Cheese glared up at Matcha, unblinking. It looked like he was committing to memory the stupid, fat cat whom was stepping all over his face with his filthy paws.
Roly Poly was rounding up Kimchi and the remaining supercats. He kicked the ones that he pa.s.sed, shouting, "Get up. Stop pretending that you"re dead. Gather round now."
He then rudely perched a hind leg on one of the cats" waist.
"What are you looking at?" he spat at Kimchi, whose eyes were burning with rage, "Keep it up and I"ll have you sterilized.
Kimchi continued to stare back at him defiantly. It was awfully tempting to fight back, but he did not dare to in the presence of the man that defeated Cat Sage.
In no time, Cheese, Kimchi, and the ring of cats that ruled the island were brought before Zhao Yao. Sphynx Cat and Ares managed to wrangle the rest of them in batches soon after.
While his cats diligently gathered all of the inhabitants here, Zhao Yao turned his attention to Xiao Yu. Fish Ball, Noodle, and Nekomata surrounded her. The two cats were rubbing lovingly against her calves. The husky was by her feet. He had rolled on his back, sticking out his tongue through a silly, open-mouthed grin.
"Oh, Xiao Yu! That husky is a monster!" Fish Ball cried out.
He squeezed his eyes shut as tightly as he could, releasing a small amount of tears.
"He… He actually… He actually forced me to..," he bawled, "He is a savage."
He was too overcome with emotion to continue speaking. He sobbed loudly, punctuating each snivel with a convulsive gasp.
Nekomata could not help but roll his eyes, "How...subtle."
Regardless, he diligently typed all of Fish Ball"s words into his smartphone, then pa.s.sed it to Xiao Yu. After listening to Fish Ball"s story using the text-to-speech function, she scooped him into her arms.
"What has he done to you?" she asked curiously.
There was a glint of excitement in her eyes.
"He… He eats poo! As if that was not enough, he forced me to eat poo too!" Fish Ball wept.
Noodle was quick to defend himself.
"How dare you accuse me of such falsehoods?! That was curry! Just curry!"
Like before, Nekomata transcribed the exchange on his phone. This time, Xiao Yu dropped Fish Ball onto the ground after she listened to their conversation. She cast a dirty look at Fish Ball and Noodle, then ran to Zhao Yao.
"Zhao Yao, let"s trade cats! I"ll give you Fish Ball and Noodle in exchange for one of your cats," she proposed, beaming up at him adorably.
She held onto his arm and swung it from left to right, trying to get his attention.
Zhao Yao was completely unmoved.
"No thanks," he replied, "I already have a few torchlights back home."
Xiao Yu narrowed her eyes at him.
In the meantime, Noodle was glaring at her. He was feeling so frustrated that he had taken to rolling around aimlessly on the ground.
"Who does that imp think he is, slandering me like that!" he thought angrily, "Darn it! Where has all my power gone? What has changed? What am I missing?"
With that, he started to recall the series of events that had brought him to this point.
Behind him, Sphynx Cat and Ares could be seen darting in and out of view, bringing with them new cats with each appearance. They worked quickly. The dual effect of Sphynx Cat"s strength and powers of perception was unbelievable. They combed the island in a matter of minutes, tracking down supercats that were hidden in every corner. Then, he would uproot whole houses from the ground and just lug them straight here.
When all the inhabitants of the island had been a.s.sembled, Zhao Yao turned to Cheese.
"You"re the cat who took Rice Cake, aren"t you?" he asked, stroking Cat Sage, whom was still struggling against his arms, "You"ve caused me quite a bit of trouble by doing that. How are you going to compensate me?"
Cheese and his friends were at a loss for words.
Cat Sage, however, had a lot to say about this.
"Human, we will never yield! You may have control of our bodies for now, but you"ll never win our allegiance!"
"That"s quite alright," Zhao Yao chuckled, "I"m not interested in your allegiance. All I want is my compensation."
Cat Sage"s eyes grew round as marbles.
"You understand me?" he asked in disbelief.
Oh c.r.a.p.
He had only put on a tough act and spewed all that trash talk because he a.s.sumed the man would not understand a word.
"Well, of course I can. Why else would I be talking to you?" Zhao Yao responded casually.
He casually steered the conversation back to the topic at hand, "By stealing my cat, you"ve disrupted my work and caused me great emotional and mental distress. You"ll have to compensate me for all of that, plus transportation, medical expenses, home remodeling costs, and 108 other items."
This time, even Cat Sage was stunned into silence.
"Will you let us go if we pay you back?" he asked.
"Of course," Zhao Yao smiled, flas.h.i.+ng his pearly whites, "I, Zhao Yao, am a man of my word. As long as you compensate me for all the damage you"ve caused, you"re free to go."
The supercats glanced at each other. They could not conceal the look of pleasant surprise on their faces. They had a.s.sumed that they would be enslaved by this man forever.
Roly Poly sighed as he watched the ring of cats fall into the same trap that he once had.
"I used to be as naive as they were. I thought that I"ll be off the hook one day. But once you"re on Zhao Yao"s blacklist, you"re never going back," he mused.
Cat Sage spoke up first, "So how much do we owe you?"
Zhao Yao took a moment to think about it.
"Well, let"s make it a billion RMB."
Cat Sage startled.
"One billion?! How can it be one billion?!"
Zhao Yao waved a hand to sweep Rice Cake towards them with the deflective field.
"Look," he said, motioning to the lifeless cat floating before them, "Look at the terrible state she"s in. It"s all thanks to you."
"But..," Cat Sage began, eyeing the desolate, little cat, "We"ve not done anything to her."
"Yes, you have. This is emotional damage. You"ve destroyed a young kitten"s emotional well-being. She might never be the same again," Zhao Yao explained, "Rice Cake is like a daughter to me. You"ve reduced my daughter to a lunatic. Do you know how much that has hurt her? Do you know how much pain you have caused me?"
Matcha jumped in and added, "Rice Cake is Zhao Yao"s most beloved cat. You have no idea how much he suffered when she went missing. Every day, he would wake with tears streaming down his face. He could not eat, drink, or even pee…"
Matcha knew that once Zhao Yao was done here, his head would be next on the chopping board. He had to find ways to lighten his punishment somehow.
"Yes, yes," Zhao Yao said impatiently, brus.h.i.+ng Matcha away, "That"s enough. I don"t need you to share some sob story here."
"So..," Cat Sage muttered.
"So," Zhao Yao continued, "To be frank, you deserve to be minced into bits for what you"ve done to Rice Cake. However, I can"t bear to do that. You are Rice Cake"s brother after all. Can you see the dilemma you"ve put me in?"
"He is in so much pain!" Matcha chipped in, putting his paw on Zhao Yao"s calf, "It hurts him to see Rice Cake like this. You might as well have stabbed him in the heart. He wishes he could take her place. He might not look like it, but he"s on the verge of a mental breakdown."
Again, Zhao Yao nudged Matcha away his foot while speaking to him telepathically, "Alright, that"s enough. You"re overdoing it. Geez."
Matcha batted his eyelids at him innocently.
"Zhao Yao, I was just trying to help," he said fawningly.
It worked. Cat Sage was beginning to feel uneasy and a tad guilty about the little cat"s plight.
"But we really don"t have so much money," he said honestly.
"Well, we can"t force you to give us money you don"t have," Zhao Yao said fairly, "You"ll have to give us this island then."
Cat Sage was flabbergasted.
"But… But this is our home! If we gave you the island, where would we live?"
Zhao Yao"s response was quick. "I"ll rent it to you. You poor things look strapped for cash, so I"ll allow you to stay here for free temporarily."
Cat Sage did not respond. He was still trying to make sense of everything that was happening.
Matcha called out to him, "You should thank Zhao Yao for letting you stay here rent-free. Do you know how expensive rent is now? He"s doing all of you a huge favor."
Deep in his gut, Cat Sage felt that something was amiss here. However, being able to live on someone else"s property for free was a nice thing, no?
Hesitantly, he said, "Oh… Thank you."