Carrying the ragdoll with one hand and Matcha on his back, Zhao Yao couldn't stop thinking about the fight that just occurred as he walked the city alley.
"Yeah, I guess I was too careless for not expecting such bizarre power. Had I not brought Matcha along, it would have been disastrous."
"And this face …" A thought sprung to his mind as Zhao Yao touched his face. "It would be better for me to hide this face of mine. I can't risk exposing my own identity. I got lucky today as the camera didn't manage to capture my face."
"Then again, I was seen by two people. Nah, It shouldn't be too much of a problem."
Although Jin Jia Jia and Xiao Ming had a glimpse of his power, they didn't manage to capture it on film. Anyway, they wouldn't be able to convince other people to believe their words.
After reflecting on his mistake, Zhao Yao turned his eyes to look at the cat he was carrying. Although it managed to grab hold of its target, the mission panel didn't register the mission as a success.
Zhao Yao carefully examined the contents of the mission panel, and asked with a gentle voice, "Huh, accept? Let me think about it. "
"Hello, do you understand what I'm talking about?" Zhao Yao questioned as he placed the ragdoll on the floor.
The ragdoll refused to talk. Instead, she replied with a cold snort.
"Hi, I'm Zhao Yao." Zhao Yao tried again to get a reply. "What's your name?"
The ragdoll merely swayed her tail, refusing to reply.
Zhao Yao asked again, " If you still refuse to talk, I can only keep you tied up and locked up. I'm sure you don't want that to happen right?.."
It couldn't be any more silent. At this moment, Matcha said as he licked his lips rapidly, "Meowhaha, you know what Zhao Yao? Leave this to me! I'll be sure to get an answer from her. "
He was just about to go over, but was stopped dead in his tracks as Zhao Yao grabbed him back, "Don't even try, you dirty cat."
Zhao Yao glanced at his camera, only to realize that it was almost 10 pm and that they were even closer to the deadline. Zhao Yao couldn't help but frown and asked the ragdoll yet again, "Hey hmmm little girl…. look, my friend of mine here can't hold it in anymore, and it's getting impossible for me to stop him. Last week, he didn't even spare a poor little three-month-old male cat. The blood. Let's just say it couldn't stop flowing. Oh, my lord. If you are going to keep on acting like this and refuse to talk, I'm gonna to have to let my friend do as he wishes."
Matcha rolled his eyes and shot Zhao Yao a look of disdain.
On the other hand, the ragdoll started shivering a little upon hearing Zhao Yao's words.
Zhao Yao pushed on, "You know it could actually be a good thing. When the time comes, and you become a mother of a baby, you can join us to be part of our family. We would have loads and loads of babies…"
"Enough." The ragdoll finally opened her mouth to speak. "My name's Elizabeth."
"Indeed, I am similar to Matcha. We can communicate through a subconscious telepathic medium. Could it be the power of the book?"
Zhao Yao grinned and asked, "So what's your power?"
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment but eventually gave in, "Illusion."
"Oh, I see…" Zhao Yao nodded to himself as he finally understood what just happened.
Elizabeth asked, "What do you want? "
Zhao Yao sighed, decided to be completely honest, and announced, " I guess you have been awakened for some time? Then you should understand this as well. In this world, we humans are the dominant race. If your power was ever discovered by an evil man, I'm afraid that you would have to endure all sorts of mistreatment in the form of experimentation and confinement or worse still, who knows if they may even perform an anatomy on you. It's time for you to make the best choice — that is to hide in my house. You won't have to use your powers to survive and risk being exposed. You have seen what we can do, it would be more than enough to protect you."
It was undeniable that the ragdoll had witnessed the power of Zhao Yao and Matcha. Though it was difficult to understand the principles behind it, the suddenness and mysteriousness of such happenings had left her in fear.
However, even upon hearing what Zhao Yao said, Elizabeth mocked, "Huh! You want me to stay in your house? As for what? Your toy?"
Zhao Yao froze for a split second, but answered, "No that's not it, as a friend. "
"In that case, please remove the rope from your friend's head. "
Zhao Yao thought about it and replied, "You should understand that you cannot outfight the both of us. I can remove your rope, but if you do anything rashly, it would be hard for me to trust you again. "
It seems like she could only control one person at a time. If there was anything strange about Zhao Yao or Matcha, they could instantly activate time freeze to regain control of each other. Hence Zhao Yao decided to undo the ropes on Elizabeth's head anyway.
Elizabeth finally let out a sigh of relief, and as she looked up to see Zhao Yao together with Matcha on his shoulder. She shot the both of them a disdainful look.
For the first time, Matcha had a good look at Elizabeth's charmingly cute face. Matcha grinned to himself and whispered to Zhao Yao, "Zhao Yao, she's adorable."
Zhao Yao made a quick comparison between Matcha and Elizabeth in his head. It was as if a block of soap standing 1.6m tall was right next to a Victoria's Secret Model who was 1.8m tall. He shook his head and answered, "My friend, you two do not match."
"How is that so?"
"I'm afraid you're just not good enough for her."
Zhao Yao looked at Elizabeth and asked her with a dispirited Matcha on his shoulder, "What do you say?"
Elizabeth replied, "I can promise you, but I would like to ask two favors from you…"
Just as she finished her sentence, a mouthful of crimson-red blood gushed out of Elizabeth's mouth.
Zhao Yao frantically yelled, "Hey!! Why is there blood coming out of your mouth? "
"Zhao Yao! What have you done to her!?" Matcha bellowed, "Did you injure her just now!?"
Zhao Yao retorted, "When did I ever hit her!? It was you all right!"
While the two argued, Elizabeth quickly wiped her mouth with her paw and spoke, "It's nothing much guys, and my stomach hasn't been very well these days. It isn't easy to find cat food that is healthy; this happens occasionally. "
Zhao Yao gave a worried look and suddenly recalled something. He remembered that as he was flipping through some files, he read that ragdolls were good in most aspects. However, their only problem was that it had a poorly functioning stomach which easily led to indigestion and could cause stomach problems. And obviously, as a stray cat, Elizabeth must have suffered from a bad diet.
Elizabeth seemed indifferent to what just happened. Instead, she swayed her tail and pointed in a direction. "Let's return to the villa."
Following Elizabeth's lead, they weaved through the alleys and returned to the villa.
It seemed like Jin Jia Jia, and Xiao Ming had long left the place. Zhao Yao opened the door to the basement, and in the midst of the darkness, he saw with his very eyes, many pairs of greenish-golden eyes glaring right straight at him.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could slowly see many cats of different sizes and colors hiding right in the basement. Upon Matcha and Elizabeth's appearance, the cats panicked and instantly scurried to hide, leaving three baby kittens circling Zhao Yao's legs as they purred relentlessly.
"This is…" Zhao Yao said to himself.
Elizabeth spoke in a calm and abnormal voice, "They are all stray cats, ditched by humans and left to fend for themselves. They were once raised by an old granny, but two months ago she fell terribly sick and was brought back to live together with her children. The cats were then left to fend for themselves with no one to take care of them. Pfft.."
And as she finished her sentence, another mouthful of blood spurted out of Elizabeth's mouth yet again. Zhao Yao anxiously responded, "Didn't I tell you to visit the vet first before coming over?"
Elizabeth licked her mouth and stubbornly replied, "I'm perfectly fine, let's just do something about these poor cats first. A city is a dangerous place for stray cats. There are hazards everywhere — cars, electrical wires, toxic substances and animal abusers that can easily kill them at any moment. I had no choice but to hide them here, finding every way to make sure that they have enough food to eat. Sometimes, we attract unwanted attention from humans, and I have to scare them away with all my might. "
As Elizabeth spoke, she stared intently into Zhao Yao with her diamond-like eyes, "Take care of them and help them settle down, this is my first request."