Jin gave a short opening speech describing how the store owners were resilient despite the despicable attack by the Ruby Rats. He, however, did not openly condemn them but instead used them as the defining example of how this district had overcome adversity and grew to be better through this trial by fire.
However, with the exception of a few select guests, Jin noticed that the majority of the audience was not too interested in this kind of long opening speech, so he decided to cut it short. At the same time, Jin signalled Yun as the moderator to get on with the ceremony.
“Please give a big round of applause for our dear Mayor Cheng Rui and our biggest sponsor, the guest of honour, Mister Xiong Da who has helped to kickstart the opening of the Tiangong Tree Mall to the stage,” Yun announced to the audience which perked them up. (Initially, Kiyu was supposed to fulfil this role, but Kraft had suddenly called all the foxes to his side, including Pei. He did place a failsafe within the bracelet instance to make a return if Jin ever needed her urgently.)
The Shenzhen Mayor was the first to go up to the platform, followed by Xiong Da. The two of them came to greet Jin by shaking his hands before he took out a ball like structure. Jin then asked them to also put their hands on the ball and on the count of three, the trio simultaneously pushed the button together.
A series of confetti poppers went off, and everyone started to clap furiously, seemingly trying to accelerate the ceremony, eager to discover all the wonders of this new district. Yet no one had expected that particular ball like structure to be a button to light up the entire Tree Tiangong Mall with Christmas decoration lights. While the scene could have been more magnificent at night, the lights at the moment were sufficient to attract the media’s attention.
Soon, Jin also remotely released the locks from the glass doors and the people in front of those entrances immediately rushed in at the sight of the glass doors opening. If not for the fact that Jin had used reinforced glass, some potential accidents could already have happened.
As the crowd entered, they were immediately amazed by how spacious it looked and at the gorgeous sight of the Panda Tian Gong Statue. As prompted by the Farming Humans that were acting as guides for the opening ceremony, most of the customers had already installed the Pandamonium App. This allowed them to quickly transition into the area and the various store instances.
The System itself had underestimated the size of the initial crowd and had applied a quick fix to the Panda Statues. Without the need to touch them, anyone within a fifteen metre radius could use their phone to teleport into the respective Store Instance.
Everyone rushed frantically to the places they had read up on online or via the brochures handed out to them while waiting for the opening. Kiyu and Kraft had done a fantastic job in the past few days to aggressively advertise on the Tiangong Tree Mall.
Shots of the various instances with Kiyu trying them out first hand in the Mall Preview had piqued many people’s interest, and there were promises of wonderful door gifts or at least on the first day with many discounts to be expected.
Ke Loong was also among one of the few honoured guests who participated in the opening ceremony and seeing how the temporary stage area was the only safe area to talk, the few guests who wished to mingle remained in that particular area.
“Boss Jin! Sorry to hear about what has happened to the district. I’ve been away in Germany to discuss about the production of the portal. I am glad to see what you did to the place.” Ke Loong greeted Jin with a hearty handshake. He ensured Jin that the portals were made of the highest quality and not to compromise with the materials since human lives were at stake.
“I see, did you manage to make any improvements with our researchers on deck?” Jin asked even though the System was updating him about the current circumstances of the portal situation.
“Excellent! Even my Chief Engineer Bo Ze was bewildered when they showed him some of the relevant parts. Must say, you are one sneaky Boss. You allowed us to build the entire portal device, but you withheld the most important part for it to work.” Ke Loong said, and Jin furrowed his eyebrows as he assumed that all the portal device were made with Earth’s material.
“User, System had placed a failsafe part that needs to come from you first in order to regulate the number of portals that could be built. The part had something to do with the Lost Tech found in Goblin World.” System revealed to Jin while he was laughing at Ke Loong’s replies.
“I thought you said that all the items would be from Earth?”
“That particular Lost Tech is merely a key. There would have been ways to replicate it, but it was cheaper to use the original method. It’s needed to kickstart the processor in the portal device once.” The System stated.
“According to simulations, the Lost Tech part will disappear upon use, hence making it hard to impossible to replicate it on Earth and abusing it. System understood that User had some concerns previously that he was unwilling to address during the negotiations. This was the last failsafe before they could begin the Portal Revolution in this world.” The System for once was concerned for Jin and wanted him to be very sure to go ahead with it.
“Thanks,” Jin said to the System with a smile showing on to Ke Loong before he continued.
“Ke Loong, I am sorry to disappoint you, but I fear releasing the portals might be a bit too soon for commercial use.” Jin continued, and Ke Loong was confused.
“What do you mean? I have already ordered and produced over a hundred portal devices. Isn’t it a bit too late to back out now?” Ke Loong tried to remain calm and wanted to hear the reason Jin gave first before making any assumptions that he was backing out for selfish reasons.
The implications of the portal device would significantly empower the Chinese economy and most importantly, his company.
“No. Please don’t misunderstand me. What I meant is that we should regulate the use of the portal. Instead of allowing any Tom, Dick and Harry going to use it as if it was free.” Jin replied, and Ke Loong subsequently got what he meant.
“Something like airports security?” Ke Loong asked, and Jin nodded his head.
“While the potential crisis of a security threat will always be looming, we should do things that can reduce such risks. After experiencing it myself, I’d rather not be responsible for someone abusing it and creating another disaster like the Ruby Rat Attack.” Jin clarified, as the Mayor of Shenzhen came walking towards him at an inopportune time.
“Greetings, Mr Xie. It seems like your Tree Mall is a hit.” Cheng Rui said, and Ke Loong who was contemplating on what Jin said nodded and took his leave for the moment. The Sea Mesh CEO told Jin he would contact him soon to discuss more pertaining to that outstanding issue in front of the Mayor.
“Mayor…Cheng. To grace our humble little district with your presence, I consider it an honour.” Jin greeted the other in a courteous way, and the Mayor laughed at Jin’s attempt at flattery. Cheng Rui understood that the dungeon supplier was just throwing pleasantries at him for the sake of it, yet he acted the part too.
“The pleasure is all mine. It is unfortunate that the government was not able to help you in time for the unfortunate incident a few days ago.” Cheng Rui sent his condolences to Jin. “We will do our best to get the resurrection procedure up and running for the dead victims as soon as possible. And we were also planning to aid this particular district in terms of the rebuilding. But I believe you already beat us to it.”
“What can I say? The support for this place was overwhelming. Although I’d like to add that additional fundings would be appreciated. You know… assuring the maintenance of the aesthetics won’t come cheap, especially if one considers how costly the purchase alone was….” Jin would definitely not turn down extra money should the government grant him some.
“While that is true, the public funding is not that great as well. Seeing as it has already been rebuilt, support in allocating our budget for reconstruction may be a bit hard, but we cannot leave such selfless devotion unrewarded. If the crowd remains plentiful, I will try to bring it up at our next meeting.” Cheng Rui was pushing the responsibility back to the young chap right in front of him. If Jin was able to build this much, he definitely had the money to support the upkeep of this particular place.
“Then I suppose I will not expect any support from you,” Jin stated bluntly as he thanked his time from coming and moved along. Cheng Rui was shocked that Jin would just walk away from him. Did he not realise what power he held as the mayor of Shenzhen?
“Maybe I should teach that little ignorant kid a lesson…” Cheng Rui was starting to get a bit furious at such disrespect, which he hadn’t encountered for ages. Just as he wanted to say something, he suddenly heard someone shouting Jin’s name. At a closer look, the person who was waving at him had multiple guards surrounding him.
“Ahh! Jin! Congratulations!” The Royal Tiger Zodiac Head, Hu Yuan Ba was holding onto a mega hamper. Jin was making large strides towards him with the guards making way for him to pass through.
“Mr Hu! Thank you for coming to my mall’s opening ceremony! I have to admit, we have not expected your presence. Otherwise, we would have prepared the necessary accommodations for someone of your standing!” Jin said in delight which he graciously received the hamper and Yuan Ba gave him a hug befitting of an Honorary Tiger Clan member.
“Hahaha! Nonsense, that won’t be necessary! Just call me Yuan Ba! Or maybe Dad would be good in the near future!” Yuan Ba half joked as he placed his hand on Jin’s shoulders and gazed at the colossal tree that was right in front of him while Yang Ling who was right beside him playful punched her father for saying the last line.
“Damn this little kid sure surprises me at every corner. Good work recovering this place!”
“I figure your Triad Head had briefed you what had happened?” Jin asked, and the two Royal Zodiac members nodded their head. “At least allow me to properly thank you for coming to my aid when I least expected it. Without that, things might have turned out for the worse.” Jin took a step back and bowed sincerely.
“No worries! After what you did for me, or should I say us, it was the least I could do.” Yuan Ba gleefully replied until Mayor Cheng Rui decided to greet the Head of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Clan. The guards, however, did not even move an inch away, barring the mayor from entering.
“Ah, Dad. That is the mayor of Shenzhen.” Yang Ling pointed out to him, and Yuan Ba nodded his head slowly in acknowledgement.
“I am not interested in greeting anybody else for today.” Yuan Ba announced loudly, and the guards in their black suits immediately asked the Mayor to back away.
“Then how come that kid is able to talk to him?” Mayor Cheng Rui defied and questioned the guards.
“Because he is one of us.” The Head Guard answered in his stead in the most professional manner and told Mayor Cheng Rui to back off or face the consequences. Only then did the Shenzhen mayor realised he might have made a grave mistake for ignoring Jin a few moments ago.
No one had informed him that this little kid who was capable of reviving a shopping district a few days after its destruction was also friends with one of the twelve Royal Zodiac Clan’s Head and treated like they had familial relations too.
“I see…I’m sorry to have interrupted the Tiger Lord.” Mayor Cheng Rui nodded his head in embarrassment, and he quickly took off. He was pondering whether to swallow his pride and offer some grants to Jin to mend their relationship, only to encounter another respectful figure.
The guards who saw her nodded their heads in acknowledgement and immediately allowed her to enter.
“Looks like this little tiger is still fit as a fiddle after that particular incident.” Grandma Yuan greeted him, and though Yuan Ba held his head high in the face of anyone else, he quickly lowered his at the sight of her. He even clasped his hands together and greeted Grandma Yuan formally. Yang Ling did much the same, but as she was still in a wheelchair (for appearance sake to potential enemies in a huge crowd), she limited it to a small bow.
Jin was a little perplexed at the current scene, and Grandma Yuan smirked at him. “What are you so surprised about, you little brat? At my age, I have known most of the heads from the time they were still in their diapers!” Grandma Yuan emphasised the last part leading to a slight blush on Jin’s face as she told them all to be at ease.
Only after a few exchanges did Jin realised that Yuan Ba had formerly been a student of Grandma Yuan’s as well. Not as a direct disciple but a mere student of her class.
“I did not know that Grandma was that famous.” Jin blurted at, and a wooden stick knocked on his head before Grandma Yuan used some chi to take it back.
“Jin, I don’t suppose you can bring Yang Ling around? I have a few things to discuss with Grandmaster Yuan.” Yuan Ba suggested, and Jin nodded as he pushed Yang Ling forward.
“So is that considered an approval from your dad to bring you out for another date?” Jin teased Yang Ling, and her face turned red almost immediately. She knew that he was joking but could not help feeling something for him. (This time Kraft was innocent.)
“Don’t be such a tease, my Dad knows what kind of man I like. You have a long way to go.” Yang Ling stuck her tongue out as comfortably allowed Jin to slowly push her into the new Tiangong Tree Mall. (There were guards to aid with the movement of their VIP too but in a less forceful manner.)
