Chapter 334

Along with the gushing blood came large, glistening teardrops. Lan Subing’s eyes were rimmed with red as she asked, unwilling to accept it, “If his ability… failed, why didn’t he come out? Why… why didn’t he just come out?”

After a brief moment of grief, she chose to continue using her Word Spirit on one target after another, attempting to find Su Bei. She refused to believe that Su Bei was truly dead.

Just then, Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua suddenly landed behind her. Noticing Lan Subing’s almost frantic actions, Wu Mingbai asked in astonishment, “Bing, what’s wrong with you? What are you talking about? What happened to Su Bei?”

Lan Subing didn’t answer, continuing to use her ability. Seeing her irrational state and concerned for her safety, Wu Mingbai chopped the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious. He then looked at the other two people on the phone screen and asked with a frown, “What happened?”

“…Su Bei, it seems Su Bei…” Qi Huang couldn’t bring herself to say it. Her eyes had turned red at some point as well. A look of devastation appeared in her usually bold and confident red eyes.

In the end, it was Jiang Tianming who explained what happened. “To save us, Su Bei exhausted his life force and vanished. We can’t find where he went.”

“Save… us?” Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua exchanged a bewildered glance, both seeing the utter disbelief in each other’s eyes.

They thought back to the strange situation that had just occurred.

Si Zhaohua’s sky-blue eyes narrowed slightly as he muttered to himself, “Just now, two of the Nightmare Beasts chasing us suddenly collapsed. Those two gave me an extreme sense of crisis, as if we were going to die at their hands.”

“I had that feeling too…” Wu Mingbai clutched his chest, his eyes filled with disbelief. “Su Bei… for us?”

Beside him, Si Zhaohua forced a grim smile. “You’re joking, right? How could Su Bei possibly die to save us? He must have run away in the chaos, just like every other time, right?”

No one answered. The air was deathly silent.

“This isn’t funny,” Wu Mingbai insisted, his brow tightly furrowed. He gripped his phone, his voice almost pleading as he questioned Jiang Tianming on the other end of the screen, “You must be joking, right?!”

“…”

Although they knew it was impossible for everyone to joke about something like this, the two of them still refused to believe it. Without having seen Su Bei’s death with their own eyes, they couldn’t believe that the omnipotent Su Bei could actually die, let alone die to save them.

Ha! What a joke!

Si Zhaohua’s hand clenched the resurrection feather on his chest, his grip growing tighter and tighter. As if to reassure the others, and perhaps to convince himself, he said, “Su Bei is from the ‘Destiny’ organization. He has so many items. I even have a resurrection item, so how could he not have one? He must have quietly resurrected somewhere we don’t know about.”

That’s right! A resurrection item! A glimmer of hope was instantly rekindled in everyone.

Although Jiang Tianming’s sensor hadn’t detected Su Bei’s presence earlier, his hair would naturally lose its effect after death. Even if he resurrected afterward, it couldn’t be detected.

“Su Bei will definitely be fine!” As if he had found a life-saving straw, Jiang Tianming quickly pulled himself together. Despite having witnessed Su Bei turn to dust with his own eyes, he now spoke with extreme conviction. “He told us to apologize to him afterward, so he must still be alive!”

Qi Huang still retained a shred of common sense. “But dying in the Nightmare Beast World isn’t…”

—Isn’t it impossible to be resurrected?

“He definitely can!” Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua said in unison, then clamped their jaws shut and said no more.

Qi Huang didn’t speak again either. She also hoped Su Bei could survive. All that common sense could be thrown to the wind. This was Su Bei, after all! He could always find a way, right?

Of course, Su Bei was still alive.

He wasn’t an idiot who would willingly trade his life for two others. While it was true that he had developed feelings for the members of S-Class and hoped they would live well, it didn’t mean he was willing to truly give up his own life for them.

After all, the ultimate goal he had been striving for all this time was simply to stay alive. To give it all up at the final moment would be putting the cart before the horse, wouldn’t it?

If he didn’t have life-saving items, he wouldn’t have made such a swift decision. Or rather, if he hadn’t been 90% certain he would survive, he might not have stepped in to save them at all.

Feeling the long-lost emptiness in his chest, Su Bei, lying on his back in bed, sighed silently.

His resurrection this time relied on two items: one was a “Substitute Doll,” and the other was a Life Stone necklace.

The former’s function was to have a person swap places with the “Substitute Doll” upon death. He would come back to life where the doll originally was, while the doll would go to the place he died and die in his stead.

Of course, he hadn’t actually died. He had used the “Substitute Doll” a second before his mental energy was depleted, which was how he managed to successfully “resurrect” and return to the real world despite the restrictions of the Nightmare Beast World.

Hopefully, Jiang Tianming and the others would see that doll. With their intelligence, they should be able to guess that he hadn’t died. Otherwise, the group would have grieved for nothing.

However, the drawback of the “Substitute Doll” was also very obvious. He was now lying in bed, completely unable to move. Besides breathing and blinking, he had almost no room for any other action.

His ability and Mental Energy were completely sealed, no different from an ordinary person. Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was a quadriplegic patient.

But an Ability user’s physical constitution was still there. Going without food and water for three days wouldn’t have a major impact on Su Bei. It would just be a bit difficult to endure.

As for the Life Stone, it was an item that allowed Su Bei to reduce the cost.

The “Substitute Doll” only restored life; it didn’t have the effect of restoring youth. If it were a normal accidental death, the “Substitute Doll” could have restored him to his original state.

But the problem was that he had died from exhausting his life force, which was equivalent to dying at the age of one hundred. In that case, even if he were successfully resurrected, he would still be one hundred years old and would die again within minutes.

But with the Life Stone, there was nothing to fear. The function of the Life Stone was to replenish a person’s entire life force. The two items worked in tandem, eliminating any drawbacks to Su Bei’s resurrection. He was still a fifteen-year-old youth with full life force. As long as he endured this half-year, he would be up and about again.

That night, Su Bei heard the voice of the Manga Consciousness: “‘King of Abilities’ has been updated. Please check for details.”

After this official notification, the Manga Consciousness’s voice carried a rare hint of joy. “The author has completely given up on targeting you this time! From now on, you are a completely free person. As long as you don’t deliberately sabotage the plot, you will no longer be subject to any of the comic’s restrictions!”

Hearing this, the first thought that crossed Su Bei’s mind was—I bet right!

Just as he had thought, the author truly didn’t want the characters they created to die. It was just that, perhaps for some reason, they had to be written off at that moment.

His act of saving them had satisfied the author’s needs, which in turn led the author to give up targeting him.

At this point, Su Bei was clearly and thoroughly liberated. He no longer had to worry about the author making sneaky moves against him if he didn’t participate in the plot, nor did he have to worry about the occasional plot-induced death. More importantly, he didn’t have to constantly think about how to get involved in the story.

Su Bei tried to lift the corners of his mouth to form a smile, but unfortunately, he couldn’t succeed. However, that didn’t stop the unrestrained joy from flowing out of his eyes.

After hustling and bustling for so long, it was only at this moment that he finally tasted the fruits of victory. For the price of just two items and half a year of his time, he had completely broken free from the shackles of the plot. It was worth it!

The voice of the Manga Consciousness was tinged with a bit of sadness, but it was mostly happy for him. “Well then, I’ll be going offline. I hope your life gets better and better from now on, and that you never face danger again.”

“I won’t be able to call you anymore?” Hearing its words, Su Bei was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly asked in his mind.

“You still can, but since you are now detached from the comic and have no direct connection with me, I may not be able to reply in a timely manner,” the Manga Consciousness answered.

Upon hearing this, Su Bei said softly in his mind, “Then I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on me.”

The Manga Consciousness paused for a moment, then finally promised, “Okay.”

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Why does everyone think the protagonist actually died? Isn’t it obviously a fake death? [melting]