CH 118

The past few months had really been hard on Lu Shan. Ever since the government moved against her organization, she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep, and she was busy every day dealing with trouble and making arrangements to protect Tarantula. She had to guard against Snake Fang, Meridian Gate, and Epoch, negotiate with the authorities, and clean up the mess in G Province. Even now, after the crisis had passed, she couldn’t rest—she had to keep sharp as she and the other three leaders tried to outscheme each other.

{At least I have you helping me. If I was alone, I would’ve burnt out a long time ago,} Lu Shan said wearily. Suddenly changing her tone, she continued, {That aside, your subordinates are really useful. I don’t even need to mention Gua Three and Gua Five. They’re dependable and competent, don’t talk much—they’re basically worry- and trouble-free. Gua One and Gua Two—they have some personality flaws, one being too stuffy and the other too boisterous, but otherwise they’re top-notch. And Gua Nine is an expert at gathering information. Xiao Jun, you know how worn out I am. Why don’t you lend them to me…}

“No,” Lian Jun refused, unmoved. “Meridian Gate and Epoch definitely sent someone to keep an eye on you. To keep them from suspecting anything, from now on, you must avoid any contact with my people.”

Lu Shan’s little ploy failed before she even finished devising it. Foiled, she relieved her anger cursing the source of her troubles: {Damn Meng Qing and Qi Yun! Those scheming bitches are like a piece of dog shit stuck to your shoe that you just can’t shake off no matter how you try. Why didn’t I notice earlier that they’re so difficult to deal with!}

“An underworld organization leader who managed to survive until now wouldn’t be a minor character,” Lian Jun pacified. “Now that the alliance has been formed, you can take a rest. You’ve been standing out too much so from now on, fade into the background for a while. Act as if you joined the alliance just to buy time for Tarantula to get back on its feet—this way, Meng Qing and Qi Yun will not be as suspicious of you.”

Lu Shan calmed down and focused on his words.

“If you pull back, Meng Qing and Qi Yun won’t dare to continue to push you. With you becoming ‘passive,’ Yuan Peng will definitely turn ‘active’ and take the initiative to contact Meng Qing and Qi Yun, which automatically will take their attention away from you. Between Tarantula and Snake Fang, Meng Qing and Qi Yun prefer Tarantula; once they bring Yuan Peng to heel to gain your goodwill, they are certain to approach you again. At that time, just push the boat with the current—the initiative and the right to choose will have returned your hands.”

Hearing his analysis, Lu Shan’s thoughts cleared. {Okay, then I’ll do as you say,} she replied, much more spirited. {There’ve been too many things going on these past few months—I really do need time to take care of Tarantula’s internal affairs.}

The matter settled, Lian Jun prepared to hang up. Suddenly, Lu Shan asked, {By the way, your little lover’s birthday is coming up soon, right?}

Lian Jun paused with his finger hovering over the end call button. He glanced at Shi Jin, who was sitting on the sofa reading documents, and hummed a confirmation.

Lu Shan let out a sigh of relief. {Great, I didn’t remember it wrong. I sent him a birthday present as a thank-you. Let your people know you’re expecting a package.} Not waiting for a reply, she hung up.

Birthday present, Lian Jun repeated silently, putting down his phone. He glanced at Shi Jin again, then moved the wheelchair over to his side.

Absorbed in approving documents, Shi Jin didn’t notice his approach. Ever since Lian Jun deemed his skills up to par, he would do his best to help Lian Jun out with work while he was back from school on weekends, taking care of the most tedious and trivial tasks. In the beginning, he occasionally messed up, which actually made Lian Jun spend additional time checking and correcting the teenager’s work. As the first two weeks passed, however, he became more and more proficient and rarely made mistakes.

And the more documents Shi Jin went through, the more aware he was that Lian Jun needed an assistant to lessen the burden on him. But…

Shi Jin finished approving a document, picked the next file with Ruixing’s logo on the cover, and sighed.

But, it wouldn’t be good for too many people to know about Annihilation’s transformation or its partnership with Ruixing. It wasn’t that Lian Jun didn’t have an assistant—his assistant was Gua One. It was just that Gua One was already busy helping Lian Jun with many other matters.

Having so much work to do every day, it was no wonder it was hard for Lian Jun to gain weight.

Suddenly, he felt his hair being stroked.

“What are you thinking about?”

Startled, Shi Jin turned his head and looked up at Lian Jun. “Have you finished talking with Aunt Lu?” he asked, not seeing the phone.

“Mhm. You should take a break. Is there any place you want to go? I’ll take you out to play tomorrow.” Lian Jun took the files out of his hand. It reminded him of all those times Shi Jin did the same to him. Suddenly distressed, he got up from the wheelchair and sat on the sofa next to the teenager, pulling him into his arms.

Shi Jin leaned on him, relaxing into the hug. “Let’s not go out. The weather is getting colder and colder, it’s easy to get sick.”

“We don’t have to stay outside. We can go somewhere that’s warm, like the movie theater we went to last time—”

Shi Jin raised a hand and covered Lian Jun’s mouth, stopping him from talking. “You can’t go anywhere that crowded. In this season, there’s a lot of people with cold or flu or whatever—what if you get infected? Uncle Long said you’ve reached the critical stage of physical conditioning and that as long as you get through it without getting sick or harming your body in another way, you can begin taking the drugs to clear away the toxin. We mustn’t be careless.”

This was the conclusion Uncle Long reached after carefully analyzing Lian Jun’s recent examination results. When Shi Jin first learned the news, he was so happy that he ran a few laps around the school’s sports ground. Not only him but everyone else too—Gua Two and the others venting their excitement almost led to the club being demolished.

Since then, everyone had paid special attention to Lian Jun’s daily life and did their best not to let him be tired or sick. Except for taking Shi Jin to and back from school every weekend, he was almost completely prevented from going out.

Feeling both warm inside and helpless, Lian Jun pulled Shi Jin’s hand down and held it. “You don’t need to be so worried, I’m not that fragile.”

Shi Jin gave him a reproving look and opened his mouth to speak. At that moment, however, his phone suddenly rang, so he took it out to check who was calling. Seeing it was Liu Yong, he picked up.

{Yo, Shi Jin! Do you want to go out to play tomorrow? When school ended today, you disappeared so fast I didn’t have time to tell you that Luo Donghao found an awesome CQB laser tag arena. Let’s go out and have fun!}

Liu Yong’s voice was high because of excitement. Because of this, Lian Jun could make out his words while sitting next to Shi Jin even though the phone wasn’t on speaker. Hearing the invitation, he frowned, then his expression turned thoughtful.

CQB games were something Shi Jin would certainly enjoy. If Shi Jin wanted to go, maybe he could let Gua One and the others go play with him…

But Shi Jin refused without hesitation: “No, I want to accompany my boyfriend. Go alone, I’ll go with you next time.”

{Next time, next time—it’s always hoes before bros with you, dude. Whatever, see you at school,} Liu Yong said, pretending to be angry, and ended the call.

Shi Jin felt a twinge of embarrassment as he did refuse to hang out with his friends several times before. Sheepishly scratching his nose, he stuffed his phone back into his trouser pocket.

Lian Jun was silent for a moment, then tightened his hug and said, “You can go out, there is Gua Nine and the others to accompany me. You will lose your friends if you always reject their invitations.”

How could a young man who wasn’t even twenty always stay at home and never go out to have fun with friends? Although Lian Jun was a little reluctant to let him go, he didn’t want Shi Jin to sacrifice his social life for him.

“It’s fine, Luo Donghao and Liu Yong are not that petty.” Shi Jin turned and hugged Lian Jun’s waist, then leaned bonelessly against him, closing his eyes with a satisfied sigh. “My eyes hurt from reading too many documents. Let me stay like this for a while, then let’s go wash up and sleep. You’re not allowed to work anymore today, you hear me?”

Lian Jun glanced down at him. He knew that Shi Jin was changing the topic, but he couldn’t bear to continue to press him. Not loosening the hug, he shifted into a position where both of them would be more comfortable and closed his eyes, accompanying Shi Jin for a nap.

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 next day, the club was humming with activity since early morning. After getting up, Shi Jin stood confused in the smaller living room, watching Gua Two and the others bustle around with all kinds of party decorations. “What are you guys doing?” he asked.

“Preparing for your birthday party,” Gua Two replied, frowning as he awkwardly twisted a long balloon. “Doesn’t your birthday this year fall on Wednesday? We can’t go to your school to throw you a party there, so we’re moving it up a few days.”

“Jun-shao said, everyone was living under pressure for the past few months and this is a good opportunity to relax and have fun,” added Gua Nine while untangling colored lights. Seeing that at this point, Gua Two’s long balloon was beyond saving, he reached out and popped it.

The balloon burst in Gua Two’s face. He froze for a moment, stunned, then angrily jumped to his feet and tried to grab Gua Nine’s neck. Gua Nine nimbly dodged and reciprocated by poking fingers in Gua Two’s eyes. After that, the situation devolved into a full-blown kindergarten fight.

Gua Three and Gua Five watched them with hard-to-describe expressions. Gua One stepped forward and gave both the miscreants a merciless smack on the head, then looked at Shi Jin. “Don’t mind them, they’re just a little too excited,” he said. “Uncle Long changed Jun-shao’s exercise program for today. Go and eat breakfast, we’re supposed to gather in the gun range in a while.”

The gun range? Shi Jin was perplexed. Was there any workout routine you could do in a gun range?

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

An hour later, Shi Jin, holding a gun, entered the shooting range’s CQB scenario area. Nervous and excited, he vigilantly observed the surroundings, guarding Lian Jun walking behind him. He’d never expected there would be a day when Lian Jun and he would fight side by side, and their opponents would be the Guas!

That’s right—Uncle Long took pity on Lian Jun and changed his exercise program for the day, letting him play in the gun range. The time limit was only three hours, but Shi Jin still nearly fainted with happiness at the sight of Lian Jun walking to stand next to him with a gun.

“I will protect you, Jun-shao!” Shi Jin declared firmly. His fighting spirit burned brighter than ever, but the fiercer his determination was, the calmer his expression became.

Lian Jun fiddled with the gun in his hand, getting familiar with it. “Do you want to win?” he asked, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Yes!” Shi Jin nodded without hesitation. The team that lost would be responsible for washing the dishes. How could he let Lian Jun do the dishes!

“Then don’t treat me as someone who needs to be protected.” Lian Jun looked around, observing the surroundings, then walked to a spot shielded from sight and sat down, motioning Shi Jin to come over. “I’m your comrade in arms. Let me take command today, can you?”

Watching his lover, calm and confident, and unbelievably handsome in the black combat uniform, Shi Jin’s heart fluttered in his chest. Keeping his body low, he nimbly weaved through obstacles and crouched next to Lian Jun. “Okay—today, you’re my CO and I’m your little soldier.”

A glimmer flashing across his eyes, Lian Jun cupped the back of Shi Jin’s head and leaned in to kiss him.

In the viewing room, Gua Two covered his eyes, expression painful. “Did Jun-shao forget there are cameras everywhere in the scenario area?”

“No, Jun-shao just disregards our existence,” Gua Three replied, face blank.

Gua Two: “……”

The preparation time soon ended and the match began. When the start signal sounded, Gua One and Gua Nine, the enemy team, immediately entered the scenario map, dividing responsibilities with a tacit understanding: Gua Nine would analyze the match area while Gua One would reconnoiter the surroundings.

Gua Two couldn’t help being envious. “Why play two-on-two, isn’t that too simple? Let’s play four-on-four.”

“Counting Jun-shao, we only have seven people in total. How are we supposed to play four-on-four?” Gua Three poured cold water on him.

“Three-on-three is fine too.” Gua Two wasn’t choosy, and he didn’t hesitate to sacrifice a comrade: “Gua Nine’s area of expertise is computers, his combat skills are pitiful. We can bench him.”

Gua Three gave him an ambivalent glance. “Well, if we leave one person out, we can indeed play three-on-three.”

In the scenario area, Gua Nine quickly analyzed the terrain, then led Gua One to the most advantageous hiding place. On the other side, Shi Jin suddenly rushed out of the hiding spot, leaving Lian Jun behind.

“What is Shi Jin doing? Does he want to lure the enemy away to protect Jun-shao?” Gua Five asked.

Gua Three studied the screens. “It’s possible. After all, Jun-shao’s mobility is limited and his fighting ability is probably the weakest out of everyone here. If Shi Jin took Jun-shao with him, he wouldn’t be able to fight freely when he faced off with the enemy.”

Gua Two leaned against the table and lit a cigarette. “You’d better not underestimate Jun-shao. When we used to train shooting skills together in the past, we lost to Jun-shao more often than not.”

Gua Three and Gua Five were startled. Recalling the times when Lian Jun was still healthy, their eyes dimmed, but then they remembered the results of his last physical examination and cheered up. Soon, Jun-shao will be healthy again—there was no need to dwell on the past because the future was going to be much brighter.

Five minutes after the match began, Shi Jin and Gua One ran into each other at the corner of a house. Shi Jin immediately ducked inside to escape, while Gua One and Gua Nine took advantage of the situation to trap him inside, one blocking the front door and the other the back door.

“It’s over, Shi Jin’s a rat in the cage now,” Gua Two said, frowning.

“Jun-shao is on the move,” Gua Three said suddenly. Gua Two hurriedly turned towards the monitor in the corner to look at the green dot representing Lian Jun. Lian Jun was indeed moving… and quite fast at that.

“Is it okay for Jun-shao to jog like this?” Gua Five asked, a little uneasy.

Gua Two forced himself not to be worried. “Should be fine. If there is any problem, Uncle Long will immediately stop the game,” he said, motioning towards another viewing room.

The battle in the scenario area continued. In the house, Shi Jin began playing hide-and-seek with Gua One and Gua Nine. It seemed to be just an effort to go down swinging, but even so, the two were cautious and didn’t approach Shi Jin rashly, trying instead to force him out of cover.

Under their efforts, Shi Jin’s range of movements became smaller and smaller, and he had no choice but to leave the place where he was hiding. Gua One didn’t miss the opportunity and leaned out from behind a cover to shoot him. However, at that moment, he heard a rustle behind him and the sensor on his cap beeped, signaling he’d been “killed.”

Gua Two froze, stunned, then lowered his gun and straightened up. Watching Lian Jun coming out from behind the corner behind him, he asked, taking off his cap, “Jun-shao, how did you break past Gua Nine and snuck in here?”

Beep.

At the other side of the house, Gua Nine was caught off guard by Shi Jin’s sudden counterattack and eliminated as well.

“Thanks to Shi Jin,” Lian Jun replied, visibly proud of his lover. “He played bait very well, and you completely focused on him. Because of this, you started paying too much attention to the inside of the house, which actually created blind spots in your defense. I simply took advantage of that.”

Gua One recalled Shi Jin’s behavior of scuttling around only in a small area and immediately figured out how he lost. Frustrated, he raised a hand and tapped his forehead in annoyance.

In the viewing room, Gua Two and the others stared at the screen in shock. To be honest, to the very last moment, they all believed that Gua One and Gua Nine had victory in their pocket. After all, even though Lian Jun rushed to Shi Jin’s rescue, he was outnumbered and unlikely to break through the enemy’s encirclement in time.

Unexpectedly, when Lian Jun was near the house, he didn’t hide and observe the situation as they thought he would but rushed directly towards the building. He also seemed to know Gua One and Gua Nine’s positions. His movements were not very agile, but he waited for the right moment and slipped past Gua Nine, then sneaked behind Gua One and aimed the gun towards his position. The second Gua One left cover, Lian Jun eliminated him with a headshot. This gave Shi Jin breathing space and the opportunity to eliminate Gua Nine, who was attacking him from another direction.

They’d been watching the battle from God’s eye view, and knew clearly that the reason why Lian Jun and Shi Jin won was Shi Jin escaping into the house at the right moment, Lian Jun unexpectedly managing to sneak behind Gua One, and the two’s perfect cooperation. And as for why Lian Jun was able to slip past Gua Nine…

Gua Two skipped the video back to the moment when Lian Jun drew near the house and played it again in slow motion.

On the screen, Lian Jun got close to the building, then sped up and jogged towards it at an angle. At that time, Gua Nine actually could see Lian Jun from where he was standing, but he ignored him. Yes, ignored—after Lian Jun approached the house, he quickly adjusted his posture and movements, imitating Gua One’s body language and footsteps. This fooled Gua Nine into thinking that the person running past him was Gua One. At that time, Gua One was on the other side of the house, trying to flush Shi Jin out. Despite usually being extremely vigilant, he also didn’t notice an “enemy” sneaking behind him.

When the people who cooperate in a fight know each other well, they sometimes distinguish friends and foes by the sound of their footsteps and body language. Watching how Lian Jun tricked Gua Nine by pretending to be Gua One made the rest of them, who regularly cooperated with Gua Nine, break out in cold sweat.

“Jun-shao knows us too well,” Gua Two said, biting down on the cigarette. “I think Gua Nine is going to have a nightmare tonight.” The experience of blithely ignoring the “enemy,” letting him sneak up on his comrade, could hardly be described as wonderful. Ah, but I still want to fight Jun-shao, he thought to himself. He eyed Gua Three and Gua Five with calculation—Gua One and Gua Nine already played one game, so it should be his turn now.

Fifteen minutes later, Gua One stood alone in the viewing room, watching the scenario area where the three-on-three battle was about to start. Seething with resentment, he angrily banged his fist on the table. “What the hell! What do you mean by, ‘to keep both sides’ strength balanced, Gua Nine must stay on the battlefield’?! You people corrupted by Tarantulas conspired together to squeeze me out!”

In the scenario area, Shi Jin helped Lian Jun adjust the protective gear. “So, what’s our strategy for this fight?” he asked eagerly.

Lian Jun looked at Shi Jin’s face, brimming with enthusiasm, and unnoticeably touched his useless legs. Turning to glance at Gua Three, the new addition to their team, he said, “Gua One and Gua Five are calm and level-headed, and Gua Nine’s specialty is information gathering. None of them is the type to take risks at will. Most likely, they will choose to fight a positional war, so we will do the opposite and engage in guerrilla warfare.”

“Oh, I love using guerilla tactics!” Shi Jin exclaimed, becoming even more excited. “Should we start by analyzing the opponents’ characters and behavior patterns?”

Lian Jun caressed the teenager’s cheek, agreeing with a smile.

Gua Three shrank in the corner, listening to Lian Jun describing Gua One and the others’ weak points one by one. He understood one thing with deep-down certainty—with how well Jun-shao knew them and him wanting to make his boyfriend happy, none of the pair’s opponents would come to a good end.

This year, Shi Jin spent his birthday having a great time. Lian Jun leaned against the headboard watching the younger man, who didn’t stop smiling even in his sleep. He gently stroked Shi Jin’s cheek and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead.

Next year, he should be able to accompany Shi Jin to play as much as his lover wanted.

“Happy birthday,” he whispered, turning off the bedside lamp.

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

Before returning to school on Sunday, Shi Jin received Lu Shan’s birthday gift: a box half a man tall.

Everyone opened the box together. Seeing various packaging boxes piled up inside like a heap of rubbish, they all fell silent. As expected of Lu Shan—she didn’t bother about “minor details” even while sending a present.

“Take everything out,” Lian Jun said, making everyone return to their senses.

Gua Two took the lead, picking up the large, brightly colored box at the top. After taking a look, his eyebrows twitched. “This is a local specialty from Formosa Island. Lu Shan actually sent this? Since when did she become a typical middle-aged Chinese auntie?”

Gua Nine also picked up a box. “This is the newest video game console by XX company, and I see several more. Shi Jin, did you tell Ms. Lu you like playing games or something?”

Shi Jin, who only liked playing mahjong, wordlessly shook his head.

“Maybe it’s to let Shi Jin enjoy playing with his friends?” Gua Two leaned over to take a look at the game console. Uninterested, he continued to take inventory of the things in the big box. “A Chinese lock charm, a custom-made tea set, just a red envelope, another red envelope, XX sports star signature sneakers, XX singer’s commemorative edition album, a ton of console games… What the heck, did she simply prepare everything that boys Shi Jin’s age and sent it over— Wait, what’s this?”

From the bottom of the big box, he took out a carefully and elegantly packed rectangular wooden box. There was no manufacturer’s name or any label on it. He suspiciously turned it in his hands, then opened it after getting Shi Jin’s permission.

A beautiful set of mahjong tiles made from white jade was revealed.

Everyone: “……”

“…As expected of Tarantula’s leader, I should say. This gift is really sincere.” Gua Two closed the box and handed it to Shi Jin. “Here. You can keep it as a family heirloom—if I’m not wrong, the motifs and characters have been custom-designed by a master.”

Shi Jin: “……” This gift was really, really sincere.

He glanced sideways at Lian Jun, a silent question in his eyes.

Lian Jun reached out to take his hand. “You can accept it. I will thank Aunt Lu in your name,” he said soothingly.

Shi Jin nodded and took the box, putting it in another place than the rest of the gifts.

Going back to school on Sunday evening, Shi Jin brought the presents he would not use and a small birthday cake. After arriving, he called Liu Yong and Luo Donghao. They ate the cake together, then Shi Jin dumped the unneeded presents on them.

He thought that this year’s birthday presents’ craze had passed, not knowing it was only the beginning of the nightmare. Starting from Monday, he was repeatedly called over to the school gate by the entrance guards—to receive courier deliveries.

The first gift was from Xiang Aoting. He’d transferred back to the Air Force and had a lot of formalities to go through. He didn’t have time to come over in person, so he sent the present by a courier service. What he gave Shi Jin was several no-longer-sold gun models and a custom-made model of the pocket pistol he saw Shi Jin use. Shi Jin liked this gift very much.

It had caused a small commotion at the school gate, though. Due to the contents of this package, it was opened and checked by the security guards; only after confirming it was harmless was Shi Jin allowed to take it away.

The crowd of onlookers watching the proceedings made Shi Jin feel a little annoyed, but in general, he was pleasantly surprised. Xiang Aoting was the brother he had the best impression of, and he was happy to receive birthday wishes from him.

Later that afternoon, though, when he was called to the school gate to receive a dozen or so packages sent by Fei Yujing from abroad, he was not happy at all.

The deliveryman had a loud voice. “I advise you to find a cart,” he said while straightening the package delivery receipt. “All those packages are for you. You’d have to make several trips, and you might not be able to carry them all away anyway. There’s one box that seems to be filled with books. It’s so heavy I honestly thought I might die carrying it.”

Shi Jin: “……”