Chapter Ch199.1 - Sucking Blood

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

“When he saw a ferocious ghost, it had spread the human skin on the couch and drawn on it with a colored pen. It threw aside its pen, raised the skin like shaking out a garment, then put it on its body.” ––Pu Songling’s <Painted Skin>.

In the live broadcast room, everyone suddenly grew rowdy!

Crosson Show seventh elimination match arena.

The players couldn’t see the subtitles given off-site and were therefore given less information than the audience.

Wu Jin followed the instructions and swallowed the voice-changing pill. The watch began its countdown, and there were ten minutes to go before the start of the game. Because he’d experienced facial camouflage before, Wu Jin quickly adapted to the ‘human skin mask’ that was firmly attached to his skin.

He looked quickly through the script for Wang Ping that was provided on his watch.

This face was flat and featureless.

His talent was equally mediocre.

The company he’d signed with was nothing special.

Background experience––

‘You have only trained for half a year. You are the rapper of the team due to problems with your pitch and the fact that your limbs seem to move discordantly. Of course, you and your whole team are a little confused. However, you have a past that nobody knows about.”

“Obtained props: Black history video. When you release this video, all the trainees involved in the video will be attacked by the ‘black history hammer’, and their popularity will be simultaneously cleared out.”

Wu Jin opened the video.

––Contestant Wang Ping, who looked like his hair had exploded, was wearing a coquettish evening dress alongside another charming little brother, and they were drinking together.

Wu Jin leaned back, his expression dazed, “……” It was bad enough that he was ranked 96th, but he could maybe turn the tables with a bit of effort. However, what was up with this black history?!

The prop video was useless.

This so-called ‘black history’ involved Wang Ping himself. If he used it, it was equivalent to self destructing during the survival show.

The wrist watch beeped again.

There were only five minutes left before the start of the game.

Wu Jin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and finally sorted out his emotions. In the seventh elimination match, the Crosson Show and Stardust Cup youth training camp were matched up together, and his opponents went beyond the familiar A-level trainees. At the same time, the Stardust Cup’s participation meant that a large number of Imperial survival show players had been introduced––

Zoe and Chu Chu had both mentioned this to Wu Jin prior to the game. Many high-profile survival show contestants from the Empire had the same pursuit.

They wanted to exhibit a gorgeous bloodbath of a performance.

In any case, however, his own goal was very clear.

50 into 20.

Outside the door to the room, the mechanisms squeaked and turned. The valve doors that had originally closed off each contestant were about to open up. Wu Jin tilted his upper body back and forth and leaned close to the mirror in the dressing room.

He was studying every inch of Wang Ping’s facial features.

Wang Ping’s cheeks were a little swollen, his face was too large, his jaw was wide, and his chin was round. His cheekbones were flat, and on the whole, his face looked like it had been smashed in.

Wu Jin faced the mirror and attempted to practice a slight smile.

Wang Ping’s smile was very basic, and its camera appeal was almost zero. Wu Jin pondered over this for a while, then showed his canines when he smiled again. The smile pulled on his muscles, sharpened the thick chin, and lifted up his cheekbones, finally showing a hint of ‘brilliance’. However, the flatness of this face couldn’t be remedied from the front––

Wu Jin pressed his chin down and tilted his head to turn his cheek toward the mirror.

The third time, the fourth time. ‘Doing business’ was a survival skill that every idol had to learn before their debut. Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of his features and making the most appropriate expressions was an important course from Wu Jin’s memories.

The game was about to start.

Wu Jin pulled the longer parts of his hair forward to hide his flat forehead. Beneath the bangs, his thin and long single eyelids could be seen as he then flashed a bright smile at the mirror.

Wang Ping’s skin was finally propped up by his soul.

Wu Jin gave one last glance at the mirror, stood up straight, and pushed open the door to the seventh elimination match.

When the players were ready to go outside, they were greeted with a series of colored balloons. AI managers warmly welcomed the players to the training camp.

The workshop was perfectly restored to a typical talent show setting, with shooting equipment styled after the 21st century. When the camera lens swept in Wu Jin’s direction––

The youth waved his hand and wasn’t polite at all in snatching up camera time. His smile was warm but not dazzling, like the warm sun in the afternoon. It contrasted sharply with the gloomy skies in the background.

The talent show camera that had originally planned to just flash past Wu Jin ended up stopping on him for three seconds.

At this time, the square was full of people. 100 ‘boy group talent show trainees’ who had just come out of their agency vans were all mixed up together, and each and every one of them was secretly weighing each other’s strength.

Wu Jin’s starting point was in a corner of the square. After looking around, Wu Jin couldn’t find the big boss. Caesar, Ming Yao, and Zoe, who he could also recognize at a glance, were also not within his range of vision.

Because they were allowed to form alliances, most of the players were exchanging greetings at the start of the game. Wu Jin thought it over for a while, then finally understood why ‘Wang Ping’ was ranked 96th.

In talent shows, the audience always started off by looking at the players’ faces, and there were many beautiful faces present at the scene!

On the temporary stage above the square, the AI staff had finally organized the players into lines.

“The contestants who are named should head to the designated building so that they can be split into classes…”

“Rap, Class 2, Wang Ping…”

Wu Jin threaded through the long stream of people and squeezed into the place labelled with ‘Rap Class 2’, his gaze wandering around everywhere. Generally speaking, survival show trainees who were disguised as boy group contestants should be larger than usual. However, Floating City’s biotech transformation technology was perfect, and even a one meter ninety, tall and burly man paired with a beautiful face did not violate the senses at all.

Rap Class 2 had 16 people. The AI sister in charge of the team had a delicate simulated biological skin, slender and precise mechanical fingers, and legs that seemed to stretch up to her neck.

Wu Jin could finally be certain that even the NPC players were more eye-catching than Wang Ping, who was at a hell mode difficulty level in this talent show.

The AI sister distributed the task cards to everyone.

“Rap Class 2, your first public performance will be held three days from now. After each class performance, the 800 live audience members will vote between you all.”

“That means that between the 16 of you, there will be 800 votes.”

“After the final number of votes are consolidated, we will rank all the players according to the number of votes they received. Out of the 100 contestants, the last 40 will be eliminated. Do you all understand?”

Wu Jin, who was mixed in with the crowd, nodded.

His mind was spinning and churning. There were six classes, meaning that the 800 spectators would vote 6 times. Players were competing to get into the top 60. This also meant that the number of votes required for a guaranteed promotion was:

800 x 6 / 60.

“80 votes.” Someone spoke slowly into his ear.

Wu Jin turned back and met the other party’s gaze as they swept their eyes over.

“4800 tickets are allocated to 60 people, so the safety boundary for promotion is 80 votes. Of course, there’s another algorithm. If you can eliminate 40 people before the show, you can then ensure that everyone will be promoted.” The man shrugged his shoulders, “My name is Leica, first impression rank 39.”

Leica burst into a smile, “As you can see, I’m looking for allies.”

Everyone in the originally silent Rap Class 2 seemed to be suddenly invigorated.

The trainee Leica got straight to the point and quickly led the way in building an ‘alliance’. Very soon, the atmosphere grew heated, and except for a trainee called ‘Silver Amor’ who disdained forming an alliance, the other 15 players quickly gathered together.

Wu Jin mingled with the crowd. At first, he speculated that ‘Silver Armor’ might be Wei Yan, but a genetically modified person’s aura was special, and it wasn’t possible that he wouldn’t be able to recognize it just because of a mask. Silver Armor was steady, and his strength shouldn’t be low. He seemed eccentric and proud––

Leica, who’d been quickly promoted to the position of core think tank, once again went to ask the AI, “What happens if a player disappears before the show?”

The AI smiled slightly and replied, “It will be regarded as a withdrawal from the competition. Of course, the rest of the contestants can still go up to perform on the stage.”

The atmosphere cooled down slightly.

Wu Jin breathed out lightly.

Splitting 800 votes amongst 16 people meant that there was an average of 50 votes per person.

However, if Rap Class 2 fought amongst themselves and killed each other off until only one person remained, they would have 800 votes.

However, as a little useless player ranked 96th, he probably wouldn’t be taken out with the first sacrificial knife––

The AI smiled again, “Is everyone clear now? In that case, let’s start shooting today’s opening interview. Everyone, please wait a moment. The players who are called out should follow me when it’s their turn.”

“The first one, Nicholas.” The Ai looked down at her list of players, “First impression ranking, 2nd place.”

Rap Class 2 suddenly fell quiet.

First impression ranked second. The initial popularity that this Nicholas had couldn’t be underestimated. If they went up on stage with Nicholas, the other party’s ability to pull votes would be like a raging flood.

Nicholas, who’d been pulled out and named, was also in a daze.

If his classmates could think of this, then so could he. In the 100 to 60 voting, the higher the contestant’s first impression ranking was, the greater the threat they would be to the other players. Any players in Rap Class 2 who were in the lower tiers and were competing for promotion would aim to eradicate Nicholas first.

Wu Jin stood there in the crowd and looked over this number two seed player. He understood with a glance.

The trainee who’d won the ‘Nicholas’ script wasn’t actually very powerful. Although he had large muscles, his skill level was obviously subpar, and his biceps were quivering with stress.

Wu Jin had already vaguely figured out the rules behind the competition process. The survival show trainees were randomly scrambled into positions from 1-100, and then had to fight openly and secretly to shuffle and rearrange the positions until their final placement matched their strength.

Wu Jin glanced at Nicholas’s physique, then at his face. He had to admit that Nicholas’s face was handsome and natural, and very much in line with the mainstream aesthetics from the 21st century…

Wu Jin was startled.

This face looked a little familiar.

At this time, Nicholas’s line of sight had also landed on Wang Ping through the crowd––

Wu Jin quickly bowed his head: !!! How could it be him?!

After Nicholas was called out, the next person to be named was Silver Armor, who was in 9th place from the first impression rankings.

Wu Jin suddenly understood why Silver Amor had refused to form an alliance. This man was simply a beloved son of heaven. He was strong and had the skills to do well in the survival show. He’d also been lucky enough to get an identity that was in 9th place. As long as Silver Amor didn’t make any mistakes, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to maintain his position and make his way into the finals.

16 people were all called into the interview room one by one. The door closed behind them, and then they went out again a short time later. Wu Jin was unsurprised to find that he was at the very bottom with his 96th place ranking. He made very good use of Wang Ping’s face and appeared dull and stiff. He moved when told, and looked like a senior block of wood amidst the group of rappers. He practically had the words ‘passer-by’ and ‘round tour’ written on his face.

All the way until he entered the interview room.

Three cameras aimed straight at him.