Death Progress Bar

metimes, love makes people stronger.

While Shi Jin’s quick recovery was astonishing, Fei Yujing’s reaction was much more normal.
Face awful, he put on the mask as soon as he got it, and tried not to look at all the bloody lumps around.
His brows were so wrinkled they nearly joined together.

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

After distributing the masks, Shi Jin quietly took out a plastic bag and a bottle of water and handed them to him, saying, “Take this, go outside, and throw up—if you vomit here, you will contaminate the scene.
If you can’t stand it, go back to the bus.”

Feeling that he was being looked down upon, Fei Yujing refused to accept them.
“Who said I want to throw up? Get these things away, I don’t need them.”

Any other time, after Fei Yujing rejected his good intentions, Shi Jin would definitely not bother about him again.
However, the place they were in right now was much too close to hell, and his brother was the only “ordinary person” here who had never seen a similar scene.
Since Shi Jin was not devoid of conscience, he decided to take pity on the stubborn lawyer and said bluntly, “Don’t pretend.
I can see your Adam’s apple shifting—don’t you feel sick swallowing your puke again and again?”

His words were too descriptive and caught Fei Yujing just as the vomit in his throat was rising.
His Adam’s apple bobbing again, he glared at Shi Jin with murder in his eyes, grabbed the plastic bag and the water, and walked towards the villa’s exit.

Shi Jin didn’t forget to admonish him kindly, “Go a bit farther away from the villa and remember to throw the garbage into the trash, don’t burden the rescue workers with cleaning up after you.”

Fei Yujing’s footsteps paused for a second, then quickened, with a bit of a stomp added and, presumably, gnashing of teeth.

After some preparation, they officially began to investigate the villa.

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Gua One was supposed to investigate the cause of the blast and search for the remnants of the explosives, Gua Three was responsible for identifying the bodies in the villa and looking for survivors, and Lian Jun would contact Old Ghost who was temporarily unable to come over and update him on the situation.
And Shi Jin, who was not assigned a task, looked around and silently joined the rescue team.

After putting on the coveralls and gloves, he followed the rescue workers shuttling through the villa, learning from them how to do what they were doing.
Soon, his coveralls were stained with blood, but his movements became increasingly skilled and proficient.

Gua One completed his task and returned to Lian Jun’s side.
Seeing Shi Jin like this, he couldn’t help but say, “Jun-shao, it’s like Shi Jin was born to be in our line of work—his fortitude is outstanding.”

“Yes,” Lian Jun replied, gaze fixed on Shi Jin.
However, instead of looking happy the man he loved was being acknowledged and praised, his eyebrows were furrowed, and his expression somber.

Fei Yujing, who despite his discomfort stood to the side writing a description of the scene, heard their exchange.
He glanced at Shi Jin and happened to see him gently and solemnly zipping up a body bag.
Scowling, he raised a hand and pressed the mask closer against his face, looking away.

Half an hour later, the rescue workers’ work in the villa was basically finished, and Shi Jin took off the gloves and protective clothes.
He was just about to go back to Lian Jun and ask about the overall situation when he saw Gua Three hurry in from the outside.
“Old Ghost’s deputy has been found, still alive.
He’s in the doghouse in the backyard.”

Doghouse?

Shi Jin frowned, having a bad feeling.
He ran to Lian Jun to push his wheelchair and followed Gua One and others outside.

The villa Old Ghost chose for Lian Jun was originally very nice.
In the backyard, there was a swimming pool with a small garden beside it.
In the corner of the garden stood a cartoonish wooden doghouse, looking very new and overdone.
It was probably just a decoration, not somewhere a real pet would live.

When they arrived, the paramedics and rescue workers were carefully dismantling the roof and walls of the doghouse.
The people on the periphery could only see a bit of what was inside through a gap in the roof made by the explosion.
Even that bit, however, was enough to make their blood run cold.

It was a bloody hand, lying on the ground in the upper right corner of the doghouse.
There were no fingers, only a bare palm.

Shocked, Shi Jin instinctively bent down to cover Lian Jun’s eyes.

Since Lian Jun sat in the wheelchair, too low to actually see anything, he was startled at Shi Jin’s sudden action but quickly figured out the reason for it.
He pulled the teenager’s hand down and held it tightly.
“Go out and stay in the car, let Gua Five come here,” he couldn’t help but say again.

Shi Jin got a hold of his emotions.
Gripping Lian Jun’s hand back, he shook his head, still refusing.
“I’m all right.
Let’s go and see.”

While they were talking, Gua One and Gua Three approached the doghouse, which the paramedics and rescue workers had already dismantled, revealing the person inside.
Everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere became oppressive.

“I can’t save him,” the doctor shook his head, eyes full of frustration and grief.
“I’ll give him some painkillers, at least make it a little easier for him.”

The doctor was a L country native and spoke the local language, which Shi Jin didn’t understand.
However, when he pushed Lian Jun’s wheelchair closer and saw Old Ghost’s deputy, he had a good guess of what the doctor said.

The man lying in the doghouse no longer resembled a human.
Probably to fit him inside, the people who hurt him brutally broke and twisted his limbs.
He only had one eye left.

Judging from the various wounds on his body, he suffered a lot of torture before being stuffed in the doghouse.
His face was bluish, and there was froth at his mouth—obviously, in addition to being so grievously injured, he was also poisoned.

As soon as Fei Yujing saw the deputy’s appearance, he turned his head and raised his hand to cover his mouth, his face even more terrible.

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Shi Jin’s hands clenched on the wheelchair handles.
He couldn’t speak.
His heart was heavy and flooded by a sudden wave of powerless hatred, hatred that humans could be so cruel to a fellow human being.

Amid the repressive silence, the deputy, perhaps roused by the doctor’s efforts to dress his wounds and feed him medicine, suddenly turned his head and opened his eye.
Upon seeing Lian Jun in the wheelchair, his sole eye suddenly lit up, and he struggled to move.
He forced out words, voice slurred, “I… I didn’t betray Brother Ghost… They… They threatened me with my brothers’ lives, trying to force me to draw you here… I, I did not… Jun… Jun-shao… Help me to… To apologize to Brother Ghost… Say, say I’m sorry… I didn’t protect our brothers, they… The Gun, Gunfire…”

His tongue seemed to have been hurt, and as he spoke, the blood trickled from his mouth.
Shi Jin couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
He looked away and took a deep breath.

Lian Jun suddenly stood up.
He walked to the side of the deputy, crouched down and, not caring about the blood, put his hand over the man’s heart.
Looking into his eye, he said, “I promise to tell him and to help him save your brothers.
You can be at ease.”

At his words, the deputy’s face relaxed, and the light in his pupil began to dim.
His eye slowly closed, and he whispered almost inaudibly, “I… Believe you… Thank… you…”

The weak heartbeat under Lian Jun’s palm gradually faded.
He stayed still for a long time before taking back his hand, looking at the deputy’s body, neither moving nor speaking.

“There are no signs of life,” the doctor announcing sadly, giving up his futile attempts to bandage the man’s injuries.

Gua One’s jaw clenched, and he couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

Gua Three turned and wiped his face, the list of deceased crumpled in his tightly clenched fist.

Cleaning up the bodies and watching a living person lose his life in front of him were two completely different things.
Shi Jin’s hands released the wheelchair handles as if they had lost strength.
He stared at the deputy’s body, eyes empty and dark.

Silently, the medical staff dealt with the remains, and everyone returned to their work.
While they still did as they were supposed to, the mood was noticeably subdued.

Shi Jin pushed Lian Jun deeper into the garden, to a place with more plants.
Squatting beside the wheelchair, he began to clean Lian Jun’s hand of blood, very carefully, one finger at a time.

“Shi Jin.” Lian Jun held his hand.
“Are you scared?”

Shi Jin glanced up at him, sat down on the ground, and after a few seconds of silence, asked, “What about you? Are you scared?”

“I am.” Lian Jun looked at the blood still staining his hand then abruptly leaned forward and hugged him, whispering, “Shi Jin, you can’t die before me, absolutely not.”

Shi Jin raised his arms and hugged him too, gently stroking his back.
As if agreeing to a pact, he said, “All right, then I will die after you.”

Lian Jun said nothing more, only buried his face in Shi Jin’s shoulder.
A moment later, he suddenly let him go and said, his expression back to normal, “Come on, it’s time to go out.
Old Ghost should arrive soon.”

Shi Jin took a look at his clenched fists and responded with a low hum.
He got up, grabbed the wheelchair handles, and pushed him towards the gates.

By now, the crowd of onlookers and the media had already scattered, so they didn’t have trouble returning to the car.
After summing up the results of the investigation, they determined regretfully that all sixteen subordinates Old Ghost sent to assist Lian Jun had died in the explosion.
There were no survivors.

“Gunfire,” Lian Jun whispered, taking the list of the deceased from Gua Three, eyes dark and frigid.

Sixteen lives.
Even if Gunfire didn’t kill any Annihilation members this time, this was provocative enough.