Strike the First Blow

by Tai Baiyang

  A series of whirlwind slowly formed beside the Obsidian Beetle’s wings, getting stronger and stronger, and it was still converging!

  Zhang Mu gazed at the Obsidian Beetle, looks like he had provoked it this time. He was uncertain if the psychic barrier would be able to block the full blow from the Obsidian Beetle, as the aura exuded from the Obsidian Beetle was too scary. The roofs of the surrounding houses had lifted completely. Under the Obsidian Beetle’s command, the strong wind, which had calmed down previously, was in a rage once again. It started to wreak havoc near the Obsidian Beetle. However, it seems to be firm as a stone at the center, slowly accumulating its power.

  The whirlwind wrapped around the Obsidian Beetle's wings and not a single wind current had dispersed. Zhang Mu looked at its stance. It appears that the Obsidian Beetle had summoned all the wind current from a kilometer range to both of its wings.

  For some reason, Zhang Mu felt a little guilty. This time, the Obsidian Beetle truly put in everything for this.

  Boom!

  The Obsidian Beetle had stopped taking energy from the wind. Both of its wings had lost its initial appearance as it was wrapped with folds of the wind current, enlarging the wings that were only a meter long, into five meters.

  It seems that the Obsidian Beetle had reached its limit by controlling this power. If it did not release them soon, the Obsidian Beetle would not be able to restrain it any longer. Nevertheless, it still passed a message to alert Zhang Mu, “This might went overboard if I am unable to restrain it, so you better be careful. If you cannot handle, then withdraw quickly. I don't know how much would I be able to muster back since this power was hard to control. Also, this is my first time using it officially.”

  Zhang Mu replied with an “ok” in his mind. If the Obsidian Beetle did not give him the pressure, he would not be able to test out the capability of his psychic barrier. Looking at this aspect, that power should be enough to test it.

  After getting the confirmation from Zhang Mu, the Obsidian Beetle take action. Its body seems to faster than the speed of sound. Zhang Mu had not blinked finished his eye, yet it already arrived in front of him with two pairs of eye-catching wings.

  “Coming!”

  Zhang Mu just heard the warning from the Obsidian Beetle, and he could felt two heavy blows hitting above his head from top to bottom. The two wings lifted and slammed at Zhang Mu's direction.

  It had stopped around a meter on top of Zhang Mu’s head and the area that the Obsidian Beetle had contacted the psychic barrier, there was a large amount of energy colliding against each other every second.

  “Crack, crack”.

  The moment they collided, a spider web-like crack appeared on the psychic barrier and was growing continually.

  “Do you want me to stop?” The Obsidian Beetle asked a question at this moment. “I'm able to withdraw most of the power for now.”

  It could see clearly that Zhang Mu was crumbling, but Zhang Mu was acting stubborn. He must know the boundary of the psychic barrier, so he gritted his teeth and replied, “Continue, don’t stop!”

  That was Zhang Mu’s command, and the Obsidian Beetle could only obey. The wings pressed down abruptly and exploded with power at the same time. A large amount of the wind current was scattered outwards from the place it touched the psychic barrier.

  The cracks continue to grow as the Obsidian Beetle’s wings changed its assault. They constantly banged the invisible psychic barrier above Zhang Mu’s head so that he would not have the chance to replenish his psychic power.

  Finally, the cracks of the psychic barrier had overlapped to the point where it was beginning to break apart.

  With a smash, the psychic barrier had cracked thoroughly. Once a part of it was crack opened, and the others followed quickly.

  Zhang Mu had prepared himself to move away from his original position beforehand, but he found a strange phenomenon suddenly. Although the cold wind was pouring in continuously, the attacks from the Obsidian Beetle never hit him.

  It turned out that the moment his psychic barrier had broken apart, the wind-type energy that the Obsidian Beetle had gathered was completely frayed away too.

  Which also mean that this time, the psychic barrier that Zhang Mu constructed with all of his power, was evenly matched with the wind-type ability gathered excessively by the Obsidian Beetle.

  Chapter 142: Snooping Secretly

  Compared to Zhang Mu, who marched with great delight into the house where Yuan Rui was at, the Obsidian Beetle appeared to be more gloomy. It was alone in the cold wind, summoning the wind current to play by itself. Unquestionably, it was still holding grudge regarding the previous matter. The power that it almost lost control had tied with Zhang Mu, an evolver with the second-ranked too. Does that imply that it was not as good as Zhang Mu now?

  A mutated animal that signed a blood contact was thinking about overthrowing it's master all day long, if Zhang Mu knew, he would have rolled his eye in anger.

  While the time was still early, Zhang Mu set up his psychic barrier in the house to evade the cold wind. He found that this was more helpful than using the body of the mutated wolfdog, so he pulled Yuan Rui to his side. As for the mutated wolfdog, it was too huge to place inside Zhang Mu's barrier with the one-meter range. Moreover, the mutated wolfdog had its long fur to cover itself so it should not be afraid of this level of cold wind.

  This feeling, wrapping under his psychic barrier, felt warm and cozy as Zhang Mu slept soundly for the night.

  When he got up the next morning, the Sun had already risen long ago. The psychic barrier had been set up for a night just like that. Since it did not receive any external attacks, so there was no problem with his energy getting depleted.

  After recalling the psychic barrier constructed by his ability, Zhang Mu immediately felt a refreshing sensation in his mind and was full of spirit.

  Seeing that Yuan Rui had gotten up, Zhang Mu immediately tugged the mutated wolfdog who was still snoring away. But the wolfdog seemed to be stuck to the ground as it refused to wake up. Zhang Mu was in for a penny, in for a pound as he lifted such a huge mutated wolfdog straightaway, and exited the house.

  Presently, his strength and agility have made astonishing development at the same time. Lifting the mutated wolfdog that was weight in tons, was a piece of cake to him now.

  Of course, Zhang Mu would not wake the mutated wolfdog deliberately. He reckoned that the mutated wolfdog who had the weakest psychological defense yesterday, and had suffered the greatest damaged amongst them.

  When Zhang Mu walked past the Obsidian Beetle, he could only kick the back of the Obsidian Beetle using his leg to wake it up since both of his hands were occupied by the mutated wolfdog. After awakening, the Obsidian Beetle shrunk back to a smaller size and flew over to Yuan Rui’s shoulder.

  This time, his destination was Shan Xi city, which was the city that Zhang Mu dreamt of earlier too. However, it should be in a chaos state currently. Zhang Mu held a little anticipation in his heart as he did not know how far would the base in Shan Xi city had developed after it had conquered by the bunch of strong evolvers. Judging by their approach and courage, to unite the entire city within a month was not impossible.

  Zhang Mu did not know much in regards to the first inner base at Shan Xi city. All he knew was that there was a particularly famous base leader called Ice Queen. Just like the name, her appearance, and her personality were equally cold. Zhang Mu had seen her once from a distance before. Straightaway, he was stunned by the queen’s aura that she released, which considered everyone and everything was beneath her.

  It was a kind of icy cold that chilled your bone, that would cause an evolver to be unable to use their ability from 500 meters away. That time Zhang Mu did not have any awakening ability, yet he could feel something obstructing the ordinary energy inside his body.

  After that, he heard from people that it was the awakening ability of the Ice Queen, which was the Shan Xi city’s base leader.
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br />   Absolute zero degree!

  What Zhang Mu saw was merely her power in the normal state. If he confronted her face to face, he had an intuition that he would freeze to death with just a glance from her.

  Recalling that figure, Zhang Mu was yearning to go there now. In the beginning, he was not qualified to stand on the same level as those strong evolvers. But now, Zhang Mu was confident that he got what it takes.

  Regardless of his physical quality right now, but in term of his powers, he could say that he had acquired four powerful additional abilities. A second-ranked Obsidian Beetle that signed a blood contract with him, a mutated wolfdog that obeyed him absolutely for now, and a Bloodvine Lotus in his left arm that he had a parasitic relationship with, that gave him a plant-type evolver status. Furthermore, now that he had advanced to the second rank, because of the emergence of the soul crystals, it allowed him to have an extra ability, a psychic defense that counted as an overlord amongst the innate awakening ability.

  These four abilities, coupled with his status as the first era sub-merchant, Zhang Mu was completely fearless against those people that were blessed by the heaven that allowed them to enjoy exceptional advantages. Right now, he wanted to meet and compete with those strong evolvers that appeared in his past life.

  That Ice Queen was rumored to be a great beauty. Unfortunately, she was too hypocritical at that time and wore a veil. Not sure if he had the chance to meet her this time, but if he did, he would tear off the veil assuming that she had worn them, just to see whether she was as gorgeous as the rumors said.

  Zhang Mu thought to himself wickedly. Now he had the opportunity, so naturally, he should have fun for once.

  He led Yuan Rui and the others to set out on their journey. Like always, the Obsidian Beetle carried Yuan Rui on its back. Meanwhile, the mutated wolfdog had changed its position with Zhang Mu. It was Zhang Mu that was carrying the mutated wolfdog with his both hand raised to the air, walking swiftly while the mutated wolfdog was still sleeping soundly.

  As for the speed, it was even faster than before. Zhang Mu’s pace was the same as the Obsidian Beetle, who was flying at a low altitude. Because he had set up the psychic barrier, the weight of the mutated wolfdog was almost insignificant, just like holding a piece of plastic. That was how he could travel at a stable speed.

  When it was lunchtime, Zhang Mu stop to rest at a small market in a town. The market that was supposed to be noisy in the first place was now empty without a trace of human presence. There were overturned stalls everywhere. Although the weather was freezing, some of the meat that was displayed was starting to rot. It appears that no one had visited this place before the Cataclysm began a month ago. Furthermore, it looked like the walking dead and mutated animal never been here too. Otherwise, the meat would not decay until this stage.

  Zhang Mu looked around with suspicion and secretly kept an eye out. Although he could lift the mutated wolfdog effortlessly, it was tiring for him to maintain the same posture, so it was time for him to take a break. Even then, he remained cautiously while sitting down.

  Even if the smell of the canned meat that Zhang Mu took out from his merchant ring had filled the air, the mutated wolfdog still hadn’t woken up yet. If not for the Obsidian Beetle telling Zhang Mu that it was just a regular sleep, Zhang Mu would have the impulse to nudge it up forcibly.

  At this moment, there was a pair of eyes in a corner, staring at Zhang Mu and his party.

  Chapter 143: Wait And See

  Zhang Mu was resting in the middle of the empty market. He was contemplating whether should he gave the remaining soul crystals for Yuan Rui to consume. However, he felt that the amount was not sufficient for a person to break through at once and learned a new ability.

  If she could not break through at once, then it was solely used to increase her psychological defenses only. Zhang Mu felt it was a little reckless to waste the most prominent function of the soul crystals. Hence, that was the reason why he had not given Yuan Rui the soul crystal to consume this time. As for the psychic attacks, he was not afraid of them anymore since he had the psychic barrier. Since Yuan Rui would be at his side at all time, then she would not encounter any danger too.

  Suddenly, he noticed that the ground was shaking slightly. At the same time, the Obsidian Beetle also raised its head immediately and looked at the direction of the corner of the street. But it glanced at it briefly before lowering its head as if that was something not worthy of its time.

  At this moment, Zhang Mu saw the appearance of the stranger too. It was a child that was dirty from head to toe. It stumbled and ran towards Zhang Mu and the others.

  It was too strange for a child who was in good condition, to appear in such a place with no signs of human habitation.

  At this point, Yuan Rui also saw the child's figure and felt a knot in her heart. She wanted to get up and welcome the child over but was pulled by Zhang Mu instead, pinning her in place.

  Zhang Mu gradually responded after he saw the puzzled look on her face, “Everything is different now. Do you know that what you saw might not be the truth? Your kindness will only bring you fatal disaster in this Cataclysm.”

  Yuan Rui saw the solemn look on Zhang Mu’s face, so she kept quiet. She felt that she had overlooked the dangers a little. Likewise, she had been through various situations occurred for these past few days too. Therefore, she chose to trust Zhang Mu and returned to her place.

  Zhang Mu stood up and stared at the child directly. He did not consider him as a regular child at all. Taking out his Obsidian Beetle dagger, he was preparing for a confrontation. Although he did not find anything wrong with the child, he had appeared out of nowhere abruptly. Hence, he had exhibited a trace of strange behavior too.

  “Stop your footsteps, or you will die.”

  Zhang Mu’s unfriendly voice could be heard around the empty market sharply. Despite that, the little boy with a face full of blood did not appear to understand anything and continued to advance towards Zhang Mu's direction.

  “You should be able to understand my words. I don’t care who you are, but I can guarantee that you will die.” After he ended the speech, the skin on Zhang Mu’s left arm split open instantly, and a vine of the Bloodvine Lotus swiftly pierced the ground in front of that little boy. Only then did that little boy stopped his footsteps and raised his head to let Zhang Mu examined his face.

  The emotion in his eye was no different from any regular person. Likewise, Zhang Mu did not saw any abnormalities on his face too. So after the little boy stopped his footsteps, he did not continue to take action.

  “For now, I can’t determine if you are a human or a monster. But if you still pretend that you do not understand my words, then come closer. Your life, will be taken away from me.” Zhang Mu’s voice did not have any hint of sentiment in them. Yuan Rui was tugging his sleeve from behind, but he said them as if he did not felt anything from her.

  The suspicions in Zhang Mu’s heart was getting stronger and stronger. This little boy, was not simple. When he saw the attack of the Bloodvine Lotus from Zhang Mu, he did not have any reaction at the first moment, even though there was a sense of panic flashed in his eye.

  But this panic, was too sheer. An average child would have been scared and ran away immediately.

  Nevertheless, this presence was indeed human, and his intelligence also seems to be normal.

  Zhang Mu pondered for a long time. But after the incident, the little boy sat on the ground immediately.

  “Big brother, big sister, please save my mother. She is about to die.”

  The little boy cried out suddenly and said such a statement, causing Zhang Mu to froze in place.

  He could talk, and the expression he had was proper. Therefore, there wasn't a psychic evolver controlling him. Then this matter was a little more complicated and confusing now. Zhang Mu believed that his observations and intuitions would not go wrong.

  This little boy, definitely had a problem.

  Ho
wever, Yuan Rui could not control herself anymore, as her motherly instinct took over. She rushed over to the little boy and hugged the little boy in her arm.

  Meanwhile, the Obsidian Beetle dagger in Zhang Mu’s hand was aiming at the little boy’s head, ready to go at any second.

  At such a close distance, after he released the Obsidian Beetle, he could use his psychic power to block the dagger from harming Yuan Rui when it penetrates through the little boy’s head.

  Yuan Rui was stroking the little boy’s head and seemed to be saying something to comfort him. Meanwhile, Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle in his mind if it had smelt any details using its keen sense that he did not notice.

  “Little black, did you sense something different? I feel that there is something wrong with this child.”

  The Obsidian Beetle replied to Zhang Mu in an arrogant voice, “You couldn't sense this? There is a rotten smell on this little human child's body.”

  “You’re saying he is a walking dead?” Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle questioningly as he did not feel like it.

  “Of course not! A walking dead or human being, can’t you see it for yourself? How should I phrase this? Overall, he is still a human being. If not for the rotten smell that was faintly emitting from his body, I would not be able to detect any difference too. This rotten smell, is not attached to him by any foreign object on his body but is flowing out from the deepest part of his body. If that stupid dog is awake, its senses would be more acute than mine.”

  “Then what is he precisely? Do you know?” Zhang Mu searched carefully in his memory and could not find any relevant information. He could only ask the Obsidian Beetle to see if it was aware of this matter.

  In the end, the Obsidian Beetle straightaway replied and no longer care about him, “Who knows?”