My Avatar is Becoming the Ultimate BOSS

From the bottom of her heart, she didn't want the leader to know yet that her eldest brother's true identity was actually Blue Arc, because even she herself wasn't quite sure how to face this fact.

In this situation, if others found out, she would only become more at a loss.

She hoped to give herself some time to digest this secret before telling those around her.

Ke Qirui shook her head, pulling back her chaotic thoughts: "Forget it, let's get down to business."

"Right, where's the Red Lantern?" Black Cocoon asked.

"I hid him in the Movie World, and I'll release him now." Saying this, Ke Qirui raised the Single-sided Mirror.

The movie screen flashed into view, and Lin Zhengquan, the sturdiest member of the team, silently stepped into it, carrying the unconscious Red Lantern onto his back, and laid him on the bumpy floor.

The screen slowly receded, and a short silence enveloped the carriage.

The four members of the Ghost Train Corps looked at the Red Lantern on the floor, all waiting for him to speak.

"So... I'm going to use my ability to ask the Red Lantern a few small questions next. If any of you want to avoid this, I suggest leaving now."

After a moment's pause, Black Cocoon spoke softly, "Otherwise, hearing something you shouldn't could be very dangerous."

Ke Qirui lowered her hat brim, filled with a huge and intense curiosity about this world, a chance to glimpse the truth was right in front of her, she couldn't miss it.

Su Zimai and Lin Zhengquan exchanged a glance. The two chose to stay.

Xu Sanyan took a puff of his cigarette, quietly got up and left, sliding open the door, stepping into the next carriage. He was already semi-retired and didn't want to be drawn into deeper conspiracies anymore.

"Xiaomai, Zhengquan, you two go out," Ke Qirui suddenly said.

"But..."

Ke Qirui interrupted her, "This is an order."

Su Zimai was stunned.

Lin Zhengquan put his hand on her shoulder. After a moment of silence, Su Zimai lowered her head. The two turned around, stepped into the next carriage together, and closed the sliding door behind them.

"I'll say it one last time, this is risky," Black Cocoon turned his head to look at Ke Qirui, "After hearing my next words, I can't guarantee you won't die."

"Get started," Ke Qirui said calmly.

"Additionally, there must be an insider from that organization within the Exorcist Association," Black Cocoon said, "After this incident, you've been marked by them. Going forward, you can't trust anyone, not even those closest to you."

"Your words are making me a bit scared, Mr. Black Cocoon." Though saying this, Ke Qirui's face was expressionless.

"Truly unafraid of death... I admire your courage."

Saying this much, Black Cocoon no longer tried to persuade her, instead raising his hand to extend the restraint belt, wrapping it around Red Lantern's body, activating the skill of Unit One "Restraint Truth."

[Restraint Truth: Forces an individual bound by your restraint belt to speak the truth.]

In the next moment, Red Lantern opened his vacant eyes like a machine, staring fixedly at the ceiling.

Black Cocoon didn't let himself appear in his line of sight, instead keeping a certain distance from his gaze.

"And then?" Ke Qirui asked.

Black Cocoon took a small notebook and pencil from his trench coat pocket, drawing a "hexagram surrounded by a circle" on the notebook, then wrote a line beside it: "Miss Ke, please hand this notebook to Mr. Red Lantern, then ask him, 'How do you know this symbol?'"

After writing, he let the pencil slide into his coat sleeve, then handed the notebook to Ke Qirui.

In the dead silence, Ke Qirui reached out to take Black Cocoon's notebook, glanced at its contents, then wiped away the writing with her hand.

She moved the notebook before Red Lantern's line of sight, softly asked, "How do you know this symbol?"

Black Cocoon crossed his arms, leaned against the carriage door, silently observing this scene.

As soon as Red Lantern saw the "hexagram symbol," his pupils contracted suddenly, and his whole body was uncontrollably agitated.

Fortunately, Black Cocoon had preemptively and tightly bound each of his joints with the restraint belt. For the moment, Red Lantern seemed like an insect trapped in a cocoon, unable to move, his body faintly trembling, almost as if in convulsion.

Moments later, Red Lantern's lips parted slightly, hoarsely speaking.

He said, "There was a man... wearing glasses, reeking of disinfectant. He found me, said he could help solve my insomnia, and then... he entered my mind, tore it in half, and I couldn't resist him. His clothes had that symbol, that hexagram symbol."

Black Cocoon was slightly taken aback.

The scent of disinfectant and glasses, these two traits combined, the first name that came into his mind naturally was:

——"Mentor."

"Mentor?" Black Cocoon scratched his chin, thinking, "Did the mentor reach out to Red Lantern in the outside world?"

After a long silence, Red Lantern swallowed, then continued, "He told my 'heart' that from now on, I had to continually kill those exorcists, then leave behind this symbol and a line of Latin at the scene."

He paused: "I couldn't resist him... I couldn't resist my 'heart', he never stopped talking in my ear all these years."

At this point, a struggling expression appeared on Red Lantern's face, his pupils expanding and contracting like a beast's.

Once again, the carriage was enveloped in dead silence, Black Cocoon stood there motionless, his hairs standing on end.

In those past few seconds, a shuddering conclusion slowly formed in his mind.

Indeed, it was the mentor who years ago actively sought out Red Lantern, using a spiritual superpower to enter Red Lantern's mind, to command his 'id', making him kill those exorcists, leaving clues of the Salvation Society to the outside world.

And two years later, the mentor returned to the base of the Salvation Society, claiming in front of the children that this Evil Exorcist was smearing the name of the "Salvation Society" to the outside world.

To maintain the Salvation Society's secrecy, so people from the Salvation Squad were sent out to capture Red Lantern.

As the thought landed, Black Cocoon couldn't help but take a deep breath.

The stuffy air in the carriage pierced into his guts like a sharp sword.

"But... why?" he thought, "What was the mentor's reason for doing this?"

"Was it to lure the bodies I created over to Red Lantern, then act in entrapment? No... that's not right, the timing doesn't match, Red Lantern's frenzy happened two years ago, not recently."

"At that time, the Prophet hadn't revealed my existence, the Salvation Society couldn't have set this trap early."

"So why did the mentor announce the name of 'Salvation Society' to the outside world? What really was his goal?" Pondering this, Black Cocoon took a few steps back, slowly reeling in the restraint belt binding Red Lantern.

The effect of "Restraint Truth" wore off, Red Lantern fell asleep once more, closing his eyes as if relieved of a great burden.

Ke Qirui shook her head: "It's a pity, from these words, I can't decipher much."

She looked up at Black Cocoon, "And you, Mr. Black Cocoon?"

Black Cocoon was silent.

After a moment, Ke Qirui suddenly exclaimed, "Oh no!"

Black Cocoon snapped back, squinting, observing Red Lantern through Restraint Sensing.

Only to see Red Lantern's body twitch once again, but Black Cocoon made no move, instead quietly stepping back, widening the distance between him and Red Lantern.

Ke Qirui furrowed her brows, leaned down, checking Red Lantern's condition through the Retro-style One-Sided Mirror, by now Red Lantern had already calmed down.

After a while, she slowly raised her head, meeting Black Cocoon's gaze.

"There are still vital signs," she said, "but he... is already brain dead."