The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Chapter 121: A Makeover

“No. 337, basic level era sub-merchant. Please choose the type of trading to proceed next.”

Once he heard the sound, Zhang Mu immediately responded eagerly, “Era local goods. Let me take a look at the list of era local goods for this month.”

“Transaction type: era local goods. The transaction will commence now, and the time limit is 10 minutes. Please use your time wisely.” Zhang Mu swiftly did a calculation regarding the price. It seemed that the price had risen by 30% compared to the past month. The price inflation was a little startling as it usually rose or fell by 10%.

Initially, he received five golden leaves. But he required 15 golden leaves to complete his task. Currently, Zhang Mu had 11 golden leaves on his hand, and the unit price was on an acceptable range for him to afford. According to his past experience, if the purchasing price increased rapidly, then the selling price would be more astonishing.

Despite that, this also meant that Zhang Mu could not take any risks this time. At first, he thought that if the unit price was cheaper, he could go to another era merchant shop to partake a different risk evasion. But with the price now, he might as well put all of his worth here.

At the same time, it meant that Zhang Mu did not put all the eggs in the same basket this time, with some of the eggs parted from the basket.

However, based on the experience he had over the years, this should be an opportunity. If not, the sub-merchant above him would not be so eager to finish the trade. It seems that he must have the same thoughts as Zhang Mu, knowing that this was an opportunity too. He must have recently begun the task because, from the remaining quantity from the era local goods, Zhang Mu calculated he had about ten golden leaves on his hand. That was the initial amount that an intermediate sub-merchant would have.

This also provided Zhang Mu a chance. For the past six months, he had been calculating the profit ratio between the two local goods of Luoyang city. Typically, the earnings for the Yellow River Carp was higher. Therefore, he decided to use 60% of his wealth to purchase Yellow River Carp while the remaining 40% would be used to buy Luoyang Peony Bud.

As such, Zhang Mu would not encounter those kinds of goods that would gain a sudden value that would result in a direct completion of the task. By doing so, it would also maintain stable trading as something with a huge price fluctuation was the one that Zhang Mu could not bear to have.

“Transaction completed. The golden leaves have been automatically deducted, and the local goods have been issued to No. 337’s merchant ring. Please check. No. 337, do you want to carry out another transaction? Currently, you can carry out an era general goods transaction. Authority: Basic level.”

Zhang Mu remembered that he had merely collected a few thousands of first-ranked crystals and only over hundreds of second-ranked crystals in his merchant ring. After much contemplation, he decided to dismiss it.

The Cataclysm had begun for 3 years now, and this amount of crystals did not have the power to purchase many era general goods that were increased rapidly over the years.

“Just send me out.”

From the merchant ring, Zhang Mu picked out an item and draped it over his body. He made a firm decision as he looked at the list of goods in front of him. From this moment onwards, he must use a month time to find a suitable era shop to trade and return back before the price updates again.

He only had one month and ten days left before the deadline of his task. Perceiving that he had to play on the safe side every time during an era trade, he could only earn roughly 5% to 20% of profit each time. Furthermore, all of this depended on the number of golden leaves he had to accumulate over time. Therefore, the time consumed would also be increased correspondingly.

“No. 337, the monthly transaction has ended. I look forward to your next visit.”

Because Zhang Mu was accustomed to the strange force that drove him out every time, hardly any discomfort appeared on his face when he was sent out of the era merchant shop. Looking at the traces of space slowly disappeared, Zhang Mu merely took a glance before turning away.

Just now, I might be a little faster than the fourth sub-merchant, so I had the priority to go in first. Thinking of it now, that young man should be commencing the trade at this moment.

Zhang Mu spun around and walked away, with no plans of waiting for him. The two of them would only come into contact because of the era merchant trade and also because they were from the same era merchant. Therefore, they only had a little more trust between each other as compared to the others.

Right now, from the other perspective, Zhang Mu was invisible and had integrated into the environment as one.

To achieve this, he had used the only item that the era merchant gave after the sub-merchant had completed five tasks. It was a cloak that allowed the person to integrate into their environment using extraordinary substance from the star series. It also served to deceive others’ vision, including the evolvers that had sight ability. At the same time, it also shielded the emission of heat and odor. Zhang Mu could not explain why it had such a function, but it was quite useful.

However, this cloak must be worn inside the era merchant shop, and it only lasts for half a day. Once removed, it could not be resumed. Nevertheless, it was still enough for sub-merchants which were made up of evolvers.

Although everyone who went against the era merchant was dead, the benefits it brought was too good to be true. Therefore, many base leaders would be intrigued and target those sub-merchants who seemed easier to attack.

In the city, they would not dare to stir up troubles. But what if it was in the wild? Ever since there was news that sub-merchant were killed in the wild and the fact that the era merchant would not pursue the matter but would transfer the merchant ring to them, it gave a reason for powerful leaders to stay fearless. In this case, someone like Zhang Mu who lived his life hanging by a thread, would become everyone’s target.

However, when these base leader realized that the location of the sub-merchant was actually an enormous piece of meat, all sub-merchants who had survived, already promoted to at least a basic position. With this cloak, they could go out of the city.

A small businessman like Zhang Mu, would never have the nerve to face the base leaders and carry out substantial trading. Either way, he could only split them out and do retail selling, or trade the goods with sub-merchants. Helpless, but there was no other alternative.

Zhang Mu wore the invisible cloak, but he never left Luoyang city. Instead, he went into a small alley.

When he came out from the alley, he had swapped into a new face. His height also grew 5 centimeters tall, with an image of a tall beardly man and a knife scar running down his face.

The human skin mask was a rare item that Zhang Mu generated using the era general goods system that randomly produced an extraordinary object. Even though it was expensive and required every crystal that Zhang Mu had, but in order to protect his life, he could only grit his teeth and brought the item. Since then, he had been using it over a year.

Luoyang city had been reconstructed once after the Cataclysm. Using the power of the earth evolvers to surround the entire city, only an entrance was implemented for people to enter and exit.

“To leave the city, please pay 10 first-ranked crystals.”

A sluggish voice was heard from the guard defending the gates of Luoyang city. Zhang Mu pretended to be an ordinary evolver and gave a painful expression. That causes a few of the guard to disdain him with their eyes. When the gate was opened, he followed the crowd in front of him and marched out from Luoyang city. Staring at Zhang Mu’s figure going farther away, the guards took five of the crystals and pocketed it. He hefted the bag of crystals and sent a sly smile toward the direction that Zhang Mu left, “Ah, what a good way to earn crystals!”