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nChapter 22: Survival Factors

nDespite having to suffer some pain, Shi Jin was very satisfied with the results of today’s test.

nFirst of all, he determined the plot had loopholes—his brothers did not necessarily want to kill him; at least, Rong Zhouzhong either did not want to or wouldn’t really do it even if he thought about it.

nSecondly, the fluctuation of the progress bar was very problematic, and he needed to analyze the correlation between it and danger one more time.

nFinally, the increase and decrease of the progress bar may be influenced by other things in addition to the lethal factors or his understanding of the lethal factors was too limited.

nXiao Si’s expression showed it didn’t really understand.

nShi Jin explained, “The lethal factors can be divided into subjective factors and objective factors. Lian Jun’s progress bar is affected mostly by objective factors, such as the state of his body, whether there are people aiming for him nearby or whether the location he’s in is dangerous, and so on.

nMy situation is different—my progress is going up and down randomly, just like a roller coaster. It’s influenced by many subjective factors, for example, my brothers or some unknown person intentions to kill me and such.

nThe difference between me and your Darling can be seen clearly when we compare our ways of death: if Lian Jun’s progress bar fills up, he’s going to die right away, but in my case, the plot will take over and I will have to passively follow it until it ends with my death, like in the book.”

nXiao Si looked to be deep in thought.

n“There’s another significant difference between Lian Jun’s and my progress bars—the fluctuation of his progress bar is related only to his health or the increase of lethal factors in his vicinity, and the fluctuation of my progress bar may also be related to survival factors.”

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nXiao Si was puzzled.

n“Yes, this is my current conjecture. Do you remember my progress bar decreasing by a large amount when Lian Jun allowed me to stay with him? At that time, I had thought that Lian Jun’s existence intimidated those who wanted to kill me, which reduced my lethal factors, and that’s why my progress bar fell. If we look at it from another angle though, it’s not that my lethal factors decreased because of the fear of Lian Jun, but that Lian Jun increased the chances of me saving my life—he’s my survival factor. Don’t you think this explanation makes much more sense?”

nXiao Si still couldn’t quite comprehend the difference. It was originally heavily damaged, and being bound to Shi Jin limited its abilities further. As a result, it wasn’t actually all that smart.

nSeeing its frustration, Shi Jin scratched his head. He did not know how to make it understand the details, so he decided to simplify his explanation: “You see, my progress bar is actually influenced by both lethal and survival factors. I used to believe that my brothers were lethal factors, but now I think they might in fact be survival factors. Of course, it does not rule out the possibility that some of them do want to kill me, but at least Rong Zhouzhong and Shi Weichong should not be considered lethal factors right now.”

nThis time, Xiao Si managed to follow Shi Jin’s meaning. It asked.

n“Yes, exactly! If we put aside our prejudice, then all of my brothers are very impressive. If I improve our relationship, then won’t I have a lot of powerful thighs to hug?” Envisioning this future, Shi Jin smiled blissfully. He then continued to say, “Before our fight, Rong Zhouzhong never took the initiative to call me or send me text messages, but today he did. What does this prove? It proves that friendship between men is established through fighting!”

n<…>

nHis blind optimism made Xiao Si speechless, and it felt it had to pour cold water on this plan:

nPop! Shi Jin’s dream world existed only for a few seconds before it was punctured by cruel reality. Xiao Si was right—considering the original ‘Shi Jin’s’ non-existent social circle, his death could only be related to his brothers. The murderer should be either one of them or a person connected with them, otherwise, it was impossible to explain the crazy jumps of the progress bar when it came to them.

nTherefore, even if Shi Jin more or less analyzed the reasons for every increase and decrease of the progress bar, it did not help him to find an answer to the most fundamental question. On the contrary, removing Shi Weichong and other brothers from the list of murder suspects actually made things much more complicated.

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nWhen Shi Jin believed his five brothers were guilty, he only needed to focus on dealing with them, but now that the murderer could be anyone he might provoke him or her by accident, so his every step had to be as cautious as if he was walking through a minefield.

nThinking about this, Shi Jin felt a little despairing.

n“Oh well, we’ve still made some progress. At least we know who we should suspect.” Shi Jin quickly pulled himself together. He found some paper and a pen, then promptly wrote down the names of his five brothers, drawing a circle around ‘Shi Weichong’ and ‘Rong Zhouzhong’. He thought aloud, “Big Brother and Third Brother have been ruled out, and I haven’t contacted the remaining three brothers yet. That leaves us my brothers’ friends, relatives, subordinates, business partners, competitors…”

nXiao Si continued to pour cold water:

nShi Jin: “…”

nHe tried to narrow the scope of suspects further: “What if we only consider interested parties…”

nXiao Si:

nShi Jin was shocked. “How come the number increased?”

n answered Xiao Si.

nShi Jin: “…”

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nThe analysis seemed to have reached a dead end. Shi Jin sprawled on the sofa, feeling brain-dead, and Xiao Si accompanied him in his daze.

nA few minutes later, Shi Jin sat up, his eyes flashing light like the TV detective’s who had found a vital clue to solving the case. He said excitedly, “Xiao Si, we have neglected a very important issue—the motive. Why would someone want to kill an underage high school student? What makes him special?”

nStartled, Xiao Si tried to follow his train of thoughts and replied hesitantly, Except for that, there didn’t seem to be anything significant about ‘Shi Jin’.

nShi Jin nodded his head vigorously and discreetly encouraged the system to think things through: “Now if we take these two things into consideration and sift through the possible suspects again, the people who have the motive to kill the original ‘Shi Jin’ are…”

nThe lightbulb seemed to flash above Xiao Si’s head, and it roared,

nShi Jin almost choked to death trying to stop himself from screaming in despair.

n<… And their mothers and other family members!> Xiao Si continued, its mechanic voice becoming excited.

nShi Jin calmed down, feeling slightly relieved—it seemed his ‘golden finger’ wasn’t totally hopeless. He nodded and added, “There are still some people we can’t ignore, that is, Shi Xingrui’s close subordinates. I suspect some of them betrayed ‘Shi Jin’ and colluded with his enemies because the car accident happened soon after ‘Shi Jin’ contacted them. It’s just that the timing was too well-chosen and I can’t be sure who seized the opportunity to get rid of ‘him’.”

nXiao Si started to feel anxious.

n“It’s all right. We will keep eliminating them one by one, and sooner or later, we will uncover the real mastermind,” consoled it Shi Jin. Taking a look at the clock, he noticed it was time for dinner, so he stood up, exhaling loudly and letting go of his feelings. “I don’t want to think anymore, let’s eat! Only after eating can I have enough strength to investigate!”

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nInfluenced by him, Xiao Si agreed with an enthusiastic “uh-huh”, echoing,

nAfter a moment, it added quietly,

n“It doesn’t matter.” Shi Jin waved his hand with a smile. He opened the door and headed towards the dining room, comforting it warmly, “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have a chance to live this life. You’re already very formidable, and you will be even better in the future. I believe in you.”

nXiao Si was so moved it wanted to cry, but it was afraid Shi Jin would scold it for being too noisy, so it tried to choke its emotions back. In the end, what it let out was,

nShi Jin: “…”

nWhen Shi Jin walked into the dining room, Lian Jun was already present, and there were seven or eight dishes on the table. Shi Jin gave them a cursory glance and found that unexpectedly, most of them were his favorites.

n“Sit.” Lian Jun put his tablet down when he saw Shi Jin come in.

nImmediately, Shi Jin sat down and smiled at Lian Jun as always, trying to flatter him again with his usual lack of skill: “Jun-shao, you seem to be full of energy today.”

nLian Jun eyed him briefly and picked up his chopsticks. “Don’t smile, your swollen face is too ugly.”

nShi Jin: “…”

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nEven so, they had a quiet meal in a fairly harmonious atmosphere. When dinner was over and Shi Jin was about to leave, Lian Jun called out, “I need to talk to you.”

nShi Jin turned back at once and sat down, looking attentive.

nLian Jun asked the waiter to bring them something to drink and said, “Usually, I would simply command my subordinates without discussing anything with them in advance, but your situation is somewhat special, so this isn’t an order, but a request. The government wants us to cooperate with them for a task, and I’m thinking of letting you go.”

nShi Jin was surprised for a moment, then nodded his head to show he understood—when he decided to follow Lian Jun, he already knew it wouldn’t be all flowers and sunshine. It was obvious he couldn’t just eat for free and laze about, so he had been mentally prepared to fulfill some assignments.

n“Don’t agree too fast.” Lian Jun raised his hand to stop him and elaborated, “You would need to participate in this mission alone, without Gua Two—the only people you will cooperate with will be from the official side, what’s more, this task is rather dangerous. You can decide whether you want to take part in it or not, I’m not going to force you.”

nIndependent task? And Lian Jun wants to let a rookie undertake it?

nTaken aback, Shi Jin was asked, “Jun-shao, why would you want me to go? Aren’t you afraid I’ll screw up?”

n“It doesn’t matter if you screw up, this time I can help you out even if you do,” Lian Jun answered, his slender finger circling the rim of the glass. “As for why I want you to go… The objective reason is, your age and qualifications make you the most suitable person. Letting you go is the optimal choice.”

nShi Jin decided to probe further: “Is there any subjective reason?”

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