Chapter 342

Understanding their purpose, Su Bei answered bluntly, “I’m not an Ability user. I’m on a temporary leave from school for health reasons. Luckily, I have some money, so I came out to travel.”

Right now, his ability and Mental Energy were sealed anyway. Even professional equipment wouldn’t detect him as an Ability user; only a Nightmare Beast could sense his status. As for the second half of his statement, it was the absolute truth, without a single drop of falsehood.

Hearing him say he wasn’t an Ability user, a hint of surprise appeared on Ian’s face. Due to his own ability, he was very sensitive to people’s auras. In his eyes, Su Bei was clearly an Ability user. Could he have been wrong?

“Ah, sorry, I guess I was wrong. If you’re not an Ability user, you shouldn’t go east for the next few days, okay?” Ian scratched his head, apologizing to Su Bei and giving him a friendly reminder.

The east was where the Advanced Nightmare Beast was located. If a non-Ability user went there to sightsee during their battle, they would likely get caught in the crossfire.

Su Bei smiled and accepted his goodwill. “Got it. I’ll probably just stick around the hotel.”

At that moment, Elvis suddenly gave him a suspicious glance.

Su Bei didn’t think he could recognize him from just one sentence. After all, he had deliberately altered his voice. With a different appearance and voice, and even his personality concealed, it would be a miracle if he was recognized.

So, he looked back at him calmly, his gaze unwavering.

And indeed, Elvis didn’t recognize Su Bei; he just had a vague feeling that something was off. Ordinary people in this society had always been very fascinated by Ability users. Although it sounded a bit narcissistic, Su Bei’s calm reaction after learning they were Ability users on a mission here made him deeply suspicious.

After locking eyes with him for a couple of seconds, Su Bei calmly accepted the bowl of noodles from a passing waiter and lowered his head to eat. His conscience was clear, so he didn’t care what the other thought of him.

As the most cheerful person at the table, Ian didn’t let the conversation die, starting to chat about high school. He first shared some interesting stories from Alpha Ability Academy before asking Su Bei, “The three of us have never attended a regular high school. What’s life like there?”

“It’s just ordinary. Classes, exams, classes, exams. It can’t compare to your exciting school life,” Su Bei replied casually. He had never been a high school student in a regular school, but it wasn’t like he had never been a regular student. How could he not know what they were like?

The three exchanged glances. Ian spoke again, but this time about their mission. From their conversation, Su Bei learned that this mission wasn’t so simple. The Advanced Nightmare Beast possessed the ability to control snow and might trigger an avalanche during the mission.

That raised a question. As far as he knew, there were no hotels near the mountain where the Advanced Nightmare Beast was located, which meant the area was sparsely populated. A group attack ability like an avalanche is most effective when used against a large number of people.

Why would a Nightmare Beast with such an ability specifically choose to settle in a place with few people? It couldn’t possibly be afraid of harming ordinary people, could it?

So, there were only two possibilities. Either the Nightmare Beast didn’t intend to use that distant mountain as its main battlefield at all—it was just temporarily residing there, and the moment an Ability user approached or attacked, it would immediately move to a human residential area to unleash its skill.

Or, its ability was powerful enough to attack the residential area even from a distance. This, in turn, had two possibilities: first, it could make the avalanche cover a very wide area. Second, it could trigger avalanches on many mountains, thereby causing AOE damage.

But regardless of which it was, Su Bei was 100% certain that the hotel he was currently in would not escape unscathed.

And here he thought this had nothing to do with him.

“When are you going to act?” After listening in silence for a while, Su Bei suddenly asked.

Knowing that his sudden question was a bit abrupt, he quickly added, “I want to leave the Arctic before you act, so I can be sure I won’t be in danger.”

This was just a verbal excuse. In reality, Su Bei knew he definitely wouldn’t leave.

On the surface, leaving now was the optimal solution, but in reality, it wasn’t. If even the Arctic was having problems, would other places be any safer?

And even though this was a pre-plot, it was still within the plot. The author had promised him he wouldn’t die within a plot event. Therefore, the seemingly most dangerous snowy mountain was actually the safest place for Su Bei.

However, it was still troublesome. Not dying didn’t mean not getting injured. Su Bei had no desire to experience being buried under the snow and rescued in a pathetic state.

This question was a bit sensitive. Although his explanation was reasonable, it could still lead people to think of some unpleasant possibilities. Seeing Ian hesitate, it was unexpectedly Tiffany who spoke up first. “We will act in three days.”

Su Bei raised an eyebrow, nodded his thanks to show he understood, and then quickly finished the last two mouthfuls of his noodles while they were chatting, before getting up and leaving the restaurant.

As soon as he left, Ian looked at Tiffany, puzzled. “Why did you tell him our mission time?”

“He could have followed us even if I didn’t tell him.” Tiffany lowered her blood-red eyes. “Besides, his blood doesn’t have the scent of ‘sin’.”

Elvis and Ian both understood what she meant. The scent of ‘sin’ in one’s blood indicated recent and significant contact with Nightmare Beasts. Tiffany, with her Vampire ability, was very sensitive to the scent of Nightmare Beasts.

The two immediately felt relieved. Although not having contact with Nightmare Beasts didn’t necessarily make him a good person, given the current situation in the Ability World, with people collaborating with Nightmare Beasts popping up one after another like mushrooms after rain, those who didn’t collaborate had instead formed a loose alliance.

As long as this boy wasn’t working with Nightmare Beasts, what he was doing here was none of their business.

Meanwhile, back in his room, Su Bei’s expression was slightly grim. The Manga Consciousness asked nervously, “What do you plan to do next?”

It was an innocent victim in this matter. After all, even when the author designs a plot, it’s impossible to specify which exact hotel will be in trouble. The Manga Consciousness also didn’t know this would affect Su Bei.

However, like Su Bei, it could clearly tell from past manga tropes that the hotel they were currently in was definitely going to be in trouble. That’s why it asked.

Su Bei stated the plan he had already come up with: “I’m going to the snowy mountain where the Nightmare Beast is.”

The purpose of the trip was, of course, not to eliminate the Nightmare Beast in advance, but to play a game of hiding in plain sight. Since the Nightmare Beast’s attack range couldn’t possibly be the uninhabited snowy mountain, he just needed to find a spot on the mountain that wouldn’t be affected by the avalanche and wait there while they acted.

No sooner said than done. That very afternoon, Su Bei found a driver to take him to the vicinity of the snowy mountain.

Because the Advanced Nightmare Beast could sense his status as an Ability user, Su Bei used an Invisibility Talisman the moment he entered the mountain range. He currently lacked the ability to fight an Advanced Nightmare Beast; the items that could deal with them all required Mental Energy to activate, which he couldn’t use at all.

After a simple reconnaissance, Su Bei quickly rejected his initial plan. Originally, he thought of digging a snow cave, but with this much snow, what if the avalanche lasted too long and he ran out of oxygen in the cave? He had no oxygen-supplying items on hand.

The vast expanse of white, with no cover and pitifully few rocks, made Su Bei keenly aware that hiding anywhere was not very safe.

If that Nightmare Beast truly possessed extremely high-level snow control abilities, it could probably sense him just by him walking on the snow.

If the ground wasn’t an option, he could only fly into the sky. He didn’t have oxygen-supplying items, but he had plenty of flying items.

Having figured it out, Su Bei didn’t waste any more time there. He immediately returned and resumed his sightseeing. The Arctic was cold, but the scenery was truly picturesque. Staying here for two days felt like his mind and body had been purified.

Early on the morning of the third day, Su Bei used his Invisibility Talisman and staked out the lobby, waiting for Elvis’s trio. After they went out, he leisurely followed behind them. Once Tiffany started flying with the other two in an uninhabited area, heading towards the snowy mountain, he used the Teleportation Array he had set up two days ago to arrive at the mountain a step ahead.

On a flying carpet high in the air, Su Bei sat cross-legged. Next to him was a cup of milk tea and a plate of small kumquats, which Su Bei had specially prepared for watching the show.

Normally, he should have prepared sunflower seeds, but cracking them would make too much noise, so Su Bei had to reluctantly give them up.

Just as he finished peeling the first kumquat, Tiffany and the others arrived. Ian was the first to use his ability, setting up a barrier around the entire snowy mountain.

Seeing this, Su Bei couldn’t help but be a little surprised. He hadn’t expected Ian’s [World within a Painting] to have evolved to this extent, able to encompass an entire mountain. The range of his ability was truly vast.

The Advanced Nightmare Beast was no pushover. Faced with the provocation of three students, it certainly wasn’t going to take it lying down. It immediately appeared on the summit of the snowy mountain, right in front of Su Bei.

It was a Nightmare Beast that looked like a Snow Woman, its entire body made of black snow. Its appearance was very beautiful. The reason he could tell the black substance was snow was because the texture of snow is distinct from anything else. A black Snow Woman, a very strange combination.

Neither side had any intention of exchanging pleasantries. After a brief face-off, they started fighting directly.

This was how it was when it wasn’t the protagonist group. A normal person’s fight was always so clean and decisive. If it were the protagonist group, this part would definitely have involved more dialogue; they wouldn’t have started fighting so straightforwardly.

As a major player capable of guarding a territory, the Snow Woman Nightmare Beast was certainly not easy to deal with. Especially in an environment like a snowy mountain that was perfectly suited to it, even with three of them against one, they seemed to be struggling immensely.

After watching the three of them get pushed back for a long time, Su Bei started to get tired. “Can they win?”

“Of course,” the Manga Consciousness answered affirmatively. Although they weren’t the protagonists, they were still important supporting characters who had fought alongside the protagonist group. They had to have some level of plot armor; they couldn’t fail so easily.

“Can I help a little?” Su Bei asked. He was really tired of staying in this freezing place. The summit of the mountain was much colder than the base, and even with warming items, it was uncomfortable.