The day which Jin dreaded came all too soon when Kraft happily appeared right in front of him, reminding him early in the morning that he had to attend the meeting with the Zodiac Heads by accepting the Defence Minister’s official invitation.
Most if not all the Royal Zodiac Heads had already travelled to Beijing for this important meeting at the Pinnacle Hotel, a highly recognised establishment with its reputation known for its neutrality against all the Royal Zodiac Clans. Everyone had already checked in with the exception of Jin who had not arrived nor even booked a room at the hotel.
Many if not all of them were not aware of Jin’s capabilities and merely assumed that this particular new Panda Lord did not have the guts to do what it takes to meet with them and the defence minister. Some even gossiped that he was not worthy to even sit on the same pedestal as them if he could not even come for this particular meeting.
“You guys judged him too harshly.” Kong Rong tried to make some small talk with a few of the Zodiac Heads and their companions. After all, he was accompanying his father too since he was going to inherit the title to be the new Royal Zodiac Dragon’s Head in years to come. “He will come, I am sure of it.”
“I am more interested in your reasoning and actions since you have decided to bring legitimacy to this long lost panda clan.” One of the Royal Zodiac Heads asked and yet before he got an answer, Kong Rong had to answer a phone call and requested himself to be away from the current conversation.
“Xie Jin. Where the heck are you right now?” Kong Rong whispered in a hush but rather angry tone. (Probably more annoyed than frustrated.) “The meeting is about to start in less than a few minutes since the Defence Minister had already arrived.”
“Ehhhhh, I have actually reached the Pinnacle Hotel, but I am blocked by a buttload of guards…? They are not letting me in at all even though I said that I am here for a meeting.” Jin had already teleported to a nearby secluded area, a few dozen metres away from the hotel but he had not noticed that he was within the defensive surveillance perimeter and thus an alert was sent out to meet this unidentified threat.
When he was near the front door of Pinnacle Hotel, guards of various high cultivation levels had already surrounded him and nearly pinned him down if not for his trusty ‘sidekick’ who created a chi barrier around Jin, allowing the dungeon supplier to give a call to the person responsible for all this. (For once, Kraft was in a non killing mode which greatly relived Jin’s raising headache.”
“Gosh, you sure know how to make an entrance.” Kong Rong said as he peered outside the window and saw the situation was as what Jin had described. At the same time, a few security officers were reporting to the Zodiac Head of this current predicament and Kong Rong had to step in.
But before he could say anything, the Defence Minister He Fei was already walking through the doors of the conference hall asking what the ruckus was all about. “Some fellow decided to barge into the hotel by skipping all the guard checkpoints and decided to openly walk through the front gates. The guards would take care of the trespasser.” Yuan Ba, the Royal Zodiac Tiger Head spoke out since he was the one who had the police under his control.
“The police are getting incompetent, look at all the past recent incidents. So much trouble had occurred and yet the police were either late or nowhere to be found until the incidents were more or less under control.” Mu Ji, the Royal Zodiac Head for the Rooster Clan as well as the family to oversee the skies of China. From air defence to handling the majority of stocks of China Airlines and their subsidiaries. A number of the smaller local airlines all needed the support of the Rooster Clan to get clearance to fly the skies. In short, they monopolised the ceilings of China and is considered as one of the few greater Royal Zodiac clans in the region.
“If you had stricter control of your immigration as well as better intelligence, then perhaps, these terrorists would not even have come in or maybe contraband items would not have been introduced.” Yuan Ba gave a measly throwback comment since he was trying to keep his anger in check with the presence of the Defence Minister but the latter cut in and demanded the current situation to be solved before they start the meeting.
However as he glanced around the conference room at the edge of the table, he noticed someone was missing and his secretary reported to him that the Panda Lord was not around.
“Minister He Fei, I ask for your apologies to interject but the person they are handling right now is none other than the missing Panda Lord.” Kong Rong had decided there was no other time for pleasantries and He Fei gave him a curious look as if demanding for extra answers.
“If you allow me to leave temporarily and pick him up for the conference meeting, I would appreciate the kind gesture.”
“Kong Rong, you know that in this room, we are more or less equals. Do not have to be too formal with me.” He Fei smiled slowly while turning to his secretary to tell the guards to stand down immediately. And even though it was an order to be decimated, the security officers who were actually standing at the side of the conference room (and being ignored like sunflowers on the wall) instantly acknowledged the Defence Minister’s orders and went out of the room escorting Kong Rong out.. At the same time, He Fei’s secretary also proceeded to signal a server in the room to at least provide some light refreshments to the entire group while they waited (reluctantly) for the arrival of the last Royal Zodiac Head.
