Chapter Ch205.1 - King’s Game
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
The stage lights flooded into their eyes!
At the edge of the stage, Leica was caught unprepared as he blocked the dazzling light and watched the confrontation between the two people in the middle of the stage.
The AI audience applauded, “Brother Nicholas is interacting with w.a.n.g Ping once again!”
The King of Hearts looked straight at Wu Jin. It had only been half a second, but the situation wasn’t what he expected. Wu Jin smiled, then the fierceness between his eyebrows suddenly erupted outwards. The long knife slid along K’s blade at lightning speed, pressing hard against his carotid artery!
K narrowed his eyes. His left foot retreated quickly, and a circle of cobweb like lines crackled out on the gla.s.s underfoot from his great force! The King of Hearts’s fighting experience was unexpectedly tricky. His foot went into the crack, and there were suddenly gla.s.s fragments that flew up to Wu Jin’s ankle that was bared outside the performance costume.
Wu Jin twisted to the side to avoid the gla.s.s fragments.
The King of Hearts deliberately put on a panicked act and said, “Brother w.a.n.g! Why are you going back on your words! Didn’t we say we were allied––”
Raphael abruptly came back to his senses, “Hold him!” But the King of Hearts moved even faster, stepping on the edge of the lift and sending his entire person into the B1 mechanism area.
The King of Hearts disappeared into the darkness!
Raphael pursed his lips unwillingly, but based on the King of Hearts’ strength, fighting him alone was more than either of them could hand.
“We’ll fight just like this.” On the other hand, Wu Jin wasn’t worried. He pointed to the stage, “Look, there’s already an incident on the stage.”
The first part of the rap accompaniment sounded out, but Nicholas had jumped off the stage, leaving the audience in turmoil. There was no other reason for it; the first Nicholas had the instincts of a big fool and had chosen the half open mic. Nicholas wasn’t there, but his voice could still be heard over the speakers.
Wu Jin narrowed his eyes and read the comments on the large screen at the top of the venue. A thread with hundreds of replies was instantly pushed up to the top.
“[Haha] Nicholas’s fake singing is confirmed.”
Raphael: “……”
The few people on the stage suddenly understood the situation. Other than the stage set up, the lifts, and the audience votes, unlike the rehearsals, there was one most important hidden rule.
––When it was your turn to sing, you had to be standing on the stage.
On the other side, Leica and the others had also reacted. They looked warily at Wu Jin. Wu Jin wasn’t surprised by Leica’s hostility. Explaining to Leica that ‘Nicholas was K’ was a waste of his life. Right now, for Leica, if Nicholas wasn’t K, then Wu Jin must be K.
Immediately after Nicholas’s turn, Leica’s flow began. The trainee quickly jumped up onto the lift furthest away from Wu Jin and spoke along to the music, “Hey hey, my buddy, my brothers…”
Wu Jin glanced around and whispered, “Four. There are only four lifts that are going up right now.”
Wu Jin and Raphael went down, and the two other roommates went up on the single lifts. Leica went up as he rapped, and in Leica’s small team, the two middle level players, Aryen and Tucker, fell together.
However, it was about to be Aryen’s turn to sing.
Raphael thought for a moment, then immediately understood. “If Aryen wants to go up onto the stage, he has to switch platforms. That means, Tucker will be left underground on his own. The King of Hearts has hidden himself in the B1 floor, and his habit is to kill those who are by themselves––”
Wu Jin nodded and spoke slowly, “The next one is Tucker.”
In the B1 mechanism floor.
The alternating lifting platforms caused the original alliances to collapse immediately. Tucker fell to the bottom of the stage and had only just breathed out a sigh of relief when his neck and shoulders suddenly felt cold! His opponent’s actions were extremely fast, their body moving like a ghost. In the moment when the blade stabbed into his neck, the life-saving capsule popped out pa.s.sively!
In his last glance before being eliminated, he could see Nicholas standing in front of him expressionlessly.
The anaesthetic agent filled with non-toxic makeup remover chemicals spread out from the bottom of the life-saving capsule. The camouflage for the compet.i.tion came into contact with the liquid chemicals, and the thin molecular membrane quickly peeled off and separated. The human skin fell out of Tucker’s life-saving capsule. Nicholas got down on one knee and reached for it––
The life-saving capsule rolled forward, pressing the human skin mask beneath it.
Raphael, who’d been the one to push the capsule, “Quickly!”
Nicholas suddenly raised his head and met Wu Jin’s blade. The stage lamp shone down from the gap in the lifts, reflecting off the blade as a pale streak of light. Behind the streak of light was w.a.n.g Ping’s face as he looked straight at Nicholas, and he could even see the primary amber color of his pupils beneath the disguise in the light and shadows.
Wu Jin attacked as quickly as lightning!
Clang! The sound of cold metal colliding vibrated across the complex mechanisms as the smell of rust and dreary moisture drilled into their noses. Wu Jin attacked and retreated. He didn’t continue fighting with K and dodged behind a nearby curtain. The King of Hearts kicked open the thick curtain just as the next lift landed and reached the bottom––
The light attempted valiantly to squeeze into the dim area through the cracks that were everywhere.
When the lifting platform came to a stop, a gust of wind and light swept out. Countless thick curtains in the B1 floor began to surge wildly from the dark stillness, the material trembling like the abyss of a human soul.
w.a.n.g Ping was running in the direction of a black stage curtain that was dancing in the strong wind.
There was just a few seconds difference as Wu Jin jumped ahead of the King of Hearts. He used the power of his wrists to hook onto the edge and climb up onto the lift!
The lift touched the bottom, then attempted to rise, separating the two people completely.
The King of Hearts’s footsteps stopped.
The stage lights and brilliant ceiling lights spread out a thick silver and scattered gold glow over the huge platform, and the curtains were once again stirred up by the strong wind.
w.a.n.g Ping was still rising upwards. He stood up high in the dazzling light.
Separated by a line of light and shadow, K stood in the abyss amidst the roiling curtains.
The two people looked at each other across the lift distance of over 4 meters, and their gazes collided with powerful intent.
From behind K, w.a.n.g Shu had already s.n.a.t.c.hed up ‘ucker’s mask and climbed onto another lifting platform in order to meet up with w.a.n.g Ping on the stage. It was a familiar tactical layout, a familiar a.s.sault command style, and a familiar non-frontal combat set-up.
The King of Hearts suddenly spoke up, “I recognize you. Crosson Show, Wu Jin.”
Wu Jin smiled, “It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you, King of Hearts.”
There was a click.
Wu Jin rose up to the stage level, and they were completely cut off from each other.
The atmosphere on the stage was heavy. Wu Jin, w.a.n.g Shu, and Tucker had been underneath at the same time, but Tucker was unable to make it up alive. Leica’s hostility when he looked at Wu Jin had already become a matter of course. w.a.n.g Shu ran over from the other side and threw Tucker’s ‘face’ to Wu Jin.
Wu Jin twisted twice as his wrist watch sent him notifications bit by bit. Wu Jin casually tucked the ‘face’ into an inner pocket, “It can’t be used. Only the player who eliminated him can replace their ident.i.ty.” Then, he switched the topic, “It’s time for the harmony section.”
A difficult battle had begun.
‘Harmony’ in Rap Cla.s.s 2 was a melodic rap. Every trainee needed to show their face.
There were 8 people left in the field at this time, but only 4 lifts were going up. To get on the stage, this was like a modified ‘musical chair’ game, and the difference was that the players who couldn’t grab the chair could sit on ‘other people’s chair’ and pull them down with them to sink together.
Ten seconds later, the middle of the pack trainee Aryen finally couldn’t bear it anymore and attacked first, going for w.a.n.g Ping’s roommate. Raphael didn’t say another word as he went over to help, while Wu Jin helped Raphael keep an eye out on the dead corner behind him. Soon, Aryen, who’d been driven away, was forced to sink to the B1 floor. Wu Jin and Raphael quickly chased him into the mechanism area, only to hear a shrill scream coming from Aryen!
The King of Hearts had attacked again. There were only 8 people left.
At this time, the stage suddenly burst out with cheers––the popular player Nicholas had finally appeared.
Wu Jin paused. The King of Hearts was actually on the stage and wasn’t attacking from the B1 floor. He’d come up on an adjacent lifting platform and thrown his blade!
Aryen’s life-saving capsule landed.
Wu Jin was relieved. The King of Hearts had killed over a distance and naturally couldn’t obtain Aryen’s mask. He wanted to ensure that K only had Nicholas’s ident.i.ty on hand.
He could only have this one dead chess piece.
On the stage, a roommate suddenly yelled out, “w.a.n.g Shu, Brother w.a.n.g!”
Another player had nearly been killed. Wu Jin picked up Aryen’s ‘face’ and glanced at Raphael. The two of them moved at the same time, transferring to lifting platforms that were on the way up.
However, Wu Jin had just managed to stand steady when a figure suddenly dropped down from above. The weight of both people added up, causing the lifting platform to sink down again. Wu Jin looked up at Leica, seeing the fear and hostility.
Wu Jin spread out his hands and drew his knife from his waist. He didn’t hesitate to perform a sword salute, “Please advise me.”
Leica’s expression changed. He had wanted to communicate with Wu Jin and form an alliance, but Wu Jin’s movements were straightforward, and the two immediately began to fight.
15 seconds later, Wu Jin pressed down on the handle of the knife and stabbed Leica’s chest. The capsule was ejected from the most standard position.
He picked up Leica’s mask, “Sorry, we are rivals.”
The mask was soft and delicate.
His watch vibrated as a few lines of small text appeared.
Leica.
Male.
new contestant. Initial image audience vote: 39.
––“Congratulations to player 300012, Wu Jin, on becoming the second owner of ‘Leica’.”
––“Lift the skin and shake it out like clothing, wearing it on your body. Only hands stained with blood can reveal the rules of the game. Once again, a warm welcome to the joint Crosson Show and Stardust Cup performance compet.i.tion, .”
––“Please aim your watch at the chip embedded in the mask.”
Wu Jin’s fingertips swept over the two small words, ‘Painted Skin’.
The top of the stage was a ma.s.sive brawl.
As for him, he and the previous Leica’s life-saving capsule stood still in the B1 mechanism level. There was one and a half minutes until the end of the show.
In fact, w.a.n.g Ping had blocked Nicholas from collecting ‘new masks’ like a mad dog during the entire performance and hadn’t even sung a single line of rap. It wouldn’t be surprising if he got zero votes.
However, Leica had been singing seriously.
There was still one minute and 20 seconds to go.
Wu Jin switched to the fan forum on his watch and sent out the edited draft form post.
Several Crosson Show miniature cameras circled around Wu Jin.
Wu Jin aimed the wrist watch at ‘Leica’s mask chip and quickly entered his new ident.i.ty. The ‘w.a.n.g Ping’ skin that was pasted on his face was released automatically.
Wu Jin reached out.
In the dark mechanism floor beneath the stage, the plain mask was torn off, revealing the youth’s slightly sweaty facial features and the equally damp small curls. The originally soft cheeks were a little thin, but appeared youthful and handsome due to the sharp fighting spirit layered over them.
This was the heroic air that had been slowly honed out, bit by bit, from the start of the first elimination match all the way to the seventh round.