"Have some food, or else you wouldn’t have any strength to fight, and our boss wouldn’t be happy."
The a.s.sistant ordered the mouth-watering food to be placed right outside the iron cage. He laughed and taunted them by saying, "Go ahead, ignore the food, it’s just that this will be the last meal for either one of you."
After seeing Anton’s angered expression and Oleg’s indifference, the a.s.sistant checked the time.
"There are four hours left. Enjoy your last period of tranquility."
The a.s.sistant then left with the others.
Oleg stretched his hand out of the cage and quietly stuffed himself with the food.
"... Mr. Oleg, are you gonna fight me?" Anton lowered his head and asked softly.
Nevertheless, Oleg did not answer. He only tore the meat into small pieces, before chewing them slowly.
"We can break free as soon they open the cage!" Anton lifted his head. "As long as we can rescue Nikita, we won’t be threatened by them any longer!"
"And then?" Oleg looked at Anton indifferently, "Can you kill Andrew? Can you escape from this place? What can you do with your fists when they attack us with their guns?"
"Even if we can do nothing, will you allow them to hara.s.s us?!" Anton retorted loudly, "Don’t you feel angry? Don’t you think this is unfair?"
Oleg suddenly said, "You might have a good family, so you may think a revolution can work and solve the problems. However, you may not know that in some cases resisting will probably cause you a deeper pain, and at the end, you may laugh at your naivety. People like me are selfish. I’ll kill you. If you don’t want that, eat more and gather your strength."
"So you choose to be bullied, never to resist, and to be a coward who grins and bears everything huh? / "If not, it’ll result in more damage. So you feel it doesn’t matter if you hurt yourself and cause the people you love get into trouble, right?!!"
"Even if you kill me and leave the ring successfully, do you think Andrew will let you go?! This time he can threaten you, it means there’ll be a second time! If you think about it, you’ll see that Andrew will threaten you all your life." / "Everything I do is just for my loved ones! Don’t be such an idealist! Face the reality! And the reality is that we’re screwed! Like stray curs!"
"If you don’t want to be threatened, you must resist! No one can save you except yourself! Nikita said the Oleg of that year was worthy of his respect!" / "So, I have to leave this place! No matter what! I need to survive!"
"Look at your appearance! Have you ever thought what if your kid sees you as a cowardly father and how he will judge you!! What will your kid think when he sees you kneeling down to the villain?!" / "I have nothing at all, I cannot lose my son! You’re not a father, so you know nothing about it! What do you know in your reckless and hot-blooded head? You even don’t know what the society is like!! You think that if you’re taller and stronger than the others, it means that you’re a grown-up? Bulls.h.i.+t! F*ck! What did you say?! "
The roar turned louder and louder, but it stopped suddenly. In this continual denouncement across the cages, the two never moved their gaze from each other’s face,.
It seems as though it’ll never end, not until they felt exhausted--- but because of Anton"s accusations, they suddenly fell into silence.
"I said, Antonio, doesn’t want to see your current appearance." Anton looked at Oleg--- he could never imagine seeing him as an equal, while sharing his honest thoughts.
Oleg took a deep breath, "You"re not him, so you won’t know his thoughts."
He sat down with his back facing Anton, saying nonchalantly, "Take your last meal."
"I’ll never give in!"
Anton also sat down with his back facing Oleg. He then stretched out to grab the food and ate it hungrily.
The two sat down, with their backs across the cage. They couldn’t see or touch each other; it was as though they were in two different worlds.
…
"Time is up."
When the door opened, the cage opened right after. At this moment, Anton immediately took action. With the anesthetic wearing off, he rushed out of the cage like a fierce tiger and easily knocked down one of the strong men.
When he was about to continue the fight, the a.s.sistant’s applause was heard, "Mr. Anton, I feel relieved seeing that you have so much strength stored up, but... if you continue with what you’re doing, I don’t know what will happen next."
He moved one step away.
Behind him, Nikita walked out in a bundle--- his face was pale with sweat, and both of his legs kept trembling.
He couldn’t help doing this.
He was restrained by an extremely thick belt which intertwined his body. The a.s.sistant sneered, "Do you know what this is? In only one second, that belt can shoot highly toxic needles in no more than 15 seconds. It’ll stop the heartbeat of Mr. Nikita. Perhaps he’ll go to heaven or h.e.l.l, who knows? The controller is in my boss’s hand. When Mr. Anton leaves here, it’ll be the time to attach this gadget on Mr. Nikita."
"You are … despicable!"
"Are you gonna resist?"
…
…
"Mr. K, what do you think of this arena?"
It was not a weekly hosting match for betting, so it looked very s.p.a.cious around the enormous ring. Andrew was now displaying his work complacently.
"This is a special ring, I originally intent to push it out next year. But I’m pleased that Mr. K is here to see it now!" Andrew pointed at the huge ring with a square bottom.
All 4 sides had been welded and sealed.
"When the match starts, there will be a strong electrical current going through the iron bars." Andrew squinted his eyes, "The ring will open only if one wins the match by following the rules. Otherwise, n.o.body can leave."
…
"Mr. Andrew, you’ve worked hard." Luo Qiu smiled... he suddenly s.h.i.+fted his attention from the VIP room to the side door below, "It seems that tonight’s protagonists have arrived."
The moment the iron gate of the arena closed, a loud collision of metals clas.h.i.+ng was heard. A strong man under the ring threw an iron bar towards the cage.
Crazy!
At that moment, sparks flew, and the two men on the ring looked at each other without saying a word.
Oleg suddenly started punching Anton’s chest severely. Despite Anton’s towering figure, the strong attacks caused him to retreat.
The attacks caused Anton’s lips to bleed. Anton raised his head gradually. Looking at Oleg, he said, "I’ll never hit back."
"But I won’t stop!"
Oleg roared ferociously and grabbed Anton"s body. He threw him towards the electrical nets at the edge of the ring...