The Sun Gates, a towering mechanical giant sea lock, was the culmination of all of Piltover's mechanical technology, perfectly standing in the middle of the strait, connecting the Valoran continent and the Shurima continent, blocking the passage of any ships, and controlling the shipping lanes of the eastern and western seas.
Here, there was a super-large harbor dam, the only unloading point for all merchant ships after docking. The entire harbor dam was about 13 kilometers long, and it would take a normal person two hours to reach the end by bicycle.
He chose to go to the harbor dam first to see if there were any suitable Rune Stones, because countless merchant ships entered here every day, bringing an endless supply of goods from all over the world.
If he were to buy Rune Stones at the Sun Gates' harbor dam, the price he would get would undoubtedly be the best price without middlemen reselling, achieving both quality and affordability.
However, when Durin was about to reach the Sun Gates' harbor dam, passersby informed him that several Noxus warships had reportedly entered, forcibly ordering Piltover to close the Sun Gates and prevent foreign merchant ships from entering.
Furthermore, the Sun Gates' harbor dam was cordoned off by the Piltover Guard, preventing anyone from approaching.
Upon receiving this news, although Durin didn't know what had happened, he had no choice but to change his mind and turn towards the Black Market in the Fish Market District.
Zaun and Piltover, two cities with vastly different styles and scales, were completely identical in one aspect: their unregulated Black Markets.
The Black Market in the Fish Market District was a rather old street, also known as the Dharavi District. It was notorious for its poverty and squalor.
When Durin first arrived there, he momentarily thought he was still in the undercity of Zaun.
The buildings on both sides of the street were generally low, with rusty steam valves extending from their exterior walls, intertwining with the complex network of pipes along the long street. As night fell, some buildings had old gas lamps hanging from their tops, flickering only occasionally, giving the entire street a sense of dilapidated struggle, as if on the verge of death.
The further he walked in, Durin frowned. The air was filled with a mixture of cheap tobacco smoke and body odor, making it hard to breathe. Masked mercenaries or merchants were everywhere, shoulder to shoulder. Durin even saw a few half-dragons with red and blue scales and eyes glowing with fire or frost, as well as strange individuals wearing conical hats, completely shrouded in black robes, tall and thin, with black and white masks on their faces.
The deeper he went, the once wide street narrowed into small alleys, with dilapidated houses haphazardly built on both sides, densely packed together.
Although they were called houses, most were just shacks haphazardly pieced together with wooden boards, plastic sheets, cardboard, and plastic film. Only a small number were brick bungalows, at most two or three stories high, and the overall design was very short, requiring people to bend over to enter.
Most of the shacks were filled with various items, and a single oil lamp hung, its dim light casting a gloomy glow on the items on the stalls. Coupled with the already dark sky, one could only rely on vision to distinguish objects.
There were also some stalls that only had a sign—on which were written items they sought to buy or sell, with a number left below the sign.
After all, most items appearing in the Black Market had unknown origins, and no fool would trace where these items came from.
"How much is this…?"
"No, no! Too expensive, isn't this just pirate stuff…? Make it cheaper!"
"Get out of here, if you're not buying, don't touch it!"
Durin walked between the old buildings, with tangled, messy electrical wires strung everywhere, and walls covered in graffiti and pasted advertisements. In the dim streets, he could barely make out the uneven ground by the faint light provided by gas lamps.
For a moment, he felt as if he were in the "Ghost Market" of his previous life, where people gathered at sunset and dispersed at sunrise.
Everywhere he looked, there were strange objects.
The stalls inside the shacks sold various oddly shaped herbs, and some were rather disgusting, such as bloody eyeballs, indescribable organs of some wild beast, dried blood, complete internal organs… every item was repulsive. There were even entire dried animal carcasses. Besides these raw materials, there were also some common tools like Rune Engraving Pens.
Of course, many fakes were mixed in.
If a novice adventurer came here, they would probably be very excited, and then get scammed.
There was no other way; buying things here was risky. After all, transactions in the Black Market always adhered to the principle of fleecing one customer at a time, and the prices marked were often far beyond their actual value.
This was especially true for strangers visiting for the first time. Fortunately, before Durin came here, he had obtained a document about Rune Stones from Instructor Rocov, which detailed the appearance and effects of some Rune Stones.
So Durin didn't immediately buy anything. He wanted to compare prices and follow this iron rule for any purchase. He didn't want to be swindled.
Durin quickly browsed through one stall after another, and soon he spotted one stall and stopped.
The stall owner was an old man dressed like an explorer, looking weather-beaten with an ordinary face and a snow-white beard, but his eyes were very sharp. Most importantly, he had the head shape of a sheep but a human face, and his limbs had the characteristics of a goat.
This was a half-goat man.
As the City of Progress, Piltover welcomed intelligent, marginal humanoid races in addition to humans. Even some important government positions in the City Hall were held by gentle, marginal humanoid races like half-goat men and Minotaurs.
Although Durin was a bit surprised, he quickly averted his gaze and looked directly at the goods displayed on the stall inside the shack.
He casually browsed, finding most items to be antiques, various things that still seemed to carry the scent of earth, both small and large. Soon, one item caught Durin's attention: an unusually large eyeball.
It looked fresh, as if it had just been dug out of an eye socket, and a strong scent of blood filled his nostrils. Glimmers of light converged to form an image. A cardboard sign next to it read: "Eye of a Spirit-Sight Monkey, one for 1 silver lun coins and 20 copper circle coins."
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