Chapter 71: Two Threads?
The cleanup crew was diligently working today as well, but why did that line sound like he was taking advantage of her?
An Heyu soon arrived at the organization’s stronghold, but due to timing, by the time he got there, Li Li had already made a round trip through the real world and was now sitting on a crate, recalling textbook contents.
Finals were approaching, and there wasn’t much time left before the last exam.
If possible, she really wanted to bring her textbooks here.
Seriously, she had double the time compared to others—why couldn’t she make better use of it?
In the end, Li Li could only shake her head.
After all, her system strictly forbade the exchange of items between the two dimensions, as if it didn’t want the two worlds to have any connection.
When An Heyu entered the stronghold, he saw the organization members sprawled haphazardly on the ground and Li Li, seemingly relaxed, sitting on a crate with her legs crossed.
“Hey,” Li Li greeted as she saw An Heyu.
An Heyu’s golden eyes scanned the surroundings before settling on Li Li. In a surprisingly calm tone that caught her off guard, he said, “Since things have come to this, let’s keep going.”
Unlike Four-Way City, entering Ranmu City required handling identity verification.
An Heyu took charge of these matters, so according to his plan, they should keep a low profile for the first few days, investigate and adapt to the local environment before taking action.
But at that moment, An Heyu seemed to have thought a lot on the way, so when he spoke, his decisiveness was unexpectedly firm: “Perhaps you were right. We don’t have time for a slow and steady approach.”
Hearing this, Li Li felt that An Heyu was probably starting his overthinking again.
And his next words indeed confirmed this.
“The events in Four-Way City were too big. They can’t suppress it on their own, and soon you’ll become a target for everyone,” An Heyu said. “We have too little time, and we also need a force to act as a decoy to keep ourselves hidden.”
“I was too cautious,” he concluded, then said, “Then let’s just take District 3 directly.”
His words didn’t sound at all like the hesitant, overthinking Mother Hen.
Li Li blinked, really wanting to applaud Mother Hen.
An Heyu had upgraded! Now he was Red Crane Plus version!
He was actually taking the initiative to strike!
Though the direction of his overthinking was completely wrong.
She had gone out merely to gather information, not to do anything big.
But if they were really going to do something, she wouldn’t object.
“Sure,” Li Li hopped off the crate. “One night to conquer all of District 3 by force.”
She walked lightly to An Heyu, pushed up her sunglasses, and looked at his golden eyes.
“Very much to my taste,” she said. “Go for it, Little Red.”
The golden glow hid in the darkness of the night, concealing all chaos under the cover of illusions.
For all the ability users in District 3 who loved to roam in the Eternal Night, this was destined to be a sleepless night.
The golden waves, visible only to them, drew them into the domain, while the Ability Guild in District 1 remained completely unaware.
Ranmu City was divided into thirteen districts. Six years ago, after Lin Ran officially moved to Ranmu City, she merged all the affiliated territories of the Lin clan and divided them into these thirteen districts.
The largest, District 1, was like the pupil of an eye.
Districts 2 and 12 were the whites on either side, while Districts 3 to 7 were above the pupil, like an upper eyeliner linked together. Districts 8 to 11, along with 13, formed the lower eyeliner, surrounding the central pupil—District 1—like stars around the moon.
District 3, at the outermost edge, wouldn’t alert the central forces too early.
Time ticked by, and when the first rays of sunlight appeared on the horizon, Li Li’s appearance shifted, her ahoge swaying in the breeze.
Five in the morning was approaching.
After one night, a new leader had emerged in District 3.
An Heyu was cleaning up the aftermath, organizing the remaining usable people, and delivering final intimidation.
He was skilled at this, having once saved a collapsing noble faction in the same way.
Li Li, on the other hand, wasn’t adept at this.
She watched for a bit, then clapped her hands and left.
She had seen Ranmu City in the dark and wanted to see it at the transition between night and day.
An Heyu, busy with work, didn’t notice at first.
When he looked back, Li Li was gone.
He paused silently, took a deep breath, and turned back to continue working in the final moments before five.
An Heyu felt he should get used to it.
After all, Heige had been elusive from the moment they met.
“He always has his reasons,” An Heyu told himself.
Unlike An Huyu, who ran off on his own.
...
Li Li left District 3, a relatively remote area, and walked toward the city center’s streets, where there were few people at that hour.
Tall buildings lined the roads, but unlike the clean and orderly city Li Li had seen the previous day, things were different now.
After a night of chaos, some buildings were destroyed, some walls were damaged.
It didn’t look at all like the neat, orderly city she had seen in the daylight.
She stopped by the roadside, watching the gradually brightening sky.
One minute to five.
The gray sky was turning bright.
Then, something unusual happened.
Broken building stones floated, returning to their original places, filling in the gaps.
The blackened soot on destroyed buildings faded rapidly, flames appeared and vanished, and the structures became intact.
The dirt on the ground, the occasional bloodstains, all disappeared in a rewind-like motion.
In the final minute, the entire city was renewed.
As if time had reversed, returning to the orderly capital before nightfall.
The last second of the countdown ended.
Birdsong echoed among the greenery, the sun rose, gradually illuminating the city, driving away the darkness.
Closed windows opened everywhere, human voices grew louder, the sound of vehicles starting, machinery operating, and the bustle of human activity increased.
It was as if the entire city had come alive.
Li Li stood in place, unmoving.
Watching the rising sun, the corners of her mouth curved up habitually.
“Time reversal? Or object-state reversal?” she pondered.
The two targets implied different ability types.
Time reversal would be concept-type, while object-state reversal would be spell-type.
But one thing Li Li was certain of:
“That range—it’s at least S-rank.” She slipped her hands into her pockets and walked through the increasingly crowded streets.
Someone from Ranmu City’s Ability Guild? Or the Lin clan?
Lin Ran created an orderly capital during the day. Did she know about the Eternal Night?
Was she allowing it?
The city lord’s contradictory behavior, the Eternal Night that seemed both hidden and blatant in its chaos—this city was more mysterious than the two cities she had visited before.
The display screen on the tall building across the road lit up.
After an advertisement, a scrolling bounty notice suddenly interrupted.
It was the highest bounty from the Imperial Ability Guild headquarters, targeting the illusionist Heige, whose ability rank was unknown and deemed extremely dangerous.
Those who successfully killed him could receive a noble title from the Imperial Family.
It seemed the aftermath of Qu Yan’s death in Four-Way City had been dealt with.
Li Li glanced at it and continued walking.
The morning breeze blew, lifting the swaying ahoge on her head.
What did their bounty on Heige have to do with Ahoge Li?
And what did Ahoge Li have to do with her, Li Li?
...
Soon, it was time for the manga update.
But with a deadline the next day, Li Li gave up reading the update to stay up working on her coursework.
Only after submitting her assignment the next day did she find time to catch up.
This update covered the aftermath of the Four-Way City disaster and Yiming’s new journey.
As she had guessed, due to Qu Yan’s death, the Qu clan of Floating City pressured the only remaining high-ranking member of the Yue clan, Rao Yue.
Rao Yue and An Huyu jointly reported a carefully curated version of the truth to Floating City.
An Huyu concealed that he had gained an ability and, acting clueless, recommended Rao Yue to the Qu clan.
Upon learning An Heyu was also “dead,” the Qu clan didn’t pursue Rao Yue further and shifted their focus to Heige.
The matter of Qu Yan trying to kill An Heyu was covered up, but three S-rank ability users had indeed died, and all three deaths were pinned on Heige.
After this event, Heige’s name spread thoroughly across the entire empire—a person who killed three S-ranks!
[Heige’s name is getting louder and cooler!]
[Truth is, Heige killed two, but adding one more head doesn’t seem like a big deal?]
[As a longtime 《Extreme Black and White》 power-scaling fan, I guarantee Heige isn’t A-rank! What A-rank could pull this off!]
[Maybe because of the last update, seeing things not Heige’s fault pinned on him suddenly feels a bit upsetting.]
[It was only two! Don’t slander him!]
[Listing all the times Heige took the blame, like killing Li.]
Prompted by the comments, Li Li realized she had indeed taken the fall for quite a few things.
But she figured too many debts didn’t weigh her down.
Taking the blame appropriately helped with her persona.
Of course, she’d make sure to shed the blame that wasn’t hers in the end.
After the Four-Way City aftermath, Yiming and the others discussed where to go next.
They couldn’t stay in Four-Way City forever, but Yiming currently had no one to help and no specific destination.
In the panel, they sat in a row, squatting in Heart Square, watching a flock of white doves wander on the ground.
“I want to get stronger,” Yiming said, his expression serious. “To truly be a protector, not someone protected.”
Spurred by Heige’s push, he found his own motivation.
[Right now, Yiming doesn’t know Li Baige is Heige. If he did, he’d be so heartbroken.]
[Poor Little Corgi, and poor Heige who couldn’t protect his friend. They’re both trying to get stronger for someone.]
[So heartbreaking, damn it, Ahoge Li is truly the perfect white moonlight!]
Tang comforted Yiming: “It’s not your fault.”
But Yu Xiao, completely oblivious to the mood, thought for a moment and nodded: “You’re really not strong.”
“Need me to remind you you’re also C-rank?” Tang glared at Yu Xiao.
Yu Xiao looked innocent: “I never said I was strong.”
Tang was at a loss for words, only able to keep glaring.
Yu Xiao, unfazed, continued: “I know a place where you can get stronger.”
Under Yiming’s questioning, he said: “The Sang clan’s territory, Zhusheng City, has all sorts of arenas. If you want, you can fight there to get stronger.”
“But I heard the duels there are usually to the death. It’s dangerous,” Yu Xiao added, but his earlier words had already made up Yiming’s mind.
“I’m going,” Yiming said firmly. “Even if it’s a fight to the death, I need to become strong, not stay weak and useless when it matters.”
“I don’t mind either way,” Yu Xiao blinked, looking at Tang.
“I’m a healer. You’d be done without me,” Tang said, raising her chin slightly, but then added, “It’s closer to Floating City.”
At that moment, An Huyu walked over and squatted beside them.
“If you’re going to Zhusheng City, I’m going too,” he said. “The Sang clan has answers I need.”
“Is it okay for you to leave Four-Way City?” Yiming, not versed in noble politics, asked.
“Sure,” An Huyu said. “I’m the An clan leader. It’s just me, so I can go wherever I want.”
A lone clan leader was still a clan leader.
Yiming stared at the noble young master, so different from when they first met, then said solemnly: “Alright, we’ll go together.”
[When Crying Bird first appeared, I cursed him out. Now I can’t bring myself to.]
[Is this manga about losing brothers to grow? Yiming lost his brother, An Huyu lost his brother.]
[This is growth! Congrats to Crying Bird for officially joining the main cast!]
Reading the manga, Li Li raised an eyebrow and said slowly: “We’re splitting up this time?”
She was in the Lin clan’s Ranmu City, while Yiming and the others were heading to the Sang clan’s Zhusheng City.
The two cities weren’t exactly far, but there was at least one city between them.
This meant she couldn’t piggyback on Yiming’s screen time.
Not to mention helping or saving anyone—even with her ability, travel would take ten to twenty minutes.
One possibility was that Heige would go offline, absent for several chapters, waiting for the next appearance.
Of course, there was another possibility: the manga might start a dual-line serialization!