"Ladies and gentlen, good evening! Welco to the highly anticipated Alchemy Competition!"
"The last competition was two months ago, but the contestants’ incredible performances are still unforgettable, as if it all happened yesterday."
"Does everyone rember who the champion of the competition two months ago was?!" the female host, dressed in a red, high-slit, sensual qipao, asked with a beaming smile.
"Billy! Billy! Billy!"
A wave of cheers and shouts erupted from the crowd, the sound imnse.
In the contestant area, with a BANG, a shower of confetti exploded. The blond man nad Billy spread his arms, bathing in the dazzling cascade of confetti with an arrogant smile on his face, basking in the audience’s cheers.
He was the three-ti reigning champion of the underground Alchemy Competition. With the fa he had built, he now had it all: money, won, status, and connections.
Before he started competing, he was just a destitute Alchemy Apprentice, unable to afford Advanced Alchemy Equipnt or pay his rent. The Goddess he’d been pursuing treated him like a sycophantic backup plan, and he could only afford two als a day. Now, he had completely transford, becoming a hotshot in Hong City’s underworld.
In the spectator seats, the boss of the Fire Pattern Nightclub lit a cigarette and chuckled. "Billy’s fa is growing. He’s very talented, and since getting funding, his Alchemy has progressed by leaps and bounds. In a year at most, he’ll be able to take the Alchemy Association’s exam and register as an official Alchemist."
Billy was a talent he had discovered and the Fire Pattern Nightclub’s biggest cash cow. Every Alchemy Competition, they made a fortune off Billy. Furthermore, he used Billy’s story to cultivate a public image as a patron who loved discovering new talent. This allowed him to gather many gifted newcors, as well as so arrogant cannon fodder—the story of a poor boy, appreciated by a benefactor, who turns his life around and reaches the pinnacle of success, is always an attractive one.
"Congratulations, but don’t be so sure about this competition. I’ve found a very powerful Alchemist myself," said the boss of the Wild Wolf Bar, a mysterious smile on his face.
Everyone looked toward the Wild Wolf Bar’s contestant area. A man sat there, staring blankly at the ground with a deadpan expression. He looked very withdrawn, completely out of place with the lively atmosphere of the arena. But they all knew that highly skilled Alchemists, who spent years imrsed in the study of Alchemy, were often a bit strange in the head.
The weirder they looked, the stronger they might be.
"Fuck, that old dog ca prepared. But it doesn’t matter, because so did I!" The glamorous female boss of the Dark Matter Nightclub grinned, exhaled a puff of smoke, and glanced toward her own representative in the contestant area.
It was a goblin wearing glasses and human clothes, currently with a beautiful woman on each arm. This goblin was a regular at the Dark Matter Nightclub, notorious for his wild whoring and gambling. He always left the girls unable to get out of bed, which was how he beca famous at the club. It was only after a brief interaction that she learned this goblin was actually an Alchemist.
So, she paid the goblin to compete against the Alchemist she had previously hired. The goblin won a landslide victory. After that, she invited the goblin to beco the Dark Matter Nightclub’s resident Alchemist and represent the club in the competition.
"It seems everyone ca well-prepared... Why don’t we raise the stakes a bit? That would make things more exciting," Boss Li suggested with a smile.
"Seconded! I’ll add another ten million!"
"So generous! I’ll add another ten million too!"
"Heh heh... It’s been a while since we’ve had stakes this high. Looks like you’re all aiming for the championship this ti... I’ll add another ten million as well!"
One by one, the bosses raised their bets. Only Antonio sat there with a grim face, smoking his cigar without a word.
Boss Li looked at him with a grin. "Antonio, everyone else has raised. Why haven’t you? It’s not good to be unsociable, you know."
Antonio shot him a glance and said in a low voice, "Another ten million."
A few seconds after he spoke, the prize pool on the big screen began to skyrocket, eventually reaching an astronomical, envy-inducing figure.
Ten black market bosses, each putting up twenty million as a bet. That was a massive prize of two hundred million!
A portion of this prize money would be distributed to the audience mbers who won their bets, another portion would go to the top three competitors and the black markets they represented, but the largest slice of the pie would go straight into the pockets of the champion’s backer.
Even so, this lit a fire under the audience. If they could just win their bets, they’d score big! One percent of two hundred million was still two million!
In an instant, the gamblers went wild, swarming the betting windows or the bunny girls holding betting slips, placing wagers on the contestants they believed in.
"How much spending money do you have?"
In the contestant area, Zhou Chen quietly asked Li Xiye, who was beside him.
"A little over twenty thousand," Li Xiye answered honestly.
Zhou Chen looked at her in surprise. "Aren’t you a rich kid who lives in a huge house? Why do you only have that much money in your account?"
"I’m a high school student. Why would my parents give that much money? Besides, I have a dog to feed, my car and motorcycle need regular maintenance, and then there’s my whole backyard of flowers. So of those flowers cost over ten thousand a pot."
"...Your hobbies are more expensive than collecting figures. How about this: borrow so money from your brother and bet on to win. Afterward, we’ll split it eighty-twenty. What do you say?" Zhou Chen said.
"Okay." Li Xiye didn’t refuse. She imdiately got up and ran to her fourth brother to borrow money.
In the end, she didn’t get any cash. She just ca back with a betting slip for two million.
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