99: Black Rock Exchange

Lin Feng left his home and merged into the slightly bustling afternoon crowd of Weiyang City.

His steps were steady, his goal clear—the Weiyang City Underground Trading Market.

After passing through several inconspicuous alleys, Lin Feng stopped at an unassuming side door of a disused warehouse.

There was no grand facade here, only two sharp-eyed, formidable-looking guards protecting the entrance.

After paying a symbolic entrance fee, Lin Feng stepped inside.

A complex odor, a mixture of sweat, dust, metal rust, and various indescribable materials, assailed him.

Contrary to his imagination, the interior space of the underground trading market was extraordinarily vast, clearly having been hollowed out from the underground rock strata and reinforced.

Above, rough, reinforced rock walls hung with dim, flickering magic crystal lamps, their light barely illuminating the crowded passages and stalls below.

The ground was compacted earth and gravel, somewhat uncomfortable to walk on.

There were no glittering crystal display cases here; instead, various crude stalls and trading windows enclosed by heavy iron sheets took their place.

The air was filled with a rough, restless, and undisguised aura of greed.

The items displayed on the stalls were diverse:

dirt-stained herbs, fragments of ore glimmering with faint light, rusty weapon remnants, and even low-level magical beast cubs caged in iron, emitting uneasy whimpers.

The shouts of vendors, the haggling, and the sounds of arguments rose and fell, forming a chaotic din.

Lin Feng's gaze calmly swept over this chaotic market; his target was not these peripheral loose goods.

He walked directly towards the depths of the market, where there were several rows of relatively orderly buildings constructed from heavy stone, which housed several larger fixed shops and officially established appraisal and consignment windows.

He arrived at one of these windows, which bore a sign that read “Black Rock Exchange.”

Five or six people were already lined up at the window, mostly mercenaries or adventurers dressed in worn leather armor and bearing the marks of wind and frost, emitting faint smells of blood and sweat.

Lin Feng joined the end of the line; his clean casual clothes and somewhat youthful face seemed out of place in this environment.

The line moved slowly forward, and finally, it was his turn.

Behind the window sat a man of about thirty, wearing a greasy gray work uniform, with messy hair and a face swollen from long nights, displaying undisguised impatience.

He didn't even lift his head, tapping the counter with a stained finger, his voice hoarse.

“The item, quickly, others are waiting.”

Lin Feng didn't mind his attitude, raising his arm slightly, preparing to take out the Gold-level armor from his spatial ring.

“Hey, kid, what are you dawdling for?”

The staff member urged impatiently.

“If you don't have anything good, hurry up and get out, don't waste my time!”

A burly man with a scarred face and carrying a great axe, who was queuing behind, scoffed.

“A student who hasn't even fully matured, what good stuff could he pull out? Could it be he picked up a piece of scrap iron and thinks it's a treasure?”

Another tall, thin mercenary also echoed sarcastically.

“Exactly, this isn't a place for little kids like you to play house. Hurry home and do your homework, don't make a fool of yourself here!”

Several low chuckles broke out around them, full of mockery.

Those gazes pricked Lin Feng like needles, filled with disdain and contempt.

Lin Feng's movement paused, and he looked up at the staff member.

The other party met his gaze, which was terrifyingly calm, devoid of anger or embarrassment, only a bottomless indifference.

The staff member's heart inexplicably skipped a beat, but it was immediately replaced by greater impatience.

“What are you looking at? If you can't produce it, then…”

His words stopped abruptly.

Lin Feng's hand emerged from his pocket, placing on the greasy counter not the expected scrap metal, but a strangely shaped dagger, dark all over, as if it could swallow light.

The blade of the dagger was not metal, but some solidified shadow, emitting a chillingly sharp aura and a faint, almost imperceptible… Gold-level energy fluctuation!

The staff member's eyes instantly widened, his mouth slightly agape, the impatience on his face melting away like ice and snow, replaced by incredible astonishment and a hint of greed.

He suddenly reached out, carefully picking up the dagger, his fingertips trembling slightly.

“This… this is…”

His voice had changed pitch, the previous hoarseness completely gone, replaced by an almost fawning excitement.

“Gold-level! It's definitely a Gold-level weapon! This material… this energy fluctuation… My heavens!”

He suddenly lifted his head, his gaze towards Lin Feng completely transformed, filled with reverence and fervor.

“Young… no, young master! Please wait! Just a moment! I… my authority isn't enough! I'll go invite our supervisor immediately! Please, have a seat! Quickly! Get this young master some water!”

He babbled incoherently at a similarly stunned assistant nearby, then, as if his backside was on fire, he sprang from his chair and rushed to the back room, clutching the dagger.

The burly man and the tall, thin mercenary, who had just been laughing and mocking, had their smiles freeze, as if they had been slapped hard.

They looked at the dagger emitting a Gold-level aura, then at the calm-faced Lin Feng, their eyes filled with shock and regret.

“Go… Gold-level weapon? This… this kid…”

“Damn it, I misjudged him…”

“He must be a prodigal son from some big family! Stole a family treasure to exchange for money to squander!”

Someone muttered sourly in a low voice.

“Exactly, otherwise how would a student have such good stuff? He really got lucky…”

The murmurs instantly reversed, filled with jealousy and sourness, but no one dared to openly mock him anymore.

Those gazes now held only complexity and awe.

In less than two minutes, a middle-aged man in a dark gray suit, with impeccably combed hair and a steady demeanor, walked quickly out from the back room.

Behind him followed the bowing and scraping staff member from before.

The middle-aged man's gaze was sharp, immediately locking onto Lin Feng.

He stepped forward quickly, a professional smile on his face, a hundred times more sincere than the previous counter attendant's.

“Esteemed guest, I apologize for the delay! I am Wang Yan, the person in charge of the Black Rock Exchange. My subordinates are ignorant of the rules; please forgive them.”

Wang Yan bowed slightly, his posture very humble.

His gaze swept over the several pieces of armor and materials Lin Feng had placed on the counter, and his pupils constricted slightly again.

Although these couldn't compare to the dagger, they were all extremely high-quality Silver-level equipment and rare materials, worth a considerable sum.

“It's fine.”

Lin Feng said indifferently, taking out the remaining pieces of armor and materials from Fan Zhe's storage ring one by one. Finally, he produced a scroll emitting a soft golden glow and covered with profound runes.

The moment this scroll appeared, Wang Yan's professional smile instantly froze, and his breathing stopped for a moment!

He stared intently at the scroll, his voice trembling with disbelief.

“This… this is… a Gold-level Contract Scroll?!”

The entire noisy underground trading market seemed to have been muted.

Centered around the exchange window, circles of eerie silence rippled outwards. Everyone's gaze was firmly drawn to the golden scroll, which exuded a sacred and powerful aura!