Chapter 153: Black Market (1)

Luo Qi sent a few more messages back to Wen Lin, only then reluctantly intending to turn off his phone, his finger hovering over the power button in hesitation for a moment.

Du Zhengyi tilted his head to look at his phone screen, but did not see any new incoming messages, confirming that Luo Qi was just staring at the lit-up screen, looking at nothing. "What is it? Are you afraid you'll have withdrawal symptoms after turning it off?"

Only then did Luo Qi, with a dark face, make up his mind to press the power button, then tossed the phone into his bag and threw the bag into the hotel wardrobe.

They were about to go shopping—that was Luo Qi's way of putting it. It was just that the place they were going to was considered an underground establishment, a venue purely for Mages. Du Zhengyi had warned him repeatedly that the place was extremely unfriendly to human technology and that there were electronic device killers at the entrance. Electromagnetic pulse-type Magic would destroy the components of all electronic devices; it was a simple and crude place, everything a bit primitive.

In the hotel, Luo Qi excitedly checked himself several times to make sure he had stripped off all the electronic devices on his person. Recently, he had been hanging out with Guan Xinyue, looking at what to buy online together, and had gradually bought a huge pile of electronic toys. Some things he had used for so long that he had forgotten they fell under the category of electronic devices.

Du Zhengyi observed him from the side, "Do you need me to buy you a new suit so you can go to the market more formally?"

Luo Qi knew he was teasing him. Just as he was about to play the fool to Du Zhengyi and actually go buy a suit to annoy him to death, his thoughts suddenly shifted, and curiosity arose.

"Brother, how old were you when you first went to the Black Market?"

Du Zhengyi smiled with ill intent, "Let me think, probably... fourteen."

"Fourteen!" Luo Qi looked at him in astonishment, "You went there when you were fourteen? What could you possibly buy at the Black Market at fourteen?"

"What would you secretly buy when you were fourteen?" Du Zhengyi brushed him off with a laugh, looking like he didn't want to tell the truth at all.

Luo Qi puffed out his chest and raised his head to answer Du Zhengyi's question, "The only thing I secretly bought when I was fourteen was indescribable, complicated comics."

Du Zhengyi actually thought for a moment about what Luo Qi was talking about. Even though he had known Luo Qi for so long and had been half-dragged into the human world, he still didn't quite understand some of Luo Qi's language. "Why indescribable?"

"You just wait and see!" Luo Qi disdained to answer his stupid question and said aggressively, "If I can't buy that kind of comic in a while, you just wait and see!"

Du Zhengyi thought about it for a moment and actually felt a bit of apprehension. Given Luo Qi's unreliable personality, since he had already laid his words out like this, there was no telling when or where he might do something bizarre to make him "see."

Watching Luo Qi put on his mask in front of him in a huff, pull out his room card, and walk out of the hotel room door, he hurriedly followed, draped his arm over Luo Qi's shoulder, and laughingly and amiably instructed him, "Don't talk nonsense when we get there, don't try to buy everything, and don't go provoking trouble... Damn it, this is actually the most important thing, don't go provoking trouble, you hear? There are plenty of retired tough guys there; they aren't like those three little delicate flowers in Qionglin, they can see through your tricks."

Luo Qi hummed, which counted as an answer.

"I'm taking you there to broaden your horizons. I'll introduce you to some old friends, too; later... you might find them useful later on," Du Zhengyi said, rubbing Luo Qi's hair.

Luo Qi felt quite smug; he was someone who had been patted on the head by the Qionglin War God. In the future, this would all be capital for bragging, being so close to a legendary Battle Mage that they wore the same pair of pants.

He laughed for a while, then remembered something else, "Will anyone look for trouble with us there? We've been so unlucky these past few times; nothing has gone smoothly anywhere we go."

"No," Du Zhengyi smiled and said, "No one will look for trouble there. To cause trouble there is equivalent to looking for trouble with the boss of the Zhouqiao Grass Market."

"Qiaozhou Grass Clan? There's a surname like that?" Luo Qi said, thinking Du Zhengyi's "Zhouqiao" was a slip of the tongue.

"Zhouqiao Grass Market, that is the name of this Black Market," Du Zhengyi said, "There are six great Black Markets in total, and we are going to the largest one in the Central Plains region."

Only then did Luo Qi understand, "There's a boss behind the Black Market? I thought it was a market that naturally gathered together."

Du Zhengyi let out a laugh, "In a human vegetable market, do the vegetable sellers not pay market management fees?"

"Understood," Luo Qi suddenly realized, following Du Zhengyi off the elevator, through the hotel lobby, and walking toward the door. "Do you know the boss of the Zhouqiao Night Market, too?"

"I don't even know if I know them," Du Zhengyi said, "The history of the Zhouqiao Night Market can be traced back to the Mage Rebellion over eight hundred years ago. It is said that there have always been nineteen managers, but whether all nineteen of these people are the bosses, or if one of them is the boss, no one has ever been able to say clearly. Some people also say that the bosses behind the six great Black Markets are actually these nineteen people; they maintain the most important Black Markets in the form of an organization."

They stood together at the hotel entrance, stopped to look around. The sky under the smog was gray, and this city looked very dilapidated, as if the economy had been stagnant for many years, appearing somewhat listless. Luo Qi was not much affected by the environment; his heart was half-filled with anticipation, and the other half was used to ponder other things. He turned his head to look at Du Zhengyi and noticed that although Du Zhengyi looked calm, his eyes were paying attention to all the movements around them.

"Do the Black Market managers also take responsibility for cleaning up trash and maintaining order like vegetable market managers?" Luo Qi asked.

Du Zhengyi laughed, "That's not wrong, but more importantly, everyone needs market transactions. If you offend the boss, you won't have another chance to enter the Black Market. Even Qionglin, although on the surface it doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the Black Market, don't we often go to the Black Market to buy some news, or crystals that we don't have time to go through the application process for? This kind of place will continue to exist as long as there is demand."

"Demand..." Luo Qi said with a wild imagination, "Indeed, where there is demand, there is a necessity for existence. Isn't Wushan also an existence model like this? If you offend Wushan, you will be excluded by all Wushan practitioners and never have a chance to enter the mountain again. Your Qionglin has always allowed Wushan to exist; is it also because the big shots in Qionglin have demands, and no one wants Wushan to truly disappear?"

Du Zhengyi sized him up, "Young man, is your temper a bit too hot? I mentioned demand, and you can immediately associate it with the demands handled by Wushan?"

Luo Qi made a face at him and finally hailed a taxi, rushing over first to open the car door for Du Zhengyi.