Numerous screens of quite a lot of sizes crammed your entire wall within the backend management room in Time Journey Organisation. A wi-fi in-ear monitor clipped to their ear, the employees members had been busy and centered on their assigned jobs. 

The employees accountable for collating the competitors figures was reporting to the supervisor in-charge. 

“There are a complete of 60,000 members from On a regular basis Planet, we predict that there will probably be 20,000 members that may go the primary spherical.”

“Have you ever found any members with potential?”

“Sure. There are at present 119 members which have the potential to be a streamer. Amongst which, 23 come from a non-streaming associated background, and three of them have labored as a streamer earlier than.”

The findings reveal that almost all of the members had been solely right here as a result of the competitors appeared fascinating, and wished to attempt one thing new. 

The supervisor frowned. “Hm, barely manageable for a planet this small. Any fascinating content material that’s trailer-worthy?”

“To this point… none.” The nervous employees had the urge to wipe his sweat; he snuck a have a look at his supervisor’s expression, “in response to the editor, the plots to this point are missing in battle, they don’t have anything to work with.”

“…”

Even the supervisor felt just a little at loss at such a development. He was fairly good mates with the person who got here up with the concept for the elimination spherical. This proposal was drafted with the intention to avoid wasting firm expenditure — by permitting the members to turn into their very own “mastermind” behind their plots, the system would solely have to visualise the essential scenes to accomodate their storyline wants.

This was the simplest and easiest methodology to filter out members which have adequate potential or skill to craft, and revise a plot. 

The biggest weak spot of this type of mission-formated story chain is that the plots lacked the twists and turns, and the ups and downs attribute of standard storylines. Naturally, it will additionally lack the aspect of battle that the editors wanted. 

A scan by the varied missions taking part in out on the small screens was adequate to see how “light and frail” the present plots had been. ♢ CHART TOPPER QUEEN, CHAPTER 05 is hosted at ZHANLANN.COM ♢

By placing in unreasonable and punitive calls for for the following participant, all of the members resorted to utilizing the competitors mode as a device for revenge, fully overlooking the aspect of connectivity or leisure inside the storychain mission. 

The supervisor clenched his enamel earlier than he compelled out with reluctance: “Allocate three extra days for this. If we actually can’t discover any appropriate content material, use some plot highlights and launch it as post-credit scenes. Share that if they’ll acheive the identical factor, they are going to be rewarded.”

The competitors coaching venues had been geared up with primary time-conversion amenities. The three days allotted by the supervisor would translate into three further months inside the coaching rooms for the members. Three months wasn’t significantly lengthy, however it will be sufficient time and alternative for every participant to current themselves to one of the best of their talents. 

Because the #5 of their coaching room, it was Ai Bei’s flip to enter the story, as a male.

There was no rule towards bending genders, and so #4’s unconventional thought may materialise. Luckily, Ai Bei wasn’t significantly involved or affected by this. Or somewhat, given the jail setting she was in, being a male really labored extra to her advanatage of finishing the mission. 

This was Ai Bei’s third time coming into right into a separate house. Regardless of how completely different the areas had been, she knew that she was inside the identical neural world that her cranial nerves had been related to. The venue didn’t change, somewhat, it was the data that was fed to her mind by the system that modified.

As in comparison with the plaza that might match the handfuls of 1000’s of members, or the coaching room for his or her workforce of 5, it was solely the scene she was despatched into this time that illustrated how beneficiant TITR had been with their tech budgeting. 

The digital world managed to fully mirror the fact. 

Ai Bei appeared within the jail visitng room that #2 was in. Throughout the soundproof glass panel sat a man in a buzzcut donned in blue and white stripped jail uniform. As if phone poles, jail officers, armed with baton, stood in alert behind each two to 3 inmates. 

Ai Bei sneezed softly. From a static background scene, the individuals round her got here alive in that immediate, and turned to have a look at her.

#2 was amongst them. 

Evidently he’d had it tough in right here. Having the rug pulled from below him when he thought he was on the peak of his life, he fell into the abyss, his repute tarnished and his title slandered. Cynical and nonchalent to start with, the unprovoked defamantion that landed on him with out rhyme or purpose had him swiftly assimilating into the jail tradition as a type of self-defense. He learnt from them most ruthless among the many inmates. As in comparison with his hooligan days at school, he was way more cautious and hostile now. His dry lips cracking, he was as if a German Shepherd pet at fixed loggerheads with anybody that meets his eye, making an attempt to cover his apprehension and nerves behind a threatening facade.

He walked over to the empty sales space. He grabbed the phone with one hand and introduced it to his ear; he didn’t even hassle to take a seat down. Simply as Ai Bei was midway by “what do you…”, his clear and succinct reply sounding from the phone reduce her off. 

“Get misplaced*.”

She regarded up in confusion, her gaze assembly his throughout the glass panel. 

He swept a glance downwards, sneering: “Don’t perceive English? I instructed you to get misplaced*!”

On the identical time, a number of numbers in vibrant yellow appeared within the top-right nook of Ai Bei’s imaginative and prescient. It was a countdown timer that began from 60 seconds. 

His reply had already grew to become one of many quests inside the mission. If she couldn’t full it, she would fail the mission.

Ai Bei pushed the chair apart and stood up. 

The jail officer instantly educated their gazes on her. Donned in a easy hoodie, the youth in mushy black hair and clear options all of the sudden squatted down on the ground, scrunched himself right into a ball as if a porcupine, and frivolously turned himself, and rolled on the bottom*. 

* wordplay: “滚” (gun) means “get misplaced” in english, it might probably additionally imply “to roll”

The youth paused for a second earlier than he continued his efforts. And once more, he made a ahead roll in the identical place. 

The youth rolled round for about three to 4 instances. If it weren’t for the opposite inmates gaping on the youth, it’d actually appear as if this was a PE class at school, and he was practising easy methods to make a ahead roll.

The #2 behind the glass panel was surprised after witnessing such a scene, but he couldn’t assist however burst into laughter on the identical time. Their little state of affairs continued till a jail officer got here ahead to handle the commotion. 

“Sufficient, come again.”

He commanded as he patted the desk, as if he was coaching a canine. The jail officer standing behind him checked out #2 as if he was psychological. Ai Bei who had been attempting to ship the jail officer who came visiting again immediately returned to the glass panel. 

#2 knew that the system would remind her if she couldn’t hear the instructions he made. 

Again when he was within the storyline with #3, he had been hesitant about dispensing instructions for #3 to start with, and had all the time felt considerably responsible. After doing it for therefore lengthy now nonetheless, #3’s disdain and disgust grew to become his best catalyst. The extra she hated it, the extra he wished to make issues troublesome for her. In fact with that mentioned, he nonetheless maintained the decency and humanity instilled in him because of his surroundings rising up; he didn’t and wouldn’t cross the road. 

The one factor that got here out of all of that was that now, dispensing troublesome instructions was ever so easy and guiltless. 

“Come again tomorrow. Carry me a sport console.”

*

The following day, Ai Bei appeared and introduced alongside her newly purchased Swap. 

If she wished at hand the console to #2, assembly him on the visiting room as per regular wouldn’t work. The additional day he’d given her was for her to drag some strings round and make issues work. 

In response to the Principle of Six Diploma Separation, everybody on the planet is six or fewer social connections away from one another. As such, Ai Bei labored the connections that her present character had and spent an enormous sum of cash earlier than she managed to get himself a possibility to go to the jail instantly as an alternative of by the guarded glass sales space. 

Outdoors the room, the jail officer checked by her belongings. After ensuring nothing was out of order, he swept her one other look. Squinting, he reminded her: “Half an hour, max.”

Ai Bei nodded. “Is he alright?”

“You possibly can say that, the brand new ones are all the time rebellious.” The jail officer’s gaze floated, as if he was attempting to trace at one thing else. “You pal was locked up all evening final evening, guess he’s not feeling one of the best. You higher remind him it’d be finest to hearken to the directions in right here.”

Ai Bei knew what he was referring to. She had made an effort to study extra concerning the jail state of affairs on this world. 

On this world, there was this place known as the black room in jail; it was a slender and stuffy room, and sometimes employed to punish troublemakers. The individual could be despatched into the black room, they usually’d be caught inside for a complete day. Regardless of your psychological resilience, it will be a suffocating expertise. 

With that thought in thoughts, she opened the room assigned for visitation. There was a sq. desk within the centre and two chairs by the aspect. Sprawled on desk in a laze, #2 raked a hand by his buzzcut of a hair. The second Ai Bei entered, she seen the injuries on his brow and on the nook of his eyes; the grazes made him out to seem much more fierce than he already was together with his tan pores and skin.

It’d solely been a day, however the aura of sombre and gloom surrounding him appeared to have saturated much more. She puzzled what it was that he had encountered in jail. 

“What’re you stoning for, the place’s the console?”

“Right here.” Ai Bei handed him the Swap in her bag. 

He was just a little disdainful. “Why didn’t you purchase Zelda? I ought to have instructed you to seize it from my place. Neglect it, sit.” Everybody had their particular habits. For #2, each time he went to a brand new surroundings, he had to purchase a sport console and familiarise himself with a brand new sport earlier than he may alter comfortably. 

Cigarettes was a should in his life, so had been video games. 

Ai Bei sat down beside him and watched him play. He had his earpiece on; he grew to become so engrossed he fully forgot that she had existed, or the truth that he’d simply made loads of issues troublesome for her.

It was solely till the jail officer kicked the steel door did they arrive to, “time’s up.”

The 2 of them jumped because the metallic clang. The jail officer’s aggressive expression entered their imaginative and prescient, as if a pesky ghost from the underworld that needed to get of their approach. 

At his phrases, Ai Bei reached out to take the Swap again from him. #2 nonetheless dodged her hand.

#2 regarded down on the sport once more, his voice chilly and nonchalent, “purchase me a while.”

“However…”

“Why, you need to fail the mission?”

“You positive?”

“Tch, you suppose?”

“Alright.” Ai Bei contemplated for a second, “however, if it doesn’t work out, don’t blame it on me.”

The reply she acquired was a packet of cigarettes #2 threw her.