Chapter 291

He was right. The second match on the second day was between Endless Ability Academy and Skydome Ability Academy. Their country was already considered quite lucky; their two teams didn’t clash until the final day. Some unlucky countries had their teams face each other in the fourth round, eliminating their own people. It was a helpless situation.

For this match against Huangfu Mingzhe, Si Zhaohua had secured the spot to compete. Unsurprisingly, after a series of brilliant battles, Si Zhaohua emerged victorious.

Su Bei was in no mood to enjoy the match that had the audience roaring with applause. He had something weighing on his mind. Why hasn’t the comic updated yet? Don’t tell me it’s waiting for something to happen to Mu Yunfan and the others?

But when on earth will something happen to them?

Speak of the devil. At noon, when Su Bei arrived at the hotel restaurant, he immediately saw something interesting. He had developed a habit of activating his ability for a quick look wherever he went. Thus, the first thing he saw was the abnormal Destiny Compass above Mu Yunfan and the others.

The major pointers for all of them were aimed at the “sickness” point, and their minor pointers were also heavily skewed to the right.

“What were you all doing together just now?” After observing his surroundings, Su Bei asked bluntly.

He had given a cursory glance earlier. The senior students were sitting around a circular table, eating. The hotel provided a buffet, and each person had a plate with a variety of dishes. Su Bei couldn’t see any single dish they all had in common. That’s why he asked.

The question was baffling. The group exchanged puzzled glances before Feng Manman was the first to answer, “What do you mean? We just came in and chose our food. We didn’t do anything special.”

No special actions. The act of choosing food couldn’t possibly cause the “sickness” destiny that appeared above all their heads simultaneously. The issue had to be with the food itself.

But logically, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with the food. After all, everyone was eating it. Saint Dante Ability Academy wouldn’t be so indiscriminate as to make everyone sick.

Their methods could only affect Mu Yunfan’s group. If too many contestants were affected, the second match would likely be postponed, and their scheme would backfire.

It was known that Saint Dante Ability Academy wanted to target Endless Ability Academy, but a little thought made it clear they wouldn’t use abilities. Using an ability to harm people in a place teeming with powerful Ability users was like showing off one’s meager skills before an expert.

Only the simplest methods had a chance of deceiving everyone. After all, the Ability World had always looked down on the methods of ordinary people.

But that was indeed the reality. An ordinary person’s methods were nothing more than poisoning. Yet, what kind of poison could withstand the power of a healing-type ability? A single skill could restore the body to its original state in an instant.

There was no way the people from Saint Dante Ability Academy didn’t know this, so their method had to be something unexpected.

After some thought, Su Bei asked, “Did you notice anything wrong when you were eating?”

This was the second bizarre question he had asked. Mu Yunfan and the others were no fools, and their expressions gradually turned serious. Feng Manman frowned and asked, “Did you discover something?”

Mu Yunfan was more direct, his usual flippant demeanor gone for once. As the captain, he was responsible for every team member. “I heard you can see other people’s destinies.”

With things laid bare, Su Bei had nothing left to hide. What was meant to happen had already happened; destiny wouldn’t change just because they knew about it. “There’s something wrong with all of your bodies.”

Jiang Tianming and the others behind Su Bei widened their eyes upon hearing this. Endless Ability Academy had sent a total of fifteen contestants this time. Besides the six of them, all the others were here.

If something happened to all of them, what about tomorrow’s match? Were the six of them going to be forced into a situation they weren’t prepared for?

“Manman, check everyone. I’ll go find Teacher Li.” Mu Yunfan didn’t question Su Bei’s words. He immediately stood up, gave instructions, and went to the side to make a call.

As the only healing-type Ability user present, Feng Manman immediately began using her ability to check everyone. As her expression grew increasingly grave, everyone knew that Su Bei was right. There was indeed something wrong with their bodies.

“My head…” Before Feng Manman could say anything, the youngest, Luo Li, was the first to show a reaction to the poison. She clutched her head, her small face scrunched up in pain.

Feng Manman hurried over and used her healing ability on her. “Does it still hurt?”

“It hurts.” Luo Li nodded, her face pale. Then, her hand moved from her head to her stomach. “My stomach is starting to hurt too!”

She felt discomfort all over her body. Waves of dizziness washed over her brain, accompanied by stomach cramps. It felt like getting her period, but it was far more painful.

Finally, her vision went black, and Luo Li fainted.

Feng Manman, who was right beside her, caught her in time. She scooped Luo Li up in a princess carry and said decisively, “Quick, to the infirmary!”

“You guys go. I’ll stay here and watch the scene,” Mu Yunfan said sternly. Someone had to stay behind and report what happened to the organizers. Otherwise, if the poisoner took the opportunity to destroy the evidence while they were gone, it would be difficult to find them later.

Until Teacher Li arrived, it was best for him to remain here.

However, he had forgotten about his other teammates. Jiang Tianming saw that his face didn’t look too good either and spoke up decisively, “Captain… Senior Mu, you should go to the infirmary with them. We’ll watch over things here.”

Mu Yunfan also felt something was wrong with his body. He felt at ease leaving things to the juniors from his own academy. He stopped trying to be strong, nodded, and headed towards the infirmary with the others.

However, whatever poison they had ingested acted quickly. They hadn’t even made it halfway when several of them were forced to squat down, clutching their heads and stomachs in pain.

Fortunately, Su Bei and the others were still nearby. They organized themselves and carried the senior students to the infirmary in batches.

Soon, Teacher Li arrived with the event organizers. As soon as she entered the infirmary, Teacher Li asked anxiously, “What’s the situation? Is there a cure?”

“I’m very sorry, we haven’t found the cause of their unconsciousness yet, but we can preliminarily determine it’s poisoning,” a white-bearded old man stepped forward and said. He was the chief physician here. At full power, his ability could resurrect the dying, but he clearly didn’t have many options when it came to poison.

Before Teacher Li could say anything, the chief physician continued, “Because it’s poison, to ensure they recover completely, it’s best if we first find the cause of the poisoning rather than treating them directly. Of course, if you want them to wake up immediately, I can use my ability, but if the toxins aren’t cleared first, there might be lingering side effects.”

If it were a common illness, direct treatment would be fine. But toxins were different, especially those in the Ability World. Even if they looked fine on the outside, the poison might have already seeped deep into their bones.

He left the choice to Teacher Li: find the cause of the poisoning and let them wake up completely healthy, or, for the sake of the upcoming match, disregard the students’ well-being and wake them up immediately.

“…”

Teacher Li fell silent for a second, then said in a firm tone, “Treat them normally. I want them to wake up completely unharmed.”

Although they had a good chance of winning the championship this time, Endless Ability Academy wasn’t some weak school. They were always top contenders; there was no need to rush it this one time.

Besides, even if this were their first chance to win the championship, Teacher Li would never gamble with her students’ futures. These students were meant to fight Nightmare Beasts, not just for a single competition or the school’s honor. She was not only responsible for the academy but also for her students’ futures.

After settling the students’ treatment, Teacher Li turned to the organizers, who were already wiping sweat from their brows. “I think the Sessbian government owes us an explanation. Our students came to the hotel you established for the competition to have a meal, and they ended up poisoned and unconscious, possibly unable to participate in the upcoming matches. The losses our students have suffered, the losses of Endless Ability Academy, the losses of our nation—I will need an explanation for all of it.”

“Of course, of course. We will definitely find the culprit and give you an explanation.” The person in charge wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face grim. “We’ve already urgently requested a Detective. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

The reason he wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow was because this particular Detective was very busy. Even if the government paid a high price to expedite his arrival, he still had to finish his current cases first.

Teacher Li nodded matter-of-factly, showing no signs of pleasure, as if she merely considered it their duty. This attitude made the person in charge smile bitterly, knowing this wouldn’t be easy to resolve.

Sure enough, she immediately followed up, “Then what about the competition? All of our academy’s main team members are unconscious. What happens now?”

Regarding this issue, the person in charge pondered for a moment. “We will postpone the second round of the World Competition by one day. Other matters will require further discussion before a decision can be made.”

“Then you shouldn’t mind me joining you for that discussion, should you?” Teacher Li said with a smile, but the threat in her tone was unmistakable. It was clear that if they refused, she would immediately make this matter public and rally the Ability Government of her country to pressure Sessbia.

The person in charge wiped his sweat and nodded repeatedly. “That’s only right. Shall we go now?”

He needed to report this matter up the chain immediately. At first, he only knew some contestants had a problem and didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until he heard the chief physician say they were poisoned that he realized the severity of the situation.

Getting sick could be the contestants’ own issue, but poisoning was definitely a failure on the part of the organizers. Especially since the victims were the top contenders for the championship this year. He didn’t need to think hard to guess what was going on.

The person in charge was miserable. Such incidents were rare in past competitions. Usually, any foul play happened in the arena. Who would have thought they would stoop to acting outside the ring?

If it happened in the arena, one could always use the excuse that accidents happen in combat. But for something done outside the ring, there were no excuses. This was the Ability World; most conspiracies and schemes could be easily uncovered.

The person in charge couldn’t figure out why someone would be so suicidal, risking their academy’s reputation to poison contestants. If everyone had been poisoned, he might have thought it was the work of Nightmare Beasts. But with only these few targeted, it was clearly a premeditated act of malice.

What kind of deep-seated hatred is this with Endless Ability Academy?

Teacher Li didn’t leave immediately. Instead, she said to Si Zhaohua and the others, “Please watch over them for a while. Patients need someone familiar by their side.”

Then she looked at Su Bei. “You saw their fate ahead of time?”

Seeing Su Bei nod, she said immediately, “Then you come with us as well. Tell us what you saw.”

They went to a conference room together. The person in charge had already notified the other relevant personnel, who were seated upright at the table, waiting for their arrival.

“Su Bei, you go first.” Teacher Li, who had naturally taken the main seat, seemed to have completely forgotten she was the guest, seizing the initiative from the start.

Su Bei certainly wouldn’t hold his teacher back. He briefly recounted what he had seen. Upon hearing that Mu Yunfan and the others weren’t going to die and only had a physical problem, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as no one died, it was manageable. A death would be a major incident.

Ability users were already rare, and talented ones were one in ten thousand. If a group of them died during a World Competition they were hosting, forget about holding future events, their own country’s Ability users would be ostracized by others.

Upon learning this outcome, Teacher Li also secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but her expression remained impassive. Instead, she sneered, “Heh, do you all think that just because they won’t die, everything is fine? If they don’t fully recover before the second round begins, how will our school’s losses be calculated? How will the students’ losses be calculated? How will the nation’s losses be calculated?”

It was that fatal triple question again. The few people present felt a massive headache coming on. One of them couldn’t help but say, “Don’t you have substitutes? Isn’t the purpose of substitutes for situations like this…”

Before he could finish, Teacher Li’s stern gaze silenced him. The Dean of Students’ reputation was well-earned; even though they weren’t from the same country or school, he was still intimidated.

Without Teacher Li having to say it, the others knew how absurd his words were. Su Bei couldn’t be bothered to listen to their bickering. Before they could come to a conclusion, he raised his hand and said, “Teacher, can I leave now?”

“Yes, you may go.” When facing him, Teacher Li’s expression softened slightly, and she let Su Bei leave.

As soon as he returned to the infirmary, Su Bei was surrounded by people asking about the situation in the conference room. He gave a brief summary, then unceremoniously pushed through the crowd to check the Destiny Compasses of Mu Yunfan and the others.

There was no change from before.

The major pointer was often slow to change. Since there was still no change by now, it was likely that Mu Yunfan and the others wouldn’t wake up in the next two days.

Sessbia could postpone the match for them for a day, but they couldn’t delay it for too long. For such a large-scale event, every extra day meant a huge financial loss. Moreover, it wasn’t just delaying Sessbia, but also the time of all the other contestants.

This incident had already offended one country. They couldn’t possibly offend all the other countries just to appease one.

So, if nothing unexpected happened, it was a foregone conclusion that Jiang Tianming and the others would have to compete. This kind of team competition usually had five slots. Right now, there were six conscious contestants from Endless Ability Academy. Su Bei pondered, should I participate?

From the information he had gathered before, it wouldn’t be safe either inside or outside the competition, so it didn’t really matter to him where he was. Comparatively, Su Bei was more willing to stick with the main characters; at least there was some guarantee of safety. But if he competed, who would be left out?

It didn’t take long for Teacher Li to return. She came back carrying several takeout boxes. Knowing they hadn’t had a chance to eat because of the incident, she had specially ordered food for them.

“Thank you, Teacher!” The group was overjoyed. They had completely forgotten about eating, but now, smelling the aroma of the food, their stomachs started to rumble.

While they ate, Teacher Li briefly explained the outcome of the matter. “First, I must apologize to you all. Originally, you wouldn’t have needed to compete in the second round. But you know the current situation. If Yunfan and the others still can’t wake up by tomorrow, then… five out of the six of you will have to compete.”

“It’s alright, Teacher,” Jiang Tianming replied considerately. “We substitutes were set up for emergencies like this. Now is indeed the time for us to step up.”

In fact, although they weren’t overly confident in themselves, everyone present, except for Su Bei, wanted to compete. To be able to officially participate in the second round was only exciting for them; there was absolutely no fear before the battle.

However, the matter of choosing five out of six inevitably sparked some calculation in their hearts. No one wanted to be the one who wasn’t chosen. Many of them glanced at Su Bei, wondering what he was thinking.

If Su Bei was unwilling to participate, then there was nothing to argue about. But if Su Bei was willing, he would undoubtedly secure a spot. In that case, who would be excluded?

Teacher Li didn’t immediately have them choose the five participants. She smiled at Jiang Tianming and continued, “At the same time, I’ve secured a benefit for you. If Yunfan and the others haven’t woken up by eight o’clock tomorrow evening, you’ll be able to know the specific content of the second round in advance.”

Normally, the rules of the competition would only be announced on the day of the match, after the contestants from each academy had entered the arena. This was a relatively fair method that prevented them from receiving instructions from their supervising teachers.

But now that this had happened, with the entire main team wiped out and only first-years available to compete, it was definitely unfair to Endless Ability Academy. So, they had to seek balance in other ways.

After a pause to give them time to react, she brought up another matter. “The culprit will be investigated by the Detective tomorrow, so you don’t need to worry about it. But it’s obvious there are only a few possibilities. The ones specifically targeting our academy are naturally our rivals who stand to gain. So tomorrow, and… if you participate in the next round, try to stay as far away from them as possible.”

She was referring to the other top contenders besides Endless Ability Academy, such as the Saint Dante Ability Academy they had just defeated yesterday.

That academy had never had a good reputation, especially since they had just been crushed by Endless Ability Academy, another top contender, yesterday. Teacher Li strongly suspected they were behind this; the motive was more than sufficient.

She just hoped they could find evidence when the Detective arrived, preferably resulting in the culprit being disqualified from the competition.

“Regarding you all, that’s all I have to say. Get a good night’s sleep today. Rest and recuperate. The current situation…” Unable to hold back, Teacher Li sighed and said no more.

Nothing was set in stone yet, so she didn’t want to discuss the ‘five out of six’ issue right now.

After Teacher Li left, the group exchanged glances. After a moment of silence, Wu Mingbai spoke up with a smile, “Su Bei, are you going to be so ‘selfless’ again this time?”

Su Bei’s previous reason for not competing was that he was being selfless and wanted to give others more opportunities. So Wu Mingbai’s question was asking if he planned to compete this time.

“Are you sure you want me to be selfless?” Su Bei asked nonchalantly, fiddling with a gear in his hand.

He was studying the Targeting Gear. Although he had possessed it for some time, Su Bei rarely used it. Mainly because a single gear had an inconsistent effect and, bafflingly, a cooldown.

So he was researching a way to remove the cooldown. If he could continuously shoot out several Targeting Gears, then based on probability, he might be able to find the enemy’s weak point one hundred percent of the time.

Hearing his words, Wu Mingbai instinctively wanted to retort but suddenly realized something. He decisively raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

The current situation was that as first-year students, they were inferior to the third-year prodigies in both combat experience and physical prowess.

Under these circumstances, if they wanted to win, they couldn’t afford to give up any combat power. And among the six of them, Su Bei’s overall combat strength was undoubtedly the highest. If they wanted to win, Su Bei had to be on the team.

He had forgotten that point just now, only thinking that if Su Bei didn’t participate, the others wouldn’t have to struggle with the decision. Now, with Su Bei’s reminder, Wu Mingbai realized the problem. To win the match, he couldn’t let Su Bei sit this one out. It wouldn’t matter if he himself didn’t play, but Su Bei had to.

The others also just realized it and were rendered speechless. They had thought the same as Wu Mingbai. It was rare for Su Bei to be willing to participate in this competition; they couldn’t let him change his mind.

“Let’s not discuss this for now. With so many doctors here, Senior Mu and the others might still wake up,” Jiang Tianming stopped the conversation, changing the subject.

He knew why Teacher Li hadn’t brought up the selection issue earlier—she was afraid it would create a rift between them. There was still a whole day tomorrow; there was no need to be so hasty. If they truly developed a rift over this, it would be a loss for both the academy and themselves.

But honestly, Jiang Tianming felt they would have to discuss this issue eventually. It was almost impossible for Mu Yunfan and the others to wake up before the match began. Just like Teacher Li, he also believed this was a conspiracy targeting Endless Ability Academy, the top contender.

Since the hidden enemy’s goal was to prevent them from competing, they naturally wouldn’t give them a chance to wake up early. Having taken such a huge risk, they would surely ensure the effect was foolproof.