Chapter 363

In the end, Jiang Tianming took first place in the individual battles of the monthly exam.

Su Bei sincerely believed he deserved some credit for that victory. Dammit, who knew why Si Zhaohua would use his ultimate ability on him?

Others might not have understood the situation at the time, but how could he not? Su Bei knew very well that with his meager Mental Energy, it was impossible to truly burn off all of Si Zhaohua’s feathers. Once his Mental Energy was depleted, his physical stamina would drop along with it, and Si Zhaohua could have easily secured the win.

It was just as he always said: in many situations, being able to fly already puts you in an unbeatable position.

But Si Zhaohua just had to go and unleash his ultimate, resulting in mutual destruction.

How should he put it? Su Bei should probably be satisfied that he could push his opponent to such an extent with his ability. But the problem was, he had entered this fight to go all out and have a good time. Being defeated by an ultimate ability at the end just left him feeling frustrated.

Overall, though, apart from the initial shock and frustration, Su Bei felt much better now. He had given it his all, making no mistakes in either mental or physical execution. Although he lost to that ultimate move in the end, having an ultimate ability was a testament to his opponent’s strength.

In any case, his conscience was clear, and that was enough.

However, as he was walking, his good mood gradually vanished. He turned his head back, speechless. “Why are you guys following me?”

The competition was over, and he planned to visit the infirmary. Although there were doctors on-site to treat them, the treatment was only for superficial wounds. Seizing this rare opportunity to openly visit the infirmary, Su Bei intended to get a full check-up.

“We want to invite you to eat with us to celebrate us making it into the top ten,” Jiang Tianming said, stepping forward to invite him.

Although he had just fought Si Zhaohua, he had already been treated by the on-site medic. So, aside from his clothes being a bit tattered, he was fine.

Su Bei glanced at the group: Jiang Tianming, Lan Subing, Wu Mingbai, Mo Xiaotian, Mu Tieren, and Feng Lan. Except for Mo Xiaotian and Wu Mingbai, they were all from Class F.

He didn’t care about the others, but one person made him curious. “How did they convince you to join this pointless celebration banquet?”

He was asking Feng Lan. In Su Bei’s impression, Feng Lan wasn’t the type to join in on the fun. But then again, his relationship with Jiang Tianming and the others seemed decent; he had helped them investigate and find clues before.

“Because we’re classmates,” Feng Lan replied concisely.

They weren’t just classmates now; after this monthly exam’s class reassignment, they would most likely end up in the same class again. Feng Lan didn’t understand worldly rules very well, but he was willing to abide by them. Plus, he had no ill feelings towards Jiang Tianming and the others, so he agreed immediately when they invited him.

Although Feng Lan’s answer was brief, Su Bei, based on his understanding of him, still grasped his meaning. He nodded but wasn’t swayed by his choice.

Especially since this group not only included the very capable troublemakers Jiang Tianming and his friends but also the obvious mole, Mo Xiaotian. He couldn’t get tangled up in this mess. “Then I won’t go…”

“Actually, it’s also to thank you.” Before he could finish his refusal, Jiang Tianming promptly cut him off, pulling out his second, prepared reason. “If you hadn’t depleted Si Zhaohua’s skills first, I might not have been able to take first place.”

Just as Su Bei had some understanding of his classmates, Jiang Tianming also had some understanding of Su Bei. He had already guessed that he would most likely refuse. For some reason, Su Bei always seemed to be intentionally avoiding them.

Logically, as classmates, they should have had plenty of interactions, especially since they were actively trying to engage with him. But Su Bei managed to avoid them repeatedly, and any occasional conversation would end very quickly.

Under these circumstances, even a fool could tell that Su Bei didn’t want anything to do with them.

Initially, after a few attempts, Jiang Tianming had decided to give up. After all, he wasn’t someone with too much free time, nor did he feel the need to be on good terms with everyone. Since Su Bei didn’t want to associate with them, he wouldn’t bother him.

But things were different now. This monthly exam was for class reassignment, and based on their scores, they would clearly be in the same class again. It was one thing not to get along when they were only going to be classmates in Class F for a month, but it was a bit inappropriate to maintain the status quo when they were going to be classmates for the next three years.

Furthermore, with Lan Subing and Wu Mingbai’s encouragement, Jiang Tianming decided to try one more time. At the very least, he wanted to know why Su Bei was so resistant to them, right?

Hearing this, Su Bei glanced at him. “While I’d love to say you should thank me, you might have won even without me, so no thanks are necessary.”

Si Zhaohua’s ultimate was powerful, so powerful that he couldn’t move when he was targeted. But for some reason, Su Bei had a feeling that if Jiang Tianming had faced that ability, he might have actually had a way to deal with it.

Unlike his own exam method of relying solely on hand-to-hand combat, Jiang Tianming’s ostensible ability was [Object Control], but Su Bei suspected his real ability was definitely not that. It had nothing to do with feelings; it was purely a judgment based on details.

What kind of [Object Control] ability could suddenly increase his speed and strength, and occasionally allow him to evade clearly unavoidable fatal abilities? This guy was definitely hiding a lot.

It was truly uncertain who would have won between those two.

“But you still took a big hit for me, didn’t you?” Jiang Tianming insisted, his pure black eyes fixed on Su Bei, getting straight to the point. “Besides, everyone from our class who made it is going. How could we isolate you?”

It was phrased as “How could we isolate you?” but what it really meant was “You don’t want to be isolated, do you?” It had a hint of a scheming side, but it wasn’t off-putting. Su Bei raised an eyebrow at him and finally nodded. “Let’s go.”

All the top ten finishers from Class F were going; if he didn’t, he would indeed seem too reclusive. Although Su Bei didn’t want to get involved with Mo Xiaotian, there was no need to constantly run away. This was the Ability World; surely no villainous organization would target him, a guy with a useless ability, right?

During the meal, the group inevitably started chatting. No one had the habit of not speaking while eating, and with a lively person like Mo Xiaotian around, the atmosphere was quite enthusiastic.

It was through this that Su Bei surprisingly discovered that he and Jiang Tianming actually got along quite well. Although the only thing their experiences had in common was the death of both parents, and their personalities were very different, it wasn’t hard to strike up a conversation when their values and knowledge were similar.

The other two people in his little group were also very interesting. Su Bei had known since the first day of school that Lan Subing had severe social anxiety, but it was only today that he learned she was also a deadpan snarker.

As for Wu Mingbai, on the surface, he was a sweet and naive type like Mo Xiaotian, but every other sentence he spoke was a subtle jab at Mo Xiaotian, who was completely oblivious. It was obvious who the truly naive one was.

Three people with vastly different personalities were somehow the best of friends. And they had gathered even more people around them… Su Bei frowned slightly. He felt that this setup was a bit familiar.

But where had he seen it before?

After the meal, their relationship had grown a little closer, and Su Bei finally stopped deliberately avoiding them. He could now see that Mo Xiaotian was probably a genuinely sweet and naive person. Although he didn’t know his purpose for attending Endless Ability Academy as a member of the Black Flash Organization, he likely meant no harm for the time being.

For the upcoming team competition, the four of them split up. Zhao Xiaoyu and Wu Jin formed one team—one had brains, the other could reduce their presence, specializing in escape. Su Bei and Feng Lan formed another team—one had combat power, the other could foresee danger.

Su Bei initially thought this grouping was perfect, and for the first day, it was. None of the four ran into trouble, and because of their flexible pairing, they even managed to sneakily score quite a few eliminations.

But he had forgotten one thing—an ability like [Prophecy] would always be the first to be banned as soon as an enemy appeared. Even with his [Prophecy] ability, it was very difficult to avoid dangers that were specifically targeting him.

Therefore, by sticking with Feng Lan, he too would passively be drawn into danger.

Su Bei had actually realized this before, but he wouldn’t blame himself for this oversight. What normal person would expect villains to show up in a school-organized exam!

As he looked at the group of black-clad figures descending from the sky, in the second before he lost consciousness, Su Bei let out a silent roar in his mind.

As consciousness returned, his brain registered what had happened before his body did. Su Bei didn’t rashly open his eyes, pretending to still be unconscious while eavesdropping on the nearby conversation.

It was now the second day of the team competition. Feng Lan was already awake and was calmly dealing with another, unfamiliar male voice. “You can’t hurt me, and you can’t hurt him either.”

As the heir to the Feng Family, the number of life-saving items he possessed was far beyond what these people could imagine.

The other person was clearly aware that they couldn’t do much to him and said nonchalantly, “It doesn’t matter. We just want to trap you here. Of course, if possible, it would be best to take you to the organization’s base.”

After saying this, Su Bei felt a gaze fall upon him. Then the male voice continued, “As for this kid, if he can be used to restrain you, we don’t mind taking him away either.”

Wow, he was going to become a burden. Su Bei thought with a blank expression. Although he was the one who got dragged into this, he couldn’t accept being a burden to someone else. He didn’t like protecting others, nor did he like being protected.

But how should he save himself?

There were many footsteps around, meaning there were probably a lot of people here. Fighting his way out with pure force was definitely not an option. His ability was [Gear], which didn’t seem very useful either.

If a frontal assault was out, he could only use his wits. Since they only captured them to prevent Feng Lan from causing trouble, they must have another objective here, which meant they likely wouldn’t assign too many people to guard them.

He couldn’t beat a large group, but Su Bei was somewhat confident he could handle one or two people.

He slowly opened his eyes. His purple pupils were filled with composure; he clearly already had a plan.