Night's Nomenclature

Qing Chen stood in the octagonal boxing ring.

“Hey, kid, do you need to take a break?” Li Shutong asked with a smile when he came beside the octagonal cage.

Qing Chen looked back at his master. “I do.”

“I thought you were going to finish all the qualifying matches in one go,” said Li Shutong cheerfully.

Qing Chen said, “I’m going to fight in the tigerweight division next round, so I’ll have to see who my opponent is and how he’ll fight. It’s good to have confidence but a bit silly to face an opponent of the same level without preparation.”

Li Shutong laughed, “It’s quite practical, but it suits your personality.”

As he spoke, Li Shutong raised his hand to signal the referee to open the octagonal cage.

Back in the waiting room, a staff member wearing a black vest came and brought a phone, “Hello, this is your next opponent, and here is a video of one of his matches. You have ten minutes.”

After speaking, the staff handed him the phone and walked out.

Li Shutong said with a smile, “It seems like… the boxing club wants you to win.”

Qing Chen started watching the video without hesitation and even played it at 16x speed to save time.

Li Shutong asked from the side, “How do you feel after those matches just now?”

“I don’t feel much,” Qing Chen responded while watching the video, “To be precise, they all fell before I could feel much.”

“You’re even more pretentious than your martial uncle,” said Li Shutong, “They’re planning to let you fight the best in the tigerweight class next. Are you scared?”

“No,” Qing Chen shook his head, “Because, I can’t die as long as you’re here.”

“Your martial uncle thought the same before,” Li Shutong sighed, “He was almost beaten to death by a cruiserweight in the ring, but when he turned, he saw that our master was seducing a young woman in the stands, not paying any attention to him at all. At that time, your martial uncle almost felt desperate, knowing that he could only rely on himself.”

“To make me feel a sense of crisis, Master, you should go hook up a lady too,” Qing Chen said expressionlessly.

“Watch your manners,” Li Shutong said with a smile.

“Master, what level did you get to at that time?” Qing Chen asked curiously.

“I got to the cruiserweight class of course!” Li Shutong said.

“Master, I remember you saying that you just passed the first life and death stage when you entered the ring for the first time,” Qing Chen questioned, “As an F-level Knight, you can’t even qualify for the cruiserweight class.”

“Haha, did I mention that?”

Ten minutes later, the staff came back and knocked on the door, “Sir, it’s time to go.”

Qing Chen put down the phone and returned to the octagonal cage with Li Shutong accompanying him.

At this time, a gambler in the stands suddenly recognized Li Shutong, “Isn’t this old guy the one who bought our tickets just now? He knows the boxer!”

“Fuck, we were tricked by these two. Xiao Tu held back in the first round to facilitate the middle-aged man to buy tickets!”

“Damn, this is such a scam!”

“Just now, did the middle-aged man say that he was only accepting tickets betting on him passing all matches?” Someone asked.

“Yeah, he only accepted those bets!”

All the gamblers were stunned. This meant that the middle-aged man was confident Xiao Tu would be able to pass all matches!

He couldn’t have spent so much money to fool around.

He just has absolute confidence!

While thinking, some gamblers got up and quickly ran to the betting service window.

However, a notice has been posted in front of the window: System down, being repaired.

For a while, the gamblers didn’t know whether the system was actually down or if it was just an excuse.

The horn sounded slowly, as the ten men beside the octagonal cage lifted up the huge horn.

With the sound of the horn, Huang Zixian, accompanied by his coaches, team leaders, and beauties, came out of the boxer’s aisle.

He was wrapped in a golden champion belt and had tattoos all over his body. Among those, the blue evil demon on his chest was the most eye-catching.

He stood outside the octagonal cage and waved to the audience. As he waved, the whole boxing arena burst into loud cheers.

He was the most popular boxer below the cruiserweight class.

Qing Chen watched silently. This would be the first time he fought head-on with someone of the same level. There were no rules of the Forbidden Land helping him here, and nothing in the octagonal cage that he could take advantage of.

The so-called octagonal cage meant that two ferocious beasts would fight for life or death in absolute fairness.

At this time, Huang Zixian also happened to turn his head and look at him calmly.

Even Qing Chen, who has experienced real battles, finally understood at this moment that the ring is the ring. His opponent had once dominated here, yet he was just a rookie.

In the private room, Li Yinuo looked at this coldly: “On weekdays, when there are newcomers reaching the tigerweight class, they would never let a champion fight him. Looks like Jian Xiaotang wants to make Xiao Tu famous after this match and become the cash cow of her Haitang Boxing Club.”

“Who is Jiang Xiaotang?” Nan Gengchen asked.

“She’s the woman in the golden dress who greeted us when we first came in,” Li Yinuo said, “She is the owner of the Haitang Boxing Gym, and she is also the woman that no gang in City 18 would like to provoke.”

“But I feel like she arranged the boxing champion to fight Guang Xiaotu this round because she wanted to end Guang Xiaotu’s rating path. This is the tigerweight boxing champion after all,” said Nan Gengchen doubtfully.

“Since I have bet on Guang Xiaotu passing all matches, she was sure that Guang Xiaotu will win no matter who he meets in the tigerweight class.” Li Yinuo looked at Nan Gengchen, “Women like her sugarcoats poison in every word they spit out. Compared to them, I like you much better, babe”

Nan Gengchen was silent for a long time and asked “Should I take that as a compliment…?”

“Hush,” Li Yinuo looked at the octagonal cage, “It’s starting.”

However, this time, Huang Zixian was the ferocious one from the first second, forcing Qing Chen to the edge of the cage.

Qing Chen wanted to protect his vitals with his arms like in the first match, and then slowly get used to the opponent’s attack rhythm.

But when Huang Zixian kicked, he was violently thrown backward.

Only then did Qing Chen realize that at their level, his body weight was no longer able to build a strong enough defense for him.

That was because, for them, their strength was enough to ignore their body weight of over a hundred or so pounds.

The pain spread from his arms to his back.

The mesh of the cage even deformed as he crashed into it.

In the private room, Li Tongyun and Nan Gengchen both clenched their fists at the same time.

The girl’s eyes were filled with tears.

This time, even Li Yinuo noticed the problem. Qing Chen still didn’t have much fighting experience.

The subordinate next to Jiang Xiaotang said in a low voice, “This teenager doesn’t seem to have much experience in close combat…”

The enchanting Jiang Xiaotang looked at the octagonal cage and said indifferently, “If this young man is just a fragile vase, it will only make Huang Zixian’s record more fascinating. No matter who ends up winning, the boxing club benefits from this either way. When have you seen the dealer losing money?”

“But…” said the subordinate.

Jiang Xiaotang glanced at him with a faint smile, “But I don’t think he will lose.”

“Why?” The subordinate asked.

Jiang Xiaotang didn’t explain.

As they were chatting…

Qing Chen stood up immediately before Huang Zixian’s next attack came. He knew that if he lost his focus during the battle, his fate would no longer be in his hands.

Huang Zixian’s attacks came like torrential rain, falling frantically and hitting Qing Chen intensively.

Qing Chen felt as if he was hit by trucks, and his whole body was going to be torn apart!

Several times, he wanted to counterattack, but whenever he wanted to adjust, the opponent’s attack would force him to return to defending with both arms.

Qing Chen reluctantly used his arms to block in front of him and stared at his opponent through the gap between his arms.

Huang Zixian also looked at him through the gap with unwavering eyes. Both of them knew that the match would end soon.

Actual combat was indeed different from practice.

The next moment, Qing Chen’s pupils narrowed.

In his memory, Ye Wan’s voice seemed to be echoing in the dark Prison 18: “Xiao Chen, if the opponent’s strength is comparable to yours, but is far superior to yours in terms of experience, what should you do?”

Qing Chen thought for a while and answered, “Run?”

“What if you couldn’t get away?”

Qing Chen thought for a while and said, “Mom Ye, what would you do if that happened?”

“Me?” Ye Wan said with a smile, “If you can’t seem to win, then try your instinct and courage. Xiao Chen, remember, only those who are too afraid of losing and care too much about the small gains will only try to defend.”

In the octagonal cage, Huang Zixian was still attacking violently, wanting to blow away Qing Chen’s defensive arms, but the next moment he suddenly saw the teenager smiling through the gap.

Qing Chen thought, yeah, why challenge his opponent’s strengths?

Qing Chen has not yet accumulated enough experience and skills, but he has his own strengths. He was never afraid of losing!

If he couldn’t defeat others with skills, then he had to give his instincts and unstoppable will a try!

He had the courage to go all out!

In an instant, Qing Chen suddenly opened his arms and rushed toward the opponent. He allowed the opponent’s fist to hit him and then began to attack despite all this.

He has a powerful Knight’s body, as long as the opponent couldn’t kill him with a single blow, then he still got the opportunity to trade a hit for a hit, a life for a life!

But he only had one chance!

Qing Chen took Huang Zixian’s punch on the cheek and hooked his fist to hit Huang Zixian’s right rib.

In the next second, he took Huang Zixian’s hit on his left rib but also punched Huang Zixian in the cheek.

Although he didn’t have offensive and defensive tactics, didn’t know how to control the rhythm, and didn’t even know any combination attacks, he has a life!

Moreover, his speed and strength were almost equivalent to Huang Zixian’s.

After exchanging the two punches…

Huang Zixian backed away silently, and they instantly distanced themselves.

Qing Chen smiled. Although the blood was running down his cheeks, it did not prevent him from smiling brightly.

Outside the octagonal cage, Li Shutong also smiled along with Qing Chen. He knew that his student had already understood the essence of fighting.

Life and death fights were never a time to care about gains and losses. A single hit wouldn’t mean a win.

Life and death fights were about killing the opponent at all costs despite knowing that oneself would be injured.

Outside the cage, all the spectators were overflowing with excitement. They didn’t expect that Qing Chen would suddenly change his style of fighting, and nothing could be more exciting in a boxing club than to watch boxers fighting for their lives with all they got.

The next moment, Qing Chen took the initiative to pounce forward, exposing his weakness to Huang Zixian without any hesitation. He entered a state of not defending at all and purely focusing on attack.

He once said, “If you can’t be a god, then be a beast!”

Huang Zixian’s previous momentum was gone and began to block his arms in front of his face, just like Qing Chen at the beginning.

Qing Chen frantically hammered at Huang Zixian’s defense. But Huang Zixian’s eyes behind those arms could always pick up where he was going to attack.

Then Huang Zixian would make corresponding adjustments and try to use his elbow to take a hit from Qing Chen’s fist.

This was a very terrifying skill learned from over a decade of experience in the boxing ring!

Huang Zixian’s gaze remained calm.

Qing Chen had already realized that Huang Zixian was waiting, waiting for an opportunity to give him a fatal blow.

His opponent was also a real beast, just like Cao Wei in the Forbidden Land. Even if their momentum was taken, they would use the opponent’s mentality to pursue a chance to win.