"There's two and a half million in here. You'll get the other two and a half million after the fight's over."
Victor Yu took a bank card out of his pocket and handed it to Evan Lin.
Students streamed past the school gate, glancing at Evan Lin standing with Victor Yu and at the cold, glossy black Mercedes S600. Their eyes were full of shock and doubt.
For as long as anyone could remember, Evan Lin was just the poor kid from a county under Brightsea, at least according to the rumors floating around Brightsea No. 2 High School. Even after he crushed Ethan Yi on the soccer field, most students still saw him that way.
After all, compared to soccer skills, a good family background is what really earns respect around here.
But now, seeing that Mercedes S600 and Victor Yu’s cold, intimidating presence, a lot of No. 2 High students suddenly snapped awake—maybe all those stories about Evan Lin being dirt-poor were just fake news!
Evan Lin took the bank card from Victor Yu.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow. The fight's at night." Victor Yu glanced at Evan Lin a few times.
"Alright."
Evan Lin nodded. He wasn’t bothered about the fight at all—he just hoped he might finally meet a real master and trade a few serious blows.
But honestly, he didn’t have high hopes.
The next afternoon after school, Evan Lin walked out the gate—Victor Yu was already waiting for him.
He got in the car and sat in the back. Victor Yu spoke slowly: "The guy with eleven straight wins at Grand Fist Gym is nicknamed Tiger. He’s from River City. Every fight, he crippled one of our fighters—nine left disabled, two beaten to death right on the stage."
"Your match tonight will be the last one—the main event. I want you to take care of him." Victor Yu’s eyes flickered; clearly, this Tiger guy had brought him plenty of trouble.
In fact, Victor Yu had considered other ways to get rid of Tiger, but everyone he sent out never came back.
On top of that, Victor Yu had found out Tiger was backed by the Lewis family—which made things even trickier.
"The Lewis family’s been quiet these days. That’s never a good sign. You tossed Leo Lewis off the eighteenth floor—I doubt they’ll just let it go." Victor Yu seemed to remember something and looked at Evan Lin as he spoke.
"Mm." Evan Lin just made a soft sound, not interested in all this messy drama.
If the Lewis family really dared to make a move, Evan Lin wouldn’t mind wiping them out too.
"Where are we headed now? We’re already out of Brightsea."
Outside the window, the cityscape kept retreating, and the surroundings grew increasingly desolate.
Evan Lin spoke calmly.
"The Grand Fist Gym is underground in the outskirts of Brightsea. After all, this kind of business can't be run in the open."
Soon, the car pulled into an open area and stopped.
Ahead was an abandoned factory, surrounded by cement walls.
Evan followed Victor Yu inside. It was still early, and plenty of cars were parked around. Inside the factory was a freight elevator.
They took the elevator down. When the doors opened again, a corridor appeared, its walls painted gray-white. Ahead lay a wide hall.
This was Brightsea City's main underground black boxing market, and Imperial Grand's biggest cash cow. The stands were packed with people.
Well-dressed gentlemen in gold-rimmed glasses sat in the seats—normally high-flying white-collar elites, but now their eyes burned with excitement and frenzy. The darkness they hid under the sun was laid bare here.
Most of the rich men here had a seductive woman on their arm, hands roaming freely. The women twisted their snake-like waists in sync, eyes shining and occasionally letting out soft moans.
This was a den of vice. Aside from the upper-class thrill-seekers, the rest were gold-hunting gamblers and repeat-offender street scum.
Evan glanced around. The hall was ringed with stands, and in the center stood a raised ring.
"Let’s sit over there."
Victor Yu led Evan to a front-row VIP box, separated from the rest. They sat down.
Four sofas filled the space, but two were already occupied when Evan and Victor arrived.
Boss Long and Henry Sheng.
Henry Sheng had been plotting how to win business from Boss Long for days. He’d planned to take Boss Long out to dinner, but Boss Long suddenly invited him to Imperial Grand’s underground gym, saying tonight’s fight would be spectacular.
Henry had trained in martial arts himself, and used to drop by here alone for fun, so he gladly agreed.
But once they arrived, Boss Long said they had to wait for someone, so Henry just sat and kept him company.
Just as Henry wondered who Boss Long was waiting for, he saw Evan walk in with Victor Yu.
"You?" Henry blinked, but quickly caught himself and swallowed the rest of his words.
"Uncle Sheng." Evan nodded to Henry, then gave Boss Long a cool glance.
Boss Long shrank back when Evan looked at him, swallowing nervously.
Boss Long had invited Henry Sheng mainly because Henry claimed to know Evan Lin. Boss Long was worried Evan might beat him up again, so having Henry around was a safety net.
"How come you’re here?" Henry asked, surprise and doubt in his eyes. He hadn’t expected to run into Evan in a place like this.
Back at the Crescent Grand Hotel, running into Evan had already shocked Henry. Later, when he heard the hotel had been burned down, he’d worried Evan might’ve been hurt and even asked Lucy Lu about it.
Now seeing Evan here again, Henry couldn’t help but be surprised.
Anyone who could get into this underground gym was no ordinary person.
"Just here for fun." Evan picked a sofa and sat down, then glanced at Victor Yu and said, "Get me a glass of water."
"Sure." Victor nodded and signaled a waiter, who quickly brought over a bottle of water and handed it to Evan.
The scene looked strange to Henry. He knew Victor Yu, and Victor was usually hard to approach and even harder to read.
But Evan had just asked Victor for water, and Victor wasn’t even annoyed?
Henry stared at Evan, realizing this kid was getting harder and harder to figure out.
But what was Evan doing here, anyway?
End of chapter.