The Great Gambling Day

The refrigerator was nearly empty because Solus had not purchased any food in the past few days. There was only one can of salmon fish left inside, which he ended up consuming straight out of the can just to satisfy his hunger. Only a few bottles of water remained sitting quietly on the side.

"I think it is time to finally spend some money on groceries. It feels like a waste, but I need it to live, whether I like it or not."

He added it to his daily schedule and walked out of the house without a second thought. The sky outside remained the same dull, pale white as always, stretching endlessly above him without any sign of change. A golden star still shone faintly in the sky, though it looked slightly dimmer today. Solus moved to the underground section without hurrying and made his way to the resource collection station for work.

The place appeared to be completely empty. There were no humans anywhere, only robots mindlessly working and surveillance drones flying quietly overhead. It was the same dead atmosphere even on the lower floors. But when he finally reached the bottom floor, he noticed a massive crowd spread out all over the place like a living carpet.

Every worker was present, cheering and shouting like wild animals. Solus pushed his way through a few people before stopping near the stairs to watch. Tens of thousands of workers had gathered into groups. In every small circle they formed, there were a few people fighting, beating each other senseless while the crowd roared.

"Is it some kind of special day?" Solus asked the person standing next to him without looking.

"Hmm? Oh, you're that new guy," the man said, glancing at him sideways. "It's the last day of the month, and we're just having a good time. As you can see, everyone's watching others fight for entertainment."

Solus had been unaware of this event, but it was not anything new to him. He had been so focused on his own personal work that he completely forgot what day it even was.

"Ahh, the good old gambling day... this brings back some memories of the pigs I used to know from my past."

That day was notorious for its mindless brutality. People claimed they fought for fun, but everyone knew that was just a lie. The fights were brutal, almost professional-level brawls, and they even placed dirty bets on who would win. Given the small size of the station, even if a few people ended up dying, nobody would bother noticing. They would just dismiss it like it was any other boring Tuesday morning.

Solus strolled casually through the crowd, quietly taking in his surroundings without much care. He was not interested in their pathetic activities, and if he had known it was a day off, he would have stayed at home and done something far more productive.

"Since I'm already stuck here, why not have a little fun? Killing a few pigs from the herd would not be too obvious to the farmer."

He pushed his way through a random small crowd without hesitation and found two men already fighting in the middle of the ring. Both of them were injured badly, but one of them had blood smeared all over his face and was moving in a slow, sloppy way.

The other man looked messed up too, but he could at least move his body properly. When he threw a few tired punches, his opponent wobbled but managed to dodge them just barely.

"Let's go! You can do it!" someone shouted from the crowd.

"Finish him already! Can't you land a single hit on a weakling?"

"What the hell are you doing, man?! Knock him down already!"

The fighter clenched his jaw in frustration as the crowd threw their nonsense at him. He had bet a large chunk of money on this damn fight and was giving it everything he had, but the other guy just refused to go down.

His opponent's face was covered in bruises, one eye swollen purple, blood dripping from a gash on his forehead, but he had staked everything he had, his entire life savings, on winning that fight. If he lost, it was over for him. Even if his body was screaming to give up and collapse on the ground, he couldn't afford it. His life would be meaningless after that.

"Just die already!" The other person punched the man in the face, which landed cleanly.

"YEAH!" the crowd exclaimed.

The man took a step back and nearly collapsed before quickly straightening up. The blood blurred his vision and made him dizzy. His body shifted from one position to another.

The other person charged in recklessly and delivered another brutal punch to the man's face, nearly crushing his skull with the impact. The man eventually lost his balance and fell to his back on the ground, struggling and kicking weakly as he attempted to stand up. His opponent wasted no time, lowering down on top of him like a wild animal and throwing heavy punches mercilessly.

Blood splattered everywhere, painting the floor a dark red, and a few broken teeth flew through the air. Some of the audience fell silent after witnessing the brutal, cold-hearted actions, but the majority continued to cheer even louder.

The man eventually came to a halt, his fists dripping with blood, and took deep breaths to calm himself. His opponent remained motionless on the ground, but to everyone's surprise, he trembled slightly. His right hand shakily rose from the ground and, with the last of his strength, lightly punched his opponent in the face, leaving a bloody fist mark.

After glaring coldly at the almost-dead man, the opponent raised his fist again and delivered a final, crushing blow. Following that, the man's body went completely limp, with no movement in his chest.

"Oh no, is he dead?" someone asked with a half-laugh, not sounding surprised.

"Who cares? I bet on his opponent because I knew he was going to lose. I just made some quick, easy money,"

"Yeah, he died because of his own stupidity. He was the one who refused to back off when he still had a chance."

Solus glanced over his shoulder and looked down at the corpse without much care. His cybernetic eyes scanned the body and detected no pulse, no breathing at all.

"If that body was still in good enough condition, I would have taken it with me. What a waste,"

Solus had completely run out of backup bodies lately and needed to collect a few more. Many people were walking around right in front of him, practically offering themselves up, but he was shackled by invisible chains holding him back.

"I need to be patient until I reach a certain point. Acting recklessly now would only drag me into deeper trouble."

But he hadn't come here to waste time watching pigs beat each other up. It was the perfect opportunity for him to make some serious money, and he already knew exactly where he needed to go. He walked away from the small crowd without hesitation and scamned around carefully for specific conditions to set up his plan.

The conditions were simple:

1. There needed to be a clear leader running the show.

2. The crowd had to be stupid enough and smart enough to throw away their money for a few seconds of bloody entertainment.

3. It had to be a medium or large-sized crowd to make the risk worth it.

Solus eventually discovered his golden goose after some searching and analyzing the groups' behavior. A large, muscular man was sitting back comfortably on a chair, surrounded by a handful of guards, and a large crowd had gathered around them.

Solus carefully slipped through the crowd and made his way to the first row, where he had a clear view of the fighting pit. A few men were brawling together in a chaotic free-for-all. A few bodies were already lying motionless on the ground, while only three men remained fighting until the bitter end.

After a short, savage struggle, the tall, lean man defeated his last two opponents and emerged victorious. The crowd erupted in cheers and noise, while others scowled and cursed under their breath because the team they had bet on had just been defeated.

"That guy's invincible! He won three rounds in a row!" someone shouted near Solus.

"Man, I thought he'd get weaker after two rounds, but hell, I had no idea he was built like that. I should've bet on him instead..."

A man dressed as an announcer quickly entered the ring and raised the lean fighter's hand for all to see.

"The winner is... Angus!" he shouted into the microphone.

"Whoo! Let's go, Angus!"

"Thanks for winning me some money, man!" someone else laughed.

The announcer cleared his throat and shouted louder, "This is his third consecutive victory! He has proven that no one can defeat him! Not even a whole crowd of people could stop him! Is anyone else brave enough to step up and fight?!"

No one moved.

"If you fight him, you won't have to bet anything, and if you somehow beat him, you will receive 3000 Lins as your reward! Is there really no one here?!"

Still, the crowd stayed frozen, eyes darting but no one stepping forward.

"Alright then! 5000 Lins to whoever can beat Angus!"

"I will try!" someone finally shouted, raising their hand from the crowd. People around him immediately backed away and gave him space, revealing a young man stepping forward.

"Oh, it looks like we have found our next brave opponent! So what are you waiting for? Start betting now!"