Chapter 192: Chance Meeting
“Officer Xu. I didn’t expect to meet you here.” Ye Lingchen nodded in acknowledgment.
Xu Jiannan wore a grey-white checkered s.h.i.+rt that day and had her short hair combed to the left. As bold as always, but looking more charming than in her police uniform.
“Don’t address me as Officer Xu over here.” Xu Nan shot a glare at Ye Lingchen. “I’m on leave.”
After arresting Brother Dragon previously, she was recognized for her contribution and awarded a long holiday by the bureau.
“So you’re here just for a holiday? Or could it be that you’re a spy?” Ye Lingchen joked and laughed.
The boxing gym might not be counted as a lawless place, but it was not a good place to be too.
“Why aren’t I allowed to come here?” Xu Nan harrumphed, “I heard of a boxing gym run by a foreigner here. I’ve always wanted to check out if boxing was as great as rumor has it.”
After a short pause, Xu Nan continued, “Right, I have to thank you for the previous incident. Hehe, thanks to you, I’ve gotten another meritorious service.”
Both cases related to the human traffickers were solved because of Ye Lingchen. Xu Nan thought that Ye Lingchen was her lucky star.
“That was just a coincidence. We’re just serving the people,” Ye Lingchen answered with a smile. Xu Nan’s personality was just as refres.h.i.+ng as her appearance.
“Xu Nan, this is?” a man asked as he approached from behind Xu Nan.
In that queue, there were only a total of three people with Xu Nan included, consisting of two men and one woman. When he saw Ye Lingchen chatting warmly with Xu Nan, he frowned and turned hostile.
“This is Ye Lingchen. He’s amazing,” said Xu Nan, then she introduced the guy to Ye Lingchen, “This is Lu Chao. We used to attend the police academy together, but he came here after he graduated. Meanwhile, this is Li Mo. Lu Chao is the only Chinese boxing instructor in the establishment. He’s a very good fighter.”
“Hehe, I’m just interested in fighting and have a little else in terms of talent. I’ve used what I learned from the police academy and fused it with boxing. Just so happens that it gave me some results.”
Lu Chao made a humble smile, then looked at Ye Lingchen. “This is the one you mentioned that helped you arrest the human traffickers? It seems that he’s also interested in martial arts. Perhaps we can spar if there’s a chance.”
Ye Lingchen nodded, then gave Lu Chao a not so sincere smile.
‘F*ck! What a shameless person!’
An angry look quickly flashed through Lu Chao’s face. After those words he said, most people would courteously patronize a little, but this person…that arrogance.
“Xu Nan, if you take on such a dangerous mission again, you must ask me along. I’ve been through the police academy after all. It’s more than enough to take care of some Tom, d.i.c.k, and Harry!” said Lu Chao as he glared at Ye Lingchen coldly.
There was a strong sense of provocation!
“Better not. My missions are cla.s.sified.” Xu Nan shook her head, not taking Lu Chao’s words to heart. Instead, she focused on the fight in the ring.
Mildly disappointed, she shook her head. “It seems boxing is not that special after all.”
“Xu Nan, that’s not all. What we present here is for the general public. The real deal is the underground arena every Sat.u.r.day!”
“Underground arena?” Xu Nan was surprised, but her face turned dark.
“That’s right! What you see here is the basics of boxing. They aren’t even considered experts yet. Just something like this, I can fight 10 of them on my own with a single hand!”
Li Mo was nodding along at Lu Chao’s bragging. “Instructor Lu is famous here for his fighting abilities. Even the boxing gym’s owner praises him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let a Chinese take the role of an instructor.”
Boxing was originally a foreign sport. For Lu Chao to be a boxing instructor here, it was natural that he performed better than others.
Seeing Xu Nan’s changing expression, Lu Chao immediately explained, “The underground arena is not much different from the regular arena. It’s just that their target audience are the foreigners, so the compet.i.tion becomes much stronger, and offers better entertainment. They take precautions to prevent death and serious injuries. It’s a lawful activity.”
With that, Xu Nan’s expression finally lightened up.
“Since we’re friends, why don’t I bring you over to the underground arena? Today’s match is about to start.” Lu Chao smiled. “The gym owner said that he would personally take part today. It’ll be a good show.”
Ye Lingchen’s heart trembled slightly, but he did not reject it.
He could not find Li Tai and the rest out there. There was a high probability that they went to the so-called underground arena.
Meanwhile, seeing no signs of rejection from Xu Nan, Lu Chao made up his mind and took Li Mo along to settle the registration process.
Along the way, his expression turned grim.
“Running into an obstacle like that out of nowhere. Where did that kid come from!?”
“Instructor Lu, Xu Nan seems quite close to that kid.”
“That kid just helped Xu Nan twice by chance. He’s a pushover! I’ve gone through the academy with Xu Nan, so my chances are much higher than that kid. If he backs off then it’s fine. If he doesn’t, I don’t mind teaching him a lesson!”
…
Following Lu Chao through the noisy hall, they went all the way to the back of the boxing gym.
From there. They went through a door and took the stairs down.
Not only did the store cover a huge area, but it also came with a ma.s.sive bas.e.m.e.nt.
The lighting in the bas.e.m.e.nt had a yellow hue. By the time Ye Lingchen arrived, it was already halfway filled. Looking around, it was indeed as Lu Chao claimed. Over 80 percent of the people were foreigners, with Englanders being the majority, followed by those from the Rice Nation and Russians.
Although boxing was widely known in China, it was not particularly popular. Instead, the foreigners loved it, they reveled at watching this violent art.
Ye Lingchen noticed that at the four sides of the ring of the underground arena were small bars. The design was very similar to the Dog Fighting Arena, where attendants stood at the bar to welcome guests. It was obviously set up for placing bets.
Since it was boxing, betting was unavoidable. That was probably the main income source for Inferno Boxing Gym.
Lu Chao naturally would not risk getting in trouble and tell Xu Nan about it. Instead, he only gave her a brief introduction to the underground arena.
“Those that fight here have reached a certain level in boxing. They’re on par with those boxers on TV! Oftentimes, some rich Chinese merchants would come and hire bodyguards through a tournament.” Lu Chao then continued, “as for the owner of Inferno Boxing Gym, it’s none other than the previous boxing champion, Ali!”
“Ali? It’s him?!” Xu Nan was surprised. “Rumor has it that he moved to China after his retirement. I didn’t know it was real!”
“While the owner Ali was the boxing champion, he had a record of 20 consecutive victories. Even the current boxing champion had gone through his tutelage,” Li Mo explained.
Lu Chao then continued the introduction, “The patrons are all n.o.bles from foreign lands. Quite a number of them would send their kids over here to learn self-defense. Boxing is considered a top tier fighting technique. The reason Ali came here was to popularize boxing in China…”