My Avatar is Becoming the Ultimate BOSS

[Xia Pingzhou: No rush, it's only six in the morning.]

[Hacker: Anyway, I'll give you an address first. Around noon, you and Miss can come and meet up.]

[Xia Pingzhou: Okay.]

After sending the message, Xia Pingzhou lifted his eyes from the phone and turned to look at the large floor-to-ceiling window. The sky was just barely bright, and the giant silhouette of the Sapporo TV Tower stretched straight into the clouds, casting a warm glow in the cold and clear sky.

At that moment, he suddenly heard the voice of the Queen's Statue.

He was certain it wasn't an auditory hallucination, but a voice coming from his mind. The Queen told him that a demon had appeared nearby, just in the eleven o'clock direction. Xia Pingzhou was a bit surprised; the Queen's Statue had never warned him like this before.

So he instinctively picked up his phone and glanced at the Exorcist Association's app. He saw that the map that popped up didn't have any flashing red dots, which meant that even the association hadn't yet detected the presence of demons in Sapporo City.

"Really?" Xia Pingzhou asked mentally.

The phantom of the Queen's Statue nodded in his mind.

"Alright, I'll trust you this time."

Thinking this, Xia Pingzhou released the Celestial Driver. Streams of black and white light spread out, forming a Mobius Ring Road, with magnificent chess shadows rotating around him like satellites.

He pinched the elegant and poised chess shadow, and with a "click," the Queen arrived in response.

As if to avoid disturbing Ayase Origami's sleep, the Queen's Statue lowered herself and picked him up, instantly passing through the massive floor-to-ceiling window.

She ran along the hotel walls painted red, and finally leaped up like a bird, becoming transparent in the reflection on the glass curtain wall just before colliding with a tall building.

Relying on the power of Nihilization, the Queen's Statue passed through building after building, landing on the branches of a large tree, leaping between the trees, swiftly crossing the cold and lonely Dadong Park of the morning, arriving at the city center.

Once the Queen landed, Xia Pingzhou lifted his eyes from her shoulder. He looked around, taking in the famous shopping street of Sapporo City—Tanukikoji Shopping Street.

This is a gallery street 900 meters long, covering seven blocks, with a design of an all-weather arch roof. Even on windy or rainy days, there's no need to worry; visitors can wander freely along the street. A huge raccoon cat balloon is suspended mid-air at the entrance, with two iconic "Tanuki" plaques on either side, one red and one blue.

However, at this time, the street was not yet open for business.

The lights within the shopping street were dim, and there were few people in sight. The Queen's Statue narrowed her eyes and wrote in cold blue flames in mid-air, informing Xia Pingzhou that the demon's aura was just ahead.

Xia Pingzhou was partly doubtful, as he hadn't known before that the Queen could sense demons.

He thought, could it be that as his spirit attribute improved, the Queen, as his chess piece, also had an increase in her perception?

After all, it's written in black and white on the system panel that a Chess Player's attributes will affect the chess piece's abilities.

The Queen's Statue carried Xia Pingzhou into the shopping street, passing out of the range of surveillance cameras, and slowly delved deeper into the street.

After a while, they suddenly saw a brightly lit ramen shop in the silent gallery street.

This scene was exceptionally eerie: clearly, it wasn't yet the business hours of the shopping street, other stores were shrouded in darkness, yet this ramen shop was spreading out warm firelight.

The Queen's Statue leaped with Xia Pingzhou, swiftly approaching the ramen shop, and slid open the sliding door.

With a rumbling sound, the wooden sliding door opened.

Xia Pingzhou raised an eyebrow slightly, and what he saw was indeed the layout of an eatery, but it was not as cramped as it appeared from outside; instead, it was as large as half a football field.

Warm orange light cast down from the ceiling, rendering this extraordinary space.

In front of the bar sat four oversized infants. Their body proportions were extremely distorted: their heads were as large as rolling stones on a mountaintop, but their limbs were as tiny as a short-legged cat.

At this moment, each infant stretched its arms on the bar and kicked the air while wailing loudly. They cried to the sky, shouting in Japanese, "I want to eat."

Behind the bar stood a huge figure dressed in a ramen chef's outfit. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a completely green demon, standing four or five meters tall.

A giant pot hung in mid-air, with a group of seemingly unextinguishable ghost fire burning at the bottom.

The ramen chef grabbed a couple of passersby from somewhere, tied the unconscious passersby together, and put them in a boiling pot. The pot contained a rich broth, simmering gently.

It all made sense to Xia Pingzhou now. This demon was treating the tourists as ingredients, cooking ramen in the pot to satisfy the four patrons at the bar.

"A ramen chef demon? Is there such a demon?"

He curiously thought to himself, while his actions were decisive, swiftly pinching the Flame Demon on the Mobius Ring Road.

With the sound of shattering glass, the chess shadow vanished in a flash.

In its place, a demon composed of flames of varying depths spread open its fangs in mid-air.

Xia Pingzhou mentally whispered the words "Bridge of Humans and Demons," and immediately, the shadow of a bridge formed between the Flame Demon and the Queen's Statue, with the two chess pieces respectively stationed at the bridge's head and tail.

In an instant, their bodies were abruptly sucked into the middle of the bridge, twisting open, merging into a dazzling crimson light that swept outward.

As the red light faded, a stranger's figure emerged in the ramen shop.

The Queen's Statue's daggers vanished, replaced by a long sword forged from raging flames. The sword's blade flickered with shifting light, like tidal waves rising and falling.

A pair of giant wings made of flame unfolded behind her. Fire rain cascaded down from the wings, scorching pits in the wooden floor.

The mirage-like firelight outlined her valiant silhouette, her swan-like neck held high. Flames etched cloud patterns across her breastplate and gauntlets.

["Flame Queen" possesses the powers: "Flame Transformation," "Flame Pillar."]

"Ah?" The four giant infants sitting at the bar suddenly stopped their antics and slowly turned their heads, their once clear eyes turned hollow and deep in an instant.

Their expressions twisted into a grimace, resembling voracious demons rather than infants.

Just as the giant infants were about to leap from the bar, Xia Pingzhou suddenly spoke softly:

"Flame Pillar."

Upon hearing this, the Queen's Statue suddenly trembled her wings and raised her longsword forward in midair. The rolling fire forged into the sword body suddenly converged along the direction of the sword tip.

The sword body transformed into a massive flame pillar, rushing forward like a bullet unstoppable, like a roaring wild dragon, its claws bared ferociously, threading the four giant infants in one sweeping motion.

The four giant infants froze in place. They whimpered, wailed, and all lowered their heads to stare at the holes in their bellies, trying to scratch at the flame pillar, only to find their hands turned into a fiery red ember.

The Queen's Statue gazed down at them, sword raised, flame pillar swept upward from below, burned through the guts of the four giant infants, then their heads.

The annoying cries vanished. The ramen shop instantly quieted down considerably. However, the ramen chef behind the bar was enraged. He roared and violently flipped the large pot in midair.

Two bound passersby flew out of the pot, splashing thick broth on the floor, rolling several times before stopping.

"Flame Transformation," Xia Pingzhou commanded.

At that moment, the ramen chef leaped from behind the bar, hurling the seasoning spoon in his hand toward the body of the Queen's Statue. As the gust blew, the Queen's Statue arched her brows.

She faintly bent her knees in midair, every part of her body transforming abruptly into blazing flames, rippling forward in the fast wind.

The ramen chef's seasoning spoon missed its target. Instead, the incoming flames swept over his body surface. He howled, raising his arms in defense.

The flames scorched every inch of his flesh, quickly incinerating his skin, stripping his bones bare, consumed entirely.

The flame curtain once again gathered into the Queen's entity, she appeared behind the ramen chef. On the ground now lay a puddle of bluish-purple blood, even that evaporated in the fire, rising as strands of smoke.

Thus, cold silence reigned within the ramen shop. Only the crackling sound of flames roasting the air remained.

Meanwhile, a series of settlement panels popped up in front of Xia Pingzhou.

[Due to the passive skill "Demon Hunter," 1 disposable Chess Species obtained—"Ramen Chef Demon," and 2 disposable Chess Species—"Giant Food Demon."]

[Detected that five heads of C-level and above demons were killed, the cumulative kill count for the "Winter of the Wild Hunt" system has been updated: 40/40]

[Current kill count: 40, "Cultivation Mission 4" target completed, rewarded with 1 attribute point.]

[The advancement progress for the second character's Celestial Driver "International Chess" has changed: 35%→40%.]

[Tip: Upon reaching 100% progress, your Celestial Driver will evolve into a third-tier form.]

"Finally pushed this damned progress task along."

Xia Pingzhou muttered to himself, summoned the character panel, and allocated the attribute point.

[The "Spirit" attribute of your second machine "Chess Player" has changed: A-level → A++ level (your "Chess Species" power will also increase accordingly)]

When he looked up from the panel, the Queen's Statue had resumed her usual form.

She bowed her head, pick up the two passersby on the ground with a dagger, sent them outside the ramen shop.

Then silently lifted Xia Pingzhou's body, leapt upwards, opening Nihilization to pass through the arcade dome, disappearing above the Tanukikoji Shopping Street.

Before long, the Queen's Statue brought Xia Pingzhou through the large floor-to-ceiling window, back into the hotel interior.

Seeing Ayase Origami still asleep, and with the gathering time for the brigade yet to arrive, Xia Pingzhou withdrew the Celestial Driver, lay back in bed, closed his eyes to catch a nap.

Into a dream.

....

....

"Restricted Superpower User, No. 1002, Ji Minghuan, Mentor visit, please prepare quickly."

Uncertain how much time had passed, a cold voice reached Ji Minghuan's ears, waking him from the darkness.

He blinked his eyes, seeing the silver-white ceiling, and penguin-shaped broadcasting equipment. Turning his head, the metal door rumbled open, and the Mentor was already standing at the door.

The Mentor's face solemn, as if he had just lost his mother.

As usual, he walked in with hands folded behind him, without a word, slowly sat before the table.

The Mentor placed the thermal cup on the table, clasped his hands, lifted his gaze to Ji Minghuan.

He said: "Ji Minghuan, I have two pieces of news for you, one good, one bad. Which one would you like to hear first?"