Chapter 27 · Betting His Last Breath

Chen's legs wouldn't bend.

Two guys dragged him up the service ladder, his knees grinding like rusted hinges. The metal scales on his knuckles scraped against the rungs. Every rung made a sound like nails on concrete.

Su Mian screamed his name from somewhere behind the cage wall.

"Move it." One of the guys shoved him forward. Chen's right leg locked mid-step and he went down hard on the catwalk. His cheekbone hit steel. Didn't hurt. Couldn't feel much anymore.

The lights above the main ring were all on now. White and brutal. He could see the crowd packed in the bleachers, shoulder to shoulder, and they were all looking at something in the center of the cage.

Someone big.

"Get him up." That voice came through the PA system, low and smooth. Steel Claw. "Seventeen wants to see his girl one more time, don't you?"

Chen tried to push himself up but his left hand wouldn't close. The fingers were stuck half-open, silver threading through the tendons like wire through meat.

They hauled him upright. Walked him to the cage door.

The guy in the ring was massive. Not tall—maybe five-ten—but built like a oil drum with legs.