translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
After Red volunteered to pull the two fools apart, Wu Jin quickly clutched the key and ran off to the North Tower.
The fragrance of some unknown plants floated on the summer breeze. The Crosson trainees, who had just finished a fierce battle, passed under the streetlights in twos and threes.
In order to build up their musicality, Ying Xiangxiang had changed the background music from elegant orchestral music to the theme song for the Crosson Show.
The pathway, grass, and even the side of the building echoed with segments of lyrics, like ‘One in a hundred, ah~ Brave and fearless~’, and ‘Marching forward bravely for the audience~’.
At the foot of the hill not far away, the twin towers cast a dark and majestic shadow against the bright lighting.
There was nearly an hour before the curfew. In the past, the trainees would spend the night in either the training grounds or their dormitories, but because the holidays were near, people chose to run around outside the tower instead of going back inside.
There were seven or eight trainees lying horizontally on the lawn, and the tall, burly one in the middle of the group was Old Qin: Qin Jinbao, of Dolma Entertainment.
After finishing his task of dancing in the vice c-position for the performance, Qin Jinbao was a lot more relaxed. He was spaced out on the grass, listening to the rambling from an old radio––
“But it was said that Xiang Ji led soldiers to kill Xiang Yang in the west, killing the King’s baby. They burned down the Qin palace, and the fires burned for three months, Old Qin…”
Wu Jin turned a corner and headed towards the North Tower.
Qin Jinbao suddenly bit down on a blade of grass and lifted his head up to wave to Wu Jin, “Hey, Little Witch, come over and laze about with us! Feels great!”
Wu Jin grinned and shook his head.
Wu Jin had helped Qin Jinbao with his dance choreography before, and although they hadn’t encountered each other head-on during the competition, he still completely admired him. Seeing that Wu Jin was heading towards the North Tower, he seemed surprised before realizing, “You’re going to see the match grounds… makes sense, they have probably signed a contract with the new sponsor by now.”
Wu Jin had only thought of that now.
The venue location for the next elimination match wouldn’t change. The ‘cellular automata’ that had been across from the North Tower this morning had been nearly completely dismantled in order to make room for the next set up.
The newly built foundations and the construction team sent by the next sponsor could be seen from the windows in the North Tower. It was said that experienced contestants could guess the environment for the next competition with a mere glance at the foundations.
Qin Jinbao waved and continued to listen to his ‘Qin Han romance’. Wu Jin walked into the North Tower, the cool breeze from the temperature control washing over him and making even the tips of his ears perk up in comfort.
After two elimination matches, there were less than 300 trainees left of the original 500. Compared with previous times, the originally crowded North Tower now seemed empty and quiet.
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 white walls were covered with graffiti from previous contestants, and one of the headings, ‘3019, Fighting Again at Crosson’ had many signatures underneath it. Many of the remaining trainees had lost roommates during the elimination matches, and had hung sign on the doors:
“Njmjcms-sbecu-wjc-rlcmfgfis-ibbxlcu-obg-gbbwwjaf, cb-yjv-tjylar, lcafgfrafv-qjgalfr-delmxis-mbcajma”…
Qe Alc ibbxfv bea ogbw atf rajlgkjs jcv, jr fzqfmafv, rjk atf jrrfwyifv mbwqbcfcar obg atf obecvjalbc bo atf cfk jgfcj.
Lf kjr ecjyif ab ufa j ubbv nlfk lc atf vjgx jcv mbeiv bcis rff yjamtfr bo raffi yflcu agjcrqbgafv nlj mbcajlcfgr, atfc rqgfjv bea ys lcveraglji mbcragemalbc gbybar.
The sponsor for the third elimination match hadn’t yet been announced, but the walls around the construction were marked with an unobtrusive logo.
A silver, six-pointed star.
Wu Jin looked over it a few more times and opened up his terminal to perform a search, but there were too many organizations that used a six pointed star as their logo for any clues to be found.
Wu Jin could only let it go temporarily and head to Wei Shi’s bedroom. His eyes were crystal bright as he took the key out of his pocket.
The door squeaked as it opened.
The big boss hadn’t returned yet, and there was no one inside.
The room was clean and tidy, and there was little sign of anyone living in the space. Of the two beds, one seemed to not have been used for a long time, and the quilt on top of the other bed that was close to the window was folded very meticulously.
At this time, Wu Jin’s expression was full of the joy of ‘going to other children’s homes to play’ as he pulled out a chair next to the table and sat down properly, his eyes darting to and fro as he looked around everywhere.
Almost every trainee’s bedroom had a distinct personal touch. For example, Thin Fire’s room had a mirror three steps in from the door, Wu Jin had pasted tape everywhere to prevent the rabbit from falling down, and Wei Yan would watch dog blood idol dramas all the time.
However, the place where Wei Shi was staying seemed both quiet and cold.
Wu Jin’s eyes swept to the washroom and suddenly thought about how the big boss had been wrapped in a towel last time he had knocked on the door, water droplets sliding down the curves of his muscles… envy immediately appeared in his eyes.
Speaking of which, big brother had taken away his protein powder last time and replaced it with two candies that seemed to be of little use…
A breeze came in through the window. Wu Jin, who had just finished dancing, was bored and idle as he waited for Wei Shi. He lay down bonelessly on the table like a droopy-eared rabbit spirit.
He woke up abruptly when the night breeze brought with it a familiar scent––
Wu Jin only realized at that moment that he was still wearing the big boss’s coat!
He quickly took off the big boss’s coat and folded it properly before placing it in an empty spot in the cabinet. He had no idea that the entire lining was already covered in a rabbit spirit’s soft fragrance.
At this time, several messages appeared on his terminal.
Zoe: “Little Witch, where are you? Come on, get back to the company quickly! Captain Lin and the others are back!”
Wu Jin was stunned.
White Moonlight’s professional battle team captain, Lin Jue.
Wu Jin had only been signed with White Moonlight for a month. Although he’d never seen the company’s battle team, he was still influenced by his surroundings, and his fellow trainees were all full of praise for Captain Lin and the other professional players.
White Moonlight’s professional team had been eliminated in the first round of group matches in this year’s Star League. Even though there was an earth-shaking number of haters outside, the team members were still their seniors who had worked for the company for nearly a decade, allowing White Moonlight to stand firm.
Only, he hadn’t thought that they would return at this time.
On the other side, Zoe was still urging, “The team manager is coming to the Crosson Show to pick us up. We’ll meet at the entrance in ten minutes. I’ll go and pick up that fool Caesar… This time, Captain Lin will pick out several trainees and reserve members for special training. Little Witch, you need to try and grab a spot. Remember, special training and normal training is very different, and it’ll be crucial for the next elimination match…”
Wu Jin nodded very seriously. His eyes dropped for a moment after he ended the communication.
Where was the big boss…
He finally took one last reluctant look around, then left a note for Wei Shi. He also sent him a message on his terminal before heading back to the South Tower with his backpack on his back.
Wu Jin didn’t have much, so it didn’t take long for him to get ready. He was cuddling the rabbit when he ran into Wen Lin, who had come to help Caesar pack up.
This White Moonlight support player tossed down Caesar’s bags, then skillfully stomped down with his foot. The luggage that couldn’t be closed immediately clanged shut, properly subdued.
Wen Lin shrugged helplessly, “Caesar was caught for fighting and reprimanded.”
Wu Jin: “!!!”
The two of them walked quickly to the entrance of the Crosson base and came across the program producer smiling gently, casually handing Caesar over as he spoke with White Moonlight Battle Team’s manager.
Caesar wasn’t the only one. Thin Fire and Red were both crouching on the ground.
Two small stage managers were chattering to the side
“The two of them were fighting, but how did they manage to involve that Red?”
“Hey, Red was just watching the show from the side. What did Instructor Ying say–– ‘seeing two insects fighting in the grass, and enjoying the show’! He didn’t try to persuade them to stop or intervene, so she simply caught all three of them together…”
The team manager was diplomatic, and the program producer also took the money tree Wu Jin into consideration, so the two of them came to an unspoken agreement to let Caesar’s incident go. Thin Fire and Red were also set free again.
Only, when Red saw that Wu Jin was leaving, he was given a scare and immediately called Wei Shi, “Brother Wei! Bad news! Little Witch was picked up and taken away by his battle team…”
At the top of the Crosson hill, Wei Shi made a sound of acknowledgement. He looked at the suspension car that was disappearing into the distance and toyed with the dark chip card of an unknown material that he was holding between two fingers.
On the other side of the communication, in Azure Cosmos, Researcher Song was currently giving him a report.
“Other than Zhi Wei and the six federal military divisions, the Norma Constellation and Southern Cross Constellation have all shown intentions of cooperating with Floating City.”
“The second batch of funds is in place, and we’ve already confirmed with the Floating Research Institute that the research can continue. Today, we passed six A-level project audits, which were primarily focused on the gene industry and new energy…”
“Also,” Researcher Song looked at his report and hesitated slightly, “Someone said that Shao Yu has been seen at the Federal border.”
Wei Shi’s eyes were indifferent, “Strengthen the guard.”
Researcher Song nodded.
It had already been four years since Shao Yu left the R-Code base. Nobody knew where he’d been during that time.
According to Researcher Song’s speculations, Shao Yu was likely to have left the Azure Star Region, or even the Federation, completely. Out of the three primary human-shaped weapons in the R-Code base back then––Shao Yu was absolutely the scariest, craziest one.
Although…
Researcher Song looked at Wei Shi subconsciously. Wei Shi had done more than Shao Yu.
Researcher Song let out a heartfelt sigh. There was reverence in his eyes.
After finishing his work report, Researcher Song squinted at the chip card in Wei Shi’s hand and thought of the gossip he’d heard from Red. He said, “This should be for contestant Little Witch… I’ll help you activate it. Just give it to him within ten minutes, and perform the biological verification binding…”
It was at this time that Red’s message came through. Researcher Song stilled, “Eh, Contestant Wu isn’t at the base?”
Wei Shi casually tossed the chip card into his pocket, but it caught on a piece of paper––
The support flyer from the Crosson Show trainee fans that the program team had given him before the competition.
NOOOOO just give me Wei Shi and Wu Jin!!! I was so anticipating them having some more time together. Boo-hoo… This author is cruel, I just want more of the Wei Shi’s backstory and their cultivation, who cares for some new dude orz
Wei Shi, someone is taking away your little rabbit spirit!!
Thank you for the chapter~
Thank you for the chapter!💕
No fair I was looking forward for Wei Shi and little witch interaction. What’s the purpose of the chip and what binding??Curious
Thank you so much for the chapter!!😍😍
Going to tag his rabbit?
Cath up~
than k you for the chapter (´∀｀)♡
Thanks for the chapter 😊😍
Thanks for the great translation. Though I’m confused by the very last paragraph at the end of the chapter. What support flyer and why did they give it to him before the competition??? Is Wei Shi competing in a different program?
The support banner was the one Little Witch drew of the rabbit. Each contestant got one from a lucky fan, remember? Little Witch was WS’s only fan, so his banner got picked. 😆
Hmph hmph, Who needs his special training?
Little witch already has Wei Shi so he doesn’t need someone who popped out from Devil knows where
Thanks for the chapter!
At first, when i read the title I was 😏 but now I’m, (°□°)/ ︵ ┻━┻ nOooooOOOOooOo!!!!!! Give mah baby Witch to daddy Wei Shi!!!!!!!
damm author is heartless 💔 😢 for what is the chip tho??
thank u 💗