Night’s Nomenclature

Chapter 193: Rules of the Game

“Why did you come so early today?” Huang Zixian was a little puzzled, “It’s only 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and it’s all bantamweight and featherweight matches right now.”

Qing Chen walked into the boxing gym as Huang Zixian sat back in the wheelchair and asked his assistant to push his wheelchair.

In the corridor, Qing Chen lowered his cap and said, “Let me just take a look.”

At this time, Huang Zixian said, “You just want to learn their techniques by watching, right?”

“What made you ask that?” Qing Chen said calmly.

“I can feel it,” Huang Zixian said while sitting in a wheelchair, “Although you managed to beat me yesterday, your skills are far inferior to mine. I can feel it.”

“Yes, I did come to learn today,” Qing Chen didn’t need to hide this fact.

However, Huang Zixian was surprised by the response, “You need to hire a professional coach to learn fighting techniques. Haitang Boxing Club will not provide you with a coach. They don’t have this business.”

“I don’t want to hire a coach,” Qing Chen shook his head because the teaching lesson-by-lesson was too slow for him.

He wanted to observe other people’s fights, record every detail in his mind, and convert it to his own knowledge upon analyzing it.

But he couldn’t explain his talent to Huang Zixian.

At this time, a staff member of the boxing club suddenly walked up to them. He was wearing a black suit and said politely in a low voice, “Mr. Qing, are you planning to fight a match today? We can arrange your opponent for you right away, and if you have an opponent that you want to fight, you can also make a request.”

“I’m not planning to fight today. I’ll just be watching.”

“Then I’ll take you to the private room,” the staff member said before leading the way.

He led Qing Chen to a VIP room, and a sign that said “VIP001” was hanging on the door. Seeing this, Huang Zixian’s expression became strange.

Huang Zixian looked at the staff hesitantly, “Can I go in?”

Qing Chen was a bit confused. Isn’t it just a private room? Why did he still have to ask for permission?

But the staff did not answer directly, and looked at Qing Chen: “Would you like to invite Mr. Huang into the room?”

“Yes,” Qing Chen still had something to ask Huang Zixian, an experienced boxer.

After receiving an affirmative reply, the staff looked at Huang Zixian. “Mr. Huang, you may go in and accompany Mr. Qing.”

Immediately afterwards, the staff quietly exited the private room after asking about the drinks and meals they wanted.

Qing Chen smelled the faint fragrance in the private room as if an orchid was quietly blooming in the dark night. It was fragrant but not strong.

He looked at Huang Zixian, “Can you please explain what happened just now?”

“This is the private room where Boss Jiang watches the matches, and it is not open to anyone else,” Huang Zixian said, “The entire Haitang Boxing Club knows about this. She usually stays alone in this private room and does not allow anyone to come near it.”

Qing Chen thought, no wonder the fragrance here is so strong… it turned out that it was exclusively for that lady.

In the mind of people like Huang Zixian, Jiang Xiaotang could never be described as a good person.

How could a woman who stabbed Zhou Mo twice without changing her expression be ordinary?

She was famous for her cruelty and ruthlessness in the Fourth District. Under her beautiful appearance and enchanting figure, there was a vicious soul.

Thinking of this, Huang Zixian hesitated for a moment and spoke again, “Do you remember the middleweight boxing champion Zhou Mo who refused to fight with you yesterday? Boss Jiang stabbed him twice herself, and now he is still lying on a hospital bed down the street. But this is the rules of the game, I think Zhou Mo was also mentally prepared when he made the decision.”

“Rules of the game?” Qing Chen heard this again. When Huang Zixian said that he would repay his own life, he also mentioned the rules.

He always thought that this was a very vague concept, but now it seemed to be some substantive rules that were well-established.

Huang Zixian explained, “In the underground business, righteousness and promises must be respected. Zhou Mo received the money from the Haitang Boxing Club but chickened out before the match, letting Boss Jiang lose face. This is a violation of his promise, so he took two stabs through his gut. Also, one can’t betray any gang they committed to. Otherwise, that person will not be accepted anywhere else from that point on. If a gang accepted a traitor, that gang would be soon wiped out by others.”

Qing Chen nodded, he understood.

Rules were the favorable conditions that those in power set for themselves. With these rules, everyone would need to think twice before they decide to betray their group or a promise.

However, he was a little surprised that the underground market in the Inner World would also have such rules.

At this time, Huang Zixian said, “It’s like how you spared my life, and I will pay you back. This is also a rule. After finishing all my family arrangements, even if you let me die immediately, I can’t refuse. But if I am able to help you get out of a critical situation and manage to survive after that, I would have earned my life back and don’t owe you anything anymore.”

Qing Chen felt a little emotional: What a stubborn rule…

However, when he heard about these rules, he felt that the cruel world just got more approachable and human-like.

This was probably something that those bigwigs couldn’t see.

At first, Qing Chen couldn’t understand why Lin Xiaoxiao, Ye Wan, and Li Dongze were so loyal to Li Shutong, but at this moment, it all clicked for him.

It was the rules of the game.

This was something that felt out of place in this futuristic cyberpunk world, but it just exists.

Of course, Qing Chen also knew very well that there would be plenty of people who would bend the rules, and not many would be as pure as Huang Zixian.

Qing Chen could also sense that Huang Zixian wanted to hint to him that Boss Jiang was not easy to mess with, but Huang Zixian didn’t dare to say so directly.

Perhaps Huang Zixian also couldn’t figure out his relationship with Boss Jiang, so he didn’t want to talk nonsense.

To be honest, even Qing Chen was a little puzzled, he had only met Jiang Xiaotang once. Why would she make so many exceptions for him?

This was strange.

But there wasn’t much he could do now. Qing Chen sat down calmly in the private room, and his eyes were fixed on the two bantamweight fighters in the octagonal cage.

Tigerweight corresponded to E-class superhumans, and middleweight corresponded to F-level superhuman. Therefore, featherweight and bantamweight were still considered ordinary people.

In the past, Huang Zixian would not take a second look at boxing matches of this level, but he found that Qing Chen watched them with great interest.

The former tigerweight boxing champion thought, Judging from the match last night, Qing Xiaotu would be one of the best in E-level. Why would he be so interested in a bantamweight match?

Huang Zixian suddenly started talking, trying to start a conversation, “Of the two bantamweights in the cage right now, one is Li Yuzhe and the other is Chang Lele. Both of them are very skilled, but they have never gotten any genetic injections. Li Yuzhe couldn’t find a genetic injection, and Chang Lele bought his already. He wanted to take the injection after having a child, but he couldn’t find a wife…”

Qing Chen asked while watching the match, “Is it really hard for bantamweight boxers to find a partner?”

“Not really,” Huang Zixian said, “He had a girlfriend a while ago, but the girl cheated on him and married a middleweight boxer. I suspect that he might not want to wait any longer and might use the genetic injection to take revenge on that boxer.”

“Your circle is really chaotic,” Qing Chen sighed.

At this time, Chang Lele suddenly turned around and clamped down on his opponent with his waist, hips, and arms, which forcefully shifted the opponent’s center of gravity.

Seeing Qing Chen’s eyes light up, Huang Zixian explained: “This is a northern wrestling technique. The waist and hips are one of the most important axes of the human body. They can often play a role in close combat and wrestling.”

Qing Chen replayed Chang Lele’s waist-hip-axis technique just now and instantly thought of several more similar fighting methods.

He suddenly felt that it was quite nice for someone to analyze the match as he watched.

Qing Chen looked at Huang Zixian, “Since you are still recovering from your injury, why don’t you come and explain the matches to me every afternoon?”

Huang Zixian thought for a moment, “Would that be part of the favor that I’ll have to repay?”

Qing Chen said seriously, “You can consider this to be an interest payment.”

Huang Zixian smiled, “Sure.”

In fact, Qing Chen had another purpose. He wanted to learn about the people at the bottom of this world through Huang Zixian, someone who had been in this business for years.

…

…

At this moment, in a hidden room, there were sets of lady’s dresses hanging here, with a huge bathroom and bathtub inside. This was Jiang Xiaotang’s private space.

Jiang Xiaotang was sitting in front of a table with her chin propped up, and a dynamic holographic projection was in front of her. It was projecting Qing Chen and Huang Zixian chatting.

She said to herself doubtfully, “Did he really come to watch the matches to learn skills? But what skills can he learn by watching bantamweight matches?”

While speaking, her fair calf under the hem of the skirt rested on the soft cushion in front of her. The embroidered flat shoes on her feet were extremely bright, creating a beautiful contrast with her feet.

Jiang Xiaotang silently looked at the boy in the hologram and started thinking.

After a while, she pressed a button on the table and said, “Change the match schedule. Let Guo Ruochao and Zhong Mingyuan play the next match. Ask them to make up the match contract, and increase their appearance fee for this one by 10%.”

The subordinate’s hesitant voice came from the built-in speaker on the table, “Boss, is it a little bit late to change the schedule now…”

Jiang Xiaotang didn’t speak, and after only three seconds, the subordinate immediately changed his words and said, “I’ll make arrangements now.”

In the private room, Qing Chen asked during the break time between matches, “How often does someone die in the octagonal cage?”

“Very often,” Huang Zixian said, “The Haitang Boxing Club is still considered one of the better ones. Boss Jiang won’t deliberately pursue blood and excitement. But many small boxing clubs would be different. In order to attract some audiences and gamblers hungry for action, they will deliberately do it every day. Killing a boxer or two.”

Qing Chen didn’t understand, “Didn’t I hear that Haitang Boxing Club will have newcomers every 10 days or so? If there are so few newcomers, wouldn’t they run out of boxers?!”

Huang Zixian burst out laughing, “It seems that you really don’t know the boxing clubs in the fourth district. There are more than one hundred black boxing clubs in City 18, and the fourth district has gathered 16 of the largest ones. If new boxers wanted to be placed in their corresponding weight classes, only those 16 largest boxing clubs would count. Under normal circumstances, everyone will go to the Hongxing Boxing Club, since their boxers are the weakest overall and had the fewest deaths. On a typical night, they might be able to get a dozen newcomers. Frankly, that’s Hongxing Boxing Club’s core business, selling boxer’s entry tickets.”

After passing the initial matches, boxers could freely choose any club to fight.

A large-scale boxing club like Haitang would have its own exclusive fighters.

Generally, people from the Haitang Boxing Club had a natural sense of superiority when meeting others of the same weight class from other clubs.

Qing Chen nodded to show that he understood. The sixteen boxing gyms in the fourth district were tantamount to controlling the power of ‘licensing’ boxers, and the boxing clubs in the entire No. 18 city needed to rely on them.

And the Haitang Boxing Club has always belonged to the highest level, so usually, those who dare to come here to be rated were all talented fighters.

Only true talents would come here hoping to become famous overnight.

Only then did Qing Chen realize how deceitful his master and master’s master were…

In other words, how virtueless the Knight’s traditions are…

“Hey, the match schedule has changed,” Huang Zixian said, “Wait, why are Guo Ruochao and Zhong Mingyuan playing?”

“Is there a problem?” Qing Chen asked.

Huang Zixian hesitated for a moment and said: “These two are the best in the featherweight class. Haitang Boxing Club generally avoids letting them compete together, it’s not very entertaining to have two boxers who specialize in detailed techniques to fight each other. The audience may not be able to understand what they’re doing. This is weird… who arranged this match?”

He glanced at Qing Chen. Would this arrangement have been made especially for this young man?

Just as Huang Zixian was thinking, there was a knock on the door outside the private room, and Jiang Xiaotang asked lazily outside the door, “May I come in?”

Huang Zixian looked at Qingchen silently. He didn’t expect that Jiang Xiaotang would ask for permission before coming in.