Editor: Junyans
When Xia Tian stepped into the street outside the medical hall, he was greeted by sunlight and cheers, which hit him like waves. He squinted his eyes. The whole world was like a pot of boiling porridge, churning with money, bustle and desires.
There was a stretch limousine parked on the curb. Its body was pitch-black, looking like a giant beast lying on the ground. It was his ride to the final banquet. There were actually escort vehicles in front and behind, that looked exactly like armored vehicles. The whole scene looked like a large group of people preparing to wage war.
“It’s for you,” Huitian said.
Xia Tian looked at the convoy in shock. Huitian stood behind him and added, “All of them.”
Eric said in the back, “Fuck me!”
Lin Lie, the host of Floating Gold Channel One, said with a smile, “This is the latest product in the ‘Wild Beast’ series of the Fortress Company, and there are three different models to choose from—”
He advertised vocally, sounding like the car was built to fight wars and shouldn’t be driven on the streets at all. But Fortress clearly felt that Xia Tian should drive the car more often for the camera, and the car even came with a good driver—a capable and ferocious person who could charge forth and attack the enemies at any time.
Every time he came out of the competition, Xia Tian felt very divided. His life and intentions suddenly seemed to become very important, with countless people coming for him. A group of people were busy serving him, as if all their hopes in life depended on it.
Huitian told him that he didn’t need to feel like he was getting something for nothing. The advertisers weren’t stupid. They gave things away because they were sure they could get bigger profits, of course.
The big-name host who was beside him finished the advertisement, and a group of people stared at Xia Tian.
“I love it,” Xia Tian said dryly.
“Great,” Huitian said, “Let’s get in the car.”
The driver pulled open the door with a solemn expression, as if it were some kind of ritualistic act.
Xia Tian sat in. The car was covered with dark red carpeting. Leather sofas, thermostatic wine cabinets, bar counters and other things were lying about in a profusion of disorder. The lights were hidden in the corners, like fire burning in the dark corners of the night.
Dee Dee got into the car and flung herself towards the window seat to look out.
The car slid noiselessly into the street.
The first stop for the stars was the final banquet.
Until now, the competition in other sub-arenas had not ended. The third sub-arena had set a series of records—total chaos, the powerlessness of the planning team, and the lowest death toll.
The Killing Show had never been short of records, but when having seen that kind of struggle of players and the powerlessness of the planning team, fans seemed to find everything else almost tasteless.
Xia Tian’s group’s actions gave meaning to the commonplace records, pain and resistance, a meaning that shone radiantly and made people’s blood boil with righteous indignation.
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.
Lin Lie sat down, adjusted the camera, turned to Xia Tian, and asked, “Is it true that you used to be an important figure in the Resistance Army?”
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“No, the movies are adapted from reality, and we also have clear evidence—” the host said, spouting out a bunch of data. Xia Tian didn’t understand what he was saying, but it felt very conclusive.
He sat up straight and gave one of his usual smiles that he used to give when he got into trouble in the Lower City. It was particularly beautiful. He said, “I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.”
“What you’re talking about is just probability, and there is no evidence to prove it,” Eric said. As someone from Zone N, he had a strong sense of crisis about such things.
“Everyone knows that ‘all the young people in Zone N’ are dead,” he added, “and there’s not a single one alive.”
“Please don’t be nervous. We don’t mean to judge. We just want to know the truth of that year,” Lin Lie said, “Isn’t it too strict to say ‘all the young people in Zone N are dead’? After all, Mr. Xia Tian came out of the massacre alive.”
“There’s nothing Xia Tian can say about the massacre,” Eric said firmly, “and he wasn’t considered a ‘young man’ from Zone N, only a ‘child’ from Zone N.”
The voices of the two kept ringing in Xia Tian’s ears. Outside the car window, a holographic billboard welcoming him on his “return from the bloody battlefield to the peaceful world once again” came into his sight. The entire display featured somber black and red tones, depicting a landscape strewn with skeletons. Only the spot where he was had a faint glow.
The billboards on both sides of the road were full of his welcome announcements, and the entire street was dominated by images of worship, confession, and affection.
“But in a world like that, childhood is very short-lived, Mr. Eric,” Lin Lie said softly, “Thirteen years is enough to understand what death, despair, oppression, and rebellion are all about!”
Eric did not find anything to refute for a while. The top host sounded more like rebels than the rebels themselves.
To tell the truth, the riots in Zone N had only affected a few nearby areas at the beginning, but after their failure, the impact became stronger year by year. By the time it reached the Upper City, it was even more glorious.
Something radiated from that dark and tragic rebellion, and it grew stronger and stronger.
Xia Tian could understand the influence of the Zone N incident in the Lower City, but he didn’t understand how those who were brutally killed because of the rebellion became heroic figures in the Upper City after a few years.
According to Huitian, it was because the Upper City liked this type of hero, and this was a world where consumption was paramount.
“It’s a consumer-oriented world. Here, businesses do everything they can to study the desires of consumers. Whether it’s warmth and inspiration or destruction of the world they desire, we try to amplify it, fan the flames, and set a good price. That’s how you have to be if you want to sell something,” she said, “Upper City is a cruel place, but here you can always buy what you want.”
When speaking, the young image planner looked out at this sprawling city she was in that was floating in the midair, thronging with buildings, vehicles, goods and endless advertisements.
She shrugged and said, “This, this is our choice.”
The car moved forward, and the traffic was smooth.
Xia Tian looked out of the window. He couldn’t close the shutter. Even the God of War must follow the company’s rules.
“Didn’t the news say there were traffic jams everywhere?” He asked.
“Yes, the roads are blocked,” Huitian said, smiling at him. The sun shone on her face, her expression relaxed and happy and her pupils dilated, which was clearly an effect of drugs and the distant and restless undertones of the carnival.
“How can the God of War be stuck in a traffic jam when the company cleared out Sky Avenue just for you?” She added, “For the first time in my life, I’ve seen a situation where there’s a need to clear a public place of visitors on a large scale when a star goes out.”
Only then did Xia Tian find that the streets beneath the one he was traveling on were full of cars—he didn’t know if it was premeditated, but he was on the highest street. Many thousands of spectators were looking in his direction, waving and shouting at him, to witness the march of the God of War. Only, they couldn’t actually see him, but just the car he was riding in.
Around them, the exquisite and complex city was bathed in sunshine. Countless walls, doors, windows, and billboards reflected the light. It looked like the intense heat would make them ignite at any moment.
At that moment, Xia Tian’s private cell phone rang. He glanced at it; it was an unknown number. But not just anyone could call his private number.
He picked up the phone, and a voice came from the other side that said, “You guys are in trouble.”
The voice of Minkov Jr.
He said, “You two are on the list for this year’s Guest Show.”
When Bai Jingan saw Xia Tian’s expression, he immediately realized that something was wrong and reached out to cut into the call authority.
“I can’t help. He doesn’t like me to be influenced by others. If I pay too much attention, it will only get you guys in more trouble,” Minkov Jr. said.
It seemed inconvenient for him to speak; his voice was very low.
“That’s a good gun you’ve got there, and the show is definitely going to ban it. It’s a game of cat and mouse. They want to ‘get to know’ you guys a little bit before they delegate the big job. It would be very—”
He paused, and there was a dead silence on the other side of the phone, giving off an eerie and bloody atmosphere.
At the same time, the Floating Gold Group headquarters cast a massive shadow on them, and the billboard lit up in red, giving the impression that the car was gilded with a layer of blood.
Minkov Jr. didn’t finish that sentence. He added, “The Guest Show is positioned as a ‘Premium Game.’ It generally doesn’t last more than a week and doesn’t interfere with publicity or the next round of the competition. The technology in the show is above real-time technology, I’ll send over the commonly used product parameters, and you guys can look at the data.”
When he finished speaking and was about to hang up the phone, Xia Tian said, “How are you… doing?”
The person on the other side fell silent again, and the splendor and bustle of the city receded, leaving only a bloody, oppressive silence.
Then Minkov Jr. said “fine” in a gloomy tone before hanging up.
Xia Tian and Bai Jingan exchanged glances and didn’t say another word.
On the billboards in the street, Xia Tian could see countless faces of his own. Lin Lie was talking to Huitian, saying that few people could take such photos with the same momentum as Xia Tian, who was completely an invincible deity.
As if by following him, one could get the ultimate answer.
Twenty minutes before Xia Tian arrived at the final banquet, it suddenly crossed his mind that the trick of blending into the crowd would never work again.
After arriving at the banquet hall, he immediately found a corner and inquired about the current status of several players he knew—most of them were dead, and those who were not, were dying.
Somehow a group fight started in the banquet hall.
As a place of post-game partying, with a large number of outlaws plus alcohol, fights and brawls were commonplace and didn’t need to be justified. People get killed at every scene of the final banquet. Even if these players left the arena, they often made life look like a Killing Show.
There weren’t two sides fighting, but at least three different forces and a couple of individual fighters who didn’t belong to any forces.
The fight spilled over into the corner where Xia Tian was, and he looked away, ignoring it. It was at that moment that a man with a bald head made contact with his gaze.
The man threw the guy in his hand onto the table as soon as he could, as if hurriedly getting rid of the stolen goods before the cops came, and nodded to Xia Tian seriously.
The man who was fighting was Fan Ning, whom Xia Tian knew. He was the one who had given the Doomsday Destroyer rocket launcher to Xia Tian during the last round in the arsenal opening scene. The guy was about to pounce on the bald man when he found Xia Tian looking. He immediately stopped, pulled his clothes, and nodded to him.
Within seconds, everyone had stopped fighting, and they all greeted him.
Xia Tian reflexively returned the smile and said, “You guys continue.”
The group all smiled back at him. Xia Tian turned around and walked away, and the fight immediately started again behind him.
Bai Jingan who had been standing in a secluded corner then came out and said, “We should get some food first, find a more private room, and look at what Minkov Jr. had sent us.”
Xia Tian nodded in agreement. The two discussed what food to stock up on. They had gained various insights into this.
As they were moving separately, Xia Tian heard someone calling his name from behind him. He turned his head and two guys in uniform walked up to him through the crowd. One of them waved his ID and said, “Police.”
Xia Tian subconsciously stood up straight and made an innocent face.
Although the Upper City police had little power and only had a presence in novels or at strip parties, they were still quite a deterrent in uniform, at least for people like Xia Tian who came from a criminal background, because their clothes were very similar to those of the Lower City security team.
The two men walked over and introduced themselves politely, and also showed him the documents that proved that the Floating Gold Group had allowed to investigate its internal employees.
The leader was very handsome and had a friendly smile. He said, “Well, we are investigating a murder case and hope to get your help.”
Xia Tian smiled and said he would cooperate.
“We would appreciate it if you could tell us where you were from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on May 17,” said the man.
Xia Tian’s body tensed up.
Of course he knew where he had been at that time. He had been in the cold bedroom, smashing the guy’s head and bloodying the carpet.
