The moment he walked into the arrival hall, a man raised a welcome card and hurried towards him.
He bowed deeply. "h.e.l.lo, you must be Lord Is.h.i.+da."
Is.h.i.+da was the last disciple of Yagyu Kazuhiko, j.a.pan"s only remaining blademaster. Yagyu was also known as the G.o.d of Sword Art.
He had always commanded immense respect and power, but that reached a whole new level after the awakening.
The appearance of supercats changed things. Their superpowers made Yagyu more powerful than anyone could have imagined.
Young boys and men everywhere fought to be taken under his wing. The apostles that were after Hanako had links to him as well.
Like them, Is.h.i.+da had come to China for her.
Is.h.i.+da nodded curtly at the man. "Where is he?"
"We"ve located his whereabouts, but I"m afraid there are...complications. We can"t just go up to him and start a fight."
"Why not?"
Is.h.i.+da"s perfectly shaped eyebrows were furrowed. He kept his piercing eyes firmly on the man, whom tried to shy away from his resolute stare.
"Because we believe you"re up to something."
Lin Chen was the person who had spoken. He strolled up to Is.h.i.+da with an impish grin on his face.
"h.e.l.lo there, Is.h.i.+da. Welcome to China. Allow me to accompany you as you traverse through our beautiful country," he said.
Is.h.i.+da"s eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
Lin Chen met his hostility with a smile.
"I"m an apostle officer. My name is Lin Chen," he responded easily, flas.h.i.+ng his ID, "It"s very nice to meet you."
Is.h.i.+da glowered at him. "Is this how the Chinese authorities treat all their foreign friends?"
Lin Chen chuckled. "C"mon, let"s drop the pretense. You"re notfriend of ours. We know all about the trouble you"ve been stirring back home."
This time, when he looked at Is.h.i.+da, there was a flicker of menace.
"What you"ve done in j.a.pan is none of our business, but you"re in China now. If you cause any kind of trouble here, it"s my business. I will break more than just that handsome face."
It was Is.h.i.+da"s turn to smile. It did not reach his eyes at all.
"Don"t worry, my friend. I"ll give you a chance to spar with me before I leave. Till then."
With that, he spun on his heel and walked away. The man who welcomed him trailed behind.
Lin Chen remained where he was as he watched their retreating figures. A plump man hurried to him.
"Obnoxious, isn"t he?"
"He"s obnoxious because he"s confident," Lin Chen said, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "He"s self-made. He started with nothing, but fought his way to become Yagyu"s disciple and climbed all the way to the top of that j.a.panese gang. They call him Raijin - G.o.d of Thunder. We should not underestimate him."
"You know how much the j.a.panese love little nicknames like that. Do we really have to shadow his every move?"
"Yes, for the next 24 hours at least. We"ll take turns. He is not leaving our sight," Lin Chen said firmly.
It was apparent that he was not kidding.
"They"re still tailing us. What should we do?" the man asked, peering anxiously into the rearview mirror.
Is.h.i.+da was unperturbed. "Ignore them. Let"s focus on our target. Do you have his files?"
The man handed him a folder. In it was photo after photo of Hanako. There were shots of her entering and leaving the cafe, attending to customers, and caring for the cats.
"Cat cafe, huh? Does it belong to an apostle?" Is.h.i.+da asked.
"Yes. The owner of the cafe is an apostle. He"s taken Hanako under his wing. I believe he was the one who defeated Sato and the rest."
Sato was one of Yagyu"s disciples as well. He was the one who got caught breaking into Zhao Yao"s house.
After the incident, he was arrested by Lin Chen. His capture alerted Inspector Ho to the existence of the j.a.panese terror group.
The names of notable apostles in the group were added to the country"s list of potential threats. The Inspector would be alerted if any of them entered China. That was how Lin Chen knew of Is.h.i.+da"s arrival.
Is.h.i.+da continued browsing through the stack of photos. Among them were pictures of Zhao Yao and Baiquan.
"So, what"s this complication you mentioned? Is this apostle particularly powerful?" he asked.
The man was quick to respond.
"Of course he"s no match for you, Lord Is.h.i.+da," he flattered, "However, he seems to have some kind of healing abilities. Retired government officers, high-ranking ones no less, visit the cafe to be treated every day. If we attack, the authorities will know. What"s more…"
He turned to look out the window. A black car was now driving by their side, matching their speed. Lin Chen waved cheerfully from inside.
There was no need for him to complete his sentence. Lin Chen"s presence made things very clear. With the government watching his every step, it would be impossible to strike.
There was a deep crease between Is.h.i.+da"s brows. "If that"s the case…"
He was confident that he could beat any apostle at all. However, he knew that attacking the retirees" doctor would be challenging the authorities openly. That would not end well.
The car descended into silence as Is.h.i.+da was consumed by his thoughts.
At the cat cafe.
Elizabeth, Rice Cake, Roly Poly, and Matcha were seated in a circle, as if they were having a meeting.
Elizabeth cleared her throat.
"As you all know, we have not been performing well for the past few days. For every 10 rounds we played, we only made it to the top 10 for one round. If we keep this up, we"ll never have our chicken dinner."
Winner winner chicken dinner.
That was the message that would be sprawled on the screen of the winner of a PUBG match.
Elizabeth started fuming when she saw the lackl.u.s.ter expression on Matcha"s face.
"Special mention goes to you, Matcha!" she scolded, "Your aiming sucks! I don"t understand how you got punched to death with someone"s bare fists when you had a freaking rifle! Do you want to win or not?"
She then turned to Rice Cake, whom was dozing off.
"And you, Rice Cake!"
The sleepy cat was jolted awake. She widened her eyes and blinked slowly. "Me?"
"You attack anyone and everyone you see! And you always head to the most crowded spots first! Those are the most dangerous! Can you please just control yourself? You almost always die instantly. We"re pretty much always a three-cat team."
Rice Cake was not happy about such biting criticism.
"How can I get our chicken dinner if I don"t kill our opponents?" she retorted.
Matcha started defending himself as well.
"I told you! My internet connection got cut! I couldn"t move for at least two seconds. If that hadn"t happened, I would have shot him and killed him," he argued.
Elizabeth was shaking her head out of frustration. The past fortnight had been trying. Her teammates were nothing but burdens and it felt like she had to carry the entire team on her back. She could feel her blood pressure reach new heights with each day.
There was another spike in her levels when she spotted Roly Poly using his phone.
"Roly Poly! How many times must I repeat myself? No phones during meetings!" she yelled.
The fat cat raised his head and smiled at her apologetically.
"I"m sorry. I"ll stop," he said.
The word "b.i.t.c.h" flashed on his screen before he shut it.
Elizabeth let out a dramatic sigh as she looked from one teammate to another.
"This can"t continue. If we keep playing like this, we"ll never win a match, much less start a career in live-streaming."
She continued, "I"ve created a chicken dinner training schedule. From today, each of us will stick to that schedule and train! Every day!"