Editor: Sparrow Translations
The mont he walked into the arrival hall, a man raised a welco card and hurried towards him.
He bowed deeply. "Hello, you must be Lord Ishida."
Ishida was the last disciple of Yagyu Kazuhiko, Japan’s only remaining blademaster. Yagyu was also known as the God of Sword Art.
He had always commanded imnse respect and power, but that reached a whole new level after the awakening.
The appearance of supercats changed things. Their superpowers made Yagyu more powerful than anyone could have imagined.
Young boys and n everywhere fought to be taken under his wing. The apostles that were after Nanako had links to him as well.
Like them, Ishida had co to China for her.
Ishida nodded curtly at the man. "Where is he?"
"We’ve located his whereabouts, but I’m afraid there are... complications. We can’t just go up to him and start a fight."
"Why not?"
Ishida’s perfectly shaped eyebrows were furrowed. He kept his piercing eyes firmly on the man, whom tried to shy away from his resolute stare.
"Because we believe you’re up to sothing."
Lin Chen was the person who had spoken. He strolled up to Ishida with an impish grin on his face.
"Hello there, Ishida. Welco to China. Allow to accompany you as you traverse through our beautiful country," he said.
Ishida’s eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
Lin Chen t his hostility with a smile.
"I’m an apostle officer. My na is Lin Chen," he responded easily, flashing his ID, "It’s very nice to et you."
Ishida glowered at him. "Is this how the Chinese authorities treat all their foreign friends?"
Lin Chen chuckled. "C’mon, let’s drop the pretense. You’re notfriend of ours. We know all about the trouble you’ve been stirring back ho."
This ti, when he looked at Ishida, there was a flicker of nace.
"What you’ve done in Japan is none of our business, but you’re in China now. If you cause any kind of trouble here, it’s my business. I will break more than just that handso face."
It was Ishida’s turn to smile. It did not reach his eyes at all.
"Don’t worry, my friend. I’ll give you a chance to spar with before I leave. Till then."
With that, he spun on his heel and walked away. The man who welcod him trailed behind.
Lin Chen remained where he was as he watched their retreating figures. A plump man hurried to him.
"Obnoxious, isn’t he?"
"He’s obnoxious because he’s confident," Lin Chen said, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "He’s self-made. He started with nothing, but fought his way to beco Yagyu’s disciple and climbed all the way to the top of that Japanese gang. They call him Raijin - God of Thunder. We should not underestimate him."
"You know how much the Japanese love little nicknas like that. Do we really have to shadow his every move?"
"Yes, for the next 24 hours at least. We’ll take turns. He is not leaving our sight," Lin Chen said firmly.
It was apparent that he was not kidding.
"They’re still tailing us. What should we do?" the man asked, peering anxiously into the rearview mirror.
Ishida was unperturbed. "Ignore them. Let’s focus on our target. Do you have his files?"
The man handed him a folder. In it was photo after photo of Nanako. There were shots of her entering and leaving the café, attending to custors, and caring for the cats.
"Cat café, huh? Does it belong to an apostle?" Ishida asked.
"Yes. The owner of the café is an apostle. He’s taken Nanako under his wing. I believe he was the one who defeated Sato and the rest."
Sato was one of Yagyu’s disciples as well. He was the one who got caught breaking into Zhao Yao’s house.
After the incident, he was arrested by Lin Chen. His capture alerted Inspector Ho to the existence of the Japanese terror group.
The nas of notable apostles in the group were added to the country’s list of potential threats. The Inspector would be alerted if any of them entered China. That was how Lin Chen knew of Ishida’s arrival.
Ishida continued browsing through the stack of photos. Among them were pictures of Zhao Yao and Bai Quan.
"So, what’s this complication you ntioned? Is this apostle particularly powerful?" he asked.
The man was quick to respond.
"Of course he’s no match for you, Lord Ishida," he flattered, "However, he seems to have so kind of healing abilities. Retired governnt officers, high-ranking ones no less, visit the café to be treated every day. If we attack, the authorities will know. What’s more..."
He turned to look out the window. A black car was now driving by their side, matching their speed. Lin Chen waved cheerfully from inside.
There was no need for him to complete his sentence. Lin Chen’s presence made things very clear. With the governnt watching his every step, it would be impossible to strike.
There was a deep crease between Ishida’s brows. "If that’s the case..."
He was confident that he could beat any apostle at all. However, he knew that attacking the retirees’ doctor would be challenging the authorities openly. That would not end well.
The car descended into silence as Ishida was consud by his thoughts.
*
At the cat café.
Elizabeth, Rice Cake, Roly Poly, and Matcha were seated in a circle, as if they were having a eting.
Elizabeth cleared her throat.
"As you all know, we have not been performing well for the past few days. For every 10 rounds we played, we only made it to the top 10 for one round. If we keep this up, we’ll never have our chicken dinner."
Winner winner chicken dinner.
That was the ssage that would be sprawled on the screen of the winner of a PUBG match.
Elizabeth started fuming when she saw the lackluster expression on Matcha’s face.
"Special ntion goes to you, Matcha!" she scolded, "Your aiming sucks! I don’t understand how you got punched to death with soone’s bare fists when you had a freaking rifle! Do you want to win or not?"
She then turned to Rice Cake, whom was dozing off.
"And you, Rice Cake!"
The sleepy cat was jolted awake. She widened her eyes and blinked slowly. "?"
"You attack anyone and everyone you see! And you always head to the most crowded spots first! Those are the most dangerous! Can you please just control yourself? You almost always die instantly. We’re pretty much always a three-cat team."
Rice Cake was not happy about such biting criticism.
"How can I get our chicken dinner if I don’t kill our opponents?" she retorted.
Matcha started defending himself as well.
"I told you! My internet connection got cut! I couldn’t move for at least two seconds. If that hadn’t happened, I would have shot him and killed him," he argued.
Elizabeth was shaking her head out of frustration. The past fortnight had been trying. Her teammates were nothing but burdens and it felt like she had to carry the entire team on her back. She could feel her blood pressure reach new heights with each day.
There was another spike in her levels when she spotted Roly Poly using his phone.
"Roly Poly! How many tis must I repeat myself? No phones during etings!" she yelled.
The fat cat raised his head and smiled at her apologetically.
"I’m sorry. I’ll stop," he said.
The word "bitch" flashed on his screen before he shut it.
Elizabeth let out a dramatic sigh as she looked from one teammate to another.
"This can’t continue. If we keep playing like this, we’ll never win a match, much less start a career in live-streaming."
She continued, "I’ve created a chicken dinner training schedule. From today, each of us will stick to that schedule and train! Every day!"
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