Death Progress Bar

Death Progress Bar

Chapter 23 - Training

"Yes," Lian Jun answered after a moment, looking up at him. "You're too noisy. I want some peace and quiet for a few days."

Shi Jin: ".........."

Oh, Shi Jin, why do you have to bring this upon yourself? Wouldn't it be better to just be a mute?

"Do you want to do this task?" Lian Jun asked.

"...Yes," Shi Jin squeezed out the word through his teeth, feeling extremely aggrieved.

"Then go rest," Lian Jun waved him off, heartlessly dismissing him. "Before the task starts, officials will come to give you a short-term training at the club. Don't wander around these few days, take good care of yourself and try to recover as soon as possible."

Shi Jin left the restaurant with a mouthful of old blood, his back lonely and desolate. 

"Your precious little baby is so naughty, he wasted all the effort I put into coaxing him to eat so much!" Shi Jin lamented in his heart.

Xiao Si tried to mend his broken teenage heart, "Actually, he doesn't want you to leave. Look at the dishes ordered today, most of them are your favorites."

"Well, the pig needs to be fattened up before it's slaughtered," Shi Jin remained unimpressed.

Xiao Si: "..."

From that day on, Shi Jin began a life of training with Number One and his team while nursing his injuries. Although he wanted to continue analyzing the clues of the murderer, the sudden mission forced him to temporarily put aside his analysis and focus on training. 

During this time, Shi Weichong came to see Shi Jin once again. Shi Jin was worried that he wouldn't have a chance to test him out and ease their relationship. When he received the news, he immediately took the initiative to meet Shi Weichong outside the club. His heart was jumping with joy, but he maintained a cold demeanor.

The two brothers had a brief conversation by the car.

"Why did you fight with Old Third?" Shi Weichong asked.

"I've wanted to fight him for a long time," Shi Jin replied.

"Where did you get hurt?" Shi Weichong continued to ask.

"Everywhere," Shi Jin answered.

Shi Weichong frowned, looked at his bruised and swollen face, and fell silent for a moment before asking, "Do you still want to fight? I can accompany you."

Shi Jin: "..." Why aren't you following the script, brother? 

"I'm not going to fight with you," Shi Jin deliberately turned his head and answered with a rebellious attitude. Then he felt like he had played the role of a rebellious teenager enough. 

He glanced at Shi Weichong and his expression softened as he asked, "Big brother, do you still hate me?"

Shi Weichong sighed softly as he saw him soften. He tentatively reached out and touched his prickly head. Seeing that he didn't refuse, his expression softened even more as he replied, "I'm trying not to have any prejudices towards you... Xiao Jin, you're still my little brother."

Xiao Si couldn't contain its excitement and exclaimed, "The progress bar has dropped to 870!"

Shi Jin's held breath was suddenly released and a smile appeared on his face. His speculation was correct. Shi Weichong was indeed a survival factor, and getting along with him could increase his survival rate! 

When Shi Weichong caught a glimpse of the smile on Shi Jin's face, he felt even more uneasy and said, "Xiao Jin, I know I misunderstood you before..." 

"Thank you!" Suddenly, Shi Jin reached out and hugged him tightly, patting him on the back with joy. "Big brother, I'm so glad you don't hate me. Thank you!" 

Shi Weichong was stunned by the embrace. In fact, he had never been hugged like this before, not by his father, mother, or siblings. Their relationships were always distant, and even their friendliness was kept within a very restrained range. Intimacy had never been a part of their lives. 

His body instinctively tensed up, but the hug wasn't too intimate, given how much they were both bundled up for winter. However, the weight of Shi Jin's head on his shoulder and the force of his pat on the back were both significant. 

As Shi Weichong looked at the head of his younger brother Shi Jin, near his own ear, he suddenly felt a sticky emotion rising in his heart - after all, the person in front of him was just a child, his younger brother who had just come of age, the youngest of his siblings.

"...There's nothing to thank me for," he said, his hands reaching up as he tentatively tried to respond to the sudden embrace. But before he could make a move, Shi Jin Jin's body quickly pulled away. 

"Big brother, I have to go back for training soon," said Shi Jin as he released the embrace after a few seconds. He didn't want to overdo it and appear fake, or raise suspicion from Shi Weichong. 

After letting go, he immediately showed his goodwill, "Next time, just call me directly to arrange a time. You don't have to wait outside the club in this cold weather." Afraid of revealing too much, he waved goodbye to Shi Weichong and ran away.

Shi Weichong watched him enter the club, slowly lowering his stiff hand. He stood there for a while, took a shallow breath, and then turned back to his car.

After returning to the club, Shi Jin removed Shi Weichong's number from his blacklist and sent a smiling text message. About ten minutes later, Shi Weichong replied to the message, and Shi Jin's progress bar dropped again, this time to 850. 

"30 points down, today's harvest is not bad." Shi Jin was very satisfied. After thinking for a moment, he sent a text message to Rong Zhouzhong, saying, "Is your injury better? Big brother came to find me, I complained about you."

Rong Zhouzhong's reply came quickly, with only two words: "Get lost!"

Shi Jin laughed foolishly at the screen of his phone. Suddenly, he felt that Rong Zhouzhong, the king of the entertainment industry, was actually not fierce at all, but rather cute.

Two more days passed, and just as the last bruise on Shi Jin's body was fading away, the authorities finally sent a message - the training personnel had been confirmed and could arrive in the afternoon.

Shi Jin was puzzled by this: "Wasn't this task very important? Why did it take so long for the authorities to confirm the training personnel? Did they have a problem?" 

As Number One shook his head with a hint of dissatisfaction, he replied, "It's not that there's a problem, it's just that there were disagreements among the upper management on the selection of candidates for training. They've been at odds for a few days, which is why it took so long to finalize."

"But it's just a training, why make such a big deal out of it?" Shi Jin was even more confused.

Number One intended to teach him, so he explained in detail, "They're not arguing about the training itself, but rather the opportunity to enter 'Nightfall', which is Young Master Jun's private place. Do you think any official personnel can just enter it? It's not easy to get a membership card for 'Nightfall.'"

Shi Jin suddenly realized and shook his head in admiration, imagining the official training personnel as a bureaucratic fat man, and wisely refrained from asking any more questions.

During the middle of the afternoon's combat class, the door of the training room suddenly knocked. 

As Number One paused his sparring with Shi Jin, he called out, "Come in.".

The door was pushed open and Number Two poked his head in. He glanced at Number One before fixing his gaze on Shi Jin, his expression somewhat peculiar. "The person from the official side has arrived," he said.

Shi Jin looked puzzled. "Well, if they're here, they're here. Number Two, why do you have that expression? Did you pull a face muscle?"

Number Two rolled his eyes, too lazy to give him any more signals. He reached out and pushed the door open completely, stepping aside to reveal the person standing behind him in a black training suit. 

Due to his perspective, after Number Two stepped aside, Shi Jin Xian's first sight was a pair of long legs clad in black boots and matching casual pants. He was a bit surprised and even mentally joked with Xiao Si, saying that the official was more reliable than he had imagined, not sending over a useless fat guy. 

But when the person took a step forward and revealed his face, Shi Jin was dumbfounded.

"Fourth, Fourth Brother?!" Shi Jin was in disbelief, staring in shock.

When Xiang Aoting stopped walking and furrowed his brows, his gaze landed precisely on Shi Jin. His expression darkened when he saw the training uniform on Shi Jin's body, and he asked, "What are you doing here?" 

Shi Jin was puzzled by his question and asked in return, "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You're a pilot, how did you become a trainer? Also, what do you mean by why am I here? Don't act dumb, you know I live here, right?"

"I know you live here, otherwise I wouldn't have applied to lead this external training. I'm asking why you're staying in this training room!" replied Xiang Aoting, sensing something was off. 

He looked at Number Two, the guide, and asked, "Why is Xiao Jin here? You said you were bringing me to meet the participant for this mission, where is he?"

Number Two pointed at Shi Jin and replied, "He is the person you need to train."

Xiang Aoting's expression turned sour, his eyes flickering. He spoke in a deep voice, "I want to see Lian Jun." 

The moment Number Two saw Xiang Aoting appear, he knew things were going to go wrong. When he heard the news, he wasn't surprised and greeted Number One with a wave before turning around and gesturing for Xiang Aoting to follow him.

Shi Jin also sensed that something was off and quickly took off his protective gear and jumped off the training platform to catch up with the two. "I'll go with you guys," he said.

Number Two nodded indifferently, while Xiang Aoting noticed Shi Jin's skilled movements when he took off his gear and his expression became even uglier.

The three of them headed towards Lian Jun's study. As they walked, Shi Jin communicated with Xiao Si in his mind. Suddenly, he remembered the 'You're dead meat!' sent by Rong Zhouzhong and had a sudden realization. He quickly pulled out his phone and typed: "Third Brother, did you know Fourth Brother was coming to Nightfall?"

Rong Zhouzhong's reply came quickly, still short and to the point: "Die, you little brat!" 

This childish bastard really knew!

Shi Jin closed his phone and glanced at Xiang Aoting walking ahead of him. He frowned and quickened his pace to catch up, attempting to strike up a conversation. "Fourth Brother, this time..."

"Our issue can wait," Xiang Aoting interrupted without looking back. He saw that they were approaching Lian Jun's study and strode forward, pushing open the door. 

He ignored Number Nine, who immediately stood up in alert, and walked to Lian Jun's desk. He leaned in, propping himself up on the desk, and stared at Lian Jun with unbridled aggression. He asked, "Lian Jun, why was my little brother chosen to participate in this mission?" 

"Fourth Brother," as soon as Shi Jin entered, he noticed the movement of Xiang Aoting and his heart tightened, afraid that he would cause trouble for Lian Jun. He hurried over to stand by Lian Jun's side and blocked him with one hand.

Xiang Aoting's expression became even more serious when he saw this, and his gaze towards Lian Jun was like he was looking at a great demon who had led an ignorant youth astray.

Shi Jin tried to communicate with Xiang Aoting and said, "Fourth Brother, you..."

"Shut up!" Xiang Aoting interrupted him and continued to look at Lian Jun, questioning, "Lian Jun, what do you mean by this? Why did you let a child like Shi Jin do this mission?"

Shi Jin wanted to refute his use of the word "child," but was held back by Lian Jun. 

"It's nothing special," said Lian Jun, waving his hand to stop Number Nine and Number Two from approaching Xiang Aoting. 

Facing Xiang Aoting's hostile gaze, he continued, "I chose Shi Jin because his qualifications were the most suitable, and also because Shi Jin is not a child anymore, he is already an adult."


Ribbit
Ribbit

A little frog who likes reading. Hope you liked this chapter, and thank you for your support! Coffee fuels my midnight translation binges.

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