Chapter 346:

Time flew by, and in a flash, the day of the final battle arrived. Even though Su Bei was in the remote, uninhabited Arctic, he received news about the Nightmare Beasts immediately through the official Ability User website.

The entire official website for Ability Users had turned red, its blood-red background signaling the critical situation. Interdimensional Gates had appeared all over the world, far more numerous than the last time.

Most importantly, each of these portals was as large as a football field. With such massive gates, the number of Nightmare Beasts emerging would surely be immense.

Because of this, they couldn’t control the number of Nightmare Beasts by eliminating them within the interdimensional space like they did last time.

On the second day after these portals appeared, an investigation by an Ability user with a special ability revealed that these Interdimensional Gates might not be connected to an interdimensional space, but to the Nightmare Beast World itself. Therefore, they were actually Nightmare World Gates, not Interdimensional Gates.

This news sent humanity into an uproar. A direct connection to the Nightmare Beast World meant there was no limit to the number of Nightmare Beasts that could emerge. They dared not imagine the scale of the impending war.

Although Ability users were more hated by Nightmare Beasts than ordinary people, it was clear that at this stage, the Nightmare Beasts would likely treat all humans with equal hostility.

Thus, a state of national martial law was declared. The government specifically designated several areas far from any Nightmare World Gates, where Earth Element Ability users urgently constructed city walls to create temporary sanctuary cities.

All ordinary people were relocated into these sanctuary cities, protected by group-defense type Ability users. As for the remaining Ability users, they were naturally responsible for fighting in the war zones outside the sanctuary cities.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. All Ability users were required to report their abilities and fight according to government assignments. They could refuse to comply with the government’s demands, but they would not be allowed to enter the sanctuary cities.

Of course, Su Bei didn’t need to enter one. Things weren’t so complicated in the Arctic where he was. Although three Nightmare World Gates had also appeared here, Su Bei didn’t think many Nightmare Beasts would emerge from them.

Those who feared a Nightmare Beast attack had already left by plane with the government’s help. Only a very small number were unafraid, or rather, unwilling to leave. With so few people, it probably wasn’t worth the Nightmare Beasts’ effort to waste their strength and time here.

Besides, if everyone elsewhere died, they wouldn’t survive either. And if humanity won, killing such a small number of people here would be pointless.

The Nightmare Beasts didn’t give humanity much time to prepare. Although this battle was bound to be a prolonged, explosive one, they would surely try to catch humanity off guard at the start.

So, as soon as the Nightmare World Gates opened, they swarmed out, braving the attacks of the Ability users.

This had nothing to do with Su Bei. He couldn’t possibly make his appearance at the very beginning; that would be too much trouble. Although he knew that the people who contributed from the start were the real heroes, in the comic, showing up early just meant being treated as cannon fodder. Only those who appeared later got the highlight moments.

If the outcome were uncertain, Su Bei would be willing to genuinely contribute to humanity’s cause. After all, if the human faction lost, things wouldn’t end well for him either.

But now that he knew the human side would win, he naturally wasn’t so genuinely anxious. Humanity could definitely hold on for a while in the early stages, so he didn’t have to worry about mass death and destruction if he didn’t go. Besides, he was just a 16-year-old underage Ability user, not a member of the main protagonist group; he really wasn’t that important.

However, he hadn’t been idle during this time. Su Bei quietly slipped through one of the Nightmare World Gates in the Arctic and entered the Nightmare Beast World.

He knew the Nightmare Beasts were planning some kind of ritual. Although the main protagonist group would surely resolve it successfully, he couldn’t just show up knowing nothing. If he went from being the rescuer to the one being rescued, it wouldn’t look very good.

Since there weren’t many Nightmare Beasts in the Arctic, there were naturally few behind the gate. Su Bei easily snuck in using an Invisibility Talisman, then used his ‘Wish Gear’: “I will always find my target when I’m lost.”

This was a passive, supportive wish. The gear disappeared, and the wish was successfully made. Su Bei immediately used a random teleportation item to teleport randomly within the Nightmare Beast World.

Since it was a random teleportation, and in the Nightmare Beast World at that, he would naturally get lost. The ‘Wish Gear’ was very powerful; on his third teleport, Su Bei arrived at a place where Nightmare Beasts were gathered.

There were no Nightmare World Gates nearby, so their gathering was definitely not for the purpose of heading to the real world. There had to be something special about this place that made them congregate.

Su Bei didn’t immediately enter the nearby cave dwelling. Instead, he first wandered around the Nightmare Beast habitat next to it. He soon discovered something shocking: all the Nightmare Beasts gathered here were Advanced Nightmare Beasts.

A rough count put their number at over a hundred.

Over a hundred Advanced Nightmare Beasts gathered here, especially when combat power was desperately needed in the outside world—they couldn’t possibly be here for a social chat. It seemed he had come to the right place; this must be the site of the ritual.

Su Bei cast a meaningful gaze towards the cave. What kind of important figure could be inside that would make so many Advanced Nightmare Beasts wait willingly outside?

To prevent any accident that might expose him, Su Bei, while still using the Invisibility Talisman, also wrapped himself in a reverse layer of Mental Energy to ensure he couldn’t be detected by any means. Only then did he tiptoe inside.

Inside the cave, there were only two living beings: a cross-shaped Advanced Nightmare Beast and an old man with white hair and a beard.

The former Su Bei didn’t recognize, but the latter was all too familiar. It was the leader of the Black Flash Organization, Mo Xiaotian’s grandfather.

So that’s how it is. Su Bei wondered where they got the method for the ritual; now it seemed they probably got it from the Black Flash Organization. This organization leader was truly hard to judge—just because he didn’t want to live, he wanted to drag all of humanity down with him.

Speaking of which, Mo Xiaotian hadn’t appeared in a long time. If he hadn’t suddenly seen his grandfather, Su Bei would have almost forgotten about him.

He figured Mo Xiaotian would probably play a significant role in the finale, but he wondered if it would come at a price. Some shonen manga have a grand, happy ending, but most of them need to kill off a few characters by the end.

Though he was reluctant to say it, Mo Xiaotian was indeed the most suitable candidate.

Thinking this, Su Bei couldn’t help but ask the ‘Manga Consciousness’ in his mind: “Will Mo Xiaotian die?”

The ‘Manga Consciousness’ hesitated for a moment. It didn’t want to answer, but then it remembered Su Bei could see people’s destinies, so a lie would be easily exposed. In the end, it chose to tell him the truth: “He will.”

Su Bei sighed softly. “Can he be saved?”

Although he didn’t feel obligated to save anyone, Mo Xiaotian was a classmate, after all. If he could help, Su Bei was willing to do so.

But unfortunately, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ had no intention of giving him that chance. “No.”

As if afraid Su Bei would force the issue, it quickly added, “That is the best ending for him.”

Hearing this, Su Bei was stunned for a moment before falling into silence.

After returning to the Black Flash Organization, it was impossible that Mo Xiaotian hadn’t done anything wrong. He wasn’t like Zhou Renjie. Zhou Renjie was an undercover agent, so even if he was forced to do bad things, it was excusable.

But Mo Xiaotian committed evil deeds willingly, and he knew full well that what he was doing was wrong. Therefore, he deserved to die. If he were easily forgiven, how could the people he had killed rest in peace?

The concept of atoning for one’s crimes through meritorious service could offer him a glimmer of hope. Sabotaging the most important collaboration between the Black Flash Organization and the Nightmare Beasts to save all of humanity was indeed a great deed, enough to offset some of his sins.

But did Mo Xiaotian truly want that for himself?

At his core, he was a pure shonen manga protagonist, but because he was raised by a villain, his path was skewed from the very beginning. The hallmark of a shonen protagonist is resilience and perseverance. If he could have stuck to his original beliefs, he wouldn’t have wanted to die. But since he chose to cooperate with the protagonist group, it meant he had abandoned his former ideals.

When he clearly realized that everything he had done before was wrong, when he saw his most important family member on an irreversible path of evil, when he personally killed his only relative… death would be the best outcome for him.

Sighing, Su Bei gave a slight, wry smile. “I understand.”

Pushing aside his complicated emotions, he stopped dwelling on it and focused on the problem at hand. What did this cross-shaped Nightmare Beast do?

Because its features were so distinct, Su Bei easily found a record of it in the notebook from the ‘Destiny’ organization.

The Cross Nightmare Beast was a type of Nightmare Beast that could absorb the energy of others, whether it was the energy of humans or other Nightmare Beasts.

The reason so many Advanced Nightmare Beasts were gathered here was now clear—they were here to be drained by it. After obtaining a massive amount of energy, the Nightmare Beasts could probably begin the sacrifice.

However, it seemed they still needed to coordinate with events in the real world. Otherwise, they could have performed the sacrifice secretly instead of launching a large-scale invasion of the human world.

This was all he could deduce from the currently known information. Su Bei wasn’t sure if there was anything else he didn’t know, so he decided to stay here for the next few days to see if he could gather any other intelligence.

Of course, another reason was that he was temporarily stuck. The side effect of using ‘Wish Gear’ this time was that no matter where he wanted to go, he wouldn’t reach his destination. He might as well stay put, lest he accidentally end up somewhere he didn’t want to be.

Unsure of his intentions and seeing that he had no plans to leave, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ couldn’t help but remind him, “You’re not thinking of resolving this ahead of schedule, are you?”

“Of course not,” Su Bei said with a puzzled expression. “Why would you think that?”

Was he really that kind of person?

Hearing this, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ was instantly relieved and explained, “Isn’t it because the restrictions of the comic have ended for you?”

It could see very clearly that, removed from the persona created for the comic’s popularity, Su Bei himself was actually a good person who cared for others.