Black Merchant's Task

Black Merchant Nipall had someone fetch the items Li Qinwu wanted. Li Qinwu chatted with Nipall:

"Do you buy lasguns?"

Black Merchant Nipall was wiping a piece of metal scrap with a rag. When he heard "lasgun," he froze for a moment.

"You got your hands on a lasgun?"

Li Qinwu said nothing and merely looked at him.

Black Merchant Nipall hesitated, then shook his head.

"No. Lasguns have Gene Locks. No one except their owner can use them."

So there really was a Gene Lock. That lasgun I worked so hard to get had become nothing but a decoration.

"Is there no way to crack it?"

"There is!"

Black Merchant Nipall nodded.

"Find a decoder and brute-force it. But high-end goods like lasguns may have a Machine Spirit inside them. Brute-forcing it will anger the Machine Spirit, so you'll also need Holy Oil and incense to soothe it. Otherwise, after a few shots, the battery will explode."

Li Qinwu asked, "Where can I get those things?"

"I don't know about decoders. Maybe only the lords in the Spire have them. As for Holy Oil and incense, you'll need to obtain a Middle Hive ID card, then donate money at a church. An Imperial Cult priest will give you what you want."

Li Qinwu memorized all that information. By then, Black Merchant Nipall's men had arrived with his goods.

He slung the backpack full of supplies over his shoulders, hefted the Posu Battery, which was as large as a car battery, and nodded to Black Merchant Nipall before leaving.

Black Merchant Nipall watched him walk away. One of his underlings stepped forward and whispered, "Boss, should we..."

Black Merchant Nipall shot the underling a glance.

"You blind fool, get the hell out of my sight!"

He was a black merchant. As a black merchant, he naturally preyed on others, but there was an art to choosing who to prey on. A big customer like Li Qinwu, who could get his hands on standard-issue rifles, had to be treated well.

The Fertilizer Gang he belonged to had frequent conflicts with the neighboring Chemical Gang. The gang boss had ordered him to acquire thirty reliable guns within a month. They might be going to war with the Chemical Gang soon.

Black merchants like him depended on people like Li Qinwu, who had the guts to scavenge on the surface battlefield, to make a living.

He said to his underling, "Go tell the watchdogs not to give my customer any trouble. Whoever dares disobey, I'll turn him into fertilizer."

Li Qinwu headed back with his things. When he entered the steel passageway, he nodded to the two guards.

He wasn't afraid of the Lower Hive gangs trying to rob him. You dare rob me? I can revive infinitely. I'll come after you every day. Every time I revive, I'll come after you. Once I get guns from the surface, I'll come back and kill you all!

Fortunately, he had traded with the Fertilizer Gang several times already without any trouble. It seemed the black merchant knew what was what.

After entering the steel passageway, Li Qinwu switched on his flashlight. The tunnel echoed with nothing but his heavy footsteps.

The Posu Battery was heavy, over thirty kilograms, and it made his shoulders ache. The metal parts in his backpack weighed more than twenty kilograms combined, bringing his load to over fifty kilograms. A yellow weight icon immediately appeared in the lower-left corner of his vision, showing a 30% movement speed penalty from being overloaded.

Luckily, it wasn't the red overload status, or he would barely have been able to walk.

Li Qinwu ran all the way back to the Hideout, opened the heavy iron door, then shut it behind him, cutting off the chaos outside.

After setting down the materials, he began reinforcing his little home.

First, he placed the Posu Battery in a corner, upgrading the Hideout's Energy from Lv. 0 to Lv. 1.

Energy Supply: Posu Battery, Durability 54%.

Only half the durability remained. That was a black merchant for you—selling nothing but junk.

Still, the Posu Battery was incredibly powerful. A battery made for the Warhammer 40,000 battlefield could easily power a new-energy vehicle from the third millennium for five thousand kilometers!

With power available, he began setting up lighting. He first ran wires, then connected light bulbs, hammering nails into the gaps in the Ceramite walls.

Once he was done, he turned on the power. With a click, the pitch-black room instantly brightened.

Lighting Lv. 0 upgraded to Lighting Lv. 1.

Li Qinwu was extremely satisfied. He finally had lighting.

After that, he turned his attention to the Workbench. He threw in all the remaining parts, and after a burst of clanging and wiring up the power supply, the Workbench upgraded from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2.

The Lv. 2 Workbench mainly added an angle grinder, which could efficiently grind off markings from guns. It could also swap in cutting discs to cut metal.

With more efficient tools, he immediately got to work. He ground off the markings on the lasgun and the remaining three autoguns, then removed the Imperial Aquila symbols from the body armor and ballistic helmet. It took less than ten minutes.

After finishing, Li Qinwu began doing push-ups, squats, and shuttle runs on the spot to train his physical fitness.

His physical abilities followed the PMC system inherited from Tarkov and were divided into:

Strength 11, Endurance 12, Energy 10.

Hunger Resistance 10, Thirst Resistance 10, Virus Resistance 10, Radiation Resistance 10, Chemical Toxin Resistance 10, Warp Resistance 10, Psychic Resistance 10.

Firearms Proficiency 10, Psychic Proficiency 10, Throwing Proficiency 10, Melee Proficiency 10, Ground Vehicle Proficiency 10, Atmospheric Aircraft Proficiency 10, Extratmospheric Aircraft Proficiency 10, Warship Proficiency 10, Power Armor Proficiency 10.

After a round of training, Li Qinwu had drained all his energy and was panting from exhaustion, yet none of the three physical stats had budged.

That was how physical training worked. It was extremely difficult to improve and required long-term practice.

Li Qinwu ate some biscuits and drank some water to recover his energy, then lay down to sleep. He slept until it was almost dark before getting up. He planned to enter the map at night.

So what weapons and armor should he prepare?

Why bring weapons and armor? Of course he was going in with nothing but a knife. Hoarding was an essential part of any Search-Shoot-Extract game!

Li Qinwu brought only a medium hiking backpack, a dagger, a canteen, and four packs of biscuits as he prepared to enter the map.

However, just as he stepped outside, he instinctively checked the contacts in the Search-Shoot-Extract System in his mind. Both contacts had exclamation marks over their heads. There were new missions.

To accept a mission, he had to go ask the contact in person. He had no idea where Rudosen was, but the black merchant was at the Fertilizer Gang's base.

So he turned right toward the Fertilizer Gang's territory, planning to accept the mission before entering the map.

The guards at the end of the passageway were still the same two gang members.

"Stop... Oh, it's you. Go on in. Don't cause trouble."

The two recognized Li Qinwu and remembered the orders from above, so they let him through without making things difficult.

Li Qinwu headed toward Black Merchant Nipall's shop. Along the way, he saw large numbers of armed gang members gathering. It looked like something was about to happen.

When he arrived at the shop, he found the black merchant picking through a pile of trash for parts to assemble guns.

When he saw Li Qinwu, a false smile appeared on his gloomy face.

"Oh, God-Emperor above, who has sent my kind customer to me at such a crucial moment!"

Li Qinwu asked in confusion, "A crucial moment?"

Black Merchant Nipall said, "Sigh, the Fertilizer Gang found a chemical reactor amid a pile of Lower Hive construction waste. We plan to seize that area and use the Reactor to produce fertilizer.

But those Chemical Dogs next door have their eyes on the Reactor too. In that case, let's see whose fists are harder!

My kind customer, bring me ten reliable guns. Besides buying them at the normal price, I'll reward you with five thousand Fertilizer Credits and my friendship. What do you say?"

A system notification rang out in Li Qinwu's mind.

Ding! New mission!

Sell 10 autoguns or military pistols to the Black Merchant.

Reward: 5,000 Fertilizer Credits. Black Merchant Favorability Lv. 0 upgraded to Lv. 1.