Starry Sky Professional

“I raise my glass to you…”

Liu Wei lifted his soda glass once more, "We synthetic humans have led such miserable lives, like weeds growing in cracks, fighting for every bit of sunlight and rain… After today, I will throw myself into preparations for the college entrance exams. From now on, we will no longer be friends, but competitors."

“Indeed, to our competition!”

Fang Xing also raised his glass, surprised by the situation.

Liu Wei, this kid, actually wanted to draw a line between them.

‘The bonds between men…’

For a moment, he fell silent.

Liu Wei left quickly, as if this gathering was just a final farewell to the past.

In the end, only Fang Xing was left to finish off all the barbecue: ‘This stuff isn’t cheap, can’t let it go to waste…’

He went home as usual, but after closing the door, his expression became serious: ‘Liu Wei…’

He had only had some suspicions before, but today confirmed them; Liu Wei, his old friend, was probably involved with some powers.

However, voluntarily cutting ties showed he still had decent character.

As for competing in the exams? That's no place for friendship anyway, it’s not a life-or-death struggle…

‘If I had the ability, I would help him if I could… but alas, I can barely protect myself now…’

Fang Xing sighed and went to sleep.

……

The next day.

Carrying a shoulder bag, Fang Xing boarded the magnetic levitation train.

The reach of Eagle's Nest Star is vast!

99.99% of its areas have achieved traffic and internet coverage, except for some regions where the magnetic field is chaotic, either ruins or wilderness, scars on the planet’s civilization.

And the black market is in these places!

“Beyond Maple Leaf City, there’s a city ruin… the result of an attack by an Evil God’s scion, leaving the city half-destroyed, with dangerous pollution and radiation lingering…”

“Although the Federation could clear it up, it comes at a greater cost than building a new city. In the end, they built a new Maple Leaf City, and the original ‘Old City’ gradually fell into ruin, becoming a paradise for scavengers and the unregistered, eventually giving rise to the black market…”

“If one thinks darkly, perhaps the upper echelons of Eagle's Nest Star deliberately left these ‘civilization scars’, was it to provide fertile ground for the black market?”

Fang Xing grasped the wristband, deep in thought.

"Dear travelers, we have reached the final stop of the train. Please hold on tightly and disembark in an orderly fashion..."

Time passed unnoticed as the levitating train arrived at its destination.

Fang Xing stepped off the train, realizing he was now at the outskirts of Maple Leaf City.

He quickened his pace as he disembarked, deftly avoiding various surveillance cameras and diving into the labyrinth of back alleys.

In preparation for this venture into the black market, he had already left all electronic devices at home.

While traversing the dark passages, the muscles and tendons of his face shifted, undergoing a disguise, followed by the donning of a black mask.

Once he emerged from the alleyway, Fang Xing had even changed his clothes, transforming into an odd figure clad in a leather jacket, baseball cap, and pitch-black mask as he plunged into the boundary between the new and old districts.

Huff! Huff!

The old district, neglected and in disrepair, was a landscape of ruins.

A gentle breeze stirred, lifting small swirls of dust.

The road was in severe disrepair; once a bustling commercial street, the signs were now shattered and dilapidated.

Crack!

Fang Xing's foot fell upon the poster of a forgotten starlet, the sound startling several hyenas lurking in the shadows.

Upon closer inspection, these hyenas differed from ordinary dogs, with some bearing two heads, others four eyes, or even eight legs...

"Aberrant creatures..."

Fang Xing's mind recalled relevant information.

These were the result of unholy pollution and radiation mixing, causing nearby life forms to mutate and leaving behind grotesque progeny.

Though far from reaching the standards of lower servants, they might possess some peculiar abilities.

The leading three-headed hyena growled softly, seemingly wary of Fang Xing or simply full, as it turned around, leading the others away.

Fang Xing walked through the commercial street and reached a residential area, surveying the mostly collapsed buildings until he found a convenience store.

Amidst the ruins, a barely operational convenience store stood out like a sore thumb.

【Beep!】

As he stepped through the convenience store's door, a green light flashed, followed by the mechanical sound of a greeting.

“Good, very clean, no tracking or communication devices on you.”

Behind the convenience store counter, a round-faced young man smiled.

Wearing the store's uniform, his hair a shade of light brown, he was holding an old comic book.

Now, he slowly put the comic book down, saying, “Welcome to the 'Problem Solvers’ Convenience Store'! How can I assist you today?”

“I'll start with a communication device.”

Fang Xing glanced over the array of communication devices on the counter and nodded.

In the black market, these devices naturally bore anonymous accounts, or belonged to others, making communication safer.

“No problem, how would you like to pay?”

The young man picked up a black wristwatch, smiling, “Ten thousand star coins, we only accept cash or equivalent trade.”

“Looks like daylight robbery, but where else can you find black market profits?”

Fang Xing’s gaze casually landed on a basic nano-protective suit on the shelf.

Here, it was boldly marked at a hundred thousand!

Clearly, a regular nano suit shouldn't cost that much, but without the manufacturer’s markup, it's worth the price here!

Fang Xing retrieved a fist-sized chunk of gold bullion from his shoulder bag. “Appraise it, then deposit the extra into a new account…”

“Got it.”

The store owner examined the gold, performing a quick test. “The purity is mediocre... the net gold weight is 2340 grams, and at 176 star coins per gram, that totals 411,840 star coins.”

“After a twenty percent fee and deducting ten thousand star coins, you have 319,472 star coins left, now deposited into the communication device’s account!”

Receiving the communication device, Fang Xing added the store owner's contact and moved to the back of the store.

Strangely enough, there was a battered street back there.

Though desolate, it occasionally saw a few figures moving through the ruins, each exuding a certain intimidating aura.

‘This feeling, it somewhat resembles the rogue cultivators from Qinglin Market...’

Fang Xing glanced around, a faint sense of familiarity rising up.

This gold, of course, was obtained by exchanging spiritual sand in a cultivation market, done with incredible ease.

Converting a large amount of gold into spiritual stones can be quite difficult, and there's a good chance of getting heartily underpaid for the exchange.

“Weapons, potions, assassin guilds, entertainment venues...”

He glanced around briefly and had to admit that the variety of shops here is quite comprehensive.

“With over three hundred thousand star coins, I guess I'm considered wealthy.”

Feeling a bit excited, Fang Xing walked into a firearm store.

The owner of this shop was a burly man who looked like someone not to be trifled with. He wore exoskeletal armor and appeared to have at least fourth-tier strength.

When he saw Fang Xing entering, he completely ignored him, focusing solely on wiping down a gun barrel in his hand.

As Fang Xing casually scanned the store, he spotted the Rapid Dragon-brand laser gun he had longed for.

Underneath the sleek silver body of the gun, there was a small tag:

【'Rapid Dragon' Laser Gun, Second-Hand, Ninety Percent New, For Humanoid Targets, 2,000,000 Star Coins】

“Two million?”

Fang Xing's pupils constricted as he glanced at the other firearms and discovered that this laser gun was shockingly one of the cheaper options in the store.

“Sorry to intrude...”

He quickly backtracked several steps and exited the shop directly.

“I underestimated this place. The merchandise in this black market is truly overpriced. Three hundred thousand star coins is just a drop in the bucket here...”

With these thoughts in mind, Fang Xing entered another shop.

Half an hour later.

Following the directions he purchased with star coins, he found himself in a partially collapsed ruin.

Inside the ruins was nothing but a wooden table and a woman covered with a scarf over her head and face, revealing only her hands, sitting behind the counter.

Fang Xing noticed that her hands bore densely packed blue tattoos.

‘The atmosphere here is not pleasant; it gives off a dangerous vibe...’

He thought to himself as he approached the woman, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Creak!

The old wooden chair emitted a painful groan as it supported his weight, but the tattooed woman suddenly smiled: “So, have you come to find a solution, customer?”

“Yes, I want to launder money!”

Fang Xing declared solemnly.

Fang Xing, in his identity as a bio-engineered human, didn't want to go too far, as he wanted to keep this identity for future use. However, he didn’t want to hold back his martial arts progress either. Therefore, when the second year of high school started, he would definitely need an explanation.

How could he possibly make rapid progress in his realm without a source of income or a substantial supply of nutritional supplements? Thus, it was necessary to turn black money into legal income and then purchase a batch of nutritional supplements through official channels!

“What scale are you thinking of?”

The tattooed woman’s eyes shone.

“A few hundred thousand…”

“Such a small amount…” The tattooed woman immediately sat back down, looking slightly bored: “Take a left at the entrance, gamble a few rounds in the casino, the fee is 30%…”

“Gambling is not an option!”

Fang Xing was speechless; he was still a minor, and that route was evidently not viable.

“With such a small amount, opening a company and making it look like legitimate flow is obviously overkill…” The tattooed woman laughed: “You're just a small customer as I thought.” She thought for a moment, then replied, “We’ve acquired a betting company. We could arrange for you to win a small prize. A few hundred thousand in prize money wouldn’t draw any attention. As long as you pay the taxes properly, the Federation won’t care…”

“This might work.”

Fang Xing stroked his chin.

The Blue Star Federation prohibited minors from gambling, but it was much more lenient with lotteries. Moreover, the amount of money he had wouldn’t even make him a tiny shrimp; basically, no one would scrutinize it deeply.

“Let’s go with that.”

He exhaled deeply in relief.

At least this way, when in his second and third years, he could make rapid progress without drawing suspicion. Even if this caught up with him in the future, as long as he got into college, became certified as a ‘professional’, and joined the privileged class, this little issue wouldn’t be of any significance.

“Very good, the fee is 50%!”

The tattooed woman smiled, revealing blackened teeth, making Fang Xing's heart ache as if it were bleeding: ‘What a rip-off!’

(End of this chapter)

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(End of Chapter)