Chapter 272

Gu Yuan gave the most pragmatic advice.

A-Qi looked troubled: "How could I have anything to trade for credits? That incomplete chip from earlier was already snatched away."

Gu Yuan didn't speak, but signaled for A-Qi to look down.

A-Qi looked down and saw that he was still clutching that piece of spirit stone in his hand.

The stone, which had been crystal clear, had now become somewhat dull and gray.

"This thing..."

A-Qi swallowed hard, his voice trembling.

"The purity of the energy in this thing is even higher than the Level 3 Heavenly Grade spirit Qi chips I've seen! Even if only this half remains, taking it to the black market would fetch at least ten thousand credits!"

Ten thousand credits!

It was enough for him to live comfortably in the slums for three years, or even buy a legal residence permit for the edge of the Upper City!

"Go ahead, take it to the black market."

Gu Yuan's voice sounded in his mind, unhurried and carrying a teasing tone as if watching a show, "And then you can just wait to die."

A-Qi froze in place: "Immortal, what do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said."

Gu Yuan watched coldly from the void, "This thing is nothing to me, but to the people of this world... it should be considered a great treasure. You, a black-listed person living in a garbage heap, taking it to the black market—"

"Do you guess those black market merchants will show mercy and give you tens of thousands of credits, or will they tear you limb from limb and slice open your brain to study where you got such a treasure?"

A-Qi felt as if a basin of ice water had been poured over his head; his feverish brain cooled instantly.

That's right, an innocent man is innocent, but holding a treasure is a crime.

In this wasteland where people would kill for a few credits, if he held this thing, he wouldn't even be able to walk out the door of the black market.

Forget ten thousand credits; he would lose his life.

"Then... then what should I do?"

A-Qi was at a loss, the joy of his recent breakthrough vanishing completely; his withered fingers gripped the spirit stone tightly, as if holding a hot potato.

Actually, he understood this logic; having crawled through the slums since childhood, how could he not understand that wealth tempts the heart? It was just that the ecstasy of his breakthrough had left him unable to react for a moment.

Gu Yuan looked at the kid; in truth, he was a bit troubled himself.

As the Young Master of the Primordial Immortal Domain, the worst scraps in his storage ring were high-grade spirit stones.

And those were only tossed in casually back when he was setting up a certain formation.

He couldn't exactly throw down a piece of supreme immortal gold or a ten-thousand-year-old divine herb, could he?

"Alright, put it away. Keep this half-stone for your own cultivation."

Gu Yuan sighed lightly, feeling the helplessness of a rich man who doesn't know the hardships of the poor.

Since he didn't have any "junk" on him, he would just find some now.

His divine sense swept out, and the internal structure of this mountain of metal trash was laid bare; he knew exactly what was buried under every sheet of iron.

"Take two steps back."

A-Qi retreated as instructed.

The next second, the mountain of trash in front emitted a teeth-grinding sound of twisting metal.

In A-Qi's horrified gaze, hundreds of tons of scrap steel, discarded prosthetics, and rusted tracks were tossed about as if by an invisible giant hand, rolling with a boom. Mud splashed everywhere, and decaying parts flew through the air.

"Immortal! The commotion is too big! It will attract the security patrol drones!"

A-Qi was so scared he sat down in the mud, scrambling to find cover.

"Shut up and watch." Gu Yuan couldn't be bothered to explain. He

used his divine sense to shield the area; let alone mere drones, even if the ancestors of the four major conglomerates arrived in person, they might not detect anything unusual.

The trash mountain churned for a moment, and several items flew out from the depths, landing precisely at A-Qi's feet.

A mechanical eyeball covered in scratches.

A broken half of a drive shaft, with a faint, eerie light flickering at the cut.

And a metal plate covered in grime.

"This..."

A-Qi swallowed, picked up the mechanical eyeball to examine it closely, his eyes widening, "This is the 'Eagle Eye-Type 3' prosthetic eye used by the previous generation of the Tianyuan Conglomerate's internal security forces! Although it's scrapped, the micro-spirit-gathering array patterns inside are still intact. And this drive shaft, it's an alloy mixed with mithril!"

"Go sell them."

Gu Yuan's voice returned to its lazy tone, "These three items should be worth no less than that chip you had earlier; they won't make people jealous enough to kill you, but they're enough for you to pay taxes and buy some food. Hurry up, don't dawdle."

A-Qi treated them like precious treasures, hiding them in his chest and wrapping them tightly with that tattered waterproof plastic sheet.

The rain grew heavier, the acid rain causing stinging pain on his skin, but his heart was burning with heat.

He walked with uneven steps toward the black market in the slums.

Along the way, Gu Yuan quietly observed this deformed society through A-Qi's perspective.

The crowded shantytown was filled with illegally connected wires and leaking pipes everywhere.

The air was filled with the stench of machine oil, acid rain, and cheap nutrient solution.

Emaciated homeless people lay by the roadside; some had limbs replaced with crude mechanical parts that had rusted and jammed due to lack of maintenance, emitting painful groans.

Air purification towers soared into the clouds, their bodies flashing with huge holographic advertisements: "Tian Shu Conglomerate, providing you with the purest breathing experience. Today's breathing tax: 10 credits. Overdue payments will face forced labor."

"Truly a rotten world." Gu Yuan evaluated.

A-Qi gave a bitter smile, wiping the mud from his face: "Born here, one can only accept fate. But now with your guidance, Immortal, I might be able to live like a human."

Entering the black market.

The black market was located in an underground air-raid shelter, dim and filled with all kinds of illegal transactions.

The smell of machine oil, blood, and low-quality alcohol mixed together, pungent and unpleasant.

A-Qi found his way to an old scrap dealer, Old One-Eye.

Old One-Eye was a cyborg, his left eye flashing red as he dismantled a mechanical arm stained with blood.

A-Qi placed the three items on the greasy counter.

Old One-Eye glanced at them, the red light in his mechanical eye flashing rapidly as he scanned them.

"Eagle Eye-3, defective. Mithril drive shaft, severely worn. This piece of junk iron... hmm, interesting, it's got some red copper sandwiched inside."

Old One-Eye exhaled a cloud of murky smoke, his tone dismissive, "One price, fifty credits."

A-Qi grew anxious, slamming his hands on the counter: "Old One-Eye, you're being too ruthless! Just this prosthetic eye alone is worth at least a hundred on the black market!"

Old One-Eye sneered, his withered lips curling:

"That's the price for one in perfect condition. I have to refurbish this junk. Fifty, take it or leave it."

A-Qi gritted his teeth, just about to say something.

Gu Yuan's voice sounded at the right moment: "Tell him the metal plate isn't sandwiched with red copper, but with scraps of 'Star Sand'. The spirit-gathering array pattern on that prosthetic eye might be broken, but the core 'spirit-Qi conversion hub' is intact. If it's less than three hundred credits, no deal."

A-Qi was stunned, then straightened his back and repeated Gu Yuan's words exactly.

The red light in Old One-Eye's single eye flashed violently, and the way he looked at A-Qi changed.

"You kid, when did you learn appraisal?"

Old One-Eye picked up the metal plate again, fished a probe out of a drawer and inserted it; a faint purple light lit up on the instrument.

It really was Star Sand!

Old One-Eye's expression shifted uncertainly.

Three hundred credits, he could still make a profit, but this kid was usually a pushover who took things lying down; why was he suddenly so tough today? Could there be someone guiding him from behind?

"Fine, three hundred it is. Consider yourself lucky today, kid."

Old One-Eye counted out three hundred credit chips and pushed them to A-Qi.

These were anonymous credit chips.

Many items that were inconvenient to trade used these.

A-Qi suppressed his ecstasy, grabbed the chips, and turned to leave.

"Wait." Gu Yuan sighed; he knew this kind of plot would happen.

They had clearly kept a low profile.

Why were there still people who didn't value their lives?

"The passage on the right, someone has their eyes on you."