Chapter 288:

The other Nightmare Beasts were speechless. They knew it was true, but hearing it stated so bluntly was a blow to their pride. They all possessed intelligence, so why had their plan failed this time?

The Mermaid Nightmare Beast couldn’t help but sigh, though it had no intention of refuting the point. “You’re right. Let’s just keep looking for the humans’ defensive line. If we can break through their hidden forces, our plan will proceed more smoothly.”

From their words, Su Bei could clearly tell that these Nightmare Beasts had a plan. A plan that could bypass Sessbia’s defenses and strike right at the heart of things, putting the contestants in danger.

But what kind of plan could ignore their defenses? The people of Sessbia weren’t fools. Having gone to the trouble of hosting the World Competition, and knowing that Nightmare Beasts always caused trouble during the event each year, it was impossible that they hadn’t made ample preparations.

He continued to wait patiently. After a period of silence, the Brain Nightmare Beast finally spoke again. “I’ve checked. There are no problems. You just need to kill that Jilam.”

Hearing an unfamiliar name, Su Bei raised an eyebrow. Who was this Jilam? It sounded like he was crucial to the Nightmare Beasts’ plan. If he could figure out this person’s identity, he might be able to deduce parts of their plan.

“Something feels… wrong.” Suddenly, from a corner of the tent, a Nightmare Beast made a sound that was difficult for a human to produce. At first listen, it sounded like it came from heaven, and even with Su Bei’s Advanced Mental Energy, he felt dazed for a moment.

He whipped his head around. Sure enough, in that corner was a… Nightmare Beast in the image of a black angel.

However, it wasn’t the kind of humanoid angel with two pairs of wings that people usually imagined. Instead, it was a bizarre angel with a massive eye in the center, surrounded by a multitude of intersecting rings.

Even with the pure white appearance described in the Bible, this type of angel would be incredibly unsettling at first glance, let alone one that was currently pure black. The moment he saw it, an evil, bizarre feeling washed over him, and Su Bei couldn’t help but shudder.

Fortunately, he had already concealed himself with his mental energy, so his gaze was not detected. The Angel Nightmare Beast continued to speak in its ethereal voice, “I can feel the success rate dropping.”

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t sense the success rate for this plan?” the Mermaid Nightmare Beast asked, puzzled. The humans weren’t pushovers; knowing their side had an Angel Nightmare Beast, they had developed countermeasures long ago.

Every time something major happened, the Angel Nightmare Beast was rendered useless. Its most valuable ability to the Nightmare Beasts was detecting the success rate of an event. When it couldn’t detect it, it was naturally of little use.

Facing the doubt, the Angel Nightmare Beast replied calmly, “I cannot sense the success rate, but I can sense its fluctuations. From just a moment ago, the success rate has been continuously dropping.”

Hearing this, Su Bei’s heart skipped a beat. Others might not know, but how could he not understand what was happening? The drop in the success rate was definitely related to him eavesdropping here.

But he actually found it a bit strange. Logically, the success rate for the Nightmare Beasts’ mission should be zero. After all, the protagonist team was here; there was no way they could succeed. If so, how could it “drop”? Could a success rate have a score?

“You’ve misunderstood.” The voice of the ‘Manga Consciousness’ suddenly rang out, feeling somewhat nostalgic. Although he often heard notifications about the comic’s updates, this was very different from a normal conversation.

“Long time no see,” Su Bei greeted simply before getting straight to the point in his mind, “What do you mean?”

‘Manga Consciousness’ did its best to explain: “It means that from the macro perspective of the comic, Jiang Tianming and the others are indeed guaranteed to win. But besides you, no other character in the comic can perceive this perspective. Therefore, the success rate that Nightmare Beast is talking about is calculated with this point ignored.”

It sounded a bit hard to understand, but thankfully, Su Bei got it. He had a sudden realization and felt it was very reasonable. If the Angel Nightmare Beast could calculate the success rate of Jiang Tianming’s missions every time, it would sooner or later discover that their success rate was always 100%, and it would inevitably realize something was wrong.

And a long time ago, ‘Manga Consciousness’ had said that characters in the comic could never become aware of the comic’s existence, and even he couldn’t reveal this fact. Naturally, it wouldn’t leave any such loopholes in the comic.

“Then what was the success rate that Nightmare Beast could have calculated for this mission?” Su Bei asked curiously. Although the humans’ interference prevented it from getting a reading, that didn’t stop him from being interested.

There was nothing to hide about this question. Since Su Bei knew the final outcome was failure anyway, ‘Manga Consciousness’ didn’t mind answering him. “Initially, it could sense it was 80%. Now, it should only be 40%.”

Hearing this, Su Bei was a little surprised. “Can my eavesdropping cause such a big change?”

It had gone directly from being on the verge of success to being almost impossible. He hadn’t known his actions could have such a huge impact.

“Of course. Once you reveal this information, the competition organizers will naturally take countermeasures,” ‘Manga Consciousness’ said matter-of-factly. “It’s just that the Nightmare Beast doesn’t know that even if you do reveal it, the plot will still proceed as planned, just with a few minor interludes.”

The author had already designed the plot. Even if Su Bei exposed the Nightmare Beasts’ conspiracy ahead of time, the author would use various methods to ensure the plot unfolded smoothly. Otherwise, wouldn’t his design have been for nothing?

Soon, Su Bei was in no mood to continue this line of thought. While he was chatting with ‘Manga Consciousness’, the Nightmare Beasts had already pieced together part of the truth behind the dropping success rate.

The cause of the Nightmare Beast’s sudden death outside was still unknown, and now the Angel Nightmare Beast had detected an anomaly. The Brain Nightmare Beast lived up to its appearance, immediately deducing a possibility. Though phrased as a question, it was delivered with a tone of certainty. “Could a human have snuck in?”

“That’s actually possible!” Hearing this, the Mermaid Nightmare Beast’s expression immediately turned grim. “The death of that Nightmare Beast outside was suspicious. Thinking about it now, it might have been a little trick by the humans to infiltrate this place.”

Evidently, the other Nightmare Beasts agreed with this speculation. Everyone fell silent, vigilantly observing their surroundings. Su Bei could feel waves of mental energy sweeping through the tent.

Unfortunately for them, Su Bei was also a possessor of Advanced Mental Energy and had mastered methods of concealing himself. Even though they swept their mental energy through the area again and again, they couldn’t find a trace of him.

“How can there be nothing?” The Brain Nightmare Beast’s voice was finally tinged with some confusion. It didn’t understand how its deduction could be wrong.

But its voice soon became firm again. “They must have used some kind of item to hide themselves. I’m certain this human is right here in our camp.”

As the most intelligent being present, the other Nightmare Beasts trusted the Brain Nightmare Beast’s judgment completely. The Screen Nightmare Beast immediately thought of a good idea. It said to the Angel Nightmare Beast, “Hey, go check what the probability of us finding this person is.”

This was indeed a good method. It could both verify if the Brain Nightmare Beast was right and help them decide whether to continue searching.

However, the Angel Nightmare Beast swayed its body. “No, the most important thing right now is to seal off the space and prevent this human from escaping.”

After all, although the information they had just revealed wasn’t much, the part about Jilam could potentially allow the human side to find a countermeasure. Besides, even without that, letting a human who knew about their conspiracy escape was not a good thing for the Nightmare Beasts.

Although the Sessbian government, as well as the other Ability users participating in the competition, likely knew they would take this opportunity to cause trouble, guessing and confirming that they had already gathered here were two different things. They didn’t want to expose the current situation of the Nightmare Beast World.

“You’re right. I’ll seal off this entire area immediately.” The Mermaid Nightmare Beast shot to its feet. It had just walked out of the tent when it turned around and came back. “Maybe you should check first. What if there’s no human here at all, or they’ve already left?”

It had a point. The massive eye in the center of the Angel Nightmare Beast closed, and its entire body began to emit a black glow.

A moment later, the Angel Nightmare Beast opened its eye again and gave its answer. “A 50% chance. The person is still here. It seems they can’t leave immediately. Seal the space, quickly!”

It was only upon hearing this last sentence that Su Bei finally smiled. He had been waiting for this moment, for these Nightmare Beasts to believe he was still here, to prevent them from changing their plans midway and rendering his risky trip useless.

Now that the Nightmare Beasts had reached their conclusion, there was no need for him to stay. The ‘Nightmare World Gate’ had a long cooldown, but it wasn’t the only way for him to return to the real world.

Su Bei took out the teleportation item Lei Ze’en had given him before. This item could teleport him directly from the Nightmare Beast World back to the academy, which was perfect for the current situation.

The slip of paper was torn. Su Bei felt something sucking him in, and in an instant, he appeared on the grounds of Endless Ability Academy.

Since it was summer vacation, the grounds were empty. This saved him the trouble of explaining to others why he had suddenly appeared here. This was within Su Bei’s expectations; if he hadn’t known the academy grounds would be mostly empty, he wouldn’t have used this method to return.

Otherwise, with a crowd of people on the grounds, his appearance would have made him the center of attention. Even if he wasn’t socially anxious, he would become so in that situation.

However, while Su Bei was focused on not being discovered upon his arrival, he forgot that the very act of using the item provided by Lei Ze’en would be detected by the teacher.

Before he even reached the school gate, Su Bei’s phone buzzed with a notification. He opened it to see a message from Lei Ze’en: “Aren’t you participating in the World Competition? What are you doing back at the academy? Stay where you are, I’m coming to find you now!”

He’d forgotten about that. Su Bei’s mouth twitched. He turned and walked towards his classroom. Their classroom wasn’t locked; he could just push the door open. Once inside, he sent his location to Lei Ze’en and sat down patiently to wait.

He didn’t have to wait long. Lei Ze’en pushed the door open and entered, with Meng Huai following behind him.

The moment the two saw Su Bei sitting obediently in the classroom, they subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, then walked in with complex expressions.

Lei Ze’en sat in the seat next to Su Bei, while Meng Huai spun a chair around to sit in front of him, then asked leisurely, “Alright, spill it. Why did you suddenly come back?”

He definitely couldn’t tell the truth. He couldn’t reveal the Nightmare Beasts’ plan before the event had even started. The author would surely make the event unfold smoothly, so if he revealed the plan first, all three of them would likely be in danger. Only if all three of them were incapacitated could it be ensured that no one would leak the Nightmare Beasts’ plan.

It wasn’t that Su Bei was particularly worried about his teachers’ safety, but he hated meaningless sacrifices. Telling the truth wouldn’t change anything and would also cause him to fall into a coma, preventing him from participating in the plot. That would be a huge loss.

So, while waiting, Su Bei had already thought of an explanation. He replied directly, “I left something at school. Since I don’t have to compete for the next few days, I came back to get it.”

“What is it?” Meng Huai didn’t believe his explanation.

Su Bei hadn’t expected them to believe him just based on his word. He took a book out of his Storage Ring. “Here. This is the review material I usually read. You two should have seen it before.”

In reality, this was the notebook from the ‘Destiny’ organization. With the help of Manga Consciousness, its exterior looked like an ordinary math workbook. Anyone in the comic world who saw it would find nothing amiss.

The two teachers had indeed often seen him reading this book during breaks. Meng Huai had even asked about it before and learned that Su Bei planned to attend a regular school after graduating from the Ability Academy. Thus, they had a strong impression of the book.

“Did you have to get it right now? And while the item I gave you isn’t extremely precious, it’s still a decent life-saving tool. You used it for something like this?” Lei Ze’en asked suspiciously.

It wasn’t that he was narcissistic, but as a formation master renowned throughout the world, his teleportation arrays were highly sought after. As long as it was used in time, one could teleport out of any dangerous situation.

As far as he knew, Su Bei wasn’t someone who couldn’t recognize valuable things. Since Su Bei said he didn’t have to compete for the next two days, he could have easily taken a plane back. Why did he have to use the item?

Besides, did he really have to cram his studies in these few days? The World Competition would last less than two weeks at most. Couldn’t he study after it was over?

“Because there’s an early entrance exam for a school soon, and I want to try it out.” Su Bei opened his phone and pulled up a page he had searched for earlier. It was the admissions information for a school, stating that passing an exam during the summer vacation could grant admission.

“You…” Lei Ze’en was at a loss for words. Although he had long known that Su Bei intended to get his ability license and then attend a regular school to earn a degree needed in ordinary society, he was still surprised that Su Bei was already preparing for it so early.

Just how little sense of belonging did he have for the Ability World to be planning so far ahead? But honestly, none of them believed Su Bei would actually leave the Ability World after graduation. That would truly be a terrible waste of talent.

While they were talking, Meng Huai had specifically gone to check the classroom’s surveillance footage. He found that things were just as Su Bei had said: after arriving in the classroom, he first took the notebook from his desk, put it into his Storage Ring, and then sat in his chair waiting for them.

The two exchanged a look, their eyes filled with doubt. Could it be that Su Bei’s sudden return was really not a problem?

“Wait, I’ll contact Teacher Li.” Meng Huai decisively called Teacher Li. He needed to confirm that Su Bei really didn’t have any matches during this period.

And Su Bei indeed hadn’t lied about this. A short while later, Meng Huai hung up the phone. “Teacher Li said you were planning to take a trip for the next few days?”

“Doesn’t traveling back to my home country count as a trip?” Su Bei shrugged, looking completely justified.

Unable to find any flaws in his story, Meng Huai had no choice but to give up. “Since you’ve got your book, hurry back. Don’t let me see you in the country again before the competition is over.”

With that, he stood up. “Let’s go. We’ll take you to the airport.”

It was already past nine in the evening when he returned to Sessbia. His phone had been off on the plane. As soon as he turned it back on after landing, Su Bei saw several new messages, all from Jiang Tianming and the others.

[Streetlight Modification Plan: Su Bei, you went on a trip?]

[Understand or Not: Your freedom is breathtaking.]

[The Grim Reaper Has Arrived: Where’d you go?]

[Flaming Phoenix Tree: Is this why you didn’t want to compete? Awesome!]

[Si: …]

Su Bei sent a group reply, telling them he was back. Then, he logged onto the competition’s official website to search for Jilam’s personal information.

As one of the main people in charge of the competition, a quick search brought up Jilam’s profile. He was a master of illusion, with an ability similar to Li Shu’s, called [True Illusion].

Based on this person’s ability, the second stage of the World Competition would definitely involve illusions. Su Bei guessed it would be something like their first semester’s final exam, fighting within an illusory environment.

So what did the Nightmare Beasts want with Jilam? Killing an illusion-type Ability user would usually just cause the illusion to naturally disappear, which wouldn’t cause any harm to the contestants. Therefore, the Nightmare Beasts’ goal couldn’t be to kill Jilam; it had to be to control him.

Control Jilam and then create danger within the illusion? For the time being, Su Bei could only think of this possibility. If that was all, then he didn’t have to worry. Advanced Mental Energy was the ultimate counter to all illusion-type abilities. Even if Jilam also had Advanced Mental Energy, with Su Bei prepared in advance, it would be extremely difficult to deceive him.

He just didn’t know where exactly the Nightmare Beasts planned to create the danger. It was a shame they had reacted so quickly and immediately thought to seal the space. If he wasn’t afraid of not being able to return, Su Bei could have gathered more intelligence over there.

Regarding the unknown danger, he preferred it if they designed it to target each Ability user individually, rather than the kind that could easily drag everyone else down with them. For Su Bei, self-preservation was always the top priority.

Speaking of which, now that he knew the Nightmare Beasts were planning to cause trouble during the second stage of the competition, it meant that Mu Yunfan and the others would run into trouble by the day after tomorrow at the latest. Only if something happened to them would the protagonist team have a chance to participate in the second stage.

What a miserable group of people. This was the bad luck that came with being supporting characters for the protagonist team—they were magnets for disaster at any moment.

After learning that Su Bei was back at the hotel, Jiang Tianming and the others gathered in his and Si Zhaohua’s room.

“So what exactly were you doing all day?” Qi Huang asked, confused. “If you were on a trip, you should have come back after the individual matches were over. There was still a whole day left, yet you came back today?”

Su Bei felt helpless too. He had originally planned to stay in the Nightmare Beast World for two days and leave just as they were about to start their ‘good deeds’.

Who knew there would be an Angel Nightmare Beast with such a bizarre ability, one that could check success rates and use them to deduce that someone had intruded into the tent, leading them to search for his hiding place.

“I actually went back to school to get something.” Su Bei repeated the excuse he had given his teachers, once again receiving a barrage of complicated looks.

Wu Mingbai’s mouth twitched. “You’re in way too much of a hurry.”

“It has the aesthetic of someone eager to become a 996 corporate slave,” Lan Subing said sincerely. “You should consider my family’s company after graduation.”

Even without counting his powerful ability, Su Bei’s grades were good enough. If he continued to study at his current pace, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to get into her family’s company. So, Lan Subing very decisively tried to recruit him for her company in advance.

And Su Bei was just as decisive in shaking his head. “Don’t even think about it. I have no plans to be a corporate slave.”

Lan Subing showed a disappointed expression, but no one sympathized with her. Even Jiang Tianming and Wu Mingbai, who were closest to her, averted their gazes. They were also quite afraid of Lan Subing’s capitalist mode, fearing they would be snatched up for a 996 job at some point.

“So which school are you planning to apply for?” Si Zhaohua asked curiously from his bed. “I’m also planning to attend a regular school after graduating from Endless Ability Academy. If your choice is suitable, we might be classmates for a few more years.”

The Si family didn’t strictly require its members to attend regular high schools or universities, but they weren’t against it either. Their family business was extensive and inevitably involved dealing with ordinary people. As the young master of the family, it was good for Si Zhaohua to have more contact with the ordinary world.

“Us too,” Jiang Tianming said, speaking for the three of them. “Although the resources in the Ability World are enough for us to make a living, we still have to go to school. I wouldn’t feel at ease without a university diploma.”

As former ordinary people, their obsession with going to university was much stronger than that of people from the Ability World.

Qi Huang, who was born into the Ability World, didn’t have much of an obsession with it. However, seeing that several of her companions had this idea, she couldn’t help but ponder, “I guess it’s fine. No matter where I go, I’ll always be among the best!”

Facing their curious gazes, Su Bei said helplessly, “The one I found isn’t particularly good; I just applied to have a backup plan. As for the high school I really want to go to, I haven’t decided yet. As long as the teaching staff isn’t too bad, getting into a good university shouldn’t be difficult for me.”

He didn’t want to lead others astray. The school he mentioned was one he had found on the spot purely for the sake of an excuse. He didn’t know the specifics of its situation and certainly couldn’t recommend it to others. That would be irresponsible.

Of course, Si Zhaohua didn’t think he was lying because he didn’t want to attend the same high school as them, so he nodded. “Then when you—and the rest of you—have a school in mind, don’t forget to let us know.”