Chapter 1059 — The Fish Takes the Bait: "So Frightening?" Yu Ren Got the Shock of His Life at the Butcher's Words

"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..." Yu Ren 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 Yu Ren 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 Yu Ren 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?" Yu Ren 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. Yu Ren 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?" Yu Ren blanked.

"Never tried it, huh? I've played it myself..." The butcher grinned and explained the rules of fight betting to Yu Ren.

Yu Ren 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."

Yu Ren said nothing, but his heart stirred all the same. From penniless to millionaire -- that was nothing short of a legend.

At the thought, Yu Ren 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, Yu Ren could not help but feel tempted. He probed cautiously: "Could I bet ten yuan?"

"Pfft!" At Yu Ren'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..." Yu Ren 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 Yu Ren in warning.

"Well... this Red Dragon, is he very strong?" Yu Ren 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!"

"Is that so..." Yu Ren was tempted, but still uneasy. "Nine gambles out of ten are swindles. In that case, wouldn't the owner of this fight ring lose himself to death?"

"Who knows. This sort of thing isn't fixed behind the scenes -- it's real blades and real guns out there, a fight to the death. You can't tell who's won until it's over, so even if the owner wanted to rig it, he'd have no way to, wouldn't he?" said the butcher.

"Oh..." Yu Ren was tempted, but still very cautious; he resolved to watch a little longer before deciding.

In the end, the outcome left Yu Ren rather dejected -- and rather eager. There was no suspense at all: Red Dragon won. He finished off his opponent in the ring in no time flat.

And what the young man and the butcher had said was true: the fight was indeed fought with real blades and real guns, for Red Dragon's opponent had had his head smashed apart by the man.

The bloody scene made Yu Ren's heart quail, yet he felt no great pity for the dead man either. In his view, anyone who came to fight in an underground ring ought to have foreseen such an outcome; that sort of man dying was simply dying -- what did it have to do with Yu Ren?

What left Yu Ren dejected was that he had not taken the young man's and the butcher's advice and placed a bet before the fight. If he had put ten thousand on Red Dragon too, wouldn't he have twenty thousand now? Watching the young man's five hundred thousand turn into a million in an instant, and the butcher's ten thousand into twenty thousand, Yu Ren was truly envious.

Such a fine chance at a fortune, and he had missed it. If he had bet ten thousand earlier... he would have made ten thousand -- more than half a year's income, right there.

Yet at this thought Yu Ren grew even more dejected, and could not help but pity himself. Yu Ren, oh Yu Ren, why couldn't you have been a little bolder? If you had bet five hundred thousand too, wouldn't you have a million by now?

But... at this, Yu Ren's dejection deepened another notch. Scraping together ten thousand was still barely within his reach, but five hundred thousand? That was a pipe dream -- he would have to sell his house for that. And his house was rented; it was not even his to sell.

A new round of betting began: once again Red Dragon, challenged by another unfamiliar fighter, "White Sheep."

Yu Ren wanted to bet now too. But he had not brought a single cent -- how was he to place a bet? The young man transferred his funds through the bank; the butcher bet in cash. But Yu Ren had brought no cash, and had never set up telephone banking transfers either. Even if he wanted to bet, there was no way to do it.

How he regretted it! If only he had brought ten thousand, even that would have done. How was it that he did not have a single cent?

Suddenly an important question occurred to him: had not the young man said that he had once been penniless, and had then become a millionaire? Could you bet without bringing money, then? At the thought, Yu Ren hurriedly asked the young man, "Young man, you said before that you had not a cent and still made a million? So where did your stake come from?"

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