After that serious discussion, Jin took some consideration of what the System had said and decided to continue on with the shop (not that he could close it without the System’s approval in the first place).
When he was training with Ming, he had thought a lot about how his actions would have repercussions and even discussed some of them at length with Ming during his grandfather’s break. (Yeah, Jin was not given any breather unless he was near death. Like literally near death. Alas, that was not as seldom as he would have liked)
While Ming did provide some insight, he too did not explicitly have any biased opinions and wished for Jin to forge a path himself. It was mainly because he knew the System had its own agenda, but hearing Jin talk about the System in recent times, gave him hope that the System would at least consider the concerns of the last living Panda Clan member.
Thus, Jin continued to slog throughout the night, refining the new shop instance which he had put off for quite some time so that it could coincide with the Chinese New Year. In the meantime, he promised himself that his priority was to get the Virtual Reality platform up and running so that they could dominate the world’s gaming market.
The Dungeon Supplier had already used the System to check on his world’s development on Virtual Reality, and unsurprisingly, they were nowhere near a full-body dive experience like it was portrayed in certain novels. He figured it was because of the existence of dungeon suppliers that most people do not think it was worth it to develop a working virtual simulation, let alone a full scale virtual reality network. Now that he have the capital to work things out, as well as possible tools with the advent of Pandapolis to do so, there is a high chance he could steamroll the process. Unfortunately, he might not have the expertise.
“But I should not worry about that for now.” Jin thought to himself as the System presented him a checklist of things to complete. They were sorted in order of priority and on the top of the list was informing Grandma Yuan and Hou Fei about his wellbeing.
True enough, when he opened his System channel and gave them a morning call, both of them hurriedly teleported into the Dungeon Maker to see Jin in the flesh.
“Seriously, if you go off earlier than Grandma Yuan, Ming will undoubtedly haunt me in this and the afterlife.” Hou Fei rebuked Jin, unaware that Grandma Yuan had teleported in right after him.
“I hear you. Hou Fei.” Grandma Yuan replied with a mild angry tone.
“Oops.” Hou Fei made an ‘Oh shit’ face in front of Jin before turning behind and humbly greeting ‘Big Sister’ Yuan with a hasty bow. Even Jin could feel the guilt of Hou Fei being caught talking about her. However, the anger accumulated within her right now was not aimed at the Panda Remnant but instead to Jin.
Her Gleaming Griffin Cultivation flared up, and Jin quickly knelt down on both knees and pulled his ears as if he was willing to accept his punishment since he understood where he went wrong.
“As if I will believe you!” Grandma Yuan spoke, and her metaphysical Griffin silhouette flew towards Jin and pulled him upwards. With this metaphysical chi form, her Golden Griffin was still able to materialise without using too much chi.
“Did Ming never teach you about something called restraint?!” Grandma Yuan’s temper was off the roof, and Hou Fei tried to calm her down.
“Big Sis Yuan, it’s best to calm down especially so early in the morning…”
“Tomorrow is the New Year, if I do not vent my anger out now, I might carry it forward to the next year. That is ominous and bad for luck, so don’t stop me!” Grandma Yuan replied, and Jin just kept quiet and continued to apologise.
Were it not for his knowledge that he might really die because that was seemingly part of the deal upon inheriting the System, Jin would have shrugged Grandma Yuan’s shouting off as an angry rant. Grandma Yuan should be aware of that serious drawback, making her genuinely concerned about him, so he quietly accepted the scolding that Grandma Yuan had for him.
“I am really, really sorry. I will take more care for my actions next time and will do my best to not make you worry like before.” Jin apologised profusely, and somehow Grandma Yuan felt that he was indeed truly apologetic for his actions. She sighed heavily and turned away from him.
However, the Golden Griffin was not as compassionate as its master.
Even with just a metaphysical form, it pecked its beak onto Jin’s head after releasing him. As if signalling him not to do anything too rash in the future. Before it dissipated into nothingness, the Golden Griffin also stared at Hou Fei since he was the one responsible for calling Jin into action in this particular incident.
And despite the heavy atmosphere, Jin broke the awkward silence with a request. “I was wondering if you two are willing to come to join us for reunion dinner? I know Hou Fei might be busy since he has a family, but Grandma Yuan, if you have the time…”
“Hahaha. I can come for a while since my wife recently went for her business trip again, making me stuck with an empty house. But my soldiers would want me to join them for a feast too, so I might have to leave a bit earlier.” Hou Fei agreed as he knew that he had obligations to show his face since he was after all a Panda Remnant.
“…I will come. Tell Claire the details.” Grandma Yuan said with her back facing away from them, but she secretly had a small grin in her face. The System teleported her away upon her request, leaving Hou Fei with Jin.
“Master! I seriously thought you were a goner for a minute!” Hou Fei sighed as he grabbed Jin by his shoulders and rubbed his head quite a bit. Hou Fei was relieved that the period of intensity was finally over.
“Hahah. I also thought that I was gonna get chewed inside out by that Golden Griffin.” Jin could literally feel his legs shaking.
“Honestly, there are so many things I want to ask, but most importantly, how are you?” Hou Fei asked.
“Actually, I never felt better. My body feels renewed, and I am touched that my friends and comrades selflessly sacrificed their time and blood trying to save me.” Jin responded as he let Hou Fei sit at the side of the table in the Dungeon Maker.
“I see… So, have you seen the news for the aftermath?” Hou Fei queried and Jin shook his head.
“There were a few things I needed to prepare since I woke up way too late. If it isn’t too much of a problem, mind giving me a quick breakdown of events?”
“Well…where should I even start?” Hou Fei stifled a chuckle and later asked the System if it could provide images or videos to help explain the current situation to Jin.
