Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 24 – Cat Dad the Flash

The crotch kicked and the collapse of Niu Fu caused a commotion among the male runners. They rushed from their table and surrounded Xiaomao.

One of them was taken down. Now, they were mad.

“You think you can get away with this, punk?!”

“Who do you think you are?!”

“You mess with our brother, you mess with me!”

Xiaomao was taken aback. He paused and observed everybody.

The people in the cafeteria stopped eating and looked at them with interest. The staff stopped distributing food and brought out their phones to call for help. As for Wei Zhi and her friends, they were shocked by the development and ran out to get help.

Xiaomao turned his attention to the 20 friends of Niu Fu. Noticing that he was surrounded, Xiaomao narrowed his eyes.

This event reminded him of the time when he fell out with Liu Bei’s goons in his previous life. That gangster brought his henchmen to lynch Xiaomao, and Xiaomao fought to survive.

The result wasn’t pretty. Xiaomao was beaten and got hospitalized. As for the bullies, they were suspended from school for a week and returned to school later on like nothing had happened.

Xiaomao thought of how Liu Bei and his men got out of jail yesterday. Because of the thoughts, his mood was ruined.

As Xiaomao was in a bad mood, it showed on his face. He furrowed his brows and coldly looked at the track club’s men.

“If you wanna fight me, go outside. See what I’m holding? It’s a metal tray of food, a hot soup, and a cup of hot tea. If I want to, I can turn them into weapons, but I don’t want to use them and waste my food. I can’t also guarantee what I might do to you if we were to fight here.”

The friends of Niu Fu were still driven by emotion and hormones, “Hah? You think you’re a hotshot, fool?!”

He threw a punch at Xiaomao’s face!

Xiaomao noticed the oncoming punch. He lowered his head and let the fist hit his forehead.

POEK

It hit right on Xiaomao’s forehead as planned.

But Xiaomao didn’t flinch.

On the other hand, the puncher held his hand, which had punched Xiaomao._.

“AHHHH!! My hand!”

Just like what the police officer had said. Using a bare hand to punch someone on the hard bone was a guaranteed way to fracture the knuckle bones. After all, the bones of human hands were much smaller and more fragile than the solid human skull!

Combined with the natural defense attribute from the game, his bones were as tough as stones. Xiaomao let him hit on purpose to end the annoying brawl.

Xiaomao confronted the sportsmen head-on, “I’ll give you motherhumpers three choices. One, we go outside and duke it like a man. Two, we go separate ways so that we can eat our food and mind our own businesses. Or three, you insist on avenging for your gay friend and hit me, and I’ll let one of you punch me once, then we’re done with it. Now, make your choice!”

“Don’t get cocky!” The second runner scoffed and was about to punch him.

PA

Before another fist could hit Xiaomao’s face, someone had grabbed the wrist of the assailant.

A muscular late middle-aged man in a jersey uniform stood behind the guy. He sneered, “Since when have you apes regressed to monkeys? Is lynching someone a trend these days?”

“C-Coach Wei?!”

The 190cm-tall toned guy was the coach of the track and field club. His facial outline and refined muscles looked like someone from the Fist of the North Star Series.

The coach glared at the track club’s men, “If you have enough energy to pick a fight, how about you go back to the track and give me five laps!”

“N-No, coach! We aren’t fighting anyone!”

“My eyesight is perfect 20/20, you apes! I saw what you did from the beginning. Now, get those monkey asses to the field and show me five laps! No one can get your dinner until you’re finished! Now, move out!”

The track club’s men shrieked and ran out to the field.

As students, they were powerless against the coach as the latter could simply expel them from the club. Then, some of them might lose their sports scholarship or support from their families.

After the men were gone, the coach glanced at Niu Fu and scoffed.

Then, the coach turned to Xiaomao.

“Miao Xiaomao, I assume.”

Xiaomao nodded, “Yes, sir!”

“I saw your application for the half-marathon.”

“Ah, that…”

“I can’t let you participate in it. Our school can only send three runners, and I don’t want to waste the spot on an outsider or an amateur.”

Xiaomao’s shoulders slouched. He was disappointed.

Fortunately, the coach hadn’t done talking.

“But if you can finish five laps faster than those apes and put a good record, I’ll add your name on the list. Are you up for the challenge?”

Xiaomao widened his eyes. He repeatedly nodded, “I’ll do it, sir!”

“Go then!”

Xiaomao put down his food tray and dashed to the field.

The coach glanced at Wei Zhi and the girl’s group. The captain nodded at her coach.

“I’ll go check on them, dad.”

Coach Wei was none other than Wei Zhi’s father. His full name was Wei Huang, a former Asian Game gold medalist athlete.

As Wei Huang and Wei Zhi were close, the latter had consulted her father about Xiaomao. However, Wei Huang didn’t think highly of him as he thought that the morning run was a fluke.

Unless Xiaomao could show him that his speed and endurance were legit, he wouldn’t send Xiaomao to the race.

Wei Huang turned to Niu Fu. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and called for an ambulance.

“Serve you right, you horny ape. Now, you won’t have the balls to woo my daughter anymore!”

…

On the field, 20 men jogged in a triple file as it was easier to maintain the pace. They had already run half a lap, but none of them broke a sweat as they had done this a hundred times already in the past.

As they were complaining in their mind, the corner of their eye noticed that Xiaomao got on the track and began running in his tight clothes and bad sneakers.

Everyone sneered.

“What’s he doing?”

Then, Xiaomao began picking the pace. He Naruto-ran on the track and tried to follow after them.

“He must have been punished by the coach. RIP him.”

“Who asked him to be too close to Wei Zhi anyway?”

“But seriously… Naruto-Run? This idiot is beyond help.”

The runners chuckled and focused on their breathing and pacing.

Soon, they completed the first lap. The men hummed as they were relaxed at this pace.

But suddenly, they heard loud footsteps from behind.

DA DA DA

Xiaomao was bolting at his full speed. But now, he no longer used the Naruto-Run as he properly used the long legs to his advantage for speeding.

“WHAT?!”

“HOW DID HE CATCH UP SO FAST?!”

The group watched how Xiaomao whizzed past them. Yet, nobody seemed agitated.

“… Idiot. He will be out of breath soon.”

“Yup. An idiot.”

They shook their head and continued running at their pace. They saved their strength and breathe to finish the run without ruining their lungs and body.

The formation continued.

Soon, the group completed the second lap.

As everybody concentrated on their breathing, the loud footsteps came from behind again.

Several of them turned around to look.

“Huh?”

“Already?”

Xiaomao was chopping wind with his arms while his legs moved like locomotive wheels. He lapped the runners.

One lap was 400 meters, and Xiaomao already finished the 3rd lap!

…

Meanwhile, Xiaomao felt strange.

For an unknown reason, he didn’t feel tired at all!

‘Odd. I was almost out of breath this morning, but how come I feel fine?’

Xiaomao closed one of his eyes to check if the game system menu was still around.

Indeed, it appeared behind his eyelid, just like always.

Seeing that his status in-game still affected his real body, Xiaomao let out a sigh of relief. He ignored the track club’s group in front of him and tried to control his legs.

The control was easier than the last time. Xiaomao could adjust his speed or completely stop at any time that he wanted to.

Confirming his safety, Xiaomao proceeded to complete his 4th lap.

But as he was completing the fourth lap, he noticed that several students had been gathering around the track to watch something.

Xiaomao shrugged and ignored the crowd.

In 30 seconds, Xiaomao completed the 5th lap as the coach had ordered him to. He also lapped down the group of runners for the third time.

Xiaomao sneered at them while the runners stared at Xiaomao with round eyes as if they had seen a monster. They even lost their focus and ended up breaking the formation.

“WAAAAAA!!”

“AMAZING!”

“The Flash in the making!”

The audience suddenly clapped and cheered for Xiaomao. However, the latter was oblivious to the commotion.

“What?”

Wei Huang walked toward Xiaomao. He sized him up again, but this middle-aged man seemed to be excited by something.

“3.42.53 minutes for 2,000 meters run. Are you still a human, son?”

Xiaomao tilted his head, “What’s wrong with it?”

“You freaking broke the world record for a 2km run. What else?”

“Oh… Ah, crap! Did I run too fast?”

“Crap?! You ran too fast?! Why are you complaining?! THAT’S A FREAKING WORLD RECORD WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!!”

Wei Huang shook Xiaomao’s shoulders while his nostril flared in excitement. But as he looked at Xiaomao up close, he noticed something.

At first, Wei Huang sensed that Xiaomao’s breathing wasn’t changed, so he thought that the latter had trained hard that he got used to it.

But then, Xiaomao’s clothes looked strangely familiar.

Although his tracksuit jacket and pants looked almost the same as other students, there was a handmade embroidery picture of a small pony anime character on the jacket’s collar.

That embroidery was something that Wei Zhi always sew on her clothes! It was her signature and the marking that the clothes were hers!

Why was Xiaomao wearing his daughter’s uniform?!

The happy and elated expression of Wei Huang darkened. His hands squeezed Xiaomao’s shoulders while he exuded intense murderous intent.

“Look here, you little ape. Why are you wearing my daughter’s uniform?!”

“…”

Xiaomao’s expression turned into a pokerface meme. He glanced at Wei Zhi.

The girl also carried a new towel and the washed clothes of Xiaomao. She passed them to him.

“Junior Miao. You forgot your clothes this morning. Go change into these and get my clothes that you’re wearing back so I can wash them myself… Oh, dad. I didn’t notice you. Why are you still around? I thought you had gone with the ambulance earlier.”

Xiaomao: “…”

Wei Huang: “…”