Chapter 55: Prelude to the Banquet (1)
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations

The female manager was stunned to hear what Mu Fan had said; she couldn’t believe that he would actually purchase a male employee uniform for 5,000 star coins. He could have purchased a cheaper suit from another store.

“Okay… Alright.” The female manager could feel her face burning when the other customers looked over at her; she felt like she lost face in front of everyone and wished that she could send this ‘VIP’ away as soon as possible. She had already lost that miss who was a valuable customer, and the reputation of the store was going to be harmed if she didn’t take care of this as soon as possible. Sigh, I asked for it.

The female manager quickly called someone to wrap up Mu Fan’s purchase; it was a light-grey suit with a soft and luxurious material. Mu Fan brushed his hands across the suit; it felt extremely comfortable. He thought that it was worth the money; he wouldn’t have been able to purchase this within a few years if it wasn’t for his job at the Budokan.

He didn’t feel dissatisfied and didn’t care that much about what he was wearing. He was a nobody attending that banquet Harry invited him to, and he always had a big heart; the only thing was that he didn’t get the chance to thank that girl who spoke up for him.

“Oh right, do you have an extra pair of shoes to spare?” Mu Fan suddenly looked down at his feet and smiled back at the manager.

“Yes! Of course!” The female manager clenched her teeth as she noticed that people were already looking this way and giggling while covering their mouths. She felt even more embarrassed as she said rudely to an employee who was watching on the side, “Go bring out a random pair of leather shoes from the back.”

“I’m a size 43.” The employee heard Mu Fan’s ‘sharp remark’ and froze for a bit.

…

When Mu Fan walked out of the change room, he immediately became the center of attention, making others’ eyes brighten. Mu Fan had a muscular body and nice lines, but he always wore oversized clothing, so it was hard to tell. The employee uniforms of this tailor shop had a nice fit and accentuated Mu Fan’s tall and slim figure. His glistening eyes were filled with confidence, and he looked great even though it was just a uniform. Nobody would have thought that this was the young man who walked in with worn-out clothes a minute ago.

Some female employees were secretly looking at Mu Fan as they only realized now that he was quite handsome!

Mu Fan fixed his collar in front of the mirror and showed a confident smile as he turned around and said, “Nice suit.”

The crowd watched Mu Fan as he walked out of the tailor shop.

He did feel a bit weird wearing a proper suit because his cuffs, collar, and waist section felt too tight to exercise in or battle in. It was hard to make big movements, but he was also constricting his movements since everyone was looking at him.

It’s the most comfortable without clothes, Mu Fan thought as he missed those times when he ran topless in the woods as he hunted prey.

Now, the next thing on the list was to buy the micro-earphone so that he could keep in contact with Black at all times. This was his first time attending a high-class banquet, and he was worried about the unknowns, so he needed Black. However, he only had a Skycom with him, and he had no idea how to get into contact with that not-so-reliable A.I.

Mu Fan had 1,000 star coins left, and he thought to himself as he headed towards a communication device store. Mu Fan kept 300 star coins for himself and picked out the smallest earphone from the store with the rest of the money. According to the description given by the owner of the shop, the battery could last for a month, and he could place it near his ear rims as the bone conduction technology allowed for the device to be well-hidden; others couldn’t see anything after his hair blocked a bit of his ears.

Mu Fan was satisfied; he was now fully prepared.

He placed the earphone inside his left ear as he took out the Skycom. He was two hours away before the meeting time that Chubby Harry arranged. Just when he walked out of a fruit store with a big piece of pineapple in his hand, the Skycom rang!

He swiped his thumb across the screen, and a figure was suddenly projected on top of his Skycom. It was Young Master Harry who he hadn’t seen in a day. He was dressed in a black suit with his white dress shirt unbuttoned, and he even purposely loosened his necktie, looking casual.

Harry saw that Mu Fan seemed to be in a good mood, so he shouted with excitement. “Mu Fan, I’ll send someone to pick you up later. It’s going to be that hover vehicle from the morning. Where are you right now? Send me your coordinates. I’ll be in District 2 which is on the other side of this planet, so you’ll have to ride the planet core train to get here. I’ll see you then!”

Where’s District 2? What’s a planet core train?

Mu Fan who often wandered in the wilderness had no idea what Harry was talking about. He sent his coordinates through the Skycom to Harry’s number, and he quickly got a voice message back. “Wait there for about 20 minutes.”

Just when Mu Fan finished his big pineapple, a hover vehicle parked beside him, and the middle-aged butler from this morning stepped out of the driver’s seat and bowed to Mu Fan.

“Greetings, Young Master Mu Fan, please board the vehicle as the banquet is going to start in an hour and a half.”

Mu Fan got into the vehicle and pressed down on the soft seating out of curiosity.

“Don’t act so curious; that makes me, Lord Black, lose face, alright?” Mu Fan’s body suddenly straightened having heard a voice out of nowhere, and he reconfirmed again to make sure that it came from the bone conduction earphone from his left ear.

Black! The mysterious Black!

“Are you curious why you can hear my voice? Hehehe. I did some meaningful things in the past few days and discovered something interesting, but I’ll tell you those later since you’re not free to talk now anyways.” Black’s voice sounded proud as it came through Mu Fan’s left ear.

“Stop looking around. I bet you’re wondering how I can see your every move. Hahaha, I can go anywhere on this planet’s network. Look up at the micro-camera in front of you and say hi!” Mu Fan didn’t even have to ask before Black gave out the answer in its mischievous tone.

Mu Fan noticed a tiny hole on top of the vehicle in the front, and it had a glass reflection. Mu Fan nodded at it subtly without catching any attention.

“How is it? Isn’t it amazing! I, Lord Black, am invincible.”

“Oh, right, Mu Fan, how come you only bought the earphone today? Didn’t I tell you to get them way earlier?”

“Hey…”

Such a talkaholic. Mu Fan couldn’t help but want to shut down the earphone. Black was like an A.I. that got muted for hundreds of years and was talking non-stop. Since Mu Fan he couldn’t shut down the earphone, he closed his eyes and sat still in his seat.

The first thing that he needed to have when he was around Black was to have a strong mind!

It took about 30 minutes for the hover vehicle to go across the city district, suburbs, and satellite cities…

Mu Fan suddenly felt the speed decreasing when he heard the butler’s voice. “Young Master Mu Fan, we’ve arrived at the transit station for the planet core trains. Please wait a moment.”

Mu Fan looked out through the tinted window, and a magnificent silver structure with the shape of a ring stood in front of him. He could only see a small section of the entire structure, but there were already dozens of magnetic railways heading straight into the ring and endless people lining up, waiting to enter. However, it seemed like the vehicle that he was in was passing through a special passageway heading straight inside slowly.

When the hover vehicle parked at the VIP area, the butler walked out and opened the door for Mu Fan. Through the thick insulating glass and stretched into the horizon, Mu Fan saw a huge hole within the ring structure that seemed deep enough to devour everything. It was black, and it went down endlessly across the mantle and the core. It was stunning! Mu Fan did not feel anything other than how stunning it was.

The wind was howling, and Mu Fan could still feel the immense pressure coming from the hole even with the insulating glass. He saw a dome-shaped iron object slowly ascending from below, and the wind finally stopped howling once it reached the top.

It seemed like the butler knew that it was Mu Fan’s first time seeing a planet core train, so he smiled as he explained to him, “Young Master Mu Fan, this is the planet core train, and it’s a necessary form of transportation on every planet. Depending on the diameter of each planet, it is able to pass through the planet’s core and go from one side of the planet to the other within 16 to 60 minutes. It’s a brilliant invention, don’t you think?”

Mu Fan nodded his head affirmatively, but then he heard Black’s disdainful tone from the earphone. “This is nothing; none of you haven’t even seen the best yet.”

When the train stopped, the butler smiled as he led the way. “Young Master Mu Fan, please follow me. We have a special waiting area and boarding bridge. However, due to the special structure of the planet core train, the vehicles needed to be placed elsewhere alone. So please follow me this way.”

Black’s sarcastic voice came through the earphone again, “Isn’t it just that they need to adjust seats according to the changes to the gravitational force on the way? He said that it has a special structure? I will have to give him 99 marks out of 100 for acting cool.”