Fuerdai - A Chinese term used to describe the children of the nouveau riche in China
Xiao Yu instantly rolled her eyes as Zhao Yao"s revolting words rang in her ears. With anger searing through her body, she commented, "A cat will always behave like a cat. However, humans may sometime forget to behave like a normal human being."
"Hmph?" Zhao Yao"s ears gave a quick twitch as he mumbled, "I think there"s someone else here."
Meanwhile, the other two Americans had also detected the unfamiliar presence. In the blink of an eye, they had bolted forward like two weightless spirits.
A thought crossed Zhao Yao"s head as he observed those two Caucasians" behavior, "Is this the power of their abilities? Is it the power of wind or gravity?"
With that thought lingering in his head, Zhao Yao had grabbed onto Xiao Yu"s arm and pulled her through the dense fog. Immediately, they noticed tens of hazy shadows huddled together on the beach. However, the fog was simply too thick. Even Zhao Yao had no means of seeing their faces.
Currently, those few people had yet to notice the newcomers" arrival. They remained deeply absorbed in their conversations.
"When will this stupid fog finally dissipate? Are we just going to stay here and wait?"
"Do not try anything stupid in such conditions. You"ll simply get yourself lost."
Another man exclaimed, "We are actually just a stone"s throw from Jiangmen City. There"s bound to be lots of s.h.i.+ps in our area. We will be rescued the moment the fog lifts."
Zhao Yao understood their predicament by eavesdropping on their brief exchange. These people here had most likely lost their way when they entered the rough sea and ended up stranded on this island because of the fog.
However, joy welled up inside Zhao Yao as his eyes slowly gravitated upwards. In front of him was a sea of golden exclamation marks floating above their heads. Even under such poor visibility conditions, Zhao Yao could still see the unmistakable exclamation marks.
His mouth fell open when he noticed an absence of exclamation mark above a particular individual. Zhao Yao bit back a scream and could hardly believe his eyes.
Zhao Yao pondered, "Shouldn"t all the victims stranded here be praying for someone to save them? Why doesn"t this guy want to be saved?"
However, the Americans adopted a starkly different approach. Instead of surveying the situation discreetly, they approached the stranded victims with their somewhat incoherent Mandarin, "Hi, I am Captain William Johnson of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Currently, we are working alongside the Chinese forces to address the fog problem. Could you kindly share with us everything that had happened to you since you"ve landed on the island?"
Xiao Yu immediately shot Zhao Yao a condescending glare when he heard the American"s words, "Nice try, Tom and Jerry?"
"You actually believe in his bulls.h.i.+t? I"m telling you that his real name is Tom."
Zhao Yao saw through his lies instantly. Firstly, Inspector Ho had never mentioned a word about any co-operation with the Americans. Secondly, this water was under Chinese jurisdiction. They would never cede any control to any Americans to address the superpower situation.
However, the victims perceived the American"s gesture in a completely different manner. To them, William was a beacon of hope. They flocked to him and drowned him with a deluge of words.
William listened as his brows slowly snapped together. Suddenly, he withdrew a pistol from his holster and aimed it straight at the crowd. A brief period of silence ensued before they broke out in screams.
William threatened them with his menacing words, "I"m not here to save you. Those people will be coming slightly later. I am here on a covet mission sanctioned by the United Nations. I want you to tell me what exactly happened to you after you saw the fog. No details shall be omitted. If not, I can simply deal with you based on wartime principles."
His words rekindled their hopes. Faced with the threat of the gun, none of them protested and regurgitated the entire incident right from the top.
Zhao Yao too stood by the side and listened to their story. It was generally the same. A fog suddenly emerged above the sea. After entering the fogged area, they lost all contact with the outside world. Finally, they reached this sh.o.r.eline and ended up on this island.
Zhao Yao could not resist the temptation and decided to let Xiao Yu wait for him. With the help of the fog, Zhao Yao blended into the crowd perfectly with no one realizing it. His hand suddenly shot skywards as he asked, "Does anyone need my help? Don"t be shy. I"m sure I can help you in one way or another."
The victims were completely indifferent to Zhao Yao"s words. Instead, it aroused the attention of the two Americans. They swept their heads around and approached Zhao Yao. With their eyes squinted into a hard line, they scrutinized him from head to toe and asked, "Are you also a victim of the fog?" They just found Zhao Yao"s behavior to be too calm, unusually calm.
Zhao Yao answered, "Yeah. I was on my yacht and was shocked when I hit the sh.o.r.elines."
William"s eyebrow shot upwards as he thought, "Oh, a Fuerdai? I guess he"s only this calm because he has no idea what"s going on."
They continued to listen to the rest of their stories. A line started to etch between William"s brows as he slid his partner a disappointing gaze. A hint of despondency was evident in both their expressions.
They had reliable information that Number 0 had escaped to this island and had acc.u.mulated a vast number of supercats. He even used the aerolite fragments to boost the cats" power. However, these victims were truly ordinary and ignorant victims. They haven"t met a single supercat of the island.
Knowing that nothing useful could be extracted out of them, the two Americans decided to leave them alone. With one step forward, they had reduced the gravitational force acting on their bodies as they bolted forward, into the depths of the island.
However, they immediately stopped after taking the first step as they stared in shock at their surroundings.
William whispered, "I was sure we had already taken a step forward."
To their abject surprise, they were still stuck in the middle of the crowd and had yet to move a single inch.
In a moment of fear, William dashed forward again only to see his body returning to the same spot after each step.
The crowd began to slide them a confused look. Only William"s partner had that same solemn expression hanging on his face. They slid each other a glare and recognized each other"s thoughts instantly.
"It"s a superpower. There is an apostle, amongst the victims, who is trying to stop them."
His every muscle tensed as William once again tried to bolt forward. With his partner"s eyes glued to his body, he wanted to find out what exactly was stopping them from escaping.
When the world came to a standstill, Zhao Yao strolled forward before slinging William across his back and returning him to his original spot.
When time resumed, William was startled to find himself back in that same spot.
He turned his head towards his partner and asked, "How is it? Joseph, did you manage to find out what is going on?"
A confused expression hung over Joseph"s face as he gave a furious shake of his head, "No. I just saw you take a step forward and yet you remained at the exact same spot."
Zhao Yao had difficulty suppressing his laughter as he watched this pair of confused men. Then, he brought Xiao Yu towards the man with no golden exclamation mark. His plan was to stall the American"s advancements while he addressed the victims" problems. After that, he would then release them for him to track.
Zhao Yao"s eyes darted up and down as he scrutinized the man before him. He seemed like an ordinary teenager, but there was something different about him. On the surface, he seemed completely fl.u.s.tered and yet his heartbeat remained the same throughout. He didn"t sound worried at all, which was completely different from the rest.
Suddenly, the entire island was struck by another earthquake. This time, the vibration was far stronger than before as the victims fell to the ground, failing to stand back up.
An alarm rang in his head as Zhao Yao thought, "Hmph, this vibration is worse than before. Rice Cake"s power will only get stronger as her pain worsens. Are they torturing her?"
"I have to be fast. However, it"s too dangerous for me to barge in on my own when the supercats on this island have no idea what"s going on."
Despite his trouncing of the apostles in the auction, Zhao Yao was still that same careful and cautious man. The victory did not turn him into an obnoxious fool. He maintained the same composure as during the auction. He only acted previously when he had collected sufficient intel.
However, Rice Cake"s predicament was a ticking time bomb. He had to act fast.