Chapter 98
Young Master Sports Car
Shi Jin didn’t need to bring much luggage to the police academy because the school supplied all the necessities. As such, his packing consisted of putting the necessary doc.u.ments and some personal belongings into a small backpack, and he was basically ready.
After dinner, Lian Jun did not go to the study but went with Shi Jin back to their room to play mahjong.
“Not being able to play this for the next two months will be hard to endure,” Shi Jin sighed and shook his head, looking very sad at the thought of being deprived of his favorite pastime.
Lian Jun’s hand paused. He cast a sideways glance at Shi Jin, then his thin lips twitched and he changed his move, pulling out a different tile than he’d planned a second before. Shi Jin immediately howled in despair. “Why did you play this tile? Now we’re finished!”
Lian Jun’s face remained expressionless as if he didn’t hear his howl.
“Ah, whatever. We’re certain to lose now, so let the system take care of the rest.” Sulking, Shi Jin turned on auto-play, then put the tablet aside and turned towards Lian Jun. He put his head in the gap under Lian Jun’s raised arm to lie on his lap and looked up with a smile. “Darling, let’s go wash and sleep?”
Lian Jun glanced down at him, still looking indifferent.
Shi Jin moved closer to him and whispered, “Want to wash together?”
Lian Jun lowered his head and fixed the younger man with a gaze for a few seconds. All of a sudden, he threw the tablet away, grabbed his face, and kissed him.
Satisfied to have teased his lover successfully, Shi Jin shut Xiao Si into the small black room ahead of time, pulled Lian Jun up, and tugged him towards the bathroom as they kissed.
The school Shi Jin applied to was in the university town of B city, only about an hour’s drive from the club, so it was relatively close. However, the military training of the police academy students wasn’t held in the school but in an army base, making it pretty much impossible for Shi Jin to come back during the two months it took place. Obviously, Lian Jun would be unable to visit him as well.
To make matters worse, no one from the club could accompany Shi Jin to report in school. After all, which country’s authorities would let people known to be members of the underworld openly enter the place where regular military personnel were trained? Even Lian Jun wasn’t allowed—or, perhaps, especially Lian Jun. The relationship between Annihilation and the government seemed to be one of cooperation, but in fact, they were wary of each other. It was fine for Lian Jun to quietly help Shi Jin enter the police academy, but he couldn’t so overtly step over the government’s “power reserve” line—doing so would send out a bad signal, affecting the situation between both sides.
“There are too many people keeping an eye on me in B city. Since it’s possible to be discovered, just in case, I must try to avoid sending messages like, ‘the leader of Annihilation can freely enter a police academy’,” Lian Jun explained, putting some cash and high-calorie snacks in Shi Jin’s backpack. “So, this time, I can only send you to the university town. I can’t accompany you to the school itself.”
Shi Jin saw the low mood his lover hid under the pretense of calmness. He leaned down and kissed him, saying, “It doesn’t matter, I can go to school by myself. I’ll call you when I go in and keep the call going so I can give you a live broadcast.”
Lian Jun looked up at him. No longer hiding his reluctance to part, he reached out to caress the teenager’s cheek. “You don’t need to livestream for me; instead, you should pay attention to your own matters at that time. I asked someone else to send you to school—other students will be accompanied by family members, and so should you. When Gua One and the others went to school, I also arranged for Mr. Feng to go with them.”
“Okay, I’ll follow your arrangements.” Shi Jin held his hand and kissed him, then stretched his arms to hug him.
Lian Jun returned the hug, stroking his back. He closed his eyes and sighed softly—as the older one, it was he who was supposed to comfort Shi Jin, who was leaving home, but it turned into Shi Jin comforting him. He really was an incompetent boyfriend.
But he really couldn’t bear it. The longer their time together, the more reluctant he was to be separated from this person.
After lunch, Shi Jin said goodbye to Gua Three and the others. Accompanied by Lian Jun, Gua One, and Gua Two, he headed for the university town.
After getting in the car, Lian Jun calmed down and stopped saying the “things to remember in school” that he’d repeated many times already. Instead, he just held Shi Jin’s hand, stroking it carefully, as if he wanted to engrave in memory its feeling and temperature.
“Since you’re coming to the university town anyway, why don’t you go to the clinic for a physical examination?” Shi Jin suggested, changing the subject.
After coming back from the resort, Lian Jun’s progress bar had dropped a few more points—it was now 493, and all signs pointed to it reaching 490 soon. Shi Jin hoped Lian Jun would have a comprehensive physical examination; after comparing it with the results of the last one, he’d be able to a.s.sess the progress bar’s drop rate. With that, he’d be able to roughly estimate when Lian Jun could start proper treatment.
Gua One, who was driving, glanced at Lian Jun in the rearview mirror. “Jun-shao, should I call Uncle Long now?” he asked, tacitly showing support for Shi Jin’s suggestion.
Gua Two, in the pa.s.senger seat, had already taken out his phone, looking ready to dial up the moment Lian Jun agreed.
Lian Jun wasn’t too keen on having a check-up at such a time, but seeing Shi Jin’s hopeful expression and thinking it was the young man’s last request before parting, he nodded anyway. “Alright, then I’ll go for a check-up on my way back.”
“Great!” Shi Jin expressed his happiness with a very straightforward kiss then leaned against him.
Lian Jun hugged him and kissed him on the ear, suppressing his reluctance to part.
If you’re seeing this notice, you’re reading this chapter on pirate site – the original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.
Uncle Long didn’t waste time—Lian Jun and the others’ car had just arrived at the clinic when Uncle Long’s car whooshed in and stopped behind them. Gua Three, a resigned expression on his face, got out of the driver’s seat. “Don’t look at me like this,” he said to Gua Two, who was watching him with raised eyebrows. “I’m sure I’ll get fined for speeding, so remember to tell the support staff to take care of my ticket.”
Gua Two laughed at him mercilessly.
After they entered the building, Uncle Long took his staff to prepare the medical devices and other things for Lian Jun’s check-up, leaving the others waiting in the lounge area in the lobby on the first floor. Shi Jin glanced at the time. As he was calculating how much longer he could stay with Lian Jun, he saw someone unexpected walking through the clinic’s entrance.
“Fifth Brother?” He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. After confirming that the person who just arrived really was Li Jiuzheng, he snapped his head to look at Lian Jun.
“I asked him to come.” Lian Jun had never stopped paying attention to Shi Jin; seeing him look over, he immediately moved his wheelchair closer and explained, “He’s very familiar with the university town and his background is completely clean, which makes him the most appropriate person to accompany you to school. I’m sorry for acting on my own without asking your opinion.”
Lian Jun saying, “Other students will be accompanied by family members, and so should you,” flashed in Shi Jin’s mind. His heart flooded with warmth, and he shook his head to show it was fine. He knew that his lover had made these arrangements out of concern for him.
In the meantime, Li Jiuzheng had spotted them and came over, stopping in front of Shi Jin. “Xiao Jin, I’m here to take you to school,” he took the initiative to speak first, displaying what for him could be called a brilliant smile. That smile brightened his face, transforming the melancholy air that he seemed to always give off because of his inborn appearance into appealing gentleness.
He changed so much that Shi Jin was stunned for a moment. Only after a few seconds did he react and raise a hand to greet him.
“You should go report to school now,” Lian Jun said, suppressing his reluctance yet again. “It will take a while to deal with the formalities and get you settled in, and you shouldn’t stay up late tonight so as to not impair the physical check and fitness test tomorrow.”
Shi Jin turned his head to look at him. Seeing that his lover was forcing himself to bear it, he leaned down and hugged him. He whispered something into his ear, then stood up straight, waved farewell to the others, and motioned to Li Jiuzheng as he headed to the exit.
Li Jiuzheng hurriedly nodded his greetings to the others and turned to follow him.
Watching Shi Jin’s back disappear through the door, Lian Jun rubbed his ear, which had been tickled by his lover’s breath. Despite his low mood, he couldn’t help but chuckle—even at such a moment, Shi Jin still made mischief. Just now, the younger man said that Lian Jun should hurry up and get well so they could finally go to the last step after he got back from the military training.
But soon, his smile slowly faded. He lowered his head and adjusted his emotions; his face a mask of calmness again, he gestured for Gua One to push him to the examination room.
Although the police academy was not far from the clinic as the crow flies, the actual distance was much further as one had to bypa.s.s several schools, so going there on foot would be unreasonable. As such, Li Jiuzheng led Shi Jin to pa.s.s through the side door connecting the clinic and the medical university, and then took him to his car.
“This is your new car?” Shi Jin looked at the extremely eye-catching, bright red sports car in front of him and felt his stomach hurt. Li Jiuzheng usually dressed in a low-key style, so how come his car was so…
Li Jiuzheng saw that his expression was not right. The hand holding the keys stiffening, he said, “You don’t like it? This… this is my second elder apprentice brother’s car, he says that’s what young people like nowadays.”
Your second elder apprentice brother lied to you! Yeah, some young people like such cars, but only those who love to show off!
Shi Jin couldn’t bear to hurt his brother’s fragile adolescent heart. He suppressed the desire to tell the truth, instead forcing himself to admire, “No, this car is very nice. Just look at this streamlined body…” One could tell at a glance it was expensive!
Seeing through his perfunctory praise, Li Jiuzheng silently stuffed the car keys into his pocket, a dejected expression in his downcast eyes.
Shi Jin：“……” Now he had a heavy suspicion that Li Jiuzheng went out of his way to borrow this car in order to take him to school.
He hurriedly praised it again, opened the door, and sat in the pa.s.senger seat, urging Li Jiuzheng to drive.
Li Jiuzheng took a look at him and got in. After starting the car, he emphasized, “This is really my second elder apprentice brother’s car.”
“Yeah, I understand. Your senior brother has a good taste,” Shi Jin agreed feebly.
The flashy red sports car stopped in front of the stately police academy, the loud roar of its engine attracting everyone’s attention.
Shi Jin sat in the car, watching the senior students in police uniforms receiving freshmen at the school gate look over, and the freshmen and their parents look over, and felt his scalp tingle… He stifled the urge to cover his face—his fifth brother’s love was really heavy.
“We arrived too quickly.” Li Jiuzheng got out of the car and frowned as he looked at the academy’s front gate. “It’s rather plain, isn’t it? It doesn’t look as good as XX University’s front gate.”
Shi Jin had just opened the door and got his feet out, but his brother’s remark almost made him shut himself back in the car. He rushed out and grabbed Li Jiuzheng’s shoulder, hissing, “Please stop trying to make everyone hate me, okay?! All the seniors have looked over, don’t you see the daggers in their eyes?”
After saying this, he looked at the gate of the school and raised his voice, praising, “I really like this gate. It’s dignified and gives off an air of history—it really fits this long-established, reputable police academy!” Then he glared at Li Jiuzheng, his gaze telling his brother to shut up!
Li Jiuzheng pulled his lips, coldly looking at the police academy seniors. “Are you afraid they will bully you?”
Please, just stop talking!
Shi Jin was about to try to remedy the damage again when a familiar voice suddenly came from a black business car that stopped nearby.
“Fifth! I knew you were lying to me!”
This voice… His heart skipping a beat, Shi Jin looked in the direction of the sound.
Rong Zhouzhong, wearing a hat and mask, got out of the MPV and stomped over. He stopped in front of them, looked at the sports car, and sneered, “Fifth, this is the school enrollment gift you’re giving the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d? What’s with this color—do you think he’s a girl?”
Oi, you’re being s.e.xist! Can’t boys drive red cars? Some of the students’ parents drove red cars, and they’re glaring at you! And with you covering yourself up so tightly in the summer, you look d.a.m.n suspicious, you know?!
Wait, never mind that—this is a school enrollment gift? Isn’t this car borrowed?
Shi Jin glanced at Li Jiuzheng in surprise.
A murderous expression appeared in Li Jiuzheng’s eyes, instantly turning the harmless, melancholy beauty into a cold-blooded doctor that was not to be provoked. “Third Brother, do you want me to call out your name here?” he asked, looking at Rong Zhouzhong icily.
Rong Zhouzhong’s expression froze. He glared at him, then ignored him and turned to Shi Jin. “It’s hot outside, let’s go in! Hurry up, I don’t have much time to waste here.”
Shi Jin said considerately, “Third Brother, you can go back if you’re busy, I…”
Rong Zhouzhong visibly stiffened for a second, then he quickly interrupted Shi Jin’s words. “I’m not busy,” he said testily. “I specially cleared my schedule today. Just now, that was… Ignore that, okay? I just can’t speak in a nice way.”
Shi Jin looked at Rong Zhouzhong’s awkward appearance as his brother tried to explain, and recalled the cautious, careful text messages he sent during this period of time. His heart softening, he let out a quiet sigh and patted Li Jiuzheng and Rong Zhouzhong on the back. “All right, anyway, thank you both for coming. Now, let’s go inside—it’s indeed silly to talk while standing in front of the gate.”
Feeling the pat, Li Jiuzheng and Rong Zhouzhong froze; they were obviously not used to being treated so intimately. A moment later, they relaxed, exchanged glances, and tacitly restrained their tempers, then obediently followed Shi Jin and stepped through the gate.
The three of them headed toward the school building—two handsome men walking in the front, with another man with a fashion model-like figure and a mask covering his face bringing up the rear. Suffice to say, they looked completely incompatible with the police academy.
“Are they really students here?” some freshmen and parents wondered, confused. They repeatedly checked the name at the front gate, confirming that it was really the entrance to a police school, not a film and television school.
“Isn’t this great?” a female student who was infatuated with good-looking guys asked, holding her blushing face. “Ah, this is heaven…”
When going through the admission procedures, Shi Jin found that the two “guardians” that accompanied him were nothing but ornaments. No, in fact, they were much worse—they were hindrances actively causing trouble.
“What? Personal clothes are not allowed? You are not allowed to dye your hair or wear jewelry, and you have to report in advance if you want to leave school on weekends?” Rong Zhouzhong exclaimed in disbelief as he browsed through the student handbook.
Li Jiuzheng looked around Shi Jin’s dorm room, eyebrows knitted. “A six-person room without a separate toilet, shared bathroom, and the bedding and towels are all issued by the school… Xiao Jin, I have a house in the university town, a duplex. It should be enough for you to live in.”
“Thank you, but living in the dorm is compulsory, commuting is not allowed,” Shi Jin said despondently, wishing he could erase the past hour out of history. Faced with the strange glances of the other students living in the same dormitory and their parents, he deeply understood one thing: his brothers were actually all problem children.
Shi Weichong and Fei Yujing were older, so the “problem” was less obvious. Xiang Aoting’s temperament was steady by nature and his time in the military polished him further, which was why he appeared the most normal among the brothers. Rong Zhouzhong and Li Jiuzheng, however… One was a second-generation celebrity who had lived in the glitzy and decadent world of show business since birth, and the other was a young genius who’d been mentally abused by his mother since childhood. These two had never experienced the life of ordinary people, and their traits of problem children were retained in full!
If it was any of the other three brothers, they’d probably do their best to fulfill their responsibility as a “guardian”, helping Shi Jin to deal with the formalities and greeting his roommates and their parents, trying to establish a good relationship with them. Unfortunately, the ones accompanying Shi Jin today were Rong Zhouzhong and Li Jiuzheng, who, to a certain degree, were self-centered and tended to treat other people as if they didn’t exist. Expecting them to act like proper guardians? No way, impossible, you’d better not hold your breath while waiting for it or you’ll suffocate.
Now, everyone probably thought he was a rich young master who couldn’t bear a little bit of hardship.
“Um, my name is Shi Jin, and these two are my brothers. It’s just that they don’t know anything about the police academy, so they’re a little surprised…” Shi Jin attempted to redeem himself in the eyes of his roommates.
The roommates glanced at the designer clothes on his body and the diamond ring on his hand, then at Rong Zhouzhong’s outfit from a certain luxury brand and diamond studs in his ears, and at the diamond watch on Li Jiuzheng’s wrist and the famous brand bag slung across his back, and let out an indifferent, “Oh.”
Shi Jin: “……” How come it felt like everyone’s att.i.tude became worse than before?
After all the formalities had been dealt with and the whole ordeal finally ended, Shi Jin rushed Rong Zhouzhong and Li Jiuzheng out of the school. He firmly refused Li Jiuzheng’s keys for the sports car and Rong Zhouzhong’s “pocket money”, stuffed them into their vehicles, and sent them away.
Alone at last, and peace and quiet restored, Shi Jin let out a calming breath and called Lian Jun. After learning that he was undergoing the last check, he hung up and went back to his dorm room to try to chat with his roommates and undo the damage.
In the end, they were all young adults. Although the first impression they had of Shi Jin was the negative image of a “young master”, once they had more contact with him, they soon discovered that Shi Jin actually had a very good personality and no young master’s temper. As such, Shi Jin’s relationship with everyone quickly improved and they were soon on friendly terms.
Shi Jin was relieved and invited his roommates for dinner.
After dinner, the results for Lian Jun’s check-up were released, and they were very good. Pleased, Uncle Long announced that if the current rate of progress was maintained, it would only be four more months before Lian Jun could attempt to undergo treatment, which was two months less than the previously predicted half a year.
Shi Jin was overjoyed and rushed to do some calculations. Finally, he came to the conclusion: according to the most conservative estimate, Lian Jun should be able to start the proper treatment when his progress bar dropped to about 430.
430… After washing, Shi Jin lay on the bed looking at the progress bar belonging to Lian Jun in his mind, and slowly closed his eyes.
If you’re seeing this notice, you’re reading this chapter on pirate site – the original translator of Death Progress Bar is Betwixted Translations.
The next day, the freshmen were divided into cla.s.ses and arranged into squads according to the cla.s.s, then were taken to the infirmary for a physical examination. Once everyone was gathered together, Shi Jin’s outstanding appearance and more mature temperament than his peers caused him to be immediately recognized, and to Shi Jin’s dismay, the nickname “Young Master Sports Car” spread around in an instant.
He didn’t expect things to turn out this way—now, even if he tried to explain the misunderstanding, he wouldn’t be able to.
The morning after the physical examination, Shi Jin along with the rest of the freshmen got in the buses arranged by the military command and headed for the base where the military training was going to be held. This was so similar to what he’d experienced in his last life that he got confused; he kept having the illusion that he’d gone through time and s.p.a.ce, returning from the world of Lian Jun to his own world.
He’d fall in a daze for a moment, then abruptly return to his senses and immediately look at the students surrounding him, only relaxing a little after making sure that there were no familiar faces around.
All his belongings which could prove Lian Jun’s existence were left behind in the dorm room. He touched his empty ring finger, then belatedly remembered that there was still Xiao Si in his mind, and frantically poked at the system, rushing to talk with it.
Xiao Si, delighted and flattered by the sudden interest of his host, responded immediately and chatted with him with enthusiasm all the way to the barracks.
Once they arrived, Shi Jin got out of the bus and followed the crowd. Because of the low mood, he kept his head down and didn’t look around with curiosity as other students did.
They a.s.sembled in the field at the center of the camp. Soon, the base commander and the head instructor in charge of the military training arrived, standing in front of the students to give a speech.
Shi Jin sensed somebody’s gaze. Frowning, he looked up, then met a pair of familiar sharp eyes and gasped in shock. “Fourth Brother?!”
“Who is talking?” The instructor near their cla.s.s immediately looked over.
Shi Jin promptly raised his hand and apologized with embarra.s.sment, then looked at Xiang Aoting, who was standing next to the base commander. Seeing that his brother was wearing the Ground Force uniform, he felt that the world became crazy.
What was going on? How could Xiang Aoting, a member of the Air Force, suddenly appear in a Ground Force base near B city? Did he fall for some kind of prank or something?
As if aware of his doubts, Xiang Aoting abruptly stepped forward and headed his way.
Shi Jin’s eyes widened, and he slightly shook his head, urging him to stop with his eyes. He didn’t dare to look at his cla.s.smates’ expressions—just now, he had called out “Fourth Brother” loud enough that those near him had definitely heard it. Aaah, he was done for; another stigma was going to be added to his reputation of a young master.
However, all his attempts to stop his brother failed—he had still come over. Xiang Aoting stopped in front of the cla.s.s and looked at the instructor standing closest to it. “Which student is the one that just spoke?”
The instructor glanced at the insignia on his shoulder loops and gave a salute, then turned to call Shi Jin out of the ranks.
Feeling that the whole world was against him these days, Shi Jin came forward, stopping in front of Xiang Aoting.
Xiang Aoting looked down at him, pointed to the corner of the field, and said, “Go there and stand at attention for half an hour.”
Oh, it turned out he came over for this.
Shi Jin heaved a sigh of relief. Not daring to look directly at his brother’s face, he responded with a meek, “Yes, sir,” and obediently walked towards the corner.
Xiang Aoting followed behind him as if planning to “educate” him further.
As Shi Jin’s cla.s.smates watched him walk away, their expressions changed from suspicion to pity. Earlier, they thought that their cla.s.s’s rumored rich young master spoke out because he saw an acquaintance, but now it seemed it was rather an enemy since right off the bat, he was punished by standing at attention in full sun during such a hot day. This was going to be a torture for a pampered young master, right? Moreover, this instructor looked so fierce… Yeah, the young master was probably done for.