895 Blackbeard Cannon

"Firstly, let me start by saying something that must be on the minds of all of us present here. JIN! STOP GIVING US SUCH SHORT NOTICE, DAMN IT!" Qiu Yue suddenly shouted out her frustration which made the dungeon supplier topple from the chair he was sitting on.

His Panda Head rolled out of the backstage. The monsters vaguely understood what Qiu Yue was implying and laughed along with it that someone finally said it out loud. Jin chuckled when he fell to the ground revealing himself at the side of the stage as he placed the chair back properly and bow himself out once more.

However, only Lynn noticed that Jin's fall was quite strange. (Qiu Yue was too busy addressing the minions and he was backstage, hiding behind the curtains.) The way he fell seemed a little too natural as if it had become second nature to him to react in such a way and at the same time, she could feel a slight change in his chi from afar.

Even though he was smiling at Qiu Yue's outburst and came to retrieve the rolling Panda Head, Lynn sensed a heavily masked killing atmosphere. Focusing on it, the Penguin Chef noticed that there was no murder intent in it. This reminded her of the time working for the Yakuzas when her Sensei accidentally leaked his own strength out despite the constant suppression he taught her and his other students in the kitchen.

"So Jin really did have an increase in his cultivation grade despite being out cold," Lynn mumbled to herself disappointed. She had been busy training herself to close the gap while Jin was unconscious, but it seemed that the dungeon supplier had somehow found a way to widen the distance yet again.

"Earth to Lynn. Are you still with us?" Qiu Yue joked as everyone could see that Lynn was staring at Jin blindly while she was in fact, lost in her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" Lynn quickly bowed and apologised to the entire crowd and with her beautiful kimono directly under the spotlight, she was the picture of a classic beauty that captured all the hearts of the male minions. At that point, unbeknownst to the minions, the penguins had started scanning through the crowd to find potential troublemakers in case anyone got any funny ideas in regards to their Queen. (Talk about overprotective comrades.)

"With no further ado, let us start with the first game we have prepared for all of you!" Lynn announced, and suddenly the stage started to rumble a little, revealing a tall gigantic wooden barrel with multiple and yet systematic holes on it.

"The first game is called 'Blackbeard'! It's a game where it will be up to you minions to stick swords into the barrel, and if you get lucky enough to score a hit, the person inside will fly out of the barrel!" Qiu Yue explained.

"So, to make things extra interesting, we have decided that the ones inside… shall be the upper management and monster leaders! That's right if any of you ever had any grievances with your superiors now's the chance to send them flying! If you hit the right hole, that is. But no worries, we have prepared a little something for everyone who plans to participate!" Qiu Yue added as both the girls simultaneously ran to the backstage to hold onto their Boss's hands.

"Wait, what?!" Jin, who thought his previous appearance would be sufficient, had been to busy writing the email to Ke Long to even pay any attention to the game explanation. The girls did not give him a break, and so he became the first victim of the Blackbeard Cannon mini game.

The minions cheered as they saw Jin's reluctant and stunned face inside the battle and the monsters were intensely holding their hands up wanting to try the game.

Mr Patsu and Bear Cub One took turns to choose the volunteers from the crowd of 8000 over monsters, and the System aided them to choose rather impartially, in accordance to race and their numbers.

And for the first time, Mr Derpy was chosen immediately which shocked the Shadow Dagen significantly. However, Qiu Yue apologised that given his size, it would be impossible for him to personally go up to the stage.

Thankfully, Mr Derpy did not mind. 

Mind controlling his Deep One was a walk in the park for him, and the crowd could see how happy and light footed the Deep One Mage he blessed was when going on stage.

It was then that Mr Derpy could choose which hole to put a plastic sword into the wooden barrel. Only with so many sword holes for him to choose from, he understood that the odds to get the right one were not in his favour. So for a moment he freed the Deep One Mage from his control and asked for his subordinate's opinion.

"Let's just stick it in the hole right in front of us." The Deep One Mage offered, and Mr Derpy was fine with that idea. Being able to participate and play in a game was more than enough for him, especially since he was the first one this time around.

"Hahha, won't it be funny if Jin flies off because we happened to choose the right one?" Mr Derpy wondered as he resumed the mind control and forced it to parade around the platform for a moment before he aimed the plastic sword in the hole he picked up and shafted it in.

There was a large click sound, and for a moment everyone expected their Panda Boss to fly in the air… but unfortunately, there was no other movement coming from the barrel.

The crowd as a whole pitied Mr Derpy for a moment before the next few monsters tried continuously. Everyone understood that the odds were low, but with every failed attempt their wish to be the lucky one increased. 

Besides, who would not want to be able to boast about achieving such a feat, not to mention the prize that would await them?

In the meantime, Jin had access to a console monitor purposely built inside for the victim to see the number of slots left before they would inevitably be sent blasting out of the Blackbeard barrel. (It was as if the console was telling him how much closer he was being blasted off)

And true enough, on the 43rd attempt, someone managed to succeed.

"Congratulations to our first winner for this game! Let us all give Zither Mistress Ke Mi a big round of applause!" When Qiu Yue announced the name, a loud burst of air emanated from the cannon hole, and Jin was sent flying without any safety gear towards the only flimsy net the Panda Helpers were supposed to catch him with. (Ke Mi was totally embarrassed but still, she let out a cute little chuckle when she saw Jin flying away in his panda suit.)