After Pampering Her 5 Beast Husbands, the Villainess Struck It Rich

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Eavesdropping

Bai Zhi was surprised they had done so much on the sly. "I just glanced at the audience," she said, "and I didn’t see Lang Qiu or his men."

Hu Yan said thoughtfully, "I’ll go out and take a look in a bit. We passed quite a few rooms on the way. Once I find them, I’ll bring them over. If... something goes wrong, I’ll give you a signal. When that happens, do your best to attract everyone’s attention and buy us time. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that."

Hearing this, Yan Yichen’s heart clenched. "Why don’t I go with you?" he said immediately.

Hu Yan shook his head. "A group is too conspicuous. It’s easier for one person to move around. Besides, you all need to stay here and protect Bai Zhi."

Bai Zhi glanced down at the commotion below, where the crowd was roaring because a Beastman had fought back and injured the Red Flame Tiger. Everyone was staring at the stage. If several people left at once, it would definitely be conspicuous. One person could easily make an excuse, but a group would be hard to explain.

With a solemn expression, Bai Zhi instructed, "Be careful, then."

Hu Yan nodded. "Mm."

With that, he walked out of the private room.

Yan Yichen’s worry was written all over his face. "It’s so dangerous for Hu Yan to go alone," he said.

Bai Zhi gestured for him to look below. The noise from the arena nearly drowned out their voices. "Even if you were to go, now isn’t the time. Look outside. Every intersection is guarded, and everyone down there is staring at the stage. If too many of us go, we won’t just fail to find and rescue Lang Qiu’s group—we’ll expose ourselves."

At her words, Yan Yichen looked down and saw that she was right. He pressed his lips together. Though he was still clearly worried, he didn’t mention following Hu Yan again.

In contrast to Yan Yichen’s overt anxiety, Sang Mo had already sat back down, looking as if he were just an uninterested bystander along for the ride.

Bai Zhi’s gaze fell on the scars that his movements revealed, and she looked away, a pang of guilt striking her.

Even with two days of treatment and the formidable regenerative abilities of a Beastman, Sang Mo’s wounds were mostly healed. However, some scars had yet to fade.

Not long after Hu Yan left, a robot arrived with the fruit and snacks she had ordered.

As Bai Zhi watched the fight between the Beastman and the beast below, her thoughts drifted to the Gladiatorial Arena they had mentioned earlier.

The outcomes in the Gladiatorial Arena could only be more brutal than this.

Here, at least the match could be stopped. But in the Gladiatorial Arena, it was either the beast that died, or the Beastman.

The longer Bai Zhi watched, the more horrified she grew. She had never been exposed to anything like this before and couldn’t understand it. ’What kind of person could possibly enjoy such a bloody game?’ she wondered.

After leaving the private room, Hu Yan checked several nearby rooms before choosing one. He slowly released a small wisp of his superpower. It looked like strands of blue roots, slowly penetrating the room.

"Tch, that’s the tenth one. Why isn’t that Tai fellow here yet? I put ten thousand Star Coins on him, you know."

"Almost everyone bet on the Red Flame Tiger tonight. Hundreds of high-rollers bet on it to win all twenty matches. The atmosphere is electric; everyone assumes the Red Flame Tiger is a shoo-in. If Tai doesn’t show, we’re going to lose big. A champion with a several-hundred-win streak versus an S-Class Red Flame Tiger... I’m pretty curious to see who’s stronger myself."

Hu Yan retracted his spiritual power. He then crept to the next room and sent his spiritual power inside using the same method.

His spiritual power was different from that of other Beastmen. Theirs had no physical form, but his could partially materialize. This ability stemmed from the unique spiritual power of the Nine-tailed Fox clan.

The downside, however, was that he was more susceptible to spiritual power rampages than others.

Inside the second room, voices drifted out intermittently. "Remember, you have to bring me someone."

"Mmm... Ah... Gentler..."

"Relax, mmph... Don’t you trust me? Just... as long as you... please me..."

Hu Yan heard only a snippet before hastily withdrawing his spiritual power.

He checked four rooms before he finally heard something useful.

"Should we call an Advanced Healer to take a look? Some of them are in really bad shape. Our Healers can only provide basic treatment. We have two very strong fighters who might never be able to fight again if they don’t get proper treatment soon."

Another voice replied, "Why waste the money? Do you have any idea how much an Advanced Healer costs? Just patch them up and throw them out."

"Won’t this be demoralizing for the other fighters?"

"We don’t owe them anything. Their accounts have been settled, and our Healers have given them basic first aid. Besides, they went on that stage willingly. The deal is done, payment rendered. We’ve done all we’re obligated to do."

A moment later, the door opened from the inside. Hu Yan quickly ducked aside, splitting off a minuscule thread of spiritual power and attaching it to the man who came out. Unless someone had a higher spiritual power level than him, it would be nearly impossible to detect.

The man wore a grim expression. He clearly disliked his superior’s decision, but he wasn’t in a position to overrule it.

But if his boss could discard fighters who had earned the establishment a fortune in Star Coins without a second thought, it wasn’t hard to imagine he’d do the same to them someday.

With a sullen face, he walked on, completely unaware that he had picked up an extra little something—and a tail.

He returned to a room where three grievously wounded Beastmen lay. The most severely injured one had been burned beyond recognition by a Red Flame Beast and was barely clinging to life. He could still be saved if placed in a Treatment Chamber, but it would cost a fortune in Star Coins.

Another had his arm torn off by a Red Flame Beast. Reattaching it and making it good as new would require an S-Class or higher Advanced Healer.

Their resident Healers, however, were only B-Class. That was more than enough for the fighters’ usual needs.

But today, they had faced an S-Class Red Flame Beast. Their injuries were far too severe, and the B-Class Healers were completely helpless in the face of such trauma.

A weak but desperate voice cut through the silence in the room. "Well? Did they agree?"

The speaker was a fighter with a win rate of over ninety-five percent. He had earned them a fortune over the years. Among the injured, he was second only to the one who had been burned.

He had multiple fractures, a severed arm, and a broken leg. To say his entire body was a wreck would be an understatement.

His question was met with silence.

The Beastman who had asked the question understood instantly. His face twisted into a mask of pain as he let out a dry, rattling laugh. "You people are truly ruthless! The moment we can’t make you a profit, you toss us aside without a second thought!"

The others understood, too. They had been abandoned.

A thick pall of sorrow descended upon the room.