District 33

Two hours later, the taxi stopped at the entrance to the martial arts market in Azure City's southern district.

Even from half a street away, the bustling atmosphere was palpable. Two cast-iron sculptures of exotic beasts, each as tall as a person, stood at the entrance, their fangs bared and their presence imposing.

Shops lined both sides of the street, their signs advertising exotic beast materials, custom weapons, spiritual medicines, and pills. Polished beast bones and bundles of beast hides were stacked outside. Martial artists carrying broadswords and crossbows came and went from time to time, while the air was thick with the mingled smells of rust, herbs, and the bloody stench of exotic beast flesh and hide.

This was Azure City's largest martial arts trading market. Its businesses operated legally on the surface, but plenty of goods of questionable origin circulated in secret.

As long as one had money, they could find anything from basic blood vitality potions to second-tier weapons.

"This place runs pretty deep. Stick with me and take a look first."

Su Nianhe tugged Lin Yun by the arm and, clearly familiar with the place, turned into a small shop at the end of the street.

The shelves were filled with all kinds of weapons—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, and more. A row of inner armor and fistguards in various styles hung on the walls, their metallic gleam cold beneath the lights.

Behind the counter sat a broad, potbellied middle-aged man, polishing a short blade with his head lowered. He glanced at the two of them, and when he saw that Lin Yun was young and plainly dressed, his interest immediately faded. He slowly lowered his head again.

Su Nianhe ignored the owner's indifference. She wandered slowly along the shelves, carefully examining and analyzing each weapon.

Lin Yun followed beside her. The shelves held equipment ranging from low-grade first-tier items to top-grade ones, with uneven craftsmanship. Some gleamed brightly, while others bore wear along their edges and corners. There was far more to the trade than met the eye.

After browsing half the shop, Su Nianhe stopped before a shelf in the corner. She picked up a pair of silver-gray fistguards, then took out a neatly folded inner armor and looked up at the owner. "Give me your honest price for these two."

The owner had been leaning against the counter while polishing his blade. When he saw what she had chosen, his eyes brightened almost imperceptibly. He stood and walked over, pointing at the fistguards and the inner armor in turn, his tone carrying a hint of boastfulness.

"You've got a sharp eye, miss! These Armybreaker Fistguards are made from alloy forged from the back armor of a mid-stage first-tier Scale-Iron Beast, with the beast cores of three adult Claw Rats embedded within. They provide a steady fifteen percent increase in punching power.

"This Spirit Rhino Inner Armor is mainly woven from the skin of a mid-stage first-tier Ironthread Snake, with late-stage first-tier Ice Silkworm thread mixed into the weft. It resists thrusts and slashes while cushioning impacts. The claws of ordinary first-tier exotic beasts can't even pierce it.

"They're both premium mid-grade first-tier items. Together, they're five hundred thousand. Fair price, no cheating anyone."

The owner made it sound perfectly convincing, and even Lin Yun found it reasonable.

Mid-grade first-tier weapons were supposed to be made primarily from materials harvested from exotic beasts of the same tier. Adding late-stage supplementary materials was already quite generous.

Just as he was about to consider the price, Su Nianhe smiled.

"Boss, that's not very fair. They're clearly both secondhand goods, so why are you selling them as new?"

As she spoke, Su Nianhe turned the fistguards over and rubbed the area around the wrist opening with her fingers.

The smile on the owner's face instantly froze. He stared at Su Nianhe's hand for a long moment, looking increasingly awkward.

"This... Miss, you have good eyes. They were indeed refurbished, but the core materials haven't suffered any loss. Their performance isn't much different from new ones."

"I know perfectly well whether the performance differs."

Su Nianhe placed both items back on the counter, her tone calm.

"Secondhand is secondhand. No matter how good they are, someone else has used them. Four hundred thousand, plus two bottles of first-tier healing potions. If that works, I'll take them. If not, I'll go somewhere else and look for new ones."

The owner frowned and hesitated for a few seconds before gritting his teeth and making a decision. "Fine! Four hundred thousand it is! Let's call it the price of making a friend!"

He did the math in his head. He had bought these two weapons cheaply from the fallen zone in the first place, intending to sell them at a high price as near-new goods in excellent condition. Even if she had seen through him on the spot, he would not lose out. Besides, judging from the young woman's manner and bearing, her background was likely far from ordinary. Giving her some face would do no harm.

After paying and leaving the shop, they turned the corner before Su Nianhe could no longer hold back her laughter. She shook the bag in her hand.

"Lin Yun, we made a killing."

Lin Yun looked puzzled.

"These two weapons are indeed secondhand, but the craftsman who forged them was absolutely among the best. Even that owner misjudged them. These weapons actually contain supplementary materials from peak first-tier exotic beasts."

"Peak first-tier!"

Lin Yun's heart jolted.

If that was the case, the two weapons' true value was enough to rival high-grade first-tier weapons.

The smugness had yet to fade from Su Nianhe's eyes.

"With this condition and craftsmanship, anyone who truly knows their stuff would scramble to buy them even for five hundred and fifty thousand. We basically spent the price of secondhand mid-grade first-tier gear to pick up equipment nearly at high-grade level."

Surprise filled Lin Yun's eyes after he heard that. "Nianhe, your eye for this is incredible."

The moment the words left his mouth, he understood.

The Su family specialized in military technology, and weapon forging was their own trade. Su Nianhe had grown up surrounded by it, seeing and handling countless fine pieces of equipment. It was perfectly normal for her to recognize these details.

"Of course. Did you think I deliberately bought you secondhand goods?" Su Nianhe giggled. "This is called the ultimate cost-performance ratio!"

Lin Yun gave Su Nianhe a thumbs-up.

"You're the best."

Northern outskirts of Azure City, District 33's blockade line.

The barbed-wire fence was far taller than Lin Yun had imagined, a full ten meters high. Barbed wire coiled along its top, and glaring red signs hung at intervals.

"Fallen Zone. Entry Strictly Prohibited!"

Inside the blockade line, several City Defense Army soldiers leaned against the wall and smoked. Their uniforms bore dark red stains that could not be washed away, and their eyes were tired and numb, as though they had been stationed on this line for a very long time.

Su Nianhe took a neatly folded hard card from her pocket and handed it to Lin Yun.

"An exotic beast hunter pass. Uncle Fu had someone arrange it. It's valid for three months."

Lin Yun accepted it and took a look. It bore his photograph, name, martial arts realm, and a line of small embossed text: Special permission to enter Fallen Zone No. 33.

"There might not be any signal in the disaster zone." Su Nianhe's voice was softer than usual. "Be careful, no matter what..."

Lin Yun tucked the pass into his inner pocket and nodded.

He did not say much. He was afraid that saying too much would only make Su Nianhe worry more.

A soldier pushed open the gate in the wire fence, producing a dull metallic scraping sound.

Lin Yun showed his documents and walked inside.

The gate behind him did not close immediately. Su Nianhe's voice chased after him from behind. "Lin Yun!"

He stopped and turned halfway around.

"Come back alive!"

Lin Yun waved to her, then turned and strode into the gray ruins.

The iron gate slowly closed behind him with a clang, as if it had completely separated two worlds.

Inside District 33.

Lin Yun walked forward over broken stones and shattered glass. The road beneath his feet no longer resembled what it had once been.

Half-collapsed buildings leaned crookedly on either side. Some had been reduced to nothing but steel frames, like enormous skeletons.

The air was permeated by a sweet, rotten stench mixed with dust, making him faintly nauseated as it entered his nostrils.

Sporadic gunfire and roars drifted from the distance, muffled, as though they had traveled through many layers of walls.

After walking for about twenty minutes, Lin Yun saw a City Defense Army squad for the first time.

Seven or eight fully armed soldiers were surrounding and killing several Claw Rats in front of a collapsed shopping mall. Bullets from gun-type weapons swept through the air, blasting the gray-black giant rats into sprays of flesh and blood.

A middle-aged man who looked like an officer stood nearby directing them, a bloodstained long blade in his hand.

"Are there any survivors nearby?"

"Not sure. They're still searching that street to the east, but we're seriously short on manpower..."

Lin Yun did not approach. He took a detour and continued deeper inside.

The City Defense Army had limited manpower, while District 33 covered a vast area. Many sections were not fully under military control.

Those uncleared areas were where exotic beasts truly roamed freely—and the real reason he had come here.