My Avatar is Becoming the Ultimate BOSS

July 24th, 6 PM, Venice Hotel.

"Little cat, wake up." The girl's voice was neither warm nor cold.

Xia Pingzhou woke up at her words, opening his eyes to a familiar ceiling. He had been sleeping in this hotel for several days now.

"Little cat, move." The girl's tone was like controlling a voice-activated smart robot.

Xia Pingzhou dazed for a moment, then sat up straight in bed, leaning against the headboard, slowly turning to look at Ayase Origami sitting on the windowsill.

She was wearing a cool-toned simple dress that made her fair skin appear almost translucent.

"Why did you wake me up?" he yawned and asked casually.

"New member." She said.

The dusk outside was deepening, the sky's hues shifting between crab blue and blood red, and a kite wobbled as it rose in the sky. The evening wind poured in, causing the cool-colored hem of her dress to flutter in the breeze.

"New member?"

Xia Pingzhou mumbled, fumbling for his phone by the pillow, and glanced at the message on the screen.

[Hacker: The new No. 4 is heading your way.]

"Tong Zizhu?" Xia Pingzhou mused, "Although I really want to get close to her and ask about her relationship with No. 1's mom, I have to go to London tomorrow to scout ahead, looking into the movements of Red Light."

[Hacker: You're probably thinking it's time to cozy up to her and score some favors within the group too.]

[Hacker: Oh come on, is this our pretty boy? All the female members except Jack the Ripper are taking good care of you.]

"Then guess why not Jack the Ripper?" Xia Pingzhou thought.

If he wasn't worried about feeling guilty if he ended up killing her, he would have cozied up long ago.

Suddenly, he very naturally lifted his hand to take the apple handed to him by Ayase Origami through the suspended newspaper. The apple's peel had been skillfully removed, leaving a spiral of peel inside the newspaper.

Biting into the apple, he continued typing and clicked send.

[Xia Pingzhou: It's just a stereotype, I'm an independent young man of the 21st century, never a freeloading gigolo.]

[Hacker: If you start flirting, I'll tell the young lady.]

[Xia Pingzhou: Then why don't you tattle when I go out with the Bloodline?]

[Hacker: Because she's even more heavyweight, the title of Longevity Love-Chasing Old Lady isn't fake, you don't seriously think she might be interested in you, right?]

Xia Pingzhou bit cleanly through the apple's side with a "crunch".

[Xia Pingzhou: Unfortunately, the young lady doesn't use a phone. She's a primitive, only paying in cash.]

[Hacker: Could it be that using cash is easier for her superpower to handle, no need to scan codes.]

[Xia Pingzhou: Anyway, she doesn't have a phone.]

[Hacker: Useless. I could hack into the hotel's TVs and broadcast the scenes of you flirting with the new member.]

[Xia Pingzhou: Provided I would do such a thing.]

[Hacker: Someone might as well have "Already Honest, Please Spare" written on his face.]

[Xia Pingzhou: Brat.]

"Tong Zizhu could be a woman who becomes my mother," Ji Minghuan thought with an eye roll, "Even if she just changes faces to look like my mom, that's terrifying enough for me, okay?"

With that thought, he quietly put away his phone and instead looked at Ayase Origami.

The girl tilted her head, quietly gazing out at the enchanting water alleys outside the window, the sunset chasing after the passing boats and pedestrians. Although she wanted to wake Xia Pingzhou to go shopping with her, he had been sleeping constantly, sometimes as if dead... making her wonder if he would never open his eyes again.

She would occasionally glance up from her haiku collection, silently observing Xia Pingzhou's profile, wondering about knowing so much of her own past but nothing of his.

She didn't even know if "Xia Pingzhou" was his real name.

If he suddenly disappeared one day, how would I find him?

She couldn't help but think this way.

"When are we going to London?" Ayase Origami lowered her eyes and asked softly.

"The 25th, which is tomorrow," Xia Pingzhou said, "I'll have the hacker set up a flight for us, but first, I'll ask tonight if Jack the Ripper wants to join us. Otherwise, it'll be just the two of us."

Just as he finished speaking, his phone suddenly pinged. He took a bite of apple and looked at the incoming message.

[Hacker: Need money.]

[Xia Pingzhou: Haven't you still owed me the payment from the auction? Just deduct from that.]

[Hacker: True enough.]

"I need to change clothes," Ayase Origami suddenly said.

"Go ahead." Xia Pingzhou said while playing Snake on his phone and eating an apple when suddenly, a flurry of paper covered his face, blocking his eyes.

He sighed, thinking to himself, I'm a dark-hearted kid, not a pervy one, so he turned his face to the wall, and shortly after the paper covering him disappeared.

Turning back, he saw that Ayase Origami had already changed into a rust-red kimono, her previous simple dress was on the floor, being swept by flying paper towards the room's clothing rack, where it hung.

In truth, Xia Pingzhou didn't quite understand the young lady's mindset.

Even though Ayase Origami had bought so many clothes with him just days ago at the clothing store, she was only willing to wear them inside the hotel room. When it came time to go out, she always wore that same rust-red kimono that never seemed to change.

He only knew that back when he was at the Welfare Institute, having a couple of personal dresses made the girls very happy; especially Kong Youling, whose white dress was patched and worn for a long time.