The two wanted to say more, but the cat gave them no chance. It launched another attack almost instantly, its figure streaking toward Chen Hao on the other side-so fast it was nearly invisible.

Chen Hao swung his Barbell Rod hard toward the Orange Cat's incoming trajectory.

He hit nothing but air.

"Hss-"

Searing pain tore across his shoulder. Four parallel gashes opened up, identical to Yang Bin's.

"Can't hit it-this thing's way too fast!" Chen Hao hissed through clenched teeth.

"Cats are already fast by nature. After mutation, of course it's even faster." Hu Wenliang's brow furrowed.

Yang Bin frowned too. In terms of raw strength, this cat was Tier 2 at most. But speed was the problem.

And now the Barbell Rod's weakness was painfully obvious.

A heavy steel rod was perfect for zombies-one swing, one crushed skull.

But against a Mutated Beast this fast, the rod was dead weight. They couldn't land a single hit.

"Drop the rods. Use your fists," Yang Bin said.

"Right." Both nodded, tossing their Barbell Rods aside. They clenched their fists and locked their eyes on the Orange Cat.

The thing stood over sixty centimeters at the shoulder, nearly a meter long nose to tail. No wonder Chen Hao had mistaken it for a tiger at first. Nobody had ever seen a house cat this size.

And right then, watching them discard their weapons, the Orange Cat's expression shifted.

It looked amused.

"The fuck-this cat is mocking us!" Chen Hao snapped.

"Are we gonna take that?"

"Hell no!"

"Get it!"

All three lunged at once, diving for the Orange Cat on the ground.

The cat pushed off with its hind legs and vanished from the spot. By the time they hit dirt, Hu Wenliang had three fresh claw marks across his ribs.

"Hss-why do this thing's scratches hurt so damn much?" Hu Wenliang grimaced.

"At least it's fair about it. Spreading the love equally," Chen Hao said with a dry laugh.

"......"

"You still have the mood to joke? Figure out how to fight this thing. At this rate, it's going to shred us to death one scratch at a time." Hu Wenliang rolled his eyes.

Yang Bin stared at the Orange Cat, expression grim. The thing was simply too fast. They couldn't lay a finger on it.

"Three Tier 2 fighters getting toyed with by a cat. That'd make a hell of an obituary."

He let out a bitter laugh, then activated his True Vision Eye. If this ability couldn't track the cat's movements, they were genuinely dead.

The Orange Cat moved again. Hind legs coiled and released, launching it straight at Yang Bin in a blur.

Under the True Vision Eye, the cat's speed was still extreme-but no longer untraceable.

Its claws were centimeters from Yang Bin's face when his fist shot forward. Before the cat could react, his knuckles buried themselves in its stomach and sent it rocketing backward.

"Brother Bin, nice!"

Chen Hao and Hu Wenliang lit up. They'd finally landed a hit.

The Orange Cat hit the ground and sprang upright instantly, staring at Yang Bin with something like shock in its eyes. It clearly hadn't expected him to connect.

Now it grew cautious. It paced back and forth just out of reach, watching, waiting for an opening.

Yang Bin didn't relax for a second. He kept his eyes locked on it, waiting for the next attack.

As for going on the offensive himself-pointless. He wouldn't touch a single hair.

"Brother Bin, how'd you hit it just now?" Chen Hao whispered.

"Used my ability." Yang Bin shrugged.

"Figures."

Chen Hao nodded. He'd been hoping for some trick he could copy. Nope-just a cheat code he didn't have access to.

The standoff dragged on for several minutes. Yang Bin's concentration was fraying at the edges when the cat finally moved again.

This time it didn't charge straight at him. It leapt onto a tree trunk, kicked off the bark, and used the rebound to accelerate-rocketing toward Yang Bin even faster than before.

Yang Bin pushed his True Vision Eye to its limit. Every twitch of the cat's muscles registered crystal-clear. He clenched his fist and timed the swing to the exact instant its claws reached him.

The Orange Cat's fur bristled. It tried to twist away.

Too late.

Thud.

Yang Bin's fist hammered into the cat's midsection.

This punch carried far more force than the first. The Orange Cat slammed into the ground and tumbled end over end before dragging itself upright.

The instant it stood, its fur spiked again-instinct screaming danger. It tried to dart sideways.

Still too slow.

A figure materialized out of thin air directly behind it. The moment the cat's paws left the ground, a fist crashed down onto the back of its skull.

Crack.

The Orange Cat's body smashed into the earth and skidded several meters, kicking up a trail of dust.

The attacker was Chen Hao. While the cat's attention was locked on Yang Bin, he'd slipped into Invisibility and circled behind it.

The Orange Cat tried to rise again, but a boot slammed down on its spine-Hu Wenliang, who'd been waiting for exactly this moment.

Yang Bin and Chen Hao sprinted over. Three heavy feet pinned the Orange Cat flat against the ground. It couldn't move.

"Bastard-scratch me, will you? Let's see how arrogant you are now." Chen Hao grinned.

"This thing's way harder to deal with than zombies." Yang Bin shook his head.

"No kidding. Without you, Brother Bin, we'd have had nothing." Hu Wenliang exhaled.

"MEOW!!"

Pinned under three boots, the Orange Cat thrashed wildly.

But its strength couldn't match all three of them combined. It stayed trapped.

"So what do we do with it? Kill it?" Chen Hao asked.

"If you don't kill it, what-let it go? You want those claws coming back for round two?" Hu Wenliang laughed.

"Kill it," Yang Bin said. "There's a crystal in its head too. Looks different from a zombie's."

"Got it."

Chen Hao nodded, grabbed his Barbell Rod, and raised it over the Orange Cat's skull.

The cat seemed to understand what was coming. Its eyes went wide with terror.

The rod was mid-swing, inches from the cat's head, when Yang Bin spoke.

"Wait."

Chen Hao tried to stop. But twenty kilograms of steel doesn't just halt on command. He wrenched the trajectory sideways at the last second, and the rod cratered the ground right beside the cat's skull.

Dust exploded outward from the impact.

"Ow-my back! Brother Bin, could you say something a little sooner next time? Nearly snapped my spine redirecting that." Chen Hao clutched his lower back, wincing.

"Uh... sorry. Spur of the moment." Yang Bin looked sheepish.

Then he glanced down at the Orange Cat beneath their feet. It was frozen stiff, eyes huge.

"Think there's any chance we could tame this thing?" he said.

"Brother Bin, you're out of your mind. The second we lift our feet, this thing vanishes. Gone. Poof." Chen Hao shook his head.

"Maybe not," Hu Wenliang said. "It seems pretty intelligent. Might actually be worth a shot. Why don't you try talking to it, Brother Bin?"

"Mm."

Yang Bin crouched down, meeting the Orange Cat's gaze.

"Can you understand what I'm saying? If you can, nod."

All three of them went still.

The cat nodded.

Its eyes were full of pleading.

"Holy shit," Chen Hao breathed. "This thing is actually sentient."