Chapter 296: Unmanned Black Market
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
However, Ye Chong still had his senses with him. The crazy idea came and went.
If he had enough tools, Ye Chong could disassemble all the trash material and make full use of them. Now, he could only throw the worthless material out of the spaceship.
The rest of the journey was relatively peaceful, without further incident. The thousand-strong Collision escort around their starship were like ghosts, undetected by any of the other starships that they encountered. It was apparent how heavily the people these days had come to rely on holographic scanning systems.
In another corner of the He Yue galaxy, a middle-aged man gasped, "Kyaji was killed?"
"Yes. The Death Legion was annihilated, there were no survivors." On his holographic screen, an average looking man reported in a low voice.
The middle-aged man asked, "Do you know who’s responsible?"
The other person hesitated for a while before replying, "Should be the Papatte Mech Squad. We’ve looked into them. They should only be a half-star mech squad. About a month ago, they helped the Fan family to find three ripple orchids plants. They are currently escorting the Mi family’s Mi Qi and Mi Su." The spy replied.
"Half a star?" The middle-aged man frowned, and said, "The Fan family and Mi family share a good relationship, it’s only natural that they share their contacts. How strong is this Papatte Mech Squad?"
"Unknown as of yet," the spy explained, "None of us has seen them in battle before. However, the only ones at the battlefield were the Death Legion and Papatte Mech Squad’s starship. According to our spies nearby, after the Death Legion entered the field, they never came out again. Our people also found a lot of mech remains in that area, confirmed to be from the Death Legion. Besides, we found Kyaji’s remains. That is how we deduce the annihilation of the Death Legion."
The middle-aged man quickly understood him. "You said they only have one starship? Is it large or mid sized?"
"Small sized," the spy replied.
"Impossible," the middle-aged man shook his head. "Small sized starships have limited passenger capacity, not enough to destroy the Death Legion entirely. The Death Legion has 2,541 members in total." He was confident of his memory.
"I am also confused by this," the spy admitted.
The middle-aged man asked grimly, "Where are they headed?"
"Lunaris."
"Alright, keep watch on them. If they really destroyed the Death Legion, then they’re a force to be reckoned with. But stay out of their sight." The middle-aged man ordered after a moment’s thought.
"Yes sir."
On Lunaris, a squad of a thousand members moved quickly. This was a deserted place, with only a few mechs occasionally flying across the skies. With dimension keystones, the group’s mobility and covertness were vastly improved. Even so, Ye Chong dared not bring too many people into the city. The Sang tribe members seemed to be unable to hide their threatening demeanor. They all looked vicious and scary, like an unsheathed blade.
He knew exactly what would happen if he brought them all into the city. The squad set camp in a deserted valley. Ye Chong was not concerned about their safety - not many could pose a risk to them. Besides, who would bring a whole battalion marching into the deserted lands out here?
Ye Chong took only a hundred people with him. Their destination was Guilar city. According to Mi Qi, no one would dare to start an open war on Lunaris, since this place was the base of the Black Market. However, that did not mean that the place was well regulated. It was quite the contrary. The society was in a state of unrest, and small-scale battles occurred every other day. Without proper safety measures, one would be at risk being killed.
Guilar city had a 300-kilometer perimeter that was a no-fly zone for mechs. No-fly zones were common in He Yue galaxy, since mechs battles happened frequently, and tend to destroy everything around them. Hence, every city would have its own no-fly zone. Any mech flying in a no-fly zone would be ruled as an enemy of the city, with heavy consequences.
They were a hundred people, forming a standard combat squad. At the center were five people, each carrying a box. Ye Chong and the Mi family members led the way.
Hai Lian wore his mask, carried by Sang Tie as he looked around him with interest. These days, he guarded the boxes as ordered by Ye Chong and bored to death. Now that he was out in the open, he was naturally invigorated. He was already used to being carried by Sang Tie. He adjusted to a more comfortable position, but otherwise looked completely at ease.
Sang Ling carried Mi Su. Even Old Chief Guo was carried by a Sang tribe member. Only Mi Qi and Uncle Yun walked on their own.
The squad advanced quickly. Soon, Mi Qi grew pale from the exertion, panting as he sweated heavily. Uncle Yun fared better, looking his usual self, but his short breaths betrayed his stamina.
Uncle Yun was stunned. These people were strong. All this while, Uncle Yun was confident of his own abilities, but he had never been outmatched this much before.
It was shocking! Their pace was wearing him out, but these people showed no signs of fatigue. Those around him were breathing normally, as if they were at rest. What surprised him more was the man carrying another man, and that woman carrying the Young Miss. These two people were carrying someone, but seemed entirely unaffected. Even the tactician, Yang Ming, who seemed fragile at first, was keeping up with the group.
If the squad members were like unsheathed swords, then Yang Ming was a sword still hidden in its sheath, showing no signs of its true potential. Uncle Yun knew from experience that this kind of people were the ones to really watch out for.
He took a glance at the Young Master, and knew that he was not doing well. Moving quickly was actually quite strenuous, and while the Young Master was actually quite outstanding amongt his peers, he was still greatly outmatched by the squad members.
Since when did the He Yue galaxy come to have such a group of strong people?
Uncle Yun was about to give Mi Qi a helping hand when the young man suddenly stumbled. A hand reached for him, and Mi Qi lifted his head with difficulty to find Yang Ming on his side. He looked at Yang Ming with gratitude, and suddenly felt himself lifted and moving as quick as the clouds in the sky.
The group slowed down when they were near Guilar city. There were more people around them now. Hovercars breezed past them then and again. These were cars used for passenger transportation.
Hai Lian sidled up to Ye Chong and introduced, "Guilar city is the second largest black market in the He Yue galaxy. Actually, you can find black markets everywhere on Lunaris, but you’ll find Guilar city’s Unmanned Black Market the most famous one around. Of course, it’s a complicated place, where every powerful organization in existence will have placed their own men here. You can find rare goods here often, that’s why the organizations try to keep an eye on things."
Mi Qi had already recovered himself, and said with a smile, "It looks like you’re quite familiar with this place, my family also has people here. Once we enter the city, your contract will be fulfilled."
Uncle Yun was looking at the five boxes protected in the center. He could guess that these were the things that were guarded heavily on the starship.
After their long journey, all of them knew that the real leader here was actually the tactician.
The squad members all looked too sharp to be ignored. All the pedestrians stayed out of their way.
As they entered the city, they found many people on the streets. Unlike Foundation city, however, the people here were all highly vigilant, their wary behavior almost transparent from the way they acted. Sang Tie and the rest all noticed the atmosphere and raised their guard even further, their deathly aura now honed to a sharp point.
The people around them were all discreetly shocked. Mi Qi and his family all groaned inside. How could they be so inexperienced? D*mned if they got into trouble for being so obvious of their abilities! The Mi family members were all nervous, waiting for the first enemy to knock on their door.
Unexpectedly, no one came to mess with them, right until they reached the Mi family base. Now that they were in their own territory, Mi Qi and his family all heaved a sigh of relief. The base was notified before they departure earlier on, so the Mi family’s people in the area had all gathered here to protect the Young Master and Young Miss.
With 10 million credits paid to them, Ye Chong and his squad finally relaxed a little.
After they parted ways, Ye Chong and his squad settled down in a local hotel. After some rest, Ye Chong asked for Hai Lian and Old Chief Guo and asked them, "Are you familiar with the Unmanned Black Market?"
"I am," Old Chief Guo replied quickly, "Been here with a friend before, but that was a long time ago."
Hai Lian shook his head. "I’ve not been here before. A poor man like me can’t even afford a mech, much less anything you can buy here in the black market."
"Alright, you lead the way," Ye Chong said to Old Chief Guo. He turned to Sang Fan and said, "Bring 20 people, and bring the boxes with you. Sang Tie and the rest stay here."
"Yes sir," Sang Fan answered.
Hai Lian and Old Chief Guo exchanged looks of confusion. They did not know what was in the boxes that could be so important to the boss. Hai Lian had guarded the boxes throughout the journey, and even he did not know what they were.
"It’s here," Old Chief Guo pointed towards a tall metallic building in front of them. The skyscraper pierced right through the clouds, its metallic walls shining under the sun’s ways.
"What extravagance … The entire building was made of metal ..." Everyone shared the same thought. Just the building itself would cost a fortune.
As they entered the building, they only found customers bustling into the market. There was no staff, just as the place’s name promised.
Ye Chong noticed something interesting. Most of the customers wore masks, and some even wrapped themselves up all over. Ye Chong’s group looked comparatively normal. Old Chief Guo and Hai Lian exchanged smiles over the observation.
Every level in the building was divided into hundreds of independent rooms. Old Chief Guo seemed to know his way. He brought the group into a vacant room. The group found it to be larger than expected, with more than enough room to host more than 20 people.
Inside the room was a photon processor with an inlet beneath it.
Everyone studied the room curiously as Old Chief Guo explained, "This is a normal room, used to sell smaller items. Larger items like mechs will have to be processed on Levels 1 to 5."
"Put the box in this inlet, there’s a conveyor belt that transfers the box inside. We just have to put our items inside, key in our account number in the photon processor, and we’ll be done. This Unmanned Black Market has a good reputation. I’ve never heard of any cases of fraud or missing goods. They have their own professionals to appraise the goods. The goods will be categorized based on their value and put on the auction market. However, they will take 20 percent of the value as commission. If you don’t require a professional’s appraisal, then your items will be categorized as miscellaneous, but in this case, they’ll only charge 10 percent commission."
Old Chief paused for a moment and continued, "The truth is, there are too many loopholes in this trading method, but their internal regulation is strict. After decades of revision, it has become the system that people come to trust today. Besides, the best thing about it is discretion. No one knows the owner of each item."
Ye Chong nodded in understanding. He put the boxes into the inlet and keyed in the identity number prepared earlier into the photon processor.
Soon, he was done. Old Chief Guo added, "Every room can only be used once every day. This room we’re in will not be used again until tomorrow."
"Alright," Ye Chong said, "We’ll leave now."
Old Chief Guo did not go to the door, but walked to a wall and pressed on a red button. The wall slid to the side.
"This is the exit." Ye Chong and his group went in, and Old Chief Guo pressed another button inside. "This is the transferrer. The building has more than 900 exit points, which can be as far as the far east of the city. The transferrer will bring us to a random exit point. It’s for the clients’ safety."
Ye Chong immediately felt the transferrer moving downwards. However, the transferrer moved steadily, and soon came to a stop.
"So it’s really random," Ye Chong smiled wryly to himself as he looked at the unfamiliar surroundings around him.