The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Chapter 18: Becoming the Beetle’s master Zhang Mu still felt confusion and hesitation, but the Obsidian Beetle became impatient. It flapped its wings at a high speed, about to launch a new round of attack. Zhang Mu was speechless. The beetle actually dared to face him alone!

However, he wasn’t going to attack the beetle first. He had run for a long time and felt very tired. Under such circumstances, his explosive speed wouldn’t be faster than the beetle.    His best tactic was to counter attack when the beetle approaches. Finally, the beetle raised its body and flew towards Zhang Mu at an incredible speed. Zhang Mu squinted. Did the beetle finally give up on playing “Cat and Mouse”? However, the beetle didn’t have any companions now. Zhang Mu didn’t think that he was the mouse. He was the cat and the beetle was the mouse! Zhang Mu quickly stepped back, enticing the beetle to follow him. As he had expected, the beetle let down its guard after seeing him trying to escape. Its flying speed slightly declined. Now! Zhang Mu leant to one side and jumped up, leaping over the Obsidian Beetle’s and landing on its head, riding on its body. The Obsidian Beetle was truly resilient. Even though Zhang Mu put his whole weight on its back, it hadn’t fallen to the ground and zigzagged at a low altitude, trying to shake Zhang Mu off. However, Zhang Mu tightly gasped its shell, making the beetle’s efforts completely useless. Zhang Mu held onto the beetle’s shell with one hand, clenched his other hand into a fist and punched at the Obsidian Beetle’s head. The Obsidian Beetle screeched painfully. Its head was its weak point, but normally, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to approach it since it was so nimble. Zhang Mu’s punch really hurt it. In his past life, Zhang Mu wouldn’t dare to do this, since Obsidian Beetles lived in groups. However, for some reason, this one moved alone.    Zhang Mu sneered, looking at the Obsidian Beetle’s useless struggle. He increased his strength. Weren’t you very aggressive? Do you realize who the prey is now? One punch after another, they were as quick as the wildest wind and as violent as the strongest storm. The Obsidian Beetle tried to swing him off, but Zhang Mu stayed on its back persistently and didn’t give it any chance to escape from his fists. Finally, the Obsidian Beetle was bruised and exhausted, falling straightly from the sky to the ground with dusts rising in clouds. “What a tough beetle. Damn dusts, I choked.” Zhang Mu coughed and jumped down from the Obsidian Beetle’s back. As Zhang Mu lifted his Tang sword and was going to chop off the Obsidian Beetle’s head, its body suddenly jumped up, trying to run away. Zhang Mu was flabbergasted. The beetle was playing dead? How could a first-ranked Zerg have the brain to play dead?! Zhang Mu subconsciously rubbed his eyes and followed the Obsidian Beetle. The Obsidian Beetle’s speed wasn’t fast. Soon afterwards, Zhang Mu had caught up with it. He aimed at the Obsidian Beetle, throwing his Tang sword. The sword pierced through one of the Obsidian Beetle’s wings and pinned it to the ground. This time, Zhang Mu observed the Obsidian Beetle’s head with interest. Interesting.The Obsidian Beetle was different from the ones he saw in his past life. It had dark gold lines on its head. He didn’t notice these lines because there were too few and so thin you could barely see them. Zhang Mu patted the beetle’s head. This made the beetle tremble like a leaf in the wind. No matter how special it was, it was still a Zerg. Undue delay may bring trouble, I should just kill it. Zhang Mu thought, then lifted his sword. The beetle realized something. It suddenly struggled and knocked its head on the ground, scraping the ground with its two paws. “Are you going to surrender?” Zhang Mu asked. The Obsidian Beetle immediately kowtowed at a higher speed after hearing him. Zhang Mu didn’t know if he should feel amused or annoyed. This insect could understand his words and knew to surrender to him? Unbelievable! He knew that some evolvers could control mutated animals in his past life, but he wasn’t one of the. Moreover, the Obsidian Beetle was surrendering to him on its own initiative. How could it be possible?! “How can you prove that you really want to surrender to me?” Zhang Mu asked the Obsidian Beetle. The Obsidian Beetle raised its head after hearing Zhang Mu’s words. It spat out a mouthful of golden blood, splattering Zhang Mu’s arm. Zhang Mu was scared, but the golden blood didn’t corrode his skin like he worried. Instead, it transformed into a golden, lightning-like scar on his arm. Instantly, the Obsidian Beetle wearily lowered its head. A circles of light suddenly appeared around its body and slowly spread in the air. Dong! Zhang Mu felt his mind link with the Obsidian Beetle’s mind and naturally understood that he could control the Obsidian Beetle’s and even controlled its life and death. That wasn’t the end. What happened next made Zhang Mu freeze in surprise. The Obsidian Beetle shrunk, turning into a small beetle that wasn’t any bigger than Zhang Mu’s palm, flew to Zhang Mu and rested on his shoulder. “Master.” Zhang Mu was frozen from what he just saw and heard. He answered the beetle subconsciously, “Are you the Obsidian Beetle?” “Yes, my master.” “Are you a Zerg?” “I don’t know.” “Where are you from?” “I don’t know.” Ok, it knew nothing. Zhang Mu shrugged his shoulders. He looked at the beetle on his shoulder and asked, “How do you know how to surrender? And what is this golden scar?” The Obsidian Beetle hesitated for a while, then answered, “Because I saw some humans doing this before I ate them. I thought that it meant ‘surrender’ so I did that. As for the scar, I don’t know what it is, but my instinct told me that I should do that. Besides, something on your body attracted me.” Zhang Mu felt more confused after hearing its words. “Nah. You don’t have a name, don’t you? Then I will call you ‘Little Black’.” “No, master. I have had a name. My name is Golden Scale!” The beetle answered. Zhang Mu waved his hand with disdain. “Golden Scale? Which part of your black body is golden? Your name is Little Black!” The Obsidian Beetle thought for a while, then yielded to Zhang Mu. “Ok. My name is Little Black now, but master, I need to refuel my energy.” Zhang Mu said casually, “No problem. There are still a lot of food in my backpack. Eat what you like.” Little Black immediately flew inside the bag. Zhang Mu immediately regretted after hearing the “Crack! Crack!” from his backpack. He screamed, “Oh, no! Little Black, get out of my backpack! Stop eating my crystals!”