Death Progress Bar

original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.

After lunch, the military training officially began.
The squads were separated and assigned to instructors, with Shi Jin’s squad inevitably taken over by Xiang Aoting.

All the students who had seen Xiang Aoting “educating” Shi Jin in the morning couldn’t help but take a breath when they saw him coming their way. It’s actually him—it’s over, we won’t get through this alive.

The morale of the team went down like a lead balloon.

Seeing everyone’s reaction, Shi Jin shook off his own resigned weariness and said, “Come on, don’t be like this.
Didn’t you notice that we actually hit the jackpot? Look at our instructor’s insignia—he has the highest military rank among all the instructors here.”

Because it was the first day of the freshmen’s military training, the soldiers weren’t wearing fatigues but regular summer uniforms.
The rank insignia was clearly visible on the shoulder loops.

Hearing Shi Jin’s words, his classmates were taken aback and turned to stare at Xiang Aoting, who had already drawn near.
After seeing his rank, they couldn’t help but gasp again.

What the hell, why would a senior officer come to serve as a drill instructor for freshmen? It didn’t make sense!

“What are you looking at? Eyes in front!” Xiang Aoting barked as soon as he arrived, scaring the loosely standing cadets into straightening up and staring straight ahead.

Looking at Xiang Aoting’s appearance at this moment, Shi Jin had a feeling of novelty.
He sighed with feeling—judging from Xiang Aoting’s current harsh attitude towards the cadets, it seemed his brother had given him a royal treatment earlier.

While he was immersed in thoughts, Xiang Aoting had already finished introducing himself and began rearranging the students’ positions.
When he got to Shi Jin, he had to pat the teenager’s head to wake him up.

Embarrassed, Shi Jin let out a low cough and obediently found his place in the line according to height.

The team sorted out, Xiang Aoting pulled out the roster and took the roll call.
He roughly taught everyone the standard military postures, then said something that sent chills down everyone’s spine: “First, stand at attention for an hour.
If a single person moves, the whole squad will get additional training!”

Fuck! The cadets gaped at him, stupefied—the whole squad would get punished because of one person moving? That was too cruel! Instructor, are you a devil?!

In the meantime, “the devil”, face expressionless, had already slapped the back of the first student in the first row.
“Keep your back straight! I taught you that a moment ago, you’ve already forgotten it?” Then he turned to the second person in the first row.

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Everyone recalled Xiang Aoting punishing Shi Jin in the morning, knocking his cap crooked and so on, and shuddered.
They hurriedly gathered their straying thoughts and stood still, waiting for the devil’s inspection.

The cadets stood at attention as well as they could, and Xiang Aoting criticized and corrected them one by one.
It was a sweltering summer day, but their hearts felt as if they were in the middle of a cold winter.

It was terrible.
Although the instructor didn’t say anything nasty, the look in his eyes, which seemed to say that he was looking at useless waste, was enough to deal everyone critical damage.

Shi Jin stared at the front and stood still.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xiang Aoting slowly getting closer, and unconsciously straightened his back.

Finally, Xiang Aoting stopped in front of Shi Jin.
The two brothers stared at each other.

“You, get to the front,” Xiang Aoting said out of the blue.

Shi Jin: “???”

“Hurry up!” the man urged him with a frown.

Shi Jin returned to his senses and hurriedly answered, “Yes, sir!” then went to stand in front of the squad.
Inwardly, he kept cursing Xiang Aoting—what was with this public shaming, wasn’t his brother bullying him too much…

“Take a look at his posture.
His middle fingers are aligned with the seams of his pants, his legs are straight and heels touching, and his body weight is evenly balanced between his right and left foot.” Xiang Aoting stood next to Shi Jin and put a hand on his shoulder, using him as an example to once more teach the cadets how to stand at attention.
Then he looked at the students whose posture he corrected a moment ago, saying, “I only taught him it once in the morning when I punished him, and he remembered the key points, but look at you: I just corrected you, yet many of you are already making the same mistakes again.”

Shi Jin blinked, surprised—Xiang Aoting was actually praising him?

“As soon as I praised you, you changed your center of gravity.
Don’t be distracted, stand properly!” Xiang Aoting admonished him in a low voice, patting his back.

Shi Jin straightened obediently, deciding to stop cursing his brother for the time being.

Xiang Aoting continued to teach the students with Shi Jin as a model, then went to correct their posture again.
When he finally was barely satisfied, he stood to the side, watching them.

Shi Jin, still standing in the front: “???”

No, wait, why didn’t you let me go back? It feels awkward standing here all alone. And with everyone looking at him, he didn’t even have a chance to slack off.

The cadets glanced at the singled-out Shi Jin, then at Xiang Aoting, who slowly walked along the last row, and felt some sympathy—

The instructor definitely targeted the young master.
Although the instructor praised him, he left him standing in the front alone, watched by everyone.
The young master was really pitiful.

The time went by minute by minute.
The students didn’t dare to turn their heads to see if Xiang Aoting had left, so they could only look straight ahead at Shi Jin standing in the perfect “at attention” position.
Unconsciously, everyone focused on him, and they began to secretly worry.

Young master, I don’t know how long you can last, but please don’t fall too early or everyone will get additional training.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour, forty minutes… One after another, some students wobbled and were pointed out by Xiang Aoting, who subsequently increased the time for which the squad had to stand.

Gradually, everyone’s attention shifted from Shi Jin, who was standing as still as a rock, to the rest of the team—Please, don’t let anyone else move.
I’m so tired, I want to rest already.

The one-hour time limit arrived at long last, but because of the added punishment time, they had to continue standing.

About ten minutes later, another squad was allowed to rest, then the next one, then the next.
Their mood affected by the cheerful atmosphere around them, the people in Shi Jin’s squad gradually became restless, and more and more of them stumbled.
Of course, Xiang Aoting kept mercilessly adding to the penalty time.
Slowly, everyone felt desperate, even resentful.

“If you want to be better than others, you must work harder than others.” Xiang Aoting suddenly went back to the front and stood next to Shi Jin.
Facing the cadets, he said, “If this was the battlefield and every time you moved, one of your comrades would die, would you still dare to move?”

The youths frowned, their faces tensing.

“Those who haven’t moved, aren’t you thinking that those who have are dragging you down and it’s their fault that you were punished with additional training?” Xiang Aoting glanced around the crowd and saw that some people indeed looked angry.
Suddenly, he said, “All those who have just moved, sit down and rest.”

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Everyone was stunned for a moment then their expressions changed.

“Sit down!” Xiang Aoting barked again, seeing that nobody moved.

Frightened, the people who had been called before sat down hesitantly.

The other students’ expressions became angrier and angrier, and the looks they gave Xiang Aoting became more resentful, thinking that he was too unfair.

Ignoring the hostile gazes, Xiang Aoting announced, “From now on, anyone who moves can sit down and rest, while the remaining cadets are responsible for completing the additional training,” then went to stand behind the squad again.

The atmosphere changed in an instant.
Everyone still standing started glancing at all the sitting people around them, hesitation and struggle obvious on their faces—should they persevere and carry the burden of the others’ mistakes, or should they give up directly so they could rest as well? Which should they choose?

“I’m sorry.” A chubby boy was the first to give up.
After apologizing, he took off his cap and sat down, lowering his head in shame.

After the first came the second, then the next one.
Some people staggered unintentionally, some pretended to be unintentional, and sat down one after another.
There were fewer and fewer people standing, and the atmosphere in the team was more and more bleak; those who had already rested did not have a relaxed look on their faces, but they all kept their heads down in silence, their expressions ugly.

Finally, only Luo Donghao and Shi Jin were left standing out of the entire squad of forty people.
By now, they’d been standing for nearly two hours, and their clothes were already soaked with sweat.
Around them, the other squads finished resting and moved on to the next part of the training.

“Sir, I’ve finished resting and can continue completing the penalty,” someone reported, wanting to switch with Luo Donghao or Shi Jin so that they could take a break.

Xiang Aoting glanced at the speaker.
“On the battlefield, people who have already ‘died’ won’t come back to life.”

His words startled the cadets.
Their heads lowered more and more, and some of them couldn’t help but clench their fists.

Luo Donghao, whose legs were so soft that he almost fell down, gritted his teeth and stood up straighter.
He looked at Shi Jin, who stood straight and steady the whole time, and determination set on his face—he mustn’t… lose to this guy!

Twenty minutes later, Luo Donghao’s knees buckled and he tumbled to the ground.
Now, Shi Jin was the only one still standing.
However, he stood at the front with his back to everyone, so perhaps he didn’t know that his whole team was wiped out.

The minutes ticked by.
Someone couldn’t help but say, “Sir, everyone’s had enough rest already.
Let’s start the next part of the training, like the other squads.”

“Shi Jin is still holding on.
Are you giving up on him?” Xiang Aoting asked, unmoved.

They all felt as if they were slapped.
They tightened their lips and no one spoke anymore.

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

As time passed, the surrounding teams had begun training in full swing, but their corner was deadly quiet.
Everyone looked at Shi Jin in silence, with serious and tense expressions.
The first people to fall down had rested for more than an hour; their physical exhaustion had already dissipated, but their mental exhaustion was getting heavier and heavier.

More time went by.
As the late afternoon was about to fade into early evening, Xiang Aoting finally walked back to the front.
Putting a hand on Shi Jin’s shoulder, he looked at the sitting cadets and said, “The whole team consists of forty people, thirty-nine of whom fell.
Each person accounts for three minutes of additional training time, which makes nearly two hours.
Shi Jin has completed this penalty.
This was Shi Jin’s determination to ‘save’ you.
Remember the feeling of ‘resting’ just now, and when you go back, think about what your choice would mean if you were on the battlefield.
Dismissed!” After he finished speaking, he tapped Shi Jin on the back, then caught Shi Jin’s suddenly limp body.
He bent down, put the young man on his back, and walked outside the training ground.

Shi Jin had stood at attention for too long, and now his body was stiff and unable to move.
As he lay on Xiang Aoting’s back, he mustered the last vestiges of his strength to grab the man’s collar and said, grinding his teeth, “Fourth Brother, just wait for the combat training.” See if I don’t beat you to the ground!

“I’m sorry.” Xiang Aoting shifted the teenager’s body higher on his back to let him sit more comfortably.
“But I knew you could do it… Xiao Jin, after today, no one will be able to say that you’re a spoiled young master, and no one will bully you anymore.
You also are my hero, and you’re growing up so fast.”

Stunned, Shi Jin looked up at the back of Xiang Aoting’s head for a moment.
Suddenly, he grabbed his brother’s ears and pulled them.
“I have plenty of ways to prove myself,” he growled.
“You overdid it—I thought my leg bones would snap and pierce through my backside!”

The ear yank shocked Xiang Aoting into momentary silence.
He turned his head to look at Shi Jin, saying stiffly, “Is, is that so? I’m sorry, I seem to have done something unnecessary…”

“But thank you.” Shi Jin leaned back on him, put his head on his shoulder, and whispered, “And thank you for carrying me out so I didn’t fall flat on my face in front of my whole squad, Fourth Brother.” Although being piggybacked by the instructor actually seemed more embarrassing of the two.

Well… never mind.

Xiang Aoting was silent, only the arms supporting Shi Jin tightened their grip.
As he continued walking outside the training ground, he murmured, “You don’t need to thank me… As your older brother, this is what I’m supposed to do.”