CH 109

Notice Temporarily unedited, read at your own risk

They didn’t have to wait long for the sincerity of Zhang Zhuoyuan’s apology to be proved with actions.

Shi Jin put down his phone in disbelief and turned to look at Lian Jun, who was sitting behind his desk. “What did you do? Why did Ruixing suddenly get several profitable government contracts? The government also relaxed many restrictions. It’s like they opened the back door for Ruixing…”

“Oh, it happened already?” Lian Jun put down the file, took out his mobile phone, and called Shi Weichong.

Upon seeing this, Shi Jin rushed to the desk and leaned over his shoulder to listen in to their conversation.

Lian Jun raised a hand and flicked the teenager’s forehead, then simply put the call on speakerphone. “You can begin,” he said to Shi Weichong. “I’ll tell Gua Eight and Gua Ten to get in touch with you. What we want is speed—it doesn’t matter even if you make some big moves, it will be hidden by the government projects.”

{No problem, I’ve already made the personnel arrangements.} Shi Weichong’s voice coming from the phone’s speaker was polite and brisk, completely businesslike.

Shi Jin frowned. “‘The personnel arrangements’? When did you make it? Didn’t I tell you that you have to have a good rest over there and not work too hard?” As he spoke, he looked at Lian Jun inquiringly.

When did you get in touch with Shi Weichong? Why didn’t you tell me?

Understanding his silent question, Lian Jun explained, “It’s not that I was hiding this from you. You were still undergoing the military training at that time so I couldn’t tell you, and then I forgot.”

It turned out to be like this. Shi Jin could reluctantly accept this explanation.

Shi Weichong didn’t seem to expect Shi Jin to be present during the call. After a moment of stunned silence, he directly ignored Lian Jun and spoke to Shi Jin, his voice much gentler: {How are you, Xiao Jin? I heard that you won first place in the military training, congratulations.}

Xiang Aoting must’ve told him… Shi Jin’s eyebrows twitched. “Thank you. I’m very well, but you—you were supposed to take a break, not spend all the time working. Rest is very important.” He gave Lian Jun a glance full of meaning.

Lian Jun’s mouth twitched, and he reached up to pinch Shi Jin’s cheek.

After his youngest brother showed so much concern and care about him, Shi Weichong’s voice warmed completely. {Don’t worry, I’m taking things easy, and the doctors here keep an eye on me. By the way, your birthday is coming up. How do you plan to celebrate it this year? Do you want to have a birthday party? Yujing wants to throw you one.}

A birthday party?

Shi Jin was surprised to realize that his birthday was indeed approaching again. He glanced at Lian Jun, who was watching him quietly, and replied, “The birthday party is… I probably won’t be in B city at the time, but thank you. After I’m back, I’ll invite everyone for a meal. I hope you will be able to come too, Big Brother, so we can have a proper get-together.”

As expected, it’s like this after all.

Shi Weichong was a little disappointed, but he quickly cheered up again. {Alright, then let’s do it like this. The weather is getting colder, so remember to dress warmly.}

“You too, Big Brother,” Shi Jin said, then fell silent, not knowing how to continue the conversation.

Since Xu Jie’s incident, his brothers’ attitude towards him gradually changed, becoming sincere and considerate, and a little bit timid. He was still human, after all—pretended care and false concern he could ignore and even sneer at, but he found it hard to cruelly reject this sincere goodwill.

And… The memory of Xiang Aoting carrying him piggyback out of the training grounds during the military training flashed through his mind. He curled and opened his fingers, a little distracted. Ignoring the problem was never a solution—only by communicating properly could he completely untie the knots in ‘his’ heart.

Should he give his brothers a chance to truly reconcile with him? Maybe if he truly understood them, he could figure out at what distance he should keep them… But could a broken relationship really be mended? And, he was not the original ‘Shi Jin’—did he have any right to interfere in ‘his’ relationship with ‘his’ brothers…?

“What are you thinking about?”

Suddenly, hands cupped his cheeks, and a familiar face appeared right in front of him.

Shi Jin returned to his senses. Instead of answering the question, he instinctively glanced down at the phone lying on the desk.

“You didn’t say anything for a while, so I hung up for you,” Lian Jun explained. He turned Shi Jin’s head towards him again and looked into his eyes. “If you want to do something, just do it. Don’t let yourself have any regrets. No matter what, I’ll always stand by you.”

Hearing this, Shi Jin’s heart suddenly settled down. It wasn’t like him to be so confused about what to do. He clenched his fist. “Let’s spend this year’s New Year in the club.” They could invite his brothers over while they were at it.

Lian Jun nodded. “Okay.”

A frown appeared on Shi Jin’s face. “On second thought, that’s no good after all—you have to spend winter on the island, B city is too cold. Now it’s critical that you take good care of your body, we can’t be careless.” He thought for a moment. “Let’s go to the island for the Spring Festival, but let’s stay in the club before that. We’ll pick a day when all of them are free and invite them over for an early reunion dinner. In this way, they won’t lose time to spend with their families. Perfect!”

They both knew who in particular Shi Jin was referring to here.

Lian Jun smiled and repeated, “Okay. I’ll go along with whatever you decide.”

Shi Jin replied to his smile with one of his own. He leaned to the side to give him a peck on the cheek. “Then I’ll let them know, and tell them to set aside a day for this,” he said happily, straightening up and taking out his phone.

Lian Jun watched the teenager cheer up again. He glanced at the mobile phone on his desk and the tablet incessantly flashing notifications about new files coming in and lowered his gaze to hide his thoughts. If he delayed a little longer, the New Year might pass quietly after all.

He wasn’t going to let Shi Jin be disappointed.

The officials and Annihilation suddenly stopped harassing Tarantula; not long after, a strongly-worded letter from the authorities was sent to the official email address of the leaders of all major underworld organizations. In the letter, they explained in detail the reason for their attack on Tarantula and warned that similar things had better not happen again or the transgressor would suffer the consequences.

Naturally, Lu Shan also received this document. Tarantula went into hiding, but their channel of communication with the authorities was maintained.

{Zhang Zhuoyuan, that son of a bitch! First, he almost beats me to death without a reason, then he tells me I’m ‘pardoned’ but I have to cooperate with him to stabilize the economy of G Province to ‘make up for my misdeeds.’ What the fuck, it’s like everything is my fault! He’s fucking playing with me!} Lu Shan complained during the video call, spitting out her words like a machine gun. It was obvious she was quite annoyed with the authorities’ attitude.

Shi Jin couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed, because all the shameless demands put forward by the officials were actually suggested by Lian Jun.

Lian Jun was much more thick-skinned than Shi Jin. Not batting an eye, he asked, smoothly changing the subject, “What about the companies that the government forced to shut down? Have the restrictions been lifted?”

{The companies are open again, the port restrictions have been lifted, and the seized goods have been released. Ugh, just remembering this pisses me off again. Zhang Zhuoyuan called me in person; first, he apologized, then complained about me breaking the rules, then told me how well the officials treated me since they decided to let me off, then his attitude turned tough and he gave me the stick again. Finally, he promised to give me some tasty benefits if I didn’t make a fuss about this matter. You should’ve heard him—the way he put it, someone a bit more naive might’ve been taken in,} Lu Shan said, disgusted, then her expression changed to one of puzzlement. {It’s odd though, he was never so hard to deal with before. Was he an impostor or something? I almost got fooled by him.}

Shi Jin silently raised his tablet to hide his face, afraid that Lu Shan would see his expression—he had no doubt that it was Lian Jun who advised Zhang Zhuoyuan how to talk with Lu Shan.

Lian Jun remained unmoved, ignoring Lu Shan’s complaints and only paying attention to the parts he was interested in. “Good. Delay for a while before agreeing to Zhang Zhuyuan’s deal, don’t let the situation settle down too quickly. Let’s give Snake Fang a chance to see what’s happening and the opportunity to react.”

{Okay, I get it, I’ll drag my feet. After you burned my warehouses a while ago, Snake Fang took the opportunity to make a lot of trouble for me, even on Formosa. Fortunately, you reminded me to hide everything in advance or I might’ve ended up damn miserable. Dare to provoke me? See if I don’t have their guts for garters!} Lu Shan growled, angry again.

“Don’t be careless,” Lian Jun warned. “Snake Fang is not a pushover.”

{You kid…} Enjoined by her junior, Lu Shan looked a little helpless. {I’m your elder, you know? Don’t act as if you’re some gray-haired grandpa or Shi Jin will dislike you. Anyway, thank you for everything. Thanks to your plan, a large number of Tarantula’s low-level members managed to let themselves disappear. At long last, the burden on my shoulders lightened a little.}

“It’s nothing, ” Lian Jun said, finally losing his expressionless look. “I’m sorry it made you suffer such heavy financial losses.”

Lu Shan waved her hand to dismiss his apology. {It’s people that are important, money is nothing compared to that. Alright, I’d better get busy, I’m gonna run,} she said and hung up.

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

When the government not only spared Tarantula but was even going to compensate it, the situation in the underworld changed again. The moment the news was known, the leaders of Epoch and Meridian Gate immediately withdrew from G Province, without even bothering to contact Snake Fang.

“Zhang Zhuoyuan, that coward!” Xi Fan, Snake Fang’s deputy leader, cursed. He looked at the tall, thin man sitting opposite with eyes closed in thought, and said anxiously, “What should we do, Boss? I don’t know what sort of luck they have, but Tarantula actually managed to pull through. Now that Meridian Gate and Epoch have left, our alliance plan…”

“Calm down.” Yuan Peng, the leader of Snake Fang, opened his eyes and gave his deputy a cold look. “The alliance didn’t fall through, we’ll just let Tarantula join as well. Don’t be short-sighted—our real target is Annihilation. The attempt to swallow Tarantula was incidental, just taking advantage of the opportunity.”

Xi Fan still looked worried. “You’re right, Boss, it’s just… Our newest branches still haven’t been set up properly, and our ammunition reserves are not enough. What’s more, after Nine Eagles and Phantom collapsed, we absorbed so many of their businesses that we’re struggling with supplying them all, some goods haven’t been prepared yet… We’re desperately lacking funds—we need Tarantula’s resources.”

Yuan Peng frowned, feeling a little unhappy. Goods and money—these were the most important factors hindering Snake Fang’s growth. If it weren’t for this, he would’ve long developed Snake Fang to be on par with Annihilation.

He suppressed his displeasure and began thinking. After a while, he asked, “Are Tarantula and Zhang Zhuoyuan still negotiating?”

Xi Fan nodded. “Yes. Lu Shan’s pissed off, and no wonder—how the authorities justified this whole matter is ridiculous. Right now, she’s still wrangling with Zhang Zhuoyuan, not even caring that the restrictions on her businesses have been lifted.”

“If memory serves me right, she had a large shipment of goods detained at the port?” Yuan Peng continued to ask.

Xi Fan nodded again. He paused mid-move as a thought struck him, then his eyes lit up. “Boss, are you thinking of…”

“I can allow Tarantula to join the alliance,” Yuan Peng interrupted him, a cold glint flashing across his eyes. “But before that, it has to be weakened a little. I must occupy the absolute dominant position in the alliance.”

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

On a clear autumn afternoon, Shi Jin covered Lian Jun’s legs with a thin blanket and pushed him out of the villa.

“We’ve been cooped up in the house for more than half a month, and I feel like there’s mold growing on my body. Today, we have to go out and relax,” Shi Jin stretched himself a little, his eyes narrowing in enjoyment as the island’s fresh, gentle breeze caressed his face.

Lian Jun turned his wheelchair so that he could look at his lover, and took his hand. “The island’s economy is mainly dependent on tourism and marine products, and there are many seafood snack bars here. Do you want to have a taste?”

“Of course I do! Let’s go!” Shi Jin nodded enthusiastically, pushing Lian Jun’s wheelchair towards the nearest snack bar.

Gua Two and Gua Six followed behind them, one with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking bored to death as he kept an eye on the surroundings, the other engrossed with scribbling something in a small notebook. Finally, after turning another corner, Gua Two could stand Gua Six’s incessant mutter no longer and snatched the notebook out of his hand. “The heck are you doing? You sound like something out of a horror movie.”

Gua Six hurriedly snatched the notebook back. “Don’t treat it so roughly,” he said, smoothing the pages carefully. “I’m making a list of things to prepare for Jun-shao’s wedding, stop bothering me.”

“Jun-shao’s wedding?” Gua Two’s voice rose sharply, attracting the attention of “tourists” and “residents” passing by.

“What are you shouting about like a fool!” Gua Six smacked him on the back of the head. “If you do this again, I’ll ask Gua One to come over and send you back to guard the house!” He motioned for the “tourists” and “residents” to continue doing whatever they were doing, then glanced at Shi Jin and Lian Jun walking ahead. Seeing that they hadn’t been disturbed, he let out a sigh of relief and said, lowering his voice, “Jun-shao has proposed to Shi-shao. Isn’t it normal for me to prepare for this? You should take things more seriously, too, and help me collect information, such as what kind of wedding Shi-shao would prefer, and so on.”

This gave Gua Two such a scare that the cigarette fell from his mouth. Face scrunched up, he said, “Aren’t you hurrying too much? Jun-shao said, Shi Jin has to reach the legal marriage age before they even start considering marriage, and that’s still three or four years away. If you start preparations already and the trends change in the meantime, won’t all those things you prepared be passé?”

This was a problem Gua Six hadn’t considered before. As he looked at the densely written notebook in his hand, his expression changed several times, finally settling back on the determination. “Then I’ll focus on the parts less depending on fashion and make several alternative plans. At any rate, it’s never a mistake to start preparing early. I’m pretty idle anyway, so it would be nice to have something to busy myself with.”

Pretty idle… Thinking how busy he and the others were, Gua Two choked. “Support staff has it good…” he mumbled weakly.

Gua Six glanced at him expressionlessly. “Want me to trade duties with you?” he asked.

“No, no, how could I let an esteemed elder toil on the front line? Just leave the sweat labor to us young people,” Gua Two hurriedly waved his hand. As if he would want to stay in the rear and deal with all that boring, troublesome logistics work!

Gua Six snorted and turned away from him with disdain. As he looked at Shi Jin and Lian Jun, who were standing in front of a snack stall, his expression warmed up in an instant. He watched them for a moment with a fatherly expression, then suddenly jumped up. “Oh no, I forgot to ask about Jun-shao’s dietary restrictions,” he said anxiously, digging out his phone to call Uncle Long. “Even if those snacks are prepared by our own people, Jun-shao still shouldn’t eat them randomly.”

“Calm down, Shi Jin’s on it.” Gua Two put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, motioning towards Shi Jin, who took out a list from his pocket and was looking through it. “When it comes to taking care of Jun-shao, none of us is as attentive as Shi Jin.”

When Gua Six looked at Shi Jin, he saw that not only did the young man check the list, but also approached the shop owner and began asking in detail about the snacks’ ingredients. His heart settling down, he squeezed the notebook in his hand and said, “It seems that the only way I can repay Shi-shao is to give him a grand wedding!”

Gua Two took back his hand, his expression difficult to describe in a few words. “You’d better not let Jun-shao hear you because you kind of sound like you want to dig his corner.”

Gua Six ignored him.

Completely unaware that someone was already planning his wedding, Shi Jin put away the dietary restriction list and walked back to Lian Jun with a bunch of snacks. He handed one to his lover, saying, “You can eat this type of snack, but it’s very oily, so you can only eat one skewer.”

“Okay,” Lian Jun said compliantly, urging him in turn, “You shouldn’t eat too much, either, or you won’t be able to eat anymore. There’s a lot of snack stalls here.”

“Don’t worry, I have a good appetite, I can eat super much!” Shi Jin replied confidently.

They ate as they strolled around. The more of the surroundings Shi Jin saw, the more he sighed with feeling. “The scenery here is really nice, and the air is good as well. I remember that Gua Six said that all the residents within three blocks from the villa are our people. This is amazing. With the branch members integrated into the local population to such a degree, their livelihood would be ensured even if they break away from Annihilation.” It was hard to imagine that the roadside stall owners and the locals passing by were in actuality all members of an underworld organization who could pull out weapons and engage in combat at a moment’s notice if need be.

“‘Within the range of three blocks’ seems to be quite a large area… Are there any ordinary people living here?” he asked curiously.

Lian Jun shook his head. “No, but some of the organization members’ families and orphans live here as well. This island is in a good location and has a pleasant climate, as well as a high level of security. It’s about the most suitable place for them to live.”

Shi Jin glanced around, at the members of the underworld who looked and acted no different from ordinary people, and couldn’t help but lean down and give Lian Jun a kiss, exclaiming, “My Darling is absolutely amazing!” Who could’ve expected that it was possible for an underworld organization to look like this?

Swish—from the “tourists” wandering around to the owners and employees of the roadside businesses, everyone stopped whatever they were doing and turned to stare at this scene, expressions foolish.

Lian Jun hurriedly put his hand on Shi Jin’s head to prevent him from looking up for a moment, at the same time glancing warningly around his extremely-sucking-at-acting subordinates. When they all looked away, he gave Shi Jin a kiss on the forehead and let him go. “I’m not amazing. If it wasn’t for me, some of the people living here would have never lost their loved ones.”

“That isn’t something anyone would’ve been able to help.” Shi Jin sighed quietly, then straightened and continued pushing Lian Jun’s wheelchair forward. “In your position, what you have achieved is already very good.”

Lian Jun didn’t reply, only reaching up to find and grip his lover’s hand.

The range of three blocks really was a big area; it took Shi Jin and Lian Jun the whole afternoon to walk around it all. The outside of the “boundary” was bustling with noise and excitement, as apparently a film crew was there to look for a suitable shooting location, attracting a large crowd of tourists. However, Shi Jin didn’t go over but sensibly pushed Lian Jun back to the villa once they finished strolling through the territory under their control. After that, he continued to accompany Lian Jun, studying while his lover was busy working and never asked to go out to play again.

Two days later, finally, there was news from Lu Shan—Snake Fang was moving. It seemed that they were planning to rob the shipment of goods Tarantula was about to move from the port.

“Although your goods are valuable, it’s not nearly enough to solve Snake Fang’s budget shortfall,” Lian Jun analyzed calmly. “Pay attention to Formosa, Snake Fang might make a move there. I’ll send Gua Three and Gua Five over, you can ask them to help if necessary. There’s no need to stall anymore, so you should accept Zhang Zhuoyuan’s terms and work with him to stabilize the economy of G province. Also, contact the leaders of Epoch and Meridian Gate and take the initiative to discuss an alliance with them. Try to make your relationship closer.”

Lu Shan agreed and hung up, in a hurry since she had much to do.

Finally done with work, Lian Jun put down his phone, massaging the bridge of his nose. Instinctively, he glanced towards the place where Shi Jin usually curled up to his homework, only to see an empty sofa. Surprised, he held still for a moment, then maneuvered his wheelchair from behind the desk, eyebrows knitting.

The study was empty, the living room was empty, the kitchen was empty, the bedroom was empty, and the garden outside was empty. No one had any idea where Shi Jin had gone. Lian Jun’s frown grew deeper and deeper. Suddenly, he thought of something and turned his wheelchair towards the bedroom again.

He passed through the bedroom to go out on the veranda, then crossed the veranda to follow the raised wooden walkway leading to the beach.

At the end of the walkway, Shi Jin stood alone, watching the place where the beach met the sea. For some reason, his silhouette against the sky looked very lonely.

When Lian Jun saw this, his heart tightened painfully. The hands turning the wheels stopped, then immediately sped up their movements. Once he was close enough, he got up from the wheelchair and hugged Shi Jin’s waist from behind. Tightening his embrace, he asked, “Do you want to go play on the sea? I’ll go with you.”

Shi Jin came back to his senses and turned his head to look at him. “You came all the way here?” he asked with a smile. “Have you finished talking with Aunt Lu?”

Lian Jun felt even more guilty upon hearing his words. They’d been on the island for so long already, but they only went out once, upon Shi Jin’s request, and even then, they didn’t leave Annihilation’s territory. Heart aching, he said, “I’m sorry, I’ve been busy with work and neglected you.”

“‘Neglected’… Are you overthinking things again?” Shi Jin saw through his lover’s thoughts at a glance. He smiled and gestured in the direction he’d been looking towards. “I’m here to watch the excitement. Gua Six said that a film crew came here walking along the beach. They liked the look of our private beach and wanted to rent it to shoot a scene of fighting and falling into the sea. Gua Two directly refused, but the crew didn’t give up and is still waiting outside.”

A film crew?

Lian Jun looked in the direction Shi Jin indicated. Indeed, in the distance, he saw several people standing outside the private beach’s boundary fence, saying something to the security guards.

Translator’s Notes:

“You’d better not let Jun-shao hear you because you sound like you want to dig his corner” – 挖牆腳, “to steal an organization’s key member or someone’s lover”. You probably know this one since it’s used pretty often.