A cacophony of meows, cackles, and wails echoed in the extradimensional belly. These noises were translated into words when they reached Zhao Yao's ears. He could feel a throbbing ache at the back of his head from listening to the simultaneous conversations. Unsurprisingly, with more than a hundred supercats packed inside, the belly had descended into chaos.

Cats were darting around. Some had withdrawn to the comfort of the pet beds to observe their new surroundings. Others were fighting or squabbling over food or the toilet. A handful was sprawled out on the floor, pa.s.sing around bags of catmint.

Of course, most of them were napping. These were cats after all.

Ares was seen maintaining a deflective field around the laptops to stop cats from fighting over them.

A variety of scratching posts, toys, and dolls were scattered all over the place.

Zhao Yao could not help but shut his eyes for a moment. He needed some time to think, "I had over 20 cats. Now, there's at least a hundred more. It's not going to be easy to manage 150 supercats and get them to live together in harmony."

It would be a logistical nightmare. He could not imagine how much time would have to be spent on feeding them and clearing their p.o.o.p. He noticed that the toilets in the belly were already operating at full capacity. The cats who could not hold it in and had done their business in various spots around the s.p.a.ce.

"Thank G.o.d I'm not in charge of cleaning this place."

The person who was responsible for this ran towards Zhao Yao the moment he laid eyes on him.

Faceless looked like he was close to tears.

"I can't do this. We can't do this," he started rambling, "There are too many cats in here. It would take hours every day to keep this place clean. We need to change the way we manage them. We need a mansion to house them, or perhaps a manor. Oh, we also need more of those automatic toilets. A couple robot vacuums would be good…"

Zhao Yao waved his hand to stop Faceless from continuing.

"We'll talk later," he said firmly.

He cast an auditory illusion that blanketed the s.p.a.ce in silence so that he could be heard when he spoke.

"h.e.l.lo everyone. I am the person who has rescued you from the auction. I saved you not because I want to keep you and control you. I will not sell you either. If you have places to go or return to, you are free to leave."

The supercats immediately began to speak in hushed whispers at the end of Zhao Yao's announcement.

Faceless jumped out of his skin.

"You're letting them go?!" he exclaimed, "Do you know how much money they're worth?"

Zhao Yao pursed his lips. "It doesn't matter. I have two billion US dollars in my bank account right now. I'm not particularly excited about money at the moment."

Faceless felt like the blood in his veins was boiling. That was his money. His hard-earned cash.

Regardless, it was a waste to just let these supercats go. He tried to convince Zhao Yao to rethink his decision, but was cut off again.

"You don't have to say more. I'm not changing my mind. I can't handle so many cats at once. With the exception of the Pallas's Cat King, the rest of them are harmless. It's fine to set them free," he said.

The bank and secret apartment were not the only places that they went to today. They had also made a trip to the Mao Gang's base so that Zhao Yao could retrieve the information files of the supercats.

He had pored through each of them to make sure that the cats would not pose too much of a threat to the public if they were let loose. He had a.s.sumed that none of them would be particularly dangerous. He found it difficult to believe that the Mao Gang would be capable enough to capture powerful supercats. Even if they did, they would keep them for themselves, not auction them.

In the end, he was right. Only the King had to be handled with extra care.

The following days were spent on dealing with the cats. Some of them had requested to stay with Zhao Yao. He did not refuse them. The rest were released into the wild in batches. Zhao Yao picked places with a relatively low supercat density for them. He would set free a group of four or five cats at each of these locations. They would immediately scatter into various directions when they set foot on the ground.

Zhao Yao was sure that they would integrate themselves into the local supercat network quickly. The world was vastly different from a year and four months ago, when the awakening first happened. Supercat organizations and apostle factions had not just emerged, but also become developed inst.i.tutions, each bound by their own rules. He was giving each cat the freedom to find the place they belonged to.

However, there were some supercats that absolutely did not suit urban life. The Pallas's King Cat was a prime example of that.

Zhao Yao had no choice but to make another trip to the Gobi desert so that he can send the King home.

When the King and his daughter, Neoma, left the dimension doorway, they turned back to Zhao Yao, grat.i.tude written clearly over their faces.

"We are eternally grateful to you," they said earnestly, "The Pallas's Cat clan will always welcome you to our desert."

Zhao Yao smiled at them and inched forward to rub their heads. Neoma seemed to enjoy the contact, but the Pallas's Cat King felt that being patted was not particularly dignified for a cat of his position. He blinked awkwardly, but allowed the man to continue patting him. He did not dare refuse him.

At that moment, Lightning could be seen darting through the belly to reach the doorway. Unfortunately, he found that he was unable to cross the threshold. He smacked loudly into an invisible barrier when he reached it. Zhao Yao had not given him permission to cross the doorway. He did not know this, so his face, which was plastered against the barrier, was still s.h.i.+ning with unadulterated excitement.

"I'm here. I'm finally here!" Lightning exclaimed.

He closed his eyes intently, as if he was listening to something attentively.

"Zhao Yao, can you hear it? The entire desert is calling my name. They are waiting for the arrival of the Pallas's Cat King."

In response, Zhao Yao dropped his fist on the cat's head.

"It's time to go home," he said.

Lightning immediately hugged Zhao Yao's calf, refusing to let him go.

"No, Zhao Yao, let's stay in the desert just for a while! This is the first time I've even set eyes on it. Please!" he pleaded, looking up at him with sad eyes, much like Puss in Boots in Shrek.

Sidequest: Stay in the desert

Objective: Let Lightning stay in the desert for at least a week

Reward: 10 experience points

Punishment: None

Zhao Yao shrugged. 10 experience points were not much, but they were still points. Lightning did not work at the cafe anyway. He was of more use at the desert than if he was at home, hooking up with random female cats.

Zhao Yao permitted the cat to cross the doorway. Lightning immediately charged through it and sprinted across the gra.s.sland, alternating between leaping in the air and rolling on the ground.

"Are you ready?" he shouted, chuckling, "The Super Pallas's Cat is here!"

Zhao Yao narrowed his eyes at his antics.

"I'll come get you in a week. Make sure you're waiting for me right here, okay?" he told Lightning.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

Zhao Yao shook his head in disapproval before turning to the King.

"Please take care of him on my behalf," he said sincerely.

"Don't worry!" the King replied cheerily, "We will take good care of the Super Pallas's Cat."

With that, Zhao Yao turned around and headed into the doorway. He restricted the access rights so that only him alone can walk through it, then made it invisible from view.