My Avatar is Becoming the Ultimate BOSS-Chapter 144 - 115: The Eve of the Storm, the Final Meeting (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 144: Chapter 115: The Eve of the Storm, the Final Meeting (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

It was 6 AM on July 19th, Japan time, when Unit Two, Xia Pingzhou, woke up from the mattress laid on the floor, groggily rising and rubbing his forehead.

Looking up, he saw Oda Takashige standing at the loft’s staircase.

The two-meter-tall ninja butler looked at Xia Pingzhou and Ayase Origami sleeping in the loft and spoke:

"Miss, Mr. Xia Pingzhou, I just received news: the brigade leader has arrived in Tokyo."

The brigade leader has arrived?

Ji Minghuan felt a slight stir in his heart, not expecting to hear good news early in the morning.

He thought with interest, "I really want to see what kind of monster this leader of the Monster Brigade is. If he has ties with the Salvation Society, that would be even better."

Upon hearing Oda Takashige’s voice, Ayase Origami slowly awoke from the bed by the window sill. She lowered her eyes to look at the thin quilt covering her and then at the "haiku quilt" hanging on the rack.

Then, reaching out with her slender hand, she transformed the quilt of paper pages back into separate pages, reassembled them into a book, and held it in her hand.

Clutching the haiku collection, she sat up from the bed, silently for a moment, then looked at Oda Takashige with empty eyes:

"When is the assembly?"

Oda Takashige adjusted his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose and slowly said, "The evening of the 20th at 8 o’clock, the entire brigade is to assemble promptly atop an abandoned building in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The specific address has been sent to the hacker. This is a direct order from the leader."

He paused, looking down at Xia Pingzhou: "The operation is about to start, it’s best not to go out in the next day."

Ji Minghuan nodded: "No problem, my Celestial Driver has already been upgraded to the second stage anyway."

Just then, he received a message from the hacker.

[Hacker: Number 12, this is tomorrow’s assembly location, try not to die too soon.]

"I also hope I don’t die too soon..."

Ji Minghuan mocked himself inwardly before syncing his consciousness with Unit One.

.....

.....

At the same time, Unit One, Gu Wenyu, woke from his bed at the Roppongi Grand Hotel.

As always, he used the restraint belt to fetch a cup, toothbrush, and towel from the bathroom, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and then followed the remembered path to squat vigilantly in front of the Qingbenhua Hotel.

By 8 AM, Su Zimai and Ke Qirui finally left the hotel.

He followed behind Su Zimai and Ke Qirui. This time, the two headed not to the seaside villa but to a gigantic skyscraper, one of the Yugong Clan’s assets.

They entered the building, taking a glass-walled elevator.

Black Cocoon anticipated they would board this elevator, so it maintained the restraint belt’s transparency, staying atop the glass wall and ascending with the elevator, quietly gazing at the two inside the elevator car.

Ke Qirui pressed the elevator’s control panel, and shortly after, the elevator arrived at the 15th floor.

They entered one of the meeting rooms and closed the door behind them. Black Cocoon hung upside-down beneath the ceiling, pressed the transparent restraint belt against the wall, and the restraint sensing penetrated like a torrential rain to observe the situation inside.

Japan’s Sakurabu, Haibara Ritsu, Mirror Guardian, and Fuyuyama Nobunaga were already waiting in the meeting room;

Once Ke Qirui and Su Zimai arrived, Xu Sanyan and Lin Zhengquan of the Ghost Train Corps soon followed;

Blue Arc was the last to arrive, remaining silent throughout, seemingly preoccupied.

Then Ke Qirui relayed the intelligence received from Black Cocoon but did not reveal who her collaborator was.

She only stated that the credibility of this intelligence is high; otherwise, it isn’t possible to explain how the White Crow Travel Brigade could retreat unscathed from so many blatant actions.

"This is the intelligence I received yesterday. There is likely a power user capable of ’opening a door’ among the brigade members. If he mingles among us, he could open a door at the auction venue, allowing brigade members to enter in succession."

Upon reaching this point, Ke Qirui looked up at Sakurabu, "How can you ensure that members of the White Crow Travel Brigade won’t infiltrate the guests and bodyguards?"

Sakurabu answered decisively, "You can rest assured about this. All the bodyguards present at this auction participated as guards in the previous Tokyo auction. We can verify each member’s history and credentials in the real-world database, ruling out any possibility of forgery."

She paused momentarily, "Even if brigade members have advanced hacking skills to tamper with or fake personnel records in our network database, it would be useless because we rely on physical personnel archives stored in the real world."

Ke Qirui asked without hesitation, "What if brigade members disguise themselves as one of them?"

Sakurabu replied, "We will indeed prevent such scenarios: On the day of the auction, we will rigorously verify whether every individual entering the venue is wearing a face mask, whether their appearance and voice match those in the archives; if any discrepancies are detected, they will be stopped at the entrance immediately, preventing any adversary from infiltrating the auction venue."

Haibara Ritsu adjusted his round-framed glasses and added, "At that time, Nobunaga and I will lead a team of bodyguards to personally verify the face mask authenticity."

Ke Qirui thought for a moment before asking, "You mentioned that this time, all bodyguard team members come from the last auction’s guards. What if brigade members participated among them previously?"

"No," Sakurabu shook her head, "The previous Tokyo auction proceeded normally throughout without any incidents. If brigade members were among the last auction’s bodyguards, why didn’t they act back then? It doesn’t align with this group of robbers’ modus operandi."

She paused, "Based on this, I believe our current personnel are trustworthy."

Ke Qirui nodded, "Has the final location for the auction been decided?"

"The underworld has made a decision. They will select one of the three Yugong Clan’s towers for the auction venue, with the specific location to be announced on the 20th. Mirror Guardian will establish the ’Mirror Auction’ entrance on the same floor of the selected tower, with the actual auction taking place in the Mirror World."

Upon reaching this point, Sakurabu took a deep breath, "This concludes the meeting content; the rest... is to prepare for battle."

Ke Qirui took out a cigarette holder from her pocket, held it in her mouth, and said nonchalantly:

"Let’s hope everything goes smoothly."

Haibara Ritsu nodded, slightly squinting her eyes, her gaze sharp behind her round-frame glasses: "Let’s hope this time... we can take down all those arrogant villains who have been rampant for too long."

"If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now."

After Blue Arc finished speaking, he left the conference room without looking back, leaving only a cold silhouette.

Everyone watched Blue Arc’s retreating figure, no one knowing what tantrum this era’s superstar was throwing.

A moment later, Sakurabu broke the silence: "Then we’ll take our leave first, we still need to do one last check on the bodyguard team members. We will inspect the nearly fifty elite superpower users one by one, observe the display of their powers, and ensure no one slips through the cracks."

After saying this, Sakurabu led the other three out of the conference room.

"Xu Sanyan, try to die a little slower." Lin Zhengquan patted Xu Sanyan on the shoulder.

"Who do you think you’re talking to?" Xu Sanyan sneered, "You should be thinking about what to do about our little sister." Saying this, he turned his head to look at Su Zimai beside him.

"Who are you calling little sister?"

Su Zimai shot a cold glance at the two big men, and they immediately shut their mouths.

Ke Qirui thought for a moment, then suddenly said: "I don’t know why, but I have an odd feeling somewhere."

"What’s odd?" Su Zimai asked.

"An indescribable sense of discord." Ke Qirui shook her head.

She thought for a bit, and while walking out of the conference room, she sent a message to Black Cocoon using her phone.

The only one who might know the White Crow Travel Brigade’s movements would be Black Cocoon, who has a cooperative relationship with Xia Pingzhou.

[Ke Qirui: Let’s meet up now.]

[Black Cocoon: Of course, you pick the place. By the way, it’s possible our messages are being spied on by brigade members. You know, it’s best to meet at a place only we know.]

[Ke Qirui: Then, when you messaged me about members’ abilities last night, wouldn’t that have fallen into their ears too?]

[Black Cocoon: Naturally... although I owe you an apology for that, from my personal perspective, I wanted to attract the leader’s attention.]

[Black Cocoon: For me, he would be a good collaborator. If he notices me through this opportunity, that would definitely be a good thing.]

Ke Qirui stared at the message for a long time, then typed and sent a reply.

[Ke Qirui: The place of our first meeting.]

Then she looked up at the three beside her: "You guys go ahead, I need to find someone."

.....

.....

Soon after, Shiba Park, Harbor District, Tokyo.

Ke Qirui stopped walking, gazing up at a huge, pitch-black cocoon hanging under the ginkgo tree, and asked, "How many brigade members’ abilities do you know in total?"

"Eleven." Black Cocoon emerged from the cocoon, holding a copy of Infernal Affairs, "So, what business do you have with me?"

"Have any brigade members infiltrated our bodyguard team?" Ke Qirui got straight to the point.

"To my knowledge, there are no brigade members mixed in with you." Black Cocoon said, "Except for the leader, of course."

Ke Qirui raised an eyebrow, looking at Black Cocoon from under the brim of her hat: "So... the only one who could’ve infiltrated us is the leader you don’t know about?"

"Yes."

Ke Qirui thought for a moment and asked: "According to our intel, the leader of the White Crow Travel Brigade is a superpower user whose ability is related to ’controlling crows’. Is this a blinding technique?"

Black Cocoon shook his head: "No problem, although I know little about the leader, the limited information I have proves this to be true."

Yesterday, while chatting with Ayase Origami, he mentioned the leader’s power, and though Ayase Origami didn’t elaborate, she mentioned it was related to ’crows’.

"That’s good then."

Ke Qirui recalled the few in the core bodyguard team, among whom there were superpower users only Blue Arc and Sakurabu. It’s impossible for the leader of the White Crow Travel Brigade to have disguised themselves as either Blue Arc or Sakurabu to infiltrate them; that would be too absurd.

"I wish you success in your mission."

Black Cocoon saluted her while hanging upside down from the tree.

Ke Qirui was silent for a moment, then said: "Inform Xia Pingzhou, if he appears at the auction with brigade members, then... no one will spare him."

She paused: "The bodyguard team’s goal is the complete destruction of the White Crow Travel Brigade, and a genuine monster lurks among the auction guests. If this monster takes action, I believe eliminating half the brigade wouldn’t be a problem. Currently, only Su Zimai and I know that Xia Pingzhou is undercover, so... with the action yet to start, now might be his last chance to leave the White Crow Travel Brigade."

Black Cocoon looked directly into Ke Qirui’s eyes, slowly saying word by word:

"I will inform him. Until we meet again, Miss Ke."

As the words fell, his figure instantly vanished in Shiba Park. Ke Qirui looked up, as ginkgo leaves fluttered down and the cicadas’ cries were deafening.

This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om