Black Market (Please Vote)

"I'll drink to you..."

Liu Wei raised his soda again. "We Biochemical Humans have it too hard, like weeds growing through cracks. We have to fight for even a little sunlight and rain... After today, I'm going all out to prepare for the College Entrance Exam. From now on, we won't be friends—we'll be competitors."

"Yeah. To our rivalry!"

Fang Xing raised his cup as well, though he was somewhat surprised.

That kid Liu Wei actually intended to cut ties with him too.

The friendship between men...

He fell silent for a moment.

Liu Wei left quickly, as though this gathering had merely been a final farewell to the past.

In the end, Fang Xing was left alone to finish all the barbecue. This was pretty expensive. Can't waste it...

He went home as usual. Only after closing his door did his expression turn solemn. Liu Wei...

He had only harbored some suspicions before, but judging from what had happened today, the original owner's best friend really was likely connected to certain forces.

Still, since Liu Wei had taken the initiative to distance himself, his character was not bad.

As for competing in the arena? Friendship was never supposed to matter there. It wasn't as if they were fighting to the death...

If I had the ability, I should still give him a hand... Unfortunately, I can barely protect myself right now...

Fang Xing sighed and went straight to sleep.

The next day.

Fang Xing slung a Shoulder Bag over his back and boarded the Magnetic Levitation Train.

Chuying Star was enormous!

Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent of it had rail lines and network coverage. Only certain regions with chaotic magnetic fields, collapsed ruins, or untamed wilderness remained—wounds upon the planet's civilization.

And the Black Market existed in such places!

"Beyond Maple Leaf City lies a ruined city... It was the result of an attack by Evil God Kin, which left the original city half-destroyed and even contaminated with dangerous Contamination and radiation..."

"The Federation could have cleaned it up, but that would have cost more than building a new city elsewhere. It wasn't worth it. In the end, they built a new Maple Leaf City, while the original 'Old City District' gradually fell into ruin, becoming a paradise for scavengers and people without identities. Eventually, the Black Market emerged..."

"If you wanted to think darkly, could it be that Chuying Star's higher-ups deliberately left behind these 'wounds of civilization' to provide fertile ground for the Black Market?"

Fang Xing gripped his wristband as he pondered to himself.

"Dear passengers, we have arrived at the terminal station. Please remain seated, hold on securely, and disembark in an orderly manner..."

Who knew how much time had passed before the Maglev Train reached its final stop.

Fang Xing got off and discovered that he was already at the edge of Maple Leaf City.

He began walking, gradually picking up speed. Then he avoided all kinds of surveillance cameras and slipped into the maze of streets and alleys.

For this trip to the Black Market, he had left all his electronic devices at home.

As he moved through the darkness, the skin, flesh, and veins on his face writhed, instantly altering his appearance. He then put on a black mask.

By the time he emerged from the alley, Fang Xing had even changed clothes. Wearing a leather jacket, a baseball cap, and a pitch-black mask, he looked like some strange figure as he plunged into the border between the New City District and the Old City District.

Whoosh!

The Old City District had lost all maintenance and was filled with broken walls and ruins.

A breeze swept through, stirring up wisps of dust.

The roads were in terrible disrepair. What had once been a commercial street lined both sides, but more than half the signs had been shattered.

Crack!

Fang Xing stepped on a poster of a washed-up actress. The sound startled several Hyenas lurking in the shadows.

Upon closer inspection, he found that these Hyenas differed from ordinary dogs. Some had two heads, while others had four eyes and eight legs...

"Mutated Creatures..."

Relevant information surfaced in Fang Xing's mind.

The mixture of Evil God Contamination and radiation had caused nearby creatures to mutate, leaving behind these deformed descendants.

They were far from meeting the standard of Lower Servants, but they might possess some bizarre abilities.

The leading Three-Headed Hyena let out several low growls. It seemed to consider Fang Xing troublesome—or perhaps it was already full. It immediately turned around and led the other Hyenas away.

Fang Xing crossed the commercial street and arrived at a residential complex. He wandered around the mostly collapsed buildings before finding a convenience store.

A convenience store that was somehow still operating amid such ruins looked conspicuous no matter how one viewed it.

Beep!

As he walked through the convenience store's entrance, a green light swept over him with a mechanical sound.

"Very good. Very clean. You aren't carrying any tracking or communication devices."

A round-faced young man behind the counter smiled.

He wore a convenience store uniform and had half-brown hair. He was holding a comic book from an ancient era.

He slowly set the comic down. "Welcome to Worry-Relieving Convenience Store, customer. What would you like to buy?"

"First, I need a Communicator."

Fang Xing glanced over the row of communication devices on the counter and nodded.

The Communicators in the Black Market naturally used unregistered accounts, or accounts belonging to other people. They were safer for making contact.

"No problem. How will you be paying?"

The young man picked up a black watch and smiled. "Ten thousand Star Dollars. Cash or equivalent trade goods only."

"They really are robbing people blind. No, wait—how could robbery possibly make as much as the Black Market?"

Fang Xing casually swept his gaze across the shelves and spotted a Basic Nano Protective Suit.

It was marked with a price of one hundred thousand!

Clearly, an ordinary Nano Protective Suit was not worth that much, but one stripped of the manufacturer's backdoor access was worth this price!

"Do you take gold?"

Fang Xing took out a fist-sized piece of Dog-Head Gold from his Shoulder Bag. "Give me an estimate. Deposit the excess into the new account..."

"Certainly."

The convenience store owner took the gold and gave it a brief examination. "The purity isn't high... The net gold content is 2,340 grams. Gold is 176 Star Dollars per gram, making the total 411,840 Star Dollars."

"A twenty percent service fee, then another ten thousand Star Dollars deducted, leaves 319,472 Star Dollars. It has been transferred into the Communicator account!"

After taking the Communicator, Fang Xing added the owner's contact information and headed behind the convenience store.

There was, unexpectedly, another dilapidated street there.

It looked desolate, but a few figures occasionally moved among the ruins, each giving off an aura that said they were not to be trifled with.

This feels somewhat like those Rogue Cultivators in Green Forest Market...

Fang Xing looked around and actually felt a trace of familiarity.

This gold had naturally been acquired by exchanging Spirit Sand in a cultivation market. It had been remarkably easy.

Reversing the process—trading large amounts of gold for Spirit Stones—would be much harder, and he might even be severely underpriced.

"Weapons, potions, an assassins' guild, entertainment venues..."

He took a brief look around and had to admit that the shops here were quite comprehensive.

"With over three hundred thousand Star Dollars, I'm considered rich now."

With a hint of excitement, Fang Xing entered a gun shop.

The owner was a burly man who looked difficult to provoke at first glance. He wore External Exoskeleton Armor and possessed at least Fourth Realm strength.

Seeing Fang Xing enter, he did not even acknowledge him, focusing only on wiping down a section of gun barrel in his hand.

Fang Xing casually scanned the store and spotted the Swift Dragon Laser Gun he had once desperately wanted.

Beneath its silver-white body was a small label:

'Swift Dragon'-class Laser Gun, secondhand, ninety percent new, suitable for use against people, 2,000,000 Star Dollars

"Two million?"

Fang Xing's pupils contracted. He looked at the other firearms and discovered that this Laser Gun was, damn it, actually one of the cheapest guns in the shop.

"Sorry for disturbing you..."

He backed away several steps and walked straight out of the store.

"I was careless. The stuff in this Black Market is really black. More than three hundred thousand Star Dollars is just a drop in the bucket..."

Thinking that, Fang Xing entered another shop.

Half an hour later.

Following directions he had bought with Star Dollars, he entered a partially collapsed ruin.

Inside the ruins stood only a wooden table. Behind it sat a woman with her head and face wrapped up, leaving only her hands exposed.

Fang Xing glanced over and saw dense blue tattoos covering the woman's hands.

The aura here isn't great either. It feels dangerous...

He muttered to himself inwardly, walked up to the woman, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Creak!

The old wooden chair let out a groan of protest. The Tattooed Woman across from him suddenly smiled. "Since you found this shop, customer, are you looking for a solution to something?"

"Yes. I want to launder money!"

Fang Xing said solemnly.

He did not want to abandon his identity as Biochemical Human Fang Xing, so he could not go too far.

But he also did not want to suppress the progress of his martial arts training. Once his second year of high school began, he would definitely need an explanation.

Without a source of income or a large supply of Nutrient Fluid, how could his realm possibly improve so quickly?

Therefore, he needed to turn dirty money into legitimate income, then use official channels to purchase a batch of Nutrient Fluid!

"How much?"

The Tattooed Woman's eyes lit up.

"A few hundred thousand..."

"That little?" The Tattooed Woman immediately leaned back, looking bored. "Turn left at the entrance and go gamble a few rounds at the casino. We'll charge you a thirty percent service fee..."

"It can't go through a casino!"

Fang Xing was speechless. He was still underage, so that path was clearly impossible.

"For that little money, opening a company and creating transaction records would obviously be excessive..." The Tattooed Woman smiled. "As expected, just a small customer."

After thinking for a moment, she replied, "We acquired a lottery company. We can let you win a small prize. A prize of a few hundred thousand won't attract any attention. As long as you pay your taxes properly, the Federation won't care at all..."

"That could work."

Fang Xing stroked his chin.

The Blue Star Federation prohibited minors from gambling, but it was far more lenient when it came to lotteries.

Besides, this amount of money did not even qualify him as a small fry. Basically, no one would investigate it.

"Let's do that."

He let out a long breath inwardly.

At least this way, he could advance by leaps and bounds during his second and third years of high school without appearing too abrupt.

Even if it was exposed someday, as long as he got into university, earned certification as a Professional, and became part of the privileged class, this trivial matter would not count for anything.

"Excellent. Fifty percent service fee!"

The Tattooed Woman smiled, revealing a mouthful of black teeth. Fang Xing suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his heart, as though it were bleeding. What a rip-off!