Black Shop

"A black, Endless Shop..."

As they looked at the eerie sign at the end of the fork in the road, they couldn't help but swallow hard.

The black Endless Shop, unlike the white one, is not a window, but a dilapidated, rusty iron door. One glance at it exudes an ominous aura, and one wonders what might emerge if one knocks on the door.

"Shall we go and take a look?" Ma Qiao looked at Old Yuan and Luo Jun. The former was Senior and a strong person, while the latter, although just a junior, had been the one to devise strategies along the way, and without realizing it, everyone had developed a dependence on him.

"Maybe we shouldn't..." Sun Xiaowei said hesitantly, "Didn't that Fat Merchant warn us that we might get eaten..."

"The Fat Merchant isn't necessarily telling the truth," Old Yuan shook his head. "For us, this Endless Maze still holds too many unknowns. If you ask me, to be on the safe side, it's best not to disturb it..."

"But perhaps there are other clues..." Luo Jun took out the Gold Ingot, a treasure from the White Shop. He had seen it all in the catalog, except for the indicator; there were no other clues about the exit. Currently, even with the indicator, the chance of finding the exit was extremely slim. Therefore, the Death Omen Xiao Min saw likely meant they were trapped and would die in the maze...

The Black Shop is currently the only clue...

As for being eaten?

Two Peak Level Combat Power are here. If they can be taken down, then this Endless Maze can't possibly be Tier A Mission...

"Then I'll go." Old Yuan tried to snatch the gold ingot, but Luo Jun dodged him. "Let's not fight over it, to be on the safe side, let's go together."

"Together..." Sun Xiaowei glanced at the door that exuded an ominous aura and couldn't help but swallow.

"You and Ma Qiao wait at the intersection, ready to assist if anything happens." Old Yuan left them outside, not only to protect them, but also because he was worried they might cause trouble if something went wrong. With these two not around, Luo Jun would have fewer reservations if he really needed to take action.

The master and apprentice arrived at the rusty gate. Old Yuan put on his Eight Trigrams Finger Tiger and stood by to provide support, while Luo Jun took the gold ingot and went up to knock on the door.

Just to be on the safe side, I rolled a die that wouldn't cause any conflict before knocking on the door. It turned out to be very easy, and I succeeded without any trouble.

However, the difficulty level is low, but it's not impossible, indicating that the possibility of conflict still exists.

After knocking, there was a sound from inside. After a while, the iron door slowly opened, the hinges making a harsh scraping sound.

Who is it?

An old head popped out from inside the door, with sparse, messy white hair, a face full of wrinkles, and cloudy eyes, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female. Several tumors grew on its forehead and chin, emitting a nauseating stench.

"Is this the Endless Shop?" Luo Jun immediately showed off his Gold Ingot: "I'm here to trade."

The old man's eyes lit up when he saw the gold ingot, and he nodded. "Come in."

Go in?

Old Yuan frowned. A transaction outside was one thing, but going inside... could it be a trap?

"What? You don't trust me?" The old man sneered, "Then I'm afraid I can't accommodate you..." As he spoke, he made a move to close the door.

"Wait..." Luo Jun grabbed the doorframe. "Let's go inside and talk."

Old Yuan glanced at Luo Jun with some concern, but Luo Jun returned a reassuring look. The two then followed him into the store and closed the door.

"They went in?" Sun Xiaowei asked in surprise. "Won't they be unable to get out?"

"It's alright, we have Old Yuan!" Ma Qiao encouraged. "Everyone says he has Peak Level Combat Power. He's been cutting through those monsters like butter along the way, he'll definitely be fine!"

Sun Xiaowei looked at the tightly closed iron gate, a look of worry on her face.

After entering the room, Old Yuan and Luo Jun finally saw the full appearance of the old head. This thing was not a person, but a huge hand. The head was actually growing on the tip of its middle finger. The other fingers formed the hands and feet, supporting its body movement. It looked bizarre and disgusting, making people shudder.

"Come and see my goods." The giant-handed monster let out a chilling laugh, its eyes never leaving the gold ingot in Luo Jun's hand.

The room was a mess, piled high with dusty junk, the walls and furniture were cracked and stained with blood, and there was a foul odor everywhere that made one feel physically uncomfortable...

"Where are the goods?" Luo Jun looked around, reluctant to believe that those messy things were the props he wanted to buy.

"It's not very convenient to look at it this way. Here, I have Product Catalog." As he spoke, the giant hand monster extended its index finger, the end of which branched into five fingers, about the size of a normal human hand. It pulled out a dusty book from the pile of junk and handed it to Luo Jun.

Luo Jun took the book, blew on it, and dust rose up, making the room seem like a sandstorm. After shaking it a few times, he could finally see the whole book clearly.

The book appears to be sewn from some kind of leather, but it's not neatly made; the cover is covered with messy stitches, and there are color differences between the different types of leather. Although they should be from the same species, they clearly come from different individuals.

Opening the booklet, one finds illustrations and descriptions of various props drawn in black and dark red ink.

Like the White Shop, this place also has supplies, but the food inside is mostly raw and gruesome. Some dead fish, rotting flesh, and insects are considered relatively good, but others are twisted and bizarre, their tissues unrecognizable. Some even clearly resemble human organs... While theoretically this stuff is edible, using it as a supply is really a bit...

The rest, including various daily necessities, also had a strange feel to them. For example, hand sanitizer made from the eyeballs of some unknown animal, bedding made from dripping bloody skin, and medical equipment made from worms like maggots...

Further on were various weapons, which were different from the standard equipment in the White Shop. The melee weapons here were obviously made from animal bones or insect carapaces. There were also firearms, most of which were rusty and twisted, almost all of them were twisted shapes formed by the fusion of metal and biological tissue... Although Luo Jun did not doubt the power of these weapons, to be honest, he would not want to use them even if they were given to him for free.

Let's take a look at the key special items.

Luo Jun flipped through the pages, skipping the cheap items that cost tens or hundreds of dollars, and started looking at the treasures with special effects.

There were offerings to summon monsters, and Magic Scroll to Curse opponents... but Luo Jun wasn't interested in these combat items. What he really wanted were functional items specifically designed for the maze itself.

Hmm? This can Permanent Wall Removal?

Luo Jun noticed an interesting prop. The drawing showed a large glass bottle containing thirteen Blood Red Beads. According to the instructions, you should take out a bead and throw it against the wall. After it explodes, the liquid inside will permanently corrode the wall, leaving a passageway for people to pass through.

This function is similar to the door-opening item in the White Shop, but the difference is that the door-opening item is disposable, costing 1,000 coins to open one door. This bead, however, comes in a bottle of thirteen and only costs 5,000 coins in total.

So, isn't this much more cost-effective than the White Shop?

Wait... it's still uncertain whether the currencies in the Black Shop and the White Shop are interchangeable; at least Gold Ingot don't work in the White Shop. Thinking of this, Luo Jun directly took out some banknotes and asked the strange hand, "Can I buy things with this here?"

The excavator glanced at the item in Luo Jun's hand and chuckled, "Looks like you've already made contact with that guy who makes money through the window... No problem, I buy everything. Not just this kind of money, anything you find in the maze, anything you bring in from outside, even yourselves, you can exchange them for money here!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the Gold Ingot in Luo Jun's hand again. "Of course, this is my favorite. If you're willing to sell it, I can exchange it for ten thousand yuan. How about it?"

This "wanting everything" attitude is quite reminiscent of the black market.

Luo Jun nodded. "Let me take another look at your goods."

As they spoke, he and Old Yuan continued to flip through the Product Catalog and discovered that the functions of many of the props here overlapped with those in the White Shop, only the way they were presented was different.

The White Shop are like ordinary Game Skill —simple and straightforward. The Black Shop, however, are usually accompanied by some disgusting and distorted special effects when activated.

Besides using walls to create doors, there are also methods like teleportation using the mouths of giant worms or using putrid odors for navigation. In short, while the functions are similar, they just don't make the experience as pleasant.

Furthermore, for items with the same function, the black ones are usually used multiple times, so the price per use is cheaper than the white ones.

It seems like buying things on the black side is much more cost-effective... Luo Jun is getting a little tempted.

By the way, do you have Personal Map?

The error-free version can be read at 69 Book Bar! 6=9+shuba is the first site to publish this novel.

However, after searching for a long time, Luo Jun couldn't find a function exactly like the Personal Map. There was one similar one, which also lasted for an hour, but it couldn't indicate the encounter locations. Besides showing the terrain, it could only indicate two things: Black Shop and monsters that could drop Gold Ingot.

This feature is clearly designed to encourage players to collect Gold Ingot. It's less convenient than the white side, but it's also much cheaper, costing only 1,000 yuan per map.

Although the price was attractive, it didn't meet Luo Jun's requirements. He continued flipping through the pages, trying to find props related to the export.

But even after flipping through the pages to the very end, I couldn't find any clues related to the exit, not even a replacement for the Exit Indicator near the White Shop.

Luo Jun glanced at Old Yuan and saw disappointment in his eyes.

"Do you have a way to find an exit here?" Since I haven't found it, I might as well just ask directly.

"Oh, you want the high-end stuff?" the giant hand monster chuckled. "Just unfold the last page."

"The last page unfolds?" Luo Jun opened the picture book and, reminded by the monster, discovered that the last page actually had a hidden compartment. By twisting it forcefully, a hidden page could be unfolded!

"This is..." Upon seeing the contents of this page, Old Yuan's eyes widened. "Everything on this page has to be exchanged for Gold Ingot?"

The giant hand monster chuckled, "That's right. I saw you only had one Gold Ingot, and I thought you couldn't afford anything better... This is my most treasured possession. Although it can't directly help you find the exit, it should be of some help, right?"

Upon closer inspection, the master and apprentice found that the lowest price for any item on this page was a whole Gold Ingot. Correspondingly, the effects were exceptionally powerful. For example, there was a teleportation device that could be used multiple times and moved to a designated location at will; there was also a scroll that could summon a shop directly to their doorstep; and there was even a treasure that could exchange monster corpses for money, greatly increasing the efficiency of killing monsters and making money!

Of course, the most eye-catching of all is the last one.

Void Pass.

Within an hour of activation, it becomes a void, immune to any physical collisions and unblocked by walls.

This thing is a perfect match for the Exit Indicator over at the White Shop!

One tool points to the exit, while the other is an illusion, allowing you to move straight through walls. As long as you're fast enough, you're sure to find the exit!

This Void Pass is the most expensive item on this page, costing ten Gold Ingot to exchange.

Is that equivalent to 100,000 yuan? That's the same price as the Exit Indicator on the other side... It seems these two things were designed to be used together.

It seems this is the way to leave the maze. The final solution is to use the indicator with a pass, ten gold coins plus one hundred thousand coins, and you can leave this Endless Maze!

The master and apprentice exchanged a glance, both seeing excitement in each other's eyes.

Now that they had a goal, they couldn't afford to waste their money. The two ultimately left the gold ingots and decided to leave the Black Shop. However, before leaving, they spent two thousand coins to exchange for two maps. With these, they could not only easily collect Gold Ingot but also find other Black Shop.

Somewhat unexpectedly, the eerie monster shopkeeper didn't try to stop them, and readily opened the door to let them leave. Although it looked terrifying, and the shop was filled with an eerie atmosphere, it didn't seem as dangerous as the White Shop had described.

Upon seeing Old Yuan and Luo Jun emerge, Sun Xiaowei and Ma Qiao immediately greeted them, "Are you alright? Was it scary inside? Were there any monsters?"

The two briefly recounted their ordeal inside, and upon hearing that a way out had been found, they were both greatly excited!

Now that basic survival is guaranteed, saving money is just a matter of time. With 200,000 yuan, everyone can leave this awful place!

"By the way, is the pass for individual use or for both groups?" Sun Xiaowei noticed a blind spot. "If it can only make one person disappear, wouldn't everyone need to get one?"

"We've confirmed this with the shop owner," Old Yuan nodded. "This pass is valid for the whole group; if everyone has one, they can all go out."

"That's great!" Sun Xiaowei cheered.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Luo Jun shook his head. "If finding these two items were enough to leave the Endless Maze, that would be too easy..."

"Is this easy?" Ma Qiao complained. "We've worked ourselves to the bone for so long and only earned a little over 20,000. 100,000 plus ten Gold Ingot? This isn't something that easy to do!"

"But we've already found a way to break this deadlock, haven't we?" Luo Jun said. "Although it's still very difficult, I don't think it's enough to make this maze an insurmountable obstacle!"

Old Yuan frowned. "You mean to say..."

"I suspect that Big Hand Merchant is hiding something..."

(End of this chapter)