Chapter 38: Black market
Nick didn’t hesitate as he stepped off the maglev and into the crumbling heart of Terminus’ ’black market’ — which was more like the open market since everybody already knew about it.
Even the Federation officials in charge of overseeing operations on Terminus knew about the place, but just left them to do their own thing.
Naturally, this was because they brought a lot of profit and income streams through Terminus, but also surprisingly because they contributed a lot of money to the planet’s economy — since unlike what most people think, the vendors there paid their taxes.
Unlike in the past, it was nearly impossible for people to avoid paying taxes, criminal or not.
Though the most important reason they were even allowed to operate so openly was obviously because the criminal gangs behind them had influence in the Federation that spanned beyond just Terminus itself.
In today’s day and age, money and connections were power.
It wasn’t much different from the old days of the 21st century, aside from the major factor of personal strength thanks to the Beast Domain — which outweighed all other influences on power by itself.
If someone were a Radiant Ascendant, they would obviously have a lot of power and influence in the Federation.
The black market was located rather centrally in regards to Terminus’ main points of contact. It wouldn’t really make much sense for it to be located far away from civilisation, since that would just discourage prospective customers from visiting.
If it wasn’t within maglev distance, most people wouldn’t even bother.
They’d just find somewhere else to buy what they were looking for.