"Don"t worry. She"s an apostle. n.o.body would hurt her. The authorities won"t harm her. Neither would this black man."
The serval was not convinced.
"Please, you"ve gotta save her!" she pleaded, looking up at him.
Tears were already welling in her large eyes, which shone with fear.
"Please save my mama! Save my mama, please."
The consecutive trauma to her head had slowed the cat"s cognitive capabilities. She could not argue or reason with Zhao Yao. She could only repeat the same words to emphasize her point.
"Your mother?" he asked, sighing, "This woman, Zhi Yun, did she raise you?"
Elizabeth chimed in before the serval could respond.
"Zhao Yao, you have to save her."
"Yeah," Matcha added, "I"ll despise you for the rest of time if you don"t."
"Yes, yes, yes, I know," he said, fis.h.i.+ng for the face mask that he had tucked into his jacket.
He just had to wait for the right time to intervene.
Xiao Ming had led four all-terrain vehicles to the black man by now. Their headlights were pointed at the man, drenching him in a harsh, yellow glow.
For the first time, the mysterious man in black was illuminated.
"Pervert," Jin Jia Jia muttered, blus.h.i.+ng beet red.
To their surprise, it turned out that he was not a man dressed in black. He was a naked black person.
The blatant nudity made the tense atmosphere awkward instead.
"Uh, hey, sir, hi. We don"t want to hurt you, so please cooperate with us," Xiao Ming stammered through the loudspeaker.
Jin Jia Jia was next to him, speaking angrily into her phone, "Hey, don"t censor my live stream! How am I supposed to know that this idiot will be naked?"
The black man cast them an impatient look.
His mind was still reeling from the serval"s disappearance.
"Did this group of idiots do it?"
"Are there other apostles in this zoo?"
"Or is this all just one big coincidence?"
Whatever it was, he did not want to be taken in by the security team.
SIghing deeply, he lowered the servel"s apostle to the ground.
Then, without warning, he shot towards the Xiao Ming"s men, propelled by the jets of air released from the soles of his feet.
Loud bangs followed every step he made. He projected air blasts that exploded the vehicles" windows and headlights as he pa.s.sed.
Blinded by panic, the security team started shooting at him. None of the tranquilizer darts fired could hit the man. They were all swept away by a zap of wind.
Some of the men started retreating in fear. Others rushed forward, but they were all thrown into a heap on the ground when the man unleashed another air blast towards them.
"Be careful!"
"We gotta get outta here!"
"Don"t stick together!"
Everyone had fled from their vehicles. They were trying to get as far away from the black man as possible.
What they did not know was that this was futile. If the black man had wanted to kill them, none of them would be able to get out alive.
Xiao Ming understood this. He stopped running and turned to watch the aerokinetic attacks instead, a look of awe on his face.
"This is exactly what I"ve been looking for. This man"s power is unparalleled," he thought.
"Why have you stopped? C"mon, we"ve got to run!" Jia Jia exclaimed.
"There"s no point. If he really wanted to hurt us, we won"t be able to get away," he responded.
He had come on this little night excursion in search for power of this magnitude. Now that he had found it, he was not going to run away.
For Zhao Yao, the men"s hasty retreat signified the right time to strike.
He put on the face mask, then removed himself from Elizabeth"s illusion.
This made it look like he suddenly materialized from thin air. It did not go unnoticed by the security team, who were watching from a safe distance.
"Pervert!" he thought as he saw that the black man was buck naked.
He kept his eyes firmly away from him as he spoke.
"Hey, you," he started, "never manhandle that animal feeder ever again. Also, it"s bad enough that you"re scaring these poor folks, but doing that when you"re naked is horrifying on a whole new level. I believe I speak on everyone"s behalf when I say I"m grossed out. Can"t you put some darn clothes on?"
The black man had raised an eyebrow at Zhao Yao"s sudden appearance.
Then, a knowing look crossed his face.
"Hey, I know you. You"re mask man!" he smirked.
"You beat that pair of idiots in the mall, didn"t you? I never thought I"d see you here. You must be the one who took the serval."
Zhao Yao paused for a moment to let that information sink in.
"You"re part of that gang of cat thieves?" he asked.
The black man did not reply. His smug expression was wiped off as his mind churned with all the intel he had about Zhao Yao.
He knew that the man standing before him was powerful. In fact, he probably rivaled his boss.
"Well, enough with the formalities. Let"s get started," he said, ready to use every last ounce of strength he had to beat his opponent.
An earth-shattering explosion filled the air as he started forming a vortex. He stood firmly in the center of the swelling whirlwind. The leaves and branches of the bushes around him were yanked left and right to the rhythm of its spinning motion.
"Mask man," the black man called out to Zhao Yao.
He was gradually being lifted into the air as the vortex around him grew larger and accrued more energy. The immense pressure within the sphere of air was reaching its breaking point.
"I am not like those idiots in the mall. We"re different. They"re just civilians. Me? I"m a soldier. I"m trained for battle."
Xiao Ming and the security team watched in horror at the scene unfolding before them.
"Jesus Christ, is he a Saiyan?" Jia Jia burst out, filming the showdown.
Xiao Ming"s eyes were unblinking as he watched the black man.
"This is real power! He"s not just controlling the air, he"s manipulating it," he mused.
As the pressure continued to climb, the winds grew stronger still. The vehicles were starting to shake from the force. It looked like they were about to be lifted off the ground.
Xiao Ming was awestruck. He could feel the blood pumping in his ears. He could feel the heat pooling in his face from excitement.
"Entire armies won"t stand a chance against this! This man is above and beyond the superhumans I"ve seen so far. He"s the one I"m looking for!"
Everyone watched, gaping, as the black man bent his knees, then lunged for Zhao Yao.
He was spinning like a category five tornado, his clenched fists encased by the air vortex he had been building up just now.
Every leaf and branch on the ground was being sucked into its center, then spat out as quickly, ripped into tiny pieces by the zaps of wind.
He kept going, twisting faster and faster.
The black man was pus.h.i.+ng himself to his limit. He had never acc.u.mulated this level of energy before. His nakedness, coupled with the complete lack of hair on his head, helped him get there. Every pore on his body was unhindered and free to release air waves.
Each of his bones and tendons was vibrating from the surge of energy.
It almost felt like too much. He felt like it might tear him apart.
However, he kept going.
He knew that no one would be able to withstand the impact that he was about to make.
Even if Zhao Yao somehow managed to evade it, he had a whole slew of backup plans to defeat him.
Victory would be his.