by Tai Baiyang
Although the loudspeaker had been broken, the explosive sound still stimulated the zombies' 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 blaze, 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 loudspeakers, I can design traps to kill as many zombies 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 still laughed impudently. The Obsidian Beetle looked at him on his shoulder with curiosity. It also flapped its small wings with excitement, because Zhang Mu had promised it that he would give it a lot of crystals after eliminating the zombies.
The Obsidian Beetle had been influenced by Zhang Mu. It was gradually becoming a small money grubber. At this moment, it only hoped that there were more and more zombies rushing into the sea of fire.
About half of the zombies had crowded into the oil station. The zombies' flesh and blood had almost extinguished the fire.
The Obsidian Beetle felt anxious. It computed and found that there would be hundreds of zombies breaking through the sea of fire if this continued. It knew clearly that Zhang Mu and itself couldn't fight against so many zombies. 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 Black’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 collapsed, raising airflows that swept through the entire zombie 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, for 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 flames had ignited the oil that remained in the tanks and finally made them explode.
It was really a big blast. All the zombies had been swallowed by the waves.
Five minutes later, 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 become a total ruin. Zombies’ broken arms and legs were littered all over the ground, black and burnt like used cokes.
Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone else that witnessed Zhang Mu's great success.
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 Black 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 such appetite? Isn't only meat eatable in the world?
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 the last 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 playing by itself on the ground. Zhang Mu picked up it and put it on his shoulder, then looked at the oil station. It had become 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 Black 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 zombies' necks. Five minutes later, the Obsidian Beetle had eaten over fifty crystals.
Zhang Mu was scared. The fifty crystals weren't common 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 minutes later, 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 become bigger and its legs had also grown two centimeters. The most prominent change was the dark gold lines on its head. They had become clearer.
"How many crystals have you eaten?"
The Obsidian Beetle was too excited. It didn't realize that Zhang Mu was complaining 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 zombies' 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 Black and Zhang Mu cooperated with each other. Soon afterward, they had picked out more than half of the crystals from the zombies 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 flapped its wings at a high frequency. Its eyes stared at a place 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 zombies and started to gnaw them. The place they passed didn't even have a bone remaining.
"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 at by hundreds of mutated rats.
"Shit! Retreat, Little Black. Retreat!" Zhang Mu turned around and ran away without hesitation. Little Black 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 zombies' 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 that he knew: Group Hunting. Zhang Mu's Obsidian Beetle was really an exception.
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 recovered. I can heal you!"
After Zhang Mu returned, Yuan Rui checked his body but found no wounds. His clothes weren't even wrinkled. She pouted and complained, "Why didn't you get hurt? Did you just look for a hidden place 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 glance, 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 become 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 Black'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 slapped the Obsidian Beetle and scolded it mercilessly, "You didn't dare to face the mutated rat swarm, but dare to scare a 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 Beetle compromised. It lowered its head and flapped its wings listlessly.
"Oh, the beetle understands your words! Uncle, you are awesome!"
Yuan Rui smiled through her tears.
Zhang Mu boasted 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 Black. Don't be surprised by it, because it looks small and cute now, but it can become 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 Black'? 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 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 zombies in this area last night. If the survivors were smart, they would naturally come out of their houses to search for necessities.
In his memory, only very few people walked out of their hiding places during the debugging time in his past life, but now, he saw three groups wandering out. Was it the butterfly effect?
The butterfly effect is a concept that states that "small causes can have larger effects". His existence and the things he had done had changed the world. What would the world become?
Zhang Mu didn't know if it was a good thing for these people. He had only eliminated the zombies nearby, if they thought that the zombies 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 their last breath of life in this cruel world. Waste and losers would be eliminated by "natural selection". No one could save them.
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 food, 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" were struggling for their lives?
This was a game for the higher beings. And now, the game had just begun.
When Zhang Mu was thinking, a loud noise on the street interrupted his thoughts.
Bang! Peng!
The people had crashed the glass 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 entra
nce 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 glasses that 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 is no zombie around right now, but no one knows when these human-eating monsters will return. Of course, I will take away all the food. Otherwise, my little brothers and I will have to drink the northwest wind on empty stomachs!"
Then he waved his baseball bat and ordered his subordinates to be quicker.
The man with glasses was pissed off. He said angrily, "You are just a few in number. You don't need that much food! We have been starving for a whole day. If you don't share some food with us, we will... don't blame 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 that his little brothers were carrying away, the blond gangster laughed 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 gangster laughed 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 glanced at her and sneered contemptuously, "Stupid woman, you can call the police now, but no one will come to help you! If you don't shut your mouth up, we will rape you on the street!"