Chapter 13

**Manly self-reliance?** Li Jiawei stared at Ning Yi's slender and somewhat thin back, and in the evening breeze, the sight of his worn-out backpack made her heart inexplicably ache.

Unable to resist, she rolled down the car window and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Home!" Ning Yi answered without turning his head.

Li Jiawei's eyebrows furrowed slightly. She didn't really know much about Ning Yi, but she knew he was an orphan. Where was an orphan's home?

But she didn't call him out on his lie. After a moment's thought, she said, "If anything happens, remember to call me. Do you still remember my phone number?"

"Sure, I've got it memorized." Ning Yi nodded.

"Alright, be careful." Li Jiawei said goodbye to Ning Yi.

As the car drove away, the driver couldn't help but say in a low voice, "Miss, that young man is quite a sight, and he's also very polite."

A sight? Ning Yi did look good, but the word "polite" didn't seem to fit him at all. Li Jiawei thought resentfully.

"Uncle Yong, you're being nosy again. He's just a classmate of mine. A few bullies in class always try to bully him, so I just helped him out. That's all." Li Jiawei quickly explained.

"Miss, I didn't say anything," the driver replied with a smile.

Li Jiawei's face turned slightly red. She was blackmailed by that Ning Yi again... "Oh, Uncle Yong, just drive the car properly."

*****

Watching the Benz slowly drive away, Ning Yi smiled. This rich and beautiful girl had a really good heart, which was evident from her eyes just now.

However, calling her was out of the question because Ning Yi was so poor that he didn't even have a phone.

The reason Ning Yi got off here was that there was an underground bar nearby.

Of course, he wasn't there to spend money. Even though it was an underground bar, the prices were still high.

After 1:00 AM, the bar would host underground boxing matches, which often ran all night and were very popular.

Chen Liu had once taken him there, but of course, there was an entrance fee.

The underground boxing matches weren't just for entertainment; the results could also be bet on by the guests.

For Ning Yi, who was currently broke, this was definitely a good opportunity to make money.

It was said that the participants in the underground boxing matches included not only skilled fighters but also martial artists, though not official martial artists, but those at the Qi Cultivation level.

Before the matches, no one knew the strength of their opponents, and even if there were martial artists, others couldn't tell.

Ning Yi, however, had the ability to see through their strength, which gave him a significant advantage when betting. Of course, the bar might manipulate the matches.

Besides, he had another skill: Energy Absorption...

If those guys leaked battle qi while fighting, he might gain a lot of energy points at night.

He couldn't practice like the heirs of wealthy families, who had specialized cultivation methods or expensive energy crystals, but with this skill, his results shouldn't be much worse than theirs.

Ning Yi had ninety-five yuan left. The entrance fee was forty yuan, and the minimum bet in the underground bar was fifty yuan. He would start with these.

Ning Yi skillfully turned into a dark alley, took off his school uniform, and put on a black tank top from his bag. He then picked up some dust from the ground to make his handsome face look a bit more weathered. He walked to a shop with a rolled-up shutter.

Two thugs were smoking and chatting at the entrance.

Ning Yi, who had been there once before, knew they were on lookout.

Without a word, he walked straight over.

"Hey... Hey... Kid, what are you doing here?" A skinny guy blocked Ning Yi.

Damn, he could tell just by looking. Fortunately, Ning Yi was experienced. He glared at the skinny guy, grabbed his wrist, and the skinny guy found he couldn't break free, his face changing slightly.

"Brother, we're in business, and all customers are welcome." Ning Yi's voice was deliberately deep and mature.

The skinny guy immediately smiled apologetically, "Oh, it's a regular customer. Sorry, I mistook you for someone else."

These were the words Chen Liu had said when they first came here, probably the password.

He smoothly walked in. Inside was just a regular convenience store, but there was a side door in the aisle. Walking through the side door, he could faintly hear the heavy metal music with a strong impact.

A large wooden door stood before him, with a square table next to it, and two thugs in black tight T-shirts with yellow hair stood behind the table.

They just glanced at Ning Yi, and one of them, with a cigarette in his mouth, threw a token on the table.

Ning Yi skillfully took out forty yuan and handed it over, then picked up the token.

Pushing open the wooden door, he walked in. The air was filled with a chaotic atmosphere, the smell of smoke and alcohol, and the heavy metal music was turned up to the maximum, almost deafening.

Couples were wildly dancing in the center of the dance floor, and a few provocatively dressed women were mixing with the men, using flirtatious language and explicit body movements to tease the men who couldn't control themselves.

To be honest, the women inside weren't very attractive. Apart from their revealing clothes and some with more curvaceous figures, most of them looked ordinary, and their faces wouldn't score more than 70 points. Most were just average women, and they didn't look young.

A seductive woman with a hint of white cleavage saw Ning Yi and immediately came over, pressing her ample chest against him and flirtatiously said, "Oh, handsome, would you like to dance with me?"

Dance? Ning Yi didn't know how to dance, and it cost thirty yuan for one dance. He had no interest in that.

"Hehe, lady, do you know what I do?" Ning Yi asked in a hoarse voice.

"What do you do?" The seductive woman asked quickly, seeing Ning Yi's lecherous look.

"I do that..." Ning Yi ambiguously lifted his chin and smiled, "I can dance with you, but it's one hundred yuan per hour."

"Damn, you're a gigolo... What a disappointment." The woman immediately lost interest and left.

After getting rid of the woman, Ning Yi quickly turned away from the dance floor and headed straight for his destination, the fighting arena.

To enter, Ning Yi had to exchange chips first. The smallest was a green token worth fifty yuan.

The receptionist at the exchange counter, seeing Ning Yi's appearance and the fifty yuan on the table, impatiently threw him a green token.

Ning Yi didn't mind and walked straight in.

Inside, the show had already started.

A large crowd was surrounding a fighting ring of about twenty square meters, their eyes red with excitement, shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Kill him..."

"Hit his chest!"

"Kick his balls!"

The crowd included both men and women, but their eyes, gleaming with a wild light, revealed their primal instincts.

On the stage, a fighter in a blue uniform and one in a red uniform were fighting fiercely without any protection. Soon, the red fighter performed a big back throw, slamming the blue fighter to the ground with a deafening sound, and then delivered an elbow to the blue fighter's neck.

The blue fighter let out a painful howl and had to admit defeat.

The match was over, and the spectators around the ring immediately erupted in cheers. Some pounded their chests, others screamed in celebration of their victory.

The winning bettors collected their chips, and a new round of matches began.

The red and blue fighters appeared simultaneously.

Ning Yi glanced at them. Damn, what good luck! The blue fighter was a Qi Cultivation Level 1 quasi-martial artist, looking strong and muscular.

The red fighter, on the other hand, was shorter but very solid, with a fierce gaze.

On the surface, the blue fighter seemed to have a better chance of winning, but for the bettors, such an obvious match often had a trap. The red fighter looked weak, but his skills were definitely not to be underestimated.

The odds that followed further confirmed the bettors' suspicions. The odds were 1:2, with the blue fighter at 2 and the red fighter at 1, indicating that the organizers favored the red fighter.

Many people began to murmur, thinking that the seemingly weak red fighter must have some special abilities.

Ning Yi, however, saw the organizers' cunning. If he was right, they were deliberately creating a false impression that the blue fighter was strong but actually weak.

Fortunately, he could tell that the blue fighter was a quasi-martial artist.

Just as he was about to place a bet, his eyes caught a familiar figure...

Based on the memories in Ning Yi's mind, he immediately recognized the man with a scarred face as one of the four thugs who had beaten him to death in an alley and then dragged him to the countryside to bury him.

***************

Sorry, I was a bit late because my daughter, Xiaodoudou, had her second birthday!

PS: Brothers, we're at 18th place on the new book chart, not far from the top. I need your support!

If you have recommendation tickets, please vote for me. Thank you! I believe my brothers can help me climb up!

Thank you to [Ning Beileye] for the two 1888 Qidian coins donation.

Thank you to [Dousilu] for the 1888 Qidian coins donation.

Thank you to [Mierxiutelasi] for the 200 Qidian coins donation.