The next day, Zhao Yao"s cafe was officially open for business.
He was in the store by early morning, along with s.h.i.+ Yu and Baiquan. The three of them were wearing the tailor-made, albeit cheap, black-and-white uniforms he ordered from TaoBao.
It was at exactly eight a.m. that morning when an update appeared in the mission panel.
Monthly Mission: Grand Openings Require Hard Work Too
Objective: Make a profit from the cat cafe by the end of the month
Reward: Gain 100 experience points for every RMB 50,000 profit earned (all points will be added to your account at the end of the month)
Punishment: None
Zhao Yao"s face lit up as he read through the new mission details. This was an excellent opportunity to earn money and experience points at the same time.
The best part? This was not some one-off mission. It was a recurring one, which meant that he could be raking in lots of cash and points every single month.
It was perfect.
"Thank G.o.d I kept the operating costs low," he smiled.
His gaze surveyed the cafe until it landed on Elizabeth, who was elegantly perched on the highest platform of the kitty tower. Her eyes were glued to the television show lighting up her phone screen.
"Elizabeth," he started, "Turn on Celestial Beats now, won"t you? Do that whenever you"re here. Fill the entire cafe."
"Got it," Elizabeth replied.
With an irritated swish of her tail, a wave of inaudible beats gradually fanned across the cafe, reaching every nook and corner.
The effect was instant. The mood in the cafe was lifted. The air was transformed with an almost ethereal and other-worldly lightness.
Everyone could feel it. Baiquan, s.h.i.+ Yu and Zhao Yao were washed over with a sense of relaxation like they have never experienced before. Each particle in their bodies was dancing with unadulterated joy. Every ounce of stress was released from them into the air, where it evaporated into nothing.
"It"s the h.e.l.l Aura again!" Baiquan beamed.
Having become a frequent visitor at Zhao Yao"s home, he had grown accustomed to the aura and enjoyed bathing in its glow.
He once asked what exactly this feeling was. Zhao Yao responded that they were experiencing h.e.l.l Aura, which made you stronger the more you spend time in it.
Of course, Baiquan had no idea that this was a complete lie. Zhao Yao had fabricated it to motivate him to work harder at his house duties.
"Ah, I get Master Zhao"s master plan now," Baiquan pondered, eyes s.h.i.+ning with excitement, "He"s opened a cafe here to corrupt college students and sp.a.w.n thousands of demons! He truly is a cut above my Troll-faced Devil."
Like Baiquan, s.h.i.+ Yu was deep in thought as well. The bliss brought by Elizabeth"s Celestial Beats had eased all the tension pent up in her body. A goofy grin was plastered on her face. At that moment, she understood why Zhao Yao described the cafe that way on the board by the entrance.
She moved towards Zhao Yao, smile still in place.
"So, this is the power of your supercat?" she asked quietly.
Zhao Yao nodded with a grin.
"Yes. Don"t tell anyone," he put a finger to his lips.
s.h.i.+ Yu nodded in response, her eyes falling onto Matcha, Roly Poly, and Elizabeth. The three of them had arrived at the cafe today with little backpacks swung across their tiny shoulders, each holding a mobile phone. Anyone could see that they were not just normal cats.
As she watched them, she could not help but wonder if Zhao Yao had more than one supercat.
"Could all three of them be supercats?" she thought.
She was determined to observe them and find out.
Dust Ball had completely evaded her attention because it had no interest in mobile games and needed no bag to carry a phone.
Right now, it was busy sniffing around the cafe and rubbing its body against walls, chairs, and tables to mark its territory. These were behaviors it picked up as a stray cat. It had spent so much time on the streets that it could not lose these habits long after being awakened.
Its territory marking spree was soon interrupted by Zhao Yao, who started briefing all the supercars through their collective consciousness.
"Remember, do not use your powers openly when you are interacting with customers. Do not show that you are intelligent. And finally, please, please, please, do not use your phones when there are people around. Treat the customers well," he said firmly.
"No scratching. Definitely no biting," he continued, then turned to Elizabeth, "Elizabeth, you"re in control here. If someone"s about to attack a customer, stop it."
After the lengthy reminder for the cats, Zhao Yao directed his attention to Baiquan and s.h.i.+ Yu. He a.s.signed Baiquan as the cas.h.i.+er and s.h.i.+ Yu as the barista. The two of them worked out how to wait on the customers among themselves.
With everything ready to go, Zhao Yao could finally slump into a seat at the corner and watched the cats played.
For the next 30 minutes, that was all he did. Not a single customer crossed the threshold and stepped foot into the cafe.
The three of them sat in three separate corners with absolutely nothing to do.
"C"mon guys, chins up! Business is bound to be slow on the first day. There"ll be customers soon enough," Shu Yu said bracingly.
Zhao Yao was not worried either. He was completely confident in the irresistible draw of the Celestial Beats.
There were other things he had to think about.
Whipping out his tablet, he lay it on the table before him and opened a web browser. A map of Jiangmen city appeared, peppered with various markings. Lines of text appeared when you mouse-over each one.
"Terrifying ghost captured on camera in East Garden…"
"Carnivores spotted partying in the zoo…"
"Theft at St. Michael"s Hospital…"
Zhao Yao had created this map to consolidate the supernatural events he found from combing through blogs and online forums. He needed to collect intel in order to track the gang of cat thieves that had been causing quite a stir in his city. He might as well get started now since there were no customers to tend to.
After all, this was the mission he had neglected as he busied himself with the cat cafe business. It was time to pay more attention to it.
"If only Inspector Ho would tip me off about what"s going. He"s bound to know more about that gang of cat thieves than I do," he thought, rubbing the bottom of his chin absent-mindedly, "But there"s no way he"ll share that kind of info with me."
Two hours later, a girl with short hair pa.s.sed the cafe.
She was wearing a cat t-s.h.i.+rt beneath her suspender romper.
The girl was Yan Xiao Qing, a soph.o.m.ore at one of the colleges nearby. She had decided to drop by the shopping strip because there were no cla.s.ses today.
Her eyes shone with excitement when she crossed Zhao Yao"s cafe.
"Cat Haven Coffee House?" she wondered, taking a second look, "Could this be a cat cafe?"
The combined growth of cat owners.h.i.+p and social media usage had caused an explosion of adorable, funny, and sometimes downright amazing, cat photos and live streams online.
This was great for students like Xiao Qing, who loved cats but could not have one because of strict dorm rules. She liked them so much she needed an outlet to release it. Watching and gus.h.i.+ng over cat videos helped with that a little. Visiting a cat cafe to play with actual cats was way better.
Unfortunately, the nearest cat cafe was hours away, so she resorted to feeding the strays around her neighborhood.
Until now.
Xiao Qing pushed the door to the cafe gingerly to reveal a magnificent scene.
Cats were everywhere. They were rolling around on the floor, chasing each other, or lounging on pieces of furniture.
She could not help but grin.