Sun Meng had wanted to flee long before Nessie was defeated. Shortly after she received the goodbye message from the hateful G.o.d of Death, she turned to run.
The pain shooting up through her body from her twisted arm made it impossible to get too far. Every step was excruciating.
She had only managed to limp a hundred meters when a miniature black cat jumped into view. It landed in front of her and stared up defiantly as if blocking her from getting away.
Sun Meng narrowed her brows. This was undoubtedly a supercat.
Of course, she was right. It was Dust Ball, who had noticed Sun Meng"s quiet escape way before Matcha did. This was why she was the first to respond and the first to reach her.
Dust Ball kept her eyes locked with Sun Meng"s as she opened her mouth, baring her sharpest teeth. She let out a guttural snarl as she activated the extradimensional belly.
Before Dust Ball could swallow her whole, Sun Meng swiftly put the cat to sleep. Her abilities had been exposed anyway. There was no longer a need to conceal them.
This marked the abrupt end of their encounter. The tiny Dust Ball fell into a heap on the floor, fast asleep. She had, however, managed to suck Sun Meng"s s.h.i.+rt in, leaving her in just her bra.
"S**t!" she swore, looking down at her bare midriff, "What kind of perverted ability is this?!"
Her sleep inducement had hit not only Dust Ball, but everyone near them. Matcha, Roly Poly, and Rice Cake"s chase was cut short as they collapsed onto the ground, snoring.
The pa.s.sers-by staring at her started falling one after another like toy soldiers. The same happened to Ah Wei and the remaining customers outside the cafe.
There was no denying that this ability was effective even against the most powerful opponents. A sleeping enemy was as good as a dead one. It meant that no one would stand in her way.
Unfortunately, she knew that there was an exception to this rule. There was one person who was immune and that made him a huge threat.
"I hope Nessie can distract him for a while longer," Sun Meng sighed.
She continued to hobble away, looking spitefully at the people on the ground.
"How could G.o.d of Death abandon us! That sc.u.mbag."
Her anger soon morphed into fear when a series of deafening explosions was sounded from afar. The sound rapidly grew closer and louder and in an instant, a shadow was cast over her.
Zhao Yao landed in front of her with a sickening crunch. The impact he made was as huge as an asteroid that just hit the earth. Every action he made was amplified by the blast of force he used to propel himself. He cracked the surface of the road the moment his feet touched the ground, sending dust and debris flying everywhere.
Sun Meng coughed, taking a few steps back.
Zhao Yao took a hard look at the one person who was immune to his illusions, then at the people on the ground. Some of them had started to stir thanks to the racket he made with every move.
"Seems like she can somehow induce sleep. Thank G.o.d for the deflective s.h.i.+eld. I could"ve been one of them," he thought.
There was a frenzied ferocity in Sun Meng"s stare when she looked at him.
"Only I can wake all those people I"ve put to sleep from their coma. You"ll never find my cats, so without me, they"ll remain comatose forever!" she warned, brandis.h.i.+ng threats as a final defence.
"Comatose? What are you talking about?" Zhao Yao tilted his head to the side, "Whatever it is..."
Zhao Yao gently brushed his hand past Sun Meng"s face, hoping to sweep her away. He tried his hardest to use as little strength as possible, but she still ended up getting knocked off her feet and cartwheeled down the street. She landed on her face with a loud thud and promptly pa.s.sed out.
Zhao Yao looked down at his palm in disbelief.
"Ouch. It"s not easy to control this," he mused.
After all, the strength he mustered now was not his own. It was based on the inherent and immense power of the force fields. This meant that wrecking destruction was a breeze, but holding back was not.
Zhao Yao could not gauge the impact of his actions at all, especially because he was not manipulating the force fields directly. He was controlling Ares to do so.
He felt a tinge of guilt for his heavy-handed attack, but he brushed that off quickly. What mattered was that he completed his mission. He had solved the mystery behind the cat theft.
The corners of his lips lifted into a smile when he realized that he gained 600 experience points. Coupled with the points he earned from his daily missions, changes appeared in the team"s progress breakdown:
Book: Lv3 (1438/2000)
Matcha: Lv4 (1010/2000)
Elizabeth: Lv4 (250/2000)
Dust Ball: Lv5 (140/5000)
"Good. I can level up Matcha now," he grinned.
Of course, now was not the time to take action. There were still quite a few things to tackle at hand.
"Who would"ve thought that an uneventful day would end with fighting dangerous fugitives? Someone less powerful and handsome would"ve been in big trouble," Zhao Yao laughed to himself.
He then whipped out his phone and dialed Inspector Ho"s number.
Strangely, he did not pick up. It took numerous attempts before the line finally got through.
The inspector started rambling before Zhao Yao could utter a h.e.l.lo.
"Zhao Yao!" he yelled through the receiver, "Is everything alright? Hang in there, we"re on our way!"
It turned out that Ah Wei had alerted headquarters that Sun Meng and gang had appeared at the cat cafe. Inspector Ho sent reinforcements the moment the news reached him.
Zhao Yao scratched his head at the worry in the inspector"s voice, then gazed at the fallen apostles before him.
"About that, I think I"ve finished them off."
"..."
A pregnant pause followed his reveal.
"Did you say you finished them off? As in, you defeated them?" Inspector Ho asked.
He was speaking painfully slowly, as if he was trying to clarify something with a two-year-old.
His words were punctuated with the arrival of an army of uniform black cars that surrounded the cafe. A few men dressed in black stepped out, all of them sharing the same tense look.
Some pa.s.sers-by began to wake from the crunching of gravel beneath the cars" wheels.
The man situated in the car closest to the battleground had bright red hair. He surveyed the scene and started speaking into the mic in his ear, "Freeze Unit, get the liquid nitrogen ready for the water-bender. Restraint Unit, have the tranquilizer darts aimed at the blonde and any of the puppets who try to attack you. Make sure your gla.s.ses are in place. You don"t want Sun Meng to get her hands on you…"
It was clear that the authorities have been doing their homework. They had a pretty good handle on the four fugitives" powers and were well-prepared.
Every one of them stepped out of the cars, ready to fight. However, the scene they were met with stopped them in their tracks. Various people were scattered all over the ground, mostly unconscious, some stirring. Only Zhao Yao remaining standing.
Every rifle turned to him.
Zhao Yao waves his hands awkwardly.
"Gentlemen, we"re on the same team. In fact, I"m speaking with Inspector Ho right now. You can take a look if you want," he explained.
The redhead, Yue Shan, narrowed his brows in suspicion. He raised a hand and swiped the air, levitating the phone from Zhao Yao"s palm and hurtling it into his.
He put the phone against his ear. The expression on his face began to change as he spoke with the inspector. He could not help but throw a puzzled look in Zhao Yao"s direction.
"Seems like the four fugitives have been defeated. Go check up on them," he ordered the men.
This changed the expression on every government apostle"s face as well. They turned to Zhao Yao, their eyes full of surprise, disbelief, and caution.
When they busied themselves with locating the fugitives, Zhao Yao cast an illusion to conceal his whereabouts. This was his window to grab the Pallas"s cat, who was still stuck in the car. He splashed water to wake the tranquilized cat, then tricked it into entering the extradimensional belly.