Chapter 502: Prelaunch

The rush for the dimension instance building was insanely real for Jin. In the past three days, he had been chugging chi potions and coffee to keep himself awake until his fatigue became overwhelming, forcing him to use the sleep capsule to recuperate.

The System has been unable to directly absorb any of his sludge ever since Jin turned Grade 8. Hence, to prevent the panda cultivator from drowning himself, it had created an elevated platform for Jin’s sleeping capsule, allowing it to rise indefinitely (while raising the ceiling too) within the training room of the Dungeon Maker. After his long overdue rest, Jin had kept 90% of the accumulated sludge and handed the other 10% over for the System to analyse it. Hopefully, it would eventually allow the System to start their own production of high quality souls and perhaps, creating monsters of their own.

All this time he had never stepped outside, nor was he disturbed by any outside interference. He had made preparations that if anything happened, they all could confer with Kraft for otherworldly business or Yun who continued to be the face of the shop by entertaining the customers.

Funds were still pouring in, even more after the sudden arrival of the colossal tree outside of his shop. This was further helped by the store owners who had been asked to circulate some rumours about the tree. Even Kiyu had been taking tabs of the gossip news on it and listed a number of her own favourite theories she had picked up via her Mechat and Meibo account to a number of his customers and her online viewers.

His regulars had believed they could not be surprised by Jin’s imaginative creation after experiencing his dungeons… but for him to use that creativity and turn it into reality was something else entirely. People were starting to wonder what kind of backing Jin could have had to be able to pull such a feat. The rumours about his backing got crazier and wilder, some even stating that he must be some illegitimate child of the Royal Zodiac Families or maybe the Western High Noble families.

While Jin was busy finalising his instance making, the various store owners had gathered to get a glimpse of the interior of the tree with Another Jin accompanying them. (Thanks to his awakened form, his Another Jins could also leave the store as long as they remained within a 50km radius, sparing him this tedious and boring task)

Another Jin began allocating the various stores based on the System’s predictive analysis. While some insisted on bringing in a Feng Shui master to look into the place, Another Jin vehemently refused them stating that the slots were fixed beforehand due to the dimensional instances that would be placed within the area. (A good excuse for stinginess.)

The only thing they could feng shui would be the placement of items within the small allocated space they were given. Jin advised them that they could use the area as a promotion board where they could place their menu. Alternatively, the space could be used for selling items on flash sales like how Lai Fu had done when he wanted to get rid of some perishables by the end of the day.

Other than that, the store owners could only stare in awe at the gigantic Panda Statue within the tree. There was even a donation box as well as a joss-stick pot where people could pray to the Panda Tian Gong Statue. A few of the store owners found it slightly distasteful, but the majority thought otherwise.

Pandas had always been a significant symbol of China, and with Tian Gong being the first God in the myths and legends, it seemed perfect to combine the two together. Besides, Panda in Feng Shui terms represented masculine energy as it helped protect the ‘house’ it was in. In this case, the new Tree Mall that was being created.

Not only that, the Pandas were always associated with bringing abundance and prosperity. So by combining the concept of Tian Gong and Panda together, it should be a perfect match representing Power and Prosperity. As if the statue itself was proving this point, when the store owners gathered in the vicinity of the figure, they somehow felt a sense of tranquillity by just standing right beside it.

The System had inserted a legendary inscription made by their very own inscription master, Octofussy, which eluded a high level aura of calmness within a ten metres radius of the statue. Yet at the same time, the Panda Tian Gong Statue also emitted the perception of strength and might whenever someone gazed into it.

Octofussy had made sure the inscription would make people felt like they were in the arms of a caring mother who knew how to kick her enemies’ ass.

Other than that, everyone felt extremely excited as Another Jin asked them to return the next day considering their instances should be ready by then. While the dungeon supplier could provide almost everything including individual store’s equipment, the things that he could not were mainly their stocks such as sundries and food, so he informed everyone to get their suppliers coordinated as they would be running an extremely tight schedule with only one day to prepare.

Should they need extra funds, they could contact Yun to aid them with their request, but the supplies were to be delivered first with the money being paid on the spot of the transaction.

Some of the suppliers and store owners found this method a bit out of their protocol but considering how much Jin was taking care of the plight of the Tiangong Shopping District, they agreed to his conditions.

———

Early in the morning, several trucks arrived near the construction site and the suppliers were also astonished by the grandeur of the tree. The store owners were already sitting inside the 24 hours open Dungeon Supplier Store waiting for their goods.

The real Jin came out of his dungeon maker with sunken eyes as big as the size of a tea bag, acknowledging the presence of his tenants. “Everything is all ready, there might still be some hiccups or some variation which is why I want all of you to inform me of any problems by today, so I can rectify them,” Jin informed them with a slightly slurred speech which Yun in turn, quickly offered him a cup of coffee to perk himself up.

The Dungeon Supplier took the coffee, blew a few times before chugging the whole thing as if it was water. There was not much to waste for him. Every second here stuck in his shop instance could be a second more the owners could use to settle their things. The store owners, on the other hand, found it rather bizarre how he could gain such fatigue within the span of a night.

Especially since he was supposedly a high grade cultivator from the looks of his fight against the Triads, a person of such calibre should not be able to tire himself that quickly.

Jin opened the gates of the construction barriers which allowed the suppliers’ trucks to enter, but even the trail towards the colossal tree seemed to have been modified wihtin the span of one night which subsequently shocked everyone who saw it.

“Is this why Boss Jin seems so tired?! All of these were not here in the first place! How did he do that? Was it those wondrous workers of his again?” He Rong wondered out loud as he saw how the trail towards the Tree Mall had changed so drastically.

The path right in front of them was no longer the two way road which the Shopping District used to have. Instead, the path caved into the bottom of the tree, as if the mall itself had a basement floor.

Meanwhile, the pedestrian paths had been upgraded with grey granite tiles which were a major improvement in terms of décor compared to the previous standard path of cement.

Beside all of these tiles, the side of the pavements was decorated with spruces of bamboo trees which provided both shade and cover as if the whole district had become a park itself.

On the other side of the pavement where the cars were moving, safety railings were placed all along the road but overlaid with a long track of bushes and flowers. Cultivators could easily jump over the fences, so it was not a problem to catch their taxis, but Jin had also made a broader and longer opening for the bus stop that operated within the district so the taxis could use it to manage their pickups.

After recovering from their shock, the suppliers quickly got into their trucks and drove them to the basement of the Tree Mall where they could see a further separation of paths with one leading to the warehouses and the other to the carpark.

“Carpark? But back then, they did not create a carpark because of the subway train station!” Si Fang exclaimed, and Jin told them to look at it themselves. A number of them followed the carpark trail which was spiralling to what appeared to be at least a few basements levels.

The cultivators could not imagine that the construction company that did this was able to dig so deep into the ground without disrupting the subway tunnels at all. The spiral to the carpark was also decorated with animated screens of a bamboo forest. Along the way down, some of the store owners were able to catch a glance of some of the pandas playing or climbing a tree.

But the most extraordinary thing about this spiralling pathway to the carpark was that the driver would not have to drive his car at all. Like a conveyor belt, the car would be brought into the carpark while the driver and his passengers could enjoy the screen as the conveyor belt transports the vehicle to a slot for them to park. (Those conveyor belts had anti slip capabilities to hold the weight of a full load lorry.)

“This …this is revolutionary…I’ve never seen any car park like this.” Lai Fu exclaimed as they saw how spacious the slots were and the rates for the parking were also very affordable compared to the central district, specifically given how advanced the car parking system was.

Jin smirked as this was just one of the features that the System had in place since it finally had control of this land. “There’s more to come,” Jin replied as he beckoned them to take the lift up to the Tree Mall.

Unlike the day before, where all they saw was just the bare interior of the tree, this time around, there were electronics all hooked up within the tree. The lightings in the entire mall were great, the elevator and escalators were responsive and most importantly the air conditioning (or heater at this period of the year) was working as intended.

The harmony between modern technology and the wood was delicate but not impossible to achieve, and with the System, Jin managed to do just that. For example, instead of a metal frame, wood was used as the base for the escalators and elevators, cleverly hiding the circuits of it and ensuring that they were laden with a coat of fire retardant paint to ensure they do not get on fire. (To be honest, there was nothing much to be afraid of since the System was in control of it.)

There were even pamphlets in every level as well as a navigation cum information system that was consumer friendly near each pamphlet stand. Not to mention, the navigation was voice activated as well as which the store owners had tried and proven to be rather perceptive.

After taking in the new sights, the first store that they visited was the food court instance where a human sized Panda statue with a chef hat and a pan was standing there all happy and ready to serve.

Jin’s customers would know that these statues would bring them into a dimensional distance by just placing their phone right towards the statue. That is, of course if they had the Pandamonium App.

Without it, all the customers had to do was install the Pandamonium App, and they were all good to go as a guest account would be created for them to use.

The customers would then be able to upgrade into a personal account within the dimensional instances, and all of them would be able to enjoy five percent off on all purchases that day, excluding on the sales that had been placed by individual store owners.

It was an initiative to make all customers in the Tree Mall use the Pandamonium App so the System could perform its wondrous magic called data collection. After Jin finished his short demonstration on how to enter the instances, the rest of the store owners sprinted off to their own allocated shop instances and began to discover the hidden magic Jin had worked for them.

“Impatient people…” Jin shook his head slightly and felt the need arise to go back to sleep from all the work that he had done. (The calming presence of his Panda Tian Gong Statue might have made it even worse for him.)