Death Progress Bar

atural for him to listen to Shi Jin on this matter.

Shi Jin felt like his lover was too smart and too cunning.
With the way Shi Weichong’s mind was at the moment, he would definitely give his unconditional agreement to anything Shi Jin asked of him, and might even start helping out even more actively. 

Lian Jun must have figured that out long ago.
Shi Jin was destined to be persuaded from the very beginning of the conversation.

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

Just as Shi Jin expected, when Shi Weichong heard that Shi Jin wanted to use Ruixing as an umbrella to bring part of Annihiliation’s businesses that were already “clean” out into the light, he didn’t show any opposition.
Instead, he began to act as if he really was a professional manager Shi Jin had hired, offering his analyses and advice on decisions.

Shi Jin didn’t dare let Shi Weichong work all day since his brother was supposed to be recuperating.
He tried to talk only a little bit about work every day, so that he would have something to do but would spend most of the day resting, keeping him from being both too bored and too tired.

After two days of this kind of life, Lian Jun arranged for a doctor to give Shi Jin a detailed examination.
Once they had confirmed his full recovery, he was discharged and allowed to go back to the club.

During this period, Shi Jin’s other brothers took turns to visit him.
Probably noticing that Shi Jin was not in a high mood, they tried to avoid mentioning anything to do with family matters and only chatted about daily affairs.
Li Jiuzheng had told them about Shi Weichong’s psychological problems and Shi Jin forcing him to take a prolonged vacation, but no one said anything about it.
Truthfully, there were too many revelations and too many things going on recently; they needed some time to digest.

When Shi Jin was discharged from the hospital, they parted in tacit agreement, each returning to their own life.
And Shi Jin made the painful discovery that from then on, their “concern and love” would bombard his mobile phone.
Apparently, they’d decided to discard their bias and prejudices overnight, and really wanted to learn how to get along with their siblings… And the person to bear the brunt of this was Shi Jin, as they seemed to treat him as a training dummy.

His phone vibrated frequently.
One time, it was Li Jiuzheng’s conjecture about Shi Jin’s unexplained high fever and sore throat.
A moment later, Xiang Aoting sent a summary of the training Shi Jin was about to face and urged him to take care of his health.
Rong Zhouzhong’s “little bastard” message would be followed by Fei Yujing’s text with an offer to help make Shi Jin’s takeover of Ruixing painless.
In addition to all that, Shi Weichong would send ideas about how Ruixing could take in one or another of Annihilation’s businesses without giving outsiders cause for suspicion.

Everyone took great care with their choice of words; even Rong Zhouzhong’s “little bastard” messages were quite cautious.
This made it hard for Shi Jin to give them the cold shoulder.

It was just that this much of “concern and love” was a little overwhelming.
In a last-ditch attempt to get back some peace and quiet, he sent out a group text: [I’m busy studying how to manage Ruixing, don’t disturb me.]

A moment later, five messages came in.
Roughly: [Xiao Jin has grown up, big brother is happy]; [You can ask me if you have any questions]; [You, studying? No way]; [Remember to alternate work with rest and take care of your body]; [If you get tired of studying, you can come to Rongcheng for a rest].

So did these people not understand the words “Don’t disturb me”?

Shi Jin threw his phone aside with disgust.
He looked at the time, picked up his tablet with resignation, and made a video call to Mr.
Feng to start his online class.

Lian Jun watched Shi Jin’s actions out of the corner of his eye as he went through and signed the documents that Shi Weichong’s trusted confidant had delivered.

Shi Jin taking over Ruixing was a secret.
Shi Weichong was still the president on the surface, except that he was presently on leave and would only make the most important decisions about the company’s affairs.
All the more trivial matters would be handled by Shi Weichong’s confidant, the current vice-president of Ruixing.

Of course, the people behind the vice-president were actually Lian Jun and Shi Jin, the latter of whom was learning how to manage a company.

Sponsored Content

In addition to that, Shi Jin also developed a new hobby—recording the value of Lian Jun’s progress bar every day.
Last time, he’d been really surprised by the decline of Lian Jun’s progress bar.
He secretly hoped that the surprise would continue, but to his disappointment, Lian Jun’s progress bar hadn’t budged since then.

“Is it because he was taking care of me in the hospital? He was tired and it delayed his recuperation?” Shi Jin wondered, feeling guilty.

Xiao Si was actually nervous too, but it still reassured him, < No! When nursing someone to health, it’s always the hardest in the beginning.
Once every aspect of his body’s data reaches a balanced value, Darling’s progress bar will start to fall quickly! >

It seemed reasonable, so Shi Jin suppressed his anxiety and decided to continue observing for a few more days.

Lian Jun had noticed that recently, Shi Jin often peeked at him with a strange expression, and the way his gaze swept him up and down seemed to be full of meaning.
He counted the days since the last time they were intimate, and a realization dawned upon him.

After all, Shi Jin was still young, and they had just been through a not-very-pleasant conversation.
Perhaps something needed to be done to ease their relationship…

When Lian Jun caught Shi Jin sneaking a glance at him again, he put down the document and looked at the teenager, who had withdrawn his gaze in the meantime and was acting as if nothing had happened.
“Today, let’s have an early dinner.
I want to go to bed early today,” he said.

Hmm, rest early?

Shi Jin’s ears pricked up immediately.
Wondering if Lian Jun had gotten worn out from working these past few days, he nodded busily.
“Okay, let’s rest early today!” The beginning of health was proper sleep!

So eager?

Lian Jun’s eyes flashed at Shi Jin’s earnest appearance, and the corners of his mouth rose.

That day, the two had dinner at an earlier hour than usual, then immediately went back to their room.

They were already ready for sleep before 8 p.m..
Once they were in bed, Shi Jin sat up and touched Lian Jun’s legs—a relaxing massage before bed would help improve sleep quality.

But Lian Jun misunderstood his meaning.
At Shi Jin’s touch, he bent his knees so that the robe would slide down, then beckoned to him: “Come here.”

“Yes?” Puzzled, Shi Jin obediently came closer.

Lian Jun grabbed his arms and pushed him down, pressing him under himself, then lowered his head to kiss him.

Shi Jin’s eyes widened in surprise, but then he felt Lian Jun’s excitement.
Understanding in an instant, he threw his arms around his lover’s back and closed his eyes—so this was what Lian Jun meant by “rest”.
Well, it could help the body to relieve stress, which was conducive to recuperation, so there was no problem.

As expected, he really was anxious. Feeling the “impatient” hands on his waist, Lian Jun deepened the kiss and touched the hem of Shi Jin’s pajamas.

Xiao Si: < ...Gwack.
>

Startled, Shi Jin accidentally bit Lian Jun’s tongue and hurriedly pulled away.
Face dark, he “turned off” the progress bars in his mind before reaching for Lian Jun’s robe—he’d almost forgotten about the little voyeur.

“I know, don’t worry.” Lian Jun stroked Shi Jin’s waist in reassurance, not minding his bitten tongue.

Huh? Know what?

Confused, Shi Jin opened his mouth to ask but right at that moment, one of his sensitive points was teased and hot blood rushed into his brain, wiping his mind blank in an instant.

Sponsored Content

After a night without dreams, Shi Jin woke up early.
Finding that Lian Jun had already gotten up, he lounged, indolent, in bed, waiting for the confusion of sleep to disappear.
He stretched lazily and activated the progress bars, yawning as he asked, “How is Lian Jun’s progress bar—”

< Ah ah aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh—! > Xiao Si shrieked.

Fully awake all at once, Shi Jin raised a hand to rub his aching head.
“I thought you were used to it already.
It’s not even every night…”

< That’s not it! > Xiao Si was so excited its voice broke.
< JinJin! Darling’s progress bar is down again, to 498! It’s down another point! >

“What?!” Shi Jin hurriedly looked at Lian Jun’s progress bar in his mind.
After checking and double-checking that it had really dropped to 498, he exhaled loudly and punched the mattress in delight.
“That damn bar has finally moved again! Is it because I helped Lian Jun relax last night?”

< How did you help him relax? > Xiao Si asked eagerly.

“I just used—” Shi Jin began, but thankfully caught himself in time.
“You want to be locked in the small black room again?” he threatened.
Putting a stop to his chat with the system, he got up, took a quick shower, and ran to the study.
Once there, his eyes swept over Lian Jun’s body like searchlights.

Lian Jun quite enjoyed his lover looking at him like a dog watching a piece of meat, but it didn’t show on his face.
He put down the document he was reading and asked, “What do you want to have for breakfast?”

“Anything is fine,” Shi Jin replied distractedly.
Seeing that Lian Jun was not busy, he rushed over to touch his chest, squeezed his arm, and tried to lift his robe to take a look at his legs.

“Don’t mess around.
Have breakfast first.” Lian Jun grabbed his hand, thinking his lover had ‘intentions’ again.

All of Shi Jin’s attention was on his legs.
He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he felt like Lian Jun’s leg muscles were a bit more robust than before.
Unable to contain his joy, he planted a kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek.
“I’m not messing around.
You haven’t done your morning exercise yet—can I accompany you?”

Lian Jun felt his happiness, and even if he didn’t know what had made Shi Jin so happy, it caused his mood to improve as well.
“Okay,” he replied, returning the kiss.

Shi Jin was extremely enthusiastic during that day’s workout.
He quickly finished his training assignment and rushed to Lian Jun’s training room to watch him exercise.

Lian Jun had already completed the first stage of the exercise plan and was now transitioning to the second stage; his exercises changed from walking as he held the bar to walking fast and without support.
He also started on preliminary medication treatment.

While Lian Jun went to take a shower after he finished, Shi Jin approached Uncle Long.
“Jun-shao is already taking medicine—does that mean you’re about to start getting rid of the toxin?” he asked expectantly.

Uncle Long glanced at his over-excited appearance and poured cold water on him.
“That’s still a long way off.
The medicine Jun-shao is taking now has nothing to do with detoxification, it’s just drugs to relieve pain so he can exercise more easily.
You thought the treatment would be so easy?”

Oh, so it’s like this.

Shi Jin’s expression crumbled, but he asked relentlessly, “Then, if Jun-shao continues to exercise and strengthen his body according to the preliminary treatment plan, how long will it take before he’s well enough for the real treatment?”

“For the treatment to be both safe and painless, he needs to recuperate for at least half a year.
If he wants it to begin as soon as possible, three months are enough,” Uncle Long estimated, then frowned.
“Jun-shao will definitely choose the latter… You young people are always too impatient—the most important thing is for the treatment to be as thorough and safe as possible, isn’t that obvious?” He closed the exercise record book he was holding, put it away, and left the training room, shaking his head.

Half a year? Isn’t that when the conflict in the underworld is predicted to break out?

Shi Jin stood there, stunned, his good mood disappearing like a popped soap bubble.

Uncle Long wasn’t wrong—with Lian Jun’s character, he was highly likely to choose the quick treatment and take the drugs to clear away the toxin as soon as his body reached the required standard.
But doing things that way was bound to carry risks… He looked in the direction of the bathroom and frowned deeply.