Chapter 154 Mercury <TOC> Chapter 156 The Tiger King
Translator: SumTLMan
In the scarcely visited Avonigarda Great Swamp, a man dressed in black from the city of Xindu was riding a thin horse, struggling to advance through the tall, withering grass.
The scavengers and livestock in the swamp had managed to create a path between the meadows, but the dense weeds were constantly encroaching on the trail.
During the dry season, the vast Avonigarda Great Swamp shrank in size, making it relatively easy to traverse. However, when the rainy season arrived, not to mention the creatures lurking within the swamp, the mud alone could swallow any careless traveler.
The man from Xindu was, of course, Li Mu in disguise after wearing a mask imbued with a mysterious curio, choosing a face that seemed inconspicuous.
After implanting the Beast of Darkness holy relic, Dao Li’s control over his body had greatly increased, allowing him to compress his muscles and disguise himself as a thin horse, with only his skeletal frame remaining large.
At least with the naked eye, it was now impossible to tell that he and Dao Li were the same horse.
The sound of a loud engine could be heard in the air. Li Mu leaned to the side, trying to determine the direction of the noise.
A hovercraft was approaching close by!
In this area, a hovercraft symbolized marauders.
As expected, a moment later, a hovercraft appeared within his field of vision, with a bloody red claw painted on its bow.
Li Mu couldn’t determine which faction the other party belonged to. These marauders were like cockroaches; even after a thorough extermination, they would reappear in the wilderness before long.
He sighed helplessly, as the other party had already spotted him.
Marauders were accustomed to using guns to communicate. The leader of the marauders pointed at Li Mu from afar, and his subordinates started shooting.
Other marauders were laughing, eager to see Li Mu dodge in a humiliating manner.
Bullets whistled through the air, making a sizzling sound.
“Bang!”
A bullet hit Li Mu’s shoulder, tearing through the fabric but was deflected by the psychic scales without leaving even a scratch.
He remained still on horseback, as if he were made of steel.
The marauders on the hovercraft saw this and let out a gasp of surprise. They realized they may have provoked someone formidable.
“Charge!”
Li Mu spurred his horse, charging into the hail of bullets and spears. The flying bullets hitting his body were no different from mosquito bites.
The leader of the marauders on the hovercraft looked on in horror as the knight approached at an astonishing speed. The distance of over two hundred meters disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Li Mu leaped off his horse, landing on the hovercraft.
In a panic, the leader drew his curved blade, attempting to defend himself.
Being the leader of a marauder gang, he naturally had some skills, at least at the fifth level. His blade work was worth seeing.
Usually, he took pride in his swordsmanship, but at this moment, he realized he had been overestimating himself.
In the instant they crossed blades, the curved blade fell into Li Mu’s hand. Gripping the blade with one hand, he swung it around his body.
The gleaming blade turned into a circle of brilliant light.
In the next moment, severed limbs, broken armor, and fragments fell to the ground. Some marauders tried to block the attack with their guns, but both they and their weapons were cut in half, as if they were made of tofu.
With hardly a trace of blood on the blade, Li Mu strolled leisurely across the hovercraft, executing the remaining marauders one by one.
Regardless of how the marauders begged for mercy, they were all met with a swift slash to the head.
In the end, only the marauder leader remained on the hovercraft. Sweating profusely, soaked through, he collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud.
“Why did you provoke me?”
Li Mu tapped his face with the blade. With a mind to avoid trouble when possible, he wouldn’t have dealt with these wasteland cockroaches if the marauders hadn’t attacked first.
The marauder leader’s lips trembled, but before he could say anything, he was killed with a single slash, his body cut diagonally in half.
Discarding the curved blade, Li Mu had little interest in the blood-soaked cargo on the hovercraft. He only collected a few scattered coins from the bodies before summoning the annihilation flames to burn all the corpses to ashes. Then, he hid the hovercraft in a particularly overgrown area after cutting off the power supply.
Having hidden the hovercraft among the weeds, Li Mu continued on his way to Raginbeard. The journey was smooth, and he encountered numerous marauders along the way, but no battles occurred as they cautiously kept their distance.
The ruler of Raginbeard prohibited fighting within a 20-kilometer radius of the city.
Eyeing the familiar ZDB-88 power armor at the city gates of Raginbeard, Li Mu flicked a silver taka into the wooden box in front of the armor, preparing to enter the city.
The power armor stopped him.
“Livestock also costs money, five copper pasuos.”
Li Mu rummaged around and finally managed to find five copper pasuos worth of small change.
The first time he entered Raginbeard, he only dared to take a shallow taste of the city’s outer circle due to his lack of strength.
The muddy streets were still foul-smelling, and occasionally, unrecognizable mutant amphibious creatures could be seen in the ubiquitous puddles.
The remaining slaves for sale were bound with iron chains, kneeling in the mud, their bodies covered in filth, emaciated, waiting for some passing marauder to buy them.
There were also vendors selling armor, firearms, and ammunition on the street. Bundles of guns were piled on felt, available for anyone to choose from. Slightly more expensive disposable rocket launchers and heavy machine guns had to be purchased inside a store. The bustling and thriving scene on the street was no less impressive than that in Avonigarda.
However, most of the items sold in the outer circle were used by ordinary marauders and low-level awakened individuals. Li Mu was no longer interested in them.
To buy gas and heavy metals, one must enter the inner circle of Raginbeard.
The inner circle was much cleaner, with stone slabs covering the ground and a well-developed drainage system preventing puddles everywhere. Mutant creatures with full-body mutated tissues were driven out.
Li Mu looked around and chose a bar to enter.
To quickly learn the ins and outs of a place, which forces to avoid, and where to find brokers for buying and selling, the bartender was always the best source of information.
Entering the bar, the air was decent due to the installed ventilation system, and it was full of fierce-looking marauders.
A group of scantily clad serving girls fluttered about like butterflies, the air filled with the scent of pheromones.
On the stage in the center of the bar, a Xindu man wearing only a loincloth was wrestling with an adult swamp tiger, occasionally arousing cheers from the audience.
This was probably a regular event in Raginbeard’s bars.
Li Mu took a seat at the bar counter, just about to order a drink, when a scream suddenly came from behind him – the Xindu man’s head had been crushed by the swamp tiger.