Chapter 2: The Black Market Merchant's Surprise

  Lambeth Palace Road, St Thomas' Hospital, Ye Ji walked in.

  Ye Qi didn't come here to see a doctor, but to find an underground broker, also known as a black market merchant. After all, demon hunters are still human and need to eat and sleep, which requires financial support. Generally, the items obtained by demon hunters from tasks cannot be sold openly, so giving them to black market merchants is undoubtedly the most convenient and cost-effective way - Old Ward has similar business there, but he's even more ruthless than black market merchants. Therefore, in this district, all demon hunters are looking for black market merchants to sell valuable items unrelated to their tasks. Unless it's absolutely necessary, they will never go to Old Ward to get ripped off!

  This time, Ye Qi came here not for money, but to get some powerful weapons to deal with this high-difficulty task. As the saying goes, "If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools." Ye Qi still remembered this proverb from his hometown. After all, facing a C+ level difficulty task, Ye Qi thought that relying solely on an M500 was obviously not enough. Of course, getting those powerful weapons from the black market merchant's hands wasn't easy either. Even though Ye Qi had done several "pleasant cooperation" transactions with him before, it was still a bit difficult.

  However, fortunately, in the underground garage before, except for the blood slave that was killed, Ye Qi also found something good in the underground warehouse. Although due to the low level of rumor skills, it is impossible to accurately identify the era of this item, but it does not hinder Ye Qi from roughly evaluating the value of this item. It's worth noting that dark creatures like vampires who claim to be nobles like to collect some art pieces to show off their noble identity - even those low-level blood slaves are no exception. Perhaps because they have been called "vampires" for a long time, this black market merchant who is about to be visited by Ye Qi has also developed the same hobby as those vampires - collecting art or antiques. Although Ye Qi often ridiculed the black market merchant's hobby in his heart, today he had to say that having such a hobby was really great!

  To avoid the two surveillance probes at the hospital entrance and in the hall, Ye Qi directly climbed along the downspout of the main building to the second floor, then walked into the corner room without startling the black market merchant's bodyguard.

  "Hey, Mori!"

  After entering, Ye Qi cheerfully greeted a young man in the room who was flipping through a magazine called "Exercise". This young man named Mori was the black market merchant that Zhang Yao had come to visit. Although his opponent was disheveled and unshaven, and looked like he was only in his early twenties or late thirties, none of this detracted from the fact that he was the largest shareholder of the black market in this district.

  "Dear Ye, you'd better give me a good reason for showing up here. I don't recall my secretary telling me I had an appointment at this ungodly hour!" The black market merchant, who had been interrupted, looked displeased, putting down the magazine he was holding and staring straight at Ye Qi, who had just walked in.

  "Secretary? Are you referring to the little nurse outside who is chatting with her boyfriend on the phone? I think she must be immersed in love and has forgotten about you, this great boss! Come, don't be sad, let's see what good things I've brought for you! It will definitely make you feel better!"

  Ye Qi said, and then he placed the object in his arms on the bed - a gold ring inlaid with rubies. Immediately, Mori, who had just been lazy and unimpressed, burst out at a speed that even Ye Qi found astonishing, directly pouncing from the sofa to the bed: "Oh! The red color is so dazzling, this texture is as irresistible as a girl's skin. Oh! It's a treasure from the Queen's era, it's too wonderful! Thank you, Your Majesty!"

  For this black market merchant who is normally calm but becomes slightly neurotic when seeing art pieces, Ye Qi has already become immune after several transactions. He won't be surprised like he was at first, only a faint smile. However, Ye Qi's smile, although shallow, is dazzling. Because the black market merchant's two consecutive exclamations have already shown the absolute value of this ring. This is naturally something to be happy about for Ye Qi, who wants to obtain weapons from him.

  "Alright, Mori. If you help me get some firearms, this ring is yours. You can spend the whole night feeling its texture like a girl's skin!" Ye Qi waved his hand in front of Mori, who was still holding the ring and muttering to himself, drawing his attention back. Mori looked dissatisfied again, looking at Ye Qi with disdain: "You crude guy! Do you know what this is? This is art! It's the sublimation of the soul! What firearms do you want?"

  The black market merchant, who had been shouting coarsely at Ye Qi, remained expressionless and asked about Ye Qi's requirements after a series of elegant surprises. If it were anyone else, they would have been caught off guard by the black market merchant's sudden question. However, Ye Qi calmly replied: "One T2-style assault rifle, ten clips of armor-piercing bullets; one 'Fire God' grenade launcher, six thousand rounds of ammunition; ten M72-style hand grenades; ten flashbangs; one venomous rocket launcher, three rockets..."

  "Good heavens! You're not planning on starting a war, are you?" Mori's hands trembled as he held the ring, nearly dropping it to the ground after hearing Ye Qi's words. He immediately shook his head and said, "No way! It's impossible! The Fire God, M72 grenade, and venomous snake are all special products of the military, I couldn't possibly get my hands on them! And this ring isn't even worth that much!"

  I'm afraid the last sentence is the key point, isn't it?

  Ye Qi looked at the excited Lianlian waving his hand, the negative black market merchant, and couldn't help but curl his lip. The black market merchant Mori was slightly better than the sly merchant Old Ward, but he was still limited in his goodness. If you looked closely with a microscope, the difference between their consciences was only one or two micrometers. According to Ye Qi's knowledge, when the local gang took revenge, someone had obtained several poisonous snake rocket launchers from Mori. If it were true that he couldn't get involved and couldn't get them, then where did those poisonous snake rocket launchers that almost destroyed a building come from? Did they fall from the sky and just happen to be picked up by the gang?

  For black market vendors, the meaning of "yè qí" is clear: it's just a ritual or convention that has existed among merchants since ancient times - haggling over prices.

  "Really? Maybe I should go to West Street and look for others!"

  Ye Qi took back the ring from Mo Li's hand before he could react and turned around to leave.

  Xī Jiē - the largest underground trading market in the area where Ye Qí is located, including several surrounding areas. There, money is everything. As long as you have enough money, there are even people willing to assassinate a country's leader for you.

  "Wait! Ye, let's talk again..."

  As Ye Qi's hand was on the door handle, Mori spoke up from behind. Upon hearing Mori's shout, Ye Qi's mouth corners involuntarily curled upwards. Then with a smile all over his face, he turned around to face a frowning Mori and said: "Mm, no problem. We can talk some more..."

  Half an hour later, the conversation came to an end. Judging from the smiles on both sides, it was clear that both parties had achieved their respective goals.

  Ye Qi was very satisfied, he got all the weapons except for the flamethrower and venom rocket launcher. This had exceeded Ye Qi's expectations, originally he thought it would be good to get the T2 assault rifle and flashbang grenade, but unexpectedly there was also the M72 hand grenade as a bonus. To know that the M72's 15-meter radius single-piece kill zone has always been known as "infantry killer"! Within this range, soldiers, even if you are Rambo, would be blown to pieces!

  Especially since Mori had promised that the goods could be picked up early tomorrow morning, which made Ye Qi even more delighted. After all, the level of this task was too high, so it was best to arrange it as soon as possible, and time was naturally the faster the better. Although from Mori's smile, Ye Qi could feel that the other party had not been taken advantage of, and may have even gained an advantage. But what did that matter?

  The transaction itself is a process of mutual benefit and reciprocity. As long as both parties are satisfied, the transaction is considered successful.

  "I'll be waiting for you at the appointed place tomorrow morning... Mori, what is this?"

  The transaction was completed, and Ye Qi was about to leave when he suddenly saw a wolf-headed, snake-tailed figurine on the black market merchant's bedside table. The figurine was roughly the size of a child's palm. As soon as Ye Qi saw the figurine, his heart contracted rapidly in his chest. He also had one of these figurines, which John had obtained after hunting down a group of ghouls and then gave to him as a birthday gift.

  And this statue can make Ye Qi feel tense, of course, it's not a simple thing.

  Mystic Statue: Although rough and ugly, it is filled with magical power, a truly enigmatic statue. Effect: Strength +1.

  "C-Level Quest: The Secret of the Statue. Investigate the secret of the statue in your hand."

  No wonder, this seemingly rough and useless statue is both an item that can increase attributes and a task trigger item. Putting aside the task that has been making Ye Qi unable to find any clues, items that can increase one's own attributes are absolutely invaluable. To think that John later gave him a magic short knife, also a magic item, but it only had a single sentence "Deals increased damage to dark and negative energy creatures". Especially after Ye Qi discovered that the statue's increased attributes seemed to be useful only for him, he treasured this statue even more.

  If it weren't for others being unable to discover the magical power of the statue, Ye Qi would have found someone to identify whether this magically powered statue was the legendary Holy Artifact or not.

  Sacred artifacts, for demon hunters, are legendary objects worth risking one's life to obtain. And yet, John's exceptional skills in combat can only be ranked as mediocre among his peers. This is because there are still Apostles, Sacred Artifact wielders, and Saint Mark bearers who surpass him in strength.

  The apostles are referred to as those who can control earth, water, fire, wind, thunder and lightning, light and darkness, or change themselves, trigger illusions and other abilities. According to the specific strength, they are divided into: Starlight, Moonlight, Sunlight.

  The Saint Marks, on the other hand, are people who were born with abilities that far surpass those of ordinary humans, and are many times stronger than the Apostles who awakened later. As for how strong they specifically are, Ye Qi naturally didn't know, after all, most of what he knew about the Saint Marks came from listening to Johann or Old Ward, or other demon hunters, and he had never seen one himself.

  As for the holder of the sacred artifact, it is self-evident that they are a demon hunter who wields the sacred artifact. The abilities of the sacred artifacts are more complex compared to the control of the elements such as earth, water, fire and wind by the apostles. In legend, there even exist sacred artifacts that can change time and space. The ranking of the power of the sacred artifacts is also divided into three levels: star, moon, and sun. Although Ye Qi didn't know which level this magic carving could be ranked as a sacred artifact, it didn't stop him from yearning to obtain another one just like it. After all, the increased attributes attached to the magic carving were too enticing - obtaining one more would represent a change in his strength!

  At that moment, when Ye Qi saw the statue again and felt the subtle fluctuations on it, he decided to get his hands on it no matter what the cost. However, Ye Qi also knew what kind of person the current owner was. Even if he only showed a hint of improper expression, the other party would seize the opportunity to raise the price and fleece him mercilessly. So, despite being excited in his heart, Ye Qi still maintained a calm demeanor on the surface, casually asking.

  "It's just something my servant brought back this morning, nothing but a worn-out thing! Although the craftsmanship is great, I suspect it was laser-engraved, so it's completely worthless! Not worth any money! If you want it, one gold punt will do!" Mori carelessly replied while fiddling with the ring without even lifting his head.

  "Since it's worthless, why are you asking me for a gold pound? Well, let's just consider this a memento of our pleasant transaction again! Remember my goods tomorrow morning. If you dare to play with me, I'll make sure you regret it! Goodnight!"

  Ye Qi walked to the bedside table, picked up the statue, pretended to glance at it casually, and then directly put it into his arms. Suddenly, a familiar chill spread from his hand in contact with the statue to Ye Qi's body, flowing through his entire body in an instant.

  Mystic Statue: Although rough and ugly, it is filled with magical power, a truly enigmatic statue. Effect: Agility +1.

  As expected, attributes have increased again!

  Although the secret of the C-level task sculpture was still unclear, it did not hinder Ye Qi's excitement at this moment. He secretly glanced at the increased attribute bar, and a hint of joy flashed in his eyes. Before Mo Li could speak, he bid farewell with a smile while talking about the transaction.

  After bidding farewell, the demon hunter waved his hand at the black market merchant and walked to the window, pulled it open and jumped out.