Death Progress Bar Chapter 30 - Sick

s.h.i.+ Jin glanced down and reb.u.t.ted, “I’m not! I changed into clean clothes this morning!”

Xiao Si continued mercilessly.

s.h.i.+ Jin’s expression stiffened. It was true he hadn’t showered since the mission began and during that time, he rolled on the ground many times among other things. The moment he remembered that he felt itchy. “Didn’t Xiang Aoting wipe me after he took me to the hotel?”

Xiao Si’s voice was full of pity.

s.h.i.+ Jin: “…”

He rushed to his room, threw off his clothes and hopped into the bath, scrubbing until his skin became red. When he finally donned a bathrobe and came out, he found it was almost a dinnertime, so he dressed in casual clothes and headed to the dining room.

By the time he arrived, Lian Jun was already present. Seeing s.h.i.+ Jin up and about, he did not say anything but only motioned him to sit down and eat, as usual.

s.h.i.+ Jin was still unable to tell whether he was angry or not. Then he noticed most of the dishes on the table were his favorites, and felt so moved he couldn’t help but explain again, “Jun-shao, I really only care about you. If you don’t like it, I will change.”

The movement of Lian Jun’s chopsticks stopped. He raised his head to look at s.h.i.+ Jin and asked, “In what way?”

“…I can be more reserved?” s.h.i.+ Jin said tentatively.

Lian Jun put down his chopsticks and picked up the soup bowl. “Eat. When you finish, come with me to the study.”

s.h.i.+ Jin: “…” Why do I feel the air pressure dropped?

After dinner, s.h.i.+ Jin dutifully followed Lian Jun to his study. They sat opposite each other across the tea table, then Lian Jun took out the tea set and focused on making tea. He asked, “Are your injuries well?”

Unconsciously, s.h.i.+ Jin’s gaze followed Lian Jun’s white fingers handling dark-colored teapot. He nodded. “Yes. It’s just a few scratches and some bruising, nothing to care about.”

Lian Jun poured out the first tea and began the second brewing. When he spoke again, the subject changed. “Tell me about your task.”

s.h.i.+ Jin carefully observed his expression, but it did not give him any clues, so he obediently described the course of the mission in a brief manner.

As Lian Jun listened carefully, his actions never stopped. By the time s.h.i.+ Jin finished, the tea was ready.

He poured a cup and pushed it in front of s.h.i.+ Jin, saying, “Try it.”

s.h.i.+ Jin drank it in one gulp and praised, “Delicious!”

Lian Jun: “…”

s.h.i.+ Jin, who did not understand tea etiquette at all, was given a bit too late advice by Xiao Si:

s.h.i.+ Jin: “…”

Lian Jun straightened languidly, watching s.h.i.+ Jin in silence.

s.h.i.+ Jin’s back began to sweat. This moment, he deeply understood how a.r.s.e-lickers, brown-nosers, and schmoozers felt when they were seen through. He looked away, s.h.i.+fting uncomfortably under Lian Jun’s death stare.

“Why did you insist on coming to the restaurant today?” Lian Jun asked out of the blue. s.h.i.+ Jin opened his mouth, ready to suck up to him, but Lian Jun intercepted the words on his tongue. “I want to hear the truth.”

Hearing the abnormal tone of his voice, s.h.i.+ Jin swallowed the flattery back and thought for a moment. “I was afraid you were in danger. Few people know you are still in B City, but suddenly, your friend made an appointment with you… I couldn’t help but feel something was wrong.”

“…You’re sharp.” Lian Jun’s fingers tapped on the wheelchair armrest. He leaned forward to remove the teapot from the table and rang for a cup of hot milk tea for s.h.i.+ Jin. He said, his voice easing a little, “Don’t be so rash in the future. Next time, if you have any suspicions or misgivings, just ask me directly, don’t try to take everything upon yourself. Fighting a battle alone is a bad habit to have.”

Is he comforting me? And teaching me the proper way to deal with trouble while he’s at it?

s.h.i.+ Jin was stunned. He stared at Lian Jun’s face, which refused to lose its pallor despite s.h.i.+ Jin’s mothering, and couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, “Lian Jun, you must not die, you have to live for a long, long time.”

Lian Jun paused and looked at s.h.i.+ Jin.

After these words escaped his lips, s.h.i.+ Jin froze. Then he sighed, somewhat resignedly.

In the past, he wanted to save Lian Jun mostly because of the progress bar and Xiao Si, though the normal human kindness also played a part. Now that he accompanied Lian Jun for so long, however, he had no choice but to admit he wanted to save Lian Jun simply because he wanted him to live.

Humans are sentimental creatures. Lian Jun was a good man; he didn’t want him to die, not in the least.

“‘The future’ will come only if you live. That’s why, Lian Jun, work a little harder, ok? There are so many people who want you dead. I’m afraid that if you don’t do your best, aren’t more careful, you will suddenly disappear one day. Things rarely go exactly as planned; it’s not as if the danger will disappear just because you are well-prepared.” s.h.i.+ Jin’s words were earnest and prompted by his true feelings. As he spoke, he instinctively moved to Lian Jun’s side and grasped a hand lying on the wheelchair armrest, leaning forward a little bit. He looked for all the world like a worried mother gently admonis.h.i.+ng her son.

He was really afraid. Every time there was a danger, Lian Jun’s bar rose and fell like a roller coaster. Reason kept telling him the situation wasn’t so urgent, that the progress bar still had a safe margin, but the better he knew Lian Jun, the more influence his feelings had on his emotions. Right now, he could no longer guarantee he would be able to keep a cool head in every situation.

His eyes narrowing, Lian Jun glanced at the hand that was caught.

“For instance, this time,” s.h.i.+ Jin continued to grumble. “So what if there were people in the lobby? They were too far away. In case someone in the next room acted, or Chen Qing broke down and decided to launch a suicide attack, they wouldn’t have time to respond.”

Lian Jun did not interrupt him but eyed the decreasing distance between the two of them.

“Besides, you knew this invitation was suspicious, so why didn’t you take more people? Not to mention Gua One, you should’ve taken Gua Three and Gua Five with you. Having Gua Two alone was too risky.” s.h.i.+ Jin did not notice but, probably feeling the other party’s skin was too cold, he began to rub Lian Jun’s hand while he was scolding him.

The expression in Lian Jun’s eyes continued to darken. Finally, he called out, “s.h.i.+ Jin.”

“Hmm?” s.h.i.+ Jin turned his head to look at him. One person sat upright, the other leaned over him, and the distance between their faces was so close they could nearly count each other’s eyelashes.

Lian Jun looked at the expression of dewy-eyed innocence on s.h.i.+ Jin’s face. He asked, “Does my hand feel good?” For some reason, his voice was a little lower than usual, with a bit of a drawl.

s.h.i.+ Jin froze, and his movements paused. He glanced down at his hands, holding another hand tightly… After a few seconds, he woke up from his shock and jumped back, letting go of Lian Jun’s hand. His expression turned stiff from embarra.s.sment. He wondered how to explain it was unintentional while wailing inwardly to Xiao Si, “I held Lian Jun’s hand? How? Why? When did I grab it?!”

Xiao Si’s voice was weird, with a hint of strange excitement:

Wait, what are you supporting?!

s.h.i.+ Jin was sure he either suffered from a sudden bout of insanity or had been possessed by a malevolent spirit. He peered at Lian Jun; seeing the inscrutable expression on his face, he swallowed hard and tried to save himself: “Jun-shao, your hands are too cold. You should wear warmer clothes, even though the club is heated.”

Ignoring him, Lian Jun turned his wheelchair around and moved it behind the desk, then picked up a doc.u.ment and began to read it. His whole body radiated cold indifference.

s.h.i.+ Jin kept giving him surrept.i.tious glances, wanting to speak but biting his tongue.

Ten minutes later, Lian Jun suddenly looked up and pointed at the door. “Get out, you’re too noisy.”

“I didn’t say a word.” s.h.i.+ Jin felt aggrieved.

“The sound of your breathing is bothering me,” said Lian Jun callously, unmoved by his expression.

s.h.i.+ Jin held his breath reflectively and persisted for a while, but Lian Jun gave him another death stare and he had to stop. Dejected, he hung his head and left the study, dragging his steps, sneaking a look behind him after each one.

Bang. The door to the study slammed shut.

“Xiao Si, I offended my boss. I’m in for it now, aren’t I?” s.h.i.+ Jin asked weakly, standing in the corridor.

Xiao Si was not bothered, and its voice still was weirdly excited.

s.h.i.+ Jin almost coughed blood. His “golden finger” shouldn’t be this useless, right?

It was still early evening. s.h.i.+ Jin went back to his room, washed his face and teeth, then went to bed, but couldn’t fall asleep. For a while, he wondered if Lian Jun was truly angry, then his thoughts went wandering. Suddenly, he remembered his spoils from the mission and sat up, his mind coming back to reality. “Hey, Xiao Si, remember that information I asked you to copy? Let me have a look at it!”

Xiao Si, who was abruptly awakened from a certain fantasy, malfunctioned from excitement, and all the data it decoded flooded s.h.i.+ Jin’s mind at once.

s.h.i.+ Jin collapsed back on the bed, feeling as if his brain exploded.

Xiao Si panicked. It hurriedly gave him a bunch of buffs to adjust his physical condition and said, contrite,

“It’s all right.” Thanks to the buffs, s.h.i.+ Jin gradually adapted, but he needed to concentrate on finding the information he wanted and had no attention to spare for chatting with his system.

Xiao Si copied four pieces of information in total: three from Brother Wolf and one from Pockmarked Yuan. Each of them contained a great amount of data—if s.h.i.+ Jin had to read it in reality, it would take him at least a week. Fortunately, he had Xiao Si to help him sift through it. About an hour later, something that had the high probability of being the customer list appeared before his eyes.

Instead of names, the list contained letters and numbers; letters in front, numbers in the back, densely packed and unintelligible. At first glance, it looked like lines of random computer code.

Xiao Si said,