章 27: Chapter 27: The Black Market (Seeking Recommendations)
"I'll toast to you..."
Liu Wei once again picked up his soda cup. "We, the bio-humans, live such hard lives, like weeds in the cracks, struggling for every bit of sunlight and rain... After today, I will fully prepare for the college entrance examination, and we will no longer be friends but competitors."
"Ah, to competitors!"
Fang Xing raised his glass too, but he was somewhat surprised inside.
This young Liu Wei actually intended to cut ties with him.
'The friendship between men…'
He couldn't help but fall silent for a moment.
Liu Wei left quickly, as if this gathering was just meant as a final farewell.
In the end, only Fang Xing remained, eating all the barbecue himself: 'It's quite expensive, can't waste it…'
He went home as usual until he closed the door behind him, then his expression became somewhat solemn: 'Liu Wei…'
Originally, it was just a suspicion, but from today's situation, it seemed that this old friend did indeed have ties with certain forces.
But since he took the initiative to sever ties, his character didn't seem too bad.
As for competing in the arena? There should be no talk of friendship in that scenario, it's not a life-and-death struggle…
'If I had the capability, I would still help out... Unfortunately, my current situation is hardly stable…'
Fang Xing sighed and went to sleep.
...
The next day.
Fang Xing, with a single-shoulder backpack, boarded the magnetic levitation train.
Chuying Star was vast!
99.99% of the area had achieved transit and network coverage, except for some areas with magnetic field disruptions, ruins, or wilderness, which became the scars of planetary civilization.
And the black market was in these locations!
"Outside Fengye City, there's an urban ruin... stemming from an attack by the Evil God's Clan, which left the city half-destroyed, even still harboring dangerous pollution and radiation..."
"The Federation could clean it up, but compared to the cost of constructing a new city, it would be a losing proposition. Eventually, a new Fengye City was built, and the original 'old city district' gradually fell into disuse, becoming a haven for Scavengers and those without identity, eventually giving rise to the black market..."
"If one thinks darkly, did the high echelons of Chuying Star intentionally leave these 'scars of civilization' to foster the conditions needed for a black market?"
Fang Xing held onto the handrail, pondering to himself.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the train has reached its final stop. Please stay seated and orderly exit the train…"
After some time, the hover train reached the final station.
Fang Xing got off and found that he was already at the edge of Fengye City.
Stepping off, he quickened his pace and then dodged various surveillance probes, sneaking into the streets and alleys.
For this trip into the black market, he had already left all his electronic devices at home.
As he moved through the darkness, the skin on his face twitched and contorted, suddenly altering his appearance, and he put on a black mask.
When he emerged from the alleyway, Fang Xing had changed his clothes as well, transforming into a strange figure wearing a leather jacket, a duckbill cap, and a dark mask, diving into the boundary between the new and old city districts.
Whoosh!
The old city district, lacking maintenance, was full of broken walls and ruins.
A breeze blew, kicking up swirls of dust.
The streets were badly damaged, with originally a commercial street on both sides, but now the signs were all shattered.
Crack!
Fang Xing stepped on a faded poster of a past celebrity, the sound startling several hyenas lurking in the shadows.
Upon closer inspection, these hyenas were different from normal dogs, some with two heads, others with four eyes or eight legs...
"Mutated creatures..."
Fang Xing recalled the relevant information in his mind.
This was due to the mutation of nearby creatures caused by the combined effects of Evil God's pollution and radiation, leaving behind deformed offspring.
Although far from reaching the standard of lower servants, they might still possess some bizarre abilities.
The alpha hyena with three heads growled softly, seemingly deciding Fang Xing was not to be messed with, or perhaps they were already full, and thus turned around, leading the pack away from the area.
Fang Xing walked past the commercial street to a residential area, looking at the largely collapsed buildings, walking around, finding a convenience store still struggling to operate amidst the ruins.
In a pile of rubble, a still-operating convenience store seemed conspicuous no matter how one looked at it.
[Beep!]
As he walked through the entrance of the convenience store, a green light flashed, making a mechanical sound.
"Very good, very clean, no tracking or communication devices on you."
Behind the counter of the convenience store, a round-faced young man smiled.
He was wearing the uniform of the store, his hair half-brown, holding an old-era comic book.
At that moment, he slowly put down the comic book in his hands: "Welcome to the 'Worry-Free Convenience Store,' sir. What would you like to buy?"
"Start with a Communication Device."
Fang Xing glanced over a row of communication devices on the counter and nodded.
In the black market, the communication devices naturally used unregistered accounts, or someone else's number, making connections safer.
"No problem. How would you like to pay?"
The young man picked up a black wristwatch, smiling and saying. "Ten thousand Star Coins, cash or equivalent trade only."
"So it is robbery, no, where robbery doesn't earn as much as the black market?"
Fang Xing's glance casually caught sight of a beginner's Nano Protective Suit on a shelf, priced shockingly at one hundred thousand!
Clearly, a regular Nano Protective Suit wasn't worth that much money, but stripped of the manufacturer's cut, it was worth the price!
"Will you take gold?"
Fang Xing took out a fist-sized gold nugget from his single shoulder backpack, "Give me an estimate, any excess money transfer into the new account..."
"Alright."
The convenience store owner took the gold, gave it a brief check, "The purity isn't high... the net weight of the gold inside is 2340 grams, with gold priced at 176 Star Coins per gram, so that comes to 411840 Star Coins."
"Commission is twenty percent, minus an additional ten thousand Star Coins, leaves 319472 Star Coins, which have already been transferred to the Communication Device account!"
...
After receiving the Communication Device, Fang Xing added the store owner's contact information and went to the back of the convenience store.
Here, there was an old, rundown street.
Though desolate, there were still a few figures moving among the ruins, each giving off an unapproachable aura.
'This feels somewhat similar to those Loose Cultivators in Qinglin Square...'
Fang Xing glanced around, a sense of familiarity creeping in.
This gold was naturally exchanged at the Cultivating market with Spirit Sand, which was exceptionally easy to do.
If it were the other way around, turning a large amount of gold into Spirit Stones would be difficult, and he'd probably get harshly low-balled.
"Weapons, Medicine, Assassin Guild, entertainment venues..."
He turned slightly, unable to deny that this place had a complete array of shops.
"Over three hundred thousand Star Coins, I guess I am a rich man now."
With a trace of excitement, Fang Xing entered a firearms shop.
The shop owner was a brawny man who looked tough, clad in External Skeleton Armor, with at least Fourth Realm strength.
Seeing Fang Xing come in, he completely ignored him, focusing solely on polishing a segment of a gun barrel.
Fang Xing glanced around and saw the Swift Dragon Laser Gun he had once longed for.
Beneath the silver-white barrel, a small tag read:
['Swift Dragon' model Laser Gun, second-hand, 90% new, suitable for humans, 2000000 Star Coins]
"Two million?"
Fang Xing's pupils contracted, then he looked at the other firearms and realized that this laser gun was actually one of the cheapest ones in the store.
"Sorry, just looking..."
He stepped backward several paces and walked directly out of the store.
"How careless, the items in this black market are really marked up; three hundred thousand Star Coins is just a drop in the bucket..."
Thinking this, Fang Xing walked into another shop.
Half an hour later.
Following the direction bought with his Star Coins, he walked into a half-collapsed ruin.
Inside the ruin, there was only a wooden table, and a woman with her head and face wrapped, only her palms showing, sitting behind the counter.
Fang Xing glanced at her and noticed her palms were covered in dense green tattoos.
'The atmosphere here is also not great, gives one a sense of danger...'
He muttered to himself, then approached the woman, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Creak!
The old wooden chair emitted a groan under the strain, but the tattooed woman across from him suddenly smiled, "Has the guest come to my store looking for some solutions?"
"Yes, I want to launder money!"
Fang Xing said earnestly.
He didn't want to lose his identity as a bio-engineered Fang Xing yet, so he couldn't go too wild.
But he also didn't want to hinder his Martial Arts progress, so when sophomore year started, he definitely needed an explanation.
Without an income source and sufficient nutrient fluid, how could he progress rapidly in his Realm?
Thus, he needed to launder the black money into legal income and then buy a batch of nutrient fluid through official channels!
"How large a scale?"
The tattooed woman's eyes lit up.
"A few hundred thousand..."
"This little money..." The tattooed woman immediately sat back down, looking somewhat listless, "Turn left outside the door, go gamble a few rounds in the casino, processing fee is 30%..."
"I can't go through the casino!"
Fang Xing was speechless since this route was obviously not feasible given that he was still underage.
"For this little money, setting up a company and making some transactions is obviously surplus..." The tattooed woman laughed, "Really just a small client."
She thought for a moment then replied, "We've acquired a betting company; we can have you win a small prize, a few hundred thousand in prize money won't attract attention at all. As long as you pay taxes properly, the Federation won't care..."
"That could work."
Fang Xing stroked his chin.
The Blue Star Federation prohibited underage gambling, but was much more lenient with lotteries.
And indeed, his small amount of money wasn't significant at all, hardly anyone would scrutinize it.
"Let's do it this way."
He breathed a sigh of relief internally.
At least by doing this, progressing rapidly through his sophomore and junior years wouldn't seem so conspicuous.
Even if it came to light later, as long as he got into university, got certified as a 'Professional', and became a part of the privileged class, this minor issue wouldn't count for much.
"Very good, processing fee 50%!"
The tattooed woman smiled, showing off her pitch-black teeth, which made Fang Xing suddenly feel a pang in his heart, almost bleeding: 'What a rip-off!'
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