My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 347 Epilogue (Part 1)

It was 1:50 a.m. on August 15th. The night was already deep, and the Osaka bookstore was brightly lit.

Caesar sat blankly in the chair, his head bowed, his snow-white hair obscuring his eyes.

"Mr. Black Chrysalis...is he really dead?" After a long silence, he asked softly.

But the bookstore remained deathly silent; no one answered his question.

At this moment, three figures were leaning against the yellowed wall, slumped on the ground.

Gu Zhuo'an lowered his head, placed his only remaining left hand on his bent knee, and his face was shrouded in a gloomy shadow.
Lin Yilong closed his eyes to rest, his face expressionless. Gu Qiye leaned his head against the wall, his eyes vacant, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The three men's battle suits were mostly tattered, revealing long, thin, bluish-black and blood-red wounds, with some fragments piercing into their skin and tearing through the flesh.

Large amounts of blood flowed from their bodies, staining the walls and floor red.

Fortunately, at that moment, the phoenix was hovering above their heads, slowly flapping its wings, and feathers carrying healing fire fell one by one.

The ochre-red fire feathers, as cold as snowflakes, silently fell upon everyone's wounds.

First, there was the empty wound on Gu Zhuo'an's shoulder. With the help of the Phoenix Flame, his mutilated right arm slowly grew back. Then, there were Gu Qiye's almost exposed legs and hands, with warm flesh covering the stark white bones.

Finally, it was Lin Yilong's turn to have his shoulder blades examined.

Because he was the least injured, with only the wings he had taken into his body and the bones on his back being severely damaged, the two people next to him looked quite exaggerated, like demons that had just crawled out of a sulfur spring.

Fortunately, all three of their injuries were visibly healing. In no time, their wounds were completely healed.

New skin grew out and covered the gap.

Each person seemed reborn, as if they had never been injured, a stark contrast to the horrific scene of several bloodied figures sitting side by side just moments before.

If a passerby had accidentally wandered in earlier, they might have thought they were filming a horror movie and that they had stumbled onto a horror movie set.

Caesar silently reached out, and the completed phoenix folded its wings and landed on the back of his hand. He raised his other hand and gently teased the bird's chin with his fingers.

A shark the size of a palm popped its head out of Caesar's shirt pocket, curiously observing the expressions of the group, and finally looking at Su Wei.

Su Wei remained silent.

He sat behind the bookstore counter, head down, quietly wiping his glasses with a cloth. His eye sockets were deep-set, and wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes, revealing a rare hint of old age.

It's clear that the Gu family has avenged Su Ying, Lin Yilong has taken the head of a Salvation Society general, and Caesar has successfully wiped out the entire Light-Eating Bee clan, but everyone's mood doesn't seem as bright as expected.

So Agubaru had no choice but to take pity on him, stick his head out of his pocket, and personally ease the tension.

"Hey, why are you all making such a big deal out of this?" it said dismissively, waving its fins and pointing at the crowd. "Those nasty moths, they're dead, so what? What's there to regret?!"

"Shut up, or get out of my bookstore," Su Wei said in a deep voice.

“Shut up…don’t let me hear you speak again, understand?” Gu Zhuo’an said hoarsely.

“Quiet down, Agubaru,” Caesar said.

"Fine, fine, you bunch of bad guys are bullying Shark, so Shark, shut up." The little shark looked aggrieved and shrank its head back into Caesar's shirt pocket.

It fell silent, and then another silence enveloped the group.

"father in law……"

A moment later, Gu Zhuo suddenly spoke.

"what happened?"

Su Wei replied casually while wiping her already clean glasses.

Gu Zhuo stared at the floor, his voice hoarse as he asked, "Who exactly is that Black Chrysalis guy? Judging from your previous reactions, you should know his identity, right?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Qiye snapped out of her reverie, looked away from the ceiling, and a glimmer of light appeared in her empty eyes.
Lin Yilong also opened his eyes, raised his head, and stared motionlessly at the old man behind the counter.

The three people in the bookstore were waiting for Su Wei's answer, but Caesar didn't care at all.

In Caesar's eyes, Mr. Black Chrysalis was simply Mr. Black Chrysalis, regardless of who was behind his mask. He only knew that Mr. Black Chrysalis was a very, very good person, and that without him, he would have died long ago in the Little Garden.

Su Wei remained silent for a long while, then lowered her voice and murmured:
"I'm... tired, really, a little tired."

Before Gu Zhuo could ask, Su Wei interrupted him.

"Indeed, one has to accept getting old; there's no way to deny it." After saying this, Su Wei slowly took off her glasses, put them back in their case, then stood up from her chair with her hands behind her back and walked towards the second floor of the bookstore.

He walked unsteadily, like an old man with a broken back.

Su Wei's footsteps only stopped after she stepped into the shadows at the stairwell.

A hoarse voice came from the shadows as he slowly instructed the two men: "Zhuo An, Qi Ye, you two need to find your own way back to China. Don't linger in the bookstore for too long."

“Father-in-law, you haven’t answered my question yet,” Gu Zhuo’an said in a low voice, “Who exactly is Black Chrysalis?”

Su Wei still hasn't mentioned this at all.

He just kept saying to himself, "The Exorcist Association knows I'm in this bookstore. Once Rainbow Wing and the Association connect on intelligence, they'll soon know that the exorcist on the island is me, and then they'll come to the bookstore to find me."

Su Wei paused for a moment: "So, while there's still time, you should leave here quickly."

"And you, Grandpa?" After a long silence, Gu Qiye finally spoke.

"I'll come back to China to find you in a few days. You can find me by contacting the girl who made a contract with the train demon. Her name is Ke Qirui."

"I understand."

Gu Qiye nodded; he had Ke Qirui's contact information in his phone.

The situation was special when Ke Qirui appeared on the deserted island. Although the people of Rainbow Wing witnessed her on the deserted island, there was no substantial evidence.

Moreover, Ke Qirui has Lake Hunter protecting her, so if Rainbow Wing's people try to approach her without evidence, they will definitely be turned away by Lake Hunter.

Therefore, under the current circumstances, their only safe option is to go to the lake for hunting.

Ke Qirui has a deep friendship with the people of Lake Hunter and knows that they are fighting against the Salvation Society. She will most likely take them in and help them avoid Rainbow Wing's investigation.

"Then you'd better take care of yourselves. I'm leaving," Su Wei said in a low voice.

"Grandpa, aren't you coming with us?" Gu Qiye suddenly asked.

"No... I want to be alone for a while, please don't bother me."

After she finished speaking, Su Wei's voice faded into the shadows and disappeared at the end of the stairwell.

Su Wei left. Another familiar silence enveloped the bookstore.

“Mr. Blue Arc, Mr. Ghost Bell, Mr. Mu Long, I’ll have Agubaru give you a ride,” Caesar said in a low voice. “We’ll set off now and head back to China immediately.”

"I'll go back on my own, you don't need to worry about me," Lin Yilong said expressionlessly.

"And what about you two?" Caesar looked at Gu Zhuoan and Gu Qiye. Gu Qiye lowered her head and remained silent for a moment before turning to meet Caesar's gaze.

"Your name is Caesar, right?"

"Ah."

"Thank you for your kindness, but my sister's people said she will take us back to China."

“Okay, I understand.” Caesar said, getting up from the floor. “I’ll be going now, goodbye.”

After saying that, he patted the dust off his pants and walked towards the exit of the bookstore, entering a quiet street where the faint chirping of cicadas could be heard from the trees.

"Dad, don't think about it anymore, let's go."

Gu Qiye spoke softly, raised her hand, hesitated for a moment, and then gently patted Gu Zhuo'an's shoulder.

Gu Zhuo nodded silently.

Even though it was time to leave the bookstore, he still couldn't understand why Su Wei wouldn't tell them who Black Chrysalis was.

"Does my father-in-law intend to let Black Bug die without knowing why?" he wondered.

Gu Qiye silently got up and glanced at the text message she received on her phone.

[Ke Qirui: Is it over yet? Come to the abandoned train station in Osaka, I'll take you back to China.]

He didn't reply, but instead switched to another text message interface.

[Su Zimai: Bro, I've sent you the address of the Osaka train station. Bring them over quickly!]

Gu Qiye: Okay, I'll be right there.

Upon seeing her sister's text message, Gu Qiye felt much more relaxed.

After sending the message, Gu Qiye looked up from her phone and turned to Lin Yilong. "What about you, Mu Long? Do you want to come with us?"

"Stop pretending, you have no right to talk to me," Lin Yilong said in a deep voice. "Once we've finished dealing with the Salvation Society, we'll settle our scores."

After saying that, he reached out his right hand, picked up the blood-stained knight's helmet, and put it on his head.

Mu Long slowly rose from the wall, dragging his tattered cloak as he walked out of the bookstore and disappeared into the shadows of the street. Gu Qiye stood by the wall, tilting her head, silently watching him leave.

The building was empty.

In the end, only two people were left in the bookstore.

A moment later, Gu Qiye withdrew his gaze from the dimly lit street and turned to look at Gu Zhuoan, who was slumped on the ground.

"Dad, Xiaomai is still waiting for us at the station."

"Well, let's go home."

Half an hour later, inside an abandoned train station in Osaka, Japan, on platform 7.

The dripping sound from the old tracks never stopped, and large patches of moss crawled on the yellowed pillars. In the moonlight, it looked like the claws of a demon reaching towards the sky.

Gu Zhuoan and Gu Qiye stood on the platform, carrying their suitcases, silently waiting for Ke Qirui's arrival.

The former found a pillar, stood down, and smoked with his head down; the latter sat on an old public bench, opened his phone's contact list, and found "Black Chrysalis's" contact information.

After hesitating for a moment, Gu Qiye raised her hand to type on the screen and clicked send.

Then, he stared blankly at the screen, as if hoping that the other party would reply to his message as quickly as ever.

He thought that even if a text message suddenly popped up on the screen saying, "This is just a joke, I'm actually doing just fine, Mr. Blue Arc," that would be fine too. But after staring blankly for a long, long time, the phone screen remained empty.

Only the text message I sent was displayed above.

[Gu Qiye: Are you alright?]

Just then, the train demon roared in from inside the tunnel, its headlights slicing through the night and illuminating the mottled rails before coming to a stop on the tracks.

Gu Qiye looked up from her phone and gazed at the brightly lit train.

The carriage door opened from the inside, and a step extended downwards, resting on the platform.

Su Zimai stomped on the pedals and sped out of the carriage, her figure as light as a rabbit.

She gripped the car door with both hands, peered out, first looked up at Gu Qiye, then turned to look at Gu Zhuoan, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In the dead silence, she slowly lowered her head, and her eyes suddenly reddened.

Gu Qiye smiled gently at her, a slight upturn of his lips.

“Xiaomai, let’s go back…” Gu Qiye hadn’t finished speaking when Su Zimai suddenly hugged the two of them and pulled their heads together.

Both Gu Zhuo'an and Gu Qiye were stunned.

After a while, Gu Zhuoan belatedly and awkwardly hugged his daughter.

Gu Qiye then raised his hand and gently touched the top of Su Zimai's head, placing it close to her head, and finished saying what he hadn't finished saying earlier:
"Wheat, we're back."

"Dad, brother... I'm so glad you're all alright. I was so worried about you." She said softly, her voice a little hoarse.

Su Zimai sniffed and continued rambling on, her voice trembling with tears, "I made a bet with my master that you guys could definitely take down those bad guys from Rainbow Wing, oh no... the Salvation Society. By the way, where's my brother? Why haven't I seen him?"

After saying that, she suddenly let go of the two of them, raised her head, and looked around, seemingly searching for someone.

Gu Zhuoan and Gu Qiye looked at her with a mixture of amusement and confusion.

Before the two people at the station could speak, Su Zimai looked up at them and asked with a suspicious expression:
"Hey you guys, where's the older brother?"

"What, brother?" Gu Qiye was stunned.

“Oh, I get it, he must have been hiding.” Su Zimai sighed, striking a detective’s pose. “I knew he liked that, always suddenly showing up to scare people, what a wicked sense of humor.”

"What are you talking about? Where is your brother hiding?"

Gu Qiye raised his hand and gently touched her hair, then lowered his head and looked directly into her eyes, finding it somewhat amusing. "Good sister, aren't I right in front of you?"

"Please, I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about another guy." Su Zimai raised her head and glared at him. "Tell me, is he trying to scare me again? And you guys are playing along with him?"

Gu Qiye was stunned.

It took him a while to slowly realize what Su Zimai was saying.

"Wen Yu?" he murmured, slowly raising his head to look at Su Zimai, asking in a strange tone, "Isn't he... always staying at home?"

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(End of this chapter)