Hou Fei woke up in the middle of the night to pick up the ringing phone that was lying right beside his bed. He got used to receiving midnight calls since his work involved collaboration with overseas partners. Nonetheless, he was still mildly surprised when he saw the number on his phone.
“Yes, Young Master?” Hou Fei sat up slowly while reaching out for a glass of water at the bedside cabinet he had placed earlier to drink after waking up for just such an occasion.
“You sound so slee- Oh! Shit, I didn’t realise what time it was at all. I am sorry to have woken you up.” Jin seemed to be fumbling from the other side of the conversation.
“No worries Young Master, I am used to it. What is the problem?” Hou Fei felt like going back to sleep since the situation did not seem to be too urgent if Jin’s nightly call wasn’t even on purpose. Most likely Jin had been too busy creating something that he did not even take a look at his clock before remembering about Hou Fei. That or he went to some other world travelling. The Panda Clan Remnant still had trouble believing such a thing to be not only possible but seemingly easy to achieve via the System.
“I have decided to cooperate with you. However, I need military blueprints as soon as possible. If you have them now, I can get the System to open a portal for you. I promise to do the military wide exercise you have mentioned as soon as things on my end have been cleared. You wouldn’t be wrong to call it a matter of life and death.” Jin explained and Hou Fei was quickly shocked more awake.
“What exactly happened?” He asked with concern since Jin was initially apprehensive in creating the large scale military exercise. For him to change his mind so soon, something out of the ordinary must have happened.
“Long story short, I currently am at war with an Orc Race that seemingly not only has the power to dominate the entire world. Their world to be exact, not ours and they are in the midst of doing exactly that. They live in what we would probably describe as a medieval world, yet their might consists of ‘lost technology’, which you can think of as modern technology. On their side are representatives of awfully strong magical gods that should be equivalent to a Grade 15 and above Western Magic users and also shit tons of muscleheads.” Jin was already splitting himself into a few of him with the High Intensity Mode by the System and started preparing the new real time live event that would be happening.
“I see…? Erm okay, you hold the line for a while. Let me see what I have on hand.” Hou Fei slowly got out of his bed and turned on his desktop which booted within seconds. While he was searching for his work files which he had secretly taken for reference and ‘research’ purposes, Hou Fei asked Jin what exactly the other one wanted.
“How about a C130 military cargo transport aircraft? Or Military Airships, those balloon ones? Or an aircraft carrier. I was thinking of combining the capabilities of a floating balloon airship and aircraft carrier together. If not, something similar to a C130 blueprint would be great.” Jin said while he continued to assist another Jin who was creating the background story scenarios by choosing which costume would be nice for his latest Panda guides in the dungeon instances into the control console.
“Ah, you are lucky. I have the basic 1960s C130 transport blueprint on my computer sadly it’s not the latest super Hercules version, hope that is fine with you.” Hou Fei wore and pushed up his round rimmed glasses for farsightedness to search for the blueprint file.
“Well, beggars can’t be choosers. I do not mind as long as I have the basic schematics. The System should be able to iron out the bad parts of the plane. I am also looking for military defences perhaps something like automated turrets and the likes to be mounted on a wall?” Jin did not know what to look for since he never imagined participating in a large scale war, not to mention one in a foreign world.
“You think this is some sort of game where you can have weird automated Gatling gun turrets and missile turrets? Our particular modern world does not have such things developed yet because it would be suicidal and Friend or Foe recognition would be a pain in the ass to create. Not to mention just think of the repercussions if anything would go wrong with that, or somebody hacked into it… If you want, I’d recommend installing some machine gun emplacements and bunkers and perhaps some surface-to-air missile turrets.” Hou Fei scoffed at Jin for being ignorant and Jin did not know how to reply back.
“I erm sorry. Did not mean it that way, I always thought our military technology encompasses almost everything.” Jin tried to salvage the situation.
“Sigh, my bad too. Perhaps I was merely jealous that there is so much excitement at your side since this old man is no longer suited to participate in a combat situation.” Hou Fei admitted honestly which he himself felt odd opening up to a person he just met regardless of status.
“I might have an idea, how you can actively help out. Perhaps take charge of teaching the goblins how to use the machine guns and where to place the bunkers.” Jin offered which made Hou Fei jump at that particular idea. Anything would be better than to merely sit at the sidelines.
“What’s the compensation?” Hou Fei tried to play the money card to see if he could squeeze any benefits from his young master although he was willing to do it for free.
“Eh, how about we consider it as a test to see if you are really competent enough and have the foresight in leading our territory as the potential future defence ministry?” Jin did have at least 10 million dungeon dollars worth of budget at his disposal and he could convert them to Chinese Yuan or USD to pay Hou Fei. But like a businessman, he tried to keep cost low if possible unless Hou Fei insisted on monetary compensation.
“Heh, you are as stingy as Ming. Can you believe that your grandpa made us, his subordinates, pay for the drinks, instead of the other way around? But okay, let’s do it your way. But once I become the defence minister, I expect to be showered with lots of money.” Hou Fei sniggered as he downloaded a few more blueprints he thought would be helpful for the survival of a particular goblin kingdom he had no further knowledge about. As sly as he was, most of the blueprints were old military tech which he had obtained through favours all for hobby’s sake. “Who knew, collecting patented old military tech blueprints that were once locked under many layers of security, would end up becoming handy for my new master?” Hou Fei was excited as he changed his nightwear for a proper shirt and shorts.
It was unfortunate he was unable to obtain the latest high tech blueprints that potentially could give the extra edge to any modern countries. With his connections, Hou Fei might be able to obtain them from various military tech producers for a hefty price but he did not. Mainly because they were too expensive and did not have the feeling of uniqueness which the old blueprints had. Most of the new military tech was influenced by those old designs and modified via it. They did not feel special at all and the latest revolutionary ones were so heavily guarded that his connections might not be able to even touch it. Trying to do so, would most likely even be regarded as an act of betrayal against the respective country.
The portal appeared right in front of him after sending Jin a message that he was ready. He entered it only to be astounded by the many other Jin’s who were working in the Dungeon Maker. One Jin came over to the flabbergasted older man to explain to him that time was of the essence and they needed to hurry. The time dilation in the Dungeon Maker would reduce the relative time lost in Goblin World as compared to if he was in his real world. “Ah… A year for a month. Did not expect that kind of disparity of time to be that huge. No wonder you had me see you work in such a…group setting.” Hou Fei said as he passed the USB thumb drive to the Jin in front of him.
Jin fired a separate console in the Dungeon Maker and pulled the data out of the USB thumb drive. He noticed there were not only the C130 blueprints but equipment blueprints from the past wars, especially from the World War 2 Era.
“I figured you needed some of this.” Hou Fei smiled as he explained the various blueprints. There was the infamous M1 Garand semi automatic rifle, the M2 Browning .50 calibre heavy machine gun, the German Pak 38 50mm anti tank gun, the 4×4 Command Reconnaissance utility trucks or Jeeps in short, the M2A1 Howitzer artillery gun, and lastly, the German Flak 88m anti aircraft gun.
“Not that I am complaining but how the hell did you get those schematics?” Jin asked and Hou Fei only winked at him once.
“I will leave you to your work. Just tell me when your goblins need their training.” Hou Fei told him, and was on his way out but before he could leave, Jin stopped him.
“You can teach them now if you want.” Jin pressed a few buttons and asked Hou Fei to proceed to the door East of the Dungeon Maker. Hou Fei did not ask much and opened the door to see that tens of M1 Garand rifles were already fully assembled and left on the large extended table while two M2 Browning HMG were in the middle of being produced.
Hou Fei’s jaws dropped and Jin did not bother with him. “How did you do it so fast?! Wait no it’s the powers of the System. That is seriously one handy thing to possess.” Hou Fei picked one up to get the feel of the rifle and he felt it was more robust than the one he carried before.
“Remnant Hou Fei, the materials in the blueprints were replaced with stronger ones and the design has been tweaked to reduce mishaps and loading problems for the guns. The rest of the blueprints that were given have already been analysed and tweaks are underway to ensure sturdiness and maximised firepower.” The System stated as it magically extended the room and inserted a shooting range for Hou Fei to try out.
He wore the earplugs that were provided on the table and inserted a cartridge of bullets into the all new M1 Garand Rifle. The feel of the rifle was fantastic and he could even smell the original finishing of a sturdy solid wood. “Inhale….*BANG*” Hou Fei fired the shots until he heard the traditional metal cling sound of the clip that flew out of the rifle. It was very satisfying with only a minor knockback unlike the original rifle and the firepower seemed comparable to the mainstream modern guns.
“Come to think of it, why did you not simply ask the System to make those weapons for you? I believe there should be rifles out there in the Weapon Store that could help to assist the goblins too.” Yun who brought a tray of Black Ivory coffee into the Dungeon Maker and passed it to Jin as well as Hou Fei.
“I checked before, the Weapon Store does sell guns and explosives but the cost of buying them in mass bulk was far more expensive than me having the blueprint and buying the tons of materials to create them. I don’t know why though.” The Jin near Hou Fei answered Yun after thanking her for the cup of coffee. The other Jins also thanked her as she approached each one of them.
“User, Rank 4 of Dungeon Supplier Level reduces the duty tax rate to zero, allowing you to buy from the System at cost price plus miscellaneous expenses related to your purchase. The duty tax was to prevent potential Users from abusing the System’s supply stocks. While secondary, the System made use of the duty tax surplus to achieve other miscellaneous objectives. This reduction of duty tax includes subsequent purchases of any materials including medicinal bath materials and completed products.” System noted and both Yun and Jin nodded their head in acknowledgement.
“Ehhhhhh! So does that mean my blueprints are essentially useless?” Hou Fei came out of the shooting range and felt embarrassed that he felt proud assisting his new young master but the System rebutted.
“Negative, your blueprints mean the System and User are able to create our very own products and are also able to market them to finance the store. The Gearbox blueprints which User had obtained and produced are selling like hotcakes in other worlds. System also utilised User’s negotiating skills to sell at exorbitant prices.” System stated as another Jin who was at the far end corner of the Dungeon Maker stuck out his tongue in embarrassment.
“Of course, we did not sell the perfect version but the one with a few flaws and some with less obvious defects which did not create safety issues though. After all, if we sell the perfect version, they would not come back for more in the future. The Black Market is rather fun.” Another Jin boasted and the main Jin shook his head. He could not believe his own personality was equally shrewd like the System and he blamed Kraft for making him this way. (A certain foxy guy had to sneeze out of nowhere.)
“Now I also understand how the System managed to be so generous to provide you 10 million dungeon dollars as your budget.” Yun who was looking at her phone realised that the Gearboxes were sold for at least 2-3 million dungeon dollars each. More if there were personal modifications and everything was sold in the black market.
“Don’t you ever worry those products that you sell will eventually come to haunt you?” Hou Fei was speaking from experience and Jin could sense that. Another Jin shook his head and revealed that all the products created by the System had a miniature inscription embedded into them. It was something similar to a kill switch and Jin had been told that it was initially made by previous members of the Panda Clan to test for authenticity of products since they were from a family of businessmen and traders and it turned out, that he was not the first arms dealer by a long shot.
The System even seemed to boast that the inscription had been improved many times over and had yet to disappoint. Some people who decided to break the inscription would unknowingly disintegrate with the product. However it was clearly written at the bottom of the invoice to not tamper with it, even though the part of disintegration came with a fine and slightly invisible print.
“So evil. Young Master, you are so clever in this business sense that I am loving it!!!!” Hou Fei went straight to Another Jin and hugged him tightly which made that Jin slightly uncomfortable, whereas the other Jins were grinning happily that it was not them. “Oh, don’t you worry or anything. I have a wife too. Unfortunately, I don’t see her that often, she is just very committed to her job.” Hou Fei rubbed Another Jin’s head and asked the Original Jin where he should be going next.
“That’s not the point! Anyways, Que Er, accompany him would you? System please provide him with a Half Mask with the same properties as my own. Ghoul Half Lord Derek, mind if you lend me some of your zombies for moving the equipment?” Jin asked the Magpie Queen along with Ghoul Half Lord who appeared in front of him to acknowledge his orders. The Magpie Queen Que Er opened the portal to the Goblin Castle courtesy of the System while Half Lord Derek commanded his zombies to carry the equipment.
“Ah yes, Master Jin, I have something to report if you do not mind me interrupting you. I merely request your presence at our Home Instance for five to ten minutes.” Ghoul Half Lord Derek asked and Jin stopped for a while and decided to give him the full attention despite his busyness. With so many Jins working on the other necessities, he should be able to free up that short amount of time.
“I have managed to practice some necromancy arts in my free time and have managed to create this. It was through the recent disposal of Orc Remains that I found the use of the necromancy arts. I have managed to request the System grant me those before it could properly dispose the remains away. We believe it could be of use, now that I have finally completed my first creation.” Derek explained and the theme park lights shone at Derek’s creation. (The zombies operating the lights were very proud of their actions.)
Not surprisingly, it turned out to be an Orc Zombie, created from various parts of the Orcs that the System managed to salvage. What was surprising though was that the usually stingy System had granted Ghoul Half Lord Derek access to a limited amount of souls which it had manufactured as a result of the black waste Jin had produced from his cultivation.
The Orc Zombie was flawless from afar but upon closer inspection, Jin could see the pieces had been sewn together and he looked at Ghoul Half Lord Derek. “Ahem. Erm. Yes, as you might have seen, Lady Zhi Nu, the immortal weaver, did help with my creation.” Derek coughed loudly as he said that and Jin could see Zhi Nu coming out from her hiding with Niu Lang right beside her.
“Well…Derek gave us permission to use his theme park home instance for our dates…” Zhi Nu said blushingly while Niu Lang mentioned that the zombies also assisted him in repairing Mechataur by moving the heavy parts. “So that is why we as a couple decided to help Derek out with his experiment. And I’d say it turned out to be a pretty good job!” Zhi Nu giggled as she saw Derek’s finished product and was delighted that it was working.
“Ahah hah haaaa….I guess we now have our own in-house Victor Frankenstein.” Jin smiled. Derek told Jin about his proposals for future experiments like inserting weapons and making them learn some basic fighting. He elaborated that the souls made from the black goo were rather effective, allowing them to gain some intelligence. He even proposed to include some of the Savants in their experiments who may have experience in this regard. (Not as samples but for comparison sake.)
Ghoul Half Lord Derek also reported that his zombies that were being used in the Great Wall of China Instance were gradually improving too although the process was slower compared to the experiments he was doing. The zombies managed to learn to move faster and some hit harder. Some even managed to learn how to throw things or hurl their magic for the elemental zombies instead of just biting to discharge their elemental powers.
Jin who was fascinated by the improvements told them that if they needed a dedicated area like a laboratory for recreating more monsters, all they had to do was to ask. Both Zhi Nu and Derek were excited and Jin looked at Niu Lang. “Don’t worry, I also have plans to create a Mechanical Bay Area so that you can finally house Mechataur properly instead of just the basement of your house with Zhi Nu.” Jin patted his shoulders and took his leave.
“Now it’s time to concentrate on creating this particular live event!” Jin was very encouraged as he finished the last bit of coffee and continued with his work.
———————–
Xiong Da woke up upon hearing the alarm clock blaring beside his bed. “Urghhhh…four more minutes….it’s a Saturday god damn it.” Xiong Da grumbled as he put the pillow over his head.
“Dear! Wake up! Didn’t you promise Bin Yong and others to go to Jin’s store?” Ruo Ying who was already awake turned off his alarm clock for him and pushed him around to wake him up.
Xiong Da opened one of his eyes and saw Ruo Ying dressed in his large oversized shirt because she stayed overnight at his place and decided to grab her into his arms. “You don’t know what time I went to sleep last night….” Xiong Da mumbled the rest of the sentence and rolled her to his bed as he quietly cuddled her. Ruo Ying made a small squeal the moment he pulled her close but she enjoyed the warm embrace of this hippo. The touch of his toned arms and chest muscles mixed with that bouncy bulge he had on his stomach made her somewhat crazy in love with him physically.
She did not know what would happen if Xiong Da did not persist in training himself up and he said it was all thanks to that Dungeon Supplier in Tiangong Shopping District. “You! Don’t think you can escape my wrath for sleeping so late! I had been waiting for your return last night until I fell asleep!” Ruo Ying pinched his nose and he opened his mouth to breath and continue his sleep. It was clear that Xiong Da had no intention of staying awake.
“What about this!” Ruo Ying moved herself closer to Xiong’s face and placed her mouth directly to his, and they began to kiss slowly. However, at the same time Ruo Ying did not stop pinching his nose, though Xiong Da who had the stamina similar to a hippo managed to make out with her for about a minute before he finally gave in and opened his eyes.
“That is torture, Darling.” Xiong Da frowned as he sat properly on his bed and he looked into Ruo Ying’s beautiful eyes.
“Can’t help it. You are stuck with an Egret for life once she has chosen you.” Ruo Ying’s sweet talk made Xiong Da really happy as he grabbed her closer once more and hugged her gently.
“Let’s prepare to leave shall we?” Xiong Da stretched his arms on the bed while Ruo Ying kissed him before going into the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast for the two of them. Xiong Da went to pick up his towel for a shower before receiving a notification from his phone.
It was different from other notifications as Xiong Da purposely changed the ringtone of the Pandamonium App notifications. He always had an interest in what was coming out, and so he went back to his bedside cabinet to reach for his phone.
“…Real time live event?” Xiong Da squinted his eyes a little and began reading what was on the event. “Holy shit! Boss Jin, you might have outdone yourself once more.” Xiong Da got pumped up and went for a quick shower.
“Ruo Ying! Doing toasted bread will be fine! We should head to Boss Jin’s shop as soon as possible or just let me take over with the cooking while you get in the shower!” Xiong Da appeared as he wore something comfortable and for combat purposes. Clothes that he bought from Jin’s store. He could not deny that it was extremely comfy and had his size too while providing temporary and permanent inscription slots. It was a bargain.
“Why? What’s the rush?” Ruo Ying wanted to make scrambled eggs before Xiong Da took over.
“Boss Jin is hosting a limited time event that provides rewards and the best thing. It is dirt cheap and yet the rewards are super enticing. I think this is the first farmable event!” Xiong Da carried his girlfriend into the shower and brought her towel and the set of clothes she wanted to wear into the bathroom.
“Is this that big of a deal? Don’t other Dungeon Suppliers also host such things, every now and then?” Ruo Ying knew that Xiong Da was once crazy with dungeons instances, but this was over the top. He never acted this rushed before.
“Yes, but this is Jin’s Store we are talking about!! There is this limited item which WE NEED to get!” Xiong Da showed Ruo Ying and she too became excited jumping up and down while squealing in front of him. “It’s that large fluffy Panda Plushie that cuddles you with warmth or cools you down!” Ruo Ying now understood why Xiong Da was so excited. It was the one that was made available during the lottery along with the coupon booklet and Ruo Ying had been eyeing that gift for some time.
The coupon booklet was a success and every shop in Tiangong district benefitted from Jin’s generosity, but yet no one was able to get the large fluffy panda Plushie because not too many customers understood the mechanics of the lottery that Jin created or was ignorant of it. Ruo Ying tried a few coupons as a way to thank Jin for helping her Hippo but she was not able to get any of the better prizes and subsequently due to her new job, she nearly forgot about it.
Ruo Ying did not care about the large plushie initially until Jin showed her the Plushie in its entirety when she asked about it later on. In an instant, she fell in love with it and Xiong Da whispered to her that maybe he could ask his contacts to create something similar. Jin managed to hear it with his acute hearing senses and playfully told them that the plushie was not as simple as how it looked. He told them to check it out for themselves.
That was when Ruo Ying personally went to hug it. The plushie automatically cuddled her up and she felt so comfortable as if she was in a luxurious bed and nearly fell asleep after being cuddled up for a while. It was a personal warmer in the winter and cooler during summer. Xiong Da decided to try it too and then the plushie expanded and accommodated both Xiong Da and Ruo Ying which shocked them. That was when they both fell in love with it. And that was even before Jin told them, that it could get as large as being used as a sofa.
However, the coupon booklet event was already near its end when they found out about this first prize and there were not many tickets left despite having so many prizes in the lottery pool. Xiong Da, no doubt with his purchasing powers, tried all the coupons he could obtain but there was no sight of the Cuddling Panda Plushie …until now. Ruo Ying saluted at Xiong Da as she closed the bathroom doors quickly and proceeded to shower while Xiong Da cooked up a quick breakfast.
Jin not only decided to put all the figurines he created from the System and that large Panda Plushie into this limited time event. But he also produced some goblin themed earth elemental weapons that can be purchased with points. Yes! Upon participating in this particular goblin real time event, the customers would be able to accumulate points to get those items. That was why he had purposely priced the event dirt cheap at about 60 Yuan (~9USD) as compared to his usual dungeons. He even made a package of 550 Yuan (~82 USD) for ten dungeon tries for those who wished to collect them.
Some might say this was still expensive but Jin also allowed his customers to use their existing Panda Medals to buy the dungeon at 10 Panda Bronze Medals or 1 Silver Panda Medal. Not to mention this particular goblin real time event would still give out medals, points and potentially loot at the end of their dungeon.
“So how does the dungeon work this time around?” Ruo Ying changed to her combat clothes which were equally stylish courtesy of Xiong Da who previously spent loads on Jin’s shop which allowed him to accumulate a ton of Panda medals.
“Not sure, the notification says we have to go to Boss Jin’s shop to find out more details.” Xiong Da passed the bacon and fried omelette egg squeezed into two pieces of toast bread to Ruo Ying. She ate the food while Xiong Da helped Ruo Ying dry her hair with the hairdryer.
“Oho ho, looks like Bin Yong is scrambling too.” Ruo Ying giggled as she chewed her food and showed Xiong Da the texts in the Pandamonium group chat.
“We must beat him to it!!” Xiong Da declared which Ruo Ying fully agreed as they quickly left the house the moment she finished her plate of food and left it in the dishwasher. Daily chores could wait.
The Panda Plushie would not.
