"Enough! Everyone stop! Don't kill the last remaining Boss! All stop your attacks now!"
Matcha stared at the millions of his debt and widened his eyes, as if he was about to burst into tears.
"I, Matcha, can be considered a decent cat since the day I was born. I have never owed so much money before in my whole life… This feels horrible."
Although Matcha looked like he idled his days away most of the time and even owed Fish Ball 50 dollars, he was actually the kind of cat who would not be able to sleep well at night if he owed too much money.
Beside him, Lightning was brimming with spirit as he felt that it was a feat in itself to be able to owe this much money.
Dust Ball, whose character was a dark-skinned young female athlete, squatted at the side. As a cat, she was more used to squatting down, even though now she was controlling a person.
While she was squatting, she remarked in worry, "What if Zhao Yao is wrong? Won't that mean that we'll be trapped in this dungeon every night? I have a meeting with other leaders in Closers World."
Diana chuckled and licked the head of the young female athlete as she said, "Don't worry, Dust Ball, Zhao Yao is very serious when it comes to issues concerning money and debt."
Just as the cats stopped as Zhao Yao had instructed them, the last remaining young Boss continued to deal blows towards the supercats.
"Regret starting a business."
All the supercats' were suspended from using the Divine Gambit skill from that moment onwards.
"No pay for you."
A ripple of money emanated from the Boss and spread out in all directions. In that instant, everyone entered a state where their debt would increase if they moved.
"Let's lend you some money."
Seeing countless 10 digits appearing in midair and flying towards the supercats, Zhao Yao immediately screamed, "Charge!!! Everyone roll into this wave of money!"
As he said that, he took the lead in charging forward. After being baptised by this wave of money, the figures above Zhao Yao's head and the rest of the supercats decreased by one or two million.
"Just like this…" Zhao Yao said, "As long as he continues to unleash this lending money skill, you guys will follow me and charge in to have a bath. This will slowly diminish the debt above our heads."
Matcha asked hesitantly, "If we do that, even though the figure above our heads would become smaller, every second after the debt would increase again. After a long time, won't our debt increase even more?"
Zhao Yao laughed mirthlessly. "A dead person won't need to pay off his debt."
Matcha asked hesitantly again, "… Will this work?"
Zhao Yao nodded and said, "Of course."
Next, the supercats willingly let Boss attack them with the money-lending blows. Very quickly, they managed to reduce their debts to a few thousand dollars. However, the rate of increase in their debts had reached a state where the figures would jump by a few thousand dollars per second. Basically, after every two or three seconds, 10 000 dollars would be added to their debt.
Zhao Yao, being the biggest victim out of all of them, had accumulated a rate of 20 000-dollar increase per second for his debt.
"Kill him!"
The supercats started dealing their blows altogether at once. After a few minutes, the last Boss was killed.
Zhao Yao immediately turned to stare at the figures on top of everyone else. It had indeed ceased to increase. Zhao Yao finally heaved a sigh of relief. However, even so, the debts of 10k or 20k, up to 30k or even 40k for each supercat, when added together, amounted to more than one million in total. However, this was a price that was still acceptable for Zhao Yao.
My Family Has a Gold Mine was dumbstruck by the sight. "This works? So simple? None of us actually thought of that?"
"It's a miscalculation, a miscalculation indeed," another player said. "Not paying off the debt and using other people's money to start a business. Why did we not think of such a simple logic like this?"
The virtual image of a cat slowly appeared before Zhao Yao's eyes as the three Bosses were defeated, encapsulating the whole hall. It was a blurred image of Giggle.
This virtual cat image said, "Heroes, to be able to defeat the stronghold I left here would mean that you guys have understood the true meaning of wealth, that is to use other people's money to earn one's own…"
Zhao Yao thought to himself, "This guy's understanding of making money… is actually the same as mine? He doesn't look like a bad cat either." He stared at the virtual image of the cat, wondering if the cat was one of the alien cats who created Closers World as he tried to remember the image of this cat clearly in his mind.
The virtual image of the cat continued to speak in a business-like manner, "Okay, enough small talk. I hid the world's strongest power here. Go ahead and buy it if you wish."
The next moment, the virtual image of the cat disappeared and the huge golden yellow door behind him opened. Zhao Yao immediately led the supercats past the door.
However, at the same time when they went in, it was time to calculate the fees due for the dungeon. Everyone had to pay off the debts on top of their heads to be able to clear the dungeon and enter the mall.
Zhao Yao sighed as he helped each supercat pay off their debts, eventually walking into the mall himself, but with a black face.
Matcha tiptoed over to Zhao Yao carefully as he looked at Zhao Yao and said, "Zhao Yao, Zhao Yao, you spent so much money this time. Are you alright?"
Zhao Yao rolled his eyes at him and said, "Don't worry. I don't need you guys to pay me back."
"Eh? Hahahaha, what are you saying? I didn't come over to ask you this. Hahaha, you underestimate me, hahahaha. A few thousand dollars is nothing to me." Matcha could not help chuckling again as he said that.
Looking at Matcha who was smiling non-stop, Zhao Yao said, "I need you to make some preparations. I will be throwing a birthday party in a few days. I need you to help me inform all the Cat Kings in Jianghai."
"Birthday?" Matcha gaped in surprise and asked in confusion, "But it isn't your birthday…"
Zhao Yao glared at Matcha and said, "Can't I celebrate my 26th birthday in advance?"
Zhao Yao thought to himself, "Tsch. I can't recover from my losses from the alien cats at the moment. I shall harvest some money from the cats in Jianghai for now."
As he said that, everyone's debts from the dungeon had been cleared. Zhao Yao and the rest entered the space behind the huge golden yellow door and saw rows of dazzling shops before them, with all sorts of differently priced items.
Zhao Yao was not interested in anything else but the World Horn and began searching for that item.
"It costs 500 dollars per use?"
Zhao Yao frowned. He thought of how he would have to use this thing to increase his progress in the evolution bar and decided to buy a hundred of those.
Afterwards, Zhao Yao bought another golden key that was worth 10 000 dollars. It allowed him to enter the mall anytime he wished to.
At that moment, Rice Cake appeared beside Zhao Yao. The armor she originally wore was gone. She now wore a small white dress, revealing the appearance of the human character she created. It was the look of a white-haired small Lolita.
The moment Rice Cake ran over to Zhao Yao, she just kept on bumping Zhao Yao with her head as she said, "Zhao Yao, Zhao Yao! The properties of this apparel is so strong! Can you buy it for me please?"
Zhao Yao glanced at the price tag and nodded as he said, "It's not worth it to buy in here. I will buy one for you in real life."
Rice Cake immediately pouted and glared at Zhao Yao angrily as she said, "Zhao Yao, I just want this apparel." As she said that, she kept pawing at Zhao Yao's chest. "Please, Zhao Yao? If you buy this apparel for me, I will let you hug and cuddle me as you wish in real life, okay?"
Zhao Yao stared at the price tag on the apparel. It cost 15k. However, thinking of how he was going to get back all this money from the alien cats, he waved it off and said, "Okay, okay, stop pressing on my chest. My blood is about to burst already. I'll buy it."
"Yay!" Rice Cake jumped with joy. "Zhao Yao you're the best!"
Gaia stared longingly as he said from the side, "Zhao Yao…"
"Get lost."
…