“What kind of signboard is this?!” Yuan Ba was left gasping for air after sending his intimidating chi into the signboard. Instead of submitting or even breaking, the signboard had fought back with an even stronger aura of challenge that choked Yuan Ba. For a Grade 17 Royal Zodiac Tiger cultivator, nothing had been able to scare him nor challenge his authority in recent years, until now.
“Is it that big of a deal?” Yang Ling came down from the car herself and wheeled towards the panting Yuan Ba, whose slightly frightened eyes gave away his disturbed mindset before reverting to his almighty prideful look.
“You seem to underestimate the owner. Neither King’s Monster nor the select few dungeon suppliers that we contracted with, possess a signboard capable of challenging me to this extent. Who exactly is this dungeon supplier?” Yuan Ba was questioning Yang Ling with authority. She even detected faint traces of fear in his eyes. How was his daughter able to meet up with this dungeon supplier with such a signboard. … and a far better question was, how did their local family intelligence services fail to take note of someone so capable up until now.
“He’s a …an acquaintance.” Yang Ling decided not to reveal too much. She knew that even if she didn’t say it right now, it was only a matter of time until her father gathered the information via his own means. As for now, it may be better to leave Jin’s background as a mystery to her old man.
“Let’s hope the dungeon part will be able to bring out the best of the Gearbox technology…” Yang Ling silently prayed as several black SUVs appeared before her. Most of them were the various military procurement representatives and vendors that arrived right on time.
The representatives were then exchanging greetings with Yuan Ba and ignored her completely, even though they should have come to watch her latest prototype. The only exception was the person, who was running to them from the train station and wiping his sweat away the moment he reached.
“Ah, sorry Miss Hu. I’d like to apologise for being 1 minute and 39 seconds late.” A slightly plump guy by the name of Ke Loong was trying to catch his breath. He was one of the CEOs of a young upcoming startup responsible for creating innovation in dungeon making technology. He was making millions by the day with his patents in the dungeon making technology. Recently, Ke Loong had decided to enter the military side of the business. Yang Ling called him in as a favour since he was always busy setting up his IPO for his company but to her surprise, he agreed almost immediately the moment he heard that she was going to Dungeons and Pandas for the demonstration.
“It is okay. There are still a few vendors that have yet to appear as well. But for now, let’s not keep waiting out here. We can simply wait inside for them.” Yang Ling suggested to the whole group. Ku Wai was already waiting at the side of the door to assist them in entering the dungeon supplier store.
“Ahhh, so this is what Brother Know recommended, interesting set..HUH!.” Ke Loong was thinking to himself after taking in the outside of the building, until he entered the store and was taken aback. It was practically empty with merely a few machines that had panda decorations on it.
“What nonsense is this?! Are you trying to make fun of us, Miss Hu!!!” One of the military vendor representatives shouted seeing there was no reception and the place did not look like a dungeon supplier store at all.
“What is going on, Ku Wai? Yang Ling?” Yuan Ba demanded an explanation which Ku Wai promptly provided. He even demonstrated step by step what everyone had to do, before disappearing.
Everyone was at a loss for words.
“HUH?! SHOP INSTANCE?! Quick, let me try it out!” Ke Loong was the first to imitate Ku Wai’s action and the result left him even more astonished! What more was Brother Know keeping a secret from him? How could he not share this miraculous thing with him at all, except for those cards things! Ke Loong’s expression and excitement made the military representatives speechless and they decided to go with the flow. They all knew about him and hoped that during this demonstration by Yang Ling, they would have a chance to get acquainted with him. It was all part of Yang Ling’s grand scheme. Although even she had not foreseen how badly the others wanted to get to know him.
When they entered the store instance, Ke Loong screamed once again with his hands trying to pull his hair out. “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!!?!?!?!”
“Is this so out of the ordinary? Is this not just a shop instance? It’s nice and all but why are you so surprised?” One of the military representatives questioned.
“Can’t you get it?! This is a top notch instance! You have light illumination, ray tracing from the stained glass ceiling, not to mention the elaborate interior decorations! So lifelike! An instance this size is basically impossible without tens of supercomputer running at once! Even my servers can never replicate something like this! OH MY GOD! WHY IS THAT PENGUIN MOVING TO US!”
“Erm, I am one of the announcers here. My name is Mr Patsu and I have been asked to escort you, since this should be the first time for most of you inside our Shop Instance. Our Boss is doing the finishing touches to the dungeon, so I would like to ask you to follow me to have a seat upstairs first.” Mr Patsu replied politely and Ke Loong went nuts again.
“HOW! HOW! HOW! We have been trying to create artificial intelligence for ages now, and it is only able to reply to simple commands like how Mooogle Home does it… but this penguin… it is not just acting like a penguin, but also able to comprehend speech and answer accordingly. It must have been designed with a highly advanced artificial intelligence attached to it! OH MY GOD, WHO IS THE BOSS OF THIS PLACE!” Ke Loong picked up the penguin and started to shake madly at it. When Mr Patsu expressed emotions of choking and slight fainting, Ke Loong got even crazier and screamed at a higher pitch.
“Are you sure you want to get acquainted with him?” The vendors started to whisper among each other.
“Eccentric people bring the most moolah in. Let’s just go along and try to get on his good side for now.” Another vendor whispered back.
“Ehh…That would be me.” Jin finally appeared from the Bar Island with a white long sleeve shirt and a black tie over his neck. He looked extremely exhausted and the heavy black bags on his eyes indicate that he had lacked sleep for some days, even though yesterday he seemed fine.
“Do you have the dungeon ready?!” Yang Ling telepathically gave him a message, and he replied with just a slight nod in her direction.
“I am sorry that I was unable to greet you as soon as you entered. Mr Patsu should have explained the reason for it, but once again let me hereby personally apologise for it. Now I am sure that everyone here is extremely busy, so I shall not keep you waiting here. Since this is not exactly the best place for a proper dungeon viewing, please follow me.” Jin seemed very professional… until he began to tie his tie and walked towards a door with a separate instance. He purposely created a temporary instance, similar to a meeting room as opposed to an auditorium, since he was aware that military people preferred an orderly and tidy environment, and especially not the Halloween theme they were having.
Ke Loong was once again impressed, but this time around, he was behaving prim and proper. The moment Jin came into the scene though it was apparent Ke Loong was screaming once again in his heart. “I must associate with him and get some information if at all possible. And most importantly I need to know, who is the one supplying him with all these technologies!”
While the rest entered the new instance, Jin held the door for them. It was sad to say, that Yuan Ba was the first to enter, followed by the military vendors, leaving Yang Ling as the last to join, giving her no respect, despite the fact that she was the daughter of the Royal Zodiac Tiger family. Jin gave a slight frown, but Yang Ling just shook her head.
“It’s fine, I am the one asking for their presence.” Yang Ling sent a telepathic message once again, but this time round, Jin stopped her. “Before you enter the room. I have something to show you.” Jin said as he asked Mr Patsu to come over and whispered something to his ear.
“Call some of the penguin waiters over from the Restaurant Train of Delicacy. Get them to serve some of the coffee and onigiri.” Jin ordered before thinking to himself that he should get Lynn or the System to make some hot chocolate or tea so there would be variety of beverages for their selection.
While Mr Patsu was keeping the guest busy, Jin closed the door behind them and beckoned Ku Wai and Yang Ling to follow him to a non restricted part of the Dungeon Maker which he allocated via another door which he prepared beforehand too.
Behind closed doors, Yang Ling began to show her concern to Jin. “Are you okay? I am sorry for imposing you such a daunting task. If not for the circumstances I would have given you ample time, but my situation is unfortunate as it is…”
“Yeah, Boss Jin, you had me worried there. If not for your penguin informing me that you were near completion, I’d thought you had already bailed on Princess. In which case I, of course, would have had to hunt you down for revenge.” Ku Wai said jokingly.
“You will need to grow stronger first, Ku Wai. You cannot defeat me, yet.” Jin answered as if stating a fact, which made Ku Wai grit his teeth. After all it was the truth, since he himself couldn’t beat Ong from the Ruby Rat Triad. Much less a Japanese Yakuza who was at Grade 8. And according to their information, Jin had not just beaten one but two of those foreign cultivators. It made him shudder, when thinking back on his duel with him not too long ago. It seemed that Jin had been hiding his true cultivation from him and Yang Ling.
In the meantime, Jin lifted and dropped a large suitcase on the table in front of them. “Don’t use that piece of crap, that you’ve been planning to demonstrate. A dungeon is not all that I have prepared for you today.” Jin told her, as he unclicked the locks from the rectangular suitcase and revealed an upper half torso exosuit of the gearbox prototype.
Yang Ling almost fell from her chair and her mouth was left wide open. She looked at the exhausted Jin, not knowing what to say to him. She would be lying if at that moment she did not have a skip in her heart. Jin scratched his head before revealing the entirety of the gearbox prototype.
“I managed to get your new gearbox prototype up, but instead of Ku Wai… Yang Ling, I want you to wear it and show those prideful assholes, who is the boss around here!” Jin said with a proud yet tired tone.
“But I cannot walk or run…won’t Ku Wai be a better candidate?” Yang Ling appreciated the gesture from Jin, but he was not done yet as he lifted another suitcase and placed it on the long table. As he opened it, Yang Ling was shocked. So shocked that she put her hands on her mouth and tears started to flow down her cheeks uncontrollably.
“Jin…” Yang Ling could not say any more upon seeing the new product on the table.
“Wear it. Do not ask how I managed to configure it for your legs, but with this, you should be able to walk again.” Jin explained with a weary smile on his face before he had to yawn.
