Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

He left as soon as he finished speaking.

They quickly returned to the club with the unicorn.

Loto was found.

He needed to hand over the task as soon as possible, get the reward, and then go and replenish the energy cubes and various spirit resources for the Unicorn Bug.

It doesn't matter if he doesn't get a second Pokémon; he can still focus all his energy on raising Weedle.

Supervisor's office.

Knock on the door and enter.

The office remained luxurious and spotless, and the manager was impeccably dressed.

"The mission was completed so quickly?"

Loto raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, when he saw the report and photographic evidence handed to him by Xia Yan.

"We were lucky, we just happened to run into them," Xia Yan said.

"Oh?"

Loto glanced at Xia Yan, who was standing respectfully, and smiled meaningfully. "Not bad, this is your reward."

A pure yellow feather lightly dipped in ink and scribbled its name on the report in a flamboyant style.

Does anyone still use quill pens? ... This thought flashed through Xia Yan's mind.

That's really high-class.

A bank card slid onto the table.

"This is an anonymous Alliance bank card. It contains your reward for this mission. In the future, all your rewards for completing missions will be deposited into this card, as will your salary. You can use it with confidence," Loto explained with a smile.

Xia Yan nodded and picked up the bank card.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped and asked, "Manager Roto, I wonder if there are any places in Goldenrod City where I can buy... 'professional' Pokémon books, and also..."

Xia Yan emphasized the word "professional," and he believed that Director Loto understood this.

Sure enough, upon hearing his question, Loto showed an understanding expression, played with the feather in his hand, and after a moment's thought, said, "You can go to 115 Kelsa Street and take a look."

Thank you.

After thanking him, Xia Yan turned and left.

We took a taxi directly to 115 Kelsa Street, as Loto had mentioned.

Kelsa Street is located on the edge of Golden City, in a relatively less prosperous area, where a few unassuming shops are sparsely located.

The number 115 refers to a small, seemingly dilapidated shop. Inside, you can see an elderly man lying in a rocking chair behind the counter.

Sensing someone enter, the old man slightly opened his somewhat cloudy eyes, his gaze sweeping over the man for a moment before he slowly asked, "What are you doing?"

"Buying things," Xia Yan said calmly.

The old man's eyes, veiled in gray mist, blinked as he pointed to the counter. "One hundred Alliance Coins."

Xia Yan didn't hesitate and took out a 100-yuan Union Coin and placed it on the counter.

"Go in." Seeing the money, the old man understood and pointed to a dilapidated wooden door behind him.

Before Xia Yan went in, the old man suddenly tossed him a package, saying, "Newcomer, change into this before you go in; it will do you good."

When the package was opened, it contained a large, thick black cloak and a pale mask.

Xia Yan was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood.

"Thank you."

After donning an impenetrable cloak and a mask, he concealed the unicorn beetle beneath the cloak.

I stepped inside.

Inside was a narrow, dark, and long passageway, with only a few dim yellow lights barely enough to make out the path.

I don't know how long I walked.

at last.

As a ray of light appeared, Xia Yan walked out of the long passageway and arrived at a place that was brightly lit, as if it were daytime.

into the eye.

There are all sorts of shops selling various items that are directly or indirectly related to elves. There are even quite a few shops that openly sell elves, which is strictly prohibited by the League from direct transactions between elves.

In addition, on the streets between the various shops, a large number of people dressed like Xia Yan walked, hidden under wide black cloaks and wearing pale masks.

Some people simply bring elves with them to show off their power.

Everyone maintained a sufficient distance from each other, wary of one another.

Of course, there is also a very small number of people who do not wear black cloaks and show their true faces directly.

But without a doubt, these are people with violent personalities who act recklessly and without fear, and some of them are even on the Alliance's wanted list.

As for these people, the rest of the people try to keep their distance.

This place.

This market, hidden somewhere in Golden City, is Golden City's largest black market.

It is a place where a large number of people with black and gray identities gather, conducting transactions that are either permitted or prohibited by the alliance.

But without a doubt, you can buy almost anything related to Pokémon and trainers here.

Goldenrod City is the largest city in the Kanto region, and its black market is naturally the largest in the entire Kanto region. It's a melting pot of all sorts of people, so you have to be careful in everything you do.

There is one more thing that needs special attention.

Team Rocket is responsible for maintaining this black market and keeping basic order.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Master Suzuki

With the 30,000 Alliance Coins reward he just received for completing the mission, the reward for cleaning the Flourishing Forest, and the reward for being "booked" by Jian Er for a day, he was now somewhat well-off.

Adding the little bit left over, Xia Yan now has a total of about 35,000 Alliance Coins.

It should be enough to equip some better Pokémon food and equipment.

I first took a quick stroll through the black market to get a general understanding of its situation, and then I had a better idea of ​​what it was like.

Xia Yan's arrival did not cause any ripples in the black market; he was just an extremely ordinary player in the black market.

The black market covers a considerable area and is roughly divided into several regions.

In the Pokémon trading area to the south, all kinds of Pokémon are sold, both rare and common. Xia Yan even saw Squirtle, one of the starter Pokémon, locked in a cage at the entrance to attract customers.

However, the Squirtle was clearly not in a good condition; its eyes were glazed and its expression was dull.

The West District is a shop selling Pokémon items, including all sorts of Pokémon items, such as the most common healing potions and antidotes, or some more precious evolution stones of different qualities, and the prices of the evolution stones are simply outrageous.

The North District was one of Xia Yan's main targets this time, selling all kinds of Pokémon food, including energy cubes, Pokémon snacks, and various drinks.

The East District was relatively quiet because it sold knowledge.

Regarding Pokémon training, battles, learning, mastering, and applying Pokémon moves—basically anything the League has, you'll find here. Even things the League doesn't have, or things the League doesn't allow to circulate, will still be available here.

The black market is roughly divided into these sections.

After wandering around for a while, Xia Yan arrived at the North District.

Pick any random store that looks like an elf food store with a rather unpretentious decor and a small store area.

I lifted the rather unique, shimmering green beaded curtain and went inside.

The store shelves are filled with various elf foods, with energy cubes making up a large portion of them.

"What would you like, sir? We have everything you need." A middle-aged man with a somewhat sleazy appearance and a small mustache immediately came forward.

Xia Yan's gaze passed through the holes in the mask, sweeping across the entire shop.

He said calmly, "Do you have any Intermediate Fluorescent Tempering Energy Cubes?"

This is the kind of energy cubes that the unicorn beetle originally ate. Overall, it worked well, and this became Xia Yan's minimum requirement for the unicorn beetle's food.

"Yes! Yes!" the mustachioed man replied repeatedly, immediately taking out a box of crystalline energy cubes from the shelf.

It was exactly what the unicorn beetle had eaten.

Xia Yan squinted and picked up one of them, looking through the light at the faint impurities that were barely visible inside, and asked casually, "How much?"

The man with the mustache rolled his eyes and said with a smile, "Market price, 50 each."

"Oh--"

Xia Yan chuckled, put down the energy cube in his hand, and turned to leave.

Do you think he's a fool?

You can indeed buy many things on the black market that you can't find elsewhere, and they're even a little cheaper because you don't have to pay taxes to the Alliance.

But if you simply think that way, you'll probably end up paying an "IQ tax" to these stores.

When buying things here, you need to be careful and not let these shops take advantage of you, because the quality of the items you buy may be much worse, or they may even be fake.

The impurities in this Fluorescent Energy Cube are visible to the naked eye, indicating that its quality is quite average.

Even the smallest impurities in energy cubes can have a significant impact on the overall composition.

Seeing that he was about to leave, the man with the mustache suddenly became anxious and hurriedly said, "45! 45 each!"

Xia Yan paused, somewhat disdainfully saying, "The quality is much worse, 35 each."

"you!"

The mustachioed man glared.

I've seen people haggle before, but I've never seen anyone haggle like this!

Xia Yan turned around. "The Fluorescent Energy Cube was just a secondary energy cube I needed. I just wanted to see your sincerity. What a pity..."

Upon hearing this, the man with the mustache's eyes lit up. "You want... a high-level energy cube?"

"Yes." Xia Yan admitted directly, and added, "Do you have high-level Bug and Poison type energy cubes?"