My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 145: Will the Silver Devourer Win Against the Ghost Bell? (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
As the sun set, its reddish afterglow filtered through the branches and into the Western restaurant. The five members of the tour group sat on the sofa, and a waiter brought them wine glasses on a dark plate.

Bloodline poured himself a glass of whiskey, looked up from the glass at Xia Pingzhou sitting across from him.

She asked, "How come... you know this Bernardo?"

Xia Pingzhou paused for a second, a sea breeze blowing in from the window, his black hair swaying in the wind. Before coming here, he never imagined that the new member of the troupe would be such a remarkable person.

"I don't know him," he said slowly.

The moment Ji Minghuan heard the name "Bernard Edward" from the Bloodline, his mind went completely blank.

He thought, "If I had chosen the 'Nameless Man' character for the first role when creating the third unit, I would have had the chance to meet 'Bernardo'... Is Bernardo the leader of the 'Black Death Cult', standing on the opposite side of the Whale Garden, or is he the culprit who caused the King to contract the Black Death?"

He knew the commander was well-connected, but he didn't know the commander knew this kind of person.

Xia Pingzhou then thought: No... The hacker said that Bernardo took the initiative to contact the leader, wanting to join the White Raven Brigade.

According to Caesar, Bernardo seems to have somehow infected the king of the Whale Garden with the "Black Death"—based on this, there is likely a cooperative relationship between Bernardo and the eldest and second princes.

If Bernardo is truly cooperating with the eldest and second princes, then he is most likely just putting on a show. His real purpose is the treasure in the Whale Garden, or the strange fragments in the Royal Palace. He will definitely turn on them when he gets the chance.

Thinking about it this way, it makes sense why Bernardo joined the Phantom Troupe...

He wanted to use this opportunity to convey the information that "the king is seriously ill" to the captain, telling him that this was an opportunity—an opportunity to invade the Whale Garden and plunder it.

Then, together with the White Raven Brigade, they entered the interior of the legendary whale and took action against the royal court.

“Bernardo is an evil messenger of wonders. Even if the eldest and second princes cooperate with him, they are unlikely to reveal much information to him. Bernardo’s intelligence can only go as far as ‘the king has contracted the Black Death and is about to die, and the royal court is about to face great turmoil.’”

"Assuming Bernardo has already provided the commander with preliminary information, the commander will be convinced to some extent and begin to consider whether to accept his proposal."

"At this point, I will have Black Chrysalis approach the leader and provide more in-depth information. This way, the leader will be much more receptive to the information, and he may seriously consider whether to take action against the Whale Garden."

Thinking of this, Xia Pingzhou asked, "When can we meet this newcomer?"

Andrew scooped up some red wine with a spoon, the ice cubes swirling gently in the glass. He said:
"Hey bro... ask the hacker. He's usually in charge of these kinds of things in the group."

"alright."

Xia Pingzhou responded casually, glancing at Andrew's expression.

For some reason, Andrew looked very dejected today, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, a far cry from his usual flamboyant and carefree cowboy image.

Andrew paused for a moment: "I... and Lan Duoduo have eaten here before."

He gave a self-deprecating smirk. "We even made a pact that if either of us died, we'd take our ashes to Venice and scatter them into the sea. Turns out, she died without even leaving behind ashes..."

Xia Pingzhou lowered his head, brought the straw closer, and took a sip of whiskey.

He turned to look out the window. Under the setting sun, tourist boats carrying passengers shuttled through the waterways, and the faint sound of whistles could be heard. With nothing else to do, he synchronized his consciousness with the No. 1 mech.

In another corner of the world, the Guyimai neighborhood.

The time difference between Venice and Lijing is seven hours. Lijing's time is ahead, so while it is still dusk there, the city here is already shrouded in night.

Gu Wenyu suddenly opened his eyes and glanced at the time on the wall by the moonlight. It was 11 p.m.

Black restraints extended from his body, like two small snakes reaching out towards the rooms in front and behind him. The moment the ends touched the two walls, his senses penetrated the walls, and the images of the two rooms were reflected in his pupils.

In the pitch-black room, Gu Qiye was fast asleep on the bed.

In another room, Su Zimai seemed to be too hot, so she made a makeshift bed by the French windows.

The brother and sister slept in very different positions. One was sleeping in a fairly upright position with her hands on her abdomen; the other was lying on her side on the bed, hugging a huge Rilakkuma plushie, her body slightly curled up, the moonlight shining on her sleeping face.

Seeing that the brother and sister were sleeping so soundly, Ji Minghuan couldn't help but yawn and slowly pulled away the restraints.

He rummaged through his pillow and found his phone, then put it on silent mode. He opened his browser and logged into some dark web sites in his bookmarks—sites that, ostensibly, are mostly illegal and blocked.

However, many people still tacitly observe the latest movements of the Outcasts on the dark web. The authorities do not punish those who browse the Outcasts dark web. To put it simply, it's similar in nature to a pornographic website.

He browsed through the live stream section of the "Lijing Special Zone," and the most popular live stream at the moment was "The Stranger Tunyin is tracking down the superhuman criminal 'Ghost Bell.'"

The live stream's permanent cover image is a cute, anthropomorphic cartoon hamster.

The hamster has a cold expression, wears a silver uniform, and holds a miniature model of the Tokyo Tower in its hands—which is none other than the world-famous painting "The Silver-Eating Hamster and the Tokyo Tower" by Hei Pupa in Japan.

Ji Minghuan's eyes lit up slightly in the darkness. He hadn't expected that after just a few days, this painting had become a stereotype of swallowing silver in people's minds.

Even in illegal live streams involving swallowing silver, this comical graffiti is deliberately displayed on the cover.

"Swallowing Silver Rat must love me to death. I gave him a huge boost in popularity. Soon I will be able to help him become a top figure in China and relieve some of the pressure on Big Brother from public opinion."

Ji Minghuan admired it in his heart, but his attention had been drawn to his own painting until now. He only noticed the title of the live stream now, and stood there dumbfounded, muttering to himself, "Wait, who is the Silver-Swallowing Rat chasing... Ghost Bell?"

His pupils suddenly contracted, and he cried out in his heart, "No! If you die, who will entertain me? You must hold on until Uncle Black Cocoon's rescue arrives!"

So, while using the restraints to rummage through the bottom of the wardrobe to find the box and unpack it, he sent a message to Ghost Bell on his phone.

[Black Chrysalis: Alright, actually, Silver Swallow is also one of my collaborators. I hope you can spare his life, Mr. Ghost Bell.]

To his surprise, his father actually replied to the message. [Ghost Bell: Come and take your man away, or I'll kill him.]

Ji Minghuan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that it was good that his father didn't intend to make a move.

After the auction, he and Gu Zhuo officially established a cooperative relationship.

After all, Black Chrysalis saved Blue Arc right in front of Ghost Bell—at that time, Oda Takikage had already put a knife to Blue Arc's neck. If Black Chrysalis hadn't appeared at the auction that day, Ghost Bell would have been threatened with Blue Arc's life by the Phantom Troupe, and the best outcome would probably have been to die on the spot with Blue Arc.

Although Old Man Ghost Bell acted impulsively, he shouldn't have gone to such lengths as to refuse Black Chrysalis's invitation to cooperate.

Using the restraints, Ji Minghuan took out a dark red mask and a black swallowtail trench coat from the box, which had not been seen for a long time. She was too lazy to even take off her pajamas and simply put the trench coat on.

Put on the mask, raise your hand to your ear and press the lock button.

In an instant, black restraints wrapped around his entire body, concealing his aura and entering stealth mode. Then, he extended a restraint to the right, grabbed the windowsill, and his figure nimbly swung to the right, disappearing into the moonlight outside the window.

Meanwhile, Hongyue Commercial Street.

The crowd had already been evacuated, and on the empty street, neon signs flickered on and off amidst the ringing of bells.

The figure, draped in a black cloak and wearing a Z-shaped breathing mask, stood like a raven on the long street.

Meanwhile, Tun Yin, dressed in a metallic silver uniform, stood with his arms crossed above the traffic light sign, gazing down at Gui Zhong.

"Stop struggling, you can't escape..." Tun Yin said coldly, as if pronouncing the other party's death sentence.

If it were the old Swallowing Silver, it would have been left behind by Ghost Bell much earlier.

However, his superpower has recently undergone a rapid improvement, which is what superpower users commonly call "superpower evolution" - generally only those who train their superpowers for many years and have reached a bottleneck have the opportunity to complete the evolution of their superpowers.

However, the evolution of superpowers can also occur in another situation: when a superpowered person falls into an "extreme emotion," such as the sudden death of their entire family, or the will to survive when facing a near-death situation.

Or perhaps... they were humiliated to the extreme.

The Silver Devourer experienced the last form of evolution. Every night, he would smash a hundred sandbags with pictures of "Black Cocoon" on them. In his repeated rages and helpless roars, his superpowers underwent an evolution.

After evolving his superpowers, Tun Yin's physical attributes were enhanced in all aspects, and the abilities generated after consuming metal were greatly amplified.

Moreover, once he ingests metal, he can quickly pinpoint the location of a corresponding metal.

The association also provided him with the materials to make the Ghost Bell battle suit. So, for an hour after he swallowed the materials, as long as the Ghost Bell was within a kilometer radius of him, the Silver-Swallowing Technique could pinpoint his location precisely.

This time he came prepared; he wanted to test... just how strong he had become after his evolution.

"Get out of my way..." Ghost Bell lowered his face, his scarlet pupils staring directly at Swallowing Silver. "You are no match for me, don't go looking for trouble."

He was clearly only holding back from taking action against Tun Yin because Tun Yin was his son's partner.

At first, Gui Zhong thought he could easily shake off the kid, but he didn't expect that every time he shook off the other party, Tun Yin could accurately find his location, like a mad dog relying on its keen sense of smell to follow closely.

In the end, Ghost Bell had no choice but to stop and confront Silver Devourer on this long street.

Tun Yin remained with his arms crossed over his shoulders, the metal of his battle suit gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

"You still think I'm the same person I used to be?"

However, just as he was about to make his move, Tun Yin suddenly witnessed an unbelievable scene:
Below a billboard between him and Gui Zhong, a huge, pitch-black pupa suddenly appeared.

The giant pupa hung quietly upside down in the middle of the long street, illuminated by the neon lights.

Ghost Bell squinted and looked up, staring motionlessly at the pupa, and murmured softly, "Quite the pretentious one."

Tun Yin was completely stunned and stood there.

The next moment, his tense and solemn expression instantly crumbled, and his inner emotions surged out like a collapsing dam.

At that moment, Tun Yin spread his arms to the sides, bent down like a wild beast, and clenched his fists tightly.

He trembled all over, and roared furiously, word by word:
"Black—!!! Pupa—!!!"

"Oh...isn't this our gluttonous Mr. 'Silver Swallower' who loves to eat batteries, Tokyo Tower, and gold nuggets?"

First, a faint voice came from inside the giant cocoon, and then the cocoon slowly opened outward, and a young man dressed in a black swallowtail coat and wearing a dark red mask emerged from it.

He was hanging upside down under an advertising light board, holding a psychology book in his hands. The book was titled "Never Try to Reason with a Dumb Cow."

“I know you like me a lot, but you don’t have to be so enthusiastic. It’s not good for my ears.” Black Chrysalis shook her head. “Do you understand? Even the best of friends have to maintain a certain distance, otherwise it’s easy to… turn into enemies.”

In that instant, countless blood vessels appeared in Tun Yin's eyes, his eyes turned terrifyingly red, and even his breathing became a hundred times heavier.

But Black Chrysalis completely ignored him, instead looking up at Ghost Bell and waving goodbye with a restraint strap extended from her:
“GOGOGO, Mr. Ghost Bell, I suggest you leave here immediately. This stupid bull definitely prefers me to you.”

Ghost Bell withdrew his gaze from the black cocoon, gave a cold sneer, and turned to leave, dragging his black cloak which resembled a raven's tail feathers.

Watching Ghost Bell depart, Black Chrysalis breathed a sigh of relief, then slowly lowered her eyes to look at Swallowing Silver standing on the traffic light, and said softly:
"It seems you've missed me terribly during my trip to Japan?"

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)