Chapter Ch135.1 - Final Battle

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The cold wind sliced through like icy knives.

Snowflakes were like flying silver blades, slicing through the air like mottled shards of light. The horses moved through the cold current, dark hooves carving out a narrow path in the heavy snow. The youth on horseback’s clothing flapped in the wind, his eyes narrowed slightly against the ice and snow, his pupils dyed with a chill.

The hands covering the reins were strong, steady, and powerful.

“Here.” The man’s voice was hoarse.

The horse’s bridle was pulled back, and the sound of a horse skidding could be heard. Wu Jin hugged the horse’s neck tightly as the big boss jumped down from behind him, flicking off snow from the dark gray Baron’s cape.

Only now did Wu Jin notice something in surprise.

It seemed that the big boss had been dressed up attractively by the program team the whole time. In most shows, this treatment was given only when the program group had been stuffed with who knew how much money…

‘More money than god’ Wei Shi: “Hm?”

Wu Jin quickly shook his head and helped dust the snow off the big boss’s ride. The horse was very lively, affectionately coming up to Wu Jin even as the mare caught up from behind.

Wu Jin suddenly remembered something, “Chu Chu! …”

Chu Chu dismounted in a rage, “How could you bear to leave me on my own!”

Wei Shi spoke calmly, “You wanted to ride on your own.”

Chu Chu stressed, “I wanted to have Little Witch ‘take me’ to ride together, not have Little Witch removed and me riding alone––forget it, I can’t explain anything clearly to a straight man like you!”

As soon as the mare saw Wu Jin, she came up and pranced, her tail swinging. The horse who’d led the way turned around to nuzzle the mare, and based on its posture, it was clearly a stallion…

Wu Jin lifted up his head and looked out into the distance across the snow.

There were two houses there, like a ‘small rest house’ between Louis XVI’s Palace of Versailles and the compound. There was a small hill a few meters high to the north, and then the terrain sloped upwards. The Petit Trianon Palace could be seen beyond the trees.

At this time, the Petit Trianon Palace in the distance was quiet again. The distance the naked eye could cover in the snow was less than 2 kilometers, so Wu Jin could only vaguely make out the figure of someone coming out.

It wasn’t so much an ‘agreed on alliance’ and more that Vera and the others had been hijacked by the ‘commoner’ players. Wu Jin was about to open his mouth to speak when he was suddenly pounced on by a bouncy mare––

Wu Jin shook hard, “!!!”

Bang––after he fell into the snow, the mare immediately stopped moving and resumed her well-behaved, moist-eyed appearance.

Wei Shi casually picked the heated Wu Jin out from the snow, like digging up a bamboo shoot out of the ground.

Wu Jin took advantage of the time when he dusted the snow off himself again to briefly narrate the story of the Petit Trianon Palace.

“Sister Vera is Queen Marie? “ Chu Chu was dazed, “Should we wait until they head to the Palace of Versailles and intercept them halfway?”

Wu Jin shook his head, “We’ll wait for the Council to begin. At present, there are too few people. All the royalists are in the Palace of Versailles, and they don’t want to come out, so only the National Assembly will force them to show themselves.”

The royalists weren’t willing to expose themselves. It seemed that the events in history coincided with the present situation. Only when the French nobles’ interests had actually been violated would they really start to become active. They weren’t defending the royal family, nor were they defending the monarchy. On this chessboard that was the French Revolution, everyone would only defend themselves.

Wei Shi’s expression was cold and indifferent as he skillfully zipped up Wu Jin’s combat suit, like peeling open the winter bamboo shoot and wrapping it up.

Wu Jin pondered. Once the National Assembly began, they could kill their way over there from here&#k2013;&#k2013;

Wu Jin was caught by surprise when he was suddenly handed a cup of warm water.

Wait a minute, where had the big boss gotten warm water from?

Wu Jin gurgled and guzzled it all down, then exhaled a puff of warm white air, his small round face turning ruddy again.

Wei Shi was satisfied and continued to expressionlessly water the winter bamboo shoot.

At this time, in the distant Petit Trianon Palace, the big group of contestants finally began to set out.

“Let’s get ready too!” Chu Chu exclaimed immediately.

Wei Shi flipped up onto his horse’s back, the air moving powerfully around him. At this time, many cameras hovered around them, and Wu Jin was as timid as a rabbit, not daring to look at the big boss again as he went up to ride his original mare.

Chu Chu quickly went to sit down behind Wu Jin.

Wei Shi gave them both a light glance.

Wu Jin instantly went on alert and stuttered, “Chu, Chu Chu, shouldn’t you sit up front…”

Chu Chu waved her hand and spoke delightedly, “No need, you can block out the wind!”

Wu Jin and Wei Shi clamped down on their horses’ flanks at the same time.

The sound of galloping rang out.

Chu Chu sat steadily, with Little Witch in front blocking the wind like a little, heated piece of pancake. Chu Chu immediately felt delighted, her brain full of thoughts on how she and Little Witch were in the same frame. At the end of the competition, she could write a bunch of little articles about ‘the deeply in love golden brother and sister pair’…

A cold gust of wind suddenly swept by.

The two horses suddenly came closer and snuffled together, Wei Shi relaxing his hands on the reins. Their speed slowed down, and even the little mare switched to a trot.

These two knights that were originally far apart drew closer together.

Wei Shi looked sideways slightly.

The light in the snow leapt like golden rays.

Snow and mud were splashed everywhere, but the entirety of Versailles shone beneath the morning light as the two rode shoulder to shoulder.

“……” Chu Chu was thoroughly reduced to becoming part of the background.

The cameras chased after them at full speed, and Wu Jin quickly came back to his senses, hurriedly speeding up and making the mare charge out. The stallion followed closely behind him, and the team of three finally flashed past the bushes, disappearing into the path leading to the Palace of Versailles.

The Palace of Versailles Council Hall.

The bell rang out at 9 o’clock, and the silent contestants sat beneath the stained glass––all the contestants who’d survived until the third round.

67 people. 41 commoners, 14 clergy members, and 12 nobles.

The watch showed that the survival count was 69.

“Wei Yan isn’t here…” Chu Chu counted back and forth before whispering in a low voice. Of course, God Wei wasn’t there either.

The cold made it so that the contestants relied heavily on the heating equipment they were given in order to survive. In the snow outside and even a few kilometers in the distance, the life-saving capsules of those who’d been eliminated could be seen everywhere. All their heating equipment had been snatched away by their assailants.

The minute needle closed in on the hour.

The Red and White Roses with their royal statuses entered the hall, and behind them came a long line of servants, carrying rough hemp sacks that could be seen everywhere in Paris during the 18th century.

It was the second batch of heating equipment.

All the players’ attention was instantly caught.

Ning Fengbei’s phoenix eyes tilted slightly, and she read out the assembly regulations in a cold voice, “… This meeting is to decide on the distribution for the second batch of heating equipment. Each class holds one vote, for a total of three votes…”

On the stage, Vera’s gaze gentled when it finally swept over Wu Jin and Chu Chu.

When Little Ran put forward the idea of ‘9 hours of heating for nobles, 8 hours of heating for commoners, and 4 hours for the clergy in a clear voice, an uproar happened on the spot.

Zoe, who was also a noble, frowned slightly, and Ming Yao instantly exploded. Even though Ming Yao was an aristocrat, his captain Zuo Botang was a priest. At the start of this noisy voting period, the commoners handed over their vote within seconds, while the other two classes were caught unprepared.

“Organized.” Wu Jin spoke in a low voice. “They––the commoners must have a commander.”

In the shortest possible of time, the commander had first pulled together the vast majority of the commoners and then planned out the ‘alliance to coerce the King’ in the Petit Trianon Palace, followed by the National Assembly arrangements––

“If it wasn’t for this commander, the commoners would kill each other off in large numbers over the first four hours. But now, the commander has communicated with everyone and coordinated the distribution of interests.” A fragment from a book suddenly flashed through his mind.

––Gather alliances with common political interests and objectives to coordinate the distribution of benefits.

“Party.”

The commander was the party leader.

At this time, the scene was a complete reproduction of the assembly scene that had taken place towards the end of Louis XVI’s administration. The nobles lacked control over the current government and public opinion, and their power was in the hands of various civil political parties. The commander of the civilian camp was using this treacherous cohesion to shape these ‘Jacobins’ who opposed the monarchy through violence and advocated for equal rights.

“The commander… is it Lan?” Chu Chu speculated.

Wu Jin wasn’t sure. “Lan goes for the hidden assassination route. In history, there was only the Emperor and the assassin, not the prince and the assassin.”

“Little Ran?”

Wu Jin: “Little Ran is in the open… if I were to be the commander, I would be in the shadows.”

Chu Chu asked quickly, “About that, the distribution of resources is detrimental to the interests of the clergy… will the assembly pass it?”

Wu Jin thought about it and finally said, “Yes.”

“In this round and the previous round, most of the contestants are in teams of four. The probability that four people will obtain advanced heating equipment at the same time is too small. In other words, 2 nobles and 2 commoners is more common than 2 nobles and 2 priests. Aristocratic players would also vote for the common people in order to help their allies.”

“Moreover, the relative strength of the commoner class is worse than that of the clergy. If they have to give 8 hour heating to an enemy, they would be more willing to give it to a weaker enemy.”

Since he could think of it, the commander of the other side must also be able to think of it.

At this time, six out of the 12 nobles had already voted for it. Ming Yao was still heatedly canvassing votes for his priest captain, but the votes were all tending towards the same side––

Ming Yao: “This isn’t fair!”

Eight nobles voted for it.

Ming Yao: “……”

Nine.

Ming Yao quickly fell quiet, quickly removing his heating equipment and shivering in the cold, “I have to use it less so that I can save a set for the captain…”

The assembly vote was drawing to a close. The aristocracy and the commoner class voted to ‘pass’ the proposal at the same time, and at this time, the clergy who’d just been robbed of their resources couldn’t save themselves from their fate no matter what. The servants brought the vote to the ‘priest’ Wu Jin.

“Abstain.”

The entire audience broke out in an uproar over how even Wu Jin had abstained. Zuo Botang’s eyebrows twisted together, and Ming Yao hated iron for not being steel. Lan watched Wu Jin with great interest.

Wu Jin spread his hands, “There’s no need to struggle meaninglessly.”

The youth stood still beneath the gazes of countless people, but Chu Chu was very nervous, “When the voting is over, Lan and the others will get the heating equipment, and then they’ll definitely slaughter the donkey after it has done its job at the mill and get rid of the royalist party! What about the royalists? Where are they?”

Wu Jin whispered, “Don’t worry. We’ll wait for the royalists to come out.” His fingertips slid towards the bayonet at his waist next to his combat suit.

On the stage, it seemed that Ning Fengbei was about to cave under pressure and sign the bill––

The sound of a gunshot rang out like a roar!

The bullet whizzed towards Ning Fengbei who was up on the elevated platform, but due to the haste, it was slightly offset. Vera elbowed Ning Fengbei, who was still busy whining to Thin Fire, out of the way behind a bunker, then raised up her gun to protect the King.

The dark muzzle locked onto the attacker.

That attacker paused, but Zuo Botang managed to protect the attacker with his 0.1 second response time. His line of fire was locked on Vera, but his eyes were constantly watching Wu Jin.

A bayonet stabbed down near Zuo Botang’s foot.

The muzzle of Ming Yao’s gun was still smoking.