Surprise! The Supposed Talent Show Was Actually–?!

Chapter 71 - Water Army

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

“Prepare the cameras! Ah, move it down a bit, wipe the lens, but don’t get it dirty! Hurry up, this is like opening up a pearl oyster. Come on, open the capsule for 300012...”

The dim interior was suddenly pierced by the light.

The youth’s eyes were tightly closed, his eyebrows twisted, and his eyelashes quivered due to the sudden noise. The side of his face was covered with a layer of light and appeared warm and soft.

Above the life-saving capsule, the camera lights flashed wildly.

The deputy director gestured, and the little stage manager immediately held their breath and stepped forward to carefully shake Wu Jin awake.

“Our Little Witch’s face value is really battle-worthy!” The deputy director looked over the camera playback and was both pleased and complacent.

To the side, Red, who’d been pulled out of the life-saving capsule by a mechanical arm was almost dizzy when he saw this scene.

Two stage manager girls reached out their small hands to poke lightly against Contestant Wu’s shoulder––while on his side, the mechanical arm slapped mercilessly at Red’s buttocks, signaling for him to get out of the way and not hinder the recovery of the capsule.

“Aiya, who f*cking wrote this program––” Red came out covering his bottom and was glared at by the little stage manager.

“Little Witch!” The stage manager turned back and called out in a gentle voice, “The game is over. Come out of the capsule and walk around a bit.”

Wu Jin lifted his head up slightly, opened his eyes, and agreed obediently. Perhaps because he’d inhaled too much anesthetic, he looked a little dazed and silly.

Outside the life-saving capsule was the dusk scenery of the Crosson base. The clouds were gradually dyed red, and reflected the colors of the setting sun. Heaven and earth seemed to be paved with fire––a few hundred meters away, the gothic altar continued to burn with the sacrificial fires.

The third elimination match arena was dying peacefully after having served its purpose.

A filter screen with electric lights covered the area, containing the ash, residue, and PM2.5 from the burning structure. The program producer was directing a group of cameras to take shots of air filter advertisements for one of their sponsor brands.

The atmosphere in the studio in the distance was jubilant, support signs held high on the big screen.

“White Moonlight, my Ace! Collective soul explosion ahhhh!!!”

“Jingyi double c!!! Supporting my Jingyi double snipers for life!”

“Pick my Little Witch aoooo!! Bramble fire, gloriously paving the way! Mama will guard Little Witch’s debut!”

In front of the life-saving capsule, the little stage manager smiled broadly and said, “Little Witch, look, they’re all cheering for you!”

The survival show relied on violent aesthetics to conquer the audience––if Wu Jin had previously won the second elimination match based on pure strategy, then he had really gained a genuine circle of fans with this third game.

The battle for chalices in the ‘Temperance’ card, the fearless assault in ‘The Lovers’ card, and the fire trap in the final elevated platform were projected on the screen repeatedly, interspersed with wonderful highlight clips from other players.

Wu Jin nodded slowly, with a little delay, and looked a little embarrassed.

The little stage manager chattered on and said a few more sentences, but suddenly started to feel worried and called the medical team over.

“How many fingers is this? Are your hands or feet numb? Do you have a headache?”

The person from the medical team asked Wu Jin a few questions, then turned around, “He inhaled too much anesthetic. It’s normal. Where’s the player’s family––no, teammates...”

To the side, Red had just finished inputting a communication message when Zoe had already rushed over, “Family! His family is here!”

Zoe had been eliminated two rounds before Wu Jin. After leaving his capsule, he’d watched the last half hour of live broadcast. He appeared to be glowing with good health, and his face was filled with relief and satisfaction.

The medic waved his hand, “It’s not a big problem. We’ll deal with the injuries first.”

Wu Jin raised his head and looked blankly at Zoe before leaning forward to rub against him.

Zoe immediately felt a wave of heartache and carefully helped him take off his protective gear.

The medic nodded, “That’s it. Let the patient feel a sense of security. Alright, family members just need to accompany him from the side. The anesthetic will wear off after a while...”

A man suddenly appeared nearby, and Red immediately went over to follow behind him.

Zoe turned around and froze: Who was this? And when he looked back again, his eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets––

Wu Jin, who’d been obediently leaning against him just then, now slowly, slowly shifted positions, leaving his captain behind and raising up his small round face towards the newcomer.

Wei Shi stood in front of him and looked down.

The small round face looked aggrieved, and the small curls that were fluffed up and waving a few hours ago were collapsed and flat.

Wei Shi frowned and reached out for Wu Jin’s pulse.

The youth put up a token struggle, but was soon controlled by his powerful arms. Wu Jin huffed out a breath, his cheeks puffed up, and the top of his head was covered with the words ‘Angry!’ ‘Kicking up a fuss!’ ‘Aggrieved!’.

The man leaned over to measure the temperature of his forehead, taking the opportunity to push aside the bubbles of emotion above his soft hair, “Don’t fuss, I’ll be here.”

“......” Zoe looked on in a trance, also noticing Red stretching out his neck to watch, his face unsurprised and natural. But, who the hell was this? A staff member or a contestant? Part of the medical staff, or––

Zoe froze as a memory resurfaced.

The Chariot card, with everyone at the bottom fighting for their lives while the person at the top watched the show; the corridor, where the man sniped at him with a gun and stepped into ‘The Lovers’ instance ahead of him. Zoe had always seen him from an angle and hadn’t been able to get an overall view of the other party’s features, but he could now see the figure in front of him clearly.

Zoe: “!!!”

More than ten meters away, Thin Fire, who was just about to try and sneak in to share a camera frame with Wu Jin, swiftly turned away––My god, this stalker fan had come over to take advantage of his idol again! He couldn’t afford to provoke him, he definitely couldn’t!

Back on the other side, Zoe felt that something was increasingly wrong the more he thought about it.

Based on this posture, could it be that Little Witch had been bullied by the other party in the instance?! He was about to speak up to drive the man away, but was shocked when he saw the man bend over and say something into Wu Jin’s ear.

Wu Jin stilled and lifted his chin, his eyes curving slightly.

After Wei Shi finished coaxing the rabbit, he nodded lightly to Zoe and stood up to walk over to the medical team.

“Can you find the medication record for contestant 300012?”

The team doctor glanced at him, then turned to look through the database, “Eh? Why isn’t there any? Contestant records should be submitted within one week after they join...”

Wei Shi frowned, but didn’t find it surprising, “Follow up on it, will you. Contestant Wu’s tolerance to anesthesia is very low, and the dosage of anesthetics in the life-saving capsule should be reduced as much as possible.”

The team doctor was shocked and took a detector out of his cart, heading over to Wu Jin.

The measurements for the nerve blocking dosage rose slowly and soon exceeded the warning line. Zoe was also anxious and leaned close to see, sending a message back to the company even as he watched the data on the instrument fluctuate up and down.

The team doctor’s expression turned solemn. He caught hold of another medic and criticized them, then turned towards Wei Shi, “What’s wrong with your company? It’s already the third elimination match, yet they still haven’t filled in his medical records? Are you here to play in a competition or play with your life?”

He then quickly filled out a medical examination sheet and stuffed it at Wei Shi, “Take it. Fortunately, it was discovered early. Take it back and analyze the data––”

Zoe quickly went to snatch it, “About that, I’m the one from White Moonlight Entertainment––”

Wei Shi glanced over the report table, “Change it to 0.2mg/kg.”

The team doctor looked at him in surprise and seemed to fall into deep thought.

After the team doctor left, Zoe shot Wei Shi a look of gratitude, “Brother, let’s be friends?”

Wei Shi nodded. The two of them made inconsequential small talk, and the man went to open a bottle of water, watching as Wu Jin hugged the water and hydrated himself with a series of gurgling sounds.

A few minutes later, Wu Jin finally showed signs of coming back to awareness.

Wei Shi left the bottle of mineral water behind to water the rabbit, said goodbye to Zoe, and left with Red.

Zoe was happy as he turned back, “Is Little Witch awake? I saw your teammate from The Lovers card instance just now, he seems quite reliable––”

Wu Jin, who’d been staring at the mineral water in a daze, immediately looked up and quickly found the direction the man had left in.

The big boss was making his way across the lawn, Red jumping up and down beside him as though protesting something. The words ‘corridor’, ‘Wei Yan,’ and so on vaguely travelled back, and then he was scolded into clutching at his head with a sentence from the big boss.

“Hey, I’ll beat him sooner or later...” Red clamored.

Wei Shi suddenly looked back.

With the entire Crosson Show lawn between them, the two people’s gazes crossed the distance and met.

The fire, altar, and clouds turned the grass red. Wei Shi’s gaze was indifferent, his lips natural and relaxed. He held the same bottle of mineral water in his right hand and looked like a lazy beast who’d just finished a fight, turning back to glance over his prey a few times.

Wu Jin’s heartbeat sped up.

He’d originally still wanted to ‘find the big boss and state his views’ very seriously, but at this time, he’d already forgotten all about it. His eyes were wide and round, and although he still looked like an unhappy rabbit, his small curls were already fluffed up and floating with the evening breeze.

Behind him, Zoe, who’d been looking elsewhere, let out a heavy sigh and bumped Wu Jin’s right shoulder, “Look.”

On the other side of the lawn, the Jingyi double c were reunited once again. Ming Yao, who’d been fearlessly brandishing his gun half an hour ago, had reddened eyes as he squatted beside his captain Zuo Botang, unable to choke out a single word.

Zuo Botang was both moved and helpless and could only pat him on the shoulder to encourage him, “Weren’t you almost able to get first place? Not bad, you didn’t lose face for our Jingyi team!”

He then coaxed, “Little Ming, why don’t you get up first? It’s not so good for you to squat here like this...”

Crosson Show director’s studio.

Blood Pigeon looked at the noisy and bustling lawn, “Zuo Botang was demoted to C. He shouldn’t have been eliminated so early.”

Ying Xiangxiang didn’t feel sorry for him at all. She smiled like a fox, “He can rise back up again after being demoted, but there aren’t many chances for him to force Ming Yao to his limits. That Little Zuo sees things more clearly than you do.”

Blood Pigeon was stunned.

Against the glow of the setting sun, the altar that was now nothing but a frame, collapsed.

The program producer started to get busy again, filming ads that might be for blast furnace irons or garbage incineration.

Wei Yan looked in Wu Jin’s direction repeatedly, but he dawdled and refused to head over.

Thin Fire could read the situation clearly. This human-shaped weapon was delaying and refusing to go over because there were too many people. If there were fewer people, perhaps he would find Little Witch and issue another battle challenge.

A little stage manager slowly came to the lawn with a bag. Thin Fire’s hands were swift as he accepted it, then hurriedly went to the faucet used to irrigate the lawn to remove his make-up, apply a mask on his face, and give his big brother a call.

Thin Water had his legs propped up on his work desk as he congratulated his younger brother for coming in third.

Thin Fire was overjoyed and wailed through the communication, “Big brother ahhhhhhh––”

Thin Water pulled the earphones away from his ear slightly and was generous enough to give some advice, “Pup, although it was an indoor arena, just replenishing the moisture on your face isn’t enough. The radiation from the sacrificial fire included everything from ultraviolet rays to gamma rays. In this kind of situation, you need to add some whitening...”

The director interrupted them relentlessly, “Third place, third place Thin Fire, come backstage to prepare for your interview!”

Caesar strode out from the interview room, and the second place Ming Yao was about to go in, the corners of his eyes still red.

Thin Fire tsked and took out a pair of eye masks from his cosmetic bag, gifting them to Ming Yao in a gesture of friendship, “No need to return them! Later, your Jingyi can send out a notice, have them smooth out my skin for me whenever they publish photos!”

Ming Yao choked, thanking him and accepting the masks.

Caesar ran into Wen Lin after he left. He immediately pulled him along with him and exclaimed that they needed to go find Wu Jin and Zoe.

The program producer came back from filming the commercials and blew out a smoke cloud behind him, “Championship interview. He answered whatever he was asked––ah, it’s still Little Witch who calculated well! He said that it was all the captain and Wen Lin and the others––he didn’t do anything and just went up to the stage and exchanged a card...”

Blood Pigeon laughed, “He’s young.”

In the distance, the White Moonlight team was finally gathered together again.

Caesar was still shouting endlessly, and Zoe was also reprimanding him in a loud voice. Wu Jin melted onto the lawn and basked in the remaining sunlight, while Wen Lin smiled like a fox and watched on.

The program producer casually looked at the terminal in his hand, and his spirits seemed to brighten immediately.

At this time, the traffic flow of the show was very good. The official clips from the third match hadn’t been published yet, but the scissor hands, fan clip producers, microscope girls, and support sisters of the Star Net were already fighting to be the first in line to meet the needs of the masses.

Several classic clips from the collected videos spread out rapidly, and countless tags were pushed up so quickly they seemed to fly.

#Jingyi double c, clipping my wings for you and sending you to fly high

#White Moonlight double assault, burning in the wildfire and giving birth to nirvana

#Scarf CP, you are my one and only, predestined for three lifetimes

#Zuolin ...

The program producer was suddenly very excited, “I think that we can do something big!”

Blood Pigeon was bewildered, “... What?”

The program producer chuckled, “We can change our thinking a bit and actively respond to fans’ demands! In terms of forming groups, the SWAT (small teams of 4-5 people, following the similarly named special combat unit) structure is something that the audience must be tired of watching all the time. We can split up the teams this time and have two people in each team participate in a variety of minigames. We can have fans vote online for the team pairings!”

Blood Pigeon was still puzzled, “What do you mean?”

The program producer dusted off the ashes of his cigarette, “Hey, it’s hard to explain clearly to an old straight man like you. Is Xiangxiang inside? I’ll go find her and talk to her about it. Ah, little fellow over there, come over. Write a plan for the upcoming meeting!”

Blood Pigeon: “Aren’t you a damned old straight man too?”

The program producer rebuked him seriously, “I’m involved in the arts. Don’t use such superficial words to describe your big brother.”

The little editor tried to recall her superior’s sudden inspiration and abruptly thought of something that made her shake, “Teacher, what if they... put––put–– put ‘Wei Yan x you’ up there, what–– what–– what will we do...”

The program producer waved his hand, “As long as it brings traffic, your teacher can do anything! As a media person, we should have a sense of dedication for the screen!”

Wei Yan, who was preparing to enter the interview room, passed by the corridor expressionlessly.

The little editor shivered and was so scared that her notebook and pen both clattered to the ground.

The contestants entered the interview room one after another based on their placement in the match.

After fourth place Wei Yan, came Wu Jin.

The curtains that surrounded the interview room fluttered softly. Wei Yan was as uncommunicative as usual inside the room, but the divination instructor who was in charge of the interview––Centaurus divination master Sinra, spoke a lot, and the atmosphere never became cold from beginning to end.

From talking about Wei Yan’s performance in the match, to taking the initiative to read his palm, there was also three minutes of telling him about his good luck with women, and so on and so forth.

Wu Jin finally understood why the previous contestants’ interviews lasted for so long.

In the interview waiting area were many exquisite divination props that had likely been placed there in order to relieve the players’ boredom.

Tarot decks, a crystal ball, a tortoise shell, dice, an ouija board, and a book of fate, among other things.

Wu Jin opened up the <Book of Fate> randomly, and there was a QR code beneath a line of big text:

“Love and romance is coming! Scan the code now to pay and get immediate guidance on how to lose your single status!!!”

Wu Jin: “......”

Inside the interview area, the divination master Sinra had just reached the point of saying, “From a numerology perspective, Contestant Wei should have two important growth partners. Does Contestant Wei have two older brothers...”

Wei Yan shook his head woodenly.

Wu Jin closed the book with the QR code––it looked like it would take a long, long time. Suddenly, a message arrived on his terminal.

Caesar: “My god! Little Witch, look at the group voting page! Where the hell did this pheasant Scarf CP come from?? It surpassed our White Moonlight double assault!”

“Someone must have bought a water army! Little Witch, just wait, your big brother’s going to brush up the votes for the two of us!”

Juurensha: Caesar: What Scarf OTP, I ship Little Witch and me!

Zoe: ....that doesn’t mean what you think it means.

Also awww Zoe considering Little Witch family (and bonding with Little Witch future/current husband)

xiin: Mama Zoe~

lovely readers if you guys are enjoying the novel, how about dropping a review on NovelUpdates (and adding it to your reading list there if you haven’t already) to tell other potential readers about how awesome it is? i might maybe possibly will offer a couple of double releases if the weekly rank hits 50... /end shameless xiin

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