The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Chapter 22: Butterfly Effect

“Uncle, you are back! Are things outside still very bad? Uncle, did you get hurt? Don’t worry, my healing energy has been recovered. I can heal you!”

After Zhang Mu returned, Yuan Rui checked his body but found no wound. His clothes weren’t even wrinkled. She pouted and complained, “Why didn’t you get hurt? Did you just look for a hidden place and sleep for a day? If you didn’t do that, what have you found? Haha.”

“Don’t tease me. Do you want me to get hurt? The things I found are all in the backpack. See for yourself.”

Yuan Rui stuck out her tongue. She took over Zhang Mu’s backpack and threw it to the bed without a second glance, then asked Zhang Mu about his condition like a twittering little bird. Zhang Mu felt his heart warm. He wasn’t an outgoing man, but he wouldn’t refuse a girl’s concern.

What’s wrong with me?

In Zhang Mu’s past life, his heart had become as hard as iron and as cold as ice, because he had seen too many betrayals, too much hatred. He seemed free and easygoing, but it was just the surface of his character, a method he used to deal with loneliness.

Now, Zhang Mu could feel the cold ice in his heart melt. He felt as if he was still an ordinary man and the cataclysm hadn’t happened yet.

“Look, it is my biggest gain today.”

Zhang Mu drew out the Obsidian Beetle from his pocket and showed it to Yuan Rui.

“Whoa! It’s cute! Uncle, I didn’t expect that you would have such a hobby!”

Yuan Rui looked at the Obsidian Beetle in surprise. She extended her hand. However, when her hand almost touched Little Black’s shell, it suddenly turned around and vibrated its wings. If Zhang Mu didn’t stop it in time, its sharp teeth would have bitten off Yuan Rui’s fingers.

In the light of candles, Yuan Rui saw the Obsidian Beetle’s fearsome head. She quickly drew back her hand as her face turned pale in fear.

Zhang Mu slapped the Obsidian Beetle and scolded it mercilessly, “You didn’t dare to face the mutated rat swarm, but dare to scare the little girl? I tell you, if you dare to bite her finger, you can’t eat anything from now on! Be good, let her touch you.”

After hearing Zhang Mu’s threat, The Obsidian Beetle compromised. It lowered its head and flapped its wings listlessly.

“Oh, the beetle understands your words! Uncle, you are awesome!”

Yuan Rui smiled through her tears.

Zhang Mu boosted himself, “Haha, I told you that in the new era, all kinds of evolution abilities would appear in the world. My ability is to tame mutated animals like Little Black. Don’t be surprised by it, because it looks small and cute now, but it can become as big as a horse.”

Of course, Zhang Mu wasn’t a tamer-type evolver, but he didn’t want to tell her that he didn’t have any evolution ability. And as her “uncle”, he didn’t want to disappoint her.

“Its name is ‘Little Black’? It’s so cute, how can it scare me? You must be teasing me, uncle.”

Yuan Rui pulled up her socks to touch the Obsidian Beetle’s back. Seeing that the beetle didn’t refuse her, she stroked its back along the lines on its shell.

The Obsidian Beetle didn’t like to be touched by a human. However, after realizing that Zhang Mu was looking at it and Yuan Rui meant it no harm, it gradually let its guard down and started to enjoy Yuan Rui’s petting.

Zhang Mu was suddenly in a bad mood looking at the Obsidian Beetle’s enjoying Yuan Rui`s attention.

“Let it alone. It’s dinner time now.”

Yuan Rui touched her empty stomach and realized that she was already hungry. She blushed, then took out food from Zhang Mu’s backpack and divided it in half. Zhang Mu shook his hand and told her that he had eaten. Seeing that, she ate the food alone.

…

On the second day, Zhang Mu woke up from a good sleep.

Zhang Mu didn’t wake Yuan Rui from her sweet dream. He left the room alone and found a tall building, climbed up to the rooftop and waited for the sunrise.

Suddenly, Zhang Mu squinted his eyes. He saw three groups of human teams at three different directions.

Zhang Mu was sure that they were humans, but what were they doing?

He patted his head. Right, he had almost eliminated the walking dead in this area last night. If the survivors were smart, they would naturally come out of their houses to search for necessities.

In his memory, only very few people walked out of their hiding places during the debugging time in his past life, but now, he saw three groups wondering out. Was it the butterfly effect?

The butterfly effect is a concept that states that “small causes can have larger effects”. His existence and the things he had done had changed the world. What would the world become?

Zhang Mu didn’t know if it was a good thing for these people. He had only eliminated the walking dead nearby, if they thought that the walking dead in the city had all been killed, they would experience the ruthlessness of the world with their own flesh and blood.

Zhang Mu quietly sat on the top of the building and ate his bread. He watched them, observing how they broke the door of shops and looted the foods.

He wanted to observe how many evolvers were hiding amongst these people. If they had great potentials, he would go to help them, because he wanted them to owe him a debt. Maybe this action would save his own life someday.

As for ordinary people, Zhang Mu wasn’t going to waste his energy to save them. In his past life, everyone needed to show their worth, so that they could linger on with their last breath of life in this cruel world. Wastes and losers would be eliminated by “natural selection”. No one could save them.