Embark on the Road

by Tai Baiyang

  No. 37 noticed Zero who was behind Zhang Mu and he frowned, “it is a taboo to bring other people into the era merchant’s shop. Although you are the first era merchant and have a chance to introduce another era merchant, I don’t remember that I told you this before.”

  Seems like Zhang Mu didn’t lie to him. As the first era merchant, he had the rights to recommend other people. Zero started relaxing.

  “However, since you brought him in already, are you sure that you want to use your only chance on him?”

  At this moment, no. 37 and Zero’s gaze landed on the silent Zhang Mu. One was a look of inquiry while the other was a look of excitement. Now, Zero was only one step to being an era merchant. He just needed Zhang Mu to say something.

  Two seconds passed. To their surprise, Zhang Mu sneered and looked up at Zero. He gave Zero a smile.

  Zero saw Zhang Mu’s expression and knew that something was amiss. He wanted to use his spiritual power to control Zhang Mu but he realised that he seemed to have lost all his power and was no different from a normal person.

  Under the anxious and nervous gaze of Zero, Zhang Mu said the words that destroyed all his hope.

  “This was the person that killed one of your merchants.”

  Zhang Mu’s words caused no.37 to turn cold in his eyes. His expression was eerie and he looked at Zero with a serious expression.

  “Don’t listen to him. He said it on purpose,” Zero’s mood fell down to rock bottom as he lost all his powers. He looked at Zhang Mu smiling mysteriously at him and couldn’t control his emotions anymore. He disregarded the fact that he was already more than 40 years old and had the body of a middle-aged man and just rushed towards Zhang Mu.

  However, Zhang Mu had no intention of dodging. The moment Zero pounced over, he was already controlled by no. 37. He was clipped by two stars.

  Zhang Mu was taking a gamble too. He didn’t know if no.37 would act against a human, even if the human didn’t provoke the era merchant’s shop and just killed his era merchant.

  No. 37 didn’t bother about Zhang Mu and just called upon a star to search through Zero’s body. After a while, he started frowning. The next moment, he gave a look of realisation. He started having an interest in Zero.

  At this moment, Zhang Mu was in torment. What happens of no. 37 take a fancy to Zero’s abilities and recruits him to be an era merchant? If that happens, what would happen when they go out?

  Zhang Mu was planning to let no. 37 solve this problem for him. However, he suddenly felt that this issue was not so simple. Although Zero killed an era merchant, if no. 37 liked his talent and kept him under his wing, there was no way he could explain himself after they get out.

  But, luck seemed to on Zhang Mu’s side. No. 37 sighed in pity and clenched his fist. The stars that were clipping on Zero pushed against each other and turned Zero into fine powder. Amidst Zero’s miserable screams, his blood infused into the two stars and stained their surface in red.

  Zhang Mu was swallowing his saliva throughout the whole process. He didn’t know why no. 37 did this. “Are you wondering why I didn’t use this person even though he is one of the most powerful evolver now?” No. 37 looked at Zhang Mu with sharp eyes as though he wanted Zhang Mu to explain to him why he used him.

  Zhang Mu was still immersed in Zero’s death and he asked subconsciously, “why?”

  “One, he killed my merchant. By right, it is none of my business whether you all survive in the Paradise Era. However, after he killed this era merchant, I am only left with two other merchants. This means that besides you, only the second one is still alive.”

  Zhang Mu noticed the anger in no. 37’s tone. He asked, “what happened to the rest?”

  “After the attack on Luoyang by those mutated animals, two of them died just outside my shop.”

  Zhang Mu knew why no. 37 took action so furiously. The attack by the mutated animals had caused him to lose two era merchants. No wonder the unbiased no. 37 almost annihilated all the mutated animals within this area. Zhang Mu finally understood it now.

  “As for the other reason, this person is ahead of you all in terms of ability but he would soon cease to be a human. Hence, the era merchant’s shop would not recognise his status then. There is no point in taking him in.”

  So this was what happened. Seems like Zero was going to become inhuman very soon. No matter how powerful he was, he could not become an era merchant. Zhang Mu felt at ease. He thought that he had solved a huge problem.

  But, very quickly, he couldn’t smile anymore. No. 37 was looking at him weirdly.

  “Now, let us settle an account, shall we?”

  Zhang Mu gave a bitter face and couldn’t say anything. The more he heard what no. 37 had to say, the blacker his face became.

  “Entering the era merchant’s shop before the exchange date, deduct ten gold leaves.”

  “The price for making use of me and payment for my psychological trauma, 10 gold leaves.”

  No. 37 seemed to have exchanged expression with Zhang Mu. He eyes shone brightly as he said with a smile, “a total of 20 gold leaves. What do you say? Are you making payment now or paying by installment.”

  Chapter 101: Advance Trading

  Zhang Mu was dumbfounded. According to what no.37 said, he would have to take out 20 gold leaves to compensate him.

  However, Zhang Mu was penniless now. All he had was his era’s local goods. Besides that, he had nothing on him.

  However, he never thought about whether he would be behind in payment. There was no relationship spoken in trading, much less so when doing trading with an interest-driven era merchant. If he dared to pretend to accept it and then be unable to pay it back, he would probably need to pay with his life. Zhang Mu knew the weight of the situation.

  No one can owe the era merchant’s shop, even if it was just a crystal!

  This was an important rule to all the era merchants in the future.

  As for the other option, Zhang Mu didn’t even want to think about it. With the merchant’s personality, he would not give any good installment plans to help him repay his debt.

  As expected, no. 37’s indifferent voice rang beside his ear, “I think that you have no ability to pay the 20 gold leaves now. Since you are back, you must have completed the mission. However, even if you had a good harvest, you would only bring a portion of your era’s local goods. Deducting the gold leaves that you needed for the mission, you would not have much left right? Should I give you a good installment deal for the rest of your debt?”

  “Do you want to pay it back in one month, three months or six months? The interest every month would be 10% of the amount you put under the credit. How does this sound? Since this is the first time you are paying compensation, I will offer you a promotion. If not, I would normally ask for a 20% interest.”

  One month and he wanted 10%. Based on what he said, he still wanted to get 20%. He is really opening his mouth wide. Zhang Mu was thinking about what no. 37’s expression would be like after he took out his era’s local goods later.

  When he realised that Zhang Mu didn’t reply him, no. 37 smiled, “do you think that my price is too high? You did use me to deal with your trouble. I can be considered as your life saviour. With your ability, it would almost be impossible for you to retaliate against him. If I didn’t act, you would be a cold corpse now. So, after I said all this, do you think that it is worth it now? Is your life not worth 10 gold leaves?”

  However, Zhang Mu still kept quiet. Actually, he was calculating his harvest this time. When he brought out the 11 White Jade Donkey Statue, how would no. 37 look at him?

  However, no. 37 still thought that Zhang Mu felt heart pain to give him the 20 gold leaves. It was still too hard to take out 20 gold leaves even if you pay for it through installment. He sighed helplessly and said, “001, if you still think that it is expensive, I have nothing to say too. By right, an era merchant needs to pay the penalty of coming in before the exchange date immediately. I can delay
my share of the leaves. This is your first time breaking this rule. It is partly my fault for not telling you because I didn’t think that there would be era merchants returning in the first month to finish their exchange.

  How about this, since I have the responsibility too, I will take half of it. You will be responsible for the remaining 5 gold leaves. This way, you will not have many thoughts about it, right? As for my fee, I will give you a three-month installment. You will not need to pay the interest anymore. This is the best I can help you.”

  Zhang Mu stared at no. 37 as he kept talking and didn’t interrupt him. In the end, no.37 lowered the number of gold leaves to 15 for him.

  He asked subconsciously, “so that is a total of 15 gold leaves?”

  No. 37 looked at him strangely, “yes, 25 gold leaves in total. Five gold leaves must be paid immediately and ten of them can be paid in three months. You will pay three gold leaves in the first two months and four gold leaves in the last month.”

  In order to let Zhang Mu forget about his worry, he even patted Zhang Mu’s shoulder, “after you completed more mission, your era merchant’s authorisation would increase and the initial funds for your mission would increase steadily too. The number of items you can bring back would increase too.

  That way, ten gold leaves would mean nothing much to you.

  “So, what era’s local goods do you have? I can help you see the price and then you will know if you can afford the penalty fee. If it is not enough, it will be deducted from your next mission. I am being restricted by rules too. If you are unlucky and the local goods you have have a low retail price here, it might only be slightly above the reward of completing the mission. If that is the case, I can’t help you too.

  The deduction of the penalty is done by the system. It is not within my responsibility and I can’t control it.”

  Zhang Mu knew what he meant. Out of the four cities around Luoyang, one of their local goods was selling at a low price. He heard that it was only 5% higher than its cost price. That means that he would only earn half a gold leaf. Now, no.37 was afraid that Zhang Mu would be unlucky and choose this city’s era merchant’s shop as his partner for exchange.

  In his past life, his luck wasn’t really good. However, now, he had something that was powerful than luck. Foresight. Also, his luck had changed after he was reborn.

  “Its Xi’an.”

  Zhang Mu’s soft voice sounded like an explosion in no. 37’s ear. He was the owner of the era merchant’s shop so he knew about the price of the different goods at his shop. 001 chose the one that gave the highest retail price for his goods, no. 35.

  This guy is so lucky. He almost couldn’t control his elegant aura but he managed to stop himself just in time. He gave a complicated look to Zhang Mu, “I didn’t know that you would be so lucky. As expected of the first era sub-merchant in this testing field.”

  No. 37 looked at Zhang Mu and seemed to be considering something. It might be a coincidence if it happened once and luck if it happened twice, but if it happened three or four times, things would be more complicated.

  Zhang Mu guilty as no. 37 stared at him. However, he didn’t show any emotions on his face and looked back at no. 37.

  After a while, no.37 seemed to give up thinking and said to Zhang Mu slowly, “if the things you had are from Xi’an, then most probably you would have enough for your penalty fee this time. You will not need to do any installment and you might even have some extra. What kind of luck do you have? My price for the good from Xi’an is the highest among all the era merchant shops in this area.”

  “Okay then, take out all the things you hid in your era merchant’s ring and I will calculate the price for you.”

  “Are you prepared?” Zhang Mu suddenly asked no. 37.

  No. 37 looked at Zhang Mu in surprise, “yes, why?”

  Zhang Mu said softly, “okay then.”

  Chapter 102: Things Get Complicated

  At the start, no. 37 was still pondering over Zhang Mu’s sentence. However, when Zhang Mu took out all the items he had hidden in his merchant’s ring, no. 37 was so shocked he stood rooted to the ground. The dazed look on his face was not compatible with the elegant aura that he had.

  The local goods would become weightless in the era merchant’s shop. Thus, 11 White Jade Donkey Statues floated in the air above no. 37 orderly. A bag of tea tree oil and two baked buns floated at the front. They hung quietly in the air. The entire surrounding was in silence.

  After a long while, no. 37 exclaimed in disbelief, “how is this possible? How did you get so many Xi’an’s spiritual essence? No. 35 should know that there is a limited amount of spiritual essence an era merchant's shop can provide each month.”

  When he saw no. 37 looking at him, Zhang Mu shrugged innocently, “the items you gave me could be sold for this many gold leaves. There were a total of 24 gold leaves. I spend it all.”

  No. 37 interrupted Zhang Mu, “no, even if you have so many gold leaves, the amount of items is limited. Even if his era sub-merchants don’t buy any of it, you shouldn’t be able to get so many of them.

  Did he use that authority that he has? What happened? Why would he use that authority for you when he can only use it only once every year? Why did he use his power to increase the number of items for you and not for his own sub-merchants? What exactly happened to allow the red-bearded guy to sacrifice his authority for my sub-merchant?”

  Red-bearded? The last time at Xi’an city, no. 35 seemed to be unhappy when he spoke about no. 36. Seems like there are some disputes between his superior and no. 35/

  However, this was not the time to think about this. Zhang Mu was worried that if he didn’t explain it to no. 37 now, he would be tore into half by his gaze. Zhang Mu told him what happened in Xi’an.

  After listening to the entire story, no. 37’s expression was really interesting. He kept quiet for a long while before saying excitedly, “no wonder the red-beared is willing to do it for you. If he didn’t increase his items, his era’s local goods would have been wiped out by you. Haha, that will mean that his sub-merchants can’t even have a sip of soup. They would have to go for their first mission with only four gold leaves and nothing else. They will lose at the starting point.

  However, I feel that he never thought that someone so far away in Luoyang would reach his shop so early and finish the exchange at his place. Also, due to many reasons, his sub-merchants are weak as compared to you and you even brought him one of his sub-merchants. Such an irony.”

  No. 37 couldn’t control his elegant demeanor any more. No matter how strangely Zhang Mu looked at him, he just continued to laugh loudly. His blue feather cloak swayed along with his laughter.

  Zhang Mu was curious if the feathers on his cloak would drop if he continued laughing like this.

  He didn’t know that his superior would bear so many grudges against no. 35. Seems like before they had a conflict of interest, they were already on bad terms with each other. If not, he would not laugh so much when he heard about no. 35 being bullied.

  No. 37 laughed for almost 2 whole minutes. Only then did he realised that his sub-merchant was looking at him weirdly. He realised that he was acting inappropriately and retracted his smile. He resumed his cold and elegant aura.

  Such a quick change in expression. You could be a face-changing master.

  Zhang Mu thought in his heart but didn’t dare to say it out. He could only smile forcefully.

  No. 37 coughed and then thought of something. He frowned, “that means that it wasn’t only me. Even no. 35 has a lack of sub-merchants. What is wrong with this testing ground? Based on my past experience, after the debugging time, if there aren’t enough evolvers, the era merchant’s shop would have priority in choosing them. Weird, this is weird.”

  Zhang Mu flung in a remark, “there is actually nothing weird. There was an era sub-merchant in Xi’an that liked to kills people and for Luoyang, there was an attack by the mutated animals. Accidents happened in these tw
o places. It could just be a coincidence.”

  “Accidents? Maybe?” no. 37’s suspicious tone caused the alarm in Zhang Mu’s heart to sound. “Do you know the reason for the attack by the mutated animals in Luoyang? Didn’t you say that two era sub-merchants died outside the era merchant’s shop?” Zhang Mu asked carefully.

  However, the era merchant shook his head to Zhang Mu’s surprise, “I don’t know what is happening this time. My two sub-merchants were killed by the mutated animals right after they walked out of the shop. By tight, I shouldn’t bother about the life and death of my sub-merchants due to certain limitations. We can’t protect them with our powers. But, this time, the mutated animals were roaming around right on the outskirts of my shop.

  That way, no evolvers could come close to my era merchant’s shop. If there were no humans around, where will I be able to find people to replace the vacant positions? I just acted indirectly this time and scare the mutated animals with my powers so that they retreated out of Luoyang. However, still no evolvers came close to my shop. I can’t go out and recruit people too so I can only leave things as it is.”

  Although no. 37 said all these, he didn’t look affected by the loss of his two sub-merchants.

  “As for the reason of the attack of mutated animals, I couldn’t find it. This is your world. I do not want to be bothered by it.”

  Zhang Mu wanted to use no. 37 to find out the reason for the mutated animals’ attack. However, he actually made an indirect attack this time so it would be hard to ask him to act again. He could only rely on himself to find out the reason.

  “So, can we start the exchange now?”

  No. 37 didn’t seem to want to talk about this matter anymore so Zhang Mu changed the topic.

  “Yes, let’s start.”

  Chapter 103: Another Harvest

  On the order of no. 37, a few stars around him sprung out and shrunk in size. The stars came between them and they started the era’s exchange process.