Locke: Daily intelligence, I'm going crazy finding bargains!

After returning to the city, Luo Xing went to the Starlight Pet Shop first.

The cashier was cleaning the store when she saw Luo Xing enter and her eyes lit up.

"Little brother's here again?"

Luo Xing dumped all the materials he had collected over the past two days from his backpack onto the counter: water spirit stones, sea salt crystals, seashell fragments, insect shells, powder... piling up almost half the table.

The cashier went through each item one by one, tapping away on the calculator for a while before announcing a number.

"110,000 Lockheed Martins, fixed price."

The number on the Luo Xing Card jumped from over three thousand to just over one hundred thousand, which should be enough to get the Star Key.

After leaving the pet shop, Luo Xing turned into a quiet alley and bought a large black magic robe and a smiley face mask at a clothing store. After confirming that it was safe, he headed to the black market.

Upon arriving at the location, Luo Xing discovered that the black market was located in an underground passage, with a guard at the entrance verifying the magician's identity.

Luo Xing showed his one-star badge, and the one-eyed, burly man guarding the gate looked him up and down before making way for him.

Upon entering, you are greeted by a brightly lit street.

Stalls lined both sides of the street, with vendors calling out their wares incessantly. All sorts of strange and wonderful props, elf eggs, and magical materials were on display in a dazzling array.

The sounds of hawking, bargaining, and the low growls of elves mingled together, creating a scene even more lively than a night market.

On the left, a stall was filled with all sorts of Pokémon eggs, with a sign that read "Guaranteed to produce rare ones." On the right, an iron cage held several low-level Pokémon, priced ridiculously high.

Further on, in an open area cordoned off with ropes, two magicians were directing elves in battle, surrounded by a crowd shouting and placing bets, with a sign hanging above them that read "Black Market Arena."

Luo Xing didn't rush to find shop number 003. He lowered the brim of his hat and looked at each stall one by one.

As he passed several potion stalls, he stopped to take a look and found several bottles of the same potion that the old man used to improve a mage's physique. His All-Knowing Eye scanned them and marked them all as "inferior quality," with a long list of side effects.

The price tag was quite clear: 180,000 roc beers per bottle.

After circling around for a while, Luo Xing confirmed one thing: the goods in the low-level black market were pretty much as he had imagined—more scams than genuine finds. He felt it was about time and headed towards shop number 003.

Shop number 003 was squeezed on a street corner. The shop owner was a fat man dressed in a black robe with a gold thread trim around the edge, a typical nouveau riche outfit.

Even more outrageous was the mask on his face, which was pure black with a curved metal horn extending from each side and inlaid with many gemstones.

Luo Xing paused for a moment.

This flamboyant and extravagant aesthetic brought a familiar figure to his mind.

However, he didn't think much of it, his gaze already drawn to the items on the counter.

The goods sold in Shop No. 3 are very strange and have nothing to do with elves at all; they are all kinds of daily luxury items.

Solid gold candlesticks, crystal wine glasses, velvet tablecloths, and handcrafted diamond-encrusted pocket watches—Luo Xing wondered if these were stolen from somewhere.

Now that they've arrived, they must follow the rules. Black market items don't come from anywhere. After scanning the area, Luo Xing's gaze fell on a small wooden box in the corner.

The wooden box was half-open, inside which was a small, palm-sized gold key. The key was star-shaped, entirely gold, and shimmered faintly under the light.

[Item: Star Key]

[Effect: Greatly enhances one of the selected Pokémon's abilities, potentially exceeding the ability's growth limit. Can only be used three times per Pokémon.]

He walked to the counter, pointed to the wooden box, and asked casually, "How much is this key?"

The masked shop owner tilted his head and held up three fingers.

Thirty thousand.

"Twenty thousand." Luo Xing tried to cut it down.

"Brother, you're cutting too low. The minimum price is 25,000. This is pure gold." The masked shopkeeper's voice was clearly anxious.

"Twenty-two thousand, transfer now."

The masked shopkeeper was silent for two seconds, then tapped his fingers three times on the counter and pushed the wooden box over.

"make a deal!."

He glanced down at the system panel; the status bar for the intelligence mission was still lit up, but no completion notification had popped up.

Luo Xing frowned slightly. He had already obtained the key, but hadn't triggered the mission. Logically, the intelligence mission should have been completed. Could something else be happening today?

Without lingering on the decision for too long, I turned around and prepared to try my luck at the egg gambling area.

I had just taken two steps when the light above my head suddenly flickered once, then a second time, and a third time.

The entire underground street began to shake violently, and the sound of things breaking echoed around. Luo Xing looked up sharply and saw a giant magic circle appear in the sky, and the entire black market was shrouded in pollution.

"Again?"

Luo Xing's heart sank, and he was ready to summon Meow Meow and Little Stone at any moment.

The next second, the ground exploded, and a pitch-black crack appeared. Dozens of stalls were swallowed up by the crack, and black mist gushed out from it.

Countless low-level polluting star insects poured out of the cracks, densely covering the ground. They had no targets, pouncing on people and biting elves, their screams of escape instantly drowning out the entire black market.

Following closely behind the polluting star insects were clumps of purplish-black jelly.

These contaminated jellies rushed to various stalls, swallowing the Pokémon eggs and the Pokémon trapped in cages whole.

The swallowed elf writhed twice inside the jelly, then turned into a ball of black light along with the jelly and vanished into thin air.

The entire black market was thrown into complete chaos. A small number of people reacted quickly and summoned elves to fight back, but most were scattered by the swarm of insects and fled in panic.

Luo Xing took two steps back, leaned against the wall, and summoned Meow Meow and Little Stone.

"Meow, little stone, come out and get to work!"

Two beams of white light landed, and Meow Meow and Little Stone stood on either side of Luo Xing to block her path.

"Meow meow breaks through, Little Stone covers the rear, clearing a path!"

Meowth charged into the swarm of bugs and jelly, relentlessly reaping the lives of these low-level Pokémon with both hands. The battle rhythm reached its maximum, Meowth's speed increasing until it gradually cleared a safe zone.

The little stone was even more straightforward; it stood still and let the star bugs and jelly pounce on it.

With its Rock Body activated, its defense and attack power surged. It swung its fists, smashing the charging bugs to pieces with each punch. As more and more Pokémon fell, its experience bar jumped higher. Level 4, level 6—Little Stone's level visibly climbed.

But the rift keeps spewing out new swarms of insects and jelly, and it's impossible to kill them all. Although the level is very low, the sheer number of them is disgusting.

Luo Xing surveyed the battlefield.

In the chaos, he discovered that the swarm of insects and jelly swarms were not entirely disorderly. In their center were two leader-level elves, three or four times larger than ordinary individuals, who were directing the group of elves.

[Sprite Species: Stardust Bug Leader (Contaminated)]

[Type: Bug]

[Quality: Rare]

[Level: Lv20]

[Elf Species: Jelly Leader (Contaminated)]

[Attribute: Water]

[Quality: Rare]

[Level: Lv20]

The All-Seeing Eye scanned the area and found that both leaders were level 20.

We can no longer continue to defend passively; we must eliminate these two leaders.

Just as he was preparing to adjust his tactics, a cracking sound came from shop number 003.

The leader of the Star Insects leaped up and swooped down, smashing the shop where Luo Xing had just bought the Star Key to pieces. The shop owner was blasted away by the shockwave, and the mask on his face fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces.

A face that Luo Xing was extremely familiar with was revealed beneath the mask.