Chapter 402 - 361: Hesitant Mexicans, The Little Days’ Provocation

Wu Yun accepted the weighty, ostentatiously gold business card. He looked down and saw a long string of a name written on it: "Bashir ibn Abdul Aziz..."

"Chairman of the Radiant Real Estate Development Group and the Amaha Luxury Selected Desert Spa Resort Hotel."

Wu Yun looked at the thirty-something Arab with some surprise. ’He has quite a few titles,’ he thought.

So, Wu Yun handed Bashir one of his own business cards. "Come visit Huaxia sometime!"

Bashir glanced at Wu Yun’s card, then nodded with a smile. "I will! I’ve been wanting to have some fun in Macau for a while now!"

Then, Bashir added in a surprised tone, "I can’t believe Mr. Wu is the chairman of several companies at such a young age! I thought you were the heir to one of Huaxia’s great gambling families! Otherwise, how could your skills be so incredible at your age?"

Wu Yun replied humbly, "You flatter me, Mr. Bashir. I just have a slightly better memory and a bit more luck, that’s all. Poker is a game of memory and luck; there isn’t that much skill to speak of."

Bashir laughed heartily. "You have a point. What happened yesterday certainly wasn’t something skill alone could have controlled."

Just then, Bashir looked up toward a spot not far behind Wu Yun. As if sensing it, Wu Yun turned to look behind him as well.

A short, stocky Japanese man, a broad smile on his face, was being escorted in their direction by a casino staff member. He sat down on the sofa right next to Wu Yun.

Wu Yun was willing to bet this was a deliberate arrangement by the casino. They wanted him and the Japanese man to go at it until they beat each other’s brains out.

Seeing Wu Yun, the smile vanished from Takeda Nobuyoshi’s face. He spoke with gravity, "Huaxia man, we meet again! It seems Amaterasu herself has arranged for me to have a showdown with you today!"

"But before that, you are worthy of knowing my name: Takeda Nobuyoshi!" As he said his name, a proud look crossed Takeda Nobuyoshi’s face.

However, Takeda Nobuyoshi figured Wu Yun wouldn’t know of his family, so he continued, "Allow me to formally introduce myself. The Takeda Family is the largest syndicate in Osaka, with interests in both heavy and light industries."

"As for me, I’m still too young, so I’m only responsible for some of the family’s underground enterprises. I’ve also opened a few karate dojos of my own."

Hearing this, it all clicked for Wu Yun. ’No wonder,’ he thought, ’when I looked at Takeda Nobuyoshi, I saw he had Skills like Karate Mastery, Katana Saber Technique Mastery (which they call Sword Dao), and Pistol Shooting Proficiency. He’s a professional in this field. However, his Strength and Endurance stats are uneven, with some in the high eighties and others only in the low seventies.’

Wu Yun now understood. Because of the unique nature of this wager, Takeda Nobuyoshi was trying to show off his professional expertise and intimidate him.

But for all his scheming, Takeda Nobuyoshi could never have guessed that Wu Yun possessed the Detection Glasses, which could directly see through others’ Skills. It was practically a cheat device.

"Wu Yunsang! I know of you! I may not be as rich as you are, but I’m guaranteed to win this afternoon’s wager! Do you dare to bet against me?" Takeda Nobuyoshi finally revealed his true intentions.

A look of contempt flashed across Wu Yun’s face, but he quickly replaced it with a smile. "A bet? How do you want to play?"

"We’ll bet on the winner of each match. There are fifteen matches in total. The person who correctly guesses the most wins is the victor!" Takeda Nobuyoshi said without hesitation, as if he had the plan ready all along.

"No problem," Wu Yun asked. "But what happens if we both bet on the winning side?"

Takeda Nobuyoshi shrugged. "Then we both get a point, and we’ll see who has the higher total at the end. But we have to make our own picks—no one else can interfere! The stake is still ten million US dollars!"

As he spoke, Takeda Nobuyoshi glanced at the three tall bodyguards behind Wu Yun. The meaning was obvious: this was a bet between two men only.

It had to be said, Takeda Nobuyoshi had a clever scheme. If he had run into a wealthy man who didn’t understand fighting, Takeda Nobuyoshi would have made a huge profit by the end of the tournament.

At that moment, casino staff began distributing promotional pamphlets to the audience with information about the day’s contestants.

The pamphlet wasn’t large, only sixteen pages in total. Each page contained information on one fighter, including a full-body photo, age, height, weight, reach, and professional history.

But just by looking at this information, it was hard to tell how skilled these men truly were; they were all experienced fighters.

Among the sixteen men, six were from Asia, and surprisingly, one of them was from Huaxia. However, the pamphlet only listed their codenames.

The fighter from Huaxia was named Iron Fist. At twenty-nine years old, it was said that you can get a name wrong, but never a nickname. It seemed Iron Fist was a fighter who specialized in using his fists.

The other Asian fighters included one from Thailand, one from Japan, one from South Korea, one from Mongolia, and another from the Philippines.

The rest were either white or black.

However, all these men shared a common trait: their weights didn’t vary much, all falling between 80 and 90 kg.

Wu Yun waved Nick over and asked, "Nick! For the drawing later, will all the fighters come on stage to draw lots at the same time?"

Nick chuckled and bowed. "Yes, Mr. Wu! To ensure fairness, all contestants will draw a ball from a transparent box on site. The ball they choose will contain their number."

Wu Yun nodded in understanding, relaxing a little internally. ’If it wasn’t a live drawing, I’d probably have to upgrade my Detection Glasses to see if they can read abilities from a photo,’ he thought.

Now that he understood the rules, Wu Yun smiled at Nick and said, "Go get someone. The two of us want to set up a separate bet."

Because Wu Yun and Takeda Nobuyoshi had been speaking Chinese, Nick hadn’t understood a thing. He had only sensed the tense atmosphere between the two men.

Now, hearing Wu Yun’s request, he immediately turned and walked toward the main office.

In truth, Wu Yun and Takeda Nobuyoshi didn’t need to involve the casino as a witness; they could have made a private bet. But doing it that way made it too easy for someone to go back on their word.

So, for the sake of fairness and security—and because he didn’t much trust the integrity of the Little Days people, especially with that negative favorability score... Huh? Wu Yun was surprised. He had just checked and discovered that Takeda Nobuyoshi’s favorability toward him had reached 5. ’Is the Japanese gene for worshipping the strong really carved into their bones?’ he wondered.

A moment later, Nick returned with three people in tow.

Wu Yun recognized the man in the lead; he was the one who had delivered the invitation.

After asking the two about the terms of their bet, the staff member had each of them submit a check for ten million US dollars.

After the checks were locked in a safe, the staff member produced a tripartite agreement for them to sign. He then smiled and said, "Let me be the first to wish you both a good time. I will handle the settlement for you two gentlemen after the finals are over."

From the side, Bashir watched this scene with keen interest, growing ever more curious about Wu Yun’s identity.

Just then, a middle-aged man in a suit and bow tie walked onto the ring with a microphone. In a passionate voice, he announced to the audience that the Venetians’ bare-knuckle tournament was about to begin.

"Please welcome! The sixteen fighters competing today!"

Swept up by the announcer’s enthusiasm, most of the people in the crowd couldn’t help but scream and cheer.

Some of the sixteen hulking fighters were bare-chested, while others wore outfits reflecting their professional backgrounds.

Luckily, the ring was spacious. It was a custom-built platform, far larger than a standard ring. Even with all sixteen fighters standing shoulder to shoulder, it was only slightly crowded.

"Alright, our fighters are in position! We will now begin the drawing for today’s matchups! After the drawing, you can all place your bets on your favorite fighters."

At that moment, a ring girl with a fiery figure and revealing clothes came out holding a transparent cubic box filled with a tangled mess of small white balls.

"Fighters, you all know the rules! No eye-gouging, no groin kicks, no striking the opponent’s throat, and no soccer kicks. Besides that, there are no rules!"

"Each match will consist of three five-minute rounds! A winner will be decided by knockout, submission, forfeit, or by score!"

"Alright! Let’s have you draw lots in order, from left to right! Number 1 will be matched with number 16, number 2 with number 15, and so on!"