Am I A God?

There was a collective intake of breath as the crowd witnessed Lee Nan Hao’s tragic end.

“What kind of power could have torn his arm like that?”

“How many superpowers does this monster have?”

Faceless had dived into what felt like the deepest depths of despair so far, “It’s over. Even if everyone attacks him at once, he can still teleport to dodge it all.”

Zhao Yao was grinning from ear to ear at the apostles, whom all looked absolutely terrified. He checked on his mission panel again, “900 points? Cool. Almost there.”

He motioned for the apostles to come closer by curling his finger towards himself.

“Alright, let’s go. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stand here and take your blows,” he announced.

Shuiichi Nanno and the apostles from the likes of Samsara Sect and Star Cats launched themselves at him with a roar.

In the next moment, countless superpowers were hurled at Zhao Yao. They created a spectacular display of explosions and bursts of color.

As promised, Zhao Yao remained rooted on the spot.

Shuiichi Nanno was gawping at him, “Is he really not going to run? His arrogance is inconceivable!”

As the tsunami of powers crashed into Zhao Yao, swallowing him whole, Faceless could not help the bit of hope that surfaced in his heart.

“Is he dead?” he wondered.

His unspoken question was answered when a group of apostles started shouting manically from the other side of the hall.

“It’s no use! The attacks aren’t working!”

When the whirlwind of colors finally passed, Zhao Yao could be seen in the same position he was last in, perfectly unharmed.

No one could make sense of what was happening because they could not see the two dimension doorways that he had placed in front of and behind him. No matter which direction the powers were launched from, they were captured and devoured by the portals.

What they did see was far more shocking than the doorways.

Zhao Yao opened his mouth as he turned his face to the ceiling, then proceeded to forcefully spew the attacks unleashed on him.

These were the assaults that had been just been swallowed into the extradimensional belly. All kinds of blasts, fireballs, lasers, electromagnetic fields, and gravitational force fields had merged into one big beam of energy that shot upwards, decimating everything that stood in its way, from the ceiling to the furniture. It was like a black pillar leading straight to heaven.

He had to regurgitate these superpowers. If not, the supercats in the extradimensional belly were about to face a terrible plight.

“This… What is this? Is he using our attacks against us?”

“Monster! He’s a monster!”

Even at this point, Zhao Yao had not unleashed the full extent of his powers, but the apostles had already reached breaking point.

Purple Sabre Fairy, who had been sneaking glances at the battlefield, grabbed a fistful of dust on the ground and scattered it on himself, then proceeded to play dead.

Wind Devil collapsed on the ground next to him as well, eyes half opened so he can still catch what was going on.

“If you want to pretend to be dead, can you at least do it further away from me? I don’t want to get caught because of you,” Purple Sabre Fairy said through gritted teeth.

The rest of the apostles were either begging for mercy or attempting to flee, screaming their heads off. For the former, Zhao Yao used his illusory powers to deprive them of the five senses, leaving them unconscious. As for the latter…

“Sphynx Cat,” Zhao Yao called out telepathically, “Knock out the ones who are trying to escape please.”

The cat sprung out of the dimension doorway so swiftly that he appeared as nothing more than a black figure. Each apostle he darted past, be it Shuiichi Nanno, the guys from Samsara Sect or the men from Star Cats, dropped like flies.

Some apostles and supercats attempted to use their powers to escape. Sandstorm, for example, had curled up and stiffened into a rock that was rolling out of the place.

Unfortunately for him, this did not escape Sphynx Cat’s notice. He scooped the rock into his paw and crushed it, knocking out Sandstorm, whom was still inside.

With Sphynx Cat tying up loose ends, Zhao Yao had nothing more to worry about. He could focus on dealing with Faceless, whom he was sashaying towards. The terrified man was shaking visibly. He wanted to turn and run, but found that he could not. His legs had gone all wobbly.

The sight of Zhao Yao expelling the superpowers from his mouth had shredded any hope that he had left.

The plan worked. Allowing him to think that the apostles stood a chance against him, then crushing him time after time, had completely broken his spirit.

This time, when Zhao Yao looked at the mission panel, he noticed that the maximum of 1,000 experience points was reached. He instantly indicated that this sidequest was complete, raking in 1,000 * 2 points.

Faceless opened, closed, then opened his mouth again like a fish, “I…”

Zhao Yao simply smiled at him, then defeated the broken man of his five senses. He opened the dimension doorway to him and flung him inside.

Faceless was a gang leader who had accumulated a substantial amount of personal wealth. Even if most of it would be frozen or seized by the authorities, he was bound to have secret accounts offshore that held tons of money.

“This little scare isn’t punishment enough for what he did. He’s got to pay for the mental and emotional damage he has caused me,” Zhao Yao thought to himself.

He raised his head and surveyed the auction hall. There was no one left standing. He sent Elizabeth’s power sweeping across the area, making sure that every person or cat, be it those who were beaten unconscious, feigning death, or already had their senses robbed, was well and truly knocked out.

His work in the manor was done. All that was left was for Ye Mei and her team to clean up the mess.

Zhao Yao stepped into the doorway and entered the extradimensional belly. He left the belly through the doorway that he placed at Faceless’s mansion, invisible and with Roly Poly in tow. He had not removed the doorway he placed there, even though it would have come in handy during the battle.

Once he verified that the police were there, examining the scene and digging through the rubble, he left for the airport.

Zhao Yao knew that destroying the Mao Gang was not without consequences. For one, it linked him to the Headless Horseman. Inspector Ho already knew that he was looking for Red Packet and Lightning. Soon, he would find out that the two cats were taken by the Mao Gang, which had just been single-handedly crushed by the Horseman.

Considering that Zhao Yao not only had a motive to go after the Gang, but also boasted superpowers that rivaled the Horseman’s, it seemed very likely that they were the same person.

This would not be the first time the Inspector suspected that he was the Horseman either. He started making the connections between them after the Cat King competition and the peer lending platform incident. This one, however, might be the hardest to shake off.

Zhao Yao had another concern as well. He had just introduced the mighty Headless Horseman to apostles from all over the world. They now knew that such a powerful individual existed.

“Normal, reasonably sane people would not try and find me after they’ve seen what I can do. The idiots who do try and come after me will have to be dealt with even more severely,” he mused.

A few hours later, he touched down in Jiangmen City and was back in his own neighborhood. The moment he got home, he dived back into the dimension doorway that he left at the manor. He waited for half an hour before Ye Mei arrived.

She looked livid.

Zhao Yao shrugged and said, “All done. The men have been rounded up. They’re all in there. If that’s all, I’m going to leave now.”

“You are a..,” Ye Mei started shouting at his retreating figure, but fell silent when he stepped through the doorway and vanished.

Zhao Yao deliberately strolled past security cameras around his estate a few minutes.

Still, two hours later, a report about him and the Headless Horseman would be delivered to the desks of a few high-ranking government officials. It described the powers that were showcased during the battle in the manor, but offered no explanation of how they worked. This was vexing, but perhaps the most distressing bit came at the very end of the report, where it stated that this man had managed to traverse thousands of kilometers in a matter of minutes.

The only conclusion that was drawn was that it would be wise not to engage him as an enemy.

“We should be relieved that the most dangerous man on earth at the moment is an otaku.”

At the same time, news of the failed auction and the subsequent capture of representatives from apostle factions had begun spreading like wildfire, burning its way through every corner of the world.