Chapter 246

However, what he didn’t know was that Su Bei truly didn’t need that opportunity this time. He had to personally participate, otherwise, his “Dream Foam” wouldn’t have a chance to be used.

Still, he had to put on a show. Su Bei pretended to argue a couple of times, feigning reluctance, before “unwillingly” following everyone into the shopping mall.

In stark contrast to the outside, there wasn’t even a single Low-tier Nightmare Beast visible inside the mall. The entire first floor was empty, without a trace of any living thing. It was visibly problematic.

“Hasn’t anyone checked here?” Lan Subing whispered, casually using her ability. “[Nightmare Beast Appearance]!”

After waiting for a moment with no movement, she shook her head: “There are no Nightmare Beasts on the first floor.”

“Then let’s go upstairs.” Jiang Tianming immediately led the team up the stairs. Taking the elevator in such a place would be too dangerous; the simplest method of going up was safer.

Su Bei followed behind the group, silently pondering where the Nightmare Spider would be. Its goal was to capture everyone in one fell swoop, and “everyone” certainly included himself. Therefore, the Nightmare Spider couldn’t be hidden in a location Su Bei already knew, like the cinema.

There were no Nightmare Beasts on the first floor, meaning the opponent was still planning a sneak attack. Based on his previous reconnaissance, the most suitable place for a sneak attack should be—Su Bei looked up at the huge crystal chandelier on the distant ceiling.

As a large commercial building, many things in this shopping mall were actually transparent. For example, glass doors of shops, glass windows, transparent railings… It was very difficult to find a truly hidden spot here, except for the restrooms and the cinema. This was why, after touring for a long time that day, Su Bei ultimately decided to choose the cinema.

Restrooms were actually good places for eavesdropping, but the problem was that Nightmare Beasts didn’t use restrooms. So the cinema was the most suitable.

The location for a sneak attack and the location for eavesdropping shared remarkable similarities. Since he couldn’t find one, the Nightmare Spider probably couldn’t either. Thus, its chosen location must not be an ordinary place.

Ignoring various shop rooms, the only places that could be considered “not ordinary” were up in the sky or underground. Su Bei didn’t know if the opponent was hiding underground, but there was a ready-made hiding spot above—on top of the chandelier.

If someone were hiding up there, the massive crystal chandelier could completely conceal them. They could just jump down when needed. For a Nightmare Beast, even a jump from the fifth floor wouldn’t cause any harm. So, this was indeed a relatively perfect ambush spot.

Thinking this, he subtly moved away from the area covered by the chandelier, then activated his ability to check everyone’s compass.

The Minor Destiny Pointers of several individuals had already shifted to the right, such as Jiang Tianming, Si Zhaohua, Qi Huang, Ai Baozhu, and Mu Tieren. Coincidentally, these individuals were precisely those directly under the chandelier.

Undoubtedly, his previous guess was correct. The Nightmare Spider might really be hidden on top of the chandelier. Seeing this, Su Bei raised an eyebrow and took two more steps back. This scene was noticed by Jiang Tianming, who didn’t grow wary but instead asked curiously, “Su Bei, why are you backing away?”

Su Bei pointed upwards, a triumphant smile appearing on his face: “Someone’s about to have bad luck.”

“Who?” Jiang Tianming asked, looking up in the direction he pointed, and then he saw a giant spider web descending from the sky.

The spider web fell quickly, and everyone was caught off guard. The five people in the chandelier’s covered area were all netted simultaneously.

Immediately after, a black Nightmare Spider descended from above, landing directly on Jiang Tianming and the others.

Ai Baozhu was quick to react, immediately activating her ability. As soon as [Glorious Domain] was unleashed, a pink protective barrier enveloped the individuals caught in the spider silk, temporarily shielding them.

Qi Huang also reacted swiftly, summoning phoenix flames in her hand and approaching the web, attempting to ignite the spider silk. Logically, fire and spider silk should be a relationship of complete suppression; Qi Huang should have been able to easily free everyone. However, surprisingly, the spider silk didn’t catch fire at all, as if it were an incombustible material, completely unaffected by the flames.

“Don’t bother, my spider silk is impervious to water and fire,” the Nightmare Spider said somewhat triumphantly, its steel-like spider legs attacking Ai Baozhu’s domain as it spoke.

Si Zhaohua refused to be outdone, using his sharp feathers to try and cut the spider silk. But clearly, he also failed. The spider silk was not only impervious to water and fire but also invulnerable to blades.

Even Qi Huang and Si Zhaohua, who were most likely to counter the Nightmare Spider, were helpless. The remaining few naturally had no recourse either. They could only rely on Ai Baozhu’s ability to hold on for a little longer.

While they were at a loss, the four people not caught in the web readily prepared to attack. Mo Xiaotian used Air Blocks to envelop the Nightmare Spider, attempting to lift it. Lan Subing, meanwhile, used [Word Spirit] to try and make the spider web disappear.

As they resisted, Jiang Tianming rapidly spoke of their current predicament: “We can’t move. This spider web is sticky; once caught, you can’t move. Abilities can still be used, but it feels like there’s a weakening effect. Baozhu might not last long.”

Upon hearing this, Ai Baozhu immediately said, “That’s right, inside this spider web, my Mental Energy consumption is much higher than before. Hurry up—”

Before she could finish, she suddenly widened her eyes: “Watch out behind you!”

Fortunately, Wu Mingbai reacted in time, erecting an earth wall to shield Lan Subing from an attack that ambushed her from behind.

It was another Advanced Nightmare Beast, resembling a cockroach. However, it was the size of a human head, utterly disgusting. Behind this Cockroach Nightmare Beast were countless, densely packed small black cockroaches, a sight that made one want to vomit.

Just now, it was one of these small Cockroach Nightmare Beasts that had leaped up, intending to attack Lan Subing.

“…Save…” Seeing so many cockroach-like Nightmare Beasts, Ai Baozhu’s eyes glazed over, her face pale, looking as if she could faint at any moment. Though a young lady, she wasn’t afraid of insects, but she absolutely couldn’t stand things like cockroaches and rats.

Not just her, Si Zhaohua’s face was also ashen. He also had a cleanliness obsession and detested cockroaches. More importantly, he, who could originally fly, was now firmly trapped by the spider web. If these Cockroach Nightmare Beasts crawled onto him, Si Zhaohua would truly feel like dying.

It wouldn’t do to let Jiang Tianming and the others be trapped and the main battleground remain here. Su Bei was still hoping to use the protagonist’s perspective to ensure his upcoming grand spectacle would be depicted in the comic.

With a flick of his finger, a silver gear appeared at Su Bei’s fingertip. He lightly flicked the gear towards the spider silk. The next second, the silver gear first bounced off the Nightmare Spider, then bounced from it onto the spider silk.

Unexpectedly, the spider silk disintegrated automatically the moment it came into contact with the gear!

Mu Tieren, quick-witted, swiftly grabbed the gear the moment it bounced away. After twirling it, he showed a strange expression: “It feels greasy and slippery, like oil.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tianming seemed to suddenly realize something. He immediately controlled a nearby chair and savagely smashed it towards the Nightmare Spider. Such a minor attack could hardly cause any damage to an Advanced Nightmare Beast. The Nightmare Spider didn’t even bother to dodge, allowing itself to be hit.

However, before it could mock Jiang Tianming’s ineffective attack, Jiang Tianming quickly made the chair that had touched the Nightmare Spider smash into the spider web again.

The moment the chair contacted the spider web, the silk clinging to the chair began to dissolve, opening a large hole for the trapped individuals.

His experiment successful, he stated his conclusion: “There’s a substance on the Nightmare Beast that can dissolve spider silk.”

“Is this what they mean by ‘within five steps, there must be an antidote’?” Lan Subing couldn’t help but quip, half sympathetic, half gloating, as she looked at the Nightmare Spider. If her own creation was undone by something on her own body, she would surely be furious.

Naturally, no emotion could be seen on the Nightmare Spider’s face, but it was clear it was no longer looking at Jiang Tianming; instead, it was looking at Su Bei, questioning him: “What are you doing?”

Was that word “了” missing? Shouldn’t it have been “What did you do”? Lan Subing felt a bit strange, but then remembering it was a Nightmare Beast speaking, it wasn’t so strange anymore. It was normal for Nightmare Beasts to not speak human language perfectly; even Advanced Nightmare Beasts couldn’t be exactly like humans.

“The show has just begun; how can I let you finish so quickly?” Su Bei shrugged, answering nonchalantly.

He knew what the other party was asking. The Nightmare Spider wanted to know why he had interfered, having agreed to train Jiang Tianming and the others, and now why he was stopping it from performing?

Actually, Su Bei didn’t want to interfere either. But if they remained in a stalemate here, how could he fish in troubled waters? Only by getting everyone moving could his objective be more likely to be achieved.

After successfully rescuing everyone from peril, Su Bei retreated gracefully. He glanced at the rapidly approaching Cockroach Nightmare Beasts, whose plan had failed. With a push of his foot, he first stepped onto the railing, then leveraged off a nearby decorative object, pulled himself up by a poster for a few steps, and finally successfully reached the second floor.

Thanks to his ability for bringing him such formidable physical prowess. If it were in the past, even if he could scale walls and vault over roofs, he wouldn’t have been able to climb so high in one breath like in a wuxia novel.

But even though Su Bei climbed so easily and casually, the other students in the class truly couldn’t replicate it without their abilities.

“It’s like qinggong; Su Bei’s move always makes me so envious when I see it,” Ai Baozhu said, full of admiration, looking at his departing back, wishing she could be in his place.

On one hand, she genuinely envied this qinggong-like physical technique. On the other hand, she genuinely wanted to quickly escape this horrible place full of cockroaches. Her attention had been briefly diverted by Su Bei and Jiang Tianming solving the spider web problem. Now that it was resolved, thinking of her own situation, she felt like fainting again.

Qi Huang nodded in agreement: “It is indeed impressive. But it’s okay, he can do qinggong, but I can fly! Come on, I’ll fly you up!”

Meanwhile, after leaving the second floor, Su Bei went directly to the cinema on the fifth floor. The Cockroach Nightmare Beast had brought countless subordinates, and there were quite a few even in the cinema. Although Su Bei wasn’t sure what the relationship was between the small cockroaches and the big one, to prevent future troubles, he first cleared out all the cockroaches in the cinema.

Thanks to the Destiny Compass, if it hadn’t guided him, he really wouldn’t have been able to find all those Cockroach Nightmare Beasts.

He wasn’t sure if the Advanced Cockroach Nightmare Beast had received any information from the Nightmare Spider, but after Su Bei finished clearing out the Low-tier Cockroach Nightmare Beasts in the cinema, no new Nightmare Beasts entered.

The empty shopping mall’s sound insulation wasn’t great; Su Bei could hear various sounds of chasing, fighting, and clashing weapons from outside. Since he was idle anyway, he activated his Mental Energy and quickly scanned the fifth floor.

Aside from those two Advanced Nightmare Beasts, there were no other Advanced Nightmare Beast auras in the shopping mall. This brought Su Bei a slight sense of relief; at least this incident shouldn’t go wrong.

After idly walking for a while, someone finally approached the cinema. A Mental Energy scan revealed it was Jiang Tianming’s trio; they had fled upwards.

During that time, Cockroach Nightmare Beasts had run rampant on various floors, causing the germaphobic Ai Baozhu and Si Zhaohua to virtually lose their combat capabilities, only able to fly in the air and provide some long-range support.

Si Zhaohua could use “Divine Judgment” to eliminate an Advanced Nightmare Beast, but first, doing so would easily attract more Advanced Nightmare Beasts, which would be troublesome. Second, it wasn’t the first time he had used this skill to eliminate an Advanced Nightmare Beast. From the evasive attitude of those two Advanced Nightmare Beasts towards him, they should be aware of this skill. It was not guaranteed that they wouldn’t find a way to dodge it.

After using this skill, Si Zhaohua, though not directly fainting like before, was almost unable to use any abilities. Once dodged, they would lose a combatant and gain an object to protect. With this trade-off, things would only get harder.

Unlike the two of them, Qi Huang played a significant role. The Nightmare Spider was impervious to water and fire, but the Cockroach Nightmare Beasts didn’t have this ability, especially the small cockroaches it led. A huge fire quickly spread, filling the entire floor with the smell of burnt flesh.

However, what was despairing was that the Cockroach Nightmare Beasts’ small cockroaches seemed to have extremely strong reproductive capabilities. Not long after the small cockroaches were burned to death, even more small cockroaches crawled out from beneath their corpses.

Everyone could tell that the Advanced Nightmare Beast was providing them energy, so if the Advanced Nightmare Beast wasn’t eliminated, these small cockroaches would likely regenerate indefinitely.

But that Advanced Cockroach was very powerful; it was incredibly fast and could fly. Not only could it fly, but it could also blend into the environment like a chameleon, achieving a semi-stealth effect that undoubtedly caused great trouble for everyone, making it impossible to catch.

Obtaining this information consumed a lot of everyone’s Mental Energy, so much so that they now had to temporarily split up and flee, needing to find a safe place to recover Mental Energy and, incidentally, figure out how to deal with the two Advanced Nightmare Beasts.

It was not in vain that Su Bei hadn’t stinted on consuming Mental Energy, keeping his luck consistently at its leftmost point. He finally waited for the protagonist trio he most needed. With these three here, he didn’t have to worry about the author not drawing the upcoming major plot points in the comic.

“I wonder where Su Bei went,” Lan Subing sighed. “He definitely knows how to deal with that Cockroach Nightmare Beast.”

Wu Mingbai, outwardly sunny and cheerful, spoke with sarcasm: “Our Su Bei is a master of escape, you know. I don’t even remember the last time he appeared on the battlefield head-on.”

This made Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing both chuckle. Indeed, whenever something happened, Su Bei always managed to find a good time to disappear. Even if they didn’t want to get used to it, they had.

“Let’s go to the cinema and think of a strategy. Maybe Su Bei is hiding there,” Jiang Tianming said, taking the lead and walking towards the venue ahead.

As he approached the cinema, he suddenly heard a slight disturbance inside. Jiang Tianming’s previously relaxed expression immediately became vigilant. He gestured to the two behind him, and the trio, understanding each other implicitly, suppressed their footsteps and quietly walked in.

The “people” inside seemed unaware of their presence. Soon, voices could be heard: “Actually, I think there’s no need to open three Interdimensional Gates at once just for a small Life Stone.”

“Exactly. Anyway, if things keep going like this, we’ll eventually completely annihilate humanity,” another female voice replied.

The two sentences successfully startled the three eavesdroppers. Listening to the conversation, the speakers were not humans at all; they were clearly Advanced Nightmare Beasts!

There were actually two more Advanced Nightmare Beasts in the shopping mall? Then their current situation was too dangerous! Just the previous two had already given them headaches; if two more showed up, they would truly only be able to stall for time and wait for Wu Jin and Li Shu, who were guarding outside, to call for backup after two hours.

They might even suffer casualties despite their best efforts to stall for time. Four Advanced Nightmare Beasts cooperating was truly something they, a few students, couldn’t handle. If they could divide and conquer, it might be feasible, but the problem was that the entire shopping mall was filled with Cockroach Nightmare Beasts’ offspring. No matter which Nightmare Beast they fought, they would certainly quickly face a siege from other Nightmare Beasts.

Their hearts were a mix of emotions; they frantically considered what to do next.

However, the subsequent conversation between the two Nightmare Beasts made them forget to worry about that. The male Nightmare Beast fully agreed with its companion, its tone relaxed: “How many Ability Users do humans have? And we Nightmare Beasts are infinite. As long as we accumulate strength for a while, they will be defeated in an instant.”

“It’s a pity that this war will consume a lot of our combat power again,” the female voice sighed, but quickly perked up again. “But it doesn’t matter. Giving humans a lesson is good too. Anyway, as long as they can’t find a way to completely destroy us, we can definitely completely destroy them.”

The male Nightmare Beast sneered, disdainfully saying: “How could they find it? Even if they did, they couldn’t possibly do it!”

What did that mean? Was there really a way to completely eradicate Nightmare Beasts?

Hearing the last sentence, the trio’s breathing couldn’t help but become heavy. The infinite reproduction of Nightmare Beasts had always been a major problem for humanity. Even after Jiang Tianming and the others learned how Nightmare Beasts were born, they felt helpless about it.

Although they didn’t believe Nightmare Beasts could completely annihilate humanity, they also couldn’t think of a way for humanity to completely annihilate Nightmare Beasts. But according to what these two Nightmare Beasts just said, there seemed to be a way to completely eradicate them!

The two Nightmare Beasts in the cinema seemed disinclined to continue speaking. Jiang Tianming’s trio immediately grew anxious. They were at the most crucial moment; how could it end abruptly? Even if this method was truly unachievable, at least humanity should know about it and research it before giving up.

No, they had to find a way to make them continue talking.

So the next question was, what method could they use to make the two Advanced Nightmare Beasts reveal the truth? If Lan Subing were stronger, [Word Spirit] might be able to do it. But she was far from that strong now, and they couldn’t rashly alert the enemy.

Wu Mingbai’s eyes darted about. He exchanged glances with his two companions, then carefully retreated a few steps. Once out of the cinema, he suddenly, brightly, and loudly exclaimed: “Hey, I think this place is good. Why don’t we hide in this cinema?”

Hearing him suddenly say these inexplicable words, Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing weren’t confused. Instead, with their excellent chemistry, they immediately understood his meaning intuitively.

“That works, but we still need to check it,” Jiang Tianming nodded, also feigning the appearance of just arriving.

Lan Subing asserted earnestly: “We definitely need to check it thoroughly. Who knows how many Nightmare Beasts are hiding in this place?”

The three chatted briefly, then skillfully steered the conversation towards the topic of annihilating Nightmare Beasts. Wu Mingbai continued along the lines of what the predecessors said: “You’re kidding. If there really was a way to completely eradicate Nightmare Beasts, humanity would have discovered it long ago and eliminated them.”

“What if they discovered it but couldn’t eliminate them?” Jiang Tianming asked casually.

And Wu Mingbai replied with a look of disdain: “How is that possible? There’s nothing humans can’t do. As long as there’s a method, we can definitely do it.”

After their coordinated use of reverse psychology, Lan Subing pointed to the other side: “Baozhu is waving at us. Let’s go find them!”

Having said that, the three deliberately stomped their feet to simulate running, while actually seizing the opportunity to hide in a corner where they wouldn’t be easily discovered but could still hear what was happening inside the cinema.

Inside the cinema, Su Bei couldn’t help but curl his lips. They were somewhat smart, not letting his deliberately acted scene go to waste. Since their reverse psychology had already been used, he “had no choice but” to fall for it.

After a moment, the male Nightmare Beast’s voice rang out again: “Ha, those ignorant humans.”

“If they knew that the way to completely eradicate us is to clear out all the Meteorite Dust from the Nightmare Beast World, they probably wouldn’t think they’re omnipotent anymore,” the female Nightmare Beast said, her voice filled with confidence, clearly not believing they could possibly achieve this.

After speaking, it no longer delayed: “Alright, let’s go. Leaving this place to those two Nightmare Beasts is enough.”

“Don’t we need to stay and help?” the male Nightmare Beast asked.

The former decisively refused: “If they can’t even kill a few students when working together, then there’s truly no need for them to continue living and wasting resources.”

Immediately followed by two sounds of rushing air, the cinema returned to silence.

After patiently waiting for a moment, the trio emerged from the corner. Their expressions were all very complex, a mix of surprise, excitement, and also some doubt and solemnity.

“Where do you think the Meteorite Dust they spoke of is?” Jiang Tianming asked. He had guessed what the meteorite here referred to—it should be the celestial meteorite he had seen in that black book before. It was precisely the appearance of this meteorite that led to the emergence of both Nightmare Beasts and Ability Users.

Lan Subing shook her head: “I don’t know, we can go ask—”

Before she could finish, Wu Mingbai suddenly spoke, his expression grave: “I might know the answer to that question.”