Chapter 21 - Teammates
Chapter 21 - Teammates
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
The Crosson Show, at the scene of the elimination match.
The entire map was divided into sections by the varying blazing ground temperatures, and the few safe zones were filled with scenes of fierce fighting.
The contestant who jumped down from the top of the cliff on the north mountain far in the distance soon attracted everyone’s attention.
“Whoa, what’s this?” Caesar poked his head out of the bushes, his expression stupefied, “Should we snipe it down and check it out?”
Zoe was almost hit by a bullet from the other side. He stepped on Caesar’s waist with his foot, “You’re motherf*cking assault, can you protect the sniper properly? Teaming up with you is like taking a little kindergarten kid to the park.”
He quickly loaded up his sniper rifle and launched a counterattack at the other side.
The two had been partners before in White Moonlight Entertainment. Their votes had been similar during the first phase, and they had both been part of the second batch of contestants to parachute down, regrouping at their landing point after clearing out the area.
Zoe speculated that it was very likely that Wen Lin and Wu Jin had been trapped in a high-heat area, so the two of them could only choose to team up.
In individual competitions, the maximum time for forming a team together was only four hours.
In just the first two hours, Zoe had already gotten six kills, while Caesar had used a shotgun to eliminate three.
––Everything had been going smoothly for the two of them until they met their current opponents.
“Careful!” Caesar’s gaze darkened as he shoved Zoe to the side, dodging a bullet from the other side. “Man, what is this redhead trying to do? If he has the ability, he should just toss away his gun and use fists to fight with Laozi––also, who’s his teammate? He’s so tricky; his sniping is a little interesting––”
He looked behind him suspiciously, only to see Zoe staring into the sky, his expression incredulous.
As an outstanding sniper, it was impossible for him to be distracted at a time like this.
“Little Witch.” Zoe suddenly spoke up. “That’s Little Witch. The only one who would flip over in a somersault while parachuting is Little Witch.”
Caesar was shocked, “Why is he jumping down from the top––wait, will someone snipe him?!”
“The direction Little Witch’s jumping in is the safe zone that Thin Fire cleared out. That freak gathered so many resources; he definitely has a sniper rifle.” Zoe spoke quickly, “Get out of the way.”
Caesar quickly stepped aside.
Zoe quickly aimed his sniper rifle’s scope in Thin Fire’s direction, only to frown and say, “No good. He’s in the blind zone, and I can’t make the shot from this angle. I’m afraid it’s going to be dangerous for Little Witch––”
In the next moment, Zoe’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
––He watched through the lens of the scope as the bunker behind the mountain suddenly blew apart. Thin Fire, holding a long gun and hugging a camera, tumbled around.
From the sound of the gunshots, it seemed that the person who had blasted him away was near him and Caesar.
It wasn’t the redhead in the assault position––it was Red’s teammate, who was using a sniper rifle and hadn’t shown himself from start to finish.
After this gunshot interfered, Thin Fire no longer had any time to spare to aim at Wu Jin and quickly retreated instead.
Zoe was still in a trance, finally letting out a burst of swear words a long time later and hoisting up his gun, “Let’s go.”
Caesar was still chattering, “Are we giving up the safe zone? We won’t make it to Little Witch’s area. Why don’t we continue trading shots with Red––”
Zoe’s expression showed nothing, “Did you hear that shot just now? It’d be a cinch for Red’s teammate to eliminate the two of us. His partner was playing with us just now and allowing Red to practice his gun skills on us. Stay here for what? Don’t you feel that we’ve already been embarrassed enough?”
Caesar was taken aback, then burst out with, “Then he&#k2013;&#k2013;why did he save Little Witch?”
Zoe really lamented over his teammate’s IQ. “Think about it again, carefully. Is he really saving Little Witch? His parachute jump was light; it’s clear he has no resources at all. They must be interested in the resources in Thin Fire’s hands. Are you a fool?!”
One kilometer away.
Red accepted the sniper rifle delightedly and repeatedly asked several times, “Brother Wei, are you really giving me this gun? Ah, Brother Wei, where are you going––okay, Brother Wei, don’t worry. I’ll stand guard here and defy all difficulties and danger to help you protect Contestant Wu––”
Wei Shi dismantled the scope and tossed it to Red, “No need.”
Red: “Ah?”
Wei Shi: “Let him practice.”
When Wu Jin stepped off the cliff, the sun was just rising, and he encountered an upward wind current.
By the time he had dropped halfway, the airflow had started to turn chaotic around him––he started to tumble and fall.
There was only thirty five minutes left before he reached the maximum battle preparation time.
The safe zone under his feet was lush with vegetation, appearing to be unaffected by the geothermal heat.
The parachute landed on the treetops, the stout branches and scattered leaves curving into a bow from the weight of the canvas––Wu Jin swiftly leapt down to the ground.
Under the tree was an automatic rifle and other supplies wrapped in transparent bags.
30 rounds of standard ammunition and one bag of dry biscuits.
But those weren’t the most important––
Wu Jin carefully tied a transparent bag to a branch facing the sun, weighing down the bottom of the bag with clean stones.
Long periods of exposure to high heat followed by the cold mountain wind had pushed him to the brink of dehydration once again.
One hour from now, if he hadn’t yet been eliminated, this makeshift installation would provide him with water from one of the cleanest sources of water––distilled plant water.
After setting up the distillation bag, Wu Jin finally breathed out a sigh of relief.
Under the shade of the tree, he leaned against the thick trunk and was about to pull open his backpack and reload the rifle when his hand suddenly met with thin air.
The place where his backpack had been hanging was now empty. The shadow of a figure outlined by the sun was cast against the side of the tree trunk.
Wu Jin’s back instantly stiffened.
He had left the blunderbuss on top of the mountain, and the rifle wasn’t loaded. There was only one solution in this situation––
Wu Jin didn’t hesitate as he turned around, trying to appear as friendly and harmless as possible, his bright eyes sparkling like crystals, “Big brother, team up?”
He fell into a slight trance as soon as he turned around.
Wu Jin clearly remembered this face.
A-level trainee. Most of the time, he held a camera as he went into the woods to livestream to his fans.
Silver Thread Roll Battle Team, Thin Fire.
He was the trainee who was ranked second on the Contestant, professional contestant Thin Water’s younger brother, and he apparently had some ability. Zoe repeatedly referred to him as a ‘freak’, but had also privately given Wu Jin an analysis on his strength before.
Thin Fire was like Wei Yan in that their abilities were both close to that of professional players and they didn’t need to rely on any teammates.
“This gun––” In order to team up, Wu Jin decisively chose to sacrifice his supplies.
However, as soon as he stretched his head out to look, he saw that there was more than one gun sticking out from behind Thin Fire in various angles.
Wu Jin quickly added, “And biscuits––”
Thin Fire was as motionless as a mountain.
Wu Jin stalled, then finally said, “I have a map.”
Thin Fire raised his eyebrows, his peach eyes lifting slightly, “Tell me about it.”
Wu Jin quickly recalled the view from the mountain top. “Coordinates (20, 160) is an impassable high heat zone. Safe zone (30, 160), the southern area is still heating up, and the temperature will exceed the limit that the body can withstand in two hours. As for the rest––”
Wu Jin glanced at his own backpack, “I want the rifle bullets.”
The elimination match map was divided into a 9×9 grid, and each area heated up at different rates. Based on Thin Fire’s strength, he clearly should’ve already appeared at the frontlines near the resource-rich riverbank––
If Wu Jin hadn’t guessed incorrectly, it hadn’t been his intention to stay here. Instead, he was trapped inside this safe zone.
It was reasonable to exchange bullets for information.
Thin Fire thought about it for a moment. “Deal. If you’re also unable to walk out––”
Wu Jin was finally relieved. He jumped down from the tree trunk and thumped his chest with his fist, “My static target shooting score is only 5. You can eliminate me as a sacrifice to the heavens at any time.”
Thin Fire: “......”
They reached a temporary agreement to form a team, and Wu Jin loaded the bullets into the rifle.
He looked back and discovered Thin Fire looking at him with a strange gaze.
“Can you fix make-up?”
Wu Jin was stunned, “Ah...”
Thin Fire nodded in satisfaction and handed him an item, “Fix my eyeliner.” He then added, “Some madman sniped at me for no reason just now. I smudged my makeup when I dodged.”
Only now did Wu Jin notice that Thin Fire’s facial features were really good––other than a bit of dirt smudged on his cheek, his make-up was complete, with everything from highlighters, eyeshadow, and powder foundation; not a single step was missing.
...There were actually people who would wear make-up for the competition.
Thin Fire saw his blank expression and couldn’t help but educate him in a critical tone, “Teammates should take care of each other with various things. There’s no mirror here. Won’t fixing my own eyeliner be like sniping blind? Could it be that you really want me to do it myself? Isn’t there no love lost between teammates?”
With the constant urging of his new teammate, Wu Jin reluctantly helped him fix his eyeliner.
Once done, Thin Fire immediately turned on the camera in his bag.
Wu Jin only felt a shiver run down his back when Thin Fire opened his mouth to start speaking.
He deepened his voice, a ‘male god’-esque voice issuing from his throat as he fluttered his eyes at the lens, “Darlings, did you miss me? I didn’t turn on the camera just now because I was afraid that you’d all worry. Be good, and wait until I come back from the competition...”
Thin Fire was obsessed with interacting with the lens. Wu Jin remained outside screen, constantly running calculations in his heart.
There were only twenty minutes left for battle preparation. Within twenty minutes––he had to engage in a fight with the two contestants closest to the safe zone.
Inside the forest, Wu Jin quickly set up an ambush according to the direction his targets had been traveling in his memory. Sure enough, the two had indeed walked in this direction.
––The sound of gunfire rang out.
The two targeted contestants were both outside the safe zone and were caught off guard by the attack, their reactions and movements dulled by the scorching ground temperature.
Wu Jin’s automatic rifle released three consecutive shots at a time. The first shot was seriously off-target, and the third shot barely grazed one of the targets.
Six shots, eighteenth bullet.
A silver life-saving capsule suddenly popped into view.
The terminal on Wu Jin’s right arm flashed––his first kill was in the bag.
Beside him, Thin Fire finally turned off his camera and dealt with the escaped contestant with a single shot. His voice reverted back to normal, “Your shooting ability really at level 5 on static targets.”
He then tossed his camera towards Wu Jin, “Hold it.”
... Wu Jin finally knew where this camera had come from. There was a broken pole under the camera, and there was an 80% chance that Thin Fire had grabbed the camera from some camera station for the sake of acting out and directing a play for himself.
“Red button to turn it on. Shoot the left profile, paying attention to the focus of the lens. Do you know how to supplement lighting?” As this screenwriter teammate of his gave orders, he pulled out a gun from his backpack and said viciously, “I just saw the man who sniped at me. Since you dare to show your face, your daddy will beat you to pieces!”
He raised the scope.
Thin Fire was still angry as he fired––
Wu Jin kept his eyes open and followed the direction of the muzzle, but he didn’t see a life-saving capsule pop up from the ridge in the distance.
Thin Fire was stunned.
Then he shot again.
Wu Jin blinked and suddenly opened his mouth in horror, “There’s a red dot on your face...”
There was a loud bang.
The ground next to their cover exploded, startling Thin Fire and causing him to tumble backwards, toppling into the dirt.
However, his tactical abilities were excellent, and he was able to barely return back to cover behind the stone after rolling twice, speaking indistinctly as he did so.
Wu Jin also retreated back behind cover, “What did you say, I didn’t hear––”
“Camera...” Thin Fire’s voice was hoarse, “Turn off the camera, quick, quick, quick, don’t point it at me, I’m going to lose fans if you keep filming––look through the scope and see where the opponent is hiding––”
Wu Jin quickly shoved the camera stick into the dirt, picked up his teammate’s sniper rifle, and opened the scope to look at the mountain in the distance––
His amber pupils immediately brightened.
Three thousand meters away, Wei Shi walked out from behind cover, gestured to Wu Jin, unloaded his sniper rifle, and disappeared down the other side of the ridge.
Juurensha: Awwww WS looking out for Little Witch as usual
xiin: yeah... i don’t know anything about makeup so if i got that part about Thin Fire wrong, feel free to let me know. Wei Shi’s so badass~ i want one!