Frys, the developed country of the Vians, is a country famous for its tourism, and its territory is long and narrow from west to east. On the eastern coast, there are a considerable number of bathing beaches, as well as a tidal landscape called "Evil Wave". Most of the tourists who come to this country come for this attraction.

Only a few, or rather a few tycoons, will enter the western part of Fleiss. It was inland, with little rain, a large desert and a few isolated cities.

In August of the 136th year of the new era, it was the height of summer. Under the blazing sun, large trucks escorting slaves drove into Moganling. It is located in the southern part of the desert and north of Larvega, the famous "gambling city" of Fleis. As far as the eye can see, most of the sand dunes are in sight.

As soon as the car stopped, the slaves, driven by the overseers, reluctantly got out of the car, including the 16-year-old Kane. He and his co-workers are destined for an oasis on the edge of the desert where a building is under construction.

This is the eighth project that Kane has participated in. He was Edward's slave until he was 10 years old. This man is kind on the outside, but cold on the inside, and never treats slaves as human beings, and it is not superfluous to give them food. Because there are such "things", it doesn't matter how many die. With this in mind, Kane's work is never without challenges.

When he gets up, his first job is usually to feed — to feed a dozen vicious dogs around the mansion on his own. The dogs were used to watch the home, they were aggressive, and in their eyes Kane was the meal. Edward likes free-range, and Kane has to find a way to escape from the dog's mouth every time, provided that the dog food is delivered.

This is followed by ten hours of continuous physical labor. In addition to the gardens, there are also large private fields of Edward. More than 300 slaves worked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to maintain the daily operations of the entire private domain. The slave had to complete the daily ration of his work, or else he would have to continue his work the next day with the scars left by the whip.

Even more difficult than these should be to accompany Edward and his guests on the hunt. Kane plays as a decoy, especially effective against hungry beasts, and holds on until the gun goes off to win. It's just that the timing of the gunfire is not fixed, it depends on the mood of Edward and the guests, and they always find it more interesting to watch Kane escape, so there will be times when they forget to shoot.

During his four years in Edward's house, Kane's slaves changed one after another. Exhausted, beaten, bitten to death, a third of the slaves died in four years, and the total is still so much. But no matter how dangerous and painful it was, Kane persevered and survived, much to Edward's astonishment. He occasionally rewarded Kane with a bowl of rice and two dishes, which was much more hearty than usual.

After spending four years in torment, Edward made good on his original promise and sold Kane to his friend, the slave owner Hasta. Because of Edward's "careful care", Kane's endurance is tenacious and strong-willed, far from being like a ten-year-old child. So Edward sold it for a good price, and Hasta also felt that it was very profitable. He had more than 400 slaves under his command, but Kane was the first one.

With a change of owner, it was no different for Kane than before. Now he has long learned to endure everything. You can do any dirty work, and you can take any danger. He had only one goal: freedom. For this, it is necessary to live. This is the instinct of life, the motivation for Kane to endure all kinds of injustices. He firmly believes that as long as he lives, one day, he will regain his freedom.

Therefore, although Hasta's work is far more difficult and intense than Edward's, Kane still does not say a word, gritting his teeth and silently completing what needs to be done.

For six years, he had been in a black coal kiln and was the sole survivor of the collapse. He participated in the excavation of the tunnel, and when the tunnel collapsed, he was trapped in it, and relied on the rainwater seeping from the stone cracks for two days, digging a way to save himself with his bare hands. He also built a shipyard with other slave workers, and was attacked by the mafia when he was halfway through. The construction site turned into a battlefield, and he was shot twice, but he escaped from the hail of bullets.

Hasta is always amazed at this near-miraculous survival. Perhaps the last mercy of human nature, Hasta occasionally took care of Kane, such as improving the quality of his food, helping him treat him when he was injured, or finding someone to give him a bath, which is Kane's prerogative. Of course, the purpose of this is to make Kane appreciate in order to reach a new standard.

A higher standard.

*****

This time, the slaves were tasked with helping to build the main building of a hotel, which would provide a good place for the rich and wealthy tycoons to bathe in the desert sun in the future. Before you ask? Of course there were, and it existed until two months ago. The two underworld forces of Larvega are presided over by the mayor, and after this covenant, they are now in ruins in the desert.

The first step in building a house is to lay the foundation, and in today's era of mechanized construction, it is preferred to use manual work, from laying the foundation to the final completion, most of which is done by hand. Hasta calls it "artisanal building", which is a means to win more money.

Kane is part of the foundation construction team. Before the start of construction, it is necessary to determine the geology and select the part suitable for excavation. Although there was also mechanical work, there were more than 300 slaves on the site. The overseers are constantly on patrol, ready to use their whips to deal with those who try to be lazy. Those who had the delusion of escaping were killed by the police from Larvega around the construction site.

As soon as the day dawned, the feeling of heat and baking came over me. After the work was assigned, the slaves hung their heads and went to their respective posts with their tools in hand. They've been working for a week, and it's hard to cope with the scorching sun, let alone work in it. The overseers followed the slaves into the construction site, and their mouths were no less grumbling than the slaves.

When they were working, the slaves often tried to find a way to desert, after all, the number of overseers was limited, and they would not take care of everything. They cover each other's news, fighting for all the time they can to catch their breath, so the overseers have no shortage of work at all. It was only half an hour before the whip went off.

"Get up! You shit! ”

An overseer smacks a fallen slave hard. This slave was unwell yesterday from heat stroke, and he didn't eat well at dinner, and he didn't recover today, and he collapsed after working for a while.

"Please, let him drink some water and get some rest." The other slave pleaded.

"Drink water? All right! The overseer waved his hand, and two policemen immediately ran. Get these two guys away and let them drink enough! ”

The intercession slave then realizes that he is nosy, but it is too late, and he and the dehydrated slave are dragged away without saying a word.

Kane saw it all, and he knew what the overseer meant - the two slaves would be dragged to the toilet and then urinated for more than 20 minutes or until they passed out.

This was one of the ways Hasta had figured out how to punish him, and he had publicly boasted that it was "much gentler than other slave owners", which made the slaves sick for a while, but Kane did not react. In his opinion, Hasta did not tell a lie.

So, until the two slaves disappeared from view, Kane just glanced at it and went back to work. Next to him was a slave, taller and older than him, named Mark. The relationship with Kane is good. Looking at the slaves who were dragged away, Mark shook his head and sighed.

"I was caught 'drinking water', those two guys are miserable enough."

"Why do you care so much? Let's get to work. ”

"Don't say that, now is the right opportunity." Mark saw the overseer walking away, and there were no other overseers nearby, "You can help me take a look in a moment, I'll rest." ”

"Okay."

After answering, Kane buried himself in the hard work, and Mark looked around, threw the shovel to the ground, and sat down on the wooden shovel handle, saving his ass from being roasted.

The departing overseer hasn't returned yet, and presumably caught other lazy slaves. Kane concentrated on digging the pit, his hands seemed to have endless strength. The more he dug down, the harder it became, he simply took off his shabby cloth clothes, dug for more than ten minutes in one go, and then stopped slightly, wiped his face with his hands to wipe his sweat, and forgot about the sentry.

The sun was shining to its fullest, there was no shelter on the construction site, the slaves were sunbathing, and some began to dehydrate. Kane crawled out of the pit and saw someone not far away lying on the ground and being whipped.

"The one over there, get up!"

After beating the fallen slave, the overseer turned his head to see the lazy Mark. Mark was frightened and quickly got up, but the overseer had already strode over with the police.

"Don't pretend! How dare you sit down and rest! The overseer shouted.

"Yes, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! ”

Mark almost fell to his knees and kept apologizing. The overseer's whip had been swung down, and there was a snap.

"Kay, Kane?"

In a daze, Mark looked at Kane, who was standing in front of him, and the whip was whipped on Kane's chest.

"What are you doing?" The Overseer pointed at Kane and said loudly.

"I'm guarding for him, if you want to smoke me, smoke me." Kane said calmly.

"Really? All right. ”

The Overseer smirked, raised his whip, and whipped a two-person package at Kane, snapping. There's a reason he's so motivated - all the overseers know Kane is a nice punching bag.

The whip went down, leaving countless blood marks all over Kane's body, and it hurt like fire under the scorching sun. Kane shook his eyebrows and said nothing. The overseer had a good time and left satisfied. Shocked, Mark looked at the overseer, and then at Kane, who was scarred and crouched on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Kane."

"It's okay, I didn't do what I promised you."

*****

Five hours had passed, the overseers had given permission to rest, and the slaves had temporarily finished their work and returned to the shack area near the site—temporary shelters made of wooden planks, which formed a square courtyard surrounded by wooden houses. Many slaves could not go back alone, so they had to find someone to support them.

Kane also carried his shovel to the shed. He was a little overheated, but he was able to hold on. Followed by Mark, who took a few steps to prop himself up with a shovel.

"I'm convinced, Kane, after a morning of work and a whip for me, I can still walk normally."

"It's okay."

The first thing he did when he returned to the shed was that Mark was lying on the wooden bed panting, while Kane washed his face with water, soaked his whole body with water, endured the pain around him, completely comforted, and then came back to life full of blood. This is also a place where Kane's physical strength is amazing, no matter how tired he is, as long as he can still stand and clean up a little, he will recover immediately. This is probably due to years of inhuman treatment, which is ironic.

The break lasted two hours, lunch was brought by several vans, and the slaves ate in the courtyard. After eating, most of them had nothing to do, so they gathered together to gossip. Kane never joined them, going back to the house and resting on his wooden bed.

"Tell us a little bit more about you, Mark."

A group of slaves surrounded Mark in the middle and listened to him boast as usual. Mark is a well-spoken man and is quite famous among his co-workers. He stepped on a wooden box, his mouth full of spittle, and he was telling the story of how he escaped from a group of creditors.

Kane ignored Mark, he knew what had happened to Mark, and he knew the true version of what Mark was blowing about - this was what Mark himself told him.

Mark is a gangster in his hometown, usually borrowing money from gambling everywhere, and when he loses it all, he tries to hide it or run away. Three years ago, he cheated other people's money again, and he expected to dodge with his flamboyant tongue skills as before, but he didn't expect to run into an arrogant master. The other party did not listen to him, and found someone to beat him violently, and he lost consciousness and was thrown into the car, becoming a bargain between creditors and traffickers, and worked here for three years as a laborer.

In the courtyard, Mark got into the groove as he spoke, and was talking about the high^ tide when he was interrupted by the sound of a car honking. There was an off-road vehicle driving into the yard, and the slaves gathered around, it was Hasta's car, and he appeared at this time, there must be something.

Kane opened his eyes and looked at the crowd. The car was only ten meters away from his shed, and he didn't bother to listen, anyway, it was all about work, just go back and ask others.

"Everyone told each other that before the start of work in the afternoon, they would gather on the high platform north of the construction site and announce something!"

Hasta, who got out of the car, only left this sentence and returned to the car. The buggy drove away with a screeching horn, and the slaves returned to their respective positions and continued to chat. Mark stood at the door of the shed, shouting at Kane.

"Kane, before the start of work in the afternoon, the old thing asked us to go to the high platform to gather, there is something wrong."

The old thing was a private disdain for Hasta by the slaves, even though he was only 35 years old.

"I listened."

Kane agreed, and was silent. Mark shook his head, feeling that it was not interesting to talk to Kane, and went back to the courtyard to continue his speech.

In fact, although Kane was lying on the bed, motionless, just now, there was a shock in his heart. He couldn't describe the feeling. Just as Hasta opened the door, there seemed to be something coming from the car, not like a human, closer to a beast. This feeling gave him a chill that he had never felt before.

Distraught, Kane struggled not to think about it, rolled over and took a nap.

*****

To the north of the site, there is a raised platform made of cement, which was originally used for the groundbreaking ceremony and is now dedicated to the Hasta speech. Before work began at two o'clock in the afternoon, the slaves gathered here. Wearing a peaked cap, Hasta walked up to the high platform under the protection of four bodyguards, holding a megaphone.

Behind Hasta, there was a man standing, Kane couldn't see him clearly, but he was unusually sure that this was the "beast" in Hasta's car, because he shivered again. This time, he felt the breath clearly, the breath that erupted from the nostrils and mouth of the hungry beast.

Holding a megaphone, Hasta looked at the crowd below, and smiled a little strangely.

"I have called you today to announce something. Next, everyone will be given a fair chance, a chance to leave here and regain their freedom. ”

As soon as these words came out, the crowd immediately stirred. The noise drowned out Hasta's words, and he drew his pistol and fired a shot into the air, and the crowd quickly fell silent. Hasta cleared his throat and continued his speech.

"Everyone knows that nearby Larvega is a famous gambling city, where everything is gambled."

When he said this, he deliberately paused, wanting to give everyone a dismount.

"Including human life."

It's a pity that his self-righteous presentation skills failed, and there was no reaction at the bottom. Hasta is not discouraged, and the words that follow will definitely impress these people.

"In two months, Larvega will hold its annual gladiator tournament! One of the deathmatch matches can also be participated in by slaves! Whoever wins the championship can leave here and go where you want! Now, are there any volunteers!? Come forward! ”

This means, freedom. Is there anything more important and desirable for a slave than freedom? As soon as the recruitment order was issued, about 20 people walked out of the line and stood in front. These people have one thing in common: they are working in Larvega for the first time. The rest of the people stood still.

Kane was drawn to Hasta's words, and a rare opportunity was imminent. I was able to go out, I was free. He took a deep breath to help himself make up his mind, and just took a step, he was grabbed by Mark.

"What for?"

"Understand, Kane, do you think it's that simple?" Mark put on a rare serious look and warned him. "This is my second time in Larvega, and I've played like this before. Do you know? It's a deathmatch! ”

"So what?"

"In a match, one side must die for the other to win, and if there is no winner within the specified time, both sides will be executed! A champion is the one who survives to the end, but that person can never be a slave! We slaves are just cannon fodder! ”

"How do you know?"

"Trust me, Kane. You just helped me, I won't lie to you! ”

If you think about it, Mark has a point. He's definitely seen such a selection, or watched the competition. Kane had also heard of the word gladiatorial fight, he could imagine the scene of two people slashing each other with weapons, imagining the moment when the weapon stabbed into the body, but he had no fear.

Because he knows better that he insisted on surviving in order to fight for freedom. Maybe there is little hope, maybe it's a dead end, but Kane convinces himself that years of forbearance are for today.

So he broke away from Mark's hand and resolutely stepped out of the ranks. Including him, there are already 31 volunteers. Hasta shouted again, and the number was finally locked at 46.

Seeing that the number of people would not increase again, Hasta was a little dissatisfied: "Okay, these people stay, and the others go back to work!" ”

The crowd dispersed, leaving only the volunteers. Hasta told them to stand in a row, then turned around and said respectfully to the man behind him, "Mr. Ireda, do you want to look at it first?" ”

The man who had not seen the end of the sight finally appeared. He jumped off a platform more than two meters high to get a closer look at the volunteers. This man looks like he is in his forties, and under his short-sleeved clothes, his arms are not thick, but quite strong. The brown muscles add a bit of strength to it. A scar on the right side of his face, across his right eye. He walked past the volunteers one by one with a blank face, as if observing their "qualifications".

As he walked past Kane, the two looked at each other for three seconds. In these three seconds, Kane found that the man in front of him turned into an invisible pressure, rushing towards him, trying to crush him. And the man also stopped for a while, Kane's eyes were quite rich. Anger, despair, forbearance, the incomparable quest for survival. He didn't say anything and kept walking.

After a review, the man returned to the front of the line and introduced himself. His voice was rough, and without a megaphone, it was more powerful than Hasta's.

"My name is Cambay Ireda, and from today I am your coach. Our venue is not far from here, at 4 p.m., please gather at the shed, there will be a truck to take you there. After that, the time of each practice is notified by Hasta. Disband. ”

His words are embedded in everyone's mind. Kane could see that the man was not a general, and he said that he would train himself to become a gladiator and give himself a chance to regain his freedom. Whether it's a scam or whatever, it's worth a try, even if it's worth your life for it.

*****

More than 3,000 years ago, many countries on the ancient Via continent had a tradition of watching gladiatorial matches. Gladiators wearing only minimal armor fought in the arena with a variety of weapons. The rewards of victory are often very rich, not to mention the money and beauty, and if you are lucky, you can even climb to the sky in one step and enter the upper class. For this reason, countless people have joined the army voluntarily or by force, including desperate slaves, farmers living in poverty, retired soldiers, and young people who have gone crazy.

Gladiators fought for their lives inside the arena, and spectators placed bets outside the arena. While watching the blood-spattered gladiatorial fight, excitedly guess whether to win or lose. Those who win take a large amount of money, and those who lose will go bankrupt. Sometimes, even the audience gambles with each other, which adds to the excitement. Later, the fight between the two people in the arena could no longer satisfy the audience, so there were rules such as group brawls, human-beast wars, and deathmatch competitions. Either way, it's a trade of money and blood, a collection of the most savage parts of human nature.

In modern society, brutal gladiatorial fighting is prohibited by law and gradually evolves into a form of athletic competition. But as a deep-rooted local culture, it has not completely disappeared, but has gone underground to continue to flourish. Now, Larvega is the only place in the world where you can see primitive gladiatorial fights, providing an unbeatable playground for the powerful who are not short of money to spend, but only thrills. They're investing in Larvega to keep the game of death thriving. Here, money can balance everything, measure everything, even if it is a living life.

If there are gladiators, there will be people who train gladiators, and these trainers are commonly known as "instructors". In La Vega, about thirty coaches are trained each year. Some of them do it full-time, because it pays a lot of money.

The coach is another important role in gladiatorial tournaments. Because of the lucrative gambling on the periphery of the arena, the local wealthy or gang leaders often hired excellent instructors to train gladiators for profit or other purposes. And with a backer coach, he gradually has his own power. They are inside and outside this dog-toothed gladiatorial arena, intriguing.

Cambe is also a coach, but that's probably his part-time job. Cambay was born in the Great River area of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, began to practice knife fighting at the age of 8, and at the age of 15, he had already dominated his hometown and became famous, and the locals were accustomed to such people as "swordsmen", similar to the knights of the past and the bounty hunters of the present.

However, in that year, Cambé killed someone for the first time, and since then he has lived a hard life on the run. But he never gave up his sword skills and has been honing them to this day.

Cambay has no genre and is entirely self-created. In the inner world, Cambay is known for his solid foundations. His moves are simple and clear, there are no fancy and no shelves, only the purpose of taking people's lives. Coupled with his flexible body style and changeable movements, everyone who fought against him was easily killed after suffering enough.

As a swordsman, Cambé has a cold heart and a sharp sword. Then, perhaps out of human nature, he began to look for someone, someone who could inherit and carry forward his skills, and this desire grew stronger as time went on. For this reason, six years ago, Cambé was invited by a wealthy businessman to come to Larvega and become a coach.

Unlike other instructors, Cambay went to the site to select his students among the slaves. He knew that these people had all kinds of hardships, or they were forced by life, or they were unlucky enough to meet a liar, become destitute, or encounter injustice, all kinds of reasons, so that they came here with mixed feelings, and among them there may be something he wanted to find.

Cambe has only one requirement, a feeling, a strong will, not affected by any external factors—the desire to survive.

In Cambe's view, martial arts is a killing technique, and the desire to take someone's life is very important, and this often comes from the protection of one's own life, and the power that people explode when trying to survive is beyond imagination. Attachment to life will become the key to determining victory or defeat, especially the death match that gambles on your life.

So, whenever a new slave arrives, Cambay goes and picks them out. Over the course of six years, he had handled countless gladiators, each of which had failed him without exception. It's not because their record is too bad, it's that these people all gave in under mental pressure. People who are usually far away from life and death, after going to the battlefield, will be under unprecedented pressure, and when they are crushed, it is when they are pierced by their opponents.

Cambé is eager to find the ideal candidate. This time, he seemed to see a possibility.

On the northern outskirts of Larvega, on the side of a road, lies Cambe's private home, which also serves as his training ground. At four o'clock in the afternoon, the slaves at the construction site drove here in trucks, while Cambay sat at home, holding the list of volunteers that Hassta had given him.

He found Kane's name, circled in red. After the high platform spoke, he specifically asked for Hastakane's name, and then memorized it. Looking at the name, it was as if Kane was standing right in front of him. The sight of each other at that time left a deep impression on Cambe. Those eyes without any hesitation or distraction are so beautiful.

"This kid seems to have a show." Cambe laughed and muttered to himself.