Reborn in the end of the world, I scavenged in the empty city and bought for free

The underground trading center is different from the black market. Most of the items sold there are those that cannot be seen in public, or they are rare and scarce materials.

And unlike the black market, the local exchange (hereinafter referred to as the trading center) is, as Chen Yanxi mentioned before, a complex system of forces. It is not a one-man show, nor is it controlled by the base. The relationship between the base and them can be said to be complementary. As long as the base's security bottom line is not violated, any transaction conducted here will be turned a blind eye.

And there is one thing that is different from other places. To enter the underground trading center, you need the recommendation of an "introducer" and successfully obtain an admission ticket from the underground exchange. Otherwise, ordinary people cannot enter here, and ordinary people don't even know the existence of the underground exchange.

According to Liao Yunyun, she and her interview team wanted to find the entrance to the land exchange half a year ago. However, they could not get the admission tickets and thus could not complete the investigation and interview tasks quietly. The investigation into this mysterious trading world stopped there.

This time, Gu Tongwan disguised himself as a short, dark-skinned young man. The skin on his face became several shades darker, and his facial features were slightly changed. At first glance, he looked very different from his previous handsome and cold image, and even had some of the appearance of a Nanyang person.

Chen Yanxi's changes were not that big. He wore a baseball cap and had a beard on his philtrum. The sharpness between his eyebrows was slightly softened by her eyebrow pencil, and some adjustments were also made around his eyes. He looked at least one generation older than his actual age. However, due to his height and perfect body proportions, he was still very different from ordinary people. At least in appearance, he was a handsome middle-aged uncle.

There was no way. With his height and superior face shape, Gu Tongwan had tried his best to adjust them for him. Unfortunately, he had good physical qualities, and no amount of adjustments could conceal his temperament.

Fortunately, although some people looked at Chen Yanxi occasionally along the way, they were not as amazed as before. They were just curious about the match between these two tall and short men.

The ground exchange center is actually located under a hotel less than two kilometers away from the ground trading center. To enter it, you even need to find the hotel manager, and only under the manager's arrangement can you find the mysterious entrance.

"Down here?" Gu Tongwan glanced at the corridor below a passage and couldn't help but ask doubtfully.

Chen Yanxi nodded slightly and explained in a low voice: "The underground transaction has been here since the beginning. The underground transaction here predates the development of the underground city. However, the scope was not large before, covering only 20,000 square meters, and it was considered closed on all sides. Later, after the development and construction of the underground city, this place was gradually connected with the entire underground city. At present, the area has expanded to more than twenty times its size."

From the initial 5,000 to 6,000 square meters to nearly 400,000 square meters now, this is equivalent to a medium-sized park. It is said that there are still people living in the underground city, and the permanent population has reached more than 500 people.

"Hello, someone will check your tickets once you enter. I will check with you two again to see if you have your tickets, if your purpose is clear, and if you know the rules of the ground handover."

I vaguely heard that the person who checked the ticket was from the Tiger Faction. If you can't produce the ticket on the spot, you will need to pay a large fine, at least up to a thousand points. Many people who tried to take the risk and enter the ground exchange were stuck at this step.

But there were also some who fled after their identities were exposed, but these people were almost never able to leave the hotel again, and even if they left, they were not completely safe and sound.

There are weak wall lamps installed on both sides of the corridor, about one every ten meters or so, which can barely illuminate the corridor clearly, but as you walk along, you can hear gusts of "whoosh" sound coming from the corridor.

If it is the first time for someone to enter a corridor or dungeon, they will definitely feel a chilling and eerie feeling. After all, the narrow corridor looking forward seems to have no end, and even the road under their feet is a bit steep, just like walking down a mountain.

Fortunately, she and Chen Yanxi were both experienced dungeon explorers. They were no longer surprised by the darkness and corridors, and could calmly follow the guide in front of them.

The guide was the lobby manager of the hotel, but he was also the guide for the ground transportation. He had led many people into this corridor and had seen all kinds of people. Some of them made a fuss after entering the corridor for the first time, some wanted to back out of fear, and some even ran all the way out of excitement. There were not many people like Chen Yanxi and Gu Tongwan who could follow calmly and quietly.

After walking for about five minutes, Gu Tongwan roughly estimated that this corridor was about two hundred meters long, which was shorter than the passage into the underground city. Perhaps it was because they turned several corners in the middle, and the location of the hotel was lower than several underground city entrances, so the length of the corridor was relatively short.

We came to a stone door with burning torches on both sides and could smell a slight kerosene smell in the air.

This stone gate reminded Gu Tongwan of the Ancient Tomb Sect where Xiaolongnu lived in Jin Yong's novels.

Gu Tongwan took out the admission ticket from the double backpack he carried with him. The ticket was a platinum card, which looked quite classy. On the left and right sides of the card were a tiger head and an eagle head, respectively forming opposite directions.

These two icons represent the Tiger Faction and the Hawk Faction who are in charge of the entire trading center. It is said that only 500 cards were issued initially. Later, as the underground trading forces expanded, another 500 cards were issued. In other words, the base currently has nearly 400,000 people, including 250,000 permanent residents, but there are less than 1,000 people holding admission tickets.

This also means that only one person out of hundreds of people is eligible to get an admission ticket, but in fact, the admission tickets are basically in the hands of some upper-class dignitaries. Basically, this kind of admission ticket is out of reach for ordinary people.

The admission ticket was obtained by Chen Yanxi through someone. Gu Tongwan was not curious about the channel and the people he contacted, because Chen Yanxi had been in the guard team for many years, so it was normal for him to know the connections and circles that she could not reach.

The guide pressed a protrusion on the left and waited for about half a minute. The stone door slowly opened from both sides.

A man at least two meters tall and with a strong build appeared at the door, with a one-meter-long knife hanging on his waist.

The man was wearing a tiger-skin hat, but he was wearing a thin vest and long trousers. In such a severe winter with temperatures of more than 30 degrees below zero, only those who could dress like this were ruthless people.

"A B-level mutant, but his strength should be above B-level." Chen Yanxi stood slightly in front of Gu Tongwan, blocking the man's sight on her, or perhaps to distract the man's attention.

Fortunately, Gu Tongwan's disguise was quite successful. Not to mention that she had changed her makeup to look unattractive, even men couldn't help but say "Fuck, so ugly."

After all, her nose was modified with glue, the originally straight nose tip became flat, her double eyelids were changed to single eyelids, her eyebrows were thickened, and she even had a big black mole on her chin, making her look wretched and greasy.

No one paid much attention to the short man in the corridor before, but now after the door was opened and under the light, even the guide gasped.

Damn, this guy looks so disgusting.

Although a hint of surprise flashed across the guide's face, he quickly stepped aside. After all, one should not judge people by their appearance when they come to this place.

As expected, the big man successfully attracted Chen Yanxi's attention. Although he was half a head taller than Chen Yanxi, for some reason he felt a suffocating sense of oppression from the cold man in front of him. He, who was originally not afraid of the cold, suddenly felt a frost filling his lungs, making him quickly look away.

"I need to check the admission ticket." The big man cleared his throat, suppressed the inexplicable fear, and then said with a cold face.

The two handed over their admission tickets. The big man checked the cards very quickly. He could tell whether the card was authentic just by touching it lightly with his thick fingertips.

"Okay, remember a few things before you go in. Red signs mean transactions are allowed, black signs mean transactions are prohibited, and no fighting is allowed inside. If you break the rules here, don't blame yourself for having a short life!"

After the big guy finished speaking, he stepped back slightly to the left, which gave the two of them a chance to officially enter the room.

Gu Tongwan and Chen Yanxi entered side by side. After they were completely far away, the guide saw the big man wiping his sweat nervously.

"Brother Dao, what's wrong? It's still hot."

The big guy's temples were throbbing, and his expression was indistinguishable. Instead, he kept staring at the direction where the two people had just disappeared. He spat at the side for no apparent reason: "Bah, do you really think I like men? I don't even want to look at that arrogant look. This man has a very strong fetish. He can even chew on such an ugly woman. Women are really rare these days, but ghosts are quite common!"

----

Rather than saying that the entire underground is a large trading market, it is more like a developed, miniature community. After entering the stone gate, everything inside becomes clear. There are buildings with more than four floors, and the road surface is even smooth and paved with asphalt. There are LED floodlights on both sides. The road surface can accommodate at least two cars at the same time, and there are shops of different sizes along the street.

It is not as lively here as imagined. There are only three or four people walking on the street. The shops along the street are open. Occasionally, you can see people playing with their mobile phones or dozing off inside. Some shops don't even look like there is anyone inside.

Basically all open shops have red signs outside their doors, indicating that these are stores open for business.

"The shops in the first half basically trade some visible daily necessities or crystal cores below level B. If you want to buy scarce items or trade large amounts, you have to go down."

Unlike her who frequently looked around, Chen Yanxi, who had entered the underground exchange many times for personal reasons, was not interested in anything around him. Instead, he looked forward with a firm gaze.

Gu Tongwan could probably guess that the shop in the first half was not the place where they were going to conduct the transaction this time.

"How did the car get in here? The corridor just now seemed not wide enough for the car to get in, right?"

Occasionally, you can see brand new luxury cars parked in front of some shops. Normally, these vehicles are only seen occasionally in areas near villa areas, but I didn't expect to see so many of them here.

"It seems that only the rich and powerful can come in here. There is not even a motorcycle to be seen. All the cars are four-wheeled. But are these people who opened the shops originally from the base?" Gu Tongwan narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze in front of every store. Occasionally, he could see that some people even tied mutant dogs at the door.

"Some of them are from the base, and some are external forces who have taken refuge in the base. After entering the base, these people paid a large amount of supplies and also reached some agreements with the base." Chen Yanxi explained.

Suddenly, there was a roar of a car coming from the front. Gu Tongwan looked in the direction of the sound and saw several three-wheeled motorcycles driving on the street.

These people were wearing exaggerated mink coats, and most importantly, all of them were wearing hats with feathers of different colors.

"non-mainstream?"

It’s no wonder that Gu Tongwan thought of this at first sight, because the way these people were dressed was really weird. Who would put feathers on their heads? Some people even wore clothes decorated with a lot of feathers.

"Those are the hawks." Chen Yanxi's voice was calm.

There were people from the two major factions in the underground trading center. Except for the Tiger Faction gatekeeper, Gu Tongwan met all the people from both factions today.

"What are they doing?" Gu Tongwan saw a three-wheeled motorcycle parked in front of one of the shops, then they talked inside for a while and then came out.

"In addition to paying 10% rent to each faction every month, the shops here also need to pay a security fee every week."

Gu Tong understood it late, "It seems that no matter where you are, there are people who collect so-called protection fees."

The hawks all had guns on their waists. One of them glanced at Gu Tongwan when he came out, and then cursed: "What are you looking at, little bastard? Get out of here!"

Gu Tongwan took a step back and pretended to be very scared, but in fact, when she lowered her eyes, she noticed that the man was wearing a bracelet on his wrist, which was actually made of a B-grade crystal core.

It seems that the styles of these two factions are really clearly separated. One is high-profile and flamboyant, while the other is low-key and pragmatic. There is indeed a reason why these two factions cannot get along.

Chen Yanxi took her to a sky blue two-story shop, but there was a black sign hanging on it.

"This seems to be a place where transactions are not allowed?" Gu Tongwan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Some special materials can only be traded in places where trading is not allowed. The person you want to find privately is here." Chen Yanxi's brows suddenly became cold and stern, and then he pushed the door open and walked in.

After entering, Gu Tongwan suddenly understood why transactions were not allowed here. Rather than a place for transactions, this place was more like an underground money house. It was filled with smoke and the air was filled with the mixed smell of cigarettes, sweat and some cheap perfumes.

And right in front of him, on a huge round table, lay a man with only his lower body covered. The man had a look of fear in his eyes, like a fish lying on a chopping board waiting to be slaughtered.