Chapter 60: Revamped Third Floor
"What happened to this place??" Jin was surprised by the whole revamp of the third floor. There used to be several rooms for playback purposes but right now, all the walls were hacked down and the place turned into a gallery room.
The floors were installed with black polished granite flooring which was slightly reflective but blurred enough to not offend the decency of the ladies that patronised the shops. A mix of brown and green bamboos lined the four walls of the third floor with grey pebbles and stones that covered the soil. The contrast of the bamboo and the granite floor gave the gallery room a sense of Zen.
There were no obvious windows on the third floor but Jin noticed a fairly narrow separation between the roof of the shophouse and the four walls. In that separation, the System installed an angled glass panel which allowed sufficient sunlight to shine upon the bamboo plants and brightened the gallery a little with some natural light.
The ventilation system of the store kept the place cooling enough as it was regulated by the System. In fact, the whole store was regularly kept between 16-20 degrees Celsius depending on the weather.
There was also a mixture of dim and bright lighting installed too. It apparently had a day and night settings which gave the room a distinct kind of homely yet sophisticatedly professional feel in addition to the Zen atmosphere Jin was experiencing.
Jin was genuinely impressed by the layout of the gallery. "This is amazing, it is really beautiful and tranquil."
So what did the gallery contain? Similar to what Jin had seen in the basement, there were a number of pedestals similar to the what he had seen in basement 1. However, compared to the pedestals in the basement 1, the pedestals here were all empty except for one right at the corner where the stairs were located.
Aside from the pedestals, there were two additional bronze statues that were shaped to a fat cute penguin with big comical eyes. Both of them were placed at each side of the stairs.
Each of the penguins was signified with a gender locked item. The left penguin had a long curly handlebar moustache and a top hat while the penguin on the right had a big ribbon at the top of its head
"They are…?" Jin asked.
"Bathroom instance, just larger in size." Yun thought it was obvious enough.
"What? How would I know they were bathrooms?!" Jin did not understand the system's logic even though it tried to be artistic and complicated at the same time. Perhaps Yun already knew it was a bathroom instance so she had no problem identifying it.
"But don't the toilet signs usually showed a male with a top hat and female with either a dress or long hair?" Yun was a little confused, she really thought it was a decent idea to have the penguin statues.
"Well, who in the right mind will place the toilets right beside the stairway? The gallery is the main attraction and I believed the customers who notice it probably thinks that they are part of the interior decor. Then what happened to the showers and toilets on the second floor?" Jin could not believe Yun and he guessed she had her dull moments too.
"It is still there, for you know customers that do not have the Pandamonium app." Yun suddenly felt a little embarrassed after being pointed out by Jin.
"Also, why would you put so much emphasis on a toilet?" Jin was a little curious for a toilet instance.
"Come, let us have the Boss to deduce why would the system do that?" Yun tried to subtly gain back some authority over Jin. A sore loser she was and she knew that was a bad trait of hers but sometimes she could not help it. Although she did try her best to tone it down whenever possible.
"After the dungeon runs, they can take a shower or have a good dip in a tub?" Jin answered as he stares at the bronze penguin statues
"That does not really answer the question since the toilets on the second floor can do that as well but it is nevertheless one of the functions," Yun replied.
"It takes time so a bathroom instance in a dimensional space will reduce the time needed due to the time dilation and for comfort with privacy I supposed?" Jin tried to guess and Yun nodded her head.
"You can take a look at the instance if you want and you will understand it." Yun was a little excited.
"Wait, before anything, I still think the placement of the penguins needs to be changed." Jin interrupted her.
"To where?" Yun got a little irritated when Jin changed the subject. She placed her palm out signalling 'where exactly'.
"Right beside the actual toilets." Jin replied by pointing downwards.
"Fine, I do think it's a little weird after what you said." Yun gave in to the reason for now.
"Alright, let me try to -URGH why is this so heavy?!" Jin even used his Grade 3 cultivation strength and he was unable to lift the statue up.
"Because there is an anti lifting inscription in it in order to prevent theft. Gravity bounded unless the system permits movement." Yun giggled and snapped her fingers. In an instant, the penguin statue was light enough for Jin to carry it with one hand and he brought it down to the second floor.
When he reached the second floor, he notice a few different changes as well. "For just a mission objective completion, there are quite a lot of changes to the store."
"Mmhmm, the rewards given to you were not based solely on the Panda Yawning mission."
"And which?"
"The hidden mission objective of that Zombie Mission. By simultaneously killing more than 50 zombies. Since you did a magnificent job killing more than 50 zombies at a go, the system decided to provide you with a reward appropriate for your effort. A multiplier effect on the mission reward for completing the Panda Yawning mission." Yun arrived at the second floor with the second penguin statue.
"But this is a lot of changes!" Jin did not want to nitpick but the changes were overly generous even for the system.
"What the system decides to give you is a secret even to me. I am just its front." Yun smiled as she placed the penguin where Jin directed. She snapped her fingers once more and the two penguins who initially did not have any pedestals to them were given one albeit a shorter and smaller one.
"So, what do you want go through first? The bathroom instance? or the instance on the third floor?" Yun asked as she looked at her watch to see how much time they had before they need to open the store for business.
Jin walked away from the penguin statue and stared at a new oversized vending machine that was embedded in the wall.
"This."