"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now in the second round of the Santa Monica Cup Heavyweight Amateur Boxing Tournament, the fourth elimination match of the Sweet Sixteen! Let's take a look at the competitors: in the blue corner, 'The Bomber' Bentley Fleming, and in the red corner, 'The Grim Reaper' Roy Black!"
The announcer's introduction drew deafening cheers from the audience.
The Santa Monica Cup had entered the elimination stage, with a match every other day. Five matches in nine days meant the intensity was definitely high.
Because the tent's soundproofing was terrible, Alan Berg, acting as Roy's temporary coach, had to get right up to Roy's ear and speak loudly for Roy to hear.
"That 'Brown Bear' Bentley Fleming is also a USC student. Show him what's what! But this time, you don't need to get too fancy, just about enough is good enough!"
Yeah, a fight every other day was a huge test of a fighter's stamina, so Alan didn't want Roy to waste a lot of energy trying to put on a show.
Alan didn't know that Roy's physique had just broken through 50 points. Not only had all his previous injuries healed, but his stamina had also greatly improved.
Every ten-point breakthrough in attributes led to a greater increase in the attribute's effect, not just a simple numerical addition.
However, Roy had indeed passed the stage where he needed to perform; cleanly taking down his opponent was enough.
"Got it."
"Alright, go get 'em, champ!"
Alan patted Roy on the shoulder, and then Roy walked out of the tent.
The surrounding audience wildly shouted Roy's nickname, and some even tried to touch him for good luck.
After all, it wasn't a formal competition venue, and the 선수通道 was really too narrow. The walk to the ring was more tiring for Roy than the fight itself.
Once in the ring, Roy saw a short, stocky man with brown skin. He was a head shorter than Roy, probably around five-foot-eleven.
This was a bit of a novelty. Roy had been boxing since last year, and this was the first time he'd encountered a boxer who was so much shorter than him.
And he was a heavyweight boxer!
Looking at this short boxer nicknamed "The Bomber," he was a good bit wider than Roy. It seemed like the four-inch height difference had all gone into horizontal development.
This guy was probably an aggressive fighter similar to Tyson, with a very similar height and build.
While the referee was reading out the rules and prohibitions, Roy, unusually, didn't say anything to taunt his opponent. But Bentley Fleming suddenly spoke up.
"Are you the one who defeated Blair?"
Roy looked completely bewildered. "Who are you talking about?"
Bentley Fleming got a little angry. "Damn it, how can you be so disrespectful to your opponent?!"
But Roy really didn't remember that name. Remembering the names of losers was a waste of memory space.
"If he needs respect, then beat me! Respect isn't something you just talk about."
Roy spread his hands, his face full of mockery.
This made Bentley Fleming even angrier. "His name is Blair Perez, and he's my friend! And my name is Bentley Fleming, the guy who's going to defeat you!"
Oh, right, that USC black guy from the second preliminary round. Roy finally remembered.
"You've got a pretty big mouth. Let's hope your skills are as big as your talk!"
The referee announced the start of the match, interrupting Roy and Bentley's friendly pre-fight exchange.
Just as Roy had guessed, Bentley was indeed an aggressive fighter. As soon as the match started, he quickly approached Roy with left and right feints.
This action made Roy smile. He was usually the one dodging other people's punches, but he didn't expect it to be his turn today.
Then, Bentley's nightmare began.
No matter how Bentley dodged, Roy's punches always accurately hit his guard, pushing him back.
After a few consecutive hits, Bentley started to pant a bit.
The reason Tyson's style declined so quickly after his peak was that this style required very strong explosive power and also consumed a huge amount of stamina.
Bentley's explosiveness was good, but his physique was far from Tyson's, so only halfway through the round, his stamina began to decline under Roy's precise control.
At this point, Bentley hadn't even touched Roy, let alone made Roy move a step.
"You wanted respect, right? Come and get it!"
Roy's taunt was the last straw that broke Bentley's composure. He suddenly abandoned his defense, took a step forward, and prepared to go toe-to-toe with Roy.
Perhaps in this guy's eyes, Roy, with his pretty-boy looks, wouldn't dare to fight him head-on.
Roy and Bentley each landed a punch on the other, but the result wasn't what Bentley had hoped for.
Bentley fell heavily to the ground, entering a peaceful slumber, while Roy didn't even wobble, standing as steady as a mountain.
The referee immediately began the count, and even after counting to ten, Bentley didn't open his eyes.
Young people really do sleep well; they fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow.
So, the referee announced Roy as the winner by knockout, successfully advancing to the next round, which would be the day after tomorrow.
Coming down from the ring, Roy first hugged Heather and Penny, then took Cici from Dahlia's arms and lifted her high up.
This little girl had been particularly clingy to him since Roy saved her from the Slender Man. She always wanted "uppies" whenever she saw him.
After holding Cici, Roy hugged Dahlia again, and the only one left was Mary.
Mary blushed. After taking care of Roy during the days he was seriously injured, she was no longer completely resistant to physical contact with him, so she also gave Roy a symbolic hug.
After hugging the four beauties, Roy noticed three unexpected spectators that night.
"Roy, I didn't expect you to be so popular!"
It was Keller, Molly, and Amy who had come together to watch the Santa Monica Cup match.
"What are you guys doing here?"
Amy shrugged. As a mature woman, she didn't care about the other women around Roy. "Saltana told us to come and support you in her place. But I think you could easily win even without our support."
Poor Saltana was still working overtime. The FEA agents had been swamped these past few days, searching for Jack Deal in Los Angeles like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
This included not only the FEA but also Elena and the other FBI agents who had come from Texas.
Elena and her team had originally come to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department, but they had been roped in to help.
There was nothing for it; Gerald didn't trust the local FBI and LAPD in Los Angeles, so he had no choice but to have Elena and her team join the search.
Unfortunately, almost 48 hours had passed, and there were still no leads.
Keller looked at Roy with a smile. "Looks like what you said in Waterfall Town wasn't just bragging. Maybe I'll be looking for an exclusive interview with you soon."
"Ahem! If it's the great reporter Evans, I'm available anytime!"
Roy gave a cheeky smile, making Keller playfully punch him in the chest. Then, she was surprised by Roy's solid pectoral muscles.
So, the playful punch turned into a light caress.
Dahlia coughed, reminding them that there was still a child present. Keller's behavior was really not very proper.
"Ahem! Alright, I'll do an exclusive interview with you another day!"
Roy's eyes lit up. The Los Angeles Times, for which Keller wrote, had extremely high sales in California. If Keller interviewed him, it would definitely give him a huge reputation, no less than Austin's.
"Great, I'm ready whenever!"
After chatting for a while, the group dispersed.
When Roy and the girls returned to the Dolphin Hotel, they ran into Saltana.
"Roy, I need to talk to you!"
"Sister Saltana, aren't you off work yet?"
"Just come with me, and you'll find out!"
Saltana pulled Roy to Gerald's office. Besides Gerald, there was also a young agent in the office who looked terrified.
"What happened? Did you find Jack Deal?"
Gerald's face visibly darkened, and white hairs even appeared on his head. Clearly, the stress of the past few days had taken a toll on him.
"We didn't find Jack Deal, but we found something else."
Roy raised an eyebrow and looked at the young agent who looked flustered, as if he had seen a ghost.
Well, maybe this guy really had seen a ghost.
"What is it?"
Gerald gestured for the young agent to speak, and the young agent began to speak tremblingly.
"Today, my colleague Jess and I searched an abandoned shopping mall on the outskirts of Los Angeles and saw a particularly clean mirror inside. When we saw this mirror, we felt a strange sensation. Jess touched the mirror..."
Well, America's land area is particularly large, and inside, you can buy anything from armored vehicles to nails.
So, unlike Dongda, large shopping malls in America are rarely in the city center and are usually in the suburbs.
However, Roy felt a sense of familiarity as he listened to the young agent's description.
"Then Jess was completely sucked into the mirror. I saw Jess struggling in pain inside the mirror, calling for me to save him! But I didn't dare to touch the mirror, so I immediately notified the bureau. Ever since then, I always see some terrifying images in the mirror."
Huh, isn't this the story about the haunted mirror that Jack Deal mentioned on the "Night Prowler" show?
This was a bit outrageous. Out of the five urban legends Roy saw on the "Night Prowler" show, four had already appeared: the Yellow-Clothed Clown, the Midnight Cannibal Train, the Slender Man, and now this haunted mirror.
As for the Box of Sorrows mentioned by the folklorist, Roy knew it was from "Hellraiser," meaning all five urban legends were real.
This wasn't urban legends; it was urban documentary!
"Where is that haunted mirror now?"
"I've already sent people to move that mirror over here, but it hasn't gone smoothly. The mirror seems to be fused with the shopping mall; it can't be moved at all."
As he spoke, Gerald stood up and took a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet behind him, pouring a glass and handing it to the young agent, hoping the liquor would help him calm down.
What Gerald didn't expect was that as soon as the young agent took the glass, he seemed to see something terrifying, his mouth wide open as he clutched his neck.
This situation surprised both Saltana and Gerald. The chocolate big sister reacted very quickly, immediately drawing her gun and firing a shot at the glass.
But it was already too late. The young agent knelt on the ground, struggling in pain.
One of Roy's pupils turned dark gold as he used the Eye of Truth, derived from Marbas. He immediately saw a shadowy figure emerging from the spilled liquor on the ground, grabbing the young agent's neck.
Taking a cursed dagger from his inventory, he threw it. The shadowy figure was pinned to the carpet by the cursed dagger and was absorbed by it before long.
Only then did the young agent survive.
Saltana asked Roy curiously, "Was that a ghost just now?"
Roy nodded. "It was indeed a ghost."
Saltana crouched down, observing the spilled whiskey on the floor. "Can that ghost attack anyone who has seen the mirror through any mirror-like object?"
"I think so. Anything smooth and reflective will do."
This ability was quite terrifying. After all, not looking in a mirror was still possible, but if all reflective objects, including the surface of water, could become carriers, it would be truly terrifying.
Gerald rubbed his temples, feeling like he would lose all his hair if things continued like this. "Mr. Black, I'd like to ask you for a favor."
"Please, Mr. Olin."
"Theoretically speaking, that mirror isn't very dangerous. The FEA wants to contain it. Do you have a way?"
Roy looked at Gerald. This guy really dared to think big. He probably got a taste of the good life from the Slender Man's corpse before, so that's why he was thinking this way.
"If I'm not mistaken, that mirror is actually the carrier of a地縛靈 (j缚灵 - a spirit bound to a specific place). It's probably the vengeful spirits of those who were burned to death in the fire that entered the mirror, causing it to become like this. If you want to contain the mirror, you must get rid of the地縛靈 inside. But without the地縛靈, the mirror will lose its research value."
Gerald frowned. "Mr. Black, how do you know that the mirror contains the地縛靈 of those who were burned to death?"
"I heard Jack Deal talk about this story last week when I was watching 'Night Prowler.' There was a big fire in that shopping mall that killed hundreds of people. You might want to check out Jack Deal's past episodes. So far, this guy has mentioned five urban legends on the show, and all of them have come true!"
As soon as Gerald heard this, he immediately instructed Saltana, "Rivera, have someone find all the recordings of every episode of 'Night Prowler' later. I need to take a look!"
"Yes, Director."
Gerald then looked at Roy. "Mr. Black, I believe you must have a way to minimize the danger of that mirror without losing its research value."
"Well..."
Gerald said a number. "Five million dollars!"
So generous?
But Roy still wanted to haggle a bit. "Eight million dollars!"
"Okay, it's settled then! Eight million it is!"
Gerald agreed so quickly that Roy instantly felt like he'd lost out.
Damn it, this guy didn't feel any pain spending other people's money!
"Oh, right, Mr. Olin, my studio has been set up. You can transfer the money to the account."
"That's a small matter. Just give me the account number, and the bureau will transfer it over quickly."
The Haunted Mirror