The sky collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself transported to Nanluoguxiang.

It was already past midnight when Master Chen and Li Kaixin sat up in bed.

Hearing the noise, Zhou Zhiming, lying on the opposite bed, immediately sat up excitedly and asked, "Master, are we going to the black market?"

He clearly hadn't fallen asleep.

Li Kaixin quickly put up a finger to shush and whispered, "Keep your voice down! Do you want to wake everyone up?"

Zhou Zhiming realized what was happening, quickly covered his mouth, and glanced at his master and grandmaster embarrassedly.

Song Hai, who was sleeping soundly, was not awakened by Zhou Zhiming's shout.

Li Kaixin found Zhou Zhiming's appearance somewhat amusing and said softly, "Zhiming, stop fooling around and wake Xiaohai up. We should get going."

"Okay, Master!" Zhou Zhiming replied, turning around to nudge the sleeping Song Hai.

When Song Hai groggily woke up, Master Chen took out the remaining two sets of old clothes: "Zhiming, Xiao Hai, change into these."

After changing their clothes and covering their faces, the four of them tiptoed out of the dormitory.

Walking down the dark alley, Zhou Zhiming looked around a few times, a little apprehensive, and asked, "Master, how much further... how much further do we have to go?"

Seeing his expression, Li Kaixin teased, "What's wrong, scared?"

"No, no!" Zhou Zhiming said, lacking confidence, but still stubbornly insisted, "I just... I just wanted to get there quickly."

At this moment, Master Chen also chimed in with a smile: "Almost there, Zhiming, just turn one more alleyway and you'll be there."

"Thank you, Master. I understand," Zhou Zhiming replied quickly, seeing Master Chen help him out of the predicament.

As you turn the corner of the alley, the view suddenly opens up, and in the dim light, you can see many blurry figures moving about.

The closest people to Li Kaixin stood two men in patched clothes, who were noticeably more robust than the other shoppers around them.

Master Chen stopped and whispered to Li Kaixin and the other two, "After we go inside, we'll split up and meet back here after we've bought what we need."

Li Kaixin understood the rules here and nodded.

Zhou Zhiming and Song Hai were new to the black market and obviously didn't know the ins and outs. They both had expressions on their faces that showed they wanted to ask questions but dared not say too much.

Upon seeing this, Li Kaixin quietly explained the reason to the two of them and mentioned that they would have to pay money when they entered.

Once both of them understood, the group continued on their way.

As expected, when he walked up to the two men, he was stopped by their raised hands.

One of the men glanced at them up and down, and seeing that they were empty-handed, he said coldly, "Buy something, one cent."

Li Kaixin and the others didn't say much, and quickly took out the money and handed it over.

Once inside the black market, Li Kaixin separated from the other three.

Walking inside, a mixture of fishy and sweaty smells hit him, making Li Kaixin wrinkle his nose.

So we stopped at the nearest stall.

The stall owner was an elderly man with gray hair. He wasn't wearing a mask, and his clothes were worn out, so it was obvious that he was a local fisherman.

Without much hesitation, Li Kaixin pointed to the dried fish on the stall and asked in a low voice, "Sir, what's the price?"

Upon hearing the price inquiry, the old man looked up, a simple smile on his face, and said warmly, "Young man, if you really want it, two mao san will do."

Although the price was a bit higher than Yang Datie's, Li Kaixin could understand it; black market transactions involve risks.

"Okay, sir, I'll take them all."

Li Kaixin didn't try to bargain with the old man and agreed immediately.

The old man at the stall suddenly became excited, his voice rising a few decibels: "Young man, is it true?"

The commotion drew the attention of several people nearby.

Realizing he had overreacted and fearing he would lose the deal, the old man quickly lowered his voice and said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was just too happy."

Li Kaixin didn't blame the old man and said gently, "It's alright, sir, please weigh the fish."

"Okay, okay!" The old man breathed a sigh of relief and deftly began weighing the items.

Seeing that the deal had been struck, the people around them all turned their attention away.

Before long, the old man weighed it; it weighed a total of 110 jin.

Perhaps because of his earlier lapse in composure, he proactively rounded down the price for Li Kaixin, only charging her twenty-five yuan.

Afterwards, Li Kaixin packed the fish into a burlap sack he had brought with him and walked toward a dimly lit, shady spot.

When they came out again, their hands were empty.

Then Li Kaixin went to another fish stall, where there was a new type of fresh fish.

The price of fresh fish is 11 cents per pound, and the price of dried fish is 24 cents per pound.

Li Kaixin didn't haggle and bought everything.

In the following period, Li Kaixin repeated the same method: after buying, he would find a dark place to put the items into the secret space, and then come out to continue buying.

Prices don't fluctuate much; fresh fish is between 11 and 13 cents, and dried fish is between 22 and 24 cents.

Before long, Li Kaixin had spent nearly 400 yuan and collected more than 1,000 jin each of fresh fish and dried fish.

After buying enough fish, Li Kaixin didn't rush to leave, but instead wandered around the black market.

When I learned about the prices of grain here, I couldn't help but gasp: fine grains were 70 cents each, and coarse grains were 40 cents each, which was even more expensive than in Beijing.

What Li Kaixin didn't know was that this price was considered the market rate here.

Food cannot be grown in the coastal areas and relies entirely on imports from the mainland, which naturally leads to higher prices.

As Li Kaixin strolled around, he came across a cloth stall. It was so crowded that several people were scrambling to buy it, and the price of cloth had risen to more than two yuan per foot, which made him shake his head.

Just then, Li Kaixin suddenly saw two enormous creatures placed in front of a burly man's stall.

He crouched down for a closer look and discovered they were two yellowfin tuna weighing nearly 400 pounds each. Intrigued, he whispered, "Brother, how much for these two fish?"

The man's eyes lit up when he saw someone asking about the two large fish. He rubbed his hands together and said, "Young man, you really want them? How about I give you sixty yuan each?"

The price comes out to less than five cents per pound, which is really cheap.

The man had no other choice; the fish was too big and might spoil if left too long, so he decided to sell it at a low price.

Without a second thought, Li Kaixin replied, "Sure, big brother, I'll take both."

After handing the money to the man, she said, "Brother, these two are too heavy, I have to carry them separately. Could you watch them for me for a while?"

The man, clutching the money, smiled broadly: "Young man, don't worry about carrying it! Now that I've sold you the fish, I'll definitely keep an eye on it for you."

"Thank you, brother!"

After thanking him, Li Kaixin picked up a fish and left.

He was actually capable of carrying two at once, but he didn't want to be too conspicuous. Besides, even if the other one got lost, the price of one tuna wouldn't be a loss.

When Li Kaixin returned, the man was still guarding the same spot.

Carry the second fish away, find a dark spot, and store it in the secret realm space.

Li Kaixin lost interest in browsing the black market. He picked up a sack of dried fish and headed out of the black market.