Chapter Ch137.1 - Respect

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The corridor had gone up in flames.

Before the fire could engulf the Council Hall, the contestants swarmed out through the door––

The sound of gunfire and chaotic yelling all merged together, along with the sound of metal against the walls. Near the door frame of the wall that led to the corridor, the fire crackled, and a wall collapsed!

The first person to run tried to turn back and find easy pickings, firing off a shot, but his pupils suddenly shrank.

A bullet passed by!

A second shot!

Inside the Council Hall, the Dreyse M1841 rifle fired twice, sweeping out an empty space of nearly 20 meters outside the wall.

Wu Jin pursed his lips, wrapping his arm around the butt of the gun. His expression was cold and dangerous as he turned back and pulled Chu Chu out from behind the ruins.

Wei Shi guarded their backs.

They had ransacked through most of the Council Hall. Chu Chu accepted the materials from God Wei and counted them attentively, “12 boxes of bullets. They were basically all ejected from the contestants’ life-saving capsules. There are probably 6 usable Dreyse rifles, and in addition, we have a box of black bullets. Take a look at the caliber…”

Wu Jin’s gaze paused on the box of bullets, “Front loaded shotgun bullet.”

In the 17th and 18th centuries, guns were still in their infancy. They had low firing rates, were single shot, slow loading, and were heavy.

However, if they had to ‘make do’, it was still enough to temporarily arm up a standard survival show team.

Wu Jin’s Dreyse rifle could be used for close range sniping, while the front-loading shotgun could reluctantly take the place of the shotgun that was used over 100 years later.

The Prussian Potsdam-style shotgun in the big boss’s hands was one of the types that were loaded from the front.

Wu Jin tossed the box to Wei Shi, and the man tacitly reached out to intercept the throw.

“6 sniper bullets, 30 musket bullets.” Wu Jin bowed his head and calculated, “The fire is still spreading, and if it burns for 5 hours, then the heating equipment of the commoners, aristocrats and the clergy will all have stopped working by then. The fate of the players will be determined by the fire.”

Chu Chu’s expression was anxious, “There’s too little ammunition.”

Wu Jin nodded, “They’re still fighting outside. From the timeline, this is the first large-scale exchange of fire since the assembly. The second time will be after the nobility and clergy lose their heating, which will be five hours later. The third time––”

Wei Shi: “Before the fire goes out.”

Wu Jin snapped his fingers. “Yes. We’ll save a few bullets and hold on until the third fight. The commoner camp doesn’t have that many bullets. Now––”

“Let’s go find Vera.”

The tongues of fire devoured the magnificent walls, leaving dark and terrible shadows.

Wu Jin didn’t have to waste much effort in order to find the Jacobin’s camp. For the first five hours, only the nobles and clergy could still scurry about, while the commoner camp had to rely on the fire to keep warm.

To one side of the marble courtyard, above the Hall of Diplomats, Lin Ke, who’d taken part in the abduction of the royal family, flashed by.

Chu Chu clenched her hand around the bayonet in her hand and wanted to charge up right away&#k2013;&#k2013;Wu Jin pressed down the fierce Chu Chu and said, “Wait.”

In the distance, Lin Ke also had a musket in his hands and was swinging it around in circles.

A while later, a long haired young woman with pink highlights in her hair came out to change shifts with him. The two of them were very far apart, and their fields of vision were spread out.

Wu Jin made a gesture. At the moment of the shift change––Wei Shi’s body moved like a ghost and flashed away towards a corner of the wall. He returned back to the team a moment later, “Lan and Little Ran formed a team for patrol.”

Wu Jin nodded, and countless fragments of memories flashed in his mind. Suddenly, he reached out and rolled up the sleeves of his combat clothing that was covered with dust and debris, and began to write and draw with the soot from the rubble.

After looking on in a daze for a long time, Chu Chu suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “The team forming… team forming mechanism?”

Wu Jin nodded and spoke quickly, ‘The team building for the third round. There are two kinds of relationships––the invitation and dance partners.”

The tongues of flame stealthily licked their way across half of the Palace of Versailles. The corner where they were hiding was in the shadows, and in the dark, only Wu Jin’s two amber pupils could be seen flickering a bit. Wu Jin had rubbed himself gray to blend in, and the soot on the small curls showered down––

Wei Shi casually stroked over the small curls and seemed to unintentionally rub against Wu Jin’s cheek.

Wu Jin shook his head.

Chu Chu looked at Wu Jin, then back at her own hand, and her expression was expectant. She wanted to speak, then held back––

Wei Shi tossed the gun magazine to Chu Chu and had her hold it, “Continue.”

Wu Jin quickly went on, indicating with his hand that most of the mapping out was done, “The players formed teams through the invitations and dance partners, but the relationships between them can only be extended once.”

Chu Chu, Wu Jin, and Wei Shi were drawn as three little people, and they had arrows between them. The three of them were a legally formed team. Wu Jin extended it to Vera––he drew a dotted line between Vera and Wei Shi.

“Vera is Brother Wei’s teammate’s teammate’s teammate. It is two times remote, and she can’t form a team with him under the rules, so we have to keep a distance between them.”

Just like in the Petit Trianon Palace when they had an illegal team formation warning, Wu Jin couldn’t get close to Thin Fire.

“In the Jacobin faction, the commoner camp, there are at least 20 survivors, and it’s the largest camp in the Palace of Versailles. However, correspondingly, the scattered team formation is their most vulnerable weakness.” Wu Jin looked into the distance, “For example, just now, Lin Ke and the female contestant on duty didn’t have a team relationship, so they had to maintain a distance apart. And––Little Ran and Lan are on patrol at the same time, so Little Ran and Lan were dance partners, making Caesar into Lan’s teammate.”

In the diagram, Zoe and Wen Lin were added in. They were the five strongest members of the Jacobin faction. Wu Jin quickly drew a dividing line between the characters. “Brother Zoe and Brother Wen Lin are teammates, so they can’t be with Little Ran. Because of the rules, they can’t get close to Little Ran. Once we restrict the movement of players from the opposite camp in a fight––”

“… If Little Ran is forced close to Zoe, then the Jacobins will fall apart.” Chu Chu sucked in a breath, her eyes brightening instantly, “Great!”

There was a pause in the sound of gunfire.

The Palace of Versailles was dreary, with snow outside and flames burning within.

By Lin Ke’s fourth patrol rotation, the survivor count had dropped to 30.

This Crosson contestant was in a daze. 30 guaranteed that he would make it into the next elimination match. What’s more, it was the survival count of both program groups added together… it seemed that he had the potential to win while lying down and doing absolutely nothing.

In the previous round, it had been Brother Wu who took him to win. In this round––

There was a shrill scream!

Lin Ke was just about to lift up his gun when he was caught by surprise by a noise across from him. Chu Chu held up a pitch black gun muzzle and pointed it at him.

Lin Ke’s face was full of tears. As someone who understood the process of the game, he was the little brother amongst little brothers, “Sister Chu Chu…”

Chu Chu pressured him, “Cry out.”

Lin Ke: “Wh-what?”

Chu Chu wasn’t polite and loaded up the gun, Lin Ke was scared into crying out at random, “Don’t don’t don’t ahhhh––”

Inside the hostage room, Ning Fengbei and Vera had been relieved of all their weapons. Ning Fengbei was teasing Vera out of boredom and puffing air on her neck, “My queen…”

Vera was creeped out, “Get lost! ––Outside, what’s all the noise outside?”

Ning Fengbei immediately went to push at the door, but Caesar was like a mountain as he blocked it and hollered, “Not allowed out, girls, you’re not allowed out! …”

Outside the door, Lan’s patrol route had been attacked at the same time. She looked coldly at Wei Shi in front of her and shot quickly, sending the bullet flying out!

From behind her came the sound of Little Ran’s footsteps. She was just about to jump down to provide support when Lin Ke suddenly screamed in the distance.

Little Ran’s footsteps paused, and she turned her head abruptly. At this moment, Wei Shi had already finished loading up his gun, and sparks flew from the muzzle of the musket, forcing Little Ran into a retreat. She pasted herself up against the wall and stayed there, keeping at the maximum distance from the wing’s tower. After that came the sound of shouts––the side door opened, and Zoe’s firepower joined in, the trajectory severely limiting Wei Shi.

Zoe had finally appeared.

He wasn’t Little Ran’s teammate, but because they were in the same camp, he supported Little Ran with firepower from a distance.

Wu Jin was quiet and silent as he counted in his heart, 3, 2, 1, and then the muzzle of his gun blazed fiercely!

The Dreyse rifle and front-loaded musket shot out at almost the same time! Zoe’s pupils contracted. The two guns were shot from different corners. The operator of the musket was Wei Shi, while the Dreyse’s operator must be Wu Jin. Based on the sound of their gunfire, the two men were at least 50 meters apart, forming cross fire amongst the ruins and rubble.

Not only was Zoe’s vision cut off from where Wu Jin was hiding, even Wei Shi might not be able to see Wu Jin––

How had these two managed to synchronize their gunfire?!

Little Ran managed to dodge in time, and the two bullets fell to the ground at the same time. She breathed a sigh of relief, but Zoe’s expression was grim when she looked up.

Zoe: “Run, don’t get shot.”

Little Ran: “What…”

The second wave of bullets from Wu Jin’s camp rang out again!

Little Ran retreated in a hurry, but before she could get up, her right wrist watch suddenly glowed red!

Illegal team formation warning.

Little Ran was dazed for a few seconds, and during that time, Zoe had already jumped out the window before her. The red light flickered and went out, and Little Ran suddenly realized that she’d been within the illegal team formation distance from Zoe.

She’d subconsciously run inside–no, that wasn’t right, it was Wu Jin and Wei Shi who’d driven her here––

The gun first predicted her positioning, then forced her to move by firing, until she finally ran into Zoe.

The Scarf CP’s maneuvers weren’t as exquisite as Jingyi’s, but their angles were too tricky. Most of the Palace of Versailles had burned down, and they had entered a state of street fighting. The intricacies involved in the walls and bunkers were too hard to account for––Little Ran paused. These bunkers, weren’t they as simple as solving geometry questions for junior high school students for someone with Wu Jin’s brain?!

Little Ran’s heart was racing! Wu Jin’s purpose wasn’t to kill her, but to…

The already-fragile wall collapsed from the fire, and smoke and dust blew up.

From behind the bunker, Wu Jin finally appeared. The youth was carrying a heavy, long, old-fashioned rifle from the Prussian era, and the space in front of him was fully open.

Zoe had jumped down to provide support, while Lan was suppressed by Wei Shi, and Little Ran had been forced back out of their field of vision by the gun shots from earlier.

Wei Shi gave him a thumbs up from afar.

The corners of Wu Jin’s lips rose up slightly, and then he stepped firmly into the smoke shrouded ruins, leaving emptiness behind him.

He had four bullets left.

Ning Fengbei’s arrogant cry could be heard from the third floor, but the sound was soon submerged by the thick smoke. The sound of the Dreyse rifle rang out again in the direction that Wu Jin had disappeared in, and a shrill female cry rang out before being cut off, silence taking over again.

Three bullets left.

Lan was still launching a frenzied counterattack, and the rest of the commoner players were quickly making their way back. Zoe and his partner had gone to support Lin Ke, and Chu Chu was running for her life––

Chu Chu might not be good at other things, but her taste in clothing and ability to escape were first-class. Wu Jin narrowed his eyes and listened to the sound of gunfire in the fog. Zoe was hesitating. At this time, his shooting speed was much slower than the time required for loading up the gun. There was only one possibility.

The Jacobins didn’t have many bullets left.

The black smoke made Wu Jin’s eyes turn red. His rifle was behind him, and he’d switched to holding his bayonet in his hand. The cold steel weapons from the fifth elimination match were quite inferior, and the temperature from the fire caused the blade to bend, but it was more than enough to hold back Little Ran.

Little Ran was whimpering.

Wu Jin hastened to comfort her, “Sorry, it’s just for a moment!”

Little Ran murmured, “The cute little brother on the wall actually pulled me away during the competition! And actually dared to attack the cute me in broad daylight…”

Wu Jin: “Wh-what!”

The third floor was right in front of them.

Wu Jn took a deep breath and went up the stairs––to face Caesar, who was pointing his gun at Vera.

The smoke was stale and pungent.

Vera’s eyes lit up. The youth was covered in ash, but his bayonet was held firmly against Little Ran’s carotid artery as they appeared from the dark staircase. The small round face was grey and black, but there was a clean white mark near his shallow dimple, as though someone had left a mark there.

A fingerprint.

Vera was distracted for a moment. Based on the shape, it wasn’t Chu Chu’s, which meant it could only be…

Wu Jin looked at Caesar and spat out one word, “Exchange.”