Chapter 4 - Kill

Chapter 4 - Kill

translator: xiin

editors: celtic & juurensha

Wu Jin gnawed on a rabbit’s leg by the crackling campfire without any sense of guilt that he should’ve had from eating his own kind.

After finishing the rabbit leg, he diligently tidied up the odds and ends of the meal and went back to sit on the tree stump.

There were still piles of supplies that had been left behind by the big boss next to the campfire, but the man himself had disappeared after eating dinner.

As the night deepened, the cool dampness of the conifer forest was dispelled by the warmth from the flames.

Wu Jin felt that he would have to wait another day if he wanted to report all of this to the police and couldn’t keep his head from drooping bit by bit as he dozed off.

However, he still remembered his duties as a little assistant.

Even if his eyes could barely remain open from sleepiness, Wu Jin still pulled out the coil of rope and carefully wrapped one end of it around the pile of big boss’s supplies, tying the other end to his own wrist.

In the next second, Wu Jin fell into a deep sleep on the tree stump––no matter how difficult it was to survive, everything he wanted could be found in his dreams!

A few hours later, Wu Jin was awakened by the faint sound of an engine.

The night was as dark as ink. At the foot of the hills, above the riverbank where the two contestants had been eliminated, there was the mechanical murmur of sound similar to that of a rotor blade.

Wu Jin stared blankly for a few seconds, and then all his drowsiness instantly disappeared.

He quickly tugged on the rope tied to his wrist, wanting to hide the big boss’s belongings. The other end of the rope, however, was empty.

Wu Jin froze, then looked back stiffly––

From the light of the nearly-extinguished campfire, the big boss, who had returned at some unknown point in time, was leaning coolly against a tree and looking down towards the riverbank. His right arm hung casually against his side; old, faint scars visible against the tight curve of muscle. His right hand toyed with the handgun that had previously rested on Wu Jin’s head.

“Come here.” The man didn’t turn his head back as he spoke.

Wu Jin, who was at the very bottom of the food chain, was suddenly filled with energy as he quickly went over to stand by the big boss’s side.

The man was much taller than Wu Jin, and Wu Jin didn’t know what he saw when he looked down at him.

However, small animals’ intuition had always been very keen, and Wu Jin could vaguely perceive that the big boss seemed to be very satisfied.

“Have you ever learned how to use a gun?” The man asked.

Wu Jin sincerely shook his head.

The man nonchalantly pulled a peculiarly shaped weapon from behind him and tossed it at Wu Jin.

Wu Jin was rather panicked as he caught the reward that had been given to him as a little assistant. He hadn’t expected that this thing would be so heavy! He took an uncontrolled step backwards––then straightened himself up right away thanks to his excellent dancing skills.

It was a long-muzzled gun, the dark grey barrel making it appear like the pump-action shotguns in military magazines, but the inner diameter of the barrel was incredibly small. Wu Jin deeply suspected that there was no way a bullet could pass through the small bore of the gun. On one side of the handle, engraved in small text, were the words ‘A12 Ray’.

Wu Jin was puzzled and asked, “Big brother! What is this?”

“Something that even a monkey can use to kill people with.” The man explained perfunctorily.

“&#k2026;” Wu Jin finally realized that his position in the big boss’s mind might be even lower than he had realized, but on second thought, big brother giving him a gun was a good thing!

Taking ten thousand steps back to look at the situation, there were specializations within professions. His own work was to be the idol of a boy-band, and the big boss’s profession was clearly something different.

Wu Jin hugged the gun and joyfully expressed his thanks. He was thinking in his heart that in the future, when he held a concert after his debut, he must save a few extra tickets for the big boss in order to thank him for this life-saving grace!

He followed the direction of the big boss’s gaze again. By the riverbank, the helicopter seemed to be fishing something out of the water. At this point, its efforts seemed to have finally come to fruition, and two metallic balls about the size of a person were brought out of the water one by one.

In the next second, Wu Jin’s mouth dropped open in a daze––

The recovered metal balls split open from the outside in, and the two contestants who had been shot dead by the big boss jumped out like fake corpses. They turned to face the law enforcement machine and complained vigorously. “That person must be cheating! We couldn’t even see his figure. A .22 caliber bullet, 200-meter range; how could he possibly have hit us?!”

The round machine replied icily, “Report invalid, the complaint has been rejected. Contestant 300010, eliminated. Contestant 299967, eliminated.”

The contestant was still protesting, “Absolutely impossible. I’ve been to this map over a dozen times, and nobody kills like this––”

The round machine became irritated, and it was unknown what instructions it had received, but the two eliminated contestants were tossed back into the silver capsules, and the helicopter swayed as it departed.

“Finished looking?” The man had shifted his gaze away long ago and was now looking towards Wu Jin.

It seemed that to him, the foolish, dazed expression on Wu Jin’s face was much more interesting than the farce being played out on the riverbank.

Wu Jin: “Th-th-they… they’re not dead?!”

The man raised his eyebrows, amused, “What did you expect? This is a reality show, not an execution scene.”

Wu Jin was stunned.

His brain was still a blank slate, but his originally icy limbs had finally warmed up.

“Let’s go.” Big boss stopped speaking unnecessary words and motioned for Wu Jin to follow.

He was taken by surprise by the head that carefully popped up from behind him, “Big brother… About that. I also won’t die, right?”

The man’s steps stalled.

How unproductive and fussy––he just couldn’t figure out why he had picked up this rabbit spirit from the wild.

The eyes under the soft curls were flashing and shining, the oil on his mouth hadn’t been wiped off yet, and he had even fallen into a satisfied sleep after being fed just once.

The right index finger that was wrapped around the handle of the gun curled slightly, and the man casually made a “Mmm” sound.

Wu Jin finally relaxed and was instantly rejuvenated. He was very pleased with himself as he kept up, “Big brother! Would you like to sleep for a while and replenish your strength?”

“No need.” Big boss replied, “The game will end before dawn.”

Wu Jin was surprised, “Didn’t you say afternoon––”

He then caught up again, his little round face wreathed with a wide smile, “Big brother, you have something to do later? What do you need to do? Should we exchange contact information? My name is Wu Jin! I don’t know how I should address big brother––what’s your name?”

“Going home to feed the cat.” The man replied perfunctorily, then saw that Wu Jin was still waiting and reluctantly opened his mouth again, “My name is Wei Shi.”

When the two of them came out of the woods, Wu Jin estimated that it was around one or two o’clock in the morning.

Wei Shi was obviously very familiar with this place. He held the .22 caliber gun that had caused the two contestants to ‘die with everlasting regret’ in one hand while leading Wu Jin across the land and river as though he was walking through his own back garden.

Wu Jin noticed that he was now holding the gun with his left hand. Earlier, when he had fallen asleep, Wei Shi had been using his right hand.

The sleeves that Wei Shi had originally rolled up were now smoothed out, and he didn’t speak as they walked. His eyes were so dark that his irises seemed to suck in all the light. In the darkness, his body seemed tall and powerful, like a prowling beast in a human shell.

Their route took them along the river to the place he had seen before, where the hills and grasslands intersected. The conifer forests were replaced by lush, broad-leaved trees.

It was like two completely different landscapes that had been abruptly connected by the hand of God.

Just when Wu Jin thought that Wei Shi would never speak up or explain anything, big boss suddenly opened his mouth.

“In this survival show, every map has a fixed amount of resources in preset locations.” Wei Shi’s talking speed wasn’t fast and left room for Wu Jin to digest his words, “Weapons, armor, food, and anything else you can think of. Those who land in the resource-abundant areas must gather as many resources as possible within a short period of time. Those who land outside of the resource areas will have to fight in the wilderness.”

Wu Jin nodded emphatically and obediently listened to the big boss’s guidance.

“Six hours. Remember this time.” In front of Wu Jin’s astonished gaze, Wei Shi tossed his gun into his supplies bag. “This is the longest preparation time stipulated for this map. That means that within six hours, all contestants must have taken part in a battle at least once.”

Wu Jin raised his hand and asked, “If two contestants form a team beforehand and exchange a couple of punches, is it possible to find a loophole in the rules that way?”

Wei Shi shook his head. “Participating in combat must result in the elimination of at least one player. As for forming a team,” Wei Shi sneered, “If they can’t eliminate an enemy within six hours, it is not at all rare for people to turn on their own teammates.”

Wu Jin understood the situation.

In the past six hours, the ones who had ‘fought’ with him were the two contestants by the riverbank who had ultimately been eliminated by Wei Shi. He had been let off the hook and had managed to safely bypass the ‘maximum preparation time’ stipulated by this rule.

As for the next six hours––

Wu Jin stumbled and looked hesitatingly at Wei Shi.

If they can’t eliminate an enemy within six hours, it is not rare at all for people to turn on their own teammates…

Wei Shi looked at him calmly. His gaze didn’t seem like he was looking at reserve grain, but rather, it appeared that he was thinking about something.

Wu Jin had no way to guess what Wei Shi intended.

He had given him a weapon and had even explained the rules.

No matter how naive Wu Jin was, he wouldn’t believe that big boss was… giving him preferential treatment just because of his looks.

Of all the people he had ever met, Wei Shi was undoubtedly the calmest.

“271.” In the darkness, Wei Shi suddenly reported a number.

Wu Jin was bewildered. “What––”

“271 degrees.” When Wei Shi suddenly came close, the man’s aggressive momentum made the back of Wu Jin’s spine go numb. However, Wei Shi’s movements were too fast, and in a flash of protective clothing, the hard and solid arm muscles became bands of unmoving iron as they forced Wu Jin to move.

Wei Shi forced the rabbit spirit to turn in the direction he had marked out, and his gun-callused left hand clasped Wu Jin’s elbow. Wu Jin didn’t know how the big boss had done it, but he discovered in a panic that he had somehow already set up the gun!

Wu Jin: “!!!!!”

Wei Shi asked softly, “See that?”

Wu Jin was confused, “What…”

“Blind little guy.” Wei Shi tsked, then ordered, “Shoot.”

Wu Jin instantly stiffened, “I, I haven’t––”

Wei Shi spoke impatiently beside his ear, “I said it before, even a monkey can kill people with this gun.”

The man’s rough index finger domineeringly squeezed against the trigger that Wu Jin had hooked a finger around, using an irrefutable force as it curved, bringing Wu Jin’s finger with it––

There was a bang.

It wasn’t bullets that came out of the barrel, but rather a beam of light that emitted heat.

In the grassland three hundred meters away, the contestant that had been hit was immediately eliminated.

The silver sphere that represented an escape pod popped up and rolled through the grass.

On the wrist watch on Wu Jin’s right arm, a cluster of fireworks suddenly appeared on the originally silent screen, and a line of small text appeared at the bottom: ‘Contestant 300012, Kills: 1.’

Wei Shi got up. “Let’s go. Next.”

Wu Jin remained motionless.

Wei Shi, “Why are you in a daze?”

Wu Jin looked down at his right hand, his expression confused, “Just now I––”

Wei Shi thought that this little fool was once again caught up in the matter of whether or not he would be killed off by a gunshot, but unexpectedly, Wu Jin suddenly became excited, his eyes full of exhilaration, “Did I hit someone just now?!”

Wei Shi: “……”

Wu Jin was still immersed in the exhilaration of his ‘Kills: 1’, “I aimed accurately?! I actually hit someone?!”

Wei Shi was impassive, “This gun has an automatic aiming function.”

When Wu Jin wanted to open his mouth again, Wei Shi added another verbal knife. “I pulled the trigger for you.”

Wu Jin finally calmed down and suddenly realized, “No wonder. Even a monkey can use it to kill… I didn’t aim, and I didn’t pull the trigger… What was my role, then…”

Wei Shi thought about it, “You are the monkey.”

first a rabbit, and now a monkey… poor Little Witch~ here’s some Weibo fanart <3