Chapter 41: Prying Eyes in the Undercurrent

After much smooth-talking, pleading, and wearing her down, Lu Xiaobei finally relented and agreed to lend me the money. She had initially attempted to lend me a smaller amount, but she hadn't anticipated that I had already checked the internet cafe's backend card-recharging and consumption records. With a total revenue of 20,125 credits, if I borrowed 20,000, she would still have 125 credits left to buy herself boxed meals.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, I clocked out precisely on time and headed straight for the ancient district.

"Whoosh!"

As I passed through a narrow alley in the ancient city, a blur suddenly flashed past from ahead, making me doubt my own eyes. It looked just like a person, and somewhat like Lu Xiaobei clutching something in her arms!

Immediately afterward, two urban management officers came chasing after, out of breath after running only a short distance.

"Forget it, forget it," one of the officers panted. "Chasing them a couple of steps to make an effort is enough. Captain Wang said this girl's mental state is a bit unstable, so don't lower yourselves to her level."

"What a pity..." the other officer sighed regretfully. "Such a pretty girl, yet something's wrong with her brain."

"Indeed, indeed..."

As I brushed past them, I almost laughed out loud. It seemed Lu Xiaobei had truly made a notorious name for herself among the urban management team, effortlessly becoming an out-of-law renegade of urban governance in the ancient district!

Avoiding the area where Lu Xiaobei might be setting up her stall, I cut straight through several sparsely populated alleys and finally arrived at the location of the player black market.

"Brother, identification!"

Two burly men were still guarding the alleyway. Although they already recognized me, the proper procedure had to be followed. After I flashed my health bar, one of them smiled and said, "Turns out to be Big Brother Chasing Shadow, please come in, please come in~~~"

"Thanks, brothers!"

I pulled out a pack of cigarettes, handed one to each of them, and then departed.

Inside the black market, people came and went. There were quite a few players who had spawned in Xicheng. Wasting no time, I headed straight to the trading hall and spotted a man with a horse-like face.

"Old Ma!"

"Huh?!"

Old Ma was grabbed by me and looked panicked. "Damn it, who the hell are you..."

"I came here with Zhang Ruolin and Ling Baiwei, don't you remember?"

"Oh... It's Ding Han!"

His face immediately broke into a flattering smile as he asked, "Come to resupply your ammunition?"

"Yeah!" I nodded. "Let's go, let's head into the inner hall and talk details!"

"Alright, come, come, come!"

With our arms around each other's shoulders, we headed toward the trading counter.

Once seated, Old Ma asked, "Which kind of bullets do you want?"

"The 9mm rounds for the Roarer. I want to buy a bit more."

"How much is a bit more?"

"Nine thousand rounds. Do you have them?"

"We actually do!" Old Ma said in a deep voice. "You buying this much ammunition—is it for the regional quest after midnight tonight?"

"What else?"

"Haha, I knew it. A lot of people have already come by to buy bullets today. Good thing our ammunition reserves are well-stocked, otherwise we might have been completely sold out today."

I pulled out the 20,000 credits Lu Xiaobei had lent me, and then added 7,000 from my own private stash. That left me with a mere 200 credits for food, but for the reward of the number one spot in the regional quest, it was worth the gamble!

My goal had never been the top ten; I was aiming straight for first place. The reward for first place was bound to be extraordinary—the kind of reward that, once missed, would never offer a second chance!

"Old Ma."

Placing the money in front of him, I said with a solemn expression, "I'm buying 9,000 rounds of ammunition in one go without haggling a single cent. Would you say I count as a big spender?"

"Although not the largest, you certainly qualify as a major customer." Old Ma savored the underlying meaning of my words, narrowed his eyes, and smiled. "What do you want, kid?"

"How about throwing in some freebies? For instance, toss in a couple of demolition grenades?"

"Are you out of your mind? Is a grenade something that can be given away casually?" Old Ma looked speechless. "If you asked for something else, I might have the authority to throw a little something in, but grenades are truly out of the question. Not even a single one."

"Fair enough." I nodded. "Then give me some empty magazines for the Roarer. I want ten."

"Ten empty magazines?!" Old Ma was stunned. "That's a bit much, brother. These aren't freebies anymore; you're practically buying magazines wholesale."

"They're just magazines, and they aren't expensive. With your status in the black market, isn't something like this a piece of cake for Old Ma?"

He rubbed his nose, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Fine, ten it is. I'll give them to you together in a moment. I'm going to grab the stock."

"Alright!"

Before long, Old Ma returned with two assistants carrying the ammunition: 9,000 rounds, neatly arranged, along with ten brand-new magazines for the Roarer. This brought my total to 15 magazines. Fully loaded, my disposable firepower reached 750 rounds at once. Combined with the blue-grade Roarer's fire rate, it was more than enough to handle ordinary minor skirmishes!

"Old Ma."

I gave him another deep look. "Do you guys really have demolition grenades in this black market?"

"We do..." He smiled faintly. "Forget demolition grenades; if you wanted an RPG or an improved Blue-Fire Gatling, I'd have them here too. But the prices are too high; I'm afraid you couldn't afford them."

"Never mind the RPG, I can't afford it. What's the price for a demolition grenade?"

"3,000 each."

"Damn it..."

I was dumbfounded, shocked beyond measure. They were actually that expensive! No wonder Zhang Ruolin had looked heartbroken when I used up three of her grenades back then!

A grenade costing 3,000 each—was that something an ordinary worker with a monthly salary of 2,000 could afford?

Forget it, I'd better just wait for an opportunity to snatch some grenades from the Dark Tide Vanguard later...

...

Leaving the black market and passing by the vegetable market, I bought a fish along with some bamboo shoots, green beans, and other vegetables. Returning to my residence, I cooked a few dishes and then shared a bottle of beer with Milo.

"Luo'er, I need to catch up on some sleep later, so don't practice your singing."

"Oh?" Milo looked surprised. "Catching up on sleep at this hour isn't your style. What are you up to?"

"Did you seriously turn off the player system entirely?" I said, utterly speechless. "A regional quest has spawned in Xicheng after midnight tonight. From midnight tonight to midnight tomorrow, the player who eliminates the most enemies within 24 hours gets a generous grand prize, so I plan to fight for that first place."

"Alright, then I wish you in advance taking first place!"

"Right, lend me a thousand credits."

"???"

Milo stared in astonishment. "How did you end up in such a sorry state? Didn't you say you had a nice little private stash before? Now you don't even have a thousand credits left?"

"Sigh..." I let out a long sigh. "I went to the player black market and bought 9,000 rounds of ammunition in one go, costing 27,000. 20,000 of that was borrowed from Lu Xiaobei. Do you think it's easy for us people risking our lives to level up?"

"Holy shit..." Milo was shocked. "Lu Xiaobei is really good to you. She lent twenty thousand just like that without hesitation. Did you write her an I.O.U.?"

"What I.O.U.?"

"Damn you..."

Milo picked up his wallet, pulled out ten hundred-credit bills, and tossed them to me. "What is this thousand credits for? Don't tell me that after completing the quest at midnight tomorrow, you're planning to vent your steam by finding a chick to blow off some heat?"

"You're so shallow." I felt a bit embarrassed. "I spent all my money and forgot that teleporting to the quest location costs another thousand credits. It really proves the saying: even a wise man thousand-time deliberating will make a slip."

"Shameless." Milo gulped down a mouthful of beer and said, "I really did turn off the player system. It felt pointless. Right now, I just want to live like an ordinary person in this world and hustle for my musical dream."

"That's not impossible either." I glanced at him and said, "When you become the Heavenly King of Music, I'll have become a true powerhouse on the dark side of this world. By then, if you run into trouble, don't worry—you've got me as your brother to cover your back!"

"Just for those words, bottoms up!"

He directly popped open a bottle of Heineken and chugged it in one breath.

"Awesome..."

I took a deep breath, unable to do anything but admire his alcohol tolerance.

After the meal, so as not to disturb my rest, Milo headed out early to practice his singing at the bar. As for me, I set my alarm clock, fully charged my phone, and then drifted into a heavy sleep.

...

I had no idea how long I slept in that blissfully numb state, but my phone alarm finally rang.

"Baby belly is thundering, belly baby is thundering, thunder thunder baby hits the belly, hits hits baby thunder thunder..."

The ringtone was invigorating and instantly woke me up. I quickly turned off the alarm.

The time was 11:30 PM—more than enough time to reach the phase teleportation array in the black market.

Passing by downstairs, I even splurged on a roasted chicken, a few flatbreads, and several bottles of mineral water. After all, I'd be lingering outside for 24 hours, and I certainly didn't want to fight for my life against the Dark Tide Vanguard while my baby belly was thundering...

Shortly after, I arrived at the black market.

By this time, a large number of players had already successively teleported over to the Westwind Woodlands. Handing over 1,000 star coins, I stepped into the teleportation array as well. With a "whoosh," I once again experienced the dizziness of teleportation, and a few seconds later stepped out from another array. Spread out right ahead was the pitch-black expanse of the Westwind Woodlands.

Not far away, players were gathered, each of them having revealed their health bars. The highest level was 20, but none had advanced yet, presumably because the difficulty of advancement was simply too high.

Not wanting to interact with the crowd, I immediately activated the skill "Biochemical Optical Cloaking." Instantly, the cells throughout my body buzzed, and an optical energy wave enveloped my entire body, entering a 12-second stealth state.

I dashed forward immediately, vanishing from everyone's field of view and plunging into the vast, hazy depths of the Westwind Woodlands.

"Ping!"

A message arrived from Zhang Ruolin: "Xiaobai, Axe, and I have already entered the Westwind Woodlands. What about you?"

"I'm in too. Remember to share information; if any of us runs into trouble, we need to support each other."

"Got it!"

...

A short while later, a golden boundary appeared ahead, impassable to players—presumably because the regional quest hadn't officially started yet. Hugging my blue-grade Roarer, I hid inside the woodland and waited quietly.

Ten minutes later, a chime sounded in my ear.

[Please note, the regional quest [The Dark Tide's Prying Eyes] has officially begun! Beware of those dark tide forces; they are far more terrifying than we imagine!]

I didn't act rashly. Instead, I switched to the Wind Whisperer, carefully scouting the area using its night-vision scope. Only after confirming there were no enemies did I grip my gun and push deeper into the forest.

A few minutes later, lights flashed in the sky as several large transport planes swept past at low altitude. Immediately afterward, through the scope, I could actually see figures plunging down from the sky—the Dark Tide Vanguard had begun their airborne drop!

Right at that moment, the western sky suddenly lit up as streaks of fireballs swiftly tore through the darkness of the night, heading straight toward the northern sector of the Westwind Woodlands where the players were gathered.

'Holy crap...'

I was dumbfounded. Are you kidding me? The very first wave starts with heavy artillery bombardment?!