by Tai Baiyang
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 assimilated 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 assimilate 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 getting complicated.
This person could assimilate other people’s energy and thoughts to become 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 accumulation 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 becoming 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 to comfort 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 blatantly, “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 play 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 become 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 plan, 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 plan. But guess what? I fed these people to my children, one piece at a time.”
Chapter 95: The True Intention
“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 playing 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 plant-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. The last 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 slap 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 its composure. 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 could
n’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 place 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 become an Era Merchant and I will not kill you.”
Chapter 96: Master Of Lies
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 become 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 placed in a different environment after living comfortably 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 accumulating.
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 collapsing. Yet, he was enthralled by the feeling of his power increases exponentially in a short period of time and he needed something to comfort 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 the last card that he could play but it was not very safe. The Bloodvine Lotus could act on its own. If the leader relaxed 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 plant-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 plan 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 collar 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 place 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, “then come with me to the Merchant store. With my recommendation, you will get what you want.”
Chapter 97: A Success
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 and composed 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 relaxed 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 become 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 recovered completely. 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 the later 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?”