My Avatar is Becoming the Ultimate BOSS

Tong Zizhu just came by to say hello and left, Xia Pingzhou didn't get a chance to ask her about Su Ying's past, but there's plenty of time, he's not in a rush.

"The newcomer reminds me a bit of Lan Duoduo." Andrew mentioned softly inside the box.

"You must be crazy thinking about Lan Duoduo?" Bloodline said.

"However, their personalities are somewhat similar."

"Right, right?" Andrew said.

"What similarities?" Bloodline asked indifferently.

Jack thought for a moment: "How should I say this… anyway, both of these guys are somewhat naturally silly."

She paused, glanced at Xia Pingzhou: "If someone I don't know called me mom out of the blue, I'd have already gutted them."

Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami didn't want to get involved in this topic, they sat together, playing Go in boredom.

He couldn't very well say, "She really is a bit like my mom," so he changed the subject: "By the way, I'm planning to travel to London tomorrow, do you want to come?"

"No emotional intelligence, rookie, before asking us, shouldn't you ask the young lady first?" Andrew raised his eyebrows and patted his shoulder, a tone of disappointment.

"They're Siamese twins, don't need to ask, right?" Bloodline mocked, "They're surely together."

"I can accompany you," Jack paused, "Since I have nothing to do, the captain hasn't told me yet when the next action will start."

Xia Pingzhou drew an X on the paper with a pencil, asking: "How long is the interval between each action for you guys?"

Bloodline thought for a moment: "Shortest is a month, longest is a year, I guess."

"So we have at least a month's vacation?" Xia Pingzhou asked.

"Yes, generally speaking." Jack yawned.

Fat chance, in a few days you'll be led into the Whale Terrarium to work, busying yourselves to death, Xia Pingzhou thought.

Tomorrow, on the night of July 25th, Ji Minghuan will operate the First Body Black Cocoon to meet Urushibara Osamu on the rooftop of Li Jing Fifth Middle School.

He will discuss various matters related to the Whale Terrarium plan with the captain.

Xia Pingzhou believes the probability of the captain accepting this cooperation proposal is as high as ninety-five percent.

Because the captain is such a curious person, even without intelligence on the chaos among the terrarium royalty, he won't miss the chance to enter the terrarium.

If one thinks that losing a member or two will restrain this boundlessly wild thief group, they're wrong. They are a bunch of villains who thrive on the edge of death, as long as they're alive, they'll chase their desires like mad dogs.

"When are you going to London?" Jack asked.

Xia Pingzhou replied without raising his head: "Tomorrow night, the hacker will notify you via phone, then come to the airport."

"Oh."

After arriving in London, the next day, he'll most likely meet Kong Youling, Sun Changkong and others… more importantly, besides them, there's an unfamiliar kid on the Salvation Society's action list this time—"Mario."

Since he doesn't know Mario's personality, this kid is the biggest uncontrollable factor.

But fortunately, there's Jack the Ripper here, Jack has already advanced to the third rank, with her unique Celestial Driver mechanism, catastrophic level strength is certainly there.

In the best scenario, they might quietly take away the traffic light without causing any conflict with the Salvation Society;

But if things don't go well, in the process of snatching the traffic light, if the young lady and Ghost Train Corps people are killed by those Salvation Society kids, Xia Pingzhou couldn't imagine how things would progress...

He only knows there's an absolute key to this mission, and that's not to let Black Cocoon be discovered by the Salvation Society, otherwise all his efforts will be for nothing.

"Kitty… not focused." A cold voice interrupted his thoughts.

"How do you know I'm not focused?" Xia Pingzhou lifted his eyes from the chessboard drawn on paper.

The kimono girl looked up, their eyes met, she looked silently at Xia Pingzhou, her ears slightly red. After a moment, she looked away and said nothing.

They played a few rounds of chess and stopped, quietly drinking orange juice, and seeing the surrounding members getting drunk, the two sneaked away back to the streets of Venice, walking and stopping, gazing at the merchant ships coming and going at dusk.

[Xia Pingzhou: By the way, haven't you investigated "Su Ying"?]

[Hacker: This person is very mysterious, all information about her has been deleted by the authorities. If you really want to check her out, I need to gather more intel from the newcomer, but that's quite troublesome too.]

[Xia Pingzhou: Oh, let me know if you find something.]

[Hacker: You're too gossipy, trying to use me to help you get girls, no way.]

[Xia Pingzhou: I'm gay.]

[Hacker: I suddenly feel very unsafe, not chatting, bye.]

Xia Pingzhou put away his phone, accompanying Ayase Origami, gazing at the river under the night sky, streets on both sides brightly lit, pedestrians laughing and chatting as they walked along the shore.

"Xia Pingzhou." The fair maiden suddenly stopped walking, speaking in a low voice.

"What is it?"

"What's your real name?"

Xia Pingzhou was silent for a long time, and softly said: "If there's a chance in the future, I'll tell you my real name."

"Why?"

Xia Pingzhou didn't answer, pondering with his head down for a moment, suddenly raising his finger, pointing at a distant cruise ship: "Leaving tomorrow, let's ride it again."

The streets cast mottled and ambiguous lights and shadows, enveloping his side profile, his shadow stretched out long and long.

The girl in the kimono raised her eyes, quietly gazing at him. Her hair was lifted by the evening breeze.

After a long while, she nodded silently.

The two took a boat to admire the bright nightscape of Venice. When they returned, the night was deep, and the chirping of cicadas, mixed with the rustling of the Grand Canal, drifted into the hotel interior. Ayase Origami was reading under the moonlight, while Xia Pingzhou lay on the bed with his eyes closed.

The clock on the wall kept ticking, the time was 0:00 on July 25.

Due to the time difference, it was already daylight on the Whale Terrarium side, so he synchronized his consciousness to the Third Body.

......

......

"Gurgle... gurgle..."

In a daze, Yaguba spat out a mouthful of seawater, slowly opened his eyes from the Crystal Ball, and saw the sky just starting to brighten. The dusk-like glow once again enveloped the sky outside the window.

The Whale Terrarium has only twilight and night, staying here always gives a feeling of oppression and sadness.

Of course, that's only if you have lived in the outside world; otherwise, you wouldn't understand the differences between the two worlds, let alone feel uncomfortable about it.

"Li Qingping must also dislike staying in the Whale Terrarium as a 'privileged one' because he has experienced the vast world outside, right?"

Thinking of this, Yaguba lifted his head and looked around the room.

There were still slices of toast and milk left on the table; Cezar hadn't had breakfast but was standing in front of the mirror tidying his clothes. At some point, he had cut off a large section of his long white hair, making his hairstyle look much tidier.

"Good morning, Yaguba." He said softly.

"Good morning, Cezar," Yaguba replied. "Before you eat, it'd be best to let the Shark inspect it for poison. If it's clean, you can eat it; otherwise, I'm not responsible if you get poisoned."

Thinking about it, it was always perplexing; since the Empress could poison the King, why not Cezar?

Instead of going to great lengths to find someone to assassinate, wouldn't it be more convenient to make Cezar contract the Black Death too? Is there some reason behind this?

Cezar shook his head and slowly said, "No, my body has been immune to all poisons since childhood. At first, I didn't know why... Later, the father king told me it was a miraculous blessing from our ancestors, bestowed only upon the favored royals of each generation."

"Oh, I see..." Yaguba sighed, "No wonder your brothers target you. To them, you're so privileged, like the entire world favors you, it's only natural they'd be envious."

Cezar remained silent, seemingly unwilling to discuss this topic.

"I want to summon Li Qingping to my side..." he paused, "before August 1st, I need him."

"Of course, you should have done that earlier. Li Qingping is the only one in the Terrarium on your side," Yaguba said.

"Wouldn't I be selfish, dragging Li Qingping into this, what if he dies..."

Yaguba interrupted him, "You haven't even asked Li Qingping his thoughts yet. How can you decide you're selfish? Besides... you just want to survive; there's nothing wrong with that."

"Hmm..." Cezar lowered his eyes, "and then, today I want to go to the Imperial Palace to see the father king, although he's not awake."

"You can see him one last time, after that we should think about how to escape."

Cezar was silent for a long while, then softly asked, "Yaguba, do you think I'm useless... just thinking of escaping, watching my father die and being powerless."

"No, as a twelve-year-old, you've done your best, Cezar." Yaguba shook his head, "I, the Nobel Shark, have lived for thousands of years, and yet, I'm still just a wastrel eating and playing." Saying that, he patted the seawater with his tail.

Cezar smiled silently.

At this moment, the butler Shiva's voice came from outside the room: "Third Prince, Deputy Captain of the Royal Court Team—'Li Qingping' is here to visit."

Cezar was taken aback.

Yaguba said calmly, "See, even if you don't call him, that fool would come anyway, so don't talk about being afraid to involve him, it's something he deserves."

Cezar shook his head, his expression somewhere between joy and sadness. After a moment's silence, he told the butler outside the door, "Let Li Qingping in."

"Yes, Your Highness."

In no time, a swift pace echoed down the hallway. Li Qingping pushed open the door, entered the room, and then knelt on one knee in front of Cezar, respectfully stating:

"Greetings, Your Highness Cezar."

Through the Crystal Ball, Yaguba saw that Li Qingping was still wearing a black suit today, with black medium-length hair draped over his shoulders. This man was known in the Terrarium for being eccentric and liked to be a little different from others.

"Li Qingping, didn't I tell you?" Cezar said, "I don't need you to kneel to me."

Li Qingping stood up, expressionless, and said, "Your Highness Cezar, as per the Empress's wishes, I will escort you out of the Terrarium on August 1, so I'll be staying by your side until then."

"Is this something you decided on your own?"

"That's correct."

"Then what about the Royal Court Team's affairs?"

"Just yesterday, I officially resigned from the Royal Court Team, and am still processing the paperwork," Li Qingping paused, "so... no matter what summons I receive, I will remain by your side."

Cezar was silent for a while, "Li Qingping, knowing there will be danger, do you still choose to follow me?"

Li Qingping lifted his head, curving his lips into a smile, "After all, Your Highness Cezar, we're not just superiors and subordinates, but we've also been friends for many years, right?"

"Thank you, Li Qingping," Cezar said, "by the way... speaking of friends, I happened to want to introduce you to another friend of mine, and you came at the right time."

Li Qingping raised an eyebrow, curiously asking, "May I know who Your Highness's friend is?"

Cezar slowly pointed to the Crystal Ball on the bedside table, "That."

Li Qingping paused, looking up to see the seemingly harmless Nobel Shark inside the Crystal Ball suddenly grin at him, baring its sharp little teeth.