Tiger King looked at Ye Qing and laughed heartily, "I've heard that a young man of formidable strength has recently arrived in Shenchuan City, but I've had no chance to meet him. Today, at first sight, I see his reputation is well-deserved. To achieve so much at such a young age is indeed remarkable. No wonder Boss Lin was beaten by you like a stray dog, Mr.
Ye, with your skills, how many people in Shenchuan City can be your match?"
As if not hearing Tiger King's flattering words, Ye Qing responded with a cold voice, "Where is my friend?"
"Your friend?" Tiger King smiled slightly, suddenly walked over to a huge curtain inside the room, and with a swift pull, said, "Are you referring to them?"
Behind the curtain was a huge glass wall. Behind the glass wall, there was a spacious room. And in that room, there were seventy or eighty people sprawled in all directions. Li Lianshan was among them, his body covered in blood, apparently severely wounded, lying on the ground, gasping for air. His followers beside him were in a similar state, each one battered and bloodied.
The color drained from Ye Qing's face. He ran to the glass wall, tapped the glass, and shouted, "Li! Li!"
The glass wall was soundproof, so Li Lianshan couldn't hear Ye Qing's voice, but he could hear the sound of Ye Qing tapping on the glass. Looking up and seeing Ye Qing, Li Lianshan struggled to show a slight smile, mouthed something, but Ye Qing couldn't make out what he was saying.
Tiger King stood by with a light smile, "Do you want me to translate that for you?"
Ye Qing said nothing, but Tiger King waved his hand, and a small window opened. A man poked his head out and said, "Li Lianshan says, 'Ye Zi, sorry, this is all I can do!'"
A twinge of pain struck Ye Qing's heart. He gestured to Li Lianshan to stop talking. Li Lianshan coughed a few times and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, then slowly sat up against the wall and said a few words.
"Li Lianshan says 'I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me!'" the man reported.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, the deep brotherly love, the loyalty is touching indeed!" Tiger King clapped his hands, "Previously I had no idea that Li Lianshan was such a man of honor. Interesting, truly interesting!"
Ye Qing nodded at Li Lianshan and then turned to look at Tiger King, his voice stern, "I'm already here, can you let them go now?"
"Not so fast, not so fast." Tiger King smiled lightly, "Mr. Ye, since you're here, we should first settle the account between us."
Ye Qing said in a deep voice, "I'm right here, kill me or carve me up as you please. This matter has nothing to do with them, let them go!"
"What talk of killing or carving, it's all so meaningless." Tiger King laughed, "Nowadays, we live in an economic society, where everything is about economics. How much money could killing you bring me? The account between us can actually be settled with money."
Ye Qing replied coldly, "I have no money!"
"No problem, if you don't have money, you can always work for me. Once you've earned enough, we can write off our grudge, and I can let these people go!" Tiger King suggested.
Ye Qing frowned, looking coldly at Tiger King, trying to guess what trick he was playing.
"Let's start by calculating our accounts..." Tiger King smiled, "Chen Qiang was not easy to place in the orphanage, primarily to facilitate dealings with the Beggar King. I got him into the orphanage and into the director's seat, which cost me about five million.
The orphanage can make about one million for me each year, and I should live at least sixty more years, that's sixty-five million right there!"
Ye Qing clenched his fists, his voice deep, "Sixty years? Do you think you'll live that long?"
"Fortune-tellers have told me I've got a long life ahead. Besides, I'm supposed to be wealthy throughout this life, so you needn't worry about me!" Tiger King answered with a smile. "But since you seem alright to me, I'll give you a discount. Let's call the orphanage debt sixty million, forget the change. How does that sound, fair enough?"
Ye Qing said coldly, "It doesn't matter how much you add up, I have no money!"
"As I said, you can work it off for me!" Tiger King responded, "Now let's talk about my cousin's debt. Although he's not my blood brother, we do share a surname and grew up together. You chopped off two of his legs and one hand, reducing him to a cripple; surely some medical expenses are due. I'm quite fair, a leg is worth ten million, and the hand as well, so that makes it thirty million.
How does that sound?"
Ye Qing just looked at him coldly, saying nothing. Tiger King was determined to calculate it that way; there was no point in saying anything.
"No words, so you agree then," Tiger King nodded, smiling, "So that makes it ninety million. Plus, to dig my cousin out of prison will cost at least another ten million or so. Adding it all up, that's a hundred million, quite a large sum!"
"Even if you demand a billion, it's useless, I don't have the money!" Ye Qing stated coldly.
"Don't be in a hurry," Tiger King said with a faint smile as he pulled open another curtain. He could see outside to the iron cage where a new fight was taking place.
In this underground boxing ring, there were no rules to the fighting; the matches were extremely bloody and terrifying. It was this bloodshed that excited the audience so excessively, causing them to shout loudly and clamor for the death of the fighters. To them, the people in the ring seemed no longer human, just fighting machines, and only death could escalate the excitement further.
"Look," Tiger King said, pointing at the audience outside, his voice laced with amusement. "No matter how society advances or how much civilization progresses, one thing will never change: the primal beast within humanity!"
Continuing with an air of arrogance, he declared, "Da Vinci said that humans evolved from animals."
"Eldest Brother, it was Darwin…" a subordinate whispered softly.
Tiger King glanced at him with a smile, then suddenly kicked him in the chest, sending the subordinate tumbling to the ground.
"Damn it, don't interrupt me when I'm speaking!" Tiger King barked angrily.
The other subordinates fell silent as if stricken by cold, and Tiger King gave Ye Qing a sidelong glance as he corrected himself, "I got it mixed up. It was Darwin who proposed evolution, and Da Vinci was the one who played the piano."
Ye Qing was silent for a moment before he said, "If you're uneducated, just admit it; no need to throw around big words!"
Tiger King, realizing his mistake and visibly embarrassed, replied seriously, "Anyway, the point is that I completely agree with the statement that humans evolved from animals. Humans will never be able to change their bloodthirsty nature, their combative character. From the ancient gladiators to modern boxing, which of those isn't a bloody sport? And yet, they're all so popular.
Because a fighting spirit is inherent in people's bones and it can't be changed!"
As Tiger King spoke, he pointed at the audience outside, "Here, I give them a place to vent to their heart's content. This is the largest fighting venue in the entire Eastern Province. This biannual tournament is when my venue makes the most money. On a night , I once made up to fifty million!"
Ye Qing furrowed his brows; he hadn't expected that a dog field could generate such huge revenues—it was beyond his expectations.
"Look at these people you see here, these ones sitting in the audience. They may seem like low-life riffraff, but did you know that each of them is worth over ten million?" Tiger King said pridefully, giving Ye Qing a glance. "For an event tonight, to enter this spectator area, you need to bring at least one million in cash.
There are over four hundred spectators here; in other words, just from these people's cash flow, it's already over forty million!"
After finishing his explanation, Tiger King pointed above and continued, "As for the private VIP rooms upstairs, you need at least three million in cash to get in. And the top floor's Supreme VIP room requires a minimum of ten million in cash. In other words, this building tonight will have at least three hundred million in cash!"
Ye Qing's expression shifted subtly; the revenue from this dog field was truly terrifying.
"That's why I'm saying, it's best not to call the cops. Besides, calling them won't do any good!" Tiger King sneered, "Anyone who can sit in the private VIP rooms upstairs is either rich or noble. Just one of them could scare off the cops you brought. Not to mention the people upstairs, even those in this basement here—the cops you could bring wouldn't intimidate them!"
Ye Qing's brows knitted tightly as he spoke in a deep voice, "What exactly do you want me to do?"
"Make money for me!" Tiger King pointed to the iron cage outside, grinning. "What you have to do is simple—just go in there and fight for me."
Ye Qing looked at the two people fighting desperately inside the cage, his frown deepening as he asked in a low voice, "What if I don't go in?"
"I knew you'd ask that…" Tiger King said with a slight smile, lightly clapping his hands. A subordinate promptly turned on the TV on the wall.
The TV displayed three images, each showing a luxurious room. Fang Tingyun and Mo Xiang were sitting in two of them, both women wearing looks of horror, shivering as they surveyed their surroundings. In the third room was Broom Star. He was quite calm, sitting cross-legged on a couch with a tranquil expression, as if he wasn't in enemy territory but in his own home.
Tiger King gestured, "Switch it."
The subordinate immediately changed the feed, switching to three different cameras. This time, three other rooms appeared, each filled with over a dozen robust men wearing skimpy clothes, their muscles bulging. Their faces were flushed red, their lower parts swollen to the extreme, resembling male dogs in heat, eyes brimming with intense desire.
"What are you trying to do?" Ye Qing's face turned icy as he demanded.
"These are all strong men. Unfortunately, while preparing dinner, the chef accidentally used an aphrodisiac as seasoning in their food.
Now, these men are desperate to relieve themselves, and, very inconveniently, they happen to be right next door to the two girls' rooms." Tiger King said with a light smile, pointing to a door on the screen, "Just open that door, and they will be able to, see your two beautiful friends."