"So…this is the Digimon Black Market?"
Floating quietly in a boundless void, Chen Ze looked down at the cone-shaped floating islands below, his expression filled with amazement.
Originally, Chen Ze imagined the so-called Digimon Black Market wouldn't be all that different from other EDEN Digital Spaces.
At most, he'd thought, the "merchandise" here would be Digimon instead of typical everyday virtual electronics.
But reality showed Chen Ze that within EDEN—a network space powered by virtual reality—there were wonders and grand sights far beyond his imagination.
Like now: this enormous Digimon Black Market wasn't built on a fixed "venue" at all.
Just like the Free Area before, the entire Black Market was situated within a lonely, darkened "universe."
Within this darkness, floating islands of varying sizes drifted like planets, following their set trajectories, hidden and secretive.
The largest of these islands could rival a football field spanning hundreds of square meters, while the smallest barely stretched a few meters wide.
Yet no matter their size, every one of these islands was dedicated exclusively to selling Digimon.
In fact, this peculiar design was originally created by the Digital Space's founders as a protective measure against mass infiltration.
Unless one had a specific UDL invitation link, most hackers couldn't directly enter any trading area upon their first arrival at the Black Market.
"Yes. If it's here, we should be safe from that Eater's tracking," replied Piddomon confidently.
For reasons he couldn't quite pinpoint, Chen Ze felt like Piddomon wasn't being entirely truthful.
But based on his own observations, Chen Ze had to admit this place was indeed extremely hidden. Without the link sent by Piddomon, he doubted he'd ever find it on his own.
Even then, the link Piddomon sent was merely a heavily encrypted real-time dynamic library (UDL)—nothing meaningful by itself.
This place seemed to employ not an ordinary blacklist, but an even stricter whitelist system.
Only by receiving and verifying specific invitations could hackers enter this unique Digital Space.
Yet even then, they couldn't immediately enter the trading areas. Instead, like Chen Ze's group now, they were forced to hover around the perimeter of the islands.
Under these conditions, even if an Eater found its way here, it would be meaningless—because it simply didn't have the required "access permissions."
"It seems this place isn't actually within EDEN's network?" Renamon, calm and rational as always, spoke up at this moment. Though her voice stayed composed, Chen Ze could hear subtle surprise beneath her words.
"Yes, you're correct. This place indeed lies outside the boundaries of EDEN."
Piddomon nodded, confirming Renamon's speculation without hiding any information.
"Though no one knows exactly who originally built this place, it's definitely an independent Digital Space outside EDEN."
Rather than relying on EDEN like other Digital Spaces, this special "Black Market" had remained undiscovered precisely due to its unique independence.
Because of this autonomy, the Digimon Black Market was not only unafraid of ordinary hacker intrusions—it was even secure against professional cyber police investigations.
"Here, those reckless hackers are the true 'masters'."
Creating an entirely independent virtual world outside EDEN required unimaginable technology and resources. Putting aside the vast investment, just the act itself raised serious questions about the builder's true motives.
"Could it be an official 'honeypot'?"
In hacker circles, carefully constructed "black boxes" deliberately set as traps were often called honeypots.
Compared to regular computers, these special traps appeared riddled with vulnerabilities, enticing hackers into infiltration attempts.
In reality, however, they were carefully crafted bait set by high-level hackers or cybersecurity officials, aiming to gather valuable data and techniques from intruders.
Chen Ze's suspicion wasn't unfounded. Constructing a fully immersive virtual reality network required extensive technology and equipment, impossible for any average person.
In particular, the crucial EDEN technology itself was a closely guarded secret of Kamishiro Enterprises—how could it possibly fall into outsider hands?
"A honeypot set up to capture all top hackers at once… It certainly is a tempting idea." Piddomon maintained his icy composure, the boy hacker's merchant-like charm gone, replaced by a distant coldness.
"Unfortunately, many hackers have already suspected and verified this place. It's not a trap set by Kamishiro Enterprises."
Piddomon paused briefly here before continuing:
"Some believe this was originally an EDEN prototype built by Kamishiro Enterprises in its early days. Later, someone managed to steal it and used it to create this exclusive sanctuary for hackers."
Though only speculation, among most hackers this had become an established truth.
Only by possessing EDEN's prototype technology could anyone possibly construct such an isolated virtual reality space separate from EDEN itself.
And the special "whitelist" security measures further hinted at sophisticated national-level firewall protections between different networks.
"Stolen, huh?" Renamon murmured softly, clearly skeptical of this explanation.
"So, what's our next move?"
Now that they had entered this theoretically safe Digimon Black Market, the next step was figuring out how to access the trading venues below.
With the Eater threat seemingly removed, Renamon's curiosity reignited.
In this world filled exclusively with top-tier hackers, just what state were those traded Digimon kept in?
And what separated these so-called "elite hackers" from the average ones—how would Chen Ze's hacking skills measure up against theirs?
Although Chen Ze always insisted he was merely an "ordinary hacker," Renamon had never once believed his nonsense.
An "ordinary" hacker capable of mastering both hardware and software?
An "ordinary" hacker able to slip past Mirei Mikagura's blockade and escort her directly into EDEN?
An "ordinary" hacker who deliberately wrote something clearly intended as lifesaving advice, like that "Hacker's Survival Code"?
To Renamon, Chen Ze's repeated insistence—"I'm just a completely ordinary hacker"—was nothing but his attempt at modesty.
Whoever believed that nonsense was an absolute fool.
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T/N: nahhh hes def just an ordinary hacker yep
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