Although I didn't trust this young man of unknown origin, I discovered through our conversation that he did have some knowledge of Fengmen Village. So I casually inquired about the situation from him: "Before I came here, I met people from Fengmen Village, but they never told me about any rules for trading here."

"You need to understand that the people of Fengmen Village are merely the owners here. They provided this space, but they cannot control the thoughts of everyone here! Apart from the official auctions organized by Fengmen Village, all other collectibles and intelligence are traded privately by the villagers."

As the young man walked, he said, "Although this is your first time in Fengmen Village, you must have heard of what kind of place this is. Therefore, the things or information that can be found here are things that cannot be seen in the open. Sellers will naturally not show them to people easily. Even if you want to take a look, you have to prove your strength to the seller! So people like you who are entering Fengmen Village for the first time can only visit. You don't even have your own account. Who would trade with you?"

I looked at the young man curiously: "Doesn't Fengmen Village not have internet? How come they have accounts and such?"

"Nonsense! This is the black market. If there were no monetary transactions, why would everyone be gathered here?"

The young man rolled his eyes and said, "Fengmen Village really doesn't have internet, and for us, the village administrators are like gods! Only those with official Fengmen Village status can open their own account, hand over money to the people in Fengmen Village, and then they will give you the corresponding amount of ghost money after taking a cut. When you leave, you can exchange this money for cash! However, people who enter Fengmen Village for the first time don't have an account, so naturally they don't have any money to spend."

As the young man spoke, he pulled a stack of papers from his pocket and waved them at me: "Look, see this? This is the currency here."

Looking at the colorful papers in the young man's hand, I tentatively asked, "Can I take a look?"

"Look!"

The young man pulled out a bill and handed it to me: "Look at the bottom right corner of this bill, the mark of 'Ding Shisan' is my exclusive mark, which means that only I can spend this money. If your identity information does not match the mark on the ghost money, this thing is just a piece of waste paper in your hands."

The money in my hand was similar to the ghost money on the market, except that there were no portraits, but rather a large number of tombstones with the words "one million yuan" on them.

Noticing the words "Fengmen Village" at the bottom, I was certain the young man wasn't lying and asked, "Is the exchange rate for this currency different from the currency we use?"

The young man shook his head: "No, it's one-to-one with RMB. The smallest denomination of currency in Fengmen Village is 100,000 yuan, and the largest denomination is 10 million yuan."

I continued, "You said the ghost money here is all marked, so how do two parties arrange a transaction?"

The young man responded, “There are people from Fengmen Village everywhere in the functional area. If the two parties want to make a transaction, they just need to ask them to notarize it. For example, if I want to give you money, they need to destroy my money first, and then give you the equivalent amount. However, they need to take a 10% commission for each transaction as their share. In other words, in Fengmen Village, money does not circulate at equal value, but rather becomes less and less the more you spend it.”

I was somewhat surprised: "Fengmen Village's commission is so steep, ten percent? If it's something worth 100 million, wouldn't they take ten million?"

The young man wrinkled his nose: "This is already good! Things that can be sold on the black market are all shady! If they circulate elsewhere, with money laundering and such, you're lucky if you can get half the profit. Why is Fengmen Village able to grow so big? It's because they take less of a cut!"

I quickly found the flaw in the argument: "Isn't Fengmen Village afraid that customers will agree on a price in the village and then go out to make the transaction?"

The young man curled his lip and said, "They're really not afraid of that! For example, I have a collection of high-quality replicas of antiques that I want to sell to you as genuine articles, worth 300 million! It's up to you to appraise them. As long as you don't spot any flaws and decide to trade with me, we can find someone from Fengmen Village to act as an intermediary! As long as they take their commission, they can guarantee that you can take the items away!"

If this were outside, even acquaintances might rip you off, let alone strangers. The antique business is too murky; this money is less of a commission and more of a protection fee to safeguard your business! Who would risk their entire fortune on the character of a stranger for such a small loss?

Seeing that the young man had explained it to me in such detail, I continued to ask, "Then where should I go if I want to buy information?"

"Oh, I'm not really sure about that, because I'm here mainly to collect antiques."

The young man scratched his head: "And it also depends on what kind of intelligence you're buying. There are brothels and taverns in the functional area, which are the places that spies like to go. If you spend a few days there, you might be able to find out something! If it's higher-end intelligence, then you'll have to go to the casino!"

"casino?"

I was slightly taken aback: "This kind of place doesn't seem to have anything to do with intelligence, does it?"

The young man shrugged: "There are three casinos in the functional area. One of them, Zhong Le Casino, is a private business. You can gamble on anything there. I heard that many people go there for intelligence, but I've never been there."

I looked at the young man with a skeptical expression: "Didn't you say that Fengmen Village was an industry for 'beauty snakes'? How come there are private businesses here?"

"Don't ask me about that, you'll have to ask the owner of Zhongle Gambling House! Most of the businesses in Fengmen Village are run by the 'beauty snakes,' but a small portion are private. I guess these people must have made some special contributions to Fengmen Village, or made some kind of deal with the 'beauty snakes,' right? How would I, a lowly villager, know about these things!"

The young man added, "But I also want to remind you that you can't get into the Zhong Le Casino, because you need to verify your funds to get in. You need at least five million to be eligible to enter."

Hearing the young man say that, I suddenly felt a little awkward.

According to him, in Fengmen Village, nothing can be done without money, and I didn't even have a so-called account, so it was even more impossible for me to have any money.

Just as I was worrying, the young man suddenly spoke up: "You look like a newbie here for the first time. How about I lend you some money?"

I don't believe the young man was so kind: "You're lending me money? Aren't you afraid I'll run away and not pay you back?"

"Of course I'm scared! That's why we need a guarantor! And this money isn't being lent to you for nothing!"

The young man stated bluntly, "Fengmen Village is a huge black market, with money flowing in like water every day. I can lend you money privately, but you have to come with me to a money exchange to make a loan agreement. I will need to pay Fengmen Village a 5% handling fee, plus the fee for transferring the ghost money, totaling 15%. You will have to bear all of this! And I can't just give you the money for free. If I lend you 10 million, after deducting 1.5 million in fees, I will still have to make 2.5 million. You will only have 6 million left. Can you accept that?"