After walking about three hundred steps to the right, Zhang Xiaozu saw the gambling ring that the two men were talking about.
There is not just one arena, but more than ten in a row. The uniform round wooden platform is about half a foot high and the diameter of the table is about two feet, which is not too big. They just drove some wooden piles into the ground, then laid thick wooden boards on top, and tied them with hemp ropes to fix them. The workmanship was very rough, and it looked like it was built in a hurry.
There is a simple sunshade shed on the south side of each arena. There is a table in the shed. On the table, there are buckets of water, stacks of soft and white steamed buns, or thin strips of steamed buns. Meat is even paid directly for money.
There is a bookkeeper sitting on the right side of the table. From time to time, he loudly announces who has won, lost something, or won such a reward, and records it in detail in the account book.
There were many well-dressed men in the shed, sitting or standing. They were all tall and sturdy, with stern expressions on their faces, and it was clear at a glance that they were not easy to mess with. But there are still people betting valuable objects on the stage to challenge, because the prizes on the table are too tempting, but they always lose more than they win.
There is also a ring manager, sitting in a spacious and comfortable bamboo chair, and from time to time, he arranges men in black clothes to come to the ring to meet the challenge of the challenger.
"come on!"
"Come up, come up, don't be afraid!"
"Kill him in one go!"
"Lao Li, win two steamed buns before you come down!"
There were constant shouts under the ring, and it seemed that everyone's emotions were ignited by the gambling battle in the ring.
Of course, there was no shortage of cries from losers. Some had their legs and legs broken, some were beaten until they vomited blood and fell into a coma, and some lost family heirlooms——
Reasonable people or timid people will be deterred by the miserable cries of losers, weigh their own worth, and give up unrealistic illusions.
There are also wise people who, after watching quietly for a while, discern the clues and find that most of the people who win are the shills of the champion, deliberately winning large amounts of prizes to stimulate the crowd. They wanted to loudly expose the challenger's unscrupulous tricks, but as soon as they opened their mouths, someone would hold a knife to their backs and ask them to stay away.
In fact, except for some people who are angry and irrational and come to the ring to challenge, or those who are confident in their own strength and dare to go on stage to fight, most of them are poor people with no way out.
They bet the few valuable items they have, and risk their lives to fight for a ladle of water or a steamed bun. If they win, they may be able to live for one or two more days, but if they lose, the whole family will die together. Bar.
"Come on young man!"
"Young man is so majestic!"
"Young man Lang works harder and wins ten consecutive battles to defeat them!"
"Young man——"
One of the arenas was extremely lively, with a crowded crowd and endless cheers and cheers.
On the ring, a one-armed young man was fighting with a strong man in black clothes. The swords were flashing and the shadows were fierce.
The boy's long hair was disheveled and had not been combed for an unknown amount of time. His hair was covered with dust and grass clippings, and the strands were stuck together. The whole face was covered with dirt, and one could not tell whether it was white or black. The eyes are lifeless, but not cloudy either, giving people a feeling of being lifeless and introverted. Like a heavy sword without an edge, its appearance is unattractive and its power is restrained, which should not be underestimated.
The young man had a tall and straight body, but his clothes were in tatters and could no longer cover his body. They were several times more tattered than those worn by refugees. His right arm was free and broken at shoulder level, and the exposed and hideous scar made people shudder.
Although the young man has no right arm, the sword he holds in his left hand is not weak at all. A five-foot long sword flies up and down. The sword is strong and flexible, and in a moment he kills the big man in black clothes and dodges left and right. Defeated steadily.
Suddenly, the young man with a broken arm grabbed a flaw, broke through the defense of the strong man in black clothes with his long sword, and slashed diagonally at the chest of the strong man in black clothes with a hiss, sending the big man in black clothes and strong clothes flying backwards. Blood splattered three feet and he fell into the ring.
The boy with the broken arm put away his sword and cupped his fists, and retreated to the edge of the ring. He did not get off the ring and did not speak. He just looked calmly at the straw shed on the opposite side of the ring.
"The challenger wins!"
"If you win four games in a row, you will get two buckets of water!"
As soon as the gentleman in charge of accounting under the hayloft announced the winner, deafening cheers and cheers erupted from the arena.
"oh--"
"Young man is mighty!"
When the bookkeeper saw that the boy with the broken arm was about to continue the challenge, he couldn't help but twitch the corners of his eyes a few times and said loudly: "The challenger wants to continue the challenge. If he wins five consecutive victories, he will win four pokes from Qingshui. If the challenge fails, all his capital and profits will be lost!"
The boy with a broken arm swung his long sword, pointed the tip of the sword diagonally at the ground, and said in a calm voice: "Fight!"
There was another burst of cheers and cheers from the audience.
"I'm here to fight you." Another man in black clothes walked out of the hay shed. His voice was rich and powerful, his temples were bulging, and his breath was surging in his movements, showing his extraordinary ability.
“If you win one game in a row, you will get a bucket of clean water; if you win two games in a row, you will get half a bucket of clean water; if you win three games in a row, you will get a bucket of clean water; if you win four games in a row, you will get two buckets of clean water; if you win five games in a row, you will get four buckets of clean water. The more consecutive wins, the greater the rewards.”
Below the ring, Zhang Xiaozu held Niu Dawa in his arms, followed by Lu Xi, and squeezed into the crowd. He didn't know much about literacy, so he pointed to the notice board and asked Lu Kaixue for advice. Lu Kaixue read him the rules of gambling written on the notice board.
"Sir, how much water is needed to clean my brother's injury?" Zhang Xiaozu asked.
"Save it, one bucket is enough." Lu Kaixue responded.
"You need to win three games in a row." Zhang Xiaozhu muttered to himself, looking along the row of arenas. When he saw that the third arena on the right also offered water as a reward, he pushed his way through the crowd and walked over there.
Bang!
As soon as Zhang Xiaozu walked to the ring, he saw a man falling down from the ring and landing not far in front of him. Blood was pouring from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose, and his limbs were twitching. It looked like he would not survive.
The crowd of onlookers shook their heads and sighed.
There were old women throwing themselves at him and crying "son", young women jumping at him crying "husband", and children throwing themselves at him crying "father", but no matter how they cried, the man couldn't wake up because he had expired. .
"ah--"
"What are you doing?!"
"No, no, no--"
"Please, please let my husband go."
"Woo-"
Five masked men suddenly walked out of the crowd. Three of them stepped forward and pushed away the old woman, young woman and child. The other two grabbed one of the men's arms and dragged them out of the crowd.
The old woman, young woman and child immediately screamed in fear, crying and begging while trying to stop them, but how could the three old and weak women and children be able to suppress the five men? They were kicked to the ground one by one, and they could only watch the masked man helplessly. Drag away the bodies of their sons (Lang Jun and Father).
The five masked men never made a sound from the beginning to the end. Even if they were caught, bitten, kicked, and beaten, they kept their jaws shut and remained silent.
At first, Zhang Xiaozu didn't understand what these masked men were robbing a corpse for, but with his keen hearing, he quickly captured the relevant information from the noisy crowd. After hearing this, he couldn't help but feel horrified. It turned out that these people were robbing the corpse to take it - —
Zhang Xiaozu's stomach suddenly swelled with nausea, which reminded him of the blood-stained valley that had devastated humanity. He immediately couldn't hold back his anger and subconsciously wanted to stop this inhumane and cruel act, but at a glance he couldn't help but feel... Stunned on the spot.
All you can see are ragged, skinny bodies, faces covered with dust and stains, pairs of sunken eye sockets, pairs of helpless eyes, looking at the corpse being dragged away, its throat squirming and swallowing. The sounds of drooling joined together.
Zhang Xiaozhu couldn't help but feel horrified. Although these people in front of him did not do anything inhumane, in their hearts they envied those masked people who had the courage to do so. Many people even clenched their fists, with struggling expressions on their dirt-covered faces, as if they were having a fierce battle in their hearts.
Hunger is eating away at their humanity bit by bit.
Zhang Xiaozhu didn't dare to think about what a terrible scene it would be when everyone lost their humanity and turned into masked men snatching corpses.
People eat people, people kill people.
Outside the majestic city walls of Yancheng, it will definitely become a hell on earth.
And will the dignitaries and powerful gentry in the city wall still stand on the high city wall and watch the killings under the city wall indifferently? You might even throw two white-flour steamed buns down from time to time and laugh out loud as you watch a group of people snatching up a steamed bun.
When he was stunned, the masked man who snatched the corpse had disappeared into the crowd. He did not catch up to stop him because he felt helpless. Unless he could stop the hunger, similar tragedies would continue to happen and become more and more serious. But he couldn't stop his hunger, so he felt powerless and hopeless.
"Hey -" Zhang Xiaozu shook his head and smiled bitterly, getting rid of the messy thoughts in his mind. He couldn't help but secretly laugh at himself. He was just a mountain villager, a humble existence living at the bottom of society. What should he do with so many things? These problems should be those of the big shots. What a great hero has to think about.
Bang. Zhang Xiaozu jumped onto the ring with Niu Dawa in his arms.
He was afraid that the restless crowd below the ring would trample Niu Dawa, so he jumped onto the ring with Niu Dawa in his arms, then placed Niu Dawa on the edge of the ring, and asked Lu Kaixue in the audience to take good care of Niu Dawa as much as possible. Big baby.
"Challenger, take out your challenge chips." The bookkeeper under the straw shed shouted immediately when he saw Zhang Xiaopou challenge.
Zhang Xiaozu had a knife on his wrist, held the bone knife across his chest, and said, "Use this bone knife as a bargaining chip."
He has nothing, only this bone knife is worth some money.
Mr. Accountant couldn't help but frown slightly and said: "What's so valuable about your bone-bone knife? If it's just an ordinary bone with no value, it's not enough to be used as a bargaining chip."
Zhang Xiaozu raised his hand and pulled out a piece of hair, put it on the blade of the knife and blew it gently. The hair was immediately broken into two parts, and said: "Blowing hair breaks hair, cutting stone and iron is no problem!"
The bookkeeper's eyes suddenly lit up and he said: "A precious sword can be used as a bargaining chip. Please give it up temporarily and leave it to our notary for temporary custody to avoid unnecessary trouble."
A man walked out from under the thatched shed, dragging a wooden pallet in his hand, and stopped in front of Zhang Xiaopou.
Zhang Xiaozu frowned, but thought that in front of so many people, the other party would not dare to take it by force, so he put the bone knife on the tray and let the man carry it to the shed.
Lu Kaixue below the ring was dumbfounded by Zhang Xiaozu's operation. He really wanted to pry open Zhang Xiaozu's head to see if there was anything less inside than a normal person. Otherwise, how could he be so stupid as to challenge himself in the ring? If you hand over your weapon, isn't it like cutting off an arm?
"Challenger, state your name."
"Liujia Village, Zhang Xiaopeng." Zhang Xiaopou said with his fists in hand.
On the ring three seats away on the left, the boy with a broken arm seemed to have heard Zhang Xiaozu's self-registration number and looked over with a surprised expression. However, his brief distraction allowed his opponent to find a flaw, and the sharp sword cut open his shoulder. A bloody mouth.
Click!
Suddenly, there was a thunder on the ground!
The long sword in the hand of the boy with a broken arm penetrated the opponent's chest. Wisps of white smoke came out of the wound, exuding a burning smell, and traces of electricity flowed through the sword.
The crowd below the ring and the people under the straw hut were all dumbfounded. They didn't understand why the boy with the broken arm was clearly at a disadvantage and was about to lose. Why did his offense and defense reverse in an instant and he still won?
The boy with the broken arm put away his sword and stepped back. The man clutched his chest and fell down. The boy with the broken arm didn't even look at him. He just looked at the hut and said softly: "The challenge is over. Give me some water."
"This -" Mr. Accountant frowned.
The boy with the broken arm frowned and shouted in a solemn voice: "What, you want to default on the bill?"
"I'm willing to admit defeat!" The bookkeeper gritted his teeth and announced loudly: "The challenger Zhou Jianlai has won five games in a row and won four barrels of water."
After saying that, someone walked up to the boy with two buckets of water and put them down in front of the boy who had lost his arm. Another person dragged a tray over, with a green jade pendant lying on the tray.
The boy with the broken arm put away the jade pendant and put it in his arms. He squatted down and plunged into the bucket. He drank hard and drank two-thirds of the bucket of water in one breath. His belly was bulging.
After drinking, he stood up, cupped his hands under the hay shed and said, "Can you please give the remaining water to the audience under the ring? One sip for each person."
"Yes - yes." Mr. Accountant was very surprised, but he still agreed.
"Oh——" Cheers suddenly erupted from the arena.
The boy with the broken arm jumped off the ring bathed in all kinds of praises and walked towards the ring where Zhang Xiaozu was.
Boom!
Zhang Xiaopou punched the man dressed in black in the chest, like beating a drum, until the man in black was vomiting blood and fell down on his back from the ring.
"So strong!" The young man with a broken arm saw him from a distance, with an expression of extreme surprise on his face, and murmured to himself: "Isn't he born with a closed war sect? How come he has become so powerful after not seeing him for more than a month?"
