Chapter 30

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

Oh, freedom.

Just saying the word out loud, makes a sweet taste linger on Bright’s tongue.

It’s not the freedom of doing anything you want, but being able to say ‘no’ to things you don’t want to do.

Unlike the people who have already adapted to the rules of the City, he has lived in a country where freedom was one of its founding principles since he was born. He enjoyed this right and has become used to it. It isn’t until he has lost it did he realise how valuable it truly was.

This is a right birthed from countless years of the progress of civilisations, written into law after being baptised with an endless amount of war and blood.

What’s ironic, however, is that after we reached the future with technology so advanced, this most basic right has instead devolved into a luxury that few enjoys. Morality is the protector of freedom. Without morals, freedom has lost its fundamental supporter.

Those so-called free men of the City looks like they can enjoy and indulge, eating starmeat, drinking spiked drinks, taking all those pills, but they do not have true freedom. This commercialised society with entertainment as its central tenet has created an illusion of freedom, yet the people do not have the right to make a choice.

Look at Ococo, for example. She does not want to be an agent for contestants of the show; she can only go to work by drugging herself numb, can she quit her job? What kind of fate awaits her if she loses her value?

There is no basic support for the necessities of life here. It’s a cruel jungle with a façade on.

Wolfie is looking at the man like looking at a threatening creature. He thinks he is a man of many secrets. He has always been wary of the man and so neither spoke nor did things as much as possible in front of him. Yet he has managed to deduce an enormous amount of information just from the few things he let up. Not to mention that strength and power he has that can completely suppress him. Wolfie estimates that the man’s true power may be on the level of his leader.

“What are you?” Wolfie can’t help but ask.

“Human.” Bright says resolutely.

Wolfie clearly does not believe it, and guesses that he is at least some form of an engineered humanoid creature, and does not belong to the military. He asks, “what is your objective?”

Bright does not answer his question directly, “we have the same enemy. This is what your leader meant by handing you to me, it meant an armistice. I tell you this because I want us to talk openly; I want us to cooperate.”

Wolfie nods in a serious manner, “I’ll pass that onto Leader.”

Bright shows a comfortable smile. He knew Wolfie has always maintained contact with the Wolves in secret.

Might as well do it right now, and Wolfie prepares to go out. Bright stops him for a moment, “right, also ask for me while you’re there, how did you handle the show?” His battleground with Wolfie is quite the potential risk factor.

Wolfie remembers something and shows a complicated expression, “oh, that. I can answer that right now. We got orders from the military to punish the show a bit, because they kept blabbering on about the chip and the upper brass weren’t happy. You happened to be the most visible one in the crosshairs so they decided to punish you in their stead. We planned to kill you but the operation failed due to impatience. Alpha could only report that I was tricked and so I have betrayed the pack and my companions. We all transformed to fight and that’s where those traces of battle came from. The show now knows who we are. Or they knew from the beginning. They’ve probably reached some kind of deal with the military; I don’t know much about the upper brass.”

His own secret being safe for now, Bright’s worries relieved for now. Then he repeats without much meaning, “I tricked you, so that you betrayed your pack?”

Wolfie blows up, “don’t dwell on that! I didn’t have clothes on after transforming, and I was wearing your shirt… It got captured by those new cameras the show sent. That kind of scene was misleading! I’ll never be tricked by those deceptive words of yours!”

Bright is both amused and speechless, and tries to soothe him, “because of you, people thought I had my eyes on Old Veteran. You can see becoming the subject of gossip as a kind of karma.”

Wolfie grumbles, “they thought you’re inept at first, then when they got proven wrong, they guessed you have some weird fetish like preferring old farts.”

“…” The fuck’s with weird fetishes. Though Bright’s mind is unaffected by this. Then he gives it a thought and notices something, “what about now?”

“… I don’t know!” Wolfie opens the door and dashes away.

The contestants are passionately discussing Bright’s new nickname——’ Reaper of Armies ‘.

Number 56 Piers is the one with the most information among all the contestants. He revealed that ‘the Wolves’ had military backing. All their members were sentenced to death when court-martialed and sent into the show. Everyone feels as if they suddenly came to understand the reason they went for number 199.

Everyone knows that number 199 is an Outsider whose parents and relatives died at the hands of the military. They are naturally mortal enemies; ‘the Wolves’ also lost an important member in the kerfuffle between number 199 and Old Veteran, so they have a reason to hate him down to the bone. So they hunted for Bright in the fourth episode.

Though when most people thought number 199 is going to die, he managed to escape from ‘the Wolves’ while also tricking one of their members into betrayal! As testified by the previous roommate of number 199, that cute little wolf with ice-blue eyes is already living together with Bright!

For now, everyone has raised their danger ratings of number 199 up a level. They did not dare underestimate him.

The Wolves are top class among the contestants for their strength and their group solidarity. When Bright faced off against them, he not only got out unscathed, but he even managed to coax one of them to his side. His sexual prowess must be out of this world.

“With how this turned out, number 199 is probably dead in the eyes of the Wolves right? He’s probably not going to make it in episode 5.”

“You’re wrong on that. Someone saw him getting in touch with Alpha alone. Nobody knows what they talked about but they seem to have reached an agreement. Alpha has ordered the Wolves not to trouble him anymore.”

“Damn!” The contestant works his gears in his brain, “say, do you think he has a fetish for that and has slept with the Alpha too?”

“He saved Old Veteran, got Wolfie under his wing, and his photoshoot was all military uniform… tch tch tch, who knows.”

Sexual fetish is the best protective colouration here.

Using the mask of a fetish for morally bankrupt n-gram sex relations to cover up the truth is the most effective.

The truth is that the show, the military and the Inner City engaged in a power struggle and reached an unwilling compromise in the end.

There’s also an intense inner power struggle within the management of the show. This hottest reality show in the City has massive profits at stake. Every side has some representative in it. Just as an example, the Director and vice director belonged to different factions that represented different powers and groups.

The military wanted a piece of the show as well and colluded with employees of the show to insert the Dog Soldiers into the contestants. They originally ordered them to stay low and reveal their trump cards only at the quarterfinals and finals but there was an accident. In episode 3 the show moved people’s prying eyes onto the chip and trapped the military in an uncomfortable position. The military was angry so they ordered the Wolves to eliminate number 199 to end the discussion.

The Wolves reported the operation had been a failure because Wolfie was not stable enough to obediently follow orders. He demonstrated a high degree of disobedience and wildness. This is consistent with the experimental records of the military so they did not suspect foul play here. They scolded the Wolves and prepared to punish them harshly. Yet as this happened the show and the Inner City expressed their strong dissatisfaction in unison to the military. The military had to lay low and let it go in the end.

“Gentleman. Your concern over number 199 is worrying. Can you still ensure the show to be fair and just?”

“Mind your own business, Watchdog.”

Hopkin says coldly, and ends the communication from his side, then orders, “prepare to go out.”

The smart chip asks, “affirmative, sir. Where would the destination be?”

“The show.”

The military was right in that Hopkin was concerned. Though not concerned about Bright but the oddities of this event.

He has seen the data on the Wolves. Werewolves move extremely quickly, about 80 to 100 km/h on average. Under a coordinated hunt, Bright has no possibility of surviving. The military reports that a werewolf betrayed the pack which resulted in the mission’s failure, but the details were scant. Even if one wolf betrays, a whole pack is on the hunt. The latter is still in a position of absolute domination. Then how in the world did Bright escape from this predicament?

Also, Wolfie destroyed his camera first, then the Wolves, and Bright last. There’s little time difference between the three events. Hopkin has studied the images sent back just before the cameras were destroyed and has concluded that this is definitely not a coincidence. While it’s not clear whether Bright’s cameras were destroyed on purpose, but the werewolves definitely did that on purpose. The show believed them to have destroyed the cameras to hide their identities and prevent the show from interfering in the middle of it to save Bright. This is logically sound but Hopkin instinctively feels there’s more to it.

First, if it was just to eliminate Bright, they could do it even in their human forms, and there was no reason for them to transform into werewolves. Second, from Bright’s action patterns since the start of the fourth episode, he has clearly learned of some information that made him alert and chose to run. An assassination proceeding in such circumstances is way too reckless, as if it was on purpose.

However you look at it, the whole event smells suspicious.

Hopkin believes in his own judgement. The werewolves had other objectives in mind, and Bright has not revealed all the truths. He might be involved in it, even.

Thinking this way, he furrows his brows. This would mean that there was 20 odd minutes that the werewolves disappeared from the eyes of the staff of the show, and under the disguise of an order by the military, did something in secret.

With the record of the bracelet showing how Bright and the werewolves moved that day, Hopkin examines the site in person. He has learned of something so he has the show take Bright under control.

“Give him a body check.”

Author’s notes:

Bright is anxious: Is it a rabies check?

Hopkin: You’re living together with someone already, there’s no way I’m not checking!

Read only at Travis Translations