Chapter 98
Chapter 98
“Have some tea.”
Qin Ying had taken over as if she were the host, and she handed a cup of tea to Yin Minmin.
On one side of the tea table, Lin Yicheng sat with his face covered.
Qin Ying’s slaps hurt like hell. In the short time it had taken them to come upstairs, five bright red finger marks had surfaced on his face.
“Barbarian! You’re a complete barbarian!” he roared, eyes red with grievance.
When he saw Qin Ying offering pastries to Yin Minmin, he got even angrier. “That’s my tea! My pastries!”
He didn’t like tea, only hard liquor, and he didn’t like cloying sweets either. But he did love fighting people over things.
Under his furious glare, Yin Minmin’s eyes darted away. She stuffed a thumb-sized tea cake into her mouth. Cowardly or not, she couldn’t let her own mouth suffer or make Qin Ying lose face.
Before Lin Yicheng could completely lose it again, Qin Ying said, “Does your brother know you’re here playing around?”
At the mention of his brother, Lin Yicheng’s face shifted between green and red. “Didn’t you block all of us? Why are you bringing up my brother?”
Qin Ying said mildly, “I didn’t block your brother.”
This kid’s older brother was a reliable, normal person, and Qin Ying was on fairly good terms with him.
Lin Yicheng flew into a rage and wanted to ask what kind of relationship Qin Ying had with his brother.
But the moment he met Qin Ying’s gaze, his voice dropped by two notches. “You’re not allowed to tattle to my brother.”
Qin Ying knew at once that this thing had indeed come here to watch the fights. Maybe not only to watch.
“Did you enter?”
Her gaze swept Lin Yicheng up and down, making him squirm in his seat.
When he didn’t deny it, Qin Ying said, “Young Master Lin, why don’t you introduce us to your new game?”
Lin Yicheng covered half his face and glanced up at Qin Ying. Then he honestly explained why he had come all this way.
As Qin Ying had expected, he was here for dogfighting.
Rich young masters had already tried every kind of thrill there was. Recently, he had made some new friends and come into contact with fighting dogs.
Through those new friends’ introductions, he had arrived at the largest underground dogfighting arena hidden in this small city.
After Qin Ying listened, a trace of derision appeared on her face.
These rich people really were bored out of their minds.
Lin Yicheng grew anxious and hurried to distance himself from it. “This is my first time joining. I haven’t even picked a fighting dog yet.”
Beneath this teahouse, the establishment bred the most vicious fighting dogs for its clients, allowing them to enjoy themselves to their hearts’ content.
“The fighting dogs that come out of this place are supposedly extremely fierce. Even worldwide, they’re among the best.”
Qin Ying’s expression did not change. “Since we’ve run into it, take us to broaden our horizons.”
Compared with watching from the stands, following Lin Yicheng to choose a fighting dog would take them straight into the enemy camp.
She smiled and pressed a finger against the pouch hanging inside her clothes.
The pouch shifted slightly. Qin Ying did not know whether it was Fuzhu or Han Lie hidden inside responding to her through the fabric.
Lin Yicheng looked hesitant. “If I take you to broaden your horizons just because you want me to, wouldn’t that make me look like I have no… dignity…”
His voice gradually lowered. A moment later, he dropped his head. “Fine. Fine, then.”
“Thank you, Young Master Lin.”
Qin Ying put on a friendly smile. “I won’t tattle to your brother.”
At that, Lin Yicheng muttered in an extremely low voice, “It’s not like I’m scared of you tattling.”
Qin Ying simply pretended not to hear. She took out her phone and sent Old Miao and the others a message.
Just then, the door was pushed open, and a man in a sharp suit came in. “Young Master Lin.”
Seeing several more people in the private room, he swallowed back what he had been about to say and asked hesitantly, “And these two… three are?”
Zhang Lang’s presence was so faint that Lin Yicheng almost overlooked him entirely.
Lin Yicheng wasn’t nearly as spineless with him as he was with Qin Ying. He snapped irritably, “I ran into some friends. They want to come with us to pick out a dog.”
Seeing that the man was about to say something else, Lin Yicheng grew even more impatient. “I wasn’t asking for your opinion.”
The man who had arrived later clearly remembered that Lin Yicheng was an idiot with more money than sense. After a moment’s hesitation, he smiled and said, “Of course they’re welcome.”
“Perfect timing, actually. I came to inform you that you can go choose your Great General now. If it suits your eye, it can enter the ring tonight for a warm-up.”
Hearing that Lin Yicheng had chosen such an utterly childish name as Great General, Qin Ying let out a soft laugh.
Lin Yicheng flushed scarlet with embarrassment and took it out on the broker. “Why are you wasting so much breath? Lead the way!”
Under the broker’s guidance, Qin Ying and the others stepped into a very well-hidden elevator.
With a ding, the display showed that they had descended to the third basement level.
Qin Ying had assumed she would see a dark, filthy underground breeding facility steeped in savagery.
Unexpectedly, when the elevator doors opened, bright lights spilled across a long corridor.
Both sides of the corridor were lined with glass. It was so silent that not even a single bark could be heard.
“Everyone, this way, please!” The broker stepped out of the elevator first and onto the long corridor.
After only a few steps, they could see that every pane of glass along the corridor had a room behind it.
Yin Minmin was still looking around curiously when, from the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw a Shadowy Figure pounce toward them.
Startled, she grabbed Qin Ying and backed away.
A dark-colored Fierce Hound, drool dripping from its jaws, pressed its front paws against the glass and barked at Qin Ying and the others. Its muscles were so defined they seemed to ripple in strands.
The broker surnamed Huang introduced it with no small amount of pride. “This is a Neapolitan Mastiff.”
“Its origins can be traced back to the Molossus. It was one of the earliest breeds developed for dogfighting.”
“Loyal and ferocious by nature. It was once trained by the mafia as a guard dog. In terms of strength, it’s extremely powerful.”
With the glass between them, there was no need to worry about danger, so Qin Ying stepped closer to observe.
The Black Hound behind the glass grew even more excited when she approached, strings of saliva sliding from the corners of its mouth.
“Even for a fighting dog, it’s absurdly large.”
Qin Ying was nearly one meter seventy tall, but by her estimate, if the dog stood up, its front paws could rest on her shoulders.
If it lowered its head just a little, those sharp teeth could easily close around her throat.
The broker surnamed Huang said smugly, “We use special breeding methods.”
Qin Ying raised an eyebrow. “Does that include this violent temper?”
The glass in the corridor had excellent soundproofing, so the barking couldn’t be heard. But judging by the Black Hound’s blood-red eyes, it definitely wasn’t the type to show mercy to humans.
“It’s like a rabid dog. How would anyone raise it?”
Seeing that she seemed to be seriously considering how to care for it after buying it, the broker surnamed Huang ignored her cheap-looking casual clothes and replied, “This one will be entering the ring tonight, so we used a few little methods to make it a bit more irritable.”
Then he showed Qin Ying and the others what those little methods were.
He tapped a few times on a control panel beside the glass.
The Black Hound had its front paws braced against the glass when an arc of electricity flashed across the collar around its neck.
The muscular Black Hound shuddered violently from the sudden electric shock and collapsed sideways onto the floor. Its abdomen heaved hard as it lay there for several breaths.
After a moment, however, it staggered back to its feet.
Its eyes, dyed red with hatred, locked firmly onto Qin Ying’s throat.