My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 138 Lake Hunt, Zhuge Hui, Urushihara Ruri (Seeking monthly votes)
Above the Old Whale Flavor Food Street, a giant white pigeon carried a boy and a girl through the colorful neon signs, then folded its wings and plummeted down, finally landing in an empty alley.

Su Zimai put away her Sky Drive in the alley and returned to being an ordinary high school girl.

She hurriedly tied her hair up, about to rush out of the alley, but then stopped and turned back to Ji Minghuan, saying, "You should take a taxi home first, don't wait for me."

"Alright, go ahead." Ji Minghuan shrugged. "I'll wait for you outside to come home, otherwise you'll be kidnapped by Ke Qirui again, and Dad and my older brother will be angry with me."

"It's up to you then."

Su Zimai frowned, put her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, walked out of the alley, and headed straight for a fairly large Hunan restaurant.

Ji Minghuan leaned against the wall and stood in the alley, playing with his phone while extending a restraint strap from the sleeve of his coat.

With his senses fully activated by the restraints, the cacophony of voices poured in like a tsunami, and he silently observed Su Zimai's back.

Su Zimai stopped in front of the Hunan restaurant. Ke Qirui quickly came out to meet her. After listening to her say a few words, he curiously turned around and glanced in the direction of the alley.

At this moment, Ji Minghuan deliberately turned his head to meet her gaze, wanting to see if Ke Qirui was willing to take him along or if she planned to leave him outside.

Ke Qirui raised an eyebrow slightly, glanced at Ji Minghuan from the shadow of her hat brim, then took out her phone from her trench coat pocket and sent him a message.

[Ke Qirui: Aren't you eating with us?]

[Gu Wenyu: No, I was just dragged out by my younger sister, and then she forgot about our appointment.]

[Ke Qirui: Okay then.]

Ji Minghuan stared at the text message on her phone, thinking to herself, "Although I really want Black Chrysalis to do something and make its presence felt in front of the Lake Hunters, this will definitely arouse Ke Qirui's suspicion, after all, she has suspected me many times before."

"Moreover... the people of Lake Hunter are not ordinary people, and Zhou Jiuya has such a strange temper. If he recognizes me as Black Chrysalis, it will most likely implicate my little sister."

Recalling his conversation with Su Zimai on the pigeon's back, Ji Minghuan understood how serious Su Zimai's determination was to climb up the ranks in the exorcist world, so he shrugged.

He thought, "Let's just skip today. I'll just stake out outside and try to see what the other three from Lake Hunting look like, besides Zhou Jiuya."

Not long after Ji Minghuan removed the restraints, Ke Qirui led Su Zimai straight through the crowd and stopped at the side of the alley.

"What's going on? Weren't you supposed to be having dinner with some important people?" Ji Minghuan looked up from her phone and turned to look at her.

"It's just a regular dinner party," Ke Qirui smiled. "We're just talking about ordinary things. Since you're already here, come with us. We can't leave Mai Mai's brother outside."

Was this dinner really ordinary? Ji Minghuan wondered.

Su Zimai and Ji Minghuan met eyes; the former sighed, while the latter helplessly shrugged.

"Don't say anything out of line later."

"For example, someone just cried on the rooftop?"

"Shut up!"

"Crybaby."

Finally, led by Ke Qirui, the two walked into the Hunan restaurant, went up to the second floor, passed two rows of slightly bowing waiters, and arrived at a private room bathed in orange light.

Upon entering, Ji Minghuan glanced to the side. He saw two unfamiliar figures sitting inside the private room.

The first was Zhou Jiuya, dressed in a Zhongshan suit and with his hair slicked back. He was resting against the back of the sofa with his eyes closed. His brows were very relaxed, and he looked like he was sleeping soundly.
The second was a handsome young man with a long black braid, wearing a light blue Republic-era robe and mandarin jacket. He had exquisite features and his eyes held a sharp, piercing light.

The young man smiled slightly, fanned himself with his folding fan, and turned to Zhou Jiuya, saying, "Zhou Jiuya, your cousin is here, are you still sleeping?"

"The aftermath of the auction..." Zhou Jiuya said with his eyes closed, "Her people weren't all here yet, wouldn't it be better for them to rest?"

Ke Qirui took off her stag hat and put it on the clothes rack, teasingly saying, "Didn't you say 'Lin Xingshi' was coming too? It's not just our side that's late. We can't let him be considered late just because he's the captain of the Lake Hunting Team."

"Lin Xingshi said he had something come up and probably can't make it," the handsome young man said with a smile.

Ke Qirui said politely, "That's a pity, but it's still an honor to meet the famous Zhuge Hui."

"What's there to be proud of? This guy was at the bottom of the lake hunting team." Zhou Jiuya yawned.

"You really don't give me any face... Old Crow, I suddenly regret coming out to dinner with you." Zhuge Hui said, opening his folding fan and waving it at Zhou Jiuya's face.

Zhou Jiuya didn't even open his eyes, simply extending two fingers to hold the fan open. "It's one thing for my cousin to act cute, but don't try to act cute with me, or I'll really kill you."

"You two seem like high school students to me," Ke Qirui teased.

"So... who are the little sister and little brother you brought?" Zhou Jiuya opened his eyes.

He slowly turned his head, his eyes, gleaming with a faint golden light, sweeping across the entrance to the private room.

Su Zimai and Ji Minghuan stood motionless against the door of the private room, like primary school students being punished by their teacher. Both siblings were trembling slightly.

Su Zimai was nervous because this was the first time she had met people from Lake Hunter. Who were Lake Hunter? They were the world's most recognized exorcist team, with each member backed by a powerful and long-established exorcist family.

But Ji Minghuan was different.

He had personally witnessed the ferocity of the tigers from the Lake Hunters. Previously, from Xia Pingzhou's first-person perspective, Zhou Jiuya exuded an oppressive aura like a villainous final boss—in the auction house, Li Qingping and Bai Tanlang were fighting like the heavens were collapsing, yet Zhou Jiuya remained completely still, unaffected by their battle, standing motionless in his chair the entire time. His final appearance saw him instantly kill two Dragon-level members of the White Crow Brigade, a warning to others.

If it weren't for good luck, it might have been his second mecha that died at the auction, not Lan Duoduo. After all, Zhou Jiuya, to avoid trouble, always targeted the weakest Dragon-level members, and Xia Pingzhou was one of them.

As a result, Zhou Jiuya suddenly became one of his own, chatting casually with others in front of him as if they were old friends. This sense of incongruity made Ji Minghuan somewhat uncomfortable.

He had to remind himself that he was Gu Wenyu, not Xia Pingzhou, for fear that while he was eating, a bronze pillar would suddenly fall on his head, his vision would go black, and he would die, thus sending his No. 1 mecha to hell to meet Uncle Takikage and the Hong Kong girl Lan Duoduo.

"This little girl's name is Su Zimai."

Ke Qirui smiled slightly, and while introducing the product, she put her arm around Su Zimai's shoulder, then took out a pipe from her trench coat pocket.

She put the pipe in her mouth and continued, "She only awakened as an exorcist half a year ago, and now she has advanced to the second level. Even the guild master praises her highly, saying that she is an unparalleled genius."

Su Zimai's eyes twitched slightly. She felt that Ke Qirui's words were like her teammates bragging to several top-ranked players in a game, "She went from Bronze to Silver in just half a month. Isn't that amazing? Isn't she incredibly talented? She's practically a gaming genius!"

She was so embarrassed she wanted to bury her head in a hole, and in the end she just nudged Gu Wenyu lightly with her shoulder.

Ji Minghuan rolled her eyes at her, thinking to herself, what does it have to do with me if your commander torments you?

"Impressive!" Zhuge Hui slammed his folding fan on the table. "Even our leader, Lin Xingshi, took almost a year to reach the second rank. This little sister is sure to be extraordinary in the future."

He paused for a moment, turned to look at Ji Minghuan, and asked with a smile, "And who is this?"

“MaiMai’s brother’s name is Gu Wenyu.” As she spoke, Ke Qirui found a seat in the private room and sat down, resting her chin on her hand. “Gu Wenyu happened to be out shopping with her, so I invited him along.”

"Oh...does this little brother know about exorcists?" Zhuge Hui asked.

Ji Minghuan nodded: "I know, even though I'm just an ordinary person."

"That's good, that's good," Zhuge Hui said.

"What are you two standing there for? Find a seat." Ke Qirui turned to look at the brother and sister.

So Su Zimai sat down next to Ke Qirui, and Ji Minghuan sat down next to Su Zimai.

Both of them sat very obediently, with their heads drooping.

"What is Lake Hunting? Are these two people very powerful?" He leaned close to Su Zimai's ear and whispered.

“Very impressive.” Su Zimai also lowered her voice. “Lake Hunter is like Rainbow Wing among the Outcasts. It’s the strongest organization among exorcists. The difference is that they only have four people, while Rainbow Wing has twelve. If we use the rating system for ability users, then every member of Lake Hunter is at the Cataclysmic level, and possibly even more powerful than the Cataclysmic level.”

"If Lake Hunter and Rainbow Wing were to fight, who would win?" Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow and continued to ask.

"Lake hunting," Zhou Jiuya suddenly interjected, then closed his eyes to rest again.

"Can you please stop eavesdropping on what the little brothers and sisters are saying? Where's your manners?" Zhuge Hui asked.

“I just don’t understand why people praise Rainbow Wings so highly,” Zhou Jiuya said.

"Don't say that... I feel like we might not necessarily win against Rainbow Wing, especially that 'Urushihara Ruri,' her abilities are a real counter to mine." Zhuge Hui waved his fan.

“That’s because you’re too bad,” Zhou Jiuya said. “After all, if you’re at the bottom, nobody has any expectations for you.”

Zhuge Hui disagreed and continued rambling, "I'm the one who usually comes up with the strategies. Otherwise, would you three brutes have survived to this day? You would have been dead long ago. You don't treat the strategist like a human being, do you? What you're doing is undermining my efforts."

As the two were chatting, Ji Minghuan, sitting on the opposite side, suddenly paused, his mind repeating the names of the Rainbow Wing personnel that Zhuge Hui had mentioned.

"Urushihara...Ruri?"

He murmured to himself, suddenly recalling the announcement he had heard at the Salvation Church that day.

"Catastrophe-level ability user, ID 10059 - 'Urushihara Ruri' requests to meet with her mentor."

“Wait a minute,” Ji Minghuan was slightly taken aback, “So… among the twelve members of Rainbow Wing, there is a Calamity-level ability user belonging to the Salvation Society? Has the Salvation Society’s influence already infiltrated Rainbow Wing?”

He thought for a moment: "And... more importantly, why does this surname sound so familiar?"

At that moment, the name of the White Raven Brigade Commander flashed through Ji Minghuan's mind:

—"The principle of lacquer".

"The leader's surname? Is there any connection between Ruri Urushihara and Ruri Urushihara? Assuming they are related, is the leader also connected to the Salvation Society?"

"But if we think about it another way... if there is some kind of connection between them, wouldn't that become a clue that can be used? The leader may not know about the relationship between Urushihara Ruri and the Salvation Society, or even that Urushihara Ruri is a member of Rainbow Wing."

"When we need to send Black Chrysalis to see Ruri Urushihara, we can mention it to him casually. First, we need to see if the leader knows this 'Ruri Urushihara,' and then determine whether the leader has any connection with the Salvation Society..."

Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan gently curled the corners of his lips, "If things are as I think, then after killing Jack the Ripper, I have another excellent bargaining chip to save my life."

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(End of this chapter)