My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 148 Death, Newcomers, and the Leader's Moves (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
The bedroom was quiet. The butler pushed open the door and walked slowly out of the darkness, his footsteps extremely quiet.

After a long while, he stopped and stared at the crystal ball on the bedside table, remaining silent for a long time.

At the same time, Agubaru in the crystal ball suddenly opened his eyes.

A man and a shark gazed at each other silently under the moonlight.

The shark's upright pupils shone brightly, reflecting a barely perceptible dark blue hue, like a fierce beast protecting its master.

Since the butler is neither speaking nor doing anything, Ji Minghuan doesn't plan to let Yagubalu do anything either. He can just continue to pretend to be a harmless Nobe shark. Losing his composure is not something a noble shark should do.

“I have a question… You’re on the Third Prince’s side, aren’t you?” After a long silence, the butler finally spoke.

Agubaru was taken aback. Since the butler already knew it was abnormal, there was no need to pretend anymore.

If the butler is on the side of the eldest and second princes, then he must know about the attack on the third prince last night. Considering the fact that "this Norbe shark is not normal," he would realize that it was Ababaru who swallowed the werewolf in one gulp to save Caesar.

The fact that the butler asked this question instead of taking action suggests that the butler is likely on the Third Prince's side and is unaware of what happened last night.

“Otherwise?” Agubaru asked.

The butler lowered his eyes, then raised them again, letting out a long sigh of relief: "Then I can rest easy..."

Yagubalu made a shushing gesture: "Shh... He's sleeping, Shark needs to sleep too."

The butler thought for a moment: "Even knowing that it might mean going against the entire world, would you still stand on the Third Prince's side?"

“Of course,” Yagubaru said.

It thought to itself, "My main mission is to protect the Third Prince. What else can I do besides completing missions? Let a shark that's over 100 meters long try to eat a whale that's 200 meters long?"
“That’s good… Please make sure to protect him.” The butler pondered for a moment, then bowed to the shark in the crystal ball and said respectfully, “I am just a low-ranking Oddity Envoy, only able to use some everyday Oddity Fragments, and can do nothing else… But I have watched His Highness the Third Prince grow up since I was a child, and I cannot bear to see him die in this cruel and foolish power struggle.”

Agubaru did not respond, but simply observed his expression quietly.

“Then I shall take my leave.” With that, the butler turned to leave, but Ababaru suddenly called him back:
"Hey, don't rush off."

The butler stopped in his tracks, turning halfway to the side. "Is there anything else?"

"If you have the ability, help me find some fragments of strange tales. Any type or level of strange tale fragments are fine, I don't discriminate," said Agubaru.

"Is this also to protect the Third Prince?"

"of course."

"Then I will help as much as I can within my capabilities."

"That's good, goodbye."

The little shark inside the crystal ball couldn't help but hum happily, thinking that it now had one more owner.

The butler nodded, then walked out of the bedroom and quietly closed the door.

“I thought he was just another one bringing me food and drink, but it turns out he’s a good person?” Agubaru said. “Even if he’s full of bad intentions and is just pretending to be nice to me in order to bite me back, as long as he’s willing to give me fragments of strange tales, I can use him.”

Seeing that there was no further movement from any direction, and only the faint snoring of Caesar could be heard in the bedroom, Agubaru slowly closed his eyes in the crystal ball.

The next morning, when Agubaru opened his eyes, he saw nearly twenty fragments of strange tales stacked on his bedside table.

Seeing that Caesar had not yet woken up, it opened the lid of the crystal ball and manipulated the dark currents to approach the fragments.

Like a comical, exaggerated scene from a cartoon, the shark's open mouth suddenly expanded, and then it swallowed all twenty fragments of the strange tale into its throat, before its gills returned to their normal size.

[You have consumed 14 "Common-grade" Oddity Fragments, triggering the effect of the exclusive cultivation system "Oddity Gluttony," increasing your actual size by 7 meters.]

[You have consumed 6 "Common" level Oddity Fragments, triggering the effect of the exclusive training system "Oddity Gluttony," increasing your actual size by 12 meters.]

Your actual size has increased by a total of 19 meters.

[The size change of Unit 3 – the Eternal Abyss Shark "Agubaru": 103 meters → 122 meters.]

After devouring all the fragments, the little shark returned to the crystal ball, carried away by the black water, and closed its eyes contentedly to continue its deep sleep in the seawater.

However, it was soon awakened by Caesar's urgent tone.

"What's wrong, Caesar?"

Agubaru slowly opened his eyes from inside the crystal ball.

Caesar was kneeling on the bed, his white hair disheveled, his eyes red and swollen. He was deathly pale, like a piece of paper that might crumble at any moment.

After trying for a while, Caesar couldn't utter a single complete sentence. In the end, he could only clutch the crystal ball and hysterically scream, "Why...why, why did my brother do that?!"

Tears of resentment streamed down his face and landed on the surface of the crystal ball.

Yagubaru tilted his head and stared at him with a strange expression.

It is said that on this morning, shortly after Caesar's steward, Icarus, stole from the royal storehouse of curiosities, he came to the palace to confess. According to royal protocol, the second prince executed him on the spot. Most of the royal family witnessed Icarus's decapitation.

When Caesar woke up, he searched the castle for a long time but couldn't find Icarus. In the end, he learned what had happened through a pigeon messenger. He was furious and wanted to see the eldest and second princes, but he couldn't find them at all.

Finally, Caesar returned here, kneeling on the bed like a dog whose spine had been removed, and cried out to the crystal ball all morning.

After learning the whole story from Caesar, Agubaru guessed that the reason the steward turned himself in was probably because he didn't want to be the third prince's weakness.

From what the steward said last night, it's clear that he understands that a war is likely to break out within the royal family afterward. As one of Caesar's closest people, if he unfortunately falls into the hands of the eldest and second princes, Caesar could be greatly affected.

But if he dies, the third prince will no longer have these worries.

Of course, there might be another reason besides that. Thinking of this, the shark in the crystal ball spoke up: "His death had a reason."

“What’s the reason…” Caesar raised his bloodshot eyes, wrinkled his nose like a mad wolf, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Tell me, why?”

“Ikar wants to tell you… your two older brothers are not good people.”

Caesar sobbed and remained silent for a long time.

"Your brother wanted to kill you... Your butler knew you wouldn't believe him, so in the end he had to risk his life to warn you. Otherwise, think about it, why didn't they even inform you before executing your butler?"

Agubaru paused for a moment: "They don't take you seriously at all, so they won't take the people around you seriously either."

Caesar remained silent, simply sitting against the headboard, head bowed, staring blankly out the window.

That's why I say I hate a somber, resentful atmosphere the most...

Caesar remained silent, and so did Shark.

Shark just kept eating, and after finishing, it synchronized its consciousness to the second unit, Xia Pingzhou.

It was very late at night; it was 2 a.m. local time in Venice.

Inside a private room in a tavern, orange-yellow lights shone down, bathing everyone's faces in their glow.

Xia Pingzhou was drinking with a few members of the tour group. However, while the others were drinking alcohol, he and Ayase Origami were drinking orange juice.

It wasn't because he wasn't old enough; in the character's backstory, Xia Pingzhou was 19, which was old enough to drink. He had even taken a couple of sips of whiskey that afternoon, trying to appear like a mature man.

But if you pretend like that, it's better not to pretend at all.

In the tavern's private room, Andrew sat there, chugging down his drink while muttering about his past with Lan Duoduo. It seemed that he was the one who recommended Lan Duoduo to the leader to join the group, and that he and Lan Duoduo were the closest, so he was also the one who felt the deepest guilt and the most heartache after Lan Duoduo's death.

Xia Pingzhou felt that Ayase Origami should feel the same way, after all, Oda Takikage was also recommended by Ayase Origami to join the group, so he turned his head to look at the young lady.

Ayase Origami simply lowered her eyes and silently gazed at the little wildcat charm that Xia Pingzhou had bought for her at the gift shop.

On any other day, if Andrew had been rambling on like this, everyone would have told him to shut up long ago. But that night, no one said anything to stop him. The more drunk Andrew became, the more he talked, showing no sign of stopping.

The bloodline and Lan Duoduo seemed to have a good relationship. She cupped the girl's face in her hands and listened quietly, seemingly indifferent.

This 100-year-old woman rarely showed such a calm and reserved side, as if she had been under a spell of silence.

Not long after, someone pushed open the door and entered the private room; it was a girl wearing a black and white school uniform.

He was clearly the second "Jack the Ripper" in the Brigade, and at this moment, a strange figure was following behind Jack the Ripper.

Xia Pingzhou raised an eyebrow slightly and looked up from the glass. He saw a man wearing a monocle, who looked to be in his thirties.

The man's skin was as pale as a vampire who hadn't seen the sun in a long time, yet his face exuded kindness and intelligence, and his long white hair was tied in a ponytail. At this moment, the man was wearing white gloves and a white trench coat.

Like his hair and skin, everything about this man seemed pale.

"Have you all drunk yourself to the point of brain damage?"

The Ripper spoke calmly, crossing his arms and glancing around. At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the man in the trench coat.

Andrew hiccuped and asked haltingly, "This, this is the newcomer?"

"Nice to meet you." The man nodded slightly and said in fluent English, "I am the new number 5, Bernardo Edward."

Bai Tanlang stared at the man with his left eye, crossed his arms, and pondered, "The Strange Tales Envoy 'Black Death,' right?"

“That’s right.” Bernardo nodded, a faint smile on his face.

Xia Pingzhou quietly observed Bernardo's face, wondering if this was the person who had caused the king to contract the Black Death.

He had assumed Bernardo would be either a fierce and menacing figure or a madman, or at the very least, a gloomy and ruthless-looking fellow. However, he was surprised to find that Bernardo's appearance was more like that of a kind and intellectual elder.

The bloodline leaned back, resting his long back against the sofa, and raised his crimson eyes to examine the person curiously: "This is the newcomer?"

Everyone seemed surprised by the appearance of this "Black Death Fragment Holder." Who would have thought that such a terrifying figure would actually appear to be a refined and gentle fellow? The contrast was striking.

Origami Ayase glanced at it only once before lowering her eyes to continue reading her haiku collection.

Bernardo stood with his hands behind his back, turned his head and looked around: "Isn't the captain here? I've been wanting to see him."

"The commander is in China." The Ripper sat down.

“China?” Bernardo repeated.

Xia Pingzhou raised an eyebrow, thinking that the commander was actually in China. If Black Chrysalis could find him, things would be much easier.

“Yes, the leader is in Lijing. He said he wants to meet another new member.” Ripper picked up Ayase Origami’s cup and took a sip of the remaining orange juice.

The Bloodline took a sip of red wine, licked his lips, and looked at the silent Bernardo: "No one knows what the leader is thinking, and very few people can find him."

“If you want to see him, you can do so when the next operation begins,” Bai Tanlang said.

Li Jing, another new member? Xia Pingzhou thought to himself, "Could the new member the leader is talking about be my first unit?"

He then looked up and asked expressionlessly, "The other new member you're talking about, isn't it that 'Black Chrysalis'?"

　There will be another update later, please vote with your monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)