Chapter 163 - Fishing
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
“!!!” Wu Jin was given no choice and trembled as he stretched out his right hand.
Outside the door, a high-speed train roared past.
The scorching hot summer wind poured in from the open security gate. The man’s palm was dry, and his body carried a light scent of hay and nuts warmed under the sun. Wu Jin shook his hand tentatively, like a small squirrel that had secretly stolen a nut.
The soft, fluffy curls were lifted up by the wind from the high-speed train.
Wei Shi’s figure was broad and powerful. He directly covered Wu Jin’s entire right hand, “Wei Shi.”
Their palms touched.
The man’s digits that were covered with gun calluses had too high of a sense of presence, like flint brushing against tinder and creating sparks for no reason.
Wu Jin stilled.
The high-speed rail swept by outside the security checkpoint.
The confused mess of memories in his mind was stirred up by the strong wind. It seemed that there was a place filled with dust and smoke, burning buildings emitting black smoke that covered the sky, G.o.ds and nameless cards burning in the fire, and huge objects with a 12 meter wingspan flying up in the air. Everything seemed like vague shadows.
Wei Shi was still waiting for his reply.
The youth opened his mouth in a daze, “Wu-Wu Jin.”
Consciousness flipped again. This time, he and a man who was extremely similar to ‘Wei Shi’ were wrapped together in a gentle, light kiss––
Wu Jin: “!!!”
Ahhhhh, I actually imagined myself in an inappropriate intimate relationship with a fan that Brother Chen bought!
His three views cracked and shattered. Another train zoomed by, while his mind was full of strange and fantastic thoughts. Only the big words written on the front of the train acted like a huge alarm bell, waking him up and clearing his thoughts!
The harmonious electric powered train group!
A harmonious society!
Behind him, the trainees were still huddled together in a slow moving line.
The little stage manager looked at Wei Shi and finally came up with a sentence, “This-this isn’t right! This person is the support station brother who applied today! I approved his photo this morning…”
The security personnel were shocked and quickly hauled Wu Jin back into line. Beneath the big gray wolf’s gaze, the little frightened trainee was pulled back into the fold with the rest of the sheep.
Wei Shi wasn’t bothered. He quickly took out his first cla.s.s train ticket and checked in after the crew disappeared.
Floating City laboratory.
Arjun, who was in charge of monitoring the data, suddenly looked at the signals from the equipment and spoke in surprise, “Brother Wei, just now, Little Witch’s consciousness experienced powerful fluctuations! What did you do! Wait until the fluctuation reaches the threshold and try to bring him out––”
Wei Shi lowered his head. His palm still carried traces of warmth.
The high-speed train slowly started up.
The carriages full of trainees were filled with laughter and conversation. An average of six cameras were installed in each carriage, and at this time, almost all of the trainees were sparing no effort to stabilize their character designs in front of the camera.
Except for Wu Jin, who’d snuck into a gap between two carriages.
The crew was to the back, and the first cla.s.s cabin for n.o.ble personages was up ahead. The train moved so quickly it seemed to fly, and the stewardesses were busy. For a brief time, Wu Jin shrank into a corner and hid himself very well.
Wu Jin secretly took out his mobile phone and called his agent, Brother Chen.
Outside the window, the suburban industrial area could be seen. The signal was at three bars, which was just enough.
Brother Chen: “Hey, Wu Jin! Who bullied you, just tell me…”
Wu Jin: “n.o.body! n.o.body! Brother Chen, the card holding fans you hired last time…”
The high speed rail whistled across a field, and the signal dropped to one bar.
Brother Chen: “What fan were you talking about?”
Wu Jin was a little embarra.s.sed and spoke louder, “Hus, band, fan!”
Brother Chen: “Husband what? The signal is bad, and I can’t hear you!”
Wu Jin: “Husband fan!”
Chen Brother: “What band fan?”
Wu Jin’s two eyes darkened. His small round face puffed up, and he said again, “Hus-band-f…”
The door to the carriage suddenly opened, and Wei Shi came over.
The other half of the word ‘fan’ was swallowed back.
Wu Jin stood up with a swish and pressed against the wall.
“There’s no signal here.” Wei Shi stated.
Wu Jin giggled foolishly and pressed down the volume b.u.t.ton even as his back pasted up against the wall, “Is-is that so? Hahahak2026;”
Wei Shi took a step closer, “Go to the carriage in front and give it a try. I’ll take you to the first cla.s.s area.”
Wu Jin had just been about to thank him nicely when his strong critical thinking skills suddenly kicked in. On the high-speed railway that ran at 350km/h, the pa.s.senger cars were 24.4 meters long. Standing in the front and back of the first-cla.s.s cabin, the time difference between the coordinates overlapping was only 0.25 seconds––
So, what was the difference between calling here and calling inside the first cla.s.s carriage?
Wu Jin was instantly on alert.
Wei Shi noticed the situation, and he didn’t force him. He looked out the window, “There’s signal now.”
The train had only just entered a mountain tunnel. Wu Jin was confused.
Wei Shi pulled out the POPO mobile phone from his pocket. For a moment, Wu Jin kept having the impression that the way the man held the mobile phone was like he would hold a gun. Wu Jin showed Wu Jin the display interface, “Three signal bars.”
Wu Jin looked at his own cell phone.
One bar.
“……” Wu Jin suspected that he was holding a little ancient phone in his hand.
Wei Shi lured him calmly, “Different operators. Do you want to use my phone.”
Wu Jin hurriedly refused his offer and thanked him.
Wei Shi: “Okay. Come find me if you need it. What’s your contact number?”
Wu Jin was weak. Mr Wei had been very helpful, sincere, and friendly, while he himself was looking for Brother Chen to check up on people. He felt very guilty and immediately gave him his mobile phone number, “188x.x.xx.x.xXX.”
Wei Shi nodded and tried to dial it twice, and it really didn’t connect. Wu Jin understood, he knew that his call with Brother Chen had cut and hung up, and the train was b.u.mpy at this time––
Wu Jin’s shoulder was held, and it felt as though there was an electric current rushing in. In his mind, he once again experienced a deep kiss on top of a Pterosaur, saw the man wrapped only in a bath towel after bathing, and a Wei Shi with gun wound scars in his muscles, clear and distinct.
Wu Jin looked at Wei Shi in horror, “!!!” What, what, what kind of movie was this?! The projector was perfect!
From the carriage behind the two of them, a stage manager had already come over, looking for Wu Jin.
Wei Shi set Wu Jin upright again and retreated like a gentleman, “Well then, goodbye.”
The man turned and walked away.
By the time the stage manager entered the compartment, Wei Shi had just disappeared. The little stage manager glanced over Wu Jin a few times before smiling and reminding him, “Little Witch, we’ve just entered the mountain, and there’s no signal across the entire train. Go back and sit down…”
Wu Jin obediently went back to his seat and sat there quietly. He recalled the scene just now, when Wei Shi’s gaze had seemed so familiar. He was definitely a ‘fake front-line fan’ that Agent Brother Chen had inserted into the group. As he’d been saying, how could there be a front-line station sister before he even debuted!
However, Mr. Wei’s face was enough to let him enter the performing arts circle. It was too wasteful for him to be a front-line person…
The train pa.s.sed by a factory again, and the signal bar finally filled up. Brother Chen called Wu Jin back, and he could be heard patting his head, “Oh, you’re talking about that husband fan! I don’t know him! I don’t know where he came from, and he didn’t come to me for a red envelope––”
Wu Jin was stunned, “!! What!”
First cla.s.s carriage.
When Wei Shi sat back down, the business man beside him looked over and said, “There’s finally some signal. My 200 dollar plan is useless. Brother, what kind of cell phone are you using? Why do you always have three bars of signal…”
Wei Shi was expressionless as he closed the screenshot with the ‘three bars of signal’ that he’d used to lure Wu Jin with, revealing his real mobile phone signal bar with also only one bar of signal.
The big brother beside him, “……”
Wei Shi ignored him and took out his laptop. The laptop was textured, had a red dot, and the keys were coated with a metallic protective layer. It was waterproof, with a high degree of encryption, and everything about it showed characteristics of it being a low-key luxury item. It was just one step short of having the words ‘for successful people only’ stamped on its s.p.a.ce bar.
The business man took a sip from his tea and couldn’t help looking at Wei Shi’s screen.
Wei Shi linked up to the hotspot and glanced over the complaints left online by the Wu Jin Global Support a.s.sociation (1):
“a.s.sociation (2) is clearly plagiarizing!”, “We also have the original pictures, but we didn’t see any of their support station sisters on the scene, so they definitely purchased their photos elsewhere!”, “Exactly! There’s no sincerity to it at all!”
Wei Shi opened up the scaled down version of the photo editing software that Arjun had sent over. He checked the ‘Dreamy special effects, new 3018 edition’ option, and directly loaded in the photos he’d caught of Wu Jin in the high-speed railway station one by one.
A smiling Wu Jin.
Wu Jin with wide, dazed eyes.
Wu Jin, whose head was drooping sleepily.
He fixed the photos, uploaded them, and released them. The fans who lived on Weibo all appeared and squealed as they saved the photos, “What kind of fairy-like station is this––”
The business big brother was shocked as he stared at the photos on Wei Shi’s screen. He was immediately intrigued, “Big brother, do you do photography?”
Wei Shi: “Support station brother.”
The big brother didn’t fully understand, “You’re on the train… for an interview?”
Wei Shi was expressionless, “Chasing a star.”
There was a “pft” sound.
The big brother apologized repeatedly. His face was shocked, and he almost ended up spitting out his tea.
The high-speed train sped towards its destination.
Wei Shi closed his eyes briefly. The current on the other side of the communication channel was chaotic. Researcher Song had come back to work and was taking over the central control for the consciousness connection.
Inside the Floating City research room, Researcher Song was criticizing Arjun, “How long has Brother Wei been inside the treatment module? It’s been nearly 24 hours. If he wants to mess around, are you going to accompany him to mess around too?”
Arjun was aggrieved, “Isn’t Brother Wei just trying to bring Little Witch out faster…”
Researcher Song: “He was still lying there in the treatment cabin himself last month! Hurry up and tidy up and get him out of there, don’t mess around in there––”
Arjun was shocked, “Will he become stupid?”
“… You’re going to become stupid!” Researcher Song thought about it, “At most, he’ll have schizophrenia. Whatever Brother Wei was like in the consciousness world during that time last month…”
The yellow light over the cabin switched on.
Wei Shi pushed the door open from inside and stretched out his long, straight legs as he stepped out.
Researcher Song finally breathed a sigh of relief. Arjun’s eyebrows also smoothed out, and he quickly went to get water for Wei Shi.
“His consciousness will automatically fill in the gaps.” Researcher Song comforted him, “Brother Wei, don’t worry! Little Witch’s logic is excellent, and he won’t lose you somehow––”
Wei Shi raised his eyebrows briefly.
Researcher Song fell silent for a long moment.
The man drank down a whole bottle of water, and water droplets slid down his throat.
He gently opened up the treatment cabin on the other side of the room. Wu Jin was curled up quietly within, in a deep sleep that he couldn’t wake up from.
His memories were still being torn apart by the wind and snow. Wei Shi closed his eyes, his mind still focused on the empty R-Code Base, the closed door to the genetic reproduction room, and the collapsed snowman.
The rough palm slid into the youth’s soft curls.
His heartbeat gentled.
Wei Shi ordered, “Bring over an army bed.”
Researcher Song was surprised, “Brother Wei, are you sleeping here?!”
Arjun agreed quickly and dragged away the Researcher Song who couldn’t see the situation clearly. After the door to the laboratory closed behind them, Arjun immediately rebuked Researcher Song, “It’s impossible for Brother Wei to leave! Didn’t you see, no matter whether it’s last month or this time, regardless of whether it’s Brother Wei or Little Witch’s subconscious, Brother Wei has always been the most afraid of losing Little Witch…”
It was noon in the consciousness world, and evening in Floating City.
The three-day Autumn Festival continued on.
The fireworks outside the window were so brilliant that n.o.body who lived above the 10th floor dared to open their windows. The artificial clouds had been transformed into soft, fluffy clouds, and the market was noisy and bustling.
It was just that the City King who used to always appear during the Autumn Festival was nowhere to be seen.
Wei Shi walked out of the room in the tower and looked down from the terrace.
The flamingos ran by in droves.
Wei Shi sent out a message, “Grab the fattest one.”
Beneath the tower, Red rolled up his sleeves and tagged a QR code on the fattest flamingo, with the words, ‘For Wu Jin’.
A few minutes later, Red took the elevator upstairs.
He’d followed Brother Wei’s instructions and now sent a series of quotations from music distributors, “After our survival show team’s set up, why don’t we step into the entertainment circle and get into the entertainment industry so that Little Witch isn’t exploited by distributors and dealers at all levels––” Red chattered on endlessly even as he scratched his head.
“Brother Wei, so, the wedding planning company you used came by and wanted to give us a refund. His company guarantees refunds if the proposal is a failure…”
Wei Shi looked up from the terminal screen.
On the screen was the simple and bold ‘White Moonlight Wu Jin Darling Interstellar Support a.s.sociation’ information page and layout.
Wei Shi: “No need for a refund.”
Red quickly noted it down.
Wei Shi: “Add another 50% to the price and change the ceremony to three days from now.”
Red was surprised, “Ah, okay!”
Late at night.
Wei Shi woke up after 6 hours of shallow sleep and stepped back into the treatment cabin.
Researcher Song was in a good mood as he looked through the fluctuations and peak data recorded over the past day and stressed, “Yes, that’s how you should do it. You’re going in the right direction; touch Little Witch more… Oh, or if the conditions are right, you can have Little Witch touch you instead. It might help him remember! Also, we should test his memory from all angles and try our best to reproduce what Little Witch experienced in the real world.”
“Imperceptibly and subtly. It’s only a matter of time before we can bring him out!”
The treatment cabin closed slowly.
The field of vision spun and shifted.
Wei Shi opened his eyes.
It was now late at night.
The XX film and television base was already closed. The timeline moved faster in the world of Wu Jin’s consciousness. That day’s talent show program where the trainees were grouped up had already ended. The crew had taken over an entire hotel for the trainees, and there were no empty rooms left.
At the front desk of the hotel, the little sister apologized repeatedly even as she peeped at the handsome man’s profile from time to time.
After picking up his fake pa.s.sport, Wei Shi turned and moved into a nearby resort. Before he left, he could hear the trainees buzzing around and grouping up in the small garden attached to the hotel.
S-cla.s.s genetically modified humans had accurate hearing, and he could quickly follow the direction of the sounds to locate Wu Jin, who was currently facing a low wall.
––Wu Jin was practicing his rap.
He had no idea how he’d gotten the rap position. Wei Shi surmised that he’d even had to write his own words.
Wu Jin rapped seriously at the wall while he changed and played with the words, “Hey, oh, you’ve come to the program! Oh, endless sweat sprinkling! Oh, the country of training! On the side of the road, there are many beautiful toad––node––code, Brother Lin! Can you help me see which one rhymes better…”
“It’s not that I’m criticizing you, Little Witch, but why are you trying to rhyme with road?”
The lyrics, other than rhyming, had nothing else to recommend them.
Wei Shi understood. It turned out he really was coming up with his own words.
By the time Wei Shi was settled into the resort, the sky was already dark.
The facilities in the resort were luxurious. It was several grades higher than that of the hotel. There were ma.s.sage chairs, sleepwear, fishing gear, and so on all available in the room. It was said that many movie and TV city stars patronized this place. The resort was connected to a local village, and the summer market there was busy and bustling. There wasn’t as much food available as there was in the city, but there was a girl making wraps and fruit pancakes.
Northerners used fruit in their wraps, and southerners made savory ones. They each had their own unique flavor.
Wei Shi bought two wraps.
Then, he looked down at his cell phone screen, where the Wu Jin Global Support a.s.sociation (1) was still in an uproar.
Support a.s.sociation (1) had raised up a wave of support and built a star studded support wall––probably because roses were too expensive––and criticized Support a.s.sociation (2) for not organizing a visit.
Wei Shi ignored it.
Not only was he visiting, he’d even touched his idol’s little hands.
He smashed down 100,000 dollars, and a certain professional fan group immediately gathered together a large water army to stand up for Support a.s.sociation (2).
In the 31st century, Floating City. When Arjun saw this, he was very hard working and quickly went to continue bitcoin mining for Brother Wei.
At this time, the mobile phone showed that it was 9PM.
Night.
Wei Shi sent a short message to Wu Jin: Come out and have a wrap?
On Wu Jin’s side, he was stunned for three minutes before typing out a reply.
Wu Jin: Thank you! But I’ll pa.s.s for today…
Wei Shi understood. He turned to enter the resort, picked up the fishing rod, and replaced it with a brand new, polished hook.
He took a slow and leisurely bike ride to the hotel.
Behind the low wall, Wu Jin was still rapping, “Oh, the country of training! On the side of the road, there are many beautiful toads! And little dragonflies that came back with the skies! …”
Wei Shi texted, “Really not eating?”
The rap from behind the wall stopped, and a slight rustling sound could be heard.
It was probably Wu Jin as he replied to the message.
Wei Shi opened up the fishing rod.
A plastic bag holding a hot fruit pancake was hung on the hook.
Wei Shi flung the rod, and the line went over the low wall.
It came to a steady stop in front of Wu Jin.
The delicious scent of a fruit wrap wafted over.
Wu Jin sniffed, his nose twitched, and he slowly looked up!
Juurensha: Luring in the Little Witch with an actual wrap on a hook ahahaha! Also, they have a cat, bunny, ptresaur, and now a flamingo….it’s a menagerie.
xiin: i love that WS caught Little Witch a new pet. and i love the wrap fishing. why is WS’s brain SO CUTE