Chapter 1483 - Monster Market
Chapter 1483 Monster Market
“Alright.”
Meng Chao was indeed qualified to act as the one who could conquer everything. “Then tell me, where can I find this Giant-toothed Crocodile?”
“The subordinates of Giant-toothed Crocodile will usually move around the Monster Market in the south of the city to attract some random customers.”
Ai Lei thought for a moment and said, “However, for safety reasons, these random customers of unknown origins will certainly not enter the real black market or see the real Giant-toothed Crocodile.
“Unless, they’re distinguished guests who have been to and from the black market many times and have membership transaction cards issued by Giant-toothed Crocodile himself.”
“We don’t have time to get the membership
cards.”
Meng Chao shook his head and said, “If I’m in possession of priceless heavenly materials and earthly treasures, which are extremely rare on the market and hard to be appraised by the underlings, do you think that Giant-toothed Crocodile will step out to appraise and bargain with me in person?”
“That should work.” Ai Lei nodded.
“If you’re really talking about a single piece of material that’s worth tens of millions of Yuan, it would be inappropriate for his underlings to act on their own. They would probably inform Giant-toothed Crocodile and get him to appraise it personally.
“However, even if we meet Giant-toothed Crocodile, how will you ask him about the whereabouts of the Tailless Monkey, Senior?
“You must know that Giant-toothed Crocodile often gets raw materials from Universe Corporation and Sky Pillar Corporation. Many people suspect that he’s either from the Shen family or the Lu family.
“In fact, if he didn’t come from a cultivation family, he wouldn’t have been able to control 10% of the black market transactions in Dragon City.
“If Giant-toothed Crocodile is truly from the Shen family and you rashly look for him to inquire about Tailless Monkey and remind him of the shady things in the Red Creek Project, wouldn’t you be alerting him?”
“This….”
Meng Chao pondered for a moment and then asked, “You just mentioned that there’s intense competition between the humble and wealthy families in Dragon City, between the wealthy families, and even within the wealthy families.
“For this Giant-toothed Crocodile to rise miraculously in just one year and control 10% of the black market’s trading volume in the city, he must have offended many people, many enemies, and many people who are jealous of him.”
“That’s right.”
Ai Lei said, “Among the black market bigwigs, who doesn’t have three to five hundred enemies?”
“That’s easy to deal with.”
Meng Chao smiled slightly. “Take me to the Monster Market in the south of the city now. On the way, you can fully display your professional abilities. Tell me about Giant-toothed Crocodile’s three to five hundred enemies, as well as the various changes that have happened in Dragon City in the past year, and all kinds of… strange things.”
During the Monster War, the citizens of Dragon City had spontaneously made preparations to trade monster materials and purchase monster meat, as well as various monster products. It was similar to the vegetable markets of the Earth era, but its size was ten times larger.
To countless children of Dragon City, especially those born in slums, the Monster Market was also a kaleidoscopic paradise.
Meng Chao still remembered that his parents had brought him to the Monster Market for the first time when he was about four or five. The moment he saw the head of a Tyrant Mammoth, which was bigger than a small car, his head buzzed. His temples exploded with curiosity and fear.
That was when he understood the meaning of the word “monster.”
He remembered that although the head had left its body for a long time and the blood had dried, the Tyrant Mammoth refused to close its eyes.
Its scarlet eyes were like two searchlights, giving Meng Chao Goosebumps.
There were also two fangs that were like giant scimitars. They could practically pierce through the chassis of a battle tank and hang on to it.
At that time, Meng Chao was still young, but he had already learned to be stubborn.
His legs were clearly trembling non-stop, yet he kept mumbling things like, “I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid,” and so on.
Unexpectedly, because there were too many people in the Monster Market, in the bustling crowd, someone pushed him from behind, and he landed on the Tyrant Mammoth’s head. He smelled the extremely pungent smell of blood and felt the monster’s rough and hard skin. He cried out in fear, causing the peddler and his parents to laugh out loud.
However, his cry was not in vain.
In order to make up for the trauma on his young mind, his parents bought him a string of fried rock sugar scorpions.
A total of five different types of scorpion monsters were strung together. First, their poison glands and barbs were removed, and then they were fried in boiling oil until they were crispy. Finally, they were wrapped in syrup, which cooled and hardened. He swallowed them in one gulp, and crunching sounds could be heard from his mouth.
The poison glands could not be removed too cleanly, so they stimulated the tip of the tongue and the throat. It was sweet, spicy, and complex.
To Meng Chao, that was a taste from his childhood that could not be exchanged for
gold!
Compared with Meng Chao’s past experience, the Monster Market of today had undergone an earth-shaking change.
It was no longer the same place in the past, where sewage was flowing, the stench was overwhelming, and illegal buildings were stacked on top of each other. All kinds of fist-sized mutated mosquitoes and flies also flew everywhere.
Instead, it had transformed into a thirty-plus-story building with transparent walls, clean and tidy. There were large screens and surveillance images everywhere, allowing consumers to keep an eye on the price of monster products and the processing operation at all times. That allowed people to buy the monster materials in a comprehensive shopping mall.
Meng Chao was not in a hurry for Ai Lei to bring him to Giant-toothed Crocodile’s men.
As an ordinary consumer, he first walked around the Monster Market with his hands behind his back.
The first thing he paid attention to was the price of the Demonic Halberd Pig meat and the Iron Armored Rhinoceros meat.
The Demonic Halberd Pig and the Iron Armored Rhinoceros were the most common Nightmarish Beasts.
Although their combat strength was not very strong, their omnivorous diet and strong reproductive ability made them the most common monsters that the Earth people came into contact with and ate. The people would also try to tame and raise them first out of the other monsters.
The meat of the Demonic Halberd Pig and Iron Armored Rhinoceros were both very good sources of protein.
The trace of spirit energy contained in their flesh could even promote the development of the bones and the growth of the spirit meridians in teenagers. That supported them to carry out arduous training and constantly raised the possibility of awakening extraordinary strength.
The people valued food above all else.
As long as they looked into the price of the Demonic Halberd Pig meat and Iron Armored Rhinoceros meat, they would be able to learn the ordinary citizens’ standard of living in Dragon City and exactly what state they were in.
What made Meng Chao quite happy was that the pork and Iron Armored Rhinoceros meat were both very cheap on the market.
The prices of the pork and beef tendons were probably 30% cheaper now than when he had left Dragon City a year ago.
Moreover, Meng Chao used his meticulous Reaper techniques to secretly examine them. He found that the pork and rhinoceros tendons in several stalls were of pretty good quality.
Their muscle fibers were long and tough, and their cells were full of vitality. It was as if with a light pinch, strands of spirit energy could be squeezed out from the depths of those cells.
With such strong flesh and blood, these Demonic Halberd Pigs and Iron Armored Rhinoceroses must have been the kings of their respective herd when they were still alive.
Whether it was pigs or rhinoceroses, it was impossible for there to be so many kings.
That proved humans had already mastered the method of artificially raising Demonic Halberd Pigs and Iron Armored Rhinoceroses, stimulating their flesh and blood to accelerate their growth. They strengthened them and greatly improved the quality of these ordinary monsters.
Sure enough, Meng Chao chatted with the vendors and heard that Superstar Company was their main supplier.
The current Superstar Company had already monopolized about half of the supply channels for the meat of the Demonic Halberd Pig, the Iron Armored Rhinoceros, and other mid-level, as well as low-level monsters, in Dragon City.
Superstar Company had also developed from purely harvesting monster parts into a large-scale high-tech enterprise that integrated monster breeding, monster domestication, monster concoctions, and all kinds of monster products into one.
The Demonic Halberd Pigs and Iron Armored Rhinoceroses that had been bred by Superstar Company had over 10% more protein, amino acids, trace elements, and even spirit energy in their meat. They remained at the same price, hence they were very popular among the consumers.
Many housewives and cooks would look for Superstar’s brand of monster meat.
Even the Red Dragon Army’s military logistics and nutritious lunches in primary and secondary schools were purchased in large quantities from Superstar Company.
While Meng Chao chatted with the vendors, he saw several customers, who had purchased several dozen catties of pork belly and rhinoceros tendons without batting an eye.
There were even people who carried the entire legs of the pig and rhinoceros back home.
Judging from their outfits and conversation, they did not look like wealthy people with a lot of money.
It seemed that even the ordinary citizens of Dragon City could have a good time every few days. Their daily life was much better than what Meng Chao had experienced in his apocalyptic nightmare.
Meng Chao was naturally very happy that his own company could help the citizens of Dragon City live a better life.
However, he was more puzzled than anything —what was Lu Siya trying to do?
More precisely, what was the monster mastermind that had invaded Lu Siya’s body trying to do?
Should they not be mortal enemies?
Why was the monster mastermind acting as if it was helping Dragon City’s civilization to become stronger?
Meng Chao stopped in front of a stall selling freshly fried crispy pork with five flowers.
He noticed that the signboard of this stall had the certification logo of Superstar Company on it.
This meant that all the vendors were from Superstar Company.
The customers who were waiting in line confirmed it.
They said that the pork in this shop was crispy on the outside but tender on the inside. They did not need cabbage leaves to accompany the meat. They did not even need to limit themselves to three to five pieces. Both adults and children loved to eat them.
rners.
If it was not time for work and school, the line would go all the way around two corners They would not be able to buy anything for less than half an hour!
Before Ai Lei’s strange gaze, Meng Chao queued up to buy two large portions.
After chewing slowly and swallowing the meat, he came to a conclusion.
No special “ingredient” had been added to the deep-fried Demonic Pig meat.
It did not bring about addiction or have any hidden toxic side effects.
Apart from consuming a large amount of it, which might cause the obesity rate in Dragon City to increase by a few percentage points, it would not cause any harm.
Meng Chao was puzzled.
He gestured with his fingers and went up to the second floor with Ai Lei.
The first floor of the Monster Market was mainly for ordinary citizens. It provided cuts of low-level monsters such as the Demonic Halberd Pig and Iron Armored Rhinoceros.
The second floor was for middle- and low-level superhumans. It mainly provided various materials that were rich in spirit energy, such as monster brains, monster bone marrow, monster organs, and so on, as well as gene reagents that had been refined.