After more than half an hour of non-stop practice, Zhao Yao finally took a break as he started reviewing the footage stored in the camera.
Naturally, the camera failed to capture the footage during the time freeze. However, the video managed to record the time interval every time his body shuddered. This interval was the time taken for him to slice the slab of beef into pieces.
"A human"s natural reaction time is about 0.2 seconds. However, with "Three is better than two", I"m sure I can further shorten the time."
What Zhao Yao was trying to perfect was his grasp over his time freeze abilities. He wanted to achieve and complete a specific task within a shorter time. By using his ability for a shorter time, the cooldown for it would consequently decrease as well. This would make him less susceptible to any counter-attacks.
Currently, he wielded four different powers. Illusion"s power was dependent on his creativity and energy. Meanwhile, extrdimensional belly was more of a pa.s.sive skill which provided him his last line of defense. Both these powers could not be improved by simply practicing.
Hence, he could only work on timefreeze and his deflective field in order to increase his overall combat powers.
By keeping the time he activated his power to a minimum, he could ensure that he was not constrained by the ability"s cooldown.
Throughout this process, he had also acquired a greater precision over his control of time freeze"s duration. This enabled him to better control the tempo during the fight.
With the pa.s.sive effects of "Three is better than two" and Celestial Beats kicking in, Zhao Yao"s body condition and physical strength had gradually increased without him knowing. Hence, by incorporating the use of a knife in his practice, it gave Zhao Yao an opportunity to adjust to his new strength and agility.
After one and a half hour of training, all the ingredients had already been prepared and poured into a pot. Zhao Yao kept the pot inside the fridge, allowing Baiquan to use it tomorrow morning.
Zhao Yao finally heaved a sigh of relief as his body collapsed on the couch. However, he noticed that he was already drenched in sweat from the training and decided to take a shower. Even with the effects of"Three is better than two" and Celestial Beats, Zhao Yao was still overwhelmed by the fatigue from the training.
A thought sprang in his head while he showered, "Speaking of cat rice, I have not improved the recipe for a long time. I mean I did try to use better ingredients and all the recommended recipes online but it didn"t work. Is it time to try using a superpower?"
Actually, Zhao Yao was still rather concerned with the grade of his cat rice. Now, all his supercats were either level four or five and they required a huge amount of experience points to level up. Currently, the Michelin cat rice which gave 10*2 experience points per meal simply wasn"t enough.
After his shower, Zhao Yao returned to his bedroom and was greeted with the sight of Matcha lying on the bed with a phone in his face. Zhao Yao glanced at him and whispered, "Don"t stay up too late."
"I know," Matcha replied, "I"ll go to bed after this last match."
Zhao Yao could only shake his head at Matcha"s response as he commenced his training using the deflective field.
Unlike his training with time freeze, Zhao Yao simply sat on the edge of his bed. He raised his right fist in the air before slowly unclenching it. Immediately, an invisible force erupted from his palm and morphed into an invisible sword.
With his ability, Zhao Yao could turn this force field into anything he desired. He could turn it into a s.h.i.+eld, hammer, spear or even a Gundam. However, Zhao Yao still found the sword design the coolest.
"Heehee, maybe I can even turn them into sword aura ..." With a flick of his finger, invisible ripples emerged at the tip of Zhao Yao"s finger. The ripples merged to form a long sword aura which darted forward at an incredible speed before returning to his fingertips.
The bedroom was flooded with all sorts of wheezing sound as the deflective field collided against the air particles at warp speed. Matcha"s ears moved as he detected the noise and complained, "Zhao Yao, can you please be more careful? You have shattered so many light bulbs over the past few days. You are going to affect my gameplay."
Zhao Yao was indifferent to Matcha"s complaint and sent his feet straight into Matcha"s belly. Zhao Yao sn.i.g.g.e.red, "Aren"t you a cat? When did cats develop a fear of the dark?"
"I"m not scared! But how am I supposed to play the game with the lights flickering? It"s so distracting!"
"Stop complaining and focus on your game!"
Matcha bit on his lower lip and quivered with anger. He thought, "Hmph, old man, don"t be too c.o.c.ky. When the day comes, I"ll inherit this apartment and the café. I can kick you out of this place if I feel like it. I"ll have the apartment to myself with Diana by my side watching me play Mobile Legends. Meowhahaha."
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao resumed his training using the deflective field. The invisible forced had merged into a sword again as it whizzed across the bedroom, producing a deafening sound.
"Now, it"s time for my next attack, sword aura!" Instantly, the ripples merged into sword aura as they shot out of his fingertips. One by one, sword aura started shooting out of his fingertips. Soon, there were seven of it circling his bedroom at full speed.
When Zhao Yao tried to release one more sword aura, the first sword aura created instantly vaporized into thin air.
"Hmph, I guess all my abilities have their limits as well. I can mold my deflective field and emulate the effects of sword aura. However, my current ability only allows me to control seven sword auras simultaneously." However, Zhao Yao was not worried. Instead, he began to control the seven sword auras simultaneously as they ran across the rooms in all directions, indifferent to the effects of gravity.
Zhao Yao"s eyes lids grew heavier and heavier as training continued. After more than one hour of training, Zhao Yao could not take it any longer. He lowered his head only to see Matcha"s phone glued to his face. Anger seared through Zhao Yao as he exclaimed, "Why are you still playing at this time? Don"t you have to work tomorrow?"
"Wait, wait." Matcha did not even bother looking at Zhao Yao when he replied but remained engrossed in his game. He continued, "I"ll sleep right after this game, okay?"
"Okay."
Zhao Yao shook his head helplessly. He paid a visit to the extradimensional belly but realized that all the cats had not returned. Zhao Yao"s mood plummeted when he realized that this bunch of stray cats which he tried to lure using computer games had not fallen into his trap. Meanwhile, it was his own Matcha who was addicted to it.
"These upgrades are taking too much time since the cats require more and more experience points." Zhao Yao flipped through the different pages of his BOOK and couldn"t fall asleep with these thoughts lingering in his head. Hence, he whipped out his phone and decided to give Inspector Ho a call, "Hey, Inspector Ho, is something troubling you?"
"?"
"Do you need my help?"
"Is that your reason for calling me at this outlandish timing of 1 am? Do you know how deprived of sleep I am?"
Zhao Yao propped his chin on his palm and replied, "Hey, I"m reminding you to go for your toilet break. For people of your age, it"s not advisable to hold in your pee. You should visit the toilet at least twice throughout the night."
"Oh my G.o.d, f*ck you …"
"Alright, alright, you don"t have to thank me. Remember to contact me if you need help with anything." Zhao Yao shook his head and placed his phone on his bedside. He thought, "I guess Inspector Ho has yet to receive a new mission." He heaved a long sigh before returning to his bed. Somehow, he managed to sleep the moment he shut his eyes.
At 4.30am, when most ordinary humans are still sleeping, four shadows stood outside Zhao Yao"s apartment. They were on the balcony, door and the windows.
"In position."
"In position."
"In position."
"Go."
Following the last instruction, the four intruders broke into Zhao Yao"s apartment simultaneously as they slowly crept inside. The four pairs of eyes carefully swept across the apartment.
Elizabeth"s ears shook when the intruders were communicating among themselves. However, it did not seem like she was about to wake up anytime soon.
Mango immediately c.o.c.ked his head upwards, as he stared curiously at the shadow standing at the windows.
Rice Cake was oblivious to their actions. She simply turned her body around and continued snoring.
However, Zhao Yao instantly opened his eyes. With his astute observation skills granted by "Three is better than two", Zhao Yao had already detected the intruders" presence when they were standing outside his apartment.
However, he spent the next second convincing himself to open his eyes because of how lazy he was.
Next, he spent another second to struggle out of bed.
While he was struggling to open his eyes, his vision was flooded by bright light emanating from Matcha"s screen. Rage seared through Zhao Yao as he kicked Matcha off the bed, leaving the cat shrilling in pain.
Inside the living room, the four intruders in black heard the ear-splitting shriek and instantly froze in their position. Cold sweat beaded their foreheads as their body shook like a leaf.
"What"s the situation? Is someone awake?"
"Be careful, just knock him out with this if you see anyone awake." One of the men said while raising a taser in his hand.
"Remember, do not kill anyone. We are only here for Hanako, our mission is to capture her, not kill any innocent civilians."
"Why are you so worried? It"s just an ordinary café owner." A man sn.i.g.g.e.red as he tried his best to suppress his laughter.
"Do not be over-confident. We had already lost contact with Shuichi. This person might be the reason for his disappearance."
The entire discussion conversed in j.a.panese.
Finally, the silence was shattered by a loud bang as Zhao Yao"s bedroom door slammed open. Zhao Yao stood at the door with his temples throbbing with rage as anger seared through him.
Zhao Yao"s hair was a mess as he stared at the four j.a.panese with anger shooting out of his eyes.
"Do you understand how irritating it is to be disturbed in the middle of the G.o.d d*mn night?"