The Apocalypse had descended, the Safe Zone had been established, and the United Government had been formed.
All of that had happened just ten years ago.
For humanity, ten years was merely a fraction of a lifetime.
The main workforce had not even undergone a full generational transition.
The system for distributing benefits had yet to gain stability through generations of inheritance.
All these realities combined to highlight one problem.
The Safe Zone was nowhere near as stable as it appeared.
Order in form was not enough to resolve chaos at its core.
Anyone with access to information deep and broad enough would realize this.
Beneath its orderly exterior, the Safe Zone was as filthy as muddy water.
Clean places had clean venues for trading, and filthy places had filthy venues of their own.
The Black Market.
Qin Siyang had heard that term countless times.
But this was his first time seeing one.
"Director Zhang, is the Black Market underneath this construction site? What a strange setup. Aren't they worried about safety issues?"
"You're overthinking it. The Black Market isn't underground. It's right inside the construction site. They work on the buildings during the day, and once work wraps up at night, the site serves as the Black Market."
"Huh? The Black Market is in a construction site?"
Qin Siyang had assumed the Black Market would be somewhere well hidden.
Underneath a casino, perhaps, or in some dingy bar. Somewhere disreputable, at any rate.
As he understood it, a Black Market location needed two things: concealment and safety.
A construction site offered neither.
He could never have imagined that the Black Market would be somewhere so conspicuous, so casually chosen.
"The things traded in the Black Market should all be things the United Government forbids people from trading, right?"
Zhang