Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 121: His Position

Chapter 121: His Position

"You the Dragon?" grunted a voice. Bai Long Qiang looked up from where he was sitting on a bench in a dilapidated locker room.

It smelled like blood and sweat, not the most appealing of combinations, but it was... fragrant.

Bai Long Qiang nodded his head, not bothering to speak. The guy looked like a scuzzball. His hair was sticking up all over the place, and his eyes kept jumping around the room like he was going to be attacked at any moment.

Or he was high on something or other.

And he clearly hadn’t realized that no fighter fought unless there was something in it for them.

Then again, he might have enough sins on his soul to warrant being killed by someone.

In the few months since they left City Y, he and the others had split up into teams of two and three, each team taking a different city.

Wang Chao and his team had pretty much taken care of the zombie tide single-handedly, saving everyone in the city, including them. Then they up and disappeared, taking most of the supplies with them.

It took a couple of days before he and his team managed to collect enough supplies from the surrounding area before leaving for parts unknown.

Well, that was a stretch. He and Cheng Bo Jing went up North to City A and managed to slip into the base there before the front door was slammed shut and security intensified.

Ye Yao Zu, Si Dong, and Fan Teng Fei went to City F in Province G. It was more than a few months’ walk away from City A, but it was closer to City I and where Wang Tian Mu might be.

They would have gone straight to City I, but they had to figure things out first. The most important things being how to get from the East Coast to the West side of the country and how to survive in the new world they found themselves in.

"Are you listening to me?" sneered the dirtbag, snapping his fingers in front of Bai Long Qiang’s face. His hand shot out and gripped the fingers before the other man could take back his hand.

That was another thing. They had to learn how to fight ’properly’. They were trained to fight like a soldier, but it didn’t take them long to realize that what went on in those rings had nothing to do with how a soldier fought.

There was no such thing as fighting dirty when your life was on the line.

"No," shrugged Bai Long Qiang, stretching his neck and shoulders. He had a fight tonight but wouldn’t be told until later who his opponent was or even what time his fight was.

The boss of this fight club liked to keep everyone on their toes.

"I asked what your ranking was," sneered the man, his rotten teeth practically breaking in front of Bai Long Qiang.

He didn’t bother to answer such a stupid question. If he knew his name, there was no way he wouldn’t know his ranking.

"All you fighters thinking that you are hot shit," scoffed the man. "You are nothing, no powers, no smarts, nothing that will help you survive in this world other than brute strength. It is amazing that your kind hasn’t been killed off by now."

Bai Long Qiang rolled his eyes as he continued his stretches. It was nothing that he hadn’t heard a hundred times before. And yet, people still paid thousands of dollars to watch him fight in a world where money meant life.

"We could always use your kind as zombie bait, I guess," continued the idiot. Apparently, he liked to hear himself talk because he managed to keep a one-sided conversation going for so long.

Bai Long Qiang absently nodded his head, wondering what Cheng Bo Jing was doing right now. His role in this operation was that of a big spender. He needed to spend more money than Midas in order to prove his ability to go to the big time.

And what Wang Chao’s woman said was right... the fighting camp outside of City I was literally the Shangri-La of all fight clubs. All the fighters wanted to get there for the pot at the end of the fight, and all the gamblers wanted to be there in order to get more money.

There were even rumors about VIP cabins and all the food and women a man could ever want.

Those who managed to get an invite never left.

"So, how about it?" continued the man, his nasally voice cutting through Bai Long Qiang’s thoughts.

"How about what?"

"I have a lot of money on your opponent; if you throw your fight, I’ll give you 10% of my earnings," repeated the idiot.

Bai Long Qiang didn’t even try to hold back his laughter, causing the other man’s face to turn bright red.

"Do you know what happens to a fighter that even thinks about throwing a fight?" chuckled Bai Long Qiang, loosening up his wrists.

The Oompa Loompa shook his head, the color on his face not improving the longer Bai Long Qiang continued to laugh. "Neither do I," admitted Bai Long Qiang between chuckles. "And do you know what that is?"

Once again, the man shook his head.

"That’s because no matter how dumb us fighters are, we are still smarter than to throw a fight."

"Dragon!" shouted a man as he entered the locker room. The man was so big he had to go through the door sideways in order to enter the room. Following behind him was a much, much smaller man.

Bai Long Qiang wiped the smile off of his face and looked down at the ground. The new man might not be taller than 4’11, but he was the one in charge of this club. No one knew exactly what his power was, but everyone knew you couldn’t cross him and expect to live.

"Are you going to explain what is going on?" asked the smaller man, an inviting smile on his face. The Oompa Loompa shuddered and went white as his eyes met the Boss’s.

"He came in here to ask me to throw my fight. He has a lot of money on the other guy and was willing to give me 10% of his winnings," said Bai Long Qiang, holding nothing back. He made his mind as blank as possible in case he was a spirit user like... his friend...

The other man turned around and glared at Bai Long Qiang, as if he couldn’t believe the other man was willing to rat him out. But he didn’t understand.

Bai Long Qiang was in this for the long haul, he wasn’t willing to do anything to compromise his position in this club.