The effects of the headless horseman"s actions were far more outreaching than anyone could have imagined. Even the ordinary citizens started to poke their nose into it. After all, it"s not every day that a building got destroyed overnight.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao could finally take a breather after saving Zhao Xue and the rest, but his job was not done yet. Is.h.i.+da and Matsuo were still trapped inside his belly as they awaited his interrogation.
As he was about to leave, he suddenly felt his back muscles twitch. The pain was unmistakable. Someone had stabbed him in his back and had punctured his kidney.
Zhao Yao trembled with fury as he took a deep breath before sweeping his body around. He could literally feel his pulse slamming in his neck when he saw the culprit. It was none other than his disciple, Black Panther, who stood rooted to the ground with his usual silly expression.
However, something"s not right. No one was supposed to see him since he was coated with Roly Poly"s power of invisibility.
Black Panther looked down at his own hand with grimace as he spoke embarra.s.sedly, "Master Headless, are you there? I"m so sorry. It"s because of my stupid power. It just forces me to stab my friends. I hope I didn"t hurt you."
Zhao Yao immediately revealed himself as he slid Black Panther an exasperated glance, "What more do you want from me?"
Immediately, the grimace was wiped from his face as a radiant smile appeared, "Master Headless! It"s really you?"
"Just cut to the chase and tell me what you want. I"m busy. By the way, what did you just call me?"
"Master Headless! The police told me that your name is brainless, but I thought it was rather derogatory so I changed it to headless!" Suddenly, he began to run his fingers through his hair anxiously as a flush crept up his face, "Master Headless, the reason why I came to Jiangmen City is to join you in your efforts to maintain peace and order in the nation. I want to be the modern Robin Hood!"
"Brainless?" Zhao Yao sn.i.g.g.e.red, "Inspector Ho, that brat …" Zhao Yao eyed him from head to toe before saying, "You should focus your energy on finding a good job instead of wasting your time on all these nonsense." Before he even finished his statement, Zhao Yao"s body had already disappeared from his sight, leaving Black Panther all alone in this foreign land.
Before he knew it, Black Panther had already activated his power once more as his razor-sharp dagger plunged into another victim"s body.
"Ah!" Inspector Ho was overwhelmed with pain as he stumbled to the ground. He could not believe his eyes as he saw the hilt dangling from his belly, with a puddle of crimson-red blood acc.u.mulated on the ground. He screamed, "Someone attacked the police!"
Suddenly, tens of pistols surrounded Black Panther with their muzzles pointing straight at him. They shouted in unison, "Stop!"
Black Panther looked towards Inspector Ho with his brows slightly furrowed. He whispered, "But he isn"t even my friend." Left with no options, Black Panther simply called for the only person who could possibly save him, "Master Headless! Master Headless! I want to be the Robin to your Batman as we continue to uphold justice in the world! Let me join you as your disciple! I"m at x.x.xX!"
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao was rolling on the floor as he struggled to restrain his roar of laughter. He muttered, "And you thought your power of teleportation was good? It can never be as fast as my timefreeze!" Actually, Zhao Yao was the culprit behind this. When Black Panther was about to stab him, he immediately activated timefreeze before moving Inspector Ho to his original position.
Inspector Ho pressed against his wound in an effort to stop the bleeding. His face glistened with sweat as he slid Black Panther a hateful glare, "You are so ruthless."
The same innocent expression remained on Black Panther"s face as he replied, "I really had no intentions to stab you!"
After watching this hilarious show, Zhao Yao simply left his front-row seat as he made his way home. After a brief rest, he returned to his belly for his interrogation.
The scene inside the belly looked like a scene taken straight from the Game of Thrones series. Zhao Yao was resting on his "iron throne" with Matcha resting in his arms as he raked his fingers slowly through his fur. Roly Poly was resting on his shoulder like a faux fur scarf, not forgetting to turn Zhao Yao"s head invisible.
Meanwhile, Is.h.i.+da was kneeling at the foot of his throne. The expression on his face struck the perfect balance between humbleness and regret.
Zhao Yao slipped him a curious glance before asking, "Speak. Tell me everything that happened."
Is.h.i.+da thought about it and decided to selectively censor some information. He purposely avoided topics on why he came to China but instead revolved his story around Matsuo. He began by saying, "The person with the power to turn into a ghost is Matsuo. He is the owner of the peer to peer lending platform. I"m only here because he is willing …"
With his impeccable storytelling skills, Zhao Yao had gotten a grasp of what happened. The person kneeling before him was Is.h.i.+da. He was just a p.a.w.n in the greater scheme of things. The true mastermind was Matsuo who wielded the power to manipulate ghosts.
However, Matsuo had decided to hide by switching to ghost form. He refused to reveal himself despite the threats and warnings thrown at him.
In reality, Matsuo was floating next to Is.h.i.+da right now. Anger seared through his body as he stared at this ungrateful man, "This stupid b*stard with no backbone. How dare he tell on me?"
Matsuo"s anger was so palpable that it managed to send s.h.i.+vers running down Is.h.i.+da"s spine. In response, Is.h.i.+da immediately collapsed to the ground with his palms firmly clasped together and prayed, "Matsuo, do not blame me for my actions. It is futile to resist the moment we"ve set foot in this place. The more you resist, the worst the outcome." Matsuo"s agony was almost tangible, and Is.h.i.+da couldn"t help feeling it was too raw for him to fake. Is.h.i.+da continued, "Stop resisting. The cats here are crazy. You can never escape!"
Matsuo was hiding in a corner with a sly grin plastered on his face, "Unlike you, I"m not a piece of trash. There"s nothing they can do to me."
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao had pondered about the situation for quite some time before deciding to bait the opponent using his illusion.
Firstly, his power of "five senses deprivation" swept across the entire belly. Then, he slowly sauntered across the place. However, he still couldn"t locate Matsuo"s position.
"Hmph," Zhao Yao began to stroke his chin thoughtfully as he pondered, "Don"t tell me that Matsuo managed to slip through my fingers? However, I"m 100% sure that I covered all possible grounds with that three gates. Based on his trajectory, there"s no way he could have escaped."
Meanwhile, Roly Poly managed to breathe a sigh of relief as he uttered, "Thank goodness. Matsuo, you must hang in there. Do not get caught. As long as this guy manages to escape, I"ll be able to escape from my debt as well!"
Suddenly, a glimmer flashed across Zhao Yao"s eyes as he concluded, "There can only be three possible scenarios. Firstly, he didn"t enter. Secondly, he was unaffected by the illusion. Lastly … his original form is a ghost.
By using "five senses deprivation", Zhao Yao only managed to rob individuals of their five senses. In Nekomata"s case, he was robbed of the ability to maintain his spirit power, hence he would revert to his original flesh form. If Matsuo was a ghost all along, I wouldn"t be able to see him even if he"s robbed of his five senses."
Matsuo instantly regained consciousness the moment Zhao Yao"s power was lifted. He began to float around as his mouth curved into a smile, "Dumb human! Your illusion is powerless against me! You won"t be able to capture me even if 24 hours go by! That"s because I"m a ghost!"
Even when Xiao Yu wielded "five senses deprivation", it only managed to put a stop to the ghosts" onslaught. It never managed to truly purge the ghosts summoned by Matsuo or compel these ghosts to revert to their flesh and blood form.
"This is rather tricky. I"ll just wait for 24 hours to pa.s.s first," Zhao Yao muttered as he propped his chin on his hand, "If he doesn"t appear at the end of the 24 hours, I can rule out the possibility that he"s unaffected by illusion. Then, I"ll get Nekomata to take a look. With his power, he should be able to sense or even detect his presence. If all fails, that simply means that I didn"t manage to capture him."
Anyway, there was nothing Matsuo could do if he maintained in his ghost form. Furthermore, the extradimensional belly gates were only accessible to Zhao Yao and Dust Ball. Hence, Zhao Yao decided to return home and wait out the 24 hours.
In the middle of a night, a giant shadow secretly crept up to Dust Ball with his huge frame looming over her. He then bent next to her before patting gently on her back.
Dust Ball struggled to open her eyes, only to see Roly Poly. She asked, "What"s the matter?"
Roly Poly spoke in his most humble and polite tone, "Hey, Dust Ball, please let me enter the Cat Nation."
"Why are you going in there in the middle of the night?" Dust Ball asked nonchalantly, "Zhao Yao said that no one is allowed to enter or leave the place except for me and him."
Unbeknownst to them, another furry shadow was hiding behind a wall, eavesdropping on their conversation. This was none other than Matcha.