Chapter 317: Chapter 317

Du You, strolling around his house, walked out all by himself. Being alone in such a large home felt somewhat desolate. Despite the robots bustling around, it still wasn’t lively.

Once again onboard an unmanned vehicle, Du You headed towards the city outskirts. Newest update provıded by 𝗻𝗼𝘷𝗲𝗹•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥

Buying servants, it turns out, had different grades. Those for sale in the city’s large commercial centers and slave markets were higher class. The prices were too high, and Du You couldn’t afford most of them.

Either they only looked attractive without any other merit, meaning they weren’t worth the cost, Du You was not about to waste time and Crystal Coins. Therefore, Du You chose to go beyond the city.

Servants were much cheaper beyond 300 ring roads.

The key point was that the servants sold in these areas weren’t necessarily bad, many of decent quality were put up for sale here because they couldn’t afford the high taxes. This was also a robust supplement to the city’s population market.

There were some illicit kinds, of course, were also disposed of here, but Du You didn’t know where the underground slave market was. It didn’t take much to realize that the Black Market was strictly illegal, otherwise, there’d be at least some information about it in the Magic Network.

Du You chose not to head to any huge market, but just a rather ordinary slave market beyond the 300 ring roads.

Subsequently, Du You activated his disguise and started wandering around. Quite a number of individuals were arranged around him. But upon comparison, quality-wise they were far inferior to the slaves in the large markets.

As soon as he walked in, Du You was greeted by a smell of mold and strange stench. The environment here wasn’t pleasant; it reminded him of a livestock market, which seemed to share a similar odor.

Various cages were organized around him. Many individuals were locked inside, and even some animals and beasts. "This is supposed to be a human market, but why are there animals too?"

Du You mumbled to himself, looking around. The people caged up were either numb or full of anger, sporadically cursing at passing people, and then their owners would discipline them with whips. These were clearly poorly trained, servants like these would require extensive time for retraining.

Otherwise, even with a binding contract, they’re just as hard to control.

Some looked quite obedient though, at least on the surface, they were also priced significantly higher.

The prices of slaves here were mostly meager, purchasable with credit points only. Of course, the high-grade ones were quite excessive, those costing Green Crystal Coins were not uncommon —obviously aimed to attract attention with their price.

"Buying slaves with credit points but the contract requires at least White Crystal Coins to sign. Who would prefer to pay a higher price for that kind of slave? It’s not worth it. If someone genuinely buys these people, there’s bound to be trouble."

Looking at the significant number of individuals buying these slaves, Du You could tell they weren’t intend to serve as servants, they had other uses. As for what they were used for exactly, he did not know, and he couldn’t interfere. After all, he was merely an Awakener; he had no right to meddle with the matters of those organizations.

Shaking his head, Du You continued forth. He had no interest in these poorly trained individuals.

"Do I really need to go to the large shopping center? Those well-trained robots are no fun though."

Lost in thought, Du You continued wandering around the slave market. Unconsciously, he reached the central area of the market, where a large crowd gathered, seemingly focusing on something.

Snapping back to reality, Du You decided to check out the commotion. Seeing Du You’s disguise, most of the crowd stepped aside, treating Professionals with caution.

Moving into the crowd, Du You finally saw what caused the stir. An old man with a deeply wrinkled face stood with two young girls who looked the same age, evidently twins.

However, in front of these twins stood a price tag. A piece of hay was all that was missing from the top of their heads.

Opposite to the old man, a hulking man with an intimidating countenance resembling a butcher more than an ordinary person made a stand. Unaware, one might think they were about to fight, but having heard the surrounding conversation, Du You realized they were haggling.

"You old twit, they’re just two ordinary girls, why so steep a price? Ten million credit points, are you robbing me? I could buy a villa in the 500-ring area with that kind of money."

The old man responded with an ingratiating smile, "This price is based on a reason. They are twins, and they would turn eighteen in little over a month. Law Formalization very likely might result in telepathy."

"Bah, telepathy. Even among twins, the probability of telepathy is pretty low, only about one percent. Besides, who would allow them to perform Law Formalization? Do I look like I have that much time and money on my hands?"

He was just an ordinary man; there was no way he would cultivate two Professional slaves. If the strength disparity between master and slave was too great, it tends to attract unwanted attention. Moreover, maintaining Professionals was rather expensive.

"You can’t just say that. I’ve had them evaluated. They have a high potential for Soul Communication. The evaluation suggests that they could reach nearly ten percent probability. The odds are pretty high. Otherwise, why would I set such a high price?"

"Bah, you old man, won’t allow them to formalize any laws after buying them, your evaluation is useless. Who knows where you have it appraised from. Five hundred thousand credit points, I’ll take them away. Don’t keep pushing it."

The old man quickly shook his head, "You’re being quite unreasonable. If my son hadn’t failed in his first Law Formalization, I wouldn’t need money for his second attempt. I wouldn’t sell them if I weren’t desperate. Five hundred thousand is nowhere near enough. Those are my daughters, your price is way too low."

Du You was taken aback; he had run into a father selling his daughters. The two girls huddled together, resembling frightened quails, a tearful look in their eyes. But the old man was indifferent.

This phenomenon of valuing boys over girls still persisted in this world. If anything, it was more statesman than it used to be. After all, this world has no family planning policy. A daughter becomes detached from her family after marriage.

"I don’t care who they are, five hundred thousand is already a lot."

"No, no. It takes at least two million credit points for a second attempt at Law Formalization. Who would willingly sell their own children if they weren’t short on money? Besides, there still are equipment rentals and hiring costs post formalization, ten million would be used up quickly."