Horr was excited. The medical personnel rushed to the wrestlers' aid, hoping to save at least one life. That was what they were paid to do anyway while Horr announced the winner.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! The first match of tonight has been concluded." He raised his voice a pitch. "And your winner, by a surprising deathly knockout, the crazed underdog, the ball crushing demon..."
Vox shook his head as Horr eulogized Wilson. This overly enthusiastic host was going to ruin Wilson's reputation beyond salvaging.
"... WILSON!" Horr shouted.
The crowd raised their voices and yelled excitedly. Some cursed. They were the ones who had placed their bet on Dash and lost some money.
Jim's and Vox's phones dinged. Jim quickly grabbed both and looked at them simultaneously and then, he beamed widely. He had used all his money to bet on Wilson as a gambling risk and used all of Vox's for sentimental reasons. Luckily for him, Wilson had won. If not, only God knew what Vox would have done when he later discovered it.
Because the odds on Wilson was quite high and had increased as the match went on, Jim's account now had approximately five million in it from the previous fifty-something thousand he had bet with and the bank had immediately sent notifications that he needed to open a Tigs crypto currency account as soon as possible.
Horr, on the other hand, was already in the ring again and had spun for another two contestants since Wilson, obviously, could not go on. A bummer, he thought.
Jim did not care to see who was up next. His mind was already moving at full gear. What was he going to do with this much sum? He should probably invest most of it into some big company. He should take his time to research well. But before that, he needed to open a crypto account.
"Silver, at the very least. Maybe with an alias so others don't know who owns the account. Oh, I should definitely always leave an emergency hundred thousand and another fifty thousand for betting on Wilson.' He thought. If Wilson was going to keep fighting, he would also stick to the simplest of betting tactics and bet on his guy.
'Of course, I should probably get him better fighting gear. A trademark symbol also.' He thought, already thinking of Al the possibilities of becoming Wilson's agent and using his name to sell products. Someone like Wilson would definitely become a popular face among the ladies.
'Maybe I should film him taking his bath and auction the encrypted videos to some anonymous lady. If I can get the videos now, and wait a little for when Wilson gets even more popular,it will not be an exaggeration to sell it for a hundred million.' Jim thought. Unknowingly, a smirk appeared on his face.
"Count me in!" Vox suddenly whispered in to Jim's ear.
"What?" Jim asked.
"You are thinking something bad! You should definitely count me in." Vox whispered.
Jim looked at Vox, his childhood friend of how many years now?
"How..."
".... can I tell?" Vox completed the question for Jim. He smiled and answered. "Because you have on the same smirk you had on when you were plotting the big school heist and those our school bullies' love scandal with the headteacher."
Jim was stunned. He had not realised that he had that look to him.
"Really?" He asked. Vox nodded.
"One hundred percent! So, count me in. You can tell me the detailed plan later. This place is too rowdy."
"Okay! I'm going to see Wilson, you coming?"
"Absolutely!" Vox answered. He glanced at his phone that Jim was still holding. He pointed at his phone and asked.
"Also, why would you use my money to gamble?"
Jim looked at Vox's phone and back at Vox.
"You know me too well." He grumbled as he stood up and walked towards a corner that opened up to reveal the makeshift underground clinic, closely followed by his long-time friend and co-troublemaker, Vox.
***********
"You will still need to visit the hospital for a full body checkup." A beautiful middle aged nurse said. Her voice cold as ice, as opposed to her warm smile. It was, sincerely speaking, a little scary. Kinda how one would feel if Batman's nemesis; the Joker, beamed at you. One would easily think that something was not right and be tempted to run away. Wilson was tempted to avoid her hands many times and he actually did the first few times after he woke up. He was put at ease when the first thing he saw was a beautiful heartwarming smile. She reminded him of his mother. But as soon as she spoke, he felt the chills. Before then, he did not know it was possible to mix a sweet smile with an icy voice. She was horror-movie material.
Jim and Vox finally saw him after moving around for a bit.
"Wilson!" Vox called and waved as he and Jim walked towards Wilson.
"Vox!" Wilson answered as a form of greeting.
Sincerely speaking, Wilson and Vox did not particularly get along well. There were no fights and they had a certain level of mutual respect for each other, but they just couldn't quite seem to hit it off well enough to be considered friends. A reason was not even needed. Being acquaintances was good enough anyway. As long as they were not enemies, they were good with their current status.
"Wilson, how are you feeling? That was some crazy sh*t you pulled out there. For a second, I doubted that you would win." Jim said excitedly.
Wilson smiled.
"You should not even be awake right now with the amount of blood you lost out there. We can only thank Barbara for being such a help with her ability." Vox said and nodded at the nurse, Barbara, who had stepped aside for them. She nodded back at them and went ahead to attend to a new patient that had been carried in by some men in blood-stained white.
Vox glanced at his phone and frowned.
"How is Dash?" He asked, returning his gaze to Wilson who was once again lying down on a hospital bed.
"Is he dead?" Jim also asked.
"Very!" Wilson answered.
"Oh! That is bad!" Vox said with a shake of his head.
"Yes, I know. I should not have given in to my inner beast." Wilson said and sighed; fatigued and nolstagic. He had just said a phrase he had neither said nor heard in a long time.
Vox shook his head and said.
"No, that's not what I'm saying! Dash used to be a ranker - a strong fighter - before disappearing for some years. He just disappeared without any trace. Completely off the radar. And today that he came back, he died; killed in your hands in front of so many people. Obviously, some people will be very unsatisfied and some displeased. Some of these people are very dangerous. So much so that even Bar and Horr would rather avoid their trouble. And I think you have just pulled their aggro."
"Why?" Wilson was confused.
"I don't know! My best guess is that they had bet a lot of money on Dash and he lost to you. They will definitely want to vent and as a result, will most likely be coming after you." Vox explained, his brows furrowed.
Wilson closed his eyes. He could feel a headache coming. He could not fully understand the scope of what Vox was saying but he got the general idea. Some petty people with lots of power have set their eyes on him.
'This is very similar to Forest City, right?' He asked himself.
Jim had a more accurate understanding of the situation.
"But I don't understand something. If there is so much at stake, then why did Dash not just kill Wilson earlier and toyed with him instead?" He asked Vox, since Vox seemed to know something he did not.
"Probably because, he wanted to ensure Wilson would get mad enough to kill him. And probably also, to spite whoever these people are." Vox said with a shrug. He looked at Wilson who was already deep in thought and said to Jim.
"We will have to stay away from him from now on. We can't be seen associating with him if we are to avoid being dragged into the aggro as well."
"In short, he has to be kicked out of the house?"
"Yes! And out of the bar as well. Bar cannot allow him to stay. Not to mention that these people's lackeys, informants and henchmen frequent the bar and Horr's hotel."
"That's really..." Jim was short of words.
"I know!"
"Is there really no way for us to help him?"
"No!"
"Not at all?"
"None!" Vox repeated firmly.
"F*ck!" Jim cursed in annoyance.