backward.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid. It looks ugly, but it is still Little ck. You can ride on its back.¡± Zhang Mu consoled Yuan Rui.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid...¡± Yuan Rui answered fearfully. Indeed, the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s bulky form looked very ferocious. He couldn¡¯t me her.

    At this time, Little ck turned back and forced a smiled on its ugly face. Yuan Rui was suddenly amused. She realized that it was still the little beetle who had yed cute in her arms just now. She walked to it and tentatively touched its head. Little ck didn¡¯t resist her and closed its eyes to enjoy her touch. Yuan Ruiughed out and patted its head, ¡°Why are you so ugly now? I won¡¯t y with you!¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle could neither cry norugh.

    ¡°Ok, ok, we should leave!¡± Zhang Mu urged them.

    ¡°I know, but... how can I get on its back?¡± Yuan Rui looked confused.

    Zhang Mu patted his head and got an idea. He lifted Yuan Rui up and ordered the Obsidian Beetle to squat down. He smoothly put Yuan Rui on Little ck¡¯s back. Before Yuan Rui could cry in fear, he had run away. Little ck pped its wings and tightly followed behind him.

    At first, Yuan Rui was scared, but soon, she gradually got used to Little ck¡¯s speed. She looked around and opened her arms to the wind, enjoying the pleasant sensation.

    At first, Little ck couldn¡¯t carry a person and fly at the same time, but after eating over a hundred crystals, it was able to fly at its full speed even with Yuan Rui on its back.

    Zhang Mu looked back at them with a contented expression.

    Going through the roads that Zhang Mu had ¡®cleaned¡¯ up, the three of them were travelling at full speed with a whole crowd of walking dead chasing after them, attracted by the racket they made.

    Yuan Rui was frightened, but shortly afterwards, she had realized that even the fast walking dead couldn¡¯t catch them. Without having to worry about anything, she curiously looked around at the world that had changed.

 Chapter 29

    Trantor: yingtong

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 29: Two Survivors

    Zhang Mu ran on the streets for half an hour. After warming up his body, he increased his speed again to about three times faster than ordinary people.

    Little ck swallowed the bitter pill in silence. Ruan Rui was slender and light, but even so, she was an adult. She gradually became a weight that slowed down its flying speed. However, it didn¡¯t dare to protest and had to follow tightly behind Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Uncle, where are we going? Aren¡¯t we going to the Longmen Grottoes? I don¡¯t remember it being in this direction!¡±

    The wind was fierce. Yuan Rui had to curl her hands next to her mouth like a trumpet to yell at Zhang Mu.

    Apparently, Zhang Mu heard her words. He gradually slowed down his speed. 2.5x in speed, 2x, then 1.5x, 1x... In the end, he was leisurely walking on the street.

    Taking a nce at the Obsidian Beetle, Zhang Mu realized that he went too fast. He took a few steps backward and walked beside Little ck, then looked at Yuan Rui and said, ¡°Look at your right. What do you see?¡±

    Yuan Rui looked at the direction Zhang Mu pointed at.

    ¡°It¡¯s... a highway?¡±

    She turned back and asked Zhang Mu in confusion, ¡°Uncle, why did wee here? I remember that there is a way that leads directly to the Longmen Grottoes, why don¡¯t we go that way?¡±

    Zhang Mu walked to the toll station and answered, ¡°I know that way, but we can¡¯t go from there. There is probably a lot of walking dead, and I don¡¯t want to take the risk and be entangled with them. Today is thest day of the debugging period, we shouldn¡¯t waste our time on them.¡±

    Yuan Rui still felt confused. ¡°But aren¡¯t there a lot of walking dead on the highway? I remember it was six p.m. when the catastrophe happened. It was the rush hour.¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded and looked at the highway in the distance with fiery eyes. ¡°It is the reason. Even if we are taking a detour, even if we can only slowly walk on the highway and can¡¯t rely on the Obsidian Beetle, it is still the safest way, because... the walking dead on the highway are all jammed inside their cars!¡±

    He smilingly looked at Yuan Rui and asked, ¡°Now, do you understand why I came here?¡±

    Yuan Rui suddenly realized what he meant, ¡°Haha! We don¡¯t need to worry about anything there!¡±

    Zhang Mu shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s the safest way, but there might still be some dangers. Things must not be taken lightly.¡±

    Soon, they reached the toll station and squeezed pass from between the railing. There was no one was inside the station, but there was a lot of blood. They didn¡¯t know if the officers had run away or if they had be walking dead.

    Various cars were scattered here and there on the highway. The quietness made the surroundings seem indescribably strange. Yuan Rui walked quietly next to Zhang Mu. The Obsidian Beetle had transformed into a small beetle again and was crouching on Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder.

    Zhang Mu broke the silence and said with a fearless smile, ¡°Don¡¯t be frightened. I¡¯m here and Little ck is with us too. If anything happens, let it deal with it and we can take the opportunity to run away.¡±

    Little ck gazed at Zhang Mu with grievance-filled eyes but found that his owner¡¯s expression was bing more and more serious.

    The Obsidian Beetle was scared and immediately flew to Yuan Rui, hiding in her arms.

    Yuan Rui was amused and her nervousness lessened.

    As Zhang Mu had predicted, they could hear sounds from within the vehicles around them but there was no walking dead outside. When they passed by the cars, they could clearly see the walking dead¡¯s ugly faces through the windows.

    ¡°Tut-tut. Look at them. They are strong and fast but are all jammed inside. They haven¡¯t eaten for two days.¡±

    Zhang Mu leisurely walked and pointed at the walking dead in the cars as if they were garden gnomes in his backyard.

    ¡°This walking dead looks so unique! Look at its deep eyes! Whoa, Yuan Rui, look here! He must¡¯ve been very ugly even before he was transformed into a walking dead. Oh, there¡¯s a couple over there, but why aren¡¯t they wearing any clothes?¡±

    At first, Yuan Rui was scared by the walking dead, but soon afterwards, her fears were chased away as sheughed at Zhang Mu¡¯s words.

    Zhang Mu pointed to a ck car and said wryly, ¡°What an ugly walking dead! Little ck, don¡¯t you think that it looks like you?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle pped its wings, protesting at Zhang Mu¡¯s nder.

    ¡°It looks really like you! Look at it, don¡¯t you feel like you are looking in a mirror?¡±

    Zhang Muughed out loud. Unknowingly, they had gone a long distance.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle stopped at the same time. They gazed at a direction seriously.

    ¡°Oh, no wonder we didn¡¯t see any walking dead outside the cars. So, they were all here.¡±

    Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t help but nce over Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder. What she saw frightened her.

    Not far away, about twenty walking dead were knocking and bashing an off-road vehicle.

    Interesting.

    These hungry walking dead noticed them. They turned around, gazing at Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui.

    Roar!

    They moved. They rushed to Zhang Mu frantically.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes saw through the car windows, catching two pale faces.

    They were humans! There were two survivors!

 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30

    Trantor: yingtong

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 30: Perfect Cooperation

    ¡°Lil¡¯ ck, get ready to attack!¡±

    As Zhang Mu yelled in the direction of the Obsidian Beetle, he told Yuan Rui to hide out further back and adjusted his sheath so that it was right in front of him.

    As if Little ck had understood exactly what Zhang Mu was saying, it immediately flew from his shoulder, grew big andnded on the ground with a loud thud, sending shockwaves rippling through the surroundings. It wore a ferocious look on its face.

    The Obsidian beetle hadnded in between 3 abandoned vehicles, and in doing so had blocked the entire road.

    In the blink of an eye, the fastest walking dead had already rushed in front of the Obsidian Beetle. Driven by bloodlust, all they could think of was ripping at Zhang Mu¡¯s flesh. They were not deterred by the huge Obsidian Beetle ¡ª as long as they could reach Zhang Mu, who had already seated himself upon the beetle¡¯s back. Without hesitation, the walking dead attempted to climb the body of the beetle in an effort to pull Zhang Mu down.

    Even though it felt unhappy about being ignored, Little ck did not act rashly after hearing Zhang Mu¡¯smand. By then, the walking dead had already surrounded both of them. After failing to find any other way to break through the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s defence, they decided to climb up the cars that sandwiched the beetle to get better ess and from there, they rushed towards Zhang Mu in batches.

    As they jumped in the air, Zhang Mu let out augh. It was now or never!

    He pulled out his Tang sword, stepped on the back of the Obsidian Beetle to gain traction and swung the de in the direction of the walking dead. A few hard swipester, Zhang Mu gently prodded the walking dead and watched with satisfaction as the heads dropped to the ground one by one.

    No sooner after Zhang Mu left its back, the Obsidian Beetle sprung into action.

    The Obsidian Beetle had stayed unmoving like a rock the whole time and had allowed the walking dead to bite him. After gaining permission from Zhang Mu, it immediately exploded, eager to release its pent up anger.

    As it stood upright, it blocked off all the walking dead attacks with the sturdy shield covering its huge body.

    The walking deadnded on the back of the Obsidian Beetle, one after another. However, no matter how much they tried, none of them could leave a scratch on its perfectly sturdy back. Those that fell at the bottom half of its shell met a miserable fate, for the stingers that erupted from there had directly impaled their bodies.

    As Zhang Mu finished off the remaining walking dead that wereing his way, the Obsidian Beetle did not just wait for the fight to be over. Instead, it used its sharp teeth to tear apart the walking dead¡¯s necks and, being the picky eater that it is, chose to only eat the crystals on the back of the walking dead¡¯s neck. Crunching sounds could be heard as the Obsidian Beetle ate with earnest.

    It looked at the rest of the walking dead corpses with disdain ¨C it had been spoiled by Zhang Mu and was ustomed to the taste of ham and delicious canned beef. Compared to those foods, walking dead meat was nasty and simply unptable.

    The beetle could imagine how hrious the walking dead¡¯s reactions would be if they knew what it thought about them.

    The minute Zhang Mu turned around and discovered that the Obsidian Beetle was killing off the walking dead faster than him, he started wielding his s

    word with greater speed ¨C the transition between one sh to the next was unbelievably smooth, slicing through the necks of the walking dead without any difficulty. Under his dexterous hands and keen observation, he managed to create what looked like a series of attacks that best suited his skillset.

    Zhang Mu had already perfected the art of tearing apart flesh and was able to cut off the walking dead¡¯s heads without spending an extra ounce of effort, which he deemed unnecessary.

    To be honest, Zhang Mu felt that there was no need to spend all this time and effort teaming up with the Obsidian Beetle to fight the walking dead. He only did it to ensure the safety of Yuan Rui.

    Zhang Mu was afraid that something unexpected might happen to Yuan Rui. For example, a walking dead could attack her at any point in time. They had expended energy earlier trying to execute a body duplication spell and that had pushed the already weak Yuan Rui to deeper levels of danger.

    Zhang Mu refused to let anything happen to Yuan Rui.

    Determined not to leave any opportunities to the walking dead, Zhang Mu constructed the perfect defence by taking advantage of the terrain and the Obsidian Beetle¡¯srge size.

    After Zhang Mu and the Obsidian beetle eliminated the remaining walking dead that came their way, the former wiped his sweat from his forehead and patted the beetle before sending a grin in its direction.

    ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be this fast. I guess I didn¡¯t feed you all the crystals for nothing,¡± he quipped.

    ¡°Of course!¡± The beetle replied smugly.

    As the beetle shrank down to its normal size, it began fluttering its wings in an attempt to seek more words of praise from Zhang Mu.

    Yuan Rui silently made her way to Zhang Mu and rested her palm onto his back.

    Zhang Mu felt waves of energy enter his body from behind. Immediately, he felt his fatigue and muscle soreness slip away to the point where he could not feel it anymore.

    Did she just use her healing power?

    No wonder everyone treated healing-type evolvers as if they were fragile treasures ¨C it was such an extraordinary power.

    ¡°Thank you Yuan Rui. You¡¯re so powerful. It¡¯s like you¡¯ve restored me to my peak state,¡± Zhang Muplimented, his toneced with gratitude.

    As he said this, he looked up to the sky and stretched.

    Yuan Rui immediately replied, ¡°Uncle, what¡¯s there to thank? You kept me safe and didn¡¯t let me help. I¡¯m happy to be of use to you now.¡±

    Upon realising that Zhang Mu had given her words of affirmation, she couldn¡¯t help but smile, her face etched with pure bliss. Shs started hopping about Zhang Mu, as thetter watched with amusement.

    At that moment, the sound of a car door opening followed by the sound of something heavy crashing attracted their attention. A boy and a girl had emerged from that vehicle. Thetter, who looked very weak, immediately copsed. She must have been through a lot, for she had fainted immediately upon contact with the ground.

    On the other hand, the man, who was struggling to remain on his feet, staggered towards Zhang Mu.

    As the man walked towards Zhang Mu, thetter examined his features. He looked to be in his teenage years ¨C he had short hair and was pretty good looking, though very pale at the moment. Although he looked worn out, he still exuded an aura of extravagance.

    After taking a close look at the boy, Zhang Mu was even more certain about his deductions

    about the teenager.

    By just looking at a person and the things that they carried with them, Zhang Mu was able to

    immediately deduce his or her financial background . He had been in this business for a decade before after all.

    The boy was not just rich ¨C he was super wealthy.

    Zhang Mun could deduce this based on the vehicle that the duo had travelled in, which was

    obviously made forbat ¨C the ss windows had not shattered even though it was clear that it had been struck by bullets multiple times. The ss was at least at level 2 on the bulletproof scale. These modifications to the vehicle were very expensive, and out of the financial reach of ordinary folks.

    Zhang Mu was certain that the excessive levels of caution when outdoors, along with the aura of arrogance that the boy was disying earlier was not something that could be honed in a short period of time.

    Upon closer examination, Zhang Mu came to a conclusion :ck of nourishment was the

    main cause of the boy¡¯s physical deterioration, for he had no physical injuries. The girl, on the other hand, seems to have suffered some form of mental trauma.

    Seeing that Zhang Mu had remained silent, Yuan Rui decided not to speak as well. The young man put aside his pride and asked weakly, ¡°Could... Could you please give us something to eat and drink? I, Zhan Hong, will forever be in your debt if you do.¡±

    Zhang Mu was surprised ¨C surely the man called himself Zhan Hong had seen the Obsidian Beetle. If so, how can this teenage boy be so calm when asking him for help, and not view him as a freak?

    Zhang Mu asked curtly, ¡° Aren¡¯t you afraid of me?¡±

    Zhan Hong tried to crack a smile, but winced when a jolt of pain shot through his facial muscles. He answered, ¡°During the two days in the car, I¡¯ve thought things through. The world has changed so drastically ¨C you¡¯re the first person that I can actually hold a normal conversation with. If you¡¯re also the kind that eats humans, I can only say that I¡¯m an unlucky man.¡±

    ¡°Please save my girlfriend first. She can¡¯t hold on much longer,¡± he continued, desperation clear in his voice.

 Chapter 31

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 31: Two Survivors 2

    The person in front of him swallowed his pride, for the sake of his girlfriend?

    Zhang Mu suddenly birthed good feeling towards the man. He looked at Yuan Rui, nodding in acquiescence.

    Upon Zhang Mu¡¯s consent, Yuan Rui quickly ran to the girl. Though she wanted to approach the girl when thetter had passed out, she stayed next to Zhang Mu without any action, as she wasn¡¯t sure if Zhang Mu would allow her to do so.

    Yuan Rui ran to the girl, lifted her up against her own shoulder and gently opened her mouth to feed a little water in.

    The girl might¡¯ve been so thirsty that she drunk the water unconsciously and yet, she still didn¡¯t wake up. Yuan Rui frowned and transferred her energy into the girl¡¯s body from the hand gently supporting the girl¡¯s back.

    As expected, it was hunger that caused her weakness. The energy Yuan Rui had injected into the girl¡¯s body restored the loss of the power inside her body.

    Just a second after, the pretty girl¡¯s long eyshes fluttered as she then opened her eyes giddily. She took a closer look at the cute girl in front of her from head to toe.

    Suddenly, the girl pushed Yuan Rui away and tried to stand up. Under Yuan Rui¡¯s puzzled eyes, she looked around and shouted with a faint, but firm voice, ¡°Zhan Hong, Zhan Hong, where are you?¡±

    After hearing her voice, Zhan Hong turned back quickly and ran towards her with hisst reserve of strength.

    The girl calmed down when she saw Zhan Honging to her.

    When they looked at each other, Zhan Hong¡¯s cold face became gentle immediately. He touched her back gently and said slowly, ¡°Lian, don¡¯t worry! I am here!¡±

    Then he apologized to Yuan Rui who had been helped up by Zhang Mu, ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. She has a mental problem. Youngdy, I apologize to you in her stead.¡±

    After hearing that, the anger that had risen in Zhang Mu subsided quickly.

    ¡°Mental problem?¡±

    Zhan Hong noticed their confusion. Heughed and said, ¡°You must feel strange as to why I fell in love with a girl like this.¡±

    Instead of answering, Zhang Mu waited for him to continue.

    ¡°Her name is Qin Lian. She was a normal and outgoing girl who treated me well when she was very young. However,ter, a terrible misfortune took ce in her family when she was 20. She could not ept it and developed a mental problem. I have been looking after her since then.¡±

    Right now, Zhan Hong looked at the girl he called Qin Lian fondly without any tiredness, which moved Yuan Rui deeply.

    Yuan Rui kept shaking her hand and said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. She didn¡¯t use much strength. I¡¯m fine!¡±

    Zhang Mu took out two bags of bread and two cans of porridge from his backpack on his back and handed them to Zhan Hong. Although Zhan Hong was also very hungry, he still opened the bread bag and can for Qin Lian first. Zhan Hong looked at her fondly as she devoured the food before wiping her mouth clean with his cuff.

    When Qin Lian didn¡¯t want to eat anymore, Zhan Hong picked up the rest of bread and ate it. Stared at by Zhang Mu and Yuan Lei, heughed awkwardly.

    When he finished, Zhang Mu gave him a ss of water and asked, ¡°What are your ns for the future?¡±

    Zhan Hong wiped his lip and answered, ¡± We wille back to the city for sure. We were going to leave the highway at first. However, our car was forcibly turned over by a car that rushed out of nowhere. We were about to get off when those monsters came, so we had to stay in the car. Luckily, I had my friend upgrade my car previously, otherwise, we might¡¯ve died here.¡±

    Suddenly, Zhan Hong changed the subject and looked towards Zhang Mu questioningly, ¡°Do you want to cut across this highway? I¡¯m here because it¡¯s not far from the toll station. If you go further, there will be more monsters.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled calmly and merely shrugged, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter! I came here to get across the highway. I¡¯ll try to figure out something.¡±

    Zhan Hong was clever so he didn¡¯t ask what Zhang Mu wanted to work out. Instead, he seemed to understand something else and said, ¡°It¡¯s easy for you to break through and get rid of these monsters with your powerful strength and with the help of that giant beetle.¡±

    He hesitated for a moment, then said firmly, ¡°I felt that my body became different. Could you help me have a look? Since you can call out that beetle, you must know something. Can you tell me? ¡±

    ¡°Unexpectedly, you are an evolver as well.¡±

    ¡°Evolver? I did discover some unknown evolution in my body.¡±

    Zhan Hong shook his head and rolled up his sleeves.

    Seeing the changes in Zhan Hong¡¯s arms, Zhang Mu got serious. He saw pieces of blue scales developing on Zhan Hong¡¯s arms as it wrapped his entire arm with sparkling light.

    Seeing that, Zhang Mu was shocked.

    He knew it. At the beginning, it was just small blue scales, butter, the blue scales would cover the entire body. When the blue turned into gold, it would be a great transformation.

    When Zhan Hong noticed the change of Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes, he quickly retracted his scales and patiently waited for Zhang Mu to exin.

    ¡°I¡¯m not really clear about it. I just know that, from that day on, our bodies have begun to evolve in some unknown direction. I have seen the same changes from other people like you and me. Everyone has a different ability as well as form and power. You have to explore specific functions by yourself.¡±

    ¡°Thanks a lot. I owe you one. You move on and I will go to the city and find a safe ce with Lian.¡±

    Zhan Hong quickly understood what Zhang Mu meant and he held Qin Lian saying goodbye to Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu gave him a small bag of food without telling him what¡¯s going to happen in a day.

    On one hand, if he spoke too much, the truth would be exposed. When Zhan Hong gets more experienced, he will find that something was wrong. On the other hand, he believed that Zhan Hong could deal with this matter through his own abilities.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu sensed danger from their backs when he watched them supporting each other and walking towards the toll station.

    Zhang Mu got confused. Is the potential of the evolver with the Dragon Scale Awakening really so powerful that it made him perceive a threat?

    Just let it go. Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui resumed their journey because they had already wasted too much time. If they didn¡¯t go now, it would be dark when they arrived at their destination.

 Chapter 32

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 32: It¡¯s Better to Leave

    Zhang Mu walked toward the other side of the highway with Yuan Rui. On his shoulder, there was a small beetle that was saving energy by shrinking its figure.

    Unlike before, there weren¡¯t masses of walking dead anymore. Now, only a few appeared each time. The Obsidian Beetle was nning to close its eyes and get some rest. It seemed to have reached the limit after absorbing so much energy from the second-ranked crystals, as even the prospect of eating couldn¡¯t draw its attention either. It just watched Zhang Mu take all the crystals without making a fuss.

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t do anything about the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s indolence, so he let it do what it wanted. After all, he could take all the crystals for himself as he didn¡¯t need to feed the Obsidian Beetle.

    ¡°It seems to have the energy needed for us to evolve. After all, Little ck loves it. I think that it should be useful for people like us who developed special abilities,¡± Zhang Mu exined to Yuan Rui.

    However, Yuan didn¡¯t pay attention to what he said at all. She just looked at the upside-down vehicles and the deformed wreckage on the side of the road with curiosity. She was afraid that a walking dead would suddenly jump out from the car, but she also had a glimmer of expectation because Zhang Mu looked so handsome when he fought against the walking dead with a knife. To any little girl like her, it was irresistibly charming.

    Zhang Mu had an ominous premonition that arge-scale invasion by the walking dead wasing soon since there were so few on the road.

    All of a sudden, the Obsidian Beetle began to move restlessly as if it sensed something dangerous. rmed by its anxiety, Zhang Mu quickly climbed to the top of amercial car. He looked far in front and gasped.

    ¡°Oh my god! Now, this is big!¡±

    Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t see what happened as her sight was blocked. She could do a thing but ask Zhang Mu anxiously, ¡°What happened? Tell me! Hurry up!¡±

    Zhang Mu squatted down to help Yuan Rui climb up. After having a clear look at what was happening up front, Yuan Rui was so scared, she nearly fell down.

    At the corner of the highway, several trucks, presumingly from the samepany, fell and formed a circle at the intersection. What had scared Zhang Mu was within the circle. He finally understood why there were so few walking dead on the highway.

    There was a herd of mutated pigs with erect hair andrge, disgustingly yellow fangs sticking out of their mouths and were bent upwards.

    Zhang Mu instantly understood. Those mutated pigs probably considered the circle of trucks as a pigsty. They hunted and ate walking dead when they were hungry and rested in the circle when they finished eating.

    Now they justid down and hummed while pping their long ears now and then. If not for the blood staining the corners of their mouths, Zhang Mu would have thought that they were just normal andzy pigs.

    Yet, Zhang Mu knew clearly how horrible these mutated pigs could get when they went crazy. Once, there had been a survival base that tried to domesticate the mutated pigs. In the end, out of negligence, the animals had escaped and all the breeders were eaten without a single bone left.

    Later, there were no bases that dared to raise mutated pigs unless they hired a tamer-type evolver because it would be a catastrophe if the mutated pigs were to go out of control while the walking deadunched an attack.

    Suddenly, an idea came to Zhang Mu¡¯s mind.

    If he couldn¡¯t go through the circle, he could try slipping past from the side.

    He could bypass the mutated pigs and avoid confronting them.

    The opponent was more than 20 first-ranked pigs. By no means did Zhang Mu want to start a conflict with them.

    He and the Obsidian Beetle shared a nce and quickly understood each other¡¯s thoughts.

    He had intended to let Little ck bring Yuan Rui and fly over these pigs. It was not difficult for an Obsidian Beetle to fly at a high altitude for a short time, but Zhang Mu worried that these mutated pigs would be woken up by the pping sound of ck Beetle¡¯s wings.

    Zhang Mu awkwardly pulled Yuan Rui down from the top of the car, then touched his nose and said, ¡°Yuan Rui, we will slip away while they are asleep, so you must keep quiet.¡±

    ¡°Uncle Zhang, you are scared, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Yuan Rui tittered with her hand covered her mouth. She was mocking Zhang Mu as she had never seen him get embarrassed.

    Zhang Mu said nothing and smiled bitterly, pulling Yuan Rui forward.

    The closer they walked, the louder the breathing of the pigs got. They were worried that those monsters would wake up suddenly.

    If it really happened, it would cause big problems for them.

    The stink was getting stronger and thicker. Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t stand it and got nauseous as she covered mouth and nose with her cuff, but it was useless.

    Seeing this, Zhang Mu sped up. They quickly walked into a crevice between the outer edge of the trucks and the fence.

    Just as they were going to bypass the motorcade, Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t stand the smell anymore and began to vomit.

    ¡°Are you ok?!¡± Zhang Mu asked her.

    Yuan Rui was too sick to say a word. Even the ck Beetle couldn¡¯t stand it and had drilled into Zhang Mu¡¯s clothes to avoid the stink, let alone Yuan Rui, a little girl.

    Zhang Mu had no choice but to lift her up and tiptoed out of the motorcade.

    Right at that time, one of the mutated pigs moved a little. It seemed to smell Yuan Rui¡¯s scent and suddenly opened its bloody eyes!

    ¡°Roar!¡±

    All the mutated pigs woke up and looked towards Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu was frightened. He immediately fished out Little ck and threw Yuan Rui on its back, shouting, ¡°Run!¡±

    After seeing the Obsidian Beetle fly high, Zhang Mu quickly ran off.

 Chapter 33

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble, cherry

    Chapter 33: The Longmen Grottoes

    The roaring pigs quickly rushed out of their ¡®pigsty¡¯, but Zhang Mu ran so fast, he quickly disappeared. Little ck also tried its best to fly as high as possible.

    Thinking that it was difficult to hunt them, the aggressive pigs roaring at the very front became hesitant. They just yelled a few times towards the direction Zhang Mu disappeared to and returned inside their circle to continue sleeping.

    After using so much energy to fly high, the Obsidian Beetle soon got tired andnded slowly. Zhang Mu pulled Yuan Rui whose face was deathly pale down from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s back and let itnd on his shoulder to have a rest.

    Yuan Rui had just vomited and she had to sit on Little ck`s back and fly up so high right after. In order to protect them from the possibility of the mutated pigs possessing long-ranged attacks, Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle to fly high enough.

    Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu apologetically and said with a low voice, ¡°Uncle Zhang, I didn¡¯t do it on purpose, I really couldn¡¯t stand the smell anymore.¡±

    Seeing the lively Obsidian Beetle so tired, Yuan Rui felt guilty for having caused troubles. She was afraid Zhang Mu would me her.

    Yet, Zhuang Mu justughed and touched her head slightly, ¡°It¡¯s ok! It doesn¡¯t matter! We are safe and sound, aren¡¯t we? You tried your best. The smell really was horrible. Even a boor like me can¡¯t stand it, let alone you. Even Little ck had to hide inside my clothes. You have done all you could! Who would have thought that the mutated pigs had a keen sense of smell? Just let it go! Moreover, even if we were besieged by them, both Little ck and I have the ability to cope with them. I just wanted to bypass them because it would take too much of our time and energy to fight against them.¡±

    Out of worry for Yuan Rui, Zhang Mu said that. Actually, he knew that they couldn¡¯t have escaped unscathed with only his and the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s power. However, he didn¡¯t want Yuan Rui to feel guilty. Besides, it was also because his n wasn¡¯t thorough enough. He had just thought about dealing with the walking dead without taking the mutated animals into consideration, especially not a bunch of pigs.

    Through this event, Zhang Mu had a sense of crisis. Thinking carefully, except for an agile body, some skills, and instinct forged by his past life, he had no other advantages in the apocalypse.

    His ability only allowed him to deal with the dumb walking dead. But if he met mutated animals with developed intelligence, he could do nothing but escape. Life would be hard for him who didn¡¯t develop special powers.

    Moreover, the advantages Zhang Mu owned in the early days of the cataclysm decreased when he faced evolvers.

    While he thought up to there, the group of three had left the toll station of the highway.

    ¡°We finally get out!¡±

    Zhang Mu turned back and looked toward the dpidated toll gate farther away from him. He still felt it to be inconceivable that all the walking dead on the highway had be the mutated pigs¡¯ food. It made it so that they didn¡¯t meet massive armies of walking dead.

    Thetter half of their journey was very easy which was out of his expectations. They hadn¡¯t stopped on their way except for when they met Zhan Hong, which allowed them to save a lot of time.

    Zhang Mu could not tell whether he was lucky or not. They did save a lot of time, but if they hadn¡¯t escape immediately when the pigs woke up, they would¡¯ve be food for the mutated animals.

    It waste. The sun set slowly in the west and the temperature lowered.

    Zhang Mu quickly asked Little ck to go back to his normal size and carry Yuan Rui as they left the highway and headed for their destination, the Longmen Grottoes.

    The Longmen Grottoes was dug in the Dynasty of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei. As it had existed for a long time, most of the Chinese poption knew of it. From south to north, it measured up to one kilometres. Inside were more than 100,000 statues of Buddha.

    As Zhang Mu gazed at the Longmen Grottoes, many thoughts came to his mind. The cave had been damaged seriously even before the cataclysm began. Afterwards, people couldn¡¯t even protect themselves, no one cared about preserving the Grottoes. It was then damaged wantonly by mutated animals in the mountains. It was by luck that an evolver found the surprising secret hidden inside the Longmen Grottoes.

    Seeing that Zhang Mu was looking at the scenic spot in a daze, Yuan Rui interrupted his contemtion. ¡°Uncle Zhang, we are here now! Can you tell me what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Eh, I don¡¯t know either. I just feel that there must be some treasures. Maybe, it¡¯s an evolution ability of mine.¡± Zhang Mu didn¡¯t tell Yuan Rui that he came from the future. It would frighten her. So he had to make his knowledge of the future into an ability to prophesy the future.

    After hearing that, Yuan Rui quickly took the hint. She was immune to all kinds of unthinkable things after she witnessed the supernatural energy she owned and Zhan Hong¡¯s Dragon Scales.

    ¡°Uncle, not only can you tame Little ck, but you can also foresee the future! You are so great!¡±

    Seeing Yuan Rui¡¯s look of worship, Zhang Mu nodded and admitted brazenly. It was awkward for him to tell a little girl that he actually didn¡¯t have any evolutionary ability and couldn¡¯t even stand equal to her.

    Yet, this time, there was a chance, a chance to change his fate and life. Given this, he must get the treasure at all costs.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go, get on Little ck¡¯s back! Let¡¯s go now!¡±

    Because it was the off-season for tourism, there were not many people in the Grottoes before the cataclysm happened. Outside, there were only dozens of walking dead and most of them had been local residents. Zhang Mu knew that the walking dead outside didn¡¯t pose any threat. The reason why the Longmen Grottoes¡¯ secret hadn¡¯t been found earlier was that the evolvers didn¡¯t dare toe in. The Grottoes contained too many ferocious mutated animals.

    Inside, there are massive amounts of mutated monkeys. Unlike other mutated animals, what bothered Zhang Mu was that the mutated monkey had high IQs and evolved nonstop. Their imitative ability, under the stimtion of the evolutionary factor inside their bodies, had developed to a horrible level.

    As for human beings, the world¡¯s mutation was catastrophic, but also full of opportunities. However, the beneficiaries of the mutation were not just human beings. As such, the humanity¡¯s hegemony was shaken.

 Chapter 34

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 34 The Mutated Monkeys

    ¡°Little ck, watch out and don¡¯t bezy! There are a bunch of monkeys that are very difficult to deal with dominating this ce.¡±

    At first, the Obsidian Beetle didn¡¯t take things seriously and thought that Zhang Mu was just scared by the mutated pigs, but when it felt the quick change of his internal energy and his violent mood, it realized that his owner was serious.

    Then, Little ck began to study the residual scents in the air.

    Zi! Zi zi!

    After a while, the Obsidian Beetle looked up and turned towards the northeast, pping its wings quickly.

    ¡°The smell ising from that direction. It is where the Great Buddha is located.¡±

    Zhang Mu had a certain intuition that the treasure was in the cavern of the Great Buddha rather than on the road.

    After realizing that, Zhang Mu frowned and said to himself, ¡°Unexpectedly, they had upied the Great Buddha so early? The treasure shouldn¡¯t havee out so early. Don¡¯t tell me they realized something was there and guarded it? It would exin why there were survivors that came out of the Longmen Grottoes in the future. Or else it would be impossible for the powerful monkeys, after cleaning out the walking dead during the debugging period, to spare the lives of survivors in their territory. So they had been guarding in the vicinity of the Great Buddha from the very beginning. This showed the importance they attached to this treasure.¡±

    ¡°Yuan Rui, you and Little ck stay at here. I¡¯ll go and see what happened.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t dare to leave Yuan Rui by herself. He was just going to investigate, and by no means did he need Little ck¡¯s help. Little ck would do better staying here and protecting Yuan Rui.

    Little ck enjoyed this arrangement while Yuan Rui refused. She was going to cry and said, ¡°Uncle Zhang. Let me follow you. You said you would take me. You can¡¯t leave me alone, I¡¯m scared.¡±

    She clung to Zhang Mu¡¯s sleeve and refused to let him go.

    Zhang Mu felt awkward. He removed Yuan Rui¡¯s hand and said, ¡°I¡¯m not going in to fight the monsters. I¡¯m just going to investigate the terrain and see how many mutated animals are in there and how powerful they are. Besides, you are not alone. Little ck will stay with you. Don¡¯t worry! Little ck is strong. At the very least, it can carry you and fly away. If you follow me, we may get in trouble if we ever meet an emergency. I¡¯d better go alone. Be good!¡±

    After that, Zhang Mu nced at the Obsidian Beetle and said seriously, ¡°Don¡¯t try to save energy, how much can you consume anyway? Quickly turn big and let Yuan Rui sit on your back. Wait for me right here. Is that clear?¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care about Little ck¡¯s feeling at all and pped it. Obsidian Beetle slowly be big while its sad eyes stared at Zhang Mu.

    Touching Little ck¡¯s back, Yuan Rui calmed down. After seeing Zhang Mu¡¯s firm eyes, she said with her head down, ¡°Uncle, you must be careful.¡±

    Zhang Mu answered, ¡°Remember, if you are in danger, run away quickly. Don¡¯t wait for me. Little ck and I know where each other are.¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded and raised Yuan Rui on Little ck¡¯s back. His left foot pushed against the ground slightly and he left them.

    It had gotten dark outside, but inside the cavern of the Great Buddha, beams of light were lit, making the statue of the Great Buddha seem particrly prominent against the walls of the cave.

    As Zhang Mu got closer, he gasped.

    ¡°Who would¡¯ve known that the mutated monkeys have learnt to make use of torches to patrol. They are indeed the first animals to develop intelligence. Only on the second day of debugging period and they have already made such a great progress. Unbelievable.¡±

    Looking at the mutated monkeys that had grown up to be even taller than human beings, Zhang Mu was shocked. However, the most horrifying thing was that they had learned how to divide the work and to use wooden sticks as their weapons.

    There was a guard at every five steps around the Great Buddha sentry. Even during the night, they did not ck.

    Moreover, they seemed to have formed a special team for hunting. They held several walking dead as they walked back into the cavern. It seems that they were going to present the walking dead to their leader.

    Only the human base in the future had such organized arrangements. At the beginning, people didn¡¯t take sentry work seriously. They thought that they could sleep without anxiety as many evolvers were around them.

    Only the veterans who had survived through war and blood understood how important a sentry would be. So in the future, the evolvers who had special abilities like iraudient, irvoyant, and Night vision would serve as the first line of defence for the bases.

    The mutated monkeys in front of him were clearly suppressed by a strict hierarchy, but they were still ready to drive out the enemy. Even though nothing could threaten them, they never cked.

    The light of the torches nearly illuminated Zhang Mu. When a mutated monkey turned back, Zhang Mu quickly hid in the grass without making any noise.

    All of a sudden, an idea was drawn in his mind. He called on the ck Beetle in his mind.

    ¡°Woosh! Woosh!¡±

    10 minutester, a delicate figure came out from the dark with Little ck on her head.

    Of course, it was Yuan Rui.

    Yuan Rui¡¯s mouth was covered by Zhang Mu the moment she intended to say something. They were crawling in the grass. She blushed as Zhang Mu got close to her. She heard Zhang Mu¡¯s warning, ¡°Don¡¯t make any noise. The goal is a bit tricky.¡±

    At the same time, Little ck also noticed the dangerous situation and got frightened. It asked Zhang Mu to withdraw because they had no ability to deal with this situation. Zhang Mu patted it on its head andughed, ¡°Of course, we can¡¯t defeat them right now. But 30 minutester, the debugging period will be over. At that time, we can defeat them easily.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know whether or not Little ck¡¯s power would decrease the debugging period ended and yet he was sure that both the intelligence and physical strength of the mutated monkeys would decrease a lot. They would be in their weakest state because they won¡¯t be able to adjust to the change so quickly. That was what Zhang Mu was waiting for.

 Chapter 35

    Transator: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 35 The Debugging Period is Over

    ¡°Ding!¡±

    Half an hourter, Zhang Mu finally heard the familiar sound of the system.

    In the dark, an invisible but powerful wave swept over the whole world in just a second.

    ¡°Testing Field Number Forty-Seven, the debugging period is over. All data will return to normal difficulty. Restarting the world.¡±

    The voice was still cold without any emotion.

    Zhang Mu was once again immobilized and yet this time he could think clearly. All survivors were able to think clearly rather than getting overwhelmed by a deep fear like the first time.

    When the voice disappeared, Zhang Mu could see that in the distance, the mutated monkeys were shrinking. Although he couldn¡¯t move, he was still able to see that the eyes of the nearest mutated monkey was losing its intelligent light. What reced it was wildness belonging to any ordinary animal.

    Zhang Mu was secretly pleased that everything happened ording to what he had seen in the future. He didn¡¯t cause a Butterfly Effect, at least, not currently.

    When the mutated monkeys shrunk to half the size they were, the wave stopped spreading. Zhang Mu knew that the weakening of the monsters was over.

    At this moment, the mechanical voice in the people¡¯s head quickly changed. The voice echoed again with much disdain and banter, ¡°Congrattion! You are still alive and got through the hardest time of the initial stage. From the moment your bodies are freed, the ability of all the monster will be adjusted to the same level. If you want to know what level they are on, you can have a try!¡±

    The voice paused for a while, then continued, ¡°However, the new era is just beginning. Restarting the world is both good and bad for you because you are on the same level as the other creatures. For having survived until now, I guess that except for being lucky, you should also be the owner of basic cognitive abilities. So you must have realized that without weapons, you aren¡¯t even equal to an unenlightened monster. As you are deprived of your hegemony over the world, you are supposed to recognize whichyer of the food chain you are on now. As apensation, you will quickly find something different in your bodies. Seize the opportunity. After all, it is the only way out for you. Haha, I have said too much. Don¡¯t let me down, human beings!¡±

    As the voice stopped, everything returned to normal. Zhang Mu moved and pulled out Little ck who had hid in Yuan Rui¡¯s clothes, looking at it up and down.

    Why didn¡¯t its wings move?

    The colour of its back became different.

    Moreover, shit! It even couldn¡¯t speak!

    Return my Little ck back to me! A*****e! You turned it into a worm that didn¡¯t have any thoughts or fighting capacity!

    Just as Zhang Mu was going to cry, he heard an indolent voice in his mind, ¡°Who can¡¯t speak?! I just didn¡¯t want to answer you. Release my wings immediately. What wings can¡¯t p and colour of my back changing, it was all your delusion.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle broke free from Zhang Mu¡¯s hand, hovering in the air and stared at Zhang Mu with a contemptuous look.

    Zhang Mu was shocked.

    What happened! Why did Little ck¡¯s intelligence grow so much that it could mock me after the weakening? It¡¯s even breaking through the absolute obedience of the blood contract.

    Seeing Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle staring at each other, Yuan Rui said slightly, ¡°Uncle, I just fell very hot, as if the energy inside my body was breaking out.¡±

    Energy surged out from Yuan Rui¡¯s body the moment she put her hand on Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder. After she sent out all of it, she took a deep breath, freed from the bloated feeling.

    Zhang Mu waspletely shocked. Yuan Rui¡¯s energy was different from the former energy she had for healing wounds. When he took in her energy, Zhang Mu felt his power slightly increase. Judging from how precious a dose of a strength drug was, with Yuan Rui¡¯s energy having the same effects, Zhang Mu immediately realized its value!

    Warned by Yuan Rui¡¯s change, Zhang Mu remembered that there was something different in the human body after the debugging period.

    Human beings had been living good lives for so long. As a result, when they lost their hot weapons, they were suppressed by the other creatures and became the most vulnerable prey immediately.

    Yet, Zhang Mu had analyzed when he was in the future that those mysterious beings who caused all this were, in fact, more inclined towards human beings. Though they did pull human beings down to the same level as the other creatures, they were partial to the human beings. Maybe, they had nned to pick out the best ones among the human beings.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s guess was supported by many practical examples and it was very close to the truth. For example, after this debugging period, the development of human¡¯s potential would promote the speed of their ability awakening. And the evolvers who had awakened a part of their powers during the debugging period could enjoy a huge boost.

    Moreover, the voice had warned everyone clearly that the degree of difficulty had been adjusted. At this time, the people who had the intelligence would try to adjust to the new lifestyle and fight in order to survive. As for the weak who couldn¡¯t ept reality, they would gradually be eliminated.

    Actually, after the debugging period, everything that happened was to develop the cream of the crop among the humans.

    As for the evolvers, the strong ones like Yuan Rui would feel more powerful while the ordinary people like Zhang Mu felt nothing. After all, he didn¡¯t have an awakening potential at all, so there was no use in stimting him. Zhang Mu felt a sense of crisis. The disparity between him and the awakened evolvers was getting narrow and his advantage would disappear after the world restarted.

    Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle whose blood vessels were connected with Zhang Mu also got preferential treatment. Not only was its power and intelligence not weakened, it also received a boost in power because it was regarded as an evolutionary ability.

    Looking at Little ck, Zhuang Mu didn¡¯t know what to say. It was good that they could now defeat the mutated monkeys easily, but he felt like Little ck, whose intelligence had been improved, would be as cunning as himself.

    It would be difficult for him to ask it to do things in the future.

    As there was a strong empathy between Zhang Mu and Little ck, it knew what Zhang Mu was nning. The Obsidian Beetle threw a contemptuous look at Zhang Mu and flew towards Yuan Rui, lying on her shoulderfortably and ignoring Zhang Mu¡¯s gloomy face.

    It distinctly knew that Zhang Mu right now, hehe, needed its help.

 Chapter 36

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 36: Start working

    ¡°Come on! Don¡¯t look at me that way. Maybe I don¡¯t need your help! You are so arrogant!¡±

    Taking advantage of when Little ck wasn¡¯t paying attention, Zhang Mu pped it again and then turned to Yuan Rui to whisper, ¡°Yuan Rui, stay right here and wait for me! Since those monsters have been weakened a lot, you can rest assured staying here! Since Little ck is haggling with me, I won¡¯t bring it either. It will stay with you.¡±

    ¡°No! Uncle, I can stay here alone! Since I won¡¯t be far away from you, if anything happens, you cane in time. It would better if Little ck follows you. It¡¯s too dangerous. There were already so many monkeys outside the Grottoes, let alone inside.¡±

    Zhang Mu still insisted to go on his own, which made Yuan Rui worry. She said with a high voice, ¡°Little ck and I came here to give you our hands. If you don¡¯t want me here, I¡¯ll go back. After all, I¡¯m just a burden in your eyes.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t take care of me, bring Little ck.¡±

    Yuan Rui shouted towards Zhang Mu, turned around and went back along the road she came from.

    She really got angry and decided to leave.

    Zhang Mu always had ck Beetle protect her and faced the monsters alone. Yuan Rui finally got angry as she thought it would be her fault if Zhang Mu lost his life one day.

    Zhang Mu was shocked. He had never thought that the soft and delicate Yuan Rui would be so serious and imposing. If not for the fact that they were still a distance away from the sentries and that the guards hearing having been weakened, they would have been found by the monkeys.

    Actually, Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t let her go off alone. In the night, she wouldn¡¯t even be able to escape if she were to run into a first-ranked walking dead, let alone mutated animals.

    Thinking of that, Zhang Mu stepped forwards and held her back. He said, ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll bring you! Come back right now, do you want to die?¡±

    Hearing that, Yuan Ruiughed happily even though Zhang Mu was ming her, rendering Zhang Mu speechless.

    This girl¡¯s mood was really capricious and unpredictable.

    Zhang Mu made such a decision, but it wasn¡¯tpletely because of Yuan Rui. He thought things over and found that, even though the mutated monkeys had been weakened, he might be in trouble without the help of the Obsidian Beetle. With its help, he would recover his peakbat power and protect Yuan Rui if they were ever to be besieged.

    No more nonsense! Zhang Mu asked Little ck to turn big andnd on the ground ahead.

    Little ck obediently listened to his orders because it knew it was not a good time to argue.

    ¡°Boom!¡±

    Their tant provocation drew the attention of the mutated monkeys standing closest to them. Regardless of the big the Obsidian Beetle, they dashed out fiercely towards Zhang Mu and Little ck. Without intelligence, they forgot all rules and orders.

    Dropping the long sticks they held, the mutated monkeys rushed at them with their arms and legs, their previous battle formation was nowhere to be seen.

    That¡¯s exactly what I want!

    Zhang Mu was pleased. If they still listened to order and kept the previous formation, Zhang Mu might get in trouble. However, they had forgotten everything and just fought against Zhang Mu without any strategies. So there was nothing to fear.

    ¡°Protect Yuan Rui well!¡±

    Zhang Mu put Yuan Rui on Little ck¡¯s neck, asking it to fly up. The mutated monkeys couldn¡¯t pose any threat to Yuan Rui if she was four meters away from the ground.

    Hovering in the air, Little ck was waiting for Zhang Mu to attack.

    ¡°Ssh!¡±

    A mutated monkey ran to Zhang Mu and didn¡¯t even notice that it was alone to attack and that its fellow allies were 10 meters away from it.

    The mutated monkeys jumped even higher than Zhang Mu, scratching towards his head as if it had figured out how tasty Zhang Mu¡¯s brain was.

    Courting death! I¡¯ll kill you first!

    Facing the mutated monkey¡¯s strike, Zhang Mu kept his calm and squatted down. He moved when the mutated monkey swiped down towards his face.

    He quickly stabbed with his knife while also steadily receiving the impact of the monkey¡¯s attack.

    A monkey, a knife, and a human.

    Zhang Mu sneered and twisted his knife, watching as fear took over the monkeys features. But very quickly, all fear disappeared. Because Zhang Mu attacked at a very high speed, the monkey couldn¡¯t respond and Zhang Mu sessfully stabbed through its heart. The mutated monkey¡¯s hot blood spilled on the de.

    Surrounded by mutated monkeys, Little ck kept calm and got closer towards Zhang Mu. With its leg, it picked up the first-ranked beast core along with the monkey¡¯s brain and started eating happily.

    Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and touched Little ck¡¯s head, ¡°Little ck, you are so disgusting.¡±

    Hearing that, the Obsidian Beetle unwillingly swallowed everything down quickly.

    Having being interrupted in its meal, Little ck was unhappy and attacked monkeys to vent its spleen.

    In order to keep Yuan Rui bnced, Little ck tore up the monkeys without lowering its head. Surrounded by monkeys, Little ck swung its body around, stabbing through the monkeys with its thorn

    When the Obsidian Beetle was weighed down to the ground by the corpses hanging off its thorns, it tried to shake them off by moving around wildly.

    ¡°Slow down!¡±

    ¡°Little ck you are doing this on purpose! Don¡¯t get the blood on me! It¡¯s disgusting!¡±

    Hearing Yuan Rui¡¯s cries, Zhang Mu cut down the head of the monkey in front of him and picked up the beast core quickly. Then, he chased after them with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 37

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble, Cherry

    Chapter 37: The Monkey King Appears

    For Little ck whose power had been promoted, the weakened mutated monkeys were a piece of cake. Corpses were strewn all over the road. It was too horrible to look at.

    Little ck was still angry and tore the monkeys apart bloodily. A Bloodthirsty light rose in its eyes as its savagery as a monster showed through. The Obsidian Beetle headed for the Great Buddha while chewing on the first-ranked beast cores.

    The cores were all picked up by Little ck, so Zhang Mu just ran after it.

    Seeing the Obsidian Beetle like this, Zhang Mu thought, ¡°Goddamn it, I forgot about this.¡±

    Zhang Mu closed in on Little ck and blocked with his sword the beetle who was still immersed in its killing spree. Just as Little ck swiped reflexively at Zhang Mu¡¯s head, its blood vessels shrunk hard, which made it recover consciousness just in time and it stopped immediately.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough, you scared Yuan Rui. Crouch down, let here down.¡±

    Zhang Mu lectured ck Beetle and caught Yuan Rui who was quivering.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why! I just felt an unknown energy run through my body and confront my own energy. When they fought, my mind went out of control.¡±

    Zhang Mu cast a contemptuous nce at it and said, ¡°No more nonsense! You ate the mutated monkeys¡¯ cores. The energy they contain collided with yours, which can affect your capacity to think properly. The more you keep killing and eating, the bigger the problem will grow. If you don¡¯t stop, you will explode.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I can¡¯t stop.¡±

    Little cky down obediently, but Yuan Rui was still afraid of it as it was the first time she had seen its bloodthirsty side. Unexpectedly, the friendly Little ck could be so horrible when it went crazy.

    Zhang Mu had neglected the fact that Little ck didn¡¯t know the function of the beast¡¯ cores as it was the first time it had eaten them. The core could have several different attributes. It could harm the consumer¡¯s mind and health if improperly used. It could lead to either the person losing his mind or his body exploding. The mutated animals¡¯ bodies were stronger. They could endure these side effects as long as they ate in moderation while the human beings, whose body and meridians were more vulnerable, might not be able to stand the bacsh of conflicting attributes.

    In his past life, Zhang Mu had witnessed an evolver¡¯s body explode after he consumed a core whose attributes were in conflict with his.

    The bloody body still hovered in the back of Zhang Mu¡¯s mind. It was in an atrocious state.

    It was difficult to find a core whose attributes matched yourself. That¡¯s why the rarer core, the more expensive it was. Many era merchants earned much money through selling cores.

    ¡°Will you eat in moderation next time? I gained nothing, as you ate them all.¡±

    Zhang Mu punched its head. Little ck couldn¡¯t say anything, so it kept quiet. Actually, if Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t shown up immediately to stop it, the beast inside its body would have destroyed its intelligence.

    Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Golden eyes shined from the entrance of the grotto, staring at them.

    ¡°Boom!¡±

    Its whole body was reflected by the torches on the ground. It was three meters high with strong muscles. Arms that were as strong as stone stood like pirs from the ground. A white breath was being blown from its nose.

    ¡°King Kong?¡±

    After seeing clearly what was standing in front of them, Zhang Mu shouted out.

    ¡°How could it be? It¡¯s only the third day of the cataclysm, how could the King Kong appear already?¡±

    This monkey was twice as tall as Zhang Mu. It was a mini-version of the King Kong, a fourth-ranked monster. In his memory, the stone chimpanzee known as the fearsome King Kong was three floors tall and its speed and agility were much higher than that of the evolvers at the same level.

    Yet, Zhang Mu found something different. Although the little King Kong¡¯s arms were covered in stone, it wasn¡¯t granite.

    Is it a mutated monkey that was in the process of evolving into the King Kong?

    It would exin why it became the leader of the mutated monkeys. The King Kong¡¯s blood had a dominant effect.

    Seeing the corpses on the ground, the mutated King Kong felt sad and stood itself upright, roaring while beating its chest.

    After it calmed down, it red at Zhang Mu and Little ck who were standing amongst the corpses of his brethren. King Kong was certain that it was Zhang Mu who killed its subordinates.

    Unexpectedly, it still had intelligence, emotion, and judgement even after it was weakened. During the debugging period, its intelligence must¡¯ve been unimaginable.

    After noticing the King Kong¡¯s mood change, Zhang Mu felt lucky that he didn¡¯t break into the Grottoes alone. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve been in danger.

    ¡°Roar!¡±

    The King Kong jumped more than 10 meters and arrived in front of Zhang Mu immediately.

    Looking at King Kong from a short distance, Zhang Mu found how shockingly strong its body was.

    In his past life, Zhang Mu had just looked at King Kong from a distance and didn¡¯t examine it clearly.

    Although Zhang Mu had gotten through many difficulties and danger, he was still scared to face the King Kong. As for Yuan Rui, she was so frightened she had fallen to the ground. However, Little ck stared at King Kong fiercely and bravely roared.

    The little King Kong had lost its patience. Its intellect wasn¡¯t high enough to warn him of Zhang Mu and Little ck¡¯s strength. As it didn¡¯t feel any danger, it thought Zhang Mu had no ability to threaten it.

    The hesitance in his eyes was reced by a fierce light.

 Chapter 38

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    PS: Hello everyone, I¡¯m WuWang. We have a great news for you: we have published our first ebook, The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm (60 chapters in total) on Amazon: , and it will be free on Amazon for five days! (Start at Tuesday, March 20, 2018, 12:00 AM PDT and end at Saturday, March 24, 2018, 11:59 PM PDT) So you can buy it on Amazon without paying during this period of time.

    Our new trantor will decide whether he will continue to trante this novel or not ording to the sales. You know, it¡¯s not easy to recruit new trantors these days. I hereby sincerely invite you to read this novel on Amazon and give it a review (since it will be free for five days, it will only take a little of your time). We really need your help! Thanks a million!

    Chapter 38: A Difficult Battle

    A huge fist punched toward Zhang Mu before he could even respond. The fist covered by stone seemed like it would smash his head in an instant.

    Oh god! How can the speed be so fast!

    Zhang Mu had never thought that the little King Kong would be so strong even after the weakening. If it was like this now, then during the debugging period, it had probably been unbeatable.

    There was no time for him to block King Kong¡¯s attack with his knife. He just moved his head aside and used his shoulders to resist the huge fist.

    Undoubtedly, his bones would bepletely broken, but he had no other choice. All he hoped for was that Yuan Rui would inject all her energy into him and make him recover his peakbat power.

    Right now he couldn¡¯t care so much. He could do nothing but entrust his life to Yuan Rui. At this moment, preserving his life was the most important thing because life meant hope.

    However, he had overlooked an important factor.

    That is, Little ck who was ready to fight.

    As Zhang Mu readied himself to be punched, Little ck immediately stood in front of him to protect him.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s view was blocked by Little ck, but he still heard its wail. And then he flew out as the Obsidian Beetle that was beaten back by King Kong knocked into him.

    Little ck withstood all the power from King Kong¡¯s punch. Zhang Mu stood up, dusted off his clothes and looked towards Little ck anxiously.

    King Kong was beating it and left Little ck no chance to counterattack. The King Kong punched him fist after fist.

    There were many depressions on Little ck¡¯s hard shell, but it still couldn¡¯t rid itself of King Kong¡¯s shackles.

    When Zhang Mu heard Little ck¡¯s sobs getting softer, saw its struggling bing weaker and felt its pain through the link they shared; he got so indignant that he pushed off the ground, rushed at King Kong at five times his normal speed and hacked at the rock-covered arm with his sword.

    However, the sharp de met a hard bone at this time. It had no way of cutting through King Kong¡¯s stone armour and only caused some sparks.

    Luckily, his sudden burst in speed made King Kong get off Little ck¡¯s back and retreat. It cautiously stared at Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu was heartbroken as he touched Little ck¡¯s back. He ordered, ¡°I¡¯ll cover the rear. You leave with Yuan Rui. It¡¯s my fault, I didn¡¯t expect that the King Kong would be so ferocious and powerful.¡±

    Yuan Rui who had been frightened silly had just recovered slightly. She stood upboriously and walked to Zhuang Mu, grasping his clothes.

    But at this time, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t look her and pushed her off, throwing the turned-small Little ck at her, ¡°Take Little ck and go! Don¡¯t cause me any trouble! The King Kong is strong, but I can escape afterwards.¡±

    Yuan Rui trusted him. Since he said that he had the ability to leave, it must be true

    Yuan Rui thought, ¡°He can do it! I can¡¯t be a burden. I¡¯ll go with ck first. Uncle muste back.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, we are going! You must hurry up, too!¡±

    Seeing their backs disappeared in the distance, Zhang Mu smiled bitterly.

    This time, he was really in trouble.

    As expected, after seeing Yuan Rui leave holding Little ck, King Kong got restless and chased after them.

    King Kong didn¡¯t want to let the Obsidian Beetle go because it was its prey and it was eager to eat its core.

    Naturally, Zhang Mu would not let it chase them and he stopped it with his sword.

    A thin young man of 1.83 meters holding his sword was standing in front of a huge monster of 3 meters. It looked like a toddler was fighting against a bruiser.

    I don¡¯t want to fight against you not because I¡¯m was afraid of you. It just because I wasn¡¯t interested in your meat. But to think you¡¯d have the audacity to help my prey escape.

    I can¡¯t take this anymore!

    King Kong¡¯s decision was simple and direct: it would kill everyone who triesd to stop him from hunting his prey.

    Its savagery was aroused. King Kong roared and jumped toward Zhang Mu to punch him.

    A boulder-like impact hit the knife.

    ¡°Click!¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s hands were shaking. To his desperation, the sword had broken.

    Zhang Mu held his broken de even though his hands were bleeding.

    How can it be? How can the gap between us be so big?

    In this moment, Zhang Mu realized what he had forgotten when he formed his n. He had forgotten that, in his past life, the grotto was taken from the mutated animals at the expense of a massive amount of evolvers from three different bases.

    Powerful mutated animals were always unrivalled even when they were weakened.

    Zhang Mu thought, ¡°Am I too greedy?¡±

    But if he wasn¡¯t greedy, how would he get stronger?

    On death¡¯s doorstep, what Zhang Mu felt wasn¡¯t regret but a little pity.

    However, after a while, Zhang Mu found something was wrong.

    Howe I¡¯m not dead yet?

    He didn¡¯t know when the Obsidian Beetle had appeared behind King Kong. It became big and grabbed its arms, pulling them back.

    This time, King Kong¡¯s fist stopped in the air only 20 centimeters away from Zhang Mu¡¯s chest. Zhang Mu quickly leaped to the side and cast away his broken sword.

    He found that the wound on Little ck¡¯s back had healed. Yuan Rui ran towards Zhang Mu. Seeing his bloody hands, she felt heartbroken and said sadly, ¡°Uncle, what¡¯s wrong with you? Why do you try to show off? If Little ck hadn¡¯t told me, you¡¯d be dead now. You are a liar. You promised me that you could escape unscathed.¡±

    Seeing that there were no other wounds on Zhang Mu¡¯s body, Yuan Rui took a deep breath and started beat him.

    Zhang Mu looked at Yuan Rui and then turned to look at the lively Obsidian Beetle. He questioned, ¡°Can your energy heal mutated animals?¡±

    ¡°Yes! I thought Little ck¡¯s injuries were very serious, so I tried to treat them. The wounds were indeed serious as I had to use up all my energy. What¡¯s wrong? Can¡¯t my energy be used to treat him?¡±

    Unexpectedly, Yuan Rui¡¯s power could also heal mutated animals. How lucky am I to meet someone who awakened with such an ability?

    There was a huge gap between an evolver who could treat human beings and an evolver who could also treat mutated animals.

    If her evolutionary potential were to develop even further in the future, maybe she¡¯ll be able to heal other beings.

    Zhang Mu was frightened by his own ideas and gasped. He said to Yuan Rui, ¡°Yuan Rui, this time you have really done a great job.¡±

    Then Little ck shouted Zhang Mu through their mental bond, ¡°No more nonsense, I can¡¯t hold up anymore.¡±

    With that, Zhang Mu noticed that the King Kong had nearly broken free from Little ck¡¯s ws. He immediately picked up the broken sword and rushed towards the struggling monkey. Under King Kong¡¯s horrified gaze, he thrust it into its eyeball at a very high speed, piercing through the entire head with the sharpened de.

    King Kong¡¯sst struggles broke two of Little ck¡¯s ws. But it had long forgotten the pain as it ate the big beast core ¨C that was three times bigger than those of normal monkeys ¨C within King Kong¡¯s brain.

    One person was staring dazedly at the dull knife in his hand, another person was standing still silently, and a beetle with broken ws was eating brain matter on its own. It was a strange sight.

 Chapter 39

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 39: Arrival of the New Weapon

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think that the Tang sword that I got through so much effort would be broken.¡±

    Zhang Mu shook his head with a bitter smile.

    One should know that, in his past life, he had used a weapon for three entire months and only threw away it when it got too worn-out. But this is normal. After all, he was not the same as in his past life, nor were the monsters he encountered now, who were much more powerful.

    Although he knew that that was a truth, he still felt a little heartbroken as it was difficult for him to find a weapon that was especially good to deal with monsters.

    If Zhang Mu was unable to find another weapon, he would have to fight the walking dead with his bare hands.

    That¡¯s not good, he must find a suitable weapon.

    Zhang Mu quickly nced at Little ck ws on the ground while he thought. He showed a faint smile and looked greedily at Little ck who was still eating.

    Feeling Zhang Mu¡¯s gaze, Little ck shivered as if it knew what Zhang Mu wanted to do. It finished King Kong¡¯s brain frantically and gathered its fallen ws under its body in order to hide them from Zhang Mu¡¯s greedy eyes.

    ¡°What do you want with my ws?¡± Little ck asked in its mind.

    Hearing its question through the bond they both shared, Zhang Mu chuckled, ¡°Anyway, they have fallen and can¡¯t put back on again. You know that my sword was broken, so it¡¯s better to give them to me. It would be such a pity if they were wasted!¡±

    Little ck shook its head like a rattle drum. They were parts of its body. It could not ept them being used as weapons by Zhang Mu.

    Although Little ck¡¯s ws were ripped off by King Kong, the actual reason why they broke was that the joints were not tough enough.

    As for the ws themselves, they were the hardest part of its body along with its back and they were much sharper than des refined by the humans. In Zhang Mu¡¯s opinion, they could be long daggers after making a few modifications.

    This was why Zhang Mu desired them. The more he looked at them, the more he wanted them.

    When Zhang Mu saw Little ck reluctance, he decided to try and tempt him. Zhang Mu said, ¡°Little ck, how about I give you some crystals and beast cores in exchange? After all, if you don¡¯t give them me, they would go to waste since you can¡¯t possibly keep them as souvenirs, right?¡±

    Seeing that Little ck was starting to hesitate, Zhang Mu continued, ¡°Name a price. No matter how expensive, I¡¯ll pay for it. If what I have right now is not enough, I¡¯ll owe you and repay you in the future. How about it?¡±

    After hearing this, Little ck wavered even more as it began to think that what Zhang Mu said made sense. But as its intelligence had improved, Little ck thought it couldn¡¯t agree so easily and must raise the price.

    Little ck¡¯s small eyes kept turning and said with reluctance, ¡°In the future, all the wind-type beast cores belong to me no matter how valuable they are. If you promise that, I¡¯ll give you my ws.¡±

    Zhang Mu promised without second thoughts because he had intended from the start to give Little ck all the cores that were good for it. After all, if Little ck¡¯s strength grew, it would also help him.

    No matter how much Little ck¡¯s grew intellectually, it was no mac for Zhang Mu, a crafty businessman. Zhang Mu had paid nothing and made Little ck obediently hand over its ws.

    Seeing Zhang Mu promised so decisively, Little ck wondered and said unconfidently, ¡°Moreover, in the future, I¡¯ll pick out crystals first, or I won¡¯t give them you.¡±

    Zhang Mu knocked on its head and sneered, ¡°You should learn to stop at the right time. I¡¯m your master and you are supposed to give me everything you have. I¡¯m already merciful bypensating you. Don¡¯t be insatiable!¡±

    Little ck instantly lost his temper and felt that what Zhang Mu said was very reasonable. If Zhang Mu had given it a hard-heartedmand, it couldn¡¯t have refused him. So it was already kind of him to consult with it.

    Zhang Mu sneered, ¡°Do you think I don¡¯t know that after eating King Kong¡¯s core and brains, your ws would quickly grow back and have the strength attribute of the mutated King Kong?¡±

    After hearing that, Little ck was shocked and asked stutteringly, ¡°Master, how did you know? I just felt a strand of heating from the fracture of my ws and joints, it felt like it was reviving. Although, it will indeed grow back automatically in half a month, how did you know I will get the King Kong¡¯s power?¡±

    Damn, I spilled the beans. I forgot Little ck wasn¡¯t a bug with a low intelligence anymore.

    Zhang Mu got nervous, but immediately, he calmed down and said, ¡°Nonsense! Do you think I don¡¯t know what you are thinking? In the ce where your ws are broken, the new flesh and blood are growing at a very high speed. I guess you will recover in one night. As for whether or not you will get the ability of King Kong, I didn¡¯t know. I was just trying you. I didn¡¯t expect it to be true. And you still dare to bargain with me? You¡¯re already getting the greatest benefit.¡±

    When Little ck realized Zhang Mu knew everything, it quickly picked up the two ws on the ground and gave them to Zhang Mu tamely. It was afraid he would really get angry.

    Zhang Mu took them and wiped off the blood and dust. After he scraped off the residual flesh, a sharply curved dagger took form, reflecting cold light when illuminated by the torches on the ground.

    Little ck looked gingerly at Zhang Mu who was studying its ws and asked, ¡°The cores you promised me, will you give them to me?¡±

    Zhang Mu was currently very excited about his new weapons. He waved his hands impatiently and said, ¡°I never break my promises. Don¡¯t worry, all the wind-type cores will be given to you in the future.¡±

    Obtaining Zhang Mu¡¯s promise, Little ck was very happy and ate the rest of King Kong¡¯s meat.

    At this time, Yuan Rui didn¡¯t care about Little ck anymore. She had been worried about it as she saw that its ws had broke. But after hearing what Zhang Mu said, she stopped worrying about it.

    Yuan Rui walked towards Zhang Mu and said, ¡°Uncle, there are no more monsters. Is the treasure you are looking for located here? But I have never heard any legends about it.¡±

    At this point, Zhang Mu moved his attention from the new daggers and stared at the grottoes meaningfully. He answered, ¡°Yes, it was the cataclysm that made the treasure gain the chance to recover its great power. No one can refuse its temptation.¡±

    Yuan Rui just thought it was the foresight ability that had enabled Zhang Mu to see something. But Zhang Mu knew clearly just how many terrible and bloody conflicts the treasure stirred in his past life.

 Chapter 40

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    PS: Yes, you can buy this novel for free on Amazon now! Read it on Amazon (60 chapters in total) and give us a review if you like it!

    Chapter 40: The Secret of the Great Buddha

    Watching Little ck stuff himself in satisfaction with the meat of the King Kong, Zhang Mu chuckled, ¡°If you¡¯re so greedy, you¡¯ll have a problem sooner orter. You just wasted too much time.¡±

    Little ck pped its wing innocently and didn¡¯t mind whatever Zhang Mu said. Moreover, it was still looking at the mutated King Kong¡¯s stone arm with pity in its eyes because it couldn¡¯t eat it.

    In fact, Zhang Mu knew that he shouldn¡¯t me Little ck as the King Kong, who had a great bloodline potential and first-ranked power, was of great allure to Little ck. On top of that, Little ck was stuck at a bottleneck in the first rank. Eating low-quality food wouldn¡¯t help it improve, no matter what the quantity of food was.

    It was also the reason why Little ck forced itself to eat the King Kong¡¯s core, even if it wasn¡¯t really suitable for it.

    In the end, it was still a great tonic.

    Zhang Mu sensed that Little ck would evolve to the second rank sooner orter ording to its present development.

    He couldn¡¯t imagine what a big catastrophe it would be if the humans, who just learned their evolving abilities, were to face an uncontrolled second-ranked monster, merely in the first week of the cataclysm.

    No matter how powerful the potential of an evolver was, it was impossible for the evolver to unleash all of his abilities for now because humans still needed to adapt to control their powers, and at the same time, Little ck did everything by instinct. As for ordinary people, every rank represented an insurmountable gap.

    Only the people standing at the top had the ability to survive skip-rank battles, for they had excellent talent and terrifyingbat instincts.

    For the monsters, to evolve, they only needed to eat cores with the same properties as theirs, mutated animal¡¯s blood and flesh to refine their own core, and use crystals to increase their energy.

    However, for human beings, the path of evolution was more difficult because the flesh and blood of mutated animals didn¡¯t have much of an effect on them. The human beings who were born without the ability to control their energy and potential have to umte energy first. Then, they need to use crystals to reinforce their energy and finally, they have to use beast cores that correspond to their attributes to refine their energy¡¯s purity level.

    Through the bond he shared with Little ck, Zhang Mu perceived that the beetle was absorbing the flesh and blood it just ate and was transforming it into its own energy. With Little ck bing more and more powerful, Zhang Mu got more confident.

    Zhang Mu picked up a torch on the ground with one hand and held Yuan Rui with his other hand. He walked towards the grotto while Little ck had be small to digest the food it just ate.

    Soon afterwards, they went into the grotto where the statue of the Great Buddha was located. The cave was not deep, because Zhang Mu had waved his torch and had seen the solemn Great Buddha who seemed to be staring at him.

    In this kind of situation, the quietness in the grotto was indeed quite creepy. Yuan Rui was scared and got closer to Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu patted her hands softly tofort her and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry! We have passed the most dangerous parts. There¡¯s nothing that can scare you.¡±

    Although Zhang Mu said so, the environment was indeed very eerie, as wisps of cold air came from the stone Buddha. It would be creepy if it weren¡¯t an illusion.

    ¡°You stand here, I¡¯ll go up to take the treasure down.¡±

    Zhang Mu was about to let go of Yuan Rui¡¯s hand, but then found that she was grasping his arm tightly and had started to shiver. The environment was bing colder and colder.

    Zhang Mu turned his head to look to Little ck on his shoulder and then threw it to Yuan Rui, ¡°You can go out and wait for me for a while. It¡¯s a little strange here, but nothing special.¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words, Yuan Rui shivered and said, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll go out first.¡±

    Holding Little ck in her hand, Yuan Rui ran out of the grotto.

    Zhang Mu felt quite confused. It wasn¡¯t that cold here, so why did Yuan Rui get scared like that?

    Shaking his head, Zhang Mu threw this thought to the back of his mind and started to climb up the Great Buddha. At the ces where he really couldn¡¯t find support, he had no choice but used Little ck¡¯s w as a supporting point. Right now, he couldn¡¯t afford to care about the preservation of cultural relics.

    Stone chips fell down, as Zhang Mu easily reached the Great Buddha¡¯s shoulder. Looking at the Buddha¡¯s ear from a distance, Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t stop his heart from pounding.

    ¡°Will I finally get to see the treasure hidden within the Buddha?¡±

    Quickly, Zhang Mu noticed that his emotion was very abnormal.

    Why did I get so excited?

    Zhang Mu took a deep breath. Looking at the Buddha¡¯s big ear hole, he slowly walked toward it.

    The danger he expected didn¡¯t appear. Zhang Mu was still careful, but deep in his heart, he didn¡¯t sense any danger.

    What is happening? Why can it tease my emotions, but not make me feel threatened?

    Although Zhang Mu walked step by step, he still quickly saw a dead end.

    The closer he got to the wall, the stronger the power of attraction got and the more it affected his emotion.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s hand slowly moved over the wall, feeling the source of the power of attraction.

    Eh? Is it here?

    Zhang Mu found the right ce and dug into the wall with the w¡¯s sharp point. The stone was not hard and, with the help of the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s w, a hole was easily excavated.

    ¡°Boom!¡±

    As Zhang Mu drilled once more with all his strength, the whole wall instantly copsed. Zhang Mu felt as if the wall had been corroded for a long time.

    And at this point, the scene Zhang Mu saw gradually made his eyes blur.

    A pure white lotus was lying quietly at the center of the Buddha. From the moment the wall copsed, it lit the surrounding in a wless light.

    Its beauty was breathtaking.

    Zhang Mu quickly rid himself of the weak influence on him.

    ¡°Is it a power that magnifies different emotions ording to different people? It¡¯s just an unconscious self-protection, this is why I haven¡¯t sensed any danger. This Blood Lotus is interesting. If the person¡¯s will wasn¡¯t firm enough, they would probably meet with danger. Tsk, tsk. It is truly not simple!¡±

    Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t bewitched. However, he still slowly reached out his hand towards the hole where the light was exuded.

 Chapter 41

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 41: The Bloodvine Demon Lotus

    When Zhang Mu put his hand into the hole he dug, he immediately sensed that the white light became stronger.

    Unsure if the light was a figment of his imagination, he continued reaching into the hole. Zhang Mu noticed his hand had started to slow down, as if the light turned tangible and viscous.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why is it resisting? Did the lotus sense danger? It shouldn¡¯t have the ability to tell a hunter from a prey. As long as anything is attracted to it, a part of his energy would be drawn to the lotus.¡±

    Zhang Mu frowned and felt very confused. How did the Blood Lotus know that his mind was unaffected? Unknown to Zhang Mu, the lotus could actually distinguish that Zhang Mu was not under its control, so it tried to stop him from getting close to it.

    Did it have its own consciousness? It shouldn¡¯t be. It was just the third day and it was impossible for mutated nts to open up their intelligence so early. Even if the lotus was the nt which boasted the fastest growth and the most powerful ability, it was still impossible.

    Zhang Mu got nervous as unknown things were the scariest. Although he knew about how the owner of the lotus had avoided the mutated King Kong, protected himself with a spiritual armor, and became the master of the Bloodvine Lotus ¨C rather than its nutriment ¨C but by ident; Zhang Mu had just heard it from someone in his past life. Who knew if it was actually true?

    However, Zhang Mu had no choice but to seize the chance tightly. He needed anything that could provide him with power as he didn¡¯t have any evolutionary ability.

    Zhang Mu ground his teeth as his veins swelled. He roared and pushed against the resistance of the white light. Finally, he managed to touch the Blood Lotus.

    Even though he was a step closer to sess, he did not dare to let his guard down, because he knew the greatest danger wasing. Zhang Mu stared at the lotus with all his attention.

    Zhang Mu did not know if it was his mistake, but he actually felt the Blood Lotus tremble.

    Is it alive?

    When the frightful thought surfaced in his mind, a great change happened.

    From the surface of the Blood Lotus, countless thin tentacles grew out and stuck themselves onto Zhang Mu¡¯s right arm. Zhang Mu¡¯s blood flowed into the Blood Lotus at a very high speed.

    Zhang Mu sensed danger as he felt his right arm be limp.

    What happen? Because the speed at which he lost blood was too fast, Zhang Mu¡¯s whole arm soon became dry.

    He had heard that when the person who got the Bloodvine Lotus had nearly gotten sucked into a mummy, he had tried to cut down the tentacles, but it didn¡¯t work. Instead, the crystals and cores that dropped from his body identally drew the Blood Lotus¡¯ attention.

    Zhang Mu quickly took out all the crystals and beast cores from his Merchant¡¯s Ring and used them to wrap his right hand.

    All of a sudden, the feebleness he felt in his arm disappeared. The tentacles of Blood Lotus had left Zhang Mu¡¯s hand and went for the crystals and animal cores.

    The man who told me the story did not deceive me! Although he was drunk, he said the truth. I gambled right!

    Those crystals and beast cores quickly shrank.

    The Blood Lotus could directly take energy from crystals and beast cores as expected.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t just wait idly. He inserted his left arm into the hole as well and held onto thest tentacle that tried to leave his right arm and let it suck his blood continuously.

    Even if the Blood Lotus had intelligence, it only possessed the instinct to eat and protect itself. As it wasn¡¯t willing to give up the huge amount of energy presented to it, the Blood Lotus let Zhang Mu do whatever he wanted to do.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t feel dizzy from losing so much blood Instead, he was excited.

    It was too naive. Creatures whose intelligence wasn¡¯t high enough had a deadly weakness: they couldn¡¯t control their greed.

    In Zhang Mu¡¯s opinion, a creature dominated by its instincts would eventually be a puppet no matter how powerful it was.

    The lotus had be blood red as it sucked on Zhang Mu¡¯s arm. The pure white light was corrupted by the blood.

    This was its true nature. It had only pretended to be pure before.

    This was the truest form of the Bloodvine Demon Lotus!

    The lotus continued absorbing the energy from the crystals. Quickly, a lot of them were depleted and turned into powders. Seeing that, Zhang Mu felt heartbroken. However, as the saying goes, no pain, no gain.

    Oveing the pain from his arm, Zhang Mu focused on the change of the Bloodvine Lotus. Seeing that it was trying to leave after eating enough crystals, Zhang Mu sneered, ¡°You want to leave after eating you fill? Dream on!¡±

    Zhang Mu held the tentacle with all his might and didn¡¯t let it go no matter how it pped him.

    Are you kidding me?! If Zhang Mu let the Bloodvine Lotus go, he wouldn¡¯t be qualified as a businessman!

    When the amount of blood the lotus had absorbed reached a certain degree, the lotus would recognize the owner of the blood as its master. The Bloodvine Lotus needed blood to replenish its energy and it would let go of its host only after it has sucked the victim dry or after it was full.

    There were two methods it used to release the host: hallucination or violence. The choice depended on the degree of control it had over on its prey.

    Zhang Mu met all the requirements to be its master. As time went by, the Bloodvine Lotus lost interested in Zhang Mu¡¯s blood. It had gotten enough energy from the crystals.

    Finally, Zhang Mu let go of the lotus after making sure that it didn¡¯t ¡®eat¡¯ anymore.

    Feeling the faint connection between himself and the lotus, Zhang Mu was ecstatic.

    God bless, everything was going ording to his n.

 Chapter 42

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 42: Temptation of Lotus

    Zhang Mu clutched the Bloodvine Lotus in his hand, making sure that it didn¡¯t resist him. He scrutinized it.

    The Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s vitality had been woken by Zhang Mu¡¯s blood and the energy from the numerous crystals. An unremarkable sprout had emerged from the tip of the lotus seed.

    Seeing the tiny sprout, Zhang Mu felt a surge of excitement.

    Was this the sign of fusing that the merchant had once mentioned? The Bloodvine Lotus was ready and was only waiting for Zhang Mu¡¯s decision.

    Why did Zhang Mu hesitate? The reason was that the stronger the power, the greater the cost. The Bloodvine Lotus was very strong. Consequently, it took way too much energy to support it. Ordinary people could not provide for the Bloodvine Lotus.

    The lotus in the Great Buddha was a fossil seed from the ancient times. Later, it fused with the stone used to carve the Buddha. There was nothing special about the lotus before the mutation urred.

    However, when the new era came, the lotus totally transformed and had its potential enhanced by the evolving wave at the start of the debugging period. As the stones on its surface began to fall off, its strong vitality was gradually restored and it awakened incredible abilities.

    In the new era, the effects of the evolving wave benefited everyone. Even if it was just a dog tail grass on the roadside, it may possess lethal danger.

    Now the lotus just came out of its hibernation and entered the wakening period where it only knew based on instinct to use illusions to attract humans or creatures without firm wills. The lotus would use them as fertilizers and absorb their vitality until their death.

    Zhang Mu elerated its process of absorbing energy. The reason Zhang Mu let the lotus suck his blood was that the lotus followed the owner of the blood. Luckily, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t die as he used crystals and beast cores to substitute for the major part of the energy it would have otherwise taken from his blood.

    Right now, the Bloodvine Lotus looked very enticing as it gleamed with red lights.

    Yet, Zhang Mu understood it was just like Pandora¡¯s box; the charm it had made people forget the terrible danger it poses.

    Come. Fuse with me.

    An alluring voice echoed in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Do you still want to use me as a nourishment?¡± Zhang Mu chuckled, unaffected. He nced at the lotus snidely.

    The host of the Bloodvine Lotus needed to be a rank higher than it and be able to provide enough energy for it. Otherwise, the host would bepletely eaten by the hungry Bloodvine Lotus.

    Unlike the ¡°servant-obedience¡± contract that the mutated animals enjoy, the arrogant Bloodvine Lotus had a parasitic rtionship with its host. It was an association for mutual benefit, however, if the host rxed his vignce, it would end in his death.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to tempt me. I, Zhang Mu, know exactly what you are. If I don¡¯t feed you until you¡¯re full, then I don¡¯t deserve my title as a first sub-merchant.¡±

    Zhang Mu grasped the Bloodvine Lotus tightly as if squashing any rebellious intentions it may have.

    Indeed, if Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t even feed the Lotus, sooner orter, he would be eaten clean by the Merchant¡¯s Ring on his finger.

    The Bloodvine Lotus seemed to understand what Zhang Mu said. Gradually, the voice echoing in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind faded.

    Seeing the Bloodvine Lotus calm down, Zhang Mu smiled. Unbelievably, the Bloodvine Lotus still retained its intelligence even after it had been weakened by the wave. Maybe Zhang Mu¡¯s blood had helped it recover.

    Zhang Mu quickly took out the w and made a slight incision on his left arm, cutting a small yet deep wound. He bled profusely, but Zhang Mu ignored it as if the arm wasn¡¯t his.

    Zhang Mu immediately pushed the Bloodvine Lotus into the wound and nted it into his body.

    Sensing Zhang Mu¡¯s warm blood, the Bloodvine Lotus began to take root, germinating and growing inside his body.

    Zhang Mu felt a little frightened when he thought about how this thing was growing in his body. After all, in his past life, he was just a small merchant and had no way of obtaining this kind of mutated nt that could maintain a symbiotic rtionship with its host.

    ¡°I finally got my hands on it, although I don¡¯t know how powerful it is yet.¡±

    Zhang Mu looked at the wound on his arm as it immediately started to recover. He had high expectations for the Bloodvine Lotus.

    The first benefit Zhang Mu obtained, which was a kind of passive awakening ability, was an increase in recovery speed.

    Even if the lotus only brought this benefit, it would still be fiercely fought over by countless people. This was especially true after people found out that the Bloodvine Lotus would seek a new host in its surroundings after its original host died. Endless skirmishes broke out just for it.

    Of course, this was just the start. The Bloodvine Lotus had many more advantages to offer.

    ¡°Bloodvine Lotus! Come out!¡±

    Immediately, a strong vine covered with sharp spikes shot out from his arm and swayed in the air.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, itshed at the Buddha¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Boom!¡±

    After striking, the rattan retracted back to Zhang Mu and coiled like a snake around him as if ensuring his safety.

    Seeing that the Buddha¡¯s ear had been cut off cleanly, Zhang Mu was in a good mood. All the crystals and cores he had paid were worth it.

    However, Zhang Mu was not satisfied with just that.

    The Buddha was just an inanimate object and couldn¡¯t fully show the extent of the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯ power. Its power would be disyed much better on living beings.

    Living things! The apocalypse nevercked monsters.

    Zhang Mu was itching for a fight. He had never looked forward to battling the walking dead and mutated animals as much as he did now.

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t wait to reveal the true power of the Bloodvine Lotus.

 Chapter 43

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 43: Taking a Night Off

    After seeing that Zhang Mu had walked out of the cavern, Yuan Ruiined, ¡°Uncle, why did you stay in there for such a long time? I¡¯ve been waiting for a while now. Little ck didn¡¯t y with me, so I was dead bored.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled slightly and touched her head, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, haven¡¯t Ie out already?¡±

    When Yuan Rui noticed that Zhang Mu was in a good mood, she guessed that Zhang Mu should have gotten what he wanted. She asked curiously with wide open eyes, ¡°Uncle, did you get the thing you wanted? It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen you so happy.¡±

    Zhang Mu scratched his head in embarrassment and grinned, ¡°Is it so obvious?¡±

    Staring seriously at Zhang Mu, Yuan Rui answered, ¡°Yes! It looks like you¡¯ve reaped a great harvest! Uncle, tell me about it! I¡¯m so curious!¡±

    After hearing that, Zhang Mu sighed and spread out his hands, ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to show you! I¡¯m just worried that you will be frightened! It¡¯s just a helper like Little ck.¡±

    However, Yuan Rui became more excited after listening to his words and asked, ¡°Is there something more ugly than Little ck after it bes big? I won¡¯t be afraid. Come on, show me what you got! Is it a bug again? Do you like collecting bugs? It would be a little scary if it¡¯s true. I can¡¯t stand anymore, just Little ck is enough. It¡¯s just too nauseous to imagine myself surrounded by worms.¡±

    Little ck moved slightly on Yuan Rui¡¯s shoulder as if it had heard that someone was speaking ill of it. However, it just shifted a little and quickly fell asleep again. After all, everything Little ck had eaten was only half digested. As sleep was the best way to absorb, just let it sleep.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a bug! I¡¯ll show you, but you¡¯d better take a few steps back.¡±

    Zhang Mu asked Yuan Rui to stand far from him. Yuan Rui walked away a few meters and looked at Zhang Mu with wide eyes.

    Then, after hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s call, the Bloodvine Lotus emerged from Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm and brandished itself in the air.

    The Bloodvine Lotus attacked Yuan Rui immediately once it found her, making Yuan Rui so frightened that her legs gave out.

    Luckily, Zhang Mu always kept an eye on the Bloodvine Lotus and ordered it not to hurt Yuan Rui the moment it came out.

    However, its instinct was stronger than its intellect after all. Fortunately, Zhang Mu had asked Yuan Rui stay away from him, otherwise, she might¡¯ve been in danger.

    The speed and explosive power of the Bloodvine Lotus were terrifying!

    Zhang Mu still felt the lingering fear after that burst of strength from the Bloodvine Lotus, but Yuan Rui was even more terrified. She refused Zhang Mu¡¯s hand to help her up until he recalled the vine that was still twined around his arm back into his body. Even so, Yuan Rui still avoided Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm subconsciously.

    After a long while, Yuan Rui hit Zhang Mu and cried, ¡°Uncle! Why do you always scare me? Don¡¯t you know that it nearly disfigured me?¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know what he should say. ¡°I had warned you to watch out. I didn¡¯t know it would be so sensitive to living things. Is this my fault too?¡±

    After hearing that, Yuan Rui felt even more wronged as she thought Zhang Mu was ming her. She kept crying, ¡°It¡¯s your fault. Who told you to put such a dangerous thing into your arm? It¡¯s so disgusting!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my fault, it¡¯s my fault,¡± Zhang Mu had no choice but to apologize, ¡°All right, it¡¯s dark. Let¡¯s rest here for a night.¡± Zhang Mu distracted Yuan Rui¡¯s attention sessfully.

    ¡°The rock cave is cold and the Great Buddha in it is horrible. I¡¯m not going to stay there.¡± Yuan Rui still felt scared when she recalled the piercing cold, so she absolutely disagreed with Zhang Mu¡¯s decision.

    But they had no other options. As it was getting dark, they couldn¡¯t move on even if he had the Bloodvine Lotus and Little ck. He didn¡¯t have the confidence to walk in the darkness.

    There were still lots of things that Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know of even though he came back from the future. It would be the regret of his life if he died from hubris. (excessive pride/arrogance)

    Thinking twice, Zhang Mu decided to stay here. Zhang Mu worked out apromise and said to Yuan Rui, ¡°The treasure hidden in the rock cave has been taken out by me. So you needn¡¯t worry. Since you don¡¯t want to go in, we can stay outside and rest. It¡¯s very dangerous to move in the night.¡±

    Yuan Rui knew that she shouldn¡¯t be defiant at a time like this. She nodded and found a clean area a distance away from the rock cave.

    Zhang Mu rekindled those torches and put them in a circle as a fence. Seeing the corpses of the mutated monkeys all around, Zhang Mu thought that it would be a waste if he didn¡¯t make use of them. Little ck was picky while the Bloodvine Lotus ate anything. So Zhang Mu nned to collected monkeys¡¯ corpses to use as the Lotus¡¯ food and save some crystals.

    Once he thought about this, Zhang Mu put all the corpses into his Merchant¡¯s Ring. Luckily, time doesn¡¯t pass in the ring or the corpses would be rancid fast.

    After getting everything down, Zhang Mu threw Little ck that was sleeping on Yuan Rui¡¯s shoulder out and shouted, ¡°Turn big and sleep. Wake me up if there is any danger. Understood?¡±

    Having been woken up from its good dream, Little ck looked at Zhang Mu with anger, but when it found that Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t in a good mood, it tamely flew up and kept watch around their temporary camp.

    Little ck knew that it would consume much of its energy to transform, but right now was not the time to save energy. It needed to be in its strongest state for the night watch.

    Moreover, there was a strong smell of blood. Although the dead bodies of the mutated monkeys had been collected and put away by Zhang Mu, both walking dead or mutated animals mighte following the smell of blood.

    Never take it lightly!

    After having lost a lot of blood today and have his emotions go on a roller coaster ride, Zhang Mu was dead tired. He was afraid to fall asleep and not react quickly enough if something dangerous came close, so he ordered Little ck to keep watch with full attention.

    Having given clear-cut orders, Zhang Mu took out two nkets and handed one to Yuan Rui. Then he put himself in the nket and fell asleep.

    Zhang Mu furrowed his brows and fell asleep. No one knew what he was concerned about. The future or the truth of the cataclysm? Only he knew.

    With the light of the flickering fire, Yuan Rui stared at Zhang Mu¡¯s unshaven face. All of a sudden, she felt sorry for him.

    Yuan Rui was also very tired. She had never walked such a long distance not to mention that she was stricken with fear so many times. After wiping off the sweat on Zhang Mu¡¯s forehead with her sleeve, Yuan Ruiid beside Zhang Mu and fell asleep feeling safe.

 Chapter 44

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 44: Forge ahead

    Zhang Mu slept deeply and only woke up when he felt the warm sunshine. He slowly opened his eyes.

    ¡°Is it the fourth day already?¡± seeing the sun, Zhang Mu murmured.

    ¡°Uncle, Are you awake?¡±

    Yuan Rui¡¯s voice came from behind him. Zhang Mu turned around and took the water and bread she handed him. It seemed that she had already eaten breakfast. He had certainly slept like a log.

    Zhang Mu touched his left arm softly. Everything still felt so unbelievable, but the Bloodvine Lotus within his arm and the mental bond they shared showed that everything was real.

    ¡°Do I have an ability that only evolvers own now?¡± Zhang Muughed at himself for a while and stopped thinking about it. After all, external strength was also a strength. As long as it could be used by Zhang Mu, it was useful. It didn¡¯t matter if it was a ck cat or a white cat, any cat that could catch mice was a good cat.

    ¡°Eh? Where is Little ck? Yuan Rui, do you see Little ck? I asked it to keep watch at night. Is it beingzy again?¡±

    Having not seen Little ck around or on Yuan Rui¡¯s shoulder, Zhang Mu got angry. He thought that it was time to punish Little ck as it hadn¡¯t kept what he said in mind. What would happen to them if something dangerous were to pass by?

    ¡°No, but you should look for yourself. I¡¯m trying to ignore it.¡± Yuan Rui pointed in a direction with a disgusted look.

    Zhang Mu followed the direction of Yuan Rui¡¯s finger and found Little ck stuffing himself behind the stones.

    Zhang Mu could feel its joy even from a distance.

    When he saw clearly what Little ck was doing, he was speechless. As expected, even though its intelligence had improved, its hobby was still the same. Little ck was holding onto a mutated animal¡¯s head, sucking its brain matter happily.

    ¡°Why do you hide here to eat?¡±

    Zhang Mu hugged himself and asked Little ck who was enjoying itself.

    Actually, Little ck had known Zhang Mu¡¯sing, but it didn¡¯t respond. As for what it was doing, eating was the most important thing. However, since Zhang Mu asked, it should answer. Meanwhile, a sound echoed in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind.

    ¡°These are the mutated animals that were attracted by the smell of bloodst night. I didn¡¯t wake you up and killed them by myself. I have eaten twost night. In the morning, I felt hungry and ate thest one. Yuan Rui saw and was repulsed by this. Since I can¡¯t upset her, I had to avoid her and came here. Do you think it is easy for me?¡±

    Zhang Mu understood quickly. Little ck¡¯s table manners were disgusting and made Yuan Rui sick, so it ate here. Zhang Mu touched Little ck¡¯s back and said, ¡°Thanks for your hard work, good job.¡±

    Little ck looked at Zhang Mu with disdain and continued eating, ¡°Speak no more, use actions to thank me instead. How about you give me hundreds of crystals and let me have a sumptuous meal? I have eaten too much meat and got a little tired of it.¡±

    After hearing that, Zhang Mu quickly pped Little ck¡¯s head and said, ¡°Hundreds of crystals? A sumptuous meal? What afortable life! It seems that you have absorbed all the energy from the mutated King Kong as you are so confident.¡±

    Mentioning yesterday¡¯s King Kong, Zhang Mu began to take a closer look at Little ck¡¯s body and found something different indeed. Little ck¡¯s new ws were coated with granite and its carapace had lost its luster, bing rough and durable. However, the lines on Little ck¡¯s forehead were still gold.

    Zhang Mu let Little ck alone and asked Yuan Rui to help him pack up their stuff.

    Zhang Mu sat down on the ground and began to n a new route.

    Since Zhang Mu had reached his goal, he must n a new course. He carefully thought of the way from Longmen Grottoes to the Xi¡¯an city, forming a path in his mind quickly.

    As Zhang Mu had gained Bloodvine Lotus, Little ck¡¯s power had reached the top among all first rank mutated animals and all the creatures had been weakened, their safety was basically guaranteed no matter how many walking dead and mutated animals they met. In that case, Zhang Mu decided to go in a straight line because the sooner he arrived, the sooner the transaction would take ce and the more profit he would gain.

    As this idea took root, Zhang Mu shouted towards Little ck, ¡°Stop eating, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Little ck was almost stuffed, so it threw away the skull in its ws without hesitation and flew towards Yuan Rui, lying beside her tamely.

    Little ck had cleverly wiped its mouth on the grass so that Yuan Rui would allow it near her. But Yuan Rui still warned it in a low voice, ¡°If you eat like that again, I¡¯ll never y with you again, even when you be small!¡±

    Little ck nodded, but nobody knew whether it kept her words in mind or not.

    On the way to Xi¡¯an City, Zhang Mu kept trying out the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯ power. In the beginning, Yuan Rui was not willing to stay close to Little ck, but when they were surrounded by hundreds of walking dead, she quickly hid behind it and only dared to catch glimpses of the fight.

    The Bloodvine Lotus suddenly covered Zhang Mu¡¯s whole left arm and extended upwards, using ten separate vines to protect him. Zhang Mu easily broke through the siege and all the walking dead were sucked dry by the Bloodvine Lotus.

    Though the walking dead¡¯s mobility wouldn¡¯t go down even after losing all their blood, they were all split in half when Bloodvine Lotus swept at them. Even worse, some walking dead were broken into pieces.

    The most important thing was that Bloodvine Lotus seemed to never get tired. The more blood it sucked, the higher spirit it was in. As the Bloodvine Lotus became more proactive, Zhang Mu got through the crowd as easily as if he was walking in his own backyard. Hundreds of walking dead were wiped out in an instant.

    When the survivors saw Zhang Mu¡¯s strong power, some were too afraid of getting close to him while others begged him to take them along. But no matter how Yuan Rui pleaded with Zhang Mu on their behalf, Zhang Mu refused all of them. When someone continued pestering them, the Bloodvine Lotus was called out and these words were thrown out coldly, ¡°If you want to be its food, you can stay.¡±

    After that, Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui left, leaving behind the terrified man.

    Zhang Mu was no savior and he had no time to spend on thesemon people. To him, time was money and life and he didn¡¯t dare to waste it.

    On the tenth day of their journey, Yuan Rui was so tired that she fell asleep on Little ck¡¯s back while Zhang Mu looked at the words ¡°Xi¡¯an City¡± on the gate tower. He took a deep breath with a smile on his tired face.

    ¡°Ten days. Finally, I¡¯ve arrived at Xi¡¯an.¡±

 Chapter 45

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 45: The Local Forces

    Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui looked around while walking on a deste street. The dpidated signs scattered around showed that this was once a flourishing city.

    ¡°In my memory, Huimin Street was very lively. Why is it so deserted now?¡± Yuan Rui looked around, but there wasn¡¯t a soul in sight, only various bloodstains here and there.

    Zhang Mu smiled coldly, ¡°This prosperous ce is so empty, even the walking dead aren¡¯t seen. Only silly girls like you don¡¯t know why.¡±

    Yuan Rui seemed to understand something and eximed, ¡°You mean!?¡±

    Zhang Mu pulled her behind himself and whispered, ¡°That¡¯s right, all the walking dead have been cleaned up and there are two possibilities. One, all the walking dead have been eaten by mutated animals,¡± Zhang Mu stopped in the middle of his sentence and shed his iconic smile as lights flickered in his eyes, ¡°Or a powerful evolver has appeared, dominating this ce and wiping out all the first-ranked walking dead at once.¡±

    Yuan Rui was very confused. She looked around uprehendingly and asked in a low voice, ¡°Is there really such an evolver here? Is he as powerful as you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to say who is more powerful, but there¡¯s no doubt that, with all the bloodstains here, the second reason being the truth is highly likely.¡±

    Zhang Mu looked towards the corner of the street and said slowly, ¡°Who would¡¯ve known that only ten days in, and there is already an evolver who can wipe out the crowd of walking dead in Xi¡¯an City.¡±

    Zhang Mu had never heard of this in his past life. Either the evolver hid deeply, either he was quickly overtaken.

    ¡°Where is the evolver who killed all the walking dead?¡±

    Yuan Rui was about to continue when Zhang Mu waved his hand and interrupted her. Zhang Mu looked towards the street corner with a serious look and said, ¡°It seems that we don¡¯t need to look for them. They areing.¡±

    When Yui Rui followed Zhang Mu¡¯s gaze, she heard the sound of tramplinging towards her from the distance.

    All of a sudden, a group of people rushed out from the corner in a threatening manner with all kinds of weapons on hand. There were hammers, choppers, baseball bats, and even a door nk.

    Although they all looked quite roughed up, none of them bored an emancipated look. The person who wiped out the walking dead seemed to be a good leader.

    Yuan Rui stepped backward, but Zhang Mu grasped her arm and stood in front of her. Zhang Mu said calmly, ¡°Don¡¯t worried! See how I take care of them.¡±

    Soon, Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui were surrounded by dozens of people. However, Zhang Mu showed an indifferent look as he waited for their leader to show up.

    Trying to scare me?

    You guys are not up to par!

    Seeing Zhang Mu so calm, whispers sounded from within the crowd. The survivors they had confronted before had all been frightened into silence and had joined them tamely, but they didn¡¯t see any fear in Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes.

    Suddenly, the mass separated in two. A tall, big man with curly brown hair walked up. He was taller than Zhang Mu and had a voice that boomed like the p of thunder.

    ¡°You are not a survivor of Xi¡¯an? Where are you from? What are you doing here?¡±

    He asked three questions, each louder than the previous, making people¡¯s ears tingle. Even his subordinates couldn¡¯t stand it while Zhang Mu only stared at the man and said calmly, ¡°I came from a nearby town and just wanted to rest in the city for a while.¡±

    Seeing Zhang Mu¡¯s poised appearance, the man couldn¡¯t tell if Zhang Mu was lying. In terms of ent, Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t a local. It was possible that he came from a different town.

    The man thought that Zhang Mu was from a nearby town, but in fact, the so-called ¡°small town¡± was Luoyang City. Zhang Mu had to lie because if others knew that it only took him 10 days to cross 500 kilometers and reach Xi¡¯an City, people would either not believe him or regard him as a monster.

    Zhang Mu tried to avoid shing with the local forces, so he told a white lie.

    Thinking for a while, the man shouted, ¡°Friend, you should know what had happened to the world. You said you¡¯re from a small town? Then you must have been lucky to not have met any powerful monsters on the way. It¡¯s better to join us. As survivors, we can look after each other. What do you think?¡±

    The man couldn¡¯t see through Zhang Mu, but he understood that the people who faced danger fearlessly must have either extraordinary courage or absolute confidence. After all, he didn¡¯t think that Zhang Mu could defeat them, moreover, he was confident in the power he had just obtained.

    Zhang Mu looked up at him andughed, ¡°No, thanks. I won¡¯t be staying long here, so I won¡¯t join your team.¡±

    The leader only frowned, but the people behind him were offended. A man pointed his weapon at Zhang Mu¡¯s nose, ¡°It¡¯s your luck that our leader, Brother Lin, is willing to ept you. You know nothing because you haven¡¯t encountered danger yet. Do you know-¡±

    ¡°Brother Lin¡± waved his hand and stopped the man. He stared at Zhang Mu¡¯s indifferent face carefully and said with a low voice, ¡°My friend, I won¡¯t force you to join us against your will, but Huimin Street is under my control, you can¡¯t take anything from here. After all, we are the people who have cleaned the danger in this area and we need the resources here to survive.¡±

    The people around him tried to say something, but Lin Shui stopped them and pushed them to one side, giving way to Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui.

    ¡°Thanks.¡± Zhang Mu said to Lin Shui. He still looked cold and distant as they walked out from their encirclement.

    The man who questioned Zhang Mu before asked Lin Shui unhappily, ¡°Brother Lin, why were you so polite to him? He was just pretending to be calm! If you scare him with your ability, you can shock him easily.¡±

    Lin Shui answered with a loud, but grave voice, ¡°He brings me the same sense of danger as ¡®that man¡¯.¡±

    Hearing what Lin Shui said, the crowd suddenly gasped, ¡°Brother Lin, you mean ¡®that man¡¯?¡±

    Lin Shui nodded slightly and the crowd was scared into silence. They did not even dare to say that man¡¯s name and just whispered with fear in their eyes.

 Chapter 46

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 46: Start a Deal

    At noon, after eating lunch with Yuan Rui, Zhang Mu walked towards the direction pointed by his Merchant¡¯s Ring. The branch of the Era store in Xi¡¯an City was right here.

    It had been enveloped by a light column during the debugging period, but after the three days were over, the Era store was hard to be seen by ordinary people. In that case, it was very likely that it wouldn¡¯t be found by anyone for a long time.

    However, it wouldn¡¯t actually happen because the Era store would attract people at random. Those people had the advantage since they had good luck.

    To be a merchant, except for having excellent abilities and a talent for scheming, luck was the most indispensable factor.

    In this case, in Zhang Mu¡¯s past life, almost all the sub-merchants were evolvers whose ability had awakened early and had found the Era store by themselves. In his past life, as an ordinary person who had been drawn in by the Era store, he only became the fifth sub-merchant due to pure luck.

    The Era sub-merchants in the Luoyang City were all fabulously rich, Even Zhang Mu, as an ordinary merchant, had reached a level that was admired by most. Luoyang City was surely and of treasures from where many great talents sprung up.

    As Lin Shui showed great respect to him, Zhang Mu kept his words and didn¡¯t take anything from Huimin Street. On the one hand, Zhang Mu looked down the goods here and on the other hand, he didn¡¯t want trouble. After all, these resources were not important to Zhang Mu, but they were treasured food that Lin Shui and his fellows depended on for survival.

    Lin Shui had great power and means, but he was a kind guy. Too kind to survive in this treacherous world.

    In his past life, there were many kind people like Lin Shui once, but they gradually disappeared as they all died.

    That was the reason why Zhang Mu didn¡¯t remember Lin Shui. It was normal for a person like Lin Shui to drowned in the dust of history.

    ¡°The good die young while evil lives forever.¡± This old saying made sense.

    Zhang Mu thought for a while. As the trading prices would stay the same before midnight, he could go strike a deal in thest half an hour. That was to say, he had ten hours to collect more crystals in Xi¡¯an City. If he was lucky, he may be able to hunt down some mutated animals.

    Thinking of this, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to waste any more time, not even a second. He pulled up Yuan Rui sitting on the ground, threw out Little ck from his shoulder and said excitedly, ¡°Lead the way. Go to ces where we can find arge number of walking dead. I¡¯ll give you a reward.¡±

    Little ck turned around in the air and asked Zhang Mu in its mind with a sleepy look, ¡°What¡¯s the reward? I feel that nothing can inspire me now.¡±

    ¡°Really? If I tell you that it that can help you reach the second rank, will you feel more motivated?¡±

    In order to make use of Little ck¡¯s keen sense of smell, Zhang Muid down a big promise without any hesitation.

    Actually, Little ck had no interest in crystals at all because it was stuck in a bottleneck when it came absorbing energy. However, after hearing what Zhang Mu said, it cheered up quickly. It discerned the scents in the air carefully and pped its wings, flying out in a direction.

    Zhang Mu snickered. As the old saying said, ¡°A good bone is bound to attract good dogs.¡± Little ck wasn¡¯t really desireless.

    Unwilling to work? Then I would get you to work for me with money!

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to waste time, so he piggybacked Yuan Rui and ran after Little ck at full speed.

    Little ck was driven by the prospect of a tremendous reward and quickly reached the ce within ten minutes.

    Zhang Mu caught up with Little ck promptly. After putting down Yuan Rui and puffing a breath, he was shocked by the scene in the front of him, ¡°So many! Are the walking dead in this city all here?¡±

    Little ck answered in an innocent tone, ¡°You ask me to find a ce where there is the most walking dead.¡±

    The walking dead were spread all over the ce, pushing and shoving.

    This ce should be very close to the center of the city, where malls concentrated. Perhaps no evolver had the guts toe here as there was a great deal of walking dead. Didn¡¯t see any sign of battle.

    Little ck had led Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui here through a small alley. That was to say, Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui were standing in the center of a bustling shopping center.

    As Zhang Mu pondered what he should do, Little ck snickered through the mental bond between them.

    All of a sudden, Zhang Mu had a bad premonition. As expected, Little ck¡¯s roar resounded through the streets where there was only very few walking dead in their sight.

    Zhang Mu was about to shout abusive words when Little ck turned big and flew into the air, grasping Yuan Rui with its ws and tossing her onto its back.

    Yuan Rui sat on Little ck¡¯s back steadily without having recovered from shock yet. Little ck descended a little and suddenly flew up high, hovering and watching the walking dead rushing towards Zhang Mu from all directions.

    It was a fine spectacle where thousands of walking dead were speeding towards Zhang Mu, as more and more wereing from all around.

    ¡°Ha-ha, as a thank you for hitting me on the head so often, I¡¯ll leave the battlefield to you!¡± Little ck thought.

    Zhang Mu had no time to care about what Little ck was thinking. He wasn¡¯t afraid of these first-ranked walking dead as they were weak, but he couldn¡¯t cope with so many of them at the same time. He could do nothing but pray that the Bloodvine Lotus could withstand the impact while he tried to squeeze through the masses.

    What he should do now was to hold on as long as possible!

    Just as Zhang Mu was going to be attacked by those walking dead, dozens of vines stretched out vigorously from Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm, forming a heavily guarded shield.

    ¡°Boom!¡±

    The walking dead smacked hard on it!

    Seeing that the perimeter of shield formed by Bloodvine Lotus was shrinking, Zhang Mu got nervous.

    But just as the vines were going to touch Zhang Mu¡¯s skin, it stopped closing in.

    Unbelievable, the Bloodvine Lotus withstood the impact from thousands of walking dead.

    Zhang Mu looked at Little ck coldly, which really scared it.

    ¡°Bad boy, wait and see how I¡¯ll punish you.¡±

    After that, Zhang Mu started to strike back!

 Chapter 47

    A+ A- Chapter 47

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 47: The Power of the Bloodvine Demon Lotus

    The vines protecting Zhang Mu had beenpressed to the limit and sprang outwards like a spring.

    The walking dead surrounding Zhang Mu all received serious damage as they got cut in half by the powerful vines.

    As the first row of walking dead was knocked away, those behind them were also sent backward by the strong collision.

    Yet, the power of Bloodvine Lotus was limited and it only wiped whatever was within a 10-meter radius of it. The crowd of walking dead still swarmed onto him.

    However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t give them the chance to attack. He looked up and focused in a direction, then chuckled, ¡°You had lost the opportunity the first time. Now, you won¡¯t ever have the chance again.¡±

    Before the walking dead started their second attack, Zhang Mu stepped forward and dashed forwards.

    The Bloodvine Lotus was linked to Zhang Mu and moved in coordination with him.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the vines started to attack fiercely towards the direction Zhang Mu went.

    Two vines suddenlyshed out and stuck themselves into two walking dead¡¯s bodies. After sucking up all their blood, the vines pushed their dried bodies to the side.

    The other vines didn¡¯t move and continued protecting Zhang Mu from being attacked by the other walking dead. Right now, Zhang Mu was piercing into the crowd like an electric drill, opening up a big hole in the masses.

    The walking dead could only attack Zhang Mu from the front. There were thousands of walking dead, but he only needed to face three or four at a time.

    As even a dozen of walking dead couldn¡¯t pose a danger Zhang Mu, it was unlikely that only four could get within half a meter of his body.

    In the other directions, the vines guarded against the walking dead¡¯s attacks with ease. Sometimes, they even stretched out and sucked the surrounding walking dead¡¯s blood.

    As for the vines in front of himself, they were all very strong and sturdy, revealing their ferocity through the thick barbs that grew on them.

    In the front of the Bloodvine Demon Lotus, the first-ranked walking dead were as weak as pieces of paper that are easily torn apart.

    Noticing the weakness of the first-ranked walking dead, Zhang Mu became yful and started to dish out unbridled attacks. The vines not only pushed the walking dead aside after sucking them dry but also threw them out.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the Bloodvine Lotus didn¡¯t absorb the energy within the walking dead¡¯s crystals. He still needed them.

    Throwing one to his left and another to his right.

    Zhang Mu yed happily and broke into the mob like an excavator.

    The sound of pping echoed from all around the shield formed by vines. Unknowingly, Zhang Mu was getting close to the periphery of the siege.

    The intelligence of the first-ranked walking dead was really low. They didn¡¯t know to surround Zhang Mu properly and only followed the direction he went to, so they were less and less in front of him as they umted behind him. They pushed and shoved behind Zhang Mu; it was quite hrious.

    All of a sudden, Zhang Mu noticed that the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s power was decreasing. He didn¡¯t realize the seriousness of the matter until the vines had slowed down considerably.

    What happened? It shouldn¡¯t be like this and I¡¯ve never heard that mutated nts weakening during a fight.

    Zhang Mu was both shocked and anxious. After all, in his past life, he had no chance to get in touch with mutated nts that were nurtured by high-level evolvers.

    Should I have to run away? Luckily, I¡¯ve almost gotten out of the walking dead¡¯s encirclement.

    The Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s intelligence was far inferior to Little ck¡¯s. Zhang Mu couldn¡¯tmunicate with it and can only worry while not being able to do anything.

    Yet, it was a pity for Zhang Mu to leave like this.

    He saw the vines shrinking slowly. Suddenly, an idea came to mind.

    Was it because itcked energy? Maybe the blood it had sucked wasn¡¯t sufficient to support its movements?

    It can¡¯t be otherwise!

    Zhang Mu smiled bitterly and shook his head.

    He had nned to save his crystals. However, if he didn¡¯t help the Bloodvine Lotus restore its energy, it might suck Zhang Mu¡¯s blood to replenish energy.

    Actually, it was not the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯ fault. It was just ensuring its own survival.

    Zhang Mu had no choice but to offer it crystals. He wouldn¡¯t be stingy at this moment.

    Money should be used at crucial times.

    Realizing this, Zhang Mu quickly took out a handful of crystals from his Merchant¡¯s Ring. Zhang Mu felt the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯ desire even before he put crystals on his left arm.

    As expected, he guessed right.

    Zhang Mu smiled, letting the Bloodvine Lotus stretch out a vine to swallow the crystals.

    Having gotten enough energy, the Bloodvine Lotus started to attack vigorously like an iron chainsaw that had just received good lubricating oil. It became much proactive than Zhang Mu.

 Chapter 48

    A+ A- Chapter 48

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 48: Dead or Alive

    Zhang Mu mood rose immediately. As the Bloodvine Lotus attacks intensified, they quickly escaped the encirclement of walking dead.

    However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t stop at just breaking out.

    Zhang Mu snickered and stopped walking. There was a massive amount of walking dead behind him. The Bloodvine Lotus had killed many of them, butpared to the overall number, it was barely a fraction.

    Zhang Mu slowly turned back with the bloody Bloodvine Lotus twined around his body. Looking at the walking dead rushing towards him, he didn¡¯t feel any fear but was excited instead.

    When the walking dead got within attack range, his heartbeat sped up, pumping adrenaline throughout his body. He roared and withdrew the vines more vines from in front of him.

    The gap Zhang Mu had opened up just now was only big enough for him to kill a few walking dead at a time. It was far from making him feel satisfied, so he directly doubled the size of the gap.

    As such, the number of walking dead that coulde at him at once had increased to eight, which meant he must

    sacrifice more crystals and use eight strong vines to deal with them.

    Yet, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t feel any heartbreak because ording to his calctions, the number of crystals the Bloodvine Lotus would eat was far inferior to the number of walking dead that Bloodvine Lotus would kill.

    The eight vines could kill over ten walking dead every second. The mutated nt started a new loop of the bloody massacre like a crazy reaper.

    As it absorbed more and more energy from the crystals and blood from walking dead, the changes it underwent were increasingly obvious.

    The eight vines, which were carving out a way for Zhang Mu, were bing distinctly stronger and faster.

    Most of the energy the Bloodvine Lotus had absorbed had been used to attack, but there was still a fraction of it that had been used to strengthen itself.

    The energy it had absorbed, once umte, was a considerable amount.

    In the air, Yuan Rui had gotten bored. At the very beginning, she was worried about Zhang Mu so much that she had asked Little ck to help him. Little ck didn¡¯t worry about Zhang Mu at all because its instinct had told it that

    that the Bloodvine Lotus held horrifying powers. That was why Little ck dared to attract so many walking dead. After all, if Zhang Mu got hurt, it would also die since it had offered Zhang Mu its ¡°Blood Imprint¡±.

    However, Yuan Rui didn¡¯t know that fact and she had no ability tomunicate with Little ck. When she saw Little ck shaking its head, she just thought that it didn¡¯t dare to go save Zhang Mu and had almost jumped down from its back to try and help him.

    Luckily, at that time, the Bloodvine Lotus had withstood the first and strongest impact. Yuan Rui eximed when she saw what happened next.

    At first, Yuan Rui felt that it was unbelievable, but as time went by, she could calmly look at the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯ disy of power. Right now, Yuan Rui thought that she wouldn¡¯t be scared no matter what Zhang Mu did.

    When he turned around to face the walking dead, he looked like a general who was fighting against an army alone, which really shocked her.

    Zhang Mu had gotten through the crowd back and forth several times while she was still thinking about his

    about his fearless appearance.

    The number of walking dead was steadily decreasing. Zhang Mu lured the remaining ones toward the corpse heap because if he had to wait for the walking dead slowly got together by themselves, his efficiency would be dramatically reduced.

    Hovering in the air, Yuan Rui could clearly see that the amount walking dead had dropped sharply. In the beginning, there were four streets covered with them but now, only one was left. Corpses spread all over the ground, but because they were all dried bodies, there were no bloodstains.

    It seems that uncle will end this battle soon. He looks very rxed and doesn¡¯t seem to need any help.

    She felt unhappy and bored as she couldn¡¯t join the fight and just sat here for a long time.

    Suddenly, Little ck began to move restlessly and pped his wings quickly as if it had sensed some danger.

    Yuan Rui just assumed that it had gotten bored like her, so she said, ¡°Just wait for a while, uncle will finish the battle soon and then we can go down to see him.¡±

    She touched Little ck¡¯s back andforted it with words.

    But Little ck didn¡¯t listen to didn¡¯t listen to what she said. It became more irritable, flying up and down while looking around.

    All of a sudden, Little ck screamed. As it was unable to contact Zhang Mu through their mind link due to the distance, it had to warn Zhang Mu and flew towards him at a very high speed.

    This scream woke up Zhang Mu who was indulged in killing, and he understood Little ck¡¯s warning at once.

    I¡¯m in danger, but why I don¡¯t sense it? How can it be possible?

    Zhang Mu was lost in thought when a ck shadow suddenly appeared in front of him just as the eight vines were all piercing through the walking dead¡¯s corpses.

    Who?!

    What sort of evolver was this person?

    When Zhang Mu saw the ck shadow, the two questions arose in his mind, but he had no time to think about the answer to them because the ck shadow was rushing towards him at a very high speed.

    The ck shadow held a dagger and was only 30 centimeters away from Zhang Mu. If he doesn¡¯t dodge, his head would be pierced through in the next second.

    Hanging by a thread!

    Zhang Mu was in deadly danger.

 Chapter 49

    A+ A- Chapter 49

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 49: Counterattack

    In the ck shadow¡¯s mind, Zhang Mu¡¯s head had been pierced through by his dragger. He couldn¡¯t help but expose acent smile on the corners of his mouth.

    You were a nt-type evolver and could easily kill massive amounts walking dead, but so what? Once I set my eye on you, your end is still death.

    The ck shadow had noticed Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui earlier since they entered the bustling malls. In the beginning, he was shocked by Zhang Mu¡¯s strong ability because even he himself couldn¡¯t do what Zhang Mu did, but he became excited once he realized the gap between them.

    His name was Liu Shuo.

    On the third day of the new era, his invincible ability was awakened. He was so lucky that he found the Era store in Xi¡¯an and became the first sub-merchant of Xi¡¯an City.

    Liu Shuo became arrogant from his powerful ability and the double agility he gained from the Era merchant. Whether it was the walking dead or mutated animals, as long as it was alone, he would attack it. The more challenging a creature was, the stronger his desire to kill.

    As for the task that the Era merchant gave him... he had forgotten it. To him, the most important thing was freedom. He didn¡¯t care about other people¡¯s thoughts.

    Before, he had wanted to finish the boring trading task before the deadline.

    Now, Liu Shuo only wanted to hunt more and more strong preys.

    After killing all the single powerful walking dead and mutated animals he could find, he was easily satisfied anymore, so he changed target: evolvers.

    After killing the first person, he didn¡¯t sense any guilt but a great sense of satisfaction. In thest ten days, he had killed all the evolvers that may

    be a threat to him and collected their heads as trophies.

    As for Lin Shui who had gathered many evolvers together, he didn¡¯t try to kill him. Because, on one hand, it would be troublesome to kill Lin Shui, and on the other hand, he didn¡¯t feel like killing this kind of person.

    In Xi¡¯an City, except for the walking dead tide and mutated animal hordes, nothing could rival him.

    As this standstillsted two days, anxiety rose in Liu Shuo¡¯s mind again. He searched insanely all over the city for a new target until he found Zhang Mu.

    At first, he was indeed frightened by Zhang Mu¡¯s killing power, because if he was caught in the crowd of thousands of walking dead, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything but run away as fast as he can. However, Zhang Mu was actually able to kill them and gain thousands of crystals as easy as blowing off dust, which made Liu Shuo jealous.

    As the first sub-merchant in Xi¡¯an City, Liu Shuo naturally knew the worth of thousands of crystals. This amount could allow his power to reach a new level.

    Therefore, even though Liu Shuo had seen Zhang Mu¡¯s strength, he still tried to kill him in order to rob him of his crystals. He had confidence in finishing off his opponent in only one attack because he had never failed before.

    Moreover, the more powerful Zhang Mu was, the more excited Liu Shuo felt and the more satisfaction and achievement he could gain after killing Zhang Mu.

    Liu Shuo had waited for a very long time. He watched Zhang Mu¡¯s way of fighting and finally found the best opportunity for a sneak attack. He was a perfectionist, and he had the confidence to kill his target in one strike.

    However, just as Liu Shuo

    Shuo nearly made it.

    ¡°Ding!¡±

    At this crucial moment, a dissonant sound echoed between the two.

    Liu Shuo¡¯s deadly attack was blocked!

    It was the Bloodvine Lotus! The Bloodvine Lotus blocked the attack with its body!

    Liu Shuo swallowed harshly as cold sweat formed on his forehead. He suddenly realized that the man in front of him had been smiling calmly.

    Just now, Zhang Mu also thought that he was going to die under the dagger. As he regretted his carelessness, he received a signal from the Bloodvine Lotus that it would protect him.

    At this essential moment, the lotus seed propelled itself from Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm and blocked the attack.

    Zhang Mu had nearly died.

    The Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s body, the lotus seed, received a heavy wound from Liu Shuo and was badly injured. Zhang Mu felt pain in his heart as he looked at it. He quickly put the seed back into his left arm and fed it with his own blood.

    After seeing what the ck shadow looked like, Zhang Mu gave Liu Shuo a contemptuous look and said slowly, ¡°You, Liu Shuo, are a shadow killer who can hide your body in space?¡±

    At first, Liu Shuo was just slightly shocked from the Bloodvine Lotus blocking his attack, but when he heard Zhang Mu¡¯s question, his face paled as he asked, ¡°Who are you? How do you know me?¡±

    Zhang Mu sneered, ¡°Not only do I know you, but also I know you are a sub-merchant of Xi¡¯an. Am I right, number 009?¡±

    After hearing what Zhang Mu said, even though Liu Shuo was a crazy and arrogant guy, he had lost interest in fighting against him. Everyone would be afraid of a strange man who knew everything about himself, and Liu Shuo wasn¡¯t an exception. At this moment, he only wanted to run away.

    Liu Shuo was

    Shuo was the first assassin-type evolver in China as well as an era sub-merchant whose number was 009. He was a moody individualist who liked killing high-level evolvers and collecting their heads. In Zhang Mu¡¯s past life, Liu Shuo was wanted by every gathering ce all year round, but no one could ever catch him.

    Zhang Mu had never thought that he would meet this legendary evolver from his past life, but there was no fear in his mind, only indifference. Right now, Luo Shuo hadn¡¯t yet be the King of Assassins and Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t amon, weak merchant anymore.

    I was too careless and let my guard down as I thought myself powerful. I have underestimated the high-ranked evolvers, leading to this dangerous situation.

    However, it¡¯s time to exchange our positions. Now, I¡¯m the hunter!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to be so tough. Ok, y time is up. I will spare your life today, but remember, your head will be mine sooner orter!¡± Liu Shuo giggled and stepped back.

    ¡°Did I say that I¡¯ll let you go?¡±

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu¡¯s cold voice rang beside his ear, which made him feel a biting cold. He stepped back at a high speed and tried to slip away by the opening from which he came in. In his mind, Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to him anymore once he went out.

    Of course, Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t let Liu Shuo attain his purpose. Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, all the vines closed in, quickly forming an impermeable cage.

    ¡°You can¡¯t trap me because I can merge with space! Bye!¡± Liu Shuoughed.

    After that, Liu Shuo suddenly disappeared into thin air.

    Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t shocked and just smiled. Looking at his smile, Liu Shuo suddenly had an extremely dangerous feeling in his heart.

    ¡°If I was someone else, was someone else, I may have been deceived by what you just said, but I know everything about you. You can merge with space? Don¡¯t make meugh. You can only be invisible at best! Little ck has found your location! Now, goodbye, Shadow Killer. Goodbye, the King of Assassins.¡±

    His words to Liu Shuo were apanied with a sigh filled with emotion.

    ¡°I curse you! You are not human! You are a monster! You will go to hell!¡± Liu Shuo shouted.

    Sensing Liu Shuo¡¯s fear of, the cage formed by the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s vines suddenly shrunk. All the space in front of Zhang Mu was filled with vines.

    Liu Shuo screamed as his entire body was pierced through by vines. They sucked on Liu Shuo¡¯s blood greedily and killed him instantly.

    ¡°Hell? If it exists, I think I have already been there once.¡± Zhang Mu sneered and shook his head. Quickly, he moved his eyes to Liu Shuo¡¯s right middle finger.

    Liu Shuo¡¯s Merchant¡¯s Ring was gleaming with a ck light, reflecting an eerie glow.

    However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care about that at all. He knew it was a sign that the ring was unbonded after its master death. If it was amon evolver who killed the sub-merchant, he would inherit the sub-merchant¡¯s identity. However, everything within the ring would be cleaned up. Even so, the identity of an Era merchant was longed after by all ordinary evolvers.

    If it was another sub-merchant who killed the sub-merchant, for example, Zhang Mu, his Merchant¡¯s Ring would take away everything from the dead person¡¯s.

    Of course, it included the most preciousmodity, the local goods.

    Thus, except for appearing in some trade fairs, sub-merchant usually trusted no one and would travel to cities alone.

    Zhang Mu stared at Liu Shuo¡¯s ring with eagerness.

    Luckily, I can get anything that I want.

 Chapter 50

    A+ A- Chapter 50

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    PS: We need a new editor for this novel. Please contact Rythrinx#4565 on Discord if you are interested.

    Chapter 50: Merging the Rings

    (Editor note: local goods has been changed to regional goods)

    While he was lost in thoughts, the Bloodvine Lotus couldn¡¯t support its vines anymore and retracted them. Without the support, Liu Shuo¡¯s body fell to the ground.

    Zhang Mu felt very distressed when he realized to which point the previous attack had affected the nt. It had just saved his life. Although Zhang Mu and the Bloodvine Lotus shared a parasitic rtionship, it had still helped him.

    After forcibly leaving Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm and controlling the vines that had disconnected with it, the Bloodvine Lotus had used up everyst drop of the energy it had absorbed today.

    It didn¡¯t sound like much, but it had absorbed blood from thousands of walking dead and energy from over one hundred crystals. Now, it was forced to use up all of that energy. The feeling was terrible, like a person whose stomach waspletely full was forced to vomit it all out.

    So the Bloodvine Lotus had returned to his body and entered a dormant state immediately after they were out of danger.

    Meanwhile, Yuan Rui and Little ck came to Zhang Mu and found him looking

    at the Liu Shuo¡¯s body in a daze, so they didn¡¯t interrupt him.

    Yuan Rui stood by Zhang Mu¡¯s side quietly and Little ck started to actively clean up the remaining walking dead. Actually, there were only a few dozens left, which was very fewpared to the number of corpses lying on the streets.

    Zhang Mu was pondering whether to bond with Liu Shuo¡¯s Merchant¡¯s Ring or not. Ordinary people would do so immediately in order to obtain the identity of a sub-merchant, but Zhang Mu was in a different situation. Although he could get great benefits from doing so, there was a problem. Liu Shuo was the first era sub-merchant in Xi¡¯an City, so the Era merchant here probably held him in high regards.

    Now, he had been killed and robbed by Zhang Mu. Even though it was Liu Shuo who attacked first, no one knew what the Era merchant would think about this. If he went to see the Era merchant, it was very much possible that the Era merchant would find out what Zhang Mu had done to Liu Shuo.

    If the Era merchant had a bad temper and refused to trade, what should he do? If that really happened, Zhang Mu¡¯s efforts would all be in vain.

    After all, every Era merchant was independent and

    and possessed a distinctive character. In his past life, Zhang Mu dide to Xi¡¯an to trade several times, but since his business was so small, he always traded with the system and never met the Era merchant. In result, he knew nothing of the Era merchant¡¯s personality.

    Seeing that the light from the Merchant¡¯s Ring was dimming signaling that it would soon be destroyed automatically, Zhang Mu made up his mind and quickly picked it up.

    I have to bet on it! Seek for riches amidst danger!

    Having lost its master, the ring was easily taken off by Zhang Mu who slowly put it close to his own ring. They were of the same style, but one of them was smaller.

    Number 009? Let me see what benefit you can bring to my Number 001.

    Holding the ring in his hand, Zhang Mu forgot about his surroundings and only focused on the change within his own ring after it melded with Liu Shuo¡¯s ring.

    In his past life, because all sub-merchants possessed various means to protect themselves and acted swiftly and wittingly, it was difficult to rob them of their rings and expand one¡¯s own.

    Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t seen the merging of rings with his own eyes in his past life and only heard about it from some people. He heard that

    heard that the ring¡¯s number determined the degree of expansion. For example, if one used the ring ¡°Number 10¡± to enhance the ring ¡°Number 50¡±, the ring¡¯s space would get three or four times bigger, but, if one did the opposite, there would be no change.

    That was why no one desired Zhang Mu¡¯s ring in his past life. The top sub-merchants looked down on his ring while the backend sub-merchants didn¡¯t have the abilities to kill the crafty Zhang Mu.

    Under his guidance, the ring floating in the air slowly flew to his right hand. All of a sudden, the two in rings shone with the same light, but one of them glowed much brighter while the other was unable to resist.

    Quickly, the ring Number 009 was entirely swallowed.

    10 secondster, Zhang Mu¡¯s ring returned to its normal appearance. Seeing that, Zhang Mu sank his consciousness into his ring and was delighted by what he found.

    The space of his ring had be two times bigger, but this wasn¡¯t the biggest change. The most important thing was that there were all kinds of currencies and regional goods in Liu Shuo¡¯s ring.

    Firstly, Zhang Mu threw away dozens of skulls, which really scared Yuan Rui. He didn¡¯t notice and continued to check his booty with ecstasy.

    ¡°Tea Tree Oil, one.¡±

    ¡°Baked Buns, two.¡±

    ¡°White one.¡±

    ¡°Baked Buns, two.¡±

    ¡°White Jade Donkey Statue, one.¡±

    What Zhang Mu saw first were the regional goods located in the center of the space, sitting next to his Luoyang Peony Buds. The longer he looked at them, the more happiness he felt.

    Liu Shuo should have discovered the Era store in Xi¡¯an not long after Zhang Mu entered the Era store in Luoyang. It exined why his number was 009.

    Liu Shuo was smart. He had bought every kind of regional goods.

    When Zhang Mu saw the White Jade Donkey Statue, he was so excited that he nearly kissed Liu Shuo¡¯s dead body.

    Liu Shuo was so lucky! He didn¡¯t buy any cheap goods but got this White Jade Donkey Statue. And now, it was his!

    Zhang Mu lost interest in the rest of the items.

    ¡°10 second-ranked crystals, 17 first-ranked crystals, and nine first-ranked high-quality beast cores.¡±

    ¡°How poor! With only this, how did he be the King of Assassins?¡±

    Zhang Mu murmured.

    Actually, it was not Liu Shuo¡¯s fault. After all, his ability was best for assassination, notbat. He didn¡¯t have the ability to fight against a group of first-ranked walking dead.

    It was only when Liu Shuo grew strong that his power had let him dominate the human world.

    Unfortunately, he had met Zhang Mu and died before he discovered his hidden potential.

 Chapter 51

    A+ A- Chapter 51

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    PS: We need new editors! If you are interested, please contact Rythrinx#4565 on Discord.

    Chapter 51: A Major Decision

    While Zhang Mu was immersed in his joy, Little ck had wiped out the remaining walking dead ande to Zhang Mu to im its credit.

    ¡°Did I do a good job?¡±

    A proud voice that echoed in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind. Zhang Mu felt angry but also amused as he couldn¡¯t criticize Little ck¡¯s arrogance. This attack gave him a useful warning indeed.

    Therefore, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t hit Little ck nor did he even refute it this time. He said whileughing, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to you. I owe you this time. Tomorrow, you¡¯ll get what you want.¡±

    Then Zhang Mu murmured, ¡°Little ck learned nothing but bragging. I have never heard of a mutated animal that would take on its owner¡¯s character after signing a blood contract. Oh, but, I¡¯m not that kind of person anyway.¡±

    Since Zhang Mu refused to recognize that he was the same as Little ck, he just let it go and said, ¡°You pick out the crystals from these bodies first and just put them in a pile, I¡¯ll collect themter. It will take a lot of time to store them all out if they are still in the bodies.¡±

    Lured in by Zhang Mu¡¯s promise, although Little ck knew there were over 1,500 bodies on the ground, it still worked hard without anyint as it flew to the end of the street and began to pick out crystals.

    After all, what Zhang Mu promised to Little ck was so great that it could help it reach the

    second rank. If Little ck depended on itself, it would take two months, maybe even longer, to reach the second rank and it would necessitate a lot of suitable top-ss beast cores. It would be difficult to evolve without Zhang Mu¡¯s help.

    In fact, Zhang Mu knew there was no system that could allow him to exchange for cores of different nature in the Era stores. However, he didn¡¯t lie, because after thinking twice, he decided to give Little ck something much better ¡ª a bottle of second-rank evolving potion!

    It was an evolving potion for first-ranked evolvers that could increase the sess rate of evolution, but it also worked on animals.

    The second-ranked potion Zhang Mu had bought from the Era merchant was desired by many evolvers because it was suitable for everyone! That was to say, all evolvers and even non-humans could use it to increase chances to evolve to the second-rank. Moreover, evolvers who possessed several abilities could still use this potion to promote their abilities, even though the effects would be divided amongst the different powers.

    The Era stores would open the beast core exchange function one yearter, but in most cases, evolvers during the early times of the new era that couldn¡¯t find suitable cores would refine themselves using unsuitable ones despite the risks.

    Evolvers that do so run the risk of dying because their bodies are too weak, but they still had a try and seek that 30 percent sess rate in evolving as suitable cores were truly difficult to find.

    After all, a higher rank meant more powerful abilities, exalted power, and influence, all of which are

    are a great temptation in this dog-eat-dog world.

    In the first year of the new era, even in therge gathering ces, the number of top-ss beast cores that appeared could only meet the need of the top evolvers. Thatsted till Era stores started to sell beast cores to the sub-merchants.

    Once people found that sub-merchant had evolving potions, they started buying it at all costs and even tried to kill the merchants in order to steal it.

    Because of this, sub-merchants never dared to openly sell evolving potions unless they had the strength to protect themselves.

    In order to exchange for the evolving potion, Zhang Mu nearly spent all his savings. However, he will give this treasure to Little ck once he made sure that he could buy more potions from the Era store in Xi¡¯an tonight.

    Zhang Mu thought that he could promote his strength and agility only if he dosed this potion because he didn¡¯t have an awakening ability. It was the painful reality.

    But if Little ck, who had reached the peak of the first rank, drank this potion, along with the various beast cores it had eaten, it might be able to break through to the second rank.

    The was thing was, unlike human beings, the advancement period of mutated animals was uncertain. Zhang Mu needed Little ck to protect Yuan Rui and look for walking dead. If it started the process of evolution now, he didn¡¯t know when it would seed.

    If he could make a deal with the Era merchant in Xi¡¯an sessfully and get some new era goods that could boost his power, Little ck can advance without worrying

    without worrying about anything.

    There was no need to think any more, Zhang Mu led Yuan Rui by the arm and started to collect the crystals Little ck had put in a pile. All the crystals were absorbed into his Merchant¡¯s Ring by the time he put his arm down.

    This was another advantage of enhancing the Merchant¡¯s Ring. The opening time had been shortened by a lot.

    Little ck picked out crystals at the same speed as Zhang Mu collected them. It only took eight minutes for Zhang Mu to collect all the crystals. As for the walking dead¡¯s bodies, Zhang Mu had no interest in them at all.

    Now, even Little ck had high demands when ites to food. It didn¡¯t eat the first-ranked walking dead because it disliked the smell. Little ck hadpletely forgotten how happily it used to eat the walking dead¡¯s flesh and blood. Zhang Mu¡¯s Bloodvine Lotus was even pickier. It had not spared a nce at these bodies with low nutrition and insignificant energy.

    Zhang Mu looked back at the chaotic pedestrian mall and then at his well-stocked ring. Plus the two thousand crystals and one hundred mutated monkey¡¯s cores he had collected before, Zhang Mu had confidence in making a deal with the Era merchant sessfully.

    ¡°Era merchant of Xi¡¯an? I¡¯ll wait and see whether this deal can move you or not.¡±

    However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know that in a far corner, a person had witnessed what his actions and fled with fear.

    In an unspectacr hotel, a group of people were smoking.

    It¡¯s no one else but Lin Shui and his fellows. The strong man next to Lin Shui to Lin Shui dropped his cigarette and said impatiently, ¡°Cousin, we asked Hao Zi to follow that guy. It has already been one hour, why hasn¡¯t hee back yet?¡±

    He and Lin Shui were cousins, but they were very different in character.

    Lin Shui didn¡¯t answer him and continued to smoke while leaning on the sofa.

    All of a sudden, Lin Shui raised his head and looked towards the door, which scared the other people as they aimed at the door with weapons in their hands.

    The small fellow who had peeped at Zhang Mu stumblingly ran towards Lin Shui. He ran so fast that he slid down murmuring, ¡°All died, all died.¡±

    The strong man asked, ¡°Hao Zi, what happened? What¡¯s wrong with you? Why are you so scared?¡±

    The small fellow called Hao Zi kept murmuring as if he had lost his mind and didn¡¯t hear what the man had said.

    Lin Shui¡¯s cousin got angry. He pped at his face hard and shouted, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Make yourself understandable.¡±

    The pain woke Hao Zi up. Staring at Lin Shui while a hand went to cover his face, he said with while trembling, ¡°Brother Lin, thousands of walking dead had been wiped out by that man! Even the crazy man who liked to cut people¡¯s heads had also been killed by him!¡±

    After hearing what Hao Zi said, the people present all gasped at the same time as they thought of the violent battlefield.

    That man wiped out thousands of walking deads in one and a half hours? He even killed that crazy beast in human skin?

    This time, even a steady man like Lin Shui got nervous.

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52

    No matter what they had imagined before, once Lin Shui and his fellows saw the massive amount of walking dead corpse, especially the dozens of evolvers¡¯ heads, they were so frightened, no one dared to follow Zhang Mu.

    At the same time as they found the horrible carnage, with the help of Little ck¡¯s sense of smell, Zhang Mu had quickly found a second group of walking dead.

    Looking at the new crowd of walking dead in front of him, Zhang Mu wondered whether or not there would be a problem if he killed these walking dead the same way he did before. The more walking dead he killed, the more evolvers and ordinary people would survive, but it would also make the future more unpredictable.

    After pondering for a while, Zhang Mu shook his head and smiled. No matter how many walking dead he killed in these cities,pared to the whole world, it was just like a drop in the ocean.

    Thinking this way, he felt relieved. He didn¡¯t have the energy to spare on wondering whether

    his behavior was good or not for other people. The only thing he wanted to do was to boost his own strength.

    Liu Shuo gave Zhang Mu a warning indeed, which made him realize that, even though he had the Bloodvine Lotus and Little ck, he was still just an ordinary person who could call on two mutated creatures. There were many masters who were much stronger than Liu Shuo in this world and yet, just now, he was almost killed. He had no reason to be arrogant.

    In Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes, the walking dead in front of him were sparkling crystals which could be used to exchange for a bottle of second-ranked evolving potion tonight.

    ¡°Yuan Rui, follow me closely. Recover my energy when I need it, understand?¡±

    Zhang Mu looked at her seriously. As the Bloodvine Lotus had entered its dormant period, Zhang Mu would have difficulty battling around 800 walking dead without its help.

    ¡°Yes! I understand. I will stay close to you!¡± Yuan Rui answered.

    Seeing her nod, Zhang Mu grasped her hand and walked toward the walking

    walking dead crowd.

    After looking at his wristwatch, Zhang Mu grinned and said, ¡°7 and a half hours left. It¡¯s still early. Little ck, turn big and begin work.¡±

    After hearing that, Little ck suddenly expanded in size andnded down hard on the ground, lifting arge amount of dust.

    It was a definite provocation to these walking dead¡¯s ears. Holding his two daggers, Zhang Mu stared excitedly at the walking deading towards him.

    As they closed in on them, Little ck dashed into the crowd. It picked a walking dead in its mouth and grasped another in its w, killing them at high speed.

    Little ck was not big enough to block the entire road. Zhang Mu asked it to move towards the right so he could cope with the enemy that came from the left.

    When he unleashed his daggers, he found that Little ck¡¯s ws were much sharp than his Tang sword. They stabbed through the walking dead¡¯s bones easily.

    One attack after another, Zhang Mu had no time to rest. More and more walking dead began to attack

    to attack him as they couldn¡¯t break through Little ck¡¯s defense.

    As time went by, Zhang Mu felt more and more pressure. He had to brandish his dagger again and again as sweat started to run down his forehead like raindrops. Yuan Rui felt worried as she looked on, but he hadn¡¯t asked her to use her ability yet, so she hid behind him.

    Zhang Mu and Little ck formed an impregnable defense line which stopped the walking dead and gradually, they forged ahead.

    Without the Bloodvine Lotus, Zhang Mu¡¯s efficiency was so low it was as if he went back to the primeval times from the Age of Steam. Zhang Mu was tired out after having killed around 150 of them.

    He slowed down and stepped back, ¡°Yuan Rui, help me.¡±

    Once Yuan Rui heard Zhang Mu¡¯s call, sheughed and stepped closer to Zhang Mu, put her hands on Zhang Mu¡¯s back and infused energy into Zhang Mu¡¯s body.

    With Yuan Rui¡¯s energy, Zhang Mu felt revived, as all his tiredness disappeared. He roared and continued shing his daggers.

    Moreover, as his body as his body and spirit had been recovered to the peak, Zhang Mu broke out with his strongest power and picked up his speed again, beating back the crowd together with Little ck.

    15 minutester, Zhang Mu shouted once more, ¡°Yuan Rui, again!¡±

    Meanwhile, she came up and transferred almost all her energy to him. After that, she panted, dead tired, and leaned against Little ck¡¯s back.

    There were still two hundred walking dead left!

    Zhang Mu¡¯s greed was aroused. Collecting crystals was really a passion of his.

    Half an hourter, they finally stopped. Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui supported each other as they watched Little ck pick out crystals from the walking dead¡¯s bodies spiritedly. Both of them were exhausted while it was still lively.

    ¡°I overestimated myself. We¡¯d better choose a smaller walking dead crowd next time. As your energy has been used up, we can¡¯t do this again today,¡± Zhang Mu said and shrugged.

    Yuan Rui blinked and said with sly humor, ¡°Uncle, you are so weak.¡±

    When Yuan Rui saw Zhang Mu¡¯s embarrassed look, she broke out inughter.

 Chapter 53

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 53: Start to Trade

    Although Zhang Mu was totally spent, Little ck was still high spirits.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to waste time, so he asked Little ck to continue killing walking dead and collecting crystals while he and Yuan Rui sat aside, enjoying the wind.

    Zhang Mu asked Little ck to look for a small group of around 100 walking dead so that it could deal with them on its own. After that, Zhang Mu sat down and closed his eyes to rest.

    After realizing that Little ck¡¯s efficiency was just slightly lower than when they worked together, Zhang Mu finally put his heart at rest and let Little ck take care of work alone.

    Zhang Mu started to recovery his energy under Little ck¡¯s unhappy nces. Two hourster, Little ck had wiped out around 200 walking dead by itself. Except for the 20 crystals it had eaten, Zhang Mu received 180 first-ranked crystals.

    At this time, Zhang Mu had regained 70% of his stamina with the help of the Bloodvine Lotus. While Yuan Rui¡¯s recovery speed was slower, she had recovered 20% of her energy even though she just sat and did nothing.

    The energy currently possessed couldn¡¯t even help Zhang Mu recover to his peak even once, so he didn¡¯t force her to follow him and joined Little ck in the fight.

    This time, Zhang Mu was more clever and didn¡¯t look go against arge mass. He just looked for a small group of walking dead that didn¡¯t number over three hundred.

    Because Xi¡¯an was a big city, it was very easy for Zhang Mu to find a suitable target.

    When the sky turned dark, Zhang Mu stopped his hunt. At this time, he had in his possession a total of three thousand crystals.

    Liu Shuo¡¯s appearance made him more vignt. He had to be mindful; there were many mutated animals and evolvers with powerfulbat capability in the dark. If Zhang Mu met them, he might be in danger, since he had to protect Yuan Rui at the same time.

    Zhang Mu was always aware of potential dangers. If Liu Shuo had used Yuan Rui to threaten him, he could do nothing but meet Liu Shuo¡¯s requirements. He had met lots of people who had no morals. Especially, in theter periods, when the world had almost dried up and came to its end, people became more and more unscrupulous in order to survive.

    Under the guidance of his Merchant¡¯s Ring, Zhang Mu stood near the Era store with 3,000 crystals in his ring.

    Looking in the distance, it was just a bigwn now, but Zhang Mu knew if he approached within 10 meters, the surroundings would transform into something else altogether.

    ¡°Yuan Rui, I am going to deal with something important. You and Little ck wait here for me.¡± Zhang Mu said with a worried look. Before he finished the trade, he wouldn¡¯t be able toe out from the store and wouldn¡¯t know what happened outside. However, he didn¡¯t think that anyone would threaten Yuan Rui and Little ck right. Her ability had recovered after five hours of rest, which could support Little ck if danger were toe.

    On the tenth day of the new era, there shouldn¡¯t be anything that could overpower Little ck. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t worry about the walking dead at all because they couldn¡¯te close to any Era store on Earth.

    ¡°OK! I got it.¡±

    Yuan Rui nodded. She knew Zhang Mu had business somewhere, but she wouldn¡¯t ask. She never asked him about things he wasn¡¯t prepared to tell her.

    In fact, Zhang Mu simply thought that it was unnecessary to tell her.

    Just as he was about to enter the range of the Era store, he turned back, gave Yuan Rui his daggers and said, ¡°Stay here and don¡¯t follow me. Use the daggers to protect yourself if anything happens.¡±

    Holding the daggers, Yuan Ruiughed and asked, ¡°Uncle, are you worried about me?¡±

    Embarrassed, he didn¡¯t know how to answer and just turned around and left.

    Zhang Mu wiped away the sweat on his forehead and sighed in his heart, ¡°Zhang Mu, what are you doing? Why did you get so nervous? She is just a little girl!¡±

    ¡°Unexpectedly, you dared toe.¡±

    A cold huff interrupted his thoughts. Zhang Mu raised his head calmly.

    It was a man in red. He had short red hair, his eyebrows were red, and even his robe was red. Unlike the elegant No. 37, this Era merchant was staring at Zhang Mu strictly.

    However, he couldn¡¯t frighten Zhang Mu. Even if he knew that Zhang Mu had killed his sub-merchant, so what? He could do nothing but trade with Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu raised his eyebrows and looked at the man with no fear. He said calmly, ¡°It¡¯s survival of the fittest. Liu Shuo was weaker than me and tried to kill me. He brought this all on himself.¡±

    The red-haired Era merchant didn¡¯t expect Zhang Mu to say this. He asked in a cold and unpleasant tone, ¡°You mean that my first sub-merchant deserved to be killed by you?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t he?¡± Zhang Mu retorted with an indifferent look.

    ¡°Fine! Fine! Fine!¡± The Era merchant ground his teeth. He waved his sleeve and said, ¡°Sorry, you are not wee here. You can leave now.¡±

    Zhang Mu had expected that he would say this, so he became unyielding and said, ¡°I have 3,000 first-ranked crystals and 100 first-ranked beast cores, don¡¯t you want them? I also have eight Luoyang Peony Buds. I¡¯m Number 001, the first sub-merchant of Luo Yang City, how about making a deal with me?¡±

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54: The Real Opportunity

    Zhang Mu¡¯s words smashed on Era merchant No. 35¡¯s heart like a hammer.

    The man in front of me had 3,000 first-ranked crystals and 100 beast cores? How can it be possible?! Moreover, he says he has Luoyang Peony Buds, so he must be No. 37¡¯s sub-merchant. How did he know that my purchase price of Luoyang Peony Bud is the highest among all cities?

    What made him most shocked was Zhang Mu¡¯s identity as sub-merchant Number 001, which meant that Zhang Mu was the first person who had signed a contract with the Era Trade Caravan from all the 99 Era stores worldwide.

    If there were no other reason, it can only mean that he was a lucky man. Moreover, by being so arrogant, he showed that he had a brave heart.

    Unexpectedly, No. 37 had found such a great sub-merchant so fast in this testing field. How did that bastard beat me again!

    No. 35 was jealous in his heart, but he didn¡¯t show his envy as he had met all kinds of aborigines since he started traveling across the many testing fields.

    In his opinion, Zhang Mu was still too young. If he met some other Era merchant with a really bad temper, he would have been evicted immediately.

    However, No. 35 liked Zhang Mu¡¯s self-confidence even though,

    unfortunately, he was not his sub-merchant.

    ¡°Good! You are arrogant, but I like it. Unlike the stupid people I met before, you have the right to be so proud. We can discuss business.¡±

    No. 35 retracted his cold demeanor and looked at Zhang Mu with a smile on his face.

    Zhang Mu was betting. He knew it was risky to kill a first sub-merchant. He had thought of how to negotiate with this Era merchant from the moment they met because he knew different personalities should be handled in different ways.

    Zhang Mu defined No. 35¡¯s character quickly after they first started talking. He realized that if he apologized, he might increase No. 35¡¯s aversion to him. If Zhang Mu was kicked out of the store, his efforts would have been in vain.

    If No. 35 was arrogant, so Zhang Mu must be even more arrogant than him.

    If No. 35 was aggressive, then he must be more so than him.

    ¡°What about Liu Shuo, your Number 009?¡± Zhang Mu asked tentatively.

    No. 35 pushed his red hair back and joked with him, ¡°I think you feared no one and didn¡¯t care about it at all.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and said, ¡°I was forced by you. I don¡¯t want to fail this mission and let my efforts be in vain. By the way, you and my boss are

    are at the same level.¡±

    Hearing that, No. 35 shook his red robe and said, ¡°Don¡¯t say that. To be honest, I don¡¯t like you and prefer Liu Shuo whose ability was more suitable for being a sub-merchant. Moreover, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to expel you, I just can¡¯t do that. You are Sub-merchant Number 001 who represents the first contact between the local people in this testing field and the Era Trade Caravan. No Era merchant has the right to refuse you.¡±

    Zhang Mu was shocked. He didn¡¯t expect his title as ¡°Number 001¡± could grant him this right.

    No. 35 continued with dislike, ¡°I thought Number 009 was suitable to be an Era sub-merchant and yet he didn¡¯t do his tasks. He hunted down all the evolvers with high abilities, which caused me to only sessfully recruit two sub-merchants. He may as well die.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t interrupt No. 35 and learned that in Xi¡¯an, there were only two sub-merchants in total. Except for Liu Shuo, there was someone else. Although the position of second sub-merchant couldn¡¯tpare to the first sub-merchant, it still held great advantages.

    At this time, Zhang Mu thought of Yuan Rui.

    At the very beginning, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t mean to involve Yuan Rui in the Era trade and he hadn¡¯t thought to bring Yuan Rui along to

    along to Xi¡¯an. But now, Yuan Rui had started to be very important to him.

    At first, Zhang Mu thought that the system should have recruited enough sub-merchants, so he didn¡¯t ask Yuan Rui if she wanted to be one of them. However, he didn¡¯t expect Liu Shuo to have caused a bug. His overkill caused a situation where there was only one sub-merchant left in Xi¡¯an.

    It wasn¡¯t only about ability andpanions, he just didn¡¯t want to be alone again. Yuan Rui always reminded Zhang Mu of his humanity.

    I¡¯m still a human being!

    I don¡¯t want to live alone anymore!

    The chance Liu Shuo created was a turning point, making sure Yuan Rui could continue to follow him.

    It was different from a simple trade. It would mean long-term benefit for him!

    Zhang Mu looked towards No. 35 with his eager eyes.

    No. 35 thought that he was looking forward to the deal, so he just said indifferently, ¡°If we reach a deal, both of us would receive great profits. I may as well tell you, right now, the 3,000 crystals you have can be exchanged for any Era General good and the exchange price for the Luoyang Peony Bud here is the highest among all the nearby Era stores. I have to say, you are really a lucky guy.¡±

    And then No. 35 smiled bitterly 35 smiled bitterly and said slowly, ¡°To be frank with you, my performance in the other testing fields dropped quite rmingly recently and I need a big deal to better my ranking. Your crystals can help me climb up to the top in this world, Testing Field No. 37. So even if you weren¡¯t Number 001, I will still have made a deal with you. I hope that you¡¯ll exchange all your wealth. As time goes by, goods will depreciate, you know.¡±

    No. 35¡¯s frankness made Zhang Mu look up to him. After all, people would usually keep some goods in reserve just in case. However, No. 35 was worried that Zhang Mu would keep too much so he told Zhang Mu about his current situation honestly. Yet, even if he didn¡¯t do so, Zhang Mu would have exchanged all of his assets.

    After all, satisfying mutual interest was the path to sess.

    But now, he had lost interest in this deal. He just wanted to finish it as quick as he can and help Yuan Rui get the title of the second sub-merchant in Xi¡¯an.

    Thinking of this, Zhang Mu stared at No. 35 and said, ¡°I¡¯ll trade all the goods I have with you. Let¡¯s start trading now.¡±

    Seeing Zhang Mu so decided, No. 35 raised his eyebrows and said excitedly, ¡°Fine!¡±

 Chapter 55

    We are in dire need of more Editors!

    If you are interested please contact us @ Discord: Rythrinx#4565

    Trantor: I¡¯m Working Hard

    Editor: Lightbubble

    Chapter 55: Making a Huge Fortune Overnight

    Now, Zhang Mu hadplete control over the transaction and No. 35 was being very cooperative. He shook his red robe and mes burst across the tform instantly.

    Era merchants all had different habits when trading, but the process was same.

    Zhang Mu calmly watched No. 35, who currently looked like a me lord.

    ¡°Oh! No. 35, can we start now?¡±

    Having waited for a while, Zhang Mu touched his nose as he interrupted the magnificent opening.

    No. 35 shook and looked at him with a little anger. He thought that his grand opening would shock this sub-merchant. Unexpectedly, he was stopped and now, he¡¯s left feeling like he choked on a steamed bun.

    ¡°Alright, take a look by yourself.¡±

    No. 35 seemed to have lost his patience. The mes around him burned and formed a screen in the air, showing the trade list to Zhang Mu.

    He should be quick from the very beginning, I don¡¯t want to see his show at all!

    Of course, Zhang Mu thought so in his heart. By no means did he speak his thoughts out loud. It would only further irritate No. 35 who was already very impatient.

    Moreover, he had a n, even though he didn¡¯t know whether it would seed or not. Fortunately, he had a reliable title. It didn¡¯t matter even if he failed.

    His train of thoughts was interrupted by No. 35¡¯s angry voice, ¡°ording to the rule, trading of the Era regional goodses first. Give me your Luoyang Peony Buds and I will give you golden leaves.¡±

    Hearing that, Zhang Mu opened up his Merchant¡¯s Ring without hesitation. Golden doors opened and eight Luoyang Peony Buds flew towards No. 35.

    No. 35 smiled at first, but quickly, he became serious and said in a cold tone, ¡°The purchase price of the Luoyang Peony Bud is... three golden leaves in my store.¡±

    Even though Zhang Mu had known the price early on, he still swallowed his saliva after hearing it. It was a 200% profit already, not to mention that he had gotten the Luoyang Peony Bud at half price! Right now, Zhang Mu had in his possession eight Luoyang Peony Buds which would trante into 24 golden leaves.

    One must keep in mind that Zhang Mu only needed 10 golden leaves toplete his task this month. In his past life, Zhang Mu had fulfilled this mission only after visiting the Era store twice, but he aplished it so easily now.

    And this wasn¡¯t the end. He will buy a batch of goods here, sell them to other people and earn a lot of money!

    ¡°How about it? Do you want to trade them?¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded and said, ¡°Yes! I will trade them all!¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t lose his cool. He had calcted that the golden leaves he would get could be used to exchange for many goods.

    Once he got Zhang Mu¡¯s answer, No. 35 waved his sleeve and put away the eight Luoyang Peony Buds. He said with a smile, ¡°Since you have 24 golden leaves, I¡¯ll show you the list of Era regional goods in Xi¡¯an.¡±

    Under No. 35¡¯s control, the fire screen¡¯s disy changed ordingly.

    At the same time, me surged out from the fire screen and flew towards Zhang Mu, illuminating his whole body. He wasn¡¯t shocked and let it scan his body.

    One secondter, the scan was over. A cold, mechanical voice echoed in the air, ¡°Ding! Ding! Ding! Merchant authority recognition: Number 001, a trainee merchant. Trade time: the tenth day of the Paradise Era. Discount: 20% off. Prices have automatically generated.¡±

    Seeing the low prices, Zhang Mu exposed a greedy look.

    ¡°Tea Seed Oil, one unit/half golden leaf, remaining: 15 units.¡±

    ¡°Pita Bread Soaked in Soup, one unit/half golden leaf, remaining: 9 units.¡±

    ¡°White Jade Donkey Statue, one unit/2.4 golden leaves, remaining: 4 units.¡±

    It seemed that the second sub-merchant of Xi¡¯an didn¡¯t buy a White Jade Donkey Statue. Only Liu Shuo bought one which currently resided in Zhang Mu¡¯s ring.

    No. 35¡¯s heart was dripping blood as he thought that Zhang Mu would buy all his goods. But what Zhang Mu said made him doubt his hearing.

    ¡°Your goods are too little. Can you get six more White Jade Donkey Statues? I will buy them all if you can.¡±

    Unexpectedly, Zhang Mu asked an Era merchant to make a replenishment. Normally, if there were no goods, sub-merchant would leave ande the next time, but Zhang Mu asked for a replenishment.

    Actually, he was trying. If it worked, he would make a fortune.

    No. 35 was about to shout an abuse, but Zhang Mu said first, ¡°My golden leaves can buy all of your Era regional goods. As Number 009 has died, do you want your next four sub-merchants to begin their first trade without any good? That will be a big loss for you.¡±

    What he said made No. 35 think. If Zhang Mu bought all his goods, he wouldn¡¯t be able to arrange any new task for his sub-merchants. Moreover, ording to the rule, he couldn¡¯t give them any special treatment. If so, the four sub-merchants would lose from the starting line.

    But in the early times of the new era, Zhang Mu, as Number 001, could use a little authority to let No. 35 make a replenishment. Although he might have to suffer a little loss, it would be better than all four of his sub-merchants not being able to get any goods.

    However, seeing the merchant¡¯s eager look, No. 35 felt like he was being led by the nose.

    The most important thing was that Zhang Mu was not his sub-merchant. If he helped Zhang Mu, No. 37 was the one enjoying all the benefits.

    No. 35 asked Zhang Mu questioningly, ¡°Why do you only want White Jade Donkey Statues? You don¡¯t know the resale price of goods, can you?¡±

    Zhang Mu had already prepared for this question. He said calmly, ¡°How can it be possible? I just like to bet. I either don¡¯t buy any or I¡¯ll buy everything of one kind. I like things to be exciting and I like the feeling of taking a risk. As you can see, in Luoyang City, I bought eight Luoyang Peony Buds and gave up the Yellow River Carp without any hesitation. ¡±

    After a while, No. 35 decided to believe his words, but he had to admit that Zhang Mu was just too lucky. Perhaps this was the reason why he could be the first sub-merchant of Testing Field No. 37.

    No. 35 finally calmed down and gritted his teeth, ¡°I¡¯ll make more White Jade Donkey Statue.¡±

    Under No. 35¡¯s eyes, the number of White Jade Donkey Statue on the list was increased to ten.

    Unexpectedly, No. 35 really did increase the inventory!

    Zhang Mu looked very calm but in fact, he was excited beyond words. He had achieved a goal no one else aplished in his previous life!

    ¡°Number 001 buys 10 White Jade Donkey Statues. The price is 24 golden leaves.¡±

    As the cold mechanical voice echoed again, all the golden leaves in his hand disappeared, but he didn¡¯t care about it at all. Looking at the 11 White Jade Donkey Statues, Zhang Muughed.

    I did it! I have made a great fortune overnight!

 Chapter 56

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    Chapter 56: Because of Money

    Looking at the number that decreased to zero, No. 35 was very distressed. Those were all the spiritual essences that he had collected in Xi¡¯an City for the past ten days and yet, they all ended up in Zhang Mu¡¯s hand. However, he could do nothing but ept the oue.

    Now, he only wished for Zhang Mu to disappear from his sight, but he endured, shaking his red robe. The mes around him began to rearrange themselves into different patterns, forming a bigger fire screen.

    ¡°Next is the Era General goods. The prices of these goods are fixed. Sorry, but I can¡¯t replenish them for you.¡±

    No. 35 only wanted Zhang Mu to disappear quickly, so he sped up the formation of the fire screen and showed him the list.

    The robotic voice echoed again, ¡°Ding! Ding! Ding! Merchant authority recognition: Number 001, a trainee merchant. Trade time: the tenth day of the Paradise Era. Discount: 20% off. Prices have automatically generated. Start.¡±

    No. 35 was ignoring him while he didn¡¯t want to talk with the era merchant, so he just went over the prices carefully.

    Since he hadn¡¯t finished his first task yet, Zhang Mu was currently only a trainee merchant. He didn¡¯t hold much power, so the Era General goods were still the same as he had seen in Luoyang City, except that he discount Zhang Mu enjoyed now was different from back then, so the prices were higher.

    Yet, he didn¡¯t mind it much because he had a lot of crystals right now.

    ¡°Five-kilogram of dried food with a kilogram of water, essential for survival. Six first-ranked crystals per 100 units: 100,000 units remaining.¡±

    ¡°First-rank agility potion: promotes speed and agility by 0.2 times. After consuming 10 units, there will be no more effect. Ten first-ranked crystals per unit: 30 units remaining.¡±

    ¡°First-rank strength potion: promotes strength by 0.2 times. After consuming 10 units, there will be no more effect. Ten first-rank crystals per unit: 30 units remaining.¡±

    ¡°First-rank recovery potion: recovers a wound in 30 seconds ording to the degree of injury. Fifty first-ranked crystals per unit: 10 units remaining.¡±

    ¡°First-rank weapon and armor: choice of your own weapon and armor. Ten crystals per unit: 20 units remaining.¡±

    ¡°Second-rank evolving potion: allows first-ranked evolvers to reach the second rank. Five hundred crystals per unit: 1 unit remaining.¡±

    Except for the number of second-rank evolving potion being the same, the number of other goods increased.

    Looking at the numbers, Zhang Mu noticed that Liu Shuo and the other second sub-merchant didn¡¯t exchange for the second-ranked evolving potion.

    After all, except for himself, no other era sub-merchant had enough crystals to exchange for it in the first several days. Even now, many people still weren¡¯t aware of the functions of crystals and those who knew wouldn¡¯t broadcast this information around.

    So Zhang Mu was actually benefiting from this.

    Not to mention the strength potions, even the recovery potions were deemed priceless in his past life. Providing that you were still alive, a first-rank recovery potion could heal apletely broken body in just one day.

    Looking at the list, Zhang Mu looked up and stared at No. 35 with a frightening smile, ¡°Except for food, I will buy all the General goods you have.¡±

    No. 35 swallowed, ¡°You really want everything?¡±

    Zhang Mu grinned, ¡°Yes!¡±

    30 units of agility potion, 300 crystals; 30 units of strength potion, 300 crystals; 10 units of recovery potion, 500 crystals; 20 units of weapons and armor, 200 crystals; and one unit of second-rank evolving potion, 500 crystals.

    Zhang Mu bought 1,800 crystals worth of items and still had funds left.

    Zhang Mu spent his crystals like water.

    No. 35 didn¡¯t feel angry and calmed down quickly. He said to Zhang Mu, ¡°Since you want all my goods, you¡¯d better use your leftover 1,200 crystals.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? You said the number of the goods couldn¡¯t be changed,¡± Zhang Mu said, confused.

    No. 35 looked at him with satisfaction. Finally, I have the initiative.

    So he said slowly, ¡°You can buy the 20,000 units of food.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and answered, ¡°Oh, sorry, even if I¡¯m Number 001, the space of my ring is limited. 20,000 units won¡¯t fit in its space.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± No. 35 smiled. They looked at each other like two cunning foxes.

    ¡°I can give you a Merchant¡¯s Ring. Of course, it can only store goods from my shop. It has a capacity of 100,000 units let alone 20,000. How about that? Are you interested now?¡±

    ¡°Haha, don¡¯t look down on me. Ok, I will buy all the food. I have the crystals!¡±

    Zhang Mu answered without any hesitation. No. 35¡¯s smile faded. He didn¡¯t expect Zhang Mu to actually clean out all his goods. It seemed that his momentum was suppressed once again. He smiled bitterly, ¡°OK!¡±

    In fact, Zhang Mu had his own n. Five kilograms of dry food and one kilogram of water could sustain a person for three days. If Zhang Mu sold them, he might be able to get a high price, after all, the amount he possessed was quiterge.

    20,000 units can provide for 20,000 people for three days. During the early times when no one dared to search for a granary, 20,000 was a huge amount.

    Before, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have the means to store so many things, but now No. 35 solved this problem. Although the ring could only store goods from Xi¡¯an City, it was still a huge boon to him.

    Thinking of this, he bought the food and water with all his remaining crystals.

    ¡°For the weapons, I want 10 spears and for the amours, I want 10 one-handed shields.¡±

    Zhang Mu had his reasons for choosing to buy these: it was easy to resell these goods to others.

    A small Merchant¡¯s Ring with his name carved on it suddenly appeared on his right middle finger.

    Meanwhile, the crystals in Zhang Mu¡¯s ring turned into various types of potions. As for the weapons, armor, food, and water, they were all transferred into the exclusive ring of Xi¡¯an City.

    Zhang Mu calmed down and said, ¡°I will start by strengthening myself.¡± Without permission, he had sat down on the ground with his legs crossed. He took out 10 agility potions and 20 strength potions.

    His behavior was very rude, but No. 35 still warned him, ¡°A human can only use 10 potions, do not me me for not reminding you that it is wasteful to drink more.¡±

    ¡°I know. I can see the instructions on the bottle. I¡¯m not blind.¡±

    No. 35 felt doubt and stared at the sub-merchant, ¡°Since you know, why did you take out so many?¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t answer him immediately. Firstly, he drank 10 strength potions. After that, he bit his left arm and poured the remaining strength potions and agility potions into his wound.

    Magically, the potions didn¡¯t overflow. It was as if the wound had transformed into an abyss that engulfed all that was poured in.

    After all the bottles were emptied, Zhang Mu looked at No. 35 and said slowly with a weary smile, ¡°It¡¯s because they weren¡¯t for me alone.¡±

 Chapter 57

    We are in dire need of more Editors!

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    Chapter 57: Metamorphosis of the Bloodvine Demon Lotus

    Zhang Mu was betting because he has heard of a summoner-type evolver that had given his mutated creature a potion in his past life. However, he didn¡¯t know if mutated animals could actually consume them.

    If the Bloodvine Lotus could absorb the energy in these potions, its power would be strengthened to a new level.

    However, after Zhang Mu poured the 20 potions into his left arm, the wound healed, but the Bloodvine Lotus had no reaction.

    Did I guess wrong?

    Zhang Mu felt pity. After all, these potions were valuable not only because of the price but also because their quantities were limited. He can¡¯t buy any more until 20 dayster.

    Why didn¡¯t it work? The Bloodvine Lotus had absorbed all the energy. If the Bloodvine Lotus rejected this energy, it wouldn¡¯t have swallowed the liquids.

    What happened?

    All of a sudden, he came to a realization and startedughing happily. Looking at Zhang Mu, No. 35 doubted whether the sub-merchant had schizophrenia or not.

    Haha! I forgot that the Bloodvine Lotus had entered a deep sleep after losing too much energy.

    Although the agility potions and the strength potions held powerful efficacy, they didn¡¯t help with recovering from injuries. In this case, the Bloodvine Lotus wouldn¡¯t be able to use their energy to heal its wound.

    As Zhang Mu realized this fact, he held out his right hand, on which a green potion appeared.

    It was a first-ranked recovery potion.

    First-ranked recovery potions were infused with the purest life energy in the world, bestowing it the ability to heal all wounds.

    ¡°Bloodvine Lotus, don¡¯t worry. I will help you wake up right now.¡±

    Zhang Mu felt guilt towards the mutated nt as it had been severely injured trying to protect him. Although it only possessed basic instincts, it still saved him, which moved his heart. Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t be stingy with it over a recover potion.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care about his wound. He tore it apart again and poured the recovery potion inside.

    ¡°Wake up! Bloodvine Lotus!¡±

    Zhang Mu roared in pain.

    ¡°Boom!¡±

    As the life energy surged into his arm, Zhang Mu felt something as if a heart was pounding in his left arm.

    ¡°Dong! Dongdong! Dongdong!

    As the sound became louder and louder, Zhang Mu became more ted.

    Beside him, No. 35 stared at Zhang Mu with a seriousness.

    This fluctuation of life... it can¡¯t be...

    ¡°Boom!¡±

    The Bloodvine Lotus woke up and exploded out from Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm, twining around it. A momentter, more than ten vines ¨C each twice as strong as before ¨C broke through the skin and started waving crazily in the air like snakes.

    Zhang Mu could feel the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s intimacy and trust through the mental bond they shared as he touched the vines softly.

    However, in the next second, the vine noticed the other living creature in this space and suddenly went crazy.

    As it just woke up, its whole consciousness was filled with blood-thirsty impulsions.

    Dozens of vines turned around in the air and attacked No. 35 before Zhang Mu could react.

    ¡°Hum!¡±

    No. 35 wasn¡¯t shocked. His right hand reached out and stopped the swinging vines.

    ¡°Unexpectedly, somebody had gotten to it. What a lucky guy you are.¡±

    No. 35 said slowly. He looked towards Zhang Mu withplex emotions.

    Is there something about the Bloodvine Lotus that I don¡¯t know of?

    Zhang Mu was curious and asked, ¡°No. 35, what is it exactly?¡±

    No. 35 shook his head and answered, ¡°I¡¯m not allowed to say, but let me warn you. If you can¡¯t control it well, you¡¯ll get injured, to say the least, but you may also be doomed eternally.¡±

    Is it really this serious? I knew the guy who owned the Bloodvine Lotus before. Indeed, his behavior was strange sometimes, but it wasn¡¯t as bad as what No. 35 is saying.

    Although the Era merchant concealed his emotion well, Zhang Mu still noticed the fear in his eyes.

    Does the Bloodvine Lotus really hold some unknown secret? Otherwise, why would the Era merchant be so scared?

    Zhang Mu noted this down in his mind. Era merchants were powerful beings. There must be a reason for his fear.

    ¡°You can retract it now.¡± No. 35 put down his arm and said to Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu ordered the Bloodvine Lotus in his heart, then smiled bitterly, ¡°Sorry, but I can¡¯t control it now. I think that we have to wait for it to use up its energy.¡±

    No. 35 nced at him scornfully and said, ¡°If we do as you say, the Bloodvine Lotus won¡¯t rest until daybreak.¡±

    No. 35 waved his sleeve and his mes turned into a flock of firebirds, speeding towards the vines.

    The Era merchant¡¯s power was strong. His mes burned the vines, making the Bloodvine Lotus struggle painfully. Zhang Mu felt sorry but he could do nothing.

    In just a few seconds, dozens of vines have been burnt and fell to the ground, charred. It then shrunk back into his arm quickly.

    Zhang Mu was about tofort the injured nt when he found a marvelous discovery.

    Where the vines have been burned was recovering and strengthening.

    The Bloodvine Lotus can be stronger as it recovers from battle!

 Chapter 58

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    Chapter 58: Returning from the Grave

    Seeing this, Zhang Mu gasped.

    Was this what made No. 35 so worried? No, it couldn¡¯t be so simple. The powerful Era merchant wouldn¡¯t be terrified easily. However, since No. 35 wouldn¡¯t to tell him the truth, he could only try and find it by himself.

    Now that the Bloodvine Lotus seemed to have recovered its consciousness, under Zhang My¡¯s control, it shrunk back into his arm.

    Looking at his smooth arm, Zhang Mu shook his head and realized that he had stayed in the Era store for a long time. Yuan Rui might be getting anxious. Thinking of this, he said to No. 35, ¡°It¡¯s time for me to leave. Can you send me out? My friend is waiting for me outside.¡±

    It seemed that No. 35 was thinking about something. He casually answered, ¡°OK! I send you out. Remember to send my greetings to No. 37 when you return to Luoyang.¡±

    ¡°Ok, no problem.¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded. The next second, he was sent out by a ball of warm me.

    Even though he has exited the shop, he still felt giddy. Under the moonlight, he suddenly felt that something was wrong and stepped up his vignce.

    What happened? Where are Yuan Rui and Little ck?

    Zhang Mu tried to connect to Little ck, but the mental bond them seem to have been broken by some unknown power, making him more alert.

    ¡°Yuan Rui, are you here? Answer me!¡±

    Zhang Mu could do nothing but shout out.

    ¡°Are you looking for her?¡± A hoarse, gloomy voice came from Zhang Mu¡¯s back.

    Someone had yed tricks as expected.

    Zhang Mu whipped around. A ck shadow slowly walked to the light, holding Yuan Rui under duress and covering her mouth.

    When the ck shadow came closer, Zhang Mu saw that Yuan Rui¡¯s eyes were filled with tears. She kept struggling, but her captor held her tightly.

    Zhang Mu said slowly with a serious look, ¡°Who are you? Let her go or I¡¯ll make you pay for this.¡±

    ¡°I know that you are powerful and I also know that you are an Era sub-merchant, but so what? As for the cost, I can afford it indeed. Hahaha!¡±

    The ck shadow¡¯s voice was so hoarse it was as if his throat was broken.

    When the figure came to a stop, he carefully kept fifteen meters away from Zhang Mu. Under the moonlight, his face was made visible and Zhang Mu was shocked by what he saw.

    Isn¡¯t this a first-rank walking dead? What happened? A walking dead who knew how to speak, think and n an abduction?

    Zhang Mu remembered the intelligent walking dead in his past life but quickly denied this conjecture because the ones with even the most basic of intelligence wouldn¡¯t appear until half a yearter. Moreover, those had the intellect of ten-year-olds. They wouldn¡¯t be able to speak as fluently as this one.

    Then Zhang Mu thought of another possibility, which could exin how the mental bond between him and Little ck has been blocked. The other person was an evolver who could control the mind! Little ck wouldn¡¯t be defeated by any first-rank creature unless it was a mental-type evolver!

    Zhang Mu asked the question to which he didn¡¯t want to believe the answer, ¡°Are you an evolver of mental control ability?¡±

    ¡°Haha! Mental control ability? You guessed right. You do know a lot of things. I¡¯m getting more and more curious about you.¡±

    Zhang Mu shouted out, ¡°Shut up. Show yourself and face me!¡±

    ¡°You are prodding me? Did I overrate you? Do you think I¡¯m going toe out just because you say so?¡±

    The walking dead held something in its left hand and put it on Yuan Rui¡¯s neck. Zhang Mu recognized the dagger he gave Yuan Rui before he entered the Era store. He was provoked.

    The walking dead looked at Zhang Mu and waited for him to speak.

    He bottled up his anger and asked, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re finally getting to the point. No more nonsense! I know how many walking dead you have killed. I saw it with my own eyes. You should have obtained 2,000 to 3,000 crystals. I want all your crystals. Of course, you have visited the Era store, so you should have exchanged for some goods. If you give me all the things you have exchanged for and the crystals you have left, I¡¯ll let go of this girl. Oh, and the little beetle, too. Otherwise, my puppet is hungry. You can try and see if it can kill this girl before you kill it.¡±

    Why does he know of the ¡°Era merchant¡±? Is he the second sub-merchant of Xi¡¯an City?

    Hearing the man¡¯s unbridledugh, Zhang Mu was furious, but he knew he needed to calm down.

    He stealthily moved his left arm back and continued to talk with the walking dead, ¡°I have a lot of things. Can you carry them all away?¡±

    The walking dead wore an ugly smile and said with a hoarse voice, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can take all the things that you have.¡±

    Zhang Mu asked, ¡°What if I don¡¯t give them to you?¡±

    ¡°You have no choice, or else she dies.¡±

    Zhang Mu continued talking while speeding up the action on his hands.

    Gradually, the adversary lost patience and asked, ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    All of a sudden, the man controlling the walking dead found his little trick. He shouted, ¡°You really value your crystals more, don¡¯t you? Don¡¯t you want to save this girl?¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve been discovered. Unfortunately, you are toote!¡±

    Zhang Mu sneered. A vine suddenly pierced through the walking dead¡¯s wrist just as it tried to cut Yuan Rui¡¯s throat. Another vine imprisoned the walking dead and the dagger had also been taken away by the Bloodvine Lotus.

    Actually, Zhang Mu ordered the Bloodvine Lotus to slip into the ground as they talked and to advance slowly in order not to be found.

    Zhang Mu hugged Yuan Rui in his arms and took over the dagger. He walked towards the walking dead, patted its face and said, ¡°Hehe, you are still too naive.¡±

    The walking dead tried to say something but failed as its mouth was tied by the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯ vine.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the vine retracted and he heard what the walking dead was trying to say.

    ¡°After the catastrophe urred, I changed my name. ¡®Grave Blood¡¯ is my new and only name, because I am a person who climbed out from the grave. Today, I failed due to my carelessness, but remember, your head is mine.¡±

    Zhang Mu touched his own head and said, ¡°Why do you all want my head? Don¡¯t you know the man who said this to mest time had be my pet¡¯s fertilizer? Pray not to be found! Or you¡¯ll suffer the same end!¡±

    Before the walking dead could retort, a vine pierced through its throat and picked out its crystal.

    Although Zhang Mu showed no fear on his face, in fact, he was in a state of high alert.

    ording to what Grave Blood said, he was woken up by the evolving wave after he had died and had been buried. Zhang Mu had heard some simr stories in his past life. As they were still considered as human beings, the Era stores allowed them to be sub-merchants.

    A mental-type enemy hidden in the dark. These kinds of opponents were really difficult to deal with.

 Chapter 59

    We are in dire need of more Editors!

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    Chapter 59: Every Minute Counts!

    ¡°Yuan Rui, where is Little ck?¡±

    Zhang Mu looked around, but Little ck was nowhere to be found. He still couldn¡¯t connect with it, so once Yuan Rui calmed down, he asked her.

    ¡°Little ck... Little ck suddenly shrunk at that time. It didn¡¯t answer when I called out to it, so I put it into my pocket. After a while, that walking dead dashed out, abducted me, and robbed me of the dagger you gave me.¡± Yuan Rui felt aggrieved.

    Yuan Rui knew that the dagger was very precious to Zhang Mu, but she lost it. She was afraid that he would me her.

    Once he knew that Little ck was in Yuan Rui¡¯s pocket, Zhang Mu was relieved.

    Zhang Mu never med Yuan Rui. Seeing her on the verge of crying, he patted her head and said softly, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. You see, the dagger is here. Don¡¯t me yourself. It was my fault. I forgot that your body has not been strengthened. The mental-type evolver probably only made Little ck fall asleep.¡±

    ¡°I was just wondering how he can control Little ck and the walking dead at the same time, so this was the reason. Hum, I see, so this is his limit.¡± Zhang Mu hummed coldly and said to himself. He was almost scared by this sub-merchant, but now, he knew this mysterious man¡¯s secret.

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t wake up Little ck while it was still stunned by the mysterious evolver¡¯s spiritual power. Right now, he still didn¡¯t know how to deal with this ability. He could resist the controlling power with willpower, but Yuan Rui and Little ck couldn¡¯t. This was really a big problem.

    It seemed that it was time to find something that could protect their minds. After all, they may meet more mental-type evolvers in the future.

    Moreover, the evolvers who could awaken mental ability were all sharpwitted. If one of them were to be hostile towards him and used Yuan Rui and Little ck to threaten him like this time, there was little he could do.

    ¡°Yuan Rui, have you seen the person who controlled the walking dead?¡±

    Zhang Mu turned back and asked Yuan Rui. If she had seen him, they would be able to guard against himter.

    Yuan Rui thought for a while, then shook her head, ¡°I didn¡¯t see him. I was looking after Little ck when the walking dead abducted me. I didn¡¯t see anyone else.¡±

    After hearing that, Zhang Mu nodded thoughtfully.

    To think that the mental-type evolver would be so careful. He did not show up himself even when Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t there.

    He was in trouble.

    Zhang Mu felt a headacheing up. It was easy to dodge an open spear thrust, but difficult to guard against an arrow in the dark.

    Anyway, there¡¯s nothing he can do about it right now. The most important thing currently is to help Yuan Rui be the second sub-merchant of Xi¡¯an.

    Thinking of this, Zhang Mu looked towards her and said seriously, ¡°Yuan Rui, I want to tell you what I¡¯m doing. Do you want to know?¡±

    Yuan Rui was very interested and asked him to speak quickly. She wouldn¡¯t force him to tell her about it, but since he had offered to say, she was naturally very curious about it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened, but... after the disaster happened in Luoyang City, I identally found a covert space and met a person.¡±

    Holding her cheeks with her hands, Yuan Rui listened to his words earnestly.

    Zhang Mu continued, ¡°That person called himself No. 37, an Era merchant, and the ce I walked into was an Era store. Afterward, I became the person¡¯s sub-merchant. In order to finish the tasks he gives me, I have to go to different Era stores in different cities to buy and sell goods for him. In return, I can get some things that could strength myself. Do you understand?¡±

    In order to let Yuan Rui understand better, Zhang Mu spoke briefly and only told her the core content of being an Era merchant.

    After a while, Yuan Rui said, ¡°Now I understand why you¡¯vee to Xi¡¯an. You wouldn¡¯t say anything when I asked you. You were hiding very deep. Hum, what a liar you are.¡±

    Zhang Mu touched his nose awkwardly and said, ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it. Anyway, there is an opportunity to let you be a sub-merchant, too. Do you want to? I think that it wouldn¡¯t be bad.¡±

    Hearing that, Yuan Rui got excited and asked, ¡°Really? I can be a sub-merchant just like you?¡±

    ¡°Yes! There are still vacant spots in this era store. Since we are partners, it¡¯d be better if you were to be a sub-merchant too. Moreover, you can get a lot of benefits from it. What do you think?¡±

    Zhang Mu looked at her with inquiry.

    She answered without any hesitation, ¡°Of course, I want to.¡±

    In fact, Yuan Rui agreed not because she was eager for the benefits, but because she didn¡¯t want to be a burden. Zhang Mu was powerful because he was a sub-merchant, so if she became a sub-merchant, she would be able to strengthen herself and help him.

    Moreover, she knew he wouldn¡¯t hurt her. Yuan Rui trusted Zhang Mu and Zhang Mu also recognized Yuan Rui. As long as he stayed with her, there was no harm in bing a sub-merchant.

    There was still half an hour left till twelve o¡¯clock.

    If there was enough time, Yuan Rui could finish her first trade. After today, the price of Era regional goods would rise.

    Zhang Mu told her, ¡°Now, walk towards the ce where I came out from just now. You will see a man wearing a red robe. Tell him that you want to exchange for Era regional goods. Don¡¯t talk too much with him. Remember, you must finish this deal today. You have only 30 minutes left.¡±

    Hearing that, Yuan Rui immediately ran as fast as she could towards the Era store.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu thought of something and shouted to her, ¡°Remember! Use all the golden leaves to buy Tea Seed Oil!¡±

    ¡°Ok!¡±

    Yuan Rui waved her hand without turning back and disappeared in front of Zhang Mu.

 Chapter 60

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    Chapter 60: Homeward Journey

    25 minutester, ripples appeared near the location of the Era store, waking Zhang Mu up.

    Did Yuan Ruie out?

    He looked at his watch and grinned.

    Yuan Rui kept my words in mind and finished before twelve. I introduced the tedious task of being a sub-merchant in such a simple manner, it may have shocked No. 35.

    ¡°Boom!¡± Yuan Rui came out from the space.

    Zhang Mu walking to her quickly and asked, ¡°How are you? Are you all right?¡±

    Yuan Rui stood up, pulled Zhang Mu¡¯s sleeve and spoke to him excitedly like a loud sparrow.

    ¡°Uncle, the red eyebrow uncle is very funny. He was very happy when he saw me and tried to tell me things about being a sub-merchant. WhenI interrupted him and told him I knew everything, he suddenly went red with anger and asked me if you were the one who brought me. He then covered his face with a painful look and called you a profiteer. Uncle, what did you do to him?¡±

    Zhang Mu touched his nose and said, ¡°I just bought a lot of things from him and he thought that he suffered loss. In fact, he made a profit from our trade, too, but he still feels like he had been framed by me. Sigh, people are always greedy.¡±

    With a very innocent look, Zhang Mu used the Era merchant of greediness, making Yuan Rui feel sorry for him and start to condemn No. 35, too.

    In the Era store, No. 35 suddenly sneezed. He touched his red eyebrow and muttered to himself questioningly, ¡°Why do I suddenly feel so cold for no reason?¡±

    Zhang Mu tittered.

    This is the consequence of denigrating me in front of Yuan Rui.

    Haha! It¡¯s not my fault. I need to keep a good image in front of Yuan Rui, so I can only wrong you.

    Actually, No. 35 was right. Zhang Mu was indeed a profiteer.

    After all, Zhang Mu had gotten the merchant to sell him six extra White Jade Donkey Statues. He didn¡¯t know how much No. 35 had paid for it to happen, but from his painful expression, Zhang Mu could guess that it was a lot.

    However, there were both gain and loss in business. No. 35 should know this principle.

    Zhang Mu simply ignored the fact that he had bought out No. 35¡¯s store, not leaving anything for other sub-merchants to buy.

    ¡°Yuan Rui, have you bought the Tea Seed Oil?¡±

    ¡°Of course, I bought them as you said. The uncle looked at me look and said you had instigated me. Um, my golden leaves could only buy six packs of Tea Seed Oil.¡±

    Only six packs. As expected, the sub-merchants after the first didn¡¯t get a discount.

    Six packs were a little few, but it just about satisfied the minimum standard for the task.

    Zhang Mu rxed. If Yuan Rui had bought the Baked Buns, she wouldn¡¯t be able to meet her quota for the deal and would lose the chance to aplish her first task.

    Be mindful, for the reward forpleting a task was very bountiful.

    All of a sudden, Zhang Mu saw the ring on her right ring finger and asked, ¡°Yuan Rui, what¡¯s the number of your ring?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s 366. It¡¯s a good number, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°Good, good...¡± Zhang Mu answered casually and stared at it in a daze.

    There will only be a total of 500 sub-merchants on Earth, and 366 ces had already been taken. The efficiency of Era stores, in general, was really high while the branch in Xi¡¯an City had beengged down by Liu Shuo. That exined why No. 35 didn¡¯t me Zhang Mu for killing the guy; he had killed so many evolvers that even with Yuan Rui, No. 35 only had two sub-merchants.

    As Zhang Mu fell into contemtion, he continued staring at Yuan Rui. When she nced at his ring, she noticed that both essories were identical and that his was also on his fourth finger. She blushed as she thought of something and retracted her hand quickly.

    Zhang Mu came out of his thoughts due to her sudden actions but didn¡¯t notice anything. He just felt relieved knowing that Yuan Rui had finished her task sessfully.

    He imagined that once he returned to Luoyang, his harvests would shock No. 37 a lot. Zhang Mu was really interested in witnessing the surprise on the Era merchant¡¯s face.

    At the same time, the mental bond he shared with the beetle received a tug.

    Little ck finally woke up. It had really slept deeply as it still felt sluggish. As expected, it was only a momentter did Little ck finally climb out from Yuan Rui¡¯s sleeve.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Little ck asked.

    Zhang Mu cast a cold nce at Little ck. Its intelligence was all in vain: it fell asleep the moment it was hypnotized. Luckily, nothing bad happened.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to me you. Turn big and keep watch at night. I¡¯m very sleepy.¡±

    Zhang Mu felt sleepy as Yuan Rui held Little ck and spoke to it. He took out a nket and went to sleep. He didn¡¯t feel afraid because, for the time being, the surroundings of Era stores were still protected by its presence.

    To punish Little ck, Zhang Mu asked it to keep watch at night, but if anything really were to happen, the Bloodvine Lotus would solve it. Moreover, the mutated nt¡¯s activities wouldn¡¯t bother his sleep, as he didn¡¯t feel anything from the wound it tore on his left arm.

    Zhang Mu woke up just as the day broke.

    Looking at Yuan Rui, Zhang Mu sighed in his heart.

    Now that he made her be a sub-merchant too, they were now in the same boat. However, he still didn¡¯t know whether this was good or bad for her.

    Let it go. You have to live life to the fullest. Zhang Mu stretched, facing the sun.

    Their journey had just begun.

 Chapter 61

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    Trantor: WuWang

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    Chapter 61: Bamboozling

    Zhang Mu sat, chatting with the Yuan Rui that was seated on Little ck¡¯s back, amusing her with his blown up words.

    It really wasn¡¯t easy pleasing a girl. Exactly what sin have Imitted in my previous life for me to not have dated even a single girl back then. In fact, when it came to love, Zhang Mu was aplete rookie.

    By the way, why was Zhang Mu seated when he was talking to Yuan Rui?

    Because the mount he was riding now was a mutated beast as well. It was a wolfdog that Zhang Mu found on the road. It didn¡¯t attack Zhang Mu perhaps was owed to its habit of not assaulting live human beings.

    This morning when Zhang Mu was passing by the town, his interest suddenly peaked when he saw it. Also because he felt that it was too exhausting to walk on his own, the idea to catch the wolfdog and train it as his personal mount immediately hatched.

    However, the wolfdog had been mutated by the ripple of evolution, which in turn kick-started its innate ferociousness. Hence, how would it surrender to Zhang Mu so easily? Frankly, the reason the wolfdog didn¡¯t attack was probably due to the fact that it had a previous owner.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s provocative behavior immediately infuriated the wolfdog that was three times his size. When it stood and walked on its hind legs, it was half a body higher than Zhang Mu. It moved quickly, ready to tear this presumptuous human apart for its meal for the day.

    However, Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t scared. Rather, he sized it up and down with interest, saying. ¡°Its four limbs are strong! Imposing enough huh, it looks like a real wolf! Not bad, not bad, I like it!¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s voice and gaze were as though he was purchasing a pet, and that had the wolfdog¡¯s rage peaking. It widened its bloody mouth, ready to swallow Zhang Mu in a bite.

    Upon witnessing something terrifying after having leapt into the air, the mes of rage in its eyes instantly doused. It was a top-ss first-ranked mutated animal. Even if it was weakened, its remaining self-consciousness still cried out at that moment for him to step back.

    However, it was already toote.

    Bloodvine Demon Lotus whipped out, unrestrained, from Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm and instantly grew till was able to shield the sun above the mutated wolfdog¡¯s head, before it rushed down at it.

    Despite being wrapped like a rice dumpling in the air by the Bloodvine Demon Lotus, the wailing mutated wolfdog still red at Zhang Mu fiercely. Even so, it was unable to do anything being bound as such.

    Even though Zhang Mu had ordered the Bloodvine Demon Lotus to control its strength and not hurt the mutated wolfdog, its barbed vine still pierced through the mutated wolfdog¡¯s thick fur, digging into its body.

    Fortunately, the Bloodvine Demon Lotus brought to mind Zhang Mu¡¯s words and didn¡¯t absorb its blood, so the mutated wolfdog¡¯s state wasn¡¯t as bad as what it seemed.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the Bloodvine Demon Lotus slowlyid the mutated wolfdog down before Zhang Mu, and Zhang Mu calmly gazed into its eyes.

    Albeit one calm and the other resentful, the two looked at each other in silence.

    After a while, Zhang Mu smiled. His gaze sharpening, he pronounced his words clearly, ¡°You have two choices: surrender, or die.¡±

    Despite being threatened by Zhang Mu, the mutated wolfdog struggled, and shook its head, refusing to surrender.

    ¡°Not willing to surrender?¡±

    Zhang Mu ordered the Bloodvine Demon Lotus to tighten its vines. The barbed vines dug deeply into the mutated wolfdog¡¯s body, creating one wound after another, but not a drop of blood dripped, for the Bloodvine Demon Lotus had absorbed it all. Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, it strenuously suppressed its desire to absorb the mutated wolfdog¡¯s body dry of blood.

    Of course, Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t let that happen. After all, where would he find another personal mount if the wolfdog died?

    Even under such circumstances however, the mutated wolfdog still refused to lower its head and ept Zhang Mu as its new master. It was hard to imagine that a mutated animal could be so unyielding.

    Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t surprised. If it was easy to tame a mutated animal, there would be no need for a tamer-type evolver¡¯s help. All the mutated animals were bloodthirsty beasts; none of them was easy to deal with.

    Is there no other way to this? It seemed like I overthought. Perhaps it was my taming of Little ck and Bloodvine Demon Lotus going too smoothly that made me have the illusion that taming mutated animals isn¡¯t something difficult.

    Is giving up the only way? A dead mutated animal meant very little to Zhang Mu, but a living, tractable mutated wolfdog was very valuable. Even though all he wanted now a personal mount, it had so much potential in bringing him much more benefits.

    At this time, Little ck popped its head out of Zhang Mu¡¯s pocket, as though Zhang Mu¡¯s had interrupted its beautiful dream. Flying up into the air, Little ck flew around the mutated wolfdog, sizing it up and down with curiosity.

    At seeing the mutated wolfdog, it was also surprised. Despite having lost a lot of blood and too weak to bark, it still questioned Little ck with its eyes why it had surrendered to a human.

    It had however, evidently underestimated Little ck¡¯s shamelessness. Little ck flew around it with no shamelessly, taking pleasure in its misfortune.

    Zhang Mu looked glumly at Little ck¡¯s actions, wondering if mutated animals of different races couldmunicate with each other. With Little ck hiss however, the fierce glint in the mutated wolfdog¡¯s eyes surprisingly dissipated a little.

    Was this a favorable turn of events? Did Little ck have the ability to catalyse the mutated wolfdog into capitting?

    Zhang Mu quietly ordered the Bloodvine Demon Lotus to loosen its vines slightly, deciding to wait for Little ck¡¯s effort toe into y.

    Five minutester, Little ck flew back andmunicated with Zhang Mu through the mental bond between them. ¡°It said that it can surrender to you. However, you can¡¯t bar it from leaving when it wants toter, either that or you kill it.¡±

    Zhang Mu asked Little ck with growing interest. ¡°How did you persuade it?¡±

    ¡°I told it that you have countless crystals and animal cores, and with your help, I¡¯m nearing my second rank evolution.¡±

    ¡°Countless crystals and animal cores? I have only fifty crystals and a hundred animal cores now!¡± Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry.

    Little ck said leisurely. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry. You can earn more in the future if you run out anyway, right? Anyway, I have told you its requirement. Are you going to ept or not? If not, I¡¯ll eat its flesh and leave its blood to the Bloodvine Demon Lotus.¡±

    ¡°I ept its condition!¡± Zhang Mu grounded his teeth. Having a tractable mutated animal was really too great of a temptation.

    What¡¯s the situation though? A mutated animal could be tamed even without a tamer-type evolve this way?

    However, Little ck blew him up a little bit too much. He didn¡¯t have that many crystals and cores now. Looks like he had to hunt along the way. He wouldn¡¯t be able to even feed his three little ones otherwise. After all, it was a great temptation to mutated animals to be able to evolve themselves. In fact, it was instinctive, as though that¡¯d been engraved into their blood.

    I don¡¯t remember teaching it all these though? Did it self-study itself into a genius? Amercial circle genius? A god of the bamboozling world?

    Zhang Mu could still afford it if their submission was only the price of some crystals and animal cores.

    Upon Little ck¡¯s confirmation, Zhang Mu turned to ask the mutated wolfdog, ¡°Willing to follow me now?¡±

    After which, he released the vines that were affixed on the mutated wolfdog¡¯s head. Seeing that it nodded as though he understood, he let go of the mutated wolfdog and retracted the Bloodvine Demon Lotus back into his left arm.

    Zhang Mu had been pleased initially, however, the mutated wolfdog suddenly copsed on the ground afterwards. Following which, Little ck told him that the mutated wolfdog needed at least a week to recover itself as the Bloodvine Demon Lotus had absorbed too much blood.

    A week? That¡¯s too long! Zhang Mu scolded the Bloodvine Demon Lotus mentally for secretly sucking so much blood. He didn¡¯t have that much time. Therefore, he took out, with heartache, a first-ranked recovery potion, and poured the entire thing into the mutated wolfdog¡¯s mouth.

    The effect of the recovery potion was prominent. Ten minutester, the mutated wolfdog had stood up and shook its body of dust, its strengthpletely recovered.

    Honestly, Zhang Mu gained from all the coincidences that had clumped together. He met this mutated beast whose strength had reached the apex of its first-rank, and he happened to have a way to have it submit to him. The coincidence that was the most coincidental out of all was the fact that Zhang Mu had a Little ck who worked as a counter-espionage spy.

    Despite having seated downfortably on the mutated wolfdog¡¯s back while enjoying the wind whistling past his ears, Zhang Mu¡¯s heart couldn¡¯t help but bleed at the fact that he¡¯d actually spent an entire bottle of recovery potion.

    This wasn¡¯t about the money actually, he only had ten units of potions, but he¡¯d already used two units in half a day; there were only eight units remaining. He had already used one-fifth of his stash, and what was most infuriating of it all was the fact that he couldn¡¯t not use them.

 Chapter 62

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    Chapter 62: Luoyang City¡¯s Change

    The mutated wolfdog was still faster than Zhang Mu. After all, it was a mutated animal, so its endurance was far better than Zhang Mu¡¯s.

    However, Zhang Mu was humane. As they travelled, he would feed the mutated wolfdog crystals and animal cores from time to time, and that led it to believe that Little ck didn¡¯t lie, and that Zhang Mu really had countless crystals and animal cores!

    Unlike Little ck, the mutated wolfdog was an earth-element mutated animal, therefore, it was able to eat the mutated monkeys¡¯ cores without qualms.

    Having always travelled alone, it never had the chance to hunt other mutated animals that travelled collectively in herds. After all, even if they were far weaker than it, such as mutated mice and the likes, their teaming up would still be able to overwhelm the mutated wolfdog.

    Therefore, the mutated wolfdog¡¯s strength as well as speed advanced vigorously after consuming the animal cores it had never eaten before. Zhang Mu was also extremely happy to feed it. His actions had be so tantly bias it even had Little ckining to him several times. In fact, Little ck was starting to regret helping Zhang Mu take down the mutated wolfdog in the first ce.

    Little ck¡¯s gaze at the mutated wolfdog, who ravaged its share of crystals that should have belonged to Little ck, became increasingly unfriendly. In response to that, Zhang Mu¡¯s reply to Little ck gave Little ck no grounds to object.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s simple words had Little ck silent. ¡°Aren¡¯t you reaching the bottleneck of the First Rank soon? Do you want these crystals or the Second-Ranked Evolution Potion? If you choose crystals, I will consider giving them to you and give the mutated wolfdog the Second-Ranked Evolution Potion instead. The mutated wolfdog does look pretty well-behaved doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    Little ck was mentally dying of anger. It¡¯d seriously brought such ruins upon itself on its own. It¡¯s only been a few days and this stinky dog¡¯s got Zhang Mupletely hell-bent on feeding it crystals. And cue all its ass-kissing on top of that, this mutated wolfdog¡¯s existence was actually threatening Little ck¡¯s chance of evolving to the second rank?

    Without a Little ck bugging him, Zhang Muid on the mutated wolfdog¡¯s back. With his face pressed against its soft fur, he fell into a deep sleep, dreaming away delightfully. The mutated wolfdog¡¯s careful adjustment of its steps to not awake Zhang Mu with its jolts had Little ck grinding its teeth, angrily scolding how it was being so feckless.

    In response to Little ck, the mutated wolfdog bared its teeth, paying Little ck¡¯s threats no mind.

    During the next five days of their journey, the mutated wolfdog had consumed approximately forty Earth-type first-ranked animal cores. Save for the patch of fur on its back soft as before that was bing increasingly gleaming, rocks had begun gradually covering the rest of its body; its Earth-type energy was being awakened.

    When Zhang Mu andpany returned to the highway they¡¯d passed by before, he remembered the mutated swinery that had threatened his life previously, and wanted to pass by and collect their animal cores while he was at it. Their current expenditure was toorge; he had a wolfdog that needed to be fed, a Bloodvine Demon Lotus that needed its energy replenished, even Little ck would ask him for some crystals as snacks, and if he didn¡¯t give them, Little ck had even learned to make a scene in front of Yuan Rui.

    Because of all that, Zhang Mu was only left with thest twenty animal cores; his supply hadpletely shrunk by fifth, and that had his heart bleeding. It was too crazy expensive to keep tamed mutated animals. He finally understood why Tamer-Type Evolvers went to join therger forces. How would they be able to afford their tamed mutated animals eating animal cores as their food!

    However, this actually wasn¡¯t the case. The main reason why tamer-type evolvers in his past life didn¡¯t feed their tamed mutant animals animal cores as crazily as Zhang Mu did was because it was too difficult gathering the same type of animal cores inrge amounts. They would not be able to adjust even if they had powerful financial rapports supporting the expenditure, as Evolvers themselves too required such resources as well as energy for evolution.

    However, Zhang Mu¡¯s situation was an exception. Little ck could absorb energy from any type of animal core. The Bloodvine Demon Lotus was, as well, not at all picky about its food. It was only the slightly less abnormal mutated wolfdog that stuck to consuming only Earth-type animal cores.

    Zhang Mu was in a dire need of replenishing his animal core supply, and in the way where it wouldn¡¯t dy his journey. The only method he could think up of was the mutated swinery here. Even though they looked a little ugly, the cores in their bodies were still through and through cores.

    However, when Zhang Mu reached the familiar ring of freight vehicles, he was floored. All that was strewn where the swines had solidly colonised as their pigsty were only flesh, blood, bones and faeces. Everything was in a state of disorder.

    Yuan Rui and the mutated wolfdog looked at the scene in disgust, not daring to near the ce so Zhang Mu could only go on his own. Covering his mouth and nose, he carefully observed the pigsty as he neared.

    How was it that not even a single swine was there? Had they all ran away? Did their intellect decrease so much after their weakening that they didn¡¯t even know how to retaliate? Zhang Mu frowned. Soon after however, he realised that something was off.

    There were several inconspicuous grey feathers lying on the bloodied flesh. Picking one up, he carefully observed it under the sun.

    Suddenly, his pupils contracted. Head raising, he turned to survey their surroundings.

    ¡°Are they vultures? I didn¡¯t think the locks to the zoo would be undone so soon. Did they escape on their own, or did somebody enter the zoo to free them?¡±

    Zhang Mu agonised over the thought so intently his hand covering his nose dropped, as though mindless of the foul smell pervading the air. From his memories, he recalled that it was only past the third month did the mutated animals that had evolved once break free from the zoo before dealing severe damage to the city.

    The timestamp definitely had been three monthster, Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t remember wrongly, because he¡¯d already been out on his Era Merchant mission by then. It was only after he returned did he find out that quite a few of the major bases were attacked by mutated animals, resulting in heavy losses.

    Zhang Mu was nning to deal with it after he had returned to Luoyang City as it was, after all, humanity that had suffered the loss; he couldn¡¯t bear not to. However in these few short months, vultures had already been released. Seeing how they were able to ughter the mutated swines, these elite creatures that had survived must be stronger and more merciless than the others in the zoo. Their strength as well as intellect must also be very superior.

    By the time Zhang Mu reverted back, he had a darkened expression on his face. He flipped onto the mutated wolfdog¡¯s back swiftly and said to Yuan Rui, ¡°Luoyang City might be in trouble!¡±

    Looking at Zhang Mu¡¯s gloomy face, Yuan Rui didn¡¯t dare reply.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s urgings, the mutated wolfdog travelled at full speed, leaping powerfully tond on the top of the smashed vehicles and weaved through them very quickly.

    Let¡¯s hope that the trouble Luoyang City¡¯s met with isn¡¯t one that¡¯s too severe, Zhang Mu silently thought.

 Chapter 63

    We are in dire need of more Editors!

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    Trantor: WuWang, Wynne

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    Chapter 63: Seeing Wang Liang Again

    Half a dayter, Zhang Mu finally saw the familiar sign above the entrance of the toll station. He felt nervous.

    What happened in Luoyang City?

    The zoo held arge number of mutated animals. At the very beginning, they might have gathered together ording to their races, but soon after, they would be enticed by the desire to evolve and would have attacked each other for cores.

    In such a situation, mutated animals didn¡¯t even care about the crystals within the walking dead¡¯s necks, not to mention ordinary humans. After all, humans were just some good meals in their eyes, but the cores from other mutated animals could allow them to evolve! Therefore, before the weak mutated animals in the zoo had all been devoured, they wouldn¡¯t even walk out from there themselves.

    However, Zhang Mu was sure that the feathers were from vultures!

    There were only two possibilities: some changes had urred amongst the animals or someone had upset the bnce in the zoo. Maybe it was a crowd of walking dead, but it might also be an evolver!

    The first wasn¡¯t very usible, because he didn¡¯t remember any special mutated animal from the zoo in hisst life. Perhaps it was thetter possibility: a walking dead crowd or an evolver had broken into the zoo. Due to the things Zhang Mu had done in Luoyang City, history changed and things had started to go down a different path.

    Zhang Mu felt a headache because his advantage froming from the future was disappearing.

    He jumped down from the back of his mount and walked into the city. He felt no fear because he had changed, too. Now, even if he was surrounded by walking dead, he could kill his way out without much effort.

    There might be some strange mutated animals in the city, but the Bloodvine Demon Lotus meant hell to all creatures! With it, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t really care about animals.

    The only thing he was worried about was the people in Luoyang City. If too many had been killed, even reconstructing the city would be hard to aplish, not to mention defending against evolved enemies in the future.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care about people who were strangers to him. However, he was still human. This fact was engraved in his very bones. Since he was probably the only person who could solve this problem, he would take the responsibility.

    He didn¡¯t consider himself a ¡°savior¡±. He also had his own n. If Luoyang City couldn¡¯t be rebuilt as soon as possible, many of his ns would fall to nothing.

    Currently, most mutated animals and walking dead were still in the first rank so Zhang Mu had the confidence to clean them all up. He could collect crystals and animal cores and help other people to survive at the same time.

    Zhang Mu walked into the city and was soon shocked.

    He could remember a residential district here before, but it had been converted into a human settlement during the time he had been gone. Wooden barricades blocked his way and people came up to him and asked, ¡°Hey, you. Where are you from?¡±

    They were two burly men, but they should just be two ordinary people, not evolvers. Little ck had shrunk and hid in Zhang Mu¡¯s pocket, so they just stared at the mutated wolfdog but didn¡¯t seem too worried about its presence.

    It... it shouldn¡¯t be like this!

    Shouldn¡¯t there be only broken walls? Shouldn¡¯t hee here and save them like a hero? Zhang Mu had prepared to see a city run over by mutated creatures, but... the people in this city had already built a refuge? And it looked pretty good!

    When Zhang Mu was lost in thought, the two men pointed the knives in their hands at him and continued in an unhappy tone, ¡°Hey, man? I¡¯m asking your question!¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s attitude really annoyed them. Although they were ordinary people, after they became the gatekeepers of this base, no one had dared to ignore them. Ordinary people would present them gifts before entering and evolvers would also be polite to them.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s mind returned to the real world when his eyes caught the cold lights that reflected upon the weapons. He didn¡¯t mind them but studied their knives with attention.

    They were standard knives from the Era store.

    There was already a sub-merchant here. Interesting.

    Zhang Mu grinned. It should be the man from whom he stole the position of first sub-merchant. That person should be the second sub-merchant of Luoyang City now.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t feel guilty, because if he hadn¡¯t done so, he wouldn¡¯t be have be stronger.

    That man was a mysterious entity in his past life. A small character like Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t even entitled to meet him.

    ¡°Are you listening?! Don¡¯t think that you can be unscrupulous in our territory! I know you are a tamer-type evolver, but we have our own tamers, too! Don¡¯t pretend to be something important!¡±

    One of the men raised his knife and put it under Zhang Mu¡¯s nose.

    If Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t stopped his mount, it would have already pounced on the man. It didn¡¯t understand what its owner was thinking, but still stopped and only bared its fangs, threatening the man with a low rumble.

    Even so, the two men weren¡¯t scared.

    Why weren¡¯t they afraid of the wolfdog? Who gave them the guts?

    Zhang Mu was curious. There were tamer-type evolvers in this base, but it seemed that these two hadn¡¯t treated them seriously.

    Thinking about it again, it wasn¡¯t surprising that they didn¡¯t think of tamers as powerful. At this period of time, most tamers could only control one creature at a time. They didn¡¯t represent much of a threat in other people¡¯s eyes.

    Facing the man, Zhang Mu fearlessly stretched out his hand and pushed the knife aside. He sneered, ¡°Tell your leader toe see me and I don¡¯t like weapons pointed at me.¡±

    ¡°Who do you think you are? You want to go against us? Just with this dog? You...¡± The man stopped because his throat had been sped. Zhang Mu¡¯s physical capabilities were far greater than the both of them. Under their frightened gazes, Zhang Mu grasped the two men¡¯s throats, lifting them into the air.

    They struggled to free themselves but only ended up wasting their energy. As their faces became pale and their legs vainly kicked in the air, Zhang Mu casually threw them to the ground.

    ¡°Can you call your leader now?¡± Zhang Mu said with an indifferent look. The mutated wolfdog growled at them, staring at them like they were bs of meat. Seeing this, one of the men instantly seized the whistle hanging from his neck and blew it with all his strength.

    As the sound echoed in the air, several people came out from the buildings and stared at Zhang Mu who was pretending to be innocent.

    Amongst them, a man hesitated a bit when he saw Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu also noticed him. He grinned and said, ¡°Wang Liang? Long time no see!¡±

 Chapter 64

    <b>Chapter 64: Identity Revealed</b>

    ¡°Boss Wang, you know him?¡±

    The people around Zhang Mu instantly paused and turned to look in Wang Liang¡¯s direction.

    The impression Zhang Mu had left on Wang Liang was way too deep. Zhang Mu had had, at that time, a sword in a hand, and had beheaded all walking dead around him in a single second on his own.

    It had been too earth-shattering a scene for him.

    If a man was saved when he was on the verge of death, the impression he would develop for his savior would be one that was unparalleled.

    ¡°Yes, he saved my life once.¡±

    The fact that Wang Liang made known that Zhang Mu had saved him before without shame had Zhang Mu¡¯s view of him improving. On the surface, even if Wang Liang wasn¡¯t the leader of their base, he was definitely someone powerful enough to have a say in things, so Zhang Mu admired him mentally as he admitted to such a prestige-sweeping confession.

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re Boss Wang savior! So sorry brother. Hey guys, lower your weapons.¡± One of the youth in blue T-shirt among them lowered his weapon first as he said to the others. The others¡¯ gazes, too, became friendlier, though it was curiosity that tinged their gazes the most.

    ¡°He must be very strong to be able to save Boss Wang. No wonder that he was able to disarm Zhang Long andpany so easily. Phew, their attempt to block him had been futile even when armed with the best weapons in our base.¡± A man with his upper body unattired said, seemingly very dissatisfied with their base¡¯s weapon allocation.

    The two gatekeepers upon hearing that flushed a bright red. They didn¡¯t dare say anything however. They had personally witnessed Zhang Mu¡¯s abilities, and were thoroughly frightened by his strength.

    ¡°My benefactor, you didn¡¯t tell me your name thest time you saved me. You don¡¯t want me to call you benefactor all the time, do you?¡± Wang Liang joked with a smile and walked over to Zhang Mu.

    ¡°I¡¯m Zhang Mu.¡±

    Zhang Mu too looked at Wang Liang, all smiles. Wang Liang did leave him a very good impression. His character as well temperament was quite suited to lead; Wang Liang was an associate he could partner with in the long-term.

    ¡°I¡¯ll call you Brother Mu then.¡± Wang Liang said, looking at Zhang Mu as he smiled. The vibe he was getting from Zhang Mu was too elusive, and on top of that, Zhang Mu looked older than he actually was.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t mind such an address much, after all, he was a twenty-seven year old adult so there wasn¡¯t anything wrong with acknowledging being called ¡°brother¡±.

    ¡°Li Zi, can you show this girl around? There is something I need to discuss with Brother Mu.¡±

    Wang Liang looked at the Yuan Rui behind Zhang Mu and instructed the youth dressed in a blue shirt to bring Yuan Rui around their base.

    ¡°Yes, Brother Wang!¡± The youth in blue shirt nodded, replying swiftly

    ¡°Mhm, Yuan Rui, go ahead and take a look around, I need to discuss some matters with Boss Wang.¡± Zhang Mu said. Yuan Rui nodded obediently. She was also filled with curiosity about this base after not seeing so many people for such a long time.

    ¡°Brother Mu, let¡¯s walk and talk.¡±

    Wang Liang gestured for Zhang Mu to follow as he led the way. They found a rtively remote path and strolled slowly, but none of them spoke.

    Wang Liang¡¯s feeling at the moment was a little mixed. He had seen a second sub-merchant in Luoyang Cityter and hadrgely figured out what Zhang Mu¡¯s true identity was. And with that, he also realised that Zhang Mu probably cheated him that time.

    The Sub-Merchant he metter did tell him that the so-called Strength Potions¡¯ existence was real, but that he didn¡¯t have the ability to purchase them. Also, it would be futile to consume them without purchasing a set of five units. Hence, he resorted to purchasing only food and weapons for self-defense. Later, the sub-merchant only left the weapons at their base because he didn¡¯t need them anymore after awakening his evolution ability.

    However, when Wang Liang told the second sub-merchant the quote Zhang Mu had given him for the Strength Potions, he saw a wave of shock shing in the sub-merchant¡¯s eyes. Though the second sub-merchant didn¡¯t tell him the real price, he had a gut feeling that the price Zhang Mu quoted him was far above what it was worth.

    ¡°Why, are you done contemting the quote I gave you previously?¡± Zhang Mu said, breaking the silence first. He knew that it was better for him to initiate the conversation.

    ¡°Uh, Brother Mu, the quote you gave me previously is... too high. I didn¡¯t know how terrifying a crowd of walking dead was at that time, and such a crowd was definitely stronger than just a multiplication in their numbers. It was only when I really brought people to clear the crowd that I realised it was definitely not an easy task. After our previous meeting, I felt that congregating normal civilians was too useless, and so I opted to gather evolvers instead. I organised about two hundred evolvers within three days, and the myriad of abilities had me all dazed; we were confident. However, when we really went to clear a crowd of about a thousand walking dead, we lost our calm; we lost terribly. If it weren¡¯t for the Second Sub-Merchant¡¯s appearance then, at least half of us would be dead.¡±

    At hearing that, Zhang Mu was interested. He gestured for Wang Liang to pause and asked, ¡°The Second Sub-Merchant? He called himself Second?¡±

    Wang Liang smiled bitterly. ¡°Yes. Our personal rtionship isn¡¯t too bad. You are the First Sub-Merchant, aren¡¯t you? I think you are the reason that he calls himself the Second Sub-Merchant.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t expect that the original First would call himself the Second Sub-Merchant because of him. The Second Sub-Merchant must have remembered him after he saw all the Era general goods in Luoyang City cleared.

    However, Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t particrly mindful about it now, for he was only a little curious about, rather than fearful of, the current Second Sub-Merchant. Zhang Mu scratched his head awkwardly, continuing: ¡°Let me put it this way, the price won¡¯t decrease, but I have them in stock at the moment, so if you buy the potion, I can give you tenplementary sets of weapons. What do you think about that?¡±

    Seeing how Wang Liang was still irresolute, Zhang Mu decided to drop the bomb on Wang Liang that was going to have him floored: ¡°You know I¡¯m the Number One Sub-Merchant, but do you know what it means? It means that I have the right to buy all the goods from the Era Merchant and leave nothing for the Second Sub-Merchant. Do you understand what I mean?¡±

    Zhang Mu looked at Wang Liang, smiling. Wang Liang instantly felt like he was up against a cunning old fox instead of a human.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65: Done With the Deal

    Zhang Mu knew what Wang Liang was thinking. He knew that the price was too high. However, he was left in shock once Zhang Mu hadid all his cards on the table.

    Wang Liang had hoped that Zhang Mu could reduce the price, because he had a good rtionship with ¡°the Second¡±. He implied that if the price wasn¡¯t reduced, he could also buy the potions from the other sub-merchant. Of course, he would also pay a lot of crystals, but the price would still be better than Zhang Mu¡¯s.

    However, Wang Liang was now driven to the wall because Zhang Mu had the power to monopolize the potion trade and leave nothing for others. In this case, Wang Liang could only buy strength potion from him. Zhang Mu had promised topensate Wang Liang with ten set of weaponry, but he did it as a favor without troubling himself. After all, he wanted to continue trading with him in the future; there was no need to strain their rtionship.

    Even so, Zhang Mu would earn ten times the initial cost in crystals from the deal. For 300% of profits, merchants would dare tomit any crimes, even at the risk of failure. 1000% of profits? That would be incredible!

    Wang Liang hesitated. He wasn¡¯t sure if Zhang Mu was lying or not, but he couldn¡¯t take the risk. The Second thought highly of Zhang Mu. He may really have the monopoly over potions.

    ¡°Have you decided? Give me one thousand crystals and I can help you increase your speed by two times. Remember, you are an earth-type evolver. If you can be two times faster, you will be able to protect yourself when you use your ability. Don¡¯t you think it is worth it?¡±

    Zhang Mu tempted Wang Liang, trying to break his psychological barrier, ¡°I can offer you ten sets of weapons, includingnces and shields. You can let ten strength-type evolvers defend with the shields and let the others perform their abilities safely behind the defense. Imagine it, with them, you can ughter walking dead like you¡¯re reaping wheat!¡±

    Wang Liang listened and nodded, then looked at Zhang Mu and smiled bitterly, ¡°Brother Mu, you have helped me before. This isn¡¯t a trap, right?¡±

    Zhang Mu shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°It depends on whether you think they are worth the cost. Am I right?¡±

    It was indeed true, but Wang Liang still instinctively knew that something was wrong. He consoled himself by telling himself that Zhang Mu just wanted his crystals.

    ¡°If you keep hesitating, I will raise the price after visiting the Era store. After all, prices are also rising within the Era store. Don¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t tell you at that time.¡±

    ¡°Ok, ok, I will buy it with one thousand crystals, but you need topensate me with twenty sets of weapons!¡± Wang Liang thought for a while and said. He ground his teeth, ¡°It¡¯s not easy to collect one thousand crystals, and theoretically, it is the wealth of the whole base. I need to give everyone an exnation.¡±

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    Out of the blue, Zhang Mu agreed immediately, which made Wang Liang felt strange.

    In fact, Zhang Mu had meant to give these weapons to Wang Liang from the beginning, because he had bought them expressly for the people in Luoyang. After all, he himself didn¡¯t have any use for thesemon weapons. If he hadn¡¯t been prepared to help them, he wouldn¡¯t have wasted his crystals to buy these cumbersome tools. It had nothing to do with ¡°kindness¡±. It was simply a long-term investment for him.

    ¡°Good. The crystals have been stored in a warehouse. Let me lead the way.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and pulled out a small package that contained ten bottles of agility potions. He handed the package over to Wang Liang without hesitation and said, ¡°Drink them now.¡±

    Wang Liang was shocked. He had seen this amazing space storage technology twice, once from Zhang Mu and the second time with ¡°the Second¡±. However, he still felt found it unbelievable when he saw it again.

    ¡°You¡¯ll give me them now?¡± Wang Liang took the package. He thought that since Zhang Mu had given him the priceless potions directly, he should have absolute confidence in his power. Thinking of this, Wang Liang felt relieved.

    Ok, let¡¯s me see if they were really as effective as you¡¯ve boasted!

    Wang Liang gazed at the package with scorching eyes. He took out a bottle and lifted it, observing the fascinating liquid under the sunlight.

    After a while, he opened it and drunk the potion. Soon after, before Wang Liang¡¯s mind even realized it, his body had be nimble. The feeling wasn¡¯t very obvious, but it was undoubtedly true.

    Wang Liang remembered that Zhang Mu had told him that he wouldn¡¯t feel any obvious change before drinking five bottles of agility potions. So he immediately opened the other four little containers and poured all of them into his mouth at once.

    Instantly, the change in quantity caused the change in quality. It felt as if his body had be brand new.

    At first, after his earth-type ability had awakened, he could control the Earth des, but he also felt that his body had be heavy and clumsy. He was afraid that he would identally injure his parents so he always kept a distance from other people when killing the walking dead.

    However, after drinking five bottles of agility potions, he could feel that his body had be more nimble than before!

    If he drank all the ten bottles of agility potions, what changes would happen to his body?

    At this moment, Wang Liang finally realized that, even if without the weapons Zhang Mu promised him, the ten bottles of agility potions alone were already worth the one thousand crystals. Zhang Mu really wasn¡¯t lying!

 Chapter 66 - That Explains the Matter

    <b>Chapter 66: That Exins the Matter</b>

    Chapter 66st edited by: Wynne, vbguy2011

    After drinking ten bottles of Agility Potions, Wang Liang felt that his body became unprecedentedly light and quick, as though his innate ability wasn¡¯t Earth-type but Wind-type.

    Even so, he didn¡¯t appear overly arrogant because the gaze Zhang Mu had on him was a calm one as before. He caught no intentions of Zhang Mu looking down on him seeing how was willing to sell him these potions. Also, since he had already consumed the limit of the number of Agility Potions one could consume, only Zhang Mu knew how many there were left.

    Hence, he quickly reined in his emotion and propped his wire-rimmed sses, returning to his normal demeanour. After that, he led Zhang Mu to the storehouse where the crystals were stored.

    Zhang Mu sighed with emotion when he looked at the storehouse before him. It was several single-storey units with their walls knocked down before they were joined together to form a cluster of units. It wasn¡¯t too shabby, but it definitely wasn¡¯trge either. There were four guards on duty around the area. Zhang Mu noticed their attitude; it seemed that Wang Liang had indeed found some responsible people. He must have also realised that grain stocks were the foundation to the operation of every base.

    After seeing Wang Liang, the guards parted way for them.

    When Zhang Mu entered the storeroom, he realised that it wasn¡¯t as simple as what he had previously imagined. Despite its small size, all the necessities were there. There were a variety of goods ced on shelves, all of them categorised and arranged in order.

    The food was piled at a side with the sacks of rice stacking sky high. A box in another corner of the storehouse was filled with clothes, with the majority of the apparels being practical rather than aesthetic. Pretty much none of them was gaudy and useless.

    Zhang Mu guessed that therge box right in the middle of the storehouse was the one Wang Liang said to contain the thousand crystals.

    When Wang Liang went forward and opened it, sparkling crystals indeed filled the box to the brim, and hexagonal First-Ranked crystals at that.

    However, the things on top of the white crystals instantly peaked Zhang Mu¡¯s interest more.

    They were dozens of animal cores!

    But... how was it be possible? Wang Liang said that the current strength of their base was definitely not strong enough to hunt mutated animals. Moreover, mutated animals often stuck together, so they should be feeling thankful for not being attacked instead.

    And then there was the zoo incident to top everything off; things were getting too strange. Zhang Mu thought for a while, before asking the question he was puzzling over. ¡°Where did you get these animal cores from? Also, did something happen at the zoo?¡±

    After his question, Wang Liang immediately became glum. ¡°Didn¡¯t you just return to Luoyang City? How is it that you know something happened at the zoo?¡±

    Zhang Mu answered calmly. ¡°I saw several rare animals I¡¯ve only seen before in zoos on the highway when I was on my way back to Luoyang previously. Other than those in the zoo, there shouldn¡¯t be any wild ones, so I figured something happened at the zoo.¡±

    ¡°Ah, then that makes sense. They were just driven out of the zoo, so it¡¯s not surprising to see them on the highway,¡± Wang Liang exined, and smiled at ease.

    Zhang Mu caught the key word and quickly asked: ¡°They were driven out of the zoo? Who would have the ability to drive so many ferocious mutated animals away? Was it the Second Sub-Merchant or another evolver?¡±

    Zhang Mu figured that he had to be more careful if the Second Sub-Merchant was actually that strong. If it wasn¡¯t him but someone else ... Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t heard anything about other evolvers being strong enough to do so in his previous life.

    Wang Liang however didn¡¯t know what Zhang Mu was thinking, and so, he said mindlessly. ¡°Hence it can be said that both your questions stem from the same root cause.

    ¡°The animals were doing fine in the beginning, but on the third day of the catastrophe, a lot of mutated animals suddenly rioted, and so, a huge wave of mutated animals of all variety with terrifyinglyrge bodies surged out, killing everyone in their sight, including the walking dead.

    ¡°The ones that were most badly implicated weren¡¯t us but those located nearest to the zoo in the south. They, including those who hid in their houses, were all gobbled up the moment the mutated animals surged out. After our people witnessed that, we were all ready to abandon this base and escape. However, a man in blue feathered robe appeared out of nowhere and gave a light tap. That light tap instantly blew all the mutated animals in front of him into dust. The rest of the mutated animals were probably afraid of him or something and escaped Luoyang City after.

    ¡°That person was too strong! We were literally on the verge of escaping before he appeared. I even wanted to follow him, but that person disappeared after that.¡±

    When Wang Liang recalled the scene, his emotions dipped significantly, still experiencing the after-effects of the scare. After which, he looked at Zhang Mu in curiosity and said glumly: ¡°You look surprised? The Second Sub-Merchant told me that the man is the Era Merchant in Luoyang City, you should¡¯ve seen him before no? Did you not know he was that strong? Was it because he hid it too well in front of you? Speaking of which Brother Mu, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t remind you but you should prop up a good attitude when you see him again.¡±

    Of course Zhang Mu knew how strong Era Merchants were, it was just that he was a little surprised that the Second Sub-Merchant, despite not knowing that, didn¡¯t appear very shocked. Also, he didn¡¯t remember any Era merchant helping any human in his past life.

    All Era Merchants¡¯ stance were neutral. If they had been on mankind¡¯s side, how would mankind get stuck in such a difficult position?!

    But this time, No. 37 helped these people! And that really shocked Zhang Mu.

    His only guess now was that whatever it was that had happened had crossed the line and was beyond his expectations. What was it that had happened though? Did one of his Sub-Merchants get killed right in front of the Era store?

    Even if so, that oue still wasn¡¯t possible either; they wouldn¡¯t meddle this much in their sub-merchants¡¯ business.

    Exactly howrge a change had he brought to this city to make even No. 37 decide to interfere?

    And, how exactly did the zoo incident happen? Despite his queries, Zhang Mu had no way of knowing.

    He shook his head and decided to discard such thoughts; it served no purpose to hazard wild guesses. He should ask No. 37 about it when he visited No. 37 again a few weekster.

    Zhang Mu shifted his gazes to the animal cores, and he suddenly had an idea.

    ¡°Sell these animal cores to me.¡± He gazed at Wang Liang with a smile.

    ¡°Are they worth a lot?¡± Wang Liang, as someone who had survived thepetitive workce, was no hothead, so he naturally realized that Zhang Mu was very interested in these animal cores.

    There was no need for Zhang Mu to purposefully say otherwise, after all, Wang Liang would figure it out sooner orter. Also, he found no reason to fall out with him over such little gains.

    ¡°Yes, they are very valuable,¡± Zhang Mu said honestly.

    ¡°I can sell you them, but you need to tell me how much they¡¯re worth.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Evolvers with simr element types as the animal cores can consume them after hitting the ceiling in their current ability level to refine their abilities.¡± Zhang Mu exined to him devotedly; it was a favor done at little cost.

    ¡°So do you want food or weapons?¡± Zhang Mu asked, smiling.

    ¡°What? You have food too? How much food do you have? Several hundred grams? Several hundred kilograms? Is itparable in worth to the weapons? Even if you have a lot, we have lots of mouths to feed in ourrge base.¡± Wang Liang asked mindlessly.

    ¡°What if I said I have ten tons of rice?¡±

 Chapter 67 - Ten Tons of Rice

    Chapter 67: Ten Tons of Rice

    ¡°What?! You have ten tons of rice?¡± Wang Liang was shocked.

    Zhang Mu had so much rice! If it was real, Wang Liang would like to give Zhang Mu all the animal cores to exchange the rice from him. Since Zhang Mu had told him the importance of animal core, if he wanted to evolve himself, then animal cores would be necessary.

    However, he also knew that the energy in his body was still growing. He didn¡¯t need to use them right now. Compared to the increase his power, he would rather to get the ten tons of rice, which could buffer against the difficulty the whole habitation was facing. There were about one thousand people living in this habitation. Ten tons of rice could support them to live for at least ten days.

    Wang Liang needed time right now!

    Why did he keep sending evolvers to clean the walking dead in the city? Because they were inck of food. Ordinary people didn¡¯t eat too much food everyday, but almost all evolvers were big eaters!

    These days, he arranged for ordinary people to build defense facilities around the habitation and let evolvers kill the walking dead in the city.

    So far, they had almost cleaned up the walking dead around the habitation, but they didn¡¯t dare to attack walking dead crowds, which had forced them into these very adverse circumstances.

    If Wang Liang went to collect the resources in the city, then he had to survey the terrain first and arrange the transit route. During this period of time, the habitation would consume a great amount of food. If any ident happened, they would run out of food.

    However, Zhang Mu had appeared and helped them solve all problems. Twenty set of weapons would be their trump card when they cleaned walking dead crowd. And the ten tons of rice would keep away the fear of food shortage.

    Suddenly, Wang Liang thought of something. His enthusiasm faded like the fall of tide.

    ¡°Brother Mu, how can you bring me the ten tons of rice alone? They can even fill half of the space in the storehouse!¡± Wang Liang asked with a puzzled look. He was curious about Merchant¡¯s Ring and had asked ¡°the Second¡± about it. The Second told him that his ring could only store things for a few cubic metres. Even if Zhang Mu didn¡¯t put anything else in his ring, his ring wouldn¡¯t be able to hold ten tons of rice!

    Zhang Mu give him a mysterious smile and said, ¡°It¡¯s not something you should care about. Just tell me will you agree to my requirement or not. You need to worry about anything.¡±

    Wang Liang ground his teeth and looked at the box. ¡°Ok, deal!¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled. He stretched out his right hand, and instantly, a small ck hole appeared beside his Merchant¡¯s Ring. In Wang Liang¡¯s surprised eyes, the box had been absorbed into Zhang Mu¡¯s ring.

    Zhang Mu patted Wang Liang¡¯s shoulder, who was still gazing at the space with his eyes opened wide. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The storehouse is too small. Lead me to an open space so that I can take out the rice!¡±

    Wang Liang was still half believing and half doubting whether Zhang Mu¡¯s ring could really hold so much rice, but he had no choice. He followed Zhang Mu, walking out of the storehouse.

    Zhang Mu looked around and saw an open space behind the storehouse. He thought that it was fit for the requirement, so he directly walked to the open space and said to Wang Liang, ¡°I will put the rice here. Your guys can carry them into the storehouse yourself.¡±

    Wang Liang nodded and gazed at Zhang Mu with interest.

    Zhang Mu looked at the ground and stroked the special Merchant¡¯s Ring, which he had obtained from the Era merchant in Xi¡¯an, with his left hand.

    tter! tter! tter!

    While Zhang Mu¡¯s finger touched the ring, instantly, one bag of rice after another was poured out from the ring and piled up on the ground. After a while, Zhang Mu had put all the rice on the ground, and then he started to put a bucket of water after another bucket on the ground.

    ¡°Water?¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled, ¡°They are free gifts, a total of two tons. Thank you for shopping.¡±

    Wang Liang gazed at the rice and the water with rapture. He subconsciously panted and swallowed his saliva. Zhang Mu smiled looking at him.

    Zhang Mu knew what a new-built habitation needed: food and weapon, and he could give them both. He had only spent a hundred and twenty crystals for that rice, but now, he could exchange it for fifty animal cores. By any measure, he had made a killing.

    With those animal cores, Little ck would be more emboldened to start its evolution.

    At this time, Wang Liang didn¡¯t mind how Zhang Mu could offer him so much rice and water. What he needed to do now was to call more people to move the food and water. He called up the guards, and told them to put part of rice into the storehouse, and the remaining into the garage which was in the center of the whole habitation.

    Wang Liang looked at Zhang Mu with a mixture of emotions spreading over his face. Zhang Mu had be more mysterious in his heart. Even if not judging him from his power, his trading technique and boldness were much better than ¡°the Second¡±.

 Chapter 68 - Solve One After Another

    <b>Chapter 68: Solve One After Another</b>

    After Zhang Mu had exchanged all the animal cores from Wang Liang, he let out a sigh of relief. However, this was just a beginning; Wang Liang¡¯s base wasn¡¯t the only base in Luoyang City.

    What he needed was topletely exchange all his food and weapons at the other bases for the crystals and animal cores he needed. After all, Wang Liang wouldn¡¯t be able to purchase all his goods.

    Moreover, this was just the beginning of the new cataclysm. Even if there were some disputes between the bases, but they wouldn¡¯t get into a fight over it. After all, the threat of walking dead in the city hadn¡¯t been eradicated. Not only that, but there were lots of mutated animals outside of the city eyeing the city. Therefore, if they didn¡¯t want to die, they couldn¡¯t run foul of each other.

    As long as the leaders in the bases had even a little brain, they wouldn¡¯t get into a dispute over such trivial conflict of interest with the other bases.

    After all, living was already hard enough in itself.

    When Wang Liang found out Zhang Mu¡¯s idea of going to the other bases, his initial reaction was to persuade him to give up on that idea. Wang Liang was an ambitious person; after tasting the feeling of being in power, the idea of wanting to take control of Luoyang City gradually bubbled in his head.

    However, he had no reason nor the ability to stop Zhang Mu. If other bases could obtain help from Zhang Mu, they would be able to firm their foothold and quickly develop, and that, from mankind¡¯s perspective, was something extremely advantageous. Moreover, half of Wang Liang¡¯s current abilities were gained from his exchanges from Zhang Mu, so how could he possibly hold Zhang Mu back from going elsewhere?

    Still, Wang Liang asked Zhang Mu carefully, ¡°Brother Mu, can you not sell them the standard weapons and armour? As for the grains, I raise both hands in agreement for the exchange of those. After all, I don¡¯t want to see our own kind being starved to death.¡±

    Zhang Mu had guessed that Wang Liang would bring it up when he was asking Wang Liang for the locations of the other bases. He gazed at Wang Liang for a while and said leisurely, ¡°I will sell to their bases half the amount of the standard weapons and armour ordingly that I sold to you, and I won¡¯t sell more than ten sets of arms to each base. As for the food, you¡¯re right, I don¡¯t want to see them being starved to death either. The price of the grains naturally won¡¯t increase, but exactly how much they are able to purchase will depend on their ability to afford it.¡±

    Zhang Mu paused for a while and looked at the Wang Liang who was seemingly calm but tinged with nerves, observing his expression. ¡°However, you owe me a favour.¡±

    ¡°Of course! Brother Mu, even if you don¡¯t agree to my request, I¡¯d still owe you a lot! Half it is then.¡±

    Wang Liang knew that the additional half of the weapons he had on his hand was more than enough to draw apart his base¡¯s ability from the other bases; once you were ahead, you would always be ahead. Therefore, he readily told Zhang Mu of all the habitations he knew.

    Zhang Mu admired his frankness, which was why he had helped him; Wang Liang was a suitable partner whom he was able to work with in the long term. It wasn¡¯t a bad thing either to aid him in uniting the rest of the bases in Luoyang City.

    However, Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t channel too many resources to him, as there was a high probability for that to alter too much of the world otherwise. If Zhang Mu could keep to this world¡¯s original path, he would do his best to stick to it.

    He had experienced the uneasy feeling of facing the unknown; all that he could do to redeem was to prevent the current situation from worsening.

    However, if Wang Liang was someone who disappointed him, it would be useless no matter how much resources Zhang Mu invested in him.

    ...

    For the next three days, Zhang Mu rode on therge, mutated wolfdog strolling around in the city, and visited over ten bases in the city with the information Wang Liang had provided him.

    Yes, visit... but perhaps not with the friendliest approach, or for the first visit at least. However, he didn¡¯t have much of a choice either. He had spoken nicely initially, but nobody spared him a nce. After that, he didn¡¯t want to waste his time so he changed his behavior and smashed through the doors of every base he went to to call their leader out.

    It turned out that violence indeed was the best method to solve things. When the leaders, donning darkened expressions, saw the resources Zhang Mu had with him, their eyes gleamed as bright as they could get. If Zhang Mu¡¯s strength had not shocked them, they probably would have just pounced on him and robbed him bare.

    Of course, there were a few brainless ones that attempted just that despite witnessing his powerful disy of base-intrusion. He had been talking very harmoniously, and had even made an exhibit to frighten them in ce, but they were as though blinded by greed. Not only did they want the food and weapons, but they also coveted Zhang Mu¡¯s ring that was rumoured to contain a spatial dimension.

    In the face of that, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t bother with the negotiations any longer. The moment the people surrounded him, they became the Bloodvine Demon Lotus¡¯s food. Even though the corpse, sucked dried of blood and thrown on the grown in disdain, were of no worth, they were sufficient to scare the living hell out of the other people. At that, they scattered, not even daring to look back.

    Zhang Mu scratched his face, murmuring, ¡°Am I really that scary?¡±

    The Bloodvine Demon Lotus danced in the air, as if replying: ¡°Maybe, probably, perhaps, there is such a possibility.¡±

    Even though there were some setbacks along the way, the end result was bountiful. Zhang Mu looked at his ring fully packed with five thousand crystals and felt satisfaction. Even though none of the ten bases had enough ability to exchange an amount anywhere near Wang Liang¡¯s base, the sum of all the crystals he received was still quite arge number.

    Though Zhang Mu would be able to collect five thousand crystals on his own with the help of the Bloodvine Demon Lotus, it would be too tiring. What Zhang Mu was doing was throwing the line to catch arge fish; he didn¡¯t mind these short-term profits as much.

    The most important thing now was to help the people in Luoyang firm the foothold and develop rapidly.

    Now that Zhang Mu had sold out all the foods and weapons he had, it was time to fulfill his promise¡ªhelp Little ck evolve to the second rank!

    Zhang Mu sat on a chair in a yard, one which Wang Liang had specially left for him, and turned the Evolution Potion in his hand, his legs crossed.

    At the same time, Little ck and the mutated wolfdog stared at the potion eagerly. They instinctively knew that that potion was something that could help them evolve to the second rank.

    Ceasing his teasing, Zhang Mu gestured for Little ck¡¯s head to inch this side, and under the mutated wolfdog¡¯s envious gaze, he opened the stopper and dumped the entire potion into Little ck¡¯s widely opened mouth.

 Chapter 69 - Cocooning

    Chapter 69: Cocooning

    The second-ranked evolving potion was poured into Little ck¡¯s mouth. It worked instantly and Little ck¡¯s back started to radiate blue lights.

    The blue lights appeared from its belly and flowed to its back, finally gathering together on its head in a ring of light after another. Little ck shook its head painfully, but Zhang Mu could not help it and did not dare to help it, because it could only finish its evolution all by itself. There was nothing that other people could do.

    Zhang Mu had not obtained a mutated animal even in his past life. Other people would not let their mutated animals expose in public when their mutated animals started evolving, because it was the weakest moment of their mutated animals. Therefore, Zhang Mu knew very few about mutated animal¡¯s evolution.

    He only knew that he shouldn¡¯t touch Little ck at this time, because it may interrupt its evolution. If it happened, the worst consequence may break the animal core in Little ck¡¯s head, which meant Little ck¡¯s death.

    Although Zhang Mu looked insouciant, but he had asked Wang Liang to notice his people that no one could go to this yard before he came out. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t put his safety into someone else¡¯s hands. He had released the Bloodvine Demon Lotus and asked it to hide under the ground. Its vines had covered the whole yard to make sure that no one could bother him.

    Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t seen mutated animal¡¯s evolution with his eyes, naturally, he was inexperienced. He could only do everything he thought that may be helpful to Little ck. But his sixth sense was sensitive. He suddenly felt worried about Little ck and one secondter, the mental bond between Little ck and him had be unstable. He could feel Little ck¡¯s pain.

    Was Little ck in a dilemma now?

    Zhang Mu put his eyes on Little ck¡¯s body and surprisedly found a details he neglected before: Little ck was shivering!

    However, he still didn¡¯t know what the reason was, so he couldn¡¯t do anything effective.

    Looking at this scene, a wave of fear appeared in the mutated wolfdog¡¯s eyes. It bared its teeth and growled at Little ck. Yuan Rui tried to help Little ck with her healing ability, but Zhang Mu stopped her.

    Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu in surprise. Zhang Mu exined, ¡°Little ck hasn¡¯t been hurt, so your healing energy can¡¯t help it. On the contrary, if a strange energy has entered its body, it may break the bnce in its body. You may kill Little ck.¡±

    Yuan Rui hurriedly drew back her hands and covered her mouth, looking at Little ck with a mixture of worry and surprise. Was Little ck facing such a bad situation?

    Zhang Mu also felt regretful. He knew too little about mutated animal. He could do it after knowing much about Little ck¡¯s body.

    Suddenly, Little ck called him through the mental bond between them, ¡°Give me... wind-type... animal cores...¡±

    After that, Little ck said nothing, as if it had passed out.

    Zhang Mu saw light suddenly. Yes, wind-type animal cores! They were the same type with Little ck¡¯s animal core! They were what Little ck needed right now!

    Undoubtedly, the second-ranked evolving potion was effective, because the blue lights hadn¡¯t stopped, which meant that it was continuously stimting Little ck¡¯s animal core. However, Little ck had eaten too much animal cores of other types, which had interfered the process of refining its own animal core.

    As this idea shed by Zhang Mu¡¯s mind, he had put out a bag of wind-type animal cores from his Merchant¡¯s Ring.

    Fortunately, he had the habit to ssify all the goods he had, otherwise, it would be troublesome to find wind-type animal cores from a mess.

    He immediately put a wind-type animal core to Little ck¡¯s mouth, but due to pain, Little ck was clenching its teeth lightly. Zhang Mu painstakingly opened a crack of its mouth and put the wind-type animal core into it.

    Instantly, it had an effect. Little ck¡¯s body was shivering painfully at first, but after eating the wind-type animal core, its pain was apparently alleviated for a moment.

    Zhang Mu got anxious right away. He shouted at Little ck¡¯s head, ¡°You fool! Open your mouth! Open your mouth!¡±

    Little ck had finally recovered its control of its body for a while. After seeing Zhang Mu¡¯s voice, it strenuously opened a crack of its mouth, but it seemed that had exhausted its strength. Its mouth would shut at any time.

    Seeing this, Zhang Mu immediately poured all the wind-type animal cores into Little ck¡¯s mouth. Some animal cores dropped on the ground, he quickly picked up them and put them into its mouth again and covered its mouth with his hands.

    In Little ck¡¯s stomach, these wind-type animal cores instantly underwent chemical reactions with the second-ranked evolving potion. Gradually, Little ck stopped shivering. It seemed that it had begun gently absorbed the energy in the evolving potion into its body.

    As the blue lights on Little ck had be soft, Zhang Mu smiled. He knew that Little ck had almost seeded.

    Growwl!

    Suddenly, Little ck growled.

    Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui were frightened. Zhang Mu was going to scold Little ck, but suddenly, Little ck vomited ck threads from its mouth. He immediately drew back Yuan Rui and leapt away.

    Ten secondster, a ball of big, ck cocoon appeared in the center of the yard. Zhang Mu started at it in mute amazement. He swallowed in surprise, ¡°Oh, Little ck is cocooning! Is it really a beetle? It looks like a silkworm now!¡±

 Chapter 70 - Become Frenzied

    Chapter 70: Be Frenzied

    Zhang Mu rubbed his ears with a bitterly smile. He withdrew the Bloodvine Demon Lotus and had to ept his bad luck withoutint. Well, he didn¡¯t know when Little ck would be able to break the cocoon, so he had to wait.

    Zhang Mu walked out of the yard and was scared by the scene in the front of him. A crowd of people were standing outside of the door and surrounded the yard. Everyone was holding a weapon in their hands, and some people were standing on their toes, peeping at the yard.

    However, Wang Liang was standing in front of them motionless, so they didn¡¯t dare to break into the yard.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Zhang Mu asked in confusion.

    Seeing Zhang Mu, Wang Liang took out a sigh of relief. He looked at Zhang Mu and said with a smile, ¡°All the people in the habitation had heard a growl from your yard. Other people thought that it must be a mutated animal who had sneaked into the habitation, but I remembered your words, so I stopped them.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see. It was from my little pet. Don¡¯t mind it,¡± Zhang Mu exined and waved his hands.

    ¡°Ok, I will tell everyone it. Don¡¯t me them. Last time, a lot of mutated animals had broken into our habitation and caused a lot of damage. They were really scared!¡± Wang Liang said. Zhang Mu had be more powerful in his heart. He was the leader of the habitation, naturally, he knew every evolver¡¯s ability here.

    He thought that Zhang Mu was just a tamer-type evolver in the past. ording to the words from the tamer-type evolvers in this habitation, every person could only tame a mutated animal, and it was hard to tame strong mutated animals.

    Wang Liang had known that Zhang Mu had a mutated wolfdog, but the sound he heard just now couldn¡¯t be from a wolfdog! Therefore, there would be only one reason that could exin it: Zhang Mu had another mutated animal!

    In Wang Liang¡¯s heart, Zhang Mu had be more and more mysterious. Zhang Mu had wealth, trading skill and boldness, and now, his power was even out of his imagination. If Zhang Mu was his enemy, he would have a headache.

    Fortunately, Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t his enemy but his cooperation partner. He even agreed to help Wang Liang achieve his ambition.

    Thinking of this, Wang Liang felt relieved. Since Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t his enemy, he¡¯d better to cooperate with Zhang Mu, so that he could obtain better benefits in the future.

    Only benefit was the biggest guarantee to maintain a friendship.

    Wang Liang turned back and looked at his people. He didn¡¯t speak.

    Looking at Wang Liang¡¯s eyes, they immediately stopped talking and waited Wang Liang to speak.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Brother Mu had told me that the growl was from his mutated animal. He also feels sorry for disturbing us. Everyone, go back to work now!¡± Wang Liang¡¯s voice was dignified. Obviously, his people believed in him.

    ¡°Oh, I see. The growl was from this man¡¯s mutated animal! Does it mean that he is very strong?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I had never heard any sound that could be as mighty as the growl. Now we know the reason. All well and good.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good for our habitation to have such a strong evolver. Nothing serious. My mind is at rest.¡±

    ¡°Go, go, go! Go back to work, guys. Don¡¯t just hang about!¡±

    People felt relieved after hearing Wang Liang¡¯s words. They nodded and talked with each other, leaving this ce in bands of two or three. The growl would only be a topic of conversation at their leisure time.

    Seeing that people had all left, Wang Liang looked at Zhang Mu and asked, ¡°Brother Mu, what¡¯s your n? Do you want to kill the walking dead crowds with us? You can have one-third of the spoils. What do you think about it?¡±

    One-third of the spoils wasn¡¯t less. Zhang Mu hadn¡¯t exposed his Bloodvine Demon Lotus to them and Wang Liang had agreed to give him one-third of the spoils. It was really a sincere move.

    However, Zhang Mu smiled and shook his head, ¡°Thanks, but I won¡¯t go to hunt walking dead with you, because I don¡¯t need crystals right now.¡±

    Yes, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t really care about crystals now. If Wang Liang knew that Zhang Mu could wipe out a walking dead crowd far faster than all the evolvers in the habitation, he would be bbergasted.

    Wang Liang smiled bitterly. He wanted to show his goodwill with the huge profit, but he didn¡¯t expect that Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care about his ¡°huge profit¡±. He was more curious about what Zhang Mu was going to do.

    Zhang Mu knew what Wang Liang was thinking, but he had nothing to hide. He looked to the sky and said slowly, ¡°I will go to hunt mutated animals. I need all their animal cores!¡±

    Wang Liang was shocked by Zhang Mu¡¯s crazy idea. Zhang Mu was actually nning to catch all mutated animals in one draft? It was insane! For a moment, Wang Liang was worried about would Zhang Mu asked him to help him. No, I won¡¯t y this crazy game with him! Wang Liang thought in his heart.

    Zhang Mu clearly knew what Wang Liang was thinking. He smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t need your people to take risk with me. I will go to hunt mutated animals alone. However, I need your people to look for mutated animals¡¯ locations for me. I will give you foods and weapons in return. No upper limit.¡±

    Wang Liang had prepared to refuse Zhang Mu, however, the three words, ¡°No upper limit¡± had aroused his greed. His eyes gradually turned green with desire.

 Chapter 71 - Uproar Over Some Tasks

    Chapter 71: Uproar Over Some Tasks

    Following Zhang Mu and Wang Liang¡¯s discussion on their coboration, the orders issued down had everyone in the base exploding in an uproar, akin to pouring a bowl of tap water into a wok full of boiling oil.

    ¡°Say, did you hear? Boss Wang Liang said that the new Boss Zhang is going to assign us the task to hunt some mutated beasts.¡±

    A short, stocky man in a short coat pulled another man beside him and said while looking at a ckboard that Wang Liang had somehow dug up. Atop, white, chalk-written words crowded the board; the evolver writing was an ex-teacher Wang Liang had found.

    The crowd around the ckboard had gathered as a result of a yowl reverberating throughout the base that a sonic evolver had emitted to summon everyone over.

    The guy that had been pulled was a lean youth with eyes glinting green. He was evidently very attracted by thest paragraph of the notice.

    ¡°A hundred kilograms of grain and twenty kilos of drinking water will be given in exchange for the specific coordinates to a mutated herd¡¯s den. This is fifty times the wages we daily earn from the base! On top of that, if we are able to record the habitual patterns of mutated herds and provide more detailed information, we can get more remuneration. The person thates with the most intelligence can receive a set of standard equipment just like the ones those two guards are holding. In fact, the ones given as a reward will have much better defense.¡±

    ¡°What incredible rpense! Qin Feng, hurry! Grab your weapon and let¡¯s go!¡±

    The man whom the lean youth called Qin Feng had an appearance thatcked some of the gracefulness of his name. Unlike his friend that got carried away by the promise of rewards, he appeared rtively calm.

    ¡°Remember! You may lose your life before you even manage to earn the prize! Have you forgotten how formidable those mutated beasts are? Hundreds of walking dead were stomped dead by just a few elephants.¡± He murmured.

    ¡°Also, that evolver we followed before, he was strong enough to summon water elementals wasn¡¯t he? But so what? He still died after being pierced by the two-story-high elephants¡¯ tusks, torn apart and cleanly devoured up by them.

    ¡°You can¡¯t possibly have forgotten such a dreadful scene already, can you? If it weren¡¯t for that car we hid ourselves under and the fact that we had kept our breathing light, we would long have be the dung those elephants pooped after being ingested as food.¡±

    The lean youth and Qin Feng were sworn friends. Although the teenager was a little unreliable at times, he was extremely loyal to his friends. Hence, Qin Feng was willing to exin everything to him so tirelessly.

    His friends previously zing eyes, upon being reminded of the time when the two hid, their lives in the hands ofdy luck, instantly dimmed down. It was as if he had been doused with cold water. Even his fervent heart lost its high morale instantaneously.

    ¡°Oh yeah, bro, you¡¯re right. I must¡¯ve lost my mind just now. Once on shore, one prays no more, huh. Back then, we had nearly rushed out with that arrogant water-type evolver. If you hadn¡¯t pulled me back, I¡¯d have died long ago. I never seem to be able to learn my lessons.¡± Knocking himself on his head, the lean guy said, irate and grumbling, ¡°but we can get a lot in return! Just one piece of information is worth the amount that we painstakingly earn at the base for a whole month. I¡¯m starving! The amount of ration we receive from the leader is so small that we need to eat frugally. We also need to work so hard on top of that. Exactly how are the food we¡¯re getting going to fill us at this rate?¡±

    It actually wasn¡¯t Wang Liang¡¯s fault though. It was because there was too little food in stock. As a result, he had to n where every kilo of grains went carefully. His base would run out of food within two days if he let everyone feast extravagantly.

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t me Boss Wang. We can clearly see the amount of food we have at the base; we only have that much and the awakened evolvers have priority.¡± Qin Feng consoled the distressed lean youth as a light flitted past his eyes, ¡°However, if it is just to poke around for some information from a distance, the situation¡¯s not as hopeless as they seem.¡±

    Actually, the both of them were evolvers as well. However, they were in the same situation as Zhang Mu. They were the most basic and ordinary evolvers and only their physical strength and agility had slightly increased.

    Nevertheless, if it was only scouring for information, it was possible for them to aplish the tasks with their abilities if they were cautious.

    After they received their pay, the hundreds of kilograms of food and water would be enough to support them for a long time. It was seriously annoying to only feel half-full!

    Right now, this was definitely an opportunity for them!

    When not engaged in directbat, there wasn¡¯t much of a differences between an awakened evolver and them. When battling in close quarters however, their injury and death rate was very high.

    After listening to Qin Feng¡¯s analysis, the youth¡¯s extinguished enthusiasm was immediately rekindled, ¡°Alright! Bro Qin, I¡¯ll listen to what you say.¡±

    ¡°By the way, do you know anything about Boss Zhang? He seems to be a deep-pocketed man, sharing his tens of thousands of kilograms of food without hesitation. He even dares to take advantage of those mutated beasts, and arge one it seems yet here we are fretting about theming to attack us.¡±

    Qin Feng looked at the words on the big ckboard again. They were written in a powerful penmanship, a transcription of Zhang Mu original words, and emanated extreme confidence. Qin Feng smiled bitterly. ¡°Right! There already exists arge gap between the awakened evolvers¡¯ abilities and ours. But now, it seems that Boss Zhang is thinking that there are insufficient of numbers in our base for him to make use of.

    ¡°It is a truth that there would always be someone better than us. Here we are, struggling to find food and clothing in order to survive, while he¡¯s already preparing to expand. How remarkable!¡±

    Simr conversations sounded in every corner of the base. Zhang Mu¡¯s sudden notice whipped up a huge thunderstorm in this quiet base, luring into its whirlwind every single man tempted by the profits.

    If it hadn¡¯t been Wang Liang¡¯s instructions that all evolvers must finish clearing the walking dead before they do individual missions, even they would have dropped their tasks at hand toplete that assignment.

    The hundred kilos of food and twenty kilos of water represented an immense fortune even to evolvers, more so to the ordinary people. What¡¯s more was that if they could wear the set of standard equipment, they¡¯d gain anotheryer of protection in this dangerous world. After all, not all menace could be warded off with only abilities.

    In the meantime, the Boss Zhang that was been mentioned in every conversation was standing on the rooftop of a high-rise building. He stood close to the edge and watched Luoyang City under his feet, no one knew what he was thinking.

    This time, Yuan Rui wasn¡¯t beside him. It was Wang Liang who climbed this tall building with him. Heined to Zhang Mu in frustration. ¡°Brother Mu, I issued that notice like you wanted but the evolvers who worked under me are almost all lured away by you. Even I, the leader of this base, wants to work for you now.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s sure good being rich!¡± Wang Liang said with a sigh.

    Zhang Mu only smiled and said nothing in reply.

    ¡°However, Brother Mu, won¡¯t the expenditure be very high? Are you able to afford the thousands of kilos of food at the moment?¡± Wang Liang asked Zhang Mu with anxiety. Although he had no idea of how much food thetter had on hand, he knew that Zhang Mu had made deals with the leaders of other bases as well as himself. Did he have lot left? If Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t able to pay up, it¡¯d be a big blow to his reputation.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. As of right now, I¡¯m able to cover this amount of food easily.¡±

    After which, he nced knowingly in a direction and said slowly. ¡°Besides, after seven days, I can give you as much food as you want.¡±

 Chapter 72 - Running Around Trying Everything

    Chapter 72: Running Around Trying Everything

    First, Zhang Mu rode on the mutated wolfdog out of the Luoyang City and tried to find the trace of the mutated animals, but found nothing after searching for a whole afternoon. She even wondered the wolfdog had something wrong with its nose.

    However, after seeing the wolfog¡¯s innocent eyes, he had left with a sigh. There was no mutated animal in this direction. It was time to return to the gathering ce now.

    Fortunately, after returning to the gathering pce, Wang Liang offered Zhang Mu a list of the locations where mutated animals had appeared. Zhang Mu felt lucky. After all, seeking for information wasn¡¯t something about power. The two hundred old people, children and women were indeed more useful than his mutated wolfdog at this point.

    As it was getting darker, Zhang Mu gave up to go out of the city this time.

    He looked through the notes which recorded the information about mutated animals, from time to time, he marked several ces and nned to search these ces first. After deciding the first five locations he would go to investigate, Zhang Mu turned off the light and went to his bed.

    ...

    The second day, Zhang Mu took out a ton of food and told Wang Liang to give them to the people who had offered him the informations. He would give them the whole rewards after actually finding mutated animals at these ces, and the foods were just their basic wages.

    After all, in order to look for mutated animals for him, these people didn¡¯t work in the gathering ce. If they had no food, they would be starved to death before they obtained the rewards from Zhang Mu.

    Quickly, this good newsforted all people in the gathering pce. They didn¡¯t expect that Zhang Mu would give them food before confirming their news.

    In case some people offered fake information for food, Wang Liang warned the people in the gathering ce. He said once Zhang Mu found no trace of mutated animals in the ces they had reported, the gathering pce would expel the people who dared to offer fake messages.

    After hearing Wang Liang¡¯s warning, no one dared to deceive Zhang Mu, because they didn¡¯t think that they could bear Zhang Mu¡¯s fury.

    When the people in the gathering ce were in full wing, Zhang Mu was having a headache. He did find the traces of mutated animals at the first four locations, but he didn¡¯t witness any of them. Perhaps it was because ordinary people didn¡¯t dare to get close to the mutated animal. They just saw several mutated animals from a distance, then quickly returned to the gathering ce and reported their findings.

    But a day had passed. None of these mutated animals still remained where they were.

    Zhang Mu felt really annoyed, but he didn¡¯t want to me these ordinary people, because they were also taking the risk of their lives.

    Now, the small vige in front of Zhang Mu was thest ce where there was a possibility to find mutated animals. If Zhang Mu still couldn¡¯t find any of them, he thought that he had to run around to try his luck.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t go into the vige directly, because he didn¡¯t know what kind of mutated animal he would see in the vige. The person who found this ce said that he saw dozens of mutated animals in the vige. If it was true, Zhang Mu thought that he must be careful.

    Roar! Roar! Roar!

    As the roaring came from the vige, Zhang Mu clenched his fist and looked at the vige with bright lights in his eyes.

    Finally, I found you!

    There should be dozens of mutated animals in the vige. That was sufficient!

    Zhang Mu got excited. If there was no ident, he would harvest dozens of animal cores soon.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have a better method than to let the mutated wolfdog to provoke them. Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t straightly go to fight a group of unknown enemies. He wasn¡¯t so arrogant. Unlike the mutated wild pigs who didn¡¯t have strong aggression, these mutated animals should be at the top of the food chain of the natural world even before they were mutated.

    The mutated wolfdog was pushed forward by Zhang Mu with reluctance. It walked to the entrance of the vige and hesisted for a while, finally it howled loud as if it given up on itself.

    ¡°Woof! Ruff!!!¡±

    Zhang Mu was surprised. The mutated wolfdog¡¯s sound did sound like a wolf. Was it going to evolve to be a wolf? Zhang Mu was looking forward to its performance.

    Anyway, Zhang Mu had told it that it only needed to provoke the mutated animals in the vige and didn¡¯t need to fight. Plus he promised a lot of crystals and beast cores to it, so it worked so hard.

    Instantly, the roaring in the vige stopped after the mutated wolfdog¡¯s howl.

    The mutated wolfdog pretended to be calm. It put its ws on the ground and nced back at Zhang Mu¡¯s location.

    At this time, the sounds of footstep came from from far anding closer.

    Zhang Mu looked up and took a deep breath.

    There were about a hundred mutated animals! None of them was shorter than the mutated wolfdog and although their bodies had had a great change, Zhang Mu still realized that they were the monarchs of all beasts, tigers!

    A hundred tigers! Perhaps all the tigers from the zoo were here.

    The mutated wolfdog¡¯s body shook like a leaf as being stared by a hundred tigers. Although it was also a strong leader-rank mutated animal, but... they were a hundred tigers!

    However, it still followed Zhang Mu¡¯s order: don¡¯t move before the enemy moves.

    At the same time, the tigers in the first row gave way to a white tiger. The white tiger was a head taller than other tigers, and its white fur made it look dignified.

    Looking down from a height, the white tiger took a nce at the mutated wolfdog. It didn¡¯t expect that it was such a weak enemy.

    It just walked a step forward, the mutated wolfdog had ran away at its full speed, as if it would die at any moment if it stopped.

    The white tiger was astonished. It thought that although the wolfdog was weak, but did have some nuts. However, it just made a step forward, the mutated wolfdog had run away crazily. What a coward!

    The white tiger sniffed and lost interest soon. It growled and gracefully stepped back to the vige.

    After hearing the white tiger¡¯s growl, five tigers walked out of the crowd and chased along the way where the mutated wolfdog ran away. Other tigers also fluttered away.

 Chapter 73 - Let the Hunt Begin

    Chapter 73: Let the Hunt Begin

    Zhang Muughed hiding behind a mound. He didn¡¯t expect that the mutated wolfdog was such a talented ¡°performer¡±.

    But it wasn¡¯t the right time to mock the mutated wolfdog. Zhang Mu quickly adjusted his mood and waited for the wolfdog in silence.

    The mutated wolfdog was only eight hundred metres away from him. At its current speed, it would arrive at his ce within 30 seconds.

    When the mutated wolfdog turned back and started to run, Zhang Mu had summoned the Bloodvine Demon Lotus and ordered it to lurk in the soil. After a few seconds, the Bloodvine Demon Lotus had perfectly made a trap under the ground and awaited the prey.

    At the same time, the mutated wolfdog had sprung out a hundred metres in the blink of an eye, but it immediately remembered Zhang Mu¡¯s task and his threat of ¡°reducing the reward by half¡± if it didn¡¯t perform well, so it slowed down till it heard the tiger roars behind it. Under its control, the distance between itself and the tigers was reduced.

    Although the mutated wolfdog wasn¡¯t smart enough to understand Zhang Mu¡¯s real intent, it still executed Zhang Mu¡¯s ask strictly.

    After a few seconds, the mutated wolfdog already saw Zhang Mu¡¯s hiding location, and the mutated tigers were very close to it. It carefully listened to their footsteps and calcted the distance between them.

    Finally, the mutated wolfdog saw Zhang Mu and howled excitedly, but Zhang Mu warned it with his eyes and hid behind the mound again.

    The mutated wolfdog remembered Zhang Mu¡¯s words. It stopped and slowly turned back, looking at the five fierce tigers with cruelty in its eyes.

    Stupid tigers. Do you really think that I would be scared by five of you?

    Of course, the five mutated tigers didn¡¯t know what the mutated wolfdog was thinking. They just looked at each other in confusion, wondering why the big dog stopped.

    Has it exhausted? Or is it finally ready to have a fight?

    It shouldn¡¯t be the former. But when they saw the mutated wolfdog baring its teeth with a fierce look, they were provoked. How dare a dog challenge the dignity of the monarchs of animals? We will tear it into pieces and eat it!

    A tiger took a step forward, but the mutated wolfdog didn¡¯t make any reaction, which really provoked them. They didn¡¯t believe that the mutated wolfdog was strong enough to challenge them five altogether, so there was only a tiger walking forward and the others surrounded around the mutated wolfdog, in case that it ran away.

    What is tiger? Tiger is the monarch of all beasts, the proudest predator. They disdained to hunt the mutated wolfdog together.

    The mutated wolfdog stared at the mutated tiger fiercely. It wouldn¡¯t be scared if it was a battle one on one, since it had its dignity as a leader rank mutated animal.

    With this idea in its mind, the mutated wolfdog forgot Zhang Mu¡¯s words and was ready to exert the utmost strength. It bared its teeth as its saliva continually dripped on the ground. It prepared to teach the mutated tiger a serious lesson.

    Gradually, the tiger lost patience and walked around the mutated wolfdog, trying to find out its weakness. However, the mutated wolfdog always moved as the tiger walked, staring at it with threatening growls.

    ¡°Woof!¡±

    Surprisingly, the mutated wolfdogunched an attack first. It howled and rushed to the mutated tiger, opening its mouth wide biting at the tiger¡¯s head.

    The tiger was dumbfounded because of astonishment. How dare the mutated wolfdog attack it proactively!

    The mutated wolfdog was even more pretentious than itself!

    In a sh, the mutated wolfdog had bit on the tiger¡¯s throat. Blood spread in the air as the tiger roared in pain.

    The tiger immediately fought back, pping the mutated wolfdog¡¯s body with its big w. But the mutated wolfdog didn¡¯t feel any pain, because it was prepared for it. Its earth-type energy insidiously formed a sharp thorn and pierced through the tiger¡¯s thick w easily.

    The tiger emitted a much more painful howl, but it didn¡¯t dare to attack the mutated wolfdog with its other w. Too treacherous, the mutated wolfdog was too treacherous!

    The tiger didn¡¯t move, because the wolfdog had gripped its throat with its sharp teeth firmly dug inside. If it moved, the wolfdog¡¯s teeth would pierce through its throat, but although it didn¡¯t move, its blood was slowly flowing into the wolfdog¡¯s mouth.

    The mutated tiger was really in a dilemma! It was really facing a life-or-death crisis!

    The other four mutated tigers were shocked by the mutated wolfdog¡¯s behavior. It dared to attack their strongest partner first, and it seeded!

    Even though the four tigers all pounced at the mutated wolfdog, it still had no intention of letting the mutated tiger go. At thest moment, Zhang Mu moved.

    Between the mutated wolfdog and the four tiger, suddenly, countless vines broke through the soil and formed a green wall, blocking all the four tigers¡¯ attacks.

    Seeing Zhang Mu, the mutated wolfdog immediately became alive and kicking again. As if its body suddenly gained a new and strong strength, it finally gnawed through the dying tiger¡¯s throat.

    Before Zhang Mu went to save the mutated wolfdog, he was waiting and calcting the time the remaining tigers in the vige would take to reach this ce. He was waiting for the right time.

    And now, it was the right time!

 Chapter 74 - Erode

    Chapter 74: Erode

    After failing to break through the defense of the Bloodvine Lotus after several attempts, the mutated tigers finally realised the severity of the situation. As they continued to fruitlessly struggle, Zhang Mu summoned the Bloodvine Lotus to constrict their throats before the mutated tigers could make a sound.

    However, there was a reason why the mutated tigers were famous. They were indeed impressive. It didn¡¯t take long before they used their ws and sliced off the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus, which were hard and durable.

    However, even after they ignored the injuries to the soles of their feet and sliced the vines off, a new vine would grow and continue to choke them. It was to make sure that they couldn¡¯t make any sound at all.

    At this moment, the mutated wolfdog threw away the body of a mutated tiger and circled to Zhang Mu¡¯s side. It barked sadly a few times, as thoughining about Zhang Mu¡¯s dy in lending a helping hand.

    Zhang Mu shrugged and helplessly said, ¡°There were over ny-plus tigers left, and also the White Tiger. Why don¡¯t you take care of it? You seem very confident.¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s reply, the mutated wolfdog immediately shook his head and stopped barking. Even if it managed to kill that mutated tiger, it was because the mutated tiger cked off and underestimated it, hence resulting in the chance for it to deal a killing blow. Under normal circumstances, the chances of defeating each other in a confrontation would be equal. This time, it suffered due to the natural attributes of a wolfdog as well as the sneak attack, which left the mutated tiger in shock.

    Hence, forget about the ny mutated tigers, it might not even be able to defeat the four that were imprisoned by Zhang Mu if the tigers attacked it together. Thus, the mutated wolfdog whimpered near Zhang Mu¡¯s feet, appearing rather pitiful.

    On the other hand, Zhang Mu was looking interestingly at the mutated wolfdog cleaning the mutated tiger¡¯s blood off its body. He never imagined that the mutated wolfdog would single-handedly kill a mutated tiger. Seems like it still has some ferocity, ¡°Tsk tsk tsk, this time your performance was not bad. You will have some rewards when we go back.¡±

    The mutated wolfdog immediately lifted his head up upon hearing Zhang Mu¡¯spliment. It looked at Zhang Mu excitedly, shaking its tail.

    The fact that it was able to its use its earth-type energy to form a sharp spike to injure the mutated tiger must be because of the ten earth-type beast-cores that Zhang Mu gave itst time. Without these pure earth-type energies to refine its beast-core, the mutated wolfdog would not be confident to form a sharp spike that would be strong enough to withstand the w by the mutated tiger.

    Before evolving, the spike of the mutated wolfdog would not be able to withstand the heavy blows of the mutated tiger and it would definitely shatter, leaving the mutated wolfdog vulnerable. Even if the mutated wolfdog withstood this blow, it may still lead to a fatal end. When faced with a life and death situation, even a rabbit would bite a person. What about a tiger? Zhang Mu shifted his gaze from the wolfdog that was rubbing his head against him and analysed the situation inside the cage through the Bloodvine Lotus.

    By now, the mutated tigers had almost stopped resisting. They kept cutting the vines that were grabbing their throats, only to have new vines growing out and continuing the task. They couldn¡¯t move an inch.

    Zhang Mu felt that it was about time to end all this. He controlled the Bloodvine Lotus and dragged the four mutated tigers onto the inner walls of the cage made of vines. Short vines immediately grew out and pierced into their bodies. The truth was, the Bloodvine Lotus only had a limited amount of vines. Controlling the four mutated tigers and maintaining the structure of the cage had almost depleted all the resources it could use. Hence, it could only rely on shorter vines to cut through their bodies and suck their blood.

    The Bloodvine Lotus was like a bottomless pit, its vines ceaselessly piercing into their bodies one by one, sucking their blood. If anyone saw this scene, they would have goosebumps all over their body. The scene wasn¡¯t gory, but the death was slow and painful.

    The mutated tigers were losing their vitality. Their feet had stopped moving, even starting to lose the strength to support themselves. Zhang Mu saw that they had no intention of putting up resistance and immediately withdrew the vines that were binding them, instead focusing on draining their blood.

    However, just as Zhang Mu changed his intention, the eyes of the four mutated tigers opened in sync. Zhang Mu got a bad feeling. Thats right, until now, the mutated tigers have not shown their true powers.

    Sure enough, the event took a turn for the worse. The mutated tigers took advantage of the looser vines and managed to create a small gap.

    But, this was enough!

    The four mutated tigers simultaneously spurted mes from their mouth. The mes engulfed the inner walls of the cage made by the Bloodvine Lotus. The defense of the Bloodvine lotus seemed to be breaking soon.

    Oh no! He got careless and didn¡¯t realise that the mutated tigers were fire-types, which could subdue the Bloodvine Lotus. This is bad, Zhang Mu thought. Any one of the mutated tigers could bring out all the other mutated tigers in the vige if their throat is fully opened.

    The mutated tigers watched as the vines which grabbed their throats burned. With almost half the vines burnt, they would be able to give a warning to theirrades soon. Theirrades would definitely avenge them by killing this treacherous man and dog.

    The mutated tigers actually had some intelligence. Their eyes filled with delight as though their n had worked out, as though, in the end, Zhang Mu would still lose to them. Through the thin outer wall, the foremost tiger could see Zhang Mu. Their eyes met.

    Zhang Mu had no idea what to do now. The minute these mutated tigers roared, they could only run. The White Tiger gave him a very dangerous feeling. If there was a choice, he wouldn¡¯t want to confront the White Tiger that seemed close to evolving to the second rank.

    As he was thinking about this, Zhang Mu had already prepared to run. He was calcting how long the other mutated tigers would take to get here after hearing the roars of these trapped tigers, in order to decide if he could safely retrieve the beast-cores of these five mutated tigers. He was not prepared to leave empty-handed after using so much effort to fight the mutated tigers.

    However, the long awaited roars never came. He turned around in surprise, only to realise that the mutated tigers were in shock as well. The vines that were burnt had regrown back with new vines which constricted the throats of the mutated tigers even tighter.

    Zhang Mu eyes lit up as he realised what had happened.

    The Bloodvine Lotus had undergone a fiery baptism in the hands of Era merchant No. 35. Hence, the healing power it received from its mutation allowed it to gain a resistance to fire. The power of the mutated tigers was much weakerpared to the fiery hell of Era merchant No. 35.

    This meant that one of the few weaknesses of the Bloodvine Lotus ¨C fire ¨C was no longer relevant.

 Chapter 75 - Great harvest?

    Chapter 75: Great harvest?

    At this moment, Zhang Mu was filled with mixed emotions. He thought that the situation had spun out of control and that he would have to end this battle by running away defeated. However, he was pleasantly surprised by the power of the Bloodvine Lotus.

    Most of the mutated nts, including the Bloodvine Lotus, would have an innate fear towards fire. No matter what supplementary energies they possessed, their foundation was the earth-type energy. This led to a ring constraint. Due to the mutual restriction within the five elements, mutated nts would be more or less be affected, mentally and/or physically, when they met with a fire-type energy opponent.

    But, this problem wasn¡¯t as serious for the Bloodvine Lotus.

    If he knew that the mutated tigers were fire-types, Zhang Mu would¡¯ve been extra careful when fighting them and would not give them any chance to use their energy. He would kill them with a single blow.

    However, Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t aware. Hence, he chose the safer way. Instead of directly ordering the Bloodvine Lotus to use its hidden vines to prate the skulls of the mutated tigers and retrieve the beast-cores, he chose to imprison them and slowly suck their life out. The advantage of slowly weakening them was to reduce the energy of their thrashing, and reduce the chances that they would roar. Unfortunately, this gave the intelligent mutated tigers a chance to turn the tables around and to almost destroy Zhang Mu¡¯s n.

    Fortunately, the Bloodvine Lotus had already formed a resistance to mes which not only reduced the damage it took, but also caused the vines which were sent out to regenerate continuously even as they got burnt. Just like a rebirth in fire.

    After ncing at the bodies of the mutated tigers, Zhang Mu pulled out the w of the Obsidian Beetle and urately retrieved the five first-ranked high-quality beast-cores. Then, he signalled the mutated wolfdog to pull a mutated tiger corpse further backwards while he stored the rest of the bodies in his Merchant¡¯s Ring.

    Now, what was left was to stealthily wait for the next batch of prey to fall into his trap.

    Zhang Mu ordered the mutated wolfdog to stay further away. He would handle the rest. The wolfdog had already aplished its mission.

    The mutated wolfdog had already calmed down. Thinking back, if Zhang Mu didn¡¯t help, it would have been shredded to pieces by the four mutated tigers. Consumed by its savagery, it never thought of releasing its bite to retreat.

    The mutated wolfdog didn¡¯t want to continue this crazy act with Zhang Mu anymore. This time five mutated tigers hade. Next time, there may be even more. Who knows how many mutated tigers would being. Zhang Mu even went so far as to strip the skin and remove the bones from one of the mutated tiger¡¯s corpse and tantly left it in the middle of the pathway. The mutated wolfdog gave Zhang Mu a disgusted look as it left to hide far away.

    Zhang Mu was confident in the arrogance of the mutated tigers and the white tiger. They would never believe that theirrades met with danger, and woulde out in search for them just because they have been out for too long. Also, the search party would not have a lot of tigers. At most, there would be five of them, the same number as before. Zhang Mu understood how they felt ¨C these mutated animals had evolved from naturally ferocious animals. Evolution would amplify their emotions, including their arrogance.

    As Zhang Mu used a few bushes as cover as he controlled the Bloodvine Lotus to prate the earth andy in wait beneath the body of the mutted mutated tiger. In the vige, some of the mutated tigers paced around anxiously. They wondered why theirrades took so long to kill a weak-looking wolfdog. Did they sneak off to y? Isn¡¯t that just provoking their boss?

    Those that had blood ties or were closed with the five mutated tigers kept walking in circles, often ncing towards the entrance of the vige.

    Another five minutes passed. They couldn¡¯t sit still any longer. Those five friends must have either met with some danger or got yful and stayed outside. If it was thetter, they would be punished by their boss. Although the White Tiger looked elegant, those that had been brought up by it knew how brutal it can get.

    Thus, they stood up once again and growled a few times at the White Tiger. It looked as though they were asking for permission to bring the five mutated tigers back. If they settled this themselves, the punishment would be much smaller.

    The White Tiger calmly sat on the mostfortable animal skin and nced towards the mutated tigers that stood up. It, of course, knew what its subordinates were thinking. However, it was in a good mood today. It didn¡¯t think that there would be any problems happening to those who chased the timid wolfdog. It had huge confidence in its species. In the bloody massacre in the zoo of Luoyang City, there were no other species of mutated animals which dared to go against it. Hence, the White Tiger never feared anything. Due to the natural advantage of their species and under the influence of evolution, it self-proimed itself as the King of me.

    Thinking about this, it gave a low roar and turned his head, no longer looking at his subordinates. Those mutated tigers that wished to search for their friends and families immediately leapt off as they heaved a sigh of relief.

    Their eyes were filled with anxiety. The other mutated tigers who didn¡¯t have any rtionship with the first batch of tigers gloated over their misfortune. They had seen how the tigers that defied the White Tiger were punished. What the White Tiger wanted wasplete submission. Anyone that went against him, even if they are from the same species, would die a terrible death.

    Zhang Mu waited for fifteen minutes before he saw what he waited for. The big bodies of five mutated tigers appeared in his view,ing in afar with an overbearing aura.

    So really five of them came? They are still as proud as before. Unfortunately, the truth is the scenario that none of you pictured.

    As expected, the mutated tigers saw the corpse of their friend left in in sight and the feelings of disbelief and anger consumed them. In an instant, they rushed to the corpse and held the head which could no longer move.

    Good chance to catch them all at one go!

    Just at this moment, when Zhang Mu was about to act, an incident happened. One of the mutated tigers suddenly gave a loud and sad roar, as though the corpse on the ground belonged to one of its family members.

    This is bad!

    Zhang Mu initially thought that he could carry out the same n again, but he didn¡¯t foresee that thoserades who came over to search would consist of a family member. The strong emotions it felt caused it to give a loud roar.

    Such a piercing and resounding roar. Zhang Mu was certain that the sound reached the vige.

    Zhang Mu squinted his eyes. There is no time to hesitate. He needs to act now and end this fast.

    Even though he had asked the mutated wolfdog to drag the battleground further away, the roar could easily be heard by the other mutated tigers.

 Chapter 76 - Dine â€˜nâ€™ Dash

    Chapter 76: Dine ¡®n¡¯ Dash

    Just like the previous time, numerous vines rapidly formed a cage big enough to enclose the five mutated tigers, shutting them in as they were caught up in their emotions. This time, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t y it safe and acted without dy. Five thick vines decisively and viciously struck at the vital points of the five mutated tigers under his control, not showing any mercy.

    The mutated tiger which was grieving the most was the first to react to the shock given by the Bloodvine Lotus. It immediately realised that this person was the one behind its family member¡¯s death.

    Intuitively, the mutated tiger used all his energy and spurted mes in the direction which emitted danger. The me lit up the dark corners of the cage. To save time, Zhang Mu controlled the vines and faced the huge pir of mes head-on.

    Unavoidably, the outeryers of the vine were damaged the instant they came into contact with the me. However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care about this small injury and continued to charge forward at all costs.

    At the same time, Zhang Mu continuously fed crystals into the main body of the Bloodvine Lotus on his left arm. He had a reserve of nearly ten thousand crystals. The use of a few would do no harm.

    Under the Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus continued vigorously striking with more and more energy even after part of it was burnt. The crystals fed by Zhang Mu converted to a steady stream of energy, pushing it forward.

    The mutated tiger¡¯s eyes were filled with disbelief and anger. After the Bloodvine Lotus broke through the me breath, the emotions changed to fear and enlightenment. It finally understood how its family member died in the hands of Zhang Mu.

    The vine, using the half which was left unburnt and strengthened by the power of the crystals, followed the path of the me and pierced through the mouth of the mutated tiger, cutting through its head. The rest of the mutated tigers met with normal vines. However, under the fierce attack by Zhang Mu, they too died a horrible death.

    While this only took a breath to describe, it took long enough for the other tigers to rush down the mountain and form a circle around Zhang Mu.

    As many as ten mutated tigers surrounded him. They had rushed over under the orders of the White Tiger after hearing the sad and angry roar of itsrade.

    Only ten mutated tigers to settle the danger? Are they still so confident? Do they really think that their species is invincible?

    Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes filled with disdain as he watched the mutated tigers closing in on him. He didn¡¯t feel any fear. Instead, he scoffed at them.

    Too much confidence in their power. Too much confidence in their intelligence. Too much confidence in thinking they can imitate us, humans.

    This was all the opinions that Zhang Mu had of the White Tigermander.

    The ten mutated tigers didn¡¯t imagine this would happen too. They thought that theirrades might have met some other strong animals, but with theirbined strengths and numbers, they could easily defeat them. Also, the sound wasn¡¯t far away, those mutated tigers that just went out would definitelyst until they arrived.

    Therefore they just needed to work together and they can defeat the other party.

    However, when they arrived, they were in shock. The enemy was just a weak-looking human and a weird-looking nt which had twirled into a ball. But after hearing muffled grunts, they recognised that theirrades were trapped inside the cage made by the nt. Hence, the ten mutated tigers gave a low roar and lowered their body, preparing to pounce on Zhang Mu.

    Despite all this, Zhang Mu still calmly stared at the mutated tigers prowling closer and closer. He was waiting.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu¡¯s face lit up. He had a satisfied look. The mutated tigers didn¡¯t know how powerful Zhang Mu was, but after hearing theirrades¡¯ dying roar inside the cage, their fur stood up. The roar was filled with regrets.

    The mutated tigers felt the presence of theirrades within the cage. Their innate abilities were awakened and they threw caution to the wind, even forgetting about the doubt they had about Zhang Mu as he stood there alone yet full of confidence.

    ¡°Hehe, have you all finally decided to act? Too bad, you are all one step toote.¡±

    ¡°You are the King of all animals, why were you all cowed by me so easily?¡±

    Actually, the mutated tigers couldn¡¯t be med for being scared. After rebirthing, Zhang Mu¡¯s aura had changed. He had brought over a part of him from the future and it was showing in him now. The presence of the Bloodvine Lotus alsoplemented his powerful aura. Most importantly, it was the confidence Zhang Mu disyed, the confidence that he could win over anyone or any animals.

    Hence, even though the ten tigers were only five metres away from him, he continued to stare at the biggest mutated tiger right in from of him. This mutated tiger had an exceptionally strong tail that was twice as big as a normal mutated tiger. On the tail, there were sharp thorns with a metallic sheen.

    That caught Zhang Mu¡¯s interest. He didn¡¯t know that he could already see mutated animals possessing a second energy. It has been a while. Although in the future there were many cases of such evolution appearing in mutated animals, they were only first rank now!

    It was still the same. Unique mutually restricting elements appearing together on a mutated animal. Metal restricts fire. Yet, right in front of Zhang Mu, there was living proof that both elements were co-existing. Although the tail and the rest of the body had a different colour, it was still on the same body.

    By right, a mutated animal of this level already had the ability to be a leader. Yet, it remained a subordinate of the White Tiger. How scary was the White Tiger to have this Brown-tailed tiger bow down to it?

    He had not even settled the ten mutated tigers, why bothered thinking about what was going to happen after this? Before this, his n was to slowly encroach the mutated tigers. Now, he realised that it would be impossible. Not including the White Tiger which had note out yet, a normal mutated tiger was enough to defeat a mutated wolfdog.

    Thus, after discovering the Brown-tailed tiger, Zhang Mu felt that he couldn¡¯t continue his n anymore.

    He either never met any enemies, or he would meet so many that he couldn¡¯t digest everything.

    This time, his first mission was not only hard to swallow, but he might end up swallowed instead!

 Chapter 77 - Tough Fight With The Brown-Tailed Tiger

    Chapter 77: Tough Fight With The Brown-Tailed Tiger

    The surrounding tigers charged towards him as the Bloodvine Lotus killed thest of the mutated tigers. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t bother with looting the corpses. There was no time. He ordered the Bloodvine Lotus to unravel its cage and split into more than ten vines to fight against the mutated tigers which were attacking him from all directions. Two vines were barely enough to stop one mutated tiger. Since this wasn¡¯t a sneak attack, he didn¡¯t have an edge over his opponents. However, with some effort, the Bloodvine Lotus could be on par with the mutated tigers.

    Zhang Mu lifted his Obsidian Beetle w. His eyes lit up withpetitiveness as he personally went to attack the brown-tailed tiger.

    The brown-tailed tiger was halfway through his pounce. In mid-air, the energy it used to leap was diminishing, and having just reached the peak of its curve, its momentum was at its lowest. Taking advantage of this situation, Zhang Mu shifted sideways, adjusted his center of gravity and shed towards the right front paw of the brown-tailed tiger.

    He had never thought of fighting the brown-tailed tiger head to head. Even if he had twice the power of an adult, it may not even be on par with a tiger that didn¡¯t go through evolution. This depicted how huge the difference in power was. He was no match against the tiger.

    But, as long as he broke its bnce and took the initiative, things would be much simpler.

    Just as Zhang Mu was going to carry out his n, He suddenly heard a loud roaring from his side. Zhang Mu squinted his eyes. One of the mutated tigers had broken free!

    Of the nine tigers, there was one that possessed greater power. The Bloodvine Lotus had no choice but to use three vines to stop its attacks. This meant one of the normal mutated tigers was being hindered by a single vine, allowing it to break free of the vine¡¯s attack.

    Zhang Mu held the weapon in his right hand, closing in on the brown-tailed tiger. However, to his left, the freed mutated tiger had crouched and was ready to pounce on him.

    A minute ago, Zhang Mu was taking advantage of the tiger¡¯s trajectory to attack the brown-tailed tiger. Now, he got his retribution.

    Just as Zhang Mu was getting sandwiched in between the two tigers, he hurriedly sped up the movement of the Obsidian Beetle w and kept it close to the tiger¡¯s paws. Then, he pushed hard and made used of the rebound to maneuver his body out of the path of attack.

    However, the rise in difficulty of facing two mutated tigers aspared to one doesn¡¯t just lie in the number. What should he do now? He even chose the most difficult tiger, the brown-tailed tiger, to fight.

    He never imagined that this decision would cause him a huge problem. He didn¡¯t know how powerful the brown-tailed tiger was and how finely it could control its earth-type and fire-type powers.

    Just as Zhang Mu had a headache about whether he should continue fighting or retreat, he heard a bark that caused him to be excited.

    ¡°Woof!¡±

    It¡¯s the mutated wolfdog, how can he forgot about it.

    The mutated wolfdog didn¡¯t manage to arrive on time to resolve Zhang Mu¡¯s crisis because the speed of the mutated tigers was too fast. However, its arrival now was at an opportune moment. It activated its earth-type energy on its head. Then, it rammed into the normal mutated tiger which was getting ready tounch a second attack on Zhang Mu. As wolfdogs were shorter than tigers, it made some adjustments and directly hit the soft part of the tiger¡¯s stomach.

    The mutated tiger got caught off guard and was knocked over by the mutated wolfdog. However, the mutated tiger was not one to be messed around with. It shook its head and immediately pounced onto the wolfdog and started biting it. Blood and dust sttered and flew everywhere. No one knows which side would win.

    Zhang Mu was unable to focus on the wolfdog¡¯s battle. The brown-tailed tiger in front of him had lowered its body, one of its paws embedded deep into the ground as it prepared to attack. Its purpose ofing here was to kill Zhang Mu. The fact that it needed a teammate¡¯s help to kill a mere human caused it to boil with anger. This was the reason why it didn¡¯tbine forces with the other mutated tiger to attack Zhang Mu. The wolfdog appeared at just the right moment. Even if it didn¡¯t appear, it was prepared to chase the other mutated tiger away.

    Because the dignity and pride of the tiger species cannot be ndered.

    Actually, Zhang Mu was really against using his own body to fight the battle. The main body of the Bloodvine Lotus was on his left arm. He needed to multitask. On one hand, he had to be careful of the movement of the brown-tailed tiger. On the other, he needed to control the vines that were fighting with those more powerful mutated tigers. As for the normal tigers, he had already left it to the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s own instinct.

    Another reason was his left arm which was connected to the vines. If the brown-tailed tiger was smart enough, it would use this as a loophole to spoil his entire n.

    However, he was not sure what it was thinking currently. Did the thought never cross its mind, or did it feel that this was not worth doing? The brown-tailed tiger¡¯s gaze never once rested on the Bloodvine Lotus on his arm, not even for a second.

    But Zhang Mu liked this kind of upright opponent. If the brown-tailed tiger purposely targeted his left arm, he would be in a huge mess.

    This time, Zhang Mu struck first. He couldn¡¯t wait for the brown-tailed tiger tounch its attack. He needed to be the one in control, the best case scenario was that he would kill the brown-tailed tiger before it took action.

    However, it was obvious that Zhang Mu was too hopeful. The moment he charged forward, a pir of firerge enough to engulf Zhang Mu burst towards him, showing no mercy.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that this fire pir was twice as big in diameter as the ones he saw before. He miscalcted the space he had for dodging. He could never evade the fire pir with his own strength.

    He promptly controlled the main body of the Bloodvine Lotus and hit the ground forcibly before rebounding off. Even like this, he only just managed to dodge the fire pir.

    However, what Zhang Mu didn¡¯t predict was that the fire pir actually split apart by itself. At first, he thought that a me of this magnitude could only sustain itself for a short while.

    However, Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t smile anymore because the fire pir didn¡¯t fade away naturally but was cleaved apart by the brown-tailed tiger. A sharp metallic glint appeared in front of Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes like a ghost, causing him to feel a sense of crisis.

    The w arrived before he saw the tiger.

    This brown-tailed tiger actually managed to direct its metal-type energy into its ws. Yet, it still hid it so well. Zhang Mu felt helpless. The Bloodvine Lotus was unable to help him. Zhang Mu knew that it had reached its limit after forcibly using some its strength just now and realising that it almost couldn¡¯t lock down some of the normal mutated tigers.

    He could only rely on himself. He took the initiative and charged forward with the Obsidian Beetle w. As the two objects collided, the Obsidian Beetle w immediately let out a grinding sound, as though it was overwhelmed by the force it met with.

 Chapter 78 - The cost of assumption

    Chapter 78: The cost of assumption

    Zhang Mu felt disheartened as he looked at the Obsidian Beetle w. Luckily, even though the brown-tailed tiger¡¯s strike was filled with metal-type energy, the w was able to withstand the blow due to its strong and hard material. Zhang Mu silentlymended the Obsidian Beetle.

    However, this was just the start. It was only the first contact with the brown-tailed tiger and the tiger had not shown its true power yet. But, Zhang Mu was not going to let it have the chance to do so. Humans would have been annihted by mutated animals if they just battled based on strength alone. This is a natural weakness of the human race. Taking himself as an example, he is a human that had taken strength potions and was already considered one of the strongest aside from those who were purely strength-type evolvers.

    Yet, he still didn¡¯t dare fight head-on with theserge sized animals, not even attempting to put up a bit of resistance. What he needed to do now was to use his agility and out maneuver his opponent.

    However, Zhang Mu was in an awkward position. His left hand was restricted from doing anything and could at most maintain bnce. He also couldn¡¯t borrow any power from the Bloodvine Lotus. Rather, he would be thankful if it didn¡¯t cause him any hindrance.

    Before the brown-tailed tiger could disy its true power, Zhang Mu shed his dagger at its sharp ws, creating sparks. Zhang Mu slowly moved back as he struck. Hence, even though the brown-tailed tiger kept attacking him, its ws didn¡¯t rake him. Its strength continued to dwindle as it attacked.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu once again evaded the brown-tailed tiger. The brown-tailed tiger and him had shuffled backwards at every strike and had covered quite a distance. Yet, the viciousness in the brown-tailed tiger¡¯s eyes got stronger as it looked at Zhang Mu angrily but helplessly.

    Zhang Mu was like a small and agile eel. It couldn¡¯t use its strength on him at all. The distance between them continued to remain to same. Zhang Mu seemed to be using his body as bait to catch it. This was very irritating. The brown-tailed tiger wanted to bring down Zhang Mu using one strike and hence, its power was dwindling and it was unable to continue its burst of strength. However, what was even more frustrating was that as its speed slowly decreased, Zhang Mu¡¯s followed, keeping the distance the same.

    The brown-tailed tiger gradually slowed down. It decided to use slower strikes with more weight behind them, hopefully, it would no longer be dragged around by the nose by Zhang Mu. It would definitely control its strength this time.

    But, would Zhang Mu give it this opportunity?

    Obviously, he was not someone who would give his opponent any chances. He was not so kind and stupid.

    Just as the brown-tailed tiger was going to swipe at him, Zhang Mu sniggered and stared right at the brown-tailed tiger, speaking calmly and quickly, ¡°Thinking about how to attack me after being yed around with? You are still too young. You just evolved and yet you think that you are on par with human beings? Let¡¯s not talk about you. Even your next few generations will never reach that state.¡±

    The brown-tailed tiger obviously couldn¡¯t understand what Zhang Mu was saying, but it understood the disdain in his eyes.

    This human wants to mock me? He is just a weak human being, yet he is looking at me as though I am his prey. The simple-minded brown-tailed tiger still couldn¡¯t understand the situation. Even if Zhang Mu had killed so many of its species, it still thought that it was just based on trickery, setting a trap which seeded. However, it didn¡¯t know that Zhang Mu¡¯s capabilities were also very scary.

    In a split moment, Zhang Mu acted. He still had strength left! The Obsidian Beetle w was put to use as it struck one more time and pierced straight into the forelimb of the brown-tailed tiger.

    Its skin was not as resilient as its ws and it was easily prated by Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu chose a very tricky spot. Hence, the result was Zhang Mu kept moving his dagger as he dashed, causing the dagger to move the same distance inside the brown-tailed tiger¡¯s forelimb.

    The brown-tailed tiger let out a painful roar. Zhang Mu looked at the dagger which was embedded deep inside the tiger¡¯s body. He knew that his n had worked! He had destroyed the muscles and tendons in the tiger¡¯s forearm!

    At that moment, however, Zhang Mu suddenly felt a strong premonition of danger.

    A huge ck shadow appeared in Zhang Mu¡¯s line of vision. It was the tail of the brown-tailed tiger.

    How can this be? It can control its tail with such skill?

    Zhang Mu had thought about the tail before. However, his position now was quite far away from his assumption of the tail¡¯s attacking range.

    When the huge tail smacked his body, Zhang Mu finally understood how much he had underestimated the mutated tiger.

    The length of the tail didn¡¯t change. But, what had hit Zhang Mu was a brown glow of light which extended from the tip of its tail. It was the same colour as the tip of the tail. Only when it was nearer did he feel the minute difference.

    However, it was toote to react now. This short glow of light exceeded Zhang Mu¡¯s prediction of the range of attack for its tail, striking Zhang Mu hard.

    Zhang Mu only had time to change the area of impact by turning around and receiving the full force of the attack. The flesh on his back was mutted and he flew from the attack.

    This metal-type energy not only resulted in external injuries to Zhang Mu, it also prevented his wounds from healing.

    This brown-tailed tiger sacrificed its forelimb to heavily injure Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu supported himself with much difficulty. Without any hesitation, he took out a first-rank recovery potion from his Merchant¡¯s Ring and gulped it down, coldly eyeing the brown-tailed tiger as it limped closer.

    Time, he needed more time!

 Chapter 79 - Come And Bite Me

    Chapter 79: Come And Bite Me

    Unfortunately, the brown-tailed tiger didn¡¯t wish to give Zhang Mu this chance. Although its forelimb was crippled by Zhang Mu, causing it to stagger and lose bnce, its mind a singr thought.

    It wanted to destroy Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu, who was knocked flying by the brown tail, tried his best to adjust his position. However, he only managed to make sure that his wound would not suffer another impact. He still flew more than 10 metres before smashing to the ground, his face filled with blood and dirt.

    One step, two steps, the brown-tailed tiger was approaching very quickly. Zhang Mu calcted the different possibilities and realised that he would not be able tost until the effects of the recovery potion restored him.

    Zhang Mu followed the steps of the tiger and slowly moved back with difficulty, trying to stall for time.

    His back was burning with pain. Although the effects of the recovery potion were noticeable, the injury inflicted by the metal-type energy was overbearing. The power of the brown-tailed tiger had not reached a high level but it was enough to dy the action of the recovery potion.

    Thankfully, as there was no more metal-type energy being inflicted on the wound, the power which was preventing the healing of the injury started to dwindle. Hence, the wound was beginning to slowly close up. However, the speed of healing was not able to catch up with the speed at which the brown-tailed tiger was approaching him.

    But, this actually wasn¡¯t the reason why Zhang Mu was unable to stand. The full force blow from the desperate brown-tailed tiger just nownded directly on his spine. The muscles on his back were not strong enough to absorb the entire attack. His spine was hurt really badly.

    Zhang Mu arrived at a decision. He had to take a risk. This seemed to be the only chance he has.

    He shouted at the mutated wolfdog, ¡°Stupid dog, hurry up and run away first.¡±

    The mutated wolfdog was having an intimate battle with the mutated tiger below it. When it heard Zhang Mu¡¯s anxiousmand, although it couldn¡¯t understand the reason, it took a blow from the mutated tiger and left the battlefield with much effort.

    It was still thinking of moving towards Zhang Mu. It thought that Zhang Mu got injured badly and needed it to help him earn some time.

    Contrary to its thinking, Zhang Mu red at it and scolded, ¡°I asked you to run away! Don¡¯t cause trouble for me.¡±

    The mutated wolfdog understood Zhang Mu¡¯s intention and immediately ran away. It wasn¡¯t the least worried that something would happen to Zhang Mu as it recalled the time when it first met him and was captured by him.

    The brown-tailed tiger was also confused. It was ready to attack the mutated wolfdog first before tackling Zhang Mu, but the wolfdog ran away and left Zhang Mu standing by himself. The brown-tailed tiger couldn¡¯t care much. It jogged towards Zhang Mu and opened its mouth widely to bite off Zhang Mu¡¯s head.

    However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t seem the least bothered by it. He was looking at the direction of the wolfdog and silently cursed it, ¡°Even if I asked you to run away do you have to leave so decisively? Are you that confident in me?¡±

    If the wolfdog heard this, it would definitely feel wronged. It did try to help but got scolded by Zhang Mu. That¡¯s why it thought that Zhang Mu must have a way out of his predicament. Also, it was easily captured when it first met Zhang Mu, causing it to have blind faith in the abilities of Zhang Mu.

    Hearing the sound of the brown-tailed tiger approaching, Zhang Mu sneered without even turning his head, ¡°What a joke. Do you want to take my life by yourself? Even if your boss, that white cat, was here, you¡¯ll not be able to do it. Much less just you, the second inmand forever.¡±

    When he said ¡°second inmand forever¡±, Zhang Mu suddenly turned his head and gave the Bloodvine Lotus on his left arm an order.

    He called back all the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus.

    Zhang Mu now was able to smell the stenching out from the mouth of the brown-tailed tiger. However, it didn¡¯t have the chance to take another step forward. It already found it difficult to bnce with three limbs. As the retreating vines swept past, they stabbed and sliced, inflicting grievous wounds and leaving it looking like a tattered pincushion.

    Looking at the regrets in its eyes, Zhang Mu mouth twitched upwards. He craftily snickered and said, ¡°I heard a tiger¡¯s reproductive organ is very good for a man. It must definitely be worth a lot of money.¡±

    If the brown-tailed tiger was still alive, it would definitely use up all its energy and risk its life to tear apart this evil merchant that didn¡¯t even want to leave that bit alone.

    Unfortunately, Zhang Mu had no mood to mock the tiger anymore. His face was white and pale. Controlling the Bloodvine Lotus required a lot of energy. The action of recalling the vines caused Zhang Mu to fall to the ground, half kneeling.

    Seeing a difficult enemy suddenly weakened, the mutated tigers were crept forward. Then they watched as the brown-tailed tiger was killed by Zhang Mu and was held up in the air, its blood sucked out by he Bloodvine Lotus. All of them immediately went crazy and ran towards Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Even if I don¡¯t have much energy now, I have defeated your second-inmand. You all are just extras. Are you all nning to kill me?¡±

    ¡°If yes,e! Come and bite me then!¡±

    Just as Zhang Mu was going to be surrounded by the ten tigers, he grinned and lifted his left arm. The vines instantaneously left the brown-tailed tiger¡¯s body and formed a cage around Zhang Mu, ingraining their roots deep into the ground and not leaving any gaps between them.

    Zhang Mu had created a protective cage around himself.

    Peng! Peng! Peng!

    Sounds of impact kept reverberating inside the cage. It must be the ten mutated tigers ramming into the vines that suddenly appeared. Thereafter, they scratched the vines to no avail. Every time they broke open a hole in the vine, a new vine would emerge cover up the hole.

    However, the effects of the mutated tiger¡¯s mes were more evident. A burnt smell filled the air. The intelligence of these normal mutated tigers had yet to reach a high level. Now that they have lost their leader and were immensely angered by Zhang Mu, they just blindly breathed mes onto every part of the cage, causing no damage at all.

    Listening to the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus crackling in the heat, Zhang Mu appeared calm andposed. He only had to hide in the darkness, on one hand, slowly fed crystals to his left arm, allowing vines to regenerate. On the other hand, the injuries on his back and his spine continued healing.

    He smiled helplessly and slowly muttered, ¡°I should have thought of this earlier.¡±

    ¡°Cutting off one finger is better than damaging ten fingers.¡±

 Chapter 80 - Strategic Retreat

    Chapter 80: Strategic Retreat

    After 5 minutes, Zhang Mu stood up and stretched. This was his first time using the potion and truth to be told, the first-rank recovery potion¡¯s effect matched its price and its rare quantity.

    ¡°Nothing more can be said. You really get what you pay for. Next time I see No. 35 I will give him a 5-star rating.¡±

    Zhang Mu was in a good mood. However, the minute he heard the scratching soundsing from outside the cage, his good mood was destroyed and he started to feel irritated. The joy on his face faded away, ¡°Are they not done yet? When are they nning to stop burning me?¡±

    At this moment, he suddenly thought of a solution that could easily take care of the ten mutated tigers without much effort. He immediately got hyped up again. He whispered in the direction of the mutated tiger, ¡°Since you all want toe in so badly, I shall let you all in.¡±

    Zhang Mu walked around the cage and somewhat identified the different positions of the mutated tigers. In the end, he chose the Southeast direction. There was only a single mutated tiger scratching fervently in this direction. Its Fire-type energy was probably used up already as the vines in this part had not been under any fire attack for the past minute. A fire attack would at least burn ayer of the vines, but if it was just the mutated tiger¡¯s ws, not even half ayer of vines would be affected. This was enough to show how strong and durable the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus was.

    Suddenly, the vines at this part of the cage retracted. The mutated tiger thought that it had scratched opened a hole and immediately felt energised. It pushed one of its ws inside and squeezed its head through the hole. At first, it wanted to grab hold of Zhang Mu¡¯s body. But then, it realised that Zhang Mu was standing not far away and smiling at it, saying, ¡°Wee.¡±

    The mutated tiger instinctively felt that there was danger. It wanted to pull its head out but realised a scary thing. It couldn¡¯t move at all!

    The vines that retracted were moving back into position and the hole was shrinking. The mutated tiger desperately wanted to get out of the cage. It pushed its limbs repeatedly against the walls on the outside of the cage but to no avail. It was stuck.

    The other nine mutated tigers realised that something odd was happening and all gathered around, trying to drag the mutated tiger out. They started attacking the vines that were near the tiger. The vines were in a dire situation. With thebined and concentrated attack of the tigers, the outer walls of the cage got thinner and thinner as the vines were unable to rece itself fast enough,

    However, Zhang Mu had a solution. He just directed all the other vines, except the ones on the outer wall, to this part of the cage. The mutated tigers were too stupid to realise that the defense in the other areas had weakened and continued to look for a breakthrough here. Because of this, the Bloodvine Lotus managed to regenerate fast enough.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t bother about the battle that was happening outside. He was casually inspecting the mutated tiger. The mutated tiger forgot about its fear as it saw Zhang Mu walking nearer and tried to strike. However, it was unable to even touch Zhang Mu. When it attempted to open its mouth, vines appeared and controlled its head, paralysing its movement.

    After stroking the tiger¡¯s beard for a while, Zhang Mu decided to not waste any more time. He immediately pulled out his Obsidian Beetle w and pierced it through the temple of the tiger. The tiger died before it could even cry out in pain. Its body stopped moving and its eyes started to blur.

    Zhang Mu retrieved the beast-core andmanded the Bloodvine Lotus to open a gap the size of a head. He then pushed the head of the dead tiger forcefully, causing it to fall heavily onto the ground behind and kicking up ayer of dust. After that, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t close the gap. Instead, he opened the gap wider and even created another hole.

    Engulfed by pain and hatred, the mutated tigers didn¡¯t sense the danger and walked right into the trap set by Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu immediately carried out his n and reaped their lives. One of the mutated tigers secretly kept a bit of his fire-type energy and wanted to breathe fire on Zhang Mu¡¯s head. However, it was found out by the vines embedded in its body and the Bloodvine Lotus immediately gave a signal to Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu instantaneously directed the vines to protect him against the mes, after which he let the vines close the tiger¡¯s mouth shut, preventing it from releasing its fire-type energy. The fire-type energy was trapped inside the mouth of the tiger. Zhang Mu could feel the heating from its chin. He pierced the w into the tiger and the heat dissipated. Without wasting any time, Zhang Mu pushed the dead tigers out of the hole and repeated his actions again.

    However, when he killed yet another two mutated tigers, the other mutated tigers no longer dared toe close to the cage. This was too scary. Theirrades had died one by one. Their arrogance and ferocity had changed to fear.

    The four mutated tigers wanted to retreat and look for assistance. Zhang Mu smiled as he watched them. He waved at them and said, ¡°Come here,e here.¡±

    The mutated tigers were no longer tricked. The more rxed Zhang Mu appeared, the more in danger they felt. One of the mutated tigers had already backpedalled and was preparing to scamper away.

    ¡°You have all be smarter. It¡¯s an improvement. But, I have used too many crystals to fight with all of you. You need to leave your beast-cores aspensation.¡± Zhang Mu tone became cold as he released all the vines towards the four mutated tigers.

    With an average of five vines to one mutated tiger, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t even need to take any other actions before the Bloodvine Lotus brought back four beast-cores to him. Not dawdling any longer, Zhang Mu kept all of the mutated tigers corpses in his Merchant¡¯s Ring. Those are all worth a fortune.

    ¡°Stupid dog,e out and bring me away from this ce.¡± Zhang Mu shouted to the sky. A few secondster, the mutated wolfdog ran over demurely as it looked at the blood stains on the ground. Zhang Mu hurriedly climbed onto the wolfdog¡¯s back and they ran off to the meeting point.

    As he rode on the wolfdog, Zhang Mu softly said, ¡°This is called a strategic retreat. Right, stupid wolfdog?¡± The wolfdog obediently nodded its head. It also felt that they should have run away sooner.

    More than ten minutes after Zhang Mu had left the battlefield, a loud roar resounded through the vige. The roar was filled with sorrow and anger.

 Chapter 81 - Temptation

    Chapter 81: Temptation

    When Zhang Mu and his wolfdog appeared within the sight of the survival base, the guard opened the gates to wee him as though weing back a guest of honor. Zhang Mu smiled at the guard when he entered the base, surprising the guard and making him feel honored.

    However, the guard was astonished as he saw the hideous wounds on his back. This boss is already so strong. He needed to struggle so hard to win? Thinking back to the calm smile Zhang Mu was carrying on his face, the guard decided to stop worrying. He thought Zhang Mu must have received a huge gain. Since he is back now, he will definitely distribute the rewards.

    The guard¡¯s mood immediately lit up. Although he needs to stay within thepounds of the survival base due to his job, his friends can go out. If any of his friends provide news of a mutated animals base, he will most probably gain free meals for the next few days. If more of his friends provided the news, he can save one month¡¯s worth of food supplies.

    As the guard was daydreaming about the treats he might get, Zhang Mu had already dismounted off the back of the wolfdog and walked to his house.

    He saw Yuan Rui sleeping beside the ck cocoon. There were no changes to the cocoon. Zhang Mu¡¯s heart ached. Yuan Rui was still worried about Little ck and stayed by its side. It seems as though she had given some of her life power to it and got too tired, hence sleeping right beside the cocoon.

    Zhang Mu slowly walked towards her and pulled out a nket from his Merchant¡¯s Ring,ying it on Yuan Rui. However, either he didn¡¯t gauge his strength correctly or the nket was too heavy, Yuan Rui immediately woke up in surprise. She recovered quickly after realising that it was Zhang Mu and was really happy. Rubbing her eyes, she asked Zhang Mu, ¡°Uncle, when did youe back?¡±

    Zhang Mu was really sorry that he woke Yuan Rui up. He said, ¡°I just came back and saw you alone in the house. I was scared that you would catch a cold and wanted to put a nket on you but instead woke you up.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I have been asleep for quite a while.¡± Yuan Rui shook her hands at Zhang Mu when she heard him apologising. She pointed towards the cocoon and said, ¡°Uncle, I have given life power to Little ck twice today. It seems much better.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for your hard work.¡±

    Zhang Mu moved closer to the cocoon and observed its progress. Although he was not as sensitive to life power as Yuan Rui, he was connected by blood to Little ck. Hence, he was able to detect its power rising slowly within the cocoon. Realising this, Zhang Mu stopped wishing that it would break out of the cocoon soon. It seemed that the longer the Obsidian Beetle stayed in the cocoon, the greater its power would be. Zhang Mu was anticipating the mutation of the Obsidian Beetle. When that happened, his Obsidian Beetle might be the only mutated animal that has reached the second level of Mutation at this stage.

    While Zhang Mu was pondering, Yuan Rui noticed the torn clothes and the long wound on Zhang Mu¡¯s back and gasped, covering her mouth in shock while her eyes began watering. Hearing the gasp, Zhang Mu instantly knew what she saw. He didn¡¯t want her to be worried, but there weren¡¯t any clothes that he could change into inside his Merchant¡¯s Ring, and hence, he could onlye back like this.

    Yuan Rui gently touched the scar on Zhang Mu¡¯s back and asked anxiously, ¡°is it very painful?¡±

    After asking Zhang Mu, she choked and started ming herself, ¡°If I didn¡¯t use up all my powers on Little ck just now, I could have healed you.¡±

    Zhang Mu saw the sad look on Yuan Rui¡¯s face and immediatelyforted her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I have already drunk the recovery potion which was bought from the red-haired uncle. Although this guy sells at a high price, his items are worth the money. Please don¡¯t worry.¡± Zhang Mu said finished and showed Yuan Rui that he was indeed okay. Yuan Rui observed that Zhang Mu really seemed healedpletely and stopped ming herself.

    ¡°This scar looks so ugly only because it is a new scar. With my recovery speed now, it will disappear soon and might leave my skin smoother than yours. You should really cry if that happens.¡± Zhang Mu purposely lightened up the mood and finally managed to take Yuan Rui¡¯s attention away from his injury. She cutely bared her teeth like a little kitten and said, ¡°If your skin bes better than mine, I will scratch it worse.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha...¡±

    He left the house under the pouting gaze of Yuan Rui¡¯s eyes and went to find Wang Liang.

    The guards outside Wang Liang¡¯s house didn¡¯t stop Zhang Mu from entering. Who dares to stop the person who feeds them? Wang Liang had already informed them that all the food supplies in the survival base were from Zhang Mu and he even sold it to them at a very low price.

    ¡°Brother Mu, you¡¯re back already? How was it? Were there any gains?¡± Wang Liang put on his gold-framed sses and stood up.

    ¡°I have settled some of it, but most of the ces were empty.¡± Zhang Mu replied in a very calm tone. Wang Liang was unable to catch Zhang Mu¡¯s emotions and thought that he was angry. He immediately said sternly, ¡°I will definitely punish those that gave fake news. They still think that they can get away with it after I have warned them.¡±

    Zhang Mu grabbed his arm and stopped Wang Liang from going out. He smiled and said, ¡°There is no need to be so nervous. It is hard to ensure that there are suitable mutated beasts and the news that they gave me were not fake. It might be that they were too scared and didn¡¯t look properly, after all, I did notice signs of beast activity¡±

    ¡°There is another thing that I want to ask you. Who was the person who said that there were big-sized mutated animals in a vige? His news was very urate and allowed me to have a huge gain. When you pass the rewards outter, tell everyone that I need urate news, the more urate it is, the higher the rewards.¡±

    Wang Liang looked at Zhang Mu and asked, ¡°What reward is suitable?¡±

    Zhang Mu stretched and slowly replied, ¡°give the one who gave me the urate news 500kg of food supplies and 100 litres of drinking water. The other four will get four days worth of food supplies.¡±

    Wang Liang couldn¡¯t contain himself anymore. Zhang Mu had multiplied the rewards for the mission by as much as five times. What¡¯s more, those that offered empty news also got rewards.

    ¡°Brother Mu, do you think me and my men could be your followers instead?¡±

 Chapter 82 - The Enticement Of Huge Rewards

    Chapter 82: The Enticement Of Huge Rewards

    Zhang Mu stared at Wang Liang curiously, ¡°You don¡¯t wish to lead and expand your territory anymore? If you expand your territory, you will be able to get many different types of supplies although the quantity may be lower.¡±

    ¡°The logic is there but expanding territory is hard work. If the rewards for supplying news is even better than expanding territory, the evolvers might have other thoughts.¡±

    Wang Liang gave a forced smile. With Zhang Mu¡¯s help, he and his men will be able to tackle a thousand walking dead if their position is good. They can get a good amount of supplies from there and split it among themselves. However, the rewards that Zhang Mu is giving out to a normal person is too much. His men will definitely have other thoughts about this.

    Zhang Mu thought about it and realised his mistake. He apologised, ¡°I didn¡¯t think through this carefully enough. If the rewards for a normal person is too huge, evolvers will think otherwise and this is not good for yourmandment. Furthermore, the safety of the base might be at risk too.¡±

    He pondered a while and said to Wang Liang, ¡°Give the person who provided the news 200kg of food supplies and 50L of drinking water. For the rest, give them 2 days worth of basic supplies. This will be better for you.¡±

    Wang Liang heaved a sigh of relief. He was so worried that under the enticement of the huge rewards, everyone would go and collect news for him. The current rewards were still within the eptable range of the evolvers since good materials are worth much more than food supplies. The wealthier evolvers can still exchange food supplies for a good piece of material.

    ¡°However, I will need you to help me give the rewards first. I have used up all my supplies.¡± Wang Liang frown at Zhang Mu¡¯s calm tone as he said this sentence. So he doesn¡¯t have any food supplies on hand and yet, he still wants to give such a high reward. He is able to handle if there are only one or two people iming rewards. But if there are more people, his supplies will empty out very fast.

    Zhang Mu knew what Wang Liang was thinking and continued his words, ¡°I will return all the food supplies that I borrowed from you in 7 days. Not only that, I will give you back double of what you have lent me. How about that?¡±

    ¡°Double the food supplies in just 7 days?¡±

    Wang Liang¡¯s expression immediately changed when he heard what Zhang Mu said. Worried that Zhang Mu might go back on his words, he said hurriedly, ¡°I will instantly prepare the rewards for them.¡±

    Zhang Mu shrugged helplessly. He looked around Wang Liang¡¯s room and saw an opened notebook on his table. The notebook recorded all the inputs and outputs of the various security base.

    ¡°This guy bluff me into thinking he is poor. Look at this, his gains today alone is already of a sizable amount. Tsk tsk tsk. He can open a supermarket with these supplies. Sigh. How can he agree with just double the supplies? Doesn¡¯t he know that 7 dayster, the era merchant¡¯s shop will open and the value of the food supplies will drop drastically?¡±

    ...... In an open field at the survival base, a van suddenly drove in loudly. All the workers turned their heads and looked at the van. The search party had alreadye back once. Are they going out again? Doesn¡¯t look like it. It seems as though the pickup was filled with bags of rice?

    Just when everyone was in a daze, a sonic evolver got out from the van. His eyes were filled with jealousy as he shouted, ¡°Who is Jiang Wei? Boss Zhang Mu and Boss Wang have prepared your reward, pleasee and collect immediately.¡±

    The crowd was in an uproar. There really were rewards, and looking at the amount of bags in the van, the rewards were not little.

    A few secondster, a man squeezed through the crowd and came to the front of the van. His face was covered with dirt and a piece of cloth hung from his neck. He looked as though he just came out of a pile of dirt.

    ¡°I am here. I am Jiang Wei. Is there really food supplies?¡±

    The sonic evolver looked at him with disdain and jealousy, thinking why didn¡¯t such a good opportunitynd on him. He humphed at Jiang Wei and said, ¡°do I look like I am kidding with you?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t dare to think this way. How much food supplies are there?¡± Jiang Wei thought that he wouldn¡¯t be able to get much food supplies as the evolvers might take most of it. The sonic evolver saw through his thoughts and shouted at him, ¡°Are you thinking that I would take your food supplies? Do I look like Ick them?¡±

    The sonic evolver forgot to control his voice and his voice sounded throughout the entire survival base. More and more people started to gather around the van. Jiang Wei waved his hands and said, ¡°I do not mean it that way. I¡¯m just asking out of curiosity.¡±

    ¡°Let me tell you clearly, there are exactly 200kg of rice and 50L of drinking water here. Don¡¯t worry, no one dares to take from you.¡±

    After he finished, everyone¡¯s eyes had a fire in them.

    ¡°The reward was actually doubled in value! Boss Zhang is really willing to give. To think that my few months worth of sry is all in the van.¡±

    ¡°He might not becking in food supplies. I heard that he carried away a few granaries.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying? I heard that the granary is opened by Boss Zhang.¡±

    ¡°Wow, he is so rich?¡±

    The people in the field started muttering and gossiping within themselves. If Zhang Mu heard what they say, he would not know whether tough or cry. Someone actually said that he opened a granary.

    ¡°Get in the van. Boss Wang has ordered us to send the rewards to your house.¡±

    The evolver driving the car patted the stunned Jiang Wei and said, ¡°Why are you still frozen? Get in the van. I still have something onter.¡±

    ¡°Yes yes, I will get in the van. I will get in the van.¡± Jiang Wei was stuttering as he struggled to get onto the van and directed the driver to his house. It was really not his fault for being in shock. He had undergone the pain of hunger and was traumatised by the experience. He never wanted to undergo the same experience ever again.

    When he reached the survival base, he didn¡¯t have any abilities, not even an increase in strength or agility. He was just a normal person who works hard to feed himself. No wonder he was so surprised when he heard that he was getting the 200kg worth of food supplies. At first, Jiang Wei thought that his news might not be urate as he just took a quick look before running away. Hence, he was a bit worried when he heard that those who gave false news might be chased out of the survival base.

    However, he has food now. It felt like a dream.

    Jiang Wei¡¯s ¡®home¡¯ was a warehouse. When they arrived, he started unloading the bags along with the evolver. When he finished, the people from the field had also arrived at his house and were looking enviously at the rewards disyed on the floor.

    ¡°What is there to see? Boss Wang has given his word. If anyone is able to provide Boss Zhang with urate news, he will give at least 100kg of food supplies to the person.¡±

    A few people within the crowd probed, ¡°really?¡±

    ¡°Of course. If it isn¡¯t for the fact that I have a mission on hand, I will go myself and find some news.¡± the evolver started to be agitated.

    ¡°What are you all standing here for? The time can be better spent finding news. You might even be rewarded.¡±

    Hearing this, the crowd looked at each other and dispersed.

 Chapter 83 - Without Stopping

    Chapter 83: Without Stopping

    The enticement of food was too much for the people who experienced hunger before. On the night the announcement was made, many people wanted to go out and search for news. However, Wang Liang had already ordered the guards to stop anyone from leaving the survival base. He also made another announcement.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want your life anymore and want to leave the base, go ahead. However, if I find out, the rewards for your news will be canceled too. Is food more important than your life?¡±

    This announcement woke everyone up. If the rewards were canceled, what¡¯s the point of risking their lives?

    Zhang Mu supported this announcement. When he saw how many people actually went to pack their bags to leave the survival base, he knew that he had underestimated their desires. Even someone as powerful as him wouldn¡¯t dare to go out at night. An evolver without night vision was no match for any mutated animals in the dark, much least these ordinary humans who haven¡¯t undergone any mutation.

    Although Zhang Mu wanted to use these people, he couldn¡¯t watch them seek their own deaths. Also, if they all died, who would go and help him collect news in the day?

    The next day, the sun just started to climb over the horizon when Zhang Mu woke up. He looked at the ck cocoon, and after realising that it was still the same, went out and rode on his mutated wolfdog. After greeting the guards at the gate, he proceeded to the next location written on his notebook.

    After a whole morning and afternoon of rushing, Zhang Mu¡¯s face was covered with dust. However, he was brimming with excitement. The locations which he thought had a smaller probability of mutated animals turned out to containrge groups of mutated animals which were easy to kill. Out of the four that were listed, three of them hit the jackpot.

    He gained one hundred and ten beast-cores from today¡¯s mission. Most of it was earth-type and water-type beast cores, but there were a few surprises. He had found some mutated deer along a small stream which turned out to be ice-types. He had to use some effort, but in the end, managed to kill it. However, much to his disappointment, there were only ten of them.

    Zhang Mu immersed his mind into the ring and started examining the beast-cores he had collected. Looking at the huge amount of beast-cores, he became enchanted.

    It was such a waste that the human race¡¯s foundation is still weak now. Three monthster when all the survival bases are established, some of these beast-cores can be sold at a much higher margin.

    Zhang Mu sighed in dissatisfaction. He will have to stock these beast-cores up. That way, if he meets any evolvers that need help breaking through to Level 2, he can not only earn a lot from these materials, but also form alliances with those stronger evolvers and earn some friendships for future use.

    However, after a whole day of work, both Zhang Mu and the wolfdog started to feel tired. The wolfdog not only had to carry Zhang Mu around but also had to support Zhang Mu whenever he needed a helping hand in a battle. Zhang Mu told it that he was training its stamina andbat ability. The wolfdog gave a look of disdain at Zhang Mu. Left with no choice, Zhang Mu took out some earth-type beast-cores to feed the wolfdog and then ignored him.

    When Zhang Mu returned to the survival base that day, the entire base was in an uproar. Zhang Mu had brought back a big ck bear that was just killed and he split half of it among the four people that offered him the news. For the other half, he distributed it among everyone at the survival base. On average, each person got about 2 pieces of meat. Looking at their hungry faces, a riot might have happened if there weren¡¯t guards present to stop them.

    Seeing this scene, Wang Liangined to Zhang Mu while they were alone in front of a campfire. He told Zhang Mu that if he continued to do this, his position as their leader would be shaken.

    Zhang Mu looked at him over a piece of the barbecued bear paw and said, ¡°If you are not going to eat this, I shall not be polite and help myself.¡±

    Wang Liang helplessly took over a piece of bear paw and started munching on it. He said with his mouth full, ¡°Brother Mu, what are your future ns?¡±

    Zhang Mu was enjoying the barbecued bear paw which was specially prepared for him and Wang Liang. Distracted, he replied Wang Liang, ¡°what else can I do? Anyway, I realised that I do not need to borrow food supplies from you anymore. The people seem happier if I just gave them meat.¡±

    ¡°Of course. In the survival base, 500g of meat is worth at least 10kg of rice, and that is cheap. Processed meat is worth more. Thest time I had this kind of fresh meat was when that Era Merchant was fighting and I managed to sneak a few pieces for myself. I wanted to drag the rest of the meat away but the walking dead had already reached it.¡±

    Zhang Mu mysteriously blinked at Wang Liang and said, ¡°So how do you feel after eating this meat? You do know that every mutated animal has a different type of energy and if that energy sh with yours, you might faint or worse, you might die.¡±

    Seeing Wang Liang¡¯s face turned green, Zhang Mu casually continued eating his food andughed, ¡°I am just kidding. If eating the meat will cause problems, we will all be ill already. Even if I want to die, I won¡¯t drag the whole survival base to die with me.¡±

    Hearing this, Wang Liang¡¯s started to calm down. He was really frightened just now because he knew that Zhang Mu has more knowledge than him. Sometimes, he wondered whether Zhang Mu really was a human or was he saying the truth when they first met, that he was a merchant from another world.

    However, Zhang Mu¡¯s face got serious as he continued eating. He told Wang Liang in a firm tone, ¡°the flesh of a mutated animal is harmless. Not only can it fill our stomach, it can also strengthen our body. This effect is especially obvious in a normal human being. For evolvers, the effect isn¡¯t as obvious. The more powerful the evolver is, the lesser the effects. However, you must remember this. We can eat the flesh of mutated animals, but we cannot anyhow consume the beast-cores. Once you have reached the level where you need to use them, I will teach you. You do not have to wonder about its uses now. If not, the warnings that I just gave will be reality.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will remember it.¡± Wang Liang chose to believe Zhang Mu because he knew that Zhang Mu had nothing to gain from lying to him.

    Zhang Mu looked at the people far away who were enjoying their meal. He felt emotional.

    ¡°Once we have lost everything, we start to wish for the simplest things.¡±

    ¡°However, these simple things require us to risk our lives for it.¡±

    Zhang Mu muttered thest sentence softly. Wang Liang didn¡¯t catch what Zhang Mu was saying.

    ¡°Paradise, Era, are they hell?¡±

 Chapter 84 - The Smell Of Blood

    Chapter 84: The Smell Of Blood

    As dinner almost finished, Zhang Mu forced Wang Liang to open his bottle of five-grain alcohol, saying that he wanted to have a taste of it. Under the influence of alcohol, Zhang Mu fell into a deep sleep and forgot what happened after that.

    When Zhang Mu woke up, he realised that he was back in his house. Someone had carried him home. His throat was dry and burning fromst night. Zhang Muughed at himself. His alcohol tolerance was really low.

    However, his body was only eighteen years old now and his master at the old Thieves Sect never let him touch alcohol. Hence, it was expected that he couldn¡¯t drink much. This was his first time drinking alcohol after his rebirth. Wang Liang must haveughed at him yesterday.

    He remembered that a few yearster, he would always drink when he was bored or cold. Thus, his alcohol tolerance increased. He would probably never experience this drunk feeling anymore.

    Putting his thought aside, Zhang Mu looked at the sky and realised it was still early. He predicted that Yuan Rui was still asleep and walked out of the house alone, not wanting to wake her up.

    ncing at the empty streets, Zhang Mu walked towards Wang Liang¡¯s ce. When he saw Wang Liang, he was just preparing to go out with his search party to find a new source of supplies. However, the minute he saw Zhang Mu, Wang Liang looked as though he saw a ghost and couldn¡¯t speak a word.

    After a long time, he finally managed to utter, ¡°Brother, how are you still sober?¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    Zhang Mu looked at Wang Liang awkwardly, wondering if he did anything wrong or said anything bad yesterday. He was nervous and probed, ¡°Liang, are youughing at me because of my poor alcohol tolerance?¡±

    Wang Liang waved his hands bitterly and eximed, ¡°Brother, have you forgotten what happened yesterday?¡±

    ¡°I seemed to be drunk. I can¡¯t remember anything that had happened,¡± Zhang Mu shrugged.

    Unexpectedly, Wang Liang said something surprising, ¡°You finished my 20 bottles of alcohol all by yourself! If you say that your alcohol tolerance is low, no one will dare to im that theirs is high anymore.¡±

    How is that possible? Did he drink 20 bottles of five-grain alcohol? He didn¡¯t even drink so much in his past life.

    ¡°Liang, are you drunk too? You made a mistake right? The 20 bottles were shared among a few people.¡± Zhang Mu looked at Wang Liang in doubt.

    Wang Liang immediately got agitated and couldn¡¯t keep hisposure anymore. He raised his voice at Zhang Mu, ¡°Brother Mu, there was no one else present. I just wanted to show off my collection to you. Who knows that you would down all the 20 bottles yourself without even a blink of the eye? I didn¡¯t even get a sip of my own alcohol. 10 minutes in and I am left with just 20 empty bottles.¡±

    20 bottles of pure spirit in 10 minutes without stopping? That is really very exaggerating.

    ¡°I am now suspecting that your dder is made of gold. To think that it didn¡¯t explode from all your drinking.¡±

    Wang Liang¡¯s muttering woke Zhang Mu up. If he really drank 20 bottles of spirits and his body has no reaction, this is not just purely an issue about alcohol tolerance.

    There is only one other possibility.

    Zhang Mu quickly turned his head and look at his left shoulder which showed no signs of abnormality. He immediately understood what had happened. He had been controlled by the Bloodvine Lotus yesterday. No wonder he felt his throat burning when he woke up.

    So, the Bloodvine Lotus loves alcohol so much? That was unexpected.

    Zhang Mu had no choice but to exin to Wang Liang, ¡°It might be that my body has changed after the cataclysm.¡±

    Wang Liang had regained hisposure and replied, ¡°you can go and find your mutated animals now since you have recovered. I have to clear the walking dead at the North of the city. The survival base there still hasn¡¯t dared to act even after you sold them the special equipment. Since they haven¡¯t acted, I shall take over.¡±

    Seeing the determined look on Wang Liang¡¯s face, Zhang Mu decided to keep quiet. Although entering other people¡¯s territory seemed invasive, there was some sense in what Wang Liang said. If you don¡¯t dare to act, let me do it.

    ¡°Brother Mu, you drank too much yesterday so I helped to pick out news that seemed more urate. If you think is okay, you can go to the ces directly without filtering anymore.¡±

    ¡°Thanks so much for the effort.¡± Zhang Mu smiled.

    ¡°You can have a look first. I need to leave as there are quite a few areas with walking dead that need to be cleared out today.¡± After seeing Zhang Mu¡¯s supportive gaze, Wang Liang nodded his head and passed the notebook in his hand to Zhang Mu before leaving the base.

    Watching the troop leave, Zhang decided to act too and went back to drag the half-asleep wolfdog out.

    ...

    Simr to yesterday, Zhang Mu went to the ces filtered by Wang Liang and managed to gain close to a hundred beast cores. The sess rate was about 60 percent, same as yesterday.

    What happened on the first day of his hunting must have been really due to bad luck.

    When Zhang Mu returned to the base after a day of work, he realised that the atmosphere was a bit off. He had a bad feeling. Immediately, he ordered the mutated wolfdog to increase its speed and leaped over the gates without waiting for the guards to open it. He didn¡¯t stop when he entered the city but went straight to the residence of Wang Liang.

    However, Wang Liang was not there. Zhang Mu was puzzled. He should be here.

    At this moment, the wolfdog¡¯s nose twitched and it gave a low howl to warn Zhang Mu, signaling him to follow it.

    Zhang Mu noticed that the wolfdog seemed to have picked up a smell and hurriedly got onto its back.

    The wolfdog brought him to a remote area at the far end of the base. It was an empty piece ofnd that used to be a man-made pool. The wolfdog was running at a fast speed. As they got nearer, Zhang Mu was able to distinguish the smell in the air.

    This familiar smell. There is no mistake. This is the smell of blood!

 Chapter 85 - Power of North City

    Chapter 85: Power of North City

    The wolfdog sprinted over and leaped into the air. A scene immediately appeared before Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes.

    Zhang Mu frowned. The scene was too bloody and tragic.

    There were injured people scattered all over the ground. Some had bandages wrapped all over them, some had not been treated yet. Blood could be seen everywhere. Wang Liang was sitting right in the middle, his expression hideous as he epted the treatment of someone who looked like a doctor.

    Even someone as careful as Wang Liang is hurt? What did the search party meet when they went out to find supplies? If Wang Liang had nned properly, they would be able to easily handle over a thousand walking dead with the 20 sets of armor that he gave them. Why have theye back in such a state?

    Filled with doubts, Zhang Mu got off the wolfdog¡¯s back and slowly walked towards the injured people. Most of the injured were so weak that they were unable to greet Zhang Mu when he walked past them. Zhang Mu signaled to them to continue resting.

    When he saw Zhang Mu, Wang Liang asked the doctor to quickly finish treating him and to help the other people who were injured.

    Zhang Mu frowned and asked after the doctor had left, ¡°What happened to your arm? And also, what happened to all of you? Why are you injured too? I remembered you saying that after getting the 20 pieces of armor, the injury rate is close to zero?¡±

    Hearing the doubt in Zhang Mu¡¯s tone, Wang Liang eyes burned with anger and snarled, ¡°It¡¯s the North City survival base.¡±

    ¡°They attacked you? You helped them clear the walking dead that they were afraid of and yet, they attacked you? But even if they did, you have more than 200 evolvers under your arm. I have been to 10 other survival base to do business and the one in the North City only have at most 90 evolvers. That is less than half of your army. Why are you all in this state?¡±

    Wang Liang listened to the string of questions in silence. After a long while, he said coldly, ¡°If they attacked us alone, we would not be in this tragic state. When we first went over to their base, their leader weed us with a good attitude and even led us to the area with the walking dead.¡±

    ¡°However, I didn¡¯t know that a person can be so shameless. When we were fighting 1500 walking dead at the North City, their leader lured another group of close to a thousand walking dead to us using fresh blood.¡±

    ¡°You mean he caused you all to be surrounded by the walking dead?¡± Zhang Mu was totally stunned. The Luoyang City he knew didn¡¯t have such a vicious leader. Was the leader supposed to be deadst time but because of him, the future was changed?

    This was just the tenth day after the cataclysm and the ugly side of the human race had been exposed. Honestly, this wasn¡¯t even an issue about personal benefits. It was just regarding a bunch of walking dead and some small amount of supplies.

    ¡°Yes, when I saw a car dragging a child and driving towards us, I sensed that something was amiss. As expected, a thousand walking dead came charging at us.¡±

    Wang Liang gaze turned dangerous. He slowly continued, ¡°Brother Mu, you know that we do not have the ability to face a herd of a thousand walking dead head on. We need to make use of the terrain and the powers of the earth-type evolvers as well as the special armors to slowly kill the walking dead. However, the new group of walking dead disrupted our n and I had no choice but to order a retreat. We didn¡¯t even have the chance to pick up the crystals.¡±

    Zhang Mu was even more curious after hearing the exnation. If what Wang Liang said was the truth, then why were the group of them injured so badly?

    After some thoughts, Zhang Mu immediately guessed the situation. His tone turned icy, ¡°it was the North City base. When you were retreating, they attacked you.¡±

    Wang Liang raised his head and looked at Zhang Mu. His face was filled with sorrow and anger, ¡°yes, I was retreating with my men towards the two small roads that we had discussed earlier. However, we were ambushed by the North City base.¡±

    Wang Liang¡¯s voice was calm, as though he was talking about an event unrted to him. However, Zhang Mu knew how much anger Wang Liang was experiencing when he said his story.

    ¡°They had carefully prepared their attacks and itpletely stopped us from retreating. The walking dead caught up on us. We could have fought with them on the small street, but the North City had a lot of fire-type evolvers. They attacked our people at the front and dragged them into a fiery hell while their earth-type evolvers build a wall behind us to cut off our routes to retreat.¡±

    ¡°Brother Mu, you know that I do not have any water-type evolvers in my team. The North City people even poured oil into the fiery hell. Not even my earth-type evolvers can put out the fire. I, Wang Liang, can only watch my men burn to death one by one before me.¡±

    Wang Liang¡¯s voice was trembling when he reached this part. He remembered how helpless he felt when his men cried for help, and yet he was unable to do anything.

    Pouring oil was amon tactic seen in the future. However, that was when there was a loss of humanity. Why is it appearing now?

    Wang Liang waved his intact arm and pointed to his other arm, ¡°This was the result of a sneak attack when I was trying to destroy their earth-type attacks.¡±

    ¡°In the end, the walking dead broke through our defense line. Luckily, I was able to destroy the wall build by the many earth-type evolvers and escaped with the men that were left. They must have thought that we won¡¯t be a threat anymore because they didn¡¯t pursue us.¡±

    His expression dimmed, ¡°the doctor took a look at my injury and told me that with the circumstances, he can only wrap some bandage around it and let it heal by itself. However, this type of injury inflicted by fire-type energy will still have a detrimental effect on the agility of the arm.¡±

    ¡°This arm is crippled.¡±

    Wang Liang¡¯s voice got softer but the next moment, he gazed at Zhang Mu with eager eyes and said, ¡°My team is only left with half the size. It is my fault. I owe them. I want to take revenge for them, for my brothers who died in the fiery hell and for those kids that died tragically.¡±

    Wang Liang¡¯s voice continued trembling as he said thest sentence to Zhang Mu, ¡°Brother Mu, I have never begged you before. But this time, I beg you to help me. I cannot do this alone.¡±

    Hisst word softened Zhang Mu¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Please.¡±

 Chapter 86 - Ending What I Started

    Chapter 86: Ending What I Started

    Although Wang Liang seemed easy-going, Zhang Mu knew that he was an arrogant person. Yet, he was pleading to Zhang Mu to help him. This was unexpected. Zhang Mu was moved.

    The North City was too vicious for his liking. Even if Wang Liang infringed some of their interest, there was no need to be so heartless. After all, they are all human. The leader must have been a vicious person even before the cataclysm.

    Zhang Mu remembered the moment when he arrived at the North City base a few days ago. A silver-hair middle-aged man with a sincere smile appeared in his memory.

    No wonder Wang Liang lowered his guard. The middle-aged man had such a sincere smile that even Zhang Mu didn¡¯t notice anything and thought that he was an honest man. He hid it well.

    Thinking back, if Zhang Mu wasn¡¯t irritated from the first few transactions and decided to go straight to the point during the meeting, he might have been treated differently if he had showcased any signs of weakness.

    No wonder the leader asked him toe out when they were talking and even did the transaction outside of the base. There must be something shady going on which he was afraid to let Zhang Mu know.

    Zhang Mu made a decision in his heart and then took out a green-colour potion from his Merchant¡¯s Ring. He passed it to Wang Liang who was still staring at him and said, ¡°Drink this first.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± Wang Liang asked curiously when he saw that Zhang Mu didn¡¯t agree to help him.

    ¡°This is something that can save your arm. If you drag any longer, the scab would form and I won¡¯t be able to help you anymore.¡± Zhang Mu answered calmly.

    Wang Liang¡¯s eyes regained its mour. He had really thought that his arm would be crippled and he knew what that would mean to him. He asked again in disbelief, ¡°This potion really can save my arm?¡±

    Zhang Mu ced the potion on Wang Liang¡¯s hand and replied, ¡°If I said that it can, it can. I bought this potion from the Era Merchant¡¯s shop. It is powerful but very rare. Even the Era Merchant doesn¡¯t have much. I have used some bottles of it already so there are only a few bottles left. I can only help you. You have to help your men yourself since they were injured when fighting for you.¡±

    Wang Liang immediately replied without thinking, ¡°Of course, this is my responsibility.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and said, ¡°That is good. If you don¡¯t do it, there won¡¯t be anyone willing to fight for you anymore. Hurry up and drink the potion. The faster you drink, the lesser implications you will experience.¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu Wang¡¯s reminder, Liang instantly pulled the cork out with his teeth and was just about to drink the potion when he thought of something. He looked away from Zhang Mu and asked in a heavy tone, ¡°Brother Mu, are you passing me this potion because you do not want to help me?¡±

    He self-deprecated, ¡°If I am able to recover, why do I still need to ask for your help? Don¡¯t worry brother Mu, after some time I will settle this business myself.¡±

    So that was what he was thinking about, Zhang Mu smiled helplessly and exined, ¡°What are you thinking? I just sincerely hope that your arm won¡¯t be crippled. I will go and settle the North Cityter. You think that with your ability and the injured team you can get revenge for yourself? How long are you willing to wait? Are you not worried that the North City will be stronger while you are resting?¡±

    ¡°Does that mean you are willing to help?¡± Zhang Mu suddenly raised his head and looked at Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Yes, I am just going to end something I started.¡± Zhang Mu said out of the blue.

    Wang Liang couldn¡¯t understand what Zhang Mu was saying, but he knew that Zhang Mu agreed. He hurriedly gulped down the potion and immediately, he started to feel the effects. Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead and he felt his injured arm tingling with pain as though there were ants crawling over it.

    Wang Lang looked at his arm excitedly and turned to ask Zhang Mu, ¡°Brother, how long will it take to heal? It has just been a minute and I am already feeling my arm tingling. I want to take off the bandage and have a look.¡±

    Looking at his exhrated face, Zhang Mu grinned, ¡°you are thinking too much. It doesn¡¯t heal that quickly. This was an injury by a fire-type evolver, even the best potion need some time to carry out its effects. It would take roughly half a day to heal. Don¡¯t be stupid and take off the bandage now. What you should do is go home and rest first.¡±

    Wang Liang felt disappointed when he heard the reply. He muttered to himself, ¡°that is really long.¡±

    However, he didn¡¯t know that without the help of the first-rank recovery potion Zhang Mu gave him, he would have to wait very long before the high-level healing-type evolvers who could heal him appeared. Even then, he would have no rights to ask for the help of these evolvers. With one arm crippled, Wang Liang would have nothing for the evolvers to gain if they help him. Even his survival would be a problem.

    The world after the cataclysm has only one rule: the survival of the fittest.

    Zhang Mu slowly got up and walked off under the hopeful gaze of Wang Liang and the wails of the injured. This time, he didn¡¯t bring the mutated wolfdog with him. He left it in his house and after saying goodbye to Yuan Rui, he left the survival base.

    He had changed into clothes he never wore before: windbreaker, tights, and boots. He wore a pair of sunsses and mask on his face and proceeded to the North City at four times his normal speed.

    One person is enough. He didn¡¯t want any more people to know what he was going to do. He wasn¡¯t prepared to turn people¡¯s respect into fear yet even though the massacre was for their revenge. There was only one way to kill over 90 evolvers at one go ¨C the Bloodvine Lotus.

    However, once it was used, its ruthlessness was not something a normal human could ept.

 Chapter 87 - Infiltrating The North City

    Chapter 87: Infiltrating The North City

    Zhang Mu stood outside the gates of the North City survival base alone. Standing in front of him was an unfinished building.

    The area was deserted but Zhang Mu knew that this was the survival base of that middle-aged man. Last time, he was stopped from entering the unfinished building. He had thought that it was because the leader felt that the environment was too lousy and was embarrassed to invite Zhang Mu inside.

    However, there seemed to be more to it. The run-down building gave off a eerie feeling. As expected of a ce which housed the man who used a child as bait. For the viins, this was heaven. Yet to the normal human, this was hell.

    Of course, these were just Zhang Mu¡¯s conjectures. He didn¡¯t have any evidence. But soon, he would uncover the truth.

    As Zhang Mu took a step forward, a long spear pierced into the ground right in front of him. In spite of this, Zhang Mu had no intention to look at the person who attacked him.

    He pulled down his hat and bypassed the spear. Just as he wanted to take another step, a cold voice sounded beside him, ¡°Young man, I don¡¯t know if you are really stupid or acting, but you won¡¯t be so lucky next time. If you continue moving forward, the next thing the spear will pierce would be you. Whether you are here to seek shelter or you are lost, our base doesn¡¯t wee you. We don¡¯t need any outsiders, do you understand me?¡±

    After that, the voice stoppedpletely. The person saw Zhang Mu casually moving forward as though he didn¡¯t hear the warning. Or rather, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t put the warning to heart.

    ¡°Young man, you are courting your own death. Do not me me.¡±

    A spear came zooming in on Zhang Mu¡¯s head,ing in faster and more powerful than the one before. Zhang Mu tilted sideways slightly to dodge the spear, not raising his head in the process. He was not trying to act mysterious or anything. It¡¯s just that he had seen this guard before and thest time they met, he had subdued the guard before the guard could even act.

    After all, the guard was too far away. If he gave any warning to the people inside the base, Zhang Mu would have a hard time infiltrating. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t sense any other evolvers besides the spear guard. Looks like the leader is really confident in the ability of this evolver.

    Although Zhang Mu¡¯s ability had not been awakened, he had consumed a lot of potions and had a blood linkage with the Bloodvine Lotus as well as the Obsidian Beetle. This allowed him to be more powerful than the evolvers that just had their abilities awakened.

    However, he couldn¡¯t deny that the guy in front of him did have something to be proud of. Being a guard was a waste of his talent.

    Zhang Mu continued walking forward while the guard continued to throw spears at him. At first, Zhang Mu could still dodge it but as he got nearer, more and more spears started to strike at him and it was harder to avoid them without disying his true power. Hence, he could only use his Obsidian Beetle w and disrupted the path of some of the spears, opening up a path for him.

    Because of this, Zhang Mu felt the evolver panicking and striking with full force, no longer holding back his power. However, although the force of each attack increased, it was easier to predict the direction of his throw. Yet, it was still too dangerous. Zhang Mu was already nearing one of the buildings. He sneered and purposely reviewed a weak point to the guard.He acted as though he was going to get struck by one of the spears.

    Zhang Mu was only about 10 meters away from the evolver. When the evolver saw this scene, he immediately smiled and cursed, ¡°I finally manage to kill you, you little brat.¡±

    Till now, he still thought that Zhang Mu was just an evolver with strong agility, a normal human who had better reflexes and no special power. His spears couldn¡¯t do much damage to people who don¡¯t attack him face on. He felt that Zhang Mu was just lucky in this sense.

    Also, he was confident in his special ability which was to improve his throwing weapons uracy and prating power. This was the reason why the leader gave him the task of guarding the gates.

    On the other hand, Zhang Mu was pondering over the guard¡¯s action. Why did he strike without even asking for his name? What if he was trying to seek shelter in their survival base? Are the evolvers already so against outsiders? By right, that shouldn¡¯t be the case. Maybe it was because of their leader.

    However, he was not going to ask the evolver for an answer. This ability might seemed very powerful now, but in the future, it will be dispensable. In the future, evolvers that are not as powerful would not be able to wield a powerful weapon and his ability offered no contribution to powerful evolvers.

    At that moment, the guard saw Zhang Mu raising his head. He suddenly remembered the who this person was. Instinctively, he wanted to press the rm but something wrapped around his neck and he lost control of his entire body.

    What is this?

    Before he lost his consciousness, the evolver saw Zhang Mu increase his speed and in a second, he appeared in front of the evolver. Even though Zhang Mu had concealed himself withyers andyers of clothing, the evolver still recognised him. He had left a huge impression on the evolver. He remembered thest time when Zhang Mu broke through the defense and appeared in front of him. Luckily, he was able to press the rm.

    This time, he didn¡¯t have a chance.

    A vine had already pierced through his body and in the second before he died, the evolver felt the vine sneering at him, just like Zhang Mu.

 Chapter 88 - Hell

    Chapter 88: Hell

    Zhang Mu had released a single vine when he was approaching the evolver and he purposely revealed a weak point so that the evolver would lose his vignce. This gave the Bloodvine Lotus a chance to strike out and take care of the evolver in a single blow.

    Zhang Mu recalled to his embarrassment the first time he came to the gates. He showed off his true powers too early and allowed the evolver to have the time to press the rm, warning their leader of his presence and resulted in them finishing the deal outside the gates.

    The evolver not only has the capabilities, but he was also decisive and sensitive when faced with opponents stronger than him. This must have been the other reason why he was chosen as a gate guard. However, Zhang Mu was not going to make the same mistake twice. If he had allowed the evolver press the rm, he may as well retire early.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s gaze circled the spears on the ground and was amazed by their numbers. He didn¡¯t know that the base could afford so many spears for the evolver. Although the spears could be reused, the sheer quantity was still very surprising.

    Zhang Mu quietly jumped down from the gate and moved between the ruins to the central building. His instinct told him that the people would all be gathered there.

    As expected, Zhang Mu heard some faint sounds as he was nearing the building. It must be the people of this survival base. At this timing, Wang Liang and his team would have been outside scavenging for supplies. These people are indeed very free.

    However, when Zhang Mu got closer and he managed to see the entirendscape, he knew why they were still staying at the base. A few pots boiling with water wereid on the t piece ofnd in the middle of the unfinished building. Each pot was surrounded by around ten people and they were happily eating away.

    Despite the steam, Zhang Mu managed to see what was in the pots.

    Each pot was filled with dismembered parts of a human.

    Although Zhang Mu had seen people who ate other humans, most of them did it for two reasons. One reason was that they were famished and the other was that these people were sadistic. For the first kind, they had no more food and if there wasn¡¯t anyone to help them, they would die of hunger. As for the sadistic ones, they were discriminated by all the other human beings and chased out of the survival bases. Without the protection of these bases, they would die very soon out in the wild. People who ate humans never live for long. Hence, Zhang Mu had not heard news about these people for a long time.

    Eating humans was a taboo in every survival base.

    However, in this survival base, almost everyone was eating human meat, right in front of him. Zhang Mu finally understood why they dared to sneak such an attack on Wang Liang and his team. In their minds, they don¡¯t view themselves as humans. Humans are food to them. Hence, why should they bother?

    It seemed like the middle-aged man had recognised how powerful Zhang Mu was and concealed himself well, doing a trade with Zhang Mu outside. Thinking back, Zhang Mu felt that if he had not disyed his powers then, he might have be food too.

    Zhang Mu suddenly realised why they refused new additions to the survival base. They were crazy but scared too. They became monsters, yet afraid that other people would find out. Anyone that didn¡¯t follow them would probably be lying in the pot now. Sadly, most people gave in and followed their leader on this path of no return.

    One of the evolvers finished the entire pot of human soup and still felt hungry. He waved his hands. The rest of the people immediately understood him and a skinny fellow made his way into the unfinished building.

    After a while, the skinny man pulled a ragged little girl out. The girl was already in a state of stupor. However, when she was pulled to the pot of boiling water, she immediately started crying. The skinny man beside her sneered as his face was filled with greediness. He scanned the little girl¡¯s body, contemting how much meat she could give to the people.

    No one cared about the crying little girl. These people had already lost their humanity. They were enjoying the process of seeing the little girl cry. To them, this was music to their ears. The louder and more miserably the girl cried, the more excited they felt.

    Five minutes passed and the little girl had no more energy to cry anymore. The people¡¯s excitement started to dwindle and the man who waved his hands just now spoke some words. Right after that, the skinny man acted and lifted the little girl up, preparing to take off all her clothes and dumped her into the pot.

    Zhang Mu wanted to save the girl immediately when he saw her but he held himself back as the leader still hadn¡¯t appeared ¨C the silver-hair middle-aged man. However, he couldn¡¯t do nothing. How could he let a little girl die in front of him just because he wanted to wait for the right moment to attack and subdue everyone at one go?

    He had been through a lot in his past life and his heart had became cold. However, his human blood was still running. It was still warm!

    Zhang Mu came out of his hiding ce and showed off his presence. This action caused all the people, no all the monsters, to look at Zhang Mu. The skinny man put down the little girl and red at Zhang Mu dangerously.

    When tens of people holding human bones looked at you, even Zhang Mu felt ufortable. A few of them even held skulls and licked them in front of him, adding on to his difort.

    Zhang Mu wanted to conceal his identity, but that seemed irrelevant now.

    He was not going to let anyone of these people walk out alive.

    This was his baseline and was also the baseline of the human race.

 Chapter 89 - Underestimated

    <strong>Chapter 89: Underestimated</strong>

    Zhang Mu never saw himself as a saviour. He knew his own capabilities. He was just a small figure who managed toe back from the future.

    There were many injustices in the world now. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to care about them nor have the ability to care about them. However, this was different. Wang Liang had begged for his help and eating humans was a behaviour condemned in the future by all humans. Zhang Mu was already used to this. Hence, the first thought that came to his mind when he saw anyone eating humans was to kill them. They were more dangerous to humans than the walking dead or mutated animals.

    They could easily camouge themselves into the human society or a survival base and when a crisis happened, they would start their act. This would destroy a survival base totally. No one can differentiate these monsters from a normal human just based on their appearance. Who knows, maybe the person smiling at you now would be thinking about how to cook you the next second?

    Zhang Mu had personally experienced it before. There was a survival base which he traded with a few times which had several cases of missing people. The people targeted were mostly normal humans, with young girls and children forming therger proportion.

    As time goes by, the number of missing people increased and the leader had no choice but to involve the entire survival base to find the missing people. Although normal humans were not as important as evolvers, they formed the foundation of survival base and were indispensable.

    After much investigation, it was found out that there were a few spots where the cannibals performed their activity. The cannibals wanted to run away but the leader had an evolver who could control mutated animals. The evolver controlled a mutated dog and picked out the cannibals in the crowd.

    Zhang Mu looked at the new cannibals in front of him and thought back to the day when those cannibals were executed. They still wore a grin on their face as they looked at the humans as though looking at their food, their face full of greediness. He could almost hear their unrestrainedughter.

    If he didn¡¯t kill these people now, they would cause more disasters in the future.

    At the moment, the man who asked for the little girlughed and broke Zhang Mu¡¯s train of thoughts. Hisugh sounded horrible and dull. He looked at Zhang Mu without any signs of surprise and said slowly, ¡°You actually managed to reach here. You must have killed Bai Feng. I don¡¯t know what the leader is thinking when he let Bai Feng guard the gates and gave him so much trust.

    ¡°He is useless. Maybe he was upset because we were eating and let someone slipped passed him. Useless is the correct word to describe him,¡± the man didn¡¯t hide his contempt towards the guard and threw away the bone he was holding in his hand. He scanned Zhang Mu from head to toe.

    He gave a greedy grin and licked his lips, ¡°you must be an evolver with a special ability to be able to kill that trash. However, you are too confident. There is no one here that is weaker than the guard. You won¡¯t be thinking that you can kill all of us just because you are able to kill the guard right? We didn¡¯t notice your presence before because we were eating but you chose to show yourself.¡±

    ¡°You saw all of us and still dared to show yourself. I don¡¯t know if I shouldplement your courage or exim at your stupidity,¡± he said. His gaze fell onto the little girl that was put down by the skinny man. He understood immediately, ¡°it seems like you couldn¡¯t watch on any longer. Very righteous of you. Are you trying to be a hero?¡±

    His voice turned cold, ¡°you can be a hero, but I don¡¯t know if you will be able to handle the consequences.¡±

    ¡°To tell you the truth, I have never tasted an evolver. There were some that rejected us and were killed, but they were eaten by the leader. Now it is finally my turn.¡± the man said finished and wiped off the oil stains on his hands. He slowly got up and turned his head, ¡°brothers, none of us have tasted the meat of an evolver. The leader didn¡¯t allow us to attack them but this one walked in by himself. Shall we eat him?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Why not? The leader is always worried and hesitant about us eating evolvers, but this guy came in himself. If we don¡¯t eat him, we are stupid!¡±

    ¡°Yes, eat him. No one will know. Even the biggest survival base was almost destroyed by us and they could only run away like dogs. Who else can fight with us?¡±

    The man got everyone¡¯s response and everyone stood up, looking at Zhang Mu with malicious intentions. They were really excited. No one thought about why Zhang Mu appeared here and why he didn¡¯t have any intentions of escaping. They must have thought that they could definitely kill him.

    A fat man 2 metres tall struggled to stand up and threw away the skull in his hands. He charged at Zhang Mu and muttered, ¡°his head is mine. If anyone dares to fight with me, I will kill you.¡±

    The man who spoke was just about to signal with his hand when he heard the fat man. He put down his hand and stared at the fat man as though he was a joke, ¡°sure, you like to eat the head, take it. No one will fight with you.¡±

    The rest of the people scattered away from the fat man. Although the fat man was a bit stupid, hisbat ability was scary. Once, he tore a small mutated animal into two pieces with his bare hands.

    Feeling the vibration, Zhang Mu adjusted his sunsses and looked up at the man that was charging towards him with full force. The fat man was almost a head taller than him.

    When the distance between then was about 10 metres, Zhang Mu took out his Obsidian Beetle w and ced it in front of his chest.

    The fat guy was dripping saliva all over as he said, ¡°weapon? Is it of any use? Your head is mine.¡±

    With a screeching sound, a huge fist got engulfed in mes and struck towards Zhang Mu¡¯s head.

    An evolver with additional fire-type element ability?

 Chapter 90 - Dragging The Time

    <strong>Chapter 90: Dragging The Time</strong>

    Zhang Mu¡¯s expression changed slightly. Combined with the weight of the fat man, the me-punch was indeed powerful. This type of evolver was extremely popr during the first period after the Cataclysm. All they had to do was to use their body to release the power of their abilities.

    Zhang Mu felt the heat in the air and slightly tilted his body. The fat man¡¯s punch didn¡¯t hit him.

    ¡°He managed to dodge the fat man¡¯s punch. Is he an agility-enhanced evolver? Seems like the enhancement is not small.¡±

    The man who was watching the fight from afar muttered to himself. However, he was still unconcerned. As a person who defeated Bai Feng and reached this area, he definitely had some abilities up his sleeve.

    However, no matter how strong he is, the man thought, this is my area. In my area, I have the final say.

    Zhang Mu had maneuvered to the back of the fat man and pierced the w into his back. The hugeyer of fat blocked it from reaching his vitals and Zhang Mu was not able to meaningfully injure the fat man. Just as he was about to pull the w out, his eyes narrowed and he decisively let go of the Obsidian Beetle w.

    mes started to appear on the back of the fat man. The mes were trying to reach Zhang Mu¡¯s hands through the tip of the Obsidian Beetle w.

    The fat man could actually use his fire element on his entire body.

    ¡°His reaction is really fast. He even dodged the fat man¡¯s automatic fire defense.¡±

    The man who was still observing the fight started to think more highly of Zhang Mu. This automatic fire defense had caused many people to suffer heavy losses because the mes ignited almost instantaneously.

    However, the man wearing the mask managed to escape from any injuries.

    Zhang Mu lost his Obsidian Beetle w. He looked at the fat man who was turning around with mixed feelings.

    The fat man didn¡¯t bother about the object that was stuck to his back. He was very angry. To him, Zhang Mu was just food, an item. How could food attack and hurt him?

    Without a pause, he punched Zhang Mu again and again. Zhang Mu shifted his body and evaded all the attacks. In the end, the fat man didn¡¯t even touch a corner of Zhang Mu¡¯s clothes.

    Actually, Zhang Mu was trying to drag the time. He was waiting for their leader to appear, the silver-hair middle age man. If he showed his true powers now and scare away the real mastermind, all the efforts would be in vain. This was why he hadn¡¯t used the Bloodvine Lotus and only used his powerful body to deal with this fat guy.

    The fat guy got irritated after many failed attacks and the jeering behind him. He couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and with an angry howl, his entire body was cloaked in mes. He made himself a real human torch. He charged at Zhang Mu, no longer throwing punches. He wanted to use the heat from his body and burn Zhang Mu alive.

    After retreating for a distance, Zhang Mu had already reached a dead end. He wanted to turn in another direction but the human torch disrupted his ns.

    At this moment, all the audience felt that Zhang Mu was dead. Some were even anticipating his burnt look.

    ¡°That stupid fat man always burn the meat till its charred. Only he likes to eat it that way. If I knew this was going to happen, I would not give in to him. Such a waste. But I guess he is able to finish the man himself.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we can only look forward to drinking some soup. I think that our leader is so powerful because he ate evolvers.¡± The man who said this received a death re from the man who gave themand and he shut up. If the leader heard what he said, he might die a terrible death.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you running away?¡±

    Zhang Mu could vaguely see the vicious face of the fat man through the mes. He seemed to have regained hisposure. Zhang Mu stared at him quietly. The fat man blocked off everyone¡¯s view. That meant that the Bloodvine Lotus could appear now.

    Just as the fat man was about to pounce onto Zhang Mu, an opening appeared on Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm. Under the fearful gaze of the fat man, a sturdy vine that was full of pricks appeared out of the skin and broke through his fire defense. The next second, the vine reached his chest.

    The fats in his chest were sucked dry and his skin sagged. Zhang Mu felt disgusted. He didn¡¯t know the Bloodvine Lotus had such a heavy taste. Does it suck such disgusting fats? Zhang Mu felt his hair standing when he realised that the Bloodvine Lotus was inside his body. A chill ran down his spine. It dissipated all the heating from the fat man.

    Zhang Mu controlled the vine well and didn¡¯t let it prate the body all the way. The audience was still wondering why the fat man stopped his attack. Some of them thought that the fat man suddenly decided to be nice and split the man with them.

    At this moment, the Bloodvine Lotus had sucked the fat man dry and the fat man¡¯s eyes had stopped moving. It was as though he couldn¡¯t believe Zhang Mu actually killed him. If it was the first few times Zhang Mu used the Bloodvine Lotus, he would have been worried whether the Bloodvine Lotus could break through the fire defense system. However, after being baptised by the merchant¡¯s mes, he didn¡¯t have such worries anymore.

    Some time had passed and the audience were starting to be suspicious. Finally, when the mes on the fat man extinguished, they realised that something was wrong. Zhang Mu kicked away the 100 kg of meat and exposed himself once again to the cannibals.

    The man inmand finally became serious. He knew that even he didn¡¯t have the confidence to kill the fat man so quickly when the fat manunches his ultimate attack. Yet, Zhang Mu did it. This fact alone was scary enough.

    Could it be that this man whom they thought was just a normal evolver was actually someone not to be provoked?

    No, that is not possible. Even if he is that strong, he cannot defeat all the evolvers here.

    But why am I feeling hesitant? What am I afraid of?

    To be safe, themander decided to attack together with all the men behind him.

 Chapter 91 - Attacked By Everyone

    Chapter 91: Attacked By Everyone

    Zhang Mu stared coldly at the people who were closing in on him. They all had fear on their face. Zhang Mu didn¡¯tunch any attacks. Till now, the middle-aged man hadn¡¯t appeared at all. Zhang Mu felt worried.

    He heard the man mention that their leader ate evolvers before. This raised Zhang Mu¡¯s wariness. The leader didn¡¯t share any of it with the rest of the people either.

    If that was the truth, things would be moreplicated. None of the cannibals he met before dared to prey on evolvers. The chance of sess was low and people in the base would react immediately if an evolver went missing. They would ce more importance in the disappearance of an evolver aspared to a normal human.

    Thus, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know what mutations would ur if a cannibal constantly consumed evolvers. He could only wait until the mastermind decided to act.

    Zhang Mu faced a dilemma. If he didn¡¯t use the Bloodvine Lotus, it would be hard for him to gain an upper hand in front of so many evolvers. Little ck was still in his cocoon and the mutated wolfdog was at home. There was nothing that could lend him a helping hand. In this state, he might not even stay alive if he decided not to retreat.

    If he used the Bloodvine Lotus, he was confident of killing everyone present. However, their leader might not appear due to his careful nature.

    Some of the evolvers were already throwing their attacks at him. Zhang Mu fervently thought of ways to hurt these people but not kill them. This way, the leader had a greater chance of appearing.

    As the mes drew near Zhang Mu¡¯s head, he decided on a n and suddenly moved backward, just managing to dodge the attack. Evolvers who had their agility leveled up instantly caught up with Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu quickly increased his speed and escaped the two wind des.

    Seeing the two deep cuts at the spot where he was just now, Zhang Mu wavered a bit. If these evolvers didn¡¯t be cannibals, they would have a bright future ahead. But they had chosen their path. There was no return once they stepped on this path. If Zhang Mu didn¡¯t kill them now, they would target all the other survival bases.

    Zhang Mu noticed the distance between him and the evolvers and chose not to move back. Instead, he suddenly braked and with a twist of his foot, he charged towards the direction he came from. The two wind-type evolvers didn¡¯t expect Zhang Mu to turn back and had no time to react. Before they could form a wind de, Zhang Mu had passed between them and they had no chance left.

    Their energy immediately dissipated. Zhang Mu had called out the Bloodvine Lotus in that second that he passed by and pierced a hole through their bodies. Their eyes clouded and they couldn¡¯t control their energy anymore. These wind des which were a threat to Zhang Mu disappeared before they could be formed.

    Zhang Mu muttered, ¡°their closebat abilities are very weak and they still dared to rush after me with just the two of them. Who gave you such courage? Or did you all think that I am easy to defeat?¡±

    This attack only took Zhang Mu one second and he didn¡¯t stop at all after it. He was within the range of attack of the people opposite him.

    The others might not have seen it, but the white-shirt man saw every small action that Zhang Mu did. He saw his only two wind-type evolvers falling down simultaneously. He could no longer contain his emotions and gritted his teeth, ¡°are you a nt-type evolver? Too bad, I am one too.¡±

    The white-shirt man gave a shout and the shirt in front of his chest torn apart, exposing a hideous Piranha[1]. None of the other evolvers looked shocked. They must have seen the Piranha before.

    It was really ugly. Under the control of the man, the Piranha¡¯s opening turned towards Zhang Mu and its stem vibrated. Was it preparing tounch an attack?

    ¡°What? A real nt-type evolver, Piranha,¡± as someone simr to a nt-type evolver, Zhang Mu knew how powerful the nt can be. The mutation of this Piranha left a huge impression on Zhang Mu in the future. Anyone with such an ability was highly sought after in a survival base. They were needed during offense and defense. Although the power of the Piranha was still weak now, it¡¯s ability would increase exponentially once it broke through Level 1.

    Zhang Mu moved at a speed four times faster than a normal human just now. However, It wouldn¡¯t be fast enough this time. He had no choice but to increase his speed to five times that of a normal adult.

    With this type of speed, he could safely escape the ultimate blow of the Piranha.

    As expected, once the man saw that Zhang Mu wanted to retreat, he stopped gathering his energy and hastened the Piranha.

    The Piranha received the order form the man and immediately stopped the vibration in its stem. It opened its mouth and a jet of dark green liquid shot out at Zhang Mu. Luckily, Zhang Mu predicted its attack from its appearance and prepared his defense. He moved much faster than the Piranha and managed to dodge its liquid attack.

    Although it wasn¡¯t his first time seeing this, Zhang Mu still let out a cold shudder. This was too scary. The ground that was about five metres away from Zhang Mu, with a diameter of around two metres, was corroding and sinking into the mud.

    He actually calcted his speed and direction and predicted his path of motion.

    If the nt-type evolver knew Zhang Mu¡¯s fastest speed, he would be a pile of thick blood now. Those evolvers standing near him automatically moved out of the way when they saw the Piranha. This was why the manmanded so much respect when the leader was not here.

    They were all afraid. They had seen people suffering from the Piranha and their death was gory. Their skin and muscles slowly peeled off a little at a time and they wouldn¡¯t die immediately. It was a living hell.

    [1] ... It¡¯s a mario!

 Chapter 92 - The Truth

    <strong>Chapter 92: The Truth</strong>

    Although he was stunned, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t stop moving. He moved backward and kept changing his direction. Although it seemed as though he was retreating, he was actually circling the evolvers. The evolvers were like mutated animals now.

    Zhang Mu saw anger boiling in their eyes as well as the desire to eat him up, bit by bit.

    ¡°Still noting out? Seems like this is not enough. I thought that you would have a heartache after your only two wind-type evolvers were killed but you didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how many of your subordinates have to die before youe out of your hiding ce.¡±

    Zhang Mu sneered at the silver-hair middle-aged man who still hadn¡¯t appeared. He was more cautious than Zhang Mu expected. Even after Zhang Mu disyed such abilities and killed the rare wind-type evolvers, he could still hide behind the scenes calmly and kept baiting.

    Zhang Mu started his next step. To destroy all the cannibals.

    Zhang Mu stopped moving and ced his hand in front of his chest, quietly waiting for the evolvers¡¯ arrival. Within two seconds, they were in front of Zhang Mu.

    The man in the white shirt breathed heavily and gave a sinister smile, ¡°why have you stop running? Aren¡¯t you very good at it? Have you gave up and decided to be our dinner?¡±

    Zhang Mu gave a gentle smile, ¡°what if I want to join you?¡±

    The man immediately calmed down and considered the credibility of this statement. He shook his head after a while and said, ¡°it might be possible if you had shown your true powers earlier. Then you just have to eat a human with us and join us.¡±

    ¡°I really see potential in you, little guy. But it is impossible now. You killed the fat man and the two wind-type evolvers that our leader ced high importance in. I can only kill you to answer our leader. If not, I will be in trouble too.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled even brighter, ¡°they were killed by me so easily. That shows how useless they are. Am I not worth as much as three useless evolvers?¡±

    ¡°That is somewhat true. You are very powerful but no matter how useless they are, they have been imnted the...¡±

    The white shirt man suddenly stopped breathing and his face turned red. He took a while before he regained his breath and said, ¡°I almost said too much. No, you can¡¯t join us. Prepare to die.¡±

    Zhang Mu was actually very curious about the half-finished sentence. What exactly was imnted?

    At this time, the man realized that something was wrong, ¡°Wait, you do not want to join us. You are trying to stall time?¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s grin got wider and he snapped his finger and said, ¡°correct! Let me reward you with a little red flower.¡± and instantly, veins started to shoot up from the ground. Zhang Mu nted them when he was moving around just now.

    The unlucky evolvers immediately got prated by the veins. The white shirt man managed to dodge the first round of attack but still got tied up by the veins. In just a second, more than ten evolvers died. The man tried to struggle but the thorns on the veins cut deeper into his skin.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t use all his full strength and left some survivors. These people recovered from their shock and started attacking the veins crazily. However, they didn¡¯t know that theirrades had already be corpses and continued attacking the veins with their energy or weapons.

    ¡°I am a nt-type evolver too, why? I am not convinced.¡±

    The man shouted angrily after his futile attempts at escaping the veins. He stared at Zhang Mu with zing eyes and then looked down at his Piranha. He realised with fear that the Piranha on his chest which had its roots in his heart was getting smaller and smaller.

    ¡°What is happening? What have you done to my Piranha? You are sucking its energy.¡±

    Zhang Mu was curious too. When the Bloodvine Lotus came into contact with the Piranha, Zhang Mu felt that the Piranha didn¡¯t give any resistance and waspletely subdued by the Bloodvine Lotus. It didn¡¯t have any chances of releasing its acid and let the Bloodvine Lotus sucked up all its energy.

    Zhang Mu was amazed that the Bloodvine Lotus had such an ability when facing other nts.

    Thinking about it, if the Bloodvine Lotus was not so domineering, there wouldn¡¯t be so many powerful survival bases fervently chasing the evolvers who had Bloodvine Lotus and killing them.

    The man started scolding Zhang Mu and then changed to insulting him. When he realised that his energy and his life was being sucked away, he finally started pleading.

    This guy didn¡¯t learn the good qualities of a human but kept the part of it that was afraid of death.

    Zhang Mu looked at the man in disdain. At the same time, he was really agitated. He had killed more than ten evolvers and this guy who looks like the second-inmand was also dying. Yet, there was no action taken.

    Could he have guessed wrongly and the silver-hair middle-aged man was not here? Did he overestimate him?

    Zhang Mu started to feel irritated as he looked at the remaining cannibals. He prepared to use the Bloodvine Lotus and killed all of them.

    Just at this moment, a voice sounded beside his ear, ¡°Era Merchant, you are getting overboard.¡±

    Zhang Mu realised he missed out something. The mastermind knew his true identity. He knew that he was an Era Merchant.

    Zhang Mu wanted to speak but couldn¡¯t. He had lost control of his entire body.

    No wonder the evolvers became cannibals and were so afraid of their leader. This guy was a psychological-type evolver!.

 Chapter 93 - The Source Of Avarice

    Chapter 93: The Source Of Avarice

    Zhang Mu felt like he lost control of his entire body. This was the exact feeling he had when Paradise Era was first activated and he heard the voice. Zhang Mu only controlled his soul and his consciousness. His entire body seemed to be split into two parts, the soul and the body.

    From this, you can tell how scary this middle-aged man was. This mastermind¡¯s psychological power had already leveled up to this stage. Zhang Mu even had the delusion that this person had reached Level 2!

    However, he knew that that was impossible. Human mutation needed time to slowly prepare and umte. It was impossible, even if you are a genius, to use ten short days and evolved to the next level.

    Zhang Mu remembered clearly that the leaders of the big survival bases and the geniuses took one to two months before they reached the peak of Level 1 and was going to breakthrough to Level 2. Zhang Mu himself had never touched the bottleneck of Level 2 before so he couldn¡¯t believe that someone had done it already.

    This time, he needed to change his ns totally. Oh wait, it was more of being forced to take certain actions.

    When Zhang Mu was deep in thought, the voice behind him sounded again. This time, it was much closer, ¡°Why, you seemed to have overestimated yourself, Era Merchant. Or should I call you the first Era Merchant of Luoyang City?¡±

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t turn around to look at the person. His eyes started to quiver and his expression changed. It was normal if this person knew about his identity as an Era Merchant but he also knew that he was the first Era Merchant. This was getting strange.

    Is she an Era Merchant too? The third? Or the fourth?

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t think of any other possibilities. However, he didn¡¯t need to crack his brain anymore. A shadow of a person slowly walked around him and walked towards the white shirt man. He gently patted the Bloodvine Lotus and it fell to the ground. The Bloodvine Lotus had lost control too.

    ¡°You want to eat evolver¡¯s meat too? Seems like your ambition is still there. You want to overtake me, Ji Lin.¡±

    The leader kindly patted Ji Lin who was in low spirits, ¡°I have too many hopes on you. I thought that you would change after that episode but you didn¡¯t.¡±

    Ji Lin¡¯s face was pale and it wasn¡¯t because of the Bloodvine Lotus. He seemed to be entirely frightened by what the man was saying to him. He knew how those people were tortured by this fake kind man in front of him. It was a living hell.

    ¡°Boss, please forgive me this time. I wanted to kill him and offer his body to you. However, the stupid fat man was too impulsive. You know that the fat man is slow thinking. He wanted to eat the evolver first and I got tempted by him.¡±

    Ji Lin no longer looked formidable. He answered his leader submissively, afraid that his leader would kill him the minute he made him angry. His eyes were pleading.

    ¡°Haha, you think that just because I am old, my brain is clouded? If you didn¡¯t meet such a strong opponent, he would already be in the pot. So many evolvers died. You just wait. Now, get out of my sight.¡±

    Ji Lin heaved a sigh of relief. The leader had spoken. This meant that his life was safe. He was most fearful of this person when he kept smiling at him and not say anything.

    The middle-aged man was neither tall nor well-built. However, he easily raised the 1.8m tall guy with one hand and threw him to one side. Ji Lin used everyst ounce of energy and scurried away. With the help of the rest of the survivals, he managed to stand up with much effort.

    The leader seemed to finally remember Zhang Mu who was still unable to move. He slowly walked towards him.

    His steps were slow. Zhang Mu¡¯s heart dropped with every single step.

    ¡°I am sorry, my subordinates don¡¯t have manners. I will discipline them. I¡¯m afraid I haven¡¯t been a good host,¡± the silver-hair leader looked at Zhang Mu gently. Zhang Mu felt a chill running down his soul¡¯s spine.

    ¡°Why did you do this? Aren¡¯t we good business partners? Why did youe to my survival base again? Do you have another business for me? No one talks about business like this right? I only have a few subordinates and you just killed them like that. From a businessman point of view, I need to bepensated right? What are you going topensate me with? Money? Or rather, your life?¡±

    Zhang Mu realised he could control his facial muscles and with much difficulty, he said in a cold voice, ¡°them? Was it human lives that I killed? And you, are you even a human?¡±

    ¡°Haha, all I did was eat humans. Do you have to be so pissed off? It is just a mass of protein. A mass of useless protein eaten by a more powerful protein. Is there a problem with that?¡±

    Zhang Mu felt his anger rising. He controlled his emotions and said, ¡°No matter how useless they are, aren¡¯t they the same race as you? Can¡¯t you eat normal food? How can you swallow it?¡±

    The silver-hair leader smiled when he heard Zhang Mu¡¯s questions, ¡°do you really know what hunger is like? Oh right, merchants like you always have good food. You won¡¯t understand our pain. Even before the Cataclysm, survivors of a ne crash would eat other people¡¯s corpse to stay alive. Did anyone condemn them? Would you 100% for certain say that you won¡¯t eat human meat in that kind of situation? No, you can¡¯tmit. People who are dying of hunger are crazy people.¡±

    Before Zhang Mu could reply, the middle-aged man continued. His started to have a faraway look as he recalled his memories and started telling his story.

    ¡°That was three days ago, I remembered I was very hungry. I didn¡¯t even have any water for the three days and I was dying. If I still have energy, I might even bite off my tongue and start eating it.¡±

    ¡°At that moment, I saw a 20 years old girl holding a piece of bread in her hand and started eating in front of me. I pleaded her profusely,¡± the leader¡¯s face turned sinister and his voice got sharper, ¡°she didn¡¯t even give me a bite of that bread. Not even a single bite!

    His voice was shaking as he remembered how he pleaded her, ¡°I just wanted to eat something then. I want to live. My whole mind was focused on the girl. I want to eat the bread in her hands.¡±

    The man smiled, ¡°unexpectedly, the girl stopped moving. My head was hurting tremendously. I don¡¯t know where my energye from but I slowly inched towards her. It took me a few minutes but I did it. I crawled to her side.¡±

    ¡°I slowly move towards the bread and took a huge bite. identally, I bite off her finger. That feeling, that taste was marvellous. It was so delicious. I had never eaten anything so delicious in my entire life. I slowly sucked her blood and forgot about the bread.¡±

    The man paused and gave a warm smile to Zhang Mu and continued, ¡°the blood seemed to give me strength.¡±

    ¡°And then, there was no more blood.¡±

    ¡°I started to eat her, bit by bit.¡±

 Chapter 94 - Self Delusion

    <strong>Chapter 94: Self Delusion</strong>

    Zhang Mu listened to the middle-aged man¡¯s story and was not the least moved. His cold voice was filled with disdain, ¡°such a joke. You could have eaten the bread and survive, why did you eat the girl? Okay even if that time you were forced to eat human meat, what about the times after that? Were you forced to? Stop lying to yourself.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s words pierced right into the leader¡¯s heart. The leader acted like he didn¡¯t hear anything and just continued, ¡°That time, I was thinking about the difference between bread and human meat. If I like human meat more, why can¡¯t I just eat it?¡±

    ¡°What do you say, young Era Merchant?¡± in spite of the insults by Zhang Mu, the leader didn¡¯t disy any signs of guiltiness. He continued looking and Zhang Mu with a smile.

    ¡°This is the reason why you keep eating humans? Oh please, you are just a mutated animal with human skin. You think that humanity will forgive you?¡± Zhang Mu continued provoking the man in front of him. He spoke slowly and calmly as though he was saying a fact.

    The leader¡¯s smile got wider as he looked at Zhang Mu¡¯s attitude. The eerie smile covered his entire face and suddenly, it stopped.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where you got your courage from. To think that you are still bickering with me at this point in time. Are all Era Merchants so stupid and useless?¡±

    Zhang Mu caught a hint in his sentence. He knew other Era Merchants. Who is it?

    ¡°What do you mean? Have you seen no. 2 or someone else?¡±

    Zhang Mu had his suspicion all along and this suspicion was reaffirmed by his insignificant statement.

    ¡°If you meant someone who had the same ring as you, I guess I do know such a person. After all, he is already in my stomach and his memories have assimted into my mind.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t deny that the brain of an evolver is really tasty. Every bite I take. The evolver¡¯s power and memory will slowly assimte into my body. I will forever remember my first taste of an evolver. It was really delicious,¡± the leader thought back about the taste and was enthralled by the memory.

    Zhang Mu was really shocked this time. His mind started thinking about a lot of things and it was gettingplicated.

    This person could assimte other people¡¯s energy and thoughts to be his own. Does that mean that he could keep adding on to his power? No wonder his is so powerful and his aura was so strong that Zhang Mu thought he had reached Level 2.

    Psychology-type evolvers were very rare. Zhang Mu felt that the king of this type of evolver had appeared. He didn¡¯t improve his ability through his own hard work and umtion and used such obnoxious methods so it¡¯s hard to predict what would happen in the future. But as of now, Zhang Mu felt that he had exceeded the human threshold and would not lose to any mutated animals.

    However, Zhang Mu was certain that behind his calm appearance, he was afraid. He was afraid of bing less and less human and Zhang Mu could use this point to provoke him and find a way out of this crisis.

    ¡°Are you scared? You scared that you are going too far from the right path but couldn¡¯t give up eating humans. That¡¯s why you found such monsters tofort yourself right? But I don¡¯t understand how you are able to find such monsters? Do cannibals attract each other?¡±

    The silver-hair leader got calmer when he heard Zhang Mu¡¯s insults and said tantly, ¡°Yes, I felt lonely. But you were wrong about one thing. These people didn¡¯t have the same hobby as me. I was the one who trained them.¡± The leader turned around and looked at the crowd behind him. His face was kind. Zhang Mu felt a chill running through his body.

    This is so disgusting. These people were all cultivated because he felt lonely and needed people¡¯s recognition and support. No wonder there is so many of them right after the Cataclysm, Zhang Mu was enlightened. But as a psychology-type evolver, he does have the power to y with normal people¡¯s mind and turn them into monsters who desires human meat.

    ¡°They are all my children. You killed so many children that I work hard to bring up,¡± the leader turned around and stared at Zhang Mu with a sinister smile, ¡°do you know how I cultivate them?¡±

    ¡°I immersed them in darkness first and let them think that they have been hungry for so long. Every day, only a bit of meat will touch their lips and they can only lick their lips for some food. When they were nearing the brink of death and had almost given up hope, a small piece of meat was sent into their mouth. The piece of meat slowly got bigger until one day, I gave them a whole arm of a human. They will pick it up and eat it even though they knew that it is human meat.¡±

    ¡°But so what?¡±

    Zhang Mu mind had stopped working. Has this man gotten so cruel and cunning already? Has his character be twisted or was his heart so strong that he can endure such things?

    Whichever it was, the situation was equally bad for Zhang Mu.

    However, the man didn¡¯t see to want to kill him. Although he cultivated his subordinates, he didn¡¯t want to interact with them as though it would bring down his status.

    If that was the case, he could continue talking to him, ¡°that can¡¯t be possible. If all of them got controlled by you and followed your n, then they must be quite useless. Why did you cultivate such a useless bunch of people?¡±

    The reply by the silver-hair leader caused Zhang Mu to feel numbed in his head.

    ¡°There are people who are more strong-headed and refused to follow my n. But guess what? I fed these people to my children, one piece at a time.¡±

 Chapter 95 - The True Intention

    <strong>Chapter 95: The True Intention</strong>

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that your mindset was no longer to satisfy your hunger. You were experiencing a change in your mental health. Even though you no longer require it, you need it to satisfy your desires.¡±

    Zhang Mu continued. He was challenging the leader¡¯s bottom line, ¡°this change came very quickly and because of that, you developed fear and suspicion, leading you to train these people. You lost your sense of belonging and was very lonely.¡±

    The silver-hair leader smiled, ¡°you are right. However, what is the point? You talked so much but you are still under my control. What can you do?¡±

    ¡°I knew from the first evolver that I ate, which is the Era Merchant¡¯s memory, that you are a very powerful person. The items in the Merchant store were all taken by you. You must be a very smart person too. Why are you trying so hard to provoke me?¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t seem frightened and said, ¡°since you knew what I want to do, why are you still ying along? Do you find it interesting?¡±

    ¡°You are right, I find it very interesting.¡± the leader ignored Zhang Mu¡¯s gaze and continued himself, ¡°I don¡¯t know how your brain works but you have guessed correctly some of my thoughts. If I don¡¯t already know that you are a nt-type evolver, I would have guessed that you are a psychology-type evolver like me.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am very lonely now. I actually feel a sense of intimacy when I see you.¡±

    ¡°I was thinking that your brain must be very nice to eat too,¡± the leader suddenly said this and Zhang Mu immediately felt nervous. He couldn¡¯t keep up with this powerful guy¡¯s mind. One moment ago he was saying he felt lonely and now, he was thinking about eating Zhang Mu up.

    Zhang Mu still couldn¡¯t control his body. He felt that this guy¡¯s spiritual power was on another level. A thought came into Zhang Mu¡¯s mind.

    Although the guy in front of him had not reached Level 2 yet, his spiritual power and strength were already on that level.

    There were no other reasons why he could control him for so long. Thest psychology-type evolver he met was the one outside the Xi¡¯an Merchant store. That guy could only control a walking dead. He didn¡¯t have the spiritual power to directly control evolvers like Zhang Mu and might even find difficulty controlling a normal person. Hence, he didn¡¯t control Zhang Mu in the end and used Yuan Rui to threaten him instead.

    However, this leader of the North city had controlled him for almost 15 minutes. This had nothing to do with a person¡¯s willpower anymore. It was a battle of strength and spiritual power.

    Zhang Mu used to think that he was ahead of the rest of the people in the world but he took a p in the face in this small Luoyang city. He smiled wryly in his heart. He underestimated his opponent. He had thought that he just had to help Wang Liang destroyed a new base that was inhumane enough to kill their own race. Who knew that he would discover such a big secret and even got caught?

    However, Zhang Mu knew one thing for certain. There was no such person in the future. He assumed that certain acts of his in this Luoyang city caused this big BOSS to survive when he should have died.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know that he would get punished so quickly for changing the history. He didn¡¯t know what to say. He gained many benefits but also dug a hole for himself.

    The leader looked at Zhang Mu who was in a daze and his greedy eyes regained itsposure. He turned back into a normal man and no one could spot any difference.

    He looked at the ring on Zhang Mu¡¯s hand and his eyes immediately lit up. He couldn¡¯t hide the praises he had as he slowly said, ¡°at the start, I don¡¯t know anything about Era Merchants. I met an evolver who survived a mutated beast attack by faking death. I was so hungry then but I don¡¯t want to eat anything else.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what was an evolver or what is an Era Merchant, but when I bite into his flesh, I knew that the taste was different. It was much better than that of a normal human. Within the stench, there was a stream of warmth that slowly integrated into my body.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realise it at the start that my body was getting stronger. Only after that did I felt that my body was longer so tired and flimsy. I felt like I was 20 years old again.¡±

    ¡°The body of the person could no longer satisfy me. I slowly shifted my attention to his brain. By then, I was filled with power and just needed to use a bit of energy to break open the hardest bone in our body, the skull. I slowly sucked the brain juice and casually enjoyed it.¡±

    At this moment, the leader¡¯s eyes were suddenly filled with regret and excitement, ¡°the more I suck, the more understanding I had about this world. I seemed to have open a new door to the future.¡±

    He finished his sentence and shifted his gaze towards Zhang Mu, ¡°I knew about the Merchant store and who the Era Merchants were. I knew about you, the first Era Merchant who wiped out all the Merchant stores in Luoyang city.¡±

    ¡°However, the ring that he had on his hand, which looked the same yours, suddenly burst when I was eating halfway and I was shocked by it.¡±

    ¡°I was engrossed in the taste of the brain and didn¡¯t ce too much importance in that issue. After I finished the brain, I regretted. The Merchant Ring was proof of your identity.¡±

    He finished and move towards Zhang Mu. He looked at Zhang Mu in the eyes and slowly took off his eye-patch, ¡°tell me how to be an Era Merchant and I will not kill you.¡±

 Chapter 96 - Master Of Lies

    <strong>Chapter 96: Master Of Lies</strong>

    So the reason why the middle-aged man didn¡¯t kill him but talked to him for so long was to find out the way to be an Era Merchant? However, Zhang Mu would not tell him that unless he wanted to die. This was because the only way to get the Era Merchant ring from him was to kill him.

    Zhang Mu was not worried that his thoughts would be found out by this psychology-type evolver. Although his spiritual power was very strong, he was unable to fully delve into a person¡¯s conscience and take his memory just like that. Even someone more powerful than him would be unable to do that. If someone could take out another person¡¯s memory easily, there were only two possibilities.

    One was that the evolver was a very powerful psychology-type evolver and the person could directly use his spiritual power to torture and interrogate the victim¡¯s memory. The other reason would be that the person was a very good speaker and could guide the person to give them the answers that they want.

    It was obvious that the leader had tested Zhang Mu¡¯s willpower and realised that it was very strong. No matter how much spiritual oppression he gave Zhang Mu, it didn¡¯t affect him in any way. Even his spiritual power, which allowed him to subdue all these evolvers, was useless against Zhang Mu.

    He didn¡¯t know that such spiritual oppression was just a piece of cake for Zhang Mu. He was different from these people who were suddenly ced in a different environment after livingfortably for so long. He had been through many thick and thins and had met at least 500 psychology-type evolvers in his life.

    These experiences allowed him to remain calm under spiritual oppression. His soul was like a very hard rock that never change its shape no matter what pressure was put on it. It protected his conscience and didn¡¯t allow it to be defeated easily.

    The leader also felt the same thing. Zhang Mu was different from all the other evolvers that he met. Even if some evolvers refused to eat human flesh, they would still be afraid and that was what made him excited. However, this was not seen on Zhang Mu. No matter how hard he tried, there were no loopholes he could target.

    That was why he used the final method. He wanted to have the title of an Era Merchant and gained its power. He was not satisfied with what he had now even though Zhang Mu was not his match. He knew what it was like to be powerful and he was afraid that one day, the powers he got from other people would disappear one day. He didn¡¯t know if his power could continue umting.

    Everything was going smoothly now but he was even more scared because of this. He knew that a building without a strong foundation had a high possibility of copsing. Yet, he was enthralled by the feeling of his power increases exponentially in a short period of time and he needed something tofort himself with. When he saw the Merchant¡¯s ring on Zhang Mu¡¯s hand, he had a new thought. He felt that he could take over the position of an Era Merchant and obtained a more stable source of power from there.

    This was why he continued talking to Zhang Mu even after he had killed more than ten of his men and stepped on his bottom line multiple times. He wanted to slowly stress Zhang Mu and get the information on how to be an Era Merchant out of him.

    However, it seemed like he could only trade this news with Zhang Mu¡¯s life now.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s brain started working furiously. He had thest card that he could y but it was not very safe. The Bloodvine Lotus could act on its own. If the leader rxed or his power dwindled after a period of time, Zhang Mu could return the power of the Bloodvine Lotus and the Bloodvine Lotus could not follow its instinct and attacked anyone around it with the exception of Zhang Mu.

    But, Zhang Mu was not certain if the Bloodvine Lotus could kill the silver-hair leader. If there were only the other evolvers present, Zhang Mu was confident that the Bloodvine Lotus could suck all their blood out but under this circumstance, even if the other evolvers were not present, Zhang Mu was not sure that the Bloodvine Lotus could handle an evolver whose spiritual power had reached Level 2.

    This was despite the fact that the Bloodvine Lotus was so powerful and oppressive now.

    Zhang Mu had seen many psychology-type evolvers who could deal with nt-type evolvers and hence, he waited for the leader to be off his guard. However, he realised that the leader was scheming against him from the start and had no choice but to proceed with the n that jumped into his mind just now.

    He lifted his head slightly and looked at the silver-hair leader for a long time. His gaze was calm and there were no signs of fear or relief. He said indifferently, ¡°you said you will let me go. How do I believe you?¡±

    ¡°You won¡¯t be so naive to think that you can still bargain with me now right, my big merchant. How are you different from a piece of fish on a chopping board? Don¡¯t you know that bargains can only be done if you have the capital? Your life is in my hands. I can kill you just like an ant. Do you understand?¡±

    The leader pulled Zhang Mu¡¯s cor and lifted him up.

    ¡°You are afraid that your powers will disappear one day. If not, why would you want to be one of us when I am not even your match? If you are so indifferent about this, kill me then. It wouldn¡¯t matter if I am dead. It would just be a waste of your acting just now.¡±

    The calmer Zhang Mu was, the more the leader couldn¡¯t do anything about him. He was unable to break Zhang Mu¡¯s conscience in any way.

    After thinking for a while, the leader couldn¡¯t resist the temptation of having a stable source of power. However, he felt that he was being threatened and gritted his teeth, ¡°okay, as long as you tell me how I will ce you in the farthest area that my spiritual power can reach.¡±

    ¡°But, don¡¯t think about getting anything else besides your life. If you do that, I can forego the chance of being an Era Merchant just to have a taste of your flesh.¡±

    Zhang Mu face was calm. He said, ¡°thene with me to the Merchant store. With my rmendation, you will get what you want.¡±

 Chapter 97 - A Success

    Chapter 97: A Sess

    When he heard Zhang Mu¡¯s reply, the silver-haired leader frowned slightly. He didn¡¯t know what plot Zhang Mu was scheming but Zhang Mu¡¯s calm face andposed state of mind made him worry. However, there was nothing he could do. He smiled and asked, ¡°really?¡±

    ¡°I can only say that most of my abilities were from the Era Merchant¡¯s shop. Will you be able to give up such a stable source of power? Also, you have read the unlucky Era Merchant¡¯s memory and should know that there is only a limited number of Era Merchant in each city. One city can only have five Era Merchant. Since one of them is dead, this is your opportunity to take over.¡±

    Although Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t control his body and was hung in the mid-air, he still spoke indifferently to the person who could kill him any moment. His tone was rxed as he said, ¡°Oh, I almost forgot, the Era Merchant shop will automatically choose the nearest evolver as a candidate. You should know how many days have passed since you killed the Era Merchant. Every minute of hesitation will increase the chance of another evolver being called by the Era Merchant shop to be their Era Merchant. You can be suspicious but do you still want your position?¡±

    The doubt in the leader¡¯s eyes deepened. He slowly put Zhang Mu down and gave him a little shake. Zhang Mu regained control of his body. He didn¡¯t look at Zhang Mu and faced him with his back, ¡°I have a question. The things you just said were not in my memory. If you are lying, you should do a better job.¡±

    Zhang Mu stretched his stiff neck. He just regained control of his body and hadn¡¯t recoveredpletely. He had a feeling that the person in front of him might have reached his limit but he wasn¡¯t entirely confident in his prediction. After all, Zhang Mu was not sure if this person was the same as the rest of the psychology-type evolvers.

    He had a safer option now so he didn¡¯t want to take the bet. His confident voice sounded loud, ¡°it is because I am the first Era Merchant!¡±

    ¡°The Era Merchant you ate was just one of theter ones. You should have seen the priority list in the Era Merchant¡¯s shop and know what is the difference between being the first and being the fourth or fifth. He had no rights to know the things I know. What is wrong with that?¡±

    The leader couldn¡¯t find any fault in Zhang Mu¡¯s partly-true statement. It was amon understanding that the first would always have a better benefit than the rest of the people behind him. Hence, some of his doubt was cleared but he still didn¡¯t agree to the suggestion.

    Zhang Mu noticed this and said in a stable tone, ¡°if you now that you can eat my brain and be an Era Merchant after reading my memory, you will have done that long ago. But, you didn¡¯t. You are afraid that once you kill me, you will realise what I said is the truth and you will not be able to be an Era Merchant without my rmendation. By then, there will be no more chance for you to be an Era Merchant and you will definitely regret your actions.¡±

    The leader slowly turned around and looked straight at Zhang Mu. He opened his mouth and showed his white teeth, ¡°I have onest question. If you can give me a satisfying answer, I will trust you this time.¡±

    Zhang Mu signaled him to continue. The leader stared into Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes and asked, ¡°you mentioned that the Era Merchant shop would automatically choose the nearest evolver as the substitute for a dead Era Merchant. Doesn¡¯t that mean that I can just stay around the Era Merchant shop or kill all the evolvers within the area and I will be an Era Merchant?¡±

    Zhang Mu gave a silentugh, ¡°I am not sure if the Era Merchant you ate was too low in ranking and all you could see was a string of codes, but it would be too naive of you to think that the Era Merchant shop doesn¡¯t know how to make any judgements right? If you do that, you would be discriminated by the Era Merchant shop and your chances of bing the Era Merchant will be stripped permanently. Most of the Era Merchant was chosen personally but some were chosen by chance. Three days after the Cataclysm, the Era Merchant will be chosen randomly, no on a firste-first-serve basis.¡±

    The silver-haired leader tried to find hints of emotions in Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes but was unable to detect any. Besides that, Zhang Mu¡¯s answer was logical and there were no loopholes to be found. His speed of talking was also very fast and didn¡¯t look like he was lying.

    Zhang Mu saw the leader deep in thought and decided to push him further, ¡°if you don¡¯t believe me, you can follow me to the Era Merchant shop and see it for yourself. You might have followed the memory and visited the area already so why did you not go into the shop and be an Era Merchant like what you said just now? I can tell you confidently that if the Era Merchant shop didn¡¯t choose you personally and you don¡¯t have someone like me to rmend you, you will never be an Era Merchant even if you squat outside the shop your whole life.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s words moved the leader. It was not that he was scared of Zhang Mu. He knew the full abilities of Zhang Mu and knew that he was no match for him. What he found scary was how calm Zhang Mu was. Even when he changed his tone to provoke him, the leader could still feel howposed Zhang Mu was. The only thing that moved was the leader¡¯s own emotions.

    He couldn¡¯t see through the calmness. What¡¯s more, he could detect a sense of danger from it. He didn¡¯t even feel any sense of danger when he was facing a huge mutated animal.

    However, there was no choice. What Zhang Mu said seemed to be the truth. Every second he dragged would decrease his chance from achieving his target. He had been to the Era Merchant shop but he was unable to enter the ce. When he tried to use his spiritual power, the shop would swallow all the power and it was as though nothing had happened.

    After much analysis, his cautious nature finally believed everything Zhang Mu said.

    He could just go and give it a try first. If what Zhang Mu said was fake, he could just kill himter. He had nned to kill him after bing an Era Merchant to see if he could be the first Era Merchant. He had a feeling that the brain of someone so clever would definitely be very delicious.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. You will walk in front. If I find anything wrong with what you said, I will have you as my supper today. I have not had any evolvers for quite some time. Although I am worried that my ability is improving too fast, eating you shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±

    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go. If you want to drag the time, there is nothing I can do too.¡±

    Zhang Mu finished his sentence and immediately turned around and walked away, not caring about what the leader was thinking.

    ¡°Stay here,¡± the leader ordered the people behind him.

    Zhang Mu heard the footsteps chasing after him. His heart leaped in joy but there was no change in his expression.

    Was he finally fooled?

 Chapter 98 - Era Merchant Shop

    <strong>Chapter 98: Era Merchant Shop</strong>

    When the silver-haired leader caught up with Zhang Mu, Zhang Mu turned around and looked at him. He talked to him as though he was talking to an old friend. There were no hints of the displeasure that happened just now.

    ¡°Seems like you are still very eager about it. I thought that you really didn¡¯t care?¡±

    The leader didn¡¯t put Zhang Mu¡¯s mocking in his heart. He felt that the things Zhang Mu portrayed were all very ambiguous. This was why the leader was still guarding against Zhang Mu although he was stronger and more powerful than him. This ambiguous feeling made him very ufortable.

    Zhang Mu saw his serious face and appeared shocked. He continued, ¡°are you still scared? What is your power for then? If you are so weak fellow, you should just stay in your survival base and enjoy being the most powerful man there. Why are you doing this to yourself?¡±

    ¡°I have my own judgment. You do not have to y with my emotions and try to confuse me. You should know that such small tricks shouldn¡¯t be used twice. We have been probing each other for so long and nothing came out of it. Why are you still doing this?¡±

    Zhang Muughed. He seemed like a different person entirely. He was no longer the calm andposed Zhang Mu but appeared to be a cynical and yful youth. He gave the leader the impression that he was an experienced old man trapped in the body of a youth. He would have thought that Zhang Mu was like him, eating other people¡¯s memory and gaining their experiences if he didn¡¯t know that he was against cannibals.

    Actually, he was quite near the truth. Zhang Mu¡¯s existence was an even bigger BUG than him being able to gain people¡¯s power and memory through eating them.

    The Zhang Mu before had experienced and been through many things. This caused his mentality to be more mature than his actual age of 28. He wouldn¡¯t say that he had seen through the vanity of the world, but he had no desires besides the few bottom lines that he had in his heart. He just wanted to peacefully finish his mission as an Era Merchant and survived through the hard times after the Cataclysm.

    He had to prevent the Era Merchant ring from sucking him dry. However, he was the fifth Era Merchant and was always thest to choose his supplies. Most of the time, there were no good supplies left for him and the distance between them grew. Because of this, Zhang Mu always wished that someone would leave some supplies for him or someone would despise the supplies and leave him a set. That way, he would be able toplete the basic mission of an Era Merchant.

    However, in reality, there were no supplies left for him. He would always experience the same hopelessness when the robotic voice told him that all the supplies were gone. Hence, he could only run between the various Era Merchant shops and used quantities to cover up hisck of quality. He had no time to wait for opportunities and this was why he couldplete the minimum golden leaves mission every time just before the deadline.

    The desire to live and the despair towards the future allowed Zhang Mu to see through many things and he started to hold lesser desires.

    When Zhang Mu returned back to his younger body, he realised that he didn¡¯t need to live so tiredly anymore. His body was still young and energetic and this subconsciously changed his way of thinking.

    Because of this change, Zhang Mu¡¯s personality and aura was filled with contradiction and harmony, making him hard to understand.

    The reply by the silver-haired leader caused both of them to be silent. In the end, it was Zhang Mu who broke the silence.

    ¡°What is your name? I can¡¯t be calling you ¡®hey¡¯ or ¡®silver-hair¡¯ or ¡®old man¡¯ all the time. From your looks, I think that you are slightly above 40?¡± Zhang Mu grinned at him and said to him. The leader was speechless. He felt that he needed to relook at Zhang Mu¡¯s personality again. However, he also thought that what he said made sense and replied to him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have a name. I felt that I have too many people¡¯s memory allbined together. If you didn¡¯t bring it up, I would have forgotten about my name. There was no use for it in the survival base and I can¡¯t use it to talk to the walking dead or the mutated animals either.¡±

    ¡°Why not call me zero then. I didn¡¯t expect you to ask this question and was a bit unprepared for it.¡±

    The leader thought for a while before replying Zhang Mu. He had tried to think about his name before but was confused by the other memories and reached no conclusions.

    ¡°Zero. That is a good name.¡±

    Zhang Mu replied and started thinking at the same time. He had captured a piece of important information. This man who named himself ¡®zero¡¯ seemed to be in a worse state than he had imagined.

    He didn¡¯t have a main conscience. Zhang Mu thought that no matter how much memories Zero consumed, his conscience would be controlled by his main body or identity. However, this didn¡¯t seem to be the case. If he continued to absorb more memories, Zhang Mu predicted that he would be a monster.

    Zhang Mu felt a tinge of sorrow. This method of increasing your power was fast, but the consequences were high too. In order to get greater power, Zero was slowly losing himself.

    This might be the reason why he wanted to find a stable source of power so urgently.

    He must have realized that he didn¡¯t have much time left.

    The two men were deep in thought but they didn¡¯t slow down. In the blink of eye, they reached the Era Merchant shop.

 Chapter 99 - Finally Falling Into the Trap

    Chapter 99: Finally Falling Into the Trap

    It was still at the people¡¯s square. Just that this time, there was almost no one in sight. There was an eerie silence.

    Zero seemed to notice Zhang Mu¡¯s curiosity and slowly said, ¡°ever since the mutated animals attacked us, this area had be a spot where mutated animals would alwayse and visit. However, after the Era Merchant in the crimson blue cloak came, the situation changedpletely. Almost all the mutated animals within the area were wiped out and those that were left retreated in fear out of the Luoyang City. After that, this area was encased by a certain power which prevented people from going near it.

    ¡°After that, rumors say that those people who were killed by the mutated animals died a terrible death and their hatred umted together to form this phenomenon. From the start, people were scared of the mutated animals in this area so when the rumor spread, everyone living around here moved away, including those regr-sized survival base.

    I came here once before and wanted to look for the era merchant¡¯s shop that was in the memory of the Era Merchant. However, even after using all my spiritual power, I still can¡¯t enter this ce. I could only give up.¡±

    Zero exined in detailed to Zhang Mu in order to find out the truth from Zhang Mu¡¯s mouth.

    When Zhang Mu heard Zero¡¯sst sentence, he sneered.

    Is the Era Merchant¡¯s shop¡¯s boundary something that you could enter and leave as you please? If it was, there was no point in opening the shop anymore. That was because it was so powerful, no humans would be their match. Even if people more powerful than he became, such as those level 5 and level 6 evolvers, they would not be able to cross the boundary too.

    If not, during Zhang Mu¡¯s era when there were many high-level evolvers everywhere, why did they only target era merchants and not the Era Merchant¡¯s shop?

    This was because the boundary was too powerful. Normal attacks would not do any damage to the boundary. Of course, there were people who provoked the Era Merchant owner to attack them. However, there were not many people who did it.

    Zhang Mu remembered that the number one fighter from a survival base who was a level 6 evolver wanted to get into the Era Merchant¡¯s shop. The evolver followed an Era Merchant but was stopped outside the boundary. He was arrogant and immediately attacked the boundary, wanting to break the boundary set up by the Era Merchant¡¯s shop.

    A level 6 evolver was already considered the top tier in terms of abilities. That time, a level 4 Zhang Mu was just a dispensable ant.

    Indeed, he was powerful enough. But, when the boundary of the Era Merchant¡¯s shop was broken, everyone was stunned.

    Time seemed to stop. A long gun slowly came out from the boundary. Although its movement was slow, the evolver was just like everyone else. He couldn¡¯t break free from the boundary and could only watch as the gun slowly stabbed towards his throat and pierced into it. As his life dwindled away, his head started falling lower and lower.

    The long gun shook as though it was shaking off a piece of garbage and the well-respected level 6 evolver was shook off the gun.

    His body was discarded on the ground. None of the people around him had regained control of their body. They could only feel fear in their hearts.

    After that, the long gun retracted into the boundary as if it never appeared before.

    When the long gun disappeared totally, the people around finally managed to heave a sigh of relief. They felt as though a huge rock was ced on their chest just now.

    However, the next second, everyone dispersed, They were afraid of provoking the person inside the Era Merchant¡¯s shop again. The death of level 6 evolver was too shocking. Even the people from the same survival base didn¡¯t dare to go any closer. They didn¡¯t even have the courage to retrieve the body. If they were implicated, it would not be worth it.

    The level 6 evolver was also an overlord when he was alive. Although he was restricted by the leaders of the survival base, he was still high above everyone else. Yet, he was killed just like that.

    Who dared to go over and intrude the Era Merchant¡¯s shop anymore?

    At that time, Zhang Mu was among the crowd too. Although he knew that the Era Merchant¡¯s shop owner would not do anything to him, he still wanted to keep his status a secret. In order to not appear too prominent, he retreated together with the crowd and left the Era Merchant¡¯s shop area.

    That was the first time he saw the owner striking and it formed a deep impression in his heart.

    Zhang Mu kept repeating the scene in his mind. He kept repeating the unstoppable power of the long gun and scoffed at Zero¡¯s statement. However, he didn¡¯t show it. He still needed toplete a mission.

    ¡°Okay, we have reached. Let¡¯s go in.¡±

    Just as Zhang Mu wanted to walk forward, Zero suddenly waved his hand and looked at Zhang Mu funnily, ¡°wait, I remember that in my memory, you era merchants have only one chance of entering the era merchant¡¯s shop every month. Starting from the day Doomsday started, it has only been 28 days.

    How can you go in? What games are you trying to y?¡±

    Zhang Mu gave an indifferent look and irritating look and shrugged, ¡°I am number one.¡±

    ¡°Is this reason enough?¡±

    This simple sentence stopped all the suspicion that Zero had because he knew that the first era merchant had many privileges. He might really have some privileges in this area. He could only believe Zhang Mu now.

    ¡°I warn you, do not have any other intention. If not, you will die a terrible death.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t reply to him. He just walked forward by himself.

    Actually, this was not Zhang Mu¡¯s privilege. All the era merchants could have this privilege. That is, to use their era merchant¡¯s ring to enter the shop once before the date of the exchange.

    However, the cost was high too. You would need ten gold leaves, which means that you need to finish all your missions. Normal people would not do such a stupid thing but Zhang Mu had no choice. This was hisst chance.

    This function was not announced to the era merchants. It was just being hidden by them but it still existed.

    Zhang Mu reached forward with his hand into the boundary and his era merchant ring started to have a reaction. It started shining dimly.

    At the same time, a space that was able to contain one person appeared in front of Zhang Mu.

    As Zhang Mu was stepping in, his right arm was grabbed.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t struggle and let Zero follow him in.

    In a corner where Zero couldn¡¯t see, Zhang Mu smiled.

    Finally, you have fallen into the trap.

 Chapter 100 - Finding The Solution

    Chapter 100: Finding The Solution

    After stepping in, their world started spinning and then, they arrived at the era merchant¡¯s shop.

    It was still the same boundless blue gxy. Zhang Mu woke up quickly. He shook his hand and shook off Zero who didn¡¯t have much power now. On the other hand, Zero was shocked by the vast gxy. The era merchant that he ate had never seen this before because his number was at the back. Hence, he ignored Zhang Mu¡¯s presence and just admired this majestic gxy by himself.

    However, a voice shocked him and woke him up. He slowly turned his head and looked into the direction of the voice.

    ¡°Number 001, why have you reach ahead of schedule? There is still a lot of time before the next exchange.¡±

    Zero was sizing up the man who suddenly appeared. The man had an elegant and noble aura around him.

    ¡°I think I told you before that you can¡¯te back here before the date of the exchange. Although I never told you what the punishment was, someone with your personality shouldn¡¯t be so forgetful.

    No. 37¡¯s voice was like music to Zhang Mu¡¯s ear. He controlled the emotions in his heart and said, ¡°I remembered it. However, first, take a look at the man I brought.

    No. 37 noticed Zero who was behind Zhang Mu and he frowned, ¡°it is a taboo to bring other people into the era merchant¡¯s shop. Although you are the first era merchant and have a chance to introduce another era merchant, I don¡¯t remember that I told you this before.¡±

    Seems like Zhang Mu didn¡¯t lie to him. As the first era merchant, he had the rights to rmend other people. Zero started rxing.

    ¡°However, since you brought him in already, are you sure that you want to use your only chance on him?¡±

    At this moment, no. 37 and Zero¡¯s gazended on the silent Zhang Mu. One was a look of inquiry while the other was a look of excitement. Now, Zero was only one step to being an era merchant. He just needed Zhang Mu to say something.

    Two seconds passed. To their surprise, Zhang Mu sneered and looked up at Zero. He gave Zero a smile.

    Zero saw Zhang Mu¡¯s expression and knew that something was amiss. He wanted to use his spiritual power to control Zhang Mu but he realised that he seemed to have lost all his power and was no different from a normal person.

    Under the anxious and nervous gaze of Zero, Zhang Mu said the words that destroyed all his hope.

    ¡°This was the person that killed one of your merchants.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s words caused no.37 to turn cold in his eyes. His expression was eerie and he looked at Zero with a serious expression.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him. He said it on purpose,¡± Zero¡¯s mood fell down to rock bottom as he lost all his powers. He looked at Zhang Mu smiling mysteriously at him and couldn¡¯t control his emotions anymore. He disregarded the fact that he was already more than 40 years old and had the body of a middle-aged man and just rushed towards Zhang Mu.

    However, Zhang Mu had no intention of dodging. The moment Zero pounced over, he was already controlled by no. 37. He was clipped by two stars.

    Zhang Mu was taking a gamble too. He didn¡¯t know if no.37 would act against a human, even if the human didn¡¯t provoke the era merchant¡¯s shop and just killed his era merchant.

    No. 37 didn¡¯t bother about Zhang Mu and just called upon a star to search through Zero¡¯s body. After a while, he started frowning. The next moment, he gave a look of realisation. He started having an interest in Zero.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu was in torment. What happens of no. 37 take a fancy to Zero¡¯s abilities and recruits him to be an era merchant? If that happens, what would happen when they go out?

    Zhang Mu was nning to let no. 37 solve this problem for him. However, he suddenly felt that this issue was not so simple. Although Zero killed an era merchant, if no. 37 liked his talent and kept him under his wing, there was no way he could exin himself after they get out.

    But, luck seemed to on Zhang Mu¡¯s side. No. 37 sighed in pity and clenched his fist. The stars that were clipping on Zero pushed against each other and turned Zero into fine powder. Amidst Zero¡¯s miserable screams, his blood infused into the two stars and stained their surface in red.

    Zhang Mu was swallowing his saliva throughout the whole process. He didn¡¯t know why no. 37 did this. ¡°Are you wondering why I didn¡¯t use this person even though he is one of the most powerful evolver now?¡± No. 37 looked at Zhang Mu with sharp eyes as though he wanted Zhang Mu to exin to him why he used him.

    Zhang Mu was still immersed in Zero¡¯s death and he asked subconsciously, ¡°why?¡±

    ¡°One, he killed my merchant. By right, it is none of my business whether you all survive in the Paradise Era. However, after he killed this era merchant, I am only left with two other merchants. This means that besides you, only the second one is still alive.¡±

    Zhang Mu noticed the anger in no. 37¡¯s tone. He asked, ¡°what happened to the rest?¡±

    ¡°After the attack on Luoyang by those mutated animals, two of them died just outside my shop.¡±

    Zhang Mu knew why no. 37 took action so furiously. The attack by the mutated animals had caused him to lose two era merchants. No wonder the unbiased no. 37 almost annihted all the mutated animals within this area. Zhang Mu finally understood it now.

    ¡°As for the other reason, this person is ahead of you all in terms of ability but he would soon cease to be a human. Hence, the era merchant¡¯s shop would not recognise his status then. There is no point in taking him in.¡±

    So this was what happened. Seems like Zero was going to be inhuman very soon. No matter how powerful he was, he could not be an era merchant. Zhang Mu felt at ease. He thought that he had solved a huge problem.

    But, very quickly, he couldn¡¯t smile anymore. No. 37 was looking at him weirdly.

    ¡°Now, let us settle an ount, shall we?¡±

    Zhang Mu gave a bitter face and couldn¡¯t say anything. The more he heard what no. 37 had to say, the cker his face became.

    ¡°Entering the era merchant¡¯s shop before the exchange date, deduct ten gold leaves.¡±

    ¡°The price for making use of me and payment for my psychological trauma, 10 gold leaves.¡±

    No. 37 seemed to have exchanged expression with Zhang Mu. He eyes shone brightly as he said with a smile, ¡°a total of 20 gold leaves. What do you say? Are you making payment now or paying by installment.¡±

 Chapter 101 - Advance Trading

    <strong>Chapter 101: Advance Trading</strong>

    Zhang Mu was dumbfounded. ording to what no.37 said, he would have to take out 20 gold leaves topensate him.

    However, Zhang Mu was penniless now. All he had was his era¡¯s local goods. Besides that, he had nothing on him.

    However, he never thought about whether he would be behind in payment. There was no rtionship spoken in trading, much less so when doing trading with an interest-driven era merchant. If he dared to pretend to ept it and then be unable to pay it back, he would probably need to pay with his life. Zhang Mu knew the weight of the situation.

    No one can owe the era merchant¡¯s shop, even if it was just a crystal!

    This was an important rule to all the era merchants in the future.

    As for the other option, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t even want to think about it. With the merchant¡¯s personality, he would not give any good installment ns to help him repay his debt.

    As expected, no. 37¡¯s indifferent voice rang beside his ear, ¡°I think that you have no ability to pay the 20 gold leaves now. Since you are back, you must havepleted the mission. However, even if you had a good harvest, you would only bring a portion of your era¡¯s local goods. Deducting the gold leaves that you needed for the mission, you would not have much left right? Should I give you a good installment deal for the rest of your debt?¡±

    ¡°Do you want to pay it back in one month, three months or six months? The interest every month would be 10% of the amount you put under the credit. How does this sound? Since this is the first time you are payingpensation, I will offer you a promotion. If not, I would normally ask for a 20% interest.¡±

    One month and he wanted 10%. Based on what he said, he still wanted to get 20%. He is really opening his mouth wide. Zhang Mu was thinking about what no. 37¡¯s expression would be like after he took out his era¡¯s local goodster.

    When he realised that Zhang Mu didn¡¯t reply him, no. 37 smiled, ¡°do you think that my price is too high? You did use me to deal with your trouble. I can be considered as your life saviour. With your ability, it would almost be impossible for you to retaliate against him. If I didn¡¯t act, you would be a cold corpse now. So, after I said all this, do you think that it is worth it now? Is your life not worth 10 gold leaves?¡±

    However, Zhang Mu still kept quiet. Actually, he was calcting his harvest this time. When he brought out the 11 White Jade Donkey Statue, how would no. 37 look at him?

    However, no. 37 still thought that Zhang Mu felt heart pain to give him the 20 gold leaves. It was still too hard to take out 20 gold leaves even if you pay for it through installment. He sighed helplessly and said, ¡°001, if you still think that it is expensive, I have nothing to say too. By right, an era merchant needs to pay the penalty ofing in before the exchange date immediately. I can dy my share of the leaves. This is your first time breaking this rule. It is partly my fault for not telling you because I didn¡¯t think that there would be era merchants returning in the first month to finish their exchange.

    How about this, since I have the responsibility too, I will take half of it. You will be responsible for the remaining 5 gold leaves. This way, you will not have many thoughts about it, right? As for my fee, I will give you a three-month installment. You will not need to pay the interest anymore. This is the best I can help you.¡±

    Zhang Mu stared at no. 37 as he kept talking and didn¡¯t interrupt him. In the end, no.37 lowered the number of gold leaves to 15 for him.

    He asked subconsciously, ¡°so that is a total of 15 gold leaves?¡±

    No. 37 looked at him strangely, ¡°yes, 25 gold leaves in total. Five gold leaves must be paid immediately and ten of them can be paid in three months. You will pay three gold leaves in the first two months and four gold leaves in thest month.¡±

    In order to let Zhang Mu forget about his worry, he even patted Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder, ¡°after youpleted more mission, your era merchant¡¯s authorisation would increase and the initial funds for your mission would increase steadily too. The number of items you can bring back would increase too.

    That way, ten gold leaves would mean nothing much to you.

    ¡°So, what era¡¯s local goods do you have? I can help you see the price and then you will know if you can afford the penalty fee. If it is not enough, it will be deducted from your next mission. I am being restricted by rules too. If you are unlucky and the local goods you have have a low retail price here, it might only be slightly above the reward ofpleting the mission. If that is the case, I can¡¯t help you too.

    The deduction of the penalty is done by the system. It is not within my responsibility and I can¡¯t control it.¡±

    Zhang Mu knew what he meant. Out of the four cities around Luoyang, one of their local goods was selling at a low price. He heard that it was only 5% higher than its cost price. That means that he would only earn half a gold leaf. Now, no.37 was afraid that Zhang Mu would be unlucky and choose this city¡¯s era merchant¡¯s shop as his partner for exchange.

    In his past life, his luck wasn¡¯t really good. However, now, he had something that was powerful than luck. Foresight. Also, his luck had changed after he was reborn.

    ¡°Its Xi¡¯an.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s soft voice sounded like an explosion in no. 37¡¯s ear. He was the owner of the era merchant¡¯s shop so he knew about the price of the different goods at his shop. 001 chose the one that gave the highest retail price for his goods, no. 35.

    This guy is so lucky. He almost couldn¡¯t control his elegant aura but he managed to stop himself just in time. He gave aplicated look to Zhang Mu, ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you would be so lucky. As expected of the first era sub-merchant in this testing field.¡±

    No. 37 looked at Zhang Mu and seemed to be considering something. It might be a coincidence if it happened once and luck if it happened twice, but if it happened three or four times, things would be moreplicated.

    Zhang Mu guilty as no. 37 stared at him. However, he didn¡¯t show any emotions on his face and looked back at no. 37.

    After a while, no.37 seemed to give up thinking and said to Zhang Mu slowly, ¡°if the things you had are from Xi¡¯an, then most probably you would have enough for your penalty fee this time. You will not need to do any installment and you might even have some extra. What kind of luck do you have? My price for the good from Xi¡¯an is the highest among all the era merchant shops in this area.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, take out all the things you hid in your era merchant¡¯s ring and I will calcte the price for you.¡±

    ¡°Are you prepared?¡± Zhang Mu suddenly asked no. 37.

    No. 37 looked at Zhang Mu in surprise, ¡°yes, why?¡±

    Zhang Mu said softly, ¡°okay then.¡±

 Chapter 102 - Things Get Complicated

    Chapter 102: Things Get Complicated

    At the start, no. 37 was still pondering over Zhang Mu¡¯s sentence. However, when Zhang Mu took out all the items he had hidden in his merchant¡¯s ring, no. 37 was so shocked he stood rooted to the ground. The dazed look on his face was notpatible with the elegant aura that he had.

    The local goods would be weightless in the era merchant¡¯s shop. Thus, 11 White Jade Donkey Statues floated in the air above no. 37 orderly. A bag of tea tree oil and two baked buns floated at the front. They hung quietly in the air. The entire surrounding was in silence.

    After a long while, no. 37 eximed in disbelief, ¡°how is this possible? How did you get so many Xi¡¯an¡¯s spiritual essence? No. 35 should know that there is a limited amount of spiritual essence an era merchant¡¯s shop can provide each month.¡±

    When he saw no. 37 looking at him, Zhang Mu shrugged innocently, ¡°the items you gave me could be sold for this many gold leaves. There were a total of 24 gold leaves. I spend it all.¡±

    No. 37 interrupted Zhang Mu, ¡°no, even if you have so many gold leaves, the amount of items is limited. Even if his era sub-merchants don¡¯t buy any of it, you shouldn¡¯t be able to get so many of them.

    Did he use that authority that he has? What happened? Why would he use that authority for you when he can only use it only once every year? Why did he use his power to increase the number of items for you and not for his own sub-merchants? What exactly happened to allow the red-bearded guy to sacrifice his authority for my sub-merchant?¡±

    Red-bearded? Thest time at Xi¡¯an city, no. 35 seemed to be unhappy when he spoke about no. 36. Seems like there are some disputes between his superior and no. 35/

    However, this was not the time to think about this. Zhang Mu was worried that if he didn¡¯t exin it to no. 37 now, he would be tore into half by his gaze. Zhang Mu told him what happened in Xi¡¯an.

    After listening to the entire story, no. 37¡¯s expression was really interesting. He kept quiet for a long while before saying excitedly, ¡°no wonder the red-beared is willing to do it for you. If he didn¡¯t increase his items, his era¡¯s local goods would have been wiped out by you. Haha, that will mean that his sub-merchants can¡¯t even have a sip of soup. They would have to go for their first mission with only four gold leaves and nothing else. They will lose at the starting point.

    However, I feel that he never thought that someone so far away in Luoyang would reach his shop so early and finish the exchange at his ce. Also, due to many reasons, his sub-merchants are weak aspared to you and you even brought him one of his sub-merchants. Such an irony.¡±

    No. 37 couldn¡¯t control his elegant demeanor any more. No matter how strangely Zhang Mu looked at him, he just continued tough loudly. His blue feather cloak swayed along with hisughter.

    Zhang Mu was curious if the feathers on his cloak would drop if he continuedughing like this.

    He didn¡¯t know that his superior would bear so many grudges against no. 35. Seems like before they had a conflict of interest, they were already on bad terms with each other. If not, he would notugh so much when he heard about no. 35 being bullied.

    No. 37ughed for almost 2 whole minutes. Only then did he realised that his sub-merchant was looking at him weirdly. He realised that he was acting inappropriately and retracted his smile. He resumed his cold and elegant aura.

    Such a quick change in expression. You could be a face-changing master.

    Zhang Mu thought in his heart but didn¡¯t dare to say it out. He could only smile forcefully.

    No. 37 coughed and then thought of something. He frowned, ¡°that means that it wasn¡¯t only me. Even no. 35 has ack of sub-merchants. What is wrong with this testing ground? Based on my past experience, after the debugging time, if there aren¡¯t enough evolvers, the era merchant¡¯s shop would have priority in choosing them. Weird, this is weird.¡±

    Zhang Mu flung in a remark, ¡°there is actually nothing weird. There was an era sub-merchant in Xi¡¯an that liked to kills people and for Luoyang, there was an attack by the mutated animals. idents happened in these two ces. It could just be a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°idents? Maybe?¡± no. 37¡¯s suspicious tone caused the rm in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart to sound. ¡°Do you know the reason for the attack by the mutated animals in Luoyang? Didn¡¯t you say that two era sub-merchants died outside the era merchant¡¯s shop?¡± Zhang Mu asked carefully.

    However, the era merchant shook his head to Zhang Mu¡¯s surprise, ¡°I don¡¯t know what is happening this time. My two sub-merchants were killed by the mutated animals right after they walked out of the shop. By tight, I shouldn¡¯t bother about the life and death of my sub-merchants due to certain limitations. We can¡¯t protect them with our powers. But, this time, the mutated animals were roaming around right on the outskirts of my shop.

    That way, no evolvers coulde close to my era merchant¡¯s shop. If there were no humans around, where will I be able to find people to rece the vacant positions? I just acted indirectly this time and scare the mutated animals with my powers so that they retreated out of Luoyang. However, still no evolvers came close to my shop. I can¡¯t go out and recruit people too so I can only leave things as it is.¡±

    Although no. 37 said all these, he didn¡¯t look affected by the loss of his two sub-merchants.

    ¡°As for the reason of the attack of mutated animals, I couldn¡¯t find it. This is your world. I do not want to be bothered by it.¡±

    Zhang Mu wanted to use no. 37 to find out the reason for the mutated animals¡¯ attack. However, he actually made an indirect attack this time so it would be hard to ask him to act again. He could only rely on himself to find out the reason.

    ¡°So, can we start the exchange now?¡±

    No. 37 didn¡¯t seem to want to talk about this matter anymore so Zhang Mu changed the topic.

    ¡°Yes, let¡¯s start.¡±

 Chapter 103 - Another Harvest

    <b>Chapter 103: Another Harvest</b>

    On the order of no. 37, a few stars around him sprung out and shrunk in size. The stars came between them and they started the era¡¯s exchange process.

    The stars aligned themselves and formed a familiar bill. After that, the mechanical sound rang beside Zhang Mu¡¯s ear and he started looking at the price of the three Xi¡¯an¡¯s local goods.

    Although he knew that Xi¡¯an¡¯s local good had a high price in no. 37¡¯s era merchants shop, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t expect it to be so high. A tinge of happiness fell on his face. This outright smile made no. 37¡¯s face darkened. This time, no. 35 not only sacrificed himself, but he had also dragged him along too.

    However, if youpared it, no. 37 didn¡¯t have much of a loss. From a certain point of view, he even earned a bit. This is because, at the starting stage of a training ground, spiritual essence was very rare. If he used his gold leaves as an exchange for spiritual essence, it is still worth it. But, no. 35 more than what he could afford for it and that was a heavy loss for him.

    No. 27 looked at Zhang Mu with aplicated expression. Zhang Mu was the ultimate winner in this exchange but because of him, he could also break the records for the highest achievements obtained for era merchants shop within this area.

    But, for some reason, no. 37 felt that something was weird.

    He didn¡¯t think about it for long. It might be because he never let any of his sub-merchants gained the upper hand in an exchange before.

    Maybe he was just thinking too much. Maybe he was just irritated by all the things that had happened ever since the era merchants shop opened at this new training ground.

    On the other hand, Zhang Mu was calcting his profit with bright eyes.

    The bill in front of him told him how much wealth he had now. ¡°tea tree oil, one. Worth half a gold leaf.¡±

    ¡°Baked buns, two. Worth one gold leaf.¡±

    Even these two local googs were worth so much in this era merchant¡¯s shop. What about those biggest bargaining chips he had? The number that appeared on the bill was the reason by Zhang Mu¡¯s smile.

    ¡°White Jade Donkey Statues, one. Ten gold leaves.¡±

    There were no emotions in the words. However, Zhang Mu¡¯s heart had already exploded. Ten gold leaves. When he bought it from no. 35, he just paid 2.4 gold leaves for each of this. This meant that the price flipped by around four times.

    Three times profit. What did a three times profit mean? Capitalists were willing to give up everything to get this number and Zhang Mu got something even more amazing than this.

    This meant that with the eleven White Jade Donkey Statues he had as well as the tea tree oil and the baked buns, Zhang Mu would get 113.5 gold leaves. Even if he deducted the ten leaves for the mission, the five for entering the shop early, and the ten leaves for no. 37, he still had 87.5 gold leaves as profit.

    Zhang Mu was just an era sub-merchant. The initial funds for his mission were just four gold leaves. Now, his profit was almost 20 times the initial funds. This showed how powerful the market price fluctuations could be.

    This was the reason why no. 37 didn¡¯t have any other thoughts even though he was being bluffed by Zhang Mu. With one mission, Zhang Mu did around ten times more than what a basic sub-merchant could do. Even though the era merchant¡¯s shop just opened and there were only profits and no loss, it was still very scary.

    Zhang Mu just started the era exchange so he had no experience at all. No. 37 could only think that he was really lucky to get more than 100 gold leaves for an era exchange that had the base of four gold leaves.

    However, no one else would be able to get this amount even if they managed to the maximum amount of goods. This was because Zhang Mu¡¯s situation was special. If no. 35 didn¡¯t use his authority to increase the number of items in his shop, his profits would be decreased by half. No matter how highly he thinks of Zhang Mu, he would not use his chance on him. One year is a long time. There waspetition between the era merchant¡¯s shop too so he needed to use the right things at the right time. If he was on the losing end, this chance would be his only chance to turn the tables around.

    The situation that happened to no. 35 had not appeared for a long time. If he lets Zhang Mu wiped out all his local goods, he would be dead. No. 35 had no choice. Who lets him have such a bloodthirsty era sub-merchant who killed all the powerful evolvers in his area? He was quite unlucky too.

    Hence, Zhang Mu met all the situations that were beneficial to him.

    This was why no. 37 felt that this person was really lucky. A person¡¯s ability, character, and many other things could be change. However, a person¡¯s luck was aplicated thing. In the entire universe, nothing could be used to change one¡¯s luck.

    People as powerful as them didn¡¯t dare to define luck. However, they had many years of experience and although they couldn¡¯t make someone lucky, they could pick such people out from the crowd.

    No. 37 started thinking if his luck got better aftering to this training ground. At the start, he didn¡¯t want to put all his eggs in one basket because every merchant needed to avoid risk. But, he felt that it was a correct decision now to put all his resources on Zhang Mu.

    Although the era sub-merchants he chose in the other training fields were still okay, they did not have the luck and none of them were talented. His sales were always at the bottom.

    He felt that with just Zhang Mu, he could try to take the number one spot in the era merchants shop this month. It was a spot that he hadn¡¯t taken for a long time.

    Thinking about this, he started to calm down.

    If there were other era sub-merchants in Luoyang now that knew what no. 37 was thinking, they would most likely want to kill Zhang Mu.

    Not only was Zhang Mu the first sub-merchant who had many privileges, no. 37 even wanted to ce his bets on him.

    If it was evolvers in the future, they would not want to be era sub-merchants even if they knew that there were empty spots or if they were invited to be one. An era sub-merchant looked morous upfront but if he didn¡¯tplete his mission, he would be sucked dry, literally.

 Chapter 104 - The Final Tabulation

    Chapter 104: The Final Tabtion

    ¡°Are you done? Can we finish the transaction now?¡± no. 37 looked at Zhang Mu was staring at the bill in a daze. He couldn¡¯t help and reminded him.

    ¡°Yes, okay.¡±

    Zhang Mu was thinking about how he would spend this amount of money and only regained conscience after no. 37 called him. He remembered how he finished his first mission in his past life. Hepleted it after much hard work and managed to get a minimum of ten gold leaves. When he looked the special gold leaves redemption catalog that no. 37 had, he felt so much hopelessness.

    The items that no. 37 had never been opened. However, it would be impossible for Zhang Mu to opened it now too. He took a look at the most expensive item that no. 37 hadst time due to his curiosity. The price of the items was fixed so Zhang Mu that although he had a lot of gold leaves now, it was just a small fraction of the actual price.

    After hepleted more missions, his era sub-merchant authority would gradually expand and the initial funds for each mission would get higher and higher. Zhang Mu never achieved it before but he heard other people talking about it and mentioning that the one that had the most authority had an initial fund of 100 gold leaves. You could imagine the final amount he would receive. However, for someone with that kind of abilities, why would they be satisfied with this amount of leaves?

    ¡°A bag of tea tree oil, two baked buns, 11 While Jade Donkey Statues. Do you want to change all of them into gold leaves? All the gold leaves will be calcted into this mission and after deducting everything, the rest is yours.¡± No. 37 had retracted all his emotions as he started the transaction. This was the first time he had such a drastic change in emotions but his professionalism was inbuilt in him already so when he did the exchange, there were no personal emotions involved.

    ¡°Of course. Can I leave them on me? If that is the case, I might as well exchange ten mission with you,¡± Zhang Mu replied with thinking.

    No. 37 continued, ¡°this is the procedure for the exchange. It is my duty to remind you. However, I didn¡¯t think that you would react so quickly. For the first transaction, every local good must be taken out. Although you are very smart, the era merchant¡¯s shop will not give you the chance to find a loophole. Give out everything or these things will be deemed useless.¡±

    ¡°Deemed useless? Who would be so stupid to give these things to you all like that?¡±

    No. 37 was indifferent to Zhang Mu¡¯s sneering and continued, ¡°the reward for thepletion of the mission is the thing that is the most important to all of you. The addition gold leaves are just bonuses.¡±

    He paused. ¡°But your situation is a bit different. Your additional reward will definitely be more than your reward for missionpletion.

    Of course, it will be hard for this situation to happen again. I just want to remind you that only at the start of the Paradise will such a situation happen where everything will have a profit. As things start to settle down, everything will be back the normal transaction. It will be your own business if you have a profit or a loss. If your judgment is wrong or if you are unlucky, it is not rare for you to suffer a loss. Hence, it will be hard to see a time when someone¡¯s profit is ten times.¡±

    Zhang Mu listened to him quietly. He knew that what no. 37 said is correct. However, he did not ce too much importance on it. He knew about the direction of the price fluctuations in the market as well as the movement of the trend. As long as there were no big changes, he would not suffer a loss.

    Although that was what he thought, he still listened to no. 37 obediently.

    Actually, no. 37 had trespassed his authority by saying all these things. There were many things that he couldn¡¯t say now due to the purely business rtionship between the era merchants and their sub-merchants. They were a boss and employer rtionship. The things that he said requires Zhang Mu to figure it out himself. As long as Zhang Mu failed enough, he would find his right path of sess.

    However, no. 37 didn¡¯t want to lose now. He needed to be the number one in the first quarter ranking of the era merchants so that he could pull his results higher.

    Era merchants had their own rewards and punishment system. He had been on the brink of punishment for a long time.

    Now, Zhang Mu¡¯s morale was too strong. He needed to ssh cold water on him. No. 37 felt that no matter how lucky a person was, they would have their downtimes too. He felt that he needed to push Zhang Mu¡¯s downtime further away so that he could get past the first quarter. He didn¡¯t know when his other three era sub-merchants would be filled up and the second sub-merchant was just someone alright. Hence, he ced all his hopes on Zhang Mu.

    He didn¡¯t know that Zhang Mu didn¡¯t rely much on his luck. Even if he did, it was just less than half of it. If Zhang Mu knew what he was thinking, he would probably sneer at him.

    When he was reborn, he never thought about failing again.

    ¡°Well then, the deal is done. Deduct.¡±

    After gaining Zhang Mu¡¯s approval, that cold voice sounded again and the era local goods floating above their head disappeared into the stars.

    After that, a sound appeared in Zhang Mu¡¯s ears. It sounded much cuter.

    ¡°Number 001, mission no. 001 ispleted. Calcting your rewards and sending them over now.¡±

    ¡°10 first-rank power enhancing potion, 10 first-rank agility potion, 5 first-rank recovery potion. Rewards finished and sent to your merchant¡¯s ring.¡±

    Zhang Mu nced at his era merchant¡¯s ring and then looked away. These rewards were good for the other era sub-merchants but for him, besides the 5 first-rank recovery potion, the others were dispensable.

    ¡°I guessed that you would not be pleased with your rewards. Your improvement is too great. However, I feel that you will be interested in whates after this.¡±

    He seemed to see through Zhang Mu¡¯s disinterest. A small bag appeared in no. 37¡¯s hand and he held up the bag and asked Zhang Mu, ¡°there is a total of 87.5 gold leaves. Do you want to use them now or deposit it here and umte it for future use? You can use it once every two months only. Think about it carefully. Do you want to use it now or umte it?¡±

    The only person that you could trust to hand your money over to was yourself. This was what Zhang Mu realised after going through the future. Hence he didn¡¯t hesitate when he replied no. 37.

    ¡°I want it now.¡±

 Chapter 105 - Burning Morale

    Chapter 105: Burning Morale

    No. 37 was indifferent about Zhang Mu¡¯s decisiveness. After all, this was the first exchange. No many people would be able to withstand the temptation of the unknown future rewards. Also, Zhang Mu¡¯s wealth wasparable to ten times that of other people so it was no strange for him to make that decision.

    ¡°Ojay, I will remind you first that gold leaves can be used to exchange for crystals. However, I do not encourage you to do that. You should know that it is easy to exchange for such cheap tokens but if you want to get it back, it will not be easy. This is a one-way exchange.¡±

    No. 37 still took the chance to tell Zhang Mu about this. Although the number of crystals a gold leaf could exchange for was sizable, it was useless in helping him increased his abilities and strength. As the world gets more dangerous, it would get more and more difficult for him toplete his mission. This was not what no. 37 wanted to see. That was why he hinted Zhang Mu and reminded him to make a logical decision.

    ¡°I know. I understand,¡± Zhang Mu acknowledged no. 37 and asked him to open his Treasury.

    I know that you can get 1000 crystals with one gold leaf. However, if I am still enticed by these small gains, I am wasting my chance.

    Zhang Mu thought to himself. Actually, you couldn¡¯t me no. 37 for being worried. Although 1000 crystals didn¡¯t seem like a lot, Zhang Mu had 87.5 gold leaves. That would mean that he can get 87500 crystals and that was a huge amount.

    Even if Zhang Mu organized all the survival base in Luoyang and searched for crystals, he would not even get 5000 crystals within 20 days.

    Seeing the excitement in Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes, no. 37 decided to not say any more things. He had already overstepped his boundary. If he did anything more, he would get into trouble. Hence, he shook his cloak and the stars got summoned. They flew over from afar.

    These shining stars were totally different from the ones before. One was heaven while the other was earth. Even the lines on them seemed to be crafted on after much thought and it seemed very real.

    What surprised Zhang Mu the most was, these few stars seemed very different from the ones no. 37 showed himst time. It was just his own feeling but he couldn¡¯ty his finger on what the difference was.

    However, when the starsnded between Zhang Mu and no. 37, he got a sudden realization. These stars were like little children, shining and jumping around behind no. 37 as though they weren¡¯t summoned by him.

    Yes, this was the feeling. It was life!

    These bright stars were different from the beautiful by lifeless stars that he saw just now. They had life in them.

    Before the list was even shown, Zhang My already shocked. Life appeared in the stars that no. 37 created. That is very scary.

    No. 37 seemed to have noticed Zhang Mu¡¯s disbelief and didn¡¯t hurry along with the transaction. He held the stars that were surrounding him as though they were his greatest creation. He spoke slowly in a warm tone, ¡°you should have noticed the difference. I rarely use them. I would only personally attend to the first and second sub-merchants and there are very few people who will exchange for bonus items. They used too much energy every time they were used but I can¡¯t bear to let them be immersed in the lonely darkness. Hence, I use them to carry the bonus items.

    This is rted to a certain rule. Only one step is left. Such a waste.¡±

    At this moment, no. 37 suddenly felt that he spoke too much and quickly shut his mouth up. He waved his hand and dispersed his masterpieces around him. He resumed his tone and told Zhang Mu, ¡°this is not something that you should think about now. Take it as I didn¡¯t say anything. We can start the exchange now.¡±

    Zhang Mu was really shocked. He was not a newbie. When he heard no. 37 talking about a rule, he felt that it was a very powerful energy. After all, he was an era sub-merchant who had a deep understanding of the future.

    Zhang Mu remembered that a few months after he was reborn, he received a piece of news that a level 6 evolver came into contact with a new energy when he was battling. This is the rule.

    He didn¡¯t know the exact details of the news but the situation of the battle was enough to stunned Zhang Mu. That level 6 evolver who was called Thunder God was surrounded by a few level 6 evolvers and over a hundred level 5 came into contact with an energy called the rule when he was at the brink of his death.

    There were no details about the battle. The witness might have all died but when people arrived at the scene after the battle ended, the image thatid out before them exined everything.

    All the level 5 evolvers were dead!

    Among the level 6 evolvers, three were dead. One was dying and thest one went crazy from his injury. He kept talking about the rule and hence, ¡®the rule¡¯ started spreading in the Maind and spread to the rest of the world.

    ¡°The rule¡¯ was deeply etched in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind after that. This was definitely what no. 37 said just now. When an evolver reached level 6, there was no big difference in terms of abilities. It would be hard for a person to win against two evolver, much less win against 5 other level 6 evolvers.

    The only reason this would happen was die to the rule.

    Everyone knew that it was hard for a level 6 evolver to level up anymore so the rule must be the bottleneck of level 6.

    When he heard no. 37 mentioning about this casually just now, he knew that he must have definitely reached this level. After all, he never knew how strong an era merchant wasst time.

    From the looks of it now, they must be those humans who have broken through level 6?

    If that is the case, era merchants were not invincible too.

    Now that he had a goal, Zhang Mu¡¯s fighting spirit was lited up. Before this, he was lost. Being lost was the scariest thing. Once the haze was cleared, no matter how hard the goal was, he had a target to achieve.

 Chapter 106 - Pick Bones In An Egg

    <b>Chapter 106: Pick Bones In An Egg </b>

    ¡°Let¡¯s start.¡± Zhang Mu shook his head and stopped thinking. His eyes were filled with the obsession for no. 37¡¯s items again. Other people might not know this but he knows that these additional rewards were not just about exchanging for these items.

    No. 37¡¯s heart hurt when he saw Zhang Mu¡¯s expression. Why did he meet such a monster?

    ¡°Forget it, the gold leaves in your hand exceeded the limit of an era merchant on probation. I will make an exception for you and activate the basic level of authority a merchant can have. By right, you will only get the basic level merchant authority after youpleted five missions but since you have almost 90 gold leaves now, it is already enough.¡±

    He didn¡¯t say any more nonsense and with a change of his thought, the golden shining stars that were jumping around him started banging into each other. Even their way of forming the list was so unique. Zhang Mu looked at them in amazement.

    He had experienced umting more than 10 gold leaves afterpleting more than 10 missions but that was just at the start. As time goes by, Zhang Mu, who only had normal abilities, started to struggle toplete the missions. In the end, Zhang Mu only wanted toplete his mission and nothing else. Anything is fine as long as he couldplete his mission within the given period of time. The gold leaves that he umted could only buy a normal second-rank item. At that time when third-rank items were everywhere and second-rank were worthless, a second-rank item was dispensable.

    However, the situation is different now. Zhang recalled the items that he never managed to see and felt his heart burning.

    Under the eyes of anticipation, the additional rewards list formed in front of Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes. The golden words made the price of the items seemed extra honourable.

    ¡°Second-rank evolving potions can increase the chance of a human achieving level 2 when he or she got stuck at level 1. The price: five gold leaves.¡±

    The cheapest thing on the list was the one that Zhang Mu bought with all his savings ¨C the second-rank evolving potion. This showed how rich no. 37 is.

    Zhang Mu quickly looked down. Even if he had prepared himself, he was still amazed and shocked by what he saw. There were too many things. ¡®¡°Second-rank body potion. Combining agility and strength, it will be able to increase the agility and strength of the evolver. Theseponents will increase by ten times. Note before use: Need to be a level 2 evolver. Price: eight gold leaves.¡±

    Zhang Mu just ignored this. Although he was rich, he didn¡¯t want to take things that would just stay in his warehouse because he knew that he could just reach level 2 all by himself. Evolvers that had no special abilities might be on the losing end in a battle, but in terms of leveling up, they had it the easiest.

    Hence, there was no need for him to use the second-rank evolving potion to pave the way for him. It would be such a waste. If he couldn¡¯t reach level 2 quickly, the potions that require the user to be a level 2 evolver was not important to him. Zhang Mu ignored the temptation of ten times agility and strength and continued reading.

    ¡°Second-rank recovery potion. Can heal lethal wounds. A good potion that will draw you back from the gate of Hell. There is no one for one. Price: five gold leaves.¡±

    He could consider this one. The first-rank recovery potion could heal his serious injury and, the second-rank potion could immediately heal a person that was on the brink of death. Although they couldn¡¯t bring a dead person back to life, as long as he was still alive, this could be something that would give him another life. Of course, only level 2 evolvers could use it. The effect would not be as great for level 3 evolvers and above.

    Last time, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have the money to buy one of this. This was because the recovery potions would always be bought by the first era sub-merchant. The second sub-merchant might not even get a chance to buy it too, much less him.

    Zhang Mu had a feeling that these introductions weren¡¯t written by no. 37. He nced at no.37¡¯s face.

    No. 37 noticed Zhang Mu¡¯s gaze and remembered the casual introductions of the items. His old face turned red and he coughed before saying, ¡°that, it is written by the system. I don¡¯t know which merchant changed it because it is a universal system so everything just happens like that.

    Don¡¯t look at me, I cannot handle this style too. I have to exin it every time.¡±

    As expected. Zhang Mu knew someone as gloomy as no. 37 would not be able to write such a lively introduction. He continued looking at the items.

    ¡°Second-rank strength potion? No way, this one only works for a level 2 evolver too and the timing is too short. It only allows the strength to increase for 15 minutes.¡±

    ¡°First-rank eternal strengthening potion. This seems okay but I don¡¯t have any ability yet. However, the price is too expensive. Ten gold leaves. It is just a first-rank item. No. 37, your price is a bit odd.¡±

    ¡°And this weapon, why is it different from the weapons I have? I can¡¯t even choose the style too. Does that mean that only a certain kind of person can use it? There are so many weapons but you chose to put an axe. Not good. I don¡¯t want it.¡±

    ¡°Look at this ne that said to have a calming effect. It doesn¡¯t seem good at all. Is it as powerful as what was written...¡±

    The entire gxy was filled with Zhang Mu¡¯sin. Even a person as elegant as no. 37 felt irritated. Although his items were only for a basic level merchant, they were ssics. When he heard Zhang Muining about them, he said irritatedly, ¡°why are you so troublesome. You don¡¯t like first-rank items and can¡¯t use second-rank items. Then you pick bones in an egg for the other items. No matter how much youin, I will not lower the price for you. You need to know that everything in the era merchant¡¯s shop cannot be bargained.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and told no. 37 that he understood it. He continued looking for the things he wanted.

    Very quickly, he saw something that interests him. His eyes lit up.

    ¡°One pet egg. The species is random. Level 1 animal. You just need to drip your blood and you will be able to get a pet that could fight alongside with you. Being an Eragon is no longer a dream. Of course, you could get a husky too. Price: 33 gold leaves.¡±

 Chapter 107 - Remaking the Weapon

    <strong>Chapter 107: Remaking the Weapon</strong>

    Although the introduction was tempting, Zhang Mu was not tempted at all. He was not a newbie. He wouldn¡¯t be attracted by just an introduction.

    Which young man had never dreamt of bing an Eragon before? Who had never dreamt of ruling over the world? However, he knew that thest sentence was the main point. What if it is a husky?

    Actually, a husky was not a bad option. It was a dog type mutated animals at the very least. If they give you some ugly pet, wouldn¡¯t the 33 gold leaves that the era sub-merchant saved up go to waste?

    Zhang Mu was not tempted because he knew that no matter how lucky he was, he was restricted by his status as a basic level merchant. They must remember the rule that they would get what they paid for.

    This is the era merchant shop. There must be a reason why certain things are expensive.

    Although 33 gold leaves were almost half of what Zhang Mu had, it was nothing. Hence, the pet that came out would not be anything ideal too.

    Also, Zhang Mu already had his Obsidian Beetle, mutated Wolfdog and the Bloodvine Lotus on his left arm. He couldn¡¯t even afford to feed them so if he added one more to the collection, Zhang Mu felt that he might have to run around every day to find food for them.

    Hence, Zhang Mu decided to give up this item and used another safer way to get a more powerful mutated animal. For example, take a look at it again after he activated his middle level or top level era sub-merchant authority.

    After scanning through the list, Zhang Mu felt that he couldn¡¯t afford those things further down so he focused his attention on those items in the middle of the list.

    Afterparing them for a long time, Zhang Mu finally made a decision. He looked up at no. 37.

    He kept quiet but no. 37 couldn¡¯t keep waiting for him. Thus, he asked him impatiently, ¡°have you decided? I thought that you would continueining about my item.¡±

    Obviously, no. 37 still bore a grudge against Zhang Mu due to hisintsst time. Most of his sub-merchants craved for the things in his private collection but when ites to Zhang Mu, this was the reaction he gave.

    ¡°I want that weapon strengthening chance.¡±

    Zhang Mu told no. 37 her decision firmly. No. 37 looked at the list with a confused look. Not many people chose this option so he had forgotten that such a thing existed too.

    ¡°Second rank weapon strengthening chance. The era sub-merchant would provide the materials and style. They will tell the era merchant whether they want additional materials to be added in and if there are any other requests. The price is not fixed. It is dependable on the request of the era sub-merchant.

    The weapons made by the era merchant shop would definitely be in good quality. As long as you have the necessary materials and gold leaves, there is nothing that the era merchant shop can¡¯t make.¡±

    ¡°Why will you choose this option? This option relies a lot on your own materials. Can you give me so many second-rank materials? Also, if you really strengthen your weapon, your gold leaves might not even be enough and you won¡¯t be able to use the weapons anyway.¡±

    No. 37 reminded Zhang Mu kindly. He didn¡¯t want Zhang Mu to be tricked by the item description. This opportunity to get the extra rewards was very important to Zhang Mu. He continued telling him, ¡°why not you look at increasing your own abilities first? Most of the era sub-merchants would choose this option. If you didn¡¯t bring up this item, I might have forgotten about it. No one at your level would be able to bring back the materials necessary for such a stringent process.¡±

    Zhang Mu replied no. 37 confidently, ¡°I chose it because I have the materials. You do not need to worry about that. Also, I have no other things I want. I justck a good weapon for myself. Normal weapons will not satisfy me and you only sell an ax over here. You don¡¯t expect me to pick an ax to kill people right? I can¡¯t afford to y around like this.¡±

    No. 37 knew that he wouldn¡¯t be able to persuade Zhang Mu so he just reached out his hand and took out a little star from the list. He said to Zhang Mu, ¡°since you chose it, you must not regret it. If your materials do not fulfill the requirements, the system would destroy it. You must be prepared.¡±

    ¡°What? Destroy? Can¡¯t I take it back?¡±

    This was the first time Zhang Mu used the system¡¯s weapon-making function. Last time, he could afford the basic weapon-making even if hebined all the gold leaves he earned together. Of course, at that time, he was just trying to keep himself alive so he didn¡¯t really care about all these extra things.

    ¡°No.¡± No. 37 replied firmly. He looked helplessly at Zhang Mu¡¯s expression and exined, ¡°the system is not under my control. I have no right over it. It is a procedure set by the system. No one can interfere with it. Because of this, it had not been used for a long time.¡±

    ¡°So evil? If it doesn¡¯t do the strengthening, I would still have to pay for it? Are they robbing money? If nothing can fulfill its requirements, does that means that it would just keep collecting the basic amount of money?¡±

    Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t help butin to himself. He didn¡¯t think that there would be so many criteria surround this weapon-making system. He just wanted to strengthen his Obsidian Beetle w because he felt that it was not catching up with him anymore.

    However, Zhang Mu had the feeling that his Obsidian Beetle w would definitely meet the requirements of the system. Although the Obsidian Beetle was not a level 2 mutated animal, it was very special. He felt confident.

    Thus, he didn¡¯t say much and took out the Obsidian Beetle w. He ced it in front of no. 37 and said slowly, ¡°this is it. Help me send it to the system then. I really need a weapon now. I believe it.¡±

    ¡°Up to you.¡±

    No. 37 looked at the mundane and normal Obsidian Beetle w. He knew that it was part of a mutated animal but he couldn¡¯t identify it. Since he couldn¡¯t convince Zhang Mu, he just followed his order. He hoped that Zhang Mu¡¯s luck would work this time too.

    Under no. 37¡¯s control, the Obsidian Beetle w was sent into the weapon-making system.

    This was a furnace made from illusion. It looked like an ancient nine dragon cauldron. It swallowed the Obsidian Beetle w and then a mechanical sound rose. It slowly said the sentence that Zhang Mu was anticipating.

    ¡°The material is undergoing evaluation...¡±

 Chapter 108 - Nothing Left

    <strong>Chapter 108</strong>: <strong>Nothing Left</strong>

    Zhang Mu felt that a minutested for almost a century. However, there was nothing he could do. He needed to take this bet. There were not many ways in which he could increase his abilities now.

    ¡°Di...¡±

    Finally, the sound that he was waiting for rang and Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was lifted up again.

    ¡°The system has verified that the target material is made of a level 1 mutated animals.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s heart sank when he heard those words. Is it not possible? Has he lost his bet? The Obsidian Beetle was not up to the standard?

    However, Zhang Mu¡¯s emotions were brought up again because the furnace spoke again.

    ¡°There is a change in the decision. Although the material is made from a level 1 mutated animal, there is a value in strengthening the weapon. The weapon reached the criteria for strengthening. Era sub-merchant no. 001, please choose the level.¡±

    He took a long breath. Zhang Mu¡¯s emotions were like riding a roller coaster. He felt that he was being tortured by the furnace.

    Seems like his Obsidian Beetle really has a secret. It even managed to fulfill the criteria of something as strict as the weapon-making system.

    ¡°No. 001 chose the remaking of a level 2 weapon. Please choose one of the options below.¡±

    ¡°Basic remaking, 22 gold leaves. Just the basic remaking of weapons based on the original material.¡±

    ¡°Intermediate remaking, 33 gold leaves. Use a bit of the special materials from the era merchants shop andbine it with the weapon. There might be an improvement in the weapon but don¡¯t bear too much hope.¡±

    ¡°Advanced remaking. 66 gold leaves. Combining the weapon with materials from the era merchants shop and remake the weapon based on its abilities and functions. You will get unexpected surprises.¡±

    ¡°Special remaking. Price is subjective. The weapon-holder would make their own request and the weapon would be customised for them. However, no. 001 doesn¡¯t have this authority yet. You need to be a middle level era sub-merchant in order to select this option.¡±

    After he heard what the furnace said, Zhang Mu gave a weird expression. He wanted to choose the special remaking option but he was rejected by the furnace just like that? And this happened even after no. 37 helped him to get more authorities.

    Zhang Mu nced at no. 37 but no. 37 expressed that he could not do anything either. He could only afford to unlock the basic level era sub-merchant status for Zhang Mu now. No matter how well he performed from the mission this time, he had onlypleted a mission for the sub-merchants on probation. He was still far away from the requirements of being a basic level sub-merchant, which was toplete five missions.

    Since this was the case, Zhang Mu had no choice but to choose the next best option. He said to the furnace directly, ¡°weapon-making system, I choose the advanced remaking option.¡±

    This was a machine. Hence, it would not ask Zhang Mu how he got so many gold leaves. It would just proceed with this order.

    ¡°No. 001 choose a level 2 weapon advanced remaking option. The cost will be 66 gold leaves. Are you sure?¡±

    Hearing the cold and mechanical voice of the furnace, Zhang Mu hurriedly said, ¡°Yes.¡±

    The moment he said that, his gold leaves were taken away. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have to look at it to know that 66 of his gold leaves were gone. The speed of the era merchant¡¯s shop was amazing.

    ¡°Is there a style that you want for your weapon? Based on the size of your weapon, you can choose between a dagger, cuss, w, steel thorn etc. No. 001, please select an option.¡±

    Zhang Mu replied without any hesitation, ¡°dagger, I want a dagger.¡±

    ¡°No. 001, your bill has been settle. Your weapon will be undergoing remaking now. Time required: five minutes. Please wait.¡±

    After that, the system didn¡¯t speak anymore. The nine dragons on the nine dragon furnace suddenly raised their heads as though they were roaring to the sky and white smoke starteding out from their mouth.¡±

    Zhang Mu could almost see the Obsidian Beetle melting andbining with other materials. However, no matter how much he used his creativity, he could not have guessed what it would look liketer.

    Hence, Zhang Mu started nning what he should do with his remaining gold leaves.

    This remaking of weapon cost him most of his fortune so he had no more money to buy most of the things that he put on his secondary list.

    Ruling out most of the options, he was left with two choices that caused him in a dilemma.

    ¡°Psychological talisman, able to guard against level 2 psychological evolvers. The cost is 15 gold leaves.¡±

    ¡°Advanced insane potion, able to increase your speed and strength two to three times and the effect canst for one hour. Only limited to evolvers level 2 and below. No side effects. The cost is 18 gold leaves.¡±

    Zhang Mu really wanted the psychological talisman because heck a protection against this kind of power. However, the insane potion that had no side effects was really tempting too. All the potions that could increase strength had a side effect. The user would feel weak for a period of time after the potion was used. Hence, this potion was really suitable for Zhang Mu. If his strength and speed was increased by three times, that would be a really scary thing. This was the reason he was in a huge dilemma.

    Which one should he choose?

    Zhang Mu thought for a few minutes before making a decision. He told no. 37 firmly, ¡°I will choose the psychological talisman and a unit of second-rank recovery potion. For the remaining 1.5 gold leaves left, change it to 1500 crystals.¡±

    Zhang Mu was really traumatised by Zero. Now, hecked something that could defend himself against a psychological evolver so the moment he met someone like Zero, he was helpless. He would be trampled upon by them.

    Although it was impossible that someone like Zero would appear again, but nothing is certain right? The world is so big and anything can happen. After this urrence, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t dare to rely too much on his evaluations.

    It was more important to make sure that he would still have the chance to live when he met a psychological evolver aspared to having the potion to increase his speed and strength. He would rather ensure his own safety. Anyway, he could rely on hisbat abilities, mutated animals, and the Bloodvine Lotus in a fight.

    No. 37 nodded and said, ¡°okay, the cost will be 21.5 gold leaves. You will get one psychological talisman, a unit of second-rank recovery potion, and 1500 crystals.¡±

    ¡°Exchangeplete.¡±

    Now, Zhang Mu had no more gold leaves. A jade talismannded in his hand. It calmed him down.

    At this moment, the weapon-making system hadpleted its advance remaking session and it gave a mechanical sound that sounded really pleasant to Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Advanced remaking ispleted. No. 001, please check your item.¡±

 Chapter 109 - Returning To Poverty

    <b>Chapter 109: Returning To Poverty</b>

    Is it finally done?

    Zhang Mu had already put on his psychological talisman around his neck. He looked at the weapon-making system in the mid-air. He really wanted to know what his Obsidian Beetle w looked like after remaking.

    A clear and long sound, the nine dragons on the furnace raised their heads. Nine streams of steam spurted out from the heads as if they had been suppressed in the small space for too long.

    A loud ng followed after that. The cover of the furnace was opened and a few yful mes gushed out, breathing on the fresh air from outside.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s gaze, a fierce-looking dagger got lifted up in the steam and rose in the mid-air. It stopped right above the weapon-making furnace.

    Once the dagger stabilised, a mechanical voice spoke from within the furnace, ¡°order number: 001. Level 2 weapon advanced remaking. Time needed: 4 minutes 37 seconds. Completed.¡±

    After confirming that nothing was wrong, the furnace continued, ¡°target material is level 1 mutated animal material. After remaking, webined the blue wind steel which is a third-grade purity material from the Blue wind series and the first-grade purity material, fire essence, from the Diya star series, using the three ws as the core to make a dagger. The length of the dagger is 34cm and the weight is 7.5kg.

    Additional abilities: Evolvers could feed it non-attributed energy and the fire essence will convert it to fire-type energy. The blue wind steel will follow the speed of the user and sucked in wind-type energy from the surroundings to merge with the fire-type energy.¡±

    At this moment, Zhang Mu felt that his 66 gold leaves were well spent. From the words the furnace was saying, this dagger had an additional fire- and wind-type attributes. Although the fire-type energy couldn¡¯t be used directly, as a secondary function, it will add on to the power of the fire-type energy and made it stronger than normal fire-type evolvers.

    ¡°Hope to see you next time.¡± After saying this sentence, the weapon-making system disappeared into thin air. A gold light returned to the list of items.

    The ck dagger fell slowly through the air andnded on Zhang Mu¡¯s hand. He held it tightly and examined its body.

    It was a familiar feeling. It was the feeling of the Obsidian Beetle.

    At the start, Zhang Mu was worried that the Obsidian Beetle w would change totally after it was remade but luckily, when he held it in his hand, it still gave him the familiar feeling, just like thest time.

    He was not sure if the weapon-making system had purposely observed him but he realised that the dagger¡¯s length and weight were totally suitable for him. His power was increasing at a fast pace so when he used the Obsidian Beetle wst time, he would feel that it was too light. After integrating the materials from the two series, this 7.5kg dagger was just the right weight for him.

    He yed with the dagger for a while. The dagger spun in Zhang Mu¡¯s hand, light and handy as though an agile butterfly was flying between his fingers. It was like a beautiful piece of art.

    The more Zhang Mu yed with it, the more he liked it. This was only the normal state of the dagger. He hadn¡¯t tried its additional functions but that would have to wait until he got out.

    This was because, in the era merchant¡¯s shop, all the different types of energy would be suppressed except for the era merchant¡¯s energy. The psychological-type energy of Zero was suppressed too and that was why he became a normal agile-type evolver. But, in the era merchant¡¯s shop, even if you could use your own strength, the era merchant was more powerful than a level 6 evolver so there was nothing much you could do to him either.

    Zhang Mu really wanted to go out and test the power of this dagger and forgot about no. 37 totally.

    I need to give it a name. Zhang Mu was toozy to think of one so he just called it Obsidian Beetle dagger.

    This name was not mboyant at all. It was not the least exaggerated.

    At this instant, Zhang Mu finally remembered no. 37. No. 37 was standing beside him with a dark face. He quicklyughed and said, ¡°the quality of the remaking is so good I can¡¯t help it but want to y with it for a while more. Please don¡¯t be angry.¡±

    No. 37 looked at him. After a long time, he said, ¡°since you have chosen the rewards, are you nning to start a new round of era training mission? I can give you the mission now.¡±

    ¡°Sure, give it to me now. That way, I don¡¯t have toe back again and my deducted gold leaves would not go to waste. Can you help me to redeem 20000 first-rank crystals worth of current era goods first? Luoyang peony stamen could wait. Do this first.¡±

    Zhang Mu suggested finishing the current era goods exchange first. No. 37 epted his suggestion.

    Hence, Zhang Mu took out the 15000 first rank crystals as well as the other 5000 crystals he collected from the survival base leaders. There was a total of 20000 crystals. He exchanged it with no. 37.

    ¡°No. 37, no. 35 had given me an era merchant exclusive ring that could hold unlimited goods inside. Shouldn¡¯t you do something too?¡±

    No. 37 cursed no. 35 silently. In order to recover his losses and let Zhang Mu give him all his crystals, he even gave him the exclusive ring so early into the era merchant.

    However, he couldn¡¯t reject Zhang Mu too. Even other era merchants had given Zhang Mu things. If he, his direct superior, didn¡¯t give him anything, it would not be good.

    Hence, no. 37 made an era merchant ring appeared on Zhang Mu¡¯s finger unwillingly. The size was simr to the one no. 35 gave Zhang Mu but there was the name of the city ¡®Luoyang¡¯ carved on it.

    In the process of time, these basic supplies would increase at the lowest speed. Hence, Zhang Mu took all the ability strengthening and first-rank recovery potion avable and used the rest of the crystals to exchange for almost a hundred tons of food supplies as well as close to a thousand armors.

    He had a full load of items now.

    As for the mission this time, Zhang Mu remembered all the era local goods for the second mission. Whether it was the Luoyang peony stamen or the yellow river carp, their profit was the same. Thus, Zhang Mu bought the yellow river carp which had a lower cost.

    He only asked for the carp again this time. Since it was his second purchase, there was no discount and he got five yellow river carp using 0.8 gold leaves.

    When Zhang Mu walked out of the era merchants shop, he was really poor. That is if you only count the current cash on him.

 Chapter 110 - Entering The East City Again

    <b>Chapter 110: Entering The East City Again</b>

    Zhang Mu walked along the small path quietly. He had stayed for a long time in the era merchant¡¯s shop. It was almost afternoon now.

    He walked forward aimlessly as he yed with his Obsidian Beetle dagger. He was sorting out what happened to him today. He felt that Cataclysm was not as simple as what he imagined it to be.

    As his status changed, the levels that he could touch was different. He felt that this world, this era, and this game got even moreplicated and mysterious.

    At the start, he thought that he would be able to grow up quickly after he was reborn and find the mastermind behind everything easily. However, now, he realised that his goal seemed too far away. He was just living slightly better life than his previous self.

    Let¡¯s not talk about those things that he couldn¡¯t reach. Let¡¯s talked about this small Luoyang city. Even in a small city like this, someone like Zero appeared.

    A person who could threaten his life and controlled his existence. It was so scary.

    Once he recalled how Zero could control his movements, Zhang Mu slowed down. He instinctively touched the jade pendant in front of his chest. When he felt the coolness from the pendant, he felt much more at ease.

    Oh right, there were still more than 10 cannibals which were not settled. Zhang Mu suddenly had a goal. He stopped in his track and turned to run towards the East city.

    He was still thinking about how to test the dagger power and now, there was a chance!

    Zhang Mu smiled. He held the dagger as his clothes puffed up due to the wind. This set of trench coat looked really ssy. The streets around him flew past.

    Very soon, Zhang Mu reached the familiar unfinished building. He observed the movements inside from afar.

    There were already no evolvers guarding the unfinished buildings. Seems like without Zero¡¯s control and reminders, these evolvers felt rxed. After all, not many people were able to threaten them.

    Zhang Mu was one of them but he was brought somewhere by their leader. No one knew what was left of him but he probably wouldn¡¯t be back.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t hide. He just walked past the obstacles and went in directly. He went straight to the unfinished building in the middle of the area. He felt that they should be here.

    His footsteps sounded especially loud since he didn¡¯t hide it. He saw the 30 cannibals still sitting around the big pots. At the same time, these cannibals saw Zhang Mu too. He was moving towards them at an unbelievable speed. He seemed even faster than he was this morning.

    Zhang Mu still remembered the white shirt guy whom Zero called Gu Lin. He should be the one inmand right after Zero. Obviously, he was one of the first to notice Zhang Mu too and stood up instinctively. Amotion arose behind him.

    By the time the rest of the people reacted, Zhang Mu was already in front of them. He stopped and looked at them mockingly.

    Gulin was fearful of Zhang Mu¡¯s Bloodvine Lotus. The Piranha on his chest had withered. He had to keep eating to maintain itsst chance of revival. Also, Zero had threatened him just now so he had no courage to fight against Zhang Mu now. As for the people behind him, there was no need to mention them at all. When Zhang Mu¡¯s Bloodvine Lotus came up from the ground in the morning, it killed ten people in an instant. It even sucked a body dry. This dying method was too scary for them. Even if they had fun killing people, when facing with their own death, they were fearful too.

    Hence, at this moment, no one made a sound. They all grabbed the weapons, or the white bones, in their hands, afraid that Zhang Mu would make any move.

    Since Zero was not here, Gu Lin was the second inmand. He tried his best to ovee the fear in his heart. He looked away from Zhang Mu as he said, ¡°Where is our leader? Didn¡¯t you go out with him? Why don¡¯t I see him.¡±

    Zhang Mu faced the 30 people all alone but his aura didn¡¯t lose to them. He said slowly, ¡°If you are talking about that silver-hair old man, he should be dead by now. I am sorry, I didn¡¯t leave any bits of him to keep as a souvenir for you all.¡±

    Everyone looked at Zhang Mu as if they were looking at a ghost. They didn¡¯t believe him.

    Although he was really powerful, in front of their leader, he couldn¡¯t move at all. Everyone saw it. However, the same person was saying that their leader was dead. They couldn¡¯t believe him at all. They felt that Zhang Mu might have some special ability which allowed him to escape from their leader and ran back using his fast speed.

    Zhang Mu smiled gently as he looked at the people¡¯s suspicious gaze.

    The only one who believed Zhang Mu was Gu Lin. He didn¡¯t know why but when he saw the casual smile on Zhang Mu¡¯s face, he felt that what he said was not impossible too.

    Once a person started to suspect himself, the suspicion would get bigger. Gu Lin thought of a way to ascertain whether their leader was really dead and he slowly calmed down.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t stop him. He watched him silently.

    After a few seconds, Gu Lin suddenly raised his head. His face was pale. He said with much effort, ¡°our leader is really dead.¡±

    The rest of the people were sneering at Zhang Mu. When they heard what Gu Lin said, they got unhappy and someone shouted at Gu Lin, ¡°Gu Lin, are you frightened by this young boy? Do you know what is the consequences if the leader heard what you say? I think that since your Piranha has withered, you should not be the second inmand anymore. You are too much of a coward now.¡±

    The other people didn¡¯t say anything but they looked at Gu Lin suspiciously too.

    Gu Lin didn¡¯t look at them. He ced all his attention on Zhang Mu. He continued, ¡°you stupid bunch of people. Feel it for yourself. Is there any reaction from the seed in your heart?¡±

    Once he said this, the noisy bunch of people quietened down and started feeling their seeds.

    Some people realised that what Gu Lin said was true. The seed that Zero nted in their heart, which was to keep them from betraying him, had no reaction at all. The scene turned dead silent.

    ¡°It¡¯s true. That man is dead.¡±

    Gu Lin¡¯s words were filled with relief and fear.

    How did Zhang Mu do it?

 Chapter 111 - Trying His Hand

    <b>Chapter 111: Trying His Hand</b>

    Zhang Mu, on the other hand, started to think more highly of Gu Lin. No wonder Zero made him the second inmand. It was not only because of his nt-type energy. If this person was not controlled, he would be really scary too.

    ¡°So, can you let me go?¡±

    What Zhang Mu didn¡¯t expect was that Gu Lin would start pleading with him. He no longer had the arrogance that he had when Zhang Mu met him.

    However, Zhang Mu already made a decision in his heart. He smiled faintly and gave him his answer, ¡°No.¡±

    Gu Lin predicted that Zhang Mu would say this. He was just trying to test his luck just now. He lowered his head hopelessly.

    They couldn¡¯t win Zhang Must time. They lost to his weird and aggressive Bloodvines. Now, he even managed to kill their leader. No one had the courage to retaliate against him.

    Numbers don¡¯t work in front of real power.

    Once Gu Lin said this, a portion of the cannibals woke up. They understood the situation now. Some of them even kneeled on the floor and begged Zhang Mu. They even said things like they had an 80 years old mother and a three years old kid.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t want to do it too. That crazy person forced us. We really didn¡¯t want to do it.¡±

    Zhang Mu had to apud some of their acting skills. Tears just appeared in a second. If they could grab his leg and hugged him while crying, they probably would. Their acting skills could bepared to those second-tier actors.

    ¡°Yes, we were forced to eat human meat. If he didn¡¯t force us, if he didn¡¯t nt the seed in us, we will not eat this kind of things.¡±

    ¡°Please give us a chance. We will not eat human meat again after we get out of here. Without the control of his psychological seed, I feel disgusted seeing human meat now.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I can¡¯t eat them anymore too.¡±

    Zhang Mu sneered when he heard all these excuses. They could probably use these reasons to coax people that weren¡¯t aware of the situation but for him, he had already seen their true nature.

    Even if they were forced by Zero at the start, they definitely got addicted to it along the way and couldn¡¯t give up on human meat anymore. Also, those people who really kept that principals were already dead. They had probably be their food already.

    Since those people who kept their principals were already dead, there was no way Zhang Mu would let go of these people who had betrayed the human race. No matter how much they pleaded and begged and promised now, once they got addicted to it, they would not be able to control themselves. It was like getting a drug addiction.

    Even if the presence of Zhang Mu made them stopped for a period of time, as the time goes by, they would listen to the desires in their heart and by that time, Zhang Mu could not do anything anymore. Letting them go would only result in more humans getting hurt.

    Zhang Mu took out the Obsidian Beetle dagger and pointed at them as a reply.

    There were also evolvers that didn¡¯t beg Zhang Mu. These people knew that Zhang Mu would not let them go so they didn¡¯t plead to him like all those cowards.

    One of the men with a ring on his nose sneered and raised his machete in front of his fat chest. He turned back and said to the rest of the people, ¡°at most, we will just die. When I started eating human meat, I was already prepared to be eaten by other people too. Why are you all so scared now? If you all don¡¯t want to die now, split up. His vines are really weird. Don¡¯t fall into the same trap again. Everything else will be easier after that. He is not so scary.¡±

    However, Gu Lin had no intention of fighting against Zhang Mu. He was the only one who survived the attack of the Bloodvine Lotus. The rest of the evolvers were all dead. Hence, these people here didn¡¯t know how scary those vines are.

    The other evolvers just thought that Gu Lin was scared out of his wits and didn¡¯t care about him. They listened to the man with a nose-ring and split up, surrounding Zhang Mu from all directions.

    Zhang Mu never stopped their actions at all. He never nned to use the power of the Bloodvine Lotus this time. He just viewed these people as the testing subject for his Obsidian Beetle dagger.

    Once most of the people were ready, Zhang Mu kicked his right leg on the ground and rushed towards the man with the nose-ring. Although he didn¡¯t n to use the Bloodvine Lotus, he was not going to remind them stupidly too.

    As expected, when Zhang Mu rushed over. The man with the nose-ring got nervous and grabbed his machete tightly. His eyes turned to look on the ground and he shouted, ¡°be aware of the movement on the ground. Be careful of where the vines wille out.¡±

    Zhang Mu appeared in front of the bunch of people in a blink of an eye. However, to their surprise, no vines popped out from the ground. They were very confused.

    Someone observant noticed that the dagger in Zhang Mu¡¯s hand was different from the w just now. However, he didn¡¯t think much about it. He just thought that Zhang Mu changed his weapon.

    Zhang Mu jumped high up. The man in nose-ring knew that he would aim at him first and knew that he had to take on his attack. However, he still nced at his surroundings and prepared to retreat once things go wrong.

    ¡°If you lose your focus in a fight, you are looking for death.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s indifferent voice came from the air. The next second, his Obsidian Beetle dagger struck forcefully on the man¡¯s machete. To everyone¡¯s surprise, the powerful looking machete got cut like a piece of tofu by the small and exquisite dagger.

    The attacks didn¡¯t subside. The dagger followed the movement of gravity and continued moving down, cutting the man into half just like that.

    The man with nose-ring only realized just before his death that Zhang Mu had no intentions to use his vines. Yet, he put most of his attention on the vines.

    However, even if he didn¡¯t divert his attention, he would never expect his machete to be so useless in front of Zhang Mu¡¯s new Obsidian Beetle dagger.

    He might be able to exchange some moves with Zhang Mu but in the end, he would still die.

    When the other evolvers saw the man with nose-ring died, they gave up trying to retaliate. They rushed towards the exit in a flurry.

    Zhang Mu stroked his dagger and looked at the people running away. He licked his dry lips and said slowly, ¡°the show is only just starting!¡±

 Chapter 112 - The Power of Obsidian Beetle

    <b>Chapter 112: The Power of Obsidian Beetle</b>

    Just when the first person who running away almost reached the gate, Zhang Mu moved his body. He kicked his red leg on the floor and his whole body shot out like a cannon.

    He twirled the Obsidian Beetle dagger continuously in his hand. The cannibals ran with all their strength but they were still unable to throw Zhang Mu off.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t say much. They chose their own path so there was no way he would give them another chance. If they wanted to die in a more dignified manner, Zhang Mu could still satisfy them, as long as they picked up their weapon and not surrendered without giving any resistance.

    However, this bunch of people was frightened out of their wits by Zhang Mu. They didn¡¯t have any intention of resisting against him at all and just wanted to leave this ce. These people had lost their value in Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes and he even wondered if it was too humiliating to make them the first few victims of his Obsidian Beetle dagger.

    Zhang Mu looked at them as though they were a pile of rotten meat. His eyes were filled with contempt.

    If that is the case, I don¡¯t have to leave any pride for you all.

    He grabbed his Obsidian Beetle dagger and faced it upwards. He injected some of his energy into the dagger and elerated his speed to the maximum. He shed forward forcefully.

    As the wind roared loudly, the Obsidian Beetle dagger shed through the air and mes spurted out of his dagger. At the start, only a little bit of me appeared at the tip of the dagger but with the wind¡¯s help, the me got bigger and by the time he reached the bunch of people who closest to him, there was already a huge ball of me on his dagger.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the me left the Obsidian Beetle dagger and became a fire tornado which kept growing bigger. It sucked up the few people that were in front of him.

    The fire tornado didn¡¯t stop there. It kept rushing forward.

    All the cannibals in its path were engulfed by it. They only had the time to give a painful scream because the temperature of the fire tornado was really high so it melted them the instant they came into contact with it. Their throat got melted too.

    Zhang Mu felt that the air was very hot, he couldn¡¯t breathe properly too. He quickly moved away from the fire tornado and killed those people that didn¡¯t get sucked up. One dagger one life. After he finished, he stood at one side and watched silently.

    He didn¡¯t expect the me to be different from the elements that were present of the Earth. Indeed, this is the power of the other stars, It was worth the high price he paid for it.

    Zhang Mu knew that if it was me from Earth, a human could still struggle for a while even if the fire was so huge. However, the me that came from the dagger was not so simple. Zhang Mu noticed that once these people came into contact with the me, they would be part of the me and even acted as the fuel for it to continue burning.

    He lowered his head and looked at the Obsidian Beetle dagger in his hand. He felt it. Although this hot me came out from the dagger a moment ago, it was still abnormally cold. There was no heat from it at all. It formed a stark contrast with the warmth in the air.

    The me disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

    Once there were no more humans to feed it, the me stopped spinning and slowly shrunk. The ces that the fire tornadonded on had turned pitch ck and those cannibals were just a pile of dust now. A small gust of wind blew and they disappeared, floating in the air.

    From the moment they chose to step on this path, they should have thought of such an ending.

    Since the dead couldn¡¯te back alive, you all will atone for your sins.

    Zhang Mu looked at the dust in the air and sighed with emotion. Actually, he had a part to y in this. Zhang Mu had guessed why Zero appeared. The ce that Zero was at had fallen in his past life because of the invasion of the walking dead. This was why Zhang Mu didn¡¯t remember him at all. Also, he was certain that such a person never existed in his past life.

    Then that meant that his existence was due to his rebirth.

    Due to some of his actions, such as wiping out certain walking deads, some people in the area who were supposed to die in the invasion survived.

    Hence, Zero awakened his psychological abilities and the cannibals appeared.

    Zero lived because of him and he almost died because of Zero. Everything was back at its starting point. There were no more cannibals, at least, for now.

    Zhang Mu wondered if he could resolve the other things that had changed because of him. This time, he was just really lucky.

    A gust of cold wind blew past him. He shivered. He stopped thinking about it. He didn¡¯t even know if the things he caused were good or bad so why talked about resolving them now?

    He slowly walked back to where he came from. In this entire North city survival base, only Gu Lin was left. He shrunk beside the big pot and didn¡¯t want to raise his head.

    He only looked up when he heard Zhang Mu¡¯s footsteps. He said to Zhang Mu, ¡°In the end, you killed them all. I am the only one left, right?¡±

    For some reason, Zhang Mu felt that Gu Lin¡¯s eyes were different from the rest of the cannibals. However, this would not make him forgive Gu Lin. But, he still responded to him.

    Gu Linughed bitterly. He looked at Zhang Mu and said, ¡°since I am the only one left, make it a quick one. If you can, can you leave a full corpse for me? In my hometown, we have a tradition. When we die, we need to have a full corpse. If not, we will go to hell.¡±

    However, he suddenly thought of something and shook his head. He continued, ¡°forget it, I probably will go to hell anyway. There is no point in having a full corpse.¡±

    Zhang Mu looked at him with mixed emotions. He said, ¡°okay.¡±

    When he heard Zhang Mu¡¯s reply, Gu Lin¡¯s eyes lit up slightly. He thought that Zhang Mu would use the dagger to kill him.

    He took out a key from his pocket and held it in front of Zhang Mu. ¡°The secret room where we breed normal humans is beside the underground meeting room of this unfinished building. It is hidden well and there is a huge vase blocking it. This is the key.¡±

    A man¡¯s words are kind when the death is close.

    After he finished speaking, Zhang Mu saw Gu Lin closing his eyes. When Gu Lin took out the key, he slit his throat lightly with the Obsidian Beetle dagger. A wound formed and blood flowed out profusely.

    Gu Lin opened his eyes with some difficulty. He didn¡¯t seem to feel the pain and was even taking hisst look at the world.

    Zhang Mu understood the emotion in Gu Lin¡¯s eyes. He finally understood why he felt his eyes were different from the rest of the cannibals.

    It was regret!

    He heard the sighed that this spirit gave as it was about to leave the world.

    ¡°I want to stay alive too but I know.¡±

    ¡°I know that I can¡¯t quit anymore.¡±

 Chapter 113 - How Weak Humanity Was

    <b>Chapter 113: How Weak Humanity Was</b>

    When Zhang Mu noticed Gu Lin¡¯s emotions, his heart started to waver. However, he got rid of this thought very quickly. He knew that this was not just emotion for him, it had turned into a physiological instinct for him. Zhang Mu did not believe that he could change. Even he didn¡¯t believe it himself.

    Zhang Mu seemed to understand why Gu Lin was the only one who still had some conscience even though he was the most arrogant among all the cannibals. He was just trying to hide the fear and guilt in his heart.

    Zhang Mu heard Zero saying that he had already given Gu Lin a chance already. Now that he thought about it, he must have tried to rebel once but failed. He was on the brink of sinking in andpletely sinking in so he struggled and that was why he tried to resist against Zero¡¯s control.

    However, Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t do anything too. Once you betrayed the human race, there was no turning back. This was a path of no return. This conclusion was formed in the future after some experiments in the survival bases.

    Some of the survival bases leaders saw the potential on the cannibals and tried to lock up those cannibals that were forced, hoping that they would change. After all, most of the cannibals used to be evolvers with very powerful abilities.

    They thought that if they could subdue these cannibals and used their powers appropriately, their survival base would be more powerful. Thus, they tried to change them using with this thought in mind.

    However, things didn¡¯t happen as they want it too. At the start, these cannibals acted like a normal human being. They could eat normally and talk normally. They even made friends with the people who were guarding them. But, after some time, they started to reveal their real self.

    They couldn¡¯t eat anything and their temper got worse. When they looked at the guard, they wanted to attack him.

    They only wanted to eat human meat now!

    The person guarding them would never give it to them so they actually started attacking each other because they wanted to eat the meat on each other¡¯s body. No matter what the consequences were, they just wanted to eat human meat.

    When the survival base saw this, they used a lot of effort and kept them apart in the individual rooms.

    There were no living objects within the sight of the cannibals so they started attacking the bed and the cages. They attacked anything they could see. If these cages were not enhanced by evolvers with special abilities, these powerful and crazy cannibals might have escaped.

    The leaders still had hope that this was just a process of recovering from the addiction but after some time, they didn¡¯t think like this anymore.

    Why? Because these cannibals didn¡¯t eat the food they prepared. They smashed the tes and didn¡¯t touch the pork ormb meat or beef that was given to them. An eerie thing happened after that.

    They started eating the meat on their own body!

    No one could forget how they tore the meat off their elbows and thighs and stuffed them into their mouths with glistening eyes. They would never forget this scene for life.

    The cannibals lost too much blood and couldn¡¯t move anymore. They were covered with wounds and you could even see their bones. Their powers were slowly degrading too. The leaders finally lost their interest in them.

    If they lost their abilities, what was their use? Why not just show them to the furious crowd and let them be an avenue for venting their anger?

    After a few days past, they stopped breathing so they sent people in to collect their corpse. The guard opened the cages and wanted to move these corpse away. However, he found something frightening.

    Their tongue was all gone!

    In order to satisfy their psychological instinct even when they had no energy and couldn¡¯t move, they bit their tongue and swallowed it. They did all of these just because they couldn¡¯t break away from the temptation.

    From then onwards, all the survival bases agreed on the execution of cannibals. Once any cannibals were found, they would be killed on the spot.

    After recalling the pieces of evidence from the survival bases, Zhang Mu no longer looked at Gu Lin with any emotions. Zhang Mu believed that in that second, he really wanted to change but even he himself didn¡¯t believe that he could do it. Hence, he asked Zhang Mu to kill him.

    Zhang Mu thought for a while and summoned the Bloodvine Lotus. He made a huge hole and buried all the big pots as well as Gu Lin inside the hole. Then, the vines moved and soil flew in the air. The hole was filled up again and Gu Lin got buried.

    His hometown tradition was to keep a full corpse. If he was left outside, he might be eaten by mutated beast. Zhang Mu thought that since he promised him, he should do his best to fulfill his promise.

    This might be thest shred of dignity Zhang Mu gave to this cannibal who still had some conscience.

    He summoned the Bloodvine Lotus back and walked towards the unfinished building with the key.

    The unfinished building was eerily quiet but Zhang Mu knew that the normal humans Zero bred were just underneath him.

    He walked down the steps into the basement and passed by a dimly lit path. Very soon, he found the meeting room that Gu Lin mentioned.

    He walked in and looked around. He saw the big flower pot. He rushed forward and kicked it into pieces. He saw a small ck hole behind the flower vase. Gu Lin didn¡¯t lie to him.

    This ce was really a good hiding spot. The edges of the door blended well with the surroundings. If Gu Lin didn¡¯t say it, Zhang Mu would not have found this ce.

    When he inserted the key and unlocked the door. He frowned. The smell was too disgusting.

    Everything was in a mess. There were people all around the room, lying or sitting down. Most of them were really in disarrayed and some didn¡¯t even have clothes on them.

    Human waste and signs of urine surrounded these people but they had no reaction at all. It was as if they couldn¡¯t see it.

    Even when Zhang Mu came in, there was no reaction from these people at all. They seemed to be used to the fact that a few people would be taken away every day. They knew what happened to these people. They also knew that they could not escape. It was just a question about when they would be eaten.

    When he saw these numbed people, Zhang Mu felt despair. Have they got used to being treated like food?

 Chapter 114 - Hopeless

    <b>Chapter 114: Hopeless</b>

    Zhang Mu wanted to say something but he saw something out of ce. In a corner of this big room, not everyone was in a daze and numb.

    A group of naked men encircled in a corner. They were shaking their body. Zhang Mu¡¯s heart dropped. He had seen too many things in the future so he knew what was happening.

    He stepped on the wastes on the floor and strode over in big steps. He didn¡¯t hide his foot steps. The group of men turned around slowly and looked at Zhang Mu nonchntly.

    When they saw the attire on the man behind them, they instantly thought that Zhang Mu was part of the cannibals. One of them got really frightened and said, ¡°Mister, you look unfamiliar.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to talk to these people at all. He slowly raised his Obsidian Beetle dagger. The naked men saw Zhang Mu¡¯s action and opened a path for him.

    Zhang Mu saw the person who was being bullied by these scumbags. It was the little girl that he saw before.

    The little girl that got brought out by the short and skinny cannibal. At this moment, her eyes were filled with humiliation as sheid in this dirty ce, dead. There was nothing on her.

    Her eyes were opened widely. They seemed to be questioning Zhang Mu, why? Why didn¡¯t youe and save me?

    Zhang Mu steel heart ached. This little girl¡¯s eyes kept questioning him.

    He kept quiet. The man that spoke just now thought that Zhang Mu wanted to eat this girl and felt unhappy that they killed her. They hurriedly exined to Zhang Mu in a fearful tone, ¡°Mister, you can¡¯t me us. Another Mister told us that they were not eating today and passing the little girl to us. He asked us to settle her ourselves. If that Mister didn¡¯t say anything, we will not dare to do it.¡±

    was that what happened? Because of his appearance, he disrupted the cannibal¡¯s mood to eat. Hence, this little girl didn¡¯t die outside but died in the hands of her own people?

    Zhang Mu found it a little funny. These scumbags just didn¡¯t have the opportunity to be cannibals, right? If Zero was willing to ept them, they would have happily went over. However, their abilities were too weak and that was why they could only be food.

    These people couldn¡¯t even bepared to the cannibals. They didn¡¯t dare to resist and would only bully their own kind, especially those that were weaker than them.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes turned cold. He slowly said, ¡°Are you all still humans? You can¡¯t even resist against cannibals but in this area, you seem really good.¡±

    The man finally realized that Zhang Mu was not rted to the powerful evolvers. He immediately retracted his humble expression and started to be arrogant. ¡°I thought that you are with those people. You should be a new food that they caught right? Look at you, besides having better clothes than us, how are you different from us?¡±

    The man felt scared when he saw Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes. However, he remembered that there was still a lot of people behind him so he plucked up his courage and shouted at Zhang Mu, ¡°why are you acting so noble? Since we are going to be eaten anyway, why can¡¯t we enjoy ourselves first? Since we will die, why not diefortably?¡±

    ¡°Is this the reason for losing your conscience?¡± Zhang Mu¡¯s voice floated up lightly.

    The man appeared to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He purposely leaned closer with his ear and wanted Zhang Mu to repeat the sentence. ¡°Conscience? You are talking to me about conscience? You are a prisoner too. This is so funny. Look, this person is actually talking to me about conscience.

    Ask everyone in this room, do they have a conscience? Will anyone dare to say a word? Why? Because we have more people, we are powerful. They don¡¯t dare to say anything. They are afraid that they will get implicated.

    Why are you locked together with us? Because we are trash. We can¡¯t defeat them. We can only be their food. Do you understand?

    If you dare to be a busybody again, I will kill you.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care about him. He followed the man¡¯s finger and scanned the entire room. He realized that most of the people were still in daze. Even if someone had some reaction, they just shivered and didn¡¯t dare to look up. They would asionally gaze towards this direction and immediately looked down again.

    When these men were bullying the little girl, they must have pretended that they didn¡¯t see anything too.

    Despair filled up Zhang Mu¡¯s heart. He felt unworthy for himself. The people that he was going to save was such a bunch of people. The one that was worth saving was already dead.

    ¡°What you mean is, you are more powerful than others so you can do anything without a conscience?¡±

    The naked man didn¡¯t expect this to be thest words he heard. He startedughing more arrogantly, ¡°yes, so what...¡±

    When Zhang Mu said this sentence, a ck shadow shed passed him and his head was slitted off his neck. It was so fast, he didn¡¯t feel any pain at all. His eyes were still filled with arrogantughter.

    ¡°I am being too nice to you all.¡± A few more shes of ck shadow and all these people¡¯s head were cut off.

    This scene woke the people in a stupor and someone finally screamed. The ce was in a mess.

    Zhang Mu lifted the dagger again and the room turned silent. He didn¡¯t look back at the people. He slowly said, ¡°the cannibals are all dead. I will give you all one minute to get out of this ce. You can go anywhere you want. Don¡¯t let me remember your face.¡±

    The cannibals were dead? The people started exchanging nces with one another. They didn¡¯t know if the cannibals were already dead but they knew that if they continued to stay here, they would be killed by Zhang Mu.

    They got up hurriedly and rushed out. Very soon, there was no one left in the room.

    Zhang Mu walked to the little girl and squatted down. He took off his trenchcoat and ced it on her. He reached out and closed her angry eyes. He said, ¡°this is all I can do.¡±

    He got up and transferred energy into the Obsidian Beetle dagger. He threw it at the wall. The me burnt everything it could find in its path. It got bigger and brighter.

    Zhang Mu walked out of the unfinished building. He didn¡¯t look at the fire that was burning behind him. He didn¡¯t dare to look. He med himself and he was really sorry towards the little girl.

    I am sorry, I am too weak.

    I am sorry.

 Chapter 115 - The Heart Is In A Mess

    <b>Chapter 115: The Heart Is In A Mess</b>

    On the way back, those normal people that escaped from the unfinished building wanted to seek protection from Zhang Mu. However, when most of them saw Zhang Mu¡¯s dark face, they didn¡¯t go forward. They just followed behind him silently.

    As he looked at the people following behind him, a certain fire started burning in his heart. A murderous intent spread from his heart and his heart became heavier and heavier. He started to feel suffocated.

    Now you know that humans should help each other? Now you know that you need arade?

    What are you doing before this then? When you looked at the little girl being bullied, did you think that you are a part of humanity?

    This seed of thought spread like wildfire across Zhang Mu¡¯s mind and he slowly stopped walking. He turned to look at the people that were more than ten meters behind him. The person leading them was a middle-aged man. He looked at him tteringly.

    They thought that Zhang Mu changed his mind and was willing to bring them along now. Their eyes instantly lit up with hope.

    However, the next second, Zhang Mu immediately appeared in front of the middle-aged man. When he saw the expression on Zhang Mu¡¯s face clearly, the middle-aged man felt that something was amiss. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t look like he changed his mind.

    Zhang Mu was engulfed in an oppressive aura. The middle-aged hurriedly turned and ran away. Zhang Mu looked like a devil now. He let out an evil smile and lowered his head. Zhang Mu said slowly, ¡°Since I save your life, I will take it back now.¡±

    The moment he finished his sentence, a killing intent appeared in his eyes and he looked really scary. He kicked his leg on the ground and threw his Obsidian Beetle dagger directly to the middle-aged man.

    Whizz!

    The Obsidian Beetle daggernded itself urately in the middle-aged man heart. It didn¡¯t meet any obstacles and pierced directly through his spine. Then, it maintained its speed and stabbed into the ground. Only the handle of the dagger was above the ground. You could tell how furious Zhang Mu was and how much force he used to throw the dagger.

    Zhang Mu slowly walked over and stepped on the middle-aged man¡¯s body as he went to pick up his dagger. He grabbed the handle and pulled it up, keeping it back onto his waist.

    He scanned the people around him who were weak from fear. He said with the voice that could be heard by every one of them, ¡°now, go away. If any of you appeared in front of me again, I will take your lives back.¡±

    After that, he turned and walked away. No one followed him anymore. Zhang Mu¡¯s heart slowly calmed down.

    If these people didn¡¯t follow him, he would not have the urge to kill them. They just dug their own grave.

    He thought that the apocalypse changed humanity but it was just the start of Cataclysm now. Maybe, humans are ugly, to begin with. The ugliness was just suppressed before Cataclysm.

    This was his first time killing someone who didn¡¯t provoke him. Zhang Mu felt that there was something wrong with him today. His emotions were too easily triggered. It was not like him at all. Is it because the emotions from his current self were slowly integrating inside him?

    He touched the jade pendant in front of him instinctively. He felt more at peace.

    When he went back to the survival base, he saw Wang Liang waiting for him at the gate. He walked over.

    ¡°Brother Mu, how is it?¡± Wang Liang looked at Zhang Mu nervously. He didn¡¯t know about Zero¡¯s abilities but he knew that there were around 50 to 60 evolvers over there and they were at their prime. He was worried that Zhang Mu would be in a dangerous position.

    After Zhang Mu left, he regretted his decision. He always felt that Zhang Mu was someone very powerful but after calming down, he realized that he was too optimistic. No matter how powerful Zhang Mu was, he was a human. He was the same as them. He had a head above his shoulders and it sounded too difficult for him to fight against 50 people alone.

    However, when he saw Zhang Muing back safely, he finally felt at ease. The development of this survival base needed Zhang Mu. If Zhang Mu didn¡¯te back this time, Wang Liang would have no chance to turn the tables around anymore.

    If Wang Liang knew that the 50 evolvers were nothing aspared to the dangers Zhang Mu faced, he would probably be speechless in astonishment.

    Zhang Mu had no mood to tell Wang Liang the stories now. He just said indifferently, ¡°yes, no one left from the North city.¡±

    Wang Liang predicted this oue but when he heard it directly from Zhang Mu, he still felt a sense of relief. Although he didn¡¯t kill them personally, he managed to answer his brothers below.

    However, he felt that Zhang Mu¡¯s mood was not very good for some reason. Based on their rtionship, he shouldn¡¯t react like this when he knew that he came out personally to wee him.

    ¡°Brother Mu, you must be tired. Go back and have some rest first. I thank you on behalf of my brothers.¡±

    When he saw the sincerity in Wang Liang¡¯s eyes, Zhang Mu felt that he shouldn¡¯t vent his anger on his. He softened his tone and said, ¡°Ah Liang, you shouldn¡¯t stand here and wait for me directly. If anyone sees you, how can you be their leader anymore?

    Yes, I feel a little ufortable. I will go back first. You don¡¯t have to send me. It is very near from here.¡±

    ¡°Okay, as long as you are fine. You did this for me, this is what I should do. You go ahead first.¡±

    Zhang Mu waved his hand and walked passed Wang Liang towards his own house.

    When he walked into the courtyard, the Obsidian Beetle cocoon was still in the same ce. However, its glow got darker. Zhang Mu guessed that the energy on the cocoon was being sucked in by the Obsidian Beetle.

    That is good. He was going to leave again soon so this mutated Obsidian Beetle who just reached level 2 would be a great help to him. If it really needed to evolve for such a long time, Zhang Mu would have to leave by himself.

    During Cataclysm, time was the most important and precious thing to the era sub-merchants.

    Zhang Mu had the confidence that he wouldplete his second mission before other merchantspleted their first one.

    He walked into his house andid on the bed. He looked at the white ceiling and went into a daze.

    At this moment, Yuan Rui pushed the door and walked in. She carried a pot of clean water and ced the towel in front of Zhang Mu to wipe his face.

    Since Zhang Mu was not talking, she started to speak, ¡°Uncle, Brother Wang says that you went out. Just now, I saw you were looking really tired. What happened? Did you fight again?¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t reply Yuan Rui. He patted Yuan Rui¡¯s hand and signaled for her to move the towel away. He asked her a question that was totally not rted at all.

    ¡°Yuan Rui, do you think that it is overly confident and stupid for one person to help the injustice in the world?¡±

 Chapter 116 - Do It Personally

    <b>Chapter 116: Do It Personally</b>

    Zhang Mu slept soundly that day. He only woke up at night.

    Just now, he heard Yuan Rui¡¯s reply and went into the dreand. He had a very unique dream.

    Yuan Rui thought for a long time but didn¡¯t manage to give him an answer. However, she used an old saying, ¡°When you are poor, you think about yourself. When you are wealthy, you want to help the world.¡±

    Zhang Mu knew about this saying but when Yuan Rui mentioned it, he realized that the saying was true. The more powerful he got, the more responsibilities he wanted to take on. If not, he would just feel proud that he was so powerful. Last time, he was just a small merchant and living was a luxury to him. He didn¡¯t have the mind to think about other people. However, when he had the abilities now, his heart slowly changed.

    Although this thinking seemed ridiculous, he still felt that he should do it. He didn¡¯t know what was wrong with him. Maybe his guess was right. When he was reborn, his spirit from the past life didn¡¯t just take over this body.

    His body had its own spirit too. His spirit didn¡¯t take over the body. It merged with the spirit in this body. The maturity from thest time and the hot-blooded spirit now, the zen Zhang Must time and the ambitious Zhang Mu now.

    He was having a conflict with his own spirit. It seemed impossible but logical at the same time.

    You dream about what you think during the day. Zhang Mu¡¯s dream had something to do with all of these too. He dreamt that there were two Zhang Mus. One was 28 years old and one was 18 years old. They were looking at each other in silence.

    Then, after a long while, they smiled at each other and said something.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know what this dream meant and as time goes by, his impression of the dream got fainter. Very soon, it disappeared from his memory. He couldn¡¯t remember what they said.

    He didn¡¯t think about it anymore. He shook his head and saw the moon high up in the sky. He only realized now that he had missed two meals. He touched his t stomach and gave a bitter smile.

    No wonder he didn¡¯t have energy. Compared to a normal person, an evolver had a higher requirement for energy so after missing two meals, all the cells in his body were screaming out their natural desires.

    Meat, he wants to eat meat!

    Zhang Mu got down from the bed and walked out of the door. He saw Yuan Rui taking care of the Obsidian Beetle cocoon outside and felt a stream of warmth flowing past his heart. He coughed. Yuan Rui turned her head and looked at Zhang Mu in surprised. ¡°Uncle, you are awake?¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and said, ¡°It seems I have slept for a long time. It is already sote. I am starving.¡±

    ¡°Uncle, are you hungry?¡± Since we can¡¯t use electricity here, I made a huge pot of rice and had it with small amount of meat that Brother Wang sent over as well as some vegetables. I left a huge portion of it and it was being warmed up in the house. If you are hungry now, I can bring it out for you.¡±

    When Yuan Rui heard that Zhang Mu was starving, she hurriedly finished her sentences and wanted to go in and take the rice.

    However, Zhang Mu stopped her. He saw Yuan Rui frowning and exined, ¡°I predict that with my appetite, the rice you made is not enough. The energy that rice and vegetables can provide to abat evolver like me is totally not enough. I think that Wang Liang didn¡¯t give you a lot of meat too.

    Let me tell you first. I am not suspecting your cooking skills. I am just saying that on normal days, it is enough but not now. I used a lot of energy today.¡±

    During the battle with Zero, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t manage to seed in retaliating but he kept trying to resist the spiritual power that was controlling him. Even though there were no results, he used a lot of his spiritual power. Some were replenished during his sleep just now but the energy couldn¡¯t juste back by itself.

    Zhang Mu smiled mysteriously and waved his left hand. He showed off the Obsidian Beetle dagger and said, ¡°Let me show you the real barbecue master technique.¡±

    ¡°Techniques of a barbecue master?¡± The unhappiness that Yuan Rui felt when Zhang Mu didn¡¯t want to eat the food that she made disappeared. She looked at Zhang Mu¡¯s empty right hand with curiosity.

    He controlled his mind and the mutated ck bear body that was stored in his era merchant ring got shifted out. It mmed heavily on the ground.

    Under Yuan Rui¡¯s surprised gaze, Zhang Mu used the Obsidian Beetle dagger and skillfully peeled off the bear¡¯s skin. He passed it to Yuan Rui and said, ¡°Wash off the blood on it. I already have one with me. It was from the bear that we atest time. This bear skin is for you. We will use it as a mat when we go out next time.¡±

    The bearskin was really big. Zhang Mu was afraid that Yuan Rui didn¡¯t have the strength to carry it so he ced it on the side. He left Yuan Rui to settle the rest. He found it too troublesome.

    A me rose from the tip of the dagger. This was something unique about the Obsidian Beetle dagger which Zhang Mu found out earlier on. If the me stuck on the tip of the knife, it would be suppressed by the material of the knife and the temperature of the me would not be as high. It would just be a little higher than the mes on Earth.

    Zhang Mu held onto the me dagger and cut the bear¡¯s meat. He aimed at the bear¡¯s chest and cut through it. Since the me¡¯s temperature was not so high, the bear¡¯s meat only got cut when the knife touched it. After that, under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the energy maintained its size and gave out a ¡®zizi¡¯ sound.

    Zhang Mu cut the meat really slowly but the Obsidian Beetle dagger was too sharp. The mutated animal¡¯s meat was nothing to it so he followed the texture of the meat and sliced a thin piece of meat. He barbecued it in high temperature and the meat immediately became soft and crispy. A wonderful meat fragrance started to float in the air.

    Zhang Mu was so hungry, he could not ovee the temptation of this meat. After slicing off a piece of meat, he instantly put it in his mouth.

    He chewed the meat but the movement of his hands didn¡¯t stop. He was like a highly efficient machine, slicing meat and eating them at a steady pace.

    Very soon, this part of meat disappeared and the bear¡¯s organs were revealed.

    Zhang Mu moved on to another spot. Yuan Rui was watching him in awe.

    He can eat so much?

 Chapter 117 - Little Black Woke Up

    <b>Chapter 117: Little ck Woke Up</b>

    This mutated bear that weighed more than a ton was eaten by Zhang Mu just like that. There was no visible change to his stomach. Yuan Rui watched him from the side and found him really scary.

    Zhang Mu nced asionally at Yuan Rui who was watching him in daze. Other than that, he didn¡¯t stop eating at all. After a while, he gave Yuan Rui a piece of barbecued bear meat unwillingly and continued eating thereafter.

    The bear¡¯s body got smaller and smaller. Some parts were difficult to cut and Zhang Mu was not happy as it slowed down his pace. Hence, he transferred more energy into the dagger and the me got bigger. It engulfed the entire bear body and started cooking it. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t care if the bear got burnt. His appetite was opened so it didn¡¯t matter if the meat got burnt. He would just eat it.

    Just as Zhang Mu was eating happily, the ground suddenly shook. He frowned and looked at the source of the vibration. His frown was gone.

    It was the big ck cocoon. The Obsidian Beetle wasing out.

    Has it finally level up? Stupid bug, you have stayed inside for too long. Are you feeling toofortable? If my luck was just a little worse, you would not see me anymore.

    Zhang Mu suddenly had some sentiments. If Zero didn¡¯t see his value today, he would have been eaten. By then, he wouldn¡¯t know what the Obsidian Beetle would turn into.

    However, since he was fine now, what was the used of thinking so much?

    Zhang Mu realized that he became more sentimental. He stopped thinking about it and quietly ate his bear paw as he waited for the Obsidian Beetle to appear.

    Kacha!

    A crack appeared on the dull cocoon and then a certain part of it started bulging out. Zhang Mu could clearly recognised it as the head of the Obsidian Beetle. He smiled helplessly.

    This Obsidian Beetle made such a hugemotion when it wasing out. Was it afraid that no one would know when it ising out?

    As he was feeling speechless, the cocoon split opened and a loud and clear insect sound resonated through the night sky. It was telling the world that it was back.

    Zhang Mu saw how the Obsidian Beetle looked like after it came out of the cocoon entirely. It¡¯s size got smaller, unexpectedly, and there was a small bump on top of its head which looked like a horn. Using the moonlight, he could see that the pattern on the Obsidian Beetle head got denser and it was going to form a special pattern soon.

    Although the Obsidian Beetle was smaller now, Zhang Mu felt a sense of danger. Even though the Obsidian Beetle was linked to him, he felt a huge forceing from it.

    This might be the difference between a real level 2 and a level 1.

    What Zhang Mu didn¡¯t expect was that the first thing the Obsidian Beetle did was to charge at him. More urately, it was charging towards the bear meat in front of Zhang Mu.

    A gust of wind sounded and the Obsidian Beetle had already reached Zhang Mu. Before he could react, it was already eating the bear meat that Zhang Mu took much effort to barbecue.

    This speed was much faster than my maximum speed. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t even catch any lingering shadow at all. He was shocked. He remembered that this kind of speed should not appear on a normal level 2 mutated animal. However, the Obsidian Beetle already had this speed after it just reached level 2.

    The Obsidian Beetle was not a mutated animal that emphasized on its speed. This might mean that the strength of the Obsidian Beetle had increased as much as its speed. It might have increased even more too.

    The Obsidian Beetle was not fussy at all. It hugged the mutated bear¡¯s head and started munching it. Zhang Mu only regained his senses after half of the head was eaten. He remembered that the thing the Obsidian Beetle was eating now was his food. He immediately shouted at the Obsidian Beetle without caring about its level, ¡°you eat my dinner the moment you came out? I have not eaten for a while day and I just barbecued this, You timing is really good.¡±

    However, the Obsidian Beetle just refuted him through their telepathy, ¡°you didn¡¯t eat for one day, I haven¡¯t eaten for a week. Who is in the worse state? You have food and drinks outside but I have nothing inside at all. All you know is nag, nag, nag. So stingy.¡±

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know what to reply to this at all. He thought about it and felt that the Obsidian Beetle really seemed to be in a worst state than him. However, he reacted quickly and realized that the Obsidian Beetle was just talking nonsense. It could just suck the energy from its cocoon so it was just satisfying its taste buds now.

    When he thought about this, the Obsidian Beetle had finished its bear head. It wanted to attack the ribs which were half eaten by Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu still wanted to say something but the Obsidian Beetle shut him up with one sentence. ¡°Also, who told you that my timing was really good? I still needed to suck in more energy before Ie out but I smelt the fragranceing from outside so I forcefully kept the energy inside me first and nned to digest itter.¡±

    Zhang Mu had nothing to say now. This fellow was really impressive. It gave up its safe route to level 2 just because of the smell of meat.

    However, from its tone, it seemed confident that it could digest the energyter.

    Yuan Rui, who was standing in a distance, reminded Zhang Mu, ¡°Uncle if you don¡¯t eat faster, Little ck might finish all the meat. When Little ck eats, there won¡¯t even be bones left.¡±

    Zhang Mu woke up and realized that he couldn¡¯t chase the Obsidian Beetle away. Hence, he disregarded his image and started fighting with the Obsidian Beetle for food. He stuffed his mouth with a bear paw and held another one in his hand. He couldn¡¯t care about the oil. Snatching it first.

    In terms of food, Zhang Mu felt that he couldn¡¯t bepared at all to the Obsidian Beetle. The Obsidian Beetle looked as though it didn¡¯t even need to chew. It just swallowed everything in an instant.

    It only needed to put the food in its mouth.

    Thus, when Zhang Mu finished his bear paw, the Obsidian Beetle had already finished most of the bear body. Without the blood and oil that was flowing on the ground, there was no other evidence that a bear body was here at all.

    Once it was full, the Obsidian Beetle ignored Zhang Mu totally and went to whine at Yuan Rui. Although it was in the cocoon, it knew that Yuan Rui apanied it every day and transferred some of her slightly useful life energy to her.

    On the other hand, its owner, Zhang Mu, never really took care of it.

    Zhang Mu was kicked to one side. He felt that he was still hungry and ran into the house with a bitter expression. He took the big pot of rice that Yuan Rui cooked just now and stuffed it into his mouth.

 Chapter 118 - Leaving Secretly

    <strong>Chapter 118: Leaving Secretly</strong>

    Zhang Mu felt that ever since the Obsidian Beetle broke out of its cocoon, he was out of favor. As it became smaller and more exquisite, it got cuter and Yuan Rui kept ying with it every day and ignored Zhang Mu. Also, Zhang Mu only ate her big pot of rice at the end of his meal so she was a little unhappy too. Hence, on the second day, Zhang Mu immediately got the notice to make his own barbecue to satisfy his hunger.

    Whether I eat it or not is one thing, but whether you do it or not is another.

    Zhang Mu spent another day in Luoyang as he needed to exchange the food supplies with Wang Liang as well as other survival bases. Wang Liang was still doing okay. Although he had a lot of injured men, he had the weapons that Zhang Mu provided for him so he could still subdue a group of more than a thousand walking dead.

    Within this short period of time, he had cleared a whole piece of the area and had almost ten thousand crystals in his hand. He kept a thousand for himself and exchanged the rest with Zhang Mu for food supplies and weapons.

    Wang Liang had passed the era where hecked food supplies so he was actually not very interested in the food. However, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t sell water on its own so he could only buy some food and water together.

    He ced most of his attention on the special equipment and bought 100 sets of it. He took mostly on spears and double-handed shields.

    As for the other survival bases, they needed the food supplies desperately so they exchanged almost all of their crystals for food. As for the weapons, the nine survival bases bought as much as Wang Liangbined. Every survival base got ten sets of special equipment on average.

    By right, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t destroy the distribution of the power for the bases in Luoyang city. Wang Liang had lost a lot of men in the battle against the North city and besides that, the special equipment was only useful against those stiff and brainless walking dead. It had no use against mutated animals that just unlocked their intelligence as well as the powers of other survival bases.

    Hence, everything still depended on Wang Liang. Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t give him much help. He could give the resources that normal humans needed but for the ones that would benefit an evolver, he would keep it himself.

    Of course, this situation was within Zhang Mu¡¯s expectation. If Wang Liang was still not able to have a steady supply of food after clearing so many shops in this area, it just meant that he was really unlucky. The shops he cleared must be fashion and daily necessities shops. These things were useless in this era.

    That was why he used most of his crystals to buy special weapons. However, from the looks of it, the era merchant¡¯s shop in Luoyang city would not be able to take in so many crystals. Zhang Mu ced his bets on the next city he was going to which had an era merchants shop too.

    He had taken close to a hundred ton of food and 200 units of special equipment. That meant he had 25000 crystals on his hand. He gained 25% profit in one day. That was quite scary.

    The craziest thing was, Zhang Mu still had 800 units of special equipment. Combining it with the additional 5000 crystals, the rest was his gross profit.

    Zhang Mu had to make sure that he got a portion of each city¡¯s primary requirements before the era sub-merchants from that city appeared. Hence, he needed to grasp every minute.

    These ten survival bases were quite far away from each other so Zhang Mu had to run around the entire Luoyang city to deliver these goods to them. Some survival bases were still not familiar with him like how Wang Liang was and they had to count the goods slowly. Although they didn¡¯t know what was the use of these crystals now, they knew that if Zhang Mu could use such important things like food and weapons to exchange it, it had a certain value. The price was decided by Zhang Mu but they still had to count the goods carefully. A ton of food might be able to support their base for one or two days so it was really important to them.

    Even though they had the support from Zhang Mu¡¯s special equipment and could start targetingrger groups of walking dead, no one knew if a stronger monster would appear and prevent them from going out to search for supplies. During that time, Zhang Mu¡¯s 10 tons of food would be their food reserve that might save their life.

    Zhang Mu had his own principals as a merchant. He knew that checking the stock was a normal request so he could only patiently wait for them to count the goods and leave with a smile after they had confirmed the stock.

    One day past by really quickly. The sky was almost dark but Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t wait anymore. He told Wang Liang that he was going out and then pulled the mutated wolfdog and Obsidian Beetle along. He brought Yuan Rui and they left Luoyang city before the sky got dark. They didn¡¯t disturb anyone and the guards only saw two shadows flying past them. However, they got an order from Wang Liang to shut their mouth so they didn¡¯t spread the news.

    Wang Liang tried to persuade Zhang Mu to leave in the morning because a human was too weak at night. He had received a bloody punishment due to this before. Zhang Mu followed this principlest time but the situation was different now. He had his own considerations.

    The Obsidian Beetle was a level 2 mutated beast now. As long as it was willing to, it could release a pressure that would force all the mutated beast in the area to retreat. This had nothing to do with the quantity. It was the strict hierarchy system among the mutated animals. Normally, they would not attack a mutated beast that had a higher level than them unless the higher level mutated beast overstepped upon their benefits or they met while they were hunting for food.

    Last time, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t dare to walk in the dark even if he had the Obsidian Beetle and the mutated wolfdog beside him. No matter how strong they were, their aura was the same as a level 1 mutated beast. They could not put any pressure on other animals.

    If they attracted a few hundred level one mutated beast, Zhang Mu would not be able to subdue them even at his state now. If there was a chance to escape, Zhang Mu would feel that he was really lucky,

    Zhang Mu was not trying now. He did this based on the experiences by the evolvers who had the ability to tame mutated animals.

    Hence, simr to his expectation, he was able to run along the road and didn¡¯t meet any mutated animals along the way. Those animals that did appear would just look at them from afar. In order to hasten the pace, Zhang Mu didn¡¯t ride on the mutated wolfdog¡¯s back. He asked the Obsidian Beetle to pull Yuan Rui while he and the wolfdog used their fastest speed to catch up with the beetle. The Obsidian Beetle was carrying a person and slowing down a little but they could only just manage to catch up with him.

    Just like this, they reached a small vige just as the sky turned totally dark.

 Chapter 119 - Terror In The Village

    <strong>Chapter 119: Terror In The Vige</strong>

    Zhang Mu¡¯s destination this time was not Xi¡¯an city. The price fluctuation for the first half of the year left a deep impression in Zhang Mu. He missed it too many times and so, he carved it into his heart. That time, he was really unlucky and didn¡¯t grab a single chance to turn the tables around. Hence, his situation became worse and with his status as a normal evolver, he slowly became a person who struggles in the brink of death.

    Zhang Mu made use of the moonlight and looked at the vige in front of him. There seemed to be no living humans here.

    He asked the Obsidian Beetle. It didn¡¯t feel any signs of mutated animals in this vige unless the level of the mutated animal was higher than it. However, that would mean, it had to be a level 3 mutated animal.

    The Cataclysm had only started for a month. If there was a level 3 mutated beast in this vige, Zhang Mu would admit defeat. As for whether there was any walking dead here, the Obsidian Beetle didn¡¯t know. There was a faint smell of something rotting in the air. Since it was not very strong, it was not able to predict if there was still walking dead inside or they were already gone.

    However, this was not a big issue too. Even if the walking dead have the night sky as their cover, they posed no threat to the team of two humans and two mutated beasts.

    After taking many things into consideration, Zhang Mu decided to stay here for a night and not moved in the dark anymore. The mutated wolfdog and he were starting to feel tired from running at their full speed. On the other hand, the Obsidian Beetle which pulled Yuan Rui didn¡¯t seem tired at all. Its stamina had increased on a very high level.

    Hence, the panting Zhang Mu managed to regain a little bit of stamina after standing at the entrance of the vige for a while. He managed to go back to his normal state and slowly walked in. The Obsidian Beetle crawled on Yuan Rui¡¯s shoulder and stayed there. It was very bored. The wolfdog shook its tail and followed behind them. It caught an unfamiliar scent with its nose and stopped for a while. It wanted to sniff it again but Zhang Mu hurried it so it just forgot about the smell and caught up with them with its short legs.

    Zhang Mu patted the mutated wolfdog¡¯s head and looked at it in its eye. He said, ¡°What are you doing? You didn¡¯t seem to have used your full strength just now. You are not even finding a resting ce enthusiastically.¡±

    The mutated wolfdog stuck out its tongue as it felt wrongly used. It wanted to lick Zhang Mu¡¯s hand but Zhang Mu dodged it with disdain. Hence, it could only hide behind Yuan Rui.

    Zhang Mu look around for a long time but didn¡¯t manage to find a suitable ce for resting. All the houses were slightly damaged and there were lots of houses which were totally damaged. Zhang Mu felt that even with the bearskin, Yuan Rui would not be able to withstand the cold. He had observed her again and realized that maybe because Yuan Rui¡¯s abilities were too special, a bnce formed in her body. Her body was not even at the level of a level 1 evolver. She was just a normal small little girl so, in this kind of weather, a bearskin would not be able to help her withstand the drop in temperature.

    They were fine now as they were walking but once they started resting, Zhang Mu felt that their team would have a sick patient tomorrow. A doctor became a patient. Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know if Yuan Rui could heal herself.

    Zhang Mu didn¡¯t have a choice. He didn¡¯t know what happened to these houses. They seemed to be destroyed by some umon creatures. However, the Obsidian Beetle said that there were no signs of mutated animals in this vige so Zhang Mu didn¡¯t bother about it. Maybe some mutated animals came here before but they had left.

    Zhang Mu cursed at the mutated animals. Why do they like to destroy houses? They don¡¯t look like they are finding food too. So weird.

    In the end, Zhang Mu could only choose a house that looked really big but the main door was damaged. The wind blew in. Zhang Mu asked Yuan Rui to hide in the corner as he prepared to use his body to block the wind for her. At this moment, he saw the mutated wolfdog, it was hesitating whether it shoulde in or not. He suddenly smiled and said slowly, e in together.¡±

    Although the mutated wolfdog was puzzled at Zhang Mu¡¯s sudden gentleness, it didn¡¯t understand Zhang Mu as well as the Obsidian Beetle. It could resist the temptation of living in the house and walked in.

    Just as the mutated wolfdog came closer to Zhang Mu carefully, Zhang Mu grabbed its neck and then pulled it into the corner. He pressed it down and made it blocked the wind for Yuan Rui. Yuan Rui was warm enough with the bearskin underneath her so she was well protected in this corner of the house.

    Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t bear to do this to the wolfdog. She med Zhang Mu for being too harsh and rubbed the furs that Zhang Mu made messy. She said, ¡°Uncle, do it lightly. I am fine. I don¡¯t need the little dog to block the wind for me. The bearskin is enough. It is quite thick. I am quite warm.¡±

    Zhang Mu just sat in another corner under the pitiful gaze of the mutated wolfdog.

    ¡°Don¡¯t care about it, it is just being pretentious. Just sleep. Drag it¡¯s fur over and sleep.¡± Yuan Rui ¡°oh¡± after hearing what Zhang Mu said and slept beside the wolfdog.

    ¡°As for you, stop looking at me pitifully. You were going to find a ce in the house to sleep anyway. Shouldn¡¯t you make yourself useful? I raise you for nothing? Also, aren¡¯t you a male? Should I cut it for you so that you don¡¯t have to be a shield anymore?¡±

    The mutated wolfdog immediately understood this sentence. It used its tail and covered its vital part of the body. It started at Zhang Mu with vignce, afraid that he would take action.

    ¡°You don¡¯t do anything if I don¡¯t scold you. Look at me anymore and I will cut you.¡±

    Zhang Mu just red at the mutated wolfdog. The mutated wolfdog sobbed when Zhang Mu talked fiercely. After that, it ced its head between its legs and didn¡¯t make any more sound.

    He used the nket to cover himself up a little and then ced the Obsidian Beetle dagger in front of his chest as usual. He didn¡¯t think much and fell into a deep sleep.

    The Obsidian Beetle had found a corner in Yuan Rui¡¯s bearskin and hid inside it.

    After some time, the two people and two animals fell asleep. However, the sound of the wind outside suddenly changed. A ¡®shasha¡¯ sound arose. It was different from the sound they heard just now and it slowly surrounded the house.

    The broken door squeaked as though it was trying to warn Zhang Mu and the rest of them. However, they couldn¡¯t hear it at all. They slept very soundly. Even the mutated wolfdog slept through it.

    The sound came closer.

 Chapter 120 - A Dream that Defies Time

    <b>Chapter 120: A Dream that Defies Time</b>

    ¡°Old Zhang, are you here to camp today?¡±

    A familiar voice traveled to Zhang Mu¡¯s ear. Although it seems far away, Zhang Mu could still subconsciously answered to the owner of the voice without turning back. ¡°That¡¯s right. I was quietly hoping that those top few sub-merchants woulde slower this time.¡±

    He observed the front for a long time before slowly turning around to look at the young man wearing a straw hat. Zhang Mu was the fifth sub-merchant of Luoyang city but this young man, he was the fourth sub-merchant. Both of them had no discounts when ites to era trade. Hence, they empathized each other. Although both of them were solitary, when they met one another, they would often stop and chat for a while.

    Judging by their ranks, both of them were required to calcte the exact opening time for the era merchant shop. If the top sub-merchants did not arrive on time for the store opening, then the transaction will not be ording to their ranks. Therefore, this would give Zhang Mu and the young man a chance to survive longer.

    Behind him, a sluggish voice wafted from the young man, ¡°Old Zhang,st time you told me to go to Xi An city to trade regional goods. However, I went to Shan Xi city and managed to earn some profit instead. What do you say about that?¡±

    That had been one of their few topics to chat amongst them, which was to discuss the market fluctuation regarding the regional goods. Not only does it allow them to pass some time, but it also brings advantages to both parties.

    Zhang Mu replied to him without thinking, ¡°There were some that would earn more and some that would gain almost the same as the purchasing price. All in all, you should obtain about 20% of profits, am I correct? A few more time back and forth, and you should bepetent to aplish the task this time. Based on what you mentioned, you did not make any lost from this market, right?¡±

    The young man put his hand behind his head to act as a pillow when hey down on the bigwn. Without haste, he brings out that piece of news, ¡°That old Liang is dead.¡±

    Zhang Mu was a little shocked. He turned his head and stared at the young man¡¯s expressionless face, while words couldn¡¯t form on his tongue.

    That old Liang was Shan Xi city third sub-merchant. He, himself was able to get 10% discount from trading, as such he was able to livefortably. Coupled with the fact that he was kind to fellow sub-merchants, it made him famous and was publicly known as the good old man.

    Regardless of Zhang Mu¡¯s thoughts and feelings, the young man carried on, ¡°As the market fluctuates, beside us who like to use the short selling method, basically no one would dare to y anymore. Same goes for old Liang. When he was going to reach the deadline for his task, he became greedy and ced a huge bet. Based on his own experience, he thought that once the short selling method had copsed, the long selling method would gain huge earnings. Hence, he spent a long time to go to Jiang Zhe city, which took months to reach. Who knew that after spending months to reach there, the purchase price would only be a little higher.

    It got worse after he came back as the goods from Jiang Zhe city made a loss.

    Old Zhang, I have never seen that expression on old Liang¡¯s face before. Knowing that your death is closer and closer yet you could do nothing about it. That kind of desperation and that kind of helplessness.¡±

    The young man paused as his tone slightly trembled, ¡°and just like that, he died in front of me.¡±

    At this time, Zhang Mu had finished listening to the whole story, but his heart did not even waver the slightest when he replied to the young man, ¡°Last time he had tasted the sweetness of long selling method which made him gain a huge profit. Although we only made small earnings, at least when we work hard, we could get to the bottom of the task easily.¡±

    The young man seems to be shocked by Zhang Mu¡¯s indifferent tone as he raised his head to nce at Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu also felt that his reaction was abnormal. Based on his memory, he should be grateful to the old Liang since he had received his help once before. However, he still could not get rid of the strong oddity between them. As a result, it costed him to speak in an unfriendly tone.

    The young man dropped the topic without thinking much as he assumed that Zhang Mu had seen a lot regarding this matter. ¡°These few years, we had seen several lives being drained by the merchant¡¯s ring, right? I never expect that for a person like old Liang, which was the third sub-merchant, would not meet the minimum requirement. It looks like this road is getting tougher and tougher.¡±

    After he finished talking, he saw the merchant ring on his finger. A sudden surge of hatred made him tried to pull out the ring. However, after a futile effort, he gave up the idea with a sneer.

    ¡°Old Zhang, living is so exhausting.¡±

    His voice kept repeating on Zhang Mu¡¯s mind endlessly, gradually passing through Zhang Mu¡¯s emotions. A sort of mental fatigue instantly radiated from Zhang Mu¡¯s heart.

    But not too much was there as it was like a seed buried in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart, hidden away.

    In no time, the light column started to rise. In the end, there was only one person standing on the space that ovepped with the era merchant shop. Zhang Mu and that young man grinned at each other. With this, Zhang Mu immediately forgot about the difort he had in his heart.

    Unexpectedly, there was one out of the three sub-merchants, who had the priority, appeared this time. Likewise, this indicated that as long as that person did not have a dog shit luck and took all the goods, then this time both of them would not need to share a mouthful of soup. Instead, they would be able to tear out one big piece of meat. It had been a long time since they had received such treatment.

    Seeing the figure gradually immersed into the light column, Zhang Mu peeked at the young man and immediately walked towards that direction. Without turning back, he said, ¡°I don¡¯t know when would those top two sub-merchantse back, but let¡¯s quickly head in first.¡± If they went in as soon as possible, even if the top three sub-merchants came, the queue would be sorted on a firste-first-serve basis based on their entry time. Simrly, this implied that if both of them manage to rush in before them, even there was a one-second difference, the sub-merchants above them could only sit quietly and queue behind them.

    Zhang Mu and the young man march into the merchant shop too. At this moment, both of them were split up. Zhang Mu was left all alone at the empty lobby to wait for the mechanical voice to announce when the sub-merchant above him hadpleted his trading.

    He was ustomed to this scene as he, himself had already made many trading under these circumstances. But he did not understand why he felt that this ce shouldn¡¯t ur like this.

    Shortly, a familiar sound interrupted his thoughts.

    Looks like the person in front of him had made a fast dealing, and it was his turn already.

    The suspicions in Zhang Mu¡¯s eye was reced by a sudden surge of excitement. As long as he gains 20% profits, he would be able toplete the minimum requirement of the task, or maybe, there might be more.

 Chapter 121 - A Makeover

    <b>Chapter 121: A Makeover</b>

    ¡°No. 337, basic level era sub-merchant. Please choose the type of trading to proceed next.¡±

    Once he heard the sound, Zhang Mu immediately responded eagerly, ¡°Era local goods. Let me take a look at the list of era local goods for this month.¡±

    ¡°Transaction type: era local goods. The transaction willmence now, and the time limit is 10 minutes. Please use your time wisely.¡± Zhang Mu swiftly did a calction regarding the price. It seemed that the price had risen by 30%pared to the past month. The price intion was a little startling as it usually rose or fell by 10%.

    Initially, he received five golden leaves. But he required 15 golden leaves toplete his task. Currently, Zhang Mu had 11 golden leaves on his hand, and the unit price was on an eptable range for him to afford. ording to his past experience, if the purchasing price increased rapidly, then the selling price would be more astonishing.

    Despite that, this also meant that Zhang Mu could not take any risks this time. At first, he thought that if the unit price was cheaper, he could go to another era merchant shop to partake a different risk evasion. But with the price now, he might as well put all of his worth here.

    At the same time, it meant that Zhang Mu did not put all the eggs in the same basket this time, with some of the eggs parted from the basket.

    However, based on the experience he had over the years, this should be an opportunity. If not, the sub-merchant above him would not be so eager to finish the trade. It seems that he must have the same thoughts as Zhang Mu, knowing that this was an opportunity too. He must have recently begun the task because, from the remaining quantity from the era local goods, Zhang Mu calcted he had about ten golden leaves on his hand. That was the initial amount that an intermediate sub-merchant would have.

    This also provided Zhang Mu a chance. For the past six months, he had been calcting the profit ratio between the two local goods of Luoyang city. Typically, the earnings for the Yellow River Carp was higher. Therefore, he decided to use 60% of his wealth to purchase Yellow River Carp while the remaining 40% would be used to buy Luoyang Peony Bud.

    As such, Zhang Mu would not encounter those kinds of goods that would gain a sudden value that would result in a directpletion of the task. By doing so, it would also maintain stable trading as something with a huge price fluctuation was the one that Zhang Mu could not bear to have.

    ¡°Transactionpleted. The golden leaves have been automatically deducted, and the local goods have been issued to No. 337¡¯s merchant ring. Please check. No. 337, do you want to carry out another transaction? Currently, you can carry out an era general goods transaction. Authority: Basic level.¡±

    Zhang Mu remembered that he had merely collected a few thousands of first-ranked crystals and only over hundreds of second-ranked crystals in his merchant ring. After much contemtion, he decided to dismiss it.

    The Cataclysm had begun for 3 years now, and this amount of crystals did not have the power to purchase many era general goods that were increased rapidly over the years.

    ¡°Just send me out.¡±

    From the merchant ring, Zhang Mu picked out an item and draped it over his body. He made a firm decision as he looked at the list of goods in front of him. From this moment onwards, he must use a month time to find a suitable era shop to trade and return back before the price updates again.

    He only had one month and ten days left before the deadline of his task. Perceiving that he had to y on the safe side every time during an era trade, he could only earn roughly 5% to 20% of profit each time. Furthermore, all of this depended on the number of golden leaves he had to umte over time. Therefore, the time consumed would also be increased correspondingly.

    ¡°No. 337, the monthly transaction has ended. I look forward to your next visit.¡±

    Because Zhang Mu was ustomed to the strange force that drove him out every time, hardly any difort appeared on his face when he was sent out of the era merchant shop. Looking at the traces of space slowly disappeared, Zhang Mu merely took a nce before turning away.

    Just now, I might be a little faster than the fourth sub-merchant, so I had the priority to go in first. Thinking of it now, that young man should bemencing the trade at this moment.

    Zhang Mu spun around and walked away, with no ns of waiting for him. The two of them would onlye into contact because of the era merchant trade and also because they were from the same era merchant. Therefore, they only had a little more trust between each other aspared to the others.

    Right now, from the other perspective, Zhang Mu was invisible and had integrated into the environment as one.

    To achieve this, he had used the only item that the era merchant gave after the sub-merchant hadpleted five tasks. It was a cloak that allowed the person to integrate into their environment using extraordinary substance from the star series. It also served to deceive others¡¯ vision, including the evolvers that had sight ability. At the same time, it also shielded the emission of heat and odor. Zhang Mu could not exin why it had such a function, but it was quite useful.

    However, this cloak must be worn inside the era merchant shop, and it onlysts for half a day. Once removed, it could not be resumed. Nevertheless, it was still enough for sub-merchants which were made up of evolvers.

    Although everyone who went against the era merchant was dead, the benefits it brought was too good to be true. Therefore, many base leaders would be intrigued and target those sub-merchants who seemed easier to attack.

    In the city, they would not dare to stir up troubles. But what if it was in the wild? Ever since there was news that sub-merchant were killed in the wild and the fact that the era merchant would not pursue the matter but would transfer the merchant ring to them, it gave a reason for powerful leaders to stay fearless. In this case, someone like Zhang Mu who lived his life hanging by a thread, would be everyone¡¯s target.

    However, when these base leader realized that the location of the sub-merchant was actually an enormous piece of meat, all sub-merchants who had survived, already promoted to at least a basic position. With this cloak, they could go out of the city.

    A small businessman like Zhang Mu, would never have the nerve to face the base leaders and carry out substantial trading. Either way, he could only split them out and do retail selling, or trade the goods with sub-merchants. Helpless, but there was no other alternative.

    Zhang Mu wore the invisible cloak, but he never left Luoyang city. Instead, he went into a small alley.

    When he came out from the alley, he had swapped into a new face. His height also grew 5 centimeters tall, with an image of a tall beardly man and a knife scar running down his face.

    The human skin mask was a rare item that Zhang Mu generated using the era general goods system that randomly produced an extraordinary object. Even though it was expensive and required every crystal that Zhang Mu had, but in order to protect his life, he could only grit his teeth and brought the item. Since then, he had been using it over a year.

    Luoyang city had been reconstructed once after the Cataclysm. Using the power of the earth evolvers to surround the entire city, only an entrance was implemented for people to enter and exit.

    ¡°To leave the city, please pay 10 first-ranked crystals.¡±

    A sluggish voice was heard from the guard defending the gates of Luoyang city. Zhang Mu pretended to be an ordinary evolver and gave a painful expression. That causes a few of the guard to disdain him with their eyes. When the gate was opened, he followed the crowd in front of him and marched out from Luoyang city. Staring at Zhang Mu¡¯s figure going farther away, the guards took five of the crystals and pocketed it. He hefted the bag of crystals and sent a sly smile toward the direction that Zhang Mu left, ¡°Ah, what a good way to earn crystals!¡±

 Chapter 122 - Got Into A Trouble

    <b>Chapter 122: Got Into A Trouble</b>

    The trip had been exceptionally smooth. Due to the fact that the majority part of the city had been cleared up to make it safe. However, it was only limited near the city as the human defense group could only enclose on that small part of the area. Thinking about it, it was such a sad matter.

    At the human base, a third-ranked evolver or even a fourth-ranked evolver would be stationed to guard their bases. Nheless, they were unable topete against the evolution rate of the walking dead and the mutated animals. In fact, the reason why humans residing in the city could survive was the power from the era merchants. Without their help and the protection they provided, when these mutated animals slowly gained their intelligence, there would be a king amongst them long ago. Leading their herd to swept out every human base until there were none of them left.

    Zhang Mu was adept in making short-term transaction along the way. In this manner, it would be much easier to control the scales of the trade. Hence, he had already cleared out and fixed the pathway he would take within three years. Unless something had happened to the path, Zhang Mu would not change it for no particr reason.

    The destination that Zhang Mu had in mind was still Shan Xi city. Recently, he could not figure out the market price so he might as well used a familiar path that he had just traveled to and fro for the past month.

    In front of his eye, Zhang Mu saw the mountain that indicated he had reached the final obstacles for Shan Xi city. That were some escapees remained on the peak that had cleared beforehand. That was done by a fourth-ranked evolver to ensure the safety for the city. But when there were about two or three kittens left, the evolver did not bother about them and left them over there.

    Although there were mutated animals that were not worthy to one¡¯s eye, for Zhang Mu¡¯s case, it was a massive hurdle to him. He had yet to reach the third rank and was barely at the peak of the second rank only. Hence, even in the human race, he was just a small figure at the bottom. Naturally, he had to be very cautious and kept his body low for him to move ahead.

    In a world where terror was steadily growing, even if it was merely a pathway, Zhang Mu had to spend many efforts for the sake of selecting the easiest route for him to take on. One could imagine the cruelty level in the wild.

    Half a year ago, Xi An city tried to expand its safe margin and a fourth-ranked fire-type evolver decided to step forward and used his awaken ability to help out. Tremendous fire energy was released, setting the mountain on a raging me. However, no one had anticipated that a group of fourth-ranked mutated animal woulde out, scaring the fire-type evolver back to the city.

    Although the group of mutated animals was not afraid of the fire set by the fourth-ranked evolver, none of them were able to extinguish the burning mes.

    After that, the mutated animals were terrified to take a step into the city again. Because of the raging me, there was no way for them to continue and inhabit this piece ofnd. With arge number of low ranked mutated animals were dead, most of the second-ranked mutated animals and above were taken away by their respective king. Leaving a big piece of burningnd and a few scattered second-ranked mutated animal left as they had no one to lead them.

    At the same, the people residing at Shan Xi city did not dare to have the thoughts of expanding the city¡¯s safety margin again. With the powerful evolvers retreating, what more could the others rank below them going to do about it?

    Despite that, there were still a group of desperate people eyeing the burned corpse of the mutated animals and their beast cores on the mountain. Even though several second-ranked mutated animals were roaming around, they rather risk their lives and enter the mountain.

    Zhang Mu was also part of the group. With only a little meat for so many wolves, the amount of the corpses were getting lesser and lesser while the location for them was getting deeper and deeper into the mountain. Under the situation where danger was increasing, the craze from the group also went down as they were forced to retreat from the mountain. Seeing that the number of people to search for the corpse was decreasing, this gave a different thought to Zhang Mu. This path could allow him to reach Shan Xi city at the top speed, instead of taking a longer route.

    The forest had not recovered from itsst cleaned up. With a charred look, everywhere was filled with the copsed burned woods. It was a mess to look at, as the signs of vegetation were hard to find with the few exceptions of yellowed weeds.

    Shuffle! A series of noise rang from the branches on top of Zhang Mu¡¯s head while shes could be seen around him.

    Was it them again? Those four were not thest of them?

    Last month, something had stopped him at this spot. Creatures that he never saw before suddenly appeared when he had to walk this path from Luoyang city to Shan Xi city.

    This familiar jumping rhythm, it must be them for sure!

    Zhang Mu lifted his head abruptly, and he saw the figures above looking down at him on those brown branches. Silvery white fur with abnormal smoothness, paired with a petite appearance that looks harmless.

    Indeed, it was them! Second-ranked silver mink!

    Previously when Zhang Mu walked down this path, usually a second-ranked creature would automatically sense the bloody smell that leaked from Zhang Mu¡¯s body. Hence, they would stay away from him. Even if there was a fierce animal with no signs of intelligence yet, he could handle them easily.

    However, this group of silver mink had only entered this mountainst month and was unfamiliar to the scent leaking from Zhang Mu. Granting that the smell had an ominous scent, but they were not the least fear of him.

    These little things were extremely agile, yet their attacks were weak. At that time, Zhang Mu was not surrounded by many of them, merely four silver minks. When Zhang Mu entered their territory proudly, they wouldunch a lightning-like attack. In the end, they were all struck dead by Zhang Mu in exchange for his injuries.

    But now, Zhang Mu took a closer look at his surrounding on the spot. Immediately, it caused him to take in a breath of cold air. Currently, the previous pitch ck forest seems to be glowing with dozens of shining gems now. However, Zhang Mu knew that there would not be any gemstones in this broken forest.

    In fact, these glistening gems were from the silver mink¡¯s night-vision eye! And there was at least twenty of them!

    He tried to take a step forward. As the silver mink had a weak attack, if Zhang Mu could carefully avoid the mistake he madest time, he might be able to slip through under their nosepletely. As long as he could walk out of this path, he would be able to reach the safety boundary set up by Shan Xi city.

    Although he could not see the silver mink¡¯s movement in the forest, it was clear that there was a problem based on those on the tree branch above him. Whenever Zhang Mu moves, their head would follow every movement that Zhang Mu made.

    It should be when he went through their defensesst month, which cost them to have such an attitude.

    Did they remember his scent?

    Indeed, these creatures must have recognized his scent. They must have been waiting for Zhang Mu to enter deep within the forest before making their moves. What an intelligent creature! Those four that died previously had already caused Zhang Mu to use up all of his might to save himself. At first, he thought that those four were thest of them. Never in his mind would he expect that that was only part of a small unit. Now, this was great as therge forces hade together.

    With more than twenty second-ranked silver mink, that was a big deal for someone like Zhang Mu who barely reach the peak of the second rank!

    He slowly thought of the countermeasure. However, no matter how did he shift slightly, the silver mink would also move together with him.

    Looks like moving forward was hopeless now and he could only withdraw back. Count himself unlucky!

 Chapter 123 - Nowhere To Go

    <b>Chapter 123: Nowhere To Go</b>

    Just when Zhang Mu tried to take a step back, his heart dropped instantly.

    Previously when he moved forward, there was no action from the silver minks. On the other hand, when he revealed his intention to retreat, every single of the silver mink from the branches and within the forest, came rushing toward his direction. The shuffling sound could be heard all over the forest, whereas the shimmers of their eye made a huge contrast against the charred ck environment.

    Oh no! Just now they were only testing my nerves and bravery, which was the reason why they did not make any direct attack. Now that they saw I had chicken-out, they know that I was just a pushover and for this reason, they did not hesitate to attack me?

    At this point, he had no other choice. If he stays in one ce for too long, they would see through his tricks.

    When the silver minks were about to leap to the front of Zhang Mu¡¯s body, how could he stay still after witnessing this? Straightaway, he ran all the way back where he hade from, without turning his head to look back.

    When he heard the shuffling noise increased behind him, an uneasy tension put a strain on Zhang Mu¡¯s heart. Nevertheless, Zhang Mu did not dare to look back. He was afraid that he would be surrounded the moment he paused for a second. Previously, those four silver minks that he dealt with were his limit already. Regardless of the 20 silver minks insight, there must be more hidden in the forest. Summing those up, there must be countless of them. As a result, the resolution to fight them was no longer there as the thought of being torn into pieces terrified him.

    Even though he had raised his body to the second-ranked limit, but the agility potions from the era merchant shop were monopolized by the top few sub-merchants. Apart from the first month of the Cataclysm where he spent all of his wealth in exchange for a first-ranked agility potion, he never saw the remaining amount for any rted potions were not zero when he began the era general trade.

    Therefore, the him now could notpete against the mutated animals which had faster agility than human. Furthermore, these silver minks were unquestionably the best in agility amongst the second-ranked mutated animal that Zhang Mu had ever seen.

    Within a few seconds, Zhang Mu felt something lunged at him from the back.

    For no particr reason, when Zhang Mu felt the attacksing, the first reaction was to lift his left arm, as if there was a mighty hidden card under his left arm yet, nothing was there.

    The one that caught up to him was one of the fastest silver mink among the group. The speed that it had was even a step faster than its fellow minks. From the side of a tree trunk, it leaped and dashed toward the direction of Zhang Mu. With a sh, one of its w swept down and caught the back of Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm.

    With a swish, flesh and blood were sttered in seconds. Followed by a blood-curdling scream let out by Zhang Mu. The left arm that he had just extended out was torn off arge piece of flesh in an instant. The cut was so deep that bone was visible from the wound. At the same time, it had stimted Zhang Mu¡¯s nerve. Under pressure, he pushed himself to be faster as he sprang out ahead of them.

    He was puzzled in regards to his reaction just now however, he did not have the time to think about it.

    Because of the dy, although the one that had thrown itself onto Zhang Mu was slowed down, there were more and more noises chasing behind him. Despite being evenly matched with the speed that Zhang Mu burst out, they continued to take a firm hold of Zhang Mu¡¯s pace with no signs of slowing down.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s mind was in a chaotic mess as he scrambled forward. Every cell in his body was telling him that he was extremely exhausted and could not run anymore since he overused his energy.

    Despite that, he kept on hisst glimmer of sanity, convincing himself that if he did not run, his life would remain there.

    The desire to survive helped Zhang Mu to break through the boundary of the burned forest. Feeling the re from the sun above his head, Zhang Mu seems to see some hope. Immediately, the exhausted body gained strength out of nowhere as he maintained his current speed.

    Among the silver minks, the one that had the fastest speedunched another attack on Zhang Mu once again. This time, Zhang Mu became smarter as he brought out a weapon from his merchant ring. Using his right hand, he shed backhandedly and manage to block the attack. However, the knife edge was somewhat damaged. When Zhang Mu saw that the de had been shed with three nicks by the silver mink, he immediately dropped the second-ranked weapon he bought from the era merchant shop. Once he threw it away, he continued to sprint forward regardless of the situation. He did not ck or felt fortunate when he saw the Sun.

    Even though he had run out of the boundary of the forest, he could felt clearly that those silver minks behind him had no desire to let him off. That only leaves one possibility, they had engraved the scent on his body when he killed the four silver minks and were confident that he was the murderer.

    The spurt of the energy was momentary as he felt the tiredness from his body swelling up again. But it was at that moment, Zhang Mu¡¯s eye lit up as he saw his destination.

    It was arge river with a yellowish tide that rushed up and down. It was so deep that one could not see what was under the water.

    He was not so oblivious that he had no destination on his mind to escape. He remembered he had walked past and saw a big river along the way earlier. As it would take some time to swim across, in addition to the river current, even though he did not take the risk and swam, the river had left a deep impression on his mind.

    Zhang Mu did not hesitate as he dragged his disabled arm and plunged into the river.

    As a matter of fact, Zhang Mu was betting that the silver minks would not jump into the big river. With that, he disappeared into the rolling waves and his head did note up for breath.

    At that moment, he did not bother with the dangers of this river. He only knew that if he dyed for just for a moment, he would be dead immediately. However, if he jumped into the big river, there was a possibility of him being alive.

    For someone like Zhang Mu, who always pursued stability, he could only fight for his life at this moment.

    Sure enough, just like what Zhang Mu had expected, these silver minks hesitated the moment they saw Zhang Mu leaped into the river. They had stopped at the shoreline as fear appeared on their faces while watching the current. They seem to fear something in the river as they were unwilling to take a step further.

    Themander of the pack, who disabled Zhang Mu¡¯s left hand, had aplicated emotion on its eye. Although it still had resentment towards Zhang Mu, after a few thoughts, it gave a shrilly howl and turned away immediately.

    Hearing themander¡¯s order, and seeing themander turning away, these silver minks did not stay there any longer. In a hurry, they retire back to the burned forest.

    Everything became quiet once again. Except for the rumbled of the river from time to time.

 Chapter 124 - The Overlord Underwater

    <b>Chapter 124: The Overlord Underwater </b>

    After Zhang Mu plunged into the river, the fatigue on his whole body seems to set free all at once as he fell into a deep slumber, lost to the world. On the other hand, the turbulent of the river kept pounding on his injury, causing the cut to change into a milky color.

    With another stream of the water pounded onto Zhang Mu¡¯s bare arm and he sobered up immediately as he felt a stabbing pain on his arm.

    Hearing the quiet rumble of waves crashing, that was the moment he realized where he was. Zhang Mu forced himself to maintain a steady bnce of his body using his already sore muscles underwater. But things were not as easy as he thought, as he had overdrawn his energy and the fact that he was losing too much blood. Currently, Zhang Mu¡¯s body was one that he could not control anymore.

    The air in his lungs was depletedpletely, but the desire to survive ovees Zhang Mu¡¯s deep fatigue. He did not know where he found the strength on his body as his right arm, which waspletely fine, began to swipe up. After that, he did not care if his leg would cramp as Zhang Mu use his legs to paddle himself. After much struggles, he finally broke through the surface of the river.

    When he came out from the surface to pump out all the air he kept on his lungs, he was dragged down by the big wave again, without giving him time to draw a few mouthfuls of oxygen. With the raging waves, Zhang Mu did not know which direction he was going now.

    Under the water, the impact he received was lesser. Hence, Zhang Mu tried his best to open his eye and swam towards the direction of the shore based on his memory. Despite that, the process was not sessful. Whenever he tried to swim forward, there would always be a stream of water disturbing his position on the water from a different direction, crushing all his effortpletely.

    All of a sudden, the river current calmed down in an instant. Zhang Mu could hardly hear the roars of the waves anymore. He recovered mentally as he quickly adjusted his direction and headed towards the shore.

    However, the silence seems tost for a long time, causing him to feel uneasy.

    The river current could not change by itself all of a sudden. So there would only be one possibility, a powerful water-type mutated animal must be heading towards him now.

    The rm on Zhang Mu¡¯s mind was ringing in an instant. Did this river truly have such a powerful mutated animal?

    It made no sense though. To have the ability to control such a rapid current, the mutated animal must be the third rank at the minimum. However, with this ce being close to Shan Xi city, how could there be any mutated animal with such rank?

    Furthermore, how could it be that the Shan Xi city¡¯s strongest evolver did not take action against the mutated animal with such ranking?

    Apart from this, Zhang Mu could not think of any other reason. Right now, he could only take advantage of the situation instead of guessing the reason why the river around him had calm down.

    While he was struggling to swim, he would look around his surrounding from time to time to see what wasing too, which affects his condition. If there was any third-ranked water-type mutated animal, he would give up his struggles then. Even if he was perfectly fine at this moment, he did not have the resources to fight against a third-ranked mutated animal that was at itsfort zone.

    The warning signs in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was growing more and more. Due to the calm water, it no longer drifted up sands anymore. Therefore, Zhang Mu¡¯s vision gradually widened up. He could see clearly that the mud on the other side of the shore was just a dozen meters away. His heart leaped with joy as he raised his speed even more.

    However, because the river had be clearer, Zhang Mu finally took notice the ck mass on his right side at this moment. When he saw what was it precisely, he could not help himself but to curse out loud, causing him to gulp down a few mouthfuls of water as well.

    That portion of ck mass, was a swarm of piranha!

    The swarm of piranha was actually a second-ranked water-type creature at the top of the food chain. They did not have the intelligence that a second-ranked mutated animal should have. But because of that, they were extremely ferocious. They would form into a swarm to conquer certain parts of the water while sweeping clean the territory there. Even a normal third-ranked human evolver wished that they would not encounter such a crazy group of piranha underwater, that would adopt any means for food.

    Seeing them, Zhang Mu¡¯s heart sank a little. If they were a third-ranked water-type creature, they might give him a quick death. But with the situation now...

    No wonder they could control the river current in this area. Even though they were a second-ranked mutated animal, but with them forming as a team that had nopetition within themselves, they were able to fuse their power together to make it happen. That was also the reason why even a third-ranked mutated animal was unwilling to stay on their territory too.

    This was so troublesome. But at the same time, it also exined why they were able to live close to Shan Xi city. High ranked evolver disdain to deal with such a swarm of mutated animal, therefore even a third-ranked evolver would also be reluctant to spend their effort to deal with this.

    Zhang Mu had gone to Shan Xi city various time, but he had never heard of such matter before. But at least now he finally understood why there were no people near the river. Only when the river was slightly calm, people would then cross it.

    Zhang Mu looked bitterly at his left arm where his flesh had turned outward. He finally figured out why was there a swarm of piranhas beside him.

    They must have smelled the blood flowing out from him. As they were sensitive to the scent of blood, they were able to track the smell of blooding from several kilometers away and then trailed it all the way here.

    Right now the piranha was only a dozen meters away behind Zhang Mu. For them, the water was a ce for them toe and go freely. Hence, this sort of distance away from Zhang Mu was nothing to them. With just a blink of an eye, they could devour Zhang Mu until there was nothing left.

    Remembering the previous experience with the silver minks, Zhang Mu did not dare to make a single move. Furthermore, if he showed any signs of fear, the piranhas that were a little hesitant now, would throw themselves on him straight away.

    All he could do now was to pray that the river current would move his body slowly towards the shore while he faced them.

    This time, it seems that Zhang Mu was lucky as his body began to move bit by bit towards the shore on this slow-moving river, like what he had hoped for.

    Zhang Mu chuckled inside his heart. It seems that luck was on his side as he could touch the mud near the shore.

    Seeing that Zhang Mu was drifting further away from them, the swarm of piranha could not endure the temptation of the blood anymore. Their fishtail began to sway as a silver-white straight line started to form and head toward the direction of Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu saw this and immediately turn his body to swim. Fortunately, he was only a meter away from the shore now. But at this moment, he could sense that the water around him was beginning to flow rapidly. That must be the piranha using their power.

    With a hand stretched out, he caught it!

    The moment he touched the rock, he concentrated on gripping the rock to help him climb out of the river. Just like that, he popped out of the water.

    However, before he was totally out of the water, the danger behind him had arrived.

 Chapter 125 - Still not dead yet

    <b>Chapter 125: Still not dead yet</b>

    With a ripping sound, the cloth on Zhang Mu¡¯s trousers was torn off together with a big chunk of flesh by a set of razor-sharp teeth. It was done by a few second-ranked piranhas that swam the fastest. They did not use their water-type ability, yet they had managed to rip open Zhang Mu¡¯s body that was still on the river. The first few targeted areas were his two legs.

    Because of the stinging pain from being torn apart abruptly, Zhang Mu¡¯s hand gained a sudden strength. Regardless of his left arm being numb with no energy, straight away he held down onto the river bank with his both hand, so that he could flip on to the shore.

    But after getting on to the shore, a sound from the wind breaking suddenly wafted behind Zhang Mu. He looked back in panic and found another terrifying fact.

    These piranhas, they did not give up simply because Zhang Mu had left the river. One after another, they leaped out of the river. Using their spurt of strength, they swished toward the Zhang Mu direction, who had no power to fight back now.

    The leg that was kneeling on the shore was injured, forbidding his escape as he watched the piranhaing to rip him apart.

    A crazy idea shed through Zhang Mu¡¯s mind, as he did something that everyone would not expect.

    He used his right hand and clutched tightly around the injury on his disabled left arm. With a twist, followed by a painful shriek, he tore off his left arm.

    Looking at the blood spewing out, the corner of Zhang Mu¡¯s white lips raised to form a bitter smile as he threw his left arm towards the piranhas flying in the air while he was tumbling on the ground in pain.

    As expected, the moment Zhang Mu threw his left arm, these piranhas appeared to be a little reluctant. They halted their writhing body in midair as they switched their direction, and flew toward the severed limb.

    With the little time he had, Zhang Mu had rolled over to a distance away from the piranhas. However, some of the piranhas were still able to reach Zhang Mu with that distance. But seeing theirrades turning for the food, they swayed their tail eventually after a few considerations, controlling the direction it was going and fell on the ground not far from Zhang Mu. After picking a part of the flesh that was easier for it to take, it leaped on the ground and went back to the river.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s eye held a celebration as though he did not rip off his arm a little while ago.

    Zhang Mu had encountered these type of mutated animal with no intelligence before. Hence, he knew that when they were facing with reachable food, they would always go for the meal.

    Finally having the chance to breathe, Zhang Mu checked some of his injuries.

    His left arm had been disabled, the calves of his two leg were losing arge amount of blood while his body was full of bruises.

    Zhang Muughed helplessly, but the action caused him to stretch on his wound as he grimaced in pain once again. After a while, he slowly spits out a few words, ¡°Want my Zhang Mu¡¯s life? Is it that simple? Hahahaha.¡±

    He smiled weakly. In this world where the third-ranked or fourth-ranked evolvers were everywhere, him, Zhang Mu, was actually forced to be into this position by a group of second-ranked mutated animals that everyone looked down. It was really miserable.

    But that was the reality. He was only a small figure that was struggling on the edge of life and death. If he never had the status of an era sub-merchant by ident, Zhang Mu would never be a second-ranked evolver, who had no awakening ability, by himself. Hence, he would be ashes long ago with his bones scattered on the ces he would never know.

    Even though he was left in this condition, there was nothing that Zhang Mu could do now. With his current recovery speed, his life would be hard to keep. His current body had been through so much damaged while his energy was slowly stripping away his consciousness.

    He forcibly kept thest glimmer of his sense as he took out a tube of pale green potion from his merchant ring. That was a first-ranked recovery potion that he kept for a very long time as he was unwilling to drink it in the past.

    It was really ridiculous, right? A second-ranked evolver using a first-ranked recovery potion. Even so, that was the only hidden card that Zhang Mu could use to save his life now.

    Zhang Mu immediately poured the first-ranked recovery potion into his mouth without hesitation. As his throat moved up and down, the blood on the surface of Zhang Mu¡¯s wound begins to clot.

    That was the power of era general goods from the era merchant shop. Not to mention theck of expired date, even someone like Zhang Mu, who was a second-ranked evolver using a lower rank potion, the effect could be seen right away.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s lips gradually gained colors. But he knew deep down that his severed arm could no longer be restored. If only he had a bottle of second-ranked recovery potion, then there would be a high possibility that his broken arm would be able to regenerate back.

    Nevertheless, even when the wound was healedpletely, a second-ranked potion was powerless to return him back to his peak condition. Unless there was a high-ranked healing-type evolver, who was willing to help him.

    Thinking about the healing-type evolver, a white figure shed across Zhang Mu¡¯s eye.

    Who was that?

    The figure disappeared from Zhang Mu¡¯s mind after lingering for a moment. Zhang Mu no longer remembered how did that person look like. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. In the end, he stopped pondering about it.

    He smiled bitterly. How could someone like him with a low status like a small shrimp, could possibly know a healing-type evolver that was rumored to roam around without casting a shadow and leaves without a trace, whom everyone worshipped?

    Was it because he had lost too much blood, and it caused his mind to be blurry and had a hallucination?

    As time progressed, the effectiveness of the first-ranked recovery potion gradually began to fade. The potion had decided to use most of its drug effect on Zhang Mu¡¯s legs, whereas the rest of the drug effects to heal those damaged tendons and soft tissues on his body. As for his left arm, once it heals the open wound, it was entirely discarded.

    Probably because he had a higher rank than the potion, it had automatically made its choice. After all, even if the whole bottle of the potion were used to heal his left arm, it would not grow back anymore.

    Zhang Mu slowly stood up and lifted his head to look at his surrounding. He saw that he was in the middle of nowhere, with full of weeds and would asionally hear roars from unknown mutated animals.

    It seems that he was washed up to a faraway ce. But he should be able to catch up and return to Luoyang city after hepleted the trading. That was what Zhang Mu thought to himself as he felt the power on his leg and ran.

    Yes, the him now would have a problem surviving. As a disabled low-ranked evolver, in thew of jungle, he did not know how far he would go. Perhaps, at Shan Xi city, he would receive a bunch of people gloating at him with their eyes.

    However, life had to go on right? Wasn¡¯t he still alive?

    Zhang Mu¡¯s eagerness to live had ignited his heart. It was so strong that he was able to push down the fatigue caused by his bad luck. Just like that, he slowly rushed to the direction of Shan Xi city.

 Chapter 126 - Sneaking Into The City

    <b>Chapter 126: Sneaking Into The City</b>

    Despite theck of his left arm that caused him to lose a little bnce while running, Zhang Mu never slow down his speed. In his mind, all he could think of waspleting the era merchant task assigned to him. If hepleted the task, he would have another year of breathing time. If not, he had to face the inevitable death.

    For a half day, Zhang Mu did not have the strength to take out dry food for himself to eat. Maintaining his speed, he finally arrived at the fortification outside Shan Xi city. For him to arrive at Shan Xi city, Zhang Mu had to make a lot of turns here and there as he was dragged by the river to a ce far away.

    Fortunately, the evolvers from Shan Xi city already swept clean most of the area. So basically, there were no mutated animals above the second rank. That was a good thing for Zhang Mu, who was in a poor condition now. Although time is equal to money, if he lost his life before entering the city, then the efforts he put in for weeks would be all in vain.

    Having said that, Zhang Mu did not make the choice of fighting mutated animals for convenience sake. The him now, could not afford to have any more setbacks. If he suffered another serious injury, he would not be able to save his own life since he had used up his only first-ranked recovery potion.

    Zhang Mu lifted his head to see the outside of Shan Xi city right before his eye. His heart was full of emotions as it appears that his efforts were not in vain. Using a period of ten days, he finally reached the city.

    So what if he had almost lost his life? Even without an arm, he, Zhang Mu, still arrived at the era merchant shop in Shan Xi city.

    There was no time for Zhang Mu to dy anymore. He did not know how much danger would be waiting for him when he returned, especially that the shortcut he discovered was totally unusable now. In addition, the alternative that everyone recognized, which was the big river earlier, Zhang Mu did not have the guts to swim in it anymore.

    In the end, there were only 20 days for him to return to Luoyang city!

    He could only take detour using the safest yet the longest road which he had tried before. With his speed, he could probably return within 19 days. That meant that he only had one extra day for him to deal with any unexpected encountering in this Cataclysm.

    With this, Zhang Mu quickly walked to the gates. The gates at the base were all simr. Even though the number of people that Shan Xi city could take in was limited, refugees from all parts of the world began to squeeze into the city that was basically enough to amodate nearly ten thousand people, when they heard the news that it had the strongest evolvers within the radius of five hundred miles. Making the city crowded with people.

    The existence of refugees helped Shan Xi city to have sufficient manpower in areas that evolvers would look down on. For example, fundamental practice and food ntation, that was the most crucial task in the base.

    At the same time, due to this reason, the city capacity was at its limits. However, to throw the refugees out in the wild was considered heartless as the death rate in the wild was too high.

    But there was also a number of evolvers that would adopt some ordinary people. To put it nicely, it was a job position to give them a chance to survive, but in fact, they were treated as a ve.

    That was actually permitted by the high-leveled base member. Because once the fortification was repaired, and with the limited manpower that was required to grow crops, there would be excessedbor force. In that case, many people would be reduced to the state where they had to snatch food from the mutated animals.

    The reality was brutal. Everyone could only close one eye on the matter that the ordinary people was kept captivity. After the cataclysm started for many years, no one had been that naive and selfless anymore.

    Nheless, some kindness would still exist. However, it was impossible for people to give up the necessity for their own survival in order to have the so-called moral standards and justice.

    Therefore, the survival for these ordinary people that were at the bottom, including those first-ranked and second-ranked evolvers with no awakening ability, were rted to the vital interest of the upper-ss society.

    With the suggestion from many evolvers, Shan Xi city¡¯s base leader made use of the power from the earth-type evolvers to build a rtively simple wall outside the city within a month. Although the defensive power was not that strong, the base core power was not stationed there. The wall acts as a hope for the refugees to protect themselves from the low-ranked mutated animals who were wandering near the city.

    The previous city also changed its name and was called Inner City. It would be a ce for third-ranked evolvers and above to live in. The minimum requirement for second-ranked evolvers to live in was them having a rare or beneficial ability.

    The Inner City was built extremely luxurious. Since it cannot be expanded, those who had doubts about evolving further have chosen to indulge themselves there. There were numerous entertainment facilities from the original world being reconstructed inside the Inner City, even though the existence of the original world was prohibited.

    In this cataclysm, the base leader was afraid of losing arge number of high-ranked evolvers. Hence, if they act based on the so-called mortal standard from the original world, they would have the reputation of a hypocrite. Therefore, if they did not, they would attract a lot of high-ranked evolvers to the base.

    Moreover, going out to fight against the mutated animals, cleaning up the walking dead as well aspeting with other human bases, put pressure on the evolvers. Hence, they must build a ce for them to rx to avoid them causing a rampage within their territory.

    Zhang Mu strolled into the outer city and paid for the entry fee as well. As it was only the outer city, he only required to pay one first-ranked crystal.

    The pedestrians on the road seemed to be in a hurry. The people there had to work continuously in exchange for a day¡¯s worth of rations. Because Zhang Mu was wandering slowly, he stood out from the crowd of people.

    When the people saw that Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm was empty in his sleeves, the looks in their eye was as if they were looking at a person who was dead.

    Ordinary people with no background or power to support them, in this Cataclysm, disabled means death. That was a piece of general knowledge, so they naturally thought that Zhang Mu had given up the hope of surviving.

    Zhang Mu knew that with his own power, he could not enter the Inner City as he was unable to meet any of the criteria. However, the era merchant shop was in the middle of the city.

    So the only alternative for him, was to sneak in a name to enter.

 Chapter 127 - Broken Body with Strong Determination

    <b>Chapter 127: Broken Body with Strong Determination</b>

    Rather than sneaking, in fact, it was only a chance to enter the Inner City for a day, by transporting fresh fruits or other necessary items for the high ranked evolvers.

    Even if your identity was extremely insignificant, as long as you were willing to have a makeover in exchange for a day of a good time, a lot of people were up for it. Hence, it was hugely sought after by all kinds of people. With the mixed crowd of good and bad people, it allowed Zhang Mu to hide his identity easily.

    Without doubts, the sub-merchants had be daring nowadays as no one could attack them, considering that the era merchant shop were all inside the city. With the help of the cloak, it also allowed the sub-merchants to leave the city safely for a long time. Hence, as long as your face was covered, the sub-merchants would be able to trade with a peace of mind. In addition, there were a lot of people wearing masks to cover their face at the red light district area.

    Although these were all known facts around the public, an old face was still needed.

    Zhang Mu sneaked into the back of an open food store at the outer city and shouted towards the courtyard, ¡°Boss Li, your old customer has arrived, yet no one is here to wee me inside?¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s voice, a quivering figure ran out from the back of the kitchen, causing the fats on his body trembled. After watching him, this caused Zhang Mu to lose all of his appetites even though he had not been eating for a whole day.

    Seeing that the fat man with a round body was going to pounce on him to give him a bear hug, Zhang Mu sneaked away as chills went down his spine. Looking at the fat man, he said, ¡°Boss Li, did you just ughtered mutated pork meat? How did your body get so greasy? Do note over here. I have not eaten today, yet looking at you makes me full immediately.¡±

    ¡°Brother Zhang, how can you say such words to hurt my, Li Pang San¡¯s heart? You have not been here for a month and I have missed you dearly. How did you know that I have mutated pork meat? Apart from sending it over to the high-ranked sirs, I have left some scraps behind to eat them by myself after I am done. Now that you¡¯re here, let¡¯s have a feast.¡±

    Once Zhang Mu heard that Li Pang San had mutated pork meat, his eye lit up immediately. No matter how greasy Li Pang San was, he patted his shoulder and said, ¡°Wow Old Li, you can even get mutated pork meat? It should not be a first-ranked or second-ranked, right? If not, you won¡¯t be bragging it to me now.¡±

    A pride expression showed up on Li Pang San¡¯s face as he patted on his fat tummy and answered, ¡°Of course. Who am I, Li Pang San? The title of the best food store is not out there for fun.¡±

    At this moment, he saw that Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm was strange. He looked serious and stared at Zhang Mu¡¯s empty sleeve, ¡°Brother Zhang, what happened to you?¡±

    Zhang Mu took his words genuinely and replied to him right away, ¡°The river outside the city. It was done by a swarm of second-ranked piranhas. If not for my fast reaction, probably my life would end there.¡±

    ¡°Second-ranked piranhas?¡± Li Pang San¡¯s eyes were filled with horror. ¡°You entered the river and came out alive? Are you really a second-ranked evolver with no ability? You must know that no one outside the city would get close to it. Even when there were people pass away near the shore, the sirs inside the city do not even bother about them. Because once they summon their power, these piranhas would not attack.

    Therefore, it had be a taboo area for low-ranked people like us. Most people would not go there, and I remembered telling you that the ce was dangerous.¡±

    ¡°But you never told me that the ce was dangerous because of the second-ranked piranhas.¡± A helpless expression filled Zhang Mu¡¯s sour face.

    At this point, a guilty expression appeared on Li Pang San¡¯s face. He never expected that Zhang Mu would lose his arm there. Even though he was a person that liked tough and joke about, but he knew how serious was it for a person like Zhang Mu, which was disabled and could not be healed. ¡°This was all my fault. I should have said it clearer to you.¡±

    Zhang Mu spoke while waving his remaining right arm, ¡°Boss Li, don¡¯t me yourself. That time I was forced too. If not, who would enter the river?¡±

    In this Cataclysm, people like Li Pang San were hard to find as his words touched Zhang Mu¡¯s cold heart.

    ¡°To be able to force you to jump into the river, on such a safe ce like Shan Xi city, was it a third-ranked mutated animal?¡±

    Seeing Zhang Mu having such a carefree attitude, Li Pang San felt relieved a little.

    ¡°No, if it was a third-ranked mutated animal, I won¡¯t be able toe back. It was a dozen of new second-ranked mutated animals.¡±

    Li Pang San looked at Zhang Mu with a shocked expression, ¡°A dozen of them? When did theye here? No wonder. So what does Brother Zhang ns to do next?¡±

    Previously, Zhang Mu told Li Pang San that he was a herbs collector as it was verymon here. Even though the majority of them couldn¡¯t get a good medical herb, but Zhang Mu was able to take out some suitable best-selling herbs. This was how he met Li Pang San.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stop talking about it.¡± Before Li Pang San continued to speak, Zhang Mu put his hand on Li Pang San¡¯s shoulder, not caring about the grease on his body as Zhang Mu said, ¡°Fatty, just now did you said that you would treat me to eat a third-ranked mutated animal? Till this day, I have not tasted any third-ranked animals before. Even if it was just a normal mutated pig, I¡¯m fine with it too. Also, I remembered you have a few hidden good liquors, how about using it tofort me?¡±

    Hearing that Zhang Mu remembered his liquor, a hurtful expression that could not be covered appeared on Li Pang San¡¯s face. But looking at Zhang Mu¡¯s broken arm, he gritted his teeth as he had made a huge decision, ¡°Sure, since Brother Zhang had said the word, then me, Li Pang San, will take out two bottles to drink with Brother Zhang today.¡±

    Zhang Mu never expected that Li Pang San would take out his precious white liquor. With a face of joy, he hung on to Li Pang San¡¯s body as they went to the back kitchen,pletely forgotten about his injuries.

    Taking a sip of Mao Tai, Zhang Mu¡¯s eye was intoxicated. Putting down the wine cup, he picked out a piece of pork meat with his chopsticks and put in his mouth.

    A warm heat melts in his mouth. Eating the meat of a third-ranked mutated animal while he was a second-ranked evolver, would help the energy in his body to grow, causing the bottleneck of the second rank to be loosened. Happiness could be seen on Zhang Mu¡¯s face in an instant as he picked up a pig¡¯s trotter with his hand straightaway to eat.

    ¡°Can you eat slowly? I haven¡¯t touched my chopsticks yet. Slow down, slow down, please.¡± Li Pang San felt a little regret on bringing Zhang Mu to eat his dinner together this time. He was behaving a lunatic. Even with one hand, he was able to eat like a tornado, sweeping clean of the food on the table.

    At first, Li Pang San was preparing to drink some liquor first, but when he noticed that if he ateter, there might not be any meat remained for him. Hence, using both hands, he was snatching the food with Zhang Mu.

    After clearing the tes on the table, Zhang Mu lifted his wine cup and clinked with Li Pang San as he asked tentatively, ¡°Fatty, the mutated pork meat have to be delivered to the Inner City tonight right? Let me do it this time.¡±

    ¡°No problem!¡±

    Li Pang San appears to be drunk as he looked at Zhang Mu in a joking manner, ¡°Brother Zhang, your hand was disabled, yet you are still thinking of having a dissolute life. You really have a broken body yet a strong spirit. I¡¯m impressed.¡±

 Chapter 128 - Edenâ€™s World

    <b>Chapter 128: Eden¡¯s World</b>

    Feeling helpless, even though he wanted to exin himself, but he could only go along with the excuse that Lee Pang San came up with and told him that he wanted to find a nicedy to help ease his stress.

    That was the only purpose for low-ranked evolvers to go to the Inner City. Therefore, he could only pretend to be exposed by Lee Pang San and smiled wholeheartedly, ¡°Life should be enjoyed thoroughly, so why shouldn¡¯t we enjoy them to the fullest when we had the chance? Even though I have turned like this, but the path of collecting herbs has not been cut off. Doesn¡¯t it mean that I¡¯m stillpetent to survive? I don¡¯t have a family to raise so these crystals will be kept as interest.¡±

    Lee Pang San squinted his small eyes and nced at Zhang Mu, ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t know you were such a pervert hungry ghost. Even with a broken arm, you act as if a normal person who goes in and have fun.¡±

    Zhang Muughed and clinked his cup with Lee Pang San again before he drank down the contents. The bottles of good Mao Tai that were treasured by Lee Pang San for a year was finishedpletely. Reminiscent of the spicy taste, he could not help but smack on the table and announced, ¡°Good liquor! Finally, I managed to drink it today.¡±

    Li Pang San threw his chopsticks on the table as he leaned against the chair, ¡°These days were so boring, it must be nice to dawdle outside the city. For someone like me that does not dare to step outside, I really envy herbs collectors like you, able to wander outdoors. My life now, besides looking after this shop, was to help to import goods. So bothersome.¡±

    ¡°We, herbs collector use our life in exchange for money, are you sure that you want this kind of freedom? Besides you¡¯re a big boss, you can call someone to do your bidding. Just by sitting in the shop would bring you arge sum of crystals too. Isn¡¯t this easy?¡± Zhang Mu raised his eyebrow in a joking manner.

    Li Pang San vomited on the ground and poured out his grievances to Zhang Mu, ¡°You also said this. But this is the outer city, if it¡¯s at the Inner City, what big boss? I will only be a small delivery guy. If it were not for them beingzy to handle my goods, I might not have any work.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because you got no power. No power means that you will be treated like a dog, being boss around and there¡¯s nothing you can do about it.¡±

    This Li Pang San had a better life than ordinary people with no ability. If not, why would Zhang Mu need to rely on their rtionship to sneak inside? However, just like what he had mentioned, even if he had the wealth,pared to those high ranking evolvers, he was merely a rtively rich bug.

    It was better in the city as the base would keep matters under control. But if you dare to take a step out of the city, don¡¯t need to mention about encountering attacks from the mutated animals, there would be someone eyeing on his family property and his pocket full of crystals.

    That was one of the reasons Li Pang San did not dare to step out of Shan Xi city. Money was just a matter of course, but if he was controlled by someone, surrendering over his possessions might get him to be thrown out in the wilderness.

    That was the misery of being a nobody.

    Zhang Mu thought of his circumstances and did not want to carry on the conversation instantly. Hence, he quickly changed the topic, ¡°So when can I get in? After venting, I wille out right away. I must take advantage of harvesting herbs that are high value before I be useless ande to your ce to retire.¡±

    ¡°Retire? Haha, fine. Come to my ce and give me a hand. The pay is not as good as you have now, but I can give you three meals a day, eat and drink to your heart¡¯s content, plus one hundred of second-ranked crystals a month. I, Li Pang San, can guarantee you this.¡± Li Pang San who had downed more, now had a red face as he patted on his chest and vouched for Zhang Mu, ¡°I am not bragging, but my treatment is definitely the best on this outer city. If not for you, I would not give this price for a normal second-ranked evolver who was on his peak.¡±

    Once the words left his mouth, Li Pang San realized he had said the wrong thing but seeing Zhang Mu was not angry he quickly restrained himself. It was also the shock that made him sobered up a little. He smacked his head suddenly when he thought of the question that Zhang Mu asked previously. Looking at the watch on his wrist, he pushed away from the chair and sat up, ¡°Oh no. There was half an hour left until the appointed time. Brother Zhang, let me send you in. It is the same old ce, Eden¡¯s World. Although it was still the same, not charging you any other fees but this time, the fee to enter the Inner City had to be paid by yourself. After all, it was one hundred second-ranked crystals. Even I couldn¡¯t bear the cost too.¡±

    Still at the Eden¡¯s World? Just nice there was no need for me to run as the Shan Xi city¡¯s era merchant shop was behind the Eden¡¯s World. Although there might be some people watching, there would be some bad people mingling around at the entertainment facilities too. As long as Zhang Mu was careful, no one would recognize him when he entered.

    ¡°Sure thing, remember to take into ounts. Next time, I will pay you back with the medical herbs. You said that the time is not early now, so let¡¯s hurry and don¡¯t dy anymore. You will get into trouble if it¡¯s toote.¡± Zhang Mu rushed Li Pang San. Straight away, he pulled him outside.

    Li Pang San stopped him andughed at him, ¡°You still have not carried the mutated pig, yet you want to go to Eden¡¯s World to y? As an older brother, I would like to remind you that after delivering the goods, remember to clean yourself up. Even if ady cannot detect your power, with the smell on your body, they would not be joining you.¡±

    ¡°Remember toe back before 12 midnight, or you will need to pay a fee for an overnight stay tomorrow morning when you go out of the city.¡±

    ¡°I get it, I get it. This is not my first time there.¡± Zhang Mu let Li Pang San pointed out the ce of the mutated pig. He then carried with his right hand immediately and put on his right shoulder as he walked out steadily.

    ¡°You¡¯re indeed a second-ranked evolver! Even without an arm, you¡¯re able to pick up this pig with a weight of nearly a ton easily. Aw, if only I can evolve to the second rank, if not now I wouldn¡¯t be so tired.¡±

    Looking at the view of Zhang Mu¡¯s back slowly disappearing, a cool breeze blew over Li Pang San as his heart started to feel lonely inside.

    Among the envious eyes from the passers-by, Zhang Mu carried the token that Li Pang San entrusted him with, and walked to the gate of the Inner City which he was stopped by the guards stationed there.

    He had to admit that the smelling from the mutated pig was really strong, causing the third-ranked guards to frown involuntarily as he said, ¡°Li Pang San¡¯s goods?¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded his head and said nothing as he showed the order slip hanging on his left arm. After that, he was sent into the Inner City with a look of disgust.

    The guards saw the missing left arm on Zhang Mu and regarded it as nothing. They had seen countless low ranked evolvers died every day, so why should they care about him? He could only curse Li Pang San in his heart as the goods he had to deliver this time, almost caused him to throw up the food he just ate for dinner.

    Compared to the Outer city, the Inner City was very deserted. There were few people on the streets as the majority of them was preparing for the night event to start. So why would they stroll outside at this timing?

    Zhang Mu took a nce at the most prosperous street in the center of the Inner city. After that, he took a long walk on a familiar road and entered a hidden courtyard. It was a tunnel offered by Eden¡¯s World, for people like Zhang Mu, who came from the Outer city to deliver goods.

 Chapter 129 - Beautiful Bubbles

    Chapter 129: Beautiful Bubbles

    Zhang Mu gently ced the mutated pork meat on the center of the courtyard and pressed something at a specific spot on the stone bench. After that, he looked at the thick stone wall while waiting quietly for the recipient to arrive.

    After a long time, Zhang Mu was still waiting for them. Well, it¡¯s a good thing that Zhang Mu was used to it since he knew that these people with high standard, would not bother to spare their time to deal with him.

    From the moment Zhang Mu entered, he had been waiting for about half an hour before the tightly sealed door finally opened with a creak.

    A boy-toy like man, with slick haired wearing a floral shirt pattern poked his head outside the stone door and looked at the mutated pork meat that Zhang Mu ced in the middle of the courtyard. Using his sleeves to cover his nose in a feminine way, he called out a few burly men behind him with a high-pitch voice, ¡°You guys move this to the kitchen. Milord is about to arrive soon and had ordered this pork meat to eat. Be quick.¡±

    The burly men behind him seem to be second-ranked at the least, but they did not dare to voice out in front of the sissy as they carefully lifted up the pork meat with one person at each end.

    When they passed by the person in charge wearing the floral shirt, he subconsciously hid away, fearing that something dirty would contaminate his clothes.

    At this moment, he seems to notice Zhang Mu sitting on the stone bench. He nced at his missing left arm with aplicated expression, then without saying a word, he threw a small cloth bag over.

    Zhang Mu sat up immediately, grabbing the bag with one hand as he looked at the person in charge.

    However, the other party ignored him directly. Only when he walked far away, there was a sharp voice speaking, ¡°A total of five third-ranked crystals. Count it yourself. Do notin about us when you found out that there was a shortage. When the timees, no one would deal with you if youe knocking at our door.¡±

    Even though what he told Zhang Mu was correct, but the departure footsteps of the person in charge never stop.

    Zhang Mu never spoke and simply watched the stone door closed slowly. This business was not his main objective for entering the city, so there was no need for him to argue with this neither man nor woman human being. Anyway, it was not his first time seeing this disgusting face.

    He specially picked a small alley to enter. In the darkness, he kept on increasing his speed until he found an inconspicuous hotel.

    When Zhang Mu flipped out from the hotel¡¯s back window once again, he already changed into the figure of his human skin mask.

    Covered in a veil, Zhang Mu walked into the bustling street after cleaning himself up. He never bothers about the crowd of women chattering together as he straightly went ahead to his destination, which was the Shan Xi city¡¯s era merchant shop.

    The location of the era merchant shop was quite remoted and required Zhang Mu to turn left and right numerous time before entering. This pathway had been cleared by the first sub-merchant. Hence, no one dares to snoop around anymore.

    Even though the first sub-merchants in every city were the strongest, they worked alone and was the city¡¯s hidden card. Hence, only the sub-merchants worked closely with the base now.

    Zhang Mu wore the veil and turned into a small pathway leading to the era merchant shop, quietly with no presence made.

    There was a stark contrast whenpared to the bustling city outside as the ce was extremely deserted. Under the guidance of his merchant ring, he went into the space of the era merchant shop.

    Because his number was at the bottom, and he was just a fifth sub-merchant, Zhang Mu was not surprised if he had to wait for a long time before there was a mechanical voice to wee him.

    After waiting for a minute, the familiar noise of the era list sounded, surprising Zhang Mu.

    ¡°No. 337, Luoyang city¡¯s fifth sub-merchant. Please choose the type of trading to proceed.¡±

    The voice of every era merchant shop was simr, even if you were kind to it, it would not give any preferential treatment. Zhang Mu replied right away, ¡°Era local goods trading.¡±

    ¡°Please choose, sell or purchase.¡±

    ¡°Sell!¡± Once Zhang Mu had spoken the words, the mechanical list projected a ray of a luminous beam which intersected with the merchant ring on Zhang Mu¡¯s hand. It went on for a while before it extinguished.

    The mechanical list reported to Zhang Mu in a monotone voice, ¡°Every era local goods on No. 337 has been confirmed. Luoyang Peony Bud, a total of 11 golden leaves; Yellow River Craps a total of 3.5 golden leaves. A sum of 14.5 golden leaves.¡±

    14.5! Zhang Mu had betted correctly this time. As expected, in the same month, if the purchasing price had increased drastically, then the profit from selling would be very impressive too. In other words, Zhang Mu only need to gain another profit of 0.5 golden leaves on his next trading for him toplete his task. It was very likely that he would be able to earn arge sum of golden leaves too. In that case, increasing to the third-rank would not be impossible anymore.

    As the gap between the second-rank and third-rank would not have to bepensated by any amount of crystals, as long as he enters the third rank, he, Zhang Mu, was out of the category of being a low-ranked evolver.

    Zhang Mu shouted anxiously, ¡°Carry out the purchasing transaction.¡±

    Currently, he was in a state of great excitement. How could he remain calm when he was about to achieve the final step of his goal?

    After this hurdle, he would be able to dy for another year. The hope for his life was in front of his eye, and he could not calm down his emotion.

    But at this moment, a word from the mechanical list sent Zhang Mu a shock of his life. He never ever thought that the mechanical list could sound so cold.

    ¡°There are zero goods remaining for the era local goods this month. Pleasee back next time.¡±

    ¡°Zero goods remaining?¡±

    Zhang Mu repeated the words from the mechanical list, showing that he was unable to ept this result. Ever since someone broke through the authority for an intermediate merchant, under normal circumstances, there wasn¡¯t a case whereby the goods became zero in the middle of the month at the era merchant shop. Unless, there was one or a few sub-merchants had engulfed the huge intermediate goods before Zhang Mu or else there should be goods remaining to look after these bunch of people¡¯s needs and tasks.

    Did I really encounter such a situation, that was said to be unlikely to ur?

    Therefore, this meant that for the next twenty days, Zhang Mu could either go to other city and brought a batch of goods to return to Luoyang city or wait for the next Shan Xi city¡¯s era local goods to be restocked on the next month.

    But no matter which option, it was impossible for the current Zhang Mu.

    As the time that the merchant ring gave to him, was not enough.

    Zhang Mu to quiet down entirely as the moment he had full of hope, he fell straight to the bottom.

    So I still had to die? I had already struggled between life and death for such a long time, giving me hope again and again. Yet, it had stripped all the possibility to live on now.

    This beautiful bubbles, had popped.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s mind slowly begins to crumble apart. He felt nothing even when he was pushed out from the space because of the time limit.

    Why?

 Chapter 130 - Returning To The Roots

    <b>Chapter 130: Returning To The Roots</b>

    It took a long time for Zhang Mu to recover before he walked out of the Inner City alone, and was ipatible with the bustling capital.

    He leaped into Lee Pang San¡¯s shop and looked at the fatty who was upying the entire bed while sleeping. His heart stirred deeply looking at him. Even when he was going to die soon, he only met a person that was somewhat his friend?

    Unfortunately, it was toote.

    He put the cloth bag which holds the five third-ranked crystals gently on Lee Pang San¡¯s bed and turned to walk away in an instant.

    The gate of the outer city was not closed, and the guards were rtively more ck, which was opposite from the Inner City. They simply took a nce at Zhang Mu before letting him off. With a disabled second-ranked evolver going out of the city in the middle of the night, they were convinced that he would be taking his own life.

    There were too many people who had given up on themselves. Hence, even the guards had no thoughts of consoling him.

    With a heavy footstep, Zhang Mu¡¯s figure gradually faded into the night.

    Zhang Mu had no idea where to go now. The nearest city, except for Luoyang city, also required at least half a month to reach there. If he returned back to Luoyang city, then he would have to spend more time, with about twenty days.

    In the past, the quantity did not matter much to him as the gaps were very insignificant. Usually, Zhang Mu could solve them smoothly as long as he never met with any unexpected situation. However, currently, he had no idea what other actions could mend the gaps.

    He wanted to live badly, so he had been struggling all along. However, just like that, it seems that fate had made a huge joke on him. After suffering so many misfortune, yet when he was at the final step of seeding, all of his hope was cut off.

    Death. That was the only intention Zhang Mu had on his mind. Both of his eyes were dull and lifeless, the sleeves were pull down weakly, and with the cold wind blowing if someone did not look properly, he resembled the walking dead outside, a living corpse.

    Even though he was far away from the safety border of Shan Xi city, along the way, there were not many mutated animals that attacked Zhang Mu.

    Under regr days, Zhang Mu would have walked out sessfully and thought that he was very fortunate. But this time, Zhang Mu did not matter that they existed. Because it would only be dying his death if he was not devoured by them.

    As he kept on walking, Zhang Mu felt a little tired as he slumped on the roadside and sat down.

    Suddenly, he finally had an idea where he should go.

    He thought of going back home instantly, back to the ce where he was raised up, Luoyang city, his hometown.

    However, the sky was too dark. Zhang Mu could not distinguish the way back home now.

    Therefore, he randomly found a beat-up car that was stopped on the roadside, with no idea how many people had driven in this car. He broke down the car window and opened the door toy inside, regardless of the situation around him.

    Tonight, was his most rxing night ever. Since he never extricated himself before. He was dead tired that he did not want to worry about anything that might happen. Even if there was, how could it be more prominent than death, right?

    If he was really devoured by a passing mutated animal tonight, then Zhang Mu no longer need to be tired for these twenty days.

    The nighttime flew quickly, and the first sign of dawn awakened Zhang Mu from his deep slumber. The matters that happened yesterday was too much for him to handle, causing Zhang Mu¡¯s heart to feel exhausted as well. It appeared that this was the most he had slept in these three years after bing a sub-merchant.

    When he woke up and saw his absent arm, he realized that everything was real. Heughed at himself, ¡°So there was no mutated animal pass by, huh? Otherwise, it would have a good meal. Zhang Mu, ah Zhang Mu, the peace that I usually hoped for, has be a mockery now?¡±

    Zhang Mu pushed the door opened, and stood up looking at his surrounding for a while. Finally, he noticed where he was.

    So I had traveled so far in the southeast direction?

    But fortunately, there were still 19 days left so it should be sufficient. Anyway, Zhang Mu was not in a hurry. If he could return to Luoyang city before the deadline, it was good enough for him.

    He looked at the merchant ring on his right ring finger. He really wanted to get rid of this finger too, but he knew that it was useless. He heard a piece of news regarding a small merchantman that tried to get rid of the fate of being a dry corpse before his death. At first, he cut off the finger that was wearing the merchant ring, but it was transferred to the other finger straightaway. After that, he chopped off the entire palm. As a result, the merchant ring had miraculously relocated to his other hand. In order to live, that ruthless guy cut off his fingers one after another. In the end, the other five fingers on his other hand, were chopped off too.

    For the final time, the merchant ring really did not appear anymore. Therefore, he thought that he had gotten rid of this fate. Hence, he began to fool around at every prominent ce. But on the day of his deadline, he was found dead on a prostitute¡¯s bed abruptly.

    Because his death looked extremely miserable, as he was sucked dry resulting in his death, it had caused a lot of sensation around the area. Finally, the city¡¯s first, second, and third sub-merchants took over the matter. Because of the background of the entertainment facility, it requires the three sub-merchants toe forward at the same time before the boss behind was willing to hand over the corpse.

    At first, they thought it was just a sub-merchant indulging thest moment before his deadline, and wanted the matter of sub-merchant not to be exposed to the public as much as possible. However, when they arrived at the scene, they were shocked because the four limbs of the dry corpse were chopped off. Looking at the wound, it had been around for a remarkable time already.

    So the merchant ring was gone just like that?

    After they took back the corpse and dissected the body, they found a ring-like shape inside the dead body¡¯s heart. This news was spread across sub-merchant during one of the era merchant trade fairs, stating that the fate of a sub-merchant was indeed inescapable.

    Thinking about this, Zhang Mu looked at the hand wearing the merchant ring and set off on his way home with a wry smile.

    Not sure if it was just a coincidence or something was going on, but Zhang Mu was traveling safely with no ident on the way. Although it might have to do with Zhang Mu choosing the most secure road, he did not even encounter any danger.

    No attacks from human, no walking deads surrounding him, no mutated animals preying on him, nothing at all.

    However, no matter how things were odd, it had nothing to do with Zhang Mu anymore as he could see the outline of Luoyang city far away.

    This time, he did not use the human skin mask to cover his identity since it was not necessary anymore.

    After he paid the entrance fee to the city, he went to the ce where it all started, which was the bigwn beside the people¡¯s square. This part of the building was well protected. Zhang Mu leaned back under a big tree and rested quietly.

    Time, only a day left.

 Chapter 131 - Awakening

    <b>Chapter 131: Awakening</b>

    It seems that nobody wanted to approach this area. Despite that, Zhang Mu was not in the mood to care about these matters. His heart was drowned into the pit of loneliness as if he was the only person left in the entire world.

    Right now, Zhang Mu was not aware of the situation as he was not the original Zhang Mu that was cautious and careful.

    He looked at the leaves above his head, falling one by one. He continued to hold this position with his head raised, as the fatigue in his heart was gradually induced.

    Time flew quickly as the day time had alternate with the dark night. However, Zhang Mu could not tell the difference. He just observed the leaves on the tree continued to fall with every piece of the yellowish leaves seems like a sign informing him that he was going to wither soon like them.

    Looks like he really could not escape. Three years, yet the result was still the same.

    Zhang Mu recalled everything he had been through for these three years. Recollecting how many hardships he had to suffer, with the most basic desire to survive. Each and every piece were carefully stored in his memory.

    Suddenly, his heart tightened up, sending numerous warning signs towards his heart. Struggling out from his memoryne, he lifted his wrist and nce at the antique watch he brought from the trading fairs and smiled.

    Only five minutes left? It had been a long day today.

    But for no reason, time seems to stop ticking at this moment. Zhang Mu felt that the speed of the leaves was also slowing down immensely.

    Whatever. Anyway, he was going to die five minutester.

    However, things were not going ordingly to Zhang Mu¡¯s expectation. Thest five minutes never arrived, and the entire world was quiet down. He could only hear the beating of his own heart pumping one after another and the ticking sound from the needles of his watch.

    At first, Zhang Mu was waiting calmly for death to arrive. Despite that, his mind was entirely messed up now, and the fear was increasing little by little.

    He thought of getting up, but he found that he had no strength at all. At this juncture, Zhang Mu¡¯s mind was in a chaotic mess as he did not know what was the reason that triggered this. He struggled to turn his head and stared at the merchant ring on his right hand.

    Why hadn¡¯t the time arrived yet? Was it still not the time?

    Zhang Mu¡¯s heart had been suppressed for the whole time and was about to crumble apart. He knew that he was going to die for sure, and no matter what he did, it would be futile. But why did the fear had chosen this timing to escte, when he was ready to ept the fact that he was going to die? Little by little, he was pulled into the abyss of despair.

    Five minutes felt like a century long. The moment Zhang Mu¡¯s eyes lost their light, the time appeared to return back to normal.

    ¡°Di, Di, Di Di Di Di......¡±

    At this second, the rm that Zhang Mu set earlier rang all of a sudden. Zhang Mu only felt his heart twitched abruptly, as his vitality and something else he could not tell, was slowly stripped out from his body.

    It seems to be caused by the merchant ring on his hand. But it seems to be something else too.

    I¡¯m going to be free. Finally, I am going to be free.

    Zhang Mu, who was suppressed for such a long time, only had this thought running through his mind continuously.

    However, the process was notpleted all at once. Zhang Mu felt strange. Even though he had epted the fact, but the speed of being stripped away was still remarkably slow, as if something on his body was resisting badly.

    That is not right. Do I really want to die? What was still resisting? What was rejecting all of this? He had heard from other sub-merchants that the moment when their life stripped away, it was extremely short. However, when it was his turn, why did it be remarkably slow?

    With just a little curiosity, Zhang Mu, who was formerly numb, started to regain a bit of his consciousness. He wanted to sink into his mind and find out what was affecting him psychologically.

    He used thest remaining strength to immerse himself within his mind, trying to seek the reason. Later, he discovered that in the corner of his mind, there was a ce being surrounded by a ck fog.

    He used all of his strength to get rid of the ck fog and was stunned instantly.

    It was a talisman.

    Zhang Mu immediately recognized that it was a psychological talisman from the era merchant shop¡¯s extra reward, other than the golden leaves. It was a treasure amongst those non-psychic ability evolvers.

    But how did it appear here? Even if hepiled all of the additional reward given afterpleting the task, the number of golden leaves were not enough to buy such an expensiveplementary item. Unless, he had one hundred golden leaves to afford it.

    One hundred golden leaves. That¡¯s right, Zhang Mu didplete a task and was rewarded with extra golden leaves, and had a hundred of golden leaves in the end.

    This idea immediately aroused the muddlehead Zhang Mu as he sobered up abruptly.

    This, was fake. Everything was fake!

    Zhang Mu, who had regained consciousness, looked at the world again and was left with cold contempt.

    This world was constructed by extracting from his memory, and it was a huge, huge trap.

    Was it their purpose to let me suffocate on this virtual world? And then drain my soul bit by bit?

    At this time, Zhang Mu saw through the illusion and straight away reached out his hand and grabbed the psychological talisman tightly.

    A roar from the bottom of his heart resounded.

    ¡°Wake up, let me wake up!¡±

    Something seems to sense that Zhang Mu was regaining his consciousness as the merchant ring on his hand speeds up to strip away the life and soul away from Zhang Mu, wanting to eat the remaining half in one mouthful.

    However, this can¡¯t stop Zhang Mu from awakening.

    The roaring from Zhang Mu¡¯s heart seems to spread from the deepest part of his soul to the entire sky, and to the entire world.

    ¡°Crack.¡±

    The small world seems to be shattered by this sound and started to crumble. The Earth slowly cracked, and the stars on the sky gradually fell one by one, dashing across the oppressed sky.

    Now Zhang Mu had regained back the control of his body. Standing on thewn, he looked at the scene of the worlding to an end, unmoving.

    With a bang, the entire dream was shatteredpletely. Zhang Mu, who was lying on the house, finally opened his eyes. Shaking off the bearskin on his body, he grabbed tightly onto his Obsidian Beetle dagger.

    At this moment, he found something that caused him to have goosebumps all over his body.

    The house which only lived by two human and two creatures, was filled with silvery-white wireworm now.

    Furthermore, the closest to them was only a meter away, with eyes closed.

    After seeing what the worm in front of his eye looked like, Zhang Mu¡¯s mood was like a violent storm at this moment.

    It was the Nightmare Worm!

    Zhang Mu subconsciously squeezed the second-ranked psychological talisman on his chest and looked at the Nightmare Worms that had gathered in the house.

    But at this moment, all the eyes of the Nightmare Worm were opened in unison, and their alluring gaze was cast on Zhang Mu, the only person who had woken up.

    That expression, was just like a human being!

    But at the same time, something unexpected happened to Zhang Mu.

    The psychological talisman on his chest, was broken!

 Chapter 132 - Woke up with a start

    <b>Chapter 132: Woke up with a start</b>

    Zhang Mu eventually figured the truth regarding this matter. It was these infamous Nightmare Worm which he had heard in his past life, that dragged him and the others into a dream. Every dream was constructed from their personal memories.

    The mutated wolfdog¡¯s and the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s memories should be simple, so the number of Nightmare Worms assigned to them was inadequate as opposed to the human being, Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui, who had upied arge portion of them.

    Especially Zhang Mu, as his vignce was incredibly high, and he had aplex memory. At first, these Nightmare Worms were ying as a guide, but in the end, they had to gather arge number of them to alter his memory slightly. They induced a dire emotion into his dream naturally, to disintegrate his consciousness.

    In contrast, the mutated wolfdog was drooling all over the floor with a weird smile on its face. Zhang Mu did not know the current situation between Yuan Rui, who wasying behind the mutated wolfdog, and the Obsidian Beetle. Anyway, they would not be any better than him. The possibility of being manipted was rted to the rank of the evolvers being manipted. Even if they were higher by a rank, it did not help the matter, let alone how the type of ability would bring any differences.

    It was good that Zhang Mu had heard of these Nightmare Worms before. Even though they had the shape of a worm, but their constitution was not that at all. In his past life, there were some high-ranked evolvers who were skilled at the psychic field, and managed to capture one of this notorious worm sessfully. After dissecting, they discovered that it was not a worm at all.

    It was an extraordinary kind of fungus. Under the appearance of a worm, there was a type of nt fibers inside the body. When cutting apart their body, they discovered that their internal part was structured just like a magnified mushroom.

    Thisbination of worm and nts, when facing other creatures that were not two ranks higher than their evolve rank, including human and mutated animal, they would suffer great destruction to their vitality and soul.

    Moreover, the more it targeted those with weaker willpower, and the more it constructed a more simplistic dream, the more effortless it was for them.

    Now that Zhang Mu recalled his dream, it was really terrifying. He was pulled little by little into an abyss, and almost got himself into deep trouble.

    If he did not cultivate his willpower, that dream would notst for such a long time. Every struggle he made each time were actually the natural manifestation of his subconscious from his willpower and the corruption from the outside world. That exined why Zhang Mu could escape from the fabricated silver mink¡¯s w, and from the swarm of second-ranked piranhas, whereby he threw an arm to escape.

    In fact, that also proved that Zhang Mu¡¯s resistance was getting weaker and weaker. Because with his subjective consciousness leading him, the remaining willpower had to defend for itself. Under such circumstances, whereby the majority of the Nightmare Worms gathered to attack Zhang Mu, revealed that Zhang Mu had a powerful psychological capability as he was able to hang on for such a long time.

    Even so, Zhang Mu was almost defeated. If not for the psychological talisman hanging on his chest, most likely he would be drowned and became their food in half an hour for these neither nt nor worm type.

    Zhang Mu still shuddered in fear when he recalled that dream. He gazed at the numerous Nightmare Worm, who had closed their eyes in front of him, as hairs raised all the way up to his spine. He had been listening to rumors from other people in the past, but now it was his turn to face these horrible creatures.

    Being killed or bing food to the mutated animals, actually seems nothing as it would be over in an instant and the pain would onlyst for a moment. However, the feeling of your soul slowly being nibbled away really make life worse than death.

    Only when your soul was devouredpletely, then you would find relief. Even so, when your soul was melted and integrated inside these creatures, thinking of it would also be disgusting.

    But Zhang Mu knew that these Nightmare Worm had a weak close-rangedbat ability. Otherwise, they would not need to construct a dream to encroach on their prey¡¯s soul. So to deal with them, there were only two options. One was to have external influence, the other one was to wake up by yourself, and fight head on.

    The former was the main case for those who had escaped from the Nightmare Worm. Without external help, it was impossible to depend on themselves to wake up. But with only a small possibility, Zhang Mu had done it.

    But if this was another person, then it might be more critical. He was fortunate that he had a psychological talisman to protects him from any psychic ability since his own willpower was not enough to sustain until thest moment when the Nightmare worm would wake up the talisman automatic defensive mechanism.

    Hence, if one¡¯s perseverance is up to standard, but without any psychological defense to warn them, they would also be fully engulfed because of the fatigue when they woke up.

    Therefore, Zhang Mu was very lucky.

    However, he did not know what to do anymore. He did not have any countermeasure for these creatures too. Others would not give him their own secret to deal with the Nightmare Worms, and to share with him the information about these Nightmare Worms were not easy too.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s current body was still suffering the aftereffects, causing his body to be weak as he was unable to stand up. He slowly shifted toward the mutated wolfdog, and rocked the dog¡¯s head violently, ¡°Hey, stupid dog, wake up.¡±

    However, there was no reaction at all. As if it had a sweet dream, it licked Zhang Mu¡¯s face just like licking a bone. Zhang Mu felt that this dog had no hope anymore, so he quickly pushed aside its head and turned to the corner behind it.

    Yuan Rui¡¯s expression looked very scared. Her whole being formed into a ball as she hugged her knees together and shivered.

    Zhang Mu did not dare to touch her body now and swung his head to look at the Obsidian Beetle who turned small on the ground.

    ¡°Little ck, wake up. Stop sleeping anymore, wake up.¡± Zhang Mu¡¯s anxious voice did not reach the Obsidian Beetle as it was not moving at all. Seeing this, Zhang Mu immediately use the blood connection between them to call him.

    This time, the Obsidian Beetle finally moved a little, and Zhang Mu¡¯s eye was filled with bliss. Did it work?

    However, the Obsidian Beetle only moved its body a little and went back to its calm state. It merely turned its body only. Zhang Mu¡¯s voice currently could not reach out to him, no matter the body or the mind. As if there was a thick ck fabric had wrapped around the Obsidian Beetle, cutting off their connection.

    It seems like there was no breakthrough from them. Zhang Mu was afraid that if he dragged this any longer, it would threaten the three of their lives, causing irreparable damage. He knew that he must make a decision now.

    His eyes were focused on those Nightmare Worms. Zhang Mu not sure how would it affect Yuan Rui and the others if he woke up these Nightmare Worms, but it would be better than watching them crumble here.

    Zhang Mu touched his Obsidian Beetle dagger and pushed against the body of the mutated wolfdog to give him a lift as he leaped over to a Nightmare Worm and pierce hardly into the fathead.

    Just as the tip of the dragger touched the surface of the Nightmare Worm, it suddenly made a sharp wailing, just like a woman¡¯s scream.

    But after that, something happened that makes the back of Zhang Mu filled with goosebumps.

    Every Nightmare Worm had woke up all at the same time. Each one of the Nightmare Worm had six pairs ofpound eyes staring at Zhang Mu, who was holding the Obsidian Beetle that had stabbed into theirpanion.

 Chapter 133 - The Fight Against Psychic Creatures

    <b>Chapter 133: The Fight Against Psychic Creatures</b>

    Despite that, Zhang Mu did not stop there. Instead, he mmed the Obsidian Beetle dagger through the head of the Nightmare Worm, forming a big hole, before he pulled back.

    In an instant, that Nightmare Worm began to convulse. Fortunately, their defense and health were equally fragile. Otherwise, it would disrupt the bnce if both their health and psychic ability were able to reach such a high level at the same time, even though the Nightmare Worms were only a first-ranked mutated animal. Zhang Mu could only state that he was unlucky if that was the case.

    At this very moment, Yuan Rui and the mutated wolfdog were waking up weakly. The wolfdog was still reminiscing the big meal he just had and seemed to be yearning for more. However, its body was staggered on the ground, as it had lost the energy to stand. Probably because it was the easiest to devour, hence the dog had lost some of its vitality. Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle was still motionless on the ground.

    On the other hand, Yuan Rui¡¯s body had stopped trembling although her expression was showing that she was still afraid, as if the dream she just had, made a tremendous impact on her.

    Only when she saw that Zhang Mu had returned to her side again, her mind was at ease. However, she still could not stand up at all.

    For no reason, these Nightmare Worms did not take action nor did they retreat from the house, and just kept the posture they woke up in, with theirpound eyes staring straight at Zhang Mu¡¯s body.

    Since they did not attack yet, Zhang Mu also leave them aside. Given that their body was fragile, even if they fought, Zhang Mu would not even take it to heart. Hence, he turned to the direction for Yuan Rui.

    ¡°Yuan Rui, how are you?¡±

    Zhang Mu helped Yuan Rui up and anxiously asked her, as he could see that Yuan Rui was not in good condition.

    Yuan Rui did not make a sound at first, as she needed some time to recover before replying to Zhang Mu with some fear lingering, ¡°Uncle, just now I dreamed of some bad things happened to me before, and it seems to be even more horrifying than I had remembered. I¡¯m scared.¡±

    Zhang Mu never spoke and just gently patted Yuan Rui¡¯s back,forting her silently.

    From Yuan Rui¡¯s words, she had reminded Zhang Mu to recall the matter happened in his dream too. These Nightmare Worm indeed had a strong psychic ability as they had chosen the part that Zhang Mu had been through the toughest.

    In three years of the Cataclysm, that was the moment that Zhang Mu felt closest to death. It was true that all the goods at Shan Xi city were totally emptied, and he only required the remaining half of the golden leaf toplete his task. All the matter happened until here was real. The characters, events, all of it was exactly alike. But of course, excluding the part with the silver minks and piranhas. Those part of the memory should be extracted from what Zhang Mu had listened from others previously.

    Therefore, everything would seem natural. Hence, Zhang Mu would felt that everything was real even when he had experienced it again.

    However, in his dream, the deadline was changed. Stealthily, it was edited and modified without a trace.

    His deadline still had 30 days left, so he rushed to another city. He even traveled during the night before returned back to Luoyang city on the final day toplete his era merchant¡¯s task eventually.

    If he was dyed for another day on the road, then Zhang Mu might have perished then and be a dry corpse. As a result, this incident had left a deep impression on Zhang Mu, which was the reason that the Nightmare Worms had chosen to concentrate their power to mobilize that portion of his memory. Their current strength had not reached the point whereby they couldpletely reconstruct the dream to its best aspect. But even if this was the case, because of Zhang Mu¡¯s bizarre reason, it also required most of the Nightmare Worms to work together. After all, they were merely a first-ranked mutated animal and had to work together to affect someone emotionally.

    He thought clearly about all of this before finding the words tofort Yuan Rui. His steady tone calmed down Yuan Rui¡¯s emotion, ¡°If you think again about the bad things that happened, was it deliberately exaggerated in many ces? The areas that you had formerly pulled through was it more terrifying than before? But the reality was not that case if you recalled what happened precisely. There should be a difference in the dream you just had.

    So, would you find that it was just a big scam? If you think this way, would you feel better?¡±

    Yuan Rui lowered her head and appeared to think carefully about the words that Zhang Mu described to her. ording to Zhang Mu¡¯s suggestion, she slowly cleared her mind. After a while, her mood recovered back to normal a little bit.

    Zhang Mu then pointed to the back, towards the Nightmare Worms behind him, ¡°You see, these worms were the ones that were harming you. There is nothing to be afraid of as they were only just a special kind of first-ranked creature.¡±

    However, Zhang Mu did not expect that once he pointed to them, Yuan Rui would scream suddenly. At this time, Zhang Mu realized he might have overlooked a fact. Because he had seen much, so he had never felt any difort looking at the appearance of the Nightmare Worms.

    But it was different for Yuan Rui. With thepound eye of the Nightmare Worm staring at them in apact mass, coupled with an ugly appearance, it would increase the fear from the dream she just had, and she would be more terrified.

    Zhang Mu suddenly felt that these Nightmare Worms did not need to go through so much trouble to deal with Yuan Rui. They only need to gather in front of her, no need to trouble themselves with constructing a dream to scare her.

    Just as Zhang Mu was having this wicked thought, the Nightmare Worms started moving because of Yuan Rui¡¯s scream. Zhang Mu reckon that these fat worms were merely making an empty show of strength. Hence, he did not take them to heart.

    Others might not know, but me, Zhang Mu, still doesn¡¯t know about you? You guys now, were just a bunch of paper tiger only and want to act in front of me? As if you have the room to revolt.

    Zhang Mu thought that this was the case, but when he was about to take a step to settle these Nightmare Worms, his smile was utterly stiffed.

    Right now, he could not move!

    It was the psychological control again!

    At least twenty Nightmare Worms were cing all of their psychological control on Zhang Mu only. Even though he was not directly controlled by them because this was the outside world, but when all of the Nightmare Worms focused all of their psychic power on Zhang Mu, he found that he had lost control of his body, just like the time when he met Zero.

    He subconsciously pushed down his eyeball and looked at his chest. Only then he remembered that his psychological talisman was broken in the previous confrontation to help him break away from their control, losing all of its shine.

    Zhang Mu was speechless in his heart. Not this again. I even bought the talismans to defend against psychological attacks, but why did it get destroyed so soon? Nheless, this second-ranked psychological talisman had done its best already.

    It was not easy to secure one¡¯s life already, and it appears that Zhang Mu was asking for too much.

    Seeing the swarm of worms was wiggling towards him, and he was still unable to move, Zhang Mu started to panic in his heart.

    Although these worms had a weak closebat ability, no matter how vulnerable they were, Zhang Mu was all flesh and blood. How could he endure them gnawing on him?

    Currently, the mutated wolfdog was useless, and Yuan Rui did not have anybat skills. So what should he do now?

    Suddenly, he discovered that he had left out someone and shouted directly in his mind.

    ¡°Stupid Beetle, get up and work!¡±

 Chapter 134 - Little Black Explodes

    <strong>Chapter 134: Little ck Explodes</strong>

    To Zhang Mu¡¯s surprise, this time, the Obsidian Beetle did not give him any answers.

    Could it be that it had suffered a tremendous trauma?

    It should not be that case though. Even a first-ranked mutated wolfdog was only forced to be a little weak in such a short period of time. Meanwhile, a second-ranked Obsidian Beetle should have an apparent improvement against psychic attack right? So what was this situation now? It was still sleeping deeply instead.

    When Zhang Mu was still bewildered after pondering over the Obsidian Beetle, the Nightmare Worms were closing on him already. In the meantime, Yuan Rui was pulling Zhang Mu¡¯s body to the corner to hide while the mutated wolfdog was baring its teeth with a nasty look in its eye. No matter how much it struggled to stand up, its four limbs kept slipping on the ground. Furthermore, the act of striking an attitude was not in the eyes of the Nightmare Worms. Also, who knew how many first-ranked mutated wolfdogs were eaten by them already.

    The situation now was extremely critical!

    Zhang Mu was desperately trying to get out of the chain-like psychological binds. Every time he struggles, he merely broke away ayer of the psychological chains. However, the binding was not as strong as the one that Zero gave him, whereby he would get a sense of powerlessness when he could not break free from them.

    Despite that, there were more than a dozen of Nightmare Worm in front of his eye. Therefore, it implies that there was at least a dozenyer of chain that the Nightmare Worms bound on him, and the time now was not enough for him to break throughpletely.

    Let me free!

    No matter how much Zhang Mu roared in his heart, it was useless. Considering that this was a psychological control in reality and not in the dream to deal with him. In the illusion, even if the enemy was strong and powerful, as long as you found the id, even that nasty dream was still yours to control. As long as you woke up, you would have the absolute strength to resist them.

    Seeing that these ugly wireworms were about to crawl onto his body, Zhang Mu¡¯s eye held a trace of destion.

    If only he had bought a few more psychological defense type of armor, he would not end up like this.

    Feeling that he still had more than ten psychological chains on him, Zhang Mu was a little desperate, because the closest Nightmare Worm was close to his arm already.

    But at this moment, the Nightmare Worms that hade to eat were stopped abruptly in an orderly fashion. Theirpound eyes were averted from Zhang Mu, the food that they were about to eat, to something that was behind him. The fat bodies were slightly trembling as if they had seen something terrifying.

    Zhang Mu also felt a sense of pressureing behind him, but he did not detect any sense of hostility towards him, and there was a familiar feeling too.

    Then there was only one possibility, the Obsidian Beetle, had woken up.

    Boom!

    The walls of the house suddenly copsed, and the roof was smashed open. The piercingly cold wind poured in no time, causing pain to Zhang Mu¡¯s face, and the main factor was that he was still unable to move.

    What is wrong with Little ck? Just by making an appearance, he had to make such an enormous ruckus?

    The cold wind did not make much impact on the Nightmare Worms as they were still lying t on the same ce with six pairs ofpound eyes twirling non-stop, looking steadily yet, not daring to move a single bit.

    Suddenly, the psychological chains on Zhang Mu¡¯s body were scattered, and he had regained back the control of his body. Subconsciously, he turned his head and looked behind, with one nce, he was left dumbfounded too.

    Yuan Rui¡¯s vision was looking dull at one direction while the mutated wolfdog justid on his stomach on the ground, without lifting its head.

    The body of the Obsidian Beetle swelled up to four meters tall. No wonder the roof was smashed open as it was standing unwaveringly in the wind, looking majestic and sacred at the same time.

    Now, the golden pattern on its forehead was huge, showing aplete picture. There were three rays of golden lightning intertwined, glowing a tinge of ck faintly.

    After a period of stalemate, the Obsidian Beetle let out a low roar suddenly. It was different from its usual sharp tone as it had a tinge of antiquity.

    The roar was towards the Nightmare Worms. A spunk to those tiny little creatures that had offended its dignity.

    Zhang Mu quickly give way, with one hand carrying Yuan Rui while the other hand was dragging the mutated wolfdog as if it was a lifeless dog. He then pulled them out of this area, leaving this battle for the Obsidian Beetle to handle.

    Suddenly, the bunch of Nightmare Worms had some pale yellow blood flowing out from their mouth. At the same time, the Obsidian Beetle lifted its forelimbs and hit the ground with a flump, creating a crack on the floor immediately. These fat and plump Nightmare Worms were thrown off their feet and overturned on the ground one after another.

    It turned out that the psychological chains from the Nightmare Worms were withdrawn from Zhang Mu and ced on the Obsidian Beetle.

    Even though the psychological chains of a dozen Nightmare Worms were very sturdy, when facing a berserk Obsidian Beetle, it did not seem to be working. Now that the Obsidian Beetle was freed, they had suffered when their psychic power was forcibly torn apart and bounced back to them. All of them had a disheartened look.

    When they sensed that the current Obsidian Beetle was unbeatable, the Nightmare Worms appeared to have a human-like reaction in their eye. They should be having the thoughts of escaping as they slowly wiggled backward.

    The Obsidian Beetle wanted to give chase, but with the Nightmare Worms holding a gleam in their eye, its footsteps were stopped. However, the numbers of blood flowing out of the Nightmare Worms¡¯ mouth were increasing as well.

    Zhang Mu obviously did not want to let them go, but when he tried to take a step, he found that he could not move again. Among them, there were about a dozen of Nightmare Worms staring at Zhang Mu, as he lost control once again.

    So they did not use their full strength when dealing with him just now?

    Currently, it only took about ten of them to hold down Zhang Mu. But at least Zhang Mu was also shouldering the burden with the Obsidian Beetle now. Without the ten worms, the Obsidian Beetle straightaway broke free of the chains and jumped high. With a w shing down, it pinned the two slowest Nightmare Worms on the spot to death.

    Seeing that theirpanion was beginning to die, the Nightmare Worms started to panic. One of them mustered great determination and squeal loudly. At this time, ten Nightmare Worms move out from the crowd and no longer escape.

    They were overdrawing their psychic power to block the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s attacks. But at the same time, the body of these ten Nightmare Worms was withering at a rate that was visible to the naked eye.

    The formerly white plump body was now turning into dry, yellow and thin. Their head was also stained with blood.

    After eating so many souls, they learned to sacrifice a small portion of them to protect the rest?

    Zhang Mu was astonished by the way these Nightmare Worms were acting as he never thought that they could obey an order up till this point.

    But they have underestimated the ability of the Obsidian Beetle and its determination to kill these worms who had offended its dignity.

    Under the terrifying gaze of these Nightmare Worms, the Obsidian Beetle chirped loud and clear. It suddenly spread out the wings that were almost as wide as its body. Fanning it up and down, it seems to dere to the world of itseback as it looked down on those worms that wanted to escape.

 Chapter 135 - The Beginning of the Awakening

    <strong>Chapter 135: The Beginning of the Awakening</strong>

    The Obsidian Beetle fanned its wings as if the bindings attached on his body were disappeared, and flew in the air right away. It dived towards the ten Nightmare Worms and drew deep scars on the back of their body.

    Snow white meat was flipped open, together with nt fibers gushing out. When their psychic ability loses its effect, these Nightmare Worms was even more useless than the mostmon first-ranked mutated animal.

    In this case, even a slightly deadly mutated animal could prey on all of them now. The furious Obsidian Beetle did not use any of its ability and merely used its w to shred open these fat worms into two pieces.

    The Obsidian Beetle looked coldly at the lifeless bodies of the Nightmare Worms, no idea what was it thinking about. Until Zhang Mu shouted at it using their connection, it slowly responded and returned back to his side.

    Looking at the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s enormous body, Zhang Mu lodged aint, ¡°Can you change your size first? It is very tiring for me to raise my head up to talk to you. Hurry up. The matters have been solved, so why are you still big?¡±

    Who knew that the Obsidian Beetle would sound helplessly in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind, ¡°I also don¡¯t want to. But it seems that I could not control the size of my body anymore. Also, you must know that previously was my normal size. I have no idea what is happening now, and I could not control my body anymore. The moment I was awake, I can feel that my willpower was stripping away slowly, and it was even more terrifying than the Nightmare Worms trying to prey on my soul.¡±

    Zhang My helped Yuan Rui up. However, the mutated wolfdog seems afraid of the vigoring from the Obsidian Beetle, since it did not revert back to its usual size. It did not dare to get up and continued toy on the ground motionlessly.

    Looking at the state of the mutated wolfdog and recalling the strange looks from the bunch of Nightmare Worms, Zhang Mu frowned slightly. What is going on here? What kind of awakening did Little ck have precisely?

    The pattern of its forehead felt strange when he first saw it, but because it was very vague, he did not take it to heart. Now, it was showing three rays of intertwined lightning.

    However, even Zhang Mu did not have any impression of the pattern in his past life. He really could not remember any of it.

    He raised his head and asked the Obsidian Beetle in a solemn manner, ¡°What did you saw in your dream just now?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle sounded uncertain, ¡°My memories were rewound. Everything was normal from the moment it rewinds from the second I went into the house and slept, to the day I had met you on the street.

    However, when it was about to rewind further, the constructed dream seems to stir something in the depths of my memory and was scattered immediately.

    I saw a ce where the lightning was intertwined vaguely, which was full of golden rays. I was wrapped in the golden rays, tightly, with no strength to struggle, but I didn¡¯t want to either. That feeling, was really warm and cozy.¡±

    Zhang Mu was shocked. The Obsidian Beetle was a cold-blooded animal, and to be able to feel warm, it should be the ce where it was born. But, does that mean that these mutated animals were not caused by the evolving waves on the Earth¡¯s creatures, forming a mutation? So, the situation now regarding the Obsidian Beetle, does it mean that the Obsidian Beetle was not a creature on Earth?

    Or, like the Bloodvine Lotus, was it an embryo hidden from the ancient Earth or a fossil, and under the effects of the evolving waves caused by the opening of the Paradise Era, it restored its life force. Hence, the awakening now was its primary memory.

    He asked out loud, ¡°So can you recall where was the ce at?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle shook its head and replied, ¡°No, I do not have a clear consciousness at all. Even these were remembered vaguely. However, it seems to take a long time. At first, I wanted to continue sleeping, but I heard you were calling for me. Despite that, I still could not wake up.

    However, when you called for me, I felt a distant aura that was provoking my significance, prompting me to wake uppletely. The moment I was awakened, my body was uncontroble.¡±

    After listening to the Obsidian Beetle, it set off a sensation in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart. Did that mean that was another consciousness inside the body of the Obsidian Beetle? Was it another soul? And it seems so powerful that even the Obsidian Beetle could not control it. If not for the Nightmare Worms, it would not call forth this power. He continued to ask the Obsidian Beetle, ¡°Are you able to find if the consciousness still exists inside you?¡±

    What if this could be controlled by the Obsidian Beetle, then wouldn¡¯t he had another helping hand?

    ¡°No.¡± The Obsidian Beetle¡¯s words made Zhang Mu gave up his delusion. ¡°I can¡¯t feel its existence anymore. And the power that helps me block the psychic power is fading away gradually now.¡±

    Sure enough, when the Obsidian Beetle just finished speaking, its size was slowly shrinking and return to its previous form, slightly shorter than Zhang Mu. The three golden rays of lightning on its forehead had be blurry again.

    Oh, it reverted back to its original appearance? It seems that the power did not sustain for a long time.

    The Obsidian Beetle appeared to be a little exhausted even by maintaining its usual appearance. The ripples on its body swelled and returned back to its smallest size, which was about the size of a palm, and went back to Yuan Rui.

    At first, Yuan Rui was startled by the Obsidian Beetle that was over four meters tall earlier and subconsciously rejected it. But when she saw the grievances in the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s eye, she could not help but put it back into her pocket.

    She wrapped the bearskin on her body tightly and shivered from the cold wind. Zhang Mu picked up the bearskin on the floor which he slept on, and put anotheryer on Yuan Rui. He indicated that she should apany the mutated wolfdog that had return back to normal, now that the vigor from the Obsidian Beetle was gone.

    As for him, he was alone in the cold wind, quietly thinking about the matters that happened today.

    The howling wind slowly dissipated. Suddenly an alluring smell came from a particr direction. The smell of the mixture of nts and meats on the Nightmare Worm¡¯s body, slowly wafted into Zhang Mu¡¯s nose, attracting his attention.

    Zhang Mu wandered slowly over to the Nightmare Worms. Looking at the white meat on the ground that was half frozen, he looked at the fats and felt disgusting. That means that the one attracting him was not the meat, so what else was inside the Nightmare Worm¡¯s body?

    He was full of curiosity now because he never heard about it before. But how could he not know this smell? He could only think that the evolvers who captured these Nightmare Worm had deliberately concealed the news to diminish the impressions of the Nightmare Worms.

    It was all a scheme!

    With this, Zhang Mu followed the wound on the Nightmare Worm¡¯s body and inspected the insides for a long time, feeling the texture of the fibers on his hand.

    After a while, a hint of joy was on his face.

    Finally, I had found it!

 Chapter 136 - Soul Crystals

    Chapter 136: Soul Crystals

    When Zhang Mu touched the smooth ball-shaped object, he did not know what it was. But his instinct was telling him that the object he was holding in his hand, was definitely a treasure with incredible value.

    The temptation was unprecedented as the cells on his body seem to be quivering in joy. The moment he touched it, there was an electric current passing through his fingers.

    There seems to be a voice saying, ¡°We¡¯re almost getting it, now, immediately, right away!¡±

    If Zhang Mu did not know that there would not be any souls existed after the Nightmare Worms¡¯ death because they were only a first-ranked mutated animal, Zhang Mu would think that these Nightmare Worms, which could confuse people¡¯s mind, were still alive.

    Then there was only one possibility left. That thing, to Zhang Mu, was indeed something he was extremely eager for it.

    Zhang Mu was fluttering when he pulled this little ball out from theyers andyers of fats from the Nightmare Worm. He finally recognized what it was.

    It was soft, highly stic, with a deep blue color, crystal-clear and beautiful. The top was decorated with the dots of stars, pretty simr with the vast sea of stars that Zhang Mu once saw them at No. 37. It was like Nature¡¯s most magnificent piece of art. It had a stark contrast whenpared with the fat and ugly Nightmare Worm¡¯s body.

    Most importantly, the fragrance that it naturally exudes was getting stronger and stronger when putting neared to Zhang Mu.

    Not only in the sense of smell, but it also brings enjoyment to your soul.

    It was the soul crystal!

    Usually, only the third-ranked mutated animals and above could produce soul crystals. Even in the third-ranked psychological mutated animals, soul crystals were hard toe by. Zhang Mu had seen this item previously at the era sub-merchants trading fair. Not only him, but all the people presented at that time were deeply attracted by it. Their eyes were filled with greed, but they were afraid of the power of the trade organizer, which was the top few sub-merchants, and reluctantly let their reasoning to ovee their desire.

    These soul crystals had an unbelievable benefit, which was to enhance the soul defense capacity. In addition, it was said that when umted to a certain amount, it would produce a qualitative change, adding an awakening ability.

    Furthermore, this awakening ability was a dominant part of the psychic evolver ability. That was the reason why everyone was going after it, causing a national sensation during that time. But for this item to be taken out for the trading fair, was because the most influential person had already used it for themselves and took the leftovers out as a bargaining chip during the fair.

    Even though the soul crystals were revealed because the top powerhouse thought that they were just chicken ribs, but it was squandered after introducing their function at a high price. Zhang Mu, who came to the trading fair to get a look, was left feeling envious on one side.

    But how did such a valuable soul crystal appeared inside the body of a first-ranked Nightmare Worms?

    That was the point where Zhang Mu felt strange. Usually, for such a soul crystal to exist, required an enormous amount of resources and energy. Only by reaching to the third-ranked, it would be possible to provide that amount of resources.

    Zhang Mu was left baffled, but he felt that he could no longer restrain his hand from sending that soul crystal into his mouth.

    There should not be any problem right? After bidding sessfully at the trading fair, that buyer immediately ate the soul crystal, and it looked exactly the same with the one on his hand with no difference.

    In order to ensure his safety, Zhang Mu put the soul crystal that he just took out and ced in front of his eye to look carefully. He resisted his desire and observed closely, trying his best to recall the moment when he saw the soul crystal exhibited on an erged projector.

    Afterparing the soul crystal in front of his eye and the one on his memory, Zhang Mu could only found one difference between the two, that is, the one on his hand right now, the color was slightly paler.

    At least, that could exin why a first-ranked Nightmare Worm was able to produce the soul crystal that only other type of third-ranked psychological mutated animal could cultivate as it was stillcking in some area.

    But, even if that was the case, it was still astonishing.

    Zhang Mu could vaguely guess how these Nightmare Worms gathered their source of energy, and that was constant killing. They kept on consuming the souls of human and mutated animals to cultivate the soul crystal, so much that their evolution speed was slowed down. Therefore, their physical strength was at the bottom of the bottom amongst the first-ranked mutated animal, as it turned out that their energy had transferred to the crystals.

    After some inspections, Zhang Mu finally confirmed that this was the weaker version of the one he saw that year. He immediately put it in his mouth without thinking twice and swallow it down.

    The soul crystal melted in Zhang Mu¡¯s mouth, just like a clear stream moistening his throat before entering his body. Lastly, it slowly dissolved in his stomach and fused to all the limbs and bones in his body.

    Right now, even in the cold wind, Zhang Mu did not felt any difort. The power from the soul crystal traveled around his body before gathering at the vertebra area.

    After all of the power was gathered, the mass of energy crawl along Zhang Mu¡¯s spine and continued crawling upwards. The feeling of numbness made Zhang Mu incredibly pleasant.

    Soon enough, the energy extends along the nerves of Zhang Mu¡¯s brain and into his spine, before touching the deepest part of his soul at the end.

    The moment it reached the brain, the icy cold chilled Zhang Mu¡¯s entire being as he trembled with a start and sobered up. His brain region seems to receive an impact and expended a substantial amount. The most obvious characteristic was his psychic power as it received a great deal of stability. He could clearlypare the differences he had before. For instance, if he was psychologically bound by the bunch of Nightmare Worms again, he would not be suppressed for a long time.

    It was indeed an item that a Nightmare Worm had cultivated using all of its essences!

    Zhang Mu breathed a sigh of relief. This refreshing taste was so overwhelming. Now he felt that the control of his body had reached a new height.

    That was why psychological evolvers usually had a unique advantage during battles.

    But after recovering for a while, Zhang Mu had an odd expression on his face.

    Because the fragrance in the air, did not dissipate at all. It was so strong that it caused Zhang Mu to be ted instantly.

    He turned his head and looked at the body of dozens of Nightmare Wormsying disorderly on the ground as a crazy idea emerged on his mind.

    Just now, he had randomly selected one of the Nightmare Worm¡¯s body, and it was not chosen specially.

    So was there a possibility that all of the Nightmare Worms on the ground, have such a soul crystal inside their body?

    Zhang Mu did not hesitate as he went to the body of the Nightmare Worms straight away as if their greasy corpse were the most lovely thing in the world.

    He shouted in his heart.

    I¡¯ming!

 Chapter 137 - Quantity and Quality Changes

    <strong>Chapter 137: Quantity and Quality Changes</strong>

    After taking out one of the soul crystal, it appeared that the odor in the air did not change much. Therefore, the proportion that one crystal held should not be much too.

    Zhang Mu thought of it this way. Meanwhile, his hands already touched many corpses of the Nightmare Worm nimbly. Using both hands, he pulled the Nightmare Worms on both sides together and used both his nimble hand to wander inside the fat meat.

    In no time, Zhang Mu skillfully touched the soul crystals and fished out to take a good look at them. Sure enough, it was different than the one he had taken earlier. Besides the color being paler or darker, Zhang Mu guess that it was also rted to the power of the Nightmare Worm. In their group, there should be a gap between their strength. For example, the ten Nightmare Worms which was abandoned, had overused their power and burned the soul crystal that was bred inside their body for a long time. Since they were rtively weak, they were sent to bring up the rear for the retreating troops.

    However, these Nightmare Worms, which were used as cannon fodder, could not block the attacks from the Obsidian Beetle even when they burned the soul crystals as a fuel for their power.

    Zhang Mu thought to himself, ¡°Since that was the case, then why did they bother to block the attacks even though it would all be in vain? Why didn¡¯t they be obedient and be the fish meat on a chopping board? Anyway, even by burning their soul crystal, they still couldn¡¯t escape the fate of being ughtered. Now the soul crystals had lost its shine after being burned and consumed, causing the effects to be reduced greatly.¡±

    Zhang Mu had a heartache when he thought of how wasteful these Nightmare Worms were.

    He had a regr soul crystal on his left hand and a spoiled on his right hand. He put them into his mouth one after another and swallowed in one mouthful. When the energy dissolves and flows inside his body, he knew he had guessed correctly.

    The regr soul crystals had tremendous energy while the other was defective. Zhang Mu merely felt a trace of the remaining power rushed to enter Zhang Mu¡¯s brain.

    He looked at the remaining 25 Nightmare Worm¡¯s corpse. Out of them, 9 of the soul crystals were defective while the remaining 16 were normal. Zhang Mu made a sudden arrangement in his heart.

    He would eat those defective soul crystals first. Otherwise, when he ate the regr crystals first, there would be a variation of resistance if he consumed too much of them. Then these defective soul crystals would note in handy anymore.

    Zhang Mu took the initiative and picked out those from the Nightmare Worms that shrank after burning out, then took out all of the defective soul crystals and ced them all on the open space in front of him.

    He sat cross-legged on the ground and seemed to make a decision. He looked up at the dark night sky after the wind was calmed down and reached out a hand to grab the soul crystals ced in front of him, and took them down.

    Even though these were defective, but there were 9 of them precisely. These nine energies whirled inside Zhang Mu¡¯s body. They would intertwine and separated now and then. When gathered together, it was extremely overbearing inside Zhang Mu¡¯s body.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s face was a little hideous, with blue veins popping out one by one slowly. He had underestimated the umtive power of these soul crystals. Even though they were defective, he had quite a hard time dealing with them.

    When he first took it, because there was only one of them, it felt surprisingly pleasant and gave him a misconception that all the soul crystals would felt the same way. But he never expected that he had assumed too much.

    Heughed at himself, luckily he had self-awareness and did not experiment with the regr soul crystals. If he ate together in one go, he felt that his brain would not be able to hold up at all.

    Fortunately, this was still within the tolerance range of Zhang Mu. Therefore, he was feeling pain and pleasure at the same time. He could feel his psychic ability building gradually, at a stable and continuous rate.

    There was a rapid improvement in his psychic ability. Zhang Mu opened his eye abruptly, and he could clearly perceive all the things around him. Furthermore, it was not because of his keen hearing that he was prided of in the past, but it was his psychic ability dispersing around his surrounding slowly.

    Right now, he had a crazy idea in his mind.

    He wanted to make use of the newly acquired psychological-type ability and advanced to the second rank!

    Relying on the evolver¡¯s ability was far more powerful than solely umting energy to progress to the second rank.

    Zhang Mu was somewhat d that he did not let himself use the second-rank advancing potion recklessly, as he would miss an opportunity to change himself from the ground up.

    This excitement caused Zhang Mu¡¯s heart to boil straightaway. Now he actually had a chance to use his awakening ability to advance. Although it was acquired, it was much powerful than most of the innate awakening ability.

    Zhang Mu knew that it might take a certain amount of time for this process, so he got up first to inform Yuan Rui while dragging the mutated wolfdog back together and looked for a house to sleep in like before.

    Yuan Rui was still sleepy since she did not sleep well for the first time. Previously, the constructed dream by the Nightmare Worms caused her mind into a jittery state. Once Zhang Mu told her to sleep, the exhaustion in her body came rushing up. After telling Zhang Mu to be careful, she turned around and slept.

    When they entered the house, the Obsidian Beetle subtly flew out from Yuan Rui¡¯s pocket and rested quietly on Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder. It passed a message to Zhang Mu, ¡°You want to rank up? Alone? Do you know that any mutated animal can destroy the process of your advancing? You have such a big gut¡±.

    In fact, Zhang Mu was thinking of giving full control to the Bloodvine Lotus when he was advancing. But now that the Obsidian Beetle had said so, he would have anotheryer of insurance.

    Zhang Mu nodded his head to the Obsidian Beetle and gestured it to go far away. Because when Zhang Mu hand over the full control to the Bloodvine Lotus, it would treat anything with flesh and blood equally, and ughter them all, including the Obsidian Beetle.

    When the timees with no enemy, yet they had fought with each other first, things would get interesting then.

    Even though the Obsidian Beetle expressed that it was not afraid of the Bloodvine Lotus, but in the eye of Zhang Mu, it still hid in a quiet corner to protect Zhang Mu obediently.

    When the Obsidian Beetle went far away, Zhang Mu lifted up his left arm and summoned the Bloodvine Lotus. He then took out a bunch of first-ranked crystals around him before he handed over the full control to the Bloodvine Lotus.

    The Bloodvine Lotus started to swell up after recovering its ability and natural instincts. It did not build a cage ording to Zhang Mu¡¯s order, instead, it spread out in all direction and drained the corpse of the Nightmare Worms when it passed by, using this method to protect Zhang Mu¡¯s surrounding.

    With the protection from the Bloodvine Lotus and the Obsidian Beetle, Zhang Mu felt that he could be at ease and let himself progress.

    Making a prompt decision, he immediately swallowed two soul crystals on the ground in one go and closed his eye.

    Boom!

    It has started.

 Chapter 138 - Real Slap in the Face

    <strong>Chapter 138: Real p in the Face</strong>

    After Zhang Mu swallowed down the soul crystals, it felt like there was a hot stream inside Zhang Mu¡¯s body gathered in one ce, umting before finally merging together.

    He felt a little anxious. If he continued to do so, he was afraid that his brain would not be able to withstand this amount of impact, and he would be an idiot. Then he would really die unjustly.

    But it was too slow as it was still gradually umting and umting until Zhang Mu, who felt all of this, was bing frantic. However, there was nothing he could do.

    Soon enough, Zhang Mu became at ease immediately. Because once it reached a specific stage, the energy was traveling upwards as if something was pulling it.

    As though this was a turning point that was opened exclusively by Zhang Mu, his soul felt like it was being cleansed again and again, as if it were about to sublimate. The feeling now felt amazing as Zhang Mu could not help but to close his eye. Furthermore, everything around him had be better, whereas the cold environment and the piercing wind had be non-existent.

    Zhang Mu had be more vignt too. He knew that even though psychological-type evolver would not suffer much during the advancementpared to the other types of ability such as cleansing their meridian and their physical body, but it was easy to lose oneself when trying to break through the psychological boundary. Moreover, there was no other way to solve this problem, not even helping him externally.

    The only one that could help Zhang Mu was himself. He had to harden his heart, just like a tough stone. No matter how strong the temptation outside, he should not be carried away and lose his true self.

    The moment he felt the energy of those two soul crystals were about to deplete, he quickly stuffed another two pieces into his mouth and continue to maintain the strength of the psychic fluctuations.

    Boom! Boom! Boom! The stone in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart did not waver a single bit when facing the psychological energying in waves. Instead, he gained the power that this energy brought to him from time to time.

    His eyes were shut tight. As if everything were under his control, he could clearly detect the Obsidian Beetle staying motionlessly under a shelter. Meanwhile, he could also distinguish the roots of each vine on the Bloodvine Lotus, making threatening gestures like a beast searching for its prey.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic power was enough to spread about a few hundred meters away. He could even detect some small mutated animals attracted by the Bloodvine Lotus. However, they sensed the brutal side of the Bloodvine Lotus and faint vigor from a second-ranked mutated animal in the air. Therefore, they were hesitant to go over and continued to linger around about one-kilometer range or so.

    But something was not right. By right, if these first-ranked mutated animals were attracted by the movement from the Bloodvine Lotus, then they would not linger in the vicinity of Zhang Mu in this case. So there was only one possibility, the soul crystals that Zhang Mu ced in front of him, was a great temptation to them. And the degree of temptation was enough for them to forget the gap in ranks and the level of danger.

    There were more and more mutated animals gathered around. At first, it was just a small cat-type creature, but it slowly heaps various types of odd looking mutated animals that even Zhang Mu could not recognize some of them. However, he could clearly sense the greed in their eye and agitated heart. That was the power of psychic ability.

    Of course, this was only limited to those mutated animals that could not control their feeling. However, if Zhang Mu encountered people who could control their emotion wlessly, then he could not determine if they had any hostility as the rank of Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic ability was not high enough. However, with the growth of Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic energy, then he would be more refined in capturing their state of mind. When that timees, even if that person was great at acting, Zhang Mu could identify what was hidden under that smile precisely. After all, they were not robots and would show signs or trace in the slightest.

    Slowly, within the range of Zhang Mu¡¯s ability, nearly a hundred mutated animals were gathered. All of them were attracted by the dozen of soul crystals that Zhang Mu ced in front of him. In the end, they could not suppress their desire as they began to go near.

    Zhang Mu could not move a single step now as he was already straining himself to maintain stuffing the soul crystals into his mouth once it was used up. He could only ce his hope on the Bloodvine Lotus and the Obsidian Beetle now.

    Nevertheless, Zhang Mu also believed in their strength because soon enough, a killing feast was starting on one side.

    The Obsidian Beetle had sensed the mutated animal approaching long ago, but it never expected that these mutated animals would dare to ignore the vigor that it carried in the air. It felt that its dignity was provoked all of a sudden.

    It slowly recovered from a lifeless state. With a loud and resonant roar, it attracted the gaze of every mutated animal that was about to attack. At this moment, the Obsidian Beetle returned to its normal state, even though it was not the form whereby it was four meters tall, still, it was possessing an ominous look.

    The moment the mutated animals saw the Obsidian Beetle, they were afraid, but they lost their mind when they smelt the soul crystals. Only greed filled in their eyes as they stared at the direction where Zhang Mu was heavily protected by the Bloodvine Lotus.

    The mutated animals had long forgotten the gap between first-rank and second-rank. As long as they were able to eat the thing that was attracting them from far away, everything would be worth it. At this juncture, the suppression of ranks has been firmly ovee by the instinct for evolution. Who cares if you were second-rank or third-rank, at this time, even if you had the impose of a sixth-rank, as long as they could advance, they would pay no deed.

    The Obsidian Beetle clearly understood the way they were acting. Burning with rage, the wings behind it shuddered as it sped towards the direction to the hundreds of mutated animal.

    Zhang Mu was somewhat worried when he looked at the battle that was going to start. Although he knew that there would be an enormous gap in power between the first-rank and second-rank, the difference in number was very high. Furthermore, the Obsidian Beetle did not have anybat skill for such a long range. Facing an enormous figure of low ranked mutated animals would be tricky.

    However, Zhang Mu received a big p to his face within five seconds as the Obsidian Beetle proved itself vigorously.

    It had not flown near the bunch of mutated animals, yet attacks from all kinds and types of attributes emerged in front of it.

    mes, water column, sudden spur raising from the ground and wind de that emerged from certain corners in the air, looked powerful yet the Obsidian Beetle did not evade from them and mmed against the attacks head-on.

    Looking at this, Zhang Mu was worried for the Obsidian Beetle as the umting powers were very powerful. Furthermore, there was various type of mutated animals. Zhang Mu had no idea what was the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s weakness. In addition, what if it was found now?

    However, what happenedter, had stunned Zhang Mu, who was in the progress of advancement.

 Chapter 139 - New Ability

    <strong>Chapter 139: New Ability</strong>

    It was not what Zhang Mu had expected. He thought that the Obsidian Beetle would make use of its agility to dodge yet, it had no tendency to slow down its speed. In just five seconds, every mutated animal that it came across, were either cut into two pieces by its steel-like wings or torn into pieces by its w.

    asionally, there were some fishes slipped through the. Rushing into the 50 meters range from Zhang Mu, their lives were drained by the Bloodvine Lotus. Since it could only observe the Obsidian Beetle kill the mutated animals, it appeared to get a little impatient.

    Nevertheless, its main body was grown inside Zhang Mu¡¯s arm and could not extend much. It could only observe the Obsidian Beetle killed as many as it desired while enjoying different vors of the mutated animals¡¯ meat and their beast core.

    When Zhang Mu saw this, his anxious heart was finally eased. Looked like he had underestimated the damage that the Obsidian Beetle could cause after its advancement. Besides the previous state, when it was handling the Nightmare Worm, it was still powerful nheless.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu had already eaten ten soul crystals quietly. An inexplicable pulsation arose from his heart suddenly.

    Finally, was it going to happen? The chance to the second-rank advancement!

    He had been tempered by the soul crystals for a long time, causing him to feel a little numb towards them. But now the chance to advance was here. He gathered himself together and felt the changes in his body.

    Just a moment ago, he felt that the cells in his body were hungry for energy. From the inside out, it wanted to draw out energy from the air and greedily absorbed them.

    Zhang Mu knew that this was the signs that the ability had reached bottleneck and was a natural reaction of the body when it was going to advance. A person¡¯s awakening ability was like water, and his body was the vessel. It would explode when the liquid had filled to the brim, yet the container did not increase its capacity.

    That was also why advancing through the awakening ability was much more powerful than a normal evolver since the capacity required to progress was far more prominent.

    Therefore, advancement was an extremely grave matter, but Zhang Mu was confident. The energy in the air was naturally scarce and was far from enough to advance from the first rank to the second rank.

    Inside his merchant ring, there were more than ten thousands of the first-ranked crystals!

    Under normal circumstances, for a first rank to advance straightaway, it only required about one thousands crystals to seed. Meanwhile, when using the awakening ability to progress to the second-rank demanded at least three thousand crystals, with no upper limit.

    Because the energy from the crystals required for every ability was different, it did not necessarily mean that the more crystals required, the more powerful it was. Nevertheless, it was always good to prepare more to take precaution beforehand.

    He stuffed the remaining soul crystals on the ground back into the merchant ring. This time he would not be able to use them, but he could give it to Yuan Rui after his advancement. Even though the amount left was not enough for Yuan Rui to get another new ability, but it was enough to make up for the psychological loss drained by the Nightmare Worms.

    Meanwhile, Zhang Mu also felt that remaining soul crystals would be enough to enhance her defense against the psychic attack until she would be able to defy the power of the Nightmare Worm, which was constructing dreams.

    After putting away the soul crystals, Zhang Mu counted 10,000 crystals and took it out of his merchant ring in an orderly manner right away, immersing himself in the sea of crystals. Even the location of the Bloodvine Lotus was squeezed out of the way by the crystals.

    The moment Zhang Mu summoned the crystals out, his body could sense the origin of the energy. Like a whale gulping down water, it drained the energy from the crystals frantically.

    The pile of crystals nearest to Zhang Mu were turned to dust in an instant. After that, there would be new crystals attached to Zhang Mu before it was drained too.

    Currently, each of his meridians was full and filled with the most primitive energy. Now, his psychic ability was not wavering anymore as the crystals were digested by his hungry body. Zhang Mu could only wait until his body was full.

    In a blink of an eye, the three thousand crystals that was required by the awakening ability was absorbed by Zhang Mu. Furthermore, he could sense that it was far from enough as the sea of crystals around him were shrinking at speed visible to the naked eye.

    His entire being was swelled up and filled with energy, yet it did not belong to him.

    As time went by, Zhang Mu could felt that he was reaching the limit. He opened his eye and looked around his surrounding. He found that everything around him was turned into white dust. Only about one thousand of perfectly good crystals wereying quietly within the white dust.

    Who would have thought that he had used about 9,000 crystals in the process of advancing from the first rank to the second rank? Zhang Mu felt heartache, but this also demonstrated the overbearing part of using the awakening ability to progress.

    Zhang Mu closed his eye again. Now it was the time for thest moment of impact to arrive.

    Now he had psychic power umting in his brain area while the umted energy in his body was reaching the bottleneck where he could amodate them. So, he began to struggle to mobilize these energies that were about to overflow.

    Crack, his brain seems to have cracked, and the pain was not something any ordinary people could withstand.

    Even though Zhang Mu had been tempered for such a long time, his brain region was swollen up and cracked. That sensation was not like an ordinary explosion, but Zhang Mu knew that this was his final step to break through, so he must endure no matter what.

    The poker-face expression on his face that did not change earlier was bing scary gradually. But he could only grit his teeth quietly as the moment he loosened up, everything would be in vain, and he would be doomed eternally.

    Fortunately, Zhang Mu had the chance to train on his psychological aspect some time ago. First was Zero, the second was the Nightmare Worms, and finally the wave of energy from the dozens of soul crystals. He should be able to endure this breakthrough.

    After enduring the most ferocious wave, his entire being was rxed as he could felt the psychic power gradually melt into the expanded brain area. Subsequently, feeling that his meridians were getting stronger after absorbing the energy that was stored, he sighed heavily in his heart. That was not easy.

    Now he could understand the pain that the Obsidian Beetle had gone through when it was advancing. He did not want to go through that for the second time unquestionably.

    When everything in his body was calmed down, Zhang Mu stood up abruptly and looked at both of his hand. Even though it looked as though there were no changes, but he felt an explosive power hidden inside.

    However, the changes in his body were not important to him. In fact, Zhang Mu wanted to know what kind of psychic ability did he gained during the advancement immediately.

    He began to mobilize an enormous psychic power stored in his brain area and release it outward.

    It was this?!

 Chapter 140 - Psychic Barrier

    <strong>Chapter 140: Psychic Barrier</strong>

    Surrounding Zhang Mu, was a barrier constructed by his psychic power. Although it was only one meter away, it was indeed a safety shield formed by his ability.

    It cannot be seen nor touched. Despite that, Zhang Mu did not feel the cold wind entering the range of his psychic barrier. In this area, he was able to control everything as he pleased. Subconsciously, he used his psychic power to control the Obsidian Beetle dagger that was ced on his body originally.

    Looking at the Obsidian Beetle dagger floating in front of his eye, Zhang Mu had mixed feelings. Compared to handling the dagger in his hand, it seems to be more nimble when he controlled it with his psychic power.

    But when Zhang Mu tried to extend his psychic power further, he would be powerless. The moment the Obsidian Beetle dagger left the range of the psychic barrier, he would lose control of it, and it would fall heavily on the ground.

    Zhang Mu leaned down and picked up the Obsidian Beetle dagger. Holding it in his hand, he thought to himself, ¡°It seems that I could only control roughly one meter around myself. Even though it was a little short, but at least within this range, practically I can manipte how I want to. Seems like I need to prepare another weapon in case of emergency.¡±

    Zhang Mu was not the type of person that pursues something shy. He would not disy this power just because he had them. He was good at keeping things hidden because he knew that every piece of card that was not revealed would be the key to turn the tides around. If the psychological maniption could be applied well, then it could be used as a surprise attack in a typical battle.

    Right now, he wanted to test out the durability of this psychological barrier. Since the Bloodvine Lotus was attached to his body, the psychic barrier would automatically exclude the Bloodvine Lotus as a target to intercept, allowing the vines to go in and out freely within the barrier.

    Then, that only left the Obsidian Beetle who was stuffing itself with foods now.

    Zhang Mu discovered that after he had advanced to the second rank, the telepathic distance with the Obsidian Beetle had increased considerably. He called out the Obsidian Beetle, ¡°Little ck, have you finished eating? After you have finished eating,e here. I have a task for you.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle replied reluctantly, ¡°Wait for a while, I still have not finished eating. Even though the brain of these first-ranked mutated animals was not sharp, as they dare to challenge my existence, but they were still tasty. Let me eat for a while. You wait for me first.¡±

    Zhang Mu felt annoyed and hrious at the same time. The attitude of Little ck was still the same no matter if it was first-rank or second-rank.

    Unable to suppress any longer, Zhang Mu immediately withdrew back the psychic barrier that was caging him. Since it would note over, then Zhang Mu would go there to meet him personally.

    The Obsidian Beetle noticed that Zhang Mu wasing closer but ignored him. It was still selecting the most tender part of the mutated animal on the ground neither fast nor slow and cut a portion of it to savor the taste.

    Zhang Mu naturally had a way to deal with it. He chuckled while summoning the Bloodvine Lotus. Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, it swept clean the whole ground while the Obsidian Beetle was watching the entire scene stunned and speechless. The remaining corpses of the mutated animal were deteriorated in an instant.

    The Obsidian Beetle finally reacted. Fanning its wings, it fanned away those that were near the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus and stood firmly in front of the corpses to shield them.

    However, there was a big difference between the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s and the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s efficiency. The Bloodvine Lotus solely absorbed the most important flesh and blood essence in their body, so it was exterminating them effectively. All of the vines were swelled up in general while the flesh and blood essence was stored inside the Bloodvine Lotus¡¯s body. As for the problem of digestion, it was beginning gradually.

    The Obsidian Beetle rushed to the Bloodvine Lotus in a grimace, and it was swinging the ws on its forelimbs up and down. It looked as if it wanted to fight. However, it was ignored by the Bloodvine Lotus directly. After dposing the energy stored inside the vines, it was continued to transport back towards the main body inside Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm.

    ¡°You¡¯re using this to steal my food? And you still wanted my help? You human have no conscience. I was protecting you while you were advancing just now and you are doing this to me?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle¡¯s resentful voice sounded through their connection.

    Despite that, Zhang Mu stood there chuckling wickedly. Heughed to the point where he could sense that the Obsidian Beetle was indeed mad at him. He quickly restrained himself and apologized, ¡°That is because I am truly anxious right. Furthermore, those that were better should be eaten by you now. Why bother to fight with the Bloodvine Lotus for the leftovers? What do you say?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle snorted in its mind. It knew that Zhang Mu was fooling around. There was nothing left for it to eat, with only a pile of skin left over, so what can it do? It could only ask about the matter that Zhang Mu raised, ¡°What kind of help do you need?¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s eye lit up. Finally, they were back to the topic, ¡°My second-ranked ability, I want you to test it out for me.¡±

    ¡°Oh, what is it?¡± The Obsidian Beetle shook its head with interest. After hearing from Zhang Mu, it was also interested in the ability that he gained after the second-ranked advancement.

    ¡°It is a psychic barrier.¡± Zhang Mu answered subconsciously, but it caused the Obsidian Beetle tough out loud. For a moment, it did not reply to Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Psychic barrier? The one that the big white worm used to deal with me? You must know that dozens of them couldn¡¯t even withstand my attacks. Didn¡¯t you saw them yourself? Was it necessary for me to test it?¡±

    Although the words from the Obsidian Beetle sounded arrogant, they were indeed true. Even though there was mysterious willpower inside the Obsidian Beetle at that time, controlling its body and strengthen its ability, but the strength of a second-ranked Obsidian Beetle could be seen clearly from the battle earlier. Hence, they were not empty words.

    However, Zhang Mu was uncertain. Without a clearparison, he would not know whether the power of the Obsidian Beetle could easily break through his psychic barrier.

    ¡°Let¡¯s give it a try. I could not feel it myself, and the Bloodvine Lotus have the same presence as mine. I can only count on you now.¡±

    Seeing the resolution in Zhang Mu¡¯s eye, the Obsidian Beetle could onlyply, ¡°Well then, let me give it a go.¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded his head lightly and retreated ten meters away from the Obsidian Beetle. Invoking his powers, the psychic barrier circled him instantly, encasing him with one-meter range.

    Even though it could not see anything besides Zhang Mu, but the Obsidian Beetle and Zhang Mu were both second-ranked. Therefore, it noticed a difference in the air. Furthermore, they were linked by blood.

    However, it believed that Zhang Mu¡¯s barrier and the Nightmare Worm¡¯s had not much difference. Additionally, the Nightmare Worms could restrict its movement too, so that it had no way to increase its speed instantly. Now, it did not feel any pressure from Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic power. It elerated abruptly and simply dived towards Zhang Mu. However, it was mmed into a colorless and odorless barrier, that was one meter away from Zhang Mu. With a bang, it hit onto a ss casing.

    At the moment it collided with the barrier, the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s mind was in turmoil. It raised the ws on its forelimb and shed the barrier.

    This ss casing, it couldn¡¯t cut open?

 Chapter 141 - Evenly Matched

    <h4>Chapter 141: Evenly Matched</h4>

    Trantor: Yuchaoz

    Editor: Myro

    The ws that the Obsidian Beetle used to cut a swathe through the first-ranked mutated animal ate a huge loss unexpectedly when challenging Zhang Mu. It could not break in and the speed that it acquired earlier, was also forced to zero.

    Compared to the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s confusion and resentment, Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was blooming with excitement.

    He never thought that the psychic barrier would be so strong. However, it could not strike on its own ord and was made for defense purely. Even though that was the case, Zhang Mu was also satisfied because it was the area that hecked the most. He never expected that his w had be his power by an odd coincidence.

    Now, not only did his psychological defense had improved, but his psychic ability was strong enough to block the attacks easily from the Obsidian Beetle, who was a second-ranked mutated animal. Furthermore, Zhang Mu felt that this ability should not be used merely for defenses. During a close-range battle, he could also strike a deadly blow to his opponent.

    Despite that, the Obsidian Beetle was unwilling to admit defeat. It felt that it had lost its face in front of Zhang Mu as it could not make a single scratch on his psychic barrier. It said to Zhang Mu telepathically, ¡°Just now I was not ready and banged onto it aimlessly. One more time.¡±

    Zhang Mu did not mind at all. Just now the Obsidian Beetle did not break his psychic barrier, so it did not deplete much of his psychic power. From his angle, there was only a ripple produced on the barrier.

    Likewise, he wanted to know where was the limit of his psychic barrier too. Despite that, he was unsure if the Obsidian Beetle was able to do the job.

    After obtaining consent from Zhang Mu, the Obsidian Beetle retreated far away from Zhang Mu for about 20 meters.

    Zhang Mu squinted his eye to look at the Obsidian Beetle from a distance. He also started to prepare to meet the challenge and unleashed all of his psychic ability. Under the guidance from his power, it had scattered evenly to all parts of the barrier.

    Of course, he tried to concentrate his power on one area, but now it was extremely tough for him to do so. He could not change the barrier that was already formed. As a result, he could only drop the matter.

    He was acting quite greedy too. He recently advanced to the second-ranked and was already thinking of using his newly acquired ability skillfully. That was utterly a wishful thinking as the ability from each rank needs to be slowly mastered and improved by using it continuously.

    While Zhang Mu was thinking about this matter, the Obsidian Beetle had made its move. The wings at both sides were fanning up and down to conserve power, causing the dust underneath its hind legs to gather around its wings involuntarily.

    Zhang Mu could feel the changes in the air clearly at this moment too.

    It was the wind!

    The Obsidian Beetle was collecting its power from the wind. That¡¯s right, it was a mutated animal with the wind-element. Zhang Mu never saw it utilized this element when it was first-ranked so it must be an ability acquired after progressing to the second-rank.

    A series of whirlwind slowly formed beside the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s wings, getting stronger and stronger, and it was still converging!

    Zhang Mu gazed at the Obsidian Beetle, looks like he had provoked it this time. He was uncertain if the psychic barrier would be able to block the full blow from the Obsidian Beetle, as the aura exuded from the Obsidian Beetle was too scary. The roofs of the surrounding houses had liftedpletely. Under the Obsidian Beetle¡¯smand, the strong wind, which had calmed down previously, was in a rage once again. It started to wreak havoc near the Obsidian Beetle. However, it seems to be firm as a stone at the center, slowly umting its power.

    The whirlwind wrapped around the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s wings and not a single wind current had dispersed. Zhang Mu looked at its stance. It appears that the Obsidian Beetle had summoned all the wind current from a kilometer range to both of its wings.

    For some reason, Zhang Mu felt a little guilty. This time, the Obsidian Beetle truly put in everything for this.

    Boom!

    The Obsidian Beetle had stopped taking energy from the wind. Both of its wings had lost its initial appearance as it was wrapped with folds of the wind current, erging the wings that were only a meter long, into five meters.

    It seems that the Obsidian Beetle had reached its limit by controlling this power. If it did not release them soon, the Obsidian Beetle would not be able to restrain it any longer. Nevertheless, it still passed a message to alert Zhang Mu, ¡°This might went overboard if I am unable to restrain it, so you better be careful. If you cannot handle, then withdraw quickly. I don¡¯t know how much would I be able to muster back since this power was hard to control. Also, this is my first time using it officially.¡±

    Zhang Mu replied with an ¡°ok¡± in his mind. If the Obsidian Beetle did not give him the pressure, he would not be able to test out the capability of his psychic barrier. Looking at this aspect, that power should be enough to test it.

    After getting the confirmation from Zhang Mu, the Obsidian Beetle take action. Its body seems to faster than the speed of sound. Zhang Mu had not blinked finished his eye, yet it already arrived in front of him with two pairs of eye-catching wings.

    ¡°Coming!¡±

    Zhang Mu just heard the warning from the Obsidian Beetle, and he could felt two heavy blows hitting above his head from top to bottom. The two wings lifted and mmed at Zhang Mu¡¯s direction.

    It had stopped around a meter on top of Zhang Mu¡¯s head and the area that the Obsidian Beetle had contacted the psychic barrier, there was arge amount of energy colliding against each other every second.

    ¡°Crack, crack¡±.

    The moment they collided, a spider web-like crack appeared on the psychic barrier and was growing continually.

    ¡°Do you want me to stop?¡± The Obsidian Beetle asked a question at this moment. ¡°I¡¯m able to withdraw most of the power for now.¡±

    It could see clearly that Zhang Mu was crumbling, but Zhang Mu was acting stubborn. He must know the boundary of the psychic barrier, so he gritted his teeth and replied, ¡°Continue, don¡¯t stop!¡±

    That was Zhang Mu¡¯smand, and the Obsidian Beetle could only obey. The wings pressed down abruptly and exploded with power at the same time. Arge amount of the wind current was scattered outwards from the ce it touched the psychic barrier.

    The cracks continue to grow as the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s wings changed its assault. They constantly banged the invisible psychic barrier above Zhang Mu¡¯s head so that he would not have the chance to replenish his psychic power.

    Finally, the cracks of the psychic barrier had ovepped to the point where it was beginning to break apart.

    With a smash, the psychic barrier had cracked thoroughly. Once a part of it was crack opened, and the others followed quickly.

    Zhang Mu had prepared himself to move away from his original position beforehand, but he found a strange phenomenon suddenly. Although the cold wind was pouring in continuously, the attacks from the Obsidian Beetle never hit him.

    It turned out that the moment his psychic barrier had broken apart, the wind-type energy that the Obsidian Beetle had gathered waspletely frayed away too.

    Which also mean that this time, the psychic barrier that Zhang Mu constructed with all of his power, was evenly matched with the wind-type ability gathered excessively by the Obsidian Beetle.

 Chapter 142 - Snooping Secretly

    <strong>Chapter 142: Snooping Secretly</strong>

    Compared to Zhang Mu, who marched with great delight into the house where Yuan Rui was at, the Obsidian Beetle appeared to be more gloomy. It was alone in the cold wind, summoning the wind current to y by itself. Unquestionably, it was still holding grudge regarding the previous matter. The power that it almost lost control had tied with Zhang Mu, an evolver with the second-ranked too. Does that imply that it was not as good as Zhang Mu now?

    A mutated animal that signed a blood contact was thinking about overthrowing it¡¯s master all day long, if Zhang Mu knew, he would have rolled his eye in anger.

    While the time was still early, Zhang Mu set up his psychic barrier in the house to evade the cold wind. He found that this was more helpful than using the body of the mutated wolfdog, so he pulled Yuan Rui to his side. As for the mutated wolfdog, it was too huge to ce inside Zhang Mu¡¯s barrier with the one-meter range. Moreover, the mutated wolfdog had its long fur to cover itself so it should not be afraid of this level of cold wind.

    This feeling, wrapping under his psychic barrier, felt warm and cozy as Zhang Mu slept soundly for the night.

    When he got up the next morning, the Sun had already risen long ago. The psychic barrier had been set up for a night just like that. Since it did not receive any external attacks, so there was no problem with his energy getting depleted.

    After recalling the psychic barrier constructed by his ability, Zhang Mu immediately felt a refreshing sensation in his mind and was full of spirit.

    Seeing that Yuan Rui had gotten up, Zhang Mu immediately tugged the mutated wolfdog who was still snoring away. But the wolfdog seemed to be stuck to the ground as it refused to wake up. Zhang Mu was in for a penny, in for a pound as he lifted such a huge mutated wolfdog straightaway, and exited the house.

    Presently, his strength and agility have made astonishing development at the same time. Lifting the mutated wolfdog that was weight in tons, was a piece of cake to him now.

    Of course, Zhang Mu would not wake the mutated wolfdog deliberately. He reckoned that the mutated wolfdog who had the weakest psychological defense yesterday, and had suffered the greatest damaged amongst them.

    When Zhang Mu walked past the Obsidian Beetle, he could only kick the back of the Obsidian Beetle using his leg to wake it up since both of his hands were upied by the mutated wolfdog. After awakening, the Obsidian Beetle shrunk back to a smaller size and flew over to Yuan Rui¡¯s shoulder.

    This time, his destination was Shan Xi city, which was the city that Zhang Mu dreamt of earlier too. However, it should be in a chaos state currently. Zhang Mu held a little anticipation in his heart as he did not know how far would the base in Shan Xi city had developed after it had conquered by the bunch of strong evolvers. Judging by their approach and courage, to unite the entire city within a month was not impossible.

    Zhang Mu did not know much in regards to the first inner base at Shan Xi city. All he knew was that there was a particrly famous base leader called Ice Queen. Just like the name, her appearance, and her personality were equally cold. Zhang Mu had seen her once from a distance before. Straightaway, he was stunned by the queen¡¯s aura that she released, which considered everyone and everything was beneath her.

    It was a kind of icy cold that chilled your bone, that would cause an evolver to be unable to use their ability from 500 meters away. That time Zhang Mu did not have any awakening ability, yet he could feel something obstructing the ordinary energy inside his body.

    After that, he heard from people that it was the awakening ability of the Ice Queen, which was the Shan Xi city¡¯s base leader.

    Absolute zero degree!

    What Zhang Mu saw was merely her power in the normal state. If he confronted her face to face, he had an intuition that he would freeze to death with just a nce from her.

    Recalling that figure, Zhang Mu was yearning to go there now. In the beginning, he was not qualified to stand on the same level as those strong evolvers. But now, Zhang Mu was confident that he got what it takes.

    Regardless of his physical quality right now, but in term of his powers, he could say that he had acquired four powerful additional abilities. A second-ranked Obsidian Beetle that signed a blood contract with him, a mutated wolfdog that obeyed him absolutely for now, and a Bloodvine Lotus in his left arm that he had a parasitic rtionship with, that gave him a nt-type evolver status. Furthermore, now that he had advanced to the second rank, because of the emergence of the soul crystals, it allowed him to have an extra ability, a psychic defense that counted as an overlord amongst the innate awakening ability.

    These four abilities, coupled with his status as the first era sub-merchant, Zhang Mu waspletely fearless against those people that were blessed by the heaven that allowed them to enjoy exceptional advantages. Right now, he wanted to meet andpete with those strong evolvers that appeared in his past life.

    That Ice Queen was rumored to be a great beauty. Unfortunately, she was too hypocritical at that time and wore a veil. Not sure if he had the chance to meet her this time, but if he did, he would tear off the veil assuming that she had worn them, just to see whether she was as gorgeous as the rumors said.

    Zhang Mu thought to himself wickedly. Now he had the opportunity, so naturally, he should have fun for once.

    He led Yuan Rui and the others to set out on their journey. Like always, the Obsidian Beetle carried Yuan Rui on its back. Meanwhile, the mutated wolfdog had changed its position with Zhang Mu. It was Zhang Mu that was carrying the mutated wolfdog with his both hand raised to the air, walking swiftly while the mutated wolfdog was still sleeping soundly.

    As for the speed, it was even faster than before. Zhang Mu¡¯s pace was the same as the Obsidian Beetle, who was flying at a low altitude. Because he had set up the psychic barrier, the weight of the mutated wolfdog was almost insignificant, just like holding a piece of stic. That was how he could travel at a stable speed.

    When it was lunchtime, Zhang Mu stop to rest at a small market in a town. The market that was supposed to be noisy in the first ce was now empty without a trace of human presence. There were overturned stalls everywhere. Although the weather was freezing, some of the meat that was disyed was starting to rot. It appears that no one had visited this ce before the Cataclysm began a month ago. Furthermore, it looked like the walking dead and mutated animal never been here too. Otherwise, the meat would not decay until this stage.

    Zhang Mu looked around with suspicion and secretly kept an eye out. Although he could lift the mutated wolfdog effortlessly, it was tiring for him to maintain the same posture, so it was time for him to take a break. Even then, he remained cautiously while sitting down.

    Even if the smell of the canned meat that Zhang Mu took out from his merchant ring had filled the air, the mutated wolfdog still hadn¡¯t woken up yet. If not for the Obsidian Beetle telling Zhang Mu that it was just a regr sleep, Zhang Mu would have the impulse to nudge it up forcibly.

    At this moment, there was a pair of eyes in a corner, staring at Zhang Mu and his party.

 Chapter 143 - Wait And See

    <strong>Chapter 143: Wait And See</strong>

    Zhang Mu was resting in the middle of the empty market. He was contemting whether should he gave the remaining soul crystals for Yuan Rui to consume. However, he felt that the amount was not sufficient for a person to break through at once and learned a new ability.

    If she could not break through at once, then it was solely used to increase her psychological defenses only. Zhang Mu felt it was a little reckless to waste the most prominent function of the soul crystals. Hence, that was the reason why he had not given Yuan Rui the soul crystal to consume this time. As for the psychic attacks, he was not afraid of them anymore since he had the psychic barrier. Since Yuan Rui would be at his side at all time, then she would not encounter any danger too.

    Suddenly, he noticed that the ground was shaking slightly. At the same time, the Obsidian Beetle also raised its head immediately and looked at the direction of the corner of the street. But it nced at it briefly before lowering its head as if that was something not worthy of its time.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu saw the appearance of the stranger too. It was a child that was dirty from head to toe. It stumbled and ran towards Zhang Mu and the others.

    It was too strange for a child who was in good condition, to appear in such a ce with no signs of human habitation.

    At this point, Yuan Rui also saw the child¡¯s figure and felt a knot in her heart. She wanted to get up and wee the child over but was pulled by Zhang Mu instead, pinning her in ce.

    Zhang Mu gradually responded after he saw the puzzled look on her face, ¡°Everything is different now. Do you know that what you saw might not be the truth? Your kindness will only bring you fatal disaster in this Cataclysm.¡±

    Yuan Rui saw the solemn look on Zhang Mu¡¯s face, so she kept quiet. She felt that she had overlooked the dangers a little. Likewise, she had been through various situations urred for these past few days too. Therefore, she chose to trust Zhang Mu and returned to her ce.

    Zhang Mu stood up and stared at the child directly. He did not consider him as a regr child at all. Taking out his Obsidian Beetle dagger, he was preparing for a confrontation. Although he did not find anything wrong with the child, he had appeared out of nowhere abruptly. Hence, he had exhibited a trace of strange behavior too.

    ¡°Stop your footsteps, or you will die.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s unfriendly voice could be heard around the empty market sharply. Despite that, the little boy with a face full of blood did not appear to understand anything and continued to advance towards Zhang Mu¡¯s direction.

    ¡°You should be able to understand my words. I don¡¯t care who you are, but I can guarantee that you will die.¡± After he ended the speech, the skin on Zhang Mu¡¯s left arm split open instantly, and a vine of the Bloodvine Lotus swiftly pierced the ground in front of that little boy. Only then did that little boy stopped his footsteps and raised his head to let Zhang Mu examined his face.

    The emotion in his eye was no different from any regr person. Likewise, Zhang Mu did not saw any abnormalities on his face too. So after the little boy stopped his footsteps, he did not continue to take action.

    ¡°For now, I can¡¯t determine if you are a human or a monster. But if you still pretend that you do not understand my words, thene closer. Your life, will be taken away from me.¡± Zhang Mu¡¯s voice did not have any hint of sentiment in them. Yuan Rui was tugging his sleeve from behind, but he said them as if he did not felt anything from her.

    The suspicions in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was getting stronger and stronger. This little boy, was not simple. When he saw the attack of the Bloodvine Lotus from Zhang Mu, he did not have any reaction at the first moment, even though there was a sense of panic shed in his eye.

    But this panic, was too sheer. An average child would have been scared and ran away immediately.

    Nevertheless, this presence was indeed human, and his intelligence also seems to be normal.

    Zhang Mu pondered for a long time. But after the incident, the little boy sat on the ground immediately.

    ¡°Big brother, big sister, please save my mother. She is about to die.¡±

    The little boy cried out suddenly and said such a statement, causing Zhang Mu to froze in ce.

    He could talk, and the expression he had was proper. Therefore, there wasn¡¯t a psychic evolver controlling him. Then this matter was a little moreplicated and confusing now. Zhang Mu believed that his observations and intuitions would not go wrong.

    This little boy, definitely had a problem.

    However, Yuan Rui could not control herself anymore, as her motherly instinct took over. She rushed over to the little boy and hugged the little boy in her arm.

    Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle dagger in Zhang Mu¡¯s hand was aiming at the little boy¡¯s head, ready to go at any second.

    At such a close distance, after he released the Obsidian Beetle, he could use his psychic power to block the dagger from harming Yuan Rui when it prates through the little boy¡¯s head.

    Yuan Rui was stroking the little boy¡¯s head and seemed to be saying something tofort him. Meanwhile, Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle in his mind if it had smelt any details using its keen sense that he did not notice.

    ¡°Little ck, did you sense something different? I feel that there is something wrong with this child.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle replied to Zhang Mu in an arrogant voice, ¡°You couldn¡¯t sense this? There is a rotten smell on this little human child¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying he is a walking dead?¡± Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle questioningly as he did not feel like it.

    ¡°Of course not! A walking dead or human being, can¡¯t you see it for yourself? How should I phrase this? Overall, he is still a human being. If not for the rotten smell that was faintly emitting from his body, I would not be able to detect any difference too. This rotten smell, is not attached to him by any foreign object on his body but is flowing out from the deepest part of his body. If that stupid dog is awake, its senses would be more acute than mine.¡±

    ¡°Then what is he precisely? Do you know?¡± Zhang Mu searched carefully in his memory and could not find any relevant information. He could only ask the Obsidian Beetle to see if it was aware of this matter.

    In the end, the Obsidian Beetle straightaway replied and no longer care about him, ¡°Who knows?¡±

    As Zhang Mu was turned down by the Obsidian Beetle, he continued to stare at the little boy. Despite that, he still could not figure out anything. He could only follow the development of this matter to wait and see how it goes.

    But fortunately, the little boy did not act recklessly until now, so Zhang Mu was slightly rxed. The blood on his face had been wiped away by Yuan Rui using her sleeve. Unexpectedly, he looked cute, causing Yuan Rui to dote on him more as she continued to wipe his tears.

    ¡°Tell me, what happened exactly? If you continue to cry like this, I¡¯m afraid that it would be toote if your mother truly encountered any danger.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s voice lightly called out. He kept having the feeling that this little boy was acting and was hiding something from them.

    In the end, he received a sour look from Yuan Rui. He stopped talking and just stood within the one-meter range from Yuan Rui.

    Yuan Rui softly asked the little boy, ¡°Hao Hao, tell sister what happened exactly? Sister and this big brother behind me will help you. Although he might look a bit fierce, he has a good heart.¡±

    That little boy had told Yuan Rui that his name was Hao Hao in their previous conversation. He stopped sobbing and sneaked a nce at Zhang Mu¡¯s emotionless face. He immediately retracted back into Yuan Rui¡¯s arm with fear and stuttered, ¡°Hao Hao is very scared. My mother is going to be eaten by those monsters that eat human. Sister, quickly go and help my mother. Hao Hao begged you.¡±

 Chapter 144 - The Abandoned Factory

    <strong>Chapter 144: The Abandoned Factory</strong>

    At this moment, Yuan Rui was touched. But knowing that she did not have the power to help, she could only look at Zhang Mu with puppy eyes begging for help. In the meantime, Zhang Mu wanted to know what secret was the little boy hiding behind him.

    Under Yuan Rui¡¯s hopeful eye, Zhang Mu gently nodded his head. She stood up immediately and put the little boy in her arm as she asked him affectionately, ¡°Can you tell us where is your mother, and lead us there? Big brother is incredibly powerful, so he will certainly rescue your mother out of there.¡±

    The little boy pointed his finger to a direction, and Yuan Rui simply ran over there. Meanwhile, Zhang Mu ordered the Obsidian Beetle to take care of the mutated wolfdog since it imed that it did not want to move.

    With the current strength of Zhang Mu, if he and Yuan Rui truly encountered something that they could not handle, unless the willpower inside its body decided to give a helping hand, then the Obsidian Beetle would not be able to help them much too.

    Therefore, it would be better for the Obsidian Beetle to look after the mutated wolfdog. Zhang Mu quickly caught up with Yuan Rui and moved forward together.

    Although the emergence of this little boy was indeed a little strange, Zhang Mu believed that his appearance was not a coincidence as he was the type of person that would think about the worst case scenario first. But if it was indeed a child that was fortunate enough to escape and his mother was still attacked by the walking dead or something else, then he did not mind to give a helping hand.

    Just that the chances of this ¡®truth¡¯ that Yuan Rui already believed, was merely a tiny possibility in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart. From the moment this little boy had appeared, he already set up his psychic barrier quietly.

    Within the one-meter range, everything would be under his control. Currently, Yuan Rui and the little boy were all under his control without any restrains putting on them yet.

    In case something truly happened, he was confident that he would kill the threat in time.

    Furthermore, Zhang Mu was a genuine second-ranked evolver now.

    Very quickly, they had arrived at an abandoned factory with the help of the little boy.

    This factory did not appear to be deserted after the Cataclysm, which only happened a month ago. Zhang Mu looked at the walls with yellowish stains and concluded that this factory had been abandoned for several years before the Cataclysm.

    Why did they escape to such a ce? Also, didn¡¯t he imed that his mother was getting attacked? However, looking at this factory covered in dust all over, there were no signs of life.

    Zhang Mu questioned the little boy out loud, ¡°Didn¡¯t you said that your mother was under attack and was in danger?¡±

    At this point, Yuan Rui¡¯s eyes had filled with disbelief too. She felt that the little boy was telling the truth, however the facts were ced right in front of her, reminding her that something had gone wrong. She frowned and slightly loosen her gripped on the little boy.

    Meanwhile, the little boy who was well-behaved on Yuan Rui¡¯s arm earlier, was now struggling to break free from her grasp. Yuan Rui found that he had extraordinary strength and quickly put him down.

    The little boy looked at Zhang Mu angrily and answered, ¡°Hao Hao did not lie. My mother is really in danger. She said that she was in pain, so Hao Hao quickly ran out. Hao Hao did not lie to anyone. Forget it. You guys don¡¯t need toe anymore. Hao Hao can save mother by myself too. Hao Hao does not need your help.¡±

    Just like that, he ran inside while Zhang Mu was left dumb-founded. Very quickly, he was swallowed up by the darkness of the factory, with nothing left.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I said anything wrong, right? I was merely asking it casually, and this child made such a huge fuss about it.¡± Zhang Mu was totally at a loss. Assuming that there was something wrong with this child, he would not stop his act the moment they arrived at this ce. But if there was nothing wrong with him, then his mother should be in danger. Instead, the situation now did not appears to be that case too.

    Standing beside Zhang Mu, Yuan Rui gave him a nk look. As if ming him for being too straightforward.

    Feeling worried, Yuan Rui wanted to follow the little boy, but was grabbed by Zhang Mu in the arm, ¡°What is the use for you to go in alone? Stay here. On second thought, I don¡¯t feel at ease putting you here, so follow behind me.¡±

    After that, Zhang Mu took Yuan Rui and walked into the abandoned factory together. He walked sideways so that he could protect Yuan Rui behind him.

    The corner of his mouth raised into a smile as he muttered in his heart, ¡°Just nice, I also wanted to take a look behind this trick.¡±

    Besides the discarded tire on the two sides of the road, so far, there was nothing strange appeared.

    It was incredibly creepy as the quiet atmosphere was matched with the eerie setting. Yuan Rui could feel that her heart was in her mouth as she held onto Zhang Mu and looked around her. She did not dare to let go of his hand for a moment.

    ¡°Uncle, why was it so creepy here?¡± Yuan Rui could not help but to break the silence around her.

    Zhang Mu did not nce back and continued to investigate every corner of the factory carefully. He gradually responded, ¡°You finally felt afraid now? You were still ming me just now. I told you earlier, do not believe anything that you saw with your eyes.¡±

    After suffering such a blow from Zhang Mu, Yuan Rui was even more depressed. She casually took a nce around and found a figure. Straightaway, she started to scream out loud, unable to control her emotion anymore.

    ¡°There¡¯s someone! Uncle, there is someone over there! Quickly look!¡±

    The screams echoed around the empty factory, and Yuan Rui immediately shrank into Zhang Mu¡¯s arm, no longer dare to look anymore.

    Zhang Mu looked at the direction of Yuan Rui¡¯s scream. There was indeed a ck figure over there, and it resembled the little boy. Was he there formerly?

    Zhang Mu was not afraid as he called out loudly to ask that ck figure, ¡°Hao Hao? Your mother? Just now, why did you run away?¡±

    When he heard Zhang Mu called out his name, that small ck figure turned around slowly. With the help of the dim light, Zhang Mu could see his face clearly and was stunned in an instant.

    The little boy¡¯s face was covered thoroughly with broken blood vessels. Meanwhile, his eyeball was starting to turn white too. The moment when Zhang Mu thought that he was bitten by the walking dead and was going to turn into a new one, an unimaginable matter urred.

    That little boy had started to speak!

    ¡°Didn¡¯t I told you not to follow me? Why don¡¯t you listen to Hao Hao?¡±

    Zhang Mu squinted his eye to look closely at that little boy and saw that he was disying sharp fangs at them. Using his childlike voice, he said, ¡°My mother told me that those people who are disobedient, all of them must die!¡±

 Chapter 145 - Catastrophe Matrix

    <strong>Chapter 145: Catastrophe Matrix</strong>

    The atmosphere immediately became even spookier after such a frightening statement was yelled from a ten years old child using his childlike voice. Although the little boy in front of Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui had emerged with such a terrifying face, Zhang Mu did not detect any sense of danger from his body.

    Is it because he was too weak? Is that why he did not feel threatened by the boy even by a tiny bit?

    But why is it that at this time, his intuition was telling him that the truth to this matter was getting more and moreplicated?

    An empty small town, an abandoned factory, and the strange boy, all of them had an odd presence. However, Zhang Mu still could not catch the most vital point regarding this matter.

    The little boy ran unsteadily on his legs towards Zhang Mu¡¯s direction using a typical child¡¯s pace, without any particr ability.

    After stumbling for a while, when the little boy rushed in front of Zhang Mu, Zhang Mu did not even release his Bloodvine Lotus and merely used his hand gently, to stop the boy from moving farther.

    Even though Zhang Mu was restricting his advancement, the little boy was stilling trying to reach Zhang Mu¡¯s body by stretching out both of his hand. However, his efforts were in vain, as all he could touch was empty air. From the strength of this little boy, Zhang Mu could sense that this hideous little walking dead was indeed a regr ten years old boy.

    Despite that, the spider veins on his face and the fangs protruding out from his mouth, were indicating that he was no longer human.

    Zhang Mu searched carefully in his memory and realized that he never heard of such matters in his past life. So what is this precisely? How could he have the appearance of a walking dead, yet managed to retain his intelligence?

    While Zhang Mu was pondering, Yuan Rui walked in front of him. After she removed her hand that was blocking her vision, she was in a shock the moment she saw Hao Hao¡¯s current appearance. Right now, he looked incredibly scary.

    Nevertheless, she could still faintly recognized the little boy that cried in her arm previously. Soon Yuan Rui also started to panic and questioned Zhang Mu, ¡°Uncle, what happened to Hao Hao? Look at him, did he get bitten by a walking dead when he ran out alone? Can he be saved now? Hao Hao is only a child, and is still young.¡±

    Zhang Mu¡¯s voice also filled with doubts as he replied to Yuan Rui, ¡°I don¡¯t know what is happening right now. His current state looked as though he had been bitten a while ago and is turning into a new type of walking dead. But just now you should have heard it too. Hao Hao still can talk andmunicate with us, and that is contrary tomon sense.¡±

    As a matter of fact, there was another spection in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart. Currently, Hao Hao was behaving simr to the intellectual type of walking dead in his past life, with the appearance of the walking dead, yet possessing the intelligence of a human being. Although they did not have much strength, they could control the walking dead to protect them. However, he felt that the chances for this to happen were extremely tiny. One was that the period of the Cataclysm was too short while the other was that the intellectual type of walking dead would not put themselves in such a risky condition.

    Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu, who always knew everything, but could not give a definite answer this time. She looked at Hao Hao¡¯s face covered with spider veins, and the painful expression on his face. Hence, she went near his body and gently put her hands on his back, preparing to use her life energy and transferred them into his body.

    Zhang Mu also agreed with Yuan Rui¡¯s action since he knew that Hao Hao was under his control now. Furthermore, it was within the one-meter range of his psychic barrier so he could not do anything dangerous to her.

    But what Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui never expected, was that when Yuan Rui¡¯s life energy passed through Hao Hao¡¯s clothes and touched his skin, there was a wisp of green smoke rising from his body. It frightened Yuan Rui so much that she quickly withdrew her hands.

    At this time, Hao Hao was screaming in pain. Although the spider veins on his face had faded a little, the psychical pain and the struggle to resist was evident. He was controlled entirely by Zhang Mu and could not move a single muscle.

    With that, something urred that made Zhang Mu¡¯s blood ran cold. Tiny ck eggs were oozing out of Hao Hao¡¯s skin. Looking at the horrible scene, Zhang Mu could felt his flesh crawling all over his body. Only when the life energy that Yuan Rui infused had depleted, managed to stop the tiny ck eggs from oozing out one after another.

    The moment Zhang Mu wanted to go over to see what happened precisely, a cry of a woman¡¯s voice sounded above him suddenly, ¡°Who is the one that hurt my Hao Hao? My son, what happened to you? Who bullied you? Don¡¯t worry, Mother is here, and Mother will help you to take revenge.¡±

    It sounded like an anxious cry from a normal mother who cares deeply for her child. But when Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui shifted their eyes up, the image of a caring mother was wiped from their mind entirely.

    Indeed, that face had the appearance of a middle-aged woman. Also, the eyes that were looking at Hao Hao, who was in Zhang Mu¡¯s control, had filled with concerns. But the problem was her lower body! Her lower body was an enormous spider body! Eight spider legs were supporting the body by inserting deeply into the solid walls.

    Is this a Catastrophe Matrix?

    When Zhang Mu saw this, he immediately thought of the rumors regarding the Catastrophe Matrix in his past life. It was the product of fusing a mutated animal with a human being. When the mutated animal was eating a human that was not willing to die, their grievance affects them as they merged into one body. The probability for this to happen was very rare as the mutated animal must kill the human at a slow pace. Usually, the mutated animal was slowly tormenting them to death, leading the emotion of resentment to form intensely. Furthermore, the most influential factor was that this human need to possess strong willpower to survive, to attach their souls on the mutated animal when it had departed from their human body. In the end, the head of the mutated animal would transform into the human¡¯s face.

    However, in most cases, the Catastrophe Matrix had disordered thoughts. As the human¡¯s intellect had subdued by agony beforehand, coupled with the wild nature of the mutated animal, thus, the brain of the Catastrophe Matrix would not grow adequately. Even though they were not smart, but their strength would develop at an explosive rate.

    Right now, this Catastrophe Matrix on the wall seems to be formed when a mutated spider was eating, and this should be the mother that Hao Hao had mentioned earlier. Everything made sense now.

    Zhang Mu also found that the belly of this Catastrophe Matrix above him was enormous, just like a pregnant woman going forbor. Linking back to those tiny ck eggs that were oozing out from Hao Hao¡¯s body, he suddenly thought of a horrible fact and shuddered abruptly.

    This Catastrophe Matrix is going intobor?

 Chapter 146 - Crushed From All Sides

    <strong>Chapter 146: Crushed From All Sides</strong>

    At this moment, Zhang Mu could felt that the air was getting colder, and it was a kind of cold that could seep through his psychic barrier. That terrified him, as it meant that it had the ability to prate his psychic barrier.

    The Catastrophe Matrix finally realized that it was Zhang Mu controlling her dear son. In a sh, a roar sounded like a wild beast yelled out, ¡°It is you! Let go of my Hao Hao!¡±

    At this juncture, the wall shook as the eight spider legs of the Catastrophe Matrix exerted a sudden force. In a blink of an eye, it sped towards Zhang Mu and scared Yuan Rui. She immediately fell to the ground as the eight spider legs hadnded in front of her with less than half a meter away.

    That was not her acting mercy, but it was the psychic barrier that Zhang Mu had set up to block her attack. In the beginning, Zhang Mu was worried that he would not have the time to react and set up the psychic barrier in case there would be any sudden attacks. Furthermore, he did not know whether Hao Hao would be a detonator, so he left a hand there.

    Now, it seemed like that was an essential move. Zhang Mu was a little concern even after the event. If he was careless, then the one getting stabbed now was likely Yuan Rui¡¯s body.

    Because of the speed of the spider leg¡¯s attack, given his reaction speed, he would not be able to set up his psychic barrier on time. Even though his reaction was hugely improved when advanced to the second-rank.

    Although the Catastrophe Matrix had lost her mind now, herbat instinct was abnormally powerful. The moment she noticed that her attack was blocked via these two meals in front of her eye, coupled with her dear son under that man¡¯s control, her anger red up vigorously as she used two spider legs near the belly to support her body. Meanwhile, the remaining six spider legs were acting like spears, stabbing at Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic barrier.

    With every stab, that area would have an enormous ring of ripples. Almost every second, there would be six ripples sttering on Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic barrier at the same time.

    Zhang Mu could sense clearly that the strength of his psychic barrier was getting weaker. He tried to use his psychic ability to fill in the gap, but doing so was merely dying the period of his psychic barrier.

    How could the Catastrophe Matrix be so powerful? It was enough to break through the most basic defense of the barrier. Even though the damage produced each time was not prominent, but the frequency was too fast. Furthermore, six areas were getting hit simultaneously. So what if the psychic barrier could handle the overload blows from the Obsidian Beetle? In the long run, this would be too much for the psychic barrier to manage.

    He decided to take the initiative and fought back as things were not going to work if he stayed here and waited for death. Although he did not know what would happen to the first-ranked Bloodvine Lotus if it handles the Catastrophe Matrix, Zhang Mu had no other alternative to tackle it now. Could it be that he had to fight in closebat with a Catastrophe Matrix that was said to be invincible amongst the mutated animals?

    His Obsidian Beetle dagger would lose its effect once it was beyond the psychic barrier. So now he could only rely on the Bloodvine Lotus in his left arm.

    Just when Zhang Mu wasing up with a n, the Catastrophe Matrix appeared to get a little impatient as it could not hit Zhang Mu, who was inside the invisible psychic barrier. With a jerk in her belly, it became inted, and she spat out an enormous spider webyer afteryer, wrapping around one-meter range from Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui.

    At the same time, Zhang Mu could sense clearly that his psychic barrier was dissipating rapidly than before. He calcted the time for the barrier to hold on, and there were only three minutes left.

    The spider webs that the Catastrophe Matrix spat was highly corrosive! Now, it was rapidly corroding Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic barrier. After all, the main function of his psychic barrier was to deal with psychic attacks. When dealing with physical assaults and ability attacks, it would steadily weaken the defense of the barrier.

    In the meantime, Yuan Rui wanted to use her life energy to support Zhang Mu as always but was rejected by Zhang Mu this time. Considering that the loss of psychic power was different from a regr injury, for him now, there would not be much effect.

    Zhang Mu tried to look for a w under theyers of spider webs. However, after using his psychic power to detact, he only found five gaps that were enough for the vines of his Bloodvine Lotus to pass through.

    There was no choice but to try it first now. At least, it was better than waiting for death.

    After deciding, Zhang Mu summoned the Bloodvine Lotus. Under his control, the five vines prated out from the gaps of the spider web and headed straight toward the Catastrophe Matrix¡¯s body to attack.

    Apparently, he had underestimated the power of the Catastrophe Matrix.

    Through the gaps, these five vines were heading towards the Catastrophe Matrix like a snake. However, it quickly sensed the attacks and retracted the six spear-like spider legs, blocking the vines from attacking.

    Although the spider legs could not twist and swirl freely like the Bloodvine Lotus, it crushed every Zhang Mu¡¯s vines in all direction using its agility and strength.

    In the next second, these five vines were pinned to the ground by the six spider legs. Just like five small snakes getting caught by a human, they were squirming on the ground helplessly.

    Zhang Mu was going to exert his power through the Bloodvine Lotus, but he saw something was injected into the spot where the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus was stabbed by the spider legs.

    He recalled the tiny ck eggs that were inside Hao Hao¡¯s body and immediately gave up these five vines, using the main body of the Bloodvine Lotus to cut off their connection entirely.

    Sure enough, those vines started to wither rapidly, losing their original color on the ground under the impact that the spider leg had inserted.

    Oh boy! It was always the Bloodvine Lotus that was devouring the other party. He did not expect that there would be a day that it would be consumed instead.

    However, Zhang Mu had no mood to feel sentimental now. The Bloodvine Lotus did not work, and the psychic barrier was about to destroy soon. Zhang Mu felt a little regret that he did not bring Little ck along this time.

    Suddenly, the wall of the factory mmed open with a bang. The Catastrophe Matrix was shocked as it retracted its eight spider legs and went to a side to hide in panic.

    ¡°If you can¡¯t beat them, remember to call people for help! No, call for a beetle!¡±

    It was Little ck. It came to save me. But with such a far distance away, the range of telepathy should not be enough for it to sense that Zhang Mu was in danger.

    Zhang Mu thought so in his heart as his eye fixed at the area where the wall had broken down.

    In the dust, the enormous figure of Little ck slowly became sharper as the sickle-like ws danced up and down.

    It was really Little ck!

 Chapter 147 - Teaming Up For The Fight

    <strong>Chapter 147: Teaming Up For The Fight</strong>

    The emergence of the Obsidian Beetle thoroughly provoked the Catastrophe Matrix who was hiding at one corner. But with the second-ranked aura from the Obsidian Beetle, it did not act recklessly and was staring at the Obsidian Beetle, who was walking step by step toward Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Why did youe here?¡± Zhang Mu asked with some skepticism. After all, the distance between him and the Obsidian Beetle was too far apart so it should not be able to hear Zhang Mu¡¯s voice.

    The Obsidian Beetle looked at him with disdain and answered, ¡°If I did note here, your ss casing would be worn out already, and became food for that fat spider to ingest.¡±

    Listening to the Obsidian Beetle mocking him, Zhang Mu felt annoyed in his heart. The ability he had gained after the advancement was mainly for defense. If not, he would not fall under such a passive situation when dealing with the enemy.

    ¡°Stop talking nonsense. What happened exactly?¡± Zhang Mu questioned the Obsidian Beetle in his mind.

    The Obsidian Beetle replied to him indolently, ¡°I smelled a rotten scent in the air that makes me feel sick. At first, I thought it was nothing, but suddenly, I realized that it was the same scent as the little boy that you brought along. So I followed the trail of the scent and flew along with that stupid dog.

    It was so embarrassing to see you in such predicament, ¡± The chuckles of the Obsidian Beetle echoed inside Zhang Mu¡¯s mind. Zhang Mu automatically shied away from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s mockery and turned to look at the Catastrophe Matrix with his cold eyes.

    Zhang Mu knew the reason why the Obsidian Beetle could smell the scent now. That rotten odor wasing from the original mutated animal of the Catastrophe Matrix. Not only did the soul of the human was corrupted when devoured by the mutated animal, but the mutated animal was also tainted by the human¡¯s negative emotion simultaneously. In this case, the Obsidian Beetle, which was also a mutated animal, could sniff out the odor that was making it nausea.

    ¡°Help me to remove this spider webs on my psychic barrier first. It is very tough for me to break through from the inside.¡± Zhang Mu, who realized he was still tied down, told the Obsidian Beetle.

    The Obsidian Beetle quickly summoned a few wind des to cut the spider webs. At this moment, Zhang Mu did not release the defensive psychic barrier. This way, it would be easier for the wind des to strike.

    Furthermore, he suspected that the spider webs had a great corrosive nature. If he or Yuan Rui¡¯s body was affected, it was likely that their skin would suffer immense damage.

    Just like that, the psychic barrier was still holding up. Zhang Mu raised his head and looked at the wind des cutting with great effort at the spider webs that were wrapping them tightly from the outside.

    But at this moment, the Catastrophe Matrix could see that Zhang Mu was thinking of escaping from the spider webs. Moreover, she also saw that her child, Hao Hao, was now stunned and put to one side by Zhang Mu, who was afraid that he would cause trouble. Instantly, her anger started to re up again. Regardless of the vigor from the Obsidian Beetle, it headed straight to attack the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s body.

    Even though the physical instinct of the mutated animal had a strict hierarchy system, creating a moment of hesitation when attacking the Obsidian Beetle, but the madness of its human consciousness was dominating the Catastrophe Matrix. Therefore, it continued to exert 100% of its power, using eight spider legs to stab at the back of the Obsidian Beetle.

    The Obsidian Beetle heard the attacking behind and turned right away to fight with the Catastrophe Matrix. Just now, the attack had sliced all the way down from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s shell to the edge of its back. Since the top was the toughest part, it did not suffer much damage. As for the sides, sparks fly from the spider legs as it drew a few scratches.

    Now the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s anger was even stronger than the Catastrophe Matrix. No one managed to injure it until now, but this neither human nor spider in front of its eye, along with the disgusting rotten odor that turned down its appetite, had the nerve to damage its beautiful shell. How could the Obsidian Beetle tolerated such a shameful thing? The Obsidian Beetle gave up using its ability and shoved down the Catastrophe Matrix who almost had the same size. By taking advantage of its body, which was sturdier than the Catastrophe Matrix.

    With the unexpected incident, the Obsidian Beetle no longer controlled and sustained the wind des. Very soon, they had vanished in the air. Fortunately, they had made a vast contribution as the fibrous spider web had sliced to the point where it was about to break apart.

    Zhang Mu took advantage of this opportunity and used the remaining psychic power to support the crumbling psychic barrier. Meanwhile, he was summoning the Bloodvine Lotus for a full-scale attack. In an instant, he broke through the spider web¡¯s defenses. When the vines touched the spider web, it appeared to suffer extensive damage and shrank a little. But under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, there was no hesitation. Acting quickly, it tore away the spider webs that were wrapping him and threw them to the side.

    Although it had received a little damage, the regeneration ability of the Bloodvine Lotus could not be underestimated. The limbs that were slightly withered was quickly reced with a new part to wrap around Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu observed the battle of the Obsidian Beetle and the Catastrophe Matrix. It was merely a close-range fight between the mutated animal using the most primitive method. The Obsidian Beetle naturally had forgotten to use its wind-type ability in anger. On the other hand, the Catastrophe Matrix was provoked by the Obsidian Beetle and started to show its primitive ferocity and battle instinct. Both parties were tumbling on the ground, neck to neck, and was entangled together. The ws of the Obsidian Beetle and the spider legs of the Catastrophe Matrix, both left a few scratch marks on each other bodies.

    After inspecting carefully, Zhang Mu realized that the Catastrophe Matrix did not seem to use its full force. Although it looked like it was exchanging blows with the Obsidian Beetle, he realized that the Catastrophe Matrix had fallen behind a little.

    After verifying for another minute, he finally confirmed his guess. Hence, he said in his mind to remind the Obsidian Beetle who had the upper hand, ¡°She is protecting her belly, go and attack that part.¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s voice, the enthusiasm in the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s eye resolved a little. It also felt that this monster was not easy to handle and remembered the reminder from Zhang Mu.

    Every time the ws swang, it deliberately took care of the Catastrophe Matrix¡¯s belly. This time, the Catastrophe Matrix was at a loss as the attacks were getting disorganized. It could only defend itself while the Obsidian Beetle kept on attacking steadily, leaving no chance for it to retaliate. In the end, all eight spider legs were used to protect the swelling belly.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu made his move. The Obsidian Beetle and the Catastrophe Matrix finally separated from each other, so it was the best time to take action!

    He used the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus to prop him up from the ground and to add on speed to himself. In a blink of an eye, he round to the back of the Catastrophe Matrix.

    Currently, the Catastrophe Matrix was concentrating on defending the Obsidian Beetle in front of its eye. Zhang Mu raised his Obsidian Beetle Dagger to the air and cut a big hole on the Catastrophe Matrix¡¯s open back. Yellow pus flowed out from the injury and flow to the ground. Zhang Mu quickly retracted the Obsidian Beetle Dagger from the wound, and there was still a green smoke rising from the dagger. Zhang Mu looked at it with a heartache.

    The blood of this Catastrophe Matrix was poisonous!

    The Catastrophe Matrix screamed from the pain and hid to a narrow space.

    Suddenly, a warning from the Obsidian Beetle could be heard in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind.

    ¡°Quickly retreat!¡±

 Chapter 148 - Delivered in Advance

    <strong>Chapter 148: Delivered in Advance</strong>

    Zhang Mu retreated without hesitation as he trusts the judgment of the Obsidian Beetle unconditionally. It must have sensed something and quickly gave a reminder to Zhang Mu. When he was departing, Zhang Mu realized that the Obsidian Beetle, who was fighting with the Catastrophe Matrix a moment ago, was retreating at an rming speed back to Yuan Rui¡¯s side.

    For the Obsidian Beetle to feel danger, what is going to happen to the Catastrophe Matrix?

    Zhang Mu embraced this question to himself while retreating to the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s side. This time, he finally saw what was happening to the Catastrophe Matrix.

    The Catastrophe Matrix¡¯s belly had a shining light and dark pattern alternating at this moment. The stomach mirrored the movement of the Catastrophe Matrix¡¯s breathing, bulging exaggeratedly every time.

    The human face of the Catastrophe Matrix had a painful expression as it appeared to be struggling.

    Zhang Mu thought of a terrible possibility out of the blue. He turned his head abruptly and basically growled at Yuan Rui, ¡°Yuan Rui, use all of your life energy and infuse into Hao Hao¡¯s body. Hurry up!¡±

    Although she did not know the reason, Yuan Rui still did it obediently. When both of her hands were put on Hao Hao¡¯s back, that pure white life energy was infused into Hao Hao¡¯s body once again.

    After that, the horrifying situation urred just like the previous time. Hao Hao¡¯s body was oozing out tiny ck eggs again. However, the process for this time was even more difficult.

    Yuan Rui recalled Zhang Mu¡¯s anxious tone and fought back her fear. She poured all of her life energy into Hao Hao¡¯s body until his body no longer oozed out the tiny ck eggs.

    Zhang Mu helped the weaken Yuan Rui up and grabbed Hao Hao from the ground. Straightaway, he removed Hao Hao¡¯s clothes and shook the now naked body, so that the tiny ck eggs that were still attached, would be shaken offpletely. Then his expression turned serious as he spoke to the Obsidian Beetle, ¡°Take them out from the entrance that you came in first. While you¡¯re at it, take that stupid dog with your ws too. You should be able to handle the weight of two people and one dog, right?¡±

    ¡°Uncle, why are we leaving? I saw that the monster was in pain, so now should be the perfect time for you to defeat it.¡± Until now, Yuan Rui was still confused and did not understand Zhang Mu¡¯s decision.

    Zhang Mu looked at the Catastrophe Matrix with aplicated expression and slowly said, ¡°If I am not wrong, this monster, is now inbor. She is rushing to deliver her children.

    And those are in her belly, including those tiny little ck eggs inside Hao Hao¡¯s body.¡±

    Yuan Rui covered her mouth with a disbelieving look. She asked hesitantly, ¡°Uncle, you are saying that Hao Hao¡¯s mother, had injected these tiny spider eggs inside Hao Hao¡¯s body? How is this possible? That was his mother. Also, she said that it was to protect Hao Hao, so why would she do that?¡±

    Zhang Mu said with a heavy heart, ¡°Now, it was a downright monster. Hao Hao¡¯s real mother already died in the mouth of this creature. Although it still has the mother¡¯s obsession to influence the monster¡¯s behavior, it could not recognize Hao Hao anymore and treated Hao Hao as a breeding vessel for its child only. Do you understand what I mean?¡±

    Yuan Rui still had an unbelievable look on her face. That woman¡¯s demeanor looked so pitiful. Previously, the nced she looked at Hao Hao was full of maternal tenderness.

    Zhang Mu wanted to say something more, but he realized that the ck spider eggs that oozed out from Hao Hao¡¯s body were starting to wobble gradually. Zhang Mu quickly let Yuan Rui carried Hao Hao before he put her on the back of the Obsidian Beetle. After that, he urged the Obsidian Beetle to leave immediately.

    The Obsidian Beetle obediently went out from the hole that it entered earlier. As for Zhang Mu, he was not in a panic to leave. Without Yuan Rui and the others, he was confident that he could escape alone. But just in case, he stood under the big hole that the Obsidian Beetle broke through and watched quietly at the Catastrophe Matrix who was growling in pain now.

    He was curious now. In his past life, he always heard that the Catastrophe Matrix had exceptional destructive power, but he never heard of a Catastrophe Matrix that was able to deliver. Just now, he spected ording to those extraordinary parasitic mutated animal, and the situation now was merely proving his spection.

    In just a minute, the tiny little ck eggs on the ground stopped swaying. The thin walls of the outeryer were like ayer of fragile paper, easy to prate.

    Tender, short fuzzy hairs, and several slender spider legs spurted out from the shell-like tiny ck eggs. The furry hairs on the spider legs were swaying slightly, probing the outside world.

    At first nced, it looked like a small little life poking out from the tiny ck eggs, which looked cute. But now, what Zhang Mu saw was hundreds of ck spider eggs doing the same action.

    Just like that, everything became scary and weird in Zhang Mu¡¯s eye.

    While Zhang Mu was in a daze, a screaming from the Catastrophe Matrix attracted his gaze.

    This time, hundreds of the tiny ck eggs in front of Zhang Mu were nothing at allpared to the ck river that was flowing out from the belly of the Catastrophe Matrix. Thepact mass on the ground was all of its spider eggs.

    In an instant, the Catastrophe Matrix copsed as the eight legs could not support its body anymore. It sat at the debris while the towering belly was shriveled down instantly.

    Because the Catastrophe Matrix felt threatened by Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle, it actually delivered those tiny spiders in advance!

    Those ck spider eggs were gushing towards Zhang Mu¡¯s direction like a tide. It seems to sense that Zhang Mu was the only living creature here besides their mother, and they needed food and energy now.

    Although the Catastrophe Matrix was severely weakened, the eyes that were looking at Zhang Mu¡¯s direction was filled with hatred. She could not wait to eat Zhang Mu¡¯s meat and torn his flesh apart.

    Zhang Mu felt distressed in his heart. It was ironic for her to use her living son as a vessel to incubate the spiders, yet she had such a huge reaction when he only knocked out the little boy.

    After watching the whole process clearly, Zhang Mu did not want to stay there any longer. The ocean of ck spider eggs was sprawling towards him little by little. Moreover, the scariest part was that in the process, there were new baby spiders crawling out from the eggs constantly, using a faster speed to head towards Zhang Mu.

    Seeing that the spider eggs were going to invade with his one-meter range, Zhang Mu lightly tapped on the ground and went to the hole above him without difficulty.

    Now, Zhang Mu only had one thought in his mind.

    I don¡¯t think I would be able to eat dinner tonight.

 Chapter 149 - The Truth

    <strong>Chapter 149: The Truth</strong>

    After Zhang Mu came out from the hole, the ck Obsidian Beetle and Yuan Rui were already outside waiting for him anxiously.

    Upon seeing Zhang Mu¡¯s figure, Yuan Rui finally put her heart at ease. She could not get down from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s back, so she waved her hand to call out for Zhang Mu, urging him toe over quickly.

    ¡°So how is that spider monster with Hao Hao¡¯s mother face?¡± Once Yuan Rui saw that Zhang Mu was all right, she curiously asked Zhang Mu about the situation inside.

    Zhang Mu stuck out both of his hands and said, ¡°She had finished herbor. Now, this factory is going to be the spider¡¯s paradise, and every one of them is her children.¡± After listening to Zhang Mu, Yuan Rui looked at Hao Hao in her arm, wrapped with the bearskin, in heartache as she did not speak again.

    She felt that this child was too pitiful. Losing his mother and yet, he was turned into a breeding vessel for the little spiders by his mother who had turned into a monster.

    At this moment, Hao Hao suddenly struggled for a bit and woke up in Yuan Rui¡¯s arm. He opened his mouth and screamed Mother. Yuan Rui, who was watching this, felt even sorry for him as she hugged him tighter.

    For some reason, the tens of thousands of small spiders did note out from the hole that Zhang Mu escaped. Since Zhang Mu was outside now, he could not see the situation inside. However, he did not dare to go in anymore.

    Yuan Rui cuddled Hao Hao and said, ¡°Hao Hao can you tell sister how did this happen? Your mother, why did she be like this?¡± It was at this moment that Zhang Mu finally learned the truth from Hao Hao, who had just woke up. For such a young child to speak the truth, the world was indeed cold and cruel.

    This child called Hao Hao was far more mature than those children who were in the same age as him. He had suffered too much pain that should not exist at his age. Zhang Mu listened to him as he spoke slowly in a cold manner as if he was a lifeless robot.

    It turned out that Hao Hao and his mother were the residents from a nearby town. On the day of the Cataclysm, they hid together with the survivors from this town into this abandoned factory, waiting for the police or the army to rescue them.

    But as time passed by, no one came to save them at all, and people started to lose hope. As the people of this town were just a small figure at the bottom, although there was a food shortage, no one had done anything that was against the human¡¯s bottom line. That was because they were afraid of thews and regtion of the country, and they feared that when the army or government officials appeared, they would be arrested by their wrongdoings.

    Everyone suppressed the darkness in their heart and waited peacefully inside the abandoned factory, just like Hao Hao and his mother, hiding at one corner. The two of them ate sparingly so that the rations would be enough for them.

    Until one fateful day, something happened and changed everything.

    When Hao Hao said until here, the cold and icy eye held a tinge of fear in them. That was enough to show how much damage and trauma had caused to his small and young mind.

    A spider, that was bigger and stronger than the adults emerged from a crack in the factory. During that time, they had a few young men that were pretty strong, but in front of this huge spider, they did not appear to have the ability to fight back. In an instant, several people were gutted, as blood pooled to the ground.

    How would the people who live quietly all year round in a small town ever seen this before? Therefore, regardless if there were monsters outside that would eat human too, they ran out of the factory while the spider was eating the dead bodies.

    If the matter ends here, then this would be nothing at all, since the people merely encountered a first-ranked mutated animal.

    But when Hao Hao¡¯s voice started to tremble, Zhang Mu knew that things were not that simple.

    ¡°They, imed that, this was the monster that God sent to punish them. As for the reason why the monster did not chase after them, was because someone is dead. Once the monster had its fill, it would note out and eat them anymore.

    Therefore, if they wanted the monster to stop attacking them, then they had to feed the monster.

    They......¡± Hao Hao did not continue anymore, but Zhang Mu could already guess the development of the matter.

    This bunch of ignorant people thought that feeding the mutated spider would not bring them trouble anymore. As a result, they threw the weak Hao Hao and his mother into the factory, just like giving a tribute to the mutated spider. The ugliness and ignorance of humanity were exposed perfectly at this moment.

    After a while, Hao Hao continued the story.

    After the mutated spider sniffed the scent of a human, it soon appeared and dragged away Hao Hao¡¯s mother that was protecting in front of him. Hao Hao was scared, but he was more terrified of his mother¡¯s departure, so he followed them closely.

    Not sure was it because the spider just ate earlier and was still full, but it did not shred Hao Hao¡¯s mother into pieces, and ate her immediately. Instead, it bound her to a spider web.

    Without a doubt, Hao Hao, who was following his mother, was caught by the spider too. The spider abandoned him on another small web with a disordered line.

    Hao Hao¡¯s mother was in despair and could only curse the gang outside as they had caused the death of her and her son.

    The mutated spider naturally did not understand the curses of Hao Hao¡¯s mother and used its fangs to infuse venom inside her body. She could feel her internal organ, her blood, and her entire body were getting ingested.

    Throughout the whole process, she was staring at her son, who was too afraid to say anything on one side. Her desire to survive kept her struggling on this ongoing torture. In the end, Hao Hao¡¯s mother passed away with an endless grudge and concern for her son. However, when the mutated spider was devouring her, all of her resentment was attached to the mutated spider body. Under an odd coincidence, she became the Catastrophe Matrix.

    The matters that followed goes without saying. Every people from the town, including the walking dead, were ughter entirely by the Catastrophe Matrix that was in its endless resentment.

    In the end, the obsession to protect Hao Hao was corrupted by the bloody ughtering. Under the conflict of the resentment and the nature of the mutated spider, she turned insane.

    In conclusion, she found the only living creature in the whole town and inserted her eggs inside the young Hao Hao¡¯s body as part of her nature to breed.

    Usually, Hao Hao was in a deep sleep. But today, the Catastrophe Matrix was close to her childbirth, so she could not control her power much. As a result, Hao Hao ran out from the factory, which then met Zhang Mu and the others.

    Since his memory had stopped at the scene where his mother and him, was pushed into the abandoned factory, he went to Zhang Mu to call for help.

 Chapter 150 - Thrilling Moment

    <strong>Chapter 150: Thrilling Moment</strong>

    Zhang Mu could deduce most of the truth from Hao Hao description. It was not like he had never seen such cases before. Struck in awe by the unknown, the humans in the early days of the Cataclysm would emit the dark side of human nature. Therefore, Zhang Mu was not surprised by their action for doing such a thing to protect their life.

    But it was terrible for this to happen to a woman with a child. However, there was karma, and they had reaped what they sow. The gang that used the mother and son to feed the mutated animal got what they deserved. They had be the first target for the Catastrophe Matrix to revenge on and to turn into its food.

    Thus, the human heart is sinister.

    However, for this Catastrophe Matrix to appear, it consisted of many coincidences. For example, if the mutated spider had eaten Hao Hao¡¯s mother straightaway, she would not turn out like this. But because she had endless resentment during the torture, she had the vital requirement to be a Catastrophe Matrix.

    Zhang Mu was left with mixed feelings. It was not easy for her to survive, yet she had ended up like this. The death of Hao Hao¡¯s mother was caused by the people in the town, and they were killed by her as a result.

    Chills went down his spine as Zhang Mu suddenly wondered if there was a pair of a big hand hidden and controlled everything. His rebirth was a big loophole in this world already. Then, on which day, which ce, and which pitch point would the change bepletely erupted because of the loophole he had caused?

    However, Zhang Mu did not have the time to think about this problem now. Just a moment ago, Yuan Rui had thrown the shlight she carried with her into the pitch-ck hole. He widened his eye after he saw what was happening inside.

    The location of the Catastrophe Matrix was wrapped by a ck ocean. Under the illumination from the shlight, Zhang Mu could see that the ck wave was flowing around her body.

    asionally, a broken limb was revealed. The little spiders which were only the size of a nail, was expanding rapidly. With this, Zhang Mu finally understood what happened.

    The little spiders that the Catastrophe Matrix delivered were eating her!

    Zhang Mu was unsure if this Catastrophe Matrix had done it willingly, but the fact was ced in front of his eye.

    He questioned the Obsidian Beetle in his mind, ¡°Little ck, can you still smell that rotten scent from the monster? It seems that she was eaten by those little monsters she gave birth to.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle was shocked when it heard the news. It slowly raised its head and tried to sniff the rotten odor that was making it nausea previously. But with such a near distance, it did not smell any of it after many tries.

    Its forelimbs slowly straightened up as it looked in the direction of the hole. It said to Zhang Mu, ¡°If you never mention about it, I would not notice it. Just now, the odor that I was used to smelling was gone now. I already tried my best to smell it, but the strong odor was gradually weakening into nothing.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle spoke again slowly, ¡°But I sensed an aura that made me even worried.¡±

    Zhang Mu asked it with some uncertainties, ¡°That should be the scent of those thousands upon thousands of little spiders. But the scent only made you worried, with no rotten odor from that big monster, right?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± The Obsidian Beetle answered Zhang Mu with certainty, telling him that it already confirmed this fact.

    Then the matter would be harder to deal now. If it was worried, then it implies that the strength of those bunch of little spiders could threaten the existence of the Obsidian Beetle already. And without the rotten odor, there was only one possibility for this to happen.

    The human resentment on the Catastrophe Matrix was gone now after it was devoured once again.

    The nature of the mutated animal in her body, had enabled her to breed its offspring. Under pressure from Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle, it was forced intobor in advance, which drove her to a weakened state. However, she was a fool as she never did a proper job to cultivate her future generation and prepared some rations for them.

    Furthermore, the newly-born spiders did not have any feelings for this mother, who was half monster and half human. When the only living being, Zhang Mu, had left their attacking range, they turned their attention to their mother, the Catastrophe Matrix, who was weak and rooted to the spot.

    In the end, she could only watch her own children scrambled to her body and used it as their nourishment for their first evolution after they were born. They devoured everything until there was nothing left of her.

    After Zhang Mu saw the scene inside, he could felt his scalp tingling instantly. Formerly, tens of thousands of small spiders with the size of a nail was pretty terrifying already. But now that he looked at it, he saw that these individual being had turned into the size of a fist. The abandoned factory was going to be crammed with spiders by now.

    Moreover, it appears that the meat of the Catastrophe Matrix that was shared between them, was finishedpletely.

    Sure enough, the ck tide had stopped flowing. While Zhang Mu was stunned and speechless watching them, they had moved towards the hole. Seems like they had found food outside to be their ration now.

    Compared to the Catastrophe Matrix, Zhang Mu was more afraid of these spiders. Although the Catastrophe Matrix had a strong mutated power, it was easier to look for loopholes because she was not in her right mind while fighting. Furthermore, there was only one target.

    But these pure mutated spiders that were just born would have the most primitive and sharpestbat ability. Furthermore, their number had reached five figures, and that was far from what Zhang Mu could handle.

    The most crucial factor was that Zhang Mu was unsure if these little spiders had retained their mother¡¯s ability.

    If so, then the scene of those corrosive spider webs smashing all over him would be a disaster even if his psychic ability had recovered into its full state.

    At this moment, he thought of retreating and quickly called the Obsidian to fly and took away Yuan Rui plus the mutated wolfdog.

    For some reason, the tide of spiders that were flowing towards Zhang Mu¡¯s direction did note out from the hole all at once. There was only a small group of them.

    So where was the rest?

    Zhang Mu did not care about them anymore, as the whereabouts of these little monsters had nothing to do with him now.

    However, the moment he wanted to run, there was nothing under his foot all of a sudden.

    The ground below him, had copsed!

    This ground had turned hollow abruptly.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s mind shed a horrifying thought.

    In a few seconds, the remaining little spider was now beside him. Furthermore, they could make the ground copse?

 Chapter 151 - Barely Escaped

    <strong>Chapter 151: Barely Escaped</strong>

    Zhang Mu subconsciously grabbed the rock neared him, so that he would not fall. However, the rock beside him was incredibly loose too. Without giving him the time to recover, the rock that he grabbed on also started to sink and pulled him down once again when he exerted his strength.

    The moment he fell, he saw that the Obsidian Beetle was going to rescue him in the sky. Instantly, an idea shed through his mind, and the Bloodvine Lotus shot out from his left arm, reaching out to the Obsidian Beetle.

    When Zhang Mu was about to fall into the huge pit of spiders, the vines of the Bloodvine Lotus managed to grasp the paw of the mutated wolfdog just in time. In an instant, it wrapped around the paw and fastened around it firmly.

    On the other hand, Zhang Mu was controlling the Bloodvine Lotus and quickly exerting his strength to pull himself towards the Obsidian Beetle. Changing the direction abruptly and using the momentum to fly over.

    Fortunately, the Obsidian Beetle had advanced to the second-ranked, and the load it could take had increased. Otherwise, it would be hard for it to carry Zhang Mu, an adult man, who used all his strength to pull himself up.

    Although it was carrying Yuan Rui, the mutated wolfdog, as well as its body weight, now adding on the force that Zhang Mu suddenly exerted, the Obsidian Beetle continued to spread its wings and use the wind power for support. So at this moment, it was still holding on and slowly flew upwards carrying Zhang Mu.

    ¡°I almost couldn¡¯t hold on when you pulled me all of a sudden. Will you be happy when all of us fell into the big hole together?¡± The Obsidian Beetle muttered andined as it was upset with Zhang Mu¡¯s surprise attack.

    Zhang Mu scolded the Obsidian Beetle right away, ¡°Otherwise, how am I going to get up? You little brat, don¡¯t act weak in front of me. Just how much weight was this and you couldn¡¯t pull us anymore? What for would I want you as a second-ranked mutated animal? Besides, you are a wind-type mutated animal. You thought I can¡¯t sense the wind power that you are using now?¡±

    A cheeky smile appeared on the Obsidian Beetle as it knew that it was just dissing him. It did not want Zhang Mu to fall too.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s face lit up when he found that he was rising out from the hole. But in the next second, the expression on his face froze. He could feel something on his calf pulling him down.

    He almost cursed out loud the moment he nced back. It was just like what he had predicted previously.

    These little spiders had inherited the ability from their mother, the Catastrophe Matrix. They were shooting out sticky spider web!

    Fortunately, Zhang Mu did not felt any burning pain on his calfskin nor suffered any damage. He concluded that the spider webs, was not corrosive yet.

    Not sure whether was it because they did not inherit the power or they hadn¡¯t grown up yet, but for whatever reason, it was better this way.

    Right now, there were a dozen spider webs on Zhang Mu¡¯s leg, causing the Obsidian Beetle and Zhang Mu to be in a stalemate now.

    Meanwhile, the spider webs on Zhang Mu¡¯s calf was slowly tightening!

    The little spiders that were burying their head a moment ago, slowly raised their head and looked at Zhang Mu in an orderly mass.

    Finally, he could see what the ck spiders were up to earlier. It turned out that those ck spiders were eating the soil with their heads down. As they needed energy, they treated all the dirt as food. They secreted arge amount of corrosive liquid, then turn all the soil into a digestive fluid and swallowed them back.

    After the hard soil was sprayed with corrosive liquid, a green smoke instantly rose, and the dirt became a pool of fluid.

    Looking down at thepact mass of ck spiders, Zhang Mu could felt his scalp tingling with pins and needles again. If he, Yuan Rui, the Obsidian Beetle, and the mutated wolfdog were hauled into the enormous pit together, he believed that they would be devoured within a second with nothing remaining. Zhang Mu tensed up when he thought about the pain of being eaten by more than ten thousands spiders.

    Apparently, those little spiders believed that he might be tastier than the soil as all of them were gaining interest in him. Zhang Mu quickly took out the Obsidian Beetle dagger and cut the spider webs that were attached to his leg.

    However, these spider webs were not hard or stiff at all. It was soft and sticky at the same time. Although his dagger had undergone reinforcement, it was useless against those spider webs. Therefore, when Zhang Mu hewed the webs, he seems to be cutting a soft and fluffy cotton candy.

    After many struggles, Zhang Mu merely cut off two strands of the spider webs that were at the outermostyer, and there was still a dozen spider webs attached to his leg.

    Unfortunately, the little ck spiders underneath him did not give him a chance to escape. They stopped reprocessing the corrosive liquid on the ground, and all of them began to shoot out a strand of spider web that looked non-lethal. But to Zhang Mu, he felt that it was a chain made by Death.

    Seeing that there were a few more spider webs on his leg, Zhang Mu smiled bitterly.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was pinched into knots when he faced the overwhelming spider webs. He was deciding if he should release another vine from the Bloodvine Lotus to see if it would help him to hold on for a little longer. Or, to summon his psychic power that had recovered a little, to see if he could construct another psychic barrier to fight for a breathing time.

    But at this moment, two whistling sounds went past his ear.

    In the next second, Zhang Mu could see that there was a head to head battle between two giant des made up of the wind-element and the overwhelming webs that were about to envelop Zhang Mu.

    The wind-element giant des were severing the iing webs continuously. Despite that, it was shrinking at the rate visible to the naked eye. It appeared that the power of the wind-element was gradually weakening as they were too many spider webs for it to handle.

    It was the Obsidian Beetle!

    ¡°Hurry up! My wind des are not going tost any longer.¡± The anxious voice of the Obsidian Beetle could be heard in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind, urging him to break free from the webs quickly.

    Zhang Mu did not have time to reply to the Obsidian Beetle as he kept swinging the Obsidian Beetle Dagger. Finally, the remaining spider webs were cut offpletely.

    Zhang My could felt his body became lighter instantly. With a pull, he was lifted to the sky by the Obsidian Beetle.

    At the next moment, the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s wind des no longer hold out, and the overwhelming white spider webs had wrapped around Zhang Mu¡¯s former position.

    After the webs continued to rush forward, it became powerless after a certain distance. That must be their maximum range as the webs started to fall since it could not reach Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu, surrounded by thousands of ck spider, had escaped once again!

 Chapter 152 - A Comeback

    Chapter 152: A Comeback

    Zhang Mu was not afraid of heights and let the Obsidian Beetle pull him up as high as it could. He watched silently at the enormous pit of ck spiders underneath him as he flew farther and farther away from them.

    Soon, the Obsidian Beetle could not hold on anymore. Previously, it had overused the wind-element to form those two giant wind des. Coupled with the fact that the load on its body had reached maximum capacity, it gradually slowed down and started tond.

    When Zhang Mu¡¯s feet could touch the ground, he immediately retracted the Bloodvine Lotus fastened on the paws of the mutated wolfdog. Then, he lightly leaped away from the ground to moved away for the Obsidian Beetle tond. Even though there were some distances from the town, Zhang Mu was still looking in that direction with fear in his eye.

    ¡°Uncle, how should we deal with those spiders?¡± Yuan Rui nced at him with a puzzled look on her face as she was picked up from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s back by Zhang Mu. She continued to pet Hao Hao in her arm so that he would not be too upset.

    Zhang Mu quietly thought to himself before shaking his head helplessly. Currently, he had no idea how should he deal with those little spiders, who had absorbed all the essence from their mother¡¯s body.

    As long as they had sufficient time and energy, they would be able to grow to the power of a first-ranked mutated animal at a fast pace. Thinking about the destructive power of thousands and thousands of first-ranked mutated animal, so far, there would not be any base that could withstand that amount of attack, even if the base had an evolver with strong awakening ability.

    This time, Zhang Mu was a little worried about those cities nearby. Currently, the human had no ideas on how to fight against them. Does that mean that from now onwards, every human being had to hole up inside the city for the protection of the era merchant?

    One should know that previously, the incident involving a thousand mutated animal escaping from the zoo in Luoyang city, had driven all the human till the point where they had no chance to fight back. Right now, the number was at least ten times the original amount!

    No matter how strong a person¡¯s ability could be, they would be drowned facing such a tremendous number.

    Not only the era sub-merchants would have difficulty doing their job, but there would not be enough self-sufficient agriculture and livestock breeding in the city. The principal source of human¡¯s rations was stilling from collecting material in the city and going outside to hunt meat from some mutated animal that was rtively easy to capture.

    However, with thousands of the first-ranked spiders watching like a bloodthirsty tiger outside the city, no one would dare to step out of the safe zone.

    But Zhang Mu honestly did not have any ideas on how to clear up these batch of newly-born spiders.

    Zhang Mu turned and looked at Yuan Rui, ¡°With my ability now, I can¡¯t handle them. Even if we count Little ck and that stupid dog, all efforts would be in vain. Facing such a huge number, we would not achieve any effects.¡±

    Yuan Rui pondered for a while and decided to stop persuading Zhang Mu to take the risk. But seeing the resentment and coldness in Hao Hao¡¯s eye, there was a sharp pain in her heart. She nced at Zhang Mu with some hesitation and questioned, ¡®Uncle, what about Hao Hao? He is just a child. You¡¯re not going to leave him alone, are you?¡±

    Yuan Rui¡¯s eye was filled with pleas, fearing that Zhang Mu would say something she did not want to hear.

    ¡°It is very dangerous for us toe out and do our business nowadays. If we bring along a little boy that doesn¡¯t know how to protect himself, we might have to spend more energy to take care of him.¡±

    Hearing Zhang Mu¡¯s words, Yuan Rui almost cried out loud as she cuddled Hao Hao tightly, not letting him go.

    However, Zhang Mu smiled and continued, ¡°If we could not take care of him, we could leave him to a woman staying in the city when we return back to Luoyang city. I¡¯m pretty sure that if we let Wang Liang choose, he would pick someone that is most suitable to take care of Hao Hao. Furthermore, we can provide that person with a sum of ration every month as a foster fee.¡±

    Zhang Mu did not want to tease Yuan Rui and told her the solution immediately. Yuan Rui then wiped off the tears that were about to flow out from her eyes and smack Zhang Mu. Now that she thought about her action, she felt that she was a little selfish. If they really brought a child along, that would make arge impact on Zhang Mu. Hence, she looked at him apologetically.

    Actually, Zhang Mu did not want to meddle in other people¡¯s affairs. But for him to throw a ten years old boy into the wilderness, was something he would not do. Therefore, he could only think of this method. However, he did not know whether Hao Hao would be able to blend into human society with such a mindset now.

    The trauma was too big for him. Even with Zhang Mu, Hao Hao was looking at him with full of vignce. Yuan Rui was much better as she was looking after him for the whole time, so he had allowed her to cuddle him.

    At this time, a yawning noise apanied by a heavy nasal sound could be heard.

    When Zhang Mu heard this sound, he knew that the stupid mutated wolfdog had woken up. He immediately walked over. Pulling on its dog ear, he grumbled, ¡°You still know how to wake up? The Sun had risen for a long time already. Do you know that you almost got eaten until you were a pile of bone left?¡±

    The mutated wolfdog also knew that it had slept for a long time as it shook its tail and licked Zhang Mu¡¯s hand to please him.

    Now that the mutated wolfdog was full of spirit after sleeping, it no longer had a fragile appearance. Looking at it admitting his mistake, Zhang Mu no longer me him.

    Zhang Mu had another headache when he continued to think about the matter a while ago.

    If only he had an ability with AOE damage, he would not be in such a distress situation now. When they were still weak, he should clean them up so that there would not be any hidden danger after that.

    When he saw the mutated wolfdog twitching its nose, Zhang Mu suddenly came up with an idea which made him excited.

    The ability for AOE damage did not have to depend on himself. Previously there was a sessful method that he hadn¡¯t used for a long time. Now was the perfect time for him to apply them.

    A fire attack using gasoline!

    Now that those little spiders have not advanced to the first rank, their defenses must be extremely weak and could not withstand against the fire set by gasoline. Furthermore, Zhang Mu could use the nose of the mutated wolfdog, that was far more reliable than the Obsidian Beetle, to sniff out the ces that stored the gasoline and ignite another tremendous fire.

    As for the ground, it was uncertain if it was eaten and hollowed out by the little spiders. Nevertheless, Zhang Mu had a way to deal with it.

    If he could not walk from the ground, he still had a powerful flying tool that could attack.

    It is time to make aeback!

    Little spiders, I, Zhang Mu, ising back to y with you. Hehehe.

    Zhang Mu nced towards the Obsidian Beetle, who was stretching its wings on its back, and smiled wickedly.

 Chapter 153 - The Old Tricks Strike Again

    <strong>Chapter 153: The Old Tricks Strike Again</strong>

    It was a little creepy when the Obsidian Beetle saw that Zhang Mu was staring at him, so it questioned him, ¡°What do you want? There¡¯s nothing good about your smile. What do you want from me again?¡±

    Zhang Mu walked over and patted the back of the Obsidian Beetle, ¡°Why are you so nervous? I was going to make use some of your ability, nothing dangerous. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    Despite that, the Obsidian Beetle continued to look at him suspiciously. Zhang Mu had too many tricks up his sleeve, and the look in his eye definitely had a problem, ¡°What are you going to do? Say it.¡±

    Zhang Mu touched the head of the mutated wolfdog in the meantime and replied with a smile, ¡°I¡¯m going to use the same trick that we used at Luoyang city in the beginning, using gasoline and let those little spiders have a good time. What do you think?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle said doubtfully, ¡°Where are you going to get gasoline? Don¡¯t look at me. I can¡¯t find them now.¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled and said nothing. He just continued to pet the mutated wolfdog, who was standing at one side looking confused.

    After a while, the Obsidian Beetle finally figure it out. It turns out that Zhang Mu was going to rely on the mutated wolfdog to track down the gasoline.

    However, the Obsidian Beetle looked suspiciously at the nose of the mutated wolfdog and asked, ¡°Can he do the job? Anyway, I didn¡¯t smell the gasoline, so ask him yourself. You better make it quick though, those spiders might not stay there for a long time, and it would be normal for them to leave the ce already.¡±

    That¡¯s right. If the spiders were scattered, then things would be tricky. Zhang Mu¡¯s tactic was arge-scale attack against a huge colony. If there were only some bits and pieces left, then the effect would be reduced.

    The mutated wolfdog met Zhang Mu¡¯s eye and seemed to understand the hidden message behind his smile. It barked a few time to express its dissatisfaction.

    Of course, Zhang Mu had a way to deal with it. He took out a bag of earth-type mutated beast core from his merchant ring and ced it in front of the mutated wolfdog. ¡°If you can find the ce where the gasoline is stored, then this bag of first-ranked earth-type mutated beast core would be all yours. How does that sound?¡±

    The eye of the mutated wolfdog was shining with excitement when it looked at the cloth bag on Zhang Mu¡¯s hand. It stuck its tongue out and wanted to snatch it away from Zhang Mu¡¯s hand. However, Zhang Mu raised his arm high and shook the bag in front of the wolfdog before putting it back into his merchant ring. He gave a cheeky grin at the mutated wolfdog, ¡°They are yours if you can find the gasoline. Now, you can¡¯t have them!¡±

    The mutated wolfdog let out a howl, and it appears that they had reached an agreement. It quickly ran and kicked up a cloud of dust behind.

    It was feeling anxious in its heart. Currently, Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle had advanced to the second rank yet, it still hadn¡¯t touched the doorway to the second rank, since it stillcks a lot of energy. It did not dare to devour other elements of the beast core and could only watch longingly at those that Zhang Mu stored in his ring.

    And now, Zhang Mu finally decided to release all of his beast cores, causing it to be buzzing with excitement. With this bag of earth-type beast cores, he would only be a step away from advancing to the second rank.

    Right now, it was not even qualified to reach that stage, let alone thinking about advancing to the second rank.

    After ten minutes, the mutated wolfdog ran back while gasping for air. It was true that their location could not pick up any gasoline earlier. But after a long run, it finally confirmed that there was a gasoline smell in the airing faintly from a particr direction.

    Zhang Mu let the Obsidian Beetle remained in this ce to apany Hao Hao and Yuan Rui. It was happy to be able toze around, so itid on the ground and fell asleep.

    Meanwhile, Zhang Mu ran together with the mutated wolfdog right away, to the direction that it identified.

    Eventually, Zhang Mu was sick of the mutated wolfdog as it was far slower than him. Straight away, he lifted the wolfdog once again. He used his psychic barrier to share the burden of its weight and sprint to the direction.

    This time, the mutated wolfdog was awake. Somehow, it felt a sense of humiliation. It was a mutated animal yet, it was scorned by a human in terms of speed and even got carried to travel together. It was so humiliating, but it was still manipted by Zhang Mu helplessly.

    ording to Zhang Mu¡¯s word, the mutated wolfdog only needs to find the general direction of the gasoline, and it did not need to handle the rest of the matter. Every time when Zhang Mu needed to change his direction, the mutated wolfdog would move its body and indicate the direction, acting as apass.

    When they arrived at their destination, Zhang Mu threw the cloth bag towards the mutated wolfdog and left it alone. Meanwhile, he headed to the direction of the gasoline by himself, since he could smell them now.

    ¡£¡£¡£¡£¡£¡£

    Zhang Mu held a small tank of gasoline in his hand while moving slowly in the air, with his shoulders grabbed firmly by the Obsidian Beetle. Soon enough, they arrived at the abandoned factory and saw the enormous pit at its original ce.

    However, the pit was empty. Zhang Mu sighed heavily and thought to himself, ¡°In the end, they have left the ce already? If we did not destroy them now, how should we redeem ourselves when the timees?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle seems to hear Zhang Mu¡¯s thought andughed, ¡°What is there to worry about? I can smell them under the ground devouring the soil.¡±

    Because they could not find any food, so they kept devouring the slight energy from the soil? But why didn¡¯t the little spiders leave this area and find food elsewhere? With their current strength and numbers, unless there was a third-ranked mutated animal, there should not be anything nearby that could hinder their existence.

    Although Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t see the little spiders under the surface, he trusted the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s judgment.

    No matter how strong they were in number and strength, these mutated animals still hadn¡¯t reached the first rank. The ability to hide their presence definitely could not outsmart the sense of the Obsidian Beetle that was a second-ranked mutated animal.

    So what was the reason that they were unwilling to leave this ce?

    There was only one answer in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind. As these little spiders were just born, therefore, they had an unknown fear towards the outside world. Even if they were undefeatable when moving as a team, but their innate instinct will stop them from going out to explore.

    If that was the case, then the Lady of luck was on his side because his n must be carried out on arge scale in order to work wlessly.

    However, how should he lure them out from the ground? If he just poured the gasoline straightaway, the result would be hugely reduced.

    Killing a small portion of them was not what he wanted. After all, it would scare away the remaining part. As a result, what had gained would not make up for what was lost.

 Chapter 154 - Bestowed with Great Responsibility

    <strong>Chapter 154: Bestowed with Great Responsibility</strong>

    Zhang Mu was sure that he could not count on the Obsidian Beetle as he knew that it would refuse him. Therefore, Zhang Mu had no choice but to depend on himself.

    With that, he put away the gasoline tank and let the Obsidian Beetle lower the altitude. It slowly descended until he couldnd on the ground far from the enormous pit.

    ¡°I will call for youter. So stay close to me, alright? Remember to fly over immediately.¡±

    Zhang Mu told the Obsidian Beetle to be careful, yet the Obsidian Beetle looked at him disdainfully and responded, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. Why are you so fussy and noisy when you are going to be the bait? Are you going to clean them up or what?¡±

    Zhang Mu did not refute this time as he knew that if he did not grasp this chance, then there would be a huge probability for this to fail. Now, there were thousands of little spiders underneath his leg.

    He had no guts to stay in this environment for a second longer and could only rely on Little ck¡¯s speed.

    Zhang Mu slowly tread down the ground as he was afraid that the soil underneath was devoured empty by the little spiders beforehand. Fortunately, the distance was still rtively far and was not within the eating range of those little spiders.

    Zhang Mu felt the ground with cautious, but that was still dangerous too. By any chance, if his leg stepped on nothing and he could not restrain himself, then things would go out of control. If he fell into the pit, even the Obsidian Beetle might not save him on time.

    Suddenly, Zhang Mu had an idea. That¡¯s right. It was time for the Bloodvine Lotus to shine.

    Under Zhang Mu¡¯s control, the Bloodvine Lotus immediately broke through the skin on his left arm. A vine slowly pierced into the ground and gradually advance to the direction of the enormous pit.

    Firm, the soil was still firm. Zhang Mu controlled the Bloodvine Lotus and advanced little by little. Through the vine, he could feel the specific condition of nearby dirt.

    The feedback that the Bloodvine Lotus reported to Zhang Mu was that the soil nearby was slowly bing worse and was probably due to the corrosive liquid from those spiders.

    Finally, there was emptiness as this section of the soil waspletely hollowed. Furthermore, the vine that the Bloodvine Lotus stuck out seemed to touch some residue of the corrosive liquid as it retracted abruptly.

    So that was the range that those little spiders had invaded? Zhang Mu retracted the Bloodvine Lotus and saw that the tip of the vine had corroded. Never did he expect that this highly corrosive liquid could deteriorate such a firm and tenacious Bloodvine Lotus straightaway. The vine would be withered by now if not for the self-regeneration ability that the Bloodvine Lotus had.

    Despite that, the part of the Bloodvine Lotus that had the corrosive liquid was struggling to fight against it.

    However, Zhang Mu had no time for the Bloodvine Lotus to recover fully from the corrosive liquid. He had to abandon that portion now because those little spiders had appeared!

    A faint stirring sound reverberated from the ground, and Zhang Mu could sense that something was wrong. Instantly, the ground in front of him was copsing at speed visible to the naked eye. However, Zhang Mu could not leave yet as he had to wait for all of those little spiders toe out. If he left now, he might not be able to attract out all of the spiders.

    It was a dreadful scene as he had to stay there and watch the ground copsed in front of him inch by inch.

    The moment the ground was about to copse in front of him, Zhang Mu quickly shouted, ¡°Little ck!¡±

    Before Zhang Mu couldplete his sentence, Little ck, who was waiting on one side at a low altitude, raced to Zhang Mu¡¯s side with lightning speed. It grabbed hold of his shoulder and quickly flew up.

    Almost at the same time, the patch of soil underneath Zhang Mu¡¯s leg had copsed.

    It was at that moment Zhang Mu finally saw what was happening. Just now, the scenting from Zhang Mu had attracted them toe out from the ground. After they saw Zhang Mu, who was ascending the air, they stopped devouring the soil.

    It appears that these little spiders had recognized the lowly pair of Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle. They never expected that they woulde back and courted death after they had escaped.

    These mutated little spiders did not have aplicated mindset. Even if they had sensed the familiar scent from Zhang Mu, they were not afraid of him at all. Instead, they were thinking of devouring Zhang Mu, who had arge amount of energy in his body, to be their driving force to evolve.

    ¡°Quickly fly up, faster! Their spider webs areing. Little ck, hurry up!¡±

    Zhang Mu was urging the Obsidian Beetle to ascend quickly. He could see that the spider webs that were squeezed out from their body, were approaching towards them much faster than the ascending speed of the Obsidian Beetle.

    It seems that they were determined to win as it was not just a few dozen webs this time. All of them appeared to be under a singlemand as they shot out nearly ten thousands of spider webs together at once. Just like that, a sheet of white giant web formed in front of Zhang Mu¡¯s eye and was slowly caging Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle in all direction. Zhang Mu shudders with fear as he watched the scene in front of him.

    At this moment, the Obsidian Beetle started to gather the wind-element on its wing. Zhang Mu thought that it was going to form the giant de to attack the enormous spider web. However, he noticed that the sound of whistling beside his ear had increased instead.

    It turns out that this time, the Obsidian Beetle did not use the wind-element to attack. On the contrary, it gathered them on its wings so that it could speed up several times. It quickly ascended along with Zhang Mu before the spider webs closed on them.

    Once again, the spider webs had reached the maximum height. The webs hit one another and glued into a ball before it slumped down and covered arge patch of the ground.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder was in a burning pain when the Obsidian Beetle suddenly exerted its strength. Despite that, his eyes were filled with happiness. He felt a sense of excitement as if he was on the verge of fulfilling his goal.

    Just now you guys had your time, right? It is my turn now. Tonight, let¡¯s try the taste of char-grilled spiders.

    Right now, he was bestowed with great responsibility as the lives of the human being were depended on him. If his n seeded, then there would be no worries left behind, and the human being would be able to survive through the beginning of the Cataclysm.

    Then he, himself could safelyplete the task of an era sub-merchant too.

    He stabilized his body to take out the gasoline tank which he kept inside his merchant ring and poured it down gently.

    But because of the wind, the gasoline did not fall on the spot like what he had expected.

    Zhang Mu slowly said verbally, ¡°Little ck, drop a little.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle nced at him with a confused expression on its face. However, it found that Zhang Mu had put away his smiling face already. Therefore, it knew that he was starting to be serious andplied with his request.

    ¡°Lower a bit more!¡±

 Chapter 155 - Thrilling Moment

    <strong>Chapter 155: Thrilling Moment</strong>

    Currently, Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle were very close to the ground. Meanwhile, those little spiders could only watch them descend with eager eyes since they had shot out a spider web earlier, and was unable to attack now. If they were at that height previously, the spiders could entangle them unquestionably. However, they could only stare at them with their eyes wide open as they flew past their head now.

    On the other hand, the spider¡¯s corrosive liquid did note from their poison sac. It was merely a type of gastric juice, and it did not have the ability to spurt. Therefore, the spiders could not do anything to Zhang Mu, who was unting above their head.

    Zhang Mu knew that there would be an interval before these little spiders could summon their webs again. Hence, he was fearless of them now. These mutated animals that hadn¡¯t reached the first rank would surely have a cooldown period after releasing their power.

    However, Zhang Mu had no clue how long would the cooldownst. So right now, he held his nerve and pulled out a gasoline tank from his merchant ring. Straightway, he poured it down on the pile of spiders that were only a few feet away. The pungent odor almost caused Zhang Mu to vomit. However, he did not decrease the speed of his hand.

    After the height had lowered, it was a lot more urate now. The gasoline was evenly dumped onto the ces that he wanted to pour.

    After the Obsidian Beetle flew him around, Zhang Mu found out the reason why the spiders could still absorb energy even though they did not change their location. It appeared that they kept digging all the way down and continued to devour them, despite the fact that the soil was getting denser the more they dug. The dirt was nothingpared to their highly corrosive liquid.

    As a result, the enormous pit was dug deeper and deeper before Zhang Mu arrived.

    Looking at the depth of enormous pit, Zhang Mu estimated roughly the amount of gasoline he needs. Immediately, he took a deep cold breath and spoke out loud, ¡°It is a good thing that I brought enough gasoline from the gas station this time. Otherwise, I might not be able to burn them.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle had taken him around but the gasoline he poured down into the big pit of spiders, was like a wave going into the ocean, nowhere to be seen.

    He found that pouring the tank one by one was too troublesome. Hence, he pointed his merchant ring towards the enormous pit underneath him. Using his mind, the tanks filled with gasoline were thrown out one after another.

    In fact, he had thought of this idea before. If he threw the gasoline tank while he was in the sky, it would not be affected by the wind. However, he might smash as well as killed a part of the spiders on such a high position. Furthermore, it might scare away the others too. Then he would have gained nothing from this.

    He smashed a group of the mutated spiders, but since the cement was not that high, it did not cause much damage to the spiders. Those that were hit had climbed out under the gasoline tank. Even though it had scared them, and caused them to scatter around, but they were immediately attracted to the tank that was filled with gasoline as it was also another source of energy.

    The spiders climbed all over the tank and started to devour it. Instantly, all of the gasoline tanks were surrounded and shredded into pieces by a big group of spiders.

    Gasoline slowly flowed out from the ces that the tank was shredded and a small stream gradually flowed around the enormous pit.

    At first, Zhang Mu was a little nervous when he saw that the spiders were devouring the tanks because he was afraid that the spider¡¯s corrosive liquid was enough to melt down the gasoline. If that was the case, then he was risking his life for nothing.

    Fortunately, these mutated spiders did not eat anything they could find. After they shared and ate the metal shell of the tankpletely, none of them bothered the gasoline that was flowing on the ground. Furthermore, they were not afraid of the pungent scent of gasoline. Zhang Mu suspected that they did not have the scent of smell.

    Okay, this was good. If the spiders really drank the gasoline, then Zhang Mu had no idea how to deal with them anymore.

    It was just a false rm!

    These little spiders were not aware of the gasoline that was surrounding them. In the meantime, they kept staring at Zhang Mu, who kept throwing the gasoline tanks. Because the number of spiders that could amodate the gasoline tank was limited, so every time Zhang Mu threw a new gasoline tank, a portion of the spiders that were near the gasoline tank would surround and digest the metal as their energy.

    Meanwhile, the vast majority of the spiders that did not have the chance to devour the gasoline tanks followed Zhang Mu¡¯s movement without blinking their eye.

    Zhang Mu knew that they were waiting to summon their next spider webs. Feeling the burning gaze from the thousands of spiders, Zhang Mu moved even faster. His mind was used up to control the merchant ring while analyzing the next best location to drop the gasoline tank.

    He couldn¡¯t tell how much longer would these mutated animals that hadn¡¯t reached the first rank, would take to recover and release their power again.

    While Zhang Mu was racing against time, a deep sense of danger rose from his heart abruptly.

    He looked down and saw that the mutated spiders were starting to arch their body as they stared at Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle with theirpound eye.

    That action was too familiar. It was the first omen when the spiders were about to release their power!

    How could the cooldown period go by so quickly?

    Right now, there was still a tank of gasoline inside Zhang Mu¡¯s merchant ring. If he did not cover all the corners, Zhang Mu had no confidence that he would be able to wipe them out all at once. Once there was a weak spot on this artificial fire, then not only would these spiders could be able to escape from such a simple ce, but the spiders in other location would notice that that was the spot to breach immediately. When more than half of the mutated spiders were scared away by Zhang Mu, then all of his efforts would go down the drain.

    However, it would be toote if they did not leave the ce now. Zhang Mu did not have any time to think and immediately made his decision. He spoke to the Obsidian Beetle, ¡°Now that I¡¯m the only one that you carry, can you use your speed to dodge the spider webs?¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you want to do this? Once my wings were stuck, then we can¡¯t escape anymore.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle felt that Zhang Mu was insane now, and persuaded him to change his mind, ¡°There is still time for us to leave now. If you insist to drop thatst tank of gasoline, I have no confidence that we could escape from this ce.¡±

    ¡°No worries. When something goes wrong, you can leave right away.¡± Zhang Mu was so terribly calm as he urged the Obsidian Beetle to continue flying.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll try my best.¡± After the Obsidian Beetle agreed, it put away the idea of escaping with Zhang Mu. It sped up and quickly flew to thest empty spot.

    As soon as Zhang Mu saw that they arrived at the location, he threw down the gasoline tank. After that, the Obsidian Beetle flew up desperately.

    However, it was toote. Ten strands of the spider webs had scraped pass Zhang Mu¡¯s face and went through the empty spaces of the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s body.

    If it weren¡¯t for the Obsidian Beetle moving its body nimbly, its wings would have entangled long ago and could not move anymore.

    What a thrilling moment!

 Chapter 156 - Caught In Their Own Trap

    Chapter 156: Caught In Their Own Trap

    ¡°Faster! Hurry up!¡± Zhang Mu urged the Obsidian Beetle as he started to get anxious in his heart now.

    ¡°Oh, now you are in a hurry? Why are you rushing me when you were the one that told me to wait till you¡¯re finished?¡± The Obsidian Beetle taunted Zhang Mu while it was dodging the scattered spider webs. This time, not all of the spiders shot out their spider web at the same time. The vast majority was still focusing on devouring the metals. As a result, they did not enclose Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle as soon as possible, and gave them a breathing space to struggle through the cracks.

    This time, the spider webs assembled a massive hollow cocoon right away, and it was slowly umting too.

    At this moment, the Obsidian Beetle had be extremely agile after it turned on its full speed. It was like a sh of ck lightning, shuttling back and forth through the white spider webs. However, it was bing more and more difficult for it to handle too.

    Every time it wanted to ascend, there would be a strand of spider web attached to the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s wing. To avoid such cases, it had to adjust its direction and descend.

    Seeing more and more spiders digested the metallic oil tank, Zhang Mu started to panic in his heart. If they did not take off now, then they would never get another chance to escape again. The Obsidian Beetle was trying the find a way to break through, but there were too many spider webs now. Earlier, it had to use a wind de to block ayer of the spider webs. However, there would be new ones to cover the gap again. Furthermore, the space that the Obsidian Beetle could dodge was getting smaller and smaller. The anxious Zhang Mu had an idea abruptly. At first, Zhang Mu wanted to throw the fire source into the enormous pit after they left the ce.

    But if he threw it now, would it help him to escape from this trap?

    Furthermore, if he threw it now, then would he be able to escape from the fire, would also pose a big problem too.

    Nevertheless, the reality did not give Zhang Mu any more alternatives because now, almost all of the gasoline tanks were inside the spiders¡¯ stomach.

    Forced by the sense of crisis, Zhang Mu took out the fire source from his merchant ring and threw it down eagerly. With a swish, the fire source dropped on the center and mes red up instantly.

    Zhang Mu felt the burning heat immediately. He felt like the roasted chicken on a grill, and all of his pores on his body were covered by a zing hot air. That was the first time he felt the taste of getting roasted.

    Because the space was too small, therefore the heat could not radiate out. However, Zhang Mu was pleasantly surprised to find a very crucial feature. The spider webs that even the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s wind de and his Obsidian Beetle dagger could not cut through was slowly melting away. Although it wasn¡¯t obvious, Zhang Mu could felt that the thickness of the spider cocoon was bing thinner.

    Never did he expect that the spider webs of these mutated spiders were afraid of fire and high heat. This time he had bet correctly, and the fire attack had achieved a miraculous effect. But now was not the time to celebrate, if they did not leave the ce now, Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle would be buried with the mutated spiders together in this enormous pit.

    Zhang Mu felt gloomy when he thought that he would be scorched by the fire that he set by himself, instead of being eaten by the mutated spiders.

    ¡°Little ck, can you form another wind de?¡± Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle, waiting for it to answer him since it was busy avoiding the spider webs.

    The Obsidian Beetle replied sourly, ¡°Now my energy stillcks a little. Just now, I had used all of my power to wear down some of the spider webs that I couldn¡¯t dodge. Hence, I couldn¡¯t form a perfect wind de yet.¡±

    Zhang Mu turned his head and looked under his leg. Right now, he could hear the squeak of the spider getting roasted by the fire, and the crisp sound of their body.

    But now was not the time to consider this. If they did not take action, Zhang Mu was afraid that the meat fragrant would being out from both of their body next. Currently, the me was burning up along the strand of the spider webs, and the speed was extremely fast. It was as if the spider webs had the same function as a fuel.

    This time Zhang Mu was indeed killing a thousand enemy and damaging himself by eight hundred.

    ¡°Then use your remaining power and form another wind de, even a broken one will do. Hurry up. If you are slightly slower, the me is going to burn my butt.¡± Zhang Mu estimated the timing for the me to channel up, and there were only about 5 seconds left.

    The Obsidian Beetle also sensed the seriousness of the situation. It grabbed Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder a little tighter using its ws while it mobilized all of the wind energy in its body and formed an iplete wind de from its wings. The wind de headed straight for the top of the spider web cocoon and sted out.

    Although itcked a little power, the mes had hardened the spider webs. Therefore, the previous advantage of its softness was destroyed. The harder it was, the weaker it would be. Hence, it was sted open by the waning moon-like wind de.

    When the Obsidian Beetle saw the Sunlighting in, it flew up hurriedly. Meanwhile, the mutated spiders were having trouble taking care of themselves and did not have time to make a new spider web to block the opening of the cocoon.

    One second before the me burned Zhang Mu¡¯s butt, the Obsidian Beetle brought him out of the massive cocoon.

    The fire started to get taller subsequently. However, since the spider webs did not extend upwards, the mes had lost the medium for it to burn and slowly shrank back again.

    The Obsidian Beetle was burned slightly too as it flew to a faraway ce before putting down the glowing red-faced Zhang Mu. Zhang Mu looked at the massive cocoon getting burned from the inside from a distance.

    What a close call!

    These mutated spiders were truly trapped by their own cocoon now. At first, the me and heat might get dispersed, but because of the spider web cocoon, the fire could not be dispelled, and it confined them together instead.

    asionally, there would be a group of little spiders trickling out from the enormous pit. But since they were weak against fire, they could not extinguish the raging me on their body. With a few steps outside the enormous pit, they could not move anymore.

    ¡°Little ck, what do you say about the taste of roasted spiders? I remembered eating this type of roasted spiders and scorpions on those food streets when I was young, and it was delicious. Now, these were mutated, they could be tastier right?¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled wickedly and forgot about that fact that he was about to be a roast pork earlier. Now, he kept thinking about the mutated spiders inside the sea of mes.

    ¡°You have eaten it before, but I did not. So how would I know if the spiders taste good? If you want to find out, just get one to try, and you will know the answer.¡±

    The first sentence sounded cold and mighty, but thetter sentence immediately exposed the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s intention. It was even greedier than Zhang Mu as it stared the burning spiders with an eager eye on the fire in front of it. In its eyes, it was a massive oven filled with all of its food.

 Chapter 157 - Little Blackâ€™s Tricks

    <strong>Chapter 157: Little ck¡¯s Tricks</strong>

    The fire continued unabated. Zhang Mu practically retrieved all the gasoline from the gas station this time. As he had a huge space inside his merchant ring, he brought all of them over.

    Because the amount of gasoline was enough, with the soil corroded and riddled with holes, the gasoline that he threw down would trickle underground for a dozen meters.

    Those spiders that wanted to escape underground would be asking for trouble instead. The fire was burning endlessly and was spreading to every corner where the gasoline was present. Hence, when those spiders that were soaked fully with gasoline were forced to dig underground, it was acting like a fuse with running ability.

    The faster they ran and the deeper they dug, the farther the me would spread. Hence, these spiders would burn even more miserably.

    ¡°Do you think that those spiders are done roasting? Want to go in and eat some of them?¡± The Obsidian Beetle looked eagerly towards the direction of the enormous pit. Thinking about therge barbecue meal inside, it felt that the roasted spiders would taste the same as the roasted bear meat that Zhang Mu barbecued after it had finished its advancement.

    Zhang Mu rolled his eye and looked at the fire that did not appear to be receding soon. ¡°If you want to eat them, then go in yourself. Don¡¯t drag me along. Until now, my butt is still painful, so I¡¯ll wait here instead.¡±

    Zhang Mu thought that the Obsidian Beetle would listen to him this time. But he never expected that the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s heart to feast had ovee the fear of firepletely.

    He saw that it shook its wing and headed straight for the sea of mes. Zhang Mu was stunned and speechless watching the Obsidian Beetle. It was so greedy to this extent.

    For some reason, the outermostyer of the massive cocoon, made up of the spider webs, did not burn. It kept the heat under control and continued to burn furiously.

    And for those spiders, they were a great mmable agent as they could not resist getting scorched by the firepletely. Due to their survival instinct, they were still frantically digging the soil to go under a deeperyer.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it actually risked its life for food.¡± Zhang Muughed silently to himself as he looked at the back of the Obsidian Beetle getting out of sight. Never in his mind did he expect that the Obsidian Beetle would be tempted to this extent.

    The Obsidian Beetle flew low on the ground. Although it was a wind-typed mutated animal, on the surface it would not be subdued by the fire too much. However, the event that Zhang Mu created was not a regr fire.

    The Obsidian Beetle hesitated for a moment outside the enormous pit. Just now, it was still daring and enthusiastic. However, it had a new n now.

    Because of the massive cocoon, there was too much heat trapped inside. The Obsidian Beetle stopped outside the cocoon and could felt its innate instinct was rejecting and opposing the fire.

    As a result, it was flying around the big pit like a chicken thief. Just as it expected, it found a few spiders on the ground, that were roasted tender with a crispy crust.

    The Obsidian Beetle was unable to hold back itself as it carefully picked up one of them using its w, and put inside its mouth to bite.

    However, as it chews and chews, the formerly enthusiastic mood of the Obsidian Beetle was starting to turnplex. It flew back with a nk expression on its face and even held a few mutated spiders on its w.

    Seeing the Obsidian Beetle returning so quickly, Zhang Mu had a bad feeling all of a sudden.

    When he saw the mutated spiders on the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s w, he knew that it was going to y tricks on him. So he pretended not to notice and said in his mind, ¡°What happen? I can¡¯t believe you return so fast. I thought you were going to have a big feast? Is it because you are afraid and didn¡¯t dare to take a peek inside? There were thousands of mutated spiders inside that you were longing for, so why didn¡¯t you have a good meal and glut yourself with those delicious foods?¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle said calmly, ¡°That¡¯s right. I felt that my shell couldn¡¯t withstand such a high temperature, so it is better to wait for it to cool down. You see, I even brought back a few of them for you to try. I can¡¯t pocket everything without sharing them with you, am I right?¡±

    At this moment, the uneasy feeling in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart was getting worse. It was possible for the Obsidian Beetle to be afraid of fire, but with this sort of delicacy, even if the Obsidian Beetle was full, it wouldn¡¯t bring some over for him to try.

    Zhang Mu understood the character of the Obsidian Beetle too well.

    Right now, its belly must be full of bad water, and it wanted to stir things up.

    But it had underestimated Zhang Mu. In his past life, there was nothing that Zhang Mu never tasted. When he was penniless, he even ate tree roots and tree bucks. These items, apanied by a few wild vegetables, were delicious too.

    It was not exaggerating to say that Zhang Mu had eaten all sorts of thing that a refugee would eat. Well, except for the Guanyin soil that would fill his belly but would cost his life at the same time.

    As the fifth sessor, he was only a humble era sub-merchant. If he did not have the opportunity to be one, he was no different from an ordinary person since he did not have any awakening ability. He could only be a little richer when hepleted the era merchant¡¯s task every time.

    Zhang Mu slowly epted a mass of burned mutated spiders from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s w. Under the yful eye of the Obsidian Beetle, he plucked off a spider leg and stuffed it inside his mouth to taste it carefully.

    After removing theyer of burnt skin from the mutated spider, there was pink colored meat inside. When Zhang Mu took a bite in his mouth, he finally understood why was the Obsidian Beetle acting so ¡®nice¡¯ to him.

    The meat of the mutated spider was almost as hard as tree bark. However, Zhang Mu continued to stuff his mouth without changing his facial expression. Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle was stunned and speechless observing him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you think that it tastes terrible? I spit it out after taking a bite. I have never eaten anything so nasty like this before.¡± The voice of the Obsidian Beetle sounded surprised. Just now, it thought that Zhang Mu would spit it out with an angry expression on his face. However, Zhang Mu looked normal.

    ¡°My mouth is not raised like you, so picky about food. What¡¯s wrong with this? It¡¯s good that you can fill your belly, so why are you so picky?

    I remembered before your intelligence had developed, you were chewing a head of a first-ranked walking dead. Did I give you too much good food that you even dare to deceive me now? From now onwards, should I let you struggle and learn about the spirit of hard work?¡±

    ¡°No please!¡±

    Once Zhang Mu said the words, the Obsidian Beetle stopped fooling around immediately. It was devastated when it thought that Zhang Mu would not bring him along to barbeque meat again.

    When he was ying tricks on Zhang Mu, the thought that Zhang Mu was his royal chef never went through its mind. Now, it could only start to please Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu stood on a far end and looked at the smoke rising. Silently, he felt grateful in his heart.

    It was good that the Obsidian Beetle brought along the mutated spider. At least he would know that the meat of the mutated spiders would not make any improvement on his body. And because they did not reach the first rank, there wasn¡¯t any beast core in their body.

    This time, the fire did not bring any benefits for him.

 Chapter 158 - The Weak Will Be Eliminated

    Chapter 158: The Weak Will Be Eliminated

    Zhang Mu quietly ate finished thest spider¡¯s leg on his hand, and threw the rest away. He patted the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s back and said, ¡°Since their meat is not tasty, then they have no value anymore. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle looked at Zhang Mu puzzledly and asked, ¡°You¡¯re not going back to check? What if there are some escapees?¡±

    Hearing the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s concern, Zhang Mu chuckled and replied, ¡°Do you still remember where did you get these burned mutated spiders? They were outside the sea of me. So that means, these mutated spiders that you took were the first few escapees from the fire. However, they were still dead in the end, so don¡¯t even mention about the vast majority that were still trapped inside, or were still thinking about escaping through the ground.

    As the spiders were not repulsive to the gasoline, so previously when we poured the gasoline on their body, none of them dodged away. Instead, they were throwing themselves for the sake of the energy from the gasoline tanks.

    Therefore, almost all of them were soaked in gasoline. Even if there are some escapees, then do you know why the existence of those mutated spiders was a great threat to us?

    Because their one and only deadly feature, was their tremendous numbers in tens of thousands.

    Without such a tremendous number, these mutated spiders were nothing at all. They were not a first-ranked mutated animal, so how are they going to obtain energy? Not being used as a dessert for the other mutated animals were considered good for them already. So there is nothing to worry about.¡±

    The Obsidian Beetle felt that it made sense and decided to drop the matter. However, when it was about to turn and leave, it was pulled back by Zhang Mu. He leaped over the Obsidian Beetle and sat on its back sneering, ¡°Since you yed a prank on me, do yourself a favor and remember to fly a little stable.¡±

    As a result, the Obsidian Beetle had no choice but to carry Zhang Mu and flew on a low altitude back to the ce where Yuan Rui and the others were currently staying.

    The mutated wolfdog knew that it had slept for a long time, so all the while it was concentrating on guarding Yuan Rui and Hao Hao.

    Seeing the mutated wolfdog acting this way, Zhang Mu smiled. He walked over and petted the dog head, ¡°Wow, the way you¡¯re acting now is good.¡±

    Yuan Rui walked over to chat with Zhang Mu, ¡°Uncle, how¡¯s the matter? Are you alright? If not, we will deal with them in the future.¡±

    There was a reason for her concern as Yuan Rui was frightened by arge number of spider webs when she sat on the back of the Obsidian Beetle previously. If anything goes wrong then, all their life would end there already.

    ¡°How can there be any problem with me taking action and the guarantee I promised?¡±

    The confidence in Zhang Mu¡¯s smile calmed down Yuan Rui¡¯s heart.

    Meanwhile, Zhang Mu noticed the stares that Hao Hao kept giving him, as if he was afraid that he would hear a piece of bad news from his mouth.

    Zhang Mu smiled had be serious after that. He leaned down and looked at Hao Hao, ¡°Hao Hao, I can feel that you¡¯re a man, so I have to tell you the truth. Your mother is not here anymore, and she had gone to heaven. Those bad guys that caused your mother¡¯s death had received their punishment already. And for that big spider who murdered your mother, it was eaten by its childrenpletely.

    And just now, big brother helped you to settle all of those spiders. Look, this is one of them. The rest are more miserable than this.¡± At first, Hao Hao was pretending to be strong, but when Zhang Mu took out the burned corpse of the mutated spider, he burst into tears.

    After a while, Zhang Mu saw that Hao Hao wouldn¡¯t stop crying and was getting louder and louder instead. He immediately straightened his face and scolded him, ¡°Stop crying!¡±

    Hao Hao was so frightened that he stopped his wailing immediately. He looked at Zhang Mu nkly and didn¡¯t dare to make a sound.

    Zhang Mu also knew that it was too cruel to treat a ten years old this way. But the days were not the same as before. This is the Cataclysm, whereby people do not spit out the bones when they ate a human.

    Weakness and tears couldn¡¯t exchange for sympathy, and it would only cause them to be bullied more unscrupulously. Therefore, being strong is the minimum quality that ones must have, even if it was a child.

    Zhang Mu put the burned corpse of the spider on his palm and ced his hand in front of Hao Hao¡¯s eye. He said calmly, ¡°You need to be strong. Do you know that your mother also wants to see a stronger Hao Hao? Right now, the corpse of the spider in my hand was one of your mother¡¯s murderer.¡±

    When he heard Zhang Mu¡¯s words, the little boy¡¯s eye was filled with anger and hatred.

    Zhang Mu continued saying, ¡°Now, you must be a little man. Currently, you¡¯re still young, so big brother has done the main job for you. If you eat this, that would be counted as avenging for your mother too. When you are older, you can wipe out those monsters that threaten the human race. That is another kind of revenge too.¡±

    Hao Hao abruptly reached out his small hand to take the corpse of the mutated spider on Zhang Mu¡¯s hand and said, ¡°I¡¯ll eat it.¡±

    Zhang Mu did not give it to him straight away. He stared at Hao Hao¡¯s eye and said seriously, ¡°This thing is nasty. It might be even worse than anything you have eaten before. Have you thought about it properly? Do you still want to eat it?¡±

    Hao Hao¡¯s eye shed a little hesitation as if Zhang Mu gave him a fright. Despite that, he quickly recovered and said with a resolution, ¡°I want to eat it.¡±

    This time, Zhang Mu let go and allowed Hao Hao to take a bite.

    Hao Hao almost spat it out when he took a bite. He never thought that there would be something so awful. But then he recalled the stern look on Zhang Mu¡¯s face and the words that he said earlier, he remembered that this was the killer that murdered his mother. Therefore, he endured and tore off the meat little by little before he swallowed them hard down his throat.

    A glimmer of sympathy shed in Yuan Rui¡¯s eye as she thought that the way Zhang Mu handled the child was a little harsh. She wanted to voice out her opinion, but when Zhang Mu red at her, she swallowed back her words.

    This is a hurdle that Hao Hao must experience on the road of his growth. If he lived in pains and tears, then he would be useless. This principle, regardless of his present life or former life, was the same nheless.

    Just that in this Cataclysm, it was magnified a lot more.

    The weak, would be eliminated in the end. In fact, the mortality rate of children and elderly was extremely high. Even if Hao Hao had Zhang Mu¡¯s care and Wang Liang¡¯s protection, but if he could not manage himself, then all would be useless in the end. No one could protect him for a lifetime. Hence, Zhang Mu need to use this type of cruelty method to let him grew up faster. If not, he would not be able to go out of that trauma now. Or maybe, for a lifetime.

    There wasn¡¯t a trace of impatience from Zhang Mu as he waited patiently for Hao Hao to deal with the corpse of the mutated spider.

    Looking at Zhang Mu¡¯s eye, Hao Hao finished eating thest of the spider¡¯s meat wholeheartedly and threw the remaining shell on the ground. As if he hadpleted a task that Zhang Mu had given to him, he said proudly to Zhang Mu.

    ¡°Big brother, I have finished everything!¡±

 Chapter 159 - Big Crisis

    <strong>Chapter 159: Big Crisis</strong>

    Zhang Mu straightened his body and looked at Hao Hao without speaking a word. He just patted his shoulder silently. After that, he turned his body to talk to Yuan Rui, ¡°We had a bit of dy in our schedule already. So let¡¯s set off now. Hao Hao would be following us to Shan Xi city first, and when we return, I¡¯ll make the necessary arrangement for him.¡±

    ¡°Okay, good. I¡¯ll listen to you. Since the matter had settled, then let¡¯s leave quickly. You still got stuff to do, right?¡± Yuan Rui considerately let Zhang Mu put her on the back of the Obsidian Beetle before he lifted Hao Hao to her.

    ¡°Little ck, stupid dog, let¡¯s go!¡±

    Even though it would be faster for Zhang Mu to carry the mutated wolfdog, however, the Obsidian Beetle was carrying two people on its back. Transporting people was not as simple as adding the weights only. For every additional load, it would make a vast impact on the Obsidian Beetle.

    Furthermore, even if Zhang Mu had the psychic barrier to share the burden, his arms would be numb after he carried the mutated wolfdog for a while. If they happened to encounter an emergency, Zhang Mu¡¯sbat ability would be hugely reduced with his arms and hands getting stiffed.

    So after some considerations, and the evaluation of the pros and cons, he decided to slow down his speed so that the mutated wolfdog could follow behind him using its usual pace.

    Zhang Mu took the lead and headed towards a direction first. Right now, he could not tell the correct path to Shan Xi city. As long as he could return to the main road, he could adjust his route ordingly.

    Therefore, he returned to the starting point. After passing through a town and changing his direction a few times, he finally went back to the right track. Before he left, he turned back and looked at the ghostly town behind him, the abandoned factory as well as the ck smoke that was still rising, as he sighed in his heart.

    ¡°Now the town looked the same as before, quiet and eerily dead. However, who knows how much impact did my arrival had caused on the path of mankind? Also, I have never heard about spiders appearing in huge number in the past.¡± For once, he had no idea if the butterfly effect of his rebirth had affected this ce or not. He suspected that either these mutated spiders had died in the Catastrophe Matrix belly after she was destroyed by a peculiar reason, or, a devastating blow had hit the tens of thousand mutated spiders before they had the chance to grow up.

    But for whatever reasons, Zhang Mu was unable to find out now. Anyway, the matter was solved. After Zhang Mu confirmed his way to Shan Xi city, he spread out his hand and found a rtively smooth pathway before he ran with the Obsidian Beetle and the mutated wolfdog following behind him. He deliberately let the mutated wolfdog kept its usual pace as it was not worthy if it was already tired when there was a need to use its ability.

    After a few days and nights of running, the only threat to Zhang Mu was a group of five figures first-ranked walking dead. However, Zhang Mu was only slightly greedy for them. To him now, ten thousands of first-ranked crystals were not that great. Furthermore, the risks and benefits were not proportional. Once the number breakthrough five figures, then the destructive power of the walking dead was not as simple as increasing their number only.

    Even if there was a herd of 9,999 walking dead, it was vastly different from a 10,000 walking dead.

    A miss was as good as a mile.

    Once thepetition within the species and the quantity increased had reached a critical point, Nature would slowly filter out and picked one from the 10,000 first-ranked walking dead to be an intellectual type of walking dead, tomand and control the entire herd.

    As it was unfair to the human being, the process for the walking dead to develop intelligence required a long time. Therefore, this era would not break the bnce so soon. However, the ten thousand walkings dead herd in front of Zhang Mu¡¯s seems to form for a period already.

    Even though Zhang Mu was certain that there would not be any intellectual type, which could fully control the entire herd of walking dead within two months of the Paradise Era, he did not dare to take the risk just for ten thousand first-ranked crystals, and test out how much control did it had over the entire herd.

    The Obsidian Beetle went over to provoke the walking dead herd. It carried one of the walkings dead at the most outer-ring and sped back. It flew at a side while chewing the head and was unbothered even when Yuan Rui was disgusted by its behavior.

    It imed that it missed the taste of the head of the walking dead. Despite the provocation from the Obsidian Beetle, they did not chase over, and there was only a smallmotion within the mob. Zhang Mu was even more convinced that there was an intellectual type slowly developing amongst the five-figure herd. If that was not the case, then the mob would certainly be provoked by the Obsidian Beetle, and not suppressing their instinct like this.

    So when the Obsidian Beetle made its decision and ran out, Zhang Mu¡¯s small heart couldn¡¯t help but tremble for a moment. What if the intellectual type was interested in them andmanded the enormous herd to start moving in advance? It would be ¡®fun¡¯ then. If that was the case, it was not the problem of detours anymore since they had to change their route vastly.

    Fortunately, they did not follow the Obsidian Beetle. But from another perspective, that was also terrifying. Either the intellectual type thought that Zhang Mu and the others were not worthy, or, it was already at a crucial step in its evolution. If it was thetter, then the matter was even moreplicated. That means that after a few months, at least ten thousands of walking dead would enclose around the surrounding cities. Therefore, it would force the human being to shrink back into a small and cramp city. In such a case, ordinary people and evolvers who had a weaker strength would be driven out of the city to defend for themselves.

    However, that was unavoidable too. Because currently, Zhang Mu did not have the power to solve this obstacle. That was different from dealing with the group of mutated spiders on that small town a few days ago.

    That time was also under the coincidence of the period whereby he arrived at the right time, right ce, and with the right people. The right time refers to the group of little spiders, that hadn¡¯t grown up yet. The right ce refers to the big pit and the huge cocoon caging those mutated little spiders.

    And of course, the most critical people were these mutated little spiders that wouldn¡¯t leave the ce that they were hatched from and had an extreme fear to fire.

    In front of Zhang Mu, they were not a strong opponent at all.

    But with amander inside the herd, it exceeded the discipline and fearlessness far more than the human team.

    Zhang Mu could only pray that within these few months, he could evolve to the point where he had enough power to control the entire scene before this intellectual type of walking dead could develop fully.

 Chapter 160 - Revisiting The Coal City

    <b>Chapter 160: Revisiting The Coal City</b>

    The tremendous number of first-ranked walking dead that Zhang Mu saw earlier was on his mind throughout the journey. It was like a heavy stone pressing on the weakest and softest part of his heart.

    If only he had time! He had to make every minute and second counts so that he couldpete against the walking dead herd and the intellectual type walking dead.

    With an intellectual typemanding the herd personally, not only would the strength of the entire mob would be unified, but the most crucial factor was that it would share the resources. For example, those walking dead who had a stronger body would be given priority so that they could advance to the second rank faster.

    Once these selected walking dead had progressed to the second rank effectively, then except for those cities that had the era merchant shop, the base from the other towns would suffer a devastating blow from them.

    Zhang Mu knew long ago that there were only 99 era merchant shops in the entire world and only 20 era merchant shop had assigned to China based on the poption it had. But if you thought about the number of cities in China, even if they encountered the Catastylcm, how much poption would remain? How was it possible to stuff the whole poption into these 20 cities? Currently, the human did not know the differences of each city as they did not discover the protection that the era merchant shop naturally gave.

    Once these five figures, or even expended to a six-figure walking dead herd, started to follow orders and devoured the human city, those cities with the era merchant shop would suffer a bloody shuffle.

    The strong remained while the weak get out!

    If you want to live, you could. Either you disy your power, or you spend money in exchange for safety. It was also a form of survival of the fittest. The strong would be stronger. While the weak, would be eliminated automatically.

    In his past life, Zhang Mu saw that these bases truly had done this.

    Without a capable person to control the overall situation, who would be convinced when all of them were evolver with skyrocketing strength? The walking dead herd have not arrived yet, the human had an internal conflict within themselves.

    That was something that Zhang Mu did not wish to see, as well as a scene that he hoped to avoid.

    When the human race became stronger, he, Zhang Mu would then have the opportunity to be even stronger.

    Otherwise, was he going to negotiate and do trading with the intellectual walking dead or the mutated animal?

    Obtaining a mutual benefit with the enemy was something that, he, Zhang Mu would not engage in. He was not stupid enough to fall to that stage.

    No eggs could stay intact under an overturned nest!

    Even a powerful lone ranger could not be separated from the entire human society. One was the limited variety and quantity of resources they could obtain, while the other, was the deep sense of loneliness.

    With many thoughts on his mind, Zhang Mu tried to calm himself down as much as possible and concentrated on his journey.

    There was no use for him to think anymore. He could only speed up thepletion of his task before this ticking bomb exploded. If he could unlock the entry level of the era sub-merchant identity and authority, then his path would be a lot easier.

    He did not mention the appearance of the intellectual type of walking dead to Yuan Rui and the others. Because in their understanding, there would be a low possibility for this to appear. The walking dead was already so terrifying, and if they add another advantage, which was intelligence, then how would the human continue to survive?

    But the reality, was just that cruel.

    The selection of the Paradise Era did not necessarily have to be the human being, that was the most influential aborigines living on Earth originally.

    Giving you the same condition, you must be careful as the winner takes everything.

    Therefore, in Zhang Mu¡¯s past life, he couldn¡¯t imagine how humans could survive without protection from the era merchant shop.

    There was only one route for the fate of mankind, and that was extermination!

    It was not Zhang Mu making an inmmatory statement, but that was themon conception of the defeatism amongst the human at that time. A weak human being, was doomed to die!

    Without a powerful human being, they were doomed to fail, be dumped, and be exterminated.

    Moreover, there were more people that had a negative mindset than those who were optimistic and positive. Because those people that could live until Zhang Mu¡¯s lifetime, were the group of people remained after the elimination.

    They were the ones who actually had a near-death experience and understood the tremendous gap between getting help from the era merchant shop, and without the help from them.

    They didn¡¯t believe that the era merchant shop would grumble about the human all the same. Even the mindset of the era sub-merchants was the same.

    But what if the era merchant had reached the limit of collecting the Earth¡¯s spiritual essence and what if the Earth¡¯s spiritual essence were finished?

    Then what was the point for the era sub-merchant to exist? The era general goods itself was a benefit given for them to facilitate their evolution.

    So don¡¯t even mention about the human losing the protection from the era merchant shop, the era sub-merchant would lose everything once the era local goods were gone too.

    When that timees, the human would be ustomed to hole up in this tiny little world and had no desire to improve themselves. In addition, there would be many people sitting around waiting for death.

    When the era merchant left, they would be attacked by a massive mop of walking dead or mutated animals that were watching like a bloodthirsty tiger nearby. So what would be the end?

    Perhaps one day, the human being would actually be the Earth¡¯s rarest animal on this.

    The mutated animal or the walking dead would be pointing at the humans held in cages to show their descendants and tell them that this was the previous dominator on Earth. How ridiculous and pathetic would that be?

    Zhang Mu himself was a defeatist from head to toe. He believed that the development of the human being was bound to fail.

    At first, he was on the negative part of the defeatist. But after his rebirth, he changed his mindset. Although he still believed that the human was bound to fail, he would try to make changes from the start.

    Once Zhang Mu put on his gloomy face, Yuan Rui did not dare to bother him. Furthermore, it should be the second-ranked vigor that Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle released. Therefore, Zhang Mu did not saw any mutated animal appearing before their eye along the way.

    And that happened to give him time to ponder a lot of things.

    When the night was about to fall, Zhang Mu finally saw the big river where he lost his arm in his dream.

    However, he did not feel any fear now. Even if he swam in it now, there would not be any second-ranked mutated animal in the river.

    A first-ranked mutated animal, even if they were at an environment that gave them an advantage, they would not cause any threat to Zhang Mu now.

    Besides, Zhang Mu had a cheat tool. Moreover, it would be troublesome if their clothes were wet too. So for safety reason, Zhang Mu summoned Little ck and made use of its power. Although it was somewhat hard for it to cross such a big river with Zhang Mu and the mutated wolfdog on each of its w, they managed to cross safely the Coal city¡¯s first line of defense.

    The city was right in front of their eye!

    The Coal city, Shan Xi!

 Chapter 161 - Inspection

    Chapter 161: Inspection

    Zhang Mu walked closer and what he saw was a heavily-guarded city.

    His heart jolted as he felt that something was amiss. It had not been two months since the Cataclysm started, yet Shan Xi city looked as though it was unified.

    He knew it once hepared the city to Luoyang city. Currently, there were many different bases in Luoyang city that each upied a ce for themselves. Since Wang Liang had no absolute power, he could not unify Luoyang city even though he had Zhang Mu¡¯s help.

    However, the gate of Shan Xi city was guarded by people in unison now, and that was odd.

    Either the bases in Shan Xi city gathered for the sake of interest and temporarily stabilized the city, or a particr force, or an individual had fully unified the city.

    The spection in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind was more towards thetter. Using his vision, he could see that the guards were working closely and precise together. It was impossible for them to cooperate at ease if they came from different forces. At least, there would be a little cautiousness between them.

    Was it the Ice Queen? Zhang Mu only thought of this possibility on his mind.

    Because of the enormous size of the city, there were many people with great ambition and strength. So it was impossible for such a few bases to scatter their group and unite together.

    Nowadays, it was not likely to be a leader by winning people¡¯s heart with virtue. Based on Zhang Mu¡¯s memory, only the Ice Queen waspetent to conquer all the big and small forces in the city by using power.

    Even though the Ice Queen was powerful, but ording to Zhang Mu¡¯s knowledge, the Ice Queen only managed to unify Shan Xi city after three months. Previously, there might be some base leaders that could stand up against her. However, the moment she evolved to the second rank and received a new ice-type ability, she was pushed up to the throne immediately.

    However, it was not two months in the Cataclysm yet. That was the area where Zhang Mu felt puzzled the most.

    ¡°Little ck, let¡¯s go.¡± Zhang Mu had to enter Shan Xi city eventually. Now that the ce was heavily guarded, even if he could pass through, he wouldn¡¯t be able to go in quietly. When the timese, it would appear that he had a guilty conscience, and that would be unfavorable for his actionster.

    At this moment, Zhang Mu turned his head back to inform Yuan Rui, ¡°If anyone asks about your ability, just said that you have the ability to control mutated animal and Little ck is your pet. Don¡¯t expose your healing ability if not, it would cause more trouble.¡± Zhang Mu did not know if the base leader had discovered the value of healing evolvers, but for safety measure, it was best to use the identity as a tamer to slip in and ce them on a moderate status.

    Therefore, they would neither be too interested nor bully them. After all, Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui were two evolvers with awakening ability. At this period, it was abat ability that could not be underestimated in any bases.

    Yuan Rui nodded her head and answered, ¡°Sure, uncle.¡± After that, she touched the back of the Obsidian Beetle yfully and said, ¡°Little ck, you¡¯re my pet from now onwards. So you need to be well-behaved, alright?¡± The Obsidian Beetle criticized Zhang Mu in its heart. However, it silently yielded as it was merely for a show. Under Zhang Mu¡¯s reminder, it lowered its aura from the second rank to the first rank too.

    After the preparation, they slowly walked to the front of the city in a line, which was a simple wall that was reconstructed from a high-speed toll station.

    Although it did not look perfect, if it waspleted recently, then the earth-type evolver responsible for this project had powerful ability and background as this was not a simple wall constructed by the earth. Zhang Mu estimated the length of the wall, and it appeared that the wall almost surrounded the entire city.

    Even though the thickness and the defense power was not perfect, but it was enough to use as a warning to others.

    However, Zhang Mu knew that even a hundred of mutated animals could break through such a wall that built around the city with such a far range, not to mention about the herd of walking dead too.

    Right now, they did not encounter any hardship yet. But when the timees, this line of defenses must be pulled back.

    Nevertheless, these were not the things that Zhang Mu need to worry about now, as they had reached the city now.

    Zhang Mu could felt that the flow of energy in the air was a little chaotic. Looking up, the guards on the wall above them seems to discover the arrival of Zhang Mu and the others, and everyone¡¯s eyes were on them.

    A man, a woman, and a child. Together with a big dog as tall as a human, and a beetle that was even bigger than the dog.

    ¡°Stop moving!¡± They were equipped with loudspeakers. When Zhang Mu was about a hundred meters away from the tower, they warned Zhang Mu and the others to stop advancing any further.

    Zhang Mu also stopped in a very cooperative manner, and squinted his eye looking straight at them.

    ¡°Who are you? State your intention foring here.¡± There was amotion within the guards on the simple-looking tower for a moment. A good looking young man walked out and took over the loudspeaker to question Zhang Mu. He seemed to be the person in charge.

    It appears that they were afraid that they could not hear Zhang Mu clearly from a distance, as a loudspeaker flew out from the tower andnded on Zhang Mu¡¯s feet.

    A psychological evolver!

    Zhang Mu narrowed his eye even more. Just a ce with guards had a psychological evolver that could extend his psychic ability more than a hundred meters away. It was uncertain if his psychic attack would be powerful too. Did Shan Xi city had too many powerful evolvers, or their leader did not know the value of these evolvers? What a waste of God¡¯s gift.

    Zhang Mu¡¯s mind was more towards thetter possibility. Even if he did not have anybat ability, such a psychology evolver with strong detection ability, this power would be treasured and used as a small hidden card in his past life.

    He picked up the loudspeaker and switched on the power. He maintained his smiling expression and said slowly, ¡°We are people from the town outside. We decided toe here as we believed that the capital city of a province would be safer for us.¡± Once Zhang Mu spoke, the people on the tower breathe out a sigh of relief after confirming that he was a human. Hence, they retracted back all types of ability that was formerly aimed at Zhang Mu and the other.

    The young in charge pulled a short man to his side and spoke, ¡°Li Hu, looks like they were the same as you, a tamer evolver that could control the creature after they were mutated. Let Thunder go and inspect their body. If there is no problem, then let them in. Although there were many first-ranked evolver in the base now, it¡¯s always good to have more people withbat ability.¡±

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162

    <strong>Trantor</strong>: Yuchaoz

    <strong>Editor</strong>: Myro

    <strong>Chapter 162: Wee</strong>

    The short man called Li Hu, had a solemn look on his face . Once he heard the orders, he asked with uncertainty, ¡°Brother Feng, why are you so certain that they are first-ranked evolvers?¡± The young menughed, ¡°When I sent down the loudspeaker earlier, I secretly confirmed their identity too . Even though the man¡¯s energy had a strong fluctuation, but he definitely did not exceed the range of the first rank . ¡± ¡°You must know that the existence of the second rank, is untouchable and there is only the boss who had managed to reach that rank in the whole Shan Xi city!¡±

    At this moment, the young man¡¯s eyes were full of enthusiasm for the person that he mentioned earlier .

    Li Hu knew in his heart that the current in charge was one of the few people that worshipped the base leader, so he no longer talked anymore . He walked down the tower by himself and opened the gate .

    ¡°Do not try to resist . We are going to carry out an inspection . ¡±

    After that, the gate slowly opened .

    At this moment, all the fur on the mutated wolfdog stood up abruptly, and its gaze transfixed at the direction of the gate .

    The moment Zhang Mu felt strange, a ray of ck and yellow lightning sprang out from the gates together with a person sitting on top of it .

    It was a German Shepherd dog! A military dog!

    After they went out, the gate quickly closed again .

    As quick as lightning, they had arrived in front of Zhang Mu and the others . Although Zhang Mu was able to capture the moment of that military dog, the speed was too fast for him to see the person¡¯s face distinctly .

    That German Shepherd dog, was remarkable!

    No wonder his mutated wolfdog had an embattled look, it turned out that it had met its own kind .

    The mutated wolfdog barked twice but that military dog ignored itpletely . The difference in obedience could be seen from here .

    A short men leap down from the mutated military dog that parked in front of Zhang Mu . The look that he was giving Zhang Mu was like a wolf staring at him .

    ¡°A veteran?¡± Zhang Mu no longer narrowed his eyes to size up the other party . He guessed the identity of the person and questioned him .

    The clean leap, straight body, the amount of space between his legs, and the opened shoulders that even a recruit could not do, coupled with the imposing pressure from his eye, allowed Zhang Mu to confirm that this man, was most likely a soldier who had been enlisted for many years .

    Zhang Mu had contacted many soldiers in the past . Their ability might not be the strongest, but their enforcement was utterly superb . In fact, there were many bases controlled by the military because of the bunch of soldiers in their hand .

    Was the current Shan Xi city taken over by the military? That provides much food for thought .

    The short men now looked at Zhang Mu with a hint of interest, but there was still some doubts in them . He felt that some areas in Zhang Mu¡¯s body was like hisrades . But that murderous vibe Zhang Mu was emitting was so thick, like a mercenary he had met before .

    Li Hu had a good eye for discerning people . That young man smiling at him, although from his presence and appearance, he looked above 25 years old, when he looked closer, there were certain areas that he found had a youthful appearance . Especially his hands, it was slender, bright, and clean . It was not like a soldier at all, with many calluses on their knuckles .

    But this familiar presence, really gave him a homely feeling .

    Li Hu prompted Zhang Mu, ¡°Which unit are you from?¡±

    Zhang Mu smiled . The short men in front of him actually took him as someone from the army . Indeed, there was a reason for him to think that way . Zhang Mu had fought with soldiers from a division together for two months in his past to protect a gateway city . Zhang Mu did not want to participate in the battle at first . However, the gateway city was too valuable for him . If the city had sumbed, then it would be a lot harder for Zhang Mu toplete his era merchant¡¯s task .

    At that time, many evolvers had participated with this battle against the walking dead . The opponent was six-figure walking dead corps under themand of a second-ranked intellectual type of walking dead . Even though it was a long pull, they managed to pull it off in the end .

    It was during those two months that thebat soldiers had exerted a subtle influence on Zhang Mu¡¯s character . They had fought, lived, and ate together . So naturally, he would be infected by their unique presence, and was counted as a half-soldier . Therefore, it was not surprising that Li Hu had noticed this from him .

    A soldier would always be sensitive and familiar with this presence .

    Zhang Mu was a little stunned . Until the moment Li Hu questioned him again if he was arade, he had recovered from the shock . He smiled and answered, ¡°I¡¯m not, but there was a rtive in my family that was a soldier, and I followed him from young . ¡± Since he had fought with soldiers, so they should be counted as a rtive right? Therefore, Zhang Mu answered him with a clear conscience in his mind, thinking that this was not counted as a lie .

    At this moment, Li Hu came to an understanding immediately, ¡°I see . No wonder I felt familiar . ¡± He touched the mutated military dog that was standing motionless on his side andmanded, ¡°Thunder, go and inspect them . ¡± He had a good impression with Zhang Mu as he smiled at him and said, ¡°My name is Li Hu, and I¡¯m the inspector for Shan Xi city . Although you felt like arade, I still have to do my duty . Please cooperate with Thunder for a while . It will be quick . ¡± ¡°No problem, we should cooperate with your job . We don¡¯t dare to enter if you didn¡¯t inspect us a little . ¡± Zhang Mu generously let the mutated military dog called Thunder, to sniff his body .

    When the mutated wolfdog was getting sniffed by Thunder, it abruptly opened its mouth and showed its teeth to the German Shepherd that was as tall as its height .

    However, the other party did not appear to care about its protest . It returned to Li Hu¡¯s side after sniffing Zhang Mu and the rest, and barked for a few times .

    This Li Hu could understand the words from his mutated military dog? This ability was not the same as training to be in sync . It appeared that the dog was not merely apanion he had before the Cataclysm . Li Hu¡¯s awakening ability to tame the mutated animal was enough for him tomunicate with the military dog that he was close with previously .

    ¡°Two first-ranked humans, two first-ranked mutated animals and a child with no ability?¡± The feedback that Li Hu heard from Thunder was the same as the person in charge with the surname Feng .

    ¡°Then, there should be no problem . There was no need to check for any bite marks from the walking dead for such an evolver . ¡± After that, he opened his left hand to signal the people on the tower that there was no problem .

    The previously closed door produced a creaking sound when it was opened from the inside due to the friction against the ground .

    Li Hu smiled to Zhang Mu and the others, ¡°Hello and wee to the Coal City . ¡±

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163

    <strong>Trantor</strong>: Yuchaoz

    <strong>Editor</strong>: Myro

    <strong>Chapter 163: Bewildered</strong>

    When Zhang Mu entered the gate, he smiled and greeted the soldiers guarding the entrance . At this moment, Li Hu caught up to them riding the mutated military dog while the people inside closed the gate immediately .

    Li Hu leap down from the broad back of the military dog . He patted its head and spoke, ¡°Go and have fun by yourself for a while . ¡± But at this moment, the mutated wolfdog who was quiet for the whole time earlier, barked a few times and lowered its head to rub Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder . Meanwhile, its hopeful eyes looked at Zhang Mu .

    Zhang Mu understood its intention right off the bat . He reckoned that it wanted to y with Li Hu¡¯s German Shepherd . Also, he found that the mutated wolfdog had been following him closely for these days, so it was normal for it to be itching to do something when it saw its kind .

    ¡°Brother Li, you see my mutated wolfdog did not have fun for a long time . Now that we are in the city, can you let your German Shepherd take him to stroll around and rx?¡± Zhang Mu chuckled and asked for Li Hu¡¯s opinion .

    Li Hu pondered for a moment and agreed immediately, ¡°Sure thing . Just now, the one who spoke to you earlier was my person in charge, and he had approved my leave for the rest of the day . Also, someone has been arranged to take over my ce, so Thunder does not need to be here anymore . Alright, I¡¯ll let your big dog go out and y with my Thunder then . Meanwhile, let me take all of you to the base and register . ¡±

    After that, he caressed the chin of Thunder and said, ¡°Today we have a night off, so there is no need for you to return to the camp . You can bring him to y around, but don¡¯t be toote . Come back when it¡¯s about time . ¡± At first, Thunder looked at the mutated wolfdog with a face of disdain . However, Thunder felt that it had to thank the wolfdog that possessed the same canine breed instead now . It also felt a little excited as Li Hu did not give it a day off for a long time .

    Although it was a military dog, trained to be disciplined since young and continued to obey its dog handler even after its mutation, it still had a thirst to y deep within its heart .

    Looking at the mutated wolfdog and Li Hu¡¯s Shepherd dog running out from his vision one after the another, Zhang Mu made a connection suddenly . He turned and asked Li Hu, ¡°Brother Li, is Thunder male or female?¡± Li Hu was a little uncertain what to say to Zhang Mu, but he still replied, ¡°Female . ¡± Now, Zhang Mu knew why the mutated wolfdog was so excited . Oh boy, this fellow had taken a fancy to a military dog . How bold and daring .

    He silently prayed for the mutated wolfdog . He felt that thebat ability of this Thunder was not beneath the mutated wolfdog, and might be even stronger than him . That wolfdog, once he looked for a mate, he found an overlord flower within the dogs .

    Zhang Mu chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯m just curious . Why did you name it Thunder even though it is a female?¡± Li Huughed, ¡°I say, why did you ask this question? As for the name, when we were still in the military, we cooperated with Yun Nan¡¯s police to capture drugs smugglers . Therefore, we brought along Thunder, that is a military dog . She sniffed out a bunch ofndmines that were hidden extremely well in the forest . Therefore, I gave her the name Thunder . There were fewer females in the military, so everyone treated her as a male dog . As a result, everyone also finds that the name Thunder was not bad, so I have been using this name since then . ¡± ¡°Wow, so she is a dog with great achievement . That¡¯s amazing . ¡± Zhang Mu boasted the dog openly .

    When Li Hu talked about Thunder, even an upright man like him could not hide the pride on his face . Previously she was his favorite pet, and now she became the most significant part of his awakening ability . Hence, he treasured her like his life . He pointed to a distant ce and said, ¡°There is some distance from the main district . But there is nothing for you to worry about as the walking dead and the mutated animals in the entire city were cleared by us already . Therefore, the entire main district is safe . ¡± A huge raging wave set off in Zhang Mu¡¯s heart when he heard this . This Li Hu said that the entire Shan Xi city was swipe cleaned? When Zhang Mu left Luoyang city, all of the bases were scattered . Furthermore, it was good for them not to be devoured by arge group of walking dead already . Even though it had been half a month now, Zhang Mu still didn¡¯t have the confidence that he could help Wang Liang to clear out all the walking dead herd in the entire Luoyang city, and the reason is that he needed time .

    Right now, this Shan Xi city, was far beyond his expectation . He formerly thought that only the side closed to the wall were recovered . Never did he expect that they put so much effort to clear out the walking dead and the mutated animal .

    It was unheard of for a city to develop to such a state within two months . That had pulled Luoyang city far behind from them . Who was the leader of this base exactly?

    Did the Ice Queen evolve in advance?

    Seeing the surprised look on Zhang Mu¡¯s face, coupled with the affection he had for Zhang Mu, Li Hu did not keep too much information to himself as he said proudly, ¡°All of this relies on our current leader and that was how our base gets to develop into such a state . ¡± Zhang Mu felt a little strange as he questioned Li Hu, ¡°But aren¡¯t you a soldier? Howe you obeyed others too?¡± ¡°How should I say this? I wouldn¡¯t obey the others, but this leader had a close connection to the military . He used to take over us soldiers for a period . Although he left in the end, there were a few of his students in this troop, so not much people object when he leads all of us . Even a few of them became his crazy worshipper .

    Even though I¡¯m not one of them, but I have to say that our instructor, his charisma, does have a notable impact . Because now is a unique period, I don¡¯t worship him, but that does not mean that I dislike him . ¡±

    A military instructor? It was not the Ice Queen then . How was it possible that there was an evolver in Shan Xi city that was far above the existence of the Ice Queen and even managed to unify Shan Xi city in advance?

    Unless, he had the wrong news from his past life . However, there was no way for such a piece ofmon knowledge to be incorrect .

    ¡°So it was your instructor . No wonder . I was thinking why would such a high and mighty soldier like you guys obey someone¡¯s order . So what kind of person is he?¡±

    As soon as he said there, Li Hu stopped chatting . He said mysteriously, ¡°Later, you¡¯ll find out . When you are registering, someone would inform him . Two first-ranked evolvers and two first-ranked mutated animals are a goodbat ability . Now is a great time for the base to develop . ¡±

    Zhang Mu held hands with Yuan Rui and Hao Hao while they followed behind Li Hu, who was leading the way . Gradually, there were signs of human habitation as they walked farther . The pedestrians walked past them looked with curious eyes at the strangebination of Zhang Mu¡¯s party .

    There were children and the elderly, and there was no numb expression on their face . This leader had done a great job .

    Zhang Mu looked around while nodding to himself secretly .

    Was he going to see the mysterious leader of Shan Xi city soon? What kind of person would he be? What about the Ice Queen? Where is she?

    This matter, had beplicated and confused .

 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164

    <strong>Trantor</strong>: Yuchaoz

    <strong>Editor</strong>: Myro

    <strong>Chapter 164: It¡¯s you!</strong>

    Zhang Mu could feel clearly that the security was getting tighter after they walked through a few more streets . The number of guards on both sides gradually increased, and the sense of discipline they had was wless . Even if it was Zhang Mu that walked past them, all of them continued to stand there with their heads high and chest out, since it was Li Hu that was leading them the way . They looked straight ahead instead of following the movement of Zhang Mu and the others with their eyes .

    All of them are soldiers!

    It looked like this city was the same as taken over by the military . However, this was also good . With the military took charge of the city, then the peace and order would be much more stable .

    Just that in most cases, soldiers who mutated into the walking dead were terrifying during the beginning of Paradise Era . Those soldiers who lost their guns wouldn¡¯t have the strength to fight back against the walking dead . As a result, a regr troop would suffer enormous damage . However, it seemed that the soldiers here had ovee the beginning of the new era .

    The problem now, lies in this new leader . What happened exactly?

    Embracing this question, Zhang Mu finally arrived at the core of the entire city . It was a newly established camp, but it was simple and crude, even shabbier than the residential area outside . Almost all of the people here were working in an orderly manner, not wearing the military uniform as they had changed into their usual clothes . From this, he concluded that the soldiers and the ordinary evolvers had scattered into various departments .

    This decision required a lot of courage . If the leader solely used the soldiers, then the execution and adaption rate would be higher . Now that he had included the civilians, it had pulled down the overall level . However, he had a crucial advantage, and that was to control the entire basepletely .

    This leader had a huge ambition . Perhaps at this time, his intention not in this small Shan Xi city already . The people that were working, mainly consist of well built young adult, even those round and plump man sitting around to lead the civilian could be not seen at all .

    Li Hu exined to Zhang Mu after he saw the bewildered look on his face, ¡°We had to rebuild a new one since the former camp was ruin . It was constructed ording to the instructor¡¯s opinion . Anyway, we don¡¯t mind it . If it¡¯s simple, then it¡¯s simple . ¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded his head to show his approval . Under the forced oppression of the military and that instructor, the management of the base would be working in the right direction .

    Of course, for this situation to work in the long run, this leader had to maintain his oppression and the spirit of the entire base must be optimistic, not dropping in the slightest .

    Zhang Mu sighed with emotion . He did not know how long would this situation continue as only this method could be employ in a military camp . Despite that, it was scary to see that this leader of Shan Xi city could make all of them, not just the soldier evolver, but the whole base to act ordingly to his will .

    Although Zhang Mu was not optimistic that the situation in the base wouldst for a long time, there was always some hope for it . He was getting more and more curious about the man hiding in this camp .

    ¡°Brother Li, can we meet your leader for a while? I would like to know what kind of person is he, that could transform such a huge city till this state . ¡±

    This time, Li Hu immediately agreed to Zhang Mu¡¯s request .

    At that moment, there was a young man who walked past them in a hurry . Initially, that man was reading a document looking down while moving quickly . But now, he was grabbed by Li Hu . When he saw Li Hu, a trace of disbelief appeared on his face as he asked, ¡°Old Li, aren¡¯t you supposed to be on duty today? Why did youe back in advance? Boss Feng let you off so easily?¡±

    Li Huughed, ¡°Didn¡¯t I brought two people here with me? Boss Feng arranged this for me . Can you help me to talk to the boss that there are two new first-ranked evolvers from the outside, that wanted to see him? Also, ask the boss to assign a post for them while you¡¯re at it . ¡±

    At this moment, that young man sized up Zhang Mu and the rest, including the Obsidian Beetle behind Li Hu, with great interest and asked, ¡°What type of ability do these first-ranked evolvers have? Old Li, you should know the rules . Although the boss is in the camp currently, I won¡¯t report any normal first-ranked evolvers to him . ¡±

    He looked suspiciously at Zhang Mu, who had a harmless smile on his face, and Yuan Rui, who was smaller and was hiding back Zhang Mu¡¯s back . He did not feel threatened by both of them .

    Li Hu patted on his shoulder and said, ¡°Of course I know the rules . These two are evolvers with the tamer ability . That gigantic bug behind thedy is her pet, while this brother has a mutated wolfdog as his pet . Its strength should be the same as Thunder, so you can go and report to the boss . There is no mistake . Although we have many first-ranked evolvers in our base, I heard that there is a big event recently, and needed more people, right? They definitely make the cut . ¡±

    ¡°A mutated wolfdog that had a simr strength with Thunder? Then that¡¯s good enough . ¡± That young man instantly paid more attention to Zhang Mu . He naturally knew the level of Li Hu¡¯s Thunder . Since Li Hu said so, even if there was any gap between them, there should not be much difference .

    He casually looked at Zhang Mu and asked, ¡°What are your names? I will register for you before I report to the leader . ¡±

    Li Hu smacked his head as he suddenly realized something and shouted, ¡°That¡¯s right! I¡¯m so silly . Once we chatted, I have forgotten to ask about your names . Little brother, until now I still haven¡¯t gotten your name yet, and thisdy too . ¡±

    Zhang Mu chuckled, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter . It¡¯s not toote for me to say it now, right? My name is Zhang Mu, and this is my friend, Yuan Rui . ¡±

    ¡°Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui, right? Alright, I have noted it down . Please wait for a while . Let me send out the statistics file for today and report to the boss while I¡¯m at it . Old Li, you bring them to the big tent that is for the reception and wait for a while . ¡±

    After that young man finished his words, he dashed out immediately . It seems like the file on his hand was very urgent . Without waiting for Li Hu¡¯s reply, he left straight away . Meanwhile, Li Hu could only stand there and watch him disappear . Li Hu apologized, ¡°Brother Zhang, this friend of mine is always that impatient with no courtesy . Please don¡¯t mind him . ¡±

    Zhang Mu waved his hand and said, ¡°He is also in a hurry to work . Besides, he agreed to help us to notify your leader . ¡±

    After that, Li Hu brought them both to a huge tent and sat down . As for the Obsidian Beetle, Zhang Mu ordered it to turn small, and it flew to rest on Yuan Rui¡¯s shoulder . Li Hu was shocked when he saw that the Obsidian Beetle could change its size . However, this was rted to the evolver¡¯s secret, so he did not mention it . He merely took a few more nces at the Obsidian Beetle .

    At this moment, a crisp sound of a boot stepping on the ground could be heard outside the tent . Looks like the leader was here .

    There was a second-ranked aura!

    This leader of Shan Xi city had advanced to the second rank!

    However, while Zhang Mu was still stunned about this fact, another unexpected thing happened .

    When that hand lifted Zhang Mu¡¯s curtain, Zhang Mu was stunned in ce as he saw the face of the neer .

    It¡¯s him!

 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165

    <strong>Chapter 165: Zhang Mu¡¯s fault</strong>

    ¡°Howe it¡¯s you?¡±

    Both of them questioned each other in unison . Meanwhile, Yuan Rui, and Li Hu were stunned looking at them . How did these two people get to know each other?

    When Li Hu was assuming that Zhang Mu might recognize his leader because of his military family background, a voice sounded beside his ear, ¡°Li Hu, take thisdy out first . I got something to chat with this brother . ¡±

    Obedience was the first duty of a soldier . Therefore, Li Hu did his job without hesitation . In the meantime, Yuan Rui also walked out slowly since Zhang Mu had signaled for her to do so .

    Right now, the tent was empty except for Zhang Mu and the guy in front of him .

    This man, was the fat bald-man that he stole the three thousand dors before the opening of the Paradise Era .

    How could it be him?

    Because of this person¡¯s wallet, which held the three thousand dors, it allowed Zhang Mu to buy his first melee weapon and supplies . With that extravagant outfit and strange wallet, the memory was still fresh in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind when he recalled the matter .

    Now this fat bald-man, did not have the tycoon presence when he first met him . Without the sunsses, his eyes looked sharp, and he was charismatic . Although the appearance was the same, he seemed to change into another person .

    But judging from his physique, how could he be a veteran¡¯s instructor and managed to convince everyone in the city?

    The moment Zhang Mu recalled his memory, the bald man interrupted his thoughts .

    ¡°Long time no see, a boy from the Thieves Sect . ¡±

    The man in front of him broke the silence first and looked at Zhang Mu with a faint smile on his face .

    How did he know his identity?

    If he did not mention it, Zhang Mu might have forgotten this identity in the corner of his mind . The conscious from his past life always upied a dominant position, so the memory in regards to the Thieves Sect was rtively shallow . The skills he learned for a decade ago was not useful at all because it was too weak in this Cataclysm . If he used this trick against those high-ranked evolvers, basically he would be getting himself killed as their senses were very sharp .

    Furthermore, ever since he became the era sub-merchant, even though he did notpletely sever the connection between the human race, but he also did not make much contact with them . Moreover, he did not want to use this skill when he was young too . Eventually, he slowly forgot this in the corner of his mind .

    Zhang Mu¡¯s expression turned serious as he stared into the eyes of the bald leader . He was not overwhelmed by his imposing presence as he asked with vignce, ¡°So you remembered my appearance? Although I did steal your wallet, how did you know I¡¯m from the Thieves Sect?¡±

    If he knew that someone had tampered it with his estuarine crocodile skin wallet, why did he still let him take away? Moreover, he did not look bothered about it .

    The bald leaderughed, ¡°Because, your master also stole from me before . But I have to say that your skill was a little rusty in some areas . Not as natural like your master . ¡±

    So he was someone that knew his master . No wonder when he discovered his small act, he did not stop or make a sound about it .

    As if to confuse Zhang Mu, that bald leader smiled and said, ¡°After that, I went to have a drink with your master . When I found out about the rules set in your stupid guild, I was furious . Your master was like this and now you . What? Do I look like those rich and cruel people? There were so many people there, yet you only stole from me . ¡±

    Once the bald leader mentioned this, the imposing image he had, was gone in an instant . He patted on Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder roughly .

    Since the presence he released was a first-ranked evolver, Zhang Mu could only grit his teeth in pain and said, ¡°With the way you¡¯re dressed, who should I look for instead? A big aviator sunsses, gold ne, and an arrogant and despotic look, who would think you were a good person at first nce?¡±

    That leader touched his shiny head and replied, ¡°That time my image was a requirement for my mission . ¡±

    So at that time, he was dressed for a mission? Zhang Mu could not believe that he did not saw any issue at that time . As expected, he was not a simple figure . Zhang Mu guessed that this bald leader might be one of those people that walked out of the special division in the country . Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be qualified to help those veterans, and became their instructor, or even perform such a mission .

    ¡°I already know your name . Zhang Mu, right? Well, let me introduce myself . ¡± The expression of the bald leader instantly turned solemn . A deep and dense voice produced from his throat as he said, ¡°I¡¯m Long Qi . Previously a veteran, special force instructor . Now, I¡¯m the head of Shan Xi city¡¯s base . ¡±

    Long Qi should not be his real name and was merely his code name . Zhang Mu had heard about it once before . The number of people ranked after the ¡®Long¡¯ character were all strong and powerful, all the way from Long Yi to Long Liu . All of them were famous . Previously, Zhang Mu thought they were a family . Now, it seems that all of them came out of the military . However, Zhang Mu never heard of Long Qi before .

    What about the Ice Queen? Where was the Ice Queen now? Furthermore, how did this Long Qi that he met at Luoyang city would appear at Shan Xi city, became their leader and even advanced to the second rank?

    Of course, Zhang Mu couldn¡¯t ask too much for now . He could only probe at Long Qi with a smile, ¡°Didn¡¯t we separated at the bridge? How did you get to Shan Xi city and became the leader?¡±

    ¡°That was because of you . ¡± Long Qi replied absently . ¡°Because of me?¡± Zhang Mu was even more confused this time . The only interaction between them was the stolen wallet .

    Long Qi saw the spection in Zhang Mu¡¯s eye as he answered him, ¡°I wanted to rx afterpleting my task . However, you had stolen my money, and I couldn¡¯t bring any bank card that had my personal information at that time . In the end, I had to drive away in my car and went back home . Leaving Luoyang city and of course, my destination is Shan Xi city . As for the matterter, it was much moreplicated . Anyway, by some strange chances, I have gathered all the troops here and the scattered base together, and cleared all the dangerous creature that would harm the human race inside the city . The rest is what you can see now . ¡±

    Long Qi seems to feel some emotion when he bumped into Zhang Mu, a disciple from his old friend . Hence, it did not matter to him if he had said a little more information .

    Zhang Mu nk out after that . This time, it was indeed his fault that caused such a tremendous change in Shan Xi city . That could be said the most consequential butterfly effect that he found after his rebirth .

    First of all, the Ice Queen had disappeared . And then the Long Qi in front of him had sat on the position of Shan Xi city¡¯s leader and even advanced to the second rank ahead of time . In just two months, he had recovered the entire city . All in all, everything was changedpletely .

    Even though it looked like a change for the better, but this time, it was indeed his fault .

 Chapter 166

    <strong>Chapter 166: Paying Off A Debt</strong>

    ¡°Why does your expression look so surprised?¡±

    Long Qi observed Zhang Mu with his eye. His keen instincts that had been trained for many years was telling him that there is something wrong with Zhang Mu. However, he could not find out where the problem was.

    Zhang Mu himself was a cautious person, so how could he fell under Long Qi¡¯s trap and let him find more inkling? Hence, he took his time to reply, ¡°I feel like it was such a coincidence. At first, I couldn¡¯t bear the hunger so I had to steal your wallet at Luoyang city and now, I have met you here again. From a tycoon to a special force instructor, now you¡¯ve changed into the number one figure in Shan Xi city. It all happened so abruptly.¡±

    At this time, Long Qi finally found the uncertainty he had on Zhang Mu. He squinted his eyes and carefully eyed up and down at Zhang Mu in front of him. He asked a question that Zhang Mu could not find a reason to exin to him at once, ¡°I remembered my statistician reported to me that you were from a nearby city seeking for protection. However, I remembered you were from Luoyang city. With such a long distance from here and there, coupled with the traffic now, did you honestly came to Shan Xi city from such a far distance to seek for protection? Furthermore, the information should be blocked now, so how did you know that this is the safest ce?

    Zhang Mu boy, right now, you better give me a reasonable exnation.¡±

    As Long Qi spoke, his voice gradually turned colder. The nce he looked at Zhang Mu was just like a scanner scanning at his surrounding. If he could not give him a clear exnation, Zhang Mu felt that he would be captured alive.

    Looking at this fat bald-man having a smile on his face, he was emitting the same presence as Zhang Mu.

    A murderous vibe!

    Now it was not the time to expose his secrets yet. However, he could not afford to have a dispute with him. Even though he was unsure who would win or lose, but one thing for sure was that Shan Xi city would not allow him to stay anymore. Also, he did notplete his era merchant¡¯s task yet.

    As quick as lightning, Zhang Mu¡¯s mind ran through a thousand reasons. Right away, he found a suitable excuse to answer Long Qi¡¯s sharp question. His lip curled into a smile as he said, ¡°Who would risk their life and ran over a hundred kilometers toe here? Furthermore, themunication system is worthless now. You should have tried to use the most primitive equipment tomunicate, and it failed, correct? So there is no way I would know that this ce was secure.¡±

    ¡°Well, after that? You did not mention the main point.¡± Long Qi continued to interrogate Zhang Mu.

    Zhang Mu waved his hand,pletely ignoring the pressure that Long Qi put on him as he repliedfortably, ¡°The reason for me to spend so much effort toe here, was to find a person.

    See thatdy outside? She lived in a small town nearby and was the only good friend of mine. Previously, I didn¡¯t have the face to see her when I was broke, but now that the world had be like this, I was worried for her. Therefore, I came straight after her from Luoyang city.

    But I never expected that she would awaken her ability before me and tamed that gigantic bug. So there was no need for me to protect her. Finally, as you can see, we also managed to save a little boy who was alone in his home. After that, we rushed over here from a small town nearby. I felt that the provincial¡¯s army or the police would have higher quality, so it was logical for us toe here, right?¡±

    Long Qi slowly thought about the words that Zhang Mu said earlier. He couldn¡¯t see any trace of lies from Zhang Mu¡¯s eye as the look of sincerity did not seem like it was disguised. However, he still felt that something was amiss.

    Zhang Mu smiled as he waited for Long Qi. A good lie was a mix between the truth and false. The words he said earlier, half of them were genuine, so there was no need for him to fabricate a fictitious tale deliberately.

    Long Qi took a few careful nces at Zhang Mu, and because Zhang Mu restrained the second-ranked strength and aura on his body very well, so even the second-ranked Long Qi did not notice Zhang Mu¡¯s real power.

    Even if the words that Zhang Mu spoke to him was fictional, he had the confidence that Zhang Mu wouldn¡¯t be able to stir up trouble at his ce. Moreover, Zhang Mu¡¯s awakening ability was a tamer, and it was not like his base did not have some of them here. Indeed, as long as they had the same ranked mutated animal helping them, their strength would exceed those evolvers of the same rank.

    However, at the same time, the tamer ability had a fatal weakness.

    Once the tamer evolver lost the connection with their mutated animal, they would be nothing without them.

    As for the Kung Fu level, Long Qi did not believe that Zhang Mu would be powerful. That was because he had a battle with Zhang Mu¡¯s master before. The skills of the Thieves Sect relies on their precious hand, so the training of the entire body was not that important. Although he did not understand why was there a tight tension in his heart, Long Qi quickly recovered back to normal. He patted on Zhang Mu¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°I understand. A little girlfriend from the past? If you genuinely liked her, then it wouldn¡¯t be surprising for you to rush over.¡±

    As long as Long Qi did not find any trouble for him, he could think anyway he wanted. Therefore, Zhang Mu did not refute.

    But in that instant, a cunning smile showed up on Long Qi¡¯s face as he asked a question that almost made Zhang Mu vomit blood, ¡°That time at Luoyang city, you stole that three thousand dors from me, is it time for you to pay me back with interest now?¡±

    At this instant, there was like ten thousand Alpaca running in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind.

    If not for me, you wouldn¡¯t exist in the future. If you did not return back on time to Shan Xi city, I bet you would be killed at those entertainment ces filled with lots of people who were mutated into a ¡®mega¡¯ type of walking dead. So what if you¡¯re a special forces instructor? So what if you¡¯re a person from the special division? You would be killed amongst those ¡®mega¡¯ type of walking dead that had three times the strength of a normal human being.

    That was the only reason why Zhang Mu thought that Long Qi did not appear in his past life and wasing out strong and mighty now.

    Of course, he couldn¡¯t say these words for Long Qi to listen. The smile on his face did not waver the slightest as he raised both his eyebrows in a questioning manner, ¡°How would you like me to return the debt? I don¡¯t think you would want money, right? Even if I pay you back with another zero behind, it would be useless now.¡±

    That mysterious smiles continued to linger on Long Qi¡¯s face, ¡°Money? Even before the opening of the Paradise Era, money to me was just a number only. Not to mention that it was a piece of waste paper now and couldn¡¯t evenpare to a bag of ration.¡±

    ¡°Help me do one thing, and the matter from two months ago would be written off.¡±

    Long Qi finally said his actual intention as he nced at Zhang Mu with a twinkle in his eye.

    ¡°And what was that?¡± Zhang Mu did not dare to agree right away and ask in advance.

    Long Qi slowly spat out a few words that caused Zhang Mu to take a cold breath of air.

    ¡°Recover Jin Zhong city.¡±

    This Long Qi, was starting to recover the prefecture-level city near to the coal city.

    Hey, this plot was a little too big!

    Zhang Mu felt that he had boarded the pirate¡¯s boat. The debt of three thousand dors, was going to be paid off like this!

 Chapter 167

    <strong>Chapter 167: A Key Figure</strong>

    This time, Zhang Mu felt that he was making a fool of himself for trying to be smart. At first, he arranged for him and Yuan Rui the identity of a first-ranked evolver so that there would not be much attention drawn to them. This way, he could easily approach the era merchant shop at Shan Xi city and then quietly leave the ce once he hadpleted the era merchant task sessfully.

    But the problem fell on the awakening ability that he had chosen. For some reason, the evolvers with the tamer ability were crucial in Long Qi¡¯s n for recovering Jin Zhong city. As a result, they were qualified to have a conversation with the base leader.

    Whereas the most absurd part was that the leader of Shan Xi city that Zhang Mu met this time, was not the Ice Queen that could freeze people with a look from his memory, but it was the fat bald-man that he met when the Cataclysm was about to begin.

    Because of his action, it had changed Long Qi¡¯s entire fate. It turns out that Long Qi, who was supposed to be one of the members of the walking dead herd, had escaped from this fate. Coupled with the adventure that he did not reveal, he managed to advance to the second rank and reached such status and strength he had now.

    Despite that, Zhang Mu quickly adjusted his mindset. Although he was in a hurry toplete the era merchant¡¯s task and leave after that, he knew that Long Qi would not let him off that easily. Furthermore, the most important thing was that he, himself, was interested in the matter of recovering the city. In the past, he existed like a cannon fodder, but now it seems that he could participate in some of the most advanced decision makings andplete the essential segment.

    Thinking about this, Zhang Mu slowly became excited. There was a ze of fiery in his eye.

    Do you want to recover the prefecture-level city with less than two months into the Cataclysm? You got guts! I like it!

    Furthermore, Zhang Mu was not attracted to the rewards of the era merchant¡¯s task this time, as he knew that the amount of profit he could earn was limited. And the most important fact was that even if hepleted the deal, he would not be able to promote his status to an entry-level sub-merchant too. Therefore, it was just a typical era merchant task.

    The reward of a trainee sub-merchant was not attractive for Zhang Mu, who was a first-ranked evolver previously. Now that he was a second-ranked evolver, hepletely disregards those era goods that those evolvers valued as a jewel.

    Right now, he was more interested in Long Qi¡¯s idea. He believed that if the n had plotted adequately, then he could obtain a vast profit from there. He stared at Long Qi and said, ¡°You have to tell me how can I help you first.¡±

    Earlier, Long Qi was waiting for Zhang Mu¡¯s decision. In fact, he knew that the three thousand dors that Zhang Mu stole was only a small favor, and he still needs to see whether Zhang Mu would acknowledge that debt.

    However, he wanted to implement his n sessfully this time, with no mistake. So he needed those mutated animals that were tamed, to be his scout. With Zhang Mu¡¯s identity as the descendant of the Thieves Sect, his bodily movement would be better than a normal human being. That was why Long Qi paid more attention to Zhang Mu.

    Sure enough, from Zhang Mu and his master, he could see that their training was more focus on their hands, as the strength and stability of the lower body were not crucial. Additionally, their reaction speed was beyond ordinary people.

    Earlier, he had heard reports from his civil servant that Zhang Mu¡¯s mutated animal was a mutated wolfdogparable to Thunder. And this time, his n required those with keen smell, vision, and hearing.

    However, there were too little evolvers with this ability in his base.

    Including Li Hu¡¯s Thunder, there were only three people at the most as the others were too weak.

    Long Qi looked at Zhang Mu with a burning gaze. When he saw that Zhang Mu had agreed, a smile appeared on his face. ¡°I will tell you the details when the timees. Not that it was ssified, but I haven¡¯te out with a safe n ording to the strength of the base yet.¡±

    Afraid that Zhang Mu would misunderstand him as an impulsive person, Long Qi continued his sentence immediately, ¡°It is not that I¡¯m not ready, but I want to present a perfect n that would minimize the loss. After all, there is not much human left.

    My group of civilian is getting the strength statistic of the base now. However, we could only get a small fraction of the most external data about Jin Zhong city strength. Hence, we had no way to make an urate calction. Therefore, this is what I need you to do, and the n would change ording to the data that you gave us.¡±

    He appears to feel a little emotional as he said, ¡°In the past, people alwaysined about therge poption. And now, there were only a few people left. I always felt a sense of danger, which was the reason why I was so eager to recover the cities. Right now, we are evolving. But who knows whether if those walking dead and those creatures that mutated from animals, would continue to evolve further too.¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded his head in agreement. In fact, Long Qi already had a very strategic vision. That was where he felt the most impressive about Long Qi. After the debugging time, now was the period where the human would have the upper hand.

    However, a base leader would usually think of how to protect their own life. When they faced dangers that they couldn¡¯t avoid, it was normal for them to abandon their base first.

    Zhang Mu said with a gloomy face, ¡°Even Thunder couldn¡¯t enter the main core of Jin Zhong city?¡±

    The expression of Long Qi became solemn this time. He looked at Zhang Mu while thinking, ¡°Yes. I had let Li Hu tried it once. After Thunder broke through the first two lines of defenses, consisted of the walking dead, it couldn¡¯t move any further.

    ording to Thunder from Li Hu, the walking dead and the mutated animals were coexisting, and both parties minded their own business. When Thunder entered, it was forced out by the mutated animal from that direction. We tried to approach from the outside once, and they seem to reach an agreement as they would tackle us together. The walking dead would defend, and the mutated animal would attack. We paid quite a high price before we decided to retreat.¡±

    ¡°So you want me to find a way to attack into Jin Zhong city?¡± The grim expression on Zhang Mu¡¯s face did not deplete as he continued to ask, ¡°Even if I found a weak spot in the walking dead herd or those small mutated animals, but what if we went to the center and got surrounded? What should we do?¡±

    Long Qi curled up the corner of his lips, ¡°I have my backup n for that. Furthermore, those group of mutated animals stopped chasing us after we ran three kilometers out of Jin Zhong city.¡±

    At this moment, his eye shone brighter as he said confidently, ¡°Therefore, I feel that the city is not that simple. At the center of that city, there must be something that they were afraid or desire, that they were unable to leave it behind.

    Then the main focus for recovering Jin Zhong city, will be at the center of that city!

    With that, I need you and your little girlfriend to cooperate with three of my evolvers, and use your mutated animal to infiltrate from five directions. Only with mutated animal, then those walking dead from the outside wouldn¡¯t react much because of the agreement they had between the mutated animals. Thus, they would not notify the mutated animal nearby. Only when your mutated animal met the ones at the center of the city, they would be exposed.¡±

    From the news that Long Qi revealed to him, Zhang Mu confirmed a fact.

    In this Jin Zhong city, there must be an intellectual type of walking dead there, for it to reach an agreement with the mutated animal. Hence, there must be something wrong!

    Zhang Mu felt that this time, he would be able to reap some profit for himself.

    Scouting? I hadn¡¯t done that for a long time!

    There was still a little excitement when he recalled back the feeling. He stared at Long Qi with fire in his eye as he replied.

    ¡°Sure. This debt I, Zhang Mu, will pay you back.¡±

 Chapter 168

    <strong>Chapter 168: Scouting Mission</strong>

    Long Qi grinned at Zhang Mu. He never expected that Zhang Mu would agree so quickly. Not sure if Zhang Mu was like a newborn calf that does not fear the tiger, or he had the same idea as him. However, on second thought, Long Qi did not believe that Zhang Mu was the kind of person that never seen the cruelty in this Cataclysm since he had rushed over here from Luoyang city.

    He nced at Zhang Mu with some curiosity and said, ¡°Why did you agree so fast? Even my evolvers with the tamer ability had hesitated for a long time before they agreed. These mutated animals should be your precious pet. Also, there won¡¯t be anypensation if there¡¯s any loss made.¡±

    Zhang Mu greeted his gaze and answered, ¡°I have agreed to help, yet you still insist on getting the bottom of the matter. I can give you an exnation too. It was not thatplicated. Just treat me as a young cynic that wants to rescue more people. Furthermore, you also found some problem that¡¯s why you wanted to recover Jin Zhong city, right?

    With the number of refugees getting more and more, the ces to stay is still enough at the moment, but the reserves of supplies should be in a crisis, right? If you don¡¯t get out of the city soon, are you going to eat coal biscuits?¡±

    Long Qi did not look surprised when Zhang Mu poked his heart matter. He replied, ¡°In the future, space would pose a problem unquestionably. However, you were wrong about thest point. We are at the provincial capital, so I have enough ration that couldst for a year for 100,000 people. Now there are only a few people in the base, counting the refugees, it hardly reached a five figure. What I am worried about is the evolution speed for these creatures other than human.¡±

    Zhang Mu listened to Long Qi¡¯s words while silently nodding his head. To dispel Long Qi¡¯s suspicionpletely, he continued saying, ¡°There is another point I have to make too. I had seen those mutated animals gathered together when I was around Luoyang city previously. Likewise, they would not leave the ce after it reached a specific range. If there was an abnormality, there would be a demon. Sure enough, there was a strange fruit growing there. As a result, my mutated animal and I had made enormous progress in our strength.

    What you mentioned earlier, make me connect this matter to the situation I have encountered before. That also counts as another reason, right? As for safety, you don¡¯t need to worry about it. I know the strengths of my mutated animal precisely.¡±

    A treasure? No wonder he was different from a normal first-ranked evolver and could withstand the pressure he gave him until now.

    The doubts in Long Qi¡¯s heart, was slightly reduced now. Anyway, he did not want to probe Zhang Mu any further. Everyone had their secret, and Zhang Mu already said enough. Since he had agreed, then all is well.

    Long Qi, who felt that he had said enough, mumbled ¡°good¡± before he notified Zhang Mu to wait for the news within a few days. After that, he lifted the curtain and strode out of the tent.

    When Zhang Mu walked out of the reception tent, he was covered in cold sweat. As he did not raise his strength to a second-ranked evolver, he found it difficult to cope with the vigor from a second-ranked Long Qi. It solely relied on his sturdy psychological quality and his strengthened first-ranked body to endure that difficult struggle.

    Li Hu had requested someone to arrange a ce for Zhang Mu to stay in the camp. Zhang Mu ept it with a bitter smile when he saw that it was arge military camp.

    It appeared that Long Qi was still wary of him and kept him at his side. Of course, from another perspective, it could be said that he valued Zhang Mu and was ensuring his safety. After all, the core of the camp had the most impable defenses.

    Until now, Zhang Mu was unsure of Long Qi¡¯s awakening ability. Since there were many evolvers everywhere, so there would be all kinds of strange and entric abilities emerged in an endless stream. Therefore, Zhang Mu did not dare to act rashly. The moment he was caught, he wouldn¡¯t be able to exin himself and might expose the era merchant shop ahead of time. Now, it was not the time to go yet. Since he did not reach the status of an entry-level sub-merchant, he did not get the invisible cloak. Thus, he needed to be on the safe side for now.

    Just like that, Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui stayed quietly inside the camp for two hours. He mentioned to Yuan Rui that Long Qi could be trusted. Therefore, he wanted to leave Hao Hao here in case there was something untoward happened when they return. Furthermore, it looked like Shan Xi city was much safer under Long Qi¡¯s controlpared to Wang Liang¡¯s base.

    However, Yuan Rui still shook her head firmly after much consideration. Firstly, she did not trust Long Qi. Compared to Long Qi, she found that Wang Liang was more reliable after spending some time with him. Secondly, she was reluctant to be separated from Hao Hao so soon. These days, she treated Hao Hao like her little brother.

    Suddenly, a low bark could be heard outside the tent, breaking the silence of the three people inside.

    It was the mutated wolfdog that came back. The height of the tent was just enough for it to straighten its body. It squeezed in slowly and theny down on one corner without saying a word, licking its paw with a look of a heartbroken dog.

    Yuan Rui wanted to appease it but was stopped by Zhang Mu instead, ¡°Let him rest for a while. His intelligence should be growing, so he needs some time by himself.¡±

    How could Zhang Mu not know what happened to the wolfdog? It was rejected by Thunder surely. At this moment, Zhang Mu felt a fit of anger in his heart. How could it be his mutated wolfdog couldn¡¯t win against that German Shepherd? If he could not win, then he could vite her instead. It was just a mating, so why did it need to copy from the human and form a rtionship?

    Such a big wolfdog yet, it could not bepared to a Poodle. It f**ks the sky, f**ks the ground, and it f**ks the air, was there anything that the Poodle did not dare to f**k? How big was the Poodle and how big was his mutated wolfdog?

    Zhang Mu slowly walked to the side of the mutated wolfdog¡¯s head. He squatted down and said coldly, ¡°Just like that, and you became a coward? Stop acting like a Love Saint in front of me.¡±

    The mutated wolfdog whimpered back, telling him his painful experience. However, it was interrupted by Zhang Mu, who shook his hand in return.

    ¡°Let me tell you. To date a girl, you need to rely on your strength. All the girls would go to you when you¡¯re outstanding. This principle can be used universally for both human and dog.

    How about this? These few days, there would be a task for us. If you followed me andplete it, I will give you a bottle of the second-ranked evolving potion. How does that sound? I don¡¯t believe you won¡¯t be able to handle a first-ranked female dog when you¡¯re second-ranked.¡±

    Hearing this, the eyes of the mutated wolfdog shone brighter instantly. It slowly raised and looked at Zhang Mu, as if he was a big piece of bone.

    At this moment, a sound came from outside the tent suddenly. It was Li Hu.

    ¡°Brother Zhang, the scouting mission and a brief map that the boss arranged for you is here. Pleasee out for a while.¡±

    Zhang Mu squinted his eye and took out all the remaining earth-type beast core from his era merchant ring. He threw it in front of the mutated wolfdog andmanded, ¡°Eat these first and don¡¯t be too anxious.¡± After that, he went out of the tent. He smiled when he saw the thing on Li Hu¡¯s hand.

    Never did he expect that Long Qi would be so anxious. With that, he would set out tomorrow.

    Scouting, and the matter of infiltration are so exciting!

 Chapter 169

    <strong>Chapter 169: The Tip Of The Iceberg</strong>

    Although he had a little drink with Li Hust night, Zhang Mu abruptly opened his eye before dawn on the next day. It was as though he did not have a drinkst night. He stretched out his hand and woke up Yuan Rui that was still sleeping soundly.

    He merely cleaned the ce a little before dragging Yuan Rui, who was in a slumberous state, up onto the back of the mutated wolfdog.

    The Obsidian Beetleined that the weather was too cold. Thus, it did note out and abandoned the mutated wolfdog. It climbedfortably into Yuan Rui¡¯s pocket and leisurely used the mutated wolfdog, who was running at full speed in the direction towards Jin Zhong city.

    Long Qi had told him that the other three evolvers had camped around Jin Zhong city. Yesterday, they had been notified that they would carry out the task together once again when Zhang Mu arrived.

    At this time, at the edge of the wall, Long Qi was standing together with a mysterious person who was wrapped tightly in ck. The two of them retracted their gaze once they saw Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui had disappeared from their vision.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± The high and mighty leader was showing respect to this mysterious ck person.

    That person pondered for a moment. Under the ck veil, a lovely and enticement voice said, ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. However, I feel that what he has shown was merely a small tip of the iceberg.¡±

    It was a woman!

    Even though her face waspletely covered up with the ck veil, but that soft and alluring voice, allow one¡¯s fancy to run wild and associate it with a gorgeous woman unconsciously.

    If Zhang Mu was there, he would be shocked. In this small Shan Xi city, not only there was Long Qi, who was a second-ranked evolver, this ck veil woman was even powerful than Long Qi.

    ¡°You said that there would be a neer in the camp and had a unique aura in his body, so I rushed over there immediately after my civil servant reported him to me.¡± At this time, Long Qi¡¯s face showed an iprehensible color as he touched his bald head and said, ¡°But I know this person. He was a sessor from the Thieves Sect. Although their guild was a little famous amongst the folk, it was better to keep it under the table. It was only some rusty tricks wrapped with a little pristine from their ancestor, nothing remarkable.

    Furthermore, I have observed him. Although I didn¡¯t overwhelm him with all of my vigors, I could feel that he was barely supporting himself. When it was about to reach his limit, I would control it to a fixed intensity.¡±

    ¡°Old Seventh, when did my instinct ever been wrong before? Trust me. This man is not that simple.¡± That delicate voice came out from her mouth had a touch of charm.

    However, it seems that Long Qi was ustomed to it as he was not affected by it at all, not even a little fluctuation in his emotion.

    ¡°True, your senses never went wrong even before the start of this Paradise Era. However, I¡¯m a little curious as this mission would need his mutated animal. Furthermore, my psychic power had sensed that the girl¡¯s bug could change its size at will. If they could bring back the core information about Jin Zhong city this time, then it couldn¡¯t be any better.¡± That woman grunted gently and said in a sweet and girlish voice, ¡°Although there were thousands of evolvers, now was not the time to use human life in exchange for the resources. Therefore, we have to y safe.

    Poption, is our greatest resource.¡± When she finished her speech, the ck veil woman turned and left straight away. She went down the city wall and walked back to the camp by herself.

    ¡°I know this, but there were too little tamer evolvers. If not, we don¡¯t have to wait for Zhang Mu¡¯s arrival to start our n.¡± Long Qi nodded his head in agreement. It seemed like he was talking to himself, and yet, it also appeared that he was speaking to the ck veil woman. He took a long nce at the direction where Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui had left. After that, he followed the woman and went down the city wall.

    What Zhang Mu didn¡¯t know was that he was not the only one hiding his real power. Long Qi, as well as the entire Shan Xi city, had a hidden potential that was far beyond his imagination with such a figure hidden away from him. Suddenly, his every movement was being analyzed. Just like the evaluation they make about Zhang Mu, they, themselves were only showing the tip of the iceberg in front of Zhang Mu.

    ¡£¡£¡£¡£¡£¡£

    Even with the weight of Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui, the mutated wolfdog dashed with abnormal speed. It seemed to be faster than it carried Zhang Mu thest time. Looks like the earth-type beast core that Zhang Mu fed it yesterday, was highly effective. The load capacity of the mutated wolfdog had increased once again.

    Zhang Mu stroked the thicker mane of the mutated wolfdog in content. Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle in Yuan Rui¡¯s pocket also helped out a little. At the very least, it was scaring all the first-ranked mutated animals around them using its vigor.

    Using the whole morning, Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui finally reached the boundary. Looking at the distant city, Zhang Mu was not in a rush to meet all those evolvers with tamer ability, so that he could enter Jin Zhong city and investigate. Instead, he sat leisurely on the ground.

    The thirsty and hungry mutated wolfdog was gnawing and holding a pile of the mutated animal corpse stored in the merchant ring. As the scene was too bloody, it was sent off by Zhang Mu to a ce that Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui couldn¡¯t see. It dragged the corpse while looking miserably at Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui using its small eye.

    There was no choice. It was affecting Zhang Mu¡¯s and Yuan Rui¡¯s appetite while it was gluttony eating and sttering flesh and blood beside them.

    Sitting on the ground, with both legs arched, Zhang Mu was deep in thought as he held out a hand for support on the ground while the other hand was holding the dry food with a sluggish look.

    Suddenly, he sat up straight and took out the brief map that Li Hu gave him yesterday to study it. Even though he had seen it countless time yesterday, even memorized every location in his mind, but Zhang Mu still felt a slight uneasiness in his heart. However, he couldn¡¯t find out the source of this uneasiness. He could only look over again, and again at the map.

    Still nothing!

    Zhang Mu took a deep breath to calm down his emotion. The firm brows gradually spread out.

    What was the reason exactly? Were there any dangers in this Jin Zhong city?

    Stop thinking about it anymore, he thought to himself. It was time to call for people since he and Yuan Rui had finished eating.

    He took out a bamboo whistle from his arm. The crisp sound began to ring through the entire sky. Zhang Mu was not afraid of attracting any ignorant mutated animals since the Obsidian Beetle had turned on its second-ranked vigor. As for the walking dead and the mutated animals in Jin Zhong city, he was even less worried about them. Long Qi mentioned before that they seem to be protecting something so they would not leave the city so easily.

    Zhang Mu waited quietly. Within five minutes, three ck figures arrived at the same time in a different direction.

 Chapter 170

    <strong>Chapter 170: Dividing The Work</strong>

    Zhang Mu inspected the evolvers that came from three different directions. A young man wearing sses was riding on the back of a cat species. Zhang Mu had seen a real tiger before hence, he spected that this was evolved from a kitten.

    As for the other two, there was a man who came alone. Zhang Mu who couldn¡¯t see the mutated animal using his naked eye, and had to secretly scan around that person¡¯s body using his psychic power. Finally, he discovered a small scorpion hidden in his sleeve. Zhang Mu was left stunned and speechless with fear. Fortunately, that person was not his enemy now, and he had his psychic barrier to defend himself. If not, he wouldn¡¯t be able to react once he was attacked by him suddenly.

    The size of this scorpion was even smaller than what he had seen before the Cataclysm, and that means that the evolving wave did not affect the body of this small scorpion. So there was only one exnation for this, the poison of this scorpion, had increased vastly.

    The remaining person was a woman dressed in yellow. She was much more mboyant as she stepped on the top of a giant python and glided over. Her eyes were filled with scorn and disdain as she looked down at Zhang Mu and the others from the height. That giant python slowly flicked out its tongue. It seems like a golden python that was raised as a pet in the past. It was supposed to be a docile species, but after the opening of the Paradise Era, its predatory nature was awakened. It red at Zhang Mu with an unfriendly look.

    Except for that cat, what the heck were those other animals? Zhang Mu missed Thunder a little. At least it was a warm-blooded animal that seems normal. Too bad it was called back to inspect the refugees as the entrance of Shan Xi city could not do without her.

    On the other hand, they were also watching both Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui, together with the mutated wolfdog at their back.

    ¡°I was wondering who was the one that caused Boss Long Qi to value such a person and make me wait here to start the n. It turns out to be a big dog, just like Thunder.¡± The woman standing on top of the giant python did not sense any danger from Zhang Mu¡¯s body. She smiled disdainfully, ¡°Even if it was Thunder, it was hard to say who would win when it was entangled by my small snake. I honestly don¡¯t know why the boss requested us toe here specially to wait for you.¡±

    So cocky?

    Zhang Mu merely take a nce at that woman before he retracted back his gaze immediately.

    Felt as though she was mocked by him, that women frowned her brows and pointed at Zhang Mu, ¡°What is that look you¡¯re giving? If you are not convinced, then let¡¯s have a battle!¡±

    As if he did not hear anything, Zhang Mu turned his head and looked at Yuan Rui, who was scared by the giant python and shrank behind him. He regarded that yellow-clothed woman as a pile of air that talked a lot of nonsense.

    Zhang Mu did not know where he had offended her. The only possibility was him receiving the attention from Long Qi. However, he couldn¡¯t figure out what was there topete.

    The man that raised the scorpion kept his mouth shut as if the outside world had nothing to do with him.

    Meanwhile, that young man wearing sses frowned as he felt that the wordsing from the woman were a little over the top. He raised his head and spoke to the yellow-clothed woman, ¡°Sister Hua, even though we had waited some time for him but stop saying those nonsenses. The boss told us to give him the data as soon as possible. So let¡¯s quickly split up the task and go back straightaway after recording them.¡±

    After that, he turned around and looked at Zhang Mu, ¡°I guessed you are that Zhang Mu from the notification, right?¡±

    Zhang Mu nodded his head lightly. That young man in front of his eye seems reasonable. He smiled in return, ¡°That right, I¡¯m Zhang Mu. Not sure how should I address you?¡±

    ¡°Gu Quan. They are Lin Hua, Sister Hua. And Jiang Shu, Brother Shu respectively. As for this, it is my mutated animal. It was my pet kitten in the past. General,e and meet this guy.¡± That young man introduced hispanion to Zhang Mu. That big mutated kitten called General, wasbing its fur lifelessly. When it heard that young man called its name, it slightly raised its head and nced at Zhang Mu.

    Seeing that his mutated animal did not cooperate with him, Gu Quan stroked the head of General and smiled awkwardly at Zhang Mu.

    The cat was still the same old thing, cold and elegant. Gu Quan, the poop-picker, had spoil it too much. If that was Zhang Mu, no matter if it was the Obsidian Beetle or the mutated wolfdog, if both of them dare to cause trouble for him, either they would be cut off from their food supply, or they would be beaten up. That was a useful method to make them obedient.

    Zhang Mu took out the brief peripheral map from his backpack that Li Hu had prepared for him. The eyes of the three people slowly gathered around him. He used his hand and pointed at the smallbels in the map that were already marked out, ¡°Gu Quan will take point number three, located at the southwest entrance of Jin Zhong city. Lin Hua, right? You will take point number five. For Jiang Shu, you will take point number six.¡±

    That Lin Hua just seemed to dislike Zhang Mu as she said coldly, ¡°The boss wants us to get urate information from all these seven points. But now, you only allocated three points. Is the two of you going toplete the remaining four points? Aren¡¯t you overestimating yourself a little too much? Do you know that we only have one chance for this? Are you going to be responsible when there is a problem?¡±

    Zhang Mu, who was interrupted by Lin Hua, looked at her grimly and pointed out, ¡°That¡¯s right. I was going to say that we would handle all the remaining four points. Also, didn¡¯t your parents teach you not to interrupt when the others are talking? Ms. Lin Hua, huh?¡±

    Lin Hua¡¯s face turned deathly pale in anger. That giant pythonid obediently under her body and let her stepped on its head as they both left in anger. However, the direction that they were going was indeed point number five. Looks like she didn¡¯t dare to act on impulse too. If she had angered Long Qi, she knew how unreasonable would that bald head be, who usually looked very kind and friendly.

    ¡°Brother Zhang Mu, please don¡¯t mind her. Sister Hua¡¯s personality is always like this. It will be fine once you¡¯re used to it.¡± Gu Quan looked helplessly at Zhang Mu, hoping he could understand.

    Zhang Mu waved his hand and replied, ¡°I won¡¯t go so far to fuss over this with a woman. Let us continue. Because the location of point number one, two, four and seven are pretty close, and I have two evolvers and two mutated animals, so we will be handling this together since our chemistry is pretty good.

    Also, the most crucial point, if anyone of us is exposed, remember that under the premise of protecting your life, try to attract the walking dead herd and mutated animals as much as possible, to share the burden of others when they are entering the city¡¯s core.¡±

 Chapter 171

    <strong>Chapter 171: nning Secretly</strong>

    The area that Zhang Mu had taken almost covered the entire southeast of Jin Zhong city. He chose this section for a reason. Yesterday when he had a drink with Li Hu, Li Hu had mentioned to him once that the west side was much weaker whereas the situation in the southeast area was moreplicated.

    During that time, Li Hu wanted to convince Zhang Mu to find a rtively weak opening to break through. However, Zhang Mu did not think this way. Instead, he was more interested in the southeast side that Li Hu mentioned.

    In this Jin Zhong city, the leader of the mutated animals and the intellectual type of walking dead must have a countermeasure at the very least. Therefore, when the area was heavily guarded by them, there would be a high possibility for the main event to appear there. Furthermore, they did not evolve to the stage where they would allocate a deceptive battle array to mislead the enemy.

    Long Qi wanted to make use of Zhang Mu to investigate the situation, so why shouldn¡¯t Zhang Mu also make use of the avable resources in his hands? If something truly happened, there would be another three people to share his burden. Therefore, during that time, wasn¡¯t it easier to take advantage of the situation and entered again? Zhang Mu was curious about the secret within the Jin Zhong city too.

    For the time being, people would not discover any prominent piece of treasure yet. Meanwhile, the mutated animals would not be eager to devour it. Usually, they would guard beside it until it matured fully. Zhang Mu also thought of this point, which was why he ran here without thinking twice.

    Otherwise, did he specially ran over here to be Long Qi¡¯s servant instead of doing his era merchant task?

    When they reached the front of the city¡¯s buildingplex, just as expected, they notice that the walking dead herd were moving in an orderly pattern. They were walking funnily with their legs dragging on the ground, yet Zhang Mu could not smile when he saw the scene.

    These walking dead were patrolling in an orderly manner ording to the instruction they received!

    In this case, the only exnation for this was the intellectual type, who was controlling the enormous herd, had reached a high stage in its evolution. Therefore, it was able to control the action of the walking dead in batches.

    Then it was very likely that this intellectual type of walking dead was going to upy Jin Zhong city as a fortress toplete thest step of its evolution. As a result, these mutated animals and walking dead herd were taking great pains for the sake of it.

    This spection was also firmly anchored in Zhang Mu¡¯s mind. Because in his memory from the past life, he did not find any useful information about any treasures produced in Jin Zhong city.

    If that was the case, this matter had reached the point of no return. When this intellectual type walking dead had full control over its power, then not even this small Shan Xi city would be swept through, the distant Luoyang city would be submerged too. The moment it hoarded a tremendous amount of walking dead army, they would crash every town along the way while expanding its power continuously.

    Seeing that Zhang Mu¡¯s expression had turned solemn, Yuan Rui pulled on his sleeve anxiously, ¡°Uncle, what should I do? I don¡¯t even know how to control Little ck!¡±

    In fact, not only Yuan Rui, even Zhang Mu himself was worried about this matter too. Even if he had the extra distance from his psychic ability, but as long as the distance between him and the Obsidian Beetle had reached a limit, he would not be able tomunicate with the Obsidian Beetle anymore.

    The rtionship between him and the Obsidian Beetle, was not acquired from his awakening ability. In fact, the most significant difference among Zhang Mu and those tamer evolvers was that hecked the power to share and resonate with his mutated animals. Given that the Obsidian Beetle only had a blood connection with him.

    That was the reason Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle would be estranged, after a certain distance. Furthermore, their ability trait was not closely linked at all. The initial element of the Obsidian Beetle was wind, whereas Zhang Mu did not have any property in his body. However, that was still considered good. If they had fire and water attribute, then there was no way for them tomunicate besides facing each other.

    Zhang Mu lowered his voice and leaned near Yuan Rui, ¡°You only need to sit here with me and pretend that you aremunicating in your mind with your mutated animal like them. I would handle the rest, so you don¡¯t need to bother about them.¡±

    After that, he immediately turned to the mutated wolfdog and spoke into his gigantic ear. If the others heard what he was saying, they would be bewildered.

    ¡°The moment one of them was discovered, no matter how much trouble they caused, just barge into the deepest ce and make as much movement as you can!¡±

    The mutated wolfdog nodded its head mindlessly. It only knew that once this matter was finish, Zhang Mu would give him a bottle of the second-ranked evolving potion that he gave to the Obsidian Beetle previously.

    ¡®For the little female dog, I will fight until the end!¡¯

    If Zhang Mu had heard its inner monologue, he would probably faint in anger. The mutated wolfdog had no backbone at all.

    Meanwhile, Zhang Mu wasmunicating with the Obsidian Beetle, ¡°When the mutated wolfdog is attracting their attention, reduce your size and sneak into the core location. Memorize them and share it with me when youe back.

    If you meet any good stuff, don¡¯t touch it first. Come back and discuss it with me.¡±

    Zhang Mu naturally had his reason for not letting the Obsidian Beetle try its best to seize the treasure. Firstly, he was afraid that it would cause a riot in the city. Secondly, there would be a lot of trouble in the future if Long Qi discovered any evidence.

    So if there was any treasure, and he wanted to get it, then the best way for him was to lock on the target and then secretly took it away when the official movement starts.

    At this moment, the Obsidian Beetle easily guess Zhang Mu¡¯s little mind. It smiled wickedly and said, ¡°You are concerned about the thing inside the city, right? However, if I told you about it, then what benefit would I have?¡±

    Regarding the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s greediness, Zhang Mu only replied with a roll-eye and left the question hanging.

    If he had promised the Obsidian Beetle, it would be even more insatiable. He had spoilt it too much that it yed tricks on him when he wanted to ask for its help now.

    Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui slowly sat down at a spot. Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle and the mutated wolfdog entered the ce one after another like two rays of lightning.

    After the Obsidian Beetle reduced its size, the mutated wolfdog seemed way bigger. Naturally, it was even more conspicuous and attracted the gazes of the walking dead straight away.

    The walking dead growled softly, as if they were warning it not to go closer. However, the appearance of the mutated wolfdog did not cause muchmotion because there would be a few mutated animals that walked pass there frequently. From time to time, there would be some scattered mutated animals harassing their formation. Therefore, they were not included in the list where they would be on full alert immediately.

    Usually, the mutated animals were handled by the mutated animals inside the city. Looks like this intellectual type of walking dead was quite petty and scheming. In the meantime, the Obsidian Beetle had attached itself to the mane of the mutated wolfdog, inconspicuous to the others.

    Those walking dead had resisted for a moment. With a few leaps, the mutated wolfdog passed through the defensive circle.

    At this moment, the mind connection that was reinforced with Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic ability had cut offpletely.

    Little ck, our chance to make a fortune, counted on you already!

 Chapter 172

    <strong>Chapter 172: Creating Troubles</strong>

    Just like that, the Obsidian Beetle sneaked into Jin Zhong city with Zhang Mu¡¯s entrust. Unlike the Obsidian Beetle, the wolfdog had to stay here and wait for the other tamer¡¯s mutated animal to be discovered by the mutated animal in the city. Once there was amotion, that was the moment it had to move.

    Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle had no hesitations. The instance they entered Jin Zhong city, it left the back of the mutated wolfdog and flew on a low altitude towards the ce that Zhang Mu had said would most likely possess the treasure.

    While moving forward, the Obsidian Beetle also require to imprint the pathway in its memory along the way. When it returned, it would transmit these pieces of information through Zhang Mu¡¯s psychic power. Therefore, its small brain kept moving. It would nce at those simplendscape quickly while paying attention to those withndmarks. It stuck close to the ground and moved forward quickly.

    Suddenly, the Obsidian Beetle sensed an unusual scent in the air. It quickly hid at the side of a streetmp base and retracted all the vigor in its body. It pretended to be a stone and leaned near the streetmp with simr color, almost blending into one. It waited quietly for the owner of the scent toe.

    ¡°Bomb!¡±

    The ground started to shake. After a while, several huge figures appeared on the street.

    That six figures had a slim body, long and thick furs, lush and soft tail. They hadrge, pointed and triangr ears too. The fur coat on their body was in reddish brown or pure white color. The tail was fluffy with a tint of white color. Meanwhile, their ears and limbs were ck.

    What else could it be other than a fox?

    They slowly swept the big tail behind them, while the two meters tall body was scanning around the ce. There was a trace of doubt on the face of themander fox. Just now it certainly smelt an unfamiliar presence, and it was in this direction. But why it couldn¡¯t find it now? Its face was filled with more and more confusion, as it was at a loss.

    The other two red foxes beside it whine softly a few times. As if they were reporting that they could not smell the scent that theirmander could.

    Looking at the empty streets, themander white fox was a little puzzled. The presence that it smelt earlier should not be a mistake. It trusted its instinct. Hence, it raised its head and howled sharply, heading firmly to a direction, and continue their pursuit. It insists that the strange presence must be here.

    A gust of wind blew past. The six foxes nimbly leaped out from this street and disappeared from the Obsidian Beetle¡¯s vision.

    The Obsidian Beetle sighed with relief in a human-like way. In its mind, it was reflecting that earlier it merely did not retract its presence fully, and yet, it was still discovered by that white fox that was about to advance to the second-ranked. The defense here was too strict. If it were not good at making use of the wind to hide its smell and vigor, then it would not be able to muddle through this checkpoint.

    It had no problem with battle. However, the Obsidian Beetle felt fortunate that it was not discovered by those mutated animals who were good at detecting the hidden enemy. If not, it had no confidence that this battle would be settled in silent.

    Right now, it was interested in the item that was heavily guarded too. Its intelligence now was about the same as an average human being. It was considering whether if it should squeeze a sum from Zhang Mu once again.

    With this in mind, the Obsidian Beetle did not dare to release its power to travel quickly anymore.

    It only dared to borrow some wind-element energy and slowly send itself to move forward. However, it was moving forward while sticking close to the ground most of the time.

    If Zhang Mu saw this, he would praise the Obsidian Beetle that it was like a scoutingbat ne.

    Because every step that the Obsidian Beetle takes, it would find the most suitable pathway and integrated with the surrounding.

    All of a sudden, it stopped crawling and hid under a shadow motionlessly.

    It was another five mutated animals of the same species. That was the fifth time that the Obsidian Beetle had encountered them. Suddenly, it felt a little pity for itself. It was a second-ranked mutated animal, yet it had lived so miserably.

    Right now, it did not dare to move from this shadow anymore. Because in front of its eye, the surrounding of the za was filled with all types of mutated animal. It had a feeling that once it left the ce, it would be discovered.

    Therefore, currently, it could not take a step to look at the center of the za.

    Now, it could only rely on that stupid dog to create lots of turmoil.

    As for that mutated wolfdog, after it broke through the walking dead herd, it was basking in the Sun on the roof of a small bungalow on the outermost side. It was waiting for the situation that Zhang Mu mentioned, to happen.

    Zhang Mu instructed it that unless it was absolutely necessary, it must not be the first to start themotion as that might cause an immense impact on his subsequent ns. Therefore, it kept waiting on one side quietly.

    It waited and waited. Suddenly, the ground shook, and the nose of the mutated wolfdog twitched abruptly.

    It was that disgusting smell from the stinking snake that scared Yuan Rui. The mutated wolfdog was startled and stood upright immediately.

    Sure enough, it was Lin Hua¡¯s golden python. However now, it did not have the earlier condescending and despising attitude, when it was with that nasty women.

    The golden python rushed in a hurry toward the mutated wolfdog¡¯s direction with dozens of huge apes followed behind closely. They seemed to be mutated from the chimpanzees. One by one, they stamped on the ground and beat their chest. They wanted to catch this golden python that was crazily wriggling its body to move forward quickly, forming an ¡®S¡¯ shape on the ground.

    Even if the golden python had a strange power in its body, it could not stand against these apes that had many limbs to tear apart its body. It must escape from them immediately.

    Despite that, the mutated wolfdog jumped off the roof after watching the scene. It hurried in the direction of the golden python.

    The golden python recognized that it was the wolfdog that it was with earlier as it hissed anxiously, telling the wolfdog to get away quickly and stop blocking its way.

    But at this moment, something shocking happened that caused it to forget about escaping momentarily.

    The mutated wolfdog, actually flew past its body and barked loudly. Instantly, dozens sharp and barbed earth-spike rose from the ground.

    The golden python was utterly stunned in ce and even forgot about escaping.

    It could not believe that the mutated wolfdog was actually challenging the entire group of chimpanzees! It still had the time to look back and revealed a cheeky grin to the golden python, as if showing that it didn¡¯t need to be too grateful.

    If the golden python could speak human words, a sentence would be blurted out from its mouth at this time.

    You¡¯re crazy!

    Because the earth-type energy was scattered, the earth-spikes did not damage the chimpanzee¡¯s vital parts. However, the earth-type beast core that it atest night did not go down the drain as all those tall and muscr chimpanzees were bleeding.

    The development of the event was just that smooth as the roars of dozens ofrge chimpanzees resounded through the entire sky of Jin Zhong city.

    Several people outside the city also heard the endless roars of the mutated animals at the same time. The other four people, including the expressionless man, lose color on their face instantly.

    On the other hand, Lin Hua was in anger as her face flushed red like the color of a pig liver, and she did not talk for a long time.

    Meanwhile, the real initiator had curled up the corners of his mouth as a smile hung on Zhang Mu¡¯s face as if the matter had been settled.

    Stupid dog and Little ck, faster do your tasks!

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