Black Mountain Gold Store

After this exchange, Song Chi began a new round of shopping. More accurately, it would be better described as stocking up.

There was no need to mention the Tungsten Battle Shields and Tungsten Spears. They had been especially popular at the last trade fair, so this time he bought 10,000 of each, spending a total of 1,000 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence. As for the Starsea Universal Translator, there was no need to buy another one; he had already purchased one before.

As for Basic Gene Optimization Potion, he took 1,000 bottles this time, spending another 1,000 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence. He also took 10 Intermediate Gene Optimization Potions, costing 100 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence.

He did not purchase any Life Cores this time. During the previous Market Ruins trade, he had discovered that the currency those Zero-Rank alien races used for transactions was mostly Life Cores. Once the trade fair ended, most of the resources he had earned were these things, so there was no need to stockpile them in advance.

Besides that, he also bought five sets of Basic Civilian Exoskeletons, each equipped with ten durable batteries. Even under overloaded use, they would last for several months. They cost 110 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence.

These exoskeleton devices were mainly bought for testing. After all, they were fairly complex mechanical creations. Without mastering the techniques for using them, ordinary living beings would not only fail to receive any enhancement, but might instead have their movements hindered. Whether they would prove popular still depended on the specific trade results later on.

All of this cost him a total of 2,210 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence. Adding the funds left over from the previous Market Ruins trade and the gains from this Alien Starfield Exploration, he was now completely broke. Even the Floating Continent Essence he had earned from selling that batch of Adamantine on the black market had all been spent at Eagle Machinery Store.

Of course, he had not touched the 32 strands of First-Rank Floating Continent Essence exchanged for the Life Crystal of that peak First Rank Metal-Eating Vine. He intended to save them for strengthening the Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator later.

As the universal enhancement resource for the First-Rank Kindling Starship, the Void Energy Airship, First-Rank Floating Continent Essence might also be considered a relatively common resource, but its actual value still far exceeded that of Zero-Rank Floating Continent Essence.

Although the official exchange rate set by the Morning Star Duchy was 1:10, it was often unavailable even at that price.

Only the various black markets had a stable supply of First-Rank Floating Continent Essence, and the exchange rate there was typically 1:14 or 1:15. Some individual black markets had even once seen an exorbitant rate of 1:20.

Eagle Machinery Store offered the same 1:10 rate, so naturally Song Chi would not make such a losing deal.

Just as Song Chi was making purchases on a grand scale, in the southern suburbs of Jiangyuan City, at East Mountain Forest Park, Jiangyuan Black Market—

Black Mountain Gold Store was a shop on the outskirts of the black market specializing in purchasing all kinds of metal and mineral resources. The shop bought every type of mineral that could not be sold openly at 65 percent of market value, then used its special channels to resell them to large machinery stores at 75 percent of market value. Relying on that 10 percent margin, Black Mountain Gold Store's annual profits were quite respectable.

The main reason was the sheer volume involved. Jiangyuan City had a population of over twenty million and tens of thousands of Kindling Starships. On top of that, there were the varying amounts of private goods secretly withheld each month by lower-level employees of the mining companies orbiting the Floating Continent. Every year, the amount of mineral resources flowing into the black market was astonishing.

Therefore, even though Black Mountain Gold Store was merely a purchasing shop on the outskirts of the black market, it still made a fortune every year.

Of course, the primary reason was that Black Mountain Gold Store had a sufficiently powerful backer. As an enterprise of Jiangyuan City's underground force, the Black Mountain Society, ordinary factions did not dare provoke it, while those that could afford to provoke it disdained to suppress it.

But today was different. In a corner of the street, several figures were quietly monitoring everything inside and outside Black Mountain Gold Store.

These people had been watching Black Mountain Gold Store for nearly ten days, yet neither the store nor the Black Mountain Society behind it had noticed anything. This showed just how formidable the forces behind these watchers were.

In a rear corner, a man wearing a black hat suddenly heard an alert from his communicator. The next moment, his lazy expression changed abruptly. Though his face remained calm, profound respect surfaced deep in his eyes.

"The target has been confirmed. It is in Black Mountain Gold Store. Move!"

"Received!"

After that command, the several figures scattered throughout the street moved at the same time. As they released the pressure of their First-Rank auras, faint light flashed between their brows, and ten Terracotta Soldiers with astonishing auras appeared out of thin air around each of them.

That was right. These four were all First-Rank Kindling Starship captains, and all of their ships were equipped with the special component known as the Terracotta Soldier Tree.

Such a move naturally caused quite a commotion. There was also a First-Rank Void Energy Airship captain stationed inside Black Mountain Gold Store, and he immediately sensed that something was wrong.

However, this First-Rank Kindling Starship captain of the Black Mountain Society clearly did not have a special component like a Terracotta Soldier Tree installed on his ship. In addition, the interior of the gold store did not have enough space to directly summon a Void Energy Airship, so he could only rush outside at once.

At that moment, he had only one thought: summon his own ship as quickly as possible. As long as he boarded his Void Energy Airship, even if he could not defeat them, his enemies would not be able to capture or kill him in a short time. If he held out for a while, the black market patrol would arrive.

The black market was chaotic, but since it was the product of tacit acceptance by all the forces throughout Jiangyuan City, it naturally had its own patrol system.

But the figures outside had clearly come fully prepared. How could they let him get his wish?

The moment the forty First-Rank Terracotta Soldiers appeared, they surrounded Black Mountain Gold Store so tightly that not even water could pass through. No matter where this First-Rank Kindling Starship captain of Black Mountain Gold Store tried to break out, he would be attacked by at least three Terracotta Soldiers.

Forty against one, with the initiative firmly in their hands—the outcome of this battle had been decided from the start.

In less than ten seconds, the Black Mountain Society executive, who had also undergone one Life Sublimation and whose Guidance Art had reached lv14, was restrained by several Terracotta Soldiers like a dead pig.

After finishing this, the four figures on the street retreated at top speed, showing no attachment whatsoever to the thousands of tons of mineral goods inside Black Mountain Gold Store.

Two minutes later, after the attackers had long since vanished, the black market patrol finally arrived in kinetic vehicles. After searching without finding any clues, they could only leave helplessly. As for the Black Mountain Society's later response, that was beyond the black market's concern.

The Black Mountain Society was not weak, but compared to the major factions throughout Jiangyuan City, it did not even rank among them. Otherwise, its businesses could not have been limited to the outskirts of the black market.

One had to know that the core district was the true essence of Jiangyuan Black Market. At least 90 percent of the various resources flowing in every year were traded there.

One basic criterion for distinguishing first-rate forces in Jiangyuan City from second-rate ones was whether they had their own businesses in the black market's core district.