Chapter Ch67.1 - Altar
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
The door to instance number 6 closed with a rumble.
Wu Jin, who’d just walked out, turned back one last time––
The light in the gap flickered and shifted. His gaze traversed the silent Garden of Eden to see Wei Shi standing on the elevated platform, tall and powerful, with his back against the light.
Wei Shi had replaced ‘The Lovers’ card that had originally belonged to Jingyi.
The door with the arch covered in complex patterns finally closed and blocked the youth’s vision.
The sound of the densely packed mechanisms of the instance shifting around rang out again, signifying the reconstruction of the instance for the next scene.
Wu Jin turned around, his heart beating violently in his chest. He didn’t know if it was because they’d just fought side by side, or because his big brother had fixed up his gun strap for him.
At this time, the cameras around him were still. It was obvious that the live broadcast in the director studio had shifted to another place––in the last few minutes, the two of them had managed to avoid the cameras perfectly.
Wu Jin let out a sigh of relief, but the rabbit ball in his heart tried hard to dig in with its little claws, flipping back and forth through his memories. The scene from two hours ago in the ‘Judgement’ card instance reappeared, the heat from big boss pressing himself into the coffin overlapping with the scene just now––
He’d been so incredibly nervous when trying to avoid the cameras, but the bottom of his heart had been bursting with secret jubilation.
Wu Jin silently pressed down the rabbit claws that were tickling inside of him. When he raised up his small round face again, he was alert and ready for battle.
In front of him was the familiar gothic cloister, the style consistent with stained gla.s.s windows and engraved decorations on both sides of the walkway. Above him were the high spires and dim lighting.
Wu Jin stilled slightly.
He had entered the cloistered walkway three times, and it seemed that the light was stronger every time. Even the temperature seemed to be higher than before.
The rumbling sound of mechanisms shifting came from overhead, like the noise of a boulder rolling by. Wu Jin recalled that when he first entered the arena, the four members of the White Moonlight team had also heard similar sounds simultaneously.
He raised up his head and was finally able to make out what was at the top of the gothic altar in the dim lighting.
Beneath the dense yet scattered spires was a towering statue.
Unlike the angel sculptures that were suspended above the instances, this statue was located even higher. It seemed to be above all the instances, and the faint glow of fire was reflected in his eyes.
He wore a winged cap and had a scepter intertwined with two winged snakes in his hands. He wore a cape around his body that was molded from ice-cold rock, and at his feet was a fire pit with a nearly extinguished fire.
The statue and the fire pit were integrated, standing still in mid-air and isolated from the various instances filled with fighting and killing beneath his feet, like a heaven and h.e.l.l that couldn’t be connected.
There was a small cl.u.s.ter of flames above the fire pit, which seemed to be the source of light from above.
The cl.u.s.ter of fire was very fragile at the start, and it seemed to grope for progress in the dark, only to be blown away by the strong, howling wind. However, the fire in the fire pit continued to struggle, and soon after, it was gently accepted and combined with another cl.u.s.ter of fire. In the moment that it was about to arrive at the fire pit, it was. .h.i.t abruptly by another gust of wind and dejectedly dissipated again.
It continued on round after round, cycle after cycle, and the fire never seemed to be fully lit.
The corridor was illuminated by this constantly burning and extinguishing fire.
Wu Jin retrieved his gaze.
He recognized the statue of the G.o.d at the top. Even across the entire building, regardless of whether it was a sculpture or stained gla.s.s facade, the shadow of this G.o.d could be seen everywhere.
Given the moniker of ‘the conveyer of cosmic wisdom’, the origin of magic, astrology, and alchemy, the ‘thrice-greatest’ G.o.d Hermes from Greek mythology.
The whole building was built in homage to him.
However, the clues that could be inferred from the statue were limited. After all, metaphysics had always been known for its obscurity. Wu Jin made a point to remember the location of the statue and started to fumble his way towards the materials box in his memory.
‘The Lovers’ instance had ended neatly. Of the White Moonlight team, Wu Jin had been the first to come out of his instance.
He gave a short report on his position over the communication channel, then quickly shut down the mic. At this time, each of them were fighting their own battles, and any noise over the team channel could interfere with his teammates’ ability to hear the sound of guns.
What he needed to do was to exchange materials and prepare to meet up with them before Zoe came out of his instance.
There was n.o.body guarding the materials box. Ming Yao, who’d escaped one step ahead of them, was already nowhere to be seen.
Wu Jin narrowed his eyes slightly and placed the Nine of Wands card he’d collected from the instance into the card slot––
A piece of parchment fell out of the materials box.
Wu Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They’d guessed right. Cups signified armor, pentacles meant bullets, swords meant guns, and wands was the knowledge and reason above it all––maps, clues, or rules.
The parchment was quickly spread out, and a broken map appeared on the paper.
Wu Jin froze, his heartbeat surging abruptly.
In the map, the instances weren’t squares, but rounded rectangles that looked like scattered cards at first glance. Instance rooms 1-7 were marked on the map, amongst which rooms 1-6 formed a treacherous cross. Most of the rooms were vertical, and only room 2 was horizontal.
1 and 2 were in the middle, and 2 was above room 1––like two cards stacked at a right angle to each other. The other four were spread out like the arms of the cross, and instance 7 was to the lower right corner of the cross.
At the bottom of the map was a small line of words, “The three parts of cosmic wisdom, the thrice-greatest is more than the single Hermes. This is an irrefutable, immaculate truth.”
Wu Jin: “……”
The clue that came with this map was really outside their common knowledge. It seemed that its purpose was to alert the players to the G.o.d above them.
However, Wu Jin had done a lot of homework prior to entering the compet.i.tion. He was no stranger to the background of this G.o.d, basically making this textual clue a waste.
However, the drawing of the map finally allowed him to connect the dots.
Not only was it the major arcana that controlled the instances, but the shape of the instances were similar to cards. The tarot cards were arranged following a certain established shape––
It was like a divine fortune teller setting down the cards in turn and turning them over one by one to lift up the veil of fate.
Wu Jin’s eyes suddenly lit up.
The instances in the third elimination match that had opened and operated weren’t scattered at random, but could be put together to form a certain spread that would provide an answer to a certain divination.
At this time, Zoe’s voice came out over the team communication channel, “Little Witch, I’m about to come out. Instance number 2.”
Wu Jin’s expression turned joyful. He quickly rolled up the map, lifted up the guns that were arrayed on his back, and rushed over to the entrance of that instance.
The dim corridor was illuminated by firelight, and a series of trainees ran out the instant the instance was opened. The new moon shed a cold light as it shone out through the opened doorway.
The sound of gunshots burst out.
The two people from White Moonlight pulled out their guns at almost the same time.
Zoe clenched his teeth, “Little Witch, the one with the helmet to the left, snipe that b*stard! He dared to attack me in the instance!”
Wu JIn nodded. The two of them, one in front and one behind, held back the crowd. The shotgun and light sniper rifle shot in from two sides. The pupils of the target who’d been aimed at contracted, and he didn’t have time to defend himself before being shot down by Wu Jin.
Zoe was quick to finish the kill, the silver life-saving capsule popping out, and guns clattering to the floor, “Let’s go!”
The two of them s.n.a.t.c.hed up the equipment and turned to retreat. The map appeared in Wu Jin’s mind again, “Brother Zoe, this way!”
White Moonlight had finally gathered together, and the youth was cheerful as he ran over to Zoe. The White Moonlight sniper’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he stared, “Little Witch, how did you get so many guns?!”
It wasn’t until they were back behind shelter that Wu Jin gave a stuttering reply. It was obvious that he was enc.u.mbered by the seven or eight guns, “Just, in the last instance…”
Zoe: “The Lovers instance?!”
Wu Jin nodded repeatedly, his hand holding tightly to the King of Swords, his smile gentle.
Zoe seemed to sense that something was off, and he couldn’t quite make sense of it for a moment, “… Who was your teammate?”
Wu Jin blinked cleverly, “A C-level trainee, surnamed Wei, called…”
Zoe was slightly relieved. The Lovers instance was rather ambiguous, but fortunately, as long as it wasn’t that coquettish Thin Fire, the fans wouldn’t pay much attention to it.
On the other side, Wu Jin chattered on as he described the instance roughly, and Zoe was finally completely relieved.
Previously, when the man from ‘The Chariot’ had cut him off half way, by the time he’d arrived at ‘The Lovers’ instance, it had already been full. He had no choice but to go around to instance number two with ‘The Moon’ on his own, with no way to take care of Little Witch. Unexpectedly, Little Witch’s partner was pretty good, and he actually managed to kill Zuo Botang.
The most satisfying thing for him was that Little Witch didn’t say more than ten words to the teammate he had been matched with!
He’d very rationally avoided having the group of crazy fans who liked to create CPs on the Crosson Show.
Zoe nodded, “It seems that Contestant Wei is pretty good; he watched your back. After leaving the match, Little Witch, remember to buy them some fruit as a gift.” His tone was similar to thanking a neighbor who’d helped him watch over his child doing homework.
Wu Jin’s eyes shone, and he promised that he would.
Zoe pondered, “But you said that that Contestant Wei ended up changing the cards in the instance? Wouldn’t it be good for him to keep using The Lovers card? What’s he thinking…”
Wu Jin froze, but he felt a faint trace of joy in his heart.
Big brother had changed cards, so he wouldn’t team up with other players and become ‘lovers’….
Ahhhhh how could he think such things! Fighting for favor as a little follower was a big taboo!
xiin: omg guys i’m so sorry this didn’t go out as scheduled because i… scheduled the date wrong T_T