"Of course. The black-market price of something like the Dragon Elephant Bone Strengthening Injection isn't even that outrageous. After all, there are substitutes made from ordinary snake-like monster venom and Sword Halberd Demon Pig King spinal fluid. No matter how you put it, the substitutes are better than nothing, and they won't kill you, right?"
Ai Lei said, "But for several advanced Gene Serums that simply can't be synthesized artificially and have no substitutes at all, those prices have risen savagely. They cost more than ten times the official retail price, and people fight until their heads are cracked open to get them!"
"Why?"
Meng Chao's brows knotted so tightly they could practically squeeze out Gene Serum. "How could the price inversion be this severe?"
"There's no helping it. The official retail price is only a theoretical price. After all, the Superhuman Tower has to serve all Transcendents, and in turn all citizens. It can't set prices so high they're beyond reach and make children from poor families lose all hope of cultivation."
Ai Lei curled her lips. "But there are always people willing to do business that gets heads chopped off, while no one does business at a loss. If there's no money to be made—or if they can make ten times the profit on the black market—why would manufacturers supply the Superhuman Tower?"
"How could there be no money to make?"
Meng Chao said, "Didn't we win the Monster War, take control of the entire Monster Mountain Range, and inherit Monster Civilization's legacy?
"Logically speaking, neither raw materials nor compounding techniques should be a problem.
"I saw Sword Halberd Demon Pig Meat, Ironclad Rhino Beef, and all kinds of ordinary monster meat for the general public on the first floor. Aren't they cheap, with stable and abundant supplies?"