Apocalypse Foodie System: Watch Her Cook!-Chapter 106 - 101: Black Market
Despite the worries filling Pang Xiao’s heart, the prize-winning guessing activity continued to flourish with fervor, and thanks to the intriguing gimmick of "Ant Egg Soup," it successfully attracted more and more people to notice and participate in the event.
As for the Tang Family’s move, other restaurant owners within Qinghe City were adopting a ’watch the drama’ stance, waiting to see the Tang Family stumble!
These people shared similar thoughts with Pang Xiao, all believing that ’Tang Xiao’s’ actions were too risky! The more hyped this event became, the more people would anticipate the decoration of the Tang Family’s physical store, raising expectations to unattainable levels! So they felt they could already foresee how the Tang Family would face a dismal end!
The Tang Family’s foundation was, after all, too shallow, initially just opening a small online store in an inconspicuous area of the Food Empire, and even the owner couldn’t afford renovations! If it weren’t for the later "car accident incident" making the Tang Family famous, none of the slightly renowned dining establishments within Qinghe City would have paid attention to the Tang Family!
However, even though the Tang Family seized an opportunity to make a splash, in the eyes of these people, it still couldn’t hold a candle! Yet, they somewhat admired ’Tang Xiao’s’ ability to create hype, even thinking that once the Tang Family’s physical store fails, they might spend some credit points to bring ’Tang Xiao’ to their store to help create hype!
No one expected that at this critical juncture, Tang Yiyi not only showed no sign of worry but also went out of her way to disguise herself and ventured alone to the black market in the Underground City!
Every Safe City inevitably harbors a black market, usually hidden in the Underground City, sometimes changing transaction locations unless you have acquaintances leading you, ordinary people shouldn’t even think of entering! The entire Underground City is like a maze, inhabited either by the impoverished or criminals. Boldly rushing in is no different from sending a lamb into a tiger’s den!
While in Songyun City, Tang Yiyi had never gone to the black market, she merely knew such a place vaguely existed. This time, if it weren’t for the help from System Pudding, she wouldn’t have considered the black market at all!
Everyone knows the danger of black markets; not only are transactions unreliable, but it’s easy to buy counterfeit goods and can even lead to robbery! If unlucky, one might even lose their life there!
Currently pregnant, Tang Yiyi wouldn’t take such risks unless she was utterly forced with no other option!
Yet, she is precisely out of options now; if she doesn’t go to the black market, she’d have to risk leaving the city, which would be even more dangerous!
Her reasoning for visiting the black market is quite simple; the system requires raw materials to synthesize biochemical fertilizer, which are food waste! Moreover, they’d best be waste from mutant food ingredients! According to Pudding, the energy contained in ordinary food is too low, even if synthesized into fertilizer, it’d be the most ordinary with a poor effect! Hence, using waste from mutant food ingredients would be best!
Furthermore, speaking of prices, many mutant organisms, due to being inedible, aside from some special parts, have exceptionally low prices, often ending up unwanted and similar to garbage! If Tang Yiyi can get her hands on these, she would not only save a significant amount of credit points but also synthesize lots of biochemical fertilizer!
She has already cast the bait, how fiery the Tang Family’s physical store opening day would be depends on how well those plants she cultivated turn out! If anything goes wrong here, her previous efforts in stirring up interest would become a real laughing stock!
Tang Yiyi absolutely refuses to let things turn out this way! Hence, after consulting Pudding’s opinion, she made an extremely daring decision to trade in the black market!
The merchandise within the black market is diverse and varied, it’s no exaggeration to say that you’d find anything you could not imagine here. So Tang Yiyi was convinced, even if it’s junk-like mutant organisms, there’d be sellers here!
Of course, this kind of thing isn’t entirely not sold openly; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to buy Mutated Black Ant while staying at Sun Jian’s house previously. But purchasing in small quantities is one matter; buying in bulk would be overly conspicuous!
The Tang Family has now become a focus of attention, and as the owner and cook, she draws even more focus! Pudding had even told her several groups have investigated her identity!
Tang Yiyi believes once she purchases a large number of mutant organisms in the market, it’d inevitably arouse these people’s vigilance, then she’d suffer the consequences!
But the black market is different! It’s called a black market because all the transactions here are carried out anonymously, using unregistered point cards, and even many people here have false appearances!
In such circumstances, even if she buys these things in bulk, it’d likewise arouse suspicion, but who could deduce her purposes? People come and go in the black market, and not a few buy bizarre things; as long as her identity isn’t exposed, who could link it to ’Tang Xiao’?
Even so, Tang Yiyi remained very cautious. She specifically used a Multi-functional Protective Mask to alter her appearance, changing to a plain face and then donned a wide hooded windbreaker in a camera-free corner. With the hood on, her upper face hid in the shadow with just a small part exposed.
Dressed like this, she mingled silently into the crowd, entered the Underground City, and after several twists and turns, finally reached the black market’s transaction point today.
The place looked very ordinary, entirely beyond Tang Yiyi’s expectations! Having never been to the black market, she merely assumed it’d be hidden in dark alleys or some bustling hall under strict surveillance by armed superpower guards.
However, where she now stood, appeared no different than an ordinary commercial street, neither bustling nor desolate, witnessing people coming and going, even the items in the stores seemed unusually normal!
Seeing this scene bewildered Tang Yiyi, and she grew increasingly uncertain, silently asking Pudding in her mind: "Pudding, are you sure this is indeed the black market transaction point? Are you mistaken?"
Her questioning obviously frustrated Pudding, and admittedly, this fellow’s temper had grown significantly since upgrading! It let out a cold hum and replied displeasedly: "How could I possibly err in my work? The black market transaction point is here, believe it or not!"
Tang Yiyi didn’t want to argue with it at this crucial moment, and she’d already discovered, while the people around her seemed normal, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t hard to notice the emotions hidden between their brows were greed, slyness, or malice!
Worst of all, she sensed that someone might have already set their sights on her! (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote for recommendation and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
