Chapter 28, 2-in-1 extra update
The red-haired youth looked like he might faint from anger, his mouth twitching several times before he steadied his expression.
But the boy was set on his choice, running up to Li Li and saying, “Hey, will you take the job? Money’s no issue.”
Li Li’s gaze swept over the nobles’ faces, then she gave a slight nod.
She’d been worrying about needing to rack up points to approach nobles as a formidable bounty hunter.
Now, the opportunity had come knocking.
Li Li certainly wouldn’t refuse.
With the blue-haired man egging things on, the red-haired youth soon had no choice but to begrudgingly accept.
"Protect him well." His attitude toward Li Li shifted back to arrogance and affectation, as if only the red-haired youth could draw a different expression from him. "You wouldn't want to know the consequences of angering a noble."
Li Li brushed past him without so much as a glance.
What infuriated the red-haired youth even more was that the red-haired boy simply ran out after her, ignoring him as well.
The blue-haired man nearby let out a snort, as if watching a joke unfold.
The red-haired youth took a deep breath and gestured to the people behind him: "Follow them. Don't get noticed."
His golden eyes fixed on the Ability Guild's entrance.
After his subordinates chased after them, he slowly reverted to his usual proud and composed demeanor.
"Seen enough of the show? If you're done, let's talk about what you want to do," he said to the blue-haired man beside him. "Yue Qing."
At that, a trace of impatience flickered across the blue-haired man's stern face, though it quickly faded.
...
After leaving the Ability Guild, the red-haired boy began throwing his young master tantrum: "Hey, you're just someone I dragged along to deal with my brother. A mere commoner. Don't get in my way later!"
Li Li ignored him.
Inwardly, she found it amusing.
The boy hadn't even noticed he was simply following her lead, completely dictated by her direction.
《Extreme Black and White》 hadn't yet touched on nobles in its current serialization, so Li Li had no clue which family the boy belonged to or what his background was.
He was just so straightforward that deceiving him felt like it lacked any sense of accomplishment.
After walking some distance, she said: "Someone's tracking us."
The past few days of intense training had paid off.
Though Li Li wasn't a professional bounty hunter, she could still pick up on the traces of being followed.
"As expected! He just won't let me go out alone! Liar! Control freak!" The red-haired boy first cursed his brother, then ordered Li Li imperiously: "Hey, help me lose them!"
Li Li sighed inwardly, then grabbed the red-haired boy by the collar and hoisted him up.
"Hey, wait, what are you doing!" The boy barely opened his mouth before a gust of wind choked him. "This is so uncomfortable!"
To the uniformed men chasing them, it looked like the person ahead suddenly grabbed the young master's collar.
Then a cloud of smoke spread out. By the time they hurriedly caught up, the two had vanished from the spot.
By then, Li Li had set down her burden.
Arms crossed, she leaned against a sturdy, withered tree nearby, watching the red-haired boy dry-heave on the ground.
"..." After a while, the red-haired boy looked up, teary-eyed, and said: "Couldn't you be gentler?"
Li Li gazed at him coldly.
Her eyes were a fiery scarlet, but the pendant in her black hair was an icy blue, swaying as if emanating the same chill as her cold interior.
Just moments ago, Li Li had tested it—Illusory Reality could be used directly on the boy.
She had employed her ability to swiftly shake off their pursuers.
This boy wasn't an ability user of a higher rank than her.
Low-rank? Low-rank nobles were rare. Was he from a branch clan? Li Li analyzed.
The red-haired boy, leaning against the wall, stood up. Seeming to have recovered, he said: "Did we lose those guys?"
Li Li gave a slight nod.
"Then you can leave," the red-haired boy said, puffing out his chest. "I'll handle the rest myself. I can do it alone!"
"Do you know where this is?" Li Li asked.
The red-haired boy turned and walked off without a care.
Li Li didn't follow. She watched him coldly as he left, heading toward the next alley.
This was the outskirts of Four-Way City, the most chaotic part of the city.
It was here that she had completed her first bounty mission.
Wanted criminals often appeared here, and hunting and killing were common.
Beyond that, underground organizations roamed, picking out homeless humans and selling them to research institutes.
Some institutes took in both ability users and non-ability users, like the "Twinborn" she was investigating.
She wouldn't completely abandon him—after all, she had shown her face in front of his brother.
If something happened, this identification card would be useless. But she was curious about the source of this boy's reckless confidence, what made a low-rank think he could take on an SSS-rank bounty.
As the SSS-rank wanted criminal herself, she was very interested.
...
In the desolate, dilapidated outskirts, An Huyu first walked forward nonchalantly.
But as he kept passing vagrants curled up in corners and wanderers eyeing him with menacing gazes, his chest shrank slightly.
After shrinking, he mustered his courage and turned around: "What are you looking at!"
The wanderer he shouted at slowly looked away, giving An Huyu a fleeting sense of victory.
After walking for who-knows-how-long, An Huyu looked at the sun beginning to set and finally realized something was wrong: "Where is this?"
He was getting tired. He wanted to lean against a wall but ended up with a hand covered in dirt and grime.
"Hey? Are you there?" The quiet surroundings made him lower his voice instinctively.
Then he heard footsteps.
As he turned around with a hint of excitement, he saw three completely unfamiliar men.
They were much taller and bulkier than him, dressed in matching blue robes.
Their exposed arms were strong and muscular, bulging with strength.
They looked down at him with the eyes of predators sizing up prey.
They were closing in on him.
An Huyu took a step back, his entire back pressed against the dusty, grimy wall that made him uncomfortable.
"W-What do you want?" An Huyu's voice trembled.
He looked around, despairingly realizing there was no one else in sight.
No, there was someone.
At the corner to his right, a vagrant lay.
Hearing the commotion, they glanced over, then closed their eyes as if nothing had happened, seemingly falling back asleep.
Isolated and helpless, it was as if all the people worth relying on in this world had vanished.
But these three people seemed to belong to an organization with strict rules; they did not respond to An Huyu’s words.
What to do?!
An Huyu, stiffening his neck, said, “I’m warning you! I’m a noble! My big brother is an S-rank ability user! Even if he’s not here, he could kill you all in an instant!”
But to his despair, the three remained silent, offering no reaction to his words.
It was as if they came from a rigidly disciplined organization, and the three of them were merely tools.
“I’m not an ability user; capturing me is useless,” he said, nearly crying.
But the three still pressed him down with cold ruthlessness.
One of them, wearing white gloves, held a needle with a syringe filled with a transparent, unknown liquid.
Two of them easily restrained An Huyu, while the other aimed the needle at his neck.
The needle drew closer.
An Huyu’s head was held in place, unable even to turn.
An Huyu opened his mouth in near despair, and at that moment, he saw a silver-white light.
A sudden, silver-white light.
The warm orange sunset illuminated the blade, its sleek lines flashing before his eyes.
Like a swimming dragon, or the beautiful, dazzling charm of a cold weapon.
It seemed to radiate boundless chill, diving down from the sky behind.
An Huyu saw brilliant light.
From the blade, he saw himself, his golden pupils reflecting the glow, his face a mix of tears and astonishment.
The sound of breaking wind rang in his ears, and in the next instant, it pierced through the shoulder of the man still holding the needle, pinning him to the wall behind.
“Shua shua!”
At the same time, two other long blades arrived, pinning the three men neatly to the wall.
When the dust settled, it seemed only a second had passed.
An Huyu looked up.
He saw the black-haired youth he had casually pointed to, standing on the wall, looking down, his slender eyelashes framing crimson pupils devoid of sorrow or joy.
As the wind blew, a cold-colored pendant swayed lightly among his black hair, a blue halo seeming to spread onto the pale skin of his neck.
In the next instant, twelve more long blades appeared behind the youth.
An Huyu, as if sensing something, turned his head and saw the approaching blue-robed figures.
Clearly, he had stumbled into the territory of an organization, and now they were trapped in the enemy’s encirclement.
“To form an organization in Four-Way City, there’d be at least one A-rank…” An Huyu recalled his brother’s words.
An Huyu turned, wanting to shout to run—they weren’t his brother; facing an A-rank, they’d be like the weakest ants!
But when he saw the youth, he froze.
The youth remained indifferent, looking down, as if he hadn’t heard An Huyu’s words.
Under the orange-yellow light, the glint of the blade tips was strikingly bright.
They lined up behind the youth, who merely raised his hand casually.
On his stern face, the scarlet red seemed layered with black sludge, his pupils darkening, gradually merging into that darkness.
Like a demon walking the earth, and now the demon had found his prey.
The hand wearing fingerless gloves, with five slender and powerful fingers, swung downward.
And with that small motion,
In an instant, the arcs of the long blades flashed, obeying their master’s command, clearing the obstacles before the youth.
Crushing, complete crushing.
An Huyu watched silver-white fish swimming in a deep blue ocean, watched threads of red lines set against the red clouds on the horizon.
Dust rose, and as the haze cleared, the crimson sunset shone on the earth, revealing who had claimed victory.
It was the youth standing at the highest point, coldly observing them.
An Huyu looked up, the orange-red sunset glow falling on the youth’s face, as if lending him the vitality of the living.
Yet the ice-blue pendant still gleamed coldly, swaying lightly among his black hair.
Like unchanging, stagnant water.
“Hey…” An Huyu spoke, looking up, slowing his words, “What’s your name?”
His pupils reflected the youth and the sunset behind him.
“Can you be my exclusive bodyguard?” he said excitedly.
A powerful one, able to take him away from his brother’s control.
A strong one, able to stand against his S-rank brother!
He hadn’t expected the youth he’d casually chosen to be so powerful; a surge of impulse collided in his chest.
He wanted to become someone this powerful too!
If he were this strong, couldn’t he defeat anyone—Heige, illusionists, anyone?
But the youth said coldly, “The game is over.”
As if saying a childish game had ended, and now he should return home, back under his brother’s wing.
Those crimson pupils were utterly cold, just as this person had always been.
“You think I’m messing around too?!” An Huyu said in disbelief.
The filter of being saved cracked instantly, and he shouted, “No! I’m going to catch Heige!”
Under the sunset, he stubbornly raised his head, “I’m going to use this to prove to those people I’m not a failure!”
“You can’t do it,” the youth said flatly.
A non-ability user, only alive safely under his brother’s protection—that was what others in noble circles said of An Huyu.
But at this moment, he desperately didn’t want such words to come from this person’s mouth.
“Don’t deny me, don’t…” His voice carried a sob, tears welling in his eyes, “Don’t think just because you’re strong, you can deny my life!”
“You can’t do it,” the youth repeated.
The tears he’d been holding back burst forth.
An Huyu’s vision blurred completely; he knew he must look pathetic, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
Just when he was nearly despairing, in a haze, that black figure seemed to leap down from the wall, landing steadily beside him.
“Then what do you want to do?” I heard the youth’s voice.
Sobbing and speaking haltingly, I said, “I-I may not have abilities, but Heige is from the Former Ability Guild. I heard they’re kind to low-rank and ordinary people. I’ll get close to him, then, then stab him.”
“Perfectly using my constitution, even as a non-ability user, I can succeed!” I felt this plan was extremely feasible.
…
“…”
Hearing this, Li Li slowly let out a, “Heh.”
A genius, this boy?
What kind of mutation occurred in a person’s brain to come up with such a ridiculous idea?
“Right! It’ll definitely work!” An Huyu, completely missing the sarcasm, looked at me with a dependent gaze, as if waiting for my approval. “Big brother wouldn’t even listen to my plan; he underestimates me!”
Li Li silently watched the crying, dirt-streaked young master before me, who now looked at me with that filtered gaze because his ideas were heard.
But before I acted, I saw golden-yellow light spreading outward from the city center—likely the S-rank brother he mentioned.
His brother was indeed protecting him.
If I hadn’t intervened, his brother would have saved him.
A boy so well-protected by his brother, compared to Yiming, who had to fight alone early on.
As expected, I still preferred Yiming.
I grabbed the boy’s collar, and amid his crying and howling, brought him to the city center.
Then I scanned the street.
A few minutes later, the sniffling young master held a black cat-shaped balloon, wiping his tears.
He seemed to have never seen such a thing, tying the string to his wrist, cherishing it.
And so, this noble young master was bought off by a cheap balloon.
“I know you’re right. Brother and Yue Qing said Heige is likely the one foretold by the prophet, the one who could topple the empire. How could someone like that be caught by me?” He began reflecting.
“But I, I, wuu wuu wuu.” His tears hadn’t stopped. “I don’t want to always be a useless burden, wuu wuu.”
Li Li walked ahead with a cold face, saying, “Yue Qing?”
I was actually quite interested in prophets, but the greatest threat to me now was someone connected to Yue Lan.
This young master had no guard against me, casually spilling what should be confidential information.
“Yue Qing, the one from earlier, the S-rank Yue clan leader, always preaching about noble demeanor—so annoying. But he’s not even a true noble!” He stopped crying, growing indignant.
“He rose by betraying the Former Ability Guild. What right does he have to act noble!”
“…Betrayal?” Li Li’s expression didn’t change, but I blinked slowly, inwardly surprised.
In the manga world, the sudden upheaval in the Ability Guild six years ago was shrouded in mystery.
Commoners had no chance to learn about it unless they were involved.
I glanced at the young master, who was hugging the balloon, poking the black cat’s face.
I’d really found the right person.
Suddenly, the young master looked up, as if realizing something, and said to Li Li, “Right! Yue Qing is a traitor, so Heige will definitely target him!”
He tugged at my sleeve, saying, “Quick, quick, let’s find Yue Qing, then ambush Heige and catch him!”
Li Li looked at the hand pulling my sleeve.
Was there a chance, I wondered, that the young master had already caught Heige?
Thinking this, I showed nothing on my face, only asking, “Where to?”
When An Huyu gave Yue Qing’s residence, Li Li stopped.
“Why’d you stop?” An Huyu asked, puzzled, but when he looked up from the balloon, he saw his brother standing at the Ability Guild entrance, glaring at him.
“What were you doing?!” The red-haired youth, An Heyu, strode down, questioning him.
The boy, like a lit powder keg, started arguing with his brother, showing no trace of his earlier tearful state.
Clearly, they couldn’t communicate calmly. Li Li stood aside, uninvolved.
I was just that cold and ruthless now.
Their conflicting words were, to me, a good thing.
Then I glanced at the sky.
It had turned completely dark, past seven o’clock.
Li Li didn’t wait for their argument to end and left the Ability Guild.
I figured, if everyone thought Heige would target Yue Qing, wouldn’t it be a pity if I didn’t go?
Yue Qing, S-rank, betrayer of the Former Ability Guild, now a noble.
Thinking this, I turned into a small alley.
Pedestrians and lights were left behind as I walked into deep darkness.
In this blackness, only the cold moonlight shone down.
In that moonlight, the hand wearing black fingerless gloves snapped lightly in the air.
A silver-white half-mask appeared in my hand, covering the left eye, still red from releasing my ability.
The black coat fluttered in the night breeze, then suddenly transformed top-down into a light black trench coat, hanging by my calves.
The ice-blue earring vanished among my hair. Under the silver-edged mask, a smile suddenly bloomed on that cold face.
Time to test the results of my recent training.
…
Late at night, five minutes to midnight.
Yue Qing, after arguing with An Heyu during the day, had been frowning.
Still sleepless, he stood on the small balcony, gazing at the moon.
At that moment, the lights in the house suddenly went out.
The darkness enveloped this place.
In the villa located in the suburbs, there seemed to be no one, and the only sound in my ears was the wind, faint, the sound of the evening breeze.
The wind lifted the gauze curtains on both sides of the small balcony, the thin gauze rising, as if through a layer of gauze I could see the silver-white moon outside the window.
A moon emitting a cold halo in the night sky.
At that moment, Yue Qing seemed to realize something and turned around.
In the dim interior, the moonlight stretched and extended, drawing a dark shadow into its glow.
I saw a strange youth, uninvited, sitting on my sofa stool, his long legs propped on the coffee table, his face turned sideways, looking at me with the red eyes not covered by his mask.
The black-haired youth brazenly appeared right in front of me, leisurely and carefree.
“Who?” Yue Qing asked, frowning.
As an S-rank, it had been a long time since I had faced such provocation, but the moment I asked, a name surfaced in my mind.
“You know,” the youth suddenly said, “my name.”
He seemed to see through what I was thinking, those crimson pupils as if they could peer into my heart.
At the same time, the youth slightly curled his lips, adopting a casual posture, his low, magnetic voice saying, “I heard someone put a bounty on me.”
He was smiling: “Was it you?”
In an instant, a cold wind poured into the room, and the silver-white moonlight at the horizon was shrouded by clouds.
Yue Qing suddenly trembled all over.
It was him, the one from the Former Ability Guild’s prophet’s words—Heige!