Chapter 341

During his travels, the manga naturally didn’t stay idle, its plot progressing at lightning speed. Su Bei couldn’t be bothered with it until the grand finale, choosing instead to focus on researching his own ability.

If he waited until his ability was restored to start researching a new power, he definitely wouldn’t have enough time. Developing a powerful new ability in just one or two months without cheating was something even the strongest Ability user might not be able to achieve.

He had to think ahead about which direction to research, what the specific details were, so that when his ability was unsealed, he could proceed as smoothly as a fish in water.

However, Su Bei wasn’t particularly anxious. To be sure, for him, not improving was the same as regressing, but compared to the main protagonist group that had to participate in the plot at all times, it didn’t matter much even if he made little progress.

So, along the way, he only pondered how to improve when he returned to his hotel or while on the bus. The rest of the time, while visiting attractions, Su Bei focused wholeheartedly on enjoying himself, letting his mind and body relax.

His next destination was the Arctic. The moment he got off the plane, Su Bei shivered and immediately used a warming item. The Arctic was even colder than he had imagined; the biting wind instantly froze his cheeks. Honestly, if it weren’t for the items he had, no matter how beautiful the scenery was, he wouldn’t have come here to suffer.

“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” Just as Su Bei was about to take a car to the hotel he had booked in advance, the Manga Consciousness suddenly spoke.

A bad feeling rose in Su Bei’s heart. “What’s the bad news?”

Compared to sweet then bitter, he much preferred bitter then sweet.

“The bad news is, an acquaintance of yours is about to arrive here.” Before Su Bei could react, it quickly explained, “I just found out, too. I didn’t intentionally fail to warn you.”

Su Bei waved his hand, a little speechless, signaling it to tell him the good news.

When it came to the good news, the Manga Consciousness sounded a bit more confident. “The good news is, it’s not the protagonist group that’s coming.”

That was indeed good news. If the protagonist group were here, regardless of who it was, it would mean there was definitely a plot event. But if it wasn’t the protagonist group, a plot event wasn’t guaranteed. His acquaintances weren’t limited to his classmates from S-Class.

Hearing this, Su Bei’s curiosity was piqued. “Then who’s coming?”

“It’s Elvis, Ian, and Tiffany from Alpha Ability Academy.” Due to its minor slip-up, the Manga Consciousness provided a bit more information. “They’re coming to the Arctic this time just to complete a mission to eliminate an Advanced Nightmare Beast. It’s on the summit of that snowy mountain over there. Yes, the one you’re pointing at. As long as you don’t go over there, you’ll be fine.”

Hearing that an Advanced Nightmare Beast was present, Su Bei frowned. The reason he had specifically chosen the Arctic as the last stop on his trip was that he thought no Nightmare Beasts would appear here. When other places were about to descend into chaos, coming here to lay low was the safest choice.

But as it turned out, an Advanced Nightmare Beast was hiding here, and it had even drawn his acquaintances over. This made him wonder if he had made the wrong choice.

“Is there a plot event here?” After thinking for a moment, he asked the question he was most concerned about.

As it involved the manga’s plot, the Manga Consciousness hesitated for a moment before answering, “Sort of, but not much. This is a pre-plot for the main story.”

Having said that, it fell silent, clearly not intending to reveal any more of the manga’s plot. In other words, Su Bei was now detached from the main storyline, not even present at the academy. But if he wanted to, he could still easily influence the plot’s development. To prevent him from doing anything outside the plot, it was better not to say some things.

Su Bei didn’t mind the Manga Consciousness’s concealment. If it was just a pre-plot, the crisis would most likely not have a major impact, which meant he could continue to slack off here.

Wait… Suddenly, he remembered something, a wary look appearing on his face. “By ‘pre-plot,’ you don’t mean something like a city-wide massacre, do you?”

Don’t manga often have plots like that? The protagonist arrives in an empty city that was once, or has just been, massacred to investigate and then discovers some sensational secret.

“No, no,” the Manga Consciousness hurriedly denied. “There are important supporting characters here, after all.”

That was true. The possibility of all three, Elvis, Ian, and Tiffany, dying here was indeed low.

In that case, it didn’t matter. Su Bei walked into the hotel, entered the room he had booked with a fake ID, briefly unpacked his luggage, and then flopped onto the large bed. He let out a sigh before saying, “I hope it doesn’t spread to here.”

“Are you going to meet them?” the Manga Consciousness asked curiously.

Su Bei knew it was referring to Elvis’s trio. He shook his head. “There’s no need.”

Elvis and the others were different from Jiang Tianming and his group. There wasn’t as deep a bond between them, and death among Ability users was actually quite common. So even if they heard news of his death, they would at most be sad for a short period.

The students of S-Class were different; they were more likely to be affected by his death. At the same time, they shouldered the important task of saving the world. Su Bei couldn’t just sit by and let them be mired in unnecessary emotions.

He had spent the whole morning on the plane, and lunch was also eaten on the plane. With his Mental Energy sealed, Su Bei’s stamina was now even worse than that of an ordinary person. He slept like a log and didn’t wake up until evening.

His stomach was empty, so Su Bei went downstairs, planning to eat at the restaurant. Just as he stepped out of the elevator, he saw three familiar figures.

Su Bei: “Whoops?”

Manga Consciousness: “Whoops!”

Su Bei instinctively sidestepped back into the elevator and quickly pressed the button for his floor to go back up. After the elevator doors closed, he asked in his mind, puzzled, “Why are they here? Did the author arrange this?”

The location of the Advanced Nightmare Beast that the Manga Consciousness had pointed out earlier seemed very close, visible to the naked eye. But in reality, as the saying goes, mountains in sight are tiring to ride to. That mountain was actually very far from their location.

Logically, there should be other hotels closer to that mountain. How could Elvis and the others coincidentally show up at the very hotel he was staying at?

This was clearly outside the Manga Consciousness’s expectations as well. It hurriedly said, “I’ll go check. I don’t know what’s going on either.”

As the will of the world, it could find out things very quickly. It returned in no time. “It’s an accident, an accident, not deliberately arranged by the author. First, there are no hotels around that mountain. Second, because they were worried that nearby hotels would be affected during their fight with the Advanced Nightmare Beast and their luggage would be destroyed, they specifically looked for a hotel further away. As for why it’s this hotel… I can only say you’re unlucky.”

Su Bei: “…”

He had forgotten about the debuff called ‘bad luck’ that he carried. After spending so much time in the same class as Jiang Tianming, he had almost started to think his previous bad luck was Jiang Tianming’s fault. Only now did he remember that his luck wasn’t great to begin with.

Su Bei took out his phone to check for other hotels nearby, then decisively abandoned the idea of checking out. Not only would he not get a refund for checking out now, but the fact that the next closest hotel was a great distance away was enough to extinguish his desire.

Anyway, he had been wearing the “Transformation Mask (Fake)” for almost the entire trip, using the ‘Yan Nan’ persona he had used before. Elvis and the others had never seen this appearance, so he didn’t have to worry about being recognized even if he walked right past them.

With that thought, Su Bei boldly went back downstairs to eat.

The hotel’s restaurant was on the first floor, and Elvis’s trio was also eating there. Su Bei didn’t look at them, ordered a bowl of noodles for himself, and then quietly found a place to sit and eat.

As he expected, they didn’t recognize him. What Su Bei didn’t expect was that even though they didn’t recognize him, they still walked over, led by Ian.

“Hello?” Ian tilted his head, a look of anticipation on his face.

This was what an absolute extrovert was like. Just because Su Bei was a boy of a similar age, he could boldly come up and strike up a conversation, even though they weren’t from the same country and Su Bei might not even understand him.

Su Bei wasn’t flustered. He nodded calmly and replied fluently in their language, “Hello.”

Seeing that they could communicate smoothly, Ian was even happier. “Can we sit here? We’re peers, and we’re peers who can travel during the school term. We must have a lot to talk about.”

Su Bei looked up at Elvis and Tiffany, who were standing on either side of him like bodyguards, and couldn’t help but show an amused expression. “But it looks like your companions aren’t too keen on sharing a table?”

“They’re not unwilling, they’re very happy too,” Ian said with wide-eyed certainty, telling a bald-faced lie, completely ignoring the identical indifference on the other two’s faces.

However, neither Tiffany nor Elvis intended to embarrass Ian. They obediently sat down opposite Su Bei. It was clear they got along well, already giving off the vibe of a protagonist team’s subgroup.

“Are you an Ability user?” Their food hadn’t arrived yet, and Ian asked curiously. Then he quickly added, “After all, normal students should be in school at this time. Only Ability users would be out on missions.”

Hearing this, Su Bei had a sudden realization. He had originally thought Ian approached him simply because he was overly outgoing, but now it seemed he was also trying to probe him.

It made sense. They had come to such a remote place for a mission, so they must have inquired about the surrounding situation. There certainly weren’t many Nightmare Beasts in the Arctic; otherwise, the Manga Consciousness would have stopped him when he came.

A mission in such a remote place was definitely not a small matter. In their eyes, the only Advanced Nightmare Beast here was already their mission target. So what was Su Bei here for?

Combined with the recent surge of human traitors collaborating with Nightmare Beasts, it was hard for them not to be suspicious.