Cunning

At a conservative estimate, more than a hundred people had gathered at the training ground. Cheng Sheng clicked his tongue inwardly. He had no idea a place as an official disciple of the Black Killing Boxing Gym could be so desirable.

If he hadn't completed the second sacrifice and obtained the Power of the Ram, he really wouldn't have been confident about today's assessment.

"A Sheng!"

Someone called Cheng Sheng's name.

Cheng Sheng turned toward the voice and saw Badan, dark-skinned and sturdy, jogging over to him.

"Are this many people taking the assessment today?"

Cheng Sheng looked out at the training ground as he spoke to Badan.

The open space in the middle of the training ground had been completely cleared and made into sand fighting rings. The assessment for official disciples of the Black Killing Boxing Gym was simple-actual combat. Whoever won in the end would naturally be selected.

"There are a lot, but not that many."

Badan glanced around and said, "Half of them are just here to watch. But there should still be forty or fifty who actually signed up for the assessment."

Forty or fifty. That wasn't so bad.

Cheng Sheng's eyes flickered. Once he took out the people who, like Badan, had signed up to try their luck... this assessment didn't seem so hard after all.

As Cheng Sheng thought this, he looked Badan up and down and saw that he was "fully armed" today: boxing gloves, knee pads, an arm ring, a headband... he was dressed from head to toe in proper "Mongkhon" attire.

Cheng Sheng, on the other hand, had shown up in shorts and a T-shirt. Compared with Badan, he looked like he wasn't taking it seriously enough.

"Tsk, tsk..."

Cheng Sheng praised Badan's outfit a few times, then turned to look at the shrine surrounded by people not far away. Half joking, he said, "Aren't you going to pay your respects before the assessment?"

"A bunch of guys clutching at Buddha's feet at the last minute..."

Badan glanced disdainfully at the trainees in front of the Ruesi statue. Then he lifted his chin slightly and said with some pride, "I already brought offerings and paid my respects sincerely yesterday."

"Pfft-"

Cheng Sheng couldn't hold it in. He patted Badan on the shoulder and sighed. "That's just like you, Badan."

Just then, someone squeezed out of the crowd and called, "A Sheng."

Cheng Sheng looked closely and saw that it was Song Cai.

"What brings you here?"

He was a little surprised. Song Cai hunched his shoulders and said, "I came to cheer you on."

After what had happened last time, Song Cai was noticeably more subdued, even a little jumpy. As he spoke to Cheng Sheng, his eyes kept darting involuntarily to either side, as if he were terrified the two Red Ba Gang thugs might suddenly pop out from somewhere.

Only after Cheng Sheng asked did he learn that Song Cai had returned the phone and put the stolen money back.

The phone shop, however, definitely wouldn't give him a full refund, and he had no money to make up the difference, so he had still taken a beating.

Afterward, the woman called A Yu had even phoned to threaten him, frightening him into canceling his old phone number.

He had taken Cheng Sheng's advice and decided to start at the coconut sugar factory next month. His visit to watch Cheng Sheng's assessment was, to some extent, also a way of saying goodbye.

After all, once he started work, he certainly wouldn't have as much freedom as he did now.

Cheng Sheng introduced Song Cai and Badan to each other, and the three stood together, chatting on and off. After some unknown length of time, they heard a bell ring.

The old man who guarded the gym's entrance carried a huge bronze bell around the training ground, striking it again and again. Its clear, loud peals quieted the entire training ground, and the crowd spread out to the sides of its own accord.

Right afterward, several figures strode out of the gym. Besides Songpa and Sulai, whom Cheng Sheng knew, there was also a tall, well-proportioned young man with short hair.

The young man looked quite young, but his status seemed to be a little higher than Songpa's and Sulai's, as he walked between them and slightly ahead.

He had bronze skin and a crocodile tattoo on his neck representing the Black Killing Boxing Gym. Even from far away, Cheng Sheng seemed to feel a faint, invisible pressure from him.

"Sha Lie, one of the Black Kill gym master's disciples."

Badan spoke with his eyes fixed on the unfamiliar short-haired young man, his voice carrying the excitement of someone who had spotted his idol. "He's extremely talented. They say he was Qingsha City's underground boxing champion for a long time, and he's stronger than any other disciple in the gym...

"I didn't expect him to show up today. You hardly ever get to see him."

Badan was a fanatical combat sports enthusiast and had spent several years at the Black Killing Boxing Gym. There was hardly anything he didn't know.

The appearance of Sha Lie and the other two marked the official start of the assessment, and the atmosphere grew tense without anyone realizing it.

Songpa briefly explained the rules for the assessment. Basically, they couldn't bite an opponent's ears, gouge their x-eyes, attack vital points, and so on during a fight. These were all things they had been taught in their regular combat classes.

Then all the trainees who had signed up were called to the stage to draw lots and decide their opponents for the first round.

As Badan had said, there weren't quite that many people actually taking the assessment. The thousand-yuan registration fee had screened out many ordinary trainees who just wanted to "join in the fun." Almost everyone left was genuinely hoping to compete for a place.

Cheng Sheng counted forty-seven in all.

While drawing lots, he took the opportunity to look at the other contestants. At a glance, he spotted Zhou Wenye, the obnoxious rich second-generation heir who had been madly pursuing Sulai.

The guy wore a snow-white tracksuit today and seemed to have had his hair styled. He sat lazily in a wicker chair and even sent one of his bodyguards up to draw his lot.

Of everyone there, this guy was the most brazen and conspicuous.

"Fuck, I got a bye!"

As soon as the draw ended, someone immediately shouted, his face full of excitement.

Everyone, Cheng Sheng included, looked enviously at the lucky fellow who had drawn the bye.

In a combat assessment with forty-seven people, there were said to be only one or two places available in the end. Fighting one fewer match early on meant having more stamina later to deal with increasingly strong opponents.

The open space at the center of the training ground was large enough for the twenty-three pairs of trainees to enter their respective sand rings.

The referees were Songpa, Sulai, and Sha Lie. There was no need to worry about them being unable to watch everything: all around the rings, pairs of eyes were fixed on the different contestants.

Cheng Sheng had just been envying someone else for getting a bye, but "good luck" soon came knocking at his own door.

He didn't know whether his first-round opponent had caught a chill or eaten something bad, but less than two minutes after entering the ring, the man suddenly clutched his backside, cried "Ah!" and ran straight off.

By the look of him, if he had been a second later, it would have sprayed out right there...

"Unbelievable."

Cheng Sheng was so speechless he wanted to laugh, but having something like this happen did ease his nerves quite a bit.

All twenty-three matches were held at once. The scene was chaotic, but the matches also ended quickly. After all, none of the contestants was particularly strong; they had only learned the basics of combat.

When the first round ended, Songpa announced a fifteen-minute break, after which they would draw lots for the second round.

Badan made it through the first round without trouble. As soon as he left the ring, he excitedly grabbed Cheng Sheng and described the fight he had just had. Cheng Sheng knew Badan's abilities all too well and showed little interest, but Song Cai made an appreciative listener.

A scene like this really was a rare sight for him.

Cheng Sheng happened to be resting directly across from Zhou Wenye. He saw one of Zhou Wenye's two bodyguards giving him a massage while the other handed him water. He was still making quite a show of himself.

Halfway through the break, Zhou Wenye stood up, apparently intending to go talk to Sulai. Only after Sha Lie, another of the referees, gave him a cold look did he walk back, his expression somewhat sour...

Clang-

The bronze bell rang, and the second round began.

There were far fewer people this time. Cheng Sheng's opponent was a short, stocky middle-aged man in blue boxing shorts, whose fat-covered muscles made him look quite solidly built.

Following the example of some others, Cheng Sheng pressed his palms together in a gesture of respect to the sturdy man and politely asked, "Should we introduce ourselves?"

The man smiled and shook his head. "Let's just start. The sooner we're done, the better. I still have to go fishing..."

As he spoke, he raised a hand and pointed outside the ring, as if to show Cheng Sheng his fishing gear.

Cheng Sheng instinctively looked to the side, following his gesture. But the moment he turned his head, the man's expression suddenly changed. Eyes full of ferocity, he closed in and threw a vicious punch at Cheng Sheng's face!