Role Playing the Dark Horse Character

Chapter 88: Eternal Night

Li Li had thought about how to handle her relationship with Lin Ran, how to play her role while Lin Ran was inclined toward her.

But she truly hadn’t expected that before she could act, Lin Ran would be dead.

Her illusion dissipated, her smile faded, and half of her silver mask was stained with the candlelight’s grim red.

‘I killed him myself and sent his head to the Qu clan.’ That was what Lin Ran had once said.

And now, her head had been similarly severed.

No matter who did it, the ritualistic execution made it hard not to think of one person—Heige.

The most prominent figure recently, clearly a vengeful member of the Former Ability Guild.

But Li Li herself had actually done nothing.

She quickly called An Heyu, gave him the location, and asked him to analyze Lin Ran’s spirit.

An Heyu’s ability could only see nearby events through the spirits he controlled.

Without a spirit’s eyes, he could only sense whether there were living beings or lingering spirits in the area.

[Necromantic Prelude] activated, silently enveloping the Lin residence.

But unfortunately, An Heyu found no spirits.

“Spirits linger at the first death scene, even if the body is moved,” An Heyu explained.

He knew the location was significant but didn’t immediately ask Li Li what had happened.

Over the phone, An Heyu said: “There’s another possibility—her energy body was directly dispersed after death.”

In other words, her soul was shattered.

Li Li hung up, her gaze lowered, staring for a long time at the bloodstains splattered on the wall behind.

Finally, she said softly: “Goodnight, Lin Ran.”

Aside from the manga’s script, their relationship was perhaps only enough for her to offer a goodnight at this moment.

Not friends, nor quite enemies.

The candlelight flickered, and footsteps sounded downstairs.

It was likely Lin Ruye calling his two uncles, preparing to come upstairs.

Li Li turned, letting her figure vanish from the spot.

She would find the killer, but for her own sake.

Only a faint breeze passed through, marking her presence.

Back in District 3, An Heyu arrived as well.

“What happened?” An Heyu asked.

He knew it was the Lin residence and that the area he investigated was one he hadn’t checked before, so he speculated: “Did you kill Lin Ran?”

An Heyu thought it was impossible, but with Heige, nothing seemed too strange.

Li Li shook her head and said: “It wasn’t me.”

Some blame she could take to boost her reputation and record, but with an unknown killer, taking the blame could backfire, and she wouldn’t leave such a flaw.

She asked An Heyu to gather District 3’s organization ‘Night Guards’ and questioned him: “You told me before about the distribution of SS-rank ability users in the Empire, but which SS-rank ability users in the Empire can move freely?”

An Heyu had said there were ten SS-rank ability users.

Six were in Floating City, and the other four were Jiao Huang’s city lord Jue Hui Shen, Ranmu’s city lord Lin Ran, one in seclusion, and one whose whereabouts were unknown.

“SS-rank nobles can’t leave Floating City without imperial permission. Lin Ran and Jue Hui Shen can stay in their domains but can’t leave either. The secluded SS-rank hasn’t appeared in a century, and their status is uncertain. As for the last one,” An Heyu paused, then said, “Father told me he doesn’t know where they are, but what’s certain is they’ve been wandering the Empire.”

“SS-rank ability users are powerful but usually stay in one place,” Li Li suddenly found it odd, but with too few clues, she couldn’t pinpoint the issue.

Ability users from District 3 began converging from all corners, the dense crowd gradually gathering.

Standing on the platform, Li Li asked An Heyu: “What do you know about that last one?”

Li Li didn’t think an S-rank could have done it.

Even though she often fought above her rank, it didn’t mean an S-rank could kill an SS-rank so silently.

Indeed, Lin Ran’s strength waned at night, but she was still not easy to deal with.

Hearing this, An Heyu rarely showed a wary expression.

“I don’t know. His appearance and features are all unknown,” he pursed his lips, looking at Li Li. “I only know one thing—don’t attract his attention.”

The trail went cold here.

Lin Ran’s spirit couldn’t be analyzed, but Li Li had another method that might recreate the scene.

Dan’s time reversal.

She had seen the effect of that ability—it reversed time and showed the process, though humans and corpses weren’t included in the reversal.

But as long as there was a process, she could deduce something.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, the moonlight outside reflecting in her falsely crimson pupils.

Dan couldn’t die.

The sound of chaotic, noisy footsteps echoed.

Li Li turned, looking down at the gathered members of this haphazardly formed organization.

This city was about to descend into chaos.

She knew it.

This was her opportunity, but also the city’s catastrophic downfall.

She had no time to care about others’ lives, but if she could help, she would.

The ‘Night Guards,’ an organization she hadn’t held much hope for, might shine in this period.

“I didn’t come here to be a good person,” Li Li said softly.

Beside her, An Heyu looked at her back, his golden eyes slowly lowering, a helpless smile tugging at his lips.

...

Eternal Night, no different from its usual madness and chaos.

The sounds of explosions and collapsing buildings echoed in the sky, seeping through doors and windows into the ears of civilians yet to sleep.

Tonight, Liu Cheng stayed home, lights off, feeling a rare sense of safety behind her fortified doors and windows.

“Slept all day yesterday, now I can’t sleep,” she murmured, staring at the ceiling in the dark.

The past two days, she didn’t know why, but she had slept unusually long, yet felt exhausted and had muscle aches.

Liu Cheng wondered if she was sleepwalking, even recording herself sleeping.

Yesterday, she slept all day, and in the video, she looked sound asleep.

“Ten more minutes until Eternal Night ends,” she glanced at the time, thinking about returning to work after her break.

No matter how chaotic the nights were, no matter how often her colleagues disappeared, during the day, they were ordinary civilians struggling for a living.

Liu Cheng thought about visiting the library after work.

She had bought a timer alarm to avoid repeating her last mistake.

Time ticked by, and with the cheerful alarm, five in the morning arrived.

The fortified doors and windows retracted automatically.

Liu Cheng stretched, looking outside.

She didn’t see the usual pristine city or the dawning sky.

Instead, there were unending flames and rising black smoke.

“Boom!”

A massive explosion rocked the city, coming from District 13.

Firelight flickered, the blast like thunder, reverberating in the misty sky.

Black smoke shrouded the rising sunlight, covering the approaching dawn.

Skyscrapers collapsed, screams, sirens, and chaotic noise filled the air.

A fierce wind carried the smell of gunpowder indoors, lifting the bangs of Liu Cheng, who stood stunned by the window.

Her pupils reflected the city’s scene, a chaos that shouldn’t exist in the daytime.

Liu Cheng realized something, something that filled her with despair.

Their daylight was gone.

...

In the plaza before the Ability Guild, on the platform meant for Lin Ran, built yesterday, Lin Ruye stood.

His two uncles weren’t present, but the Ability Guild members stood below, awaiting their branch leader, the city’s soon-to-be ruler, to speak.

The orange-haired youth stepped forward.

He should have been excited, but he was eerily calm.

“Your city lord is dead. This city belongs to me now,” Lin Ruye said, his purple eyes sweeping over the dense crowd below, the ability users who followed him.

Lin Ruye’s voice echoed over the plaza, broadcast through radios and TVs into every household in Ranmu City.

“In other words,” he suddenly spread his arms, proclaiming to his followers, those who loved desire and violence, “From now on, Ranmu City will be in Eternal Night forever!”

They followed him, reveling in the Eternal Night he created.

And now, Lin Ruye’s Eternal Night has shed its final shackle.

The ability users cheered, their voices mingling with the thunderous explosions.

Henceforth, they could indulge their desires, using their powerful abilities to dominate the city. Day or night, it would be their carnival.

This was their Eternal Night.

Amid the chaos, faint cries and despairing eyes looked to the sky.

They saw no sunlight, only black smoke blotting out the heavens.

“The city lord is dead?”

“Besides the city lord, who can save us?”

“No one!”

The fortified doors and windows they had bought could no longer close, and the Ability Guild’s branch leader, the next city lord, announced via broadcast that daytime would now cost extra.

The entire city was in chaos.

Eternal Night’s participants celebrated their paradise with blood.

A killer treated fragile glass windows as nothing, easily breaking through and entering.

He looked at the terrified civilian, who collapsed to their knees, and laughed heartily, raising his favorite knife.

He approached, the sharp blade poised to pierce the homeowner’s body.

At that moment.

“Bang!”

A gunshot rang out, catching the killer off guard from behind.

“Bang bang bang!”

After three shots, the killer fell.

The homeowner saw the person standing by the window.

But that person turned around directly and left from the window.

The only thing that could be heard was what that person seemed to be saying into the walkie-talkie.

"Report to the leader, the crisis in Building 912 has been resolved."

"The Night Guards have suppressed all riots in District Two."

...

"Where are you going?"

An Heyu had no time to care about his hood.

As the wind blew, his red hair fluttered lightly, his face exposed to the air.

"Not taking me with you?" he asked somewhat anxiously.

Meanwhile, Li Li, who was in front of him, withdrew her hand.

Dressed as Heige, she wore that smile that had become like a mask, sitting casually on the edge of the rooftop as usual, watching the last rogue ability user in District Six fall from the high building.

District Three had always been the territory of the Night Guards.

Districts Two and Four had already been cleared by the Night Guards, while Li Li and An Heyu had conveniently cleaned up Districts Five and Six.

Half of Ranmu City had already been brought under protection.

Hearing this, Li Li stood up, turned her head, and looked toward District Thirteen.

That was where the most explosions were heard, and where the black smoke was the thickest.

After Lin Ran’s death, Lin Ruye immediately took action against Dan, just as he had said.

"Your ability isn’t convenient to show in public," Li Li said, tilting her face to look at An Heyu, who was clearly disapproving.

In An Heyu’s eyes, the youth before him always seemed so calm and composed, still clear about her direction and what she needed to do amidst this chaos.

Though An Heyu didn’t know exactly what she was planning to do.

"Then what should I do?" An Heyu didn’t stop Li Li but chose to follow her steps as usual.

This was an unspoken rule between them.

Li Li let out a soft chuckle.

"Keep the situation under control. If Lin Ruye leaves District One, let me know immediately."

She looked at the chaotic scene, as if seeing through the layer of black smoke to the devastation within and the white-haired boy stubbornly clinging to the "past."

"And I," she said, "am just going to pick up a cute little dog."