The Black Market (2)

With the successful bartering, Arnold now have enough money to buy food for his family. However, before getting themselves some food, he would need to buy himself something else first.

Arnold walked directly towards the tallest building within the underground market. Unlike most of the other buildings, this 10-storey building was made of steel reinforced structure and the facade was entirely made from glass. In this day and age, glass was ridiculously overpriced, since glassmakers need to hire mercenaries to take a week-long trip to a beach that was next to a lake filled with mutated Level 4 and 3 aquatic zombie creatures. They would need to carry as much quartz sand as they can and return, passing through several Leve 4 and 3 danger zones. The sand obtained would only be able to make a glass mug at most. Arnold could not imagine how much it would cost using so much glass just for a building.

The entrance of the building was almost always busy. The building, colloquially called The Shard, was used almost as a government office. They provide arbitration services between black market dealers, posting boards for different urgent jobs, purchasing of certain exclusive goods, etc. Arnold already knew which floor he was going.

After passing by a bunch of people lining up for services rendered on the ground floor, he walked up the stairs that was on the side of the building. As the glass facade was right outside the stairs, he was able to see the whole underground market after walking up a few flight of stairs. The stairs encircled the building on the outside, allowing viewers a 360 degree view of the miniature city. Although the market was dark, many lights were adorned outside many different stores by storeowners in order to distinguish their shop from others. Of course, the electricity charge was quite high.

Arnold arrived on the fourth floor and went in. There were multiple counters inside, each with a number at the top left hand corner. Arnold went to counter that says Reception with the counter number "1". There was a woman sitting behind the counter. She had a serious demeanour, looking like a typical professional office lady.

"How may I help you today, sir?" The woman asked politely, looking upwards at Arnold with a smile.

"I would like to apply for a passport." Arnold said.

"Comprehensive or casual?" The woman asked a question that would make any normal person with no experience with the black market confused. However, Arnold answered straightforwardly, "Comprehensive. Level 2 citizen. Single. No family."

The woman nodded. She typed in the information on the computer in front of her. As the computer was tilted away from Arnold, he had no idea what the woman was typing.

"Found. Troy Anderson. All known family deceased. Disappeared 1 year ago while working outside the base. Do you accept this identity?" The woman asked.

"Yes." Arnold nodded and confirmed.

The woman printed a sticker of an alphanumeric number and handed it to Arnold. Then, she announced, "Please wait until your number is called. Then, head to the designated counter."

Arnold nodded. "Thank you." He went inside and sat on one of the many empty seats located in the very middle of the building.

After waiting for around an hour, his number was finally called.

"P190. Please come to counter 9." A female robotic voice announced from the speaker located on the ceiling above Arnold.

Arnold walked to Counter 9 and faced another female office lady of similar stature. She took out what looked like a circular magnet and placed it on the counter in front of both of them. Then, she instructed, "Please place this next to the biochip that was implanted in you from birth for around 30 seconds, then return it to me."

Arnold nodded. He grabbed the circular magnet and placed it on the left side of his neck and counted. After 30 seconds elapsed, he returned the magnet to the lady. "Your citizenship data have been updated. Your new name is now Troy Anderson. Please stare at the camera to have your photo taken."

Arnold stared at the camera that was located above the lady. The camera was being held by a tripod and was placed behind the lady to prevent her from blocking the view. The camera flashed.

"I now need your DNA information. Please open your mouth." The lady said without emotion.

Arnold opened his mouth. The lady took out a q-tip and took a swab of his saliva from his mouth and placed it inside a tall cylindrical container. The container was transparent. There was a sticker wrappeed around the container that said, "DNA Sample of Troy Anderson".

"Your photo and DNA information will be updated within 24 hours. In the meantime, please stay away from the relevant authorities to prevent your new identity from being exposed. In the meantime, please memorize the details of Troy Anderson life to prevent any person from doubting who you are." The lady said. She printed out a piece of paper and handed it to Arnold.

Arnold took a look at the paper and found that it contained the information of Troy Anderson's life story.

Troy Anderson was an orphan that was lucky enough to have a slightly above average Body Establishement. Therefore, he was able to stay in Level 2 without having his status revoked. However, his low IQ and EQ skills caused him to be ostracized from his school, leaving him with no friends. When he graduated, he became a gofer in charge of carrying the miscellaneous items for the mercenaries, the same job that Arnold had before returning from the laboratory. His story ends like all unfortunate people. He went out with a mercenary group and they came back without him. That was the end of the story.

With his antisocial behavior and lack of family, this identity was perfectly suitable for Arnold to take over. With this identity, he would be able to reach Level 2 without any difficulty and sign up for the military.

That's right. When Arnold returned to the base, he decided to join the military since it was the best chance he got of getting more zombie cores legally. As the base prevents anyone except for authorized personeel from leaving the base alone, Arnold must either follow a mercenary group or the military in order to be able to get outside as they were the only people that have a legal license to hunt.

When Arnold arrived at the laboratory, he was actually working as a gofer for a band of mercenaries known as The Wild Dogs. Arnold, with his father's treasure map completely memorized, realized that the mercenary group actually moved close to the area of the laboratory in order to hunt for more zombie cores. Arnold, who had been waiting for this opportunity for years, used this chance and left a certain evening when he was made the lookout of the team. He also brought a backpack full of zombie cores with him, leaving his teammates completely empty-handed. Arnold bet that if he were to see his ex-teammates now, they would want to kill him several times over.

Another reason for joining the military was the fact that he had exposed his skills to Benjamin Young. The Young Clan was a very influential clan, but their specialty was the production of warriors along their male line of descendants. At least until Benjamin came along. Therefore, the Young clan, after all these years, basically became the face of the Army within the base. With Arnold applying in the military, the Young family will be rest assured that the person who saved his heir would be under their strict control, so even if he were to become an enemy, the Young clan can nip the bud that was himself before he could sprout.

Arnold returned the piece of paper back to the lady. The lady placed it on the paper shredder and shredded the paper thoroughly. Afterwards, she said, "For the services rendered today, the total amount will be 1 gold coin and 80 silver coins."

Arnold reluctantly handed the 2 gold coins to the lady with reluctance in his eyes. The lady took the money gracefully and made a 20 silver coin change.

"Thank you for your patronage. We hope to see you again soon."

Arnold walked out of the counter and down the stairs. Then, he headed to the first row which was the 'supermarket' area of the underground market. This is where people could buy food and groceries of all kinds.

As he went in a rather broad one storey-building that had the words "Mal-Mart" plastered all across the facade of the building, he bought a rather large bottle of water and a few sweets for his brother to enjoy. Then, he went and purchased some nutrition bars and tablets that can last the whole family for about a month. The purchases cost a total of 2 silver coins.