My Avatar Is Becoming the Final Boss-Chapter 46: Cinema

After a heavy downpour, Lijing was still shrouded in a dim curtain of gloom.
Dark clouds loomed above, and although the afternoon sunlight seeped through the cloud layers, it couldn't reach every corner of the city. The Guyimai Neighborhood happened to be one of those shaded areas.
The light in the bathroom was dim. Ji Minghuan pressed the wall switch and turned on the amber bathroom lamp. He walked slowly to the sink, picked up the towel from the rack, and wiped his face in front of the mirror.
Then, while walking toward his room, he used his phone to reply to his best friend’s message.
【Gu Wenyu: I’m free. Where are we going?】
【Li Qingping: How about a movie? The new one just came out—Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time.
【Gu Wenyu: Oh oh, Eva? I’ve been wanting to watch it too. You booking the tickets or should I?】
【Li Qingping: Just head out now, I already got them for us.】
【Gu Wenyu: How much? I’ll transfer on WeChat.】
【Li Qingping: Bro, you think I’m hurting for that kind of money? But if you ditch me again, I’m seriously gonna be pissed. You’ve been ghosting like you’re dead these days. Every time I call, you play dead. Starting to wonder if you secretly got a girlfriend.】
Ding—his best friend sent the cinema’s location.
Ji Minghuan glanced at the address, then walked back to his room, grabbed a T-shirt and jeans from the closet, slipped them on, tugged at the sleeves, and headed out.
By the way, he was wearing a cartoon T-shirt featuring the animated mascot of the Reality-altering Esper “Silver Devourer.”
Unlike Blue Arc, a national idol, Silver Devourer had a mixed reputation in China due to his volatile temper and reckless comments. He often did things that left people speechless.
He usually appeared in a silver uniform with a silver mask on his head, and his Esper ability allowed him to gain different powers instantly by devouring various metals.
So, one of the Association’s partner brands had turned him into a cold-faced silver hamster cartoon, gnawing on a tiny metal chunk in its paws.
Who knows whether the real guy would laugh or cry seeing it.
Anyway, Ji Minghuan laughed. He only knew that Gu Wenyu was a hardcore anti-fan of Silver Devourer, which is why this shirt existed in his closet at all.
Ji Minghuan turned the doorknob, and just as he cracked the door open, he saw Gu Zhuo’an’s face. The tall man stood silently against the wall, hunched over, arms folded in front of his waist, staring at the floor deep in thought.
“Wenyu... when did Qiye say she’s going to Japan?” Gu Zhuo’an looked up and asked.
“I haven’t asked.”
“Make sure you do, and prep a few days ahead.”
“Mm.”
“Heading out to have fun?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t come home too late.”
“Got it.”
Gu Zhuo’an was quiet for a moment, then reminded him, “There’ve been a lot of Esper criminals out lately—like ‘Black Cocoon,’ ‘Framebreak,’ ‘Worm Man’... and ‘Ghost Bell’ too. Anyway, if you run into trouble out there, call me right away. I’ll come get you.”
Come on, Ghost Bell is standing right in front of me. By your logic, should I be calling you right now like: Boohoo, Dad I’m scared, the super-criminal Ghost Bell is blocking my door and won’t let me go out to play.
“Okay.” Ji Minghuan looked up from his phone screen and glanced at Gu Zhuo’an. “Anything else?”
“No. Go have fun.”
At 5:30 PM, Ji Minghuan arrived right on time at the cinema.
The clouds still hadn’t cleared, and the sky was gloomy. The pavement was soaking wet, and puddles reflected the neon lights and movie posters.
It was midsummer, and the air hovered between damp and muggy—very uncomfortable. Luckily, a piece of the clouds overhead suddenly collapsed, and warm afternoon sunlight poured through, easing the tension of passersby.
He scanned the QR code and retrieved two tickets from the Taopiaopiao machine. Ji Minghuan and Li Qingping each held a bucket of popcorn and lounged in the massage chair area while waiting for the screening.
Li Qingping still had his little braid today. His handsome face drew plenty of glances from passersby.
One of the cinema’s big screens was currently showing profiles of Espers recently active in Lijing. The screen displayed one photo after another, cycling through dangerous individuals like “Ghost Bell,” “Flying Ant,” “Framebreak,” “Black Cocoon,” and others. An AI female voice advised citizens to stay away if they encountered anyone dressed similarly.
When the image of “Black Cocoon” appeared—hanging upside down with waves of Binding Restraints swirling around him—Li Qingping smacked the armrest and pointed at the screen. “Holy sh*t, every time I see this outfit, I think it looks sick. What about you?”
“My sister says he looks like a giant flapping moth,” Ji Minghuan said without even looking up.
Li Qingping chuckled. “Nah man, he looks badass. I saw a clip some netizen uploaded—he was reading a book while twisting the heads off five crooks. My dad and I were both stunned. Even Blue Arc got completely psyched out by him.”
“Blue Arc was acting weird that day. With his strength, how’d he get toyed with by two weak-ass criminals?”
“Yeah, I noticed too... His moves in that livestream seemed way slower than usual.”
Then Li Qingping turned to Ji Minghuan. “Hey, don’t you think ‘Black Cocoon’s’ outfit looks familiar?”
“Does it?”
“What do you mean ‘does it’? It totally looks like the battle suit we designed together in middle school!”
“I forgot until you said that.”
“Man... fake bro. Didn’t we say that if either of us ever awakened Esper powers and became a Reality-altering Esper, we’d build our suits based on that design?”
“Oh... yeah, guess we did.” Ji Minghuan replied lazily. “Good thing we both tested out as normies in the end. Seriously though, why insist on diving into the profession with the highest death rate? Just get a normal job after graduation, and you can go home and inherit the family biz. We’ve both got bright futures.”
“I really wish I had the Esper gene.” Li Qingping sighed. “It’s not like people want to be normies if they had a choice.”
Watching him act all moody, Ji Minghuan couldn’t help thinking, Bro, don’t let it turn out you’re actually an Esper. If that happens, I swear I’ll open an alt account just to mess with you.
“But actually...” Li Qingping paused and looked away, “sometimes I think being a normal guy is kinda nice too. Just zoning out at school every day during boring classes, watching people on the track, hanging out with friends after break... it’s pretty good.”
“Where’s this coming from? Getting nostalgic about youth before it’s even gone? Or did your brain glitch and switch channels?”
“Coke or Sprite?” Li Qingping smiled, changing the subject.
“Coke.”
Hearing that, Li Qingping bought two drinks from the vending machine beside the massage chairs and handed one of the Cokes to Ji Minghuan.
“Thanks.”
Ji Minghuan looked down at his phone, said thanks, and reached out to take the Coke.
At that exact moment, a strip of pitch-black Binding Restraint slipped from his fingertip and lightly brushed against Li Qingping’s pinky finger, then quickly retracted between his fingers.
【Condition met: Physical contact with target. Passive Skill Activated—‘Binding Restraint Detection’.】