Chapter 67: Do Names Ever Repeat in the Manga World?
Since this was where the dream began, a classic reenactment was a must.
In broad daylight, the casino entrance was empty, the wooden door tightly shut.
Whether Hua Yizhi was inside was unknown, but outside, Li Li already wore a mischievous grin.
“You’ve got that look like you’re about to cause trouble,” An Heyu couldn’t help but say.
Li Li waved her hand, “How could this be called trouble?”
At this moment, Li Li needed no shop, no props.
She could now freely roam the domain of a C-rank ability user like Hua Yizhi.
Having transformed from an ordinary person and a fake A-rank into a true A-rank, she stood before the wooden door with a completely different mindset, then raised her leg.
“I’m clearly delivering warmth,” she said.
As her words fell, her long boot whipped up a sharp gust, connecting with the wooden door.
Unlike last time, the wooden door traced a parabola, crashing onto the floor inside, kicking up a cloud of dust.
...
For Hua Yizhi, it hadn’t been long since Heige, Yiming, and the others left Jiao Huang.
He could still get some news from his Tide allies in Four-Way City.
At this moment, he was sipping tea he’d brewed for himself in the morning, holding his long smoking pipe, sitting in that familiar spot, flipping through firsthand information obtained through his channels.
The long smoking pipe trembled unnaturally, and Hua Yizhi’s heart was far from calm.
He was nervous.
The Ability Guild’s bounty on Heige was outdated news.
Hua Yizhi was now focused on the follow-up to the nobles’ recent stunt in Four-Way City, where they’d set up a stage and used a prophet’s head to lure Heige.
It was a blatant mockery of the Former Ability Guild, and it filled him, a veteran of the guild from six years ago, with sorrow.
Familiar faces had turned to bones, yet they were still judged, belittled, and toyed with by those nobles.
It was humiliating, but they could do nothing.
Four-Way City’s acting leader, Rao Yue, was A-rank, one of Tide’s top fighters.
But even so, she had no power to confront S-rank nobles, let alone when there were multiple S-ranks present.
Moreover, Rao Yue was still undercover, using her powers to facilitate their underground operations.
She couldn’t abandon their future for the skull of a fallen predecessor.
That was a regret they could never reclaim, and it was their humiliation at this moment.
But what made Hua Yizhi most anxious wasn’t this.
According to the last message received, Heige was highly likely to have been gravely injured by Qu Yan, with a high probability of dying.
“He’s the leader foretold in the prophecy; he won’t fall here,” Hua Yizhi had declared confidently at the time.
But the opponent was that skull collector, Qu Yan.
Last night, Four-Way City was enveloped in red light, with sharp red threads descending from the sky like lightning, slaughtering recklessly.
Even from Jiao Huang, adjacent to Four-Way City, one could see that red glow on the horizon.
Hua Yizhi knew something major had happened in Four-Way City.
He believed in the prophecy and equally believed in Heige.
So, in last night’s catastrophe, Heige’s presence must have been there, as long as he was still alive.
As long as he was still alive.
Never had he been so nervous about the contents of intelligence.
Hua Yizhi exhaled a smoke ring, set down his long pipe, and opened the cover of the documents.
At that moment—
“Boom!”
The casino’s door was kicked open.
In that instant, Hua Yizhi urgently activated his ability, but it didn’t respond at all.
Dust rose, and sunlight from outside illuminated a dark silhouette.
Long boots lifted through the dust, stepping on the collapsed wooden door.
In a flash, Hua Yizhi seemed to recall that night days ago, the first time he met that person.
“Heige?” he asked instinctively.
Before he could fully react, he was already on his feet, eyes fixed on the doorway.
It wasn’t about repair costs or the repeatedly unfortunate door, but whether this intruder was the one from before.
He heard a light chuckle.
“Is Hua Yizhi here?” a brisk voice called from beyond the dust, followed by the snap of fingers.
“If you’re here, take good care of them.”
Before Hua Yizhi could process the words, right then, above the counter in front of him, ten nutrient tanks appeared in a row.
They materialized out of nowhere, without any basis.
His domain-type ability hadn’t detected a single anomaly.
But Hua Yizhi had no time to care about how someone got so close or why these objects suddenly appeared before him.
Because inside these containers were the skulls of the heroes they wanted to reclaim but could never retrieve!
Not only was Heige perfectly fine, but he had brought them back.
He had taken back their humiliation and returned their heroes to their “homeland.”
“You—” Hua Yizhi didn’t know what to say.
By the time he came to his senses, he was already hunched over, looking at the central skull, sobbing uncontrollably.
He gazed at the central skull, belonging to their spiritual leader, the Prophet.
For the first time, his striking face lost all composure, his features crumpled together.
And the others—those who had once led them, standing at the forefront, guiding them against the nobles and the Empire.
Glistening tears slid down his cheeks, dripping onto the table, leaving dark marks.
But when he wanted to say more, he looked up.
The figure standing against the light had already left.
Just like before, vanishing from his sight.
Yet Hua Yizhi felt the surging emotions in his chest even more intensely.
“Thank you for bringing them back,” his pleasant, melodious voice was now hoarse and trembling. “You, alone—please take care!”
It was as if he were seeing off someone walking resolutely through the dark night, never looking back.
After saying this, he lowered his head.
The wind from outside blew through the broken door, flipping the documents in front of him.
He saw a line in the documents:
Heige killed Qu Yan, nailed Qu Yan’s head in Heart Square, and saved the entire Four-Way City.
“This is our leader, the leader of the prophecy,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips, making his still-tearful face look somewhat disjointed.
But he continued, crying and laughing, “Prophet, your prophecies have never been wrong.”
He said with absolute conviction, “We will surely succeed in letting the light of dawn shine on every city, every piece of land!”
Under their leader’s guidance, they would succeed.
...
After delivering the cumbersome skulls, Li Li and An Heyu had breakfast at a roadside stall in Jiao Huang.
“The squid-pork buns taste pretty good,” Li Li said, picking up a bun with her chopsticks.
Even in his fallen state, An Heyu, still a noble at heart, had never eaten at a street stall.
He took a bite of the bun, examining the filling with curiosity.
“The flavor is unique, chewy, and somewhat strange, but quite delicious.”
While eating breakfast, they discussed their next destination.
“There are over fifty S-rank ability users in the entire Empire, but only ten SS-rank ability users,” An Heyu said. “Six of them are in Floating City. Of the remaining four, one is the lord of Jiao Huang, one is a reclusive elder, one is the patriarch of the Lin clan, residing in their fief, Ranmu City, and the last one’s whereabouts are currently unknown.”
“What about the four noble factions you mentioned before?” Li Li asked.
As she spoke, she looked toward the distant sea.
She hadn’t expected the city lord, capable of transforming into a dragon, to be SS-rank.
She had truly been lucky to manipulate that lord back then.
“Generally, the SS-rank within noble families are the patriarchs, and they reside in Floating City. The patriarchs of the Qu clan, Sang clan, and Feng clan are all in Floating City. Only the Lin clan, for some reason, stays in their subsidiary territory,” An Heyu said, the bun basket before him now empty.
“Hm,” Li Li mused.
“Heige, don’t think about going to Ranmu City,” An Heyu, who had been repeatedly shocked by Li Li’s bold moves, immediately said.
His expression was serious, and he earnestly persuaded, “The Lin clan patriarch’s ability is related to eyes. In her city, every move is seen by her. The risk is too great.”
And his imagination about why Li Li wanted to go to Ranmu City was well thought out: “I know you care a lot about the Prophet being imprisoned by the Lin clan. If you want to know what happened in the Prophet’s final days, you really do need to go to Ranmu City. But it’s too risky.”
In An Heyu’s mind, Heige cared far more about the Prophet than anyone else.
Because of this, the Sang clan, which had thrown the remnants of the Former Ability Guild into the beast arena for oppression, and the Feng clan, which had massacred the Former Ability Guild’s leaders, were not as significant to Heige as the Lin clan, which had once imprisoned the Prophet.
Li Li thought for a moment and understood why An Heyu said this.
Her response was:
“Finished eating?” She stood up, turned, and walked onto a small street path. “Let’s go. How do we get to Ranmu City?”
The Prophet was still a mystery to her.
To make her fake identity more convincing, she definitely needed to investigate this person.
Moreover, An Heyu’s assumptions about Heige’s personality matched her setup perfectly.
Since that was the case, why would the inherently stubborn and defiant Heige abandon her own ideas?
She wanted to become stronger, truly fearless, so she would face challenges head-on.
And then crush those difficulties underfoot.
Behind her, An Heyu followed helplessly.
“Really arrogant, huh. Are you actually just A-rank?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Li Li replied, “The real deal.”
This was one of her rare truths.
The sea breeze swept through the street, bringing a cool sensation.
During this time, An Heyu finally settled on something he had mentioned earlier.
“I’ll just go by Red Crane,” An Heyu said.
“Isn’t that still Little Red?” Li Li thought An Heyu’s naming skills weren’t much better.
She glanced ahead and suddenly said, “Names aren’t important. No one will remember them.”
An Heyu paused, then said, “You’re right.”
His mind wandered back to the relationship between Heige and the Prophet.
He added, “That’s how it is with the Prophet. Many people only know him as the Prophet, but not his real name.”
Then, as if worried Li Li might be upset, he quickly added, “I didn’t know before either, but Yue Qing still remembers.”
After analyzing Yue Qing’s soul, he had gained some information he hadn’t known before.
“Hm?” Li Li let out a casual, rising hum.
In truth, she didn’t know either, but she could pretend she did.
And now, she could learn through An Heyu.
Sure enough, An Heyu spoke up.
In the tone of answering a question, he said, “His name was Shuang Buyan, right?”
“Mhm.” Li Li slowly blinked.
On the surface, she seemed satisfied with An Heyu’s response.
But in reality…
Li Li: ???
Who did you say? What’s the name?
Little Corgi’s foster father is also called Shuang Buyan. Isn’t that a bit of a coincidence?