53: Devil's Counter

"Prepare the operating table. I'm going to get the medicine."

Chen Feng's voice was as calm as a pool of stagnant water, devoid of any emotion.

"From now on, his life is mine."

"Your life is mine, too."

After saying that, he closed his eyes, and his consciousness, like a pebble falling into the deep sea, instantly sank into the Interstellar Exchange composed of data and light streams.

Unlike the orderly, high-tech trading hall he had entered last time, this time, he directly positioned his consciousness coordinates in the most chaotic and likely place to find bargains: the "Chaos Market District."

As soon as he entered, a stench mixed with machine oil, decaying flesh, and unknown spices hit him, as if it were about to smoke his spiritual form into pieces.

The laws here were extremely chaotic. Space itself was distorted, and the buildings were like a madman's ravings, haphazardly pieced together from metal, rock, and some kind of wriggling biological tissue, constantly growing and collapsing. Countless whispering shadows muttered in the corners, and grotesque holographic billboards flashed the names of various contraband, each exuding a deadly temptation.

Chen Feng ignored all of this; his goal was clear.

Soon, he found the stall with the ID "Xilos"—a mobile platform pieced together from pulsing blood vessels and rusted metal, jerking its way through the bazaar.

At the stall, an insect-like creature with six thin arms and a huge gas mask was boredly wiping a glass jar filled with eyeballs.

"[nerve regeneration gel]," Chen Feng said, getting straight to the point.

Hearing this, the stall owner named Xilos slowly turned his head. His cloudy compound eyes behind the mask sized Chen Feng up, and a hoarse, greedy voice came from the mask's amplifier, carrying undisguised contempt: "Low-dimensional crawler, can you afford it?"

Chen Feng ignored his mockery: "How much?"

"100,000 interstellar credit points for one portion of gel, no bargaining." Xilos extended one arm and gestured a number, his tone extremely arrogant.

"Fine." Chen Feng's answer was crisp and neat, without the slightest hesitation.

"Hmm?" Xilos's movement of wiping the jar stopped. A hint of surprise flashed in the compound eyes behind the mask, quickly replaced by even more intense greed. He seemingly hadn't expected this low-dimensional creature, who looked penniless, to actually be able to produce this sum of money.

"Oh..." He drawled, as if just remembering something, "I forgot to mention, high-end goods like gel need to take effect under your low-level, fragile universal laws; they must be paired with a specialized 'Catalyst Stabilizer'."

Another of his arms slowly took out a test tube containing a green liquid from under the counter and shook it in front of Chen Feng.

"As for the stabilizer... that's an additional charge."

"Fifty thousand."

Blatant extortion.

Chen Feng's pupils shrank suddenly, and a surge of anger rushed from his heart to his head. He clearly remembered that in the product description, there was no mention of any stabilizer at all!

But he understood that throwing a fit here was meaningless. This was the Chaos Market District; there were no rules, and fists and wealth were the only rules.

"I need to consider it." Chen Feng's voice still betrayed no emotion. While pretending to hesitate to stall for time, he diverted part of his mind to issue a command to the system.

'Activate, Trader Background Surface Scan.'

[Activating this function will consume 500 interstellar credit points, and the success rate is only 28%. Do you confirm?]

'Confirm.'

Take a gamble.

In Chen Feng's consciousness, countless data streams began to flash rapidly, like an old slot machine into which a coin had been dropped.

A few seconds later, a stream of information popped up abruptly.

[Scan successful. Target: Xilos, bio-black market merchant.]

[Key negative information: Due to selling low-quality gene potions to the 'Bonebreaker' mercenary corps, causing an entire elite squad to suffer 'Existential Collapse', he is currently being hunted by their leader 'Butcher' with a 300,000 interstellar credit points bounty.]

It worked.

Chen Feng looked up, his gaze falling once again on the shaking green test tube, and asked seemingly casually, "How's business lately? I heard those maniacs from 'Bonebreaker' are looking everywhere for a bug selling fake medicine, and the price they're offering isn't low."

He paused, his tone becoming playful: "Lord Xilos, is the medicine here... authentic?"

"I wouldn't want my brother to turn into a screaming puddle of mush after using it."

"Creak—"

Xilos's six arms froze instantly, as if frozen by invisible energy. His breathing under the mask became rapid and heavy, and the sound of unstable current came from the amplifier.

He was afraid.

He couldn't tell at all whether this mysterious low-dimensional buyer in front of him was really here to buy medicine or was a bounty hunter disguised as a customer. In the Chaos Market District, such things happened every day.

More importantly, once the other party became angry and left any words related to 'Bonebreaker' in the transaction review, his location would be instantly exposed!

"A misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!"

Xilos's attitude took a 180-degree turn. His six arms waved hurriedly, and his voice changed from hoarse to fawning, "You are a distinguished guest! A huge misunderstanding! This Catalyst Stabilizer, how could I charge you for it? It's free! I'll give it to you for free!"

As he spoke, he hurriedly packed the gel and the stabilizer, and even fumbled out a tube of shimmering blue liquid from under the counter.

"This... this is a tube of 'Energy Supplement Liquid' I'm personally including! It can strengthen the foundation and nourish the essence, ensuring your patient recovers even faster! Just consider it making a friend!"

"One hundred and fifty thousand interstellar credit points for the whole set." Chen Feng coldly stated the total price, not accepting the other party's "kindness." What he needed was a transaction without future troubles, not an unclear gift.

"Yes! Yes! You are right!" Xilos felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty and completed the transaction at the fastest speed.

[Transaction complete, 150,000 interstellar credit points deducted.]

Chen Feng's consciousness instantly withdrew from the exchange and returned to reality.

The icy chill wrapped around him again; before him was still that crude cold storage room.

"Hum—"

After a slight spatial fluctuation, a Cryogenic Storage Box flashing with a dangerous red light appeared out of thin air on the metal table in front of him and Reno.

Reno trembled with excitement. He looked at the box, then at the expressionless Chen Feng, his eyes filled with incomprehensible shock and fanaticism.

Chen Feng opened the box.

Inside the box, a specialized syringe lay quietly on a buffer pad, filled with gel shimmering with a faint blue light, with two smaller test tubes beside it.

He picked up the syringe, his gaze falling on the manual scribbled in alien script on the inner wall of the box.

The system quickly provided a translation.

[Warning: Law Rejection Reaction may lead to Complete Genetic Chain Recombination of the target.]

Chen Feng took a deep breath, held the syringe before Reno's eyes, and said in the calmest and most cruel tone:

"The surgery begins now."

"Remember our agreement. If he turns into a monster..."

"You kill him with your own hands."