369 Strategic Shif ? (1/2)

Ishida and Onitsuka kept trying.

Unfortunately, their hard work did not pay off. Not a single one of the calls got through.

They ended up sending her a text message instead.

In that moment, it seemed like all three leads had gone cold.

”Lord Ishida, what is our next move?” Onitsuka asked.

While the assistant was clearly feeling defeated by the succession of failures, Ishida looked like he was just getting started. You could almost see the cogs turning in his mind.

”We'll have to change our strategy,” he concluded simply.

There was a venomous expression on his handsome face.

Ishida spoke to the shadow that was settled next to his feet. ”Have you finished eating, Kagemaru?”

The shadow was no longer as compact as it had been. It was now at least five meters long. Tendrils branched out from the black mass, sweeping the plates of food on the table into its depths, from which emitted sounds of chewing and swallowing.

The shadow let out a satisfied meow in response to Ishida's question.

”Good. Then let's go.”

The solid outlines of Ishida's body began to soften and blur before Onitsuka's eyes. He watched in awe as Ishida began to merge with the shadow, eventually becoming one with it.

”This is Lord Kagemaru's power? It is phenomenal!” he exclaimed.

”The Chinese believe that they can keep close tabs on me, but that really is just wistful thinking. You wait here. I'll be back,” Ishida said.

With that, the shadow darted out of the hotel room through the gap between the door and the floor.

As Ishida bolted through the hotel's hallways, he could not help regretting that he did not sneak into the country in shadow form.

”It would have kept those irritating officers off my back,” he thought.

That might have been a mistake, but it was not too late to rectify it now. As a shadow, he could leave the hotel under their noses and complete his mission. As long as returned quickly and made deliberate appearances to show that he had been in his room all day, no one would suspect what he had been up to.

*

That night, Zhao Xue was training at the usual spot near her brother's apartment.

It had been almost a month since she first started borrowing the Sphynx's power to train. It was obvious that the time and effort had paid off. Each of her movements was lightning quick and pointedly accurate. Every kick and punch she threw was accompanied by an audible swoosh.

The vast progress she had made was not lost on Zhao Yao.

”She's stronger than an Olympic champion now. She might even be stronger than an Avenger,” he observed, watching her closely.

Zhao Xue was moving so swiftly that a normal person would be unable to catch what she was doing. It would just look like a great, big blur. Of course, Zhao Yao was no normal human. He had the combined power of five cats, so he was even quicker than she was. His eyes could discern each of her actions and he busied himself analyzing her attacking and defensive moves.

”She is on her way to being as powerful as the Butcher, but her body is transforming differently,” he thought, scanning her from head to toe, ”That Muscle Society was full of meatheads whose arms were too muscular to fit into sleeves. Zhao Xue looks more like a combination of a sprinter and a high-diver. She's more lean than muscular, but she sure packs a punch.”

Zhao Yao's eyes glazed over as he considered why she was developing differently.

”Is it a gender thing?”

Baiquan's newly acquired body appeared in his head.

”Nope, that can't be it. Baiquan's not become a bodybuilder either. Perhaps it's because I leveled up the Sphynx. Maybe his ability is not just more powerful now, but more refined.”

Zhao Yao was happy with this conclusion, even if he was wrong. The most important thing was that Zhao Xue and Baiquan were happy with their new appearance. Neither of them was particularly keen on packing massive muscles. If that had been the aftermath of their training, they would not want to continue and Zhao Yao would not want to coerce them into it.

While Zhao Yao continued his observation, Roly Poly was worming deeper into his chest. The fat cat was here because he needed to lend his power to Zhao Xue. Now that that was done, he had nothing else to do. He was cold and bored.