Chapter 13 - Advertis.e.m.e.nt
translator: xiin
editors: celtic & juurensha
Azure Edge––the largest fan platform in the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone.
Billions of users from various sectors were active here. Battle team fans, a.s.sociation fans, program fans, firearms model fans, fans of individual contestants, and so on were constantly coming in and out of the platform.
And just like the survival show’s hardcore style, its fanbase on Azure Edge celebrated aggression and fighting spirit––
They were iron headed, able to destroy things, attacked straight on, and left destruction in their wake.
It was time for the Star League’s summer season, and the related discussions on the front page were slavering with the taste of slaughter.
“––White Moonlight Battle Team Black Thread 26”
“Haters are still jumping around? You can you up? Starting a thread to borrow White Moonlight’s traffic in order to make your own team popular, it’s no wonder your team was kicked out during the league’s qualification round. Hope you’re thoroughly let down [smile][candle].”
“Thoroughly let down and right back at you, thanks. Who doesn’t know that White Moonlight fights like tigers amongst themselves, but shiver like little mice when facing others? They only know how to occupy a position in the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone line-up––”
“They only lost one game in their subgroup. Even if White Moonlight took the fall for someone else, it still isn’t your pheasant Silver Thread Roll’s turn to come over and borrow traffic!”
“Excuse me, at least my team aren’t bullies––wait a minute, who reported me–-”
The administrators banned the two of them for 24 hours each: “Personal attacks on players and teams are prohibited during the league tournament period.”
The White Moonlight fan went offline indignantly and switched to an alternate account called ‘White Concerto’. In the time it took her to go back online, a topic that had never been seen before was suddenly pushed up higher and higher.
In the short time required to refresh the page, the topic had already received over 2,000 replies and was still rising.
She was slightly shocked.
The Star League was a top level professional tournament, and the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone’s XX Cup took place at the same time. In comparison, the Crosson Show was a trainee level compet.i.tion. Although it wasn’t low-profile, it wasn’t at the level where it could occupy a position on the front page for so long.
After clicking it open, a scrolling comment swiftly popped out, “Jump in at the 10m 22s mark. I can only do this much, come quickly!!”
10 minutes and 22 seconds was right at the end of the instructors’ publicity pitch and the beginning of the sponsorship advertis.e.m.e.nt––
Her eyes flew wide open.
This was an advertis.e.m.e.nt for an older brand of the life-saving capsules. Amidst a scene of chaos, someone was frantically shouting, “Enter the capsule, it’s dangerous––wait for support to arrive!”
The silver life-saving capsule immediately popped out, protecting the contestant within, just before the explosion occurred. The scene shifted abruptly, showing the rescue teams as they went through the wreckage of the s.p.a.cecraft and opened the capsule––
Practically everyone who was watching unconsciously held their breath at this moment.
Inside the capsule, an almost inhumanly beautiful youth was cuddling together with a soft and fluffy white rabbit. His eyelashes fluttered as he woke up, and a glance into his damp, innocent, amber colored eyes was enough to win anyone over.
A line of script slowly appeared on the screenk2013;k2013;
“Protecting you, because it’s you. XX Life-saving capsule, made for you and your love.”
The style changed abruptly after that: “XX Life-saving capsule is equipped with pure oxygen supply equipment. Streamlined design which conforms to the human form, 24K gold-plated sh.e.l.l that can be customized with diamonds, 360 degree advanced shock protection, attentively guarding your sleep. Let your love continue on with protection.”
In the background, the silver-grey capsule faded out, the scene changing to show the youth curled up in a forest amidst countless fluffy rabbits piled up in a meadow. The youth reached out, his slightly curved eyes seeming to sparkle with endless flickers of starlight, his movement exposing a number plate and a line of promotional text––
Contestant 300012, Wu Jin. I’m waiting for you on the Crosson Show.
It took the fan a full three seconds before she woke up from her daze. Her face was red as she used her fastest hand speed to open up the scrolling comments.
The scrolling comments on this promotional video had practically exploded by this point. One of the comments had received over four thousand likes––
“I’m not kidding! This baby must get all the information about this little brother within the next ten seconds!”
The reply beneath it was very quick: “On-stage at 22m 3s mark, evaluation match begins at 26m 30s.”
Countless face-consair dropped to the designated timestamp, and a series of scrolling comments rushed in.
“A player?! A real player?”
“This world has gone crazy––a beautiful little brother like this actually went to become a survival show trainee?!”
“How lucky! Overflowing nosebleed! Hey rabbit, let go of that little brother, and let me take your place ahhhhhh! Isn’t it just a life-saving capsule? Buying it isn’t a problem. Can I have Little Witch as a purchase gift???”
“Which entertainment company? I only realized after watching the evaluation match that they’re ranked A. Isn’t this someone who clearly can succeed based on their high appearance value alone, but chose to go the strength route instead? Save me! This auntie is going to turn into a fan any minute now…”
“It seems to be White Moonlight…”
On the forums, a vast amount of battle team fans were stunned, and then they rushed to dig up the available information.
Wu Jin, 19, White Moonlight trainee. Contract time: 8 days.
White Moonlight’s support group immediately burst out in excitement, “I was saying, how could the management have gone from three trainees to four! Support team, stand up and get ready to go! Bring in some hype before the Crosson Show’s next episode, we can’t let our little brother be wronged––is the promotional team here? Quick, go out and control the tone, push up the positive comments––”
The promotion team’s boss slowly typed out in the dialogue box: “No need for crowd control, these pa.s.serby fans… are even more active than the water army we purchased earlier.”
When the few of them entered the training room, all eyes in the room swept over to look in their direction. It was as though Wu Jin had his own traffic-inducing halo.
The instructor’s podium was to one side of the venue, and bright sunshine shone through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.
The trainees sat in rows, and for a moment, Wu Jin felt that he had returned to a time before his transmigration.
While he was in a trance, an agent had already come up to announce the topic for the next round. Some flexible and hardworking trainees were busily practicing the splits against the corner between two walls––
A “crash” sounded from not far away.
Two sparring trainees accidentally broke down the barrier at the entrance.
The crew was already accustomed to this as they went to separate the two men.
Wu Jin gathered his wits in a split second and picked up the training notes on the table.
The notes didn’t contain familiar ch.o.r.eography or music theory content. Rather, it was about survival in the field.
The cover of the handout showed a group of trainees happily singing and dancing around a bonfire.
“……” Wu Jin had never before seen such a fraudulent cover.
To his left, Caesar was muttering to Zoe and looking at the screen of his terminal from time to time, a smile with questionable intelligence on his face.
“Is little brother short of a girlfriend? When I send supplies to little brother, can I put myself inside?” Caesar read out loud, then snickered, “Hehehehehe…”
Caesar picked and read out another comment. “Little Witch! You’re only nine years old! Mom forbids you from partic.i.p.ating in dangerous activities! Come back to mom… Hehehehehe… Nine years old hehe…”
Wu Jin finally couldn’t help it anymore. His amber eyes were fierce as he glared in warning.
Zoe coughed lightly and confiscated Caesar’s terminal.
Caesar’s IQ seemed to be offline most of the time. All of his daily protein intake was delivered straight to his muscles––Wu Jin believed that if human beings had to choose only one evolutionary direction in the future, Caesar wouldn’t hesitate to abandon his brain in favor of his muscles.
Zoe, as a sniper, was obviously much calmer.
“The first elimination round should be in twenty days.” Zoe opened up the timetable. “The map is similar to the one from the audition, and 100 people will be eliminated. Little Witch––”
He looked at Wu Jin. “Train during the day and have Caesar give you a nightmare foundation course at night.”
Amongst the White Moonlight trainees, Wu Jin was undoubtedly in the most precarious situation of the four despite his A rating.
Elimination rounds were different from performance matches. There was no practicing, and any situation could occur at any time. Practical experience, which Wu Jin lacked the most, played an extremely crucial role.
Wu Jin nodded earnestly. He looked at the terminal out of the corner of his eye and felt heat building behind his ears.
This was his first time having a fan base.
A fan base that was alive, soft and gentle, who would joke and laugh, and seemed especially cute and lovely on the other side of the network.
Zoe patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t be nervous. What’s there to be afraid of?”
Wu Jin replied sincerely, “I don’t want to let them down.”
Zoe smiled, “Don’t worry. The poll results will be announced before the game. It should give the top ranked players some special rewards, such as a starting advantage, or––”
Caesar suddenly rubbed his eyes and looked down, “Did I see wrong? How come that redhead punched in twice when he came in?”
Wu Jin followed his line of sight and saw Red, who was rooming with big boss, swaggering inside, but he was unable to find Wei Shi’s figure even by the time the door to the training room closed.
Zoe was also stunned, “Helping others clock in… Isn’t this the first cla.s.s? Someone’s skipping cla.s.s already? How arrogant––”
Red saw Wu Jin and sent a cheerful wave his way.
Zoe: “Who is he looking at?”
Caesar: “d.a.m.n, he’s looking at Little Witch! He better not be interested in our Little Witch, or I’ll go beat him up…”
The front door to the training room opened just then.
When the practical combat instructor Blood Pigeon entered the room, the entire room abruptly fell quiet.
The retired survival show contestant was once the uncrowned king of the scouting position in the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone. He was also the one who pioneered the tricky double a.s.sault, sniper, and c-position scout tactics that pushed the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone into the top eight of the league for the first time.
Unlike the formal dress that he had worn for the judges’ panel last night, Blood Pigeon appeared wearing camouflage this time, his high and tight crew cut seeming to emphasize his agility and sharpness.
All the trainees were immediately excited at seeing a legend from the compet.i.tion zone, that they had only ever heard about, standing right in front of them.
Blood Pigeon headed to the podium and nodded. “This is the fourth Crosson Show I’ve partic.i.p.ated in.”
“Five hundred people per season. Added up, it’s two thousand people. Only forty of those made a debut.”
There was perfect silence under the stage.
“Some of them have entered the Star League, while for others, their debut was the peak of their careers before they sank back into obscurity. Of course, there have also been trainees who were eliminated but are now fighting in the most prominent events in the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone.”
Blood Pigeon paused, “I retired eight years ago and came here to become an instructor because I have never seen the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone win a league championship. And this champion is likely to be amongst you all.”
Blood Pigeon’s words were like a meteor that was thrown into the crowd, firing up the entire room as excitement spread like wildfire.
League championship––a dream that even the big entertainment giants have failed to achieve for decades.
Blood Pigeon continued, “Remember. You entered the Crosson Show not for the sake of a debut. What I want to see the most is ambition. Without ambition, your career might end in this cla.s.sroom.”
“Remember my words.” Blood Pigeon ended his opening remarks there, turning on the screen behind him.
These four words were projected on the screen.
“Now, let’s start with lesson one. Survival in a survival show is not for the sake of just living––the goal is to survive in a n.o.ble and dignified manner.”