“You are so late!” Luo Bo moped as she saw Shi Zuo panting heavily after he teleported into the Shop Instance.
“So sorry! There was a sudden server network problem in the company and they needed me to check it out because the guy who was in charge was on leave.” Shi Zuo placed his hand on his head as he apologised for his tardiness.
“Hmm true, there had been some major network disruptions recently. I heard the other animation company had so many problems with their servers that they decided to do it the old fashion way. Tapes.” Bin Yong commented.
“Meh, probably should make a proper complaint to the telco servers.” Luo Bo grunted, but she immediately pulled Shi Zuo towards the new Restaurant Train of Delicacy Service Instance. Bin Yong and Jia Le could not help but laugh as Shi Zuo was being pulled by his girlfriend like a child dragging its favourite blanket around the room.
The four entered through the instance dimension and found themselves on a train platform. To everyone’s surprise, the train station they were in was very simple. It was just a train platform with no roofs, no gates and nothing interesting surrounding except for grassland as far as the eyes could see.
But on this simple looking train platform, the group could see that many were already waiting at the platform for the train to arrive. In the meantime, there was a penguin wearing a train attendant hat walking around, asking if anyone wanted any premium tickets.
“Do we need a ticket to board the train?” Bin Yong squatted to ask the Penguin Train Attendant when it wobbled towards them.
“Nope, getting on board the train is free, but you will have to pay for the food, unless you have a food coupon with you.” The Penguin Train Attendant answered.
“Great, the four of us received digital food coupons after purchasing the Bank Raid story dungeon instance.” Luo Bo flashed her coupon on her phone as evidence.
“Thank you for purchasing our dungeon instance! The choices of food remain the same for now, but if you’d like to upgrade your experience in the Restaurant Train of Delicacy, we would sincerely recommend you to get the premium tickets.” The Penguin Train Attendant replied to them.
“What does the premium ticket entails?” Jia Le asked.
“Let’s find out then.” Shi Zuo preferred to experience it for himself, so he showed the Penguin Train Attendant his phone wallet, and asked for four tickets.
“That will be 1100 Yuan (~160 USD) in total. I will reiterate, this does not include any meals at all. Do you understand?” The Penguin Train Attendant started to print the tickets out as soon as Shi Zuo placed his phone on the portable payment terminal.
“My treat, guys, for coming late.” Shi Zuo said as the Penguin Train Attendant beckoned another Penguin Train Attendant to escort them right to the further end of the train platform. It appeared that the premium tickets entitled them to a shorter queuing line.
“I wonder if it works like a first class train ticket.” Jia Le suggested, but the guys shrugged. “You can never know in Boss Jin’s instances.” Bin Yong replied, and the customers that were waiting with them started to speculate what kind of services they would experience thanks to the premium ticket.
“HOOOOOOOOOONNNNNK!”
From a distance, the crowd started to see the silhouette of a train coming towards them and the Penguin Train Attendants were asking everyone to form up nicely. “Everyone will have a good spot regardless if you are first or last in line! Please queue up orderly!!” One of the Penguin Train Attendants with a loud hailer did his best to handle the anxious crowd.
As the train got nearer, everyone had their mouths wide open. It was no ordinary train nor was it some bullet train from the future. Calling the locomotive train the customers saw colossal in length was an understatement when it stopped at the platform. The boiler of the steam locomotive thundered as it puffed out a variable intensity of smoke. Thankfully, the smoke had more of an aesthetic purpose instead of an actual byproduct from using coal.
“Now I understand why the train platform is this simple. There is no way a standard train platform could handle such a mammoth-like train.” Luo Bo took out her phone to snap some pictures, but it was near impossible to take the full picture even in panoramic mode.
“Okay! Everyone listen up! The Train is going to leave in 5 minutes! Customers who wish to board the train, please board safely.” The Penguin Train attendant with the loud hailer shouted, and everyone could not help but be excited.
When the group went into the premium portion of the train, they were amazed by the interior decor of the place. It emitted a luxurious and prestigious feeling, despite having a train carriage design around it, with a table accommodating up to four people. However, because of the enormous size of the train, it did not feel cramped at all. Especially when the walkway was about the size of a three lane road. To emphasize on the premium experience, there were high enough partitions between each table that it did not intrude the privacy of the groups.
Jia Le noticed that further down the carriage, there were tables that could accommodate groups of up to ten people. “No wonder the train is this big.” Jia Le was completely amazed as she took a picture as a reference for her future works.
There were crystal wall sconces on the train walls, chandeliers on the ceilings and the windows were large and slightly convex so the customers could have a better view outside. What they were surprised by was that those windows were not obvious from the outside. The group thought that they must have overlooked it because they were so caught up with the size of the train.
The seats were pleasantly comfortable, and it felt like they were made out of premium leather. Even the antique looking wooden tables were rock solid and had a vintage feel to them. Not to mention, the silverware right in front was exquisite. The intricate designs of penguins on the silverware forks and chopsticks while the pandas on spoons and knives caused both girls to snap pictures non stop. However, their favourite would be the plates as each of them had a small red panda imprint at the edges and every plate was of a different design.
“This is amazing. It’s like living the high roller life.” Shi Zuo had already started to feel that the money he paid to enter this restaurant was worth it. Suddenly, he noticed some saxophone music playing in the background, and he looked around to see where the speakers were. Only then did he realise that there was a band of penguins at the centre of the walkway playing instruments. The funny thing was the band was playing on a giant lazy panda that was strolling along the walkway.
“I wonder how the drummer can play when the equipment is constantly on the move.” Bin Yong thought out loud, and Luo Bo laughed and replied a word. “Talent.”
“I would believe you more if you said it’s Jin’s ‘trade secret’.” Bin Yong rolled his eyes. In the meantime, two penguins appeared, sliding on their bellies, in front of them. Both wearing butler-looking suits. One asked the group what they would like to eat. The other penguin was offering them a sort of herbal tea which they had never seen in Jin’s store before. The drinks were served in some delicate Chinese cups with exquisite floral designs and lustrous golden edges. (Not to mention multiple occurrences of small red and normal pandas hid among those floral designs upon closer inspection.)
The group then noticed that there was no menu until the penguin waiters explained that the menu was already displayed on their phones via the Pandamonium app and all they had to do was to choose something to order from it.
“Ahaha, I thought it would be some crazy restaurant menu. In the end, it’s just the items that we have ordered at the Bar Island before.” Shi Zuo said as he tried the tea. It was a bit sweet but still clear enough to cleanse their palates before the meal. “Hmm this tea is still a pleasant surprise.”
“Ah, Monsieur. You are sorely mistaken, the food cooked by our Head Chef Lynn and her assistant chefs are slightly different from what you have eaten before.” The penguin waiter talked with a slight French accent which the girls found cute. “And do not worry, more food choices would be made available in the future.” The penguin waiter said while striking a pose with his notepad and pen ready to take their orders.
“I will have this ramen then. This is the first time I saw this ramen on the menu.” Jia Le decided, and the rest followed suit as well.
“I understand, so four orders of Ramen Chashu dans un Bouillon de Vivaneau Rouge, one order of Jus de Bambou, two orders of Soda Panda and one order of Café Ivoire Noir. Is that correct?” The penguin waiter repeated their orders and the group slowly nodded their head as if to acknowledge the weird French they were listening to, since the menu in the Pandamonium App only stated Chashu ramen, bamboo juice, panda soda and black ivory coffee.
“Bien, your orders will arrive shortly.” The penguin waiter bowed as it left the area and coincidentally, the train started to move.
