Chapter 273

Speaking of similar items, Feng Lan and Si Zhaohua actually had some. Hearing Ai Baozhu say this, they each took out their own items to test, just to be cautious.

While waiting, everyone kept busy, discussing the situation Ai Baozhu had described. The verification was just an extra precaution; in reality, they all trusted Ai Baozhu’s judgment.

If their physical constitution was really declining every moment they were in Wesi Sanctuary, then things were about to get interesting.

A one-point drop in constitution per hour wouldn’t have a major impact on an Ability user. Even for those not living on the island long-term, a soak in the hot springs or a workout at the Gravity Beach could quickly restore those points.

But the problem was that this shouldn’t happen in a normal place. Who ever heard of air causing one’s constitution to decrease? If they were elderly, it might be their own bodies failing, but at their young and vibrant age, the problem definitely had to be with Wesi Sanctuary itself!

Although Wesi Sanctuary had been controlling the number of people entering the island, given how precious the place was, the annual number of visitors was still terrifyingly high. A 24-point drop in constitution per person per day might not seem like much, but what about a thousand people? Ten thousand people?

It all added up…

“Assuming Baozhu’s watch is correct, do you think this has always been the case, or did it only start recently?” Si Zhaohua idly fiddled with the blood testing device on the table in front of him.

This was the item he had brought out. It could determine one’s physical state through their blood. So, by testing his blood now and then again an hour later, he could see if there were any changes in between.

Si Zhaohua’s two questions represented two different scenarios. If it was the first—that this phenomenon had always existed—then the change in constitution might just be a natural aspect of Wesi Island.

After all, many wonderful things had appeared in Wesi Sanctuary after the Fallen Meteorite incident, so it was reasonable that some bad things might have appeared as well. If that were the case, it would be understandable why they kept it a secret. Announcing it would, to some extent, tarnish Wesi Sanctuary’s reputation.

Besides, the negative effect wasn’t significant. The minimal loss of constitution could be completely offset by the various projects on the island, and most people would never notice anything unusual. So, not mentioning it wasn’t a big deal.

But if it was the other possibility—that this constant decrease in constitution was a recent development—then Si Zhaohua had to connect it to the Radical Faction’s conspiracy.

Although he didn’t know their specific goal, this was ultimately harmful to people. And one of their previous speculations about the Radical Faction was that they were hostile to humanity.

Draining the constitution of Ability users, collaborating with Nightmare Beasts… who knew what their final objective was.

Everyone pondered for a moment before Mu Tieren was the first to shake his head. “There’s no way to verify that, is there?”

The amount of constitution lost while staying in Wesi Sanctuary was too small for the average person to notice. If not for this accident, Ai Baozhu certainly wouldn’t have discovered the problem. If no one discovered it, there was no way to ask about its origin. And even if someone had, how would they ever find that person?

“No, there is a way to verify it.” Jiang Tianming looked up, a glint of wisdom in his dark eyes. “The tourists may not know, but the natives of Wesi Sanctuary definitely do.”

From the information they had gathered before, it seemed both the Radical and Conservative Factions had some knowledge of the Radicals’ misdeeds. That being the case, they just needed to find one of them and ask. To be on the safe side, they could find a high-ranking member of the Radical Faction.

The real challenge was how to make them answer truthfully and how to do it without alerting anyone else afterward.

“I can force them to speak.” Lan Subing decisively solved the first problem. The power of her Word Spirit ability was undeniable. As long as they captured someone whose mental energy wasn’t significantly higher than hers, she could definitely make them answer.

That left only the second problem. Jiang Tianming looked at Lan Subing. “Can your ability make people lose their memories?”

Lan Subing pressed her lips together, looking troubled. “It should be possible, but I’ve never tried. To attempt it, the other person’s mental energy must be lower than mine.”

This was something they couldn’t afford to fail. Failure would put them in a very awkward position. When the target’s mental energy was lower than hers, Word Spirit was generally successful. So, this was the safest method.

But how could they know the target’s mental energy level? Everyone exchanged glances, feeling they should probably think of another way.

“Ling You, do you have any viruses that can be used for threats?” Suddenly, as if struck by an idea, Wu Mingbai’s eyes lit up, and he immediately asked Ling You.

His words made his intention clear to everyone. Wu Mingbai wanted Ling You to infect their target with a virus, ensuring that the person wouldn’t dare reveal anything to others if they wanted to live.

After a moment of thought, Ling You nodded affirmatively. “I do.”

Realizing her answer might be too vague, she paused and added, “I can use a lethal type of Plague with a delayed onset.”

To get the antidote, the target would certainly not dare to betray them rashly.

“But what if he feigns compliance and secretly asks someone in Wesi Sanctuary for help?” Jiang Tianming calmly raised an objection. “There must be powerful healing-type Ability users in Wesi Sanctuary. The Plague ability should be easily countered by them, right?”

That was true. A plague was ultimately just a virus with high lethality and contagion. A strong healer could easily cure such a common virus before the disease spread.

This was indeed a major problem. Ai Baozhu was getting impatient. “Let’s just go all the way and lock the person up. We’ll be leaving in a week at most anyway.”

Whether they figured things out or not, once their time on the island was up, they had to leave Wesi Sanctuary. After that, they would be free as birds; Wesi Sanctuary’s reach didn’t extend to other places.

Her plan had obvious flaws, and she had only mentioned it casually. But Si Zhaohua thought it had potential. After thinking for a while, he successfully patched up the loopholes. “But a native suddenly disappearing would definitely arouse suspicion. So we need to find someone whose disappearance won’t raise any alarms.”

“You mean…” Jiang Tianming looked at him, immediately grasping his meaning, “find someone who’s about to leave the island?”

Seeing how quickly he caught on, Si Zhaohua nodded in approval. “Wesi Sanctuary is likely strict on entry but lenient on exit. We can stake out the area around the Teleportation Array and grab a native the moment they try to teleport alone.”

“I’ll take this mission,” Su Bei volunteered.

Facing the others’ doubtful gazes, he winked playfully. “Since I’ve already contributed, don’t come to me for anything else after this, okay?”

Su Bei had been listening for a while and figured this was the easiest job, at least for someone with an Invisibility Talisman. Instead of doing nothing now and being guilt-tripped into helping by these burdensome classmates later, it was better to pick an easy task now. Then he would have a legitimate reason to refuse to help later and could even accuse them of being greedy.

After understanding his reasoning, Jiang Tianming and the others exchanged glances and finally agreed to Su Bei’s request. Whether they would need Su Bei’s help in the future was unknown, but the help he could offer now was tangible.

An hour passed in a flash. Si Zhaohua dripped another drop of blood into the device. The physical stats were generated, and as everyone looked, they saw that the value was indeed a little lower than before. Although the amount was minuscule, almost negligible, a loss was a loss. It confirmed that staying in Wesi Sanctuary did indeed cause this problem.

“See, I told you I was right,” Ai Baozhu said with a smug smile, though no one else understood what she was so proud of.

Jiang Tianming nodded slightly. “Since we’ve confirmed it, let’s proceed as we discussed earlier. Su Bei, when will you make your move?”

“Let’s rest for an hour first. There was just a commotion, so it’s unlikely anyone will be teleporting for a little while,” Su Bei said lazily. Although everyone knew he was just trying to slack off, his reasoning was so sound that no one could argue with him.

After they finished their discussion, Mu Tieren suddenly remembered something. “By the way, you guys went to ask the Omniscient Conch today, right? Did you get an answer on how to cure Zhou Renjie?”

“We did. We sent the result to Teacher Meng on our way back. Renjie should be fine now,” Si Zhaohua said in a good mood, then couldn’t help but complain, “Only after we paid did those people tell us that the Omniscient Conch doesn’t answer every question. If you don’t hear an answer within ten seconds of asking, the money is wasted. Not only is the money wasted, but your life is forfeit too. Just asking costs your life, regardless of whether it answers or not.”

“That’s such a rip-off!” Everyone was dumbfounded. Taking money was one thing, but taking a life even without providing an answer? Wu Mingbai looked at Feng Lan. “Did you know about this?”

Feng Lan nodded, then shook his head. “I only knew that the Omniscient Conch wasn’t truly omniscient. Probably because it’s a Nightmare Beast itself, it won’t answer many questions related to Nightmare Beasts. But I didn’t know the specific details. Wesi Sanctuary keeps that confidential.”

Throwing his hands up in resignation, Si Zhaohua added, “That’s right, they have a confidentiality agreement. We had to argue to be able to tell you the truth. But the few of us can’t spread this any further, or they’ll immediately detect it.”

Wu Mingbai gave a sarcastic smile. “Wesi Sanctuary is really clever! If someone doesn’t get an answer, they’ve basically made a free one hundred million. I never knew making money was this easy!”

As for the fact that the Omniscient Conch would take a life even if it didn’t answer, he didn’t comment much. It was a Nightmare Beast, after all. You couldn’t really expect it to do charity. It was to be expected.

Although Si Zhaohua was also annoyed by this, he found it somewhat acceptable. “Actually, the moment I learned that I could get an answer to any question for just one hundred million, I should have realized there was a catch. I was too naive. Fortunately, the outcome was good.”

Ai Baozhu clearly agreed with this sentiment. “Yeah, only a hundred million. Even for a one-hundred-million-dollar item, that’s too cheap.”

The group of poor people in the room: “…”

If one hundred million was considered cheap, then how much was a lot? They really couldn’t keep up with the world of the wealthy, not even after becoming Ability users who could earn a lot of money.

After resting for a while, Su Bei finally set out. He planned to finish this task, then continue reading in the library. When chaos erupted outside, he would immediately run to the Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky to hide and cultivate.

To be honest, Su Bei wasn’t much of a bookworm, but he had to admit that in the world of the manga, the library was surprisingly safe. He had rarely encountered trouble in a library. Even when he was kidnapped by a murderer at the beginning, it happened after he had left the library.

Su Bei attributed this strange pattern to the shonen manga genre trying to encourage teenagers to study by deliberately making the library a safe zone. He didn’t know if the readers outside the manga were motivated, but he certainly was.

He arrived near the teleportation array for leaving the island. It was also a chapel, but a smaller one with no real guards. There was nothing valuable to take from Wesi Sanctuary, so they guarded the entrance strictly but were much more relaxed about the exit.

Su Bei did a quick scan with his mental energy, confirmed there were no ability-disrupting items inside, then slapped an Invisibility Talisman on himself and strolled in.

Although Wesi Sanctuary intentionally controlled the number of people entering the island, because demand far outstripped supply, there were always many tourists. This required the natives to go out and “see the world” more often to make room for the visitors.

It was easy to distinguish between tourists and natives. Tourists usually left in groups or with guards. They also moved cautiously, showing a clear lack of familiarity with the process.

Natives were different. They often left alone, moving with practiced ease, and could even chat and laugh with the few guards around.

Since several people were already in line waiting to leave, Su Bei wasn’t in a hurry to grab someone. Instead, he sat patiently to the side and observed.

After confirming their teleportation procedure, he walked up. Just a second before a native was about to complete his teleportation, Su Bei knocked him out with a chop to the neck while simultaneously sticking an Invisibility Talisman on him.

With one smooth sequence of actions, he successfully princess-carried the native away right under everyone’s noses.

That’s right, a princess carry. To prevent the author from drawing this scene of him being invisible in the manga, Su Bei deliberately chose this more presentable way of carrying someone. Even though the other party was just an unlucky passerby, he couldn’t be careless.

Although slinging the person over his shoulder like a sack of rice was his idea of the most convenient method, Su Bei was sure the readers would prefer a princess carry, at least for his character persona.

When he brought the person back to the hotel, Jiang Tianming hadn’t left; he was still waiting there. Clearly, they had great confidence in Su Bei, believing he would complete the mission smoothly and without taking too much time.

And indeed, it had only been 20 minutes from the time Su Bei left to his return.

“You weren’t spotted, were you?” Although he trusted him, Jiang Tianming still asked.

Su Bei nodded, sat down on a nearby sofa, and pointed at the unconscious person. “He should wake up in a few minutes. Let’s tie him up first.”

Ability users generally had excellent physical constitutions. The blow he had delivered would at most keep the person unconscious for ten minutes.

Jiang Tianming’s Immortal Binding Rope came in handy, easily restraining the man. Then, they all waited for him to wake up.

The moment the man woke up, Lan Subing immediately used her Word Spirit: “Answer truthfully, are you from the Radical Faction or the Conservative Faction?”

“Radical Faction.” The man, still groggy from just waking up, subconsciously answered the question under the effect of Word Spirit.

“How did you know he was from the Radical Faction?” Si Zhaohua whispered to Su Bei. He had been wondering what they would do if Su Bei had brought back a conservative. But then again, it was Su Bei; he certainly wouldn’t make such a mistake. Still, he was really curious how he could tell. Surely he didn’t just ask, right?

Hearing this, Su Bei’s lips curled into a smile. “It wouldn’t have mattered who it was.”

Whether they were from the Radical Faction, the Conservative Faction, or even a Neutral Faction they didn’t know about, they should all be aware of what the others were up to. Otherwise, how could you say they were all in it together?

Si Zhaohua naturally couldn’t grasp his meaning. He paused for a moment, then nodded. “That’s true. Like the conservative Lin Qi we met yesterday, she knew exactly what the Radical Faction was doing. Perhaps many conservatives know as well.”

As they were talking, the man, having answered the first question, finally came to his senses and screamed in terror. “Who are you? Why did you bring me here? Do you know who I am? You’ll definitely be found for kidnapping me!”

Lan Subing completely ignored him and asked the second question directly: “What is the Radical Faction’s conspiracy?”

At these words, the man’s expression twisted in terror. He clearly desperately wanted to avoid answering this question, his entire body trembling. But Word Spirit, as a top-tier ability, wouldn’t let him off so easily. The man’s mouth, giving his brain no chance to stop it, answered the question without regard for its owner’s life: “We are ‘creating a god’.”

“Bang!”

The next second, the man’s head suddenly exploded like a watermelon. Crimson and milky-white fluids instantly splattered, drenching the people nearby. Many in the room couldn’t help but cry out in shock.

“Ugh!” Ai Baozhu didn’t even have time to be terrified before she turned, bent over, and threw up. For a rare moment, she disregarded her image, scrambling clumsily to the bathroom and slamming the door shut. Soon, the sound of running water could be heard from inside.

Si Zhaohua also looked like he was about to be sick. Although he was standing far enough away that he wasn’t hit with much, his mysophobia still made it unbearable. “Ugh… I’m going back to take a shower…”

“No.” Before he could finish, Jiang Tianming calmly refused. “There should be surveillance cameras in the hotel hallway. If you go out now, we’ll be discovered.”

“Let’s just wipe ourselves down first.” The others didn’t look too good either. Mu Tieren wiped the blood from his face with a tissue while thoughtfully handing tissues to the others.

“It’s over. I didn’t even get to ask what’s causing the constitution decrease,” Lan Subing said in frustration. “I should have asked that first.”

She never imagined the person would actually explode, rendering all the questions she had prepared useless.

It was worth noting that among everyone present, Lan Subing, Su Bei, and Jiang Tianming were the calmest. The three of them had witnessed such scenes several times, both before and after the academy started, and could now handle them with composure.

In contrast, the others, who were supposed to be more “worldly,” were quite shaken. After all, they were still just students. How could they have ever seen such a gory scene?

Su Bei was actually scared too. Seeing it in the manga was nothing compared to the impact of witnessing it once in reality. Fortunately, he had always been good at keeping a straight face, never showing his emotions. Although his heart had stopped for a moment, his expression remained blank, making him appear very calm.

While everyone was busy wiping the blood from their bodies and faces, Su Bei slowly fiddled with a tissue. “Looks like we can’t get any information from the natives. You’re not going to expect me to bring another one back, are you?”

Feeling that his task was complete and having no intention of interrogating the man, Su Bei had stood far enough away, with Si Zhaohua blocking for him. As a result, when the man’s head exploded, not a single drop of blood landed on him.

Su Bei had to say it was just good luck, but clearly, the others didn’t think so. Feng Lan looked at him with rare resentment. “You already predicted this, didn’t you?”

As soon as he said this, the others’ gazes shot over to him, with Si Zhaohua’s being the most intense. Feeling that tangible, mournful stare, Su Bei quickly explained, “Don’t frame me. Who would predict something like this for no reason?”

“Then why is it that you don’t have a single drop of blood on you?” This time, it was Wu Mingbai who asked.

Of course, it was because of luck. Su Bei sighed internally, knowing they wouldn’t believe this explanation. Even though he knew they wouldn’t believe the truth, he still had to say it. “Of course, it’s because I have good luck. Stay away from me, you unlucky bunch.”

Saying this was worse than saying nothing at all; it actually gave Wu Mingbai an idea. His dark expression suddenly brightened, and he said with a grin, “We’re all good friends. We should share our fortunes and misfortunes. Don’t you agree?”

Jiang Tianming was the first to understand his meaning. A wicked smile appeared on his face. “You’re right. Su Bei, being so clean makes you seem a bit unsociable, don’t you think?”

With these words, everyone, including Su Bei, understood what they meant. His face changed dramatically, and he backed away repeatedly. “What are you trying to do?”

Obviously, it was a rhetorical question. With various expressions on their faces—some wicked smiles, some blank—they all advanced toward him with the same deliberate steps.

Just as Su Bei was cornered, with his back against the wall and nowhere to retreat, ready to fight back out of sheer exasperation, a series of urgent footsteps suddenly echoed from outside.

The hotel’s soundproofing was quite good. For them to be able to hear footsteps from inside the room, the commotion outside must be significant.

As everyone halted their steps, Su Bei let out a long sigh of relief in his heart. He scanned outside with his mental energy, and then his expression changed once again. “I think they’re coming for us.”