Back to the Doomsday

by Tai Baiyang

  Chapter 52: Every Minute Counts!

  No matter what they had imagined before, once Lin Shui and his fellows saw the massive amount of zombie corpses, 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 Black’s sense of smell, Zhang Mu had quickly found a second group of zombies.

  Looking at the new crowd of zombies in front of him, Zhang Mu wondered whether or not there would be a problem if he killed these zombies the same way he did before. The more zombies 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 zombies he killed in these cities, compared 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 Black, 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 zombies 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 zombies 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 zombie crowd.

  After looking at his wristwatch, Zhang Mu grinned and said, “7.5 hours left. It's still early. Little Black, turn big and begin work.”

  After hearing that, Little Black suddenly expanded in size and landed down hard on the ground, lifting a large amount of dust.

  It was a definite provocation to these zombie’s ears. Holding his two daggers, Zhang Mu stared excitedly at the zombie coming towards him.

  As they closed in on them, Little Black dashed into the crowd. It picked a zombie in its mouth and grasped another in its claw, killing them at high speed.

  Little Black 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 Black’s claws were much sharp than his Tang sword. They stabbed through the zombies’ bones easily.

  One attack after another, Zhang Mu had no time to rest. More and more zombies began to attack him as they couldn’t break through Little Black’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 Black formed an impregnable defense line which stopped the zombies 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, she laughed and stepped closer to Zhang Mu, pressed her hands onto Zhang Mu’s back and infused energy into his body.

  With Yuan Rui’s energy, he felt revived, as all his tiredness disappeared. He roared and continued slashing his daggers.

  Moreover, 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 Black.

  15 minutes later, 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 Black’s back.

  There were still two hundred zombies left!

  Zhang Mu’s greed was aroused. Collecting crystals was really a passion of his.

  Half an hour later, they finally stopped. Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui supported each other as they watched Little Black pick out crystals from the zombies’ bodies spiritedly. Both of them were exhausted while it was still lively.

  “I overestimated myself. We’d better choose a smaller zombie 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 in laughter.

  Chapter 53: Start to Trade

  Although Zhang Mu was totally spent, Little Black was still high spirits.

  Zhang Mu didn’t want to waste time, so he asked Little Black to continue killing zombies and collecting crystals while he and Yuan Rui sat aside, enjoying the wind.

  Zhang Mu asked Little Black to look for a small group of around 100 zombies 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 Black’s efficiency was just slightly lower than when they worked together, Zhang Mu finally put his heart at rest and let Little Black take care of work alone.

  Zhang Mu started to recovery his energy under Little Black’s unhappy glances. Two hours later, Little Black had wiped out around 200 zombies 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 Black in the fight.

  This time, Zhang Mu was clever and didn’t look go against a large mass. He just looked for a small group of zombies 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 vigilant. He had to be mindful; there were many mutated animals and evolvers with powerful combat 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 the later 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 big lawn 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 Black wait here for me.” Zhang Mu said with a worried look. Before he finished the trade, he wouldn’t be able to come out from the store and wouldn’t know what happened outside. However, he didn’t think that anyone would threaten Yuan Rui and Little Black right. Her ability had recovered after five hours of rest, which could support Little Black if danger were to come.

 
On the tenth day of the new era, there shouldn’t be anything that could overpower Little Black. Zhang Mu didn’t worry about the zombies at all because they couldn’t come 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 Rui laughed 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 to come.”

  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 welcome 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: 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 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 successfully 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’t compare 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 Xi'an. But now, Yuan Rui had started to become 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 become 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 and companions, 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 and said slowly, “To be frank with you, my performance in the other testing fields dropped quite alarmingly 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.

&n
bsp; After all, satisfying mutual interest was the path to success.

  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: Making a Huge Fortune Overnight

  Now, Zhang Mu had complete control over the transaction and No. 35 was being very cooperative. He shook his red robe and flames burst across the platform 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 flame 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 flames 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 plan, even though he didn’t know whether it would succeed 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, "According to the rule, trading of the Era regional goods comes first. Give me your Luoyang Peony Buds and I will give you golden leaves.”