Chapter 276

Wait… there actually is one!

Suddenly, Su Bei’s eyes widened. He had forgotten about Jiang Tianming’s ability. His ability was [Death Call]!

Since acquiring the abilities of those two wanted criminals during winter break, the number of Jiang Tianming’s abilities hadn’t increased. It had been a long time; logically, he was due for an upgrade.

Quite a few Ability users had died in this incident. The Radical Faction and the Conservative Faction truly wanted Jiang Tianming and the others dead, so naturally, Jiang Tianming’s group wouldn’t hold back. Even if they didn’t intend to kill, they must have killed at least a few. With several lives on their hands, the number of abilities Jiang Tianming possessed must have increased.

Su Bei guessed that he had likely disappeared during that time to finish off opponents or absorb their abilities. After all, he was absorbing several people’s abilities into himself at once. It was like eating; when you’re stuffed, you need time to digest.

I’m really curious what new abilities Jiang Tianming got, Su Bei thought as he continued reading the comic. He had no intention of posting this guess on the forum with his ‘Oracle Account’ just yet. He had just made his presence felt in the last chapter; there was no need to be so frequent.

Besides, the author probably wouldn’t reveal this foreshadowing immediately, so he could afford to wait. If no other suitable opportunity for the ‘Oracle Account’ to appear came up later, he could use this piece of foreshadowing to boost his presence again.

The following content in the comic was a story Su Bei already knew: the Nightmare Beasts helping, the Nightmare Beasts turning on them, the Nightmare Beasts being defeated, and the appearance of the Turtle Nightmare Beast.

The main force in defeating the Turtle Nightmare Beast was Jiang Tianming and Si Zhaohua. Both of them had ultimate moves, and combined with the items provided by Wesi Sanctuary that could double their attack power, they finally managed to inflict heavy damage on the Turtle Nightmare Beast.

But it was, after all, a Nightmare Beast known for its defense. Even with such severe injuries, with more than half of its body blown away, it didn’t die immediately. Instead, in its final moments, it used its remaining strength to sink into the sea and flip the island over.

Seeing this, Su Bei finally understood. So that was it. He had wondered why the island kept tilting—it was because the Nightmare Beast was propping it up from below. Later, the Turtle Nightmare Beast died, but because the island’s balance had already been broken, it continued to capsize.

The next part, where Su Bei used his ability to save the island, was without a doubt a high point for the bullet comments.

“Ahhhhh, is Su Bei about to make his move?”

“So Su Bei can not only change the fate of individuals or groups, but also the fate of an entire island!”

“Su Bei is so strong!”

“What a huge whale! Did Su Bei really summon it?”

“No way, that worked?! The island is level just like that?”

“Hahaha, a mere island is nothing. How could it possibly stump my man, Brother Bei?”

“So cool! A moment to witness a miracle!”

The next scene was a large, wide-panel illustration. Everyone stood in various poses on the sparkling seashore, with the ruined island behind them. The warm, yellow light of the rising sun shone on each of them.

The giant whale floated on the water’s surface, spouting a beautiful rainbow as if performing. The beauty and the destruction formed a stark contrast, and everyone had a smile on their face. The overall image was warm and healing, a picture of peace and tranquility after surviving a disaster.

However, this wasn’t the final scene of the comic. The last scene was the two lines of dialogue between him and Si Zhaohua in the sky. The auras of the mundane and the extraordinary intertwined, heralding the complete end of the incident.

After finishing the entire chapter, Su Bei had a faint smile on his face; it was clear he was in a good mood. This time, the author had some conscience. They knew he had put in a lot of effort and didn’t arrange any plot points to frame him, nor did they hide any of his highlight moments. If it could always be like this, he wouldn’t even mind putting in a little more effort in the plot.

Since this plot didn’t involve the main storyline, there weren’t many threads discussing the plot on the forum. However, there were many new threads dedicated to the characters who had standout moments in this arc. Popular characters like Su Bei and Jiang Tianming had even more threads.

There was nothing particularly worth seeing, but Su Bei clicked on one out of habit.

Title: The Rainbow is So Pretty, Su Bei is So Romantic

[JingleCrotchCat No.0: Sometimes I really feel like Su Bei has a romantic streak. He could have just resolved the Wesi Sanctuary crisis, but he insisted on giving everyone a rainbow at the end. It’s like a rose at the end of a date, so heart-fluttering!]

[No.1: I also think the rainbow was super romantic. The old hack’s art is as good as ever. It’s just a shame not everyone in that scene was from S-Class, or I’d have screenshotted it for my wallpaper.]

[No.2 replying to No.1: There’s a photoshopped version like you described in the real-name section, you can go check it out.]

[No.3: Seeing it go from the end of the world one second to peaceful and serene the next, I actually felt an urge to cry.]

[No.4: I really love seeing scenes like this in comics. The essential elements of all shonen manga—sunsets, rainbows, silhouettes… they’re cliché, but they never get old.]

[No.5: The beauty of surviving a disaster.]

[No.6: Yes, Su Bei is just that romantic! How could Destiny not be romantic?]

[No.7: A pleasant surprise. OP’s analogy is really good.]

[No.8 replying to No.2: Where? Are there any keywords?]

[No.9 replying to No.8: I know this one, just search ‘rainbow’.]

[…]

[No.36: It’s hard to imagine Su Bei doing something so impractical.]

[No.37 replying to No.36: It does feel unexpected, but I’m not exactly shocked, just pleasantly surprised.]

[No.38: Hahahahahahaha, the man who can do anything and not be OOC.]

[No.39 replying to No.38: As long as Su Bei doesn’t lose out, I truly believe nothing he does is OOC.]

[No.40: Could the rainbow have nothing to do with Su Bei? Maybe it was just a coincidence? Didn’t he deny it himself?]

[No.41 replying to No.40: It was definitely Su Bei. Does anyone still doubt his control over his ability?]

[No.42 replying to No.40: Su Bei never admits it verbally, but his answers are as good as a confession. He said it was the ‘guidance of destiny,’ but his own ability is [Destiny Gear]. How is that any different from directly admitting he did it?]

[No.43: Natural rainbows aren’t that easy to form. Who would believe a coincidence like that wasn’t man-made?]

[…]

[No.79: By the way, are whales really that big? Wesi Sanctuary isn’t small; its area is comparable to some small countries. That whale was almost half the size of the island. I’ve never seen a real whale in person, but logic tells me they shouldn’t be that big.]

[No.80 replying to No.79: It mutated, duh. The seawater, landscape, and even humans around Wesi Sanctuary can mutate, so it’s perfectly reasonable for marine animals to mutate too.]

[No.81: Truly a case of ‘when one person achieves enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.’ One meteorite falls, and all the nearby species change along with it.]

[No.82: Did a meteorite fall on your house today?]

[…]

[No.105: Hahahaha, the way Su Bei was carried up into the air is kind of funny. [Si_Zhaohua_carrying_Su_Bei_mid-air.jpg]]

[No.106 replying to No.105: Does my Bei not care about his pride?]

[No.107: Being able to fly is so nice. Whenever I fantasize about my own ability before bed, flight is always a must-have.]

[No.108 replying to No.107: I support this! Flight is the best ability!]

[No.109 replying to No.105: So cute it’s killing me. Two adorable babies.]

[…]

[No.162: Every time I see Su Bei use his ability to defy heaven and change fate, I get super curious about how his ability works. How exactly does he make destiny change according to his will?]

[No.163 replying to No.162: One of the unsolved mysteries of ‘King of Abilities’.]

[No.164: Judging by the ability’s name, he must adjust destiny by adjusting his compass. I think it’s probably like fortune-telling or feng shui masters.]

[No.165 replying to No.164: The vibe doesn’t match. Su Bei is a trendy blond dude.]

[No.166: Blond stereotype +1.]

[No.167: Didn’t a scene like this appear in the comic before? [Su_Bei_wearing_round_sunglasses.jpg] Fortune-teller confirmed.]

[No.168 replying to No.167: It really does look like that, hahahahahaha.]

[No.169 replying to No.167: I dub thee the most handsome fortune-teller. I suggest you start by telling my love fortune. If you’re not accurate, you can compensate me with yourself.]

[No.170: The sound of the abacus beads from the user above is about to hit me in the face.]

[No.171: Yes, yes, yes! In that case, I want Brother Bei to tell my fortune too!]

[…]

[No.181: Ta-da! Look at the pic I photoshopped! [Fortune-teller_Su_Bei_holding_a_compass.jpg]]

[No.182 replying to No.181: Teacher, your efficiency is way too high!]

[No.183 replying to No.181: So good-looking, the artist did a great job. I’m so envious of people who can draw. I wish I could draw too.]

[No.184 replying to No.181: Wow! A historical-style Bei Bei I’ve never seen before! This is really cute, can I get the original pic?]

[…]

When he first saw the thread’s title, Su Bei had a feeling people would misunderstand. And just as he expected, everyone in the thread was saying he had created the rainbow, even deducing from it that he had a romantic spirit.

Su Bei was speechless.

The appearance of the rainbow was indeed not a coincidence, but it wasn’t created by Su Bei—it was created by the author. In the world of the comic, it really was just a pure coincidence.

Whatever, it wasn’t a bad thing anyway. The author had made him take the blame for so many things; it was only right for him to take a little advantage of the author in return.

After finishing with the forum, Su Bei finally relaxed completely. The incident was now truly over. His hard work hadn’t been in vain; not only had he made a splash on the forum, but more importantly, his gains were substantial.

Thinking of this, Su Bei took out his reward for saving Wesi Sanctuary from his storage space: the ‘Omniscient Conch’. It was a pure black conch shell, about the size of two palms, with spiral-shaped, dark purple patterns on it. It was quite beautiful.

Right now, the only ones who knew he had this item were his S-Class classmates and the leaders of Wesi Sanctuary. He had made the people from Wesi Sanctuary sign a non-disclosure agreement when he took the treasure. Su Bei didn’t want anyone else to know he possessed such a valuable item.

An innocent man is blameless, but his possession of a treasure makes him a criminal. If outsiders were to find out about this, with his current strength, he definitely wouldn’t be able to protect the ‘Omniscient Conch’. It wasn’t just him; no Ability user could possibly possess this treasure alone if it became public knowledge. Only major powers would dare to openly announce such an item.

However, even if the news did get out, it wouldn’t be a huge problem. Su Bei had already decided to place it in the treasury of the ‘Destiny’ organization. ‘Destiny’ was an intelligence organization to begin with, so it was perfectly reasonable for them to collect such an item, wasn’t it?

Anyway, his identity as a member of the organization was no longer a closely guarded secret. Doing this wouldn’t expose anything, and it would completely protect the ‘Omniscient Conch’. Most importantly, just as the ‘Omniscient Conch’ could bring great profits to Wesi Sanctuary, it could naturally bring a huge income to the ‘Destiny’ organization as well. As the organization’s leader, Su Bei was naturally happy to see this happen.

Speaking of which, his insistence on taking the ‘Omniscient Conch’ wasn’t because he had a pressing question he needed to ask right now, but simply because he wanted a safety net. If some important matter came up in the future that he didn’t know about, he might just be able to get the answer from the ‘Omniscient Conch’.

As the saying goes, some things you might not use, but you can’t be without them. In Su Bei’s mind, the ‘Omniscient Conch’ was exactly that kind of thing.

No matter what major events they experienced, they still had to attend class after returning to school. The next day, when they arrived in the classroom, Qi Huang and the others were already waiting there early. They had heard that something had happened at Wesi Sanctuary and were now waiting for Jiang Tianming’s group to satisfy their curiosity.

It was worth mentioning that Zhou Renjie had also made a full recovery. The ‘Omniscient Conch’ had directly stated the formula for the antidote, and with the formula in hand, curing him was naturally a simple matter.

“Thank you all for this time.” Zhou Renjie wore a rare, slightly embarrassed expression as he solemnly thanked everyone. Then, he turned to Wu Mingbai and offered a sincere apology.

At the time, he had been one of the people who suspected Wu Mingbai was the mole, and one of the most suspicious ones at that, so he naturally had to apologize now. Of course, the biggest reason was that Wu Mingbai had also gone to Wesi Sanctuary to help. He had to thank him for saving his life, and he also had to apologize.

After a round of pleasantries, Ai Baozhu began to excitedly recount the events of the past few days. The thrilling, twist-filled experience left those who hadn’t gone amazed. Qi Huang said with a mix of envy and regret, “Your adventure these past few days was so exciting! What a shame. If I had known so much would happen, I would have begged my family to get me a spot to go immediately.”

“But it was also very dangerous.” Zhao Xiaoyu’s thoughts were the complete opposite, and she was already feeling relieved she hadn’t gone. “There was the conflict between the three factions, and then the Nightmare Beast invasion. If we had gone, it’s not certain we would have even survived.”

“It was indeed dangerous, but luckily the outcome was good.” Ai Baozhu took out her phone and opened her photo album. “Look at the last thing we saw before we left. This is the rainbow Su Bei had the whale create! How about that? I took a special picture of it!”

The photo showed the scene of the whale spouting a rainbow from a first-person perspective, looking very unique. Even Zhao Xiaoyu, who didn’t want to take risks, couldn’t help but say, “It’s beautiful. I wish I could have seen it in person.”

Hearing this, Qi Huang had a sudden idea and looked at Su Bei. “Is it possible to replicate it?”

“No chance.” Su Bei decisively shut down her fantasy. “Where am I supposed to conjure a whale out of thin air for you?”

You can’t make bricks without straw, and besides, he wasn’t the one who had created the whale in the first place. Su Bei had actually never lied about this; what did the actions of destiny have to do with him? He only guided the outcome.

Hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but laugh.

“By the way, class president, what was the teacher’s reaction after you told him what happened yesterday?” After the laughter died down, Jiang Tianming asked Mu Tieren curiously.

Hearing this question, Mu Tieren’s expression immediately fell. “The teacher…”

Before Mu Tieren could finish, Meng Huai’s voice rang out from outside the door. “What reaction do you think I’d have? Did you expect me to praise you?”

With a cold sneer on his face, he strode in. “You discovered the danger ahead of time, so why didn’t you inform the academy? Do you love playing the hero that much?”

“I was afraid the academy wouldn’t get involved with Wesi Sanctuary’s situation due to lack of evidence,” Jiang Tianming answered honestly, biting his lip.

Once they reported it to the school, if the school decided not to help and demanded their immediate return, they wouldn’t have been able to continue resolving the conspiracy at Wesi Sanctuary without breaking the rules.

Clearly, he had broken the rules knowingly. He knew he should have informed the academy first, even without evidence, but in order to continue his adventure, he stubbornly refused to say anything. And it wasn’t just Jiang Tianming; everyone who went to Wesi Sanctuary this time was the same!

He had originally wanted to ask Su Bei why he had stayed there, as he didn’t believe Su Bei hadn’t predicted the danger. But thinking about how perfunctory the guy’s answers always were, he lost interest in asking. He asked questions to get answers, not a collection of excuses.

Yesterday, Meng Huai had already severely criticized Mu Tieren. He had originally thought that as the class president, his responsibility was the greatest, and since he had already scolded him, he couldn’t be bothered to criticize the others one by one. But who told them to walk right into the line of fire?

“You’d rather risk your lives for an adventure, is that it? How about I just airdrop you at the Black Flash Organization’s headquarters and let you have a real adventure?” Meng Huai was so angry he laughed. “Let me ask you, what if Su Bei hadn’t been able to do anything in the end? How would you have gotten back?”

At this point, his tone became sarcastic. “Oh, right, I forgot. Young Master Si Zhaohua, Head of the Feng Family Feng Lan, Young Miss Ai Baozhu… you all would have definitely been able to come back, right?”

These three all came from rich and powerful families and certainly had no shortage of life-saving items. Even if something happened to Wesi Sanctuary, they would very likely have made it back alive.

But the others were different. “What about the rest of you, Jiang Tianming? Were you also confident you’d come back in one piece?”

“…” Jiang Tianming and the others fell silent. When they set out on the adventure, they really hadn’t expected it to be so dangerous. They had originally thought it was just an internal matter on the island; who knew the entire island would almost capsize.

Seeing them like this, how could Meng Huai not know the answer? He sneered, “Same as always: if you’re looking to die, just say so. It’s not like I can’t grant your wish.”

“We’re sorry, teacher. We know we were wrong,” Jiang Tianming apologized first. “Next time we encounter danger, we will definitely… do our best to inform the academy at the first opportunity.”

He was quite rational, knowing he might not be able to do it, so he specifically added the words “do our best”. However, this half-hearted promise almost made Meng Huai laugh with anger. They couldn’t even be bothered to lie to him, could they?

The others also followed Jiang Tianming’s lead and apologized. Their attitudes were all sincere, but it was likely a case of ‘sincerely admitting their mistake, while having no intention of changing.’ Meng Huai also knew it was impossible to make this group of exceptionally talented students behave, so although he was angry, he didn’t bother to say more.

After giving them a harsh scolding and feeling satisfied, he walked up to the podium. “The final exams are coming up soon. Are you all prepared?”

Final exams!

The moment this word was spoken, everyone froze. They had completely forgotten about it. So much had happened this semester that they had almost forgotten they were still students.

Final exams… the phrase felt so foreign!

After enjoying everyone’s stunned expressions for a moment, Meng Huai continued, “This final exam will be divided into two parts: a written exam and an ability exam. The former consists of papers on subjects like math, language, and general ability knowledge. The specific details for the latter haven’t been announced yet, but according to reliable sources, it might involve taking you to the Nightmare Beast World.”

“The Nightmare Beast World?” Everyone had been about to groan about having a written exam, but in the next second, they were shocked by the news about the ability exam.

It wasn’t that they were afraid of going to the Nightmare Beast World; they had been there before. And this time, a teacher would be watching over them, making it much safer than before. But just because they weren’t afraid didn’t mean others weren’t. Jiang Tianming couldn’t help but ask, “Are all the first-years going?”

Since the classes were divided, they had had very little contact with students from other classes, but they still had a basic understanding of the strength of a typical first-year student. Forget F-Class, even students from D-Class might not be able to defeat an Intermediate Nightmare Beast. Sending them to the Nightmare Beast World would be suicide, wouldn’t it?

“Not exactly. Just our class is going,” Meng Huai replied calmly. “You’ll be taking the exam with the third-years this time. Your scores will be recorded separately in your files and won’t be ranked with the other first-year students.”

Just as Si Zhaohua had thought, the members of the other first-year classes weren’t qualified to go to the Nightmare Beast World. They might get a chance to go together when they were third-years.

“Why are we suddenly taking the exam with the third-years?” Si Zhaohua raised his hand and asked. “Weren’t we always with students from our own year before?”

Although they did possess strength far beyond their peers, this wasn’t a recent development. They had been able to take exams with the other first-years before, so why not now?

It wasn’t that he wanted to crush weaklings; Si Zhaohua just found the arrangement a bit strange.

Regarding this point, Meng Huai also found it strange, but since he didn’t know the specific details of the exam, he didn’t have the answer either. “Why ask so many questions? If you’re scared, I can help you apply to take the exam with the first-years.”

The moment he said this, Si Zhaohua immediately shut his mouth.

Seeing that no one else had questions, Meng Huai glanced at the S-Class’s previous written exam scores. “The rules for the ability exam aren’t out yet, so I have no requirements for now. But for the written exam, I demand that your rankings be no lower than last time. If anyone’s rank drops, you’ll spend the first two months of next semester attending one written class in F-Class every day.”

————————

Happy National Day!

The “Fortune-teller Su Bei.jpg” fanart from post #181 in the forum, drawn by a talented artist, has been posted by me on Weibo (Dayan Zai). Interested cuties can go take a look!