“Eh Yue Han, want to go Boss Jin’s store for lunch? I still have some Panda Credits to spend and I also have to check out the underground stores. Perhaps I should play in a dungeon too. Want to follow?” Bu Dong asked Yue Han right after school.
“Sure! Why not? I am starving and I have to save some money for the new upcoming Dungeons and Dragoons expansion.” Yue Han agreed to Bu Dong.
“Dude, that expansion will not even be here until the end of the year. You probably have sufficient money to play a dungeon too.” Bu Dong felt that Yue Han did not want to go play in Boss Jin’s dungeons after the zombie horror Yue Han had previously experienced.
‘I will consider, and if not, I can always just observe your playthrough by the bar counters.” Yue Han reluctantly agreed even though he did not like the experience he had with the zombie dungeon instance. That was because if he did not improve constantly, he might eventually end up pulling Bu Dong down in the future. Or if you looked at it the other way, Bu Dong might advance his cultivation so fast that Yue Han would not be able to catch up with him.
“Hmm, whatever suits you.” Bu Dong did not worry too much about it. He knew that if he played alone, the difficulty in Jin’s dungeon would be modified a little.
Both Bu Ding and Yue Han took their time to travel to Jin’s place, thinking that once they reached Boss Jin’s area, the lunch crowd would have already dispersed.
They were wrong.
In fact, they were surprised once again by Jin’s new addition to his store. “I swear that Boss Jin has more tricks under his sleeves than a performing magician.” Yue Han casually said.
Both of them saw a brand new caravan parked just beside the garden with lots of people buying something that smelled oh so delicious. They too were able to smell it and they were half expecting the aroma to be coming from Jin’s store. However, what they did not expect was that Jin had created a mini food store right outside his dungeon store
They also found that the entire garden park had been rearranged, making it easier for people to wait for their turn while having their snack time.
“Hey, Bu Dong, let’s try that first.” Yue Han went ahead of Bu Dong in order to buy the buns.
“Panda Credits or real cash?” Zheng Qing asked politely when it was Bu Dong’s and Yue Han’s turn to order their buns.
“Panda Credits.” Bu Dong placed his phone near a QR code at the cash counter and the panda Credits were immediately deducted. At that point in time, the two high school students could not bear the incredible smell from the surrounding people that had already begun to savour their snack.
It was then that Zheng Qing turned to focus on the cooking of the buns. Even with the help of the advanced kitchen appliances, Zhen Qing had to focus properly to get the buns as they were being baked at incredible speeds.
The customers did not care about the process as much as the chef. All they cared about was if the black pepper buns could be served immediately.
With a slight burn mark and a slight change of smell, Zhen Qing was able to discern that the buns were ready to be taken out. Her nimble hands brought the buns out of the modern tandoori oven and onto the kitchen counter.
Zhen Qing then proceeds to package the buns nicely. Previously, all she used was a basic brown paper bag to let the customers have something to hold the hot bun. However, with the caravan’s resources, Zhen Qing now inserted the new baked black pepper pork buns into a brand new kind of packaging.
A customised panda looking packaging.
There was a pair of panda ears poking out of the high quality paper packaging and the design for the overall package gave one a feeling of a panda lazily looking at you.
When Zhen Qing inserted the buns into the panda packaging, which inflated it, the look of the lazy panda became more prominent, making it seem like a fat and lazy panda.
She then passed the buns to both Bu Dong and Yue Han and some serviettes along with it. “Careful, it’s still hot.” Zhen Qing smiled so graciously at them that even the high School kids became smitten due to her.
With the new kitchen appliances and the caravan’s modern ventilation, Zhen Qing finally did not need to wear a mask to cover her mouth. Although she still continued that habit of putting on a mask when she was preparing her ingredients since hygiene was an important aspect to her.
The two boys held onto their panda buns with caution and blew some of the steam, hoping it would cool faster. However, Yue Han was not able to wait any longer so he quickly took a bite.
The look on his face was priceless.
“So juicy! So hmmmm!” Yue Han could not stop chewing on the black pepper pork bun. The dough was baked to the perfect point that gave it a slight crisp. Not too hard, not too soft. The sesame seeds provided the bun with a very slight crunchy taste that complimented the bun really well.
The meat stuffing could be described using the word heavenly. Yue Han could not believe that such a heavenly tasting meat existed. He would not be surprised if this meat was from some high grade animals or maybe even monsters.
Yue Han did not care that much though since the meat was already melting in his mouth. Bu Dong had the exact same reaction as Yue Han and they finally realised everyone besides them was also appreciating the new food item.
“Is this your speciality, Lady Boss?” Bu Dong could not help but ask.
“Lady Boss? I would not dare!” Zhen Qing thought to herself thinking how ridiculous that would be. Jin was her sole benefactor, maybe even miracle maker right now. How could she dare to be so close towards her benefactor?
“Nono, I am just an employee. But yes, this is my speciality.” Zhen Qing’s voice was a beautiful melody to the customers. If she was not in a relationship with Jin then perhaps the guys present might have a chance.
“Is all the other food in the store made by you too?” Yue Han asked but Zhen Qing gave him a curious look before she realised what he was saying.
“Eh, I think Boss Jin has a separate supply from me.” Zhen Qing answered honestly and vaguely since she did not know.
“Well, this bun tasted really good, I can bet you that Jin hired you to replace his other supplier.” Yue Han deduced this but all Zhen Qing did was smile before continuing to serve another customer who came by.
Once they were done, the two high school students went ahead into Jin’s store. “Ah, Bu Dong and Yue Han, welcome back.” Jin smiled at them and they greeted Jin warmly in return.
“Boss, are there any new dungeons?” Bu Dong asked.
“You have not been here a while so almost all of the dungeons will be new for you. The goblin and Zither Mistress dungeons have been revamped to suit the new scenario dungeons. They have become similar to the zombie instance dungeon. However, I have also kept the old battle style for those who just want to fight monsters and not worry about the plot. This is also the case for the zombie and bank heist instances.” Jin explained to his regular customers the services he now sold.
While Jin was previously fiddling around with the caravan design in the dungeon maker, he was also thinking about how he could squeeze ..no maximise the potential of each dungeon.
Hence, Jin added back the previous battle system…with a slight twist. He dubbed the new mode Arena Battles. This meant it was similar to that 2D street fighting games but unlike those games, the cultivators were allowed to choose what monsters they wanted to fight against.
The battle could be based on the themes dungeons, like choosing a goblin arena battle or a Zither mistress arena battle. The cultivators could also choose to battle individual monsters if they liked… but there was a catch. The cultivators could purchase the training arena battle ticket and choose specific opponents from various dungeons to fight against if they had fought with them before. The key phrase there was ‘if they had fought them before.
Most of the monsters were locked apart from basic ones in the dungeon-themed battles. If the cultivators wanted to unlock the monsters, they needed to purchase a random battle arena battle ticket to test their skills and pit them against monsters they have never fought before. After fighting the new monsters, despite the result, the cultivator would be able to choose that monster to fight in the arena.
In order to not let arena battles gain too much popularity and overtake the scenario dungeons Jin had put a lot of time and resources into, the themed arena battles were priced only 40 yuan cheaper than the same current theme dungeons instances.
“Specific training arena battles are dependent on the number of monsters you choose to fight. The more you choose, the more expensive it will be, but on the other hand, if you choose enough monsters, you can receive a slight discount too.” Jin said to the customers as they were previewing their options even further.
Bu Dong felt quite energised by the black pepper buns and so was looking at the menu intensely. “I’m in the mood for….” He gave a grin that Yue Han felt it was trouble.
