OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 62  Selling Out

Instead of relaxing after that exhausting battle, Emir instantly checked for any other signals in the area.

After a long moment of silence, he let out a relieved sigh, knowing that the battle was truly over.

However, still cautious, he made his way to the nearest group of fallen bodies and took out his daggers, stabbing the gang member in the heart.

He didn't want to waste any ammo, so he made sure of their deaths by stabbing them all.

It was a gruesome and tiring task, but it had to be done.

Emir knew that their neural network connection was weakened as they neared death, which meant that his relatively weak information gathering device could not detect them.

So he wanted to make sure that they were all dead before he moved on.

Once he finished, he turned his attention to the spoils of war.

He searched through the bodies, collecting all the guns, augmented suits, medicine, and ammo that he could find.

It was a hefty haul, and he was grateful for the extra supplies.

In total, he gained seven sellable guns, four functional D-ranked augmented suits, a large stockpile of cheap old-world medicine, and over five crates of ammunition. He of course only gathered Type-C ammo since all other types were not compatible with his two weapons.

Unfortunately, the leader was a cyborg, and cyborgs rely on their cybernetic enhancements instead of using augmented suits, so no loot from him.

Once all of it was packed up, he donned a mask and coat that belonged to a fallen gang member, knowing that these would come in handy later when he sold his goods on the black market.

Meanwhile, Lyra had already surveyed the building and located the control room, all without his prompting.

Upon entering the room, Lyra immediately began scanning the terminals for any valuable intel.

She soon finished her scan and said:

[Emir, there is nothing useful here. It appears that they had no knowledge of you, and there are no other valuable resources in this location.]

Emir nodded in acknowledgment, not surprised by the lack of useful intel, these low-level gang bases rarely held anything of value. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

And as she proceeded to deactivate the base's operations, he couldn't help but empathize with the hunter world.

Their world is one of brutality and mercilessness, it would be imprudent and naïve of him to anticipate anything less.

No remorse plagued him for his actions, even after realizing that the deceased group had no connection to him.

In truth, he took pleasure in successfully dismantling his enemies, regardless of their relationship.

The adrenaline rush was invigorating and enjoyable.

This was the way of the hunter, and he embraced it fully, enjoying every moment of it.

With a final glance around the control room, he turned to leave.

Stepping outside, he packed everything into the cart and prepared to move on to his next destination.

As he approached the gated section of the slums, he noticed that the guards were eyeing him suspiciously.

However, after presenting his ID and biometrics, they let him pass through without any trouble.

'It doesn't matter if they see my face, the UEF wouldn't care if all the low-level gangs died off tomorrow, so I don't need to worry about them.'

Emir walked through the crowded marketplace and made his way to the first dealer, presenting the weapons for inspection.

The dealer seemed impressed with the weapons, but just like before, he carefully examined each one, checking for any defects.

"These are some nice weapons."

"Where did you get them? Oh, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Emir hesitated for a moment, then decided to make up a story:

"I found them in an abandoned warehouse."

The dealer raised an eyebrow but didn't ask any more questions.

He then looked at the weapons and scratched his chin.

"I can offer you 1,000,000 UC for all seven."

Emir frowned.

"I was hoping for a better price than that—at least 2 million. These weapons are in great condition, and they're not the normal D-rank weapons."

The dealer shook his head.

"I can't offer you any more than that. It's a fair price."

Emir hesitated for a moment.

"How about we meet in the middle? Let's not attract trouble over something so worthless, yeah? I'll sell them to you for 1,500,000 UC, deal?"

The dealer thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, 1,500,000 UC it is."

Emir smiled, feeling satisfied with the outcome.

"Good," he said, handing over the weapons.

Emir then made his way to the dealer who specialized in augmented suits next.

As he arrived, he presented the four D-ranked augmented suits for inspection.

The dealer checked them over, frowning as he examined the various components.

"These suits are in rough shape," he said.

"How much can you offer me for these?" Emir asked.

The dealer examined the suits by scanning them.

"Although rough, they are still authentic velocity-type augmented suits, and since they are the more popular type among hunters, I can still offer you 3,200,000 UC for them."

"That seems too low. The items are still fully functional D-ranked suits, which are hard to come by for most low-rank hunters."

The dealer shrugged.

"That's the best I can do. Take it or leave it."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Emir proposed:

"Let's make a deal. I'll sell all the suits I acquire in the future to you, as long as you offer a fair deal, of course. If you agree, then let's proceed with 3,800,000 UC. What do you say?"

'If I ever plan on returning, I'll visit this dealer to sell my stuff anyway. After all, Kiera trusts him, so it's a win-win situation for me.' He mused.

The dealer hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay, 3,800,000 UC it is."

Emir felt pleased with himself for negotiating a better deal, although not by a lot, but better is still better.

He handed over the suits and received the payment on his ID card.

'Thankfully, I can opt to hide my hunter ID when receiving or giving credits. I guess it's kind of obvious if you think about it, after all, many of the Elite come here, and they can't be throwing their names around.'

Thanking him, Emir left his shop, exiting the black market soon after and heading back out of the slums.

But on the way, he received a call from Kiera.

"Hey, Kiera," he answered.

"What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something," she said.

"And I know that you were the one who took out the steal rats gang."

Emir scoffed.

"What about it?"

"I've heard some things from my sources, oh, don't worry, they don't know it's you behind it all."

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"They're worried that if you keep taking out these smaller gangs, it's going to cause a power struggle in the slums. The bigger gangs will start fighting over the newly available territory, and it could lead to chaos in the black market and throughout the entire slums."

Emir understood her words clearly, he had only targeted that gang to make sure that they knew nothing about him, and he of course wanted to end them before they could potentially come after him.

"I was already planning on laying low for a while. I took care of what I needed to take care of, and I'm not looking for any more trouble."

He had no interest in taking over their territory or causing any more trouble...

'As long as they don't provoke me first that is.' He added inwardly.

"Good to hear, and I have some great news. The dealer just finished appraising the relics you brought him, and he said he's going to send the money to you soon. Do I give him your contact info?"

"That's great, send it so I can discuss the price with him. And thanks for letting me know."

They bid each other goodbye as Emir ended the call.

He then continued his trek out of the slums, feeling a sense of relief as he momentarily loosened the noose tightening around his neck.

Following his plan, he headed back to the Hunter Association, to get his well-deserved credits.

Upon reaching the association, he promptly made his way to the reception area and inquired about the manager with whom he had plans for, Nathan.

After a brief wait, Emir was directed to his office.

"Emir, good to see you," the manager greeted him with a smile.

"What brings you here today?"

"I've got some information to share with you," he replied, sitting down in front of his desk.

"I recently took out the Night Raiders, some gang in the slums, and I found out that they were stealing relics from UEF-owned ruins."

Nathan's expression changed to one of interest.

"Go on," he urged him.

Emir explained what he knew, even including their connection with the liberation army.

"Ah, I see," the manager said, nodding slowly.

"So, these Night Raiders have been stealing relics right from under our noses by using those secret entrances. That's a serious offense. How long have they been doing this?"

"I'm not exactly sure," he replied.

"But from what I've gathered, it's been going on for a while. They're a small gang, so they haven't attracted much attention. But anything that secret is valuable, so I thought it would be best to bring it to your attention."

Nathan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"You're right. This information could be very valuable to us, even if the gang is no longer a threat."

"It's not every day that we get intel on something like this, and the fact that it's government-owned ruins and not any other corporation elevates its level of severity even further."

"So, now that the stakes are set, what do you propose we do?" Emir asked.