Chapter Ch173.2 - Consciousness Regression
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Wu Jin was confused.
Wei Shi thought about it. The 16 year old version of himself had only touched a gun once and was incredibly bad at it. So, he helped Wu Jin make the decision, “If he drags you down, find a place where there are no cameras to shoot him, then go and find Mao Qiukui for help.”
Wei Shi then tossed the shotgun at Wu Jin, “Last time when I went into the treatment cabin to look for you, there were some aftereffects.”
“!!” Wu Jin was caught off guard and worried, “Wei Shi, you…”
Wei Shi: “It’s not a big problem.”
“At most, it’s just the consciousness regressing and returning to how it was when I was 16.”
Wei Shi scanned the screen of the wrist watch.
The words ‘time warp’ seemed to be like a flag for his own downfall.
On the other side, Wu Jin’s logical thinking was running at full speed. He finally seemed to come to terms with these strange circ.u.mstances, and his entire person seemed to be in a daze, his responses dull and slow.
Wei Shi estimated that there was about half a minute before his consciousness changed. At the same time, Red, who’d been shooting happily, received a message from Wei Shi and vowed to guarantee Little Witch’s promotion in the elimination match.
The man reached out to hold the back of Wu Jin’s head, bowed his head, and gave his legal partner a farewell kiss.
There was a click.
The car was now at the highest point of the Ferris Wheel.
The fog was gradually dyed with a gorgeous gold color, and there was fierce smoke and fighting beneath their feet.
At the highest point of the Ferris Wheel, their lips touched.
The two of them exchanged a light, sulfur and gunpowder-laced kiss.
Wu Jin’s mind turned over and over, and he finally accepted the cruel reality within a short half-minute. Internally, he was still in a state of shock.
The Ferris Wheel slowly began to carry the two of them back down toward the ground.
The two of them also maintained their warm posture for a brief moment, their foreheads pressed against each other.
Wu Jin was just about to enact a strategic retreat when he suddenly froze in place.
The big boss was staring at him, his face expressionless, the edges of his eyes red.
Wu Jin stared at the big boss in a thoughtful daze and was unexpectedly distracted. The big boss’s facial features were truly handsome. As long as he didn’t have his usual expressionless look, adding just a little movement to his eyebrows and eyes made him appear fresh and youthful, and he appeared over a decade younger…
Wei Shi’s thin lips stretched out into a straight line, and his entire person was gloomy, just like an abandoned wolf cub that was giving off a cold aura.
After pa.s.sing through the highest point, the car began to descend. At this time, they were at the same height as Caesar, while Wei Yan and Thin Fire’s team were above them. Because of the lower terrain, more than one or two bullets were shot over––
Wei Shi’s expression changed greatly.
He didn’t hesitate to lift up his shotgun and shield Wu Jin behind him, treating the little shortie, who had suddenly grown taller, like a treasure and holding him very solidly.
The little shortie was as soft and fluffy as a marshmallow.
The two of them were very close together.
Wei Shi inhaled, and it was as though he’d done so many times in his memory. His expression was momentarily confused, and then he grew red from his neck all the way to his cheeks.
Wu Jin watched from the side. On his wrist, the chip vibrated slightly.
Wu Jin was half a second late in responding to it, “!!! Brother, Brother Wei! Don’t! There’s a camerak2013;k2013;!”
The bamboo dragonfly-like camera slowly flew over. Wu Jin bounced away with a swish, his heart beating violently. He didn’t know how much the camera had caught.
Wei Shi’s eyes darkened, and his original mood disappeared quickly. He stared fixedly at Wu Jin’s waist and trembled slightly as he spoke, though he quickly recovered his stability, “Your waist injury recovered?”
Wu Jin softened when he heard his voice. The big boss’s voice hadn’t changed much, but the tone was the same as that of a 16 year old youth. He nodded quickly, “Actually, I––”
Wei Shi reached out and explored the shotgun that was unfamiliar to him. He then looked up at the top of the car, his eyes wary and full of violence, “Who is chasing you?”
“!!!” Wu Jin quickly explained, “n.o.body is chasing or killing anyone! We’re in a reality show!”
Wei Shi raised his chin, “You said that there are Ferris Wheels outside of R-Code. So is the Ferris Wheel outside used to screen the genetically modified?”
Another bullet flew by.
Wei Shi didn’t hesitate to fight back and attack Thin Fire. The man was handsome, his eyes bright and arrogant. His actions of drawing the gun and aiming it were so attractive that Wu Jin couldn’t move his eyes away. The 16 year old youth would definitely be able to ‘carry’ him through the entire game, just like the Wei Shi from ten years later––
The bullet pinged as it hit the steel shaft of the Ferris Wheel.
Wu Jin: “……”
Wei Shi: “……”
In the Crosson Show live broadcast room, Ying Xiangxiang was suddenly very interested, “So, our Contestant Wei Shi has finally chosen to join the scuffle! The first one he plans to kill is––”
Ying Xiangxiang instantly changed her words, “Oh, he’s just playing around with the other contestants.”
There were two minutes to go until the Ferris Wheel finished its cycle.
Wu Jin quickly grabbed for the gun, “You… have you used this gun before?”
Wei Shi calmly expressed that he still needed to practice.
Wu Jin’s heart bubbled with joy. My little cub! The 16 year old little cub who hasn’t picked up a gun before! The big boss’s eyes were a little red, and even though his expression seemed cold and arrogant, it carried a hidden guilt, making Wu Jin’s heart overflow with love in an instant!
Wu Jin tried to pull the muddled Wei Shi out of the battle.
Wei Shi was unwilling to hand over the gun, and his gaze was on guard against the other players.
The logic of one’s subconscious could be self-contained. Wu Jin didn’t know how the 16 year old Wei Shi was bridging the gap with his memories, but judging from his posture in front of him, Wei Shi seemed to be trying his best to intercept the ‘other trainees’ so that Wu Jin could escape.
Wu Jin immediately explained sincerely, “This is a reality show! We’re all trainees here! We make endors.e.m.e.nt fees by playing games! It’s a green and environmentally friendly survival show––”
Wei Shi held tight to the handle of the gun and attempted to kill Wei Yan, the most dangerous man in the field, in order to protect Wu Jin.
Wu Jin was startled, “Nononono––”
Seeing that Wei Shi wasn’t giving up, Wu Jin could only try again, “Look up, do you see that blue flag?”
There was a circle of brightly colored flags beside the Ferris Wheel shaft. Wu Jin skillfully pulled down the gun safety, pushed the bullet into the chamber and aimed––
The muscles beneath the youth’s rolled up sleeves were tight.
The bullet suddenly burst out. The level of precision was far, far different from Wei Shi’s, and the blue flag was actually pierced through twice!
Wu Jin turned back to see Wei Shi’s pupils contract suddenly.
The little shortie that he’d raised in captivity no longer needed his protection.
Wu Jin raised up his small round face and smiled broadly, “Did you see it? You taught me this yourself!”
Then, the youth quickly continued to speak, “Let’s talk about the details later. We’ll get out of the Ferris Wheel first; the time for the Ferris Wheel isn’t right. We have to wait for the 9:45 round, not 1:02––” Wu Jin looked straight into Wei Shi’s eyes and whispered, “You promised me that we’d win this game together.”
Wei Shi looked down at the shotgun, then looked back at Wu Jin.
Wu Jin reached out to him.
Above them was still a barrage of gunfire. When Wei Shi covered Wu Jin’s hands, there was a brief tremor that suddenly disappeared, like he was holding onto a treasure.
A Wu Jin who hadn’t been injured by the gunshot, one who didn’t have any emotional lock aftereffects, and was still alive and kicking.
Wu Jin’s lips curved up.
Wei Shi looked at the youth greedily. He thought to himself, he would go wherever this little shortie went.
The Ferris Wheel pa.s.senger car landed.
Wu Jin tugged at Wei Shi and ran swiftly towards a corner without cameras. At this time, his wrist watch showed that the survival number was 88, but no compet.i.tors had been eliminated on the Ferris Wheel.
Wei Shi followed beside him. Even if the big boss’s consciousness had regressed back to the age of 16, his bio-radar was still much better than Wu Jin’s.
Whenever a player pa.s.sed by, Wei Shi’s conditioned reflexes would kick in, and he would switch sides and hold up a gun to sharply shield Wu Jin behind him.
Wei Shi’s eyes shifted around constantly. After walking out of the R-Code Base, everything seemed strange to him.
Wu Jin squinted at the Ferris Wheel in the fog and thought out loud in a low voice, “The Ferris Wheel, a civilization ladder, Western Europe, Athens, Stonehenge, Celtic culture, the program schedule.”
“A primitive civilization was the cornerstone for Western European civilization in the middle ages. The other entertainment facilities must also be linked to the Ferris Wheel somehow. Jingyi chose to first go to the Stonehenge maze to collect clues about the Ferris Wheel. So, how was the time calculated to be 1:02AM…”
At this time, the Ferris Wheel gun battle troops had also disembarked.
Wu Jin dodged the crowd and led the big boss to run toward the entrance of the Stonehenge maze where Jingyi had previously appeared.
At this time, the fog had lifted slightly. They could see the Celtic b.u.mper cars, and the Ferris Wheel turning clockwise in the near distance with its colorful, swinging cars, a row of small colored flags, and the inverted V-shaped frame used to hold the wheel steady.
Wu Jin immediately decided to take the big boss with him and pay to enter the maze.
The youth took out the amus.e.m.e.nt park discount ticket from his pocket and suddenly remembered that the big boss certainly wouldn’t remember where he’d put his own ticket right now.
He turned back to see that Wei Shi had already walked over to the maze ticket machine and was trying to figure out the credits in his watch.
It was difficult for a 16 year old, who had never even used the most basic type of terminal, to make any progress with this.
However, Wei Shi remained silent as he observed this so-called ‘survival show map’, not wanting to add any trouble for Wu Jin.
The 16 year old Wei Shi was a proud lone wolf.
Wu Jin felt that this heart would melt if he had to watch this scene a few more times. If it wasn’t for the fact that there were too many cameras nearby, he would love to catch the big boss and scatter kisses all over his face!
What a cute and lovely cub!
Wu Jin rushed forward and tried to help the big boss go through his pockets for the ticket.
Wei Shi was caught off guard. Seeing that Wu Jin’s hands were patting up and down his body, his expression grew a little annoyed at the little shortie, even as the tips of his ears turned red.
Wu Jin smiled like a fox as he found the ticket, his gaze shifting to sweep across the ticket vending machine––
Wu Jin froze suddenly.
The Stonehenge maze’s ticket machine that had been covered with dust and mud now held faint fingerprint marks.
Someone had picked up tickets from this machine.
The most likely candidate was Jingyi. While most of the contestants had chosen to purchase group tickets, Jingyi had actually chosen to buy single tickets. However, judging from Zuo Botang’s strategic habits, this came as no surprise. Zuo Botang was more rigorous than any other player, and he had been the first one to discover the card replacement rule in the Tarot card elimination match.
Wu Jin quickly swiped the credits and also bought a single ticket.
––Labyrinth individual entertainment facility (1 person). Ticket purchase time: 6:28PM.
Ticket purchase time.
Wu Jin once again looked up at the sun.
Wei Shi raised his chin, “The time is wrong.”
Wu Jin murmured, “It was 1:02 AM just now, but now it’s 6:28 PM. Could it be that each project has a different timeline––”
Wei Shi pondered, “They’re all different? Are we survival show trainees or math compet.i.tion trainees?”
Wu Jin made an ‘ah’ sound and immediately came to a realization.
In the area around the Ferris Wheel, there were at least dozens of amus.e.m.e.nt facilities within the European cultural theme area. If the timeline for each facility was independent of each other, the complexity of the logic would be far beyond what the contestants could imagine.
Most likely, an entire area shared a single timeline.
Wu Jin was about to buy another ticket. He reached out to ask the big boss, “How long has it been since we got our ticket just now?”
Wei Shi harrumphed, but his biological clock was as accurate as ever, “3 minutes.”
An accurate biological clock was a required survival skill for every genetically modified person. As expected, the little shortie was still weak. What was the use of having rabbit genes?! Wei Shi finished speaking and couldn’t help glancing at Wu Jin again.
After looking for a moment, his heart started to beat faster.
He continued looking, and his heart rate continued to accelerate.
Wu Jin nodded and went to buy a second single ticket.
––Labyrinth individual entertainment facility (1 person). Ticket purchase time: 5:22PM.
Wu Jin stilled.
“Time is going backwards.” He abruptly lifted his head and looked at the Ferris Wheel that was turning slowly in the distance.
Juurensha: Awwww 16 year old WS is back! And yay for Wei Yan covering for the Scarf CP!
xiin: hehehehehe…