Death Progress Bar

Lian Jun, he strode towards the lounge.

Before today, no one had ever seen Shi Jin genuinely angry.
Not quite sure how to react, everybody looked at Lian Jun.

Lian Jun watched Shi Jin enter the cabin, his hands tightening on the wheelchair armrests until his knuckles were white.
He coldly glanced at Zuo Yang and turned away.
“Return to your cabins.
We’re leaving!”

After being mocked by Shi Jin, Zuo Yang felt as if he was suffocating. ‘You useless trash!’ and ‘Jun-shao will definitely live to a hundred even without the antidote’ kept repeating in his mind as if stuck on replay.
He remembered all the troubles and annoyances he suffered these past few days then recalled the look Lian Jun gave him just now.
The longer he thought, the hotter his brain became.
The knife in his hand, touching the rope, was suddenly applied pressure, and he began to cut for real.
He shouted, “Want to leave? Not so fast! You said Lian Jun can live even without the antidote? Then I want to see how that pathetic cripple confined to a wheelchair is going to live! Come on, show me!”

Shocked, his subordinate standing nearby hurried to stop him.
“Boss, didn’t we decide to keep Long Shi alive? He’s a useful pawn.”

However, the anger made Zuo Yang completely lose his head—he wasn’t going to listen.
He threw his hand off and snapped, “‘Useful pawn’ my ass! Since Lian Jun won’t swallow the bait, what’s his fucking use? Let him die! You were told to make arrangements, is everything ready? Today, I’m going to take Lian Jun’s life!”

The subordinate didn’t dare to say any more.
He frowned and stepped back.

The knife was sharp, and the rope not too thick.
It broke before Zuo Yang finished speaking, and Long Shi fell into the sea with a splash.

The men on deck received their orders and opened fire on Annihilation.

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The expressions of Gua One and the others changed.
They shouted at the people nearby to drop down and hide then ordered the ones further away to give cover fire and retreated towards the cabins while shielding Lian Jun.

For a while, the sea echoed with gunshots.
Gua Five took out his walkie-talkie and told the control cabin to quickly distance them from Nine Eagles’ ship.
The fire from the other vessel was growing heavier, and there was a faint sound of a helicopter taking off.

“Is Zuo Yang insane?” Gua Two exclaimed after he pushed Lian Jun into the lounge.

Nine Eagles actually attacked them on the high seas! If the two really fought a naval battle, and Annihilation used all the firepower at its disposal, Zuo Yang would soon realize he bit off more than he could chew!

Then, Gua Five’s expression changed.
He said, “Control just told me many unidentified ships suddenly appeared on the radar and are rapidly approaching this area.”

“Fuck!” Gua Two swore, realizing something.
“Zuo Yang planned to ambush us since the very beginning! He brought out Long Shi and talked nonsense for so long just to play for time! He waited until all the others left so he could be free to act.”

Unexpectedly, amid the gunfire, Lian Jun keenly picked out several splashes, as if several large objects hit the water.
For some reason, a hint of panic appeared in his heart.
He thought of something and snapped his head up, looking around.
“Where’s Shi Jin?” He asked.

This question stunned everyone for a second.
Gua Two glanced around.
“Yes, he went inside, shouldn’t he be here? Maybe he’s sulking in his cabin?”

“No.” Lian Jun’s face suddenly paled.
He continued, finding his mouth unpleasantly dry, “He wouldn’t have stayed in his cabin after Nine Eagles opened fire.
It would be impossible for him to sit still… Look for him! Quick!”

A man suddenly ran in from the deck, and said, “Jun-shao, I saw a few of our lifeboats floating on the sea, somebody dropped them down! We have a traitor!”

Lian Jun’s face turned completely white.
Though his expression stayed calm, there was a faint tremble in his voice.
“It’s not a traitor, it’s Shi Jin.
He went after Long Shi.
Gua Three, whatever you have to do, drag Nine Eagles’ ship away from here, don’t let them fire in this area.
Send people to find Shi Jin, hurry up!”

After the momentary shock, everyone scattered to fulfill his orders, faster than ever before.

Shi Jin was indeed in the sea.
His actions before were deliberate—he tried to make Zuo Yang as angry as possible.
At the time, Xiao Si gave him many buffs to help provoke Nine Eagles’ leader into abandoning Long Shi.

Everything went smoothly: Zuo Yang cut the rope, dropping Long Shi into the sea, and Shi Jin managed to leave the ship without anyone noticing.
Now, all he needed was ask Xiao Si for the mermaid buff and swim to where it located Long Shi, and his improvised plan would end in complete success.

But…

Shi Jin touched the strange transparent things growing from the edges of his auricles, eyed the milky white membranes between his fingers, touched his slenderized, elongated waist and thighs, and asked, “You call this a mermaid?” This is clearly a frog buff, you know?

Xiao Si complimented, completely unfazed.

Shi Jin: “…Yeah, okay.
As long as you’re happy.”

Anyway, he didn’t have time for this—he needed to hurry up and save Long Shi.
After adapting to the odd feeling of his transformed body, he tried moving around and felt he was too slow.
“Can the mermaid buff be stacked? I need to swim faster.
Long Shi won’t last long underwater.”

Xiao Si hesitated:

“I don’t care—if Long Shi dies, the poison formula will be gone.
Just give it to me.”

The system gave in and repeatedly added the mermaid buff to him.

Shi Jin only felt a burst of heat, then his skin and bones changed even more.
Being in the water felt much more natural.
He gently moved his legs, and his body slipped forward like a fish.

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Astonished, he stared at his arms, now unusually flexible and weird-looking; he couldn’t begin to imagine what his body looked like at the moment.
He shook his head, putting it out of his mind, and cut through the water, swimming straight to where Xiao Si located Long Shi.

On the surface, Annihilation fought back against Nine Eagles’ attack, slowly moving the battlefield to another area.

A few minutes later, Shi Jin, holding the unconscious Long Shi, broke through the water surface.
Wiping the briny water off his face, he had Xiao Si find the nearest lifeboat.
Swimming to it, he none-too-gently threw the man onto it then climbed in himself.
Not paying attention to his surroundings for the moment, he untied the rope binding Long Shi, knelt next to him, and began resuscitating him.

There was a lot of accumulated injuries on Long Shi’s body.
After falling into the sea, the brine made his wounds worse, not to mention he nearly drowned.
Now, the deathly pallor of his skin, tinged with blue, could easily convince people he was already dead.

Anxious, Shi Jin asked Xiao Si for buffs like “Increased Success Rate of Resuscitation,” “Lucky Bonus,” and so on, and used all the emergency treatment methods he knew.

The situation seemed hopeless.
Just as Shi Jin began to despair, Long Shi choked out a mouthful of water and opened his eyes, confused.

Shi Jin was overjoyed.
He leaned forward and asked, “How do you feel, are you awake? How many fingers do you see?” He thrust a hand, distorted because of the mermaid buff, in front of the man’s face.

Long Shi instinctively looked in the direction of the voice.
When he saw Shi Jin’s ears with weird cartilage growing out of them and the abnormal shape of his limbs, his originally groggy mind instantly sobered up.
He almost stopped breathing again from shock.
Then, his hand suddenly moved, and he attempted to stab Shi Jin with something small and shiny.

If you see this notice, you’re reading on pirate site – this chapter was translated by Betwixted Translations.

Shi Jin’s progress bar jumped almost to the max.
Xiao Si shrieked, and the surprised teenager twisted away, kicking the traitor at the same time.

“Ah!”

With a low cry, Long Shi collapsed, curling on his side.
The miniature syringe in his hand fell to the bottom of the boat.

Shi Jin hastily grabbed the rope and tied him up again then picked up the syringe.
It was filled with a strange-colored liquid.
He couldn’t help but kick Long Shi one more time.

“Fuck! I was right to think you were suspicious.
I don’t believe Zuo Yang didn’t know you had this hidden on your body—you were working with him since the very beginning, weren’t you?”

The longer he spoke, the angrier he became.
He thought the world would truly be a better place if such scum died, but restrained himself and didn’t kick him again.
He carefully put the syringe away, glad Lian Jun kept a cool head and refused to be taken in by Zuo Yang no matter how he was provoked.

Grunting with pain, Long Shi turned his head and looked at Shi Jin.
After a moment, he managed to put aside the distortion caused by the buff and see the teenager’s face clearly.
“It’s you!” He blurted out.
“What’s with your appearance, are you a monster?! Did you use some kind of witchcraft to seduce Jun-shao?!”

Shi Jin rolled his eyes.
“Yes, I’m a monster.
Tell me the poison formula, or I’ll devour you alive!” he said ferociously.

At the words “poison formula,” Long Shi’s expression changed yet again.
He blinked for a moment, and suddenly calmed down.
“I will only tell it to Jun-shao.
I want to see Jun-shao, take me to him.”

Shi Jin wanted to burst into foul language.
Seeing Long Shi look as if he had nothing to fear, he sneered and opened his mouth to give the comeback those words deserved.
However, just at that moment, he heard the deafening noise of artillery fire coming from afar.
He immediately turned in the direction of the sound, face sinking.

Xiao Si said.
It asked worriedly,

“Of course we’re—” Shi Jin began, then remembered his current appearance and frowned.
“No, I can’t go back yet, I shouldn’t let Lian Jun see how I look right now.
We need to wait a while.”

Long Shi also heard the sound of the battle and looked at the flashes of gunfire brightening the sky.
Abruptly, he became agitated: “Did it begin? Is Nine Eagles fighting with Annihilation? Hurry up! Take me to Jun-shao, take me to Jun-shao!”

“No! And shut the fuck up.” Shi Jin started the lifeboat’s engine and headed away from the battlefield, though his expression looked awful—he was worried about Lian Jun, but it was better to stay away for now.

Long Shi saw his actions.
After a momentary surprise, he burst into madman-like laughter and screamed, “Are you afraid Jun-shao will see the way you look now, monster? Let him see, what are you afraid of? Weren’t you arrogant before? You don’t know yet—Zuo Yang had long planned to attack Jun-shao! He had his other ships hide nearby and held Jun-shao back until the government ship left to make sure his ambush was successful! Aren’t you Jun-shao’s protector? And yet, you care more about exposing your true appearance than his life? Ha ha ha ha, don’t run, you coward—mmph!”

Fed up, Shi Jin stuffed a rag in his mouth and snapped, “You think everyone is as shallow as you, asshole? Believe it or not, Lian Jun would still eat with me at the same table every day even if he saw me like this!” He glanced at the distant sea, hesitated, then gritted his teeth, deciding not to move the lifeboat further away.
He would stay here and keep an eye on the situation.
If Lian Jun was truly in danger—if his progress bar went into the danger zone—he would immediately jump in the water and swim over to save him.