Chapter 27 - Ferris Wheel
translator: xiin
editor: juurensha
The elevator rose slowly from the underground base.
Wei Shi walked in front, with Wu Jin following timidly behind him.
At this time, the big boss had already removed his iconic silver mask, and very few people noticed anything untoward.
Wu Jin’s limbs were abruptly stiff when they pa.s.sed through the security checkpoint, like a small animal that was being held by the scruff of its neck, his eyes nervous and round as they darted everywhere.
Wei Shi’s steps stopped, and he glanced back carelessly.
Wu Jin could only force himself to keep up.
The metal detector swept slowly across Wu Jin, the alarm lights remaining quiet. As soon as a lethal weapon was discovered, the entire base would be notified in a flash, Azure Cosmos’s strongest defensive system moving to declare war against the perceived invaders.
Wu Jin’s expression tensed up even further as the detector came close to his right pocket.
He looked pitifully at Wei Shi––the man stood in the shadows not far from him, his gaze colliding with his own damp amber eyes.
The thick brows were raised, his eyes gleaming slightly with his amus.e.m.e.nt at the trembling, quivering rabbit spirit.
Wu Jin’s plea for help failed, and he could only close his eyes in despair. Unexpectedly, the detector then made a ‘beep’ sound.
––Pa.s.sed through safely.
Two minutes later, Wei Shi led a dazed Wu Jin into the dome.
Wu Jin finally gathered his wits back together and bounced over to Wei Shi’s side. His right hand probed tentatively into his pocket.
“Big Brother! This gun––” Wu Jin’s eyes were filled with inexplicable worship.
“Won’t be discovered.” Wei Shi shot him a glance. This rabbit spirit was more timid than anyone else.
Wu Jin could finally rest a.s.sured. His next actions were––to stuff the gun further inside, hiding it well.
Just like a rabbit hiding a carrot.
Seeing that the big boss was watching from the side, Wu Jin was well-behaved and immediately explained, “I’m afraid that it’ll be exposed by accident––”
Not even daring to expose a single carrot leaf.
Wei Shi suddenly asked, “That scared?”
Wu Jin, who was a law-abiding youth of only nineteen, nodded repeatedly.
“Come here.” Wei Shi opened his mouth again.
Wu Jin immediately stood straight, raising his small round face to listen to big boss’s daily lesson––
He was taken by surprise by a flash of cold silver.
Wei Shi stretched out a hand that hovered over his collar.
Wu Jin’s eyes grew wide in surprise. The man’s facial features became magnified due to his bowed head, the contours and shadows around his eyes full of cold majesty as his line of sight swept straight down.
… Big boss was really good looking!
Attractive and good at fighting!
The tips of Wu Jin’s ears were slightly red. He must work harder in order to be worthy of big boss’s guidance and a.s.sistance!
“Done.” Wei Shi gestured for him to bow his head.
A small silver mask badge had been added to Wu Jin’s collar. The decoration seemed to give off a gentle l.u.s.ter under the light of the dome.
Wu Jin recognized the symbol of Floating City at a glance. His gaze brightened, “This is…”
The man retrieved his gaze and returned to his usual indifference, “Wear it and n.o.body will dare to bother you even if you’re carrying a rocket gun.”
Wu Jin understood in a flash.
There were no laws in Azure Cosmos––or, in other words, the ‘laws’ of the grey area were determined by the various forces controlling the s.p.a.ce. Floating City was obviously an outstanding force amongst them, and big boss was Floating City’s King…
“Thank you, Big Brother!” Wu Jin smiled broadly, his eyes twinkling under the lights from the dome as his right hand carefully stroked over the silver badge.
––This was a gun license from Big Brother!
Wei Shi raised his eyebrows, his gaze pausing slightly on the youth’s cheeks. His right hand stroked lightly, his gaze satisfied.
He’d given the rabbit a carrot, then marked him.
Well, this could be considered as doing one good deed a day.
Wu Jin finally dared to dig out the small handgun from deep inside his pocket.
He glanced at Wei Shi, his right hand stroking over the gun in the same way Big Brother did.
Zoe had said before that as a shooter, one had to cultivate feelings with their own gunk2026;
Wei Shi saw that he was absorbed in exploring his gun. He slowly opened his mouth, “Did you learn what I just taught you?”
Wu Jin nodded slightly, “I just need to practice…”
Wei Shi made a sound of acknowledgement and gestured for him to follow.
“Big Brother, where are we going?” Wu Jin blinked excitedly.
Wei Shi replied lazily, “Let’s go. Taking you to go back to a place.”
The two of them moved through the winding corridors of the dome, the scene that entered his eyes overlapping with a previous memory––
The huge venue was brilliantly illuminated and filled with rich, gorgeous clothing and fashionably styled hair. Countless scorching lights were focused on the stage, and the holographic screen faithfully projected scenes from a fierce battle.
The two shuttled through the corridors until Wei Shi opened a large set of doors.
The dampness in the night air carried with it the smell of fireworks. Under the light cast down from countless stars, the neon dots in the distance gathered together in a colorful and gorgeous scene.
Unlike the main entrance, the lights here were dim. A luxury suspension car rose up gracefully and came to a steady stop in front of them.
Wei Shi beckoned for him to get in the car.
Wu Jin obediently did as he was told, his crystal bright eyes sliding over the body of the car.
Even if his common sense was seriously lacking, he could still be 100% certain that this car was worth a fortune.
However, he hadn’t had a chance to touch it a few times before Wei Shi drove like the wind and came to a stop in front of a park.
Wu Jin looked at it for a long time before suddenly recalling that this was the place where he’d shot off target a few hours ago.
Speaking of which, his other two teammates––
Wu Jin looked at his terminal. The interface that had showed no new prompts previously suddenly received many new messages after they left the underground base. This had obviously been caused by some kind of signal blocking equipment.
Caesar had asked Wu Jin where he was two hours ago, then quickly sent a message telling him that they had gotten together with Red. His tone was ambiguous as he told Wu Jin to ‘have a good time’.
Wu Jin: “……”
In front of the air gun shooting range, Wei Shi blended in with the shadows and let Wu Jin start shooting.
The plush toys that could be exchanged for with 600 points were piled up in a gla.s.s cabinet.
Wu Jin glanced over, and only felt that when the fierce big boss stood amongst the densely packed little animals––
It seemed that the outline of his entire person had been softened a little by the light. Although his face was still expressionless, he seemed a little more real.
Points were acc.u.mulated by the ring number, and points were deducted when the gun went off-target. It wasn’t easy to reach 600 points with an air rifle that had been tampered with, and each shot was outrageously expensive.
Wei Shi only gave Wu Jin 100 rounds of ammunition.
If he didn’t miss at all, it would require an average accuracy of six rings in order to redeem the prize.
Static shooting had never been Wu Jin’s strong point. Even with the Crosson Show’s systematic training, his best result was still no more than five rings, let alone when he was using a tampered air rifle.
Wu Jin’s movements started off slow, and it took him two to three minutes between each shot. In his mind, he was constantly replaying the scene of Wei Shi dismantling the gun.
Bullet clip, recoil spring, metal barrel, ejection port––every layer of components was split apart and recombined within his consciousness as Wu Jin constantly adjusted his shooting posture. The strange gun might look like an untouchable black box, but it responded faithfully to each adjustment he made.
The youth squinted slightly, his amber eyes locked on the center of the target from start to finish. He was completely unaware of the gaze that Wei Shi used to watch him from his position in the shadows.
After the sixth shot, Wu Jin hesitated slightly.
Even if it was impossible to accurately feel out the components of the gun, several attempts were already enough for him to have an outline on the general performance of the gun.
Wu Jin took a deep breath and pulled the trigger again––
Five rings.
Three rings.
Wu Jin was about to shoot again when his right arm sank all of a sudden.
“Relax.” Wei Shi’s voice was deep and powerful, burning in his ear like a flame.
Wu Jin’s back stiffened subconsciously, but it gradually returned to normal after sensing a familiar presence.
“Wrist down, right shoulder lowered.” A calloused hand pressed down slightly on Wu Jin’s shoulder. “Remember your trajectory. A qualified sniper will make themselves part of the trajectory.”
Wu Jin stilled. He seemed to have understood something.
Wei Shi helped him fine-tune his shooting posture, but Wu Jin didn’t shoot immediately. Instead, he returned to his original position––
Then, he slowly fumbled, moving his shoulders, arms, and elbows to gradually return back to the same position that the man had directed him to.
It was as though Wei Shi was still standing there in the now-empty s.p.a.ce behind him, holding his right elbow.
––Immediately following that, the sound of a gunshot rang out.
Six rings.
The youth’s eyes widened with surprise.
After that, Wu Jin’s next several tens of rounds were mostly in the fifth and sixth rings. His highest score could even reach the ninth ring, but his initial misses seriously lowered his total score.
Time went on bit by bit, and when he had two bullets left, he was still 17 points short of the 600 required for redeeming a prize.
He had to hit the ninth ring at least once with his last two shots.
Wu Jin took a deep breath and decided to pull the trigger––
The shot trajectory was flat and steady as it landed on the target. A ‘+7’ slowly lit up on the scoreboard.
590 points.
The pile of plush toys in their transparent display cabinet nearby seemed to flash.
To say that he wasn’t depressed… he would definitely be lying.
Wu Jin knew that he wouldn’t be able to hit the center of the target. But he was clearly just a tiny bit short from what the big boss had asked of him.
After a few seconds, he set aside all the distractions and once again adjusted his state. His finger was just about to pull on the trigger––
He suddenly turned sideways and looked up.
Wei Shi gestured for him to give up his spot. The lights cast a large stretch of shadow over the man as his right hand squeezed domineeringly into the gap between the trigger, covering Wu Jin’s index finger.
Wu Jin blinked. In a moment of confusion, he seemed to recall the moment when he had just met the big boss––
The trigger snapped.
Wei Shi raised his brow.
Wu Jin suddenly discovered that he’d actually… he’d actually been staring at the big boss’s face the entire time as he fired the last shot!!!
The small round face turned red. Wu Jin looked back in time to see a ‘10th Ring’ pop up in red.
100 rounds of ammunition, exactly 600 points. No more, no less.
Wu Jin was both surprised and confused, “Big brother…”
Wei Shi tsked, then said, “I said, I’d take you to go back to a place.”
The s.p.a.ced out rabbit spirit’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Five minutes later, Wu Jin walked down the road with an oversized white rabbit plush.
The Azure Cosmos amus.e.m.e.nt park adhered to the concept of ‘sucking the tourists dry’, and was still open late at night.
The light hearted music blended with the balloons and dancing fireworks as a luxury suspension roller coaster rushed towards the sky only to drop abruptly, the ferris wheel and skysc.r.a.per machine flashing with bright lights.
Other than the shooting game area that n.o.body frequented, the rest of the amus.e.m.e.nt park was full of young n.o.bles who had come to Azure Cosmos to have a good time as well as luxury cars and steeds.
Wu Jin attracted the attention of many staff members when he went to exchange his prize.
A gun that had been tampered with, 100 bullets, 600 points––this was an extremely outstanding performance for an amateur shooter.
The group of staff were still discussing it even after Wu Jin left.
“Is he really not a professional sniper?”
“… Would professional snipers have a six ring average?”
“Amateur? That talent’s not bad!”
“Would he be shooting if he was talented? Did you see that face? My G.o.d, he looks so lovely! He can clearly use his face to eat, who could bear to have him partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tions?”
“That’s true. I’ve been in Azure Cosmos for so many years and have never seen anyone who looks like that. Although he still looks young and very cute, he’ll grow up to become a charmer for sure…”
In the moment before Wu Jin walked off, a member of staff even stuffed two experience voucher at him, “Come back often in the future!”
On the amus.e.m.e.nt park’s main boulevard, Wu Jin tried to poke his head out of the soft gap in the rabbit plush to read the instructions written on the experience voucher using the lights from the street.
One person per voucher.
Available for use on the same day.
It could be converted for use at the roller coaster or ferris wheel.
Wei Shi was leaning against the suspension car that had been set down on the ground by the entrance to the air rifle shooting range.
Wu Jin thought about it. Although he really wanted to, the big boss didn’t look like the type to go to those places.
The soft white rabbit plush was stuffed into the car, taking over most of the back seat.
Wei Shi plucked an experience voucher straight out of Wu Jin’s hands. “Which one?”
Wu Jin’s mouth opened wide: “……”
Wei Shi glanced over at the Wu Jin who had been shocked silly.
Wu Jin finally reacted and answered without hesitation, “Roller coaster!”
Wei Shi nodded, then continued on at a drawl, “This place was once the map for an underground semi-finals match.”
Wu Jin: “… Ah…”
“Two people were eliminated by the roller coaster, and the ferris wheel eliminated twenty six people. Most of the eliminations occurred because the contestants hadn’t figured out the rules of operation.” Wei Shi recalled.
Wu Jin’s expression froze as his sense of crisis rose up:
“Then… Big brother, how about we… go take the ferris wheel…”
Ten minutes later, the slowly rising ferris wheel cabin reached the top, overlooking the entire city.
The main city of Azure Cosmos was transformed into a brilliant stretch of light that sparkled under their feet.
Inside the cabin, the virtual screen suddenly lit up, and the radio announcement was accompanied by music: “According to ancient customs, people would kiss their loved ones when the ferris wheel reaches the top…”
A flattened Wu Jin was pressed up against the transparent window as he looked down nervously:
“Big Brother, will the Crosson Show have this kind of map? If we have to jump down from the cabin to save ourselves, how do we do it…”
“Big Brother, can we get sniped at from this cabin? Or is it bulletproof…”
“Big Brother, Big Brother! ……”
The cabin travelled through the air in a circle, and by the time the two of them stepped outside, Wu Jin was vaguely aware that the big boss seemed to be in a good mood for some reason.
On the way back, Wu Jin looked back reluctantly at the roller coaster in the distance. “Next time, if we get experience vouchers again…”
Wei Shi swept a glance over the impoverished rabbit spirit. “Wait.”
Three minutes later, a delicate gift box was delivered over by the respectful amus.e.m.e.nt park staff.
Wu Jin seemed to have sensed something, and his hands moved swiftly as he unwrapped it––
Inside lay two roller coaster experience vouchers.
Wu Jin raised his head, his eyes shining like stars under his soft curls.
Azure Cosmos, Main City, Block 16.
Zoe, Caesar, and Red, who had been beating each other up just a moment ago, were now back to wrapping their arms around the other’s shoulders. They sat at a table full of melon seeds and hard liquor, their expressions scattered and dazed.
“Little, Little Witch…” Caesar’s tongue felt too big in his mouth as he vaguely recalled something amidst his confusion, “Why hasn’t Little Witch come back yet… hic…”
Red waved his hand and spread out a gust of wine fumes, “He’s still up there watching the compet.i.tion… Us brothers should drink first…”
Zoe frowned and opened up the terminal to key in an inquiry.
When they left the company, Secretary Qu had been particularly uneasy about Wu Jin, and had therefore specifically equipped him with a child-proof loss prevention monitoring system.
On the terminal, the yellow cartoon flag that represented Wu Jin was clearly not in the same block––it was over ten kilometers away.
“Little Witch…” Zoe was given a shock and instantly sobered up a lot. “c.r.a.p, Little Witch was stolen away!!! Stop drinking, fool––Caesar, I’m f*cking talking about you! Screw that fellow, come with me to s.n.a.t.c.h him back!!!!”
Juurensha: Such a cute amus.e.m.e.nt park date! And maybe now Zoe and Caesar will meet Wei Shi?
xiin: omg that was their first date (but the little rabbit spirit’s still clueless…)
sponsored chapter 3/3