Not even half an hour later, Xia Mao was greeted by a strange sight. He was baffled by the sheer number of bags his comrades were carrying around. Apart from haversacks to hold the extra armour for Tanke, they were also dragging along plastic bags full of emergency food supplies allowing their Panda Mercenary to recover on the go without the need for any healing spells.
“You know you guys could have just stored everything inside your storage rings, right?” Xia Mao questioned them, wondering if they were doing this on purpose to show off how massive their shopping spree had been.
Before he got an answer, a Panda Sailor was announcing that the boarding of the ship would now begin. Xia Mao was in no rush since there were many other Pandarens next to them and he knew they would all gain a notification shortly before it would leave.
“Bu Dong said it would be best if we have the items out. This way it will be easy for us to sort them out on the ship and give it to our Panda Mercenary.” Zi Dan answered and quickly followed Xia Mao, who was holding the tickets.
Once they entered their previously allocated cabin, Jing Yu noticed a change in the cabin’s layout. Just as they had suspected, a new room had been made available for Bu Dong, and all his items had been transferred to it. They were surprised by the staggering number of items in his personal hideout, and he blushed.
“Well… it’s a bit embarrassing. My parents know that I’ve been dungeoneering a lot and they are happy about the increase in my grade. In fact, they were so happy that I found a hobby that might potentially be useful for my future, that they even gave me some extra money to invest into Boss Jin’s shop. However, I might have used part of that money to purchase some things they might not approve of, if I brought them back…” Bu Dong was fidgeting with his hands as he explained his situation with some awkwardness. The Elder Pandarens concurred with his logic.
Apart from useful things like weapons, armors and inscriptions, the room was filled with plushies, figurines and other miscellaneous goodies that Jin was selling to promote his dungeons. If anything, Bu Dong’s collection of items might actually be the only one on the level of Xiong Da’s. And yet, the lawyer often ‘complained’ that so far he had only managed to collect a bulk of the items that Jin had released to the public.
Each went to their respective personal rooms for a moment to check on certain supplies for the next round. Bu Dong was the first to be done with the task, and soon Zi Dan joined him in the living room. There Xia Mao encountered them sorting through their purchases.
“Zi Dan, I have something to ask you. Could it be that you plan to leave for Australia soon and have avoided telling us so far?” Xia Mao, who had always been a brutally honest companion, shocked his friend with his deduction.
The old man did not hesitate to be upfront in order to clear any misunderstanding. While it was confirmed that Zi Dan had sometimes talked about his wish to move closer to his son, there were many other problems old age could bring and if the reason for his strange behaviour was some type of illness, it might be best not to continue with the dungeon.
“I… Ah.. so you managed to guess why I had been so jittering for the past few hours.” Zi Dan lowered his head and sighed, thinking of a way to say it without hurting his friends’ feelings.
Bu Dong quickly excused himself and returned to his room since he just remembered something ‘very important’ that he had to check up on right now. Both of them realised that for a young guy, Bu Dong sure knew how to keep his manners, wishing that their own grandkids could also grow up to act in the same way. Meanwhile, Jing Yu, who had overheard the conversation, stood at her room’s door waiting for the men talk it out between themselves first.
“I didn’t want to lie to the two of you. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I figured we should at least make the best out of the remaining time we have left together. I might be able to return to Shenzhen once in a while, like during the holidays, but I doubt we will be seeing each other that much in the future. That is why I wanted to clear this dungeon and maybe even achieve a first clear so you won’t forget me that easily. It’s because I’ve really come to like you guys even though we only met recently. The fun we had in these dungeons was extraordinary.”
“So to get a Pandawan on our side to ease our dungeon clearing ability, I was ready to lower my head or even beg for Bu Dong to come to join us. I just wanted to have the best experience with you guys before leaving after the Chinese New Year holidays.” Zi Dan explained himself, and towards the end, his eyes began to swell up.
“Geez, it’s not like you leaving is the end of the world or anything. It’s totally different from when we were young. The world is very connected nowadays, and all we need to do is simply click a button, and we can see each other again.” Xia Mao shook his head while pointing to his phone.
At the same time, he was relieved that the reason behind Zi Dan’s excessive initiative was indeed merely because he was leaving and not because he had gotten ill or caught a disease like cancer. “We are all adults, so we know that we each have our own individual lives, and the only time we get together is during these morning dungeon exercises. But thank you for thinking of us as part of your life.”
“Yes, we appreciate the thoughts.” Jing Yu added as she opened her arms up, beckoning Zi Dan to come over for a friendly hug.
“Well, I guess I have to work a little harder than usual. Gotta earn the privilege of returning to my heavenly bed.” Xia Mao joked as he walked towards Bu Dong’s room and knocked.
“Is everything okay?” Bu Dong questioned as he felt like he had come in at the wrong time to join the group.
“Yeah, everything should be fine now. Sorry about that. When you are our age, it’s best to clear things up as soon as possible. Otherwise, you might not have the chance to do so.” Xia Mao apologised as he called the boy out of his room.
“C’mon, we are not that old according to society’s standards.” Jing Yu insisted with a slur.
“Please, to Bu Dong and the others, we are like basically old pigs and cows” Xia Mao replied as they all cleared their differences and started to plan for the dungeon clear. Bu Dong had not listened in on their conversation, so he was unaware of what exactly had occurred.
However, from what he could see the issue seemed resolved and Xia Mao appeared to be much more eager to actively participate. Taking their newfound motivation into account, the young Pandawan decided to propose a change of plans to further increase their chances of obtaining the shop’s first dungeon clear in this limited Nian Event.
