"Hum — hum — hum —"
Two jade-green rays of distortion scanned his entire body like ripples on water.
After a long while, the rays retracted and the scan ended. With a crisp beep, the iron door opened automatically. The AI system's deep and cold voice immediately rang out in the room, "Number 4033, authentication passed."
This person called Number 4033 looked as if he had rolled around in the mud. His original appearance was completely unrecognizable, but judging from his small and frail body, he was basically a ten-year-old child.
However, Vader didn't care at all whether this was a child or an adult. What he cared about was the tattered bundle that the child held tightly in front of his chest.
The bundles were made of coarse, primitive leather and were now covered in dirt. The exchange center dealt with tens of thousands of such bundles every day. Every single one of them was related to the livelihood of these 'children' for the day, as well as Vader and the others' daily exchange earnings.
Soon, the child walked forward and placed the bundle on the workbench. A pile of small black stones fell out. They looked like stones, but in fact, they were faintly suffused with a dark gold luster.
The appraiser did not hesitate and immediately put on his low-light glasses. Waves of light waves appeared on the lenses and scanned the stones. The crystal screen on the wall only took a few seconds to present the results in front of his eyes.
Material: Dark gold sand;
Quantity: 23 grams;
Purity: 36%;
Exchange value: 78 points;
...
Vader nodded, and the subtitles on the screen changed again.
Nutrient supply: 50 points;
Healing mixture: 125 points;
Lifeblood mixture: 300 points;
Steel mixture: 500 points;
...
Looking at the row of prices, the child's expression changed. He hissed, "The nutrient supply was only 24 points yesterday. How did it become 50 points today?"
According to yesterday's price, his 78 points of income could be exchanged for three nutrient supplies. Then he wouldn't starve tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. After another day of hard work, he would be able to find gold sand. Then he would have the hope of living again.
But according to today's market, the nutrient supply he could only exchange for would last him until the next day. It was simply impossible in this place.
Vader was a little annoyed by the child's roaring, but he still explained calmly, "Yesterday is yesterday, and today is today. The market changes every day. This is the rule. You should understand."
The child stood there in a daze for a long time. Then, he put all the dark gold stones back into his bag and walked back to the door angrily. "I'm not exchanging anymore."
This action infuriated Vader, but he did not flare up. The Exchange Center had its own rules: Forcing workers to trade was prohibited, and the use of force was also prohibited.
Vader slowly sat back on the sofa and lit up a cigarette with a gloomy expression. He reached out and pressed a button on the sofa. He believed that his subordinates outside would be able to understand his intentions through the signal.
Outside the iron gate was a completely different world. The square was bustling with activity. At a glance, it was densely packed with people. Most of them were laborers who had returned from all over the mining area. Everyone was tightly hugging the leather bags in front of their chests.
However, these people could not be called humans at all. Most of them were dressed in rags and were covered in dirt. Some of them did not even have any clothes on. They stood naked in the queue, craning their necks anxiously as they looked forward. Everyone was hoping that it would be their turn to enter as soon as possible.
It was already evening and the sky was getting dark. The sooner they could exchange for the nutrient supply, the sooner they would be able to survive the night.
When the child came out, Ding Meng was also waiting in the crowd. However, he was not in a hurry because he had already seen the fully armed mercenary, Sadler, on the steps above the iron gate. He was quietly putting his hand on his belt...
Ding Meng was very calm in the face of this covert action. He knew that it was easy to enter the central gate, but difficult to leave. If you did not follow their orders, these mercenaries would not let you off easily.
As expected, in the blink of an eye, a long black whip flew out from Sadler's waist like a venomous snake. It whistled sharply towards the child's back.
The child seemed to have sensed that something was wrong behind him. However, just as he turned around, the whip swept across his hand as if it had grown eyes.
Ding Meng saw it clearly. Not only was the whip fast, but it was also very accurate. The child did not even feel any pain. Blood had already splattered, and the white bones of his knuckles were exposed.
Sadler's wrist shook again. Before the bag could fall to the ground, the whip had already broken it into pieces. The dark gold stones inside spilled out and scattered on the ground. Looking at them in the dark night, the stones looked like real gold, emitting golden sparks.
Although this process was completed in the blink of an eye, it was like a fuse that lit up the temporarily shocked crowd.
The surrounding laborers immediately rushed towards the sparks on the ground like a tide. They did not do it for anything else. They only wanted to snatch more loot from others, increasing their chances of survival as much as possible. No one cared whether the victim was a child or not, and no one cared whether the child was dead or alive.
This was how this place was. As long as one could survive, anything could happen, and anything could be done.
Ding Meng sighed softly. He did not rush into the crowd to participate in the looting, nor did he pay attention to the injured child's condition. The surrounding people were like crazy beasts, desperately digging and clawing at the ground, afraid that they would miss even a small piece of dark gold stone.
So, taking advantage of the chaos in the crowd, he quickly walked to the front of the line. On the stairs, Sadler had already put away his whip without batting an eyelid. He stared coldly at him and said sternly, "Next."
Ding Meng hugged his bag tightly and quickly stood in front of the metal door. Two probes immediately poked out from the top of the metal door. Dark green rays quickly descended, twisting like electric currents as they rippled all over his body.
This feeling made Ding Meng very uncomfortable, especially when the rays brushed past his exposed skin. He felt goosebumps all over his body. Although his skin was icy cold, the heat in his body suddenly rose. It was as if there was an incomparably hot flame in his chest that was about to leave his body. It made his eyes blur, and he staggered and almost lost his balance.
Recently, this abnormal feeling had been appearing more and more frequently. He had always wondered if he had contracted some kind of disease.
After all, in order to survive in this place, illness was not only a common occurrence, but if one fell sick, they would basically be in a state of waiting for death. This was because most laborers could only barely exchange their daily earnings for nutrient solutions. The price of the healing mixture was daunting …
In his thoughts, the rays suddenly retracted. The crisp beep woke Ding Meng up. The metal door was already open, and the AI system's voice rang out, "Number 8028, certification passed."
Ding Meng did not think too much and strode in. This was the 42nd day he had been in this place.