The atmosphere in the reinforced steel cage had changed.
The Sphynx cat was overwhelmed with the explosive need to p.o.o.p. Elizabeth had barely switched on her power for ten seconds when he collapsed onto the ground, face pale as a sheet of paper.
He felt like his stomach was about to literally explode.
He had experienced a spectrum of emotions in the 10 seconds. It began with surprise, which morphed into rage, humiliation, pain, sadness, then finally, absolute despair.
When Elizabeth lifted her spell of Mango, the Sphynx cat felt both physically and emotionally drained.
Fortunately for him, Mango"s unique ability was starting to torment the other cats. If not, Elizabeth would not have stopped so soon.
"What...what was that?" he looked up at Zhao Yao, then Mango.
Zhao Yao ignored him. He reached into the cage and grabbed Mango, a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Good. Very good. The supercat armor test has pa.s.sed with flying colors. Take a break, everyone! We shall have beef for lunch," he announced.
His words caused Fujin, Uncle Egg, Ares, Roly Poly, Elizabeth, and Dust Ball"s eyes to light up. A perplexed expression remained on Mango"s face. The silly cat had no clue what was going on.
The supercat armor was a complicated system that relied on telepathy for communication and Ares" defensive s.h.i.+elds to protect and hold everyone together. It allowed Zhao Yao to unleash seven powers as he wished, ranging from a.s.sault waves, electric bolts, force fields, invisibility, illusions, the extradimensional belly, to Mango"s explosive diarrhea.
The skills complemented each other perfectly.
Fujin"s a.s.sault waves were perfect for attacking opponents that were a distance away, while Ares" fields tackled targets that were meters away. Uncle Egg"s electric bolts could tase people that got a bit too close.
Roly Poly"s invisibility, coupled with Elizabeth"s illusion, made them great support players in the team. Escaping to Dust Ball"s belly was the ultimate defence when s**t hits the fan.
As for Mango, well, his area of effect was unparalleled.
Together, they made up an integrated defensive and offensive system.
It was powerful, but Zhao Yao knew that it was not without limitations. For one, the time it took for the armor (i.e. cats) to come together was substantial. Also, it slowed down his response time.
The supercats were not his limbs. He could not just control them instinctively. He needed time to give them instructions telepathically and that compromised the immediacy of his reactions.
The Sphynx cat had belittled them at first. Now, the smug smirk was wiped off his face. Instead, a deep groove had appeared between his furrow brows.
The excruciating pain he felt thanks to the Cannon from h.e.l.l was etched in his brain. Just thinking about it caused the surface of his skin to tingle uneasily.
"That shapeless force is both the glue that sticks the team together and the repellant to any external attack. That illusion would scare the living daylights out of anyone who sees them."
"And that final move...I don"t even know what to say."
The Sphynx cat tried reasoning with and convincing himself to believe otherwise, but he knew what this meant.
"Even the Muscle Society might not beat this guy," he concluded unhappily.
Roly Poly was in a pensive mood as well. He chewed his steak thoughtfully, sneaking glances at Matcha, whom was rolling on the ground aimlessly.
Roly Poly could not help but grin devilishly.
"Heh heh. Now that I"m an important part of the supercat armor, my position in Zhao Yao"s heart must have risen. Matcha, on the other hand, has been completely excluded," he thought.
He studied the rest of the supercats that formed the armor system.
"These cats will eventually be the backbone of our Cat Nation. I should be the one to bring them together and lead them. We can be called the Poly Gang! Even if the old man pa.s.ses Matcha his legacy, the Poly Gang would be able to kick him off the throne."
This prompted him to raise a paw high into the air.
"Shall we play a game together after lunch? he asked, looking from one cat to another with a warm smile.
Roly Poly felt that if he organized more team-bonding activities, the group would grow closer and eventually see him as their leader.
His enthusiasm, unfortunately, was not returned.
Elizabeth acted as if he never spoke. She turned on her heel and went to find Zhao Yao.
Dust Ball muttered about wanting to relax, then headed to the smoking room with Uncle Egg for a bit of catmint.
"Let"s play on our own," Ares said to Fujin.
They left, leaving Roly Poly all by his lonesome.
He huffed angrily as he tore another piece of steak.
"Go on then! One day, I"ll be at the top and it"ll be too late for you to grovel then," he thought.
He was busy wallowing in self-pity when something large and fluffy pounced on him.
Lion Head kneaded the back of his head lovingly.
"Honey, you were so cool just now!" she exclaimed.
Roly Poly stifled a dry sob.
"When I"m at the top, the first thing I"ll do is get rid of her!"
On the other side of the room, the trio of ragdoll cats walked towards Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth," Catherine called out to her estranged daughter, "Have you always been working for King George?"
"We"ll talk later," Elizabeth replied curtly.
It was obvious that she was occupied. She marched to Zhao Yao, her phone dangling from the corner of her mouth.
"Zhao Yao, look at what other cats are posting!" she demanded.
She presented to him a series of photos she had painstakingly downloaded from WeChat.
Her Louis Vuitton purse photo set had been pretty popular online. The barrage of likes and envious comments she received kept her in a consistently good mood for the past couple of days.
Recently, however, her pal, Sweetheart, had begun to outs.h.i.+ne her.
Zhao Yao grabbed her phone and scrolled through dozens of selfies of a beautiful Scottish Fold. She had a coat of long, snow white hair and large, ocean blue eyes.
The background in each of her photos was even more beautiful than she was. In every shot, she was posing in a luxurious setting, from a yacht, to the beach, by the river, and in an opulent bedroom.
"Why are you showing me this?" Zhao Yao asked.
"What do you mean why?!" Elizabeth seethed, "Look at her. She"s not even half as pretty as me, but she gets to live in a house with an ocean view!"
"But you have an owner who"s handsome as sin."
Elizabeth slammed her phone on the ground.
"Good looks can"t buy me an ocean view!" she yelled.
She looked up at him with a steely glint in her eye.
"Zhao Yao, let"s move to the Tomson Riviera in Shanghai. Think about all the dreams, pressures, joy, and tears housed within the penthouses there. It"s perfect. And, most importantly, that"s where Gu Yuan lived in Tiny Times!"
The outburst rendered Zhao Yao speechless. When he recovered, he asked, "Do you know how much an apartment in Tomson Riveria costs?"
Elizabeth tilted her head to the side innocently, "No."
"Billions," Zhao Yao replied, elongating the "s" sound, "I wouldn"t be able to afford it even if I sold your entire family. We live in reality, not some silly movie. Please manage your expectations accordingly."
The ragdoll pursed her lips with distaste.
"Zhao Yao…"
"Yeah?"
"You"re so poor."
With that, she turned around and walked away from her flabbergasted owner.
"Zhao Yao is a useless thug who just b.u.ms around all day. It"s up to me to make enough money to buy a large house, fancy sports cars, fancier bags, and live the good life," she thought.
Catherine, Diana, and Caesar moved next to her again.
"Elizabeth, what did you discuss with Zhao Yao?"
"Money. More precisely, how to earn more of it. I"m sure this is a foreign subject to you," she responded dismissively.
"Who said we don"t know about it!" Diana retorted, "Money is everything. With it, you do whatever your heart desires. I also know that being a movie star is the best way to earn lots of money. You can earn hundreds of thousands just from filming one movie."
She had learnt this from the ma.s.s of movies that she had been watching in the extradimensional belly.
"Diana, language. You sound like a pleb, love. Be elegant," Catherine reminded.
"Yes, Mother," she responded.
Diana turned back to Elizabeth.
"It is a most fortunate thing to be affluent. Becoming a movie star is a delightful way to grow your wealth while heightening your status in the world," she rephrased.
"Movie star?" Elizabeth repeated, her eyes s.h.i.+ning from what looked like a ray of hope.