Chapter 43: Qualifying

Chapter 40 - Qualifying

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The live screen was divided into two parts, and the audience held their breath as they stared fixedly at the screen.

On the left side, Wei Yan held up an assault gun and staggered to the end of the corridor. The moths that had flown up into the air and blotted out the sky turned into martyrs and fell down in the twinkling of an eye.

On the right, Wu Jin dragged an anti-tank gun with him and rushed into the instance. Almost everyone felt that there was a wide disparity in strength between him and Wu Jin, but they’d ignored an important factor––

Stamina.

Out of the last seven rounds that had extremely short time limits for clearing instances, Wei Yan had spent six rounds fighting. At this time, he was exhausted and was already fighting on pure instinct.

However, Wu Jin had spent the entire time in safe zones, avoiding battle, and had been able to keep up his spirit and energy.

His marksmanship was only at the level of static target seventh ring, but it didn’t prevent him from fighting in the way that would consume the most resources.

He also had a heavy impact reloading gun––Wu Jin fired the anti-tank gun freely and wasn’t stingy with the remaining bullets. It was like he was fighting his last battle and had to win at all costs.

Two minutes later, the two cleared the instance at the same time.

Blood Pigeon, who’d thought that the competition was over, was stunned. “It can be seen that Little Witch very much wants to win. It was a very wonderful fight, but it’s definitely not a textbook battle. Wu Jin has used up all of his supplies, and I’m afraid that in the next instance…”

Ying Xiangxiang suddenly pushed lightly against his shoulder.

On the edge of the map where Wu Jin was located, there was a safe zone once again––just like ‘reproduction’.

Wu Jin seemed to have calculated where it was and didn’t hesitate to cross the corridor and head towards ‘life through death’.

At the thirty-first time unit, Wei Yan once again entered an A-level instance while Wu Jin remained safe.

At the thirty-second time unit, Wei Yan encountered a C-level instance, and Wu Jin stepped into a safe zone once again.

Blood Pigeon’s eyes widened in amazement––

On the screen, Wei Yan’s face turned white. It was obvious he’d already reached his limit.

Dr. Chen, who was to one side, finally spoke up, “Little Witch won.”

There was a flash of white light on the camera. Wei Yan’s physical strength ran out, and he fell into the silver life-saving capsule.

The announcement tone suddenly rang out:

“Congratulations to contestant 300012, Wu Jin. Second elimination match passed. Rank: 1.”

“The second elimination match is over. Duration six hours, seventeen minutes.”

In the pitch dark competition arena, the entrance over the track at the top suddenly opened up, and fresh air poured in.

Light also streamed in at the same time.

The grid that consisted of 961 squares and represented living cells began to move upwards even as it all lit up at the same time. The gears snapped, metal grinding against metal as sparks flew out from the pulleys due to the sudden acceleration. There was the endless clacking of mechanisms activating as the entire structure rose.

The cells and tissues that had been sleeping in the dark were finally awakened.

The 120 meter deep underground arena rose out of the ground, and all the grids revealed their true faces. The game of alternating life and death was like a living machine composed of inorganic materials. At the same time, the instances, safe zones, Lepidoptera, and 399 life-saving capsules were also brought out from underground––

As well as Wu Jin.

The exit to the room opened automatically, like a silent invitation.

Outside was the scent of moist soil, the huge Crosson Show base, and the twin towers in the distance.

The cameras in the arena were all locked tight on Wu Jin’s face. His beautiful amber pupils danced, and his little round face was raised up in excitement!!!

Inside the Crosson Show’s live stream room.

Ying Xiangxiang accepted the microphone, laughed gently, and finished Blood Pigeon’s previous message:

“Then, congratulations to Little Witch for winning this game.”

The scrolling comments on the live broadcast exploded!

For a while, both the fans and the haters gathered together, and a burst of activity that was equal to three full seasons of accumulated popularity burst out in the scrolling comments.

“What?!! How come I don’t understand it?!!”

“Crazily licking Little Witch!! He’s won ahhhh! Little Witch, did you hear me?!! This is the first championship of your career!! Mama is here to witness your glory!! I choose Little Witch!!!”

“I’m sorry, but this is a survival reality show, not the live scene of an idol show… Let this hardcore R-Code Entertainment fan of twelve years take the initiative to explain. In the second half of the competition, Ah-Yan’s probability of encountering a safe zone was zero out of nine, but Wu Jin’s was eight out of nine. Was the map mechanism biased?”

“Thin family follower passing by. Are you trying to bully other people’s little one? Winning means winning. The rules are there for everyone to see.”

“Are you that coquettish man’s appearance fan? Your guy was cooked to the point of losing all his make-up, yet you’re still idle enough to concern yourself with other people’s business?”

“Reported for slandering an opponent, no need for thanks! I’m a pure passer-by who became a Little Witch fan. He’s soft and cute and can even figure out the map––what are you going to do about it?!!”

“#Crosson Show Contestant Fake Match. Also questioning a certain contestant’s 97 point first place head start.”

“How dare you haters jump around??! I’m going to cuddle and take away Little Witch. Mama fans will arrive at the scene in three seconds––”

Seeing that it was becoming more and more chaotic, the backstage director hurriedly moderated the scrolling comments and barely managed to dig up a usable scrolling comment that he quickly projected up on the large screen:

“Bringing up a question to the various professionals! How did Contestant Wu win? Why was his probability of encountering a safe zone so high?”

To the side, Dr. Chen accepted the microphone from Ying Xiangxiang and pushed his glasses up his nose:

“This is because he figured out the law of the arena and was able to deduce the death, birth, and evolution of the safe zones. In the 30th round, the safe zone closest to him disappeared from the map. He used up all his bullets then because––he knew that from the 31st round, safe zones would be included in the cycle of life once again.”

“Therefore… It wasn’t luck?”

Dr. Chen nodded. “It wasn’t luck. It was the result of his calculations.”

Blood Pigeon finally spoke up, “I remember that Little Witch only had one map.”

Dr. Chen smiled and replied, “I said before that for some people, one map is enough.”

The arena rose up from the ground.

The stage manager, camera staff and workers all swarmed over from the broadcasting building off in the distance.

“The aerial camera is in place, and the logistics team is ready to open up the contestants’ life-saving capsules!”

“The medical team is in place, first open the cabin at coordinates (25,6) and bring the antidote––monitoring personnel, please reply! Please reconfirm if the contestant shows any abnormal physical signs…”

The match started in the morning and ended at sunset.

The program producer arrived a little later and saw Wu Jin wrapped up in a huge white towel. He was sitting there obediently with a thermometer in his mouth at the request of the medical team, only half of his head peeking out as his eyes darted everywhere.

Across from him, the staff was asking questions to determine the state of the contestants, “Mild weakness, moderate neurotoxin intake. Do you remember what your name is? How many…”

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The program producer almost choked on his sigh of relief and quickly whisked him away, “No need to ask him, Little Witch was able to last until the end, showing that his brain is much clearer than you two. Go over there and have a look. There’s a poisoned fool there that you should go and treat––”

Wu Jin was finally released from the routine inquiries. He put the disposable thermometer into the medical waste box, pulled off the towel, bounced up, and happily went to find his teammates.

At this time, the life-saving capsules were being opened up one after another, and the contestants were like little chicks coming out of their shells––or like Tyrannosaurus Rexes.

Caesar leaped out of his capsule with one jump, “Where’s my grandson Thin Fire?!”

It took the staff half a beat to realize what he was asking. They pointed to the life-saving capsule that only showed a small gap. The make-up artist was following instructions and tossed in make-up removal wipes and liquid foundation––before getting interrupted abruptly by Caesar who stepped in and stretched a hand into the gap.

Thin Fire was furious. He managed with difficulty to fix up his make-up in the rocking capsule before coming out with a crash, “Which son of a fool is looking for his father!”

Among the two of them, one was ranked 65 and the other 66. Their ranking was precarious, causing these two enemies to be red-eyed with rage when they encountered each other again.

The director hurriedly came over to stop the fight, “Those two over there, ban them from dinner if they keep fighting––”

The two of them were undaunted. The director thought about it and spoke again, “If they keep fighting, have them stand in the first row to dance the theme song in the performance…”

Thin Fire was delighted and became even more reckless as he fought. Caesar stiffened and his movements stalled, but he soon recovered and went back to being pissed off, “Who cares about the first row, the one who’s going to get beaten up today is you––”

In the distance, Zoe finished asking about Caesar’s ranking, his face expressionless. “Too pathetic. We can do without this fool.”

Wen Lin shrugged and chuckled.

The terminal to Zoe’s right showed his final ranking––8th. In a four person team, the highest rank was used to calculate the ranking of the team.

“We should be sixth or seventh.” Zoe mused, “It’s enough for the team to qualify, but we just don’t know about Little Witch…”

He was taken by surprise when a director picked up the loudspeaker and announced: “Now, let’s announce the rankings for the teams. Each team that is called out needs to send out a person to pick up the demo for the theme song. First place, White Moonlight, second place, R-Code, third place, Dolma…”

Zoe froze, “Wh-what?!!”

Wu Jin rushed over from the distance, followed by countless cameras that flashed almost continuously as he waved. The staff all chuckled, “Congratulations, hey, Little Witch was first.”

Zoe: “…!!!”

The four people from the White Moonlight team gathered together. The warmth from the setting sun banished the creepy chill from the field. Zoe didn’t say a single word and gave Wu Jin a powerful hug.

Caesar was even more exaggerated. He practically tossed Wu Jin up into the air, “I just knew it. Little Witch, ahahahaha I just knew it!”

In a life-saving capsule to the side, Red quickly pulled himself out when he noticed the situation and looked suspiciously at Caesar.

Wu Jin seemed to have sensed something. He turned and looked over––the life-saving capsule beside Red was empty.

The next to come out was Wei Yan. His face was pale, his expression austere. His gaze went straight to Wu Jin.

Zoe quietly took a step forward.

Wei Yan suddenly opened his mouth and said, “We’ll fight again next time.” Then, he fell silent again and caught up to the main group.

Wu Jin was stunned, then smiled brightly and nodded.

Dolma Entertainment’s two team members couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed when they saw Wu Jin, but they had more difficult matters to solve at this time.

Wu Jin finally learned how they’d lost an A-level trainee so early in the competition.

The poisonous swallowtail butterfly had directly toppled the most powerful member of their team, and he was still not very clear-headed when the life-saving capsule opened up.

“I’m the mighty golden-armored bodyguard Qin, don’t you dare act like thieves in the night––”

The two trainees struggled with their teammate, “Old Qin, wake up! We still have to shoot the group performance! Don’t let the butterfly poison turn you into a fool…”

Caesar laughed loudly. Wu Jin suddenly thought of something and turned red behind the ears.

At the constant urging of the director, Zoe went to the main hall and picked up the demo.

Soon, the production crew came to urge everyone to scan a QR code. “Before recording the next program, every team should remember to choose a c-position, lead singer, and main dancer. Be familiar with the basic movements. Ying Xiangxiang will be doing a special inspection…”

In the recording, the vibrant Ying Xiangxiang jumped and danced, and a group of dancers situated behind her followed suit and provided accompaniment, “Ah~ Brave and fearless~ Ya~ One in a hundred–~~”

Wailing resounded from all around.

Only Dolma Entertainment’s foolish golden warrior was swinging and dancing to the beat.

On the grass, Caesar kept shaking Wu Jin, “Little Witch, you take the c-position!!!”

Wu Jin was being happily shaken to and fro, “…Okay!!!”

“Or how about you take the lead singer position?!!”

Wu Jin: “… That works too…”

“You might as well be the lead dancer as well then! How about we form a line with you right in front…”

The director looked over suddenly, his expression serious, “Contestant from White Moonlight, singing and dancing for the fans is a way for the program to show its heart. Please take it seriously and act appropriately!!”

The sun was about to set. The fierce battle that had lasted a whole day was over, and the contestants rushed to the canteen like starving, slavering wolves. Amidst it all, some people kept discussing amongst themselves in low voices, then turning to look at Wu Jin in surprise.

Wu Jin kept looking back as he walked, repeatedly looking for someone in the crowd before finally moving his gaze away.

On the other side of the arena.

The clouds were like burning flames in the sky. Dr. Chen waved to the stage manager, “Alright, you go back first. I’ll just stay here for a while.”

The stage manager nodded, then took another look at the arena that had risen up out of the ground, “How spectacular… What did you say it was? Cellular automata?”

He gave Dr. Chen a thumbs up.

Dr. Chen smiled briefly and waved goodbye.

The huge arena buildings cast shadows against one side of the hill. Dr. Chen watched as the stage manager left, then looked up in a certain direction.

Dr. Chen didn’t walk quickly, but he was still breathless by the time he reached the top of the hill.

There was already a person standing there, looking down at the twin towers.

He turned around when he heard the sound of his approach, his eyes deep and dark. He didn’t seem surprised to see that someone had come, his eyebrows lifting slightly.

“Long time no see.” Dr. Chen paused for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth to continue:

“The last time I saw you, it was still at the R-Code base.”

Juurensha: Ohhh, backstory time? And congrats to Little Witch!

xiin: dun dun dun~

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