The technologically advanced computer is not connected to the Internet outside. Bright does not have those hacking skills that allows him to steal information through an intranet either. He doesnât acquire much useful information here. By useful he means helpful for stabbing the Shithead, capping the Shithead in the head, blasting the Shithead into outer space, drawing and quartering the Shithead, or humane euthanasia for the Shithead, oh yeah!
Actually Bright does acquire some amount of information.
Operation logs are the most obvious. Bright looks over them and has a better idea of the rate of breaking and decommissioning of the toys of the aristocrats in this societyâ âThe wounds he suffered can only be classified as light wounds in there.
Then he spends a lot of time remembering the layout of the building, including the fire exits, the ventilation system and where the CCTV are. Thereâs not much time left after remembering those.
Coincidentally, he finds out the user of this computer liked giant bosoms on faces that looked young. They had downloaded quite the amount of resources at work.
Bright returns everything to how they looked before, then returned to the cylinder for further treatment.
The next day, Bright is fished out of the cylinder. He pretends to still be fainted. Someone puts clothes on him while also using the chance to feel his ass up. Bright chooses to keep playing dead to use the chance to look outside at the City.
He is probably in Inner City, where apparently countless Outsiders are barred from entry. As the show is recorded near the outskirts of the Outer City, he should also pass by half the Outer City on his way back. Knowing a bit more will increase his chances, however minuscule, for what he wants to achieve.
The people watching him are clearly much more lax about it than coming in back then. Bright is able to observe in secret through the window of the vehicle he is riding.
He is riding on an airborne vehicle. Its speed is astronomical, and it shoots far away from where he started, a giant white complex, in the blink of an eye. The complex is completely white â the walls, the floor, the statues, the dome. There wasnât even a speck of dirt, as clean as the clouds, as white as the moon.
It looks like heaven from the outside, but to Bright, it looks more like a morgue. A morgue where white ghosts creating white terror live.
The vehicle flies through a wide surface of water. So the Inner City is actually an island. Besides the natural barrier of water, there are also high walls, an invisible net of electricity in the air, and guard posts with patrolling soldiers. It is multi-levelled and highly defended.
When they enter the Outer City, the environment clearly changes. There are many more things flying about in the air. Airborne vehicles of all sizes and shapes criss-cross across the sky, where countless skylanes also cross into each other. The skyline is full of skyscrapers, and thereâs no gap to all the traffic flowing on the ground.
3D holographic projections atop the skyscrapers are all showing the hottest show at present. Bright even sees his own self on those.
Itâs the second episode of the Killing Gauntlet, wading across the shore of the lake. He was only in his underwear then, and the underwear was soaked to the brim.
Gigantic 3D holograms, visible all over the sky.
Maybe itâs better to just stay unconsciousâŚ
âBright, youâve exploded in popularity. Especially that preview at the end of the second episode. Everyone is looking forward to seeing what you did to Old Veteran. Iâve seen the sample of the third episode. The military chip has always been a controversial social topic, you can ride off of that for a bit more popularity. Theyâll be discussing this for a week at least, while also mentioning you. We must take the chance to attract more fans.â
Ococo, Brightâs agent, sounds roused. She is still in her Gothic clothing with her thick mascara and black lips and fingernails, but she is looking much healthier mentally, and is having coherent thoughts. She has probably realised that her star, having lived through the first three episodes of preliminary eliminations, and having proven his worth to the show, can be expected to achieve more.
The new stars assigned to her have mostly failed to advance. Ococo doesnât want to recall them or sheâll need another shot.
âYouâve done well.â Ococo praises Bright.
He did do well, better than every newcomer she has seen. He obeyed when told to; he found someoneâs thigh when told to. Yesterday he was taken away, and only returned today. Yet his emotional state is stable. Thereâs no mental collapse, no outbursts â everything seems to have been calmly accepted.
She works for the show, so she knows Bright has already got the patronage of âGentleman.â With this thick thigh in his hands, his path forward will only be smoother. Though it does mean he has to pay the corresponding price. Due to her job Ococo has met with many Inner City aristocrats. She has also heard about the extraordinary deeds of âGentleman,â who is not someone youâd want to cross. When her thoughts drifts to thinking about the Inner City aristocrats, she canât help but bite her nails.
Bright isnât interested in talking about his experiences. Seeing how Ococo seems to be growing anxious again, he moves her attention away with some other topic.
âWhatâs your advice for the next competition?â
With the topic being her professional area, Ococoâs eyes glimmer for a bit, and stops biting her nail subconsciously.
âThe first three episodes were preliminaries. The fourth to the sixth ones are a points race. The contestant gains points from his behaviour in and out of the contest area. Points are aggregated from three different sides. Theyâre the professional and media representatives, invited special guests of the show, and the audience.â She explains how points are calculated and weighted in detail.
Bright then realises gradually that success is largely determined by the upper brass, the show and popularity of the contestant. A system like this pleases the powers that be besides limiting their individual influence by pitting them against each other.
âThe objective of the points race is no longer eliminating the contestants and thereâs no limit to the number of people advancing. Contestants have to maintain their popularity while completing their missions. There was one season when a contestant completed their mission every single time but wasnât popular among the audience. Without enough popularity he was eliminated in the end.â
âWhat about the episodes afterwards?â
âFrom past experience, the show will design and modify the contests based on number of contestants remaining, but Iâm guessing it will be a battle royale pitting the popular contestants against the unpopular ones, the latter having very low chances of winning. So as long as you maintain high popularity, at least in the top half by episode 6, youâll probably be able to advance in episode 7. As for whether it is team based or a free-for-all, itâs hard to tell at this stage.â
Before the start of the fourth episode, the show set aside 2 days for the contestants to have photoshoots and videos. They plan to put them onto their individual webpages. Theyâre packaging and presenting merchandise, preparing to put a label on them for sale.
Bright is arranged to have his the first day. He asked his agent to negotiate with staff to delay it to the next day.
After his routine of nutrient mixture and daily training, Bright begins to rest. He is daydreaming while sitting but it looks like deep-thinking to others.
Even if there is no more physical wounds on his body, his mind still seems to be agitated from yesterday. His nerves spike with pain every so often. Even if his skin is all smooth without any marks, he still can feel as if there is a pain from an electric current burning.
Side effects include his particularly invigorated little one, saluting towards the sky several times. Bright has already had a cold shower several times.
Itâs impossible to hide from his roommate. He is looking at him with a complicated look in his eyes, and kindly advises him, âjust enjoy it if you canât fight it, these drinks and medicine. Theyâre useful you know, maybe youâll end up loving them in the end.â
ââŚâ Bright knows itâs no secret he has disappeared for an entire day. He guess his roommate might have assumed him to have experienced a painful boring procedure despite being a neat freak.
Almost everyone in the show now knows Bright to be taken. Both contestants and staff members are looking at him strangely. Most of them are of admiration or envy. Some are of disdain or wary.
The few who knows his patron is the famous âGentlemanâ treats him with caution, like Director who knows Bright accompanied âGentlemanâ for a whole night after that cultural festival. Maybe the vice director knew about it even earlier. All in all the upper echelons of the production team of the show has given orders to the lower rung to let number 199 pass in episode 3.
Whatâs strange is that only Bright doesnât know he has a sugar daddy, his knight in shining armorââif only you can call sexual abuse a knightly conduct, then certainly it would make a fine knight. Add to that an intentional cover-up done by a certain someone, Bright doesnât know that the âtrainerâ is his mortal enemy at all. He is currently concerned about having made an enemy of a deviant of high status, and trying to fight back and have his revenge.
In the swamp, Bright helped Old Veteran make up that story is for his own goals too. He understands that he as he is is not much appeal to the audience. A highly dramatic backstory gives him value to stay.
Besides, he has basically popped out of thin air in this world. There is no past trace of his existence here, which is something that can be a risk if someone pursues that line of evidence. When the show has scripted the story well and spread it out, everyone will know that he has lived outside the City since he was young and there is an old soldier who has killed his parents and relatives. Three liars make a tiger â a lie repeated enough times will become the truth. This will be additional protection for him.
His house in the zombie game has upgraded. Bright makes a roof and finally waves goodbye to his days of having the sky as his ceiling. He also makes some pen and paper to record all his recently acquired information. Memory can be fickle, after all.
He draws up a portrait of Mr. Ejaculation, and pins it to the wall as a target.
After a while of venting out, the next day Bright appeared especially cheerful. In terms of his external appearance his skin looks smooth and beautiful, his posture straight and his actions purposeful. He can appeal his power and appeal as the photographer demanded perfectly.
âExcellent! Open one more button on your shirt. Make-up artist adjust his bangs a little bit, a bit more chaotic, like just waking up from bedâŚâ The photographer is choreographing everything in the studio, and praises Bright unceasingly, âgood good. You know how to face a camera, with power and vigour. Unlike those guys who look absolutely spent.â
Hopkin, who has come to visit, appears very unhappy upon hearing that.
Authorâs notes: Hopkin: Looks like I havenât been diligent enough.