My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 182 Laughable People, Betrayal, Illusion (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

The chimes of Big Ben faded into the distance, and the evening breeze drifted gently in from the horizon.

The moonlight was hazy by the window, and Ayase Origami held Xia Pingzhou in her arms. The pale-faced girl lowered her eyelids, raised her right hand, and gently stroked his hair.

In fact, even Ji Minghuan didn't understand why he was so uneasy and out of control. Perhaps it was because he would be seeing Kong Youling in London the next day.

The thought of Kong Youling right in front of him, wearing a hospital gown and a metal collar around her neck, yet he could only choose to ignore her, made him feel depressed. It was as if there was a hole in his heart, and panic was overflowing from it. The more he tried to stop it, the more it leaked out, making it hard for him to breathe.

He can act nonchalant to everyone else, but not to Kong Youling.

Could he really...really stay calm back then? If Kong Youling had been injured in the London operation, could he have ignored it?

What should I do? Go save her? Or ignore her to avoid being exposed?
What exactly is the Salvation Society's intention in this operation? Do they really intend to use Kong Youling's personal safety to force him to reveal his true colors?

Even if they rescued Kong Youling and took her away, could this actually be a trap set by the Salvation Society? Could they deliberately let Kong Youling go, then use the locator on her collar to find her and capture all of her mechs?

Could this have been a dead end from the very beginning? No matter how hard we struggled, it would have been useless.

The deeper Ji Minghuan pondered, the heavier his heart became. His thoughts were so chaotic they felt like they were about to explode. He wearily leaned his head on Ayase Origami's shoulder. Her pale, cool hand stroked his hair, calming his thoughts somewhat.

After a long silence, Ji Minghuan said in a low voice, "I'm fine now. I'm sorry, I was a little... out of control just now."

He paused for a moment: "Didn't I tell you on the Ferris wheel that I have a family member? That white-haired girl. I've been thinking a lot lately about how to find her, so I'm a little tired. I'm so worried that I'll never find her again."

"So you joined the Phantom Troupe just like them, to find someone." Ayase Origami didn't let go of him.

"You just said I'm important... was that to comfort me?" Ji Minghuan asked.

The girl in the kimono did not respond.

After a moment of silence, she asked, "What do you think?"

"It's to comfort me." Ji Minghuan buried her face in her shoulder.

"That's it, isn't it..."

"really."

The girl in the kimono looked down at him. "What can I say when I see a crying kitten running into my arms, wanting your comfort?"

Ji Minghuan paused for a moment, then looked up at Ayase Origami. Soon he would kill the Ripper, and to her, this was undoubtedly a complete betrayal.

Oda Takikage is dead. The Ripper was the only person she was still relatively close to. But he killed the Ripper and became a traitor in Ayase Origami's eyes. So she has nothing left.

What kind of expression would Origami Ayase make at that moment? Would she cry...? Could this doll-like girl also cry? Or would it be anger?
No, perhaps the most likely reaction is confusion and numbness?

She didn't even know what expression to make when she was betrayed, after all... he even took her to buy clothes for the first time, and she didn't even know what kind of clothes she liked.

This doll-like girl has no idea how to express her feelings to others. Her father raised her as a tool, and her mother died the moment she was born.

So... in these sixteen years, even when she felt sad, no one would hold her in their arms like this, pat her head, and tell her that she was just a child and didn't need to bear so much.

When Oda Takikage was still alive, Xia Pingzhou was chatting with him in a coffee shop. He said that the young lady rarely smiled at people.

Because her father was often angry when she was a child, and he was very gloomy at home, Ayase Origami would pinch the corner of her mouth with her fingers, imitating her mother in the photo, trying to show her father a smile like her mother's, thinking to herself, "Would it make my father happier if I did that?"

But she was yelled at and scolded by her father, who said why she was smiling like her mother. He said that she was the one who killed her, and why she was smiling like her. He asked if she was mocking him.

The young lady stared blankly at her father's hysterical state, slowly lowered the finger that was tugging at the corner of his mouth, and simply said, "I'm sorry, Father, I won't laugh anymore."

After that day, she rarely smiled at anyone anymore.

Oda Takikage also said that if he could go back to that day, he would give up his duties as a butler and choose to draw his sword against the young lady's father, because a child's smile doesn't need a reason, and a child shouldn't be criticized when he wants to smile.

Yes, from childhood to adulthood, no one ever taught her how to express herself. She wasn't allowed to laugh, nor could she cry out loud like other children...

Even when she felt sad, she could only empty her mind like a doll, and over time her eyes became so vacant that they were impossible to focus on.

Yet this is the girl who reserved all her remaining feelings for you.

It seemed that he sensed your unease, which is why he took the initiative to hug you and gently stroke your head.

Just like a mother.

But her mother had already died.

No one could teach her that, so where did she learn such gentleness? From movies and TV shows, or from books?

When she sees a mother on TV stroking her child's head, does she feel a sense of loss?

Do you ever imagine that when you're sad, you wish your mother were still here... that your mother could hold you in her arms and pat your head?

But she didn't...

She only had one person yelling at her for no reason, blaming her father for her mother's death.

She was such a lonely person, so all she could do was awkwardly hug you and pat your head, just like she did on TV.

It's precisely because she has nothing, has never experienced this kind of love, yet she gave you a tenderness she herself had never known... that Ji Minghuan finds it laughable...

It's really funny.

I sincerely hope she can open her eyes and see that he is just using her. Sooner or later, he will kill the last person she cherishes in front of her and then throw her away like a pawn.

He remained silent for a long, long time, and finally he simply said softly:
"Thank you." "This is the first time I've seen a cat say thank you to its owner." Origami Ayase rested her chin on the back of his head.

Don't you think I'm ashamed?

"Isn't it normal for a kitten to occasionally snuggle up to its owner and act cute?"

"I thought you would think... I've suddenly become very strange."

"No, this is the first time I've seen it. It's very novel."

“It’s better to avoid this kind of novelty.” Ji Minghuan paused. “Can I ask you a question?”

"what?"

"Takikage is dead, haven't you ever thought about leaving the Phantom Troupe?"

She remained silent for a long time: "This place gave me freedom, I belong here."

Xia Pingzhou raised his eyes, silently looking at her face, then slowly withdrew his gaze:

"I understand."

The last question in his mind vanished. He had no choice. To fight the Salvation Society, the second unit was indispensable, but if he didn't kill the Ripper, the unit would be destroyed... He was destined to become a traitor. No matter how good their relationship was now, it was all just an illusion. Sooner or later, they would become enemies.

"Why do you ask that?" the girl in the kimono asked.

"It's getting late, let's go to sleep." He changed the subject and slowly distanced himself from Ayase Origami.

"it is good."

She was silent for a moment, then placed the haiku collection on the windowsill.

"Tomorrow, I want to go out for a walk by myself," Xia Pingzhou said.

He knew that if Origami Ayase caught up with him at this juncture, she would definitely clash with the Ghost Train Group and the Salvation Society.

The girl in the kimono glanced at his retreating figure, lowered her eyes, nodded, and silently said:

"it is good."

She seemed to want to say something, but didn't.

“Let’s travel the world together sometime in the future,” Ji Minghuan suddenly said.

The girl in the kimono was slightly taken aback.

"On the condition that you are still willing to stay with me at that time."

After adding this sentence, Xia Pingzhou moved into the bathroom and picked up his phone.

He received a message right away, and he didn't even need to look to guess who the sender was.

[Hacker: Oh my, crying in the young lady's arms, how enjoyable! I never expected our newbie to show this side of her. I must cherish this memory.]

Xia Pingzhou's face twitched slightly.

He took a deep breath, then quickly typed a line of text and sent it.

[Xia Pingzhou: Sooner or later, I'll bury you, my electronic pet, alive.]

[Hacker: Don't be so fierce. Actually, I'm genuinely touched by you two. If you two really get together in the future, I can even make you an electronic memo. You can play it at your wedding. I guarantee it will be better than anyone else's. I've been editing videos since I was four years old.]

Xia Pingzhou: We're not in that kind of relationship.

[Hacker: So what do you consider her to be? You really see her as your master?]

Xia Pingzhou: A good friend.

[Hacker: You're really stubborn, newbie. But I'm relieved. I was wondering why I couldn't find out about your background... but now there's no need. I have a feeling what you said earlier wasn't false, after all, you were crying in the young lady's arms.]

Did this accidental discovery dispel the hacker's suspicions about me? Xia Pingzhou wondered.

[Hacker: "Who's more important, me or the Ripper?" Waaaa, I'm really impressed that our poker-faced Casanova could say something like that.]

Xia Pingzhou: Get lost.

Xia Pingzhou put away his phone, looked up at his indifferent face in the mirror, washed his face with water, and then returned to his bed in the room, slowly closing his eyes.

The main body remains in a state of slumber, impossible to awaken, and unable to open its eyes. The sedative is very effective, and the Salvation Society has begun its operation; they are using some means to move the children away from the base and take them to London.

Meanwhile, the black pupa was hanging quietly upside down beneath London's Big Ben, overlooking the brightly lit Westminster district.

That night, Ji Minghuan couldn't fall asleep. Even late at night, various chaotic thoughts kept pulling him back and forth between sleep and reality. In the early hours of the next morning, a text message notification woke him from his drowsy state.

The black chrysalis raised its head, hanging upside down as it looked at the London horizon. A huge sun slowly rose, and the morning light shone from the horizon, enveloping the Gothic buildings.

He took out his phone, which was hidden inside the restraints, and glanced at the text messages.

[Ke Qirui: It's time to take action.]

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(End of this chapter)