translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Inside the training room.
Silence spread out. One night of massacres had inflicted heavy losses on Leica’s group. The ‘commander’ looked gloomy, and as soon as their group of four entered the room, Leica’s sharp gaze stabbed at Wang Shu, then Wu Jin.
Nicholas shrank himself into a corner against the wall and only came out to approach Wu Jin after he saw that he’d arrived.
“Brother Wang!”
Wang Shu’s eyebrows jumped and he looked away. Wu Jin ignored this drama queen K directly and looked at the wall.
The number ‘9’ had been crossed out again.
In its place was a brand new number.
“1”.
The AI instructor was oblivious to it all as they handed out 9 sets of elaborate performance costumes to the trainees. The bus to the stage came to a stop outside their building again, and compared with yesterday’s 14 people, the interior felt empty and lifeless.
Nicholas sat down very naturally next to Wu Jin. Wang Shu and his roommates sat behind them. The bus was divided into two groups as Leica, who’d originally had a numbers advantage, was finally defeated 4:5. His eyes held hidden hostility––
Wu Jin moved his gaze away.
No matter how he looked at it, Leica should be a typical player who was in the lower circles of the Stardust Cup. His strength might not be strong, but he would seize every opportunity he could to obtain the command position, exhausting all means in order to live to the end. He would go against the King of Hearts and didn’t fear the King of Hearts.
It was possible that this was why the King of Hearts had left Leica alive until the end.
––“The King of Hearts is just a symbol.”
The King of Hearts was a symbol held up by the Star Emperor team, the ‘hope’ that they held onto when the team’s performance declined. It was a trainee who drank poison to quench thirst, who had to block all sorts of attacks for the professional team. The first Nicholas, as well as the others who’d been eliminated by the King of Hearts, were all ‘sacrifices’ in the program.
Any talent variety show, including the Crosson Show, including the Stardust Cup, was still a talent show at its core.
The show was guided by the director and the cameras that switched perspective between the players. As long as the ‘sacrifices’ were there, the King of Hearts would always be the new star of the Star Emperor team.
However, the King of Hearts seemed reluctant to exist in this way.
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.
So.
Qe Alc uijcmfv ja Rlmtbijr jr atbeut rfflcu atgbeut tlw ab atf Vlinfg Cgwbg tf’v rqbxfc ab lc atf mbgglvbg.
––“Llr gfqeajalbc lr ojirf, jcv tlr qbrlalbc kjr ulnfc ab tlw ys tlr afjw’r rfclbgr. Llr ojwf lr gjlrfv eq ys atf fcafgajlcwfca mbwqjcs, jcv tlr mbwyja rasif lr tsqfv eq ys atf wfvlj. P klii yfja tlw. Pa’r nfgs lwqbgajca ab wf.”
The bus made a sharp turn.
Drama Queen K/Nicholas immediately went to complain to Wu Jin, “Brother Wang, how come Leica’s eyes are always glaring daggers at you?”
Wu Jin pushed Nicholas away, “It’s not surprising. In his opinion, anyone in this car can be K.”
“If you don’t attack K, then K will attack you. Only by eliminating the real K will we be able to remain safely until the next round. Isn’t it like the werewolf of Millers Hollow? The difference is, you might not necessarily be able to beat this werewolf!”
“We’re here, get out of the bus!”
Outside the bus, there was a sea of people at the entrance to the stage venue for the 100 into 60 performance.
Countless AI played the role of the audience, the management, the program team, and bodyguards as they all crowded around. These AIs were very pragmatic, and there were even those in the crowd who didn’t pay attention to social etiquette and jumped the queue. At the door to the side entrance, two spectators deadlocked the entry process because they’d cut in line with each other, squeezing into the door fame and getting stuck. Soon, more advanced AI came over to separate them.
“……” Wu Jin very much suspected that the big boss had moved over all the AIs from Floating City and stuck on a series of copy-pasted faces in order to create the ‘audience’.
Soon, the event manager came over to greet them, leading the contestants into the stadium one by one.
They walked past a dedicated door for staff members, and the stage suddenly opened up in front of them––
Everyone paused at the same time.
The curtains that had been there for the rehearsal stage yesterday had been pulled back completely, revealing that the huge stage was attached to a rotating disc! The disc was cut evenly into six huge fan shapes, with only one side facing the audience at a time. The stage was decorated with brilliant lights, dazzling and surreal. Each ‘fan’ had its own scenery, including a snow plain, a submarine abyss, and the decadent city from yesterday’s rehearsal.
Each section belonged to a different group: Dance, vocals, music, and rap.
Looking down from the top of the auditorium, the stage was like a rotating miniature dessert table. Each turn would present a group of performances, and the disc would spin along its central axis. The previous turn would rotate into the background, and the scenes in the back would come to the front. At this time, the staff were still debugging the system, and the dazzling setting lights on the ground also switched out between various gorgeous projections as the scenes transformed.
It was dazzling.
A large screen with a retro curved surface hung above the stages. It was a recreation of the popular ‘fan wall’ from centuries ago. The screen showed the threads and replies from the fan forum, entries scrolling rapidly on the screen.
Wu Jin bowed his head, glanced at his watch, edited a forum post, and saved it as a draft.
The director broadcast a notice, and the six groups of contestants were led to the set.
Wu Jin walked down the steps of the auditorium and took the elevator along the edge of the fan shaped stage to the B1 mechanism floor.
His vision suddenly darkened.
The sound of mechanisms moving clattered into his ears in an endless stream, but Wu Jin suddenly frowned. The noise level at this time was over 10 times more than it had been during the rehearsal.
The logistics AI smiled broadly at the group, “Rap Class 2. You guys will be second to go up on the stage, after Class 1. Additionally, in order to make the stage more interesting, we’ve specifically adjusted the size and operation frequency of the lift platforms––”
The AI reached out and the flashlight swept through the dim mechanism floor.
Nine people narrowed their eyes into a squint at the same time, their gazes following the light to the complex and precise stage mechanisms. Then, they were all stunned at the same time!
Originally, there had been over 10 lift platforms left, but there were only 9 now. They’d been widened into huge blocks, and the lifts connected together, the links between them dividing the stage into a neat nine square grid!
The lift platforms went up at a crazy operation speed of almost 10 seconds each time, and the entire stage was like a precision city. Platforms rose and fell every ten seconds, and for a moment, Wu Jin recalled the cellular automata from the first elimination match. However, the law of the lift movements was obviously different.
“Nine square grid.” Wu Jin didn’t hesitate to shake off Nicholas and get together with Raphael at the back of the group. “Nine lifting platforms, a grid of nine squares. The rules remain unchanged, and the lift can’t rise when more than one person stands on it.”
Raphael reacted quickly and lowered his voice, “The 100 into 60 competition. K will make his move here.”
Wu Jin nodded. The paper with the rap lyrics was in his mouth as his hands moved as fast as lightning, untying a watermelon knife, a long kitchen knife, and a homemade dagger and putting them within easy reach.
Raphael did the same.
In the distance, Nicholas was hidden in the shadows.
The AI smiled as they left. “In that case, the stage is waiting for you.”
The huge roulette stage turned slowly, and Rap Class 1 was displayed first in front of the stage. Their performance had already been going on for a long time.
Wu Jin bowed his head. His watch was vibrating constantly, and Rap Class 1 had actually had at least 7 people eliminated, showing how fierce the competition was. Rap Class 2 and Rap Class 1 were so close that Wu Jin could even hear the screams from the stage next door.
This wasn’t a revolving dessert table at all.
This was a revolver in Russian roulette. The only difference was that all six stages––all six rotating bullet slots––were loaded with lethal bullets. This was a killing performance dedicated to the 800 spectators.
Wu Jin and Raphael were geared up.
Raphael cut straight to the point, “Grab the middle point of the nine square grid.”
Wu Jin didn’t have any objection to guarding the middle square that allowed easy access to the other eight squares. The two of them moved like ghosts as they stepped on the upper edge of the lifting platform. The lift felt the weight of two people and descended automatically, connecting with the middle block. Wu Jin stepped onto the middle square, and Raphael hadn’t yet followed him––
The lift squeaked.
It sank slowly.
Wu Jin narrowed his eyes immediately!
There was more than one person on the lift!
Nicholas emerged from the shadows and smiled slightly, “Brother Wang.”
Wu Jin nodded, his expression easing, “Why are you here––”
His voice hadn’t finished speaking when Nicholas’s body moved like a ghost, attacking him with a sharp knife aimed closely at his throat. Yet Wu Jin had moved even before he had, his blade came up, and there was a cold clashing sound as they collided!
At this time, the huge stage mechanisms began to turn.
Rap Class 2’s background music burst out around their ears. The curtain rose, and the audience clapped like a tidal wave.
Raphael jumped down and stood side by side with Wu Jin.
Nicholas’s expression suddenly went cold.
Wang Ping pushed his blade forward and whispered to him amidst the deafening noise, “––Please begin your performance.”
Juurensha: Oooh, tricky tricky.
So exciting. K is a really interesting character.
Thx for the chapter 😘
Thanks for the chapter! 💕💕
Wu Jin being badass? I’ll take a thousand of those~
Thank you for the chapter!! ♡
Aaaahh I love this! I should be asleep right now. 〒_〒
Can’t wait for the impostor to be ejected lol.
Hmm i wonder if K and WJ will become friends….
thanks for the chapter!!
K is so creepy. He’s getting into this role too much 😬
Thanks for the chapter!