Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 709 - 594 Black Market

Chapter 709: Chapter 594 Black Market

Life was rife throughout the little factory, with used condoms scattered everywhere, and disassembled electronics, empty casings, spent batteries, and aluminum cans strewn across the tables. Moldy dirty sofas, filing cabinets, and old speakers were piled together, making the air reek in a way that wrinkled one’s nose.

Above, Lu Jing and Rinne were laying out the spoils they had found on top of a table.

Lu Jing was very poor, the base salary of a Green-clothed maid was only 3500, plus 3000 in targeted spending vouchers and 2800 in housing subsidies. Jobs with fixed tenures were always like this, so there was no risk of being fired or dismissed.

Rinne had also already spent all her money to repay favors, so now her pockets were empty.

But within these shanties, they carefully searched, rummaging through bodies and rifling through various safes and secret compartments, acquiring a lot of ill-gotten gains. Looking at the treasure-covered table, their expressions were naturally joyful.

We’re about to strike it rich.

"This cash card is stuffed with Trojan traps, but once I delete them..." Rinne held a grey cash card in her hand, its indicator light flashing rapidly.

In no time, she had cleared the data vulnerabilities and then transferred all 15000 funds into her own card.

"This gun is so big..." Lu Jing picked up a Laserbeak Gun which was at least 2.5 meters long, looking more like a spear used for stabbing than anything else; it used a quad-energy cell battery pack.

"These guns don’t have any standard branding; they’re made by a contract factory. Believe me, if you take the energy ammunition out, those batteries are worth more than the gun itself. Just finding one nuclear fission battery would mean we’ve struck it rich... but if you handle it with your hands, remember to take some rad poisoning antidote afterward."

"Rad poisoning antidote is expensive."

"So you can drink a bottle of Quantum Cola first, that way you’ll be buying the medicine to stay alive, and you won’t worry about money anymore," Rinne said, her eyes sparkling.

"Idiot! Oh, these gold jewels seem to belong to a hotel," said Lu Jing, picking up a few necklaces stained with blood, which should have been around the neck of a guest.

"Don’t even think about returning them; we need to sell them on the black market. Wait until I open an account for you at Switz Bank in Jialong Slope, then you’ll have your own little treasure trove," Rinne whispered conspiratorially.

"Even if I had money, I couldn’t leave the company to enjoy it," said Lu Jing, feeling uneasy.

"Listen, Xiao Lu, life is short," Rinne caressed Lu Jing’s cheek, "You’ll come to realize there are things that are utterly joyful, and moments like that, even if they only last a few days and nights, are enough to carry you through the many years of hardship that follow."

"My life won’t be short," Lu Jing yearned for Eternal Life.

"Anyway, stuff these jewels into your pockets quickly. The closest black market contact is only a kilometer from here, I know the way." Rinne quickly swept the spoils from the table into her bosom, ready to exchange them for money.

"Any clues?" Seeking Shadow and Masasuke Hazuki walked over to the other side where the military men were.

"The surviving bandits said they were entrusted by a contact known as ’Old Poet’... they also mentioned an auction," mused the Nestor Officer, "There’s a big auction tomorrow. Many valuable stores, banks, even Digital Mind, and the mysterious painting by the mad Artist will be sold; all rare items. We’ll need to gather some funds from headquarters to bid."

The grand auction event at Jialong Slope was the grandest occasion there, and they couldn’t help but take it seriously.

"Could we save funds if we use military force?" Masasuke Hazuki asked.

The officer looked around. He glanced at the bandits lying on the ground, and his gaze then fell on the rundown low buildings outside the window.

"...Wherever Nestor Corporation goes, it brings progressive thoughts, reformed systems, and order to the lower echelons. What we have to do is transform Jialong Slope into a place that changes day by day, not create a horrifying massacre," the officer said.

"A civilized corporate army," Masasuke Hazuki said, his expression unchanged.

"We’re rough and straightforward, only following orders. The information center saw our records and tossed us into serving as soldiers in Nestor’s security department, but we can still see what’s good and bad. Some people are clever but specialize in pressuring those without power or influence," the officer muttered.

Lu Jing and Rinne listened for a while, and then they left the factory to make transactions in the black market of Jialong Slope.

This was the Northeast District of Jialong Slope, where undocumented outsiders lived, yearning day and night to apply for city citizenship in Jialong Slope.

They moved swiftly.

Some people claimed all cities were the same, made up of blocky grids, wide streets, and tall skyscrapers, decorated with the poverty of the lower-class slums, bland and monotonous. Rinne disagreed with this view, understanding that each city had its own intrinsic personality. Cities, like living, breathing people, may have similar skin colors and vital signs, but when you delve under the surface of the skin, you encounter vast differences.

She had visited Jialong Slope before; therefore, all of Jialong Slope’s secrets were willing to open up to her. It was as if she held a master key, continually unlocking locked doors. Lu Jing followed behind Rinne, watching her skillfully enter the sewers, navigate through various old subway stations, and then emerge, as if by magic, in a smoky lounge. They apologized repeatedly to the disturbed smokers nearby before passing through a yellow door into the black market.

It was a bustling place, with endless stalls, and masked men and women hurrying past. There were numerous mysterious guests in wide-brimmed hats and trench coats, resembling secret agents or mercenaries, exchanging concealed information about Jialong Slope.

"For just 50, I can tell your fortune in love—ladies," a robot holding a glass shouted at them, with a straw booth beside it full of antique video disks and playing cards.

Lu Jing looked at the robot and knew from signal tracking that someone hundreds of meters away was quietly using the robot to observe them, trying to get some money off them.

Before she could intervene, Rinne cheerfully pulled out her cash card and, while playfully winking at Lu Jing, swiped it across the payment machine.

The robot emitted a pleased electronic sound, similar to the congratulatory tone that would emanate from a casino slot machine after hitting triple sixes. It seemed its software was based on some gambling model.

"Congratulations, miss. Your love is safe, it has left its mark upon you, and nothing can tear it apart. Though you can never catch a flying bird, that’s alright; everyone’s the same! You’re not the first to suffer," the robot said.

"Do you understand what it’s saying?" Lu Jing asked Rinne skeptically, "It mentioned some...rather ambiguous things."

"Even saying it’s a bunch of nonsense," Rinne said with a cold laugh, and then suggested to Lu Jing, "You can try it too, maybe it will tell you something useful."

"I don’t have money," Lu Jing said. She pulled Rinne away, actually afraid of knowing what kind of man her future might bring. It was better not to know her destiny.

In the markets of Jialong Slope, there were all kinds of modified people crammed together; violence was ubiquitous, and they had to stuff different components into their bodies to boost their ability to resist risks. People who didn’t rely on their looks often reinforced their nasal bridges and eye sockets with titanium alloys to avoid being knocked out by a punch. The cost was their faces being grotesquely distorted, looking like extraterrestrial life.

"This place is too dim," Lu Jing observed, noticing candles everywhere instead of lights.

"Some kind of folk custom, perhaps," Rinne also found it strange, recalling that the last time she was here, there were thousands of small electric lights strung up, interweaving different colors like a jar of candies. Now everything was submerged in a hazy orange glow.

In the area where smuggled goods and loot were sold, Rinne clattered her spoils onto the counter.

At the sound, a rat’s paw reached out from the inside. The Ratman trader scrutinized them with its small green eyes, its long whiskers twitching rapidly in the smoke.

"A rat!" Lu Jing exclaimed in surprise.

"Don’t make such a fuss. Ratmen are everywhere, the dirtier the place, the more of them there are."

"Our companions are increasing day by day, potential brethren under the overpass, in the basement, at the labor market— even if they’re not aware of it now, they will be eventually," the Ratman trader said with a meaningful glance at Lu Jing.

"Any news, Jin Li?" Rinne pushed her spoils through the window with a smile.

The Ratman trader named Jin Li glanced back, where many of his rat comrades chattered excitedly at an old terminal, as if celebrating some good fortune.

"The bets paid off, Northern Archipelago beat the Rhine People, the hope of the Eastern Hemisphere. Yes, yes," Jin Li said.

"I don’t get soccer. But you all seem very happy," Rinne said with a smile.

"Because she will come," Jin Li murmured to himself, words spilling rapidly from his hairy lips, "Our goddess, the goddess of rats, she’s deathly beautiful and will bring happiness to all rats. Yes, yes."

Rinne’s gaze pierced through the darkness behind the Ratman, where at least a few dozen Ratmen resided—black-furred strong rats carrying goods, white-furred skinny rats tallying earnings, and grey-furred rats in packs moving through the sewers, cleaning the filth from the drains.

"A goddess of rats sounds weird, get me a pack of cigarettes," Rinne waved off the conversation.

Ratman Jin Li passed a pack of cigarettes through the window, which Lu Jing took.

"You’re not allowed to smoke," Lu Jing said.

Rinne smiled faintly, standing at the window with one foot hooked behind the other, her posture straight and compelling. Her body’s silhouette was tantalizing, accentuated by her tight clothes.

"It’s going to rain," Rinne said to Jin Li.

"Yes, yes. Rainy things," Jin Li accepted their spoils, and retrieved an Anonymous Cash Card and a gold bar from behind the counter as trade.

"I don’t want the gold bar," Rinne said.

"Gold bar useful, girl not understand cybernetic enhancement stuff," Jin Li’s whiskers trembled as he insisted on pushing the gold bar through the window.

Rinne pocketed the card and pushed the gold bar back.

"I want information—Digital Mind," Rinne said curtly.

"How badly do you want it? You’re not the only one after it," Jin Li locked eyes with Rinne.

"I’d trade my life for it; I can’t live without Digital Mind," Rinne said deliberately in front of Lu Jing.

The statement pierced Lu Jing’s heart. She thought about extracting the Digital Mind from her own brain to give to Rinne, but her life was already deeply bound to it. At that moment, she merely lowered her eyelids in sadness, lost in thought.

If she had successfully gotten Digital Mind for Rinne, would Rinne now be a master of the Helis Sea?

Jin Li chattered with his companions in the background.

"Digital Mind will be auctioned at the Jialong Slope International Trade Building, tomorrow, starting bid 66 million," Jin Li announced.

"Who’s the seller?" Rinne pressed.

"Smart, knows nothing, he used intermediary stuff, a third-party company on the network; you can’t find him, can’t find," Jin Li muttered.

"Any other news? Dangerous or interesting things in the city?" Rinne sought to gather more clues.

"Beware the White Salamander," Jin Li tapped his fingers on the counter as if urging Rinne to leave.

"What salamander?" Rinne asked, puzzled.

"Lizard stuff, a monster that eats anything. It crawled up from the sea route to Jialong Slope... the White Salamander... nothing can harm it. It’s now hiding under the city, waiting to strike at anything interesting," Jin Li explained, murmuring.

"Sounds like some kind of monster," Rinne frowned.

Just then, a rustling noise spread across the entire black market, and people quickly headed outside, the crowd surging.

Jin Li picked up a pitch-black box from the ground, pulled a cord from it, and plugged it into a wall socket, apparently a battery pack.

"What’s this? Where are they going?" Seeing so many people bustling about made Lu Jing anxious.

They looked as if they were heading for some kind of large-scale skirmish.