The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Translator: I’m Working Hard

Editor: Lightbubble, cherry

Chapter 33: The Longmen Grottoes

The roaring pigs quickly rushed out of their ‘pigsty’, but Zhang Mu ran so fast, he quickly disappeared. Little Black also tried its best to fly as high as possible.

Thinking that it was difficult to hunt them, the aggressive pigs roaring at the very front became hesitant. They just yelled a few times towards the direction Zhang Mu disappeared to and returned inside their circle to continue sleeping.

After using so much energy to fly high, the Obsidian Beetle soon got tired and landed slowly. Zhang Mu pulled Yuan Rui whose face was deathly pale down from the Obsidian Beetle’s back and let it land on his shoulder to have a rest.

Yuan Rui had just vomited and she had to sit on Little Black`s back and fly up so high right after. In order to protect them from the possibility of the mutated pigs possessing long-ranged attacks, Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle to fly high enough.

Yuan Rui looked at Zhang Mu apologetically and said with a low voice, “Uncle Zhang, I didn’t do it on purpose, I really couldn’t stand the smell anymore.”

Seeing the lively Obsidian Beetle so tired, Yuan Rui felt guilty for having caused troubles. She was afraid Zhang Mu would blame her.

Yet, Zhuang Mu just laughed and touched her head slightly, “It’s ok! It doesn’t matter! We are safe and sound, aren’t we? You tried your best. The smell really was horrible. Even a boor like me can’t stand it, let alone you. Even Little Black had to hide inside my clothes. You have done all you could! Who would have thought that the mutated pigs had a keen sense of smell? Just let it go! Moreover, even if we were besieged by them, both Little Black and I have the ability to cope with them. I just wanted to bypass them because it would take too much of our time and energy to fight against them.”

Out of worry for Yuan Rui, Zhang Mu said that. Actually, he knew that they couldn’t have escaped unscathed with only his and the Obsidian Beetle’s power. However, he didn’t want Yuan Rui to feel guilty. Besides, it was also because his plan wasn’t thorough enough. He had just thought about dealing with the walking dead without taking the mutated animals into consideration, especially not a bunch of pigs.

Through this event, Zhang Mu had a sense of crisis. Thinking carefully, except for an agile body, some skills, and instinct forged by his past life, he had no other advantages in the apocalypse.

His ability only allowed him to deal with the dumb walking dead. But if he met mutated animals with developed intelligence, he could do nothing but escape. Life would be hard for him who didn’t develop special powers.

Moreover, the advantages Zhang Mu owned in the early days of the cataclysm decreased when he faced evolvers.

While he thought up to there, the group of three had left the toll station of the highway.

“We finally get out!”

Zhang Mu turned back and looked toward the dilapidated toll gate farther away from him. He still felt it to be inconceivable that all the walking dead on the highway had become the mutated pigs’ food. It made it so that they didn’t meet massive armies of walking dead.

The latter half of their journey was very easy which was out of his expectations. They hadn’t stopped on their way except for when they met Zhan Hong, which allowed them to save a lot of time.

Zhang Mu could not tell whether he was lucky or not. They did save a lot of time, but if they hadn’t escape immediately when the pigs woke up, they would’ve become food for the mutated animals.

It was late. The sun set slowly in the west and the temperature lowered.

Zhang Mu quickly asked Little Black to go back to his normal size and carry Yuan Rui as they left the highway and headed for their destination, the Longmen Grottoes.

The Longmen Grottoes was dug in the Dynasty of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei. As it had existed for a long time, most of the Chinese population knew of it. From south to north, it measured up to one kilometres. Inside were more than 100,000 statues of Buddha.

As Zhang Mu gazed at the Longmen Grottoes, many thoughts came to his mind. The cave had been damaged seriously even before the cataclysm began. Afterwards, people couldn’t even protect themselves, no one cared about preserving the Grottoes. It was then damaged wantonly by mutated animals in the mountains. It was by luck that an evolver found the surprising secret hidden inside the Longmen Grottoes.

Seeing that Zhang Mu was looking at the scenic spot in a daze, Yuan Rui interrupted his contemplation. “Uncle Zhang, we are here now! Can you tell me what’s the matter?”

“Eh, I don’t know either. I just feel that there must be some treasures. Maybe, it’s an evolution ability of mine.” Zhang Mu didn’t tell Yuan Rui that he came from the future. It would frighten her. So he had to make his knowledge of the future into an ability to prophesy the future.

After hearing that, Yuan Rui quickly took the hint. She was immune to all kinds of unthinkable things after she witnessed the supernatural energy she owned and Zhan Hong’s Dragon Scales.

“Uncle, not only can you tame Little Black, but you can also foresee the future! You are so great!”

Seeing Yuan Rui’s look of worship, Zhang Mu nodded and admitted brazenly. It was awkward for him to tell a little girl that he actually didn’t have any evolutionary ability and couldn’t even stand equal to her.

Yet, this time, there was a chance, a chance to change his fate and life. Given this, he must get the treasure at all costs.

“Let’s go, get on Little Black’s back! Let’s go now!”

Because it was the off-season for tourism, there were not many people in the Grottoes before the cataclysm happened. Outside, there were only dozens of walking dead and most of them had been local residents. Zhang Mu knew that the walking dead outside didn’t pose any threat. The reason why the Longmen Grottoes’ secret hadn’t been found earlier was that the evolvers didn’t dare to come in. The Grottoes contained too many ferocious mutated animals.

Inside, there are massive amounts of mutated monkeys. Unlike other mutated animals, what bothered Zhang Mu was that the mutated monkey had high IQs and evolved nonstop. Their imitative ability, under the stimulation of the evolutionary factor inside their bodies, had developed to a horrible level.

As for human beings, the world’s mutation was catastrophic, but also full of opportunities. However, the beneficiaries of the mutation were not just human beings. As such, the humanity’s hegemony was shaken.