Chapter 295

If Su Bei’s guess was correct, then the others were in danger. The author of ‘King of Abilities’ wasn’t the type to be concerned about this being a shonen manga and prevent deaths from occurring in the story. In fact, starting from the first part, many incidents were triggered by a death. And deaths were a frequent occurrence during the events themselves.

But the consequences would be more severe this time. Killing a fellow classmate could leave psychological scars. However, Su Bei didn’t think the author would be merciful; those destined to die would definitely die.

Still, there probably wouldn’t be any issues in the early stages. Just as he had analyzed before, there was no need to kill too many people early on. Their goal was to complete missions and eliminate Nightmare Beasts. The next thing to watch for was when the protagonist group would discover the truth. The sooner they found out, the fewer people would die.

However, Su Bei was very curious about how they would discover the truth. He had only noticed it because of his Advanced Mental Energy, but Jiang Tianming and the others didn’t have that. Nor was there an ability user like Li Shu on their team. Trying to see through a master illusionist’s illusion was as difficult as reaching for the sky.

Stepping out of the dark corner, Su Bei planned to return to the haunted house. His original idea was to mess around so much that others wouldn’t bother killing him. Although the chances of this working were average, and powerful schools might not want to “fatten up a pig,” since their goal was to sweep the competition.

But the advantage was that he could play around without restraint. It wouldn’t matter even if he was eliminated. After all, there was danger both inside and outside the competition. No matter what happened, he could find a reason to justify his actions.

Previously, Su Bei had worried that getting eliminated too early would be OOC, but he had already provided enough information at the start. Coupled with the threats from both within and without, even if he left early, it probably wouldn’t cause much of a stir among the readers.

But now, Su Bei couldn’t be careless about his elimination. If the price of elimination was death, then he could only stay here—either become the sole victor or find a way to forcibly break through the illusion.

Given that the protagonist group was also in the illusion, he could naturally only take the second path. But how to break Jilam’s illusion was also a difficult problem. In any case, even with his Advanced Mental Energy, Su Bei couldn’t do it.

And if the Nightmare Beasts weren’t stupid, they would have more or less prepared some countermeasures. Although they certainly wouldn’t succeed, they could still cause considerable trouble for the protagonist group.

Naturally, Su Bei couldn’t run around recklessly at a time like this. It was already difficult to run around in an illusion, not to mention he knew very well that he was a thorn in the Nightmare Beasts’ side. They must have wanted to kill him for a long time.

They didn’t have a chance outside, but now that they were in the illusion, he was like a fish on the chopping block. The Nightmare Beasts certainly wouldn’t show any mercy.

Compared to other open-air places, the haunted house was relatively safer. And as the starting point for the protagonist group, they should have cleared out most of the Nightmare Beasts inside. He could just “move right in.”

The pure black environment gave Su Bei an unexpected sense of security. He planned to just slack off here until the end of the competition. This was the good thing about being a character outside the author’s plans—he could decide for himself whether or not to participate in the plot.

Although he wouldn’t be safe even if he didn’t participate in the plot, was participating in the plot necessarily safe? There were quite a few main characters who died in shonen manga. And because they were characters planned by the author, it was much harder for them to escape the author’s control than it was for him.

Sitting on a giant skull, Su Bei began to think. His talk of slacking off was only about slacking off from the plot; it didn’t mean he really had to do nothing during this time.

The haunted house was actually just a relatively safe place, relying only on darkness and the information gap. It was nothing like the Holy Spirit Banyan That Reaches the Sky where he had hidden last time.

Both Nightmare Beasts and contestants could come here and discover him by surprise. For such an insecure hiding place, the best response was to find a way out for himself in advance.

And in this illusion, the only way out was to leave the illusion.

Because he wasn’t an illusion-type ability user, even with Advanced Mental Energy, Su Bei might not be able to break the master illusionist’s illusion. But at least it gave him something to do, so he wouldn’t be wasting his time here doing nothing.

Regarding illusions, the academy had specifically sent someone to teach them. Of course, this was not a topic for first-year students, but they were in the S-Class and had experienced several journeys through illusions.

There were three ways to solve an illusion. The first was to complete the illusion’s tasks normally. Note that there wasn’t necessarily only one task; some were hidden, depending on whether the people inside could find them. The second was to forcibly break the illusion, and the third was to find the array core.

Of these, the second method was impossible for any of them. Since Jilam could be invited by the Sessbia government to participate in the production of the second round, he must be an incredibly talented master illusionist. At their age, with the oldest being only eighteen or nineteen, even if they had an illusion-type ability combined with Advanced Mental Energy, it was almost impossible to forcibly break the illusion.

Between the first and third possibilities, the one Su Bei could currently attempt was the third.

The only known task was to eliminate everyone. If he wanted to find a hidden task that might not even exist, he would have to spend a great deal of effort completing tasks and eliminating Nightmare Beasts in the amusement park. He had no apparent reason to do so, so the first method was ruled out.

That left only finding the array core. Although it also required exploring the entire map, Su Bei fortunately had Advanced Mental Energy, so he didn’t need to personally inspect every corner.

He had searched for an array core before under the school’s arrangement. Without any cover, the array core appeared as a small vortex to his mental perception.

The larger the illusion, the larger the array core. This was also a limitation on illusionists. Only by being able to hide array cores of various sizes within the environment at will could one become a master illusionist.

Su Bei wasn’t sure how large this amusement park was. He had to see the entire park to confirm the size of the array core, and thus find a suitable location for it to be placed.

Thankfully, because he knew he would inevitably fall into illusions again in the future, he had specifically learned some extracurricular knowledge after class. Now he could clearly determine the size of the array core based on the size of the illusion.

With a sigh, Su Bei stood up and walked out. Jilam most likely wouldn’t place a map in this amusement park. Even if there was one, it could probably only be obtained by completing a mission. So he could only leave the safe house he had just found and head to the highest point in the amusement park to find his target.

In a relatively open area, the highest point was easy to see. From a long way off, Su Bei saw the top of a Ferris wheel peeking out in the distance. A Ferris wheel was always the tallest structure in an amusement park; he probably hadn’t made a mistake.

But the Ferris wheel was a bit far, and there was no telling how many people he would encounter along the way. Su Bei couldn’t help but sigh, already missing his Invisibility Talisman.

Even after setting his luck to its best and sticking to the shadows, he was still spotted halfway through his journey. The other party consisted of three people from the same well-known academy. If he remembered correctly, this academy was also consistently ranked in the top ten. Against three third-year seniors working together, Su Bei definitely couldn’t win.

Seeing the three of them staring straight at him, clearly not intending to let him leave easily, Su Bei felt helpless but put on a casual expression and greeted them, “Hello, seniors.”

The three walked over with great interest. A girl with a pair of distinctive water sleeves asked curiously, “You’re from Endless Ability Academy, right? Why are you walking alone?”

She suspected Su Bei was carrying all of his team’s points, which was why she asked. Although a group of first-years probably wouldn’t have many points, every little bit counted.

If there was one thing Su Bei was good at, it was reading people. Seeing that although she asked this, there was no curiosity in her eyes, he immediately understood and said, “You want to see how many points I have, right?”

Without waiting for their reaction, he unhesitatingly showed them his watch. On the simple interface, a large ‘0 points’ was very conspicuous.

When he decided to come out and look for the array core, he had specifically given all his points to Jiang Tianming and the others, telling them not to give them back until his next message.

If the protagonist group was found with a lot of points, they wouldn’t necessarily be in trouble, but he definitely would be.

“Not a single point?” the water-sleeved girl asked in disbelief. She thought he would have at least kept a few.

Having planned ahead, Su Bei replied matter-of-factly, “Putting aside the fact that I had a falling out with them, even if I hadn’t, they wouldn’t have left the points with me. Otherwise, wouldn’t me walking around alone be like a child holding gold in a bustling market? The kind that’s also holding a megaphone, constantly announcing that I have points.”

What he said made sense, and the water-sleeved girl was speechless for a moment. Hadn’t she subconsciously assumed he had points precisely because he was walking alone? Now that she thought about it, Su Bei might have been acting as bait, fishing for people like her.

Just as she was about to wave her hand and let Su Bei go, one of her teammates, a boy with a tear mole under his eye, suddenly asked curiously, “What was your disagreement about?”

Su Bei concisely repeated his previous reason, but the tear-mole boy’s reaction was different from others who had heard this story before. “Well, you don’t have a team now anyway. Why don’t you come with us?”

Another girl wearing sunglasses snapped her fingers excitedly. “I remember you have a Destiny-type ability, right? Great, we can exchange notes!”

“You also have a Destiny-type ability?” Hearing this, Su Bei, who had been wracking his brain for a way to escape, was suddenly interested.

The sunglasses girl nodded confidently. “Something like that. My ability is [Defier of Fate].”

Su Bei: “…”

He had to find a way to escape.

He had to escape eventually, but Su Bei was still very interested in this ability. Plus, the direction the trio was heading was exactly where he wanted to go, so he wasn’t in a hurry to find a way to leave. Instead, he asked curiously, “So, what skills does this [Defier of Fate] have?”

In a sense, Su Bei was a defier of fate. He was currently defying the heavens to change his destiny, altering the predetermined fate of a cannon fodder that the author had arranged for him.

The Manga Consciousness had reminded Su Bei before that no character in the manga, except for him, could realize that this was a manga world. So Su Bei didn’t expect the sunglasses girl’s ability to break that restriction; he was simply curious about [Defier of Fate].

“It’s simple. When I don’t believe something, the thing I don’t believe in won’t succeed,” the sunglasses girl answered generously, though her answer was somewhat unexpected.

Su Bei’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wouldn’t that be invincible if paired with a hypnosis ability?”

Looking at this ability alone, it only sounded strong, but in reality, it wasn’t that amazing. How could the brain so easily change what the eyes see and the body feels? If you cut your hand, no matter how many times you tell yourself the wound is fake, you might not be able to believe it.

Although she must have been specially trained and probably had a strong ability to change her self-perception, it still went against human nature.

But it would be completely different with a hypnosis ability. Hypnosis could make the sunglasses girl disbelieve what she wanted to disbelieve at the fastest speed, thereby making it a reality.

Hearing this, the sunglasses girl was also very surprised, not expecting him to immediately think of this good method. But unfortunately, she had had this ability for so long that she had, of course, already thought of and experimented with this method. “My mind can’t be controlled while using the ability, so I actually often use this ability as a mental shield.”

That made sense. If it could really be combined with hypnosis, the sunglasses girl would have been invincible long ago.

She sighed, sounding both regretful and fortunate. “Although I can’t be invincible with it, at least I won’t be coveted by some random person. I’d rather my ability not be that strong than be controlled by someone.”

If this ability could really be controlled by a hypnosis-type ability user, then she would be like a sharp knife that could be used by any hypnotist. Compared to an uncontrollable power, the sunglasses girl preferred things as they were.

They walked forward while chatting. Because he was now in a team, Su Bei wasn’t stopped by anyone else along the way. However, they kept stopping to eliminate Nightmare Beasts, and at this rate, it would take ages for them to reach the Ferris wheel.

Seeing that they were even starting to stray from the right direction, Su Bei finally decided to give up the convenience of being in a team. “I’m leaving. I can’t even go on any rides with you guys.”

The water-sleeved girl hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Then we’ll watch you get on the drop tower before we go.”

Initially, she agreed to let Su Bei join them because she thought he might be on some secret mission arranged by Endless Ability Academy.

After all, as a long-standing powerhouse, although Endless Ability Academy had suffered a “disaster” in this competition, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Who knew if they had any trump cards? Under this suspicion, Su Bei walking alone seemed very suspicious.

But after observing him all this time, Su Bei really showed no intention of completing missions or eliminating Nightmare Beasts. He was just slacking off on the sidelines the whole time, which was consistent with the reason he had given earlier.

At this rate, watching him further wouldn’t yield any results. The three-person team was a bit crowded, and having one extra person made them feel less at ease. So the water-sleeved girl finally decided to let Su Bei leave.

Normally, the reason they didn’t kill people in the early stages was to let everyone eliminate Nightmare Beasts faster and accumulate more points, making it easier for them to harvest later. Someone like Su Bei who didn’t contribute anything could have been sent away directly. But seeing that he had gotten along well with everyone and hadn’t caused any trouble, the water-sleeved girl was willing to give this junior, who was two years younger than her, a break.

He wasn’t surprised that they let him leave so easily. The time they had just spent together wasn’t for nothing; he had figured out their temperaments, which was why he directly asked to leave.

If these three had bad tempers and were just taking him along as an experimental guinea pig or for entertainment, then Su Bei would have used another method to leave. It just might not have been so peaceful then.

Since he had already walked most of the way with the trio, Su Bei encountered no obstacles on the last short stretch and easily arrived at the base of the Ferris wheel.

Many of these major attractions had mission points, and as the only Ferris wheel in the entire amusement park, it was no exception. Because news had already broken that there was a mission point here, a large crowd had gathered below.

Su Bei didn’t rush over; he wasn’t here to complete a mission. There were usually only about ten missions. He could wait until all the missions were completed before going over.

However, where there are people, there are conflicts. It wasn’t long before a fight broke out over there. Several teams started a massive brawl, and the chaotic scene made Su Bei click his tongue in disapproval. They had to know that dying in the illusion could very well mean real death. They were attacking so viciously now, and when it was all over, if they were still alive, the boomerang of their actions would come back to cut them to pieces.

Actually, it wasn’t that Su Bei hadn’t thought of reminding everyone. With his Advanced Mental Energy, he could tell something was wrong with the illusion, so illusion-type ability users could probably tell too.

But even if he said it, no one would believe him. They were just the words of a first-year student; what credibility could they have? Those who overthought things might even think he was saying it so his own team could survive longer. After all, if no one killed each other, wouldn’t they have more time to accumulate points?

Besides, even if someone did believe him, it wouldn’t necessarily be an illusion-type ability user who could verify the truth. Such ability users weren’t mainstream on competing teams anyway; there probably weren’t many among the two hundred-plus people here.

It would only cause more trouble.

Moreover, his persona didn’t allow him to do this. Su Bei couldn’t even remind the protagonist group. If no one died, how could the importance of the protagonist’s actions be highlighted? Even if he disregarded his persona and gave a direct warning, it probably wouldn’t get out.

Even if it could get out, Su Bei wasn’t that selfless.

Activating his ability from a distance to take a look, he saw that the Major Destiny Pointers above the heads of many people in the brawl had already moved to the lower half of the compass. They would be dead before long.

About an hour later, the battle finally ended. The people who were originally there were either dead, injured, or had fled. Su Bei was about to take the opportunity to head to the Ferris wheel when he suddenly noticed someone walking this way. Unsure if they had spotted him, he chose to remain hidden.

Fortunately, they didn’t notice Su Bei; they just happened to come here. One of them, a girl with bloodstains on her pale face, said, “I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but I feel like the sensation of killing is too real.”

Even though they were third-year graduates, in terms of the number of people they had killed, it was probably less than Jiang Tianming’s group. Normal ability users killed Nightmare Beasts the most. Only occasionally, during conflicts with other ability users in other dimensions, might they accidentally kill someone, or maybe kill one or two people when the Black Flash Organization caused trouble. How could they have experienced such a massive human brawl?

“I think you just haven’t killed many people before and are too nervous,” the boy next to her said dismissively. “Besides, this is an illusion created by Master Jilam. Isn’t it normal for it to be realistic?”

Logically, what he said was correct, but the girl still felt that something was wrong. She murmured to herself, “…Forget it, I’ll just focus on eliminating Nightmare Beasts.”

After they left, Su Bei emerged from the shadows. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who had noticed something was wrong. Among the two hundred people, many must have noticed as well. It was just that they didn’t have a god’s-eye view, so they naturally wouldn’t consider such an outrageous possibility. Mainly, after having killed so many people, who would dare to dwell on such a terrifying truth?

However, this did remind him of something. He had previously thought that even if he announced the truth, no one would believe him. Now it seemed that might not be the case. If many people already had the seed of doubt planted in their minds, his words could absolutely make that seed sprout and grow.

But he still needed to find the right time. As a qualified information broker, with his identity as a member of the ‘Destiny’ organization having been tacitly revealed, he could totally use this opportunity to profit for himself, and of course, reduce the losses of ability users along the way.

But you have to eat one bite at a time and do things one step at a time. Compared to making a profit, his own life was more important. Su Bei didn’t rush to think about the opportunity to release the information. After making an agreement with Mr. Clown, he stepped into a Ferris wheel cabin. The cabin door closed, and the surrounding scenery began to slowly rise.

Although it wasn’t night and there was no brightly lit night view, the colorful daytime scenery had its own charm. Su Bei briefly admired the view for a while. When the cabin reached a height where he could overlook the entire amusement park, he put away his leisurely mood and began to observe seriously.

He couldn’t use his phone or items during the exam. He had to quickly draw a rough map of the amusement park in his mind so he could explore on his own more quickly later.

Most importantly, Su Bei didn’t plan to stay on the Ferris wheel for long. He would leave after riding it twice at most. This kind of amusement ride, with its special significance and uniqueness, felt like a plot point no matter how you looked at it. Even if it wasn’t a plot point, other contestants would inevitably come here.

Su Bei didn’t want to be caught in a place where a group fight could break out. He wouldn’t be able to leave even if he wanted to, and once a fight started, he could easily be the first to be sacrificed.

He would take this opportunity to get a good look at how big the amusement park really was, and which location was most suitable for placing the array core.