Chapter 36 - Map

Chapter 36 - Map

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Inside the competition arena, Wu Jin quickly picked up the supplies and ran out with Caesar.

The moths wouldn’t take the initiative to attack, but the silver ammonia butterflies weren’t easy to deal with.

Caesar didn’t hesitate to take up the rear position, turning back to shoot as they left. “Little Witch, go over first and wait for me on the other side of the corridor. These insects actually dare to block Granddaddy Caesar––”

The air was filled with flying silver mirrors, and there was no doubt that a round of gunfire would be needed to get out.

The two of them cooperated tacitly.

Caesar protected Wu Jin while Wu Jin protected their materials, using several hip hop style tactical moves to quickly roll and break towards the exit.

Wu Jin hadn’t entered the dark corridor for more than an instant when he suddenly heard a creak behind him––

The exit to the instance closed abruptly!

Wu Jin’s pupils contracted, “Brother Caesar––”

The sound of Caesar’s curses came from the other side, along with the crash of mirror shard butterfly wings against the iron door. Caesar heard Wu Jin’s voice and immediately pounded on the door, “Run, Little Witch. I’ll snipe the king butterfly and come find you. Damn it, this room is sinking!!”

Wu Jin quickly asked, “Going down? Can you hear where the gears are? Brother Caesar––you––”

Within the Crosson Show’s live broadcast room, Blood Pigeon glanced at his watch. “Unfortunately, their time is up. They took too long to pass this instance, and Caesar wasn’t able to get out.”

Ying Xiangxiang shrugged, “According to the rules of the map, if I remember correctly, Caesar may have to stay inside the room for another five rounds.”

Wu Jin stood in a daze in the corridor for a long time, until the mechanical roar finally came to an end.

The youth in the screen stood there in the weak light, his beautiful eyebrows pulled together slightly, making many viewers shout “I want to charge through the screen to give Little Witch a hug!”.

However, Wu Jin quickly gathered his wits in the next moment.

He frowned, then pushed his ear against the metal walls of the corridor, his eyes narrowing slightly. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind––

Caesar was still stuck inside.

From the sound of the gears moving behind the metal door, it seemed that the room was moving along some kind of vertical up and down track, similar to the elevator used to transport players. That meant that in the entire map, each cube only had a vertical range of movement, and there was no horizontal side to side movement or flipping––

This at least disproved his previous speculation.

This wasn’t a Rubik’s Cube.

Wu Jin quickly sorted through the known clues.

Clearing an instance wasn’t the condition for the corridors opening, nor was a certain number of team members required for an instance to appear.

The elevator’s ‘ding dong’ noise represented the end of a time unit, and the start of the next time unit. The silver ammonia butterfly instance had remained open for two time units, the moth instance had disappeared after the previous time unit, and their starting point had disappeared after their team had entered the corridor.

––The time limit for each room was different, and they appeared and disappeared at different time points.

Wu Jin narrowed his eyes. Countless rooms and corridors seemed to flash in his pupils. Across the entire competition arena, during each time unit, the rooms might rise up, or go down, roaring along the dark tracks…

No, there still weren’t enough confirmed clues.

The words Zoe had said when the game began suddenly rang in Wu Jin’s ears. They could only rely on guessing.

Because he’d remained in the corridor for too long, the terminal on his right wrist sent out an urgent reminder tone.

Contestants really weren’t allowed to stay in the corridor for too long. At the other end of the corridor, there was another faint light.

Before Wu Jin walked in, he went over the supplies in his bag that they’d just obtained from clearing the previous instance. One anti-tank rifle, two clips of bullets, and a familiar clue envelope.

Wu Jin quickly and neatly opened up the envelope––and then opened his eyes wide in pleasant surprise.

Inside was a thin piece of paper, on which several hundreds of squares were laid out like a chessboard. Some of the squares were hollow, while others were painted with pale butterfly wings. A circle with the number ‘14’ was written on the upper right corner.

“……” Wu Jin’s heart thumped violently. He stared at the sheet in his hand in disbelief.

A map, it was a map!

Wu Jin almost instantaneously found the red dot that marked his current position, and the mark in the grid overlapped a square painted with wings and stout feathery antennae––one of the characteristics of moth-type insects.

He quickly determined a direction based on his memories, and the instance at the other end of the corridor was drawn on the map––it seemed to be marked with some type of butterfly.

Wu Jin did a final check over his preparations, then hugged his rifle and walked towards the end of the corridor. The moment the door opened––his mouth dropped open in amazement.

Inside the Crosson Show’s live broadcast room, Ying Xiangxiang zoomed in on the youth’s blank expression and sighed lightly, “The reward for passing the S-level instance is a map, but Contestant Little Witch will presumably soon discover that this map is of no use at present.”

“State 14.” Blood Pigeon nodded, then joked, “If it was me, I would need to gather a hundred maps in order to discover the rules. Of course, if it was Dr. Chen, one map would be enough.”

The camera panned slightly to the left, and the young man dressed in a plaid shirt laughed politely, “I’m a researcher, and this is my job. I can indeed figure it out with one map. However, it would be really difficult for the contestants to do the same.”

If the contestants of the Crosson Show were there, they would be able to recognize the young man at a glance––

The second elimination match’s main sponsor, the chief researcher of Alive Technology. Two weeks ago, he had given them a baffling lecture on social psychology.

Dr. Chen had repeatedly explained the concepts of loneliness, crowding, birth, and annihilation during the class. His lecture had been regarded as an early hint to the rules, and had been memorized by countless contestants before the start of the match––

But at this time, they’d still been tossed about by the instances until they were more dead than alive.

On the screen, the room Wu Jin had entered was empty, and it could even be described as a very standard Crosson Show safe zone. The butterflies painted on the map were nowhere to be seen.

“Little Witch entered a safe zone.” Ying Xiangxiang smiled broadly, “But from the cameras, it appears that he’s not the only one who’s headed in this direction.” She switched the monitor and suddenly showed an expectant expression, “Little Thin is nearby, as well as… A C-level contestant…”

Dr. Chen suddenly interjected with a smile, “I seem to have noticed some members of the audience are complaining about the camera being too focused on one team. There seems to be a lot of things that can be broadcast with R-Code Entertainment and Jingyi Entertainment, too.”

Ying Xiangxiang stilled slightly, then hurriedly apologized, “It’s my fault. In that case, we’ll come back to see White Moonlight in an hour. Director, please help us cut the camera away. Okay. Now, we can see that Jingyi Entertainment…”

Dr. Chen nodded, his gaze sweeping over the monitoring screens out of sight of the camera.

Inside the competition arena, Wu Jin soon realized that the map was wrong. According to the label on the map, this definitely shouldn’t be a safe zone. He immediately came to a conclusion––

The competition arena was changing constantly. A complete map couldn’t possibly be a static drawing. As for the ‘14’ marked on the upper right corner of the map…

Wu Jin had a flash of inspiration in his mind. It was very likely that during the 14th time unit, which was when the ‘ding dong’ sound rang for the 14th time, the room distribution of the arena would match up with the map on this sheet.

He needed more maps in order to figure out the rules.

And there was another problem. Wu Jin’s eyes locked on a place on the map––that was the center of the map, which was 12 grid units away from him.

There was a very special square there. It wasn’t blank, nor did it hold a type of Lepidoptera. Instead, it was filled with a pale grey-white color, and what it represented was unknown.

After about ten minutes, ‘ding dong’ rang out in the background again. As the doors leading to the four corridors opened, Wu Jin quickly picked up his gun and headed back in Caesar’s direction––but the room that had originally been full of moths was empty.

Caesar’s room was still beneath his feet.

Wu Jin’s steps paused slightly.

He could choose to wait here, or he could continue on and look for the next map.

The only thing he could be sure of was that as time went by, the conditions for survival would no longer be merely based on luck, but would rather be under the control of the rules… If he stayed here, it would be a waste of the time that Caesar had won for him.

Wu Jin took a deep breath, left a note at the end of the corridor, checked his assault rifle again, and resolutely walked towards the only special grid on the map.

During the fifth time unit, Wu Jin walked out of a room filled with insect larvae, holding the anti-tank gun in his right hand and trembling slightly from the recoil.

During the sixth time unit, Wu Jin was lucky enough to enter a safe zone again.

During the fifteen minutes spent in the safe zone, Wu Jin’s map was crammed full of countless drafts, covered with the change and derivation of the surrounding grids––it seemed that he was only one step away from the answer, but he still couldn’t figure out the rules behind the map’s pattern.

Wu Jin didn’t know that while he was deducing, Dr. Chen was looking at him in surprise via the monitoring screens in the broadcast studio.

During the seventh time unit, Wu Jin was vigilant as he came to the end of a corridor and picked up the clue envelope on the ground.

“Like a dream.”

The door was quietly pushed open, and then automatically closed behind him. Wu Jin’s eyes grew round.

Compared with the previous human purgatory full of larvae and insects, this place could almost be called heaven.

A warm mountain breeze blew through the virtual forest, and the soft sunlight was like a warm afternoon dream. Flowers bloomed everywhere, and the air was filled with the fragrance of hyacinths.

Wu Jin noticed the butterfly perched on the petals at a glance––long and narrow wings with a black base and golden edges. When it saw someone coming in, it spread its wings and flew up softly, gently flying over to snuggle closer.

Wu Jin retreated warily and subconsciously put up his gun. The gorgeous butterfly seemed to have intelligence as it paused slightly in mid-air.

Wu Jin and the butterfly locked gazes, but he was unable to find any anomalies even after a long time of staring at it, so he simply found a shelter to settle in against and continued to analyze the dense map of squares.

Time seemed to slow down… The sound of the tip of his pen breaking through the map woke Wu Jin up with a start. He blinked to drive away the sleepiness that had come out of nowhere, but his vision seemed blurry and vague, as though he was drunk.

In the air, the fragrance of grass and trees became stronger, and bright butterfly wings rose up…

Wu Jin looked blankly at the butterfly and bowed his head in a daze. Then, he used all his strength to put the map back into his bag, covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, and reached for the gun––

There was something wrong with the butterfly! There were neurotoxins in the air!

The hand holding the gun was limp and weak. After he stopped inhaling the toxin, his vision returned to normal, but Wu Jin’s mind was completely empty.

Who am I.

Where am I.

Why am I trying to kill a little butterfly.

There was a bang as the gun fired on instinct before his collapse. The colorful butterfly dodged nimbly, but Wu Jin’s consciousness was already filled with a buzzing sound.

The sunshine was at the most comfortable level of brightness, and the fragrance in the air was just right.

There was no Crosson Show at all… He’d probably just gone out for an outing that afternoon, writing songs with his guitar on his back. He’d obediently wait for his agent to pick him up in the evening.

The right hand wrapped around the gun trigger gradually loosened, and the youth showed a half joyful, half confused expression. The butterfly hovering in mid-air looked at him for a few beats and was finally no longer as alert. It flew down, and in that moment, it overlapped with a flare of light––

The sound of gunfire rang out without warning.

The silver pet life-saving capsule popped up and quickly enclosed the butterfly inside.

Wu Jin stood there quietly for a long time, then put down the gun in a daze.

Where am I.

Why did I shoot, did I break the law…

‘Ding dong’. The instance was complete, and three exits opened up at the same time.

Wu Jin blankly glanced over a few times, then quietly sat down behind a stone.

Where was his guitar? How was he supposed to write a song without a guitar?

However, as soon as he looked up and saw the beautiful scenery, Wu Jin became as happy as a groundhog in spring. He pulled out the map from his bag, looked at it––then turned it over and began to sing and write music.

Light and shadow danced over the sun-drenched grass. The youth with the pure temperament was like a mountain spirit, his wrists flying over the back of the map, the nib of the pen rustling as it wrote.

Just then, one of the doors opened suddenly.

Thin Fire held a makeshift selfie stick in his hand and was quietly communicating with fans that may or may not exist. He suddenly looked over in surprise, “Little Witch?!”

Wu Jin raised his small round face and looked at him foolishly.

Thin Fire had the same clue envelope in his hand. As soon as he stepped in, he realized that something wasn’t right. “Poisonous swallowtail butterfly? Toxin-induced hallucinations… where’s the butterfly? Whoa, Little Witch, you cleared the instance? Ah? Can you hear me, Little Witch? How many fingers are these?!”

Wu Jin smiled slowly and replied, “Three.”

“Not foolish, ah? Little Witch, do you still recognize me?”

Wu Jin seriously shook his head.

Thin Fire: “… Turns out you’re really silly now. Alright. Come out with me, then.”

Wu Jin stood up and followed Thin Fire, his amber eyes quiet and clear. The soft curls on his head made him look like some sort of animal cub, the most attractive sort.

Thin Fire was stunned and only came back to his senses a long time later. His eyes flashed, and he seemed to have thought of something.

“Little Witch.” His tone was low and tender, “Follow behind me and don’t get lost. Be good.”

Wu Jin nodded, “I’ll be good.”

The youth’s voice was clear and bright, and Thin Fire could feel one of his ears turning numb from the sound. He put on a proper expression and continued, “We’re teammates.”

Wu Jin nodded, “Teammates.”

Thin Fire smiled and leaned closer, “Be good. I’ll lead you away. We’re roommates from the same dormitory. Every night, we…”

The youth’s palm looked soft and didn’t seem like that of a survival show contestant. It looked more like that of an artist. Thin Fire was just about to reach out––

He looked down abruptly.

There was a bright red dot on his palm.

Memories rushed over him like a tide, and he was horrified as he recalled that in the last elimination match, it seemed that there was also such a person who’d sniped at him with a red dot––

Thin Fire didn’t hesitate to give up Wu Jin as he made a standard dodge maneuver, finally sticking his head out from behind shelter.

Wei Shi slowly retrieved his sniper rifle, his eyes as sharp as a blade.

Thin Fire who was behind the bunker choked and just barely kept himself from cursing––

“Fuck me, isn’t he a damned mama fan? He must be a stalker fan, right? It’s a competition, yet he still followed all the way over here?!!”

Juurensha: Thin Fire, you were definitely being pretty creepy. Yay, WS, watching out for Little Witch!

xiin: it’s like a stranger giving candy to a child…