Xu Cheng put on her black gloves, stretched lazily. Nightmares lingered in her mind, uncertain of when they would strike again.
She headed to Blackstone Market to sell her spoils. Blackstone Market was essentially a company, complete with its own delivery channels, capable of crossing forbidden zones and monopolizing the underground trade network.
She felt like a little leader, with Bubble and the dangerous Shahua, Lianhua sisters behind her, giving her a sense of false bravado. The sisters were notorious in Jialong Slope for their madness, yet now followed a Tiny, making everyone take extra notice.
The fog rose, Jialong Slope was mostly closed off, with only the port district handling external cargo. She looked up to see Kanako’s fleet using the suspended supply-type mothership "Xisheng" for loading and unloading, like floating behemoths docking with each other.
They are up there, and we can only trade in the black market, Xu Cheng thought. If Kanako showed rcy and allowed her to bring the Little Grey Dog to the mothership, it would be easy to connect cargo, not so troubleso.
Every ti she visited the black market, it felt chaotic and disordered, easy to lose oneself if careless. Everyone was wary of each other, maintaining trust through black market ans.
Deafening music blared from various small shops, modified humans, mutants, and various mutated creatures roaming around, with so low-threat Starlight Beasts being tad and traded. Xu Cheng walked carefully, avoiding stepping on any liquids they left behind, possibly acid or sothing scarier.
"Wow!" Bubble jumped as a group of spider robots suddenly appeared from the side, racing down the wall, tapping the concrete with slender tal legs in a strange rhythm, likely escaped from a maniacal machine shop.
Lianhua and Shahua laughed loudly, Lianhua reached out to catch a small spider robot, planning to hack it for personal use.
The place is really big, bustling with people. Xu Cheng avoided the spider robots and turned to see shanties, brick houses, and colorful buildings expanding crazily like so cancer cells full of life.
The city district used walls and law enforcers to block the port district’s black market growth, extending into the sea, piling garbage onto it, forming new foundations, expanding Jialong Slope by 10 square kiloters this way, almost reaching the forbidden zone. So said if one slept on the garbage artificial island furthest out, they would beco a Starlight Monster upon waking.
Everything was dizzying, fortunately she saw it all, Xu Cheng used tactical goggles to glance at a suspicious small bottle on the nearby stall.
——Scan——
Na: dicine Bottle
Capacity: 60 milliliters
Notes: Plastic bottle detected with suspected tetrahydrostamp compound and unregulated synthetic endorphin activator. Mixed with scopolamine, able to regulate neurotransmitter levels such as dopamine and norepinephrine.
Material: Glass
Threat Level: High (Warning: Ingestion may cause unknown side effects, illnesses, or death; due to unknown potency and dosage, high risk of overdose. Please use with family or friends to avoid dying alone without soone to call ergency hotline)
——End——
The stall owner was a man with tal legs and a chanical spine port who could detach and hold his head in his hands.
At the mont he held his head, raised his electronic eye to glance at Xu Cheng: "Do you want it or not?"
Xu Cheng shivered, due to Xu Yang’s teachings, she detested stamp-like substances. Lianhua used the spider robot she’d just picked up to exchange for a bottle.
"Do you use stamps?" Xu Cheng looked up at Lianhua.
"Well, sotis you need to relax a bit, this world is full of surprises and scares, if too harsh on oneself, you forget the aning of happiness. Anyway, my Magic Power is toxins and diseases, can be immune to stamp side effects ~" Lianhua said casually.
She couldn’t do it, had to stay far away from stamps. Xu Cheng headed to the automatic trading robot provided by Blackstone Market.
Two bodyguards responsible for watching the robot were eating sushi at the nearby sushi stall, using iron chopsticks to pick up diced yellowtail and sweet shrimp. Due to forest scarcity, disposable chopsticks had beco a rare commodity.
As Xu Cheng looked at them, the light just happened to shine on their chanical faces, emitting a tallic glow along the curves of their chins and necks.
"Sell all these." Xu Cheng piled the spoils collected last night onto the tal panel, spreading out the gains from the shootout.
The robot dutifully scanned them each, using its chanical eyes to scan every item, assess, price, then tapped out a total quote, amounting to 34,000 funds.
Xu Cheng placed her cash card over it, recording the inco.
Originally 12,000, found 5,700 on gang mbers, selling the spoils netted 34,000, now her card held a total of 51,700 funds.
"Still 30,000 short huh?" Bubble pondered.
"Quack." Xu Cheng turned to look at the Yishen Sisters, reaching out to Lianhua for money, preparing to redeem her Little Grey Dog.
Seeing Xu Cheng reaching out for money, Lianhua’s face imdiately twisted, as if a huge crack spread across her soul.
"Money—won’t give you, don’t forget, you hired us, haven’t paid yet." Lianhua gritted her teeth.
"Quack quack." Xu Cheng nodded, studying Xu Yang, indifferent to everything.
Hearing Lianhua’s commotion, Blackstone Market bodyguards at the sushi stall turned to see Xu Cheng and stood up, wearing blue floral shirts, slippers, with guns visible.
"Little envoy?" The bodyguard took off his sunglasses to glance at Xu Cheng, not her first ti at the black market, previously sold goods there too.
"Quack quack." Xu Cheng looked up at him.
"Are you still delivering goods? The fish you brought from the Northern Archipelago last ti was not bad," the bodyguard consulted Xu Cheng.
"Croak." Xu Cheng made a gesture indicating to head west.
"Where will you pass on the way?" The bodyguard scratched his hair.
Xu Cheng had never thought about this question, because the plan to depart was still just a vague idea, but when asked, she quickly ran through the safe zones between Singapore and Italia in her mind.
The shuttle machine would hop like a frog between different safe zones, delivering all the cargo along the way, and there were many people like this bodyguard who wanted to help carry things.
"Croak, croak, croak, croak, croak," Xu Cheng ntioned what she thought was a relatively safe route.
"Starting from Jialong Slope, to Budan, then to Seva Fort on the Crian Peninsula, Netanya, and finally Seven Hills City. This route is rather secluded, so I’m afraid I can’t help you deliver goods," Bubble said.
"It’s not necessary to deliver..." The bodyguard took out his business card to show Xu Cheng, "Little Envoy, my na is Jimson, I’m from the Taixi Continent, working for Blackstone Market, and I’ve been stuck in Jialong Slope for six years since the Heavenly Tribulation, never able to go back to Taixi Continent. My son is five years old this year and doesn’t believe there are landscapes outside of Jialong Slope. I’ll give you a video recorder, can you film the scenery along the way for ? Just don’t catch monsters and Starstorm in the footage, just the scenery of the safe zones, to let him understand... there are many places beyond the storm."
"Croak!" Xu Cheng stood at attention and saluted Jimson. This was quite a good thing.
"Yes, sir," Bubble also said, reciting the postman’s vow after the Heavenly Tribulation, "’Swearing by life, the mission must be fulfilled!’"
Jimson transferred Xu Cheng 1000 funds, and also gave her a portable handheld video recorder, convenient for filming scenery along the route.
Xu Cheng carefully put it into her small satchel, determined to complete this task.
"Croak, croak." Xu Cheng, for so unknown reason, felt much better.
She pointed towards the depths of Blackstone Market, ready to find the ratn to buy so rare items.
The Ratn’s defenses were strict. Gutter Giant Rats and Black-Fur Guards watched the roads with severe and sharp gazes, and Lianhua advised Xu Cheng to be quick and return soon, as Ratn were notorious for being skillful thieves, and one might end up stripped bare in no ti.
She ca to a window where a rat rchant nad Jin Li was crouching over the counter, behind him, cabinets were densely packed with strange and unique machine parts, technological antiques, and other illegal items not protected by law, all brought in through ratn’s channels.
There were also so starlight molybdenite, mined from Lake Ukarewe on the far Hot Tree Continent, said to be a quality energy storage dium, but overuse could transform one into a monster.
Xu Cheng opened her mouth, pointed at her mouth, Jin Li seed thoughtful.
"Little envoy thing, yes, yes," Jin Li twirled his whiskers, "A little frog who can’t speak, croak, croak. Coming to Jin Li’s door to buy things, hmm... What do you want to buy? Yes, yes, the thing you put in your mouth, the little envoy really needs it, this clever little envoy, carrying a familiar scent, a ninja’s scent, yes, yes."
Jin Li grinned at Xu Cheng, revealing sharp yellow teeth, then he took out a ninja scroll from beneath the counter and handed it to Xu Cheng.
"Croak." This was exactly what Xu Cheng wanted; she took out her cash card, and Jin Li swiped away 7500 funds.
Xu Cheng opened the ninjutsu scroll, its core was a luxurious ivory rod, and the main body was a thick parchnt scroll, decorated with complex designs drawn in carefully designed coding symbols, imdiately capturing Xu Cheng’s attention.
"Rare ninjutsu thing, yes, yes. Ratn just love this. It’s a monopoly of Kanako’s shadow ninja legion. But Jin Li has the best, just like from the Northern Archipelago. Yes, found from a collector 500 years ago. Jin Li gave the little envoy a special discount, grateful for her courier service to Jialong Slope. Jin Li is looking forward to what you might bring back for Jialong Slope next ti." Jin Li grinned widely.
He twirled his whiskers again, and took sothing else out from under the counter for Xu Cheng, hidden in his dry paw was a shuriken.
"Take it, take it. Scrolls go with sharp things, you’ll co back to Jin Li’s shop next ti. Because you’ll use it to hunt, it flies through the air just like your luck, rising and falling. Shadow ninjas left these things behind... I had so many good things and nice trinkets pass through my claws, but I only keep the best for my custors." Jin Li’s claws rubbed against each other, his whiskers twitching.
"Croak!" Xu Cheng slid the shuriken into her belt and hung the scroll as well, she could hold the scroll in her mouth to unleash ninjutsu if necessary.
"They’ll regret letting rare things slipped by, their loss is my gain, and my custors’ delight, yes, yes... I live to extract the elusive miracle, just like the sword immortal from ten years ago on a rainy night, do you know the sword immortal? You don’t, the sword immortal swung flying swords, bringing electricity and hope to Jialong Slope, ten years have gone by, a full ten years..." Jin Li murmured, delving into the depths of the shop.
It is an old ratman. Xu Cheng thought to herself. Too old.
Xu Cheng, Bubble, and the Yishen Sisters returned to Dropping Dog Bar, planning to find more ways to make so money.
Grandma Bai Jiayi stood behind the bar, pouring herself a glass of ginger beer, looking at them with a tense expression, "Are you back?"
"What’s the matter?" Bubble curiously looked up.
"It’s Daniel Wu, it seems he’s smashed a confiscated shuttle at the airport, wouldn’t it be yours, right?" Bai Jiayi said.
The shuttle was smashed? Xu Cheng was shocked. Bubble was startled, Xu Cheng’s eyelids kept twitching, feeling blood rushing up, she almost fainted again as she took a few steps, just waving her hand for others to hurry up and get ready to head to the airport.
Bai Jiayi helped Xu Cheng to rest on a crimson sofa, Xu Cheng slled a tallic scent, presumably her own nose was bleeding.
The bar was dimly lit, though clearly it was dayti, it looked like dusk. Neon lights hung from the ceiling, everything bathed in colorful lights, making Xu Cheng feel even more a headache.
"Is there any problem with her health?" Bai Jiayi turned to look at Bubble.
"Frequent nightmares, probably not much rest," Bubble hurriedly said, hoping Grandma might have a redy.
Bai Jiayi seed to ponder, she first returned under the bar, taking out two pills for Xu Cheng.
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