Chapter 336

Taking advantage of the fact that ‘Manga Consciousness’ seemed to have a lot of free time, Su Bei decided to ask all his curious questions at once: “Then what would the author have done if I hadn’t saved them?”

Although he already had an answer in his heart, he was still a little curious.

“This answer isn’t very pleasant…” ‘Manga Consciousness’ hesitated, not answering immediately.

Hearing this, Su Bei sneered, “When has this world ever been pleasant to me?”

Alright, that was a fair point. ‘Manga Consciousness’ stopped being coy: “He would have continued trying to kill you, and with even more intensity. The author didn’t want Si Zhaohua and Wu Mingbai to die. If you hadn’t saved them, not only would he have lost the bet, but he would have also lost two important characters. It would’ve been a double loss. An author in a bad mood is not as easy to deal with as before.”

It was just as Su Bei had thought. If he hadn’t managed to save them, the plot waiting for him would have escalated from hard mode to hell mode. Conversely, once he saved them, the author would completely let him off the hook.

“Then the next question is, what kind of bet would make the author risk the lives of Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua?”

Since he valued their lives so much, logically, he shouldn’t have used them as stakes. Besides, from the looks of that bet, his friend clearly had the advantage. There were three people in total, and the author would only win if just one survived. That meant his opponent had a three-in-four chance of winning. What kind of wager could tempt the author to participate in such an unfair gamble?

“It was a World Cornerstone.” ‘Manga Consciousness’ gave an unexpected answer. “A World Cornerstone can materialize a fictional world, turning it into a place that people from the real world can visit for sightseeing.”

Sensing that Su Bei didn’t understand the significance of this, it continued to explain: “Although all original works in the real world can generate a real world, very few can be used for tourism to make money. Setting aside issues like stability, the qualification for a world to be materialized is a huge problem in itself. These World Cornerstones, which can make a fictional world tangible and turn it into a tourist attraction, are controlled by a few capitalists. Even for an extremely popular blockbuster work, obtaining this qualification requires giving up a large portion of the profits to get a World Cornerstone from them.”

Giving Su Bei some time to process, it continued after a short while, “The author of ‘King of Abilities’ has offended those people, so it’s almost impossible for him to get a Cornerstone. That’s why he didn’t really care whether this world could continue to exist after the manga ended. It couldn’t be materialized anyway.”

So that was it. It was indeed a very tempting bet. Even if it couldn’t be used for this work, it would be extremely valuable for his next one, or even if he sold it. However, for that friend to be able to use a World Cornerstone as a stake was quite impressive.

Su Bei latched onto a key question: “So, does that mean our world will soon be open to visitors?”

“Yes, after this season ends, the author will integrate the World Cornerstone and enable the sightseeing function.” ‘Manga Consciousness’ replied immediately, then told Su Bei as if presenting a treasure, “Because you’re not entirely a manga character and have some connection to the real world, you can see those readers!”

This wasn’t exactly good news, but it wasn’t bad either. Su Bei also wanted to see what those real-world readers were like. “Then don’t forget to let me know when they come. I want to see them too.”

By the time this season of the manga ended, he should already be back at the academy, just in time for the tourist visits.

‘Manga Consciousness’ readily agreed and even threw in an extra service: “No problem! If you want, you can even interact with them! They can hear you, and you can hear them.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Su Bei refused decisively.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, his eyes lit up. “Hey, speaking of which, if they can come to our world and even have an identity to talk to us in the manga world, does that mean I can also go to the real world?”

Usually, when a manga character wants to go to the real world, it’s out of curiosity. But Su Bei was clearly not that kind of person; he didn’t have that much curiosity.

Knowing Su Bei fairly well, ‘Manga Consciousness’ instantly became wary. “What are you planning to do?”

Getting the answer he wanted from its reaction, Su Bei’s eyes shone with an astonishing light. A mischievous grin spread across his face as he replied loudly without hesitation, “Of course, it’s to beat the crap out of the author!”

On Monday, the S-Class was lifeless, devoid of its usual energy. Everyone had dark circles under their eyes, their faces as pale as ghosts. You could even faintly see some people’s swollen eyelids, a clear sign they had been crying for a long time.

Si Zhaohua and Wu Mingbai were in the worst state. It wasn’t just their poor condition; even their aura felt more than a little gloomier than before.

They firmly believed that they were the people Su Bei said he had to save. In other words, Su Bei had died for them. The guilt in their hearts was greater than anyone else’s. They had barely slept these past few days, constantly searching for a way to bring someone back from the dead.

There were many items that could revive a person at the very moment of death, but items that could revive someone a while after they had died were virtually non-existent.

The former were called resurrection items, but they were more like a type of defensive item. The theory behind their revival was mostly to provide various forms of defense at the instant of the user’s death, such as substitution, feigning death, or swapping places…

In essence, they saved a person before they truly died, rather than bringing them back from the dead. This was fundamentally different from resurrecting someone who had been dead for some time.

The latter often required an immense price. For example, the Old Ancestor’s scheme in Longevity Town involved sacrificing the entire village to extend his own life. Because of this, methods that could revive someone after the fact were generally called evil arts, condemned by the righteous path, and all related materials had been destroyed.

But right now, Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua couldn’t care about that. If they did nothing, they would sooner or later be crushed by their guilt. If only they had been more careful at the time, or not so greedy and just given up on the mission, Su Bei would have been fine.

Every time they thought of this, they were tormented by grief. Si Zhaohua had even contacted Elvis to ask about a way to turn back time.

But unfortunately, even Elvis couldn’t reverse time for the entire world. He could only change the time in a small area around himself; a larger scale was far beyond his current capabilities.

A familiar figure was missing from the classroom. Everyone didn’t even dare to look in that direction, afraid that a single glance would bring them to tears. A classmate who had been full of life just a couple of days ago had vanished into thin air in an instant.

What was even harder to accept was that this person was Su Bei! Su Bei had almost never accepted their help, but had often, intentionally or not, helped them. And he always acted so nonchalant, which made it impossible for everyone to gauge his feelings.

This person, whom they all thought didn’t care much about them, had died to save them. Everything they had believed was wrong! Every time this thought crossed their minds, they felt an unbearable heartache. How could this be? How could their perception be so different from reality?

Four days had passed since that day, and there was still no news from Su Bei. If he were alive, why wouldn’t he contact them? Although no one wanted to believe it out loud, a bad feeling had already taken root in their hearts.

Su Bei was probably really…

Among everyone, the only one with a calm expression was Feng Lan. His face was a little paler than usual, and his gaze was fixed on the doorway, as if waiting for something.

Just then, a refreshed and energetic Meng Huai walked in. Looking at everyone’s listless state, he curled his lips into a smile, stood at the podium, and clapped his hands, deliberately putting on a stern expression. “Everyone, pull yourselves together! Who are you putting on this long face for on a Monday? Are you in any mood to study like this?”

“Teacher, we…” Mu Tieren, his eyes swollen, wanted to explain, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that name. After a long silence, he could only lower his head and promise in a muffled voice, “We will get ourselves back on track as soon as possible.”

He felt the teacher was right. They should get back on track and study hard. Otherwise, how could they become strong enough to avenge Su Bei?

Although Su Bei had died for them, the root cause of his death was the mission to eliminate Nightmare Beasts. Therefore, Mu Tieren believed that completely eradicating the Nightmare Beasts would allow Su Bei’s spirit to rest in peace. And to achieve that, they needed immense strength.

Others looked at Meng Huai with confusion. They didn’t understand how he could act as if nothing had happened. He wasn’t the type of irresponsible teacher, so how could he be so calm about a student’s death?

Could it be that, being in the Ability World, he had long grown accustomed to death, to the point of losing all empathy? But that didn’t sound like the teacher they knew.

Qi Huang, who had been very sad these past few days, felt the urge to stand up and rebut him, to tell Meng Huai that they couldn’t possibly accept a classmate’s… disappearance so quickly. But out of respect for her teacher, she ultimately remained silent.

Ignoring their confusion and dissatisfaction, Meng Huai suppressed a smile and coughed heavily. “Ahem! A new week, a new atmosphere. Let us welcome a new student.”

After saying this, he looked towards the doorway. An even greater confusion rose in the others’ hearts. Before they could think about anything, they subconsciously followed his gaze to the door.

At the doorway, a blond teenager wearing sunglasses suddenly appeared. He strode to the podium, took off his sunglasses, raised an eyebrow, his deep purple eyes filled with amusement. “Hello, classmates. I’m Su Bei. Please take care of me.”

“Su Bei!” Almost everyone in the class couldn’t believe their eyes, exclaiming in unison with extraordinary surprise.

Su Bei smiled calmly and nodded. “Present.”

In the next second, the entire class swarmed him. Forgetting about personal boundaries, everyone reached out to touch Su Bei, wanting to confirm that the person standing on the podium was real.

No matter how composed Su Bei was, facing the probing hands of thirteen people, he couldn’t help but retreat repeatedly. “Hey, hey! What are you doing? Touching my hands and arms is one thing, but what’s with the chest and butt grabbing? Guys can be shy too, you know!”

No one paid him any mind; everyone was confirming it in their own way. It wasn’t until two minutes later that they finally settled down. Si Zhaohua’s eyes had reddened again at some point. “So what exactly happened back then? You…”

“Didn’t you see the doll I left on the ground?” Before he could finish, Su Bei asked with some confusion, “I used a ‘Substitute Doll’.”

A ‘Substitute Doll’ was a very niche item. Items that could resurrect people were generally obscure and rarely known to outsiders. But this obviously didn’t include Feng Lan, who came from a family with a rich heritage. As a family of prophets, the Feng family had far more life-saving items than other families and naturally knew a great deal.

He immediately explained the function of the ‘Substitute Doll’ to everyone, though he only described its general ability; Feng Lan wasn’t clear on its drawbacks. It was impossible for him to memorize the details of every single item; a general understanding was enough for him.

After hearing his explanation, Jiang Tianming, who had been at the scene, scratched his head with rare embarrassment. “I was just too… too shocked at the time.”

Back then, his mind was filled with the image of Su Bei’s hair suddenly turning white and his body disintegrating into dust. He had no mind to observe his surroundings and completely missed the doll that had fallen to the ground.

If he had noticed it then, with his intelligence, he would have surely realized that Su Bei hadn’t truly died.

After a brief moment of embarrassment, Jiang Tianming quickly broke into a smile. “Regardless, it’s really great that you’re still alive!”

Hearing these sincere words, Su Bei couldn’t help but smile as well.

“Ah, Teacher, did you know all along that Su Bei wasn’t dead?” Suddenly, as if remembering something, Qi Huang turned to look at Meng Huai standing at the side.

Meng Huai put on an innocent expression. “I only found out yesterday. Su Bei couldn’t move before because of the ‘Substitute Doll’s’ drawback.”

Speaking of which, Si Zhaohua whipped his head around to look at Su Bei. “That item can’t possibly have only a three-day immobility drawback, right? What else is there? Tell us, maybe we can help solve it.”

He himself carried a resurrection item, so he knew very well that such things could never be purely beneficial without any harm. Resurrection was an act that defied the heavens; even if it wasn’t true resurrection, the price paid would not be small.

Su Bei didn’t intend to hide it from them. Anyway, the drawback wasn’t permanent—only half a year. What was the harm in telling them? Besides, he had come this time precisely to talk about this, to prevent the readers from letting their imaginations run wild and assuming there was some outrageous drawback.

“Besides being unable to move for three days, I won’t be able to use my ability for the next six months,” Su Bei stated the drawback, then continued with his plan, “So, I plan to take a leave of absence from school for the next six months. The official story will be that I faked my death to prevent the Nightmare Beasts from seeking revenge on me. Don’t you guys blow my cover.”

He had appeared outside the S-Class using an Invisibility Talisman. Once the surveillance footage here was deleted, there would be no evidence of his survival. Many Nightmare Beasts had seen him die, and the ‘Substitute Doll’ would disappear after ten minutes, so no Nightmare Beast should suspect that he had only faked his death.

He had a full six months of rest ahead of him. To be honest, Su Bei was overjoyed. But there was no need to show his happiness in class; he was afraid of upsetting these unlucky classmates who would have to continue slaving away for the Ability World.

Learning that the price he had to pay was just having his ability sealed for six months, Si Zhaohua let out a long sigh of relief. He didn’t think Su Bei was lying. After spending so much time together, how could he not know that when Su Bei didn’t want to answer a question, his most common tactic was to speak in riddles, not to lie?

Although Su Bei was constantly building up a persona, everyone in the class could see through to some of his true nature, such as the fact that Su Bei disliked lying.

Compared to coming back from the dead, losing his ability for half a year, taking a six-month leave, and faking his death to the public were nothing. Everyone was very indulgent and nodded, promising they would absolutely help him keep it a secret.

Wu Mingbai, who had been standing near the back, pushed through the crowd to stand in front of Su Bei and said very seriously, “You… almost died to save me and Zhaohua, right? I’m sorry for making you pay such a huge price. If there’s anything you need me to do in the future, just say the word. I will do my best to repay you for saving my life.”

He had gone over that day’s events with Jiang Tianming countless times these past few days, so he naturally knew what Su Bei had said before he “died.” Although Su Bei might have just been joking when he told him to apologize, Wu Mingbai didn’t plan on treating it as a joke.

Si Zhaohua also recovered from the joy of learning he was alive and quickly stated his position as well. “Me too. Not just me, our Si family will remember this debt. If there’s anything you need me or the Si family to do, you can just ask. Within my authority as the family head, we can help you unconditionally.”

Of course, Su Bei wouldn’t refuse such a good offer. He was just leaving the manga, not the world. He naturally wouldn’t refuse help from others. Besides, he had paid such a huge price to save them this time; wasn’t it normal to get something back from them?

Acting without expecting a reward was not his style.

After a moment’s thought, he made his request without any politeness, “Then the first thing I need your help with is to get the academy to not hold me accountable for this half-year leave. I refuse to make up the credits when I come back.”

Seeing him nod, both Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua’s expressions relaxed a bit.

Upon hearing his words, the two couldn’t help but chuckle. They had been nervous for nothing. How could Su Bei be the kind of selfless person who seeks no reward? But they had to admit, this Su Bei was the one they were more familiar with and liked more.

Ai Baozhu burst out laughing with a “pfft” and poked Si Zhaohua. “This is your area of expertise.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it,” Si Zhaohua nodded slightly. It didn’t matter if the matter was troublesome; he was just afraid he couldn’t be of any help.

However, Meng Huai, standing at the side, couldn’t sit still anymore. “Hey, hey, I’m still here, the teacher! Isn’t it a bit inappropriate to openly discuss getting the academy to bend the rules in front of me?”

“These are reasonable requests. I will handle them properly, Teacher,” Si Zhaohua said with a smile, his tone quite official.

Seeing this, Meng Huai shook his head, both annoyed and amused, and decided not to bother him anymore. As long as it didn’t cause him any trouble, it was fine.

Having fully accepted the news that Su Bei was fine, and before he left, everyone returned to their seats and began to ask some curious questions. The first to speak was Lan Subing: “Su Bei, did you know in advance that we would be in danger, and that’s why you specifically prepared a resurrection item to use at that time?”

Just as they thought, Su Bei indeed didn’t like to lie. He shook his head and answered honestly, “The resurrection item was prepared long ago. Your fate at that time… changed very suddenly.”

Speaking of which, he had forgotten to ask ‘Manga Consciousness’ what that was all about. Judging from the author’s subsequent reactions, he clearly didn’t want Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua to die, so why would he design such a plot? It couldn’t have been just to test him, right? Su Bei didn’t think he had that much influence on the author. Although the author was targeting him, he hadn’t actually affected the plot that much.

Making a mental note of this question, Su Bei continued to answer, “When I realized the mission couldn’t proceed smoothly and that the two of them would die, I had no choice but to resort to that plan. After all, even my Mental Energy was running quite low at the time.”

“You can run out of Mental Energy too,” Qi Huang remarked with a sigh. She had thought Su Bei’s Mental Energy was infinite.

Jiang Tianming roughly knew why his Mental Energy was low. It was probably because there were two Boundary Stones on their side, with a total of four Advanced Nightmare Beasts guarding the stone forest. Although he had taken on some of them, eliminating the rest would certainly consume a lot of Mental Energy.

Who knew that something like that would happen later?

What he didn’t know, however, was that it was actually the protagonist group’s halo that caused changing their fate to consume more Mental Energy. He just assumed that Su Bei had used a lot up front, then had to kill the two Nightmare Beasts trailing Wu Mingbai and the others, and on top of that, change Wu Mingbai and Si Zhaohua’s fate, which was what led to his insufficient Mental Energy.

“So what will you do next?” It was Zhao Xiaoyu who asked. She was very curious about Su Bei’s plans for the six months he wouldn’t be in school.

Others also looked over curiously. The idea of not going to school held a great attraction for students.

Su Bei had actually given this some serious thought yesterday. “I plan to travel abroad. I was originally going to go after graduation, but now is a good time too.”

The country where the protagonist group was located was bound to be unstable. The next six months would be a period rife with plot-related incidents. Having lost his ability to protect himself, his best choice was to go abroad to take refuge and do some sightseeing along the way.

Hearing that he was actually going to travel, a look of envy flashed in Zhao Xiaoyu’s eyes. She wasn’t a fool; she could of course guess that the Ability World would be anything but peaceful in the near future. If she could, she would also like to travel and avoid these dangers.

Unfortunately, that was impossible. Leaving aside her status as a student, the very fact that she had accepted financial aid from the academy meant she couldn’t just leave freely at a time like this. With great benefits come great responsibilities. Zhao Xiaoyu was well aware of this and fully accepted it.

“When will you be back?” The one who asked was Feng Lan, a faint reluctance in his eyes. For him, this was already a significant display of emotion. Although he knew Su Bei would be back in six months, he couldn’t help but ask.

Su Bei didn’t find it strange. He calculated the time: “Next semester, I guess. I should have recovered by then.”

“See you next semester then!” Jiang Tianming held out a fist towards Su Bei. The others understood his meaning and also held out their fists.

A smile colored Su Bei’s purple eyes. He grinned and bumped their fists one by one in a smooth motion. “Until we meet again!”

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Having completely resolved his own crisis, Su Bei’s main storyline has come to an end. What follows is an epilogue, the continuation of the manga’s main plot from Su Bei’s perspective. After that is finished, we will move on to the extra chapters.