Chapter 74: The Preparation
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Meanwhile, Baiquan’s eyes were glowing with envy as he asked Zhao Yao, “Master Zhao, is this a space distortion magic? Have you inserted an entirely new dimension into its stomach?”
“Erm, I guess you can say that,” Zhao Yao rolled his eyes as he had given up on the thought of encouraging him to go back to studies.
He glanced at Mango which was latching tightly onto a fake rat and remarked, “Elizabeth, control Mango and stop it from playing. We’re going to move out soon.”
“Hmm,” Elizabeth replied with a look of confusion, “I’m trying but … I just can’t seem to control it.”
“You can’t control it?” Zhao Yao repeated, “How is that possible?”
“There is nothing inside its head,” Elizabeth explained, “It was like trying to control a flower or a plant; you just can’t control it.”
Zhao Yao rolled his eyes in disbelief as a glimmer of red light once again flashed across his eyes, and he activated Elizabeth’s power. It was like his consciousness just multiplied into two as his newly materialized consciousness entered Mango’s body.
However, unlike usual, he was not inundated by the countless memories within Mango’s brain. He felt like he had arrived at a blank piece of white paper. There was nothing on it. It was impossible to control Mango using Elizabeth’s power.
Zhao Yao was left speechless after he deactivated Elizabeth’s power and commented, “This guy, its brain is empty?”
Mango continued to stare at Zhao Yao wide-eyed. There was nothing beneath its adorable face.
Zhao Yao was left with the only option of carrying Mango into the car and made their way towards the café.
They were able to reach the basement carpark of the mall in a few minutes with the Panamera. All the stray cats and supercats were marching in unison towards the café. This incredible sight captured the attention of the shoppers inside the mall.
“Look, so many cats are following that guy.”
“You don’t walk a cat, isn’t he afraid that the cats would be frightened and run away?”
“No, look at them. They are all so obedient.”
“Look at the huge cat walking at the front of the pack. It’s so big and fat and cute! What kind of cat is it.”
“I think it’s a ragdoll.”
Zhao Yao did not care about the attention that the shoppers were showering his cats with. He knew that these cats had to interact with strangers soon; hence there was nothing unusual about this. Furthermore, this was quite a good publicity stunt for his café.
Zhao Yao finally brought Baiquan and the cats to the cat café. It looked radically different from the restaurant which he bought weeks ago. It had transformed from a low key, inconspicuous café into an ostentatious cat café painted in blue and white.
Four words of different size were printed above the front door – Cat Haven Coffee House.
Zhao Yao even hired AkzoNobel for the painting. They painted with eco-friendly paint and completed the job in just a few days and were ready for business.
Once you entered the café, you would notice rows of white, circular table. They were surrounded by beautiful wallpaper which had hyper-realistic clouds on it. The predominant color scheme was a combination of white and blue. To allow the customers to better engage and play with the cats, Zhao Yao bought new lamps which were brighter and bigger.
Tiny fences were erected at the doorstep. This was to prevent cats from escaping and customers from flooding into the café.
There was a cabinet on the side of the fences. Zhao Yao had thoughtfully placed hand sanitizer and shoe covers for the customers to disinfect themselves before entering. This was to prevent the spread of any contagious diseases.
Beside the round tables in the hall, there were also all sorts of cat tunnels and kitty towers. Wooden planks were bolted onto the walls. This allowed the cats to travel around the café in their exclusive k highway.
Most of the stray cats were rather timid and started hiding inside the cat tunnels. The cats which were a little braver ventured to the top of the kitty tower and meowed at those beneath it. The bravest ones climbed up the planks and dashed along their kitty expressway.
There was a bar at the back of the hall. On its wall was a list of a variety of coffee and their respective prices. Shi Yu was standing behind the bar counter and was shocked to see the influx of cats. She asked, “How did you manage to get so many cats? Did you buy all of them from a nearby pet store?”
“Which pet store would have so many crossbred cats,” Zhao Yao chortled and continued, “These are the stray cats which I’ve adopted.”
Shi Yu took a look at the cats, and all of them were full of energy. Their fur looked so soft and beautiful; it even seemed like it was glittering in the sunlight. They definitely did not look like stray cats. Shi Yu commented, “You did an excellent job taking care of all these cats.”
Zhao Yao just continued to laugh. He had fed them with the best cat food, vitamins, and nutrition powder.
Theoretically, Zhao Yao understood that these stray cats had been through cycles of natural selection and they were much healthier than their pedigreed counterparts.
However, the only downside to crossbred cats was that they were used to independent living. A large proportion of them would not be as affectionate and hence would not be an ideal pet for many.
However, under Elizabeth’s supervision, Zhao Yao knew that the stray cats would not do anything hostile to the customers.
Shi Yu grabbed a tuxedo cat and gave it a gentle massage. It meowed with pleasure as Shi Yu commented, “It’s so cute and affectionate!”
“This cat is especially friendly as compared to the others,” Zhao Yao continued, “That’s right. Every cat has a distinct personality. We should take a picture of them and paste it on a board. This is to inform customers which cat is friendlier and which is more playful. It can also warn them against playing with the cats which are a little timid.”
Shi Yu chuckled as she noticed Baiquan standing behind Zhao Yao. She asked, “Baiquan, why are you here?”
“Oh, he is here to help us manage the café. Don’t worry, he has turned over a new leaf, and he is the premier feline sanitary expert and is also known as the Lord of Cat Shit.”
Baiquan was left speechless by Zhao Yao’s words as he stared at Zhao Yao, “Huh?” He felt as if he was a slave who had been sold to a new master.
Zhao Yao did not care about Baiquan’s reaction as he walked towards a specially designated spot. It was a small room, and there were shelves on both sides of the walls. At the corner, there were also pipes and fittings for water to flow through. Zhao Yao wanted to use it as a normal toilet.
However, Zhao Yao had a change of mind and designated it as the cats’ toilet.
He did not want to expose Dust Ball’s power right in front of Shi Yu’s eyes which was why he entered the room alone. Shi Yu was now an official sent by the government on formal duties; hence Zhao Yao wanted to prevent her from knowing too much about the supercats and their abilities.
Zhao Yao fished Dust Ball out of his pocket and stretched her mouth. He held Dust Ball by her hind legs as he started to shake her body to empty the things inside her stomach. It looked like he was emptying a dustbin.
“A*shole, let go of me!”
“Zhao Yao! You are a dead man! One day, I’m going to kill you!”
“Let go of me!”
Dust Ball’s screams echoed throughout Zhao Yao’s head as he continued to empty the cat litter box from her stomach. He then placed them on top of the shelves.
He even installed an air suction fan on the ceiling to remove any foul smell from spreading into the rest of the café.
“Hmm, I should better buy two more air fresheners and air filters. If there is no air flow, and Mango suddenly had diarrhea, it would be quite a disaster.”
Currently, not all the cat litter box in the toilet were automatic self-cleaning cat litter box. He intended to change all of them once business picked up.
He was not worried about the cats’ health because of the superior cat food that they were fed with and Elizabeth’s power – Celestial Beats.
While he was thinking about all these, it seemed like the cat café was finally ready for business. Suddenly, the words on the mission panel changed once again.