Chapter 30: Subterranean Trading Market | Monsters Are Coming
Smack!
As the game pod lid slowly opened, the nutrient solution that had enveloped his body drained out through surrounding vents. Exiting the virtual interface, Qin Ye slammed his fist onto the nearby controller.
"What kind of garbage game is this? What the hell is a one-hour game cooldown?"
Recalling the scene where he was about to kill a level 10 Rageclaw only to be suddenly swarmed and beaten to death by a horde of blood corpses, Qin Ye couldn't help but curse again.
Standing up from the game pod, he walked over to the sofa, sat down, and opened his bank account to begin transferring funds.
There were three transfers in total.
Each was sent to the captain of a squad who had provided him with kill assists.
If he wanted to continue receiving kill assists in the future, integrity was very important. He had no intention of cutting off his own path to future assists.
Despite his complaints, after experiencing it firsthand, he had completely fallen in love with this game.
The extremely high degree of freedom, 100% realistic scene modeling and physical feedback, the infinite exploratory map… Among all these features, what hooked him the most was the infinitely expandable ability combinations and the attribute feedback after leveling and strengthening.
Leaping several meters high, smashing rocks with a single punch, these were joys he could never experience in real life.
But whenever he thought of the game's biggest flaw, entering a resurrection cooldown upon death, he couldn't help but curse inwardly again.
In his view, this mechanic was purely a hunger marketing tactic by the Lunar Eclipse Race. There was absolutely no need to include it; it just made players feel frustrated.
After completing the transfers, he went to the bathroom to wash up, changed into a new set of clothes, and walked out the door.
Before him was a grand and magnificent underground space. Numerous burning energy torches were mounted on the rock walls above, illuminating the underground world.
Various forms of intelligent life could be seen walking around.
Steel-boned orcs with green skin, Abyssal Mermen with gill-like markings on their faces, Obsidian Men whose bodies were composed of stone… a chaotic mix of races. Besides humans like himself, there were many alien beings.
These aliens were all refugee races who had fled to Earth.
The worlds they came from had all been invaded by some mysterious force, pushing them toward collapse. Only a small fraction of their people managed to tear open space and escape.
Among these refugee forces, the strongest was undoubtedly the Lunar Eclipse Race.
According to the accounts of the first Lunar Eclipse Race members who arrived on Earth, as their world faced collapse, they opened eighteen teleportation gateways connecting to alternate worlds and fled to different destinations.
One group arrived on Earth.
This group of Lunar Eclipse members was also the only alien force to relocate to the Moon after arriving on Earth, where they established a new city.
The underground space Qin Ye was currently in was known as the Burrower Trading Market, located on the border of the Human Federation's territory. It served as a location for intelligence exchange and trade of materials and technology between humans and aliens, managed by an Allied Council jointly formed by the various races.
There were eleven other such trading centers on Earth.
Qin Ye was a D-level admin of the Human Federation stationed at the Burrower Trading Market. One of his duties was patrolling Zone D of the market and resolving interspecies disputes.
Although all were intelligent beings, their different living environments and cultures had fostered vastly different temperaments, making this place chaotic and prone to conflicts.
"Move it! You're in the way!"
At that moment, a force struck him from behind, pushing Qin Ye aside.
After stumbling a few steps and steadying himself, Qin Ye turned his head and saw a stone giant over three meters tall striding past him without even looking back, heading toward the trading zone.
"Damn you! Look who you just shoved!"
Hearing this, the stone giant abruptly turned around, glaring at Qin Ye with its two massive jet-black gemstone eyes.
But upon seeing the D-level admin badge on Qin Ye's chest, the stone giant's fierce expression instantly turned friendly.
"My deepest apologies, sir administrator. Please don't take offense."
The humble apology came from the translator at the stone giant's throat.
"If I catch you causing trouble again, you'll be blacklisted and banned from the Burrower Trading Market."
Amidst the stone giant's repeated apologies, Qin Ye continued walking toward the trading market to begin his patrol for the day.
The entire market resembled a complex labyrinth, divided into eight trading zones. Qin Ye was responsible for Zone D.
"Earth-core stones from the Ancient Dark Arcana World! Power up any device that needs charging, long-lasting and six times stronger than others!"
"Rapid-growth grass from the Earthly Abyssal World! Grows even on polluted land, matures every 68 days! Never worry about food again!"
"Spirit-Shield from the Esoteric Cave World! This is the last one left! Portable, automatically defends against surprise attacks, and could save your life in a critical moment!"
As he walked along, vendors from various races loudly hawked their wares from stalls lining both sides of the road.
Stopping at one particular stall, Qin Ye paused.
The vendor was a green-skinned dwarf wearing an iron helmet atop his head, with alternating flashing lights on it. He barely reached Qin Ye's chest in height and was adorned with many items etched with green runes.
"Old Hei, you haven't been causing trouble lately, have you?"
"Of course not! We Green Sprites are peace-loving by nature." The sharp voice came from the translator on the green-skinned dwarf's neck.
Hearing this, Qin Ye couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Despite their frail appearance, the Green Sprite race was extremely belligerent and one of the most troublesome alien forces in his assigned trading zone.
He squatted down, picking up a glowing green stone from the stall and examining it closely.
"What's this? I haven't seen you sell this before."
Upon being asked, the green-skinned dwarf immediately pointed at the green gemstone and explained.
"This is one of our race's cutting-edge core technologies. We call it a Psionic Bomb. It's made by altering the internal structure of Enerstone. Extremely powerful. If we weren't almost out of resources, we wouldn't even be selling it."
Hearing this, Qin Ye was startled.
"This thing isn't dangerous, is it?"
"Of course not. We strictly follow the trading market rules and never bring hazardous items into the market. This Psionic Bomb is made from the lowest-grade spirit stones and won't detonate on its own. It requires an imprint of consciousness first. Once thrown, you trigger it with your mind, which destroys its internal structure and causes the explosion."
After hearing the explanation, Qin Ye breathed a sigh of relief.
"How much are you selling it for?"
"100 Earth credits."
The 100 Earth credits mentioned by the Green Sprite did not refer to the standard currency of the Human Federation.
The origin of Earth credits dated back over two hundred years ago, created jointly by the Lunar Eclipse race, Human Federation, Barbarian race, and other alien forces as a brand new currency. It served as the universal currency among all races on Earth, used to purchase resources and technologies from each other.
The Human Federation's internal currency was called credit coins, used only domestically.
"Can the technology be transferred?" Qin Ye asked the key question.
Before becoming a D-level admin, he had worked at the Federation's Technology Institute as an alien technology analyst.
The Federation had stationed him at the Burrower Trading Market not only to maintain stability but also to search for valuable technologies for the Human Federation.
"As long as you pay, technology isn't a problem."
"I'll need to test its power first before considering the purchase. Here's 100 Earth credits."
As he spoke, Qin Ye pulled out a silver card from his pocket.
On the display screen on the front of the card was a field for entering numbers.
Qin Ye input 100, then swiped it across the vendor's machine.
Beep!
Accompanied by a crisp electronic tone, the machine displayed a payment completion message.