Chapter 160: A Net Worth of Tens of Millions

Passing through a corridor and entering a wooden door, one found that the layout of the several hundred square meters inside was not much different from a conventional auction house. If one had to name a distinction, it would be the grayish-black toned decor and a massive black curtain hanging over the auction stage, which lent the place an added touch of mystery.

There were fewer than three hundred seats in the spectator area, and more than half of them were already occupied at this moment.

After Hong Chen and his companions took their seats in the rear-left section, a hostess wearing a sexy strapless gown served them the catalog of auction items. Hong Chen picked it up, scanned it for a few moments, and a strange look flashed in his eyes.

The first group of auction items consisted of various fighting dogs and non-protected active-attack beasts. The second group featured individual brawlers, and the third group comprised martial artists...

"The bouts before one o'clock in the fighting arena are all arranged by the organizers. The brawlers who appear look fierce and the fights are relatively intense, but regular members all understand that those are merely for show and rarely end in life-and-death struggles. We can't rule out the suspicion of behind-the-scenes manipulation, so the betting stakes are never very high. It's basically just a warm-up..."

Luo Song had gone to the restroom. Seeing Hong Chen looking somewhat dazed and guessing that this was the latter's first time here, Li Chengming took the initiative to explain: "After one o'clock, that's when the real matches begin. Whether the combatants stepping into the ring are humans or beasts, they have all been bought out entirely by individuals. The organizer only charges a venue fee, and the betting stakes are borne personally by individuals. For instance, if you buy a Tibetan Mastiff here to enter the ring, you set the odds of the mastiff losing based on the opponent's situation—let's say one to two. If the total wagers placed across the entire venue on the mastiff losing amount to one million, and the mastiff wins, the one million is yours, while the organizer takes a five percent cut. If the mastiff loses, you pay out one million according to the odds."

Hong Chen digested this for about ten seconds before nodding with a sudden understanding. This was essentially individuals acting as the bookmakers. For a single fighting match, even a one-on-one, there would be at least two bookmakers rather than just the organizer acting as the sole house.

Since the interests of the two bookmakers were like two opposing sides of a coin and completely incompatible—with either the west wind prevailing over the east wind or vice versa—the possibility of match-fixing or cheating was reduced to the bare minimum, while the spectators' enthusiasm for betting would soar significantly.

"Generally, the total wagers for a warm-up match combined from both sides exceed three to four million. By the time of the main matches, the highest I've ever seen was one hundred and thirty million combined from both sides, and the record for this underground fighting arena is one hundred and ninety-seven million."

Li Chengming glanced at Xue'er, who was sitting on the other side of Hong Chen, and unconsciously lowered his voice: "Purchasing a brawler from here is equivalent to signing a master-servant agreement. The servant fights for the master regardless of life or death, with a guaranteed minimum of ten matches. After ten matches, the master-servant agreement automatically terminates, which is equivalent to regaining one's freedom. However, more than fifty percent are broken or even kick the bucket before reaching five matches. Those who manage to persist to ten matches make up less than ten percent, and even if they survive, they end up half-crippled. Being sold as an auction item—whether human or beast—to put it bluntly, is simply selling one's life. This place is called the Midnight Auction House, implying darkness."

Although Li Chengming deliberately kept his voice low, most of it was heard clearly by Xue'er. Her complexion grew a shade paler, her delicate body trembled more violently, and the small hands holding the auction catalog shook as if stricken with Parkinson's disease.

A few minutes later, a female auctioneer walked onto the auction stage. She was about eight heads tall, dressed in form-fitting attire, with a classical seed-shaped face, yet possessed the sexy lips, high-bridged nose, pale blue eyes, and brown hair characteristic of Westerners.

"Young Master Chen, this woman's name is Lisa. Her father is Chinese and her mother is Portuguese, and she is also a descendant of nobility. How about letting her drive you back to the hotel tonight?"

Luo Song's teasing voice came from beside him. Hong Chen understood the implication instantly: "I don't have the fetish of worshipping foreigners and groveling to the West. I already have a beauty by my side; adding any more would just be gilding the lily."

He had merely spoken casually, but Xue'er on the other side tightened her small hands, pinching wrinkles into the hem of her dress.

After Lisa delivered an opening speech to build up the atmosphere, the auction quickly entered the bidding phase. The curtains drew back to reveal three iron cages on the stage, containing a majestic Tibetan Mastiff, a Pit Bull, and a Caucasian Shepherd respectively—all ranking among the world's top ten fiercest dogs, each starting at a reserve price of two hundred thousand.

After a flurry of paddle-raising, the Tibetan Mastiff was sold for three hundred and seventy thousand, the Pit Bull fetched three hundred and fifty thousand, and the Caucasian Shepherd went for three hundred and ten thousand.

The curtain closed and reopened to reveal four more cages, holding a wolf, a hyena, a lynx, and the creature known as the most fearless warrior of all: the honey badger...

Passing through a corridor and entering a wooden door, one found that the layout of the several hundred square meters inside was not much different from a conventional auction house...

More than a dozen beasts were auctioned off in less than twenty minutes. After a five-minute break, it was the turn of the brawlers.

"Which one is your younger brother?" Hong Chen hesitated before asking Xue'er. The latter was already too nervous to speak and simply pointed to the sixth person on the auction catalog. In the photo, he looked like a scrawny kid, but the description stated that his single-punch striking power actually reached one hundred and forty pounds.

"A kid like your brother is the most popular type. Trained for three months, having just turned seventeen and not yet eighteen, he can wear protective armor when engaging any opponent, and his offensive power is quite strong. I reckon the final price will be at least double the reserve price," Yuan Shuang said in the tone of a seasoned veteran.

Hearing this, Xue'er's heart suddenly plummeted. Her brother's reserve price was five hundred and twenty thousand, so doubling it would mean a million. Yet her entire net worth was less than six hundred thousand, which even included eleven credit cards she had scrambled to apply for back in March with a total limit of two hundred and twenty thousand.

Subsequent facts proved that Yuan Shuang's estimation was still too conservative. The first five brawlers were either twenty years old or between eighteen and twenty, yet had undergone four to six months of training, and every single one of them had fetched high prices exceeding a million. It was just like the stock market: when the overall trend was favorable, even poorly performing stocks would rise, and if they were blue-chip stocks, they would skyrocket.

When it came to Xue'er's brother, codenamed Seventeen, after a flurry of paddle-raising, the price quickly climbed to eight hundred thousand. Then, a man in a plaid shirt shouted out one million, telling a fat man next to him with an excited expression that he would make this Seventeen go toe-to-toe with the fat man's honey badger in a fight to the death later.

A fight to the death was the most thrilling combat mode in the fighting arena. When humans fought beasts, it had to be proposed by the human side: either kill the beast, or be bitten to death by the beast.

The man in the plaid shirt spoke in a loud voice that could be heard throughout the entire auction house, stirring up an uproar. Many people were so stimulated that their faces flushed with excitement. A man-versus-beast death match was something that didn't happen every week, and the betting stakes were usually much higher than those between brawlers!

When the bids had previously surpassed six hundred thousand, Xue'er had already felt as though her vital spirit and energy had been sucked away. Now, hearing the words of the man in the plaid shirt, her mental world fractured like a spiderweb, on the verge of collapsing entirely.

"Young Master, I only have five hundred and eighty thousand. I'll give it all to you. Please, I'm begging you—as long as you save my younger brother, I, I'll agree to anything. I'll go with you tonight, I'm still, I'm still a virgin..." Xue'er suddenly turned sideways to grab Hong Chen's arm, her face a cross between despair and resolute determination, her misty eyes filled with boundless pain and sorrow.

"Hiss..." Hong Chen's mouth twitched as he drew a sharp breath and furrowed his brow. Thinking that she had incurred Hong Chen's displeasure, the look of determination on Xue'er's face instantly dissolved, and despair flooded her entire small face.

"Your fingernails are pinching me." Hong Chen pointed at Xue'er's hand. Realizing only then that she had been gripping Hong Chen's arm far too tightly, she hurriedly pulled her hands back. Then she heard Hong Chen sigh: "I'll buy the person first. As for the price difference, we can discuss the terms later."

As if experiencing a flash of revival before death, Xue'er's dimming eyes erupted with a dazzling brilliance and she nodded vigorously: "As long as you can save my younger brother, I'll agree to any condition."

Hong Chen said no more, turned his head to the other side, and whispered a few words to Luo Song. Luo Song blinked at Hong Chen with a look that any man could understand. Hong Chen genuinely wanted to hurl a rotten egg at him, but ultimately held it in!

"One million three hundred thousand!" Following that, Luo Song called out his bid. This was the first time he had raised his paddle tonight.

The man in the plaid shirt furrowed his brow and shouted one million five hundred thousand. Luo Song raised it further to one million six hundred thousand, and the man in the plaid shirt added more...

After seven or eight rounds of alternating bids, the price was pushed to two million eight hundred thousand. This price was already somewhat absurd. Spectators in the front row turned their heads one after another, and those around them cast sidelong glances. Luo Song and the man in the plaid shirt had undoubtedly become the focal point.

Xue'er was already completely dumbfounded, her brain reduced to mush. Two million eight hundred thousand—even if she were sliced up and sold along with all her internal organs, it wouldn't be worth that much.

The complexion of the man in the plaid shirt turned unsightly. Disregarding the rules of the auction house, he shouted across the space to Luo Song: "Luo Song, what do you mean by this? I had my eye on this person first, you're deliberately giving me a hard time, aren't you?"

Luo Song cast a sidelong glance at him and said with a cold expression: "Jiang Chao, if you show me some respect, you'll drop it. If you don't give me respect, do as you please!"

"Damn it! You want face, but do you think I don't want face? I'm taking this person for sure!" Abandoning all decorum with a curse, the man in the plaid shirt raised his paddle and called out three million.

The two clearly knew each other and neither was willing to back down, which indicated two things: their statuses were on par with one another, and their ordinary relationship was far from good.

Following that, the two took turns calling out bids, quickly breaking past the six million threshold. The man in the plaid shirt looked over with a sinister gaze: "Luo Song, I'll show you some respect—ten million, and you take the person."

The cash and cards he had on hand totaled just over nine million. If he kept bidding and then backed out once they reached the ten-million mark, it would only cause him to lose face.

"Jiang Chao, don't tell me you didn't bring enough money." Luo Song let out a derisive chuckle, causing Jiang Chao's expression to turn even uglier. Luo Song then nodded and stated flatly: "Since Young Master Jiang is being so gracious, many thanks."

With those words, he raised his paddle and shouted ten million.

What should have been settled for a little over a million had skyrocketed to eight figures because of the tit-for-tat competition between the two young masters!

Hong Chen gave a wry smile and asked Luo Song, "What's that guy's background?"

Luo Song said with disdain: "Among the six first-tier families in Nanshi, the Jiang family and my Luo family harbor the deepest resentment. That punk is Jiang Chao, and his old man is the second son of the Jiang family—not the head of the household, but the Jiang family's premier martial artist, nicknamed Jiang the Gate God. Back in the day, he was beaten flat onto the fighting ring by my maternal grandmother and was almost crippled."

With such a history of past enmity between them, it was no wonder the descendants of two rival families didn't see eye to eye.

Hong Chen made no comment, simply nodding before casting a listless look at Xue'er and saying, "Your younger brother is worth ten million now. Figure out for yourself how much you're short of five hundred and eighty thousand."

Xue'er had no words in response and could only awkwardly bury her head in her chest.