Chapter 834: Growth And Test
Late in the night.
Two days and one night had pa.s.sed since Zhang Heng led the patrol team to collect security fees from Iron Handcuff.
In the meantime, Iron Handcuff also managed to figure out Zhang Heng’s ident.i.ty. In fact, it was not hard to find out that Zhang Heng was the gladiatorial champion of the Amphitheatrum Flavium since it was currently the hottest topic of discussion in the entire city of Rome. This man had captured the hearts of many ladies.
Everyone regretted that they allowed Zhang Heng to regain his freedom so early since it meant they wouldn’t get to watch him fight in the arena anymore. Fortunately, Mark Reuss’s gladiator school advertised that Zhang Heng would perform once in Victor Arena every month. And they were now accepting ticket bookings.
The ticket sales of Victor Arena skyrocketed, showering Mark Reuss in joy. Not only did Zhang Heng’s return significantly increase Victor Arena’s exposure level, but it also allowed Mark Reuss to slowly gain the upper hand in negotiation when he purchased Terufelos, the Giant.
Until now, Terufelos had not been sold. His owner had received dozens of offers. Basically, all the gladiator schools that could afford to purchase Tefufelos had made their offer. These offers were only getting higher and higher. The more offers Terufelos’s owner received, the more hesitant he became. He thought he could sell Terufelos at a higher price if he were willing to wait a little longer.
After all, the seller had the greater advantage in the market now. After Zhang Heng was freed, Terufelos, who made an impressive performance in the final battle, became the best-selling gladiator in Rome.
However, when they heard that Zhang Heng would be performing in Victor Arena every month, the demand for Terufelos finally began to cool down. The gladiator schools did not make any new offers after that. It was now their turn to hesitate since going all-in on a gladiator could be a precarious business, not to mention that once Zhang Heng started to perform in Victor Arena, Terufelos would also lose the t.i.tle of the strongest gladiator.
One should never underestimate how different the first and second gladiators could be. Take Sethnets and Sartonilos back then, for instance. Although Sartonilos had many followers himself, he did not sell as many tickets as Sethnets. Zhang Heng’s return would turn Victor Arena into the top arena in the city of Rome. In order to compete for second place, how much were the gladiator schools willing to pay?
At this time, the only gladiator school owner still willing to make a higher offer was Mark Reuss’. However, Mark Reuss had also mentioned that he would only allow Terufelos’s owner to think about it for a night. Once the time was up, he would cancel his offer and withdraw himself from the bidding compet.i.tion.
Finally, after thinking about it for an entire night and coupled with the persuasion of Terufelos, he accepted Mark Reuss’s offer. And he left Rome with the money before dawn. The other gladiator schools had no idea that Victor Arena had purchased Terufelos until the afternoon. Marco Reuss now possessed the top three gladiators in Rome. His greed had caused all the other gladiator school’s owners to take a deep breath.
…
On the other hand, Iron Handcuff was taken aback after learning that Zhang Heng was the strongest gladiator in Rome, especially after Black Mamba told him that Zhang Heng had singlehandedly defeated all of his men. It also proved that Zhang Heng’s combat skills were as powerful as how the rumor described him. However, it did not stop Iron Handcuff from getting his revenge. Losing 30% of their income was unbearable for them. After all, they were just a small gang in this area, and there were lots of bills to be paid. And typically, at the end of all that, not have much money would be left in their pockets.
He could still hang on to the sudden loss of 30% of his income in the short term. However, he would definitely reduce the number of people under him over time. Their situation would deteriorate even further in the long run, and they would either be replaced or annexed by other forces.
Thus, Iron Handcuff was determined to drive Zhang Heng out of this place, now that he had found the reason that had changed the patrol team’s usual behavior. As long as Zhang Heng was gone from this place, the patrol team would return to its previous state. In the last two days, they were preparing to exact revenge. Considering Zhang Heng’s terrifying combat abilities, Iron Handcuff decided to avoid head-on conflict as much as possible even though he had the advantage in numbers.
In the meantime, he also found out where Zhang Heng lived. For some reason, Zhang Heng did not live in the patrol station but rented a room on the next street alone. He spent the night alone there for the past two days, giving Iron Handcuff and his men a great start to their revenge plan. Of course, not all of them were confident that their plan could work. Black Mamba, for instance, was one of them. Traumatized after Zhang Heng beat up his men, he felt that something must be wrong with this coincidence. Deciding to retaliate against Zhang Heng had thus presented a golden opportunity. It was as if they hit the jackpot.
It was too late for them to step back now. They had to strike Zhang Heng while they were still able to do so. Iron Handcuff arranged two of his men to watch the patrol team’s movements. Aris and his men were the only people who might rush to protect Zhang Heng. As long as they did not make any moves there, Iron Handcuff would not have to worry about any unexpected incidents.
And they deliberately chose to do it late at night. At this time, most of the people were asleep. No matter how powerful Zhang Heng was, there was no way that he could figure out their plan in his sleep. At the same time, Iron Handcuff had also found a guy who excelled at picking locks. As long as they could enter Zhang Heng’s room quietly and get a few men to pounce on him simultaneously, that would be the end of him.
Iron Handcuff’s plan was well formulated. They first got to the ground floor of Zhang Heng’s residence. Iron Handcuff then a.s.signed most men to block all the entrances and exits before putting the dwarf in command. As for him, he led eight men upstairs, Black Mamba included, and asked the expert to pick the lock silently.
The eight people held their breath together and looked at the figure lying sideways on the bed. It appeared the target was in a deep sleep. Seeing that the other party did not respond, a touch of joy appeared on Iron Handcuff’s face. He then took the lead, followed by his seven men, and walked up to Zhang Heng’s bed.
Zhang Heng looked down at Iron Handcuff’s men moving around outside his residence on the roof of the building. After that, a ghostly figure quietly pa.s.sed through their seemingly indestructible line of defense. Iron Handcuff did not even notice that someone walked past them and went upstairs. It was as if the darkness had blinded them.
Zhang Heng made silent applause and complimented, “That’s not bad. You are still quite good at what you do.”
“Stop talking nonsense. I’ve already killed the people watching the patrol team as you requested.” The man helping Zhang Heng was none other than Dadatis. “Just a handful of useless grunts… and they are scattered all over the place. We can kick all of their a.s.ses in a few minutes. Do we really need outsiders to help us? Besides, the people on the patrol team don’t seem to be useful to us.”
“Well, they need to grow up. How can they grow without opportunities? They are not useful now. It does not mean that they will not be useful in the future. After all, I won’t be staying with them for too long,” said Zhang Heng. “I underestimated the patrol team. I didn’t expect that there’d be some valuable people on the team. I simply wanted to see which ones were worthy of my training.”