The agonizing wait dragged on...
Brown suddenly remembered something. "Raul, you didn't tell Old Pedro, did you?"
Raul shook his head, looking grim. "How could I? Things are already bad enough…"
"Good. There's no TV in the hospital. Hopefully, we can keep this quiet for a couple more days. It'll be much better once Jason Luo wakes up…"
Another twenty minutes crawled by before Dr. Miao finally came out. Everyone immediately crowded around him.
Henry Luo grabbed Dr. Miao's hand tightly, his lips trembling, unable to get a word out.
Dr. David Miao removed his mask and spoke gently, "Brother Luo, please don't worry. Jay is out of immediate danger. His vital signs are stable. However, he suffered severe head trauma, and it may take some time for him to regain consciousness. It's hard to predict right now—we'll need to keep monitoring him."
Henry Luo's expression finally softened a little. "Dr. Miao, tell me honestly—my son won't become a vegetable, will he?"
"Well... at this point, no one can say for sure. But rest assured, we'll do everything possible for him."
Henry's vision darkened, and his knees went weak. Grace and Tony quickly supported him as Dr. Miao arranged for a private room so he could lie down and calm himself.
Once outside the room, Dr. Miao waved to the others, who quickly gathered around.
Speaking in a low, serious tone, he said, "Here's the trauma assessment report from when Jay was admitted. Based on the wound patterns, it looks like the injuries were caused by blunt force trauma! Tony, show those photos to Attorney Cao—I suspect there's something off about Jay's match."
After everyone examined the photos, Brown was the first to shout, "That's impossible! Even Tyson in his prime couldn't leave marks like these. There's definitely something wrong with those gloves!"
Attorney Richard Cao frowned after looking at them carefully. "I'm not a forensics expert, but this clearly doesn't add up. Something's definitely wrong. But we can't make accusations without solid proof—we still lack hard evidence."
"What?" Raul snapped, his voice rising. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go grab Tutkason's gloves right now! Hurry—if we wait, it'll be too late!"
Tony and Brown immediately stood up, ready to bolt, but Attorney Cao stopped them. "Calm down, everyone. Going there now won't help. First, you have no legal authority to seize someone's property. Tutkason's filthy rich and surrounded by bodyguards—you'll never get close to him. You'll just cause a scene and probably get yourselves in trouble."
"Second, if he really tampered with the gloves, he's already taken precautions. Going now would be useless…"
"Then what do we do? Just sit here?" Raul demanded.
Attorney Cao's voice hardened. "We don't go after Tutkason. We go after the tournament committee. They're responsible for investigating what happened in the ring. We demand answers and accountability. I'll call a friend of mine—he's a criminal investigator. Maybe he can spot more clues."
Soon after, Attorney Cao's friend arrived—a detective named Ethan Xu.
After listening to the details and examining the photos, Detective Xu said with certainty, "No question—the gloves were tampered with. Look at the bruising edges—too defined, too sharp. Soft boxing gloves can't cause that."
Brown gasped. "Wait... could it be plaster inside the hand wraps again?"
Ethan Xu shook his head. "I'm afraid it's worse. They must have directly modified the gloves themselves. Otherwise, the punches wouldn't hit that hard... What we need now is direct evidence. If you trust me, give me Jason Luo's competition clothes and gloves. I'll test them for residue."
The group exchanged uneasy looks. With Henry Luo resting inside, no one wanted to make the call—but telling him would only make things worse.
Raul gritted his teeth. "Alright, I'll take responsibility. Mr. Xu, thank you. Please, get us the results as soon as possible."
"Understood. I'll work as fast as I can."
Ethan sealed Jason's clothes and gloves in plastic evidence bags and turned to leave. Attorney Cao said to Dr. Miao, "I'll go with him. If anything turns up, contact everyone immediately."
With that, the two hurried out.
Tony's eyes darted around. "Mr. Raul, since we can't seize anything, maybe we can check the opponent's locker room instead. There might be something left behind."
Brown's eyes lit up. "Good idea. I'll come with you. I've got a coach's credential—otherwise, they won't let you in."
Raul perked up. "Perfect! You two go quickly. I'll stay here. Make the most of the time we have…"
Everyone scattered to their tasks. Raul, with nothing left to do, waited anxiously. Another twenty minutes passed before Jason Luo was brought out of surgery.
He still hadn't woken up, but his life was stable. Henry and Grace stayed by his bedside, silently crying.
Unable to bear the suffocating atmosphere, Raul slipped out of the room. He'd rather be yelled at by Henry than sit there doing nothing.
About an hour later, Brown called sounding discouraged. "We searched the locker room top to bottom—no trace of plaster powder. But we did find a syringe in the trash. Tony thinks that guy might've injected drugs or stimulants. We'll take it back for testing. We recorded the whole evidence collection process on video."
Raul rubbed his temples in frustration. It looked like they could only wait for Ethan Xu's lab results.
A sleepless night passed.
By early morning, the test results finally came back.
A small amount of plaster mixed with organic adhesive was found on Jason Luo's gloves—thanks to that one punch where he'd hit Tutkason's gloves directly. Ethan Xu concluded that the opponent had injected glue into his gloves!
Injected glue?
Brown and Tony immediately understood—so that's what the syringe was for!
Everything made sense now. But what next? File a lawsuit?
Attorney Cao immediately shot that idea down.
The U.S. legal process was slow and painfully complicated. With Tutkason's wealth, the case could drag on for two or three years without resolution.
Instead, Attorney Cao suggested confronting the tournament committee with the evidence. If they refused to act, they'd go to the media and rally the boxing fanbase to apply public pressure.
Raul immediately thought of Sonny, but when he called, Sonny's phone was off—completely unreachable.
After some discussion, they decided to send a small group of representatives to the committee first to gauge their stance before deciding on the next move.
But when they arrived, a female secretary stopped them. She explained that the committee was in an important meeting and couldn't accept unannounced visitors. If they wanted an appointment, they'd have to schedule one and wait for confirmation.
Raul asked, "If we schedule now, how soon could we meet?"
"I'm very sorry, sir," the secretary said politely, "but the earliest available slot would be in three to five days."
"What?!"
Brown was about to explode when a raspy cough echoed behind them. Turning around, they saw Sonny arriving in a wheelchair—pushing Pedro along beside him.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser