Chapter Ch62.2 - Jingyi

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

He forced himself to look away and run towards the exit to the instance. Four or five other trainees chose to escape at the same time.

The atmosphere in the instance was balanced on a precipice, but nobody dared to shoot again under Wei Shi’s deterrence. Wu Jin took the chance to run out to the corridor. Suddenly, the loud noise of moving mechanisms rang out from the instance behind him––

Wu Jin looked back in surprise.

At this time, only seven of the trainees had run out, but the door to the instance had closed with a bang! In the dim light coming out from the last remaining gap in the door, he could see that Wei Shi was standing in the middle of the elevated platform, showing neither sorrow or joy as he reached out to pick up the suspended card.

Wu Jin stilled.

What did the big boss do? Why did the door that symbolized the clearing of an instance close?

And that card––

Wu Jin suddenly looked at the archway with its repeated patterns. The pattern beneath the altar flickered slightly, forming a Roman numeral––“III”.

At the same time, the trainees who had escaped from the instance together finally took note of each other. Wu Jin’s expression stiffened, and he ran ahead quickly before fighting broke out in the corridor.

At the end of the corridor was a three-way junction.

Wu Jin went to the right without thinking–-the corridor to the right was narrow, light coming through from up ahead. There were floating motes of dust in his dimmed vision, but Wu Jin’s heart was suddenly beating quickly.

A supply box!

The first supply box to appear after entering the game––it wasn’t inside an instance, but rather in a corridor that anyone could pass through.

Wu Jin moved forward swiftly.

The structure of the supply box was obviously different from that of the previous elimination match. It couldn’t be broken open by brute force, nor could a keyhole be seen. Instead, there was an additional card slot on top of the box.

The clue that had been found in the envelope suddenly reappeared in his mind––”Use your cards to exchange your fate.”

Wu Jin didn’t hesitate to put the Ace of Swords into the card slot. The supplies box creaked, then gurgled as it spat out a gun.

A submachine gun! Wu Jin finally let out a relieved breath. In the third elimination match where exchanges of gunfire were held within a 50 meter distance, submachine guns and shotguns were much more ferocious than a basic rifle.

Cards could be exchanged for supplies, and supplies and cards could be snatched away. The benefit of retaining the cards was far lower than that of trading in the cards to arm themselves.

Wu Jin went on to put in the second tarot card, the Six of Cups that he’d drawn at the start of the game. This time, a bulletproof vest was spat out.

Wu Jin put it on and upgraded his defenses before walking forward slowly with the submachine gun in hand.

At this time, the team communication channel that had undergone a long period of silence finally came alive again.

Zoe: “I’m out.”

Wu Jin and Wen Lin both immediately responded, but there was no response from Caesar.

Wu Jin’s heart thumped, but Zoe quickly interjected, “He should still be fighting. The end time for each instance isn’t the same. What did you guys come across?”

Wu Jin quickly described the trumpet and the ‘Judgement card’. Wen Lin had ‘The Magician card’ where they had to crack an alchemy formula, and Zoe had encountered ‘The High Priestess card’ that had attacked indiscriminately and was consistent with the singing and chanting he’d heard before entering the instance.

Zoe and Wen Lin had also found supply boxes in the corridor. Zoe’s Two of Pentacles, Four of Pentacles, and Five of Swords had been exchanged for two strips of special bullets and a sniper rifle. Wen Lin’s Queen of Cups and Nine of Pentacles had netted him an anti-infrared stealth device and some **.

Wu Jin instantly blurted out, “The suits––the exchange is based on the card suit! Cups correspond to armor, pentacles is bullets, and swords is guns.”

Zoe realized it too, “Then what about wands?”

Wu Jin pondered out loud, “The exchange seems to be basically consistent with the meaning of the card. The wand represents energy, opportunity, and power in the minor arcana.” He paused slightly, “Perhaps it’s clues or maps.”

The channel fell silent. Of the four suits, the sword that represented guns and the cup that represented defense was more important at the start of the competition. However, as the pace of the competition accelerated, and the rules began to be picked apart, wands would start to play an important role.

“Continue to snatch cards.” Zoe ordered, “Perhaps Caesar––”

A harsh electric sound suddenly popped out in the team communication channel.

The faces of the three of them turned blank almost simultaneously, and they wished that they could take off the headset immediately.

Caesar’s voice abruptly came out, “Hello? Hello hello hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Hello hello hello?”

“……” Over the communication channel, Zoe’s knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists. The White Moonlight sniper barely managed to spit out a sentence through clenched teeth, “Speak if you have something to say.”

Caesar was instantly delighted, “Hey, how is this supply box used?”

There was a stretch of silence. It was though the entire team’s IQ had just been extinguished.

In the end, it was Wen Lin who spoke up, “… Put the card into the card slot, then stand there and wait for three seconds…”

Caesar yelled, “I can’t put it in!”

Wu Jin was surprised.

Caesar, “I tried stuffing both cards in. That something, the major arcana ‘World’, and ‘The Hanged Man’ that I just stole, what kind of things are these?? Or is it that the box here is fake?”

“Wait a minute.” Wu Jin suddenly interrupted him and quickly analyzed, “They’re major arcana. Both cards are major arcana cards. It seems that only minor arcana can be traded for supplies Up until now, major arcana cards will only appear in instances––‘The Judgement’ card instance only had one card, and after clearing the instance, there were steps leading up to the card…”

Caesar expressed his deep agreement, “I went up onto that platform!”

The three people stilled, their thoughts blank, “What?!”

Caesar’s tone was complacent, “There weren’t many people in my instance, and I made it up there with a few shots. Motherf*cker, that platform was so tricky. You can’t take a card out at all, and there’s just a card slot. If you want to get the card out, you can only insert another one in order to force it out. My ‘World’ card means my wifey will get pregnant, how could I use it for an exchange––”

Wu Jin spoke without thinking, “You have to exchange it?”

The last piece of the puzzle slotted in, and the scattered clues could finally be connected.

Exchange cards for fate––

The minor arcana with suits could be used to trade for supplies, while major arcana without suits only existed inside the instances, which meant that the exchange was––

Wu Jin was just about to open his mouth to speak when his gaze turned serious. He swiftly hid behind the supply box.

Enemy attack!

The bullet came in at full speed, and Wu Jin rolled to avoid it, a burning, blunt pain appearing at his right arm. The shock of it travelled up from his elbow, and his bulletproof gear now had a hole in it.

It wasn’t one sniper lurking in the darkness––it was two!

If it hadn’t been for that Six of Cups, without the bulletproof armor, Wu Jin would probably have been seriously injured in the arm or eliminated on the spot.

His heartbeat accelerated.

The two snipers’ shot trajectories were very tricky. Their strength was at least above average, or they might both be A-level trainees. Based on the tacit understanding in their shooting, it was likely that they belonged to the same team––

Two whoosh sounds rang out as sniper bullets broke through the air again!

Wu Jin didn’t hesitate to retreat. The three people in his headset were anxious when they heard the sounds, and Caesar even began to curse, but was soon admonished into silence by Zoe.

“Little Witch, what’s the situation? I can’t hear gunshots here. Can you estimate a direction? We’ll head towards you.” Zoe spoke quickly.

Wu Jin gasped for breath and tried to speak, “Corridor, approximately 200 meters long, light coming in from the front. The last instance number was Roman numeral 3, which can be seen at top of the door. There are two enemies, two snipers from the same team with tacit understanding––”

Zoe and Wen Lin were surprised at the same time, “Two snipers?”

Even before Wu Jin could respond, Zoe’s tone turned heavy, “Listen, Little Witch. Try your best to enter an instance. Hide if you can, and don’t fight them. Double snipers is Jingyi Entertainment’s way of playing.”

Wu Jin: “Jingyi?!”

Wen Lin added, “Jingyi is one of the five ancient archery methods, four arrows flying out steadily, all hitting the target. They’re like their name––Jingyi’s configuration is one of the most difficult to deal with amongst all the entertainment companies. This includes their battle team as well as their trainees. The entire team is made up of snipers or sniper replacements, and their double c-positions are definitely two well coordinated snipers. Back when Jingyi made it into the Star League’s top eight, it was because their double c-positions used bullets to push their targets into any position they want––”

Wu Jin’s body shook fiercely.

He suddenly realized that his escape route hadn’t been a subconscious choice, but rather a path that had been forcefully decided for him through the crossfire of sniping––

He was the prey being escorted along by the two snipers from Jingyi Entertainment.

However, there was nowhere to retreat at this time, and only one way out in front of him.

The main door to the second instance opened up in front of Wu Jin!

Juurensha: Go Little Witch go!

xiin: show them how you’ve grown up, Little Witch!