My Avatar Is Becoming the Final Boss-Chapter 72: Phone Call

"Hoh... Why don't you tell me why you mistook me for this 'Gu Wenyu' fellow?"
Black Cocoon tucked the book into the inside of his Binding Restraint, speaking with great interest, his tone betraying no trace of panic.
Ke Qirui said, "Besides the other members of the Train Brigade, very few people know both me and Mai Mai. Gu Wenyu is one of them, and he just so happens to be in Tokyo too." She paused. "It's a simple reason, but I think it's enough."
"He... him, my brother? Him, my brother?!" Su Zimai muttered, her finger still frozen midair, pointing at Black Cocoon hanging upside down beneath the ginkgo tree.
If last time, when the Captain analyzed that her brother was Blue Arc, she felt a tangle of indescribable emotions, then this time, all she felt was shock and absurdity.
It was so f***ing ridiculous that Su Zimai even wondered if the Captain had gone nuts overnight—seeing anyone and calling them Gu Wenyu!
Besides, this thing wasn’t even human—it was a giant flapping moth! They weren't even the same species! At least have some respect for biological boundaries! No way Blue Arc and Black Cocoon could produce a Gu Wenyu! If that were the case, then I must be the child of a blue rat and a black moth!
At this moment, Su Zimai’s mind was a total mess. With the person right in front of her, she decided to take a direct approach and cut through the chaos.
"You. Take off the mask." She lowered her face, speaking to Black Cocoon word by word.
"I’m wearing a mask? How come I didn’t know that?"
Black Cocoon touched his face, which was only covered by a layer of Binding Restraint.
"Then... take off those stupid straps."
"Isn’t it a bit rude to make such demands of someone you just met? I suggest you treat Blue Arc the same way—walk up and say, ‘Mr. Blue Arc, Mr. Blue Arc, could you take off your mask so I can admire your handsome face?’"
With that, Black Cocoon tilted his head, not bothering to respond further.
Su Zimai ground her teeth in frustration.
One moment she was deep in thought, and the next her phone rang. Her ringtone was the theme song of Happy Star Cat, cheerfully echoing down the quiet path of Shiba Park: “I am a cat, Happy Star Cat~”
"Mm, classy ringtone. Really suits you—one of those girls who’s all bark and no bite, cold outside but soft inside." Black Cocoon mocked casually, pulling out a phone from inside his Binding Restraint and idly playing the built-in Minesweeper game.
Hearing the ringtone, Su Zimai belatedly looked at her phone screen and was stunned for a moment.
Displayed clearly on the caller ID were the three white characters: “Gu Wenyu”—that’s right, no one else. It was her second brother, the one who was both a rat and a moth.
She stared blankly at the Black Cocoon reading upside-down in the tree, then looked back at the name on the screen. A deep breath escaped her lips, and the overheated short-circuited brain cooled like a bucket of ice water had been poured over it.
"Captain, my brother’s calling me." With that, Su Zimai shot a sharp glare at Ke Qirui.
"Your brother?" Ke Qirui raised an eyebrow.
"That’s right. My brother’s calling." Su Zimai turned the phone screen to Ke Qirui.
Her tone was noticeably colder, none of the earlier panic remained. She sounded like a stern female judge, rendering her final verdict in her heart: Captain, you're full of it again. No way my brother is this giant flapping moth!
Black Cocoon didn’t even lift his head as he mumbled, "Miss, you can go ahead and take your call. I don’t mind waiting here. And just so you know, I’m a very respectful man, always respectful to women; I’m also a feminist—I read Misogyny by Chizuko Ueno every morning when I wake up; and finally, I am, without a doubt, a self-aware woman—I’m one of you."
"If I believed you were a woman, I’d rather disembowel myself right here." Su Zimai said it with the tragic courage of a samurai.
Black Cocoon shook his head, raising a black finger: "While my biological sex is male, how dare you assume my psychological gender? What if beneath this mask, I’m actually a delicate schoolgirl in a sailor uniform?"
"Should I hang up?" Su Zimai asked Ke Qirui. Her ringtone was still going strong. But clearly, now wasn’t a great time to take a call from her second brother.
Ke Qirui rested a hand under her chin, thinking for a moment: "No, you can go into the Movie Demon’s curtain to answer it. No one will interrupt, and no one can eavesdrop."
Saying that, she pulled an old-fashioned monocle from her trench coat pocket and slowly placed it over her left eye.
A glint flickered across the lens, and then a crack opened up behind her, gradually expanding into a “movie screen.”
Black Cocoon silently watched. He remembered Ke Qirui’s retro monocle contract bound two demons—“Train Demon” and “Movie Demon.” This spectacle clearly belonged to the latter.
The inside of the curtain showed an empty long street in black and white, like the set of a silent film.
"You, big flapping moth, don’t run off. I’ve still got things to ask you." Su Zimai raised her head and commanded the Black Cocoon hanging from the tree.
"Yes, ma’am." Black Cocoon replied without looking up.
Su Zimai glanced at him, then stepped into the movie curtain. Her body immediately lost all color, becoming black and white—like a 2D character.
Inside this silent-film street, she answered the phone, holding it to her ear, and began chatting with Gu Wenyu on the other end.
Since the Movie Demon created a "silent film" scene, no one outside the curtain could hear any sound from within—ensuring Black Cocoon couldn’t eavesdrop, and no outside noise could reach inside.
Ke Qirui stood quietly, watching the scene with her peripheral vision.
A moment later, Su Zimai emerged from the movie curtain, regaining her three-dimensional form.
She said, "My brother said he can meet us tomorrow afternoon. He just arrived in Tokyo today and is too tired to go out."
Her tone was indifferent. She even glanced at Ke Qirui, clearly still annoyed.
Ke Qirui thought for a moment and asked, "You’re sure it was your brother’s voice?"
Su Zimai said each word clearly: "Of course I’m sure."
"Didn’t notice anything strange?"
"Nope. You can fake a voice, but his annoying tone? I’d recognize that anywhere."
Ke Qirui stayed silent. During Su Zimai’s call with Gu Wenyu, she had her eyes glued to Black Cocoon the entire time—he couldn’t possibly have called her under her nose and chatted for minutes.
She curled her lips and said, "Looks like I misjudged Mr. Black Cocoon."
Su Zimai glanced sideways at Black Cocoon. A heavy weight lifted from her heart as she muttered in relief:
"I knew my brother couldn’t be this giant flapping moth... otherwise I’d jump off a building right now. Even if he were Blue Arc, that’d be better than this giant moth."
"Sigh... then go ahead and jump already. How come I don’t even measure up to Big Brother now?" Ji Minghuan said sourly to himself.
He looked up from his phone screen, gazing upside-down at Ke Qirui, savoring the confusion on her face.
And the reason he’d been able to pull this off... went back to the series of preparations he made earlier that day.