Chapter 24 - Silver Mask
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
When night fell, a suspension car departed from White Moonlight Entertainment.
Secretary Qu repeatedly admonished Wu Jin to be ‘cautious on the road’ and ‘be wary of bad people’ when she sent them off, telling the others to ‘make sure Little Witch doesn’t get s.n.a.t.c.hed away’ and so on.
Zoe had a strange expression on his face when they left the company.
There was no need to mention that Little Witch was well-behaved, and how could a living adult be s.n.a.t.c.hed away? The fighting power of the three people in the car was enough to rival a small firepower depot when added together.
Survival contestants were human beings that stood amongst the top of the food chain in terms of strength.
When they pa.s.sed by the building opposite the company, Wu Jin’s eyes lit up in amazement.
In the darkness of the night, the towering buildings projected bright virtual lights into the slightly damp air, transforming into a show of shadows and light as the particles in the air refracted the beams of light.
The light screen showed a huge support sign––
“My c-position, my pride. My One Pick––Crosson Show, Trainee Contestant 300012, Wu Jin.”
The bright subt.i.tles faded away, and in the light screen suspended in mid-air, Wu Jin winked towards the camera, followed by a cutscene of him keeling in front of a heavy machine gun before cycling back to the subt.i.tles.
“How thoughtful.” Zoe sighed, “They purposely placed it in front of the White Moonlight Building just so that Little Witch would see it.”
Wu Jin pressed up against the window, watching the sign until the light screen disappeared before closing the terminal.
When he turned back, his amber eyes were sparkling.
“Little Witch, keep working hard. Making a debut won’t be a problem!” Caesar, who was driving, encouraged him.
Wu Jin suddenly opened his mouth, “If I want to debut in the c-position––”
The suspension car dropped down before Caesar finally recovered and regained control of the car’s direction.
Zoe started laughing heartily, “Little friend, you’re ambitious! If you want to stand in the c-position, you’ll have to win against Wei Yan, as well as me and your big brother Caesar. Oh, and that coquettish freak, Jingyi Entertainment, Dolma Entertainment, and now there’s also that Red…”
Wu Jin imagined it for a moment. Various entertainment companies’ top trainees were all holding guns as they spread out on top of a pyramid. Everyone, his teammates included, were all his future rivals.
In contrast, he was still squirming around at the bottom of the pyramid––
But, he could see the top of the pyramid.
The big boss’s figure flashed through his mind.
k2018;Azure Cosmos’ lay amidst a stretch of planetoids in deep s.p.a.ce.
It was located so deep in s.p.a.ce that it wasn’t even on the same planet as the Crosson Show.
The suspension car entered the Star Harbor from the connecting port, stopped at the star ship deck, and was immediately approached by service personnel who politely asked to check their tickets.
Caesar proudly handed over three tickets, showing off the ability of his lady love and abusing the single dogs.
Wu Jin still remembered that n.o.ble miss who had been dressed like a fair maiden.
Zoe couldn’t quite believe it, “There really are people who still like brainless people in this era.”
Caesar puffed up his chest, “She likes me because I’m a simple and capable type of man.”
After the ticket check, a small star ship directly ferried the three of them along with their suspension car into orbit. There were all kinds of facilities on the star ship, and they were free to help themselves to everything from entertainment to meals.
Wu Jin, a small local dumpling who had never seen the world, was struck dumb in astonishment.
“Azure Cosmos is a money-squandering den.” Zoe sighed emotionally, “It’s a no-man’s land. Once order is imposed, it’ll become more terrible than anywhere else.”
Wu Jin flipped through the newspaper on the star ship and soon processed the information provided.
The pale silver mask logo displayed on the first page of the newspaper appeared both luxurious and expensive. It seemed to indicate that it was affiliated with a certain force.
In the entertainment section, they criticized the Star League to the point where it seemed to have absolutely no merit, specifically singling out and ridiculing the White Moonlight Battle Team’s performance in the group stage.
By contrast, the underground league was given high praise.
“Underground compet.i.tion… What’s that?” Wu Jin didn’t understand what it was and asked the others.
“The thing Red fought in before.” Caesar said, “It’s not really the same as the survival show.”
Zoe added, “There’s no life-saving capsule.”
Wu Jin was dazed.
Zoe said emotionally, “It wasn’t easy for Red to come out alive––what’s the death rate for underground matches again? 20%? The disability rate is much higher. Players usually sign a death contract, and they can’t retire until they die. I don’t know how Red escaped that fate.”
Wu Jin was still dazed, “No life-saving capsule…”
“It’s exciting.” Caesar frowned, “Something that’s done to entertain the n.o.ble lords. Players go in standing up, then come out lying down, and it’s fine if they die. What we’re playing in is called a survival show. Theirs…”
Caesar tsked, “They don’t have a salary, only bounties. Their average income is ten times the Federal contestants’ income, but there really aren’t many of them who are still alive to enjoy it.”
The star ship slowly approached the port.
The fragmented meteorite belt hung suspended around the planetoids, endless stardust stretching out as far as the eye could see. The universe was covered in a stretch of grey, and the nebula was faintly fluorescent from ultraviolet rays.
This scene continued until the navigation device issued a ‘beep’.
The star ship leapt forth, violent kinetic energy burning through the cabin. The stardust was dispersed by the impact, and the scene abruptly lit up––
Under the light cast by the blazing star in the distance, a dark blue planet gradually emerged in front of them, floating solemnly in their line of sight.
Caesar leapt up with a whoop, “We’re here! Little Witch––welcome to Azure Cosmos.”
Before getting out of the car, Zoe handed Wu Jin a pair of sungla.s.ses and a mask.
Caesar waved his hand, “They only watch the underground matches here. Let alone the Crosson Show, n.o.body here even cares about the Star League. Little Witch won’t be mobbed by fans…”
Wu Jin heard this and thought that it was very reasonable, nodding several times in support.
Zoe’s expression was indifferent, “It’s not to guard against fans. It’s to prevent Little Witch from being s.n.a.t.c.hed away.”
Eventually, Wu Jin was still forced to suit up before being allowed to depart.
When the three of them were at the gate to the port, the expressionless staff opened their mouth and said to Wu Jin, “Take it off for facial recognition.”
When Wu Jin removed his sungla.s.ses, the staff member stiffened abruptly, and their originally stingy expression immediately became enthusiastic, “Where would you like to go? Would you like a guide? I can change shifts here at any time––would you like to have a drink together?”
Wu Jin’s eyes grew wide in astonishment, and when he was finally given back his terminal chip, a small note containing a communication number was also stuffed into his hands.
“This is Azure Cosmos.” Zoe had a benign smile on his face, “The people here are quite unrestrained. Little Witch, if you’re attracted to anyone––take off your sungla.s.ses and approach them directly. It’s a 100% critical hit rate, one shot straight to the soul.”
Wu Jin pulled a face: “……”
Zoe had a broad smile on his face as he rubbed Wu Jin’s soft curls, “Little Witch is so cute, hehehehe.”
Once they left the port, in the moment that the door opened––a myriad of wonderfully colorful lights streamed out through the cracks, causing Wu Jin’s heart to pound violently in his chest.
This was basically every straight man’s dream scene. It was a hard core, futuristic, cyberpunk world.
Postmodern architecture was interwoven with baroque style streets in a strange fusion of styles, and the leaping beams of light lit up the entire city. Suspension cars pa.s.sed by like comets with long tails, and the pedestrians on the road were of varied races. Countless billboards flashed in the sky.
Each billboard was engraved with a special logo on the lower right corner. There were roses, salamanders, and the silver mask that Wu Jin had seen on the newspaper.
In the streets, the aroma of decadence was pervasive.
Young aristocratic ladies chatted and laughed together in bronze carriages, the artificial intelligence powered mechanical patrols carried guns as they hovered over the city, scanning the streets below with cold searchlights.
The scattered lights reflected like stars in Wu Jin’s eyes, his amber eyes like reflective gla.s.s beads that glimmered with the lights from the nightlife in Azure Cosmos.
“Little Witch, stop looking. If you keep on like this you’ll fall into a daze!” Zoe dragged Wu Jin away, following the instructions on the map and moving towards a certain direction.
A tall building opposite the port had just switched to a new advertis.e.m.e.nt.
“New quarterly immigration policy for Floating City…”
Perhaps it was Wu Jin’s illusion, but it seemed that many people on the street stopped and looked up at that moment.
On the screen, a city that hung suspended in the nebula slowly appeared, and tempting benefits were listed out one by one.
Wu Jin quickly a.n.a.lyzed the information. It seemed that Floating City was one of the major forces in Azure Cosmos. On the billboard, the scene finally fixed on the back of a person’s figure––
It was a man with a silver mask.
Wu Jin was stunned, his eyes blowing open. He almost blurted out, “Big boss––”
Zoe let out a yip of surprise and looked back at him.
Wu Jin quickly swallowed his words back down.
His left hand subconsciously lifted to cover the back of his right hand, lightly brushing against the nearly healed pinp.r.i.c.k wound from the infusion needle.
Juurensha: Ohhhh Big boss may be boss of a whole Floating City?
xiin: *whistles*