Chapter 244

However, the Nightmare Spider clearly misunderstood. Seeing Su Bei head straight for the cinema, combined with the Advanced Nightmare Beasts’ database on him, it assumed Su Bei knew it was there from the start, and had even come specifically for it.

Hearing this, Su Bei remained outwardly calm, but his mind was already racing. He certainly hadn’t come for the Nightmare Spider; in fact, he desperately wished there were no Nightmare Beasts in the shopping mall. But now that they had met, and the other party had misunderstood, he couldn’t waste this opportunity.

What was he lacking now? The general direction for placing the fake Nightmare Beasts made from Dream Foam had been found, and the exact location should be easy to find with a quick look around later. Therefore, what Su Bei lacked now was a way to ensure Jiang Tianming and the others would come here.

And this Advanced Nightmare Beast might just be that opportunity.

“Don’t be so wary,” Su Bei said with a smile. “I’m here to bring you some ‘performance’.”

As an Advanced Nightmare Beast, it naturally understood what that term meant. It asked suspiciously, “You’re going to bring people to me?”

Seeing it catch on so quickly, Su Bei snapped his fingers. “Smart! I know you Nightmare Beasts covet my classmates. I can bring some of them over, but whether you can take them down then will be your problem.”

The spider’s face was filled with surprise: “Why?”

Although it knew some humans liked to fight amongst themselves, framing and entrapping each other, Su Bei and his companions had shown no conflicts before, always appearing united. Even if Su Bei himself was a bit of a loner, that was only relatively speaking.

Again, the intelligence of Advanced Nightmare Beasts was no less than that of humans. The Nightmare Spider didn’t believe Su Bei would inexplicably cooperate with it to kill his classmates. It knew that doing so carried high risks and low rewards, and Su Bei wasn’t a fool; even if he truly wanted to kill someone, he wouldn’t choose this method.

“You don’t actually think you can kill them, do you?” Su Bei deliberately put on a disdainful expression. “I just think some of them need some training.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the Nightmare Spider immediately understood. Su Bei wanted to use it as a whetstone, to hone the abilities of those students! Upon realizing this, the Nightmare Spider was so exasperated it almost laughed. To think, it, a dignified Advanced Nightmare Beast, had ever suffered such humiliation!

If it weren’t for the clear understanding that it couldn’t defeat the blond boy in front of it, it would have truly wanted to show him why flowers were so red.

Forget fighting him; the Nightmare Spider felt it might not even be able to defeat the students he intended to bring. The S-Class students of Endless Ability Academy’s first year had killed Advanced Nightmare Beasts before, even many of them. So Su Bei’s idea wasn’t far-fetched; it was very feasible.

But while they could kill it, it wasn’t impossible for it to use this opportunity to counter-kill them. The Nightmare Spider’s eight eyes shifted, and it agreed: “I can cooperate with you, but we need to discuss the specifics of how to cooperate.”

It wanted to hear Su Bei’s plan first, then see if it could make some arrangements within it. If not, it would rather give up this opportunity. After all, if it couldn’t kill the people Su Bei brought, then it would be the one to die.

“I’ll find an opportunity to bring them over after the battle breaks out. I need you to stay quiet here before we arrive, so you don’t attract a crowd of Ability users to besiege you. Then, once I bring them, send one or two Nightmare Beasts to provoke them slightly, giving me a chance to lure them here to you.” Su Bei quickly stated his demands.

His demands weren’t high, and knowing that the other party was willing to cooperate meant it definitely had its own calculations. So, even though he would barely do anything in this plan, he felt no guilt in stating it.

The Nightmare Spider indeed showed no intention of refusing. After a brief thought, it agreed, then put forward its own condition: “I demand that you only bring the students from your class. If anyone else is following, I will leave immediately.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Su Bei knew what it was thinking. It was clearly planning to bring a few more Advanced Nightmare Beasts and kill them while they were unsupervised by their teachers.

Su Bei had no objection to this. After all, that was the protagonist group! It would be truly supernatural if they could be killed by such a minor interlude; the protagonist’s halo wasn’t just for show, was it?

However, there was still one thing to remind the other party: “If you bring too many Advanced Nightmare Beasts, the government will definitely detect it. Don’t blame me for not warning you if you end up attracting people you can’t handle.”

Su Bei, of course, wasn’t merely being kind. It was more for his own sake. If the Nightmare Spider brought too many Advanced Nightmare Beasts, it would be difficult for him to find a spot unnoticed by Nightmare Beasts to perform his act.

Moreover, his warning was valid. If truly powerful Ability users were drawn in, this plan would also be ruined, and Su Bei didn’t want that to happen.

Hearing his warning, the Nightmare Spider was startled. It hadn’t expected Su Bei to have already guessed its thoughts, nor had it expected Su Bei to still insist on bringing people over, even knowing it might bring many Advanced Nightmare Beasts.

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll actually kill them?” the Nightmare Spider couldn’t help but ask. It was quite confident in its own strength; otherwise, it wouldn’t have agreed.

“Isn’t that the point of training?” Su Bei said nonchalantly. “The strong get stronger, the weak are eliminated.”

No, that wasn’t the point of training at all! The Nightmare Spider looked at him with awe, thinking Su Bei was truly ruthless, completely disregardful of his companions’ lives.

What it didn’t know, however, was that the “weak” Su Bei spoke of actually referred to himself. Jiang Tianming and the others had the protagonist’s halo; they were absolutely strong. But if he, the weak one, didn’t make himself strong enough, he would have to accept the fate of being eliminated.

In this training, the only one truly in danger was himself.

Having finalized the discussion with the other party, the Nightmare Spider retreated into the darkness, no longer disturbing Su Bei. Undisturbed, Su Bei quickly toured the entire shopping center and ultimately decided that the cinema was the best location for his act.

That place was very dark, so the appearance of fake Nightmare Beasts wouldn’t arouse suspicion and wouldn’t easily reveal any clues. If any problems arose, he could easily cover them up in the dark.

It was clear, however, that the Nightmare Spider was currently using this place as its base. So, if he wanted to use this spot, he would first have to drive it away.

Thinking this, Su Bei raised his voice on the empty fifth floor: “By the way, do you know why I immediately guessed you were in the cinema?”

“Why?” The Nightmare Spider crawled out from the darkness, its eight eyes filled with curiosity. It had originally thought Su Bei located it precisely using his abilities, but from Su Bei’s previous words, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Su Bei let out a sneer, as if openly mocking it: “There’s only one place in this entire plaza that doesn’t see light. If not here, where else would you hide? You Advanced Nightmare Beasts claim to have human-level intelligence, but you’re actually quite a bit off.”

After speaking, he didn’t wait for the other party to retort and left the shopping center directly.

He believed that after he said those words, the Nightmare Spider would definitely no longer hide there. Putting aside issues of self-respect, the main thing was that it was clearly the type of Nightmare Beast that enjoyed sneak attacks. If its hiding spot was guessable by everyone, how could it pull off any sneak attacks?

After spending a day settling this location, Su Bei didn’t stop there. After a day of simple rest, he took a taxi to another city.

Su Bei wasn’t sure where Jiang Tianming and the others would go when the battle erupted. Although Suqi City was where Nightmare Beasts erupted most severely, precisely because of this, many powerful Ability users had already been stationed there, so there might not be any work for them. Therefore, he had to make more preparations; Su Bei didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

His next stop was the city where Jiang Tianming and his two companions originally resided. Such a special city was clearly prone to incidents, so keeping an eye out there was wise. Besides this, he also planned to visit cities active in the Black Flash Organization’s data, and Meng Huai’s hometown.

After finishing these tasks, he would return to the city where Endless Ability Academy was located. However, he wouldn’t go directly back to the academy, but would first find a potential location outside the academy to make preparations, and finally return to the academy for final preparations.

By the time all of this was done, about two days had passed. Su Bei quietly returned to school, slept soundly in his dorm, and came to class as usual the next day.

“He’s back.” Unknown to Su Bei, the moment he entered the school gates, Meng Huai had already learned of his return.

Just as Su Bei had expected, after he left, Meng Huai did try to find an Ability user to see what he was up to. When it concerned a major world event, even someone as carefree as Meng Huai couldn’t help but feel worried.

However, to his great surprise, the Ability user he had specifically sought out, who could monitor someone’s movements, said they couldn’t track Su Bei’s location at all.

At that moment, Meng Huai realized this must have been deliberate on Su Bei’s part; he possessed an item capable of concealing his tracks. There was no point in trying to find him anymore, so Meng Huai simply gave up. As a teacher, he had done his utmost; now, he just needed to make sure Su Bei returned within three days.

“Yes,” the academy guard nodded. “Do you need me to call him over for you?”

Meng Huai kicked away an Intermediate Nightmare Beast that pounced in front of him. “No need. It’s enough that the kid is back.”

The next day in class, Su Bei finally learned what excuse Meng Huai had made for him. A group of people curiously gathered around his desk, and Mo Xiaotian was the first to ask, “Su Bei, Su Bei, what kind of mission did the teacher give you that took three days?”

Faced with the sudden question, Su Bei didn’t stumble at all, replying coolly, “If the teacher didn’t say, do you think I can?”

“Is it related to recent events? If I can’t ask that either, then just pretend I didn’t say anything.” Mu Tieren was also very curious, but his main curiosity was about the recent anomalies, and he wanted to use this opportunity to probe for information.

With the frequent personnel movements between the Ability Government and the academy, anyone with eyes could sense the impending storm. Although Mu Tieren guessed that a battle might truly be about to erupt, he couldn’t help but hold onto a glimmer of hope before getting definite news, wondering if it wasn’t the case.

“Probably.” Su Bei’s answers were always so ambiguous. Those who didn’t know the truth would never guess that he was actually speaking the truth. Su Bei was dealing with Nightmare Beasts, so from a certain perspective, it was indeed related to the impending Nightmare Beast tide. But it wasn’t a direct connection, which was why he answered, “Probably.”

And since others weren’t aware of this, they naturally assumed Su Bei was being perfunctory with them. Wu Mingbai showed an exasperated expression: “You really are quite dismissive.”

Seeing that he wouldn’t answer, Jiang Tianming sat back in his chair. “Feng Lan was called away two days ago, and Ling You and Xiaoyu were taken by the teachers yesterday. If you hadn’t returned today, I would have thought this was a divide-and-conquer tactic specifically aimed at us.”

Hearing this, Su Bei looked around the classroom. When he had first entered, he’d noticed several people missing, but he’d just assumed they hadn’t arrived yet since class hadn’t started. Now, it seemed they hadn’t just not come; they couldn’t come.

A battle against Nightmare Beasts was imminent, and those three indeed needed to be protected. The former was for pure protection, while the latter two were to be ready to play a significant role at any time.

Almost no one was better suited to appear in battle than Ling You; she would undoubtedly be a major weapon for the human side. Especially when facing a multitude of low-tier Nightmare Beasts, a single move from her meant tens of thousands of Nightmare Beasts dead. Such a grand feat couldn’t be replicated even by powerful Ability users.

Zhao Xiaoyu, however, was the exact opposite of Ling You. Her mutated ability was also a powerful weapon against Nightmare Beasts. Not only could it deal with regular Nightmare Beasts, but it was especially effective against Advanced Nightmare Beasts. After all, no matter how formidable a Nightmare Beast, it couldn’t change its fundamental nature as a manifestation of grievances. As long as it was a grievance, it was naturally countered by Zhao Xiaoyu’s [Happiness].

The first class of the day was Lei Ze’en’s. Perhaps feeling that it could no longer be kept secret, or that Su Bei and his classmates were also a fighting force and there was no need to hide it from them anymore, Lei Ze’en directly announced the news: “I believe you’ve all noticed, Feng Lan has received news of an imminent battle through [Prophecy]. The main battlefield for this conflict is the neighboring Suqi City, which is why many Ability users have recently been transferred there.”

“I want to go too!” Mo Xiaotian immediately raised his hand. “I can also contribute to eliminating Nightmare Beasts!”

“Of course, I believe you can.” Lei Ze’en’s expression was quite relaxed as he replied with a smile, “But Suqi City isn’t the only place with a battle; other areas might also have them. So, those of you with a certain level of combat strength, but who aren’t absolutely essential, need to remain on standby here. That way, if other places require support, you can rush there immediately.”

His words effectively calmed everyone’s restless hearts. Many of them had originally wanted to participate in the battle, just like Mo Xiaotian, but Lei Ze’en’s reasoning was sound. Since they weren’t being idled, there was no need to rush. It would be better to use this time at the academy to sharpen their skills, so they could shine brightly when they entered the field.

In this atmosphere of full alert, the Interdimensional Gates finally appeared.

Three large gates appeared in total. One was the gate in the center of Suqi City, which had appeared in Feng Lan’s [Prophecy]. Coincidentally, the gate was right in front of the city’s central library.

Upon learning this news, Su Bei couldn’t help but feel a surge of relief. Thankfully, he had long anticipated that the city center would be the most important place, so he had never even considered it for his plan. Otherwise, he would have wasted his time. After all, that area was certainly teeming with both Ability users and Nightmare Beasts now, making it impossible for him to carry out his plan there.

The other two locations were surprisingly the city where Houde Ability Academy was located, and a small town.

It was terrifying. Su Bei had only prepared for Suqi City out of these three locations; the Interdimensional Gates in the other two cities were completely unexpected. This meant that to achieve his goal, he had to find a way to lure Jiang Tianming and the others to the most dangerous Suqi City.

Realizing this, Su Bei felt a massive headache. He wished he could stay as far away from the dangerous Suqi City as possible, but he had no choice but to go. Not only did he have to go, but he also had to actively find reasons to go. What was the difference between that and actively seeking torment?

As the battle erupted, everyone was indeed assigned different tasks.

These tasks involved providing support to the two cities other than Suqi City, primarily the unnamed small town. After all, the other city was Houde Ability Academy’s stronghold, and even if some Ability users were transferred away, there would still be more than enough, so they truly weren’t needed there.

The city where Endless Ability Academy was located was also affected, and many Nightmare Beasts appeared during this time. However, because the Nightmare Beasts weren’t very strong, the academy’s students could form teams to handle them.

Before Su Bei even had a chance to get anxious, the main battlefield in Suqi City began to falter. Logically, with numerous powerful Ability users defending it, there shouldn’t have been a major problem.

But this time, the Nightmare Beasts’ strategy was very peculiar. Their primary mission was no longer to kill as many Ability users as possible, but rather to break through the Ability users’ blockade, intending to escape to the outside and kill ordinary people.

It could be said that in this battle, the numerous low-tier and Intermediate Nightmare Beasts were the main force, while the Advanced Nightmare Beasts became support. The Advanced Nightmare Beasts were responsible for tying down powerful Ability users, preventing them from having the opportunity to eliminate Nightmare Beasts on a large scale. The regular Nightmare Beasts, on the other hand, charged outwards, heedless of casualties, trying to escape one by one.

The Ability Government was caught off guard by this strategy and for a time couldn’t counter it. If Nightmare Beasts and Ability users fought directly, most Ability users could play their part effectively. But when these Nightmare Beasts were single-mindedly focused on fleeing, many Ability users found themselves helpless. They could face the siege of multiple Nightmare Beasts simultaneously, but they couldn’t simultaneously prevent multiple Nightmare Beasts from escaping.

But once the Nightmare Beasts escaped Suqi City, they would immediately vanish without a trace, like a clay ox entering the sea. Finding them again would require several times more effort than killing them.

Moreover, the damage to ordinary society during this period would be unimaginable. To ordinary people, Nightmare Beasts were incredibly aggressive monsters that couldn’t be countered at all; even the lowest-tier Nightmare Beast could easily kill an ordinary person.

Therefore, for the safety of these ordinary people, they had to try their best to keep the Nightmare Beasts contained within a limited range. This was the case not only in Suqi City but also for the Nightmare Beasts in the other two cities.

However, the greatest pressure was still on Suqi City. In the other two locations, firstly, the Interdimensional Gates weren’t as large, and there were relatively fewer Nightmare Beasts, making them easier to control. Secondly, after discovering the appearance of Interdimensional Gates in those two places, the Ability Government immediately dispatched several powerful control-type Ability users to stabilize the situation, so the Nightmare Beasts couldn’t escape at all.

In contrast, for Suqi City, which was long known to be the main battlefield for the outbreak, the Ability Government had arranged powerful attack, defense, and healing-type Ability users, specifically preparing for a large-scale battle there.

Who would have thought that while the imagined great battle did arrive, it was only half of what was expected? There was fighting, but more often, it was a group of Nightmare Beasts desperately fleeing. Unless one possessed great speed or wide-area offensive skills, there was truly no way to deal with this group of Nightmare Beasts single-mindedly focused on escaping.

And at this point, it was impossible to immediately call back the control-type Ability users from the other two cities; they were also indispensable there. One couldn’t just rob Peter to pay Paul.

There was no other choice but to increase the number of Ability users in Suqi City. Thus, Jiang Tianming and others with some combat capability were temporarily conscripted and were to set off for Suqi City today.

“I thought this battle wouldn’t involve us, but I can’t believe we’re joining the main battlefield!” Mu Tieren looked invigorated, his face flushed with excitement. He had always hoped to play a role at such a time, and now that his wish had come true, he was naturally delighted.

Mo Xiaotian was also very happy: “This is great! I’m definitely going to eliminate lots of Nightmare Beasts!”

“Hot-headed boys,” Ai Baozhu pouted, complaining to Qi Huang beside her. “What’s there to be happy about in this? Even us first-years are being sent there, which only goes to show how incompetent the government is, right?!”

However, she had clearly chosen the wrong person to complain to. Qi Huang was just as excited as the two boys: “Ahem, well, I’m pretty happy too.”

Ai Baozhu: “…”

She decisively abandoned Qi Huang, originally wanting to complain to Lan Subing. But then, suspecting Lan Subing might also be like those few idiots, she looked around and specifically picked the person least likely to be happy about this: “Su Bei, what do you think?”

“Me? I’m watching while sitting.” Su Bei shrugged, earning an eye-roll from her.

It was Si Zhaohua who spoke a word of reason: “The Nightmare Beasts’ strategy is different from before. It must be deliberate retaliation against humanity for the Life Stone.”

Jiang Tianming agreed with him, stating logically, “Killing ordinary people provides far less benefit to them than killing Ability users, so it’s normal that the Ability Government didn’t anticipate this.”

In the past, because eliminating Ability users brought them greater benefits, they always targeted Ability users. After all, Ability users were rare, and killing even one would cause a noticeable loss for humanity. Moreover, the corpses of Ability users were of immense benefit to Nightmare Beasts, allowing them to evolve. Most importantly, a dead Ability user could even generate an Advanced Nightmare Beast. This balance of power, with one side gaining and the other losing, was entirely advantageous to them.

But this time, these Nightmare Beasts were clearly targeting ordinary people. By doing so, once the interdimensional gates closed, they would be easily trapped like fish in a barrel; this was certainly not a normal strategy. So, as Si Zhaohua said, this was definitely retaliation for the Ability users stealing the Life Stone.

“Thankfully, the ordinary people in Suqi City had already been evacuated,” Lan Subing suddenly interjected, her expression showing relief.

Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement. If Feng Lan hadn’t foreseen it in advance, and ordinary people hadn’t evacuated early, even with Ability users protecting them, the casualties would likely be severe now. The other two cities had already confirmed this point, as due to the Nightmare Beasts’ frenzy of slaughtering ordinary people, the Ability users’ primary task was no longer to eliminate Nightmare Beasts, but to escort ordinary people to safety.