Chapter 330

With his clue, Wu Mingbai directly used his ability to probe underground. The protective barrier didn’t just block Mental Energy; it could resist abilities as well. But this only confirmed that there was indeed a problem below. Otherwise, if it were just a patch of wasteland, who would bother using an item to conceal it so secretively?

“Hold on, let me see if there’s an entrance.” Wu Mingbai’s ability was far stronger than before. He could thoroughly explore an area ten times this size, let alone this small patch of land.

Using his Earth Element, he slowly probed outward along the barrier. Within just five minutes, Wu Mingbai had already mapped out the approximate scope of the entire underground space.

“Found it! We have to go that way. There’s a concealed space over there that connects directly to the surface; that should be the entrance,” Wu Mingbai said, retracting his ability and preparing to lead the group in that direction.

But Jiang Tianming quickly stopped him. “Wait. Is there another way in? If there are people down there, won’t we be exposed immediately by going through the main entrance?”

That was true, but it wasn’t that Wu Mingbai hadn’t considered it. He shook his head. “There’s no other way. My ability can’t penetrate any other area; we can only go through the entrance.”

In that case, there was no other option. Jiang Tianming decisively changed his approach. “Then we can’t all go down together. Let one person go first to check the situation.”

Now the question was, who would be the one to stick their neck out?

Though the saying goes that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, there was no one present who shied away from trouble. In fact, some of them actively sought it out.

Seeing Jiang Tianming and the other two already vying for the chance to go down, Su Bei, Zhao Xiaoyu, and Ling You watched from the side like it was a show. Every team needed good, unassuming people like them to give others the opportunity to shine.

“We really are such good people,” he thought, unable to resist sighing aloud. In response, he earned strange looks from Zhao Xiaoyu and Ling You.

She wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but Zhao Xiaoyu wasn’t the type to retort like Lan Subing. Instead of a comeback, she was more interested in gleaning useful information from his words. “Do you mean there’s something good down there?”

“Not exactly, but there’s definitely the kind of excitement they’re looking for down there,” Su Bei said with a slight smile, then quickly added, “But I don’t know specifically what it is.”

That last sentence stopped Zhao Xiaoyu from asking further questions. She fell silent, a thoughtful expression on her face. Something exciting, but not necessarily good or bad. To her, that meant there were definite risks, but no guarantee of a reward.

So, not going was the right decision. Zhao Xiaoyu valued stability far more than some unknown reward.

Ling You had a different thought. Though she was usually quiet, she wasn’t without opinions. “Are we sure we don’t need to report this to the teachers first?”

It was one thing when they didn’t know about the danger, but now that Su Bei had explicitly said there was a problem, not reporting it to the teachers seemed like asking for trouble.

Hearing her question from a short distance away, Jiang Tianming took the initiative to explain. “Here’s my thinking: skillfully using an item to block both abilities and Mental Energy doesn’t seem like something a Nightmare Beast could do. And if it’s man-made, for them to establish an underground space so close to the Tri-Academy Base, there must be a mole inside. If we report this rashly, won’t we just be tipping them off?”

If this were the territory of Nightmare Beasts, there would be no need for such concern. It’s very difficult for Nightmare Beasts to plant moles among humans. Everyone entering or leaving the Tri-Academy Base is scanned by a special detector at the gate for any traces of them. As for the high-level personnel working on the seventh floor, they undergo a full-body check-up daily.

In the real world, such frequent check-ups for high-level staff would be unnecessary. But this was the Nightmare Beast World, so they couldn’t be too careful. If even one high-level person in the base fell under the control of a Nightmare Beast, every Ability user there would face annihilation, and all the efforts of the three academies would be wasted. They had no choice but to be extremely cautious.

However, it was a different story if the enemy was human. People were not as guarded against their own kind, so who knew who in the base might be a mole.

His reasoning successfully convinced Ling You. The green-haired girl nodded. “Alright, then. But I assume it’s okay to tell our homeroom teacher?”

Anyone else, even their supervising teacher Jiang Yan, could potentially be a problem, but Meng Huai was definitely safe. It wasn’t just that they trusted their homeroom teacher, although that was true. The main reason for this conclusion was that he wasn’t even at the Tri-Academy Base and wasn’t privy to its internal affairs. How could he possibly be the mole?

“That’s fine,” Jiang Tianming nodded. “You can contact Teacher Meng, and we’ll head down now.”

This was the outcome of their discussion. Three people wasn’t too many, and besides, three others would be waiting for them on the surface, so there was no need to restrict it to just one person.

Ling You glanced at him but ultimately swallowed the words she wanted to say: “Can’t we just wait for our teacher to arrive instead of going in?” She knew it was impossible to stop this group from taking risks, so there was no point in arguing.

With no particular task assigned to him, Su Bei stood to the side, watching Wu Mingbai dig the hole. Suddenly, the voice of the Manga Consciousness echoed in his mind: “I thought you would go down with them.”

As the world’s consciousness, while it didn’t fully grasp Su Bei’s thoughts, it knew exactly why he had come here. Su Bei wanted to be involved in the story’s conclusion, and this place below was clearly a key location. Why wouldn’t he go in?

“Because it’s too early,” Su Bei replied, shaking his head. “The author gave us a month. There’s no way it would end in the first week. It’s far from time.”

After a moment’s thought, he added, “Besides, I don’t think they can eliminate all the meteorite dust in just one trip. That would be too absurd.”

The Nightmare Beasts wouldn’t have gathered all the meteorite dust in one spot just to let someone wipe it out in a single sweep. Even an idiot would know that under the current circumstances, scattering it across every corner of the Nightmare Beast World was the best way to protect it.

Then again, even now, he couldn’t figure out how the main group was supposed to eliminate all the meteorite dust by themselves. It might be possible ten years in the future, but right now, no matter how gifted they were, they were still just students.

He had even speculated before that some kind of time-turner might appear to swap them with their selves from ten years in the future. Or maybe they would be sent ten years into the future for a training arc, like a common trope in a certain manga.

He didn’t hide this thought from the Manga Consciousness, whose voice immediately took on a strange tone. “You certainly have a vivid imagination, but a specific trope like that can’t be used here. Besides, it’s not necessary.”

‘Not necessary?’ What wasn’t necessary? Su Bei sharply picked up on a new piece of information. Based on the context, what the Manga Consciousness meant by ‘not necessary’ was that overwhelming power wasn’t required to eliminate the meteorite dust.

If not strength, then what? It had to be external factors, like items or teamwork.

Regardless, this underground space would likely give him some inspiration.

In the blink of an eye, Wu Mingbai had finished digging the entrance and jumped down, followed by Jiang Tianming and Si Zhaohua. Looking at the Minor Destiny Pointers above their heads, Su Bei knew that this trip was unlikely to end well.

Not long after they had gone in, Meng Huai sent a reply to Ling You.

[I’ll Die If It’s A Bother: Tell them to mark the coordinates and return to the base first.]

[I’ll Die If It’s A Bother: …They’ve already gone in, haven’t they?]

[I’ll Die If It’s A Bother: Did they bring the teleportation spheres Teacher Lei gave them?]

Ling You, who had just seen the messages, quickly explained the situation. Once Meng Huai knew they had the teleportation spheres with them, he wasn’t as worried. He didn’t say anything else, simply telling her to have them report back on what they found once they were out.

Just as Su Bei predicted, less than an hour later, Jiang Tianming’s group returned the way they came, looking like they were fleeing for their lives. As they leaped out of the hole, Jiang Tianming, clutching a teleportation sphere, yelled urgently to the three bewildered onlookers, “Run! We stole their stuff!”

Su Bei reacted first, immediately crushing a teleportation sphere and returning to the base. With his lead, Zhao Xiaoyu and Ling You quickly followed suit, and Jiang Tianming’s trio was right behind them.

The teleportation spheres transported them to the room where they had first arrived at the Tri-Academy Base. This room was specifically designed to receive teleporting Ability users, so it was manned at all times.

Seeing all six of them appear in the room simultaneously, the man on duty for reception jumped to his feet in shock. “What’s going on? There was no notice of any new arrivals today!”

“We aren’t newcomers, we’re… never mind. Could you please find Teacher Jiang Yan for us? We’re her students,” Jiang Tianming said politely.

Seeing his humble and polite demeanor, Su Bei might have actually believed nothing had happened down there if it weren’t for the fact that Jiang Tianming was covered in dust and grime, looking like he’d just been in a fight.

Jiang Yan arrived quickly. She had clearly received some information from Meng Huai, as her face was stern. After a brief word with the staff member, she led the students away.

Once they were in her office, Jiang Yan got straight to the point. “Where did you go? What did you find?”

“We believe it was a research base for the Black Flash Organization. I saw their black lightning bolt insignia on the back of a staff member’s neck,” Jiang Tianming replied. “As for what we found… this appears to be some kind of machine related to the Earth Element ability.”

As he spoke, Wu Mingbai took a silver machine, roughly the size of two people, out of his storage space. He then explained, “We overheard that this device can simulate the creation of various types of stone and can also convert Nightmare Beasts of other attributes, turning them into Earth-attribute ones.”

“Is this related to that incident?” Jiang Yan muttered to herself before quickly collecting her thoughts. “I see. Rest assured, the Tri-Academy Base will conduct a thorough investigation into this matter.”

The next second, the voice of the Manga Consciousness sounded in Su Bei’s ear: “King of Abilities has been updated. Please check for new content.”

The manga update was expected. Su Bei was only momentarily distracted by the notification before his focus returned to the machine.

Without a doubt, this was a machine created by the Black Flash Organization to help the Fallen Meteorite better “survive.”

So, this whole incident was just about thwarting one of the Black Flash Organization’s schemes?

Something didn’t feel right.

Su Bei’s brows furrowed. This was completely different from his earlier speculation. He had thought this event would provide him with some inspiration, but it turned out to be just a minor side quest related to the main plot.

Just then, Jiang Yan’s phone rang. She glanced at it and said to the group, “The rest of your classmates are back. I’ll go get them. Wait here; I’ll bring them over shortly.”

Of course, she wasn’t calling them over for a discussion but to reprimand them all collectively. Jiang Yan was a firm believer in collective punishment; based on her past experience, it was the most effective way to handle students.

Lan Subing and the others arrived shortly and heard about the day’s events from Jiang Tianming. But before Jiang Yan could begin her lecture, Mu Tieren suddenly spoke up. “Teacher, may I study this machine? I think I might be able to figure something out from it.”

He himself was a cyborg and could even transform his limbs into various mechanical devices. Like a patient who becomes an expert on their own illness, his understanding of machinery far surpassed that of an ordinary person. In fact, before Mu Tieren awakened his ability, a certain ‘Doctor Mu’ had been raising him as a successor, teaching him all the relevant knowledge. Doctor Mu’s original plan was for the boy to be able to modify and repair his own parts to survive even after he was gone.

But plans never go as expected; he ended up awakening an ability.

The machine’s appearance and function reminded him of a nutrient converter Doctor Mu had researched. This gave Mu Tieren a hunch that he could use his existing knowledge to study the device and perhaps make it serve a positive purpose.

However, since he wasn’t certain how much he could accomplish, he stated ambiguously that he could “study” it.

At his words, it wasn’t just Jiang Yan; the other S-Class students also stared at him in shock. Zhao Xiaoyu glanced hesitantly from the silver machine to Mu Tieren. “Class Rep, I had no idea you were talented in this area.”

Su Bei was also inwardly shocked, as he suddenly realized that the key to connecting this incident with the goal of eliminating Nightmare Beasts might very well lie in Mu Tieren’s research.

And this machine, which could convert ordinary stone into meteorite dust and change other elements into the earth element…

“Well, after all, I am…” Mu Tieren gave an embarrassed smile. “It’s just that I’ve never had a chance to put it to use before.”

That was true. In the Ability World, very few people had abilities related to machines, and consequently, very few bothered to study the subject. It was a niche field within an already specialized world.

Many people, in fact, had abandoned their original paths in life after awakening an ability. But sometimes, that original path was the one that suited them best.

The matter was too important, and Jiang Yan, not knowing Mu Tieren well, couldn’t make the decision herself. “I’ll need to ask Meng Huai. If he has no objections, then I have none either.”

In truth, if the Tri-Academy Base had obtained the machine through its own channels, she would never have allowed a sixteen-year-old to experiment with such a sophisticated piece of equipment. What if he broke it?

But since Jiang Tianming’s group had acquired it, she had to consider their wishes. It was clear they all wanted to let Mu Tieren try, so she wasn’t going to be the one to stand in their way. As long as Meng Huai, their homeroom teacher, gave his approval, she was fine with it.

After all, while the machine was important as proof of the collaboration between the Black Flash Organization and the Nightmare Beasts, it was ultimately slated for destruction. Leaving such a device in the world would only create opportunities for the Nightmare Beasts. Even as evidence, it was too dangerous to keep.

Besides, the fact that the Black Flash Organization was working with the Nightmare Beasts was already a certainty. One more or less piece of evidence wouldn’t change anything.

With this interruption, Jiang Yan forgot all about her planned lecture. Once she received an affirmative reply from Meng Huai, she took Mu Tieren with her and dismissed the rest of the students.

“I’m heading back to my room, then,” Su Bei said with a casual wave, turning to return to his dormitory.

Why the rush to get back? He wanted to read the manga. Su Bei knew they would have answered his questions if he had asked. He probably could have gotten all the information he wanted just by joining them for dinner.

But their verbal account could never be as clear as what the manga would show. Moreover, Su Bei was looking for specifics, details that Jiang Tianming’s group would undoubtedly overlook in their retelling.

He already had his suspicions, guessing that the answer he sought was connected to Mu Tieren. But what if he was wrong? What if the author had hidden a clue somewhere along the way?

Since he hadn’t played a major role in this chapter, Su Bei could focus solely on the plot. He quickly skipped past the initial parts describing the environment of the Tri-Academy Base and the students’ adaptation period. It had been novel at first, but a week later, it held no interest for him.

Just as he had initially thought, staying in this place long-term would drive anyone mad. After just over a week, he was already starting to feel a physical aversion to his own room.

A colorless world was disorienting enough, but his room was also incredibly small and cramped. Unless someone was utterly destitute, few people in the outside world would willingly live in such conditions.

Soon, the plot in the manga reached the part where they discovered the underground facility. Jiang Tianming had cleverly activated his Ability Nullification as they entered, completely disabling the ability-detection device at the entrance and allowing them to slip inside unnoticed.

Reading this, Su Bei shook his head. The Black Flash Organization clearly had advanced technology, but their research was so heavily skewed toward abilities that it left them vulnerable to such simple exploits.

Still, it was understandable. Supernatural powers like abilities were a natural counter to technology. Surveillance cameras, listening devices, sensors—all could be turned into useless scrap by ability interference. As a result, the Ability World had never placed much importance on technological advancement.

The consequence of this imbalanced development, however, was being exploited at critical moments by someone with a cheat-like power like Jiang Tianming.

The underground space was actually a research laboratory. Lining the corridors were numerous blue containers, each holding a Nightmare Beast—and all of them were elemental types.

The most significant difference between elemental Nightmare Beasts and other types is that their corresponding elements can be sensed with Mental Energy. For an elemental Ability user, this perception is even more acute.

Take Wu Mingbai, for example. He almost immediately sensed the common trait among these Nightmare Beasts. However, lacking inside knowledge, the group didn’t think much of it. If Su Bei had been there, he likely would have understood what they were researching at once.

The concentration of the Earth Element within Wu Mingbai was so high that he could resonate with the earth itself. He precisely detected movement from another area and pulled the other two aside to hide.

A few seconds later, several people in white lab coats rounded the corner and walked over to one of the containment units. The leader tapped on the unit a few times, releasing the unconscious Nightmare Beast inside, and then gestured for the others to carry it away.

Jiang Tianming’s group secretly tailed them to another laboratory and managed to overhear the subject of their research.

Unfortunately, before they could hear the full conversation, just as one researcher was saying, “If you ask me, we should just reverse the research process like we did before…,” they were discovered.

Seeing the researcher’s words, Su Bei’s eyes lit up. This was exactly what he had been thinking! If Mu Tieren could figure out how to make the machine operate in reverse, it could truly solve a massive problem for them.

Normally, making a machine run in reverse is as difficult as building an entirely new one; forward and reverse processes are fundamentally different.

But from the researcher’s words in the manga, he could infer that they had first researched how to turn Earth-element Nightmare Beasts into other elemental types and how to turn meteorite dust into ordinary stone.

The change in research direction likely happened only a few months ago, after the leader of the Black Flash Organization realized Nightmare Beasts couldn’t be turned back into humans.

From this, he could deduce that they had created the new machine simply by reversing the process of their original research. There’s no way they could have developed it from scratch so quickly.

Since the new research was just an evolution of the old, reverting it back was definitely possible. Su Bei was now almost one hundred percent certain that Mu Tieren could produce the results he was hoping for.

With that settled in his mind, Su Bei read the rest of the chapter purely for entertainment.

After being discovered, the trio agreed on a rendezvous point and split up, each taking a different route to escape.

As always, Jiang Tianming had the worst luck; the largest security team was on his tail. They pursued him relentlessly. If not for his wide array of abilities, which he used to constantly catch them off guard, he would have been captured long ago.

But as everyone knows, danger often comes with opportunity—and this was Jiang Tianming, after all. Even while fleeing, he kept an eye on his pursuers and quickly noticed they grew especially tense and their attacks became more aggressive whenever he veered to the right.

This small detail made him realize there must be something important in that direction. He immediately headed right and found the lab containing their research results.

Using his Ability Nullification, he threw open the lab doors, snatched the machine inside like a robber, stuffed it into his storage ring, and promptly resumed his escape.

The rest of the story was exactly as Su Bei already knew: Jiang Tianming met up with the others, they escaped the underground lab, and used the teleportation spheres to get away.

The moment they left, the people from the facility swarmed out like ants, staring into the vast, foggy landscape and fuming with helpless rage.