"Black market."
Generally speaking, the term referred to illegal trading markets formed without government approval.
Of course, the participants' black market was somewhat different from that definition.
After all, there was hardly anything in the Night Battle world that had government approval.
So it was merely a name passed down from the past. Nowadays, quite a few people also called it Underground Street.
The "black markets" of the Night Battle world were not like those in reality, selling banned goods or scarce supplies at prices above the public market rate.
They were simply privately established places where participants could trade with one another.
Compared to the Night Web trading interface, where one had to first disclose an item's specifications, bid, arrange a time and place, and meet privately to complete the transaction—and where most listings were high-end goods worthy of such a complicated and comprehensive process—
transactions at participant black markets were simpler, more direct, and more convenient. Although their quality could not compare with what was available on Night Web, and powerful equipment or mysterious items rarely appeared there—
there were more goods, a wider variety, and they were more "accessible," more geared toward the masses.
Made by ordinary participants with all kinds of abilities, there was every sort of strange and unusual thing. One might just find something useful or interesting.
Every black market drew large numbers of participants from nearby regions, other areas, and even overseas. These black markets were located at every gathering point within North America—
that was, metropolitan areas with developed economies in reality.
And the reason this was specifically within North America was that it was the only place in the world where participants gathered on such a massive scale.
There were no such places in either Europe or Huaxia.
Only Covenant's turning-a-blind-eye