A man quickly got down from the passenger seat of the car. He opened the rear door and held up an umbrella. At this time, an old man got out of the car. The short silver hair stood up, and Fang Zheng's face was solemn. The beard around his chin has been carefully groomed, adding a bit of majesty to him. The eyes are sharp, the lips are tightly pursed, giving people a sense of informality.
Although he was over sixty, his back was still straight, and his physique was still considered strong, making him look at least ten years younger.
"Master, this way." The butler with the umbrella said softly.
The silver-haired old man nodded, and walked into the building quietly with the housekeeper. In the lobby of the building, a fat man greeted him, rubbed his hands and said, "Welcome, Mr. Horn. I didn't expect you to come to participate in this betting event. It's really surprising."
"Alstair, if you don't lose weight, your small heart will burst." The old man Horn said lightly.
Fatty Alstair took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat and said, "I'm just a small person, I'm tired and busy every day, so I don't have time to take care of my body. Mr. Horn, please come here, the event is about to start."
Alstair, who looked like a sales manager, led Horn and his butler to a private elevator. Despite his unremarkable appearance, this man is the chairman of the Death Ring Organizing Committee and the host of each death ring in the past ten years. He also holds the post of Federal Financial Secretary. For such a person, there are not many guests who need him to greet him personally.
Not much really.
The private elevator went straight to the top floor. When the elevator door opened, it was not a training hall with multiple functions, but a banquet hall of 600 square meters. In terms of the specifications of the banquet hall, the area here is not the largest, but the decoration is first-class. From the statue of David at the entrance to the colorful Persian carpet; from the flame angel picture decorated with stained glass on the dome, to the four Corinthian stone pillars that are both load-bearing and partition. The various decoration techniques make the banquet hall have a restrained luxury, which fully conforms to the current popular aesthetics of the nobility.
The butler handed over the umbrella to the waiter, and Horn, Lord of Alstairs, came to a relatively quiet corner. At this moment, the so-called betting activities have not yet begun. Under the lights in the hall, people in twos and threes gather together to talk in low voices or speak loudly. No one noticed that there was an extra Horn in the hall. It wasn't until a lady accidentally caught a glimpse that she whispered: "Isn't that Mr. Horn from Bethkind?"
Then he quickly put on a smile and walked over with the most elegant gesture. But before approaching Horn, the housekeeper stopped him: "Sorry, ma'am. My master wishes to be alone."
There was an unnatural smile on the woman's face, and with a little unwillingness, she retreated angrily. Afterwards, several men wanted to chat with each other, but they were all stopped by the housekeeper. A person who can stand in this banquet hall today would be a person of dignity thrown into Babylon. On weekdays, it is too late for others to flatter them, and they are rarely rejected.
But being rejected by Horn, they could only dare to be angry and dare not speak out, and more of them were wry smiles and helplessness.
In the high society of Babylon, although they are all called the noble class. But nobles are just a general division, and in this circle, there are more harsh divisions. Ordinary people rarely know, where
Above the so-called aristocrats, there are also classifications of wealthy families, aristocratic families, and famous people. All three of them are families with a solid foundation that have been in business for hundreds of years, so they can be regarded as real nobles.
The Bethkind family is one of the famous families. Although the famous family is not as noble as the wealthy family, there is already an insurmountable gap between them and ordinary nobles. What's more, Beth Kede is not an ordinary celebrity. After all, ten years ago, this family was still ranked among the aristocratic families, but because of a series of accidents and the emergence of another family, it slipped from the ranking of the aristocratic family into the famous family.
That family, named Alexander!
At this time, the lights in the banquet hall suddenly dimmed, and then the beams of spotlights focused on the small stage in front of the hall. Alstair stood on the stage like a TV presenter, coughed lightly and said, "Good morning, gentlemen and ladies. Let's make a long story short, or else the damn light will expose me to the sun." Come on, perhaps, as an old friend said, Alstair should lose weight."
There was a good-natured chuckle from off the stage, and after slightly adjusting the atmosphere in the hall with a witty opening remark, Alstair said: "As you can see, the death ring has just begun, and the participating teenagers have also passed the two-week assessment. For everyone, their current ranking scores should have a certain reference value, so as usual, the Guess Betting event will be held today, please enjoy this biennial grand carnival.”
Alstair snapped his fingers, and the stage curtain behind him opened, revealing a large screen. The boy with the lowest ranking was displayed first on the screen. Alstair stepped off the stage with a smile, and the other hosts were responsible for briefly introducing the participating boys to the nobles in the hall, so that they could better understand their favorite betting objects.
The guessing and betting activity is one of the entertainment programs attached to the death ring, and it is open to the residents of the entire floating island of Babylon. To put it bluntly, it is a gambling activity for all. The banker behind the scenes is of course the federal government, which will further stimulate people's enthusiasm and play an interactive role. Of course, the participating teenagers can also benefit from it.
For each supported teenager, they will be able to draw 1% of the total betting dividends. Their dividends will be distributed in the form of materials to help them gain more favorable conditions in the competition. It can be said that the guessing activity is one of the main reasons why Babylonians are so enthusiastic about the death ring, and it is also an important fiscal revenue for the federal government.
Alstair walked to Horn, he was probably the only one in the banquet hall who was qualified to sit near Horn. Alstair called the waiters and asked them to serve wine. After having a drink with Horn, Fang said: "It seems that among the little guys in this class, there is Mr. Horn's favorite target?"
Horn nodded with a smile, and Alstair couldn't help but said, "I don't know which kid Mr. Horn is looking at?"
"You'll know after a while." Horn cherished words like gold, and kept silent after speaking.
At this time, the host on the stage had briefly explained the information of the 21 teenagers, and then announced the start of accepting bets. While others were still calculating the amount of investment and the corresponding income, Horn glanced at the butler lightly. The butler understood immediately, raised his hand and said softly, "We vote for Alan's player a ton of top-grade platinum."
The expression of Altais next to him
After a moment of froze, he shook his head and said, "It turns out that Mr. Horn is interested in Allen. He is good, but don't forget that he is now ranked first. This position is not very favorable."
Altays was telling the truth. Ranking first before the death ring had mixed benefits. The advantage was getting a lot of material support so that he could maximize his own strength before the competition. The disadvantages are also very obvious. In addition to being the target of public criticism, the coordinates of the top three teenagers will be announced to other teenagers when the game starts.
In the death ring in previous years, there were many precedents of being killed by gang fights after entering the arena after ranking first.
Generally speaking, it's safer to put your money on the second or third place. However, the odds of the top three are not high. If you want to make a lot of money, sometimes the dark horses in the lower rankings will be pleasantly surprised.
Horn said indifferently: "I have confidence in him."
Alstair nodded to the host, and then Alan's profile picture suddenly injected 10 million federal coins, which is equivalent to the market price of a ton of platinum. This number will be released in real time to the government's public trust platform throughout Babylon, and all bettors can immediately see the changes in the capital injection of all teenagers.
The generosity of Bethkind shocked the other nobles in the banquet hall. After all, tens of millions of federal coins is not a small amount. Applause suddenly sounded, everyone looked back, and several people filed in from outside the door. Walking in front is a middle-aged man. His brown hair is fixed with pomade and combed back. The position of each strand of hair seems to have been carefully calculated, showing a meticulous quality.
The sea-blue eyes are full of smiles, but if you look deeply, you will find that there is actually a blue ocean of ice deep in the pupils of this person. Suits are tailored by master craftsmen, and the workmanship from collar to cuffs stands up to the most discerning scrutiny. A black and white striped tie not only plays the role of decoration, but also further emphasizes the efficient and practical temperament of the owner.
When seeing this man, Alstair smiled wryly. This person is Horn's deadly enemy, Maine, the patriarch of the Alexander family.
Maine said from a distance: "Mr. Horn is really a big smile, he sold a ton of platinum. Others don't know, they think that Bethkind is rich and powerful. But I look at the latest annual report, Bethkind has made a lot of money in various fields. The fiscal revenue has decreased by 30% compared with the same period. Mr. Horn, this ton of platinum won’t be your bottom line, right?”
Horn kept his composure and said calmly: "No matter how bad Beth Keld is, he can't be a self-satisfied nouveau riche with a little bit of luck."
Maine sat directly on the table in Horn's banquet, which was actually a very impolite behavior, but he just took it for granted. Considering that the Alexander family has jumped from the bottom of the famous family to the upstart family in just 20 years, no one dares to blame Maine. Because this family has what it is today, and it is inseparable from Maine who took over the burden of the patriarch back then.
"Everyone in Alexandria is naturally inferior to Mr. Horn's family background, but you can still get a little money." Maine smiled and looked at the big screen, scanning the heads of many teenagers, and finally said: "I see that The kid named An Si is very pleasing to the eye, just give me two tons of platinum."
Suddenly, the hall was in an uproar. Anyone who is not blind can tell that Maine is provoking Horn.
(end of this chapter)