novelhk Chapter 39 Six Consecutive Losses
Chapter 39 Six Consecutive Losses
At this moment, Longhu's capable henchman, Third Brother, pulled He Yunhu back and said in a deep voice, "Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? I'll handle this." As soon as he finished speaking, he straightened his clothes and stepped onto the stage.
He Yunlong chimed in from the side, "Third brother, we can't lose again. If we lose again, we'll be too ashamed to continue playing."
Hong Liguo saw that it was Longhu... the third brother, who was second only to the He brothers in skill. He was brave, skilled, and had a strong foundation in martial arts. Most of his side did not dare to take the initiative to fight, except for Yijian Ping and Jun Ge, who dared to step forward and volunteer.
Hong Liguo grabbed Yi Jianping and stopped Jun Ge, saying, "Based on your understanding of Third Brother, do you think you can beat him?"
Jun blushed and remained silent, knowing he was just putting on a brave face.
Although Yi Jianping's face was full of fearlessness, he knew very well that he was no match for Third Brother. The two had known each other for a long time, often sparring together since elementary school, and Yi Jianping had never won. But he still went out to fight despite knowing he couldn't win because he knew that among his group, apart from Sun Changlin, no one could contend with Third Brother in a one-on-one duel. Even if he lost, he wouldn't lose too humiliatingly.
Yi Jianping did not answer Hong Liguo's question. This silence said it all—he had no confidence in winning at all, and even knew that he was bound to lose.
Sun Changlin chimed in, "You're no good. You can't beat Third Brother. It seems only I can defeat him. I'll go!"
Hong Liguo quickly grabbed Sun Changlin and advised, "Where are you going? If you go to deal with Third Brother, who will deal with the He brothers? None of us can even handle Third Brother. Are you suggesting we fight the He brothers head-on?"
Sun Changlin looked at Hong Liguo anxiously and said, "Then what should we do? We can't just admit defeat without even fighting, can we?"
Hong Liguo remained calm and slowly said, "Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. We are not war gods; we can't win every single battle. Since we know it's difficult to win, why not just choose to lose?"
"Choose to lose?" Sun Changlin looked at Hong Liguo with a puzzled expression.
Hong Liguo patted him on the shoulder, his tone resolute: "Listen to me, I know what I'm doing. In those two matches just now, I deliberately provoked Longhu...—if I hadn't done that, none of their experts would have come out, and today's situation would have been more difficult."
After saying that, Hong Liguo turned to Zhou Liang and ordered, "You'll handle this one."
Zhou Liang was clearly hesitant, waving his hands repeatedly: "Me? How could I possibly do that!"
Hong Liguo glared at him, her tone leaving no room for argument: "I'm letting you go, not asking you to win. Just don't lose too embarrassingly."
At this moment, Zhang Qiaoyun chimed in, "Listen to him, he's our strategist! I won the first round by following his advice."
Zhou Liang still hesitated to go on stage, his eyes unconsciously glancing at Sun Changlin, waiting for Sun Changlin to make a decision. Sun Changlin had no other choice—since he had chosen to trust Hong Liguo, he could only follow his lead. He nodded to Zhou Liang, signaling him to go on stage.
Seeing that Sun Changlin had also agreed, Zhou Liang had no choice but to bite the bullet and slowly walk to the center of the field.
"Dragon Tiger..." Third Brother saw that it was Zhou Liang coming from the other side, sneered disdainfully, and shouted loudly, "You are no match for me, get back! Let Sun Changlin come!"
Zhou Liang muttered to himself: If Sun Changlin could come, how could it be my turn? Even if I'm no match for you, I'll admit defeat, okay? But then he thought that he couldn't be as cowardly as Longhu... the fourteenth brother—at most he'd get a beating, but he'd at least have to spar a bit before admitting defeat.
Seeing that Zhou Liang did not retreat, the third brother was furious. He rushed forward and tripped Zhou Liang to the ground.
Before Zhou Liang could even react to what was happening, he was already on the ground. He wanted to get up and take a couple more hits, but then he thought: Forget it, if I get up I'll just get knocked down again, so I might as well just lie there and wait for the referee to count to three before I just admit defeat.
Third Brother glared angrily at Zhou Liang on the ground and shouted, "You fucking get up! Stop lying there pretending to be dead! I haven't even started fighting yet, so get up if you dare!"
Zhou Liang thought to himself: Only a fool would get up and let you play! Anyway, Hong Liguo said he wouldn't let me win, so I'll just admit defeat. In the end, the referee announced that the third Dragon Tiger match... Third Brother won.
Even though he won, Third Brother was still furious and returned to Dragon Tiger's side with a heavy heart.
With Third Brother's victory, the brothers of Dragon Tiger were immediately invigorated, each one eager to try their hand at the game. Before He Yunlong could even speak, Fourth Brother of Dragon Tiger stepped forward and clamored for Sun Changlin to come out.
Sun Changlin was so angry he gritted his teeth. If Hong Liguo hadn't held him back, he would have rushed out long ago. Hong Liguo quickly turned around and called Ma Yuanzhi, asking him to come out and spar.
Ma Yuanzhi hesitated for a moment, then walked towards the center of the field. Sun Changlin looked at Hong Liguo and asked, puzzled, "Knowing he's no match for Fourth Brother, why did you still send him? Yi Jianping at least has a 50% chance of winning against Fourth Brother!"
Hong Liguo shook his head: "A 50% chance of winning isn't enough; I need an absolute chance of winning."
"I really don't understand what you're thinking," Sun Changlin muttered, frowning.
Hong Liguo smiled and countered, "Do you even know what 'avoiding the enemy's sharpest attack' means?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the outcome of the match was decided—Ma Yuanzhi was quickly tripped and fell to the ground by Fourth Brother. He followed Zhou Qiang's example, lying down and not getting up, quietly waiting for the referee to announce the result.
Fourth Brother, also hot-tempered, saw that Ma Yuanzhi wasn't seriously injured but was lying on the ground refusing to get up, so he raised his leg to kick him. The senior judge who caught up quickly grabbed him and said seriously, "You can't do that. If you violate the gentleman's agreement, your side will lose completely."
Then, the referee announced that the fourth round of Dragon Tiger... Fourth Brother had won. Dragon Tiger... Everyone cheered and jumped for joy again.
Next, Longhu... Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother appeared one after another. Hong Liguo sent Wang Laoba and Liu Laohaizi to deal with them respectively. The result was unsurprising: Longhu... won both times.
Next up, Dragon Tiger... number seven entered the arena, with Hong Liguo sending out Little Tyrant Zhu Zhixin. The two were evenly matched and fought a very exciting battle, but in the end, Little Tyrant failed to win due to a carelessness.
The opposing team, having won five consecutive matches, grew increasingly arrogant, with some even clamoring for three more wins to end the competition early. On Hong Liguo's side, Sun Changlin was growing impatient, muttering to himself: "If I had sent out Yi Jianping, Liu Lianbo, or Jun Ge, even if we couldn't win all of them, we could at least win one or two. We wouldn't be being suppressed like this now…?" At this rate, it seemed they'd have to call it a day before they could even finish fifteen matches.
Hong Liguo patted him on the shoulder, reassuring him, "I only said 'avoid their strength,' there's a second part—'strike their weakness.' Trust me, you won't go wrong."
Just then, Longhu... Lao Ba appeared. This man's martial prowess was not to be underestimated. However, Hong Liguo already had a plan in mind for who would deal with him, and each person's opponent was unique and irreplaceable—Longhu... Lao Ba was agile and nimble, and only Hong Bo could match him. Hong Liguo was just about to call on Hong Bo to fight and boost their morale, but unexpectedly, Liu Lianbo disobeyed orders and, with her large, pregnant belly, charged out suddenly.
Seeing Liu Lianbo rush out, Hong Liguo secretly groaned: This is bad, you're going to get what's coming to you!
Sun Changlin, however, was full of confidence; he trusted Liu Lianbo's abilities. But he had clearly underestimated his opponent's strength and advantages—the Dragon Tiger... Old Eight was most adept at agility and nimble movement, possessing exceptional lightness skills, while Liu Lianbo was heavier and not suited for fast-paced combat. Even with his superior abilities, he would still need to keep up with his opponent!
While Hong Liguo was still pondering, the outcome of the match was already decided.
Although Liu Lianbo's resilience was unmatched, his slow speed gave his opponent an opening. After Lao Ba led him around twice, Liu Lianbo was already panting heavily. No matter how powerful his punches were, his speed was insufficient to reach his opponent.
Taking advantage of the opening, Lao Ba swept Liu Lianbo to the ground with a kick. Liu Lianbo refused to admit defeat, but his heavy body and the energy he had just used made it a few seconds slow for him to get up, and he was ultimately judged to have lost by the referee.
After Liu Lianbo returned to his team, Hong Liguo couldn't help but scold him: "I was originally planning to keep you around for important tasks, but you took it upon yourself to go out early, and ended up suffering a defeat! To deal with Lao Ba, we absolutely need Hongbo—both of them are skilled in agility. Now that you're out, Hongbo's ideal opponent is gone too. You've completely disrupted my entire plan!" Liu Lianbo was speechless and could only lower his head silently.
Hong Liguo then turned to the remaining people and sternly warned, "No one is allowed to leave without my permission!"
Seeing his side achieve six consecutive victories, He Yunlong was overjoyed, a smug smile spreading across his face. He secretly plotted: "Hong Liguo, don't think I can't see through your little scheme! You're using your weaker opponents against my stronger ones, aren't you just planning to use your stronger ones against my weaker ones later? I knew the story of Tian Ji's horse race years before you! You're still too green to play these tricks on me. We've already won six games in a row; two more wins and this competition will be over early. Then, none of your elite troops will even have a chance to be used!"
He Yunlong leaned close to He Yunhu's ear and whispered a few words, then said, "It's time for us brothers to make our move."
At this moment, He Yunlong felt that it was time for the two brothers to step up – as long as they won the next two matches, Dragon Tiger would have eight wins, and the challenge could end early, making Hong Liguo's Tian Ji horse racing strategy a failure.
Originally, Hong Liguo planned to send Hong Bo to the match just now, as Hong Bo's skills would make it easy for him to defeat Lao Ba. However, Liu Lianbo's overconfidence completely disrupted Hong Liguo's plans, putting his side at a disadvantage. If they hadn't lost that match, He Yunlong would never have sent him and He Yunhu to the match so early.