Embark on the Road

by Tai Baiyang

  Zhang Mu paused for a while and looked at the Wang Liang who was seemingly calm but tinged with nerves, observing his expression. "However, you owe me a favour."

  "Of course! Brother Mu, even if you don't agree to my request, I’d still owe you a lot! Half it is then."

  Wang Liang knew that the additional half of the weapons he had on his hand was more than enough to draw apart his base’s ability from the other bases; once you were ahead, you would always be ahead. Therefore, he readily told Zhang Mu of all the habitations he knew.

  Zhang Mu admired his frankness, which was why he had helped him; Wang Liang was a suitable partner whom he was able to work with in the long term. It wasn't a bad thing either to aid him in uniting the rest of the bases in Luoyang City.

  However, Zhang Mu wouldn't channel too many resources to him, as there was a high probability for that to alter too much of the world otherwise. If Zhang Mu could keep to this world’s original path, he would do his best to stick to it.

  He had experienced the uneasy feeling of facing the unknown; all that he could do to redeem was to prevent the current situation from worsening.

  However, if Wang Liang was someone who disappointed him, it would be useless no matter how much resources Zhang Mu invested in him.

  ...

  For the next three days, Zhang Mu rode on the large, mutated wolfdog strolling around in the city, and visited over ten bases in the city with the information Wang Liang had provided him.

  Yes, visit... but perhaps not with the friendliest approach, or for the first visit at least. However, he didn’t have much of a choice either. He had spoken nicely initially, but nobody spared him a glance. After that, he didn't want to waste his time so he changed his behavior and smashed through the doors of every base he went to to call their leader out.

  It turned out that violence indeed was the best method to solve things. When the leaders, donning darkened expressions, saw the resources Zhang Mu had with him, their eyes gleamed as bright as they could get. If Zhang Mu’s strength had not shocked them, they probably would have just pounced on him and robbed him bare.

  Of course, there were a few brainless ones that attempted just that despite witnessing his powerful display of base-intrusion. He had been talking very harmoniously, and had even made an exhibit to frighten them in place, but they were as though blinded by greed. Not only did they want the food and weapons, but they also coveted Zhang Mu's ring that was rumoured to contain a spatial dimension.

  In the face of that, Zhang Mu didn’t bother with the negotiations any longer. The moment the people surrounded him, they became the Bloodvine Demon Lotus’s food. Even though the corpse, sucked dried of blood and thrown on the grown in disdain, were of no worth, they were sufficient to scare the living hell out of the other people. At that, they scattered, not even daring to look back.

  Zhang Mu scratched his face, murmuring, "Am I really that scary?"

  The Bloodvine Demon Lotus danced in the air, as if replying: "Maybe, probably, perhaps, there is such a possibility.”

  Even though there were some setbacks along the way, the end result was bountiful. Zhang Mu looked at his ring fully packed with five thousand crystals and felt satisfaction. Even though none of the ten bases had enough ability to exchange an amount anywhere near Wang Liang’s base, the sum of all the crystals he received was still quite a large number.

  Though Zhang Mu would be able to collect five thousand crystals on his own with the help of the Bloodvine Demon Lotus, it would be too tiring. What Zhang Mu was doing was throwing the line to catch a large fish; he didn't mind these short-term profits as much.

  The most important thing now was to help the people in Luoyang firm the foothold and develop rapidly.

  Now that Zhang Mu had sold out all the foods and weapons he had, it was time to fulfill his promise—help Little Black evolve to the second rank!

  Zhang Mu sat on a chair in a yard, one which Wang Liang had specially left for him, and turned the Evolution Potion in his hand, his legs crossed.

  At the same time, Little Black and the mutated wolfdog stared at the potion eagerly. They instinctively knew that that potion was something that could help them evolve to the second rank.

  Ceasing his teasing, Zhang Mu gestured for Little Black’s head to inch this side, and under the mutated wolfdog's envious gaze, he opened the stopper and dumped the entire potion into Little Black's widely opened mouth.

  Chapter 69: Cocooning

  The second-ranked evolving potion was poured into Little Black's mouth. It worked instantly and Little Black's back started to radiate blue lights.

  The blue lights appeared from its belly and flowed to its back, finally gathering together on its head in a ring of light after another. Little Black shook its head painfully, but Zhang Mu could not help it and did not dare to help it, because it could only finish its evolution all by itself. There was nothing that other people could do.

  Zhang Mu had not obtained a mutated animal even in his past life. Other people would not let their mutated animals expose in public when their mutated animals started evolving, because it was the weakest moment of their mutated animals. Therefore, Zhang Mu knew very few about mutated animal's evolution.

  He only knew that he shouldn't touch Little Black at this time, because it may interrupt its evolution. If it happened, the worst consequence may break the animal core in Little Black's head, which meant Little Black's death.

  Although Zhang Mu looked insouciant, but he had asked Wang Liang to notice his people that no one could go to this yard before he came out. Of course, he wouldn't put his safety into someone else's hands. He had released the Bloodvine Demon Lotus and asked it to hide under the ground. Its vines had covered the whole yard to make sure that no one could bother him.

  Zhang Mu hadn't seen mutated animal's evolution with his eyes, naturally, he was inexperienced. He could only do everything he thought that may be helpful to Little Black. But his sixth sense was sensitive. He suddenly felt worried about Little Black and one second later, the mental bond between Little Black and him had become unstable. He could feel Little Black's pain.

  Was Little Black in a dilemma now?

  Zhang Mu put his eyes on Little Black's body and surprisedly found a details he neglected before: Little Black was shivering!

  However, he still didn't know what the reason was, so he couldn't do anything effective.

  Looking at this scene, a wave of fear appeared in the mutated wolfdog's eyes. It bared its teeth and growled at Little Black. Yuan Rui tried to help Little Black with her healing ability, but Zhang Mu stopped her.

  Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu in surprise. Zhang Mu explained, "Little Black hasn't been hurt, so your healing energy can't help it. On the contrary, if a strange energy has entered its body, it may break the balance in its body. You may kill Little Black."

  Yuan Rui hurriedly drew back her hands and covered her mouth, looking at Little Black with a mixture of worry and surprise. Was Little Black facing such a bad situation?

  Zhang Mu also felt regretful. He knew too little about mutated animal. He could do it after knowing much about Little Black's body.

  Suddenly, Little Black called him through the mental bond between them, "Give me... wind-type... animal cores..."

  After that, Little Black said nothing, as if it had passed out.

  Zhang Mu saw light suddenly. Yes, wind-type animal cores! They were the same type with Little Black's animal core! They were what Little Black needed right now!

  Undoubtedly, the second-ranked evolving potion was effective, because the blue lights hadn't stopped, which meant that it was continuously stimulating Little Black's animal core. However, Little Black had eaten too much animal cores of other types, which had interfered the process of refining its own animal core.

  As this idea flashed by Zhang Mu's mind, he had put out a bag of wind-type animal cores from his Merchant's Ring.

  Fortunately, he had the habit to classify all the goods he had, o
therwise, it would be troublesome to find wind-type animal cores from a mess.

  He immediately put a wind-type animal core to Little Black's mouth, but due to pain, Little Black was clenching its teeth lightly. Zhang Mu painstakingly opened a crack of its mouth and put the wind-type animal core into it.

  Instantly, it had an effect. Little Black's body was shivering painfully at first, but after eating the wind-type animal core, its pain was apparently alleviated for a moment.

  Zhang Mu got anxious right away. He shouted at Little Black's head, "You fool! Open your mouth! Open your mouth!"

  Little Black had finally recovered its control of its body for a while. After seeing Zhang Mu's voice, it strenuously opened a crack of its mouth, but it seemed that had exhausted its strength. Its mouth would shut at any time.

  Seeing this, Zhang Mu immediately poured all the wind-type animal cores into Little Black's mouth. Some animal cores dropped on the ground, he quickly picked up them and put them into its mouth again and covered its mouth with his hands.

  In Little Black's stomach, these wind-type animal cores instantly underwent chemical reactions with the second-ranked evolving potion. Gradually, Little Black stopped shivering. It seemed that it had begun gently absorbed the energy in the evolving potion into its body.

  As the blue lights on Little Black had become soft, Zhang Mu smiled. He knew that Little Black had almost succeeded.

  Growwwwwl!

  Suddenly, Little Black growled.

  Zhang Mu and Yuan Rui were frightened. Zhang Mu was going to scold Little Black, but suddenly, Little Black vomited black threads from its mouth. He immediately drew back Yuan Rui and leapt away.

  Ten seconds later, a ball of big, black cocoon appeared in the center of the yard. Zhang Mu started at it in mute amazement. He swallowed in surprise, "Oh, Little Black is cocooning! Is it really a beetle? It looks like a silkworm now!"

  Chapter 70: Become Frenzied

  Zhang Mu rubbed his ears with a bitterly smile. He withdrew the Bloodvine Demon Lotus and had to accept his bad luck without complaint. Well, he didn't know when Little Black would be able to break the cocoon, so he had to wait.

  Zhang Mu walked out of the yard and was scared by the scene in the front of him. A crowd of people were standing outside of the door and surrounded the yard. Everyone was holding a weapon in their hands, and some people were standing on their toes, peeping at the yard.

  However, Wang Liang was standing in front of them motionless, so they didn't dare to break into the yard.

  "What happened?" Zhang Mu asked in confusion.

  Seeing Zhang Mu, Wang Liang took out a sigh of relief. He looked at Zhang Mu and said with a smile, "All the people in the habitation had heard a growl from your yard. Other people thought that it must be a mutated animal who had sneaked into the habitation, but I remembered your words, so I stopped them."

  "Oh, I see. It was from my little pet. Don't mind it," Zhang Mu explained and waved his hands.

  "Ok, I will tell everyone it. Don't blame them. Last time, a lot of mutated animals had broken into our habitation and caused a lot of damage. They were really scared!" Wang Liang said. Zhang Mu had become more powerful in his heart. He was the leader of the habitation, naturally, he knew every evolver's ability here.

  He thought that Zhang Mu was just a tamer-type evolver in the past. According to the words from the tamer-type evolvers in this habitation, every person could only tame a mutated animal, and it was hard to tame strong mutated animals.

  Wang Liang had known that Zhang Mu had a mutated wolfdog, but the sound he heard just now couldn't be from a wolfdog! Therefore, there would be only one reason that could explain it: Zhang Mu had another mutated animal!

  In Wang Liang's heart, Zhang Mu had become more and more mysterious. Zhang Mu had wealth, trading skill and boldness, and now, his power was even out of his imagination. If Zhang Mu was his enemy, he would have a headache.

  Fortunately, Zhang Mu wasn't his enemy but his cooperation partner. He even agreed to help Wang Liang achieve his ambition.

  Thinking of this, Wang Liang felt relieved. Since Zhang Mu wasn't his enemy, he'd better to cooperate with Zhang Mu, so that he could obtain better benefits in the future.

  Only benefit was the biggest guarantee to maintain a friendship.

  Wang Liang turned back and looked at his people. He didn't speak.

  Looking at Wang Liang's eyes, they immediately stopped talking and waited Wang Liang to speak.

  "Don't worry. Brother Mu had told me that the growl was from his mutated animal. He also feels sorry for disturbing us. Everyone, go back to work now!" Wang Liang's voice was dignified. Obviously, his people believed in him.

  "Oh, I see. The growl was from this man's mutated animal! Does it mean that he is very strong?"

  "Yes, I had never heard any sound that could be as mighty as the growl. Now we know the reason. All well and good."

  "It's good for our habitation to have such a strong evolver. Nothing serious. My mind is at rest."

  "Go, go, go! Go back to work, guys. Don't just hang about!"

  People felt relieved after hearing Wang Liang's words. They nodded and talked with each other, leaving this place in bands of two or three. The growl would only become a topic of conversation at their leisure time.

  Seeing that people had all left, Wang Liang looked at Zhang Mu and asked, "Brother Mu, what's your plan? Do you want to kill the walking dead crowds with us? You can have one-third of the spoils. What do you think about it?"

  One-third of the spoils wasn't less. Zhang Mu hadn't exposed his Bloodvine Demon Lotus to them and Wang Liang had agreed to give him one-third of the spoils. It was really a sincere move.

  However, Zhang Mu smiled and shook his head, "Thanks, but I won't go to hunt walking dead with you, because I don't need crystals right now."

  Yes, Zhang Mu didn't really care about crystals now. If Wang Liang knew that Zhang Mu could wipe out a walking dead crowd far faster than all the evolvers in the habitation, he would be flabbergasted.

  Wang Liang smiled bitterly. He wanted to show his goodwill with the huge profit, but he didn't expect that Zhang Mu didn't care about his "huge profit". He was more curious about what Zhang Mu was going to do.

  Zhang Mu knew what Wang Liang was thinking, but he had nothing to hide. He looked to the sky and said slowly, "I will go to hunt mutated animals. I need all their animal cores!"

  Wang Liang was shocked by Zhang Mu's crazy idea. Zhang Mu was actually planning to catch all mutated animals in one draft? It was insane! For a moment, Wang Liang was worried about would Zhang Mu asked him to help him. No, I won't play this crazy game with him! Wang Liang thought in his heart.

  Zhang Mu clearly knew what Wang Liang was thinking. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, I don't need your people to take risk with me. I will go to hunt mutated animals alone. However, I need your people to look for mutated animals' locations for me. I will give you foods and weapons in return. No upper limit."

  Wang Liang had prepared to refuse Zhang Mu, however, the three words, "No upper limit" had aroused his greed. His eyes gradually turned green with desire.

  Chapter 71: Uproar Over Some Tasks

  Following Zhang Mu and Wang Liang’s discussion on their collaboration, the orders issued down had everyone in the base exploding in an uproar, akin to pouring a bowl of tap water into a wok full of boiling oil.

  “Say, did you hear? Boss Wang Liang said that the new Boss Zhang is going to assign us the task to hunt some mutated beasts.”

  A short, stocky man in a short coat pulled another man beside him and said while looking at a blackboard that Wang Liang had somehow dug up. Atop, white, chalk-written words crowded the board; the evolver writing was an ex-teacher Wang Liang had found.

  The crowd around the blackboard had gathered as a result of a yowl reverberating throughout the base that a sonic evolver had emitted to summon everyone over.

  The guy that had been pulled was a lean youth with eyes g
linting green. He was evidently very attracted by the last paragraph of the notice.

  “A hundred kilograms of grain and twenty kilos of drinking water will be given in exchange for the specific coordinates to a mutated herd’s den. This is fifty times the wages we daily earn from the base! On top of that, if we are able to record the habitual patterns of mutated herds and provide more detailed information, we can get more remuneration. The person that comes with the most intelligence can receive a set of standard equipment just like the ones those two guards are holding. In fact, the ones given as a reward will have much better defense.”

  “What incredible recompense! Qin Feng, hurry! Grab your weapon and let’s go!”

  The man whom the lean youth called Qin Feng had an appearance that lacked some of the gracefulness of his name. Unlike his friend that got carried away by the promise of rewards, he appeared relatively calm.

  “Remember! You may lose your life before you even manage to earn the prize! Have you forgotten how formidable those mutated beasts are? Hundreds of walking dead were stomped dead by just a few elephants.” He murmured.

  “Also, that evolver we followed before, he was strong enough to summon water elementals wasn’t he? But so what? He still died after being pierced by the two-story-high elephants’ tusks, torn apart and cleanly devoured up by them.

  “You can’t possibly have forgotten such a dreadful scene already, can you? If it weren’t for that car we hid ourselves under and the fact that we had kept our breathing light, we would long have become the dung those elephants pooped after being ingested as food.”

  The lean youth and Qin Feng were sworn friends. Although the teenager was a little unreliable at times, he was extremely loyal to his friends. Hence, Qin Feng was willing to explain everything to him so tirelessly.

  His friends previously blazing eyes, upon being reminded of the time when the two hid, their lives in the hands of lady luck, instantly dimmed down. It was as if he had been doused with cold water. Even his fervent heart lost its high morale instantaneously.