Cave Refuge

"People always say talking about money can harm relationships, but talking only about feelings hurts the wallet even worse."

Although Ye Liuyun expressed his regret with a sigh, Zachary still picked up on some key points from his words.

"What's the problem with the Black Market? Why are you unwilling to take over the shops there?"

Seeing that Zachary had grasped the crux of the matter, Ye Liuyun began to explain with a smile, "You've already said it, the Black Market is essentially a gathering place for all sorts of people from the base.

But in reality, the whole Black Market is under the control of the Officials, which also means that every move of those entering the Black Market, the Officials are fully aware of their every action.

The only reason why the Officials haven't acted against the Black Market is that they haven't found any big fish there yet, or maybe the Officials believe they have absolute control over the Black Market, so the place that seems you can easily sell stolen goods, in reality, is just a baited fish nest laid out by the Officials.

Right now, the Black Market is merely a fish nest set by the Officials. The reason why they haven't acted is that no big fish have taken the bait yet.

Believe me, the moment the Officials catch a big fish, it is very likely they will eradicate the Black Market as well.

It's certain that 'the law does not punish the multitude,' so even if the Black Market is shut down, those who have been to the Black Market probably won't be punished. However, those who have fixed shops in the Black Market, they will definitely be the best targets for the Officials to make an example of.

After all, those shops in the Black Market, each of them makes a fortune every day because the Officials have all the shop owners' information.

So when the Officials are determined to eliminate the Black Market, these shop owners in the Black Market will also become the targets to be eradicated.

Having been identified as targets for eradication, all the assets of those shop owners naturally become confiscated. Therefore, no matter how much those shop owners earn, ultimately they are working for the Officials.

Of course, the situation I described won't happen immediately, but as time goes on, it is bound to occur, it's just uncertain when exactly.

Knowing what the Black Market will ultimately face, buying shops in the Black Market now isn't entirely out of the question, but it's like playing hot potato as a child.

As long as you get involved, you're bound to make money, but if you're incredibly unlucky and the 'hot potato' ends up in your hands, you'll lose everything you've got.

You also know I'm not the kind of person with a heavy gambling spirit, so even though I know there's money to be made, I still won't indulge in wishful thinking or join in, to become one of them."

Ye Liuyun was so forthright in his words that Zachary fully understood his meaning, which was essentially advising Zachary to persuade his own father to sell his shop to someone else as soon as possible.

After giving Zachary some time to think, Ye Liuyun, somewhat impatient, spoke up and said to Zachary, "I have told you everything you wanted to know, now it's your turn to show me what you've obtained this time."

Hearing Ye Liuyun's urging, Zachary didn't keep him in suspense any longer and directly took out a bottle of Awakened Potion from his Storage space.

Ye Liuyun, seeing a test tube suddenly appear in Zachary's hand, instantly connected it to their previous heated discussion. His voice trembled slightly as he asked, "Is~is that the potion you mentioned last time, that can awaken a Superpower?"

Accompanied by Zachary shaking the potion bottle in his hand from side to side, Ye Liuyun's eyes locked on to the potion bottle in Zachary's hand, swaying in sync with the movement of Zachary's hand.

Once Zachary put the Awakened Potion back into the storage ring, Ye Liuyun's eager gaze finally moved away from his hand.

Afterwards, he asked again with an excited tone, "Can this thing really awaken a super ability in someone?"

Hearing Madeline's question, Zachary didn't keep him in suspense, and replied directly, "I've already had someone test it over there, and it indeed can awaken a super ability in a person, who can still cultivate afterwards.

However, there were no martial artists among the survivors over there, so I could only find an ordinary person to first test out the effects of the potion, then taught him martial path cultivation to see if it would conflict with the awakened super ability after he had started cultivating.

After observing for over a month, I found indeed there were no negative reactions, which is why I came back to look for a martial artist in the Energy Refining Realm.

I want to test whether a martial artist in the Energy Refining Realm can successfully awaken a super ability using the Awakened Potion and also to confirm whether there are any side effects after becoming a martial artist and using the Awakened Potion."

Hearing Zachary's explanation, Madeline immediately realized that Zachary had come to ask for her help in finding a test subject.

But if the test subjects Zachary was looking for were ordinary people or martial artists in the Body Tempering Realm, then it would be very simple for Madeline and not difficult at all.

However, Zachary restricted his experimental subjects to those above the Energy Refining Realm. Keep in mind that even as the concentration of Spirit Energy in the air continuously increases, accelerating everyone's cultivation speed,

even so, martial artists who can step into the Energy Refining Realm, though not one in ten thousand, are now considered important figures in the base.

Turning them into test subjects isn't impossible, but it requires a steep price.

If the experiment was for other purposes, both Zachary and Madeline would be willing to pay the expenses related to the testing.

But this time it's different because Zachary has already tested the efficacy of the Awakened Potion on ordinary people outside, so the success rate of this test is quite high.

Without Zachary having to say it outright, Madeline is very aware of the value of the Awakened Potion, so knowing that the test subject can freeload an expensive bottle of the Awakened Potion and also receive a reward for participating, to be honest, Madeline was also tempted.

After all, at this point, the mission center had already established a clear floating range for the hiring prices of martial artists of various realms, even though Zachary knew the high success rate of this experiment.

But the other party was not aware, and to them, participating in such an experiment was essentially gambling with their lives; they could win both fame and fortune or, if they lost, they might end up disabled or even dead.

Since there was a risk of death in this experiment, the hiring price was naturally not low.

If it wasn't for the fact that Madeline's own Cultivation Level had just reached the Inner Breath Realm and did not reach the Martial Path Cultivation Realm required by Zachary's test subjects, she might have participated personally.

But even if Madeline didn't participate personally, she didn't want to leave this opportunity to outsiders, so she immediately called her older brother, Robinson William. Once he picked up the phone, she didn't say much, just asked him to come over quickly.

When Zachary realized that Madeline had contacted Robinson William, he understood that William's Cultivation Level must have reached at least the Energy Refining Realm; otherwise, Madeline wouldn't have contacted him at this time.

Not long after Madeline hung up the phone, Robinson William hurried over. Seeing Zachary was there too, William was momentarily taken aback, then greeted Zachary before immediately asking Madeline why she had summoned him.

When William heard that Zachary had brought back a potion from Eagle Sauce that could awaken a super ability, a look of utter surprise appeared on his face. However, as soon as William heard that Zachary was currently looking for a test subject to take the potion, William's face showed a very conflicted expression.

Even though Zachary had stated that he had found ordinary people to test it at Eagle Sauce, confirming that there had been no adverse reactions and it wouldn't affect martial path cultivation, William was still hesitant to give it a try.