Surrounded by pairs of watchful eyes, Lightning"s pupil constricted as he let out a thunderous roar. Immediately, all his fur stood on end, turning him into sea urchin balloon.
Pallas"s cat"s fur was naturally extremely long. Lightning easily doubled in size with his fur erected.
Lightning exclaimed the words one by one in a dramatic fas.h.i.+on, "Expansion! Is! Power!"
"This is it?" Zhao Yao waited for a moment before asking. He thought that this was just the introductory act before his climatic performance.
"Obviously I"m done. Am I not big enough? How big do you want me to get?"
Zhao Yao was left speechless by Lightning who had just expanded like a balloon. Zhao Yao then stretched his hand out to caress Lightning"s fur. He did this to understand the mechanism behind the expansion. Did lightning"s body really expand or was he just controlling his fur?
However, Zhao Yao immediately withdrew his hand after touching Lightning because of the sharp, piercing pain.
"Is this … static?" Zhao Yao thoughtfully scratched his chin before the corners of his mouth curled upwards, "This is rather interesting."
After deliberating for a while, he carried Mango over to Lightning and placed him next to Lightning"s feet.
Instantly, Mango"s fur puffed up to twice its original size, turning him into a grey fur ball.
"Meowhaha, this is so interesting!" Matcha meowed and bolted towards the Pallas"s cat. He rammed against Lightning with a loud thud and instantly transformed into a cat twice his original size.
However, Matcha did not stop. He turned his body around and dashed in Elizabeth"s direction. Elizabeth, who was engrossed in her television drama, could not react in time and collided into Matcha.
Bam!
Immediately, Elizabeth"s fur puffed up as well as her fur stood on end. She had turned into another fur ball. She was perfectly spherical in shape and was a few times larger than Lightning.
"Meowhahaha!" Matcha wagged his finger in Elizabeth"s face as he sn.i.g.g.e.red, "Elizabeth! You look so fat!"
However, Roly Poly"s eyes shone with happiness. In his head, he thought, "An expanded Elizabeth looks just as cute as ever."
Dust Ball"s eyes glimmered with excitement as she sprinted towards Lightning shouting, "Hey give me some electricity as well! I want to be huge!"
Before she managed to collide against Lightning, she had already been stopped by Hanako"s arm. Hanako pointed at Dust Ball with her shaking finger and said, "Don"t … Don"t … come near me!"
The images of Dust Ball vomiting s.h.i.+t out from her mouth was freshly imprinted in Hanako"s mind. Hanako tilted her head towards Lightning and instructed, "Lightning, never ever let this cat near you. That cat is extremely smelly!"
Meanwhile, Elizabeth was perplexed by Matcha who was bellowing with laughter. She craned her neck and took a look at her reflection on the phone. Instantly, terror overtook her face as anger thundered through her body.
Elizabeth was already rather puffy before this which resulted in others mistaking her for being a fat cat. Now, she looked twice or even thrice as fat as before.
Just when she was busy reacting to the situation, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a camera shutter. She quickly turned her around and saw Matcha snapping photos of her.
"Meowhaha, Elizabeth say cheese! You look so funny like this. I"m going to post this on WeChat and share it with everyone!"
Elizabeth remained rooted to the ground but her expression changed dramatically. A glimmer of red light flashed across her eyes as she activated her power."
"Click!"
Suddenly, Matcha had lost control of his body. He watched as his mouth started to open on its own. Then, his body bent forward as his mouth crept closer to his groin area before it took a hard bite.
Meow!!!
A shrilling scream punctured the air and swept across the apartment. Matcha was already lying on the ground, writhing in pain. His eyes were devoid of spirit as Matcha laid there bawling in agony.
"F*ck! Matcha, are you okay?" Zhao Yao never expected this to happen as he rushed over to check on his condition.
Matcha"s eyelids quivered as he slowly lowered his eyes to inspect his precious heirloom. Matcha asked, "Is it still there? Zhao Yao, is my precious still there?"
Zhao Yao carefully inspected the tiny treasure before saying, "Thank goodness it"s alright. It"s just a little swollen but I"m sure you can still use it."
"Hmph," Elizabeth gave Matcha a cold glare before she pranced to his position. Matcha was trembling in fear as he stared at Elizabeth inching towards him.
Instead, Elizabeth simply s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone out of Matcha"s hand before deleting her photos from his gallery.
"I"m telling you, sissy. If you ever snap another photograph of me without seeking my permission. I will make sure I turn you into a female myself."
Matcha did not even dare to blink as he struggled to get the words out," I … I .. I understand." In his head, he was complaining, "Isn"t it just a photo?"
Soon enough, Matcha had already recovered from the harrowing experience and was jumping around in the living room. Zhao Yao shook his head and said, "Alright! Alright! I"ll be bringing you back home as well. I need your help with something."
As he spoke, he bent down and carried Matcha off the floor and into his arms before he led Hanako to his parent"s house.
Silence engulfed the car throughout the journey. The traffic was smooth and they had reached Zhao Yao"s old home in 90 minutes.
The moment Zhao Yao set foot in the house, his nose was inundated by the fragrance of home-cooked food. Zhao Yao took a deep breath in and was greeted by that familiar smell - the food that he had eaten since young. A smile found its way up Zhao Yao"s mouth.
"Your son is back!"
"Oh, I thought you had forgotten your way home. You even brought your cat back?"
"Old man, what are you trying to say? It"s not every day that your son gets to come back home to visit us. Come here and take a sip of the pork ribs soup that I"ve been preparing for hours. I went all the way to the market this morning to get the freshest ingredients!" Zhao Yao"s mother noticed Hanako hiding behind Zhao Yao and instantly beamed from ear to ear. She was certainly pleased with Hanako"s appearance.
His mother even secretly whispered to Zhao Yao, "Zhao Yao? Is she a j.a.panese? j.a.panese are nice people. You don"t have to worry, your mother here is extremely understanding. I will definitely support you. From the looks of it, she seems really polite and sensible.
However, there"s something that I cannot compromise with. Your children must stay in China. I will not let them stay in j.a.pan. I"ll go crazy if I don"t get to see my beloved grandchildren."
Zhao Yao almost choked on his banana when he heard those words. He immediately explained, "What are you even thinking about? She is a domestic helper who I recently hired. She is not good enough for me." This was the story which Hanako had agreed with.
"Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? If I were you, I"ll be over the moon if I ever get to marry a beautiful girl like her."
Zhao Yao lifted his shoulder in a half shrug and could not bother explaining to his mother.
"It"s time to find out whether my parents are apostles."
Matcha was devouring the food in his cat bowl, just like an ordinary cat, until Zhao Yao uninstalled Mobile Legends from his phone in his face.
"D*mn it, Zhao Yao! What are you trying to do?" Matcha was not angry but just somewhat confused as he could easily re-download the game if he wanted to.
Zhao Yao shook his head at this sight and decided to re-download the game. He tapped on the application and sold Matcha"s most beloved game skin.
Matcha"s loyalty instantly dropped by one point.
"Zhao Yao! What are you trying to do? Do you know how long it took for me to save up to buy this skin? Are you even human?" Matcha trembled with fury as rage swept over him.
Zhao Yao then explained, "Try to lend your superpower to my parents. I want to check if they are apostles. After this, I"ll charge RMB 100 to your account."
Matcha"s eyes lit up the moment the words rang in his head.
Zhao Yao had mastered the mechanisms of his BOOK. His supercats would not be able to lend their powers to other apostles once their loyalty hit 100 points. Hence, Zhao Yao had to lower Matcha"s loyalty to conduct this test.
Matcha tried a few times but there were no signs of his power being successfully lent out. Zhao Yao concluded that his parents were not apostles.
"Alright, alright, I"ll transfer some money to your account."
Matcha"s loyalty increased by 10 points.
The atmosphere during dinner was warm and pleasant. It proceeded well with brief interruptions by Zhao Yao"s mother as she began bantering with Hanako. She asked about Hanako"s family background and marriage views which Hanako politely declined to answer. Meanwhile, Zhao Yao also failed to gather any information on supercats.
Both his parents were ordinary factory workers. They led a peaceful and ordinary life here. They were not proficient with the internet and had not fully understood how their smartphone worked. Their source of information came solely from the government"s official news site.
It would be a herculean task to educate this elderly pair on the existence of supercats and superpowers. Even if Zhao Yao broached the topic and told them about his new ident.i.ty, it would only cause them to worry incessantly. Furthermore, they weren"t even apostles themselves.
"Never mind, I"ll get Inspector Ho to help out instead." Hence, Zhao Yao contacted Inspector Ho to send some people over to take care of his parents" safety.
After a hearty meal, Zhao Yao used the excuse of starting a company with his partner to explain his current situation.
"Mother, it"s alright. We have attracted many investors and we"re doing very well. You don"t have to worry about me."
He left some money with his parents before making his way back home. Hanako was always hiding behind Zhao Yao with her amiable smile. She behaved just like a j.a.panese wife.
When he was walking along the streets, Zhao Yao felt the scurry of rain pelting against his chest. Once again, he had left the warmth and comfort of his family to face the harsh realities of the world alone.
He zipped up his jacket before heaving a long sigh, "Time pa.s.ses so quickly. It"s almost autumn and the weather is getting rather chilly. Hanako, don"t worry about my parents" words. They are old and like to blabber about nonsensical things."
Hanako shook her head and responded, "Your parents are very loving and kind." Meanwhile, another thought flashed across her head, "A pity they had no idea their child had gone crazy." She could not help but felt sorry when she looked in Zhao Yao"s direction.
Matcha who stood next to Zhao Yao stretched his body before complaining, "Let"s go back, Zhao Yao! There isn"t even wifi here!"