Death Progress Bar

CH 115

Default Dyslexic Roboto Lora

it opened the hidden gate, forcing him to face the final, most difficult crisis which actually originated in his own soul.

This was “saving yourself” in the most literal sense.

“In other words, the source of all my current troubles is the original ‘Shi Jin’s’ memories—the memories you stuffed into my head in the first place,” he said in his mind.
Earnestly, he continued, “Xiao Si, can you take them back?”

With Shi Jin asking this after being silent for a long time, Xiao Si realized he must’ve guessed something.
< No… it’s impossible, > it whispered haltingly.

“Why is it impossible?”

Again, his only reply was silence.

But Shi Jin had already learned how to glean information from the system’s silences.
Calmly, he asked, “Xiao Si, who am I?”

Xiao Si still kept silent, but Shi Jin could feel its panic and helplessness.

“The same face, the same mole, the same name, memories that can’t be taken back and make me go out of control… What’s more, the progress bar is forcing me to relive them in order to save myself…” As Shi Jin recounted all the problematic issues, but rather than following with the logical conclusion they led to, he asked instead, “Is the original ‘Shi Jin’ another me in a parallel world?”

< JinJin… > Xiao Si finally whispered, its voice weak with worry and anxiety.
< Don’t think about it.
You are JinJin, just JinJin.
>

“Are you getting some ridiculous notions in your head again? Don’t be afraid, I’m completely calm right now.” Shi Jin gathered his thoughts and looked at the calm sea surface.
“My father’s name is Shi Lei and my mother’s Lan Xiao.
They were already quite old when they adopted me.
I was their only child.
They were proud of me when I graduated from a police academy and continued to work as a policeman.
Their lives reached their end without illness or pain.
I wore the police uniform to their funerals.
They were good, wonderful people, and my biggest regret is that I wasn’t able to find my other half before they died.”

That was his last life, short but blessed, enough to support him through all the difficulties.
Moreover, he had Lian Jun by his side, so no matter what the truth was, he would go on living the life he had now—filled with happiness, sunny and without hatred.

“Forget it, it’s meaningless to pursue this matter now.
What’s important is to find a way to get rid of this emotional resonance.
You know, I like playing games with a third-person view better—FPSes make me dizzy!” Concluding the conversation in his head, he spat out the lollipop stick, sat up straight, and glanced back to see what Gua Two was doing.

Gua Two had his back turned to him and was talking on the phone in a stage whisper, voice panicky: “I’m serious! There’s something wrong with Shi Jin.
His expression is changing all the time as if he’s talking to someone, but I’m the only one here! Uncle Long, could he really have some mental disorder? Will he go psycho if I interrupt him right now?”

Shi Jin: “……”

At two o’clock in the morning, the Tarantula’s three cargo ships set off from the harbor and headed for Formosa.
About half an hour into the voyage, more than a dozen speedy, maneuverable trawlers suddenly approached the cargo ships, surrounding them.

Once Tarantula notified them of the attack, Gua Two immediately sprang into action.

Ten minutes later, the four Annihilation’s vessels stealthily approached the attack site, stopped behind Snake Fang’s lines, and launched a surprise attack.

Snake Fang and Tarantula clashed in the center of the battlefield, the sound of gunfire and artillery barrage filling the air.
Shi Jin stayed by Gua Two’s side, happily sniping at the enemies with a little help from Xiao Si’s buffs.

Seeing him fire one shot after another, without pausing or taking aim properly, Gua Two said with a painful wince, “You’re not shooting blind, are you? Shooting from a moving ship is difficult, but you’re taking barely a few seconds to aim.
Are you sure you aren’t hitting friendlies? Dude, you do know how to identify targets, right?”

Shi Jin stiffened.
“My marksmanship is excellent, don’t worry,” he replied slightly sheepishly.

“‘Don’t worry,’ my ass!” Exasperated, Gua Two slapped Shi Jin on the head.
“Restrain yourself a little, will you? If you accidentally shoot our allies, your ass will be toast and I won’t be able to protect you—Lu Shan is no less protective of her people than Jun-shao!”

Shi Jin docilely accepted the rebuke, even while the gun in his hands spat out another bullet.
It unerringly hit a Snake Fang member who was about to stealthily throw a Molotov cocktail on the board of Tarantula’s cargo ship.

Gua Two hurriedly raised the binoculars to check Shi Jin’s target, breathing with relief when it turned out to have been a Snake Fang’s ship.
He looked at Shi Jin’s focused expression and hesitated for a moment, but in the end, chose to trust the younger man rather than force him to put the gun down.

After more than half an hour’s struggle, Snake Fang decided they were unlikely to win and tried to withdraw.
However, Tarantula’s members were determined not to let them go and redoubled their efforts, successfully stopping their retreat.

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Seeing this, Gua Two immediately ordered the Annihilation’s ships to stop attacking and pull back to the edge of the battlefield.

“We’re not going to thrash Snake Fang more?” Shi Jin asked, disappointed.

Gua Two shook his head.
“No.
Tarantula’s follow-up forces are coming—Snake Fang no longer has any chance to run away.
The show here is over, the next part will take place on Formosa.”

Shi Jin nodded to show he understood and reluctantly put his gun down.

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

Just as Lian Jun predicted, Snake Fang’s intended robbery of Tarantula’s goods was just a cover.
Their real purpose was to attract Tarantula’s forces and tie them down at sea, then launch a surprise attack on Tarantula’s bases on Formosa.

In the early hours of the morning, shortly after Gua Two’s retreat and the arrival of massive Tarantula’s reinforcements at the site of the naval skirmish, several of Tarantula’s strongholds and warehouses on the other side of Formosa were attacked by Snake Fang.
Fortunately, Lu Shan had long been prepared and, aided by Gua Three and Gua Five, successfully resisted the attack.
By a stroke of luck, Tarantula even captured Xi Fan, Snake Fang’s deputy leader, who was commanding the attack in person.

This made Lu Shan very happy.
The moment the battle ended, not even waiting for the sun to rise, she called Zhang Zhuoyuan to kick up a fuss about her miserable situation because of Snake Fang’s attack and Xi Fang’s attempt to kill her, and requested an explanation for “Snake Fang’s viciously targeting the life of the organization’s leader.”

Zhang Zhuoyuan didn’t expect Snake Fang to be so bold as to target not only Tarantula’s goods but also their most indispensable bases on Formosa and even Lu Shan’s life.
When Lu Shan demanded an explanation from him, quoting the very document he issued to use against Tarantula not too long ago, he almost passed out from fury and started silently cursing at Snake Fang.

Idiots! Fucking idiots! Not only stupid but also useless! Being greedy is one thing, recklessly targeting Tarantula’s lifeline is quite another! And if it wasn’t enough, you were so damn incompetent while at it that Lu Shan has completely become the side that’s in the right!

The deputy leader was captured—that was simply the biggest joke Zhang Zhuoyuan heard this year! No matter what Xi Fan’s actual intentions had been, now that Lu Shan had him in her hands, she could spin the truth to be whatever suited her, and she was certain to claim he was there to kill her!

When Tarantula did the same thing, to gain favor with Annihilation, he cracked down on it hard.
If he let Snake Fang off, that was simply asking Tarantula to kick up a big stink.
However, Snake Fang was already lacking resources and now suffered heavy losses at Tarantula’s hands.
If it was subjected to the government’s suppression on top of that, it was likely to directly collapse.
What about the balance of power then? What about the ‘bad apple spoiling the whole bunch’? Wouldn’t all their plans be ruined?

Zhang Zhuoyuan had no idea how to proceed.
He squeezed his phone, watching time trickle down with torturous slowness until he judged Lian Jun had gotten up and finished eating breakfast, then called him to ask for advice.

When Lian Jun received the call, he’d been carefully watching over Shi Jin, who was so sleepy he could fall asleep at any moment but still insisted on having breakfast with him.
He was in no mood to listen to Zhang Zhuoyuan rambling.

He endured until the other man finished explaining, then said concisely, “Contact Snake Fang’s leader and make Lu Shan and him talk face-to-face, on the grounds that there’s no proof Xi Fan was truly targeting Lu Shan’s life.
You should just watch from the sidelines and mediate.
I have something to do now, we’ll talk more later.” Not waiting for the reply, he hung up and stretched out a hand to stop Shi Jin’s head from falling into the soup bowl.

Zhang Zhuoyuan sat still for a moment, stunned.
After thinking for a while, he sprang to his feet, exclaiming excitedly, “Yes, that’s right! The truth can’t be decided with just Lu Shan’s words as proof! What an ingenious move, Lian Jun is brilliant!”

“A-choo!” Shi Jin woke up with a sneeze.
Feeling a familiar palm touching his forehead, he rubbed against it instinctively, then struggled to make his eyes open.
When he succeeded, he turned to look at Lian Jun and announced, “I dreamed that someone praised you for being brilliant.”

Lian Jun moved his wheelchair over to him and put a hand over his forcibly wide-open eyes.
“The breakfast is finished, now go to sleep,” he coaxed.

“You’re done already?” Shi Jin asked, unconvinced.
He felt as if he had just sat down at the table.
He pulled down Lian Jun’s hand and tried to turn his head, wanting to confirm the situation on the tabletop.

Lian Jun hurriedly held his head, stopping him.
“I’ve forgotten a document in our bedroom.
Could you go and get it for me? I haven’t finished eating yet.”

Shi Jin frowned and blinked, forcing himself to wake up.
Getting to his feet, he said, “Okay, I’ll get it for you.
You should finish your breakfast properly.”

Lian Jun waited until there was a few steps’ distance between them, then got up from the wheelchair and followed him quietly.

They entered the bedroom one after another.
A few minutes later, Lian Jun walked out alone, his lips much rosier than when he went in.

As it happened, Rong Zhouzhong was entering the living room from the walkway outside at that very moment.
The two stopped at the same time and stared at each other in silence.
Rong Zhouzhong’s eyes widened little by little as his gaze moved from Lian Jun’s face to his apparently fully functioning legs.
A moment later, his mouth dropped open and the packages of snacks he was holding fell to the floor.