"Is this the Room of Flowers? Where is Imu?"
Rimuru looked at the dense flower bushes around them, a puzzled expression on its face as it asked Zhong Chen, who was beside him.
"Hahaha! Rimuru, since Imu is the ultimate boss, it's not that easy to meet it!"
Ramiris, sitting on Zhong Chen's shoulder and holding a strawberry, replied to Rimuru with a look that said, 'I'm familiar with this situation.'
"Wahahaha! Ramiris, you've grown up too! You've gained a third of my wisdom!"
Milim, upon hearing this, immediately showed a 'you've finally grown up' expression and exclaimed loudly.
"Huh? I've always been smarter than you, alright? Milim, you're the dumbest!"
"Ramiris, you're the dumbest!"
"You're dumb!" "You..."
"Stop!"
Zhong Chen looked at the few who had gone off-topic again and quickly interrupted them.
"I feel two auras further inside; they should be just ahead!"
Zhong Chen didn't use his divine sense; he just sensed a bit with his own perception and found two auras not far away.
However, what puzzled him was that one of the auras gave him a very familiar feeling.
"Oh oh oh! Are we finally going to fight the boss?"
"Hehe! Rimuru is the mage, Milim is the warrior, I'm the support, so A Chen is the healer!"
"What kind of hero party setup is that?!"
Zhong Chen looked at the three discussing their team roles, shook his head, and said nothing more.
He simply took the lead and walked forward.
Creak... The palace gate was easily pushed open by Zhong Chen, revealing a massive hall inside.
It was adorned with luxurious decorations, but it felt particularly empty due to the absence of people.
At the end of the hall was a high platform, and the scene on the platform made Zhong Chen's pupils instantly contract.
It was as if he had witnessed something unbelievable.
"No... no way! Is this development a bit too bizarre?!"
Zhong Chen composed himself and stammered out the words.
"A Chen, I think you should explain this!"
"Why is it like this?!"
Rimuru said, pointing at the high platform, with an expression that demanded an explanation.
"I want to know what's going on too! Why are you here?!"
"Tom!!!"
That's right, what appeared before them was not only Imu, tied up like a zongzi.
But also Tom, who had disappeared after Zhong Chen let him roam free.
Tom sat on the throne, holding a glass of red wine, taking a delicate sip.
He looked coldly at Zhong Chen and the others below the throne.
"Meow!!! (Hmph, you mortals!)"
"Meow meow!!! (Don't you bow before this meow!)"
"Wow! Tom is so arrogant now!"
Rimuru looked at Tom, who resembled a King of the World, and exclaimed in surprise.
"Heh heh! I think he hasn't been beaten for three days, so he's tearing down the roof!"
Zhong Chen said, looking at Tom with an annoyed expression.
Good heavens, you're even putting on an act for me!
"Host, this system feels that you're not angry because Tom is putting on an act, but because you're not the one putting on such an act!"
"How... how could that be? Don't slander me! I'll sue you for defamation, you know!"
"Heh! Did I step on your little tail?"
"..."
"Meow meow meow! (It seems this meow needs to make a move, otherwise you won't recognize this meow's greatness!)"
Tom looked at the people below the stage who weren't taking him seriously and couldn't help but continue speaking.
"Alright! Still acting, huh? You just wait, I'm calling someone right now!"
Zhong Chen looked at Tom, who was still performing, and immediately shouted in exasperation.
"Meow! (Heh, this meow fears no one!)"
"Hey! Saku..."
"Meow... Meow meow meow!!! (Stop, this meow was wrong, this meow knows it was wrong, I'm coming down right now!!! Wuwuwu)"
Before Zhong Chen could finish speaking, a single word scared Tom so much that his fur instantly bristled.
He quickly drank the red wine, threw the crown on his head aside.
His legs turned into a whirlwind, and he instantly arrived beside Zhong Chen and the others.
"Meow! Meow meow! (Boss! This meow was just joking, it's not necessary to call Big Sister Sakuya! It's not necessary...)"
"Heh heh, settled down now!"
Hearing Zhong Chen's words, Tom quickly nodded frantically.
The frequency of his nodding almost caught up with the speed of a fan's rotation.
"Meow! Meow! (Settled down! Settled down!)"
"Alright, tell me, what's going on here!"
Zhong Chen asked, pointing at Imu, who was tied up like a zongzi by Tom.
"Meow... Meow meow! (Boss, you're talking about this, actually, it's like this!)"
Tom's arrival in the Room of Flowers was also an accident.
Because Zhong Chen had let him roam free, Tom caused trouble everywhere in Academy City every day.
This made him a target for everyone in Academy City.
Just the day before yesterday, Tom, being chased by the Disciplinary Committee, frantically ran into the Dimensional Gate.
Then he arrived in the Pirate World.
Upon first arriving in the New World, Tom felt that everything was new.
And he heard that people here liked to go out to sea and become pirates.
With a sudden burst of excitement, he built his own pirate ship, hung a pirate flag, and set sail.
But once at sea, he realized he couldn't sail, so he could only drift with the current.
Until he encountered a strange ship with a guy wearing a space helmet on it.
This guy, upon discovering Tom, found him very interesting and brought him back to Mary Geoise.
Because he was well-fed and taken care of along the way, Tom didn't resist.
Instead, he enjoyed this life of having everything handed to him.
While wandering around Mary Geoise, Tom inadvertently came into the Room of Flowers.
And then he saw Imu sitting on the throne with its eyes closed.
Out of curiosity, Tom ran up and poked and prodded.
Finally, he awakened the sleeping Imu.
Upon opening its eyes, it saw a cat's head staring intently at it, and instinctively threw a punch.
Tom, who was punched away, immediately covered his cat head and rolled around on the floor.
When Imu came to its senses and saw this scene, it immediately shot a light wave.
Tom, hit by the light wave, was instantly disintegrated into atoms.
Imu looked at the blue cat it had killed, and was about to call the Five Elders to question them.
Unexpectedly, Tom resurrected on the spot, without a single scratch on its entire body.
The resurrected Tom, however, had a look of indignation.
Who was Tom, it thought? In the entire world, besides Sakuya, it feared no one.
And besides Jerry and its relatives, no one else had ever made it look foolish.
Subsequently, Tom began to wreak havoc throughout the hall, and Imu used various methods to try and kill Tom.
But it found that this damned cat could always resurrect on the spot.
One person and one cat continued to confront each other like this, and the final result was the scene that Zhong Chen and the others witnessed.
"Good heavens, are you the protagonist, after all?"
"This should clearly be my story!"
Zhong Chen looked at Tom with a surprised expression.
"Meow! (This meow is the protagonist, after all!)"
"Uh... I'm speechless!"
"No! I'm the protagonist here!!!"
Rimuru glanced at the tied-up Imu, then at the arguing person and cat.
Suddenly, it only had one feeling, and that was... tired... let's just destroy it...