Chapter 223 - Graduation

Chapter 223 - Graduation

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Early in the morning before returning to the Crosson Show base, Wu Jin finally received a call from Secretary Qu.

The breakfast table was bright and spacious, but Wei Shi easily picked Wu Jin up.

Wu Jin fluttered and resisted, “No way, we agreed that it’s time to cool down! Ah, there’s a call, don’t even think about trying to spy on White Moonlight’s military secrets!”

Wei Shi gnawed at the youth’s neck willfully, then let him go.

Wu Jin lifted his chair and moved it to the door before connecting the call, “… The work visa is about to expire? Prepare the materials for renewal? Okay…”

A virtual screen was projected up above the dining table.

The 3019 Federal N-type work visa instructions were dense, and the procedures were cumbersome. Simply proving that Wu Jin was Wu Jin required three different steps.

Wei Shi: “So troublesome?”

A few minutes later, a safe in Floating City’s main office was opened up.

Wei Shi dug out a Federal passport from a stack of passports, went out, and quickly arrived at the blue planet within two hours.

Federal Civil Affairs Bureau.

The auntie on duty in the Civil Affairs Bureau had grey hair done up in fashionable fluffy rolls. On the large-scale terminal screen, a few family dramas that she hadn’t finished watching were being played. She normally didn’t watch survival shows.

The auntie chatted kindly as she registered the two people, “Did you two register at Azure Cosmos first? What do you do? What kind of athlete? Oh, trainee… Have you both met the parents? Okay, pay here, and take photos there…”

During the photo taking process, the youth who was applying oil to the camera almost had his eyes fall out of his sockets from staring, “Wei-Weiweiwei, Wuwuwu––”

The auntie on duty was startled, then pushed the youth away, “What’re you crying for? They’re here to take wedding photos. Why are you standing there in the middle and taking a photo with them?”

A few minutes later, the marriage registration log came into effect in the Federal database, and Wu Jin formally obtained residency qualifications as the spouse of a Federal citizen.

The suspension car stopped at the entrance to the White Moonlight, and Wu Jin returned happily to the company.

Secretary Qu smiled and said goodbye to Contestant Wei, who had purposely come to send Little Witch home, then left Wu Jin in the office, “Has your visa been updated already? How could it be done so quickly…”

Secretary Qu trembled: “Wh-what?!”

Afternoon.

The four White Moonlight team members gathered in front of the team manager’s office.

In the next half an hour, they would be pre-signing their first real professional contract with the team.

Once they made their debut from the Crosson Show, the contract would take effect that very night.

Caesar was the first to be summoned into the office.

Through the door, they could hear the team captain’s lecture, followed by the manager and the vice-captain Chen Xiran and captain Lin Jue.

Knowing that it would be an interview with Captain Lin, even Zoe was a little nervous.

Captain Lin’s expression was always serious, and based on what other trainees said, he was never understanding or easy to reason with. His competition style was also very tough.

Outside the office, a highlight video featuring the White Moonlight Battle Team’s performance in a mid-season game was on replay.

In the video, vice-captain Chen Xiran was eliminated by a blast, reporting the enemy’s position in the last two seconds. Lin Jue used a sniper scope, then tossed aside the sniper gun and replaced it with a dagger and shotgun, dropping down from the enemy’s flank and causing the eagle tattoo on his back to shift as his muscles knotted and released.

Lin Jue used the last two bullets and the knife to complete a heroic one against three.

“Captain Lin is going to retire.” Wen Lin spoke softly.

Wu Jin was stunned.

Zoe: “Injuries. Before coming to White Moonlight, Captain Lin played games for a small team in his early years. The salary wasn’t high, so he would only visit the medical cabin once every four or five games.”

Wu Jin suddenly came to a realization. Lin Jue was now close to the end of his career as a survival show player. Due to his experiences in his early years, Lin Jue’s career would be shorter than that of other survival show players––

Zoe patted Wu Jin on the shoulder, “Captain Lin has been fighting for White Moonlight for eight years and is the core of the team who resists all external pressure. Little Witch, talk more with Captain Lin.”

The office door squeaked open.

Caesar came out, as cheerful and happy as someone who’d just been released from prison. Zoe went in next. And after Zoe, it was Wu Jin’s turn.

Inside, Wu Jin’s team contract was in Lin Jue’s hands.

Lin Jue sat in a chair and looked down at the contract. His eyebrows drew together in a frown, and the entire office was encased in ice. The back of his hands were covered in dense eagle tattoos.

“Name.”

Wu Jin stood at attention, “Wu Jin, age 20. Top preferred position assault, second position commander…”

The team manager to the side laughed and indicated that Wu Jin didn’t need to say so much.

Lin Jue shot him a glance.

The team manager was silenced immediately, falling quiet.

Lin Jue opened up the screen projection.

Eight evaluation reports on Wu Jin, taken from the second round on, were reviewed one by one. Lin Jue spoke coldly, “Average scores, lens performance S, tactical strategy A, close combat A-, dynamic target shooting A-.”

The screen changed.

It showed the Crosson Show fan forums, Wu Jin’s personal forum.

––“[Pinned] The most handsome Little Witch in the entire survival show league, charge ahead for mama! See my Little Witch in the Star League this year!”

––“[Pinned] Eight elimination match support bank crowdfunding [link], post-competition newcomer king support canvassing bank [link].”

Lin Jue swept his glance over Wu Jin, and the screen changed again.

The Azure Edge professional survival show forums, which was filled with blame throwing, pressure adding, face to face antagonism and irritable tempers. The year-round abuse and butchering never stopped. Lin Jue input ‘Wu Jin’ into the search bar directly.

––“What happened to the Crosson Show? Have they changed to holding up little white faces this year?”

––“White Moonlight’s gone to shit, right. Is a dancer slash singer changing professions to become a survival show trainee? [Wu Jin Crosson Show theme song photoshopped hater photo]. He’s just like that, yet Crosson Show escorted him all the way to the finals?!”

–– “Can White Moonlight remain qualified this year? Oh, that’s not right, is White Moonlight still not writing off their team this year?”

Lin Jue: “Have you seen all of them?”

Wu Jin paused for a moment, then nodded.

Lin Jue spoke, “From the first day you start playing professionally, there will only be more of these comments, not less. Your business value is to your advantage, but if you lose a game, the audience will selectively forget all your previous wins.”

The cursor moved over the search results, and the keywords that frequently appeared in related searches appeared: Relying on face, insider.

The screen closed with a snap.

Lin Jue: “It takes at least half a year to grow from a trainee into a stable professional player. During this period, you won’t be in a starter position. You will need to fight for the chance to be included in the rotation with your strength. It may even take a whole year for you to experience your first personal highlight. Due to your popularity, the topics will be controversial every time you play. The abuse and praise you receive will give you several times more pressure than normal players.”

“As long as you’re still playing professionally, as long as you’re in contact with outside information, it will be overwhelming.”

Lin Jue looked at Wu Jin, “Are you prepared for it.”

In front of the long table, the youth raised his eyes to meet Lin Jue’s and nodded directly, “Yes.”

Lin Jue’s gaze was searching, “Why did you come to play professionally.”

Wu Jin: “Because I want to play professionally.”

The beam of an AA12 neutron gun, the firelight and range of annihilation caused by a prefabricated fragment bomb, the mecha armor, tarot, statues of god, the pterosaur circling in the Cretaceous period air, the knights presenting long swords in the Palace of Versailles, tearing off the NPC’s masks and standing at the top of the arena.

The professional arena was just as gorgeous as the stage, and it was totally different from the memory simulation equipment and life of a 21st century idol.

Lin Jue was a little surprised, but his frown eventually smoothed out.

“Your gun skills were taught to you by Wei Shi. It’s obvious that you were imitating his style from the first round to the fourth round of the elimination matches.”

Wu Jin nodded.

“He was in the same qualifying game as you. It was Wei Shi who formed a team with you in order to qualify.”

Wu Jin nodded.

Lin Jue: “You two have registered your marriage.”

At the long table, other than Secretary Qu, who’d reported upwards according to regulations, the team manager, vice-captain, selection manager, and leader all coughed violently at the same time, stunned and dumbfounded!

Wu Jin nodded directly, admitting it.

Lin Jue: “Wei Shi signed a contract with the Floating City Battle Team, and he’s the main starting force this year. His strength is at least as good as mine, and the Floating City Battle Team will be the dark horse of this year.”

The team manager was surprised, and the leader’s expression was full of disbelief. Chen Xiran, the vice-captain, could see a bit of it due to his experience as a professional player, but the selection manager and Secretary Qu’s faces were pale. How strong was Contestant Wei?! If he was so strong, why had he gone to be a trainee?!

Lin Jue looked steadily at Wu Jin, “This is also something that will give you pressure in the future. I want to know your thoughts.”

Wu Jin paused for a moment, “My fighting style is different from his.”

“Give me two years.” Wu Jin spoke, with the attitude of a youth that refused to admit defeat, “I might not be able to surpass him.”

“But, I’m confident that I can beat him.”

Lin Jue looked at Wu Jin for a full five seconds.

The White Moonlight captain flipped open the contract, signed it, closed it, then handed it to Wu Jin.

“Very good.”

“Welcome. White Moonlight professional battle team mid-season commander position rotation player, Wu Jin.”

The door to the office opened, and Wu Jin held the contract as he walked out in joyful surprise.

Zoe smiled as he patted him on the shoulder. Caesar, who was beside them, was very enthusiastic––the offer that White Moonlight had given him for his rotation position finally meant that his salary now exceeded his girlfriend’s pocket money. Caesar immediately put in an order to buy her a barbie pink lipstick.

A short time later, Wen Lin came out. Due to team configuration considerations, Wen Lin didn’t get his top preferred position as a heavy artillery position, and he was still ‘Prince’ Zoe’s royal support player.

Him and Zoe bumped fists, with Zoe feeling both happy and sad for his teammate.

Wen Lin smiled, “What kind of expression is that…”

Inside.

Lin Jue packed up the remaining papers and got up from his seat. The leader looked at Lin Jue’s back and fell into a trance, thinking about the time when he’d bought Lin Jue into the team eight years ago.

White Moonlight had been performing badly since last year, and their scout player had been poached in the spring season. They’d almost failed to gain the qualifications to compete, and he hadn’t expected that Lin Jue’s old injuries would break out in a flash. The highlights playing in the corridor would likely be the last highlights from Lin Jue’s career.

Lin Jue’s retirement signaled a great change in White Moonlight’s lifeblood.

It wasn’t just Zoe, Wen Lin, and Wu Jin. There were also 7 or 8 reserve players who’d been promoted into the rotation. White Moonlight would use the entire mid-season period to adapt to their new configuration and playing method, all the way until their team was stable.

Regardless of whether they could be changed from rotation players to starters would depend on the efforts of the players themselves.

Before they dispersed, the leader suddenly thought of something, “Just now, why didn’t Captain Lin ask Little Witch about why he didn’t join the Floating City Battle Team?”

Vice-captain Chen laughed, “This is Wu Jin’s own career. If you look at the Crosson Show, Little Witch was such a newbie, but he’d still rather run around chaotically all over the arena than look for Contestant Wei to help him fight.”

“Little Witch is very good.”

“He’s a team player, and he divided up the responsibilities in the battlefield of several elimination matches very well. Give him two years, and his playstyle will be able to restrain many single core configuration teams, including the future Floating City Team.”

“Don’t judge based on how Captain Lin was scaring him today, in fact, Captain Lin had advocated signing him on as a main player right from the start.”

The suspension car parked downstairs beneath the White Moonlight was waiting to take the four contestants to the final Crosson Show elimination match.

Secretary Qu stood silently by the door. Zoe was startled when he walked by; the sniper’s eyesight was excellent, and he could see that Secretary Qu was actually looking at the famous ‘Scarf CP having children’ comic on the forums.

Secretary Qu spoke darkly, “Preparing for the future.”

Zoe was in a trance, “……” What was the deal with this reading history?! Other than Scarf, there was Lin-Zoe, ALL Caesar, Wei Yan PD. What kind of evil cult CPs were these?!

Everything was ready. The suspension car carried the four of them and skimmed over the blue planet at a low altitude.

Inside the car, Caesar was being scolded by his girlfriend, “Do you know how to buy gifts at all? How many times have you sent sandbags to Red, rabbits to Little Witch, and lipsticks for me? How many times has it been, ah?”

In the back row, Wu Jin and Wen Lin were studying the last elimination match rounds. Zoe was dizzy from Caesar’s quarrel, wanting to squeeze into the back seat, “Don’t howl in the car––”

As they reached the destination of the navigation, the outline of Crosson slowly emerged.

The fragrance of gardenias fluttered in the air.

The suspension car came to a stop at the entrance of the base, and Wu Jin pressed himself up against the window.

Colorful balloons could be seen everywhere, and a colorful variety of support banners were floating in the air.

There were grills set up on the lawn, and the Crosson Towers were decorated grandly.

Long banners streamed between the North and South Towers.

––Wishing all Crosson Show trainees a successful graduation!

Juurensha: Yaaaaay graduation!

xiin: wowww things are really wrapping up!