Zheng Hui was nice enough to offer them a ride to their next destination, but the group refused and just bid Lynn’s father goodbye. The trio walked into a secluded corner within the apartment flat. They checked around, and this area did not seem to have any CCTV cameras around, so the System opened a portal leading them into some quiet yet well-maintained garden park.
“Master Jin.” A voice could be heard from behind them, and there was some rustling of the leaves near the bushes. Jin assumed the person had to be one of the Farming World Humans that was under the employment of Pandafull Delivery.
“Ah, no wonder the System knew where to teleport us without having to worry about anyone seeing it.” Jin thought and thanked the delivery man for his efforts. He had expected him to get teleported away, or go do something else, but instead, he came forward.
As they emerged from the corners and shadows of the Garden Park, all of them appeared to dress suitably well, making Jin question the reason behind their gathering here.
“You think we are letting you go into such a place without reinforcements?” Yun asked as she saw the confusion in his eyes.
“What? Why would I need an army of bodyguards to go meet Yang Ling and her father?” Jin questioned. He understood this to be a simple Chinese New Year visiting, perhaps accompanied with lunch. He had planned to go in, greet Yang Ling’s father and be gone within an hour if possible less.
“You said Kraft told you the details?” Lynn wondered as she looked around the garden, and some of those humans were waving at her delightfully.
“Yea, Kraft mentioned that Yang Ling came to visit, planning to ask me to visit her Dad. You showed her my unconscious body, and she begged you to come in my stead in case I was still out. Was that not the case?” Jin queried and started to notice that there were some humans he had not seen before. Still, they were all happy to see him once again, making him a little suspicious of this current arrangement to visit the Tiger. He originally planned to meet Grandma Yuan first but seeing how Yun had strongly insisted on going to the Royal Zodiac Tiger Clan’s for a new year visit, he decided to follow suit.
“You have heard the gist of it… if we ignore the fact of something vitally important missing.” Yun shook her head and took a card out from her handbag, showing it to Jin. “I should have known Kraft would have some fun with you, by sending you in uninformed. Honestly, it’s my own fault for allowing him to help when he even volunteered to do it while we accompanied Yang Ling. Why did I bother to trust him that much.”
“… What is this? Intra Royal Zodiac Tiger Clan Lunch Meet?” Jin read through it. Yang Ling had included a summary of what this whole event was about. According to the card, it was the time when various Tiger Clans met up to greet the Tiger Clan’s Head and wish him well for the upcoming year. Since Jin was treated as an Honorary Tiger Clan Member, he was obligated to attend as well. Failing to do so would make him lose his status.
“So? Why do we need to bring so many people with us? Also, who exactly are these people? I don’t believe my memory is that bad, but I’m unable to recognise meeting any of them.” Similar to the visor for the Pandarens, the System had recently created a pair of permanent contact lenses to automatically showcase names, stats and other information of the minions serving under Jin. (A perfect product so that Jin could recognise his work force with indirect System help.)
“Haha, do you know why?” A familiar voice was heard from the side, and when Jin turned around, he finally saw someone who he was familiar with.
“Ayse? What are you doing here?” With a snap from the Head Researcher, Jin’s contact lenses started to work, allowing him to see through that all the various ‘new’ faces were actually his minions in cosmetic inscriptions.
“Those excessive Peppers Mana which I turned to crystals had allowed us to experiment a lot. We finally found a way to use her magic and fuse it with the cosmetic inscriptions.” Ayse started to flaunt her research team’s achievements, but Weslie came out from the side and knocked her head. (She was probably the only one that would dare to act this way towards Ayse.)
“Do you think now is a good time to give a lecture? *cough* Sorry, Master. To put it simply, we’ve improved the cosmetic inscription so that it stays on for a period of time even when outside the System’s influence and it prevents people from using magic to sense or remove them from us.”
“You could call it a perfect way to show our strength while appearing human. Your world does not have Orcs or other Beastman, and we can imagine what would happen if we showed off our real form.” Orc General Nubwort added.
“I will tolerate this necessary evil to hide our identities and protect our master. Else, I would not even wear this disgraceful skin.” Drex, the Dark Elves’ Leader complained. “On behalf of Lord Kraft, I wish to inform you that he is busy preparing us for the city raid mission you assigned him. That is why he told me to accompany you for this Meet instead of my usual fighters. But worry not, I am as capable as the others despite my old age. Lord Kraft saw to it.”
“I don’t know what your problem is with these cosmetic inscription charms. I finally get the chance to experience what it’s like to be tall.” Dread Reaver said as he started to jump around. Wyrstriker and Flame Ripper were also by his side, and they were testing how high they could jump.
“Okay, now I know what you are doing here. However, is it necessary for us to bring such a force?”
“Of course,” Lynn stated plainly as the rest all smirked.
“The Intra Royal Zodiac Tiger Clan Lunch Meet -urgh such a mouthful, anyway the part about paying respect to Hu Yuan Ba is just the official appearance. In reality, you should picture it more as a Battle Royale deciding who may keep their membership as an affiliated sect of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Clan and most importantly how much backing they get for the new year.” Yun added.
“The Tiger Lord is going to pay up to five million Yuan for whoever comes on top of that event. Just participating will net us a hundred thousand Yuan. The better we do in the fight among the clans, be it solo, duo, trio or team fights, the more we can earn. Yang Ling even provided some videos from the last few years. Most importantly, the Tiger Clan Head has a lot of expectations for you.”
“However, before we get to join the fun, he wants you to create a simple dungeon instance for the fight. Naturally, that yields us a quick buck too.” Yun explained as she took out a black formal suit with a white shirt matching the rest of the group who was busy fixing their clothing which had a black and white theme in common.
After all, they were the Pandas.
