Chapter Ch34.2 - Butterfly

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

“New clue!” In the moment that Wu Jin spoke up, Zoe’s expression recovered slightly. The team’s bullet reserve could only support them for three waves at most, but the program team wouldn’t design a dead end for them. Every clue was the potential key for them to get out of there.

“Silver ammonia withered leaf butterfly, modified camouflage coloring gene. Wing materials were modified by injecting ammonia and silver nitrate into the cocoon…” Wu Jin almost choked. This was different from the first clue that was both simple and straightforward. The second clue filled up close to two full sheets of A4 paper. It was as though the program team had printed out an entire research paper on the insect.

The first round of shooting ammunition had nearly been exhausted. Zoe took Caesar’s place while Caesar loaded up a second round of bullets. His voice was a little hoarse when he opened his mouth, “Little Witch!”

Wu Jin didn’t answer. His heartbeat was thundering in his ears.

He glanced through the papers. The many professional terms of the current era exceeded his understanding that came from a thousand years ago. Fortunately, his short-term memory from the assessment preparation over the past week helped him filter out most of the words––

Wu Jin squinted his eyes slightly, his fingertips covering a certain place, “The silver ammonia withered leaf king butterfly is protected by butterflies. Wings are a dark matte color, wingspan 38cm, grayish brown insect body. The aggressiveness of the silver ammonia butterflies are induced by the king butterfly––Quick, look for a dark, foggy mirror!”

Zoe nodded quickly. Instead of looking for it immediately, he replaced his gun with a sniper rifle and went to stand against the wall in the distance.

The swarm of butterflies continued their fierce offensive, completely unaffected by their actions. A sharp edged wing cut across Zoe’s arm, leaving a bloody wound.

In the next moment, the defensive gap beside Zoe was filled, with Wu Jin vigorously waving the butt of the gun, bashing the mutated butterfly against the wall.

Zoe: “… Why don’t you shoot?”

Caesar laughed, “Little Witch’s shooting may not be accurate, but his bashing is quite fierce––there’s no need to bring a gun next time, just ask the program team for a mallet.”

Wu Jin’s eyes widened, and his right hand wrapped around the handle, pulling the trigger.

Before the match, his static target average was seven rings, but his preview speed was still poor when compared to that of his teammates. Just now, the situation had been critical, and his first reaction had been to bash.

With Caesar’s joke, the tense and dignified atmosphere from before finally relaxed slightly.

Zoe shot at the opposing wall once again––the mutant butterflies seemed to be acting on instructions as they flowed on around the bullet.

“It’s close!” Wu Jin’s eyes brightened.

Zoe paused for three seconds, his gaze switching between the shifting butterflies and the mirror until he finally noticed a place that was covered by layers of protection, yet still revealed a grayish brown antenna&#k2013;&#k2013;

The gun went off.

On the broken mirror, the king butterfly struggled to launch itself into the air, only to turn into a small silver life-saving capsule, bouncing and tumbling as it rolled off the wall and fell to the ground.

The mutant butterflies that were like mobile silver knives suddenly lost their aggression, flapping in the air several times before once again latching into position on the mirrored walls.

“……” Wu Jin stared at the silver sphere on the ground. “They… are also equipped with a life-saving capsule?”

Zoe thought for a moment, then heaved a sigh, “Don’t forget, the sponsor’s main business also includes pet transportation… The elimination match is also an advertisement for them. Look, your pet won’t die even if other people use a sniper rifle on it.”

After the exchange of fire ended, the mechanism under the crater left behind from the previous gunshot rose up, revealing a supplies box engraved with the Crosson Show logo.

Instance cleared.

Zoe opened the box and was finally relieved when he pulled out additional bullets. Additionally, there were two guns, a protective mask, and a fine mesh net.

After another four or five minutes, the familiar ‘ding dong’ sound effect rang out.

The four mirrors pulled open to create gaps that revealed four identical corridors once again. From the end of one of the corridors, the sound of mechanical parts and gears engaging and mobilizing to move heavy objects slowly reached the ear.

––It seemed that a room had been slowly lowered down from a higher place.

Wu Ji listened to it for a long time. “In every unit of time, the corridors will appear once. There are four directions to choose from, and the next instance is on the opposite side of the corridor––the instances aren’t fixed, because the rooms themselves can move.”

Zoe nodded.

Caesar opened his mouth, “What…”

Zoe gestured for him to knock on the mirror on the ground. “It’s hollow. It’s also hollow beneath our feet. Just like the place where we first started, this competition arena should be composed of countless such rooms that rise and fall like elevators and shift according to certain rules. It’s like––a Rubik’s cube. Who knows what kind of monster will appear in front of you in the next round.”

Wu Jin thought about it and added, “Just now when the door opened, the room across from this corridor had come down from above. It should be a different room from the one before––it’s a new room now. The arena is constantly refreshing.”

The four of them chose a direction to walk in as they spoke.

After walking for a while, Zoe suddenly froze and looked back, “The door is still open.”

Behind them, the door to the instance with the silver ammonia withered leaf butterfly was still open, and they could see the bright lights and fragmented mirrors inside.

Wu Jin was also caught by surprise.

The group quickly walked back. The king butterfly’s life-saving capsule was still lying alone on the ground, and countless mutated butterflies were perched quietly on the mirrors.

Caesar unexpectedly asked a valid question, “The arena is refreshing, then… How come our room hasn’t moved? Is it because it’s cleared?”

“I don’t know.” Zoe quickly came up with an idea, “Since we can come back at any time, let’s split up.”

Caesar: “What?!”

Zoe quickly recited a sentence, “… If we have no friends around us, we will disappear in loneliness. We are afraid of crowding, and if our living spaces are too narrow, we will disappear in the crowd… It’s a tip given to us prior to the match. Lonely, crowded, I wonder if the triggering condition for the instances may also be related to the number of people.”

Zoe glanced at Wu Jin––Wu Jin hesitated for a long time before saying, “I’m not certain.”

Zoe laughed lightly, “No need to be certain. After all, the game begins with speculation.”

The two then went to discuss the splitting of the team with Wen Lin. Caesar, who refused to use his brain, leaned against the wall and poked at a pupa, “This thing looks like it’s edible!”

Wu Jin quickly reminded him, “Brother Caesar! The pupa was injected with ammonia and silver nitrate, you’ll be poisoned if you eat it…”

Zoe looked at the pupa, “Take it with you if you like it. Didn’t our Little Witch bring out a rabbit before? Only, after this pupa goes through metamorphosis––”

Caesar turned back and groused, “Zoe, can you not talk so loudly? Oh, this bug is so abnormal!”

Zoe: “… I really f*cking want to stick the bug onto your head. Metamorphosis refers to when the larva turns into an adult insect… you won’t understand even if I explain…”

metamorphosis – the word for ‘metamorphosis’ and ‘abnormal’ is the same (the meaning changes depending on context). Caesar’s just that stupid~

Caesar stiffened his neck, “So what if I don’t understand. I want to be grouped with Little Witch, hehe.”

Zoe: “…Oh, you’re indeed grouped with Little Witch.”

Among the four, Zoe and Wen Lin were old partners with two years of partnership, and they had a tacit ability to cooperate. Placing Wu Jin with Caesar was like temporarily putting a brain in him, making it reasonable to split the two teams this way.

“Alright.” Zoe ultimately said goodbye to the two. “If there’s a problem, remember to retreat back to this room to regroup.”

Wu Jin nodded and bumped fists with his two teammates.

Only him and Caesar were left when they returned to the corridor.

“Let’s go?”

In the Crosson Show’s live stream studio, Blood Pigeon was once again answering the audience’s questions:

“100 teams, 400 players. Now, there are only 320 left. Is the program going too fast? No, we believe that the best contestants will make it to the end.”

“What did Dolma Entertainment encounter just now? Yes, it’s also a genetically modified species. The contestants didn’t attack each other due to infighting, but because of the toxin. Please don’t send any more images of poisoned mushrooms to the audience, you’ve crowded out other people’s scrolling comments…”

“Alright. Let’s go back to the scene just now, which was a classic example of good cooperation. Here, I would like to pay special attention to Zoe, the c-position commander, and the speed of Wu Jin’s information analysis…”

To the side, Ying Xiangxiang suddenly stilled and pushed lightly at Blood Pigeon’s shoulder, “Little Witch and Caesar seem to be heading towards an S-level instance.”

Blood Pigeon looked up in surprise and sighed with feeling, “I remember that Little Witch’s luck wasn’t that good in the last round either.”

Juurensha: Ooo what monster will we see next?