Death Progress Bar 71
Rest!
Although Shi Jin obediently shut up, he still couldn’t avoid the shot of anesthesia—the wound on his shoulder was too deep and had to be sutured.
“Actually, I really don’t need it, I can just grit my teeth and endure,” Shi Jin said, wanting to stay awake.
Uncle Long, however, was without compunction or mercy. After he stopped the bleeding, he asked someone to find him the nearest available ward and began to prepare tools and medicines.
Alarmed, Shi Jin begged, “At least let me call Jun-shao first, he won’t be relieved unless he confirms my safety with his own eyes…”
“It’s just local anesthesia, stop overreacting,” Uncle Long growled in distaste, asking an assistant to bring a tablet.
Oh, it’s just local anesthesia.
Shi Jin was relieved, and his eyes lit up as he realized Uncle Long was fulfilling his request. “You’re so understanding, Uncle Long,” he flattered.
Uncle Long eyed him and walked over to press him onto the bed. He asked the assistant to attach the tablet to the instrument stand directly above the bed, so the camera could catch not only Shi Jin’s face, but also his wound.
Shi Jin had a sense of foreboding. He reached out and tried to pull the tablet off the stand, saying, “Uncle Long, let’s take care of the wound first, the tablet isn’t needed right now…”
In a skillful move, Uncle Long grabbed his hand and pushed it down, starting a video call at the same time.
It was answered after only a single ring. Lian Jun appeared on the screen, sitting in a car and talking on the phone.
Shi Jin: “……” It’s over.
At that moment, Lian Jun was asking about Shi Jin’s injuries in detail; it was natural that he was anxious when he’d heard the teenager had been hurt. He picked up the video call as he heard it come in, his hand moving faster than his brain, and Shi Jin appeared on the screen, lying on the bed with a naked upper body and a bloody wound on his shoulder.
For a moment, he couldn’t speak. Eyes fixed on the wound, he hung up his call with Fei Yujing. For a while, he was just watching, lips pursed and face strained, before he asked in a tight voice, “How did you get hurt?”
“He was cut by a knife,” Uncle Long answered instead of Shi Jin. He began to clean the injury.
As soon as the disinfectant touched the wound, Shi Jin’s expression distorted and he almost cried out in pain.
But since Lian Jun was watching, Shi Jin clenched his teeth and swallowed the cry. Forcing the corners of his mouth to rise, he squeezed out an ugly smile and said, “I’m fine, it’s just a minor injury… Uncle Long, didn’t you mention local anesthesia…” Why did you just start without it?
“Generally, when we deal with ‘minor injuries,’ the procedure is to clean the wound first, then give anesthesia, then suture,” Uncle Long replied, his voice layered with frost.
Shi Jin’s heart shuddered—he knew that the doctor did that on purpose. Distressed by the terrible expression on his lover’s face, he stealthily poked Uncle Long with a hand out of frame, signaling him to stop upsetting Lian Jun.
Uncle Long glared at him. “Now you beg for mercy? You were oh-so-brave a moment ago. If I don’t do at least this much, you won’t learn… Hold on, I’ll give you the anesthesia now.”
Shi Jin gave Uncle Long’s clothes a frantic yank to make him stop speaking, then smiled at Lian Jun again. He kept his voice bland as he explained, “It was just a little situation, not really anything dangerous… Don’t worry, it isn’t a deep wound. After local anesthesia, it won’t hurt at all.”
Lian Jun scowled at him, his hands clenched so tightly on the armrests of his wheelchair that his knuckles were white. After a moment, he commanded, “Gentler.”
Uncle Long responded with a snort.
Death Progress Bar is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The anesthesia went into effect soon after that, the pain subsiding, and Shi Jin was able to smile with ease at last. Since Uncle Long no longer was stopping him, he took down the tablet and aimed it at his face. “What about you, are you in danger? When are you coming back?”
“I’m not in danger. I’ll come back soon, We’re on our way to the airport now,” Lian Jun replied, stifling the impulse to ask him to put the tablet back up. Watching the teenager’s pale face, he pressed down the anxiety and worry in his heart, and asked, “What exactly happened? Fei Yujing’s explanation was a little confusing, I didn’t really understand it.”
Shi Jin was trying to find a topic that would draw Lian Jun’s attention away from the wound. Seizing the subject, he wasted no time and launched into a narrative of the events. He also emphasized that ‘David’ was probably Meng La.
The longer Lian Jun listened, the uglier his expression became. He wanted to scold Shi Jin for taking David away after discovering that there was a problem with him instead of asking for help, but when he saw the teenager’s cautious eyes watching his expression, worried about his anger, his heart softened. “It was my fault, I was too careless,” he said. “I didn’t expect Gunfire to have connections with the officials of L country. You did a great job protecting everyone.”
Shi Jin didn’t expect to be praised, and his heart filled with happiness. “Actually, I didn’t do very well… And it’s not your fault, no one… A-ah…” Shi Jin couldn’t stop a yawn and blinked hard, “Noticed that.” All of a sudden, he felt sleepy.
Lian Jun guessed that he was affected by the blood loss and anesthesia. Voice easing, he said, “Go to sleep. I’ll be back when you wake up.”
Drowsiness came so abruptly and with such potency that Shi Jin suspected Uncle Long had actually given him general anesthesia, not local. Forcing his eyes to open, he asked, “Have you arrived at the airport yet? Pay attention to safety…”
“I’m almost there,” Lian Jun replied. His hand moved on reflex, reaching to touch Shi Jin’s head, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do that through the screen. So instead, he just said gently, “Sleep, I’ll watch over you.”
Shi Jin’s eyes were already half-closed. He mumbled something unintelligible, then his head lolled to the side as he fell asleep.
“Shi Jin’s wound is deep, and it will definitely leave a scar,” Uncle Long said, abrupt.
Lian Jun’s expression had relaxed a little when Shi Jin fell asleep, but it tensed again at that, his hand clenched into a fist. He thought of the bullet scar left on Shi Jin’s shoulder after his last injury, and his mood fell.
If you’re seeing this notice, you’re reading this chapter on pirate site – the original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.
Shi Jin didn’t get any rest the previous night, and after falling asleep, he slept through the afternoon and evening. When he finally woke up, he found that the room was dark, there was something warm next to him, and he had an arm draped across his waist.
Heart beating faster, he turned his head.
Lian Jun was lying next to him, facing him with his eyes closed; he was probably asleep.
Shi Jin couldn’t help but smile. He wanted to turn to his side and have a good look at him. As soon as he moved, though, the arm on his waist pressed him down, and Lian Jun opened his eyes.
“Don’t move, be careful of your wound,” Lian Jun said. His voice was a little hoarse from sleep, but soon, his bleary eyes gained clarity. Now that Shi Jin was awake, he supported himself on his elbow and leaned down to kiss the younger man’s eyelids.
In a flash, Shi Jin threw the hand that wasn’t being held down around Lian Jun’s neck and hugged him. Not letting his lover escape, Shi Jin raised his head and took a light bite of his lips.
Lian Jun paused, then surrendered and continued the kiss.
Rrrrrrumble.
A strange sound, all the louder in the silence of the night, reverberated through the ward.
Lian Jun ended the kiss and gently rubbed Shi Jin’s stomach. “Hungry?”
Shi Jin was mortified. He yanked Lian Jun down again—they were going to carry on!
The kisses continued, and both of them got a little worked up. Lian Jun recovered his reason first and moved away. Caressing Shi Jin’s cheek, he said, “Wait for a bit, I’ll get someone to bring some food. You should eat.”
Shi Jin’s body was hot and his wound ached. He nodded, forcing himself to resist his impulses. “Okay.”
The kitchen staff must’ve been prepared and only waiting for Lian Jun’s order, because not two minutes later, all kinds of light, easily digestible dishes were sent over.
Lian Jun helped Shi Jin sit up, lowered the bed table, and prepared to feed him.
Shi Jin’s injury was on his left shoulder, and while it was difficult to move, eating was not a problem in the least. Somewhat reluctant but feeling that being fed would be too embarrassing, he stopped Lian Jun and picked up the chopsticks himself, moving them so nimbly he didn’t look like an injured person at all.
Lian Jun withdrew his hand, relieved to see Shi Jin’s good appetite. He sat by his side, from time to time handing him a glass of water or paper towels, the image of a caring boyfriend.
After eating his fill, Shi Jin made a trip to the toilet, took a quick wash, and returned to bed.
Lian Jun laid down beside him and took him in his arms, giving his stomach a rub. Out of the blue, he lowered his head and kissed the wound on his left shoulder. “Uncle Long said it might leave a scar.”
“Scars are a man’s trophies—if it leaves one, so be it,” Shi Jin replied, not caring at all. Seeing that Lian Jun’s mood didn’t seem good, he continued, “I’m really fine. The wound isn’t serious, it will be good in a few days.”
Lian Jun’s hand tightened on his own, but he didn’t speak.
Shi Jin knew he must be blaming himself again. Sighing silently, he moved his uninjured arm and hugged him, then changed the topic. “I forgot to ask—did you manage to rescue Old Ghost’s subordinates? And what about Zuo Yang and Long Shi?”
Lian Jun adjusted his emotions. “We’ve rescued all of them, but Meng La gave them the drug Long Shi made and they need to stay in T country for the course of the treatment. Zuo Yang took Long Shi and ran away, and their current whereabouts are unknown. Gua One will stay here to handle those issues. You don’t have to worry about any of that any longer—once you’re better, we’ll go straight back to B city.”
Shi Jin was taken aback. “Why do you want to go back to B city all of a sudden? Did something happen over there?”
“No, I just want to go back and rest for a while,” Lian Jun replied, stroking his hair. “The climate here is unsuitable for recuperating from an injury. Let’s go back to B city and have a good rest. Is there any place you’d like to go play? I’ll take you wherever you want.”
Rest!
Death Progress Bar is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
A memory flashed through Shi Jin’s mind and he grabbed Lian Jun’s hand in both of his. “You promised me that after we’re done here, you’ll take a good rest and have a detailed physical examination. I don’t want to go play, I want to go to a hospital!” he said, voice rising towards the end.
Lian Jun wanted to pamper Shi Jin but was doused with cold water. He supported himself on his elbow and looked at him, but when he met those bright, spirited eyes, his heart softened again. He leaned down to give him a quick kiss and said, “All right, I’ll go get a checkup and try to get better as soon as possible. I want to take good care of you.”
“You already take good care of me. I want you to get better too, but something like that can’t be rushed—we have to listen to the doctor’s orders.” Content, Shi Jin hugged him, his heart filled with hope and his brain filled with images of Lian Jun able to walk as easily as a normal person. A smile breaking across his face, he said, “When you’re well, let’s go on a date.”
He hadn’t forgotten his wish to make up for Lian Jun’s childhood. If they went on a date, he could take his boyfriend to play in an amusement park or something like that.
Lian Jun, however, misunderstood what he meant. He thought that ever since they established their relationship, things had been too busy for them to even have a proper date. For a moment, his chest hurt as he was overwhelmed with the feeling that he was the most incompetent lover in the world.
Shi Jin was still a teenager, an age when he should play and have fun, but because of him, he always had to double-guess and worry about a lot of things. It wasn’t fair to Shi Jin.
“…Yes, let’s go on a date,” he whispered, touching Shi Jin’s cheek again. He turned off the table lamp so the darkness would hide his expression, and said, “Sleep. You’re injured, you need to have a good rest.”
Shi Jin had slept all day long and wasn’t sleepy now, but thought that Lian Jun had been busy since early morning and must be tired, so he nodded. After settling into a comfortable position and hugging Lian Jun’s arm, he closed his eyes and asked Xiao Si to play a movie in his brain.
Xiao Si, in a bout of nonviolent resistance, called up a textbook.
Shi Jin: “……”
The ancients didn’t lie, studying really made people sleepy.
Death Progress Bar is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
After breakfast the next day, Lian Jun convened a meeting of his closest subordinates—specifically, Lian Jun, Gua One, and the others had a meeting while Shi Jin reviewed his lessons.
Even recuperating from an injury didn’t exempt him from studying. Shi Jin was bitter.
He glanced at Gua One and others, who were sitting in a circle on the sofa and chairs, and sighed. Resigning himself to his fate, he picked up the digital pen and began doing problems while listening to the meeting.
After a while, he was more or less clear about the current situation.
Yesterday, after Uncle Long dragged him to the ward, Gua Nine took charge.
A short time later, all of Gunfire’s reinforcements had been caught. David, who he identified as Meng La, fainted after Shi Jin shot his arms several times. By the time the dust settled and Gua Nine called for the battlefield to be cleaned up, the man had already fallen into a coma due to excessive blood loss.
On Gua Nine’s orders, David was carried into an operating room where the doctors removed the bullets and dressed his wounds, then locked in a separate ward with three layers of guards posted outside.
Once the signal was restored, the L country authorities quickly learned about the situation and expressed their shock at Gunfire attacking the hospital while posing as official rescue workers. They rushed to dispatch a high-ranking official with a sufficient number of troops to guard the hospital from the outside, and ordered the nearby roads to be blocked for the moment, creating a safe zone. Basically, they did everything they could to express their goodwill.
That official was still in the hospital, waiting to apologize to Lian Jun in person.
The cause of the fire at the villa had also been discovered. As Shi Jin guessed, it was man-made.
Old Ghost’s subordinates were moved to a private hospital in T country; their situation had temporarily stabilized. After a phone call to Lian Jun, Old Ghost resumed his offensive on Nine Eagles, his attacks even more fierce than before. He extended the battlefield to China, his attitude screaming that he was going to take down Nine Eagles or die trying.
Nine Eagles became frantic, trying to contact Annihilation, but of course Lian Jun ignored them. He was focused on preparations to deal with Gunfire.
Hearing something unexpected, Shi Jin couldn’t stop himself from cutting in: “We’re going to continue fighting with Gunfire?”
“Just teaching them a lesson,” Lian Jun replied and asked in turn, “Have you finished with the problems? I’ll check your answers later.”
Shi Jin’s face fell at once and he turned his attention back to the tablet.
Gua One and the others looked at Shi Jin studying obediently, then exchanged tacit glances.
Teaching Gunfire a lesson? They had captured a man suspected of being Gunfire’s boss—it was obvious that Jun-shao was planning something bigger. Only Shi Jin, who despite being smart was sometimes astonishingly stupid, would be fooled by such an answer.
Three days later, the L country authorities at long last dug out Gunfire’s ally, who had been buried deep inside them. At the same time, Annihilation received a message from Nine Eagles—Zuo Yang fell seriously ill all of a sudden and had to be admitted to the hospital.
With that news, Lian Jun finally picked up a call from Nine Eagles. He learned a truly unexpected thing from Zuo Yang’s deputy: in fact, Zuo Yang wasn’t sick but had been poisoned. And—Long Shi was dead.
It happened the same day that Zuo Yang left C city with Long Shi. After learning that he had been fooled, he was furious. He wanted to force Long Shi to make the antidote to Lian Jun’s poison and with that, get back in the game. Naturally, Long Shi didn’t comply. Maddened, Zuo Yang pulled out the last two samples of Long Shi’s drug and injected him with one of them.
Long Shi pretended to compromise, making Zuo Yang relax his vigilance, then, in a split second, he retaliated and injected Zuo Yang with the remaining sample. Acting on instinct, Zuo Yang snapped up his gun and shot Long Shi, killing him on the spot.
In the end, what Zuo Yang’s deputy said boiled down to this: as long as Lian Jun saved Zuo Yang’s life, Nine Eagles was willing to pay any price.
Lian Jun’s phone was set on speaker, so everyone in the room heard the deputy’s words.
Gua Two’s expression was complicated. “Long Shi is dead…” Although they had expected this would be the final result, to hear that he died was still a bit of a shock. Not to mention, his death was quite dramatic…
Everyone was silent. They were all pondering the same thing—whether they should tell Uncle Long.
Lian Jun’s finger tapped the armrest of his wheelchair. He said, “My doctor is researching the poison and is close to developing an antidote, but Nine Eagles probably won’t be willing to pay the price I want.”
The deputy’s voice turned surprised and eager. {Whatever you want. Just say what you want, I’ll agree to anything,} he blurted.
“I want for there to be no Nine Eagles in this world,” Lian Jun replied. “Are you really able to pay that price?”
The deputy fell silent. A long time later, when Gua One and the others thought he would hang up or try to bargain, he gritted his teeth and said, {I can’t make this decision on my own, I have to discuss it with the boss. He’s in a coma right now—give me a few days.}
Everyone’s jaws dropped. They couldn’t believe that the man had actually shown a ‘let me think this over’ attitude—after all, what Lian Jun asked for was to make Nine Eagles disappear.
Lian Jun’s expression also changed a little. “Alright, I will give you time.”
The deputy breathed a sigh of relief, thanked Lian Jun politely, and hung up.
Gua Two couldn’t hold back and said, “This guy is really loyal to Zuo Yang. Have you noticed that he didn’t seem to care about Nine Eagles at all, only about Zuo Yang’s life?”
“I’ve heard that Zuo Yang found him among a pile of corpses, left for dead, and saved him. Ever since then, he’s been protecting Zuo Yang,” Gua One interjected, sighing with some regret.
By that point, they had achieved their everything they set out to do in the southeast—they helped Old Ghost rescue his people, got to the bottom of Nine Eagles’ cooperation with Gunfire, weakened Nine Eagles’ foundations by a substantial amount, and found the authorities a good enough reason that they could openly target Nine Eagles.
It was almost over. According to Lian Jun’s arrangements, Gua One and Gua Three would stay in L country to tie up all the loose ends, while Gua Two, Gua Five and the others would pack up and go back to B city with Lian Jun and Shi Jin.
After Shi Jin finished doing an online test Mr. Feng sent him, he saw that everyone had an expression of ‘we’re finally done here’ on their faces. Confused, he asked, “Wait a minute, what about Meng La? He’s still in our hands.”
Gua Two snorted. “What about him? He says his name is David, so we’ll just treat him as David. After enough time passes for Gunfire to have a new leader, we’ll let him go—as ‘David,’ who is nobody and has nothing.”
Shi Jin was struck dumb. He finally understood what kind of “lesson” Lian Jun wanted to give Gunfire—to lock up the old leader, wait for someone else to take over, and then release the old leader. Lian Jun wanted to make Gunfire fight among themselves.
He turned to look at Lian Jun, who was talking to Gua One. His expression changed several times, finally settling on pride. “Our Darling is so smart! He’s as smart as me!”
Xiao Si: <…These words really managed to pass through your lips? Do you have no sense of shame at all?>
Shi Jin’s expression went through another change. “What did you say, Xiao Si?” he asked, voice filled with a threat.
Xiao Si shut up and pretended that it crashed.
A few days later, Shi Jin’s wound had healed enough that he could travel by plane. And so, Lian Jun decided they would fly back to B city the next evening.
Shi Jin had no problem with the departure time, since the earlier they went back, the earlier Lian Jun could have a physical exam, but he kept feeling like he’d forgotten something. Despite racking his brains, it continued to elude him.
It was only after he followed Lian Jun out of the hospital on the day of the departure and saw Fei Yujing standing by the door that he finally remembered—since that incident, the lawyer had never been seen in the hospital again. It was as if he disappeared off the face of the earth.
Thinking of this, he ran to Fei Yujing and asked, frowning, “Where have you been for the last few days? Did your insomnia come back again, and you’re running around because you can’t sleep?”
At the moment, Fei Yujing had dark circles under his eyes, as if he had indeed slept badly. Faced with Shi Jin’s questions, he just looked down and took a business card from his briefcase. Putting it in Shi Jin’s hand, he said, “I’ll be busy from now on—I’ll be staying in L country for a while. Take care of your wound, call me if you need anything.” Then he turned around, got in a car waiting nearby, and left.
Shi Jin looked at the business card in his hand. It was simple, with just Fei Yujing’s name and a string of numbers. This number wasn’t the same as the one he had saved before, and his eyebrows wandered up—was this… Fei Yujing’s private phone number?
Without warning, Xiao Si said, <JinJin, your progress bar is down to 450.>
450—this was the lowest it had ever dropped. Shi Jin glanced at the card, his mood complicated.
So Fei Yujing letting him have this number meant that he recognized him as his brother, which in turn lowered his progress bar due to added survival factors?
This is really… not something I wanted.
Translator: Eques
Editor: Con
Proofreader: Kiri
Eques:
Yes, Long Shi really is dead.
In case you forgot about the lethal and survival factors: figuratively, lethal factors are people shooting at Shi Jin, and survival factors are people standing in front of him with shields. So, getting more survival factors means Shi Jin gets more protection from bullets, not that there are less guys with guns.
——
This chapter being unedited is my fault – I have no chapters saved right now so any emergency means that Con doesn’t have time to edit them. Sorry! 🙇♀️
Edit: The chapter is edited now~ 💕
Thanks for the chapter! ^ ^
Thank you for reading! 💕
Looks like JinJin successfully captured all his bros
The last 70 chapters flowed really well and now that that train of plot ended, I really wonder what the next couple arcs are going to be? Family bonding with that dysfunctional six? Extremely fluffy dates and CGs with Lian Jun?
Anyways, thanks for the chapter! Mondays are the best day of the week because there’s another DPB chapter to read and reread
Now we’re going to focus on solving the mystery of Shi Xingrui’s “white moonlight.”
I’m really happy you like DPB! 🥰 It’s not only the first 70 chapters that flow well, the whole novel is like this – there are no filler chapters here (really – I don’t know about others, but I was not even once bored while reading DPB).
That’s really the case—I never get bored with routine stuff in this story. It really doesn’t fit the templates set by other stories with the same tags.
By the way, where would you recommend waiting before picking up the story again (like how on 57, you said it’s good to pick it up after 71)?
Hmm. Let me think on that? (I’ll probably need to reread DPB.) Anyway, the next chapters will be slower.
Thanks for the chapter! 😘💕💕💕
I guess all ends well.
I’m excited for their date.
Thanks for the chapter!
Omg. I love that the chapters are so long, but I can only express my condolences 🙈. Poor Jun Shao you’re too hard on yourself.
Thanks for the great translation ♥️
Muchas gracias.
Bien por SJ, su barra está en 450, pero dudo que llegue a 0 jajaja solo respirar nos mata poco a poco jajajaj.
Mientras tanto, nuestro LJ planea limpiar al que apuntó a su esposa
Thank you for posting anyways. 🙂 This is one of the highlights of my Mondays.
I only noticed one simple error, so you didn’t do too bad even without editing.
Its okay! Your translation is great enough! I didn’t even think it was unedited! Thank you for the chapter!
All of Shi Jin’s brothers recognise him as family now (at least in their own ways), so now I’m curious about the threat(s) that are causing his progress bar to be at 450… I mean, it took joining up with Lian Jun, talking to all of his brothers, and figuring out who wanted him kidnapped/mutilated before he could bring it down by 549… For him to still have 450 left must mean there’s something(s) big that he has yet to do. I’m so damn curious. Could it have something to do with why Shi Xingrui tried so hard to make… Read more »
Omg, you make me want to spoil the novel to you and that would be bad 😅
The mystery will be unraveled slowly, fortunately or unfortunately. I get what you’re feeling (that’s why I learned to mtl) but I advise you not to check the spoilers – you’ll have more fun.
Get more protection from bullets
Me: Using the brothers as body shield
I wonder if David will make a reappearance? Liang Jun and Shi Jin’s relationship is so harmonious and healthy, I’d love for drama to be introduced to it lmao