My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 383 The Sudden Letter from the Black Chrysalis (6,000 words, please vote)
"And who is Tong Zizhu?" Su Zimai asked suspiciously. "Grandpa, why are you reacting so strongly? Could she be your... little little lover?"

"Xiaomai, don't talk nonsense, or Grandpa will spank you." Gu Qiye said this, but her gossipy heart was burning, and she tilted her head, looking at Su Wei's profile with curiosity.

Su Wei lowered her head and remained silent, her expression somewhat solemn, and did not answer their questions immediately.

The people in the courtyard fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of rushing water coming from the wooden horse fountain.

Ke Qirui, puffing on her pipe, looked surprised. She hadn't expected that casually mentioning that name would cause such a stir among them; perhaps it was fate.

Su Wei pondered for a long while before finally breaking the silence.

“Tong Zizhu…” he murmured, “That child, so he has joined the White Raven Brigade?”

When Xia Pingzhou was mentioned, Su Wei could pretend not to know him—in fact, he had already heard about Xia Pingzhou from Ke Qirui.

Therefore, Su Wei knew in his heart that this future star, on whom he had placed great hopes, was now lurking within the White Raven Brigade.

When Su Wei first heard the news, she scolded the young man in front of Ke Qirui, calling him an idiot for doing something so reckless.

But despite saying that, Su Wei actually agreed with Xia Pingzhou's actions. Seeking revenge for one's family was a matter of course, even if the methods were a bit reckless. It wasn't to the point that he disliked Xia Pingzhou; on the contrary, he admired him.

So, about a month and a half ago, at the same time that Xia Pingzhou joined the White Raven Brigade, Su Wei used his authority as the president to delete all of Xia Pingzhou's information within the association, including Xia Pingzhou's resident file, which should have been outside the association's jurisdiction.

It was because of Su Wei's help that Xia Pingzhou was able to keep his identity hidden immediately after joining the White Raven Brigade.

However, Su Wei no longer had time to care about Xia Pingzhou's life or death.

First, he had already resigned from his position as president of the Exorcist Association when he was being pursued by Rainbow Wing. Second, his son-in-law and grandson were going to stop that group of vicious bandits in a few days. How could he have time to care about the life of a stranger?

But now, when the name "Tongzizhu" was mentioned, Su Wei became restless and her heart began to waver.

As for why, Tong Zizhu was the child that Su Ying had personally entrusted to him back then... Thinking of this, Su Wei couldn't help but lower his head and take a deep breath.

"President, do you know her?" Ke Qirui asked curiously, putting her pipe back into her trench coat pocket.

“I know her. Tong Zizhu is a homeless child adopted by Su Ying. Didn’t Zhuo An mention her to you?” Su Wei said softly. “Su Ying entrusted her to me before. Later, this child ran away from home and it has been several years now… I never expected that she would join that gang of robbers.”

"what……"

Su Zimai was stunned, then her eyes widened in shock, and she murmured, "How come our loving family is still growing even now?"

She pointed at Su Wei, "First, there was a maternal grandfather." Then she pointed at Ke Qirui, "Then there was an aunt." Finally, unsure where to point, she added, "And then there was... my mother's adopted daughter, so she's my sister?"

Hearing this, Gu Qiye couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled softly, thinking to himself, could the relationships in this family be any more complicated?

He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt that if he could bring Yuriel home, it might be a good thing.

After all, this Icelandic girl suffers from hyperthymesia. She can remember all the relationships clearly after hearing them just once, and she and Su Zimai should get along well.

As his thoughts drifted to this point, Gu Qiye suddenly fell silent. He wondered if the way one showed liking someone was by constantly imagining her interacting with her closest family members.

After thinking for a while, Su Zimai sighed and said, "In just one month, our family has grown by three people. It's so lively!"

“There are two people,” Ke Qirui suddenly said.

“Both of them are here,” Su Zimai said, putting one hand on her hip, turning her head to look at her, and said in an annoyed tone, “Commander, are you taking advantage of me because I can’t do elementary school math? Even though math is my worst subject, I can still count one, two, three clearly.”

"Gu Wenyu is dead, which cancels out one of your positions. So you only have two more people than before."

Ke Qirui picked up his pipe and spoke casually.

Su Zimai fell silent, and Gu Qiye also fell silent. Then, their faces darkened at the same time, and black lines appeared on their foreheads, as if they could squeeze out black water.

"Oh dear..." Ke Qirui was taken aback, her expression froze slightly, and she looked up with an embarrassed smile, "I'm sorry, I was thinking about something else just now and I misspoke."

Su Zimai and Gu Qiye were too lazy to argue with her. They knew that this woman was a bit naive and usually very easygoing, so she probably didn't mean to upset them.

Su Zimai thought for a moment: "So... is that Tong Zizhu my older sister or my younger sister?" She paused, "If she's my younger sister, how come I didn't know that Mom secretly adopted such a child?"

Su Wei adjusted her glasses and explained, "Xiao Zhu is older than you and Qi Ye. Su Ying adopted her before Qi Ye was born, so Xiao Zhu is indeed your older sister."

"Really? I've always wanted an older sister." Su Zimai's eyes lit up slightly.

"Am I not Mai Mai's older sister?" Ke Qirui raised her hand and touched the top of her head.

"You're my aunt, and I don't want to hear you speak right now, so shut up," Su Zimai said coldly.

Ke Qirui smiled dismissively.

"Let's put aside the question of whether she's an older sister or not. The problem is... why did this person named 'Tong Zizhu' join the Phantom Troupe?" Gu Qiye asked. "If she joins the Phantom Troupe to harm innocent people, will Mother still acknowledge this child?"

“Su Ying abandoned her back then, and Tong Zizhu is still searching for Su Ying’s whereabouts to this day,” Su Wei said in a deep voice. “This should be the reason why she joined the troupe.”

"Ah... Joining the White Raven Brigade, actually to find someone who's already dead?" Ke Qirui raised an eyebrow. "No wonder he's Su Ying's child, his thought process is so unique."

Su Zimai and Gu Qiye's expressions both darkened at the same time.

"Auntie, Commander, Auntie Commander... are you deliberately provoking us?" Su Zimai smiled slightly.

“Miss Ke, don’t think that just because you’re my grandfather’s adopted daughter you can say whatever you want.” Gu Qiye smiled slightly.

"Sorry, sorry, my apologies... I'm just a bit oblivious." Ke Qirui said, turning to the guild leader, "Guild leader, what do we do? Should we try to get Tong Zizhu out of the White Raven Brigade?"

Su Wei hesitated for a moment, then looked up and glanced at her: "Can you do it?"

"It shouldn't be too difficult," Ke Qirui said. "It's just a matter of abducting a weaker member of the team. The probability of success for us is very high. Xiaomai, Sanyan, and I can take care of capturing her."

Su Wei nodded: "Alright then, try your best, but don't force yourself... If you really can't bring her back, then forget it."

"Okay, let's leave it at that for now."

"I'm going to talk to Zhuo An about this. Where is he?"

“The underground training ground is just at the end of the corridor, you’ll see it when you go down.” Ke Qirui said, then suddenly shook her head and changed her mind, “Never mind, I’ll go with you. Everyone knows you have no sense of direction.”

After saying that, she and Su Wei walked together towards the end of the mansion's corridor.

"The world is truly amazing," Su Zimai exclaimed. "We were originally going to fight bad guys, but as we chatted, we ended up bringing back a sister from among the bad guys."

"right?"

Gu Qiye shrugged.

Su Zimai looked away from her aunt and grandfather and looked up at him: "Brother, what should we do now?"

"Go wash up and go to bed. Prepare for what will happen in two days. Although I don't agree with letting you participate in the operation, since Grandpa said so, I'll trust our Xiaomai this time," Gu Qiye said softly. "No matter what happens, even if Dad and I are in danger, you must put your safety first... Understand?"

"Hmm." Su Zimai nodded gently and muttered, "I know, brother. You're the most nagging one in the family. I feel like you're more like a mother than Mom herself."

"What can I do? I'll just be born a girl in my next life, then you'll have an older sister."

"You're not still upset about me saying I wanted an older sister, are you?"

"Yeah, isn't that enough for you, brother?"

"Of course it's enough, you're the best, bro."

"Why does this sound so perfunctory? Why don't you treat your second brother like this? Let's go. Lin Xingshi said she has arranged accommodations for us in this mansion. We can stay here for the next couple of days and look after each other."

"It's great, it's rare to be able to stay in a luxury seaside mansion."

"It's not a luxury house, but it feels like an old antique. It looks like it has been renovated many times. The Lin family is a large family with a long history and profound heritage. They have one or two houses like this in every city in China."

The brother and sister chatted as they walked along the wooden corridor filled with the faint aroma of classical tea. Then Gu Qiye stopped in front of a room and pushed open a mahogany door.

He said, "My room is in the middle, your room is on the left, and Dad's is on the right. Don't go to the wrong one."

"Okay, I've got it." Su Zimai nodded. "By the way, didn't we bring back Second Brother's clothes before...? Where did we put them?"

"Look in that suitcase in the corner of my room."

"oh oh……"

Su Zimai responded casually and walked into the room with Gu Qiye, where they found the snow-white suitcase in the corner.

Gu Qiye retrieved the phone she had just stored in the basket of the wooden cabinet, then sat down on the bed with the phone in her hand.

To avoid being tracked by Hongyi's hackers, he had removed all his SIM cards and other security devices, and even asked the hacker friend he knew from the Gu Zhuo case to do some security hardening.

His phone didn't have a SIM card inserted, so he couldn't send or receive text messages.

However, there was still a secret contact channel in his phone's contacts, usable even without a SIM card, and only he and "Black Chrysalis" could use it to communicate. Gu Qiye lay down on the bed, silently staring at the phone screen, the fluorescent light illuminating his eyes in the darkness.

He tapped into the contact interface, looked at the contact name "Black Chrysalis," and then looked at the series of chat records with the other party. He swiped his finger across the screen, and the message history on the interface was pushed to the past.

Hei Yong would often come to chat with him, and whenever she had free time, she would send a cute emoji or a meme she found on Twitter to bother Gu Qiye.

However, unless it's a necessary exchange of intelligence, Gu Qiye rarely replies to Hei Yong's messages, not even a single one. Rather, the messages Hei Yong sends are so unappealing that they leave one with no desire to reply, so he instinctively ignores them every time.

Having finally found some peace and quiet, Gu Qiye lay silently on the bed, scrolling through the messages her younger brother had sent with a complicated expression.

[Black Chrysalis: Look! Mr. Blue Arc, your diaper demon has been caught on camera by a passerby.]

[Black Chrysalis: This is a very famous paranormal blogger. He heard rumors about the train demon, so he went to the local abandoned train station to stake it out. As a result, he ran into the lesbian train demon and your sister, and even took a picture of your sister's face. Then, your sister scared him away with a refrigerator demon.]

[Black Chrysalis: (Video link - "Urban Legend Detective: The Ghost Train and the Refrigerator Ghost at the Abandoned Train Station?!)"]

[Black Chrysalis: Don't forget to forward this video to your sister... and your brother too.]

Upon seeing this, Gu Qiye chuckled softly but didn't open the link.

"Brother, where did you put my clothes?" Su Zimai suddenly asked.

"It's in the same suitcase. Look around." Gu Qiye said casually.

Why did you put my clothes together with my second brother's?

Su Zimai complained softly, then quickly pulled out a change of underwear and clothes from under her suitcase. She put them on the bed, then looked down at a plaid shirt that Gu Wenyu had worn in the suitcase, staring blankly at it before reaching out and taking it out to hug her.

Gu Qiye sat silently on the bed, his back hunched over, leaning against the headboard.

He lowered his eyes, then scrolled down the screen, looking at the messages on the text message interface that he had previously ignored.

[Black Chrysalis: Look, look! Mr. Blue Arc, someone uploaded fan art of you and our Silver Swallow baby on Twitter. It's so lifelike, isn't it... Well, although after the major event of Blue Arc's death, Silver Swallow's current image has become that of a gloomy little widow. It's truly a story that makes men silent and women weep.]

[Black Chrysalis: Damn it, can you not be so cold? Would it kill you to reply to my message?]

In the past, every time Hei Yong tried to chat with him, he was basically met with indifference. It would take him a while to find one or two short replies from Gu Qiye.

But at that time, Gu Qiye did not know that this person was Gu Wenyu, otherwise why would he have such an attitude?

He thought, "What a silly little brother. Why won't he tell me that you are the Black Chrysalis?"

Gu Qiye was engrossed in watching, his expression dejected, his eyes growing increasingly empty. Suddenly, his phone chimed, interrupting his thoughts.

He raised an eyebrow, slowly coming back to his senses, only then realizing that he had forgotten to turn off notifications.

"Did the little white-haired kid send you a message?"

“Her name is Yuriel, and... if she could message me, Rainbow Wing would have found me long ago.”

Gu Qiye spoke slowly, then switched to another interface and glanced at it. She didn't know which software had sent the message notification.

After searching for a while without success, he finally switched back to the contact interface with "Black Chrysalis".

At that moment, Gu Qiye's pupils contracted slightly as a red dot suddenly popped up at the bottom of the chat interface in front of him.

He was startled.

A moment later, he stretched out his trembling fingers and slowly scrolled down, skipping the chat history with Black Chrysalis from August. Each date flashed before his eyes, from August 1st to August 15th, until finally a new date appeared on the screen:

—August 22, 10:05.

The time displayed on Gu Qiye's pupils, illuminated by the screen, was the current time. However, its appearance on this communication interface seemed extremely strange.

If I had to describe how abrupt it was, it would be like a madman suddenly appearing at someone's funeral and doing a waterskirt dance.

After a moment, he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and his fingers slowly slid down.

At that moment, a text message appeared at the top of the phone screen.

This was a text message he had never seen before.

"What on earth is this..."

Gu Qiye's lips moved slightly as she murmured silently, her eyes slowly widening.

Black pupa: (smiling) (frozen) (bored)

The text message contained three different emojis: the first was a classic yellow big-headed smiling face, the second was a frozen polar bear, and the third was the same polar bear idly drawing circles on a glacier.

"Wenyu?"

Staring at this message, Gu Qiye couldn't help but freeze for a while, her pupils contracting to their maximum.

He shook his head, thinking, "Besides Wen Yu... who else in the world knows about this secret channel? The hacker friend my dad knows is the one who set up this secret communication channel for us. But he has no reason to use this channel to contact me."

"Could it be a hacker from the White Raven Brigade? No, even if it were them, they couldn't possibly have found out about this secret communication route..." Thinking of this, Gu Qiye raised his head and looked at Su Zimai.

At this moment, Su Zimai was staring blankly at the plaid shirt that Gu Wenyu had worn.

Suddenly, Su Zimai noticed Gu Qiye's gaze and looked up to meet his eyes. Gu Qiye was pale and staring at her in horror.

"What's wrong, brother... your complexion doesn't look right, do you have a fever?" Su Zimai raised an eyebrow.

Gu Qiye stood there stunned for a while, then opened her mouth, hesitating to speak, "Xiaomai..."

"What's wrong, bro?" Su Zimai asked. "Why are you suddenly acting so strange?"

Gu Qiye was silent for a moment, then muttered to herself, "Never mind, it's nothing... Maybe it's just a scheduled delivery. Wen Yu likes to do these kinds of things. Hasn't this happened many times before..."

"Second brother... what happened to second brother?" Su Zimai asked blankly, her voice unconsciously rising a notch as she gripped the plaid shirt in her hand.

Gu Qiye glanced down at his phone again. "It's nothing, Xiaomai. Go take a shower first, then we'll go out for breakfast." After saying that, he quickly got out of bed and left without looking back, all under Su Zimai's gaze.

As he walked into the courtyard, he typed text rapidly into the input box and sent it.

[Gu Qiye: Who... exactly are you?]

[Black pupa: (swinging on a swing) (question mark) (little black cat crying)]

[Notification: You have been blocked by the other party and can no longer send messages to them.]

Gu Qiye stared blankly at the red exclamation mark that popped up on the screen, unconsciously tightening his grip on his phone. After a long while, he slowly raised his head and looked at the rocking horse that was constantly splashing water, with ripples spreading across the surface of the pool.

On the night of August 22, inside the bar on the ground floor of Lao Wu Antique Shop, in private room number 5.

Xia Pingzhou had his hands on his stomach and was fast asleep with his eyes closed when suddenly he heard someone knocking on the door. The not-so-loud sound pierced his dream and reached his ears.

He slowly opened his eyes, seemingly with a stiff neck, sore shoulders, and difficulty turning his neck.

After a moment, Xia Pingzhou sighed slightly, turned his head to look at the door, and the light from the bar seeped in through the gap at the bottom of the door, casting a long, elegant black shadow.

"Come out and let's talk." At that moment, Enma Rin's indifferent voice came from outside the private room.

Xia Pingzhou hesitated for a moment, then groaned as he got up from the sofa. He looked up at the bed in the private room, where a girl in an ochre kimono was lying, fast asleep. Her breathing was even and gentle, her chest rising and falling slightly.

Origami Ayase said that she had gotten used to sleeping with him in the Tokyo attic, so he had to stay in a private room with her, sleeping on the sofa and letting her sleep on the bed.

Right now, you can still hear Rukawa Chiba, Anlens, and Tongzizhu playing card games in the next private room. Only these two newcomers to the group would be so resentful. The rest of the group would immediately avoid mentioning Anlens whenever gambling is brought up.

"coming."

Xia Pingzhou yawned, lifted the blanket covering his legs, and slowly got up from the sofa.

He put on his sneakers, walked out of the room, and turned to look. He saw a schoolgirl in a school uniform leaning against the wall, clutching a scabbard. Enma Rin lowered her eyes, her expression indifferent.

At that very moment, the lights in the bar suddenly dimmed, followed by a sharp flash of light in the darkness. When he came to his senses, the katana was already pressed against Xia Pingzhou's neck.

Xia Pingzhou glanced down at the blade, his drowsiness vanishing completely.

"doing what?"

He remained silent for a moment, then turned to look into Enma Rin's eyes, which were as dark as the polar night.

Enma Rin slowly turned her head, and the two looked at each other in the darkness.

(End of this chapter)