The shop owner approached Tang Li, saying awkwardly, "Brother Xiao Tian, look at this..."
The price they sold water at was naturally much higher than the official collection price, especially drinking water, which was tens of times higher. The ice in the insulated cups was even a hundred times higher.
The officials only compensated according to the standard, which was much lower than the agreed-upon profits between the shop owner and Tang Li, leaving the shop owner in a difficult position.
Seeing this, Tang Li said absently, "You can have all this compensation, Boss. Consider it my thanks for keeping my identity a secret."
Although the shop owner's worry was evident, he still managed a smile and gave a thumbs-up, "Brother Xiao Tian is generous!" kuAiδugg
After inspecting all the shops in the black market, the authorities announced that the black market had been sealed and would no longer be accessible.
Merchants and customers in the black market cried out in dismay, especially those who had spent points to buy shops that had not yet expired.
Tang Li frowned upon hearing this news.
The sealing of the black market didn't affect her as much.
On May 22nd, she had earned 1 million points in the black market.
Now, over 20 days had passed.
In addition to her original appliance business, she had expanded into the water resource business. After her reputation as the "Omnipotent Merchant" was established, many people in need of supplies sought her out. Furthermore, she had established a stable cooperative relationship with Song Pinxuan's research laboratory.
In these past 20 days, her cooperation with Song Pinxuan alone had earned her over 1 million points, and other ventures had brought in nearly 3 million points.
Aside from the black market, Tang Guo had been selling goods outside for over two months as of yesterday. Although the money earned from selling appliances needed to be used to acquire scrap materials, she still managed to earn 100,000 points.
Even after spending over 70,000 points on modifying cars and other miscellaneous items, she now had over 5.4 million general coupons in her spatial storage and 7.6 million points in her account, totaling 13 million points.
Currently, her demand for points had also dropped significantly.
Products like the mechanical exoskeleton, which she initially thought would require a large number of points, were now obtained for free, and she even had a more advanced combat mecha.
As for housing...
With 13 million points, while not the largest amount among the affluent in Jiangcheng, it was more than enough to bid for a standalone house.
Moreover, she was now planning to build her own force and establish her own stronghold outside the sanctuary, so housing would not be an issue.
Now, the biggest use for these 13 million points might be acquiring scrap materials.
By acquiring scrap materials, expanding her space, and then consuming space energy, she could replicate the supplies needed to build her force.
However, with the black market sealed, Tang Li's idea of having Tang Guo open a shop in the black market was dashed.
Even as she left the black market, Tang Li didn't realize that the sealing of the black market was caused by her.
She had only assumed that the black market's backing had collapsed, or that the black market owner had offended someone.
It wasn't until she returned home that she understood the real reason for the black market's closure.
"You mean that black market was the R-country's main base?"
Tang Li asked, raising an eyebrow, after hearing Tang Guo.
She had indeed found the black market to be unusual during her first visit.
However, she didn't believe that the black market was the R-country's main base.
"Yes, that's what the military interrogated from the people they arrested yesterday, and the evidence is conclusive."
As Tang Guo spoke, she took out her phone and opened a news article.
It stated that the black market sealed today had a backing force that collaborated with Tanaka and Watanabe to steal the research results of brain-computer interfaces and mechanical exoskeletons. To achieve this, they had deployed a large number of personnel to monitor and track those involved in the experiments, and even intended to kidnap the family members of the experimental subjects.
This clearly referred to the incident where the R-country branch of the Sacred Light organization tracked Tang Li and attempted to kidnap Tang Guo.
The article also detailed the entire process of how this force transferred the people tracking Tang Li from the security department to the underground city construction site, and then instigated a riot at the construction site to rescue them.
After uncovering these matters, the military followed the clues and discovered that this force had infiltrated high-ranking officials and was plotting a coup to seize power and obtain the position of the Governor of Jiangcheng.
Upon discovering this, the Governor's Mansion could no longer tolerate it and, along with the military, rounded up this entire force.
The black market, it turned out, was the main base of this force.
In the "Heavenly Realm" of the black market, many heinous transactions were also discovered.
While not as extreme as the cannibalism occurring outside the sanctuary, it also involved the wicked act of kidnapping women from outside the sanctuary for sexual exploitation.
This was something Tang Li had also noticed during her first visit to the black market.
However, looking at the contents of the news now, Tang Li shook her head.
"Things are probably not that simple. The R-country's main base wouldn't be this black market."
"I went to the black market every day. If it were the R-country's main base, I would have discovered it long ago."
"The force behind the black market is likely a scapegoat for the R-country..."