My Avatar Is Becoming the Final Boss-Chapter 69: Rules

Only now did Ji Minghuan finally understand a question that had bothered him for a long time.
Why did his Esper System arrange for Body No. 2 to join the White Crow Brigade at such a high risk of death—in the character creation stage, there was no other path available. It was as if the role of "Xia Pingzhou" was born solely to "join the Brigade."
And now, after learning that there were people within the Brigade who also had connections to the Salvation Society, Ji Minghuan was immediately relieved.
He thought to himself: “Team Member No. 10 of the Brigade, White Greedy Wolf, that card will definitely come in handy. If one day I can’t stay in the Brigade anymore, or if I manage to kill Jack the Ripper and get hunted down as a traitor by the others, I can use the intel on his son to work with him, make him my shield.”
Expressionless, Ji Minghuan swept his gaze over the five Brigade members in the ruins.
“Of course... the ideal outcome would still be to turn the Brigade into usable combat power. Twelve powerful individuals with different abilities could definitely play a major role—if they really value White Greedy Wolf, maybe they’d even help him rescue his son, and follow him to the Salvation Society’s base.”
Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan’s eyes paused on White Greedy Wolf’s face for a second and met his clouded left eye.
At this moment, Arlens patted Ji Minghuan’s shoulder with a cheerful grin:
“Don’t let his look fool you. White Greedy Wolf’s actually pretty interesting... Every day we hear all sorts of fun stories from the demon world out of his mouth. He said the demon boss in China is a Nian Beast, super powerful, but hiding deep in the mountains because of the Lake Hunters’ name. We used to hear about that Nian Beast every day... Apparently, he was once the Nian Beast’s subordinate, then fell in love with a human woman and ran off to the human world.”
Perfect... sounds like White Greedy Wolf also has some demon world connections. That’s worth using, Ji Minghuan thought. Wait, China’s strongest demon is a Nian Beast? Never heard of that before.
“Shut up...” White Greedy Wolf opened his eyes and stared at Arlens. “Slot machine boy, one more word and I’ll rip your mouth off.”
Fight, fight, fight...
Ji Minghuan kept a poker face, but was cheering them on in his heart.
“I was just telling the newbie nice things about you,” Arlens said. “Why so worked up?”
“Wanna fight?” White Greedy Wolf asked slowly, word by word.
“Wouldn’t say no.” Arlens still had a smile on his face, but a cold light flashed in his eyes.
“Fighting among members is forbidden,” Robert adjusted his robotic head helplessly. His voice still carried a strong metallic tone.
“That said, I support the occasional beating of Arlens. I’ll pretend I didn’t see it.”
The Ripper girl didn’t even lift her head. She sat atop an old piece of machinery, her pale calves swinging in the morning light under her school uniform.
Origami Ayase sat on the upper ruins, hands braced behind her, watching the squabble like a play. Beside her, a yellowed newspaper suddenly tore apart, and pages of printed text swirled mid-air into Japanese characters: “+1, doesn’t count as infighting if he’s not dead.”
Seeing the outcome settled, Arlens spread his hands in reluctant surrender.
He said, “You guys really have no heart... Only time you show team spirit is when bullying me.”
“What’s the newbie’s name?” Jack the Ripper asked, turning her thin cheek, her pitch-black eyes staring at Ji Minghuan.
“No. 12, Xia Pingzhou,” Ji Minghuan replied.
In the blink of an eye, Jack the Ripper’s figure flashed and appeared right in front of him.
Fast... this speed’s just a notch below my brother’s, Ji Minghuan thought, raising an eyebrow subtly.
The Ripper girl stared into his eyes and calmly said, “Standard rule, to join the team, hand over a heart first.” As she spoke, she twirled the red-bladed knife in her right hand.
“A heart... you can let someone else keep that?”
Just as he finished, a dark red arc flashed before his eyes, and then Jack the Ripper was already holding a “thump-thump” beating heart.
He touched his chest belatedly. He could still hear his heartbeat, but also felt something missing inside.
Jack the Ripper explained, “It’s my Tianqu ability. Your heart looks like it’s in my hand, but as long as I don’t destroy it, it’s essentially still in your body. It won’t affect your physical functions.”
Hearing this, Ji Minghuan slowly lowered his hand from his chest and met her gaze.
He asked, “When do I get my heart back?”
Jack the Ripper said, “Once we’re sure you’re not a mole, I’ll return it. Think of it as an ‘entry deposit.’” She paused. “Until then, I won’t do anything to your heart—unless we all vote and decide you are a mole. Then I’ll slice your heart in half.”
Ji Minghuan stared into her eyes expressionlessly and asked, “But if I haven’t betrayed anyone, and you just decide you don’t like me one day and crush my heart?”
Jack the Ripper didn’t answer.
Arlens shrugged and replied for her, “Then we’d kill her. Because that would break the most important rule—no killing among members.”
Ji Minghuan frowned. “But I’d already be dead. How would you even know you got revenge?”
“I’ll personally cremate her ashes and offer them to you,” Origami Ayase said coolly.
Ji Minghuan was silent for a moment. “Your rules are real casual.”
His face was blank, but he felt the loss keenly.
Even though this game body was expendable, he could always save up Split Points and create a new one—but Xia Pingzhou was a rare body. No guarantee he’d find another template this good next time.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry... When I first joined, I handed my heart over to Ripper-chan too.”
Arlens patted his shoulder and casually added, “Oh, right... once we had a mole in the team. But everyone kinda liked the guy. You know what happened?”
“What?” Ji Minghuan asked indifferently.
“He died,” White Greedy Wolf said. “Clean death. He knew he couldn’t win against us.”
“I turned his ribs into antennae,” Robert said with his crackling electro-magnetic voice, pointing at the antenna on his robot head.
“My earrings are made from his skull,” Origami Ayase brushed her black hair aside to reveal pale bone earrings.
“I kept his heart. Still haven’t crushed it,” Jack the Ripper added. As if performing a magic trick, a heart suddenly appeared in her palm.
She paused and said calmly, “What could we do? Everyone was so upset when we found out he was a mole, so we let him stay with us this way.”
“And you?” Ji Minghuan turned to Arlens, mocking, “Didn’t keep his pelvis or something?”
“Pelvis is a bit much,” Arlens smiled with his hands in his pockets. “I’m not into dead people, especially not traitors. I stayed in the Brigade because of a promise with the Captain.”
“What promise?” Ji Minghuan asked.
Jack the Ripper explained, “He calls himself the ‘Number One Gambler in Britain,’ but he gambled with the Captain and lost. We originally didn’t want to let him meet the Captain, but he offered a deal—if he lost, he’d kill himself on the spot.”
She paused. “We let him meet the Captain out of curiosity. In the end, he lost.”
“Then why’s he still alive?” Ji Minghuan glanced at Arlens with a smirk.
Origami Ayase idly played with a paper crane as she said blandly, “The Captain gave him a chance to live—by joining us and becoming a member of the White Crow Brigade.”
White Greedy Wolf scratched the scar on his eye and sneered, “What a clown... just thinking about his cocky tone at the start cracks me up.”
“No need to go into such detail, okay?” Arlens clearly felt a little embarrassed, shrugging again.
“So... all this talk was just to remind me not to be a mole?”
Ji Minghuan said calmly, glancing sideways at the two hearts in Jack the Ripper’s palm—his own still thumping with vitality, the other heart motionless, a strange iron-gray like a preserved organ.
“It’s fine if you betray us,” Origami Ayase said without looking up, playing with her phone, face expressionless. “But if you lie to our hearts... we’ll be really mad.”
That kimono girl’s cool, slightly childlike voice said something so naive, it was like pouting—but sent a chill down the spine.
Ji Minghuan was silent for a while. “First, I don’t plan on it. Second, my heart’s still with you, so I couldn’t be a mole even if I wanted to.”
Jack the Ripper temporarily stashed his heart away—who knew where it went. In any case, it vanished.
He knew full well there was a massive power gap between himself and the other members, so top priority now was to earn their trust and get the No. 2 body’s heart back from Jack the Ripper.
So... I absolutely can’t screw up during the Auction Operation. If I get marked as a mole, I’ll never escape. Thinking this, Ji Minghuan looked up and asked the others expressionlessly:
“The Captain’s not in Tokyo yet? I’m really curious... what kind of person is he?”
Origami Ayase swung her pale legs and answered coolly, “In a few days.”
“The Captain’s always like that—hard to track, hard to contact,” Arlens scratched his forehead. “I wanted to take him to Tokyo’s underground casinos to play.”
“Well, since I can’t meet the Captain, and my heart’s been handed in, I’ll head back for now. Call me if something comes up.”
With that, Ji Minghuan turned and walked out of the abandoned building under the team’s watchful eyes.
Before long, he took the train back to the hotel, lay on the bed, closed his eyes, and switched his perspective to Body No. 1—Gu Wenyu.
“Alright then... next step is figuring out how to find Su Zimai and establish a working relationship with them early.”
Thinking this, Ji Minghuan produced a bit of Binding Restraint from his fingertip. “Didn’t bring a mask or coat—guess I’ll go light and use Binding Restraint to wrap myself up.”
He tugged at the corner of his mouth. “With that dumb sister of mine, no way she’d recognize me anyway.”