Volume One, Chapter Three: Should We Use the Knife on These Two Scoundrels?

“Forget it, let’s get down to business first.”

Zhang Wei didn’t pay much attention to the situation at the mine. He ran back from the mountaintop to the heavy truck and took down all the mousetraps.

Why so many mousetraps?

Because after the machinery arrival, most creatures on Earth would become mechanized, including rats.

Once a creature is mechanized, it produces source crystals within its body.

Ordinary source crystals are certainly not as valuable as advanced, top-tier ones, but they can be used to enhance the evolution level of mechas. So, the more, the better.

“If I can catch over a thousand rats, that should be enough for the first evolution, right?”

“Oh, I still need something else.”

Zhang Wei slapped his forehead.

At present, the rats were small, but after mechanization, their size would increase drastically — up to a meter long and half a meter tall.

Regular mousetraps couldn’t contain such big guys.

After some thought, Zhang Wei took out his phone and called the welding shop owner.

Once connected, the welding shop owner’s cheerful voice came through: “Hey, brother, is something wrong with the stuff?”

“No, I need some more things.”

“What kind of things?”

Hearing this, the welding shop owner stood up straight, realizing this meant another big order. Not many brothers were so generous with money these days.

“I need some iron chains about as thick as a thumb, each about two meters long,” Zhang Wei specified.

“Okay, brother, how many do you need?”

“About a thousand.”

Sure enough, another big job.

“Brother, since we’ve worked together before, I won’t rip you off. Even if I charge you forty yuan per chain, how does that sound?”

“Deal!”

Zhang Wei didn’t bargain; money would soon be worthless anyway, not even good enough to wipe one’s bottom.

“But you have to deliver them to New Breeze Mountain, alright?”

“With our relationship, that’s no problem. I already have iron chains in stock. Just tell me when to deliver.”

Zhang Wei thought for a moment, then said, “No rush, tomorrow will do. Oh, and each chain needs an iron ring at both ends, just big enough for the chain to pass through, about the thickness of a pinky finger.”

“Hmm…”

“A thousand chains, I’ll add ten thousand yuan on top.”

“No problem.”

The welding shop owner couldn’t help but grin widely.

Two thousand iron rings for just ten thousand yuan?

At this moment, the welding shop owner wished Zhang Wei a long life. Such a generous spender was a rare breed these days.

“Alright, it’s settled then.”

---

“Okay, I’ll have someone deliver them tomorrow morning.”

The call ended.

Zhang Wei began setting up the mousetraps.

After working for most of the day, he ordered takeout through a delivery app.

He planned to stay on New Breeze Mountain for the next four days.

Undoubtedly, some delivery drivers would make a good income thanks to Zhang Wei — the delivery fees for mountain deliveries were quite high.

But Zhang Wei didn’t mind.

That night, after eating and drinking, Zhang Wei crawled into the cab of the heavy truck and slept soundly.

The next day, near noon, the welding shop owner personally brought his men and drove up New Breeze Mountain.

Everyone was dumbfounded when they arrived.

Zhang Wei was seriously handling the rats caught in the traps, a smirk playing on his face.

“Guys, do you think this little brother of mine is...?” The welding shop owner pointed to his head.

The others nodded in agreement.

This guy was driving such a big truck all the way up the mountain to catch rats.

So the question was, what were those thick iron chains for?

“Brother’s here?” Zhang Wei turned his head and greeted them warmly.

“Yeah, brother, your chains are all here. Want to check them out?” The welding shop owner felt a bit uneasy.

These days, mentally ill people weren’t liable for murder. This brother…

“No need, I trust you. Just unload them,” Zhang Wei waved off casually.

“Alright, start unloading!”

While the workers unloaded, Zhang Wei transferred fifty thousand yuan to the owner.

After that, the welding shop owner deliberately kept some distance from Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei noticed, but just smiled to himself.

“They laugh at me for being crazy; I laugh at them for not seeing through it.”

So this was the feeling.

Not bad at all.

After unloading, the welding shop owner hurried off with his men, not even bothering to ask what Zhang Wei intended to do with the chains.

Of course, the chains were meant to tie up the rats.

There were quite a few rats on the mountain. Probably because no one bothered to come up here to catch them, these rats weren’t very clever.

Over a hundred were caught in one night.

“These are all source crystals,” Zhang Wei said with a smile as he approached the captured rats with the chains.

With the iron rings at both ends, the chains could form loops on each side when threaded through.

Zhang Wei slipped a thumb-thick iron chain around a rat’s neck, then secured the loop with thin iron wire.

Given the rats’ current strength, they couldn’t break free. When they mechanized, they’d be able to open the wire.

By tying one rat to each end of the chain, two mechanized rats would become a single unit, becoming obstacles to each other so none could escape.

Zhang Wei gave a thumbs-up to his own ingenious idea and started working diligently.

Putting neck collars on rats was quite tedious — only those who tried it would understand.

While Zhang Wei was busy, Han Xu arrived at the welding shop. He had been tracking Zhang Wei for several days.

Han Xu wouldn’t have had such perseverance if he hadn’t learned that Zhang Wei had mortgaged a house under his name to a loan shark.

That was tens of thousands of yuan. As brothers, Han Xu was determined to share the burden.

“Sis, just pretend to agree with him. With his personality, he’ll buy whatever you want. That guy’s got tens of thousands in hand now,” Han Xu said, standing next to a fashionable, somewhat provocatively dressed beauty.

Zhang Wei indeed had good taste — Han Xiao’s appearance was definitely above average.

Combined with her daring outfit, she easily caught the eyes of young men.

“Got it. You’ve said it a thousand times. Don’t worry,” Han Xiao replied.

Though only twenty, she was experienced in dating and knew exactly how to handle young men.

Coincidentally, she had her eye on a handbag recently — the perfect time to find a generous spender.

“Alright, I heard that guy came here. I’ll go in and ask.”

Han Xu eagerly entered the welding shop.

“Boss, did my brother Zhang Wei buy anything here?” Han Xu immediately asked, a bit haughty.

He looked down on those working here.

“Zhang Wei?”

“That kid?”

“They’re brothers. That guy probably isn’t very normal either.”

“I’ll go get the boss.”

The clerk went to fetch the owner; no one dared talk to Han Xu. Who knew what kind of person his ‘mentally ill’ brother was?

Han Xu learned the exact whereabouts of Zhang Wei from the boss. Hearing that Zhang Wei was spending money lavishly, Han Xu took Han Xiao to buy a heavy-duty motorcycle worth over ten thousand yuan and then headed straight to New Breeze Mountain.

When Zhang Wei heard the roar of the motorcycle engine, he turned around and saw two faces that made his emotions surge uncontrollably.

“Wei, I brought my sister to find you. You’re pretty relaxed, huh? Haha, check out my new bike. How’s it look? Cool, right?”

Han Xu was shouting without even parking the bike properly. He wanted Zhang Wei to help pay the remaining balance on the bike while Zhang Wei was still in shock.

Bought a bike?

Had his reproduction caused a butterfly effect?

In this wild mountain, should he just take out a knife and deal with these two bastards?