ATAPOW Chapter 16
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Chapter 16: Today, Your Granddaddy…
“Before I answer your question, can you tell me the reason why you made your way into this small alley, youngster?” The eyes of the middle-aged man, who was wearing a pair of refined glasses, narrowed his eyes until they were barely visible. It seemed that through his thick lenses, he was sizing up the inexpensively-dressed, apathetic teenager ahead of him.
“I’m going to return these same words back to you.” Ji Bai too sized up this haughtily dressed man with his dead fish eyes, whose expression was a fine example of a culturalised gangster.
‘Tsk tsk, he sprayed some kind of cologne on his body as well. The price mustn’t be that cheap just from its scent. This, including the effeminate way he speaks, makes him sound like a spoilt woman from an affluent family. He must be a sissy.’ Ji Bai thought as he inwardly appraised the middle-aged man ahead of him.
“Oh? Us? Naturally, we received this young lady’s distress call. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have snooped our way inside this garbage pile.” The middle-aged man chuckled; whereas, the cold lady by his side was silent throughout the whole exchange. Her eyes were fixated on the body of the cat girl kneeling on the floor, it was to the point that the catgirl was becoming afraid of her.
“Really?” Ji Bai tilted his head and gazed at the small cat girl on the floor. After he had determined that the wounds on her ankle were no longer continuing to deteriorate, he nodded and asked her. “Did you call these people?”
“I… I didn’t. I never did, nyaa~”
“And so she says, I’m guessing that you both have also heard her answer, right? Ji Bai shrugged his shoulders.
“…Alright, you got me. Since things have turned out this way, let me make things clear for you.” The middle-aged man had an inscrutable expression on his face as he pushed up the spectacles that were resting on his nose.
“We are a task force set-up specifically to research and investigate the composition of the demons’ bodies. We currently want to commandeer this Asiatic catgirl’s body for the sake of humanity, so, may I ask your distinguished self not to meddle in our business? If you were to do any foolish actions to obstruct us…” The edges of the middle-aged man’s mouth began to lift upwards and form a sly arc.
“Hm? Does this mean you’re planning to slice her into pieces or dissect her for research?” Ji Bai had a nonchalant look on his face as he tilted his head sideways.
“Well, that will have to depend on our superior’s arrangements. But there’s a possibility that we would use her far better than what you’re suggesting. To tell you the truth, our organization still has some live demons… If it’s necessary, we can research whether any…barrier exists within the different demon species.” He explained as he placed his hands into the pockets of his pants, the middle-aged man had a nonchalant look on his face as he said this in a teasing manner.
At this moment, there was finally a response from the stern girl standing at his side. Her face carried traces of shock and astonishment as she gave an inconceivable look towards the middle-aged man. The complexion of the catgirl on the ground, who was originally white, turned deathly pale as she heard those words. Her hands were embracing her knees, her entire body shivered as it curled up into a ball. Distress calls for help were seemingly reflected in her amber pupils as her quivering eyes were looking at Ji Bai.
Ji Bai felt something was amiss as he saw the reaction of the stern girl before him. He eventually diverted his gaze towards the pitiful, weak, and helpless cat girl on the ground before falling into a state of silence.
Demons were something he barely had time to eradicate. Why would he waste his precious time to go out of his way to rescue her? This was violating the knight’s creed! Hasn’t he already shown her extreme benevolence by bandaging her injuries? …He wasn’t required to save her; It wasn’t logical nor his duty to worry about the fate of a demon. Even though she was just a young (cat) girl, he didn’t have to do anything anymore… right?
While pondering up to this point, Ji Bai didn’t respond to the middle-aged man’s question.
“Alright then youngster, don’t meddle in our business and clear the way! You need to understand that this is a demon, they do not deserve any of your pity!”
Ji Bai lowered his head once he heard this; He remained silent and ignored the signals of help sent by the tearful cat girl’s eyes.
“Yes, just like that. All will be fine as long as you pretend not to see anything. Don’t take the effort just to sign your own death warrant. Think about it, what can your lone and inadequate strength accomplish? You might even bring calamity to your family.” The middle-aged man revealed a cheerful smile while the girl by his side had already quietly distanced herself from him. It was almost as if she was going to draw a line between him.
“Nyauuuu~” The cat girl cried out as she looked at Ji Bai’s reaction, listlessness and despair gradually filled her eyes.
“Now then, we’ll bring her away. Please move aside, youngster, you’re blocking my reception.” The middle-aged man smiled as he said this at the silent Ji Bai, he then retrieved a cellphone from his pocket. Just when he wanted to dial a number, a hand suddenly appeared and grabbed his phone in a flash.
“You’re truly right about one point. I am indeed a solitary figure with no kins, so there’s no need to worry that they will hold me back.” After Ji Bai had finished, he smashed the expensive widescreen phone of the middle-aged man, whose eunuch-like ways had truly infuriated him, to the ground.
“Ah!! W-What are you doing youngster! Don’t you know that this cellphone is a limited edition model?!” He was stunned by the series of stifling moves Ji Bai made, the middle-aged man quickly jumped up like a cat whose tail has been stepped on; His refined air was instantly gone. Whereas, the woman at the side was covering her face in a helpless manner.
However, before the guy could manage to finish his shout, Ji Bai had swooped his leg over to hook his calf and abruptly gave it a tug. With a cracking sound, the middle-aged man had lost his gravity and fell on his back like a dead dog with all fours pointing at the sky.
“It’s embarrassing to say this, but I’m definitely going to protect this little cat today. What are you going to do about it? From your attitude, you must be thinking of getting tough with your granddaddy, aren’t you?” Ji Bai placed his foot on the middle-aged man who was dazed from the fall earlier. Ji Bai moved his head closer.
“Already acting so tough with just this small stature of yours? You already think you’re some sort of big shot, huh? When your granddaddy was out in society, you were probably the janitor of some small company!”
“Aaaaahhhh!!! L-L-Let’s talk t-things out, little brother… D-Don’t step! AAAHHHHH! My kidney! This…This is just a misunderstanding! You’re hurting your allies!” There was no way the middle-aged man could possess the same mettle as before. His complexion was slowly turning purple, only pleads of mercy were left spewing out of his mouth.
“Tch. How useless, from the way you were fronting, I really thought you were quite the character.” Ji Bai lifted his feet up from the man’s belly with disdain. He arrived at the side of the shy and timid kitty, he looked towards the woman wearing an A-line skirt with narrowed eyes. “You don’t plan to help him?”
“He brought this on himself. There’s no need to help him,” The woman coldly said.
“Ah… Yi Yi, you don’t have to be so heartless alright! No matter what, we’re still..”
“We’re just coworkers.” The woman apathetically stated her ties with the middle-aged man who had just made a mockery out of himself on the scene.