Chapter 130: Black Market

Cheng Shuili walked slowly through the crowded passage, her eyes scanning each stall.

The trading methods here differ completely from the Jiao Yi Zhan: there is no system notarization, no clear price tags, and each vendor whispers hoarsely, hawking terrifying goods.

"Fresh eyeballs, can see through illusion... three hundred Game Coins a pair..."

"Cursed bullets, they bleed when fired... only twenty Game Coins..."

"Selling memories! Three days of satisfied memories! Perfect to feed your pet..."

At a certain corner, a stall had three rag‑clad humans tied up.

When the vendor saw Cheng Shuili pause, he immediately lowered his voice mysteriously: "Want to buy a slave? Absolutely loyal slaves, very cheap. For just one thousand Game Coins, he can do anything for you…"

Cheng Shuili's pupils narrowed, she furrowed her brows to leave, when a commotion suddenly erupted from the neighboring stall.

A player, grabbing the beast‑folk vendor's collar, roared: "What the hell you're selling isn't any healing potion! My brother drank it and started growing mushrooms!"

The beast‑folk vendor let out a cackling laugh: "I said it can heal wounds, I didn't say what you'll become after it heals… Should I be blamed for that? You should blame your brother's bad luck."

The enraged player was about to swing a fist when a sudden "click" of loading rang out from the darkness.

Before anyone could react, a bullet had already pierced the player's brow.

After the corpse fell, three night‑vision‑goggled guards emerged from the shadows and silently dragged the body away.

"The seventh one," a nearby beast‑folk muttered softly; seeing Cheng Shuili look over, he grinned at her, neither quite a threat nor a warning: "Be careful, okay."

So bizarre.

Cheng Shuili was silent for a moment, then retraced her steps to the beast‑folk old man at the entrance.

The old man seemed to have known she'd return; before she approached, he said, "Now it's ten Game Coins."

Cheng Shuili halted, let out a light laugh, and briskly completed the transaction.

The other party was clearly brazen, and Cheng Shuili indeed needed it; ten Game Coins and five Game Coins made no real difference.

"Honored human miss, now I am your guide. Let me make it clear..." The beast‑folk old man rose silently, turned, and pulled a filthy cloak from the corner, wrapping it cautiously around himself like the other vendors, exposing only two eyes, "Do not touch things indiscriminately; after you hear the bell, you must leave. Once you choose the market you cannot return to the Garbage Mountain to scavenge. You still have a chance to choose now."

Cheng Shuili crossed her arms, "A ten‑Game‑Coin guide can only do this much? You should first tell me what the market and Garbage Mountain are for, then let the customer choose."

The beast‑folk old man's glossy eyes lingered on Cheng Shuili for a moment, and he whispered, "Understood."

"On Garbage Mountain you can scavenge food, materials, even some special items. But the rarer something is, the less it gets discarded; it's called Garbage Mountain because it's almost all trash inside."

"As for the market you mentioned, that's the Black Market. Everything in the Black Market is free, everything can be sold. Whether you fall into a trap or snag a huge bargain, it all depends on your skill."

Cheng Shuili nodded.

So that means Garbage Mountain should yield plenty of supplies, but isn't completing daily mileage just about gathering supplies?

I've gathered so many supplies, I've never actually seen the Black Market!

To the Black Market!

Cheng Shuili turned her steps decisively, choosing a direction.

The guide, unsurprisingly, silently followed Cheng Shuili and explained, "The Black Market isn't open every time."

"There's no fixed rule for when the Black Market opens; it seems to depend on the bell‑ringer's mood. One bell means opening, three bells mean closing. Just as I said, everything is sold here."

"Bell‑ringer?"

Cheng Shuili was curious: is it a human?

"Yes, few know that name; you should know his other name."

Another name? She knows? Cheng Shuili gestured with her eyes for the guide to speak quickly.

The guide didn't stall, "His other name is Rat King; he is the sole king of the entire underground industry."

Cheng Shuili really did know.

Rat King, that old man… his business is quite extensive.

Cheng Shuili had originally found the Black Market especially mysterious; now that she knows whose enterprise it is, she suddenly feels it's just… ordinary.

The guide raised his hand toward a stall; Cheng Shuili recalled the vendor, who sold "Fresh eyeballs" claiming they could see through illusion.

"He's only selling ordinary monster eyes. You may never have seen them; they're taken from a creature covered in eyes. Slip a fancy name on them and you can fool many humans like you."

Cheng Shuili didn't believe it, of course.

Compared to that, she was more curious about where the slaves came from.

The two quickly reached the slave‑selling stall, and the guide explained to Cheng Shuili in detail, "These slaves are all humans just like you."

"Either they are the lost ones inside an Instance, or they are failures whose vehicles were confiscated for not completing mileage. Before death they had one choice: accept death or become a slave who can barely survive?"

The guide paused, his tone laced with obvious contempt, "These people clearly chose the latter."

"But unfortunately, becoming a slave is a fate worse than death."

Cheng Shuili could understand that sentence.

"What a precious chance to stay alive?"

The system has always scorned the weak and praised the brave; it pretends to offer a chance to eke out a living, but in reality it's another torment for the weak.

"May I purchase a slave?"

The guide seemed not to have expected her to ask that, his gaze at Cheng Shuili tinged with three parts surprise.

"Ordinary humans find this hard to accept, miss, you are an extraordinary human."

Just consider it a compliment.

"You can certainly purchase, as long as you have enough Game Coins."

Cheng Shuili nodded, then asked, "What's the difference between a slave and a servant?"

The guide shook his head, "Essentially there is none. A slave is absolutely loyal, whereas a servant may betray."

Just that distinction.

Cheng Shuili's gaze scanned the stall, and the bizarre items especially caught her eye.

But if you ignore the vendor's boasts about various functions, they're essentially just ordinary human organs, altered concoctions.

Cheng Shuili was somewhat disappointed.

The guide led her around once, almost explaining everything at the stalls.

Finally, at a stall selling totems, Cheng Shuili looked on a bit longer.

The other items were all things she had never even seen; she couldn't tell real from fake at all, and of course she couldn't muster the desire to buy them.

But the totem…

Cheng Shuili does have one in her hand.

What she set her eyes on was one whose appearance and material looked exactly like the Undying Totem, only the pattern on it was slightly different.