132: Chapter 52 Black Market 132: Chapter 52 Black Market Xiang Shan was gradually realizing a problem.

He actually lacked an understanding of the technological advancements of this era.

The latest knowledge in his mind dated back to before the Sublimation War.

Although this era appeared to be a Wasteland Era, no “technological regression” had occurred.

The existence of the Scientific Knight Order ensured that technology always advanced.

However, due to the presence of Jianghu, the development of military technology and cybersecurity in this era had become somewhat distorted.

But technology was definitely advancing, that much was certain.

Therefore, the century-old backdoors in his memory might not be effective against top-level security systems.

Because he knew nothing about the modern protocols in use, Xiang Shan couldn’t rashly hack into satellites.

If he wanted to find a route now, he would have to do it himself.

By overlooking the city from a high place, he drew a map.

Then he had to actually walk the route himself to correct any inaccuracies.

Additionally, since it was difficult to enter the Walnut Wood Building and the Meiyimei Building without raising suspicion, Xiang Shan gave up the idea of exploring the upper floors of those buildings.

But this also meant that the city map in his hands was inevitably incomplete.

“It’s a kind of necessity, I guess,” Xiang Shan sighed.

This was a very important matter.

That is, “to ensure an escape route.”

Just as Xiang Shan himself had said to Yuki, a hero has only one precious life and must cherish it.

For “knights,” Elite Soldier Tactics dictating “ensuring an escape route” were absolutely necessary.

He needed to know exactly what was usable in this city, where there might be strong armed forces, where it was extremely dangerous.

These were things he couldn’t afford not to think through thoroughly.

After coming down from the building, Xiang Shan repeated patrols on the streets, measuring the land with his feet, constantly correcting the map in his mind.

So far, he had not discovered any serious errors.

“Next…” Xiang Shan paused for a moment, “I could consider visiting the market…”

In this era, the Black Market was a place where you could find anything.

How should I put it…

The Dyson Principle only truly prohibited a small number of drugs that were strongly and genuinely addictive; even the use of ethanol was permitted in limited amounts, and most goods could, in theory, be traded openly and legitimately.

But the problem was, within the Dyson Principle, the rule of “only allowing personal loyalty to another person” also prevented the emergence of “companies”—that is, organizations serving as legal persons.

Various groups related to production and economics were difficult to form.

Therefore, many of the business activities in the market were operating on the edge of the Dyson Principle.

In some sense, this was even a bit similar to Green Forest.

Its existence was solely because the Protectors had no interest in destroying it.

Over time, the populace also developed the custom of avoiding official scrutiny in all business activities as much as possible.

Naturally, this was only to the extent possible.

After all, the government, which had backdoors set up within everyone’s prosthetic bodies, could randomly check anyone’s memory at any time, thus knowing any information.

These places were also where heroes and Green Forest Men obtained their supplies.

Guided by the memories left by Lev of the Silver Transmission Shaft, Xiang Shan twisted and turned among the ramshackle houses.

The houses in this city came in a wide variety of styles, with building materials ranging from mud, brick, plastic, and metal to trash—like a concentrated exhibition of slums from various eras of human history.

As Xiang Shan went deeper, the road gradually narrowed.

Soon, he turned into a small alley that was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

The buildings on both sides looked like makeshift shacks; some had been converted into storefronts, while others had their doors firmly shut.

The people patrolling here were careful to keep their distance from one another.

Xiang Shan glanced over each shop but did not hasten to make any purchases.

The high-quality items at this place included parts, weapons, potions, and other resources commonly used by martial artists.

There were also Martial Arts Algorithms for sale.

Xiang Shan briefly connected to the shop’s WiFi and found that these algorithms were directly extracted from the blockchain.

However, in some sense, this couldn’t entirely be deemed as fool’s tax anymore.

Many ancient Martial Studies blockchains had become unreadable due to being overly large and having too many forks.

These people had sorted them out and made them easier to read, and then they sold them, which could be seen as having put in some effort.

“`

“Charging for knowledge” in itself isn’t necessarily a target for criticism by the Open Access Movement.

Xiang Shan remembered that what they opposed back then was the practice of “charging for knowledge itself”.

However, if someone’s job is to search through free knowledge for the parts a client needs and to organize them, then this form of “payment” is not unreasonable.

The latter essentially involves creating value through labor.

“Sorting out the specific information needed by a particular subject from a vast amount of data” is in itself a type of labor—it could even be defined as a kind of “personalized service”.

As long as one isn’t monopolizing knowledge and setting up a paywall for it, then it can exist.

What he and his idealistic friends sought to do back then was to prevent certain powerful individuals from strangling the world with their knowledge, extracting income out of thin air.

Xiang Shan exited the homepage of the Martial Studies shop without looking further.

He temporarily didn’t need more Martial Arts Algorithms.

He had killed enough Green Forest Men in the wilderness and had acquired quite a few Cultivation Techniques.

Coupled with the content he had saved from the blockchain not long ago, he wouldn’t need to worry about Martial Arts for a while.

He also skipped over the potion shops.

He had captured plenty from the Green Forest, including a variety that treated various brain injuries, so he didn’t need to consider this for a long time either.

Next up were weapons.

Although the Protectors were extremely harsh on civilians, there isn’t a single law that prohibits the production and possession of weapons—unless the nearby Protector determines that you posed a significant danger to the safety of those around you while holding a weapon, no one would intervene.

For instance, if you were transporting a nuclear bomb, you would mostly likely attract the Lord’s attention.

Of course, this is also a rule with considerable discretionary power because the standard for “posing a significant danger” is dependent on the Lord’s mood.

However, Xiang Shan wasn’t interested in such weapons of mass destruction.

In this era, where few individuals singularly occupy the Great Wall, a nuclear bomb would inevitably involve numerous innocents in its attacks.

After browsing several stores, Xiang Shan only replenished some explosives difficult to synthesize in the Wasteland, a large amount of Iron Dust, and some functional bullets.

It is necessary to mention the most astonishing payment method of the era.

They used a digital currency based on P2P encryption.

Yes, it’s true.

The main reason is that Protectors aren’t a traditional “government”, and they don’t issue currency.

The currency now is mostly virtual coin achieved through the blockchain rules written by Jianghu people.

Of course, it’s different from the craze in Xiang Shan’s youth, when it was treated as a special investment.

The fate of blockchain and digital currency is similar to that of 3D printing technology.

When the concepts were still immature, they became the financial games of capital, prematurely undermining their reputations, and becoming synonymous with “scams”.

In this era, digital currencies have no physical currency to back them up and no guarantee of credibility, almost equivalent to “worthless”.

It’s as though it’s a natural resource with limited quantity, just like “shells” or “gold” in primitive societies—the mathematical rules determine the total amount of a certain virtual currency.

Virtual currency in this era is positioned as a “conventionally accepted general equivalent”.

Because digital currency naturally goes hand-in-hand with blockchain and P2P technology, it’s very much favored by Jianghu.

And certain digital blockchain rules have even been played with creatively.

The “mining” of a small number of virtual coins, that is, the operation of “packing blocks”, is actually assisting some Heroes in establishing Martial Studies databases.

Due to the Dyson Principle prohibiting the regulations of complex organizations, almost all modern financial activities have ceased to exist, and the government doesn’t issue any legal tender, so there’s no force left to manipulate these rules.

Hence, the highly anonymous electronic currency ultimately played its original role in this era.

Since the public has chosen this general equivalent, the government occasionally also uses it for calculations of “employment” and “social welfare”.

Of course, Xiang Shan didn’t have the digital currency of this era, but those Green Forest Men he had killed did.

He extracted the virtual coin accounts from the memories of Little Poison Insect and several other Green Forest Men.

However, the amounts in these digital currencies were small—Green Forest Men resolved most of their needs through “plunder”, and the rest was taken care of through barter trade most of the time.

These funds were only used to fill the gaps and purchase some scarce materials, not the running costs of the Great Stockade.

Besides, the leaders needed to enter the city occasionally to unwind.

But for Xiang Shan alone, it was more than enough.

Due to the strong anonymity of digital currency, he wouldn’t leave any records.

After restocking these items, Xiang Shan planned to leave the market.

He walked straight forward and then passed through a service station.

Mr.

Enoch of Recycling Station Town would never know that the service station he frequently visited was connected to the “Black Market” at the rear.

The tales of murder and arson in the Jianghu, told by Silver Transmission Shaft Lev, were just a wall away from him.

When Xiang Shan entered from the back door, the service station owner already looked unsurprised.

It might have been a coincidence.

Just a few seconds after Xiang Shan left the black market, another person also entered through the back door.

He glanced at the service station owner.

The owner pointed to the main door and gestured with his mouth towards the left.

The man got the hint and immediately left, turning left outside the door.

Then, a silver object traced a parabola in mid-air, aiming for his head.

“`