Chapter 215

Su Bei never participated in these reckless group activities. Seeing that no one else had any objections, he shook his head, took a step back, and said, “I’m heading back to the dorm first.”

“Wait!” Ai Baozhu immediately called out to him, alert. She asked suspiciously, “You didn’t predict something bad, did you?”

“That’s slander! It’s not like I can predict everything!” Su Bei defended himself with an innocent expression. He really hadn’t used his ability, nor had he even looked at these people’s Destiny Compasses. Everything was just a guess based on comic logic.

However, Ai Baozhu didn’t believe his nonsense; only a fool would trust Su Bei’s words. But she also didn’t want to believe that she would encounter any danger in the Ability Government’s venue. Not just her, but no one else wanted to believe it either. The main reason was that the teachers were still there, and even if danger arose, they could arrive quickly. In the end, everyone still chose to go browse the venue together. However, the cautious Jiang Tianming specifically reported to Meng Huai, in case something truly happened, the teachers could provide emergency support.

As for Su Bei, he returned to his dorm and started reading the latest comic update. Since this update would definitely showcase the individual matches and held nothing special, Su Bei was primarily looking to see if the comic revealed any actions of the Black Flash Organization.

However, perhaps because it was only the first day of the Tri-School Competition, there was nothing about the Black Flash Organization at all. He sighed, and Su Bei could only patiently relive their day’s matches through the comic.

However, this comic update still contained some information he didn’t know, specifically, some of the match arrangements for the other two academies.

Skydome Ability Academy had indeed formed a “four-support-one” team centered around Huangfu Mingzhe. The four support players might not be their best students, but they were definitely the most compatible with Huangfu Mingzhe.

The comic didn’t specifically explain how they were compatible, but judging by their confident appearance, they were probably truly not to be underestimated. Huangfu Mingzhe’s ability was already very powerful; if these four people had a way to keep him from getting injured, then the other two academies might truly be completely wiped out.

As for Houde Ability Academy, they didn’t go for anything fancy; they had a very proper five-lane team composition. However, there were also some detailed arrangements: these five people had devised a very perfect plan, and if it was followed, their opponents would definitely be caught in one fell swoop.

However, in the comic, Houde Ability Academy’s teacher said this plan could only be used once, because once it was used, the other academy would inevitably be prepared for it. They hadn’t yet decided which academy to use it against, planning to decide tomorrow based on the situation.

It went without saying that if they were going to stir up trouble, it would definitely be against Endless Ability Academy. After all, what kind of protagonist group would they be if they weren’t naturally destined for bad luck?

Based on this information, Su Bei began to ponder. Given that Houde Ability Academy would most likely use their trump card against Endless Ability Academy, they would probably lose against Skydome Ability Academy.

As the academy where the protagonist group resided, Endless Ability Academy couldn’t possibly fail. Thus, the final standings would be: Endless Ability Academy > Skydome Ability Academy > Houde Ability Academy.

The team battles hadn’t even started, yet he had already deduced the match results. This made Su Bei feel a bit bored after a brief moment of triumph. That’s just how the comic world was; as long as you read a few more comics, many things could be traced.

Perhaps only when this book finally ended could he truly enjoy freedom.

He briefly checked the forum, but there was nothing new there either. Many people were celebrating Lan Subing’s acquisition of a new ability, but no one found “Voice of the Soul” embarrassing.

But then again, when he read comics, he rarely complained about the chuunibyou-like things characters said; he even found them inspiring. But when he experienced it firsthand…

In the evening, Meng Huai received tomorrow’s match order. The first match was Houde Ability Academy vs. Skydome Ability Academy, the second was Houde Ability Academy vs. Endless Ability Academy, and the third was Endless Ability Academy vs. Skydome Ability Academy.

There would be a two-hour break after each match. Then, if there were no objections, the results would be announced after the third match, and the audience would vote for the participants of the Exhibition Match on the third day.

The participant list for their academy’s first match was precisely the entire main team that had been arranged: Su Bei, Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, Si Zhaohua, and Ai Baozhu, five people.

Everyone had no objections to this outcome. Although many people also wanted to play, it was better to obediently follow the teachers’ arrangements. If someone was injured or didn’t coordinate properly in the first match, then others could go up in the second match.

Early next morning, Su Bei and the others arrived at the venue’s lounge. Although the first match today wasn’t theirs, and they could technically sleep an hour more, it was their opponents’ match, and understanding their opponents’ strength and tactical arrangements in advance through this match was very important.

As soon as they entered the lounge, everyone was stunned to see the arena below through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The arena in the venue had expanded two-fold, even more, almost occupying most of the ground space. The organizers must have remodeled the venue’s arena overnight for today’s team matches.

A larger arena naturally made it easier for them to utilize their team battle strategies. However, it also made it easy to be defeated one by one if they couldn’t quickly regroup with teammates.

To make the matches more visually appealing, some immovable obstacles were still randomly placed, such as dead trees, huge rocks, and earth walls. The reason they were immovable was mainly to effectively prevent some Ability users from exploiting obstacles to gain an ability advantage, leading to an unfair match.

Next to the arena was a giant display screen, showing the scores from their individual matches yesterday.

Endless Ability Academy: 17 points Skydome Ability Academy: 7 points Houde Ability Academy: 6 points

Endless Ability Academy almost overwhelmingly secured the first place in the individual matches. After the large screen lit up, displaying yesterday’s scores, a chorus of exclamations erupted from the audience. Su Bei could hear many people saying things like, “‘Endless Ability Academy’ truly lives up to its reputation as the hidden number one, truly formidable!”

Soon, the first match officially began. Both sides were initially assigned to the left and right sides of the arena, setting up their respective formations. As soon as the match started, they charged forward according to their previous plan.

Skydome Ability Academy’s playstyle was very distinctive. Everyone else, apart from Huangfu Mingzhe, directly gathered in the corner furthest from their opponents.

A tall boy directly raised a sturdy fortress in the corner, whose material was indistinguishable, protecting all his teammates inside. Meanwhile, Huangfu Mingzhe was enveloped in lights of various colors and headed straight for Houde Ability Academy.

“Isn’t that a bit too arrogant?” Qi Huang’s eyes widened in surprise. “Is he really going to 1v5?”

Mo Xiaotian’s reaction was completely different from hers. He excitedly clapped his hands and exclaimed, “How domineering! I wish I could do that too! What if I wrapped myself in ‘Air Blocks’ and then rushed in to cause an air explosion?”

“You’d probably be focused down and sent out of the match before you could even explode,” Wu Mingbai mocked with a fake smile. “Perhaps that’s precisely your goal?”

Ignoring their bickering, Jiang Tianming analyzed seriously, “The lights on Huangfu Mingzhe’s body should be his teammates’ abilities. We just don’t know what their effects are that give him such confidence to face five opponents.”

“We can use this match to observe them,” Lan Subing said, focusing intently on the match below. Everyone else also gathered, standing in a line before the glass window.

Su Bei was smarter; he adjusted his chair height and sat directly on the chair, observing the battle situation from a higher vantage point with an unobstructed view, without needing to squeeze together with others.

In the arena, Huangfu Mingzhe was truly unstoppable. He clearly understood his opponents’ situation and immediately went straight for the opposing support. Houde Ability Academy’s support player this time was a powerful Ability user with dual abilities: healing and enhancement, extremely compatible with teammates who attacked using physical techniques.

With her help, the entire Houde Ability Academy team was an endless perpetual motion machine, and a very powerful one at that. After all, her enhancement skills were no joke; according to Lei Ze’en, they could enhance their team’s strength by more than double.

Other academies all knew that support was very important in this team, and Houde Ability Academy itself naturally understood this even more clearly. So after seeing Huangfu Mingzhe’s intention, everyone came together to protect the support.

Huangfu Mingzhe didn’t panic at all; with a wave of his hand, he summoned two small golden dragons, each the size of an arm. One coiled around each opponent, specifically targeting the control and defense types who might protect the support. Taking advantage of his opponents’ surprise, he then instantly teleported behind the support.

Fortunately, the defense-type sent by Houde Ability Academy reacted extremely quickly, willing to take some damage to protect the support. He quickly generated a slime-like object behind the support, directly deflecting Huangfu Mingzhe, who was about to strike the support with his dragon claws.

Huangfu Mingzhe dispersed the slime with a single palm strike, then was forced to fight the All-Cleaving Blade Ability user who had rushed to engage him.

The only special type on the field, the green-haired boy, exchanged glances with the female support. The two disappeared together. It was the green-haired boy who used his ability to bring the support into the Arena.

Seeing this maneuver, even Su Bei couldn’t help but exclaim, “What a dirty trick.”

Isn’t this dirty? Although doing this meant they would directly lose two attack units, it directly protected the support and the special type, allowing them not to be attacked while the support’s ability could still function on the field.

This maneuver was very effective against the current Skydome Ability Academy. After all, they only had one combatant; even if Houde Ability Academy lost two combatants, they still had a numerical advantage against them.

“Tch.” This playstyle greatly annoyed Huangfu Mingzhe, but he was helpless against the two who had disappeared. Meanwhile, the students of Houde Ability Academy were very pleased. As expected of them, they perfectly countered their opponents’ playstyle.

Just as Endless Ability Academy had figured out Skydome Ability Academy’s tactical arrangement, Houde Ability Academy naturally also figured out this “four-support-one” tactical arrangement. It was precisely because they knew of such an arrangement that they specifically sent the Arena Ability user onto the field, otherwise, his ability was actually very unsuitable for team battles.

“Heh, do you really think this is enough to deal with me?” Looking at their triumphant expressions, Huangfu Mingzhe sneered. “Next, I’ll show you what true power is!”

Huangfu Mingzhe wasn’t boasting. He then showed his opponents and the audience what absolute power was. Despite being 1v3, he wasn’t at a disadvantage at all. Instead, the side with more people seemed unable to cope.

Huangfu Mingzhe’s physical constitution was invincible; he could fly and had teleportation skills. The two dragons, one spraying water and the other fire, meant that in a sense, his combatant count wasn’t inferior to Houde Ability Academy’s.

In terms of individual strength, Huangfu Mingzhe crushed any single opponent. His formidable physical constitution against those who attacked with physical techniques was like water against fire, or metal against wood; he held an absolute advantage.

Although his two dragons were somewhat weaker, they were agile and could fly, giving them some suppressive capability against the enemy’s offensive and control types. Meanwhile, Huangfu Mingzhe focused on dealing with the defense type, to prevent him from assisting his teammates.

Even with the off-field support continuously healing and restoring health, facing such extremely formidable strength, the defense-type player still didn’t last long before being knocked off the arena.

The person most likely to contend with Huangfu Mingzhe was off the stage. Not to mention the remaining two, who quickly failed as well. After their defeat, the support type and special type didn’t struggle much either and cleanly admitted defeat.

Huangfu Mingzhe secured victory in the match all by himself.

The entire venue was first filled with a deathly silence, then erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers. Without a doubt, he won the respect and admiration of all the spectators with his own strength.

The players’ mood, however, was completely different from the audience’s. Su Bei and the others all felt their hearts sink in unison. This absolute dominance of 1v3 without falling into disadvantage made them lose confidence in winning the match.

“He’s that strong?” Jiang Tianming’s expression was solemn. Suddenly remembering something, he looked at Si Zhaohua, the only one who had fought Huangfu Mingzhe. “How did you feel when you fought him back then?”

“His strength and speed are both very strong; you have to try your best not to let him get close. Compared to physical attacks, magical attacks are much more effective against him.” Si Zhaohua’s expression was still calm. “Once he gets close, it’s very hard to win. The reason I used ‘Divine Judgment’ back then was because I felt I was about to lose.”

Hearing him say this, everyone suddenly realized this point. Right, normally, why would Si Zhaohua casually use his trump card? It must have been because the situation was very bad, forcing him to use it.

Before they could say anything, Si Zhaohua continued, “Although my feather attacks can’t cause him much damage, ‘Angel Beam’ causes a lot of damage. If neither side uses their ultimate moves, as long as I can keep him from getting close to me, even with the harassment from those dragons, I will definitely win.”

Hearing him say this, everyone had a rough idea. Trapping him and then focusing fire with magical attacks was the best way to deal with Huangfu Mingzhe. If his teammates didn’t come out, then they could easily win by doing just that.

“I say, shouldn’t you show some respect to your opponents in the next match?” After listening to their discussion for a while, Meng Huai twitched the corner of his mouth. “Do I need to remind you that your next match is against Houde Ability Academy?”

“They seem pretty easy to beat,” Mo Xiaotian said naively and sincerely, as if he didn’t feel any discrimination in his words.

Everyone else had the same thought. At least, compared to what they had just seen, Houde Ability Academy’s team battle was truly not to be feared. If they changed their roster, that would be another matter, but in that case, their current discussion would be meaningless. It would be better to discuss Skydome Ability Academy, which looked more distinctive.

“You’re certainly confident in yourselves.” Meng Huai shook his head, saying no more. Anyway, their current points were very high; unless they lost both team matches, the ultimate winners would definitely be them.

If they really lost two consecutive team battles… Heh, Meng Huai let out a silent sneer.

“Why do I suddenly feel a bit cold?” Mo Xiaotian shivered, cautiously looking left and right, glancing all around like a meerkat, but he couldn’t find where the problem was, so he could only awkwardly retract his gaze.

The rest period quickly ended, and it was time for the second match: Endless Ability Academy vs. Houde Ability Academy.

As they walked onto the stage, Su Bei pondered what Houde Ability Academy’s arrangement truly was. Their match against Skydome Ability Academy certainly had some cleverness to it, but that was clearly specifically aimed at Skydome Ability Academy.

Yet earlier in the comic, Su Bei clearly saw that they had another plan, one that could win against any academy. Since they didn’t use it against Skydome Ability Academy, it could only mean they would use it against them.

Thinking this, he activated his ability and glanced at the Destiny Gears of his four teammates. Apart from Jiang Tianming, everyone else’s compass displays weren’t looking good; the small pointers were all very far to the right. Even his own small pointer was very far to the right.

The large pointer wasn’t a problem, but he figured it was only temporary; perhaps problems would arise once they were on stage.

It seemed this team battle would rely on Jiang Tianming. Su Bei slowly took his position at the edge of the arena.

The opposing five-person team quickly came onto the stage. But this time, unlike the previous match, most of those five people had been replaced. For example, the green-haired boy and that support player weren’t on stage.

It was normal for the green-haired boy not to be on the field. His ability, being used in a team battle, was originally specifically to deal with people like Huangfu Mingzhe. Since there was no Huangfu Mingzhe here, they naturally wouldn’t need him.

But it was very strange that the support player wasn’t on stage. One must know that their support player was originally in the main team, and her support abilities were very strong; normally, there was no way they would remove her.

“So, is the problem with the support player?” Su Bei thought uncertainly, his gaze falling upon the opposing support player.

After both sides reported their roster for this round, Lei Ze’en gave them a brief introduction to the five opposing abilities.

Among them, the support’s ability was Synced Link. It was said to allow linked targets to share states. Connecting this skill to their own squishy and defense players could effectively protect the squishy players without the defense Ability user having to worry.

A rather interesting ability, but Su Bei couldn’t think of anything particularly special about it.

The start of the match was quite normal. Although Su Bei had been leisurely slacking off at the back, because the opposing support also had no combat power while their own support, Lan Subing, could participate in combat, the overall match was still a 4v4 draw.

Seeing this scene, the audience in the stands began to whisper amongst themselves.

“That blonde-haired guy was on stage before, right?” a boy asked uncertainly. At that time, Su Bei was directly pulled into the Arena by the green-haired boy, and his appearance time was too short, so he didn’t have much of an impression of Su Bei’s face, only remembering a head of dazzling blonde hair.

“It’s him, it’s him!” He had no impression, but his girlfriend had a very strong impression of Su Bei. “I couldn’t possibly mistake such a handsome face!”

Boy: “…”

He was speechless and choked up about it. After subtly rolling his eyes at Su Bei in the arena, he continued, “I remember him being quite strong, right? He instantly defeated that green-haired guy who had won several matches yesterday. Why is he slacking off at the back like he’s throwing the match today? Is he bickering with his teammates?”

“Why do I feel like he’s enjoying it quite a bit?” his girlfriend said uncertainly, glancing at Su Bei, then, drawn by his good looks, glanced again.

The boy turned her face back towards himself. “Stop looking, can you even see clearly from this far?”

“There’s a big screen over there, he’s so handsome…” His girlfriend pointed to the display screen next to the arena. The spot that originally displayed scores now showed an enlarged view of the field, and at this moment, the screen perfectly showed Su Bei’s handsome face.

Boy: “…”

Before he could say anything to win back his looks-obsessed girlfriend’s heart, he heard his girlfriend suddenly widen her eyes. “An enemy is coming for him!”

Hearing this, the boy turned his head to look, and sure enough, he saw Su Bei on the big screen already fighting someone.

The one who came for him was the opposing support. Although this support’s ability had no offensive power, having trained at Houde Ability Academy, his physical combat skills were his greatest offensive weapon.

However, wanting to compete in physical techniques with Su Bei without relying on abilities was truly a fool’s errand. In less than three minutes, the opponent was pinned beneath Su Bei, unable to move.

“As expected, he’s very strong.” The opponent, pinned beneath him, panted heavily. “Little Green didn’t exaggerate.”

“Little Green” should refer to the green-haired boy. Hearing his words, Su Bei raised an eyebrow. “You knew my combat skills were formidable, yet you still came to pick a fight with me?”

At this point, he seemed to suddenly realize something. His gaze swept over all the players from both sides, and an expression of understanding appeared in his eyes. “Oh~ so you came to drag me down, huh?”

At this moment, everyone on both sides, except for Jiang Tianming and the opposing team’s strongest offensive player, had their large pointers pointing to the “exit” position. Clearly, they were about to be eliminated. And the opposing support’s sudden act of provoking him was very likely related to this.

Hearing his words, the support widened his eyes in surprise and muttered, “Is this a Destiny-type ability?”

He hadn’t even made a move, yet Su Bei inexplicably seemed to have already seen through the truth. This kind of ability truly sent chills down his spine. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel relieved, “Good thing you’re about to be eliminated too.”