Chapter 286:

“Is he very strong?” a second-year substitute team member asked curiously. He usually focused on improving himself and didn’t pay much attention to outside information.

Faced with this question, Si Zhaohua’s expression was a bit strange. He and Huangfu Mingzhe didn’t get along, so naturally, he was unwilling to admit that he was strong. After some thought, he replied, “He’s just someone we beat in the Tri-School Competition.”

The second-year senior’s expression immediately became indescribable. “So Skydome Ability Academy isn’t planning on getting a good result in this World Competition? To think they’d make him a main team member.”

“Actually, he…” Jiang Tianming rationally tried to explain on Huangfu Mingzhe’s behalf, but before he could finish, Huangfu Mingzhe entered the arena.

Seeing this, he immediately swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. Actions speak louder than words. Huangfu Mingzhe’s upcoming performance would be the best proof of his strength; there was no need for him to explain anything.

Sure enough, he watched as Huangfu Mingzhe defeated his opponent in an almost crushing victory. The second-year senior’s expression changed again and again, finally asking in disbelief, “How did you guys beat him?”

That absolute power suppression, the dragon-type ability that allowed him to fly, and the powerful magical attacks—he looked like a completely all-rounded fighter!

“He’s very strong in one-on-one fights, but as for teamwork…” Wu Mingbai gave a knowing look. Huangfu Mingzhe had an egocentric personality, and his ability was an all-rounded type that didn’t require teammates. This made him extremely proficient in solo battles, but in a team fight, he could easily render his teammates useless, leaving himself isolated and unable to manage alone.

“I see,” the second-year senior said with sudden understanding. Having participated in the Tri-School Competition before, he naturally understood the importance of teamwork. It was only logical for someone who couldn’t cooperate with a team to fail in a team battle.

Skydome Ability Academy didn’t drop the ball and smoothly secured their victory. Among them, the sole first-year participant, Huangfu Mingzhe, stole the show. When Su Bei went to the restroom, he could hear many people discussing him, considering him a new rising star in the Ability World.

This level of discussion should be just what Huangfu Mingzhe wanted, Su Bei thought idly. The other party had shown no intention of hiding his strength during his individual match, performing very aggressively. It seemed he had no plans to participate in the team battles and just wanted to make a big splash in the first round.

The last match of the morning finally came around to Endless Ability Academy. Their opponents were an obscure, unknown school.

Su Bei had originally wanted to use this match to study the abilities of Mu Yunfan and the others, but the moment he saw their opponents, he knew it wouldn’t be possible.

These opponents looked as ordinary as could be, not at all like characters who would appear in a comic. Naturally, they couldn’t be some dark horse; they were destined to be crushed.

And that was indeed the case. Mu Yunfan’s group barely used their abilities and easily defeated their opponents. Although all the participants were elite Ability users from their respective countries, the gap between elites could be huge, and the gap between countries even larger. The combination of the two resulted in a massive disparity in strength.

Among the five, the only one who used an ability was Wei Yuexi. It was obvious how the [Arms Dealer] ability was used. The moment she pulled out a “Truth,” the other side expertly put their hands on their heads and begged for mercy. For ordinary Ability users like them, their physical bodies were only slightly stronger than a normal person’s. If they didn’t have a skill to dodge bullets, their fate when facing a “Truth” was to surrender.

When the group returned victorious, driven by intense curiosity, Lan Subing finally broke through her old habit of freezing up in front of so many people and spoke her first words of the day: “Senior Wei, can I see your ability?”

Firearms were banned in the country. Although Lan Subing’s family had a few, such things were naturally not shown to a child like her. So, she had always been very curious about military weapons.

“Of course, no problem!” Wei Yuexi said with a grin, wrapping an arm around Lan Subing’s shoulder. “What model do you want? I can conjure up anything for you here.”

Lan Subing thought seriously for a moment before quickly giving her answer: “A Gatling gun.”

This answer clearly surprised everyone. After a brief moment of shock, Wei Yuexi’s smile grew even wider. “Of course! Good taste, I like Gatling guns too. If nothing else, they’re at least incredibly intimidating.”

With that, she flipped her wrist, and a pitch-black Gatling gun appeared in her hand. Lan Subing took it as if it were a precious treasure, her expression one of awe as she caressed the weapon of death in her hands. The scene had the contrasting feel of a fierce tiger sniffing a rose.

After stroking it for a while, she belatedly asked, “What if it goes off by accident?”

“There are no bullets inside,” Wei Yuexi said with a smile. “As long as you don’t fill it with Mental Energy, you’ll be fine.”

At this point, Qi Huang, who was sitting nearby, could no longer hold back. Her red eyes sparkling, she asked, “Can I have one too?”

“Senior, actually, I…” Si Zhaohua pursed his lips, hesitating.

Not to be outdone, Jiang Tianming added, “Um, me too…”

Wu Mingbai followed closely behind, “Ahem, Senior, you know…”

Even Su Bei couldn’t resist such temptation. “Same as them.”

Wei Yuexi was overjoyed and conjured a weapon for each of them. Grenades, rifles, laser guns—she had everything.

Just as Su Bei took the grenade and started fiddling with it in his hands, he suddenly felt a wave of gazes directed at him. He looked up to see all the surrounding spectators looking at them with a pie-chart-like gaze that was two parts strangeness, three parts vigilance, and four parts warning. Apparently, their act of playing with “Truths” in the spectator stands was completely baffling to the audience.

It wasn’t just the audience. Su Bei glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that the security guards in black uniforms were also staring at them vigilantly. He felt that if they weren’t sitting in the contestants’ area, the guards might have already rushed over to restrain them.

Su Bei: “…”

He silently put down the grenade.

On the first day, Endless Ability Academy fought a total of three matches. Unsurprisingly, all three were victories, and they were perfect nine-to-zero wins. In each match, after winning the three individual battles, the overall victory was secured, so there was no need to continue.

According to Sessbia’s schedule, most of the teams had finished their three matches for the day, which meant that a batch of the weakest teams had already been preliminarily eliminated.

Therefore, the opponents Su Bei and the others would face tomorrow would definitely not be as easy as today’s. Even the weakest among them should have some strength, making it almost impossible for them to be as weak as some of the teams that appeared today.

Realizing this, everyone couldn’t help but start to feel a little unconfident. The seniors had worked hard all day to achieve a perfect record. If they went up and lost a match right away, how could they face them?

The outward manifestation of this lack of confidence was Jiang Tianming and the others frowning, their expressions no longer as relaxed as before, their worry plain to see.

“Feeling confident?” Seeing them like this, Mu Yunfan asked energetically when they gathered the next day. “If you’re not, you can come to your senior here for some cheering up!”

“What kind of cheering up?” Qi Huang asked curiously. Even she couldn’t help but feel a little insecure in this situation. If she could get some advice from the president, that would be for the best.

The next second, she regretted her curiosity. As if his scheme had succeeded, Mu Yunfan put his hands on his hips and laughed boisterously at the sky, “Of course, it’s a hug of love from your senior! I’m sure this will move you all to tears and make you invincible! Hahahahahaha!”

Talk about curiosity killing the cat. Qi Huang lightly slapped her own mouth, full of regret. “My bad for asking.”

After his little joke, Mu Yunfan was satisfied and became serious again. “Alright, don’t worry. It’s okay even if you lose two rounds. We’ll make up for it in the remaining three. So just fight with confidence! Who told you to have such handsome and reliable seniors to back you up?”

“Finally said something human,” Wei Yuexi said to Mu Yunfan with a smile as she fiddled with her weapon. “Since you remembered to include us, I won’t call you out this time.”

Feng Manman also nodded, reassuring everyone in a gentle, slightly husky voice, “Don’t worry, you’re only in your first year. Most of the participants here are third-years. Winning against them would be a pleasant surprise, and losing is to be expected. If the sky falls, the main team members will hold it up for you. Trust in the strength of your seniors, okay?”

“Amitabha. I shall enlighten our enemies, you need not worry,” He Shang said, putting his palms together and asking sincerely, “The Heart-Cleansing Mantra may resolve some of your worries. If you are willing…”

“No, no!” everyone quickly waved their hands in refusal.

Yesterday, driven by curiosity, they had listened to He Shang’s Heart-Cleansing Mantra once. How to describe it… it sounded like a mosquito buzzing, both hypnotic and brainwashing.

Worst of all, He Shang wouldn’t stop chanting on his own. Telling him to stop didn’t work either; the moment they did, he would say, “Your hearts are still troubled and not calm enough. You need to continue listening to the Heart-Cleansing Mantra.”

If it hadn’t been for Feng Manman’s kindness in finding something else for He Shang to do, who knows how much longer they would have had to listen to it. Now, the mere mention of the Heart-Cleansing Mantra gave them all PTSD.

“You all make it sound like they’ve already lost,” Zhang Sheng sneered, then turned to Jiang Tianming and the others. “So little confidence? I, for one, have a lot of confidence in you!”

It had to be said, with powerful seniors to fall back on, everyone who had been feeling uneasy subconsciously relaxed. Qi Huang lifted her chin. “Of course we have confidence in ourselves! We’ll definitely win today’s matches!”

“By the way, where is Senior… Luo Li?” Lan Subing suddenly noticed someone was missing. Luo Li was a very cute little girl, but because she was much younger than them yet was their senior, she didn’t usually talk much with Jiang Tianming’s group.

Her appearance yesterday had caused quite a stir. For such a young girl to be able to represent an academy in the competition, and to perform so ferociously, had truly made many jaws drop.

Feng Manman was well aware of her teammate’s whereabouts. “She’s in the hotel catching up on sleep. Kids need to sleep a lot to grow tall.”

Their new opponent was soon displayed on the big screen. Endless Ability Academy’s opponent this time was Wilder Ability School, a B-team from the Li Nation. The Li Nation’s past results had always been decent, generally maintaining a spot in the top ten. So even their B-team was very strong, which was evident from the fact that they had broken through the tough competition to make it to the second day of the tournament as a B-team.

Seeing this result, everyone’s relaxed hearts tensed up once more. If their opponents were also first-years, they naturally wouldn’t be afraid. But the opposing team consisted of all third-years, which subconsciously made them cautious.

“Wilder Ability School, huh.” Teacher Li took out her phone and quickly found the relevant information from the data she had gathered yesterday. “You can take a look now. After reading, whoever feels confident can go up first.”

She wasn’t worried that these first-year kids would choose not to compete out of fear of facing a strong opponent. From their own strength and past performances, it was clear that they were actually very confident in themselves and enjoyed stirring up trouble. They definitely wouldn’t shrink back from a little difficulty.

Sure enough, after reading the information, everyone raised their hands, all wanting to be the first from their group to compete. It wasn’t just them; the other three substitutes were also eagerly volunteering. If the first-years had the courage to go up, there was no reason for them, the second-years, to be timid.

“Then let’s pick one first-year and one second-year,” Teacher Li quickly decided. As an experienced teacher, she was very skilled at balancing relationships among students. She wouldn’t do something like sending only first-year students to battle, as that would only create a rift between the first and second-year substitutes.

The reason she was only sending out two people for now was that she was prepared for the worst-case scenario. Two losses were the maximum acceptable outcome for them; any more and they would genuinely risk losing the match.

She didn’t mind using this opportunity to give the younger students some experience, but she couldn’t allow them to destroy the fruits of the main team’s labor and make it harder for them to win this round. She had a responsibility to the students and the academy.

At times like this, Su Bei usually didn’t participate in the discussion, and normally no one would bring him up either. After all, everyone wanted a spot to compete, so they naturally wouldn’t add another rival for themselves.

But there was always someone who enjoyed stirring the pot. Zhang Sheng cheekily suggested, “Teacher, why don’t you consider Junior Su Bei? Everyone wants a spot. We can’t satisfy everyone, but we can make everyone equally dissatisfied!”

Su Bei: “”

What kind of grudge was this!

What was even more terrifying, however, was that Teacher Li was actually swayed. Just as Zhang Sheng had said, she couldn’t decide who to send up for a moment, since no matter who she chose, the others would be unhappy.

But sending Su Bei was different. Not only would the others be dissatisfied, Su Bei himself wouldn’t be satisfied either, which, in a sense, achieved a form of fairness.

Thinking of this, she made her final decision. “Alright then, Su Bei it is. you’ll go first.”

Just like that, obtaining an opportunity that others were clamoring for without even realizing it, Su Bei was so exasperated he could have laughed. “Teacher, I don’t think I’m in good shape. What if I lose…”

Different methods for different people. Teacher Li, who was a firm believer in teaching according to aptitude, pushed up her glasses. “It’s fine. Your seniors are right. You’re only in your first year, so it doesn’t matter if you lose. I’ll send the match recording to your homeroom teacher, and he can help you review it then.”

If one were to listen to these words alone, they would only think Teacher Li was being very considerate of her students. But considering Meng Huai’s personality, Su Bei seriously suspected this was actually a threat. If he didn’t perform well, Meng Huai, upon seeing the recording, would definitely not let him off the hook.

With a sigh, Su Bei resigned himself to his fate and began to read the materials the teacher had just sent. Since he didn’t know who his first opponent would be, he had to read through the files of all their main team members.

His reading speed was always fast, and he finished the materials in a short while. After reading, Su Bei breathed a small sigh of relief in his heart. What he feared most were instant-kill abilities. After all, a tournament match was different from a real fight; he couldn’t adjust his luck for himself before getting on the stage, as that would be cheating. As long as his opponent didn’t have such an ability, there was nothing to worry about.

Today’s first match was scheduled relatively early. Su Bei, along with the other selected senior, went down with the main team members to prepare. Of course, this didn’t mean that only two substitutes could compete in this match. Contestants weren’t required to prepare in the waiting room beforehand; it was just more convenient.

“Go for it, junior! Try to win without shedding a drop of blood!” Zhang Sheng encouraged with a grin, as if he had completely forgotten that he was the one who had set Su Bei up.

However, while he might forget, Su Bei wouldn’t. He gave Zhang Sheng a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you for your encouragement and recommendation, senior. You’ll get what you deserve.”

It wasn’t convenient to do anything while the competition was still ongoing, but after it was over, he would let the other party know just how unwise it was to offend someone who could control destiny.

At 9:30 in the morning, Endless Ability Academy’s match began on time. They had already submitted the list of participants for the first round to the organizers. The host, according to the information on the list, passionately introduced the two contestants from the main stage.

This was her job: to introduce basic information about the contestants, such as their age and ability, on stage, and then to pique the audience’s interest as much as possible.

Undoubtedly, compared to the conventional third-year contestant on the other side, Su Bei received much more attention. An unwritten rule of the World Competition was that the younger the contestant, the more powerful they were, or at least, the more potential they had.

Otherwise, their schools wouldn’t have deliberately put them on stage on such an occasion. Whether it was to let them shine or to gain experience, it was enough to show that this young contestant was extraordinary.

Therefore, every time a first-year student appeared, it would spark considerable discussion. And in most cases, these first-year contestants had never disappointed the audience. In a way, they were one of the little easter eggs of the World Competition.

“Another first-year. The ability [Destiny Gear] sounds really interesting…”

“I’m looking forward to this. I wonder how he’ll perform.”

“Whoa! He’s pretty handsome!”

“Can they just ban first-years from competing? This is seriously triggering me!”

“He’s handsome and has a strong ability. God, which window did you close for him?”

Amidst the chatter of discussion, Su Bei and his opponent stood on opposite sides of the stage.

His opponent’s ability was [Insect King], which, as the name suggested, allowed him to control insects. This type of ability required a swift battle; if the opponent was allowed to drag out the time and spread insects to every corner of the arena, defeat would be inevitable.

This ability was generally countered by fire-type abilities. For other abilities, it would depend on the tactics of both sides.

However, Su Bei didn’t need to rely on tactics. His ability, like Jiang Tianming’s, also countered the vast majority of abilities.

Seeing his opponent standing brazenly across from him, unleashing swarms of insects as if competing with him in speed, a smile flashed in Su Bei’s eyes. He directly adjusted both the major and minor pointers at the same time, a two-pronged approach combined with an instant-cast skill.

In the very next second, the swarms of insects being released in an orderly fashion from his opponent’s hands suddenly fell into chaos. The entire stage buzzed loudly, filled everywhere with out-of-control flying insects. The opponent’s face turned pale. He was already low on Mental Energy from releasing a large number of insects at once, and now the sudden loss of control dealt another major blow to his mind.

Helpless, the opponent could only try to regain control of the insects. But it was useless. Instead, he exhausted his massive amount of Mental Energy and fainted on the spot.

The entire venue fell into a dead silence.

After a full fifteen seconds, the host’s slightly confused voice finally rang out: “…Endless Ability Academy… wins?”

“Wow!”

As the host announced the result of the match, the venue erupted in a unified gasp of astonishment, followed by everyone breaking into lively discussions.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t seen crushing victories before. In fact, due to the large disparity in strength between many teams yesterday, there were quite a few crushing victories, which were very satisfying to watch. But they had truly never seen such a baffling, overwhelming victory like Su Bei’s.

It felt as absurd as turning in a blank exam paper only to have the examiner give you a perfect score of 100 on the spot.

Everyone had the same question in their minds: He won? What did he do? How did he suddenly win?

As soon as he stepped off the stage, Su Bei was stopped by the students from Wilder Ability School. They stood in a line blocking his way, looking at him with unfriendly eyes filled with anger and doubt.

The person in the lead questioned him, “What did you do to Mavis? Why did his ability suddenly go out of control?”

As a long-time teammate, he knew Mavis’s ability very well. His performance just now was definitely a case of his ability going out of control. But he had seen it clearly from below the stage—Su Bei hadn’t even moved. How did he make his ability go out of control?

“Maybe he was just unlucky,” Su Bei replied nonchalantly, his expression completely unworried.

“You!” The other person was thoroughly infuriated by his attitude, but he quickly calmed down after being pulled back by his teammates. He sneered, “We’ll find out soon enough if you’re telling the truth.”

At the same time, the host’s voice rang out again: “Wilder Ability School has requested a post-match inspection. We ask the audience to please wait a moment.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the audience was once again in an uproar.

“Post-match inspection” meant using abilities to check the methods used by both parties before and after the match on the stage, including but not limited to abilities, items, and so on. To put it succinctly, Wilder Ability School suspected Su Bei of cheating.

“Oh my god! A post-match inspection already?”

“He didn’t really cheat, did he? That would be a stupid move!”

“They’re playing this big? Requesting a post-match inspection right away?”

“Endless Ability Academy wouldn’t be so foolish as to send a cheating first-year up. Looks like Wilder Ability School is going to have to withdraw.”

“Yay! I love drama!”

The audience was abuzz with discussion, and even those in the backstage area could faintly hear the sounds of their loud opinions.

The students from Wilder Ability School exchanged glances, their eyes flickering. Right after the match ended, they and their teacher strongly suspected that Su Bei had used an ability item. So after a brief discussion, the supervising teacher immediately went to the organizers to request a post-match inspection.

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I’ve commissioned some Su Bei emojis. Interested little darlings can private message me for the original images.