Chapter Ch134.1 - The Third Cla.s.s
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Wu Jin held the gun, then turned around to dismount, directly leading the mare into the Pet.i.t Trianon Palace.
Thin Fire spoke thoughtfully, “I remember that there’s parking down there, no wait, stables…”
Vera and Ning Fengbei both retorted, “If the horse is tied outside, then stolen by others, what’ll you do?!”
Now that things had come to this, being the King and Queen tied the Red and White Roses together. Wu Jin and Vera, Thin Fire and Ning Fengbei, were teammates with their names stamped on the invitation cards. The two teams were now linked together like gra.s.shoppers tied together with a rope.
“Put out the wall lights.” Wu Jin spoke concisely.
Vera didn’t ask for a reason and simply did as she was told. After the lights went out, the ghost servants disappeared again.
Thin Fire volunteered to go search the life-saving capsule, but after a long while, he was only able to obtain the heating equipment that the eliminated contestant had with him, “There are 3.5 hours of heating left.”
Wu Jin was careful to maintain a distance between him and Thin Fire in order to prevent being punished for illegally forming a team Most of the wall lamps were doused, leaving only a few weakly flickering candles in the contestants’ hands.
“This is the King’s main room.” Wu Jin whispered. The mare followed behind him, her eyes bright and soft as she leaned gently against Wu Jin. Ning Fengbei stroked the horse’s head, “Why did you want to turn off the lights?”
Under the light from the melting candles, Wu Jin handed over the flyer he’d picked up from the snow to the rest of the people gathered, “An issued mission: Kill Queen Marie.”
Vera was instantly shocked.
Marie Antoinette’s fall would come sooner or later, but it wasn’t expected to come so soon.
“The timeline now should be after the war against Austria, when France was defeated. The people placed their hatred on Queen Marie, who was of Austrian descent…” Wu Jin explained all of this quickly, “Of course, none of this matters.”
The most important thing was this.
Wu Jin showed them his wrist watch. To one side of the wrist watch were lines similar to those on the a.s.sa.s.sin’s flyer, and the dial emitted a weak fluorescent light that moved towards Vera.
Wu Jin moved to Vera’s left side, and the light changed direction at the same time––it pointed at Vera from beginning to end.
Ning Fengbei understood what was going on instantly. This was simply like being afraid that the a.s.sa.s.sin wouldn’t be able to find his way, so they’d made an automatic guiding light––she clapped Wu Jin on the shoulder and wanted to break off her relationship with Vera, “Alright, Little Witch have a great time. We’ll be off first!”
Wu Jin pointed to the pattern that was on both the flyer and the watch, where the vines inside the oval badge was wrapped around several small words, “Jacobin Club.”
Ning Fengbei froze.
“The Jacobins were the main proponents of sending the King and Queen to the guillotine. In modern times… in ancient history, it was one of the few ‘righteous and aboveboard’ regimes that pursued a reign of high-handed terror. Now, they’re issuing a call to a.s.sa.s.sinate the Queen, but it’s hard to guarantee that they won’t issue a mission for the King as well in a few hours.”
Ning Fengbei narrowed her eyes.
Almost every history textbook mentioned the Jacobins, one of the last political groups behind the French Revolution.
Louis XVI’s teammate could only be the Queen and could never be the Jacobins.
“There are at least two camps in this fight.” Wu Jin spoke slowly, “The King’s camp and the radical revolutionary camp. I think that we’re in the same camp here.”
In the dim candle light, Wu Jin stretched out a hand to Ning Fengbei, “Let’s form an alliance.”
Ning Fengbei tilted her head slightly. Thin Fire whispered something into her ear, and the young woman nodded, reaching out to shake hands with Wu Jin.
Wu Jin breathed a sigh of relief and was caught by surprise when he heard Ning Fengbei wonder, “Why is Little Witch so cold?”
Wu Jin quickly rubbed and rubbed his hands. His genes were a thousand years behind all the other trainees, and it was common sense that he couldn’t resist the cold, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing!”
Vera volunteered to help her idol warm his small hands, but Wu Jin refused the offer. After that, Thin Fire tried to show the charm of the alliance and wanted to rub Wu Jin’s hands, but his watch warned him of illegal team formation as soon as he came close.
Wu Jin ended up placing his hands on the mare with his palms out for a while and then turning them so his palms were facing down a while later.
The mare’s eyes were watery as she looked obediently at Wu Jin.
Wu Jin hurriedly called out an apology to this little living spirit that he’d used to warm his hands. His thoughts drifted back to the stable from earlier. That sword that had been engraved with the letter J and the other horse that had been led away by big boss, which was probably equally sweet and smart…
After his body temperature recovered, Wu Jin quickly stood up and joined his three allies in scoping out the venue.
“The Pet.i.t Trianon Palace is densely furnished. It’s easy to defend and hard to attack as soon as the lights are off.” Wu Jin had stated this when they formed their alliance.
The old veteran of combat, Thin Fire, simply took over the command for their deployment, “There are stone steps in the north and south, and players can only come up from two roads. We need a sniper who can shoot as soon as the other side lights the lamps.”
Vera shouldered this heavy responsibility.
“If the other party doesn’t use light––we want to ensure that we can find the a.s.sa.s.sin’s position as soon as they enter our line of fire. There needs to be an a.s.sault position at both the north and the south entrances.”
Wu Jin and Thin Fire each took over one of the positions.
“The last line of defense.”
With the weak candlelight in Wu Jin’s hands, they looked over at Vera’s sniper position. The bench, bookcase, and potted plants were all lying on the ground, and even if the other party was a monkey, they still wouldn’t be able to squeeze in right away. The corner of the wall by the door also served as a bunker.
The ordinary rifle at Thin Fire’s waist was handed over to Ning Fengbei so that she could make the bunker more solid.
Crossfire.
A few minutes later, there was the sound of steps from outside the window.
Wu Jin quickly stuck himself up against the wall and started to wait in ambush. He was guarding the northern entrance, and the cold wind swept in through the pa.s.sageway. The cold marble chilled his back and feet; the heat provided by the heating equipment was just enough for normal trainees to resist the cold, but it wasn’t enough for Wu Jin.
Wu Jin breathed into his hands. There was the faint light from a fire from the south side’s stone steps––
Vera shot within a second.
The wrist watch flickered for a while. The survival count didn’t go down, so Thin Fire leapt out to eliminate the player.
The survival count was reduced from 92 to 91.
The first a.s.sa.s.sin to come at them had come through the southern entrance.
At the northern entrance, Wu Jin’s ears moved slightly.
He could hear the small, almost inaudible sound of rubber soles rubbing against the marble. There was nothing to be seen in the empty darkness, but he stared fixedly into the distance. By moonlight, he could barely see the snow falling on the stone steps or even the faint and spare shrubbery in the distance, but he couldn’t see a single person.
The sound of soles rubbing against the floor could still be heard.
It seemed that due to the cold, the melted snow water that hadn’t yet dissipated had mixed with the mud, sticking this person’s footwear to the ground and causing a sound that was like unsticking glue whenever they moved.
He, or she, was very close to Wu Jin.
The other side may also have discovered Wu Jin based on the direction of the sounds––
Wu Jin didn’t hesitate to hide in the bunker, lighting up the candle and tossing it at the other side.
The northern entrance was instantly bright!
There was still n.o.body on the steps, but there was a dark shadow on the handrail of the corridor. Her feet were glued to the smooth, curved handrails, but she was oddly able to maintain her balance. She was stuck in the dead angle of Wu Jin’s surveillance and moved like a cat without bones, or a strange being who had practiced jujitsu. The fire lit up her face.
This was a 17 or 18 year old girl; she was as pale as paper, and her eyes had a faint green sheen.
Vera suddenly fired her gun, “Little Witch, run!”
Wu Jin moved his legs and ran.
Someone that would make Vera unhesitatingly expose her position in order to issue a warning meant that the other party was at the very least, one of the most dangerous characters in the Hyacinth Show. Wu Jin quickly went over the information in his head. There was only one contestant who was good at ambushing and a.s.sa.s.sination––
In the first round, Vera had mentioned her before.
“There is also another way to win. As long as all the players in the same instance are forcefully eliminated, they will become the only possible winner. Hyacinth Show has someone like that…”
Lan.
Wu Jin slid across the floor and fired his gun in the moment just before he hid behind the wall.
Lan’s breath sped up, but she used another strange movement to avoid Wu Jin’s shot. Wu Jin then led this person into Ning Fengbei’s range of fire, but Lan seemed to sense something and paused slightly before disappearing into the complex array of rooms.
“Don’t go.” Ning Fengbei warned, “Little Witch, come here. I’ll go chase.”
There was a gap between Wu Jin’s combat abilities and that of Ning Fengbei’s or Lan’s was obviously on the same level as the Red and White Roses. If he was a little stronger––he would be able to see Lan’s instant counterattack, but it seemed that he was still quite a far way off from a real A level trainee.
Wu Jin and Ning Fengbei switched positions and moved closer to Vera.
“Lan is a little difficult to deal with.” Vera spoke in a low voice, “In various ways.”
Wu Jin nodded to show that he understood. If he couldn’t win against her, then he wouldn’t seek her out to fight. In an official elimination match, he naturally wouldn’t go and send the other side a kill. After hiding behind the bunker, Wu Jin quietly observed the movements in the southern side.
Thin Fire was rummaging around the life-saving capsule left out in the snow. A long time later, he once again came back with a set of heating equipment.
“Four hour heating.” Wu Jin narrowed his eyes and said, “All the trainees who’ve come in for the task only have four hours of heating.”
Vera: “If they want to win, then they have to finish the compet.i.tion within four hours. It’s very reasonable. However, the difference between the other two sets of heating equipment, eight hours and nine hours, isn’t very big.”
Wu Jin: “The heavy snow was the cause of the French Revolution, and the poor harvest was not enough to feed the common people. Of course, this was limited to the civilians. There were also the two upper level cla.s.ses, the clergy and the aristocracy, who controlled the entire country’s inexhaustible a.s.sets.”
Vera immediately remembered what Thin Fire had spoken about, “Commoners, clergy, and n.o.bles, that’s the three… three estates?”
Wu Jin nodded, “The French Revolution in 1789 was sparked by an intense demand for food. For this compet.i.tion––it’s been replaced by the contestants’ ability to keep warm. Commoners have four hours of heating, the clergy have eight, and the King and other n.o.bility have nine.”
Wu Jin was still thinking out loud, “The specific functions of each cla.s.s aren’t yet clear––the only thing we know is that the first batch of players will run out of heating within four hours. Fighting will break out as early as possible under the pressure of obtaining more heating. However.”
“It’s a real case of the mantis stalking the cicada. They want to catch everyone in one place and will choose to attack the n.o.ble ident.i.ties first. After the commoners are eliminated, they will come in when the King and Queen’s fighting power is exhausted.”
Vera took a deep breath and really wished to throw away the necklace in her hand, “Can I put this necklace over Lan’s head?”
“……” Wu Jin choked, then hurried to comfort her, “The King and Queen ident.i.ties should also have some sort of control in the compet.i.tion, but we just don’t know how it will be used…”
Vera nodded and toyed with the necklace, “When the necklace arrived, the wrist watch gave us a hint. The King can redistribute supplies during parliament.”
“Supply allocation?!” Wu Jin suddenly felt that a gust of cold wind had just blown over.
Wu Jin shivered from the cold and shrank back, then shrank back some more. There seemed to be warmth coming from behind––when Vera came back to her senses, Wu Jin was glued to the eliminated contestant’s life-saving capsule, like he was holding onto a big silver ball.
Vera: “……”
Wu Jin explained quickly, “There’s heating in the life-saving capsule!”
Vera watched on lovingly as Wu Jin hugged the ball.
Wu Jin suddenly thought of something, “Just now, in the stable, I saw the same flower pattern on the purple card armor––Wait-wait a minute, someone’s coming again!”
xiin: i just imagine Little Witch holding a giant silver pokeball…