FLME Ch30: Battle Royale Recording

The live stream only lasted for an hour. Although the netizens clamored for Melon King to chat a bit longer, Yu Wen knew that they were just making noise.

“In fact, you guys just habitually support me. To say you like me a lot would be an exaggeration,” Yu Wen said proudly. “Xiao Yu now understands the entertainment industry very well.”

After being exposed that day, he had spent several days diligently doing his homework!

「If you put it that way, I won’t leave.」

「A hundred pounds of weight, two hundred pounds of stubbornness, can you really predict me?」

「This central position, I have firmly occupied it (cyber wooden fish knock knock knock)」

「Heh (evil smile) you little thing, you’ve successfully piqued this old man’s competitive spirit.」

「Alright, just wait, I’m going to accompany you until we explode in popularity and rock the universe!」

After the live stream ended, Yu Wen rested at home for a few days. On the evening before Monday, he packed his small suitcase and embarked on an exciting journey.

The recording of “Battle Royale” has begun!

With experience from the last variety show, Yu Wen skillfully coordinated with the staff and recorded part of the pre-interview in the car.

The recording location for the first episode was in the suburbs of the neighboring city. The specific location was not notified in advance. The staff arranged the hotel, and the styling team knocked on the door early the next morning.

The mystery surrounding “Battle Royale” has always been strong. Unlike other variety shows where guests meet and get familiar in advance, not only did they not meet, but Yu Wen only knew the names of the other regulars from the PD’s official Weibo announcement. He didn’t even have their contact information.

Arriving at the halfway point of the mountain in the show’s car, Yu Wen saw an unexpected face.

Jian Heng enthusiastically waved at him.

Yu Wen: ?

The guests had all been styled, and in the open space ahead, only he and Jian Heng were present. Jian Heng was dressed in a somewhat shabby medieval costume, deliberately distressed in details to appear dusty, holding a lute in his hands.

As he got closer, Yu Wen asked him, “Weren’t you supposed to be recording a dating show?”

Jian Heng remained cheerful, “It was cancelled.”

Yu Wen: …Is that supposed to be a happy thing?

“Although the dating show didn’t work out, I managed to get on the ‘Battle Royale’ as a guest! I won’t say who got promoted, but Xiao Yu, you played a big part!” Jian Heng enthusiastically pounded his chest in gratitude, and then, with sparkling eyes, praised, “And Xiao Yu, you look super handsome today!”

Yu Wen looked down at his own outfit.

The style in “Battle Royale” usually relates to their identity, and the identity cards were drawn online by staff two weeks in advance, giving the styling team enough time to modify and enhance them to better suit the artists.

The vest and long boots made him stand tall, a complex belt ensemble around his waist, a shiny badge on his chest, and a sword at his left hip, which he had just removed due to its hindrance to movement. His fingertips lightly brushed the ruby embedded in the guard of the sword.

He also had a cape on his shoulders, with tassels hanging down in folds.

Yu Wen guessed that his identity today was either a prince or a warrior.

The classical medieval castle behind them, exuding an air of antiquity, confirmed the setting he had imagined.

No wonder it’s known as a high-budget variety show.

Jian Heng scrutinized him for a moment, rubbing his chin, and said, “Looks like you’re the visual king this episode. My partner is outstanding… But we’re both carrying weapons: a sword and a guitar. How are we going to run around today?”

Both of them had done their homework. In “Battle Royale,” NPCs would constantly appear, and getting hit by them would deplete a large chunk of their health bar. Once the health bar was zero, they would “die” immediately.

“Guitar?” The topic shifted, and Yu Wen looked at the lute in Jian Heng’s arms in surprise, “A guitar only has six strings.”

The one in your hands has too many to count at a glance.

“What? I thought it was a variant of the guitar. What’s a lute?”

Yu Wen choked.

Jian Heng spoke so confidently that Yu Wen had a moment of self-doubt, only to realize this guy was just spouting nonsense…

“A lute, a solo instrument popular in Europe during the Renaissance.” Yu Wen summarized concisely, “In short, it’s a plucked string instrument that’s difficult to play, often carried by medieval bards.”

Jian Heng counted the strings carefully, “Wow, eleven strings.” He said, “You know a lot. Can you play this?”

Yu Wen hesitated, “A little bit.”

He had learned a bit from a classmate who was good with instruments during college, but he wasn’t proficient and hadn’t played for years, almost forgetting it all.

Jian Heng’s eyes lit up, just about to ask him to play a song when the third guest’s car arrived.

Another familiar face.

Tong Li stepped out of the car wearing a complex bell skirt, and greeted them with a smile, “Hello, hello, how are you?”

Tong Li was also newly signed as a regular this season. Known as the brainpower in “Mountain,” she negotiated a lot of resources from the production team. She was the only one among the other four regulars who had worked with Yu Wen before, and the appearance of a familiar face made Yu Wen relax a bit.

Soon, the remaining three guests arrived one after another.

This season, two regulars were familiar faces from the previous two seasons: veteran national MC Fan Xiangyang and top actor Daniel Li. The latter, with a quarter of Scottish blood, was loved by the audience for his handsome and deep features and his dedication to each episode’s identity card, even altering his speaking style to match the character in the show.

The other was a newly popular young starlet, Yi Ming, who brought her own traffic.

The guests weren’t given much time for socializing, just simple greetings. The production team then blindfolded them and led them into the castle behind them.

This castle, situated halfway up a forest-covered mountain, was surrounded by towering trees stretching as far as the eye could see.

Upon arrival, Yu Wen had secretly examined the castle’s exterior—lonely and dilapidated. The clock tower had stopped working, its hour hand missing. The walls were mottled, and even the surrounding fences were webbed and rusting.

It looked like an abandoned castle uninhabited for years.

The staff led them to designated spots, set them up, and quietly left.

“Zzz… zzz…”

A somewhat choppy broadcast sound came from inside. Yu Wen removed his blindfold, scanned the surroundings, and was surprised to find that, unlike the cold, desolate exterior, the interior of the castle was bright and shiny. This seemed to be a study, with full bookshelves in the corners, and he was seated at a desk. To his left was a lifelike brass bird ornament, with its eyes made of glowing rubies.

The broadcast came from a small speaker hanging in the corner.

“Zzz… Welcome, guests, to the dragon’s castle…”

The voice was low, hoarse, and mechanical, with a faint hint of malice.

“In the twelfth year of King William I’s reign, a team of brave adventurers arrived at the ancient castle deep in the forest to find the princess. Great warriors, chosen by the king, your swords are unmatched, the great magician can face a thousand troops alone, the tenacious dwarf won’t yield to cavalry, the wise elf has mastered the most difficult healing magic…

The dragon’s castle is fraught with danger, ghosts watching you, brave adventurers, the path to finding the princess is perilous…”

Yu Wen tilted his head suddenly—he heard echoes from the hallway outside, indicating that the broadcast was not playing individually but to all the “guests” in the castle.

“The path is uncertain, and everything is an enemy.”

—This was the last sentence of the broadcast. Compared to the background introduction, this sentence felt more like a warning.

As the broadcast ended, Yu Wen made eye contact with the bird on the table, tapping the armrest of the chair and recalling the rules of “Battle Royale.”

In each episode, they would have different identities, initially receiving only vague hints. From the costumes, the surroundings they woke up in, and the items on them… they could roughly deduce their role in that episode’s script. But knowing their role wasn’t enough. As the recording progressed, more clues would be revealed, and the guests would gradually uncover the stories of these characters. In the end, it was all about competing for information.

The two necessary conditions for escaping are: unlocking your complete storyline and having a health bar above twenty percent.

On the way to completing missions and unlocking storylines, they would continuously encounter NPC attacks, causing their health bar to drop. If it fell below twenty percent, escape would be impossible; if it reached zero, it meant death.

There was only one way to restore health: hunting your “prey.”

Hidden within their storylines was a “hunting chain,” where their identity information would reveal who could provide the “nourishment” needed to restore health when it dropped below twenty percent.

Typically, the hunting chains of all guests would form a closed loop.

Storylines became particularly crucial under such dangerous circumstances.

Yu Wen glanced at the back of his hand. The three blue bars on his black half-finger gloves were glowing faintly, and the bar near his thumb was almost half depleted.

Why was his health dropping so fast this time? He frowned in confusion.

Besides NPC attacks, merely surviving also consumed health, meaning even sitting still would deplete the blue bar.

Under such rules, “time is life” was vividly demonstrated.

Yu Wen stood up and looked around—the space they woke up in usually signified “home,” containing many identity clues.

To avoid being chased by NPCs and unable to return, he decided to thoroughly search this room before leaving.

–

【Seventh day to the end.

We crossed mountains and rivers, following the clues left by the princess, and found this castle.

Its words are intimidating, unsure if they are true. Just in case, I decided to record my findings.

……

Sixth day to the end.

Ghosts are everywhere, the great magician is injured, and time seems frozen here, preventing his wounds from healing.

Blood keeps flowing out; I must quickly find a way to balance it, or he will die from blood loss!

……

Fifth day to the end.

We found traces of the princess! She must be in this castle, no doubt!

……

Fourth day to the end.

We rescued the princess.

But the great magician died.

……

Third day to the end.

This is desperate news… The magic cast on the castle is as powerful as endless mountains… Without the great magician, we are powerless to break through.

……

Second day to the end.

To save the dwarf, the elf sacrificed herself.

I must take them out! Only then can I honor the fallen comrades!

Unbeatable warrior! Draw your sword once more and break through the mist before you!

……

Last day to the end.

We can’t get out.

】

This was an entry in a journal on the desk before him, written in a few pages with neat but somewhat hasty handwriting. Flipping through it revealed some analyses of the castle.

The broadcast mentioned earlier that the entire castle belonged to the “dragon,” and they were all “guests,” so naturally, Yu Wen couldn’t be the owner of this study. For some unknown purpose, he had stayed in this study, leaving many traces.

A feather pen and ink bottle lay messily on the right-hand side, with about a dozen open books on the desk, and the standing bookcase half open. The books inside were simply arranged, not restored.

—“He” stayed in this study, browsing the collection, looking for a way to break through the magic.

Yu Wen hesitated, then began quickly searching through the drawers and compartments in the room, taking note of their contents before moving to the bookcase.

Before flipping through the books, he glanced at the health bar on his hand—the first bar was almost empty.

Something was wrong; the depletion rate was abnormal.

Theoretically, their health bars should support twenty-four hours of life activities.

Yu Wen turned around and scanned the room again.

Nothing seemed different from his first glance: the low cabinet, the desk, the messy surface, the brass ornament…

His gaze suddenly fixed on the brass bird.

When he was sitting at the desk, this bird was facing his eyes, but when he moved to the bookcase, it was still looking at him?

“Ghosts are watching you.”

Was the ghost a bird?

Yu Wen suppressed his thoughts and pulled a dust cover from the top of the tall cabinet, draping it over the bird.

The crimson gaze disappeared, leaving only a small bump on the desk indicating its presence.

There were about sixty books in the bookcase and more than seventy including those spread out on the desk. Yu Wen decided to quickly scan through them.

There was a technique to scanning books: start with the title, then the table of contents, followed by the preface, and then quickly browse potentially important sections based on the table of contents. This process would allow him to mentally archive all clues, making it easy to find them later while also filling in his scant knowledge of the Western fantasy world.

Twenty minutes later, he glanced at the health bar.

The first bar still had a sliver left.

The health depletion was much slower, confirming that the bird had been the problem.

With this thought, Yu Wen hugged a book and turned around to look.

…The dust cover was on the ground, and the brass ornament on the desk had disappeared.

Yu Wen held the book in one hand, slinging the cumbersome cross sword over his shoulder. He scanned the room but saw no sign of the bird.

Where had it gone?

A faint cool breeze brushed the back of his neck. Yu Wen felt something and abruptly turned around.

Bang—Crack—

The sword hit the brass bird, making a low thud. The mechanical creature collided with the wall, its brass wings flapping stiffly before succumbing to fate—

Clatter, it fell to the ground.

No more movement.

Yu Wen: “…”

Do I have to pay for damaged props?

He glanced at the camera in the corner of the room, knowing that the execution PD and a lot of staff were sitting behind it. Feeling a bit guilty, Yu Wen moved the sword from his shoulder and held it properly in his hand.

He looked at the half-dead brass bird on the ground and, after hesitating, decided to try and save it.

He extended the tail of the cross sword and tentatively poked the little yellow bird.

In the next second, click—

The little yellow bird and the sword tail were tightly magnetized together.

Yu Wen: ?

It wasn’t surprising that the bird could fly on its own as an electronic device, and electronic devices having magnetic components wasn’t surprising either… But what did that have to do with the leather sheath of the sword tail?

Could it be that the show had installed some special device in the tail of the cross sword?

Yu Wen pushed the little yellow bird away and pinched the sword tail… it was hard.

He extended the sword tail again, and at about ten centimeters away, the little yellow bird was magnetically attracted to it with a snap.

He pushed it away and tried again… after repeating this four or five times, Yu Wen finally confirmed that there was indeed a special device in the sword tail, causing a magnetic attraction with the little yellow bird.

He suddenly realized this was a bug.

If this brass bird was today’s NPC, the “ghost” mentioned in the broadcast, then he didn’t actually need to fear the ghost’s pursuit. As long as he stayed out of open spaces, the ghost would need to get close to scan him, and he could use the sword… to capture the ghost.

Realizing this, Yu Wen slowly raised his eyes and looked at the camera in the corner.

He smiled awkwardly but politely.

Behind the camera, the executive director and staff also realized this.

Everyone fell silent.