Lynn was walking amidst the desolate and unsettling streets of the abandoned district. He was ready to leave this chaotic place. The first opportunity to conquer a dungeon would appear in the mission section soon, and he needed to be in a stable location to make the final preparations.
He didn't want to enter the next dungeon from the middle of this lawless area. Who knew if he would be unlucky, and the abandoned house where he was resting became a battleground between warring gangs when he came back from the dungeon?
However, before leaving, Lynn had one more stop to make. He needed to acquire something that could only be obtained here.
After walking a few blocks, he found himself in front of a narrow alley. This was where the old guide Jack had told him about the best deals for weapons.
Passing through the alley, Lynn saw a wide avenue open up before him. Lining the avenue were numerous shops, but the wares placed in each store window were more or less the same - weapons!
You could see every type of weapon on display, however the most dominant were firearms. It seemed that the "firearms ban" imposed across the Federation didn't impact this district at all, but instead, it seemed to have increased the demand for such weapons in this area.
Lynn walked down the avenue, curiosity overtaking him much like an enthralled child. His eyes darted around excitedly, taking in the dazzling variety of weapons and firearms presented in each shop window. As someone who had grown up in the heavily regulated Federation, seeing such an open display of prohibited items was mesmerizing.
He entered the first shop near him. Lynn pushed the door, and as soon as he looked up, he saw that inside the store, bulletproof glass cabinets were placed in the center and on both sides, and inside were all kinds of firearms, from handguns to sub-machine rifles, there should be all kinds of firearms, and a handful of customers were slowly walking around, seemingly picking them out.
"Welcome!" A burly store manager walked over and welcomed Lynn asking what he needed.
From under his cloak, Lynn discreetly put out the assault rifle and pistol of the guard that he snatched when he first entered the district. He got them out of his inventory before entering here.
"Do you have ammunition for these firearms?" Lynn asked.
The manager inspected the weapons. "Ah, a Glock 21 and AK-47, classics. Yes, ammunition is available for both. How much do you need?"
"Two boxes of each," Lynn replied after thinking for a moment. He could only fit so much in his backpack at a time.
The manager nodded and went to retrieve the ammunition while Lynn browsed the shop. He planned to buy what he could carry, put it in his inventory, and then visit the other shops to buy more items.
In addition to bullets, Lynn selected some fragmentation grenades, incendiary grenades, and more. Although normal bullets had only slowed down the werewolves during the confrontation with the Special Investigation Bureau, being prepared for all situations was necessary.
After repeating the process at a few more shops along the row, Lynn decided he had acquired enough munitions for now. In total, he had spent 12,000 federation dollars on ammunition and other items, a substantial sum. But for an ordinary person in the Federation, obtaining any firearms at all was nearly impossible, so the cost seemed worthwhile.
As he slowly made his way down the avenue, one small shop tucked away in a secluded corner caught his eye. Unlike the others, this one had no flashy window displays or signs. The faded wooden sign above the door simply read "Antique Weapon Shop."
Intrigued, Lynn approached the modest shop.
He pushed open the door and stepped inside. The interior was eerily silent, with no sign of the proprietor. Lynn's footsteps echoed on the concrete floor as he slowly walked further inside, inspecting the array of antique weapons neatly arranged throughout the space.
"Is anyone here?" Lynn called out, his voice piercing the heavy silence.
At first, there was no response. But after a few moments, a raspy voice responded from a back room behind the counter. "Just a minute!"
After a short wait, an elderly gentleman emerged from the back room. He was dressed impeccably in a fine suit, polished shoes, and bow tie. The man walked with a cane but carried himself with a dignified posture. His eyes lit up when he saw Lynn.
"Welcome, welcome!" the shopkeeper greeted warmly. "Please, feel free to look around. I apologize for the wait; these old bones don't move as swiftly as they once did." He let out an amiable chuckle.
Lynn nodded politely and proceeded to inspect the various antique pistols, rifles, swords, and other weapons orderly arranged throughout the shop. Many were ornate, with intricate embellishments and designs. Lynn could sense the history behind each unique piece.
One display in particular caught his eye - an antique flintlock pistol with an elegantly engraved stock and barrel.
Noticing Lynn's interest, the shopkeeper hobbled over eagerly. "Ah, I see you have a discerning eye, sir! That is a one-of-a-kind Louis XV flintlock pistol, crafted by a legendary gunsmith."
The old man launched into an enthusiastic history of the pistol and its creator. He delicately lifted the pistol from its stand, holding it with reverence.
While he did so, Lynn used [Evaluation] on it, and as expected, it was a counterfeit. "What a talented actor," Lynn thought in his heart as he watched the old man's enthusiasm, trying to scam him.
He continued using the skill on other antique weapons, and his suspicion was right. Most of the antiques here were counterfeit or fake, and some of them were genuine but with suspicious origins. Such findings were expected, considering it was an antique shop in the abandoned district.
He entered here, in the hopes of maybe finding some hidden treasure or extraordinary item, but it was useless.
Lynn nodded along politely as the shopkeeper continued his enthusiastic spiel, not wanting to offend the old man. But inwardly, he lamented the fruitless detour into this shop.
As the proprietor finally wound down his elaborate provenance of the pistol. "A remarkable history indeed," he remarked. "You certainly know your antiques. But I'm afraid nothing has caught my interest."
The shopkeeper looked slightly crestfallen but quickly recovered his cheerful demeanor. "Of course, of course! You can look more, maybe you will change your mind."
Lynn nodded but was ready to make his way out of the dusty shop. However, just as he was about to depart, an impulse prompted him, he decided to utilize his [Spiritual Vision] skill to look around one final time, in case he had missed anything.