The victory was short lived though. Ku Wai fainted in mid air after using up his entire reserve of chi in his body. There was no one with sufficient strength to even catch him in mid air, causing him to fall straight to the ground. The Gearbox frame was also busted due to the excessive use of the chi booster which caused the frame system parts to fry up.
“…Princess, we did it.” Ku Wai whispered as he smiled once more before fading into oblivion and ending up in the Recovery Dungeon Instance. Only Yang Ling was left in the dungeon. Manager Hui helped to gather everyone including Ms Cold whose mind control was dispelled when the treant was killed.
“Thank you for saving my troupe members.” The One Eyed Panda bowed in front of Yang Ling who felt exceptionally fatigued from the overuse of her magic. She could even feel her Mana circuits strained from this particular battle. “If you do not mind, we could perform an impromptu concert right here for you as a token of gratitude,” Hui said and the rest unanimously agreed to it.
“I am honoured to hear it.” Yang Ling said since this was after all the Music Theatre Dungeon Instance. Of course, she would like to hear the troupe perform as part of the reward. Suddenly Yang Ling was being lifted by the Great White Snake after agreeing to Hui and was brought near the broken ancient treant. She sat near it along with the slightly charred snake courtesy from Mr Hot’s fire attacks and there was a sudden urge to care for it.
Yang Ling should no need to worry much since the instance would most probably be reset after she left the dungeon. Besides, it was just a dungeon, wasn’t it? Why did she suddenly feel a close attachment to the snake? Even more than with Ku Wai, who she spent years with. Perhaps, it was just in the heat of the moment but the more she thought about it, the less she was able to find an explanation. Hence, she decided to go with her feelings for the moment and stroked the poor little charred snake as they both waited for the Enlightened Troupe to prepare their stage.
Manager Hui was really creative in building up an impromptu stage. With the help of Ke Mi and Sandy, they created an elevated stage by having Ke Mi cutting up the once invulnerable vine and root barrier, that barred them from going out, with her Razor Winds attack while Sandy reinforced the vine and roots into a stage.
Hui even used the fallen branches as large torches by asking Mr Hot to light them up. Not only that, those large torches were subsequently being covered by a very thin layer of ice which managed to reflect and amplify the fire’s light, making the stage to be slightly more vibrant and brighter. Yang Ling could not imagine how the physics worked with an ever burning torch on a branch near a thin layer of ice but hey, it no doubt was really pretty.
When the stage was ready, Hui and Sandy managed to bring out all the instruments and they started to tune them before they started. That was when Yang Ling saw how dexterous the wyrm ants were in strumming the bass and beating the drums.
“Ahh, finally able to see the new ants in this musical performance.” Jin initially did not want to use the ants again since they were being used in the Bank Heist Dungeon Instance, but he could not help but to bring continuity for cultivators who fought the wyrm ants in the old Zither Mistress Dungeon Instance.
Jin initially wanted to rent the same kind of ants, like how he did with Nyanmi, but little did he know that the Fire and Ice Wyrm ants actually mated and laid eggs, birthing two new wyrm ants that had the same traits as them, probably even stronger. It was because both parents’ abilities interfered with each other. The ice melts when in contact with the fire wyrm ant’s fire. But the newborn wyrm ants abilities did not interfere but instead complemented each other. Ms Cold’s ice will not be burned by Mr Hot’s fire.
In any case, Jin named the original parents of the wyrm ants as Father Hot and Mother Cold in case they gave birth to more ants. He also renovated the courtyard home instance of Ke Mi to accommodate the ants. Yeap, they were living beneath the courthouse with a relatively large ant nest from which they occasionally appeared to the surface to play with Ke Mi. Not to mention, with the addition of Mr Hot and Ms Cold, Ke Mi finally had some monsters to bond with over music.
“The stage is ready, the members are prepared too.” Manager Hui said as the sun started to set and its rays shone through the broken tree, giving an additional amazing lighting to the current set they had on stage.
“My lady, may I proudly present to you the Enlightened,” Hui said as he slowly withdrew himself from the stage and sat beside Yang Ling. Both of them clapped and even the Great White Snake was banging its tail with excitement and sticking out its tongue.
Although Sandy took on stage with a few bandages on, she still looked as exquisite as usual and started to sway with the music that Ke Mi, Mr Hot, and Ms Cold started playing. To Yang Ling’s surprise, Sandy was actually singing Chinese songs from the 1990’s and 2000’s. What was even more surprising was the ones that Sandy sang were those Yang Ling actually liked too. It was too much of a coincidence but she did not care and enjoyed every moment of it.
The rendition of Ke Mi’s zither with modern instrument brought in a brand new remix to the songs that Sandy was singing to the point that Yang Ling was dying for a recorded version of Sandy’s songs. It was not just mellifluous and alluring but her intonation of the Chinese lyrics was spot on. Yang Ling also could not help but tear at some of her renditions of the songs.
For example, while the original song was slow, affectionate and moving with the expression of the song, it had a feeling of restraint. Yet, Sandy’s rendition of the original song was full of intrigue and regret, expressing a different feeling of undying love with the same set of lyrics.
“If only she existed in real life…” Yang Ling said to herself as she thoroughly enjoyed the entire impromptu concert before leaving the dungeon instance. At that moment, she realised something was amiss. “Shouldn’t there be a reward for me at the end of the dungeon?” Yang Ling asked Hui and he nodded his head.
“Yes, there is but it seems that Boss Jin wanted to spice up the reward for you,” Hui said before he waved goodbye to Yang Ling and she was teleported back to the main shop, seeing Ku Wai, who was anxiously waiting for her, while Jin was finishing his cup of coffee.
“You two did really well in this dungeon to the point it’s considered as a first clear but because it’s off shop opening hours, I am afraid it is not counted to the Wall of Honour,” Jin said.
“I do not care, I want my reward!” Yang Ling showed her pouted face but it looked as if she felt more refreshed than ever. Ku Wai took out another wheelchair from his storage ring and helped Yang Ling onto it.
“Give me some time for your reward because you are the first who cleared one of my hardest dungeons to date. If you do not mind, I will contact you via the Pandamonium app on which you have registered before entering the dungeon.” Jin said.
“How about converting that reward to making a new dungeon for me?” Yang Ling´s face changed to a serious business one and at the same time cheeky too. “I am even more convinced that you are the right man for this job and I am willing to pay serious bucks for this.”
“Can making a dungeon be considered as part of a partnership deal with Yang Ling?” Jin gave his thoughts to Yun and she replied with a yes.
“It’s more or less the start of the partnership with Yang Ling. Besides, the system did not state whether it needs to be a long term one or a once off partnership. As long as you cooperate in making the dungeon with her, it’s a legitimate business transaction. Besides, you can use that dungeon not just for her, but for yourself too. Hence a partnership deal.”
“I will consider it,” Jin unknowingly played hard to get which made Yang Ling even more interested in getting both the Dungeon and Jin in her hands. However Jin did not have any prenotion of liking her, it was just business and rewards to him.
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