The first thing Xiao Yu did the moment she woke up was to inspect her body. Her eyes peered through the gap in her shirt only to see her pre-pubescent chest. Immediately, her eyes were filled with anger and abject disappointment.
At this very unfortunate moment, Fish Ball's meow shattered the silence in the room. This was followed by a voice which echoed in her ears, "Xiao Yu, what are you waiting for? Help me to my bed now! Oh, don't forget to help me warm my bed."
Initially, Xiao Yu was still drowning in disappointment from the shocking realization that it was just a dream. Fish Ball's words instantly incinerated her disappointment into anger.
Piack! Piack! Piack! Piakc!
With Roly Poly struggling in her left arm, Xiao Yu treated him to an avalanche of slaps before tossing him into a corner of the room.
Fish Ball struggled to get onto his feet as he stood there motionlessly. Xiao Yu slid him a condescending glare before sneering, "Trying to rebel against me? Without my instruction, you are not allowed to sit forever!"
Those words immediately plunged Fish Ball into despair. A thought popped into his head, "Moments ago, you were still referring to me as Master Fish Ball. Now, you're beating me up for no reason? Elementary school students are seriously so capricious!"
Meanwhile, Noodle was resting in his usual spot as he watched the comedy unfold in front of him. He tried so hard to suppress his laughter as he thought, "R*tard, do you think that you actually stood a chance against me and Ho Hao Cang? Wait a minute, who is Ho Hao Cang? How do I even know this random guy's name?"
In a secluded corner of Jiangmen City, Nightmare Cat was crawling out of a huge pile of trash. He could barely catch his breath as he panted, "B*stard. This is bad, so bad. I thought I could earn so much money by inviting all these dreamers into my world. In the end, the whole world was destroyed in a matter of minutes!"
Images of the headless horseman and Fish Ball foiling his perfect plan flooded his head. Rage swept over him as he promised himself, "Hmph, I've remembered all your faces! Don't worry, I'll pay back whatever you did to me by 10 folds! Also, that pesky guy …" An image of the adorable Mango appeared in his head, "I'm not going to forgive that fool as well! I will return!"
…
Zhao Yao's eyelids began to tremble as he opened his eyes to the beautiful sight of the real world. At the same time, a series of meows and screams had flooded the apartment.
Following Zhao Yao, the rest of the cats had also woken up. However, their response was completely different from Zhao Yao's. Matcha immediately ran towards a wall before slamming his fist relentlessly against it as tears streamed down his cheeks.
"My castle! My harem! Gone! All of them are gone!"
Old Cat immediately sprinted towards Matcha and informed him, "Sir George! Sir George! Just take a look at that Roly Poly! Something's wrong with him!"
Matcha instantly swept his head in Roly Poly's direction.
What he saw shocked him. Roly Poly simply sat on the ground in a quarter lotus position. The snow-white fur on his body drifted along the slight breeze as his body emanated an other-worldly peace and tranquility.
However, that thing which annoyed Matcha the most was the mutiny in the dream world. Even in the real world, the gang of Uncle Egg, Airplane and company had gathered behind Roly Poly.
Old Cat's voice trembled as he spoke, "This serendipitous dream had somehow provided the perfect opportunity for them to come together as one. I fear that their strength in numbers might threaten your claim to the throne."
"Hmph, they are just a bunch of losers. A group of good-for-nothings that I can't be bothered with," Matcha sneered.
Suddenly, Lion Head had appeared in the middle of the living room as her eyes darted from Matcha to Roly Poly. Her expression struck the perfect balance between shame and hesitation. The words struggled to come out from her mouth, "Why? Why did God make me fall in love with both Roly Poly and Matcha when he knows I can't be with both?"
Both Roly Poly and Matcha's face contorted beyond any recognizable means when they heard those disgusting words. Meanwhile, Lion Head had already lowered her head in shame before disappearing off to a corner, "Ah, don't force me to make this decision! I have no idea who I should choose or who I love more!" With that, her thunderous footsteps had erupted towards the corner.
Uncle Egg then whispered into Roly Poly's ears, "Roly Poly, I think Matcha is rather hostile towards you."
Roly Poly looked as if he had already reached the stage of Nirvana as he replied calmly, "It's okay. I have long retired from all these. I do not want to torment myself with battles of the past. Times have changed. All I want is some serenity as I spend the rest of my life as a domestic cat."
Uncle Egg responded, "But I fear that the serenity which you crave for is unattainable. Matcha, that cunning cat, had turned into Zhao Yao's perfect lapdog. Every day, he is spying on our each and every action, reporting all of them to Zhao Yao. We, coming together as one, are definitely his number one sore eye."
Roly Poly lamented, "What is the entire purpose of this ruthless game of thrones? In the end, it is all but a dream."
All the cats could not believe the wisdom coming out of Roly Poly's words.
Initially, they were subordinates to Lion Head. However, her affection towards Roly Poly caused them to extend their allegiance towards him. Finally, they were completely captivated by his wisdom and sagacity.
This was especially true since the night when Roly Poly's fur turned snow-white. He seemed to have seen past everything. No one could even fathom what he was thinking at this point.
However, all the cats had somehow missed the glimmer in Roly Poly's eyes. In his head, he was screaming, "Power? Title? Wealth? I want all of that! I want them so much that I would die for it! However, Zhao Yao's punishment for me has yet to end. Hence, I need to stay low for the time being. As for that fool, Matcha, I will tolerate his stupid shenanigans for now. One day, he will definitely earn the wrath of Zhao Yao. That day would also be the day I return to power! Meowhahaha!"
Suddenly, the familiar footsteps echoed from the hallway. Roly Poly's body disappeared in an instant before appearing with a cloth in his mouth. Diligently, he started to get rid of the stains on the floor.
Conversely, Matcha had pounced onto Zhao Yao's calf before rubbing his head affectionately against it.
Zhao Yao glanced at this obedient fur ball before patting him on his head, "Matcha, you're so well-behaved."
Matcha responded by stretching his front paws in the air, demanding a hug from Zhao Yao.
A glimmer flashed across Zhao Yao's eyes as he cradled Matcha in his arms. With his fingers running through Matcha's silky fur, Zhao Yao glanced at the remaining cats before announcing, "I bet all of you had more than enough sleep already! Since it's still Chinese New Year Eve, we'll continue with our feast! Baiquan, are there any more meat left in the fridge? Bring out all the mutton and beef. Oh yes, I want some dumplings as well! More chives please!"
A chorus of cheers erupted amongst the cats when they heard this splendid news.
Even though Zhao Yao had wasted quite some time in the dream world, the missions were finally completed. He glanced at his mission panel and was delighted by the 'complete' statuses printed on it. Despite not having found Dust Ball and Rice Cake, he still managed to bag 10,000 experience points.
Furthermore, for rescuing all the apostles and destroying the dream world, Zhao Yao was awarded another 2000*2 experience points.
Zhao Yao stared at his BOOK and saw the beautiful numbers printed on it, book: lv6(17602/20000).
He could hardly contain the happiness racing through him as he pondered, "I should make use of the next few days to properly plan what to do with all these experience points."
Matcha was still relishing the moment with that smug look of his, "Hmph, look at all you peasants! None of you would ever get to enjoy this royal treatment …"
Before he even finished gloating over the others, Zhao Yao had already placed him on the ground before he moved on to Elizabeth. From the looks of it, he was going to hug Elizabeth for the entire duration of the hotpot. This was enough to cause Matcha to shake with fury. Hence, he sprang onto the seat next to Zhao Yao before fixing his death glare at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth simply set in Zhao Yao's arms, with her belly exposed for all to see. Sadness crushed her. In her dream, she had more money, apartments, luxury bags than she could ever ask for. Now, she was just a regular chubby cat serving as a waitress in a café, a victim of multiple molestation cases.
"Hmph, if only I could return to the dream."
…
The current dream world was enveloped in total darkness. Spirit cat's forehead was drenched in cold sweat as he flew from one corner to another. Finally, he had no choice but to scream, "Is … anyone here?"
…
"The hotpot is ready!"
A storm of paws reached towards the boiling soup before Matcha stopped all of them with his chopsticks.
"Preposterous! How dare you eat before our dear leader? Take your dirty paws away!" Matcha then forced his most amiable smile and announced, "Leader, please!"
Somehow, a distracting thought was tugging at Zhao Yao, "Did I forget about something?"
Suddenly, he cocked his head towards Dust Ball who remained fast asleep, "D*mn it! Dust Ball is still sleeping?"