The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Translator: I’m Working Hard

Editor: Lightbubble

Chapter 43: Taking a Night Off

After seeing that Zhang Mu had walked out of the cavern, Yuan Rui complained, “Uncle, why did you stay in there for such a long time? I’ve been waiting for a while now. Little Black didn’t play with me, so I was dead bored."

Zhang Mu smiled slightly and touched her head, “Don’t worry, haven’t I come out already?"

When Yuan Rui noticed that Zhang Mu was in a good mood, she guessed that Zhang Mu should have gotten what he wanted. She asked curiously with wide open eyes, “Uncle, did you get the thing you wanted? It’s the first time I’ve seen you so happy.”

Zhang Mu scratched his head in embarrassment and grinned, “Is it so obvious?”

Staring seriously at Zhang Mu, Yuan Rui answered, “Yes! It looks like you’ve reaped a great harvest! Uncle, tell me about it! I’m so curious!”

After hearing that, Zhang Mu sighed and spread out his hands, “It’s not that I don't want to show you! I’m just worried that you will be frightened! It’s just a helper like Little Black.”

However, Yuan Rui became more excited after listening to his words and asked, “Is there something more ugly than Little Black after it becomes big? I won’t be afraid. Come on, show me what you got! Is it a bug again? Do you like collecting bugs? It would be a little scary if it’s true. I can’t stand anymore, just Little Black is enough. It’s just too nauseous to imagine myself surrounded by worms.”

Little Black moved slightly on Yuan Rui’s shoulder as if it had heard that someone was speaking ill of it. However, it just shifted a little and quickly fell asleep again. After all, everything Little Black had eaten was only half digested. As sleep was the best way to absorb, just let it sleep.

“It’s not a bug! I’ll show you, but you’d better take a few steps back.”

Zhang Mu asked Yuan Rui to stand far from him. Yuan Rui walked away a few meters and looked at Zhang Mu with wide eyes.

Then, after hearing Zhang Mu’s call, the Bloodvine Lotus emerged from Zhang Mu’s left arm and brandished itself in the air.

The Bloodvine Lotus attacked Yuan Rui immediately once it found her, making Yuan Rui so frightened that her legs gave out.

Luckily, Zhang Mu always kept an eye on the Bloodvine Lotus and ordered it not to hurt Yuan Rui the moment it came out.

However, its instinct was stronger than its intellect after all. Fortunately, Zhang Mu had asked Yuan Rui stay away from him, otherwise, she might’ve been in danger.

The speed and explosive power of the Bloodvine Lotus were terrifying!

Zhang Mu still felt the lingering fear after that burst of strength from the Bloodvine Lotus, but Yuan Rui was even more terrified. She refused Zhang Mu's hand to help her up until he recalled the vine that was still twined around his arm back into his body. Even so, Yuan Rui still avoided Zhang Mu’s left arm subconsciously.

After a long while, Yuan Rui hit Zhang Mu and cried, “Uncle! Why do you always scare me? Don’t you know that it nearly disfigured me?”

Zhang Mu didn’t know what he should say. “I had warned you to watch out. I didn’t know it would be so sensitive to living things. Is this my fault too?”

After hearing that, Yuan Rui felt even more wronged as she thought Zhang Mu was blaming her. She kept crying, “It’s your fault. Who told you to put such a dangerous thing into your arm? It’s so disgusting!”

“It’s my fault, it’s my fault,” Zhang Mu had no choice but to apologize, “All right, it’s dark. Let’s rest here for a night.” Zhang Mu distracted Yuan Rui’s attention successfully.

“The rock cave is cold and the Great Buddha in it is horrible. I’m not going to stay there.” Yuan Rui still felt scared when she recalled the piercing cold, so she absolutely disagreed with Zhang Mu’s decision.

But they had no other options. As it was getting dark, they couldn’t move on even if he had the Bloodvine Lotus and Little Black. He didn’t have the confidence to walk in the darkness.

There were still lots of things that Zhang Mu didn’t know of even though he came back from the future. It would be the regret of his life if he died from hubris. (excessive pride/arrogance)

Thinking twice, Zhang Mu decided to stay here. Zhang Mu worked out a compromise and said to Yuan Rui, “The treasure hidden in the rock cave has been taken out by me. So you needn’t worry. Since you don’t want to go in, we can stay outside and rest. It’s very dangerous to move in the night.”

Yuan Rui knew that she shouldn’t be defiant at a time like this. She nodded and found a clean area a distance away from the rock cave.

Zhang Mu rekindled those torches and put them in a circle as a fence. Seeing the corpses of the mutated monkeys all around, Zhang Mu thought that it would be a waste if he didn’t make use of them. Little Black was picky while the Bloodvine Lotus ate anything. So Zhang Mu planned to collected monkeys’ corpses to use as the Lotus’ food and save some crystals.

Once he thought about this, Zhang Mu put all the corpses into his Merchant’s Ring. Luckily, time doesn’t pass in the ring or the corpses would become rancid fast.

After getting everything down, Zhang Mu threw Little Black that was sleeping on Yuan Rui’s shoulder out and shouted, “Turn big and sleep. Wake me up if there is any danger. Understood?”

Having been woken up from its good dream, Little Black looked at Zhang Mu with anger, but when it found that Zhang Mu wasn’t in a good mood, it tamely flew up and kept watch around their temporary camp.

Little Black knew that it would consume much of its energy to transform, but right now was not the time to save energy. It needed to be in its strongest state for the night watch.

Moreover, there was a strong smell of blood. Although the dead bodies of the mutated monkeys had been collected and put away by Zhang Mu, both walking dead or mutated animals might come following the smell of blood.

Never take it lightly!

After having lost a lot of blood today and have his emotions go on a roller coaster ride, Zhang Mu was dead tired. He was afraid to fall asleep and not react quickly enough if something dangerous came close, so he ordered Little Black to keep watch with full attention.

Having given clear-cut orders, Zhang Mu took out two blankets and handed one to Yuan Rui. Then he put himself in the blanket and fell asleep.

Zhang Mu furrowed his brows and fell asleep. No one knew what he was concerned about. The future or the truth of the cataclysm? Only he knew.

With the light of the flickering fire, Yuan Rui stared at Zhang Mu's unshaven face. All of a sudden, she felt sorry for him.

Yuan Rui was also very tired. She had never walked such a long distance not to mention that she was stricken with fear so many times. After wiping off the sweat on Zhang Mu’s forehead with her sleeve, Yuan Rui laid beside Zhang Mu and fell asleep feeling safe.