Chapter 305:

The next incident requiring Su Bei’s participation should be the Afei Nation tourism side story. Wu Mingbai had set the time for August, which meant he still had a pleasant break ahead of him.

To be honest, the original Su Bei was genuinely not a homebody. Although he enjoyed reading manga, novels, and playing games, these hobbies didn’t stop him from loving sports and travel.

But now, Su Bei just wanted to stay home like a shut-in every day, with no desire to go out and explore. His body wasn’t tired, but his mind was.

Days without anyone bothering him were blissful. Su Bei felt that this was the most relaxing period he had had all semester. But while it was true for him, it wasn’t for others.

First was the aftermath of the World Competition. Needless to say, the Sessbia government was publicly shamed. For such an incident to happen on their turf was a result of their poor arrangements. They were responsible for all subsequent compensation and arrangements for those who died in the incident, and every survivor also received a substantial sum for psychological damages.

Among them, Jiang Tianming and the others who had saved everyone received rare ability items as rewards. They shared pictures of the items directly in the group chat, giving Su Bei a chance to see them.

There were single-use ability enhancement items, recovery items, defensive items… The variety was diverse, and the quality was excellent. It was clear that the Sessbia government had no intention of being perfunctory.

However, the one who received the most rewards was Qi Huang. She had saved a greater number of people. In fact, if she hadn’t turned the tide and defeated the Gourd Nightmare Beast back then, the crowd of Ability users emerging from the other dimension might have been met with a sea of blood and mountains of corpses.

The hotel and the competition venue were equipped with surveillance cameras, so Qi Huang’s battle footage was completely preserved. To alleviate the grief from the heavy casualties and to inspire the terrified students, Sessbia directly integrated the footage into a single video. Paired with appropriate music, it was edited into a very thrilling clip and released on their official website.

Several other countries’ Ability Governments also posted this video on their official websites, for the same purpose of inspiring their students. And of course, their own country wouldn’t miss such an opportunity. The outstanding story of their underage Ability user protecting civilians in a foreign land was something they would have requested a copy of to post, even if Sessbia hadn’t mentioned it.

A couple of days after the video was released, Su Bei happened to be looking at the academy’s main group chat and discovered that Qi Huang had already gained a large following of fanboys and fangirls. He didn’t know what kind of treatment Senior Feng Manman had received upon returning to school after saving everyone in the battle, but it was likely something similar to this.

He had a feeling that Qi Huang’s position as the Student Council Secretary-General was now secured.

Finally, there were the match results. Although the competition had been completely ruined and no one really cared who won or lost the second round. Realistically speaking, everyone who was still alive was a winner.

But Sessbia, no matter what, wanted to put a final period on its first and last time hosting the World Competition. Even if that period was no longer perfect, having one was better than nothing.

So, in the end, they still posted the scores obtained by each team on their official website, listed from highest to lowest.

【Endless Ability Academy: 7800 points Don Quixote Ability Academy: 4320 points Moscow Ability High School: 4275 points …】

Without a doubt, the fact that Endless Ability Academy was first by a landslide shocked everyone. After all, their situation at the time was well-known; all their main team members were out of commission, and they had to rely on first-year substitutes.

Under such circumstances, how did Endless Ability Academy achieve such a commanding lead? Were the first-year students of their academy this strong?

The Sessbia government was rarely reliable, and they did not release the match footage. But that reliability lasted only a moment. In the blink of an eye, they sent a copy of the footage to every academy that had participated in the second match.

And so, Su Bei received a “cordial” inquiry from Meng Huai.

Su Bei: “…”

He and the Sessbia government were now mortal enemies!

It was worth mentioning that during the few days he was forced to stay at the academy, Su Bei fulfilled the oath he had made in his heart, making Zhang Sheng unlucky for an entire day.

At that time, after inexplicably tripping on flat ground again, Zhang Sheng couldn’t take it anymore and went to complain to Feng Manman and Mu Yunfan. The clever Feng Manman hit the nail on the head: “Did you offend someone? It must be someone from our academy. Think about who could make you so unlucky.”

“Su Bei!” After thinking for a long time, Zhang Sheng’s eyes widened in sudden realization. He still had a fresh memory of his own foolishness back then and immediately ran over to ask Su Bei if he was responsible.

Su Bei naturally wouldn’t admit it. But Zhang Sheng wasn’t an idiot either and decisively apologized to him. Seeing how pragmatic the guy was, Su Bei didn’t pursue the matter further. Although he still denied being behind it, his actions were honest as he removed the unlucky status.

Ending the small interlude, let’s get back to the main topic.

During this period, danger was ever-present. The Nightmare Beasts began to appear frequently again, often causing destruction in the human world. And unlike the prelude to the last battle, this time their success rate in causing trouble had increased significantly.

If before, out of ten attempts by the Nightmare Beasts to cause destruction, only one would result in major losses, now at least three or four would, a three- to four-fold increase in their success rate.

It was as if a think tank was suddenly guiding them from behind, letting the Nightmare Beasts know the weak points of each location, allowing them to strike with precision. If it weren’t for the swift reaction from the human side and their ample experience in dealing with surprise Nightmare Beast attacks, the losses would likely have been several times more severe.

The Ability World’s official website had new information every day, almost always related to Nightmare Beasts causing chaos. This was in stark contrast to the previous frequency of updating the panel only once a week.

Under the frantic assault of the Nightmare Beasts, the entire Ability World seemed overwhelmed. Even the recently graduated combatants were assigned a lot of work. Looking at Mu Yunfan’s daily updates on his social feed, Su Bei could feel his deep resentment.

The Ability Government also updated a notice on its official website, calling on all guild members, unaffiliated Ability users, and ability teams to actively cooperate with the government’s mobilization, to unite as one and face the challenges brought by the Nightmare Beasts together.

Then there was Su Bei, who, even without leaving his house, could deeply feel the approaching danger just by looking at the frequent updates on the official website. This danger was different from the prelude to the last battle. Back then, one could feel they were just randomly causing trouble to wear out the Ability users. This time, however, they were serious, causing trouble with the intent of maximizing human losses.

The wind was filling the tower, signaling an impending storm. Su Bei smelled something ominous. Looking at the overall direction of the manga’s main plot, the Nightmare Beast World was undergoing secret changes, the leader of the Black Flash Organization had likely started to act out of desperation and cooperate with the Nightmare Beasts, the newly graduated combatants were suffering heavy losses, and at the same time, there were definitely several more Advanced Nightmare Beasts… Everything was tipping in favor of the Nightmare Beasts, and the already unbalanced scale was in a precarious state.

If he didn’t know this was a classic shonen manga, and that the ‘Manga Consciousness’ had said the author was already paying attention to the power imbalance between the protagonists and antagonists, Su Bei would have really suspected that the Nightmare Beasts would win in the end.

Knowing that the protagonist team would definitely win in the end, all the disadvantages currently being shown for the protagonists seemed to Su Bei like a narrative setup to build suspense before a triumphant comeback.

He had already seen the “suspense,” so what kind of “triumph” would it be?

This time, the frequent appearance of the Nightmare Beasts was clearly not just a background event in the manga world, but a part of the plot, because Jiang Tianming and the others were also involved. The three of them had been out and about when they happened to encounter a Nightmare Beast operation and were naturally drawn into it.

In the latest manga update, the author had included the recent frequent activities of the Nightmare Beasts as a backdrop, and also intentionally or unintentionally revealed related information multiple times in the characters’ dialogues.

People on the bullet comments and forums were all discussing it, wondering if the Nightmare Beasts’ renewed activity meant another battle was coming. Although a battle had just occurred not long ago, the current situation was very similar to the last time, making it hard for them not to think that way.

However, there were also more rational readers who felt that the old scoundrel of an author would never put two repetitive events in the manga, and that this Nightmare Beast uprising might have other causes. Especially since it had been revealed in the plot that the Nightmare Beasts were causing a lot of trouble for the Ability Government this time, much more than before.

Su Bei saw several readers guessing whether the Nightmare Beasts had received some kind of assistance. Especially since during the last manga update, the forums were still discussing the possibility of a mole on the human side. Combining these two phenomena made this speculation seem particularly correct.

Su Bei also believed their speculation was right, and the think tank hiding behind the Nightmare Beasts was the Black Flash Organization. Only they could possibly pull off so many things in a row; this was a capability that no single individual possessed.

“Is the Black Flash Organization involved in the upcoming trip to Afei Nation?” Su Bei suddenly asked. He knew in his heart that the ‘Manga Consciousness’ would certainly not answer this question directly, but that was fine. He was only asking this question to draw it out anyway.

The ‘Manga Consciousness’ appeared quickly, and as expected, refused to answer the question: “Sorry, I can’t spoil the plot.”

“Then you should be able to tell me how far along the manga is, right?” Su Bei revealed his true intention, asking the question he really wanted to know. “How much longer does the author plan to draw?”

That’s right, Su Bei suspected the manga was nearing its end. Based on his years of experience reading manga, when the overall environment fell into a disadvantageous state, it was time for the protagonist team to turn the tide and save the world.

“…It won’t be too long.” Understanding his meaning, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ hesitated for a moment before answering carefully, “It should be considered the later stages of the manga now.”

It was just as Su Bei thought. The manga “King of Abilities” was about to enter its final arc. The Afei Nation trip certainly wasn’t the end, but after this event, it probably wouldn’t take more than three or four more incidents for the manga to conclude completely.

How wonderful, it was finally ending. Su Bei let out a long sigh of relief, feeling a great weight lift from his heart. Although the plot wasn’t completely over, at least he could finally see the end.

But then he immediately became vigilant again. The author’s malice towards him hadn’t disappeared. If he wanted to write him off, he would definitely use this final part of the plot. And the best way to have a character die logically is to have them written off during the grand finale.

Thinking of this, Su Bei suddenly felt that something was wrong. “The author dislikes trouble so much, so why insist on writing me off? We’re already at the end of the manga, wouldn’t it be better to just smoothly reach the grand finale?”

“Who said the manga only has two seasons?” the ‘Manga Consciousness’ said with a helpless tone. “‘King of Abilities’ is very popular in the real world. The author plans to do at least three seasons. If your character doesn’t die, he’ll have to keep drawing you next season.”

Su Bei: “…”

“There’s still another season? It’s not ending completely?” His composure instantly shattered. “Doesn’t that mean I have to struggle for a whole other season? Why don’t you just kill me now?”

Seeing him looking ready to give up at any moment, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ quickly explained, “No, no, you’ve misunderstood. As long as you can survive this season, the author will stop trying to get rid of you. You only have a lot of plot in this season. Next season, aside from Jiang Tianming and the other two, all the other old characters will have to make way for new ones. But you’d definitely still have some involvement, which is why the author wants a once-and-for-all solution. But if he doesn’t get rid of you in this season, your small bit of plot in the next season won’t be worth the author spending extra effort on you.”

Upon hearing this, Su Bei immediately relaxed, then asked curiously, “So has the theme for the next season been decided? If it’s still at Endless Ability Academy, there’s no way we wouldn’t have any plot, right?”

“He hasn’t decided yet. Either a time skip, starting directly from after graduation, or a plot involving another world or something similar.” As the author’s subconscious, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ was quite knowledgeable about this. “By then, the Nightmare Beasts probably won’t be a thing anymore.”

Hearing this, Su Bei finally relaxed completely. Besides being devastated that he would have to be on edge for another whole season, another point of his breakdown was that there would be no peace even after saving the world.

But if it was a time skip to after graduation, or if Jiang Tianming and the others left for some reason, then it wouldn’t matter. They could cause whatever trouble they wanted; it had nothing to do with him.

Su Bei was always happy to watch drama from the sidelines as long as it didn’t involve him. The reason he chose this persona in the first place was because it fit him well, making it less likely for him to go out of character.

Happy times always pass quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was the day Wu Mingbai had invited them to Afei Nation.

As a prince, Wu Mingbai certainly didn’t need to arrange his own transportation to Afei Nation. The Afei royal family had specially chartered a passenger plane to pick them up. Arriving at the airport by taxi and seeing the conspicuous plane through the glass, Su Bei couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

There had long been rumors that the Afei royal family had poor taste. He had previously treated it as a joke. But now, seeing with his own eyes the plane completely covered in colorful paint, with the large characters “Afei Nation Welcomes You” on it, he finally had a profound understanding of what bad taste meant.

When he arrived at the VIP lounge, Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, and Wu Mingbai were already there. A few foreigners in black suits were also standing in the lounge, likely bodyguards sent by Afei Nation to protect Wu Mingbai.

At that moment, Lan Subing was chatting with her two friends. When she casually looked up, she suddenly saw Su Bei walking in from the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a simple white T-shirt and black shorts, his small braid tied loosely in front of his chest. Perhaps because he had just washed his hair that morning, his blond hair looked a bit fluffier than usual, giving him a very refreshed look.

“Su Bei, long time no see!” Seeing Su Bei appear, Lan Subing’s face lit up with a delighted expression, and the other two also waved at him.

“Morning,” Su Bei nodded at them and casually sat down on the leather sofa, his gaze naturally turning to the transparent floor-to-ceiling window in the VIP lounge meant for passengers’ viewing pleasure.

When his gaze fell on a certain spot, a hint of a smile flashed in his eyes again. He pointed at the eye-catching plane and looked at Wu Mingbai teasingly, asking a question he already knew the answer to: “Your family’s plane?”

As soon as he said it, Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing burst out laughing with a “pfft,” clearly having already “admired” the garish plane.

Wu Mingbai, who had already been teased a round and was mentally prepared, sneered, “What are you laughing at? You’ll be riding this plane too in a bit. Laugh again and I’ll have them paint your name on it.”

The black-suited bodyguard standing next to him immediately bowed respectfully and said in broken Chinese, “Prince Mingbai, just give the word, and we will be at your service anytime!”

Su Bei: “…”

If his name appeared on this tacky plane and someone took a picture, he would not leave his house for the entire summer vacation, until everyone had forgotten about it.

Seeing Su Bei go quiet, Wu Mingbai waved his hand at the bodyguard in satisfaction. “Not for now.”

However, his current smugness quickly turned to despair. Every group that came in asked him the same question. From Jiang Tianming and Lan Subing to Su Bei, to Ai Baozhu, to Zhao Xiaoyu, to Zhou Renjie, to Li Shu, everyone teased him about it.

Answering once or twice was fun, but answering five or six times made him want to hit someone. After being asked one more time, Wu Mingbai closed his eyes in despair. “Only Wu Jin is left. Surely he won’t ask me this question too, right?”

Anyone else was one thing, but Wu Mingbai didn’t believe Wu Jin would ask such a boring question. When Ling You came earlier, she hadn’t asked, though Ai Baozhu, who was with her, did.

“I’ll bet he will ask,” Zhou Renjie said immediately. Although he wasn’t confident Wu Jin would ask, that didn’t stop him from wanting to annoy Wu Mingbai.

Ai Baozhu immediately joined in the fun. “I also bet he will ask!”

It soon evolved into a gambling session involving everyone. They all placed bets on whether Wu Jin would ask a question related to the plane. A bet naturally required stakes. Their stake was that whoever guessed wrong would have to explore the secrets of the royal palace after arriving in Afei Nation and had to find at least one secret to fulfill the bet. If they failed to do so by the time they left, they would face a harsher punishment after school started.

As for what that harsher punishment was, among the enthusiastic proposals from everyone, the mildest was “run three laps around the track while shouting ‘I’m an idiot’.” This was enough to show how terrifying the punishment was.

After the terms of the bet were settled, many people changed their tune and gave their serious answers. Among them, very few chose “will.” There were only two in total.

Su Bei didn’t want to go looking for any secrets, and he certainly didn’t want to face punishment for failing the bet, so after thinking seriously for a moment, he chose “will.” He was one of the two.

Although, based on his personality, Wu Jin was definitely not the type to idly tease Wu Mingbai. But the plot of them gathering to go to Afei Nation would likely be drawn in the manga, and their bet was probably included as well. Especially since the bet was so intriguing, it felt even more like something from the plot.

In that case, if Wu Jin didn’t ask anything, what would be the point? He definitely had to ask to make the readers feel surprised.

As for the other person who chose “will,” it was Feng Lan. It was obvious that guy had used [Prophecy]. Su Bei gave him a slightly reproachful look and met Feng Lan’s golden eyes, which were also looking over.

There was no particular emotion in Feng Lan’s eyes. He had simply glanced at him subconsciously because their answers were the same, probably thinking that Su Bei, like him, had used a prophecy ability to know the truth.

But that’s not it! Su Bei roared inwardly. He had clearly figured out the truth through his own intelligence!

But on second thought, how could his God’s perspective not be considered a type of his ability? Ultimately, he had analyzed it using his ability, just with a bit more brainpower.

Having figured this out, the reproach in Su Bei’s eyes vanished. He raised an eyebrow at Feng Lan, a hint of smugness in his expression, as if they were partners in crime.

“Wait… Su Bei, Feng Lan, you both chose ‘will’? Something’s not right, is it?” Ai Baozhu looked shocked. They were the last two to give their answers, so everyone else had already chosen.

Given Su Bei’s and Feng Lan’s abilities, no one would doubt that their shared answer was wrong. Did that mean everyone else had guessed incorrectly? That the quiet and reserved Wu Jin would actually ask a related question?

Wu Mingbai was also shocked. Neither Feng Lan nor Su Bei would be the type to actively participate in the bet, so the answer they gave must be what they believed to be correct. “Wu Jin will ask me about the plane? I don’t think I know him that poorly.”

Jiang Tianming, however, quickly figured it out. “Is it because of an accident? He asks by accident?”

The two didn’t answer. Su Bei shrugged, “You’ll see in a bit.”

The last to arrive, Wu Jin, walked in slowly. There was a hint of apology on his face, though it was hard to see under his purple hair. As soon as he walked in, he felt everyone’s scorching gazes on him.

“…Did something happen?” Wu Jin’s heart rarely pounded with anxiety. Did he not do his hair properly today, revealing his face? No, that wasn’t right. The expressions on these people’s faces were not ones of amazement.

Everyone shook their heads in unison, but their eyes were still fixed on him.

Not understanding what was going on, Wu Jin decided not to overthink it. “Sorry, I was just held up by an old lady asking about that plane. You brought the plane, right?”