Chapter 274:

At that moment, a team of fully armed Ability users appeared, heading straight for their room from the stairwell.

“Damn it, it’s because of him!” Jiang Tianming reacted instantly, looking down at the dead man. He realized that this group was likely here because they had sensed the man’s death from leaking secrets.

They never expected that not only would the man die after revealing the information, but he would also expose their location. If they had known earlier, they would never have interrogated him in their own room.

This series of unexpected traps was truly catching them off guard; the group had indeed been lacking in vigilance against ability-based tactics. But it was too late for regrets now. The most important thing was to figure out a way to avoid being captured.

They couldn’t afford to be caught by the people of Wesi Sanctuary right now, or whether they could even leave the island alive would be in question. Si Zhaohua immediately took out a blank scroll from his storage space. “This is the ‘Ancient Painting Space.’ It can hide all of us, but to get out, someone needs to tear the scroll from the outside.”

“Give it to me.” Su Bei held an Invisibility Talisman between his fingers. “Where do you want to come out?”

“A safe place is best, with no surveillance around,” Jiang Tianming replied immediately. Everyone recognized the effectiveness of his Invisibility Talisman, so they naturally had no objections to him volunteering. They felt more at ease with the scroll in Su Bei’s hands.

But there was still one problem. Lan Subing asked anxiously, “What about Ai Baozhu?”

She had definitely gone in to take a shower just now. She might even have shampoo in her hair at this very moment; getting out quickly was impossible.

“What else can we do? Just wrap a towel around her and shove her in,” Su Bei shrugged. After a thought, he handed Lan Subing another Invisibility Talisman. “Or you can have her use this before going in.”

There was no other choice. The group entered the ‘Ancient Painting Space’ first. Then, Lan Subing went into the bathroom and, without a word, pulled Ai Baozhu in. Su Bei was the last to enter the bathroom, picked up the scroll, and slapped an Invisibility Talisman on himself.

Just as he finished, the room’s main door was kicked open.

“Search quickly! The location indicates they’re right here!” shouted the captain, who was the first to enter the room. The doorway was cleared as a small squad filed in and began to search everywhere.

The body in the living room was naturally discovered first. The guards knew the deceased’s identity—the guy who had died from his body exploding due to leaking secrets, thereby transmitting his location to them.

“Report! There’s water in the bathroom. The enemy must have just left,” called out the person who burst into the bathroom.

The group swarmed into the bathroom and found it to be true. The signs of Ai Baozhu’s shower were too obvious, and combined with the temperature and steam in the room, it was certain they had left only moments ago.

“You two stay here. You two, go back and check the identities of the tourists in this room. The rest of you, follow me and give chase!” After speaking, he immediately pushed the door open and went out.

Su Bei took the opportunity to trail behind them, slipping out of the room and making his way to the library.

The library, of course, had surveillance, but its restrooms did not. Most importantly, there was a window behind the restroom that led directly to a small path, which also had no surveillance.

This was something Su Bei had discovered while studying here two days ago. His main purpose in coming to the library was to use it as a safe house; acquiring new knowledge was secondary. Naturally, he paid close attention to useful routes within the library.

Bringing them here was as much as Su Bei was willing to do. As for how they would complete their mission and continue the investigation after getting out, that was their business.

He didn’t even cancel his invisibility when he tore the scroll. Seeing the group emerge from the painting unharmed, he left directly. As for where he went, it was, of course, to the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ that he had decided on earlier.

Returning was out of the question. Although it was just Ai Baozhu’s room, their group was together. With everyone else missing, he couldn’t possibly remain unscathed without raising suspicion. Going back would be walking right into a trap.

As a project exclusive to honored guests, the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ still had very few visitors today. A handful of people were scattered under the tree, sitting there like green lightbulbs.

Su Bei didn’t disturb them. He leaped into the tree as nimbly as a cat, without making a sound. He slipped among the leaves, found a suitable spot, and began to train his Mental Energy.

Although the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ was a one-time use item, and he couldn’t receive another massive boost to his Mental Energy after the first absorption, that didn’t stop it from being a prime location for cultivating Mental Energy. It was a good opportunity for Su Bei to consolidate the boost he had received earlier.

That night, Su Bei slept in the tree. As expected, no one came to check the area all day. Starting from dinnertime, he could clearly sense that the island was under lockdown. Teams of guards patrolled with lanterns, which were likely ability-created objects that shone with extreme brightness.

Moreover, from his observation, they also seemed to have a certain X-ray effect. Fortunately, the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ was dense enough and possessed some abilities of its own, which prevented Su Bei from being discovered.

Overall, however, the protagonist group hadn’t caused any trouble after they separated today; they were likely still investigating. If their investigation went smoothly, Wesi Sanctuary might descend into chaos tomorrow.

Chaos would be good. If things didn’t get chaotic, how could they find an opportunity to escape?

If they wanted to leave now, they needed to find a way to make the tourists on the island feel unsafe. When the tourists started leaving en masse, that would be their chance to slip away in the confusion.

Of course, Su Bei knew very well that Jiang Tianming and the others certainly wouldn’t leave now. They wouldn’t be the protagonist group if they didn’t get to the bottom of things.

But they didn’t want to leave, and Su Bei did! Whoever wanted to stay in such a dangerous place could stay; he, for one, didn’t want to. Logically, he could just wait for the protagonist group to solve everything and leave with them, but Su Bei was genuinely worried.

He never doubted the protagonist group’s destructive power. In a closed and isolated environment like Wesi Sanctuary, if they truly unleashed their full destructive potential, Su Bei seriously doubted he would even be able to escape in the end.

Rather than face another wave of danger then, it was better for him to leave now while things weren’t as dangerous.

But ultimately, whether he could leave depended on what Jiang Tianming and the others did. Su Bei sighed softly. This was the downside of not actively participating in the plot; as a bystander, there were many plot points he couldn’t influence. But every loss has its gain. For the sake of convenience and his own safety, Su Bei didn’t mind accepting this drawback.

Lying in the tree, he began to ponder the information revealed by the man who had died from his body exploding—they were “creating a god.”

First of all, the term was very “manga-like,” so Su Bei didn’t doubt for a second that he had misheard.

Given that the deceased was a member of the Radical Faction, there were two possibilities: either the “creating a god” plan belonged solely to the Radical Faction, or it was a shared plan of Wesi Sanctuary, with the Radical and Conservative Factions simply having different ideas on how to implement it.

Between these two guesses, Su Bei leaned toward the latter. “Creating a god” already sounded like a very grand plan. If the two factions each had different plans, the Conservative Faction’s plan would have to be at least as grand as “creating a god” for them to be evenly matched.

But that wasn’t an easy feat. Coming up with another grand plan was difficult enough, let alone balancing it. Given the laziness of the author of ‘King of Abilities,’ Su Bei felt he wouldn’t go to such trouble. After all, the final effect of both scenarios was roughly the same. Without affecting the overall direction of the plot, it was better to choose the simpler option.

Besides, based on his previous discovery, the Radical and Conservative Factions had something in common that allowed them to be outwardly hostile but inwardly united in ostracizing the Neutral Faction.

And if this common ground was their goal, the “creating a god” plan, then everything made much more sense. The Neutral Faction was being ostracized because they didn’t want to create a god.

Following this line of reasoning, there were two known actions Wesi Sanctuary had taken to implement the “creating a god” plan: one was the continuous decline of the islanders’ physical constitution, and the other was the appearance of Nightmare Beasts on the island.

What was the connection between these two things and “creating a god”?

As he thought, Su Bei’s eyelids grew heavier, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next day, the lockdown outside was still in effect, and it seemed even stricter than the day before. In addition to the constantly patrolling guards, Su Bei could see that the number of guards outside the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ project had doubled.

However, the tourists were still continuing with their projects. Clearly, Wesi Sanctuary didn’t want this matter to leak out. That made sense; if the tourists knew there were escaped murderers on the island, they would probably demand to leave immediately, and the situation would spiral out of control.

In the tree, Su Bei listened half-heartedly to the discussions of the tourists below. These tourists weren’t fools; how could they not notice the changes in Wesi Sanctuary?

“What do you think these thieves stole to make Wesi Sanctuary go on such high alert?” a woman with short hair asked curiously. “I asked customer service earlier, but they just kept beating around the bush and didn’t reveal anything.”

The man with a 70-30 side part next to her was also curious, but more so covetous. “It must be some incredibly important treasure. Wesi Sanctuary has plenty of treasures, so for them to take it this seriously, it must be priceless. If we could catch the thieves first…”

It would be best if they could get the treasure directly from the thieves. If not, turning the thieves in for a reward wouldn’t be bad either.

The man in the floral shirt sneered, “You guys actually believe it’s thieves?”

“What do you mean?” The other two looked over in surprise. In truth, they also had their doubts. After all, if it were just thieves, would such a massive response be necessary?

Seeing them all looking at him, the man in the floral shirt felt a bit smug. He wasn’t a real “honored guest,” just an ordinary Ability user who had bought a one-time use of the honored guest status.

Permanent honored guest status could be sublet to others. However, it could only be loaned out five times a year, and those who rented the status had to pay an additional fee upon arriving at the island.

The man in the floral shirt was the type of ordinary person who had saved up for many years to finally buy an honored guest slot, allowing him to visit the island for three days. Being looked at with such inquisitive eyes by those who were likely truly rich and powerful honored guests made him feel incredibly smug inside.

He deliberately coughed twice to make himself seem more serious. “Think about it. If someone had stolen something, Wesi Sanctuary should be conducting a house-to-house search right now. But what they’re doing now is clearly a defensive measure. To prevent the thieves from stealing again? Then they should only be reinforcing the guards near the warehouses, not everywhere.”

His words did make sense, and everyone showed a thoughtful expression.

“Could some bad people have snuck onto the island?” the short-haired woman suddenly had a thought. “If that’s true, for Wesi Sanctuary to be this cautious, they must be very powerful figures. Should we leave the island quickly?”

Good question! Su Bei, in the tree, curled his lips into a smile, his eyes filled with anticipation. Quickly, spread this idea to more people, start a wave of departures, and give me a chance to sneak away with them!

Unfortunately, the man in the floral shirt shattered Su Bei’s fantasy. He didn’t want the three-day trip he had paid a fortune for to end after just one day; he knew without a doubt that the seller wouldn’t give him a refund.

So he immediately began to persuade them, and with his silver tongue, he quickly dispelled the idea of leaving the island from the minds of the short-haired woman and her companion. Of course, the main reason his persuasion was so successful was that the two of them weren’t particularly keen on leaving in the first place.

Firstly, they still had great faith in Wesi Sanctuary’s strength. Secondly, leaving at a time like this could easily offend Wesi Sanctuary, and they had no intention of offending a major power unnecessarily.

Seeing that they had made up their minds, Su Bei’s face fell with disappointment. How could he not feel upset about missing the chance to leave early?

The rest of the morning was quiet, but Su Bei didn’t let his guard down. On the contrary, the quieter it was, the more he suspected the protagonist group was up to something big.

Sure enough, just as the afternoon arrived, he heard a “BOOM,” and in the distance, the Wesi government building collapsed with a roar.

Sitting on a branch, Su Bei could clearly see the dust rising in the distance through the dense foliage. It looked like a problem with the foundation; the government building had collapsed from the bottom up, so it hadn’t affected the surrounding areas.

It seemed Wu Mingbai had made his move, Su Bei understood instantly. Since they had escalated things to this level so quickly, it looked like the matter would be resolved by tomorrow at the latest.

After the government building collapsed, the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ where Su Bei was located suddenly became deserted. Of course, it wasn’t just there; there wasn’t a soul in sight in the surrounding areas either. All the previous guards had left; at a time like this, they could only go to the government building to help.

As expected of the protagonist group, so efficient. He wondered what they had found out. To be honest, Su Bei was still quite curious about that so-called “creating a god” plan.

Soon, fighting broke out outside. Jiang Tianming’s group had blown up the government building; if Wesi Sanctuary still couldn’t find them, they would be utterly useless.

In a direct confrontation like this, Jiang Tianming and the others would have a hard time gaining the upper hand. After all, they were still young. While they could be number one among their peers, they struggled to hold their own against the powerful ability users from a major faction.

However, it wasn’t long before Su Bei noticed that it wasn’t just Jiang Tianming’s group fighting the natives. There was another group of natives fighting the first group of natives. That must be the Neutral Faction.

Perhaps the author felt the island wasn’t chaotic enough, because after a while, Nightmare Beasts also made their appearance. Sitting high up, Su Bei had a clear view of the situation. At first, the Nightmare Beasts specifically targeted Jiang Tianming’s group and the Neutral Faction, but then they began to attack indiscriminately.

This was within Su Bei’s expectations. How could Nightmare Beasts truly cooperate with humans? It was nothing more than making a deal with the devil. Once they saw an opportunity for profit, the Nightmare Beasts would tear up the contract without a second thought.

In a sense, Wesi Sanctuary was a strategic point of contention. As the landing site of the meteorite, many things on the island were useful not only to humans but also to Nightmare Beasts.

If this place were to be occupied by Nightmare Beasts, even for just a few weeks, it could raise their overall strength by a whole level. After all, unlike the humans of Wesi Sanctuary who had to restrict resource usage to prevent depletion, the Nightmare Beasts could just cram as many of their kind onto the island as possible to level them up.

This was the real world, after all. The Ability users wouldn’t let the Nightmare Beasts occupy Wesi Island for too long. Naturally, the Nightmare Beasts’ plan would be to use up everything they could as quickly as possible, and destroy whatever they couldn’t use.

The humans in Wesi Sanctuary who had collaborated with the Nightmare Beasts clearly hadn’t anticipated their betrayal and were caught completely off guard. What surprised them even more was that these Nightmare Beasts had somehow brought a large number of their kind onto the island, instantly becoming the most powerful faction.

Now, the conflicts between the Conservative, Radical, and Neutral factions were irrelevant. It all transformed into a conflict between humans and Nightmare Beasts. Everyone finally united to fight against the Nightmare Beasts together.

With the protagonist group present, Su Bei wasn’t worried about the outcome; the result was predetermined. He stayed happily in his tree, waiting for the crisis to end. When it was time to come out, he could pretend he hadn’t been slacking off and was also fighting Nightmare Beasts. Since there were no witnesses, he could say whatever he wanted.

Just as the tide turned and everyone worked together to push the Nightmare Beasts back, on the verge of victory, a much stronger Nightmare Beast appeared.

This Turtle Nightmare Beast was as tall as a small mountain. The largest land animal, the elephant, was like a child’s toy in front of it. Even from a great distance, Su Bei could feel its immense size.

Proportional to its size, the Turtle Nightmare Beast’s power was also incredible. Everyone’s attacks were like tickles to it, causing no damage at all.

This was to be expected. Turtle-type Nightmare Beasts were known for their defense, and one this large would likely only be harmed by an attack of a similar scale, which no one present was capable of.

Wesi Sanctuary finally realized the gravity of the situation. Disregarding their pride, they wanted to call for outside help. However, the Turtle Nightmare Beast was lying right on top of the church where the Teleportation Array was located. Without the array, outsiders couldn’t enter Wesi Sanctuary, so reinforcements were definitely not coming.

Without a doubt, it was now up to the protagonist group to turn the tide.

Su Bei couldn’t be bothered to watch; he could see everything in the comic later anyway. He gave a big yawn and shifted his position in the tree. This battle had been going on for quite a while, from the afternoon until now, when the night was deep.

Based on his experience reading comics, this giant turtle should be the final obstacle of this incident. Once it was defeated, the danger would be over. And if he wasn’t mistaken, following the usual manga tropes, the turtle would be defeated at dawn.

The tropes in comics these days were all the same. Although the plots were varied, the pacing often had similarities. It was by relying on these judgments that Su Bei could always stay one step ahead.

Since the battle would end at dawn, and it was currently eleven at night, with sunrise at five, that meant he could still sleep for about five hours.

Getting enough sleep was essential. Su Bei set an alarm for himself and fell asleep in the tree. Before drifting off, he was feeling quite pleased with himself, thinking about how he had slacked off through this whole incident, even getting to sleep while others were fighting. It was pure bliss.

However, he had clearly underestimated the destructive power of the plot, or perhaps he had forgotten about it. As he slept, Su Bei suddenly felt a violent shaking. In such a dangerous place, he was a light sleeper to begin with. The moment he felt the jolt, Su Bei’s eyes snapped open. He found that the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ was indeed shaking.

And it wasn’t just the ‘Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky’ shaking; the entire Wesi Sanctuary was shaking. The surrounding buildings were teetering, with rubble and bricks falling down intermittently. The scene looked somewhat familiar, just like the earthquake in the underground world.

But the feeling here wasn’t just an earthquake. An earthquake was merely a violent tremor of the earth, but the current situation was that the entire Wesi Sanctuary was trembling while tilting and toppling to one side. It probably wouldn’t be long before it completely capsized and sank into the sea.

Don’t forget, the sea surrounding this area was the ‘Sea of Taboo.’ What was once an excellent natural defense had now become their perfect graveyard. Once the island completely overturned, those who fell into the sea would surely die without a trace.

Su Bei quickly turned to look in the direction where the Nightmare Turtle had been. The turtle that had been wreaking havoc on the island had disappeared. This was not good news. Seeing the turtle’s corpse would have been good news; its disappearance only meant it was causing trouble somewhere else.

He glanced at the sky. It was just breaking dawn, the time he had predicted the incident would end. With the island experiencing an earthquake at the end of the incident, the final part of the plot must be them finding a way to escape the island.

Su Bei understood. He immediately jumped down from the tree to find the protagonist group. If he continued to act alone at a time like this, he might just get killed off by the plot. It was safer to stick with the protagonists. If anyone could find a way to escape the island, it would have to be them.

During an earthquake, most people would choose to stay in an open area for safety. However, since they needed to leave Wesi Sanctuary and not sink with the island, Su Bei headed straight for the church. Since the turtle had disappeared, the Teleportation Array should be usable again.

Arriving at the entrance to the Teleportation Array, he indeed saw a large crowd of people. Jiang Tianming and the others were among them, and due to their outstanding performance earlier, they were standing at the very front.

After finally finding them, Su Bei’s heart sank. The expressions on their faces were far from pleasant. It looked like there was a problem with the Teleportation Array.

“Su Bei!” Feng Lan’s sharp eyes spotted Su Bei rushing over; his golden hair was conspicuous at any time. Hearing his name, the others also looked over in pleasant surprise.