9: Chapter 9 Treasure Hunting in the Garbage Heap

The stall trading area of the Underground Black Market was like a massive underground labyrinth.

Countless tarps were spread over the damp ground, piled high with various items brought back from the front lines of the Star Gate cracks.

Broken weapons, furs of exotic beasts stained with dried blood, unidentified Ores, and even mechanical debris left over from the old era.

The interior of the Star Gate was filled with abyss source energy; this high-dimensional energy would severely interfere with the detection of modern instruments.

Many items brought out from inside looked like scrap on the outside, but might contain extremely high-level spiritual energy within, while some Materials that looked shiny and bright on the surface turned out to be nothing but useless waste when cut open.

Treasure hunting here required no reliance on machines; it was entirely dependent on one's eye and luck.

Su Chen had his hands in the pockets of his cloak, and under his mask, his Single Tomoe Sharingan was operating at full speed.

"Come take a look! Good stuff just brought back from the third level of the Star Gate!"

A stall ahead was surrounded by a crowd. The stall owner was holding up a crystal the size of a fist, emitting a faint, eerie blue light, and was spouting sales pitches enthusiastically.

"An A-rank Frost Wolf crystal core! Everyone, look at this chill, look at this spiritual energy halo! Absolutely top-tier! Embed it into a weapon, and you can immediately forge an A-rank ice-attribute divine weapon!"

The eyes of the onlookers lit up. One young master from a wealthy family, wearing a custom martial arts suit, nodded: "The spiritual energy fluctuation is indeed strong; I can feel the cold even from half a meter away. Boss, name your price."

"You have an eye for quality, young master! One price, eight hundred thousand Star Coins!"

"Fine, I'll take it." The young master didn't even haggle, directly pulling out an anonymous black card to pay.

Su Chen happened to be passing by.

His gaze passed through the crowd and landed on that "A-rank Frost Wolf crystal core."

In the vision of the Sharingan, the disguise applied to the surface of the item was instantly stripped away, revealing the truest energy flow within.

"Idiots." Su Chen sneered inwardly.

To others, the blue crystal core appeared full of spiritual energy, but in the view of the Sharingan, the energy lines inside appeared as a very turbid, chaotic, dark green.

That was not any kind of ice spiritual energy; it was a fake created using the lowest-quality D-rank exotic beast crystal core, forcibly injected with unstable industrial spiritual energy potion using a syringe, and then coated with a layer of fluorescent powder on the surface.

The volatile chemical potion would only last for three days at most before evaporating; by then, the value of this crystal core would be only a few hundred, and if used to forge a weapon, it would even cause the furnace to explode directly.

Su Chen didn't bother to meddle or expose the stall owner; he simply left, gaining a deeper understanding of the Sharingan's abilities.

The Sharingan could not only see through the enemy's Martial Skill movements and muscle exertion, but also directly see the energy flow within all things.

In the Hokage world, the Sharingan could see through the human body's Chakra meridians.

And in this high-martial world, regardless of the System of spiritual energy, blood Qi, or even the abyss source, they were essentially energy. As long as it was energy, it could not hide before the Sharingan!

In the Underground Black Market, where fakes were everywhere and even high-precision instruments would malfunction, this was simply the ultimate, unsolvable cheat!

Su Chen quickened his pace.

He no longer looked at those items emitting spiritual energy fluctuations on the surface, as most of them were artificially faked. His gaze specifically scanned those unremarkable piles of scrap that were even treated as trash.

Half an hour later.

Su Chen slowed his steps and stopped in front of an extremely remote stall.

The location here was poor, near the ventilation shaft of the air-raid shelter, where the wind was strong and carried an unpleasant sewer smell.

The stall owner was an old mercenary sitting on a small stool, his left sleeve empty, and a hideous scar ran from his forehead to his chin. He had a low-quality cigarette in his mouth and didn't even glance at the passing customers.

On the tarp of the stall, dozens of catties of scrap metal covered in dry mud and some low-level exotic beast bones were piled up in a disorderly manner.

There were no spiritual energy fluctuations, let alone those fake halos specifically meant to deceive novices.

However, Su Chen's hand, hidden in his sleeve, clenched tightly.

In the scarlet vision of the Single Tomoe Sharingan, the corner of the dim "trash heap" was emitting a dazzling light.

It was a broken hilt with only half remaining.

The hilt was covered in thick brown rust and even stuck to the scrap iron next to it, looking like a piece of old metal junk dug out of a mud ditch.

But through the rust, Su Chen could clearly see a dark red energy vortex hidden inside the hilt, which appeared to be rolling like magma under the light.

The density of this energy was terrifyingly high, and a small energy vortex had even formed around it.

In his mind, the mechanical voice of the System sounded at the right moment, verifying his judgment.

"Ding! High-concentration ownerless abyss source detected."

"Item value assessment: Extremely high."

Su Chen took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his racing heartbeat.

He knew very well the temperament of these old mercenaries; those who could survive on the front lines of the Star Gate even after losing an arm were all cunning old foxes.

If he went to pick up that hilt now, no matter how casual he acted, the other party might immediately notice something wrong and immediately hike up the price or simply take the item back and refuse to sell.

Things where prices increased tenfold just because someone looked an extra time happened every day in the Black Market.

Su Chen squatted down, his gaze scanning the stall, deliberately avoiding the hilt in the corner.

He reached his hand into a pile of scrap metal and picked out a thick, discarded bearing.

"Boss, how much for these rusty scraps?" Su Chen changed his voice, making it sound hoarse and tinged with a hint of fatigue, "I want to buy some iron to mix into a mold back home and forge a normal machete for myself."

The old mercenary exhaled a puff of grayish-white smoke and lifted his eyes slightly.

"Sold by weight, one hundred Star Coins per catty."

"Too expensive." Su Chen shook his head directly, "With this quality, I still have to remove the rust when I get back…"

The old mercenary sneered: "Dragged back from the third zone of the Star Gate. Take it or leave it; if you don't want to buy, get lost."

Su Chen didn't speak, continuing to look for things at the stall.

He picked out another piece of discarded armor plate fragment and a broken gear. These items were bulky and extremely heavy, but in the vision of the Sharingan, they had no energy inside and were completely dead objects.

Su Chen threw these pieces of scrap iron onto a rusty electronic scale next to the stall.

"Thirty-eight catties." The old mercenary glanced at the reading on the electronic scale, "Three thousand eight hundred Star Coins."

Su Chen frowned, pretending to be dissatisfied with the weight.

"Not enough weight; it's still a bit short for forging a knife."

He reached out and casually rummaged through the tarp twice.

Then, he naturally picked up the broken hilt in the corner, and a scrap screw that was stuck to it was also grabbed along with it.

"Just use these to make up the number."

When Su Chen said this, he threw the hilt and the screw onto the electronic scale together without even looking at what was in his hand.

The scrap iron hit the scale pan, and after the needle wobbled, it steadied, stopping at a certain mark.

"Exactly fifty catties." Su Chen looked at the old mercenary, his hoarse voice tinged with a hint of impatience, "Boss, don't ask for four or five thousand. For this pile of junk, I'm buying it back to smelt steel, and the iron slag filtered out alone will take up half the weight."

Su Chen pointed at the pile of scrap iron on the scale pan, his tone becoming firm: "One price, five hundred. If you don't want to earn this money, I'll go straight to the West District recycling station to buy freshly produced D-rank alloy offcuts." After speaking, Su Chen made a gesture of reaching into his pocket for money, while at the same time making a movement to stand up.

The old mercenary narrowed his eyes, staring at the black-robed person in front of him wearing a demon mask.

He had been in the Black Market for over a decade; what kind of buyer hadn't he seen?

He had just scanned this pile of scrap iron with his portable micro-detector, and the instrument didn't react at all, which meant there was no spiritual energy inside.

As for that rusted hilt, he had checked it countless times. It couldn't be broken, couldn't be melted, and had no spiritual energy—it was a completely useless piece of trash.

"This kid wants to take advantage? Five hundred for fifty catties of scrap iron; although not high, it's better than letting it rot in my hands."

The old mercenary calculated in his heart. He hadn't made a single cent since setting up the stall today; this five hundred was just enough for him to go have a couple of drinks.

"Alright, stop pretending."

The old mercenary threw the cigarette butt on the ground and extinguished it, pulled over a black bag from the side, and swept the fifty catties of scrap iron from the scale pan into it all at once.

"A poor wretch is a poor wretch; having to pick up trash just to forge a knife. Take it and go."

Su Chen didn't retort; he pulled out five crumpled hundred-dollar bills from his pocket. This was the last bit of cash he had on him.

"Many thanks."

Su Chen turned around, picked up the bag, and strode into the crowd, not looking back and not running; his pace remained steady.

Only he knew that under his wide black cloak, his heartbeat was like a beating drum.

The first practical test of the Sharingan was a perfect display of acting and tug-of-war.

Five hundred.

He had bought a priceless treasure containing an extremely high concentration of abyss source.

Next, it was time to turn this piece of broken iron into the one million in cash that could save Jiang Feng's life.

Su Chen identified the direction and headed straight toward the tallest and most heavily guarded building in the center of the Underground Black Market.

That was the largest money sink in all of Jiangnan City.

Jubao Pavilion.