A white space.
"Am I dead, or unconscious?" Liens muttered to himself, his expression somewhat dazed.
The experience in the simulation was too real, as if he had truly returned to the past; both the physical weakness and the pain from being beaten were incredibly clear.
He even felt as if he had really been beaten to death by that person in the end.
"Having been bullied for so long, my body instinctively endured the attacks, forgetting that I had the option to 'leave'… I'll be more careful next time." Liens continued to mutter.
The previous generation had suffered greatly, and the habit of silently enduring beatings had become an instinct for him.
He had resisted before, but it only led to more violent beatings, so how to not incur others' disgust and how to endure others' beatings became his instinct for survival.
In this world, good people are few, and bad people are not that many; most are just ordinary people drifting with the current.
Everyone lives a hard life, and not meddling in others' affairs is the habit of most people; few would bother to help an orphan who has nothing to do with them.
"No?" Liens said with some disappointment.
He waited for a long time but still didn't hear any system prompts or receive any rewards.
This meant that his golden finger probably wasn't the kind of system that could obtain real-world rewards by completing simulations, which greatly disappointed him.
Although he found those 'face-slapping' system novels annoying when he read them in his previous life, when it came to himself, he naturally hoped his cheat would be as powerful as possible.
But at this current level, he didn't even know how he could escape his predicament as a Slave, let alone jokes about becoming powerful in another world and marrying a beautiful, rich woman.
"Let's continue." Liens whispered to himself.
Anyway, he had nothing else to do outside, so he might as well continue to study his abilities.
Based on the distance between the garbage alley he was in and the Slave Market, Liens roughly estimated the time, and after several attempts, he found the exact moment he was dragged to the Slave Market.
…
Night, Slave Market, a Slave Exchange.
A hazy consciousness awoke from the darkness. This time, Liens didn't immediately get up from the ground after waking, but instead lay on the ground, pretending to still be unconscious, listening to the conversations of those around him.
"Lord Barton, what do you think of this one? Is he worth a few coins of your generosity?"
The slightly taller of the two vagrants said obsequiously to a middle-aged man dressed in exquisite and luxurious clothing.
His tone was very humble, his body bent, and his gaze was not directed at the middle-aged man's face, but rather at the ground.
It was as if this was not a transaction, but an offering.
"Why come to me?"
Barton looked at the skinny youth on the ground, his expression somewhat impatient; he seemed to be quite dissatisfied with the merchandise on the ground.
"Isn't it because we heard of your benevolence and wealth, Lord Barton? That's why we dared to come to you to exchange for a bit of money." The man continued.
"You certainly know how to speak, but the merchandise you brought is a bit too old, and his appearance is ordinary. Moreover, looking at his skinny body, he probably doesn't have much strength."
"He's not worth much money."
Barton pointed at the youth on the ground.
"Just give us what you think is fair, and we'll be very satisfied with whatever you give."
Of course, they wouldn't be satisfied with just any amount, but the man could only say that, because this was not an equal transaction to begin with.
In fact, by the time they stood there, the merchandise was no longer theirs; how much they would get truly depended entirely on the other party's mood.
"How about this, ten large coppers?"
Although it was a question, Barton directly took out ten reddish-brown circular copper coins and threw them over after speaking, completely unconcerned whether the other side was satisfied with the price.
"Thank you for your generosity and benevolence, Lord Barton."
The two vagrants smiled, their voices excited yet respectful, and then quickly picked up the copper coins from the ground.
As for whether they were truly satisfied with the price, or truly thought Barton was benevolent, it was unknown; at least they knew they couldn't express dissatisfaction here.
Otherwise, they might also become another commodity.
In a place like the Slave Market, the law that states 'people cannot be directly captured as Slaves' is like waste paper, too stiff even for wiping one's backside.
'I didn't expect I could still be worth 50 cash. No wonder that person didn't want to give up even when he saw me pick up a weapon… 50 cash, huh.' Liens secretly thought to himself.
The 50 cash here was just Liens's own conversion; accurately speaking, it should be 50 small copper coins.
Because he had never left this city, Liens didn't know what the currency was like in other places.
In his understanding, the currency of this city, named Kara City, was mainly divided into copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins. Among them, copper coins were divided into large coppers and small coppers, with an exchange rate of 1:5.
As for the higher-value silver and gold coins, silver coins could sometimes be seen used by some wealthy people, but as for gold coins, Liens had only ever heard of them.
Even at his wealthiest, he never had ten large coppers.
Seeing that the two vagrants had already taken the money, Barton waved his hand, signaling that they could scram.
Upon seeing Barton's gesture, the two naturally understood what Barton wanted to convey, so they respectfully exited the hall and quickly left the Slave Exchange.
After the two vagrants left, a sturdy man entered the hall.
He walked to Liens, who was lying on the ground, and respectfully gestured to Barton, asking if he should take the merchandise away.
"Wait a moment. I'll test the quality of this merchandise first."
Barton finished speaking and took out something that looked like a crystal ball from his clothes pocket.
The crystal ball was less than palm-sized, and in Barton's somewhat plump hand, it looked like a toy.
Barton then placed the crystal ball on Liens's body. Liens, who was closing his eyes, felt a very light object being placed on him, but he didn't dare to move.
After all, although this was a simulation, being beaten really hurt.
Before long, the crystal ball emitted a faint white light, and there was no other reaction.
"He doesn't possess elemental talent, but his mental strength is higher than average, making him barely a high-value commodity."
"Give him more food; don't let him starve."
Seeing that the crystal ball had no further reaction, Barton put it away and then instructed his subordinate.
After speaking, he told his subordinate to quickly move Liens from the ground to a suitable place, so as not to affect business in the hall.
"Since I'm considered a high-value commodity, I probably won't suffer too much, right?" Liens secretly hoped in his heart after hearing Barton's words.