Editor: Elanor
Once again, the planning team exploded chaotically.
After an emergency meeting, they decided to eliminate the whole “Bai Lin” story line. It was fortunate that the broadcast wasn’t in real time, otherwise there would have been no place for them to cry. It was a shame, they had given the “leader” a cool martyr story line, but now it was all gone.
Jakowski thought that the plot was great, perfectly reflecting the fantasies of the people in the Upper City about Bai Lin—not the Lower City, of course, and the Lower City had nothing to do with it. The creator could only make his own shadow, and this God of War at the pinnacle of the entertainment world was naturally just a giant reflection of what the Upper City had been creating for nearly a decade.
Now, half of the planning team’s energy was devoted to Xia Tian’s route. The sudden attack by Xia Tian and the others had turned the entire backstage upside-down, causing all staff to work overtime.
These were the most mentioned things in the planners’ instant chat software, filled with all kinds of exclamations:
“What the hell is going on in his head!”
“I don’t understand. That was Bai Lin, man!”
“There was no sign! He’s really crazy!”
“Where the hell is he dissatisfied—”
But no matter how much they scolded, if they had to work overtime then they had to—it was as simple as that. They had no other choice. The storyline of the stars who were at Xia Tian’s level were the main focus of the whole show, and with heaps of people watching every minute and huge amounts of money involved, there was no room for any mistakes.
Jakowski was perched on his throne surrounded by a multitude of screens, bottles, and snack bags. He was watching the rapid increase in the number of Xia Tian’s fans. The star he had created was shining so brightly above the floating city that no one could ignore.
Three hours ago, they found Xia Tian in the Zone N Massacre.
With the reference from the vast amount of civilian life that had been secretly filmed by Floating Gold TV during the riots, a little imagination and perfect editing, they pieced together the story of what had happened.
Floating Gold TV broadcasted the highlight of the show.
Thirteen-year-old Xia Tian appeared in the carefully edited video with his hair tied back with the same old leather hair band that he still used now, smiling brightly and clearly overly energetic.
He was helping out at a repair shop called “United Family”. In the Lower City, boys of that age had to earn money to support their families.
The repair shop owner’s daughter, Xiao Xu, who was particularly fond of laughing, liked to take Xia Tian around with her to make trouble everywhere as well. She was only fourteen, just one year older than him.
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.
Ciatbeut cbk, ktfc fnfgsbcf ajixfv jybea atf Zjrrjmgf, atfs erejiis rjlv “atf fcalgf Ibcf R”, yea atlr kjrc’a fzjmais jmmegjaf.
Coafg atf ojliegf bo atf Xibyji Gfofcrf Gfqjgawfca lc reqqgfrrlcu atf glbar, atf kbgx bo filwlcjalcu atf gfrlrajcmf kjr bearbegmfv ab Mibjalcu Xbiv KN. Pc atf Fqqfg Jlas, ubnfgcwfca vfqjgawfcar tjv jikjsr yffc kfjx jcv wjgulcji.
And the professional planners at the Floating Gold Group came up with the bloodiest, gimmicky and ratings-boosting drama that they could think of overnight.
Jakowski clearly remembered the situation at that time. The TV station had initially discussed and decided to “completely encapsulate” from District 1 to District 17.
Later, when the number of purchases skyrocketed, they quietly added two more districts to the list.
The whole thing lasted for one month and thirteen days, until the place was empty.
Xia Tian and the United Family Repair Shop were in District N19 that was added later.
The Zone N Massacre started with a virus-carrying mutant rat, and within three days, turned this large zone that contained more than three million people into a hell on earth.
From the twelfth hour, things started to get out of hand. Xia Tian and the girl named Xiao Xu fled the repair shop. They even depended on each other for a while, but on the 27th day, she became infected.
What she became… it was better not to describe.
Xia Tian was expressionless and very calm when he killed her. He still looked very boyish, but there was something in his eyes that only some adults had—utter hopelessness for the future.
After killing her, he stared at the corpse for two seconds before turning to leave. He was wounded and limping. His footsteps were as cold, steadfast, and exhausted like that of a battle-hardened soldier.
In addition, the planners also found a set of shots that were never publicly released, and found that it was also of Xia Tian.
He sat in a corner of a house with his hands on his knees and his head down. They checked the time of this set of shots… He just sat there for three hours and twenty minutes.
In the darkness, he had maintained such a still pose for so long that some wondered if he was crying.
But then he finally lifted his head. He hadn’t cried. He carefully fixed his hair and tied it again meticulously with a serious expression, like a grown man who had decided to do something big, so he had to clean up his appearance.
Then he left that room, and the camera bug that followed him was attacked mid-way and it was unable to broadcast anymore. The planning team researched it and found that he had taken it out, but they didn’t know how he did it.
Xia Tian just walked through the city where monsters roamed. No one knew what he did afterwards, only that he finally escaped from the encapsulation area. Nearly ten years later, he came to the Killing Show in the Upper City because of the felony of serial killing.
Jakowski glanced at the real-time data. Xia Tian’s video was spreading at a terrifying speed, and it could be said that almost everyone in the Upper World was watching and discussing what had happened at that time.
Just in time for the Zone N Massacre Commemorative Show, this topic set off a fever that burned the entire sky red. Even Qiao Ge made several phone calls, and later came over personally to supervise the scene, and praised him firmly, but still didn’t give him a day off.
All of this was expected by Jakowski.
Of course, Xia Tian would be a hit. It was after all, a “resurrection from the dead”, enough to be enveloped by the glorious halo of the Massacre on one’s body.
Qiao Ge was still talking on the phone about how to further uplift Xia Tian, but Jakowski felt that it was only a matter of time before he reached the top.
That was the Halo of the Zone N Massacre.
At the time of the Massacre, Jakowski was still a small character in the TV broadcast.
Everyone had participated. Day in and day out, they were busy watching how people—all civilians and so many little children—died horribly, and finding the right angle for the video and editing.
At that time, he had thought to himself that they must pay a price for doing this kind of thing.
The Upper City always said that “the whole thing ended up being nothing but entertainment,” but that was not true. They couldn’t escape from the Massacre, which screamed in the subconscious of everyone in the Upper City, convincing people that it would need to answer some important questions, important enough to fill this huge death toll.
But none of the explanations were strong enough.
So they kept asking stubbornly, just like how the ancients had asked about the sacrificial corpses, thinking that they could find a great, mysterious answer to the most important questions. Even if they didn’t even know what the problem was.
Jakowski looked at the screen as Xia Tian slowly stood up from the dark corner and carefully adjusted his hair. He was only thirteen years old, but he had the look of a grown man with a heart that was dead, who was desperately looking forward to death.
If you had ever loved something extremely deeply and then lost it, you wouldn’t be indifferent to such pain.
Audiences loved this, but for reasons that some sadists would never understand. For sadists, the Killing Show was a game of torture, and people like Xia Tian were prime material.
It was just that… the audience always claimed to like villains, but they actually didn’t.
Just like how people pretended to be cold and ruthless to cover up their actual feelings, that was just one of many things Upper City psychedelics covered up.
In reality, what people wanted to see the most was always emotion, humanity, love, struggle, and victory, and to see a certain refined experience and conclusion, to get an answer, and to escape the current pain and reality.
Now, countless fanatical and puzzled faces would turn to Xia Tian to ask questions and listen attentively to the response he gave.
And this time, the person who was asked was still alive.
On the main screen was a video of Xia Tian killing the “leader”. The gunfire flashed sharply, illuminating his face that was splattered with blood…
Jakowski turned the video off. He had already watched it several times, but he still felt as if his heart was clutched tightly by a murderous hand.
Xia Tian was completely out of control. He suddenly thought that they had always treated Xia Tian as a star, as if calling him that and making him smile towards the camera would mean that he would really become obedient.
Xia Tian was an outlaw filled with rage, with blood on his hands and was now on his way to the top of the entertainment world, and they simply didn’t have a chain that could hold him.
Jakowski leaned back in his chair and picked up the wine glass again.
It was exciting. He liked this star.
Xia Tian circled the area once and decided to repair an off-road limousine.
Xia Tian happily told Bai Jingan that he especially liked this model and the first car he had repaired as a child was also this model.
Bai Jingan pulled him over to sit down, and applied medicine on his wound.
The tactical planner’s face was also spattered with blood, which he only casually wiped off. His hair was also messed up, which made him look a bit wretched. Xia Tian felt that this look contrasted with his image quite a lot.
He raised his hand to smoothen out Bai Jingan’s curled up hair. The man who was tending to his wound with a cold expression suddenly raised his eyes to look at him.
There was something strange in his expression, something that lit up the usual grimness and gloom, making him look a little unfamiliar at first. But again, it was this expression that occasionally crossed his face during the killings.
That man finally appeared in front of him this time and looked him straight in the eye.
Under that low-key and plain face was a soul that was filled with great anger, and someone who was stared at by him would feel that the whole garage had become gloomy. Xia Tian’s back became taut and there was a vague stirring in his body, which made him subconsciously want to reach for his gun and destroy something.
Then, Bai Jingan smiled at him and said, “You really don’t stop, do you?”
There was something sharp and dangerous about the smile, like a blood-stained blade that reflected an icy white light under the fluorescent lights of the Lower City.
Xia Tian also unconsciously smiled at him, and Bai Jingan stood up and said, “Let’s go.”
Thank you for new chapter
Ty for the chapter ❤️, bonding time with the 2, PLEASE