Chapter Ch54.2 - Underground Match

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The green light over the referee’s stand finally came on.

The gladiator had been hit in the lung by the impact of the bullet and coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam. He shot Wu Jin a vicious glare, then pushed away the staff who’d come out to support him and stumbled towards the curtains.

The audience stands were filled with the roar of cheers, and even the aristocratic ladies in the front row threw down flowers, bracelets, and various other objects into the arena, their gazes bright with interest.

The staff were already familiar with the process and hurriedly picked up the valuables to return them to the audience. Unexpectedly, the atmosphere became even more intense a few seconds later––

The youth accepted a bandage that was handed to him from one side of the arena and tore off the protective clothing that had been split by a bullet, revealing slender and smooth, yet extremely explosive, curves of muscle. He wrapped the bandage neatly around his shoulder and arm wounds, and because he couldn’t exert force with his arm, he had to slightly lift up one end of the mask to hold the bandage in place with his teeth––

Blood, youth, guns, and hormones.

Shrill screams rang out from beneath the stage, and the waiter had to endlessly explain, “His name cannot be given”, “Please respect the contestant’s choice to wear a mask”, “Champagne cannot be gifted to this contestant”, “There’s no reason given… it’s an order from the upper management…” …

Behind the curtains.

The man’s throat moved as he swallowed, and he reached out to rub his fingertips lightly against the handle of the gun.

The rabbit spirit that he’d caught in the woods on a whim during the audition seemed to have already grown a mouthful of little, white fangs.

Five minutes later, the opponent for Wu Jin’s second round was sent up onto the stage.

The audience off-stage felt that they were at a grand banquet. Nobody dared to take out their terminal to record the matches because it was prohibited, but there were a lot of ongoing private discussions.

“My god, I want to have monkeys with him! ––Even if you can’t give me his name, you should at least give me his code name, ahhhhhh! Today is my first time seeing him, did he come to the underground arena just to play around, or will he participate regularly in the survival shows? Please at least give a statement!!”

“… How can dressing a wound look so cool! It reminds me of two years ago when the King hadn’t yet retired; he bandaged himself up in exactly the same way. Back then, I was shocked by his looks, and now this little brother––almost made me cry for him! It’s like time has turned back to the young King of six years ago!”

“He looks like he’s 20 or younger. His fighting style is strange, and his shooting skills are obviously flawed. Also, this is the beginner’s stage… I remember that the King went straight to the elite arenas when he appeared? However, what you’re saying also seems to make sense, especially when he’s bandaging…”

“I’m afraid of him getting hurt, but I also can’t help my blood from boiling when he’s hurt––ahhhh, what to do!”

The lights came on again.

This time, Wu Jin extended the fight from five minutes to ten minutes. The opponent was at about the same level as a B~C level Crosson Show trainee, and Zoe would definitely have been able to settle him in three minutes.

But he was already showing obvious signs of physical exhaustion.

The opponent was far fiercer than the Crosson Show trainees who were a world away from Azure Cosmos. After seeing the wound on Wu Jin’s right shoulder, the opponent’s shooting angle became cunningly unpredictable.

Wu Jin even had to switch his assault rifle to his left hand, suck in a cold breath, and aim precisely before taking a shot.

By the time the barriers dropped down to knee height, the two fighters had even started to use the blade mounted at the tip of their rifles––Wu Jin used the movement of the knife as a cover and suddenly pulled the trigger, knocking his opponent to the ground with the strong impact. The green light finally lit up.

He was now only one match away from completing his graduation assessment.

In the dark area of the curtains, Wei Shi’s eyebrows twisted slightly in a frown, the knuckles of the right hand pressing tightly against his gun.

In the middle of the stage, Wu Jin supported himself on his knees. His small curls were thoroughly soaked in sweat, droplets sliding down his mask and lower jaw. He had three more bullet wounds on his body, and his right shoulder was now seriously injured after having been shot twice.

However, he never looked in the direction of the curtains.

Behind the curtains, a waiter bowed respectfully to Wei Shi, then brought a bottle of water to the youth on the stage, whispering a few words into his ear.

Wu Jin’s eyes brightened, but he then shook his head. When he stood up again, he nodded slightly to acknowledge the audience, then wiped the sweat off his forehead, his body filled with fighting spirit.

There was a moment of silence in the audience stands, followed by another burst of applause and cheers.

The third assessment match was much, much harder than he’d imagined.

The opponent had a lower likelihood of winning than the previous two, but he happened to appear at the point when Wu Jin’s physical strength was at its lowest. In order to allow his strength to recover, Wu Jin had to switch from his original quick tactics to a long, drawn out fight.

Excessive blood loss stimulated Wu Jin’s nervous system. At first, he could use the pain to keep his mind clear, but by the six minute mark when the bunkers had dropped to a level that could easily be scaled by the contestants––his vision was already darkening slightly when he looked up.

During the first match, he had also forced his opponent into a similar position.

Wu Jin bit down on the top of his tongue and forced his mind to focus. His gaze, that was searching for the trajectory of the bullets, inadvertently swept across the curtains.

A figure flashed by.

Wu Jin quickly looked away, his eyes cold. His originally stiff shoulders finally relaxed.

Someone was waiting for him to return in triumph.

He leaned to the side. The noise from the audience was filtered out by his senses, retreating like the tide. Wu Jin narrowed his eyes, raised his hand, and inhaled the strong smell of blood when he pressed his finger against the trigger.

It was like he had returned to the first elimination match of the Crosson Show. Overheated, collapsed, physically exhausted––

But none of that was enough to justify his elimination.

The scenes from stress training one day ago resurfaced in his mind. All sensory stimuli were discarded, and willpower finally prevailed. At this time, a stray bullet struck Wu Jin.

His abdomen was hit, a wound sliced out.

A flash of light slid through Wu Jin’s pupils.

Locking onto the target, anticipating their movement, strike––

His muscles strained, like a leopard that had just been revitalized. Two consecutive shots, almost perfectly replicating the first time he’d found his gun sense in the training room!

The enemy toppled over in response.

And then––

Wu Jin closed his eyes tight. When he opened them again, the noise, shouting, and applause that had been filtered out returned one by one. The green light came on again, and bright lights shone down from the dome.

They were so bright that he almost became dizzy.

He almost didn’t know for a moment if he was at the training grounds or in the survival show. The big boss in his memory seemed to be speaking from far away:

“Congratulations, you blew up the stage.”

Consciousness suddenly returned.

His opponent was pulled upright by the staff. He saluted to Wu Jin, then headed back towards the curtains. The audience erupted in cheers once again. Wu Jin held the assault rifle in his hand and firmly crossed the last psychological barrier––

His muscle memory and the body of the gun were perfectly integrated together. It seemed that he would be able to shoot accurately at any time as long as he wanted to, the gun sense always within reach. Or in other words, the hand holding the handle of the gun was the real weapon.

The youth in the middle of the stage finally smiled.

Then, he did something that nobody had expected––he bowed his head and kissed the barrel of the gun. The sweat, blood, and gun representing victory were all intertwined, bursting out with a suffocating, violent beauty beneath the dome.

Before the audience could react, Wu Jin had already lifted up the gun and flipped on the safety lock. His back was to the lights as he stepped back towards the curtains.

Wei Shi stood silently in the shadows in a place where the lights didn’t reach.

Wu Jin stumbled towards him, the curtains dropping down abruptly behind him as soon as he stepped in, blocking out the countless inquiries, curiosity, admiration, and burning gazes of the audience.

The youth didn’t stop until he arrived in front of him.

Wei Shi stretched out his gun-callused right hand and forced the youth to look up, his fingertips sliding into the small, sweat-soaked curls and pausing at the complex knot. His eyes were dangerous, seeming to want to tear the youth before him apart and swallow him up in the next second.

“Untie it?” The man’s voice was low and deep, with a trace of hoarseness.

Wu Jin’s eyes were clear as he nodded. He tossed the gun aside, then waited for the man to give him a hug of encouragement––

The man’s eyes darkened.

The knot was pulled away with a series of complicated moves, and a chill spread over Wu Jin’s face––the mask had been removed, rough fingertips sliding across his neck and cheek, avoiding all the small wounds and nudging him to lift up his chin.

The youth was held firmly in place, the triumphant hero stretching out his fragile neck like an unwitting sacrifice.

The man lowered his head, pressing a passionate kiss to his forehead.

Juurensha: Awwwww! (Although WS, also give your rabbit spirit a hug!)

xiin: Little Witch: Where’s my victory hug? ;___; who cares about the rest?!

also, there’s a novel i really want to recommend: Global University Entrance Examination (translator: KK)

it’s an unlimited flow novel on par with The Earth is Online. the story settings are different, but GUEE is f*cking awesome. the first few chapters might be a bit of a drag (i know i used it as sleeping material for a while there, but it could be conditioned reflex to fall asleep whenever anything school-exam-related comes up) but once you push past the first few chapters, the rest is AMAZING. i love love love love love the pairing, and re-reading the novel never gets old.

go read it if you haven’t started~ it deserves more attention!!!