Surprise! The Supposed Talent Show Was Actually–?!

Chapter 33 - Second Elimination Match

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Crosson Show, elimination match round two.

After Wei Yan went in, Wu Jin was the next to take the assessment.

Before he entered, Blood Pigeon, who was responsible for the scoring of the assessment, was amused, “The secret observer contestant is coming.”

Ying Xiangxiang looked up, “What secret observer…”

A clip from Wu Jin’s first assessment was projected up on the virtual screen––it took Ying Xiangxiang a long time to find where he’d been hiding, and then she burst out laughing.

Fluffy little curls could be shown peeking out from behind the bunker, recoiling after the sound of a gunshot rang out.

“This time, Contestant Wu chose the support position for the assessment.” Blood Pigeon flipped through the materials and faced the screen as he explained, “The theoretical assessment is worth more than the practical part, so we’ll do the questions first.”

The moment Wu Jin stepped close, the dazzling stage lights entered his field of vision.

The camera faithfully captured his blank expression. When he entered the stage, he turned back to look at the contestant seats…

“Don’t be nervous.” Ying Xiangxiang gently encouraged.

Wu Jin immediately returned to his senses, stuffed the note into his pocket, and greeted the various instructors before standing in front of the answer board.

5 minutes, 100 multiple-choice questions. No matter if it was the contestant’s ability to read quickly, their knowledge and recall, or their logical reasoning, the requirements were all extremely high.

On the judge’s panel, Ying Xiangxiang had turned around to talk to Blood Pigeon. When she turned around again, her eyes opened wide in surprise, “The first 20 questions are all correct?”

In the enlarged view from the focused lens, Wu Jin’s wrist never strayed from the question board, and he even managed to click the right answer directly in the moment when the question appeared several times.

“Look at his eyes.” Blood Pigeon observed for a little while and spoke. As a former scout for the survival reality shows, he noticed more than Ying Xiangxiang, “He first looks at the answers and then the question. It’s a very wonderful skill. He’ll look to the lower left when he’s thinking, and this includes some of the very common sense questions.”

Ying Xiangxiang immediately understood. As a famous actress, facial expression analysis was also one of her required courses, “Looking to the left… means he’s recalling.”

Blood Pigeon nodded a little helplessly, “If I’m not mistaken, Contestant Wu likely knew none of the common sense things for the support position before this, but he has now answered 60 questions, and they are all correct. He’s probably making use of short-term memory to answer the questions.”

Ying Xiangxiang’s eyes were wide, and she sighed after a long time, “…. Pretty amazing. I think that Contestant Wu is probably one of the players who has the best understanding on how to perform well in examinations. I’m very curious to know how many reference books are there for the support position assessment?”

Blood Pigeon replied, “A full six books, including a set of practical videos.”

Five minutes went by.

When the timer stopped, Wu Jin was still in a trance and felt that he was in a college examination room… Before he signed on as a trainee, he’d just completed his college entrance examinations.

Blood Pigeon’s expression was complicated as he announced his achievements. After that came the practical assessment––they were both completed with full marks.

Only the last item, target shooting, remained.

Wu Jin picked out the gun he was most comfortable with and walked into the assessment shooting range.

Outside the range, Ying Xiangxiang clicked her tongue in wonder, “Rather than calling it taking advantage of some small tricks––may as well say that it’s part of his strength. However, today’s match is very complicated, and there might be a very big gap between reality and the theoretical knowledge that contestant Little Witch has learned.”

Blood Pigeon shrugged, “Who can say. Although the survival show is primarily based on action, good memory is also a contestant’s talent. Do you remember how he got out of the hot zone during the last elimination match?”

Ying Xiangxiang stilled for a moment and felt a surge of emotion.

Ten minutes later, Wu Jin walked out of the shooting range. A satisfied smile appeared on Blood Pigeon’s face for the first time.

Rather than an amazing contestant that appeared out of nowhere and rose up in the ranks, he appreciated Wu Jin’s efforts in improving his gunmanship more&#k2013;&#k2013;when compared with the fifth ring average of before, the progress was sensational, having exceeded the qualifying requirement of static target seventh ring.

“Little Witch.” Blood Pigeon finally stamped his mark on the second assessment report and handed it back to Wu Jin, “Your fighting ability isn’t the best, but you are one of the most special players I’ve ever seen. Keep working hard, and––”

Wu Jin happily raised his head.

Blood Pigeon added, “Thank your shooting instructor when you go back. He saved you from a lot of detours in your learning path.”

Wu Jin’s eyes danced, and his eyebrows curved from his smile.

After leaving the assessment room, Wu Jin was taken by surprise when he encountered a heavily made up Thin Fire in the doorway. He had just finished touching up his makeup in the faint backstage lighting before coming out from behind the curtains.

Wu Jin: “!!!”

Thin Fire immediately explained himself, “I told you last time that the lighting in an underground map will be dim. The cameras will definitely use strong lighting to make up for it. If stage make-up isn’t used going in, it’ll make your face look plain. Ah, Little Witch, don’t run. Let’s help each other out, I’ll give you some eyeliner…”

Thin Fire had an eyeliner pencil in one hand and a selfie stick in the other, and his intent was obvious.

Wu Jin quickly refused, “Thank you, predecessor Thin, there’s, there’s no need…”

Thin Fire’s peach blossom eyes narrowed slightly, and he finally set aside the eyeliner. “Alright then. Little Witch, wait here for me.”

A quarter of an hour later, Thin Fire spread open the curtain and stepped out. By this time, most of the A-level players had already gathered together backstage, and Thin Fire picked out Wu Jin standing next to Zoe with a glance.

He acted very familiar as he squeezed in, an expression of complacency on his face, “. I wasn’t able to give my best performance––how could it only be 96? I accidentally made a mistake. If I’d reviewed for another night, I would have certainly been able to get a full score…”

Caesar who was squatting to one side stood up abruptly, and many other contestants also looked over at him––

Expressing the public’s hatred for such a bitch who was good at learning!

While Thin Fire spoke, he intentionally or unintentionally looked over at Zoe.

Amongst the four White Moonlight trainees, Zoe’s initial assessment score had been the highest––94 points, which also made him the contestant who was most likely to pick Wu Jin during the selection process.

The weight of the practical score for the assault and sniper positions was much heavier than the theoretical score and was based on experience that had to be accumulated over a long time. Both men had been in the industry for many years, and their strength was unlikely to advance rapidly over a short period of time.

His own score of 96––was undoubtedly higher than Zoe’s.

Thin Fire’s peach blossom eyes narrowed into fox’s eyes. When he turned to Wu Jin, he had already regarded the other party as something that was already in the bag.

He just wanted to form a team and wasn’t trying to form a CP. As long as the two of them shared the same camera frame, given that there were several hundred marketing accounts waiting on stand-by to chase the wind and catch the shadows––

“Little Witch.” Thin Fire grandly expressed his concern for his future teammate, “How was your assessment this time? Was there a lot of improvement?”

Wu Jin blinked and spoke in a low-key manner, “I smashed the assessment and only got 97.”

“It’s alright, big brother will take you––” Thin Fire froze, his peach blossom eyes turning round and showing his thick eyeliner.

“––what did you say?!”

Caesar admired the pervert’s expression for a long time before speaking delightedly, “Full points for theory and the practical. Three points deducted for static target shooting. There’s nothing wrong with a score of 97! Little Witch is amazing!”

A few hours later.

The long lines for the assessments in front of each assessment room was finished.

The official division of teams began with the S-level.

Wei Yan adhered to R-Code Entertainment’s style and refused to choose any teammates. He took his gun with him and went by himself into the elevator and disappeared into the fringes of the match grounds.

At this time, the curtains were officially lifted on the second elimination match.

––A glossy, metallic coated cube that occupied a full seven hectares.

Wu Jin stared tightly at the cube that was hovering above the ground.

The elevator track and outer shell of the match grounds were made of a uniform type of metal, and the track was smooth and shiny. According to the Crosson Show’s usual style of ‘save on everything’, if the elevator was nothing but a temporary interface used to send players into the match, it was likely to be as crude as the previous one.

Unless––

The tracks themselves were part of the game.

In other words, the competition field was likely to be full of these metal tracks.

Wu Jin quickly thought about the key words related to Alive Technology––transportation, scheduling.

Behind him, several contestants were whispering amongst themselves.

“People from R-Code Entertainment don’t want teammates? How powerful. If that’s the case, how do they train their battle team?”

“Their battle team uses a double C-position configuration. They don’t need to cooperate, and each person does their own thing, but they still manage to win…”

Wu Jin still wanted to hear more, but he was called over by the program director and told to choose his teammates.

His score of 97 placed him first in the A-level, making him second only to Wei Yan amongst all the trainees.

Many of the trainees showed a surprised expression when they saw Wu Jin appear before Thin Fire did.

There was a lot of noise in the room. Someone even asked the director’s team if there had been any changes to the rules, and why the contestants weren’t ranked according to their assessment score. It didn’t stop until a golden ‘97’ was projected up on the screen.

The director in charge at the scene said emotionally to Wu Jin, “Many people seem unconvinced.”

Wu Jin accepted the bag of supplies and cheerfully replied, “I will continue to work hard!”

The director patted him on the shoulder, “You have a good mentality. Not bad!”

When it came to choosing teammates, Thin Fire who was below the stage jumped up and stood up straight, looking at Wu Jin with hidden bitterness in his eyes. However, Wu Jin bypassed him and instead picked out the three White Moonlight trainees.

After the team of four was complete, they did a final check on their life-saving capsules and walked into the elevator leading to the competition field under the magnesium spotlights.

The silver colored door closed behind them, the elevator closing them off from all external senses, just like a narrow metal box. The noise from the ground quickly faded away as the team was transported underground.

Outside the elevator, metal parts made a slight sound as they collided, and only the faint overhead light that hung above the stairwell cast a gloomy light onto the pale walls.

Crosson Show’s director studio.

On the live stream screen, when Wu Jin and the others appeared, countless messages and scrolling comments began to pour in.

“Little Witch ahhhhh!! Mama finally gets to see you! Mama really loves you!! ––Listening to the commentary just now scared me so much that I almost didn’t turn on the TV to see you!! Wuwuwuwu don’t compete anymore and come home with mama, alright?”

Blood Pigeon picked out this scrolling comment and laughed loudly, “Don’t worry, the program team has prepared a powerful early warning system for you. Click the bottom right corner of the screen to choose between the original direct shots (NC-17), bullet screening (R), green filtering (PG-13), and the child-safe version (G) ––But of course, we guarantee that contestants aren’t given the same treatment.”

Ying Xiangxiang, who was to the side, nodded, “Bravery and fearlessness are character traits advocated by the show.”

The scrolling comments was quickly filled up again.

#I wanted to watch an idol drama of Little Witch, but as a result he went to a horror talent show

#Charge ahead, White Moonlight––shouting out my support for you one more time before switching to the child-safe viewing mode

#I love the Crosson Show, my girlfriend and cat are both shivering in my arms right now

On the screen, the elevator finally came to a stop.

Ying Xiangxiang swept an eye over the team configuration and commented, “Zoe is a c-position sniper with high votes, good talent, and a stable performance. There’s also Wen Lin; I recall that both of them are on the Crosson Show for the second time in order to make their debut. Little Witch is in the support position, which is the right choice for him. Caesar… probably can’t be considered a newcomer.”

Blood Pigeon nodded, “White Moonlight battle team’s assault position reserve player.”

Ying Xiangxiang smiled slightly, “A very reasonable team configuration. I just don’t know if White Moonlight trainees have been able to detect it yet––”

The camera shook suddenly, the elevator trembled, and there was a dull, loud noise in the distance.

“Wei Yan has already encountered those things.” Ying Xiangxiang’s eyes brightened, “Next, let’s cut back to R-Code Entertainment’s camera…”

Crosson Show, elimination match grounds.

The metal colored cube flickered slightly in the sun, then seemed to have been activated in response to some signal.

Roars of unknown creatures came out from underground.

Under the metallic surface, the mechanism for the smaller individual cubes slowly crept up, like densely packed cells on the surface of the skin. The cell walls were pale, and they moved on the transmission tracks. At this time, it had come to life as a result of neural scheduling––

The aerial camera panned across slowly, and the view it displayed made people’s scalp tingle.

Finally, it ended on a close-up of the sign erected to one side:

“Second elimination match, sponsored by Alive Technology––Cells, Labyrinths, and Modified Lepidoptera.”

On the field.

The White Moonlight team had just stepped out of the elevator and was currently looking around vigilantly.

Juurensha: ooooo creepy battlefield.

xiin: mutant bugs owo