Chapter 594 - It’s Payback Time – 1
Chapter 594: It’s Payback Time – 1
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhou Zihuai’s attending doctor was Ye Tian’s disciple.
“The report is here. It’s the same as your deduction. Two of his rib bones are broken, he might have some issue seeing things with his left eyes after he has recovered, and the artery on his thigh is damaged. Although it won’t affect his ability to walk since we’ve stitched it up. As for his hand…”
Ye Tian’s disciple began to report Zhou Zihuai’s injuries to Fu Zhi as she stood outside of the ICU and looked at the young man laying on the bed.
He had suffered multiple cartilage contusions. Some of his injuries were less severe, so they could recover quickly, but some of the injuries were so serious that the doctors had to stitch them multiple times.
“During the first time he was admitted into the hospital, he didn’t have a strong sense of survival, but it’s better this time…” The doctor said, “Even a tiger won’t eat its own cub. I don’t understand how his father could bring himself to beat his own son?”
‘This is because he’s not his father. He’s a sc*mbag.’
Fu Zhi thought inwardly as her gaze turned cold.
“No, no… Don’t hit my mother. Dad, dad save me…” The young man on the hospital bed yelped as tears began to roll down his cheeks.
He was calling his own father.
Song Fang was standing beside Fu Zhi right now. His throat felt raw as he turned around and wiped the tears off his eyes.
Biting his handkerchief, he punched the wall and hissed, “I must expose him! I must expose what he did to my friend!”
Fu Zhi turned around to look at him. She noticed that Song Fang’s face was red and his fist was trembling. Finally, he could not hold it anymore and shouted, “D*mn it! Sister Zhi! I punched the wall too hard, and my hand feels so painful right now! Is it broken? Can you help me to take a look at it?”
‘I knew it…’ Fu Zhi thought inwardly.
Song Fang was then brought away by the doctor.
Afterward, Fu Zhi took a seat on the bench. She switched her laptop on and asked Jiang Ningbei to give her Zhao Wu’s profile.
Jiang Ningbei was sent by Fu Zhao to assist Fu Zhi. When he heard what Fu Zhi had said, he immediately gave what he wanted.
Alcoholic, gambler, violent abuse…
The more Fu Zhi looked through Zhao Wu’s profile, the angrier she became. Then, she saw something that made her raise her brow.
Lu Yushen craned his neck over and asked, his eyebrows raised, “The Mu Family is illegally operating an underground casino?”
“Ah…” Fu Zhi tapped her finger on the keyboard, “It’s not an underground casino. It’s an arena.”
She did not expect that Mu Changqing and Mu Chenxi would actually operate an arena.
There was a video attached to Zhao Wu’s profile and she clicked on it.
Precious beasts were penned in with humans for a dead or alive match.
It was a haven for rich people to place bets and seek excitement.
Generally speaking, an event like this was illegal and it required a special invitation in order to join such an occasion. However, a person like Zhao Wu, who basically started gambling since he stepped into society, could enter the arena without any invitation.
Suddenly, Fu Zhi realized something and she covered the video with her hand, causing Lu Yushen to look at her with confusion.
She said, “It’s not for children.”
“But you’re younger than me.”
“Physically I’m younger than you, but mentally, I’m older,” Fu Zhi replied matter-of-factly.
Lu Yushen became speechless.
Fu Zhi then put on her headphones and turned her attention back to the video.
“The reason why there is a video to the arena is that not only they could bet on the spot, but they will live stream the whole process, allowing some rich people to bet through a special password or website.”
“What would they use to place the bet?”
“Anything,” Jiang Ningbei’s face turned ugly as he said, “For rich people, for sure they will use money, but for those people without money, they could bet on theirs or their family members’ organs.”
Fu Zhi then remembered Zhou Zihuai had told her when they’re on the way to the hospital about his stepfather’s intention to sell his mother’s kidney. Her face turned grim as she asked, “They do it willingly?”
“Of course, for those who can go into the arena, other than the humans who’re forced to fight with the beasts, the rest of them are gamblers who’re there for the thrill.”
In other words, the Mu Family just provided a platform. What really made the arena so big were those wealthy people involved in this game.
“Will it be open tonight?”
“Let me check it for you… The arena will only be held once every three days, and it happens to be open tonight. It’s 1:00 am right now, and the arena will start at 2:00 am. I’ve sent the location to you. It’s in the middle of a wilderness”
“Okay,” Fu Zhi replied as she rose to her feet. She turned to Lu Yushen and said, “You go home first. I’ll go get a bottle of powdered milk and then I’ll come back for you.”
After that, she turned around and attempted to leave. However, Lu Yushen stretched his arm forward and grabbed her bag, preventing her from taking another step forward.
“I’ll go with you,” he said.
“No,” Fu Zhi replied flatly. It was too dangerous, and she did not know what would happen when she got there, so she did not want Lu Yushen to go with her. “I’ll be fine. My friend is coming with me. You and Song Fang can go home first.”
Lu Yushen opened his mouth, wanting to say something but Fu Zhi did not give him the chance.
She shrugged him off and walked away rapidly, leaving Lu Yushen behind to stand alone in the corridor. The light had masked his profile, and his long eyelashes had cast a shadow on his eyelids.
He seemed rather unhappy.
“But…” He said as he looked in her direction, “I can protect you as well…”
—
On the other side, Jiang Ningbei was already waiting for Fu Zhi when she came out of the hospital.
As they were heading towards their destination, they started to work on their fake identities as well as the invitation card. Then, Jiang Ningbei asked, “Why do you want to go to the arena?”
“I have a classmate. He’s a nice guy.”
“Huh?”
“He has a stepfather, and he feels that he can’t get rid of him. His stepfather is at the arena right now. It’s fine if he wins, but if he loses, my classmate will be in great danger. Besides, it’s illegal to hold an event like this, so I figure that I should do something about it.”
Even though Jiang Ningbei was driving right now, he still could not help himself and darted a few glances at Fu Zhi.
“I feel that you’ve changed.”
Fu Zhi nodded, “Indeed. I’ve grown 0.1 cm taller under my tireless efforts, and I’ve broken through the 168 cm barrier.”
“I’m not talking about that,” Jiang Ningbei said.
The car was driving at a steady pace on the road and Jiang Ningbe’s voice suddenly turned gentle as he continued, “Haven’t you noticed? After you grew up, you never cared about the people around you except for doing research and earning money.”
How he should describe Fu Zhi before this.
After she grew up, he rarely saw her smiling and she did not like any words that had relation to affection. For example, mother, brother, friend, classmate… she would rather not talk about these things that were closely related to her life.
Fu Zhao called this the abandoned cat effect, and it probably occurred after Ye Jiu and the others left for another country.
When she was a child, she would sneak over to the classroom window and watch with admiration as the little kids in the same class with the same high IQ as her were picked up by their parents.
After she grew up, although Jiang Ningbei felt that she was indeed very adorable, she did not look or feel like a human at all.
However, things started to change after she joined the Lu Family.
She would teach her classmates how to solve mathematical questions, she would also help to treat her teacher’s father, and she would stand up for her friends when someone was bullying them. In the past, Jiang Ningbei would never believe Fu Zhi would do something like that.
It was indeed a fact that Madam Lu was troublesome, and although Fu Zhi had a bad childhood, Xu Wei and her family had made it up for her.
Fu Zhi played with the keychain, and she felt Jiang Ningbei was right.
In the past, there were only three things in her life: house, research institute, and company. It wouldn’t even be far-fetched to say that she would measure everything she did in terms of whether or not it carried any significance.
“Zhou Zihuai said that he’s different from me and that he wants to be me.”
However, Fu Zhi did not tell him that she used to be like him as well.
When she first joined the Zhao Family, both Mr. & Mrs. Zhao treated her nicely. Later, she began to worry when they would abandon her when Zhao Youyou threw a tantrum from time to time.
Her mission was to stay in the Zhao Family.
When she was a kid, she kept wondering why everybody else had a mother, while she only had a few fathers. When she grew up, she wondered how it would feel to have a mother. Would she have a positive or negative effect on her life?
Then, Xu Wei showed up. She could clearly sense that her heart was pumping a little faster when Xu Wei pulled her into her embrace. She did not know how to explain the feeling at that time, but she knew how to describe it now. It felt as if there was a stream of warmth overflowing inside of her, filling every inch of space inside of her heart.
“Honestly, he doesn’t have to become like me. He didn’t do anything wrong. When I was staying with the Zhao Family, I kept wondering if I should put up with Zhao Youyou or not, and how I can fit into a normal life just like my father wants me to. He’s the same as me.
“Even if we have enough money to support ourselves as well as our family, nobody tells us if we should stay with our foster family or not, or how to get along with this family.
“But it’s clear to me now, so I thought I could help him out.”
Jiang Ningbei understood everything now. However, he did not know whether Zhou Zihuai was lucky or unlucky to have Fu Zhi, who was reluctant to get into trouble, to do so much.
Fu Zhi read through Zhou Zihuai’s information while they were heading towards the arena.
This was not the first time something like this happened after Zhou Zihuai’s mother married Zhao Wu, but nothing ever happened.
Every time Mrs. Zhou would say this was just a family matter before the police could do anything about it.
Fu Zhi looked towards the night through the window, thinking how she should play with Zhou Zihuai’s stepfather after they arrived at the arena.
The car drove all the way towards the abandoned lot. After passing through several dilapidated iron factories, they arrived at the entrance of the arena.
They needed to enter a password before they could enter the arena. Jiang Ningbei keyed in the password according to the information that he received and led Fu Zhi into it.
Although the arena was held underground, it was a spacious area. Not only could they see plenty of high-technology gadgets around, but the entire area was divided into several sections.
There were areas dedicated to rest and entertainment as well as bleacher seats for the general public and special booths for rich people.
The grounds here had a full range of surveillance, so Fu Zhi wore a mask to prevent other people from recognizing her.
The pattern of the mask did not look particularly elaborate, but the good thing was that it was functional. It was made of a special material, and nobody could see what they looked like even through scanning.
When they walked into the arena, everyone turned and looked at them.
Most of the people sitting in the bleacher seats were gambling addicts. They did not have any better things to do in their life other than staying here.
Just when Fu Zhi and Jiang Ningbei walked towards the center of the arena, they were stopped by someone, “I’m sorry, friends. Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter the center of the field.”
“How much do I need to pay if I want to join the fight?” Fu Zhi asked as she pointed at the field.
The person was stunned for a moment before he said, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about, miss. These people came here on their own accord to seek excitement by fighting with those beasts.”
Fu Zhi let out a cold smirk when she thought about those humans that were forced to fight with the beasts. “I guess you know better than me where these people come from. Since I came to you to ask for a match on the stage, it means that I know your situation very well. I know all the rules, you are open for business, and I can guarantee that I can be responsible for anything that happens when I enter this beast fighting stage.”
“Sorry, but we have our rules. Besides, there’s a limit to the number of contenders on the field, and we won’t be able to explain to those people below the stage if there’s one more contender.”
Every contender and beast in the cage were given numbers. If there were ten beasts on the field, ten contenders would be sent to fight those beasts. Then, the gamblers would need to place bets on whether it was the contestants or the beasts that would live on the field at the end.
Of course, the ways of gambling extended from this game were also diverse. For example, rich people would bet on who would survive until the end of the game, or who would die first.
“Just simply kick someone, and let me replace him. As the person in charge, you should know that if I get on stage, I can increase the number of people you can engage in betting. You don’t have a precedent here of a woman getting on stage and fighting a beast, do you?”
The person in charge was stumped.
As if she saw the hesitation in his eyes, Fu Zhi continued, “If you let me get on the stage, I can assure you that you would earn a pot full tonight. After all, I’m strong.”
That’s right. No woman had been on the field to fight with the beasts before. Therefore, a lot of people would place bets on her. If she was really that strong as she said and she could defeat every beast in the field, they would be able to churn a lot of money out of her.
The Mu Family was facing a financial crisis, and they needed a lot of money.
That said, he could not make the decision, so he called his boss and asked for instructions. After he received the green light from his boss, he turned to Fu Zhi and said, “We will draw up a contract for you, so sign it if you are sure about joining the fight. But let me remind you, the beasts in the cage are not domesticated. They have been starving for three days and three nights, and I’m sure you know what would happen when they see a piece of fresh meat walking in front of them.”
After all, beasts were different from humans. Humans could understand command and obey them, but beasts only followed their natural instincts.
Under the circumstances where they were hungry and angered, they would become extremely violent.
They would not care if it was a woman or a man in front of them, and those people around would not care about it as well.
Very soon, the person in charge came back with a contract in his hand.