Zhao Yao"s eyes drifted from one end of the beach to another before stopping at one particular girl, surrounded by a Serval cat and a gang of people.
"This is so troublesome." With his brows tightly knitted together, Zhao Yao muttered, "Why must she appear here as well?"
In his eyes, the pair of Serval cat and breeder were the greenhorns of the compet.i.tion, with zero combat experience.
Despite their initial encounter with the black apostle, their lives in the zoo had been fairly peaceful and clam. Hence, they would have absolutely no contact with any other superpowers.
This pair was simply a sheep thrown into a cage filled with a pack of hungry wolves. Their appearance meant certain death.
"D*mn it, why did they come here?" Zhao Yao buried his head in his chest before noticing the glimmering golden punctuation above her head. He shook his head in despair before muttering, "I guess I only have myself to blame for being such a nice guy. Matcha, let"s go."
With that, he had grabbed Matcha and stashed him within his thick black robes. The three of them had been completely enveloped by the silky robes, concealing his ident.i.ty.
Actually, he was not the only one making the extra effort. A portion of the partic.i.p.ants was lurking in the shadows, donning on all sorts of helmets and masks in an attempt to hide their ident.i.ties.
Meanwhile, the breeder was busy tending to her cat when a swarm of apostles approached her, leaving her at a loss.
One of the teenagers broke the awkward silence and said, "Hey, my name is Meng Hao. Are you also here for the cat king compet.i.tion?"
The female breeder was somewhat embarra.s.sed to respond as she lowered her head bashfully before whispering, "Hi, my name is Liu Yun. I just serendipitously stumbled upon this compet.i.tion."
Meng Hao acknowledged her response with a friendly nod. He looked around before continuing, "Haha, I"m here by chance as well. I have no intentions of winning or even getting past the first round. I just came here to meet people like us, people with supercats. Oh yes …" He casually diverted the conversation towards her cat and asked, "Is that a Serval cat? They are extremely rare! I didn"t know that they could be awakened as well. What"s her power?"
"Oh, are you referring to Tiny? Her ability is …"
Liu Yun"s words were interrupted by a voice which sprang out of nowhere.
"Shouldn"t you talk about your power first before asking others about theirs?" Zhao Yao asked.
Meng Hao"s forehead creased together before bellowing in awkward laughter. Somehow, he did not detect the hostility in Zhao Yao"s voice and responded, "Are you Liu Yun"s friend? Nice to meet you, I"m Meng Hao." He said so while extending his arm towards Zhao Yao for a handshake, only to be rejected ruthlessly.
Zhao Yao turned towards Liu Yun and reminded her, "I"m begging you not to reveal your power to any strangers. This kind of sc.u.ms is basically eliciting information right before the compet.i.tion. Come, follow me."
"Huh?"
Zhao Yao simply dragged Liu Yun away, while she remained in a daze.
The corner of Meng Hao"s eyes crinkled slightly when faced with Zhao Yao"s indifference. However, the smile instantly returned to his face as he looked to the guy standing next to him, "Meng Shao, what"s our plan now?"
"It"s okay, to each his own." Meng Hao turned towards the group of people approaching and remarked, "Come, let"s go over there and take a look."
"Hey, nice to meet you, I"m Meng Hao. Are you an apostle competing in the compet.i.tion?"
The young man, who sported a buzz cut, simply swiped Meng Hao"s hand away from his shoulder before sliding him a cold, hard glare, "Get lost."
Anger raged through Meng Hao but he managed to subdue it before it got the better of him. He just burst out laughing and remarked, "See you at the end of the compet.i.tion!"
He turned his head around before a frown crept up his face, "Why are youngsters getting so rude nowadays? I"ll teach them a lesson afterward."
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao had dragged Liu Yun all the way to a secluded spot on the beach. She remained clueless as to what had happened but the Serval cat seemed so excited as she began jumping up and down.
"King George? Is it you, King George?"
The Serval cat took a few deep breaths and concluded, "It"s this scent, I"m sure. He gave us RMB 100,000 without even batting an eyelid. It"s him!"
Naturally, Liu Yun could not comprehend a single word Tiny said. She stared at Zhao Yao confusedly and asked, "I"m sorry but do I know you? Why did you drag me all the way here?"
Zhao Yao decided to cut to the chase and replied, "Have you forgotten about the RMB 100,000 you owe me?" Zhao Yao even lifted his robes to reveal his true face.
"Huh? It"s you, Daniel Wu?" Tears welled up in Liu Yun"s eyes, "I came to this compet.i.tion with the hopes of meeting you here! I never expected to be so lucky!"
Zhao Yao met her under the guise of Daniel Wu previously. He even replicated the same illusion in an attempt to evoke her memories.
Immediately, Zhao Yao shrouded his head beneath the robes only to notice the golden exclamation mark"s sudden disappearance. His mood plummeted as he muttered, "D*mn it, don"t tell me her mission is just to find me?"
Zhao Yao"s enthusiasm waned considerably with the mission disappearing into thin air. He answered lazily, "Oh, are you here to return me my money?"
Liu Yun grew somewhat edgy and responded, "No, I can"t fork out so much cash in such a short time. I"m terribly sorry. However, I"ll return you the moment I have enough!"
Meanwhile, the Serval cat attempted to sneak into Zhao Yao"s robes, "King George? Are you inside? You must be here! I have already detected your scent!"
Zhao Yao grew impatient from this pesky cat and simply kicked her away, "Alright, since you have already found me, you should take your leave now. This compet.i.tion is not for the likes of you."
"Huh? Isn"t this just a game where the judges will evaluate our performances?"
Zhao Yao knew that this foolish girl had mistaken the cat king compet.i.tion for an ordinary cat compet.i.tion. A normal cat compet.i.tion without superpower was judged solely based on the cat"s pedigree and behavior. It was a far cry from this impending bloodbath.
Liu Yun"s breathing hastened when she heard Zhao Yao"s explanation, "A battle of superpowers? Doesn"t it make this extremely dangerous?"
"It is dangerous, especially for you." Zhao Yao saw the crowd acc.u.mulating along the beach. Somehow, Meng Hao and gang were at the heart of it with a crowd huddling around him.
Zhao Yao"s ear gave a light shudder and he managed to eavesdrop on their conversations, "Nice to meet all of you here. It is not every day that you get to meet such a large group of apostles and supercats. My name is Meng Hao, and I"m a representative from a real estate company. If any of you need any kind of help, feel free to approach me. If you need a job, I can supply you with …"
Actually, Meng Hao"s main purpose was to recruit more apostles under him under the pretext of his family real estate business.
Naturally, it would be even better if he managed to snag a t.i.tle.
The beach was flooded with apostles who were completely ignorant about the situation. Hence, Meng Hao"s words were music to their ears and it sounded so enticing.
"Oh, so he"s not here to collect information but recruit manpower?" Zhao Yao let out a sigh before answering Liu Yun"s question, "However, these fools are no match for me."
A myriad of questions started popping into her head but she decided to disregard them all. She had set her mind to repay Zhao Yao"s kindness, "Allow me to help you."
"Help? Are you sure you are even capable of that?" Zhao Yao asked.
The Serval cat began screaming non-stop, "I can call all my friends for help! I have many friends!" Following her screams, the surrounding rats, dogs, cats, and even seagulls began gathering around them. They sat obediently by the side, awaiting Tiny"s orders.