Chapter 272

A glimmer of interest flashed in Su Bei’s purple eyes. It seemed the Neutral Faction was the key. The Conservative and Radical Factions were likely colluding, so only the words of the Neutral Faction, disliked by the other two, would be credible.

The question was, how to find the Neutral Faction? From the looks of it, they were an absolute minority on this island, and locating them precisely would be difficult. Moreover, he couldn’t make any mistakes. If he revealed his intentions to the other two factions, Su Bei would probably land on their watch list in an instant, making it even harder to find anyone.

His brows furrowed for a moment but quickly relaxed. Su Bei smiled and turned back. Why should he care about this? This was all for the protagonist group to handle. He just needed to get the information in advance, seize the initiative, and then occasionally provide some help to the protagonist group.

Not long after returning to the hotel, the outside finally quieted down. The island-wide brawl, which had lasted a good two or three hours, had apparently come to an end.

However, it wasn’t quiet for Su Bei. The “Manga Consciousness” sent a notification: “‘King of Abilities’ has been updated. Please check it out.”

Perfect timing. He could use the manga to see exactly what had happened, and how Jiang Tianming and the others had managed to cause such a huge mess when they only intended to pry some information from the leadership.

The manga started from their arrival at Wesi Sanctuary. The previous chapter had already mentioned their plan to find an antidote for Zhou Renjie at Wesi Sanctuary, so this chapter got straight to the point.

There were two plot points on the first day. One was the guard fight his group had witnessed, which led to Lin Qi’s intel. The other was the Nightmare Beast that Jiang Tianming’s group encountered. Combining these two plot points, the readers surprisingly came to the same conclusion as the characters: the Radical Faction was trying to contact Nightmare Beasts to stir up trouble, hoping to elevate Wesi Sanctuary’s status.

“Why would a perfectly good sanctuary get involved in all this nonsense?”

“A man whose heart is not content is like a snake which tries to swallow an elephant…”

“Feng Lan: Are we still cooperating?”

“As long as they can defeat the Radical Faction in time, Wesi Sanctuary shouldn’t be too affected.”

“The Conservative Faction has it so rough. Their companions are causing trouble, but they have to keep it quiet to protect their shared honor.”

“This is just like being forced to cover for a classmate on a group project. What a raw deal.”

Judging solely from the content released in the manga, the conservatives did indeed seem quite innocent. Unfortunately, based on the intel Su Bei had, this group of people was hardly filled with saints.

As night fell, the manga’s perspective shifted to Mo Xiaotian.

【The restrictions placed on him by “Endless Ability Academy” had finally taken effect. Mo Xiaotian’s head was splitting, and he wailed uncontrollably on the hospital bed.

A group of people in white coats surrounded him, discussing what to do, but their tightly furrowed brows clearly showed they were at a loss and couldn’t find a solution.

In the end, it was Ye Lin who took the lead, injecting Mo Xiaotian with a sedative to make him pass out. Then she calmly made a judgment: “This was likely caused by ‘Endless Ability Academy.’ The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it.”

As she spoke, the purple-haired woman who had appeared twice before in the manga stepped out. She was Ye Lin’s sister, Ye Shu: “What do we do then, sis? If Grandpa Leader comes out and sees Xiaotian like this, he’ll be heartbroken.”

Heartbroken? She thought it was more likely he’d be enraged. Ye Lin lowered her eyes to hide the sarcasm in them. “The others can try to find a solution, but to prevent a scenario where we can’t, we must also send someone to negotiate with ‘Endless Ability Academy’ at the same time.”

“That person has to be you, of course.” Cyril walked in from outside with a smile, but the person with him wasn’t Li Xiang. It was a mature woman with long, wavy, wine-red hair.】

This woman wore a black, deep-V long dress that clung to her body, perfectly outlining her curvaceous figure. Lipstick matching her hair color made her whole look very coordinated. Her gray, misty eyes seemed to hold a fog, mysterious and amorous. She was a devastatingly beautiful type that hadn’t appeared this season in ‘King of Abilities.’

“Hiss, hah, hiss, hah!”

“Is this a villain? In that case, I’m defecting to the villain’s side without a second thought!”

“Who is this beautiful lady? I need all her information within one minute!”

“This face, this figure… I hate that ‘King of Abilities’ isn’t an anime!”

“The old master’s drawing skills are really getting better and better!”

【As the readers frantically discussed, Ye Lin calmly revealed the person’s identity: “Gong Yuzhi, how did you stoop to hanging out with Cyril?”

“Don’t you slander me.” Gong Yuzhi flicked her long hair and took two steps to the side. “We just happened to run into each other on the way.”

Facing their disdain, Cyril was very displeased. He produced a red rose from somewhere, bowed slightly, and frivolously offered it to Gong Yuzhi. “You’re not satisfied having a handsome guy like me as your companion?”

Gong Yuzhi elegantly accepted the rose, casually placing it in a water glass on a nearby table. Her eyes held a smile, as if she were flirting. “Mm, not satisfied.”

“Then what will it take to satisfy you?” Cyril asked devotedly, as if bewitched by her. When his charming eyes focused on someone, they always gave the other person a feeling of deep affection.

“Go solve Mo Xiaotian’s problem,” Gong Yuzhi said, as if mentioning a trivial matter, like casually tossing a bone to a dog.

Unfortunately, Cyril was not a dog, nor was he truly bewitched. Hearing this request, he immediately dropped his affectionate act, straightened up, and shook his head with a smirk. “Then you can just stay unsatisfied.”

Ye Lin rolled her eyes, clearly used to the behavior of these two. She didn’t forget to gently admonish her dazed sister: “In the organization, stay far away from these two, understand?”

“Understood!” Ye Shu replied obediently.】

The relevant plot ended there, without showing how the “Black Flash Organization” negotiated with “Endless Ability Academy.” However, it was clear that they either had to make a trip to Wesi Sanctuary themselves or honestly negotiate with the academy.

They probably had no chance here. Wesi Sanctuary prided itself on being righteous and would certainly not welcome a villainous organization. The identities of everyone who came here were investigated; they had no opportunity to slip through the cracks.

Of course, Su Bei didn’t know if the “Black Flash Organization” could come here secretly. Even if they could, it didn’t matter. Unless they never wanted to come back again, they would definitely not cause trouble here.

After the plotline with Mo Xiaotian ended, the manga’s perspective returned to Wesi Sanctuary. To Su Bei’s surprise, the scene of them going to the hot springs was also drawn.

Su Bei: “…”

He could only lament that Si Zhaohua and Feng Lan didn’t know this was a manga world. If they knew that their appearance had been seen by countless readers, they would probably die of shame.

Compared to those two, his sense of shame was much lower. He observed this part of the plot openly and then nodded in satisfaction. The author hadn’t been biased, strictly drawing the lines of their abs and not making his physique the same as the other two.

Su Bei could proudly say that his physique was the best in the class! That guy Mu Tieren also had a good physique, but his body was made of metal and synthetic leather, so there was no point in comparing.

The readers in the bullet comments also had good taste.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Is this something I’m allowed to see?”

“The old master is great at selling fan service!”

“Drooling, hah, hiss, hah, hiss, hah!”

“Can you draw the lower half more clearly? Don’t just focus on the top!”

“Su Bei really has the best body of the three!”

“I really love Su Bei’s abs, can I touch them? Feng Lan’s and Si Zhaohua’s are fine too, I’m not picky!”

“Is the author selling merch? It would be a huge hit!”

It was clear the readers had as little shame as he did; they were all open and honest good children. Su Bei closed the bullet comments with a blank expression, comforted himself a little, and then continued reading.

After completing the two morning tasks, Jiang Tianming, Si Zhaohua, and the others regrouped to stir up trouble. The beginning went according to the plan Su Bei knew. The leadership of Wesi Sanctuary indeed tried to deny that they had secret factions and that the Radical Faction had impure motives.

Receiving the news, Jiang Tianming and the others outside began to provoke incidents on the island. The three of them didn’t cause trouble together but split up to create disturbances in different places. This was to ensure that if one of them failed, the other two could serve as backups. In any case, there was no harm in making things a little bigger.

However, it was clear that not only did they not fail, but they were far too successful. Fights broke out in all three locations under their deliberate provocation. Coincidentally, these three places were not too far from each other. As a result, when the three groups were gathering reinforcements, their reinforcements ran into each other on the road.

Seeing their opponents armed and from a rival faction, they naturally assumed they were here as backup for the enemy, so they immediately started fighting. The battle then escalated further, quickly spreading across the entire island.

And that was how the island-wide war Su Bei and the others had witnessed came to be.

After watching this series of coincidences unfold through the manga, Su Bei also fell silent. He had been thinking that if the manga hadn’t updated, he would have asked Jiang Tianming when he returned how they managed to cause such a huge mess. Now, it seemed they probably didn’t know what happened either.

At this thought, he couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. He never expected that in the end, he, the outsider, would have the clearest grasp of the situation. The manga was truly a wonderful thing.

In this chapter’s plot, the author clearly had no intention of revealing the Neutral Faction, nor did he intend to make readers suspect the relationship between the Radical and Conservative Factions. Based on the current plot, all readers would certainly agree that the Radical Faction were the bad guys and the Conservative Faction were the good guys.

Perhaps some readers might share his suspicions, feeling that the plot was progressing too smoothly and that there would surely be twists and turns later. But without evidence, probably no reader would discuss it on the forums. This was where the “Oracle” account could make its appearance.

The “Manga Consciousness” had previously hinted to Su Bei that as long as he didn’t use this account to mention things about himself, the author would generally not interfere. That being the case, he would naturally strive to increase the presence of this account, aiming for 100% belief on the forums whenever he said something.

《The Conservative Faction Might Not Be Good People [Oracle Post]》

【Oracle No.0: According to the old master author’s usual practice, he likes to add many twists and turns to every plot. This time, giving the protagonist clues so directly, with no setbacks at all, actually makes me suspicious.

Since the current plot frames the conservatives as the good guys, I reasonably suspect that the author will introduce a reversal in the next chapter, turning the conservatives into villains. But this doesn’t mean the radicals are good guys. Perhaps Wesi Sanctuary has a configuration of two evil factions.

If both of these factions are truly villains, then I will boldly speculate that there is a third party on the island acting as the righteous side. Otherwise, this dungeon would be on hell mode for the protagonist group.】

Su Bei’s post was a bit like he was peering into the future, but that was okay; that was the effect he wanted. The author didn’t care anyway. If he could make the readers think he had inside information and believe him unconditionally, that would be for the best.

Without lingering on the forum, Su Bei closed the manga and opened his chat app. A lot of messages had popped up while he was reading, but he had temporarily ignored them. Now that the important business was done, it was time to see what they were about.

First were the private messages. Ai Baozhu, Mu Tieren, and Ling You had all sent him messages. The messages were sent not long after the island-wide war broke out, and all three had roughly the same meaning.

Simply put, there was something wrong with Wesi Sanctuary, and now that a fight had broken out, they were asking if he, Jiang Tianming, and the others were in the hotel. If so, they asked them to come down quickly to meet them, as it would be safer to stick together.

Low-status guests couldn’t access the high-status floors, so they couldn’t come up personally to check if Su Bei and the others were in their rooms. They could only confirm by sending messages.

Half an hour later, probably after realizing they weren’t at the hotel, the three started asking where they had gone, telling them to report their safety upon their return and preferably go find them.

Of course, these messages were mainly sent by Ai Baozhu and Mu Tieren in turn. The messages from Ling You were pitifully few, just two in total—“Are you in the hotel?” and “Please reply upon your return.”

It seemed Ai Baozhu’s group had also discovered something; otherwise, they wouldn’t be so insistent on having them come over in person. Su Bei thought for a moment and sent a group message to the three of them.

【East South West: I’m back first. Feng Lan and the others might be a little later. Let’s talk about it when everyone’s together.】

A flurry of replies exploded from that short sentence.

【silent: Okay】

【This Miss: You’re finally back!】

【This Miss: You guys didn’t come back together? You snuck off again!】

【This Miss: I won’t ask what you were doing for now, just one question: did the fight outside have anything to do with you?】

【Gold Wood Dual Spiritual Roots: Are you okay? You were gone for so long, did you run into any danger?】

【Gold Wood Dual Spiritual Roots: …You didn’t cause any trouble, did you?】

Su Bei first gave simple answers to Ai Baozhu’s and Mu Tieren’s questions, though the answers were, of course, just meaningless fluff. It was impossible to get any real information out of him.

After replying to everyone, he asked Mu Tieren out of curiosity.

【East South West: What’s with that name? I get the meaning, but it doesn’t seem like a name you’d choose.】

【Gold Wood Dual Spiritual Roots: …Mo Xiaotian helped me pick it before. He was reading cultivation novels at the time.】

【Gold Wood Dual Spiritual Roots: I’ll change it right now.】

As he replied, Mu Tieren’s expression was a bit dazed. Even now, the fact that Mo Xiaotian was an undercover agent for the “Black Flash Organization” didn’t feel real to him. He always felt that Mo Xiaotian would reappear before him in the next second and tell him it was all just a prank.

The memory of Mo Xiaotian animatedly discussing cultivation plots and insisting on changing his screen name for him was still vivid, but alas, things were different now.

Mu Tieren lowered his gaze and quickly decided on his new screen name.

【Mu Tieren: Done.】

【East South West: Panda_Head_Speechless.jpg】

【East South West: You don’t have to… And who uses their real name as a screen name? The old one was better.】

The status on the other side showed “typing…” for a while. After a long wait, Mu Tieren replied again.

【Iron Tree Silver Flower: This is much better, right? :)】

Not only did he change his name, but he also specially changed his profile picture from the original white background with the black character “Mu” to a picture of molten iron fireworks.

Su Bei could see that Mu Tieren was indeed very satisfied with his change. He was utterly speechless, gave a perfunctory compliment, and decisively exited the chat. He couldn’t vibe with this old-timer.

Closing his phone, Su Bei slowly walked to the window. This hotel was specifically for tourists, who naturally wouldn’t participate in the island’s internal conflicts. Hearing the fighting outside stop, many people began to leave the hotel one after another, wanting to go out and see what was going on.

Most people didn’t know the inside story; they only knew that the island’s natives had suddenly started fighting like madmen. If the natives hadn’t been rational enough to avoid injuring tourists, these tourists would probably have demanded to leave the island.

Rational, huh… Su Bei’s lips curled. It was thanks to their so-called rationality that he was able to spot the clues in time.

He activated his ability to look at the Destiny Compasses of the crowd downstairs. After confirming there were no issues, Su Bei confidently withdrew his gaze. However, before he could leave the window, he saw the figures of Jiang Tianming and the others. They were back.

The plot was about to continue. Su Bei sighed lightly and went directly to the elevator to wait.

“Ding dong!”

The elevator doors opened. Jiang Tianming and the others inside were startled to see Su Bei standing at the entrance. Wu Mingbai reacted quickly and asked with a smile, “Wow, you came here specifically to wait for us? We’re so touched.”

Clearly, although he was smiling, he was not happy to see Su Bei here. His words dripped with sarcasm.

Su Bei pretended he didn’t hear anything. “Have you seen the messages on your phones?”

“Not yet, what’s up?” Jiang Tianming asked, puzzled. As soon as their battle ended and they finished talking with the leadership, they made another trip to the “Omniscient Conch.” They rushed back to the hotel as soon as everything was done, with no time to check their phones along the way.

It was the expected answer. Su Bei nodded and stepped into the elevator himself. “Take a look now. Ai Baozhu wants us to go over once we’re back.”

“You’re finally here!” Ai Baozhu opened the door and welcomed them in. “You were gone for so long. The incident outside was your doing, wasn’t it?”

Si Zhaohua and the others hadn’t coordinated their plan with Ai Baozhu’s group of three, so they were completely in the dark. Hearing this, Si Zhaohua briefly explained what they had done, but as expected, they also didn’t know why it ultimately escalated into an island-wide brawl.

“So what answer did you get from Wesi Sanctuary’s leadership in the end?” Mu Tieren asked curiously. “After a fight like that, they can’t still be trying to cover things up, can they?”

Speaking of which, the fact that it turned into an island-wide battle was actually a good thing for Si Zhaohua’s group. If they hadn’t made such a big scene, the other party might have been able to brush them off with some excuse. But now that things had blown up, it wouldn’t be so easy to dismiss them.

Jiang Tianming nodded. “They did admit that it was a struggle between two factions, but they didn’t speak ill of the Radical Faction. They just said their ideas were a bit radical and would disrupt the originally peaceful life on the island, which is why the conservatives were dissatisfied.”

Seeing him take a sip of water to wet his throat, Wu Mingbai naturally continued, “Because neither side is willing to compromise, the island might have an island-wide brawl like this every few months, and minor conflicts are even more constant. He said he has a headache over it too, and told us tourists not to get involved, lest we get injured.”

“They also gave compensation,” Lan Subing reminded him in a small voice.

“Right, they also gave compensation,” Wu Mingbai quickly nodded. “All of us can stay here for an extra day. If we’re injured, we can get free treatment at the island’s hospital, and then we’ll be compensated based on an injury assessment.”

Hearing this, Mu Tieren looked around at everyone. “None of us are injured, right?”

Si Zhaohua shook his head. “Feng Lan and I were with the leadership the whole time. Tianming and the others fled the scene after stirring up trouble. Su Bei…”

At this point, he looked at Su Bei with a questioning gaze. Before Su Bei could reply, Ai Baozhu suddenly asked, “Where have you been all this time? Judging by the time you replied to the message, you just got back not long ago, right?”

“I went to the library. I had to dodge people on the way back, so I was a bit slow,” Su Bei replied nonchalantly.

He had no intention of elaborating on his own affairs and quickly changed the subject. “Why did you call us over?”

Now that it was about serious business, Ai Baozhu couldn’t be bothered to ask more questions. She quickly said, “You know I have a lot of items on me, and one of them monitors my real-time status. During these two days on our Wesi Sanctuary trip, I discovered something very strange—my physical data has been decreasing at a rate of one point per hour.”

As she spoke, she placed a pink rose wristwatch on the table. This was the watch Ai Baozhu usually wore. Everyone had always assumed it was just an ordinary watch, but it turned out to be an ability item with the effect of monitoring physical condition.

“Normally, it would issue a warning if there’s an abnormality in the body. But because the decrease was very small, and participating in the projects could also increase my physical data, the watch didn’t alert me, and I didn’t notice any problems at first.” As the others picked up the watch to examine it, Ai Baozhu continued, “But when I was coming back today, someone bumped my hand. I was afraid something happened to the watch, so I kept looking at it, and that’s when I discovered the decreasing value. The value decreases very regularly, by the hour. This is definitely not normal. So I suspect there might be a problem with Wesi Sanctuary.”

Mu Tieren and Ling You had obviously already heard about this from her and didn’t say anything. Wu Mingbai, however, asked, “Could it be that your watch really got broken from the bump?”

“Hmph, are you questioning the accuracy of this young miss’s judgment?” Ai Baozhu lifted her chin arrogantly. “Anyway, the result of my inspection is no. If any of you have similar items, just take them out and try for yourselves.”