Chapter 26 · Under the Cage

Chen hit the ground wrong and his shoulder exploded.

Not the knife wound. The other one. The pin in his palm burned so hot he could smell his own skin cooking from the inside. He rolled onto his side and tried to breathe through it. The air down here tasted like rust and burnt plastic.

"Su Mian."

His voice bounced off metal walls. He couldn't see anything. Just black and the faint red glow from somewhere ahead. The kind of red that meant old furnaces. Dead ones, maybe. He pushed himself up with his good arm and felt the ground under his palm—rough concrete, still warm.

Above him the crowd noise was muffled. Filtered through however many feet of arena floor Steel Claw had just ripped open. Chen's legs shook when he stood. Not from the fall. From the pin trying to finish what he'd started up there.

He'd stopped himself. Pulled the punch. Let that guy live.

Now his body wanted to punish him for it.

"Chen Feng!"

Su Mian's voice, somewhere ahead in the dark. He started moving before he thought about it. The red glow got brighter. His boots crunched on something—