"Hmph, let me see," Zhao Yao"s eyes born in Hanako as he commented, "Just pack all your necessities and follow me. I guarantee that no one can hurt you as long as you stay by my side."
Hanako nodded her head and hurried off to pack her clothes.
Zhao Yao chuckled before his eyes swept back to Mami and Shuichi.
Mami was shaking like a leaf as she stammered, "What do you want from us?"
"Do me a favor and tell me the location of your supercat."
From their short exchange, Zhao Yao had already gleaned some information about their ident.i.ties. Suichi"s control and mastery of his katana were unequaled. Coupled with his superior body qualities, he could easily take down 10 men on his own.
He was an extremely strong fighter as compared to ordinary humans, but he was not an apostle, unlike Mami.
This meant that she had definitely brought her supercat along to China. This reminded Zhao Yao of his chain mission to establish a cat nation.
Seeing their disparity in strength, Mami could only accede to Zhao Yao"s request with hopes of Zhao Yao sparing her life. An hour later, Mami had brought Zhao Yao to where she hid her cat but the cat was nowhere to be found.
"What happened? Where is my cat?" Mami could not believe her eyes as she ransacked the entire apartment in search of the cat. However, it was to no avail. She exclaimed, "Where is Chimera?"
Zhao Yao stood on the balcony and stared intently into the surroundings. He took in a deep breath and said, "It has left your apartment. Back in j.a.pan, was Chimera allowed to roam around freely?"
Sadness clouded Mami"s features as she responded, "Chimera has always been a stray cat, but I have instructed it umpteen times to never leave this apartment."
"From the looks of it, there was more than one cat inside this apartment. I believe your Chimera must have hosted a few other stray cats before leaving.
"How could this have happened?"
"Is this the cat food that you have been feeding Chimera with?" Zhao Yao kneeled beside the bowl of cat food. He grabbed a handful and held them below his nose before he took few sniffs. He commented, "This cat food has been left here for around 12 hours. Didn"t you guys come back for the past 12 hours?"
With his keen observation skills, Zhao Yao could even discern the grade of cat food by simply staring at it.
Zhao Yao could not help but whispered, "This is the worst cat food that I"ve seen in a long while. It"s just common cat food easily found in supermarkets."
Mami continued to explain what happened, "We spent the majority of our time outside searching for Hanako. We don"t have time to come back and tend to Chimera. Will Chimera return?"
Zhao Yao just shook his head in response. He would not spend the rest of his time waiting for a supercat that might not even return. Hence, he decided to hand both Shuichi and Mami over to Inspector Ho to handle.
With Inspector Ho"s power, he could definitely detain these two j.a.panese in China for a long time. They could use this time to reflect and change for the better.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao brought Hanako and the Pallas"s cat back to his apartment.
Half an hour later, the Pallas"s cat was already sitting on Zhao Yao"s couch, surrounded by Dust Ball, Mango, and Roly Poly. As usual, he was bragging and falsifying the account of what actually happened, "Those two brats had no idea who they were dealing with. I am a predator that had killed dozens of human beings. With my murderous aura, I opened my mouth and revealed my razor-sharp canines. Those two fools saw me and p.i.s.s their pants. They immediately cried for help and ran off, leaving me in the apartment.
Zhao Yao knew that it would be dangerous if he set me free and allow me to roam the streets. In order to ensure the public"s safety, Zhao Yao decided to bring me back here."
Dust Ball was flabbergasted by how good a liar the Pallas"s cat was. Dust Ball was present throughout the entire incident and saw for herself how the Pallas"s cat laid on the floor unconscious. She shook her head in disbelief before she left Roly Poly and Mango with the liar.
Roly Poly had also started doubting the Pallas"s cat words. He had witnessed for himself how Zhao Yao had destroyed him with a barrage of kicks and punches yesterday.
"Tsk, I thought that he was actually some cool a.s.s cat. I definitely did not expect him to be a liar."
With both Dust Ball and Roly Poly gone, the Pallas"s cat immediately plunged into despair. There was no point in him bulls.h.i.+tting with no audience around.
The Pallas"s cat then fixed his eyes on Mango, his only remaining audience. Mango simply stared at him wide-eyed and his eyes sparkling with amazement.
A smile crept up the Pallas"s cat face when he saw how attentive Mango looked. He thought, "Is your name Mango? I think you"re the only one who truly understands me. I"ll tell you more about the days where I roamed freely along the vast desert plains."
A few minutes later, Dust Ball was seen trembling at the corner of the apartment.
Her tiny frame gave a few shudders before she started walking towards a bedroom. She came out with a bag of catmint in her mouth.
The Pallas"s cat, Lightning, dashed towards Dust Ball and took a few sniffs. He asked enthusiastically, "Is that catmint?"
"Yup. My entire body will feel out of sorts if I go one day without it." As she spoke, Dust Ball began to tear open the bag of catmint.
"What"s so good about catmint? I"ll give you something even stronger and more potent." Lightning began scratching his silky long fur. His fur was even longer than Elizabeth"s. Suddenly, he retrieved a tiny wooden stick from the depths of his fur.
A weird smell emanated the moment Lightning took the wooden stick out. The smell immediately caught Dust Ball"s attention.
Her nose was fascinated with the smell and her eyes were glued to the wooden stick. She asked, "What is this?"
"Meowhaha, I guess you have not tried this before. This is a silvervine stick, a high-quality product that many cats would never see in their lifetime. I only managed to get it by contacting my friend who is part of a local gang." Lightning held the stick to his nose and took a few sniffs. Then, he took a few bites off of the wooden stick. A smile crept up his face and he was on cloud nine. He finally placed the wooden stick in front of Dust Ball after the feeling subsided.
"You can try this. It"s a lot stronger than catmint."
"I … I don"t think I should do this. I mean it belongs to you."
"It"s okay, I know cats, many cats. Even the cat gang leaders all over Jiangmen city have to accord me, Lightning, a certain amount of respect. No one will reject me if I ask for more of this."
Soon enough, both cats were immersed in the euphoric effects of the silvervine stick and reveled in the sensation it provided. The effects were especially stark for Dust Ball since it was her first time trying it. She began hugging the wooden stick and rolled around the floor. This was followed by bouts of scratching, biting and even munching.
Zhao Yao soon discovered this anomaly and grabbed the two cats that were still high on the silvervine stick. He was left speechless by their behavior and asked, "How did you get hold of this?"
"Hmph, I went to meet Scar Eye of OO street and he gave this to me as a greeting gift. I mean it"s only natural because I am Big Brother Lightning of Jiangmen city."
Zhao Yao curled his lips in disgust and asked, "I thought you were imprisoned for a long time?"
"On paper, I was imprisoned. However, I could leave whenever I wanted. I was famous because of this."
Suddenly, an idea sprang in Zhao Yao"s head. If Lightning really spent some time on the streets, the gangs which he referred to would simply be a band of stray cats and Scar Eye was just one of them.
"Do you know many stray cats? Are there any supercats among them?"
Lightning nodded his head smugly in response.
Zhao Yao carefully placed the obnoxious cat on the floor and thought, "Numerous supercats might be a part of the band of stray cats which Lightning mentioned. I might be able to invite them to my cat nation if I can get hold of them."
With the thought at the back of his head, Zhao Yao took away the wooden stick and declared, "This is my territory and I did not give you permission to have this silvervine stick. Are you trying to cause trouble?"
Both cats immediately regained consciousness with the wooden sticks taken away from them. The color drained from their faces as they pounced onto Zhao Yao"s calf and pleaded, "Please return us the wooden stick, and we beg you!"
Zhao Yao did not care about their pleading and insisted, "Remember that you can only go through me if you want this wooden stick. You cannot take this from anyone else."
"We know, we know, please forgive us this time." Lightning"s eyes were glued to the wooden stick in Zhao Yao"s hand as he waved it around. Lightning pleaded in desperation, "Please let me take a few more sniffs. There is still a bit left and it would be a waste to throw it away."
Zhao Yao shook his head and said, "Only this time." Zhao Yao nonchalantly threw it into a corner which sent Lightning and Dust Ball chasing after it.
At this moment, the door to the shower swung open and Hanako appeared with her long, silky hair all damp. She was wearing a bathrobe and looked even prettier than usual as she was shrouded in the steam from the shower. Baiquan could not help but lowered his head in embarra.s.sment. He whispered to Zhao Yao, "Boss, what are we supposed to do? We don"t have any female clothing in this apartment."
"Didn"t you bring any clothes with you?" How about you wear my T-s.h.i.+rt first?"
"I forgot about it just now because we were in such a rush, but it doesn"t matter. I can wear whatever you have."
Zhao Yao simply pa.s.sed her his own set of jeans and t-s.h.i.+rt to change into. The trio sat in the living room as Hanako carefully scrutinized all the cats living in the apartment.
To her, all of them seemed so unique and interesting.
The silence was finally shattered when Zhao Yao asked, "Alright, I think you have to tell me more about yourself since I"ve agreed to protect you."