With everyone having their stomachs full of good food, their moods too had changed for the better as they took their seats at the conference table. In the meantime, Jin had quickly transferred the remaining food items onto plates and quickly kept the steam baskets before Lynn haunts him for the rest of his entire life.
“Hey, sit down already.” Yang Ling sent a telepathic message to Jin as everyone including He Fei was patiently waiting for him to sit but at the same time, they seemed like they were biding their time to attack him verbally as well.
Between the wrath of the 12 Zodiac Heads and Lynn, he believed the latter would be more of a devastation compared to these people. Still, he decided to fasten the pace by activating his Maqi and using a pinch of Green Panda Wind Energy to move all the steam baskets closer to him while a bit of Pink Panda Psychic Energy so that he could pop the remaining dim sums into the plates he prepared earlier.
This quick and small display of ‘chi’ surprised the group as they saw two different elements in action at the same time which made them ponder what Jin had been hiding behind that Panda Title of his.
At the same time, Jin could feel the curious looks from all the Zodiac Heads, and even without saying, the Panda Lord knew that they were dying to know what skills he had. Should he sugarcoat the truth? Or give them a blatant lie? Perhaps a half truth might do him good since they would be working with him even more in the near future…assuming they were going to be allies in this crucial time of killing the Banned Emperor lackeys for good.
“For now, you should not even speak anything.” Kraft who could see the situation unfold said through the System Channel. He did not trust these telepathic messages since everyone around here is a high level cultivator. Who knows one of them could intercept and decrypt whatever messages that were given to anyone within this table. “Get to your seat and prepare yourself. There might not be any blows exchanged today but words are as deadly as swords in this era.”
“Never see you this uptight before,” Jin said to Kraft through the Channel as he thanked the group out loud for waiting instead of the usual humble approach in apologising to people.
“Oh, I would love to play mind games with them. Very glad to do so but you are involved and your impression in this entire meeting pertains to your survival. As your contracted bellator, I do have a duty to keep you alive.”
“You barely keep me alive in most circumstances.” Jin retorted and Kraft was laughing from within while keeping a very stoic face.
“Still breathing, considered job done.” Even though it was not shown physically, Jin could practically hear Kraft’s sinister laughter from the comment.
“Thank you once more for coming and making time from your busy schedule.” He Fei let out a quick sigh knowing today’s agenda might be an unprecedented milestone that he had never foreseen himself. “As you all have known, our topic today would be none other than the total annihilation of the Banned Emperor Uprising Faction.”
“As you all have known, they had been a group of terrorists who had been annoying us since the dawn of time but recently, their actions had proven to be more than a nuisance.” He Fei explained while Kong Rong, who knew that Jin had zero gasp of the current history, quickly gave a breakdown to Jin via the System. He already prepared infographics which the System promptly showed Jin while He Fei spoke of the threats in summary.
“I support the eradication of the Banned Emperor. They are hiding in our midst and even taking up high level positions.” Shu Tiao Xiao, the Rat Head, voiced his support. “Like the bodyguards that were supposed to protect you. To think that they were to be trusted to keep you safe but they betrayed our trust so deeply that anyone here could be an imposter, including this kid that just comes in.”
“How can we be so sure this Panda kid is not the Banned Emperor’s lackey?” Yuan Ba chipped into the argument knowing that this was his opportunity to attack him and everyone was already whispering and even had doubts.
“Dad, -erm Tiger Head Yuan Ba. I suppose you had not forgotten the time the Banned Emperor had attacked me and you? Who was the one who saved us?” Yang Ling queried out loud, knowing that her Father’s hatred was clouding his judgement right now.
“Maybe he just did it to ensure that he would be allowed to join our ranks. Infiltrate us as to how those bodyguards did. Imagine the horrors if Minister He Fei is not alive and breathing at this moment. It will be a blow to the country and a win to the uprising.” Tiao Xiao exclaimed, hoping that some other Heads and hopefully He Fei will fuel their doubts for this new guy. “After all, it is a small price to pay to join us. You had seen how they tried to sacrifice their own people just for the resurrection of the Banned Emperor. They all blindly believed that in doing so, they would be revived again and serve under him as eternal servants.”
“I had already done an extensive background check on Jin as much as I would have done to any of you. In fact, we tripled it and spend a reasonable amount of resources to cover all bases to ensure he has a clean slate as the State Security Department had taken this very seriously. Else, My team and the rest of the State Security department would not have unanimously granted Jin and his clan members protection against the rest of the Royal Zodiac Clans. Unless you have evidence that proves otherwise, it would be best to keep your mouth shut about such accusations.” Kong Rong said, hoping to wrap this wild rumour mill up before it spirals out of control.
“You seriously think we can believe you Kong Rong? Our spies had indicated that you had been working rather closely with Jin for the past few months. Sightings of you in his Dungeon Supplier store are all over our database. How can we be sure that YOU are not part of the Banned Emperor terrorists? Or did he already sway your allegiance to the Banned Emperor and not the betterment of our country?” Tiao Xiao responded by bashing the truth out for everyone to hear.
“Enough!” Jin finally shouted out from the corner of the table to stop all the gossip. He stood up and Kraft could already see what was going on in Jin’s head.
“Don’t. You are hindering yourself if you do this. There is no point making empty promises.” Kraft advised through the System Channel.
“If I do not lead this situation, it might spiral even more out of hand. Besides, you know, we can always improvise.” Jin said through the channel as he walked to the middle of the Conference room.
“Good luck then, let me enjoy the show.” Kraft decided to let Jin handle it and see how it unfolds.
Besides, his job was to keep him alive. Nothing about not allowing his master to suffer.
