47: Chapter 47 Huangyan Town and the Black Market

After stepping past the wall, a chaotic and cramped aura rushed over them, mixed with a scent of decay.

The crooked sheet-iron houses were covered in rust, and shack houses made of shattered wooden boards and moldy canvas clung closely to one another, stretching far out.

If not for the people of Huangyan Town intervening in the construction of the shacks, this place would probably be so crowded that there wouldn't even be a road for vehicles to drive on.

They walked inward along the main road, and gazes hidden within the street alleys and broken houses stared straight at their convoy, extremely like rats in the gutter and ferocious wolves waiting for an opportunity.

Someone wanted to sneak up and scavenge, but was smashed with a heavy rifle butt by a member of the Guard Team on the truck, fresh blood flowing down his forehead, yet it could not hide the cowardly viciousness in the opponent's gaze.

The Guard Team member cursed fiercely: "Get the hell away from me!"

This was not the first time the Guard Team of Scarecrow Town had come to the black market, and they were well-versed in the rules here, which was that strength reigns supreme.

Although Huangyan Town was said to be the manager of the black market, in reality, they did not completely control this black market. Blood Cage Arena, Pig Head Tavern, Wild Wolf Gang, and Withered Leaf Caravan... various local tyrants were all influencing this black market.

Being able to restrict people in the black market from easily drawing guns was already proof that Huangyan Town was powerful enough.

The vehicles drove into a dilapidated square, driving straight in, and at a corner location, the convoy stopped and lined up neatly, with two trucks carrying no goods blocking the outer perimeter to form a protective circle.

Even in the trading grounds, it was chaotic enough inside here that they could not afford to drop their guard.

Everyone got off the vehicles one after another, their gazes warning those eager fellows.

Zhao Hu said in a deep voice: "Pitch the tents and guard our supplies well. We should be staying for a day or two, so don't let those thieves get close."

"Understood!"

Everyone quickly went into action. Fan Da also got off the truck, his gaze sweeping across the entire square.

In the square, some people, just like them, occupied a corner in the form of a convoy, pitching tents, and people holding weapons were fully armed to guard their own things.

Some people also spread out a piece of ragged cloth, displaying a great many messy things on it, both weapons and monster materials. These people came in twos and threes, some more and some fewer, anyway, they were all selling certain things in this square.

In a corner, inside a rusted iron cage, two curled-up women revealed hollow, sorrowful gazes, looking numbly at the passing crowds.

Behind the cage, a dry-skinned, sallow-faced man was shouting to solicit customers: "Two newly caught lasses, weighing around 70 jin, definitely not over 25 years old. Once raised well, they'll be pretty people too. Only 300 bullets for one, come take a look if you like."

His voice was as sharp as a knife carving on an iron plate, making people uncomfortable to hear, especially his cold smile, which made people want to kill him all the more.

Fan Da frowned, displeased in his heart, but did not interfere with this hawking behavior. Trafficking in slaves or even the remains of their own kind was commonest of all in this black market.

"Wei Dong, you guys watch here. Zhao Hu, bring a few people to follow me, and let's go to the Pig Head Tavern to check out those old friends."

Followed by a few guards, Fan Da strode into the alley next to the shacks.

They threaded through the alleys. The abrupt eaves, messy piles of objects, and dirty ground made the alley exceptionally difficult to walk through. After walking for ten minutes and turning several corners midway, the few of them finally arrived outside a bar hanging a giant pig head skeleton.

Compared to the shacks beside it, the bar was noticeably much taller, its building body much wider, constructed from large pieces of aged, pitch-black wood, with sheet iron forming its roof.

Under the eaves were also strung a few tacky colorful lights, except none of them lit up anymore. Instead, a swaying kerosene lamp outside the door emitted a dim, flickering glow.

Fan Da stepped forward, pushing open the heavy door with a creak, and noisy sounds instantly came from inside the bar.

Within the dim bar room, many gazes imperceptibly fell on Fan Da, and some gazes even carried a hint of malicious intent.

But he ignored them, merely exposing the pistol at his waist a bit more prominently. He strode to the bar's counter and sat down on the tattered barstool.

"Scarecrow Town, you guys came much later this time than the last. Ran into trouble?"

Behind the bar, an old man with sparse hair, gloomy eyes, and a high bridge of the nose cast his gaze up and down Fan Da's body.

"Transactions don't inquire about recent conditions. You should understand the rules better than me, Old Man Lu."

"Fan Da, you're too vigilant. This is just an old friend's concern. If Zhao Kun came, he'd already be asking me for Maotai. That stuff isn't easy to find after the end times."

"He's not the one who came this time."

Old Man Lu was the owner of the tavern. No one knew his specific name; everyone just called him Old Man Lu or Old Drunkard.

He was an old fellow who sold alcohol and one of the most well-informed people in the black market. Many transactions were brokered and facilitated by him. Don't look at his frail appearance; the power he held behind the scenes was probably enough to disrupt the entire black market.

Old Man Lu chuckled as he poured Fan Da a glass of ice water, lowering his voice to ask: "Private box or sharing a table?"

The area of the entire tavern was not large. The so-called private box was right in this old fellow's room behind the bar. The box was not an ordinary private box, but a venue for confidential transaction talks.

Entering required a fee regardless of whether it succeeded or not. As for sharing a table, within this tavern, there were buyers, sellers, adventurers who had entered the Infinite Building of Huangyan Town to explore, and those rats hiding in the gutters. It was a mixed bag, nothing more.

Sharing a table meant finding someone to trade with yourself, and Old Man Lu wouldn't care about the rest at all, as long as it didn't cost someone's life.

"Private box."

Old Man Lu revealed a smile, his jagged teeth looking so eerie.

He welcomed Fan Da into the room. Inside the room, there was only a table and two chairs, and an old, narrow bed in the corner. Besides that, jars and bottles filled every corner, not even sparing the walls.

The two sat facing each other in front of that small round table, and the room door had already been closed. Although it was crude here, it was enough to isolate people outside from eavesdropping.

"What is the current market price of wheat?"

"Over at Jumu City, one jin of wheat equals three energy blocks. In the black market, it's about 3.5 energy blocks per jin of wheat."

Fan Da frowned slightly; this price was still within his expectations: "Which Shelter in the black market receives this stuff?"

"Don't guess blindly, it's people from the Blade Head Gang who have a channel to send these wheats to the north."

Old Man Lu stopped at a hint, and Fan Da understood in his heart that cheap energy blocks were things only the lower-class people needed, and those powerful Shelters were qualified to consume wheat; the more powerful the Shelter or even Shelter city, the more so.

"Help me pass a word to them, I've brought over 30,000 jin of wheat."

"Easily said, wheat is grain after all, completely without worry of finding a market."

Fan Da nodded, not denying this viewpoint.

In these end times, there were only three hard currencies: first, food; second, bullets; and third, transcendent materials. The first two were effective currencies for everyone, while the latter was the hard currency for these warriors who had broken their limits.

"Are there any news about transcendent potions recently?"

Old Man Lu smiled even more brightly upon hearing this: "Are the two of you already prepared? You came just in time. I received news that in about a month, inside the market of Huangyan Town, there should be two painless potions, both of which are Tier 1 transcendent potions, except the price should be a bit higher."

Hearing the two words "market", Fan Da's brow frowned even more severely. The market was a black market auction house directly controlled and organized by Huangyan Town, and many precious things, slaves, and trucks might appear there.

As long as things went on the auction block, none of them were cheap. More importantly, once a potion like this was auctioned off, the person who won the bid would instantly become the target of public criticism, and even if they concealed their identity, it might not yield good results.

"Aren't there people looking to sell privately?"

"What you want is a transcendent potion after all. Trading this kind of thing privately was never common to begin with, let alone that supplies have been cut off recently."

Fan Da obtained the news about the transcendent potion and asked Old Man Lu about some of the black market's recent conditions.

The two chatted for about half an hour. After getting intelligence from Old Man Lu about Shelters or explorers suitable for trading supplies, they finally withdrew from the so-called private box.

He gathered together with the team, with Zhao Hu following by his side, and Fan Da said: "Let's finish the trade early, and then return quickly."