Chapter 34: “The Vegetable Market”

Team Two passed the message over during their shift change.

The "vegetable market" is located in an inconspicuous courtyard in the eastern district of the city. There are security guards at the door, but they are not extraordinary people. As for the interior, they have not explored it for fear of alerting the enemy. They only open the door at night, and the door is closed at dawn.

However, considering that a criminal organization that resells extraordinary creatures and can provide a variety of contraband items has a high probability of the presence of extraordinary people, Raven decided to go in disguise with Ellie at night to investigate.

After finishing a day's work, Ellie and Raven began their disguises.

Raven glued two small mustaches above his lips, put on a pair of plain glasses, and used a beret to cover his hairstyle. He looked completely new. People who were not particularly familiar with him would find it difficult to recognize that he was Raven.

Ellie's disguise was much more complicated. She tied her long silver hair up high, took out a series of cosmetics that she had never used before, and sat in front of the mirror to slowly put on her makeup.

"Ellie, your collection is so rich." Raven was amazed.

"It's all for disguise." Ellie blushed slightly and concentrated on putting on makeup.

After applying eye shadow, eyeliner, blush and lipstick, the originally heroic and majestic sheriff became elegant and dignified, like a member of the Council of Sages.

"How is it? The camouflage effect is good, right?" Ellie blinked at Raven.

Raven stared at Ellie, who seemed like a completely different person, and nodded dully: "Sir, your disguise level is unparalleled. I can't recognize it's you at all. I admire you."

Ellie gave Raven a blank look, asked him to go out and change into casual clothes.

Raven also returned to his dormitory and changed into casual clothes.

The two disguised people walked towards the direction of the "vegetable market".

"Ellie, what identity do you think we should use to go in, as a couple?" Raven asked.

"You're so beautiful. I'm the leader and you're my little brother." Ellie quickly assigned the two people's identities according to their ranks.

The two men walked to the entrance of the "vegetable market" and were stopped by a tall and strong security guard.

"What do you do?" the security guard asked.

"Vegetable vendor." Ellie answered calmly. This was the code Kirk gave her to enter the "vegetable market".

"Who is this person?" The security guard looked at the shifty Raven and felt a little hesitant.

"My men." Ellie said.

"...Please come in." The security guard stepped aside to let Ellie and Raven in.

Raven and Ellie walked in and saw that the small courtyard was divided into two parts. On the left was a sign that read "Sales Area", and on the right was a sign that read "Purchase Area". On the left, a group of mysterious people wearing hoods and masks were selling contraband items, and on the right, there were several people dressed similarly to Raven and Ellie, carrying all kinds of supernatural creatures and bargaining with the mysterious people on the right.

Raven and Ellie glanced at each other and decided to stay put for the time being and find out the situation first.

The two talked in a low voice and decided to split up to explore the sales area and the purchasing area. Raven went to the sales area and Ellie went to the purchasing area.

"What do you want to buy?" The mysterious man asked as Raven entered the sales area.

"I've spotted a Thunder Mastiff, but it runs very fast and I'm worried I can't catch up with it." Raven said casually while observing the layout here.

The goods were placed behind the mysterious people, including various magic scrolls and some items wrapped in black cloth.

As for the defensive force that Raven focused on, at least in the sales area, there seemed to be only about three low-level transcendents guarding it.

Perhaps they felt that three low-level transcendents were enough to deal with ordinary people who needed these prohibited items to enhance their strength, or perhaps they simply couldn't spare more people to guard the place?

"Well... I have a scroll of speed here, selling it for 20 gold Weimar. Or if you are confident in your accuracy, you can buy a scroll of monster freeze, which only costs 25 gold Weimar."

"...It's too expensive. Is there anything else?" Raven said half-to gather intelligence and half-sincerely.

"You think this is too expensive? You can't buy it anywhere else... Well, I have some enchanted crossbows and arrows. I'll sell them in a package for two Golden Weimars, but that requires you to have some shooting skills. Do you want them?"

Raven's pupils shrank. They even have bows and crossbows, and the arrows are enchanted. The guards can't use enchanted arrows and can only use enchanted bows and crossbows and ordinary arrows. This "vegetable market" really spent a lot of money.

"Forget it, my bow and crossbow shooting skills are not good. Do you have pistols and bullets?" Raven changed his approach and took the initiative to inquire about the types of contraband they had.

"No, we won't sell it. This thing makes too much noise, and we don't want to attract the guards to our door. You guys better be careful and don't cause us trouble." When the mysterious man mentioned the pistol, a hint of disgust appeared in his eyes, and the way he looked at Raven also became subtle, as if he thought Raven was a reckless person.

Raven pretended to be indifferent and turned away, saying, "Forget it if you don't want to sell it. I'll think of another way."

When they reached the gate of the courtyard, Raven met up with Ellie, and they pretended to have finished their business and walked out of the "vegetable market".

"They have scrolls and bows and crossbows, but no pistols. They said that the noise would be too loud and they didn't want to attract the guards. So, they should not have alchemical bombs either. There are three low-level transcendents in charge of the guard." After walking away from the vegetable market and making sure that no one was following him, Raven first told the intelligence he had found out.

Ellie nodded. "Well, you did a good job. I also gained something. They seem to collect all kinds of supernatural creatures. Their purpose is probably to covet the materials on the supernatural creatures to draw magic scrolls, make contraband items and then sell them. They don't care where the supernatural creatures come from. They don't care whether they are stolen, robbed, or hunted. Anyway, once they become materials, the original owner can't be found no matter what."　　

"As for the defensive force, I only saw two low-level extraordinary people maintaining order at the scene. As for whether there are more, even mid-level ones, it is still unknown."

"So, making money is the main purpose of this organization?" Raven pinched his chin and thought.

"They have found a good blind spot in crime. The Guard Army does not accept cases involving the search for supernatural creatures. If pets are lost at home, they are asked to find them themselves. They target the supernatural creatures that are treated as pets and combat partners in the city, abduct them and make them into materials, and then make them into contraband items to sell, and ask people to help them catch more supernatural creatures to sell. This is one of our reconnaissance blind spots." Ellie shook her head. The Guard Army really couldn't guard against this new type of crime.

"Indeed, and their crimes are very covert. The contraband items they sell are all targeted at supernatural creatures rather than humans. If they hadn't accidentally caused a death, we might not have discovered the existence of this organization until much later." Raven agreed with Ellie's point of view, and added, "And their crimes are difficult to define. For example, now we can only seal and destroy them on the grounds of selling contraband items. The crimes they committed are not even serious. Even the leader only needs to go to jail for a few years."

"That's right... After all, they didn't kill anyone. They mainly targeted supernatural creatures... Even the dirty work wasn't done by them. They just bought the stolen goods from those who stole other people's supernatural creatures. Even if they instigated these people, it would be difficult to define them legally..." The more Ellie thought about it, the more she felt that the sophistication of this organized crime was astonishing. "Even if we know that they instigated it, we can only convict the poachers one by one for theft, and we can't define them all as criminal organizations... The organizer of this 'vegetable market' is a master at exploiting legal loopholes."

"So, from a legal point of view, an organization like this is just selling contraband...will the headquarters handle it?" Raven couldn't help but feel a little worried. What if the headquarters was too lazy to handle it? Then the "vegetable market" would do whatever it wanted.

"Don't worry about that. The headquarters will not tolerate any criminal organization, no matter how small it is. We just need to report the situation of the 'vegetable market' truthfully, and the headquarters will handle it."

The two chatted and returned to the camp. According to Ellie's division of labor, Raven wrote the report and Ellie was responsible for liaison with the headquarters.

The more I write this report, the more proficient I am...

While writing the report, Raven calculated his overtime hours for the day.

Well, I can go to bed directly after finishing the report today.

While Raven was writing a report in the office, Ellie was using the communication crystal to contact the headquarters.

"Drip…drip…"

"Hello, this is the Weimar City Guard Headquarters. I'm First Inspector Edel Ludwig." An extremely tired voice came from the other end of the crystal. "What's the matter so late?"

I don't know why... I always feel that Inspector Edel doesn't seem very happy today?

"Hello, Inspector Edel, I'm Ellie Gray from the East Fourth Detachment. I have an organized crime case here..." Ellie said cautiously.

"Oh, now I remember. It was the organized theft of supernatural creatures and trafficking of contraband items that Raven reported last night? Do you have any clues?"

"Yes, Inspector, we investigated their lair today. The crime is basically true. There are at least five low-level extraordinary people on the surface. It is unknown whether there are mid-level extraordinary people." Ellie reported truthfully.

"Wow... so many people, that means at least three teams plus an inspector. You must have been very tired exploring until this late today. Give me the report and I'll send the other teams and Arios. He drank my coffee again and is now as energetic as a baboon in heat."

"Edel! Don't talk about me like that in front of your subordinates!"

"Shut up! Next time you drink my coffee, I will put chili and mustard in it!"

"Snap" the communication was interrupted.

Ellie closed the crystal awkwardly, turned to look at Raven who couldn't help laughing, and said, "What are you laughing at! Finish the report quickly, then we'll take a break. The other teams will take care of destroying the 'vegetable market'."

"Okay sir, puff..."