With a heavy sigh, Zhao Yao reached out for Lightning.
He could feel how bristled the cat's hair had become as his fingers grazed against their tips. They were as solid as needles and almost as sharp. There was an odd ringing in his ears as a surge of electric currents traveled from Lightning's body to his.
"Ah!"
Zhao Yao collapsed onto the floor with a loud thump. Blood started to seep through the cloth covering his underarm and crotch regions.
"What in God's name was that?!" he fumed.
Lightning answered his question seriously, "That was the Super Pallas's Cat's Super Static. Any hair that comes into contact with my Super Static will become as sharp and dangerous as the best needle in the world!"
"F**k," Zhao Yao cursed under his breath, taking a deep breath.
He quickly switched to Lucifer's healing powers before he embarked on the unpleasant task of removing the bristled hairs that had lodged themselves into his skin. The process should have been nasty, but it ended up feeling pretty darn good thanks to the Pleasure of Pain.
Zhao Yao threw the dirtiest look at Lightning as he carried out the removal.
"So," he started, "Where exactly has Red Packet run off to? Who took you?"
The helpless sea urchin / Pallas's Cat hybrid replied earnestly this time, "The Mao Gang! Their men took us! They separated Red Packet and I. I don't know where they took him."
He went on to recount a summarized version of what had happened. At the end of the tale, Zhao Yao had a good understanding of the two cats' ordeal. He had also managed to painstakingly pluck every single hair that was wedged in his skin.
There was a malicious glint in his eye when he spoke, "Good job, Mao Gang, for illegally trading supercats, swindling and abducting children, and reducing me to a hair-plucking mess. You. Are. Dead. Each and every one of you!"
He was furious. His resentment towards the gang had taken a very personal turn. He was determined to save Red Packet first, then destroy the organization.
Zhao Yao's knitted brows relaxed suddenly, as if he had just thought of something. He turned to Diana.
"Did you see what I was doing?" he asked her.
Diana widened her eyes at him, momentarily lost for words. In the next moment, she had fallen to the ground, fast asleep.
Zhao Yao's eyes landed on the fat cat, whom started trembling with fear.
"I saw nothing! I know nothing!" he stammered immediately.
Satisfied, Zhao Yao shifted his attention back to Lightning.
"You. Why do you still look like this?" he asked, motioning at his sea urchin appearance.
Lightning was close to tears, "The currents I released just now were too strong. I don't think I can ever return to normal."
"Idiot."
Zhao Yao was not in the mood to help the poor cat, at least for now. There were more pressing matters at hand. The first thing he did was to recall the supercat squad. There was no need for them to find Red Packet anymore. He was in the hands of the Mao Gang. As Matcha, Ares, Elizabeth, Sphynx Cat, and the rest started returning to the extradimensional belly, he warned them to stay away from Lightning.
After that, he headed straight for the dimension doorway that was placed in Faceless's home. He thought that Red Packet could be hidden there, but that suspicion was ruled out after a recce of the chateau. The cat was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the entire building had been vacated.
This was a result of Zhao Yao's little hotpot fiasco. When Pebble brought the supercats back here, Faceless instructed her to hide there elsewhere. He was not comfortable with the idea of keeping his precious cats here in case that pesky little twat returned.
Zhao Yao returned to the manor and watched the people milling in and out of the room.
He thought, "Red Packet is with them, but I have no idea where they have kept him. He is neither here nor in the mansion.
Faceless would know where he is, but there are too many apostles protecting him. I don't know what his powers are either. If I attacked him now, I could fail.
The wise thing to do would be to focus on finding Red Packet. They seem to see him as a prized possession, so he could very well be kept together with the rest of Faceless's supercats. If I can find all these cats, I would be able to confiscate the superpowers they lent the Mao Gang. Defeating them then would be a piece of cake.
Guess I'll have to find the weakest link to divulge Red Packet's location."
Zhao Yao used his deflective field to lift Lightning in the air.
"Look around," he instructed, "Which of these people here will know Red Packet's whereabouts?"
Lightning blinked his eyes and scanned the surroundings carefully. They widened when he spotted a familiar someone.
"There! That one with a scar on his face!" he exclaimed, "He's the one who took us. He was in charge of keeping watch on us too. He'll know where Red Packet is."
Zhao Yao narrowed his eyes. He had a plan, "What do they call Red Packet around here?"
Centipede moved past throngs of people to reach the bathroom. He stood before a urinal, just about to have a wee, when Faceless's voice called out to him from the cubicle him.
"Well, Centipede, you've been doing quite well recently."
A tremor ran down Centipede's spine. He did not expect that his leader was in here too and that he would start chatting with him. He let out a nervous laugh and nodded enthusiastically, "It's all thanks to you and your guidance of course."
He found that he was no longer able to pee. Faceless's presence made him too nervous to do so.
Faceless continued speaking, "Centipede, are all arrangements for the fortune cat complete?"
There was a short pause.
"Erm," he started, "I believe it is now under the custody of your personal guards, isn't it?"
There was another pause, this one longer than the one before. The silence made Centipede nervous.
"Boss? Boss? Are you still there?"
He never got his answer. In the next moment, his five senses were robbed and his unconscious body fell through a dimension doorway. Zhao Yao had been the one talking to him all along. He had hoodwinked him by conjuring Faceless's voice.
Centipede had given him the information he needed to move on to the next step. He appeared next to Faceless and created the illusion that his phone had vibrated with a new text message.
Faceless fished his phone out and unlocked it to read the fake message. Zhao Yao quickly pocketed that phone and replaced it with another one.
Faceless remained perfectly oblivious.
It was tempting to just attack him now, but Zhao Yao reminded himself that he did not know what powers he opponent might have up his sleeve. He forced himself to stick to the plan. He had to rescue Red Packet first. He was now very confident that the cat was kept with the rest of Faceless's treasured supercats, so this was crucial to do first. Once they were rescued, he would be able to do whatever he wanted.
Zhao Yao quickly scrolled through Faceless's contact list. He tried to recall the different tasks that the children were assigned, "Pigeon was sent to the auction. Peacock stayed by his side. That leaves Pebble to keep an eye on the cats."
After a moment of deliberation, he fired a message to Pebble, "We've been compromised. Bring all the supercats back to the mansion now."
The reply was instantaneous, "Ok."
Zhao Yao let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, that went well. He's a kid after all. He probably doesn't suspect a thing. All I have to do is wait at the mansion. Leaving that dimension doorway there was a good idea," he thought to himself.
Just then, the lights in the great hall dimmed.
The auction had begun.
Zhao Yao's brows furrowed. He remembered his sidequest very well. Rescuing the supercats was only one part of it. He had to stop the auction too.
He concocted a plan quickly. First, he moved the dimension doorway in the mansion to the front door. This allowed him to spot Pebble and the guards the moment they returned even while he remained physically in the extradimensional belly.
With the doorway in place, he rocketed to the entrance of the underground warehouse. The supercats that would be auctioned tonight were all congregated there.
Zhao Yao summoned a deflective field to grab Lightning from inside the belly and dumped him by the warehouse.
One of the muscular guards situated by the door stared at the weird-looking creature, dumbfounded.
"Why is there a massive sea urchin here?"
He walked up to the creature and reached for it.
The moment he touched the cat, the man let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground.
Another guard rushed to him when he heard the commotion. He looked at the man kneeling on the floor, "What's wrong with you?"
"My...my hair…"
The guard stepped forward to help him up, but he collapsed as well with a shriek when his fingers grazed his skin. He inhaled deeply.
Lightning snarled at the two men.
Like them, he was bleeding as well. However, there was no pain in his face. His expression was scarily icy.
"Experience the true power of the Super Pallas's Cat. You're in for nothing but despair now," he said.
With a heavy sigh, Zhao Yao reached out for Lightning.
He could feel how bristled the cat's hair had become as his fingers grazed against their tips. They were as solid as needles and almost as sharp. There was an odd ringing in his ears as a surge of electric currents traveled from Lightning's body to his.
"Ah!"
Zhao Yao collapsed onto the floor with a loud thump. Blood started to seep through the cloth covering his underarm and crotch regions.
"What in God's name was that?!" he fumed.
Lightning answered his question seriously, "That was the Super Pallas's Cat's Super Static. Any hair that comes into contact with my Super Static will become as sharp and dangerous as the best needle in the world!"
"F**k," Zhao Yao cursed under his breath, taking a deep breath.
He quickly switched to Lucifer's healing powers before he embarked on the unpleasant task of removing the bristled hairs that had lodged themselves into his skin. The process should have been nasty, but it ended up feeling pretty darn good thanks to the Pleasure of Pain.
Zhao Yao threw the dirtiest look at Lightning as he carried out the removal.
"So," he started, "Where exactly has Red Packet run off to? Who took you?"
The helpless sea urchin / Pallas's Cat hybrid replied earnestly this time, "The Mao Gang! Their men took us! They separated Red Packet and I. I don't know where they took him."
He went on to recount a summarized version of what had happened. At the end of the tale, Zhao Yao had a good understanding of the two cats' ordeal. He had also managed to painstakingly pluck every single hair that was wedged in his skin.
There was a malicious glint in his eye when he spoke, "Good job, Mao Gang, for illegally trading supercats, swindling and abducting children, and reducing me to a hair-plucking mess. You. Are. Dead. Each and every one of you!"
He was furious. His resentment towards the gang had taken a very personal turn. He was determined to save Red Packet first, then destroy the organization.
Zhao Yao's knitted brows relaxed suddenly, as if he had just thought of something. He turned to Diana.
"Did you see what I was doing?" he asked her.
Diana widened her eyes at him, momentarily lost for words. In the next moment, she had fallen to the ground, fast asleep.
Zhao Yao's eyes landed on the fat cat, whom started trembling with fear.
"I saw nothing! I know nothing!" he stammered immediately.
Satisfied, Zhao Yao shifted his attention back to Lightning.
"You. Why do you still look like this?" he asked, motioning at his sea urchin appearance.
Lightning was close to tears, "The currents I released just now were too strong. I don't think I can ever return to normal."
"Idiot."
Zhao Yao was not in the mood to help the poor cat, at least for now. There were more pressing matters at hand. The first thing he did was to recall the supercat squad. There was no need for them to find Red Packet anymore. He was in the hands of the Mao Gang. As Matcha, Ares, Elizabeth, Sphynx Cat, and the rest started returning to the extradimensional belly, he warned them to stay away from Lightning.
After that, he headed straight for the dimension doorway that was placed in Faceless's home. He thought that Red Packet could be hidden there, but that suspicion was ruled out after a recce of the chateau. The cat was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the entire building had been vacated.
This was a result of Zhao Yao's little hotpot fiasco. When Pebble brought the supercats back here, Faceless instructed her to hide there elsewhere. He was not comfortable with the idea of keeping his precious cats here in case that pesky little twat returned.
Zhao Yao returned to the manor and watched the people milling in and out of the room.
He thought, "Red Packet is with them, but I have no idea where they have kept him. He is neither here nor in the mansion.
Faceless would know where he is, but there are too many apostles protecting him. I don't know what his powers are either. If I attacked him now, I could fail.
The wise thing to do would be to focus on finding Red Packet. They seem to see him as a prized possession, so he could very well be kept together with the rest of Faceless's supercats. If I can find all these cats, I would be able to confiscate the superpowers they lent the Mao Gang. Defeating them then would be a piece of cake.
Guess I'll have to find the weakest link to divulge Red Packet's location."
Zhao Yao used his deflective field to lift Lightning in the air.
"Look around," he instructed, "Which of these people here will know Red Packet's whereabouts?"
Lightning blinked his eyes and scanned the surroundings carefully. They widened when he spotted a familiar someone.
"There! That one with a scar on his face!" he exclaimed, "He's the one who took us. He was in charge of keeping watch on us too. He'll know where Red Packet is."
Zhao Yao narrowed his eyes. He had a plan, "What do they call Red Packet around here?"
Centipede moved past throngs of people to reach the bathroom. He stood before a urinal, just about to have a wee, when Faceless's voice called out to him from the cubicle him.
"Well, Centipede, you've been doing quite well recently."
A tremor ran down Centipede's spine. He did not expect that his leader was in here too and that he would start chatting with him. He let out a nervous laugh and nodded enthusiastically, "It's all thanks to you and your guidance of course."
He found that he was no longer able to pee. Faceless's presence made him too nervous to do so.
Faceless continued speaking, "Centipede, are all arrangements for the fortune cat complete?"
There was a short pause.
"Erm," he started, "I believe it is now under the custody of your personal guards, isn't it?"
There was another pause, this one longer than the one before. The silence made Centipede nervous.
"Boss? Boss? Are you still there?"
He never got his answer. In the next moment, his five senses were robbed and his unconscious body fell through a dimension doorway. Zhao Yao had been the one talking to him all along. He had hoodwinked him by conjuring Faceless's voice.
Centipede had given him the information he needed to move on to the next step. He appeared next to Faceless and created the illusion that his phone had vibrated with a new text message.
Faceless fished his phone out and unlocked it to read the fake message. Zhao Yao quickly pocketed that phone and replaced it with another one.
Faceless remained perfectly oblivious.
It was tempting to just attack him now, but Zhao Yao reminded himself that he did not know what powers he opponent might have up his sleeve. He forced himself to stick to the plan. He had to rescue Red Packet first. He was now very confident that the cat was kept with the rest of Faceless's treasured supercats, so this was crucial to do first. Once they were rescued, he would be able to do whatever he wanted.
Zhao Yao quickly scrolled through Faceless's contact list. He tried to recall the different tasks that the children were assigned, "Pigeon was sent to the auction. Peacock stayed by his side. That leaves Pebble to keep an eye on the cats."
After a moment of deliberation, he fired a message to Pebble, "We've been compromised. Bring all the supercats back to the mansion now."
The reply was instantaneous, "Ok."
Zhao Yao let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, that went well. He's a kid after all. He probably doesn't suspect a thing. All I have to do is wait at the mansion. Leaving that dimension doorway there was a good idea," he thought to himself.
Just then, the lights in the great hall dimmed.
The auction had begun.
Zhao Yao's brows furrowed. He remembered his sidequest very well. Rescuing the supercats was only one part of it. He had to stop the auction too.
He concocted a plan quickly. First, he moved the dimension doorway in the mansion to the front door. This allowed him to spot Pebble and the guards the moment they returned even while he remained physically in the extradimensional belly.
With the doorway in place, he rocketed to the entrance of the underground warehouse. The supercats that would be auctioned tonight were all congregated there.
Zhao Yao summoned a deflective field to grab Lightning from inside the belly and dumped him by the warehouse.
One of the muscular guards situated by the door stared at the weird-looking creature, dumbfounded.
"Why is there a massive sea urchin here?"
He walked up to the creature and reached for it.
The moment he touched the cat, the man let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground.
Another guard rushed to him when he heard the commotion. He looked at the man kneeling on the floor, "What's wrong with you?"
"My...my hair…"
The guard stepped forward to help him up, but he collapsed as well with a shriek when his fingers grazed his skin. He inhaled deeply.
Lightning snarled at the two men.
Like them, he was bleeding as well. However, there was no pain in his face. His expression was scarily icy.
"Experience the true power of the Super Pallas's Cat. You're in for nothing but despair now," he said.
