My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 321 The Mentor and the Father of Puppetry, The Final Meeting (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
"The father of puppetry is... Mentor?"

The black chrysalis murmured softly, its eyes slightly narrowed beneath the dark red mask.

He lowered his face, his gaze upside down, staring incredulously at the man in the photo.

This was a man with fair skin and a gentle demeanor. Without a doubt, aside from the slightly different pair of glasses he wore, his facial features and even his physique were identical to his mentor's. Only his eyes held a hint of sinister malice.

Staring at that face, Black Chrysalis remained silent for a long time before finally recovering from her shock and astonishment.

This feeling is like going to the Olympic Games, about to start running, turning around and suddenly finding that your competitor is the landlady in your own apartment who plays mahjong every day.

Before this, Black Chrysalis could never have connected the mentor, a civilian member of the Salvation Society, with the Father of Puppetry, a military member.

But the scene that unfolded before his eyes brutally shattered his understanding.

He scratched his chin. "No... impossible. Could it be that those puppets are still alive, which is why the mentor can mentally control them? But that would be too much of a loophole. How could the people of Rainbow Wing not see through it?"

“But if that’s not the case, and assuming those puppets are indeed dead and are just corpses, then it’s even stranger… I’ve already verified that the mentor can’t control the dead—Red Light and Julius, they broke free from the mentor’s control after they died.”

"In short, what is certain is that the mentor is a psychic ability user, but the Puppet Father's ability is to store and manipulate the corpses of ability users, which is obviously not related to psychic abilities... No, really not related?" Thinking of this, Black Chrysalis paused for a moment.

The next moment, his conversation with Koojena suddenly echoed in his mind.

“Yes, our mentor likes to do these kinds of things,” Koojiena said. “He used his own genes and the genes of a cataclysmic ability user to create an artificial human before, and now he wants to use your brother’s genes and… oh, I can’t say.”

"Humans...creating humans?"

Black Chrysalis raised an eyebrow and recited the words to himself, one by one. At that moment, a fascinating conjecture suddenly appeared in his mind.

Objectively speaking, the probability of this conjecture is not low.

"Could it be that... the Father of Puppetry was actually an artificial human created by the mentor using his own genes and the genes of another superpower? That makes sense, which is why he looks so much like the mentor, and even inherited the mentor's nearsightedness. The ability to control corpses should contain some characteristics of mental superpowers, but not entirely."

He lowered his head and sighed, "But this is just speculation; there is no evidence yet."

As the black cocoon pondered, it used restraints to wrap itself into a giant cocoon, hanging upside down under the eaves of the izakaya, its pupils gradually being covered by shadows.

"If he is the real mentor, then things will be much easier, because no matter who is behind the mask of the Father of Puppetry, he must die on the deserted island in a few days, and that will not change."

"Our mentor most likely doesn't know that Caesar, Agubaru, Old Man Ghost Bell, and Su Wei will be on the island. Taking advantage of the intelligence gap and using the Bee Lord as bait to distract them, it shouldn't be too difficult for us to take down the Father of Puppetry."

"This time I should be able to give that old bastard mentor a run for his money."

Black Pupa extended a restraint strap, tied it to the red lantern above the izakaya, then pulled the strap, its body dangling upside down as it flew across the canal illuminated by advertising billboards.

After a while, he returned to the familiar hot spring hotel. Just as he was about to go back to his room through the window, he suddenly heard shouts coming from next door, so he flew over, swinging on his restraints.

Black Chrysalis raised her hand and knocked on the window of the next room.

Caesar and Agubaru were sitting on the ground playing Monopoly. The little shark held its head high and pointed with its fins raised, playing Monopoly with the air of a failed art student commanding on the battlefield. Caesar scratched his head and cheeks to the side.

It was the first time for both of them to play Monopoly. But they made a bet: whoever lost would give the other one hundred dollars.

"Knock knock...knock knock." When he heard someone knocking on the window, Caesar was startled at first, then turned his head and looked out the window curiously, and saw a dark figure hanging upside down.

He quickly walked to the window, unlocked it, and opened the window.

"What brings you here, Mr. Black Chrysalis?" Caesar asked.

"I'll play Monopoly with you guys." Black Chrysalis shrugged. "I'm just bored and have nothing else to do."

"Oh? You big fluttering moth, are you looking for a beating?"

Yagubaru slowly raised its head, a die resting on its left fin, and its right fin pointing at the black pupa.

"Let me make this clear first, I have no money," Black Chrysanthemum said, hands on her hips, with an air of self-righteousness.

“It’s alright, Agubaru has plenty of money! He’s so kind, he’ll definitely share some with you,” Caesar said. When he and Agubaru went out to work together, they usually split the money 50/50. Agubaru didn’t have a wallet, so he kept all the money with him.

"That's all Shark's money!" Yagubaru roared. "Why should we give some to that big moth?"

“Your money is my money,” Black Chrysalis said. “I’m your savior.”

“That makes sense.” The little shark nodded seriously. Caesar was stunned. He looked at the man and the shark who had quickly reached a consensus and seemed not to have expected that Agubaru would be so compliant.

After that, the two men and the shark sat cross-legged on the hotel room floor, looking as serious as if they were in a college entrance exam hall, scheming and plotting on a Monopoly map. The TV was playing the requested song "Hotel California."

"By the way, Caesar," Black Chrysalis suddenly asked Caesar while playing, "Now that you're already a B-rank Oddity Envoy, what did you choose to bind your third high-level Oddity Fragment to?"

“The third Generation-level Mystery Fragment I’ve bound is ‘Tower of Babel’,” Caesar replied with a smile, rolling dice on the map as he did so, making no attempt to hide anything.

Based on the number he rolled, he moved his character piece forward a few squares, passed the bank to pay a sum of money, and then stepped on the head of Agubaru's character piece.

"Is that fragment of strange tales really useful?" Black Chrysalis then asked.

In his memory, the Tower of Babel was a bizarre fragment that was either being beaten or on its way to being beaten, which was quite humorous.

“I think it’s quite useful, but Louis didn’t realize its value.” Caesar nodded. “If we’re going to cause a big commotion on the island, then the ‘heavenly thunder’ from the Tower of Babel would be very meaningful.”

"Tianlei?"

“If the Tower of Babel isn’t destroyed within twenty seconds of its creation, it will incur divine punishment, namely ‘heavenly lightning,’” Caesar said. “Heavenly lightning will attack everyone indiscriminately. It can clear out the worker bees of the Light-Eating Bees and also pose a threat to the Rainbow Wings. What do you think?”

“That makes sense,” Black Chrysalis said. “On the condition that you can keep this tower standing for a full twenty seconds.”

“It’s quite simple. Just keep the enemy’s attention from the Tower of Babel.” Caesar smirked. “I’m not like Louis who only has one Generation-level Wonder.”

“Okay, I agree with your choice.” Black Chrysalis tilted her head. “By the way, I want to conduct an experiment.”

"What experiment?" Caesar asked.

Suddenly, the black pupa extended restraints and bound Caesar. "Try it, see if you can summon the Book of Wonders."

Caesar paused for a moment, then nodded, and with a thought, tried to summon the Book of Wonders. But he failed.

"Why?" He looked up at Black Chrysalis and asked in surprise, "Mr. Black Chrysalis's restraints have this ability?"

"Hmm, my restraint belt is indeed useful for all types of ability users, especially for countering Oddity Envoys... As long as they can't summon the Oddity Records, the Oddity Envoy's fragile body is nothing." Black Chrysalis said with satisfaction.

“That’s amazing…” Caesar raised an eyebrow, widened his blue eyes, and exclaimed, “Mr. Black Chrysalis, you actually have this kind of ability, it really surprises me.”

"Otherwise, how am I supposed to make a living?"

Black Chrysalis loosened the restraints binding him. In fact, he had wanted to try to exploit a bug to steal Caesar's Anecdotal Fragments using "Ability Theft," but it seemed that wouldn't work.

"Big fluttering moths should just eat the northwest wind," the little shark said as it tossed the dice with its fin.

"Foolish shark." Black Chrysalis turned her head and looked at the shark sitting on the ground with a blank expression.

“Trash,” Agubaru glared at him and said disdainfully.

Caesar was silent for a moment. "Mr. Black Chrysalis, do you think we can successfully wipe out the Light-Eating Bees?"

“In fact, in my plan, that was Rainbow Wing’s job,” Black Chrysalis said. “Our job was to strike after they wiped out the Light-Eating Bees, when they should be very weak, and we could reap the benefits.”

He shrugged. "However, if Mr. Blue Arc really encounters danger while fighting the bees, we can still lend a hand... well, although that possibility is unlikely."

Meanwhile, in a private room at a Japanese yakiniku restaurant in Dotonbori.

A waitress dressed in a kimono, with red eyeshadow and her hair tied up, pushed open the noren curtain and walked in carrying a plate. Her smile was as pure and elegant as an early cherry blossom in full bloom.

Gu Qiye nodded, looked up and said "thank you" to her in Japanese, then reached out and took the beer she offered, and then took the orange juice from Yu Ruier and inserted a straw.

Yuriel sipped orange juice through a straw while playing Life is Strange on her tablet. She used her powers to condense air and added two extra ice cubes to her juice, as if she simply preferred cold drinks.

Gu Qiye sipped his ice-cold beer while secretly observing the people in the private room out of the corner of his eye.

Garfield sat in the corner, showing Tsukumo a nanotracker he had developed using his supernatural abilities. He explained that as long as the nanomachine was added to a drink and then Hoshino drank it, the nanomachine would assemble inside his body and report his location 24 hours a day.

Of course, if he accidentally excretes the nanotracker in his feces, that's a different story.

Ninety-Nine was stunned, praising him repeatedly, and occasionally clapping her hands gently with wide eyes. She didn't understand anything else; she was happy as long as she could embarrass Fan Dongqing.

Meanwhile, Ke Qingzheng was drinking and chatting with Fan Dongqing and Qi Yuan Liuli, while the Father of Puppet was wiping his glasses alone in a corner. He lowered his head, his face calm and reserved.

"I'm going to the restroom," Yuriel suddenly said.

Gu Qiye nodded silently.

He looked up and watched Yuriel get up and leave, then picked up his beer and sat down next to the Father of Puppetry.

"Is there something you need?" the Puppet Father asked, wiping his glasses with a cloth.

"Are you really the father of puppetry?" Gu Qiye asked after a moment of silence, taking a sip of beer.

"how you said that?"

"This is the first time I've seen what you look like under the mask; the contrast is quite striking."

As she spoke, Gu Qiye turned to look at the bespectacled, refined man.

“I am indeed the ‘Father of Puppetry.’ You can call me by my serial number in Rainbow Wings.” The Father of Puppetry lowered his eyes and spoke in that same mystical tone, only now his voice was less hoarse and deep.

"Number 12," Gu Qiye said. "Don't you have a name?"

“No. I don’t need a name.” With that, the Father of Puppetry took a sip of red wine.

"Why would someone who doesn't even have a name join Rainbow Wings?" Gu Qiye asked. "Don't you feel like you've been used... like a puppet?"

“I just find it amusing.” The Father of Puppetry removed his glasses, revealing empty eyes and deep-set sockets.

"interesting?"

“That’s right, exploring the world is a very interesting thing. Humans are born as blank slates, and only when they come into contact with the world can they be tinged with some color.” The Father of Puppet said, “And only at the highest point can the view be broader, and only then can one see the most comprehensive and colorful colors, whether it’s black or white, it’s all so interesting…” “Okay… I take back what I just said.”

After speaking, Gu Qiye took a deep breath, slowly lowered his head, and his face darkened. Fortunately, the lighting in the private room was dim, and his lowered bangs concealed his expression.

His lips moved slightly, and he thought to himself, "Yes, I can't forget the color you brought to my life that day."

Gu Qiye will never forget the shooting star she saw in the old Jingmai neighborhood that day.

The night sky at dusk was dyed the colors of daylight. The shooting star rose toward the bright moon, then exploded like a firework, followed by thousands of beams of light crashing down to the earth as if by divine punishment.

Su Ying held him and Su Zimai in her arms and told them to close their eyes. When Gu Qiye opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by ruins. The whole world was covered by a hideous and dazzling red, and cries could be heard from the depths of the ruins from time to time.

The Father of Puppetry put his glasses back on. "Why do you think I'm an official puppet, Mr. Kino? Everything I've done is for the purpose of exploring this world and satisfying my curiosity. Joining Rainbow Wing was just a step in the process."

"So what are ordinary people in your eyes?"

"I'm not interested in them because there are too many samples, too many mediocre ones. I prefer to observe more unique creatures; they are the ones worth observing," the Father of Puppets said cryptically. "Sometimes I feel... if there were half as many humans in the world, it would be less noisy. What do you think?"

"What do I think?" Gu Qiye said softly, taking a sip of orange juice. "I think... you should be among the missing people."

"Your joke is very funny. I've seen your news, and I didn't think you had much of a sense of humor," the Father of Puppets praised.

"I don't recommend you talk to that weirdo, newbie," Ke Qingzheng suddenly said.

He turned his head, and behind his glasses, his clean-cut short hair and cold, sharp eyes looked at Gu Qiye.

Gu Qiye remembered him. Although Ke Qingzheng didn't talk much, the title "Wanderer" was easy to remember.

"Just a casual chat," Gu Qiye said.

Fan Dongqing heard Ke Qingzheng and Gu Qiye chatting and turned around.

He put his arm around Ke Qingzheng's shoulder and said to Gu Qiye, "Why don't we talk about how your relationship with Bai Mao is going? She's a big fan of yours, you can't possibly not handle this, can you?"

"We're just normal colleagues." Gu Qiye didn't feel like responding; she just felt annoyed.

"Alright, alright, what kind of normal colleagues are always glued together?" Fan Dongqing said. "She's not interested in anyone else, only in you. Don't you understand?"

“We’ve only known each other for a few days, so please don’t joke about our relationship.” Gu Qiye put down her glass.

“Young people are all like that, saying one thing but meaning another,” Ruri Urushihara said with a smile.

"So you're also saying one thing and meaning another?" Fan Dongqing said. "How come I've never been able to successfully ask you out alone?"

"The reason is special, I think it's better if we keep our distance," said Ruri Urushihara. "You'll understand later."

“That’s a bit hurtful,” Fan Dongqing shrugged. “Are you some kind of tycoon’s daughter? If I get close to you, your domineering CEO father will have me killed.”

“That’s quite possible,” Ruri Urushihara said quietly.

As the group was chatting, a white-haired girl wearing a skirt and coat pushed open the noren curtain and stopped at the door.

She raised her icy blue eyes, glanced at her original spot, and realized Gu Qiye wasn't there. She then looked around and finally found his seat. But there was no empty seat next to him.

So she paused for two seconds, then sat down alone in a corner, lowered her head, and silently played on her phone.

Gu Qiye stood up and sat down next to her. "Is the meeting about to start?"

“Yes, there are still two hours,” Yuriel said. “But we’re quite close to the association building, so we have plenty of time.”

"Then let's go first, we've almost finished eating anyway," Gu Qiye said softly.

"Aren't you staying?" Yuriel asked. "You seem really keen to build ties with them." She paused. "Especially the Father of Puppetry."

"I really want to get closer to him," Gu Qiye said with a self-deprecating laugh.

“Isn’t that right?” Yuriel said.

Gu Qiye shook her head. "It's too noisy here. I want some peace and quiet. Shall we go for a walk along the canal?"

"it is good."

After saying that, Yuriel quit the game on the tablet and left the private room with him.

Two hours later, at the Japan Outcasts Association building.

Commander Chen Qian sat at the end of the conference table, her eyes fixed on the meeting materials. After a while, she turned to the side and looked up at the twelve members of Rainbow Wing.

After confirming that everyone had arrived, she looked away and said slowly and deliberately:

“You did a good job yesterday. The location of the hive has been determined, and we can be fairly certain that our first target for elimination—the ‘Queen Bee’—is hiding inside the hive.”

At this point, Chen Qian glanced at the form in her hand and continued:
"The remaining Light-Eating Bee nests in Osaka were also cleared out overnight. The city is now very safe. Only a small number of Light-Eating Bees remain. I heard that some of them have entered the sewers and left Osaka, but it's not a big problem."

At one corner of the conference table, Esther yawned deeply, hugged her rabbit doll, lowered her head, and rubbed her red eyes.

Chen Qian crossed her arms and glanced at her, "Looks like some people are about to fall asleep."

“Sleep quality is very important for the elderly,” Esther said, her eyelids drooping. “Hurry up and finish your story.”

"Next time we have a meeting, we'll find a coffin for you to lie in." Ruri Urushihara rested her chin on her hand and looked at her teasingly.

“No, she’s too grumpy when she wakes up.” Yuriel said expressionlessly. “If we wake her up, she’ll want to kill us.”

"A two-hundred-year-old woman fighting against a group of heroes?" Fan Dongqing tilted his head. "Interesting."

"Little one, watch your tone."

Esther looked up and gave him a lukewarm glance. Fan Dongqing shrugged and continued playing on his phone, seemingly unconcerned.

Chen Qian sighed, "Let's get down to business. Garfield left a batch of drones on the nameless island. Based on the surveillance footage captured by the drones of the four Bee Lords testing their abilities, Garfield deduced their capabilities."

"Whoa, what abilities could those four worms possibly have?" Fan Dongqing asked.

Chen Qian picked up the remote control on the table, silently pressed the button, and projected full-body models of four bee homing horns into the conference room.

The large queen bee, "Joe," was entirely black with hexagonal wings.
The two bee lords, "Guli," are purple all over, muscular, and have a pair of giant hammers at their tails.
With sea-blue hair, wearing a sea-blue long dress, and possessing feminine features, the Three Bees Marquis—"Cameron";
And the four lords of the ordinary light-eating bees, "Melvet," are all quite mediocre in every sense, like a large, ordinary light-eating bee.

Chen Qian looked up at the model and continued:
"The ability of 'Big Bee Marquis' Qiao is suspected to be that when you make close contact with someone, he leaves a toxin on their body that can paralyze their nerves. Even a calamity-level ability user would have to lie down for one or two hours after being hit by it. It should not be underestimated. We should avoid close combat with him."

"The ability of the Second Bee Marquis 'Guli' is to expand and enlarge its body. This is the clearest image captured by the drone. Its size reaches more than 200 meters... It is worth mentioning that the Second Bee Marquis has no wings, which means it has no ability to fly."

"The abilities of the Three Bees 'Cameron' are still uncertain, but Garfield speculates that she can use human or animal corpses to create enhanced light-eating bees. In addition... she also seems to have the ability to become invisible, so we need to be wary of her."

"As for the Four-Bee Marquis 'Mervit,' his abilities are still unknown, so you will need to adapt to the situation in actual combat."

"The Queen Bee has no combat ability, right?" Princess Alexandra asked, arms crossed, tilting her head as her silver-white hair, piled on top of her head, swayed.

“Yes, the queen bee has no combat ability, so as long as we kill the four queen bees, she will be trapped.” Chen Qian nodded. “Tomorrow, I will send you the specific task assignment list.”

She paused for a moment: "After entering the island, some people will be responsible for eliminating the ordinary light-eating bee swarms on the east, west, south, and north sides, while others will be responsible for invading the hives and fighting the four queen bees... At the same time, we have to be wary of the enemy's surprise attack on Osaka City, so one or two people will be left in the city on standby."

"Please let me fight against the Great Bee Lord 'Joe'," Oda Hideaki suddenly said.

He crossed his arms, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and lowered his head in deep thought. He still remembered the arrogant and ferocious expression on the face of the Flying Bee when he saw him from the fighter plane.

“I will make arrangements based on the characteristics of the enemy.” Commander Chen Qian glanced at Oda Hideaki. “There’s no need to fight with insects.”

"To be honest, Commander, don't you think that making a tactical decision is a bit of an overreaction?" Fan Dongqing leaned back in his chair, asking without looking up.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Chen Qian asked, arms crossed, as she looked at him.

"They're just a bunch of bugs. You can kick them to death any way you want," Fan Dongqing said. "If you can't kill them, just kick them again. It's ridiculous to try to outsmart them."

"I knew you'd say that," Chen Qian said expressionlessly. "I'm too lazy to even lecture you. Just don't break the rules like last time, or you'll have to bear the consequences. Your record is already full of bad behavior, and I can't protect you this time."

"Okay, okay." Fan Dongqing stretched.

"The arrogant will perish..." came a hoarse voice from beneath the bandages on the face of the Puppet Father.

"I only care about when the war will start," Fan Dongqing continued, unable to resist yawning, perhaps influenced by Esther's drowsiness.

"The light-devouring bees are at their weakest at night, so we scheduled our operation for the night."

As she spoke, Chen Qian put down the document in her hand, looked up at everyone, and said, "The operation to exterminate the Light-Eating Bees is scheduled to begin at midnight on August 14th, three days from now."

“Okay, my alarm is set,” Fan Dongqing said.

"It's time for this old man to sharpen his sword." Oda Hideaki opened his eyes and pulled his hand out of his sleeve.

“We’re going to be busy,” said Ruri Urushihara. “It’s a major pest control operation.”

"To be honest, it's not very friendly to people with mysophobia." Ke Qingzheng adjusted his glasses and rarely complained. "I wasn't this resistant when I was on other missions before."

"Just blast them clean and they won't be dirty anymore," Ninety-Nine said casually.

“Dissecting the queen bee…dissecting, the queen bee.” Karina lowered her head, the light reflecting off her glasses, and gave a sinister smile.

As everyone was chatting, a "thump" suddenly came from a corner of the conference room. Turning around, they saw the girl in the gothic dress slam her forehead on the conference table and fall into a deep sleep.

Soft laughter came from all around. The princess covered her face with her hand and chuckled. Urushihara Ruri shrugged and Tsukumo tilted her head and sighed.

"It seems our old lady has passed away." Chen Qian glanced at the unconscious Esther and instructed everyone, "Whoever is free, please help carry Esther into the coffin. Now, meeting adjourned."

After saying that, she put the documents on the table and left the meeting room first.

　Please vote for me! (orz)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)