Chapter 174 - Bumper Cars
Chapter 174 - Bumper Cars
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
“It was 1:02 AM when we boarded the Ferris Wheel.”
Wu Jin quickly went over the clues, his eyes locked tightly on the rotating Ferris Wheel. Inside his mind, an abstract model flashed by and disappeared quickly, “The first time I collected tickets, it was 6:28 PM, and the second time was 5:22 PM.”
“Time is going backwards.”
Wu Jin looked at the Ferris Wheel beneath the misty sunlight, and Wei Shi looked at Wu Jin amidst the play of lights from the Ferris Wheel.
The youth pressed down on his own pulse as his sight rose and fell with the passenger cars that swayed in the fog. In this highly tense arena environment, Wu Jin’s pulse was still stable at 90 beats per minute.
The Ferris Wheel was supported by an inverted V-shaped frame that was at an angle of less than 30 degrees. Dozens of cars split up the round edge of the Ferris Wheel equally. Every 33 beats of his pulse, a carriage would pass the edge of the frame.
That was 22 seconds.
A total of 60 cars were hung up on the Ferris Wheel.
Wu Jin spoke in a low voice, “The real time required for a full rotation of the Ferris Wheel is 22 minutes.”
“It took about 15 minutes to run from the Ferris Wheel to the Stonehenge maze, and the interval between the two tickets was less than 3 minutes.”
The rate at which time went backwards on the Ferris Wheel wasn’t proportional to the passage of real time.
1:02, 6:28, 5:22. From a reading time point of view, it was undoubtedly accurate to the nearest minute.
However, each time point was very tricky.
How was the time calculated?
Standing in the mist, Wu Jin began to frown.
Wei Shi stood behind the youth, staring at Wu Jin’s small curls the whole time. It was as though he was watching a small animal disguised as an adult attempting to do math problems.
Seeing that Wu Jin remained motionless, the 16 year old Wei Shi took advantage of the way Wu Jin couldn’t see behind him to hold up two fingers and put up two erect white rabbit ears on the back of the youth’s head.
He pondered for a long time and felt like it didn’t seem right, so he switched his fingers to a droopy eared rabbit.
The Crosson Show’s live stream room.
The camera slid past, and the program producer’s attention was caught. He commanded, “Push the camera over and take a look!”
The live broadcast studio was suddenly full of excitement.
“What, what is God Wei doing? Hahahahaha I’m shocked! I just saw a God Wei who is doing nothing and fooling around behind Little Witch!”
“While Little Witch is reasoning, God Wei is playing around with Little Witch with a serious expression on his face. It’s too cute haha! This old cadre Wei Shi has suddenly turned into a Wei Shi cub––”
“This CP is real, isn’t it! I’m going crazy! Are you guys competing in a game or having a date?!”
Veteran Crosson fans were all laughing loudly, “They aren’t even trying to avoid suspicion in front of the camera. They must be really good friends! This means that they aren’t forming a CP for the sake of popularity at all, they’re should just be real, hardcore brothers!”
Outside Stonehenge.
Three cameras rushed over to capture the scene, and Wu Jin choked as he turned back.
Wu Jin was vigilant: What did you do behind my back!
Wei Shi lifted his chin: What! Are you saying I can’t?
Seeing that one of the cameras was practically up in the two of them’s faces, and the other two cameras were about to press down on the back of their heads, Wu Jin was stunned! The Crosson program group would do anything to stir up CPs!
The world’s moral degeneration was getting worse day by day!
Wu Jin had no choice but to stuff the single ticket for the Stonehenge maze to Wei Shi, “Quick, let’s go in! We don’t have to focus so completely on the clues. You said before that there’s a way for commanders to win, a way for assault players to win, and a way for sniper positions to win in this game...”
The two of them crowded into the entrance gate.
Wei Shi tilted his head, “I said that?”
Wu Jin quickly pulled the big boss out of range of the cameras and explained, “When your consciousness hadn’t switched&#k2026;”
Wei Shi’s expression was cold and uncertain, “He said it?”
“!!!” Wu Jin’s sense of survival was very strong, “No! It was you, it was you&#k2026;”
The big boss cub in front of him pursed his lips. It was clear that he was a little frazzled as he tilted his head to the side. At this moment, Wei Shi’s mood was heavy, mixed with a sense of loss and injustice. He knew that he was able to jump out into the present because his consciousness had replaced that of the 27 year old Wei Shi. He also knew that before their consciousness had switched, the little shortie had been doing something with his 27 year old self&#k2026; doing those kinds of frivolous things!
In broad daylight, their lips and tongues had connected.
What was up with that! After he and the little shortie had left the R-Code base, it turned out that they really hadn’t held themselves in check at all!
Wei Shi glanced over Wu Jin, and his thin lips practically pressed themselves into a straight line.
The him from ten years later had raised up the little shortie to be chubby and white, and could even counsel him. The him from ten years ago had nothing, and the little shortie had helped him block the emotional lock and gunshots.
Wei Shi’s hands tightened on the shotgun.
“Hey, make way.” The big boss tossed down this command and strode up to the front.
Wu Jin was pushed up against a wall. When he started forward again, Wei Shi and his gun were already standing in front of Wu Jin in the narrow Stonehenge labyrinth.
Wu Jin squeaked and took advantage of the lack of patrolling cameras to suddenly pounce on the big boss’s back.
The base of Wei Shi’s ears grew red. He tried to make his eyes fierce as he turned around, “Can you walk properly or not!”
Wu Jin was very excited. The cub was so handsome and badass, and he even knew to bravely protect him from the front. The 16 year old big boss really poked his way straight into his heart; how cute!
It was like the two of them had pressed a button and had instantly returned back to the way they interacted in the R-Code Base.
Wu Jin shamelessly chased after the big boss delightedly, and Wei Shi scolded, “Don’t stick so close! How am I supposed to walk with you so close!”
The little strip of Wu Jin that was stuck to his body agreed obediently.
Wei Shi: “Forget it... If you’re really scared.” Wei Shi reluctantly stretched out his right hand and gestured to the little shortie to hold on.
Wu Jin grinned and held tight.
Wei Shi turned back arrogantly, avoiding Wu Jin decisively just as Wu Jin was about to pinch his palm. His palm was slightly damp with sweat.
After entering the maze, the two’s wrist watches lit up briefly: Stonehenge maze, elimination rate: 0%.
The Stonehenge mage was dark and long.
At this time, the first batch of competitors who had snatched a ride on the Ferris Wheel were all scattered everywhere while the second batch of competitors were still attempting to squeeze onto the Ferris Wheel. The Scarf CP was the only team in the maze.
Wu Jin found the bullet mark from Jingyi’s previous shootout with ease. The life-saving capsule that must have popped up from it had already disappeared. In any case, it was impossible for Jingyi to have been eliminated. It was even to the point where Zuo Botang had found clues in the maze one step ahead of them––
At the exit at the end of the maze.
The neon lights flashed continuously in the mist, displaying the colorful words ‘Instance Cleared’. Beneath the sign was a simple long table that held the common instance clearance stamps and a blue inkpad that was commonly seen in amusement parks.
“Instance clearance reward.” Wu Jin’s eyes lit up.
The handle of the stamp showed signs of having been moved. One end of the stamp was attached to the long table and couldn’t be removed by the contestants. Wu Jin picked up the stamp and made a stamp on the back of the Stonehenge maze ticket.
The stamp was an intricate portrait of a medieval European man.
The man in the portrait held a book in one hand, and the building in the background cast a shadow behind him. His white curls hung down his face, and a line of small text could be seen.
Christiaan Huygens, physicist and inventor.
Wu Jin was surprised, “!! Huygens! He came after Galileo and before Newton! Galileo discovered the law of free fall, and Newton discovered the apple... the three laws of motion!”
Wei Shi grunted in acknowledgement, “What about Huygens.”
Wu Jin was stunned, “I don’t remember, it wasn’t something that had to be learned for the college entrance examination...”
The maze instance with a 0% elimination rate provided obscure clues that were difficult to understand.
Wei Shi looked at the useless little shortie, “Set aside the clue for now. Is that a church in the background?”
Wu Jin looked down. Only a general outline of the building behind Huygens could be seen. It had standard Gothic spires, the type seen on churches or city halls. The windows in the middle were open, and the spires were blurred.
Wu Jin was looking more closely at it when two gunshots rang out in the distance!
The sound of the gunfire had a tacit rhythm to it.
Jingyi.
Wei Shi strode out of the maze exit, “Southeast from the base of the Ferris Wheel.”
Wu Jin froze, “The bumper cars.”
Wu Jin quickly rolled up the clues and put them away.
The earlier gunfire was swiftly linked up to the current situation. The Ferris Wheel was the final ‘entertainment facility’ that needed to be cracked, and the scattered items in the surrounding area provided ‘clues’ for cracking the Ferris Wheel.
The maze ticket was cheap and could only provide limited clues. The bumper cars with a higher ticket price should provide more clues than the maze.
And, the bumper cars were a PVP instance.
A small team wasn’t enough to start up the ‘bumper cars’ game. Jingyi’s two shots may even have been fired for the sake of attracting other players over.
Wu Jin and the current big boss couldn’t match up to a single person from Jingyi in their current state.
Wu Jin thought about it for a long time, then let out a long exhale.
They had to go.
Take a risk.
This was a chance for them to crack the Ferris Wheel, and also... the ride was ‘bumper cars’.
“We’re going over there too.” Wu Jin spoke up and looked at Wei Shi before rushing past.
Wei Shi was perfectly calm and collected.
Wu Jin did some psychological preparation for the 16 n year old Wei Shi, “We’re going to have to fight.”
Wei Shi narrowed his eyes.
Wu Jin looked solemnly at the cub and was full of pride, “I’ll protect you.”
Wei Shi was taken aback and said fiercely, “Do I need your protection? Let’s go, stop talking nonsense.”
The big boss knocked on Wu Jin’s head, causing him to suddenly cover his small curls with one hand, his other hand tugging the big boss along like an out-of-control bumper car, “It’s okay, we might not be fighting with guns. Maybe it’ll be cold steel weapons...”
The first time they’d come across the bumper cars was on the way over from the entrance to the amusement park. The road had been covered with Celtic totems, warriors, and great druids. At this time, heading over from the maze, they took a different path, and the pattern on the low walls was quite different.
Wu Jin extracted information from the walls as they ran, “It seems to depict an ancient civilization called ‘Etruria’. Looking at the map, it was located north of the Celtic civilization. The walls are engraved with ‘Etruscan chariots’, ‘Etruscan warriors killing in duels...”
“Wait a minute. How come it looks like a Roman gladiator arena––”
The two of them came to a sudden stop in front of a building.
The ‘bumper cars’ amusement facility entrance.
At this time, the fog was half gone, and the sun shone down brightly. Wu Jin finally saw the outer decoration of the ‘bumper cars’ arena.
It looked exactly like an ancient Colosseum.
The signboard at the ticket entrance held a rough map of the annexation of civilizations, and there was a small line of text at the bottom.
“Celt, Etruria. They built a brilliant ancient Roman gladiator fighting culture together.”
Wu Jin looked at the diagram and his throat shifted as he swallowed. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Ancient Rome once conquered the two civilizations, the Etruria and Celtic civilizations, and absorbed the schematics for the battle chariot, the culture of fighting, as well as the Celtic druidic culture...”
“Then, they used prisoners of war and captured slaves to conduct fights and gamble on them.”
The two of them purchased tickets and entered.
The miniature Roman Colosseum was majestic.
There were six two-person Etruscan ‘chariots’ that served as ‘bumper cars’. The entire thing was painted in dark colors. There were exquisite horse sculptures at the front that one person could ride on, and the body of the chariot in the back provided a second person with shelter.
Next to the chariots were an assortment of cold steel weapons, long knives, spears, shields, and cavalry equipment.
As expected, Jingyi had taken over one of the chariots nearby. Ming Yao was dressed up like an ancient Roman knight, riding on the ‘horse’ with a longsword in his hand. Zuo Botang held a green scepter in his hand, and his sleeves fluttered as he sat solidly in the chariot behind the horse.
Neither of them had drawn their guns.
Wu Jin breathed out slowly.
He’d made the right bet.
It wasn’t a gun fight. Since that was the case, he and the big boss’s winning rate was doubled.
Back then in the R-Code Base, the 16 year old Wei Shi was able to dominate the base with just a stick.
“Bumper cars.” Wu Jin looked at the top of each chariot and the wires that connected them to the transparent ceiling, “The full name for it is the power grid bumper cars, and it relies on electricity to move. The upper and lower electrodes are located in the ceiling and the floor. If either side is shot, then it will cause a short circuit.”
“This battlefield can only be one where guns are banned.”
Wei Shi suddenly turned to look at Wu Jin.
The youth spoke slowly, and his eyes were shining and bright. He seemed born to be a resourceful, strategic fighter.
Wu Jin had finished confirming his guess and smiled as he turned his head.
Nearby, Ming Yao held up a machete and challenged Wu Jin enthusiastically. Inside the entire Roman Colosseum, from the ground to the transparent ceiling, the bumper cars were all filled with electric potential between the upper and lower poles. Even if Ming Yao was arrogant, as long as the circuits hadn’t been turned on, he wouldn’t be able to rush over momentarily.
At the entrance, the third and fourth teams of players pushed open the door and rushed in.
Then came the fifth team, and the sixth team that was Qin Jinbao’s team.
The number of teams required to trigger the start of the bumper car instance was reached.
Wu Jin and the big boss swiftly climbed up onto one of the chariots.
The two of them sorted out their respective weapons.
Inside the chariot was a green scepter that had a small line of text beside it.
“There were only two types of Celts, the warriors and the druids. The druids led the way for the warriors, and the warriors protected the druids like gods.”
The scepter was a druid’s scepter.
Inside the ancient Roman Colosseum, a bell suddenly sounded out.
Both their wrist watches lit up at the same time.
The Etruscan bumper cars, elimination rate: 8%.
The chariot nearest to them was coming their way!
Wei Shi used a single hand to mount up onto the horse’s back. His spear whistled as it sliced through the air, and his eyebrows twisted as he aimed it at the enemy.
Wu Jin quickly imitated Zuo Botang and raised up the druid scepter.
The chariot followed the movements of Wu Jin’s arms and slowly started up.
A strong wind whistled past his ears.
Wei Shi narrowed his eyes and spoke in a low voice, “Lead the way.”
Juurensha: Bumper car colosseum!