Strike the First Blow

by Tai Baiyang

  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 the compact mass of black 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 outermost layer, and there was still a dozen spider webs attached to his leg.

  Unfortunately, the little black 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 blades made up of the wind-element and the overwhelming webs that were about to envelop Zhang Mu.

  The wind-element giant blades were severing the incoming 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 blades are not going to last 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 off completely.

  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 blades 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 black spider, had escaped once again!

  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 black 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 blades. Coupled with the fact that the load on its body had reached maximum capacity, it gradually slowed down and started to land.

  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 to land. 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 glanced 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 still coming from collecting material in the city and going outside to hunt meat from some mutated animal that was relatively 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 Black 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 glanced 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 to come 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 a large 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 vigilance. 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 accompanied 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 blame 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 successful 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 places 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 a comeback!

  Little spiders, I, Zhang Mu, is coming back to play with you. Hehehe.

  Zhang Mu glanced towards the Obsidian Beetle, who was stretching its wings on its back, and smiled wickedly.

  Chapter 153: The Old Tricks Strike Again

  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 place already.”

  That’s right. If the spiders were scattered, then things would be tricky. Zhang Mu’s tactic was a large-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 placed it in front of the mutated wolfdog. “If you can find the place 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 still lacks 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 air coming faintly from a particular direction.

  Zhang Mu let the Obsidian Beetle remained in this place to accompany Hao Hao and Yuan Rui. It was happy to be able to laze around, so it laid 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 manipulated by Zhang Mu helplessly.

  According 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 a compass.

  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 place.

  However, the pit was empty. Zhang Mu sighed heavily and thought to himself, “In the end, they have left the place already? If we did not destroy them now, how should we redeem ourselves when the time comes?”

  The Obsidian Beetle seems to hear Zhang Mu’s t
hought and laughed, “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 place?

  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 plan must be carried out on a large scale in order to work flawlessly.

  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

  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.