Everyone says that in peaceful times antiques thrive, and in chaotic times, gold does, but in actual chaos, the most important thing is not gold but food.

Through the trade with Zachary, they got the food they wanted, but if they killed Zachary, not only could they recoup the costs paid during the transaction, they might even find out intelligence about other supplies that Zachary knew of. Few could resist such an opportunity to gain multiple benefits at once.

Therefore, if there was a possibility of being attacked either way, why wouldn’t Zachary choose a trading method with higher profits?

After recording the area where the Trade Market was located, Zachary continued to look for other places that might interest him.

Perhaps because the self-service navigation only recommended legitimate places, after browsing around, the only place that caught his eye was the Talent Market; however, for some reason, whenever he read the introduction to the Talent Market, Zachary always had some wild thoughts.

Once he confirmed there was nothing else of interest, Zachary left the self-service server.

The first place he needed to go was definitely the official store selling navigation devices, as getting back to Magic City Base Three was impossible without going there to buy a navigation device.

Fortunately, the store selling navigation devices was on the same floor as the Trade Market, which greatly facilitated Zachary’s subsequent actions.

Just getting off the elevator, Zachary was captivated by the bustling scene before him. It’s not that other bases’ trade markets had fewer people, but such a crowded and bustling scene was something Zachary had never seen in other bases.

Following the crowd to the store that sold navigation devices, many people like Zachary, visiting Magic City Base for the first time, would inevitably come here to purchase navigation devices.

Zachary originally thought that navigation devices would be as the self-service server had introduced, with limited models despite a variation in the number of stored locations.

However, what Zachary hadn’t expected was the wide variety of navigation devices in the store; besides the basic navigation functions, many models were equipped with other auxiliary abilities.

After selecting, Zachary spent one hundred Mysterious Cores and directly purchased a navigation device about the size of a foldable phone.

Unlike the basic models that required manual entry of location information, the advanced model Zachary bought not only included all the current bases’ location information but also some publicly available ships’ locations.

And it wasn’t just navigational information; this device, much like the mobile phones before the calamity, also had call functions and other software features.

Even though China had not launched any more satellites after the calamity, the satellites that were launched after the expansion of Blue Star were still operating normally in space, although the situation in other countries was not very clear.

But in China, apart from the basic communication functions, data networks also had begun to restore a bit, although the signal quality was much worse compared to the pre-calamity 5G, it still reached the level once called 1G.

The reason Zachary bought this phone-like navigation device was because he was attracted to its capabilities not only to make calls and send text messages but also to take and send photos.

Beyond that, as long as one was willing to spend Demon Cores, one could also activate a daily news app and a fee-based firmness query function.

In essence, this device was like the smartphones before the calamity; it had functionalities limited only by your imagination, and no feature software it couldn’t add.

Of course, if one wished to use these functional softwares normally, it was necessary to pre-pay a certain fee.

After briefly checking the standard for these software’s fees, Zachary thought briefly and directly recharged five hundred Mysterious Cores into it.

It was only when Zachary walked out of the store that he suddenly realized why he initially felt that the price of this navigation device was severely mismatched with its features when he first learned about it. It seemed too cheap for a device with so many functionalities, offering an extremely high cost-performance ratio.

He had not expected that it was lying in wait for him here. Looking at the navigation device in his hand, Zachary felt it was similar to those online games before the calamity, which not only charged the players for game cards but also operated in-game stores to sell game props.

However, in this monopolistic situation and considering Zachary desperately needed the goods, he had no choice but to buy. Therefore, he could only pray for a good harvest in the Trade Market to heal his wounded heart.

The shops and the trading center were only separated by one street. Upon entering the bustling Trade Market, Zachary’s first impression was that it resembled the small commodity wholesale markets found in every city.

Besides a main passage that cut through from front to back, there were rows of shops on either side, each about one hundred square feet, displaying a variety of goods they sold.

With a sweep of his Divine Sense, let alone the slow movement due to the crowded people, even if it were completely empty, it would take him a couple of days to visit all the shops there.

However, through the signs in the Trade Market, Zachary learned that the shops along the first five rows on both sides of the street were permanent merchants. To rent a shop there, besides providing the necessary certification, one also had to pay a security deposit along with a hefty cash deposit.

Starting from the sixth row, it resembled more of a street stall setup where no certification was needed; just pay the daily deposit, and anyone could set up a stall there.

In essence, the front half consisted of regular shops where the goods sold had some guaranteed quality. If problems arose, it was not the case where you bought an item today and couldn’t find the seller the next day.

Of course, after going through the cumbersome procedures and paying so much for the deposit, coupled with the assurance on the goods, the cost naturally became much higher.

In contrast, the back half from the sixth row onward, because it didn’t require any complicated certification process and involved daily lease payments, had much lower costs.

But accordingly, buying goods there relied solely on one’s judgment. Although the prices were low, the proportion of substandard goods presented as fine ones was very high.

Starting from the sixth row, perhaps due to geographical reasons, the goods sold in the first few rows still had some quality assurance. But as one moved further back, where anyone could set up a stall at any time, the quality varied greatly.

However, precisely because anyone could set up a stall here at any time, newcomers like Zachary, who had come here for the first time and wanted to set up a stall, would likely be positioned further back.

Therefore, one could often encounter goods here that were not only of decent quality but also offered great value for money. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Shopping here was like buying items in an antique market; with good judgment and luck, one could purchase items that met their expectations at a very low price.

However, those who were unlucky and lacked discernment often ended up buying goods that were completely misaligned with their value.

Upon entering the market, Zachary began by exploring the front shops primarily to understand the pricing in the market.

After walking around, he realized that perhaps due to the complicated certification process, most goods sold in the front shops were daily necessities. Although they could fully satisfy the needs of the vast majority, Zachary belonged to the few who needed more.

After getting a sense of the prices, Zachary didn’t linger and headed straight towards the back of the market.

Just when he reached the area around the seventh row, Zachary heard many exclamations. Approaching where the noises were coming from, he saw a crowd surrounding a stall.

Seeing that the crowd completely blocked the way forward, Zachary had no choice but to use his Divine Sense to investigate the situation inside.

When Zachary had perceived the situation inside using his Divine Sense, a surprised expression appeared on his face.

What was being sold there were Blood-Colored Mysterious Cores. Naturally, if it had been just one Blood-Colored Mysterious Core, it wouldn’t have shocked Zachary.

The reason for Zachary’s shock was that the seller had unexpectedly brought out a hundred Blood-Colored Mysterious Cores at once.