Death Progress Bar 65
He Who Digs a Pit for Others
As soon as they heard that Shi Jin had discovered a clue about the poison formula, Gua Two and Gua Three hurried back to check what he found.
“Is this Long Shi’s handwriting?” Shi Jin asked, pointing to the faint ‘Jun’.
Gua Two and Gua Three took a closer look and nodded with conviction. “Yes, it is. When he wrote Jun-shao’s name, he liked to lengthen this stroke, so it’s easy to recognize,” Gua Two said.
Shi Jin was overjoyed. He promptly stuffed the notebook and the folder into Gua Two’s hands, urging, “Hurry up and fax these to Uncle Long. There must be more clues in them—with what I got out of Long Shi earlier, maybe it will be enough to deduce the whole formula?”
Gua Two gave Shi Jin’s head a hard rub, and rushed out with the documents.
There was a time difference between L country and China. Uncle Long had barely fallen asleep after a long day of research when Gua Two’s call disturbed him; as such, his attitude when he answered the phone was less than friendly. After hearing what Gua Two had to say, however, his temper cooled. Telling them to wait a minute, he got out of bed and walked towards the study.
The fax machine spit out page after page to the accompaniment of its unceasing buzz.
Uncle Long looked over them one by one. The more he looked, the more excited he was. “This is extremely useful!” he exclaimed. “The first few records are the ratios and reaction results of various toxic extracts, and the rest seems to be samples that Long Shi deemed acceptable. Several of the mentioned substances coincide perfectly with the part of the poison formula Shi Jin obtained from Long Shi. You guys did a great job this time!” Hanging up, he gathered the printed-out data and headed for the laboratory.
Beep beep beep—
Gua Two met Shi Jin’s nervous eyes as he listened to the dial tone, and the serious expression on his face transformed into a smile. He threw an arm around the young man’s shoulders, saying, “Let’s go eat! You earned yourself a feast, O great hero!”
Shi Jin’s heart, in his mouth until that moment, returned to its usual place—he knew that Uncle Long must have given a positive evaluation. Beaming with joy, he slung an arm around Gua Two’s shoulders as well, punching him several times to express his happiness.
Gua Two almost suffered internal injuries to his stomach. He hurled Shi Jin’s arm off and launched a counterattack.
Although to search of the laboratory wasn’t over yet, Shi Jin and the others had pretty much completed their task.
First, they went out for a celebratory dinner, then called Lian Jun to report. After that, they returned to Lishui Hospital, found an empty four-person ward, and settled in for the night.
The three of them washed, picked a bed, and laid down. Gua Two didn’t get under the blanket but propped himself on his elbow and said, “We’re done here, so next we should go and assist Gua One. The ‘cleaning’ he and Gua Five do is the most important thing at the moment, but it’s almost too much for just the two of them—they could probably use a hand.”
Gua Three ignored him, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep as soon as possible.
“Tch, you’re so boring.” Gua Two threw him a glance full of disgust, and turned to look at Shi Jin in the opposite bed. “Little JinJin, are you going to follow us on our next mission?”
“Yes,” Shi Jin replied, closing his eyes as well. “Now stop talking, I want to sleep—‘Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.’”
What the hell, are you insinuating something?
Gua Two was speechless. He glanced at his two uncooperative “roommates,” rolled his eyes in contempt, then covered himself with the blanket and also lay down.
That night, Lishui Hospital was not quiet. Once the Hydra members inside had been cleaned up, the authorities from L country sent people to transfer all the patients to other hospitals. As it had to be done in batches, it took the whole night to complete.
Shi Jin’s sleep was a little restless, as from time to time he would be awakened by the noise in the corridors. He tossed and turned until 3 a.m., when he heard Gua Three getting out of bed, and also sat up.
“You’re not sleeping?” he whispered, seeing the man make the bed.
“No, I went to bed too early yesterday and now I can’t sleep anymore. I’m going to check the situation in the laboratory—they’ve been searching it all night, they should have some results by now,” Gua Three replied, lowering his voice. “Did I wake you up? You can go back to sleep, I’ll call you when it’s time to leave.”
Shi Jin rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. “No, I’ve slept enough too. I’ll go to the lab with you.”
Gua Three didn’t try to persuade him anymore. After a simple wash, they left Gua Two behind, said hello to the guards outside, and headed to the laboratory.
They were heading for the elevator when all of a sudden a small, thin figure dashed out of a dark corner and ran straight towards Shi Jin.
Xiao Si’s voice instantly rose: <JinJin! Your progress bar is going up, get away!>
Shi Jin acted on instinct, sidestepping; unprepared, the small figure fell to the floor and let out a surprised grunt. He turned his head and glanced up at Shi Jin then scrambled to get up, wanting to run away.
Gua Three stepped forward and grabbed his hand, picked him up from the ground, and strode to the light to take a closer look. He found that the reckless runner was a boy around eleven or twelve years old, wearing a patient suit. Frowning, he asked, “Which ward did you run out from, kid? Where are your parents?”
His last question was in Y language, but it was clear that the child couldn’t understand it. Nervous, the boy only drew into himself and lowered his head, afraid to look at their faces and still struggling to get away.
Shi Jin eyed his progress bar, which had fallen back to 500 straight away, and his eyebrows wrinkled. He walked up to the boy, looked him up and down, then bent down and grasped his hand without any warning, forcing his clenched fist open.
A small syringe was exposed, very similar to the one Long Shi had hidden on him.
Gua Three’s expression changed in an instant. He grabbed the boy in a firmer hold and growled a few more questions at him, but the child still couldn’t understand. Alarmed by Gua Three’s tone and expression, both the fear on his face and his struggle grew stronger.
Gua Three gave up asking and looked at Shi Jin. “He doesn’t understand. He’s probably a child of one of the Hydra members, angry because his one or both of his parents were taken away.”
Shi Jin wasn’t convinced. “He came straight at me as if I was his goal. If it was like you said, he wouldn’t care who he attacked. Also, he could probably get a gun—why would he choose not to do that and try to inject me with whatever is in that syringe instead? It’s a little strange, isn’t it?”
“Maybe he saw how young you are and thought you would be easier to attack? As for his choice of weapon…” Gua Three knitted his eyebrows. To be on the safe side, he called a subordinate who knew the local language and handed the child over to him, saying, “Question him and him and find out who he is.”
The subordinate acknowledged the order and took the boy away.
Shi Jin watched them leave, then glanced at the syringe in his hand and asked, “What about this thing?”
“Send it to Uncle Long.”
Shi Jin nodded. He wrapped the syringe up in several layers of cloth and put it in his pocket before he and Gua Three continued to the morgue.
The elevator leading to the morgue was guarded by both the official L country forces and Annihilation members. Gua Three and Shi Jin greeted the guards, entered the elevator, and arrived at the underground floor.
The previously dim corridor was flooded with light, and there was a person guarding the other end. The utility room had been emptied and the corpses in the morgue had been removed overnight; both rooms were turned into makeshift longues. As Shi Jin and Gua Three entered, the doctors who’d searched the lab all night were coming out, each carrying a sealed box.
“How’s the situation?” Gua Three asked.
When the doctor at the front saw them, he gave his face a brisk rub to push away fatigue and said, “I was just about to report to you. We found something strange—the drug Hydra was researching here should actually have nothing to do with Hydra, because it’s a part of Gunfire’s business.”
Gua Three’s forehead creased in a frown. “What do you mean?”
“Let me explain. The ‘Bliss Pill’ is a drug that’s very popular in M country at the moment. As far as we know, it’s a new product that was launched by Gunfire at the beginning of the year. It’s addictive, expensive, and very hard to get because of the small number of shipments. While we haven’t determined its exact formula yet, we know enough to be able to tell there’s a lot of semi-finished ‘Bliss Pills’ here, as well as the materials to make it. It seems that the ‘Bliss Pill’ was both developed and is being produced in this lab.” As the doctor spoke, he took out a blister pack of small pills from the sealed box he was carrying.
Gua Three accepted it and exchanged glances with Shi Jin. They both had the same suspicion in their eyes.
“Gunfire is selling a drug developed by Hydra. Is Hydra also a subordinate organization of Gunfire, hidden deepin L country?” Shi Jin spoke their guess out loud. He thought that their visit to the Southeast really was like a trip down the rabbit hole.
“If that’s true, then was Long Shi actually working with Gunfire? And after they squeezed everything of value out of him, they sold him to Nine Eagles?” Gua Three speculated, frowning.
Despite his hatred for the bastard, Shi Jin had thought that Long Shi was a bit pitiful, but now it seemed the man’s role was much bigger than that of a typical villainous cannon fodder. He even began to suspect that the cooperation between Gunfire and Nine Eagles was indirectly facilitated by that “cannon fodder.”
No one had expected this development. The two of them rushed back to the ward to wake the still-sleeping Gua Two.
After listening to their conjecture, Gua Two returned to full consciousness as if he was doused with a basin of cold water. He jumped out of bed and started to collate and analyze the information collected by all teams the previous night. The results turned out to be somewhat shocking.
There were too many strange things about Hydra. First of all, the goods in the pharmacy were totally different from those in the storeroom—all the raw materials in the pharmacy were those needed for making “Bliss Pills,” while those in the storeroom were just ordinary drugs, the main products sold by Hydra.
Secondly, the data found in the laboratory showed that besides the “Bliss Pill,” they had also developed some drugs for assassination, such as the drug in the syringes Long Shi and the child had attempted to use; they were lethal, slow-working poisons, meant for a definite, but not immediate, kill. On the surface, Hydra had never used them, and all the developed samples had disappeared.
Lastly, the flow of money was questionable. A safe with a secret account book was found during the search of Lishui Hospital, the accounts showing that the income of the pharmacy was separate from and unrelated to Hydra’s overall income.
“Oh me oh my, Hydra really has hidden itself well—I was certain it was an ordinary small organization,” Gua Two said, closing the file. “I think we need to go back and interrogate Long Shi again. He’s been researching this garbage for years, he must know a lot.”
Gua Three shook his head. “I don’t think he knows anything. Gunfire sold him without hesitation after they deemed they wouldn’t get any more use out of him; with his personality, if he had any information which could harm Gunfire, he definitely would’ve disclosed it as soon as possible to get back at them. That said, we really should interrogate him again.”
“Then we should go back as soon as possible, right?” Shi Jin interjected, expectant.
Gua Two and Gua Three both turned to look at him. Unable to hold back laughter, Gua Two used the teenager’s shoulder to pull himself up. “I know you miss Jun-shao, lover boy. All right, all right—let’s pack up and go home!”
Shi Jin kept feeling like they were being watched as they were leaving. He couldn’t resist casting a glance back at Lishui Hospital, which was almost completely empty by then, but he didn’t see anything.
<JinJin, your progress bar jumped up to 600 all of a sudden—there’s danger nearby,> warned Xiao Si.
“Sure enough, somebody really is watching me,” Shi Jin muttered, “It wasn’t my imagination.” Looking back at the hospital again, his mind flashed to the boy who attacked him, and he turned to Gua Three. “Did your subordinate discover anything about that kid with the syringe?”
“It’s been confirmed that he’s actually a Hydra member, though a relatively peripheral one, and joined Hydra not too long ago. He’s an orphan and has been handed over to L country’s officials.”
Shi Jin continued to ask, “Why did he attack me? Where did he get the drug?”
Gua Three checked the information sent over by his subordinate. “He found the syringe with the drug in a corner of the pharmacy. He wanted to attack you because you injured the man who helped him join Hydra—he was one of the people you took down in the pharmacy.”
There were no holes in the explanation; every part of it was believable.
Shi Jin glanced at his progress bar, curbed his runaway thoughts, and stooped to get in the van.
After leaving the city in which Lishui Hospital was located, Shi Jin saw that his progress bar dropped back to 500.
More and more certain somebody was watching him, he told Gua Two, who was driving, about his hunch. Gua Two took it very seriously. After a moment of thought, he slowed down a little and stopped pulling tricks like changing lanes. Instead, he began to pay attention to whether any vehicles were tailing them.
About a quarter of an hour later, Shi Jin noticed that his progress bar had risen again. At the same time, Gua Two, who’d been glancing in the rear mirror, found that a suspicious black sedan seemed to be following them.
“Oh, there they are. Your intuition is really sharp, Shi Jin. Who do you think is tailing us, guys?” Gua Two asked leisurely, putting a cigarette in his mouth.
“Hydra has been eliminated, so it must be Nine Eagles—only they know that we would definitely go to Lishui Hospital to investigate,” Gua Three replied. “Though if Hydra really is Gunfire’s subordinate organization, it could also be Gunfire—they might’ve guessed we would check Long Shi’s hideout. But no matter who it is, you should pay attention and make sure they have no opportunity to attack us on the road.”
“I know.” Gua Two stepped on the accelerator and changed lane a few times, losing the suspicious car again, and continued, “But I lean towards Nine Eagles. If Gunfire planned to stop us, they would’ve done it in Lishui Hospital. Judging by how smooth our investigation of the hospital went, Gunfire is probably too busy dealing with trouble close to home to have the time to make trouble in another country.”
“Perhaps. Anyway, be careful—the enemy determined our location and is waiting for a chance to attack. Keep driving, I’ll order someone to come over,” Gua Three said, taking out his phone.
It was fine to be lighthearted, but now that he was certain someone was targeting them, Gua Two became serious on the spot—after all, if a fight broke out right then, it was hard to say who would come out of it worse. He spat out the cigarette and sped up. “Don’t worry, I know.”
After being thrown off three times in a row, the people tailing them must have finally realized they’d been made, and no longer bothered to hide. The black car was brazen, accelerating to stick right behind their van.
Gua Two let out a disdainful snort and sped up again.
As the two drivers played their game of back and forth, Shi Jin watched his progress bar go up and down depending on how close the car following them got. After a while, his initial tension turned into numbness, and his thoughts even started to wander. He poked Xiao Si in his mind: “The people in the car behind are probably coming for me—I figure they want to take me hostage to threaten Lian Jun. Maybe I should let them catch me, what do you think? It will be a chance to deal with them.”
Xiao Si rejected his proposal with vehemence: <You can’t, JinJin, you have to come back safely—Darling is waiting for you.>
“Fine.” Shi Jin thought of Lian Jun and reluctantly dismissed the somewhat risky idea.
After nearly three hours of the car chase, Gua Two found that the vehicles following them had increased from one to four.
He frowned. “Did they decide to start?”
“It’s fine, our people have already moved into position. Don’t worry about the enemy, just drive,” Gua Three said, confident enough to seem arrogant.
Gua Two had been waiting for those words. He stepped on the accelerator once again.
Another half-hour passed, and they reached a more remote section of the road. The vehicles following them increased to six, and two of them made attempts to hit their van. Apparently, they couldn’t wait to attack.
“This is it,” Gua Three said out of the blue.
Gua Two didn’t hesitate, turning the steering wheel and heading for an abandoned construction site next to the road.
The cars speeding after them swerved and rushed to catch up. Someone leaned out of the window and started to shoot.
Boom!
A loud bang reverberated through the car as a tire burst, and the car started to careen to one side. Gua Two gripped the steering wheel tighter and stepped on the brakes.
In moments they were surrounded by cars, one slamming straight into their vehicle.
Bang! The van hurtled forward, whiplashing the three inside. Gua Two slapped the dashboard, cursing, “Fucking lunatics! Do they want to kill themselves along with us?!”
“Attack!” Gua Three barked into his phone.
In the next second, countless people sprung up from hiding spots all over the construction site. Under the cover of the unfinished buildings and rubble, they began to shoot at the cars attacking the van, turning the frames into swiss cheese.
The enemy was shocked, but it didn’t take them long to fight back.
For a while, the construction site echoed with unceasing gunfire. Shi Jin was lying in the car, his head pressed down by Gua Three. Hearing someone take advantage of the chaos to approach the van, he reached for his gun.
“Don’t move, people outside will take care of it.” Gua Three pushed Shi Jin’s hand back down, stopping him from taking the weapon out.
So Shi Jin settled down without protest, asked Xiao Si for the enhanced hearing buff, and kept listening to the movements outside.
There was a groan, and the sound of footsteps approaching the van disappeared. Gunshots rang out for a while longer before they petered off, and Gua Three’s phone buzzed, announcing the end of the scuffle.
Gua Two got out of the car to check on the situation. He only let Gua Three and Shi Jin get out after ascertaining it was safe.
All the enemies in sight lay sprawled on the ground, either unconscious or dead.
A man with a rifle hanging on his shoulder came over and said to Gua Three, “It’s Nine Eagles.”
“Put the enemies back in their cars to make it look less conspicuous, and notify the L country authorities to come and deal with this,” Gua Three ordered. He signaled Shi Jin to head for another van, which had just arrived and was stopped not too far away. “Get in that car, we’re going back. They’ll handle the situation here.”
Shi Jin nodded and walked towards the new van.
Gua Two had already gotten in the driver’s seat and was reporting to Lian Jun by phone, telling him about Nine Eagles’ attack.
Gua Three followed behind Shi Jin, still explaining how to handle the follow-up to the man with the rifle.
<JinJin, your progress bar hasn’t fallen, it’s rising! It’s already 850!> Xiao Si cried out.
“Don’t make a fuss, I know. I’m almost 100% certain that this time, Nine Eagles attacked us because they wanted to get to me,” Shi Jin replied calmly. As he walked, he looked completely relaxed but in actuality, his nerves were almost taut to the point of snapping. He observed the surroundings out of the corners of his eyes, deliberately dawdled after opening the door, and moved to get in the car only after Gua Three bid farewell to the man with the rifle.
All of a sudden, Xiao Si screamed, <JinJin! It’s up to 990!>
Pew—
A quiet sound came from a hidden nook nobody had noticed.
Face going grim, Shi Jin reached out and pushed Gua Three into the car. He turned a little, then jerked, stiffened, and fell to the ground as if he had been shot.
“Shi Jin!” Gua Three’s expression went through a dramatic change. He jumped out of the car and stood in front of the fallen teenager, shooting back in the direction the attack came from.
The man with the rifle also heard the noise. As soon as he looked back and saw Shi Jin collapse, he panicked. He shouted for his subordinates to rush the hidden nook, and ordered others to surround and protect the van.
The attacker was restrained in no time at all. His face carried no fear of the consequences he’d suffer when he saw Shi Jin lying on the ground, but rather, excitement. He shouted, “He’s poisoned, poisoned with a custom-made poison, just like Lian Jun! Only my boss has the formula and the antidote! If you want to save his life, tell Lian Jun to beg. Hahahaha!”
Gua Two’s face sank. He threw open the car door and got out, clutching a phone showing that the call was still connected. “Shut him the fuck up!” he snarled.
The subordinates of the man with the rifle promptly gagged the attacker, giving him a few punches along the way.
Gua Two was so angry he wanted to kill him. He quickly walked towards Shi Jin and Gua Three squatting beside him. Seeing that Gua Three was doing nothing except for looking at the teenager with a foolish expression, he said impatiently, “What are you doing! Where did Shi Jin get hit, I’ll—”
He strode closer, then saw a completely healthy-looking Shi Jin lying on the ground, his face rosy and eyes wide open. Gua Two shut his mouth with a snap.
Shi Jin gave him a sheepish smile and raised a hand, showing him the tranquilizer dart he held through his sleeve. “I lay down to find this. Don’t worry, I’m not hurt. However, I think you guys should continue to act and let the Nine Eagles members think I was hit—they plotted against us, and this is a nice opportunity to turn it back on them.”
Gua Two’s expression changed. He began, forcing the words out through clenched teeth, “You goddamn…”
“Ah, it hurts! There’s something inside my body, it’s so uncomfortable!” Shi Jin screamed out of nowhere, grabbing Gua Two’s sleeve and signaling to him to move himself to the car to avoid giving the game away.
Gua Three opened his mouth, but out of the corner of his eye he saw that the attacker’s expression had become more excited after he heard Shi Jin’s “painful” cries. Resigning himself to the inevitable, he wiped a hand over his face, bent down, lifted the “suffering” Shi Jin, and put him in the car.
Translator: Eques
Editor: Con
Proofreader: Kiri
Eques:
There are some questions and issues you often ask about, so from time to time, I’m going to do this:
Q: Were Lian Jun and Long Shi lovers?
A: No. Long Shi’s feelings and actions we all know, and as for Lian Jun… Whether he loved Long Shi (though I doubt it or Long Shi wouldn’t have gone nuts), thought of him as a friend, or simply treated him as a subordinate, they were never lovers. Lian Jun said so to Shi Jin, and with his character, he’d never lie to Shi Jin about such an important thing.
Q: What about Shi Jin’s brothers? And all the mysteries surrounding Shi Jin?
A: After the current arc ends, the plot is going to focus on Shi Jin again.
Thank you for the chapter!
I’ve been wondering since the last update, but how come there are two posts? Is the password protected post different or is it the same as the translation in the image?
Thank you for reading! 💕
The content is exactly the same, just not in images (I post it for my convenience – I’m going to switch the posts some time later).
Oh I see, thank you!
We’re can I find the password for the new chapter 😊
Can’t wait to see how Shi Jin’s trick will play out! Thanks for the chapter!
It’s gonna be funnnn~ 😁
phew intense!
A little – I had fun translating it 😆
Thanks for the great translation. I’m always on the edge of my seat. Only problem is that in quite a few places your image cut off the beginning or end of a paragraph.
Hmm? Thank you for noticing, I’ll take care of it right away! 💦
All right, it should be fine now.
Nice haul. Two more samples of the poison, long shi’s notes and a nice little set up for the enemy.
Hehehehehe our JinJin is so smart. LMAO TOO BAD HE PROBS SCARED DARLING OVER THE PHONE. DARLING ISNT GONNA LET YOU LEAVE HIS SIDE AFTER SCARING HIM.
Clever Shi Jin.
Thank you for the update
Hello Eques and the betwixtedbutterfly team, I just want to say that this has been my favorite site of all times, though I don’t usually show it because I rarely comment but I love all of your translations! And I’m sorry you had to make anti-theft precautions because of reposters huhuhu. I hope this don’t discourage you from translating more but it will totally be understandble if you don’t. Ahah I’m babbling so much. Uhh I just want to say that I Love you guysssss and I appreciate all your hard work so thank you huhuhu thanksss goodness im so… Read more »
Waaaah, thank you~ 🥰
Don’t worry, I won’t be discouraged, thank you for your support! 💞
Bien, tardé en leer más porque obvio tuve que usar mi comprensión pobre en inglés para ver que ocurría… estúpida gente que roba, me ha hecho la vida más difícil, pero me obligan a leer en inglés. Solo puedo agradecer que tu traducción es excelente porque pude comprender un 70% , creo. ahhh bueno esperaré a que la tormenta de idiotas ladrones pasen. Jajaja ese SJ es un gran actor, pero pobre de nuestro LJ sí supo lo que pasaba en la escena, su corazón seguro no está nada bien y es posible que lo encierre, aunque en verdad ha… Read more »
Thank you for the update ❤️
This novel never fail to satisfy me.
I’m so glad to find this gem.
Ohhhhh. Jinjin is so cool!
I wonder how much more of the Guas and members would have their hats off to his skills and his supposedly “sharp intuition”.
Thanks for the update! 💕
Maldita gente ladrona
Me ha complicado la vida
Ahora tengo que leer en inglés y obviamente siento ciertos agujeros
Pero espero que sigas traduciendo y no te desanimes
Amo tu traducción <3
Hell yeah. Our jinjin sure is something. Tho I actually expecting something happen to him? Kkkk
And thank you for the translation
How can we know the password?! Please help me.
Thanks for the chapter! I just want to say that I like reading this novel and your translation 💕^^ Happy Holidays❄️
thank you for the translation.
People actually question the psychopath and ML being lovers? Daym yall need to get check. ML has taste guys. He has taste
The important question is will the brother develop…. Feeling for MC.
Thanks for translating.
So capable, ShiJin 👍