ShaoShu climbed off the big man's back and looked down. The guard was still breathing, and a lump was quickly forming on his head, but he wasn't bleeding. He would be fine.

ShaoShu swiped the guard's ring of keys, shoved them in a pouch next to his mouse, and climbed onto the man's chubby behind. Standing there on his tiptoes, he found that he could just see through the barred window into the pit arena.

A gong sounded, and the fight began.

CHAPTER 24

The fight started with Golden Dragon and Lei circling one another, sizing each other up. This went on for some time, and ShaoShu began to grow anxious.

He glanced into the crowd and saw the Emperor's box directly across from him at the very edge of the pit arena. In the box sat the Emperor dressed in yellow, with AnGangseh at his side. On the Emperor's other side was Xie, and next to Xie was a very large man who was the spitting image of Xie, only older. ShaoShu had once heard Tonglong and Lei saying that the Emperor's bodyguard was the son of the Western Warlord, so ShaoShu guessed that's who the man was. On AnGangseh's other side sat Tonglong, now the Southern Warlord, and next to him was a frail-looking man. ShaoShu guessed that he was the Eastern Warlord.

Some of the crowd members began to boo the lack of action in the pit arena, and ShaoShu looked over to see Lei flash his guns again. The crowd began to chant:

“THUN-DER! THUN-DER! THUN-DER!”

Lei set his jaw and pulled out a pistol. Without warning, he fired a shot at Golden Dragon.

BANG!

ShaoShu saw the whole thing as if in slow motion, and he could hardly believe his eyes. Lei pulled the trigger, and in the momentary pause between the spark of the flint, the powder igniting, and the lead ball blasting forward, Golden Dragon dropped flat to the ground and the lead ball passed harmlessly over him.

The crowd went wild.

Without missing a beat, Golden Dragon leaped to his feet and sprang at Lei as he pulled out a second pistol. Golden Dragon grabbed the pistol with both hands, wrenching it out of Lei's grasp, and fired it into the compacted dirt floor.

BANG!

Golden Dragon threw the spent pistol down and in the blink of an eye managed to snatch a third pistol from one of Lei's holsters before Lei could back away.

The crowd cheered madly.

Golden Dragon began to stalk Lei with the unfired pistol in his hand, but Lei did nothing but retreat. The crowd began to heckle and taunt Lei for running away. They wanted to see him stand and fight.

“Let's do this like real men,” Golden Dragon hissed.

BANG!

Golden Dragon fired the third pistol into the floor and threw it down.

“Real men! Real men!” someone shouted, and the crowd started chanting:

“GOL-DEN! DRA-GON! GOL-DEN! DRA-GON!”

ShaoShu saw Lei's face harden. He spat and pulled two pistols from the folds of his robe, holding one in each hand.

Golden Dragon edged toward Lei, who fired a quick shot with his right-hand pistol.

BANG!

Golden Dragon spun to his own right side, dodging the lead ball. However, in the same instant, Lei fired his left-hand pistol.

BANG!

This shot struck Golden Dragon in the upper portion of his left arm. He cried out in pain, and the crowd fell silent.

Ignoring his wound, Golden Dragon rushed across the pit to Lei, fast as lightning. He pinned Lei's arms to his sides in a powerful chest-to-chest bear hug. Lei hadn't even had time to retrieve another pistol.

The crowd roared with approval.

ShaoShu watched as Lei dropped his spent pistols and let his legs fall out from under him, pulling Golden Dragon down with his dead weight. Golden Dragon compensated by arching his back and heaving Lei upright again, but the damage was done.

Lei had managed to retrieve the hidden pistol from under his right pant leg with his right hand and grab something else with his left hand from beneath his left pant leg. Lei's left wrist flicked forward along Golden Dragon's right thigh, and Golden Dragon howled, releasing his hold on Lei.

Golden Dragon took several steps back, and ShaoShu saw a long line of red running down Golden Dragon's leg. He looked over at Lei and saw that he was holding a knife in his left hand. The pistol was still in Lei's right hand, down by his waist.

The crowd turned deathly silent.

Golden Dragon glared at Lei, then rushed forward again.

“NO!” ShaoShu shouted. But it was too late. He watched in horror as Lei fired the pistol from his hip.

KA-BOOM!

The pistol exploded in Lei's hand with an immense blast of flames and smoke and a terrific thunder that echoed throughout the fight club.

Eager shouts of “What happened? What happened?” began to rain down from the crowd.

As the smoke cleared, ShaoShu saw Golden Dragon standing over Lei. Most of Lei's right side was gone. He was undoubtedly dead.




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