Chapter 331

After finishing the comic, Su Bei sat on his chair, lost in thought. He rested his chin on one hand and muttered to himself, “Looks like things won’t be peaceful from now on. I need to stick close to Jiang Tianming.”

The Black Flash Organization definitely couldn’t hide the fact that they’d lost a great treasure; they’ve probably already received the news by now. Others might not know the machine could work in reverse, but could the Black Flash Organization’s inner circle be unaware?

Since they were now collaborating with the Nightmare Beasts, they would never allow a machine that could potentially threaten the Nightmare Beast population to fall into the hands of the righteous faction.

The machine was now at the Tri-Academy Base, so it didn’t take a genius to figure out what the Black Flash Organization would do next. They would either send someone to infiltrate the base and destroy the machine, or they would tell the Nightmare Beasts, letting them launch a direct assault on the base.

But regardless of which option they chose, the base was in for a rough time.

Similar plotlines had occurred before, and the author’s solution was to split the team into two groups: one to protect everyone, and the other to handle the crisis.

If nothing unexpected happened, they would likely use the same method this time. In other words, one group would remain at the base, while the other group would deal with the meteorites or the Earth Element Nightmare Beasts.

It went without saying which team Su Bei wanted to join. He was determined to go deal with the meteorites.

He had been striving for this goal for so long. If he couldn’t participate in the final stage, he would feel regretful even if the matter was resolved. Although he usually liked to slack off, he also had a sense of ceremony.

Just as Su Bei predicted, on the third day, the number of Nightmare Beasts around the base began to increase. The Nightmare Beasts around the Tri-Academy Base had already been cleared out once, and missions were regularly issued for ability users to clean up any stragglers. The occasional one or two was understandable, but for so many to appear at once was a clear sign that something was wrong.

And the Nightmare Beasts clearly had no intention of hiding their purpose. More and more of them converged on the area, making it obvious they planned to surround them.

At this point, Su Bei was still confused. What was the point of the Nightmare Beasts doing this, other than tipping their hand? It wasn’t like the humans couldn’t leave. And it wasn’t like he was jinxing it; the Tri-Academy Base’s Interdimensional Gate couldn’t possibly be closed.

It was the lifeline of the Tri-Academy Base. To close the gate here, one would have to close it from the human world. However, the gate in the human world was jointly guarded by the three academies, surrounded by countless ability-based defenses.

If the Nightmare Beasts could exploit a loophole and forcibly close it despite all that, then the three academies might as well shut down for good to avoid misleading more students.

In the ‘King of Abilities’ comic, the academies and the government, while suffering from the usual comic book ailment of always showing up after the fact, were actually quite decent compared to other comics Su Bei had read. At least they were somewhat reliable.

This was also why Su Bei believed they wouldn’t make any major blunders.

Since everyone could retreat from the Nightmare Beast World and return to the human world at any time, what was the purpose of the Nightmare Beasts’ large-scale siege of the Tri-Academy Base?

If they wanted to destroy the base that had been built with so much effort, Su Bei could only say they were overthinking things.

Admittedly, the base was important, but what was more important was the data gathered over a long period, the staff, and the ability users active within it… Compared to these, the physical base itself was less crucial.

They could completely regroup, return to eliminate the Nightmare Beasts after reorganizing, and then rebuild the base. It wouldn’t even cost that much money.

Even changing the base’s location wouldn’t be a problem. They were familiar with the map here. They could just slowly expand a new base in this direction and eventually connect the two maps.

Su Bei felt that if he could think of this, the Nightmare Beasts couldn’t possibly be oblivious; after all, it wasn’t a difficult concept to grasp. They wouldn’t engage in a futile effort, so what was the real purpose of surrounding the base?

Soon, Su Bei had his answer.

On the fifth day of the siege, as the number of Nightmare Beasts continued to grow, the unprepared ability users began to grow restless. The Tri-Academy Base made a decisive move, deciding to first let a group of people retreat with the data.

They wouldn’t abandon the Tri-Academy Base immediately; after all, they had invested so much hard work into it. But they couldn’t do nothing in the face of the Nightmare Beasts’ determination. The various coordinates, maps, and other data in the base had to be protected at all costs, so transporting them out first was the best solution.

As for the ability users in the base, they were not in an employment relationship, so they had no obligation to defend the base to the death. However, eliminating Nightmare Beasts was the duty of an ability user, and with the large rewards promised by the base, many were willing to stay. The base didn’t force those who were unwilling; they could simply leave with the data.

However, a small mishap occurred during the retreat—the machine Jiang Tianming had brought back couldn’t pass through the Interdimensional Gate.

To be precise, it couldn’t leave the Nightmare Beast World.

With this incident, Su Bei finally figured out the Nightmare Beasts’ objective.

They didn’t want the base to research the converter. The options were to either destroy it now or fight a decisive battle with the Nightmare Beasts. In any case, the number of Nightmare Beasts in their world was practically infinite. This was their home turf. If a real battle broke out, the Tri-Academy Base would ultimately be defeated.

Not long after reaching this conclusion, Su Bei and the rest of the S-Class were summoned by Jiang Yan. When they arrived at the conference room, several adults were present besides Jiang Yan, who were presumably the leaders of the Tri-Academy Base.

Mu Tieren, whom they hadn’t seen for several days, had dark circles under his eyes. He was sitting on a chair, zoning out, and it was hard to tell if he was thinking or simply spacing out.

Everyone took their seats one by one. After they had settled, Jiang Yan stated the purpose of their meeting. “I’m sure you’ve all seen what’s been happening these past few days. The catalyst for the Nightmare Beast siege is likely the machine you brought back. It has a significant effect on them, and they want to retrieve it. The machine can’t be brought back to the human world, so we were thinking, since that’s the case, why not just destroy it? Given that you were the ones who brought it back, this meeting is primarily to seek your opinions.”

Because she wasn’t sure if Su Bei and the others knew about the connection between the Nightmare Beasts and the meteorites, Jiang Yan phrased it vaguely, only saying the machine was beneficial to the Nightmare Beasts.

However, Jiang Tianming and the others knew the truth, so there was no communication barrier. But even though he knew she was right, Jiang Tianming was slow to make a decision. He just felt that something was wrong.

Since he was still hesitating, Jiang Tianming remained silent. Su Bei watched quietly from the side. Although he was well aware that they had to reject Jiang Yan’s idea at this moment and argue forcefully with Mu Tieren to keep the machine for further research, he didn’t speak up.

Su Bei trusted Jiang Tianming, believing he would surely realize this point. Since he could refuse, why should Su Bei be the one to speak? He was the one who brought the machine back; this was his moment.

Sure enough, as Jiang Yan and the others began to grow puzzled, Jiang Tianming finally looked up, his gaze firm, and said, “I’m sorry, but I believe we cannot destroy this converter.”

Without waiting for Jiang Yan to ask, he took the initiative to explain further, “If, as you say, the Nightmare Beasts’ goal is to reclaim the machine, it’s impossible that they wouldn’t have considered that once they besieged us, we would definitely destroy it if we couldn’t take it with us. This contradicts your theory about their intentions.”

His logic was simple: the Nightmare Beasts clearly wanted to pressure them into destroying the machine, so they should do the opposite. Keeping the machine was the best choice for them.

After he finished, Jiang Yan pondered for a moment. “Actually, we’ve also considered this point—that the Nightmare Beasts might have another objective. But if it falls back into their hands, it will surely bring us nothing but harm. So, destroying it is still for the best. We can’t take such a huge risk for a machine with unknown benefits.”

“Um… I think I might know why they want us to destroy the machine.” Mu Tieren, who had been spacing out for a long time, seemed to have finally made up his mind. He resolutely raised his hand. “My research has yielded some results.”

With that, he took out a diagram he had made and displayed it. “This machine isn’t one-way. In fact, based on my research, its original function was likely the exact opposite of its current one: to convert meteorites into other types of stone, and to convert Earth Element Nightmare Beasts into other elemental types.”

He paused, letting the others process the meaning of his words, before continuing, “Through the researcher’s ingenious design, the machine’s function was successfully reversed, turning it into what it is now. But if you give me some time, I think I should be able to change it back to its original state.”

Instantly, the conference room fell silent. Jiang Yan and the others who knew the full story were naturally aware of what a massive boost it would be to their ultimate goal of completely eradicating the Nightmare Beasts if Mu Tieren could actually succeed.

Even though he himself wasn’t certain of success, and they would pay a heavy price if he failed, the immense potential benefit still made Jiang Yan’s heart race.

She glanced back at the leader and could tell with a single look that he was also hesitating. Jiang Yan pressed her lips together, and when she spoke again, her tone was persuasive. “If Mu Tieren can truly succeed, then any price we pay will be worth it. Besides, we can still leave at any time, can’t we? If we just leave like this, we might miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At that point, we would be sinners to the entire human world.”

Towards the end of her persuasion, her tone had become completely resolute, carrying a hint of “If you don’t agree, I’ll force you to agree.”

The leader looked at her for a few moments, then suddenly smiled. “It seems you’ve already made your decision. In that case, I support you. I’ll give you one week. We can hold out for a week at most. If there are still no results from the research after one week, everyone will leave together, with no delays.”

One had to admit, he was quick to pass the buck, shifting the responsibility onto Jiang Yan in an instant. If they succeeded, it would be due to his foresight; if they failed, it would be Jiang Yan’s reckless insistence.

But Jiang Yan had no objection. Having decided to support Mu Tieren, she was already prepared to bear all the consequences herself. She was willing to gamble her future for that possibility. Compared to completely eradicating the Nightmare Beasts, her future wasn’t even worth putting on the table.

An agreement was quickly reached. The leader would be responsible for communicating this to the people outside and insisting on their plan to stay. Everyone else, except for Mu Tieren, would be responsible for holding out for the week.

As for Mu Tieren, it went without saying that his only responsibility was the research.

Su Bei’s dream was shattered. He hadn’t planned on slacking off during this incident, but that was limited to eliminating the meteorites, not serving as manual labor for the Tri-Academy Base!

Now, the situation was that Mu Tieren would continue his research on the machine, while the rest of them began urgent preparations for battle.

Initially, the base leadership intended to bring in some ability users to help with the preparations and compensate for their lack of manpower.

But Jiang Tianming, upon learning of this, quickly stepped in to stop them, giving a very legitimate reason: “The Black Flash Organization has moles in many places, right? If we happen to recruit a few moles, the plan could fail immediately. It’s best to use our existing ability users; at least they’re completely reliable.”

It was true. Sometimes, a single mole could be more effective than a thousand enemies. In their current situation, bringing in a mole would just add to the chaos.

The leader was willing to hold out for a week because he hoped Mu Tieren would succeed. He had to avoid any potential complications. So, after hearing Jiang Tianming’s reasoning, he decisively gave up on seeking external help and decided to close the Interdimensional Gate one-way after sending out the important data, ensuring that everyone would have to make a last stand this week.

Learning of this move, Ai Baozhu wore a complicated expression. “Is this guy a coward or is he bold?”

If you called him bold, well, he had passed the buck right at the start of the incident. Even his agreement had sounded a lot like he was being coerced by Jiang Yan. But if you called him a coward, he was also the one who, under pressure, insisted they stay here, putting life and death aside.

“Human nature is complex,” Zhao Xiaoyu said calmly. “Let’s just discuss how to deal with the impending beast tide.”

Compared to a large-scale beast tide in the normal world, the small-scale one here had its pros and cons. The advantage was that the area was smaller, allowing them to concentrate their defensive forces. The Tri-Academy Base fortress itself was also very sturdy and couldn’t be easily breached. The supplies inside were abundant, enough to last for a week without any problem.

The disadvantage was also obvious. Just as their forces were concentrated, so too could the Nightmare Beasts’ forces be. And no matter what, this was the Nightmare Beast World, their natural home turf.

Fortunately, their goal wasn’t to defeat the enemy, but to hold out for a week. This was a comic book world, and Su Bei believed that one week would definitely be enough time for Mu Tieren to achieve a breakthrough.

In that case, it was time for him to prepare for a rainy day.

Once Mu Tieren developed the reverse converter, their job would be to use this machine to eliminate the meteorites. It would be impossible to convert all the meteorites, but they could start with the large ones.

As soon as the large meteorites were converted, it would immediately deal a heavy blow to the Nightmare Beast World. The remaining small ones would just be a matter of time.

According to the data from the ‘Destiny’ organization, or rather, from the world settings supplemented by the author, those few large meteorites were the reason for the continuous birth of Nightmare Beasts. The smaller meteorite fragments served to maintain the environment of the Nightmare Beast World.

The latter also needed to be eliminated, of course. Otherwise, as long as the Nightmare Beast World existed, the countless Nightmare Beasts could continue to exist and even evolve. But the most important thing was to eliminate the large meteorites first.

As an intelligence officer, Su Bei instantly knew what he had to do. His job was, naturally, to provide the coordinates of those large meteorites so that Jiang Tianming and the others could find them smoothly.

Understanding this, Su Bei opened his notebook to review the data. The large meteorites were commonly called “Boundary Stones,” and they were important pillars supporting the Nightmare Beast World.

The ‘Destiny’ organization truly lived up to its reputation as an intelligence organization personally established by the ‘Manga Consciousness’. It had records of a total of five Boundary Stones and their specific locations. Considering the Nightmare Beast World had virtually no coordinate system, the specific locations recorded in the organization’s files were not based on coordinates, but on items.

That is, the organization had items that could directly teleport someone to the vicinity of a Boundary Stone.

A bit too omnipotent, isn’t it? Su Bei couldn’t help but marvel internally. Then, with a wave of his hand, he redeemed all of those teleportation items.

Surprisingly, they weren’t expensive. Of course, ‘not expensive’ was relative to Su Bei, the leader of the organization; for others, they were still very costly. But in Su Bei’s eyes, the price of the items was far less than their value.

But he quickly figured it out. He was certain that Mu Tieren’s research would succeed. At that time, they would only need to feed the meteorites into the machine to complete the conversion in an instant, so he felt these teleportation items would be incredibly useful.

But others didn’t have the machine. Trying to destroy a Boundary Stone with bare hands was nearly impossible. Plus, the Boundary Stones were certainly guarded by more than one powerful Advanced Nightmare Beast, making their destruction even more difficult. So, in the eyes of others, these teleportation items were probably just for sightseeing or a suicide mission, so their price naturally wouldn’t be high.

The reason a few had been redeemed was likely by those who were overconfident in their strength and wanted to give it a try. Every attempt ended in silence. If anyone had managed to achieve anything, these teleportation talismans wouldn’t be so obscure.

“Are there only five Boundary Stones in total?” Su Bei asked suddenly, looking at the five teleportation talismans.

“…”

After a moment of silence, the Manga Consciousness gave its answer: “Sorry, I can’t give spoilers.”

So there’s a sixth one, Su Bei instantly understood. If there were really only five, the Manga Consciousness could have just said so directly.

It was a good thing he discovered this in advance. Su Bei felt a wave of fear. If they had started their operation only to find out there was another Boundary Stone to deal with, he didn’t know how desperate he would have been.

He knew that with something like this, if you didn’t succeed on the first try, executing the plan a second time would be exponentially harder. A Boundary Stone protected by the entire Nightmare Beast World would be nearly impossible to destroy again.

After a moment of thought, Su Bei directly posted a bounty in the ‘Destiny’ organization for the location of the sixth Boundary Stone.

That’s right, in his view, he only needed to put out a bounty for one.

There weren’t many people in the class who could actually complete this mission: himself, the main trio, Qi Huang, and Si Zhaohua. No one else.

Although Zhao Xiaoyu’s ability was the bane of Nightmare Beasts, it wasn’t very effective against the top-tier Nightmare Beasts guarding the Boundary Stones yet. Wu Jin couldn’t mesmerize Advanced Nightmare Beasts either. Ling You’s ability was more effective against low and intermediate-tier Nightmare Beasts, so she also couldn’t undertake the mission. Ai Baozhu and Ling You could be useful, but they weren’t the type to face danger head-on, so they could also be excluded. Zhou Renjie couldn’t swallow multiple Advanced Nightmare Beasts at once, and there was no need for him to take such risks now.

Mu Tieren was a researcher, and since he already had a role, the author probably wouldn’t have him appear on the front lines again. The same applied to Feng Lan.

Therefore, there were six people who could go. According to the laws of comics, there should also be six Boundary Stones.

Su Bei wasn’t sure if anyone would take this bounty. He had offered enough points, but the location of the sixth Boundary Stone might be unknown to anyone. No matter how much money was offered, it would be a seller’s market with no sellers.

But he figured that if he couldn’t find an answer, the author would probably find a way for Jiang Tianming to stumble upon the sixth Boundary Stone by coincidence. He thought uncertainly, wondering how the author had arranged it all.

After finishing his preparations, the bored Su Bei had another curious question. Given that there were so many powerful ability users at the base, how would the task of clearing the meteorites fall to Jiang Tianming and the others?

No matter how you looked at it, they wouldn’t let a few students complete such a mission.

In terms of both strength and experience, Jiang Tianming and his team were not up to the task. Besides, their status as minors was a major limitation. Any conscientious adult, if they had any other choice, would not let minors put themselves in such a dangerous situation.

Soon, Su Bei got the answer to his question. The one who came to find him was Feng Lan. And he was extremely pale, his lips completely colorless. Seeing him like this, Su Bei’s first reaction was that he had been injured somewhere. But there was no smell of blood on him, and knowing Feng Lan well enough, Su Bei quickly realized he had probably used his Prophecy ability, and had foreseen something “big.”

The moment Feng Lan arrived, his expression grave, he first activated an item to block abilities, then spoke seriously to the group, “In the future I foresaw, the people the base sends to convert the meteorites will fail. Because the moment they disappear from the main battlefield, the Nightmare Beasts notice something is wrong and discover our plan.”

His prophecies were rarely this precise. This time, knowing the importance of their task, he had used his mental energy without regard for the cost when he sensed a bad future, prophesying a specific outcome.

“Have you told Teacher Jiang about this?” Jiang Tianming was the first to ask.

Feng Lan shook his head. “Not yet.”

In this unfamiliar place, facing a critical mission that concerned the entire human world, and knowing that the team arranged by the base would run into trouble, the only people he could trust were his classmates.

Jiang Tianming thought for a moment. “In the future you foresaw, the reason those people were discovered was because they weren’t on the battlefield, so their absence was noticed. This means the Nightmare Beasts have been constantly monitoring the ability users of the Tri-Academy Base, allowing them to immediately notice if anyone disappears.”

But that was normal. The Tri-Academy Base was established in the Nightmare Beast World, posing a great threat to the Nightmare Beasts themselves, so being constantly watched was to be expected. And a new batch of ability users only came in every six months. Unless they were “transfer students” like them, the number of people wouldn’t change for a while, making it valuable to collect information on them.

However, this also meant— “Does that mean we aren’t under the Nightmare Beasts’ observation?”

Lan Subing was the one who asked this, getting to the heart of the matter immediately.

Jiang Tianming, who had the same thought, nodded and said, “I was thinking the same thing. In that case, we’ll be the ones to complete this mission.”