Strike the First Blow

by Tai Baiyang

  As Zhang Mu was turned down by the Obsidian Beetle, he continued to stare at the little boy. Despite that, he still could not figure out anything. He could only follow the development of this matter to wait and see how it goes.

  But fortunately, the little boy did not act recklessly until now, so Zhang Mu was slightly relaxed. The blood on his face had been wiped away by Yuan Rui using her sleeve. Unexpectedly, he looked cute, causing Yuan Rui to dote on him more as she continued to wipe his tears.

  “Tell me, what happened exactly? If you continue to cry like this, I’m afraid that it would be too late if your mother truly encountered any danger.”

  Zhang Mu’s voice lightly called out. He kept having the feeling that this little boy was acting and was hiding something from them.

  In the end, he received a sour look from Yuan Rui. He stopped talking and just stood within the one-meter range from Yuan Rui.

  Yuan Rui softly asked the little boy, “Hao Hao, tell sister what happened exactly? Sister and this big brother behind me will help you. Although he might look a bit fierce, he has a good heart.”

  That little boy had told Yuan Rui that his name was Hao Hao in their previous conversation. He stopped sobbing and sneaked a glance at Zhang Mu’s emotionless face. He immediately retracted back into Yuan Rui’s arm with fear and stuttered, “Hao Hao is very scared. My mother is going to be eaten by those monsters that eat human. Sister, quickly go and help my mother. Hao Hao begged you.”

  Chapter 144: The Abandoned Factory

  At this moment, Yuan Rui was touched. But knowing that she did not have the power to help, she could only look at Zhang Mu with puppy eyes begging for help. In the meantime, Zhang Mu wanted to know what secret was the little boy hiding behind him.

  Under Yuan Rui's hopeful eye, Zhang Mu gently nodded his head. She stood up immediately and put the little boy in her arm as she asked him affectionately, “Can you tell us where is your mother, and lead us there? Big brother is incredibly powerful, so he will certainly rescue your mother out of there.”

  The little boy pointed his finger to a direction, and Yuan Rui simply ran over there. Meanwhile, Zhang Mu ordered the Obsidian Beetle to take care of the mutated wolfdog since it claimed that it did not want to move.

  With the current strength of Zhang Mu, if he and Yuan Rui truly encountered something that they could not handle, unless the willpower inside its body decided to give a helping hand, then the Obsidian Beetle would not be able to help them much too.

  Therefore, it would be better for the Obsidian Beetle to look after the mutated wolfdog. Zhang Mu quickly caught up with Yuan Rui and moved forward together.

  Although the emergence of this little boy was indeed a little strange, Zhang Mu believed that his appearance was not a coincidence as he was the type of person that would think about the worst case scenario first. But if it was indeed a child that was fortunate enough to escape and his mother was still attacked by the walking dead or something else, then he did not mind to give a helping hand.

  Just that the chances of this ‘truth’ that Yuan Rui already believed, was merely a tiny possibility in Zhang Mu’s heart. From the moment this little boy had appeared, he already set up his psychic barrier quietly.

  Within the one-meter range, everything would be under his control. Currently, Yuan Rui and the little boy were all under his control without any restrains putting on them yet.

  In case something truly happened, he was confident that he would kill the threat in time.

  Furthermore, Zhang Mu was a genuine second-ranked evolver now.

  Very quickly, they had arrived at an abandoned factory with the help of the little boy.

  This factory did not appear to be deserted after the Cataclysm, which only happened a month ago. Zhang Mu looked at the walls with yellowish stains and concluded that this factory had been abandoned for several years before the Cataclysm.

  Why did they escape to such a place? Also, didn’t he claimed that his mother was getting attacked? However, looking at this factory covered in dust all over, there were no signs of life.

  Zhang Mu questioned the little boy out loud, “Didn’t you said that your mother was under attack and was in danger?”

  At this point, Yuan Rui's eyes had filled with disbelief too. She felt that the little boy was telling the truth, however the facts were placed right in front of her, reminding her that something had gone wrong. She frowned and slightly loosen her gripped on the little boy.

  Meanwhile, the little boy who was well-behaved on Yuan Rui’s arm earlier, was now struggling to break free from her grasp. Yuan Rui found that he had extraordinary strength and quickly put him down.

  The little boy looked at Zhang Mu angrily and answered, “Hao Hao did not lie. My mother is really in danger. She said that she was in pain, so Hao Hao quickly ran out. Hao Hao did not lie to anyone. Forget it. You guys don't need to come anymore. Hao Hao can save mother by myself too. Hao Hao does not need your help.”

  Just like that, he ran inside while Zhang Mu was left dumb-founded. Very quickly, he was swallowed up by the darkness of the factory, with nothing left.

  “I don’t think I said anything wrong, right? I was merely asking it casually, and this child made such a huge fuss about it.” Zhang Mu was totally at a loss. Assuming that there was something wrong with this child, he would not stop his act the moment they arrived at this place. But if there was nothing wrong with him, then his mother should be in danger. Instead, the situation now did not appears to be that case too.

  Standing beside Zhang Mu, Yuan Rui gave him a blank look. As if blaming him for being too straightforward.

  Feeling worried, Yuan Rui wanted to follow the little boy, but was grabbed by Zhang Mu in the arm, “What is the use for you to go in alone? Stay here. On second thought, I don’t feel at ease putting you here, so follow behind me.”

  After that, Zhang Mu took Yuan Rui and walked into the abandoned factory together. He walked sideways so that he could protect Yuan Rui behind him.

  The corner of his mouth raised into a smile as he muttered in his heart, “Just nice, I also wanted to take a look behind this trick.”

  Besides the discarded tire on the two sides of the road, so far, there was nothing strange appeared.

  It was incredibly creepy as the quiet atmosphere was matched with the eerie setting. Yuan Rui could feel that her heart was in her mouth as she held onto Zhang Mu and looked around her. She did not dare to let go of his hand for a moment.

  “Uncle, why was it so creepy here?” Yuan Rui could not help but to break the silence around her.

  Zhang Mu did not glance back and continued to investigate every corner of the factory carefully. He gradually responded, “You finally felt afraid now? You were still blaming me just now. I told you earlier, do not believe anything that you saw with your eyes.”

  After suffering such a blow from Zhang Mu, Yuan Rui was even more depressed. She casually took a glance around and found a figure. Straightaway, she started to scream out loud, unable to control her emotion anymore.

  “There's someone! Uncle, there is someone over there! Quickly look!”

  The screams echoed around the empty factory, and Yuan Rui immediately shrank into Zhang Mu’s arm, no longer dare to look anymore.

  Zhang Mu looked at the direction of Yuan Rui’s scream. There was indeed a black figure over there, and it resembled the little boy. Was he there formerly?

  Zhang Mu was not afraid as he called out loudly to ask that black figure, “Hao Hao? Your mother? Just now, why did you run away?”

  When he heard Zhang Mu called out his name, that small black figure turned around slowly. With the help of the dim light, Zhang Mu could see his face clearly and was stunned in an instant.

  The little boy's face was covered thoroughly with broken blood vessels. Meanwhile, his eyeball was starting to turn white too. The moment when Zhang Mu thought that he was bitten by the walking dead and was going to turn into a new one, an unimaginable matter occurred
.

  That little boy had started to speak!

  “Didn’t I told you not to follow me? Why don’t you listen to Hao Hao?”

  Zhang Mu squinted his eye to look closely at that little boy and saw that he was displaying sharp fangs at them. Using his childlike voice, he said, “My mother told me that those people who are disobedient, all of them must die!”

  Chapter 145: Catastrophe Matrix

  The atmosphere immediately became even spookier after such a frightening statement was yelled from a ten years old child using his childlike voice. Although the little boy in front of Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui had emerged with such a terrifying face, Zhang Mu did not detect any sense of danger from his body.

  Is it because he was too weak? Is that why he did not feel threatened by the boy even by a tiny bit?

  But why is it that at this time, his intuition was telling him that the truth to this matter was getting more and more complicated?

  An empty small town, an abandoned factory, and the strange boy, all of them had an odd presence. However, Zhang Mu still could not catch the most vital point regarding this matter.

  The little boy ran unsteadily on his legs towards Zhang Mu’s direction using a typical child’s pace, without any particular ability.

  After stumbling for a while, when the little boy rushed in front of Zhang Mu, Zhang Mu did not even release his Bloodvine Lotus and merely used his hand gently, to stop the boy from moving farther.

  Even though Zhang Mu was restricting his advancement, the little boy was stilling trying to reach Zhang Mu's body by stretching out both of his hand. However, his efforts were in vain, as all he could touch was empty air. From the strength of this little boy, Zhang Mu could sense that this hideous little walking dead was indeed a regular ten years old boy.

  Despite that, the spider veins on his face and the fangs protruding out from his mouth, were indicating that he was no longer human.

  Zhang Mu searched carefully in his memory and realized that he never heard of such matters in his past life. So what is this precisely? How could he have the appearance of a walking dead, yet managed to retain his intelligence?

  While Zhang Mu was pondering, Yuan Rui walked in front of him. After she removed her hand that was blocking her vision, she was in a shock the moment she saw Hao Hao's current appearance. Right now, he looked incredibly scary.

  Nevertheless, she could still faintly recognized the little boy that cried in her arm previously. Soon Yuan Rui also started to panic and questioned Zhang Mu, “Uncle, what happened to Hao Hao? Look at him, did he get bitten by a walking dead when he ran out alone? Can he be saved now? Hao Hao is only a child, and is still young.”

  Zhang Mu’s voice also filled with doubts as he replied to Yuan Rui, “I don’t know what is happening right now. His current state looked as though he had been bitten a while ago and is turning into a new type of walking dead. But just now you should have heard it too. Hao Hao still can talk and communicate with us, and that is contrary to common sense.”

  As a matter of fact, there was another speculation in Zhang Mu’s heart. Currently, Hao Hao was behaving similar to the intellectual type of walking dead in his past life, with the appearance of the walking dead, yet possessing the intelligence of a human being. Although they did not have much strength, they could control the walking dead to protect them. However, he felt that the chances for this to happen were extremely tiny. One was that the period of the Cataclysm was too short while the other was that the intellectual type of walking dead would not put themselves in such a risky condition.

  Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu, who always knew everything, but could not give a definite answer this time. She looked at Hao Hao’s face covered with spider veins, and the painful expression on his face. Hence, she went near his body and gently put her hands on his back, preparing to use her life energy and transferred them into his body.

  Zhang Mu also agreed with Yuan Rui’s action since he knew that Hao Hao was under his control now. Furthermore, it was within the one-meter range of his psychic barrier so he could not do anything dangerous to her.

  But what Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui never expected, was that when Yuan Rui’s life energy passed through Hao Hao’s clothes and touched his skin, there was a wisp of green smoke rising from his body. It frightened Yuan Rui so much that she quickly withdrew her hands.

  At this time, Hao Hao was screaming in pain. Although the spider veins on his face had faded a little, the psychical pain and the struggle to resist was evident. He was controlled entirely by Zhang Mu and could not move a single muscle.

  With that, something occurred that made Zhang Mu’s blood ran cold. Tiny black eggs were oozing out of Hao Hao’s skin. Looking at the horrible scene, Zhang Mu could felt his flesh crawling all over his body. Only when the life energy that Yuan Rui infused had depleted, managed to stop the tiny black eggs from oozing out one after another.

  The moment Zhang Mu wanted to go over to see what happened precisely, a cry of a woman's voice sounded above him suddenly, “Who is the one that hurt my Hao Hao? My son, what happened to you? Who bullied you? Don’t worry, Mother is here, and Mother will help you to take revenge.”

  It sounded like an anxious cry from a normal mother who cares deeply for her child. But when Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui shifted their eyes up, the image of a caring mother was wiped from their mind entirely.

  Indeed, that face had the appearance of a middle-aged woman. Also, the eyes that were looking at Hao Hao, who was in Zhang Mu’s control, had filled with concerns. But the problem was her lower body! Her lower body was an enormous spider body! Eight spider legs were supporting the body by inserting deeply into the solid walls.

  Is this a Catastrophe Matrix?

  When Zhang Mu saw this, he immediately thought of the rumors regarding the Catastrophe Matrix in his past life. It was the product of fusing a mutated animal with a human being. When the mutated animal was eating a human that was not willing to die, their grievance affects them as they merged into one body. The probability for this to happen was very rare as the mutated animal must kill the human at a slow pace. Usually, the mutated animal was slowly tormenting them to death, leading the emotion of resentment to form intensely. Furthermore, the most influential factor was that this human need to possess strong willpower to survive, to attach their souls on the mutated animal when it had departed from their human body. In the end, the head of the mutated animal would transform into the human’s face.

  However, in most cases, the Catastrophe Matrix had disordered thoughts. As the human’s intellect had subdued by agony beforehand, coupled with the wild nature of the mutated animal, thus, the brain of the Catastrophe Matrix would not grow adequately. Even though they were not smart, but their strength would develop at an explosive rate.

  Right now, this Catastrophe Matrix on the wall seems to be formed when a mutated spider was eating, and this should be the mother that Hao Hao had mentioned earlier. Everything made sense now.

  Zhang Mu also found that the belly of this Catastrophe Matrix above him was enormous, just like a pregnant woman going for labor. Linking back to those tiny black eggs that were oozing out from Hao Hao’s body, he suddenly thought of a horrible fact and shuddered abruptly.

  This Catastrophe Matrix is going into labor?

  Chapter 146: Crushed From All Sides

  At this moment, Zhang Mu could felt that the air was getting colder, and it was a kind of cold that could seep through his psychic barrier. That terrified him, as it meant that it had the ability to penetrate his psychic barrier.

  The Catastrophe Matrix finally realized that it was Zhang Mu controlling her dear son. In a flash, a roar sounded like a wild beast yelled out, “It is you! Let go of my Hao Hao!”

  At this juncture, the wall shook as the eight spider legs of the Catastrophe Matrix exerted a sudden force. In a blink of an eye, it sped towards Zhang Mu and scared Yuan Rui. She immediately fell to the ground as the eight spider legs had landed in front of her with less than ha
lf a meter away.

  That was not her acting mercy, but it was the psychic barrier that Zhang Mu had set up to block her attack. In the beginning, Zhang Mu was worried that he would not have the time to react and set up the psychic barrier in case there would be any sudden attacks. Furthermore, he did not know whether Hao Hao would be a detonator, so he left a hand there.

  Now, it seemed like that was an essential move. Zhang Mu was a little concern even after the event. If he was careless, then the one getting stabbed now was likely Yuan Rui's body.

  Because of the speed of the spider leg's attack, given his reaction speed, he would not be able to set up his psychic barrier on time. Even though his reaction was hugely improved when advanced to the second-rank.

  Although the Catastrophe Matrix had lost her mind now, her combat instinct was abnormally powerful. The moment she noticed that her attack was blocked via these two meals in front of her eye, coupled with her dear son under that man’s control, her anger flared up vigorously as she used two spider legs near the belly to support her body. Meanwhile, the remaining six spider legs were acting like spears, stabbing at Zhang Mu’s psychic barrier.

  With every stab, that area would have an enormous ring of ripples. Almost every second, there would be six ripples splattering on Zhang Mu’s psychic barrier at the same time.

  Zhang Mu could sense clearly that the strength of his psychic barrier was getting weaker. He tried to use his psychic ability to fill in the gap, but doing so was merely delaying the period of his psychic barrier.

  How could the Catastrophe Matrix be so powerful? It was enough to break through the most basic defense of the barrier. Even though the damage produced each time was not prominent, but the frequency was too fast. Furthermore, six areas were getting hit simultaneously. So what if the psychic barrier could handle the overload blows from the Obsidian Beetle? In the long run, this would be too much for the psychic barrier to manage.