Our family is in decline

Whether it is catching rats, collecting rats or processing these side industries, they are just preparations for the most important core, that is, rat fighting, because this is a business without capital and the most profitable.

This brings us to the second part - rat fighting.

The recovered crazy rats must first go through the first round of screening, pick out the healthy and strong ones with the potential for rat fighting, and feed them with the skinned raw meat first.

When a certain number is reached, such as ten, the first round of preliminary selection will be held, and all of them will be put into a rat fighting field. Only half of the ten can survive before the end.

These ten rats will be marked with numbers on their bodies with paint to distinguish them, and also give those who place bets a target to choose.

Leaving half basically means a one-half chance of winning, the starting bet is not high, and the odds are naturally not much, which is considered to be a level for everyone to play.

Of course, by analogy, there are also ten leaving three, ten leaving one, and the odds are higher and the risk is greater. At the same time, the fight is more brutal, and there are more spectators.

The rats in the previous few times had no titles, only colors and numbers. They only accumulated reputation and became well-known after passing through the preliminary fights and surviving.

The fierce fights would leave obvious scars even if they survived. At this time, people would name them according to their achievements or characteristics.

The one named [One Ear] must have had his ear bitten off in a battle, and the one named [Broken Tail] had a section of his tail missing. There were also one-eyed, bald, and steel teeth... Anyway, they were very distinctive, and they were not officially named, but were the consensus formed by the people themselves.

The official account book has always recorded numbers, but those nicknames will also be used for publicity.

As for those who have not passed, the numbers will return to the new rats, like a cycle that can never be escaped...

And the rats with nicknames have already experienced several fights. The rats selected by this method are bloody and warlike, and the fight is very interesting, so chaotic fights are not good to watch.

So the next step is the end of the preliminary election and entering the second stage, which is a one-on-one duel between the rats with titles.

Just like fighting in a ring, the excitement of the battle has increased sharply, and with the previous basic data, the odds have also begun to change.

There is even a formal competition - the Rat King Competition!

Sixteen participants are selected, sixteen to eight, eight to four... and then four to two to start three rounds. During this period, different teams will take turns to rest until the first champion rat is decided.

In order to enhance the viewing experience, the loser will not be killed, but will enter the loser group, but the struggle will be more cruel, and only one can survive in the end to fight the champion.

Then fight out of the loser group, whether revenge can be successful or not, it is a game that is both topical and entertaining.

This is the formal competition process, but in order to make it more interesting, other ways of playing have been developed.

Some rats with damaged limbs cannot enter the loser group, but it is a waste to kill them like this, so those people think about it and learn from the popular treatment of gladiators after injuries, that is, to add equipment to rats.

At first, they just sharpen their claws, and later they simply tie blades to them. Some rats with broken hands, feet or tails also get special "prosthetic limbs".

The most famous one is that a rat was defeated and had one of its hands eaten. Then someone modified it and installed an iron rod like a shrunken sword in the place where the hand was originally.

Then it performed outstandingly in the subsequent battles. Under the encouragement of a large number of viewers, the official really held a revenge battle, allowing it to fight again with the rat that bit off its arm and ate it.

You should know that the rat has already won several games. Although it has not participated in formal competitions, it is also a half-step champion. No one would think that it can't beat a disabled rat with this record.

That day, the gimmick was enough, and the result was also very exciting. It first fell into a disadvantage, and then relied on prosthetic limbs to insert into the enemy's body to fight back, and finally completed revenge and won the new title [Rick].

Rui means the sharpness of the weapon, and Ke means to defeat the enemy. Together, it means to defeat the enemy with a sharp weapon, highlighting the importance of transformation.

Of course, the venues that sell tickets and the casinos that place bets also made a lot of money. The audience saw a wonderful game with ups and downs. Everyone was happy. As for who was unhappy, it was only the gamblers who lost.

From this point on, a new trend was set off. The weak won the victory with external objects and equipment, which added a bit of suspense to the battle and attracted more attention.

Some people also wanted to wear armor, but after wearing it, they couldn't tell the winner even if they were exhausted, so there was no viewing value.

In fact, the gladiators in this world have also developed very well. Hamlet's fight with rats also has a reference direction, and it can even be more cruel and intense. After all, it's not a human, but a rat.

In some regular arenas, gladiators actually have to be paid wages, and prizes and other gambling fights are offered. In the final analysis, it is similar to the ring. Anyone can sign up, and some famous gladiators are even like stars.

Of course, there are also cruel jobs such as slave fighters, especially foreign tribes such as barbarians are more popular, and there are even wild beasts and even magical beasts of extraordinary blood. It's cruel and bloody.

Anyway, Hamlet doesn't need to pay the rats wages or rewards them. He feeds them the skinned rat corpses. If they are injured, he will apply some medicine and wait for them to recover. If they die, he will replace them. He doesn't feel sorry at all.

At the beginning, some people saw that the official was making huge profits, so they also had some ideas. After catching the rats, they did not kill them or sell them, but organized rat fights privately.

As I said before, if you want to make the rats fight, you need something that only the official can make. This is called core technology.

You can fight the rats when they are hungry, but it won't last long. Some males and females will fight each other, which is even more funny. The audience will not buy it and even report you because there are rewards for sweeping gambling.

If you don't engage in gambling, the lord will not care, but if you gather gambling, this behavior is like reaching into the lord's pocket for money. You should go to build roads.

But how can you make money without gambling? There is no solution.

Another reason is the cost issue. It is difficult for ordinary people to organize relatively formal competitions. If they are not formal, they will not be entertaining, and there is no guarantee that the competition is manipulated. It is also possible that the dealer wins.

In contrast, because the official organization of the rat fighting competition is specially responsible for a group of people, these people collect ticket money, and only need to study how to make the competition exciting, have topics, and attract more people. Winning or losing is not important.

But the casino is responsible for betting. What bets, what odds, what wins and losses, are all in their control.

Both are responsible to the lord, but the two different departments, although it is impossible to really have no influence, at least on the surface, the interests of both parties are different, creating a relatively fair environment.

After all, there are people who check the accounts. If they don't match, they either go to repair the road or go to the sanatorium. The law is not a joke.

This can be seen from those people. They all scold Lance, the lord, for being dictatorial, but many people are willing to believe in the lord and recognize the rules. This is reality.

Now a heavy snow has fallen, leaving them in the town. Fortunately, there are no entertainment activities compared to before. The rat fighting competition is still going on in the heavy snow.

Now it is the quarter-finals. The venue is very lively, almost crowded with people, each shouting the rat they support (bet), and the hideous faces don't know how much money they have invested.

Some people even came from other places in the heavy snow to watch the game. You can imagine how popular it is.

At this time, the two rats in the cage had scars of different ages on their bodies, and now they kept scratching and biting each other, their skin and flesh were broken and fat and a little blood was dripping. But instead of stopping, they fought even more fiercely.

This is why Hamlet can control the rat fighting industry. Without that kind of potion, such a wonderful effect cannot be achieved.

Even those people wanted the sanatorium to develop some stimulating potions for these rats to eat before the battle, but it was obviously not agreed.

Because that thing seems to be really bigger and bigger, and the more battles, the smarter it becomes...

The intensity of the battle seems to be heard from the shouts of the audience. After all, someone really gambled everything.

But the result of the battle is not transferred by their will. One dragged a seriously injured body and fled, while the other chased after it fiercely.

This is the advantage of not being hungry and crazy. After the fight, you will run away. At this time, the winner has been decided, instead of having to kill the other party.

Because the loser group is also a business, the sixteen fighting rats that can be selected from hundreds or thousands of crazy rats all have titles. For them, rats can die, but they must die with value.

The referee observed for a moment, and after confirming that they had no ability to resist, he asked people to separate the two, and then announced the result.

"The winner [Broken Tail] advances, the loser [Golden Tooth] enters the loser group, and the next game is..."

There are many games held in the venue every day, but there are only three regular games a day, and tickets are sold.

There are many other games, most of which are preliminaries, which are free to watch.

Some are special games, such as the previous battles between modified rats, or some battles between title rats, which also charge tickets, after all, the hype is exciting.

After the results were announced, some people were happy and some were sad. A large number of people began to abuse the losing rats, saying that you can still enter the loser group if you lose, but I will have no money if I lose.

However, there is nothing to pity about gamblers, and most people will not bet their entire fortunes, so they are still a minority.

The halftime break is actually giving everyone time to go to the casino to place bets.

The sturdy man who was shouting fiercely just now was sitting there, getting more and more angry, complaining to his companions, and immediately resonated.

"Fuck, he's called Gold Teeth, but he can't even beat a tail-breaking mouse. I think he should just be called Broken Teeth."

"Damn, that guy looks so good, he turned out to be a Fukiyose."

"Hahaha, I told you to buy from me, I've seen the Tail-breaking Fame Competition, the enemy bit off its tail, but it bit the enemy's throat."

"What to buy in the next round? I'm optimistic..."

Just as they were talking, a shout suddenly came.

"You guys are really here, stop playing, the mission is about to begin."

"What mission? It's snowing outside."

"That's right, aren't we going back?"

"The snow has stopped, go back to work, we finally got the mission."

The man was mysterious, and they left without saying anything nonsense, but they still didn't stop talking to the fighting mouse.

The snow outside that had been falling for several days did not stop, but stopped. Even the howling cold wind stopped, and the warm winter sun hung in the sky, bringing an inexplicable comfort.

"What mission did the leader receive? I heard that they are short of Junkrats. Could it be that they want us to catch Junkrats?"

"Don't tell me, I can catch one at random, but it's better than that Gold Fang."

"That's right, the snow has stopped, but the snow is so thick that even Junkrat won't come out."

This is a bit of a joke, and also a self-deprecating one.

Everyone here can see that they are members of the Scorpion Mercenary Group. Although they escaped with the Royal Guards when the Darkness came, they also suffered some losses. They can only stay here temporarily to recuperate. Then the Blood Moon came again, and all kinds of weird things made the leader plan to run away.

But the site lease period has not expired yet. After all, they wanted to make a lot of money by fighting the ruins, and the initial investment was too large. The sunk cost was here, so they could only bite the bullet and stay.

They didn't believe in any treasure, so they turned to making money, such as the emerging Junkrat industry. They didn't expect to make a fortune by catching rats.

That's why these people think that the task of returning is to continue catching rats.

"This time it's not about catching rats. As for what the task is, you will know when you go back."

Just now, the heat in the house was a bit overwhelming. Now I came out to breathe a breath of cold air, and I calmed down immediately and hurried back.

Then they found a team of Holy Light Knights on the mercenary group's base, which instantly made the few people who had just returned and didn't know what happened look serious.

They were all mercenaries, and they were in Totnes, so they were not very sensitive to these things. There were not many religious people, so they were cautious and afraid of the church.

Not to mention Hamlet, the lord almost openly disliked the church, and even beat up the legend of the church. If they were related to them, I'm afraid...

"Don't think too much, this mission was initiated by the church, and they are not short of money."

Hearing this, the expressions of the few people immediately became more serious. Mercenaries don't talk about faith, but gold coins.

"What happened? How did the church find us?"

"Do you remember the two church members when it was dark and the ruins were in turmoil? Brother Martin saved you.

Now the church members want to go deep into the ruins. Not many people have gone deep into the ruins. Most of them have died or left. Brother Martin recommended us among the remaining mercenaries."

After all, Scorpion knew the situation at that time, and he fought hard in the subsequent battles and his strength was not bad, which left a good impression on Brother Martin, so he was able to receive this mission.