Strike the First Blow

by Tai Baiyang

  With that, he put away the gasoline tank and let the Obsidian Beetle lower the altitude. It slowly descended until he could land on the ground far from the enormous pit.

  “I will call for you later. So stay close to me, alright? Remember to fly over immediately.”

  Zhang Mu told the Obsidian Beetle to be careful, yet the Obsidian Beetle looked at him disdainfully and responded, “Don’t worry about me. Why are you so fussy and noisy when you are going to be the bait? Are you going to clean them up or what?”

  Zhang Mu did not refute this time as he knew that if he did not grasp this chance, then there would be a huge probability for this to fail. Now, there were thousands of little spiders underneath his leg.

  He had no guts to stay in this environment for a second longer and could only rely on Little Black’s speed.

  Zhang Mu slowly tread down the ground as he was afraid that the soil underneath was devoured empty by the little spiders beforehand. Fortunately, the distance was still relatively far and was not within the eating range of those little spiders.

  Zhang Mu felt the ground with cautious, but that was still dangerous too. By any chance, if his leg stepped on nothing and he could not restrain himself, then things would go out of control. If he fell into the pit, even the Obsidian Beetle might not save him on time.

  Suddenly, Zhang Mu had an idea. That’s right. It was time for the Bloodvine Lotus to shine.

  Under Zhang Mu’s control, the Bloodvine Lotus immediately broke through the skin on his left arm. A vine slowly pierced into the ground and gradually advance to the direction of the enormous pit.

  Firm, the soil was still firm. Zhang Mu controlled the Bloodvine Lotus and advanced little by little. Through the vine, he could feel the specific condition of nearby dirt.

  The feedback that the Bloodvine Lotus reported to Zhang Mu was that the soil nearby was slowly becoming worse and was probably due to the corrosive liquid from those spiders.

  Finally, there was emptiness as this section of the soil was completely hollowed. Furthermore, the vine that the Bloodvine Lotus stuck out seemed to touch some residue of the corrosive liquid as it retracted abruptly.

  So that was the range that those little spiders had invaded? Zhang Mu retracted the Bloodvine Lotus and saw that the tip of the vine had corroded. Never did he expect that this highly corrosive liquid could deteriorate such a firm and tenacious Bloodvine Lotus straightaway. The vine would be withered by now if not for the self-regeneration ability that the Bloodvine Lotus had.

  Despite that, the part of the Bloodvine Lotus that had the corrosive liquid was struggling to fight against it.

  However, Zhang Mu had no time for the Bloodvine Lotus to recover fully from the corrosive liquid. He had to abandon that portion now because those little spiders had appeared!

  A faint stirring sound reverberated from the ground, and Zhang Mu could sense that something was wrong. Instantly, the ground in front of him was collapsing at speed visible to the naked eye. However, Zhang Mu could not leave yet as he had to wait for all of those little spiders to come out. If he left now, he might not be able to attract out all of the spiders.

  It was a dreadful scene as he had to stay there and watch the ground collapsed in front of him inch by inch.

  The moment the ground was about to collapse in front of him, Zhang Mu quickly shouted, “Little Black!”

  Before Zhang Mu could complete his sentence, Little Black, who was waiting on one side at a low altitude, raced to Zhang Mu’s side with lightning speed. It grabbed hold of his shoulder and quickly flew up.

  Almost at the same time, the patch of soil underneath Zhang Mu’s leg had collapsed.

  It was at that moment Zhang Mu finally saw what was happening. Just now, the scent coming from Zhang Mu had attracted them to come out from the ground. After they saw Zhang Mu, who was ascending the air, they stopped devouring the soil.

  It appears that these little spiders had recognized the lowly pair of Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle. They never expected that they would come back and courted death after they had escaped.

  These mutated little spiders did not have a complicated mindset. Even if they had sensed the familiar scent from Zhang Mu, they were not afraid of him at all. Instead, they were thinking of devouring Zhang Mu, who had a large amount of energy in his body, to become their driving force to evolve.

  “Quickly fly up, faster! Their spider webs are coming. Little Black, hurry up!”

  Zhang Mu was urging the Obsidian Beetle to ascend quickly. He could see that the spider webs that were squeezed out from their body, were approaching towards them much faster than the ascending speed of the Obsidian Beetle.

  It seems that they were determined to win as it was not just a few dozen webs this time. All of them appeared to be under a single command as they shot out nearly ten thousands of spider webs together at once. Just like that, a sheet of white giant web formed in front of Zhang Mu's eye and was slowly caging Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle in all direction. Zhang Mu shudders with fear as he watched the scene in front of him.

  At this moment, the Obsidian Beetle started to gather the wind-element on its wing. Zhang Mu thought that it was going to form the giant blade to attack the enormous spider web. However, he noticed that the sound of whistling beside his ear had increased instead.

  It turns out that this time, the Obsidian Beetle did not use the wind-element to attack. On the contrary, it gathered them on its wings so that it could speed up several times. It quickly ascended along with Zhang Mu before the spider webs closed on them.

  Once again, the spider webs had reached the maximum height. The webs hit one another and glued into a ball before it slumped down and covered a large patch of the ground.

  Zhang Mu’s shoulder was in a burning pain when the Obsidian Beetle suddenly exerted its strength. Despite that, his eyes were filled with happiness. He felt a sense of excitement as if he was on the verge of fulfilling his goal.

  Just now you guys had your time, right? It is my turn now. Tonight, let’s try the taste of char-grilled spiders.

  Right now, he was bestowed with great responsibility as the lives of the human being were depended on him. If his plan succeeded, then there would be no worries left behind, and the human being would be able to survive through the beginning of the Cataclysm.

  Then he, himself could safely complete the task of an era sub-merchant too.

  He stabilized his body to take out the gasoline tank which he kept inside his merchant ring and poured it down gently.

  But because of the wind, the gasoline did not fall on the spot like what he had expected.

  Zhang Mu slowly said verbally, “Little black, drop a little.”

  The Obsidian Beetle glanced at him with a confused expression on its face. However, it found that Zhang Mu had put away his smiling face already. Therefore, it knew that he was starting to be serious and complied with his request.

  “Lower a bit more!”

  Chapter 155: Thrilling Moment

  Currently, Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle were very close to the ground. Meanwhile, those little spiders could only watch them descend with eager eyes since they had shot out a spider web earlier, and was unable to attack now. If they were at that height previously, the spiders could entangle them unquestionably. However, they could only stare at them with their eyes wide open as they flew past their head now.

  On the other hand, the spider's corrosive liquid did not come from their poison sac. It was merely a type of gastric juice, and it did not have the ability to spurt. Therefore, the spiders could not do anything to Zhang Mu, who was flaunting above their head.

  Zhang Mu knew that there would be an interval before these little spiders could summon their webs again. Hence, he was fearless of them now. These mutated animals that hadn't reached the first rank would surely have a cooldown period after releasing their power.

  However, Zhang Mu had no clue how long would the cooldown last. So right now, he held his nerve and p
ulled out a gasoline tank from his merchant ring. Straightway, he poured it down on the pile of spiders that were only a few feet away. The pungent odor almost caused Zhang Mu to vomit. However, he did not decrease the speed of his hand.

  After the height had lowered, it was a lot more accurate now. The gasoline was evenly dumped onto the places that he wanted to pour.

  After the Obsidian Beetle flew him around, Zhang Mu found out the reason why the spiders could still absorb energy even though they did not change their location. It appeared that they kept digging all the way down and continued to devour them, despite the fact that the soil was getting denser the more they dug. The dirt was nothing compared to their highly corrosive liquid.

  As a result, the enormous pit was dug deeper and deeper before Zhang Mu arrived.

  Looking at the depth of enormous pit, Zhang Mu estimated roughly the amount of gasoline he needs. Immediately, he took a deep cold breath and spoke out loud, “It is a good thing that I brought enough gasoline from the gas station this time. Otherwise, I might not be able to burn them.”

  The Obsidian Beetle had taken him around but the gasoline he poured down into the big pit of spiders, was like a wave going into the ocean, nowhere to be seen.

  He found that pouring the tank one by one was too troublesome. Hence, he pointed his merchant ring towards the enormous pit underneath him. Using his mind, the tanks filled with gasoline were thrown out one after another.

  In fact, he had thought of this idea before. If he threw the gasoline tank while he was in the sky, it would not be affected by the wind. However, he might smash as well as killed a part of the spiders on such a high position. Furthermore, it might scare away the others too. Then he would have gained nothing from this.

  He smashed a group of the mutated spiders, but since the placement was not that high, it did not cause much damage to the spiders. Those that were hit had climbed out under the gasoline tank. Even though it had scared them, and caused them to scatter around, but they were immediately attracted to the tank that was filled with gasoline as it was also another source of energy.

  The spiders climbed all over the tank and started to devour it. Instantly, all of the gasoline tanks were surrounded and shredded into pieces by a big group of spiders.

  Gasoline slowly flowed out from the places that the tank was shredded and a small stream gradually flowed around the enormous pit.

  At first, Zhang Mu was a little nervous when he saw that the spiders were devouring the tanks because he was afraid that the spider’s corrosive liquid was enough to melt down the gasoline. If that was the case, then he was risking his life for nothing.

  Fortunately, these mutated spiders did not eat anything they could find. After they shared and ate the metal shell of the tank completely, none of them bothered the gasoline that was flowing on the ground. Furthermore, they were not afraid of the pungent scent of gasoline. Zhang Mu suspected that they did not have the scent of smell.

  Okay, this was good. If the spiders really drank the gasoline, then Zhang Mu had no idea how to deal with them anymore.

  It was just a false alarm!

  These little spiders were not aware of the gasoline that was surrounding them. In the meantime, they kept staring at Zhang Mu, who kept throwing the gasoline tanks. Because the number of spiders that could accommodate the gasoline tank was limited, so every time Zhang Mu threw a new gasoline tank, a portion of the spiders that were near the gasoline tank would surround and digest the metal as their energy.

  Meanwhile, the vast majority of the spiders that did not have the chance to devour the gasoline tanks followed Zhang Mu’s movement without blinking their eye.

  Zhang Mu knew that they were waiting to summon their next spider webs. Feeling the burning gaze from the thousands of spiders, Zhang Mu moved even faster. His mind was used up to control the merchant ring while analyzing the next best location to drop the gasoline tank.

  He couldn’t tell how much longer would these mutated animals that hadn't reached the first rank, would take to recover and release their power again.

  While Zhang Mu was racing against time, a deep sense of danger rose from his heart abruptly.

  He looked down and saw that the mutated spiders were starting to arch their body as they stared at Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle with their compound eye.

  That action was too familiar. It was the first omen when the spiders were about to release their power!

  How could the cooldown period go by so quickly?

  Right now, there was still a tank of gasoline inside Zhang Mu’s merchant ring. If he did not cover all the corners, Zhang Mu had no confidence that he would be able to wipe them out all at once. Once there was a weak spot on this artificial fire, then not only would these spiders could be able to escape from such a simple place, but the spiders in other location would notice that that was the spot to breach immediately. When more than half of the mutated spiders were scared away by Zhang Mu, then all of his efforts would go down the drain.

  However, it would be too late if they did not leave the place now. Zhang Mu did not have any time to think and immediately made his decision. He spoke to the Obsidian Beetle, “Now that I’m the only one that you carry, can you use your speed to dodge the spider webs?”

  “Are you sure you want to do this? Once my wings were stuck, then we can’t escape anymore.”

  The Obsidian Beetle felt that Zhang Mu was insane now, and persuaded him to change his mind, “There is still time for us to leave now. If you insist to drop that last tank of gasoline, I have no confidence that we could escape from this place.”

  “No worries. When something goes wrong, you can leave right away.” Zhang Mu was so terribly calm as he urged the Obsidian Beetle to continue flying.

  “Okay. I’ll try my best.” After the Obsidian Beetle agreed, it put away the idea of escaping with Zhang Mu. It sped up and quickly flew to the last empty spot.

  As soon as Zhang Mu saw that they arrived at the location, he threw down the gasoline tank. After that, the Obsidian Beetle flew up desperately.

  However, it was too late. Ten strands of the spider webs had scraped pass Zhang Mu's face and went through the empty spaces of the Obsidian Beetle's body.

  If it weren’t for the Obsidian Beetle moving its body nimbly, its wings would have entangled long ago and could not move anymore.

  What a thrilling moment!

  Chapter 156: Caught In Their Own Trap

  “Faster! Hurry up!” Zhang Mu urged the Obsidian Beetle as he started to get anxious in his heart now.

  “Oh, now you are in a hurry? Why are you rushing me when you were the one that told me to wait till you’re finished?” The Obsidian Beetle taunted Zhang Mu while it was dodging the scattered spider webs. This time, not all of the spiders shot out their spider web at the same time. The vast majority was still focusing on devouring the metals. As a result, they did not enclose Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle as soon as possible, and gave them a breathing space to struggle through the cracks.

  This time, the spider webs assembled a massive hollow cocoon right away, and it was slowly accumulating too.

  At this moment, the Obsidian Beetle had become extremely agile after it turned on its full speed. It was like a flash of black lightning, shuttling back and forth through the white spider webs. However, it was becoming more and more difficult for it to handle too.

  Every time it wanted to ascend, there would be a strand of spider web attached to the Obsidian Beetle’s wing. To avoid such cases, it had to adjust its direction and descend.

  Seeing more and more spiders digested the metallic oil tank, Zhang Mu started to panic in his heart. If they did not take off now, then they would never get another chance to escape again. The Obsidian Beetle was trying the find a way to break through, but there were too many spider webs now. Earlier, it had to use a wind blade to block a layer of the spider webs. However, there would be new ones to cover the gap again. Furthermore, the space that the Obsidian Beetle could dodg
e was getting smaller and smaller. The anxious Zhang Mu had an idea abruptly. At first, Zhang Mu wanted to throw the fire source into the enormous pit after they left the place.

  But if he threw it now, would it help him to escape from this trap?

  Furthermore, if he threw it now, then would he be able to escape from the fire, would also pose a big problem too.

  Nevertheless, the reality did not give Zhang Mu any more alternatives because now, almost all of the gasoline tanks were inside the spiders’ stomach.

  Forced by the sense of crisis, Zhang Mu took out the fire source from his merchant ring and threw it down eagerly. With a swish, the fire source dropped on the center and flames flared up instantly.

  Zhang Mu felt the burning heat immediately. He felt like the roasted chicken on a grill, and all of his pores on his body were covered by a blazing hot air. That was the first time he felt the taste of getting roasted.

  Because the space was too small, therefore the heat could not radiate out. However, Zhang Mu was pleasantly surprised to find a very crucial feature. The spider webs that even the Obsidian Beetle’s wind blade and his Obsidian Beetle dagger could not cut through was slowly melting away. Although it wasn’t obvious, Zhang Mu could felt that the thickness of the spider cocoon was becoming thinner.

  Never did he expect that the spider webs of these mutated spiders were afraid of fire and high heat. This time he had bet correctly, and the fire attack had achieved a miraculous effect. But now was not the time to celebrate, if they did not leave the place now, Zhang Mu and the Obsidian Beetle would be buried with the mutated spiders together in this enormous pit.

  Zhang Mu felt gloomy when he thought that he would be scorched by the fire that he set by himself, instead of being eaten by the mutated spiders.

  “Little Black, can you form another wind blade?” Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle, waiting for it to answer him since it was busy avoiding the spider webs.