Translator: Larbre Studio
Editor: Larbre Studio
As the person speaking entered, the crowds made way for him.
It was a young man in his twenties wearing a leather jacket. Tall but baby-faced, he looked like he was still in school.
Huashan Jiu leaned back in his seat and hollered, “Red Ghost, you scared me. Now that we’ve fallen out with Wu, we can’t even watch Liansheng and his people fight, and we have to get chased out from Kowloon? How rude.”
The young man referred to as Red Ghost walked over to him and said with a cigarette in his mouth, “Whatever happened between Liansheng and Mr Wu has nothing to do with people like us who make a living off the fighting ring. But now you’re using my ring like it’s a chicken coop – getting in and out whenever you want – aren’t you breaking our rules? Are we just going to let anyone into the ring? How do we earn from bets doing that?”
Huashan Jiu let out a growl and pointed to Li Yan in the ring.
“I’m going to be real direct about it, man. I’m sure you’ve heard Zhou had been looking to fight a master of the Eight Trigram Fist. I’m not here to look for trouble, I’m just afraid that your people won’t want to see me after I leave. To be fair, Wu and the Grand Duke are both members of the Kowloon fighting association. There’s no way I can avoid them here. I get that you don’t want to mess with me, but I never wanted to break the rules here. I just wanted to let my man spar with yours. If you can’t agree to that, then let’s talk it out.”
Red Ghost crossed his arms and shook his head slowly. He retorted, “Rules are rules. I could care less about the other things. But today, you’re causing trouble by putting your man in my ring.”
Huashan Jiu scoffed, “Ok then, there’s not much left to say…”
“Jiu!” Zhou exclaimed as he jumped out of the ring, halting Huashan Jiu in his steps. He turned to Red Ghost and said, “When you asked when I started following a Kowloon leader, were you saying that if I follow the rules here, I could fight him?”
Red Ghost shut his eyes for a moment.
“If so, you would have to start from the beginning. If the board decides that you’re of his caliber and that there could potentially be large bets, then it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Alright, then I shall start from the beginning.”
Red Ghost nodded and looked at Huashan Jiu nonchalantly.
“What do you think?”
Huashan Jiu was visibly displeased but did not utter a word.
Zhou walked up to Huashan Jiu and called out to him again, “Jiu.”
Huashan Jiu side-eyed him and said, “What boss wouldn’t look out for his own men?”
Zhou smiled bashfully.
“Jiu, I’ll take care of this.”
Huashan Jiu mumbled something below his breath, probably cursing.
“Let’s go.”
As Huashan Jiu stood up from his seat, nearly fifty men followed suit and headed out. Some of them even tried to provoke Red Ghost, who was unbothered and ignored their stares.
Before he left, Zhou walked up to Li Yan.
“Masler Li, there aren’t many people who practice traditional martial arts here. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t spar today. Please wait for me to secure my status here, and then we can fight for real.”
Li Yan nodded and replied, “Master Zhou, your man, Jiu, spoke of a $50,000 bet. Does it still count?”
Zhou was stumped for a moment before he nodded, “Of course…”
“You’ve received five Yanfu points. Your purchasing limit has now been expanded (0/1).”
“Your purchase limit is as follows:
[A Strong Impression]
Type: Skill
Quality: Regular
Able to obtain one’s personal message and guaranteed to find their weakness.
You can use this skill directly, but for every message obtained, one point will be incurred. Alternatively, buy this skill with 10 points and use it as you wish after the purchase.
[Es Hematopoietic Stem Cell Booster]
Type: Perishable
Quality: Pristine
Origin: Big Ben Research Laboratories
Extremely effective in healing damages to the body caused by blood disorders. Could also be used to improve the quality of the user’s blood and, in rare cases, a normal person could gain a new skill: Blood Cell Activation.
Mo Tapir’s comment: Even though it can’t cure the disease, it can alleviate the pain temporarily so that it will not affect your fighting performance.
You can purchase it with 10 points.
[ES Hematopoietic Stem Cell Repair]
Type: Perishable
Quality: Rare!
Origin: Big Ben Research Laboratories
Extremely effective in healing damages to the body caused by blood disorders. Could also be used to improve the quality of the user’s blood. A normal person would gain a new skill: Blood Cell Activation.
You can purchase this with 300 points.
Please take note that the increased purchasing limit gifted by Mo Tapir can only be activated once for each Yanfu case and would disappear after three cases.
Mo Tapir’s comment: Newbie, I think I’m generous enough.
After he had finished reading the message, Li Yan was hit with a wave of joy.
ES HSC Repair!
This was what that big guy had promised – something that could treat his illness.
Now all he had to do was to gain enough Yanfu points!
Li Yan finally started to seriously consider what it meant to confirm the ownership. This decided the way Li Yan would choose to earn his money. Plus, there were way too many ways to earn quick money in this world.
Li Yan sat in the corner in a slight daze as he contemplated. He saw someone walking towards him and looking down at him.
It was Red Ghost.
“You’re Li Yan right? How long have you been in Hong Kong?”
Li Yan looked up and rubbed his eyes purposefully.
“Just recently.”
The youth referred to as Red Ghost crouched down and said, “If you follow me, and fight under me – money, women, you could have it all. Do you understand?”
Li Yan nodded nonchalantly.
Red Ghost flashed a slight smile and replied, “Follow me.”
He turned and walked upstairs. Li Yan stood up in silence, silently observing the kind-looking man with an ill-reputed name in front of him.
Before he could think, a momentary wave of black flooded his eyes as Li Yan stared at Red Ghost.
“You have received some messages. One point is required to view the message. Would you like to view them?”
Li Yan contemplated for a moment but decided against checking the message about Red Ghost. He proceeded to follow him upstairs.
They walked up to the rooftop one after another. There were messy cables strewn around the roof of the concrete building, making it hard to find standing space.
Standing there, all he saw were shaky, tall buildings; they were shabby, worn, and cluttered, but at the same time bustling, magnificent, and alive.
“Kowloon might sound like a scary place, but it’s really not bad here. I’ll take you out for a dog meat hotpot when time permits. It will blow your mind,” Red Ghost said matter-of-factly.
“Kowloon is a famous enclave. No one cares about us anyway. An unimaginable number of wanted criminals from Malaysia, Macau, and Taiwan escape to Kowloon every year. Some join gangs, but for the most part, they end up in the Kowloon rings like you.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “Ninety percent of the cocaine in Hong Kong comes from Kowloon. Over half of the people here have done drugs, own weapons, smuggled, cheated…This place is filled with gambling dens, brothels, and gangs like Liansheng, 14K, Hongyian rule the streets.”
He raised a finger.
“However, if the board members of Kowloon don’t allow it, no one dares to cause trouble. If they say something, not a single gang member dares to utter otherwise. They are even stronger than the police here, you see.”
Red Ghost babbled on without expecting an answer from Li Yan, “You are fighting here to make a living at the mercy of the Grand Duke, one of the executive members of the Kowloon association. He’s behind every operation in this city. I’ve heard about you from Fat Bo. You just went all out today. Even Fat Bo thought he made a mistake getting you.”
“I recently arrived and am still adjusting. I only just recovered from a serious illness.”
Red Ghost nodded without doubting him or pressing further. He lit a cigarette and then diverted the conversation, “The Grand Duke likes those kids with a strong fist. You have a bright future ahead.”
Li Yan stared at the worn and shabby blocks of buildings and asked indifferently, “Red Ghost, I heard them say that I fought in the fourth round. How much more would I get if I advance?”
Red Ghost sniffed a little, then replied, “For the fourth round, the ring is pretty small. Only the workers who have already gotten off from work will watch those matches. You get five thousand HKD when you win a match and a thousand if you lose. The first five rounds are open everyday. As long as someone wants you up there, you get paid. From the sixth round onwards though, they are only open three or four times per week. Not many fighters compete at that level. Winning would get you thirty thousand, and if you lose, you still get five thousand. If those betting are willing to pay, there can be other types of fights that include weapons, cages, etcetera. You could totally earn tens of thousands in a night, but death is common.”
Though Red Ghost only gave a vague description, Li Yan could already imagine two people in the ring, armed with knives, blood spilling everywhere and the audiences screaming crazily…
Thinking about it sent shivers down his spine.