Chapter Ch202.2 - Rehearsal

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

On the stage, the first section of music began to play.

The harsh sound of the speakers sounded through the partitions, and the sound made Wu Jin’s scalp go numb. The rapper of the first section of flow was sent up onto the stage via the lift platform.

Nicholas.

“The audience is my bro, the stage is my flow, hey, hey, hey you know…”

Wu Jin’s eyebrows pulled together in pain. Nicholas hadn’t found the beat at all, but fortunately, he’d recorded and fixed up his voice in advance. Even so, the entire flow was an insult to a rapper!

The sixth––

Wu Jin suddenly froze. His ear had caught an extremely small sound of movement. His right hand pressed on the knife handle in an instant as an extremely cold chill crept up his back!

It was as though someone with no bones had come up to slowly bend over him in the dark.

A sticky, greasy, cold body pasted itself onto Wu Jin’s back.

Wu Jin abruptly turned back!

The cold light in the youth’s eyes was very powerful. The handle of the knife cut through the air rapidly, and his elbow was precisely positioned because his waist and shoulder joints twisted at the same time––

The person behind him retreated steadily!

Behind Wu Jin was a pile of dark stage mechanisms. It was difficult to imagine that someone had been hiding here beforehand, merging into the darkness right from the start. That person’s breath was very light, and even Wu Jin hadn’t been able to discover them for the first few minutes.

Wu Jin gasped for breath.

His heartbeat calmed down from its initial rapid state, and that instant of fighting was split into parts in his mind.

The other party was very strong.

This kind of strength was quite different from the big boss and Wei Yan. He was obviously stronger than Wu Jin, but he was more cautious than he was, retreating quickly after a single blow. He was low key, cautious, had low extroversion, but he didn’t have to think twice when attacking––

A face suddenly flashed across Wu Jin’s mind.

In the first round of the Stardust Cup performance competition, at the center of the huge stadium in the Imperial capital. The King of Hearts had been shy as he smiled at the audience, constantly remaining half a step behind the other players in the game to show his respect. He was so ordinary that he was no different from any other trainee.

The King of Hearts.

Why would he be here?

Just now, it had seemed that he wanted to squeeze onto Wu Jin’s lift platform. When had he left the group of trainees and hidden amongst the mechanisms? Or, had he been hiding there from the start, waiting for the trainees to enter the platforms? Additionally, why had he set up the earlier scene––

Wu Jin narrowed his eyes, the knuckles wrapped around the handle of the blade turning back to normal from their original tense and pale state. His physical state and fighting intent surged back up to full in an instant, but he hadn’t yet had time to make his move when a ray of light suddenly shone down!

The lift platform rose up slowly, isolating him from the King of Hearts.

The bright light of the stage streamed in.

The AI instructor and rapper trainees running around the stage stared at Wu Jin in surprise.

Trainees: “……”

Nicholas trembled and faltered, “Brother, Brother Wang, kn-knife…”

Wang Ping, who was holding a blade, suddenly responded. He stuck the knife into his waist and switched to hip-hop gestures, becoming the first rapper on the stage to find his rhythm. He spoke his only line, “Let’s get it.”

The AI instructor was stunned for a moment, then nodded, “Not bad. Wang Ping’s presence is quite strong, but there’s no need to bring your own props…”

The chaos on the stage finally returned to normal.

After Wu Jin, the other contestants went up one by one on their lift platforms.

The entire stage was noisy from the sound effects. Most of the players had chosen the half-open mic, and there was lots of lip syncing and trainees forgetting to sing. By the time the second last lift platform began to move, Wu Jin seemed to feel a vibration from his watch.

88 survivors -> 87 survivors.

Wu Jin paused.

The other trainees reacted one after another, fixing their eyes on the stage mechanism that was rising up.

The lift platform rose up smoothly.

The last lift platform was delayed and didn’t make it up.

Until the end of the show.

Beneath the stage, the instructor waved to gesture that the performance was finished; everyone was to go back and remember to continue to practice. After they were told to disperse, the crowd quickly rushed down to the B1 mechanism floor––

“Brother Leica!” When the flashlight moved to the last platform that hadn’t risen up, the trainee who was crouched there greeted Leica excitedly.

Leica was relieved, too. The player ranked 89th, named Serra, was one of the trainees within his sphere of influence. After something happened with Lin Qingshan, if Serra had been involved in this mess too, then his position as a leader of the group would surely crumble.

Wu Jin followed behind them closely, his hand once again quietly grasping the knife handle.

He remembered that Serra. He was one of the trainees who lived in the bedroom next door and had preached that ‘K did it because of Silver Armor’s disrespect’.

It was just that he couldn’t figure out why the King of Hearts had climbed up his back when he was beneath the stage.

It had been as if he was trying to ‘attach’ to him.

The words on the script in his wrist watch flashed across his mind again.

“You are the first owner of the identity ‘Wang Ping’.”

“The first owner.”

If the King of Hearts wanted to be the second owner––

The thoughts in his mind suddenly turned over with the momentum of an avalanche.

Wu Jin pressed down on his temples.

Countless fragments of clues connected together in a flash, and the result he came to was almost unimaginable.

How could that be?!

Beside him, Nicholas carefully lowered his voice, “Brother Wang, are you okay? Why did you pull out your knife just now? This place is very dark, it’s very dangerous.”

Wu Jin nodded and exhaled, “I ran into the King of Hearts.”

Nicholas was shaken.

He looked at Wu Jin incredulously. It seemed that he’d never expected that Wu Jin would be able to escape from the King of Hearts’s clutches. He clenched his hands into fists as he reassessed Wu Jin’s value.

At the lift platform, Leica was still discussing what had happened with Serra, the trainee who hadn’t gone up. “The lift platform didn’t go up? Are you overweight?”

“No! It malfunctioned. My weight is normal, didn’t they say that it only won’t go up if there are two people standing on it––”

In the corner of the mechanism area, Nicholas’s eyes shifted. It seemed that he’d finally made a decision.

“Brother Wang, in fact, for this competition, I promised something in advance…”

Wu Jin looked up.

Nicholas’s words were faltering, and he gestured after a long delay, “It doesn’t affect the balance of the game. This is how us wild card team players survive. I don’t mean anything else by it. Brother Wang, how about you guarantee my spot in the top 40? I can reveal a bit more to you about the King of Hearts.”

Wu Jin looked him over slowly.

This fool seemed to have finally returned to normal.

Nicholas was weak. However, it wouldn’t be too overboard to say that any trainee from a wild card team who was able to remain in the game until now must have some experience.

Wu Jin: “Deal.”

Nicholas finally breathed a sigh of relief, “We’ll talk when we get back.”

Wu Jin made a sound of acknowledgement, “Watch out for Serra.”

Nicholas’ gaze moved over instantly, and he looked deeply at Serra, who was in the distance. His gaze was full of extreme vigilance, but he soon returned to normal. The lighting in the B1 floor’s mechanism area was dim, and Nicholas soon decided to follow the rest of the trainees up, returning to the ‘safer’ stage area.

Before he left, Wu Jin stopped him, “What’s the training for tomorrow?”

Nicholas: “Brother Wang, this… how would I know?”

Wu Jin: “Remember, the answer is ‘white peacock’.”

Nicholas nodded earnestly and remembered the code.

Seven of the trainees left, and the B1 mechanism floor was suddenly half empty.

Serra once again insisted that there was absolutely nothing wrong with his weight, so they climbed up and down the platform to see if there was anything wrong with the mechanism––

Then, someone screamed.

A silver life-saving capsule was attached to the lifting mechanism.

A face was attached to the sling bearing of the mechanism.

The owner of the face was the missing Lin Qingshan. Sierra’s lift platform hadn’t been able to rise up due to the weight of both people.

Serra himself, and the ‘corpse’ of Lin Qingshan.

Wu Jin finally moved his gaze away.

His last guess had finally been verified.

In the distance, the crowd surrounded Serra in a panic, discussing why the King of Hearts had chosen to kill Lin Qingshan here, whether he’d predicted what would happen today, and who would be the next one he attacked––

Wu Jin no longer had the patience to continue listening.

He looked down at the script in his watch.

“You are the first owner of the identity ‘Wang Ping’.”

Any script could have a second owner.

It was impossible for Silver Armor to be killed in the locked room, and it wasn’t possible for the King of Hearts to predict the rehearsal itinerary.

And, during the performance just now, their watches had vibrated to announce that another trainee had been eliminated.

If Wu Jin hadn’t been on alert, he would be the one who’d been eliminated.

Now––

Serra had been the one who was eliminated.

The ‘Serra’ currently in the crowd, the second owner of Serra’s identity, was the new owner who’d put on Serra’s ‘human skin’.

Wu Jin stood up from the corner.

In the distance, the crowd was still chaotic, and Leica’s attempts to pacify everyone was ineffective. When Wu Jin looked around again, Serra had disappeared.

Wu Jin strode over.

“Serra? He said that it was too dark underground and went back to the stage…”

Wu Jin’s expression changed abruptly.

He walked quickly to the vertical elevator that went up to the stage, but the display remained on the stage ground floor. It seemed that the elevator door had been blocked by something and couldn’t go down.

Wu Jin didn’t wait any longer and unhesitatingly rushed over to the safety passage.

Wang Shu, who’d been following behind Wu Jin, was stunned, “Wait, you––”

Wu Jin hadn’t yet opened his mouth to speak when both of their wrist watches vibrated at the same time!

87 survivors -> 86 survivors.

Wang Shu: “The elevator is here.”

The two of them quickly stepped into the elevator.

The floors changed from B1 to the ground floor.

Nicholas was waiting for them at the door.

Wang Shu shrugged his shoulders and left the area for Wu Jin and Nicholas’s small two person team.

Nicholas happily greeted Wu Jin.

He looked like a beautiful waste with no guts.

Wu Jin paused.

Wu Jin: “Why are you here.”

Nicholas: “Brother Wang, it’s too dark down there.”

Wu Jin: “What’s the training for tomorrow?”

Nicholas was bewildered, “How would I know?”

Wu Jin nodded.

The fingers that had been inserted into his pocket clenched tight.

Juurensha: Ohhhhh this is a kind of creepy instance.