The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

“I can only say that most of my abilities were from the Era Merchant’s shop. Will you be able to give up such a stable source of power? Also, you have read the unlucky Era Merchant’s memory and should know that there is only a limited number of Era Merchant in each city. One city can only have five Era Merchant. Since one of them is dead, this is your opportunity to take over.”

Although Zhang Mu couldn’t control his body and was hung in the mid-air, he still spoke indifferently to the person who could kill him any moment. His tone was relaxed as he said, “Oh, I almost forgot, the Era Merchant shop will automatically choose the nearest evolver as a candidate. You should know how many days have passed since you killed the Era Merchant. Every minute of hesitation will increase the chance of another evolver being called by the Era Merchant shop to become their Era Merchant. You can be suspicious but do you still want your position?”

The doubt in the leader’s eyes deepened. He slowly put Zhang Mu down and gave him a little shake. Zhang Mu regained control of his body. He didn’t look at Zhang Mu and faced him with his back, “I have a question. The things you just said were not in my memory. If you are lying, you should do a better job.”

Zhang Mu stretched his stiff neck. He just regained control of his body and hadn’t recovered completely. He had a feeling that the person in front of him might have reached his limit but he wasn’t entirely confident in his prediction. After all, Zhang Mu was not sure if this person was the same as the rest of the psychology-type evolvers.

He had a safer option now so he didn’t want to take the bet. His confident voice sounded loud, “it is because I am the first Era Merchant!”

“The Era Merchant you ate was just one of the later ones. You should have seen the priority list in the Era Merchant’s shop and know what is the difference between being the first and being the fourth or fifth. He had no rights to know the things I know. What is wrong with that?”

The leader couldn’t find any fault in Zhang Mu’s partly-true statement. It was a common understanding that the first would always have a better benefit than the rest of the people behind him. Hence, some of his doubt was cleared but he still didn’t agree to the suggestion.

Zhang Mu noticed this and said in a stable tone, “if you now that you can eat my brain and become an Era Merchant after reading my memory, you will have done that long ago. But, you didn’t. You are afraid that once you kill me, you will realise what I said is the truth and you will not be able to become an Era Merchant without my recommendation. By then, there will be no more chance for you to become an Era Merchant and you will definitely regret your actions.”

The leader slowly turned around and looked straight at Zhang Mu. He opened his mouth and showed his white teeth, “I have one last question. If you can give me a satisfying answer, I will trust you this time.”

Zhang Mu signaled him to continue. The leader stared into Zhang Mu’s eyes and asked, “you mentioned that the Era Merchant shop would automatically choose the nearest evolver as the substitute for a dead Era Merchant. Doesn’t that mean that I can just stay around the Era Merchant shop or kill all the evolvers within the area and I will become an Era Merchant?”

Zhang Mu gave a silent laugh, “I am not sure if the Era Merchant you ate was too low in ranking and all you could see was a string of codes, but it would be too naive of you to think that the Era Merchant shop doesn’t know how to make any judgements right? If you do that, you would be discriminated by the Era Merchant shop and your chances of becoming the Era Merchant will be stripped permanently. Most of the Era Merchant was chosen personally but some were chosen by chance. Three days after the Cataclysm, the Era Merchant will be chosen randomly, no on a first-come-first-serve basis.”

The silver-haired leader tried to find hints of emotions in Zhang Mu’s eyes but was unable to detect any. Besides that, Zhang Mu’s answer was logical and there were no loopholes to be found. His speed of talking was also very fast and didn’t look like he was lying.

Zhang Mu saw the leader deep in thought and decided to push him further, “if you don’t believe me, you can follow me to the Era Merchant shop and see it for yourself. You might have followed the memory and visited the area already so why did you not go into the shop and become an Era Merchant like what you said just now? I can tell you confidently that if the Era Merchant shop didn’t choose you personally and you don’t have someone like me to recommend you, you will never be an Era Merchant even if you squat outside the shop your whole life.”

Zhang Mu’s words moved the leader. It was not that he was scared of Zhang Mu. He knew the full abilities of Zhang Mu and knew that he was no match for him. What he found scary was how calm Zhang Mu was. Even when he changed his tone to provoke him, the leader could still feel how composed Zhang Mu was. The only thing that moved was the leader’s own emotions.

He couldn’t see through the calmness. What’s more, he could detect a sense of danger from it. He didn’t even feel any sense of danger when he was facing a huge mutated animal.

However, there was no choice. What Zhang Mu said seemed to be the truth. Every second he dragged would decrease his chance from achieving his target. He had been to the Era Merchant shop but he was unable to enter the place. When he tried to use his spiritual power, the shop would swallow all the power and it was as though nothing had happened.

After much analysis, his cautious nature finally believed everything Zhang Mu said.

He could just go and give it a try first. If what Zhang Mu said was fake, he could just kill him later. He had planned to kill him after becoming an Era Merchant to see if he could become the first Era Merchant. He had a feeling that the brain of someone so clever would definitely be very delicious.

“Let’s go. You will walk in front. If I find anything wrong with what you said, I will have you as my supper today. I have not had any evolvers for quite some time. Although I am worried that my ability is improving too fast, eating you shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Sure, let’s go. If you want to drag the time, there is nothing I can do too.”

Zhang Mu finished his sentence and immediately turned around and walked away, not caring about what the leader was thinking.

“Stay here,” the leader ordered the people behind him.

Zhang Mu heard the footsteps chasing after him. His heart leaped in joy but there was no change in his expression.

Was he finally fooled?