Thriller Trainee

In the mountains, it was extremely dark at night, so dark that it felt like everything between the sky and the earth had turned into one color.

Sponsored Content

Mountains stretched out for as far as the eye could see.
The forest bared its teeth and waved its claws in the night, like ghosts and monsters had emerged from the ground one by one. 

There was no moon tonight.

Firelight shone on everyone’s face.
Faces could be vaguely made out in the flickering flames.

AD

 

 

The wind at night was strong.
Everyone sat together.
Although their backs were cold, at least their front sides faced the fire, so it was not too cold.

No one was able to sleep in the atmosphere of this horror instance, and no one dared to sleep.
For a moment, people either had their heads down or looked towards the sky.
Zong Jiu intentionally chose a place far away from Zhuge An. 

Someone broke the silence, “How about we chat? Having it be this silent the whole time is pretty scary.”

 

“Sure, chat about what?” Immediately, someone responded.

“Sigh, just what the hell is this main task? If it’s protecting the entire village, then wouldn’t we have failed by now?”

“No.
This is a protection type task.
As long as one villager survives, then it counts as a pass.”

 

The C-rank veteran in front of the fire said, “There are seven days in total.
Right now, it’s still only the first day.
I suggest that we wait until the sixth day and then see how many people are still alive.
Then we can just focus on protecting a few people, and it’ll be fine.”

Heat followed the tongues of the fire and blew onto people’s faces.
For a while, everyone was speechless.

Although what the C-rank said wasn’t very humane, it was indeed not a bad idea.

They weren’t like Anthony’s group that had enough strength to afford other options.
In this instance that was almost at S-rank difficulty, for middle-ranking trainees, being able to protect themselves was already pretty good.
If they had to also protect NPCs, then they had the intentions to help but no strength to back them up. 

“There’s still six days’ time, no rush.”

Zong Jiu moved his hand that was frozen stiff, “We first have to figure out what happened in this village before.
This way, when we protect them, we’ll have an inkling on what to look out for.”

Everyone expressed approval towards his words.

“Then how about we all exchange the information we gathered?” 

The white-haired young man nodded, “When the son of the village head came over, his bowl was filled with dirt and meat.”

Such a public scene, obviously it couldn’t have been only Zong Jiu who had noticed it.

Immediately, there was a trainee who raised his hand, “I saw it too.
I also saw that after he left, there were villagers who picked up the things he had dropped and ate it.”

Sponsored Content

Xu Su racked his brains, “That red colored soil, I seem to have seen it somewhere.” 

“Ah! I remember.
When I was picking up firewood, I went to a dirt slope farther away to take a look.
There’s an area behind the village that is sectioned off by a mud wall.
The soil there seems to be of the same color as the soil in the bowl.”

With his words, someone beside him also remembered, “I think I also saw it.
The place where there’s also a temple behind the mud wall? Unfortunately, the sky had already darkened then.
I didn’t really get a clear look.”

 

Zong Jiu frowned internally.

He remembered the temple and Grandma Yin mentioned by the village head.
In his mind, he attached more importance to these. 

Unfortunately, this instance had only started for a few hours, and they needed to stay here for another six days.
Even their information added together was limited.
Everyone noisily discussed for a few minutes before finding out that many things couldn’t be confirmed, so the topic slowly began to shift.

The night could always arouse people’s desire to talk.

After chatting dryly for a while, the atmosphere became pleasant, and everyone felt sympathy towards each other for being in the same bad situation.

Zong Jiu proposed at a good time, “How about everyone talk about what they all did in the real world in the past?” 

From the beginning until now, the flow of the conversation had always been secretly controlled by him, just like on the stage back then when he guided the audience’s attention from his hand to the top of his head.

This topic opened up the switch in everyone’s memory.

Cmmbgvlcu ab ktja Iteuf Cc rjlv, yfmjerf bo atf wjlc rsrafw’r lcafgofgfcmf, mbcafcvfgr kbeivc’a jmalnfis atlcx jybea atflg qjra fzqfglfcmfr lc atf gfji kbgiv.
Lbkfnfg, lo rbwfbcf wfcalbcfv la, atlr qbgalbc bo atflg wfwbgs kbeiv yf afwqbgjglis ecyibmxfv.

Ktf batfg qfbqif vlvc’a olcv bea jybea atlr ja jii.
Ca wbra, ktfc Ibcu Ale wfcalbcfv atlr abqlm, atfs kbeiv ijwfca atja alwf tjv qjrrfv abb delmxis.
Cr lo atflg qjra ilnfr kfgf yftlcv j ijsfg bo ogbrafv uijrr, la kjr tjgv ab gfwfwyfg. 

“Sigh, I was just an ordinary college graduate and was still looking for a job.
On the first day of work, I was rushing to catch the subway, but I was pulled here as soon as I left my house.”

In the group that didn’t hand in food, other than Zhuge An and a C-rank veteran named Xu Sen, the other people were all newcomers.

Everyone became a chatterbox and poured out their bitterness.

“I’m about the same, about the same.
I was in the office, holding a book, and about to go teach a lesson to my students when, with a turn of my head, I had arrived at the trainee dormitory.” 

“Who isn’t like that? I was a working member of society who finally took my annual leave.
I wanted to shut myself at home and play games for an entire day.
Once I woke up, I found out the world had changed.”

“Don’t mention it anymore.
I was at the site of my wedding.
I had just kneeled down while holding the ring, but when I raised my head, my bride became the sturdy and buff men from my dormitory.”

The other person laughed out bitterly, attracting a bunch of laughter with kind intentions.

The bullet chat also accompanied them to stay up all night and turned on the late night emotional mode. 

[How come it suddenly changed into a late night channel.
Humans really are weird.
The better the environment, the more rotten they become.
In an environment filled with adversary and despair, however, they suddenly become full of radiance and hope.]

[Yeah, before entering the infinite loop, I felt that living was really useless and purposeless.
Instead, it was after I had entered that I found out life really is very difficult… sigh.
Who knows when they would die in the next instance?]

 

[These newcomers are so relaxed.
But really, after entering the infinite loop for so long, I have basically never talked about this topic.]

[+1 It’s hard to even survive.
Everyday, my brain is only occupied with thinking about how to become strong.
So sad.
How come after all this talking, I have suddenly realized that I can no longer remember what a normal life should be like… It shouldn’t be like us, having to be on edge all the time, right? Even when not in a horror instance, we get scared awake by the slightest movement.] 

Sponsored Content

After talking for a while, Xu Sen, one of the two veterans, obviously felt his emotions stirring.
Even Zhuge An’s face loosened up a bit.

Zong Jiu was exercising his fingers with his head down when someone suddenly moved the conversation to him.

“Speaking of which, what about Jiu-ge? What did Jiu-ge do in the real world?”

“Oh, me?” 

The white-haired young man didn’t raise his head, “Don’t you guys all know already?”

[Know what? Unless this white-haired fellow really was a magician? /shocked.jpg]

[Fuck, they put a magician into a casino???]

[I finally know why he won the entire time… I thought that the magician was just an alias he gave himself.
I never guessed that his actual profession would be this!] 

After Las Vegas, there was no one who didn’t know of the name Magician Zong Jiu.

In the infinite loop, generally, only people who had enough strength to gain everyone’s recognition and approval would be referred to by a title.
Towards those big shots who had already been famous for a long time, most of the time, people wouldn’t directly refer to them by their names, such as the Exorcist, the Black-Robed Azan, the Holy Son… etcetera.

Although Zong Jiu was still C-rank, after he had crazily harvested one million chips in the casino, no one dared to underestimate him.
In fact, many people had bet on whether or not he would directly rise in ranks after this instance.

Hearing this, the other people all exclaimed in surprise, “Wah, Jiu-ge, you really were a magician in the past?” 

“Yeah.”

Zong Jiu nonchalantly said, “A third-rate magician.
I just happened to learn solitaire, that’s all.
It’s not worth mentioning.”

If it was in the past, Zong Jiu wouldn’t say these things.
However, maybe he just happened to be in the mood today.
Anyway, it was only some unimportant information.
Using this to strengthen his relationship with these newcomers was not bad.

“Jiu-ge is so humble.” They all complimented, “At first, everyone thought you were a gambling god.
We didn’t think that you were a magician.
With the skills to cheat in front of the purple dealer and make No.
1 voluntarily fold, it wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to say that you are The Great Magician.
You’re really too amazing.” 

Zong Jiu smiled, not agreeing or disagreeing.

“It should be dawn soon, right?”

 

Xu Su squatted on the ground, adding firewood into the fire in the middle, and then hugged his knees and sat back onto the ground.

“Speaking of which, didn’t the main system say that only one hundred trainees out of all can live?” 

Xu Sen nodded, “Yeah.”

One hundred.
That meant that only S-ranks and high A-ranks could live.
How harsh the conditions were could be imagined.

Sensing that the atmosphere was suddenly becoming heavy and depressing again, Xu Sen rubbed his head, “Everyone, don’t think too much.
At that time, when we veterans signed up, we didn’t think that much.
Now that we have already boarded this pirate ship, we can’t get off midway.”

“Furthermore, we have stayed in the infinite loop for too long… Unless we can become an existence like master Zhuge An, us contenders with average strength are always filled with fear every time we go into a horror instance, fearing that one day we wouldn’t be able to survive.” 

Zhuge An, who was sitting by the fire, raised his eyes and glanced at him, scaring Xu Sen so much that he thought that his careless words had angered the master.
But in the end, the other person didn’t say anything and quickly lowered his eyes.

Xu Sen bitterly laughed and quickly finished, “Entering this competition, whether you die or you live, getting a conclusion is also good.”

Sponsored Content

Zong Jiu’s action of moving his finger paused.

Although he was the mole, he didn’t have a direct conflict of interest with the regular trainees in this instance. 

If he could successfully complete the main task and had extra time, it was fine for him to help these people.

Thinking this, the white-haired young man clenched his fist and looked towards the center of the fire.

“What Xu-ge said is right.
Don’t ruin your own image and honor.”

Xu Su quickly jumped out to lighten the atmosphere, “How about we discuss if you get the universal wish ticket, what would everyone wish for? After all, dreaming in the middle of the night is very reasonable.” 

[/No matter where and when, humans all have the right to dream.jpg]

This topic was pretty interesting.
The heaviness around the fire was swept clean.

Everyone really started to think about it.

Some people laughed loudly, “If I really can make any wish, then obviously I would wish that I would become invincible.” 

“I would probably wish to directly pass the infinite loop; becoming a salted fish contender is also not bad.”

“I would wish for the strongest prop or maybe never needing to enter a horror instance again.
It would be best to be able to escape from the system’s control.”

 

Not only the trainees, even the live broadcast watchers also started dreaming.

[Then it must be to become the strongest! Wouldn’t it be great to be able to defeat ghosts and monsters with a kick, and punch the system?!] 

[I want to wish for my lover to come back.
It was him who exchanged for a chance for me to live in an instance.
So, no matter how sad I am right now, I have to live on for him too.
I can’t die.
I’m afraid that he’ll be angry.]

[Hug the little sister upstairs. 555]

[Hug +1]

[If I really can make a wish, let me get the Book of the Dead (Cry).
I also want to talk with dead comrades.] 

……

Zong Jiu noticed that these people were like what Zhuge An said.
Not a single person was aware that they could return to their original world through the wishing.

The main system blurred out this part of their memories.
As long as no one mentioned it, they wouldn’t even remember where they came from.

Zong Jiu crossed his arms, seriously thinking over this topic. 

He was different from everyone around him.
No, rather, it could be said that he was different from everyone in this world.

The contenders in the infinite loop were all unlucky people pulled in by the system from the real world.

But Zong Jiu wasn’t.
He was a transmigrator.

Sponsored Content

To everyone else, the novel’s real world was the real world.
However, to Zong Jiu, the contender’s real world wasn’t the real world that he was once a magician in. 

Everything in the world of the infinite loop was only a normal online novel in his world.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Zong Jiu didn’t expect himself to transmigrate into the novel, knowing the plot would definitely become his biggest cheat.

Thinking like this, it was very easy to infer that Zong Jiu’s original world should be of a higher level than the world of the novel.
Therefore, even if Zong Jiu wished with the wish ticket to go back, at most, the system would only be able to send him back to this world’s real world.
It couldn’t send him back to Zong Jiu’s original world.

However… it didn’t matter if he couldn’t go back.

Zong Jiu didn’t have many ties or feelings towards his original world.
Even if the system was extremely powerful and was able to let him go back, he wouldn’t choose to go back. 

Horror instances were extremely terrifying and horrible for other people, but for Zong Jiu, who had very little emotional fluctuations, it wasn’t anything.
It was even full of fun.

He liked this feeling of walking on a knife’s edge and also liked this kind of grand stage.

 

So when the other people asked him, Zong Jiu randomly ran his mouth.

His hand had already been healed.
Right now, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he had no wants or wishes.
It was better to confer the benefits to the masses. 

“If I really can get that wish ticket, I would probably wish for everyone to leave the infinite loop.”

All was silent.

Once Zong Jiu realized that something was wrong, the people around the fire were all looking at him as if he was an extremely noble and selfless person.

Even without mentioning Xu Sen and them, even Zhuge An, who had always had an attitude of this doesn’t concern me, looked over with an extremely complicated gaze. 

Honestly speaking, when talking about the universal wish ticket under these circumstances, it was mostly just for fun.
Everyone’s first thought would be, without exception, to seek benefits for themselves.
They would’ve never guessed that Zong Jiu would directly throw out an answer that benefited everyone, directly stimulating their ideologies.

To put it straightforwardly, he was like Joan of Arc who descended among the French barbarians.
Their thoughts weren’t on the same level, yet people were able to tell exactly where the gap was.

The bullet chat was speechless in shock.

[Fuck, fuck, this answer, fuck!] 

[My god… In awe.
This state of mind really is on another level.]

[You really can’t tell that the magician is actually such a noble person.
Sorry, I sincerely apologize for cursing him before.]

[Sorry +1.
From now on, I am the magician’s loyal fan.]

[That’s right.
Please, you must debut in the C-position!! I have wanted to fucking leave this stupid place for a long time! If he debuts, then we’ll be freed.
You can do it, magician! Mom loves you.] 

[+10086]

What everyone thought of was themselves, yet he thought of everyone.
What a noble sentiment!

The people by the fire were all at a loss for words.
They only reacted after a long time.

They looked at Zong Jiu and took a deep breath, “You can do it! I believe that you will definitely be able to defeat the Devil and ascend the throne of No.
1! And lead us to leave from here!” 

Zong Jiu: “……?”