On the other hand, the losers looked at the winners in envy. They wanted to win this time and joined the bets again so that they could win what they had lost in the previous round.
Cyril smirked when he saw this.
He knew how gambling works. He understood that the bait for the gambling worked well.
Gambling is the same as drugs. Once addicted, it is difficult to leave it.
If you win, you want to win more. If you lose, you want to win it back. This is an endless loop. There is no coming out of this loop.
Two hours from the start of the event, it was already the finals of the Arm Wrestling competition.
When Cyril saw the names of the two finalists, his eyes lingered on one of their names for a second more.
That was because he felt the name was familiar.
"Fraer… where had I heard this name before?" Cyril mumbled to himself. But he was so busy collecting bets that he left the matter at the back of his mind immediately.
Because it was the finals, albeit being a simple competition compared to many other stamina-reducing games, Cyril made it look exciting with loud and thrilling music playing in the background.
These special effects are the most important when it comes to such events. In the absence of these, it would look like a mere handshake between friends.
There was a canteen - with many varieties of foods and drinks prepared by Tibbath.
There was a ten minute countdown running on the large screen with the two finalists' pictures shown with special effects of fire behind them.
With this break, everyone rushed to the canteen to get food and drinks.
Most of these foods were not available to them through their system. So, when they saw these new and exciting dishes on the menu, their mouths watered.
The customers surrounded Tibbath like moths around fire.
Tibbath - Who was deprived of the happiness of watching people enjoying his food - was exhilarated by this scene in front of him.
The grin on his face was so wide that Rian was sure there should be many mosquitoes entering his mouth and yet the man did not realize that.
Cyril was taking care of the entire game and betting. So, Rian came to help Tibbath with serving his customers.
Whenever he heard a soft moan from any of his customers while eating the food he made, Tibbath would chuckle foolishly.
From the sidelines, Rian would tremble from time to time at how creepy Tibbath looked when he did that.
After all, it has been a couple of hours since the opening of this canteen and there were many customers here already. Tibbath should have been used to this by now, right?
Yet, he wasn't.
If this wasn't creepy, then Rian doesn't know what was.
Cyril was done making all the betting arrangements. Since there was a countdown, he wanted to get some water before it started. When he looked at the empty bottle in front of him, he shook his head in slight disappointment.
He had no choice but to go to the canteen to refill his bottle.
As soon as he appeared, Rian walked towards him and whispered in his ears, "Brother Cyril, don't you find him very creepy. I am very scared to stand beside him. What if he suddenly cuts my fingers in his excitement and cooks them to satisfy his customers? Can you please save me from this weirdo?"
"..." Cyril couldn't believe the level of imagination Rian had.
He poked Rian's forehead with his index finger and said, "What do you have in your mind all day long? How can you think of something so stupid like that?"
No matter how much Tibbath wanted his customer's satisfaction, he wouldn't cook another person, right?
Even though Cyril did not say these words out loud, Rian understood that was what he wanted to say.
Rian shook his head helplessly as he sighed before saying, "Brother Cyril, you are too naïve. Look around yourself. Everyone in this prison is a criminal. They had committed such a big and serious crime that the world government doesn't want them to simply die. Otherwise, we would have been given the death penalty long ago.
"Instead, the world government wants us to suffer till we die. How could any of the criminals living here be normal? Now look at Tibbath. All we know about him is that he is a cook. But do we know what crime or crimes he had committed to come here? We don't.
"There is no way he was imprisoned here just because he cooked something bad, right? Now think about my doubts. You will also think that my suspicions are valid. What do you think?"
"..." After registering Rian's words, Cyril suddenly felt that this silly man had a very good logic. But instead of answering his question, Cyril pointed his finger at himself as he asked, "I am naïve?"
That was the first time someone had ever called him naïve. Whenever someone described him, there were many words like shrewd, cunning, selfish and many more.
Rian blinked his eyes. He did not know what to answer and just casually shrugged his shoulders.
Cyril shook his head and patted on Rian's shoulder, "Okay, it doesn't matter thinking about these things now. Now we are partners in business. Let Tibbath do what he wanted to do. You go and warm up. Once the last round is done, we will go to sports events. It will be your time."
Rian nodded, "Okay, Brother Cyril. I am going then."
Rian went to warm up while Cyril greeted Tibbath with a nod and a couple of words before he filled his water bottle and went back to the event location.
The count down was about to end and luckily Cyril was on time.
He announced the numbers of the contestants who reached the finals and both the men, who were clearly the bulkiest of all the men he had seen in the entire venue, entered the stage.