"No!!!!"
As Zhao Yao's words rang in their heads, the six buff men screamed in unison, flooding the place with their ear-splitting yells.
Fit Bro's eyes had already been reddened with anger. He slid Zhao Yao a cold hard glare and said, "I would rather die than to give birth to a baby."
Zhao Yao seemed indifferent to his predicament and mocked, "But the baby is your flesh and blood!"
At the same time, Zhao Yao was still busy consolidating all the rules he had learned in order to accept a mission from other people.
"In order for me to accept a mission using my BOOK, it must be somehow related to a supercat. Also, it must be something that I can achieve. Lastly, I cannot scam my way using my illusion."
However, Zhao Yao still had his doubts about the last requirement.
He understood that he could not blatantly use his illusion to create a mission. For example, he can't use his illusion to conjure a monster to attack his target. The exclamation mark would not appear even if the target came running towards him, asking for help.
Something ticked in his head, "What if the illusion worked in an indirect way. Let's say I used my illusion to scare my target. Then, my target comes running towards me, asking me to give her a ride home. This would not be considered as using my illusion right?"
Hence, Zhao Yao gave Matcha instructions to leave the place. The gang of six wanted to give chase but could hardly stand on their feet. All six of them rocked back and forth as their weight constantly shifted from one foot to the other. They were in no shape to run.
Following the orange cat's disappearance, their bellies had also begun to shrink. The piercing pain had gradually diminished as well.
Naturally, a thought sprang into their heads.
"Maybe this power to impregnate an individual by making eye contact is limited by the physical distance between the caster and the victim?"
With this thought at the back of their heads, they couldn't help but start smiling.
However, their relief was short-lived. The orange cat returned and shot all of them a death glare. Immediately, the astounding pain returned to haunt them as their bellies expanded again.
However, this had allowed them to confirm the hypothesis that the power was limited by the physical distance.
Matcha folded his arms across his chest and asked, "Zhao Yao, are you done playing yet? We need to go back for dinner."
"Why are you in such a hurry? Just stay here and wait. Furthermore, I'm not playing. I'm working."
Matcha threw Zhao Yao a condescending look and muttered, "Yeah, even a r*tard can tell that you're not working."
Meanwhile, Fit Bro was leading his subordinates as they made their escape. However, the orange cat was hot on their heels. With their pregnant bellies, their current speed was only slightly faster than a turtle. They stood no chance outrunning the cat.
Zhao Yao, who was disguised as lamp God, burst out laughing, "I believe this orange cat would like to protect all of you until your delivery date. This is such a heart-warming scene."
The orange cat stared at Zhao Yao and replied, "Zhao Yao, why are you so happy that others are pregnant?"
Roly Poly was still lying on Zhao Yao's shoulders as he began fantasizing, "Why do I have the power of invisibility? If I had this power instead, I would be able to impregnate all the beautiful cats around me in an instant. This is the true power to dominate the world!"
Fit Bro could hear lamp God's voice echoing down the alley, but he could not even be bothered to be angry at him. He just shouted at the top of his voice, "Lamp God, quickly get us out of here!"
"Yes, yes! Quickly get us out of this dugout!"
"I'm begging you! Just let us out! We are still so young! I don't wanna give birth at this young age!"
Immediately, six exclamation marks simultaneously appeared above their heads. A contented smile found its way up Zhao Yao's face. Zhao Yao's expression was identical to a parent who had just reunited with his long-lost son.
"This is exactly like I hypothesized. I can't simply use the illusion to create or resolve a problem. Instead, by using an indirect method such as scaring them, I would no longer be constricted by the final stipulation!"
Hence, Zhao Yao accepted six missions all at once, netting him a total of 120 experience points.
This amount of experience points was insignificant to Zhao Yao. However, it was still better than nothing.
Just when they thought that they had successfully escaped from the orange cat's evil clutches, Matcha once again appeared in front of them.
"Why is it in front of us again?"
"No, no. I can feel the fetus moving inside my belly!"
"Lamp God, help us get out of this god d*mn place!"
For the subsequent hours, Zhao Yao led the six of them running around the college campus endlessly. Their stomach had gone through an infinite amount of expansion and contraction. All six of them were on the verge of breaking down from this torment. Every time they saw Matcha, they would be greeted by a searing pain down their belly.
Zhao Yao stroked his chin thoughtfully when the exclamation marks no longer appeared above their heads. He concluded, "I guess there is a finite amount of mission each individual can provide."
This series of pregnant runs had given Zhao Yao a total of 600 experience points. Currently, his BOOK read lv4(1828/5000). Joy blossomed within him as he felt the warm fuzzy sensation surging through his body. He was one step closer to leveling up.
Now, the only task at hand was to get rid of the six of them.
Usually, Zhao Yao would hand these apostles over to Inspector Ho once he was done with them. However, seeing how generous they were with the experience points, Zhao Yao could not bear to send them there.
However, he also had no better options.
Zhao Yao had made up his mind. He made use of his remaining time with them to understand their supercat's abilities.
As the gang of six was running for their dear lives, Zhao Yao began interrogating them with a series of questions.
Using his pretense as a lamp spirit coupled with the fact that they were all groggy from the incessant running, they offered no resistance and gave up all their information.
However, what they said caught Zhao Yao by surprise.
"There is no cap to how strong you can get? The potential for this ability is insane!"
Zhao Yao was similarly taken aback by their relationship with the supercat. Until now, they had no idea what their supercat looked like.
They only know that they had received this superpower which granted them the ability to train relentlessly and constantly improve their body strength limitlessly.
Every time the cat came over to lend them the strength, their visions would turn blurry. By the time they reacted to it, the cat had already disappeared.
From their explanation, Zhao Yao understood for a fact that the supercat had far surpassed this gang of six in terms of physical strength. It was like an adult toying with a small kid.
By lending out its power every day, without letting its apostle knows its identity …
"This is kinda like harvesting your crops." Suddenly, Zhao Yao's heart skipped a beat. He realized that the supercat was literally harvesting its crops.
Zhao Yao recalled his conversation with Roly Poly when he first met him. By lending out their powers, supercats could slowly increase the potency of their superpower. The only downside was that the power only improved by a small margin every time the cat lent it out.
"This means that the supercat is going around, lending out its power in order to strengthen itself? It is as good as going around to harvest its crops. Or maybe, it is going around to mark its territory."
Zhao Yao's heart sank when he realized how long they had been endowed with this superpower.
Fit Bro, who was the strongest among the six, had only received the power for less than a month.
It had already been slightly more than half a year since the first supercat awakened. Zhao Yao could only imagine how strong that cat, with the ability to train incessantly, had grown since the first day.
Not only that, Zhao Yao hypothesized that the cat had leveraged on its ability to spread its sphere of influence. Every apostle which received its power would be equivalent to its subordinate.
This network of apostles who had received this power was known as Muscle Society according to Fit Bro. The strength of the group lied in their muscle power.
Fit Bro and gang's recent hunt for supercats were also instructions given by his higher-ups.
If they decided to disobey the instructions, they would be instantly robbed of their superpower. Taking this power away from them was as good as taking away their lives.
Fit Bro stared at the dugout as fury rushed through his body. He commented, "We only failed today because of our lack of preparation. We will catch this supercat the next time around. If we fail to do so, we will report to the higher-ups. They would be fascinated by this super-cat. Its power is terrifying!"
Fit Bro turned his head towards the lamp spirit, only to realize that he had already vanished into thin air.
"Huh, that son of a bitch is finally gone!"