Role Playing the Dark Horse Character

Chapter 94: Daylight

The master of the gu insects was dead.

The oppressive black insect tide that had covered the heavens exploded and vanished one after another, revealing a sky shrouded in black smoke, gloomy and dark.

As the blackness faded, within the domain enveloped in a golden halo, An Heyu halted his attack.

The puppets before him lost consciousness one by one, collapsing to the ground.

Without their controller, they lost all aggression, lying scattered across the surface.

Realizing what had happened, An Heyu turned his head, looking toward the source of the change—the sky above District 13.

Beyond him, most of Ranmu City’s people raised their heads, gazing at the direction where the darkness was lifting.

The complete darkness began to vanish from there.

Though the sky behind remained dim, it felt as if they had escaped that terrifying Eternal Night.

“Is it over?”

“Are the ability users sparing us?”

“I survived?”

They prayed, hesitantly watching the receding darkness.

Was this truly the end?

“Except for the city lord, no one would save us!”

They didn’t believe there was still light in this world—neither before the city lord’s death nor after.

Eternal Night had left the city in ruins, covered in crimson blood and collapsed debris.

The massive advertising screen was cracked, unable to display images.

The disaster continued.

Those ability users who had run rampant in Eternal Night still roamed the corners of the city, laughing, indulging their desires, adding scars to the city.

Just then.

“The Night Guards have suppressed all riots in District 12.”

Gunshots and voices rang out in succession.

After clashing with abilities, an ability user let out a brief, surprised grunt, killed by the Night Guards patrolling the city.

“Don’t kill me!” a civilian cried.

The Night Guards paused.

“We won’t kill you, not now, not ever,” said a former member of Eternal Night. “We are the Night Guards. We will follow our leader and protect this city.”

“Protection?”

In this city, amidst the eternal night, talking about protection?

It wasn’t just that.

“Look!” Someone tugged at the sleeve beside them, pointing to the sky above District 13.

In the smoke-laden horizon, beneath a canopy devoid of light, a small black dot was rapidly ascending.

Swift, like lightning, or like a firework rising from below.

But it didn’t burst in the sky; instead, it pierced straight through the clouds.

In an instant, it vanished into the cloud layer, stirring a force that scattered the gloomy clouds, revealing the deep blue, beautiful sky that had been obscured.

Sunlight poured through this circular gap, allowing the land shrouded in eternal night to touch the radiant daylight once more.

In the next moment, the gap widened, like ripples spreading after a droplet falls into water.

Circle after circle, it expanded outward, sweeping away the black smoke covering the sky, carrying off the pervasive dust.

It was as if it cleared the haze in the hearts of those gazing up at the sunlight from below.

A frail hand reached out from the shadows, fingertips caked with mud gently touching that ray of light.

In the numb, despairing eyes, a spark of light gradually ignited at the fingertips.

The night passed, and dawn arrived.

Then the sun appeared once more in this city’s sky.

Daylight returned.

“From now on, cease all evil deeds in the city!” The Night Guards, following the orders of their second-in-command, An Heyu, moved swiftly through the city, proclaiming the end of the eternal night.

“Our leader has extinguished the eternal night!”

Someone had saved this city.

The people who had survived amid the chaos realized this.

Besides the city lord Lin Ran, someone had led them out of the eternal night, bringing them daylight.

Bringing dazzling radiance.

They spontaneously bowed and paid respects toward District 13, where the light had first shone.

At the edge of District 13, An Heyu stood beyond the boundary line, waiting for the people inside to slowly emerge.

“Heige!” He saw Li Li, as leisurely as ever, seemingly unscathed, not a hair out of place.

He also saw Dan, silently clutching the hem of Li Li’s clothing.

Recalling Li Li’s earlier mention of picking up a dog, An Heyu had a sudden realization and greeted Dan: “Hello, I’m Red Crane, Heige’s subordinate.”

But the white-haired youth glanced at An Heyu, then promptly turned his face away.

An Heyu: “…”

He had a bad feeling, and it was exceptionally strong.

At that moment, Li Li spoke up: “Little Red, help me analyze the souls of a few people from the Lin clan.”

She casually pointed behind her, saying: “I want to know what Lin Ruye and the Prophet said, and why Lin Ran was able to leave the Floating City.”

Li Li had always found it strange why, among the nobles, only Lin Ran, an SS-rank ability user, could leave the Floating City.

She felt there must be a clue in this that was very important to her.

“Alright.” An Heyu agreed readily, closing his eyes and activating his ability.

In that brief interval, Li Li asked Dan beside her: “Your abilities include time reversal, right?”

Dan, one hand holding a rabbit, the other gripping the belt of Li Li’s trench coat, slowly nodded: “Yes, but there’s a time limit.”

“Hm?”

“It can only reverse within twenty-four hours,” Dan said.

Li Li calculated the timing; fortunately, it was still within reach.

The ability [Necromantic Prelude] to analyze and read memories had a flaw: the longer the time gap, the less information could be retrieved.

Thankfully, An Heyu had arrived promptly, and he indeed saw the information Li Li wanted to know.

After recounting the conversation between the Prophet and Lin Ruye, he explained why Lin Ran had left the Floating City.

“It was an order from the Imperial Family first. They required Lin Ran to leave the Floating City and kill Shuang Buyan, the spiritual leader of the Former Ability Guild,” An Heyu said as they walked.

They were truly wary of the Prophet, Li Li thought.

She could understand why.

After all, the Prophet could foresee the future and was the spiritual leader of an opposing force.

As for the prophecy the Prophet told Lin Ruye, her first thought was that it referred to Yiming, not her.

Her second thought was that the Prophet’s predicted future had changed—whether due to her presence or Lin Ruye’s choice to betray Lin Ran, she wasn’t sure.

Li Li was indeed surprised for a moment by the Prophet’s character.

But then she considered how Lin Ran and those nobles had destroyed the Former Ability Guild, used its remnants to lure the Prophet into a trap, and instead of releasing him, sent him to the coliseum for slaughter.

Li Li felt that if she were the Prophet, she’d have done something even more extreme.

And when Lin Ruye said the Prophet was like her, he likely meant their methods of unsettling others.

But…

Was this a coincidence?

Her fingertips lightly tapped her arm as she pondered.

Being like the Prophet wasn’t a bad thing for Li Li at all; in fact, it could make the role of ‘Heige’ seem even more tragic.

Something like, After you died, I lived on as you.

But it was too coincidental.

Just as coincidental as learning that the Prophet and Shuang Buyan were the same person.

“However, in the memories of Lin Ran’s younger brother, there’s a scene where, after the Imperial Family’s summons ended, Lin Ran didn’t leave the palace immediately. Instead, he parted ways with the others and stayed alone in the palace for an afternoon,” An Heyu said.

Having stayed in the Floating City, he knew more about it than Li Li did.

But this matter genuinely puzzled him: “Noble ability users aren’t allowed to linger in the palace unless summoned by the Imperial Family. It’s possible Lin Ran was having a private conversation with someone from the Imperial Family.”

Li Li’s intuition told her this was important, but with insufficient clues, she couldn’t make any useful judgments yet.

When they arrived at the Lin residence, only the butler and servants remained.

Seeing their arrival, the butler and servants silently stepped aside, allowing them to freely enter the home of the Lin clan nobles.

The attic looked the same as when Li Li had seen it at night.

Lin Ruye hadn’t touched anything inside, including his mother’s body.

It’s likely an inner refusal to acknowledge their mother’s death.

Dan’s ability activated, and the time in this room began to reverse.

The ability he had plundered only worked on non-human entities, so the entire room’s scene rewound, while Lin Ran’s body remained unchanged.

Suddenly, the blood on the walls faded.

Moments after this, a sheet of paper appeared beside Lin Ran’s head on the table.

“Stop,” Li Li said.

The reversal halted, and Li Li picked up the paper.

It was a draft of Lin Ran’s apology for tomorrow.

Li Li closed her eyes, recalling the scene she had just witnessed: at night, Lin Ran sat at the table, pen in hand, writing the words she planned to say tomorrow.

Then the paper vanished, and for a period afterward, there was no movement in the entire house.

Then, suddenly, blood splattered, and someone severed her head.

Between the paper’s disappearance and the blood splattering, there was a blank period during which nothing happened in the house.

But how could that be possible?

After learning what happened four years ago, Li Li knew that the current Lin Ran, though SS-rank, was far weaker than a typical SS-rank ability user.

Even so, she could still suppress a group of S-rank ability users and maintain her Capital of Order for a limited time.

How could she, before her death, calmly await her beheading? Especially since Lin Ran’s body bore other wounds—she had definitely resisted.

Pondering, Li Li examined the contents of the paper.

Consistent with the emotional intelligence Lin Ran had displayed before, Li Li couldn’t find the slightest trace of anything related to an “apology” in this speech draft.

In short, if Lin Ran had actually delivered this speech, not only would it fail to convey her intent to apologize to Heige, but it would thoroughly enrage Heige.

After all, the entire draft was filled with lines disparaging the Prophet.

But as her gaze shifted downward, her crimson eyes paused briefly.

They stopped at the final paragraph of this speech draft, which almost entirely criticized the Prophet as untrustworthy—the last sentence Lin Ran wrote before the paper vanished, before her death.

It read:

Don’t trust that man.

Lin Ran truly despised the Prophet.

“You really hated him,” Li Li sighed softly, then placed the paper back. “But you were the ones who struck first.”

Whether it was the long-term oppression, scheming against the Prophet, or seizing the foundation built by the Former Ability Guild.

Sang Feiling was still imprisoned, and the remnants of the Former Ability Guild were still being hunted.

Even if Lin Ran wanted order, her noble upbringing made it impossible for her to truly understand what the common people desired.

…

After they left the Lin residence, it was nearly dusk.

The orange sunset bathed the ground, exuding warmth.

On the way, Li Li encountered a few Night Guards who, for some reason, shouted loudly upon seeing her: “Leader!”

Their roars left her inexplicably baffled.

Afterward, the onlookers lining the streets displayed expressions that Li Li found strange.

Some silently stepped aside, casting looks of respect.

Others rushed forward, shouting, “City Lord, you’re our new City Lord,” only to be escorted away by the Night Guards.

It was as if Li Li were some peerless hero, returning in triumph.

This situation left Li Li somewhat bewildered, utterly bewildered.

“Little Red?” She pointed at the row of commoners standing at the street’s edge, bowing to her, and turned to An Heyu.

She had been fighting in District 13 the whole time, believing she hadn’t done anything significant, so whatever was happening outside could only be related to An Heyu.

Li Li suspected An Heyu had done something odd behind her back.

An Heyu’s lips curled slightly before quickly flattening, and he said, “They’re probably just admiring your charm.”

Did he think she’d believe that nonsense?

Li Li gave him a skeptical look: Did she look that easy to fool?

Alright, she admitted she did think she was pretty charming.

Ranmu City needed rebuilding, and Li Li had no intention of having Dan reverse time directly.

In short, she didn’t plan to intervene, letting the original residents rebuild their homes themselves.

The last ray of dusk illuminated the scarred land.

At that moment, she heard a familiar voice.

“Help!”

A familiar figure rushed toward her, and Dan, by her side, immediately stepped in front of her, his eyes darkening instantly.

Li Li saw the final streak of orange light and golden hair that seemed to shimmer.

And after the sun fully set, the dull gold that remained once the light vanished.

The golden-haired youth ran as if fleeing for his life, pursued by a large dog-goose flapping its wings, snapping at him.

Upon seeing Li Li, he opened his crimson eyes.

As the last trace of light faded, in the darkness of the night, two pairs of crimson eyes met for an instant.

The black-haired youth stood in place, a mask-like smile on their lips.

The golden-haired youth ran, dodging the dog-goose, eyes wide.

But that moment seemed to freeze, stretching endlessly.

Then time resumed its flow.

An Heyu grabbed the dog-goose by its long neck, lifting it, while the golden-haired youth slammed on the brakes, stopping before Dan, who glared menacingly.

He said to Li Li: “Haven’t I seen you in a dream?”

It was Yu Xiao, who was supposed to be in Zhusheng City.

…

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