A Guide for Background Characters to Survive in a Manga - Chapter 324 : Chapter 324
Translator: AkazaTL
Proofreader/Editor: JWyck
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Chapter 324
He was truly shocked. Only three people knew about this matter: him, Ye Lin, and his father. Neither he nor his father would possibly leak this news, so in theory, only Ye Lin could have said it.
But the problem was, why would Ye Lin tell Su Bei about this? Their private cooperation, no matter how you looked at it, had no need to be told to Su Bei!
“I have my own intelligence channels,” Su Bei replied casually, then waved his hand and didn’t linger. Having gotten the answer he wanted, there was naturally no need for him to waste any more of Li Shu’s time.
If Li Shu knew what he was thinking, he would probably be so angry he’d laugh. He didn’t feel sorry for bothering him earlier, but now that he had piqued his curiosity, he suddenly felt sorry and turned to leave.
How could there be such an annoying person?
The police and government personnel soon arrived, and Meng Huai no longer needed to stay here. He summoned another silver dragon and had Mu Tieren and Qi Huang sit on the back of the black dragon he was on, while Su Bei’s group of four sat on the silver dragon’s back.
The dragon’s back was very wide. As long as they didn’t roll around on it, it was more than enough for the four of them. Of course, they still had to maintain their own balance. After all, it was a creature flying in the sky. No matter how smoothly it flew, the people on its back could easily be blown about by the wind without any cover.
However, this was not a big deal for ability users, and this wasn’t the first time Su Bei and the others had ridden a dragon. But this was the first time they had seen the city’s night view from a dragon’s back.
The city below was brightly lit. A major characteristic of modernization is that there is never a shortage of light pollution. Even high in the sky, one could be dazzled by the city lights.
But the feeling was very strange. Although the city below was extremely modern, they were riding a dragon in the night sky. The interweaving of reality and fantasy made everyone momentarily suspect they were in a dream.
Returning to the “Endless Ability Academy,” because it was already very late, or rather, it was almost dawn, Meng Huai didn’t criticize them right away. He waved his hand as if shooing away flies while holding a cigarette, “Go back to sleep. After school tomorrow, everyone except Li Shu, come to my office. Don’t forget to bring your thousand-word self-criticisms.”
A thousand words?!
Hearing the last sentence, everyone’s expression was one of utter despair, as if they had been struck by lightning. However, Meng Huai’s attitude was clearly very firm, and he didn’t look like he would change his mind just because they begged for mercy.
After a long silence, Mu Tieren was the first to speak tactfully, “Teacher, we understand.”
Meng Huai nodded with satisfaction and left without paying them any more attention. As soon as he was gone, Lan Subing was the first to let out a despairing wail, “A thousand words… Help… I’m going to die…”
“I haven’t written a self-criticism with so many words in the past fifteen years,” Qi Huang said through gritted teeth. “No, I’ve never written a self-criticism at all!”
She, such a perfect person, had broken her rule in this darn school.
Mu Tieren sighed, “It’s alright, we still have a whole day tomorrow. We only need to hand in the self-criticism after school.”
“That’s right, we have plenty of time to find a template.” Su Bei nodded in agreement, searching for the self-criticism template he needed on his phone as he spoke.
Although what they did was not something an ordinary student would do, the essence was the same. They both disobeyed the teacher’s instructions and might have even skipped school a little. Searching in these two directions would definitely yield useful content.
“Send me a copy of the template when you find it,” Wu Mingbai tried to copy his homework.
Su Bei was not a helpful person and immediately refused, “No, if the teacher really reads the self-criticisms, we’ll all be done for.”
Jiang Tianming was smart and immediately came up with a good idea, “It’s fine, you send us the material, we’ll adjust the order, and it’ll look roughly different. The teacher definitely won’t read it carefully.”
“What’s in it for me if I do that?” Su Bei asked calmly. “For example, I send you the material, and you help me finish writing these thousand words?”
Hearing such shameless words, Qi Huang was speechless, “There’s a limit to dreaming.”
“I can help too~” Li Shu said to Jiang Tianming with a smile. “As long as you…”
“No need.” Before he could finish, Jiang Tianming decisively refused, then turned to Su Bei, “Let’s discuss your plan again.”
Joking around, they returned to the dormitory building. Everyone finally fell silent and went back to their own rooms. It was already four or five in the morning, and they still had school tomorrow. To be honest, if this wasn’t Meng Huai’s punishment for them, they would have at least taken a day off.
But unfortunately, they definitely couldn’t take a day off now. They could only seize the last three hours to get some good sleep. Fortunately, ability users were always energetic, and three hours was enough for them to recover their energy.
It wasn’t until the next day at school, after catching up on sleep during a morning reading session, that Su Bei took out his phone to check this week’s manga update.
The manga started from the beginning of the new semester. Zhou Min, as a small easter egg, indeed sparked a lot of discussion among the readers. Then, in the classroom, Meng Huai dropped two big news bombs in the first class. One was the foreshadowing for the next event, that Class S would be downsized, and the other was the beginning of this event, Li Shu’s withdrawal from school.
“Why downsize?”
“This setting is still here? Old scoundrel, you’d better not!”
“Ahhh, I can’t bear for anyone to leave!”
“Isn’t this still a shonen manga? Which shonen manga downsizes for this kind of reason?”
“Li Shu is dropping out? Why?”
“It seems the focus this time should be on Li Shu’s withdrawal! After all, the other thing is a month away.”
As for the subsequent plot, since he had participated in the whole thing, Su Bei quickly flipped through the pages.
[After Jiang Tianming’s group of three acted alone, they soon ran into Li Shu. Li Shu was very surprised to see them. He didn’t expect that even though he had asked Meng Huai to stop them from coming, they still managed to sneak onto Li Family Island.
Before they were discovered, Li Shu wanted them to return the way they came, so when Jiang Tianming asked him the reason for dropping out, he said very cruelly, “Because you guys are too annoying, that’s why I’m dropping out.”]
Seeing this, the comments section exploded. Some people felt that he didn’t mean what he said. He was so clingy to Jiang Tianming before the school year started, how could his attitude completely change after just one summer vacation?
Another group of people, although they knew he didn’t mean it, couldn’t help but be angry. As the main character, Jiang Tianming was very popular in 《King of Abilities》. When their favorite was spoken to like that, some fans naturally couldn’t take it.
[As a rational protagonist, Jiang Tianming did not stage a melodramatic scene of not speaking his mind at this moment. He saw through Li Shu’s insincerity at a glance and calmly persuaded him, “We’re already here, we can’t go back so easily. You should know you can’t fool me. It’s better to be honest and tell us the real reason you dropped out, so we can help.”
Wu Mingbai, who was next to him, chimed in, “If you don’t point us in the right direction to help, we’ll have to improvise.”
At this moment, Lan Subing also showed the unified “black-hearted” nature of the protagonist group, saying softly, “Li Shu, you know, if they go off on their own, who knows what kind of trouble they’ll cause.”
“Wow, you’ve so naturally excluded yourself,” Wu Mingbai sneered and hooked his arm around Lan Subing’s neck. “When have we ever gotten into trouble without you being involved?”
Unable to hold back a laugh, Jiang Tianming quickly coughed and looked at Li Shu seriously again, “So, will you tell us the truth?”]
While watching this part of the plot, Su Bei’s eyes were full of admiration. He had to admit that he really liked people who were straightforward. This kind of behavior, which didn’t give either side a chance to create an information gap, could effectively avoid many misunderstandings.
In the end, Li Shu compromised and told them the truth. To put it simply, he knew that his family was involved in some disgusting transactions, namely, the Family Head used the [Eight Babies in One Go] ability to make the clan members have more children.
Then they would use the children as tradable bargaining chips, selling their human rights, organs, blood… As long as enough money was given, one could completely own a child who wasn’t even registered and whose death no one would know about.
Now he wanted to bring them to justice, so he told Meng Huai about it, asking him to find ability users to collect evidence from afar, while he came to Li Family Island to find evidence himself. The reason he didn’t want Jiang Tianming and the others to come was that he didn’t want them to get involved in his family’s troubles.
Obviously, his version of the truth was watered down, at least that’s what Su Bei thought. He didn’t mention what role Ye Lin played in it at all, nor did he say why he suddenly decided to turn against them, only mentioning the superficial content.
However, this was enough for the protagonist group. They didn’t mind Li Shu hiding a few small things, as long as the general direction was correct.
Jiang Tianming and the others wanted to start with the children and get more witnesses. Under the effect of the protagonist’s halo, they met the little girl and incidentally learned that her brother was having surgery that day.
In the little girl’s, and even her brother’s, perception, it was a great honor to contribute an organ to the Li Family. After all, the Li Family had raised them for so many years, they couldn’t possibly not want anything in return.
As long as one was chosen to contribute an organ, they could leave Li Family Island with a large sum of money and live outside. The children could go to a private school funded by the Li Family, and the adults were also assigned jobs. The after-sales service was top-notch.
Of course, the few who already knew the inside story of the Li Family would not believe that the Li Family was so kind. Jiang Tianming directly called Si Zhaohua and asked him to help check the schools and companies the little girl mentioned.
The answer was undoubtedly that they didn’t exist. Si Zhaohua couldn’t find any trace of them.
At the same time, Mu Tieren and Qi Huang were miserable. Just as Su Bei had analyzed at the time, if Jiang Tianming’s side was taking a gentle approach, then their side was a complete martial arts film set.
Qi Huang’s ability determined that once her tracks were discovered, she couldn’t hide at all. To repel the enemy, she had to use her ability, and the brilliant flames would attract more enemies, a complete vicious cycle.
Finally, the camera turned to Su Bei. In the manga, he was humming a song, leisurely going to the operating room to set up the camera, then going to the older brother’s room to glance at the photo, then accurately finding the Family Head’s room and using his ability to drive him out, and finally finding the ledger in the room.
The whole set of operations was as smooth as flowing water, as if everything was under his control.
Su Bei: “?”
Was he that cool at the time?
It was clear that this was the author slightly cutting and changing some of his actions for the sake of the plot and character setting, making it seem as if he really knew the Li Family’s inside story long ago.
And the readers who didn’t know the inside story would naturally follow the author’s pace.
“Su Bei clearly knew about the Li Family’s affairs long ago, right? He found the evidence so smoothly…”
“If I had such a teammate, I would wake up laughing in my dreams.”
“Really so reliable…”
“The ledger was found so easily?”
“Brother Bei also can’t stand what the Li Family is doing, right?”
Next, the plot of Su Bei going back to get the recording was also drawn by the author. When they saw Li Shu say that he had a healing ability, the readers’ reaction was the same as Su Bei’s at the time, full of shock.
When did Li Shu have a healing ability? How come they didn’t know?
Seeing this scene, a dark light flashed in Su Bei’s eyes. Although he couldn’t use the Prophet account to talk about himself, he could still brush up some presence.
Next was the most important content for him. Su Bei turned to the next page, to the page where he “showed his divinity before others.”
When he wasn’t very powerful before, the author was willing to help him create a cool image for the plot. Now that he was really cool, the author naturally wouldn’t deliberately suppress him.
In the manga, he moved through the enemies with ease, truly a case of “passing through a field of flowers without a single leaf sticking to him.” From time to time, he would even tease the people who came to grab him with the ledger, his fun-loving state at its peak.
And the ledger remained in his hands from beginning to end. Although it brushed past others several times, it was never taken by anyone, and during this time, Su Bei made no evasive maneuvers.
All the readers could see that this was definitely his ability at work.
“The destiny system is really amazing.”
“Can I say it? So handsome, ahhh!”
“What is this ability of Su Bei’s? Has he used it before?”
“Other people’s progress is obvious, only Su Bei’s progress is silent.”
“So annoying, Brother Bei, you’ve already teased no less than five people.”
Next, Su Bei naturally revealed his newly fabricated ability. From the manga, there was no sense of incongruity. At most, it just made people feel that he seemed a little more honest than before, actually revealing his ability directly instead of keeping them in suspense.
Seeing a comment saying this, Su Bei couldn’t help but smile bitterly. It was all because he had courted death too much before, often perfunctorily answering others’ questions, so that now when he really wanted to answer, no one would delve into it.
Su Bei was sure that if he dared to keep them in suspense, Jiang Tianming and the others would immediately give up trying to get answers from him. What could he say then?
Their tactfulness was very satisfying to Su Bei in normal times, but at times like this, Su Bei could only reap what he had sown.
What goes around comes around, he leaned back.
It seemed that the readers did not suspect him, which was good news. Although Su Bei had expected it, his heart was always in suspense until the matter was settled. Now seeing that the readers’ response was good, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After briefly finishing the ending, the author did not mention anything about Ye Lin in the manga. This should be a foreshadowing that will erupt when Ye Lin defects again.
But it should be fine if he gave a little spoiler in advance, right?
Su Bei closed the manga and opened the forum, immediately searching for posts about himself. As he had hoped, as a popular character in 《King of Abilities》 who had just shown a new ability, there were naturally many posts discussing him.
He first glanced at the titles of several posts and saw none questioning him. Su Bei’s heart was set, and he randomly clicked into a related topic.
《Great News! Su Bei’s Public Notice has been updated again. What a magical ability, it feels like it will be invincible after being fully developed.》
[OldEraRemnantNo.0: Although it can only be used in passive forms like defense and support, it can be seen from this chapter that this skill is simply invincible, okay? Install a good destiny on yourself in advance, and you don’t have to worry about anything next. Because destiny is already destined, the process is just a passing cloud.
If an active mode is developed, I can’t even imagine how strong it will be. As long as the user has enough Mental Energy, this is a completely invincible skill. And the user of this ability is Su Bei, who has high-level Mental Energy.
To be honest, I seriously suspect that the reason this skill can only be used for passive defense is entirely because the author is restricting Su Bei’s performance. After all, if a fun-lover has an invincible ability, it would be a bit terrifying.]
[No.1: It is indeed strong, especially what Jiang Jiang said after hearing Su Bei talk about this ability. That is the ultimate form of this ability.]
[No.2: Although this ability can’t be used for active actions, I still think it’s so OP. How can it be so strong?]
[No.3 replied to No.2: It’s actually not that strong. This time it was purely because the opponents were all weak. You’ll see, if you change to a stronger opponent, Su Bei’s use of this ability will definitely not be so simple.]
[No.4 replied to No.3: I think so too. The reason Su Bei is strong with this ability is because his Mental Energy is strong and his control over his ability is strong. I can’t even imagine what would happen if it were someone else; it would be difficult to even use it.]
[No.5: It feels a bit like Bingbing’s [Word Spirit]. First of all, in terms of ability, isn’t destiny-speaking also a form of speaking? Secondly, when Bingbing was weak before, she couldn’t use many words even without social anxiety hindering her. But now it’s different. Because of the increase in experience and Mental Energy, Bingbing’s ability can be used to assist in battle with [Word Spirit]. This ability should be similar.]
[No.6: OP but not completely.]
[…]
[No.42 You guys, when do you think Su Bei got this ability?]
[No.43 replied to No.42: He’s always had it?]
[No.44 replied to No.43: Impossible, he’s only 15 now. Even if he’s talented, he can’t be that strong, right?]
[No.45: Upstairs, although I don’t know when he got this ability, Su Bei has indeed been very strong from the beginning. Don’t forget that he was able to easily deal with an enemy that Jiang Jiang and Zhaohua couldn’t handle together during the first monthly exam.]
[No.46: Su Bei has never used this ability before, but he often suddenly comes up with a new ability, so it’s really hard to judge whether he newly learned it or just newly showed it.]
[No.47: To each their own. Those who think Su Bei has been secretly making progress, this ability is newly learned by him. Those who think Su Bei has always been invincible, this ability is something he has had for a long time.]
[No.48 replied to No.47: It seems that no matter which possibility, he is so amazing.]
[No.49 replied to No.48: It’s Su Bei, after all.]
[…]
[No.95: I support the OP! Old scoundrel, don’t weaken Su Bei.]
[No.96: I feel that the old scoundrel is not weakening Su Bei, it’s purely for combat balance.]
[No.97: Su Bei’s ability is already very strong, and he’s constantly developing it. I’m afraid that one day he will defeat the principal and become the number one in the ability world.]
[No.98 replied to No.97: Hahahahaha, although I’m looking forward to this scene, I feel it’s not very likely. Su Bei is strong, but I feel he’s more of a heretic (trying to gesture).
It’s just that he’s not the kind of ability that is conventionally very destructive and can become the strongest. It’s not that he’s not qualified, but that he doesn’t need this qualification. It’s the feeling that the destiny system doesn’t participate in competitions. Outside the five elements, beyond the six paths of reincarnation. Here I have to say that his compatibility with his ability is really good, both are third parties (?)]
[No.99 replied to No.98: A strange evaluation, but I actually get it.]
[No.100: The old scoundrel’s portrayal of this character is indeed good. Whether Su Bei is a bad guy, has always been a good guy, or is an undercover agent, it all feels strange to me. Being a third party is indeed his best, or rather, most suitable choice. He should be a third party that doesn’t belong to anyone.]
[No.101: Who can control destiny?]
[…]
[No.158: By the way, does anyone doubt whether what Su Bei said is true? I’m not doubting whether he is really that strong, after all, the facts speak for themselves. I suspect whether he didn’t mention the drawbacks of this ability?
From his saying that he will continue to improve in the future, it can be seen that this ability is still in the research and development stage. R&D definitely has drawbacks and the like. Su Bei only answered one of the drawbacks when Jiang Tianming asked. So are there others? For example, as mentioned before, this ability may consume a lot of Mental Energy.]
[No.159: There definitely are, but Su Bei would never voluntarily reveal his weaknesses unless someone asks the right question.]
[No.160 replied to No.159: That’s right, who would be idle enough to expose their own weaknesses?]
[No.161 replied to No.160: Our understanding is different. I think Su Bei doesn’t mind making his weaknesses public, anyway, he can bear it. He doesn’t say it just because no one asks. Just like when Jiang Jiang asked him, he said it, even though that should also be a weakness that needs to be hidden.]
[No.162 replied to No.161: That’s how strong people are.]
[No.163 replied to No.161: That’s how fun-lovers are.]
[No.164 replied to No.161; That’s how riddle-makers are.]
[…]
