The Great Merchant in the Cataclysm

Chapter 88: Hell

Zhang Mu had released a single vine when he was approaching the evolver and he purposely revealed a weak point so that the evolver would lose his vigilance. This gave the Bloodvine Lotus a chance to strike out and take care of the evolver in a single blow.

Zhang Mu recalled to his embarrassment the first time he came to the gates. He showed off his true powers too early and allowed the evolver to have the time to press the alarm, warning their leader of his presence and resulted in them finishing the deal outside the gates.

The evolver not only has the capabilities, but he was also decisive and sensitive when faced with opponents stronger than him. This must have been the other reason why he was chosen as a gate guard. However, Zhang Mu was not going to make the same mistake twice. If he had allowed the evolver press the alarm, he may as well retire early.

Zhang Mu’s gaze circled the spears on the ground and was amazed by their numbers. He didn’t know that the base could afford so many spears for the evolver. Although the spears could be reused, the sheer quantity was still very surprising.

Zhang Mu quietly jumped down from the gate and moved between the ruins to the central building. His instinct told him that the people would all be gathered there.

As expected, Zhang Mu heard some faint sounds as he was nearing the building. It must be the people of this survival base. At this timing, Wang Liang and his team would have been outside scavenging for supplies. These people are indeed very free.

However, when Zhang Mu got closer and he managed to see the entire landscape, he knew why they were still staying at the base. A few pots boiling with water were laid on the flat piece of land in the middle of the unfinished building. Each pot was surrounded by around ten people and they were happily eating away.

Despite the steam, Zhang Mu managed to see what was in the pots.

Each pot was filled with dismembered parts of a human.

Although Zhang Mu had seen people who ate other humans, most of them did it for two reasons. One reason was that they were famished and the other was that these people were sadistic. For the first kind, they had no more food and if there wasn’t anyone to help them, they would die of hunger. As for the sadistic ones, they were discriminated by all the other human beings and chased out of the survival bases. Without the protection of these bases, they would die very soon out in the wild. People who ate humans never live for long. Hence, Zhang Mu had not heard news about these people for a long time.

Eating humans was a taboo in every survival base.

However, in this survival base, almost everyone was eating human meat, right in front of him. Zhang Mu finally understood why they dared to sneak such an attack on Wang Liang and his team. In their minds, they don’t view themselves as humans. Humans are food to them. Hence, why should they bother?

It seemed like the middle-aged man had recognised how powerful Zhang Mu was and concealed himself well, doing a trade with Zhang Mu outside. Thinking back, Zhang Mu felt that if he had not displayed his powers then, he might have become food too.

Zhang Mu suddenly realised why they refused new additions to the survival base. They were crazy but scared too. They became monsters, yet afraid that other people would find out. Anyone that didn’t follow them would probably be lying in the pot now. Sadly, most people gave in and followed their leader on this path of no return.

One of the evolvers finished the entire pot of human soup and still felt hungry. He waved his hands. The rest of the people immediately understood him and a skinny fellow made his way into the unfinished building.

After a while, the skinny man pulled a ragged little girl out. The girl was already in a state of stupor. However, when she was pulled to the pot of boiling water, she immediately started crying. The skinny man beside her sneered as his face was filled with greediness. He scanned the little girl’s body, contemplating how much meat she could give to the people.

No one cared about the crying little girl. These people had already lost their humanity. They were enjoying the process of seeing the little girl cry. To them, this was music to their ears. The louder and more miserably the girl cried, the more excited they felt.

Five minutes passed and the little girl had no more energy to cry anymore. The people’s excitement started to dwindle and the man who waved his hands just now spoke some words. Right after that, the skinny man acted and lifted the little girl up, preparing to take off all her clothes and dumped her into the pot.

Zhang Mu wanted to save the girl immediately when he saw her but he held himself back as the leader still hadn’t appeared – the silver-hair middle-aged man. However, he couldn’t do nothing. How could he let a little girl die in front of him just because he wanted to wait for the right moment to attack and subdue everyone at one go?

He had been through a lot in his past life and his heart had became cold. However, his human blood was still running. It was still warm!

Zhang Mu came out of his hiding place and showed off his presence. This action caused all the people, no all the monsters, to look at Zhang Mu. The skinny man put down the little girl and glared at Zhang Mu dangerously.

When tens of people holding human bones looked at you, even Zhang Mu felt uncomfortable. A few of them even held skulls and licked them in front of him, adding on to his discomfort.

Zhang Mu wanted to conceal his identity, but that seemed irrelevant now.

He was not going to let anyone of these people walk out alive.

This was his baseline and was also the baseline of the human race.