Chapter 239

The Destiny Compasses of so many Nightmare Beasts present were remarkably consistent; without exception, all showed an impending death. Even without Su Bei’s intervention, Jiang Tianming and the others could still kill them.

What Su Bei needed to do was link their destinies. Then, by using an instant ability to adjust one Nightmare Beast’s Major Destiny Pointer, he could make all Nightmare Beasts die simultaneously in an instant. This was the power of destiny.

Hearing his words, Jiang Tianming and Ling You, whose Mental Energy was already somewhat depleted, didn’t linger in battle. They immediately squeezed into the car through the side windows. Li Shu spread his hands, telling Su Bei with great interest, “Show us what you’ve got.”

After adjusting everything, Su Bei’s face was a little pale. Although his series of manipulations had minimized his Mental Energy consumption to the greatest extent, linking so many Nightmare Beasts still used up a full two-thirds of his Mental Energy. However, the cost-effectiveness was incredibly high.

“Next up—it’s time to witness a miracle.” Su Bei snapped his fingers. The next second, an energy wave emanated from afar. All Nightmare Beasts within several kilometers vanished into ashes the moment they made contact with this energy wave.

Outside the car windows, the previously dense swarm of Nightmare Beasts all turned into black smoke, rapidly dissipating within a few breaths. The light finally shone through once more.

In almost an instant, Su Bei completed the slaughter of these Nightmare Beasts.

“That’s too strong…” Driver Wang’s exclamation voiced everyone’s inner thoughts. Su Bei’s power truly exceeded their imagination.

Although they had long guessed that Su Bei wouldn’t find it too difficult to deal with these Nightmare Beasts, otherwise he wouldn’t have volunteered. But the ability to eliminate all Nightmare Beasts with hardly a movement of his hand, with just a snap of his fingers, was still far beyond their comprehension.

In fact, his consumption seemed less than theirs. Jiang Tianming and the others were even paler than Su Bei. Yet, the number of Nightmare Beasts they had eliminated combined was roughly equal to what Su Bei had achieved alone.

Compared to their earlier efforts, Su Bei’s performance at this moment was a truly overwhelming display of power.

“Keep it down, keep it down, I just…” Before he could finish, Su Bei’s expression suddenly turned strange.

Jiang Tianming keenly noticed his sudden silence and asked, puzzled, “What’s wrong?”

Su Bei twitched his lips, revealing a rare, slightly guilty expression: “I think I forgot something.”

Just now, he was so focused on eliminating the Nightmare Beasts that he forgot to adjust everyone’s luck first. As a result, he had dealt with the first wave of danger while the protagonist group’s luck was still very low.

And given the protagonist group’s characteristic of new troubles arising as soon as old ones settled, a second wave of danger was bound to follow the first.

The reason Su Bei suddenly realized this was because his Mental Energy had already sensed something rapidly approaching. And if he wasn’t mistaken, that powerful aura should belong to an Advanced Nightmare Beast.

“What is it?” Seeing his expression, a sudden bad premonition arose in all three of their hearts.

Su Bei didn’t disappoint them, indeed not speaking of good news: “A new danger is coming.”

As his words fell, a Nightmare Beast emerged from the forest, its entire body as black as ink, as if made of ink itself. It had a lithe, elegant figure and long twin pigtails, looking from a distance like the silhouette of a beautiful girl.

However, the three wouldn’t be fooled by this. Nightmare Beasts themselves had no gender, and Advanced Nightmare Beasts’ forms were endlessly varied; this one simply had the appearance of a girl.

The girl Nightmare Beast spoke, her voice as pleasant as a silver bell: “The Life Stone is with you, right? Those low-level lackeys were getting in the way, so I just killed them. Now, hand over the Life Stone, and I can make your death a little easier.”

“Didn’t you kill those Nightmare Beasts?” Driver Wang, unfamiliar with Su Bei’s ability, whispered.

Hearing his question clearly, Su Bei also whispered his reply: “Destiny determined their deaths; I merely decided their destiny.”

It’s like the saying, ‘the vassal of my vassal is not my vassal’ – he could achieve the effect of instantly annihilating a swarm of Nightmare Beasts through destiny, but it would be far less easy for him to personally intervene.

Not just Driver Wang, everyone else was also baffled by what they heard. But they generally understood that things weren’t as simple as they seemed. Lan Subing quietly asked, “Then can you decide the death-destiny of this Advanced Nightmare Beast again now?”

“Probably not.” Su Bei replied. He was quite honest at this moment, mainly because there was no point in being dishonest—his Mental Energy was running low. “If I act again, there will be new crises.”

Logically, even if he only had four-fifths of his Mental Energy left, he could still use his Destiny Gear to kill the opponent. For Su Bei now, even an Advanced Nightmare Beast was nothing special.

This was the power of destiny; the strength of such conceptual abilities depended almost entirely on the user themselves, unrelated to the strength of the target.

But the problem was that Jiang Tianming and the others’ luck was still at rock bottom. This meant that even if he resolved the new crisis, an even newer and more dangerous crisis would appear, just like before.

This was normal; after all, the last chapter of the comic had just been released. To fill the content of the next chapter, the author couldn’t let them return to the academy easily. This battle was almost inevitable unless Su Bei insisted on disrupting the author’s plot.

But he had no such intention, so there was naturally no need to exert himself. Saving some Mental Energy would allow him to protect himself later.

This answer immediately made the four abandon the idea of letting him act again. The first time they resolved a crisis, it attracted an Advanced Nightmare Beast; who knew what more dangerous thing a second intervention would summon. They had better honestly figure out how to eliminate this Advanced Nightmare Beast themselves.

“What are you talking about over there? Aren’t you taking me a little too lightly?” Exhibiting a touch of youthful arrogance after only two sentences, the girl Nightmare Beast grew impatient. It had initially expected its arrival to make these humans tremble, crying and begging for mercy. Unexpectedly, not only did they show no fear, they even outright ignored it.

At such a time, they could only stall for time, holding out until the teachers arrived. Although the Ability Government had only instructed them to report the situation without providing their exact location, and Meng Huai’s call hadn’t gone through immediately, they had already reported the Life Stone incident, which should surely attract sufficient attention.

However, if Su Bei had a say, reinforcements would definitely arrive late. They would only show up at the earliest after the protagonist group had eliminated the girl Nightmare Beast; otherwise, where would the protagonist group have their chance to shine?

Earlier, because Su Bei had wiped out all the surrounding Nightmare Beasts in one go, Driver Wang had stopped the car in shock. Now, with an Advanced Nightmare Beast glaring outside the vehicle, he dared not continue driving.

“Keep driving.” Jiang Tianming commanded decisively. Driving now wasn’t to shake off the enemy, but to force out its abilities.

Whether they stayed or left, they would die anyway; fleeing offered a sliver of hope. Driver Wang immediately floored the accelerator, and the car shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.

Seeing this, the girl Nightmare Beast didn’t rush. With a nimble leap forward, the entire Nightmare Beast transformed into a phantom. The next second, it directly appeared beside Driver Wang, then leisurely sat down in the passenger seat.

This startling display made everyone jump. Who would have thought that a Nightmare Beast they had been steadily pulling away from could directly teleport inside the car?

Such an elusive and unpredictable ability was truly daunting and seemed to have no solution. Jiang Tianming did indeed detect part of the opponent’s ability. There were many ways to achieve teleportation, such as spatial traversal, time stop, or supersonic speed, etc.

Different abilities, however, corresponded to different countermeasures. Rushing to confront an Advanced Nightmare Beast without understanding its abilities was undoubtedly a death wish.

“Why are you running? I almost couldn’t keep up.” The girl Nightmare Beast feigned annoyance. “You guys aren’t unwelcome of me, are you?”

An ordinary person, hearing it say this, might genuinely choose to flatter it out of fear, hoping it would spare them. But Jiang Tianming and the others were clearly not like that. Su Bei was the first to mock: “Yes, we don’t welcome you. Can you scram?”

So audacious… Driver Wang was stunned. He had never imagined being so brazen towards an Advanced Nightmare Beast in his life.

Jiang Tianming and Li Shu were much more polite than him: “Su Bei is right.”

Girl Nightmare Beast: “…”

No longer seeking self-humiliation, it sneered: “It seems you plan to refuse a toast and drink a forfeit. Hey, did I use that idiom correctly?”

This time, it was the others’ turn to be speechless. Jiang Tianming’s mouth twitched: “Yes.”

The girl Nightmare Beast gloated: “I told you my learning ability is quite good. Alright, since I’m in a good mood, I’ll allow you to choose how you die.”

This question actually had many solutions in riddles, such as dying of old age or dying happily, which were both good choices. But in reality, no one dared to answer rashly, what if the Nightmare Beast’s ability was to instantly fulfill others’ wishes?

Driver Wang, however, came up with a good idea. He stopped the car: “The way I wish to die is to perish together with you.”

Of course, Driver Wang didn’t give this answer because he truly had the courage to die a heroic death; he simply believed the opponent definitely couldn’t satisfy this wish. If the opponent truly fulfilled his death wish, Driver Wang would have no choice but to tearfully accept a first-class merit citation.

As he expected, the girl Nightmare Beast had never anticipated such an answer from him and gnashed its teeth in anger: “Humans are indeed cunning! You are really annoying! I’ve changed my mind, you can all just die directly.”

It spoke of human cunning, yet utterly avoided mentioning its own reneging on its word, truly embodying the ultimate double standard.

However, Nightmare Beasts truly had no such thing as morality, so everyone wasn’t surprised by its behavior; they merely waited cautiously for the girl Nightmare Beast to make its move.

It was still a teleportation ability. The girl Nightmare Beast quickly flashed in front of Su Bei, who had been the first to speak rudely, preparing to show him its prowess.

But Su Bei was already prepared. Since he dared to speak like that to an Advanced Nightmare Beast, he naturally had his own trump card.

The moment the enemy appeared before him, Su Bei reacted with extreme speed, flashing aside to dodge. Simultaneously, a silver gear shot out from his hand.

This was Su Bei’s previously acquired ability, “Targeting Gear,” which guaranteed a 100% hit rate on enemies. If the girl Nightmare Beast could be directly hit, then the three of them could combine forces to attack. If not, the Targeting Gear could still help find the opponent’s weak point.

To everyone’s surprise, the gear didn’t attack the girl Nightmare Beast but rather aimed at the rearview mirror in front of the driver’s seat!

“Bang!”

The mirror shattered with the sound.

Under the astonished gaze of everyone, the girl Nightmare Beast’s body also split into four, just like the shattered mirror.

Combining this with the characteristics of “Targeting Gear,” Su Bei suddenly realized. This girl Nightmare Beast’s ability must be related to mirrors; it had entered the car instantly through its reflection in the rearview mirror.

This also explained why, when the opponent appeared in the car, it materialized beside Driver Wang rather than directly in the passenger seat. Because the mirror was there, it could only project itself there first.

Not only him, Jiang Tianming also understood the secret of the girl Nightmare Beast. He immediately said, “Quick, smash all the nearby mirrors and glass!”

Before he finished speaking, Su Bei had already quickly shot out several gears, aiming directly at the windows, the side mirrors of the car, and even knocking away Driver Wang’s metal thermos placed in front.

Li Shu and Ling You also reacted quickly, pulling out scarves, handkerchiefs, and similar items from their storage spaces to cover the smooth surfaces inside the car.

The car interior fell into a deathly silence. A moment later, Driver Wang, with a happy expression, cautiously whispered, “Is it solved?”

“Of course not!” The pleasant girl’s voice echoed in everyone’s ears, followed by a burst of joyful laughter, clearly delighted.

Although everyone didn’t really expect to resolve it so easily, since all mirror-like items in the car had clearly been removed, how was the girl Nightmare Beast still inside? Had they misunderstood something from the beginning, or was there something they had overlooked?

Their expressions greatly pleased the girl Nightmare Beast, and it laughed again: “I’ll give you another chance. If you can figure out why I’m still in the car within five minutes, I’ll spare one of you.”

This statement undoubtedly dealt another heavy blow to everyone. Clearly, in the girl Nightmare Beast’s eyes, even if they discovered why it could still be in the car, it was confident it could kill them all.

Fortunately, the girl Nightmare Beast also tacitly admitted that their previous actions were correct: it indeed relied on mirror images for teleportation. So, there must still be some “mirror” in the car that they hadn’t noticed.

But what could it be?

Su Bei and Jiang Tianming, utterly baffled, subconsciously exchanged glances and suddenly had a flash of insight, understanding what they had overlooked.

Both said in unison: “Close your eyes!”

The people in the car trusted both of them implicitly. Even with an Advanced Nightmare Beast eyeing them menacingly nearby, when they spoke, everyone simultaneously closed their eyes.

It’s worth noting that Driver Wang also boldly closed his eyes. His Smooth Driving ability allowed him to drive steadily even with his eyes shut, and since there were no other vehicles on the road, there was no need to worry about traffic accidents.

The car fell silent once more. A moment later, Driver Wang asked again, “Is it solved?”

“Of course not.” The phantom-like girl’s voice resonated in everyone’s minds again.

However, hearing its reply, Su Bei merely smiled: “Don’t act tough.”

If they hadn’t succeeded, how could its voice be coming from outside the car rather than inside? Clearly, there was indeed no medium left inside the car that would allow the girl Nightmare Beast to enter directly.

As for the outside of the car, the smooth car body itself was the best medium, and this could not be avoided unless they abandoned the vehicle and fled.

But abandoning the car was definitely not a viable option. Firstly, this was a vehicle provided by the Ability Government; they could be located via the car. If they left the vehicle, they might not receive timely rescue.

Secondly, Advanced Nightmare Beasts had already seen them. Advanced Nightmare Beasts had interconnected vision, so the appearance of one meant other Nightmare Beasts were quickly heading their way. They now had to race against time, striving to reach a safe place as quickly as possible. Abandoning the high-speed car to travel on foot was undoubtedly a death wish.

“I’m a creature of my word, you know. Discuss who gets to live. If you don’t decide, I’ll just kill until only one of you remains, and that person lives.” The girl Nightmare Beast said cheerfully. “Hurry up, I’m about to make my move.”

It also knew that Su Bei and the others’ reinforcements would probably arrive soon, but out of absolute confidence in its own strength, it didn’t mind wasting a little more time. As for the Nightmare Beasts whispering in its ear, urging it to act quickly, the girl Nightmare Beast chose to ignore them. It was not like those weaklings who would be defeated by a few humans.

“Let the driver live.” Jiang Tianming said without hesitation. As a pure driver, Driver Wang had no self-preservation ability. If the girl Nightmare Beast attacked, he would definitely be the first to die, so he had to be protected. Furthermore, preventing the enemy from attacking Driver Wang had another advantage: it allowed him to drive with peace of mind.

After saying this, he was the first to jump out of the car window with his eyes closed, flinging himself onto the car roof to fight the enemy. Although closing their eyes seemed largely unnecessary and would severely limit their performance, at such a moment, out of caution, they had no choice but to do so.

It was one thing for the girl Nightmare Beast to materialize from the car body, but if it could manifest through their eyes, it felt problematic no matter how they thought about it. Especially earlier, when their eyes were open, its voice seemed to emanate directly from their minds, which was extremely unsettling.

“Oh, quite clever.” The girl Nightmare Beast was a little surprised. “But with your eyes closed, aren’t you just letting me toy with you?”

It was underestimating Su Bei and Jiang Tianming. Just recently, both of them had spent several days in the underground world. Although Zheng Caige’s glasses allowed them to see in the dark then, they didn’t wear them constantly. Through intentional and unintentional training, their perception abilities in darkness were much stronger than ordinary people’s.

Su Bei, however, had no intention of going out to fight. He simply used his gears to heavily scratch the car body, aiming to quickly ensure that no smooth surface remained on the car, making it impossible for the Nightmare Beast’s reflection to appear again.

Jiang Tianming, meanwhile, relied on several abilities, barely managing to fight against five enemies—the girl Nightmare Beast and the four identical copies it created in one breath. He had a powerful ultimate ability in his hand, a rarely used laser ability called Death Ray.

But this ability could only be used once, so he had to hit the Nightmare Beast’s true body. If it struck anywhere else, the ability would be wasted.

Even though the five Nightmare Beasts looked exactly alike, as the protagonist of “King of Abilities,” Jiang Tianming always found a way. He used Frost Mage to conjure a huge, translucent ice block. Aiming the ice block at the five enemies, its smooth surface reflected only one Nightmare Beast’s silhouette.

Undoubtedly, the one in the very center was the girl Nightmare Beast’s true body.

Jiang Tianming immediately fired a Death Ray. With his current strength, he wasn’t strong enough to instantly kill an Advanced Nightmare Beast. Fortunately, Li Shu, who had partnered with him before, quickly seized the opportunity to strike while it was weakened, following up with an Illusion.

The Illusion replicated the previous scene, making the girl Nightmare Beast mistakenly believe that Jiang Tianming had fired two rays consecutively. Li Shu’s Illusion had an aspect called “Believe as True,” meaning that if an enemy fell into the illusion and believed the events within it were real, that enemy would genuinely suffer the damage experienced in the illusion.

And now, the girl Nightmare Beast was facing precisely this situation. It believed Li Shu’s illusion was real, and thus genuinely suffered the damage of two Death Rays.

One attack wouldn’t have inflicted fatal damage, but two were indeed enough to severely wound the girl Nightmare Beast.

The surrounding air suddenly fell silent. Su Bei, with his Mental Energy active, promptly reminded them: “It disappeared.”

They hadn’t eliminated the opponent just now; its disappearance could only mean the girl Nightmare Beast had found a place to hide, just as it had disappeared before. But they couldn’t give the enemy a chance to breathe. Otherwise, not only would they be unable to drive properly, but having an Advanced Nightmare Beast shadowing their car was no different from broadcasting their real-time location to all Nightmare Beasts.

But where exactly was the girl Nightmare Beast hiding? Everyone’s eyes were closed, there were no mirrors inside the car, and Su Bei had thoroughly scratched the car body; there was simply no place for the opponent to hide.

If Su Bei could open his eyes, he could directly pinpoint the opponent’s location using his Destiny Gear. However, he wasn’t willing to risk opening them, so he could only rely on his mind to search.

Ultimately, Ling You guessed the truth. She suspiciously wiped her finger across her lips, which were coated in mirror-finish lip gloss. The next second, the girl Nightmare Beast simply dropped out of the tiny vanishing mirror-like surface on her lips.

Ling You: “…”

Hearing the commotion, Su Bei, still inside the car, quickly delivered a precise finishing blow. Dealing with an Advanced Nightmare Beast so severely wounded, utterly unable to resist, and with no place left to hide, was effortless for him.

After cleanly and thoroughly eliminating the girl Nightmare Beast with a few gears, Su Bei finally opened his eyes and asked curiously, “Who found it? Where was it hiding?”

Hearing this, Ling You felt a vague, inexpressible guilt. She lowered her gaze and pursed her lips, decisively choosing to remain silent. After all, everyone had their eyes closed just now; as long as she didn’t speak, no one would know this ridiculous truth.

Seeing no one answer, Su Bei raised an eyebrow: “Seems like it was hiding somewhere interesting, huh?”

Knowing Su Bei was thick-skinned, there was nothing worth him orchestrating such a charade to hide. Li Shu directly looked at the only possible culprit, Ling You, and persuaded with interest, “Are you really not going to tell us? We definitely won’t spread it.”

Ling You silently turned her head towards the window, determined not to speak.

“It’s fine, if you don’t want to say, then don’t say. I respect personal wishes,” Su Bei consoled her understandingly.

Li Shu instantly turned his head to look at him with a strange gaze. Jiang Tianming, who had just climbed back into the car through the window, also had a peculiar expression: “Are those words you would say?”

Su Bei responded righteously, “I am inherently such an understanding person.”

Anyway, he could always find the answer to this question in the comic later, so he naturally didn’t mind being an understanding good classmate.