DB Chapter 82

Chapter 82 – ‘Death Mask’

Novel Title: 龙血 (Dragon Blood)

Author：水千丞 (Shui Qian Cheng)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 单鸣 (Shan Ming -MC), 沈长泽 (Shen Changze -ML)

*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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~Four years later~

“We received an interesting order.” Tiger Shark shook the information in his hand.

Ayer laughed: “It’s been a long time since we received an order from Asia.”

“Is it China?” asked Pell.

“No. It’s not China. It’s from Japan.”

“Japan!” Job’s eyes lit up, “I must go. I definitely must go. As long as I have enough money, I can buy companionship from those women in the AV.”

Kali also geared up, “Yes, I also have to go. I want to bring back a truckload of mangas.”

Tiger Shark knocked on the table, “Be serious. There won’t be many people going this time, And you two are destined not to be the protagonist.” He looked at Shan Ming.

Job was not convinced, “Could it be that Shan is the protagonist? Why? Because he is handsome?”

“Of course it’s because I’m Asian. You idiot.” Shan Ming glared at him.

“That’s right. Take a good look at the information.” Tiger Shark threw the information on Job’s face.

They all turned the document over.

Dino turned around and said, “Oh. It’s the betting between Japanese gangsters. They held a fighting arena in an underground garage? It’s really interesting. I want to try it too.”

Job said, “You? You can only be a black bodyguard.” Then he laughed.

Dino kicked him several times.

Ayer patted the table, “Quiet. Let me briefly talk about the situation. A few days ago, Neo came to me and said that a Japanese friend of his entrusted him to find a powerful thug. At the end of this month, the two major rival yakuzas in Japan, Mochizuki Group and Seika Group finally decided to use a fair fighting arena to determine the ownership of a district in Kyoto. They had been fighting for months and finally managed to negotiate. This seems to be a local tradition of theirs. If the two parties’ disputes continue, an open arena match will be held at midnight in the underground garage of a department store in Kyoto. They will not be held responsible for any death or injury. From now on, all grievances will be cleared and no more provocations and revenge will be allowed.”

“Whoa. An underground garage. That sounds so cool.”

“That’s right. And they agreed that no foreign aid will be allowed in. They must send people from their own gangs to compete. Each side will send one person. There is a particularly powerful guy from Seika Group who just came out recently. This underground garage is hosted by the Fighting Club so they have to pay high membership fees and there are at least four matches in a month. The guy named ‘Death Mask’ has never lost since he appeared and he even killed the number one fighter from the Mochizuki Group within one move. The Mochizuki Group found Neo through their largest intelligence dealer in Asia. And then Neo found us. They are looking for someone with an oriental face to help them win this game. If they lose again, it will be our turn to come in. We will kill the president of the Seika Group.”

Shan Ming snorted coldly: “I really want to know how powerful he is.”

“In short, the reward for this mission is handsome. If you kill the president of the Seika Group, there will be additional bonuses. So our ultimate goal is to kill the president of the Seika Group. Now that we have decided to play in the game, the rest will act as foreign bodyguards. Any comments?”

“No!”

“Okay, we’ll head there tomorrow!”

When they arrived in Kyoto, it was already late at night but the city was still brightly lit.

The steward of the Mochizuki Group received them and arranged for them to stay in a high-end hotel. They then explained the tasks to them in detail.

They told Shan Ming not to speak as much as possible. Shan Ming’s Japanese is not very good and if he speaks too much, he will definitely expose himself. Then, they gave Shan Ming a computer and asked him to watch the video of ‘Death Mask’’s battle to prepare in advance.

Seeing these Japanese as if they’re facing a formidable enemy, Shan Ming thought it was funny.

As long as that guy under the mask is still a human being and not injected with any damn drugs, he is not worried at all.

Even if he loses, there are still others in ‘Peregrine Falcon’ who will take action.

So he didn’t look at the video at all. He went back to his room and took a comfortable shower. He then went to bed.

On the second night, they took a lengthy Rolls-Royce to the department store and entered the underground garage surrounded by bodyguards in black suits.

The first thing Shan Ming saw was the empty parking lot with cars of various colours in a circle. And then the noisy sound wave filled the whole space. This scene reminded Shan Ming of ‘Genting’. But this place is more like a professional fighting arena compared to ‘Genting’ which was a stage for temporary fights.

Their car drove directly to the centre of the garage through the passageway from which the vehicles drove out.

Shan Ming and the leader of the Mochizuki Group got out of the car together.

In the middle of the garage, he saw a huge barbed wire cage stuck in a downturn formed by a short slope.

There are three thick iron doors of different colours in the hexagonal iron cage. On one of the iron doors which was painted in blue-grey, a bright red embossed demon head protruded strangely. It was just like a real demon. It was like a demon had just poked his head out of hell and peeked at the scene of the fanatical crowd in front of him.

The other two gates are all golden and yellow in colour and they were almost identical. If you look carefully, there are some small peepholes on the two golden gates, allowing people to see everything in the iron cage clearly from behind the gates.

As soon as they entered the garage, the crowds began to shout frantically and slammed the horns of their cars desperately. But none of them got out of their cars. Occasionally, someone opened the window of their car but they just stuck out their hands with a stack of banknotes or a check and they waved them vigorously, waiting for those who come and go between vehicles. The strong men shuttled back and forth to collect the things in their hands and then handed them shield-shaped chips of different colours according to their requirements.

At eleven o’clock in the evening, when the heavy gate of the garage was slammed shut by the guards, a voice full of incitement and temptation suddenly came out on the speaker in the garage. The sound was loud and exciting: “What would you like to see? Pay a membership fee of 100,000 US dollars a month and you’ll get to see what you wanted to see.”

Voices started to come out through the car windows. They sounded a little weird but they were all the same: “Fight! We want to watch the fight!”

The provocative voice sounded again: “Fight? On TV, in movies, or in arenas, where can you buy the best seat for a few hundred dollars? Why can’t you watch it anywhere else?”

The weird voices of the crowds raised its height like a sudden wave of tsunami: “We want to see bloody fights! We want to see killer fights! We want to see the most powerful fights!”

The voice on the speaker also raised the vocal scale: “Then I will show you a bloody fight! I will give you a killer fight! I will give you the most powerful fight! Who wants to see blood? Who wants to see death? Who wants to see power? Are you excited?”

Countless throats roared out a name: “‘Death Mask’! ‘Death Mask’!”

Different from the voice that was teasing the audience towards frenzy, behind the blue-grey door, a tall man with a hideous Oni Mask on his face was sitting quietly on the sofa 20 metres away from the door. His eyes were closed and his two long legs were placed on a soft stool made of thick satin. Four professional masseuses carefully massaged the muscles on his shoulders, arms, and thighs.

The wave-like roar had already broken through the blue-grey door. Even those staff members who were used to this kind of scene could not help being affected by this frenzied atmosphere. There were some changes in their gestures. But the black-haired man sitting on the sofa seemed to be completely immersed in his dream-like state. Even the two professional masseurs couldn’t feel any abnormal beating of his muscles.

As the special wall clock behind the gate flashed a faint red light and the sound of beeps, the man wearing the Oni Mask opened his eyes. The eyes were as bright and deep as obsidian stone. He opened his thin lips lightly and whispered: “The trapezius muscle is strengthened. The medicated bag on the right knee can be removed.”

Different from the intimidating aura he gave to people, even if the voice was deliberately lowered, they could still hear how very young it sounded.

In the voice of unquestionable words, the masseur immediately started to move according to his instructions, while another thin Japanese man who came out of nowhere took a step forward and carefully took a look at the man’s knee. A gauze medicine bag with a strong herbal smell was taken off. He said with a flattering smile: “It seems that the medicated bag you made for yourself works well. The swelling on your knee is completely gone…”

Turning his neck slightly to match the masseur’s technique, the man wearing the Oni Mask said in a calm tone, “Talk less bullshit. Tell me today’s arrangement.”

Still smiling attentively, the thin Japanese man took out a small book from his pocket and looked at it for a while. He then solemnly repeated according to the words recorded in the book: “Today you have three games. You will play against the Ice and Snow Brothers from Russia. According to your strength, they should be renamed the Ice and Snow Corpses within two minutes. After that, there will be a surprising scene. Two people will walk around the field holding the winner’s name tag. Then, these beautiful girls of the week will suddenly attack you. Of course, they only have two sharp glove rings in their hands so they won’t cause too much damage to you.”

A dull cold snort came from behind the ferocious Oni Mask: “Two sharp gloves? There should be a pair of boots with blades and spikes too, right? Have you also recruited the Queen Bee from South America? Should I kill them?”

Smiling while closing the small book in his hand, the Japanese man nodded and bowed his head. He then said, “No, please don’t kill them. Just pretend to be defeated by them for a while and then throw them out of the ring. That’s it. They will at least have a record of knocking you down once and they will make more money in the future. Then, you know, President Seika has already told you that the highlight of tonight is to defeat the people sent by the Mochizuki Group. This is a picture of him. But there’s no combat footage of him yet.”

‘Death Mask’ took the photo. He looked at the handsome and cold oriental man in the photo. His fingers trembled slightly in surprise.

The Japanese spotted his abnormality sharply, “What’s wrong? Have you seen him before?”

A sneer that sounded like it came from the abyss made the four masseuses shudder. They stopped their work in unison: “Him? This guy who looks like an opera singer is my opponent? Are you guys planning to turn this fighting arena into a brothel with a special taste?”

The Japanese man showed a wretched smile, “You mean… are you interested in him? It turns out that you don’t accept any women to serve you before because…”

The dark-haired man’s hawk-like eyes glanced slowly at the Japanese man, scaring the skinny man to the point of almost peeing in his pants.

“No, no, no. Please don’t get me wrong. I shouldn’t make wild guesses. I’m just… oh, President Seika originally wanted you to kill him. But if you have other arrangements, President Seika will also be generous towards your requests.”

“Okay. Send him to my bed.” ‘Death Mask’ squeezed the photo in his hand. A trance of coldness shot out from his eyes.

Raising his hand to signal the masseur to leave his side, ‘Death Mask’ slowly stood up from the soft sofa and started the necessary warm-up before fighting.

Meanwhile, the clock on the blue-grey door had already lit up a circle of red light, which looked like a bloody moon hanging in the darkness. Some staff members by the gate have already made the final preparations. First-aid equipment, professional medical staff, and the towed stretcher painted to look like a hell sled used to drag the defeated back to the gate are all available. They were all just waiting for the roar of a huge wild animal to be blasted off from the loudspeaker once the gate opened.

After that, a few minutes in the fighting ring will keep someone alive, enjoying the thrill of cheering and killing. They will let others die, tormented by the coldness and terror of hell.

The three doors rose slowly at the same time and a pair of feet wearing military boots first appeared in front of the audience. Then, slender and strong legs were visible before a waist full of strength and beauty. And finally, a hideous Oni Mask appeared which ignited the enthusiasm of all audiences!

All eyes were on him. A few younger staff began to shout in response to the roar outside the door: “‘Death Mask’! ‘Death Mask’! ‘Death Mask’!”

Through the huge grey gate, ‘Death Mask’ and Shan Ming faced each other for the first time.

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*Translator’s Note: Do note that I read/wrote the Chinese characters for the yakuza gang in Japanese by this point. I’m after all more fluent in Japanese than Chinese. By this point, we can all already guess who ‘Death Mask’ is lol! I’ll be extremely busy soon so I’m trying to speed up with my translation but there might be days where I won’t post anything. Sorry about that. -K

*GLOSSARY: