Chapter 263

However, only Su Bei knew that Mo Xiaotian’s offer to split up and help him eliminate the Nightmare Beast wasn’t born out of simple kindness. He likely wanted to prevent Su Bei from getting involved in the danger that lay ahead.

But regardless of whether Mo Xiaotian was afraid Su Bei would interfere or simply didn’t want to drag him down, Su Bei gladly accepted the arrangement.

There were only four people in the team, and with two of them requesting to split up, the other two naturally didn’t object. After driving to the mission location, they went their separate ways, and Su Bei headed straight for the Sun family’s residence.

Ability users were generally well-off, and this family was no exception. The couple lived in a two-story Western-style house, which, despite not being in the city center, was still quite expensive.

Standing at the door, Su Bei first scanned the entire villa with his Mental Energy. A faint smile touched his lips as he pressed the doorbell.

The one who opened the door was a well-built, muscular man, standing at least one meter ninety tall, forcing Su Bei to look up at him. He was a graduate of Houde Ability Academy, which perfectly fit the stereotype.

The moment he saw Su Bei, a look of surprise appeared on his face. In a tone that completely contrasted with his tough appearance, he said excitedly, “You’re Su Bei, right? I finally get to see you in person! I’m a fan, can I get your autograph?”

Even someone as confident as Su Bei couldn’t help but feel a moment of awkwardness at the man’s enthusiasm. He cleared his throat. “Ahem, I’m not a celebrity. An autograph won’t be necessary.”

In the Ability World, one had to be cautious about everything. Su Bei would never give out his signature so casually.

He smoothly changed the subject. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

Hearing this, Sun Nan immediately dropped the previous topic, quickly stepped aside, and welcomed Su Bei inside. As they walked toward the sofa, he chattered on, “I have no idea how this Nightmare Beast was attracted to us, but my wife and I have been having bad luck for a while now, and that’s with our Mental Energy resisting it. According to the data on Misfortune Nightmare Beasts, we’ll probably both run into serious trouble in less than a week.”

He was clearly well-informed about his own situation, explaining it in just a few sentences. “I saw you on TV during the Tri-School Competition. You have Destiny Gear, right? I think you should be able to solve our current problem.”

Su Bei nodded, planning to resolve this quickly. “The Nightmare Beast is upstairs. I’ll eliminate it first. Are you and your wife the only ones in the house affected by the Misfortune Nightmare Beast? If so, call your wife over, and I’ll change both of your fates at the same time.”

Speaking of which, he wasn’t doing this for free. For missions that required his help, the government would definitely pay him extra. Of course, this money was coming from the Sun family, which was why Su Bei was acting so proactively. Getting paid to do a job—that was his consistent principle.

Seeing the person who came to help being so proactive, Sun Nan naturally didn’t lag behind. “It’s just the two of us. My wife went out to buy groceries; she’ll be back soon. But… you already know where the Nightmare Beast is?”

Su Bei nodded. Following Sun Nan’s lead, he went to the second floor and precisely pulled a black, sea urchin-like Nightmare Beast from a drawer for socks under the wardrobe. This was the Misfortune Nightmare Beast.

Because it had a physical body, the Misfortune Nightmare Beast could be eliminated through physical means—provided those means were imbued with Mental Energy, of course. A single gear ended the Nightmare Beast’s life. Su Bei turned back to the man. “Are there any good restaurants around here?”

He planned to spend the rest of his time at a restaurant. Staying at the Sun family’s house was inconvenient. Going to a restaurant would not only provide him with an alibi to prove he wasn’t involved in Mo Xiaotian’s plans but also let him escape the elements, have lunch, and finish reading the comic. It was a good choice.

“Go downstairs, head west down this street, and when you get to the intersection, turn right. The third restaurant is the best one in our area.” As a long-time resident, Sun Nan immediately gave Su Bei directions and then extended a warm invitation. “Why don’t you stay for a meal? My wife is a fast cook.”

Su Bei politely declined. He had no desire to eat at a client’s house.

Not long after, Sun Nan’s wife returned. Su Bei adjusted their luck one by one, then, without wasting any time, left the Sun residence and headed straight for the restaurant. It was only ten in the morning, a bit early for lunch. But it wouldn’t be right to just sit there without ordering anything, so Su Bei ordered a double-skin milk pudding and started reading the comic.

The comic began with the information Zhou Renjie brought back from the Black Flash Organization about the Saint. The two criteria— “must be male” and “has no relatives other than the leader”—eliminated most of the students.

Endless Ability Academy was very thorough in this regard. They took hair samples from every student and ran DNA tests with their families to ensure they were blood relatives and not adopted.

The original suspects were Su Bei, Jiang Tianming, and Wu Mingbai. After this round of evidence gathering, Mo Xiaotian—whose grandfather had passed away, leaving him with no living relatives—was added to the list.

After all the suspects were listed, the bullet comments refreshed rapidly.

“It’s definitely Su Bei, no question about it.”

“How can they resist just arresting Su Bei directly?”

“Even if Mo Xiaotian has no living relatives, he shouldn’t be on this list.”

“Poor Jiang Tianming and Wu Mingbai.”

“I vaguely remember someone saying Mo Xiaotian was the mole.”

“The protagonist is definitely not the mole, so it has to be Su Bei, right?”

“I have a feeling Mo Xiaotian is the mole.”

In reality, the author hadn’t left much room for speculation. The only real candidates for the mole were Su Bei and Mo Xiaotian. So, the readers in the bullet comments were making a choice between two, or rather, a choice of one. Mo Xiaotian’s image and personality provided him with the perfect disguise; compared to him, Su Bei seemed far too much like a mole.

The comic continued. After obtaining the identity information of the four suspects, the Ability Government sent an Ability user with the [Detective] ability to investigate. The interrogation of each person was depicted in the comic, all from the detective’s perspective.

It was worth noting that the incident where Mo Xiaotian dropped his pen was also drawn. No, it wasn’t an incident; it should be called foreshadowing. However, none of the readers in the bullet comments noticed anything unusual. They would probably only realize the foreshadowing here when the truth was revealed.

From the detective’s perspective, they all had colors emanating from them. Everyone was green, except for Wu Mingbai, who was red.

After Wu Mingbai left the room, the detective frowned and explained, “My ability, [Detective], can determine who has negative emotions. Just now, that student, Wu Mingbai, had very strong negative emotions, especially when I mentioned the Black Flash Organization.”

This was completely different from what the readers expected, and the number of bullet comments skyrocketed.

“How could this be?”

“Mingbai is being framed! The Black Flash Organization wants to frame him!”

“I feel like there’s something wrong with this detective the government sent.”

“He’s being set up!”

“Don’t misunderstand Mingbai! Please don’t! (Not a typo)”

“There’s no way they can suspect Wu Mingbai, he was with Jiang Tianming the whole time before.”

Clearly, no one believed Wu Mingbai could be the mole, but nobody knew what was going on either.

After Wu Mingbai was identified as the prime suspect, the comic depicted the various hardships he faced during this period from his perspective. First, he always felt like someone was following him. Then, his classmates, having heard the news, began to distance themselves subtly. And then there were the scrutinizing gazes from the teachers…

Each and every incident made him feel irritable, and it also made Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing extremely worried. They were afraid the academy would haphazardly brand Wu Mingbai as the mole, leaving him with no way to appeal for justice.

The next part was a scene where Jiang Tianming came to Su Bei, asking if there was a way to clear Wu Mingbai’s name. The author, of course, wouldn’t miss this excellent opportunity to paint him as a villain. In the comic, he appeared quite malicious. He clearly knew who the mole was but refused to say, content to just watch the drama unfold.

However, the author had clearly miscalculated. If any other character had done this, they would have been flamed horribly, but Su Bei was different. He had always had this personality and had never done anything particularly good, so no reader found it strange that he was acting like a jerk at a time like this.

The stark contrast between the author’s malicious intent and the bullet comments’ “let it rot” attitude made Su Bei burst out laughing with a “pfft.” It wasn’t in vain that he had deliberately crafted this persona; it had indeed lowered the readers’ expectations for him.

After all, there was still a main plot to follow. The author’s attempt to frame him was brief, and the story soon returned to the main plotline. Wu Mingbai, Qi Huang, and two other students went out on a mission. The guard assigned to watch them was lured away, and the students were thrown into a fierce battle.

Suddenly, a plume of cyan smoke drifted over from the distance, and everyone felt an overwhelming drowsiness, forcing them to resist with their Mental Energy. Except for Wu Mingbai’s opponent, the attackers of the other three students intensified their assaults, looking like they were aiming to kill.

And that was indeed the case. Although their goal was only to seriously injure them, killing them would have been a bonus. Unfortunately for the attackers, they didn’t succeed before the guard returned, forcing them to flee quickly. Knowing that academy personnel had arrived and they were safe, the four students relaxed their Mental Energy and fainted together.

Even a fool, after seeing a side-by-side comparison of how the four were attacked, could tell that the Black Flash Organization was obviously framing Wu Mingbai. From Wu Jin’s expression in the final panel of the page, it was clear he had realized the Black Flash Organization’s true purpose.

But unfortunately, he was still unconscious and couldn’t clarify the truth for Wu Mingbai.

Su Bei already knew the following plot. He quickly skipped through the parts where Wu Mingbai was detained and ridiculed by other students, finally reaching the section where Jiang Tianming and the others went to find Wu Mingbai’s relatives.

To be honest, he was also quite curious about whether Wu Mingbai had any living relatives and who they were. Su Bei had a feeling that since the author had specifically designed this as a plot point, Wu Mingbai’s background must be very interesting.

On Meng Huai’s recommendation, Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing found an Ability user whose ability was called [Kin Finder], which allowed them to locate blood relatives.

The Ability Government hadn’t sought this person out because they felt it was unnecessary. While the [Kin Finder] ability cannot be influenced by other abilities, if a special item is used to conceal the target’s identity, it will simply report that they couldn’t be found.

In their eyes, Wu Mingbai was an open-and-shut case as the mole, and his only relative was the leader of the Black Flash Organization, who would certainly use an item to conceal their bloodline. Therefore, finding this Ability user would be useless.

But Jiang Tianming and the others firmly believed that Wu Mingbai wasn’t the mole. So, although they weren’t sure if he had any living relatives, they resolutely decided to find this person and give it a try. What if Wu Mingbai’s relatives were still out there?

Their persistence paid off. The [Kin Finder] user actually managed to locate Wu Mingbai’s relative. However, the location was far abroad, so finding them would take some effort.

The excited duo immediately reported the matter, but the Ability Government didn’t readily believe them. As mentioned before, the [Kin Finder] ability was easily interfered with. It was possible that after learning Wu Mingbai was a suspect, the Black Flash Organization had fabricated a non-existent relative for him to interfere with the [Kin Finder] ability.

To confirm the identity, they would need to investigate this relative in person.

And so, the group traveled abroad. After a series of twists and turns, they finally confirmed the location of Wu Mingbai’s relative: the royal palace of the Afei Nation.

The Afei Nation was a country that, despite being far away, had a population ethnically similar to their own. Aside from having deeper-set eyes and darker skin, they looked no different from the people of their own country.

Reading this, Su Bei had already guessed Wu Mingbai’s identity. He drew in a sharp breath, unable to help but marvel at the guy’s incredible luck. No wonder Feng Lan hadn’t prophesied anything earlier. Wu Mingbai had truly turned a disaster into a blessing. Not only did he find his family, but his family was royalty.

Sure enough, they first looked up the royal family members of the Afei Nation online. The brown hair of each member revealed Wu Mingbai’s identity.

What followed was another round of negotiations, and eventually, everyone learned of Wu Mingbai’s background. At the time, the competition for the crown prince was fierce. The current king, who was Wu Mingbai’s father, had a major advantage: he was the first among all the competitors to have a child.

The Afei royal family had always had few heirs. Being the first to have a child at least guaranteed that after ascending the throne, he wouldn’t be forced to adopt an heir due to being childless for too long.

To undermine this advantage, one of the competitors kidnapped Wu Mingbai. However, out of respect for his royal blood, they didn’t kill him directly. Instead, they took him to a distant country with a similar ethnicity and left him to fend for himself.

Now, knowing the whereabouts of their missing child, the king and queen were overjoyed and insisted on personally accompanying the group back to bring Wu Mingbai home.

The royal family of a nation wouldn’t possibly cooperate with the Black Flash Organization in an act. It was now confirmed that Wu Mingbai did indeed have living relatives, and quite a few of them at that. With this, all suspicion on Wu Mingbai was cleared. The only problem was that this place was too far from their country, and international calls wouldn’t go through. They had to return home to relay the news to the academy.

The final scene showed the group boarding the plane for their return journey.

“A blessing in disguise, a blessing in disguise!”

“Wu Mingbai, I misjudged you! I thought you’d be poor like me forever, but you turned into a crown prince in the blink of an eye!”

“Orphan becomes a prince, what kind of novel plot is this?”

“The long-lost prince, I love it, I love it.”

“So jealous, when will I get a plot like this?”

The bullet comments were a sea of envy. Forget the readers; even Su Bei was envious. If he had to say it, the author of ‘King of Abilities’ was just too rigid. If they had just given him a background like that and had his billionaire parents come pick him up, Su Bei guaranteed he would drop out of Endless Ability Academy immediately and go back with them to live the good life.

But no, the author didn’t want him to have anything good and even planned for him to be written off through death. That was something Su Bei couldn’t tolerate.

Calculating the time, they should still be on the plane. The flight would land in less than a day, at which point Endless Ability Academy would reopen the investigation. Jiang Tianming’s trip not only cleared Wu Mingbai’s name but also indirectly cleared his own. That would leave only two suspects: himself and Mo Xiaotian.

Su Bei just hoped Mo Xiaotian would act quickly. He didn’t want to wait until then; he had no desire to be interrogated again. Although he hoped for this, he didn’t pin all his hopes on Mo Xiaotian. He had also prepared some items for himself that could evade the [Detective] ability, just in case he wasn’t exposed as a member of the Black Flash Organization, but as a member of the Destiny organization instead.

After finishing the comic, he browsed the forums, found a few items to keep on hand, and, feeling completely at ease, opened the forum.

This time, there weren’t as many new threads on the forum as last time, but it wasn’t a small number either. There were a full four threads related to Wu Mingbai’s background, one of which was a hot topic. There were fewer threads about the mole’s identity, as it had already been discussed at length. Now it was just a choice between Su Bei and Mo Xiaotian, so there was no need for multiple threads. There were only two: one supporting Su Bei as the mole, and one supporting Mo Xiaotian.

Su Bei first clicked on the thread about himself.

《No Matter What, I Don’t Believe Mo Xiaotian is the Mole. Su Bei is Definitely the Saint of the Black Flash Organization!》

【LaughOftenGoodLuckFollows No.0: Su Bei’s vibe just fits that of a villainous Saint, okay? On the other hand, Mo Xiaotian practically has ‘Good Guy’ written all over his face. Who would dare suspect him? But I have to say, Su Bei, you’re playing the bad guy with your cards face up. Your strategy is basically being so blatantly a bandit that you’re not a bandit, right? As long as I’m openly evil enough, no one will suspect I’m the mole.】

【No.1: Hahahahahaha, OP’s description is hilarious.】

【No.2: Come on, that’s Mo Xiaotian we’re talking about!】

【No.3: Su Bei is being a mole in such an open and brazen way…】

【No.4: Could there be other candidates? Neither of them really seems like it. I’m starting to suspect Meng Huai.】

【No.5 replying to No.4: Great theory.】

【No.6 replying to No.4: losing_my_mind.jpg】

【…】

【No.31: After reading so many threads, I was starting to believe Su Bei wasn’t the mole. If his rival was anyone else, I would definitely suspect the other person, but it just had to be Mo Xiaotian. Who could possibly suspect Mo Xiaotian is the mole?】

【No.32: I’d be devastated if Mo Xiaotian is the mole. My entire worldview of this comic would collapse.】

【No.33: Our little sunshine should act like a little sunshine!】

【No.34: Su Bei has practically cooperated with the Black Flash Organization in broad daylight. How can he be the mole?】

【No.35 replying to No.34: Go say that in the other thread. We believe in Mo Xiaotian over here.】

【No.36: Xiaotian saikou!】

【…】

【No.76: Tbh, neither of them seems like the mole.】

【No.77 replying to No.76: True. Both threads are just trying to clear their favored character’s name by arguing why they can’t be the mole, but they can’t make a case against the other side. It’s because neither of them seems like a mole at all, making it impossible to analyze.】

【No.78: Is it possible the mole is someone else entirely?】

【No.79: Speaking of which, I saw someone in the bullet comments suspecting Meng Huai hahahahahahaha.】

【No.80 replying to No.79: It’s ridiculous but also makes a weird kind of sense.】

【No.81: Can we just fast-forward to next week? I’m so curious about who the real mole is.】

【No.82 replying to No.81: I second the fast-forward.】

【No.83 replying to No.82: +1】

【No.84 replying to No.82: +10086】

【No.85: Can the old bastard author update ten times a week!】

【No.86: I second all the good things the user above said.】

【No.87: I’d be happy if someone could just give me the answer directly.】

【No.88 replying to No.87: I know who you’re talking about @Oracle】

【No.89 replying to No.87: @Oracle】

【…】

Seeing a pile of readers tagging him, Su Bei decisively went online. He had already planned to use this opportunity to boost his presence, and this was just going with the flow.

《【Oracle Post】Mole Speculation》

【Oracle No.0: First, let’s get to the conclusion: Mo Xiaotian is the mole.

If you go through my post history, you’ll see that I proposed the theory of Mo Xiaotian being the mole a long time ago. I won’t rehash the old reasons; I’ll talk about my findings from the recent chapters.

Zhou Renjie’s defection is inextricably linked to Mo Xiaotian. Even if Zhou Renjie was just using Mo Xiaotian to achieve his goal, it’s undeniable that Mo Xiaotian acted as a catalyst for his defection. This point alone is enough to cast suspicion on him.

At the end of the last chapter, the author deliberately showed a close-up of a bandage on the back of Mo Xiaotian’s neck. I saw many readers who didn’t understand it and just ignored this bit of foreshadowing. But what if I post this image for you to see?

black_lightning_bolt_on_the_neck_of_season_two’s_first_murderer.jpg

I believe the author is hinting at this. Under the bandage on Mo Xiaotian’s neck is the mark of the Black Flash Organization.

Also, this scene is worth mentioning—

mo_xiaotian_falls_and_touches_wu_mingbai.jpg

Ability users generally have excellent motor skills. Mo Xiaotian is very agile, usually the type who can leap over rooftops with ease, so why would he suddenly fall? Consider that right after he touched Wu Mingbai, Wu Mingbai became a suspect in the detective’s eyes. I strongly suspect he pulled some kind of trick here.

In conclusion, I suspect that Mo Xiaotian is the real mole.】