Chapter 41 - Becoming the Face

translator: xiineditors: apricot & juurensha

After Dr. Chen spoke, he looked closely at the man in front of him.

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He’d never thought that he would meet Wei Shi here.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Six years ago, the R-Code base had been disbanded, and only Wei Yan had left any traces that could be followed. He’d always thought that Wei Shi had been like Shao Yu and had already left the Azure Star Territory, or had ended up like the other experimental subjects… disappearing completely, never to be seen again.

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The memories that had been covered in many years of dust emerged in his mind the moment he saw Wei Shi.

The dazzlingly white laboratory in the research base that was always kept below 25 decibels of sound, the cold metal walls, and the heavy laboratory testing equipment.

And after that––

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Dr. Chen took a deep breath, pressed down the most terrible part of his memories, and looked at the Wei Shi of six years later.

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His profile was deep, pupils dark. No matter how he looked, Wei Shi exuded the dangerous air of the wild desert.

Wei Shi finally opened his mouth, “Long time no see.”

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Dr. Chen was relieved and let out a slow exhale.

The setting sun burned in the sky as it struggled not to sink into the clouds. The two people stood at the top of the hill, speaking sporadically. Most of the time, it was Dr. Chen speaking while Wei Shi remained silent.

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After spending so many years at the R-Code base, Dr. Chen had long become accustomed to the mode of getting along with an experimental subject.

When the sky turned dark, Dr. Chen suddenly pulled out a business card and stuffed it into Wei Shi’s hand, “You… keep this. I can’t help much, but it’s still somewhat useful.”

He smiled bitterly, then shifted his expression back to normal, “I heard that there are several other cases in Floating City with the same situation as yours. I specifically went and inquired about them; it’s news released by Floating City itself. As long as you nod your head, I’ll look for a connection. There should be a way to get in touch… you…”

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He’d just wanted to speak up and persuade Wei Shi to go to Floating City for treatment, but he ended up swallowing the words back again in an instant.

The program team was already urging him incessantly through his terminal.

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Dr. Chen seemed to want to say something else, but he finally fell silent and nodded farewell.

At the foot of the hill, Dr. Chen’s figure slowly drifted away. Wei Shi’s right hand rubbed lightly against the metal of the gun, then glanced at the business card before stuffing it into his pocket.

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Ten minutes later, at the scene of the Crosson Show.

Wu Jin, the champion for the elimination match, was quickly pushed into the studio, the door closed from the outside.

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The dark curtains slowly pulled open, and the screens gave off a soft glow––

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The screens were a combination of six or seven different camera lenses. There were silver ammonia butterflies, giant moths with densely packed eyespots, and even a projection of himself analyzing the map from a safe zone.

The lights flared up.

Wu Jin turned around and saw the social psychology professor sitting on the chair.

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“Hello, professor!” He immediately greeted.

The young man smiled, “Just call me Dr. Chen. It was a great performance, but––” He looked down at the terminal. “The audience wants to ask if finding the safe zones was due to luck, or if it was because you knew the rules in advance.”

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Wu Jin’s eyes grew wide.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“The height of the tracks. Also, I judged based on the duration of the sound of the mechanical movements that there were only two rooms on the track.” Wu Jin explained, “There was also the complexity limits of the game. At the start of the competition, all the clues could only be guessed. If the grid model was three-dimensional, the complexity would be

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Dr. Chen nodded. “I’m curious about how you reversed the course that Dolma Entertainment took.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Wu Jin thought back, “First of all, we need to know their starting time. Judging from their position in the evaluation scores, Dolma Entertainment should have entered the arena during the second or third time unit. Then, there was the starting location––I guessed that since the middle grid was a clue, for the sake of fairness, the distance from the starting point to the middle grid would basically be the same, at fourteen units away. According to that conjecture, for Dolma Entertainment to have reached the point they were at by the eleventh time unit, they had to have been heading south the entire time.”

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Dr. Chen finally showed an expression of surprise once again.

He wrote down something on the paper, then pressed down on the terminal, causing the image on the virtual screen to change.

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The competition field shrank as the camera viewpoint panned all the way up––Wu Jin’s eyes widened.

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This was an aerial view.

The grid of 961 squares was akin to cells that pulsed at the same time. The rules of their motion coincided with his conjecture. The safe zones were constantly multiplying and dying due to crowding and loneliness, like a cycle of life.

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“This model is called cellular automata.” Dr. Chen explained mildly, “It can simulate the complex movements within an organizational structure. In the middle of the 20th century, it was first proposed by

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John Conway

Wu Jin stared at the screen, his amber eyes sparkling.

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“It is one of the most beautiful two-dimensional models in the world.” Dr. Chen sighed emotionally and looked at Wu Jin, “Reincarnation, the endless cycle of life.”

At the end of the championship interview, Dr. Chen put on his coat and walked out with Wu Jin.

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Dr. Chen suddenly opened his mouth, “Little Witch, have you seen a scattered life grid before?”

Wu Jin hesitated.

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Dr. Chen continued, “It is out of step with the environment and will die out quickly on the edge of the map. It cannot be integrated into the model’s grid, like a person who is all alone.”

Wu Jin thought about it, “Over time, they would disappear during the evolution of the model… In theory, they would only exist during the initial round.”

Dr. Chen shook his head, “There’s another type of ‘artificial’ grid. They have no emotions, no empathy, and only one rule applies to them, which is loneliness and extinction. Did you know? The eyes of a person like that will not shine when exposed to the light.”

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Wu Jin seemed to think of something, and the hand he’d reached out to open the door paused.

Dr. Chen opened the door for him and laughed lightly, “Sorry, I went too off-topic.”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

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In the distance, the program group was still prompting them. Before getting rushed back to the main broadcasting hall, Wu Jin saw that Dr. Chen was still standing in place and gave him a nod.

It wasn’t until the youth disappeared that Dr. Chen looked at the surveillance video on his terminal and murmured, “… I hope he can do it…”

The monitoring equipment in the four squares adjacent to the coordinates where the camera broke down was all damaged, but according to the model, Wu Jin and Wei Shi must have encountered each other for two time units in those coordinates.

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Ten minutes later, the program director came to ask Dr. Chen about the demolition of the arena. “The Lepidoptera have already been packed up. The engineering team responsible for lifting everything out is scheduled for tomorrow. Is there anything else…”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Dr. Chen shook his head, “No. Delete the recordings as well.”

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Broadcasting hall.

The program producer lifted up a loudspeaker and announced that another 100 people would leave from the twin towers that had previously held 400.

According to their survival time, number of kills, and the ranking of their team in the competition, two thirds of the F-rank contestants and half of the E-rank contestants had been eliminated. For those who were D-rank and above, they would be demoted instead of eliminated.

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The hall fell silent after the rank changes were announced.

Some trainees had already anticipated this result. They hugged and said goodbye to their companions, and took off their uniforms before leaving, kissing the bronze badge that represented the Crosson Show before handing them back.

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Caesar patted Wu Jin on the shoulder and said with feeling, “It’s brutal…”

Zoe had stopped paying attention for a moment, only to discover that Wu Jin had almost collapsed from that pat on the shoulder. He immediately drove Caesar away, “Talk about yourself, what are you patting Little Witch for? If it wasn’t for the fact that Little Witch won the championship, you might be demoted together with that coquettish man.”

He looked at Wu Jin’s thin arms and legs and pondered, “It shouldn’t be like this. Reasonably speaking, there should be some kind of muscle build up after eating two weeks worth of protein powder…”

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Wen Lin, who’d been watching from the side, saw Wu Jin shifting his gaze away. He smiled kindly and asked, “What is Little Witch thinking about?”

Wu Jin stalled, “I’m thinking about the next match.”

Zoe gave him a thumbs up, “Not bad, you’re going all out. But Little Witch, you have to be ready.” He paused for a moment, “Next time, the emphasis on solving puzzles should be reduced.”

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Wu Jin nodded.

Solving puzzles was part of the fun of the game. If half of the contestants could benefit from it, it wouldn’t damage the balance of the game. However, if it was something that only one player could crack––

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It was equivalent to a bug.

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At its core, the Crosson Show was still a survival reality show.

There were only 300 people left in the hall. The program producer turned on the virtual screen, and everyone was taken by surprise when Ying Xiangxiang’s figure appeared.

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Acting, performing, and singing hadn’t changed over the past thousand years.

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A famous actress like Ying Xiangxiang had already put out several albums, and being able to dance and sing added to her value. The theme song for the Crosson Show this season had actually been made by Ying Xiangxiang’s regular performance group.

On the screen, Ying Xiangxiang was dressed in a tight, pink outfit, with her hair curled up and a clever smile on her face.

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The recording was playing on high-definition––from the first moment that she’d opened her mouth, Caesar had already instantly frozen on the spot, “What kind of joke is this? Having us dance this kind of thing?!!”

The clear voice of the young woman reverberated across the entire broadcast hall, and Ying Xiangxiang, who didn’t look anything like her 35 years of age, was more like every straight male contestant’s dream lover as she integrated purity with charm, her waist twisting like a water snake.

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When she sang ‘trek through the mountains and rivers, crawling forward step by step’, Ying Xiangxiang simply dropped down onto her right knee, supporting her upper body with her left elbow as she looked down to the camera. She used her right hand to flip up her long hair and winked at the screen in time to the beat.

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Inside the hall, it was so quiet that the sound of a pin landing on the floor could be heard clearly.

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Immediately after, there was an uproar. Caesar stiffened his neck and hollered loudly, “Goddamn! Is it too late for me to be eliminated now… Little Witch, look, that damned coquettish man has already started dancing. Isn’t he shameless…”

Wu Jin took a quick look at the dance and comforted Caesar, “It can be changed.”

Caesar: “What?!”

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Wu Jin raised his small round face, “It’s fine! If it’s adjusted slightly, you can dance it…”

In the hall, the program producer once again cracked down on them mercilessly, “Quiet! Quiet! This was selected for you out of the three songs that the audience voted for! What is the audience? The audience is god! Without the audience, we would have no Crosson Show, no ratings… Also, the teams ranked in the top five: not only do you have to dance in the MV, you also have to join the group performance! Now, go to the backstage dressing room to get your team’s comprehensive stage book. If you fail to pass the assessment for the dance choreography, you won’t be allowed to take leave…”

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The four people from White Moonlight quickly slipped away with Ying Xiangxiang’s sultry voice still ringing in their ears.

Outside the dressing room, everyone came together, and the choreographer started their class immediately.

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“This is the first talent show of your life. Before you go up, you should make sure that you choose to showcase where your artistic abilities lie. Come, everyone stand up in turn and we’ll sort you out.”

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“First, contestant Wu Jin.”

Wu Jin quickly stood up. In order to save time for the choreographer, he quickly announced, “I can dance…”

The choreographer waved his hand, “You’re the face! Your face is the best looking one. Alright, next. Contestant Wei Yan.”

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Wu Jin puffed up his cheeks. “……”

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Wei Yan wasn’t a problem for the choreographer, either. “You’re the atmosphere. No matter where a cold face like yours is stationed, there will be little girls crying out ‘handsome, handsome’. Okay then, the next one is this contestant Qin––”

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The Dolma Entertainment trainee lifted his head, his eyes still confused and muddled, “Da! I am––”

His two teammates quickly stopped him, “He just took the antidote, and it hasn’t gone into effect yet. The doctor said that we should wait for another quarter of an hour! Is there some kind of fool role that he can take on?”

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Thin Fire pointed to Caesar from the side, “No way, the role of the fool has already been taken.”

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Caesar was furious, “You freak––hugging a big thigh to get into the top five––”

Thin Fire retorted coolly, “Could it be that you didn’t?!”

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The director could feel a headache coming on, “When arranging where the contestants will stand for the camera, remember to keep these two people separate. Alright, alright. Pick up your stage directions. If you keep making trouble, I’ll stuff the moths into your bedrooms… Next, Thin Fire.”

Thin Fire stood up with a swish, “Instructor! I! I can be the lead dancer! Lead singer! Don’t touch my c-position!”

Choreographer: “……”

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Thin Fire was very respectful, “Please don’t worry. If you don’t believe me, you can come to my live broadcast room.”

Choreographer: “… Well, the c-position in the group performance is based on the voting system. Who wants to try? Raise your hand.”

All the trainees, including Caesar and Zoe, shrank down like quivering quails.

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Thin Fire raised his hand high, followed by the mighty golden armored bodyguard Qin who was still delirious, and––

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

The choreographer looked at Wu Jin in surprise.

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Wu Jin blinked, “… Instructor, I also want to give it a try.”

Juurensha: Awwww Little Witch, you finally get to be the C-position boy band person!xiin: cluelessly putting on a performance for ML

Juurensha: Awwww Little Witch, you finally get to be the C-position boy band person!xiin: cluelessly putting on a performance for ML

also, some very belated fanart:

happy new year by THISBRO

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merry christmas (Gungun & Wu Jin) by Soulless

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fanart by Moss Piggy

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