Chapter 32: The Person Next to You Is Heige
It was past 1 a.m., but I wasn’t sleepy at all, so I kept browsing the forum.
[Artist, is this an epic buff for the villain boss?]
1L Original Poster
After the update, I’m already mourning for Little Corgi. Heige is so hard to kill.
2L
I get it. Who knows if you’re killing a phantom? This is too OP.
3L
Illusionist fighting style is so eerie. Gotta say, concept-type lives up to its name.
I used to think the forum’s four major ability types were nonsense, but now, I was wrong.
Concept-type is terrifying!
4L
Is Heige really A-rank? Really?
I don’t buy it.
5L
Concept-type abilities are unique, makes sense.
Look, Heige didn’t actually kill the S-rank in the end. Maybe he couldn’t.
6L
The knife was at his neck, and he couldn’t kill? You joking?
7L
Here we go again. Power-scalers, have at it.
I’m grabbing a bench to watch the show [front-row-melon-eating.jpg].
…
[PBC doujin, Heige is my wife!]
1L Original Poster
Quick sketch of my wife in casual clothes!
[picture.jpg]
2L
Buy it now!!
3L
Godly artist! That speed is unreal!
4L
Ahhhh I suddenly got the villain’s charm today, who understands!
5L
Heige’s fashion sense is on point today too!
slurp slurp
6L
Squirming, I wanna see Heige’s wardrobe.
Preferably trying on each piece for me hehehe.
7L
Y’all in front drunk or what?
Heige’s clearly asking me what I want him to wear today!
…
[Found a small detail on my second read of the new chapter!]
1L Original Poster
[bird’s-eye-view.jpg]
Look at this panorama of the frost spread. Doesn’t the upper right corner look familiar?
2L
Holy crap, the observation deck the twins took Little Corgi to in the first half?
3L
This is Four-Way City???
4L
Brilliant! Yiming’s in Four-Way City, Heige’s in Four-Way City—this plot development is brilliant.
5L
I’m sensing malice from the artist.
With today’s update, all I see is Heige being OP. Little Corgi beating him? No way!
6L
Heige probably won’t go offline so soon. That power level’s right there.
Mid-to-late-game big villain, I bet.
7L
Poor Li fans, getting overshadowed by a villain.
8L
Kind people always get hurt. I’ve reached enlightenment.
…
[Nobody digging into the connection between Yue Qing and that A-rank from before?]
1L Original Poster
Out of nowhere, the focus shifts to Heige. There’s gotta be a foreshadow.
2L
Yue Qing’s obviously a noble. That A-rank Heige killed was probably from his clan.
It’s obvious—hair color, ability.
3L
It’s been mentioned before: nobles’ abilities come in two types—bloodline-inherited and self-awakened.
Some long-standing noble families see plundering as inferior, so they forbid direct bloodlines from doing it.
Ignoring bloodline inheritance, for self-awakened abilities, it’s common for spell-type and mimicry-type abilities to be similar among relatives.
4L
Heige…
Killed the younger one and now coming for the older one?
Classic Heige.
5L
He’s just a bloodthirsty mad dog. I don’t get what’s so likable about him.
6L
The other thread figured out Heige’s in Four-Way City, meaning Yue Qing’s influence definitely covers Four-Way City.
Qing Yu Chen could hire that A-rank, so there’s gotta be a network connection. Now Heige’s targeting Yue Qing.
Feels like Heige’s got a purpose.
7L
Have you all forgotten what Heige said when he first appeared?
Yue Qing put a bounty on him, so he came for Yue Qing. That’s the timeline.
8L
Crap, Heige’s aura is so strong, I instinctively thought he was the one stirring things up…
9L
What, Heige wasn’t the one starting trouble?!
10L
Heige didn’t start it?! But look how gleeful he is—how could he not be the instigator!
11L
Ask Yue Qing if he was scared when he saw Heige.
…
After this update, Heige’s popularity clearly spiked, but I figured it might be because Li was absent for two chapters.
It’s normal for manga characters to lose popularity when they don’t appear.
The newly minted Heige fans and Li fans were escalating their flame wars, while the shippers pairing them were caught in the crossfire, trembling.
I browsed a bit and found a post that piqued my interest.
[Rational analysis: what are the roles of Heige and Li?]
1L Original Poster
I hadn’t mentioned it before, but I’ve been thinking since the chapter where ahoge Li died.
First, it’s revealed that ahoge Li has multiple abilities and a mysterious background.
Then, poof, he’s gone. His story ended without even unfolding.
Is that normal? No way!
2L Original Poster
This update seems like Heige stirring trouble, but if you think about it, it ties back to Qing Tong, and Qing Tong ties to ahoge Li.
Most importantly, when Heige debuted, he was after Tang.
But he killed ahoge Li, toyed with Little Corgi, and left.
Don’t you find that odd?
3L Original Poster
Heige’s clearly positioned as a villain, but before ahoge Li died, he felt more like a male co-lead than cannon fodder.
I’ve never seen cannon fodder with such a stylish setup.
4L
I used to think Heige was just doing whatever he wanted, but now that you mention it, it does seem…
5L
Wahhh, ahoge Li, thinking about him makes me sad.
6L
Makes sense.
From Li holding the line to his death, it was too quick.
But the manga clearly shows Heige killed Li.
Honestly, when he was humming while chasing Li, I was so pissed.
Such a villainous villain. No redeeming him.
…
72L Original Poster
Heige directly confronts the protagonist—definite villain role.
But is ahoge Li a male co-lead or just cannon fodder?
His background will definitely unfold later, but in what way?
The people tied to him—besides clueless Yiming and Tang—are Qing Yu Chen and Heige, who killed him.
When I reread the manga, I noticed Qing Yu Chen’s description of Li.
[manga-screenshot.jpg]
Qing Yu Chen said: You don’t even know who Li is.
The water’s deep here.
73L
Hearing you say that, I’m starting to conspiracy-theorize.
Resurrections aren’t rare in shonen manga, especially with ahoge Li’s high popularity.
Is it possible he could come back?
74L
I want Li to live too!
Why kill off a high-popularity character?!
75L
Li fans, I believe, I really believe!
…
The discussion in this thread was on point, but I felt it was still far from unmasking me.
Why else would I create a new alias if not to cover for dropping my disguise too early!
It was late, so I rubbed my sleepy eyes and turned off my phone.
Time to sleep; I had things to do tomorrow.
…
[Data updated, total popularity value: 20,182.]
[Preparing for traversal.]
[Passage opened. Wishing you to become a high-popularity character, bringing new vitality to the manga.]
…
Today, Heart-Sealed, Love-Locked Li Baige was continuing her bounty-clearing routine.
Ever since Yue Qing’s encounter with Heige, the atmosphere in the Ability Guild had grown noticeably tense.
In the manga world, the tech tree leaned heavily into biotech, but only the upper nobles enjoyed its benefits.
The most direct sign of this tension, to Li Li, was the number and quality of bodyguards trailing the young noble An Huyu.
His brother had assigned two high-quality android bodyguards to protect him, but the young noble, still sulking from a spat with his brother, felt like he was being watched.
In the manga world, androids were like meticulously crafted machines for the nobles.
They came in all shapes—some resembling youths, others children—but each was a combat-ready ability machine.
No matter their appearance, An Huyu didn’t like them.
“They’re always watching me; I can’t go anywhere!” An Huyu tilted his head at a 45-degree angle toward me, as if hoping I’d notice the glint of tears in his eyes.
I thought this young noble was quite skilled at playing pitiful.
If he used that expression on his brother, they wouldn’t be at odds, neither listening to the other.
But I wasn’t his brother or sister—I was an aloof lone wolf.
So I ignored him completely, giving him a glance before turning to leave.
“Wait for me, Baige!” The young noble stuck to me again.
Perhaps because these bodyguards were so capable, his brother An Heyu hadn’t ordered him to stop tagging along with me.
And compared to letting An Huyu keep making a fuss about finding Heige, An Heyu might prefer him hanging out with a mid-rank bounty hunter.
With my ability upgraded, its duration had improved too.
Maintaining a false appearance for two or three days no longer made me dizzy.
I treated An Huyu like a little tagalong.
My act as a ‘spell-type ability user’ was flawless—even Le Caille thought I was spell-type.
I wasn’t afraid of onlookers.
I buried myself in my bounty missions, while An Huyu watched from the sidelines, occasionally letting out “So awesome!” praises.
“My brother and the others can’t find where Heige is,” An Huyu said, obsessed with tracking Heige down. “They suspect Heige isn’t using his real face.”
Illusion turned to reality, and a long blade sliced a silver-white arc through the air, pinning my bounty target to the wall through his shoulder the next second.
My face remained cold, as if I hadn’t heard An Huyu.
“There’s no one in Four-Way City with an ability to counter illusions. They’ve checked every illusion-related ability user in the Ability Guild, but Heige’s not among them,” An Huyu said, unbothered by his brother’s failure, even seeing it as a good thing. “So they’re completely stuck, waiting for Heige to show himself. This is our chance!”
“If we find Heige before they do, we win!” He clenched his fists, brimming with confidence.
My expression unchanged, I controlled the blade to drag the bounty target back.
Silly kid, still looking? Heige’s right beside you.
By now, the sky had darkened, the sun casting its last rays in the west before sinking into darkness.
I walked ahead, An Huyu close behind, followed by a long trail of bodyguards.
“Baige, what’s that?” An Huyu suddenly pointed ahead.
Ahead was a plaza, colorful neon lights strung on lampposts and greenery.
Under the vibrant lights, a crowd gathered, seemingly preparing unique food, the aroma wafting far, laughter carrying even farther.
“A festival,” I said.
It was clearly a celebration, but as an outsider, I had no idea what it was for.
“Baige, let’s check it out!” An Huyu was brimming with interest, but I ignored him, planning to cut through the plaza to the Ability Guild as usual.
Red, blue, and yellow lights twinkled like scattered stars.
The festive cheers felt distant, since I didn’t even know what they were celebrating.
Just then, I spotted a familiar shade of blue.
In the crowded throng, a goofy-looking boy squeezed out, his deep blue eyes lifting to meet my dead, crimson gaze.
It was Yiming.