Chapter 300

The other reason was that the quality of the substitutes was hardly comparable to the main team. The third-years had the best physical conditioning, making them objectively superior to the other two grades. Therefore, the main team was generally selected from the third-year students.

It was already quite difficult for a single grade to produce five top-tier students whose abilities were suitable for competition. The remaining ones were inevitably a notch below.

The only reason Endless Ability Academy had so many powerful individuals this year was purely because the main protagonist group happened to be studying here. The situation at other schools would only be worse.

Thus, most of the remaining substitutes were not as strong as Qi Huang, and many of them had single-target attack or support-type abilities. They could hold the line for a while, but completely resolving the crisis still depended on Qi Huang.

[The Doctor was indeed well aware of this point. If he didn’t let Qi Huang recover her Mental Energy and she truly fell, that would be a nightmare for everyone.

At this moment, a man dressed rather lavishly, looking like a hotel manager, stepped forward. “The rest of you, go up and hold them off. Student Qi Huang, please come with me. I’ll take you somewhere to rest.”

The Gourd Nightmare Beast didn’t stop them from leaving. This was mainly because Qi Huang’s damage output was simply too high, and Nightmare Beasts were dying in droves, which worried the Gourd Nightmare Beast as well. Once all these low and intermediate-tier Nightmare Beasts were dead, it would be a sitting duck.

After Qi Huang left, it believed it could use the time gap to first kill all the ordinary Ability users, then wear Qi Huang down. By then, it wouldn’t panic even if all the other Nightmare Beasts were dead, since it could absorb attacks anyway. If worse came to worst, it could just leave. After all, its mission would be perfectly accomplished, and one or two who slipped through the net wouldn’t matter.

Meanwhile, the manager led Qi Huang through a series of twists and turns to a secret room. As he opened the door, he introduced, “I have a treasure hidden here called ‘Untitled.’ It was painted a hundred years ago by a grandmaster with the [Painter] ability and is a family heirloom of mine. Observing the painting not only restores Mental Energy but also offers a chance for one’s ability to break through. Although the probability is extremely small, one of my ancestors did have their ability mutate after observing it, soaring to fame overnight. I’ll give you ten minutes. How much you can grasp is up to you. I’ll knock on the door to call you when the time is up.”]

Watching Qi Huang in the manga, who was clearly becoming more and more tense until her vigilance was maxed out, a phoenix flame igniting in the hand held behind her back, Su Bei couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

It was clear that Qi Huang was seriously questioning the manager’s motive for bringing her here. If the manager had been even a second later with his explanation, he might have been turned into a little fire man by Qi Huang.

However, Su Bei hadn’t expected the man to bring out something as good as ‘Untitled’ to let Qi Huang “level up.” But considering his identity as the hotel manager, it wasn’t entirely surprising. A guy who could become the manager of the designated hotel for the Sessbia World Competition must have an extraordinary family background. Even if his ability wasn’t strong, he was bound to have some good things on hand.

He was so envious; this was the treatment reserved for the protagonist group. If it were him, Su Bei was certain that unless he maxed out his luck value, such a fortuitous encounter would never just fall into his lap.

That ‘Untitled’ was a piece of yellowed parchment that at first glance had no pattern at all. However, in Qi Huang’s eyes, it transformed into a painting of a hundred birds paying homage to a phoenix.

As expected, her ability was purified. Her original Phoenix Flame evolved into a true Inextinguishable Flame. There was no way to douse this fire; once it caught onto something, it would burn ceaselessly.

[Qi Huang’s strength had greatly increased. She returned just in the nick of time, right before the Gourd Nightmare Beast found Mu Yunfan and the others—one of its mission targets—and was about to strike them while they were unconscious and unable to resist.

Upon her return, she fearlessly confronted the Gourd Nightmare Beast head-on, preparing to take down the leader first. As long as she defeated it, the remaining Nightmare Beasts were no threat.

The Gourd Nightmare Beast had no idea that in just ten short minutes, Qi Huang had not only recovered her Mental Energy but her ability had also undergone a qualitative leap. Just like before, as soon as Qi Huang launched an attack, it proactively sucked the attack into its belly.

However, the effect this time was completely different. The Inextinguishable Flame could grow ceaselessly. The Gourd Nightmare Beast only felt its body getting hotter and hotter, the heat inside it increasing at an extremely rapid pace.

At this point, it already had a bad feeling and frantically tried to spit out the flames in its stomach. But it couldn’t spit them all out; it was simply impossible. The endless flames burned within its body, and its belly grew increasingly distended.

Finally, with a “bang,” the Gourd Nightmare Beast exploded.

Everything settled down.]

As for the plot outside the illusion, the manga ended there. After reading it, Su Bei felt quite emotional. Qi Huang had gained a huge harvest this time. In the future, even without activating a special skill, simply releasing her flames would be equivalent to an area-of-effect attack.

As long as one Nightmare Beast was on fire, it could potentially spread to others. This was just like Ling You’s ability, [Plague]; it could spread on its own.

Besides its contagiousness, the unextinguishable nature of the Inextinguishable Flame was also incredible. This meant that all the common weaknesses of traditional flames were gone. Unless Qi Huang actively retracted the flames, or everything touched by the flames was completely burned to ash, the fire would not stop burning.

Although there were surely ways to counter it, it was certain that compared to before, Qi Huang had made immense progress.

“So cool!”

“This is a blessing in disguise for Qi Huang, that’s awesome.”

“This ability change is so strong.”

“I feel like when Jiangjiang and the others get out and see Qi Huang’s change, they’ll be so confused.”

“The evolution finally came to my Qi Huang!”

“Can this attack get Qi Huang elected as the secretary-general of the student council?”

“I’m so jealous, I wish I had an ability like that too.”

He was already tired of saying the word “envious.” Su Bei sighed and continued reading.

The manga’s plot returned to the illusion. After receiving definite information from the clown, Jiang Tianming and the others began to think of a plan. At this point, spreading the information was no longer the most important thing; having the clown, a creature of the illusion, help spread it was the best method. If they tried to help, they would likely be met with distrust.

Right now, the primary task for Jiang Tianming and the others was to figure out how they should leave the environment under these circumstances.

The method for clearing the stage given by the academy was no longer usable, and as for breaking out by force, Jiang Tianming and the others had no confidence they could pull it off. So, it was better to look for another way.

It was a stroke of serendipity that Su Bei’s act of commissioning the clown to spread the news gave them inspiration. It made them realize that the clown might still have secrets; otherwise, why would they spread information? This action, no matter how you looked at it, couldn’t possibly be a mission requirement.

If they could act on their own accord, could they also possibly help the contestants autonomously?

However, before exploring these questions, they definitely had to tell Su Bei, who was not with the team, about this news first.

The author dedicated a single manga panel to show the chat interface on their watches, displaying their conversation. The author truthfully showed the chat content, and it was only then that the readers knew that Su Bei had long been aware of the issue of killing within the illusion, and that the clown who revealed the truth was also his arrangement.

Immediately after, perhaps to show that Jiang Tianming’s method wasn’t the only way to discover the problem, the author depicted how he found out and how he approached the clown as flashback segments, drawn exactly as they happened.

“My god! Su Bei, is there anything you don’t know?”

“Su Bei knew about this a long time ago? Then why didn’t he remind everyone earlier?”

“Su Bei who arranged for the clown to tell everyone the truth is good, the author who designed this vicious plot is bad!”

“So that’s how he found out. Advanced Mental Energy is just great.”

“As long as he didn’t find out before entering the illusion, I’m relieved.”

“Su Bei truly lives up to his name as an intelligence dealer.”

“Looking at it this way, the clowns are actually playing the role of the good guys? I thought they were really creepy before.”

“A question suddenly occurred to me, Bro Bei, why did you say your points were ‘human’ points? Hahahahahaha.”

“I have a feeling that Su Bei must have already made a fortune.”

However, what Su Bei didn’t expect was that the plot point where he casually made a small cut on his arm to verify his guess had also sparked a considerable discussion.

One group felt sorry for him, even letting their imaginations run wild to the point of suspecting he had self-harm tendencies. Although Su Bei felt it was unnecessary, he could understand it. Sometimes, readers enjoyed adding a touch of tragedy to their favorite characters, as it made their protective instincts go into overdrive.

But that other group that was going “hiss ha hiss ha”… what was that about?

Coming out of the flashback, the author gave some screen time to the supporting characters. It wasn’t just the main characters who received the clown’s message; many supporting characters had also spent points to buy the information. When they realized they had truly killed many people, quite a few of them broke down.

As students living in the ivory tower of the academy, even if they were powerful prodigies, many had never killed anyone before. The vast majority of people feel an unavoidable sense of guilt the first time they kill, even if it’s an enemy.

What’s more, the first people they killed were their own kind, who were only temporarily opponents. An overwhelming sense of sin instantly crushed those students who weren’t as mentally mature.

This was where the maturity and stability of the protagonist group shone through. Even though they were two years younger, they were able to immediately accept this bombshell news and start thinking about countermeasures.

As the protagonist group, although they had many opportunities and gains, they also faced numerous dangers. Where there is gain, there must be loss; this was exactly it.

Next, the camera shifted to Elvis and Huangfu Mingzhe’s side. Their reaction speed was also quite fast. After a brief period of psychological torment, they quickly regrouped and tried their own methods to break through. Huangfu Mingzhe’s side wanted to forcibly break through the illusion, while Elvis chose to search for the core of the array.

After showing the situation of the others, the plot returned to Jiang Tianming’s side. Planning to find a breakthrough from the clowns, they searched all over the amusement park to make contact. After a few conversations, everyone vaguely felt that something was off with the clowns. They seemed to be constantly guiding them towards something, making them wary.

In the end, it was Jiang Tianming who saw through the truth. He realized that the clowns were guiding them to lie. And once they lied to a clown, something bad would probably happen.

Unfortunately, he realized this too late. Or rather, even if he had realized it a bit earlier, it wouldn’t have made a difference. The condition of ten people lying was met, and the clowns initiated Purge Mode.

Their method of killing was simple: chase a person with a saw for a physical attack. But if anyone dared to fight back, they would immediately trigger an enraged mode, increasing their speed by 200%. Once they caught up to an enemy, they would instantly self-destruct.

The power of a clown’s self-destruction was immense and could be cast instantly. The moment a student was judged to be within the blast radius, it would immediately detonate, making it impossible to dodge.

Only a very few abilities could defend against the explosion, and as a top-tier ability, [Word Spirit] was among them. Lan Subing was very clever; using [Word Spirit], she directly made the clown chasing them exit Purge Mode, solving the trouble once and for all.

It was only upon seeing this that Su Bei came to a sudden realization. He had been wondering why that one clown could answer their questions so obediently instead of running around like a bomb like the others. It turned out it had already been “beaten back to its original form.”

The clown that exited Purge Mode obediently answered their questions. Only then did the group learn that the Purge Mode had actually been added just a second before the competition started. No wonder the Sessbia organizers didn’t find any problems during their inspection.

As long as all the clowns could be made to exit Purge Mode, it could send everyone out of the illusion.

Lan Subing’s Mental Energy was insufficient to change all the clowns, so everyone thought of Su Bei. Su Bei mentioned Elvis, so everyone went to find Elvis. After finding Elvis, Elvis raised a question, and everyone went back to Su Bei again.

Su Bei already knew what happened next. He quickly flipped to the last page. At the end of the manga, the group had ended the clowns’ Purge Mode. The next second, a huge black hole suddenly appeared in the sky of the illusion, and everyone was sucked into it.

The manga ended there.

After finishing both chapters and understanding everything that had happened, Su Bei slowly let out a breath. There were no problems with the plot, and there was no information he didn’t already know, which was the best news.

However, Su Bei vaguely felt that something was strange, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

But it didn’t matter. Even if there was a problem he hadn’t noticed, it was most likely an issue on Jiang Tianming’s side. As for him, here in the hotel room, he was now completely safe. The Nightmare Beasts wouldn’t launch a surprise counter-attack.

He opened the forum, and the top post was a discussion about the plot.

[84DetergentNo.0: I thought about it, and for Ability users, the Nightmare Beast World is indeed the most dangerous place. Especially since it’s the Nightmare Beasts’ home turf, teleporting them there would be effortless. It’s all pros and no cons.]

[No.1: Who said it’s all pros and no cons? Just wait until these ‘pests’ like Jiangjiang enter the Nightmare Beast World and cause a huge ruckus, then they’ll learn their lesson.]

[No.2 replied to No.1: Hahahahahahahahahahaha]

[No.3 replied to No.2: I’m dying of laughter.]

[No.4: I also think it’s the Nightmare Beast World. It’s hard to get out of and hard to be rescued from.]

[…]

[No.21: This answer is too easy to guess. I bet the Nightmare Beasts won’t hide them in a place everyone knows about. It must be an unexpected location.]

[No.22 replied to No.21: That makes a lot of sense, but can you give a conclusion from your reasoning?]

[No.23 replied to No.21: Then I’ll make a wild guess. I think they were teleported into the hotel.]

[No.24 replied to No.23: 6666 you’re truly wild.]

[No.25: In that case, I’ll guess they were teleported to ‘Endless Ability Academy.’]

[No.26 replied to No.25: There’s always a higher master.]

[…]

[No.57: Speaking of which, does anyone else feel that this operation of teleporting people to their own territory at the end seems very familiar?]

[No.58 replied to No.57: I don’t get it. When you say familiar, are you referring to others in ‘King of Abilities’ using such tactics, or characters in other comics?]

[No.59 replied to No.57: ‘King of Abilities.’]

[No.60: The person on the 57th floor must be talking about the ‘Black Flash Organization,’ right? They love to trap people first, then use a Teleportation Array to take them away.]

[No.61 replied to No.60: That makes sense!]

[No.62: So what the 57th floor person is saying is that the later teleportation might not have been part of the Nightmare Beasts’ plan, but the ‘Black Flash Organization’ causing trouble?]

[No.63: Come to think of it, the ‘Black Flash Organization’ hasn’t appeared for a long time.]

[No.64: I remember they seemed to have gone into seclusion to research how to completely eradicate the Nightmare Beasts. If they’ve really come out now, I’m so curious about the results of their research.]

[No.65: I was wondering before, since they were already in the illusion, if the Nightmare Beasts had a way to transport them to the Nightmare Beast World, why not do it right away? Wouldn’t that be more effective? If the later teleportation was the ‘Black Flash Organization’s’ doing, then it would make sense.]

[No.66 replied to No.65: I don’t agree with that. The Nightmare Beasts didn’t teleport them at the beginning probably because they wanted them to kill each other first. Compared to directly killing these students, making them kill each other to destroy their resolve is definitely more interesting for the Nightmare Beasts.]

[No.67 replied to No.66: True, I feel like the scoundrel author would design it that way too.]

[No.68: Sigh, I don’t even dare to imagine how I would react if I were in that situation and only found out the truth more than halfway through the competition. Killing so many classmates… the guilt would be overwhelming.]

[No.69: In that sense, the students’ psychological fortitude is actually pretty good. Not many broke down, and most of them accepted reality quickly. There weren’t any who thought of taking the easy way out by killing everyone else.]

[No.70 replied to No.69: That would be way too dark.]

[…]

[No.122: The long-awaited ‘Black Flash Organization,’ are they finally going to make an appearance? Villain fans are in for a treat!]

[No.123: Can they let Cyril appear? I love him so much!]

[No.124: I like that great beauty Gong Yuzhi who appeared last time.]

[No.125: I want to see Ye Lin meet Meng Huai and Lei Ze’en. The grudges between the three of them should be resolved, right? Although in reality, it’s only Ye Lin’s grudge.]

[No.126: When is the scoundrel author going to bring out the ‘Destiny’ organization for a stroll?]

[No.127 replied to No.126: Support! Our ‘Destiny’ organization is very popular too, okay?]

[No.128: Bro Bei, when are you going to reveal some information about the ‘Destiny’ organization to the camera? I’ve been curious for so long!]

[…]

[No.184: By the way, has no one suspected that it’s actually the ‘Black Flash Organization’ and the Nightmare Beasts colluding to harm people? Why does everyone in the preceding posts seem to view them as separate?]

[No.185 replied to No.184: Because that’s definitely impossible.]

[No.186 replied to No.184: The ‘Black Flash Organization’ contributed significantly to eliminating Nightmare Beasts before. Moreover, their ultimate goal is to completely eradicate them. Why would they cooperate with them to harm humans? What’s in it for the ‘Black Flash Organization’?]

[No.187: We villains have standards, okay?]

[No.188: These two factions have a deep-seated hatred for each other, right? How could anyone think they would cooperate? Never mind the ‘Black Flash Organization’ being unwilling, I don’t think the Nightmare Beasts would necessarily agree either.]

[No.189: Instead of speculating about what’s wrong with the ‘Black Flash Organization,’ why not think about whether Sessbia has a problem? Useless organizers, letting the Nightmare Beasts cause so much trouble in the competition venue.]

[No.190 replied to No.189: Support. I suggest they find a place to commit seppuku, ha.]

After reading this post, Su Bei’s expression was a mixture of emotions. He finally knew what he felt he had forgotten earlier. Just as the post said, this method of transferring people was indeed very similar to the ‘Black Flash Organization’s’ modus operandi, and it was true that they hadn’t appeared for a long time.

But unlike the readers on the forum, Su Bei didn’t think it was impossible for the ‘Black Flash Organization’ to cooperate with the Nightmare Beasts. They indeed had the foundation and conditions for cooperation.

First, if the ‘Black Flash Organization’ truly wanted to cooperate, the Nightmare Beast side would absolutely not refuse. Nightmare Beasts don’t operate on principles of etiquette, righteousness, honor, or shame. Cooperating with anyone is beneficial to them, because the moment the benefits disappear, they can turn on their allies immediately, without a shred of hesitation.

As for the ‘Black Flash Organization,’ if it were in the past, before their organizational policy had changed, Su Bei would also believe they would never cooperate with Nightmare Beasts. Especially an act that purely aids the enemy by shaking the foundation of their own side’s vital forces, which would bring them no benefit at all.

But now things were different. If the ‘Black Flash Organization’ had truly obtained results from their research on the underground people and understood that Nightmare Beasts could never be turned back into humans, then they would realize that everything they had done before was futile.

It was fine for the others; they were young enough and could start over anytime. But the organization’s leader was different. He was already very old and simply couldn’t find a new proposition to start researching again.

Moreover, the original intention behind his research on turning Nightmare Beasts back into humans was for his wife, to let her become human again. To him, this was far more important than completely eliminating the Nightmare Beasts.

Now that his hope was shattered, Su Bei wouldn’t be surprised by anything he did in this manga world. After all, to be honest, this wasn’t the first time the ‘Black Flash Organization’ had surprised people with their decisions. Every time Su Bei saw where they applied their research, he would be amazed by their bizarre thought processes.

If this incident was truly a collaboration between the ‘Black Flash Organization’ and the Nightmare Beasts, it could only mean that the leader had likely completely abandoned the human faction. Otherwise, he would never have tried to wipe out so many students.

Of course, this could only represent the leader’s thoughts. Neither the other members of the organization nor Mo Xiaotian necessarily shared his views. They might have been deceived into carrying out this plan, or they might genuinely agree with him.