Chapter 476

Chapter 476: Trapped in a Dilemma
This distant sigh seemed to come from a different time and space than where Zhang Mu and the others were now.
Blood Lotus struggled desperately, but could not break free from the mysterious force’s control, frozen in midair.
Grave Blood was instantly moved away. Afterward, everyone regained control of their bodies and stood ready, watching the spot behind Grave Blood.
The space there rippled as if someone was about to emerge from it.
The sound echoed softly in the ears of the people once again.
“A mutated beast from the space system, at the peak of third rank; a human from the third rank of the spiritual system, and an awakened combat-type evolver from the ancient martial arts. No wonder you ended up the way you are now.”
But the next second, when seeing Yuan Rui, the voice surprisingly changed its tone with a hint of astonishment.
The white fire phoenix had already returned to Yuan Rui, protecting her safety. The phoenix had intelligence, looking anxiously at the space folding ripples, as if urging Yuan Rui to leave quickly.
“Ancient fierce beasts’ bloodlines have appeared on this planet. No wonder, it’s only right for me to take action.”
Zhang Mu did not sense anyone’s presence, but he knew that the person coming must far exceed him in realm and strength, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to capture no hint of this mysterious person’s aura.
But he was not afraid. At this point, no matter what, he had to face it head-on. Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, Zhang Mu suddenly spoke out sternly.
“What are you sneaking around there for? Playing tricks, since you were able to save Grave Blood in our hands, your strength has already crushed us. Yet you still act so cautiously, does that make sense?”
With a sigh of emotion, Zhang Mu chuckled, and a figure lazily walked out from the layers of space folds.
“I also want to see you all soon, but I have not been hiding, I have just been moving forward in space.”
The person lifted their messy hair and glanced in Zhang Mu’s direction, smiling naturally.
“What’s wrong, Zhang Mu, don’t you recognize me, the junior Era Sub-merchant No. 001?”
Zhang Mu saw the figure clearly and was stunned on the spot, his mind exploding in disbelief at what he saw.
How could it be him!
This is impossible!
Yuan Rui, unaware of the twists and turns, exclaimed upon seeing the newcomer’s face, “You are the Era Merchant from Hohhot City!”
Indeed, in a tired middle-aged appearance, those listless eyes belonged to the Era Merchant from Hohhot Era Store!
Zhang Mu was now at a loss for what to think, knowing much more about Era Merchants than Yuan Rui.
Why would the Era Merchant help Grave Blood? Shouldn’t they stay neutral and protect only humans?
The most important thing is, they couldn’t leave Era Store, their territory was limited to Era City which they had planned. It was very difficult for them to move around because they were not from this planet. That’s why they needed the local people to help with their trades.
Here, it takes a full day and night of riding on horseback to reach Hohhot City!
But the biggest question is, why did he help Grave Blood?
Zhang Mu thought Grave Blood was the biggest challenge, but now there’s an Era Merchant too!
Even in the future, a powerful fifth-level evolver Era Merchant could easily disrupt the balance. And now, Zhang Mu and the others felt like ants in front of him.
Suddenly, a memory popped into Zhang Mu’s mind as he thought frantically.
He remembered when Ginseng King mentioned collecting Era Sub-merchant rings at Coffin Home. The corpse puppets wore broken Era Merchant Rings but could still trade in eras normally.
Now there’s a logical explanation: the Era Merchants in Hohhot City had done something sneaky.
“Can’t figure it out?”
Era Merchant’s voice gently sounded in Zhang Mu’s ears, interrupting his thoughts.
“You’re not allowed to behave like this.”
Zhang Mu stared into Era Merchant’s eyes and slowly said, unsure if the other party would take action.
“Looks like No. 37 really favors you. He even told you about this kind of thing. Well, you are his top Era Sub-merchant and the top position in this test field. He values you quite a bit and seems to have high hopes for you.”
Era Merchant finally faced Zhang Mu, “I must say, your performance is indeed remarkable. You reached the primary level permission long before anyone else, and you made a big deal that made No. 37 shine in the quarterly evaluation.”
Although I don’t know how you did it, whether it’s luck or extraordinary courage, you did save No. 37 once. Without your performance, he could have been transferred out of this test field, banished to a more remote place.
“He made some mistakes before, and now your achievements have somewhat offset those wrongdoings.”
Quarterly performance evaluation?
Zhang Mu remembered clearly that No. 37 had mentioned that the mistakes No. 37 made were likely closely related to the Law of Life that Zhang Mu was studying.
Seeing Zhang Mu staying silent, Era Merchant’s tone changed as she said, “Because he is only in second place, he can only offset a small part of his mistakes. If he were in first place, it’s uncertain if he could offset all the mistakes.
But how could I let him win, it’s impossible!
Even if you gave him such a big achievement, he can only rank second, and what I take away from him, No. 37’s first place, is mine.
So, No. 37, who is your boss, ultimately lost to me.”
Second place?
How could this be, he already helped him achieve once, and even granted the authority of a junior Era Sub-merchant.
“Want to know why?”
At this moment, Era Merchant’s eyes were no longer lazy, looking at Zhang Mu she said, “Actually, if you think about it more, you can probably guess that the group of Era Sub-merchants just revealed.”
Because No. 37 only has you as Zhang Mu, and all the Era Sub-merchants here belong to me.
This sentence was like a heavy brass bell ringing in his mind, dispersing layers of mist.
He knew, he knew it all!
The Era Merchant of Hohhot City did not want No. 37 to balance their achievements in the quarterly performance evaluation, so he secretly trained a group of evolvers who were well-versed in Era Store rules. He skirted the rules by getting close to humans in the guise of a corpse puppet.
With his experience as an Era Merchant, he knew that there would be no losses in the era trading during the early stages of the apocalypse. He then had Grave Blood and Ginseng King clear the way for them to trade between two locations.
While individually they were not as outstanding as Zhang Mu, when combined, they easily outperformed him!
Zhang Mu, who had figured out the whole truth, took a sharp breath. In order to prevent No. 37 from taking first place, the Era Merchant had resorted to so many methods. Looking at the Era Merchant, Zhang Mu said, “You are cheating, I refuse to believe that the Era Caravan would condone such behavior.”
The Era Merchant’s gaze turned icy as he looked at the three people and a horse before him. His voice carried a chilling undertone.
“Yes, originally I did not want to intervene, but you forced my hand. I will have to deal with you myself.”
The only ones who can contact Era Store are you, No. 001, and that human girl.
Things were unfolding in the worst way as Zhang Mu had anticipated, just as he had guessed.
“The Era Sub-merchants can be dealt with secretly later on. Then, the two of you with Era Sub-merchant status can be silenced. How would Era Caravan ever find out?”
They were facing a power beyond the fifth order!