Yang Ling followed Yun to the second floor. There were customised signs on each door they passed through, giving her a sort of idea who was staying in which room. While she was not very familiar with Jin’s employees, she considered it kind of him to offer his house to them as their lodging. However, she did notice that there was something that seemed off about the place.
“Ah, that look on your face. I can roughly guess what it is.” Yun said as they stopped in front of the room with a small panda sign. “Our house is instance-based. That is how we have been living for the past few months ever since Jin started to get serious with his Dungeon Supplying skills. You could call it our test version of the dungeon supplier store.”
“Mmm yeah, I noticed that there were way too many rooms squeezed in the second floor when the first floor was not as spacious. It now makes more sense to know that he has been using dimensional instances to live in it. But won’t it be taxing on the electrical bills? I know the server maintenance is rather expensive.”
“True it would be quite expensive if we would have used conventional electricity as the only power source. Did you know that Dungeon Supplying in the olden days relied on chi by using relics as a sort of predecessor to modern batteries?” Yun asked as they continued to talk in the walkway instead of entering Jin’s room.
Yang Ling found it weird, but it would have been impolite to barge into Jin’s room, especially without knocking, so she humoured Yun. “In other words, you have found one of those relics and made it work for you? Wait, does that mean you’re also using a relic for your shop?”
“Hmmm, in a way, yes. I hope we can trust you to go babble this out to people. Of course, that includes the location of this house and anything you will see in here. After all, you are the first visitor we have allowed here in recent months.” Yun stressed the need for secrecy. However, no matter how sincere Yun made it sound, Yang Ling’s knew based on her sources that the Royal Snake Army’s General had been visiting Jin in the past. The real question was whether Yun tried to hide the fact… or if he was not considered a visitor but a close friend as she feared?
“… I understand.” Yang Ling nodded her head, and that was when Yun smiled a little before she turned and opened a cupboard that was right beside Jin’s room. From the cupboard, she took out a rather large suitcase and passed it to the Tiger Princess.
“What is this for?” Yang Ling questioned, and with a light kick from Yun, the suitcase opened up and revealed a series of sealed ziplock bags.
“Wear this before you go in. It’s for your own safety.” Yun explained as she took another suitcase out from the cupboard before closing it. She did the same by kicking it and later ripped open the ziplock bags to unveil a black and yellow contamination suit.
Yang Ling was stunned beyond belief.
Why would she need a contamination suit to meet Jin? Was he undergoing some chemical treatment or something that was dangerous for anyone to come in? She remembered him getting injured in the battle to defend the Border Walls but if he has yet to recover then why would he go around meeting other people?
Could it be the Jin her sources saw was just an illusion or indeed a body double? After all, the Dungeon Instances Jin had made had always been very convincing to people. He could have previously set a timer to push this update before the defence raid, and if he was still injured, he could have time to recover slowly.
“Well, if you want to go in without a suit, it’s your choice. But I really recommend you wear it. The suit is made so that you do not need to take off your clothing at all. Just erm… perhaps a little tight at the crotch area for you since you are wearing a dress.” Yun said as she was already halfway into the suit before zipping it up.
“Alternatively I can offer to put you into contamination bubble ball instead. You will practically be like a hamster in a plastic toy ball. You won’t have to wear any of this at all.” As she described it, the thought of seeing the Tiger Princess like that seemed hilarious. She recalled Peppers and Milk testing the product out, and they used it to fight against each other. (Although from her perspective it was clear the two of them had a lot of fun.)
“Why do I have to do this? Is he sick or injured in some way?” Yang Ling questioned as she felt that perhaps today might not be the perfect time to invite him. No doubt she would be scolded by her parents but at least that would better option than endangering Jin in any way because of her presence. Not to mention if they forced him to visit them it would only serve to put further strain on the rocky relationship between the two parties.
… Unless Jin was doing all of this in preparation to avoid her. “No no no. He would not do so many silly things just to push me away.” Yang Ling believed she was overthinking things.
“On second thought, let’s just go with the contamination ball. I expect you to not stay there long anyway.” Yun wanted her curiosity to be sated and see how the ever so formal Tiger Princess handled the situation. She placed the contamination helmet down for a while and took back the suitcase which Yang Ling had barely touched. Then, she retrieved another suitcase from the cupboard beside her and requested Yang Ling to hold it.
“It will open the moment you pass the door. Don’t worry. I will give you a push if you start.” Yun said as she now placed the contamination helmet on her and with a click, it sealed the suit up ensuring nothing could go through. A button was pressed right beside her left shoulder, and the air ventilator machine attached to her suit was started to whizz to life.
Yun quickly beckoned Yang Ling to stay at the front of the door, and the Tiger Princess’ heart began to pump faster. Despite her repeated question about what awaited her, Yun insisted that it would be easier to see for herself.
She had no choice but to continue as it is. “Here we go,” Yun warned her as she placed her palm on the door and Yang Ling stared with much intensity. It looked as if it was somewhat difficult to be pushed open as Yun continued to press forward.
Eventually, she saw some liquid oozing out of the sides of the room, and that was when Yun reached over Yang Ling’s suitcase and pressed a button, causing it to vibrate.
“Hold tight!” Yun advised and pushed the door harder while internally calling the System to raise the barriers in case of an overflow. (Though judging by the oozing of liquid from the side, it was already overflowing.)
With a quick burst of chi, the door swirled open, and all the Tiger Princess could see was a wave of darkness coming towards her.
