Role Playing the Dark Horse Character

Chapter 37: Yes, It Was All Premeditated

An Heyu’s first thought was: How could this be possible?

He was S-rank, the other was A-rank.

Why, in his own domain, had he overlooked such a life energy?

But the reality was undeniable.

While he thought Heige had taken the bait, Heige had appeared in his home.

It was like a sharp slap to his face.

“Add extra sugar,” Heige said leisurely.

An Heyu was still reeling from the shock.

By the time he snapped out of it, he had already brewed the milk tea and served it.

“This is my house. I’m the noble here, right?!” The thought flashed through his mind.

A noble serving tea to a commoner?

If word got out, where would he put his noble face?

Yet the black-haired man across from him unhurriedly picked up the teacup, took a leisurely sip, and even praised, “Nice skills.”

“Of course,” An Heyu replied instinctively.

The moment he said it, he wished he could find a time machine to take it back.

Unfortunately, his ability didn’t include time travel.

Outside, frost crept up the treetops.

Inside, the fireplace flickered, its warm orange light illuminating the room.

Steam rose from the two cups of milk tea, and through the white mist, the scene before his eyes seemed veiled in fog.

An Heyu felt his mind was a jumbled mess.

Truth and lies, his own guesses, the other’s motives—all these thoughts piled up at once, clogging his brain.

How much of his speculation was true? Was Heige really the bounty hunter named Li Baige?

Why was he here? Was the one fighting Yue Qing an illusion, then?

And—

Was he really A-rank?

When the man across from him set down the teacup, An Heyu, with a somewhat hoarse voice, asked the question that mattered most to him: “What’s your goal?”

“Just for fun, or…” He straightened his posture, spine rigid, regaining his usual noble demeanor, “to take revenge on this Empire?”

A pointed question.

If Heige were truly a remnant of the Former Ability Guild, he might take the bait, say “revenge,” and follow An Heyu’s lead, listening to the generous terms he offered, hesitating or decisively choosing to cooperate—or not.

An Heyu didn’t believe Heige was as frivolous as he appeared, driven only by amusement.

An Heyu cared about results.

The result was that Qing Yu Chen, who betrayed the Former Ability Guild to become a noble’s pawn, was dead.

The result was that Yue Qing had been targeted by Heige, nearly having his throat slit last time.

Heige’s goal was definitely not just “fun.”

But the person he questioned had no interest in following his rhythm.

Heige propped his cheek, the silver-white mask glinting with a golden edge under the warm light.

“Me? Revenge?” He first echoed with an ambiguous tone, then said, “The one who wants revenge is you, isn’t it, Mr. Noble?”

An Heyu’s pupils widened instantly.

The man stood from his seat, his long boots clicking on the marble floor.

His hand, clad in a fingerless black glove, lightly brushed the back of An Heyu’s chair.

His voice came from behind.

“Your clan, your blood kin, all wiped out in a single night. You, the sole survivor, took your younger brother and left Floating City, coming to Four-Way City, a place far from the center.”

The voice was unhurried, accompanied by the rhythmic tap of a finger on the chair’s back, carrying an odd cadence.

Behind An Heyu, Heige suddenly leaned down, whispering in his ear, “Who are you hiding from?”

Before the words fully landed, An Heyu leaned forward instinctively, as if to escape.

But he quickly realized—these details could have been learned from his naive brother.

Yes, he was hiding, hiding from those who had taken his family from him and his brother.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on his motives.

He suppressed his instinctive reaction and slowly said, piecing together the information he’d gleaned from those two sentences: “You’re Li Baige.”

“I am,” Heige admitted quickly, or perhaps he had never intended to hide it.

Information about his identity posed no threat to him.

An Heyu realized this.

This illusionist could abandon his identity at any time, transforming into someone else’s likeness.

Four-Way City spanned thousands of miles, with countless people and even more unregistered bounty hunters.

Replacing someone was too easy.

This put An Heyu at a disadvantage.

He couldn’t reveal this information, because the person closest to Li Baige was An Huyu!

He would have to cover for his own secrecy and hints, but Heige didn’t need to do anything.

In the end, the one suspected of colluding with the Former Ability Guild would be him—or An Huyu!

Heige had the ability to leave his domain—An Heyu was certain of that.

As long as Heige hid his life energy as he had when he arrived, An Heyu wouldn’t be able to detect him, even in his own domain.

An Heyu had thought himself the superior, active party, that Heige would be the one begging him for something.

He was a noble, with access to information Heige couldn’t know and a face that could open doors to the Empire’s heart.

He was S-rank, high-rank, meant to dominate this mere A-rank commoner in every way.

But now, the roles had reversed.

He was the passive one, needing Heige to do something, while the other’s weaknesses remained completely unexposed!

An Heyu couldn’t even use the excuse that he was setting a trap to catch Heige and temporarily betraying his original plan to remain a high-ranking member of the Ability Guild.

Because he couldn’t catch him at all!

“Don’t be nervous.”

Despite being alone in the noble’s domain, Heige instead offered a symbolic word of comfort.

The golden specks in the domain trembled, and An Heyu realized his own lapse in composure.

The plan had failed—merely a failed plan. He told himself.

He needed to stay calm, to calmly find an opportunity to turn the tables.

But the person he was facing had no intention of giving him time to think calmly.

“I like people who speak straightforwardly,” Heige said with a smile in his tone. “Of course, don’t make my trip here a waste.

His voice seemed to come from right beside his ear: “Mr. Noble, do you have any other business?”

An Heyu wanted to speak, but the words caught in his throat, unable to come out immediately.

He was hesitating.

If he revealed everything now, he would only be in a passive position, exploited by Heige.

That wasn’t the outcome he wanted.

But he also couldn’t act—Heige could vanish from his domain at any moment, and any move would be futile.

And Heige was still pressing him, his tone carrying a trace of seduction: “You went to all this trouble to talk to me, just to let me taste a cup of milk tea?”

Of course not. An Heyu knew.

He carried the weight of betrayal from within the Empire.

The An clan had been abandoned.

When those people spoke words of regret with hypocritical masks, he clenched his fists, letting his nails dig deep into his flesh.

Weren’t the ones who slaughtered his clan those same falsely sorrowful nobles?

“This is your only chance to turn the tables. Among the nobles aligned with the Empire, you have no allies. The choice is in your hands now.”

That voice was unhurried, like a black hole slowly drawing closer.

Or like the whisper of a demon from the depths of the abyss. He wasn’t persuading—he was tempting.

Tempting him to fall into the abyss.

“Take a gamble, make them pay for the blood and tears of the past or continue pretending nothing happened, hiding in this fringe city in frustration.”

Tempting a pawn to step into its destined place, into the palm of his hand.

“You knew all along,” An Heyu realized, his voice hoarse and trembling as he spoke. “Li Baige—this identity was just to get close to me, wasn’t it?”

Heige, standing behind him, let out a soft chuckle.

His presence seemed to envelop the former noble heir, trapped in the chair, unable to break free.

He’s setting a trap for me. He came for me all along, An Heyu thought.

He had woven a spider’s web, effortlessly ensnaring him.

“To learn about that person, you’d have to go through the nobles in Floating City, the heart of the Empire. So you targeted me from the start,” An Heyu said, growing more alarmed as he spoke. “That day wasn’t a coincidence—you deliberately approached Huyu.”

“No, perhaps even earlier,” he murmured. “Someone who can commune with the undead and has ties to the Yue clan—the only one Yue Qing would invite to investigate Yue Lan’s death was me!”

“Qing Yu Chen investigated ‘Li’ through Yue Shan but didn’t tell the nobles. You must have calculated that too.”

“As long as I had my own motives, as long as I tried to hide key information from Yue Qing, I had already stepped into your trap.”

By the end, his face had turned ashen: “I thought I was the one who discovered you, but in reality…”

He let out a bitter laugh.

In reality, he was the prey!

At some point, Heige had returned to his seat, resting his cheek in his hand, watching him with a faintly amused expression.

Like watching a bird in a cage, no matter how it battered itself against the bars, it would only end up bruised and unable to escape.

“My goal is three noble families. I want them to pay for their blood debts,” he said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “They were also the culprits behind the Former Ability Guild’s downfall. We can work together, Heige. The An clan had no part in the Former Ability Guild’s affairs—our interests align.”

“Huyu doesn’t need to know any of this. I’m S-rank; my ability can do many things. Interrogating the undead or making them serve you—I can do it all.”

“Are you begging me?” Heige said.

“Yes, I’m begging you,” An Heyu replied, pressing his lips together.

A long silence followed.

Heige looked at him, and under the orange lamplight, those crimson pupils held no trace of warmth.

Just when An Heyu felt he might suffocate, Heige spoke.

“Mr. Noble, a rational choice,” Heige said.

An Heyu suddenly let out a breath of relief.

He didn’t know if his choice was right. He only knew he had made a desperate gamble.

“Before tomorrow, give me all the information on Yue Shan,” Heige said, slowly standing and snapping his fingers.

A piece of paper with a string of numbers appeared on the tea table.

Like a magic trick.

He walked toward the open floor-to-ceiling window, the wind lifting his coat. Outside, frost covered everything.

“Oh, and before we meet next time, remember to prepare some milk tea for me,” he said suddenly, turning back just before leaving.

A gust of cold wind blew into the room, dispelling the warmth.

An Heyu instinctively squinted his eyes.

When he could see clearly again, the mysterious illusionist had vanished from his domain once more.

“Dang.”

The clock let out a heavy chime. An Heyu looked up.

Midnight had arrived.

…

[Opening the passage for you… Welcome back to reality.]

Back in reality, Li Li’s first reaction was to take a deep breath, then another.

She got up and quickly walked to the sink, splashing cold water on her face.

“An S-rank domain…” She stared at the mirror in front of the dorm sink, slowly exhaling. “Too overpowered!”

I felt like I was being watched the entire time, as if a pair of eyes were constantly glued to me.

Everything in the domain could potentially be monitored by its master, though some couldn’t manage that.

But An Heyu’s ability clearly allowed him to sense the life force of creatures within his domain.

The thought of possibly sharing a domain with ghosts made it even more terrifying!

“Luckily, An Heyu’s thought process is as quirky as his brother’s,” I sighed. I didn’t even need to patch up my story.

If asked, I’d say it was intentional, that I was fishing—fishing for An Heyu.

Brilliant.

My roommate was already fast asleep in bed, snoring loudly, while I was still thinking about what to do next.

“Qing Yu Chen told Yue Shan about the name ‘Li,’ and it all circles back to the main storyline,” I mused. I didn’t mind, but I’d delay a bit, at least until An Heyu got me the information.

I tapped my fingers on the desk and glanced at the time.

An Heyu and An Huyu were complete opposites, like two ends of a spectrum.

An Huyu was far more outgoing, treating impossible plans like treasures, never believing he could lose.

In contrast, An Heyu was hesitant and indecisive.

Even with suspicions, he first sent out friendly signals and didn’t decisively invite Li Baige.

I’d been staking out An Heyu for three days, and today seemed to be the day the manga updated.

But I didn’t think this update had anything to do with me.

Neither I nor the manga artist would reveal my alias in the manga so soon.

If I wasn’t featured, there was no rush to check it.

After reviewing the current situation, I tidied up and went to bed.

It wasn’t until the next day that I heard from my roommate what the manga update was about.

After class, at noon, my roommate burst through the door, shouting, “Holy crap! Lili! Little Corgi’s about to be dissected!”

I, who was organizing my class notes, turned around and slowly formed a question mark.

Me: …?

While I was busy fooling others, how did Little Corgi end up getting fooled so badly?

Yiming, my dude, it’s only been a few days—how did you fall so far?