Role Playing the Dark Horse Character

Chapter 82: What Must Come Will Come (Second Update)

Amid An Heyu’s rollercoaster of emotions, he asked, “...Reason?”

“I don’t need a disguise, but you do,” Li Li said. “Miss Red Crane.”

If her identity were exposed, it would at most trigger a city-wide manhunt hellscape.

But if An Heyu’s identity were revealed, it wouldn’t just be a hellscape—it’d drag Yiming into one too.

An Heyu sighed, pulling his cloak tighter.

Perhaps because Li Li herself had cross-dressed for a while, she’d led by example, making An Heyu completely forget to argue that a mask would suffice.

He didn’t actually need to wear a skirt.

On the road, Li Li casually brought up a topic with An Heyu.

“Do you know Dan?” she asked.

In Ranmu City, the SS-rank ability user Lin Ran was a formidable obstacle, but at night, she truly couldn’t interfere with their actions.

This made many things much easier.

Excluding Lin Ran, the Lin clan had three S-rank ability users and one S-rank ability user affiliate.

That non-Lin clan ability user was Dan.

He worked for Eternal Night, so he couldn’t be Lin Ran’s person.

That left only one possibility: he was Lin Ruye’s.

Recalling her last encounter with Dan, Li Li could roughly guess what deal Dan had struck with Lin Ruye.

District 13 was disconnected from the rest of Ranmu City, likely a deliberate outcome allowed by the Lin clan.

Lin Ruye had traded District 13’s autonomy to Dan, in exchange for Dan tying up loose ends for his Eternal Night.

“I know,” An Heyu thought for a moment and said. “I remember, before Huyu was born, he approached Father, wanting to use the An clan’s necromantic abilities to revive someone.”

“Hm,” Li Li made a nasal sound, signaling him to continue.

"But this is impossible," An Heyu explained, "So far, all the abilities we've discovered cannot bring the dead back to life, including our necromantic abilities."

"Once a person dies, the energy of their soul begins to dissipate. Even if we try to gather the energy immediately, we cannot obtain a complete soul. Once a living thing becomes a non-living object, its life energy dissipates and cannot be restored to a living thing."

This was a fact he was absolutely certain of: "This is an irreversible process, and resurrection is even more unattainable."

"Even SS-rank, or SSS-rank can't do it?" Li Li asked, seemingly offhand.

An Heyu thought for a moment and said, "SS-rank definitely can't do it, but as for SSS-rank, those legendary ability users, I can't be certain."

But soon, he added, "By common sense, it shouldn't be possible."

"I see," Li Li pondered for a while.

Soon, they returned to the stronghold in District 3.

The ability users, previously scattered among various factions, indulging their desires unrestrained in the Eternal Night and reveling in the city, had become docile and obedient.

They looked with fearful eyes at the black-haired youth gradually entering the spacious room, and with the same gaze at the red-cloaked figure following behind the black-haired youth like a silent guard.

The forces of the entire District 3 originally numbered several thousand.

Under the hands of the one called Red Crane, their numbers had dwindled, but even now, nearly a thousand remained.

But this was far from over; they all knew this was just the beginning.

Red Crane was not their leader.

The black-haired youth, standing casually and lightly on the steps, was.

The lights illuminated the entire hall, then went out with the sound of a snap.

"Too bright," the youth who did this merely drawled, saying casually.

Huge windows stood behind the youth, and the bright moonlight streamed in, illuminating the youth's silhouette and faintly glowing crimson eyes.

The youth wore a smile, looking at everyone below.

No one knew what the youth was thinking; that smile masked all emotions.

Whether they could survive depended on the whims of this unpredictable youth.

A few nights ago, on that frenzied and unsurprising evening, the youth had worn the same smile, shattering their proud organization and, with Red Crane, bringing the entire District 3 under control.

The residents of Ranmu City did not believe in saviors, and those who reveled in the Eternal Night believed even less.

Thus, they feared, projecting their own nature onto others, viewing their new leader as the most terrifying tyrant.

And now, the 'tyrant' spoke.

"You lot seem pretty useless," the 'tyrant' said.

That single sentence made thousands of hearts clench.

Some wanted to scream, to shout that they were useful, that they weren't worthless, but Red Crane, standing behind the youth, slightly raised his eyes, his golden gaze coldly sweeping over them.

'Shut up.' He seemed to be saying.

Their exhaled breaths were stifled; some faces turned red, but they were too intimidated to speak.

A few muffled sounds rang out in the crowd, and the elusive red-cloaked figures carried a few people away.

"Hm?" Seeing this, the black-haired youth merely let out a faintly intrigued hum.

Then the black-haired youth tilted his head, glancing at Red Crane's icy expression, seemingly finding it amusing.

The people below no longer dared to speak, not even daring to lift their heads under Red Crane's gaze.

In this silence, as if having seen enough, the black-haired youth turned around, took a step forward, and said lazily, "Ranmu City's nights are so noisy."

It seemed like a casual remark, but for those who had practically been sentenced to death, it was an opportunity! A hope!

Immense joy struck them, and someone couldn't help but cry out, "We'll quiet down!"

"We can take care of the noisy ones!"

"We're useful!"

This time, Red Crane did not stop them, and the 'tyrant' merely smiled, watching their excitement.

"Tonight, in the latter half, I hope I can have a quiet sleep," Li Li said.

She finished speaking, ignoring the boiling crowd, and turned to leave.

As she passed An Heyu, he quietly reminded her, "Naming..."

Li Li then remembered that An Heyu had wanted her to name the organization.

So she turned back, her low, husky voice resounding through the entire hall.

"From now on, you're called 'Night Guards.'"

Countless pairs of eyes looked at her—some excited, some relieved to have escaped death, others grateful or reverent.

To survive, they would perform with utmost effort.

To please the unpredictable 'tyrant' standing in the moonlight's shadow.

...

The Eternal Night Sleep Protection Squad, abbreviated as Night Guards—not Little District, nor Little Three.

Li Li felt quite satisfied.

Seeing An Heyu let out a breath of relief, it meant he thought the name was decent!

Then she heard An Heyu exhale a heavy breath: "Fine, it'll do."

So Li Li smiled, "Let's go, Little Red, there's still one thing to wrap up."

The necromancer in their hands still needed to be dealt with, as abilities couldn't be used during the day.

Lin Ran might have some bias toward Li Li, but the rules she set were absolute, even for her own kin.

Li Li didn't think she had enough sway to make Lin Ran break the rules, and besides, she never expected Lin Ran to do anything for her.

Just then.

[Detected that the update target has been achieved.]

[Opening the passage for you...]

[Welcome back to reality.]

Li Li returned to the real world.

Before her was a desk, with an unfinished workbook.

A textbook lay to her left, and in front of her, the laptop was still on, its screen filled with a PPT and formulas.

"Finals, huh," she said, rare worry creeping in.

Next week was finals, and in the manga world, she had just parted on bad terms with Lin Ran.

Things were bound to pile up.

What a headache.

At that moment, the system, which had been silent and playing deaf, suddenly spoke up.

[Next week, you can temporarily stop crossing over.]

Li Li: “There’s such a good thing?”

She suspiciously glanced around, though she couldn’t see the system’s entity.

Logically, this situation shouldn’t happen.

Even if Yiming’s side had stalled progress or was on hiatus, she should still be synchronized with their timeline and have to go to the manga world.

[You will know the reason after the manga updates.] The system finally stated.

It seemed like something interesting had occurred.

She thought.

In any case, not having to go to the manga world naturally made her happy.

Before resolving the manga world’s matters, she’d deal with the wretched finals first!

...

Time quickly passed in revision, arriving at the night of the manga update.

Li Li, head spinning from studying, decided to rest her brain and picked up her phone to read the manga.

This time, the manga still focused on Yiming’s events.

In the previous chapter, Yiming and his group had coincidentally met Yan Changxiao.

In this chapter, they experienced a gladiatorial event together and grew familiar.

At the manga’s end, Yan Changxiao mentioned his reason for being in Zhusheng City.

“I want to win the highest prize offered by the Sang clan nobles.” He said to his newfound ‘older friends’ he’d fought alongside, his eyes seemingly alight with fire, “And then rescue my Master.”

“You actually have a Master?” Yu Xiao voiced everyone’s doubt, “You look like a wild-grown wolf.”

“Of course I have a Master.” Yan Changxiao said with an expression of reverence none of them had seen before, “If you were older, you might know her name.”

An Huyu then said: “Well, tell us then. Maybe we know her.”

He was quite confident in his intelligence network.

After all, with his big brother around before, aside from matters of family vengeance, no information was withheld from him.

At this point, Li Li had already roughly guessed who this person was.

“You’re still too young to remember her.” Yan Changxiao didn’t dislike the teenagers’ competitive spirit and said, “Six years ago, my Master traveled across the entire Empire, helping many people along the way, including me.”

“Her name is Sang Feiling, known to the world as the ‘Traveler.’”

The author of that travelogue.

The protagonist of the travelogue Lin Ran recommended to Li Li, the noble who later joined the Prophet’s actions.

According to Yan Changxiao’s words, she was now in the Sang clan’s territory and imprisoned.

Li Li recalled the information she’d obtained: after luring out the Prophet, the survivors of the Former Ability Guild were handed to the Sang clan, entering the coliseum for the Sang clan’s amusement.

The Traveler was likely just one of them, though, considering she was originally from the Sang clan, her treatment might be somewhat different.

“It actually connected.” Li Li exclaimed.

She hadn’t expected to get this information through the manga.

She flipped to the next page, only to find, unexpectedly, that it wasn’t manga content.

The manga ended with Yan Changxiao revealing his Master’s name, and the following page was an official announcement.

“Since its serialization, 《Extreme Black and White》 is launching a new arc with a fresh perspective and content!”

“Next week, the new arc will update with two chapters, followed by a fixed schedule: main arc on Wednesdays, new arc on Sundays!”

“Personally penned by the manga artist, unveiling the backstory of a popular character!”

“Heige Special Arc: Ranmu Arc!”