Editor: Junyans
The game in the third sub-arena of the fourth round of the 199th Killing Show Team Competition on Floating Gold TV that had started less than a week ago came to a grand end.
The tournament ended with the usual pomp and circumstance. The host’s image was projected on the sky, announcing that all sinners had been temporarily pardoned and could go to the party and live for the time being.
“The heroes from the darkness were weak, but with wisdom and courage, they destroyed the huge Shi Empire!” The host said, her voice exploding like another round of fireworks.
“The Avengers won this round!”
Bai Jingan said to Xia Tian, “Do you feel that?”
“Yeah,” Xia Tian said, “the arena is shaking.”
His new weapon was now folded and lay in his wrists, and Xia Tian no longer looked invincible. Now, he looked no different from any of the badly injured players.
“It’s very slight, but it’s never been like this in the Upper City. There must be a reason—” said Bai Jingan.
He stopped and turned his head to look at the incoming medical team.
The medical team was skilled in their procedures, checking the injuries of each person in groups. Inside the game, these injured people were lowly players in the arena, and by the end of the tournament, they all became stars with an incredibly high worth.
A large group of people directly rushed towards Xia Tian. They circled around him, checking his condition, but didn’t dare to touch him. They had nervous expressions on their faces as if he was some kind of different creature.
They all wore famous brands and came from different departments. Xia Tian asked them how Wei Xi was doing, and the people around him became busy for a while as they contacted the medical team over there and gave him a detailed set of data within thirty seconds.
—Wei Xi was seriously injured, but he could definitely be saved. He was already in the medical cabin.
Eric had kept watch over Wei Xi. Eric himself was more seriously injured than expected, but once the game was over, everything was fine.
Another group of personnel were checking the condition of Bai Jingan’s injury, and they were shocked and said that he had to go into the medical cabin immediately and could not wait for a second.
Xia Tian smiled at him and said, “And yet, you accused me of rushing.”
“I had a plan when I rushed through.”
“I also had a plan,” Xia Tian retorted.
Since the end of the game, they had been staying together, exchanging a few words from time to time—mostly about boring things. Both of them were too injured to do anything… Maybe it was because they were so injured that they wanted to stay together all the time to fill the restlessness that came with being injured.
Bai Jingan went to look at the people coming in from outside the arena. They were all excited and had a fire of fanaticism burning in their eyes.
“What’s happening?” He asked the doctor who was opposite 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.
The other person was talking about the injuries, but when she heard the question, she stopped, opened her lips, and for the first time no sound came out.
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But this time, they had a clear goal. They were like a motley army suddenly summoned by a powerful force, armed with explosives. In addition to “Sky Viewpoint” and “Route X,” there were several other top program groups of Floating Gold TV. Although their lineups were different, each one of them had looks of inexplicable excitement on their faces, and they kept rushing to Xia Tian and him all the way.
At the forefront was Lin Lie of Floating Gold Channel One’s “Skyrim Blade,” the top host of Floating Sky City.
Now he was in a hurry and walked to Xia Tian without caring for his image. When he saw the newly crowned God of War, he averted his eyes, then turned his gaze back, coughed and straightened the wrinkles on his clothes.
Lin Lie gestured towards the sky, and in the next moment, sunlight bathed down upon this spot from above.
The light gave a golden edge to the thick clouds, as if they were carrying a fantastical and brilliant palace in the sky. This was the legendary certification of Savior.
Lin Lie said, “Sorry, this matter is very urgent. We must ask at the fastest—”
He was the kind of host who had an enthusiastic style, but was extremely stable in terms of controlling the scene. However, standing in front of Xia Tian, he looked like a rookie seeing a camera for the first time. He was uncomfortable all over and was having trouble looking the interviewee in the eye.
“I know you are badly hurt,” he said softly, “but I had to come here because many people want to know your thoughts on the Yingkong Lake incident.”
“Yingkong Lake?” Xia Tian asked.
The host stretched out his hand and brought up a large holographic interface.
Under the hologram, the mirror-like water spread out on the arena in an instant, with yachts and sailboats dotting the landscape. The scenery was beautiful, and everyone could see where it was at a glance.
Yingkong Lake, the largest lake in the Upper City, used the premium membership access system and was extremely exclusive—there was no path in the middle that could be traveled, and one had to go all the way around it to reach the opposite side.
All at once, everyone looked in this direction and saw the lake, the pearl of the Upper City, surging furiously, and several people standing within range of the holographic image quickly backed away.
“Yingkong Lake is sinking!” Lin Lie exclaimed.
The lake water roared and sent out an ear-piercing sound of collapsing. Under this huge catastrophe, the exquisite ships in Yingkong Lake shattered like colored papers being torn into pieces by hands. The holographic video was extremely realistic.
A landslide and a tsunami brought about by the grand sinking unfolded in the arena. Everyone was quiet, save for gasps or exclamations from time to time. The scene was shocking and the charm of destruction was so powerful that people couldn’t take their eyes off it.
Some host in the back said to Xia Tian, “This is for you!”
“This is for you, Xia Tian!”
Xia Tian turned his head to look at him. Along with that host, all the players, reporters, medical personnel and image planners in the arena were looking at Xia Tian.
Bai Jingan suddenly realized that they must have discussed it before and finally decided to demonstrate this scene before Xia Tian entered the treatment cabin—using the best holographic camera to put their sacrifice in front of the God of War once more like offering a treasure, so that he could see it, smile, and compliment it.
“Did you like it?” The top host said, looking at him.
Xia Tian looked at the scene of the destruction of Yingkong Lake for a moment and smiled toward the camera. Under the professional lighting, his smile was as bright as the sun, but as cold as ice.
He said, “I like it.”
Jakowski watched this scene and thought to himself that with that kind of smile, those people would probably be eager to destroy the Upper City itself and present it to him.
No matter how indestructible the anti-gravity engines were, they could not withstand such forces, which were totally different from the enemies they had prepared to face when they had first forged their steel defense lines.
Jakowski was now sitting on the access device, wearing depth-simulation goggles, waiting for a summons from the Board of Directors.
Things had come to this point, and this God-making project had finally caught the attention of those at the top. Qiao Ge had come to him and said that the board would hold a meeting to discuss how to deal with the “Xia Tian Farce,” and wanted to hear the chief director’s opinion first.
“It’s not like the Upper City hasn’t made stars before. It’s a city full of stars all the time,” he had said to Jakowski, “but no one has ever reached that level.”
He had shook his head and laughed without a care in the least.
“But this time it’s not a star we’re raising, it’s a sun.”
These days, of course, the rich didn’t really have to be physically present for meetings.
Jakowski accessed “Mount Olympus”—that was what Qiao Ge called it—and little by little the surroundings lit up.
He had never been here before; the authority required to access it was too high. Jakowski thought that he was very familiar with virtual scene logins, but even he felt shocked by how fantastical it was.
Maybe because the light was too bright and pure, he could clearly feel the heat on his skin. Even the floating city did not have such sunlight and sky. It made you feel as if time and space had really shifted.
This was the latest generation of virtual reality technology, yet to be released to the public. Accessible only to the elite of the Upper City, it would remain exclusive to the bigwigs of the Upper City. until a newer generation emerged. This select group enjoyed top-tier custom-made services, as was fitting.
Jakowski found himself sitting in the cozy garden of a coastal building. The surroundings embraced a countryside style, combining elegance with luxury, and a touch of playfulness in the color scheme. Sunlight fell on his body through gaps in the swaying grape vines, casting a warm glow. Beneath his feet was an endless expanse of the ocean, where the sky and sea met in a grand and majestic panorama, far surpassing the momentum of Yingkong Lake.
The waves sounded soothing and monotonous, as if they were eternal, which made people feel like they were in another place, somewhere mankind had destroyed a long time ago.
There were exotic fruits on the table, as well as light refreshments and beverages. There were people in the courtyard, each very elegant and calm, chatting away in this foreign wonderland. They were a group of people who stood at the highest rung on the societal ladder.
The place they were staying seemed like a real house with a fairyland-like landscape that was lush with flowers and trees. Only, this was a place nobody could go to anymore.
Jakowski bowed to the several board members and said, “Mr. Minkov, Mr. He, Mr. Qi, Mrs. Leilo, and Ms. Li.”
Some people nodded at him, while a few others were busy chatting or reading books.
Only then did he see that there was another boy curled up on a sofa in the shadows in the corner, as if enduring great pain—after being the chief director of the Killing Show for so long, he knew what it was like to endure pain.
He was curled up in a tight ball in the shadows of the garden, like a dying bird, staining the shadows with gloom and darkness.
No one looked at him. Everyone seemed to take it for granted and looked like life was good. There was a strange harmony between the bright sunshine and the dark corner.
Jakowski averted his gaze, thinking that the boy was probably here to be tortured and amuse others, but he looked a little too young, only 13 or 14.
But he looked like a person who was used to torment and suffering.
Jakowski looked down at his toes, not directly into the eyes of those people, and tried to look decent.
Looking at this beautiful scenery, you would sometimes feel that these people were just ordinary people who were particularly rich and loved to enjoy themselves. But Jakowski knew that these people were far removed from the general state of human society.
They had grown up in this cold wonderland for generations, each living a pampered life, holding great power, and controlling the life and death of countless people. Every one of them appeared to be well-mannered, yet were, in fact, extremely greedy, squeezing worth out of everything, and even considered it entirely justified.
He knew what he wanted. He would try his best to persuade them that there was no need to suppress Xia Tian.
“Beautiful results, Mr. Jakowski, besides the lake,” A man in a black sweater—Mr. Minkov—said. “How are you going to end this?”
Jakowski cleared his throat to make his voice sound steady.
He said, “I don’t think this needs to end.”
No one said anything, and he knew he needed to keep talking.
“‘God-making Marketing’ is making a lot of money, and it’s a time of great momentum. Any suppression would be counterproductive, which is a property of the marketing itself,” he said, “Xia Tian’s chain is in your hands, everyone, you can kill him whenever you want, and… he is going to die, isn’t he?”
Still no one spoke, but he knew they were listening.
Jakowski was certain that these people would not let Xia Tian live. In their eyes, when a person shone brightly and stood out, then the next logical step was to destroy that person.
Everything in the world was just a plaything for them. After having enough fun, just destroy it and move on to the next one.
Mr. He Jingting raised his chin to Jakowski, indicating that he could have a drink.
The chief director licked his lips. He didn’t want to touch the alcohol here, but he needed this.
The medical department had told him that he shouldn’t drink so much, that if it weren’t for the current level of medical care, he would have drunk himself to death ten years ago.
But he didn’t understand that. How can one live without alcohol these days?
Jakowski sat in the middle of the bright sun, poured himself a half glass of alcohol; it smelled like whiskey. He took a whiff of it, then tilted his head back and downed it. The strong sensation rushed to his head, causing him to choke and cough twice from the intensity.
Several people laughed, as if they thought it was funny that an alcoholic choked on alcohol.
“The sensory experience can be highly enhanced here,” Mr. Minkov said.
Seated on the sofa, he casually placed his hand on the boy’s right shoulder. Jakowski clearly noticed the latter shivering and curling up even more, appearing increasingly delicate and vulnerable beneath his palm.
At that moment, he saw the boy’s eyes, staring at a blank spot in the air. He looked like a trapped animal on the verge of death, but something crazy was fermenting in his eyes.
Oh no what are they plotting