Chapter Ch137.2 - Respect

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Hostage exchange.

Caesar looked at Wu Jin with shock on his face. It seemed that he couldn’t figure out they’d rushed up from below. A long time later, he nodded his head and waved his big hand, “Okay!”

Wu Jin stared closely at Caesar’s micro expressions and the direction of his gaze, trying to guess where the ‘commander’ was hiding, but in the end, he could find nothing.

“……” Wu Jin: There’s no way to read Brother Caesar’s mind. I’ve heard the captain say before that Caesar didn’t think at all during competitions…

Caesar chattered and expressed, “We’ll exchange inside.”

Wu Jin nodded and followed Little Ran into the inner room.

The curtains were heavy, and the furniture inside was simple. A portrait of Queen Marie hung on the walls––this was the Queen’s bedroom in the Palace of Versailles. She had been married here, performed duties for the royal family here, and even given birth here. In France, the Queen’s birth was considered a celebration for the whole of Versailles, and in order to confirm that the prince was ‘born to the Queen’, everyone was allowed to visit while the Queen gave birth.

When Marie Antoinette gave birth to the Dauphin and Dauphine, the area in front of the walls, cabinets, tables, and chairs had been filled with curious visitors, and at the moment of the baby’s birth, they applauded or booed, based on their political stance.

It was difficult to tell if Marie had gotten more glory or more humiliation in this place.

Caesar placed Vera behind the curtain and gestured for Wu Jin to hand Little Ran over, “I’ll count three, two, one, and whoever doesn’t let go is a dog!”

Wu Jin nodded. From behind the curtain, Vera reached out to him.

The wrist watch was quiet and didn’t give any warning for illegal team formation. At the very least, Caesar wasn’t attempting to give him Lan––

Caesar shouted, “Three!”

Wu Jin held Vera’s hand and let go of his hold on Little Ran.

Caesar: “Two.”

“One!”

Caesar pulled Little Ran in front of him, and Wu Jin shifted to protect Vera in an instant.

The hostage exchange was successful. Caesar hadn’t expected that Wu Jin would then plan to counter attack and kill them, and Wu Jin quickly passed the rifle behind him to Vera, switching to his bayonet––

There was a flash of red behind him, and Caesar was forced back by the gun.

Wu Jin stilled.

Vera’s combat clothing was white…

He suddenly turned around and saw Ning Fengbei, dressed in red and holding his rifle. Her face was excited and full of the excitement at ‘cheating’ on her partner, “Little Witch! Are we going to save Vera now––”

Wait a minute, where was Vera? How could it be Ning Fengbei…

The curved bayonet slashed at the curtains.

Vera was behind the curtains, controlled by another gun.

Wen Lin smiled like a fox as he stood beside Vera.

Wu Jin’s expression froze.

The leader of the Jacobin faction was fully familiar with his method of command and could even predict Wu Jin’s arrangements and set traps in advance. The party leader’s style was conservative and quite similar to a support position&#k2013;&#k2013;

The party leader was White Moonlight’s support position, Wen Lin.

The Red and White Roses had been kidnapped at the same time. It didn’t violate the gentleman’s agreement between Caesar and Wu Jin to trade Ning Fengbei for Little Ran. However, as long as Vera wasn’t rescued, Wu Jin would deliver himself to their door again––

This was a very careful plan with every possibility taken into account.

Wu Jin exhaled gently and praised sincerely, “Amazing! Brother Wen Lin!”

Wen Lin smiled, “Little Witch as well. After the competition is over…”

Wu Jin suddenly drew out his knife and cut straight towards Caesar. At the same time, he quickly reminded Ning Fengbei, “There’s still one bullet remaining!”

Bang––

A life-saving capsule suddenly popped up. Wu Jin only needed one glance to know that Ning Fengbei had made the most correct choice. She’d killed Little Ran, who was the most unsuspecting one.

28 survivors.

Wen Lin’s expression tightened, and his wrist tightened, about to execute Vera. Ning Fengbei was just about to use the butt of the gun to try and save Vera––in any case, she didn’t care if this White Rose lived on but ended up dragged downstairs by Wu Jin, “Run!”

Ning Fengbei: “Run, run, run for what…”

Wu Jin explained as they traveled through the smoke, “Vera’s value as a hostage is greater than her value as a life-saving capsule.”

The sound of gunshots rang out from behind them. The other party was convinced that the two of them no longer had bullets and was now playing unscrupulously.

Wu Jin reached out and held something out for Ning Fengbei.

Ning Fengbei’s eyes brightened.

Wu Jin spoke quietly, “The last two bullets. We have to make use of the angles.”

The scent of gunpowder was everywhere.

Five minutes later, Ning Fengbei opened fire.

27 survivors.

15 minutes later, the two of them escaped frantically from the wing tower, the gunfire behind them only half weaker than it had been before. Ning Fengbei was out of breath, “Can you shoot? Can you shoot now?”

Wu Jin gritted his teeth, “Hold on for a while. Using the last bullet to force them to run out of ammunition isn’t a loss––careful, shoot!”

Ning Fengbei turned to return fire.

One person was sniping at them from several meters away. They fell down the building, and a silver life-saving capsule popped out abruptly!

26 survivors.

There was the dull sound of a shot nearby, and then everything soon returned to silence. The Jacobins no longer had the ammunition to continue and couldn’t shoot at them any further.

The survivor number suddenly dropped to 25, then 24. Wu Jin didn’t think any more about it. It had to be either Wei Yan or the Jingyi Double C.

They retreated to their target location, and Chu Chu burst out in cheers, “Sister Vera is back––Wait a minute, who is it? I’m getting notices for illegal team formation––Sis-Sister Ning?!”

The alarm rang out, and Wu Jin quickly led Ning Fengbei away, “Run, go and find Thin Fire!”

Ning Fengbei nodded and solemnly thanked Wu Jin before she left, “You’re going to bring Vera out?”

Wu Jin nodded.

Ning Fengbei’s expression changed, “You alone? Do you want me to…” She fell silent.

“The Jacobins have no ammunition left.” Wu Jin explained calmly.

Thin Fire still had a gun with him, and the big boss still had half a strip of unused bullets. The two groups would be in the top 10, and they had no reason to follow Wu Jin and save Vera. Even if the big boss was willing to help––

The big boss wasn’t Vera’s ally, and the two groups still need to determine their final place despite being in an alliance.

Vera was still held in the wing tower by the Jacobins.

Compared with waiting for the final confrontation and fighting with his allies Chu Chu and the big boss, Wu Jin was more willing to go and save Vera and take the risk alone.

In this case, he couldn’t let the big boss do the work for him and take him to win while just lying down.

22 survivors.

Finally, there was only Wu Jin fighting alone.

Wu Jin made a cheering gesture with his hands, then turned and left.

Ning Fengbei suddenly shouted from behind him, “How about I lend you Little Thin’s gun––”

Wu Jin raised his hand to show Ning Fengbei that there was no need to worry about it. His small round face was smiling, and the print from the big boss wiping away the dust off his cheek was still there.

The journey was tiring, but one had to continue forth.

Ning Fengbei paused and showed a rare expression of appreciation, “See you in the decisive battle!”

Wu Jin nodded, and his gaze swept over the bunker before he stepped off the battlefield. The big boss leaned against the remaining wall and loaded up the gun again skillfully, his five fingers moving in a dangerous display.

The two of them passed by.

Wu Jin stretched out his hand, and the man bowed his head and complied with the high five. “Go. Give it all your all.”

Acknowledging and respecting his decisions.

Wu Jin’s smile suddenly brightened.

The fire outside the door was getting weaker. Wu Jin estimated that Wei Yan’s fire would be extinguished in two hours. When the commoner camp ran out of heating, they would surely execute Vera before they themselves were eliminated. He didn’t have much time left.

The Jacobins had run out of ammunition, leaving them with only cold steel weapons, the inferior bayonets provided by the program group. Wu Jin was in a similar situation, but he had a better weapon.

It wasn’t yet in his hands, but he knew exactly where to go to find it.

Wu Jin stepped out of the corridor, and behind him, Chu Chu was giving Wei Shi grief, “Why can’t we go and help Little Witch some more?! … Why are you having him go out on his own…”

Wei Shi: “That’s his choice.”

The cold wind blew in from the fallen window panels.

Wu Jin avoided the contestants and rushed to the basement. That was where the first NPC that he and Vera had encountered at the start of the game, the warrior in armor, was hidden away. The basement door opened, and the unsolved purple card lay there quietly on the ground. Wu Jin picked up the character card.

“Julie, the mistress of Louis XIV stables master, a civilian girl from with an unglamorous background…”

The clues shifted in his mind, and all of the details in his memory connected together.

Wu Jin rushed out of the Palace of Versailles. He whistled, and the mare came running, carrying Wu Jin back to the stables––

The hooves flew over the snow.

The cold wind howled next to his ears. Wu Jin clearly remembered that there had been a locked sword in the stable. The sword handle and the female warrior’s armor were engraved with the letter J, and it was obviously one of the main mission items.

The purple card, the armor, the warrior, and the sword. The status of this ‘Julie’ wasn’t noble. As a purple card, there must have been another reason for it. For example, her sword…

Wu Jin pulled tight on the reins and jumped down to search the stables. The knight’s sword was still buried there in the snow, its body wrapped in chains. A small code box could be seen at the end of the chain––unlike the first round, Wu Jin only had an hour to decode it. Otherwise, he could only continue to use the poorly made bayonet and ride off alone to rescue his teammate.

The youth’s heart rate picked up, his palms covered in a sheen of sweat.

The mare stared at Wu Jin with obedient eyes and kicked something out of the snow a while later. Wu Jin immediately bent to pick up the book and fell into a daze.

Music. This was another one of Lully’s scores. However, the Lully instance had clearly been unlocked––Wu Jin glanced at it quickly and then paused when he scanned the second page.

The lead singer and actress of the Paris Opera House, Julie d’Aubigny.

Lead singer Julie.

Wu Jin quickly mounted the horse again. “Back to the Palace of Versailles. To Lully’s opera house!”

The fire was now weaker in the Palace of Versailles. Fortunately, the fire had only burned down half of the buildings in the wings. Wu Jin rushed to the opera house as quickly as possible, finally finding Julie in numerous character sketches.

“She was the stable manager’s mistress… the 14 year old girl didn’t ask her lover for jewelry, nor did she wear fancy clothes. She asked to learn swordsmanship like his retinue…”

“In her life, only sword and song could capture her attention, until she met Anna, the daughter of a rich merchant. Julie couldn’t help falling in love with Anna, and she eloped with her, ending up wanted by all of the Paris police. She had to go back to Versailles and ask for Louis XIV’s pardon…”

“Julie finally touched the Sun King with her singing. She crshed a ball Anna was attending and dueled the three men who were pursuing her. Julie fought one against three, and the other side all ended up either injured or dead, making this female swordsman famous…”

“Anna eventually married the Marquis of Florence.”

“Julie always followed Anna with her sword in hand, and she was Anna’s most loyal knight. Julie never suffered a defeat in her life.”

“She was one of the founders of the fencing foil, and the patron saint of the maiden’s boudoir. She is the first swordswoman admired by all in France––Julie d’Aubigny.”

Wu Jin went back up onto the horse’s back once again, “Let’s go, to get the sword!”

Snow covered the sky. By the time Wu Jin returned to the stables, there was only half an hour before the fire would extinguish. The stable was gray and dark, and Wu Jin squinted as his sight suddenly locked on a place.

xiin: i was so angry at Wen Lin here >:|

psst – i apparently scheduled wrong and you guys got two chapters today. there will be no release tomorrow (19th) since this was supposed to be it~