The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm - Chapter 158

Chapter 158: The Weak Will Be Eliminated

Zhang Mu quietly ate finished the last spider’s leg on his hand, and threw the rest away. He patted the Obsidian Beetle’s back and said, “Since their meat is not tasty, then they have no value anymore. Let’s go.”

The Obsidian Beetle looked at Zhang Mu puzzledly and asked, “You’re not going back to check? What if there are some escapees?”

Hearing the Obsidian Beetle’s concern, Zhang Mu chuckled and replied, “Do you still remember where did you get these burned mutated spiders? They were outside the sea of flame. So that means, these mutated spiders that you took were the first few escapees from the fire. However, they were still dead in the end, so don’t even mention about the vast majority that were still trapped inside, or were still thinking about escaping through the ground.

As the spiders were not repulsive to the gasoline, so previously when we poured the gasoline on their body, none of them dodged away. Instead, they were throwing themselves for the sake of the energy from the gasoline tanks.

Therefore, almost all of them were soaked in gasoline. Even if there are some escapees, then do you know why the existence of those mutated spiders was a great threat to us?

Because their one and only deadly feature, was their tremendous numbers in tens of thousands.

Without such a tremendous number, these mutated spiders were nothing at all. They were not a first-ranked mutated animal, so how are they going to obtain energy? Not being used as a dessert for the other mutated animals were considered good for them already. So there is nothing to worry about.”

The Obsidian Beetle felt that it made sense and decided to drop the matter. However, when it was about to turn and leave, it was pulled back by Zhang Mu. He leaped over the Obsidian Beetle and sat on its back sneering, “Since you played a prank on me, do yourself a favor and remember to fly a little stable.”

As a result, the Obsidian Beetle had no choice but to carry Zhang Mu and flew on a low altitude back to the place where Yuan Rui and the others were currently staying.

The mutated wolfdog knew that it had slept for a long time, so all the while it was concentrating on guarding Yuan Rui and Hao Hao.

Seeing the mutated wolfdog acting this way, Zhang Mu smiled. He walked over and petted the dog head, “Wow, the way you’re acting now is good.”

Yuan Rui walked over to chat with Zhang Mu, “Uncle, how’s the matter? Are you alright? If not, we will deal with them in the future.”

There was a reason for her concern as Yuan Rui was frightened by a large number of spider webs when she sat on the back of the Obsidian Beetle previously. If anything goes wrong then, all their life would end there already.

“How can there be any problem with me taking action and the guarantee I promised?”

The confidence in Zhang Mu’s smile calmed down Yuan Rui’s heart.

Meanwhile, Zhang Mu noticed the stares that Hao Hao kept giving him, as if he was afraid that he would hear a piece of bad news from his mouth.

Zhang Mu smiled had become serious after that. He leaned down and looked at Hao Hao, “Hao Hao, I can feel that you’re a man, so I have to tell you the truth. Your mother is not here anymore, and she had gone to heaven. Those bad guys that caused your mother’s death had received their punishment already. And for that big spider who murdered your mother, it was eaten by its children completely.

And just now, big brother helped you to settle all of those spiders. Look, this is one of them. The rest are more miserable than this.” At first, Hao Hao was pretending to be strong, but when Zhang Mu took out the burned corpse of the mutated spider, he burst into tears.

After a while, Zhang Mu saw that Hao Hao wouldn’t stop crying and was getting louder and louder instead. He immediately straightened his face and scolded him, “Stop crying!”

Hao Hao was so frightened that he stopped his wailing immediately. He looked at Zhang Mu blankly and didn’t dare to make a sound.

Zhang Mu also knew that it was too cruel to treat a ten years old this way. But the days were not the same as before. This is the Cataclysm, whereby people do not spit out the bones when they ate a human.
Weakness and tears couldn’t exchange for sympathy, and it would only cause them to be bullied more unscrupulously. Therefore, being strong is the minimum quality that ones must have, even if it was a child.

Zhang Mu put the burned corpse of the spider on his palm and placed his hand in front of Hao Hao’s eye. He said calmly, “You need to be strong. Do you know that your mother also wants to see a stronger Hao Hao? Right now, the corpse of the spider in my hand was one of your mother’s murderer.”

When he heard Zhang Mu’s words, the little boy’s eye was filled with anger and hatred.

Zhang Mu continued saying, “Now, you must become a little man. Currently, you’re still young, so big brother has done the main job for you. If you eat this, that would be counted as avenging for your mother too. When you are older, you can wipe out those monsters that threaten the human race. That is another kind of revenge too.”

Hao Hao abruptly reached out his small hand to take the corpse of the mutated spider on Zhang Mu’s hand and said, “I’ll eat it.”

Zhang Mu did not give it to him straight away. He stared at Hao Hao’s eye and said seriously, “This thing is nasty. It might be even worse than anything you have eaten before. Have you thought about it properly? Do you still want to eat it?”

Hao Hao’s eye flashed a little hesitation as if Zhang Mu gave him a fright. Despite that, he quickly recovered and said with a resolution, “I want to eat it.”

This time, Zhang Mu let go and allowed Hao Hao to take a bite.

Hao Hao almost spat it out when he took a bite. He never thought that there would be something so awful. But then he recalled the stern look on Zhang Mu’s face and the words that he said earlier, he remembered that this was the killer that murdered his mother. Therefore, he endured and tore off the meat little by little before he swallowed them hard down his throat.

A glimmer of sympathy flashed in Yuan Rui’s eye as she thought that the way Zhang Mu handled the child was a little harsh. She wanted to voice out her opinion, but when Zhang Mu glared at her, she swallowed back her words.

This is a hurdle that Hao Hao must experience on the road of his growth. If he lived in pains and tears, then he would be useless. This principle, regardless of his present life or former life, was the same nonetheless.

Just that in this Cataclysm, it was magnified a lot more.

The weak, would be eliminated in the end. In fact, the mortality rate of children and elderly was extremely high. Even if Hao Hao had Zhang Mu’s care and Wang Liang’s protection, but if he could not manage himself, then all would be useless in the end. No one could protect him for a lifetime. Hence, Zhang Mu need to use this type of cruelty method to let him grew up faster. If not, he would not be able to go out of that trauma now. Or maybe, for a lifetime.

There wasn’t a trace of impatience from Zhang Mu as he waited patiently for Hao Hao to deal with the corpse of the mutated spider.

Looking at Zhang Mu’s eye, Hao Hao finished eating the last of the spider’s meat wholeheartedly and threw the remaining shell on the ground. As if he had completed a task that Zhang Mu had given to him, he said proudly to Zhang Mu.

“Big brother, I have finished everything!”