My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 396 Lin Xingshi's Birthday (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

August 23, 8 p.m. Iceland time.

The pitch-black restraints formed a giant black cocoon, hanging upside down on an iceberg north of the Hofs Glacier. A streak of blue aurora stretched across the boundless night sky, and the night enveloped the clear and magnificent glacier.

At this moment, Gu Wenyu was hiding inside the giant cocoon, resting quietly with his eyes closed.

Suddenly, the giant cocoon, which had been silent for a long time, trembled slightly, and Gu Wenyu's spiderweb-like senses were also awakened.

He hadn't experienced such a sensory shock in days.

Even though his restraints possessed exceptionally keen senses, stretching like a spider web across a thousand meters of the polar region, in this vast white world, all that could be heard were the howling of the wind and snow, and the roar of melting glaciers.

If there's anything worth seeing, it's the dazzling aurora borealis in the sky.

But on this night, the silence of this deserted place was finally broken.

The next second, Gu Wenyu suddenly heard a loud tremor in his ears.

The whole world seemed to awaken at that moment, and the black pupa also suddenly opened its eyes.

“This is…” he murmured.

In an instant, the pitch-black giant pupa opened, its entire body covered with transparent restraints.

He looked up and saw that the entire Hofs Glacier was rumbling and shaking. One or two smaller icebergs collapsed and crashed into the ground, disintegrating into white mist with a deafening roar.

The black pupa plummeted from the very top of the iceberg in an instant, then, like a transparent bird, distributed its weight and flew over the polar region, rapidly approaching the source of the commotion.

Before long, the black pupa landed on the top of an iceberg, crouched down slightly, and draped itself over the mountaintop like a colorless curtain, completely blending into the ice surface.

He then raised his head without making a sound, his gaze piercing through the white mist and looking into the distance.

At that very moment, the frozen ground a kilometer away suddenly crumbled, and thousands of cracks slowly spread out from the ice surface. Then, a magnificent colossal object burst through the ice, rising straight up towards the azure sky!

This scene was like a long-dormant giant reaching out its hand from the icy blue permafrost, the world rumbling, and the entire Hofs Glacier trembling in its awakening.

“Here it comes…” Black Chrysalis grinned and said silently, “After waiting for so many days, I’ve finally waited for it.”

The Black Chrysalis couldn't imagine any other possibility for a building to rise from the ground in such a place except for the Salvation Society's base, which also proved that the mentor was indeed fooling them that day, and that the Salvation Society's base was not on the moon at all.

He watched as the massive metal tower slowly rose, its deep blue hue exuding a high-tech feel, interspersed with white stripes.

The pristine white stripes intertwine on the surface of the tower, forming a magnificent picture—the pattern of the mythical "World Tree"—an ancient and majestic giant tree stretching towards the sky, its branches and leaves so thick that they cast shadows that blot out the sun.

Looking out from the top of the iceberg, it is even more magnificent and grand than the Tower of Babel in Babylon described in the Bible, leaving one in awe.

“We’ve got you by the tail, Salvation Society…” the black pupa stared at the giant tower and said silently.

A tower.

This is the true face of the Salvation Society's base.

Black Chrysalis roughly estimated that the giant tower covered an extremely large area, with a radius of several hundred meters, almost covering half of the glacier in his field of vision.

He found it hard to imagine how such a large object could be hidden at the bottom of a glacier, but since the Salvation Society could even create environmental simulation spaces, this kind of engineering project should be no problem for them.

"Is the place where my main body and Kong Youling are imprisoned inside this tower?" Black Chrysalis wondered. "If only I could find out the exact location, I could find the location of the imprisonment cells as soon as I sneak into the tower."

He quickly shook his head, dismissing the thought, "However, with the Black Chrysalis's sensory abilities, as long as I can sneak in, no matter how many walls are in between, I can find my true form."

A moment later, the diamond-shaped door at the base of the metal tower slowly opened.

Then, from a long, brightly lit passageway that seemed to stretch on forever, a woman wearing a white coat and with her hair in a bun emerged.

bang... bang bang...

Black Chrysalis's heart had never pounded so fast. He held his breath, his gaze piercing through the heavy snow, his pupils reflecting the woman's face—delicate features, dark circles under her eyes, and a bun hairstyle.

The newcomer was none other than Keojiena, the woman who had previously taken over the mentor's position.

"A working woman?" Black Chrysalis thought to herself, "Who would give themselves away like this? If it's her, it's not surprising. Is she in a hurry to get off work?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Should we try to capture her? No, there's no need for that now. Now that the location of the Salvation Society's base has been determined, all that's left is to gather connections and set a time for the attack."

Suddenly, Koogena pulled a card that was flashing with orange light from her pocket and crushed it with a "click".

An orange streak of light flashed across the snowy landscape, and then a blue triangle appeared out of thin air, swallowing her figure.

"A once-in-a-generation phenomenon, the Bermuda Triangle?" Black Chrysalis scratched his chin, thinking, "Whatever, I never intended to pursue her anyway. It's not easy to get a job, and after get off work I get dragged away and interrogated. Sigh... Poor working people. If I really did that, would she turn into a working demon after she dies?"

With that thought in mind, Black Chrysalis stopped pursuing Koojena's whereabouts and continued to stare at the magnificent blue and white tower.

Not long after Koojena left, the Tower of Babel began to rumble and sink, like a giant cruise ship sinking into the deep sea, and soon disappeared without a trace.

Once again, ice and snow enveloped this desolate world. In the vast white world, the black pupa stood alone atop the iceberg.

"It was indeed meaningful to make the black pupa fake its death; it was visible to the naked eye that the Salvation Society lowered its guard."

Thinking this, he opened the map on his phone, glanced at the displayed location, memorized the latitude and longitude, and then slowly put the phone back into his trench coat pocket.

"So, the final preparations are complete. Next, I will observe whether the people of Lake Hunting have truly been imprinted with Kong Youling's spirit. After ensuring Lin Xingshi's safety, I can go to Lijing to see my 'family'."

He was silent for a while, then suddenly scratched his head and sighed softly, "So annoying, so annoying, I really don't want to see them... I'm so afraid that the diaper devil will smear my face with tears and snot, and I'm also afraid that Dad will choke me while crying."

As her thoughts drifted to this point, a colorless restraint band spread from the soles of the black pupa's feet, enveloping the iceberg at its base.

"It's about time we met, Master."

He muttered to himself silently, and his figure vanished from the spot as if blown away by the cold winds of Iceland.

On August 23, 2020, late at night Icelandic time, the first aircraft, Black Chrysalis, safely evacuated from the Hofsjökull glacier.

Meanwhile, Iceland is seven or eight hours ahead of China, so in the city of Sail on the other side of the world, it was already 8 a.m. on August 24.

The morning sun rose above the horizon, and the thin mist on the mountain burned coolly. When the first ray of sunlight shone through the French windows onto Lin Xingshi's cheek, her long, fiery red hair was scattered on the pillow. Her eyes were closed, and her face was calm and gentle.

After a while, she slowly opened her eyelids and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

Lin Xingshi blinked. He was wearing a hospital gown and his arm was wrapped in bandages. With the exorcist's self-healing ability, he didn't need to do much to treat the wound; just stopping the bleeding was enough.

Overnight, her injuries had almost completely healed. Recalling the previous night, Lin Xingshi still felt somewhat dazed and unreal, as if it had happened in the last century.

Lin Xingshi stared at the ceiling, lost in thought, her mind filled with the boy with a tuft of purplish-red hair on his forehead. So many years had passed, and they had met again, but it seemed quite different from what she had imagined. Was she happy? She couldn't say. Was she sad? She couldn't say either. All that remained was confusion.

She thought that now that she had grown up and become the captain of the Lake Hunters, she was famous all over the world. Everyone called her the world's number one exorcist, and the old folks in her family no longer dared to give her a bad look.

Upon seeing the little Nian beast, she suddenly felt like she had turned back into a child, just as helpless as she had been ten years ago, and just as unable to change anything.

A moment later, someone knocked on the door from the corridor, interrupting Lin Xingshi's thoughts.

Lin Xingshi raised an eyebrow and slowly looked up at the door.

The man asked:
"Captain, how are you?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Xingshi slowly sat up from the hospital bed and then said calmly:

"I'm almost fully recovered, come in, Crow."

Zhou Jiuya turned the doorknob, pushed the door open and entered, then closed the door, pulled up a chair and sat down in the sunlight, hugging his shoulders as he looked out the window at the sea and sky.

“Isn’t Wujiu outside? Why isn’t he coming in?” Lin Xingshi turned to look at him.

“It’s better for him to stand guard outside; the brigade could attack at any time,” Zhou Jiuya said calmly.

"Where is Lao Hui?"

“Uh… he went to the supermarket to buy cigarettes, he’ll be back in a bit,” Zhou Jiuya replied.

Lin Xingshi raised an eyebrow: "Buying cigarettes? Doesn't he not smoke?"

“Don’t worry about it. So what if someone suddenly learns to smoke?” Zhou Jiuya said. “Anyway, the three of us will stay at the hospital until you are discharged. The patients in this hospital were cleared out last night. The association has exorcists who transferred them to another hospital.”

"Is this really necessary?" Lin Xingshi laughed in exasperation and asked irritably.

“It’s necessary,” Zhou Jiuya said decisively. “The Phantom Troupe could take advantage of the situation at any time. Old Lion, you wouldn’t want to see ordinary people get caught up in it, would you?”

“That makes sense… What’s the situation outside right now?” Lin Xingshi thought for a moment, then asked.

“After those demons retreated into the deep mountains, they never came out again; the White Raven Brigade’s beasts are probably still lurking in the city. The association is searching every corner of Sea Sail City with all its might, not even sparing the fishing boats in the port.”

"What about the Gu family?"

“They have already taken the train demon and left the city last night,” Zhou Jiuya said. “Stopping the White Raven Brigade was already the best they could do. They didn’t want to get entangled with the brigade anymore, which is why they were in such a hurry to leave.”

"I see. Please tell them thank you for me." Lin Xingshi smiled. "I'll call them back after this is over. Hongyi is still chasing after them."

“I know.” Zhou Jiuya said expressionlessly. “They’re with Ke Qirui. I can contact them anytime. Now let’s think about how to find those bandits and how to catch that Nian beast’s son.”

Lin Xingshi lowered his eyes, staring at the bed sheet covering his legs, and remained silent for a moment.

"The intelligence of a demon is about the same as that of a primitive man. Do you really intend to reason with a bunch of barbarians? Don't think that the demon is still the same as the one you knew when you were a child. A demon is a demon, and it will reveal its true nature sooner or later."

Zhou Jiuya seemed to have read her mind, and spoke coldly without turning his head.

Lin Xingshi shook his head. "The Great King's days are numbered... If things continue like this, the son of the Nian Beast will soon inherit its position and become the next leader of the demons."

"So?" Zhou Jiuya asked impatiently.

“If it were the Little New Year, I would have a chance to negotiate with it and maintain peace between humans and demons. What do you think…” Lin Xingshi’s words were cut short. At that moment, Zhou Jiuya suddenly drew the curtains, blocking the sunlight streaming in from the window, plunging the ward into darkness, and Lin Xingshi’s face darkened as well.

"What's going on?" Lin Xingshi asked him.

Zhou Jiuya remained silent, only glancing towards the entrance of the ward.

Lin Xingshi raised an eyebrow slightly and followed his gaze. The next moment, the door was pushed open and a figure walked in from outside the ward.

The figure was dressed in a light blue long robe and mandarin jacket in the style of the Republic of China era, with a black braid tied around his neck. At this moment, he had his hands behind his back and his face was expressionless.

"...Old Hui?"

Lin Xingshi suddenly sensed something was amiss. Zhou Jiuya and Zhuge Hui were behaving strangely today. First, Zhou Jiuya suddenly drew the curtains and remained silent, and then Zhuge Hui walked into the ward with a serious expression.
She frowned and, trying to remain as quiet as possible, gently lifted the sheet covering her legs.

The next second, with a "snap," Zhou Jiuya reached out and turned the room light on and off, just like a child playing a prank.

At the same time, Zhuge Hui, like a hunting dog suddenly baring its fangs, abruptly revealed his right hand, which had been hidden behind his back. Lin Xingshi's heart pounded with anxiety at that moment, her pupils practically blazing with fury.

Happy birthday, Captain!

Zhuge Hui suddenly shouted. He then smiled slightly and revealed the object he had been holding behind him.

Lin Xingshi was stunned for a moment. What he saw was an exquisitely crafted cream cake with several burning candles on it. The cream was painted into the shape of a small red lion, which seemed to have been deliberately drawn by the cake artist.

"Happy birthday, Lin Xingshi." Zhou Jiuya crossed his arms, tilted his head, and said somewhat reluctantly.

"Happy birthday." Zhong Wujiu walked in from the corridor, still wearing a ghost mask. "Uh... I didn't want to cooperate with them, but they insisted that I do it."

Zhuge Hui nudged him with his shoulder, then waved his folding fan and said, "Go away, you rough old man, what do you know about romance and surprises?"

Lin Xingshi stood there stunned for a long time, then slowly raised her eyes and stared blankly at the cake Zhuge Hui was holding. The candlelight flickered in the darkness, illuminating her pupils.

After a moment, Lin Xingshi came to her senses, let out a long sigh, then smiled, a glint in her eyes. She spoke:

"Thank you, it's been so long since I celebrated my birthday... I'm so happy."

"Oh, Captain, don't say such mushy things." Zhuge Hui waved a folding fan in one hand and held a cake in the other. "Look, you've made Lao Ya and Wu Jiu blush."

Zhou Jiuya coughed twice, while Zhong Wujiu shrugged and remained silent.

“I’m happy, but…” Lin Xingshi hesitated.

"But what?" Zhuge Hui was taken aback.

Lin Xingshi asked curiously, "Who celebrates their birthday in broad daylight? Don't you guys even know what that means? Isn't it usually at night?"

Zhuge Hui pointed at her with his folding fan, "Hey hey hey... I just observed the celestial phenomena at night and predicted that the White Raven Brigade would attack at night, so there wouldn't be time to celebrate my birthday."

He opened his folding fan and fanned himself. "That's why I discussed with Lao Ya and the others about celebrating your birthday in the morning... In broad daylight, I don't believe those rats and thieves would dare to show their faces."

"Then I really thank you, for thinking of everything so thoroughly." Lin Xingshi was amused.

Zhou Jiuya looked up at her and asked, "Why do you look so unhappy?"

"No, it's just that my last birthday was a long, long time ago, when I was still wandering around."

Lin Xingshi shook his head and said softly, glancing through the curtain at the dappled light and shadow on the wall, "If only that person could come and celebrate my birthday with me."

The sea breeze lifted the curtains, and as they rose and fell, sunlight once again streamed into her eyes.

Zhuge Hui suddenly looked at Zhou Jiuya and said, "By the way, didn't we agree not to bring cell phones? There's a hacker on the brigade's side. It would be terrible if the information was leaked."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Zhou Jiuya shoved his phone into the pocket of his Zhongshan suit and sneered. "At worst, we'll have the White Crow Brigade celebrate this birthday with us. Do they dare?"

"Look at the bad luck you're talking about."

"Shut up, leave me alone."

Meanwhile, on the other side of Haifan City, inside the underground bar of Lao Wu Antique Shop.

The members of the White Raven Brigade spent the night in a bar, waiting for someone to return.

At this moment, Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami were sitting at the bar, drinking orange juice and watching the anime "Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju Season 1" on the TV.

Not long after, a tall and burly man suddenly pushed open the iron gate and walked in from the underground passage. He was wearing a white cloak and had neat, short black hair.

The middle-aged man stopped at the doorway, raised his head, and scanned the room with his pterygium-covered eye, his gaze sweeping over everyone's faces.

For a while, no one in the group paid any attention to him, as if they were deliberately ignoring him, until a black crow flew in from outside the door and landed on the bar with a rustling sound, and then someone spoke up.

"Hey... isn't this our White Wolf back?" Anlens said in a low, teasing voice as he played pool.

"Old Wolf, long time no see." Robert took a sip of his drink, and a hoarse, magnetic voice came from the back of his mechanical head.

"I thought you were dead." Enma Rin crossed her arms and tilted her head indifferently.

"Brother Wolf, I miss you so much." Anlens smiled slightly. "How did you get along with those demons on the mountain? Hmm... have you been assimilated by them? You seem to have a much stronger wild aura now."

"If you want to die, just say so, you slot machine brat," White Greed Wolf said coldly in a deep voice.

"You two still have such a good relationship, I'm so envious." The Bloodline held his face in his hands, turned his crimson eyes to look at the two of them, and teased them with a smile.

"It's only been a few days, are you guys all sick?" the hacker muttered.

Just then, the black raven on the bar transformed into raven feathers and scattered, and a figure wearing a black swallowtail trench coat appeared on top of the bar.

"Where is your Demon Crown?" Qi Yuanli turned his head and asked Bai Tanlang expressionlessly.

Bai Tanlang was silent for a moment before calmly explaining, "It's temporarily with the Son of the Nian Beast. Last night, when Lin Xingshi and I were seriously injured, it was the one wearing the Demon Crown that saved me and the Nian Beast Lord. After some time, I will take the Demon Crown back from it."

"I see……"

Qi Yuanli murmured softly, glanced at him, and then looked away, without pressing for further details.

Because he understood that since the Demon Crown was with the son of the Nian Beast, it would be difficult to take it back. The little Nian Beast's strength was evident to all; he had single-handedly held off the two of them, Lake Hunter and his companion. Looking at the whole world, it would be hard to find even one or two people who could contend with this demon.

At this moment, Bai Tanlang looked around and then asked, "Where is Tong Zizhu? Is he dead?"

"She went to find her mother." The hacker said casually, playing with his phone. "Don't worry about her, just pretend she's dead."

"so."

Bai Tanlang wasn't surprised. He had always felt that Tong Zizhu had joined the Phantom Troupe just for the novelty and wouldn't stay long. He figured he would either find an excuse to leave or just leave without a word. And the outcome was exactly what he had intuited.

"Commander, is your raven tattoo still on Tong Zizhu's body?" Bloodline asked, turning his head to the side as he sipped his red wine.

“Yes, it’s still there,” Qi Yuanli said.

"Then you should be able to see where the bamboo is?" Xueyi asked.

Qi Yuan replied, "Just this morning, she left Haifan City with those people, probably to avoid us."

"I see." The Bloodline smiled. "I can only wish this traitorous young lady a good time."

"Commander, should I go and kill her?" Enma Rin asked expressionlessly.

“No, there’s no need for that.” Qi Yuanli shook his head. “Her departure is irrelevant.”

As the group was chatting, the hacker, who was sitting in a swivel chair drinking orange juice, suddenly changed his expression and froze on the spot.

"Uh... everyone, I have some unexpected good news." The hacker paused for a moment, then looked up and said.

"What good news?" Xia Pingzhou turned his head and glanced at him.

“We can take action against Lake Hunter now,” the hacker thought for a moment. “We still have enough people, so we can still move out in time.”

"What do you mean?" Anlens raised an eyebrow, glancing sideways at the pool cue, and asked curiously.

“Uh…you might not believe it,” the hacker paused, “LakeHunter has fallen out.”

"Internal strife?" Qi Yuanli looked at him.

“That’s right, they’ve fallen out.” The hacker said, throwing his phone at Qi Yuanli.

Qi Yuanli reached out and caught it, glancing at the surveillance video on the screen. A hint of confusion flashed in his deep eyes. "Internal strife... and it happened at a time like this."

Seeing this, the other group members also crowded around and peered at the images on their phones.

Xia Pingzhou was taken aback for a moment, then asked expressionlessly, "Isn't this too sudden?"

"Suddenly where?" Andrew said grimly. "That's exactly what I wanted. You all better get ready and leave now, or I'll blow your heads off one by one."

"Although I find it somewhat absurd, this is a golden opportunity, right here at the Haifan City Central Hospital..." the hacker said. "Lin Xingshi is seriously injured, and the Gu family seems to have briefly left Haifan City last night by train. They went back to Lijing."

He paused for a moment, then turned to look at Qi Yuanli: "Of course, this could also be a trap. They're waiting for us to take the bait, so they created this illusion... How should I put it, Commander?"

Qi Yuanli remained silent for a moment, then uttered only one word:
"Walk."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure transformed into a raven feather and fell down, disappearing without a trace.

Seeing that their leader had left, the group members inside the bar looked at each other in bewilderment.

Robert then stood up first, placed his hand against the wall, creating a mahogany portal, and turned to look at everyone through the mechanical box he was wearing:
"Let's go."

(End of this chapter)