“Aren’t you going to eat me up? That’s all you’ve got? Hergh!” Qin Feng threw another sock.
Bish!
Bash! Punch!!!
Half of Black Psycho’s face became swollen.
The audience roared and cheered, delighted to see the unexpected turn of events.
[Wow! Patron number 182 has tipped 100,000 to Mad Fox. Let’s see what he has to say? Haha! This must be a female patron. She said: to keep Mad Fox out of the ring – she is willing to look after this handsome young man!]
More and more people were cheering on Qin Feng’s behalf.
Maybe it was because of his swollen face, or because of the humiliation, that Black Psycho roared in anger, “Die, kid!”
He raised a leg attempting to kick Qin Feng, and at the same time, a knife tip appeared on his shoe. If Qin Feng did not dodge this kick, the blade would have surely pierced his chest, and he would meet his untimely end. The shoe Qin Feng was wearing were Eagle Clubhouse standard issue, but it did not have this mechanism. Black Psycho’s shoes were exactly the same, so it meant that they were a modified pair.
There was obviously foul-play in the workings.
But in underground fights, there was no such thing as playing dirty. There was only victory, only one’s survival at play. The loser was doomed to certain death!
Qin Feng sniggered, forming a claw with his hands and grappled onto Black Psycho’s calf!
Crack!
Qin Feng crossed his hands and broke his opponent’s calf!
Before Black Psycho could even make a sound, Qin Feng pushed upwards so forcefully that the already garishly bent calves now turned towards Black Psycho’s forehead!
“Arrrghhh!”
His own pointed blade punctured his skull before Black Psycho’s eyes flickered. Then, all the strength in his body left him, and he stopped struggling.
Plop!
Qin Feng gave his victim one last gentle shove, and Black Psycho collapsed like jelly onto the ground.
Fresh, warm, blood dripped out, dyeing the rims of Black Psycho’s lifeless eyes.
For a brief minute, the whole arena went completely still, the audience coming to grips with the sudden events. Only when Black Psycho’s face was plastered on the big screens did they react with an explosive thunder of applause and hurrahs!
Had this event taken place in some other arena, the entire crowd would have been scared to death. But in this very location, the spectators were only more fired up.
The adrenaline and appalling taste of death only had them shouting for more! Qin Feng’s payoff was growing by the minute.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bell rang, and the referee declared Qin Feng winner.
The voice of the emcee echoed over the loudspeaker.
[Let us congratulate Mad Fox. His valiant might has caused us to see him in a whole new light! But Black Psycho was too careless in that battle, for speed is clearly Mad Fox’s area of expertise. This was how he was able to dodge Black Psycho’s advances and claim the victory! Mad Fox has denied Black Psycho the chance to demonstrate his caliber!]
The emcee’s words stirred and agitated the spectator’s brain cells. Truth be told, while Qin Feng was fast, he was not weak either. How else did he manage to mutilate Black Psycho’s legs?
However, the emcee’s job was to highlight weaknesses and eschew strength attempting to sway the audience from making the right judgments – a crafty method for Eagle Clubhouse to rake in huge profits at the expense of the patrons.
A large number of people agreed with the emcee: Qin Feng’s slimmer physique naturally made him much more agile; his victory in this battle was unsurprising!
“I should’ve placed my bet on Mad Fox!”
“Let’s give it another go. We’ll see if the opponent is stronger this time!”
“It’s probably nothing too impressive… it’s only the second round!”
Sure enough, the competitors for the second battle were almost similar to Black Psycho, neither weak nor strong. Qin Feng had only sparred with his opponent briefly before defeating him. He did not kill this rival, but he absorbed his internal force instead, basically the equivalent of crippling this person.
In the third and fourth battles, Qin Feng won them both, each fight lasting no more than ten minutes.
His score was moving upwards, and the wagers were increasing. Qin Feng, on the contrary, looked as relaxed as ever.
The spectators’ confidence in him automatically grew, as if believing that Qin Feng would surely win all five battles today.
Backstage, in a lavishly decorated office, sat a young man in his late twenties enjoying fine wine with a scantily dressed woman in his arms. She diligently plucked grapes and fed him with her mouth.
This was the person in charge and the general manager of Eagle Clubhouse, Jiang Shaoyang.
He was F7-tier, one of the top elects of Beicheng.
“This kid’s not bad. We can keep him for one day. Tell the people to arrange for a more skillful candidate. Make this a handicapped match!” Jiang Shaoyang ordered.
The emcee and the referee, both wearing an earpiece, each heard their boss’ instruction.
It was a brilliant move indeed. If there were five consecutive victories, they would lose the audience’s interest.
The people loved this comeback feeling.
But then again, the purpose of setting up Qin Feng against a powerful competitor was to ensure Eagle Clubhouse did not make any losses.
Spectators would naturally wager on the more intimidating candidate, the challenger. Only the few people who liked upsets would choose to place their bets on the defender.
Ruthless Tiger was an obvious example.
As the setup was happening, Qin Feng raised his hand, indicating to the referee that he wanted to speak.
“What is it?” The referee asked.
“I’d like to challenge a certain someone – that guy Arm Breaker from the fight earlier tonight!” Qin Feng said.
The referee was taken aback for a second, then nodded after. “I know. But that green light from me would have to depend on the higher authorities!”
“Alright!” Qin Feng then returned to his seat to rest up. There was actually no need for that since all of the four candidates he defeated were only G4-tier. Qin Feng knew that Arm Breaker was around G6-tier. His inner force was pretty good, and if all went well, he should be able to absorb some of it!
…
Backstage, Jiang Shaoyang’s smile grew cold.
He would get uncomfortable with situations that were out of his control, even more so when his subordinates made unauthorized decisions!
Qin Feng’s request had troubled Jiang Shaoyang, somehow striking the superior’s nerve!
“Since he’s so foolhardy, we’ll grant him what he desires. Remember to raise his stakes, and prompt the people to wager on him!”
The people listening silently on the other end nodded obediently.
…
Five minutes later, the emcee spoke again.
[Wow! I’ve just received some news – Mad Fox has requested to challenge Arm Breaker! This is entirely unexpected! I wonder who gave Mad Fox the confidence to challenge one of the greatest nemesis known to man?! Didn’t he watch how the match ended between Ruthless Tiger and Arm Breaker just now?]
The audience hooted and laughed at the artsy commentator. A few even mocked and cursed at Qin Feng, encouraged by the pundit’s jeers.
“You want to challenge Arm Breaker? Are you insane?”
“Hell, there’s no doubt about it! Arm Breaker will win for sure!”
“Retard! What a waste of time!”
“Let’s stay and watch Arm Breaker bunch him into a ball!”
The crowd was rowdy, with none of them supporting Qin Feng.
[All-right! Is Mad Fox going to avenge Ruthless Tiger? Could this be a claim of vengeance? Let’s take a look at the odds for these two candidates!]
The figures flashed onto the screen.
Qin Feng’s odds were sky-high, 1:8, while Arm Breaker’s was 5:6.
It increasingly looked like an axiomatic fight was about to take place.
However, the emcee was beating the drum for Qin Feng, alluding to the innuendo that there may be another surprise victory for this round. Thanks to the practiced tongue of the company man, many eventually fell for it.
When those who bet on Arm Breaker saw that the winnings were meager, the number of bets too, declined sharply.