Death Progress Bar

Notice Temporarily unedited, read at your own risk

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Shi Jin wasn’t as thick-skinned as Lian Jun and couldn’t ignore Lu Shan’s anger and continue to be lovey-dovey.
Suppressing embarrassment, he mollified Lu Shan, and went to the kitchen and made some hot drinks for Lu Shan and Lian Jun.
Then he returned to the room to wash up and change clothes.

“You’re so lucky that it makes people envious.
Shi Jin is good-looking, capable, and his family has enough background—why has he taken a fancy to such a nasty guy like you?” Lu Shan stirred the hot bubble milk tea brought by Shi Jin with a small spoon.
She scooped out some tapioca pearls inside, a nostalgic expression appearing in her eyes.
“Bubble milk tea, I haven’t drunk this for years.
Is Shi Jin treating me like a girl…? Girl, huh… I almost forgot what I was doing when I was a teenager—working as a hostess? Fighting? Being beaten up by my parents? How time flies…”

Lian Jun reached for the cup of hot milk in front of him and took a sip.
He didn’t reply.

Lu Shan emerged from her memories.
Suddenly, she leaned forward and looked at the contents of Lian Jun’s cup, then ridiculed mercilessly, “Milk? Hahaha, how old are you this year? You actually still drink milk.
Is Shi Jin treating you like a child?”

“Is this bad?” Lian Jun asked, raising his head to look at her.
“Is it bad that someone treats and pampers us like a girl and like a child?”

Lu Shan stopped laughing.
She glanced at him, then almost crudely scooped a spoonful of tapioca pearls into her mouth.
Voice vague because of chewing, she said, “Good, very good! You’re lucky enough for others to want to beat you up.
Okay, that’s enough of messing around with you, let’s change the topic.
What are you going to do about the current situation? I don’t need to explain to you the deeper meaning of why the government is acting with such a great fanfare this time?”

“What deep meaning?” Shi Jin, who came over carrying a small pot of noodle soup, asked with a frown.

Lu Shan was a little startled; to her surprise, she didn’t notice Shi Jin approaching.
Quickly recovering, she acted as if nothing had happened and got up to take a look in the pot.
“You made this? It smells very good.”

His attention drawn away, Shi Jin shook his head and replied, “No, the kitchen auntie made it—when I was preparing the drinks earlier, the noise woke up the kitchen staff.
Hearing that there was a guest, they cooked this and asked me to come to get it after I washed up.
Please help yourself to it, Aunt Lu, to pad your stomach.”

Lu Shan glanced at Lian Jun and said pointedly, “You’re so considerate, I’m about to starve to death.
Lian Jun, this stinky brat, doesn’t know how to care for his elders.”

“The noodles are still hot, please be careful when you eat.” Not paying attention to her grumbling, Shi Jin put the pot and tableware down on the table.
He served Lu Shan a bowl of noodles, then turned to Lian Jun.
“What is the deep meaning? Is there some problem with the officials?” he asked, picking up the previous topic.

Lu Shan was reaching for the chopsticks.
At this, her movements paused and she looked up at Lian Jun.

Lian Jun pulled out a tissue and wiped the soup on Shi Jin’s fingers.
“No, not a problem.
Aunt Lu was talking about the reason why the government is attacking Tarantula.
There are two sides to every coin. From an optimistic point of view, the officials are standing up for us and letting the other organizations know that acting against Annihilation is the same as acting against the authorities.
However, at the same time, this sets Annihilation and the rest of underworld organizations on opposite sides and completely isolates Annihilation.”

Lu Shan’s eyebrows rose.
She didn’t expect Lian Jun to be so open with Shi Jin that he’d frankly explain the situation to him.

As if noticing her surprise, Lian Jun turned his head to give her a sideways glance.
He then picked up Shi Jin’s hand, put it on the table, and held it.

What the hell does that look mean?

Lu Shan frowned, her gaze following Lian Jun’s movements to the clasped hands of the two.
Noticing the ring on Shi Jin’s finger, her expression cracked.
She looked at Lian Jun in disbelief, gesturing to the ring.

The corners of Lian Jun’s mouth rose, and he ignored her again.

Fuck! This stinky brat!

Lu Shan was angry, but her attitude became more cautious.
She sized Shi Jin up again, inwardly redefining his relationship with Lian Jun, then stopped paying attention to their conversation and concentrated on eating noodles.

Shi Jin’s attention was completely focused on Lian Jun’s words.
He was so used to holding hands with Lian Jun that he didn’t even notice his lover’s actions, nor did he notice the eye contact between Lian Jun and Lu Shan.
He frowned and thought for a while, then said unhappily, “Apparently, the officials are really afraid that you’ll jump ship on them at the critical moment, so they’re using all means available to try and tie you down.
They stand up for you, but at the same time, they make enemies for you.
They gave you a treat and a rod at the same time—what a skilled move.”

“Don’t worry, the officials are still biased in our favor for the time being and won’t dare to go too far,” Lian Jun said, squeezing his hand comfortingly.
Seeing that the morning was no longer early, he went to the room to wash and change clothes, asking Shi Jin to accompany Lu Shan in the meantime.

Lu Shan and Shi Jin remained alone on the veranda.

Shi Jin thoughtfully poured a glass of water for Lu Shan, afraid that she would get tired of drinking only the bubble milk tea, then chatted with her on some casual topics, his attitude natural, warm and relaxed.

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—It was a child that made others unconsciously want to be close to him.
This impression was a little different from the one he gave her when they met last time.

Lu Shan finished eating and wiped her mouth, then took a sip of the milk tea.
She said casually, “You brought a pot of noodles, but only one bowl and one set of chopsticks.
Aren’t you going to eat?”

Shi Jin shook his head.
“I’ll eat later, with Lian Jun.
He needs to keep a regular meal schedule, and I have to accompany him because he likes to be a picky eater.”

Oh, this goddamn dog couple.
So this whole pot of noodles was for her? What the hell, did she look like a pig?

Regretting asking that question, Lu Shan immediately changed the topic: “I heard that you entered a police academy? You have guts, kid.”

“It’s thanks to Lian Jun tolerating my waywardness,” Shi Jin replied, covertly praising his lover.

Lu Shan scolded him again in his mind for being sly, but her expression became more relaxed.
She leaned back in her chair, enjoying the morning sea breeze, and said, “Partners are meant to be tolerant of each other.
I’m relieved to see that you’re getting along well.
If it turns out that this is the end of the road for me…”

“Aunt Lu,” Shi Jin interrupted her and said seriously, “Lian Jun will protect both Tarantula and you.”

Lu Shan glanced at him.
Abruptly, she picked her cup of milk tea and drank it all, putting it down only after it was empty except for only a layer of tapioca pearls on the bottom.
“Shi Jin, you shouldn’t think of Lian Jun as a god.
He is not all-powerful—he also will get tired, make mistakes, and want to escape… I want for you to think of him as just an ordinary person with a slightly unusual occupation.”

Shi Jin felt he could understand a little why Lian Jun was willing to call Lu Shan “aunt.” He smiled and said earnestly, “Aunt Lu, I have never deified Lian Jun, I just believe in him.
I also believe that an ordinary person or not, he will try his best to protect the person he considers his sole family elder.”

Family.

The spoon full of tapioca pearls in Lu Shan’s hand fell back into the cup, letting out a series of crisp sounds as it clinked against the cup’s sides. 

“…You really dare to say anything, kid.” A long moment later, Lu Shan put down the cup and sank into her chair.
Closing her eyes, she murmured, “There’s no such thing as ‘family’ in our line of business… I’m a little tired, I’ll sleep for a while.” A few seconds later, she really fell asleep.

Shi Jin was dumbfounded.
He never thought that she’d sleep directly in the chair.
He was about to get up and wake her up so she’d lay down in the guest room, but Lian Jun, who’d returned to the veranda at some unknown moment, put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“Let her be, she really is too tired.” Lian Jun released Shi Jin’s shoulder and quietly stepped forward to cover Lu Shan with a blanket, his movements careful and gentle.

Shi Jin looked at his back and slowly sat back down in his chair.
He glanced over at Lu Shan’s tired face, sighing softly.

Lu Shan slept through the whole morning.
After waking up, she briefly washed and ate lunch, then immediately dragged Lian Jun to the study to talk.
Shi Jin wanted to discuss his study plan with Mr.
Feng and to review the company management course classes he’d missed, so he didn’t follow.

The door of the study was closed for the whole day.
From time to time, Lu Shan’s furious roars could be heard, as if Lian Jun said things that made her angry.

{Stop being distracted, focus on the class.} On the other side of the video call, Mr.
Feng cleared his throat to remind Shi Jin not to let his mind wander.

Eyebrows wrinkling, Shi Jin forced himself to look back at the screen and concentrate on the lecture.

By the time Lu Shan and Lian Jun finally came out of the study, it was already getting close to midnight.
The weariness and despondency that clouded Lu Shan’s face in the morning had been replaced by anticipation and fighting spirit.
Patting Lian Jun on the shoulder, she said, “You’re still as wily as always.
Okay, let me go and make arrangements—wait for my news.”

Lian Jun nodded.
As he caught sight of Shi Jin, fast asleep on the sofa in the living room, his face instantly softened.
He called Gua Six over and asked him to see Lu Shan off, then approached the sofa.

Death Progress Bar is translated by Betwixted Translations.
Read on the original translator’s site to get the fastest updates!

Shi Jin was harassed awake—somebody was making trouble and trying to untie his waistband.
Already conscious but disinclined to open his eyes, he fumbled to capture the unruly hand, saying, “Don’t mess around.
You got up early in the morning and haven’t taken a nap at noon.
You didn’t get enough sleep so tonight, you’re not allowed to do anything except for taking a good rest.”

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Lian Jun looked up at his face and saw that he still had his eyes closed.
Skillfully reversing the grip, he grabbed Shi Jin’s wrist while his other hand continued to wander over Shi Jin’s body, then leaned forward and sealed the mouth that was about to let out a protest with a kiss.

If you’re seeing this notice, you’re reading this chapter on pirate site – the original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.

The internal body clock trained to follow the military schedule lasted only one day before it broke.
Shi Jin slept until late morning.
After waking up, he sat up in the bed and recalled what happened last night.
Feeling a headache, he raised a hand to support his forehead, heaving a sigh. 

Sure enough, beauty really can cause the downfall of a dynasty.
But Uncle Long said they could only do it once a week—things couldn’t go on like this anymore.

Before Shi Jin could find a chance to persuade Lian Jun to pay attention to his body and exercise more restraint, the government, without any warning, fired the first shots in the offensive against Tarantula.

First, the peripheral businesses of Tarantula, scattered through G Province, came under investigation.
Immediately after, the imported and exported goods inspections carried out in the major ports in G Province suddenly became much more thorough, which resulted in a large number of Tarantula’s goods being seized.
Finally, there came the big, head-on move: abruptly changing the previous political stance, the government announced they were planning to strengthen business cooperation with Formosa.
Using that as a reason, they sent people to Formosa and began to harass Tarantula’s businesses on the island, trying to discover its specific business network.

This wave of attacks had to be described as fast, accurate, and merciless, striking with surgical precision at the key elements of Tarantula’s business network in G Province.
If it wasn’t for the authorities being unable to act too blatantly on Formosa due to its special political situation, Tarantula’s network on Formosa might’ve been completely found out by now.

“It’s too cruel.” Gua Two, who came to report the news, flipped through the documents in his hand during the break, tutting and shaking his head.
“Really, Jun-shao is ruthless.”

Shi Jin was about to be tortured to death by the homework Mr.
Feng gave him.
Hearing Gua Two’s words, he looked at him blankly for a moment.
“Why are you saying this? We haven’t made any move yet, though?” he asked, puzzled.

“Because Jun-shao really is ruthless.
The officials are able to attack Tarantula so accurately only because of the information Jun-shao ‘kindly’ provided to them.
If they’d been left to their own devices, who knows what kind of hideous mess the situation here would’ve turned into,” Gua Two explained, then affectionately patted Shi Jin’s head.
“But this isn’t something for children to worry about.
Be a good boy and finish your homework.”

Face turning black, Shi Jin slapped away his hand.
He looked at the homework in front of him, full of despair.
This trip to G Province was different from what he’d imagined—he also wanted to be useful and help Lian Jun.

Seeing the teenager’s dispirited appearance, Gua Two stopped teasing him and comforted, “Hey, don’t make yourself overthink this.
Jun-shao is right not to let you go out.
Currently, the leaders of Snake Fang, Epoch, and Meridian Gate all gathered in G Province.
Your identity is too special for you to join the front line right now.”

Of course, Shi Jin understood this, but he just couldn’t help but feel a little useless.
Since a few days ago, everyone had been busy except for him.
Their expressions still looked relaxed, however, so he guessed that things must be going well.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it, picking up his pen to continue doing his homework.

Death Progress Bar is translated by Betwixted Translations.
Read on the original translator’s site to get the fastest updates!

Time flew by.
A week later, the government’s attacks began to approach Tarantula’s key businesses.
As such, it was finally time for Lian Jun to “officially” start acting in the darkness.

On a seemingly ordinary night, several Tarantula’s secret warehouses in G Province went up in flames, the blaze lighting up the dark sky.

“Is this too obvious?” Shi Jin asked, a little worried, as he tapped his tablet, closing a news article talking about all the warehouses of a certain company suddenly catching fire.

“If we don’t make it obvious, how can the government understand how important you are to me and how much can I lose my head when it comes to you?” Lian Jun said casually, turning the page of a document.
“Doing at least this much is a given.
The government will pay attention to our attitude only if we make it clear enough.”

Shi Jin paused and turned to look at him.
As he watched his lover reading the document seriously, he couldn’t resist rushing over to hug him and give him a big kiss.
That sentence just now could be considered sweet-talking him, right? It definitely was!

Completely surprised by the kiss, Lian Jun was stunned for a moment.
Seeing Shi Jin’s smile, he couldn’t help but respond with a smile of his own.
“What’s the matter?”

“No, nothing,” Shi Jin replied, bowing his head and kissed him again contentedly.
“I just suddenly wanted to kiss you.”

Lian Jun raised his eyebrows.
He puckered his lips, slightly wet from the kiss, then simply reached out and pulled Shi Jin down to kiss him again.

The campaign against Tarantula continued.
After Annihilation joined the fight, Tarantula’s business network in G Province was quickly thrown into chaos.
Tarantula attempted to fight back and also tried to talk with the authorities, but they failed to achieve any actual results.

Half a month later, Tarantula’s peripheral businesses in G Province had been completely destroyed, the major businesses were in jeopardy, and their main network was also affected.
However, because of Formosa’s special situation, the officials had never managed to dig out Tarantula’s most important business chain.
Worse still, in order to survive, Tarantula decided to break off its tail and disappear—all of a sudden, it abandoned all of its clean businesses, transferred all the remaining resources to the underworld, and went to ground.

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At the same time, because the size of Tarantula’s “discarded tail” was no joke, the overall economy of G Province was destabilized, sparking turbulence and unrest.

This wasn’t what the authorities wanted to see—the protracted war was not in their plans.
Feeling anxious, they hurriedly sent someone to contact Lian Jun, wanting to discuss with him the way to solve the current situation.

In the villa, Lian Jun ended the call with an official and leaned back in the wheelchair, his tense expression completely relaxing.

Shi Jin immediately scurried over to his side.
“Is it starting?” he asked cautiously.

Lian Jun looked at him.
He reached out to caress the younger man’s face, then pulled him into his arms.
“Yes, it’s starting,” he replied.
Whether or not Tarantula would survive its current predicament depended on this discussion with the authorities.

The person sent by the government to talk to Lian Jun was none other than Zhang Zhuoyuan, the director of a certain government bureau, who was also in charge of the annual legal underworld organizations’ conference.
As it happened, Shi Jin had no classes on the day of the meeting, so he stayed in the study to listen.

Zhang Zhuo Yang had a somber expression on his face.
As soon as he sat down, he spoke, “Lian Jun, we are old acquaintances, so I won’t beat around the bush with you—Tarantula is harder to defeat than we expected.
It’s cunning and slippery; though we dealt some damage to it, it retreated and disappeared before we managed to reach its core.
Now, it’s useless even if the government cracks down on its remaining businesses—it will simply lie low for a while and wait for the storm to pass.
Then, once everything is over, it can set up as many businesses as it wants in other places.
This is just a temporary solution rather than a permanent cure.
I…”

“Director Zhang,” Lian Jun interrupted him coldly.
“I’ve provided all the information I was supposed to provide, and I’ve done all the things I was supposed to do.
You had the leisure to let Tarantula slip away, but I have no time to waste on chasing after it.
I agreed to cooperate with you, but what I promised to do was to help you deal with Tarantula, not for me to sacrifice my people and resources to fight with it instead of you.
Let me be blunt here—it was the government who arbitrarily decided to clean up Tarantula.
You have not asked for my opinion in this matter at all, and I have no obligation to help you deal with the consequences.
And, if I remember correctly, I have said that Tarantula isn’t easy to deal with.
Otherwise, why would Annihilation tolerate it for so many years despite our enmity? Tarantula is an old and powerful organization that well deserves its place in the top echelon, not trash like Nine Eagles that climbed into the top echelon only because of our support.”

As Zhang Zhuoyuan listened, his face turned uglier and uglier.
“Lian Jun, we both know very well the reason why the authorities decided to move against Tarantula.
I thought your agreement to cooperate with us was sincere.”

“If it wasn’t sincere, do you think I would’ve dipped even a finger in this pool of muddy water in G Province?” Lian Jun sneered.
“Director Zhang, I’m not an unreasonable person.
I’m grateful you gave me the opportunity to strike at Tarantula, but I’d like you not to treat me as a fool.
G Province is one of the country’s most important economic lifelines and you want to snatch it back from Tarantula.
I completely understand this and can cooperate with you.
However, if you insist on saying that everything you’ve done was for my sake, don’t blame me for not giving you face.
Whether you attacked Tarantula for me or whether it’s just a pretext to cheat me into agreeing to be used by you, we both know very well, don’t we?”

Zhang Zhuoyuan had been planning to use the emotional card, but he had it thrown back into his face before he managed to play it.
For a moment, he alternately blushed and paled, temporarily rendered speechless.

In barely a moment, Lian Jun seized the upper hand, leaving Shi Jin in awe of his skillful and fierce attack.
Startled by his lover’s rare sharp and ruthless appearance, he stared at Lian Jun from the corner he nestled in.
There was a tingly feeling in his chest.

This kind of Lian Jun was so cool!

“Let’s stop here, Director Zhang.
I think we both got a little carried away,” Lian Jun said suddenly, his tone easing.
He personally poured a cup of tea for Zhang Zhuoyuan, then continued, “I know why you came to me.
If you’re determined to make me fight with Tarantula, I can only grit my teeth and do it—after all, whether my people can lead a safe and peaceful life in the future depends on the government’s attitude.”

Once Lian Jun took the initiative to back down, Zhang Zhuoyuan immediately followed.
He thanked Lian Jun for the tea, took a sip, and said in a much softer tone than earlier, “I’m sorry, I was too anxious just now and failed to consider your position… I didn’t expect that you’d be so opposed to this matter.
Should we really let Tarantula off?”

“This isn’t about Tarantula, it’s about keeping the underworld stable.” Resuming his usual attitude, Lian Jun dipped the tip of his finger in tea and drew four circles on the table.
“Right now, in addition to Annihilation, there exist four big underworld organizations: Meridian Gate, Tarantula, Epoch, and Snake Fang.
Meridian Gate, Epoch, and Snake Fang all went through a period of turmoil and that left them some kind of weakness, so they actually aren’t all that dangerous.
On the other hand, Tarantula has been developing steadily over the years and its foundation is very solid, making it very difficult to deal with.
I didn’t stop you from attacking Tarantula because I wanted to weaken its strength to the same level as the other three organizations so they can mutually restrain each other.
By now, this purpose has been achieved—none of them has an advantage over the other three.
This should maintain the balance in the underworld for a while.”

Zhang Zhuoyuan looked at the four circles on the table.
“Do you need this balance?”

“It’s not me who needs it, but you,” Lian Jun replied.
He drew another circle on the table, roughly two times bigger than any of the four circles, and tapped on it lightly: “This is Annihilation.
The size of the circle represents the strength of the organization.
If I fight Tarantula now, even with your help, I will still end up losing a large portion of my strength.
With Tarantula gone and Annihilation considerably weakened, would you think the three organizations that are still at full strength would do?”

When Zhang Zhuoyuan heard this, he felt a cold sweat break out across his forehead.
“They will definitely…”

“Unite to destroy me,” Lian Jun finished the sentence, his voice cold and indifferent.
He crossed out the small circle belonging to Tarantula, combined the other three small circles into one big, and reduced the size of the circle representing Annihilation.
Straightening up, he said, “Three against one, the weakened Annihilation is sure to be destroyed, and you will be left with the triple alliance monster on your hands.
Director Zhang, let me remind you that Meridian Gate, Epoch, and Snake Fang are not the same as Annihilation.
Each of them has countless subordinate organizations under them—when they are no longer suppressed, they’ll be able to expand almost in the blink of an eye.
If this happens, all our years of efforts will be completely wasted and the situation will return to the starting point.
Finally let loose from hell, evil spirits will run wild again, and you’ll be powerless to do anything but watch.”

The study was air-conditioned and the temperature inside was kept pleasantly cool, but Zhang Zhuoyuan’s back was drenched in sweat.
He grabbed his cup and drained the tea inside in one gulp.
He watched the circles slowly disappear as the table dried, his mind a mess.

Extra:

Another day in the brothers’ group chat:

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Silence.

Silence.

Dead silence.

Shi Weichong [suddenly speaking up]: Xiao Jin’s birthday is coming.
He turns 19 this year.

Rong Zhouzhong [ferocious typing]: Doesn’t matter, I’ve prepared his birthday gift a long time ago.
It’s a big bag of cucumber goods, I’m sure he’ll like it.
【malevolent smile.jpg】

Xiang Aoting [helpless]: Third Brother.

Fei Yujing: Are we going to throw him a birthday party? If we are, I’ll arrange my work in advance so that I’m free that day.

Shi Weichong [a little dispirited]: Let’s do it.
Just, I probably won’t be able to attend.

There was a brief silence in the group chat.

Li Jiuzheng [suddenly appearing]: I heard that Xiao Jin is planning to marry Lian Jun as soon as he’s old enough.

Li Jiuzheng: Marriageable age in China is 22 years old.

Li Jiuzheng: From 19 to 22, that’s only three or four birthday parties.

Li Jiuzheng: So little.

Everyone: …………

Rong Zhouzhong: AAAAAAAAAAAAH! Who the hell invited Fifth back to the group again?! Who?! Kick him out! Kick him out right now!!!

Li Jiuzheng: .

System prompt: Li Jiuzheng has left the group chat.

Rong Zhouzhong: ……

Rong Zhouzhong: I @#￥%#￥……

Translator’s Notes:

(…) Working as a hostess? – 陪酒; “hostess” is the closest English equivalent, I think.
They aren’t prostitutes, though I guess some decide to take that step.
(KTV/hostess bars in China). This goddamn dog couple – 狗男男; it probably comes from 狗男女, a couple engaged in an illicit love affair / a cheating couple.

Translator: Eques
Editor: –

Eques:

I’m doing nothing but apologizing lately… Sorry for not updating for so long, I was swamped with work.
This Brexit thing? Not.
Fun.

Anyway, I literally just finished translating this chapter and no one else had a look at it yet, so please be lenient and turn a blind eye to any mistakes you notice.
(Or, well, leave a comment and I’ll fix ’em or my editor will fix ’em (￣ー￣)ゞ).