Chapter 1059 — The Fish Takes the Bait: "So Frightening?" Yunhai Shuku Got the Shock of His Life at the Butcher's Words
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Heh heh, there's nothing to be frightened of. It's a thrill!" The butcher waved a hand and laughed.
"They won't start hitting the spectators, will they? That would be pretty scary. Maybe we'd better not watch after all..." Yunhai Shuku was a timid, easily frightened sort. Whether other men fought had little to do with him; what he feared was being dragged into it himself.
Such was the sorrow of the people at the very bottom of society: all they thought about, day in and day out, was when they might next eat their fill and keep warm, and how others fared was no great concern of theirs. Old Yunhai Shuku was just such a man.
"Look at you, scaredy-cat! How could it possibly spill up into the stands? I've been here to watch a few times already. Just you wait and see!" The butcher chuckled.
Just then a young man sitting beside Yunhai Shuku spoke up. He too was a shill arranged by Xiao Luozi, much the same sort of plant as the butcher.
"It's not just a thrill -- you can make a fortune! Look at me. I didn't have a cent to my name, and after watching a few matches here, I'm a millionaire now!" The young man sounded rather pleased with himself.
"What? Not a cent, and now you're a millionaire? How is that possible?" Yunhai Shuku was stunned. He had no interest in that bare-knuckle fighting business, but hearing the young man say he had gone from penniless to millionaire pricked his interest. Yunhai Shuku dreamed of winning a five-million-yuan lottery, so anything of that sort caught his attention.
"Heh, what's so impossible about it?" The young man looked at this country bumpkin with utter contempt. "You know what betting on fights is?"
"Betting on fights?" Yunhai Shuku blanked.
"Never tried it, huh? I've played it myself..." The butcher grinned and explained the rules of fight betting to Yunhai Shuku.
Yunhai Shuku understood well enough, but it left him rather frightened. "If you bet wrong, don't you lose every last cent?"
"Ha! Isn't that what gambling is? You buy a lottery ticket, you don't win, and aren't you out every cent?" The young man spoke with a touch of scorn. "Bumpkins like you deserve to be broke. Here, watch me play."
Yunhai Shuku said nothing, but his heart stirred all the same. From penniless to millionaire -- that was nothing short of a legend.
At the thought, Yunhai Shuku began to watch the young man and the butcher's every move very carefully.
Before the match began, someone came around with a tablet computer to collect the bets. The young man put down a hundred thousand at once on a fighter named "Red Dragon" to win, while the butcher staked ten thousand, also on Red Dragon.
Seeing how confidently they laid their bets, Yunhai Shuku could not help but feel tempted. He probed cautiously: "Could I bet ten yuan?"
"Pfft!" At Yunhai Shuku's words the young man burst out laughing and stared wide-eyed at him. "Listen, old man, the minimum bet here is ten thousand. Ten yuan? Who's going to take that from you?"
"Ah... is that so..." Yunhai Shuku flushed, and was startled besides. Ten thousand -- that was more than half a year's income for him. Take that out to gamble? Wouldn't that be insane? Yet what puzzled him was why the butcher and the young man were both so utterly certain in their betting. Was this "Red Dragon" they had backed an ever-victorious general?
"Hey, Yu, take my word for it -- go get your money down quick, or you'll be sorry in a minute, guaranteed!" The butcher glanced at Yunhai Shuku in warning.
"Well... this Red Dragon, is he very strong?" Yunhai Shuku could not hold back the question.
"Strong doesn't begin to cover it!" The butcher curled his lip. "Yesterday there were three fights, and he won every one outright -- never even gave his opponents room to breathe. I regretted it yesterday: I only put money down on the last match. If I'd bet on the earlier ones, I'd be a rich man now!"