Chapter 347:

Heaven rewards the diligent. After squatting here for three days, Su Bei finally obtained useful information.

It began when the Cross Nightmare Beast asked the leader of the Black Flash Organization with some impatience, “When can we begin our operation?”

The leader glanced at his external communication device for a moment before telling it, “We’re more than halfway done. The world-ending plan can be launched in a week at the latest.”

This was, after all, a major event involving all Nightmare Beasts. Even if it was certain the leader wouldn’t betray them, the Cross Nightmare Beast couldn’t place its complete trust in him and pressed for details. “How many defense-type Ability users are in that city? It won’t disrupt the sacrifice, will it?”

“Of course not. Because that city is relatively far from the Interdimensional Gate, there are only two defense-type Ability users inside, and one of them is even a student,” the leader replied, his face expressionless, though his voice sounded quite amiable.

Hearing this, Su Bei’s brow twitched. He had already guessed which city the other was referring to—it was undoubtedly the Sanctuary City where Ai Baozhu was located. His initial decision had been correct; following Ai Baozhu would indeed lead him to important plot points.

However, the Cross Nightmare Beast had just mentioned the word “sacrifice.” A word like that certainly implied more than just a few people dying; it was highly likely that everyone within the city would die because of their actions.

In theory, Ai Baozhu’s ability could evade any danger that appeared within her [Glorious Domain], including a “sacrifice.” How could a sacrifice possibly be considered courteous?

Therefore, to carry out a sacrificial ritual within her domain, it could only be done when Ai Baozhu’s ability was turned off.

This boiled down to two scenarios: one was to achieve their goal by killing her, and the other was to act when Ai Baozhu was forced to temporarily deactivate her ability for some reason.

But regardless of which it was, it was time for him to make his move. Su Bei moved away from the pack of Nightmare Beasts and performed a random teleportation. After confirming that no one around could sense him using an item, he took out the teleportation device Lei Ze’en had given him and left the Nightmare Beast World.

Besides leaving the Nightmare Beast World through official channels like the Interdimensional Gate, only a tiny handful of Ability users in the world possessed the power to bring people out. Thus, he had no choice but to use this item.

Su Bei wasn’t sure if Lei Ze’en knew he was still alive, but it was highly probable. After all, news could be deceiving, but the conditions of Jiang Tianming and the others could not.

As their teacher, even if the students deliberately put on an act, it would be difficult for Lei Ze’en not to notice something was amiss. If he became suspicious and probed a little with Meng Huai, he would most likely find out that he was still alive.

However, as one of the three teachers, with one already being a mole, Lei Ze’en should be fine. That was why Su Bei dared to use the item given to him without worrying about his movements being detected.

“Where is Ai Baozhu?” Back in the real world, Su Bei asked while sitting on his flying carpet. “Can you give me directions?”

He made this request with righteous indignation. It was only because of the author’s demands that he got involved in these troublesome matters in the first place. Although his own selfish motives were mixed in, who was to blame when the author was the one who started it?

The “Manga Consciousness” was well aware of this and readily installed a navigation app on his phone. Su Bei had initially planned to fly all the way to Ai Baozhu’s Sanctuary City, but he soon discovered that it wasn’t feasible.

Restrictions had been placed over many cities and warzones by either humans or Nightmare Beasts, creating no-fly zones. Although he had invisibility, flying in an area with indiscriminate attacks meant he would still be shot down.

He had no choice but to put away his flying carpet and proceed to the Sanctuary City on foot. Taking a plane or high-speed train was out of the question; during the war, such transportation was unavailable. Forget those; even taking a car required careful consideration. A car on the highway was a conspicuous target. If they ran into any trouble on the road, everyone in the car would be out of luck.

Fortunately, he had some speed-enhancing items on hand, so even though he was traveling on foot, his pace wasn’t slow. Thanks to the Invisibility Talisman, he wasn’t discovered by anyone.

Along the way, even Su Bei couldn’t help but sigh. The warzones were a storm of artillery fire. Capable Ability users formed small teams and fought bravely against the enemy. However, the Nightmare Beasts were like leeches, seemingly impossible to kill off completely.

Walking through it was truly difficult; he had to constantly be on guard against indiscriminate attacks from both friend and foe. After this journey, Su Bei felt like his evasion stat had been maxed out.

But even though he tried his best to avoid the warzones, he still inevitably ended up with many wounds, all caused by indiscriminate AOE group attacks.

The entire warzone reeked of blood—the blood of Ability users. Fortunately, Nightmare Beasts were odorless upon death; otherwise, Su Bei couldn’t imagine what the smell would be like here.

The ground was densely carpeted with a layer of Nightmare Beast corpses. As products of resentment, their bodies would naturally dissipate if left on the ground for 24 hours. If eaten, they would be converted into energy to nourish an Ability user’s body.

However, it was clear that no one would be picking up corpses to eat at a time like this. Eating a Nightmare Beast corpse from the battlefield just felt strange. Besides, who knew how they died? Death by poison was one thing, but what if it died from a dung-smeared spear?

He arrived silently at the newly established Sanctuary City No. 3, the one where Ai Baozhu was. Looking at the city gate, Su Bei was stumped.

These were extraordinary times. To enter the sanctuary, one not only needed a full-body scan but also a newly issued government certificate. Otherwise, there was no way to pass the strict inspection at the gate.

Desperate times call for desperate measures; Su Bei could understand that. But the problem was, he was currently a person without an identity. How could he get into the city smoothly?

If he stayed outside the city, he wouldn’t be able to see the Destiny Compass of the people inside in real-time, and thus couldn’t react at the first moment. Opportunities were always fleeting, so he had to get inside.

After observing for a while, he couldn’t find a way to sneak in. Su Bei sighed and sent a message to Ai Baozhu: “Can you bring someone without a certificate into the city?”

About five minutes later, Ai Baozhu replied: “I can! Are you coming here?!”

As one of the only two group-defense Ability users in the city, her status in the Sanctuary City was very high. Bringing one person in was something that would surely be approved if she personally requested it.

It was worth mentioning that the status of defense-type Ability users always skyrocketed during wartime. Their usefulness wasn’t always apparent in normal times, but in situations like this, their indispensability became clear.

“Yeah, I’m at the gate,” Su Bei replied.

He was actually coming to find her now! Ai Baozhu was overjoyed. Others might not know Su Bei’s strength, but how could she not? With his help, her sense of security would go through the roof.

But Ai Baozhu wasn’t a fool. She quickly realized something was wrong. “By the way, why are you here? Didn’t you say you were going to hide somewhere for half a year?”

Although several months had passed, she clearly remembered that the reason Su Bei had chosen to fake his death was because his ability had been sealed for six months. It had only been five months since then. Why was he suddenly back in action?

“I stumbled upon a method to unseal my ability ahead of schedule,” Su Bei typed back concisely.

On the other end of the phone, Ai Baozhu nodded in understanding, but then she suddenly realized another, bigger problem. The members of their S-Class were now scattered across various places, shining in their own right. What kind of situation would make Su Bei come find her immediately after his ability was restored?

Ai Baozhu wasn’t narcissistic enough to think she held such an important place in Su Bei’s heart. His trip here could only mean one thing: Sanctuary City No. 3, where she was, was about to face a major disaster.

“What’s going to happen here?” Ai Baozhu asked directly.

Su Bei didn’t hide it from her, or at least, he didn’t hide the general situation. “Something is going to happen. You should be careful.”

No matter what the Nightmare Beasts planned to do, Ai Baozhu was an obstacle they couldn’t bypass, so she was bound to be in trouble.

Ai Baozhu’s expression turned grave for a moment, but then a smile returned to her face. “So, you came here specifically to protect me?”

“Oh, not really,” Su Bei said honestly. “I was invited to help. Principal Wu Jin hopes the ‘Destiny’ organization can play a role for humanity.”

Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered something else. In the organization’s notebook, encouraging members with points to fight for humanity was indeed a form of contribution. But as an intelligence organization, wasn’t providing useful intelligence the greatest contribution?

Thinking of this, Su Bei immediately posted another bounty, this time offering points for relevant information.

He couldn’t reveal intelligence related to the main storyline in advance, so he had no stock on hand. But he figured the other members of the organization must have some information, more or less. If they were willing to contribute it, it would also be a great help to humanity.

“…You know, you might as well have just said yes,” Ai Baozhu typed, speechless. “Wait down there, I’ll come get you right away. By the way, are you planning to drop your fake death status now?”

Su Bei was still planning to make a stunning comeback, so his answer was naturally no. He then described his current appearance to her.

Soon, Ai Baozhu appeared on the city wall, her pink outfit exceptionally eye-catching.

She scanned the open area below the wall and her gaze quickly locked onto Su Bei. After he nodded at her, she waved back at him excitedly, but quickly caught herself. She cleared her throat with feigned composure and said to the guard next to her, “That’s my friend. He’s here at my request to help replenish my Mental Energy. Please let him in.”

The guard’s attitude towards the girl who protected the entire city was very respectful. Hearing that Su Bei’s role was so important, he immediately had the people below grant him entry.