72: Unable to find an encounter in the underground black market

The mere few minutes of inspection felt like a century to him, and his back was soaked in cold sweat.

If he had known, he wouldn't have come; it felt just like being kidnapped.

He stole a glance at Bai Ye beside him, who still looked completely unbothered.

This level of composure didn't seem like that of a high school student at all.

Zhang Tianluo secretly admired him.

"Sit tight. The road ahead won't be as comfortable."

Brother Yun's voice, now less icy, came from the driver's seat.

He reached under his seat, pulled out two black cloth bags, and tossed them over.

"Put these on."

"What's this?"

Zhang Tianluo picked up one of the bags; it felt like rough burlap to the touch and smelled of dust.

"The rules of the black market: no seeing the light of day while being led."

Brother Yun explained concisely: "If you don't want your eyes gouged out, put them on and behave."

He was in a fairly good mood; finally, there were two people who genuinely wanted to enter the black market.

Zhang Tianluo shivered involuntarily.

Gouging out eyes, that was brutal.

He didn't dare ask any more questions and hurriedly pulled the black cloth bag over his head.

His vision was stripped away, leaving only pure darkness before his eyes.

His sense of smell and hearing were magnified infinitely at that moment, and the unpleasant smell of smoke and cheap perfume in the car became even more pungent.

Bai Ye picked up the other bag and weighed it in his hand.

It didn't really matter to him; it was just covering his eyes, which didn't affect him much.

Not to mention his super-strong Mental Energy, he also possessed the talent of Telepathy, so he could roughly perceive his surroundings even with his eyes closed.

To avoid appearing too special, he obediently pulled the bag over his head.

As darkness fell, the corners of Bai Ye's mouth curled up slightly; this was even better, as it made it easier for him to make some small moves.

"Vroom..."

The van started up again, the body shook violently, and then it slowly drove off.

Bai Ye leaned back against the seat, his mind highly focused, silently recording every detail of the car's journey.

Left turn, straight for thirty seconds, right turn, uphill...

Zhang Tianluo, sitting beside him, didn't have such a good mindset.

In the completely dark and enclosed environment, every minute and every second was torture.

The car twisted and turned, taking them further and further away from the city center.

The honking of surrounding vehicles gradually faded, replaced by the "rustling" sound of the wind blowing through the woods.

The road surface also began to get bumpy.

Bai Ye adjusted his sitting posture, his right hand resting seemingly casually on his knee, while his fingertips quietly fingered the small glass bottle containing the Aromatic Pollen.

He unscrewed the cap just a tiny crack.

During a violent bump, he gave his wrist a slight flick, and a few grains of powder, finer than dust, drifted silently out through the gap in the car window, dissipating into the air.

After finishing this, he immediately tightened the cap; the entire process was smooth and fluid, without making a sound.

Brother Yun, sitting in the front, was completely unaware and continued to drive with focus.

This is what they call: "A passing goose leaves a cry, a passing person leaves a scent."

About three hours later, the van suddenly braked hard and stopped.

"Are we here?"

Zhang Tianluo's body lurched forward due to inertia, almost hitting the seat in front.

"Don't make a sound."

Brother Yun's voice was full of warning; Bai Ye immediately composed his mind and listened intently.

Outside the car, there was complete silence; even the sound of the wind had disappeared.

Several powerful auras were approaching them. The car door was pulled open from the outside, and a cold wind rushed in.

"Get out."

A hoarse voice sounded from outside the car.

Brother Yun stepped out first.

Bai Ye and the other stepped out one after the other, their feet landing on hard concrete ground.

The air was filled with an unpleasant smell of mixed machine oil and rust.

"Search them."

The hoarse voice sounded again.

Two large men walked up and began to roughly search them.

The men's hands carefully searched every inch of Bai Ye's body, not even sparing the soles of his shoes.

He did not resist and let them check.

Anyway, he wasn't carrying anything else on him besides that small glass bottle.

The burly man searching him took out the small glass bottle and sniffed it forcefully, then wobbled and fell to the ground, a happy smile on his face.

Good grief, is it that pure?

The leader looked in surprise at the glass bottle still tightly gripped in the burly man's hand.

After the inspection, they were roughly pushed forward again, and the road under their feet began to slope downward.

The air became increasingly humid, and they could hear the sound of dripping water from afar.

"Are we... heading underground?" Zhang Tianluo asked uncertainly.

No one answered him.

Bai Ye already had the answer in his heart; the largest black market in Luoxue City was actually built underground.

They walked downwards for about ten minutes before the road under their feet became flat again.

The two people holding them also let go.

"You can take off the head coverings."

Brother Yun's voice sounded from the front.

Upon hearing this, Bai Ye and Zhang Tianluo reached out almost simultaneously, unable to wait to take off the stuffy and foul-smelling cloth bags from their heads.

Having been deprived of vision for over four hours, they finally regained their sight.

The dazzling blue light made Zhang Tianluo instinctively squint his eyes, and it took a while for him to adapt.

When he saw the scene before him, he gasped.

They were actually standing at the top of a metal staircase extending downwards.

The staircase was wide, made of some unknown black metal, with anti-slip patterns carved into the surface.

On both sides of the staircase were mirror-smooth rock walls, and on the walls, every few meters, a crystal emitting a faint blue light was embedded.

"This... this..."

Zhang Tianluo's eyes widened, looking at the magical-feeling passage; his mouth was open wide enough to fit an egg, and he couldn't say a complete sentence for a long time.

"Has this whole underground area been hollowed out?"

Bai Ye was also slightly surprised by the scene before him; he touched the cold rock wall beside him and couldn't help but let out an exclamation of wonder.

"That's right."

Brother Yun, who was walking in front, said without turning his head.

"This place below is the masterpiece of several Elite Limit 'Earth-Escaping Pangolins'; the entire black market was dug out by them."

Bai Ye knew about the Earth-Escaping Pangolins, which were jokingly referred to by people in his class as the Divine Beast of Civil Engineering.

Along with the Ramming Beast, the holy body of concrete pouring, they were known as the saviors of civil engineering brothers.

He hadn't expected this black market to be such a grand undertaking.

"Let's go, don't just stand there."

Brother Yun urged them, taking the lead as he walked down the metal staircase.

Bai Ye and Zhang Tianluo exchanged a glance and quickly followed.

After walking for about ten minutes, the scene before them suddenly opened up, and a huge underground cavern appeared before them.

The top of the cavern was embedded with countless glowing crystals, gathering together in different sizes like a brilliant galaxy, illuminating the entire underground world as brightly as day.

In the center was a wide street paved with smooth bluestone slabs, with various strange-looking shops lining both sides.

People wearing different masks shuttled back and forth on the street, though the number of people was not very large.

This reminded Bai Ye of a certain dungeon, but unfortunately, he was not looking for any encounters.