Chapter Ch81.2 - Filming
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
That night, at the Crosson base twin towers.
Caesar held a muddy football and was surrounded by a group of rowdy trainees at the entrance, making the South Tower suddenly seem as noisy as a vegetable market.
Zoe stared at the entrance for a long time before finally meandering his way up the stairs to find Qin Jinbao, who was drinking wolfberry tea, “Captain Qin, have you seen our team’s Little Witch?”
Qin Jinbao leisurely opened his mouth and said slowly, “He went downstairs to do laps.”
Zoe wondered out loud, “He didn’t go play football? It’s already autumn, and it’s windy outside. What’s he running for?”
Qin Jinbao guessed, “He’s young and impetuous!”
Zoe thanked him and then made his way downstairs again in order to haul back the Wu Jin who was still running laps.
Wu Jin was full of energy. He’d run countless laps, yet his entire person still felt like it was burning, steam coming out of his head. Although the cold night wind that came at the start of autumn didn’t freeze the youth, it still sucked away a lot of moisture. Even so, Wu Jin was reluctant to lick his lips despite the dryness.
It felt magical.
The two of them went up the stairs and back to Wu Jin’s bedroom. Zoe casually handed Wu Jin some water, “Don’t stand there in a daze and forget to drink it. If you want to exercise, go to the training room downstairs. Why would you go outside and run around like a rabbit?”
Wu Jin accepted the water, unscrewed the bottle cap, and tilted his head back to drink. He was very careful not to let the water touch his dry lips.
To one side of the dormitory, Wei Yan pushed the door open and picked up the training clothes that had been washed and dried by the housework robot. He nodded slightly to Wu Jin in the living room, then returned to his room and closed the door behind him.
“His att.i.tude is pretty good…” Zoe considered it, then tossed it to the back of his mind. He handed Wu Jin the terminal, “Little Witch, the voting channel for the fourth elimination match has begun.”
In the middle of the screen, the special effects for the Crosson voting page were pompous and grand.
The original tarot divination layout had been changed into a cla.s.sic jungle, with giant ferns and vines all over the page and a river that flowed quietly towards the sea. There was a backdrop of fierce rainfall, and water splashed wherever the cursor went. Beneath the towering trees were a series of moving black shadows––
A Tyrannosaurus Rex leapt out.
A name hung below it: ‘Contestant 299763, Wei Yan.’
Wu Jin’s eyes grew wide.
Lightning suddenly struck through the jungle, causing the birds in the forest to fly up in the air. There were creatures in the water, and others hung suspended in the sky. The 200 million year old prehistoric period underwent a s.p.a.ce and time warp, and the dominant species from each era appeared one after another. The Argentinian Eagle from the Miocene epoch circled in the air with the name Zuo Botang hung beneath it; the Mosasaurus and Basilosaurus in the deep sea were Zoe and Wen Lin, the giant mammoth that represented Caesar swung its trunk on the sh.o.r.e, and Thin Fire was a dazzling Epidexipteryx––
Wu Jin was surprised at being unable to find himself.
Zoe quickly comforted him, “You’re here, you’re here!”
The cursor struggled to uncover a leaf, revealing a small furry animal with sharp ears who was licking its paws in a tree.
“k2026;k2026;” Wu Jin faintly felt that he was in trouble with this round of voting.
Zoe explained, “These characters were all voted on by fans. Don’t worry, Little Witch, your voting b.u.t.ton is basically the same size as the others. What’s this––Oh, it’s a miacis
.” Zoe looked through the Azure encyclopedia, “A species of small animals that lived in trees 40 million years ago. They’re quite cute.”
“’Compared to other related species, the brain capacity of this genus was much larger, and it is speculated that there was a significant increase in intelligence’. No wonder so many people voted for it…”
Wu Jin poked at the little ancient cat on the tree with the cursor. The little animal snuck away to another branch to hide, its ears lying flat as it looked at Wu Jin in dissatisfaction.
Wu Jin shifted the branches, and the little ancient cat called out as it jumped away, disappearing between the trees. A few seconds later, one side of the screen vibrated fiercely, and a saber-toothed tiger roared before charging in from off-screen. On its head was the little ancient cat who had just escaped, and it was obvious that the bigger cat had charged in for the sake of helping it get even.
Saber-toothed tiger––‘Contestant 298113, Wei Shi.’
Wu Jin lost control of the cursor in a flash.
Zoe glanced at it, “They only know how to stir up CPs all day long… I’m not talking about you, Little Witch, I’m talking about the program group. They only know to use these kinds of fancy methods to suck in more money, but there’s no change in the contestants’ quality of life at all. Other than those pre-match meals that are like our last meal before an execution, the canteen is filled with nothing but porridge and buns every morning, and they don’t even offer handheld wraps!”
He dragged the page down to the bottom and pointed to a line of text, “The voting wasn’t the important part. This is the key point.”
––The Crosson Show’s fourth elimination match sponsor, the ‘Evolutionary Scale’ Ecological Transformation Laboratory.
Their logo was precisely the ‘Red Queen’ from the first page of the handout.
Wu Jin nodded, and swiftly opened up his terminal to start searching.
“Evolutionary Scale, their laboratory was founded in 2788, with headquarters next to the Perseus constellation. Their main business is environmental transformation––providing integrated ecological and geomorphic transformation services as well as biological chain planning consulting services for colonial planets so as to ensure the establishment of a new and stable ecological balance and sustainable development after new species are introduced. Their secondary businesses include genetic modification for the livestock farming industry, pet design, landscape design, and so on.”
“How is it?” Zoe asked him, “Any ideas?”
Zoe was asking about the rules of the game. Wu Jin read the material carefully and picked out a few key words, “Ecological landscape transformation, biological chain.”
Zoe offered up his own speculations, “According to the Red Queen hypothesis, each species has to keep running just to stay in place. The core of the fourth elimination match––is it a rapidly changing biological chain?”
Wu Jin nodded. His thoughts were the same as Zoe’s. He looked carefully at the description again and his gaze stopped at the Red Queen logo.
“Changes in the biological chain can be caused by changes in the environment or coevolution.” The handout flashed through Wu Jin’s mind, “Based on the existing information, the first thing that needs to be done after entering the game––is to determine the root cause that’s driving the evolution.”
Zoe nodded, then used the terminal to share the information with Caesar and Wen Lin.
The fourth elimination match would have randomized teams, and the possibility of having all four of them in the same team was very small. Zoe could only do his best to prepare everyone in White Moonlight as much as possible before the game.
Zoe finished sending out the message and asked curiously, “Little Witch, how did your advertising shoot with Contestant Wei go?”
Wu Jin, who’d been looking up further information, froze. “Fi-fine!”
Zoe patted him on the shoulder and encouraged, “There aren’t many endors.e.m.e.nt opportunities for trainees. Little Witch, you don’t have to feel pressured by it!”
He then comforted, “Double endors.e.m.e.nt isn’t a problem, either! Our agent said before that there’s no need to mind the fans who ship you together with Contestant Wei right now. The CP fans will naturally be diverted when you make your debut…”
At this time, the door on the other side of the dorms opened. Caesar, who’d finished playing football and taken a shower quickly tossed a basket of clothes to the housework robot, “Hey, you guys are back––”
Seeing that Zoe was about to speak, Caesar quickly put on an obsequious expression, “Hey, about that, my wifey wants me to start a video call. Half an hour! Just half an hour!”
“……” Zoe waved, “Alright. Remember to look at your terminal. Go sleep after your video call. The curfew has just kicked in; don’t use up too much of your rest time.”
Caesar was very delighted and turned to Wu Jin, “Little Witch, that little cat of yours is really lacking in fighting spirit. Wait for your brother to brush up your votes and get you a ‘t.i.tan.o.boa’––”
Halfway through his sentence, he’d already flashed into his room and could no longer be heard.
“……” Zoe finally realized that Caesar was talking about the little ancient cat. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth to say, “They all say that people who are in love are fools. Everyone’s behavior when they’re in love is different, but most of them will turn stupid––Caesar is the exception. After all, his IQ has already reached rock bottom.”
Wu Jin suddenly looked up. He was in a daze and had an illusion that he’d been caught and was secretly being called out by the teacher.
As long as the big boss was within sight, his brain no longer seemed to turn or move.
Zoe continued to express his contempt from the viewpoint of a single dog, “Strange, it’s already 3018, yet straight men still haven’t been eliminated by natural selection and can even find partners!”
Zoe continued to nag for a while, telling Wu Jin to go to bed early. Wu Jin subconsciously opened up his terminal again, then stealthily looked up several knowledge points that he hadn’t heard of before in the course of their small talk.
After transmigrating to 1000 years in the future, Wu Jin had always been careful to cover up his original primitive native ident.i.ty while constantly absorbing new information like a sponge. He memorized a few more terms, and casually searched up straight men statistics––
According to the 3017 XX College psychological survey, h.o.m.os.e.xuality accounted for 10% of the population, and potential bis.e.xuals accounted for 40%…
Wu Jin dropped the terminal and splayed himself out on the bed.
Memory flashed back through his mind, beautiful and endless.
A few hours ago, he’d used the reason of being caught up in the act to kiss the big boss.
He’d already won the lottery by not getting kicked out of the life-saving capsule! …And the big boss had also been caught up in the act and had kissed him back, and it had been so hot and steamy that he’d lost track of where he was.
He’d been completely caught up in it, and it was impossible for him not to pull it up and face it head on.
Wu Jin spread out on the bed, and the virtual screen projected itself in mid-air.
On the voting page for the Crosson Show, the little ancient cat occasionally poked its head out from behind a tree, while the saber-toothed tiger wandered randomly around the same tree.
The big boss had kissed the person in the act, but he’d been kissing the person outside the act.
The saber-toothed tiger and the mammoth started fighting. Caesar’s mammoth AI settings weren’t very smart. He was soon beaten into fleeing, and instead went off to bully the flamboyant Epidexipteryx who was enjoying its own bright tail feathers.
A draft of a simple probability calculus was on the desk. Heteros.e.xuality accounted for 50% of the population. Once a straight man understood Wu Jin’s true thoughts, they would usually follow the routine and become disgusted, ending their relationship.
The saber-toothed tiger had chased away the mammoth and was now lying lazily beside the little ancient cat. Outside his room, Thin Fire, who’d been preparing to change clothes for washing suddenly screamed shrilly, “Who f*cking threw a football into the washing machine?! I [Beep––] Caesar [Beep––]…”
Wu Jin was dazed and bewildered by the noise. He sat up and looked at the probability calculation again.
He suddenly went still.
10% were h.o.m.os.e.xual. This was far, far more than the 2% who’d come out of the closet a thousand years ago.
In 3018, same-s.e.x marriage was completely legal––this essentially reflected the social recognition for LGBT groups. In other words, being bent wasn’t anything strange or different. On the Crosson Show, there was no burden that came with being open about one’s s.e.xuality.
In this kind of tolerant social environment, there was no s.e.xual discrimination. If he wanted to confess his feelings––of course, the premise was that the groundwork was already laid out––at worst, he would just be rejected and wouldn’t be tossed into the rift as fertilizer…
It seemed like.
He could.
Try.
And pursue…
Wu Jin suddenly jumped up from the bed.
He suddenly felt a strange calm after being entangled in this matter for the past few days. His heart rate steadied, and his blood temperature warmed. It seemed that even just thinking about the tiny possibility of getting together with the big boss––even the pursuit itself, was enough to make him unexpectedly inspired with enthusiasm.
Beside the bed, the rabbit who was bouncing about in the drawer gave Wu Jin a doubtful look.
Wu Jin called out happily and rushed over to rub the rabbit in excitement.
Ten seconds later, Brother Rabbit desperately attempted to escape from these demonic claws.
Wu Jin quickly smoothed down the white fluffy fur, “Brother Rabbit, don’t take it seriously! I’ll make it up to you… I was just a little excited!”
“I… ah, it’s my first time being bent… and I have no experience…”
Juurensha: Awwwww Little Witch so excited in his first love!
xiin: it’ll be okay, Little Witch… Wei Shi’s just waiting for you to figure it out~