Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life.

When Sherlock followed Zhao Weike to this so-called intelligence market, the scene before him left Sherlock, who had never experienced anything like this before in both his lives, completely dumbfounded.

Located in the open space in the very center of the town, a whole circle of simple folding rooms is arranged against the ruins. There are gaps between almost every room, and servants from the Continental Hotel are on guard. There is only one entrance and exit for people to enter and leave.

In the middle of this circle of small rooms was a bar, and inside the bar, Sherlock saw the kind of "administrators" he had only ever seen in movies in his previous life.

Besides these so-called administrative staff, there were several other bars-like establishments around the bar area.

Of course, these are all simple ones, the kind that are easy to destroy or take away.

Countless figures in burqas lined up in front of the only opening, entering the small room by the door one after another, and then leaving the small room to enter the open space.

Such a scene was less an information fair and more a cult ritual than Sherlock would call it!

While Zhao Weike was pulling Sherlock to queue up, he also began to explain to Sherlock the operating rules of this so-called information market.

First of all, the small room at the main entrance is actually occupied by staff from the Mainland Hotel. The reason they enter one by one instead of all at once is that everyone entering this intelligence market needs to reveal their identity in that small room.

And it's mandatory; there's no way to refuse unless you don't want to enter the market.

After verifying your identity in the small room, the hotel staff will give you a bracelet that is linked to your identity.

It is also confirmed that you cannot remove your bracelet until you leave the market.

Now you can enter this so-called information market.

The rules for transactions in the intelligence market are that everyone entering must register their so-called "needs" with the administrators at the counter. These can be intelligence, money, gold coins, or even favors.

Everything you can think of can be registered at the bar, even the lives of others or your own!

The bar will arrange a meeting place for you based on your registered needs, which are those small rooms. The wristband will remind everyone where to go and when to enter which room.

Once both parties have entered the small room, the room will be locked, and the mainland hotel will not be responsible for anything that happens inside the room.

Whether it's the cost of the transaction or even the reward, it all depends on your and the other party's confident negotiation.

Of course, if you want, you can directly interrogate or rob the room, but if you do that, you can only pray that you are the last user of this room or that the next person who comes in won't report you publicly.

Otherwise, if such a situation occurs, although it may not result in the killer's immediate death or a kill order being issued as in the movies, it will immediately reveal the identity of the person under the cloak and remove the cloak from their body!

Keep in mind that this is a mainland hotel operating under wartime rules, and its enforcement is not as strict as that of a normal mainland hotel. Once your identity is exposed, as a full-time intelligence officer, there are too many ways to make you die after sunrise, or simply die in your room.

Of course, this only applies to those who are not hotel staff and do not have protective burqas.

To put it bluntly, here, only the burqa you wear is a protective shield that allows you to enjoy the rules of the mainland hotel's safe zone. Once you lose the burqa, it's like a hacker directly revealing their identity, and they will basically not have a good ending.

After all, the mainland hotels here change locations almost every day, and there are far too many abandoned towns like this in the Middle East.

After hearing Zhao Weike's explanation, Sherlock thought to himself, "Wow, that's impressive!" He couldn't help but admire how incredibly shrewd the Continental Hotel's business was.

In terms of rules, this is equivalent to a dark forest system artificially constructed by mainland hotels.

The so-called intelligence market is essentially a game of deception and being deceived, since there has never been any rule in the intelligence market that prohibits the sale of false intelligence!

On the contrary, the Mainland Hotel, as the leader in constructing and maintaining this rule, can collect all the most authentic "intelligence" of everyone present with almost no effort.

It's important to understand that "demand" itself is a crucial form of intelligence!

By combining 'demand' with identity, it is often easy to deduce a lot of useful information, which will all be included in the operation support of the mainland hotel and become a link in the circulation of gold coins.

As for whether anyone is worried that mainland hotels will misuse the intelligence obtained?

Of course there are. After all, no one who can gather intelligence is a fool. They can see through the true nature of the intelligence marketplace at the Mainland Hotel at a glance.

If you can see it, then why give away your information for nothing?

It's very simple, because of trust and security!

The centuries-old reputation of mainland hotels here not only ensures that information will not be easily leaked, but more importantly, it guarantees the maintenance of rules by mainland hotels.

The most important point is that intelligence transactions can be more secure under the protection of rules.

This is similar to the methods the US used to build its dollar hegemony. Both rely on the credit accumulated over a century as a guarantee and their own strength as support to build such a system.

To this, Sherlock could only say "6" (a Chinese internet slang term for "awesome"). After all, this method, which is like getting something for nothing, is truly impressive. Most importantly, this almost openly deliberate strategy leaves you with absolutely no right to refuse.

Just like with the Nine-Turned Intestines dish, you can't judge my food if you don't eat it, but if you do, you're basically eating shit in public!

It has to be said that for Sherlock, a shut-in who was also a typical office worker in his previous life, the way this mainland hotel operates is truly eye-opening.

Sherlock and Zhao Weike stood in the line and moved forward little by little. Soon it was Sherlock's turn to enter the small room.

The process of verifying identity was not as complicated as Sherlock had imagined. All he had to do was enter the room, make sure the door was closed, verify his fingerprints, and then take off his burqa to have his picture taken.

After you've done all that, the fingerprint verification machine will automatically put a bracelet on you that looks like an iron ring.

After that, you can put your burqa back on and enter this so-called information market.