“Oei, sleepyhead. Time to wake up!” The intercom voice sounded like it’s from Yun as Jin felt groggy within the sleeping capsule from the forced awakening.
“… Five more minutes.” Jin managed to grumble as he could barely move any part of his body within the uncomfortable capsule. He was too tired from another night’s worth of projects with what little money he was left with.
“It’s your big day. Do you plan to skip out on your own opening ceremony?” Yun asked through the intercom once more, and the System proceeded with opening the capsule without waiting for Jin’s permission. The amount of black sludge, as usual, was more than terrifying but the System had already collected today’s worth, and the rest was for Jin to keep.
Yun could see that Jin’s head was still drooping from the heaviness of his sleep, so she personally went into the dungeon maker’s room to pick him up. With a snap of her finger, they were instantly teleported to the Emerald Mountain Hot Spring Instance. At her beckoning, the Panda Masseur from the wooden cabin came out to carry Jin to the changing room aiding his barely awoke master in changing to something skimpier.
But instead of a bath, the Panda Masseur brought Jin onto his massage table and started to work its panda massage magic on Jin. The System had provided the masseur with a type of essential oil which was enriched with various effects to perk Jin up and bring his energy back.
“Master, I am starting from the back.” The Panda said as he placed his paws on Jin’s scapula and started to rub the fatigue out of his body. Jin, who was aware of the massage, became briefly unconscious from the pleasure of the massage and the instant relaxation of his muscle made his body to go all soft.
The Panda Masseur smiled, seeing his massage working as intended and proceeded to his lower back, subsequently his legs and later back up to his arms. At the last part, the Panda placed a warm wet towel that encompassed the whole of Jin and allowed him to experience the heaviness of the towel as well as the comforting warmth of it inside the air conditioned cabin.
“Master, you are good to go for a bath.” The Panda Masseur said as he removed the towel and gave him an ordinary one to cover his genitals for decency sake.
“Gosh, I feel so much more refreshed than ever. I didn’t even realise that my shoulders were previously stiff as a piece of hardwood. They are so relaxed now~. Thank you.” Jin praised the other for his work as he wrapped his lower part of the body and went to shower.
Suddenly the penguins that were manning the hot spring instance dashed into the same cubicle as Jin and pressured him to sit on a stool as they wash his entire body for him. “What are you guys doing?! I can shower myself!” Jin exclaimed as a penguin placed its two flippers onto Jin’s face and began rubbing it with face wash.
“Lady Yun’s orders. She said there is not much time left before the opening ceremony. A crowd of people has already formed, and she asked us to assist you in your bathing in case you fall asleep while bathing. She is not taking any chances with you. Please pardon us for the assistance.” The penguins exclaimed as they began to scrub Jin’s body from head to toe after not showering properly for the past few days. (Disgusting, but true.)
After which, the penguins opened a portal which led him back to the room with his towel barely on. Yun had already prepared an appropriate set of clothes, belt and even shoes for him. “Quickly get changed. The crowd is getting anxious.”
“How big can the crowd be? It’s just the reopening of their old district. It hasn’t been that long…” Jin grumbled once more as he quickly wore his underpants with Yun looking the other way, busy with some messages on the phone. As soon as Jin was done looking decent in his new outfit, his supposed motherly figure had put a Lynn-made sandwich in his confused looking mouth.
“Eat the sandwich, another one is on your study table if you want more. Here’s the script that has been prepared for you.” Yun instructed as she helped him trim his unkempt hair. Yun somehow was able to pull off this magic trick where the hair would disappear the moment it was cut away, enabling Jin to enjoy his sandwich while he reluctantly read the script that was vetted by the System.
“Do I really have to do this? Can’t I send out Another Jin in my stead?” Jin asked Yun as she berated him to not move his head and only his mouth.
“No you can’t. I know you it might seem boring to you and not exactly what you want to do, but it’s your district now, and you have to accept some of the responsibilities. Also, it’s exactly because it hasn’t been that long, which caused the interest in your district to be that big. ” Yun said as she lifted his hair and snipped it off.
“Your little stunt of building a gigantic tree was one thing, which many had accepted that you used some impeccable ‘Trade Secret’ level of magic, but you basically rebuilt an entire district within a week, and that made everyone’s attention to be on you.”
“Grandma Yuan received a call from the governor of Shenzhen informing her that he was hoping to be a guest for this opening. They did not expect the place to open so soon and they cleared their schedule just for this.” Yun replied, emphasising his new duties as the landlord.
“And it looks like it’s not just her but a few other big shots from the Demon Exorcist organisation who will be coming in to take a look at the place as well. Teacher told me the big wigs were impressed by the district’s recovery and decided to personally discuss the opening of the branch headquarters for Shenzhen with you. It’s your opportunity to get a big cheque from them!” Yun added, astounding Jin with her form of address for the old woman.
“I am actually surprised that Shenzhen does not have branch headquarters.” Jin wondered aloud as he chewed on his food and awaited Yun’s reply since he’d rather listen to her rumbling than memorise the script. He figured the System would prompt Jin with the script in the case he ‘forgot’.
“There was a small outpost here that acted as the branch headquarters previously. It was led by Teacher, but as she gained renown, that outpost became a training centre cum headquarters. In recent years, she closed that training centre due to old age and only took a few bunch of kids as part of the minimum requirement to continue enjoying the perks of the Demon Exorcist organisation.” Yun explained as she magically summoned an electric shaver and comb and helped Jin to further trim the sides.
“You knew quite a bit…” Jin wanted to know if Yun could remember anything about her old past. Just a mere glimpse would be better than nothing.
“All of those were from some past articles I read. Nothing too classified nor from my supposed old memories. You know it wouldn’t exactly hurt you to read up things like that yourself.” Yun answered understanding what Jin was hinting at as she requested Jin to lower his head a little.
“In any case, I can only do this much for you. Whether you want to follow the script or ad-lib it, it’s all up to you. Now go out there and cut that damn red ribbon so we can start work.” Yun smiled at him as she teleported Jin back to the Shop Instance, and people started to become aware that the new landlord had finally arrived.
“Woah! Boss Jin! It’s unusual to see you wear something so smart! ” Yue Wen, the Healing Maiden Cultivator shouted as she waved at Jin from afar. That shout alone was enough to start the wave of congratulations to Jin for the successful construction of the new Tiangong Tree Mall. She and the other Pandawans were queuing up too, though not as early as the rest in the crowd.
“Alright, alright! Let him through! If you guys want to see the opening ceremony, just go to the first floor of the Mall!” Yun, who magically appeared behind Jin, looked formally with a full business suit and screamed at the customers to make way.
The old store was still operational for a few more days at least until the end of December to make people aware of the new store in the Tree Mall before Jin would officially close it. (Well technically, he can leave the shophouse alone since he was the landlord, but the instances would be moved away to the new mall.)
While most of the Pandawans came to lend their support, it was not their only reason for coming. Jin had sent out the audit report on the charity funds on the day before and indicated that because of their donations, the Tiangong Tree Mall was able to start earlier than scheduled.
In return for the expedited opening, Jin had thanked the loyal customers and cultivators with a special reward. Those who had donated would be given a ‘donor’ status depending on the amount they had given. For those who gave less than 100 Yuan, they were given vouchers for the various stores via the Pandamonium App by Jin. The first five dungeons they decided to play for the month of December and January would be offered at a 25% discount too.
Between 100-1000 Yuan? Jin had given them Silver Donor status, and they were given the same benefits as the Donor status, but their benefits were up to ten dungeons (depending on the contribution) would come with 50% discount from December to February.
There were a few who donated more than 1000 Yuan and those were bestowed with the Gold Donor Status with their next ten dungeons priced at 25% of the normal cost price no matter when they decided to come. Not only that, they were given three times the number of e-vouchers to spend in the Tiangong Tree Mall.
As for most generous donor, whose contribution was a six-digit figure, he was given Platinum Donor Status. This came with multiple benefits (including a custom Hippo & Egret Plushie), the most obvious being that anything that was purchased in the Tiangong Tree Mall would be free for life. That was none other than Xiong Da, who was also the guest of honour for the opening ceremony.
Jin thanked all of them, but Yun pressed him to move faster out of the store instance and into reality as the first thing they saw were reporters vans and an unbelievably long queue of people that were lined up from the front and side gates of the Tree Mall. It was so damn long that the queue line was all the way to his original shophouse and beyond.
All of them were dying to try out the new Tiangong Tree Mall which had been aggressively advertised by Kiyu in the past few days too. Neither the System nor his comrades in arms had bothered to inform him about it, as Jin was fighting the (seemingly neverending) battle of creating instances.
“Oh my god.” Jin could not believe the sight in front of him as Yun pulled his arm to take Jin back to Earth and they both used their chi to jump and sprint in mid air. The people in waiting were wowing at the sight of the two cultivators literally jumping dozens of meters at once into the air, which was a feat people recognised as a feat of highly cultivated individuals.
As Yun and Jin moved closer to the site of the Opening Ceremony, Yun purposely twirled and pushed Jin forward while inciting her cultivation to appear. Along with Eight Panda Silhouettes, more copies of it playfully surrounded Jin via Yun’s cultivation. The Astral Panda Cultivator flew forward with tens of Pandas circling him, eventually gracefully aiding him to land on the stage platform where everyone took pictures and videos of it happening.
The multiple panda silhouettes fused into one towering Panda figure before it gradually disappeared right above Jin. “Good Afternoon, esteemed guests and fellow friends.” Jin started as he adjusted the mike on stage.
“Welcome to the new Tiangong Tree Mall.”
