Chapter 1006 — The Underground Fight Pit (Part Two)
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
And ticket sales were not even the most profitable part of it — nothing was more lucrative than betting on the fights! Win or lose, the house always won!
Watching the crowd cheer with wild enthusiasm, An Liwen, the hidden owner lurking in the shadows of the arena, could not help but cackle. He turned to the henchman beside him and asked, "Little Mule, not counting today, how much have we made since we opened?"
"Hmm... Young Master Wen, we've made sixteen million seven hundred thousand already — and that's after eating a loss of over four million the day before yesterday and yesterday, otherwise it would be even more!" The man called Little Mule, shifty-eyed and rat-faced, held a notebook and answered An Liwen deferentially.
"Mm. Dr. Yin, are you certain this Black Bear can finish off Purple Wolf today? He doesn't look like much to me — he's about to be beaten into a bloody gourd." An Liwen nodded, but he looked with some worry at the middle-aged man of about forty beside him.
That middle-aged man was Dr. Yin, sent by the Fire Wolf Gang to assist An Liwen. He was an expert in biochemical research, specializing in the modification of the human body and the awakening of its latent potential. He had invented a drug that made a person temporarily forget pain and, in an instant, unleashed every ounce of the body's potential, so that the user knew no pain and only attacked, attacking until the very last shred of strength was spent.
And this Black Bear was its first user! In the earlier matches, hired fighters had fought genuine bouts — wins and losses, deaths and injuries — and so An Liwen, sitting as bookmaker, had raked in a great deal of money.
But since the day before yesterday, once Purple Wolf entered the ring, An Liwen had begun secretly plotting this money-skimming scheme of his.
Purple Wolf was formidable, a fighter An Liwen had hired away from an underground fighting pit in the south. Two days running he had smoothly defeated his opponents and carried his matches, so when Purple Wolf stepped into the ring today, most of the crowd had put their money on Purple Wolf to win.
Some rich men did not care about money; they gambled only for diversion. But they still hoped to win — who bets on a fight without hoping to win?
And today, this Black Bear — though named Black Bear — was scrawny and frail, not the slightest bit like a bear. Such a physique was a disadvantage to begin with, and he wanted to contend with the ever-victorious Purple Wolf? Pure wishful thinking.
So, seeing Black Bear's build, they had decisively bet on Purple Wolf to win; and those spectators who had witnessed Purple Wolf's ferocity before, seeing how weak today's opponent was, all grew eager to try their luck.
Today the small bettors staked a great deal of money. Though each individual wager was not large — some ten thousand, some a hundred thousand — the total sum was far from small.
So An Liwen was delighted. If Black Bear truly won, tonight alone would bring in more than twenty million.
"Rest assured, Young Master Wen. Have you not seen Black Bear get up again and again? Rising endlessly like that, sooner or later he'll wear Purple Wolf to death." Dr. Yin spoke calmly. "Look, Black Bear is up again!"
Dr. Yin had not thought much of An Liwen at first, but after working alongside him a few days he discovered that this An Liwen was not only ruthless and vicious, but also exceedingly decisive, and a deft hand at raking in money. Not only could he supply ample human subjects for experimentation, he also brought the Fire Wolf Gang extremely rich returns; even the gang's chief had praised An Liwen's ability, calling him a man with a gift for coin. This left Dr. Yin unable to look down on An Liwen any longer.
And so Dr. Yin's attitude toward An Liwen turned considerably more respectful as well.
Sure enough, after being knocked down, the Black Bear rose again from the ground and walked, step by step, toward Purple Wolf.