Chapter 406: Finally Doing What a Vampire Template Should Do
Just as Cat Princess's design prototype largely referenced the True Ancestor Princess Arcueid, Nero Cat's design prototype also referenced Nero Chaos, one of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors from the Type-Moon worldview.
Nero Chaos's ability is a small innate bounded field called 'Beast King's Lair' within his body, containing the factors of the 666 Beasts. His fighting style involves summoning the beasts within him, either as independent entities or fused with his body, and then engaging in deadly combat.
Nero Cat's primary combat ability is also the Beast King's Lair, but as a cat spirit, her skill freedom is far greater than Nero's. This is evident in that if she encounters a more excellent and deadly beast, Nero Cat can also incorporate it into her Beast King's Lair, making it a new summonable unit.
However, due to her origin, most of the creatures in the Beast King's Lair inherited from Nero are ordinary creatures.
Terms like Black-Winged Species, Horned Beast Species, Reptilian Species, etc., sound impressive, but the actual animals they correspond to are crows, stags, and crocodiles. Their forms are ordinary, and their strength depends entirely on the user.
Even the beast individuals crowned as 'Fantasy Species' are mostly magnified versions of original ordinary wild beasts and insects.
At this moment, when Nero Cat witnessed the true land overlords, which should have existed in ancient times, present as genuine specimens and materials in the exhibition hall of Hammond Innovation Lab, her intense desire erupted on the spot.
She wanted these more powerful ancient beasts to fill and become part of her Beast King's Lair!
However, this was not a craving for immense power, but rather a very strong sense of showing off.
Yes, all Nero Cat wanted to do was fill her Beast King's Lair with these powerful dinosaurs and then find an opportunity to show off to the real Nero... One can only say she truly is a cat spirit; her thought process is indeed extraordinary.
Of course, Nero Cat's truly chaotic side still existed. She had even prepared herself that if Cheng Tian refused her request to 'eat' dinosaurs, she would transform her Beast King units into fluid, attempting to infiltrate and steal the dinosaur specimens. If that didn't succeed, she might have to activate 'robber mode'.
A cat spirit will stop at nothing to get what she wants!
What Nero Cat didn't expect was that Cheng Tian actually agreed directly.
But before she could fully process it, she and Cat Princess were led together to the employee cafeteria inside the lab, where they sat obediently for a while. Then, almost in a daze, they looked at the plate in front of them, filled with perfectly browned, roasted meat patties drizzled with brown sauce, and the accompanying dish description—
Roasted Stegosaurus Steak (Sea Salt Aged).
For a lab that breeds dinosaurs in a Cadillacs and Dinosaurs world, it was perfectly normal for dinosaur ingredients to appear in the cafeteria!
Dinosaurs, which were precious beyond compare in the eyes of others, were merely stronger livestock here at the lab.
"Delicious... but I want some raw meat, meow."
When she came to her senses, the sauce-covered dragon steak had already entered her mouth, but Nero Cat ultimately did not forget her original intention.
Nero Cat's Beast King's Lair doesn't require complete beasts; acquiring the corresponding beast's genes is enough.
After obtaining 10% of the material quantity for Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, Allosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus from Cheng Tian, Nero Cat displayed a rare expression, as if she was stuffed.
Perhaps this was the upper limit of benefits she, as an NPC, could obtain from a player at once?
At the same time, the system also prompted that the personal reputation between Cheng Tian and Nero Cat had skyrocketed, directly reaching over three-quarters of 'Friendly'.
"Since I've taken your stuff, little brother, I definitely won't let you suffer a loss, meow... With me around, those contestants eyeing the invitation letters will come and never return!"
A satisfied Nero Cat patted her chest while making a guarantee, much to the disdainful gaze of Cat Princess beside her.
She was bought off by just a few ancient beast corpses, utterly lacking the dignity of a Twenty-Seven Meow Ancestor!
"Still planning to fight, meow? Then you'll have to get past me first!"
Nero Cat had been completely bought off; at least during the preliminary rounds, she would stand by Cheng Tian's side.
"Nia~ Ni!? How dare you! Take my True Ancestor Beam!"
Cat Princess, facing her kin, had her fur puffed up, and her eyes were already gathering energy.
But at this moment, Cheng Tian, fearing his lab would be torn apart by the two cats, decisively jumped out, bravely interposing himself between them, and quickly said,
"Actually~~ I know about some even more fun things, but you might need to put some effort into finding them."
"Meow!? What good stuff?"
Cat Princess's ears and tail perked up instantly. Although Nero Cat didn't make a sound, she also leaned her ear closer.
"Do you know what the Three Sacred Treasures are—"
...The ratings for Team Olilili plummeted, not only because several other channels had 'siphon effect' level mischief going on, but also because Cheng Tian was using the host broadcaster's live streaming mechanism to advertise his own lab!
To those who didn't understand, the Hammond Innovation Lab was just a simple dinosaur museum, and all that could be shown were the dinosaur specimens, as it couldn't actually hatch real ones.
But for some knowledgeable NPCs and players, the things occasionally exposed in the footage were clearly intriguing.
Cheng Tian's team was undoubtedly the most noteworthy player team in this preliminary round, especially since among the player community, only Cheng Tian's team was currently in the open, while all others were in the shadows. Everyone would occasionally switch their channel to Cheng Tian's broadcast.
As a result, they not only saw a dinosaur research lab never mentioned in any King of Fighters-related dungeon data but also indirectly concluded that Cheng Tian had a strong connection to the dungeon.
However, Cheng Tian's target was never them, but NESTS.
NESTS was currently in a dormant state, and it would be quite difficult for Cheng Tian to find them with his local connections. Therefore, he chose to attract NESTS to appear proactively by leaking technology.
NESTS currently possessed cloning technology but lacked good materials. At this time, Cheng Tian chose to cater to their interests, using the TV broadcast to intersperse some gene modification-related technical demonstrations that ordinary people wouldn't understand, but experts would perk up at.
Moreover, Wutan knew exactly what 'teasing' meant, ensuring that experts would be itching with curiosity.
Only when he felt the bait had been sufficiently cast did Cheng Tian rein it in and turn his attention to a rookie team named "Hell Band" that had just acquired an invitation letter.
At the same time, Cat Princess and Nero Cat, who had begun to act under Cheng Tian's guidance, appeared in two different locations.
Cat Princess appeared openly at the Neon Team's arena, gracefully landing on the stage under the gaze of many people.
Without a word, she first pointed at Kyo Kusanagi, then gave a thumbs-down, a provocative gesture!
Kyo Kusanagi's forehead veins bulged.
Meanwhile, in another unknown alley, Nero Cat stood in front of a man with a bright red 'killer' hairstyle.
"You... what do you want to do?"
"I want your blood, meow~"
Behind Nero Cat, the dark silhouette of an ancient giant beast emerged.