The storehouse manager was killed in the end anyway.
Ochrehair did it himself.
He seemed to have forgotten that his initial target was number 199, and entered a state of frenzy. He did not care that his wound on his shoulder blade from which bones can be seen is bleeding uncontrollably, nor that his team members were killed in turn when members of Team 40 made it back, nor that he was surrounded, and only focused on venting out his outrage at being tricked with onto that traitor.
His hands, his face, his body. All were covered in blood.
The storehouse manager has long passed away, yet the demon soaked in blood is still throwing punch after punch onto the brain of the corpse.
Its eyeballs ruptured, its nose sunken inwards, its sharp teeth piercing his arms, but he does not stop.
Old Veteran murmurs, āhas he lost it?ā
āHe has always been clear-headed.ā Bright knows that the other person has calculated meticulously. His own team now has a vacancy.
He talks to Ochrehair, āwelcome to Team 40.ā
āWash thoroughly.ā Bright kicks the man, drenched in blood, flesh, bone fragments and brain tissue, into the water.
He picked a quiet place far from where they were, so that the smell of blood doesnāt draw them to the route they are planning to sail on.
However, everyone besides him mistook it as heading off to enjoy the reward of his victory.
Ochrehair throws the clothes that cannot be worn anymore into the water, quickly washes up his body. At the same time, he glares at Bright with an expression that was as if he wanted to violate him. His EQ is clearly higher than Bright, and walks nonchalantly out of the water after heās done cleaning himself, not caring that he is baring all in the face of the camera in broad daylight.
Bright takes a cursory look at his, and feel satisfied, thinking, hmph, canāt measure up to mine.
He throws clothes pilfered from the corpses at him, after which the other person throws an expression approaching utter dejection at him. Bright feels baffled. He looks at the current colour of the sky, and urges him, āhurry up.ā
When they returned, Thin Bamboo exclaims in surprise, āyouāre done?ā The word ādisappointmentā is clearly written all over his face. The monstrous dragon was just tawdry all along!
Old Veteran has a look of pity on his face, as if to say this generation sure ended up being underwhelming.
Bright, who just caught on to what was going on, āā¦ā Please dump bleach on all that yellow gunk in your brains and scrub it hard until itās clean, thanks!
Probably because everyone just lived through a slaughter together, the atmosphere in the team has eased up a lot. Thereās even someone actively talking to Bright.
āHow did you see through his betrayal?ā Ochrehair isnāt at all deterred by the stony face Bright is putting up, and asks again, āhow did you take him under you ?ā
Hey hey hey, can you not phrase it in such a misleading way?
How number 199 managed to one-up number 56 when all factors were against him is a question whose answer everyone wanted to know. Everyone on the raft perk their ears up, and the camera is facing him directly ā the show is waiting for him to reveal the trick too.
Itās a good opportunity to appeal to the audience with wisdom. The stage is set, the stairs are lent to him, and the actor only has to raise his feet climbing it to go up.
Bright, however, isnāt interested in speaking with the person trying to mess him up all along. And itās a universal truth that characters rambling on and on tend to die . So his lips were sealed the entire way through.
Ochrehair, whose life has been smooth sailing and who has always been the centre of attention, loses his temper, āare you mute?!ā
Bright is thinking, if how much you spoke was inversely proportional to how long you lived, then he is certainly a mute.
Old Veteran is rowing the raft at the back. Big Retard is facing the sun as snot is running down his nose. Bright wanted to get away from Ochrehair, whoās clinging obstinately to him, so he turns his head to Old Veteran, āchange places.ā
Ochrehair is thinking, Iām definitely despised by him!
āLeader, number 199 isnāt cooperating at all! Itās making me so mad, letās let the alligators out and bite him to death!ā
The leader wanted to tell him heās not alone, but heās currently receiving transmission from the vice director, so he could only roll his eyes at him. He waves his hand horizontally at his neck to order him to shut up.
As seed contestant number 56 joined Team 40, this team is definitely passing. And from what the upper brass is implying, it seems some bigshot has developed an interest in number 199. So they canāt send alligators after them for now.
The leader ended communications. Seeing how George still seemed bitter, says, ājust add subtitles then, interspaced with shots between number 199 and the traitor, making it looks like he has saw through what the other was trying to do from the beginning. Vice director said we canāt show the fact that number 56 was deceived by some minor character, so weāre changing it to him being displeased because the traitor was swayed by number 199ās coaxing, and killed him himself. Later in the two teamsā fight, the team with number 56 lost unfortunately, but number 199 admired him greatly. And itās just the case that his team wasnāt full, so invited him to be his own member.ā
Georgeās face makes it look like he has swallowed a pile of excrement, ānumber 199 admires number 56 greatly?ā
The leader shrugs, āhe takes him to wash up, admired his naked body, and afterwards gave him clothes to wear.ā
George is like, ā¦ Iām still too young for this shit.
They continued working, talking about how best to plot this story.
The little wish that the dead storehouse manager had, went unfulfiled in the end.
Bright passed successfully. He had to face another sex orgy at the top 100 celebration party, but because Ochrehair didnāt leave him alone, nobody dared disturb them, so he ended up having the rare occasion of peace and quiet. Even his expression loosened up a bit.
He is still alone, drinking his nutrient mixture, not touching any food.
Ochrehair is playing tango suppressing a short-haired ginger teenager, while locking his eyes onto Bright at the other side of the sofa, spewing foul swears nonstop, āIām gonna fuck you dead! Letās see you kick me now! Or pretend to be mute! Arghāā!!ā
Bright is silent, āā¦ā
At the hallway in the middle of the night, Bright meets the unfortunate short-haired ginger who had to bear the outburst in his place.
Bright greets him first, and to the other person who had a blank look on their face, says gently, āthanks, for in the training room.ā
Before the competition for 200 down to 100 started, he pretended to be seducing someone in the training room, but he actually let him hear about the news of grouping up on purpose, so that he could prepare.
Even though he still ended up alone thanks to everything else, allās well that ends well, and he lived and advanced to the next episode. No matter what, itās a favour that Bright recognised.
The manās eyes were serious, and sincerity can be seen from the pair of clear, calm eyes.
The teenager was touched seeing that those brown irises were capable of being so soft and warm. It made him recall the worn-down teddy bear doll he found in rubbish piles. It was so fluffy and soft.
Never having been seen with such eyes, the short-haired ginger felt so awkward his ears were dyed red.
He looks around nervously, as if afraid anyone might be listening in, and sighs in relief when heās certain itās only them.
āItās, itās nothing. Iām also an Outsider, so I think, we should help each other.ā
Bright felt a bit guilt at that. He wasnāt from this world, and he understands neither the Outside nor the Inside of the City. Afraid that heād more easily get something wrong if he speaks a lot, he doesnāt talk a lot about himself personally. The teenager is more extroverted though, and mentioned a lot himself. He would happily go on talking even if he just receives a āmmhmmā from Bright.
āIāve arrived.ā Bright stops in front of his dormitory room.
āThenā¦ see you. Can you help me train tomorrow?ā
āSure.ā
Bright walks into the dormitory, closes the door, and sees his roommate fixedly staring at him with a passionate gaze.
āThe little slut is super interested in you. Heās practically splitting and asking you to screw him.ā The roommate hasnāt the least bit of awareness or respect for othersā privacy, and licks his lips suggestively.
Bright frowns, warning him, āheās got a name.ā
ā Ugh! ā His friend is pissed off, and stares at Bright angrily. The latter returns his gaze calmly, his eyes firm. It was powerful even if no words are used.
Bright wins the staring contest without surprise. In terms of poker face maintaining, heās at Conqueror level.
Bright washes his face speechlessly. The roommateās probably dissing him with the companions he made.
The next day, Bright overhears that thereās been gossip about him.
āThe two Outsiders have joined up !ā
Authorās notes: As the Top isnāt nearly ready enough yet, and any premature interaction with the Bottom will definitely end up with him between a rock and a hard place, so here we have some transitioning phases. The parts with our protagonist Bottom is coming up soon.