Death Progress Bar

Chapter 9: Traitor

By the time they arrived, the infirmary staff had already reached the gate and were lifting Gua One onto a wheeled stretcher. Gua Four was standing on one side, a grim expression on his face. With blood staining his clothes and holding an injured arm, he cut quite a sorry figure.

“What happened?” Gua Two strode closer and asked tensely, “You were just delivering a message, how did you get injured?”

Gua Four’s brows were furrowed tightly, his anger almost tangible. “Our whereabouts were exposed. On the way back, Gua One and I were ambushed, and Gua One was shot in the shoulder to save me. This happened because of my mistake, I was careless.”

“You shouldn’t blame yourself, it’s not your fault.” When Gua Two heard that Gua One was only shot in the shoulder, he breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the infirmary staff taking Gua One away, he gestured towards another stretcher and said, “Go with them and let the doctor patch you up. Other things can wait until your injury has been dealt with.”

Gua Four refused to move. “When we were attacked, I managed to get ahold of vital information. I must let Jun-shao know immediately. ”

“I will tell him, now hurry up and—”

“I have to tell Jun-shao myself,” Gua Four interrupted Gua Two. He saw Gua Two’s frown and gestured subtly towards the people around them, stressing, “The information is very important, I need to report this to Jun-shao personally.”

Gua Two understood his hint. He fell silent and looked around. After hesitating for a few seconds, he said, “All right, go, I’ll tell Gua Three to open the door for you. I will stay with Gua One, so don’t worry about him.”

“Thank you, brother.” Gua Four flashed Gua Two a relieved and grateful smile and hurried towards Lian Jun’s courtyard.

Gua Two watched him leave and waited until his figure disappeared completely before looking away and motioned to the people gathered at the gate to disperse. When he turned to go to the infirmary to see Gua One, he realized that the little guy who had followed him disappeared.

Puzzled, he stopped a man who looked familiar and asked, “Have you seen the newcomer I brought with me? Where did he go?”

“He seemed to follow Master’s stretcher,” the man answered. He hesitated, “I think he did, I’m not sure.”

“All right, thank you.” Gua Two was relieved. That’s a load off my mind.

At this moment, the missing Shi Jin was rushing towards the small courtyard, cutting across the orchard, and his mood was desperate. From the moment he heard Gua Four say he was going to Lian Jun’s courtyard, he felt that the situation was wrong. When Lian Jun’s progress bar soared up, continuing to rise by twenty points each time, his breath caught in his chest.

“Fuck fuck fuck, Gua Four is planning to kill Lian Jun!” He cried out and picked up his speed even more.

Xiao Si was also beside itself from worry and it gave Shi Jin speed-up buff, shrieking, <840! JinJin, waah!>

“Stop screaming, can’t you see I’m running? Gua Four is walking, we can definitely get there first!” Shi Jin yelled, then saw a bicycle parked on the side of the road out of the corner of his eye. He turned and got on it, starting to pedal madly while reaching for his trousers pocket.

Xiao Si reminded him tearfully, <JinJin, you left in a hurry and didn’t take your cell phone with you, remember?>

“Fuck!” Shi Jin retracted his hand and looked around, trying to find someone to borrow a cell phone, but to his despair, the orchard, which was usually patrolled at regular times, was eerily quiet tonight and not even a single shadow could be seen.

This situation is absolutely not right!

Shi Jin’s heart sank. He regretted that just now at the gate, he hadn’t simply alerted others that Gua Four was a traitor—never mind that he had never expected Gua Four would be so black-hearted that he would aim for Lian Jun’s life as soon as he came back!

Turning the last corner, the small building has appeared in his sight. Right now, the door was closed and only a few night lights were on. It seemed that Gua Four, who was keeping to the road, has not arrived yet.

Shi Jin breathed a sigh of relief and got off the bicycle. He did not knock on the door—he was afraid that Gua Four, who might come at any time, would be alerted if he saw any movement nearby. Instead, he ran up to the brick wall and leaped, stretching his hand, grabbing the top of the wall and going over it, then landed nimbly inside the yard.

“Who’s there!” The guard immediately grabbed his gun and pointed it at Shi Jin.

Shi Jin promptly raised his hands in surrender and said quickly, “I’m Shi Jin, a newcomer following Gua Two. Gua Four is a traitor, he’s coming here right now, but the guards inside the orchard are missing. I suspect that either something has happened to them or Gua Four has an accomplice there. Where’s Gua Three? I need to find him!”

The guard indeed recognized Shi Jin. He listened to his words, frowning more and more, and didn’t dare to delay, quickly taking out his mobile phone and calling Gua Three. He was extremely cautious and kept his gun trained on Shi Jin, though.

Shi Jin was dying of anxiety. Seeing that the progress bar belonging to Lian Jun had risen to 940, he became worried that there was another traitor like Gua Four near him. He couldn’t bear to wait for the guard to slowly report to Gua Three and took a sudden step forward, grabbing the arm holding the gun with one hand and skillfully seizing his cellphone with the other, shouting into it, “Gua Three, take Jun-shao to a safe place and don’t allow anyone get close to him, no matter who! I suspect Jun-shao has more traitors around him!”

Hanging up, Shi Jin called Gua Two right away, saying rapidly, “Send people to guard all the four gates and check the car Gua Four just drove in. From now on, try to stay with people you trust, don’t go anywhere alone! Gua Four is a traitor!” After that, he threw the cell phone back to the dumbfounded guard, took the gun from his hand and strode to the front door. After opening it slightly, he saw that Gua Four was less than ten meters away from the yard, so he immediately racked the gun’s slide and shot him directly.

Bang!

Completely surprised, Gua Four simply hadn’t managed to react in time. He staggered and fell down, the black bag he seemed to acquire along the way dropping to the ground.

Just then, the guard recovered from the shock of Shi Jin’s phone-and-gun robbery. He turned red from embarrassment and grabbed Sh Jin’s arm, shouting angrily: “What are you doing?! We haven’t investigated the situation yet, why—”

“Everyone would die before you finished investigating!” Shi Jin jerked his shoulder away, relieved slightly after seeing Lian Jun’s progress bar stop at 970. He pushed the door completely open and rushed to the injured Gua Four, kicking away the gun he had just taken out. After pulling open the black bag the man had dropped earlier, he found it contained explosives. He couldn’t stop himself from kicking Gua Four hard, cursing. “You fucking psycho!”

Gua Four has been shot and then kicked in the head, making him feel the sky and earth were spinning round. He was unable to say anything.

Only then did the guard notice Gua Four outside. He came out of the courtyard with a furious expression, shouting, “Shi Jin, you—”

“Shut up!” Shi Jin kicked the bag his way to let him see what was inside, then bent and turned Gua Four to his stomach, tying his hands with a belt. Preparing to pick the man up and deliver him to Lian Jun, he discovered that the progress bar belonging to Lian Jun unexpectedly began to rise again.

“Fuck!” Shi Jin swore again and threw Gua Four to the ground, turning around and running inside the courtyard.

The guard, who was getting more and more perplexed and angry, yelled, “What are you trying to do now?!”

“Save your boss’s life!” Shi Jin yelled back at him, snapping, “Watch Gua Four, things aren’t over yet!”

975, 980, 985…

The progress bar was rising extremally fast. Shi Jin ran with all his strength, and it seemed as if the progress bar was filling up with each beat of his heart. He roared to Xiao Si, “Find your Darling! Don’t tell me you can’t do it, if you can’t, he will die!”

Xiao Si was so anxious its voice was breaking: <I’m, I’m trying… In the study at the end of the left corridor!>

Shi Jin sprinted in that direction. As soon as he entered the corridor, he saw a man wearing a doctor’s white coat standing before the study holding a medicine box. To his surprise, he saw Gua Three lying on the floor face down in front of the slightly open door, either unconscious or dead.

<995! JinJin!> Xiao Si wailed.

“Fuck! Didn’t I tell you to not let anyone get close to Lian Jun?!” Shi Jin felt he was going to burst a blood vessel. As the doctor prepared to push the door open, he shot his hand, then charged at him and dropped him to the ground with a flying kick. Shi Jin was ninety percent sure there was something wrong with the medicine box the doctor was holding, so to be completely safe, he sent it to the other end of the corridor with a back kick.

Thud!

After the medicine box hit the wall, the iron clasp on it loosened, revealing the gun and explosives hidden inside.

“Explosives again, why are you bastards so fond of those damn things!” Shi Jin became furious once more. He turned to the doctor who was struggling to get up and unceremoniously knocked him unconscious, then pushed open the door, calling out, “Lian—”

Pew. At the sound of a silenced gunshot, Shi Jin’s pupils constricted and he threw himself to the side to avoid it.

Xiao Si’s scream came a beat too late: <Waah, JinJin!>

“It’s you?” In the study, Lian Jun lowered his gun. Apparently, he had not expected Shi Jin’s arrival.

Shi Jin’s tension eased and his body relaxed. Feeling nervous sweat on his forehead, he scolded angrily: “Don’t give me that! You should take a good look at your subordinates, one is a traitor, another is disobedient, and the gate guards are all idiots! It’s simply a miracle that you haven’t died yet!”

Lian Jun raised his eyebrows, scrutinizing him. He moved his wheelchair to the large bookcase, pushed a small decoration on the lower part of it, and with a soft click, the seemingly heavy bookcase slid smoothly aside, revealing a secret passage.

Shi Jin choked, feeling aggrieved. While he was rushing here anxiously, Lian Jun had other means of escape all along—didn’t it mean he needn’t have hurried at all?!

<Jin, JinJin…> Xiao Si cried out soothingly, trying to mollify him.

Shi Jin clutched his chest, so outraged he was unable to speak.

Lian Jun was amused by Shi Jin’s petulant and resentful expression. The corners of his mouth rose in a slight smile as he said, “Come inside. If Gua Four decided to make his move, he must’ve felt his preparations were perfect. We should join up with others first.”

Shi Jin rolled his eyes and was about to bend down and pull Gua Three into the study when to his amazement, the supposedly “unconscious” Gua Three suddenly moved, getting up swiftly. The man looked at him with a ‘good boy, you did well’ expression in his eyes, then stepped forward to push Lian Jun into the secret passage.

Son of a bitch…

Shi Jin was standing frozen, his hands still extended. After quickly going over what had happened tonight, he almost went off the deep end: “I was played! We were deceived by Lian Jun! He clearly knew there was something wrong with Gua Four! He really pisses me off, I’m going to break with him!”

Well, that was fun~ (≧◡≦) ♡

Dear children, if you see some explosives lying around, please don’t kick them.

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