Chapter 75 At The Very Bottom Of The Pyramid
"Oh, you're already getting scared?" Edwin's mocking voice reached Austin from the side.
"You're the one that's getting scared! Do you think that I'm like you?" Although he was scared that Jack would win the bet, there was no way that he was going to show any weakness in front of Edwin.
He had always been trying to compete against Edwin's Safety Enforcers. He would always try to get the best fighters here so that his company could have stronger employees. The stronger the bodyguards, the higher the price the client had to pay.
Although he had heard that Edwin had already sold his security company, there was no way that he could stop competing. In any case, he was the one that had lost most of the times that he had been competing with Edwin.
If he could win against him even after he changed the industry that he engaged in, Austin would surely have something to brag about.
….
The competition went on as the fighters participated. At first, there were a total of one hundred and eighty two fighters. The top three didn't participate in the preliminaries.
The remaining 179 fighters would face each other in a one on one fight. Since it was an odd number, there would be two fighters for each round. In the end, the last person that would be lucky not to be randomly selected to fight in the first round would enter the second round directly.
Again, this would bring a total of ninety fighters in the second round. After the end of the second round, there would be forty five fighters remaining. And just like in the first round, there would be someone that would be lucky to directly enter the next round.
The same will happen for the following rounds till there are only five people remaining. These five with the top three would be able to enter the quarterfinals.
But at the end of it all, during the quarter finals, only the second runner up would participate. As for the previous champion and his runner up, they would participate in the semi-finals.
In other words, every month, there are only two spots available for others to try winning the championship. As long as one was able to maintain the second position, he would be able to reach the semi finals by default.
During Jack's third match, the results were just like the previous one. As a result, as he was going back to the locker room, he met with the manager of the arena, Calvin. He was then told that he could skip all the remaining matches and enter the semi-finals directly.
Before giving the answer, Jack asked, 'Angel, does skipping the preliminaries affect the essence of the competition?'
[Not at all. If this was any other competition and there were no those that had the advantage of skipping matches, you skipping a few matches would affect the competition evaluation by the system. But since the competition allows it, there's no problem at all.]
It was only after Jack heard these words that he agreed with Calvin. He certainly wouldn't want anything that would affect the results and reason for him participating in the competition.
He was here to win the championship for the system mission as well as FSP, the Fly Swatting Plan. Well, the FSP came in between but that didn't affect Jack at all as at the end of the day, he was here to win the match to complete the system's task.
After confirming that there was no need for him to waste time on those lower ranked people, Jack went towards the locker room. After changing his clothes, he went to the area that was confiscating his phone and took it back.
Then, he headed to the VIP room where Edwin was. Although he wasn't interested in watching the other matches and wanted to take his leave, it wouldn't be good if he simply left without telling Edwin.
The moment that he entered the room, several eyes landed on him. Since Jack was wearing a mask on his face while in the ring, there were only a few who could recognize him or guess his identity in the room.
"Hey kid, what are you doing here?" A man with black shades asked as he glanced at Jack.
Looking at the man, Jack couldn't help but wonder if this person's eyes were so good. Or maybe, he had some kind of eye disability that would get worse as long as the eyes were exposed to light?
Jack wasn't sure about it. But all the same, the fact remained to be that, in the underground arena, although it was lit, why would someone wear shades in an area that was only illuminated by bulbs?
Besides, it was not like the lights that illuminated the ring were reflected to the VIP room. Anyway, Jack threw the questions out of his mind as that didn't concern him.
As for the question that this guy had asked, Jack simply ignored it and headed towards where Edwin was seated. It seemed that Edwin hadn't noticed his presence the moment that he entered as Jack could see that he was chatting with Linus.
Jack had met with Linus during the registration period. He was the one that had helped in arranging the bet between Jack and Austin.
"Kid, I'm talking to you and you dare to ignore me? How dare you? I'll have to teach you a lesson it seems." The man with shades was infuriated the moment that Jack ignored him.
One had to know that all of those present here were figures worth at least ten million. So, it was obvious that they would have their own pride.
The shades' guy rushed towards Jack and blocked his path.
"Chill down Qitan, that's Silver." A lady pulled the guy with shades to the side and whispered into his ears.
When he heard these words, Qitan felt a chill coursing through his spine. But, after he regained his composure, he looked at Jack and said, "So what if he's Silver? Ain't he just a lousy barbarian fighter? I can pay other fighters to beat him up."
"One more thing you don't know is that, when I was closer to Edwin, I overheard his conversation with Linus. He said that, this Silver bought his Safety Enforcers. You have to know that Safety Enforcers is worth billions. But, this Silver bought it at a go and paid everything in full." The lady whispered as her eyes sparkled as she gazed at Jack.
Although she was already in her late thirties, there were always old cows that wanted young grass.
Qitan immediately shut his mouth at this moment. It just so happened that he was the poorest amongst the big bosses. Everyone here was worth at least a hundred million dollars.
On the other hand, he was worth ten million dollars. And that was barely holding in as currently, his company was facing some problems. If there was another obstacle, not to mention maintaining the net worth of ten million, he would go bankrupt.
It turned out that he was the one that was pulling down the rating of the bosses in the room. He was at the very bottom of the pyramid.
The reason as to why he was able to sit with the big bosses here was due to his relationships. One of the big bosses here was his uncle, he was the one that had invited him over. But, he had to seat closer to the door.
That was the exact reason as to why he was the first to see Jack. As to why he was aggressive in front of Jack, it was just like how a snake would harass a rat after suffering from the pressure in the presence of a hawk.
He tried to release the nervousness and pressure in his heart the moment that he saw Jack. Who would have thought that Jack was a big shot than the ones that had been giving him pressure?
He had previously thought that he was a snake. Who would have thought that he was the rat? A rat trying to show off in front of the hawk?
He shrank his neck and sat as far as possible from Jack to make sure that Jack wouldn't notice him lest Jack decided to deal with him. Nevertheless, it was simple for a billionaire to deal with a small millionaire like him.
Jack had no interest in someone that didn't even know who he was. He simply ignored that guy and headed to Edwin.
Now, several eyes had landed on him as they scrutinized him. They were curious about Jack. Although there were some of them that wanted to ask, they held back their curiosity upon knowing about Jack from the whispers that had already began spreading in the room.
"Mr Jack, you're already here." Edwin got onto his feet as he welcomed Jack with a warm smile on his face.
Jack revealed a faint smile as he nodded. "I came to bid goodbye for now. I gotta get somewhere to rest first. Tomorrow, I'd like to visit the company." Jack stated.
"Okay then. Since there are no interesting matches, I guess I will leave with you." Now that Edwin had sold the security company, he didn't need to pull in the fighters. That was something that he would leave to Jack.
So, Jack left with Edwin and Linus under the gazes of the bosses and Austin who till this moment had his fists clenched.