Torreto's fall (2)

Niklas was nervous. He feared that after the test came out negative, Toretto would leave the pub.

'Curse this damned system,' he mused. 'I think I will use Toretto's tactics against him. I will stake two thousand five hundred Earth kredits. I doubt that his ego will allow him to give up on the match.' He grinned to himself.

"Take off your stupid mask; let's see your goddamn face." Toretto stretched his right arm, reaching for Niklas' mask.

Niklas escaped his reach, standing and backing away from his seat.

The accountant reminded Toretto, "You are one phone call away from being kicked out of here."

Toretto angrily eyed the accountant, who ignored him and carried on with her duties.

The attendant returned to Toretto's table with a raven black box that was the size of a kindergarten kid's lunch box. She flipped open the lid of the box to reveal a syringe tucked in a fitting compartment. She removed the syringe and tested the piston; its movement was smooth. The syringe's needle was covered in a transparent plastic cylinder.

Niklas returned to his seat. The attendant approached and drew some millilitres of blood from his left shoulder. At first, there was total resistance; the needle couldn't pass through his skin. Then a "permission bar" appeared in his view.

[Permit the drawing of blood with a syringe. Yes or no?]

He answered, 'Yes' and the attendant successfully penetrated his skin with the needle and drew blood. She banked the blood in the box through an orifice a few millimetres from the syringe compartment. The side surfaces of the box, except the top and bottom, gradually glowed a golden colour.

"It's checking for Dolly!" said an excited audience.

The side surfaces of the box began to alternate between raven black and golden black in a linear fashion. It continued for a minute. Suddenly, the entire surface of the box glowed green. The audience gasped, most in disbelief and the rest in happiness. Niklas was negative for Dolly!

"Impossible!" Toretto blurted in disbelief.

"I'm raising my stake by two thousand and one hundred Earth kradits!" Niklas said at the top of his voice.

A small number of the audience cheered for the lanky man. These were the people for whom Niklas' blood test favoured their bet.

Toretto was cross. He wanted to reduce his stake to 500 EKs, but he couldn't now because Niklas raised his stake and lowering his own wouldn't suit his ego.

"Two thousand Earth kredits," Toretto said with a low voice.

Niklas smiled, but he didn't dare make fun of Toretto for fear of losing him and failing his mission.

"Go!"

It was a one-sided affair again. Toretto fought stronger than before. Niklas let Toretto push the match against him, his own hand a few centimetres away from touching the surface of the table.

"Toretto is winning!" exclaimed an audience.

It was followed by rowdy comments in favour of Toretto. Niklas' supporters saw this as an opportunity to make more money, and they placed bets with Toretto's supporters.

"You all are fools! Toretto has regained his form. Why can't you see it? It is obvious," said one of Toretto's supporters, who placed a bet in favour of Toretto, to a bunch of Niklas' supporters.

Niklas' hand was now a couple millimetres away from the surface. Toretto thought he had won and called the attendant to declare him the winner. The attendant had a sharp eye; she knew the match was still on. She said,

"Toretto, keep fighting. The match is still on."

Toretto's supporters protested, but it was ignored, and they couldn't do anything because of the pub's strict rules against interference.

Niklas said to himself, 'Time to end this.'

He gradually pushed back Toretto's arm. Toretto's heart beat erratically in anxiety as he added more pressure to resist Niklas. Alas! It was futile; Niklas won. Niklas saw the mission bar pop up in his view.

[You have successfully completed a milestone in your mission!

You have defeated Toretto!

Misson 2: Wrestle Toretto five times and emerge victorious in all! Status: 4/5.]

Toretto stood up in rage. "This is impossible. You can't win me unless you are an orc, which you are not.

"Even an orc won't win me in an arm wrestling match." Toretto wasn't supposed to say this last bit.

The audience began to suspect Toretto. Orcs were renowned for their strength at any age of their lives. They naturally had a brawny physique, and most people would argue that they were the strongest species of people. So Toretto's claim would mean that he was either talking bullshit or he dollied himself. Considering his winning streak and the way he won, it seemed like he dollied up.

"Toretto, did you dolly up?" asked one of the audiences.

Toretto vehemently denied it, as accusations came flying at him. The audience demanded a drug test because some of them were angry due to losing bets they placed against Toretto earlier, before Niklas' arrival. Toretto was walking away while denying the accusation.

'He is running away. If he leaves, I'm done for. I have to do something,' Niklas thought.

Toretto had walked past him. Nikla approached Toretto, but he didn't notice.

"Dude, if you run away, they will continue to harass you when you return," Niklas whispered in Toretto's ear. "I'm going to let you win. Take this opportunity to get them off your back. You know what to do, right?"

Niklas was not going to keep to his word. He just wanted to complete his mission. Toretto didn't think Niklas would dare trick him, so he agreed. He pushed away Niklas and cussed at him.

"Little weenie!"

He did this to create drama so that no one would get suspicious. He turned to the audience and yelled, "You all should shut up and hear what I have to say."

The section descended in silence.

"I will wrestle this lanky bastard, but on one condition," Toretto said. "If I win, you all will let me be. No drug test. I'm scared of needles, believe me."

"But what if lanky, wins?" asked one of the audience members, and the others followed to demand an answer.

Toretto guffawed and said, "I will have no option but to do the drug test."

"I will hold you to your word," the section's accountant said.

Toretto frowned and said to the accountant, "How does this concern you?"

"I'm the manager of this section!" The accountant retorted.

Toretto and Niklas settled down for another wrestling match. Toretto placed 2000 EKs in the hopes that he would win. Niklas dropped 3000 EKs, making Toretto excited for the supposed outcome. The attendant took her position before giving the signal, "Go!"

Niklas swiftly ended the match. Toretto's heart ached in dismay, and tears welled his eyes before dripping down eventually.

"Someone bring the drug test kit!" The audience chanted in frantic excitement.

"You dared trick me?" asked Toretto in dismay.

Niklas ignored him and read the contents of his mission.

[You have successfully completed a mission!

Misson 2: Wrestle Toretto five times and emerge victorious in all! Status: 5/5.

Reward: 20 evolution points.]

Another mission bar popped up.

[You have successfully completed a mission!

You have successfully completed a silent mission!

Mission: Expose Toretto's gambling secret.

Reward: 50 evolution points.

'So he really dollied up,' Niklas mused.

Toretto tried to escape, but he was electrocuted by a bolt of energy after taking a few steps. Everyone traced the origin of the bolt; it was from the accountant's counter. Her right arm was still extended, and her right hand was still dorsi-flexed, with steam evaporating from it.

She affirmed everyone's thought, "Yeah, I'm an awakened. How do you think I got this job?"

Niklas became wary of the attendants, too. He wondered what tricks they had under their sleeves. He glanced at Toretto's body lying lifeless, but not dead, on the floot.

An attendant drew blood from the right shoulder of Toretto's numb body. The blood was banked in a test box. The box's surfaces linearly alternated between black and gold colours. After a minute, the surfaces suddenly glowed red. Toretto's blood was positive for Dolly.

Angry customers latched onto Toretto and brought him back to consciousness. They proceeded to mercilessly beat him while Niklas quietly exited the pub.

Niklas didn't exit from the entry point. The entry point was strictly for entry. He went to the entry point and recovered his backpack and sword. He proceeded to exit the club through the exit point, which was metres away to the left of the entry point.

Niklas walked past two bouncers at the exit point. The bouncers were humans, but they weren't as brawny as the orcs. He walked into another familiar rest room. He put the bundles of cash in the back pack and then removed his mask before wearing his T-shirt and jacket.

"Off to the bank," he said to himself as he admired himself in the mirror.

He put his evolution issue on hold. He walked out of the restroom. The first thing he saw as he swung open the door was another door opposite him—the exit of the female restroom. He took the ascending stairs that were to his left. He got to the top of the stairs and swung open the door to his right. He walked out into a wide room, just like the watchmakers' room. More than fifty table tennis tables were in this room, and they were actively being used by tennis players. People stood around the room, spectating the matches, making it difficult to notice when someone exited from the pub into the room.

There was a bank located within the market. Niklas was on his way to visit it to become a customer at the bank.