"More than one underground market?"

On the street, Sherlock and Donald are discussing the underground market, which the latter provoked.

"Of course, there are two markets in Peston, North and South, and we are going to the South Market, which is closer to us. ”

Sherlock said without looking back, his eyes on the pages of the notebook in his hand, on which all the contents of Donald's translation had been copied twice.

"Why ......"

"Why are there two? The reason is simple, the government dictates. ”

This reason is only what Sherlock used to gag Donald's mouth, and the real reason is of course more complicated.

The underground trading volume of the whole Piston City is not small, on the one hand, the underground trading of commodities is not so strict, there has never been a department such as the Quality Supervision Bureau, the goods come and go by eyesight to distinguish the true from the fake, some people sell parallel goods as genuine goods, and there are also because their own eyes are not enough and sell real goods as parallel goods.

Stealing customers, picking up leaks, this kind of thing is not uncommon in the underground market, and most people still eat this set, compared to those regular stores that have been checked layer by layer before putting on the container, this kind of place can always give people a peculiar sense of excitement.

As soon as there are many people, trouble comes.

Not to mention the store, the seller must at least have a place to move a small bench to set up a stall, right?

Buyers on the other side have to have a place to walk, right? Otherwise, how could it be called a market?

However, there is a very helpless thing at this joint: the government does not allow this kind of market to appear openly, and once some goods in the underground market are exposed, it is easy to cause unnecessary trouble.

The scale of the market should not be too large, otherwise it will be easy to be discovered, and the government can turn a blind eye at some point, but if the underground market is exposed, they will have to take action to manage it, and then both sides will not be comfortable.

Therefore, after coordination and on-site investigation, two underground market areas were formed in the city of Pston, which were tacitly opened by the government, located in the north and south districts.

It is normal that the well-lit blocks, the shops on both sides of the road are full, and the spacious laneways that should have been designed according to the urban plan for three people to travel together have been repeatedly compressed, and the capitalists have always liked to make the most of resources, even if it is just a square meter of shop expansion.

That means a separate small table, one or two new guests, an additional income.

The heat of the summer night fuels the lively atmosphere, people wander the streets in groups of threes and fives, and the laughter inside and outside the tavern, the ambiguous call in the nightingale shop, and the seductive aroma in the restaurant make you stop involuntarily.

"This is where the underground market is located?"

Donald looked at the neighborhood in front of him, and only thought it was a little ridiculous, this was clearly a bustling commercial street in the city of Preston.

"That's right, isn't it strange that the underground market exists just below the bustling shopping street?"

Sherlock smiled and asked rhetorically, Donald was stunned, and then laughed dumbly.

As a well-equipped and well-run commercial street, I don't know how many people will come and go in this area every day, and is there a better camouflage than this?

The people here are all traders, but some people's transactions are on the ground, and some people's transactions are underground, after buying or selling things, they go to the crowd, and they can't make a splash, and some people want to check, these ordinary people are a natural barrier, after all, making trouble in this kind of place is provoking the government, and the consequences will undoubtedly be very serious.

In the words of his previous life, this is called hidden in the city.

"Come with me, don't look at the number of shops here, there are only a few places where people can really go down, like some vendors have other passages. ”

Sherlock walked ahead, weaving through the crowd until he stopped at the door of a restaurant before continuing:

"For the sake of the more than 10 gold pounds you helped me earn, I will reveal an additional piece of information to you, can you see the difference between the signboard on this restaurant?"

"Jeff's Restaurant...... Are those two forks on the wooden sign?"

Previously, Donald saw that the restaurant was hung horizontally with staggered knife and fork signs, which belonged to the industry logo, and the real store name was on the top of the restaurant, this Jeff's restaurant hung a knife and fork logo outside, but a double cross logo was repeated on the top of the door, ordinary people would not look like anything, after all, the restaurant owner has the final say.

"This is the sign for the entrance to the underground market, the double cross, which usually appears on the underside of the restaurant's name, and it should be similar in other cities...... I don't know how it became popular. ”

Donald was right, this is for people who know how to hang and watch.

"Go in now?"

The diners sat separately in the door, and the two of them stood at the door and looked inside, which was a bit strange.

"Something, you go and buy two cod for 1 shilling, remember, 1 shilling. ”

Raising his cane and clicking on the shop next to it, Donald realized that there was actually a seafood store near the restaurant, and the city of Piston was not in the coastal area, but it was not far away, and there was no shortage of fresh seafood, so he didn't ask much, and returned a few minutes later with two live cod tied with straw ropes.

"This palm-sized cod sells for a shilling, and I think three pence is the normal price. ”

Although Donald doesn't know much about the price of fish, the basic comparison is still good, a cod is 1 shilling, which is not just the level of black heart.

"You'll know why it's so expensive later, let's go. ”

Pushing open the door of the restaurant, Sherlock walked in front of him, straight to the order table in the back.

"Sir, bring your own materials? ”

Behind the counter, two old men with gray temples wore glasses and held a small square notebook in their hands, and looked at the two cod fish in Donald's hand, and spoke skillfully.

"We pay the bill at full price, can you help with the cooking?"

"That's okay, go straight 5 meters into the door, turn left, fish warehouse. ”

The thing the two talked about sounded to the person next to them that a diner wanted to borrow the kitchen to cook, and the restaurant had no rules in this regard, and the two sides finally reached a compromise.

It's just that Donald, who knows something inside, sounds a bit like a connector code.

There are a lot of code programs in this code, and it's quite chic......

Follow the old man's instructions and walk into the half-height self-return door on the right side of the counter, the back of the restaurant is naturally the back kitchen, and after the corridor, the collision of pots and pans and the sound of ingredients in hot oil are particularly loud.

Turning left, there is indeed a small warehouse specially divided at the back of the restaurant, and a young man in a black leather apron is sitting in the doorway, holding a cod in his hand and disemboweling it, so skilled that he does not know how many fish have passed his hand.

Sherlock took the fish from Donald's hand and placed it directly in the bucket beside him, waving his hand back to follow.

As he passed by, Donald looked into the basin, where seven or eight cod were swimming, and there was a wide basin up to the calf, with the logo of the seafood store on the side, and there seemed to be a lot of cod in it.

1 shilling, not so much the price of the fish as the price of the admission ticket.

Entering the compartment, one could see a cellar with an open entrance, and down the stairs it was not a small warehouse, but a corridor with kerosene lamps, a short distance, and a wooden door closed at the end.

"Apply some of this liquid under your nose, the underground market is made from an abandoned sewer, although it has been cleaned many times, but there is always a smell because of some special goods and the underground environment, and when the liquid medicine fails, you can almost get used to the smell. ”

Taking the potion, Sherlock took some with his index finger and rubbed it on the back of his hand, then rubbed it under his nostrils.

As he walked forward, Donald was inexplicably excited, the underground market was like another side of this world to him now, close to the wooden door, he seemed to be able to hear the faint sound coming in from outside.

"Are you ready? Don't blink, your first venture into the underground market is going to be an unforgettable experience in your life, at least I think. ”

Holding the brass handle and pushing it out, the vision suddenly widened, and the noise and noise rushed into Donald's ears, and the scene in front of him was truly shocking.

The previous secret and cumbersome way of entering the market had always made Donald feel that the underground market was a place full of shady flavors.

Rows of black tents, dark green hanging lamps, and colorful oil paint on his face, as if he was a strange man who was about to die for half a year at a glance, plus some strange creatures dried corpses and bones, this was his imagination.

However, the moment the wooden door opened, just at first glance, it overturned all Donald's imagination, and a few meters outside the door was actually a spacious gravel platform with a diameter of nearly twenty meters!

The gray brick-paved stone path connects the platform, and on both sides there are kerosene lamp posts, which are illuminated, and when you look left and right, you can see the same seven or eight stone paths, each connected to a wooden door, and a few people are opening the door to come out.

Donald couldn't speak, but he didn't even want to waste time in the blink of an eye, and kept walking forward, first to the gravel platform, where the people who came out of the nearby passage converged, and then stepped on a road nearly five meters wide, leading to the large square dotted with lights in front of him!

"Surprised? Not surprised? Haha, the expression I came to the first time is similar to you, the two underground markets in Pston City, each is not smaller than the trading center on the ground, the number of resident merchants is not less than eighty, to ensure the diversity of goods, as for the details, I will not tell you, that is to ruin your experience, enjoy your 'first night', I am only responsible for taking you in, go out and figure out your own way, remember to go to work on time tomorrow, by the way, the last reminder to you, take care of your own money bag, there is a gold hole ahead. ”

Sherlock had his own business to do, and without waiting for Donald to respond, he rushed out in a few steps, as if he was deliberately avoiding him.

Donald slapped his cheeks, it's shopping time!