“Any worst-case scenarios in mind? What if those Bone Spirit Monkey Demon were just the goons?” Jin asked, and the military officers shook their head simultaneously and deemed it impossible.
“If that were true, then we would have a large-scale catastrophe on our hands. There’s no way those were goons. We had eliminated their nest before, and they are neither that intelligent nor strong.” Boon Tiong replied.
“Well, I am just presenting the options from the perspective of an outsider and a person who makes dungeons for a living. What if the nests were diversions? Those Bone Spirit Monkey Demons were apparently at least smart enough to ambush our group when they were resting. Subsequently, they separated the demon exorcists and entrapped them so they could remove each of them individually.” The rest became quiet for a while instead of being dismissive of the facts.
“And there are apparently other Bone Spirit Demons waiting to finish the job based on Su Zhen’s report, right? Isn’t this your standard divide and conquer rather than a monster horde rushing aimlessly?” Jin questioned, and the rest stopped eating their food for a moment.
“Boon Tiong, any correlations with the recent emergence of Monster Hordes in other cities that have nearly been pulverised?” Hou Fei said in a rather authoritative tone.
“There were some comments from various science commissions that it might not be a common natural occurrence. Though they did not specify anything about Bone Spirit Demons. Those monsters were still part of their surrounding habitat.” Boon Tiong quickly checked his phone for the required information.
“Are you implying that this could, in fact, be international terrorism disguised as a natural disaster?” Chen Lai suddenly brought that topic up.
“Perhaps. I will have to check with the Clan Head to see if there are any possible causations and relations. If Jin did not point this out, I might have overlooked such a possibility.” Hou Fei admitted as his head suddenly got heavier.
“I think we might need to prepare more than we thought if those accursed speculations out Jin’s mouth turn out to be true.” Hou Fei said with a cruel smile and the others chuckled for a moment.
“Hey! I did not jinx anything! I merely pointed out what seemed obvious to me. Usually, elite troops during peace times ultimately always get their ass kicked in because they’ve grown too used to the ‘threats and warnings’ around them. I also didn’t think that you would not take me seriously enough to warrant such a heavy atmosphere right now. Hopefully, this would be just baseless conjecture.” Jin tried to defend himself.
“Haha, it is not your fault, Jin. Though I must say, having a backup plan will indeed prove to be useful.” Chen Lai agreed, and the others began to slowly look at Jin.
“What?” Jin could literally feel a cold chill running down his spine. The suspicions of them wanting a favour from him was extremely obvious.
“Guys, do not bother the Boss this time around. I promise him at least that much.” Hou Fei quickly intervened, yet the officers were already giving conflicting expressions on their faces.
“But we all saw him battle. Both Boss Jin’s colleagues and their fighting abilities had repeatedly shown that they are capable individuals who could make a huge difference in our fights. Plus, this Pandapolis… Especially when he said that his dungeon instances are an extension of the real world. This means that if we include him in our worst-case scenario, it will help to mitigate a lot of losses.” Chen Lai spoke out bluntly for the officers.
“I support Chen Lai. Though renting this place is a horrible idea in terms of budget, we cannot deny that it might save a ton of people. And since we have the portal devices to send them here. The Tigers can be roped into the plan as well.” Kan Jian suggested.
“And you are assuming Dongguan area won’t get hit as badly with the Royal Horse Shits and the Demon Exorcists aiding them? Then what if the monster horde spilt into Huizhou or even worse, Shenzhen?” Boon Tiong added fuel to the burning fire of pessimism.
“We can only do that much. Stretching our forces thin would not do any good.” Hou Fei replied. “At the very most, we can relay this information to the Tigers and get them to at least set up temporary roadblocks.”
“You sure? The last time I heard from them, they wanted as much normalcy as possible with the upcoming new year preparations.” Boon Tiong reiterated the need to be somewhat discreet.
“Fuck discretion. If the Demon Exorcists have trouble handling them as per the report and the constant requests from the Border Guards to get rid of the threat are not getting anywhere, it is an issue that the government should be getting even more battalions to come in. If there is no proper, timely evacuation, we won’t have people to celebrate Chinese New Year.” Kan Jian proposed.
“Sigh. The government is certain to side with the Tigers on this. Every industry is currently ramping production, working 24 hours overtime before the pending holidays. That is why they wish to clear it a few weeks before the official holiday in case there’s a mess up. We will then have some leeway to clean the situation. Also, the partial reason why we are there to help even though it is no longer our jurisdiction.” Hou Fei shook his head in dismay.
“This is not going well as we thought it would be.” Kan Jian reinforced when the conversation turned grimmer.
“Too many factors to consider and absurd limitations.” Chen Lai sighed as he emptied his cup and accidentally slammed it too loud.
“There is only this much I can do as a Dungeon Supplier. If you need my services in times of need, I might consider helping. But if you ask me to fight, I am sorry, I refuse!” Jin apologised, but suddenly Hou Fei unknowingly realised a loophole in Jin’s commitment.
“You know…even if you do not fight with us as a Dungeon Supplier, you are technically a Demon Exorcist… So they might have to send you to Dongguan.” Hou Fei leaned forward as he said it. As much as he wanted to keep his promise to Jin, this was the only way he could think of to benefit his battalion, fulfilling his duty to the people and helping Jin out further.
Also, the moment when Hou Fei said the word Demon Exorcist, the eyes of the military officers lit up. They knew where their General was heading and as cunning as it sounded, it could actually be a win-win situation for both parties.
“We are willing to officially recruit you and can set up a new contract with us. We will then use your Pandapolis as a refugee camp if the need arises. Either way, you won’t need to fulfil your duty as a Demon Exorcist since you will be working for us on this particular mission. I can even put a word to Su Zhen’s mother to exempt you from working at Dongguan.” Hou Fei suggested, and Jin realised how shrewd his Panda Remnant was.
It was too lucrative of an offer to refuse.
