Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 813 Welfare Bureau
A week later.

It was still the same dilapidated underground boxing gym, but the original iron cage boxing ring was gone, replaced by a completely cleared cement floor.

The gamblers who should have been crowding the sidelines were nowhere to be seen; instead, a camera mounted on a tripod was placed in each of the four cardinal directions on the concrete ground.

The four red dots, like the cold, merciless eyes of death, stared at the center of the boxing gym.

In the small room next door, Li Xia quietly watched his opponent, who was a few steps away from him.

This boxer looked quite thin, and after taking off his clothes, he looked even thinner, thinner than Li Xia. But his movements of wrapping the gloves were very skillful; he finished wrapping them in the blink of an eye, and then walked to the shelf where a series of boxing gloves were placed, carefully selecting them one by one.

A moment later, he bent down, picked up a boxing glove, blew off the dust, and put it on.

Li Xia asked in confusion, "Dude, isn't today's bare-knuckle boxing rule? Why are you wearing boxing gloves?"

The man, who looked even thinner than Li Xia, looked up at Li Xia and smiled: "You don't need to wear it, I will."

Upon hearing this, Li Xia was stunned.

In terms of sheer lethality, the difference between wearing gloves and not wearing gloves is enormous. In a normal boxing match, boxers can usually go back and forth for eight or nine rounds in a lively and exciting manner.

However, if both sides take off their gloves and start fighting, the battle will basically be over in a few minutes. The reason is simple: fists without gloves are extremely heavy, heavy enough to instantly incapacitate a person and even cause serious physical injury.

"This..." Li Xia was about to ask further when the guy had already strode out of the locker room.

"What are you chasing? Don't you even know your own limitations?" The young henchman of the boxing gym leaned against the wall by the door, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and said disdainfully, "With your pathetic skills, why do you think they'd fight you bare-knuckle?"

"Pooh."

The young man spat on the ground and staggered out of the corridor: "Hurry up and finish this sooner so I can go get some late-night snacks."

Li Xia remained silent.

He didn't quite believe the other party would be merciful enough to let him off the hook; this was all money, enough to pile up into a small mountain of gambling winnings.

Li Xia walked up to the boxing glove stand where the man had been standing and looked down at it.

The gloves in the first row are the lightest, 8 ounces, the standard gloves for black market boxing. They are also the equipment that is changed most frequently here. As you walk past them, they are basically all brand new.

The gloves in the second row are slightly heavier, weighing 10-14 ounces. The heavier the gloves, the lower their lethality; they are mainly for boxers with sparring partners to use for warm-up.

The heaviest gloves in the last row are 16 ounces, used by boxers for dodging and counter-attacking practice. In this underground boxing gym, they're just dusty decorations, probably bought as part of the full set of equipment and placed here.

Right now, the first and second rows of boxing gloves are all neatly arranged, but the third row, which has never been used before, is missing a pair of gloves in the far corner.

office.

"Boss, why are the guys from the water's side wearing boxing gloves? Weren't they supposed to be boxing bare-knuckle? It doesn't look cool like this." The young man, who had just left the locker room, walked into the boss's office indignantly.

Last week, as a staff member of the underground boxing gym, there was no need to inquire about inside information, because Li Xia was brought over from the school gate by him.

With his skinny frame and supposedly excellent academic performance, he was a sitting duck against Doge, who had been standing in the boxing ring for a month.

Those gamblers who drink heavily every day love watching these brutal boxing matches. According to the boss's usual approach, these matches are a perk for the gamblers who keep giving him money.

So the young man took out all the online loans he could get, and then asked his boss for an advance on his salary for the next three months, raising 100,000 yuan, which was the maximum amount he could afford in this kind of welfare scheme, and then bet it all on Duoge.

He thought that although the odds were low, he could still earn ten thousand yuan, which would be a decent side income. However, he never expected that Dorge would be upset and his wallet would be empty in an instant.

My chest hurts terribly.

"Feeling good? Are you annoyed with the money you lost last week?" The bald, fat man saw through his subordinate's mood at a glance and joked, "Have you forgotten about last year's Argentina vs. Saudi Arabia game, where you practically lost your backside? These kinds of upsets are the kind of schemes that bookmakers love to pull. You've been working for me for so many years, and you still can't see that?"

"Boss, when I asked you for an advance on my salary last time, you seemed pretty happy, mentioning the welfare bureau or something, so I assumed you were supporting me." The young man rubbed his nose, offering a small protest. "Happy? You're giving me money, of course I'm happy, why wouldn't I be?" The bald, fat man chuckled. It was truly satisfying to gain face in front of his subordinates. Although he had only stumbled upon Li Xia, who had achieved unexpected success, that didn't stop him from showcasing his foresight and keen insight to the young man.

"Hey boss, I'm not happy. We agreed on bare-knuckle punches."

"What, you want to beat someone to death?" the bald, fat man joked, puffing on a thin cigar. "If you really kill him, are you going to pay for it? When the police come, are you going to explain?"

The young man chuckled, "Boss, that's not what I meant. I was mainly worried the customers would complain. You know, those people love seeing gore, it's exciting!"

"Watch what? They want to win money and have a good time too? There's no such thing as a free lunch." The bald fat man sneered. "Speaking of which, if it's really bare-knuckle boxing, how many punches can that skinny kid take? How exciting can a match that ends in a flash be? Who will come to my turf to watch boxing in the future?"

“Yes, the boss is right.” The young man nodded repeatedly, but then hesitated. “The people from Shuitou are wearing boxing gloves, but he’s bare-knuckle. It feels like he’s getting off easy.”

"Cheap? Do you know who came to Shuitou this time? Big L, he's already invincible in Shuitou. He's here to have some fun! Forget boxing gloves, even if he's handcuffed, he can still beat that kid senseless!"

As he spoke, the bald, fat man gritted his teeth, thinking to himself: "Damn it, don't think I don't know. They're putting on an act for me. They're eager to recruit people; don't let them end up in the latrine and make me laugh to death!"

Last month, people came from Shuitou, saying they wanted to hold a no-rules bare-knuckle boxing match.

At the time, the bald fat man was quite unhappy. Everyone knew that the people in Shuitou were the ones who specialized in this kind of thing. Coming here to fight bare-knuckle was just blatant bullying of novices.

Stomping noobs is fine; as long as it shows those gamblers something different from usual, the bald fat man is happy. He's seen bare-knuckle boxing before; it's quite bloody and exciting, definitely different from this kind of mindless fighting with boxing gloves on.

However, according to friends in the underworld, things aren't looking good in Shuitou right now, so they're thinking of coming to the old town area around Bald Fatty, a place with a lot of rich people, to hold an exhibition match in order to attract more customers.

This was going to be the death of the bald fat man, so he stubbornly refused to give in.

But the bare-knuckle boxers in Shuitou were all tough guys. The pampered bald fat man was no match for them. He had to accept the bare-knuckle boxing match whether he wanted to or not.

Just then, Li Xia appeared, achieving a stunning upset by defeating a stronger opponent.

The bald, fat man's eyes lit up, and he devised this scheme. He used the excuse that his fighters had never fought bare-knuckle before to set a rule for the fighters on Shui Tou's side: they had to wear gloves, while the bald, fat man's fighters would fight bare-knuckle.

This condition is extremely demanding. Anyone who has stood in the boxing ring for a few days knows what this means. Bare fists against gloves, especially in this kind of underground boxing where there are basically no rules, is something that has never been heard of before.

The bald, fat man was smug, watching those thugs from the water suffer in front of him. He felt genuinely pleased. Then he added a few sarcastic remarks, intending to mock them, but little did he know that he had shot himself in the foot.

He claimed his fighter was just a recent graduate, a model student, who had only ever fought one underground boxing match. The implication was clear: what are you afraid of? If you're too scared to fight, go home.

The bald fat man's intention was to mock the other party, but the other party actually agreed and sent their strongest bare-knuckle boxer, Big L.

"What's meant to be will be, and what's meant to be will be!"

The bald, fat man pulled his thin cigar from his mouth, threw it hard on the ground, and shouted, "Let's go, let's place our bets!"

Since the competition was initiated by the people of Shuitou, they naturally took on the betting as well. After all, it was a welfare bureau, and they couldn't let the host and the wealthy gamblers from the old city they planned to recruit suffer. They had to give them a taste of the benefits.

Gambling has always operated this way: first, offer a small reward to lure people in, then cut them off once they're hooked—and they make a killing.

As a novice student facing off against the top bare-knuckle boxing master in Shuitou, the outcome was obvious. Calling it a benefit and a freebie was no exaggeration.

"Boss, wanna place a bet? Who?" the young man asked, somewhat surprised.

"Who else could it be?" The bald, fat man got up and walked away. "Even a small mosquito is still meat!"

That's why he told me not to be greedy for small gains. Let me think... did the boss place a bet on the game Argentina lost back then?
The young man was stunned for a moment, but reacted after the boss shouted angrily. He quickly followed the boss out, but in his heart he was already plotting his own scheme, planning to take out another online loan and bet on Big L with the boss.

"The Welfare Bureau! It's for everyone's welfare, isn't it?"

(End of this chapter)