Role Playing the Dark Horse Character

Chapter 86: The City Lord Plays for Real

The wind howled, and Dan’s skirt swayed with it.

In the chaos, he spoke.

“Don’t touch District 13’s things.”

But what came out wasn’t a lethal ability—it was an almost soft concession.

Dan clutched his rabbit plushie tighter and took a step back.

He chose to yield.

Smart move, Li Li thought.

With a faintly intrigued gaze, she watched the confrontation’s outcome through the crow circling above.

The undead followed Dan inside, entering the heavily guarded District 13.

“She didn’t act,” An Heyu said, unaware the opponent was a cross-dressing bigshot.

He could guess some of Li Li’s thoughts.

There was an S-rank in District 13, likely tied to some deal with the Lin clan.

They couldn’t take on the entire Lin clan, but they could sow internal discord.

Clearly, this S-rank had no intention of defying the Lin clan.

He had a weakness, a critical one, in the Lin clan’s hands.

“He’s Dan,” Li Li mentioned lazily.

She didn’t let her illusion follow the undead and Dan inside—there was no need.

She’d been there before.

Broken streets, overgrown weeds, buildings with withered moss and vines, and that half-collapsed tenement Dan often visited.

She’d called Dan a guard dog before, even a mad dog.

But Dan was clearly smarter than a mad dog.

From their first meeting, when Dan chose to leave when facing the Jiao Huang city lord, she’d seen the signs.

“Keep going,” Li Li said, standing up, turning, hands shoved into her pockets, ready to leave.

An Heyu, multitasking to control the undead, asked in surprise: “You’re leaving now?”

Li Li caught a hint of ‘you’re abandoning me here’ in his tone.

An Heyu continued: “Dan didn’t act just now, and doesn’t seem like he will. The undead can’t be killed as planned…”

Hearing this, Li Li paused, glancing back slightly.

“That’s perfect,” she said.

An Heyu froze, as if realizing something.

He didn’t say more.

…

In the end, the undead left District 13 safely, then ‘dropped dead’ and vanished into the night once out of Dan’s sight.

After the Eternal Night passed, as daylight arrived, a bombshell spread across Ranmu City’s residents.

“The city lord is appearing!”

The news first broke on the giant screen in District 1, then spread.

Notices and banners popped up across streets, and the entire Ranmu City buzzed with a festive mood.

Some rejoiced, others grieved.

The day belonged to order, and Lin Ran restricted only actions, not words.

So when Li Li, An Heyu, and Ranmu City’s Tide agent entered a lively diner, the hall was abuzz with discussion.

“Is she punishing the demons of the night?” asked citizens who revered the city lord.

“Will she restart the slaughter from six years ago?” whispered ability users active in the Eternal Night.

To commoners, Lin Ran was undoubtedly a good city lord.

In the depths of Eternal Night, their only wish was for the sun to rise, for Lin Ran to bring order.

It wasn’t that no one questioned whether the city lord was allowing Eternal Night to persist, but in their fear, helplessness, and powerlessness, all they could do was pray for the city lord to awaken soon.

Over time, the city lord became a mere symbol, a representation of the end of Eternal Night.

Those who knew a bit more of the inside story thought deeper.

“Could it be that the city lord wants to dismantle the Ability Guild?” This came from a member of the Ability Guild.

“For the city lord to step in, could it be that the illusionist who killed three high-rank nobles on the wanted list has come to Ranmu City?”

“Yeah, only someone like that would warrant the city lord’s action.”

“Eternal Night has gone on for so many years; it’s not like the city lord will clean things up.” This was the wishful thinking of an ability user.

And Li Li, who just happened to overhear these words: Ah, yes, she was here for Heige.

She followed the Tide agent into a private room, her expression unreadable, still wearing that squinting smile.

But in her heart, she couldn’t help but want to sigh.

Before sitting down, she even wondered if Lin Ran knew her full name.

If she did, that would be hilarious.

The city lord, making her first appearance in six years, only to apologize to a class enemy.

The scene was too perfect; she didn’t even dare to imagine it.

If she could, she wanted to stop Lin Ran.

Fortunately, Lin Ran had said it would be three days later, not tomorrow, giving her two days to think of a reason to sneak into the Lin residence again and explain things clearly.

Lin Ran might think they were incredibly close, considering how Li Li kept “visiting” her home.

This restaurant was one of Tide’s strongholds in Ranmu City.

After closing the door, the Tide agent carefully chose his words and said slowly: “We’ve never been able to figure out what this city lord is trying to do. She represents the nobles… but from six to four years ago, she did use iron-fisted methods to suppress the demons and monsters we failed to contain.”

The Former Ability Guild’s ideology was to resist noble oppression, with low-rank ability users and ordinary people helping each other.

While it existed, it did secure some benefits for these vulnerable groups, but it also provoked many.

When it collapsed, its enemies celebrated its demise in the very ways the Former Ability Guild had opposed.

Capturing survivors of the Former Ability Guild and forcing them to kill each other in the coliseum was just one example.

An Heyu poured Li Li a cup of tea and then asked: “What about four years ago?”

“Eternal Night began, and the evils she once suppressed resurfaced.” The Tide agent shook his head. “She must have known, but she didn’t act to govern it.”

He looked down at the table and sighed: “Maybe that initial bloodbath wasn’t what we thought it was.”

Li Li lowered her eyes, gazing at the clear tea in her cup.

It really wasn’t, she thought.

They talked for a while.

After the Tide agent left, An Heyu stood beside her and asked: “You know something, don’t you?”

An Heyu was referring to the city lord’s sudden decision to appear, especially since they had just visited the Lin residence last night, and now the city lord was stepping into the spotlight.

He didn’t believe it was unrelated.

But An Heyu hadn’t met Lin Ran, so all he could imagine were scenarios against their favor: “Should we act in advance…”

Li Li shook her head.

She felt that even if she told the truth, no one would believe her.

Even she found it absurd, so she had no intention of explaining the situation to An Heyu.

What could she say? Don’t worry, Lin Ran just wants to publicly apologize to her?

The reason? Because she got upset and gave Lin Ran a cold shoulder?

No way.

So she just stared at the surface of the tea, then lightly tapped her finger on the table.

It was like the sound of wind chimes stirred by the breeze.

“Do you hate her?” Li Li asked.

She asked this question with utmost seriousness.

An Heyu froze, his golden eyes under the red hood widening slightly.

But then, in a rare decisive tone for him, he said: “I hate her.”

Of course, Li Li thought.

If he didn’t hate her, An Heyu wouldn’t have reached out to Heige in the first place.

How could he not hate the one responsible for his clan’s annihilation?

If Li Li truly was Heige, if there really was such a person as Heige in this world, she would probably hate Lin Ran too.

Li Li saw her mask-like smile reflected on the water’s surface.

But to her, Lin Ran was just a game NPC.

Love and hate weren’t that significant.

It was just that, given Lin Ran’s attitude toward her, Li Li found it hard to dislike her.

After all, in her book, pretty ladies got a pass.

…

The day after Lin Ran announced her public appearance, the Ability Guild had already set up a speech platform in the Freedom Square in front of their headquarters.

Li Li, passing by, was all smiles on the surface but screaming SOS inside.

She felt she needed to act fast, to visit the Lin residence again that night.

At the very least, she couldn’t let Lin Ran say something like “apologizing to my dear friend Heige” in front of a crowd.

That would be too horrifying.

She’d have no way to explain why a noble patriarch, whose prophet she’d killed, would lower themselves to call her a close friend.

If Li Li hadn’t met Lin Ran and confirmed her lack of emotional intelligence, she’d suspect Lin Ran was pulling this stunt to ruin her reputation, smearing her as a noble collaborator.

But that afternoon, the “Night Guards” in District 3, for once proving useful, sent a message.

They had tracked Dan’s whereabouts in District 12.

Dan often visited a shop in District 12 during the day.

Upon receiving the message, Li Li went to check it out.

The shop wasn’t in the bustling downtown but in a secluded corner.

It was an old clothing store, its storefront aged, showing years of wear.

Li Li maintained her feminine disguise and pushed open the door.

The door creaked, and the first thing Li Li saw was a woman in her fifties sitting at the back of the store.

She slowly raised her head at the sound, then lowered it again.

Li Li glanced at the clothes nearby, mostly frilly skirts suited for girlish tastes, completely at odds with her cool, mature persona.

Just then, someone pushed the door and walked in.

"Auntie, is my dress ready?"

It was Dan.

He was still wearing that black puff-sleeve dress, holding his rabbit plushie, as if he had never changed clothes from the beginning.

Seeing someone in the shop, he didn’t recognize Li Li and instead walked around toward the shop owner.

The shop owner, likely an old acquaintance of his, pointed to the table beside and said: "It’s ready."

Li Li glanced over; on the table was a dress identical to the little black dress Dan was wearing.

The mystery of not changing clothes was solved, but Li Li found Dan increasingly enigmatic.

One must know, as an S-rank concept-type ability user, it was impossible for him not to keep his clothes clean, not to mention he had the ability of time reversal.

Not wanting to change clothes and keeping the one he wore intact was hardly difficult.

Dan walked over, picked up the dress from the table, and put it into a bag himself.

When not provoked, Dan was very quiet, like a beautiful doll.

After finishing these tasks, he politely thanked the shop owner.

At that moment, Li Li looked at the pink dress in front of her and took it down.

"You’d suit this one better," Li Li said, walking over, holding up the dress and waving it in front of Dan.

Dan froze, his heterochromatic eyes looking at Li Li, then slowly said with caution: "Illusionist?"

In the narrow shop, Li Li looked at him up close, her lips curling into a smile.

Li Li’s tone rose slightly: "Hm? You know my ability now?"