My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 203 The Ripper's Real Name, The Missing Origami (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
In a secluded corner of London, in a dark basement, the fan blades of the ventilation vents hummed, and the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling flickered on and off.

The girl in the school uniform tilted her head, raised the small knife in her hand, and held it against Xia Pingzhou's neck.

Her eyes, as dark as the polar night, scrutinized his face without moving. The knife, polished to a gleaming shine, reflected Xia Pingzhou's indifferent expression.

While munching on an apple, he truthfully recounted the series of events that occurred in the underground bar on the morning of July 26th.

Before he began speaking, he emphasized that he was unaware of the situation at the time and had been lured to that underground bar by the hacker. As soon as he said this, his phone vibrated.

【hacker:?】

Xia Pingzhou typed a line of text and clicked reply.

[Xia Pingzhou: Do not disturb during the game (auto-reply)]

When talking about what happened after Mario got involved in "Jurassic World," Xia Pingzhou embellished the story slightly, not mentioning that he and Su Zimai teamed up, but saying that Su Zimai almost froze him to death with the Refrigerator Demon in order to avenge the urination incident at the auction.

"Just like that," the schoolgirl looked up at him, "a refrigerator demon could hurt you like this?"

As she spoke, she silently summoned the Sky Chaser, and the dark red giant scythe transformed into a six-foot-long katana in mid-air, seemingly ready to strike.

"Didn't your Sky Chaser turn into a scythe?" Xia Pingzhou asked casually.

"Two forms, one is the 'Demon Blade,' and the other is 'Bloodthirsty Blade,'" the Ripper said. "Don't change the subject."

“I was being chased by dinosaurs at the time and didn’t notice that little fish.” Xia Pingzhou said expressionlessly, “She released a rabbit with her magic gloves and bit my back, which resulted in the wound you see. The rabbit’s teeth were almost like knives.”

"and after?"

Xia Pingzhou said unhurriedly, "The leader of that Ghost Train gang used the movie demon's ability to teleport me back to the underground bar, and that's when I bumped into you and Miss. You both know what happened after that, so I'm too lazy to go into details."

The Ripper thought for a moment: "Ke Qirui...why would she help you? Wouldn't it be better to leave you in that game world?"

“Because she has something to ask me.” Xia Pingzhou paused. “Moreover, if she can capture me alive and bring me back to the association, it will be a significant achievement for her exorcist team, just like how she didn’t forget to take the red light with her when she escaped.”

"Oh, I think I understand."

As she spoke, the Ripper sheathed her demon sword, even folding the small knife into her sleeve.

Xia Pingzhou was silent for a moment: "Speaking of which, I've always wanted to ask you, how come you can do those things so easily?"

"what do you mean?"

"You killed people, dismembered them, and hung them up high like a show-off. Your past deeds were so infamous that when I joined the Phantom Troupe, I always subconsciously kept my distance from you."

“Adolescence,” the schoolgirl said, “requires a means of venting. To avoid falling into the same old patterns, I found an interesting way to kill. My Sky Chaser is perfect for killing and dismembering.”

She lowered her gaze, her eyes still as dark as the polar night, as if a single glance would plunge her into an abyss.

Xia Pingzhou sighed and said, "You really are bad without a second thought."

“I rarely do that now.”

"Have you turned over a new leaf?"

“No, making too many enemies is troublesome, and killing ordinary people is no longer enough for my Sky Chaser. Now only demons and high-level ability users can allow my Sky Chaser to continue to evolve.” The Ripper turned to look at him. “Why ask so many questions? Do you want to become my long-awaited object of disembowelment?”

"Forget it then."

"In fact, I think we're about the same."

Where is the "half a catty, eight taels" part?

“Your eyes are just like mine used to be, that kind of… relying on your abilities, treating life like a game, not treating the people around you as real people, so you were unscrupulous.” The Ripper paused, “The only difference is that I put it into action, while you didn’t.”

"You have quite a sense of humor," Xia Pingzhou scoffed. "I joined the Phantom Troupe partly to find people and partly for money. I don't have any particular fetish for killing."

"In any case, now that we've joined the Phantom Troupe, we're all in the same boat," Ripper said. "Go find the young lady. I don't know where she is, but you should."

"Why is she acting like a little child?"

“She’s just a child, she’s never grown up,” the schoolgirl said. “But the butler died, and she was forced to start changing.”

Xia Pingzhou was silent for a moment, then picked up the half-eaten apple that had fallen on the bed and took a bite with a "crunch".

"And you, do you feel like you've grown up?" he asked.

"It's better than you," the Ripper said calmly.

After all, I'm actually twelve years old. Are we even comparable? Xia Pingzhou thought to himself.

After a pause, the Ripper suddenly said, "People who throw themselves into a little girl's arms crying and acting spoiled have no right to spout any grand principles."

Xia Pingzhou was taken aback: "The hacker said that?"

“Besides the captain, the entire brigade knows.” Ripper chuckled and looked away. “He also said that you and the young lady revealed your backgrounds, that you are a pitiful, love-starved little boy without parents, and that you are still looking for your long-lost little sister.”

Xia Pingzhou took a deep breath, silently picked up his phone, typed, and sent.

Xia Pingzhou: What about trust?

[Hacker: Do not disturb while in the game (auto-reply)]

[Xia Pingzhou: ?] [Hacker: Do not disturb while in the game (auto-reply)]

In truth, Xia Pingzhou didn't care much. He knew that many people in the group, including the leader, had doubts about his background. The hacker's publicity actually helped him, reducing their suspicions about him to some extent.

"By the way, you don't seem to know my name yet," the Ripper suddenly mentioned.

"Isn't your name Jack?" Xia Pingzhou turned to look at her, thought for a moment, "The young lady also calls you 'Jack'."

“That’s just a code name,” the schoolgirl said. “My real name is Enma Rin. The young lady said that the name is hard to pronounce, so she usually only calls me by my code name. Besides, I don’t like others knowing my real name.”

She paused for a moment: "Even within the Phantom Troupe, only she knew my real name. Everyone else who knew that name is dead."

"Then why did you tell me?"

"What do you think?" Enma Rin met his gaze.

Xia Pingzhou shook his head.

“I only consider her a friend,” Enma Rin said. “If you hurt her… I will kill you without hesitation, even if it means disregarding the rules of the guild.”

Xia Pingzhou didn't speak, but simply withdrew his gaze from her face.

"By the way, the date for the next operation has been set," Enma Rin said.

"When?"

“August 1st, Norway,” Enma Rin said. “Now that we’ve got this, let’s go find her.”

"Row."

Xia Pingzhou leaned against the headboard, removing the bandages from his body while releasing the Heavenly Drive. Black and white streams of light emerged and slowly swirled around him.

Seemingly understanding what he wanted to do, Enma Rin did not show any wariness.

He reached out his right hand and touched a chess piece on the ring road, summoning the bishop statue by the bedside.

The colossal bishop, draped in a white robe, lowered his eyes and turned the pages of a thick religious text while reciting scriptures. Then, a warm light fell from the pages and gently shone on Xia Pingzhou's back, flowing like a stream over the hideous scar.

In less than half a minute, Xia Pingzhou's wound had completely healed, his skin as smooth as if it had never been damaged. He moved his stiff shoulders, the bones cracking, and after a moment, he silently put on his clothes and draped a black coat over his shoulders.

"I'm leaving," he said.

When he turned around, he found that the girl in the black and white school uniform had vanished. Xia Pingzhou really suspected that she might have awakened some kind of invisibility ability when she advanced to the third rank, and he had to be wary of this next time.

He pulled himself out of his jumbled thoughts, put away the bishop statue, picked up his phone from beside the bed, and opened his favorite Japanese messaging app, "Line".

Xia Pingzhou: Where are you?

[Origami Ayase: Walking the cat, please do not disturb (auto-reply)]

Xia Pingzhou shrugged and then sent a message to the hacker.

[Xia Pingzhou: Where is the young lady?]

[Hacker: I don't know, everyone says she's withdrawn and didn't bring her phone. Look for her in London yourself, I'm going to play games.]

[Hacker: Damn it, this makes me so angry. I'm not recommending bars to you anymore. I was just playing games at home, and this is out of the blue.]

[Xia Pingzhou: It's all because you're so useless.]

Xia Pingzhou shook his head, put his phone into his black coat, put his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the basement, following an excessively long corridor.

A few minutes later, a staircase leading upwards finally came into view.

He thought to himself that this underground clinic was far too secluded. He wondered who had brought him to this godforsaken place. It could be either the Ripper's connections or the leader's connections. In any case, given Ayase Origami's personality, she was unlikely to have made any extra acquaintances.

As Xia Pingzhou pondered this, he climbed the stairs, exited the underground passage, and pushed open the iron gate at the exit. Moonlight streamed in. Before him lay a deep, deserted alleyway, the surrounding area dirty and messy, with "No Entry" signs posted.

He walked past the sign and onto the brightly lit street, the city's noise washing away his chaotic thoughts.

Xia Pingzhou first took a taxi back to his hotel in Westminster, opened the room with the room key from his coat, turned on the light, but did not see Ayase Origami.

He then went to the Millennium Bridge and looked out at the cruise ships on the Thames, trying to spot a girl in an ochre kimono on the deck, but to no avail.

Finally, Xia Pingzhou turned over, leaning against the bridge railing, and looked towards London's South Bank while enjoying the evening breeze. The giant Ferris wheel turned under the night sky, radiating a warm glow. A gust of wind swept down from above the city, ruffling his hair.

He was slightly taken aback: "It can't be there..."

So he set off for the amusement park in the south. At the entrance, he saw a child with an envious look on his face, casually put his arm around the child's shoulder, approached the ticket seller, and lied that the child was his son and that he would take him inside to find his mother, then enter the amusement park at the price of a parent-child ticket.

The child, with tears streaming down his face, nodded gratefully to him.

Xia Pingzhou simply squatted down, patted his head, and told him, "If you ever meet a woman named Tong Zizhu, just call her Mom."

After walking for a short while, Xia Pingzhou stopped in front of the Ferris wheel, looked up, and with his superb dynamic vision, gazed at each brightly lit carriage in the night.

After a while, he saw a girl in an ochre kimono sitting alone in one of the carriages, gazing blankly at the huge clock tower in the distance.

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(End of this chapter)