359 Training ?

Sphynx Cat's unique ability would endow his apostles with a body no ordinary humans could possibly achieve. Even if the power was removed from the apostle, its effects would still remain.

To Zhao Yao, this was as good as wielding two powers simultaneously – the power of a god-like body and another power of his choice.

Zhao Yao believed that Sphynx Cat had slowly grown accustomed to the life inside the belly since arriving here months ago. Hence, he was somewhat confident to restrain and subdue him at this point.

"My vitality and strength would instantly increase by a few folds. The only downside was its stupid side-effect," Zhao Yao grunted as he propped his chin on his hand, "… am I gonna turn gay?"

Despite his vehement belief in his 'straightness' and his immunity to its side effects, Zhao Yao dared not take the risk because of how strong he was.

If something happened to Baiquan or Zhao Xue, Zhao Yao could forcefully readjust their sexual orientation with his brute power. However, who would be there to stop him if something happened to him? A disastrous fate awaited Jiangmen should Zhao Yao turned into a gay and establish the second Muscle Society.

For the sake of Jiangmen and himself, Zhao Yao decided to recruit Sphynx Cat but abstain from all sorts of training. Conversely, he would force Sphynx Cat to train on his own and improve his physical strength. Hence, the effects of this training would transfer over when Zhao Yao recruited the next cat into his BOOK with 'six is better than five'.

"Based on my observation, this would be a far wiser mover than to train using Sphynx Cat's power and pray that everything would turn out fine. After combining five cats' power into my body, other than the increase in strength, agility, dexterity, my appearance, personality remained the same. This is definitely the safest option."

"However, this is a one-off approach. How much I manage to gain is 100% dependent on Sphynx Cat's strength at that exact moment. From then on, Sphynx Cat's gain in strength would have zero relations with me. I'm afraid I have to buy as much time as possible for Sphynx Cat to strengthen himself and maximize the power gained."

"Previously, I was hesitant to allow Sphynx Cat to train for fear that it would overpower me. With my new found strength, there is nothing that I have to worry about."

In that case, Sphynx Cat's loyalty would not affect the probability of Zhao Yao successfully utilizing his powers. In the meantime, Baiquan and Zhao Xue could continue borrowing his power to enhance their strength, while Zhao Yao observed from the sidelines.

With this thought lingering in his head, Zhao Yao had already shoved himself into the belly, appearing right next to Sphynx Cat.

Currently, Ares and Sphynx Cat had huddled together into a ball. From time to time, his tongue would run across Ares's fur as Sphynx Cat purred in delight.

However, the feelings were definitely not mutual. Ares shot him a disdainful glare before muttering, "Can you put some strength into it? Haven't you eaten already?"

"Yes …"Sphynx Cat replied in an astoundingly gentle voice as a bashful smile appeared on his face.

Zhao Yao's sudden appearance startled Ares as he jumped to his feet and asked, "What's the matter? Oh yes, when are you going to let us out? I have already finished all the computer games and animes you have given us."

Despite the variety of animes and mind-boggling games, this life still paled in comparison to a life with the internet. Life without internet was as good as life without colors, devoid of the very element which made life beautiful and worth living.

Zhao Yao gave a patronizing nod of his head and responded, "Alright, I'll look into it." His eyes darted towards Sphynx Cat momentarily as cold sweat beaded his forehead. The current Sphynx Cat was a polar opposite of the original. Zhao Yao's eyes slid Ares a quick glance and suspected that he had no clue about Sphynx Cat's peculiarity.

Hence, Zhao Yao left the belly and used a dagger to carefully slice across his finger, revealing a tiny wound oozing with blood. With the use of deflective field, Zhao Yao came forth to Sphynx Cat with the drop of blood in hand.

"Sphynx Cat, take this. It's the essence of god."

The smile disappeared from Sphynx Cat's face as he shot Zhao Yao a suspecting look. He then responded with a scoff, "I'm not interested, you can leave it for yourself instead."

Zhao Yao responded by enticing him, "This will further increase your power by a few folds. You have no idea just how many cats crave for this …"

Sphynx Cat replied nonchalantly, "No."

The amiable smile also vanished from Zhao Yao's face as he spoke to Ares telepathically, "Ares, if you can make him eat it, I will guarantee that you will be the first one out of this place."

A glimmer flashed across Ares's eyes but he doubted Zhao Yao's words. He then exclaimed, "Do you think that I would be so naïve as to believe in your promises?" Ares was a witness to Zhao Yao's lies and deceits in Chuan Xiao District. He knew what Zhao Yao was capable of. In his eyes, Zhao Yao was already synonymous with words such as fraud and deception.

Zhao Yao's forehead puckered together as he noticed a pile of gleaming objects at the corner of his eyes. He threw his arms forward and pointed straight at the pile of cash before exclaiming, "That is my deposit! If I go against my words, you are free to tear these to shreds."

This was music to Ares. From the previous Chuan Xiao escapade, Ares had also learned just how important these piles of paper were to Zhao Yao. With these words thrown out, Ares was reassured that Zhao Yao would keep to his words.

"Deal."

The entire conversation was done telepathically. In a blink of an eye, a deal was struck. Ares's eyes drifted towards Sphynx Cat before ordering him in a cool, harsh voice, "Eat it."

Tears shimmered in his eyes as he responded pitifully, "Must I really eat this? I do not want to eat anything that came from this baddie."

"Just listen to me." Ares shot his meaty paws in the air before slamming it against the back of Sphynx Cat's head, "I do not like to hear all this complaining."

"Alright, I'll eat it." Sphynx Cat forced his eyes shut before the essence of god slowly entered his slightly parted lips.

"That's great." Zhao Yao announced with a thunderous applause, "Sphynx Cat, because of your wonderful performance since arriving in Cat Nation, I'll reward you with the opportunity to leave the cage and resume your training!"

These words caught every single cat's attention. Their eyes were glued to Sphynx Cat with admiration. They wished that they were in his place instead.

Old Cat, whose head was buried in his reflection journal, slowly lifted his chin up as he knocked on his groggy head. He was perplexed by this absurd scene and muttered, "What the hell are they doing?"

In a far corner of the belly, Red Packet was scrutinizing Zhao Yao from head to toe. By then, Red Packet knew for sure that Zhao Yao was not a man to be trifled with. He thought, "This man is a blatant liar who would come up with all sorts of lies to achieve his objective. Coupled with his insanely strong powers, he is definitely someone that I cannot mess around with."

Red Packet's original plan was to scam Zhao Yao's money before escaping from him. However, this idea had long vanished from his head.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yao's eyes drifted to the contents of his BOOK. As expected, Sphynx Cat was the sixth cat recruited under him. This also meant the completion of his main mission, netting him 2000*2 experience points. Currently, his BOOK read lv6(11108/20000).

The content of his main mission had also changed accordingly.

Main Mission: Acquire more strength by recruiting new cats to your team.

Objective: Recruit the seventh cat to your team and upgrade your book to level 7.

Reward: 3000 experience points

Punishment: Nil

Joy fluttered in Zhao Yao as he immediately threw 10+100+1000 experience points at Sphynx Cat, upgrading him to lv4 instantly.

He took a glance at his BOOK and realized that he still had another 9992 experience points to spare. His eyes then slowly drifted to Matcha's status which read lv6(1270/10000).

"Hmph, with the BOOK upgraded and Sphynx Cat upgraded to level 4, I still have sufficient points to upgrade Matcha to level 7."

However, he still had some unfinished business with Sphynx Cat. His fingers tapped on the available ability trees as his eyes slowly scanned the content. This was the first time he actually investigated Sphynx Cat's abilities.