In the kitchen, Zhao Yao stood still with a s.h.i.+ny knife in his hand as he sliced the tender beef into thin, juicy strips with incredible precision.
After many days of practice, Zhao Yao managed to train his skills to a higher level. Time freeze was now even more powerful and together with the increased speed of "Boiling Point", increased dexterity and nimbleness which he obtained from "Two is better than one", Zhao Yao was able to swing his knife within a 0.3-second timeframe.
This meant that the cooldown of his swing was just 0.3 seconds and that he was only unable to cast time freeze within the short 0.3 seconds.
As Zhao Yao finished slicing the beef, a black figure flew towards him at lightning speed and landed behind his head. It then opened its jaws and bit down hard on Zhao Yao"s neck.
It was none other than Dust Ball.
Zhao Yao was unstartled by Dust Ball"s sudden attack and grabbed her away from his head without even turning back to look.
It wasn"t the first time Dust Ball attempted a sneaky a.s.sault on him. However, Zhao Yao was able to utilize his high insight level to foresee her attack, resulting in a failed ambush.
He threw Dust Ball towards the floor and said, "Alright, enough of your little hunting games. Go play with Roly Poly or Mango or something. I don"t have time to play with you."
Zhao Yao knew all along that cats enjoy playing hunting games like this. They simulated hunting through chasing and attacking one another. From his perspective, it seemed like Dust Ball was just playing games with him.
However, that wasn"t the case for Dust Ball. Having been thrown away and brushed off by Zhao Yao, Dust Ball couldn"t stand being belittled by Zhao Yao and stared at him with flaming eyes. If looks could kill, Zhao Yao would have already been dead.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao continued to focus on perfecting his cat dish. He placed several empty bottles and jars on the table beside an electronic weighing balance which was used to weigh the food contents. Besides the electronic balance was a notepad which was used to record the weight and ratio of ingredients required for the perfect dish.
This time, other than selecting his own ingredients for the cat dish, he copied several recipes from renowned chefs and even did some cross-referencing with the nutritional compa.s.s made by the America"s National Science Inst.i.tution in order to create a top-tier premium cat dish.
And figuring out the ratio of ingredients used wasn"t even the last step. Zhao Yao ensured that his dish fulfilled all nutritional needs of a cat. He even went to the extent of selecting specific sections of the meat in order satisfy their protein needs.
For beef, he chose the round steak. For pork, he chose pork tenderloin. And for chicken, he chose the breast.
He used a manual meat grinder to mince the meat, so as to minimise nutrition loss. He mixed the minced meat together and ensured that they were mixed evenly.
Once the meat was settled, he moved on to the veggies. He grounded all sorts of vegetables like carrots, pumpkin, cauliflower, french beans and black fungus into a healthy mix of greens that helped to improve digestion.
Every single ingredient was weighed precisely on the electronic balance to ensure that the nutritional needs of the cat were met --- nothing more and nothing less.
After spending over an hour on perfecting the dish, Zhao Yao looked at the dish review and smiled to himself.
Michelin-starred Cat Dish: A well-balanced dish mixed with a fine ratio of ingredients that strictly met the daily nutritional needs of a cat. Feed your cat daily and gain 10 experience points daily. So close to perfection!
"Finally! I did it! This dish will bring happiness to my cats." After devoting so much time to making a better dish, Zhao Yao finally created an epic-tier dish. From now on, Matcha and Elizabeth will gain 10 experience points daily.
"At this rate, even if I don"t do any missions, Matcha and Elizabeth would both level up in 3 months."
He happily brought the dish plate by plate out of the kitchen and sat down to watch Elizabeth, Matcha, Dust Ball and Mango as they chomped down on his wonderful creation. He smiled delightfully as he watched.
Meanwhile, as everyone was gobbling down their food, Roly Poly sat by the corner and stared blankly at the food in front of him and kept on doing a digging motion with his paw as if he was searching for something.
Zhao Yao walked to Roly Poly, frowned a little and said, "Come on, dig in."
Roly Poly threw a tantrum and whined, "I don"t wanna eat this! I want to eat fries! I want fried chicken! I want x.x.xxXL Juicy Chicken cutlet!"
Zhao Yao stroked his chin as he watched helplessly.
He knew that cats, especially domestic cats, were stubborn creatures by nature. Once they got accustomed to a certain dietary habit, they would refuse to eat for a couple of days if there was a sudden change in their eating habits. This would happen until the owner decides to change back to the original food.
For a supercat like Roly Poly who was much more intelligent than normal cats, it was natural for him to be even more stubborn.
At the thought of this, Zhao Yao"s eyes began to glow red, and Roly Poly"s body stiffened under his control.
"What are you doing!" Roly Poly gasped in shock.
"Feeding you."
Soon after, under Zhao Yao"s watchful eye (literally), Roly Poly began to chomp down on the food as tears rolled down his cheek.
As soon as they finished their food, the cats resumed their own activities and Zhao Yao went to do the dishes, leaving Roly Poly alone as he sulked in a corner alone.
At this moment, a white paw patted Roly Poly on the shoulder. Matcha asked in a concerned tone, "Are you alright, Roly Poly?"
"I"m... I"m alright." Roly Poly uttered and shook his tail restlessly as he looked at Matcha with a tinge of fear in his eyes.
Matcha smiled and asked, "In that case... this month"s card is about to expire. Could you help me get another?"
"But... But I already... "
"Hmm?" Matcha"s face changed as he replied with a slightly annoyed tone. "Roly Poly, the reason I"m borrowing money from you is that I"ve always treated you as a good brother. If you aren"t going to lend me this little bit of money, I guess we can forget about this brotherhood."
Minutes later, Matcha walked away with a wide grin on his face, leaving a distressed looking Roly Poly alone as he laid flat on the floor.
"What a disgusting, terrible meal."
"I still have to deal with the daily blackmail and robbing."
"I want to leave this place! I have to leave!"
Roly Poly set his mind on leaving this place and whipped out his phone. He opened his WeChat app and instantly sent a message to the friend"s group chat after blocking Matcha, Elizabeth, and Zhao Yao.
Roly Poly: Somebody save me! I"ve been caught by two evil villains! Not only did they refuse to feed me, they beat me up, scam me of my cash and refuse to let me out! Somebody save me! I"ll give you RMB2000 if you do so!