The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm-Chapter 13

Chapter 13: A Critical Situation

The second day, in the morning at seven, Zhang Mu suddenly opened his eyes, waking up on time.

Zhang Mu had curled up in the corner and slept for several hours. He suddenly shivered from the cold. Well, he regretted in his heart that he had played cool last night. At least, he should’ve ask Yuan Rui to give him a quilted cover. He pressed his stiff neck and twisted it for several times. Crackle, crackle.

“Are you awake?”

He heard a timid voice from the bed. Zhang Mu looked back and found that Yuan Rui had also also woken up. She was holding a quilted cover in her arms, looking at him with a tired look.

The girl had two dark patches beneath her eyes. Apparently, she didn’t have a good sleep last night. After all, she was still a little girl. She must’ve felt terrified to see the world’s cruel change. Of course, there is the other possibility that she was afraid of Zhang Mu, fearing that this “strange uncle” do something to her in the night.

Zhang Mu turned around and looked at the girl. He smiled and said, “Thank you for taking me in at last night. Well, I don’t have too much food and I don’t think that you will like their taste. Wait here. I will go out to look for some food for you.”

“Are you going out? No, No, I’m not hungry. Don’t go out!” Yuan Rui immediately shook her head like a rattle after she heard Zhang Mu’s words, “It’s dangerous out there. Don’t go out. We can stay here and wait for the army to rescue us.”

“Army? They can’t even save themselves now. How will they go to save us?”

Zhang Mu said in a calm tone, telling her the cruel truth. He continued to wipe his Tang sword with a straight face.

After hearing Zhang Mu’s words, Yuan Rui’s face was as pale as paper. She swallowed and asked, “Uncle Zhang, you must be joking. Even though the monsters are very strong, but the army has countless weapons! How can’t they get rid these monsters? Aren’t I right?”

Zhang Mu finally finished wiping his sword. He stood up and shrugged, turning his back to Yuan Rui then said, “Of course, if the army still has weapons, these stupid walking dead won’t be a threat to them. Unfortunately, after the wave flashed in the air yesterday, I saw that a group of police’s firearms immediately lost their efficacy and they were torn apart by those monsters. I think that the army is perhaps facing the same situation. Therefore, I’m afraid that we have to rely on ourselves now.”

After that, Zhang Mu paused for a while. He didn’t turn around, but continued, “Don’t open the door if you don’t hear my voice. Don’t underestimate the ugliness of human nature.”

Zhang Mu put his ear on the door to listen for sounds outside the door. After making sure that there was no danger, he opened the door and walked out.

…

On the roof of a house, Zhang Mu watched the situation around a convenience store across the street. He didn’t move, but put himself in the sun for a while, waiting for his cold body to become warmer.

Zhang Mu was always meticulous in doing anything.

After his body function returned to normal, Zhang Mu narrowed his eyes.

This was a remote street, and there were only seven walking dead wandering around on the road from his location to the convenience store.

Zhang Mu wasn’t worrying about them. With his burst speed, he could calculate the walking dead’s attack range, kill the walking dead in front of the door of the convenience store, then rush into the convenience store.

The key were the walking dead inside the convenience store. What should he do with them? Draw them out or directly rush into the store and kill them all?

Looking through the convenience store’s window, Zhang Mu could see that there were three walking dead in the building. They should be the shop manager and two customers. Zhang Mu’s body was still not strengthened and he couldn’t play his full strength in such a narrow space. He could only deal with one walking dead at a time.

If he drew them out… Well, the convenience store wasn’t the only store on the street. If he stayed on the street too long, the walking dead on the street and in other stores may hear noise and come to swarm him. If that happened, it would be very difficult for him to sneak into the convenience store again.

After a while, Zhang Mu had an idea.

He sheathed his Tang sword into the backpack, then climbed down the roof along the eaves. According to the roadmap he had drafted in his heart, he cautiously walked around the street, then walked to the convenience store without any noise.

Zhang Mu sneaked into an alley next to the convenience store, looked at the walking dead who was fifteen meters away with its back to him, then drew out his sword and rushed to it without hesitation.

Zhang Mu didn’t want there to be any accident, so he rushed at his fully enhanced speed, chopping down the walking dead’s head before it had realized anything. After that, he immediately caught the walking dead’s head in case that it’s fall made any noise.

After picking out the walking dead’s crystal, Zhang Mu sheathed his sword. He held the walking dead’s head in one of his hand and held its headless body with his other hand, then quickly returned to the alley and threw them to the ground.

His movement was quick and quiet. The other walking dead hadn’t felt anything and were still wandering on the street.

However, Zhang Mu knew that there was not much time left for him, because the smell of blood would soon spread in the air.

He observed the surrounding circumstances again, then sneaked into the convenience store.

As Zhang Mu had expected, he felt something pouncing at him the moment he entered the door. He had to brandish his sword before he could see anything. Zhang Mu felt a strong tremble from his weapon and involuntarily lifted it. Before he could take a firm stand, he heard another sound breaking the air.

Zhang Mu barely dodged the attack, finally seeing the two attackers in front of him.

One was a walking dead wearing tattered clothes and the other walking dead looked like a young man. They blocked Zhang Mu’s way from his both sides and approached to him.

Something was wrong. Where was the third walking dead?

In desperation, Zhang Mu jumped up, squatting on the empty goods shelf. He glanced around the convenience store, but still didn’t find the third walking dead. His face changed, because he didn’t like to have any unpredictable factor in his plan.

The two walking dead under the goods shelf looked at Zhang Mu. They screamed and knocked into the shelf. Zhang Mu could not find a good opportunity to kill them so he was forced to jump to the goods shelf behind the previous shelf.

Roar!

While Zhang Mu was still in the air, a walking dead suddenly came out from underneath the shelf. It opened its bloody mouth wide, trying to bite Zhang Mu.

The last walking dead was hiding underneath the shelf! That was the reason why Zhang Mu couldn’t find it.

Zhang Mu’s face turned pale. He didn’t have too many choices, but had to helplessly wave his sword at the walking dead with his all strength. The sword directly cut the walking dead into two pieces. However, the exerted force made him lose balance. Although Zhang Mu had tried his best to avoid hitting his head, he still fell heavily to the ground.

Clack!

Zhang Mu felt a terrible pain rising along his right arm.

Damn. My arm has dislocated! Zhang Mu groaned in his heart.

At this time, the other two walking dead had pushed down the shelf in front of them, slowly walking to Zhang Mu.

Zhang Mu had given up his plan to kill them all. He wasn’t even going to pick up the crystal from the walking dead he just killed. He picked up his Tang sword with his left hand and imagined in his heart, ordering his Merchant’s Ring to put all the things on the shelves around him into itself.

In the blink of an eye, most of the stuffs on the shelves had been put into the ring. Zhang Mu’s Merchant’s Ring was filled with various goods now.

After playing “hide and seek” with the two walking dead for a while, Zhang Mu caught an opportunity. He pushed over a shelf to block the two walking dead’s way, then quickly ran out of the convenience store.

Zhang Mu didn’t look back. He knew that before long, the walking dead on the street and in other shops would come here following the sound he made and the smell of blood.

Zhang Mu sighed for his bad luck on the way back. He bared his teeth and set a fracture for his broken arm, but his right arm still hung down beside his body. He probably won’t be able to use his right arm for a period of time.

Zhang Mu didn’t want to waste his time trying to explain his Merchant’s Ring to Yuan Rui, so he took out some bread and milk from the ring and put them into his backpack. He thought that the little girl would like them.

Finally, Zhang Mu returned the warehouse. He stopped, because he suddenly found that the door of the warehouse was broken. He had a really bad feeling. Thinking of his current condition, Zhang Mu put a small “thing” into his sleeve and quickly walked inside.