My Avatar Is Becoming the Final Boss-Chapter 71: Silence

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Along the secluded paths of Shiba Park, tall ginkgo trees lined both sides, their branches and leaves forming dense green canopies.
Not far away, the lights of Tokyo Tower slanted through the gaps between the ginkgo leaves, scattering mottled shadows across the stone-paved road. As an evening breeze blew past, thousands of leaves rustled gently.
However… in this pleasant and serene setting, a massive, pitch-black cocoon suddenly appeared, hanging upside-down from a branch of a ginkgo tree.
Moonlight poured through the leaves, flowing across the cocoon’s surface like mercury, casting a cold and eerie sheen.
It was so completely out of place, like an alien egg from the Alien movie had wandered onto the set of a breezy art film, rudely tearing everyone from their dreamlike state back into harsh reality.
Anyone who saw such a scene would surely feel a chill run down their spine.
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing the Captain suddenly stop walking, Su Zimai halted as well. She looked up from her phone and froze in place.
“What is that…” Her pupils narrowed as she murmured, eyes fixed on the black object.
Ke Qirui looked up, gazing at the giant cocoon hanging from the tree branch, and slowly uttered its name:
“Black Cocoon.”
“Oh… I think I heard someone call my name.” A faint voice came from inside the giant cocoon, and then the Binding Restraints, which had been expanding outward, suddenly contracted inward, clinging tightly to a humanoid figure and rotating around him like flowing water.
Black Cocoon hung motionless from the tree. A moment later, he raised his right hand—wrapped in Binding Restraint—holding a Japanese original copy of I Am a Cat.
Falling ginkgo leaves brushed against the sunglasses on his face.
“He… doesn’t really look like the one from TV,” Su Zimai squinted as she observed him.
“Yeah, not quite. Looks like his mask and coat are gone,” Ke Qirui rested her hand under her chin, watching him with interest from beneath her hat brim.
If the Black Cocoon they’d seen on TV still counted as a weirdo in eccentric attire—barely within the human category—then the one hanging in front of them now was completely like a black mummy. His entire body was wrapped in black Binding Restraints. Not even his eyes were exposed, yet he still wore sunglasses, as if to point out where his eyes should be.
“Miss, this is called ‘when in Rome,’” Black Cocoon adjusted the sunglasses on his nose bridge as he flipped open the book and said, “I’m cosplaying as a native Japanese ninja, so I’ve temporarily ditched the coat and mask. Please refer to me now as… ‘Ninja Mode Black Cocoon.’”
“That’s so lame.” Su Zimai was chilled by the joke.
“For all that chatter… you’re still using the same voice changer,” Ke Qirui remarked teasingly.
Behind the mask, Ji Minghuan curled his lip inwardly, thinking:
That’s because I removed the voice changer from the mask and packed it in my backpack to bring on the plane. It’s the only thing I could bring on board—everything else would get caught at security.
He couldn’t exactly meet his sister in disguise and still use his real voice. With how familiar Su Zimai was with his tone, just softening it a little wouldn’t be enough to fool her.
Ke Qirui continued, “You really have the leisure, huh. Every time you show up on camera, you’re holding a book.”
“If I remember right… I once said I wanted my image to appear in elementary school textbooks,”
Black Cocoon said absentmindedly as he flipped a page. “So reading books clearly helps my public image. One day, people who imitate me will carry books too, even if it’s just for show. And when the literary types eventually write me into the textbooks, if they’ve got nothing else to praise, they can at least say I helped the younger generation form the habit of reading.”
“I see.” Ke Qirui smiled slightly, pulling a smoking pipe from her trench coat pocket.
She looked up and asked in a slow, measured tone, “So… Mister ‘Black Cocoon,’ who’s become quite the name lately—what business do you have with us two?”
Black Cocoon raised a finger wrapped in Binding Restraint and slowly said, “My friend said… someone among you seems interested in working with me?”
Hearing this, Ke Qirui bit down on the pipe and recalled last night’s conversation at the theater. She immediately spoke a name:
“Xia Pingzhou?”
“Correct…” Black Cocoon said playfully, “But we usually call him ‘The Player.’ Using his full name like that is a bit unromantic, wouldn’t you say, Miss Ke Qirui?”
“Your so-called ‘we’... who exactly is that?” Ke Qirui caught the word and followed up.
Black Cocoon adjusted his slipping sunglasses with a Binding Restraint and said in a ghostly tone, “Who knows? ‘We’ could mean thousands of people, or just a lonely little boy. Or… maybe we never existed at all. Just a hallucination born from a madman’s repression and insanity.”
“Ugh, so long-winded,” Su Zimai frowned and asked coldly, “What exactly do you want?”
She was clearly annoyed by Black Cocoon’s cryptic tone.
For some reason, she seemed to really dislike wordy people—especially Blue Arc and Black Cocoon. One’s a hero, the other a nobody, but both hit her nerves perfectly.
“Ask her,” Black Cocoon tilted his head, “Though... I wouldn’t mind working with you either, Miss Su Zimai.”
With that, he raised his sunglasses slightly, peeking below the lenses toward Su Zimai standing under the tree—though his eyes were hidden, he used Binding Restraint Sensory instead.
“How do you know my name?” Su Zimai’s voice dropped, her tone now identical to how Blue Arc sounded when his real name was exposed.
Black Cocoon shrugged, “Because I see through every face behind the mask.”
He shook his head and closed the book, “Grabbed the wrong one. Should’ve picked a bilingual edition. Looks like I overestimated my Japanese.”
Ke Qirui fell silent for a moment, then suddenly turned to Su Zimai and said, “Mai Mai, I’ve changed my mind.”
“About what?” Su Zimai met the captain’s gaze.
“Your brother isn’t Blue Arc. He’s… Black Cocoon.”
Su Zimai froze, then squinted and dragged out her words: “Huh—? You’re saying this big flapping moth is—”
Before she could finish, Ke Qirui looked up and addressed Black Cocoon directly, “You’re… Gu Wenyu, aren’t you?”
Behind the mask, Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow and thought: This woman’s instincts are scarily sharp. I never should’ve tested her with Binding Restraint that day—she definitely sensed something. Thankfully… I have a backup plan.
Black Cocoon went silent for two seconds, turned his head, and whistled, “Sorry, I don’t know who that is… But I think the little girl next to you might know.”
“Is that so?” Ke Qirui let out a dry laugh. “Then why do you two give me the same vibe? My intuition’s rarely wrong.”
She paused, her tone sharpening, “Covering your ears while stealing a bell isn’t something a smart person would do. Gu Wenyu, take off your mask, and we’ll talk about working together.”
Su Zimai stood by, stunned, her mouth open but speechless, mind seemingly short-circuited. A few moments later, she came to and raised her right hand, pointing her index finger at Black Cocoon hanging from the tree. She turned to Ke Qirui and asked:
“Him?”
Ke Qirui nodded.
“My brother?”
Ke Qirui nodded again.
Silence was the Cam River tonight.