Chapter 147 - Friendly Duel
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
––Four pairs of eyes turned to look at Wu Jin.
Hudi was the first to have his legs and back go soft, his mouth dropping open beneath his mask. Zhuang Fan wasn’t much better, his eyes filled with complicated feelings and a little shock.
Nearby, Wu Jin sat in front of the live camera and ate the last few mouthfuls of the bun.
At this time, the watch indicated that their task was complete. Team 12 was promoted, had placed third, and the live broadcasting room was about to close.
Wu Jin had just finished feeding himself and was currently letting out soft hiccups as he said goodbye and bowed to his fans again and again. His small, round face was serious and sincere, and at the very end, he didn’t forget to share the camera with his four teammates. If any fans sent Large Treasure Swords, they could even give Wu Jin a scare––
He was just like a diligent little white rabbit. How could he be a survival show player?! Weren’t all survival show contestants aggressive, well-built, coa.r.s.e men??
Hudi murmured, “I came to partic.i.p.ate in the variety show and only learned that there would be survival show trainees when I entered the broadcasting studio. The company’s agents were shocked and told us that we had to hide well and to protect our faces first if we were beaten. I really never thought…”
These days, the survival show contestants’ appearances were so good that they were off the charts!? And they could do everything from fighting to dancing?
Zhuang Fan’s expression was stiff. It wasn’t too much to say that his world views were being subverted. Wu Jin was so soft, with an aura that seemed to say that anyone could bully him. How could he be in the survival show business? He could even come up with the content for the so-called ‘Crosson Show’ in his brain:
Wu Jin cried and sniffed with damp eyes as he hid in a cave. Whenever the camera cut to this beauty of an era, the fans would spend money crazily in order to raise money for their idol, sending in dry food, bullets, and guns, so that this fallen, beautiful boy wouldn’t feel hungry and dizzy. By the time Wu Jin met his opponents in the final circle of the compet.i.tion, the youth would sob and tremble and fight randomly with his eyes closed––
Zhuang Fan: “……”
It seemed to be kind of d.a.m.n cute.
Their watches beeped. The live broadcast was closed, and 12 teams had been officially promoted.
Hate, Lolo, and Chen Shao all dashed over to surround Wu Jin, chattering and wishing they could go over all the questions in their brains, “Bro, Big Brother Wu, are you really a survival show contestant?!”
Wu Jin was dazed when he heard this ‘big brother’ and shook his head to correct them, “No, no, I’m still a trainee! I haven’t debuted yet and can’t be considered a proper survival show contestant.”
Hudi was really excited, “Brother Witch, have you ever touched a gun?”
Wu Jin was well-behaved, “Yes, but I’m not very accurate.”
Zhuang Fan understood. It turned out to be just like the scene in his head.
Hudi: “Brother Witch, can you fight? What’s that called, close fighting––”
Wu Jin: “Close combat!”
Zhuang Fan coughed and cut straight to the point, “Are you a boy group trainee who switched to fighting in survival shows?”
Wu Jin nodded repeatedly.
Zhuang Fan thought about it. He didn’t know which entertainment marketing company had come up with such an idea, but it was a good move to obtain a lot of visibility. A beautiful youth surrounded by wolves, and he could go back to the boy group after becoming popular in the show, but a little white rabbit was still a little white rabbit…
Hudi’s eyes were red from envy, “We’re set! Our team doesn’t need to worry about being picked out to physically fight. With Brother Wu here, we can even fight with others––”
Zhuang Fan interrupted him quickly, “No way.”
Four pairs of eyes darted towards him. Zhuang Fan thought to himself, Wu Jin wasn’t a serious survival show trainee. He looked weak and frail. What if he ended up being harmed during the program?
At this time, 12 teams had been promoted smoothly, and the live broadcast cameras around them closed down one after another. Zhuang Fan hesitated for a few seconds, then finally made up his mind and dragged the team to the alley. He rolled up his sleeves and said to Wu Jin, “Let’s have a friendly duel.”
Everyone: “……”
Zhuang Fan glared, “For better or worse, I was discovered by star scouts while fighting outside my school!”
Hudi spoke with some difficulty, “Brother Fan, that kind of street fighting isn’t the same as professional survival show fighting… right?”
Zhuang Fan raised his chin. There had always existed a chain of disdain in the artistic circles since ancient times. Underground rappers despised educated rappers, and folk singers despised boy group lead singers. At the very least, he’d been a bully on the street in the old days. It was more than enough to win against Wu Jin, who was just a half-baked survival show trainee.
Wu Jin’s eyes brightened, and he was full of admiration for Zhuang Fan’s fighting spirit. Instructor Blood Pigeon had once taught them to respect every opponent…
Zhuang Fan took the lead in sending out a punch, going forth without hesitation––and then, he was instantly dodged by Wu Jin. The youth lifted his arm and tossed him to the ground.
Zhuang Fan: “……”
Everyone looked at Wu Jin with reverence in their eyes!
Wu Jin stretched out a hand and pulled their captain Zhuang Fan back up. He switched back to his soft and harmless mode, correcting Zhuang Fan, “When punching, lock in your middle finger, index finger, and ring finger, and use your thumb to cover the middle fingernail. Use the tip of your fist against the opponent––”
Zhuang Fan stood up and suddenly asked Wu Jin, “How many players are there in the Crosson Show? What position do you play? What’s your ranking?”
Wu Jin: “500 players? As for me…”
The youth replied sincerely, “Main position, a.s.sault, deputy commander. Team ranking, 3rd, individual ranking, 11th.”
Zhuang Fan was really shocked, “……!!!” ––Where did this violent little white rabbit come from?! It didn’t make sense!!
Half an hour later, team 12 made their way back by subway.
When leaving the station, they encountered the owner of the hot pot show who’d given them the 10 credits from before. The old man gestured to Zhuang Fan from afar, “Little kid, your advertis.e.m.e.nt was useless. n.o.body’s come at all today.”
Zhuang Fan explained quickly to him, “Don’t worry, the program hasn’t been broadcast yet! It’ll be broadcast in the evening. By then, you’ll have to add dozens of seats all around!” Then, he pointed at Little Witch, “He really read it out for you 50 times. I can still recite it, White’s hot pot…”
The owner was amused by this and happily gave Wu Jin a thumbs up from across the street.
Zhuang Fan went back to continue discussing with his teammates, “What did you say just now? Why won’t there be any teams proposing to battle it out by fighting?”
Wu Jin explained, “The problem lies in the battle mechanism. There are too few survival show trainees partic.i.p.ating in the variety show. Each team only has one survival show trainee at most. In 5v5 solo, teams with survival show trainees can only guarantee that they’ll win one out of the five potential games.”
“The results for the remaining four games are too random.”
His teammates were all in a trance. Hudi quickly spoke up, “Brother Wu means that there are too few survival show trainees in the teams, and they can only play once, so they can’t win the battle through any overwhelming advantage! In that case, tonight’s battle will be––”
Wu Jin: “According to the proportion of the guests, the boy groups have the largest number of trainees and artists. Dance, vocals, instrumentals, and rap should all be popular options.”
Everyone realized what he meant. Wu Jin, who was walking at the very end of the group, suddenly turned back to look around before boarding the program group bus.
Zhuang Fan: “Little Witch? Why are you standing there foolishly?”
Wu Jin squeaked and bounced up to jump into the car quickly. He spoke in a thoughtful tone, “I keep feeling as though someone is following us…”
Four o’clock in the afternoon.
The two rounds of tasks were over, and all the show guests returned. The director and crew were all so busy they were turning around in circles as they entered the final intensive preparation period––“There are two hours to go.”
At 5:50 PM, thanks to the previous live broadcast warm-up, ’s search traffic rushed to the hot search peak for the region in a very short time. Before the program began broadcasting, countless fans surrounded the entrance to the Snow Leopard Entertainment building––
The variety show guests had finally appeared!
Support slogans and fluorescent lights merged together into a brilliant torrent of stars. The guest players were scattered in the torrent like quicksand, and on the other side of the cordon, crazy screams rang out.
“Lord Wei Yan aooooo––”
Wei Yan was expressionless as he nodded briefly.
“Hudi, Ah Yuan!! Confessing my love to the whole AKK team ahhhh––”
The youths waved their hands smartly. However, n.o.body else was as eye-catching as Thin Fire who sent out flying kisses as he walked, nearly dazzling a few of the ‘Thin Army’ members who were closest to him into a trance. In the midst of this crowd of boy group fans were also Jingyi fans, who’d had all their simulation guns and weapons confiscated. On the roadside, there were several men in suits and leather shoes holding up signs which read ‘Little ♥ Ming ♥ Super ♥ Handsome’.
“……” Ming Yao squeezed in, looking unhappy, “Why are you guys here?!”
The person standing up front spoke respectfully, “Young Master, this is your first time on an entertainment variety show. Let us first show support by holding up cards. The support hot air balloon and dessert table will arrive soon.”
Ming Yao was going crazy, “Who told you to arrange hot air balloons? I haven’t even played in the Star League yet! Disperse, disperse! And change this sign for me!”
The man in the suit quickly reset the ‘Little Ming Super Handsome’ LED lights.
Ming Yao instructed, “Change it to ‘Jingyi Double C’!”
On the side of the road. Caesar fans didn’t even bring half of a support card, but some of the taller ones were helping their neighboring army hold up ‘Zuo Lin Debut’ cards, ‘Charge, Scarf!’ and so on. When Caesar himself appeared, the fans were full of enthusiasm and waved the barbecue skewers in their hands––
Caesar’s big body was full of joy, and he rushed over, “Thank you, dear sisters. Do you have any beef tendons?”
The fans were exuberant, “Not anymore! We finished those long ago!”
Mixed in with the chaotic crowd were two more groups. One was Eagle Blade’s hardcore fans, and the other was happily claiming ‘play with Little Witch’. Before the fans could crowd past the cordons, the group of guest players finally entered the studio––
The first round of battle began.
The 25 teams entered the waiting area one after another with varying expressions.
Zhuang Fan counted the ‘promotion seats’ and whispered to his team members, “16 seats. That means that 9 teams will be eliminated on the first day. Just now, Little Witch and Eagle Blade were very popular, and the threat level is very high. It’s very likely that we’ll be killed off in battle first.”
In the distance, Eagle Blade, whose team was ranked second, looked over at Wu Jin from time to time.
On the stage, the list of 16 groups had already been released. The top three teams were Wei Shi’s team, Eagle Blade’s team, and Wu Jin’s team 12. The fourth team held Ah Yuan, the boy group trainee who he’d met once. Thin Fire’s team was fifth, and Wei Yan’s team had barely sc.r.a.ped past the promotion requirement.
Caesar’s team had only collected 899 credits and was eliminated. At the same time, three other Crosson Show trainees were eliminated––
The host smiled broadly as he played back several highlight clips, including Thin Fire’s coquettish live broadcast, the big boss taking the sniper compet.i.tion prize pool, and Wu Jin and Eagle Blade’s dance battle.
There was a sudden uproar in the crowd as countless gazes swished towards Wu Jin. They looked like they were facing a great enemy––
“They’re probably treating Brother Wu as a dancer!” Hudi gloated, “Mixing up reality and falsehoods and throwing up smokescreens. When the time comes, we’ll take them by surprise!”
On the stage, the microphone was handed over to team 22, the team with the big boss.
The first and second winners had the right to pick out an opponent for solo battles from the lower ranked groups. Zhuang Fan lowered his voice, “His team has quite a few vocal players.”
Team 22 picked out team 6, and unsurprisingly chose to battle it out with vocals. Wu Jin’s eyes brightened, and he looked at the big boss. He’d never heard the big boss sing before, and the rest of the Crosson Show trainees all had expressions of looking forward to a good show on their faces…
However, team 22’s arrangements were perfect. The three vocals took turns going up to fight and directly won 3:0 against the other party. They were able to pa.s.s this stage smoothly without Wei Shi coming up on stage.
Wu Jin’s small round face was full of regret.
Wei Shi: Heh.
When the microphone was handed over to Eagle Blade, the number two team, the S-cla.s.s trainee’s gaze swept over Wu Jin.
The atmosphere suddenly heated up, and the host was very interested, “Is Eagle Blade going to try and get even for this morning’s mistake––”
Eagle Blade shook his head and spoke openly, “Losing is losing.”
The host grew excited, “Do you want to compete in something else?!”
Eagle Blade nodded, his gaze aimed straight at Wu Jin, “But not right now.”
Eagle Blade picked the fifth place team with Thin Fire. Using his team members’ solid dance skills, they smeared the survival show trainee and anchor all over the floor.
Thin Fire, who’d been shot at innocently while lying down, “……” How the h.e.l.l did I provoke you!!
On the other side, Hudi was very nervous and quickly went over to whisper to Wu Jin, “Brother Wu, what Eagle Blade just said, he’ll definitely pick you for a battle tomorrow. It’ll be singing or rap…”
The number of promoted teams was reduced again, and only 14 teams remained. The virtual screen began to reveal the ident.i.ty of those who were eliminated one after another. When it came to Thin Fire, everyone fell into a daze.
Wasn’t this person waving and dancing around in society, a popular live streamer who liked to rap?! How could he be a survival show contestant!?
At this time, there were some artists who recognized him. Thin Fire and that Silver Thread Roll survival show contestant Thin Water looked quite similar. It made sense that they were both trained up from the survival show world…
Wu Jin’s thoughts wandered off for a moment.
A survival show trainee, and an active survival show contestant. They were only a few years apart, but their level of fame was very different. It was hard to count how many draft activities like the Crosson Show there were across the major star stations, but only a few of these trainees could finally transform into ‘survival team main players’.
A small portion of the guest players had heard of Thin Water, but when it came to survival show trainees––only Eagle Blade had recognized Wu Jin.
The road ahead was a long one, and the compet.i.tion in the survival show circle was as cruel as that of the entertainment circle.
One hour later, the day’s recording ended, and the players were allowed to move freely in their teams.
Wu Jin was picking up his tableware when he heard Ah Yuan give his team members an a.n.a.lysis, “Wei Shi, survival show sniper. Wu Jin, boy group main dancer. Eagle Blade, all-rounder S-level trainee. These are our number one enemies…”
Team 12’s table was in a corner of the hall.
Hudi was still clinging to Wu Jin and asking an endless stream of questions. Ever since being defeated in the friendly duel against Wu Jin, Zhuang Fan had also been full of respect. He poured them two gla.s.ses of beer and asked with interest, “When I was fighting outside school, the police took me to the station to write a review. My broker had also been pulled in for putting out small advertis.e.m.e.nts on the street and was kicking up a fuss about writing a review! He saw me, then tore off half a piece of paper and asked one of my little brothers to pa.s.s it on to me. I took a look––Ha! Sign up as a trainee, all employment insurances covered, with preferential treatment. From then on, my life trajectory changed! Ah, Little Witch, how did you get caught up in the survival shows…”
Wu Jin: “……” I-I-I don’t know either!
As they chatted, Wu Jin’s terminal lit up, but it dimmed again due to the program group’s signal shielding.
The Crosson Show logistics team had said that they’d send over the dorm surveillance that night. If he had opened up the video, he would be able to see how the black cat had snuck into the bedroom, and scratched and gnawed at the health care pillow––
Wu Jin looked out the window.
The shooting for the variety show wasn’t like the continuous filming for the survival shows. The terrain and environment were much simpler, and there was no limit on the volume or weight of the cameras. It had more of a presence when it was capturing film, and it was likely that he hadn’t yet adapted after a full day of it, because he always felt like someone was following him, leaving his spine cold.
8:00 PM.
Wu Jin finished brushing his teeth and happily went to join the boy group trainees’ recreational activities. He listened to everyone complain about the difficulties they faced in the training room and thought of his bittersweet memories––however, it seemed like it was even harder now after he’d changed careers…
At 9PM, Zhuang Fan finally patted Wu Jin on the shoulder, “It’s evening now. It’s time for our program to be broadcast!”
Star Net, Crosson forums.
The originally noisy public chat suddenly grew quiet.
Hundreds of thousands of fans held their breath and stared at the slowly fading variety show t.i.tle .
Juurensha: Little Witch is a hardworking vicious white bunny!
xiin: did i say this yet? i really like this arc~