Chapter 251

“I was able to get here ahead of time. Do you really need to ask me that kind of question?” Su Bei said with an air of confidence. “I suggest you deal with the Sleep Nightmare Beast as soon as possible. Its smoke is spreading very quickly.”

Moreover, it was unclear if the Nightmare Beasts were responsible, but the wind direction today was very favorable for them, blowing directly towards the city wall. Once the smoke reached the wall, the defenders would collapse. Moyun City would be instantly overrun by the Nightmare Beasts that had long been lying in wait.

Hearing this, the expressions of the three turned grim. Fortunately, the smoke was colored, so they could clearly see it was indeed blowing towards the city gate.

“Then let’s try to change the wind’s direction,” Wu Mingbai proposed.

Su Bei shrugged. “Don’t underestimate an Advanced Nightmare Beast.”

As an Advanced Nightmare Beast, its control over its own ability was certainly strong. A favorable wind was a bonus, but even if the wind was against it, it could still direct the smoke where it wanted, albeit at a slower pace.

If only Xiaotian were here, Jiang Tianming couldn’t help but think. Mo Xiaotian’s [Air Blocks] ability was the perfect counter to this Nightmare Beast. By sealing off the surrounding air, it wouldn’t be able to escape no matter how powerful it was.

As they were talking, two more people arrived. They were among those fighting Nightmare Beasts on the city wall. When they heard the commotion from the bell tower, they hadn’t intended to come down. They knew Chen Ze, as the head of the logistics team, would investigate first and report back.

But after waiting for a long time without any word from Chen Ze, the commander sensed something was wrong and sent the two of them to check.

Upon arrival, they saw Chen Ze and the others lying unconscious on the ground. Their expressions changed instantly, and they looked at Su Bei’s group of four with suspicion. “What happened? Why are they unconscious?”

The current scene made it look very much like the four of them had orchestrated an attack. The four didn’t blame them for their caution. Jiang Tianming pointed to the cyan smoke filling the air and explained, “This cyan smoke is the ability of a Sleep Nightmare Beast. Anyone who comes into contact with it will fall into a deep sleep. They accidentally touched the smoke and ended up like this.”

“A Sleep Nightmare Beast?” The two looked at each other, having never heard of such a creature. However, the smoke filling the sky was indeed suspicious; they couldn’t recall this place ever emitting smoke.

Jiang Tianming nodded, his expression serious. “This needs to be resolved immediately. If it spreads any further, the smoke will reach the city wall.”

At these words, the two men also realized the gravity of the situation. One of them said in a panic, “Then what do we do? We’ll go find the commander now! You two stay here, the other two… Forget it. Student Jiang, don’t you have the [Object Control] ability? Can you pull these unconscious people out of the smoke and carry them back to the city wall with us?”

They didn’t feel safe leaving the four students here. After all, what they had just heard was only one side of the story; they couldn’t be completely sure that the unconscious group had nothing to do with them.

But they didn’t dare stay behind to guard them either. These students, despite their youth, were quite powerful. The two of them might stand a chance together, but one-on-one, they weren’t absolutely confident they could win.

Leaving the unconscious people here was also not an option; they were still alive. If they died after the two of them left, the one who made the decision would become a sinner.

Therefore, taking everyone with them was the best choice. With an Ability user’s stamina, carrying a few people was an easy task.

“No problem.” The four of them shook their heads. They also thought it was a good plan.

Upon reaching the city wall and seeing the large group of unconscious people, the Ability users fighting the Nightmare Beasts were filled with astonishment, their gazes constantly shifting over.

The four reported the situation to the commander, whose face turned grave. She was willing to believe Su Bei and the others. Firstly, their identities were legitimate; she had already contacted the higher-ups the day before to confirm.

Secondly, she could already see the cyan smoke floating in the air. It wouldn’t be long before it drifted over. It was obvious there was something wrong with it, and the explanation they provided was logical, so she was willing to trust them.

The most fundamental reason, however, was that the commander’s ability was [Psychologist], and one of her skills was similar to a lie detector. She could directly determine if Jiang Tianming and the others were lying. It was clear they were not.

Knowing the four weren’t lying, the commander naturally understood how critical the situation was. Once the smoke drifted over, they would all be finished. Any questions had to be put aside for now; solving the immediate problem was the top priority.

“Xiao Wang, come here,” the commander called over a young woman after a moment of thought. “Your ability is wind-based. See if you can blow this smoke to the other side.”

Although Su Bei had already dismissed this idea, even if it couldn’t completely solve the problem, buying a little more time to think was still a good thing.

Xiao Wang activated her ability, and a strong wind howled, significantly slowing the smoke’s advance. But just as Su Bei had said, changing the wind’s direction couldn’t completely stop the smoke. The cyan haze continued to spread toward the city wall. At its current speed, it would reach them in about ten minutes.

Now, there was finally time to clear up some questions. The commander looked at the four of them. “Who rang the bell initially?”

“Me.” Su Bei raised his hand. “My ability is Destiny-type.”

A Destiny-type, that explained it. The commander understood. Some Ability users of this type could see fate, so making predictions in advance was normal.

“Did you warn the other residents?” the commander asked next.

The cyan smoke wasn’t spreading in just one direction; it was expanding outwards from the well in the city center. It was just that due to the wind, its spread in other directions had been slower. Now that they had changed the wind’s direction, the entire city would likely be filled with smoke soon.

Jiang Tianming shook his head. “No. Besides, even if we told them, where could they possibly hide?”

That was a good question. The commander fell silent. But she quickly composed herself again. “Take me to see it. We have to find a solution… By the way, since you were able to identify this as a Sleep Nightmare Beast, do you know anything about it?”

Everyone looked at Su Bei. Without hesitation, he began to explain, “The Sleep Nightmare Beast is a type of Advanced Nightmare Beast. It has two abilities and two passives. The passives are immunity to control effects and immunity to physical tools. One of its active skills is what you see now, releasing cyan smoke that puts people into a deep sleep. They will wake up within twenty-four hours after leaving the smoke. The other is a derivative of this skill: anyone who remains unconscious in the smoke for more than three days will never wake up.”

Its powerful crowd control and self-protection capabilities came at the cost of attack power. Any other Advanced Nightmare Beast could kill a few ordinary people with ease, but for a Sleep Nightmare Beast to kill someone, it would take at least three days.

“As expected of a top student from Endless Ability Academy,” the commander praised. “At least we now know that everyone’s life isn’t in immediate danger. Let them sleep, then. A good rest might do them good. The most important thing now is to deal with the Sleep Nightmare Beast.”

But the most crucial problem now was that they had no idea how to deal with it. The commander looked at Su Bei again. “Since you know so much about the Sleep Nightmare Beast, do you know how to eliminate it?”

Su Bei fiddled with a silver gear that had appeared in his hand at some point. The information from the ‘Destiny’ organization didn’t provide a solution, but he had his own methods. “I do. But if I help you with this, I won’t have to bother with the Nightmare Beast extermination missions for the next few days, right?”

“Hey, you!” Hearing that he had a solution had made the group happy for a moment, but then they heard him trying to bargain. “Doesn’t the Sleep Nightmare Beast affect you too? Helping us is helping yourself! Besides, eliminating Nightmare Beasts is a mission for all of us. How can you try to escape it?”

Hearing this, the commander’s brow furrowed slightly, though she wasn’t angry. The fact that Su Bei could recognize the Sleep Nightmare Beast at a glance and find a way to deal with it was already a huge help. He deserved a reward.

She just felt it was a difficult request. “Right now, all the Ability users except for us on the city wall are probably unconscious. We’ll be short-staffed tomorrow. I really can’t give you time off.”

It was already three in the morning. Even if they could eliminate the Sleep Nightmare Beast right now, the others wouldn’t wake up until at least dawn the day after tomorrow.

The Ability users currently on night watch on the wall couldn’t last that long. Normally, they should have gone back to rest and recover their mental energy at eight this morning. Pushing them for another day was already a stretch; being short one more Ability user would make it even harder.

“How about this?” After some thought, the commander proposed a compromise. “You hold on for one more day, and then I’ll give you three days off.”

It was a decent offer, but Su Bei didn’t need it. What he needed now was a chance to, without going out of character, put on a grand display of his ruthlessness towards Nightmare Beasts, and then, after completing the mission, give himself a nice, long vacation.

If he weren’t afraid of breaking character, he could have just focused on eliminating Nightmare Beasts these past few days. With his abilities, he probably could have earned the title of “Nightmare Beast Annihilator” in no time. Unfortunately, character constraints forced him to first find a plausible reason before he could go all out.

So he pointed at the Nightmare Beasts below and, pretending to settle for the next best thing, presented his real plan. “A method to eliminate the Sleep Nightmare Beast, plus all these beasts down here, in exchange for me being free and unburdened for the rest of the time. Deal or no deal?”

At these words, everyone was stunned. They stared at each other for a long moment before the commander asked hesitantly, “What do you mean by ‘plus all these beasts down here’?”

Did she understand that correctly?

Su Bei then confirmed her incredulous suspicion. “It means eliminating all the Nightmare Beasts currently here. Is that enough work for you?”

“Enough! More than enough!” The commander nodded repeatedly. If Su Bei could really do what he said, forget a vacation, they would be willing to worship him.

But then she asked suspiciously, “But can you really do it?”

Someone behind her immediately chimed in sarcastically, “Can you please stop bragging? You’re so young, why learn to boast? If you can really wipe out all these Nightmare Beasts, I’ll eat shit, okay!”

“I’m not here trying to scam a free meal.” Su Bei glanced at the speaker, then looked back at the commander and tilted his head. “Since you’ve agreed, shall I begin?”

“Please, go ahead.” The commander instinctively used a respectful tone with this boy who was much younger than her. For some reason, even though it sounded impossible, seeing Su Bei’s calm and confident demeanor made her feel that he could actually eliminate all the Nightmare Beasts.

Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, and Wu Jin exchanged glances, their eyes full of curiosity. Although it seemed unbelievable, since Su Bei had said it, they naturally believed he could do it.

Especially Jiang Tianming; he had personally witnessed Su Bei eliminate a large number of Nightmare Beasts in one go. However, the number of beasts back then was far less than this time. He hadn’t expected Su Bei to be unfazed by so many. His strength was truly beyond reach.

Lan Subing was also filled with emotion. She was capable of controlling all the Nightmare Beasts at once, so she knew best how much mental energy would be required to kill them all in one go. For Su Bei to be confident he could do it, just how deep was his pool of mental energy?

Receiving the affirmative answer, Su Bei tossed the silver gear to Jiang Tianming, then walked to the edge of the wall to look down. To others, it was a dense mass of black Nightmare Beasts, but to him, it was a dense mass of golden compasses.

These compasses were almost identical, which saved him a lot of trouble. Building on his previous experiences, Su Bei flicked his fingers, adjusting a few specific pointers on them one by one. Once all the compasses were nearly identical, he connected them. Learning from his last experience, he first moved his own Minor Destiny Pointer to the far left. Then, he adjusted the Major Destiny Pointer of one of the Nightmare Beasts to the very bottom.

After finishing all this, Su Bei lowered his head slightly, using the darkness of the night to hide his pale face. However, he was wearing a black mask at the time, so he wasn’t too worried. No matter how pale he was, under the dual cover of the mask and the night, no one would notice.

To confirm his previous steps, Su Bei then used his “Advanced Screening” ability to see what would happen after he adjusted the Nightmare Beasts’ fate.

Seeing the scene that appeared before his eyes, he raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise on his face. “We’re about to have guests.”

“What?” Hearing this cryptic remark, the commander was taken aback and asked in confusion.

There was only one last step.

He smiled faintly, snapped his fingers, casting an instant skill, then raised his eyebrows and said to the empty air, “Long time no see.”

In the next second, all the Nightmare Beasts below the city wall suddenly froze in place. Then, like dominoes, they began to fall, one after another.

Viewed from above, the scene was utterly震撼. An uncountable number of Nightmare Beasts were all wiped out in an instant. Even though the Ability users considered themselves worldly, they had never seen such a spectacle.

Jiang Tianming and the others were mentally prepared. Just as they had thought, since Su Bei said it, he could definitely do it. But no matter how many times they saw this ability of his, they couldn’t help but feel awestruck. They were all first-year S-Class students, so why was he the only one so impressive?

Everyone was stunned speechless by the sudden turn of events. They couldn’t believe Su Bei had done what he said he would, truly eliminating all the Nightmare Beasts below the city wall. Not even many powerful Ability users were this strong, let alone an underage student. The power Su Bei displayed left everyone in awe, deeply regretting that they had missed out on such a powerhouse.

They should have known earlier. How could someone who came with Lan Subing and the others be weak? Looking back at his previous slacking, it now seemed like the low-key behavior of a hidden master.

After the brief shock and elation, the crowd, including the commander, began to feel regretful. They remembered that Su Bei had declared this would be a one-time thing; he wouldn’t help eliminate Nightmare Beasts anymore.

They had finally gotten a powerhouse on their side, only to let him go so easily! What was the difference between this and holding millions in cash that they couldn’t spend?

Before anyone could say anything, a massive pelican came flying out of the dark night, flapping its huge wings. A bird suddenly appearing at a time like this was undoubtedly strange, but since it wasn’t black, it was clearly not a Nightmare Beast. So, everyone just became vigilant without attacking immediately.

Su Bei waved his hand, signaling for everyone to back away and make space for the pelican to land. Backed by the strength he had just displayed, everyone obediently followed his lead and retreated.

Once a large enough space was cleared, the pelican landed intelligently in the open area. It opened its large beak, and two men, one blond and one with black hair, calmly walked out of its mouth.

“It’s you!” Jiang Tianming’s group exclaimed in surprise.

It was clearly Cyril and Li Xiang!

Having already foreseen this scene, Su Bei was no longer surprised. He just couldn’t help but take a step back as the two approached him. These two had just come out of a pelican’s mouth; who knew if they were covered in pelican saliva.

That one step completely broke Cyril’s composure, who was just about to deliver a cool greeting. The calm look on his face cracked, and he demanded with a laugh born of anger, “You’re disgusted, aren’t you? You’re disgusted with us! We came all this way to help you, and you greet us with disgust?”

Although he was right, Su Bei certainly couldn’t admit it. He gave a sheepish laugh and put on a welcoming facade, but still cautiously kept some distance between them. “Welcome, welcome. What a coincidence, you’ve come at just the right time.”

Seeing him maintain his distance, Cyril’s face darkened. He sneered, “A coincidence? It was your ability that summoned us here, wasn’t it! We were supposed to go support another city, but the organization suddenly changed our arrangements and had us come here to help you on short notice.”

The Black Flash Organization was very familiar with Su Bei’s ability and knew he could change fate. The moment Cyril saw Su Bei here and heard him say “Long time no see,” he understood what had happened.

Su Bei just smiled without saying a word. To fulfill a set destiny, many coincidences are bound to occur.

“Student Su Bei, who are these two?” the commander asked as she approached, her eyes shining.

She had heard their conversation and had a rough idea of what had happened. These two must have been summoned by Su Bei’s Destiny-type ability. He had indeed fulfilled his promise.

Su Bei was undeniably powerful, but since he wouldn’t be fighting anymore, his strength was useless to them now. It was better to try and secure the help of the two he had summoned. If they could keep these two here, Moyun City would be safe.

Their thoughts were plain as day to Su Bei. He said with a half-smile, “They’re from the Black Flash Organization.”

After saying that, he quickly found a place to sit down. Eliminating so many Nightmare Beasts just now had consumed almost all his mental energy. The only reason he hadn’t fainted on the spot was due to the powerful recovery of his Advanced Mental Energy and his own willpower. If he didn’t sit down now, he would probably collapse in a little while.

The name “Black Flash Organization” was well-known in the Ability World. Most Ability users had heard of them, and many had even suffered at their hands. Therefore, when Su Bei said this, everyone’s first reaction was disbelief.

“You must be joking, right?” a man from behind immediately voiced his doubt, afraid that Su Bei would anger away their two new supporters. But he didn’t dare offend Su Bei, an obviously promising Ability user, so he tried to pass it off as a joke. “These two masters helped us eliminate so many Nightmare Beasts. How could they be from the Black Flash Organization? That organization is full of bad things!”

Hearing this, smiles couldn’t help but appear on the faces of Su Bei’s group. Cursing the Black Flash Organization right in front of its members—this was truly an interesting scene.

The commander didn’t believe Su Bei either. She looked at Cyril and Li Xiang and asked politely, “Which organization sent you, sirs? We will be sure to visit and express our gratitude after this battle is over.”

“The Black Flash Organization,” Cyril said with a playful smile. “The ‘bad things’ you were just talking about.”

“What!” He had admitted it himself. Now, everyone finally had to believe Su Bei was telling the truth—these two really were from the Black Flash Organization.

Even though they had just helped them immensely, upon hearing this news, everyone instinctively and swiftly retreated, huddling together. Their eyes were filled with vigilance and disgust. The commander’s gentle demeanor vanished as she sternly questioned, “Why have you come here? What is your scheme?”

Su Bei and his group were also curious about this question, so they didn’t stop the commander from asking. They just secretly raised their guard in case the two got angry from the interrogation.

Cyril shrugged, showing no signs of anger. He was well aware of his organization’s reputation and considered this kind of treatment perfectly reasonable.