“I am sorry! I am sorry!” Bu Dong, the Angry Ape cultivator, was rushing towards the entrance of the shop where a group of people were waiting for him.
“Well, I didn’t expect anything else from you. You are always the last one to arrive at meetings.” Yue Han, the Blind Bat cultivator, laughed as he looked at his phone. It was 15 minutes past 7 pm and they were supposed to meet at 7 pm.
“At least he is not as late as he was for school this morning. Nearly skipped the whole of first period.” Xing Li, a classmate of Bu Dong chimed in and grinned widely at Yue Han as she re-tied her ponytail right beside of Bu Dong.
“Now that we are all here, let’s get going. Bu Dong, you treating again? Hahaha!” Kong Xian, the Towering Tortoise cultivator, laughed loudly.
“How about we get something to eat first?” Katerine, an exchange student suggested, while rubbing her stomach. She got assigned to same class as Bu Dong and the others.
“You Europeans always get hungry that easily.” Xing Li teased, not wanting to admit that she was hungry too. She and her stomach were glad for Katerine’s honesty and she envied the other girl who could eat so much while keeping her slender dark yet s.e.xy figure.
“Technically, I am from… eh, whatever you guys never bother to remember anyway. Let’s just grab a bite. I don’t even care what kind of food. Does this panda shop serve anything delicious?” Katerine figured her German mixed with African blood lineage did not really matter since Xing Li was just making her comment as a sweeping statement.
“Yeah it does and not just any ordinary kind of food. I can promise you, it has the best food you can ever find in this district.” Yue Han was full of confidence answering her as if it was a statement of truth and both Bu Dong and Kong Xian nodded in agreement.
“Isn’t this just a dungeon supplier? How could the food be good?” Xing Li furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the big panda billboard that was glowing with various colours in the evening light.
“Just trust us guys on this. You will be pleasantly surprised. We can have dinner here first then try out the new dungeon that Boss Jin released not too long ago.” Bu Dong told her as he taught Xing Li how to enter the shop while Yue Han assisted Katerine. As they entered the shop, the two girls were amazed by the interior decor of the area. The Halloween Theme was spot on for the month of October.
“Oh yeah I forgot to ask, but you do have a cultivation style or erm magic ability, right?” Yue Han asked Katerine and she nodded her head while opening her palms out. Without a word, fire sparked out from her palms and two small orbs were floating around her hand.
“Fire Shaman, Rank 2. What are your cultivations?” Katerine asked curiously, and the boys did not hesitate, wanting to show off a little. Three tortoise silhouette appeared from Kong Xian while both Yue Han and Bu Dong had four silhouettes of their bats and apes, respectively. However, it was apparent that Bu Dong’s cultivation silhouettes were better defined.
Xing Li and Katerine were mesmerised and baffled by their cultivation silhouettes. “How do you all have such high grades?! I remember, that I broke through to Grade 2 even before Yue Han just last year!” Xing Li covered her mouth in awe.
“It’s all thanks to this place. This dungeon supplier trained us this way. As long as you put in the effort, you can definitely reach a higher cultivation too.” Bu Dong smiled at Xing Li and she nodded in excitement at what this place could potentially offer.
The group entered the Restaurant Train of Delicacy, and the girls were once again overwhelmed with the scenery and the penguin butlers, but it was also the first time the group as a whole tried the ramen.
“Holy shit! What kind of noodle is this!” Kong Xian who did Kendo as a sport was an avid ramen lover. “THIS IS THE BOMB! I never tasted such good ramen in Shenzhen before nor in Japan!”
“Oui Monsieur. Our Chef Lynn is indeed amazing. We shall forward your praises to her. Please do enjoy your meals.” The Penguin waiter said as he went ahead to entertain other customers. The group had a fantastic time eating the ramen in red snapper broth.
“Man, I thought that it was just for promotion, but turns out it is true… the ramen really buffed my stats up.” Yue Han was surprised at this realisation. Yet he could feel his chi having increased, and his pandamonium stat screen also indicated the truth of this situation. The rest of the group all were pumped up, ready to go for a dungeon. However, the girls decided to go to the loo, before they would exit the train. As soon as the girls were out of sight, the boys huddled together to talk.
“So, any progress with Xing Li? I will try to stall Katerine later, so Xing Li does not stick to her as much as she usually does. This should give you time to be together with her.” Yue Han asked Bu Dong who fancied her.
“I don’t know. She doesn’t seem to be receptive to my questions or talks.” Bu Dong felt a little depressed about this situation.
“I am sorry to break the bubble, but it is because she likes Yue Han more than you.” Kong Xian stated as he leaned back to drink his bamboo juice.
“EHHH?” Yue Han was utterly surprised by Kong Xian’s analysis and he shook his head and hands vehemently. “That’s impossible. She never liked me to begin with and had it out for me ever since we went to middle school. She always picked on me to do things for her…”
“No, I agree with Kong Xian. Maybe because I was too focused on her I hadn’t noticed? She seemed to be more responsive to your jabs than to mine.” Bu Dong laid back a bit and sighed.
“What? No. No. No. This whole night hanging was supposed to be your opportunity to get closer to her. I am in no way as capable as you!” Yue Han still could not wrap around the fact that Xing Li could not just like him, but even more than that. Especially that she would prefer someone like him over Bu Dong.
“Sometimes, love is blind.” Kong Xian patted Bu Dong on the back. “So change of plans? Want to get them together for your bro’s sake?”
“ARGGHHHH! MA YUE HAN!” Bu Dong shouted in agony, which made everyone actually turned around to look at them for a moment before they returned to eating. One of the penguin waiters came to ask them to lower their voice since they were not in a premium seating of the train.
“Ma Yue Han. I am sad, devastated and feel like shit right now. But be honest with yourself. Have you ever had any feelings for Xing Li?” Bu Dong kept his voice down and talked seriously to Yue Han.
“I eh…” Yue Han did not know what to say. Should he admit that he did fancy her and break Bu Dong’s heart any further? “I-I do not have any interest in Xing Li.”
“He is lying.” Kong Xian once again sipped his bamboo juice in peace and Bu Dong sighed once again.
“Yea…he is definitely lying.” Bu Dong said as he pointed upwards and Yue Han saw where he was looking. It was his bat cultivation, a single bat silhouette flying around.
“Whenever you lie, a part of your cultivation will appear for some reason. I am disappointed in you.” Bu Dong said shaking his head, as he placed his hand on his temple.
“I-I am sorry, I just did not want to make you feel sad anymore.” Yue Han tried to salvage the situation… it was not very effective.
“Kong Xian. Be my new bro.” Bu Dong ignored Yue Han’s excuse, but Kong Xian immeditaly refused without a second though: “I don’t need a bro… and I already have a girlfriend.”
Bu Dong’s he could only bitterly cry at Kong Xian’s rejection. He then stood up and walked towards Yue Han and held him by his neck and started to mock punch Yue Han’s head.
“Then you better make sure you use this chance properly, you stupid bat!”
———————–
“So? How’s your progress with Yue Han?” Katerine asked Xing Li when they were alone in the toilets. Xing Li was gurgling her mouth before she coughed out the water upon hearing Katerine’s question.
“What are you talking about?” Xing Li took a dry towel paper to wipe her mouth and began to touch up her makeup.
“Seems rather obvious to me since the day I came into your class. If you want, I can move myself away from him and you can have more interaction with him.” Katerine offered.
“No, it’s okay. We… the two of us aren’t like that. He is just an old classmate from middle school. Nothing more.” Xing Li closed her makeup and instinctively picked up her perfume bottle, but upon the conversation, she quietly put it back in her handbag.
“It’s alright, go ahead and use it. Don’t think too much and go with the flow for now.” Katerine grinned as she went outside and saw the commotion the boys were making from afar.
“Oooh. So Yue Han knows about it too. If she does not want to admit that she likes him, then it’s time to make some trouble. After all, what’s the fun of an exchange program if there are no memories about it?” Katerine smiled at herself as she waited for Xing Li to come back.
