After leaving the ramen shop, Sol Mercer and the others didn't return right away—instead, they stopped at a convenience store on Sixth Street to fence some goods.
The so-called "hot items" they were offloading were the Ethereal core fragments collected from the Hollow—highly valuable raw materials that could be refined into high-purity Ether energy.
"This convenience store's range of services is something else."
Sol Mercer looked at the everyday-items store in front of him and couldn't help but comment.
He already knew the place was part of a grey-market network—in the game, he'd often bought overpriced Proxy materials here.
He just hadn't expected them to also recycle Ethereal core fragments.
"Of course! Sixth Street is full of hidden talents—no store is what it seems."
Nicole said with a grin.
"Then I'll have to take a good look around."
Sol Mercer rubbed his chin, thoughtful.
Sixth Street might call itself a neighborhood of friendly neighbors, but nobody here was ordinary.
The record shop supposedly sold music discs, but actually disassembled and modified military-grade drives in the back.
The repair shop ran routine maintenance, but secretly performed illegal Bangboo mods, and the owner was part of a biker gang.
Tin Master and General Chop seemed normal, but one might've been the original model of Tin Master, and the other casually revealed Belle and Wise's true identities—plus opened a second shop for his son in Lumina Square.
The toy store owner moonlighted in amplifier trafficking, and the siblings at the video store were legendary Proxies.
As for the Cunning Hares—well known throughout New Eridu—even they were the most humble of all on this street.
Sixth Street might seem chill and rustic, but no one here lived idly.
Under Sol Mercer's watchful eye, Nicole stepped into the convenience store and even called over a Bangboo stationed at the entrance.
"These are the items we're selling."
Nicole handed over a bag full of Ethereal core fragments to the Bangboo.
"Ehne~ ehne~ (Alright, that totals 1.15 million Dennies.)"
The Bangboo scanned the contents with its digital eye and immediately gave an appraisal.
"Can't you go any higher? These cores are top purity!"
Nicole put her hands on her hips, trying to haggle.
"Ehne! Eh-ne! (No way! That's already the highest offer! Any more and I'll lose my job!)"
The Bangboo shook its head repeatedly and pushed the bag back toward her.
Clearly, if Nicole insisted, it would refuse to do the deal.
"Fine, fine—1.15 million it is."
Seeing the Bangboo stand its ground, Nicole gave up on bargaining.
After handing over all the core fragments, she checked her account on her phone and saw the Dennies had arrived.
Satisfied, she called out to Sol Mercer and Anby to leave.
"Sol Mercer, you took down about 50 or 60 of those Ethereal yourself. I'll transfer you 600,000 Dennies."
Nicole looked at Sol Mercer and spoke sincerely.
As much as she wanted to keep the money for herself, her conscience—which had now turned into a metaphorical bank account—just wouldn't let her.
Sol Mercer had only joined a few days ago and had already made major contributions. It'd be shameful to skim his earnings.
If she was going to rip him off, she'd wait until he'd been with the Cunning Hares longer.
"Hmm…" Sol Mercer frowned slightly. "Before that, buy me a phone, set up a fake identity, and open a bank account."
He was a proper undocumented person—in this world, he basically didn't exist.
"Uh, I knew you were off the grid, but this is next-level black-market."
Nicole said with surprise.
She'd assumed Sol Mercer just didn't have official ID—not that he didn't even own a phone.
"Can't be helped." Sol Mercer sighed and looked distant. "Rather than get tangled up in the past, it's better to start over from scratch."
Instead of inventing some backstory, he figured it was better to act mysterious and let Nicole fill in the blanks herself.
"I get it. First we get your phone. Identity and banking can be handled in a couple days."
Nicole nodded understandingly and didn't pry.
Everyone in the Cunning Hares had secrets.
Anby's identity had been fabricated by her, so doing one for Sol Mercer was a piece of cake.
"If it takes greasing a few palms, just deduct it from my cut."
He didn't care too much about Dennies—depending on how you looked at it, he either needed a lot, or barely any.
On the high end, a single pull in the gacha cost ten million Dennies—no amount would ever be enough.
On the low end, for day-to-day food, lodging, and leisure, as long as he lived comfortably, it was fine.
Then again, with one-square-meter properties costing a hundred million and the absurd hiring rates at Victoria Housekeeping Co., maybe even his "basic" needs were steep.
Still, a few hundred thousand Dennies was pocket change. One sweep through a Hollow and he'd make it back.
"Don't mind if I do!"
Nicole patted Sol Mercer's shoulder approvingly.
She'd originally planned to spend her own money to move Sol Mercer, but since he was so cooperative, she could save a nice chunk.
"Help yourself." Sol Mercer nodded, then frowned slightly. "But come to think of it—only 1.15 million for all those core fragments? You think those three little guys skimmed a cut?"
Together, they'd taken down over 80 Ethereal, plus another 20 that Anby and Billy handled when they fell into the Hollow.
That was over 100 cores in total—and they only sold for 1.15 million Dennies?
And that's including several Tier-2 and Tier-3 cores.
With so many Ethereal, a regular Hollow Raider would've already had a funeral planned back home.
All that danger—for the equivalent of a little over 10,000 RMB in payout? The risk-to-reward ratio made no sense.
He wouldn't put it past those three Bangboo to take a cut. They were shady in the game too, always skimming off his rewards.
"Eh, Ethereal core fragments just aren't worth that much. Hollow Raiders come and go from the Hollows every day. The supply of fragments is practically endless."
"Like the saying goes: rarity determines value. If core fragments weren't consumables with fundamental utility, the price would've dropped even more by now."
Sol Mercer started to understand.
Ethereal core fragments were like gold—immense industrial value, non-recyclable—so they could sustain a stable price despite being in massive circulation.
"Alright, let's go get that phone."
Nicole led Sol Mercer and Anby out of the store.
Before long, Sol Mercer had a brand-new smartphone. It wasn't much different from the one he had before crossing over—just with fewer apps, likely due to New Eridu still rebuilding its infrastructure.
At last, after a full day's hustle, the Cunning Hares returned to their base not far from Sixth Street.
Sol Mercer watched TV while opening his system interface in his mind.
His last gacha pull was the morning they blitzed the Red Fang Gang—just yesterday.
So—would today's draw bring a surprise?
Sol Mercer stood up, washed his hands, and flicked them dry, as if shaking off water and bad luck alike.
"System, initiate draw!"