Back to the Doomsday

by Tai Baiyang

  After seeing what the black shadow looked like, Zhang Mu gave Liu Shuo a contemptuous look and said slowly, “You, Liu Shuo, are a shadow killer who can hide your body in space?”

  At first, Liu Shuo was just slightly shocked from the Bloodvine Lotus blocking his attack, but when he heard Zhang Mu's question, his face paled as he asked, “Who are you? How do you know me?”

  Zhang Mu sneered, “Not only do I know you, but also I know you are a sub-merchant of Xi’an. Am I right, number 009?”

  After hearing what Zhang Mu said, even though Liu Shuo was a crazy and arrogant guy, he had lost interest in fighting against him. Everyone would be afraid of a strange man who knew everything about himself, and Liu Shuo wasn’t an exception. At this moment, he only wanted to run away.

  Liu Shuo was the first assassin-type evolver in China as well as an era sub-merchant whose number was 009. He was a moody individualist who liked killing high-level evolvers and collecting their heads. In Zhang Mu’s past life, Liu Shuo was wanted by every gathering place all year round, but no one could ever catch him.

  Zhang Mu had never thought that he would meet this legendary evolver from his past life, but there was no fear in his mind, only indifference. Right now, Luo Shuo hadn’t yet become the King of Assassins and Zhang Mu wasn't a common, weak merchant anymore.

  I was too careless and let my guard down as I thought myself powerful. I have underestimated the high-ranked evolvers, leading to this dangerous situation.

  However, it’s time to exchange our positions. Now, I’m the hunter!

  “I didn’t expect you to be so tough. Ok, play time is up. I will spare your life today, but remember, your head will be mine sooner or later!” Liu Shuo giggled and stepped back.

  “Did I say that I'll let you go?”

  Suddenly, Zhang Mu’s cold voice rang beside his ear, which made him feel a biting cold. He stepped back at a high speed and tried to slip away by the opening from which he came in. In his mind, Zhang Mu wouldn't be able to do anything to him anymore once he went out.

  Of course, Zhang Mu couldn’t let Liu Shuo attain his purpose. Under Zhang Mu’s control, all the vines closed in, quickly forming an impermeable cage.

  “You can’t trap me because I can merge with space! Bye!” Liu Shuo laughed.

  After that, Liu Shuo suddenly disappeared into thin air.

  Zhang Mu wasn’t shocked and just smiled. Looking at his smile, Liu Shuo suddenly had an extremely dangerous feeling in his heart.

  “If I was someone else, I may have been deceived by what you just said, but I know everything about you. You can merge with space? Don’t make me laugh. You can only become invisible at best! Little Black has found your location! Now, goodbye, Shadow Killer. Goodbye, the King of Assassins.”

  His words to Liu Shuo were accompanied with a sigh filled with emotion.

  “I curse you! You are not human! You are a monster! You will go to hell!” Liu Shuo shouted.

  Sensing Liu Shuo's fear of, the cage formed by the Bloodvine Lotus’s vines suddenly shrunk. All the space in front of Zhang Mu was filled with vines.

  Liu Shuo screamed as his entire body was pierced through by vines. They sucked on Liu Shuo’s blood greedily and killed him instantly.

  “Hell? If it exists, I think I have already been there once.” Zhang Mu sneered and shook his head. Quickly, he moved his eyes to Liu Shuo’s right middle finger.

  Liu Shuo’s Merchant’s Ring was gleaming with a black light, reflecting an eerie glow.

  However, Zhang Mu didn’t care about that at all. He knew it was a sign that the ring was unbonded after its master death. If it was a common evolver who killed the sub-merchant, he would inherit the sub-merchant’s identity. However, everything within the ring would be cleaned up. Even so, the identity of an Era merchant was longed after by all ordinary evolvers.

  If it was another sub-merchant who killed the sub-merchant, for example, Zhang Mu, his Merchant’s Ring would take away everything from the dead person’s.

  Of course, it included the most precious commodity, the regional goods.

  Thus, except for appearing in some trade fairs, sub-merchant usually trusted no one and would travel to cities alone.

  Zhang Mu stared at Liu Shuo’s ring with eagerness.

  Luckily, I can get anything that I want.

  Chapter 50: Merging the Rings

  While he was lost in thoughts, the Bloodvine Lotus couldn’t support its vines anymore and retracted them. Without the support, Liu Shuo’s body fell to the ground.

  Zhang Mu felt very distressed when he realized to which point the previous attack had affected the plant. It had just saved his life. Although Zhang Mu and the Bloodvine Lotus shared a parasitic relationship, it had still helped him.

  After forcibly leaving Zhang Mu’s left arm and controlling the vines that had disconnected with it, the Bloodvine Lotus had used up every last drop of the energy it had absorbed today.

  It didn't sound like much, but it had absorbed blood from thousands of zombies and energy from over one hundred crystals. Now, it was forced to use up all of that energy. The feeling was terrible, like a person whose stomach was completely full was forced to vomit it all out.

  So the Bloodvine Lotus had returned to his body and entered a dormant state immediately after they were out of danger.

  Meanwhile, Yuan Rui and Little Black came to Zhang Mu and found him looking at the Liu Shuo’s body in a daze, so they didn’t interrupt him.

  Yuan Rui stood by Zhang Mu's side quietly and Little Black started to actively clean up the remaining zombies. Actually, there were only a few dozens left, which was very few compared to the number of corpses lying on the streets.

  Zhang Mu was pondering whether to bond with Liu Shuo’s Merchant’s Ring or not. Ordinary people would do so immediately in order to obtain the identity of a sub-merchant, but Zhang Mu was in a different situation. Although he could get great benefits from doing so, there was a problem. Liu Shuo was the first era sub-merchant in Xi’an City, so the Era merchant here probably held him in high regards.

  Now, he had been killed and robbed by Zhang Mu. Even though it was Liu Shuo who attacked first, no one knew what the Era merchant would think about this. If he went to see the Era merchant, it was very much possible that the Era merchant would find out what Zhang Mu had done to Liu Shuo.

  If the Era merchant had a bad temper and refused to trade, what should he do? If that really happened, Zhang Mu’s efforts would all be in vain.

  After all, every Era merchant was independent and possessed a distinctive character. In his past life, Zhang Mu did come to Xi’an to trade several times, but since his business was so small, he always traded with the system and never met the Era merchant. In result, he knew nothing of the Era merchant’s personality.

  Seeing that the light from the Merchant’s Ring was dimming signaling that it would soon be destroyed automatically, Zhang Mu made up his mind and quickly picked it up.

  I have to bet on it! Seek for riches amidst danger!

  Having lost its master, the ring was easily taken off by Zhang Mu who slowly put it close to his own ring. They were of the same style, but one of them was smaller.

  Number 009? Let me see what benefit you can bring to my Number 001.

  Holding the ring in his hand, Zhang Mu forgot about his surroundings and only focused on the change within his own ring after it melded with Liu Shuo’s ring.

  In his past life, because all sub-merchants possessed various means to protect themselves and acted swiftly and wittingly, it was difficult to rob them of their rings and expand one’s own.

  Zhang Mu hadn’t seen the merging of rings with his own eyes in his past life and only heard about it from some people. He heard that the ring’s number determined the degree of expansion. For example, if one used the ring “Number 10” to enhance the ring “Number 50”, the ring’s space would get three or four times bigger, but, if one did the opposite, there would be no change.

  Th
at was why no one desired Zhang Mu’s ring in his past life. The top sub-merchants looked down on his ring while the backend sub-merchants didn't have the abilities to kill the crafty Zhang Mu.

  Under his guidance, the ring floating in the air slowly flew to his right hand. All of a sudden, the two plain rings shone with the same light, but one of them glowed much brighter while the other was unable to resist.

  Quickly, the ring Number 009 was entirely swallowed.

  10 seconds later, Zhang Mu’s ring returned to its normal appearance. Seeing that, Zhang Mu sank his consciousness into his ring and was delighted by what he found.

  The space of his ring had become two times bigger, but this wasn’t the biggest change. The most important thing was that there were all kinds of currencies and regional goods in Liu Shuo’s ring.

  Firstly, Zhang Mu threw away dozens of skulls, which really scared Yuan Rui. He didn't notice and continued to check his booty with ecstasy.

  “Tea Tree Oil, one.”

  “Baked Buns, two.”

  “White Jade Donkey Statue, one.”

  What Zhang Mu saw first were the regional goods located in the center of the space, sitting next to his Luoyang Peony Buds. The longer he looked at them, the more happiness he felt.

  Liu Shuo should have discovered the Era store in Xi’an not long after Zhang Mu entered the Era store in Luoyang. It explained why his number was 009.

  Liu Shuo was smart. He had bought every kind of regional goods.

  When Zhang Mu saw the White Jade Donkey Statue, he was so excited that he nearly kissed Liu Shuo’s dead body.

  Liu Shuo was so lucky! He didn’t buy any cheap goods but got this White Jade Donkey Statue. And now, it was his!

  Zhang Mu lost interest in the rest of the items.

  “10 second-ranked crystals, 17 first-ranked crystals, and nine first-ranked high-quality beast cores.”

  “How poor! With only this, how did he become the King of Assassins?”

  Zhang Mu murmured.

  Actually, it was not Liu Shuo’s fault. After all, his ability was best for assassination, not combat. He didn't have the ability to fight against a group of first-ranked zombies.

  It was only when Liu Shuo grew strong that his power had let him dominate the human world.

  Unfortunately, he had met Zhang Mu and died before he discovered his hidden potential.

  Chapter 51: A Major Decision

  While Zhang Mu was immersed in his joy, Little Black had wiped out the remaining zombies and come to Zhang Mu to claim its credit.

  “Did I do a good job?”

  A proud voice that echoed in Zhang Mu’s mind. Zhang Mu felt angry but also amused as he couldn’t criticize Little Black’s arrogance. This attack gave him a useful warning indeed.

  Therefore, Zhang Mu didn’t hit Little Black nor did he even refute it this time. He said while laughing, “It's all thanks to you. I owe you this time. Tomorrow, you’ll get what you want.”

  Then Zhang Mu murmured, “Little Black learned nothing but bragging. I have never heard of a mutated animal that would take on its owner’s character after signing a blood contract. Oh, but, I’m not that kind of person anyway.”

  Since Zhang Mu refused to recognize that he was the same as Little Black, he just let it go and said, “You pick out the crystals from these bodies first and just put them in a pile, I’ll collect them later. It will take a lot of time to store them all out if they are still in the bodies.”

  Lured in by Zhang Mu’s promise, although Little Black knew there were over 1,500 bodies on the ground, it still worked hard without any complaint as it flew to the end of the street and began to pick out crystals.

  After all, what Zhang Mu promised to Little Black was so great that it could help it reach the second rank. If Little Black depended on itself, it would take two months, maybe even longer, to reach the second rank and it would necessitate a lot of suitable top-class beast cores. It would be difficult to evolve without Zhang Mu’s help.

  In fact, Zhang Mu knew there was no system that could allow him to exchange for cores of different nature in the Era stores. However, he didn’t lie, because after thinking twice, he decided to give Little Black something much better — a bottle of second-rank evolving potion!

  It was an evolving potion for first-ranked evolvers that could increase the success rate of evolution, but it also worked on animals.

  The second-ranked potion Zhang Mu had bought from the Era merchant was desired by many evolvers because it was suitable for everyone! That was to say, all evolvers and even non-humans could use it to increase chances to evolve to the second-rank. Moreover, evolvers who possessed several abilities could still use this potion to promote their abilities, even though the effects would be divided amongst the different powers.

  The Era stores would open the beast core exchange function one year later, but in most cases, evolvers during the early times of the new era that couldn't find suitable cores would refine themselves using unsuitable ones despite the risks.

  Evolvers that do so run the risk of dying because their bodies are too weak, but they still had a try and seek that 30 percent success rate in evolving as suitable cores were truly difficult to find.

  After all, a higher rank meant more powerful abilities, exalted power, and influence, all of which are a great temptation in this dog-eat-dog world.

  In the first year of the new era, even in the large gathering places, the number of top-class beast cores that appeared could only meet the need of the top evolvers. That lasted till Era stores started to sell beast cores to the sub-merchants.

  Once people found that sub-merchant had evolving potions, they started buying it at all costs and even tried to kill the merchants in order to steal it.

  Because of this, sub-merchants never dared to openly sell evolving potions unless they had the strength to protect themselves.

  In order to exchange for the evolving potion, Zhang Mu nearly spent all his savings. However, he will give this treasure to Little Black once he made sure that he could buy more potions from the Era store in Xi’an tonight.

  Zhang Mu thought that he could promote his strength and agility only if he dosed this potion because he didn’t have an awakening ability. It was the painful reality.

  But if Little Black, who had reached the peak of the first rank, drank this potion, along with the various beast cores it had eaten, it might be able to break through to the second rank.

  The was thing was, unlike human beings, the advancement period of mutated animals was uncertain. Zhang Mu needed Little Black to protect Yuan Rui and look for zombies. If it started the process of evolution now, he didn’t know when it would succeed.

  If he could make a deal with the Era merchant in Xi’an successfully and get some new era goods that could boost his power, Little Black can advance without worrying about anything.

  There was no need to think any more, Zhang Mu led Yuan Rui by the arm and started to collect the crystals Little Black had put in a pile. All the crystals were absorbed into his Merchant’s Ring by the time he put his arm down.

  This was another advantage of enhancing the Merchant’s Ring. The opening time had been shortened by a lot.

  Little Black picked out crystals at the same speed as Zhang Mu collected them. It only took eight minutes for Zhang Mu to collect all the crystals. As for the zombies’ bodies, Zhang Mu had no interest in them at all.

  Now, even Little Black had high demands when it comes to food. It didn’t eat the first-ranked zombie because it disliked the smell. Little Black had completely forgotten how happily it used to eat the zombies’ flesh and blood. Zhang Mu’s Bloodvine Lotus was even pickier. It had not spared a glance at these bodies with low nutrition and insignificant energy.

  Zhang Mu looked back at the chaotic pedestrian mall and then at his well-stocked ring. Plus the two thousand crystals and one hundred mutated monkey’s cores he had collected before, Zhang Mu had confidence in making a deal with the Era merchant successf
ully.

  “Era merchant of Xi’an? I’ll wait and see whether this deal can move you or not.”

  However, Zhang Mu didn’t know that in a far corner, a person had witnessed what his actions and fled with fear.

  ***

  In an unspectacular hotel, a group of people were smoking.

  It’s no one else but Lin Shui and his fellows. The strong man next to Lin Shui dropped his cigarette and said impatiently, “Cousin, we asked Hao Zi to follow that guy. It has already been one hour, why hasn’t he come back yet?”

  He and Lin Shui were cousins, but they were very different in character.

  Lin Shui didn’t answer him and continued to smoke while leaning on the sofa.

  All of a sudden, Lin Shui raised his head and looked towards the door, which scared the other people as they aimed at the door with weapons in their hands.

  The small fellow who had peeped at Zhang Mu stumblingly ran towards Lin Shui. He ran so fast that he slid down murmuring, “All died, all died.”

  The strong man asked, “Hao Zi, what happened? What’s wrong with you? Why are you so scared?”

  The small fellow called Hao Zi kept murmuring as if he had lost his mind and didn’t hear what the man had said.

  Lin Shui's cousin got angry. He slapped at his face hard and shouted, “What’s wrong with you? Make yourself understandable.”

  The pain woke Hao Zi up. Staring at Lin Shui while a hand went to cover his face, he said with while trembling, “Brother Lin, thousands of zombies had been wiped out by that man! Even the crazy man who liked to cut people’s heads had also been killed by him!”

  After hearing what Hao Zi said, the people present all gasped at the same time as they thought of the violent battlefield.

  That man wiped out thousands of zombies in one and a half hours? He even killed that crazy beast in human skin?

  This time, even a steady man like Lin Shui got nervous.