Chapter Ch173.1 - Consciousness Regression

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The sunlight was refracted by the water vapor in the thick fog.

Based on the light in the sky, it should still be before noon.

The Ferris Wheel rotated slowly, and a large shadow briefly passed over the window. It was from the V-shaped frame as the passenger car passed through the base of the Ferris Wheel.

When he looked around again, dozens of cars hung off the outer edge of the Ferris Wheel. They were in a mottled assortment of colors and shifted with the wind. The walls of the passenger cars were painted with recreations of Western European oil paintings from the 15th century.

Each car was unique.

Wu Jin thought out loud, “The painting for each car is different. Considering this from the perspective of cost for the Crosson Show, the only reason they would make it like this would be so that players could easily identify the cars again.”

The youth then rummaged around in the compartment. There were four seats, and it was a small, square space. There were glass doors and windows on both sides, and seating for the tourists on the other two sides. Nothing was unusual about it.

As for cameras––

Wu Jin repeatedly confirmed that there was no built-in camera in the compartment. Outside the window, there were occasional cameras flying past like bamboo dragonflies.

As the Ferris Wheel rotated clockwise, the two of them rose up higher and higher, and the shadow from the base of the structure was soon left behind.

Wu Jin quickly pressed up against the window.

At this time, the fog was thick, and their vision was limited if they attempted to look further into the distance. He had to try and see the layout of the map around the Ferris Wheel before the passenger car fell into another blind spot.

Additionally, he had to find the other players who had disappeared, Jingyi included.

“The Celtic bumper cars, the Stonehenge maze, the Greek mythology carousel…” Wu Jin narrowed his eyes and tried to identify everything. Before his sight was covered up by the fog again, gunfire suddenly rang out from the distance!

All of the contestants on the Ferris Wheel were shocked at the same time, and they all looked towards the source of the gunfire.

Wu Jin’s breathing stuttered, “The Stonehenge labyrinth. Someone is in the Stonehenge labyrinth!”

There were more than two people in the maze.

That meant that at least two teams of players were in the Stonehenge maze. Wu Jin almost instantly locked in on it, “It’s Jingyi. They’re not afraid to expose their position, and the only ones who would dare to shoot in the first hour of the game is Jingyi! Why are they at Stonehenge? Isn’t it clear that the Ferris Wheel is the target project? Or is the maze one of the task items, or can it provide clues…”

Wu Jin chattered on for a long time, then suddenly realized.

The big boss was too quiet.

It wasn’t only because the two of them had discussed the matter of ‘publicizing their relationship after winning the League championship’. The passenger car had already risen up 20 meters, but the big boss had never said a single word, not even engaging in the most basic communication between teammates.

Wu Jin’s eyes opened wide, and he looked back to see the big boss holding a gun and sitting on the tourist seating.

Wei Shi spoke coldly, “Continue.”

Wu Jin leaned in with a swish.

Wu Jin had practiced dancing for many years. His familiarity with muscles and body language was no less than that of the survival show contestants, and his perception and ability to read body language might even be better than theirs.

Wei Shi’s shoulders were quite tense.

The man frowned and closed his eyes.

The wind was whistling outside the window of the Ferris Wheel. It was like a switch had suddenly been turned on.

“Brother Wei, your aftereffects&#k2026; don’t stimulate yourself in the game! The subconscious is uncontrollable&#k2026;”

His memories stirred sluggishly.

The blurred R-Code Base suddenly appeared in his field of vision, and it felt as though he was still lying in the treatment cabin due to Shao Yu’s schemes.

––Wu Jin, a little shortie who was only a little over ten years old, rubbed against him enthusiastically, saying:

“Wei Shi! Do you want to go outside!”

“There’s an amusement park with a roller coaster and a Ferris Wheel… the air gun in the amusement park, if you hit a lot of balloons, you can trade them for plush toys.”

“This big, a rabbit thisssss big!”

Wei Shi forcibly pushed away the Ferris Wheel from his memory.

His consciousness returned back to the Crosson arena.

He then tossed the shotgun to Wu Jin.

Inside the Ferris Wheel passenger car, Wu Jin quickly caught the carrot gun that the big boss had thrown over and looked nervous, “Are you okay? Is your body uncomfortable, or are you afraid of heights…”

Wei Shi gestured for Wu Jin to come over.

Wu Jin’s head turned left and right, and after confirming that there were no cameras checking in on them, he dashed over, as tense as if they were having a hidden romance. Then, Wu Jin was abruptly pressed into Wei Shi’s arms.

Wei Shi took a deep inhale of the rabbit scent.

With one touch, Wei Shi once again returned to normal. Wu Jin’s soothing function as a ‘scabbard’ was real, and as long as there was no secondary stimulation, it wouldn’t affect the game as long as he could inhale some rabbit scent in every few breaths.

Wu Jin also let out a long breath, “You should’ve said it earlier!” Didn’t he just want a hug! It wasn’t a big deal!

In the car closest to the two people.

Thin Fire and Wei Yan sat across from each other. At this time, they were each carefully observing the other party’s movements. Thin Fire was suddenly taken by surprise when he saw Wei Yan’s expression stiffen.

“!!!” Thin Fire reached for his gun out of conditioned reflex. According to the two people’s task assignments, Wei Yan was responsible for tracking the Scarf CP, while he would stare at the Double Fools. Wei Yan’s change meant that the Scarf CP had––

Wei Yan opened his mouth and spoke woodenly, “It’s nothing.”

Seeing that Thin Fire was about to turn back, Wei Yan quickly stopped him, “Wait!”

Thin Fire’s eyes were bright, his warlike spirit was majestic, and he was ready to go!

Behind Thin Fire, in the Ferris Wheel passenger car ahead of them, Wei Shi finally stopped inhaling Wu Jin.

Wei Yan made an ‘en’ sound and indicated that Thin Fire could turn around.

Thin Fire: “?? What?”

By this time, the Ferris Wheel had risen about 40 meters above the ground. The fog was thick, and at best, the players in the car could only see the passenger cars beside them.

In the nearest car below Wei-Thin.

Caesar, who was in charge of keeping an eye on Wei-Thin, suddenly stood up and picked up his gun. His tiger’s eyes glared, “Brother, get ready! That coquettish man just picked up his gun. That icy faced Wei Yan must have given him some instructions––”

Red was enthusiastic: “Kill kill kill killl yeahhhh––”

Two bullets were released towards Thin Fire at the same time! In the passenger car above them, Thin Fire’s expression changed greatly even before he set down the gun, “Are they crazy! These two idiots aren’t doing the task?? The Ferris Wheel hasn’t finished rotating, and they’re already starting to fight!! Are their brains f*cking full of nothing but muscles…”

Further beneath them, Qin Jinbao immediately followed suit and also fired his gun, causing Red and Caesar to be attacked from both sides. Below them, the two people from Azure People’s Entertainment were also discussing it.

“They’re all fighting, should we fight too?”

“Fight!”

A scuffle broke out on the Ferris Wheel.

At the start of this domino effect, Wu Jin was in a daze, “No way, the Ferris Wheel hasn’t finished a full rotation yet. The contestants have no reason to start shooting at this time.”

All of a sudden, a stray bullet that had been shot askew flew straight at Wu Jin!

Wei Shi’s eyes suddenly changed.

If Researcher Song could detect the amplitude of Wei Shi’s brain waves at this time, he would definitely discover that Wei Shi was still in the process of resisting the last round of ‘subconscious stimulation’.

The Ferris Wheel and R-Code Base in his mind hadn’t yet disappeared, and a second round of stimulation had already appeared.

––He pulled the little shortie with him and ran frantically out of the R-Code Base.

––The sky was stained by the fire, and the mountains covered by black smoke. Before a stray bullet could hit him, Wu Jin had suddenly jumped out to block the bullet for him, and his waist was penetrated by the bullet. He screamed in despair amidst the flames, and the little shortie stood on tiptoes, kissing him with the last of his strength, “Don’t worry about this waist. I’m the knight who came here to pick you up…”

Inside the Crosson arena, Wei Shi suddenly closed his eyes.

Wu Jin had also been shocked by the stray bullet that swept up from below. He’d only come out of the treatment cabin a few days ago, and his mind was full of the 21st century idol talent show. His excellent dance skills kicked in before his tactical maneuver instincts, and he used a footwalk to avoid the bullet before performing a freeze in front of the window. Then, a second bullet flew by––

Wu Jin’s logical left brain came up with dozens of fighting maneuvers to avoid the bullet, while his right brain that was in charge of creativity came up with dozens of breakdance moves to avoid the bullet.

While his left and right brains were struggling, a warmth suddenly pasted itself up against his back.

Wei Shi forcefully pressed Wu Jin into his arms, then shifted to the side to bring him to a safe area.

The man’s back was broad and hot, providing Wu Jin with airtight protection.

Wu Jin was stunned.

The big boss had always taken a hands off approach to training, just like how he trained the black cat. It had always been Wu Jin fighting and dealing with what he could, while the big boss only came out when he couldn’t hold up any longer. The bullet that had come up from below was crooked, and the difficulty involved in avoiding it was definitely below F-level––

Wu Jin seemed to sense something and raised his head.

Wei Shi’s brows were slightly wrinkled, as though suppressing something in his mind.

Wu Jin had spent nearly a month in Floating City and could identify the big boss’s situation at a glance. His small round face suddenly grew serious, “Is it an emotional lock attack? I’ll open up the life-saving capsule for you and contact Professor Song––”

Wei Shi gritted his teeth, “It’s nothing, it has nothing to do with the emotional lock.”

The gunfight continued.

The passenger car where the two people were located was now close to the top of the Ferris Wheel. At this time, the cameras outside the window swarmed over to shoot Wei Yan, Caesar, and Dolma Entertainment. It was obvious that even the instructors and cameras were completely confused by the scene. Nobody had expected that there would be a fight while the Ferris Wheel cars were still ascending.

Inside the Crosson Show live broadcast room, Instructor Blood Pigeon tried hard to smooth out the situation, “Well, our contestants Caesar and Mao Qiukui are both very lively, and they’ve kicked off the battle on the Ferris Wheel…”

At the top of the Ferris Wheel, the sun penetrated through the artificial fog, surrounding the two people with a layer of illusory, unreal light.

Wei Shi suddenly lifted up his left wrist with the monitoring watch.

After removing a small chip the size of a sesame grain, the man ordered Wu Jin to reach out. The chip was slotted into a groove in Wu Jin’s wrist watch.

Wu Jin breathed out in amazement. The big boss had actually hacked the program group watch!

Wei Shi: “Camera lens detection chip. It will vibrate within a 10 meter focus range.”

Wu Jin suddenly understood. The big boss had once been known as Crosson’s mystery man because he’d successfully evaded all the cameras despite participating in three entire elimination rounds. The audience had all agreed that it was because he hadn’t paid out enough in management fees that his portrait had never been submitted to the program producer’s hands.

Wei Shi continued to command, “Look for Mao Qiukui if you can’t win a fight.”

Wu Jin: “Ah?”

Wei Shi thought about it, “Wei Yan too.”

Wu Jin: “!!!” This wasn’t right, why did it seem that the big boss was doing a handover––

The two of them finally neared the top of the Ferris Wheel.

Beneath the sunlight that had been softened countless times by the mist, Wei Shi looked down at Wu Jin. The man’s eyes were so deep they were bottomless and carried a cold light. The atmosphere was turbulent and heavy, and it was as though he was looking at Wu Jin one last time before disappearing.

This made Wu Jin, who had originally planned to grab the big boss and plant a kiss on him at the highest point of the Ferris Wheel, completely dumbfounded.

Everything was strange and abnormal.

Wei Shi spoke slowly, “Two months ago, in Floating City.”

Wu Jin immediately stood up attentively. His extroversion E kicked in, and he subconsciously made an obedient and well behaved expression, like he was about to be interrogated.

Wei Shi: “Something went wrong during the fourth course of treatment. You entered the treatment cabin to get me out.”

Wu Jin was modest and humble, “It was just a lift of the finger! No big deal!”

Wei Shi: “Before you withdrew from the subconscious, you were shot through the left side of your waist and abdomen.”

Wu Jin touched his waist, “It’s still there! Still there!”

Wei Shi grunted in acknowledgement.

“Well then, you can explain it to him.”

xiin: *whistles* no, it’s not a cliffhanger, not at all~