My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 395 The Traitor Within the Brigade and the Lake Hunt, Black Chrysalis's Warning (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

August 24, 01:30. Inside the basement bar of Lao Wu Antique Shop in Haifan City.

The battle between Lake Hunter and the Year Beast had ended some time ago, and the members of the White Raven Brigade had all returned to their local base.

It was late at night. The clock on the wall ticked away. The bar was quiet. The neon signs flickered on and off. A faint aroma of alcohol filled the air. Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami sat on the sofa playing Go.

Qi Yuanli, on the other hand, sat at the bar, feeding the crows while casually playing with playing cards.

The playing cards were stacked one on top of another, forming an intricately structured pyramid. A crow cawed hoarsely and dropped a feather onto the top of the deck, causing the pyramid to collapse with a deafening roar.

Anlens was playing pool by himself, while the hacker sat in a swivel chair, hacking into the city's surveillance system with his phone to monitor the Lake Hunter's movements.

Enma Rin sat in a swivel chair, wiping her knife with a rag, while Andrew gulped down strong liquor, his legs shaking violently and his leather shoes clattering on the ground.

A movie called "Léon: The Professional" was playing on TV. Bloodline looked up at the movie screen, while Rukawa Chiba smiled as he looked at a medical magazine.

A moment later, the hacker broke the deathly silence that had enveloped the tavern.

"It seems we underestimated the fighting power of that Nian Beast's son. We thought the demons had already been defeated, but then suddenly a cheater appeared," the hacker shrugged. "However... since we weren't sure if Blue Arc and Ghost Bell were nearby, it was indeed difficult for us to make a move."

He knew in his heart that the commander would only make a move when there was absolutely no chance of success.

Under those circumstances, Qi Yuanli would never have allowed them to make a move—after all, the Lake Hunters' fighting force was still complete, the Nian Beast's stance was unknown, and the Gu family members were nowhere to be seen, possibly still lying in ambush nearby.

There are far too many uncertainties, and acting rashly under such circumstances would most likely result in a heavy price to pay.

"Then what should we do?" Andrew put down his wine glass, then suddenly let out a gloomy laugh, veins throbbing on his forehead. "Are we just going to give up like this?"

"What can we do?" The hacker rolled his eyes at him. "Besides that Salvation Society, what organization in the world can go head-to-head with Lake Hunter?"

He sighed as he played on his phone, "The truth is we missed the perfect opportunity. But there's nothing we can do about it; who told that lightning hamster and the clock tower man to suddenly appear?"

Robert scratched his mechanical head. "Calm down, Andrew. The demons are still recovering from their injuries, and they've lost several of their key generals. If we encounter the Lake Hunters at this critical juncture, the best outcome will be a mutually destructive defeat."

He paused, then said, "In order to avenge Lan Duoduo, several more people around you have died. Are you satisfied with that?"

"Radish Head, if you say another word, I'll smash your broken machine head to pieces."

As he spoke, Andrew looked up and glanced around, then said in a deep voice, almost emphasizing each word, "Aren't you angry? Lan Duoduo and Uncle Longying were tortured to death by that beast right in front of us!" He slammed his hand on the table.

"So noisy... I should have just gone straight to the casino." Anlens said, bending down expressionlessly. His gaze was parallel to the pool cue in his hand. He pushed forward with the butt of the cue, thrusting the foot forward and knocking the ball away.

A brief silence enveloped the underground bar, broken only by the continuous clatter of billiard balls hitting the table. They bounced and clattered dozens of times before finally settling into the hole.

“If I had to desert here, I wouldn’t mind using the last ‘Dragon’s Ash’ on one of my own,” Andrew said hoarsely, taking the dark red bullet out of his pocket.

Upon hearing this, Enma Rin instantly drew her sword.

With a clear, resonant sound, the demonic blade was pressed against Andrew's neck.

"Quiet down, I won't say it a second time," she said expressionlessly. "Otherwise, your head will hit the ground before your bullet."

"cut……"

Andrew's face twitched slightly. He turned his head to look at her, then looked away.

Bloodline sat on the bar with her arms crossed. She didn't look up to watch the scene in the movie where the little girl and the killer parted ways. A trace of sadness flashed in her eyes as she stared blankly at the reflection of the bar's sign on the ground.

"Commander, how is Bai Tanlang?" After a moment of silence, she asked.

"Bai Tanlang is safe; he's recuperating at Haifan Mountain," Qi Yuanli replied casually, his head bowed as he fiddled with a playing card.

"Don't worry, old woman, the commander's crow is watching White Wolf," the hacker muttered. "I have a surveillance network in the city, and the commander's crow is on the mountain. There's no way anything could happen."

“Then I’m relieved.” Bloodline spread his hands. “Although one of our traitors has left, at least the others are safe and sound.”

Qi Yuanli looked down at the changing patterns on the playing cards and suddenly spoke up, "By the way, Chiba, what was that thing you just told me?"

"Um... Captain, what do you mean?" Rukawa Chiba adjusted his frameless glasses and looked up to ask.

"You mean..." Qi Yuanli paused slightly as he fiddled with the playing cards, turned his head, and glanced at Rukawa Chiba out of the corner of his eye, "the memories you obtained from that girl named Su Zimai."

Upon hearing this, Xia Pingzhou, who was sitting on the sofa in the distance playing Go with Ayase Origami, suddenly paused slightly.

"Su Zimai's...memories?"

Xia Pingzhou murmured silently to himself, as memories from the depths of his mind surged forth like a tidal wave.

In an instant, goosebumps rose all over his body. At that moment, he suddenly remembered something, something of paramount importance!

That was before the Tokyo auction began, when he was piloting the No. 1 unit "Black Chrysalis" to meet with Ke Qirui and Su Zimai.

At that time, he personally revealed Xia Pingzhou's undercover identity to Su Zimai.

—That's right. More than a month ago, Su Zimai already knew from Hei Yong that "Xia Pingzhou is a mole in the White Crow Brigade"!
If the doctor really did search through Su Zimai's memories in the movie world, then he's doomed!

Rukawa Chiba remained silent, a playful smile playing on his lips.

"Oh no, are we going to have a falling out here?" Xia Pingzhou stared at the black and white checkerboard with his head down, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

He thought to himself, "If I can bring the Ripper into the Black King's territory now, everything can still proceed as planned. It's just that I'll have to give up the other main missions. At least I'll have completed the most crucial mission."

His thoughts drifted to this point, and his gaze turned cold.

A moment later, Xia Pingzhou slowly raised his head and looked at Rukawa Chiba.

The doctor smiled and tapped the table lightly with his fingertips. He silently met Xia Pingzhou's gaze, then quickly looked away.

"You don't want to talk about it?" Qi Yuanli asked. "Or did the other party use methods to make you unable to speak?"

Rukawa Chiba shook his head and said, "Captain, it's really nothing important. I'm making a fuss over nothing."

Qi Yuanli was silent for a moment: "Is that so?"

At that moment, a crow appeared on the back of his hand, flapped its wings and flew up, slowly landing on Rukawa Chiba's shoulder.

Rukawa Chiba looked down at the crow on his shoulder, meeting its scarlet eyes, but remained unmoved.

"Doctor, you're not hiding some important information, are you?" The hacker narrowed his eyes and asked suspiciously. "Your attitude is really suspicious. I suggest you quickly make an excuse for yourself."

Anlens smiled with interest and struck the ball with his cue once more.

The billiard balls clattered and bounced, drawing the attention of the group members to the silent Rukawa Chiba.

Enma Rin, head bowed, sharpened her long sword, and asked without looking up, "Tell me... or not?"

"Hey, one traitor like Tong Zizhu is enough. You don't want to become a traitor too, do you?" Andrew raised his sniper rifle, pointed the muzzle at Rukawa Chiba's head, and asked coldly.

Do you really want to hear this?

"Of course, don't force me to get it out of your mouth." Bloodline said with a smile, and invisible blood-red threads spread out in the air, like a spider web behind Rukawa Chiba.

Origami Ayase lowered her eyes, picked up a pencil, and drew a circle on the Go board.

Xia Pingzhou took the pencil from her hand, nervously drew a checkmark, and then looked up.

“Actually… Black Chrysalis’s true identity is a high school boy named Gu Wenyu, who is also the older brother of the girl named Su Zimai,” Rukawa Chiba said. “This is the information I obtained from her memories.”

He paused. "All this time, you've been completely fooled by a high school student. That's the truth, and it's hard to hear... isn't it?"

Xia Pingzhou was slightly taken aback.

He pondered for a while, puzzled, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, he couldn't understand why Rukawa Chiba didn't use this opportunity to expose his undercover identity and help him conceal his true identity. What benefit would Rukawa Chiba gain from this?
Xia Pingzhou was completely baffled, so he simply stopped thinking about it and lowered his head to continue looking at the chessboard on the paper.

Origami Ayase paid no attention to what others were saying; she simply stared silently at the page with the Go board drawn on it.

"Little cat, daydreaming again." She suddenly tilted her head, her cool hair hanging down to her ears.

"The identity of Black Chrysalis?" The hacker was taken aback. "So that's what you were talking about, Doctor."

“Otherwise?” Rukawa Chiba said, “I’m afraid that saying it will hurt your pride, since you all hate that Black Chrysalis to the core.”

The hacker scoffed, "Tch, I already told the leader that I was listening to the Third Prince's phone back then, listening to their conversation at the Black Chrysalis's funeral, and figuring out the relationship between the Black Chrysalis and them."

He paused for a moment, then said, "But I really don't understand why Black Chrysalis faked his death in front of his family. Was it to deal with the Salvation Society?"

The principle of lacquer remained silent.

He suddenly recalled that day in Tokyo, when he walked step by step toward Ruri Urushihara with a gun in hand and pulled the trigger on her head. That was the last time he saw Kurokara.

"Captain, should I impersonate Black Chrysalis and try to send a text message to Blue Arc and Ghost Bell to lure them away from this city?" the hacker asked.

At this moment, Qi Yuanli suddenly picked up his phone and glanced at the screen.

[Black Chrysalis: Hello, Commander, long time no see.]

[Black Chrysalis: For the sake of me helping you find your sister, please don't let your group members mess around, okay?]

[Black Chrysalis: By the way, if you're interested, you can locate me, but I don't really recommend you come over because this place is very, very dangerous.]

[Black Chrysalis: It's dangerous, but it's related to your sister.] [Black Chrysalis: That's all I can reveal for now; the rest is up to your imagination.]

Qi Liyuan stared at the text on the screen, head down, lost in thought for a moment, then raised his hand and began typing.

[Qi Yuanli: Last night, was it you who sent your family to stop us?]

[Black Chrysalis: No, no, no, I would never do something like that—use someone and then discard them. After all, we're still in a cooperative relationship.]

[Black Chrysalis: I knew nothing about this. Lake Hunters asked them to catch you.]

[Black Chrysalis: By the way, be careful of that 'doctor' in your group. What he says might not be true, so don't let him lead you astray. The doctor may have come into contact with someone in prison, which could make his motives impure.]

[Black Chrysalis: Pay attention to the people around you.]

At this point, the black pupa's avatar went black. Qi Yuanli glanced at the screen expressionlessly, then turned off his phone and looked down at the playing cards scattered on the ground.

Not far away, Xia Pingzhou looked up from the paper and secretly observed Qi Yuanli's expression.

He used the identity of Black Chrysanthemum to make up a bunch of nonsense, confusing Qi Yuanli's vision. In this way, even if Rukawa Chiba exposed the fact that he was an undercover agent, the leader might not trust him immediately, and there would still be room for maneuver.

"What are you thinking about?" Origami Ayase suddenly asked.

Xia Pingzhou shook his head. "I'm thinking about Gomoku."

"Liar."

"thinking of you."

The girl in the kimono was taken aback.

She paused for a moment, then a piece of paper flew out from her sleeve and tickled his nose.

"Let's play chess," she said.

"Oh."

Several hours later, it was already dawn, and the long crowing of roosters echoed from Haifan Mountain.

Inside the cave behind the waterfall, the Nian Beast King was lying on a huge futon, fast asleep with his eyes closed.

At this moment, the little Nian beast leaped over the rushing waterfall and plunged into the cave. It shook its head to shake off the water from its lion mane, then looked up at the Great Lord.

The Nian Beast King's mane turned completely white overnight, making him look much older. After a moment of contemplation, it slowly opened its eyes and looked up at the little Nian Beast.

"You've come..." After a long while, it spoke, its voice already hoarse beyond recognition.

The little beast silently looked at its white mane and the faint, candle-like flame on its head, which seemed ready to go out at any moment, and then nodded silently.

"come on……"

The little Nian beast moved closer to it and sat down on the small futon where the Totoro Demon usually lay. It thought for a moment, then asked:
"What's wrong, Dad?"

“I saw it all last night.” The Nian Beast King remained silent for a long time before asking, “Since you have such strength, why didn’t you fight alongside us from the beginning?”

"Because I don't like conflict," the little Nian beast said calmly. "In the first place, I didn't want to fight to the death with humans, so I left Haifan Mountain and went to wander outside."

It paused for a moment: "I'm not like you, Father. I have no ambition. My only thought is to eat, drink, travel, and live a carefree life. I only came back because I heard you were going to fight and I knew you wouldn't win."

"You knew from the beginning that I couldn't win?" The Nian Beast King looked down at the ground and asked thoughtfully.

“Dad, you know it yourself, you know you can’t win,” the little beast said. “You’re old, you’re sick, you’re not as fierce as you used to be, but you’re just not willing to accept it…”

“Yes… it’s really hard to let go.” The Nian Beast Lord lowered his voice. “The thought that after I leave, these demons on the mountain might have to live in this deep mountain for the rest of their lives makes me feel inexplicably upset, even… afraid.”

It paused. "So, I wanted to do something for them while I still had breath left... Child, did I do something wrong?"

The little beast was silent for a moment, then shook its head. "You used to be so proud, you would never have asked me this kind of question."

The two lions, one large and one small, faced the cave entrance and remained silent for a long time, watching the rushing waterfall.

After a moment, the Nian Beast King slowly said, "You can see that I can't hold on much longer, and Haifan Mountain needs a leader."

Without hesitation, the little beast said, "Let's give it to that rat. Among the demons, it's at least somewhat intelligent." It thought for a moment, "It's better than giving your position to some mad bull or clever monkey... or at the very least, it would be more suitable to give it to White Greedy Wolf."

“No, they won’t do,” the Nian Beast King interrupted.

"Then who can do it?"

The Nian Beast King remained silent for a very long time. "You are my son, and I believe in you."

"I can't carry such a heavy burden." The little Nian beast tilted its head.

"Even if it's just for my sake... could you take care of them for me?"

"What if I take your place and have other ideas?"

"what idea?"

"Humans and demons don't necessarily have to fight to the death, do they?" Little Nian said. "Lin Xingshi and I are friends, we can..."

"Nonsense!" the Great Khan roared in fury.

"I've already told you, but you won't listen." The little Nian beast rolled its eyes. "Then I'm leaving. Don't look for me again unless it's absolutely necessary."

"and many more……"

"what happened again?"

The Nian Beast King remained silent for a very long time. "Do as you please... do whatever you want."

"Oh, so you've finally figured it out?" said the little beast. "Then Dad, you can rest easy now. Live one day at a time and don't cause any more trouble... I'll take care of the rest for you."

At this point, the little Nian beast suddenly paused, its expression changing drastically.

"What's wrong?" the king asked, looking up.

The little beast opened its mouth but didn't speak. It just pondered silently and finally understood the source of the unease it had felt last night.

Yes, it remembered what its mentor had said to it about two weeks ago at the Salvation Society's base.

"Speaking of which, we're planning to send Kong Youling out soon. Do you have any objections?" the mentor asked.

"What's going on? What do you need a penguin for? This is not only animal cruelty, but also child labor," Ji Minghuan asked.

"It's very simple. Rainbow Wings are still under our control, but Lake Hunters are different. They are very dangerous to us. In the past, we could have let them go for the time being, but the world is not in a good place now, and we must take some preventative measures."

"And then?" Ji Minghuan asked calmly.

The mentor slowly said, "So, we thought of using Kong Youling's special ability to implant a thought imprint in the minds of the four people in Lake Hunting: 'Lin Xingshi,' 'Zhou Jiuya,' 'Zhuge Hui,' and 'Zhong Wujiu,' to ensure that they would not overstep their bounds."

He paused, then looked up to meet Ji Minghuan's gaze:
What do you think, Ji Minghuan?

In fact, this one thing alone is not enough to prove anything. What truly made Ji Minghuan's spirits tremble was:
—That day in the elevator at the Salvation Society base, he asked Kong Youling this question: "Where do you think the Salvation Society base might be?"

At that moment, Kong Youling lowered his head and thought for a moment, then drew a moon on the drawing board.

That's right, the moon!
Shortly after that, the instructor led them by elevator to the lunar simulation space inside the base and told them:
The moon is where the Salvation Society's base is located.

The mentors likely wanted them to believe this, thereby dissuading them from escaping the Salvation Society.

Therefore, it was no coincidence that Kong Youling answered with the word "moon" on the drawing board; there must be some connection between them.

As his thoughts drifted to this point, a horrifying idea appeared in the little Nian beast's mind:

—Kong Youling had once left the Salvation Society base! That's why she knew the answer!
At that moment, the little Nian beast was suddenly jolted awake from its tangled thoughts. It murmured:

"The mentor took her away from the Salvation Society once... but at that time, the mentor was careful. He didn't let Kong Youling see the real location of the base, but instead let her see the simulated space on the moon. After that, he made Kong Youling faint temporarily, and only woke her up when she needed to contact the Lake Hunter members."

It paused for a moment: "That's why Kong Youling mistakenly thought that the outside of the Salvation Society's base was the moon, and then secretly told me the answer on the drawing board."

At that moment, all the clues in the little beast's mind connected, its hair stood on end, and its pupils contracted slightly.

"No wonder I didn't see my mentor and Kong Youling for three or four days in a row during that time. My mentor left the Salvation Society with Kong Youling and let Ke Aojie take over its shift."

"During the time when Kong Youling left the Salvation Society, her mentor introduced her to the people of the Lake Hunters. The people of the Lake Hunters are generally very generous and would not be wary of a little girl."

"In other words... among Zhuge Hui, Zhong Wujiu and the others, it is very likely that Kong Youling has already planted a mental imprint in their minds! The specific effects are unclear, but it will definitely guide the situation toward the scene that the mentor wants to see."

"Oh no, Lin Xingshi is in danger... She's seriously injured and hospitalized right now, which is when she's least prepared." Thinking of this, the little Nian beast gasped.

The Great Lord of the Nian Beasts looked at the little Nian Beast's pale face and asked:

"What's wrong, son?"

"I have something to do, Dad. We'll talk later." It immediately turned around and said in a very fast voice.

The Nian Beast King hurriedly called out to it, coughed a few times, and asked urgently:
"Wait, what exactly are you referring to?"

"I don't have time to explain to you here. If I don't go now, it might be too late! Let's talk later!" After saying that, the little beast burst out a burst of demonic flames from the soles of its feet and flew away from the cave without looking back.

(End of this chapter)