Chapter Ch116.2 - The Fifth Elimination Match

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Monday passed by in a flash. After close-combat training, the oil painting class began.

Wu Jin categorically selected the ‘abstract starry sky’ painting with the lowest level of difficulty.

During a break in class, he quietly moved his easel to the corner of the classroom and discussed the contents of the handout with the rest of the White Moonlight team.

“The handout is like a direct copy from a travel brochure…” Zoe frowned.

“A tour guide map of the Palace of Versailles, a brief introduction to the art collection, and group photo locations for tourists.” Wen Lin nodded.

Wu Jin used the easel as cover and turned to a certain page in the handout.

It was precisely in the tourist group photo section. Two ladies in black robes stood side by side, giving off an aura of grace and kindness.

“A black and white photo. It seems to be from the 20th century…” Zoe rubbed his chin.

“1901.” Wu Jin spoke up. “I tried to search for this picture. On the left is Miss Mobley, the Dean of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University. On the right is Miss Jourdain, President of a girl’s school in London. But the photo isn’t known for this.”

Under the shadow of the easel, Wu Jin projected his terminal screen onto the canvas.

Zoe and Wen Lin’s mouths both dropped wide open.

1901, the Mobley-Jourdain incident.

It was also known as the Ghosts of Petit Trianon.

“Two highly respected British women visited a small château in the Palace of Versailles, called the Petit Trianon. It was given to Queen Marie Antoinette by King Louis XVI. They were walking through a grassy path when they saw a woman shaking a white cloth at the window. Dean Mobley was horrified, but President Jourdain believed that there was no windowed building nearby.”

“When they walked out of the path, the two ladies were both given a fright.”

“They saw passersby wearing court clothing from over a century ago, with strange and repulsive smiles on their faces. They could hear inexplicable sounds of running, but couldn’t see anyone moving. They instinctively had a distaste toward everything there; the air was sticky, and the human figures seemed unreal and ‘almost ghost-like’. They even saw a blonde woman painting on the grass––”

“The two of them fled from the Palace of Versailles in a hurry, all the way until they met with other tourists who’d come to see the paintings on the walls of the Versailles Museum.”

“The woman who’d smiled at them was Queen Marie Antoinette, who’d existed a century ago.”

“And what the two of them had seen on the path were ghosts who’d lived in the Palace of Versailles and never left.”

Zoe was shocked, and ended up drawing a sharp crack on the egg he’d painted on the canvas, “This is… a novel? A legendary piece of literature?”

Wu Jin shook his head, “It’s a real event. Based on their reputations at the time as the Dean of a college and a President of a school, there was no need for them to create a legend. In the following decades, this event was often used as an argument for the existence of ghosts and time travel.”

Wu Jin spread his hands, “Of course, for the fifth elimination match, we don’t need to explore the truth about the ghosts in the Trianon.”

Wen Lin stared at the terminal for a long time before sighing and nodding.

Zoe woke up from his thoughtful mediation and picked up where Wu Jin left off, “Yes. We just need to understand the clues given by the program team.”

“Art, ghosts, and the Palace of Versailles.”

The week flew by quickly. During the fashion jewelry design class that weekend, the Hyacinth Show’s female contestants were far ahead of the Crosson Show straight men trainees by an average of nearly 15 points. Other than Thin Fire, there was nobody else who even came close.

After the scores for the entire course were handed out, instructor Xia Zuo happily presented annual tickets for a Palace of Versailles tour to the trainees with ‘the most artistic cells’.

When the match was nearing its start, all the trainees who finally no longer needed to mix scents and paint finally heaved a sigh of relief. The combat training rooms were once again crowded with people.

After the White Moonlight team took the lead in picking out clues, several other groups of trainees soon followed suit.

The &#k2018;ghosts of the Palace of Versailles’ soon became an unspoken secret among the trainees from the various entertainment giants. According to Caesar, even Wei Yan was expressionlessly watching ghost films, while Ming Yao followed tutorial videos to practice drawing symbols on the balcony in the middle of the night.

“After that, he was carried to sleep by Captain Zuo.” Caesar spoke vaguely, then finally stuffed himself with another piece of beef.

At this time, there were a large number of people in the Crosson Show canteen. The last meal before the competition began had the characteristics of a standard French meal––all the trainees had to use knives and forks, and only small portions of food were placed in the middle of huge, white porcelain plates. With the plain white disks as a backdrop, even half a piece of soymilk tofu looked elegant and expensive.

Wu Jin lowered his head, and a small piece of foie gras on a silver fork melted as it entered his mouth. The sound of crunching from the opposite side never stopped as Caesar turned a plate of baked escargots into pistachios.

Judging from the quality of this last meal, the difficulty of this fifth elimination match shouldn’t be underestimated.

After all the contestants’ had had their plates taken away, the White Rose Vera headed leisurely towards her new teammate, Wu Jin.

Zoe quickly pulled out a chair for the goddess and exchanged the usual greetings.

Vera’s eyes were passionate, and her face was kind, “… Captain Zoe, don’t worry. You can hand Little Witch over to me––oh, I’ll protect him!”

Wu Jin choked, then hastened to solemnly promise that he would be the one protecting Vera.

The goddess snuck her chair closer to Wu Jin, watching as Wu Jin’s head nodded repeatedly, really wishing she could roll him up into a ball and take him away.

Son, don’t worry wuwuwu! Mama will help you advance to the next round!

During the last half hour of pre-battle preparations, Wei Shi, who’d skipped class for the entire week, finally arrived.

Chu Chu, who’d been one step away from filing a missing persons report to the police, burst into tears, “You’re still alive…”

Wu Jin touched his terminal. Over the past week, the three hours of video time every night had caused him to practically forget that the big boss wasn’t at the base. One of them looked up information while stroking a rabbit, while the other went through documents while petting a cat. Other than the fact that they couldn’t touch, things had been the same as usual.

Before setting out, Wu Jin obtained a new combat suit and dove into the dressing room––

The door slid shut with a click.

The combat suit that hadn’t been pulled on properly yet slid down to the youth’s shoulders, the hand that had last been seen petting a cat wrapped around the back of the youth’s head, rough and dry fingers wandering among the small curls. Wu Jin immediately charged up excitedly like an energetic cub, jumping and arching chaotically.

Wei Shi held him in place, and instantly kissed him until he lost all sense of direction.

Then, he helped the youth put on his combat jacket.

Only now did Wu Jin discover that the man he’d lost contact with for a full day was more silent than usual.

“Where have you been?” Wu Jin asked him quietly. He had his back to the wall. Next door, Thin Fire was currently live streaming as he changed; he would take off a piece of clothing for every Large Treasure Sword that was gifted, and it was incredibly noisy.

Wei Shi: “R-Code Base.”

The man’s eyes landed calmly on Wu Jin’s body, and Wu Jin was shocked by the depth of his gaze, “What––”

Wei Shi: “We’ll talk after the game.”

Wu Jin nodded obediently and sat on a small stool in the corner to watch the big boss change clothes. The man’s powerful body and long, straight legs filling up the special material of their combat gear.

Wu Jin stretched out his head to watch, not blinking at all.

Wei Shi turned and stuffed two things at him.

Wu Jin looked down. There was a line of text on the small medicine box: Photosensitive Graphene Night-Vision Contact Lens (red beauty pupils, light polarizing). There was a little white rabbit with red eyes painted beside the text.

“!!!” Wu Jin quickly stuffed it back. Fortunately the other box was the ordinary, colorless night vision type.

Wu Jin’s eyesight hadn’t yet recovered. Wei Shi now asked the blind little guy to make his own decision, “If you go find the program producer to approve a sick notice, the program team will probably be accommodating.”

Wu Jin held up the small medicine box and looked it over several times, but ultimately set it down, “I’d rather not.”

To use night vision enhancing gear on the grounds of taking part in a competition with an illness wasn’t fair to the other players.

Wei Shi nodded, unconditionally supporting any decision Wu Jin made.

“Remember.” The man opened his mouth, his dark pupils looking directly into Wu Jin’s round ones, “Your disadvantage can also become your advantage.”

Half an hour later.

In front of the tarmac.

Thin Fire, who was the last to be ready, finally joined the rest of the team, and the players met up with their teammates one after another. Wu Jin and Vera finally checked over their ‘ball invitation’ for the fifth elimination match, then boarded the aircraft cabin amidst the loud noise.

The Capetian Dynasty tourism company was obviously very rich. After they entered the honeycomb-like isolated rooms, contestants could still enjoy settling into soft satin sofas and were served royal black tea and delicate snacks on a dessert table.

Handouts and travel brochures were placed casually beside the flower vase, and the dark patterns of the iris emblem could be seen everywhere.

Wu Jin discussed possible approaches with Vera in a low voice.

“Before the dance, we should need to changie clothes again. Lous XIV’s court dances have extremely strict dress standards.” Wu Jin quickly flipped through the travel guide, “Also, how will the contestants pick their role…”

Vera fixed up her make-up, “What do you want to choose––”

Her gentle female voice was interrupted all of a sudden as a harsh whistle sounded, the entire cabin shaking violently due to a change in acceleration.

The two of them looked up abruptly.

The cabin announcement rang out at this time.

“Dear all 350 contestants. We’ve arrived at the location for the elimination match. You are now allowed to open the blackout panels and have three minutes to decide where to land. The parachute backpack is in your set lockbox, and the access code is 1789.”

“We wish you a pleasant journey.”

Wu Jin paused, then bounced up at the same time as Vera.

The locked panels could finally be opened up. Beneath them, the recreated Versailles scenic spot was brilliant beneath the afternoon sun. The palaces were majestic, the canals sparkled, and farmhouses were scattered around at random.

The floor to the cabin opened up with a bang.

Wu Jin fought against the assault to his eardrums and quickly opened his mouth, “The Palace of Versailles is in the center, and the materials should be the densest there. To the northwest is the Grand Trianon, the king’s mistress’s residence and banquet hall, as well as the Petit Trianon, the canals, the orange grove, and the zoo built for the queen––”

“Where do we jump?”

Vera looked at Wu Jin and tried her best to mouth the words.

Wu Jin nodded, then quickly strapped on the parachute before stretching out his hand. The youth’s strong arm held the lady’s red fingertips and protected Vera in the moment that they fell.

The air that blew past was cold and piercing.

The players dropped down like dumplings into water––

Wu Jin shouted, “Open the parachute!”

The parachute wings opened up at the same time.

The Palace of Versailles shone in the sun, as though welcoming them with open arms in the horizon, wantonly displaying its brilliant glory from over ten centuries ago.

There were many lights and shadows throughout the empty palace. At the time of landing, Wu Jin could even vaguely make out a long war gallery and the Hall of Mirrors.

Wu Jin released his teammate’s hand and smiled at Vera, “Gamble and go to the Palace of Versailles––”

The youth’s voice cut off abruptly.

In the window of the North Wing, there seemed to be a pale figure passing by.

At this time, the other trainees were still floating down from the sky and rushing towards the door as soon as they could, but this person seemed to have been standing in front of the window sill for a long time.

Wu Jin rubbed his eyes.

After the contestants landed, the sky darkened at a pace visible to the naked eye. In the distance, the riverside, the Palaces of Trianon as well as the farmhouses all lit up one after another. The two of them exchanged glances, then rushed towards the palace without hesitating.

A shrill scream from a female trainee came from the North Wing Tower!

“Obtain weapons first!” Wu Jin spoke a reminder, “The Palace of Versailles has 2300 rooms and 67 staircases. Let’s go to the second floor.”

On the long corridor, two pairs of decorative medieval armor sets were placed on either side of a candle holder. Wu Jins’ eyes brightened, and he took one of the swords from a set of armor, handing it to Vera before reaching out for the second one.

Vera suddenly pulled Wu Jin to the side, the long sword sweeping up.

Metal clanged.

The armored warrior moved slowly. There was first the sound of a collision, and then the rusty arm that held the sword rose up––

The silent armored warrior slowly opened up his dead, blood red eyes.

In the competition arena, all 350 players had finally landed.

The Palace of Versailles seemed to wake up from its deep slumber, filling up with the sound of players running around in the cold wind, and a few unpleasant whispers of sound could be heard.

Inside the palace, the cameras circled and hovered. Off the field, the little editor shook the travel brochures in his hands, and the logistics team rushed to display the discount prices for the season’s tour package tickets on the broadcast screen––

On the grass lawn of the Trianon Palace, the stage manager hurriedly stuffed in a small wooden card.

The lens cut in and focused.

“The fifth elimination match, sponsored by Capet Dynasty––Resurrection, Palace of Versailles.”

Juurensha: Ooooo let’s see how this goes!

xiin: @[email protected]