Strike the First Blow

by Tai Baiyang

  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 the last of the spider's meat wholeheartedly and threw the remaining shell on the ground. As if he had completed 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

  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 delay 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 Black, 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’s combat 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 accordingly.

  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 black 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 place 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 relatively 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 the competition 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 become an intellectual type of walking dead, to command 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 balance 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 claimed 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 small commotion 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 and commanded 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 the latter, then the matter was even more complicated. 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 place, and with the right people. The right time refers to the group of little spiders, that hadn’t grown up yet. The right place 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 place 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 a commander 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

  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 could compete against the walking dead herd and the intellectual type walking dead.

  With an intellectual type commanding 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 population it had. But if you thought about the number of cities in China, even if they encountered the Catastylcm, how much population would remain? How was it possible to stuff the whole population 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 display your power, or you spend money in exchange for safety. It was also a form of survival of the fittest. The strong would become 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 the completion 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 inflammatory statement, but that was the common 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 time comes, the human would be accustomed 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 become the Earth’s rarest animal on this planet.

  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 Black 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 claw, 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

  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 he compared the city to Luoyang city. Currently, there were many different bases in Luoyang city that each occupied a place 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 particular force, or an individual had fully unified the city.

  The speculation in Zhang Mu’s mind was more towards the latter. 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 mi
nd.

  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 become a leader by winning people's heart with virtue. Based on Zhang Mu's memory, only the Ice Queen was competent to conquer all the big and small forces in the city by using power.

  Even though the Ice Queen was powerful, but according 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 Black, let’s go.” Zhang Mu had to enter Shan Xi city eventually. Now that the place was heavily guarded, even if he could pass through, he wouldn’t be able to go in quietly. When the times come, it would appear that he had a guilty conscience, and that would be unfavorable for his actions later.

  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 Black 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 place 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 a combat ability that could not be underestimated in any bases.