Chapter 23 - Vacation
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
After Wu Jin fell unconscious, he had a dazzling and fantastical dream.
There was a lot of hustle and bustle, and it seemed that he had returned to the stage of the XX Idol Talent Show.
Under the dazzling lights, the talent show director handed him a heavy machine gun, and the narrow stage became a vast gra.s.sland where countless round, snow-white rabbits rolled around.
His field of vision became low and limited. Wu Jin was going round and round as he rolled around endlessly until he was caught and held up by his long ears. He shrank into a little ball, fluffy and soft as he hung on a bush and swayed in the wind.
Other rabbits in the area came by and asked softly, “What kind of rabbit are you? How come I’ve never seen you before?”
Wu Jin was nervous, “I… I don’t know!”
The rabbit was surprised, “Alright. Then! Then you have to hide yourself well. You can’t be discovered, or else you’ll be eaten!”
Wu Jin quickly hid himself in the bushes as the sound of gunfire rang out continuously.
It wasn’t until a long time later that the white, tender little rabbit ball was lifted out by a large hand, his two ears frozen from fear.
“Paws.” The man commanded.
Wu Jin closed his eyes and trembled as he stretched out a paw. A callused left hand rubbed lightly against the little pads on his paw, touching him with ease.
“Enough. I’ll take this one.”
——
Wu Jin slowly drifted up toward consciousness.
The first things he saw were light blue wallpaper, hydrogen balloons piled up in a corner, beeping medical equipment, and plain white bed sheets.
The fragrance of mangoes wafted through the ward.
Zoe pushed open the door from the outside, “Aren’t you embarra.s.sed? This was sent to Little Witch from his fans! You went and ate eight of them just like that! Are you ma.s.sacring mangoes?”
Caesar tried to explain himself, “Little Witch can’t eat so many. This represents the fans’ good intentions. We can’t waste it…”
The bookshelf to one side of the ward was piled high with letters and the hydrogen balloons in the corner flashed with fluorescent paint that changed colors under sunlight, morphing from ‘Little Witch, I really like you!’ to an animated image––
Silhouetted against the sunrise, a youth flew in the wind with his parachute.
Wu Jin unconsciously blushed a bit.
In the middle of the fruit plate to the right, a little fan had used fondant to sculpt a chibi Wu Jin who was hugging a rabbit and lying down peacefully in a life-saving capsule made out of a pineapple sh.e.l.l.
The heart rate monitor beeped twice, and the two men outside the door rushed over immediately.
“Little Witch!” Caesar laughed cheerfully and waved with the half eaten mango he held in his hand.
“Big brother Caesar, big brother Zoe.” Wu Jin spoke softly, clearing his throat to restore his voice back to its usual cool tone.
Zoe looked very distressed.
Little Witch had been lying in bed for an entire day and night. His small face was pale, his head buried in the pillow, n.o.body could bear to see this scene.
Within the past 24 hours, the program crew had used a live stream to collect the audience’s tears––a whole crowd of mama fans were crying as they called for people to vote for Little Witch and buy aid for him.
At this time, Wu Jin’s votes were already right up there next to those of the coquettish Thin Fire.
Wu Jin’s fan base was different from that of the other trainees.
Wei Yans fans were the hardcore ones who respected strength, and Thin Fire had wife fans. Although the quant.i.ty of mama fans that Wu Jin had couldn’t compare with the former two fanbases––their spending capacity was very real.
The first question Wu Jin asked after he woke up was who had sent him back that day.
“The medical team.” Caesar took it for granted, “When I came out, the medical team was administering a drip for you.”
Zoe nodded.
He and Caesar had ranked 6th and 15th, and there was only a three minute gap between their elimination times.
“After you were eliminated, the entire compet.i.tion ended in under ten minutes.” Zoe explained, “Someone picked up a Laser A14.”
Caesar had a gloomy expression on his face.
Laser A14––Wu Jin promptly recalled the gun that Wei Shi had given him during the audition. It had also been from the same Laser series.
Automatic targeting, neutron weapon, with a range of over 12 kilometers. It could be rated as a major killing weapon that ended compet.i.tions.
A weapon like that that could affect the balance of the match was much more difficult to acquire than simply using other methods to eliminate other contestants.
The holographic screen in front of the hospital bed was on, and a new advertis.e.m.e.nt with one of the game’s sponsors was playing on it––the spokesperson was actually Red.
“Wei Yan won, but it wasn’t him who ended the match.” Zoe said.
“The man who fired the A14 was standing at the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, due to the rising ground temperature, the camera’s data chip burned out, and all the data on it was scrambled. Even the terminals on the contestants themselves failed in the heat––only one camera was able to capture footage, showing that Red was the last person to reach the top of the mountain.”
“This guy Red also admitted to it. He allegedly posed at the top of the mountain for a long time for the sake of the camera, yet as a result, none of the cameras were able to catch anything. The staff could only give him an endors.e.m.e.nt ad as compensation.”
“Oh. You’re asking why Wei Yan is the champion. Wei Yan was also roasted into a daze from the heat and was forced to pop out the life-saving capsule in order to cool down.”
Caesar was gloating to one side, “A good many chips were burned out during the elimination match. One belonged to an A-level contestant, one D-level, and Red. The program team couldn’t determine the order of the elimination match, and everything was a mess yesterday. But––”
He laughed cheekily, “Little Witch, congratulations on staying in rank A.”
Wu Jin’s eyes curved up. He was obviously happy.
Zoe patted him on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up, “You have guts and determination. The White Moonlight Battle Team will be relying on you in the future.”
Wu Jin knew that this was the highest praise Zoe could give.
The Crosson Show had a total of 500 trainees, and all of them had to compete against each other to reach the top ten and s.n.a.t.c.h one of the ten debut positions.
After their debut, they still needed to qualify through a rigorous a.s.sessment before entering the service of the White Moonlight Battle Team––the Azure Compet.i.tion Zone’s top elite had stricter standards for team members than they had for trainees.
It was clear that he had gained Zoe’s approval.
“Big brother Zoe, was it really the medical team that brought me back?”
Zoe nodded.
Wu Jin nodded his understanding. He looked at the infusion needle stuck into the back of his right hand and gently poked at it with the finger of his left hand.
By the time they returned back to their dorms, the Twin Towers were already mostly empty.
After the elimination match, the program staff had given the trainees a two day vacation.
The sun was warm as it seeped into the South Tower. Wu Jin still struggled a little on the stairs, but his mental state had recovered well.
“Little Witch, come back to the company with me!”
When he opened the door, Caesar was shouting happily, “Sunshine, beaches, beauties,” He glanced at Wu Jin and continued, “Come, don’t be a stranger! We can’t waste our salary and bonus. If it weren’t for the compet.i.tion, your big brother wouldn’t want to stay in this c.r.a.ppy place––”
Caesar’s movements stalled for a moment.
Wei Yan was actually sitting there in the dormitory that he had originally thought was completely empty.
After yesterday’s match ended, Ying Xiangxiang had criticized him severely for showing such a bewildered expression when the champion was announced.
She had then a.s.signed him the task of watching three more movies as additional holiday homework.
Inside the dorm, the sound of weeping from the heroine in the movie came out through the holographic projection.
“Why is it that the one you love is my little sister and not me? It’s obvious that she fell down on purpose, but you accused me and even forced me to give her a kidney. What should I do about the baby in my stomach––”
Wei Yan stared indifferently at the screen, his gaze empty.
It wasn’t until the two of them came in that he barely managed a nod.
The two of them packed up and left, and Caesar finally tsked in disapproval, “He’s been like this since yesterday. Did he suffer some kind of blow??”
The suspension car carried all four trainees and flew speedily along the roads, coming to a stop outside the entrance of White Moonlight Entertainment half an hour later.
Wu Jin was carrying the rabbit as he stepped through the door, receiving a warm welcome from everyone ranging from the secretary to the auntie who served food in the canteen.
He was followed by affectionate, fond gazes wherever he went.
Secretary Qu even helped him carry his things, “Little Witch, did you bring back all the fan letters?!”
Wu Jin nodded repeatedly, his little eyes shining like crystals.
Secretary Qu couldn’t resist touching his soft, small curls.
His dormitory in White Moonlight that he hadn’t returned to for two weeks, was both clean and tidy.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, all the trainees were called to the conference room to study and learn from other matches. This made Caesar cry b.l.o.o.d.y murder––if he’d known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have come back to the company and would’ve just cracked open a bottle of beer and started chugging until dawn.
The video replay that everyone watched was taken from the White Moonlight Battle Team’s game during the group stage of the Star League.
The group stage’s first round consisted of a four matches. It was just like what the audience on the Star Net had said––White Moonlight’s performance hadn’t been up to standard.
In the second to last match, the deputy team leader Chen Xiran had made a mistake during his scan, causing team leader Lin Jue to be sniped as he attempted to take over a zone, his life-saving capsule popping out directly and eliminating him from the match.
A long time pa.s.sed before Zoe let out a sigh, “Team Leader Lin… has really been dragged down.”
After reviewing the match, they had another hour of tactical discussion.
In a flash, the sky had already turned dark.
“Where to?” Zoe looked at Caesar. This person was an all-around expert when it came to eating, drinking, playing, and making merry. He could be called a local tyrant when it came to all the nightlife venues within a ten kilometer radius. “Us brothers will go around and take Little Witch with us to see the world.”
Wu Jin’s eyes opened wide.
Caesar acted mysterious and refused to tell them anything for a good while. It wasn’t until Zoe rolled up his sleeves that he finally said, “We’re going to Azure Cosmos.”
Zoe was shocked, “Don’t f*cking bulls.h.i.t. Can you even get in?”
After that, he turned to explain to Wu Jin, “It’s an unregulated area. Extremely chaotic, and you can buy anything you want as long as you have money––oh, and it’s basically only open to aristocrats.”
But who could’ve thought that Caesar would pull a few tickets out of his pocket, slapping them down onto the table, “My wifey gave them to me!”
Zoe and Wu Jin: “……”
Caesar showed off proudly, “Do you remember Red? I had a fist fight against him in the elimination match. I mentioned it to wifey when I got back, and who could’ve known that she remembered Red––he used to fight underground matches in Azure Cosmos. I said I wanted to find Red in his territory and beat him up, and wifey immediately obtained tickets for me.”
Wu Jin was stunned for a moment. If he hadn’t remembered incorrectly, Red seemed to have been brought along by the big boss.
Red and big boss seemed to… seemed to have some unspeakable secret…
Over there, Caesar slapped a hand on the table, “Are we going or not?!”
Juurensha: Ooooh, possible backstory for WS.
xiin: *drumroll* (also, i’m not sure why there’s only three of them and what happened to the 4th person from White Moonlight…)