Chapter 3: The Black Market

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  The most lively and vibrant place in Ye Huo Town is also the most chaotic, which is "Hei Jie" (Black Street).

  The Black Street is not an official name, in fact, neither the Byzantine Empire nor Odin ever occupied Wildfire Town for a very short time, so short that they didn't even have time to register all the streets and buildings of Wildfire Town - and by comparison, the more ignorant people of Odin didn't even bother to count the population.

  The Black Street was a conventional name, located on the west side of Ye Huo Town, closest to the outskirts. This street was originally very wide and was considered one of the widest streets in the town, originally able to accommodate two horse-drawn carriages driving side by side - such a large road, not to mention that it was rare in this poor and remote area, even in the civilized and developed Byzantine Empire, it was only standard equipment for some big cities.

  However, what I said earlier was that it could originally accommodate two horse carriages side by side - if there weren't so many vendors occupying the road.

  Here gathers all sorts of strange and unusual things from all over the mainland, anything you can't imagine, can be found here.

  Of course, if you want to buy something, no matter how rare or strange it is, as long as you come to this black street in Ye Huo Town and hang up a "wanted" sign, within half a day at most, there will definitely be several guys wearing dirty robes, with unclear faces and suspicious expressions, coming to ask you how much money you are willing to pay.

  These people are not swindlers or beggars, but rather liaison personnel from some mercenary tribes.

  On the Wildfire Prairie, there are many tribes of all sizes, with large ones having over a thousand people and small ones having hundreds. These tribes have some that work as mercenaries, but more are bandit groups.

  These tribes are hard to distinguish as mercenaries or bandits - it depends on their mood.

  The Byzantines had a saying: the difference between a mercenary company and a band of thieves is:

  "If you hire mercenaries as bodyguards, then after the fact you can just pay them and that's it. But if they suddenly don't feel like it, not only will they take your money, but they'll also rob you clean - at this point, they're just a band of thieves."

  Of course, this saying was strongly opposed by the Wangdu Trading Guild, because the trading guild repeatedly stated that only those registered mercenary groups were legal and regular. These regular mercenary groups are law-abiding and rule-abiding. Those who are both mercenaries and thieves are all illegal black gangs.

  It was precisely these black gangs on the Wildfire Prairie that helped people a great deal. They dared to take on any task and were willing to do any job!

  If you pay enough, they'll even dare to do many life-risking deals! For example, going to catch dwarf slaves, those regular mercenary groups won't do it, but these black gangs... Heh heh, how much are you willing to pay?

  Although the natural environment is harsh, it has to be said that Wildfire Plains is a place of great business opportunities! This is the buffer zone between the Byzantine and Odin Empire, and also the only trade route between the two empires. The merchant groups from both the Odin and Byzantine Empires must pass through here if they want to do business in each other's countries.

  The vast and treacherous terrain of the Wildfire Plains is fraught with danger. Just north of the town of Wildfire lies the Blue Basin, a stronghold of the short-tempered and reclusive dwarves. If you're a human caravan, it's best to steer clear of this place, lest your skull ends up being crafted into a lacquered ornament, hung on the shelves of some black market stall.

  Only a very few merchant guilds that have established trust with the dwarves are allowed to approach their territories and do some trade with them.

  If the dwarves are still somewhat law-abiding (as long as you don't go to them, they basically won't come to provoke you), then the goblins are really the guys who give people headaches. These guys are like groundhogs, breeding in clusters in the north of Wildfire Plains, and these things are the real robbers - they snatch everything, food, clothing, utensils. They even eat everything.

  If you're unlucky enough to be caught by them, congratulations.

  Your flesh will be dried into jerky, your bones ground into powder for soup, and every last hair will be woven by the gnomes into warm blankets! In short, the gnomes possess a virtue that humans are extremely lacking: thriftiness!

  Crossing the Wildfire Plains for trade is extremely dangerous and also extremely profitable!

  Finely crafted armor and weapons of the Byzantine Empire, horses, cattle and sheep, minerals, works of art...

  The northern Odin Empire produces the finest fur, as well as various crystals and sculptures (what an irony! The Odin people have always been synonymous with crudeness and ignorance, but this ignorant nation possesses the most exquisite carving craftsmanship in the world, which has always made the sculptors of the Byzantine Empire unable to hold their heads up. However, to show disdain, the Byzantines explain that those Odin people spend all their time divided into three parts: one-third of the time is spent fighting, one-third of the time is spent ***, and one-third of the time is spent carving idols and praying.)

  However, such businesses can only be handled by those extremely powerful large business groups.

  And those small business teams, if they want to do this kind of business, then first you have to take out the energy to tie your head to your belt.

  Of course, facing huge profits, there are also many people who are willing to risk their lives. At least half of the guys who came to Wildfire Town were here with dreams of getting rich.

  And every now and then, there would be one or two lucky ones who narrowly escaped death to cross the Wildfire Plains and successfully traded with the other country, becoming rich overnight. This stimulated even more people to come to the Wildfire Plains with dreams of getting rich.

  There is a saying on the Wildfire Prairie: go to the outskirts of town, take an iron shovel, and casually dig up some soil in the wilderness. The bodies of adventurers are buried underneath.

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  When Xia Yalai walked into the black market, his waist was straight, mainly because he had already filled his stomach - thanks to that foolish scammer from out of town.

  The black market is no different from the past, only that the thieves' gang that occupied Wildfire Town a few days ago has been driven away. Now patrolling on the road are warriors of a mercenary group. The people of Wildfire Town are used to such things. Moreover, this new mercenary group occupying here is very disciplined and has not raised taxes.

  By the way, the tax rate in Wildfire Town is very simple. There's only one kind of tax here: entry tax! No matter who you are or what your status is, when entering the city, everyone must pay a copper coin per person as tax.

  Apart from this, there are no business taxes and other taxes here.

  Today, when Xia Yalai entered the city, he handed over the last copper plate in his pocket to the warrior at the city gate.

  So if he can't find a job and earn some money today, then he really has no choice but to join the beggars' gang...

  The streets were crowded with people, and the sound of quarrels and shouts came from the shops and stalls on both sides... The local customs are rough and tough, and those who dare to come to such a place for adventure thousands of miles away are mostly not good guys - so, there are no good people in Wildfire Town. These rough guys even haggle over prices as if they were scolding people.

  Sometimes there were also some drunkards who were thrown out of the wine shops on the roadside and dumped in the trash heap at the corner of the wall.

  There were also some suspicious-looking guys sneaking around in the crowd, these people were doing the work of pickpockets.

  Fortunately, no one with a keen eye would notice Xiaya - he looked even more disheveled than a beggar.

  Xia Yalai walked along with the crowd, looking around for a way to make some money. His idea was simple: he had to earn some cash first. His plan was to temporarily take on the job of demon hunting.

  Demon Hunter and Hunter are two different professions. Although they do similar work, the objects of their hunting are different.

  Hunter, just hunt rabbits, foxes, pheasants, wolves and the like. As long as you know how to shoot arrows and set traps, that's enough.

  However, Demon Hunters hunt only one thing: Demons!

  When the old man was alive, he forbade Xiā Yē Líng from hunting magical beasts, but Xiā Yē Líng didn't want to spend his whole life as a mountain hermit hunter. The life of a demon hunter is full of adventure and excitement, and it can also bring in money, which is what young people yearn for.

  So, he had secretly done this kind of thing several times behind the old man's back and successfully hunted some magical beasts. Unfortunately, he never saved any money, and most of his income turned into alcohol, filling the bellies of the two wine ghosts at home.

  Finally, Xia Yali found a goal.

  At the end of the black street, a small shop with a sign hanging at the entrance.

  "High price buying WOW TCG..."

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