Chapter Ch100.2 - Hyacinth

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

It was two in the morning by the time the White Moonlight meeting ended.

Wu Jin went back to his own bedroom, his eyelids no longer willing to remain open. When he thought about how Zoe was going to urge them to pack up their suitcases early tomorrow morning, he couldn’t help falling asleep as soon as he picked up Brother Rabbit.

The wall between the two adjacent bedrooms was thick and cold. After Wu Jin fell asleep, he felt like he could hear the heartbeat on the other side as he slowly turned over, huddling against the wall.

Next door.

Wei Shi, who was communicating with someone on his terminal on the other side, paused and looked at the white wall.

“Mm.” The man’s voice dropped.

“The third course of treatment. I know.”

“No need, it’s not related to him.”

The man hung up, and the black cat immediately jumped up obediently onto the bed, spreading itself flat and waiting to be petted.

He casually pacified it with a few strokes, then swallowed the last two pills on top of the cupboard.

Then fell asleep to the shallow and inaudible sound of the youth’s breathing.

The second day.

The south tower was messy and chaotic, yet filled with a happy atmosphere thanks to the upcoming seven day holiday. Wei Shi was already long gone, his room empty.

Trainees’ dirty clothes and stinky socks were crammed into suitcases until they couldn’t be closed, and domestic robots could only pull away the players who were sitting forcefully on their luggage and carefully fold up the clothes and items before sending them down to the suspension cars waiting downstairs.

It was a rare day where nobody had to wear training uniforms, and the base was full of color.

Thin Fire’s pink shirt was particularly striking. Qin Jinbao wore a casual mandarin jacket, and Zoe’s white shirt was even matched with a stylish tie. It seemed that he could attend a business negotiation at any minute.

Wu Jin, who’d never visited a clothing store in the past three months, wore a t-shirt with one of the company’s slogans. He ran into Ming Yao, who’d just come over.

Ming Yao was wearing a full set of low-key luxury clothing, looking elegant and stylish as he followed behind Zuo Botang.

It was clear from one look that Wu Jin’s little white t-shirt was of low quality, with the White Moonlight logo and the words ‘the trainee is here’ at the front, and the words ‘the trainee is gone’ at the back.

Wu Jin greeted them calmly, walked a few dozen steps, then finally showed an expression of shock at such a display of wealth.

Zoe patted him on the shoulder, “We can’t compete with him! Ming Yao’s family are real Federal aristocrats! If he doesn’t do well in the survival show, he’ll have to go back and inherit hundreds of millions worth of properties…”

Wu Jin was in a daze.

Zoe recalled further, “Oh, yeah, there’s a survival show gossip group, I’ll pull you in later. It’s got one spot open right now. Last time, Caesar was too focused on the gossip and delayed his training, so Secretary Qu kicked him out.”

Before leaving, Zoe did one last roll call and took the team to Ying Xiangxiang’s office.

The female instructor smiled sweetly as she gave them the so-called ‘elimination match survival skills’ materials in electronic form as well as an invitation letter for the fifth elimination match.

After piling into the suspension car, the few of them quickly opened it up––

The invitation letter was sealed with sealing wax, and the design was a flowery letter V that carried a strong Western European medieval style. The letter paper was a retro pale yellow, and the outline of a rose and sword could be seen on the paper when it was held up against the light.

“A court ball…” Caesar read the invitation contents out loud, “What kind of thing is this?”

Wu Jin opened up the materials that Ying Xiangxiang had given them, “Court dances, one of the important aristocratic rituals from the late 15th century. Every knight must master the dance steps…”

Wen Lin quickly realized, “A court dance, ballroom dancing––are the female contestants our dance partners?”

Zoe supported this theory, “It should be. Let’s learn it first. I don’t know if we’re going to be killing then dancing or dancing then killing.”

Caesar yelled exaggeratedly, “Maybe it’s killing and dancing at the same time! The kind where high heeled shoes are covered in blood, knights are beheaded in minutes, and there’s random poison at the banquet…”

Zoe’s throat convulsed, “We just finished breakfast, could you stop your crow’s mouth––go back and train well. Perhaps they’ll start eliminating from the ones who dance the worst!”

Caesar: “Do we even need to compare? Little Witch will definitely be first!”

Half an hour later, the White Moonlight tower appeared in front of them.

Wu Jin got out of the car and discovered that Secretary Qu, who’d come to meet them, had her lips pursed tight and only nodded silently to the team.

Even with Zoe’s foreshadowing, the atmosphere in the company was still more uneasy than Wu Jin had imagined.

The company’s battle team, team captain Lin Jue and vice-captain Chen Xiran were seated on the second floor, talking between themselves occasionally, but the rest of the building was so quiet that they would be able to hear it if a pin fell to the ground. The team manager was nowhere to be seen.

“At the end of the season, the primary scout player will transfer out to Eagle Entertainment.” Zoe had gone to inquire about the situation, then told them this in a low voice, “The news will be released two weeks from now, so we’re learning about it in advance.”

Wu Jin nodded.

After the summer competitions, it was rare for major changes to happen in big, established teams––for White Moonlight’s scout to choose to leave at this time was piling on more difficulties to the situation in light of the team’s successive failures.

“He’s too hasty in leaving.” Zoe’s voice held traces of anger, “Eagle Entertainment is certain that White Moonlight doesn’t have any good seedlings that can take over the scouting position. The reserve scouts were poached before the summer games, and the replacement trainees are still inexperienced.”

Wu Jin thought about it, “They can only change configurations or try to poach people from elsewhere.”

White Moonlight had used the configuration of sniper, assault, scout, and support for the past two seasons. Having one of their main forces be poached away was definitely a huge blow.

“There’s no time to run in a new team, the Azure Competition Zone Stardust Cup is about to start.” Zoe shook his head, “The PR team and the manager will try their best to deal with it. As for the line up… they’ll try to use what the company currently has.”

Wu Jin froze. Their main team was obviously understaffed.

Zoe: “Caesar will take part in the Stardust Cup as a reserve assault. I will also apply to be a substitute for vice-captain Chen when I come back from the training in Floating City. Also––”

Zoe looked at Wu Jin and finally showed a smile, “You and Ah Lin should prepare to start playing with the team.”

Wu Jin was caught off guard and couldn’t say if what he felt was shock or surprise––

Zoe laughed loudly and gave him a thumbs up, “Your gun skills are still a little lacking, and your close combat ability is even worse, but Little Witch, remember, you’re the secret nuclear weapon of our trainee department! Alright, let’s tidy up and prepare to go to Floating City.”

Wu Jin’s curls bounced up. Although he knew that Zoe’s words were mostly for encouragement, he was still excited.

The team only went back to their rooms to rest and reorganize their things before dragging their luggage with them to head over to Floating City. White Moonlight’s captain Lin Jue was sitting behind the one-sided glass on the second floor with vice-captain Chen Xiran, who looked at the little white t-shirt that Wu Jin was wearing and burst out laughing, “Did nobody help him buy clothes?”

Secretary Qu immediately replied, “We did, it’s in his luggage!”

Chen Xiran nodded and looked at Lin Jue, “Have you finished being angry? If you’re done, let’s send off the little warriors.”

The four people in the trainee team were flattered to have the core of the battle team see them off beside the suspension car. Lin Jue, who always had a straight, serious face, even spoke a few rare words of encouragement.

After they got into the car, the trainees who were as quiet as quails in front of the team captain immediately started smiling and joking.

“Azure Cosmos, Floating City!” Caesar patted the back of his chair and shook his head, “It’s really a place where one can indulge in the extravagances of life.”

Zoe had sent Caesar and Wen Lin the training manuals a few weeks ago and also highlighted the closed training mode, “Also, remember to wear your masks. Especially Caesar, respect the cultural customs and keep your paws to yourself. Don’t take off other people’s masks!”

Caesar: “What does it mean to take off someone’s mask?”

Zoe called Wu Jin out, “Little Witch, take out that story, the one where the Floating City King forced off his little cheating wife’s mask and let Caesar take a look…”

Zoe: “Little Witch?”

Zoe looked back and suddenly discovered that Wu Jin was daydreaming happily while leaning against the window. It was unknown what he was thinking of, but he hadn’t heard a word.

Zoe was quite surprised.

After the team arrived at the port and boarded the star ship to Floating City, Caesar poured himself a glass of white wine and spread out on the sofa.

A message came in via the terminal.

“The Crosson Show…” Caesar suddenly howled at the top of his voice, “The voting page is coming out! And, the theme for the next elimination match!”

Wu Jin bounced up with a swish and leaned over.

In the virtual screen, fountains of water were surging towards the sun. The buildings were magnificent and striking against the clear sky, and the marble courtyard was shining. Well-bred ladies played together in groups, while knights holding swords engraved with golden prayer verses bowed slightly. There were countless murals and reliefs that shifted like they were real––

Everyone’s expression was blank and dazed.

It was like they’d all lost the souls from their bodies.

There was a line of flowery text.

Château de Versailles.

Wu Jin immediately recognized the V as the same as the one in the invitation letter.

Versailles.

While his teammates were still thinking, he’d already quickly come to a realization; Wu Jin’s medieval history was better than that of the ordinary people from a society a thousand years in the future.

“Versailles.” He blurted out, “The last era of chivalry, kings as the supreme power and military might––”

Wu Jin looked at the figures who were in varying poses on the screen, “The royal family, the clergy, lords, ladies and knights, and their retinues, and the servants.” As well as the man in the middle of it all, “The Sun King, Louis XIV.”

Zoe was shocked, “They are….”

Wu Jin pointed to the blank faces in the voting page, “When the fifth elimination match begins, we will enter the Palace of Versailles and become these people.”

Caesar: “Wait a minute––role play? We’ll draw names?!”

Wu Jin nodded.

Caesar: “In that case, let’s snatch up the King position and try it––”

Wu Jin thought about it, “Not necessarily a good thing. If you get Louis XIV, you’ll be the longest reigning monarch. If you take Louis XV, you’ll be able to have mistresses everywhere. If you take Louis XVI…”

Caesar: “Yes?”

Wu Jin spoke earnestly, “You’ll be… beheaded.”

xiin: AHAHAHA YES ITS THE 100TH CHAPTER (we’re still less than halfway done) but! Our wonderful ML will get more more more more more screen time from now on~ and more plot~ and the next competition match is gonna be super fun, and the mini-arc in Floating City will be super interesting… hope you all are enjoying SURPRISE so far!

Juurensha: Yaaaay, we made it to 100 chapters! And the theme for the next instance seems super fun! Too bad Little Witch didn’t get to sneak into WS’ room this chapter…