Killing ShowCh1 - Unspoken Rules

Editor: Elanor

Warning: This chapter contains graphic description of violence and gore. Proceed at your own risk. 5GkLUf

Wearing a rented tuxedo, Xia Tian stood on the balcony of the Upper City hotel, staring at the stars.

The night sky was sprinkled with stars, and the Milky Way spanned across it like a giant jewel box.

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The balcony was windy and a little cold, but Xia Tian still felt very happy. Even though things hadn’t really improved, he had finally left the darkness of the Lower City and come to the Upper World to see real stars and sunshine.

Right now, he was at the celebration banquet of the second round of the 199th Asaijin Team Competition on Floating Gold TV Station. 3KHj4M

As a criminal from the Lower City, the Upper City had recruited him three months ago to participate in the Floating Gold TV’s program, the Killing Show. This show was the biggest entertainment event in the Upper City, with a long history of enlisting criminals as players. This was the only chance the residents of the Lower City had to see the real sky.

From the moment he had arrived at the banquet, Xia Tian had been busy wolfing down the food.

For the first time in his life, he had finally eaten his fill of cake, cream, chocolate, and candy. It filled him with a contentment he’d never felt before.

He snuck some food into his pocket and took a participant’s wallet. The guy was swaggering with his wallet exposed, so it would have been a waste if he didn’t take it.

He looked around again to see what else he could take; the Floating Gold Group wasn’t short of this stuff anyway.

As a giant company, the floating cities of the Floating Gold Group were all over the sky. And among the acquaintances that Xia Tian knew, the one who lived the farthest away still couldn’t escape the shadow of these cities.

The moment he entered the Upper World, the sunlight seemed to splash down, like a bright, clear yellow liquid, covering the whole world. Xia Tian was badly sun-burned, so much so that he couldn’t even sit in one place for a long period of time. But he still stared at the bright sunlight, unable to look away, thinking that he wouldn’t mind dying here.

But he still survived. So far, Xia Tian had been living in the Upper City for three months as a novice in the Killing Show. He had narrowly survived the first two rounds, and his performance was quite decent. SqvejH

He’d bagged a measly four kills, which was barely enough to clear the rounds. The culprit behind this dismal performance? His teammate Bai Jingan, who had been randomly drawn in the same group as him in this show as the tactical planner for their group. The guy was simply insufferable.

Bai Jingan thought they should stay where they were and not move around. Contrary to what one might think, this strategic planning did stabilize the situation; however, the mind behind it all was nothing more than a boring coward.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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According to him, the industry bigwig, Mr. Zhi Leng saw that Xia Tian had the potential to become a Killing Show star and wanted to talk to him alone to discuss and plan out his bright future.

One must know that in the Upper World, stars of the Killing Show were the true kings of the entertainment world, the ones who could command a huge following. Once they became famous, it wasn’t just money and bed partners that they gained. The entire Upper City would prostrate itself at their feet, and they would be like gods on top of Mount Olympus.

Xia Tian’s heart was ecstatic. He was overflowing with happiness at everything he saw now.

He and the assistant entered the lobby, heading towards Zhi Leng’s suite. Before entering, he looked back at the starry sky again, which shone coldly in the distance. It was a price and privilege that people in the Lower City couldn’t imagine. 5Pk0se

Zhi Leng was elegantly dressed. Known to be on a long-term weight loss program, he had a slender figure.

Perched at the top floor of the hotel, Zhi Leng’s apartment boasted a sprawling rooftop terrace and a stargazing room. The living room was so spacious, it could host a fashion show or any non-large-scale group combat game at any time. It was rumored that he did indulge in such entertainment from time to time.

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Clutching his glass of wine, Xia Tian sat as relaxed as he could manage on the sofa, pretending to be a person who was used to such situations.

He was tall with slender hands and feet. As a citizen of the ruthless Lower City, he had long been accustomed to a life that involved remorseless killing. He had been a really dangerous person since he was a teenager, which had landed him in jail. It was during his time behind bars that the TV station, recognizing his potential, had recruited him for the Killing Show. P4Ypos

He had a smile on his face, a gentle and polite smile. He was very good at pretending to be well-behaved, just as he was good at pretending to be obedient, pretending to like, and pretending to be knowledgeable. This was a basic survival skill. He even had a look that was considered to be a good-boy face, and he could completely fake a smile and make it look like a totally genuine one.

His profession in the Killing Show was a fighter. But they didn’t even call him a fighter anymore and directly called him a killer. The reality show really liked to use exaggerating titles.

“I just saw you in the monitoring program and thought your image was very good,” Zhi Leng said, “This year’s Asaijin team competition needs heroes, and you’re a good choice.”

He walked back and forth as he spoke. At this moment, he walked behind Xia Tian and put a hand on his shoulder. nMLQ8Z

“That… that’s great,” Xia Tian said, “I am very grateful…”

Zhi Leng’s hand stroked his hair, then untied the hairband that bound his hair.

After his hair fell loose, he didn’t finish the second half of his sentence.

Xia Tian used to live in the District N21 of the Lower City, where men had the habit of growing their hair long. He wanted to cut it when he came up, but a third-rate image planner told him that if he wanted to be noticed, he had to have his own characteristics. These might be his place of residence, religion, ethnicity, or personality, but the most important thing in this business was—to not conform to the masses. So he kept his hair uncut all the time. giW1Ho

But it kept coming in the way during a fight, so he always pulled it up, tightly tying it behind his head.

Zhi Leng picked up a lock of Xia Tian’s hair and stroked it in his hand, saying, “Opportunity comes to those who fight.”

It took five seconds for Xia Tian to realize what Zhi Leng was trying to do.

He sat still, letting the guy play with his hair, thinking to himself that he had heard about this sort of thing in reality shows before. In places of authority, such things were inevitable, and it wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t mind selling himself; his mom did it and so did his sister. He was a criminal himself, and everyone around him believed that he would soon end up dead in the streets and become protein feed. HfGlnE

It was just getting laid, and he was perfectly capable of making that sacrifice.

“I’m more than willing to fight for it,” he said, turning his head toward Zhi Leng and smiling as nicely as he could.

Zhi Leng smiled back, looking very pleased with his understanding. He put the hairband in his pocket and said, “Follow me to the bedroom.”

“Okay,” Xia Tian said. 3yzrWe

He was a head taller than Zhi Leng when he stood up, and really didn’t understand what this guy saw in him. But rich people had strange interests.

He followed Zhi Leng into the bedroom, feeling oddly self-conscious about having his hair loose in front of others. But he reminded himself that when in Rome, do as the Romans do. This was a rare opportunity, and he couldn’t afford to let it slip away. Nearly a thousand people had died in the first two rounds of the competition, most of them victims of the planners’ whims.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

It was rare to get a big shot’s protection, so he had to grab this chance no matter what.

As Xia Tian stepped into the bedroom, his eyes darted around. In the same instant that he took in its opulent splendor, his instincts kicked in as he subconsciously assessed potential escape routes, hiding spots, and things that could be used as makeshift weapons. It was an occupational disease for someone in his line of work. lgUJAT

Zhi Leng lifted his chin in the direction of the bed and said, “Take your pants off, kneel down, and lie on the bed.”

Xia Tian felt himself smiling, and later his smile would be described as a predator-like smile, or something like “bright as sunshine, yet cold as ice.” They would say he had the smile of a true killer.

He said, “Okay.”

Zhi Leng began to take off his pants. pjstCO

Xia Tian turned his head to look at a golden sailboat sculpture on the table. It was the prize for a sailing competition.

The Floating City, also known as the Upper World, was initially just a small anti-gravity zone, where some wealthy people lived, claiming it offered closer proximity to sunlight and pure air. Then it grew and expanded, spreading across the sky like cancer. The affluent began building houses there until they covered the entire sky.

They plunged the entire Lower City into darkness as if the sun had been reserved solely for those above. Below, countless ordinary citizens toiled in the shadows, their lives akin to that of livestock confined to a cellar, forever denied the warmth and freedom of the sky.

Neither Xia Tian’s parents nor his siblings had ever seen the real sky in their lives. Meanwhile, these people had built huge lakes in the anti-gravity city for sailing competitions. Such extravagance was unimaginable to the denizens of the Lower City unless witnessed firsthand. F5K1wf

“I want you to pretend to be scared,” Zhi Leng said, “and call me ‘master’ in the process…”

While Zhi Leng was speaking, Xia Tian picked up the sailboat, weighed it, and slammed it heavily on Zhi Leng’s temple.

The chief planner of the Killing Show instantly lost consciousness and fell down. Xia Tian leaned over him and repeatedly bashed the sailboat into his head.

The plan to kill had materialized in his mind on the fly. It had formed so quickly that the details were lost in the rush of the moment, leaving only a primal urge to crush everything. jw6V7q

He almost smashed the man’s head completely. With brain matter scattered everywhere and eyes smashed out, it was a real masterpiece. There was a special term for this in the Killing Show: Overkill.

Some claimed it was the result of an adrenaline rush, others dismissed it as a publicity stunt, but Xia Tian believed it was simply human nature. Sometimes, anger would surge through one’s veins like gasoline, ready to ignite at the slightest spark.

He had left his hometown and came to the Killing Show only because someone had slapped his sister, calling her a bitch and telling her to stop pretending to be innocent. He had walked over and pushed the man, and then the scene had gotten very ugly… In fact, what the bastard had said wasn’t wrong, but he just couldn’t stand it.

He didn’t know why he couldn’t bear this kind of thing. Most people endured it. Weren’t they all living well? UgHFcW

With a cold expression, he used his bloody hands to pull out his hairband from Zhi Leng’s pocket, pulled up his hair, and tied it tightly.

Then he put down his hands and found himself trembling.

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His hands were covered in blood, soaking through the cuffs and almost staining till his elbows. At his feet lay a pantless corpse, its head shattered and splattered on the expensive carpet.

He stood up and went into the bathroom to wash the blood off his hands. RAj5K9

During the whole process of murder, he had remained expressionless and maintained a calm demeanor, but now that the adrenaline had receded, he realized that his hands were shaking.

His body had already reacted first. Something—perhaps reality—soaked him like ice water, his stomach crinkling into a ball that made him want to vomit.

There was a sense of fear and feeling of being done for.

He was familiar with this feeling. d7U4ye