Chapter 353

He waited for a long time, but “Manga Consciousness” remained silent. It had probably run off somewhere to sulk. Su Bei shook his head, paid it no mind, and instead stared at the silhouette, lost in thought.

To a certain extent, the image of the Grim Reaper and these black shadows hinted at the ability of Jiang Tianming’s father. It was likely an ability to absorb Nightmare Beasts, or the energy of the dead, to achieve some purpose.

It sounded somewhat related to Jiang Tianming’s [Death Call], but not by much. This kind of ability wasn’t hereditary in the first place. Any similarity was entirely due to the author’s contrived coincidences.

Su Bei wasn’t too concerned about the BOSS. That was someone for Jiang Tianming to deal with. At most, he would just lend a hand.

What truly concerned Su Bei was that “Manga Consciousness” hadn’t refuted any of his analysis just now. Given its recent behavior, if he had said anything wrong, it would have immediately refuted him as if it had caught him in a mistake, rather than running off to sulk.

In other words, his analysis was all correct. Jiang Tianming’s ability was indeed going to cause a huge problem.

When Su Bei first heard of the ability [Death Call], he had thought it sounded truly evil. Absorbing the abilities of the dead for one’s own use… it was too easy for that to breed ambition. If the person with this ability wasn’t the absolute protagonist of the manga, Su Bei would have been worried, no matter who it was.

Once this ability was made public, Jiang Tianming would definitely be feared by many. Although the country’s government and academies weren’t so cowardly as to restrict his actions and freedom just because his ability was too dangerous—at most, they would monitor him covertly. But the fearful gazes and ostracizing attitudes of those around him would be more than enough for Jiang Tianming to bear. Plus, with villains potentially pulling strings in the background, the situation would only escalate.

When that happened, as Jiang Tianming’s classmate, he would probably be affected too. Should he righteously stand with Jiang Tianming, or go with the flow and withdraw from the protagonist group to be a bystander?

Su Bei wanted to choose a third option. Of course, he would choose neither side and remain a neutral party! He could enjoy a normal school life and occasionally ride the coattails of the manga plot to strengthen himself. That was the optimal solution!

Time flew by, and the long-awaited first day of school finally arrived. It was now September of a new year, and Endless Ability Academy had been rebuilt. Su Bei and the others were now enrolling as third-year high school students.

This was another difference between an ability academy and a regular school. Other schools would have the students maintain their original grade level—second-years would remain second-years. After all, they hadn’t learned the required knowledge, so moving up would be useless. Even students who took online classes probably didn’t learn much. Everyone knew about the quality of online classes.

But Endless Ability Academy was different. They had been fighting Nightmare Beasts all this time, which was, in a way, another form of class—just not an academic one.

When he arrived at the classroom, all the other students were already there. On this long-awaited first day of school, everyone except Su Bei was excited. Su Bei sat lazily in his seat. More than excitement, he felt curiosity.

Now that the Nightmare Beasts could no longer cause much trouble, what kind of classes did Ability users like them still need to attend?

Of course, the war that had lasted over a year hadn’t eliminated all the Nightmare Beasts. After the majority were wiped out, the remaining ones consciously went into hiding.

If there was still hope of completely wiping out humanity, they would have continued to fight recklessly. But now, that was clearly impossible. So, the instinct for survival naturally took precedence, making them subconsciously choose to eke out their existence a little longer.

According to intelligence released on the Ability Government’s official website, the number of surviving Nightmare Beasts was less than one-tenth of the original population. This number wasn’t large, not even considering the vast initial population of Nightmare Beasts.

So, they just needed to be slowly eliminated from now on. There wouldn’t be as many missions to do in the future. Perhaps by the time their generation grew old, the era of Nightmare Beasts could be brought to a complete end.

While this was a good thing for humanity as a whole, it wasn’t exactly a praiseworthy development for individuals like Ability users.

The Nightmare Beasts were dying out. What were they going to do in the future?

As Ability users, they basically had an iron rice bowl—jobs were guaranteed even before graduation. Whether they joined a guild, the government, an academy, a squad, or became freelancers, they could live very well. Even students from F-Class with weak abilities had plenty of job opportunities within the Ability World after graduation.

But things were different now. The sharp decline in the number of Nightmare Beasts led to a sharp decline in their job opportunities. For three years of high school, they had learned how to eliminate Nightmare Beasts after graduation. But now, there weren’t that many Nightmare Beasts left to eliminate. What were they going to do after they graduated?

This was especially true since most of them had combat-type abilities, which had very little use in ordinary society. The Ability World strictly prohibited the use of abilities on ordinary people, so they couldn’t even work as bodyguards for the wealthy.

Their academic qualifications weren’t good enough, and their abilities weren’t suitable. The future was truly uncertain.

However, if you asked Su Bei, there was really no need to worry so much. They had many options.

In ordinary society, the mere title of “Ability user” could cause a huge stir. Whether they chose to become celebrities, corporate spokespeople, or streamers… as long as they had the status of an Ability user and there were no restrictions, making money really wouldn’t be difficult.

Even if all the Ability users from the Ability World returned to the ordinary world, it would be like a drop of water in the ocean—there were plenty of opportunities to make money. The public’s interest in them wouldn’t fade that quickly; the market prospects were vast.

Originally, the Ability World forbade Ability users from doing this. They were not allowed to appear frequently before the public to avoid causing social unrest.

But now, with most of the jobs that could be absorbed within the Ability World gone, the majority of Ability users had to return to the ordinary world. Therefore, the Ability World would surely lift the restrictions, giving them a lot of room to maneuver.

What truly worried Su Bei was, without an external conflict, would they become the new point of conflict?

Although many people on the Ability user forums were currently worrying about the future, the truth was that a sense of superiority was ingrained in the bones of many Ability users. After all, these were superpowers! And they were superpowers that only a very small number of people possessed.

An ordinary person with a gun can develop a sense of superiority; in any enclosed environment, they can get the illusion that they control others’ lives. How much more so for Ability users, who possess even greater power?

It was just that Ability users had originally been confined to the Ability World, with very little interaction with ordinary people. Coupled with a more prominent external conflict, even if an individual Ability user did something wrong, both governments would help suppress the news to avoid shaking morale and causing internal strife before the external enemy was defeated. That’s why there hadn’t been any major problems until now.

Otherwise, if any of those serial murder cases involving Ability users were exposed, Su Bei didn’t believe ordinary people would remain so calm. Someone would definitely cause an uproar.

Now that the external enemy was no longer a major threat, the government of ordinary people might not necessarily continue to help build a positive reputation for Ability users.

Regardless of status, as long as they are human, there are good and bad people. And if a bad person appears among the Ability users, the destructive power they could cause would be much greater and much easier to unleash than that of an ordinary person.

Once an Ability user does something outrageous, their entire high-profile group would be put in the hot seat to be judged.

Su Bei sighed and looked at the empty podium. He just hoped that when the teacher arrived, he would give them a reasonable plan for future employment. It would be best not to let them have complete freedom in choosing their careers, or there would surely be a lot of trouble in the future.

The classmates were also discussing this issue. After all, it was the most closely watched topic in the Ability World recently. Everyone wanted to know what the final outcome would be, as it concerned their plans for the future. This was true for both minors and adults.

Even people like Si Zhaohua and Ai Baozhu, who came from wealthy families, were very concerned about this issue. Many of their family’s businesses were in the Ability World, and policy changes would affect their corporate restructuring.

Perhaps only someone like Feng Lan wouldn’t care about this collective issue. An ability like [Prophecy] was useful in any world. Wasn’t that precisely why a family of prophets like the Feng Family had remained prosperous for so long?

“What do you think, Su Bei?” Seeing that he wasn’t participating in the others’ discussion, Wu Jin asked curiously in a low voice. He didn’t have any ideas of his own yet.

Jiang Tianming had sharp ears. He overheard their conversation and looked over, but his expression was a bit strange. “I think I know Su Bei’s answer.”

The result was just as he expected. Su Bei replied with a grin, “Whatever happens, happens. My goal is to be a hardware store owner anyway.”

At 7:59, Meng Huai entered the classroom right on time. He looked to be in good spirits, with a very relaxed posture. He was still wearing the same black short-sleeved shirt from when they first met. Although it covered most of his muscles, you could still see he was powerfully built.

He was clearly aware of what everyone was concerned about. Without any pleasantries, he got straight to the point: “You’re all third-years now, so I’ll talk about the arrangements for after you graduate.”

He held a stack of documents in his hand and said succinctly, “You’ve been given several options here. The first is to become a police officer. Based on your individual abilities and personal wishes, you can find employment among the civil police, criminal police, special police, or the military.”

There were only so many Ability users in total. Even if all of them became police officers, spreading them across the country wouldn’t amount to much. And even without their special abilities, their physical fitness surpassed that of most ordinary people, making them perfectly suited to be police officers and soldiers.

“What do you mean by ‘personal wishes’?” Zhao Xiaoyu raised her hand and asked. “Can we choose where we want to go?”

Meng Huai thought for a moment. “Let’s use your class as an example. Other than the civil police, the other three branches are willing to accept all of you. You can choose freely among those three.”

As for why the civil police didn’t want them, it was, of course, because the problems they handled were relatively less dangerous. Having powerful Ability users like them on the civil police force would be a waste of resources.

“What about the salary?” It was Zhao Xiaoyu again who asked the question. As a former ordinary person, she was the most concerned about these things.

This question was covered in the documents, so Meng Huai answered fluently, “The base salary is the same as other police officers. There will be a bonus if you use your ability.”