Chapter 352

“That’s the one.” Feng Lan nodded. “The name of this item is ‘The Queen’s Poisoned Apple’. If you eat the red part, no matter how you die, you will only enter a state of suspended animation. You can return to normal after coughing the apple up. However, after one suspended animation, if your body suffers a second fatal blow, the item will no longer work.”

To put it simply, this was a revival item, and one without any drawbacks. It could be considered extremely powerful.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Su Bei asked, puzzled.

Feng Lan’s expression was one of matter-of-fact innocence. “A replacement.”

Because Su Bei had used one, he was providing him with a replacement, lest he encounter danger again later and have no revival item to use.

Before Su Bei could say anything, Wu Mingbai stood up, also holding an item. “The three of us also wanted to give you a replacement revival item. Don’t deny it, I know you definitely saved me. You deserve this.”

“I’ve prepared one as well,” Si Zhaohua stood up right after, also holding a revival item.

Su Bei tilted his head. “Did you guys plan this?”

They glanced at each other and shook their heads helplessly. Jiang Tianming chuckled. “Not at all, it’s just a coincidence.”

Su Bei accepted the items from the other two groups with a clear conscience. He had genuinely saved them, so wasn’t it right to receive a reward? But Feng Lan’s was different. After putting away the other two items, he held out the apple to Feng Lan. “There’s no need. I’m not lacking them now.”

“My family has a lot of these,” Feng Lan said with a serious expression. He wasn’t lying. His family had a plethora of revival and defensive items; the Feng family had collected more of these types of items than anything else over the years.

What a tycoon. Su Bei found it a bit amusing, but in the end, he didn’t refuse his classmate’s kindness again.

As the host, Si Zhaohua had prepared a flawless meal. There wasn’t a single person at the table who couldn’t eat anything; a glance around showed that everyone had at least one dish they liked. He had no idea when Si Zhaohua had observed all of this.

Everyone chatted and laughed at the dinner table, but they all tacitly avoided any topics related to Mo Xiaotian. Although the recent period of continuous battles had eased their grief considerably, the death of a classmate was still hard for them to accept.

Even though Mo Xiaotian was a traitor, the good things he had done for them far outweighed the bad, so naturally, none of them could bring themselves to blame him.

Wu Jin sat quietly for a while. When there weren’t many people surrounding Su Bei, he leaned in and asked in a low voice, “My dad wants me to ask you how many people from the ‘Destiny’ organization came. Also, this is for you.”

He also gave Su Bei an item, but it wasn’t a revival item; it was a defensive one.

Although Wu Di had seen the bounty posted within the organization, he didn’t know who had accepted it, which was why he had his son ask his classmate. Of course, there was another purpose: to probe whether the leader had come.

As for the item, it was to thank Su Bei for everything he had done. He should have thanked him sooner, but with Su Bei’s suspended animation earlier, there wasn’t much he could do.

Su Bei shrugged. How could he possibly answer that question? Wouldn’t that expose the organization’s secrets? Therefore, he simply replied with an innocent look, “The identities of members of an intelligence organization are kept secret even from each other. I suppose only the leader would know the answer to that question.”

It just so happened that he was the leader of the “Destiny” organization, so he really did know the answer to that question.

The update time for the final chapter of the second season of the comic was within Su Bei’s expectations. After more than half a year, the Nightmare Beasts were more or less wiped out, at least to the point where they could no longer launch large-scale attacks. The long-lost voice of the “Manga Consciousness” finally sounded: “‘King of Abilities’ has been updated. Please check for the new chapter.”

Su Bei was in the middle of a meal when he heard the notification. He raised an eyebrow, quickly shoveled down the last few bites of rice in his bowl, picked up the school resumption notice that was on the table, and then opened his phone to check the manga.

Although he had participated in the entire storyline that followed, and nothing unexpected had happened, the manga shouldn’t hold any major surprises either. But since it was the season finale, Su Bei, having been a participant throughout the season, naturally had to give it a proper send-off.

The beginning of the chapter was normal, showing clips of everyone working together to eliminate the Nightmare Beasts. The author intentionally created an ensemble cast for the finale, giving plenty of screen time to Su Bei’s acquaintances.

This included the students from “Alpha Ability Academy,” Mu Yunfan and Feng Manman, Officer Zhou and Zhou Min from Longevity Town, the still-imprisoned chairman of Life Science and Technology Mechanical Co., Ltd., Feng Ling, Cyril, and other former members of the “Black Flash Organization,” Wu Mingbai’s family, the Meng Huai trio…

At the very end, the main protagonist group made their appearances one by one.

Presumably in order of plot importance, Su Bei was the fourth to last to appear. The author didn’t place him at the beginning just because he had been lazing around doing almost nothing lately. Even his slacking was drawn in an interesting way. It was a huge contrast to the others; while they were fighting bravely, Su Bei was in his room watching cartoons.

It took a lot of pages to draw out everyone’s story. The rest depicted the overall situation of the war. From a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield showing the intuitive decrease in the number of Nightmare Beasts, to Ability users having time to reunite, to ordinary people starting to go out and do business… one by one, these events indicated that the war was gradually tilting in humanity’s favor.

The state of all things reviving after a harsh winter was slowly revealed through these details in the manga. While making people feel joyful, it also made readers realize that this season was probably coming to an end.

And that was indeed the case. The final part of the main story was the plotline where Su Bei and the others received the notice to return to “Endless Ability Academy.” Their return to school symbolized the gradual calming of the storm of war.

Su Bei had just received the school resumption notice. They were still minors, after all, and going to school was necessary. The current situation was no longer as tense as before; the battlefields were now confined to a few fixed locations. Even ordinary citizens were beginning to relocate and return to their respective homes, so naturally, they also had to resume their studies.

To be honest, Su Bei had mixed feelings about going back to school. Although the notice indicated that their lives were about to return to normal, what student these days actually likes school?

“Huh? There’s more?” Based on past experience, the story should have ended here. Just as he was about to close the manga, Su Bei suddenly noticed that he could still turn the page.

He paused and tapped to see the next page.

The first scene after turning the page was of a battlefield right after a war had ended. Because it had just concluded, the bodies of the Nightmare Beasts had not yet disappeared. The densely packed corpses of Nightmare Beasts and some human bodies were piled together, a cruel sight.

After the war, some humans came to clear away the human corpses, recovering them for burial. The families of these deceased would receive a large sum of compensation. For those without families, the money would become their burial fee.

In the next scene, the Nightmare Beast corpses began to dissipate. The Nightmare Beasts, born from the grievances of the dead, finally had their resentment scatter upon their own deaths.

Seeing this, a look of confusion appeared in Su Bei’s eyes. The plot had been perfectly normal up to this point, so why add this extra segment?

Wait, something seems off.

Suddenly, Su Bei’s brow furrowed. He noticed that as the Nightmare Beasts were dissipating, black smoke was emerging from their bodies.

Initially, he had subconsciously assumed this was the manga’s way of representing dissipating resentment, just as their abilities were depicted with a tangible halo of light. These were things invisible to the naked eye for the people in the manga, drawn by the author only to make the manga more visually appealing and clearer for the readers.

But what if that wasn’t the case this time? What if it wasn’t black mist drawn for special effects, but something that had genuinely escaped from the Nightmare Beasts’ corpses?

With that thought, Su Bei turned to the next page.

The next page consisted of a single large illustration—

On a gray, lonely island, the ocean waves churned ceaselessly. A tall, slender figure completely shrouded in a black robe and holding a long-handled scythe stood on the edge of a cliff. Streaks of black mist, like ghosts and phantoms, descended from the sky, and were ultimately all absorbed into his scythe.

Su Bei’s eyes widened, and he immediately reacted. “Is this the boss for the next season?”

He wasn’t the only one who thought so. The bullet comments exploded.

“WTF WTF WTF! What is this?”

“He looks so impressive. Is this the boss for the next season?”

“Another cliffhanger for the next season at the end of the chapter.”

“Can’t see his face, but even the silhouette looks so cool.”

“Looks a bit like the Grim Reaper.”

“A new character has appeared, how can we stand still?”

“Next season’s villain, confirmed.”

In any case, it was just a silhouette, and he was wearing a black robe. Even if they met him in reality, it would be impossible to recognize him. So the “Manga Consciousness” didn’t mind telling Su Bei the answer. “That’s right, he is the main villain for the next season!”

After a moment of silence, Su Bei suddenly asked, “Is he one of Jiang Tianming’s parents? No, to be precise, his father?”

“…”

This time, it was the “Manga Consciousness’s” turn to be silent. It remained silent for a full five minutes. By the time Su Bei had finished washing his bowl, it finally spoke haltingly, “Why would you think that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” This was practically a tacit confirmation of his question. Su Bei understood and shrugged. “As a main character, Jiang Tianming’s parents definitely wouldn’t be nobodies. There’s a high probability their story is part of the plot. Since it wasn’t written in the first two seasons, it’s likely to be in the third.”

He paused for a moment to organize his thoughts, then continued, “Jiang Tianming’s ability, ‘Death Call,’ has always been a potential bombshell. Similarly, since it didn’t go off in the first two seasons, it’s likely to go off in the third.”

Having stated the two suspicious points, he moved on to analyzing the character. “The way this dark figure holds the scythe perfectly matches the image of the Grim Reaper. With the previous two clues as a foundation, it’s hard not to think he’s related to Jiang Tianming, right? Of course, you could say this is just pure speculation based on manga tropes. But it’s clear I guessed right, isn’t it?”

“…Then why are you certain it’s his father and not his mother? You shouldn’t be able to tell the gender from just the silhouette, right?” The “Manga Consciousness” was still unwilling to give up, trying to find a flaw in Su Bei’s logic, though it wasn’t sure what it was fighting for.

Hearing this, Su Bei shot a strange glance toward the sky, as if looking at a desperate child grasping at straws. “Isn’t Jiang Tianming’s mother’s ability that Death Ray?”

“…”