CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 51; WINNING THE RING FIGHT

The announcement seemed to break the spell. The crowd erupted, not in cheers, exactly, but in chaotic noise. Confusion... Shock... Anger from those who’d bet on the eight. Amazed laughter from those who’d taken the long odds on the four.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Did you see that? It was like they couldn’t even fight properly!"

"The eight looked drunk! Like they couldn’t coordinate!"

"Three minutes! The whole thing took three fucking minutes!"

" I used a lot of money to watch something that has just ended in three minutes..."

"I blinked and missed half of it!"

"This was rigged! It had to be rigged!"

Guards rushed into the ring to check on the eight fallen women, calling for medical assistance, trying to restore some semblance of order to the chaos.

Guard Wu stood at the edge of the cage, staring at the carnage with wide eyes. "That’s impossible," he muttered even more confused, "Those eight have fought together for months. They’re a unit. They should have... this doesn’t make sense."

Guard Zhang was equally stunned, his clipboard hanging forgotten in his hand. "The Princess didn’t even fight. She just stood there. How did... what..."

In the VIP seating, the warden had risen from his chair, his face red with anger and confusion. He’d lost a significant amount of money on this fight, he always bet on the favorites, on the sure things.

This hadn’t been a sure thing.

This had been an impossibility.

"Get them out of here," he snarled into his radio. "Back to their cells. I want a full investigation into what the fuck just happened here."

The gate opened, and guards moved in cautiously to escort Tank, Blade, Razor, and Shuyin out of the ring. They approached carefully, as if the four women might suddenly turn violent despite having just won their fight.

Tank’s eyes met Blade’s. Blade’s eyes met Razor’s. They were all thinking the same thing.

That hadn’t been normal.

They’d fought well, yes. They’d struck precisely, yes. But something had given them an impossible advantage. The eight women, were experienced fighters who should have worked together seamlessly, but now they had moved like they were drugged or concussed.

Their attacks had been clumsy. Their coordination had been nonexistent.

And Shuyin had stood in the center of it all, untouched, watching with those glowing jade eyes that saw too much and revealed nothing.

"Good fight," Tank said quietly as they were herded toward the exit, her voice carefully neutral in case the guards were listening.

"Very good," Blade agreed, her mind already trying to rationalize what she’d witnessed and failing.

Razor said nothing, but her eyes kept darting back to Shuyin, to that glowing eye that made her look less human with each passing moment.

Shuyin walked among them, calm and composed, her expression giving away nothing.

She’d kept her promise. She’d protected them, just as Lin Shuyin’s fading spirit had begged her to do so.

And she’d done it without revealing the full extent of what she was becoming, what powers this new body possessed.

The crowd behind them continued its chaotic noise, voices raised in argument and disbelief, money changing hands in disputed bets, spectators demanding explanations that no one could provide.

They’d come for entertainment.

They’d gotten a mystery.

And as the four women disappeared back into the prison’s corridors, hoods once again covering their heads and blocking out the light, only one thing was certain:

Nothing about tonight had gone according to anyone’s plan.

Except, perhaps, Shuyin’s.

But what kind of a situation was this? The prison director would definitely be interrogated if he had rigged the fight so the high rollers could lose their money.

The atmosphere was tense as they were led through the corridors, but something was different this time. Instead of being dragged back to the isolation cell, the guards took them down a different path, one that led toward the general population wing.

"Where are we going?" Tank asked, her voice cautious.

"Shut up and walk," Guard Wu muttered, but there was less venom in his tone than usual. He seemed distracted, still processing what he’d just witnessed in the ring.

They stopped in front of a cell that was markedly different from the isolation unit they’d been occupying. This one was larger, and cleaner. It had four bunks with actual mattresses instead of bare concrete slabs.

There was a small table bolted to the floor, and the single-barred window actually let in moonlight.

"Your new accommodations," Guard Zhang said, unlocking the door. "Winner’s privileges. You earned it."

The four women filed in, exchanging bewildered glances. This was... nice. By prison standards, this was luxury.

"Dinner will be brought shortly," Zhang continued, his voice oddly respectful. "And you’ll get new uniforms in the morning. The warden wants you presentable for... well, for whatever comes next."

He left without another word, the lock clicking behind him with a finality that was somehow less oppressive than before.

For a long moment, none of them spoke. They stood in their new cell, taking in the relative comfort, the space, the fact that they could all actually sit down at the same time.

"What the hell just happened?" Razor finally whispered, sinking onto one of the lower bunks. "Did we really just win? Like, actually win?"

"We won," Blade confirmed, though her voice carried the same disbelief. "Three minutes. Eight opponents. We actually won."

Tank moved to the window, looking out at the prison yard bathed in moonlight. "That wasn’t normal. You all felt it, right? Something was... off. They couldn’t coordinate. Couldn’t judge distance. It was like they were fighting blind."

Silence fell again, heavy with unspoken questions.

All three of them turned to look at Shuyin, who had settled onto one of the upper bunks with fluid grace. Her jade eyes caught the moonlight, glowing faintly in the dimness.

"Princess," Tank said carefully. "Did you see that?"

Before Shuyin could answer, or refuse to answer, the sound of footsteps approached their cell.