Surprise! The Supposed Talent Show Was Actually–?!-Chapter 16 - Elimination Series

Chapter 16 - Elimination Series

translator: xiin

editors: celtic & juurensha

Within the shadows, Wu Jin’s back straightened instantly.

If the place where Wu Jin was standing represented the camera’s location, then based on Wei Shi’s positioning he could only be called barely qualified from a camera interaction perspective.

However, his entire existence was like a sharp bayonet––he clearly appeared cold, but because he was too powerful, it made those who were on the receiving end of his gaze feel like they were set ablaze, hot wine wrapped in flames burning straight into the viewer’s pupils, blasting apart their minds.

His aggressiveness was too strong.

Wu Jin didn’t dare to move at all, like a little rabbit that had been firmly nailed in place within the shadows.

It wasn’t until the bandage had been removed from the man’s arm––Wu Jin finally came back to his senses, speaking with worship in his gaze, “I saw it clearly!”

Then, he hurried over to the big boss to hand in his homework, “We should use our own strong presence to drive the lens rather than pandering to the camera…”

Wei Shi bowed his head to look at him. The youth’s originally bright amber eyes were rounded from excitement, his eyelashes’ gentle movements making them gleam like warm and intimate cat’s eye stones, scattering and reflecting glimmers of light.

But Wu Jin was soon slightly depressed once again, “But I…”

Wei Shi glanced over and understood right away.

He smelled like a soft and fluffy rabbit, pulled on a bandage the way one would fly a kite, the words ‘well behaved and obedient’ were written all over his face, and his small arms were pale and tender and could be kneaded flat with a casual pinch.

There was no need to mention strong presence; even if he turned fierce, it would end up being the type that made others want to pick him up by the ears and smooth out his fur.

Wei Shi raised his brows, “No rush. First, finish the elimination match, then try to find the right feel.”

Wu Jin was finally relieved.

Regardless of whether he knew what he was doing or not, big boss was the backbone of this operation!

Inside the training room, Wu Jin came back to life and was once again full of vigor.

He acted like he was offering up a treasure as he held out the aiming compensator for Wei Shi to take a look––11 compensation units, which was below the novice deviation level.

After a full week of intense training, Wu Jin could finally get rid of his label as a ‘blind little guy’, remove the compensation equipment, and officially begin to practice shooting like a professional player.

“Big Brother,” Wu Jin was full of anticipation as he spoke, “The compensator… Can I keep it?”

Wei Shi had given him the aiming compensator a week ago, and it had followed Wei Shi from the entertainment company to the Crosson Show. He had installed and removed it no less than three times every day, and the silver-grey machinery had been polished until it shone.

Wei Shi nodded; Wu Jin’s eyes lit up. His small curls seemed to reflect his joy and appeared particularly fluffy as he slipped away from the machine gun stand and stood up.

The two of them were instantly in close proximity––

Wei Shi narrowed his eyes and thought to himself that this little rabbit spirit was really very sticky. The moment his line of sight slid across those small curls, his right hand subconsciously rubbed against the barrel of his gun.

Cold, chilly iron felt worlds apart from soft rabbit fur.

Wei Shi paused for a moment, then moved his gaze away from Wu Jin’s body.

Wu Jin was completely unaware of his gaze as he very seriously removed the compensator and put it back into his pocket.

Big Brother was such a great person!

Wu Jin was full of delight as he thought about it, but then he suddenly remembered something.

During the audition, the big boss had led him to win while he did nothing&#k2026; in order to hide his strength and not stand out. As for now&#k2013;&#k2013;

The gaze from behind him burned. Wei Shi, who had originally been looking out the window, turned his head back.

In the backlit shadows, the man’s eyes seemed wide and deep, making it difficult for Wu Jin to see what his expression was like at the moment.

“Elimination series.” Wei Shi spoke slowly, his words more of an order than encouragement. “No room for demotion.”

Wu Jin’s eyes widened, and he nodded with unusual difficulty.

The Crosson Show’s first elimination match was only two weeks away, and contestants’ rankings would be adjusted up or down. The bottom 100 trainees would be eliminated.

Wu Jin deeply understood that his A had come from his ability to perform during the evaluation match. In this first elimination match, the emphasis would be placed more on practical ability, and given that his combat ability had been rated C, it was very likely that he was hovering on the brink of relegation.

But Big Brother had already spoken––

Wei Shi raised his brow, his gaze sweeping across Wu Jin’s face, noticing how the word ‘anxious’ seemed to be etched there, “The first elimination match won’t be very difficult.”

Wu Jin: “Eh?”

“Pay attention to the schedule for these next two weeks.” Wei Shi toyed with his gun as he gave him a hint. “The examination content must be related to those courses.”

The sound of the Browning’s safety lock clicking into place, gun components shifting and moving against each other reverberated through the training room.

Having said all that he wanted to say, Wei Shi turned and left the room. His wrist twisted lightning quick, the gun dipped slightly, and the contraband gun that could still be clearly seen just a moment ago disappeared from his left hand. The action was so skilled that it even gave the illusion that the gun had become integrated into his left arm.

At this point, both of Wei Shi’s hands were empty. If one didn’t notice the gun callouses on his fingertips, nobody would be able to guess that the person in front of them was a ferocious, mobile, hot weapon arsenal.

Wu Jin hurriedly waved goodbye to big boss, then dug out the course schedule from his terminal––

His eyes widened.

“Twenty hours of survival skills, four hours of camera performance, one hour of psychological warfare, one hour of math, one hour of gun training… Is this a survival show course? Are you kidding me?!”

In the South Tower dormitory, Caesar was currently yelling at the timetable.

Due to training course capacity reasons, even trainees of the same rank had different curriculums.

After comparing his timetable with Caesar’s, Wu Jin determined that his own schedule hadn’t been an exception.

Within the spacious dormitory, warm, comforting lights shone down from above, and the pale beige fabric on the bed seemed to be coated with a halo of light. Lecture handouts and notes were spread out on the desk, and the decorative fireplace, that was abandoned because it was summer, was piled with the leaves that Wu Jin used to feed the rabbit.

The door to the shared living room was mostly shut, and a label with the words ‘Contestant 300012, Wu Jin’ hung there.

The sounds from the movie that was being played outside squeezed in through the crack in the door.

“I love you and look up to you. My heart shatters to pieces whenever you’re mentioned… But why do you treat my heart like this? Ah, throwing it away like garbage… “ The heroine was struggling not to cry.

“I’m sorry. The one I love is her, and you aren’t like her.” The main character roared as loud as he could in the rain.

Caesar wailed mournfully, placing the timetable on his face as he covered his ears, “Is this f*cking over yet?! Ah? Ying Xiangxiang told him to watch three movies, so he’s really watching three movies?! It’s been like this all night…”

He looked back and saw Wu Jin sprawled on the bed, his head pressed against the wall as he stretched out his hand to try and scoop out the rabbit that had stuffed itself into the crack next to the bed.

Caesar turned to stare fixedly at the door. He paused for a long time before finally disparaging, “Forget it, us two brothers added together still won’t be enough to beat that human-shaped weapon…”

On that side, Wu Jin had finally fished out the rabbit, flailing a few times before sitting down properly. He was still thinking about the schedule, “That also means that there are basically no gun lessons before the first elimination match. The main focus of the curriculum is on wilderness survival.”

Caesar pouted, “The teaching progress is pretty lame. But, Little Witch, we’re participating in the Crosson Show for the sake of a debut. There probably aren’t many people who care about the training timetable.”

Wu Jin argued, “But it’s the first elimination match…”

Caesar waved his hand in a grand gesture and said boldly, “Elimination match? Pick up a gun and go for it! Just beat the bastards up!”

“……” Wu Jin decided to look into the competition system on his own.

Forty minutes before the curfew, Wu Jin tidied up briefly, then picked up the map and prepared to go back out.

Caesar remained motionless, like a salted fish in his dorm room.

Ever since he had sent off his ‘girlfriend’ who had bought him champagne to a nearby planet to buy a new home, the amount of time Caesar spent indulging in terminal video calls had increased significantly.

“Hey, Little Witch, can you lend me your rabbit?” Caesar suddenly asked.

Wu Jin nodded and picked up the rabbit from the bed to hand it over, only to snatch it back at the last moment, “Don’t pull its ears! Rabbits have dense clusters of nerves in their ears, and it’s hard for them to recover if they’re damaged. You need to hold it in your hand…”

Caesar stared at Wu Jin as he demonstrated, then nodded hurriedly, “Sorry, sorry. I’m used to eating all the ones I caught in the past directly.” He suddenly thought of something and looked at Wu Jin questioningly, “Little Witch, who gave you this rabbit?”

Wu Jin froze.

However, Caesar soon forgot all about his question, “From this angle, it looks quite similar…”

Wu Jin stared at him, then chose to stop wasting his time with this salted fish roommate of his. He opened the door and left.

In the living room, the movie with the dogblood young love drama was still playing.

Under the faint lighting, the only S-ranked contestant from the Crosson Show, Wei Yan, was currently watching the movie expressionlessly.

Due to his poor performance in front of the camera, Ying Xiangxiang had assigned him the homework of watching three movies––the male and female leads from the movie were tangled together and crying, while the off-screen Wei Yan’s gaze was sharp, his face carrying traces of murderous intent.

He glanced over indifferently when Wu Jin went to open the door.

In the dim lighting, Wu Jin observed this roommate of his at close range for the first time.

Wei Yan’s facial features were clear and handsome, his eyebrows wide and raised, showing an inborn air that seemed to push people thousands of miles away. He was sitting upright on the sofa with a glass of water in his right hand, highlighting the tattoos on his arm. When drinking water, his movements shifted from his shoulder to his elbow to his wrist, one by one, like some precisely calculated mechanical move.

“……” Wu Jin seriously suspected that what Wei Yan was sitting on wasn’t a cushion, but rather a several tens of thousands mA charging power pack that served to keep the S-ranked trainee operational every day.

Within the silence, both pairs of eyes stared at each other.

Wu Jin immediately expressed his goodwill, “My name is Wu Jin. I’m a White Moonlight Entertainment trainee.”

Wei Yan gestured for Wu Jin to look at the label attached to his own bedroom door.

Contestant 299763, Wei Yan.

Wu Jin was undeterred as he tried to broaden the conversation, “This film… Who recommended it to you?”

Wei Yan pointed in the other direction, towards the only other person in the four person dormitory that hadn’t yet appeared––Silver Thread Roll Entertainment trainee, Thin Fire’s door label.

“……” Wu Jin finally experienced the embarrassment Ying Xiangxiang felt when interacting with this contestant. He tried his best to show a sincere smile, “… I see. I’m heading out first. See you in the evening.”

Wei Yan finally opened his mouth and spat out an indifferent “Goodbye,” before switching back to finishing his movie-watching homework assignment.

The curfew hadn’t started yet, and the South Tower was still buzzing with activity.

Wu Jin eschewed the crowds and headed all the way to the open sandbox table on the west side of the South Tower.

What was depicted on the sandbox table was the game map that was used in the first elimination match, the audition round.

The pale blue river originated from the depths of the hills and extended all the way into the grasslands.

Within the empty sandbox table room, Wu Jin quickly sorted through the limited clues.

Two weeks, twenty seven hours of class. Twenty four hours of survival skills, four hours of camera performance, one hour of psychological warfare, one hour of math, one hour of gun training.

In this elimination match, the gun requirements were clearly lower than they had been during the audition.

Editing for the program was limited, so the elimination match would end within twenty four hours.

If conflict between players was reduced, but the elimination rules remained unchanged, there had to be a potential threat that eliminated players quickly…

Wu Jin suddenly went still.

The environment.

An extremely harsh living environment.

Juurensha: So smart, Little Witch!

xiin: +1!!!