Death Progress Bar

egs.
Once Xiao Si informed him of this new arrival, he looked out of the cabin window, but only saw an indistinct shape with lights scattered here and there moving towards them.
It startled him—he almost thought it was a ghost ship.

Lian Jun, noticing that his movements paused, sat up and followed his gaze.
“It’s Phantom,” he said.
“They love black.
Their ship looks like that every year.”

Shi Jin had seen that name in the pile of information Gua One gave him.

Similar to Annihilation, Phantom was also a legal criminal organization that had been listed for many years, and a few years ago, they almost became powerful enough to stand on the same level.
Unfortunately, misfortune struck them—Phantom lost its leader just as it managed to build up enough momentum.
Due to the inexperienced new leader repeatedly making wrong decisions, their strength gradually withered.
Now, they were at the bottom of the top echelon of legal underworld organizations in China.

“Phantom’s new leader is smart.” Abruptly, Lian Jun said something completely different from what was in the file.
He pulled Shi Jin’s hand, took a towel, and carefully wiped it clean of the massage oil as he explained, “If Phantom continued to develop, it would’ve likely ended up like Black Rose.
Phantom’s leader chose to cripple his strength and retreat overseas, which was a wise, far-sighted decision.”

Shi Jin looked away from the window and back at Lian Jun.
Unconsciously, his eyes focused on the other man’s eyelashes, long and thick, and more beautiful than they had any right to be.

“In recent years, many of the large underworld organizations in China declined and vanished, and the names listed in the top echelon change faster and faster.
Though on the surface, Phantom seems to be getting weaker, it firmly stays in the top echelon.
The bottom position makes it unlikely to become the government’s target, and at the same time, allows Phantom not to lose its top qualifications and keep enough power to be a force to be reckoned with.
Very clever, and also very prudent.”

Lian Jun meticulously wiped the teenager’s fingers clean one by one, then raised his head and said, “Phantom came earlier than expected—they must have decided to change their strategy.
You should observe them.
If you can guess what they’re going to do, I’ll promise to fulfill a request.”

Shi Jin wasn’t prepared for him to suddenly look up and into his eyes.
He was dazed for a moment, then returned to himself and nodded.
“All right, then I’ll try to guess… Wait a moment, you’ll promise to do anything?”

“If you’re right,” Lian Jun emphasized.

Shi Jin instantly perked up.
“Is there a time limit?”

Lian Jun squeezed his hand and replied, “You need to tell me your guess before the third day of the conference.
Otherwise our bet is canceled.”

“Rest assured that I’ll hand in my answer in time,” Shi Jin promised hurriedly.
He decided to win the bet, then ask Lian Jun to go for a proper check-up.
Uncle Long said it was a long time since Lian Jun had one.

Since he had such an important thing riding on winning the bet, Shi Jin at once turned all his attention to watching the black ship.
However, Phantom refused to cooperate with his observation—once they came a little closer, they stopped and turned off all the lights.
It seemed they didn’t mean to actively seek contact with the officials.

“Don’t tell me it’s too late and they’re going to rest?” Shi Jin muttered, glancing at the hour.
Since it wasn’t early, he asked Xiao Si to keep an eye on Phantom’s movements and climbed into bed.

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He woke at dawn and immediately dashed to the window.
However, there wasn’t anything to see—the Phantom’s ship remained motionless and without any signs of life, resembling a jet-black tessera inlaid in the dark mosaic of the seascape.

“Have they come to the government ship?”

Xiao Si replied,

Shi Jin was more and more confused.
He took one more look at the black ship, and said doubtfully, “It couldn’t be that they came early just to wait for the other big shots because they want to move together?”

As if to confirm his conjecture, the next day Phantom still didn’t move.
The other organizations began to arrive, though, and sent people to contact the officials either individually or with allies.

At dinnertime, several organizations comparable to Annihilation appeared and anchored their ships close to the government ship, encircling it and effectively creating an inner ring.

When these big organizations arrived, Lian Jun’s progress bar rose to 800.
While Shi Jin had been prepared for that, it still ticked him off.
He inwardly noted their names and the positions of their ships.

Gua Two counted the ships.
“I guess everyone except Nine Eagles is here,” he said to Gua One who stood nearby observing the situation outside.

Gua One nodded.
“They like theatrical entrances, they should show up last, as usual.”

Gua Two’s lips curled in a vicious grin.
“If they wait till the first meeting is about to begin like they did last year, they’re going to get a nasty surprise.
This year the government sent Liu Zhenjun, and he’s no pushover.”

“They’re just a bunch of clowns, there’s no need to care about them,” Gua One replied, his expression indicating he didn’t think much of Nine Eagles.

Shi Jin heard their conversation and recalled the information about Nine Eagles.
It wasn’t quite what he expected.

According to the information from Gua One, Nine Eagles was the fastest-developing top echelon organization, and the one most likely to take the top position from Annihilation.
And yet, everyone in Annihilation seemed to completely disregard them.

Gua Three noticed his confusion and explained, “Nine Eagles could develop to this degree only because Jun-shao allowed it—he needs such an organization to divert attention from us.”

Since it was like that, Shi Jin understood the others’ attitude.
Still, one couldn’t be too careful—he shouldn’t overlook Nine Eagles either.

After only one day, the empty sea was densely packed with ships of all sizes and types.
They slowly adjusted their positions, the familiar organizations gathering together, enemies tacitly moving further from each other; at the same time, the ones that wanted to get closer relations with the authorities approached the inner ring, and the ones that wished not to attract their attention quietly fell back.
The only ones that didn’t move much were the several ships in the inner ring.
They belonged to the large organizations that came every year, and no one dared covet their positions.

Shi Jin mostly paid attention to their own and the Phantom’s ships.
The results of his observation were two discoveries, one expected, one surprising.
Annihilation’s ship, though belonging to the inner ring, was obviously ostracized by the other inner-ring vessels.
There was a large void around it, and even the outer ring ships didn’t dare come too close behind.
And Phantom, one of the first organizations to arrive, slowly withdrew from the inner ring to the outer.

“What the heck is Phantom doing?” Shi Jin was completely lost.
He began to worry he might not win the bet.

Xiao Si couldn’t make sense of it either and kept silent.

The strange night passed peacefully.
The next morning, Shi Jin, who woke early in order not to miss “the clowns’ theatrical entrance,” left his cabin and witnessed an almost magical scene.

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All the vessels around the government ship suddenly began to reduce the distance between their neighbors, throw ropes and extend gangplanks, joining one ship with another until the passages connected all of them like a gigantic spider web.

The government ship was at its center, and the ships in the inner ring naturally became nodes linking other vessels with it.

That wasn’t the end of surprises.
Shi Jin saw that Phantom’s ship, still in the outer ring when he went to sleep yesterday, had, at some time during the night, moved next to Annihilation.
It even extended a gangplank on its own initiative, which was quite polite.

Lian Jun also noticed this scene.
His fingers tapped on the wheelchair armrest, then he took out his satellite phone and called Gua Five, allowing him to accept Phantom’s approach.

“Jun-shao?” Shi Jin asked, confused.

“Think for yourself.” Lian Jun gave him an inscrutable look.
“I won’t give you hints.”

Shi Jin remembered their bet and silently returned his glance.
He didn’t ask further, but obediently began to puzzle over what was going on.

The meeting was to begin at 10 a.m.
After nine, the leaders of the large organizations began to gather their people and arrive on the government ship.
Shi Jin and Gua Nine escorted Lian Jun to the official in charge then quietly retreated to a less conspicuous position on the deck and watched the excitement.

“Huh, Nine Eagles still hasn’t arrived.
I guess they are going to get a cold welcome when they finally do,” Gua Nine said in a mocking tone, crossing his arms on his chest.

Shi Jin listened to him, but his attention was on Phantom.
It wasn’t until half-past nine that there was any movement.
He hurriedly asked Xiao Si for a vision enhancement buff and stared at it intently.

On the deck that had been devoid of life until now, six figures appeared one after another.
In front was a lean man about thirty years old, wearing simple black sportswear.
It was probably Phantom’s leader.

Half a step behind him walked a man in a suit.
He was tall, with broad shoulders, narrow hips, long legs, and carried a briefcase.
Shi Jin couldn’t see his face clearly because he talked with the Phantom’s leader and his head was turned.

They were followed by several people looking like bodyguards, poker-faced, and moving in an easy, controlled way.

Shi Jin gave them a brief measuring glance, and couldn’t help but look at the man in a suit again.
Many of the bosses wore suits, but his attention was inexplicably drawn to this man, and he felt he looked a little familiar.

Since Phantom’s ship returned to the inner ring, it didn’t take them long to arrive.

Perhaps the man in a suit felt Shi Jin’s gaze.
When he walked halfway up the last gangplank, he abruptly paused his conversation with Phantom’s boss and turned his way, accurately finding Shi Jin’s eyes.

Xiao Si shrieked,

Shi Jin was no less shocked.
Stunned, he watched Fei Yujing’s finally visible face and cold eyes, thoughts flashing through his mind like colors in a kaleidoscope: his suddenly rising progress bar, Shi Weichong’s words, the information found by Lian Jun, then again the progress bar.
For some reason, his head grew hotter and hotter, and without thinking, he raised an arm and showed Fei Yujing the middle finger.

—What the hell did the original ‘Shi Jin’ do to you, you asshole? Your killing intent soared as soon as you saw me? Fuck you!

Fei Yujing seemed just as surprised as Shi Jin.
His eyebrows wrinkled slightly.
He was about to take a closer look at his appearance when he saw him flip him off.
His eyes narrowing, he scrutinized the young man’s features, and his face turned unreadable.

Xiao Si’s voice trembled:

Shi Jin’s expression stiffened.
It couldn’t be the finger’s fault, could it? Should I take it back? But I don’t feel like taking it back.
Awkward, he froze with his hand raised.