Death Progress Bar

ized organizations.

The discussion time of a quarter-hour passed quickly.
Zhang Zhuoyuan counted everyone’s votes and finally asked, “Is there anyone who has an objection? If not, this organization will pass.”

At this point, Rattlesnake staying on the list seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
Zuo Yang still looked bored, but the pen turning in his hand spun with more fluidity.

“I do,” Lian Jun said.
This was the first time he spoke during this meeting, and also the first time he vetoed a candidate.

The pen in Zuo Yang’s hand ceased moving, and his eyebrows twitched.
Before he could think, he asked, “Why do you object?”

Lian Jun glanced at him and ignored the question.
“Nine Eagles seems to care about this small organization—I haven’t heard you speak for others before.”

This sentence was full of meaning.
Finally realizing he’d fallen into Lian Jun’s trap, Zuo Yang choked then hurried to salvage the situation: “I just think it’s strange.
I care about it? Don’t you mean yourself? After all, this is the first time you’ve spoken.”

“Of course I care,” Lian Jun answered with an expression as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Snakes disgust me, so I object, but what’s with your reaction? It seems you like snakes?”

Zuo Yang’s face distorted, and he almost crushed the pen in his hand.

Lian Jun’s words were unambiguous, so how could the rest of the leaders not understand what was going on? They took another look at the information on the screen, their expressions changing—since Zuo Yang reacted so strongly, Rattlesnake must’ve been recommended by Nine Eagles.

Taking the lead, Old Ghost raised his voice, “Director Zhang, I change my vote.
Rattlesnake hasn’t been set-up for long, its qualifications are lacking, and the number of its members is weird.
I think it’s much too early for it to appear on this list, and it should be removed.”

The leaders of other organizations also woke up and changed their previous votes, finding all sorts of reasons why Rattlesnake wasn’t a suitable candidate.

Zhang Zhuoyuan let himself be convinced and held the vote again.
Finally, after getting the results, he crossed out Rattlesnake’s name.

Zuo Yang was so angry he slammed his fist on the table.
He stopped pretending to be bored, staring icily at Lian Jun instead.

Lian Jun returned to being a silent onlooker and continued to ignore him.

The list was long, so to nobody’s surprise, the meeting was extended.
By the time all the dust settled, night had already begun to fall.

The afterglow of the setting sun fell on the deck.
The subdued light softened the contours and muted the colors.
Unexpectedly, it infused a meeting of underworld bosses with a warm feeling.

Liu Zhenjun came down from the bridge and stood with Zhang Zhuoyuan, who led the organization leaders to the deck and thanked them for their cooperation, hoping they would have an opportunity to cooperate again, and other such clichés.
Then, he announced the conference was a great success and officially declared its end.

In fact, the surging undercurrents aside, this year’s conference was quite peaceful.
There were no open conflicts between organizations, no shootouts, and no brainless attempts to challenge the authorities or Lian Jun.
Everyone actually behaved, which was as rare as snow in summer.

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The raised deck fence had been lowered so everyone could return to their ships.

The underworld bosses didn’t bother to exchange false pleasantries with the officials—they left and never looked back.
Soon, the number of people on the deck halved.

Lian Jun sat next to Zhang Zhuoyuan, accompanying him for the last time.

No one noticed when Zuo Yang stood before him.
Ignoring both Zhang Zhuoyuan and Liu Zhenjun, he asked coldly, “Lian Jun, you seem to target me.
You have a death wish?”

Lian Jun didn’t bother to look at him.
Watching the sunset, he said mildly, “Death wish? I don’t have much to ask for in life, I just need to live longer than you.”

Zuo Yang’s face darkened.
Suddenly, he grabbed his subordinate’s gun and chambered the bullet.

Everyone’s expression changed.
Gua One, standing behind Lian Jun, and Liu Zhenjun, beside him, exchanged quick glances, then one stepped forward to block, and the other pulled out his gun.
Shi Jin, who was heading that way, paled and sprinted forward.

“It’s all right,” Lian Jun stopped Gua One.

The next second, Zuo Yang aimed at the sky and pulled the trigger then threw the gun back to his subordinate.
He gave Gua One a glance full of disdain and said to Liu Zhenjun, “Can you move your gun away, Admiral? ‘The authorities can’t harm the conference participants’—you couldn’t have forgotten this rule?”

Liu Zhenjun lowered the gun and warned, “Don’t mess around, or you might see that though your ship arrived here easily, it might have trouble leaving.”

That was a naked threat.
Zuo Yang’s face looked even uglier, but he held on to his temper.
Facing Lian Jun, he said, “You did all this just to force me to show my hand? All right, I’ll show it to you—remember to take a good look.” He gave Lian Jun a malicious glance, stepped onto the gangway, and left.

Shi Jin had gotten close enough to hear his words and instinctively stood in front of Lian Jun to protect him.
He scanned the surroundings vigilantly, looking for Zuo Yang’s potential traps.

Uncle Long, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said, “Jun-shao, look at Nine Eagles’ ship.” His voice was somewhat agitated.

Everyone turned in that direction.

A thin man was suddenly dragged onto the spacious deck by Zuo Yang’s subordinates.
He was rudely pulled to his feet and turned to face the government ship.

Xiao Si screamed excitedly,

Shi Jin’s heart beat faster, and he unconsciously took a step in the man’s direction, then noticed they were still divided by the stretch of water and backed away.
Unfortunately, though Long Shi finally appeared in the open, it was impossible to grab him.

Gua Two couldn’t help but turn to Lian Jun and say, “Jun-shao, it’s Long Shi.”

Everyone was excited but Lian Jun, on the contrary, was calm.
He spared Long Shi just a short glance then looked at Gua Three by his side and commanded, “Pack up and prepare to move back to our ship.”

“Jun-shao,” Gua One called out, unable to endure.
The angry Zuo Yang brought Long Shi to the deck, and Nine Eagles’ ship was just next to Annihilation’s—they only needed to inform Gua Five, and they could go into action.
Right now, their chances of successfully getting the traitor back were pretty high.

But Lian Jun waved his hand.
“Don’t be fooled, it’s a trap,” he said.
Seeing that Shi Jin still stared at Nine Eagles’ ship, he reached out, grabbed his dangling hand, and pulled him to his side.

Shi Jin returned to himself and looked at him.
“Jun-shao, I can—”

“You can nothing,” Lian Jun cut him off.
He motioned the teenager to push the wheelchair and turned to Zhang Zhuoyuan to take his leave.

The official also noticed the commotion on Nine Eagles’ ship.
“Do you need help?” He asked.

Lian Jun shook his head.
“No, at this moment, the government shouldn’t confront Nine Eagles openly, it would have a negative impact.
I’ll handle this by myself.”

Zhang Zhuoyuan frowned but didn’t insist.
He only said to call him if Lian Jun changed his mind and let his subordinates escort Annihilation’s members back to their ship.

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Shi Jin, unaccustomed to the swaying of the gangway, wisely asked Gua One to take over pushing the wheelchair and moved to walk in the rear.
His attention was still on the deck of Nine Eagles’ ship.

Zuo Yang didn’t return to his cabin but stood next to Long Shi, the knife in his hand glistening coldly.
He used it to trace lines on Long Shi’s body, glancing at Lian Jun from time to time.

The traitorous doctor was likely drugged; his eyes were half-closed, and he didn’t look completely conscious.

Lian Jun and his party were the last to return.
By the time they stepped on the deck of their ship, the government ship was almost completely freed from the spider web of gangways.

Now, they were very close to Nine Eagles’ ship, and Long Shi’s appearance could be seen clearly.

It was a standard handsome face, but unnaturally so, with obvious traces of plastic surgery.
Gua One and the others frowned while Uncle Long’s face was heavy.
He clenched his fists, trying to suppress his emotions.

Lian Jun still treated Zuo Yang, or rather the whole Nine Eagles’ vessel, as air.
After the official clear-out signal, he ordered Gua Five, who was in charge of Annihilation’s ship, to dismantle the gangway and prepare for the return voyage.

Gua Five immediately set people to do that.

It wasn’t only them—after the clear-out signal, all organizations swung into action, and the gangways which spun on the sea for three days like a gigantic cobweb began to disappear.
First, the outermost ships released the connection between each other and dispersed, allowing the vessels closer to the middle move, and the whole operation was repeated.

In less than half an hour, only the ships of the large organizations and the government remained.

Lian Jun stayed on the deck this entire time, helping the officials keep an eye on the other organizations’ departures.

Zuo Yang didn’t leave either, just watched Lian Jun with a strange expression on his face.
From time to time he drew a bloody line on Long Shi’s body like some kind of psychopath.

These actions made Shi Jin extremely nervous, and the furrow between his eyebrows became deeper and deeper.

The cuts Zuo Yang made weren’t deep, but Long Shi’s condition seemed pretty bad.
If things continued like this, he would be tortured to death.
If he died, the poison formula would be gone with him.

Another ten minutes passed.
Only Annihilation, Nine Eagles, Phantom, and the government vessels were still present.
All the gangways were dismantled.

Lian Jun stopped staring at the sea and ordered their ship to set off.

Gua One, Shi Jin, and the others had been forcing themselves to hold still, but they were about to reach the limit of their endurance—they were going to leave just like that? What about Long Shi and the poison formula?

Zuo Yang, however, broke the deadlock before any of them could.
Seeing that Lian Jun intended to leave, he lost his patience and stabbed the knife deep in Long Shi’s arm.

The pain seemed to break the fog enveloping the man’s brain.
He screamed and opened his eyes, confused; it took him a moment to notice Lian Jun sitting in the wheelchair across from him.
Then, a feverish, fanatical expression appeared on his face, and he shouted, “Jun-shao! Jun-shao, save me! I served you for so many years—I did everything you ordered me to, remember? Please help me!”

‘I did everything you ordered me to’!? What’s with those intentionally ambiguous words!?

Gua One and the others glared at Long Shi, scowling.

Suddenly, Xiao Si shrieked, panicked,

Shi Jin looked at Lian Jun’s bar in shock.
Indeed, though it steadily fell since the other large organizations left, it increased every time Long Shi shouted—in the blink of an eye, it had risen to 980.
The last thread of reason in his mind snapped.
He pulled out his gun, aimed at Long Shi, and snarled, “Shut the fuck up! Open your mouth again, and I’ll shoot you!”

Whoa.

Gua One and the others looked at Shi Jin as one, sporting expressions of pleasant surprise which were really out of place in the present situation. This reaction… did the stupid boy finally realize his own feelings?