Chapter 63: Allegiance
It was Heige.
At the final moment, arriving here with that familiar smile, a silver-white arc flashed, once again severing Qu Yan’s head.
Just like at the square in broad daylight—clean, swift, ending everything in an instant.
Qu Yan’s offense and defense couldn’t operate simultaneously; the moment his head was cut, his attack ceased.
An Heyu stood behind the naturally falling red liquid, looking up, dazed, at the figure behind the second-floor railing.
At the same time, Qu Yan, reduced to just a head, widened his eyes, bloodshot veins spreading across the whites.
His ability kept him alive, blood threads connecting at the severed edge, as if he could reattach his head at will.
But in that moment, he forgot to reconnect his head, instead letting out a cry of disbelief, uttering a name that shouldn’t have been here.
“Heige?!”
He writhed under the hand restraining him, his hair becoming disheveled, but his bloodshot eyes still strained upward, as if trying to see the one holding him clearly.
Qu Yan’s voice nearly broke. “No, impossible! You should be dead!”
Captured by his ability’s energy, killed by his ability, bleeding out—that’s how it should have been!
His infallible S-rank ability couldn’t fail.
His proud capital, his ability to deal death with a wave of his hand, couldn’t be wrong!
“Why are you still alive?! You shouldn’t be alive!” He refused to accept it, shaking his head frantically. “Is it an undead?! An undead controlled by the Scavenger?!”
Li Li, the one questioned, merely chuckled, lifting the head to let it face downward.
Those crimson pupils met An Heyu’s, the smile on her lips seemingly unchanged.
So brazen, so unrestrained, as if victory was firmly in her grasp.
Nothing could defeat her.
“Let him see,” Li Li said, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly under the silver-white mask. “Who he killed during the day.”
“What do you mean?” Qu Yan’s eyes darted, trying to look at the youth behind him.
An Heyu let out a soft sigh, as if conceding to her yet again.
In an instant, a nearly destroyed undead appeared before Qu Yan—purple reddish hair like his, somewhat similar features, but a body contorted in extreme fear and agony.
It was Qu Ran, who had come to Four-Way City with him but had gone off to hunt on his own.
“The one you killed during the day was him,” the voice behind him said cheerfully.
Qu Yan understood.
From start to finish, he’d been played by this person!
The one he killed was his own kin; what he saw was merely the youth smiling, covering his eyes with a hand, and weaving an illusion.
And he had stood on the stage, like a clown, killing his own cousin, believing himself triumphant.
The low, husky laughter in his ears seemed laced with mockery.
The red threads tightly connecting his head to his body trembled, Qu Yan’s nose flaring and contracting rapidly.
He wanted to deliver a fatal blow to the youth who had brought him endless humiliation, but he couldn’t!
His mighty S-rank ability still had limits—he couldn’t attack before healing his severed head, or he’d lose his anchor and die instantly!
Surging red threads sprouted from the severed edge, stitching the wound like needle and thread.
But the youth holding his head still wore that casual smile, releasing her grip.
As if abandoning a meaningless restraint, knowing she couldn’t cut those threads.
“Kill you, kill you!”
The moment Qu Yan’s head returned to his body, he turned, ready to make this youth who’d made a fool of him pay.
But the instant his head was stitched, a silver-white arc flashed.
The freshly sewn flesh tore apart again, the black-haired youth’s slightly lowered eyes filled with cold indifference.
“I’m still here,” Li Li said slowly.
She raised her leg, her slender limb delivering a forward kick, the long boot striking Qu Yan’s body.
The next moment, the railing snapped, and the body, along with the broken wood, fell to An Heyu’s feet below.
The red threads stretched in the air, blood droplets splattering.
Above, Li Li looked down, casually holding the head.
“Mr. An,” she said, her tone still light and carefree, the final syllable drawn out, as if carrying some hidden meaning.
But she didn’t say “noble sir.” She said “Mr. An.”
She was addressing An Heyu as an individual, stripped of his noble facade.
And An Heyu realized this.
He looked up, meeting those crimson eyes.
“Have you thought it through this time?” Li Li asked.
An Heyu’s golden eyes seemed to cloud slightly, his lips pressed tightly, as if trying to see through the person before him completely.
Was it a human, a demon, or the Mephistopheles who lured Faust into the abyss?
Qu Yan, his head severed again, was still ranting. “Impossible, this is impossible! You’re mid-rank? You can’t be mid-rank!”
As if Heige being high-rank could salvage his nonexistent pride.
He berated An Heyu. “The Former Ability Guild can’t have high-ranks! You hid it from the empire! Scavenger, it was you who spread false information, making us think Heige was mid-rank!”
“You betrayed the empire!”
But the red-haired youth below, who should have cared about those words, seemed not to hear them at all.
He only lowered his head, looking at the wreckage, at the red blood that had nearly killed him.
Then he looked up again, at the devil who always smiled.
Qu Yan’s existence seemed insignificant now, the world’s most vivid color reduced to that deep, unfathomable black.
That was a vortex, an abyss, a madness suppressed to the extreme.
"Heige, every time I felt you were just using me, you always managed to make me feel like you saw me as a companion." A bitter smile appeared at the corner of my mouth, An Heyu said, "Huyu’s matter, Qu Yan’s matter, Yue Qing’s matter, it seemed everything was within your plan, and then you took this vast plan to give me a trial, to make me make a choice."
The black-haired youth above had curved brows and eyes, neither refuting his words nor agreeing.
Faking death, the banquet, the request to protect my younger brother, Qu Yan’s sudden attack.
Perhaps it should be traced back earlier, to that morning, when Heige said those words to me.
These events, one by one, were like weaving a giant spider web, enveloping my body and mind, firmly trapping me.
Choice? That was no longer a choice.
"I never had a choice." I said, "Four years ago, and now too."
I had thoroughly understood how wrong my mistakes were, how laughable my so-called protection was.
There were no other choices left.
But it was as if I had put down some heavy burden, learning from Li Li to show a relaxed smile: "You were right. I couldn’t take Huyu with me on this path."
"You were lonely, and so was I." I said, "But thank you."
For giving me this opportunity, letting me shatter my self-righteous fantasy of family reunion, of having my closest kin by my side.
In the orange candlelight, a family gathered around the table, laughing through the festival called reunion—those days could never return.
And I should truly look forward, precisely for those irretrievable pasts, I should move forward.
Following that youth above who never retreated, radical and mad but fearless, firmly advancing.
My long boots stepped back half a step, and I, An Heyu, half-knelt.
My red hair fell across my cheeks, I straightened my chest, my hand placed over my heart.
Then I said: "From now on, I am your rear guard, I am your tool, I am the army charging behind you as you advance."
"Heige, I pledge my loyalty to you." I closed my eyes, but felt nothing was clearer than this moment, "Please become the banner leading me forward, guiding my direction."
I said: "This is my choice."
At that moment, the space seemed to contract, the distance between above and below seemed to vanish.
Only my steady, powerful voice remained in the space, echoing as if it lingered.
Li Li on the high platform finally let out a soft laugh, stepping forward, standing at the edge of the shattered platform.
"A rational choice." She praised.
Then she loosened her hand, letting go of Qu Yan’s head, which kept struggling but was as useless as a deflated ball, falling into the space between above and below.
"Two hundred meters north, Yue Qing’s body is there." That voice seemed to anticipate something, encourage something.
Li Li looked down at me, An Heyu, the smile on her lips deepening: "I give you a knife. Use this knife to complete your first revenge."
In an instant, blood threads erupted from Qu Yan’s head, connecting it to his body.
A golden halo expanded in the domain, precisely locating that still-warm body.
Analysis, manipulation.
Qu Yan’s body was stitched together, his eyes bulging as he swung his palm: "Traitor!"
Red threads surged, instantly reaching me!
Golden ripples fluctuated, a man with deep blue hair appeared in the hall.
Ice spread, freezing the red threads, suspending them in the air.
"What!" Qu Yan stepped back.
He had no idea Yue Qing’s ability could do this!
It was his natural counter!
But it was too late.
I, the red-haired youth, gripped an ice knife, sidestepping to his side.
Pierce, sever.
The cold penetrated his head, the chill spreading, freezing his blood, fixing his expression in that moment of panic, utterly devoid of aristocratic grace.
"Then I’ll be a traitor." I said.
The next second, the head fell to the ground, rolling to my feet and I, the red-haired youth, dropped the ice knife, picked up the head.
Then I half-knelt, offering the head to the person above.
"What you wanted." I said.
Then, under Li Li’s half-smiling expression, I couldn’t help but add: "But this thing really has no collectible value, Heige, can you not actually take it?"
Li Li was amused.
Mother hen was still that Mother hen, but at this moment, as she looked down and met my golden eyes.
I had severed my hesitation, my past, and willingly walked toward the future she had planned.
"I don’t really like it either." She said.
The milk tea was safe.
She reached out, snapping her fingers.
A long knife appeared in the air, piercing the head.
The next moment, the long knife carried the head out of the open ruins, flying toward the now azure sky.
Then it pierced into the flock of white doves, startling the white doves of ‘Heart’ Square.
Nailing the head she said she would take, into the place where she said those words.