Chapter 32
Interstellar Internet Celebrity Live Broadcast Compet.i.tion (Arc 3.5)
Jake felt his rounded stomach with satisfaction. Turning his head, he just happened to see Danny leaning against a tree to rest, his mouth was still swollen, his appearance seemed pretty pitiful.
"Can I give the rest of the clam meat soup to Danny?" Jake asked.
Jing Yang glanced over at that side and said, "Right now he can"t eat things from the ocean, otherwise it"ll get even more swollen. On the leaves next to the tree there"s still some mung bean grains, you can help him cook some.”
Jake used a knife to knock open a coconut and placed it on top of the fire, and then put the mung bean grains and some vegetables in there. Very quickly, it was done.
"Drink some." Jake brought the vegetable porridge to Danny.
Danny wanted to thank him, but his mouth was too swollen so he had no way to make sounds properly. He could only nod at Jake and express his grat.i.tude.
When the sky turned dark, Jing Yang extinguished the fire, and said to Jake, "Going up?”
Jake nodded, climbing up the rope ladder and entering the cabin.
Once he got in he was shocked: "This kind of cabin actually only got 7 points?”
This cabin actually even had a window, it was s.p.a.cious enough to accommodate 3-4 people sleeping and there was still room left over. For the cabin that he and Danny had made, the two people could only sit up to sleep, they didn"t even have enough time to make it a little bigger. In here there was even a knee-high long table against the wall, not too wide, on top there were some fruit.
Jake lay down on the hay, he felt the wide and very comfortable leaves, and then repeated his lamentations: "This kind of cabin actually only got 7 points, that"s really too unfair, it"s even not that much different from sleeping on the bed at home.”
Some netizens heard Jake expressing his inner lamentations. Inexplicably, they felt somewhat guilty, who knows whether they were feeling guilty about themselves, or feeling guilty about the people they supported.
Jing Yang sat down in front of the long table and placed all the prepared materials on top, starting to make his handicraft.
Jake lay down and didn"t want to get up, he had the weakest physique out of all of the compet.i.tors, and after going through two days and a night, he was already spent. But the things that had to be done still needed to be done, even if he was just here to muddle through, he also couldn"t do it too obviously, otherwise the netizens would have things to talk about.
He bit his teeth, then strove to climb back up. Jake sat down on the other side of the long table. At least the craft that he wanted to make was more simple, he also didn"t want to attempt to make something too difficult to torture himself.
"Peng peng peng….”
Suddenly they heard a series of noises. Jake jumped from surprise, raising his head to look out the window, it was actually hailing!
"Ah! Ah!”
From down there came Danny"s vague yelling, hail the size of eggs was falling at a very fast speed, when they smashed on his body it hurt to the extent that he kept shouting.
Jake stood at the door looking down, Danny was hugging his head and hiding under the tree, his appearance was really too miserable. The other cabins could only accommodate 3 people, and even if there was some extra s.p.a.ce, those other people would also not take the initiative to call him in.
Jake turned around to look at Jing Yang a few times, but he felt that he couldn"t really open his mouth. After all, Danny had previously never said any good words to him. The hail fell increasingly intensely, Danny obviously had been injured. He summoned his courage to request Jing Yang, "Can we let Danny come up? He seems to have been injured.”
Jing Yang continued his hand movements, while responding: "If you want to let him up, then you can just let down the ladder.”
"Thanks!" Jake didn"t know what kind of words he could use to express the appreciation in his heart, so he just extremely sincerely bowed a bit to Jing Yang.
"Danny!" Jake let down the ladder, and called down: "Quickly come up!”
Danny heard Jake calling himself and looked up while hugging his head. He saw the ladder was let down, and he no longer could care about his face or some other things, he ran over and quickly climbed up, he really was in too much pain.
Jake pulled Danny up, the two people entered the cabin. Danny sat in a corner to rest, his entire body was sore. His swollen lips moved slightly, using a vague sound to say thanks.
Jake also sat down, kneading his own arm. Just now when he was pulling Danny up he had been hit, not long afterward a bruise emerged. He thought, if he and Danny were still staying down there like yesterday, then by tomorrow morning they would definitely have been smashed to death. The organizers were really too ruthless.
From the ground there occasionally came some yelling, some cabins were directly smashed in, the hail punched in several holes in the roof. Then when the hail dropped in they smashed on the bodies, it was also very painful.
Danny had already fallen asleep in the corner. He really couldn"t stay awake, he was too tired and too sleepy. After Jing Yang and Jake finished making their crafts, they also each went to one side and immediately fell asleep.
It didn"t hail for as long as it had rained the previous night, but the destructive power was much bigger. Some cabins were smashed open directly, and the contestants covered themselves up with some wood to endure for a night. The majority of them were injured in some fashion, until the hail stopped after midnight, they finally fell asleep.
Jing Yang was again the first to wake up. He climbed down the tree, and the hail on the ground had already basically melted.
The people still dreaming were woken up by the fragrance of seafood porridge, they were tired and hungry and hurt, and still had to suffer this kind of torment of having delicacies in front of your eyes but still not being able to eat it. In this kind of mentally fragile state, even though for the time being no one had the thought of withdrawing from the compet.i.tion, but when they looked at the seafood porridge on the bonfire, their eyes all shone with green light.
Jake opened his eyes with difficulty. He climbed up and looked down from the door. When he saw the seafood porridge still steaming on the fire, he immediately woke up and quickly climbed down.
Ruth ran over with big steps and crouched down: "So fragrant, give me a bowl.”
Jing Yang looked up at her with some surprise: "So early today?”
Ruth pointed up at the sky: "The judges are still up there, they"re going to come only after eating breakfast. I came over early in order to freeload off of you.”
"The food on the airship isn"t good?" Jake lifted the coconut sh.e.l.l and asked.
"Sure it"s good, but when compared to what Milton makes, I always feel like the taste is lacking." Ruth took the porridge Milton handed her and gave him a thumbs up to express her admiration: "You are really great, in this kind of conditions, you can actually make food that tastes even better than those made by the most advanced high tech cooking products.”
Ruth saw Danny coming down from the tree, and asked in amazement, "Your mouth is actually all better?”
Jake also turned around to look at him. "It"s really all better ah, so magical!”
Danny touched his own mouth with some embarra.s.sment, he also felt that it was pretty magical. Don"t know what kind of medicine Milton used, it actually got better so quickly.
"Drink some?" Jing Yang handed Danny a bowl of porridge.
"Didn"t you say that he can"t eat seafood?" Ruth quickly asked, she was afraid that if another person also needed to eat, she would have less to eat.
"It"s already completely no longer swollen, he can eat it now." Jing Yang replied.
"Thanks." Danny took the porridge and crouched down next to Jake.
Once Ruth saw Danny she would think of yesterday"s image, once she thought of that scene she had an urge to laugh. She simply turned her body, her side facing Danny.
Seeing the harmonious atmosphere from Jing Yang"s side, Kedi and his teammates"s moods were extremely complex. But the flying cameras were constantly filming, so they couldn"t discuss anything and also couldn"t expose their mood, so they could only quickly exchange a glance with each other.
After the judges came down, they again examined all of the cabins, and scored the stability of their cabins. And then all of the people brought out their own hand-made crafts to let the judges score them.
Kedi used some coral and conches to make something that resembled a wand, it looked pretty childish, kind of like a low quality toy. But everything required comparison, compared to everyone else"s bracelets or something, he could be considered pretty creative, and also relatively better looking. So the judges once again gave him 9 points, and for their cabin stability, they once again got 9 points.
When it finally came to Jing Yang"s turn, he took out a white clam, and in front of everyone"s eyes, he opened it to reveal a golden black pearl necklace.
"My G.o.d!" Ruth covered her mouth and exclaimed in admiration: "Too beautiful!”
Not only the people on site, but even the netizens who saw this necklace through Star Network, were also stunned by this necklace.
The golden black pearl was the main focus, on both sides he used some heart shaped and star shaped white clam sh.e.l.ls, on the clam sh.e.l.ls he inlaid some white pearls or sea crystals, as well as some conches with the most beautiful designs as decoration. The whole thing looked very sleek, not the least bit messy, it set off the golden black pearl even more dazzlingly.
In the end the judges gave Jing Yang two 8 points. Those girls who adored high grade pearls and jewelry all scolded at the projection: "Are those judges blind?”
After the previous round of judging, the three judges had already been warned by the organizers to be as fair as possible. But in their eyes, if they went against the wishes of the netizens, they would all be attacked by the netizens. So this kind of scoring was already the greatest extent of fairness they could show.
The judges themselves thought that they had followed the netizens" wishes, but their actions had already attracted the dissatisfaction of many people.
Many netizens felt, from the two days of observation, that Milton was actually not as bad as they said on Star Network. He had accepted Jake, who had avoided him from the beginning, and when Danny was poisoned he made some herbal medicine for him, and even let the two people stay the night in the cabin that he had made by himself. These actions at least proved that he was someone who had very good bearing.
Plus that necklace was really too beautiful, if it were placed in a high grade pearl store, there would be many upper-cla.s.s ladies fighting to buy it, how could it have a lower score than Kedi"s thing that was like a toy?
Ruth announced that the first phase of the compet.i.tion had finished, the compet.i.tors could also return to the airship to rest, and the compet.i.tion would continue the next morning. Everyone let out a sigh of relief, they could finally rest well for a bit, this would be more beneficial for them being able to stay until the end.
Ruth said that if anyone had something that they liked, they could go take it right now, and first bring it up on the airship to keep. Then when the compet.i.tion was over they could bring it back as a souvenir.
After the crowd scattered, Ruth looked at Jing Yang with some apology: "I"m very sorry that I can"t help you out.”
"No matter, this has no relationship with you." Jing Yang smiled at her.
"Can you let me take a look at the necklace?" Ruth asked.
Jing Yang handed her the necklace, and then turned around to go back to the cabin to get some things.
Ruth held the necklace and really loved it too much to part with it, it was really too beautiful, plus it was a natural golden black pearl ah! It was said that only black gold mussels that have already lived for 200 years would have one, looking at the size of this one, it had definitely lived for more than 200 years. Right now the thing she most wanted to do, was to be able to wear this necklace, wear her most beautiful clothing, and then record a 3D image. Then it would be forever recorded down.
"So beautiful, it looks like a necklace that only a royal princess would possess." Jake stood at Ruth"s side and exclaimed in admiration. Last night he was too tired, when he finished his own craft he directly went to sleep and didn"t go pay attention to what Milton had made. He didn"t think that he would make something that would shock people like this.
Last night Milton had always been showing his back to the camera, so the netizens also hadn"t seen what he was making. When this necklace was revealed, many people were all screaming in their hearts, really want it! Really want it! Really want it!
After Jing Yang got his things and came back down, Ruth returned the necklace to him with great reluctance. "It"s really too beautiful, in the future you can give it to your love, she will definitely love you even more. Believe me, no lady will be able to resist the lure of this necklace.”
Jing Yang placed the necklace back in the clam, in his heart he thought that the only person he loved was a man, how could he possibly use something like this. Plus he still didn"t know when he would be able to meet him in this world.
"I"ll give this to you." Jing Yang spread out his hand in front of Ruth, on his palm were two bracelets.
"Give it to me? Really?" Ruth happily took them, and immediately put one on her wrist. "This is also really pretty, so good looking! Thank you Milton!”
Jake looked at the bracelet on Ruth"s hand, and then looked at the one on his own wrist. The bracelets obviously used basically the same materials, why was the one he made just like it had been randomly strung together by the ocean, but Milton"s seemed like it was sold at some high grade jewelry shop?
Ruth wore it on her wrist and then couldn"t bear to take it off again, she used her hand to hold the bracelet and asked, "You don"t plan on leaving one to send to your supporters? This could help you raise your support level oh, after all the bracelets are so pretty, there would be many people wanting them.”
This was definitely a good opportunity for putting on a play, how could Jing Yang let it pa.s.s him by. He hung a slightly bitter smile on his lips, saying, "I don"t have supporters, before I used to have some, but now it seems like they"re all gone, even if I wanted to send one I also wouldn"t be able to send it out. But it wasn"t because I couldn"t send them out that I gave them to you, hopefully you don"t dislike them…”
The bitter slight smile, the lonely eyes, made the netizens" hearts seem like they had been heavily struck. They involuntarily started to reflect on themselves. Earlier, why had they used such malicious words to attack this person who seemed quite pure? He really didn"t do any atrocious matters, but they actually ganged up to attack him like he was someone who had murdered their family members. They had maliciously fantasized and speculated that he was a vicious man, but in fact was it not themselves who were truly vicious?
Seeing his expression and eyes, Ruth felt heartache, she was a lot older than Milton, she felt like it was her own little brother suffering an immense mental trauma. She opened her arms to hug him, comforting him, "Don"t be sad, it"s not that you don"t have any supporters, from today onwards, I will be your number one fan.”
Bowie"s hand tightly clenched, the gla.s.s in his hands was nearly crushed into pieces by him. For no reason, he wanted to protect this person, it seemed like a responsibility that was originally supposed to belong to him.
Seeing the expression that Jing Yang revealed, Bowie felt that his own heart was about to be shattered. It was his fault, he hadn’t met him earlier, he hadn"t protected him properly, and had let him suffer the harm from others. Those people who had harmed him, all needed to pay the price!
Then when he saw Ruth hugging Jing Yang to comfort him, Bowie was both distressed and melancholy, the person hugging him in his arms and comforting him should be him, and could only be him. He wanted to go see him, he wanted to use the fastest speed to see him, and then protect him. He would no longer let him suffer any kind of harm.
Bowie made a decision, and then immediately went into action. He stood up and walked out quickly.
Translator Notes:
[1] spent – 精疲力尽, idiom, means spirit weary, strength exhausted
[2] loved it too much to part – 爱不释手, idiom, also means to fondle admiringly…
Random Notes:
A little over 1 hour: 3:30 pm – 4:45 pm, for 4.2k characters to 3k words. Literally almost no T/Ns, it was quite amazing. I just feel like for this arc the translations/raw terms are relatively easier and thus the translating is being pretty fast. It must be my Chinese level improving, right. Obviously.