Zhao Yao"s worry did not disappear after hearing the Serval cat"s words. With his forehead creased together, he thought, "What can they possibly do?" From the looks of it, these animals could barely take on ordinary humans, let alone apostles!

With a smug smile plastered on her face, the Serval cat declared, "I can see whatever they can see! This works regardless of the distance between us. I can even control them from a distance!"

These words caught Zhao Yao by surprise, "Are you trying to say that you have a shared vision with these animals?" All along, Zhao Yao had no idea that the Serval cat possessed such a unique ability. This power was perfect for reconnaissance.

Meanwhile, Liu Yun stared in amazement and muttered, "Huh? Are you really capable of communicating with Tiny? I had suspected this since our previous encounter!"

"Hmph," Zhao Yao replied with a nod of his head. He began weighing the pros and cons of bringing the Serval cat along before he was distracted by the exclamation marks floating above their heads.

Mission: Let me help you!

Objective: Allow Liu Yun and the Serval cat to lend you a helping hand in the upcoming compet.i.tion.

Reward: 50 experience points

Punishment: Nil

Zhao Yao let out a long sigh before relenting, "Alright, I can tell how sincere you are about helping me. Remember to keep close to me and never spout a single word of nonsense. Also …" He whipped out a mask from his pocket before instructing her, "Put this on at all times to prevent others from knowing your true ident.i.ty. With so many apostles around, it will be disastrous if one of them decides to take revenge on you outside of this compet.i.tion."

Liu Yun complied with the instructions obediently and put on the mask.

Suddenly, Zhao Yao noticed an uproar coming from the beach. He raised his head and was greeted by the scene of twenty odd cats walking towards them.

Standing right at the front was actually a dog and its female owner.

The very size of the entourage attracted the attention of everyone at the beach. Similarly, Meng Hao noticed them approaching as his forehead creased together. He immediately gathered his people to receive this group of newcomers.

Meng Hao, the most eloquent one amongst them, naturally took the lead by walking at the front. He was taken aback when he saw a little girl with a pair of shades and mask. He bent next to her before asking, "Hey little girl, are you an apostle too?"

"I am not a little girl. I just completed middle school." Xiao Yu scoffed while she adjusted her shades.

Meng Hao bit his lower lip before diverting the topic to the dog standing by her, "Are you bringing this dog along for the compet.i.tion?"

"What"s wrong? You haven"t seen a superdog?" Xiao Yu sneered, "I bet you"re from some sort of backward village."

The veins on Meng Hao"s forehead started popping out before throbbing violently, "I don"t think dogs are allowed to partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion."

"Who said that?" Xiao Yu replied with a roll of her eyes, "Did the compet.i.tion rules state that dogs are barred from competing?"

"No, but this compet.i.tion is a cat king compet.i.tion for a reason."

"So did the organizers state that dogs are barred from becoming a cat king?"

Meng Hao could only suppress his raging flames by letting out a series of awkward laughs. He gave up the thought of chatting with this girl and decided to cut to the chase, "Are you interested in joining us?" Meng Hao turned around to reveal the large crowd gathered behind him, "We"re just a group of apostles sharing our experiences. Care to join us?"

Xiao Yu curled her lips in disgust before retorting, "Who is even interested in interacting with sc.u.ms like yourself? Noodle, let"s go." Xiao Yu patted Noodle on his back before leading the pack away, leaving Meng Hao behind.

Meng Hao gritted his teeth as he watched the group of cats disappearing into the horizon. His brain exploded with fury as he grumbled, "Why are kids so irritating these days?"

Meanwhile, Noodle was cursing in his head, "D*mn it. I am King Hanada and yet I have to take instructions from this ignorant girl?"

Nekomata, which floated by their side, knew exactly what was going through Noodle"s head when he noticed the grim expression. Nekomata inched towards him and comforted Noodle, "No matter what, Xiao Yu is still an apostle. She has the power to borrow my ability. Furthermore, it"s too risky for a single cat like me to take part in such a large-scale compet.i.tion. You just have yourself to blame since you can"t borrow my power."

Despite how exasperated he was, Noodle could only accept the harsh reality unwillingly. Xiao Yu continued slapping her dirty hands against his back and instructed, "Noodle, you must give your all for the compet.i.tion and win it. Then, we"ll return to a RMB 20,000,000 home. Do you understand?" The mention of the RMB 20,000,000 home caused Xiao Yu to tremble with excitement.

Fish Ball jumped up and down and exclaimed, "Xiao Yu! Xiao Yu! There"s still me! I will give my all for this compet.i.tion!" Fish Ball had resumed bootlicking Xiao Yu since he fell out with Noodle.

Xiao Yu even allocated one of the districts to Fish Ball as a reward. She hoped to increase her chances by spreading her eggs.

However, due to the lack of dependable apostles, Noodle and Xiao Yu were the only apostle-supercat pair representing them. The remaining districts could only send out a single supercat.

"Bootlick." Suddenly, a familiar scent permeated the air as Noodle took in a few deep breaths. His nose naturally gravitated towards Zhao Yao as he muttered, "This smell…"

With the majority of the contestants all gathered at the beach, a giant pa.s.senger liner appeared from the horizons, capturing all their attention.

Currently, the entire beach was packed with hundreds of apostles and supercats, including Zhao Yao, Liu Yun and her Serval cat.

Most people were either wearing a helmet, sungla.s.ses or even a mask. Hence, Zhao Yao"s peculiar outfit did not stand out as much.

Following the arrival of the pa.s.senger liner, a few speedboats emerged from within and bolted towards the sh.o.r.elines.

Perched on top of one of the speedboat was the familiar black and white cat. It was none other than the cat king of the north.

Some sort of microphone was attached to his neck. Zhao Yao noticed his paws darting across his phone before a computer-generated voice erupted in their ears.

"Welcome to the inaugural cat king compet.i.tion! I am an organizer and judge of this magnificent compet.i.tion! I am none other than the cat king of the north! Today"s compet.i.tion will be held at an island, more than 100 kilometers away. Hence, pick a speedboat and make your way there!"

The process went smoothly as the contestants registered via their superphones before boarding the speedboats. Then, both the supercats and their apostles were a.s.signed a number which was pasted on their bodies. Evidently, this was their partic.i.p.ation numbers.

Zhao Yao tore through the crowd and led them right to the s.h.i.+p deck before asking the Serval cat, "How is it? Can you control them?"

Suddenly, the Serval cat"s pupils disappeared, exposing the entire sclera. Her field of vision suddenly included the seagulls flying in the sky and the fishes swimming in the depths of the sea.

The cat nodded her head and replied, "No problem, crystal clear."

"That"s good. Continue monitoring the situation and alert me if anything goes awry."

Matcha, which was scrunched up in his robes, could not take it any longer and burst out screaming, "Zhao Yao, let me go now! I want to talk to my fangirl!"

Boarding Time

Zhao Yao slid Matcha a condescending glare before acquiescing to his request. Naturally, the Serval cat"s eyes glistened with excitement when she saw Matcha appear. She ran up to him with tears welled up in her eyes.

"King George, I knew you were inside!"

Matcha acted as if it was nothing and replied, "Take a seat and keep your volume down. I left my palace secretly just for you. I do not want too many people to know about it."

At this moment, a dog, a cat and a girl had similarly made their way to the deck. The girl looked towards Zhao Yao with a beaming smile and asked, "Yao Er, are you also here for the compet.i.tion?"