Elder brother's garrison

As the winner was decided on stage, the crowd on the side wearing black shirts erupted in loud cheers.

The defeated female bodyguard walked off the stage dejectedly and approached the man in the suit, looking ashamed.

"Manager, I'm sorry..."

"It's alright, you've done your best, go and get some rest."

The man in the suit raised his hand to stop the dejected female bodyguard. He offered a word of comfort, and then had someone take the defeated bodyguard back to the lounge.

After the contestants left the stage, the general manager in the black shirt stepped forward, smiling and bowing to the man in the suit.

"Fellow player, I concede the second set."

“…I concede defeat.” The man in the suit’s gaze flickered for a moment. “Your company’s female bodyguards are indeed formidable.”

"Hehe, focusing on improving the quality of our female bodyguards is our company's core competitiveness," the general manager in the black shirt chuckled. "You won't blame me for this 'Tian Ji' strategy, will you?"

"..." The man in the suit was silent for a moment, but then shook his head. "What's the third round about?"

"..." Upon hearing the man in the suit say this, the general manager in the black shirt smiled even more broadly.

……

"Huh? Are they really that despicable?"

Not far from the arena, Xiao Bai, hidden among the crowd, looked at Veneto with some curiosity.

Veneto and Little White are discussing the details of the ring match.

"Hmm," Veneto replied, nodding with his eyes open.

"One men's match and one women's match, you win one and I win one, isn't that fair?" Xiaobai asked curiously.

“If it’s a fair competition, then this system is indeed very fair.” Veneto shook her head and said to Xiaobai, “Admiral, but the current competition is not a fair competition, but a one-sided challenge, so the situation is completely different.”

"Is there a big difference between challenging someone?"

“Challenging a champion is an act involving conflicting interests, where the positions and risks borne by the two parties are unequal,” Veneto said, pointing a finger at Xiaobai. “For example, for the challenger who is trying to undermine the opponent, losing the match is at most a humiliating defeat, and they suffer almost no loss. But if they win, they can reap huge rewards. On the contrary, for the challenged, even if they win the match, they can at most protect their reputation without any substantial change, while losing will cause their status in the industry to plummet.”

"Oh...that seems to be the case." Xiaobai listened in a daze.

"I don't know what went wrong with this challenge format, but they chose a best-of-three format, and even a best-of-three with separate events," Veneto said to Xiaobai. "The challenger took advantage of their gender distribution, fighting men's combat in the first round, women's combat in the second, and then winning the next round after giving up a round, forcibly leveling the score in the first two rounds. This is equivalent to betting the entire outcome of the challenge on the last round, greatly reducing the value of the competition. At first glance, this seems like a fair system for both sides, but if you consider the risks they bear, you'll find some shady dealings... For example, Admiral, have you thought about what the third round will be like?"

"Uh... the first round is men's combat, the second round is women's combat, so the third round is... freestyle combat with no gender restrictions?"

"How could that be? The challenger proposed the competition format. Unrestricted combat would be a huge disadvantage for them, so they wouldn't do that."

"That's right... So what will the third round of the arena be like?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the third round should be a game of luck."

"What do you mean?"

“For example, if someone flips a coin, if it lands heads, the third round is men’s fighting; if it lands tails, the third round is women’s fighting.” Veneto said, smiling slightly at Xiaobai. “It sounds fair, right? Everyone has a fifty percent chance of getting an advantageous match.”

"...Ah! I understand!" Upon hearing this, Xiaobai suddenly understood and looked at Veneto with empathy, "How despicable!"

Xiao Bai finally understood what Veneto meant by "despicable."

In terms of overall company strength, Veneto's original bodyguard company was definitely superior to this challenger. If it were a competition of other kinds, the bodyguards with their superior overall strength would have almost no chance of losing.

However, through this magical best-of-three classification competition system, coupled with the two companies' drastically different male-to-female ratios, the odds of winning this challenger were artificially inflated to 50%! At first glance, this seems like a fair gamble for both sides, but it is extremely unreasonable for the two challengers who already bear the risk of inequality.

After all, if the challenger loses, they lose; but if the challenged loses, they suffer huge losses.

For the challengers, the current situation is simply a perfect scenario where winning means taking off, and losing means not losing out!

Seemingly echoing the conversation between Veneto and Little White, the two groups near the ring also discussed the ruling for the third round. The man in the suit and the man in the black shirt stepped forward, took out a coin, and tossed it gently into the air. The coin landed on the floor with a crisp sound.

"It's the back!! The third game is the women's match!"

"Hahaha, the third game is our advantageous match!"

"..."

The crowd at the other end of the black shirt erupted in a thunderous cheer.

The group in black suits, who were the counterparts to the group in black shirts, frowned and became serious upon hearing that the third round was a women's match.

"Haha, fellow professional, looks like Lady Luck is on our side." The manager in the black shirt picked up the coin, smiled, and handed it to the man in the suit. "Would you like to check the coin? We haven't tampered with it."

The man in the suit silently accepted the coin. He clutched the coin in his palm, his face tense, but he simply shook his head.

"No need for further checks, this third round... will be women's combat."

"Those in the same industry have a great vision!"

"..." The man in the suit turned around, looking at the bodyguards behind him with a worried expression.

Most of the bodyguards behind him had their anger simmering on their faces, looking extremely frustrated but with nowhere to vent their frustration.

Ugh……

What should we do now...?

Seeing that the man in the suit seemed a bit downcast, the general manager in the black shirt didn't rush forward to urge him on. Instead, he smiled and bowed to the man in the suit again.

"Fellow fighters, speaking of which, we've had two matches in a row, and you must all be a bit tired by now," the black-shirted general manager said with a smile. "How about this, you can carefully select your opponents for the third match, while our people can take a break in the lounge. In about ten minutes, when both sides are ready, we can proceed with the final decisive match. This way, it'll be fairer to everyone, what do you say?"

The word "fairness" uttered by the general manager in the black shirt sounded strangely sarcastic to the man in the suit.

The man in the suit closed his eyes, ignoring the general manager in the black shirt.

The general manager in the black shirt didn't mind the man in the suit's cold shoulder. He laughed twice and led the group in black shirts toward the lounge. Soon, the whole group disappeared from sight.

……

In the gaps at the edge of the crowd.

Veneto stroked his chin, watching the black-shirted group walk away, a hint of doubt flashing in his red eyes.

"What's wrong?" Xiaobai noticed the confusion in Veneto's eyes.

“That’s a bit strange,” Veneto said to Xiaobai. “It’s clearly an unfair competition system; the challenged party could have refused. What went wrong to make them so willing to accept this kind of duel?”

Chapter 2484 Veneto Strikes!

"So you can refuse?" Xiao Bai chuckled when he heard Veneto say this.

“Yes, if the challenger proposes some strange competition methods, the challenged can certainly refuse.” Veneto nodded. “On the contrary, seeing that this kind of competition, which is obviously biased towards the challenger, has gone on to the third round and the leaders of both sides have not yet come out to protest, is already full of unreasonableness.”

“It seems there’s more to this than meets the eye…” Xiaobai nodded thoughtfully. “Veneto, what should we do now?”

"...Let's go over and check the situation first."

"it is good."

Xiaobai and Veneto held hands, and the two squeezed through the gaps between the men in suits toward the ring.

Under the ring.

Next to the scoreboard.

After the crowd in the black shirt temporarily dispersed, the man in the suit lowered his head, looking at the coin in his hand with a complicated expression, without saying a word.

"Alas... Heaven is against me..."

The man in the suit sighed.

Just then, a bodyguard jogged back from the direction of the lounge.

"Manager! Those guys in black shirts, they're celebrating with champagne in the lounge!"

Upon hearing this, the bodyguard next to the man in the suit gritted his teeth, looking furious.

"They're opening champagne halfway through the fight, the match isn't even over yet! These guys are way too arrogant!"

"Damn it, if all else fails, I'll just wear a suit and fight them!"

"It's too much to bully someone!"

"What kind of bullshit best-of-three system is this?!"

"They're treating us like dirt, and we can't even utter a word of protest!"

"..."

Hearing the protests from nearby employees, the man in the suit also showed a helpless expression.

"There's nothing we can do about it. The tallest tree in the forest catches the most wind. Our company was too eye-catching in previous years, which is why it was targeted by our competitors..." the man in the suit said to his employees. "Our company's performance has been declining over the past year, all because of the targeting by our competitors. If this continues, we will have to close down sooner or later."

"Sigh!" Upon hearing the man in the suit's words, the bodyguards around him paused in their anger and stomped their feet in frustration.

"This sparring event with other companies, while ostensibly a simple martial arts exchange, actually represents the industry's attitude towards us," the man in the suit said regretfully to the men around him. "I know everyone feels aggrieved about this not-so-fair competition system, but unfortunately, from our current position, we have no right to complain. We can only grit our teeth and accept all the unfair treatment. If we are lucky enough to win, the industry's targeting of us will stop for a while, but if we don't win, it means the industry doesn't think we are qualified to continue being the leader, and it's time to give back some of the benefits and resources we've enjoyed in recent years."

"Ultimately, it's because our company's strength has indeed declined in the past two years, and we've gradually lost our ability to keep up with our industry peers," the man in the suit concluded.

"Sigh... If Sister Wei were still here, if Sister Wei were still here... how could we be ridden on by such a group of people!"

"Sister Wei!"

"..."

Upon hearing this, the bodyguards around couldn't help but beat their chests and stamp their feet in frustration.

Master Ye, standing next to the man in the suit, wore a sad expression for a moment, but before he could speak, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye, who seemed to have flashed past the gap in the figures in front of him just a moment ago.

Master Ye was taken aback, and he looked into the gaps in the crowd with a puzzled expression.

Master Ye's gaze was initially filled with doubt, but the longer he looked through the gaps in the crowd, the more surprised he became. In the end, this surprise quickly turned into delight and excitement.

"Ah...ah!!!" Master Ye raised his hand, pointing directly at the gap in the crowd, his previously calm face now filled with ecstatic joy and reverence. "It's...it's Boss Wei!!! Boss Wei!!!"

Master Ye's shouts instantly spread throughout the entire gym.

"Huh? What?"

"Boss Wei... Master Ye, are you talking about Sister Wei?"

"Yes, Master Ye was taught a few moves by Sister Wei back then, so he has always called her Sister Wei."

"What? Sister Wei is here??"

The people in the arena were stunned and looked in the direction Master Ye pointed.

After a brief commotion, the crowd split into two.

Sure enough, in the middle of the road where the crowd parted, everyone spotted Veneto and Little White.

The moment the people in the gym saw Veneto, their expressions changed from initial shock to a fleeting, almost ecstatic, joy, as if they were looking at a savior.

"Sister Wei!!!"

"Sister Wei, it's Sister Wei!!! Sister Wei is here! Hahahaha, we're saved!!"

"Heaven hasn't forsaken us!!"

The sound of thunderous footsteps echoed all around.

The tall men in the gym looked at Veneto, who was clearly half their height, and not one of them failed to show a look of longing and fervor. As if they had seen a god, they all rushed to Veneto's side. They stood in four neat rows around Veneto, all of them standing up straight and bowing deeply to him at a ninety-degree angle.

Everyone shouted in unison at her.

"Welcome home, Sister Wei!!! (Medical Series II: Lin Qishi's Scar)"

"May Sister Wei live forever!!!"

The echoes vibrated against the walls of the gym.

The welcome was extremely grand.

Xiao Bai covered her mouth, looking at the reactions of the bodyguards around her with some surprise. The group of people moved in unison without any hesitation, as if they had undergone some kind of special training.

Veneto rubbed her forehead in exasperation, looking at the bodyguards in front of her and glancing worriedly at Xiaobai beside her.

"Miss Vieto! Miss Vieto, you're finally back in Yuncheng!" The man in the suit rushed out from the crowd, his face beaming with joy as he looked at Veneto standing with Xiaobai, trembling with excitement. "When did you come in?! Why didn't you tell us?!"

"Manager, it's been a long time." Veneto nodded to the manager and greeted him.

"Boss Wei!" Master Ye ran out excitedly, "Why did you come in for so long without saying hello?"

"I didn't want to disturb you because I saw you were fighting in the ring, but I didn't expect you to find me so quickly." Veneto nodded to Master Ye with satisfaction. "Little Ye, you have good eyesight."

"It's all thanks to Boss Vito's excellent teaching!" Upon receiving Vito's praise, Master Ye immediately blushed with excitement and bowed deeply in gratitude. "Boss Vito, even if you turn to ashes, I'll still recognize you!"

Veneto silently watched Master Ye bowing, then turned his gaze to the manager.

"Manager, I saw what happened in the ring just now," Veneto asked calmly. "It seems you've been targeted quite a bit since I left the company?"