My avatar is becoming the final boss

Chapter 42 Secret
"So... what's going on now? Since Dad and Brother are coming to Tokyo, aren't they just going to happen upon our group robbing the auction and then get involved?"

Seeing Gu Qiye's back as he left, Ji Minghuan pinched his chin and thought in his heart.

He thought, "I'm really worried that my second character will be killed instantly by the eldest brother. He's not going to compensate me with split points so I can create a new character." Sighing, he dismissed the thought, "Let's consider the welfare home first. Finding clues to the laboratory is more important."

He walked out of the room, closed the door behind him, and then stepped onto the second-floor terrace. He approached the railing and looked at the welfare home in the distance.

Ji Minghuan leaned on the railing and stared at the library in the sun for a while.

As the morning breeze blew, carrying with it the heat, he recalled the past.

At the age of four, Ji Minghuan was abandoned by his parents and sent to this orphanage. Over the years, he knew every building and every corner of the orphanage like the back of his hand, especially the library within his sight.

He had loved hanging out in this library since he was little, reading everything from astronomy and geography to humanities and history, and even philosophical works like Nietzsche and Camus. He even read a fair amount on psychology and religion. Of course, most of them were just filler books. He didn't expect this filler library to have high-quality books; he just read what he could.

To talk about how much Ji Minghuan likes this library, there is one more thing to mention.

The rules of this orphanage are very special. One or two special teachers are assigned to teach the children. They use tests to distinguish the intelligence level of each child, and those who perform well will be given the right to go to school.
Children who are judged to be intellectually deficient are kept in the institution and symbolically receive basic education that is at the level of intelligence tests.

Perhaps because he spent all day in the library, Ji Minghuan performed very well among the other children. He got full marks in every subject, far exceeding the standards required to be sent to school. However, he resisted this and was unwilling to go to school outside the orphanage.

The teachers and the dean of the academy tried to persuade him many times, but he refused to give in. Later he even resorted to self-harm.

After he repeatedly resisted, the dean snorted coldly and said, "You might as well just stay here and be a useless person for the rest of your life." Ji Minghuan just tilted his head and continued reading his miscellaneous books, not taking his words seriously.

Only Kong Youling knew why Ji Minghuan was reluctant to go to school, because he liked this library very much.

Whenever he was lonely or sad, he liked to stay in this quiet library, sitting alone in a corner and reading with mountains and seas of books behind him. This made him feel at ease more than anything else.

While other children were playing on the lawn, he was leaning against the bookshelf reading a book;

While other children were taking naps in the dormitory, he was leaning against the bookshelf reading a book alone.

Later, a computer room was added to the library, and Ji Minghuan's love for this place reached a new level. Every day, he would either be immersed in video games or books. He didn't even bother to attend any of the courses in the dean's department. After all, they were just perfunctory things, their purpose was to show off to outsiders and maintain the dean's image of high prestige.

Kong Youling often comes to accompany him.

The sun was setting in the west, its last rays filtering through the skylight into the library. The two children sat against the last row of bookshelves, her drawing beside them, his head bowed, reading. Sometimes, they would remain silent for long, long stretches. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, and the library was hushed. They seemed to share the world through pictures and books.

But it happened that it was in this beloved library that Ji Minghuan found the most unfamiliar corner in the entire orphanage:
——That is the basement that is always closed.

The iron door to the basement was locked with multiple locks. Once, Ji Minghuan walked down the steps and tried to push the door in the dark. The dean, who was inside directing the cleaning staff, suddenly changed his expression, trotted down, berated him, and sentenced him to three days of solitary confinement in the library's attic.

When talking about this incident later, the dean claimed that it was an underground space built for refuge during the war. It had not been opened for a long time and no one knew how dirty it was inside. That was why they were not allowed to go in to avoid contracting any respiratory diseases.

Ji Minghuan suddenly raised his eyebrows and thought to himself: "Is there a possibility... that the laboratory is behind the iron gate? And my real body has been locked up in the basement of the welfare home from the beginning, and has not been moved away by anyone." At this moment, something strange happened in the distant sky. He suddenly raised his head and saw a huge red exclamation mark standing in the sky.

"Card incident?"

Following the exclamation point, Ji Minghuan lowered his gaze and saw the library of the welfare home in the city. This meant that there seemed to be a special "game event" waiting for him to explore in the library of the welfare home.

Ji Minghuan was already curious about what was hidden behind the iron door, not to mention that there was an "event card" icon on it at this moment.

"Since it's already like this... there's no reason not to go. Let's first see what's hidden in that basement."

Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan walked out of the rooftop and quickly returned to the room. He used the restraint belt to pull out the swallowtail windbreaker from the bottom of the wardrobe, put on the mask, raised his hand and pressed the button on the side of his ear to fix the mask, and turned on the voice changer.

The restraints spread from his body like a tide, gradually wrapping his entire body.

When Ji Minghuan used the "restraint belt color change" to become invisible, he had to cover his eyes as well. Otherwise, to others, it would still appear that he had a pair of eyes floating in the air, just like a ninja in a nightgown, and he could not achieve true and perfect invisibility.

Because the "restraint belt sense" can completely replace the vision of his two eyes, and can even be considered an optimization, there will be no problem even if his eyes are covered.

So when they were on the road, although others couldn't see it, Ji Minghuan could basically be said to be in a completely "mummy" form, which was extremely weird.

He used the restraints to open the floor-to-ceiling window and jumped up from the bottom plate of the air conditioner outdoor unit. His figure blended into the bright sunshine, and he shuttled between the tall buildings like the shadow of the sun.

In a short while, Ji Minghuan crossed half of the city and climbed over the fence of the welfare home.

He stood quietly on the fence, and what he saw was still a group of old, low buildings. Vines climbed up the yellowed old walls and spread to the quaint library.

The library is locked in the morning and no children come in.

Ji Minghuan channeled gravity toward the restraints, dragging a black rain with him as he leaped onto the eaves of the library's attic. He steadied himself, approached the attic's skylight, and descended silently.

The old floor made a creaking sound. When he turned his head, he was stunned for a moment and saw a girl sleeping in the attic. She must have gotten into some trouble and was punished by the dean to be locked up in the attic for a night, just like Ji Minghuan before.

Hearing the noise, the girl opened her eyes, looked around but saw nothing but a pile of books. So she closed her eyes again, turned over and fell into a deep sleep.

Ji Minghuan looked down at her, casually covered her with a blanket using a restraint belt, then turned and walked towards the attic exit.

At this moment, a prompt panel popped up in front of him.

[Card event No. 1 in Lijing City, China has been triggered - explore the "basement" of the welfare home library.]

(End of this chapter)