Sun Meng ambled down an alley, the three ragdoll cats trailing behind her. They were jumping and weaving around each other, seemingly in good spirits.
Her brows furrowed when she took another look at the map displayed on her phone.
"Hmm, this cafe is more elusive than I thought. My beloved Lizzie, where on earth could you be?" she thought.
Caesar observed her with interest.
"Have you noticed yet?" he asked his companions as he licked his nose.
"Noticed what?" Diana responded.
"That Sun Meng is terrible with directions. She"s lost. We"re never going to be able to find our destination," Catherine replied through gritted teeth.
"We"ve been walking forever," Caesar added, raising his paws so he could look at the pads beneath them, "My pink and beautiful soles are now black and sooty. I can"t even bring myself to lick them clean. If we keep going, I"m going to get blisters soon."
As the ragdoll family continued lamenting their fate, a dozen men dressed in black suddenly appeared. They swiftly blocked both ends of the narrow alley that they were in, leaving them trapped.
The groove between Sun Meng"s eyebrows deepened as she stared down the apostle officers standing in their way.
"That was fast. I guess you found me," she sighed.
"Sun Meng, I think you"ve had quite enough fun. It"s time to go," one of the officers said.
"We can"t just bring her back to the station. She has a lot to answer for. She"s wrecked havoc in our city," another officer chimed in, shaking his head.
The men did not bring her discomfort or fear. Sun Meng remained perfectly composed, her face expressionless.
Quietly, she said, "Zhuangzi never knew if he dreamt he was a b.u.t.terfly or if he was a b.u.t.terfly dreaming of being a man. You know this story. It"s impossible to tell dreams and reality apart. So how can you believe things you"ve never seen or heard for yourselves to be real?"
These words instantly heightened the tension in the alley. A tinge of fear could be seen on the faces of the apostle officers, but they rushed towards the girl, shouting, "Fire!"
The men closed in on Sun Meng and the ragdoll cats, each firing his tranquilizer gun at them.
Mere minutes later, Sun Meng emerged from the narrow alley. She was again studying her phone carefully, an inscrutable expression on her face. The three cats followed after her.
It was as if the officers never cornered them at all.
Their path, however, was once again blocked, this time by a middle-aged woman. She chuckled as Sun Meng slowed down.
"You"re good, aren"t you? Really good. Those apostle officers are weaklings, but to fight and win them by yourself is quite the feat. No wonder the authorities are so keen to catch you," she said.
Sun Meng did not respond. Instead, she narrowed her eyes. This seemed to remove all expressions from the woman"s face. Her face grew slack and her body limp. She had been forced into a dream state.
"Idiot," Sun Meng muttered, "Caesar, erase her memory."
Caesar slunk forward, then leaped gracefully across the woman"s shoulder. When his paw touched her head, her memory of what happened in the last 24 hours was gone.
This was how Sun Meng always defeated her opponents. This was how the three cats" powers worked together.
Catherine, the mother, was able to put people to sleep with one look. This power had a wide reach, but it only induced light sleep in its victims. They would wake up with the smallest of stirs.
This is where Catherine"s daughter, Diana"s, powers came in handy. Like Catherine, she could also unleash her powers just by looking at the subject. Her ability was to drag her victims into a deep dream state. She could even keep them there forever if she wanted to, leaving them in a permanent vegetative state. This was the fate that befell every person they met in the cat cafes they have been to.
As for Caesar, the father, his power was to destroy memories when he touched a person"s head. He could only erase memories from up to 24 hours ago. Anything beyond that was safe from his reach.
The individual powers held by each member of the ragdoll family were impressive on their own. Used together, their impact was nothing short of devastating.
Sun Meng knew this. She also knew that it was crucial for her to keep Caesar"s and Catherine"s powers a secret from the authorities. She only used them when she was confident that she could leave no trace behind, like now. Without surveillance cameras and with Caesar"s power to wipe memories, she would leave no evidence of the true depth of her powers.
This three-step method was how she had been confounding the police. Every officer that laid eyes on her would be put to sleep, then pulled into a deep dream state, before having their memories erased. It created ma.s.s confusion. No one could remember how she evaded capture. Worse, n.o.body could figure out her abilities.
"But it"s still not enough," Sun Meng thought to herself, "Catherine, Caesar, and Diana are powerful together, but there"s still a missing link."
"With Elizabeth"s illusions, I would be able to blur the line that separates dreams from reality. They would never know what hit them. That would be true perfection."
This was Sun Meng"s end goal.
She had risked capture to find Elizabeth. She did not even care if the truth behind Catherine"s and Caesar"s powers was revealed during her search. She needed her. She was the missing piece of the puzzle.
She continued winding down the street, her head swimming, when yet another man appeared to stop her in her tracks.
He chortled, "Ah, I wonder what your powers are. Is it hypnosis? Creating vertigo? Inducing a coma? Whatever it is, you"re quite something."
Sun Meng"s narrowed her brows again before pulling the same performance on the man, knocking him out in an instant.
This time she charged down the lane, hoping to get out of her as quickly as possible. There was something weird happening here.
Unfortunately, as she made a turn, another obstacle stood in her way. This time, it took the form of a seven year old child who was licking at a lollipop.
"There"s no point running, you know. You"re not the only person with powers. Just look at me," the child said, chuckling in the same way her previous victims did.
"And what exactly am I looking at?" Sun Meng retorted, brows furrowed again.
She was, however, a tad unsettled. Whoever she was speaking to seemed to be able to possess other people or control their bodies.
The kid smiled, "I don"t mean any harm. I"m actually here to invite you to join us."
"Join you? Who are you?"
"The arrival of the supercats have created superpowers that once belonged only to our imaginations. Of course, some powers are better than others. Most of them are useless and unable to right this corrupt world. Apostles who own these substandard powers have no choice but be controlled by the authorities," the child explained.
"But then, there are apostles like you, who have the power to make a real difference. Why should you bow down and live like any ordinary person?"
"I"m not interested in working with anyone who"s too afraid to show his face," Sun Meng retorted coolly.
The child"s response surprised her.
"Then I"ll take you to see the real me. How about that?"
She stared at him.
"Count me intrigued."
The child led Sun Meng deep into the suburbs before finally entering an apartment block one hour later.
Three apostles were sat around the living room.
One of the men stood up when he saw Sun Meng. He felt like the leader of the group even though he looked remarkably ordinary. It felt a little out of place, like having a bit-part actor play the leading role in a movie.
"Welcome!" he said warmly, "This is the best decision you"ll ever make, I promise."
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