Strike the First Blow
Page 1
Strike the First Blow: The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm Book 3
Written by Tai Baiyang
Translated by Siyaシ
Published by Zenith Novels
Edited by Myro
© 2019 by Zenith Novels
All rights reserved. Published 2019
Originally published as 末日之大亨崛起 in Chinese by kujiang
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Chapter 120: A Dream that Defies Time
Chapter 121: A Makeover
Chapter 122: Got Into A Trouble
Chapter 123: Nowhere To Go
Chapter 124: The Overlord Underwater
Chapter 125: Still not dead yet
Chapter 126: Sneaking Into The City
Chapter 127: Broken Body with Strong Determination
Chapter 128: Eden’s World
Chapter 129: Beautiful Bubbles
Chapter 130: Returning To The Roots
Chapter 131: Awakening
Chapter 132: Woke up with a start
Chapter 133: The Fight Against Psychic Creatures
Chapter 134: Little Black Explodes
Chapter 135: The Beginning of the Awakening
Chapter 136: Soul Crystals
Chapter 137: Quantity and Quality Changes
Chapter 138: Real Slap in the Face
Chapter 139: New Ability
Chapter 140: Psychic Barrier
Chapter 141: Evenly Matched
Chapter 142: Snooping Secretly
Chapter 143: Wait And See
Chapter 144: The Abandoned Factory
Chapter 145: Catastrophe Matrix
Chapter 146: Crushed From All Sides
Chapter 147: Teaming Up For The Fight
Chapter 148: Delivered in Advance
Chapter 149: The Truth
Chapter 150: Thrilling Moment
Chapter 151: Barely Escaped
Chapter 152: A Comeback
Chapter 153: The Old Tricks Strike Again
Chapter 154: Bestowed with Great Responsibility
Chapter 155: Thrilling Moment
Chapter 156: Caught In Their Own Trap
Chapter 157: Little Black’s Tricks
Chapter 158: The Weak Will Be Eliminated
Chapter 159: Big Crisis
Chapter 160: Revisiting The Coal City
Chapter 161: Inspection
Chapter 162: Welcome
Chapter 163: Bewildered
Chapter 164: It’s you!
Chapter 165: Zhang Mu’s fault
Chapter 166: Paying Off A Debt
Chapter 167: A Key Figure
Chapter 168: Scouting Mission
Chapter 169: The Tip Of The Iceberg
Chapter 170: Dividing The Work
Chapter 171: Planning Secretly
Chapter 172: Creating Troubles
Chapter 173: Getting Into A Big Trouble
Chapter 174: Wanted
Chapter 175: Going To Cry Soon
Chapter 176: A Pot of Dirty Water
Chapter 177: Bottle Gourd
Chapter 178: Coming Up With A Small Plan
Chapter 179: Long Qi’s ability
About the Publisher
Chapter 120: A Dream that Defies Time
“Old Zhang, are you here to camp today?”
A familiar voice traveled to Zhang Mu’s ear. Although it seems far away, Zhang Mu could still subconsciously answered to the owner of the voice without turning back. “That’s right. I was quietly hoping that those top few sub-merchants would come slower this time.”
He observed the front for a long time before slowly turning around to look at the young man wearing a straw hat. Zhang Mu was the fifth sub-merchant of Luoyang city but this young man, he was the fourth sub-merchant. Both of them had no discounts when it comes to era trade. Hence, they empathized each other. Although both of them were solitary, when they met one another, they would often stop and chat for a while.
Judging by their ranks, both of them were required to calculate the exact opening time for the era merchant shop. If the top sub-merchants did not arrive on time for the store opening, then the transaction will not be according to their ranks. Therefore, this would give Zhang Mu and the young man a chance to survive longer.
Behind him, a sluggish voice wafted from the young man, “Old Zhang, last time you told me to go to Xi An city to trade regional goods. However, I went to Shan Xi city and managed to earn some profit instead. What do you say about that?”
That had been one of their few topics to chat amongst them, which was to discuss the market fluctuation regarding the regional goods. Not only does it allow them to pass some time, but it also brings advantages to both parties.
Zhang Mu replied to him without thinking, “There were some that would earn more and some that would gain almost the same as the purchasing price. All in all, you should obtain about 20% of profits, am I correct? A few more time back and forth, and you should be competent to accomplish the task this time. Based on what you mentioned, you did not make any lost from this market, right?”
The young man put his hand behind his head to act as a pillow when he lay down on the big lawn. Without haste, he brings out that piece of news, “That old Liang is dead.”
Zhang Mu was a little shocked. He turned his head and stared at the young man’s expressionless face, while words couldn’t form on his tongue.
That old Liang was Shan Xi city third sub-merchant. He, himself was able to get 10% discount from trading, as such he was able to live comfortably. Coupled with the fact that he was kind to fellow sub-merchants, it made him famous and was publicly known as the good old man.
Regardless of Zhang Mu’s thoughts and feelings, the young man carried on, “As the market fluctuates, beside us who like to use the short selling method, basically no one would dare to play anymore. Same goes for old Liang. When he was going to reach the deadline for his task, he became greedy and placed a huge bet. Based on his own experience, he thought that once the short selling method had collapsed, the long selling method would gain huge earnings. Hence, he spent a long time to go to Jiang Zhe city, which took months to reach. Who knew that after spending months to reach there, the purchase price would only be a little higher.
It got worse after he came back as the goods from Jiang Zhe city made a loss.
Old Zhang, I have never seen that expression on old Liang’s face before. Knowing that your death is closer and closer yet you could do nothing about it. That kind of desperation and that kind of helplessness.”
The young man paused as his tone slightly trembled, “and just like that, he died in front of me.”
At this time, Zhang Mu had finished listening to the whole story, but his heart did not even waver the slightest when he replied to the young man, “Last time he had tasted the sweetness of long selling method which made him gain a huge profit. Although we only made small earnings, at least when we work hard, we could get to the bottom of the task easily.”
The young man seems to be shocked by Zhang Mu’s indifferent tone as he raised his head to glance at Zhang Mu.
Zhang Mu also felt that his reaction was abnormal. Based on his memory, he should be grateful to the old Liang since he had received his help once before. However, he still could not get rid of the strong oddity between them. As a result, it costed him to speak in an unfriendly tone.
The young man dropped the topic without thinking much as he assumed that Zhang Mu had seen a lot regarding this matter. �
��These few years, we had seen several lives being drained by the merchant’s ring, right? I never expect that for a person like old Liang, which was the third sub-merchant, would not meet the minimum requirement. It looks like this road is getting tougher and tougher.”
After he finished talking, he saw the merchant ring on his finger. A sudden surge of hatred made him tried to pull out the ring. However, after a futile effort, he gave up the idea with a sneer.
“Old Zhang, living is so exhausting.”
His voice kept repeating on Zhang Mu's mind endlessly, gradually passing through Zhang Mu's emotions. A sort of mental fatigue instantly radiated from Zhang Mu's heart.
But not too much was there as it was like a seed buried in Zhang Mu’s heart, hidden away.
In no time, the light column started to rise. In the end, there was only one person standing on the space that overlapped with the era merchant shop. Zhang Mu and that young man grinned at each other. With this, Zhang Mu immediately forgot about the discomfort he had in his heart.
Unexpectedly, there was one out of the three sub-merchants, who had the priority, appeared this time. Likewise, this indicated that as long as that person did not have a dog shit luck and took all the goods, then this time both of them would not need to share a mouthful of soup. Instead, they would be able to tear out one big piece of meat. It had been a long time since they had received such treatment.
Seeing the figure gradually immersed into the light column, Zhang Mu peeked at the young man and immediately walked towards that direction. Without turning back, he said, “I don’t know when would those top two sub-merchants come back, but let’s quickly head in first.” If they went in as soon as possible, even if the top three sub-merchants came, the queue would be sorted on a first-come-first-serve basis based on their entry time. Similarly, this implied that if both of them manage to rush in before them, even there was a one-second difference, the sub-merchants above them could only sit quietly and queue behind them.
Zhang Mu and the young man march into the merchant shop too. At this moment, both of them were split up. Zhang Mu was left all alone at the empty lobby to wait for the mechanical voice to announce when the sub-merchant above him had completed his trading.
He was accustomed to this scene as he, himself had already made many trading under these circumstances. But he did not understand why he felt that this place shouldn’t occur like this.
Shortly, a familiar sound interrupted his thoughts.
Looks like the person in front of him had made a fast dealing, and it was his turn already.
The suspicions in Zhang Mu’s eye was replaced by a sudden surge of excitement. As long as he gains 20% profits, he would be able to complete the minimum requirement of the task, or maybe, there might be more.
Chapter 121: A Makeover
“No. 337, basic level era sub-merchant. Please choose the type of trading to proceed next.”
Once he heard the sound, Zhang Mu immediately responded eagerly, “Era local goods. Let me take a look at the list of era local goods for this month.”
“Transaction type: era local goods. The transaction will commence now, and the time limit is 10 minutes. Please use your time wisely.” Zhang Mu swiftly did a calculation regarding the price. It seemed that the price had risen by 30% compared to the past month. The price inflation was a little startling as it usually rose or fell by 10%.
Initially, he received five golden leaves. But he required 15 golden leaves to complete his task. Currently, Zhang Mu had 11 golden leaves on his hand, and the unit price was on an acceptable range for him to afford. According to his past experience, if the purchasing price increased rapidly, then the selling price would be more astonishing.
Despite that, this also meant that Zhang Mu could not take any risks this time. At first, he thought that if the unit price was cheaper, he could go to another era merchant shop to partake a different risk evasion. But with the price now, he might as well put all of his worth here.
At the same time, it meant that Zhang Mu did not put all the eggs in the same basket this time, with some of the eggs parted from the basket.
However, based on the experience he had over the years, this should be an opportunity. If not, the sub-merchant above him would not be so eager to finish the trade. It seems that he must have the same thoughts as Zhang Mu, knowing that this was an opportunity too. He must have recently begun the task because, from the remaining quantity from the era local goods, Zhang Mu calculated he had about ten golden leaves on his hand. That was the initial amount that an intermediate sub-merchant would have.
This also provided Zhang Mu a chance. For the past six months, he had been calculating the profit ratio between the two local goods of Luoyang city. Typically, the earnings for the Yellow River Carp was higher. Therefore, he decided to use 60% of his wealth to purchase Yellow River Carp while the remaining 40% would be used to buy Luoyang Peony Bud.
As such, Zhang Mu would not encounter those kinds of goods that would gain a sudden value that would result in a direct completion of the task. By doing so, it would also maintain stable trading as something with a huge price fluctuation was the one that Zhang Mu could not bear to have.
“Transaction completed. The golden leaves have been automatically deducted, and the local goods have been issued to No. 337’s merchant ring. Please check. No. 337, do you want to carry out another transaction? Currently, you can carry out an era general goods transaction. Authority: Basic level.”
Zhang Mu remembered that he had merely collected a few thousands of first-ranked crystals and only over hundreds of second-ranked crystals in his merchant ring. After much contemplation, he decided to dismiss it.
The Cataclysm had begun for 3 years now, and this amount of crystals did not have the power to purchase many era general goods that were increased rapidly over the years.
“Just send me out.”
From the merchant ring, Zhang Mu picked out an item and draped it over his body. He made a firm decision as he looked at the list of goods in front of him. From this moment onwards, he must use a month time to find a suitable era shop to trade and return back before the price updates again.
He only had one month and ten days left before the deadline of his task. Perceiving that he had to play on the safe side every time during an era trade, he could only earn roughly 5% to 20% of profit each time. Furthermore, all of this depended on the number of golden leaves he had to accumulate over time. Therefore, the time consumed would also be increased correspondingly.
“No. 337, the monthly transaction has ended. I look forward to your next visit.”
Because Zhang Mu was accustomed to the strange force that drove him out every time, hardly any discomfort appeared on his face when he was sent out of the era merchant shop. Looking at the traces of space slowly disappeared, Zhang Mu merely took a glance before turning away.
Just now, I might be a little faster than the fourth sub-merchant, so I had the priority to go in first. Thinking of it now, that young man should be commencing the trade at this moment.
Zhang Mu spun around and walked away, with no plans of waiting for him. The two of them would only come into contact because of the era merchant trade and also because they were from the same era merchant. Therefore, they only had a little more trust between each other as compared to the others.
Right now, from the other perspective, Zhang Mu was invisible and had integrated into the environment as one.
To achieve this, he had used the only item that the era merchant gave after the sub-merchant had completed five tasks. It was a cloak that allowed the person to integrate into their environment using extraordinary substance from the star series. It also served to deceive others’ vision, including the evolvers that had sight ability. At the same time, it also shielded the emission of heat and odor. Zhang Mu could not explain why it had such a function, but it was quite useful.
However, this cloak must be worn inside the era merchant shop, and it only lasts for half a d
ay. Once removed, it could not be resumed. Nevertheless, it was still enough for sub-merchants which were made up of evolvers.
Although everyone who went against the era merchant was dead, the benefits it brought was too good to be true. Therefore, many base leaders would be intrigued and target those sub-merchants who seemed easier to attack.
In the city, they would not dare to stir up troubles. But what if it was in the wild? Ever since there was news that sub-merchant were killed in the wild and the fact that the era merchant would not pursue the matter but would transfer the merchant ring to them, it gave a reason for powerful leaders to stay fearless. In this case, someone like Zhang Mu who lived his life hanging by a thread, would become everyone’s target.
However, when these base leader realized that the location of the sub-merchant was actually an enormous piece of meat, all sub-merchants who had survived, already promoted to at least a basic position. With this cloak, they could go out of the city.
A small businessman like Zhang Mu, would never have the nerve to face the base leaders and carry out substantial trading. Either way, he could only split them out and do retail selling, or trade the goods with sub-merchants. Helpless, but there was no other alternative.
Zhang Mu wore the invisible cloak, but he never left Luoyang city. Instead, he went into a small alley.
When he came out from the alley, he had swapped into a new face. His height also grew 5 centimeters tall, with an image of a tall beardly man and a knife scar running down his face.
The human skin mask was a rare item that Zhang Mu generated using the era general goods system that randomly produced an extraordinary object. Even though it was expensive and required every crystal that Zhang Mu had, but in order to protect his life, he could only grit his teeth and brought the item. Since then, he had been using it over a year.
Luoyang city had been reconstructed once after the Cataclysm. Using the power of the earth evolvers to surround the entire city, only an entrance was implemented for people to enter and exit.
“To leave the city, please pay 10 first-ranked crystals.”
A sluggish voice was heard from the guard defending the gates of Luoyang city. Zhang Mu pretended to be an ordinary evolver and gave a painful expression. That causes a few of the guard to disdain him with their eyes. When the gate was opened, he followed the crowd in front of him and marched out from Luoyang city. Staring at Zhang Mu’s figure going farther away, the guards took five of the crystals and pocketed it. He hefted the bag of crystals and sent a sly smile toward the direction that Zhang Mu left, “Ah, what a good way to earn crystals!”