Chapter Ch118.1 - Giant

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

“It’s fine.”

In the moment when Vera’s hair stood on end, Wu Jin suddenly reached out to stop his teammate, “He’s the one who gave us the notebook.” He explained in a low voice, “Let’s see what he’ll do.”

The ghost’s bloodstained arms were very close to Wu Jin, close enough that the dried blood and white bone could be seen. The skin was split and flesh was out in the open from the neck down; it was a very shocking sight.

Vera’s throat convulsed, and she held tight to Wu Jin’s elbow.

Wu Jin soothed her, “It’s just a 4D projection.”

The painter’s face was handsome but pallid, and his figure was thin. Apart from the blood and half rotten flesh, he also had a pair of beautiful hands.

It was difficult to believe that he’d stabbed himself nine times with a knife with these hands, leaving the painter lying in his own pool of blood.

The hands fluttered across the page, rubbing repeatedly along one side of the notes until they finally stopped on one sentence.

––“He died of his last painting.”

The air in the old hall was stale and dreary. Beneath the burning candlelight in the Hercules Salon, the ghost slowly started to fade away.

Wu Jin hadn’t yet had time to ask again when the figure of the painter rapidly dispersed.

The last painting.

Wu Jin flipped the page and finally saw the name of the painting.

<Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy> Lemoyne, 1737.

Wu Jin closed the notebook with a snap.

New clues.

The youth finally glanced in the direction the painter had disappeared from, then looked up at the vast ceiling artwork before finally tucking the notebook into his combat suit and walking quickly towards the door.

Vera followed him, “Where are we going?”

Wu Jin took a deep breath, “Back to the reference room. To find out where François Lemoyne’s last painting is hidden.”

The Palace of Versailles had the richest historical collections of France. As Louis XV’s chief painter, Lemoyne’s life story and paintings had to have been recorded. However, the moment the two of them set foot outside of the Hercules Salon, Vera suddenly felt something and looked down at the card.

The card was a little hot.

“The card changed!” Vera spoke quickly.

The original painting of skies and clouds had faded, replaced with a flowery signature.

François Lemoyne.

Vera’s heart sank, “Is it only this card that’s changed, or did all the cards change&#k2026;”

Wu Jin’s expression wasn’t optimistic, “The first time the prompt for the instance appeared, all the cards changed at the same time. Most likely, once a team advances the progress of an instance, all players will benefit from the clues.”

Vera was surprised, “That’s not fair!”

Wu Jin shook his head and didn’t discuss it further. With the cards, all the players would benefit from the clues at the same time––this small change was designed to reduce the ‘information imbalance’ between players.

It would no longer be as easy for him to gain an advantage as it had been in previous elimination matches.

For most of the Crosson Show contestants, this would be considered ‘fair’.

“We need to be fast.” Wu Jin could basically imagine that all the players were now rushing towards the reference room.

After the painter’s name emerged, the two people’s only advantage lay in the notebook in Wu Jin’s arms.

The corridor was full of the sound of footsteps. The two of them spoke in low voices as they walked across the dark red carpet.

“I’m thinking about what the conditions are for winning the instance.” Wu Jin whispered, “The first clue, <Apotheosis of Hercules>, led us to the court painter Lemoyne. The second clue guides players to pay attention to the ‘last painting’ and concerns the death of the painter. And the third clue––”

“The biggest possibility is that the entire instance is set up towards having the players discover the real cause of Lemoyne’s death.”

Vera pursed her lips, “Nine strikes, and every one of them inflicted damage. Is it really possible that he did it himself?”

“From the angle of the wounds on the ghost, it doesn’t seem like––” Wu Jin paused all of a sudden and looked ahead.

The entrance to the reference room was right ahead of them, but it seemed that someone else had stepped inside first.

Wei Yan, who was also looking for the painter’s information.

Vera’s eyelids twitched.

“No hurry.” Wu Jin quickly tugged Vera back. After waiting at the door for another two or three minutes, they slowly walked towards the reference room with another group of trainees, “Wei Yan’s team… we’ll try our best to avoid a confrontation.”

A wood and light leather scent floated between the bookshelves. This reference room used to be the collection room for the French royal family over 10 centuries ago. Huge wooden bookshelves stretched up to the ceiling, and books and historical materials were piled up according to various categories.

Many contestants had gathered in the reference room, and the bookshelf area was full of people.

Wu Jin glanced around, and while everyone was watching them with speculative gazes, he took Vera with him to the court music section that was crowded with people.

Wei Yan was just two bookshelves away.

Just when the two of them had hidden themselves well, the sudden sound of a piano could be heard from outside the reference room at the other end of the corridor.

The contestants who’d still been checking over the music scores were all shocked, leaving behind their books to run outside. In a few short moments, only Vera and Wu Jin were left.

“Grand motet, Te Deum.” The piano playing was exactly the same as what had been played yesterday. Wu Jin listened carefully to a section of it before speaking.

Vera’s eyes almost fell out of her head, “You… you can tell?”

Wu Jin quickly explained that in the earlier musical course, the instructor had mentioned it a bit. This was an orchestral piece that had been adapted into a piano piece for the instance.

“Wu Jin’s hearing is really good.” Vera wasn’t stingy in her praise for her idol, “And your memory. This is a gift.”

Wu Jin swiftly shook his head, a slight blush appearing behind his ears. His hearing had always been very good, especially in dark environments. There seemed to be something in the deep recesses of his memory that had been ignored, but Wu Jin soon forgot all about it.

Vera smiled like a fox as she looked at her teammate’s small, round face, really wishing she could reach out to pinch and touch.

On the other side of the bookshelf, Wei Yan, who was still searching for information expressionlessly, encountered the two of them as expected. Wu Jin calmly pretended to be searching through the musical scores, his long fingers flipping through the pages and creating a rustling sound.

Wei Yan finally turned back around.

From behind the bookshelf.

After Wei Yan left, Wu Jin moved his lips and formed silent words.

Vera nodded.

The bookshelves were covered in mottled light and shadows. Wu Jin was very calm and didn’t look at Wei Yan at all, disguising himself as a perfect ‘piano music instance participant’. Wei Yan seemed to linger for a long time in the ‘Rococo oil painting’ section. In order to relieve his anxiety, Wu Jin forced his eyes to skip over the comedy ballet score, play music, and so on, finally finding the grand motet section.

He carefully took hold of the spine of the book and pulled the score out from the shelf.

The cover of the score was dark and dusty, and it looked as though it hadn’t been touched for a long time. The piano music that was playing outside the corridor was melodious and graceful, and Wu Jin’s heart finally calmed down when he opened up the musical score.

He handed Vera the score, “The score they were looking for, <Te Deum> by Jean-Baptiste Lully.”

Vera concentrated on it and was only able to piece together the melody after a long time of staring at it. It sounded the same as the music from the corridor.

The young woman looked at Wu Jin with respect and even gave him a salute.

“Lully, the chief composer of Louis XIV’s court.” Wu Jin explained.

Te Deum was a psalm, but it actually praised the Sun King’s great achievements. The composer’s position in Versailles was unparalleled, and he devoted almost his entire life to Louis XIV, the Sun King. Lully’s style was ever changing––it was magnificent, with meanings between the lines, shrouded in sunshine.

––“Where there is sun, there is meaning to my existence.”

Wu Jin looked at a sentence in Lully’s statements.

Vera sighed emotionally, “They haven’t found this score yet.”

Wu Jin: “It’s more difficult to find a music score than it is to find an oil painting.”

Vera raised her eyebrows, “It wasn’t hard for you…” The young woman sighed regretfully, “If only we’d obtained the piano card.”

Wu Jin comforted her, “Perhaps it can still be put to use…”

While the two were discussing, Wei Yan, who was a few bookcases away, stopped and looked repeatedly at a page in a book.

Wu Jin and Vera both paused.

He’d found a clue. Vera’s brows twisted in a frown as she mouthed the words.

A few seconds later, the card really turned hot again. The two of them bowed their heads at the same time––similar to what had happened at the Hercules Salon, the card changed after Wei Yan found something new. It changed from the painter’s signature to a scribbled narrative.

“Funeral ceremony, Royal Chapel, 1737.”

“The Royal Chapel––” Vera whispered, “Should we go over first?”

“Wait for Wei Yan to leave.” Wu Jin spoke quietly. They had chips of their own.

The third clue may be in Wei Yan’s hands, but the notebook was with Wu Jin. There must be something important in the Royal Chapel, but only he and Vera knew that the players still needed to find Lemoyne’s last painting before the instance could be cleared.

From several bookshelves away, Wei Yan finally took action, his footsteps disappearing off in the distance.

Wu Jin listened vaguely to the distant footsteps and felt that it was a little strange, but reason and logic forced his attention back.

Wu Jin finally guessed that the S-level trainee and his teammate had left, and reached out to take out two music scores, trying to find clues from the gap between the books.

At this time, the sky outside the Palace of Versailles was dark, and any illumination was provided by candlelight. Wu Jin’s eyesight hadn’t yet recovered, and it took him a few seconds to adapt to the shadows in the bookcase when he looked down.

The youth squinted slightly.

He clearly remembered that the books behind the two scores had been taken away by other contestants, and he should be able to see light from the other side of the shelf. Wu Jin rubbed his eyes, but the shadows behind the spines only grew heavier.

Something seemed to be in the way––

The shadow moved.

Wu Jin’s pupils shrank, and he almost tossed the score to the ground. Through the gap between the bookshelf and the spine of the book, he stared straight into Wei Yan’s impassive eyes.

Wu Jin’s hand shook, and he smiled subconsciously at Wei Yan, pretending to be looking for music.

It was unknown how long Wei Yan had lurked behind the bookshelf. He was more like a ghost of Versailles than Lemoyne.

Vera had also been shocked. She immediately stepped forward to block Wei Yan’s vision.

After a few dozen seconds, Wei Yan finally left with his teammate.

xiin: there’s three parts to this chapter @[email protected] it was a long one~