Chapter 340

“Ahem… you’re awake?”

As soon as Su Bei woke up, he heard the voice of the Manga Consciousness in his ear. His memories gradually returned, and as he recalled what happened before he passed out, he was so angry he laughed. “You didn’t think to warn me beforehand that I’d pass out after eating the mushroom?”

“I didn’t know you’d faint either…” The Manga Consciousness sounded very guilty. The main issue was that it only had theoretical knowledge and no actual practical experience.

In theory, there was no problem with a poisonous mushroom helping to break a seal. However, no one in Su Bei’s specific situation had ever eaten one before, so it had no idea he would faint after eating it!

It then quickly explained, “Of course, this was my mistake, so if any danger had appeared while you were unconscious, I would have taken care of it for you. See? You woke up perfectly fine, didn’t you?”

There was nothing wrong with that logic, and Su Bei hadn’t really lost anything. He rolled his eyes but didn’t press the matter further. Standing up, he patted the dust off his clothes and took stock of his current condition. “I don’t feel any different from before?”

The Manga Consciousness scanned his physical condition, explaining as it did so, “You’re sealed, so naturally you can’t feel it. Let me see… you should be unsealed in about three more months.”

The original timeframe was just under six months, and now it had been cut in half. The effect was so significant that Su Bei’s eyes lit up. “Can I eat another one?”

Although he knew it was highly unlikely to work, he couldn’t help but ask. What if? One bite could reduce the time by three months, so two bites would mean half a year. He could faint for a little while and then go right back to school.

Of course, even if his ability were restored immediately, he wouldn’t go back to class. He had finally found a completely reasonable and legitimate excuse to suspend his studies; he’d have to be a fool to go back.

Besides, going back now would mean running straight into danger. Even though the author had promised he wouldn’t die in the main storyline, he still didn’t want to get involved in that kind of trouble.

As he expected, the Manga Consciousness gave him no hope. “No, this mushroom has already done the most that any external force can do. The rest you’ll have to recover on your own.”

Su Bei sighed softly but wasn’t surprised. It was already a pleasant surprise that a seal like this could be reduced by half; getting rid of it entirely was just wishful thinking.

On his way back to the hotel from the large forest, Su Bei heard an announcement from the Manga Consciousness: “King of Abilities has been updated. Please check for the latest chapter.”

For the manga to update at a time like this, did something happen again?

He opened the manga for a quick look, and his eyebrows shot up. To his surprise, the author hadn’t drawn the part where he met up with Jiang Tianming and the others. The readers still didn’t know if he was dead or alive.

This made even the readers who were firmly convinced he was still alive begin to waver. Logically, the doll in the previous chapter was almost ironclad proof of his survival. If so, why was the author still keeping him hidden?

Could it be that the doll was just a red herring from the author? Giving them hope and then plunging them into despair was the author’s usual trick.

“A reminder on the homepage: Su Bei has still not been resurrected in this chapter.”

“Old fraud, what are you trying to pull?”

“Why isn’t Su Bei back yet? How many chapters are you going to drag out this one piece of foreshadowing?”

“I have a bad feeling about this…”

“Old fraud, you can’t possibly let Su Bei die, right?”

“No more suspense, please!”

Su Bei felt helpless as well. He asked the Manga Consciousness, “Why won’t the author bring me back?”

“This way, your appearance at the end will cause a much bigger sensation,” the Manga Consciousness said as if it were obvious. “Don’t worry. Unless the author confirms your death in the manga, the vast majority of readers will never believe you’re truly dead.”

That was true. Most readers were unwilling to believe in the death of a protagonist, especially a popular character like him whose death was debatable. Many people would surely hope for his resurrection. No, they’d hope he wasn’t dead in the first place, so the conditions for the forum to alter his fate wouldn’t be met.

Without saying more, Su Bei continued reading the manga. This chapter was Ling You’s special feature. Due to her performance in the previous battles, she had finally caught the attention of the Nightmare Beasts.

Normally, it wouldn’t have been so easy for them to notice her. After all, countless low-tier Nightmare Beasts were produced every day. So what if she killed them quickly?

But things were different now. The Nightmare Beast World could no longer generate new Nightmare Beasts, which meant that even the lowest-tier ones couldn’t be treated as mere consumables. Someone like Ling You, who could reduce their numbers on a massive scale, was naturally seen as a thorn in their side.

Especially since she could already achieve such an effect before she had even fully matured. What would happen if she reached her full potential?

What followed was a relatively conventional kidnapping plot. Ling You rarely left the academy, but this time was different. A leading figure in the medical world, a specialist in virus research, was holding a special seminar abroad, and only those with invitations could attend.

This seminar would be highly beneficial for the research of Ling You’s ability, and as it happened, Meng Huai had an invitation.

Seeing this, Su Bei couldn’t help but chuckle. For a medical seminar of this caliber, those who received invitations would surely be giants in the medical field. It was a known fact that Meng Huai’s ability had nothing to do with medicine, so who could have given him that invitation?

The author was really going to great lengths to set up Ye Lin’s second defection later on.

In addition to a few teachers, S-Class also sent Lan Subing, Ai Baozhu, and Zhou Renjie to accompany Ling You. The three of them could provide excellent protection and were more readily available than the teachers, who had their own tasks.

The organizer of the seminar was just an ordinary person. Although he had hired many Ability users as bodyguards, they couldn’t stop the Nightmare Beasts if they truly wanted to cause trouble. This was especially true since one of his guests was Ling You, a member of the main cast, making it even more impossible to stop them.

What followed was the standard find-and-rescue sequence, which Su Bei, being uninterested, skimmed through quickly. Soon enough, he reached the end of the chapter.

Because Ling You was a member of S-Class, and the recent major trouble in the Nightmare Beast World had been caused by S-Class members, the Nightmare Beasts now harbored a deep-seated hatred for her class. With one of them finally in their grasp, the Nightmare Beasts naturally wouldn’t let Ling You die so easily.

The death they had chosen for her was by a plague virus. The ‘Plague’ Ability user dying of a plague—this was both a humiliation for Ling You and a warning to humanity.

But as everyone knows, villains die from talking too much. If Big Bad Wolf didn’t insist on having his meat cooked, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf would have been over centuries ago. The time they were wasting now was a measure of how much water was in their brains, and the price for having so much water in their brains was a crushing defeat.

In the end, their plan failed. Not only did Lan Subing and the others rescue Ling You, but she also managed to merge with the virus, gaining a powerful new virus that could spread indiscriminately throughout the Nightmare Beast World.

What an example of trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice bait, on top of losing both the lady and the soldiers. Su Bei was left in awe.

Aside from Ling You’s progress, another noteworthy point in this chapter was the change in the villains.

The Black Flash Organization was, as usual, cooperating with the Nightmare Beasts. They had now almost openly declared themselves enemies of all humanity. The government wanted to eliminate them as they had before, but they found they couldn’t even locate their base anymore.

At the same time, reactionary organizations in other countries also began to surface and become active. Because they were so active and numerous, they soon replaced the Black Flash Organization as the new major threat in various nations.

The villain landscape suddenly shifted from a ‘one superpower, many great powers’ situation to a multipolar one (not really). Ironically, this allowed the once-prominent Black Flash Organization to fade into the background.

As the saying goes, ‘When a child is quiet, they’re definitely up to no good.’ Those within the situation couldn’t see it, but Su Bei, as an observer, saw it clearly. The Black Flash Organization’s silence was definitely not due to being suppressed or losing their purpose. They could only be secretly amassing power to suddenly unleash something big upon the world.

However, Su Bei didn’t care. If nothing unexpected happened, the Black Flash Organization would certainly be completely eliminated this season. The manga author’s habit was clearly one main villain per season. For example, the first season’s villain was the group that killed the orphanage director, and this season’s was the Black Flash Organization.

Speaking of which, he was actually quite curious about what the next season would bring. If the Nightmare Beasts were dealt with, logically there shouldn’t be any greater villain, right? Could it be an internal schism among the good guys?

At this thought, he couldn’t help but shake his head. He hoped it wouldn’t be like that; he hated seeing allies fight each other. But Su Bei also knew that if his previous speculation was true, then this new guess was actually quite likely. After all, if there wasn’t a problem among their own people, how else would the academy fall into chaos?

He could only hope his previous guess was wrong and that the author would open up a new battlefield for the third season of King of Abilities instead of continuing to stir up trouble at Endless Ability Academy.

So annoying. Maybe I should just take this opportunity to drop out of school for good.

Su Bei let out a long sigh, closed the manga, and then asked, “So, do I need to go back in three months?”

“Not necessarily, it won’t be that fast.” Since the tourists hadn’t arrived yet, the Manga Consciousness had plenty of time. “It’s just that the plot definitely won’t stretch out for six months, so we had to help you recover sooner rather than later.”

So that meant there was a gap between his recovery and his reappearance. Su Bei planned to make full use of this interval. Otherwise, if he disappeared for nearly half a year without any progress while everyone else was improving, wouldn’t that mean he had effectively regressed?

While his ability had yet to recover, he could start thinking about which direction he should develop in next. Coincidentally, Su Bei had some related ideas before, but things had happened so quickly that he never had the time to ponder them carefully. Now was the perfect opportunity to do so.