BXBX NOVEL Chapter 68 - The Chariot Card
Chapter 68 - The Chariot Card
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Seven guns were tossed onto the ground.
Caesar’s eyes instantly turned green with envy. He grunted twice and gave Wu Jin a big bear hug, “Little Witch, your big brother hasn’t cared about you in vain! You’re still the one who cares about your brother the most!”
Zoe was two bunkers away and really wished he could smack Caesar on the butt.
Fortunately, Wu Jin wasn’t so easy to squeeze flat and was finally able to stand up straight after being thumped twice.
The third instance was still The Chariot card.
Zoe had already gone through ‘The Priestess’, ‘The Chariot’, and ‘The Moon’ card instances, and was very familiar with the contents of this instance. He started off with big sniper moves to attack the other side, like attacking newbies.
While Zoe covered for them, Caesar was currently splitting guns left and right with Wu Jin.
The seven guns were all for close combat, primarily shotguns and assault rifles, and there was also a light machine gun.
Caesar picked up a MK5, “This gun’s recoil is weak. Shooting people with it feels like just playing around.”
Wu Jin was more practiced with virtual training guns, and he wasn’t as good at dealing with recoil. He immediately said, “I’ll keep it!”
Caesar: “Damn, this one is good! Police-use shotgun that takes down whoever it hits! It’s more accurate than the army version, but it’s not as durable. Little Witch, keep it, then toss it away when you’re done with it.”
“Ah!” Wu Jin slung it over his back.
Caesar: “M26! A door-breaking gun, and it is really ** powerful. Your brother’s not going to be polite with this one...”
Zoe saw that the two of them were like little children dividing up candy and urged, “Caesar, don’t turn the brains of our team silly, hurry up.”
The two of them immediately turned back when they heard the kindergarten teacher’s summons.
Zoe was choked for a moment.
Little Witch looked really well-behaved, his small round face flushed, his eyes sparkling and bright. It was difficult for others to feel wary even though he was holding a gun.
As for Caesar––he was like someone who’d been kept back in school for twenty years, squatting on the ground with a mature, adult face.
On the other side, Caesar also wanted to give Wu Jin a few Major Arcana cards, “Little Witch, I can’t give you the World card, this thing means my wifey could be expecting, so we can talk about it again when you find a partner. You can pick whatever you like from the rest––”
The Hanged Man, a second Hanged Man, The Devil, The Fool.
Zoe interrupted, “None of them are good. You might as well spend your days hugging your World card. Are the guns set up?”
Caesar lazily made a triumphant gesture and stood up with Wu Jin, “Just wait, the Phantom Caesar meat grinder is coming online!”
The entire White Moonlight Team was armed and ready.
Wu Jin held his submachine gun and accepted an extra pair of goggles from Wen Lin, hiding his bright eyes beneath the tea-brown lens. His soft facial features seemed more threatening due to the goggles, and he looked cool and attractive.
The camera to one side shifted slightly as it followed Wu Jin around. It wasn’t known if it was due to the director’s intentions or the audience’s request.
Caesar laughed out loud, pulling the camera over and sending it a flying kiss. Zoe saw this and dissed, “Where’d you learn a bad habit like hijacking the camera? Showing progress, hey?” But the corners of his mouth were lifted up slightly, and Wen Lin even gave Wu Jin a cheerful thumbs up. The team chattered and ribbed each other, like they were about to go out on an outing.
In the next moment, after their c-position Zoe gave the command, the four people set out like ferocious beasts.
At this time, there were 92 contestants left in the entire arena, and a total of 11 people in ‘The Chariot’ instance in room number 3.
Zoe quickly explained the instance rules, “The Chariot card combines PVE (players vs environment) and PVP (player vs player). The strongest player stands on the chariot and controls a black lion and a white lion to pull the chariot. The lions will head towards the sound of gunfire––the black lion will do sudden attacks, so you need to maintain a safe distance of three meters at all times. The white lion has an AOE attack (wide range), and you need to pay attention to the area 90 degrees in front of it within a four meter radius. The conditions for instance clearance is when 1/3 of the players are eliminated. Got it?”
All three of them answered positively in unison.
Zoe: “Pay attention to evasive maneuvers when in close combat. Wen Lin and I will provide cover, and Little Witch and Caesar will move ahead.”
In the 11 person brawl instance, the complete configuration consisting of &#k2018;double assault + sniper + heavy equipment support’ was like a killer mace. The harassing attacks that had originally tried to test Caesar out disappeared one after another, and nobody dared to look down on the sharpness of this team.
Caesar and Zoe both refused to let off the man who’d shot at them earlier. Their cross fire was aggressive and relentless, and when Wu Jin added a third line of fire, the other party was left with no way to retreat––Zoe shot deep, sliding past the edge of the bunker to eliminate the man.
“Sacrificed a gun.” Caesar chuckled, “Little Witch, come with big brother and go to the opposite side to surround them!”
Wu Jin nodded. His eyes behind the goggles were round and brilliant.
There were 6 people other than White Moonlight in the field. They were divided into four small groups.
The White Moonlight team that had gathered together suddenly became the #1 target, but the group of trainees were unable to pressure them at all––in order to achieve the conditions required for clearing the instance, it was much easier to eliminate the other scattered players rather than the White Moonlight team.
In the distance, the ‘crusade against White Moonlight’ army had already started infighting. Caesar’s expression made it seem like he was missing out, “Quick! Whoever gets the kill gets the head count!”
The two mechanical male lions heard the sound of the gunshots and tensed up, pulling the giant chariot with them as they charged over.
Caesar howled louder than the lions, and a single bullet shot out of the muzzle of the gun. The huge recoil felt like nothing but a tickle against his three hundred pounds of muscle––a silver life-saving capsule popped up again.
Two people had been eliminated!
It was a high calibre shotgun, and each shot rang out like a firecracker. The two lions immediately turned to look at Caesar.
Wu Jin’s eyes were slightly narrowed as he quickly pulled away to Caesar’s right and hid behind a narrow bunker. He jumped up and shot sideways, his arms showing an extremely tense curve of muscle from having to support nearly 60% of the power––
After a series of shots from the submachine gun, the range of fire from the support assault position spread out. The lion who had been about to charge at Caesar hesitated before staring furiously towards Wu Jin as it pulled the chariot.
Zoe: “Beautiful! Caesar, E105. Wen Lin will provide cover.”
The shotgun was fired again, and Caesar kited the chariot away from Wu Jin. In the distance, someone sniped at them randomly, but Zoe locked onto them one step ahead, and that person was afraid to stand up again after a shot pressured them back into their bunker.
Wen Lin: “S190 machine gun is in place.”
The long-rehearsed four man formation finally came into play.
Caesar no longer held back with the bullets, fiercely clearing 50 meters ahead of him with the explosive power of a rocket launcher while Zoe made calculations with his sniper bullets and was ready to reinforce Caesar at any time.
Wu Jin followed Caesar as a deputy assault, paying close attention to Caesar’s line of fire and positioning. He absorbed practical knowledge and learned from this experienced White Moonlight reserve assault team member.
Caesar was a typical ‘maniac assault’. He might charge at the scattered players whenever Zoe’s ‘offensive’ looked away, but the cooperation within the team was smooth and seamless.
Wu Jin’s brain was processing rapidly, his line of fire mapping out a complex, fan-shaped area that suddenly cleared out.
Caesar’s gunfire was spread out based on Zoe’s sniper position.
Almost every time before they changed positions, Caesar would turn to take a look at the sniper. Even if the situation was urgent, and he was unable to turn, Zoe would quickly report his location for Caesar to make his judgements. Wu Jin was quick to understand, and decisively took over from Zoe to begin reporting for the team.
Caesar gave Wu Jin a thumbs up without looking back. Wen Lin smiled broadly and exchanged looks with Zoe.
In the 7th minute, a third trainee was eliminated by Wen Lin under the ferocious gunfire from the White Moonlight team.
The team expressed their satisfaction with this result. It was difficult for a support position to qualify in the matches, and at this time, there was no danger of being unable to maintain their rank for the four people who were fully equipped. Zoe giving a small amount of points to the support was a common decision.
There were 8 people left in the 11 person instance, and they were only one person short of reaching the instance clearance conditions.
Just as Caesar was about to charge over to the easy targets across from them, Zoe quickly ordered, “Pull back. Don’t clear the instance.”
Caesar: “What the hell?”
Zoe looked serious as he retrieved his gun, “Wait. I’m going to climb up to the chariot and play around. The previous match wasn’t very fun, since the man who’d changed the card simply sat in the chariot and watched us dance with the lions. Nobody was able to shoot at him, either.”
Wu Jin stilled. An image of the big boss driving the chariot came up in his mind, and his heartbeat accelerated slightly.
Caesar’s interest was piqued, “Damn, that’s fun! I want to go first, I want to go first! Who will cover for me––”
Zoe: “First come, first serve. You can go up after I’ve had a go.”
Caesar complained, “Aiya, so petty. Heheh, I’ve already gone up...”
Zoe: “Motherf*cker, I’m the c-position. You get down from there!”
Zoe leapt over, the two of them bypassing the lions to hang off the chariot one after the other like two monkeys huddling together, but the top of the chariot could only hold one person. Caesar used his 300 pound advantage to jump up, but was stopped by Zoe with his wealth of fighting experience. The two lions howled angrily from below, and there were players on the opposite side who took advantage of the chaos to shoot––
Wen Lin had no choice but to load up his machine gun and force the attackers back.
“Little Witch,” Wen Lin chuckled, “If you want to go up, I can sweep the two of them down for you.”
Wu Jin was a little embarrassed, “Yes!”
Wen Lin made an ‘ok’ gesture, and the bullet left the chamber at a tricky angle.
On the other side, Zoe was still raging at Caesar, “I think you’re used to snatching and robbing as a child!”
Caesar: “Hey, how’d you know?”
They were taken by surprise when two stray bullets swept by, and Caesar had no choice but to let go. Zoe, who’d been holding tightly to his thigh, was also pulled off. The two of them fell to the ground with a plop and barely escaped being trampled by the lions.
Caesar: “Who the f*ck is shooting??”
Wen Lin retrieved his gun, “Here’s your chance, Little Witch, climb up quickly, go!!”
Wu Jin leapt up to the wheel shaft of the chariot. The heavy-duty Sumerian-style chariot built on top of the wheels was made from original wood. He went up, step by step, towards the towering throne, fluttering curtains, and the chariot reins––years of dance experience allowed Wu Jin to maintain his balance, and his last shift allowed him to land right in the middle of the seat.
His field of vision suddenly opened up!
The reins held the lions’ pace in check, and the chariot dodged the stray bullets that came from the distance.
Beneath him, Caesar and Zoe were still exchanging blows, and Wen Lin was laughing from behind the bunker. Countless cameras circled around him and the White Moonlight team––
Wu Jin’s small round face was a dizzy red, and his face was covered with a layer of shine from his still damp sweat, but his eyes and eyebrows were curved in happiness.
In the Crosson Show director studio, Ying Xiangxiang laughed openly, “Oh, youth.”
Blood Pigeon was also quite emotional, “Indeed, thinking back to when we were young––”
Ying Xiangxiang slapped the table and said angrily, “What do you mean, ‘we’?! I’m only 17 this year, okay?!”
Blood Pigeon was shocked, “Doesn’t Instructor Ying’s data say that you were born in year 2983, and it’s 3018 this year––”
The director didn’t hesitate to cut off his microphone, and the scrolling comments were full of ‘6666 stupid straight man’. Ying Xiangxiang added furiously, “I’m sorry, I’m 17 every year. This year, I’m two years younger than Little Witch, and next year, I’ll be three years younger than him.”
In the Crosson Show, ‘Chariot card’ instance.
Caesar jumped down from the chariot contentedly and finally eliminated the last person. They cleared the instance smoothly.
At this time, most players had already traded their cards in, and cards wouldn’t be dropped after the life-saving capsules popped up. It would be equipment and drawings instead. Amongst the three eliminated contestants, there happened to be one map that had been traded for with a wands card, but the content of it was a repeat of the two clues that the team already had.
Zoe frowned slightly and handed the map over to their brain Wu Jin to deal with.
There were no new clues to be found from the aerial view drawn out on the sheepskin or the hymn dedicated to Hermes. Wu Jin looked down at it and fell into deep thought.
Zoe: “What?”
Wu Jin spoke quietly, “I’m thinking about the number of instances. There are now 62 players alive, 10 cards, meaning an average of 6 players per instance. If we get into the 6 player instances with a 1/2 elimination rate––three people need to be eliminated, and we’ll need to lose someone in our team in order to pass the instance.”
Zoe paused, “Little Witch is saying that the fewer people there are, the more dangerous it is to take action as a team?”
Wu Jin nodded, “It’s better to have two teams of two.”
Zoe quickly made the arrangements, “Wen Lin and I, Caesar, you need a brain.”
Caesar stood there, casual and proud. He wasn’t ashamed at all.
In the dim corridor, the few of them discussed the route in low voices. Instances 5 and 6 represented the past, instances 1~3 represented ‘turning points’, and instance 6 represented the future.
The corridors were winding, and the light from the fire flickered slightly beneath the dome, affecting their elongated shadows.
Within the maximum time limit given to them for preparation, the four of them groped around with their guns but were unable to find the entrances to the instances after 6. That meant that according to the meaning behind the card spread, numbers 7-10, sincerity, bonds, fear, and fate, were connected with the three ‘turning point’ cards.
Behind them, Caesar seemed to be muttering about something while Wu Jin continued to discuss things with Zoe, “Based on the card meanings, 1~6 are used to analyze the problem itself, and 7~10 are for tracing the source.”
Zoe looked at the map, “Is it possible that 7 is connected to 6?”
Wu Jin tried to search through his memories, “In the previous divination class, the instructor did many card divinations for us students. They all start with the flow of time, then analyze the problems, then go back to ‘sincerity’ before extending to their destiny. If the Centaurus Society of Metaphysics inherited this school of thinking, it’s likely that after ‘the past’ and the ‘turning point’, the number 6 ‘future’ card will lead to number 7.”
Zoe: “So, let’s go to instance 6?”
Wu Jin spoke decisively, “Caesar and I will go first.”
Protecting the c-position within the team was one of the most important tactics in the survival show.
Zoe didn’t refuse and instead patted him on the shoulder, “We’ll be waiting outside. We can send in another person if the situation is critical. Don’t worry about having to eliminate team members; we can first provide support.”
After they finished their discussion, Caesar suddenly spoke up, “Is this corridor hotter than before?”
Wu Jin looked up. The statue of Hermes above the arena was brighter than before. The fire pit hadn’t been lit, but the flames hovering above it were more robust.
Wu Jin clearly remembered that one instance ago––the slowly faltering flames and another small cluster of fire had mingled together gently. At this time, there was only one cluster of fire that seemed to be infused with some sort of power, and it burned vigorously, bright and clear at the top of the statue. Just before falling into the fire, it was blown out by the strong wind once again.
“Find a third clue map as soon as possible.” Wu Jin narrowed his eyes and spoke, “The fire pit is going to be lit soon.”
He paused slightly, “Sacrifice. The sacrifice is about to begin.”
Juurensha: Yaaay, Little Witch got to play with the chariot.
xiin: it amuses me so much that Little Witch is Caesar’s brain...