Lin Chen finally recovered from his initial shock of knowing the existence of supercats. He had an epiphany and immediately asked Inspector Ho, "Don"t tell me the person who attacked me …"
"Superpower huh," Inspector Ho continued, "Supercats can lend their power to humans. In terms of physique and their dexterity, cats are still lagging behind humans. For example, humans will always have a heads up in operating guns, bombs, cars or even airplanes.
Hence, a human can use the power he borrowed from a cat more proficiently.
The Americans who have borrowed the superpower from supercats are known as the Apostles. However, they can only borrow one power at any instance."
"Americans?" Lin Chen asked, "These supercats are created by the Americans?"
"No. Until now, n.o.body knows who created these supercats. However, we do know that this is a global phenomenon which is not exclusive to China. Consequently, countries have developed their respective plans to address this problem."
Lin Chen recalled reading a news article and asked, "The incident at Wall Street…"
"A few Americans and the apostles are behind it," Inspector Ho replied with no intention of hiding the truth from Lin Chen. This was possibly due to the security clearance that Lin Chen had obtained, and Inspector Ho had regarded him as an ally. "The Americans are used to being the world"s sole superpower. There is nothing they will not do to cats to retain their position as the hegemon.
A large number of supercats and apostles have been caught for experimentation. I"m sure there will be an uproar soon.
I heard that the target for the Wall Street incident was a high ranking executive. However, the executive had a gun with him, and he was quite good with his gun which resulted in the tragedy."
Lin Chen was listening as he glanced at Milk and asked, "How about us?"
"Our leaders are smarter than the Americans. The Americans are too straightforward in their approach. Unlike them, our leaders know how to get things done." After his attempt at bootlicking, Inspector Ho continued, "Currently, our country"s plan is guided by the principle of differential treatment.
We would be extremely friendly and accommodate to the majority of the apostle population and supercats who were neutral. If need be, we could even take care of them without conditions.
We would not bother the apostles if they used their power for petty crimes instead of arson or murder. We would rather have a friend than an enemy.
However, there was one small group of supercats and apostles who want to destroy the peace and harmony that the human race and cats had enjoyed since time immemorial.
Our higher-ups were extremely concerned about this group of people and cats. This was especially so after what had happened in America, and this had resulted in a demand for quick and firm action to be taken against them. You would be part of our next course of action."
"B…Bu…But…" Lin Chen stammered, "How about the rest of the citizens? Do we keep them in the dark?"
Inspector Ho replied, "Supercats are still a minority among all cats. Based on our latest Intel, only cats that have not been sterilized can awaken their superpower.
Thank goodness most of the cats have been sterilized. Most of the cats that have had their superpowers awakened are stray cats, and their number is minuscule. Hence, the public still does not know much about this. Most of the supercats related incidents have been labeled as supernatural happenings or just fake news."
Suddenly, Inspector Ho looked at Lin Chen and asked, "Come, let"s test your abilities."
Jiangmen city"s threat level had gone up over the next few days. Even Zhao Yao noticed reports of skirmishes all over the news.
However, Zhao Yao was clueless as to the cause of these incidents.
Over the next few days, he occupied himself with daily missions, refining his culinary skills, and honing his power. Every night, he would bring Elizabeth out for patrols. Both his BOOK and the cats" experience had increased. His ability to stop and control time had improved remarkably, with the margin of error dropping to below 0.3 seconds.
However, he did not manage to meet new supercats, and he was unsure if it was due to the government"s actions.
At the same time, the police had found the cat that they wanted.
At 9 pm, a large group of civilians was taken away by a mysterious force in a small suburb.
The middle-aged man was at his dining table, with his head buried in chunks of meat as he devoured the food before him.
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard, and the middle-aged man was blasted away by an extraordinary force. He lay on the floor with blood streaming out from the wound on his chest.
"Success."
"Get the second team on standby."
"Snipers, get ready."
A team of policemen clad in bulletproof vests entered the building via the roof. They fired a few shots, smashed the windows and dashed into the room.
At the same time, another group of armed police entered via the hole left behind by the security door that was blown apart by the explosion. They were armed with a.s.sault rifles and were extremely nimble in their movements.
Meanwhile, both Inspector Ho and Lin Chen were in the commanding vehicle watching as the scene unfolded. Lin Chen heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the target lying on the floor, lifelessly. Lin Chen muttered, "A 12.7mm armor-piercing bullet, even an elephant would be destroyed by it."
Inspector Ho cautioned Lin Chen, "Do not let your guard down. The target is extremely brutal, and he can mutate his body…"
Inspector Ho was cut off by a gut-wrenching scream coming from the video footage.
The cameras installed on the armed police started to shake vigorously and suddenly the body lying on the floor previously vanished.
They noticed a shadow that was mutating in shape. It was followed by a human figure zooming past the cameras. Suddenly, the policemen looked as if they were attacked by an invisible force and fell onto the floor, motionless.
It was followed by more gunshots and screams of despair which ended with an explosion and a flash.
In a matter of a few minutes, they had lost communication with every single police officer within the building.
Inspector Ho stared at the footages solemnly when Lin Chen interjected, "I"ll go."
"Wait," Inspector Ho grabbed onto his shoulders and commanded, "Teams 4, 5 and 6 maintain your firepower and get ready to infiltrate the building. Snipers lock onto the target and fire at will."
Inside the building, the middle-aged man was examining the large cavity on his chest. His bones and flesh were wriggling around to seal his wound. This was the power of regeneration.
Even though his muscles and bones have been strengthened to their biological limits, the armor piercing bullet used by the police were still able to inflict a significant amount of damage on him.
If not for his power of regeneration, he would have died in that instance. He was boiling with anger and fury at the thought of it.