Chapter 245

Arriving at the city gate in a van, the group had no time to prepare before being thrown into a sudden battle. Several Nightmare Beasts had just escaped, and naturally, no one was going to let them get away. They immediately took action.

Su Bei never wasted his Mental Energy in situations like this. He casually released a few dozen gears to attack, slacking off while pretending he was doing his best. However, if any clueless Nightmare Beast mistook him for a soft target and tried to use him as a breakthrough point, Su Bei wouldn’t let it pass.

After quickly clearing out the Nightmare Beasts, Qi Huang placed a hand on her hip, looking at the dead creatures in disbelief. She frowned and asked, “Nightmare Beasts are escaping from the city gate?”

A city’s most heavily fortified area was undoubtedly its gate. Although they weren’t in ancient times, and there were no city walls to speak of, the only place with a wall was this massive structure at the city gate.

If Nightmare Beasts could escape from a place with such natural defenses, they couldn’t even imagine what the rest of the city was like. The entire city couldn’t be teeming with escaping Nightmare Beasts, could it?

The guards on the city wall had excellent hearing. Hearing her question, one of them couldn’t help but reply, “You don’t know the situation inside the city. There are too many Nightmare Beasts to stop. But I saw reinforcements arriving, so I told the people inside not to fight so hard and just leave these few for you.”

Everyone: “…”

Well, aren’t you a little genius.

After a moment of speechlessness, the good-natured Mu Tieren asked, “So, should we find a place to rest first after we enter the city, or should we join the battle immediately?”

Normally, it would be the former, but given the situation in the city, there probably wouldn’t be any time to rest.

“The latter, of course!” As expected, the guard told them to join the fight directly. He waved for the staff to open the gate, adding a reminder, “When the gate opens, a lot of Nightmare Beasts will definitely rush out. You have to stop all of them.”

This might be difficult for others, but it wasn’t that hard for the S-Class students. Ai Baozhu immediately activated [Glorious Domain]. A pale pink halo expanded rapidly from her, quickly forming a pink barrier.

This domain wasn’t very wide, but it was incredibly high, almost ten meters tall, enough to block most Nightmare Beasts trying to escape from above.

Besides its defensive effect, [Glorious Domain] had another important function: it prevented anyone from getting in or out. Especially when facing weaker enemies, it was very difficult to break through Ai Baozhu’s ability.

However, its strength depended on her own Mental Energy and the area it covered. If the area was large, the strength of the [Glorious Domain] would naturally be much weaker. Therefore, after strengthening the domain’s height, she couldn’t reinforce its ground area.

Confirming that the range she’d set was enough to block the gate as long as it didn’t open too wide, Ai Baozhu reminded them, “Don’t open the gate too wide. Don’t go beyond my ability’s range.”

The guard gave an “OK” sign, and soon the massive gate opened just a crack, wide enough for two or three people to slip through. Almost as soon as it opened, a dense swarm of Nightmare Beasts charged at them with lightning speed.

Even Ai Baozhu, who had been mentally prepared, hadn’t expected so many Nightmare Beasts behind the gate. The immense impact made her face turn pale as her Mental Energy was consumed at a rapid rate. But there was no turning back now; she could only brace herself and move forward.

Fortunately, the others weren’t just standing around. They charged to the front, slaughtering everything in their path. Low-tier Nightmare Beasts were nothing to them now. Even Feng Lan could kill a few with her bare hands, let alone powerful offensive ability users like Si Zhaohua and Qi Huang. They took a significant amount of pressure off Ai Baozhu.

After a struggle, everyone finally made it inside the city. Si Zhaohua immediately yelled, “Close the gate!”

As the gate shut, Ai Baozhu’s legs gave way. Fortunately, Qi Huang was beside her and caught her in time. Then she looked at the others, “Baozhu probably can’t fight anymore. Someone needs to take her to the hotel.”

They had been informed of their lodging location before they arrived. So, in this situation, they could stay wherever they wanted as long as they could ensure their own safety. But the place arranged by the government had been cleared, making it relatively more convenient.

The person escorting Ai Baozhu to the hotel had to meet two criteria: first, they had to be able to protect both of them on the way back, and second, they should preferably not be a main combatant. With the streets full of Nightmare Beasts, joining the battle was urgent. Taking Ai Baozhu back would consume a lot of time, so it was best if someone less needed on the battlefield took her.

“Let me do it.” Su Bei claimed the duty without hesitation. “You know I’m not good at crowd control.”

Technically, Su Bei’s ability wasn’t suited for area-of-effect attacks. An ability like [Destiny Gear], if used only for gear attacks, would have weakened control over the gears the more he released, making it difficult to achieve a large-scale attack.

And if he used his destiny-altering ability to attack, its high Mental Energy consumption meant that under normal circumstances, he couldn’t perform area-of-effect attacks either and could only target the enemy’s strongest members.

But this was all “technically.” Su Bei was someone who never played by the rules. He could, in fact, use his ability for large-scale crowd control, and the effect was outstanding, no worse than any dedicated AoE ability user.

If many of the S-Class students hadn’t personally witnessed Su Bei snap his fingers and effortlessly annihilate a large group of Nightmare Beasts, they might have actually believed his nonsense.

“Aren’t you ashamed to say that?” Li Shu asked, looking at him with what seemed like genuine curiosity.

Wu Mingbai sneered, “When have you ever seen him ashamed?”

Undeterred by their combined mockery, Su Bei maintained his innocent expression. “It’s not that I insist on going, but if I don’t, one of you has to. I thought you’d all rather stay here than escort Ai Baozhu back.”

Hearing this, partly wanting to call his bluff and partly genuinely tempted, Li Shu coughed. “Actually, I can take her…”

Before he could finish, Su Bei cut him off. “Can you guarantee her safety on the way back?”

[Illusion] didn’t offer much in the way of protection, especially with so many Nightmare Beasts around. Li Shu couldn’t help but retort, “And you can? Does your ability offer any protection at all?”

However, Su Bei was completely unfazed. “Since I’m offering to do the job, of course I have the tools for it.”

“I can do it too.” Just when Su Bei thought he had no competition, an unexpected challenger emerged. Wu Jin raised his hand.

At this, Su Bei shot Wu Jin a look of silent condemnation, as if looking at a traitor who had broken a sacred vow.

Wu Jin silently avoided his gaze and volunteered, “I can make any low-tier Nightmare Beast that sees me leave us unharmed.”

With his [Succubus] ability, he could actually do this. Low-tier Nightmare Beasts generally had no resistance to his charm, so he could indeed get Ai Baozhu to the hotel safely.

As for why Wu Jin was vying for this position, his reasons were different from Li Shu’s and Su Bei’s. Although he could be quite effective in this situation, he personally disliked fighting. Secondly, Wu Jin felt that Su Bei would be more useful here than him. Instead of letting Su Bei slack off comfortably, he would take the spot himself.

Thinking this, a slight smile appeared in Wu Jin’s eyes. Su Bei had tricked him so many times before; it was time he got some payback.

“Wait, hold on!” Su Bei exclaimed, using his gears to clear a space around him while racking his brain for a counterargument. “I think…”

“We think it’s a great idea,” Li Shu cut in with a smile, interrupting him decisively. The tables had turned; this time, Su Bei was the one being cut off.

The others, also tired of Su Bei’s constant slacking, chimed in, not wanting to let him get his way this time. “That’s right! We think Wu Jin is perfect for the job.”

They were all enjoying the show, voicing their support for Wu Jin.

However, Su Bei knew the final decision wasn’t up to them. He immediately looked at Ai Baozhu and whispered in her ear, “I have a collection of embarrassing photos of people for your viewing pleasure. Let me take you back, and I’ll send you Si Zhaohua’s for free.”

At these words, Ai Baozhu’s eyes lit up. She knew Su Bei often took advantage of his slacking time to snap pictures of others during their strenuous training and battles. He didn’t even stop when they were out on missions.

Su Bei’s phone was a well-known treasure trove. He often used some of the embarrassing photos to blackmail their owners into doing his homework for him. While everyone gritted their teeth in frustration, they all secretly coveted the collection.

“Deal!” Ai Baozhu agreed instantly. She then announced loudly, “I want Su Bei to take me back.”

“You can’t be corrupted by sugar-coated bullets,” Lan Subing lamented quietly. “Especially not these sugar-coated bullets…”

Although Su Bei had spoken quietly, at such close range, the ability users’ keen hearing could pick up even the softest whisper.

But despite her words, Lan Subing and the others knew in their hearts that if they were faced with such a temptation, they probably couldn’t resist either. It was embarrassing photos of their companions, after all!

Unlike their understanding, Si Zhaohua was so angry he had to laugh. He looked at Su Bei with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Why don’t you show me these embarrassing photos of myself you have in your phone?”

“It’s for your own physical and mental well-being,” Su Bei said with a straight face, his tone utterly serious. “Alright, I’m done talking to you guys. I have to take the injured back now.”

With that, he bowed slightly and extended a hand like a gentleman. “Miss Baozhu, if you please?”

Ai Baozhu, also fearing that Si Zhaohua would shut down her deal with Su Bei, gave a haughty little nod and lightly placed her hand on his wrist. “Let’s go.”

With that, the two of them, feeling the piercing glares from behind, quickened their pace in unison and left together.

Su Bei said he could protect Ai Baozhu, and he meant it. First, he adjusted both of their luck to the maximum, then used an Invisibility Talisman. This allowed them to easily evade most Nightmare Beasts. On the rare occasion they still ran into one, Su Bei could easily take care of it.

With this double layer of protection, their journey was no different from a leisurely stroll, allowing them to freely observe the current situation in Suqi City.

During last semester’s final exam, they had experienced a battle in an illusion. When that battle broke out, the streets and alleys were similarly filled with Nightmare Beasts. Many ability users fought the creatures on the streets, while others hid in buildings to provide long-range assassination or support.

The sky was even more spectacular, with several flying ability users battling flying Nightmare Beasts, occasionally swooping low, forcing Su Bei and the others to duck for cover.

But there were many differences from the final exam. First, with powerful ability users acting as the main offensive force, the burden on them as students was much lighter. Last time, he had to resolve the battle by himself, which was naturally much more difficult.

Second, Su Bei’s extended Mental Energy could sense the auras of many Advanced Nightmare Beasts. The Nightmare Beasts had indeed grown stronger over the years. In the past, a battle might only feature one or two Advanced Nightmare Beasts controlling the field, but now, in this small city alone, he could sense four or five, and that didn’t even include those he hadn’t detected.

Although the human side was also gradually growing stronger—in their understanding of abilities, the structure of the Ability World, and the formalization of ability user training—from Su Bei’s perspective, humanity’s rate of enhancement was far slower than that of the Nightmare Beasts.

This was why the ‘Manga Consciousness’ was so anxious. At their current rates of evolution, humanity would be completely outmatched by the Nightmare Beasts in another ten years.

But for now, at least, the balance of power was relatively even. Although Su Bei saw many ability users suffering heavy injuries along the way, being quickly evacuated from the battlefield by those with special abilities, every ability user who was severely injured or had their Mental Energy depleted had definitely eliminated countless Nightmare Beasts.

The hotel was far from the city gate, meaning they would have to pass the interdimensional entrance in the city center to get there. This was why someone had to protect Ai Baozhu. She could handle ordinary low-tier Nightmare Beasts on her own, even with little remaining Mental Energy, especially since those beasts were mainly focused on escaping Suqi City, not fighting ability users.

But in the city center, they were bound to encounter intermediate or even Advanced Nightmare Beasts. If one of them noticed Ai Baozhu’s depleted Mental Energy and got any malicious ideas, it would be bad. With Su Bei’s protection, this was no longer a concern. By constantly maintaining perfect luck, they could avoid the vast majority of risks.

The closer they got to the city center, the more obvious it became that both the ability users and the Nightmare Beasts were getting stronger. The entire area around the library was a dazzling display of abilities being unleashed, colorful and immensely powerful. Even with their luck boosted, Su Bei and Ai Baozhu had to be careful to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

“Do you want to stay here?” After walking for a while, Ai Baozhu had recovered a bit of her Mental Energy. Watching the ability users fight the Nightmare Beasts, she asked thoughtfully.

Although Su Bei’s ability was very versatile, capable of insta-killing Advanced Nightmare Beasts and dealing AoE damage to low-tier ones, from a cost-effectiveness perspective, he was much more valuable fighting against Advanced Nightmare Beasts.

Anyone could deal with low-tier Nightmare Beasts, but very few ability users could handle the advanced ones. Ai Baozhu felt that once they passed the library, she could manage the rest of the way on her own.

Instead of having Su Bei waste time taking her back, it would be better for him to stay here and eliminate Nightmare Beasts, making a greater contribution.

It was worth mentioning that they weren’t eliminating Nightmare Beasts for free. While it was indeed the duty of an ability user, it was essentially a profession, just as police officers receive a salary for arresting criminals.

Eliminating a low-tier Nightmare Beast was worth one hundred yuan, an intermediate one was a thousand, and an advanced one was a staggering one hundred thousand. If one made a major contribution to ending the battle, they could also receive national recognition. There was once an ability user who saved many lives and was directly awarded a First-Class Merit, becoming one of the few living recipients of such an honor.

Eliminating Nightmare Beasts in a battle was not only about fulfilling one’s ambitions and showcasing one’s strength, but also a good opportunity to earn income and gain honor.

So, although Ai Baozhu knew Su Bei liked to slack off, she wasn’t sure if he wanted to prove himself in this battle.

However, asking Su Bei this question was clearly like playing a lute to a cow. He pointed at himself with a look of astonishment. “Me?”

Then he realized what Ai Baozhu was thinking, chuckled, and shook his head. “I don’t need it.”

He had already earned enough money from the flurry of missions he’d been assigned a while back. He didn’t care about honor either. If he couldn’t create a way to completely eradicate the Nightmare Beasts, humanity would sooner or later go extinct. Whatever honors he gained or how many Nightmare Beasts he killed now would be pointless.

And if he could complete the mission given to him by the ‘Manga Consciousness’, he would have the greatest honor of all—saving the world. With such an honor, other honors didn’t matter much.

“Then what do you need? Or rather, what do you want?” Hearing his answer, Ai Baozhu wasn’t surprised, but she suddenly became interested in the question.

Even now, she hadn’t completely given up on the idea of recruiting such a powerful ability user for her family. If she could find out what Su Bei truly needed, perhaps she could succeed.

What he wanted… Su Bei couldn’t help but fall into thought. Saving the world was something he needed to do; it was the deal he made with the ‘Manga Consciousness’ to be revived. It wasn’t really what he truly wanted to do.

Opening a hardware store was indeed something he wanted to do, but before that, Su Bei had another wish that couldn’t be more cliché. “Travel the world, I guess.”

He wanted to travel the world after everything was over. Whether he succeeded or not, it was something he would do.

Ai Baozhu was stunned for a moment. It was indeed a common wish, but she hadn’t expected it to be Su Bei’s as well. And it was a wish that didn’t require anyone’s help; he could do it on his own.

She pouted in resignation and said no more.

Soon, the two of them passed through the chaotic market and successfully arrived at the hotel. It was indeed a small safe zone, with a protective barrier outside that was visible only to ability users, likely the work of some defensive ability user.

After verifying their identities with the guards outside the barrier, the two were allowed in. The safe zone was quite limited, so they couldn’t have individual rooms like before and had to squeeze into rooms of four.

Fortunately, people in the same room were generally acquaintances, so they didn’t have to worry about the awkwardness of sharing a room with strangers.

After taking Ai Baozhu to her room, Su Bei quickly left the safe zone and found a quiet corner. After making sure no other ability users were following him, he called out, “Come on out.”

As soon as he deactivated his invisibility and appeared in front of the safe zone, Su Bei had sensed a familiar energy fluctuation.

Sure enough, the Nightmare Spider he had met before emerged from behind a building. “You’re finally here.”

Counting the days, this was already the fourth day of the battle. The Nightmare Spider had its minions stationed here ever since the safe zone was established, waiting for Su Bei to show up to begin their cooperation. But Su Bei only appeared today. Yesterday, the Nightmare Spider had even started to suspect he was deliberately toying with it.

“I have to follow the government’s arrangements, you know,” Su Bei said with a casual wave of his hand, not telling it that he had actually prepared several alternative locations and could very well have stood it up.

The Nightmare Spider didn’t want to argue with him and just wanted to start their cooperation as soon as possible. “So, when do we start what we talked about before?”

“Tomorrow, I guess.” Su Bei was still humane enough not to let Jiang Tianming and the others run into trouble as soon as they arrived. “We should be heading out at seven tomorrow morning. At that time, send a few low-tier Nightmare Beasts to lure us over. I’ll assist you from the shadows to make sure they don’t stray off course.”

Seeing that he had no intention of breaking their deal, the Nightmare Spider breathed a sigh of relief. “No problem. Don’t forget our agreement. Don’t bring anyone else who isn’t involved.”

Hearing this, Su Bei looked at it with a half-smile. “Why don’t you give me a little hint about what kind of fatal trap you’ve prepared for us?”

The Nightmare Spider gave a couple of awkward laughs but didn’t answer. “You’ll find out when you come tomorrow, won’t you?”

It was obvious that it had made ample preparations, determined to nip these future flowers of the Ability World in the bud. However, Su Bei had no idea what specific preparations had been made.

Although he knew the protagonist group wouldn’t truly meet a fatal end because of this, he couldn’t help but feel a little worried. Not for the protagonist group, but for this battle.

As the saying goes, you can see the whole picture from a single detail. Often, a small matter can reveal the changes in the entire situation.

Although the Nightmare Spider was an Advanced Nightmare Beast, from its behavior, it seemed to be a marginal one. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been sent out as a vanguard before the battle even started.

And yet, even a marginal beast like this was confident it could eliminate their group of powerful ability users without alerting the Ability Government’s defenses.

The importance of intelligence in a war was undeniable. Thanks to Feng Lan’s warning, the Ability Government had long known that a battle would occur in Suqi City and had surely made many preparations in advance. Under these circumstances, the Nightmare Beasts could still stir up trouble right under their noses.

The hidden information revealed by this was terrifying to contemplate.

On the surface, the battle situation seemed relatively balanced. In fact, because the Nightmare Beasts weren’t focused on killing ability users, the human side had fewer losses and held the upper hand. As long as the ability users who infiltrated the interdimensional space could close the ‘Closing Point’, they would achieve a great victory.

But after realizing the problem, Su Bei had a nagging feeling that this battle wouldn’t end so easily.

Jiang Tianming and the others returned that evening. When they got back, Su Bei heard the ‘Manga Consciousness’ notification—the manga had been updated.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t stepped outside since you got back?” Li Shu, who was also assigned to this dorm room, asked with feigned concern. “Were you too tired today?”

Mu Tieren didn’t catch the sarcasm in his voice and chimed in, “Maybe he ran into some danger on the way back with Baozhu.”

Hearing this, Si Zhaohua immediately helped clarify, “Baozhu said their trip was quite lucky. They didn’t run into anything.”

Knowing he was also mocking him, Su Bei finally couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Making sure we didn’t run into anything on the way is a skill in itself, okay?”

With that, he sat on his bed, took out his phone, and started reading the manga. This update was mainly to introduce the outbreak of the battle. It started with some build-up, and then the battle began. The group was originally on a mission in a non-primary battle zone, but due to the Nightmare Beasts’ plan, they were forced to come to the main battlefield to participate.

The whole chapter was about these events, basically setting the stage for some major, unknown event in the battle to come. However, there was one part that shocked Su Bei immensely—his contact with the Nightmare Spider had been drawn in the manga!

[The manga didn’t directly show what he was doing. It first showed a panel of him arriving in Suqi City, and then the next panel shifted to a very dark space where a figure, only a vague silhouette, appeared. “Why did you specifically come here to find me?”

Su Bei’s smile held a hint of recklessness, his upper face shrouded in shadow, looking strangely sinister. “Don’t be so nervous. I’m here to bring you some business.”]

The readers were clearly astonished, and the bullet comments flew across the screen.

“What business?”

“This shadow… doesn’t look human.”

“I knew Su Bei wasn’t ordinary! He’s got something else going on!”

“Why does this filter make him look like a villain?”

“Su Bei is the villain after all!”

“Aaaah, I feel like Su Bei’s about to be exposed!”

While the readers were confused, the Su Bei in the manga was just as confused. The plot involving this matter ended abruptly there, with no further related content.

But why? What was the point of drawing this scene? Su Bei didn’t understand. Was it because it involved the protagonist group?

He’d done things behind the scenes before. For example, when he secretly took the fruits that could awaken abilities in ordinary people in the mine, the author had shown no intention of drawing it in the manga.

It could be said that for many plots involving him without any witnesses, the author usually wouldn’t draw them, probably because he wasn’t a protagonist created by the author.

But this time was very strange. The manga author had actually drawn this completely negligible content, giving Su Bei a faint sense of unease.

As a Destiny-type ability user, Su Bei trusted his intuition. He immediately asked the ‘Manga Consciousness’ in his mind, “Why would the author draw my meeting with the Nightmare Spider?”

“Maybe because it was thought it might be useful?” After a full fifteen minutes, by which time Su Bei had finished reading the manga, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ finally replied.

But Su Bei wasn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t believe its explanation and sneered, “You used ‘maybe’ twice in one sentence.”

One ‘maybe’ was uncertain enough, let alone two. This was a tacit admission that it had no confidence in its own words. To say something it knew was likely untrue was either being perfunctory or deceptive.

Which one was the ‘Manga Consciousness’?

After a moment of silence, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ replied, “…I can’t decide what the author draws. But as long as you don’t interact with that Nightmare Beast from now on, he won’t have anything on you.”

Even stranger. Why would the manga author want to ‘get something on him’? The strange feeling in Su Bei’s heart grew stronger, but he didn’t ask any more questions. It was obvious the ‘Manga Consciousness’ had no intention of telling the truth and just wanted to brush him off. In that case, there was no point in asking further.

Su Bei knew that only when he found conclusive evidence of something wrong would the ‘Manga Consciousness’ possibly tell him the truth under his questioning.

He opened the forum. Due to Su Bei’s high popularity, there were indeed people discussing this short segment. Su Bei took a quick look. No one had guessed anything, but many were even more suspicious of his villainous identity because of it.

Tucking the doubts away in his mind, Su Bei lay down on his bed, closed his eyes, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the group set out together to clear out the Nightmare Beasts. Now that they were on the main battlefield of Suqi City, there were no specific mission arrangements. If they saw a Nightmare Beast, they just had to kill it.

There was no need to keep a count for money either. After everything was over, specialized ability users would come to tally how many Nightmare Beasts everyone had killed.

Less than half an hour into their work, Su Bei spotted Dodder Nightmare Beasts mixed in with the others. These plant-like creatures stood out among the animal-like ones, and their strange movement patterns made them very conspicuous.

“Look at those Nightmare Beasts!” Mu Tieren pointed at one of the Dodder Nightmare Beasts with a frown. “If I remember correctly, that should be a Dodder Nightmare Beast, right?”

Although Mu Tieren’s academic performance was average, it was mainly because cultural subjects like math and English dragged down his score. He had a firm grasp of the knowledge required for ability users.

With his reminder, those who hadn’t recognized them now did. Ai Baozhu said with pleasant surprise, “I remember that Dodder Nightmare Beasts are a main ingredient for a beauty elixir! This is great! This stuff is usually so rare, I can’t believe we found some here!”

She was clearly focused on the wrong thing, but the others were not. Jiang Tianming frowned and said, “Dodder Nightmare Beasts have to attach themselves to an Advanced Nightmare Beast to survive. Since they’re here, there must be an Advanced Nightmare Beast nearby.”

Mu Tieren nodded. “That’s right. So, should we go look for it?”

With so many of them, killing one Advanced Nightmare Beast shouldn’t be difficult. Compared to the low-skill task of eliminating low-tier Nightmare Beasts here, looking for trouble with an advanced one was definitely more interesting.

Unlike the others who were eager to go, Jiang Tianming calmly analyzed, “The mission we were assigned was to eliminate low-tier Nightmare Beasts. Besides, we don’t know if that Advanced Nightmare Beast is currently fighting other ability users. If we go rashly, we might just get in the way.”

His words were very reasonable, and everyone hesitated. But Su Bei couldn’t let them give up halfway. He hit the nail on the head, “Dodder Nightmare Beasts are also pack animals.”

The implication was that the Advanced Nightmare Beast probably had more than just these two Dodder Nightmare Beasts under its command; there could be many more. Going over wouldn’t conflict with the mission given to them by the Ability Government. Even if someone was already fighting the Advanced Nightmare Beast, they could still eliminate the Dodder Nightmare Beasts.

Ai Baozhu, who already wanted to go, immediately chimed in, “Yeah, yeah! There are already plenty of ability users clearing out Nightmare Beasts here anyway. Let’s just go take a look. It won’t affect anything.”

Qi Huang, Mo Xiaotian, and the others also preferred to fight an Advanced Nightmare Beast rather than just mowing down cannon fodder here. They had been convinced by Jiang Tianming, but since Su Bei had found a reasonable excuse, they naturally wouldn’t let it go to waste and all expressed their desire to go.

Jiang Tianming was an extremely perceptive person. He immediately looked at Su Bei with suspicion. “Why are you so eager to go?”

Before Su Bei could explain, Si Zhaohua came up with a reason for him. “He can’t slack off here.”

The work of eliminating low-tier Nightmare Beasts, though lacking in skill, required continuous effort, leaving no room for slacking. The whole process was just Ai Baozhu activating [Glorious Domain] while they attacked from within, which was safe but boring. If not for this, Qi Huang and the others wouldn’t be so eager to find trouble with an Advanced Nightmare Beast.

Saving him the trouble of explaining, Su Bei smiled and snapped his fingers. “You get me.”

A double entendre.

Finally, at everyone’s insistence, Jiang Tianming naturally relented. He actually wanted to fight an Advanced Nightmare Beast too; it was just his rational side holding him back before.

Those Dodder Nightmare Beasts were very intelligent. After attracting the attention of Jiang Tianming’s group, they immediately started heading back to their lair. Both sides moved quickly, and soon the group followed them to a shopping mall.

Unlike their previous visit, there were now many low-tier Nightmare Beasts outside the shopping mall. However, it was clear that the concentration was lower than in other places, hinting at the special nature of this location.

“It seems the Advanced Nightmare Beast is in this mall,” Jiang Tianming said, sizing up the large shopping center, trying to determine the creature’s location from the outside.

Mo Xiaotian wasn’t so thoughtful. He said excitedly, “Then let’s hurry up and go in!”

“Wait,” Jiang Tianming stopped him. “Let’s leave two people outside first. If we don’t come out within two hours, go back for reinforcements immediately.”

Although it was unlikely that anything would happen to so many of them against an Advanced Nightmare Beast, it was better to be safe than sorry. If the creature inside was particularly powerful, or if there was more than one, and they got into trouble, the people left outside would be their last resort.

This precaution was very necessary, and everyone nodded in agreement. The question now was, who would stay behind?

Wu Jin was the first to raise his hand, offering a legitimate reason. “My ability isn’t suitable.”

His [Succubus] ability itself could work on Nightmare Beasts of any level, but Wu Jin was far from being able to charm an Advanced Nightmare Beast. Therefore, his ability would be of little use in this operation, so he might as well stay outside.

The next to raise his hand was Li Shu. “Same here.”

After saying that, he even gave Su Bei a triumphant look, as if showing off that he had snatched the spot first this time.