Trade Star, Food Factory Continent No. 9938-A, Trading Department.
"Trade... trade... must, must trade..."
Humanoid monsters covered in money symbols wandered through the factory.
Above their heads
Several department employees huddled in a corner, trembling.
"D-don't worry. Someone will come save us soon. I'll tell the higher-ups what's happening here right now..."
One of them, though just as frightened, gritted his teeth and summoned his courage. Taking advantage of a moment when the humanoid monster was distracted, he raced to the other side, took an item from a spatial storage box, and pressed the SSS emergency button.
But the instant he pressed the button.
The humanoid monster grinned.
"You pressed it? You pressed it, right? Then, then let's trade together!"
Its body split in two, turning into horrifying, nauseating tentacles that instantly assimilated the few survivors.
"Trading in progress, trade, trade~ We have to trade the plague to every world!"
Main City · Black Market Tower.
Ailei felt inexplicably unwell.
She panted in her own office, cold sweat streaming down her forehead.
"How strange... why do I feel sick... but how could I get sick?"
She gritted her teeth and brought up a Light Screen.
Hundreds upon thousands of SSS symbols appeared on the Light Screen before her.
"What are these? Emergency symbols? Damn it, why haven't I sensed anything all this time? Has the auction brought in so many Train Conductors, along with so many Platform Lords, that it's caused a conflict in world permissions?
"And why can't I tell what's happened at all? No... I have to find out..."
Ailei gritted her teeth and forced her ailing body to keep working at her desk. Through her Platform Lord permissions, she issued orders to the Black Market's combatants and scouts, dispatching teams to investigate those areas.
"Damn it, I