Surprise! The Supposed Talent Show Was Actually–?!

Chapter Ch214.1 - Life-Saving Capsule

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

The dozen or so people in the training room all stilled, then looked at September with subtle expressions on their faces.

Other people’s deaths had nothing to do with them.

Those who didn’t have a good relationship with Leica were relieved and exchanged glances with each other. Compared with Leica and Yu Chu’s outstanding temperament, the performance of ’September’ hadn’t been conspicuous among the crowd––

Wu Jin looked directly at the King of Hearts.

It was like two tempered blades clashing in the air. Their faces and eyes were disguised, but at this time, it was like Wang Ping looking at Silver Armor, or Nicholas looking at Wang Ping.

The corner of Wu Jin’s lips curved up.

From this point on, he already knew all the rules for 60 into 12. No matter what the hidden King of Hearts’ purpose was or who his allies were, Wu Jin now had the absolute advantage.

In that case, it was better to declare war directly.

Very soon, outside the training room, the AI director smiled broadly as he escorted September in to see the female lead of <Red Dancing Shoes>. Karen, whose original strength was only ranked B, was now ranked A after taking the lives of several players. Adding on the Queen in the mirror, there would be a fierce battle even if the King of Hearts was ultimately able to escape.

However, Wu Jin wanted to see more than just this.

At the entrance to the training room, the King of Hearts finally exposed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. His gaze went straight past Wu Jin and Wei Shi before he stepped through the door without any hesitation.

The sound of fighting could be heard from inside the door. 10 minutes later, K pushed the door open and came out with two bloodstains on his arm.

There was an instant uproar from the crowd.

Even Yu Chu was startled. Caesar finally showed a solemn expression and glanced over K’s body.

Nobody had expected September to come out alive. All of the six contestants who’d been eliminated by the female ghost had been knocked out in a single combat environment. That meant that September’s strength was at least above theirs. However, when September had asked for help in the bathroom back then, he’d clearly disguised himself as a lower ranked trainee––

The gazes set on the King of Hearts were now finally very much on alert.

Wu Jin raised his eyebrows.

Rather than exposing K’s identity, it was better to directly expose his strength.

On the other side, the AI director was unaware of the undercurrents. He continued to smile as he asked K, “So, who’s next?”

The group of trainees all dropped their gazes one after another. Only Wu Jin was unwilling to miss any subtle expression changes of the King of Hearts.

The King of Hearts’ ally hadn’t shown themselves yet.

The ‘female ghost vs contestants’ situation was actually a very regulated game.

Those in the upper rankings were stronger than the female ghost, while those in the middle and lower rankings were weaker than the ghost. If the King of Hearts chose someone from the upper rankings, it would be a waste of an opportunity, but if he chose someone from the middle or lower rankings, it would narrow down the options for his ‘ally’––

K turned to the director.

This sharp knife that represented the &#k2018;female ghost’ finally changed hands, going from Wu Jin to the King of Hearts.

In the crowd, a few people who’d approached Leica before were now afraid of September’s revenge. Even Yu Chu was acting unnatural. However, K’s eyes simply flitted past a few people, his expression disdainful.

“Zhu Lan.” K spoke slowly, “The next trainee is Zhu Lan.”

Everyone turned to look at the trainee who had the ’Zhu Lan’ identity––Wei Shi.

Wu Jin paused.

He had completely never guessed that K would choose Wei Shi!

If K was able to identify Wu Jin, then he must be able to identify the big boss. Wei Shi would never be eliminated by the female ghost, which meant that K had chosen to directly waste this round of opportunity.

Wei Shi and K’s gazes collided soundlessly in the air.

A cheerful smile suddenly appeared on K’s face as battle intent suddenly rolled up in a huge wave!

The AI director nodded happily and led the next trainee to the room.

Outside, Wu Jin bowed his head as thoughts churned through his mind.

K looked at the big boss like he was looking at an opponent, an opponent that was ‘equal’ to him in K’s thoughts. Those blazing eyes even gave Wu Jin an illusion that the King of Hearts had snuck into the <Red Dancing Shoes> group because of Wei Shi. From 100 into 60, K’s fighting style had been mainly focused on quick attacks and assassinations, while the big boss’s ‘style’ in the Crosson Show almost perfectly overlapped with K––

Wu Jin suddenly remembered what Silver Armor had said.

“The King of Hearts’ reputation is a sham. I will defeat it. This is very important to me.”

Wu Jin breathed out slowly.

K had come because he wanted to defeat the big boss, who had the same fighting style as he did.

The purpose of the slaughter that K had performed during the 100 into 60 round also became clear now. It turned out that this competition was the battle he wanted to use to prove himself.

And the Scarf team that had Wu Jin doing the decision making made it difficult for K to find opportunities to fight against Wei Shi alone.

In order to ‘defeat’ Wei Shi, Wu Jin had to be dealt with first. That was why K had an ally. The previous card usage, scene deletion, and public opinion that had forced Wu Jin to choose the c-position, these were all decisions that were different from K’s style, and should have been made by that ‘ally’.

One person would go and have a solo fight against Wei Shi, while the other was responsible for dealing with Wu Jin.

Wu Jin finally looked up again.

K was quite an interesting person.

His own grudges with K had unexpectedly been cleared out after that violent fight on the stage, coming to an end there. As for his ally… Wu Jin’s eyes swept across the entire training room. Over the past two days, the only player who’d come close to K was a middle ranked trainee. He was nodding acquaintances with five others, and there were another three who’d had no interaction with him and avoided all suspicion.

There were no clues.

Five minutes later, Wei Shi walked out of the small room and sent the crowd into another small uproar.

The AI director simply smiled and nodded, “Today’s rehearsal is over. The program episode will be broadcast in half an hour.” He looked meaningfully at Wu Jin’s red rubber shoes, “The female lead’s time is precious, but you’ll be able to see her again tomorrow.”

The last training session before dinner was over.

When the crowd dispersed, Wei Shi spoke up, “Did you touch her hand?”

“!!” Wu Jin had indeed burned several fingerprints onto the Queen’s hand. Wu Jin explained quickly, “The situation was very unique, and it was extremely critical…”

Wei Shi reached out.

The rough palm with gun calluses sandwiched the rose petals in Wu Jin’s hand and rubbed over them. Wu Jin squeaked, and his hand was rubbed and pinched all over in an instant.

“Brother Wei, the episode tonight…” Wu Jin took this opportunity to speak up, smiling like a fox.

Leica was at the edge of elimination in the 48 to 36 round. Even though he’d used a water army and grabbed the c-position, he wasn’t able to guarantee that his position was completely stable. However, the big boss, with his identity as the “#2 trainee, Zhu Lan”, was Leica’s ally.

A real and genuine big boss who’d never had his blood sucked before, who had a clean history with no previous CP! How could he not pounce over and rub some popularity off of him!

Wei Shi: “……”

That evening, the current episode was aired on time. At this time, there were only 37 players left.

37 into 36 meant that most players were safe. The survivors, who had originally been in a state of fierce competition, were now finally stable.

Some players still used cards, but Wu Jin was sitting solidly on the c-position, taking up a large portion of camera time. Even if cards were used, they wouldn’t be able to cut out all of his appearances in the episodes. When the training portion was over and the interview began, fans on the forum reached a peak level of activity for the day.

<Build a thread for your pick>

<Taking stock of the three big Vocals, Dancer, and Rapper, who is the real c-position?>

Wu Jin scrolled through the dense posts on the forum.

Unsurprisingly, 60% of them were top fans.

Top fans only focused on the top positions in talent shows. If someone in the top position toppled off the rankings, they would pick another one and continue enjoying the feeling of raising up a star. They were committed to maintaining the honor of those at the top and bringing justice to any events that didn’t conform to the honor of being at the top…

For example, like now.

“Little brother Zhu Lan only had that small amount of camera time?! Is this the treatment that should be given to those in the top three?? Program team, come here for your beating!”

Wu Jin raised his eyebrows in joy.

At the end of the episode, the contestant interviews followed, shown based on their rankings, from low to high. When it came to Leica’s turn, this trainee who was stuck at the elimination point was very well-behaved and cued Zhu Lan.

“I really like Brother Zhu’s rap. I’ve gone over Brother Zhu’s stage appearances many times, especially when it comes to the sound of his ‘ha-ha’. The word choice, rhythm, and flow are all at the gold level standard for a rapper.”

Wei Shi: “……”

The crowd of trainees all had dazed expressions on their faces, “……” How had he been able to come up with praise for this?!

However, the fans on the forum were immediately delighted, “Contestant Leica is also a fan of big brother! Leica fans, should we vote together?”

Soon, however, the fans fell silent.

Wasn’t this player named ‘Leica’ cueing Zhu Lan too much? He cued him once, twice, then named him again when talking about sharing dormitories, cued him again for training, and even named him again when it came to eating spicy rabbit heads together. This person didn’t seem to be showing respect for Zhu Lan, rather, wasn’t he trying to take some of Zhu Lan’s popularity to become popular himself?!

Just based on how hard Leica was rubbing popularity onto himself, if he was a rabbit, hamster, or cat spirit or something, with so much rubbing, wouldn’t he have turned himself bald by now!

Zhu Lan fans immediately came out to provide some emergency control for the situation, “Wait a minute. We won’t vote together for now. It should be a single sided interest in our big brother.”

The interview sequence shifted from the middle rankings to the top rankings. Before Wei Shi’s turn began, the Zhu Lan fans all came to a united decision.

“This trainee named ‘Leica’ had all of his camera shots cut in the previous episode, so he came out to snatch the c-position. His camera time now accounts for about 1/5th of the whole team’s camera time. Please judge rationally and see for yourself whether he’s robbed Brother Zhu’s camera time or not. I also hope that Brother Zhu can clear up his relationship with Leica in his interview. For the sake of making a debut together, top ranked players should only form CPs with other top ranked players…”

Zhu Lan (Wei Shi) finally walked into the interview room.

The sponsor’s candy filled up the entire interview room. There were colorful boxes piled up everywhere, bright and lovely. Zhu Lan sat amidst the candy expressionlessly, and someone on the forum soon started screaming, ‘cool boy!’.

On the other side, the AI director skillfully led Wei Shi to give feedback on the previous players, “After participating in the program for three days, who is the player who has left the deepest impression with you?”

Wei Shi: “Leica.”

There was an instant uproar from the fans.

The next question was what made the forum turn into a real frying pan.

The director: “Are you two the best of friends?”

Wei Shi: “Not just friends.”

The fan forums, “Brother-Brother Zhu… Should we respect Brother Zhu’s wishes…”

In the program, the director smiled like a fox and asked, “At the end of the interview, please include an advertisement for the sponsor.”

Wei Shi violently tore open a box of candy that was placed in front of him. He pulled out the vote card that was linked to the talent show from within, picked up a pen from the desk, and wrote with bold, vigorous strokes.

Both votes were for Leica.

Then, he borrowed the director’s cell phone and scanned in the voting cards. His handwriting was scanned and accepted, recording both votes for Leica.

On the back of the voting card, the pink advertising words were very cute, “XX Fudge, sweet memories, a gift for the one that moves you the most.”

The interview was over.

Zhu Lan picked out two bags of candy and opened the door. Leica was waiting outside. Zhu Lan didn’t think twice before stuffing the candy at Leica.

The fan forum: “……”

What else could they do?! Since their idol had already gone so far, they-they could only vote for Leica as well when they put in their votes…