As Baiquan was busy settling the work a.s.signed to him by Zhao Yao, Zhao Yao completed the remaining of his daily mission and gathered the supercats for a talk.
Baiquan wasn"t surprised by the act of Zhao Yao gathering the cats for a talk; he already figured out that the cats had some sort of power after staying with them all this while. He knew that Zhao Yao could communicate with the cats somehow.
Matcha, Elizabeth, Roly Poly and Dust Ball laid belly-flat on the floor in front of Zhao Yao as he announced, "In a few days time, which is also this Sat.u.r.day, our cat cafe will be hosting a Star Cats" Night. On that night, I"ll give all of you, less Elizabeth, a skin which resembles the looks of precious breeds of cats. We will also extend our closing time to 8 pm in the night. This would be a huge stepping stone for our cat cafe. If we succeed, I"m sure our reputation would improve tremendously..."
As Zhao Yao spoke halfway, Matcha raised his white paw.
"Yes, Matcha?"
"I wish to claim my dinner reward on Mobile Legends."
"No, listen closely to what I"m saying. Do you guys know how serious this is?"
"Look at you guys! Slacking away and doing things your own way; there"s no team spirit in you guys! Let me tell you something. You guys are the least obedient group of cats that I"ve ever raised!" Zhao Yao recalled the way he was scolded when he was a kid and used it against them. He cleared his throat and continued, "I know I may sound old-fas.h.i.+oned and naggy but you guys would understand in a few years" time that this is all for your own good. If you guys do not work hard now, you"ll end up eating sh*t when you grow up. Imagine if you guys actually work hard enough and earn a sum of money for yourselves, you"ll be able to do anything you want in future."
As he spoke, Matcha raised his paw yet again and asked, "May I go to the toilet?"
"Hold it, don"t think I don"t know what you"re planning."
"Tsk." Matcha threw his phone on the floor.
Zhao Yao stared at the four cats and said, "Y"all really think I don"t know what you guys have been up to? I see cats hiding in the toilet and playing games while some even steal snacks from our customers. Some of you like to bully other cats and even scratch them, causing them to be injured."
Zhao Yao gestured to his height and continued, "You dwarfs would never understand. When you"re this tall, you can clearly see every single little action you guys make."
Dust Ball opened his mouth and yawned as she stretched her entire body.
"Stretching?! You have the cheek to sleep now, Dust Ball? Do you know who I"m referring to? I"m talking about you! Two weeks into our cafe"s opening and how many stray cats have you bitten? Do you belong to the dog zodiac?"
Dust Ball curled her lips and sulked while she laid flat on the floor.
Elizabeth raised her tender-looking paw and said, "I"m hungry. Can I have some cat rice?"
"My little Elizabeth, please wait for me to finish what I want to say. We"ll eat straight after." Zhao Yao replied. "Remember guys, we need to put our best performance during Star Cats Night. It"s not for my own profit but it"s for your profits. Also, starting from the night, we will open a poll to the customers to vote for the "Star Cat of the Month". There will be a new nominee every month."
"You guys may not know but creating illusions like these actually take up a lot of my energy. Therefore, I can"t give you guys a skin every day. " Zhao Yao looked at the uninterested cats and smiled as he continued, "As such, the winner of the t.i.tle would get a skin in the cafe every day, an extra $500 as prize money and unlimited access to catmint!"
Upon hearing this, their eyes lit up and they turned their heads to stare at one another. For a moment, their staredown was as intense as a sword-to-sword combat as they brandished their imaginary swords at one another.
"RMB500?" Matcha licked his lips as he schemingly thought to himself: "Hehehe, it"s time to show you guys how cruel this compet.i.tion can get."
Dust Ball eyes flickered with delight. "Unlimited catmint?"
"As long as I"m the star cat of the month, not only do I get the prize money, I"ll get to enjoy the skin from Zhao Yao. I can expect myself to be treated much better than the other cats if I clinch the t.i.tle." Roly Poly licked his own tummy as he thought to himself secretly. "Sorry guys, the t.i.tle"s mine."
"Mmm." Elizabeth stared at the other cats with total contempt as she swayed her long tail. "Weak useless trashes." Elizabeth never once considered the other supercats as her compet.i.tion. She thought to herself: "Hmm, where should I spend RMB500 on?"
Spirit Cat was there to observe all this time. He stared blankly into s.p.a.ce, deep in thought. "I had this feeling before but I wasn"t so sure then. This time, it"s confirmed. It must be one of the supercat"s power which allowed Zhao Yao to communicate with the supercats."
He sighed, "This man is too scary; he could make the cats turn on each other with just a few words. It almost turned into a bloodbath over here."
Zhao Yao saw an improvement in their morale levels and nodded in relief, "Alright then! Starting tomorrow, let"s work hard together for our cafe. We will become the king of cafes in Jiangmen City and earn so much that we can never finish spending!"
"Yeah!" The supercats exclaimed in unison.
"I"ll design a skin for each and every one of you right now. I"ll make sure you guys look so attractive that the customers wouldn"t stop coming in. You guys would need to put up a good show."
"Ok!"
"Roly Poly, you"re first."
Spirit cat drifted behind Zhao Yao as he observed how Zhao Yao created the illusions. With his own pair of eyes, he saw Roly Poly slowly transforming from an average fat cat into a beautiful Ragdoll. Zhao Yao was watching a video about ragdolls on his laptop and slowly modifying the image of the ragdoll in his mind. As he did so, Roly Poly"s body kept on transforming accordingly.
The ragdoll had a relatively flat head compared to Roly Poly"s. With this in mind, Zhao Yao gently touched Roly Poly"s head and molded the illusion to complement Roly Poly"s round head. Zhao Yao continued to touch Roly Poly with his hand and finely tweaked every part of his body bit by bit. Soon, Roly Poly felt consistent to the touch with his new look.
"Zhao Yao Zhao Yao, could you draw an eye-line for me? I want to look like the British Shorthair in the video. I feel that humans prefer cats with distinct eye lines."
"You already have a patch of black fur spreading out from the center of your face. No one would be able to notice your eye line. I won"t draw it for you."
"Can you make your stomach smaller? I feel like I can definitely become slimmer."
"Your tummy is too huge, it would easily expose itself."
Roly Poly sucked in his stomach as hard as he could and suggested, "You can touch me when I suck in my stomach. Come on, help me make my stomach smaller!"
"Guess I"ve no choice..." Zhao Yao took a long piece of cloth and started wrapping Roly Poly"s stomach with it.
"Suck it in!"
"I am!"
"More!"
"I am but it hurts..."
"A little bit more, hang in there!"
"Meow~"
Zhao Yao heaved a sigh of relief as he wiped the sweat from his forehead after wrapping Roly Poly"s stomach with the cloth. Fortunately, Roly Poly had long fur and could conceal the cloth underneath its fur. This way, no one would be able to tell that there was actually a piece of cloth wrapped around his belly.
With the help of Zhao Yao"s illusion, Roly Poly finally transformed from a plump ragdoll into a much leaner ragdoll.