As the woman I called had assured me earlier, a staff member appeared at our door and offered to guide us to their 'market'.

We had to leave Mara behind since she was completely absorbed in eating so I left her a note on the table to tell her we were going to the hotel's market.

The staff member was a man who seemed to have modded himself to have cybernetic eyes since they were glowing the entire time.

He brought us back to the lift and this time he entered with us instead of letting us enter on our own.

The lift then started descending back down towards the ground floor but continued past it to reach the basement level.

Of course their black market would be underground, why would you expect it to be anywhere else?

The door then opened and we were greeted by the sight of what looked like another security checkpoint with automated turrets on the ceiling and more armed guards watching the lift lobby.

All of them immediately turned their gaze towards us when the lift doors opened, although they at least did not show any signs of hostility but were only just watching us with a cautious gaze.

Our guide simply strode towards them and passed a card to one of the guards who slotted it into a machine before pulling it back out to pass it back to him.

Lea, Amber and myself had to stand in a scanner that shone a light over us before the guards finally let us through.

Seems like they're taking security quite seriously here.

We finally passed through the checkpoint and our guide continued to lead us down the featureless corridor until we reached an armoured door in the process of sliding open.

By the time we reached it, we were able to step past it without waiting.

Behind the door was what looked like an exhibition hall with various stalls and things on display. The centrepiece was something that looked like a tank or something but it had spider legs instead of tank threads.

It felt like we had just stepped into some kind of convention instead of a market if you asked me.

The staff member bowed, "Honoured guests, we welcome you to our humble market. Do you require further guidance through the hall?"

I shook my head, "We will manage on our own."

He deepened his bow, "Of course, honoured guests. Please enjoy yourselves."

He then left us through the door that he had led us through, letting it shut behind him while we stepped further into the hall.

Truthfully, it definitely did not feel like I was entering a black market considering how well dressed the other people were.

But when you saw what kind of things were on display in those stalls, you would know instinctively that this place was not just a normal convention.

Sure, there were stalls that seemed to be selling guns which could be considered to be normal merchandise in this station. But then you'll see the stall right beside them with people in cages all chained up with collars on their necks.

At least the slaves look like they were dressed well.

Ironically, I later learned that most of the slaves being sold here were actually legal slaves but they were just brought here to find high profile buyers. The weapons being sold were actually more illegal than the slaves because they were either stolen or illegally modified.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

What an irony.

Putting that aside though, there were several interesting things around here.

There was even a place that was selling power armour and that's what I immediately went to look at the moment I saw it.

The stall had several pieces of them all lined up in a row and a bespectacled man was standing in front of them trying to advertise the power armour to a group of well dressed men.

"Now, if you want to impress the others at a function, I would highly recommend the X-two Guardian Series right over here! They're not only capable of defending you, they are also decorated to look good! Look here, they even have cup holders!"

The salesperson tapped on the chest of the power armour and a set of three cup holders ejected out from its abs to arrange themselves in a row.

I thought it was pretty stupid but a few of the onlookers let out gasps of amazement.

Really? That was enough to get you guys impressed?

"Right now I'm having a sale on these bad boys! Just a hundred and sixty million Credits for this one!"

Holy shit… I mean… I knew the power armour would be expensive but that thing is even more expensive than an average C Class ship!

Judging by the nods and the looks the other patrons were giving, it looked like the price wasn't unreasonable at all.

I thought I was already quite well off after earning this much money but now I know I'm still considered poor in these circles.

The salesman wasn't done, "But! If you want to really impress your friends at a high class party, there is no better choice than the G-seven Royal Sentry X-five!"

He tapped on a console that prompted a pod beside him to open up, revealing a power armour that had golden trims along its edges.

Needless to say, the onlookers were quite excited by the sight and a few of them even took a step forward as though already deciding on purchasing it.

The salesperson jerked his thumb at it, "Not only does this look great, it has better specs than the X-two! I'm talking about better armour, better mobility, better shields and it still has cup holders as well! All of this just for a hundred and eighty million Credits! It's a steal, I tell you! Now do we have any buyers? I have a limited number of these today for this special price!"

At least four of the onlookers immediately raised their hands and were approaching him with the intention of purchasing one for themselves.

Even though it was out of my budget, I felt that this at least gave me some understanding of how much I could expect to pay for a top of the line power armour.

While that was going through my mind, someone from the side spoke up.

"What a scam… That so-called 'G-seven Royal Sentry X-five' is just basically the same as the X-two but with some gold paint on it. There is literally nothing different in terms of specs at all. You're charging twenty million more just for some gold paint!"

I looked in the direction of who was talking and found a person wearing a hood over their head standing just a short distance away from me.

From the voice and the fact that they were almost a head shorter than I was, I figured that the person was most likely a female.

The hood was hiding her appearance from where I was standing but the salesperson clearly recognised the girls as his face immediately turned into a scowl.

"Godamnit Ries, no one asked for your opinion! You're only here to help me do maintenance on my products, not comment on them!"

"Pfft, you mean I'm not here to expose you. Come on now. If you want to scam them, at least use real gold trims instead of just gold paint. Although if you do that, I suppose it would also lower the armour's defensive integrity by about two percent so that would be a bigger scam."

One of the customers scowled at the salesman, "Hey, what's the meaning of this? Did you really just try to trick us?!"

The salesman quickly changed his face, "Dear customer! Please don't listen to that girl spouting nonsense! She has no idea what she's talking about!"

"Uh-huh, if that's the case, would you allow everyone to do a scan of the two power armours and compare their stats side by side to see whether I'm telling the truth?" The hooded girl asked.

I secretly brought up my Codex to do just that and… Sure enough, the scans showed me that the two power armours were actually the same model so the hooded person was definitely telling the truth.

A few other patrons also did the same and the moment they realised they almost got scammed, they quickly stormed off after throwing some expletives at the salesman.

I'm more surprised that they even let him off that easily instead of giving him a beating because I was fully expecting that to happen.

"Wait! Wait! If this one doesn't interest you, how about… Wait!" The salesman cried out but no one else paid attention and the crowd that had been in front of his stall quickly dispersed.

The guy slammed the table angrily, "You bitch! What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be at the back! Not here!"

"You told me to do maintenance on the armour didn't you? I'm here for the ones behind you."

"Not during a sale you… You… Oh. Hi there! Are you interested in any of my power armour?!"

The salesman quickly changed his tone when he noticed that my group still stayed.

Errr… Should I leave?

That was when the hooded girl turned around and I managed to peek into the hood, noticing something very distinct.

Are those cat ears?!