With his phone carefully tilted towards the perfect angle, Gaia explained, "I"m posting this on Weibo. My fans are concerned about my wellbeing. My inbox is flooded with questions on why I stop streaming."
"Stop it!" Gaia"s behavior was truly getting on Ares"s nerves, "Do you know what we are doing? One post on Weibo and the entire country learns of our plan to rob this b.l.o.o.d.y bank!"
"That"s not possible." Gaia pointed to a corner of his screen and responded, "Look! I only have 1,426,296 followers. I"m sure China has more people than that."
Bam!
Ares"s deflective field had surged forward before grabbing the phone from Gaia"s paw and slamming it against the ground. The mere force of the collision tore the phone to pieces as the remains flew in all directions. Ares was still panting from the boiling anger searing through him, "I want you to focus on the task. No more bulls.h.i.+t about Weibo or any social media."
With that, he led his team down the alley before turning right towards their objective.
Meanwhile, Gaia was already straggling behind the team when he secretly whipped out his second phone to take photos of this atrocity. This was followed by another Weibo message, "First, I got scolded for using Weibo. Now, my phone was broken by some disgusting cat! How uncivilized! How dare they even call me their brother? I don"t want to rob the bank with them anymore!"
Finally, Ares raised his arm and stopped the team in their tracks. He slid the pair of them a glance, gesturing Lucifer and Gaia to take up position.
"Now!"
Instantly, Ares"s deflective field exploded into the surroundings, annihilating anything which came into contact with it. Similarly, Rakshasa has sent a scurry of shock waves into the bank, destroying anything on sight. In an instant, all the security guards had collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Immediately, a robotic voice echoed into the surroundings, "This is a robbery! If you want to escape this ordeal with your precious life, do as I say. Put your hands behind your head and lay down. Expose your belly as well!"
Everyone started sliding each other a guarded look. However, there was no time to think. Another wave of attack by Ares hurled the desks into the air before slamming it against the wall. Everyone"s heart nearly stopped when they witnessed this outrageous scene and immediately acquiesced with the instruction.
Ares then shouted his next instruction, "Rakshasa, stay here and take care of the hostages! Everyone, follow me to the vault!"
The remaining cats bolted towards the vault. Any security locks which impeded their progress were instantly blasted to pieces by Ares"s deflective field. If that failed, they simply skidded past it using Gaia"s power.
Finally, they had reached the vault by using Gaia"s power to bypa.s.s the last layer of impregnable wall. Suddenly, a thought jumped at Lucifer as he screamed, "Why didn"t we just use Gaia"s power right at the start? Why did we even use the main entrance?"
A moment of awkward silence ensued. The corner of Gaia"s lips turned up as he crafted his next Weibo message, "Meowhaha, all these fools are so dependent on my power!"
The brief silence was cut short by Ares"s sudden roar, "Stop this nonsense and continue with our mission!"
With that, an invisible force had started lifting the stacks of cash into the air before arranging them into neat piles in front of them.
Beams of excitement shot out of the cats" eyes when they witnessed this scene. With that money, they could do anything and buy everything that they have ever imagined!
Suddenly, an ear-piercing shriek echoed down the hallway from where they entered.
Lucifer felt something amiss and muttered, "That scream … doesn"t it sound exactly like Fūjin"s scream?"
Ares responded carelessly, "That"s impossible, it must be your stupid hallucination. This vault is perfectly sealed, with no chance of anything entering or escaping it. There is no way that we can possibly hear Rakshasa"s scream from here!"
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Zhao Yao is here!"
"Ares, I don"t think so," Rakshasa could feel his chest tightening with fear as he exclaimed, "I heard it too! He"s screaming someone"s name!"
Ares"s frown deepened into a scowl as he retorted, "Use your brain! I already told you that this place is sealed! It"s impossible to hear anything from here!"
Gaia suddenly interjected, "But other than communicating using soundwaves, we can also communicate telepathically."
"Ah! I admit it! It"s my fault! Zhao Yao, please forgive me! I only did all these because Ares forced me to! I had no choice!"
This time around, the content of the screams rang crystal-clear in their ears. There was no doubt as to what was happening upstairs.
The pit of Ares"s stomach fell as he felt a s.h.i.+ver running through his body, "Hey, is it just me or did you guys hear the mention of the name … Zhao Yao?" However, there was no response. Ares immediately swept his head back only to see Gaia, Lucifer, and Rakshasa submerging underground. Everyone had left, except for him.
"D*mn it! What the h.e.l.l are you doing? How can you leave without me?"
Before Ares could continue his tirade, a deafening blast had already erupted in his ears. The vault"s impregnable door had been smashed to pieces by Sphynx Cat"s paw. Behind Sphynx Cat stood that man Ares would never forget.
Fūjin was struggling relentlessly in Zhao Yao"s arm as he stared at the three escaping cats and the remaining cat which was shaking like a leaf.
In a split second, his deflective field had already swept into the surroundings, putting an end to their pathetic attempt at escape. An awkward smile began to stretch across Gaia"s face as he chatted, "Zhao Yao, what a coincidence? Did you come to rob a bank as well? In that case, we will take our leave first. Feel free to take whatever"s here."
Zhao Yao was not interested in that bulls.h.i.+t. His face had already contorted into a hideous scowl as he roared, "Robbing a bank? What have I been teaching all of you this entire time?"
Ares was not about to back down as he screamed, "To do whatever I want! That is my cat way!"
With that deafening scream, an immense force exploded from Ares as an invisible palm went straight for Zhao Yao"s head.
However, the attack was immediately stopped by a ring of golden beam. Ares"s deflective field was no match for Zhao Yao"s enhanced deflective field. It simply faltered before disintegrating into thin air.
The golden beam extended towards Lucifer before slithering across his neck, strangling him to death. Ares struggled with all his might and shouted, "Let me go! Zhao Yao! We will never succ.u.mb to violence!"
However, Zhao Yao did not speak a single word. His magnificent golden palm emerged from behind him and slammed Lucifer against the ground, turning him into minced meat. Lucifer was shuddering violently as a pool of blood acc.u.mulated beneath him. However, that same s.a.d.i.s.tic smile appeared on his face.
"We are sorry!
"We admit our mistake!"
Gaia and Rakshasa had instantaneously collapsed to the ground in kowtow position. With their front paws outstretched in front of them, they had completely surrendered to Zhao Yao"s rule.
Rakshasa"s gaze swept towards Ares as he shouted, "Boss! Just admit defeat already! This is Zhao Yao!"
For the past two years, Ares had never expected this day to befall on them. However, he felt his knee giving way as he muttered, "Let go of me … I will kneel on my own."
However, Sphynx Cat bolted forward and stopped Ares from kneeling. Sphynx Cat c.o.c.ked his head towards Zhao Yao and reasoned, "Zhao Yao, he is the boss of these cats! How do you expect him to face them if you force him to go on his knees?"
"That"s enough! All of you, go back!" Zhao Yao threw his arm in the air before gesturing the bunch of them to return to the belly. He slowly circled the vault and pondered, "That means I"m only left with the apostles who were thrown into this dream state. However, judging from Ares"s condition, they will grow increasingly delirious if they spent more time here."
Next, Zhao Yao had already disappeared behind his extradimensional belly gate. With the belly"s property, Zhao Yao had already teleported to the entrance of the building.
"Let"s begin with this then."
Staring at this towering building looming over him, Zhao Yao activated his golden deflective field which crashed mercilessly against the building. First, all the gla.s.s shattered to pieces. Next, the building started to vibrate. The vibration grew more and more intense. Pillars began to give way before the entire building collapsed onto itself, leaving behind its ruins.
Meanwhile, Nightmare Cat was quickly alerted to the situation over here and had soon noticed Zhao Yao"s involvement.
"D*mn it, what is this guy doing here again?" A line etched between his brows as he calculated, "Why the city center of all places? Many people will die if I pull out the big guns. That means they"ll get thrown out of the dream state!"
His eyes squinted into a hard line as he uttered coolly, "I only have one option: activate the apostle team and get rid of him."
On one hand, Zhao Yao had no reasons to conceal his location. On the other, Nightmare Cat had carefully calibrated the NPCs to guide the apostle team towards Zhao Yao. Hence, one apostle had already found himself staring straight at Zhao Yao.