"I"ll hand this apostle to you. I"m going after the fragment."
The dragon let out a blood-curdling bellow as it flapped its huge, bat-like wings, hot on Nekomata"s trail. It roared through the sky like a living, breathing, fighter jet.
It did not take long to close in on the fragment. The dragon was centimeters from reaching it when an enormous face sprung into view. Cat Sage almost crashed into the monstrosity, which looked like it belonged to some grisly, supernatural being. It gave him quite the fright.
As a result, the dragon skidded to a halt in the air. In that moment, the ghostly face disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and Nekomata"s figure could be seen darting into the thick of the woods. The fragment was safely cradled in his arms.
Cat Sage"s eyes narrowed. It had become evident that the face was harmless. The fragment thief probably realized that there was no way he could. outrun the dragon, so the monstrous face was his attempt at a distraction.
He was right. Nekomata could enter spirit mode and become invisible, but the fragment could not. The only way for him to evade the dragon was to get the heck away from it.
Cat Sage shrieked in rage, partially because his precious fragment had been stolen, but mostly because he fell for the thief"s little trick.
Roar!
"You are dead meat!"
The dragon tore towards the forest, paying no mind to the grove of trees that it demolished along the way. It was not difficult to knock them down, but it still slowed Cat Sage down, effectively keeping him from reaching his precious fragment.
Nekomata was overcome with a heady mixture of excitement and fear as he heard the dragon"s roars keeping up with his pace. This was exhilarating. He felt...super cool.
Outside the woods, Cheese, Kimchi, and gang followed Cat Sage"s instructions and had surrounded William. The apostle did not flee as they closed in on him. Instead, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and shot them a smug smile. The dragon was the only one who could throw him around like a ping pong ball. These cats, on the other hand, were unable to do him any harm.
With a menacing burst of laughter, William took one step closer to them. In response, the supercats took a few steps back. This widened the grin on his face. He knew he was going to beat them in one fell swoop. Cat Sage knew this as well. However, the fragment came first, so he had to relegate the man to his friends.
As William was about to make his move, the golden glow that enveloped him began to blink erratically, like a lightbulb that was about to go out. The light began to dim and was eventually extinguished.
His eyes widened.
He started to panic on the inside, "What"s going on? Why has my power disappeared?!"
Zhao Yao answered him promptly, "The superpowers included in your special White Day combo package can only be used for a limited time of five minutes."
"What?!"
"To continue using these powers, please renew the temporary package or purchase the permanent version."
William"s body was shaking. He felt sick. He could not believe that he had just spent his life"s savings on temporary superpowers that belonged to him for a mere five minutes.
Cheese and the cats might be able to hear the conversation between William and Zhao Yao, but they noticed that their opponent"s magnificent glow had vanished. They looked at each other, all of them wondering if this was an indication that his abilities had weakened.
"Are his powers depleted?"
"Maybe. His superpowers are extraordinary after all. They could have a time limit."
"Don"t be rash, you guys. This could be a trap."
William watched the cats carefully. He knew that it was only a matter of time before they struck. Without hesitation, he shouted, "I want a renewal! I want my force field back!"
In an instant, the blinding, golden light was turned back on. The supercats narrowed their eyes at its return while William heaved a sigh of relief. He was finally back in the safety of his indestructible bubble.
"Thank G.o.d I can still renew it."
Zhao Yao"s voice rang in his head again, "The force field has been activated. Please complete payment within three minutes. If payment is not made, it will be considered a contract breach between you and the system. The system would be able to deduct 100 points from any of your attributes as it deems fit."
William was on the verge of coughing up blood when he did a quick stocktake of his attributes. His strength, agility, and intelligence totaled to no more than 20 points. He did not want to find out what would happen if those values dipped below zero.
"Wait a minute. What do you mean by the system deducting 100 points as it deems fit?" William asked.
"It means that I will deduct points wherever I want and you have no say about it."
William felt like that blood was really catching in his throat.
Zhao Yao continued, "More than 30 peer-to-peer lending platform apps have already been automatically installed in your phone to facilitate the process of borrowing money for the renewal."
William found himself at a loss for words.
"I…"
He had thought that G.o.d_system was a G.o.dsend. It turned out to be nothing more than the biggest money pit in the world. He had dived headfirst into the pit and there was no going back. If he did not pay and lost 100 attribute points, the cats would tear him apart easily. If G.o.d_system disappeared right now, the same fate awaited him.
He was left with no choice but to whip out his phone and seek monetary aid.
He scrolled past the apps that Zhao Yao downloaded. They were all in Chinese and he could not understand most of it. He had also heard horror stories of how insanely the interest chalked up from these platforms, so he intended to borrow money from his friends instead.
As William fired quick messages to them, he asked, "How much does the permanent version cost?"
"The permanent package costs USD 50 million."
William was ashen-faced. Even if he borrowed money from every one of his relatives and friends, he would still not be able to acc.u.mulate that amount of money.
"How about the temporary version?"
"Hmm. I"ll sell it to you at just USD 1.5 million. It"s a steal. I"m losing out from this."
William"s eyebrows were pulled tightly together in anger, but he did not say a thing. He simply glared at the phone as he focused on borrowing money from his friends, colleagues, and even his boss, whom agreed when he said that this money would help him get his hands on the fragment.
It took him more than 10 minutes to gather the USD 1.5 million. Zhao Yao did not confiscate the force field after the first three minutes. He set that limit just to hasten William"s loan process
Once the money was in, the force field shrunk to fit William like an impenetrable, golden cling wrap. The indestructible body was back.
Menace flashed in his eyes as he let out a roar of rage and threw himself at the cats.