The standardized buildings that made up the slums were all official low-rent housing, a type of architecture designed to maximize space—of course, spaciousness, brightness, lighting, air circulation, and scenery were not part of the equation. The designer's sole concept was repeatedly emphasized by the bloated superiors, more rotund than juan tu:

"I want artistry, beauty, and comfort! Even if you turn this place into a presidential suite, these poor ghosts living in these houses won't be able to afford a penny more!"

It was said that a total of two hundred and thirty design proposals were submitted at the time. The one that ultimately won the bid came from an unknown designer, whose sole reason for being shortlisted was said to be that he had referenced the architectural layout of Tokyo, Japan, during its most prosperous period on ancient Earth...

Therefore, all the residential areas in the Northern District were uniform in appearance. Everyone has probably seen modern chicken farms. The buildings in the Northern District were similar to chicken coops, designed solely to accommodate more chickens per unit area. Coupled with the fact that the building materials were all black for durability and practicality, the Northern District had another nickname: the Black Chicken Coop.

The giant conveyor belt did not extend to the Northern District because the cost of such a thing was also not low. After Fang Senyan and Old Charlie stepped off the street conveyor belt, they saw a very chaotic and noisy area. This place was almost as lively as a vegetable market. People of all kinds were exchanging hypocritical smiles as they talked to each other, saying things that were very obscure or even absurd. For example, Fang Senyan heard someone asking, "How much are two eggs?"

Okay, the question might be a little inappropriate, but it seemed normal. However, the answer was very abnormal. Another voice actually replied:

"Forty ears..."

Later, Fang Senyan learned from Old Charlie's "translation" that the so-called "eggs" referred to grenades, and "ears" referred to a local type of baked flatbread that was shaped somewhat like ears. This bizarre way of speaking was almost comparable to the secret codes used by bandits before liberation, like a few phrases of "Heavenly King covers the Earth Tiger."

As Old Charlie led Fang Senyan deeper into the area, Fang Senyan noticed that it was indeed easy to get lost in this ghostly place after going deep in, because the buildings were all the same. All that the eyes could see were identical structures. Of course, there were also many people of different skin colors bustling about, seemingly always present.

And many strange gazes were fixed on them. There was suspicion, envy, doubt, disgust, and anger... Fang Senyan could feel that most of these gazes were directed at his unfamiliar face. Fortunately, he had changed his clothes before going out, otherwise, he was afraid that the feeling of being watched would be even stronger.

However, Fang Senyan was calm and composed, and he ignored these gazes. Old Charlie quietly shrunk behind his coat and hat, not even lifting his eyelids. After Old Charlie successively broke the fingers of two petty thieves who were less than ten years old, the two were able to continue forward.

Soon, Fang Senyan finally saw a different building, but the difference was limited. Simply put, it was an unfinished building. To enter it, Fang Senyan and Old Charlie even had to pay a price of thirty Imperial coins, which was roughly equivalent to three hundred RMB in purchasing power.

After entering this unfinished building, Old Charlie finally broke the silence and said:

"Master, this is the best place you want to experience. Someone will come in to deliver food later. After dinner, there will probably be a black market auction tonight, and then we should probably go back."

Fang Senyan nodded and smiled:

"An auction? Then I have to see if I've brought enough money. You know, the wealthiest millionaires are often born in the slums."

Fang Senyan had a basis for saying this. There is a very strange phenomenon that often highly educated people work for those with less education. Steve Jobs was an abandoned child who stayed in a slum orphanage before being adopted. Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister who was so wealthy that he bought an English Premier League team, also came from an ordinary merchant family. Therefore, if one underestimated the underground black market in the slums, one really had to be careful of running into obstacles.

While Fang Senyan was talking to Old Charlie, he was led inside, only to realize that the unfinished building was just an external disguise. The inside was actually built into a rather decent small theater, and one could even look down on the street from the box seats—although there was nothing to see on the street, it still gave a sense of superiority to look down on the numb and bustling crowd below.

There were not many people sitting in the boxes at this time. Before long, someone brought food. First, a steaming basket of pastries came out, but the processing was very rough. Although it had a faint fragrance, it lacked a delicate taste.

This thing was made from cassava flour, mixed, stirred, fermented, and steamed. It was neither hard nor soft, and it was eaten with the dipping sauce next to it. The sauce was a nyama gravy, made with chicken and beef, or the meat of other animals.

Old Charlie reminded Fang Senyan that it was best not to dip the meat sauce here, because the population expansion inevitably led to a shortage of essential supplies such as food, so the meat used to make the sauce was likely to be rat meat. Fang Senyan didn't have any taboos. As long as he didn't eat rat hair and internal organs, it didn't matter.

Next, a fruit was served, and Fang Senyan also felt that the way to eat it was very novel. This thing was about the size of a grapefruit, the top was peeled off, and then a few drops of soy sauce were poured in, and it was eaten with a spoon. It was particularly crisp and refreshing, and the combination of soy sauce and fruit formed a very peculiar taste.

After eating his fill, he was finally served a glass of brownish-red wine, called Hani Se.

According to Old Charlie's introduction, on Andromeda VIII, there is a Hani Se tree in the unique climate of the north, which can bear unique sour and astringent fruits. Every spring and early summer, people on the planet collect Hani Se fruits, extract the pulp, and sweeten and ferment them.

Then, the extracted Hani Se wine is stored in oak barrels for two years to mature. Finally, the matured wine is perfectly blended with fresh cream, thus creating this smooth and uniquely flavored wine.

Fang Senyan picked it up and took a sip. He only felt that it was thick and sweet. After drinking it directly, he tasted the sweetness of milk on the tip of his tongue first, and then the taste buds on both sides of his tongue detected a slight coffee-like bitterness. When the wine reached his throat, he felt a hot passion.

While Fang Senyan was eating, nearly three-quarters of the seats in the venue had been filled. A skinny man with a upturned mustache walked to the middle, gave a hat-doffing salute, and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, because we just received news that a big shot is visiting this sinful and opportunity-filled place, it is estimated that security control will be implemented soon, so we will not wait any longer and hold this auction in advance."

With a dull knocking sound, the first to come up were three women, uh, naked women. Although Fang Senyan was an adult man, because Zi was in front as a reference, his requirements were certainly higher, and he was not interested in these mediocre women. Of course, he directly passed them over.

The next things to be auctioned were nothing more than drugs, weapons, and other contraband, which made Fang Senyan feel drowsy, but fortunately, special products smuggled from some planets soon began to appear. Fang Senyan surprisingly found unknown oddities among these auction items, and they were the kind that could be sold for 5 points of merit!

This unknown oddity came from Centaurus VIII. The air density there is very high, and creatures move in it almost like swimming in water. On that planet, there is a creature with few natural enemies, called the Elephant Whale.

The unknown oddity that Fang Senyan got was that another parallel world began to overlap with the main plane, and the entry point happened to be on the planet, and an Elephant Whale was hit by the derived space-time rift, of course, it died immediately, but its giant teeth, for some reason, were preserved in that terrifying turbulence.

This thing, in terms of economic value, is of course tattered and worthless, but the scrap in the eyes of others is priceless to Fang Senyan. Fortunately, no one was competing with Fang Senyan, and he got it effortlessly.

The things that were sold next made Fang Senyan laugh and cry! However, the buyers still flocked to it and generously donated money. It turned out that what was being auctioned was a piece of edited video data! This data was none other than a series of experiences on the Upros planet that were filmed from Old Charlie's perspective at the time, but the battle scenes were definitely cut out for fear of scaring the investors. The focus was on the abundance of minerals, of course, as well as the natural environment of the Upros planet and so on.

This thing was auctioned for a sky-high price, which also proved that the person in charge here was indeed very capable, and even managed to get this kind of thing.

The finale that was thrown out next surprised everyone. It was actually a miniature single-soldier mecha, and it was still a standardized one from the army! Although the amplification was only marked as seven times, it still looked like it was in a brand-new state, and all the weapons were intact. It was definitely not a castrated version!

Obviously, nine out of ten people present wanted to get their hands on this thing. Who would dislike their subordinates being too weak? However, just when the crowd was furious, a hoarse voice said loudly:

"I want this thing, send it over to me."