My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 282 Interrogation of Julius, The Name of the Undercover Agent (Thanks to "Johannes Vanderberg" for the support)

Dead silence, dim light, utter darkness; the basement was empty, the fluorescent light bulbs flickering on and off. Insects crawled in and out of the sewer openings, making rustling sounds.

At that moment, a tall, dark figure was hanging upside down from the ceiling.

He held a comic book in his left hand, and a restraint strap emerged from his right sleeve, tightly binding the old man in his tattered officer's uniform, wrapping it around his body. Then, he spoke almost word by word, asking:
"Mr. Julius, do you know... where the Salvation Society's base is?"

The words ended. The clear sentences were met with a brief silence. A deathly silence gradually filled the basement air as the swarm of insects completely burrowed into the drainpipes, the only sound the buzzing of the exhaust fan.

With nothing else to do, Black Chrysalis simply activated "Restraint Belt Detection" to take a look at the other party's attributes.

[Achievement conditions: Touching the target's body, and activating the passive skill "Restraint Detection."]

[Target Gender: Male]

[Target Attributes: Strength: S+; Speed: S+; Spirit: S]

Superhuman

[Special Ability: Manipulation of rocks and stones, but cannot create them out of thin air; they must be extracted from the surrounding environment.]

"So that's how it is. This is the standard attribute of a Calamity-level being?" Black Chrysalis raised an eyebrow.

He thought, "Julius is one of the best among the Cataclysmic-class. His individual combat ability at his peak was probably comparable to that of the members of the Lake Hunters, so his attributes should be slightly higher than those of the normal Cataclysmic-class... In that case, my mech attributes are not far from the standard of the Cataclysmic-class."

Black Chrysalis looked up and saw that even under the pressure of the restraint mantra, Julius did not react much. He only frowned slightly and veins appeared on his forehead. This was because Julius's "mental power" was too high, so he was able to resist the effect of the "restraint mantra" for a short time.

But judging from the sensory observations of the restraints, Julius wouldn't last long; his brain was like a slowly turning-on computer, stuck at the password input screen.

The restraint mantra is like a hacker, constantly trying various passwords, trying to wake up this sleeping computer and spy on the data on the disc.

This process will take some time. After all, Julius is an "S-rank" powerhouse in terms of mental attributes, and his defense mechanisms are not so easy to penetrate.

However, Black Chrysalis was very patient. Since she didn't have anything else to do at the moment, she had plenty of time to play along with him.

He suddenly shook his head and sighed, casually putting down the book he couldn't quite get through, "The Abyss of Youth," and instead flipped through another borrowed comic book, "Octopus Pi's Original Sin."

Both comic books were recommended to him by the comic book store manager, and now it seems like it was a form of malicious revenge.

He just stared at the comic book, waited silently for a while, and then squinted his eyes slightly.

Julius finally showed a slight reaction. The old man's lips suddenly moved slightly.

The officer spoke, his voice hoarse, "I...don't know."

"Don't know? How could you not know? Aren't you a member of the Salvation Church?"

The officer remained silent.

Black Chrysalis thought for a moment: "So, in what situation did you first come into contact with the Salvation Society? How did they contact you?"

"I don't know, the Salvation Church... the Salvation Church, I don't know. It can't... it can't be the Salvation Church?"

"Then how did you usually get to the Salvation Society base? Did they blindfold you with a cloth?"

"I can't say... I can't say, I can't say!" Julius suddenly roared, his body convulsing violently, like a person having an epileptic seizure, his pupils filled with terrifying blood vessels, his eyeballs bulging as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Through the sensory feedback from the restraints, the black pupa sensed that things were going badly.

Julius is likely experiencing the same symptoms as he did on the train that day at Red Light—he is about to face a spiritual death, which is completely different from physical death, more nihilistic, more terrifying, leaving only an empty shell in the world after brain death.

This was definitely the mentor's doing. Currently, Black Chrysalis only knows that there are two psychic ability users in the Salvation Society: one is the mentor, and the other is Kong Youling.

There is absolutely no other possibility besides the mentor. The previous traffic light incident also proved this point.

“I need to hurry… I have to get something out of Julius before he goes completely brain dead.” Black Chrysalis narrowed her eyes, her mind in turmoil. “But what can I ask? He’s already been branded with a mental mark by his mentor. His mentor is ruthless… Does he spare no one he’s ever met? Or… is this a hard rule of the Salvation Society, and Julius has tacitly accepted it?”

During the probing just now, he seemed to have realized something: Julius would not answer, or rather, he was "unable to answer," whenever the "Salvation Society" was mentioned.

Undoubtedly, this is the effect of the mentor's spiritual imprint.

If it were a Dragon-level ability user like Hongludeng, he would probably be brain dead by now.

But Julius is different. He is a veteran Calamity-level ability user, and his mental strength is naturally far beyond that of ordinary people, as can be seen from the panel measured by the [Restraint Belt Detection].

"Nevertheless, in a situation where the other party has lost the ability to think, if I avoid asking the words 'Salvation Society,' I might be able to bypass the mentor's mental imprint and obtain some crucial information."

With that thought in mind, Black Chrysalis suddenly raised her head and, as if firing from a machine gun, asked in rapid succession:
"Where do you usually meet that man in the glasses and white coat? Where do you always see those children in hospital gowns? How can you get to see them?"

"I don't know!" Julius almost growled, his voice growing weaker and weaker, the pride and anger gone, replaced by the frailty of an old man. "I don't know, I can't say..."

"Then...which people in Rainbow Wings have you seen?" Black Chrysalis squinted, understanding that Julius's spirit had reached its end, so he asked with his last glimmer of hope.

After he finished speaking, the basement remained silent for a while. Surprisingly, Julius answered his question this time.

His pronunciation was unclear, but you could roughly make out what he was saying:
“Urushihara, Ruri, Karina… Oda Hideaki, and one more person, no… no, there should be one more person, I don’t know his name. But he took Ajaya, he took my old friend Ajaya…”

At this point, Julius's pupils dilated in surprise, and he was completely speechless.

He stared at the ceiling in a daze, as if he had seen something utterly terrifying. His body stopped convulsing, and he slowly collapsed onto the sofa. He fell into a deep, silent sleep, as if he were dead.

The black chrysalis silently watched Julius. His spirit was dead; only his body remained.

He closed Julius's eyes with the restraints, and then pondered in silence:
"Urushihara Ruri, Karina, Oda Hideaki, and one more person, someone from Rainbow Wings, is he related to Ajaya? I remember Ajaya is the 'Machine Soul Bodhisattva,' what happened to him?"

"If we calculate it this way, it does match the information provided by the superpower system: there are a total of four Salvation Society spies in Rainbow Wing; the names of three of them are already known, and as for the identity of the last spy, there's no need to rush; it will be revealed naturally after exchanging information with my brother."

Black Chrysalis hissed deeply. A moment later, he casually stole Julius's powers using the restraints, and then slowly removed the restraints from the other man.

[Note: Your restraints have stolen the supernatural abilities of the esper "Julius," which can be released within 48 hours (the stored supernatural abilities will automatically disappear after "releasing the skill" or "exceeding the time limit").]

If possible, he would certainly want to keep Julius's body to periodically steal his superpowers. Doing so would be tantamount to treating the officer as an unconscious superpower ATM, which would be of great strategic significance to Black Chrysalis.

This is a calamity-level ability, naturally with an extremely high ceiling for its use. Not to mention, Julius is also a significant fighting force within the Salvation Society. His strength ranking within the organization is probably second only to the monster children of the Salvation Squad. But the problem is, Black Chrysalis can't keep Julius here. Because the Salvation Society might have some means to find Julius's location and then use that to locate him.

It's even quite possible that the Salvation Society members are already on their way. Therefore, Black Chrysalis must deal with this old man, who has become a vegetable, as soon as possible to prevent future trouble.

"But someone else is going to kill the officer, so that we can make the most of this body," he thought.

Just then, a figure suddenly pushed open the door and entered. He turned his head and saw a colossal, silver-white statue, exuding a noble and dignified aura, with eerie blue flames flickering in its eye sockets. She slowly walked in, holding a dagger in each hand.

This scene may seem unbelievable, but it is actually not surprising.

Xia Pingzhou was on a JR limited express train, escaping Hokkaido with his troupe. If he were to sneak over to collect the bodies now, he would certainly arouse the suspicion of the hackers. He didn't want to be seen as an undercover agent, constantly providing intelligence to Black Chrysalis.

But the Queen statue is different. This piece can move beyond the boundaries of the "chessboard".

So Xia Pingzhou sent the Empress statue to travel a long distance in his place.

The purpose was to take Julius's head.

"Queen statue, kill him." Black Chrysalis tilted his head, looking at the comic that was giving him a headache, while giving the order to the Queen statue in Xia Pingzhou's tone.

The queen statue nodded.

She shared memories with the chess player, and naturally understood that the black pupa and the chess player were one.

And so, with a swift motion, the dagger fell. The moment it struck, Julius's head flew upwards, only to be consumed by a ghostly blue flame.

Immediately afterwards, Julius's body also began to burn fiercely.

This is a hidden feature of the Queen Statue: after killing an enemy, she can use ghostly blue flames to set the enemy's corpse ablaze.

But this feature isn't very useful; at most, it makes collecting corpses more convenient and fashionable.

“Your work is done. Go back to the chess library.” Black Chrysalis closed “Octopus Crack,” tied it together with “The Abyss of the Boy” on the ground with restraints, and then threw it into the dark blue fire.

The figure of the Queen statue suddenly became blurry, and then disappeared into a stream of black and white light.

In a short while, Julius's body was burned to ashes in the flames.

The eerie blue flames flickered, reflecting the black pupa's ever-changing expression. He stared as the last piece of flesh was burned away, then wrapped his entire body in restraints, his slender figure dissolving into the air as if it had become transparent.

A few hours later, at 5:30 p.m. Japan time, on a JR Limited Express train heading out of Sapporo, Hokkaido.

The carriage swayed and rocked. Xia Pingzhou opened his eyes, and the twilight sunlight shone through the window onto his cheeks.

He squinted and turned to look at the kimono-clad girl sitting next to him, reading a collection of haiku.

Actually, she wasn't reading a book; instead, she had her phone tucked inside a haiku collection and was practicing typing on it. Since getting a phone, Origami Ayase's interests had shifted, as if a whole new world had opened up for her.

The next moment, a black and white notification box suddenly appeared in front of Xia Pingzhou, distracting him.

[Notification: You have killed a "Cataclysmic" level ability user—"Julius," and have received an additional reward from the "Winter of the Wild Hunt" training system—"1 skill point."]

Defeating a "Cataclysmic" ability user will increase the kill count for the "Winter of the Wild Hunt" system's mission progress. The current progress for the training system has been updated to 63/70 kills.

"Killing a Calamity-level enemy grants a skill point?" Xia Pingzhou wondered. "That's so convenient! If I kill a few more Calamities-level enemies, my skill tree will be maxed out!"

Xia Pingzhou shook his head, pulled himself out of his unrealistic thoughts, and closed the panel with his mind.

Just then, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, and the swaying of the train made him feel a little dizzy.

I rubbed my Tianming acupoint, took out my phone and saw a "Line" message pop up on the lock screen.

The sender's name is "KamiNeko" in English, which is also the pronunciation of "paper cat" in Japanese. Undoubtedly, this is the young lady's social media account.

She had only recently learned how to use a mobile phone, and even her account on "Line," the most commonly used social media app in Japan, was registered by Xia Pingzhou himself.

When he was filling out the form, he wrote 3 years old in the age column, and then a three-year-old child pinched his face with a piece of paper.

Xia Pingzhou asked her, "Why don't you ask a hacker for help? He's a cyber expert."

But Origami Ayase didn't answer. She just lowered her head and focused on playing with her phone, carefully choosing her screen name, which eventually came up as "KamiNeko".

【KamiNeko: You idiot.】

Xia Pingzhou: ?

[KamiNeko: Practicing typing.]

Xia Pingzhou looked up from his phone, turned his head to look at the girl in the kimono, who coughed lightly twice and looked away like a mischievous child.

He turned to look out the window, and a rice paddy on the distant mountaintop came into view, swaying gently in the afterglow of the setting sun, like a golden sea.

Next, he and Origami Ayase will leave Hokkaido and meet up with the leader and the others in Tokyo, Japan. Then they will meet the new members and see what kind of monster this person, who has been imprisoned in Shin-ebi Village for several years, really is.

The train bumped along as it passed the Ishihamagari coast.

Xia Pingzhou suddenly froze. He saw Gu Qiye's figure on the railing by the shore.

At this moment, Gu Qiye was with the white-haired girl from Hongyi, leaning against the railing, whispering to each other.

"By the way... does my brother know now that she's the one who 'killed' Dad?" Xia Pingzhou suddenly thought. "Even if he's slow on the uptake, he should realize it by now, right?"

Thoughts drifted through my mind, but the scene outside the train window flashed by, leaving only a blurry outline fading into color. With a rumbling sound, the JR train gradually moved further and further away, leaving the coast.

As darkness fell, the kimono-clad girl sitting beside him suddenly grew tired. She naturally rested her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

　Please vote for me! There will be another update tonight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)