The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm - Chapter 21

Chapter 21
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 walking dead’s 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 more clear. “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 walking dead’s 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 walking dead 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 walking dead and started to gnaw them. The place they passed didn’t even leave a bone. “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 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 walking dead’s 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 he knew: Group Hunting. Zhang Mu’s Obsidian Beetle was really an exception.