46 NAKED WOLF (1/2)

”Where did that little rat sneak away to?” Boksa was looking everywhere for Lirzod, his veins tumefied and skin reddened from rage. His eyes, cheeks, and lips bloated and blackened with every passing second owing to distress.

Not far away from him, Divas and Fimbry were also doing the same thing, except that their targets also included Burton and Sariyu, and they didn't strike to the eyes as woebegone as Boksa.

”I was sure they took off in this direction,” Divas scanned around, feeling the presence of things to some distance all around him, despite a lot of fog fattening his surroundings, but he still couldn't find much that would help him reach the three youngsters.

At that time, Betts and Centry appeared out of the fog from their front.

”You both seem to be relaxing,” Betts said, appearing taxed, and sweat wasn't present on most parts of his body, probably due to the temperature of the ice dumpster. ”Taking care of many of the contestants took most of my juices. I'm feeling quite stiff now.”

”Did you see the girl?” Centry looked at Divas and Fimbry, his eyes demanding more than just a simple reply of 'yes.'

”We did,” Fimbry replied in a hurry, ”but they shivered.”

For a second, an unstable and ungainly silence birthed between the brothers.

After that momentary pause, Centry, whose jaw had tightened in the last second, now glanced at Divas who promptly corrected Fimbry's words, ”they escaped.” He pointed his hand to his right. ”They initially took off in this way. We followed them but lost their track in between.”

Lots of blood mounted to Centry's cheeks and mantled his face as if a terrible fever set itself loose upon him. ”Where can that Red Rogue flee—”

”Idiots, they are swimming their way through to victory!” Betts blurted out, his eyes having enlarged from a thought that had just dawned upon him, dove into the water and disappeared just like that, startling the remaining brothers.

”There's no use of the fog anymore. I will signal Brother Aziz,” said Divas, pushing the fog away from their vicinity as he spoke,”you both assist Brother Betts.” He took off in a different direction than the one Betts had taken.

Centry and Fimbry exchanged nods before following Betts' trail.

Betts, at present, swam onward while staying wholly underwater. His eyes looked for the disturbances in the waters ahead of him. He found only four spots, but his sight fixated on just one—the one that had the most disorder and thereupon stroked forth at an increased speed.

The disturbance in the water that Betts beelined to was veritably generated by three youngsters who were swimming like it was now or never.

At the same time, the mist in the audience stands began to clear away much faster than that of the fog in the ice dumpster, letting the crowd once again be able to view the affairs of the test with their own eyes and have them sink in the thrill of it.

Dozens of contestants were at the edges of the ice dumpster, outside of it, either wounded badly or remained unconscious with the guards tending to them.

”W-W-What happened?” the audiences bewildered as their eyes inspected the contestants who were in dire straits, already thrown out of the ice dumpster.

”Wh-Who took care of so many contestants? Was it a lone wolf, or was it a pack's work?”

”Was it Brown Hill, or was it the doing of the Hardy Brothers?”

”Look! I can see Brown Hill!”

As some men finally lay their eyes on Brown Hill, who was moving aimlessly in the fog, they got the feeling that he was the reason. ”Look! He's running around in search of the next sheep to bite.”

”As expected of Brown Hill! He was able to fight even in the fog!”

”There! There's one to your left!” some even tried to help him, or at least they were under such an impression.

Upon catching the cries of the crowd, or what seemed like cries to him, Boksa acted in haste. Getting to the closest contestant was the best thing he could do. From hearing the voices of the crowd finally after some time, his mood brightened a bit.

At that time, to the eyes of the audiences, only a handful of contestants still appeared to be fidgeting around in the ice dumpster.

”Where's that little boy whom Brown Hill was after?”

”Yeah, I can't seem to find him, and the girl either.”

”Haha, they must have either gotten lost in the fog or must be cowering somewhere right now.”

”Let's help Brown Hill find that sheep!”

Upon overhearing their criticism, Hundred's pulse quickened. ”I hope their words are not true.”

Tarkan quietly smiled before softly saying, ”Worry not. Sheep cry but do not cower. Anything that knows to cower can also know how to will others to cower. Even if your boy loses today, he'll probably win this test one day.”

Tarkan's words were like spilling oil on fire to Hundred's ears, and he couldn't tell whether Tarkan was trolling him or just being honest.

Meanwhile, as the audiences scanned the ice dumpster with extreme urgency, some eventually managed to spot a few of the Hardy Brothers who seemed to be streaking toward the end in a drastic dash as if they were chasing after something rather than trying to win. To a few eyes of the contestants, however, their charge resembled like a stampede. The exasperated expressions on the brothers' faces further solidified the doubts of the audiences.

As the three out of five brothers testily chased after the three youngsters—who were still swimming away, fully submerged underwater—and in that process beat anyone near to them with heedless swings of their arms. Under their blubbery feet, the newly-forming ice spikes felt like tiny stones that only tickled them.

Even the few contestants who caught sight of the youngsters popping their heads out unoften and wanted to stop them from forwarding, they changed their thoughts after seeing the big brothers bellowing and beating their way through the other contestants as they headed straight toward the youngsters.

Some contestants gave competition to the youngsters whereas some opted to test their luck against the brothers and shoot up their fame from a promising display. Still, the three big brothers made knives out of their hands and slashed the water, splashing liquids all around and blocking the other contestants, making even the floor briefly become visible when all the three hit the same spot simultaneously, stunning everyone except for those who already knew of their capabilities. Their display scared away most hearts—audiences and contestants alike—into abandoning any thoughts of tussling with the brothers.

Though frozen in their seats for the last tens of seconds, none of the audiences had the time to reflect on the display of the brothers as they slowly but surely began to realize that the brothers didn't look like they were merely trying to win and instead seemed like dogs chasing after bones, three bones to be exact.

At that time, the referee just happened to look again toward the end of the ice dumpster when three figures climbed the hidden stairs with their arms and shot themselves out of the water, making the heads of everyone in the audience stands turn in their direction, whereupon six feet belonging to three youngsters landed—almost as one—in the area past the ice dumpster.

A radical silence instantly impregnated the audiences' stands like never before as everyone watched the three youngsters—one of whom seemed to have lost his pants—with mouths agape.

Hundred's eyes were awestruck as his body involuntarily forced him out of his seat in a springy jump, his hands raised as high as could be.

777, who was in the middle of yawning, froze midway.

”That one day is today itself huh…” Tarkan's lower lip pushed the upper one as he softly nodded a few times.

Only now, the referee came to his senses and blew the whistle, signaling the end of the deck test. ”We have the winner, no… our first winners in a while! Three of them. No less. No more,” the referee spoke while everyone else stood still and put nothing but their eyes to work, ”The first one, number 82, is a purple wolf that barely seems to be wounded. The second one, number 55, is a red wolf who got a couple of scratches here and there but looks good overall, um, quite nice if you ask me. Ahem, as for the third one…” His eyes scanned the third youngster from top to bottom, ”I can't see his tag, but we've got a... naked wolf. I have no idea what happened to his pants, but these three are our winners of this round.,” he looked toward the audience stands, ”they deserve some claps, sheep, I mean, people!”

”Who are you calling sheep?”

”Did he just call us sheep?”

”Someone, kick the referee out of the hall!”

”Yeah, that will teach him a lesson.”

Some audiences took the task of criticizing the referee, who was quick to apologize, ”U-Uh, my apologies, that purely came out of flow and was unintentional.”

Still, no one bought his words, not even for a second.

”Claps, my dear people!” the referee spoke again, urging with as refreshing of a tone as he could bring out.

Most of the audiences, who still portrayed dumb looks due to the unexpected ending of the test, slowly began to clap one after another, increasingly yet roguishly even though they still couldn't believe that the three youngsters won. In their eyes, those three emerged out of nowhere and won the test in a flash. Most of the audiences weren't ready for the test to be over just like that as they had hoped to see some thrilling action after the mist had finally cleared out, but what they had gotten was nothing close to their expectations, and in turn, irking and leaving them with a tinge of sourness in their mouths.

The Hardy Brothers, meanwhile, still stood in the ice dumpster, faces devoid of any glow as the last bits of mist around them evanesced into thin air. They tumbled to the fact that they had mistaken the three youngsters to whippersnappers, and in consequence, got played on with their emotions until they were lead to a loss.

Boksa's eyes had long bulged like that of a choking frog, his expression gradually slipping into frore darkness.

Concurrently, Lirzod jumped at Sariyu, startling her. ”We won!” He bound her in his hug. ”See, I told you, didn't I?”

”Wait!” Sariyu tried to push him away, but for some reason, she couldn't find the strength to do so. ”Burton!”

With a flick of his index finger, Burton tapped Lirzod's forehead. ”Back off.”

Lirzod's lips straightened into a line before he opened up his arms perforce. ”Stop trying to control—” As his gaze darted at Burton, Sariyu stepped back right away, getting Lirzod's attention back. ”What's wrong? You seem uneasy.”

”Yeah, I'm uneasy, but...” Sariyu's neck muscle twitched, her face long flushed like a crimson cherry before she blasted her voice out, ”Anyone would be if they know you are not wearing anything under that shirt!”

”Pfft!” Many men choked on their own words and broke their conversations upon hearing Sariyu's statement. ”What?” They were already outraged when a bodyguard hugged the owner out of the blue, and now, Sariyu's words forced even the low-spirited ones to bounce off their seats.

”He doesn't have underwear? Then, does that mean...” Most of their eyes converged at Lirzod's crotch which was still hidden thanks to the long shirt. ”Nothing there's under that shirt?”

”Haha,” Lirzod laughed aloud, hands placed on his waist, ”don't jump to conclusions.” He caught the ends of the shirt and lifted it in a flash, staggering many people, but those who didn't take their eyes off him were able to see the underpants.

”What, he's wearing underpants!”

”Of course, I knew it! Who wouldn't wear them when jumping into the ice dumpster?”

”Don't lie! I saw you get shocked and upset.”

”Haha, you did?”

”No, I didn't.”