Chapter 332: The Underground Duel Arena
"But I still want to bet on that freak to win, just to test the waters, after all, he’s the hundred-battle War God of this underground boxing arena, and I bet he’ll win this time if nothing unexpected happens."
"From what I see, if you want to make a sure bet, I’d advise you to bet less, since this time the Wolf King is no ordinary one, I heard some big boss spent a fortune to import this one from Siberia. It’s vicious, and it hasn’t eaten for several days. Today’s boxing arena is definitely going to be exciting. Anyway, I’m betting all on the Wolf King to win, and brother, if you lose, don’t blame me for not warning you."
"Don’t worry, brother, how could I ever do that? Even if I lose, it’s all willingly." Saying this, the man beckoned with a grand gesture toward the crystal bar: "Beauty, two more drinks."
"Put it on my tab." At that moment, Lin Zifeng walked over with a smile, signaling to the bartender.
"Oh?" Both men turned their heads, readjusting their glasses and looked Lin Zifeng up and down with interest. One of them smiled and said, "Bro, do we know each other?"
"We don’t," Lin Zifeng laughed.
"Oh? Then it’s strange, since we don’t know each other, why are you offering us drinks out of the blue?" Both men were scratching their heads, unclear what this young man with a thick, bright smile was up to. It wasn’t weird for men to offer drinks to women in a nightclub—actually, it was pretty common.
But a man offering a drink to another man was somewhat novel, especially when they had never met before. The phrase "passing acquaintances" didn’t quite fit.
"I overheard the two big brothers discussing the boxing arena just now, and got a bit interested on the fly. Since the two of you seem well-versed with the arena’s unwritten rules, I wanted to come over and get some advice from the elder brothers here." Lin Zifeng smiled ever so brilliantly, his flattery secretly tickling the two men’s fancy. Seeing someone treating them to drinks, and to discuss the boxing arena no less, they were not the least bit offended.
"Brother, if you asked about something else, I might not know much, but when it comes to the boxing arena, we can confidently claim the second place, and no one dares to call themselves first!" The man with the black-framed glasses boasted, patting his chest as if to say he was incredibly cool.
Lin Zifeng just smiled, thinking: You are indeed ’second’ to none.
"So what about that Wolf King and the freak you mentioned just now? What’s the deal with them? I don’t suppose the big brothers here could fill me in? I don’t have many faults, but I do love to hear gossip. You brothers look like you’ve been around the martial arts world, you must know a lot, right?"
While speaking, Lin Zifeng passed the drinks brought by the bartender to them, not forgetting to give another compliment in the meantime, which instantly made one of the men with glasses chuckle with joy.
"Little brother, I dare not boast about other things, but if you want to gamble on the boxing, I can help you pick your bets and introduce you to a few powerful contenders to make your acquaintance—maybe you could even turn a profit."
"Hehe, then thank you, elder brothers." Lin Zifeng laughed.
"Right! The boxing match is about to start, brother, are you planning to go in and watch, or take a few bets?" The man with glasses asked, glancing at the time.
"Boxing match?" Lin Zifeng asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, you know what? Since it must be fate for us to meet today, other than this drink, we can consider ourselves halfway friends already. Come on, let me take you for a tour."
"Then I’ll have to trouble you two big brothers," Lin Zifeng said with a gloomy smile, noticing the two of them had secretly exchanged looks just now. Though he said nothing on the surface, he sneered inwardly.
Following the two down to the club’s basement, Lin Zifeng couldn’t help but admire Qiao Bu’en’s lavish expenditure to establish a several hundred square meter underground boxing arena, which evidenced his substantial resources; even Lin Zifeng himself was somewhat impressed by this Mr. Qiao.
Along the way, Lin Zifeng didn’t ask any questions but simply followed the two men down to the basement. His original intention that evening was to find Qiao Bu’en, yet now the underground boxing arena had caught Zifeng’s attention, especially the mention of mercenaries! This piqued Lin Zifeng’s curiosity.
After passing through a series of complicated underground corridors, they were stopped no fewer than eight times for inspections. It seemed the security of the underground boxing arena was tight. The dingy walls of the corridors, plastered with posters, felt oddly familiar to Lin Zifeng, but he couldn’t quite place where he’d seen them before.
"Hey! What are you doing?"
At that moment, a burly man in black with a Bluetooth earpiece pointed at Lin Zifeng.
"Just looking around, just looking around," Lin Zifeng replied with a smile.
Following the two beasts ahead, turning this way and that, they seemed to have taken quite a detour, by Lin Zifeng’s estimation, the depth of this basement was at least as much as a two-story building.
Having paid the three-hundred-dollar cover charge, they were permitted to enter through the main door.
Before entering, no noise could be heard, but as soon as the soundproof door was pushed open, a wave of piercing screams, cheers, whistles... a cacophony of noises that drove people crazy and excited filled the entire place, along with a dense fog of smoke and the enveloping scent of sweat filling the vast space.
Looking around, the underground room was divided into three levels. The second and third floors were for spectators, who were packed together, socialites from all walks of life gathered here to drink, chat, and watch the two warriors fight in the arena.
Especially on the third floor, each private booth had different amenities; the wealthy enjoyed far better treatment than those jokers on the second floor. The lowest level resembled an ancient Roman Duel Arena, where two tattooed hefty men with bare torsos were strenuously fighting a blood-spattered battle, performing for the spectators above, each thrilling combat inciting wave after wave of frenzy.
Amid the explosive and heart-shaking music, these white-collar workers, too oppressed in reality, came here to indulge and wildly cheer on.
Watching the two strong men on the bottom floor fight as if their lives depended on it, Lin Zifeng couldn’t help but cringe with sympathy. Didn’t they feel pain with every punch landing flush?
If there were two Kung Fu masters fighting, it might have been worth watching, but a scene of flesh and bone flying everywhere was even somewhat disgusting.
"How about it, brother? Thrilling, isn’t it?" The bespectacled man, chewing gum, waved his arms to cheer on the gladiators below, not forgetting to tease Lin Zifeng a bit.
"Let’s see," Lin Zifeng said noncommittally.
"If you’re a trained fighter, brother, why not go down and have some fun? Winning could even earn you some cash," teased the other beast.
"Forget it, with my build, they’d knock me out with one punch!" Lin Zifeng shrugged his shoulders and said with a laugh.