Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 93: A Different Kind of Sanctuary

They walked right past the severed heads and stepped through the tall gates of the old sports stadium.

The change was instant.

Outside the walls, the ruined city was just a dead, quiet graveyard.

But inside, it was loud, bright, and totally packed with life.

Julien stopped walking and just looked around in pure surprise.

The entire centre of the grassy stadium field was converted into a massive, bustling bazaar.

There were at least forty different stalls set up under dirty canvas tents and bright portable construction lights.

Old gas generators ran loudly in the background to keep the lights running.

It was a total mix of people.

Awakeners wearing battered armour walked side by side with normal people in dirty street clothes.

Even rough-looking raiders were standing around, loudly discussing prices and arguing over what to buy next.

Julien scanned the different shops as the three thugs pulled the heavy cart behind him.

One stall had a massive guy grinding up dry monster bones and fleshy parts.

He was selling it as some kind of weird protein powder, yelling to the crowd that it would make hunters physically stronger for their next dungeon raid.

Another booth was run by a sweaty blacksmith using a portable grinder.

He was busy sharpening chipped swords and rusted axes, trying to give people a slightly better chance at surviving the outside world.

There was even a crazy-looking astrologer sitting on a woven rug near the food stalls.

She was charging people credits to see the future, claiming she could predict exactly which city ruins were safe to loot and which ones had boss monsters hiding in them.

Everywhere he looked, people were selling old weapons, canned food, and basic survival gear.

Julien counted at least two hundred deserters just hanging around the market area, trading and talking.

’This is crazy,’ Julien thought to himself, taking in the massive crowd.

’They actually built their own functional sanctuary out here in the middle of nowhere. No strict Hunter Association rules. No military drafts. Just an unregulated trading hub.’

He turned around and looked at the bald thug.

The big guy was sweating heavily while pulling the wooden cart alongside his two skinny friends.

"Hey," Julien said, holding up a hand to stop them.

"Where exactly can I meet the boss of this place?"

The bald guy blinked hard, looking totally lost.

"Oh, you actually have to meet him?" the thug asked, scratching his scarred neck.

"I don’t know about that. We just come here to trade our scrap metal for food. We never get to see the guy running things."

Julien just nodded and did not press him any further.

It was completely obvious that the street rats had no real connections.

Julien just wanted to test the waters and see if they knew any useful names or passwords.

They clearly did not.

Before Julien could figure out his next move, a loud voice called out over the busy crowd noise.

"You look fresh."

Julien turned his head toward the sound.

A woman was leaning against the wooden counter of a nearby stall.

She looked to be in her late forties, had wild, curly black hair and slightly crooked eyes that looked Julien up and down like he was an easy target.

Julien gestured for Kyle to follow.

They walked over to the side of the busy path to see exactly what she was selling.

Her stall was filled with thick, dark coats hanging on cheap metal racks.

Julien quickly closed his eyes for a second and activated his new Examiner skill.

The blue text popped up in his mind instantly, giving him a clean readout on the items.

The coats were not just regular winter clothes scavenged from a mall.

They were made from monster skin.

Someone had stitched the tough hide together tightly so the coats would act as both heavy armor against claws and a warm jacket for the cold nights.

It was actually some really smart crafting.

"We are new," Julien said simply, stopping right in front of her wooden counter.

The woman crossed her arms and smiled a little bit, showing off a chipped tooth.

"Oh, really? From where?" she asked.

Her crooked eyes locked onto Kyle’s massive sword for a split second.

She clearly recognised that the giant mercenary was a serious threat, but then she looked right back at Julien.

"Here and there," Julien replied, keeping his face totally blank.

"We don’t really have a permanent place right now."

The woman chuckled loudly.

"Oh, secrecy. I get it. Nobody likes sharing their safehouse location out in the dead zones," she said, waving a hand dismissively.

"Need a coat for the cold nights? I will give you a very good discount since it is your first time shopping here."

Julien shook his head, completely dismissing her sales pitch.

"No thanks," Julien said, getting straight to the point.

"But you can tell me how I can meet the boss of this market."

The woman stopped smiling.

Her friendly merchant act dropped instantly.

"Why do you want to meet him?" she asked, her voice getting a lot colder and much more serious.

"I have products to sell to him," Julien explained calmly, resting his hand on the counter.

"High-tier stuff. Maybe he can take a look, and we can make a bulk deal."

She looked at him closely.

Then she glanced past him at the giant wooden cart the three terrified thugs were standing next to.

"What kind of product?" she asked, sounding highly sceptical.

Julien reached into his jacket pocket.

He actually pulled the item straight from his system inventory in his mind, but he made it look perfectly natural, like the bottle was just sitting in his coat the whole time.

He took out a small, glowing health potion and handed it across the counter to her.

"Perfect alchemy," Julien lied smoothly.

"I made it myself."

The woman looked at the glass vial with total suspicion.

She popped the small cork off the top and leaned in to smell the liquid.

The exact second the clean, rich scent of the system-grade potion hit her nose, her eyes went incredibly wide.

She knew exactly what she was holding.

This was not some cheap, watered-down garbage made by exhausted prisoners in a labour camp.

This was the real deal.

It was the exact kind of high-quality potion that could instantly close a fatal wound and save a dying hunter in a dungeon.

She quickly jammed the cork back into the bottle so nobody else could smell it and looked up at Julien with a completely different expression on her face.

It was pure greed.

"How much of this do you have?" the woman demanded, gripping the small glass vial tightly in her hand as if her life depended on it. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Not telling," Julien said, giving her a small, knowing smirk.

He expected her to immediately call for a manager or offer to escort him straight to the market boss to make a deal.

He had the goods, and she knew it.

But things did not go exactly as he planned.

Instead of making a deal, the woman just took a step back from the counter and raised her hands.

She clapped exactly three times.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The sharp sound cut right through the noise of the busy market.

Instantly, the crowd around her stall shifted and stepped away.

Ten big, heavily armed men stepped out from the surrounding tents and narrow alleys.

They moved perfectly in sync, surrounding Julien, Kyle, and the three terrified thugs standing by the cart.

They pulled out heavy metal clubs, rusted swords, and modified hunting rifles.

The woman pointed a crooked finger right at Julien’s wooden cart.

"Take the cart from him," she ordered.