"F*ck, I"m too careless," Zhao Yao whispered under his breath, "I forgot about all those psychos inside Muscle Society and failed to mask my scent." However, Zhao Yao simply shrugged his shoulders and played dumb, "Do I know you?"
Champion reached for the towel from his subordinate before carefully wiping the sweat on his forehead, "I don"t care if you intend to hide your ident.i.ty from me. However, you should have noticed the anomalies around here. Many apostles, supercats including our dear Cat King of the West have gone out of control. I"m sure you would like to put an end to this craziness."
Zhao Yao"s brows snapped together as he clarified, "What do you know about it?"
"Butcher, Tank Top, Black Robes have all gone missing," Champion muttered with a sigh, "They said they"ll come and visit me but they left and never returned."
Zhao Yao rolled his eyes at this trivial complaint and retorted, "Maybe they never wanted to return here."
"That"s impossible," Champion"s adamant voice interrupted Zhao Yao, "We promised to stay together forever. They"ll never abandon me unless something disastrous happened. Also, they left under rather unorthodox circ.u.mstances. They haven"t even finished serving their time. I"m sure they were taken away by force."
Zhao Yao"s eyes glanced skywards as he asked, "What evidence do you have to prove your point?"
Champion replied, "A few days ago, I heard Butcher"s voice in my head. It came from underneath the ground."
These words instantly seized Zhao Yao"s attention. How was it even possible? However, Champion"s body was strengthened incredibly by Sphynx Cat"s power. His five senses easily surpa.s.sed that of a normal man. It was natural for him to hear things beyond what regular humans were capable of.
Suddenly, a golden exclamation mark had appeared above Champion"s head.
"I understand that you might not like me. However, we have truly changed for the better under Cat King of the West"s teaching, but the changes in the prison halted our transformation. Hence, implore you to save me, save us, save Butcher."
With that, Champion shot Zhao Yao a desperate yet hopeful glance.
Mission: Save muscle
Objective: Rescue Butcher, Tank Top, and Black Robes
Reward: 1000 experience points
Punishment: Nil
Obviously, Zhao Yao accepted the mission without hesitation before nodding his head, "Don"t worry, I"m known for my generosity. I give you my word, I will save your friends."
For the next half an hour, Zhao Yao continued his parade across the playground to no avail. Before admin time ended, the two wardens who were discussing Zhao Yao"s behavior called for him.
"Hey you, come over here."
Zhao Yao slid both of them a glance but did not utter a single word. He simply followed behind the duo.
Evidently, Zhao Yao"s unusual behavior had aroused their suspicion. Their eyes were filled with both animosity and bitterness.
However, the more muscular one of the duo seemed somewhat sympathetic to Zhao Yao"s predicament.
If this had happened just a few weeks or even a few days ago, all Zhao Yao would receive was a punch to the face. Then, the matter would have been resolved.
However, now that Cat King of the West"s situation had reached the final stage, the prison was also about to welcome its final changes. Hence, it was only a matter of time before they left the prison alongside Mike, making this their last shot at earning some extra bucks. This ordinary-looking man before them was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The two wardens led Zhao Yao through a narrow zigzag tunnel before stopping at a giant electric iron gate. The warden punched the pa.s.sword in quick succession as the gate swung open. Immediately, the trio walked through it, towards the underground corridor.
The more muscular warden stood behind Zhao Yao and nudged him forward. With a snap of his fingers, tiny swirls of wind appeared on his fingertips.
The muscular warden was cool yet stern with his words, "Do you see this? I want you to understand that I am an apostle while you"re an ordinary man with an electric collar fitted to your neck. Don"t do anything stupid that will threaten your wellbeing."
With these words said, the muscular warden had completely prepared himself for any potential resistance. After all, this place was filled with deranged individuals. Coupled with their increasing bad temper, such resistance was only to be expected. A physical brawl was just one of many possibilities.
However, Zhao Yao"s reaction was beyond his expectation. He simply complied with his words.
The muscular warden lifted his shoulders in a half shrug before shoving Zhao Yao forward with a hard push, "Alright, you have made the correct decision. Now, come with us."
The trio continued to meander through this snaking pa.s.sage. A dimly lit lamp hanged from the ceiling every 10 meters, barely illuminating this dingy pa.s.sage.
However, Zhao Yao"s night vision was greatly enhanced by "five is better than four". Thus, what others would perceive as completely dark was actually extremely clear in Zhao Yao"s eyes.
"All these muddy paths. There are also signs of recent digging but it"s not made using a tool. Instead … it"s made by superpower?"
Zhao Yao continued to observe as he pondered, "This underground s.p.a.ce was only recently created with the use of a superpower. This is too easy. I"ll be able to uncover the reason behind all these anomalies in the prison soon!"
Shortly, they found themselves entering a tiny room at the end of the pa.s.sage. Approximately four or five men were sitting inside, dressed in the warden"s clothes. A smile spread across their face when they noticed Zhao Yao"s arrival.
"Ah Kong, you brought someone here again?"
"This guys seems so normal. I don"t think he can fetch a good price."
"Have you told Mike about this? He already instructed us to stop capturing new apostles."
The man, who was referred to as Ah Kong, gave a dismissive wave of his hand, "Hmph, he"s not even our own men. Why would I care about what he thinks? Isn"t that right, Boss?"
Ah Kong pressed his face towards a well-tanned teen.
The teen had a book in his hand and responded with an indifferent nod of his head.
From the outside, he looked like any other ordinary student. However, everyone would always glance in his direction before making any slight movement. Evidently, this dark-skinned teen was no ordinary student.
They continued their conversations with complete disregard for Zhao Yao"s existence. After all, Zhao Yao was just a powerless apostle. What could he possibly do to them without his power?
Meanwhile, Zhao Yao also had no time to pay attention to them. His eyes were already locked on to a cell lying in the corner. Within this steel cage stood tens of prisoners locked inside. Their faces were a mixture of anger, desperation, and despondency.
Hearing Ah Kong"s impudent words echoing throughout their cell, one of the prisoners shouted in response, "All you sc.u.ms of Talon! The government will never forgive any of you! The sale of an apostle is the greatest taboo of this nation!"
These words only managed to elicit waves of laughter from their wardens. Ah Kong simply snapped his fingers and sent a swirl of wind tunneling into the cell and slammed the prisoner against the floor. Consequently, he howled in pain.
Then, Ah Kong began to flex his muscles in front of Zhao Yao and threatened, "If you don"t want to end up like him, just enter the cell on your own."
Zhao Yao was caught in disbelief as he mumbled, "You guys are from Talon? You are planning to sell the apostles inside this prison?"
"Yes, yes, yes! You"re so smart! Can you go in now?" Ah Kong shouted.
Zhao Yao did not reply. Instead, his gaze was locked onto the cell and the orientation of this underground room.
Currently, there were two exits in this room, the cell, Ah Kong and the remaining Talon members disguised as wardens.
The first exit was the one they took to arrive here. However, Zhao Yao saw no signs of Butcher, Tank Top and Black Robes inside the cage.