Chapter 29 Black Market
The hazy night swallowed up the darkness silently, and an abandoned warehouse area near the port quietly woke up with the dusk.
This warehouse originally belonged to a goblin merchant, who contracted this place to temporarily store goods shipped from various places by merchant ships.
However, the goblin's natural greed for money made him make a big mistake later:
In order to make more huge profits, he tried to secretly transport and store contraband related to the evil god here.
As a result, the news leaked out and was directly reported by competitors and fellow goblins.
In dealing with matters related to the evil god, the law enforcement power of the major churches is greater than that of the ruling officials of Green Port, and the handling method can be described in one sentence:
It is better to kill the wrong person than to let him go.
The news was reported in the morning, and the warehouse was blown up in the afternoon.
Within a few hours, the warehouse was blown into ruins by the church team that came to destroy the evil god's contraband using various combat skills, magic, and divine arts.
The goblin who committed the crime had a very keen sense of smell. When he noticed something was wrong, he immediately bought a VVVIP ticket for the nearest goblin airship and fled from Green Harbor without hesitation, so he was not caught.
But the ownership of the warehouse area under his name became a mess. The title deed was still in the hands of the goblin who ran away, so no one could take it over.
Over time, this area was slowly abandoned and gradually forgotten by the city.
A corner that few people pay attention to will naturally become a gathering place for all kinds of illegal traders.
When Pete and Rena, wearing gray robes, stepped into the abandoned warehouse area, the air was filled with all kinds of strange smells, moldy grains, rotten fruits and vegetables, the sour smell of homeless people, and indescribable pungent smells.
If the smell of the path in front of Rena's tavern is just a little weird, then the smell of the abandoned warehouse black market will make people feel physiologically nauseous.
Pete couldn't help but retched, and quickly cast a [Purification] trick on himself and Reina.
"Ugh... Don't they find this place disgusting!"
After retching, Pete, who had never experienced such a scene, expelled the memory of the smell from his mind.
The black market in the downtown area is not only a gathering place for various illegal traders, but also homeless people who have lost their houses and are unable to work live here.
The existence of these homeless people has made the Green Harbor Police Department lose interest in managing this area.
Rather than driving away the beggars on the streets, it is better to let them gather in one place and wait for death. Those police officers who are just idling around in the police station naturally hope that less trouble is worse than more trouble.
This just provides a natural shelter for the black market.
Passing through the homeless "defense line" outside the black market, enter the real trading area of the black market.
There are many figures, similar to Pete and Reina, people are wearing tattered robes or wearing wide hoods that can cover their faces. Everyone is trying to hide their identity and whereabouts.
Unlike the trade fair that separates the upper and lower city districts of Green Harbor, where vendors will enthusiastically introduce their goods and try to attract potential customers passing by, it is always bustling and bustling;
On the contrary, the black market environment seems very depressing.
Unknown merchants put the things they intend to sell on the cloth beside them. If someone likes an item, they will walk over and talk in a low voice, negotiate the price, and hand over the money and the goods.
The specific content of the conversation will not be known to a third person except the buyer and seller.
Pet looked at the stalls in the black market.
Both he and Reina came to the black market for the first time.
In addition to various conventional items such as weapons, armor, artworks, gems, materials or magic scrolls that cannot be confirmed to be true or false.
There were also people selling information or intelligence, people issuing commissions or accepting commissions, people issuing bounties, and even Pete saw more special "goods":
In the southeast corner of the black market, there was an area that was obviously marked out and much wider. Three men without robes were squatting or sitting next to an iron cage about 1 meter high and several meters long and wide.
In the cramped cage, several young women wore brown leather collars around their necks. Because of the height limit of the cage, they had to maintain a kneeling posture with their heads down.
From time to time, someone would walk over there, talk to the three men for a few words, take out their money bags and take out a dozen copper coins. The latter would open the cage door with a strange smile, pull out a woman from inside, tie an iron chain to her collar, and then let the customer lead her to a small corner with dim light behind the iron cage.
…
"Pfft!"
"I only heard about it before, but I didn't expect the Blood Fang Gang to be so cruel!" Lena cursed in an angry whisper.
"Are those also members of the Blood Fang Gang?" Pete frowned.
In this black market where everyone is trying to hide their identities, those men can show up so carelessly. There is only one possibility:
They are not afraid of being known by others, and they are fearless!
Leina hummed softly: "Those men have bloody fangs tattooed on their bodies, which is the unique symbol of the Blood Fang Gang."
"What about those women?"
"The Blood Fang Gang has opened many casinos and clubs in the downtown area. I heard that if the waitresses there do not do well and their performance fails to meet the standards, the Blood Fang Gang will punish them in various ways."
"For example... drag them to the black market and force them to serve..."
Pet understood.
In Greenport, while special needs transactions are legal, they must be done voluntarily by both parties.
Those women wearing collars, looking at the frightened expressions on their faces when they were pulled out of the iron cage, it was obvious that they did not do so voluntarily.
"Unscrupulous."
Peter knew that the gangs in the lower town of Green Harbor were very powerful, but he did not expect that the Blood Fang Gang could do such evil.
In the border town of Pet's hometown, although there were sometimes conflicts between nobles and commoners, they were all within the scope of order.
But what the Blood Fang Gang did had clearly crossed the line.
The Bloodfang Gang obviously didn't take Greenport's laws seriously. In other words, in the lower city where law and order was chaotic and crime was rampant, they had their own set of "rules" that replaced the law.
Peter originally thought that in order to solve Lena's troubles, he only needed to develop the God of Knowledge sect in Greenport, recruit enough people, and have enough strength to let the Bloodfang Gang know that there are people behind Lena who are not easy to mess with. Naturally, they would not dare to come to the tavern to cause trouble again.
But seeing the bloodfang gang's lawless behavior, Pete had a hunch:
I'm afraid things can't be solved that easily.
If it were the former lying-down Pat who was just waiting to die, and realized how difficult the matter was, he might have backed down and prepared to give up.
But now that he had the backing of the God of Knowledge, Pate was emboldened.
Peter gently held Reina's hand: "Don't worry, now is not the time to confront them head-on. Don't forget the purpose of our coming here."
"When we grow up, we can take care of them!"
…
