Chapter 55 - 52: Black Market

Chapter 55: Chapter 52: Black Market

Shi An had never been to the black market.

However, he knew a bit about the black market in Baijiang City. He had heard the Hair Ghost and the Dream Descenders in the Safe Zone chatting about it, and he had also read about it in the materials provided by the Countermeasures Bureau.

It was worth mentioning that after officially joining the Newcomer Guidance Department, his authority level in the Countermeasures Bureau had increased by one rank. He now possessed genuine Level 1 authority, putting him on the same tier as the Ordinary Dream Descenders in the Bureau. During his previous training stage, he—and the many official clerks—only had sub-level authority.

A perk of Level 1 authority was that he could enter the Countermeasures Bureau Headquarters directly through facial recognition. However, without special circumstances, an ordinary staff member like Shi An had no reason to go out of his way to visit the headquarters, even though it was also located in the Anping District. But going to the black market was on the way, making it a perfectly suitable excuse.

As members of the Newcomer Guidance Department, they needed a deeper understanding of the daily lives of Dream Descenders to better explain and guide newcomers. Shi An was quite curious about the black market and wanted to see it with his own eyes. Perhaps it could even provide some reference for managing his own Safe Zone.

"But, can ordinary people like us go to a place like the black market?" Jiang Yilu, a female university intern, asked timidly.

She was a bit curious but also somewhat afraid. As a relatively new employee at the Countermeasures Bureau, having joined only a month before Shi An, she didn’t know much about Dream Descenders and had yet to shift her mindset.

Old Song said, "Normal ordinary people certainly can’t go, nor can they find the place. But we are personnel of the Countermeasures Bureau, after all. Simply showing the special card provided by the Bureau is enough to get us in.

"In fact, a black market like this isn’t entirely filled with Dream Descenders; there are also quite a few ordinary people."

The daily management of the black market, the transportation of supplies, the inventory of goods... These tasks were mostly done by ordinary people. After all, Dream Descenders carried the risk of falling into a Nightmare at any given time. Under these circumstances, the minority of people who knew about Nightmares but were disdained by them and wouldn’t be entangled became highly sought-after talents by various factions. They were high-quality corporate slaves with a much lower attrition rate.

The Wanmeng Dreams City black market was located right below the underground parking garage of the Wanmeng Mall. For an ordinary person like Shi An, who had never been to the black market, coming here for the first time without an acquaintance to lead the way would truly make it hard to find.

Old Song was clearly a regular, and Li Hao from their group also looked like he knew his way around. The group took several turns. Instead of heading straight to the basement, they navigated through the mall’s first floor to a secluded corridor. Although considered secluded, they could still hear the bustling noise of the mall. The elevator lobby and restrooms were just over a dozen meters away.

In this rarely visited corner, there was another elevator that looked like a freight elevator. They walked inside.

Old Song took out a card and swiped it at the sensor with a BEEP. Shi An also had this card; it was one of the items issued when he took the job. Besides this, he had received two uniforms he rarely wore, his Countermeasures Bureau ID, a corporate employee badge for public use, a specially-made communicator, and more.

After unlocking access with the keycard, Old Song pressed the button for the second basement level. The elevator descended. The final location displayed, however, was not the second basement level, but the third. This was where the Wanmeng Dreams City black market was located—a quiet retreat hidden within a bustling area.

Who would have thought that a secretive group like the Dream Descenders would be active right in the middle of a bustling downtown? But remembering that Dream Descenders needed an Anchor Point, it made sense to Shi An.

"There might be another reason. A black market located in a busy commercial district could more easily earn the trust of Ordinary Dream Descenders," he thought.

If the black market were in the middle of nowhere, weak and pitiful Ordinary Dream Descenders would be terrified to go there. Not to mention the long distance. Just like how a mall needed to be opened in a prime location, so did a black market. Shi An came to a realization.

The elevator doors opened. At this moment, Jiang Yilu thought of something and timidly raised her hand. "Everyone, are we just going to enter the black market like this? Don’t we need some sort of disguise?"

"Right, I almost forgot," Old Song said, pulling a stack of masks from his backpack and handing one to each person.

Once they put them on, their main facial features were hidden. Shi An was speechless. Was this the experience of a veteran? On the surface, Old Song seemed to be a master of slacking off, but in reality, he was fully prepared even for a casual outing. Shi An felt he had underestimated him a bit. He still needed to learn from this cautious spirit.

However, Shi An was feeling somewhat emboldened by his skills. After all, he had contained two Curse Objects and could directly wield their formidable power: the Invisible Corridor and the Pitch-Black Shoe Covers. When he used the latter after containing it, his obvious footsteps were indeed gone. Not only could he conceal his figure, but his movement speed also increased significantly. It was quite a practical Curse Object for escaping.

As for the Invisible Corridor, it could control, trap, and suppress. This was the very reason he felt confident enough to directly suggest checking out the black market. Shi An knew this place had a decent level of safety, and if they truly encountered danger, he could make a move. As long as his identity as the Safe Zone Manager wasn’t exposed, revealing himself as a Dream Descender wouldn’t be an issue.

Of course, it was still best to remain a quiet, ordinary person who could slack off. An ordinary corporate drone, a Countermeasures Bureau employee, a master Dream Descender, and the Safe Zone Manager—these were Shi An’s current four identities.

After they put on the masks, it wasn’t over. Old Song skillfully led them to a small stall set up outside the black market. The items sold at this stall were very ordinary: masks, sunglasses, duckbill hats, and face masks. And so, the group put on duckbill hats as well.

"Wow, they’re actually this good at doing business?" Li Hao exclaimed in surprise.

"But these items are genuinely urgently needed by passersby," Shi An noted.

The stall owner smiled and nodded at them. "Could this stall owner be personnel arranged by the Countermeasures Bureau to monitor the black market?" Shi An wondered.

Fully disguised, the group of six officially entered the black market. It was somewhat more ordinary than expected, looking like a small neighborhood block built inside a mall, just not as lively.

Along the way, Shi An saw many people dressed similarly to them. Quite a few of these individuals clearly carried a cold, gloomy aura and had dark complexions—they were undoubtedly Dream Descenders. There was also a small minority who acted carefree, making no attempt to hide themselves.

"Most of the items sold here are related to Dream Descenders, largely excavated from the Nightmare World," Old Song explained. "However, since this is a black market after all, the goods come with no guarantees. There are plenty of fakes, so just treat it as window shopping."

He was mainly saying this to remind K. Among the group, Zhou was the wealthiest, yet also the youngest and most lacking in life experience.

Shi An looked around. There were relatively few fixed stalls here. Most were small pop-up stands displaying a bizarre variety of goods. He walked up to one of the stalls.

The owner was a man wearing a Pigsy mask. "Take a look! This is a Spirit Fruit I risked my life to pick in the Nightmare World. Eating it strengthens the body and makes you immune to all diseases. How about it? If you want it, take it for fifty thousand yuan. No bargaining."

He was trying to bluff him like a complete newbie. Although Shi An was indeed a newbie, he wasn’t completely clueless about how things worked. In the black market, usually only lower-end goods were traded with real-world currency. For items of higher value, the price tags were marked in Dream Dust Prices, or they were bartered. Not to mention, Treasure Medicines were among the most precious types of items.

Seeing that Shi An didn’t speak, the stall owner spoke again. "Thirty thousand—no, twenty thousand is fine too. I can’t go any lower."

But Shi An simply looked at another item. It was a quaint parchment scroll. He could feel a dense, cold aura emanating from it. In the outside world, Shi An couldn’t see its status information. However, he recognized this type of item.

"This is a team-forming item, isn’t it?"