My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 197 Preparations, Ranking, Shark's Big Feast Plan (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

[Blue Arc: By the way, just a heads-up, don't get near my brother.]

[Black Chrysalis: Okay, Comrade Electric Mouse, go cook for your good little brother.]

"What am I supposed to eat if you don't cook?" Gu Wenyu muttered, putting away his spare phone and turning to look out the floor-to-ceiling window.

The enormous sun was slowly sinking below the city's horizon, and the evening breeze carried in the sounds of children playing. He stared blankly at the crimson sky for a while, then leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes to the fading chirping of cicadas.

On the other side, because the effects of the sedative hadn't worn off, her eyelids were stuck shut as if taped. Her limbs felt like they didn't belong to her; they were too heavy to lift.

This feeling is exactly the same as entering the supernatural realm of Mutaki—suffocating.

The second unit, Xia Pingzhou, saw the same thing: pitch black, with faint, dreamlike sounds that he could hear, wondering if it was Ayase Origami talking to him by the bedside.

Because there was no healing ability user around, Xia Pingzhou probably wouldn't wake up anytime soon with just modern medical treatment. However, this did give Ji Minghuan a breather and indirectly reduced the burden on his brain.

So at this moment, all that's left in my mind is a shark that eats and sleeps.

In the past two days, nothing unusual has happened on the Third Prince's side. After all, with Li Qingping by his side, no assassin would dare to visit the floating castle.

Currently, Unit 3 is still in the preparation phase. For the rest of the time, all we need to do is continue eating and being a glutton, waiting for the final battle in the Little Garden on August 1st.

That will inevitably unleash a bloodbath.

As he was pondering, a knock came at the door.

So Gu Wenyu opened his eyes, stretched out his arm, and silently turned on the room light, and the incandescent light bulb lit up.

The knocking stopped for a moment, and Gu Qiye's voice came from outside the door: "Wenyu, are you home? I'm going to start making dinner. You can come downstairs in half an hour."

“Yes, yes, go ahead and do it,” Gu Wenyu said. “I’m actually hungry.”

“Okay, Xiaomai is sleeping. Please wake her up later.” Gu Qiye instructed.

"No problem, I guarantee I'll kick that pig out of there," Gu Wenyu said calmly.

Hearing this from outside the door, Gu Qiye hesitated for a moment and said, "Uh... don't be too rough, she seems a little tired."

Please, shouldn't I be the one who's exhausted? Gu Wenyu thought to himself, his eye twitching slightly as he considered himself both father and mother.

Despite his thoughts, he still said, "Okay, okay, if she doesn't want to eat, then I won't bother with her."

"Well, you don't need to worry about Dad. You don't need to text him to come back either. That way, the atmosphere at the dinner table will be better."

"So filial... No wonder he's our Blue Arc comrade."

Gu Wenyu muttered to himself, listening to the footsteps outside the door fade into the distance, then slowly closed his eyelids, synchronizing his consciousness with the third unit, Yagubaru, for the first time in a long time.

The time in Whale Garden is roughly the same as in Beijing, China, so it's also close to nighttime here.

Agubaru opened his eyes from the crystal ball. Before him was the courtyard of the floating city. Two rows of maple trees stood in the blood-red twilight, their fiery red leaves swirling and falling.

Looking to the side, Caesar and Li Qingping were practicing in the courtyard.

For two whole days, the two of them had been like they were possessed, doing nothing but sleeping, eating, and cultivating. They couldn't find anything else to do, so to be on the safe side, it was best to stay in the castle to avoid falling into the trap set by the Queen and the two princes.

"Your Highness, you have broken through," Li Qingping suddenly said. "In that case, you are now a C-level Oddity Envoy."

He paused for a moment: "A C-level Oddity can bind and use a maximum of three high-level Oddities, while a generation-level Oddity is limited to two. You already have a 'Christmas Sleigh' fragment, so you can only bind one more generation-level Oddity."

Caesar let out a long sigh, lowered his eyes to gaze at the wondrous starlight flowing across his heart, then slowly raised his blue eyes and smiled at Li Qingping:
"Great...it's faster than we expected."

“Indeed, I thought Your Highness would improve quickly, but I didn’t expect it to be this fast,” Li Qingping said with a sigh. “It seems that it was my fault before. If I had kept it from the King and secretly taught you some cultivation techniques, you wouldn’t be in such a predicament now.”

Caesar shook his head: "My health wasn't good before, so it's normal for my father to worry that I was under too much pressure. I understand him."

"You've already broken through? You've only been cultivating for less than two days, how could it be so fast?" Yaguba Lu tilted his head and winked, leaning closer to the glass of the crystal ball to stare at Li Qingping. "You're not trying to fool a child again, are you, Li Qingping?"

Li Qingping turned to look at the little shark: "You've been asleep for almost a day and a night, you're finally awake?"

Caesar glanced at it and breathed a sigh of relief: "Aguru, I thought you were fast asleep."

"I ate too many crumbs the day before yesterday and had indigestion. Aren't you envious? This is the quality of my sleep. You humans can't sleep as much as I can."

Yagubaru smirked, revealing a row of small, sharp teeth.

"A gluttonous shark," Li Qingping said.

“A small, insignificant fish, a red dragon,” the little shark said.

Agubaru turned to Caesar and said, "It seems you've made rapid progress, Caesar."

Caesar thought for a moment: "Hmm, I'm considering whether I should find an opportunity to enter the Royal Court and see if there's a chance to bind another generation-level wonder."

Li Qingping shook his head: "I'm afraid that's impossible. The king is unconscious, and no one has the right to enter the royal court at present. The royal court is heavily guarded, and if you rashly break in now, it will only give them a reason to attack you."

"That makes sense, then forget it."

“Actually, having one Generation-level wonder is already quite impressive. Didn’t the captain of the Royal Court team, Ruth, only have two Generation-level wonders?” Yagubalu shook his head. “If you don’t have the ability, you can make up for it with quantity. That’s the kind of thinking only a small fry would have.”

Li Qingping chimed in: "Indeed... the key to strange tales is not quantity, but whether they fit one's own situation."

“Yes, I’d better use the ‘Christmas Sleigh’ first.” Caesar nodded.

Yagubalu looked at Li Qingping and suddenly asked, "I heard from Caesar that you resonated with many generational fragments in the Royal Court Palace before. Why didn't you take them all back then?"

“I don’t think it’s suitable for me,” Li Qingping paused, “I would rather find it on my own, that would be more fulfilling.”

"I get it, that's just chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)." Agubaru snorted.

Li Qingping said expressionlessly, "Actually... the Phoenix Fragment has great potential. I've been traveling in the outside world for several years, and besides the 'Red Dragon Wales,' my biggest gain is this 'Phoenix.'"

"But isn't it just a common, obscure piece of anecdote?" Agubaru asked.

Caesar also cast a curious glance at him.

“No, you’ll find out later.” Li Qingping shook his head. “Until then, Your Highness must keep the ‘phoenix feather’ I gave you safe.” “I know,” Caesar smiled back. “I always keep the feather with me.”

Li Qingping nodded.

Yagubalu thought for a moment and said, "Speaking of which... Li Qingping, if you were to rank the members of the Royal Court team, who do you think is the strongest and who is the weakest?"

Li Qingping thought for a while: "First of all, Captain 'Rose' is undoubtedly the strongest, after all, she has two rare items, 'Titanic' and 'Loch Ness Monster'; second are 'Sword in the Stone' Ryan and 'Tunguska Explosion' Dijje, and the remaining three should be about the same."

"What about that lowly red dragon?" Agubaru flicked his tail and pressed on, "Where does that lowly red dragon rank in the Royal Court team? It can't be near the bottom, can it?"

“A small fry like Red Dragon…” Li Qingping thought for a moment, “It should be about the same as the captain.”

"Huh?" Agubaru winked and sneered. "That captain with two generation-level weapons can't compare to you? Don't flatter yourself too much, Comrade Red Dragon!"

"Why would I lie to you?" Li Qingping shrugged. "Misjudging the strength of your opponent is a matter of life and death."

Yagubalu asked skeptically, "Oh, so do you think you could reach 'Cataclysmic' level strength if you put yourself in the standard of superhumans?"

"Of course there is," Li Qingping said calmly. "It's just a natural disaster-level event, what's so difficult about that?"

"I do not believe!"

Despite saying this, Yagubaru actually acknowledged Li Qingping in his heart.

After all, even with the burden of the second prince, Li Qingping was able to hold off several members of the White Raven Brigade at the underground auction in Tokyo, including the best among them – “White Greed Wolf”.

At that time, if Li Qingping hadn't had to be distracted to protect the Second Prince, the White Raven Brigade might not have had a chance to break through the Red Dragon's defenses even if they had tried their best.

Not to mention how much stronger Li Qingping would be without any burdens. Even if he hadn't reached the threshold of the Calamity level, he would still be much stronger than an ordinary quasi-Cataclysmic level.

From this perspective, Lan Duoduo is actually right. Li Qingping's "Red Dragon Wales" does indeed stand at the pinnacle of generational wonders, far more powerful than ordinary generational wonders.

"Li Qingping, take me to meet the people from the Wangting team tomorrow," Caesar suddenly said, interrupting Yagubaru's thoughts.

Li Qingping was taken aback: "What does Your Highness mean?"

“It’s nothing…” Caesar shook his head. “I just wanted to talk to them before the war started. After all, I’m different from my two brothers. Over the years, apart from you, I haven’t really had any real contact with other members of the Royal Court team.”

He paused for a moment: "It's a pity that we became enemies with them so inexplicably."

“Alright.” Li Qingping was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, “I will take you there tomorrow, although I don’t think it will change anything; they will still be loyal to the Empress.”

Caesar nodded silently.

"It's getting late... Let's stop here for today and get some rest." Li Qingping looked up at the sky.

"Where's today's friend fee?" Yagubalu winked and said, "You better watch out for Shark, don't get too cocky, Li Qingping."

Li Qingping turned around, glanced at it expressionlessly, then summoned the Strange Tales Catalogue, flipped out two popular-level strange tale fragments, and threw them at the crystal ball.

The little shark grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth.

Like a dog catching a frisbee, it manipulated the dark water to leap out of the glass ball, pop open the lid, grab two shards, and then splash back into the sea.

Caesar smiled slightly, walked over, picked up the glass cover from the ground, and covered the gap in the crystal ball.

"By the way, where did you get your fragments?" Yagubalu looked up at Li Qingping, chewing on a fragment as he asked, "Didn't you already feed me the ones you had before?"

Crunchy, tastes like potato chips.

It swallowed the fragment, and a dark blue notification panel immediately popped up in front of it.

[You have consumed 2 "Common" level Oddity Fragments, triggering the effect of the exclusive training system "Oddity Gluttony," increasing your actual size by 4 meters.]

[The size change of Unit 3 – the Eternal Abyss Shark "Agubaru": 147 meters → 151 meters.]

“Although I resigned from my position, the formalities haven’t been completed yet,” Li Qingping said. “Right now, with the authority of the Wangting team, I can still collect two popular-level oddities from the treasury every day.”

"I don't do the work, but I still get paid," Yagubaru scoffed. "Is this what they call 'green tea red dragon'?"

"You gluttonous shark, you're being so aggressive even though you're being fed," Li Qingping said.

Suddenly, Agubaru said, "On August 1st, why don't you take me into the Palace's Archives of Wonders? I'll just eat all the fragments inside."

Li Qingping thought for a moment: "No... it's still uncertain whether a fight will break out. If the Empress originally intended to let us leave, wouldn't your actions be causing trouble for the Third Prince?"

"Bullshit!" Yagubalu shouted. "You'd be better off believing that Shark is Qin Shi Huang than believing that the Empress will let us go."

"Here we go again. Where did you, a shark, learn all this internet slang from?" Li Qingping tilted his head and asked curiously, "Are there computers in the deep sea?"

“Our Great Eternal Abyss Shark Empire has plenty of culture,” Agubaru said. “You just don’t understand, human. So, do you believe the shark is Qin Shi Huang or the empress?”

Li Qingping stared at the indignant little shark for a while, then sighed softly.

“Alright then, on the morning of August 1st, before we leave the Little Garden, I’ll secretly take you to the Strange Tales Library for a big meal.” He paused, “Anyway, we won’t be coming back afterward.”

“That’s more like it.” Agubaru sneered. “I thought you were the kind of person who’s stubborn. Don’t let Shark look down on your intelligence, human.”

Li Qingping shrugged and sat down in the yard, leaning against a maple tree.

He said, "I'll just rest in the yard tonight. The air is fresh here, and if any 'guests' come, I can prepare in advance."

"Goodnight, Li Qingping." After saying this, Caesar turned around and walked towards the castle with the glass ball.

Don't forget the friend fee tomorrow.

Yagubalu turned around, speaking as he looked through the crystal ball at Li Qingping in the courtyard.

Li Qingping did not reply, but simply turned his head to gaze at the slowly darkening sky, where fish, carrying fluorescent light, swam over the whale's belly.

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)