190 Escape and Cat Thievery ?

The four of them hurried down a narrow alley.

All color had drained from Sun Meng's face. She gulped when she looked down at her twisted arm.

"Who was that guy?" she asked, breathing heavily.

"Yue Shan," God of Death answered instantly.

He was now using an attractive young woman as his host. She was walking alongside the rest of the team with long, easy strides.

"He is supposed to be stationed in Southwest China. I don't know why he's switched to dealing with apostles here instead."

"Is this Yue Shan really well-known?" Sun Meng questioned.

"Ordinary people wouldn't have heard of him, but he's a big name among apostles in the Southwest. My little birds there told me about him previously," God of Death explained.

He continued, "The Southwest is different from Jiangmen City. The human and cat populations there are much larger, which means there are a lot more rogue apostles too. Some of them have even formed their own clans. Yue Shan has destroyed many who posed a threat to the government. It's all any apostle can talk about."

Nessie's brows furrowed, "He must have been transferred here because of the recent bout of events."

"Things actually aren't as bad in China, guys," Barbie sighed, "It's total madness back in America. Apostles are fighting and causing trouble all the time. The government is spending all their time dealing with it and covering it all up. As for Yue Shan, well, you've got to admit he's good. It'll be tough to beat him, even with all our powers combined."

"Not necessarily," God of Death chuckled darkly, "He is powerful, but he still only has one life. We have endless lives to give and endless chances to take him down. We just need to succeed once."

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Sun Meng asked, looking from one teammate to another, "I need medical aid. Also, this just wasn't part of the deal! Why has it become a fight to the death with the authorities? That wasn't what I signed up for!"

She punctuated her sentence with a dry sob. Her fierce gaze landed on the beautiful woman being controlled by God of Death. Sun Meng had long suspected that the ringleader would never reveal his true identity and actually show up as himself. She was not all all surprised that the man who died just now was but another puppet. All she felt was the spiteful pinch of deception.

"It's all thanks to that Ah Wei," God of Death spat.

His face, or rather, the woman's face, contorted with rage as he thought about how his perfect plan had been compromised and burnt to ashes. It was supposed to be a covert operation, but that idiot had led everyone to the enemy's front door, where the team's powers were exposed out in the open.

They may have escaped this time, but there will be a next time. They will be hunted and it will be brutal.

This troubled him, but he concealed it perfectly behind a facade of confidence.

"There's nothing to worry about. It'll blow over soon. I have parasitic hosts in the countryside. It's safe there. It's also the perfect place to heal. We'll be back the moment the authorities have moved on to ruining someone else's life," he said.

This prompted Nessie to transform into liquid state with a poof before darting forward as a squirt of water. He landed on the window of a passing car and seeped through it.

Less than a minute later, he had taken control of the car's young driver, who made a U-turn and stopped in front of the team.

"Let's go."

"What about the cat cafe? My cat's still in there!" Sun Meng said after climbing into the car.

"Now is not the time, trust me," God of Death replied gravely.

"But you promised me!" she argued, raising her voice, "There's no Yue Shan in that cafe! With our combined powers, we'll take it down easily. What are you so afraid of?"

God of Death returned Sun Meng's unwavering glare.

"Oh, fine. Fine," he said, sighing, "Nessie, drop by XXth Street on OO Lane. I need to grab a cat before dropping by that cafe. We need the healing power of the cats there anyway. We might as well just take all of them."

*

A few hours ago, Zhao Yao was watching a yawning Ah Wei leave the cafe when his phone lit up with a new message.

This was a mere moment before God of Death began his top secret operation.

Zhao Yao blinked a few times as he read the message, which was from Dr. Liu.

"Oh? The Pallas's cat has been stolen?"

Without hesitation, he got to his feet and headed out the door, car keys dangling in his hand. The Pallas's cat was a supercat after all. This incident hinted at trouble.

Dr Liu was pacing up and down the entrance of the pet hospital when he arrived. She greeted Zhao Yao hastily before ushering him to her office, where the empty cage stood.

"I have no idea what happened. The cat was gone when I stepped in this morning. I thought it somehow escaped on its own, but security footage shows otherwise," she explained.

She rewinded the footage of Zhao Yao, who watched it a few times carefully. While it proved that the cat definitely did not stage its own escape, it did not capture who the thief was. All he could make out was a blurry shot of someone's back. He could not even tell if the person was a man or a woman, young or old.

"This is tricky," Zhao Yao mused, scratching his chin.

Dr. Liu watched him intently. She had turned to him as a last resort. She hoped with all her heart that he could help, but she did not pin too much hope on that.

Pallas's cats could be adopted as a pet with the right permits and documents. However, their conservation status remained to be near threatened after all. It was a protected species, so she called the cops the moment she found out it was missing.

Unfortunately, the police were not of much help. They arrived at her office, poked around, asked for a statement, then asked her to wait for updates.

She was too anxious to sit around and wait, which was why she ended up texting Zhao Yao.

He might not be a detective or a policeman, but he turned out to be the first with a lead.

He wrinkled his nose as he sniffed the air, his eyes shining when he stopped.

"Got it! I can detect that silly cat's scent," Zhao Yao thought triumphantly.

His sense of smell was greatly enhanced by the combined powers of his cats. This made sniffing out the Pallas's cat's trail a piece of cake.

He followed the scent out of Dr. Liu's office and eventually past the hospital's entrance.

"He was here, then there, then…"

He spun to face Dr. Liu, "I've got an idea. Stay here, don't panic. I'll find that cat soon."

He ignored the doubtful look on her face as he picked up the scent and followed it again.

"Here…"

"Then turn right…"

"God, this cat reeks…"

Zhao Yao's nose eventually landed him on XXth Street on OO Lane. He circled the street, stopping in his tracks when he spotted a middle-aged woman with a big backpack on her shoulders.

The bag was bulging at odd angles. It also radiated the cat's awful stench.

"She's the thief?" Zhao Yao wondered, scratching his chin, "She doesn't look the part."

"She seems to be waiting for someone. There must be more to this than meets the eye."

As Zhao Yao considered if he should confront the woman, a new update appeared on the mission panel of his book.

Side Quest: Never judge a book by its cover. The things that look the simplest can turn out to be the most complicated.

Mission Objective: Get to the bottom of the cat theft and find out who is behind it.

Reward: 300 experience points

Punishment: None

Zhao Yao's eyes lit up as he digested the details of the new mission. He could not help but crack a smile.

"Not bad, there's experience points to be gained."

That helped him make up his mind to not approach her, at least not yet. Instead, he stuck close to her, waiting for her next move.

Nothing happened for the next half an hour. Just as Zhao Yao was starting to feel bored, a car pulled up next to the woman.

The door opened and she climbed into the car, which took off instantly.

Zhao Yao flagged down the first cab that passed him and jumped in.

"Follow that car," he instructed the driver.

"The plot thickens. Seems like there's a mastermind pulling strings here. Could this lead to another ring of cat thieves like Ho Hao Cang's?" he pondered.

His train of thought was interrupted the longer they traveled. The roads and sights they passed grew increasingly familiar. It took him little time to recognize that they were heading to his cafe.

"Hmm, are they stationed near my house?"

His question was answered 10 minutes later.

The car stopped in front of the cafe.

Zhao Yao's mouth fell open.

"Are they here to steal my supercats? Who the f**k do they think they are?"