Death Progress Bar

changed slightly.
He looked over his shoulder at Shi Jin.
“Did you arrange it?”

“No, I asked the staff.
The sea air is good for you, but the sun was too strong earlier.
Now, it’s just right, and the breeze is pleasant,” Shi Jin replied as he parked the wheelchair at the table.
He sat next to him instead of on the place prepared for him opposite and dragged the tableware over.
“The kitchen planned the Western-style meal, with dishes served one at a time.
I don’t like it because it’s just so slow, so I asked them to change it for a seafood buffet,” he said, uncovering the dish covers.
“Don’t worry, it’s all what Uncle Long allowed you to eat, it won’t upset your stomach.”

The corner of Lian Jun’s mouth rose slightly.
He picked up his chopsticks and said, “You’re quite considerate.
How is your studying going?”

Shi Jin’s smile disappeared in an instant.
He lowered his head and started to shove in food, pretending he didn’t hear.

Once that silly grin vanished, Lian Jun was satisfied.
He stopped teasing the teenager and turned his attention to the excellent meal, accompanied by the cool night breeze.

By the time dinner finished—peacefully—it was dark.
The table was removed, and the cruise ship set sail again.
The sky filled with stars, appearing to be so close one could reach out and touch them.

“It’s been a long time since I saw such a beautiful starry sky,” Shi Jin sighed and sprawled out on a lounge chair.
The fresh sea breeze, the gently rocking ship—it was like a beautiful, intoxicating dream.

Lian Jun leaned back in his wheelchair and gazed at the stars, his eyes serene.
He put his hands behind his head, looking languid and carefree.

It was quiet as if the only sound in the entire world was the murmur of waves and the whisper of the wind.

Shi Jin turned his head to Lian Jun.
His eyes followed the movement of the night breeze and swept over the man’s fluttering, jet black hair and the hem of his sleeves.
Then, they slowly moved down, peeking inside the robe blown open by the wind.

“What are you looking at?” The question asked in a low, gentle voice broke the silence.

Shi Jin, as if caught in some sort of spell, blurted out, “I want to see if you’re wearing pants.
The wind blows so hard that if you aren’t, I’ll be able to see your legs.”

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Lian Jun: “……”

Shi Jin, whose brain caught up to his mouth: “……”

Xiao Si, the captive audience:

The warm atmosphere burst like a soap bubble.

Stiff, Shi Jin looked up at Lian Jun, stammering out, “No, it’s… I mean, I’m curious, you only wear robes, I’ve never seen you in other clothes.
Is it to look good? Well, it really does look good on you…” He didn’t forget to flatter.

However, Lian Jun didn’t feel flattered.
He looked at Shi Jin expressionlessly, covered his legs with a thin blanket, and said, “It’s because, for people who have trouble walking, robes are more convenient to put on and take off, and don’t have so many complicated buttons and zippers—it saves a lot of time.” Then, he turned the wheelchair around and left the deck.

That simple answer stunned Shi Jin.

Xiao Si said in disbelief,

Shi Jin put his feet on the lounge chair and hugged his knees, hiding his face in them.
He was ashamed of himself.
The only explanation he could give was that he watched a bit too much anime in middle school and sometimes, his imagination ran riot.

In the early morning hours, when the ship docked at the port, Shi Jin was sleeping like a pig, not even stirring.
Not bothering to wake him up, Gua One and others disembarked to arrange things on the island.

By the time the teenager left his cabin, it was already bright.
The ship was already empty except for Gua Two who sat in the lounge, waiting to take him to the island.

In the mild breeze, Shi Jin walked to the railing and looked at the magnificent, crescent-shaped island surrounded by cerulean waters.
He couldn’t help but whistle.
“It’s beautiful.
What’s that there in the bay, a water scooter?”

“You have good eyes, it really is the water scooter.
I’ll take you to play with it later,” Gua Two said.
“There are many fun things to do on our island.
If nothing unexpected happens, from today to the end of March is our vacation time.
We can enjoy ourselves to our heart’s content.”

This pulled Shi Jin’s attention from the island back to the man.
“Only until the end of March? Do we have some work in April?”

“Not work, there’s a legal underworld organizations’ conference.
Every April, the government officials check and re-register all the major underworld organizations in China, then discuss with their leaders the cleanup of the illegal ones.
Jun-shao has to attend personally, and stare at the underworld side to make them behave,” Gua Two explained as he led the way off the ship.

Shi Jin followed him, asking, “Where’s the meeting place? In China?”

“No, on the high seas.
The government moves a large cruise ship there, and everyone boards it.
You know, even if the underworld organization is legal, people in our line of work can’t help but worry that the officials will take advantage of the occasion to catch all of us in one net.
They’d never agree to gather on land.”

Shi Jin nodded in understanding.
He glanced at Lian Jun’s progress bar which went back to 500 after Chen Qing’s rescue and inwardly drew a big red mark on April’s calendar.

Lian Jun’s island was called Crescent Bay Island, after its shape.
It was privately owned and surrounded by the sea, so there was no need to worry about sneak attacks.
Because of this, everyone’s attitude became more relaxed, not as tense and cautious as in B City and Y Province.

The place they would live in was a complex of buildings at the center of the island.
It included three huge villas, a large viewing deck, big and small swimming pools, three dining halls with separate kitchens serving food of different styles, a gym, a shooting range, a multifunctional building, tennis and basketball courts, and a multimedia entertainment building.

Shi Jin was like a country bumpkin on his first visit to a big city.
As he looked around listening to Gua Two’s introduction, he exclaimed inwardly—the happiness of the rich was beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
This place was a paradise compared with Flowery Orchard and the club in B City!

“This is where we live, there are different recreation areas in the other parts of the island.
Later, you can get the map and take the sightseeing minibus to check them out, just remember to ask Gua Six to give you a pass card,” Gua Two finished and led Shi Jin into the largest villa in the middle.

Shi Jin woke up.
“Gua Six?”

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Gua Two remembered Shi Jin hadn’t seen Gua Six before, and explained, “Gua Six is this island’s administrator.
Every year, he comes to take care of things and spend the winter with Jun-shao, but because Jun-shao stayed in B City a little longer this time, he too came later, and we just missed him.
He has a gentle character and takes care of the logistics and such.
I’ll introduce you in a while.”

Shi Jin nodded.
The two walked through the comfortable but elegantly decorated villa lobby and ascended the wooden staircase.

The second floor of the villa was large.
There were two spacious master bedrooms with an excellent view, a few study rooms, a small living room, and a comfortably arranged terrace with swinging reclining chairs.

Gua Two took Shi Jin into one of the master bedrooms.
He pointed to the wardrobe and said, “The new clothes for you are here.
Look around the room by yourself and call me if anything’s missing, I have something I need to do now.” Then, he went to leave.

Shi Jin stopped him and asked, “Where do you live, next door? It looks like there are only two rooms on this floor, where are the others living, on other floors? What about Jun-shao?”

He’d subconsciously concluded Gua Two was his neighbor—that first question wasn’t asked in a questioning tone at all.

Gua Two glanced at him with a strange expression.
He kept silent for a moment, then said, “The first and third floor of this villa is empty.
I live in the villa on your left—if you call me from the terrace, I’ll hear it in my room.
You have a flatmate, but it’s not me.”

Surprised, Shi Jin asked, “Then who? Gua Nine?”

Gua One, Gua Three, and Gua Five usually lived close to Lian Jun because they helped him to deal with Annihilation’s matters, so he automatically excluded them.

Gua Two gave him a profound look and deliberately kept him in suspense: “No, it’s not Gua Nine.
You’ll know when you meet him.
Now, unpack and put your things away, I really need to go take care of something.” He turned around and walked out of the door.

Shi Jin watched him leave, wondering about this neighbor business, but quickly forgot about it and threw himself on the soft, bouncy bed.
He happily rolled around on it and looked at the splendid panorama behind the windows.

“This really is a paradise,” he sighed, contented.
Remembering he hadn’t seen Lian Jun since yesterday, he glanced at the time.
It was already breakfast time, he pulled out his phone, made a call, and waited for it to connect.
“Jun-shao, where are you? Have you eaten breakfast?” He asked.

{Did you get off the ship?} The sound of running water accompanied Lian Jun’s question.

“Yeah, Gua Two just showed me to my room.
Where are you, Jun-shao? If you haven’t had breakfast, let’s eat together.”

The phone was silent for a moment, then there came a sound of a door opening, at the same time when the door to Shi Jin’s room was pushed open.
Lian Jun appeared at the entrance, still holding his phone, and said, “I’m here, you—”

Shocked, Shi Jin twisted around and stared at him with wide eyes.

They looked at each other in consternation.

Lian Jun was dumbstruck.
He looked at Shi Jin lying on the bed, whose clothes rolled up when he tossed about, and now revealed his waist.
He blinked, then moved his eyes away, backed off, and closed the door.
His voice came from the still connected phone: {Get dressed, then we’ll go to the dining hall for breakfast.}

Shi Jin looked at the door, looked at his phone, and jumped out of bed.
He ran to the door and threw it open.
“Jun-shao, how did you come so fast, are you…”

Lian Jun eyed his messy clothes.
He turned around and returned to his room, slamming the door in front Shi Jin’s nose.
{I told you to get dressed, why did you come out looking like that?} His voice came from the phone once again.

“……”

Shi Jin studied the door before him, then turned to glance at the one behind, and silently changed the question he was going to ask into a declarative sentence: “So you are my flatmate.” This was the nearest they ever lived to each other.