Role Playing the Dark Horse Character

Chapter 92: No Idea What to Name This

Six years ago?

Those words pulled Lin Ruye's thoughts back to an afternoon years ago.

His mother, who suddenly left Floating City, the man imprisoned and facing execution, and himself, in his rebellious phase, deliberately seeking thrills.

"Good afternoon, little friend."

The man with long, pale golden hair sat in the shadows of the cell, slightly raising his head, smiling, revealing a pair of eyes in the darkness that made him tremble unconsciously.

"I saw your future, how pitiful."

This memory flashed by, and Lin Ruye stood in place, looking at Li Li, who was smiling faintly in the wind, and said: "What is your relationship with him?"

"Rumors say the illusionist is a remnant of the Former Ability Guild, but instead of going to Zhusheng City, you came to Ranmu City." After the unexpected incident, Lin Ruye cooled his overheated mind and began to think.

"Why? Because that man died here? Did you kill the old hag for that man?" he said.

Li Li merely shrugged with a seemingly regretful expression, tilting her head, her black hair falling against her cheek, revealing an innocent and smiling demeanor.

"What a pity, I didn’t get to personally send her off on her final journey." Lin Ruye said, suddenly letting out a laugh, his tone rising, "Then I’ll just have to kill you, and treat it as me ending the old hag’s life!"

The conversation ended, and in the next instant, an arc of light flashed before his eyes—afterimages, sharp winds, the cold tip of a blade slashing down from the upper left.

It was a long blade, and behind the long blade were those curved brows and eyes, with red wings stretching from the corners.

Lin Ruye stood his ground, his ability activating instantly.

The tiny, barely visible insects coalesced into a black, ethereal 'mist,' rising like sludge in an instant.

The blade’s tip met the surging 'mist' and vanished in a flash.

"Tch, an illusion?" His ability struck nothing.

He scanned his surroundings: "Of course, how could an illusionist engage in close combat?"

At that moment, all he could see was a ground littered with broken walls, ruins, and scorched marks from explosions.

He couldn’t see a single trace of anyone.

As his words echoed, an illusion materialized behind him.

The black-haired girl sat in mid air, legs crossed, her long skirt and hair swaying in the wind.

She hugged her arms, as if watching an amusing play from the audience seats.

"Buzz!"

The illusion of long blades coalesced around her, dense and numerous, forming a towering wall.

"Your mother really hated him, didn’t she?" She curled her lips, her tone light and cheerful, "Yet you listened to him."

Lin Ruye turned around, and the scene before him suddenly blurred with a thin layer of mist.

He sneered mockingly, "There were plenty of things the old hag said that I didn’t agree with, but what she said about that man was indeed correct."

"That man was a fraud," he said.

His vision deceived, several sharp long blades broke through the mist, clashing as if they would pierce his body in the next second.

The black 'mist' surged like a tide, instantly separating the space between Lin Ruye and the blade tips.

The illusions shattered, but one long blade was swarmed by the insect tide and devoured in an instant.

Under Lin Ruye’s control, the insect tide was far more terrifying than any corrosive chemical liquid.

"One of them wasn’t an illusion?" Lin Ruye snorted, speaking in a tone that saw through the trick, "Hiding a real attack among the illusions, how very like an illusionist."

"Let me guess, next you’ll use illusions to lure me into a trap," he said.

"Mm-hmm, very clever," Li Li said casually.

Truth mixed with lies, lies laced with truth—it was indeed her specialty.

However.

She slightly raised her eyes, her crimson pupils looking down at the ground with a commanding air, then said unhurriedly: "What a pity, Lin Ran complained to me about her disobedient child. What good is being clever? It still didn’t make her happy."

"Right, Lin Ruye?"

Lin Ruye’s breathing paused for a moment.

"Obedient?" he repeated, then suddenly raised his voice, "Haven’t I been obedient enough?!"

"She set family rules, and I followed them. She got angry when I took something from a commoner, so I returned it. She told me to apologize to a commoner, and I did, humbling myself and letting a commoner curse me for an entire afternoon!"

Lin Ruye was stirred by past memories, recalling the day years ago when he stood before the door of a filthy commoner, humiliated by their insults.

The street bustled with people, countless gazes falling upon him, making him feel utterly disgraced.

And what was Lin Ran’s expression then?

She sat in her room as usual, and when he returned home, standing before her, aggrieved and on the verge of tears, she said coldly: "Did you remember?"

Remember what? Remember the humiliation of that day?

How could a commoner have the audacity to stand up to a noble? It was clearly Lin Ran’s instruction, a scene she orchestrated!

In her eyes, what difference was there between him, her own son, and those worthless commoners?

"I’m going to kill her!"

The black 'mist' surged from the ground, rushing toward the sky.

Fierce winds snapped tree roots, which were swiftly devoured upon contact with the insect tide.

Above the orange-haired youth, the black tide spread overwhelmingly, roaring and swallowing the gray smoke, darkening the already gloomy sky completely.

From District 13 to District 12, all the way to District 1, it enveloped the entire Ranmu City.

In an instant, the oppressive insect tide blocked out all light.

Some looked up, some exclaimed, some knelt and prayed for the enraged ability user to spare them, while others embraced their loved ones, tears streaming down their faces.

Ranmu City’s daylight was completely reversed into an endless night, a darkness that saw no sun.

On the rooftop, a red hood fluttered in the wind.

The red-haired youth pulled off his hat, his golden eyes looking at the ability users in white uniforms, whose movements suddenly froze across the city.

They were members of the Ability Guild, Lin Ruye’s followers, and the city’s strongest elite ability users.

But they had long been parasitized by Lin Ruye’s gu insects, becoming puppets he could control at will.

Now, under their master’s command, they were heading toward District 13.

"Really..." An Heyu sighed helplessly.

When he raised his eyes again, a golden radiance exploded instantly, and within this golden space, he continued the words he had left unsaid.

“Too reckless.”

Within the domain, spirits appeared in front of the puppets, sparks of abilities flying, halting their advance.

At the center of the spirits, a red-haired youth wore a clearly joking short skirt and black stockings, no longer tugging at his red cloak.

“I won’t let you pass.” An Heyu stood guard outside District 13.

He would not let these people disturb the ‘recklessness’ of that black-haired youth within District 13.

That was the oath he had once sworn, the task he had resolved to fulfill.

And now, it was his duty to protect that person’s rear.

The wind blew into District 13 along the path of the insect tide, into that expanse of ruins.

Above was a dark curtain, and below, a crawling insect tide.

The power of a high-rank ability user, fully enraged, far surpassed that of a mid-rank.

Yet Li Li floated in the air, her brows curved, as leisurely and carefree as ever.

The handle of a long blade lifted Dan by his collar, raising his feet off the ground to avoid the insect tide.

When he had been ambushed and stabbed by Uncle Lin Ruye, gu insects had been planted in him.

Now, his eyes were tightly shut, sweat beading on his forehead.

Both Dan and Lin Ruye were S-rank.

When Lin Ruye controlled puppets en masse, his attention scattered, giving Dan a chance to resist the control.

“Angry?” Li Li propped her cheek, as if oblivious to this world dominated by high-rank ability users, or unconcerned by the oncoming insect tide.

She merely raised her hand and casually snapped her fingers.

“Snap.”

Illusions cloaked reality.

The black insect tide, like waves rising and falling from a height, engulfed a patch of empty air.

No one was there.

Lin Ruye turned, his purple pupils darting around, swiftly searching for the opponent who had drawn all his hatred.

In the next moment, an illusion unfolded.

The ruins and insect tide before him vanished in an instant.

In their place were flickering candle flames, a desk, and a long-haired woman with hair trailing to the floor, gazing down at a tea table.

This was the Lin residence, the image of Lin Ran that Li Li had seen.

But standing here now was not her, but Lin Ruye, who shared Lin Ran’s orange hair and purple eyes, strikingly similar to her.

The orange-haired woman raised her eyes, looking toward the doorway.

Her vacant gaze contrasted starkly with Lin Ruye’s trembling, slowly distorting expression.

“Ruye,” she spoke slowly, calling her child’s name.