“Thank you Boss Si Fang!” Jin said as he waved goodbye to Si Fang and thanked him for not saying anything out of the blue to Qiu Yue. Jin believed Si Fang most probably had eavesdropped on their conversation especially since their table was near the cash counter where Si Fang was, doing his accounting for the day.
“What is that little boy playing at?” Si Fang smiled at himself as he could imagine the shock his ‘friend’ would have when she will realise that Jin was the Boss of that dungeon supplier store she was admiring.
As Qiu Yue walked out, she awed and even squealed at the large panda billboard. With the coming of Halloween, the Panda on the billboard wore a witch hat and all the weapons it had been hoarding were now in a cauldron. Qiu Yue could not help but take a picture of the large panda billboard sign.
“Hmm, the picture I took seems different from the one my friend sent me.” Qiu Yue wondered out loud and checked her friend’s image on MeChat and confirmed that it was entirely different. Jin just continued to keep quiet and let her ramble on.
“Wow, do you think it is because Halloween is coming? You think that was why they decided to put up something different?” Qiu Yue was smiling from one ear to another and Jin could only pretend to nod his head hesitantly.
“Do you want me to take a picture of you with the billboard?” Jin asked and Qiu Yue earnestly nodded her head. Jin focused the camera app on her phone and took a few decent shots for her. “Looks good. Not bad, maybe you have a future in photography too!” Qiu Yue teased him before they continued walking towards the shop.
In actual fact, she did contemplate if Jin would want to take a picture with her, but she was afraid she would be sending the wrong signals to him. She felt that he needed to grow out of his naivety for being a dungeon supplier. It was not wrong to dream, but Jin might not be up to the task. After all the things he had studied and strived for were completely different from being a dungeon supplier.
Sometimes, Qiu Yue also felt that it was partially her fault that Jin said that he wanted to be a dungeon supplier since she really liked battles and cultivation more than anything.
Even though she was a beautiful gorgeous looking lady, she had unknowingly earned the nickname of Lady Battle Freak in university and not many girls would like to be friends with her. Even the boys were not particularly attracted to a girl who only wanted to battle. That was also a big reason why at the time she was able to click with Jin, she could not have been any happier.
There was a time when Qiu Yue admired Jin’s hardworking attitude and the idea of him becoming a dungeon supplier was not far fetched at all. Unfortunately, things changed when Jin faced mounting pressure from school work while at the same time trying to learn to be a dungeon supplier. In addition, realising the expectations of other people, especially from his girlfriend, made Jin break down one day. He decided to laze around and not care about life. He eventually just went with the flow of life, which made Qiu Yue very disappointed.
At that point of time, he could not care about realising the dream that both Qiu Yue and he had shared. Him being the dungeon supplier, while Qiu Yue becoming his helper. Her role would have been to test out the dungeons herself. She would have been able to do what she always wanted by going to battles, to help experiment, to test out whether the monsters would be a challenge for customers and improve Jin’s dungeons.
Eventually, Qiu Yue also gave up trying to help Jin and decided to walk the path that her parents expected her to. It was not what Qiu Yue really wanted, but she guessed she could use the break from the somewhat demoralising relationship and do something useful. Qiu Yue subsequently got scouted into the Ministry of National Development when she was just a Year 3 University student and started her job a year ahead of Jin, who went through the standard university programme.
Of course, after Jin finally realised he had to do something about his life, he asked Qiu Yue for a second chance. She was not stupid enough to just give Jin a second chance since Jin needed to learn this life lesson himself. Therefore, Qiu Yue asked Jin to promise her that he would succeed in life through his own means then she would consider getting back with him.
Jin, on the other hand, did not forget that promise but previously thought it was impossible to win her back. It’s true that in the present, Jin might have some interest in Zhen Qing but when he found out that they did not share many of his interest, unlike him and Qiu Yue, Jin could not help but feel that it was a lost cause. Ultimately, Jin’s heart was unable to steer away from Qiu Yue and it only became more apparent when he finally met her once more.
Separately, as the years went by, Qiu Yue was still fascinated by dungeon suppliers, but needless to say, her hectic schedules only made her desire for dungeons and the yearning for battle continue to grow ever strong in her heart. For Qiu Yue to finally be able to go into a dungeon supplier store with Jin reminded her of the old days.
“Say, you still have not told me why you wanted the blueprints and what exactly it is that you are working on.” Qiu Yue asked upon remembering that Jin had not given a proper answer yet.
“Well, you haven’t given me any chance to say a single thing since the two of us met in that shop,” Jin replied, only to realise that Qiu Yue was again distracted by the battle cutscenes shown on the big screen near the Dungeons and Panda store. She also noticed a shop sign and decided to insert her chi into the shop sign.
“Ah… so there are people who really do insert their chi into the signboards.” Jin mumbled to himself, which Qiu Yue happened to hear. However, even before she could answer, she was washed away by a tidal wave of strong emotions emanated from the shop sign itself. “Woah! The boss of this dungeon supplier store is not an easy person as I thought! Even King’s Monster’s signage cannot compare to the aura the store sign was producing.” Qiu Yue was amazed even before she entered the shop and later replied to Jin’s answer.
“It’s the cultivator’s way of checking whether the shop is really worthy to go into. Some want a real challenge rather than just for leisure. I can feel a strong aura of an immense challenge from the signboard, but yet at the same time, it gave me the impression that nothing was impossible.” Qiu Yue was feeling pumped up.
“Weird, when I insert my chi into the signboard, all I feel is a peaceful aura.” Jin shrugged his shoulders a little and Qiu Yue decided to defend this dungeon supplier store.
“Yea, I initially felt a peaceful aura as well, but I think I overlooked it because I felt that I was searching for something more exciting. It was then, I guess, that the signage responded to me differently, when it felt my expectations were being underwhelmed by the peaceful aura and it presented me with this challenge aura.” Qiu Yue commented and excitedly entered the shop.
“What?! Where is the shop?” Qiu Yue exclaimed when she suddenly felt she got cheated by the shop’s exterior. Jin, who could not help but smirk, now wore the hood over his head and quietly entered the shop to see an angry Qiu Yue folding her arms while looking at her phone to see if the place had been moved out.
“I think you should look at the walls, there seem to be posters with some instructions on them,” Jin said as he surveyed his surroundings. Thankfully there was no one around at the moment so he could continue his charade with Qiu Yue.
“Install the app?” Qiu Yue continued to read the instructions while Jin pretended to install Pandamonium in his phone. He then walked towards Qiu Yue and helped her speed up the process before anyone came in and recognised him.
“I see, I see. This is an interesting concept. So, I tap my phone over here?” Qiu Yue asked Jin.
“I think so. Give it a try!” Jin tried to say it with much conviction but Qiu Yue did not believe the instructions. How would tapping her phone allow her to enter the ‘real’ shop as advertised on the poster on the wall?
“Alright, alright, I will give it a try first.” Jin figured it would be good to enter first so he could have a first-hand experience seeing Qiu Yue astonished look the moment she teleported into the Shop Level One instance.
“I could have some fun,” Jin thought to himself as he tapped his phone and teleported away.
