Death Progress Bar

br>Right now, she’s still wrangling with Zhang Zhuoyuan, not even caring that the restrictions on her businesses have been lifted.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gua Six ignored him.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A film crew?

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

Translator’s Notes:

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