The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Chapter 120: A Dream that Defies Time

“Old Zhang, are you here to camp today?”

A familiar voice traveled to Zhang Mu’s ear. Although it seems far away, Zhang Mu could still subconsciously answered to the owner of the voice without turning back. “That’s right. I was quietly hoping that those top few sub-merchants would come slower this time.”

He observed the front for a long time before slowly turning around to look at the young man wearing a straw hat. Zhang Mu was the fifth sub-merchant of Luoyang city but this young man, he was the fourth sub-merchant. Both of them had no discounts when it comes to era trade. Hence, they empathized each other. Although both of them were solitary, when they met one another, they would often stop and chat for a while.

Judging by their ranks, both of them were required to calculate the exact opening time for the era merchant shop. If the top sub-merchants did not arrive on time for the store opening, then the transaction will not be according to their ranks. Therefore, this would give Zhang Mu and the young man a chance to survive longer.

Behind him, a sluggish voice wafted from the young man, “Old Zhang, last time you told me to go to Xi An city to trade regional goods. However, I went to Shan Xi city and managed to earn some profit instead. What do you say about that?”

That had been one of their few topics to chat amongst them, which was to discuss the market fluctuation regarding the regional goods. Not only does it allow them to pass some time, but it also brings advantages to both parties.

Zhang Mu replied to him without thinking, “There were some that would earn more and some that would gain almost the same as the purchasing price. All in all, you should obtain about 20% of profits, am I correct? A few more time back and forth, and you should be competent to accomplish the task this time. Based on what you mentioned, you did not make any lost from this market, right?”

The young man put his hand behind his head to act as a pillow when he lay down on the big lawn. Without haste, he brings out that piece of news, “That old Liang is dead.”

Zhang Mu was a little shocked. He turned his head and stared at the young man’s expressionless face, while words couldn’t form on his tongue.

That old Liang was Shan Xi city third sub-merchant. He, himself was able to get 10% discount from trading, as such he was able to live comfortably. Coupled with the fact that he was kind to fellow sub-merchants, it made him famous and was publicly known as the good old man.

Regardless of Zhang Mu’s thoughts and feelings, the young man carried on, “As the market fluctuates, beside us who like to use the short selling method, basically no one would dare to play anymore. Same goes for old Liang. When he was going to reach the deadline for his task, he became greedy and placed a huge bet. Based on his own experience, he thought that once the short selling method had collapsed, the long selling method would gain huge earnings. Hence, he spent a long time to go to Jiang Zhe city, which took months to reach. Who knew that after spending months to reach there, the purchase price would only be a little higher.

It got worse after he came back as the goods from Jiang Zhe city made a loss.

Old Zhang, I have never seen that expression on old Liang’s face before. Knowing that your death is closer and closer yet you could do nothing about it. That kind of desperation and that kind of helplessness.”

The young man paused as his tone slightly trembled, “and just like that, he died in front of me.”

At this time, Zhang Mu had finished listening to the whole story, but his heart did not even waver the slightest when he replied to the young man, “Last time he had tasted the sweetness of long selling method which made him gain a huge profit. Although we only made small earnings, at least when we work hard, we could get to the bottom of the task easily.”

The young man seems to be shocked by Zhang Mu’s indifferent tone as he raised his head to glance at Zhang Mu.

Zhang Mu also felt that his reaction was abnormal. Based on his memory, he should be grateful to the old Liang since he had received his help once before. However, he still could not get rid of the strong oddity between them. As a result, it costed him to speak in an unfriendly tone.

The young man dropped the topic without thinking much as he assumed that Zhang Mu had seen a lot regarding this matter. “These few years, we had seen several lives being drained by the merchant’s ring, right? I never expect that for a person like old Liang, which was the third sub-merchant, would not meet the minimum requirement. It looks like this road is getting tougher and tougher.”

After he finished talking, he saw the merchant ring on his finger. A sudden surge of hatred made him tried to pull out the ring. However, after a futile effort, he gave up the idea with a sneer.

“Old Zhang, living is so exhausting.”

His voice kept repeating on Zhang Mu’s mind endlessly, gradually passing through Zhang Mu’s emotions. A sort of mental fatigue instantly radiated from Zhang Mu’s heart.

But not too much was there as it was like a seed buried in Zhang Mu’s heart, hidden away.

In no time, the light column started to rise. In the end, there was only one person standing on the space that overlapped with the era merchant shop. Zhang Mu and that young man grinned at each other. With this, Zhang Mu immediately forgot about the discomfort he had in his heart.

Unexpectedly, there was one out of the three sub-merchants, who had the priority, appeared this time. Likewise, this indicated that as long as that person did not have a dog shit luck and took all the goods, then this time both of them would not need to share a mouthful of soup. Instead, they would be able to tear out one big piece of meat. It had been a long time since they had received such treatment.

Seeing the figure gradually immersed into the light column, Zhang Mu peeked at the young man and immediately walked towards that direction. Without turning back, he said, “I don’t know when would those top two sub-merchants come back, but let’s quickly head in first.” If they went in as soon as possible, even if the top three sub-merchants came, the queue would be sorted on a first-come-first-serve basis based on their entry time. Similarly, this implied that if both of them manage to rush in before them, even there was a one-second difference, the sub-merchants above them could only sit quietly and queue behind them.

Zhang Mu and the young man march into the merchant shop too. At this moment, both of them were split up. Zhang Mu was left all alone at the empty lobby to wait for the mechanical voice to announce when the sub-merchant above him had completed his trading.

He was accustomed to this scene as he, himself had already made many trading under these circumstances. But he did not understand why he felt that this place shouldn’t occur like this.

Shortly, a familiar sound interrupted his thoughts.

Looks like the person in front of him had made a fast dealing, and it was his turn already.

The suspicions in Zhang Mu’s eye was replaced by a sudden surge of excitement. As long as he gains 20% profits, he would be able to complete the minimum requirement of the task, or maybe, there might be more.