My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 30 Bookstore
The radio in Broly's bookstore was playing "Open Door," and the dreamy jazz music echoed in every empty corner.

“Lately I dreamed”

“I had tasted”

“All life’s treasures”

As the music finished this sentence, in the boss's dull sight, the huge insect pupa slowly cracked open, and then a man in a swallowtail windbreaker and a red and black mask on his face "drilled" out of it, hanging upside down below the ceiling, motionless.

At some point he had taken the sketchbook and a ballpoint pen that the boss had placed on the counter.

The young boss was stunned for a moment, then forced a smile at him: "My dear, we are about to close the store."

"Oh... wait a minute, I'll be done soon, it'll only take a moment."

Black Pupa was hanging upside down, almost face to face with the boss. He spoke without raising his head, concentrating on drawing in the sketchbook with a ballpoint pen.

"Ok."

The boss nodded, took a sip of coffee, and his reaction was surprisingly calm.

Black Pupa suddenly said, "By the way, Mr. 'Photo Retriever,' I borrowed a copy of 'The Outsider' from you a while ago. It's on the fifth bookshelf from the left when you enter the store, but I put it back later... Yes, it's the book I read when he appeared on TV. Camus's writing style is truly unique, and I can understand the protagonist's feeling of not feeling any sadness at his mother's funeral even though she died... It can't be helped, because the person attending his mother's funeral was a fake person. My brother and little sister cried so hard."

The boss couldn't understand what he was saying.

Amid the rustling sound of his ballpoint pen, Black Pupa hummed a jazz tune as he asked, "Actually, what I want to say is... sir, you're not going to be angry that I borrowed your book without a word, are you? If you're unhappy about that, next time I read in front of a reporter's camera, I can promote your bookstore as compensation."

"As long as you leave your ID and phone number, you can borrow books here," the young owner said. "Don't feel guilty... At most, you just didn't go through the formalities. Sometimes I'm not that strict with customers."

Black Pupa nodded. "Okay, I heard from the neighbors nearby that you have a strange ability that allows you to find the location of real objects through photos. So when people lose something, they usually come to this bookstore with photos and ask you to help them find it."

"Yes."

"That's great! Although I don't have a photo, I have the ability to draw something so realistic it's hard to tell the difference. Perhaps you could use your special powers to help me find this little cutie in the painting, right?"

"I haven't tried using my powers through 'drawing' yet... but I can give it a try."

"It's okay. My painting skills are about the same quality as a photo. I believe it will allow you to fully utilize your special abilities."

Hei Pupa said this quite confidently, then turned the sketchbook over and faced the boss.

The boss squinted his eyes through his glasses and saw a little man that didn't look like a human being drawn on the sketchbook.

The painting reminded the boss of an elementary school composition in which he described a classmate like this: "Her eyes are red, like small tomatoes; her hair is white, like a white radish; and the sun above her head is bright red, like a big tomato."

Hei Pu's exquisite painting skills almost completely replicated the character descriptions in his elementary school essays. To say that his painting skills were those of an elementary school student might be a bit insulting to elementary school students.

"Is this what you mean... the painting technique that has the same texture as a photograph... so realistic it's hard to tell?"

The boss hesitated to speak, pausing three times in a row.

"Yes, can you help me find the person in the painting?"

Hei Pupa tilted his head and squinted his eyes. Although no one could see his expression through the mask, his movements and expression always gave people a very serious feeling.

"I'm sorry, but my ability can only be used on objects without any signs of life, and it's limited to small, uncomplicated objects, and within a limited range... If it were a human, even if you gave me a hundred photos, I wouldn't be able to locate them, let alone a painting like this that's so realistic it's hard to tell."

The boss explained calmly, "There's a reason why I was rated as a harmless mutant."

Hei Pupa became completely dejected. He hung upside down from the ceiling with his head drooped, slowly turning his pen, and then sighed.

He asked, "Okay, does it cost money to borrow your sketchbook and ballpoint pen?"

"free of charge."

"Thank you sir, you are such a nice man."

Black Pupa nodded in greeting, then used the restraints to return the sketchbook and pen to the boss.

"You're welcome." The boss paused. "I'll charge you a dollar. This sketch is a bit old and will fall apart if I tear it. Your drawing has too much artistic value in my sketchbook... I want to tear it out separately for my collection, but I can't."

"I understand. Only geniuses can appreciate the art of geniuses...like Picasso."

Black Pupa spoke to himself, rummaging through his windbreaker, pulling out a one-dollar coin from his pocket, and silently handed it to the boss with a restraint. "Tear off the painting and keep it, sir."

"Thank you." The boss took the coin and put it in the cash register.

"You're welcome sir, you deserve it."

The black pupa was hanging upside down in the air, randomly picking up a book from the bookshelf to read, and speaking politely.

"So... I'm closing in two minutes. What can I do for you?" asked the young boss.

"By the way... can you cooperate with me?" Hei Pu finally remembered why he was here. He raised his fingers wrapped in black leather gloves and circled them around his head. "Uh... what I mean by cooperation is that I'll help you promote your hardcover books on TV. In exchange, you can occasionally help me find things: like my razors. I'm a very manly man. I wake up every morning with a full beard on my face. It's very troublesome if I don't have a razor."

"Even though I'm only 12 and haven't started growing a beard yet," he continued inwardly. Seeing the other party's silence, Hei Pu continued, "Come on, how cool is this? In the reporters' footage of every murder scene in Lijing, you'll see someone reading a hardcover book from your store, hanging upside down from the ceiling. This is more effective than any advertisement, and your store will definitely be a hit."

"But I don't want the police to come to my house and ask about your whereabouts." The boss shook his head. "I also don't want people saying this is some 'curiosity bookstore'. Please don't help me with negative publicity."

"Okay..." Hei Pu crossed his arms and thought for a moment before adding, "Considering your request, we can work together secretly. You can occasionally help me find things, and I'll act as your private detective. If you ever suspect your girlfriend of cheating on you, you can always come to me. I promise to pack her up and send her and her son-of-a-bitch lover to you."

The boss smiled and said, "That sounds good."

"You have a good mental state. At first I thought you would be so scared by me that you would be speechless."

"Maybe I've seen a lot of strange things since I was a child, so my emotions are naturally more indifferent than others. Maybe this is a side effect of my supernatural powers."

"I see. Then it's more appropriate for us to stay together." Black Pupa said, "'Black Pupa', this is my name."

"Just call me boss."

"So, we have reached a cooperative relationship?" Black Pupa asked tentatively.

"Who says it's not?" The boss smiled slightly.

Black Pupa raised his eyebrows, called up the [Character Development System] panel, and looked at the progress tasks. Currently, it still showed that his only superhuman collaborator was the alien "Blue Arc".

"Just now, I encountered a very sad thing." He closed the panel and muttered dejectedly.

The boss looked at the strange man hanging upside down in the air and asked: "What's wrong?"

Black Pupa said seriously, "I just had an argument with my restraints because it said you were a partner without any value. Honestly... I feel deeply saddened by its superficiality, because I sincerely believe that you are a very useful partner, but it didn't consider you as part of our group."

He flipped through the pages of the book and muttered, "I think this is a kind of... lack of perspective."

"That's very sad indeed."

The boss took a sip of hot coffee and didn't care.

"We have a curfew at home. If we don't go to bed on time, Mommy will jump out of her grave and kick our butts. So I have to leave now. I hope we can see each other often in the future."

"Please."

The boss waved to him.

"Finally, I wanted to borrow this book, 'The Tatami-style Mythology Series,' but I don't have an ID or a phone number... It's really sad. Not everyone has a place in society. It's like the saying... what's it called? Children without umbrellas must run in the rain. Sometimes I really think, even borrowing a book requires such caution. This world is so unfair."

Hei Pupa was reading a book with his eyes lowered, while complaining to himself.

The boss didn't listen to a word and just said, "Please go ahead. No ID or phone number required. Just return it within a week."

"Okay, bye boss."

Hei Pu closed the novel in his hand, put it in his pocket, and waved the restraints as if waving goodbye to him.

"Goodbye." said the boss.

The figure hanging upside down from the ceiling disappeared, and the lights in the store suddenly went out, then lit up again the next second.

The boss took a sip of coffee. It was a quiet night.

Five minutes later, at Gu Wenyu's home in Guyimai Street.

Ji Minghuan slumped over on the bed in the room, placed the newly borrowed novel next to his pillow, and closed his eyes.

The restraints took off the black pupa mask and windbreaker for him like a personal maid, then changed him into pajamas and put the mask back to the bottom of the wardrobe.

"I've been tricked... A partnership with a harmless-level esper doesn't count towards the training system's progress. So, how strong of a person do you need to be in order for it to count towards the training system's progress? Quasi-level, above harmless? Or even higher, Kui-level?"

As he was thinking, Ji Minghuan suddenly opened his eyes, called up the system panel, scrolled through it twice, and found the option of "complete split mode".

Without thinking, he turned on the button inside.

"Complete Split" mode has been activated. After a one-hour loading period, your consciousness will take over your character's body 24 hours a day, without the need for dreams.

[The number of "game character perspectives" currently loaded is "one".]

"This way, I can control the main body and the game character at the same time, but it will take an hour to see the effect."

Before going to bed, Ji Minghuan took another look at his [Role Model Anchor Deviation]. His overly indulgent and violent behavior in Lijing Square yesterday had raised his "Role Model Deviation" to a dangerous 42%, but it was slowly coming down today.

If the deviation reaches 70% or more, it will be dangerous. The game character may escape Ji Minghuan's control and go into a rampage state, so it must be treated with caution.

I hope my mentor won't let me down and give me more useful information. Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan closed his eyes again, put his arms behind his head and fell into a deep sleep.

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(End of this chapter)