"In terms of the city, Lafayette was still a child. じ Enlightenment ^ Book Network!. ☆ "Said the red-haired young man, who was on the steering wheel with a ring encrusted with blue-green tourmalines, the ring was so large that it covered almost the entire second joint, and it was as bright in the winter morning sun as a puddle of water taken from the deepest part of the ocean. "More than 100 years ago, it didn't even have a name. Nobody thought of coming here, it's only a little better than hell. The land was barren, and clean water could only be found from the animals and their own bladders and veins.

Until someone found gold here.

The gold was soon dug up, some left, and many more remained, and they continued to dig here for copper and brimstone—oh, mining was never a good job, toiling, boring, monotonous, dangerous, and as far as the eye could see, except for the mines and stones of the black holes, men who were as hard and smelly as themselves, rude, dirty, illiterate, never went to church, had no parents, no children, had no permanent home, and only the devil knew they came from there—except that the criminals were a pack of wild dogs who were about to become criminals; The wages are so meager that you don't think about women if you want to be fed, and of course, very few women come here - it's too dangerous, it's full of men who are strong enough to be forced to abstain from sex for at least a few years, and the eyes and fingers of law and morality haven't yet fallen here - even the oldest, ugliest, and money-loving prostitutes dare not come to see if they can leave with a lot of money or be thrown naked into some abandoned mine after a few days. ”

"No one knows when or where the first game of gambling will take place," continued Judas, the new owner of the Palace of Heaven, "in short, a clever man felt that it was a waste to let all that strength and flesh go to waste on the yellow sand outside the bar—in the beginning, everything was rudimentary, two bastards fought together, and the other one conceded defeat, could not move, or died, and the dealer who presided over the game took the lead. The winner then takes the money from the dealer...... Well, it may not be money, everything can be pledged, wine, meat, bread, trousers, shirts, ore, even buttons and dentures. Whatever you want will be put on the table. As long as the dealer and the gambler approve - there is a man who once pushed his little son from outside onto the table. ”

He adjusted his mirrors slightly.

"He won, but it's a pity, the one who wins always wants to win again, and the second time he loses, with what he won earlier and his little son." Judas smiled slightly, revealing his snow-white canine teeth: "The dealer was very generous, and after the game was over, all the gamblers who participated in the game were given a cheap opportunity to be happy almost for nothing, including his father. It is said that the child howled incessantly all night, which is really rare, you know. If the record is correct, he was only eight years old, and he was severely malnourished—a priest who was desperate to save the lost lambs, and he was frightened by this veritable hell and ran away without looking back, and has been since. He died fifty years later, and his diary was presented to the Lafayette government, which I saw in the Mining Museum...... Aha! "The steering wheel was turned violently, turning from the wide lane into a narrow side road," look. That's a bad thing," he said to himself, "well, let's get back to business, my dear friends—I just wanted to tell you that what I'm about to show you is a legally licensed and supervised boxing match." There are more than 150 years of organized ledger records, which is older than the city of Lafayette. ”

It was the second day of Christmas and they passed through a small area where the snow was covered and the road in front of the central and residential houses was swept over. The gray and black cement was exposed, the snow on both sides was piled high, the colorful Christmas decorations in front of every house and in the corridors and courtyards were still shining, and the sharp eyes of the sand caught a snowdrift Santa Claus squatting on the head of a fat squirrel, which aimed at the pair of hazelnuts that were used as Santa Claus's eyes. The vigilant critter moved quickly, and within a few seconds, the cheek sacs on both sides became swollen.

Since it was a legitimate boxing match, and of course everything was above board, it was no surprise that Judas's Clarkes stopped in front of what looked like a lively little theater.

The whole building is ancient, and the electronic display screen on the right side of the door is quite advanced, and you can see the schedule of the last week's fights, the winners of each boxing match from the previous week, as well as a brief information of the champions of the quarterly and annual tournaments, and then the details of the fighters who will start today, complete with photos.

At the top of the screen is written "Evely Fitness Gym". Yveli is a local word meaning a place where wild boars fight.

They were greeted by a man of about fifty years of age, but with a woman's name, Abby, who was unusually thin, almost two-thirds the size of Judas, and when he walked down the hallway, surrounded by deliberately magnified photo boards of fighters, he looked like a dwarf king surrounded by giant guards.

He spoke softly, walked with a slight bounce, and looked innocent like a child, and it was hard to imagine that he would be the boss with the most boxing and betting arenas and the most fighters in Lafayette.

"Oh God," Abby sweetly denied, "In Lafayette, boxing and gambling are legal, open, and innocent, and I admit that I have a hundred or so gyms that can legally open boxing and gambling tournaments, but I have never controlled any fighters, and I have no fighters in my arena, no, not one, every boxer who is willing to go on the stage is free and voluntary, they are all good law-abiding citizens, have a sound marriage and family, do not take drugs, do not engage in prostitution, rarely drink and smoke, It's a healthy event, an upward event, a race full of wisdom, strength and humanity, better than basketball, better than football, better than baseball, and I've never seen a game that moves people to tears more than boxing. ”

"He's right, it's true that boxers are not allowed to take drugs and engage in prostitution, and alcohol and cigarettes are also restricted, because all of the above will affect their performance." Judas whispered. "But that's only part of it, and the other part, no one who has ever registered with 'blacks' will not care too much about these issues."

"There's no way around it, gentlemen." Abby made a gesture of helplessness: "I said, it's a good sport, everybody loves it, and when those young people come here and ask to compete, God, look into their eyes, eyes full of courage and desire, how can I refuse them?" I'm not the kind of person with a heart like a stone. ”

"Of course you won't turn them down," said the red-haired Judas teasingly, "how can a gambling tournament without the Grim Reaper be worth the fifty dollars a ticket?"

"Every fighter." The dwarf king said coldly and dryly, "Whoever wants to fight in Abby's ring has to sign an agreement." I'll admit that there are some people who are not very well-behaved, but since they are bent on going their own way, who can stop them? Some of them may have longed for such an ending, a glorious, vigorous death, in the praise and admiration of all. Isn't it better to die like a real man than to die alone, with tubes in his hands, and atrophied to death in a hospital bed?"

A subtle smile suddenly appeared on his face: "They like this, I know." He muttered something in a low voice, and then hurried back to his words: "But." He seriously emphasized: "I must say that some people in the outside world always have a misunderstanding about boxing matches, no, no, no, the mortality rate of boxing matches is not as high as they imagined, and there are experienced emergency doctors on the scene." There are always well-equipped medical ambulances parked at the door, and as soon as the gong sounds, the referee raises the winner's hand, and the injured children can be treated in the most timely manner...... Well, all I can say is that some children are just unlucky, but can you tell me what kind of sports can guarantee that there will be no disability and death? No, no, even poker and chess are not exempt, so why don't they apply for an exemption from poker and chess, which is completely discriminatory. ”

Abby sighed deeply: "I beg your pardon, I'm always a little out of control when it comes to this aspect of things, you know, I love this sport so much."

He did say too much, and in that time they had walked through a long corridor and up two flights of stairs to the arena.

Since it is a legal, open and innocent gambling match, the venue will naturally not be set in the gloomy basement, the building has a high ceiling, there are huge glass windows on the south side, in addition to bright natural light, there are artificial light sources to supplement, every corner is clean and clearly recognizable, the rectangular center of the field is a regular boxing ring, silver leather wrapped guardrails, gray ground, in the center there is a pair of twisted human-shaped logo patterns, is orange.

"Can you see what it is?" Abby asked pleasantly, "Reminder, related to what we're going to see."

"Theseus-style boxing," Sasha said, "two people sit facing each other and punch each other until one dies."

Abby's eyes widened, "Surprising learning! The little hands slapped at each other in surprise: "I like you," he said sincerely, "Really, you must be a child who loves boxing, right?"

Sasha didn't respond, as the building's exterior first came to mind, it was indeed a theater. The stage has been dismantled, and the stepped seats have been changed to wrap around the ring. But the boxes hanging on three walls were preserved.

The audience was seated, Sasha slightly estimated, the number of people is about 500 to 600, Judas has mentioned earlier, the ticket price is about 50 yuan a piece, then this event can at least earn 25,000 to 30,000 yuan, but since it is a gambling game...... Abby's real profit is yet to come.

"Everybody will bet." Abby said, "A hundred, up to a thousand," and his cheek muscles twitched violently, "It's required by law, but we're trying to raise the limit, what a good exercise...... Oh, please go here, the view from above will be better. ”

He led Judas, Sasha, and Beelzebub to the front of a small box, and then proudly and respectfully lifted the velvet veil: "Please come in, my guests."

Somewhat unexpectedly, there was already another person in the box.

"Oh my God," Abby cried out pretentiously, "look at my memory, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that a guest arrived earlier than you - allow me to introduce you, this is Konstantin. Cloven. ”

The man who was courteously introduced stood up, he was burly, reminiscent of a bear, and the light outside the box was almost completely blocked, "Konstantin. Cloven," he introduced himself, "it was a pleasure to meet you, Judas, Beelzebub. Bissandi, and Sasha. Hopkins. ”

He nodded slightly, then stretched out his hand, and although the light was very dim, Beelzebub and Sasha could still see that there were four blue-black thorns tattooed on the middle finger of his right hand, like a thick ring.

((One second to remember)