The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Translator: I’m Working Hard

Editor: Lightbubble

Chapter 34 The Mutated Monkeys

“Little Black, watch out and don’t be lazy! There are a bunch of monkeys that are very difficult to deal with dominating this place.”

At first, the Obsidian Beetle didn’t take things seriously and thought that Zhang Mu was just scared by the mutated pigs, but when it felt the quick change of his internal energy and his violent mood, it realized that his owner was serious.

Then, Little Black began to study the residual scents in the air.

Zi! Zi zi!

After a while, the Obsidian Beetle looked up and turned towards the northeast, flapping its wings quickly.

“The smell is coming from that direction. It is where the Great Buddha is located.”

Zhang Mu had a certain intuition that the treasure was in the cavern of the Great Buddha rather than on the road.

After realizing that, Zhang Mu frowned and said to himself, “Unexpectedly, they had occupied the Great Buddha so early? The treasure shouldn’t have come out so early. Don’t tell me they realized something was there and guarded it? It would explain why there were survivors that came out of the Longmen Grottoes in the future. Or else it would be impossible for the powerful monkeys, after cleaning out the walking dead during the debugging period, to spare the lives of survivors in their territory. So they had been guarding in the vicinity of the Great Buddha from the very beginning. This showed the importance they attached to this treasure.”

“Yuan Rui, you and Little Black stay at here. I’ll go and see what happened.”

Zhang Mu didn’t dare to leave Yuan Rui by herself. He was just going to investigate, and by no means did he need Little Black’s help. Little Black would do better staying here and protecting Yuan Rui.

Little Black enjoyed this arrangement while Yuan Rui refused. She was going to cry and said, “Uncle Zhang. Let me follow you. You said you would take me. You can’t leave me alone, I’m scared.”

She clung to Zhang Mu’s sleeve and refused to let him go.

Zhang Mu felt awkward. He removed Yuan Rui’s hand and said, “I’m not going in to fight the monsters. I’m just going to investigate the terrain and see how many mutated animals are in there and how powerful they are. Besides, you are not alone. Little Black will stay with you. Don’t worry! Little Black is strong. At the very least, it can carry you and fly away. If you follow me, we may get in trouble if we ever meet an emergency. I’d better go alone. Be good!”

After that, Zhang Mu glanced at the Obsidian Beetle and said seriously, “Don’t try to save energy, how much can you consume anyway? Quickly turn big and let Yuan Rui sit on your back. Wait for me right here. Is that clear?”

Zhang Mu didn’t care about Little Black’s feeling at all and slapped it. Obsidian Beetle slowly become big while its sad eyes stared at Zhang Mu.

Touching Little Black’s back, Yuan Rui calmed down. After seeing Zhang Mu’s firm eyes, she said with her head down, “Uncle, you must be careful.”

Zhang Mu answered, “Remember, if you are in danger, run away quickly. Don’t wait for me. Little Black and I know where each other are.”

Zhang Mu nodded and raised Yuan Rui on Little Black’s back. His left foot pushed against the ground slightly and he left them.

It had gotten dark outside, but inside the cavern of the Great Buddha, beams of light were lit, making the statue of the Great Buddha seem particularly prominent against the walls of the cave.

As Zhang Mu got closer, he gasped.

“Who would’ve known that the mutated monkeys have learnt to make use of torches to patrol. They are indeed the first animals to develop intelligence. Only on the second day of debugging period and they have already made such a great progress. Unbelievable.”

Looking at the mutated monkeys that had grown up to be even taller than human beings, Zhang Mu was shocked. However, the most horrifying thing was that they had learned how to divide the work and to use wooden sticks as their weapons.

There was a guard at every five steps around the Great Buddha sentry. Even during the night, they did not slack.

Moreover, they seemed to have formed a special team for hunting. They held several walking dead as they walked back into the cavern. It seems that they were going to present the walking dead to their leader.

Only the human base in the future had such organized arrangements. At the beginning, people didn’t take sentry work seriously. They thought that they could sleep without anxiety as many evolvers were around them.

Only the veterans who had survived through war and blood understood how important a sentry would be. So in the future, the evolvers who had special abilities like Clairaudient, Clairvoyant, and Night vision would serve as the first line of defence for the bases.

The mutated monkeys in front of him were clearly suppressed by a strict hierarchy, but they were still ready to drive out the enemy. Even though nothing could threaten them, they never slacked.

The light of the torches nearly illuminated Zhang Mu. When a mutated monkey turned back, Zhang Mu quickly hid in the grass without making any noise.

All of a sudden, an idea was drawn in his mind. He called on the Black Beetle in his mind.

“Woosh! Woosh!”

10 minutes later, a delicate figure came out from the dark with Little Black on her head.

Of course, it was Yuan Rui.

Yuan Rui’s mouth was covered by Zhang Mu the moment she intended to say something. They were crawling in the grass. She blushed as Zhang Mu got close to her. She heard Zhang Mu’s warning, “Don’t make any noise. The goal is a bit tricky.”

At the same time, Little Black also noticed the dangerous situation and got frightened. It asked Zhang Mu to withdraw because they had no ability to deal with this situation. Zhang Mu patted it on its head and laughed, “Of course, we can’t defeat them right now. But 30 minutes later, the debugging period will be over. At that time, we can defeat them easily.”

Zhang Mu didn’t know whether or not Little Black’s power would decrease the debugging period ended and yet he was sure that both the intelligence and physical strength of the mutated monkeys would decrease a lot. They would be in their weakest state because they won’t be able to adjust to the change so quickly. That was what Zhang Mu was waiting for.