Chapter 5 - Buff (2/2)

“Yes, sir.” The man stepped into the room, put the bag on the table, and quietly withdrew, completely ignoring Shi Jin the whole time.

Shi Jin frowned slightly.

“Have you noticed?” Pensive, he asked the system in his mind.

Xiao Si said hesitantly: <The moment the man entered the room, Darling’s progress bar seemed to rise a bit. When he left, it fell down again.>

“So I wasn’t seeing things.” Shi Jin put down the chopsticks and couldn’t help but look at the closed door. His frown became deeper. “This person wants to kill Lian Jun, so he’s a lethal factor. Maybe the reason Lian Jun’s progress bar has risen in the past few days is him.”

<But he seems to be his subordinate…> Xiao Si’s tone also turned more somber.

Lian Jun watched as Shi Jin kept twisting his head to look at the door and asked, “It seems Mr. Shi is quite interested in Gua Four?”

Shi Jin looked back at Lian Jun and the progress bar above his head. His expression became more serious. “Is that man called Gua Four?” Gua Two, Gua Four, and the one before was Gua Three—their names follow the same format and are in accordance with their rank. They can come into close contact with Lian Jun and seem to be his important right-hand men… This is going to be tricky.

Lian Jun turned the wine cup in his hand. His black eyes, resembling a bottomless pool of darkness, looked straight at Shi Jin and he said lightly: “Gua Four’s appearance has always been eye-catching. I don’t object to my subordinates falling in love.”

What the hell is he talking about?

Shi Jin, who hadn’t understood the implied meaning, ignored these words and answered Lian Jun’s earlier question, “Yes, I’m really interested in Gua Four.”

“Mm.” Lian Jun took a sip of wine and his eyelids drooped, hiding his mood.

Xiao Si shivered: <JinJin, why did your progress bar go up to 960?>

Shi Jin was startled. He looked at Lian Jun, who seemed to be concentrating on the wine, and continued, almost gnashing his teeth: “It’s because I’m afraid of him! On the day I was caught, he looked at me through the crack in the door. His eyes were cold and cruel, I thought they resembled the eyes of a bloodthirsty beast. Now that I met him again, I think my gut feeling was right—he is very dangerous. He doesn’t even look like a good person.” Nor does he look like someone who is loyal to his master.

Halfway through those words, Lian Jun raised his eyes again. He looked at speaking Shi Jin and took another sip of wine. His expression was inscrutable, making it impossible to know what he was thinking about.

<It’s dropping, it’s dropping! JinJin, your progress bar has dropped to 950!> Xiao Si yelled excitedly.

“But your Darling’s bar has gone up, two points for every sip of wine.” Shi Jin splashed the system with cold water. He lost his patience with these constant fluctuations and with both of them trying to feel each other out. He got up and sat beside Lian Jun, taking the wine cup from his hand and stuffing his used chopsticks into it. He said snappily, “If your health isn’t good, then don’t drink! Are you that tired of life? Stop speaking and eat—I’m hungry and I don’t want to talk to you for now.” After that, Shi Jin picked up his chopsticks and started to eat, still thinking about the supposed bad guy, Gua Four.

He’s far away from his brothers and Lian Jun, though unpredictable, does not seem to want to kill him for now, so even if his progress bar is almost full, Shi Jin could be said to be currently safe.

Lian Jun was not. His points were rising and falling quickly, apparently, his lethal factors are different than those of Shi Jin. There was a possible traitor by his side and his health was poor—his situation was more dangerous.

Sure enough, there’s no fast and easy way to make Lian Jun’s progress bar drop… Shi Jin picked up a piece of fish fillet and mourned the naive him from five days ago.

It was a first time that Lian Jun’s wine cup was taken away from him. He was stunned for a long time, then looked at Shi Jin, who stuffing himself with food. Strangely, he wasn’t angry at his rudeness or annoyed because he was too close—on the contrary, watching the way Shi Jin ate, Lian Jun thought the food must be delicious. He felt hungry and moved his chopsticks, reaching for the fish fillet that Shi Jin had just eaten.

The dinner that began with excitement ended quite peacefully.

Full of food and drink, Shi Jin was shown to a cozy and comfortable room by the plain-looking Gua Three. Holding his lost-and-recovered baggage in his arms, he asked confusedly: “Why did my progress bar fall back to 880 after having a meal?” Could it be that people who don’t speak live longer?

Xiao Si proudly puffed out its chest: <It’s because the buff I gave you worked.>

Shi Jin then remembered that after all, he also was a man with the golden finger. His eyes lit up: “So what kind of buff did you add to me, trust bonus or friendliness bonus?”

<Nothing like that.> Xiao Si shook its head and explained: <Trust and friendliness are what the others feel towards you, and I can’t influence other people—my power will only work on you.>

Shi Jin wasn’t convinced: “So in the end, what buff did you give me?”

Xiao Si hesitated.

Shi Jin started to have a bad feeling. His voice became heavy: “To confess is to be punished leniently, to refuse is to be punished severely.”

The threat worked quite well. Xiao Si gave in and mumbled, <Weren’t the both of you just having a meal? I thought that if the food was tasty, you would be happy and the atmosphere would become better, so… so I added the ‘It’s Yummy!’ buff to you…>

Shi Jin didn’t understand: “What kind of buff is that? Does it make the food tastier or my appetite better?” But he didn’t eat that much at dinner.

<Not quite.> Xiao Si’s voice was getting smaller and smaller. <That is, it makes anybody eating with you feel their food is delicious… Didn’t you see my Darling having an entire bowl of rice?>

Shi Jin: “…”

Translator’s Notes:

“Your Darling is trying to fatten me up for slaughter” – orig. 鸿门宴, “giving the Hongmen Feast”. Wiki:

JinJin is the best, I love you, JinJin, JinJin is the cutest child in the whole world! – Chinese: 进进你最好了, 进进么么哒, 进进是这世上最好看的未成年！

“To confess is to be punished leniently, to refuse is to be punished severely” [坦白从宽，抗拒从严] – China’s traditional criminal policy.

I think most of you know that “golden finger” means “cheat”, aka “the protagonist’s cheat”, so I’m not putting it in the notes.

Some of Xiao Si’s buffs are quite useful.