Super Kev keeps Wolves from the door
popped a finish beyond Jose Sa.
But then came a sucker punch, a counter-attack involving Raul Jimenez and Pedro Neto and finished by Leander Dendoncker.
There was as much puzzlement as celebration around Molineux but sanity was soon restored.
De Bruyne’s dinked pass towards Raheem Sterling forced a Sa wobble and the Belgian followed up to dispatch his second before completing a hat-trick with a beauty.
This time, it was a cut inside from the right and the purest of hits from the edge of the penalty area.
A makeshift City defence looked all at sea almost every time Wolves sprung a forward move.
Maybe that is why Pep Guardiola still cut an anxious figure for most of the game, visibly frustrated when a Sterling effort was ruled out.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, in particular, had a torrid time.
For all De Bruyne’s brilliance, this City team – with its defensive absentees – is vulnerable.
And they will be even more vulnerable without Aymeric Laporte, who will surely now join John Stones and Ruben Dias in missing the rest of the season after picking up a nastylooking injury in a collision with Jimenez.
Still, it does not matter how vulnerable City are when De Bruyne is in this mood.
Oh, and yes, by the way, he has got a decent right foot – it stroked home the fourth to finally calm Pep down and put City within touching distance of the title.
Sterling tapping in a fifth was just icing on the cake.
WOLVES (3-4-2-1): Sa 5; Boly 6, Coady 5, Jonny 6; Dendoncker 7, Moutinho 6 (Cundle 85), Neves 6, Ait-Nouri 6; Chiquito 6, Neto 6 (Trincao 72, 6); Jimenez 7 (Hwang 72, 6).
MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 6; Cancelo 7, Fernandinho 6 (Mahrez 77), Laporte 6 (Ake 61, 6), Zinchenko 6; Rodri 7, Gundogan 7, DE BRUYNE 9; Silva 7, Sterling 7 (Grealish 81), Foden 8
REFEREE: Martin Atkinson 5