The Rift Between Cities: The Uprisers

"What's your business?"

At the entrance of F27 District, the guard peered at Ning Fan through the peephole.

Ning Fan pulled out five hundred Solas from his pocket and slipped them through the hole. "Just passing through, doing some trading."

The guard was visibly surprised by Ning Fan's youth.

It was uncommon to see such a young Marauder surviving alone in the wilderness.

After glancing at the five hundred Solas handed over, the guard opened the iron gate without further questions.

Ning Fan, carrying a large package on his back, walked in and asked the guard, "Brother, which way to the black market?"

The guard pointed in a direction, "Follow this road to the end, then turn right. You'll see a six-story red building. That's it. When you get there, ask around for more details!"

"Thanks, brother," Ning Fan smiled politely.

Watching his retreating figure, the guard muttered, "Huh, are Marauders getting this young nowadays?"

This was Ning Fan's first time visiting a district other than F32.

Compared to F32, this place seemed a bit more lively.

The number of each district actually represented its level of prosperity.

Within the entire F District, there were 69 sub-districts.

F32 was considered average.

Here, at the district's entrance, there was also a large gathering of Marauder teams, not much different from the situation in F32.

This reminded Ning Fan of a few days ago when he first went to find Hui Zi and Lin Chuan.

Looking back, it seemed like it had been a long time ago.

Ning Fan's large package attracted quite a bit of attention as he entered.

After he asked the guard about the location of the black market, a shirtless burly man stood up and walked towards him.

"Brother, selling goods?" the man asked.

Ning Fan glanced at him.

The man grinned, but it didn't look particularly friendly. Instead, it appeared somewhat fierce. "Got any good stuff? If you have something I need, I can take it off your hands right here. No need to go all the way to the black market and get ripped off."

"No need, I'm not in a hurry. I'd rather take a stroll around the market," Ning Fan replied.

Black market transactions were relatively safe.

Most district black markets followed the rules, after all, they needed to maintain long-term business. No one would want to ruin their own rice bowl.

But these private deals were a different story.

Robbery and murder weren't unheard of within the districts.

Killing someone would only result in seven days of confinement at most.

If the value was high enough, seven days wasn't a long time.

It could be considered just another commission.

"Hey, don't be in such a rush to leave..."

The burly man grabbed Ning Fan's shoulder.

Ning Fan's eyes narrowed. In an instant, his broken sword was in hand, swinging down towards the man's arm.

Startled, the burly man quickly withdrew his hand and stepped back!

"You son of a bitch! Are you crazy?"

The man's veins bulged as he shouted, "You dare to attack me? Do you have a death wish?"

Ning Fan stared at him with a cold gaze.

Suddenly, he took off his package and opened it.

Inside were various blood-stained weapons.

"These belonged to dead men. Can you use them?" Ning Fan said coldly. "If you're looking for trouble, it's too cramped here. Let's go outside and settle this."

The guard who had just let Ning Fan in saw this scene and burst into laughter. "Old Pig, don't bully the young one. A lone wolf this age is unpredictable. Don't bring trouble upon yourself!"

The burly man called Old Pig kept a stern face but showed no intention of fighting Ning Fan.

The weapons in the package were clearly this kid's trophies.

For such a young boy to be carrying the used weapons of five or six people...

He might have single-handedly wiped out an entire team!

"Damn it!"

Old Pig twisted his mouth and skulked back to the wall.

This was a bargain he didn't dare to strike.

It wasn't that he thought he couldn't beat Ning Fan for sure, but these broken weapons...

They weren't worth the conflict.

The cost-benefit ratio was too low.

But not taking them...

He still felt a bit reluctant.

Ning Fan silently packed up his bundle and continued walking towards the black market.

After he left, Old Pig beckoned to a small alley near the gate.

A skinny man quickly ran over from that direction.

If Ning Fan had seen him just now, he would have recognized him immediately!

It was Monkey from the [War Bear] team!

Back then, he was the first one Old Duan had electrocuted out of the tree.

But precisely because of this, having lost his fighting spirit, he had escaped a tragic fate.

"Brother Zhu, what's up?" Monkey's face still bore burn marks, and he wore a fawning expression.

Old Pig pointed at Ning Fan's retreating figure. "Follow him, find out how many Solas he's got on him."

Monkey was surprised. "Ah? Brother Zhu wants to rob him?"

Old Pig snorted coldly. "He's acting all high and mighty, calling himself a lone wolf? In the end, he's just a stray. It'd be a waste not to rob him!"

"Brother Zhu, what if he really has some skills?"

"If he was really skilled, why would he come to F27 District to sell stuff? He'd have reported to the Tri-Sovereign Alliance Zone long ago!"

"That's true..."

"Monkey."

Old Pig looked at him with drooping eyelids. "Back when Sun Wang was around, your [War Bear] team did this kind of business quite often, didn't you? I'm entrusting this to you, you should be able to handle it well, right?"

At the mention of [War Bear], Monkey immediately understood.

Old Pig was reminding him that he was now dependent on others for survival.

If he did a good job, Old Pig would continue to feed him.

"Oh! Don't worry! Brother Zhu, I'll go investigate everything clearly for you right away!"

With that, Monkey bounced off after Ning Fan.

Old Pig sneered, "Hmph, homeless dog!"

Ning Fan had already arrived at the black market following the guard's directions.

Compared to the Marauder team gathering area near the district wall, this place was obviously more bustling.

The entire street was filled with the sounds of haggling and bargaining, sometimes even escalating into face-to-face arguments and cursing when prices couldn't be agreed upon.

Ning Fan, with his large package on his back, naturally attracted a lot of attention.

"Young brother, what's in that package? Let's take a look, I'll try to give you a good price," said a man in his thirties with a crew cut, sitting cross-legged on the ground, waving Ning Fan over.

Ning Fan squatted down and took off his package.

When he opened it, the crew-cut man frowned at the sight of all the blood-stained weapons.

"Collected... outside the district?" he asked.

Ning Fan nodded, "Used by Marauders."

They both understood the implication.

Before coming to F27 District, Hui Zi had told him that Soul Servants couldn't be openly discussed within the district.

These weapons belonged to the [Hunting Group], who originally possessed Soul Servants.

So when trading in the black market, they only needed to say they were used by Marauders, and everyone would understand the hidden meaning.

The crew-cut man thought for a moment, furrowing his brow.

"Is the source clean?"

"Not from F27 District."

The crew-cut man immediately became interested. "Alright, wait a moment."

Saying this, he took out a phone and made a call.

Ning Fan's eyes lit up.

It was clear that this crew-cut man's business must be quite substantial.

Ordinary vendors wouldn't likely have access to a phone.

These things were rare commodities!

"Young brother, wait a bit. I have a friend who specializes in weapon trading. I'll have her come take a look," the crew-cut man said with a smile.

Ning Fan nodded, "Sure."

The crew-cut man then pointed to the items on his own stall.

"Take a look, see if there's anything you like. I'll give you a good price later, and you can help me make my first sale of the day."

Ning Fan had actually already looked over the items on the stall earlier.

To be honest, there wasn't anything that caught his attention.

Just then, at a stall behind Ning Fan, a blonde man with a lollipop in his mouth was pointing at a Courage Crystal from a rotten-faced frog on another stall, asking, "Brother, can you make this any cheaper?"