Boxing End

Chapter 77 - Boxing End

Mike lay still on the hospital bed, his eyes half-closed as he stared at the ceiling. The steady beeping of the monitor beside him filled the quiet room, while Aunt Nancy sat near the window and occasionally glanced in his direction. Mike kept his expression tired and relaxed, making sure she wouldn't notice anything strange.

Hey, System. You back?

The familiar voice answered inside his head almost immediately. "Yes. I am back." Mike felt a small wave of relief, but he kept his face still and glanced toward Aunt Nancy before continuing. You know what happened?

"Yes. I know what happened from your memories."

Mike's jaw tightened slightly. Then what happened to you? Was it Claire?

There was a brief pause before the system answered. "Yes. Claire is a host too."

Mike stared at the ceiling as the pieces finally came together. The strange healing potion, Claire's suspicious timing, and the moment his system had suddenly gone silent during the fight with Clark were no longer separate events. They were connected, and the realization made his stomach tighten.

What did she do?

"She used an interference ability. It disrupted my connection with you."

Mike's eyes narrowed as he tried to understand the implications. For how long?

"Her ability requires her to remain close to you. She needs to stay within range for approximately one week to maintain the effect."

Mike went quiet. Claire had always found some reason to stay around him. He had assumed she was simply interested in him, but now every visit and every excuse looked different. So that's why she kept trying to stay near me.

"That is the most probable explanation."

Mike clenched his fist beneath the blanket. Before he could ask another question, a familiar blue light suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. He immediately glanced toward Aunt Nancy, but she hadn't noticed anything. When he looked back, the usual status information was gone. A large red had replaced it.

[CORE QUEST]

Objective: Prevent the deaths of Mia and Eve.

Mike's breathing caught as his eyes moved lower.

[Failure Condition: Death of Mia and Eve.]

His fingers tightened around the bedsheet. The words seemed to grow heavier the longer he looked at them.

"No..."

Aunt Nancy immediately turned toward him. "Mike?"

Mike quickly looked at her and forced his expression to remain calm. "I'm fine. I just had a bad thought." Nancy watched him for a few seconds before turning back toward the window.

Mike waited until she looked away before returning his attention to the screen. Another line had appeared.

[Success Reward: Mia and Eve survive.]

Relief ed through him for only a moment before his eyes reached the final line.

[Additional Condition: Boxing career terminated.]

Mike froze.

He stared at the words without blinking. His boxing career had been built through years of early mornings, brutal training sessions, injured hands, losses, victories, and every painful lesson he had endured inside the ring. Boxing wasn't something he could simply walk away from. It had become part of who he was.

Now the system was putting a price on the lives of Mia and Eve, and that price was everything he had worked toward.

Mike's mind immediately went to the two of them. He ed Mia staying beside him when he had wanted to be alone and Eve forcing him to eat when he had forgotten about food entirely. They had been there during moments when he hadn't known how to pull himself back together, and the thought of losing them made his chest feel painfully tight.

Two options appeared beneath the quest.

[ACCEPT]

[DECLINE]

Mike stared at them for a long time. A part of him wanted to reject the quest and search for another solution, because there had to be some way to save them without sacrificing his career. But another thought kept returning: what if there wasn't another chance? What if declining meant accepting their deaths?

He closed his eyes and ed everything boxing had given him. Then he ed everything Mia and Eve had given him.

When he opened his eyes, he already knew his answer.

Accept.

A sharp chime sounded inside his mind.

[CORE QUEST ACCEPTED.]

A sharp chime rang inside Mike's head, followed by another notification that appeared across the blue screen.

[Quest conditions have been locked.]

Mike stared at the words for several seconds without moving. The weight of what he had just done finally began to settle over him. He had chosen Mia and Eve over the dream he had spent years chasing, knowing that accepting the quest could cost him the career he had sacrificed so much to build.

His fingers slowly tightened around the bedsheet as he looked at the screen one last time. He didn't know whether the system was giving him a choice or simply testing how far he was willing to go.

Whatever the answer was, he had already made his decision.

Mia and Eve would live.

As for his boxing career, he would deal with that when the time came. For now, Mike had only one goal: find a way to save them without allowing the system to decide the rest of his life for him.

[Sub Quest: Get a blow job within 30 minutes to receive a healing potion that will recover your whole body.]

Mike’s eyes widened slightly as he remained still on the hospital bed, staring at the new demand floating before him. For a moment, he forgot about the ache in his body and the quiet presence of Aunt Nancy across the room. The steady beeping of the monitor continued beside him, filling the silence as he read the words again, trying to make sense of what he was being asked to give up.

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